Buscar:the end

one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a

book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.

Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.

The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.

Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).

Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?

Forming off the back of contemporary jazz outfit Zeitgeist, Voronoi take the power and rhythmic complexity of heavier prog-metal and fuse it with the sophistication of classical music and jazz. A passion for science fiction thematically drives the band’s heaving and

chopping style, whereas artists such as Autechre, Car Bomb, Tigran Hamasyan and J.S. Bach help shape the rigid, experimental structure of The Last Three Seconds.

“Compositionally and stylistically we have moved into much heavier territory than our contemporary jazz foundations,” says Keyboardist Aleks Podraza. “It really shows. If you were to put this record against the first tunes we played together as Zeitgeist, it would be like introducing a much capable Thelonious Monk to a less hectic Dillinger Escape Plan.” 

As the first single off The Last Three Seconds, Gamma Signals serves as a toe in the water for the depth of things to come. The full-bodied riffwork captures the stop-start format of prog-metal heavyweights without being explicitly metal. Yet beyond this, glitchy, experimental electronics cut through the composition like a knife. The final product is something that captures the magic of the cosmos – a place where worlds orbit worlds, genres orbit genres. Each element remains different and unique, but still intrinsically tied to the other.

“Gamma Signals is about pulsars and how when Jocelyn Bell-Burnell first discovered them, the media thought they were aliens trying to contact us,” says Podraza. “Broadly, this song is about my love for and fascination with cosmology as a whole. That's a theme that runs through the veins of most of the album.” 

Those following Vorono’s career will need little convincing on the quality of The Last Three Seconds. Collectively, band members have performed and recorded with groups like The Cinematic Orchestra, KOYO, NJYO, Jenova Collective, The Often Herd, Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip, Wandering Monster and more. This in turn has garnered sizable attention at festivals such as Leeds and Reading Festival, Download Festival, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club - not to mention Voronoi’s thrashing set at 2019’s ArcTanGent.

The cool and collected chaos of The Last Three Seconds serves as a snapshot of this live energy, as passion and fury hum at the end of every complex composition. From start to finish, the record is nothing less than executed perfectly, undoubtedly appealing to even the most seasoned of prog-lovers

The Altered Hours have just announced details of their second full length album ‘Convertible’. The Irish group have just signed with Pizza Pizza Records and the 8 track album is set for release in May 2021. Following on from some successful headline tours across Europe supporting their debut album & some blistering EP’s along the way, the group found themselves looking for the next step in their ever- evolving journey. Having previously recorded in Anton Newcombe’s Berlin studio for their debut singles & ending up in the infamous Funkhaus studios to lay down what would become their debut album ‘In Heat Not Sorry ’, the band decided once again to



change the approach & take their new songs back to the privacy of their own studio space on the outskirts of Cork City. The new LP ‘Convertible’ is the result of countless late night/early morning sessions that took place over the past 2 years. Choosing to self produce and engineer this record was a conscious choice as the band felt an urge to take what they had learned on the road & in various studios previously, and condense all of this energy back into the boiling pot of their own rehearsal space.

The group have been a part of some exciting movements since the beginning and their path has been an organic one. They quickly became known in their hometown for taking over an ex-government building in the heart of Cork city, turning into a studio and creating a hub for the scene that surrounded them. The years that follow shine a light on the relentless energy of this group and unwavering love for playing shows anywhere & everywhere. Having been invited to perform at Liverpool Psych Fest numerous times, supporting the Brian Jonestown Massacre, selling out venues, churches & clubs, playing rip-roaring DIY shows in friends’ basements, getting joined by members of Spacemen 3 on stage and more recently, being invited by fellow Irish rockers Fontaines D.C to join them on their 2019 European tour playing sold out shows in venues like The Bataclan, Paris & Paradiso, Amsterdam. It’s been a wild ride for The Altered Hours so far & their music keeps evolving & growing as the experiences build. This is a group with the spirit of music deeply ingrained in them and a passion for making rock music something that you can believe in.

Their second full length album ‘Convertible’ is a window into the band’s idiosyncratic tendencies, a closer look into how their writing & sound continuously moves forwards while somehow remaining rooted in their own unique world all at once. The Altered Hours seem born to be an underground affair, something that they wear with pride and this album is a wonderful culmination of their DIY upbringing, their unfiltered rock ‘n’ roll spirit along with a confident stride into personal songwriting.

TOTAL turns 21 this year, and Kompakt’s venerable compilation series couldn’t have asked for a more auspicious coming-of-age collection. If TOTAL 20 was consolidation against the odds, the Kompakt crew producing for a dreamt-of dancefloor in an uncertain future, then TOTAL 21 feels abuzz and alive with possibilities. Significantly, it’s the first TOTAL in some time that’s streamlined down to a single disc; this makes TOTAL 21 even punchier than usual, a joyous, reflective, and always thrilling 75-minute audio scan of the world according to Kompakt.

As with every instalment of TOTAL, there’s a deft balancing here of Kompakt regulars and new blood. Of the latter, there’s a first appearance by KOLLMORGEN, remixed by PATRICE BÄUMEL into an astral torch song; Amsterdam’s NICKY ELISABETH, offering up ROMAN FLÜGEL’s pulsating, arpeggiated remix of “Celeste”; and CAPTAIN MUSTACHE swoops down into view, PLAY PAUL in tow, with the dream-like electro lift-off that is “Everything”. JONATHAN KASPAR also drops by with a new track, “Von Draussen”, a stealthy and lethal floor-hugger with prowling bass.

Elsewhere, there’s the lead track to MICHAEL MAYER’s astonishing recent EP, “Brainwave Technology”, which not-so-gently spears the tech-futurist babble of AI, transhumanism and posthumanism, soundtracked by one of Mayer’s typically lush, glimmering soundscapes. JOHN TEJADA reaches back to the heyday of glitch and dub techno with the gorgeous “Spectral Progressions”, while the brothers VOIGT & VOIGT, on “Nicht Mein Job”, seem reinvigorated by the interwoven patterns and funky minimalism of the Profan days. Not to be outdone, JÜRGEN PAAPE kicks TOTAL 21 with “La Guittara Romantica”, a chiming and lilting lullaby for woozy late-night reflection.

Throughout, it feels as though Kompakt are taking a moment to both breathe in the dust of the past and look forward to a bright future. Perhaps that’s why, on “Fasson”, SASCHA FUNKE seems so confident, with pinprick melodies bouncing around a hall of audio mirrors, or why THE BIONAUT returns with “Blue Sky Motor Lodge”, a song so moistly melancholy, so enduringly lovely, it’ll make you weep tears of joy. ROBAG WRUHME gets a little delirious on the ticking, twisting “No”, and then GUI BORATTO mops everything up with the bubbling, bumping glam-stomp “Wake Up”.

That’s not all – spring for the digital and/or vinyl edition and you’ll get a new cut, “Happy”, from MICHAEL MAYER, and MARC ROMBOY & C.A.R.’s “I Am A Dancer”. But however you choose to play it, now TOTAL’s turned 21, it’s your duty to throw it the celebration to end all celebrations. Let the party begin, and don’t forget to bring a party favor…

SEX was composed during the formation of Imhof’s art show of the same name, previously exhibited at Tate Modern, London, The Art Institute of Chicago and forthcoming at Castello di Rivoli, Italy, this September. Imhof, Douglas and Bultheel, reworked the songs from how they appeared in the exhibition ‘SEX’. The result is a compelling record that acts as an imaginative accompaniment to the ‘SEX’ performances, as well as standing alone as a progressive collection of contemporary compositions.

SEX references punk, industrial and grunge, and boldly juxtaposes these forms with music of the classical and baroque period. The album combines classical formals and orchestration with vocals that are rooted in subcultural traditions, thus beautifully overdrawing and overwriting these forms with the composer’s own. Harpsichord and oboe are combined with distorted electric guitar, or exuberant string ensembles with heavy industrial drums.

The amalgamation of genres contained in the album was also integral to the choreography of SEX, where walzes and tangos were contrasted with stage diving, slam dancing and moshpits. What resulted was a surreal ballroom, loaded with desire and aggression. In the same vein, the record fearlessly shapeshifts, blends genres and styles evoking an impressive array of moods. Oscillating between fragility and flamboyance, Imhof and Douglas’ versatile voices reinvent themselves from one song to the next, while singing songs of love and hate.

The last song on Sex is ended by a quote of the band LOW, `All you Pretty People, you`re all gonna die`. This ambiguous moment, a prophecy sung in Douglas’ vibrating baritone voice, rattles the listener despite the mundane truth of the statement. This complexity is reflected in the album itself, allowing for an unusual multiplicity of emotions and interpretations with impressive depth and dynamism.

The album is mixed & engineered by Ville Haimala and mastered by Rashad Becker, featuring design by ZAK Group and photography by Nadine Fraczcowski. All tracks by Anne Imhof, Eliza Douglas & Billy Bultheel, track 6* by Eliza Douglas & Ville Haimala.

Welcome aboard! We're about to slide into the wide musical landscapes of True Flavas Band. Please take place on your seat, enjoy the smell of a cup of Douchka black tea , close your eyes, the train's door is shutting then the locomotive pulls the heavyweight transSiberian slowly.
The Journey starts to reach the "Polar Circle" and its deep soaring atmosphere, snowy forest and the steppes' flatness. Now You recognize, that it's all about immersive laidback
funk. The band breaks with the white screen view blowing up at the wagon's window, crosses some more urban ensembles with the uptempo "Take It Straight", the intriguing "Estonia" and "Ghlmly". The expression touches climax offering a view from the mountain's
top in "4Hero" and "Double Trouble" with transversal dynamic and flight sensations. The four musicians offer nights full of stars and aurora borealis moments in tracks like "Gamekeeper" and "Jazz'N'Bass". At the end "Countryside" brings us into a gradual rise of leftfield ambience sustained by Krautrock guitars and Gregorian like chants, hypnotic.
With this first LP on Stereophonk, True Flavas Band show ten beautiful, fine and wellmatured pieces. Strong of a rich musical experience and influences, the quartet from SaintPetersburg composed by Roma (drums), Danik (keyboards and electronics), Dima (bass) and Alexey (guitar) have evolved since 2005 to achieve a perfect combination. TrueFlavas performed with artists such as Tricky, Dj Vadim, Dj Krush, Theo Parrish, Badbadnotgood, Gaslampkiller, Fatima, Themselves, Jimi Tenor... and toured all over Russia.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce the latest offering from underground legend Richard Youngs. Hyperactive since the late 1980s, Youngs is widely celebrated for his remarkably extensive and varied body of recordings. His works range freely over a vast terrain, wandering from tender acoustic balladry to raging psychedelic noise and orchestral D-beat, always imbued with his distinctive, often mournful, melodic sensibility and irrepressible sense of joyous experimentation.

Comprised of two side-long pieces, CXXI carried on the experiments with chance operations used to generate material on many of Youngs’ recent releases. On ‘Tokyo Photograph’, a slowly changing, randomly generated sequence of 121 minor chords played by sine waves and accented with a brushed snare hit on every change provides the harmonic foundation for Youngs’ fragile yet impassioned vocal performance, shards of field recordings and electronics and Sophie Cooper’s long, tape-echoed trombone notes. While the melancholic drift of the chords calls up prime Robert Wyatt sides like Old Rottenhat or Dondestan, only the most vestigial sense of song remains here, as Youngs arranges his minimal ingredients over a spacious fifteen-minute expanse that often drops to nothing more than the rich hum of sine waves.

‘The Unlearning’ carries on directly from the first side, presenting another, more harmonically varied, sequence of randomly generated chords played by sine waves, distressed with tape echo flourishes and sparsely sprinkled with electronic touches. Like some of Youngs’ most single-minded instrumental works in recent years, such as his recordings of foot-played guitar or his shakuhachi pieces, ‘The Unlearning’ is deeply meditative but entirely remote from ambient or minimalist cliches.

Named after the number of chord changes on the opening piece and (Chicago-style) the number of records Youngs has released, CXXI arrives in a striking monochrome sleeve featuring play-along chord charts for both pieces. Both rigorously conceptual and endearingly off-the-cuff, CXXI is classic Richard Youngs.

Trompe Le Monde bookended a golden run of landmark records - a mini-album followed by four albums, released in quick succession - that cemented Pixies as one of the best for a generation. Translated from French to mean "fool the world", Trompe Le Monde showed the band still restless to push their sound forward. Recorded between Burbank, Paris and London, with producer Gil Norton again at the controls, their fourth album is arguably their most playful with Black Francis's lyrics on UFOs and conspiracy theories keeping things weird while power pop creeps in to amplify the space rock established on predecessor Bossanova. Featuring singles 'Planet of Sound', 'Alec Eiff el', 'Letter to Memphis' and a fl awless cover of The Jesus and Mary Chain's 'Head On', Trompe Le Monde goes full throttle with 15 tracks coming in a quickfi re 40-minute salvo. Receiving critical praise at the time and being supported by a huge tour that included playing stadiums with U2, it also proved to be the end of act one for the band with them taking over a decade before returning to stage together. A brilliant record, Trompe Le Monde sounds just as fresh 30 years on with outlets such as Pitchfork concurring, retrospectively scoring it 9.3, they called it "more aggressive than anything in their catalog but also more confi dent. They can handle this now, and they do."

The second release on JD Twitch’s archival label.

“By 1993 I was saturated in Acid. Over saturated!. Since 1987 there had been an endless explosion of records from across the planet using the 303 and it seemed like the sonic possibilities offered by this little silver box had hit a dead end.

And then in 1993, from Germany, came the Blue label with mind-blowing releases by Air Liquide and friends. It felt like a new paradigm, paying homage to Germany’s Kosmische Musik past while paying respect to the Chicago Acid House originators while simultaneously looking ahead to a new form of transcendental music.

And then – BOOM! – the H.E.A.D. “EFS” double album drops. What is this music? Was it beamed in from the future? It ticked every box I loved. Endlessly hypnotic and expertly programmed with an effortless groove that sounds as if Jaki Liebezeit’s syncopations have been absorbed by the machines. It is Acid in ways my ears hadn’t heard before, the little silver box tweaked in new, exhilarating directions.

Made by future Optimo ally Khan, alongside uber talent, Kerosene and recorded in a Brooklyn kitchen, this double disc set became an eternal home listening and back room favourite. It is also a club favourite too, perhaps even more so now than it was then. It is endlessly mixable and playable at multiple speeds. A genuine classic long overdue a second life”.

This fully remastered 2021 edition of this 1993 gem comes with new artwork on a super fat double vinyl pressing.

CAVE Interactive CO., LTD., in collaboration with Limited Run Games and Brave Wave Productions, is proud to unveil the 19th entry in the Generation Series of video game soundtracks, DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou The Definitive Soundtrack for CD and vinyl. Originally released for Arcade (2012) and on Xbox 360 (2013) in Japan, DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou is the latest arcade release in the DoDonPachi series in the legendary hardcore bullet-hell shoot-’em-up franchise, long respected by dedicated players for its frantic action and rewarding gameplay. The soundtrack features 13 memorable songs by acclaimed Japanese game composer Manabu Namiki. Whether players are scrolling through a relatively simple section or fighting for survival as they’re assaulted by enemies on all sides, this gem of a soundtrack is seeing its first release outside of Japan for the first time on physical formats.

All Nations Records come again with a proper 7inch full of roots flavour. The man at the control of the label, Simon Nyabinghi, here calls out the talent of Belgium producer Unlisted Fanatic who
deliver once again a heavy riddim track, topped up by some deep horns arrangement from the Moonshine Horns. The riddim is sufficient by itself so when you hear the deep melodical voice of
MariJah on it with her uplifting lyrics hailing for more consciousness in this world, it ends up with a wonderful tune that surely will convince every great selector to put it on their deck now and for years
to come. Once again, just flip the records over to get the full dub treatment. This is roots dub music at its best.

The 'Stages of Grief' series made up one of the inaugural releases on the newly launched Vaknar label, back in 2018.

3 years later, the series comes to an end via its third and final iteration, ‘Acceptance’, which is presented via 2 parts, containing compositions by both, old and new label affiliates and friends.



As the curtains draw on one stage, a new light might be shining somewhere else, and we are reminded that with every ending, there is always a beginning. Thus, hopefully this final segment will let us review these arduous and tumultuous previous months through a forward seeking gaze, accepting the weight of the past, while embracing the virtues of tomorrow.

This is part two of ‘Acceptance’.

10 tracks of beautiful Hip Hop music produced by Vienna Producer Mez & French producer 20Syl.

"We made this album after running into each other on tour in Brazil then again in France. We kept talking about needing to do a project together then eventually met up on my homies farm in Southern Oregon in the U.S. and made this record. Being in the same space and recording in the age of sending verses back and forth seemed a bit crazy in a sense but we really wanted to catch a real vibe of 2 mc’s in sync and where a real moment and connection was captured. We spent 7 days eating bomb food, living, laughing, writing, recording, and just vibing.

We asked for beats from a bunch of folks but ended up feeling the overall vibes of Mez, a Vienna based producer who I previously worked with on my solo material and whose beats just hit us and Rita as the perfect instrumentation to the album we wanted to create. The incredibly talented homie 20Syl (Hocus Pocus, C2C, AllttA) who I also had worked with before and who Rita collaborated with on his group's (C2C) album came in with 2 joints to round it out. We also got some amazing features from our folks Destani Wolf, Wes Restless, and the ever dope Georgia Anne Muldrow."

LP Vinyl include two exclusive remixes by Moar & Mossy P

The new album "Spectrum" by the vision string quartet presents 13 songs composed, arranged and produced by the four young musicians from Berlin themselves. Inspired by folk, pop, rock, funk, minimal and singer-songwriter music, Jakob Encke (violin), Daniel Stoll (violin), Sander Stuart (viola) and Leonard Disselhorst (cello) have embarked on a journey to their very own sound and genre. The result is an unprecedented musical adventure without borders, shaped by personal experiences, new and old encounters as well as subtle impressions from various cultures. They create a whole world of sounds with just their four string instruments – from guitar, ukulele and bass to bongos or a complete drum set.

Light Blue Vinyl

**Tracks 'Sixth Sequence' and 'Tenth Sequence' are bonus tracks & exclusive to the vinyl release only.** limited transparent green vinyl LP

Past Inside The Present is pleased to announce 'Wave Variations' which is a new mini-album by veteran ambient producer Dennis Huddleston AKA 36.

36 has often enjoyed exploring self-imposed restrictions, as it forces him to be creative, while allowing an inherently coherent sound between the different compositions. All the arrangements on Wave Variations use a limited pallete of mostly synth-based sounds, with particular focus on keys and melodies. Each track directly influenced the next one.

Dennis has kept almost every track around three minutes in length. He states, 'I feel like a lot of ambient music (including my own) is often unnecessarily long and these small vignettes work as a nice counter to that. Don't expect long build-ups or over-extended crescendos; These are short tracks that take you straight to Elysium and then dissolve into the ether.'

He further explains the output of Wave Variations, 'Ocean tides inspired the album. I think we've all felt that sense of longing and wonder while standing at the beach, staring at the waves and gazing into the endless horizon. I think it's something that transcends all generations of people. Like the waves, these tracks leave as quickly as they arrive. I feel it's one of the most minimal records I have made, with far fewer individual sound sources at my disposal. It keeps me on my toes and forces me to deeply explore the instruments I have available to me.'

This stripped-back sound gives the album a hypnotic quality to it. Like much of Dennis' work, there is a delicate balance between melancholic melodies and rich textures, resulting in an understated yet deeply exhilarating sound. Fans of emotional, melodic ambient music should find plenty to enjoy.

'EPM20 – EP 2’ turns the spotlight on electro. For this special EP, we’ve gathered brand new tracks by The Advent & Zein Ferreira, Carl Finlow, Detroit’s Filthiest and Modulator a.k.a. Freddie Fresh. As all good electro-heads will know, The Advent (Cisco Ferreira) is as renowned for electro as he is for techno. On ‘Strangeform’ he works alongside his son and rising talent, Zein to turn in pure electro-funk that’s blistering to the last beat. Another absolute master of the scene is Carl Finlow who brings deep bass notes, carefully crafted melody and his meticulous production skills to ‘Optogenetic’. Detroit’s Filthiest has been wowing listeners with his work for labels like Casa Voyager, Bass Agenda, Philthtrax and his own MCEC. His track ‘Werewolf’ is the electro monster the title suggests – dark and tough Detroit-electro book-ended with a playful vocal. The EP closes with the legendary, Freddie Fresh who after three decades is a genuine virtuoso. Under his Modulator guise he layers beautiful retro synth stylings and sci-fi atmospherics on ‘ProMars’. The third EP featuring four house tracks will follow in July, with the ‘EPM20’ compilation after the summer.

This time you'll find the Wax's #plectrum with the vinyl; a little gadget to stimulate your musical fantasies. (only for the first 200 orders!)

Four years and ten releases later we can say that Apparel Wax -the vinyl-faced hero- has been able to always renew itself and its sound because, as our manifesto says, we try not to submit to any genre. We wanted every release to be the outcome of a long research through uncommon sounds and APLWAX010, yet again, is an unidentified sonic object picked up by our radar. The last one though! We didn't plan it, we just felt like the time has come -eventually- to close this beautiful chapter. More than one factor led us to take this decision: the progressive concern about the planet (therefore the impossibility to keep producing plastic bags and gadgets), the desire to leave at our peak and to invent something new are just two of them. The constant process behind the renewal of our sound -which we embraced ten years ago with the birth of Apparel Music- sometimes passes through hard choices and we need to feel again that sensation of 'void' in order to create something fresh, different, as we did when we started Apparel Wax. We won't drag our masked hero to a point of sonic stagnation. We'd like to send you all a big greeting and a heartfelt thanks for every second of your time spent listening to Apparel Wax, it literally meant the world to us. What was initially just a bold idea became a musical reference point for many people around the world, and we will be forever grateful to y'all because, without you, it would have never been possible. Finally, a huge thanks to all the artists involved in the project. They contributed with their art to a bigger cause, the biggest: music. YOU are the true masked heroes, you are Apparel Wax. As for us, we'll live on and our sound too. Our ideas, our passion and dedication for the one and only thing that really makes us happy will never die. Something new will always come on our end because that's our purpose, our philosophy. Manman, what a journey has been, now on to the next one!

Andy Compton is undisputedly one of the hardest working producers in dance music. With over 40 albums and 150 EPs released either solo or as part of deep house legends The Rurals, the Bristol-based producer just can't stop creating profoundly funky and vibey music that works on loose-limbed dancefloors, beach bars and shag carpets alike.
He has appeared regularly on quality labels as diverse as Lumberjacks In Hell, Hed Kandi, LARGE and naturally, his own vital imprint Peng.

Andy's latest long player for Tangential Music is a collaboration with LA artists Irantzu Pujadas and Brad Kent under the name Blue Dream.
Aptly titled: 'A Trip To LA' the album is a deliciously louche and laidback twelve tracker of pure LA heat. The project began as many great ones do, without a plan. Visiting Brad's studio to check out his huge vintage analogue synth collection in search of new sounds for The Rurals, they got to thinking...and jamming. With Brad on the dusty old drum machines, Irantzu on the microphone and Andy in synthesiser heaven, Blue Dream was born.

Their first and equally good album 'California Dreaming' was released on Peng in early 2019 and now we are here with a second round of perfectly realised dream-like grooves. Think of the sun-facing vibes of Shuggie Otis, Eddie Chacon, Bobby Caldwell or Roy Ayers at his most relaxed and add a passionate knowledge and experienced grasp of electronic forms. They make this seem easy goddammit.

'I Wanted To See You' sounds like Khruangbin with a 303, 'You Want Me Back' with its mid-tempo shuffling groove, saucy squidge bass line and seductive soul house vocal is pure daytime at Houghton Festival happiness, like Crazy P in the hot tub.

At no point are we required to sweat. Lie down if you must, stand up and sway if you're ready. This could be lovers music or just for you alone. Irantzu's vocals throughout are whispers and purrs, evocations of humid love drenched in reverb and easy living. Sunset music.

The singles 'I Wanna Go Home' and 'Sandwich Dub' don't deviate far from the endless feeling of hazy cinematic sunshine, one a sultry plea for intimacy, the other a heavily dubbed-out slice of musique française amour.
'Trip To LA' with a vocal more than suggestive of the Balearic classic 'Sueno Latino', spare guitar chords and a prodding repetitive bass line creates a feeling of slinky bliss.

Every track is full of sensual melodies and the space required to be truly funky. Press play and invite a bit of California magic in...

Early support by: Laurent Garnier, AME, Marco Bailey, Jennifer Cardini, Terrence Fixmer, Kyle Geiger, Marcel Dettmann, Apparat, Richie Hawtin, Vril, Charlotte De Witte, Sasha, Benjamin Demage any many more..



Fresh off of a remix for Grimes’ “My Name is Dark”, producer Julien Bracht has been powering through CV19 studio seclusion on full-power, with a distinct vision for brighter days ahead. Bracht’s new album, “Now Forever One,” an emblem of dark analog synthwave, is set to drop June 11. Bracht’s first solo album under his own namesake is cut with surgical precision for the shoegazing astral sound travellers who long to break out of their pandemic quarantines, and reconvene for techno-induced ascension. The album’s first single, “Melancholia,” and it’s accompanying video, is already breaking hearts and charts. An exquisite sonic hybrid of communal revelry and profound introspection, “Now Forever One,” focuses Bracht’s multilayered craftsmanship on resolving this era’s angst with sensory exploration and optimism.



As a lifelong drummer, Bracht’s insatiable musical energy lead him to bang out his first 3 EPs within one year of first being signed in 2011-12. In 2015 he founded the band Lea Porcelain with Markus Nikolaus in London. Their hypnotic post-rock debut release in 2017, “Hymns to the Night,” gained instant acclaim from UK tastemakers Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq and Zane Lowe, to name a few. The lads broke back onto the international stage with dates on several major festivals around Europe, including the Leeds/Reading Festival, Great Escape Brighton and Latitude. Rich output combined with the inclusion of live drums in his solo live sets quickly gained Bracht recognition and slots on the global tour circuit.

“Now Forever One” forges Julien Bracht’s transition from techno djing, while continuing the explorations of texture and timbre over functional song structures from Lea Porcelain, to a more open-ended search for the aural sublime — the substrate on which music, life and light glide to create momentary nodes of meaning in an increasingly meaningless sociopolitical atmosphere. These are crucial themes to Bracht’s process and approach. “The intention in my music is to strengthen people’s awareness and minds… I want us all to gather in spirit and stick together.”

The album exemplifies Bracht’s hunt for elemental juxtaposition with the warm Prophet 6’s sawtooth howls and bright pads against chillingly indifferent pulsing basslines and percussion. Clocking in at just under 65 minutes, “Now Forever One’s” tracks are sequenced to take the listener through the full emotional arch of a 15-hour rave, with an emphasis on those moments of collective epiphany where heaving techno floors become the perfect microcosm for an idealistic and interconnected future. Interspersed with improvisational one-takes, the album submerges the listener in polyrhythmic meditations, of which “Streets” and “Nocturne” are standout examples, and soars on the vaulted synth melodies of future dance floor favourites “Melancholia” and “Dreams of Euphoria.” Sascha Ring of Apparat & Moderat puts it perfectly: “I played “Melancholia” the night I got it at Mutek Festival in Mexico City, and instantly knew it’ll shine on a big floor at the right time. It’s just the right balance of majestic melodic deepness.” The sounds are both triumphant and exploratory.

Greater than the sum of its parts, Bracht’s latest release hints at the artist’s emerging potential for nailing our moment’s zeitgeist; learning to live smaller while constantly seeking higher heights. Inhabiting the fertile ground between solitary rumination and dance-floor convenance, the launch of “Now Forever One’s” lunar expedition into the techno oblivion of pandemic lockdown is oddly fitting.

4LP & 2CD Genesis Hits package to coincide with the bands UK tour in September 2021 with 3 sold out shows at London’s 02 Arena. This will be Genesis’s first tour in over 13 years with the classic line up of Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks & Phil Collins. They have sold around 100 million albums worldwide with over 20 top 40 UK hits with songs such as Follow You Follow Me, Turn It On Again, Mama, I Can’t Dance and many more. Genesis have won awards over the years at the American Music Awards, Grammy Awards, Ivor Novello Awards and a Lifetime Achievement at the Progressive Music Awards. The track list is made up of the songs the band have been performing in rehearsals and will make up the majority of the setlist during the gigs, the title of the release is the same as the tour. 4LP set is to be housed in a hardback gatefold book-style package, this will include classic images of the band, rare and unseen images from their archive & images of the rehearsal and the stage used for the gigs.

awless is 2012 crime drama film by director John Hillcoat (The Road, The Proposition) about a gang of bootleggers in Virginia during the Great Depression. And when we say star-studded, we really mean it: Guy Pierce, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy and Shia LeBoeuf signed up for the gritty and evocative story about brothers who try to create their own American Dream during Prohibition.

None other than Nick Cave helped Hillcoat with the screenplay, while he also took great care of the movie’s soundtrack. Cave and fellow musician Warren Ellis form the core of The Bootleggers, a country and bluegrass ensemble that welcome a string of guests artist like Emmylou Harris, Ralph Stanley and Mark Lanegan. The Lawless OST contains cover versions of artists such as Velvet Underground and Captain Beefheart and also features original compositions by Cave/Ellis and the great Willie Nelson.

Love returns with 'Lavender', the follow up to the Canadian crooner’s LP, 'Night Songs' (Taxi Gauche Records, February 2020).
A reflective timeline of dusty folk, 'Lavender' aims to capture the modern loneliness of the 21st century. A sorrowful soundtrack, inspired by the production of great crooners and folk artists of the 70s/80s like Cohen, Lightfoot, and Nick Drake, to name a few, Love achieves a similar quality on Lavender. Like a Chris Isaak trapped in a David Lynch film, Love’s haunted
vocals guide the listener through poetic verses on the archetypes of love and truth, posthumous poetry by his grandfather circa 1930s, and escapism, all melting and flowing into a pool of celestial wisdom.
Acoustic guitars sweep across desolate sonic landscapes of global narcissism, social media and the universal need for connection. Hypnotic bass grooves and lush 3D string ensembles, wrap the listener in a familiar cinematic romance, embraced and mystified. 'Lavender' explores the universal threads that make us feel and experience what we do, in a time when the need to peer into ourselves has never been more important. 'Lavender' draws you inwards, like staring up at the stars at night, or standing alone with the silence of the forest, 'Lavender' wants you to find your own meaning. Self-recorded in a variety of spaces through out Turtle Island (Canada & The USA). Specifically, Toronto Island, a basement in Edmonton, AB, various apartments and motels in Los Angeles and around the United States, on a road trip west via the Trans-Canada highway and ending at a cabin in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.


“There’s a lonesome vibe to his brand of heartland rock, evoking late nights on a deserted road, or neon-lit streets just after a rainstorm.” (Brooklyn Vegan)

Essential Aliensis the 10th Helvetia album. Helvetia is the solo project of Jason Albertini from Duster. Helvetia resides in Portland, Oregon but was formed in Seattle, Washington in 2005 after Duster first went on hiatus. The songs onEssential Aliens were recorded over the last year, in Jason's basement. Since the band's inception, Jason has continued to employ a rotating cast of band members and collaborators, which now includes Steve Gere and Samantha Stidham. Steve and Jason also played in Built To Spill together from 2012 until 2018. In 2019 Duster started playing shows and recording again. During this time Jason started writing what would becomeThis Devastating Map. Released at the beginning of August last year, Post-Trash called it"a constantly shifting project that takes experimental lo-fi into brilliantly colored psych directions with a concise glow."Then the pandemic took hold. With normal life at a standstill and unable to hang with his bandmates, Jason focused his energy on his daughter's homeschooling schedule, and recording. He focused on finishing one song a day and was soon honing in on a new album. Essential Aliensdistills and simplifies the Helvetia sound. Reverb and delay are absent, replaced by warm fuzz and intimate room sounds. Progressions morph with stoner repetition and end in head scratch. Drums distort, muted bass lines prop up acoustic guitars blown out on a cassette four-track. Cheap electric guitars are barely in tune and recorded direct, almost painfully in your face. The songs are short blasts of psychedelic chill, unrooted by genre, a rummage around an alien radio dial. These are simple songs about keeping yourself from falling apart, to remind you that you can be strong. The visual elements for the album come from a recurring dream, which centers around a period in Jason's childhood when he lived in Basel, Switzerland, and believed that he lived with a ghost. In the dream, Jason's life becomes turned upside down because of a series of unexplainable events that turn out to be orchestrated by the ghost, and he wakes up convinced that he is a ghost as well. These are simple songs about keeping yourself from falling apart. To remind you that you can be strong. This is a weird blues.

Mission Escape: signal incoming...Escaping Earth - file loaded...press enter --> program launched! When things become too much, escaping might help. Take a seat and join the ride with CYRK's first full length musical player on CHILDHOOD. After having released outstanding records on labels such as Running Back, Rawax, Burial Soil, Vakant, Avoidant, Dred, Science Cult, Lone Romantic and their own Time Zero imprint, the seminal Berlin machine funk duo launched their analog spaceship studio once again to tell their most advanced and versatile intergalactic tale to date. Escaping Earth is a story that comes in 8 episodes and showcases Sam and Pascals mastered skills in detailed sound design and arrangement, while always keeping a focus on powerful dancefloor oriented electro grooves. Ranging from Detroit influenced bassline bouncers to slower acid variations, this album will let you dive deeply into CYRK's beautiful musical language and range: a soulful journey from the light to the darkness and back. Above all, this album is at all times pure analog electronic funk and won't let you go from beginning to end. Sometimes escaping helps. This musical story will make you travel the stars with ease. The album is pressed DJ friendly on 2 x 12" vinyl and includes a download copy. A limited edition of 100 numbered copies comes in double colored (red/green) records and will be exclusively sold via CHILDHOOD's bandcamp page as well as the CLONE store. Vinyl to be released on September 13th 2021, followed by the digital release on September 24th 2021.

‘Something Good Will Happen’ marks another defiant chapter for MarthaGunn, who consistently prove they are worth their weight in gold through honest and conscientious song-writing, partnered with pristine pop melodies that have caught the attention of tastemakers CLASH, Independent, Dork, The Line of Best Fit, BBC Introducing Track of The Week and John Kennedy (Radio X). This is the sound of a band ever evolving their euphoric sound, where nuanced production and kaleidoscopic samples lift them into the stratosphere. If there’s one goal MarthaGunn want to achieve with their music, it’s connection. Whether it’s Abi giving a voice to her contemporaries via her Songwriters Circle on Instagram live, where she invites her favourite songwriters for a Q&A about their process, guests including Another Sky, Katy J Pearson, Willie J Healey, Flyte and Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, or setting up a virtual tour in light of having shows cancelled and playing a special live set including a locally sourced cover - her and her band want to remind people that they’re not alone and that, at end of the day, we’re all human and we all have that in common.

Nick Dunton has been involved with music since the early 90's and helped push the sound of UK Techno to it's very limits as one half of the 65D mavericks with Richard Polson (RIP). He has recorded and remixed for his own labels and many others and released music from the leading lights of the UK scene and beyond.

Exalt Records are pleased to release the first album from Nick Dunton under his Ever Vivid guise. These 12 tracks were recorded between 2003 and 2013 and reflect the most personal side of Nick's musical production, echoing around themes of movement, loss, bereavement and love.

Presented in a beautiful gatefold sleeve with original artwork and design from David Watson at Grid Pattern.

Employed To Serve’s latest release, Conquering, is a fully realised metamorphosis into the band they’ve always wanted to be. Drawing influence from the music of their youth and a new perspective on how to nurture the positive aspects of humanity and individual growth, Conquering is a celebration and acknowledgement of triumph in the face of a world that can be relentlessly adversarial.

Employed To Serve’s latest release, Conquering, is a fully realised metamorphosis into the band they’ve always wanted to be. Drawing influence from the music of their youth and a new perspective on how to nurture the positive aspects of humanity and individual growth, Conquering is a celebration and acknowledgement of triumph in the face of a world that can be relentlessly adversarial.

Employed To Serve’s latest release, Conquering, is a fully realised metamorphosis into the band they’ve always wanted to be. Drawing influence from the music of their youth and a new perspective on how to nurture the positive aspects of humanity and individual growth, Conquering is a celebration and acknowledgement of triumph in the face of a world that can be relentlessly adversarial.

Rat Life Records is back with more music to accompany the end of the world. Here are six tracks by Roman citizen Alessio Di Mezza (also known as Religius Order) that make you feel like it's the Fall of Rome all over again. Excellent timing, considering the state of modern civilization on this planet right now. Luci Nere is the perfect soundtrack for your Apocalypse Afterparty!

Introducing Cutcross, created to champion the melting pot of bass-centric sounds teetering around 140 bpm. Heading up the concept is Sicaria Sound, a DJ duo who since their inception set out to explore and expand on the possibilities of these sounds whilst spotlighting underground artists. Cutcross is therefore their next step in supporting the forward-thinking music that they've drawn for when curating sets.

Partners in crime Ebb & Texture by way of New Zealand are at the helm of CXT004. Featuring a solo track each plus two collaborative efforts, all four tracks pack a punch via plenty of low-end and lively breaks.

Belgium's Milo Spykers pays homage to his homeland with "Belgian Bass" EP, featuring four old school rave cuts set for release on his resident label,Lenske Records.

Part of the Lenske family since its inception, DJ/Producer Milo Spykers returns to Lenske Records for his fourth EP on the Belgian label. Packed with four explosive tracks, the EP marks another stand-out release for Spykers following his "Accelerator" EP last summer.

Kicking off with authority is the thunderous opening track "Stainless Steel", armed with a marching kickdrum and whompy bass. The track breaks down midwa yto give way to a weighted synth melody and flared hi hats that conjoin with a triad of melodic themes, creating an intoxicating blend of rhythm and sound. Next up and packed with explosive pairings is "Blood Hound". Taunting synths and a punching kick create a propulsive rhythm. More chaotic than its predecessor, an array of drums are used to raise the intensity. Sinister synth notes blend seamlessly with the dramatic percussion that feels custom built for dark, thumping techno basements.

On the flip is title track "Belgian Bass", a high voltage stomper with a powerful kick, jackin' rhythm and metallic textures. Siren like synths sound out amongst powerful snares and cymbals. Creating an almost cinematic feeling, the track is brilliantly hectic, broken up by a solitary clap before the chaos resumes. Lastly is "Cjax", a raucous roller that feels like a perfect peak time energy spike, ending the record on a triumphant high note. Gurgling vocal samples stir beneath a driving kick drum and syncopated hi hats,while stabbing chords cut across the soundscape, intertwined with elongated droning synth notes that echo in the distance.

For its 30th Anniversary, Pixies’ 1991 album ‘Trompe
Le Monde’ is reissued on marbled green vinyl.
 ‘Trompe Le Monde’ bookended a golden run of
landmark records - a mini-album followed by four
albums, released in quick succession - that cemented
Pixies as one of the best for a generation.
 Translated from French to mean ‘fool the world’,
‘Trompe Le Monde’ showed the band still restless to
push their sound forward. Recorded between Burbank,
Paris and London, with producer Gil Norton again at
the controls, their fourth album is arguably their most
playful, with Black Francis’s lyrics on UFOs and
conspiracy theories keeping things weird while power
pop creeps in to amplify the space rock established on
predecessor ‘Bossanova’.
 Featuring singles ‘Planet of Sound’, ‘Alec Eiffel’, ‘Letter
to Memphis’ and a flawless cover of The Jesus and
Mary Chain’s ‘Head On’, ‘Trompe Le Monde’ goes full
throttle with 15 tracks coming in a quickfire 40-minute
salvo. Receiving critical praise at the time and being
supported by a huge tour that included playing
stadiums with U2, it also proved to be the end of Act
One for the band, with them taking over a decade
before returning to the stage together.

Residing in Rio de Janeiro, Vasconcelos Sentimento is a self-taught composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. A mosaic of lo-fi breaks, cosmic ambient jazz and wonky chromatic funk, the eccentric Brazilian DIY wizard’s debut album Furto beautifully pieces together a huge range of seemingly disparate sonic elements. Calling himself an “amateur euphoric sound researcher”, he has no formal training in either music theory or production, and it’s simply by following his ear that has led him to creating his debut album for Far Out Recordings.

It was his fascination with his fellow countryman, the enigmatic, psychedelic 70s folk artist Jose Mauro, that led the young Vasconcelos Sentimento (real name Guilherme Esteves) to first make contact with Far Out. Coincidentally living in the same region as Mauro, Sentimento managed to track him down and put label boss Joe Davis in touch, after Davis had spent years of what felt like hopeless searching for the man many assumed dead.

When Joe and the Far Out team heard Guilhermes’ own music, there was a sense of shock. “It was unlike anything we’d heard before, but it also sounded curiously at home on Far Out. Like it had taken little pieces of different releases from the catalogue, and all the music from the ‘60s onwards that influences everything we do, and recreated all that magic in such an exciting new way”.

Indeed, Sentimento is not afraid to admit what he himself sees as acts of theft. (Furto=Theft in Portuguese). But while the debate surrounding the ethics of sampling is a never ending one, Sentimento’s music - while it does contain the odd sample, including an interview with Joe Davis himself, “One For The Masta Digga”) - steals in an entirely different way. His creative process involves an intensive period, in which he’ll listen to just one artist or song over and over, for days and weeks on end. Then he’ll head to his rudimentary bedroom studio, which, as he puts it, is “built for speed”, hit record and “blurt” whatever comes out. “I never spend more than a day working on any one song idea”...

Picasso once said “lesser artists borrow; great artists steal”. And it’s through this process of ‘Furto’ that Vasconcelos Sentimento has somewhat ironically cultivated a sound that is unmistakably his own.

Furto is due for vinyl, CD and digital release on 30th July 2021, via Far Out Recordings.

Cocktail d'Amore Music returns from a short hiatus with a new release from Russian producer TMO. The three tracks are tied together by a propensity for heavy rhythm construction and distorted acid lines, executed to great effect. Opening with "Last Moment Jam" , a searing main room projectile, TMO presents what is heavily inspired by early Chicago acid track. For those looking for something on the trippier end, "Drums Jam" provides a low bpm hallucination full of delays. Closing is, "Buchla 909 Jam", a 10 minute slow burn exercise in analog fundamentals for late night fantasies.

We are happy to present you our second reference LV002. It contains three new tracks from Oxygeno, alongside a remix from the Swedish atmospheric techno master Lakej.

The A-Side starts with "Bad Habits", a raw track with distorted bassline and an hypnotic synth sound moving around your head trying to call your attention. This is followed by "Endless Carousel", the high energy track of the EP.

On the B-Side, "Time Is Running Out" pretends to be a deep brain melter, taken to a new level by Lakej, who increased its tension and shaped the track direct to the dancefloor.

The edition that marks the start of the brand-new Comets Coming could not be more suitable: it is that Rodrigo Brandão, like his grandfather Herman Poole Blount, dust of stars that the world knows as Sun Ra, may have his feet on the Earth, but he has definitely a sidereal head.

Brandão arrived recently to Portugal, but already left a strong mark in the most adventurous Lisbon scene, having performed several concerts in which his language has been wrapped in the exploratory sounds of musicians such as Rodrigo Amado, João Valinho, and Hernâni Faustino. The agitator, poet and spoken word artist, brought a vast experience that over the years saw him collaborate with artists as distinct as the members of Metá Metá or Prince Paul (that one!) on BROOKZILL!.

This work, however, came in his luggage, across the ocean, on the rediscovery trip that brought him from Brazil to Lisbon. OUTROS ESPAÇO was recorded in São Paulo in late 2019 with a luxury crew: Tulipa Ruiz and Juçara Marçal added to the microphone, Thiago França played flute and alto & tenor saxophones, Guilherme Granado dealt with the synthesizers and effects, Marcos Gerez measured the overall pulse with his electric bass, Thomas Rohrer played soprano and 'rabeca' (fiddle), and Paulo Santos dealt with the percussion. In addition to the base band, OUTROS ESPAÇO also features some members of Sun Ra Arkestra's current incarnation. Respectively: Danny Thompson (RIP) on baritone and bongo, Elson Nascimento on 'surdo' (tom drum), Knoel Scott on tenor and soprano, with the giant Marshall Allen in a prominent role leading the collective towards the unknown, while playing the alto sax and synthesizer.

In OUTROS ESPAÇO, Brandão reaches for words from different origins, from contrasting times and cultures, all with magnetic resonance imaging: what is not from his furrow comes to him from Candomblé (“Quando Os Orixás Desfilam Sobre A Cracolândia”), from his readings of Sun Ra (“Eu Sou 1 Instrumento” is an adaptation of the poem I Am An Instrument), or from the school's playgrounds (“Jamais Nos Esqueceremos”). And in these words there are teeth and nails ingrained in injustice (“Quantos Coltrane...?, “Todo o Dia Tem +”) and kaleidoscopic delusions that result from the speed of light (“Sol da Meia Noite”).

The crew that travels through these OUTROS ESPAÇO (PT for "Other Spaces") has freedom as the main fuel, jazz as a measure of their reach, and all swings in the world as maps, so they can lose themselves at the end of the cosmos. There is urgency and reflection, craziness and precision, surprise and well-known ancestral raw material, that makes us vibrate inwardly with the same trembling as the comets that are coming.

The visionary and veteran Scotty Hard was responsible for making everything sound like the music of the spheres, dealing with the mixing from his INGUASONIC SOUND studio in Brooklyn, NY.

And lastly, in January, Rob Mazurek, another frequent ally of Brandão, another notorious space traveler, offered a poem that frames this project. Among other things, he writes:

Make this place sing

Make this place thunder

Make this place shake

It couldn't be in any other way.

From the depths of an ancient dark underworld, Nigh/T\mare has conjured a powerful offering of burning emotions that light the fires of one's demons and invite the beginning of an epic journey through the unknown. Via Threnes Records from Switzerland, this offering is on point with their consistent releasing of top quality industrial/experimental techno. Entitled "Katharsis", this artistically crafted set of tracks in the form a debut album twists and turns its way over tribal rhythms with dynamic feels and beating drums that break down anything standing in the way. A powerful offering from the depths of the soul.

"Impure" is a powerful opener, like an army banging its drums and marching towards the fight, this track sets the stage from the drama to come. Like a speeding train through dystopia the injection of adrenaline comes in the form of "Self Immolation" which makes the heart beat with the force of a 100 pounding drums. Tribal percussion keeps banging its way through "Anti Balaka" before slowing into a deep melancholic track by the name of "Unarmed". Slowly building out of the calm "Unavoidable Unveiling" creates tension with droning notes and broken industrial percussion laying the soundscapes. "Doomed to Struggle" Feat. Prophan is a dramatic pushing and pulling of the hard hitting sounds and ritualistic chanting before diving into the galvanic rhythms of "The Summoning" Feat. LAIR. "The Path of Moans" brings the mood to a sombre place where the whispers from the demons below can be heard alongside the chiming of distant bells. Pact Infernal's remix of "Impure" demands attention as it offers chaos into the fold along with viciously delicious synths. Torn Relics remix of "The Summoning" builds into an onslaught of relentless percussion and deep howls from the underworld which leave you with chills running down your spine. A fitting ending to an impressive array of dynamic tracks, this is an experience never to be forgotten.

Could the missing link between Eric Dolphy and Albert Ayler be the Michel Portal of 1970? After having worked alongside François Tusques defending a free jazz “made in France”, we find him here, heading up an international quintet of which each member is on fire: John Surman, Barre Phillips, Stu Martin and Jean-Pierre Drouet. The quintet had full leeway to break out the free-form in long ambient tracks to compose this Alors!!! which leaves listeners with just one word to say: More!

Do we still need to present Michel Portal?... Clarinetist destined for the classical and contemporary world after his passage in the Paris Conservatory, he decided to try his hand at jazz, with an incendiary flamboyance! After his first experience with André Hodeir and Pierre Michelot, he would break all the codes with François Tusques (Free Jazz, in 1965) before starting the emblematic Michel Portal Unit. It is the Portal of those years that Alors!!! offers us the chance to listen to again.

“There are periods of insolence”, the musician declared and the year 1970 was one all on its own. Heading up an impetuous international troupe, a quintet consisting of John Surman (saxophones, bass clarinet), Barre Phillips (double-bass), Stu Martin (drums) and Jean-Pierre Drouet (percussion), Portal moves from alto sax to clarinet in the compositions shared with his partners.

From the off, the group sparks an explosion with the sound of “OO Bam Ba Deep” battered by the horns and percussion. Next up is the fabulous free jazz of “Yes, Oh Yes, You Wonderous Sun Kissed Maiden!” and the fantastic disjointed march of “Ça Boom?” which shakes up the musicians every which way. The quintet imagined that listeners would need to catch their breath, and thoughtfully added: “Billie the Kid” and “Undercurrent”, marvelous moments of ambient mystery.

Audacious from beginning to end, including the sleeve – the bird-man and his quintet brain designed by Avoine, –, the album is a fabulous object, to which the label Futura gave wings at the time. And as it is being reissued today there is just one word to use: the French translation of the title, So!!!

Kamana is a multiformat release inspired by and channeling the culture and traditions of the Aeta, an indigenous group from the Zambales region in the Philippines. One of the oldest inhabitants of the region the Aetas are also some of the most fascinating and ancient nomadic and hunter gathering cultures. The release goes from the realms of the
real to the imaginary, from transcription to syncretism, from concrete to abstract. An (un)real Sonic Exorcism filled with Ancestral Frequencies, Haunted Ghosts and other animistic spirits roaming the Pinatubo forests.
The release features a series of materials released in different formats from the Field recording digital only release, an LP and CD release to a special 7inch vinyl featuring an Interview with a bat hunter.
“Kamana is a long due homage to the Aeta community that hosted me a few years back, fascinated by the endurance of these people and their connection to their land, devastated by the eruption of the Pinatubo volcano in 1991, they continued to go back to their ancestral lands surviving on basic agriculture and hunting bats and wild pigs. Living with them for weeks, I managed to capture some essential field recordings and sounds that form and com- pose the basis for this release, from the more reprocessed and interpreted LP release to the pure field recording documentation of the digital release. It is meant to be accessible to all and provide a window to the livelihoods of these unique communities. For this reason, this release serves as both an archival document and a syncretic one, trying to channel memories and feelings of living in these jungles whilst listening to their stories as well as witnessing their lifestyles.”
Carlos Casas, 2021

Big Daddy Wilson, the well-respected North Carolina-born bluesman, who
made his name on the European scene with acclaimed albums like Love Is
The Key (2009) Thumb A Ride (2011), I’m Your Man (2013), Time (2015) and
2017’s Neck Bone Stew has walked a winding road to finally come to record
these Hard Time Blues.
With the release of Deep In My Soul in 2019, Daddy Wilson felt his music and
career had come full-circle in style. “I see it as a journey,” he said of his incredible backstory.
“It’s the journey of a man who found himself deep in this beautiful music called
the blues and finally, after 25 years, made it back home... But the road did not
end there, and Wilson’s new album is taking things even a few steps further:
“Hard Time Blues - Is a reflection of the time we are living in right now and all
the anxieties that life brings....Corona, Poverty, Injustice and other hardships.
It also embraces the different styles of Big Daddy Wilson, Blues, Soul, R & B,
Country and Gospel .
Like Willie Dixon says:” Blues is the Root, everything else is the fruit.” My intent
with this album was to show a more modern side of Big Daddy Wilson. To reach
out a bit more, to use the Soul and R & B that has influenced me throughout
the years. But I still wanted to be true to the blues and my spiritual roots.
The song “ HARD TIME BLUES” came to me by way of Eric Bibb and Glen Scott.
A beautiful blues song, spiced with the spirit of Soul and R & B and blessed with
the Mojo of Glen Scott. This song is also blessed with the Troubadour spirit: the
story telling of the great Eric Bibb.
This album is full of LOVE, FAITH and HOPE, this is my TESTIMONY. So I thought
it be fitting to call the album” HARD TIME BLUES”.
I just want to reach out to as many people as I can, with this message: put a
little Love in your heart.....we need each other.” Big Daddy Wilson

Originally from Philadelphia, invited to New York by Miles Davis, playing at Antibes in 1960 with Charles Mingus and Eric Dolphy, here is trumpeter Ted Curson in 1971... in Paris. With him, a legendary trio: Georges Arvanitas (piano), Jacky Samson (double bass) and Charles Saudrais (drums). A new transatlantic alliance in the service of jazz of all kinds: classic, modal, fusion and even free... Pop Wine is – between Coltrane and Miles with a nod to roots in the club the Caveau de la Huchette – an explosive cocktail but which leaves no stains!

In 1960, trumpeter Ted Curson played with Charles Mingus and Eric Dolphy on stage at the Antibes jazz festival. Eleven years later he was in Paris to record one of the gems of his discography, with a hard-hitting French trio: Georges Arvanitas (piano), Jacky Samson (double bass) and Charles Saudrais (drums).

Arvanitas was also someone who had travelled widely. Originally from Marseille, he had accompanied visiting American musicians in Paris before moving to the States. It was when he came back that the charismatic trio was created with Samson and Saudrais and who recorded, in 1970 on Futura, the unforgettable In Concert and then, the following year, Pop Wine with Ted Curson.

Pop Wine: don’t be fooled into thinking you are going to hear jazz musicians trying to play pop after uncorking too many bottles. For, although the album occasionally tends toward fusion, it is first and foremost a wonderful jazz recording; and a recording with enough fizz to make your head spin!

There are five tracks in total: Quartier Latin reminds us a little of Olé Coltrane (Curson, like the saxophonist, is originally from Philadelphia), Flip Top where the trumpet and piano play out a chase scene through the streets of Paris, Pop Wine where funk and cool jazz meet on the barricades of black and white, L.S.D. Takes A Holiday which breaks out in a style close to free jazz, and finally Lonely One, with the impression that ends this unclassifiable album. Unclassifiable, unless we decide to elevate Pop Wine to the rank of a great vintage.

The UK’s love affair with American soul music blossomed in the
mid 1960s, with the launch of the Tamla-Motown record label in
Britain. But by the end of the decade this passion took on a
distinctly homegrown twist with a new movement that grew out
of the North of England and Midlands’ underground soul and
R&B scene. It was here at dancehalls and clubs such as
Manchester’s Twisted Wheel and the Wigan Casino that
devotees danced the night away to uptempo, joyous US soul
records that always came with a heavy beat. Pretty soon the
movement had a name: Northern Soul. This collection is the
next best thing and it is all on vinyl, exactly how the movement’s
fans originally heard them

Nine Eleven Records’ sole motto is to spread out the word that broken beat and jazz are not dead.

For the first release of the “4 seasons” project, Autumn is in the spotlight. Imagine falling leaves creating an explosion of colors, the first frost of the year warmed by a ray of sunshine… This EP proposes a journey of a thousand shades into the universe of the label Nine Eleven: breaks, soul, and groove shaping an evolutive and captivating story. For this adventure, we surrounded ourselves with talented artists such as LBTQ, Sofatalk, Kaidi Tatham, and Footshooter. Together, we have created an anthem for this autumn season as a revival more than a fall.

If you embrace this experience, you will feel the energy of the earth’s continual evolution through your veins. All you need is to sit back and relax.

Ocean Tales, Julien's second Santpoort album on Friends of Friends, takes another step into his past while artistically leaping forward. Steel-toned kalimba melodies that glint like sunlight on crystalline waves, poignant piano, resonant bass lines, soulful blues guitar - Julien plays them all to create richer, more layered lo-fi composition sof hip-hop, electronic, ambient, and blissful psych-pop, accenting many with chirping birds and recorded sounds from nature. He also collaborates with musicians like Canadian electronic duo Tennyson and Sydney songstress Little Green, the dewy-eyed lyrics of everyone involved conveying the inherent longing at the center of Julien's Santpoort project more powerfully than ever before.

This much acclaimed Cyprus-based trio return with a thrilling fourth album.
The record pushes their trademark Mediterranean sonics into a deep
psychedelic and avant-folk direction.
A danceable fever storm of stringed instruments, multi-layered singing and
trombone-driven low end.Night is when strange things happen. When shapes
shift and blur. When it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s illusion. Night...
is the time of the imagination. For Cyprus’s Monsieur Doumani, those hours of
blackness have lured them in a very different direction for their fourth album,
Pissourin.

Die südafrikanische House-Variante Amapiano geht bei ATFA mit "Teenage Dreams" in die dritte Runde. Nach TENO AFRIKA und DJ BLACK LOW schnappte sich das in New York beheimatete Label das 2019 gegründete Produzenten-Duo NATIVE SOUL, die mit "Teenage Dreams" ihr Debüt geben. Der Titel ist passend gewählt, schließlich sind Kgothatso Tshabalala und Zakhele Mhlanga (DJ Zakes) mit 19 bzw. 18 Jahren sozusagen selbst gerade erst den Kinderschuhen entwachsen. Obwohl die beiden in Pretoria aufgewachsenen Jungproduzenten zur Generation 'Ma2000' gehören, also nach Beginn der Demokratie geboren wurden und die Apartheid nie erlebt haben, überzeugt "Teenage Dreams" mit einer künstlerische Reife, die das jeweilige Alter der beiden Soundtüftler weit übersteigt. Die zwölf Tracks auf dem Debüt sind überwiegend moody, instrumental und mit Drums "made from basslines which stick out like a pocket turned outside of pants" versehen. Für Fans von BURIAL und MR. FINGERS!

The music that would become Conversation Peace began with a trip to KPM’s London HQ in late January of 2020. I had just finished wrapping up post production on my album Ocean Bridges with Archie Shepp and Raw Poetic. I actually received the invitation during the summer of 2019 during studio sessions for Ocean Bridges and scheduling for the top of 2020 made the most sense. So I packed up a few records and a few drum machines then embarked on my first trip to England. We had a quick meeting about expectations, then it was time to see the archive. As a record collector, I’m very familiar with the legacy of the KPM brand. I had been lucky enough to find a few over the past decade during my digging trips up and down the east coast, but looking at the complete vinyl catalogue was a great privilege. I anxiously began combing through records from morning to night looking for the right sounds. The whole experience was surreal.



Listening to the entire catalogue was a history lesson and the amount of great composers and compositions in the recordings was endless. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t somewhat overwhelming. As a producer looking for textures, inspiration and grooves, the abundance of those things made it extremely difficult to narrow down what I wanted to use. From drums to sound fx to orchestras to small rhythm sections to ambient noises, I heard a wide variety of things and they were all so well produced and recorded. Every instrument you can think of was there! I spent a little over a week capturing sounds knowing that my work was cut out for me when I returned to my home in DC. Once I got home, I got to work. I captured so much, that it took me about a month just to organize all those ideas. Little did I know the world would drastically change in the next month following my return. My flight to and from London would indefinitely be my last time traveling for a while. I worked diligently with the material and took my time making sure I had strong ideas. The history of KPM and the opportunity to collaborate with the prestigious lineage made the stakes very high for me and I knew I needed to deliver a quality product. It’s an honor to be the first artist to release a KPM Crate Diggers title. - Earl Davis (Damu the Fudgemunk)

Bunny Lee as producer. Prince Jammy as engineer. The Aggrovators making the tracks. A Holy Trinity of Jamaican Music. Throughout the years, recorded music has been shaped by some enduring partnerships between producer and engineer, such as Teo Macero and Fred Plautt for Miles Davis, Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd for Atlantic Records, and George Martin and Geoff Emerick for the Beatles. But possibly none were as prolific as the collaboration between Bunny 'Striker' Lee and Prince Jammy at King Tubby's Studio between 1976 and 1982.

In 1977 and 1982 respectively, Conflict Dub and Dubbing In The Front Yard were released in London as white labels in extremely limited quantities. The two LPs found the triumvirate of Lee, Jammy and The Aggrovators on perfect form, with driving instrumentals, flashes of vocal beauty, and mixes that ripped apart and rebuilt traditional notions of sonic structure. Due to the nature of their limited release (not to mention the lack of artwork and even titles) the two dub LPs quickly disappeared into that mythic realm of records whispered about by only the most hard-core reggae collectors. This release is the first-ever reissue of these sought after LPs, and contains all the original songs in both vinyl form (double LP set with both albums on the original labels) and a lush double pack cd with 3 extra bonus tracks. The sleeve notes are by Diggory Kenrick with amazing photos by Howard Johnson, director of the influential Channel 4 documentary 'Deep Roots Music'.

The 3 CD bonus tracks are all remixes. Two from Paolo 'Dubfiles' Baldini for the Dubbing in the Front Yard set. One for Conflict Dub by Diggory Kenrick.

In 2018, Pressure Sounds celebrated its 100th album release since it's founding in 1995. In that time, the label has been responsible for unearthing and celebrating some of the rarest, most influential and unique Jamaican records ever cut.

Hold onto your hats! The Allergies are back in the building. Yes, the UK beatmakers have got an absolute one-two punch with this new 7" single, as both sides are fire-in-the-hole, future classics in the making, ready to soothe your soul and ignite the party.

Leading the way is the vintage funk and beefed-up breaks bomb, 'Love Somebody'. A mix of crazy up-tempo grooves and loops, snatches of reworked soul samples, deft scratching, and dancefloor energy up the wazoo. It's that unique Allergies signature sound, with a whole new splash of club-rocking polish smothered on top.

Oh, my… And holding its own on the B-side of this release is the title track from that feverishly anticipated full length album, 'Promised Land'. This beaty, meaty, Moby meets Fatboy Slim-style anthem, will have your loins stirred, and feet tapping with its next-level sampling skills, and hugs-all-around, end-of-a-festival wonderment.

Continuing to deliver Sounds From The Void, XVI Records are proud to welcome London based Producer Delonte Rivers back to the label, with his brand new EP ‘Delonte In Dub’ Having previously released his ‘Midnight Congas’ EP back in 2018 (as well as a slew of edits and releases with Banana Hill, Love Above Recordings and more) Delonte now channels an elevated state of consciousness into a new dubbed out, subterranean sonic offering.

Returning with the galvanising track ‘Rise Again’, Delonte enlists the vocals of Sir Moon (also the voice of local hellraisers Muckspreader) giving a furious manifesto on the state of the union. Psyched out guitar stabs reverberate ripple across a turbulent sea of low end frequencies, as a rock-steady rhythm section holds the line. ‘Dub Again’ unsurprisingly strips back the original into a state of ethereal and reverb soaked hypnosis. ‘Cosmic Frequencies’ bring a cosmic slice of bass weight, whilst ‘One For Road’ injects a surreal, eerie atmosphere into the proceedings. This record is one for a hazed-summer in a strange dystopian world.

The fifth studio album from Welsh quintet Super Furry Animals was their most commercially successful to date. A musically eclectic record, incorporating pop, prog, punk, jungle, electronica, techno and death metal, the album was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize in 2001 and named as Mojo’s best album in the same year. Their major label debut album peaked at #3 on the UK album chart on release, supported by singles ‘(Running) Rings Around The World’, ‘It’s Not The End of the World’ and ‘Juxtapozed With You’. Paul McCartney and John Cale make cameo appearances on the album too.

This 20th anniversary reissued has been remastered from the original master tapes. The double-LP format is on heavyweight vinyl, while the 3CD set boasts 33 previously unreleased tracks including remixes, demos, other curios, as well as sleeve notes from Keith Cameron.







[f] B3

THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA is back! The band that formed as an idea of friends from several well known rock/metal bands (SOILWORK, ARCH ENEMY, MEAN STREAK) back almost a decade ago and has been dropping jaws ever since. With 5 albums already under their belt, 2 nominations for the Swedish Grammies, countless live shows and praises from fans and media alike, TNFO have steadily upped their game when it comes to paying tribute to a decade that influences all sorts of people and even industries to this day - the 80s. With hits like ‘Domino’, ‘Lovers In The Rain’, ‘West Ruth Ave’, ‘Divinyls’ or ‘This Time’, the band manages to maintain a variety of vibes and emotions within every album. From hard rockers, poppy digressions to progressive epics, disco-esque songs and almost cheesy yet loveable ballads.

Enter 2020, TNFO had just released their recent record, ‘Aeromantic’, and kicked off their European tour in support of it, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Björn Strid, the AOR dictator helming this exceptional collective called NFO, recalls “We made it one week into the tour after some absolutely amazing shows and then it all went south and we had to go home. Just about everyone on the tour got sick when they came home, with varied conditions.”
The band didn’t step back and accept the situation but decided to do what they do best instead: “It was pretty clear after some months into the Covid madness, that it was here to stay and that we weren’t gonna be able to tour for quite some time. So we made the best out of it. The remedy was simply to hit the studio again as soon as everybody was well again. It ended up being an incredibly creative 1,5 years and so many amazing songs came out of it.”

That being said, the second part of the ‘Aeromantic’ saga really captures what this band is all about: being in motion and romanticizing traveling, sometimes even with a broken heart - accompanied by the good things in life. Namely with songs like ‘White Jeans’, yet another jaw dropping classic rock gem about hot young love, cramped with nostalgia, or ‘Change’, which encompasses all the vibes you know from your favorite decade: Urgency, emotion, warmth and excitement. But also groovy danceable songs like ‘Chardonnay Nights’, a groovy, dreamy, yet uplifting homage to parties and hot love, or ‘Burn For Me’, a true feel good anthem for the summer - driving people to dance in the streets, all worries aside, to a brighter future.

On the other hand there are tracks like the almost progressive ‘Amber Through A Window’. A little throwback (at least titular) to the NFO’s epic 2017 album ‘Amber Galactic’: “Amber is with us wherever we go and I think she’ll keep coming back. She’s our mascot of escapism. The song was very interesting to compose. It takes you on quite a journey with key changes and goes from minor to major when you least expect it and throws you between different set of emotions. At the same time it feels pretty direct and operates like a mini epos. Really happy with how it turned out“, cites Strid.

Besides all this, the band has also stepped up their game when it comes to music videos for their timeless anthems. “White Jeans” for instance features Swedish TV personality Fredrik Lexfors and is a sweet little homage to the LGBTQIA+ community. “Fredrik is a good friend of mine and has loads of experience in the musical/theatre world and is super creative. He created this character called ”Kantorn” (The Cantor) some years ago and became a hit on YouTube. He has a very twisted and unique way of singing and acting, which is very funny. He was a part of Sweden’s Got Talent TV Show and went really far and became a crowd favorite. Fredrik has a lot of friends in the LGBTQIA+ community and I also have quite a few. We saw it as a joyful tribute and we’ve only gotten really good response. It’s of course also humorous but has a very nice balance and a very positive message.”

The bold and jovial video for “Burn For Me” on the other hand maybe among the biggest and best productions, the NFO ever recorded for the depths of the internet: “I’ve had this idea to film a ”Dancing in the Streets” video, where curious people come out of the woodworks and join the party in the streets. It’s a very classic 80’s scenario and very common in videos back then. Sort of the video to IRENE CARA’s ”Fame”. You don’t see it very often these days. We felt that it was needed and after “Burn For Me” was done I immediately envisoned it being the perfect ”post corona dancing celebration in the streets-song”.”

Those two videos are by far not everything the band will have to offer visually, but we won’t tell any more just for now. To be continued…

With all that new greatness up their sleeves, NFO are ready to take the world by storm – again! Even though coming up with a setlist for their scheduled tour starting in September may prove to become problematic according to the AOR Dictator: “Making a setlist might end up being a nightmare haha… I would be up for doing only songs off »Aeromantic I« and »Aeromantic II« since that’s really where we’re at right now, but I think most of our the Midnight Flyers would like to hear some old stuff, too. Maybe we could get away with it as long as we play “West Ruth Ave” as the ending song and create the good old conga train?”

When his mother brought Stanley Turrentine’s Salt Song LP back from a trip to Canada, Julien Lourau, then a teenager, was impressed by the scope of the sound and the groove of the saxophone. He was also charmed by the lush arrangements and funky sound of the record, typical of releases on the CTI label. Created by producer Creed Taylor, CTI left an imprint in the minds of 70s jazz fans much like Blue Note did in the 60s, and it even ended up releasing work by artists who started out on this mythical label such as Stanley Turrentine and Freddie Hubbard. The two even shared the same sound engineer, the great Rudy van Gelder.
Yet CTI, though highly prolific during its 15 years of activity, has not benefitted from the same aura as its predecessor. “To breathe life into this album, I listened to a wealth of CTI releases and discovered some I had never heard before. I noticed, oddly, that many of today’s musicians know very little about CTI - a label unfairly considered as minor.”

The choice of tracks was determined by Julien’s personal tastes, always keeping in mind a desire to help people discover them yet focusing on the joy of actually playing them too.

"The album is made up of 9 pieces. Mathieu Débordes got everything down to the nearest note before we even attempted to play them. CTI didn’t hold back in fuelling their compositions with brass and violins, but I erased this aspect and pared things down to a bass, drums and two keyboards."
English drummer Jim Hart, someone Julien worked with during his London years, propels the group - from hard-bop polyrhythms with “drum & bass” inflections to a reworking of classic Red Clay.

Sylvain Daniel on the bass and Arnaud Roulin on the analogue keys are two musicians close to the saxophonist, and that he met when they were students in 1999 while organising a master class at the Conservatoire de Nantes. Since then, they have become his esteemed companions.

The collaboration with young pianist Léo Jassef began on this recording, where he also plays the Prophet 5. The dynamic and overlap of the many keyboards played by Arnaud and Léo bring the record a richness of timbre and harmony that the strings and brass provided on the CTI recordings.
For the final track on the record, Julien called upon his friend of 30 years, guitarist Bojan Z, for a fresh, Gospel take on Love and Peace, a track recorded by Quincy Jones in 1969, which here, is dedicated to Bojan’s recently departed brother.

“When it comes down to it, this album really is as I had imagined it, with, luckily, a few unexpected turns. I created a playlist I then claimed as my own. But in the end, I must admit that I would have loved to have composed some of these tracks.”

The music that would become Conversation Peace began with a trip to KPM’s London HQ in late January of 2020. I had just finished wrapping up post production on my album Ocean Bridges with Archie Shepp and Raw Poetic. I actually received the invitation during the summer of 2019 during studio sessions for Ocean Bridges and scheduling for the top of 2020 made the most sense. So I packed up a few records and a few drum machines then embarked on my first trip to England. We had a quick meeting about expectations, then it was time to see the archive. As a record collector, I’m very familiar with the legacy of the KPM brand. I had been lucky enough to find a few over the past decade during my digging trips up and down the east coast, but looking at the complete vinyl catalogue was a great privilege. I anxiously began combing through records from morning to night looking for the right sounds. The whole experience was surreal.



Listening to the entire catalogue was a history lesson and the amount of great composers and compositions in the recordings was endless. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t somewhat overwhelming. As a producer looking for textures, inspiration and grooves, the abundance of those things made it extremely difficult to narrow down what I wanted to use. From drums to sound fx to orchestras to small rhythm sections to ambient noises, I heard a wide variety of things and they were all so well produced and recorded. Every instrument you can think of was there! I spent a little over a week capturing sounds knowing that my work was cut out for me when I returned to my home in DC. Once I got home, I got to work. I captured so much, that it took me about a month just to organize all those ideas. Little did I know the world would drastically change in the next month following my return. My flight to and from London would indefinitely be my last time traveling for a while. I worked diligently with the material and took my time making sure I had strong ideas. The history of KPM and the opportunity to collaborate with the prestigious lineage made the stakes very high for me and I knew I needed to deliver a quality product. It’s an honor to be the first artist to release a KPM Crate Diggers title. - Earl Davis (Damu the Fudgemunk)

Priya Ragu’s story is just as fascinating as her music. She was born and raised in Switzerland following her parents' escape from the Sri Lankan civil war in the early eighties. As she grew older, the Swiss and Sri Lankan cultures began to clash. Although they are now fully supportive of their daughter, Priya’s parents were initially strict, she wasn’t encouraged to listen to Western music or hang out at the mall after school. However, her musical ambitions soon began to take root.

At the age of 16, she performed Alicia Keys’ ‘Fallin’’ to her brother, who insisted she perform at a show he was doing with his rap group. Her father discovered their plans and stopped her from performing, but Priya wasn’t deterred. She instead made her ambitions more covert, sneaking out to jam sessions and open mic nights, before decided to fully pursue her ambitions by moving to America with the help of her friend, the rapper Oddisee. Working remotely with Japhna, the pair created several tracks which would provide the launchpad for where she is today.
‘damnshestamil’ Priya Ragu’s debut mixtape is a result of her highly productive creative partnership with her producer and brother Japhna Gold, featuring all Priya’s singles to date, including the international sensation ‘Chicken Lemon Rice’, ‘Good Love 2.0’, ‘Forgot About’ as well as her most recent single ‘Kamali’ which launched with a BBC Radio 1 ‘first play’ – with Annie Mac, and most recently A-Listed with the BBC Asian Network – showing no signs of slowing down.
Priya has coined the term ‘Raguwavy’ for her vibrant sound which defies standard genre definitions. It signposts the next era of forward-thinking R&B and electro-pop by tapping into the sonic accents of her Sri Lankan roots.
The current single ‘Kamali’ was inspired by a short BAFTA nominated film of the same name. It explores the story of Suganthi a single mother living in a small village in India, who was raised in a culture in which gender roles are clearly structured and as a result she stayed at home until she was old enough to marry. Suffering through abuse– she escaped to create a better future for herself and her daughter – Kamali. Musically and visually Priya connected to the story of Kamali and brought her world to life through song, placing emphasis on the important of motherhood and the circle of life.
As the road to the mixtape approaches - Priya fulfilled a lifetime ambition when she played a sold-out show as part of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Later Latitude Festival in July, and scheduled to perform at All Points East in August, where she begins to peel back the layers of her first body of work, to a live audience.
She will end the year on a high by embarking upon her long awaited debut UK & European headline tour. Consisting of nine shows spanning six countries, the tour includes a London show at the Jazz Café which is now sold out and will culminate with a homecoming show in Zurich a week later.

The latest release in the series exploring the musical worlds of Gerry Anderson is the most extensive yet. Space: 1999 ran for two series from 1976 to 1977 and depicted the occupants of Moonbase Alpha and their struggle for survival when, after the explosion of a nuclear waste dump, the Moon is hurtled into space.
The series was the most expensive produced for British television at that time and the most musically diverse of all the shows made by Anderson for ITC. Gerry Anderson’s long-time musical partner in all the previous adventures was Barry Gray and Space: 1999 Series 1 proved to be the last of their collaborations. For Series 2, composer Derek Wadsworth took over the reins to provide a more contemporary sound.
The Year 2 album contains Wadsworth’s score, specially selected cues to provide a driving and exciting narrative to convey the new adventures. Record Collector perfectly describes it as “classic 1976 period stuff: fast, furious and occasionally over the top in a dramatic way; nicely atmospheric for Sci-Fi and a touch funky every now and again.”
Derek Wadsworth enjoyed a long and successful career as a composer, trombonist and session musician. For over half-a-century he played, arranged, and conducted for some of the biggest names in music including Dusty Springfield, George Harrison, Judy Garland, Dionne Warwick and many more.

Ipek Yolu is the Turkish name for the Silk Road which connected the East and the West. This band does not deal in silk but they connect flavors, smells and sounds from different corners of the globe, connecting the world.

The band merges bass-heavy electro-tinged cumbia grooves, saz riffs and surf guitar into a multicultural melting pot of South American rhythms, Anatolian folk music and 60s psychedelic rock. A unique universe of sound that bridges the tropical jungles and the dusty deserts in a kaleidoscopic blend of music. Ipek Yolu has used 2020 to write their debut album Tropical Anatolia and are ready to hit the venues and festivals.

The members of Ipek Yolu first got together for an improvised jam session during the Aarhus Roots & Hybrid Festival in 2018. The show was set up as a special one-time-only show merging members from the bands Hudna & Junglelyd. The show ended up lasting for almost three hours. It didn’t take them long to discover they were onto something special. If you know any of these bands mentioned you know you’re in for a body-shaking party, characterized by musical curiosity and improvisation.

The three members of Ipek Yolu have all been part of the Danish music scene for several years. The band leader, Orhan Özgür Turan, is a well-known and respected saz player all over Denmark, and has made a name for himself through his efforts in the Anatolian Folk band Hudna. In 2018 he won an award as Global Roots Artist of the year at The Danish World Music Awards. Olaf Brinch and Lasse Aagaard have worked together for many years making high energy cumbia with their band Junglelyd and Afrobeat with their band African Connection. Olaf is also an integral part of the Danish band AddisAbabaBand. In addition, Olaf and Lasse have toured and recorded with great musicians such as CC Yoyo, former drummer of Fela Kuti, in both Ghana and Denmark. All of the past experiences collided to create Ipek Yolu.

180g vinyl record. only 300 copies - all hand numbered.

pressed in two verison - 200 black and 100 transparet with one white line ("crack" as the name of the TV series).

The first 100 copies have the Urbanski signature on the back cover.

This is another, after "Ultraviolet" collaboration project of the AXN Polska, U Know Me Records and the artist - Wojtek Urbański. The soundtrack for the Rysa series with Wojtek's original music will premiere on the 9th April.

"The music for the Rysa series is a combination of the world of electronics, modernity with traditional instruments and folk accents. On one side we have synthesizers, deep bass and wide spaces, characteristic of electronic music and close to my musical style. In opposition to these elements, however, I used traditional instruments such as hurdy-gurdy, pipes, flutes and strings" says Wojtek Urbański.

"I wanted the duality of this music to reflect the struggles and double life of the main character of the series. She lives in a certain suspension, between the 'day' world which she knows and remembers, but also the 'night' world which happens beyond her consciousness. Through music, I tried to convey the character of both these worlds, touching very dark and heavy emotions in one of them. I have invited an expert of traditional music, Sebastian Wielądek (hurdy-gurdy, pipes, flutes) and the outstanding violinists Stanisław Słowiński and Agnieszka Świgut to record these works. " adds Urbański

180g vinyl record. only 300 copies - all hand numbered.

pressed in two verison - 200 black and 100 transparet with one white line ("crack" as the name of the TV series).

The first 100 copies have the Urbanski signature on the back cover.

This is another, after "Ultraviolet" collaboration project of the AXN Polska, U Know Me Records and the artist - Wojtek Urbański. The soundtrack for the Rysa series with Wojtek's original music will premiere on the 9th April.

"The music for the Rysa series is a combination of the world of electronics, modernity with traditional instruments and folk accents. On one side we have synthesizers, deep bass and wide spaces, characteristic of electronic music and close to my musical style. In opposition to these elements, however, I used traditional instruments such as hurdy-gurdy, pipes, flutes and strings" says Wojtek Urbański.

"I wanted the duality of this music to reflect the struggles and double life of the main character of the series. She lives in a certain suspension, between the 'day' world which she knows and remembers, but also the 'night' world which happens beyond her consciousness. Through music, I tried to convey the character of both these worlds, touching very dark and heavy emotions in one of them. I have invited an expert of traditional music, Sebastian Wielądek (hurdy-gurdy, pipes, flutes) and the outstanding violinists Stanisław Słowiński and Agnieszka Świgut to record these works. " adds Urbański

In the fleeting moments between the state of being awake and reaching the doors of dreamworld lies a borderland whence comes the mood music of ancient stories told – the celestial unison of three creative souls known as AURI.
Originally born in 2011 from the special connection of Johanna Kurkela, Tuomas Holopainen and Troy Donockley, AURI was first introduced to the world as late as 2018. Now complemented by the dynamic percussive talents of Kai Hahto, the threesome carves fantastical worlds entirely their own.

Comprised by Tuomas’ keys and infinite imagination, Troy’s arsenal of flutes, other folk instruments and magical touch, and Kurkela’s youthful and tender voice full of childlike wonder – fragile and gossamer, yet powerful and moving beyond words – the flow of AURI’s celestial, uplifting mood music captures from the first notes and does not let go.

To its key members AURI is a creative outlet unconfined by the preconceptions caused by their other bands and their respective audiences. Leaning to Celtic folk and cinematic pop yet not shackled by any specific genre, AURI isn’t the kind of music that can be described by words alone. No, an equal effort of the enchanted three, AURI runs a lane of completely their own. Unburdened by anyone’s expectations but their own. This is the sort of music that taps directly into emotions.

Embrace the atmospheric auditory imagery of fantastical valleys of other fairytale dimensions and soon gone fireside bards. Dwell for just a moment in treasuries of dreamlands and ponderings that see mundane things turning into otherworldly miracles.Feel welcomed to embark on endless adventures on long roads untrodden and ships never sailed.
As if frozen in time, you’ll be captivated by heart-burstingly elating fare-thee-wells for those dearly departed.
Hear the soft words that empower those feeling inadequate and reassurance to others fearing death.AURI’s are the keys to a dimension of awe no one else sees. Only theirs to offer are the mystical, soundscapes and ethereal vocals.
Theirs to hold are the magical powers that can melt the steeliest of hearts and make grown men cry. AURI invites the listener along for journeys no other band can provide.

Come, my love – now it‘s calm enough to go.

The Paradigm-Shifting Fourth Studio Opus From The Norwegian Pioneers.
Presented On 2cd Deluxe Digipack Format & Including A Retrospective Look
At The Album Courtesy Of Writer Jeff Wagner.
‘Themes from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’ is the fourth
studio album by Norwegian experimentalists Ulver.
Having been known for their more folklore-tinged black metal compositions on
early studio releases, in late 1997, mainman Kristoffer Rygg invited keyboardist, sound conceptualist, and composer Tore Ylwizaker into the collective, and
together they devised a plan for The Blake Album; an altogether far more adventurous endeavour than prior releases.
What resulted was a seamless integration of electronic & industrial music, with
elements of progressive metal & avantgarde rock, all fused with ambient passages, & following Blake’s plates as track indexes. A work of deep and personal
art, the album, while initially surprising to fans due to its complete shift in genre, has become a classic today, and a prime example of the boundary-pushing
evolution beyond the confines of genre expectations through the latter part of
the 90’s. Upon release, ‘The Marriage of Heaven & Hell’ received widespread
acclaim from critics within the rock, metal & alternative music press, being
awarded Album of the Month in several high-profile magazines such as Terrorizer, Metal Hammer, and Rock Hard.
The album notably includes guest vocal appearances from Darkthrone’s Fenriz,
as well as Ihsahn & Samoth; most known for their work in Emperor.
This newly remastered edition of ‘The Marriage of Heaven & Hell’ is presented
on 2CD deluxe digipack format, including full lyrics/text, plus a new article from
writer and journalist Jeff Wagner on the background, nature & triumph of such
an ambitious release.

Charlie Parr’s album, ‘Last of the Better Days Ahead’, is a collection of
powerful new songs about how one looks back on a life lived, as well as
forward on what’s still to come.
Its spare production foregrounds Parr’s poetic lyricism, his expressive, gritty
voice ringing clear over deft acoustic guitar playing that references folk and
blues motifs in Parr’s own exploratory, idiosyncratic style.
When it comes to what it all means, Parr says it best: “Last of the Better Days
Ahead is a way for me to refer to the times I’m living in. I’m getting on in years,
experiencing a shift in perspective that was once described by my mom as ‘a
time when we turn from gazing into the future to gazing back at the past, as
if we’re adrift in the current, slowly turning around.’ Some songs came from
meditations on the fact that the portion of our brain devoted to memory is also
the portion responsible for imagination, and what that entails for the collected
experiences that we refer to as our lives.
Other songs are cultivated primarily from the imagination, but also contain
memories of what may be a real landscape, or at least one inspired by vivid dreaming. The album represents one full rotation of the boat in which we
are adrift looking ahead for a last look at the better days to come, then being
turned around to see the leading edge of the past as it fades into the foggy
dreamscape of our real and imagined histories.”
“Like John Hartford jamming with St Francis of Assisi, Parr strikes a fine balance between immense generosity toward humanity and barely contained
outrage towards humanity’s tendency towards coldness and conformity.” 8/10
Uncut
“Hypnotic stories of low-key endurance and universal questions, like Raymond
Carver’s fiction set to a louch, crystal-clear soundtrack” **** Mojo

‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is the 14th studio album from Manic Street Preachers. It is both reflection and reaction - a record that gazes in isolation across a cluttered room, fogged by often painful memories, to focus on an open window framing a gleaming vista of land melting into sea and endless sky.

Musically ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is inspired by a formative years record box (ABBA, post-Eno Roxy, the Bunnymen, Fables-era REM, Lodger) though the end result could only be the unique union of James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore, collectively one of the UK’s most consistently brilliant rock’n’roll bands for over three decades.

Following their critically well received debut album, Seekers, in 2017 - Our Kingdom Undone sees BEYOND GRACE refining and redefining their sound into something that’s simultaneously more intricate and more intense than ever before, combining conceptually ambitious songwriting and high octane heaviness in equal measure. Our Kingdom Undone’s gestation period took place under a pall of social unrest and political uncertainty the world over, so it’s perhaps no surprise that each of these eight songs is a cathartic scream of raw emotion and primal poetry. Full to the brim with lyrics that rage with unfettered fury and unbound frustration against the rise of isolationism, exploitation, rampant militarism, and religious indoctrination. Recorded at Stuck On A Name studio by Ian Boult and Bookhouse studio by Tom Hill, before being mixed and mastered by Charles Elliott (Tastemaker Audio / Abysmal Dawn), Our Kingdom Undone (whose stunning artwork was provided by in-demand UK artist Shindy Reehal) is both a crushing statement of intent and a vital reminder that the personal is political, that the ends do not justify the means, and that we must not let our fear divide us and drive us into an age of unreason.

Repress !

Private Selection Records founder and curator Dreams comes crashing in with a 6-tracker falling between thick body music and gnarly, frenzied electro. With ragged rhythms, reverberating synths and heart-wrenching vocal elements these tracks tie together a dystopian journey beginning with sheer rampage, leading to devastation and ending in hopeless ruin.

with Sticker

Ruyzdael presents Writers on Wax - The Sound of Graffiti: All Out Kings. A vinyl-only EP with 3 exclusive, electronic tracks by heavyweight techno producers Franky Bones, Adam X and PURE who are both (in)famous as graffiti writers as musicians. This edition comes as a regular and a limited obi with white vinyl.

New Yorker Singer-Songwriter entdeckt den Westcoast-Sound. Das 2019 erschienene Album "The Unseen In Between" etablierte den amerikanischen Musiker Steve Gunn als einen Großmeister des US-Songwritings - mit seinem neuen Album "Other You" unterstreicht er nun diesen Anspruch. Gunn, der ursprünglich aus Pennsylvania stammt und mittlerweile in Brooklyn lebt, ist für die Aufnahmen zu seinem neuen Album an die Westküste gereist. Das passt perfekt, denn seine Musik ist der ideale Soundtrack für Roadtrips von der Ostküste an die Westküste des Landes. Sein fein destillierter Sound lässt sich dabei zwischen Roots Rock, Americana, Folk und Jazz treiben. Steve Gunn ist Traditionalist und Suchender zugleich. Zumeist geht er nur mit losen Ideen ins Studio, bei denen er am Anfang nie so genau weiß, wo sie ihn am Ende hinführen werden. Ähnlich gestaltete sich das auch dieses Mal. Sein sechstes Studioalbum "Other You" nahm Steve Gunn zusammen mit Produzentenlegende Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, Kurt Vile) in dessen Mant Studios in Los Angeles Ende 2020 und Anfang 2021 auf. Schnapf hat großen Anteil an der Entstehung dieses Albums. Er schüttelte nicht nur das Soundbett auf, sondern mischte auch Steve Gunns Stimme in den Vordergrund, um den poetischen Lyrics des Songwriters die richtige Bühne zu bieten. Mit Hilfe von befreundeten Musikern wie Juliana Barwick, Mary Lattimore, Bridget St. John, Jeff Parker, Bill MacKay, Ben Bertrand und dem Schlagzeuger Ryan Sawyer (TV On The Radio, Thurston Moore, Gang Gang Dance) entstand mit "Other You" ein Album, mit dem Steve Gunn nicht nur die Grenzen von Genres auslotet, sondern auch seine eigenen.

An invitation to multi-cultural musics reunited around the Carribean Islands. From Haïti to the Bahamas, passing by the French West Indies this journey explores traditional rythms from Soca, Calypso or Biguine. Musicians as Gordon Henderson, Max Cilla or the band Skah Shah knew how to use Soul, Funk and Disco influences to create a unique groove with multiple faces.

Analha was one of the first approaches I had with the design of analog basses and drums, to understand the way in which we can involve so many sounds and transform them to our own liking, to give it its own narrative, a sense, an identity in which it can be navigated about different styles without problem.

They are two pieces that make up totally different break paths where "Mi ama Dic K no" A1 is my own exploration and vision of the break beat, three melodies written in F # that count the subtlety, while the bass contrasts in an aggressive idea to the beat of many changing rhythms in the drums, which sorfs between a Mpc, 808, Dsm & V Modular ; Classic trip hop voices samples that guide the way this own idea progresses on the breaks and pads that generate a more complete environment with a very energetic atmosphere that is constantly on the rise in the active and natural development of the track.

Towards the B side "Run mami run" B1 is composed by a classic intro of acid cut while some seconds of drums interpose which are accompanied by a radio narration of a chase, a return change is present with a vinyl spin between voices from GTA & WU TANG CLAN which make an intro for an infusion of breaks fully aligned to the beginnings of oldskool drum and bass which are accompanied by voices recorded, treated and edited to connect more directly between the spaces interrupted by the glitch acid chords.

Among contrary structures "Analha" contains hidden but marked criticisms, it is a project that comes from 2018 and ended at the beginning of 2019 which made him think about how to involve more than music within his own sound narrative.

The sonorous identity of rachiid today is different, he understands his environment but does not believe in adapting, he tells us that each exploration and discovery during these years have led him to think how this first release was born until now but is not connected at all with what nowadays, describes his sonority today as changeable, essential and highly with IDM, experimental and breaks.

Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley had already led nine dates for Blue Note Records by the time he arrived at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio on February 7, 1960 with pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Art Blakey, but on that day the quartet laid down what would become his masterpiece: Soul Station.

The crystalline six-song set was a showcase for Mobley’s lyrical flow from the breezy opening take on Irving Berlin’s “Remember” through bluesy originals like “Dig Dis” and the title track, and the swinging up-tempo numbers “This I Dig of You” and “Split Feelin’s.” Soul Station endures as a jazz classic for the ages..

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Ramona Córdova is a sound artist — passionate about writing, communicating, linguistics, behavioural & social psychology, observation & investigative research, photography, sound recording, and design. Their artist focus is on project-based sound and visual media, public engagement and live performance — although they are best known for their music and are typical regarded as a singer songwriter. Ramona Córdova intends to speak to the challenges of living under systems of oppression while inspiring introspection and personal growth toward the maturing of our societies. Ramona is Haitian-Filipina, Puerto Rican, born in Kingman, Arizona, USA and is inter-feminine trans non-binary.

"When I first started working on Naïve I was completely consumed by all of the technical details involved in making a 'professional studio recording' on my own - one which could not be refuted or disregarded as subpar. My only other hope was to tell some sort of story with whichever songs i could piece together. The content and message of which were much less important to me.

The story that Naïve ended up telling comes from a cohesion of themes, ceaseless in my personal experiences living day to day in the world. Although the album dares to tread on tact while speaking poetically and lyrically about issues such as systemic oppression, racism, misogyny, policing and patriarchy - I think the album really just wants to reflect - to serve as a reflection - in order to foster healing and healthy growth towards maturing. I feel it commanding a kind of firm kindness as a reminder to love yourself enough to accept others, by way of accepting yourself.

Pressed onto this 180-gram vinyl are 10 songs I wrote while living in many different places around the world. Spontaneous recordings of inspired notions of song, written one rainy evening up high above the vineyards in Banyuls-sur-Mer became Men on the Mountain. A Scrap of paper holding jots about a sudden storm on a hot day in August while helping friends on their farm in Puglia became Mouth of Autumn and Peace Through Violence. As I dressed myself into the fragile reality of the United States, I became flooded by its manipulative social governing systems. As the monuments of slave-owners, colonisers, and white supremacists came crashing down in the name of responsibility and accountability, The Bridge Works was built, a song about crossing bridges towards empathy and equality. Civil rights activist and American-Football quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, taking the knee during the United States national anthem pre-game ceremony, brought about So Long. The incessant murdering of black, brown, and transgender citizens brought Woke, Scared I'll Bite You, and The End. The murder of Eric Garner and the feeling of being choked-out and suffocated under the weight of systemic oppression brought about Still.

From all of this birthed the collection of songs that is Naïve, a title given to the album by French Ghanian artist Eden Tinto Collins. Although written both in Europe and the U.S., most of the songs were performed and recorded at the end of the year 2018 in Philadelphia, during the American-Holidays season. Still, Loving Him, and The End were written in Philadelphia, but produced in Vlorë, Albania. This helped serve as a reminder that the issues these songs speak of are not isolated to the United States of America." - Ramona Córdova

Emerging from the Toronto warehouse scene, Tush is a rising electronic music act powered by Kamilah Apong and Jamie Kidd. Taking inspiration from electro funk, early disco, post-punk and '90s house; their debut album 'Fantast' embodies the rawness, vulnerability, and intimacy of the dancefloor.

'Fantast' kicks off with the slow burning 'Wavy Baby', an invitation to get close, get intimate and submit to the groove: "Vulnerability is the key to us getting to that next step of intimacy". Up next is lead single 'Chrysalis', a high octane ride through a technicolour fantasy world of heady synths and driving rhythms that propel Kamilah's voice into an erotic stratosphere.

'Don't Be Afraid' is about having the courage to love defiantly, urgently, and with intention. Driven by Jamie's infectious bass lines and FX blasts, it smoothly transforms into an uplifting gospel-infused track.

Two high points of the album, 'Jessica F***' and 'Marathons', highlight Tush doing what they do best. These tracks are the sound of the warehouse scene that birthed the project in the first place and the late night jam sessions that were full of possibility pre-pandemic. Here, Tush really stretch their improvisational muscles - the interplay of raw soulful vocals, hypnotic basslines, synth pads, and heavy disco rhythms is at the core of what makes them so invigorating.

'Fantast' closes with the uplifting sunrise energy of 'My Joy', the light at the end of the tunnel. "This song is enchanted by the backing vocals of my friends and chosen family, who are my cornerstones to working through the wonderful mess that I am". Kamilah adds "The track gives me this feeling that - no matter how hard the world tries to beat it out of me - I can and I have had to work hard to cultivate my own happiness in my own sacred spaces - one of those being Tush. Ultimately, this is all I really need".

Jimmy Tamborello returns with a collection of 10 pop-infused vocal hymns – simultaneously perfect dance floor fillers and lullabies. "Away" is the second of two Dntel albums to be released in 2021 by Morr Music in collaboration with Les Albums Claus. While "The Seas Trees See" showcased Tamborello's more intricate and quiet side, "Away" embraces his love for pop music. A genre which like no other has been resonating the advancements of technology from the very beginning. Songwriting was sequenced and computerized on such a large scale that it would change the sonic aesthetics of the charts forever.

Dntel is a musician who changed pop music forever – and still works in this never-ending labour of love, both effortless and highly focused, constantly tweaking the universe of our musical perception. Whether beatless or uncompromisingly embracing the limelight of collective ecstasy with one of his most remembered tunes "(This Is) The Dream Of Evan And Chan", his almost forgotten anthem "Don’t Get Your Hopes Up" or his work as James Figurine. "Away" features 10 of these extravaganzas – uniting his audience once more in hope and future-bound optimism.

"I grew up with 80s techno-pop – these influences always come through in my music", Jimmy writes from Los Angeles. For this album, though, "I was thinking more of 80s indie pop or labels like 4AD. It is a mix of those influences along with trying to figure out what elements of my own discography I still connect with. I wanted it to reflect old Dntel records as well as the techno-pop band Figurine I used to be in. I have always considered my music basically being techno-pop, but not referring to pop as popular music – I just like pretty melodies. But with the Dntel moniker, I never had the ambition to produce music for a really big audience.”

It is exactly that looseness in approaching music which makes Tamborello’s style of composing so unique. On "Away" he combines a healthy dose of distortion with the most-sticking melodies, vocals and bitter-sweet lyrics he ever came up with – performing all vocals himself, with the help of technology. "My voice has a limited range. When I applied this vocal processing it seemed to bring out the emotions more. I don’t see it as the same as the more artificial, autotuned style of modern pop music. I think it still sounds like it could be a real person singing, just not me."

Using this technique, Dntel disembodies himself from his own art, welcoming all kinds of interpretations re. his current state as an artist. "Somehow this processed voice feels closer to how I see myself than my normal voice, for better or worse…", he writes. Pop music is a fragile entity, making its kingpins vulnerable. Many emotions reveal a lot of the originator’s personality –this is something one has to be prepared for. On "Away", Jimmy Tamborello finds the perfect way of marrying his unique musical personality with both the demands and possibilities of pop music. Just listen to "Connect" and you’ll know what we’re talking about. A perfect, yet timeless album for less than perfect times.

The core tenets of Morgan Wright's music have long tested club music's context; the rituals and customs that define it, and how each of those genres change once removed from their traditional settings.
It's a space Morgan Wright feels at home in; one where he's constantly asking questions of the structure club music resides within, and what it means to create a new space for familiar sounds. And over the course of his debut album, Class Tourist, Morgan has found new ways to elevate those same questions - whether by way of intention, or a pandemic-induced coping mechanism.
In Class Tourist, Morgan again borrows from familiar strains of the subgenres which have come to form his musical identity. This time, he fuses sounds of post-punk, IDM and breakbeat, hopeful they converge to form a bastardised rendition of the latter, with "Australiana" at its core.
It's a sound that was made possible by a change to his songwriting approach, after pivoting from a loop-based production style - one which he has applied to a slew of other projects, for the better part of five years - to one which lends itself to a more standardised, contemporary format.

Moving through the record, Morgan toys with musical tropes of contrast with a calculated refinement unheard throughout his previous work. The coalescence of melodic optimism and bleak, mournful soundscapes feature on Class Tourist again, as you would expect. But this time, contemporary structure - with the exception of a few songs - along with the features of label-mate, Purient, and frequent collaborator, ENDL355, breathe new life, and even a new genre, into Morgan's work.

A double album of sumptuous, expansive downbeat luxury written by Pete Woosh - one half of the celebrated duo Digs & Woosh and Nottingham's DIY collective - with Andy Riley (Toka Project, Inland Knights) during the illness which would eventually claim Pete's life. Given the background of its creation, it's a blissfully peaceful and optimistic sounding collection.

The chilled disco/house hypnotism of 'Keep Yr Shape' and 'For Your Love', all slinky, hazy vocals and headnodding back room hedonism, are obvious highlights, but more reflective moments like 'Piano Fades' make this into a varied and enduring 'proper album' listen rather a mere collection of tracks.

All profits will go to the Spirit Wrestlers foundation, founded in honour of Pete's memory and devoted to good causes in his hometown of Nottingham.

Thyrfing emerged from the ever-growing underground scene in Sweden
back in 1995.
After seven full-length albums and numerous live performances all over the
world, the band have gained a strong following over the years and an exquisite
standing within the metal scene.
They are considered one of the top bands within the so-called Viking/pagan
metal genre - but on the other hand, Thyrfing are so much more with their truly
outstanding and self-contained musical offering.
The name of the band is taken from the sword “Tyrfing” in Norse mythology - a
cursed blade that appears in several tales and myths. Ever since the start, the
mythology has played a huge part in the scenery and imagery of the band’s
music and lyrics, something which is still intact today.
‘Vanagandr’ (an alternate name for the wolf creature known by the more familiar Fenrir) is a celebration of the tales and stories of Scandinavia - the track
‘Undergangens lankar’ is a conceptual piece focusing on Vanagandr/Fenrir and
a track that carries the spirit and hallmarks that make Thyrfing so unique.
‘Dop dem i eld’ is both the opening song on the album and the first video, one
of two produced for the band by Patric Ullaeus (Dimmu Borgir, Europe, Arch
Enemy). A powerful, heavy, and aggressive track packed with groove and melody. Elsewhere ‘Tr ldomsord’ is regarded as possibly the band’s most intense
song to date, whereas ‘Jordaf rd’ closes the album in epic fashion - a mournful
and moody longing for the end to come. The perfect way to end the album!
Co-recorded and co-produced by Jakob Herrmann (In Flames, Machine Head,
Evergrey) in Top Floor Studios, Gothenburg, with the renowned Jacob Hansen
(Volbeat, U.D.O., Katatonia) looking after the mix and mastering, all of which
ensures at ‘Vanagandr’ sounds massive!
The art concept was executed perfectly by Niklas Sundin of Cabin Fever Media
(ex-Dark Tranquillity) who reconnects with the band once again (he also did
the “Vansinnesvisor” album back in 2002.)
‘Vanagandr’ is the first release via the band’s new record label, Despotz Records. Who recently also signed over the rights to the band’s first four albums
Thyrfing (1998), Valdr Galga (1999), Urkraft (2000), Vansinnesvisor (2002) and
have announced exclusive physical re-issues are in the making.
“... a successful voyage into an oaken woods where death metal, traditional
thrash, and Scandinavian folk commingle harmoniously” // John Serba, Allmusic
“This album gives you an epic feel, and that’s the big strength of Thyrfing,
their music can do something like that to you.” // folk-metal.nl

Thyrfing emerged from the ever-growing underground scene in Sweden
back in 1995.
After seven full-length albums and numerous live performances all over the
world, the band have gained a strong following over the years and an exquisite
standing within the metal scene.
They are considered one of the top bands within the so-called Viking/pagan
metal genre - but on the other hand, Thyrfing are so much more with their truly
outstanding and self-contained musical offering.
The name of the band is taken from the sword “Tyrfing” in Norse mythology - a
cursed blade that appears in several tales and myths. Ever since the start, the
mythology has played a huge part in the scenery and imagery of the band’s
music and lyrics, something which is still intact today.
‘Vanagandr’ (an alternate name for the wolf creature known by the more familiar Fenrir) is a celebration of the tales and stories of Scandinavia - the track
‘Undergangens lankar’ is a conceptual piece focusing on Vanagandr/Fenrir and
a track that carries the spirit and hallmarks that make Thyrfing so unique.
‘Dop dem i eld’ is both the opening song on the album and the first video, one
of two produced for the band by Patric Ullaeus (Dimmu Borgir, Europe, Arch
Enemy). A powerful, heavy, and aggressive track packed with groove and melody. Elsewhere ‘Tr ldomsord’ is regarded as possibly the band’s most intense
song to date, whereas ‘Jordaf rd’ closes the album in epic fashion - a mournful
and moody longing for the end to come. The perfect way to end the album!
Co-recorded and co-produced by Jakob Herrmann (In Flames, Machine Head,
Evergrey) in Top Floor Studios, Gothenburg, with the renowned Jacob Hansen
(Volbeat, U.D.O., Katatonia) looking after the mix and mastering, all of which
ensures at ‘Vanagandr’ sounds massive!
The art concept was executed perfectly by Niklas Sundin of Cabin Fever Media
(ex-Dark Tranquillity) who reconnects with the band once again (he also did
the “Vansinnesvisor” album back in 2002.)
‘Vanagandr’ is the first release via the band’s new record label, Despotz Records. Who recently also signed over the rights to the band’s first four albums
Thyrfing (1998), Valdr Galga (1999), Urkraft (2000), Vansinnesvisor (2002) and
have announced exclusive physical re-issues are in the making.
“... a successful voyage into an oaken woods where death metal, traditional
thrash, and Scandinavian folk commingle harmoniously” // John Serba, Allmusic
“This album gives you an epic feel, and that’s the big strength of Thyrfing,
their music can do something like that to you.” // folk-metal.nl