Cerca:the extremes

Rock band Ego Kill Talent—Jonathan Dörr vocals, Jean Dolabella [drums, guitar], Raphael Miranda [drums, bass], Niper Boaventura [guitar, bass], and Theo Van Der Loo [bass, guitar] —had been pivoting for most of 2020. The band was confirmed for a spring tour of South America with Metallica and Greta Van Fleet, set to perform at the majority of the Danny Wimmer Presents Festivals in the U.S., to tour with System of a Down in Europe, and to perform at many key European festivals. All told, EKT had booked 35 shows and 21 key festivals across three continents. They have supported Foo Fighters, (having been hand selected by Dave Grohl) and Queens Of The Stone Age
They are known for switching instruments amongst members while playing and were eager to show off their live prowess to audiences worldwide. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent global shutdown, Ego Kill Talent, like so many others, were forced to get creative —revamping and revising tour and album release plans.
EKT elected to split their full-length The Dance Between Extremes into three EPs due to the pandemic. The Dance EP landed on June 27 and The Dance Between EP dropped Dec 4. The third, final, and full release The Dance Between Extremes arrives on March 19, 2021.

Siccar Point is the second album release from Intertoto, and is a study of the geographical extremes on the east coast of his native Scotland. The eight pieces of music on the album serve as vignettes portraying this ancient headland, while also acting as an allegorical reference to the pioneering work of Scottish geologist James Hutton, who proposed that geological features are not static but undergo continuous transformation over indefinitely long periods of time.

With this theory — and the striking landscape — in mind, Jamie Coull, aka Intertoto, imagines tectonic forces through tension, space, density, and texture. Divergent and convergent boundaries are realised in different moods throughout. Siccar Point opens with the irregular drift of Raw Lunar Concrete, a track that undulates asymmetrically, pulling you off balance before settling into the pulse of Condor Launch and Cloud Chamber — the more veiled club moments of the album.

Further into the strata, Siccar Point mines deep into the dense textures of Metallic Veins and Redox Dub, before closing with the cascading outro Foraber, shimmering with tones that imagine a view outward from the rocky promontory — beyond the vanishing point.

Craig Clouse has devoted the past several decades to exploring a wide range of avant-garde avenues for his brainchild Shit & Shine. The monolithic riffs of raw and powerful psych'n'roll hysteria, the freeform dance miasma, sub-heavy electronica and the blissful stupidity crafted for ecstatic ascension: all perfectly-placed in the idiosyncratic world of Shit & Shine. There's also fertile soil for twisted noises in their lowest form, often obscured by groovier comrades in S&S releases yet vitally important for the substance of Clouse's compositional carcass and OOH-sounds has given him the required space to stretch out his longtime interest in developing loose structures and crackling landscapes to transcend his rhythmic comfort zone.

Making an enthusiastic transgression into noisy tones, "Joy Of Joys" has a friendly way of presenting difficult material. The rough and ready cheapo electronics sparkle in full electrifying mode, welding an ascetic gamut of aural hypnotics with a wormhole of uncompromising loop brut. Clanks, bangs, twangs and creeping, ragged globs of sound bloom on the bones of repetition to focus on the swinging stream of dirty anarchy. Stepping out of any context and genre disciplines, S&S finds new sonic trajectories in "Joy Of Joys" which perfectly sit in-between a wobbly cabal of international sub-underground acts: the idiot-avant strategies of LAFMS, early Mego bad digitalia, no-brow enthusiasm of Wolf Eyes family, micro-DIY ethos of Chocolate Monk and the sheer hellish nonsense of US noise circa '00s.

Clouse was already established as a landscape painter with a series of faux naïf paintings charmingly accompanying his releases. With his heart full of passion for abstract minimalism, he continued these narrative forms but was always in search of the confidence to paint non-figurative art. The first step into the chaotic abyss is coming from his sonic side by abandoning the beat and riff layers of his previous works to complete nakedness and reductionist courage. At once Clouse makes an evolutionary lurch into extremes as well as taking us back to basic forms in "Joy Of Joys". He creates an entire new parallel world to Shit & Shine with his maverick imagination presenting us with one of the most mutant releases to bear his name. Arthur Kuzmin

The master of ambient soundscapes, intertwining authentic old school breakbeats with his inimitable style returns with a fresh album of choice cuts for the Spatial crew. A1 - Form of Defraction Opening the LP in his gloriously unique style, Aural Imbalance sets the tone with a powerfully ambient intro of padwork and delicately filtered breaks before dense, analogue old school breakbeats roar to life sending the track skyward. The sublime 808 bassline simmers beneath an ever-evolving soundscape of twinkling melodies and strings, the very essence of serenity captured in just under 7 minutes of audio bliss. A2 - Discreet Function Enveloping the listener with a warm blanket of silky ambience, Discreet Function soon jolts to life with a crunchy breakbeat that counteracts yet compliments the pads and myriad of delicious micro melodies so well, you wonder how it’s possible to take such extremes and mix them down so expertly that our ears accept it as one. After a relatively brief breakdown the track rolls out before the breaks are snatched away at the death - capping off a quite unique composition. B1 - Softlight Light cymbals and delicate textures introduce us to Softlight, a track which sees Aural Imbalance guiding the listener through the clouds to a haven of gentle serenity where your troubles simply fade away, punctuated by a stunningly programmed and memorable Hot Pants break pattern, timid classic basslines and an overall plethora of sun-baked energy - perfect for the headphones and the record box - as always. B2 - Airwave Immensely old school vibes are immediately present in Airwave, with analogue breaks and succinct female vocal samples that mingle with echoing melodies and synthwork to create a beautifully flowing and unique slice of atmospheric gold. Additional breaks are fused into the mix as the track progresses, elevating the piece to the heights we have come to expect from Aural Imbalance, yet never cease to amaze. C1 - Speed of Light Gentle cymbals and filtered breaks open Speed of Light, before a crisp barrage of amen goodness descends and dominates proceedings - just as a good amen should! Programmed to perfection with an immensely danceable rolling pattern, the amens lead us through a sea of washing synths and delicate melodies, intertwining and frolicking in the mix, completing a charming and memorable piece. C2 - Fading Star Playful strings and a luscious 808 bassline play with sumptuous padwork in the intro to Fading Star, a track which sees Aural Imbalance capture the essence of 90’s jungle and it’s symbiotic relationship with atmospheric drum & bass perfectly. Developing throughout with an array of unassuming effects and a quietly moving vibe, Fading Star is the perfect addition to sets spanning the entire history of this music. D1 - Drifting Under Bright Skies Aural Imbalance resurrects the excellent break last featured on Spatial in his sublime track Surface Area, this time chopped and sliced to a different vibe, with kickdrums at the forefront and that fantastically crunchy snare deployed more sparingly. Shimmering padwork and light melodies dance across the mix throughout to leave us with a refreshingly unique and memorable track you won’t be able to get enough of. D2 - Violet Completing this fine LP of old school ambient breakbeat mastery, Aural Imbalance deploys Violet to see us out - a climactic-feeling romp that opens with quiet intent before launching the listener through cheery melodic tones and bustling soundscapes, sprinkled liberally with airy pads and fluttering micro melodies that zip and whoosh around thick analogue breakbeats. A fitting end to a thoroughly enjoyable album. Words by Chris Hayes (Spatial / Red Mist) credits

2026 Repress

The Architects of Shadows explores the volatile undercurrents shaping today's polarized world, where extremes on all sides vie for influence and control. Against a backdrop of rising nationalism, digital echo chambers, and deepening distrust, each track captures a stage in the gradual radicalization of society. Through dark, immersive soundscapes, the album delves into how unseen architects exploit fear, amplify division, and pull the strings of public sentiment, leading society toward ideological extremes. The Architects of Shadows invites listeners to confront the forces behind the fracturing of Western societies in an era marked by profound political and cultural polarization.

F_Phono is an artist who has spent a significant part of his life immersed in the vibrant atmosphere of clubs, where he discovered a deep passion for electronic music. Through years of exploration across various musical genres, he found his true voice in a sound that blends Electro and Synth Pop, drawing clear inspiration from the iconic styles of the '80s and '90s. The result is a modern and distinctive sonic identity—deeply rooted in the past yet forward-looking in its execution.

"Santi e Peccatori" is an album that tells a story—one of ancient duality, where light meets shadow, the sacred meets the profane, and the physical collides with the spiritual. It explores the timeless tension between opposites: black and white, yin and yang, raw and ethereal. Through a seamless blend of driving, hard-edged beats and dreamy, melodic textures, this sonic journey invites both the mind and body to move. Each track is a chapter in a narrative of contrast and connection, where electronic music becomes the language of balance and transformation. Santi e Peccatori isn't just an album—it's a rite of passage through the grey spaces between extremes.

Mastered at : BurbiDub
Artwork : Marcos Pedrero

Arriving two years after the first chapter, Absurd Matter 2 isn’t just a sequel, it’s an evolution, redrawing the boundaries established by its acclaimed predecessor. The Berlin-based Italian producer tempers his confrontational sonics with rare moments of introspection, shifting seamlessly between blown-out noise, warped hip-hop, mutant club experimentation, and weightless ambience. Textures disintegrate and reassemble, rhythms flex and crumble, and every detail balances on the edge of fantasy. It’s a poetic, layered response to Nino Pedone’s changing physical reality: the gradual hearing loss and perceptual renegotiation triggered by Ménière’s disease, which struck him in 2022. At first, the experience felt like betrayal, a brutal disconnection from the very sense that had shaped his life. But over time, the disorientation turned into a strange kind of focus. The silence between sounds became as expressive as the sounds themselves.
The first Absurd Matter was a visceral reaction to trauma; the second is more reflective – an ambiguous chronicle of sensory recalibration. Pedone doesn’t represent his altered inner reality through extremes, but through depth, zooming in on illusory distortions, tense rhythmic fluctuations, and fragmented sonics. Dense, immersive, and mystical, the album mirrors Pedone’s evolving relationship with perception itself.
Tinnitus-like feedback wails and noir-ish strings introduce “Repeater”, making it immediately clear that Pedone is painting a more delicately finessed image this time around. Fleshed out by raps from cult MCs billy woods and E L U C I D, the track is marked by subtle, sophisticated contrasts: the blurred, inverted rhythms that couch Armand Hammer’s haunted back-and-forth, and the glitchy interference that offsets the lavish orchestral phrases. Backwoodz associate Fatboi Sharif lends his Lynchian drawl to “Bandage Chipped Wings”, grounding Pedone’s lysergic rhythmic distortions with syrupy, horror-inspired couplets. Pedone also invites discomfort into “Crash Landing”, with droning, metallic tones that contradict South Central rapper ICECOLDBISHOP’s elastic flow. “Bitch, I don't give a fuck about anybody,” he squawks over Pedone’s incongruous rasping textures and time-warped beats, “cash out at any party.” Working alongside London’s Loraine James on production, Pedone reunites with Moor Mother on “I Saw The Light”, blending James’ soft-focus atmospherics with soundsystem-damaging, overdriven bass hits and rusted percussive snips. Moor Mother’s assertive words hover over the wreckage, tightening Pedone’s themes of overstimulation and altered awareness as they stutter and veer off course, vanishing into the backdrop.
Contrasting his more pensive experiments, Pedone’s dancefloor deviations are more concentrated on Absurd Matter 2 than ever before. He torches a stuttering dembow structure on “X”, obfuscating the rhythm’s familiar energy with disturbing audio hallucinations. On “Splintered”, he reunites with Kenyan prodigy Slikback, mangling neon-lit trance arpeggios with dissociated trap rhythms. He sharpens his skills to a fine point on “Oblivion Step”, observing 2- step through a lens of distortion and personal abstraction, shaking blipping synth leads over neck-snapping drums and counteracting the momentum with airless sci-fi soundscapes.
Perhaps the album’s most surprising moment arrives with “Viel”, which features vocals from Los Angeles-based composer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. Together, Pedone and Smith chance upon their notion of dub techno, fogging synth stabs and ghostly vocal traces into eerie harmonic distortions. On some level, it’s almost pop music, a far cry from the bleak dissonance of Absurd Matter and a hopeful way to reframe turbulence as transformation. Absurd Matter 2 doesn’t simply document a process; it enacts one. It doesn’t offer clarity; it invites disorientation. It’s not a map of the labyrinth, but a foghorn piercing the darkness.

“Where Animals Play” is the second General Dynamics album, arriving two years after their successful debut LP “Weaponize Your Dreams”. This second manifestation is the logical and brutal continuation of their distinct sound; menacing vocals splayed across an array of precision sampling, destructive percussion and finessed synth work. The duo (consisting of members SARIN + QUAL) embodies, assimilates and re-interprets the ethos & defiance of industrial & cyberpunk culture, taking their approach to new, harsh extremes. Their most recent hallucinatory output is a broad rejection of the current & dominant global trajectory; one that seeks to enslave and destroy humankind via an unhinged amalgamation of fascism, deregulated capitalism & the exploitative use of emerging technology.

A record born of insurmountable joy and simultaneous profound loss; World Maker marks a time of great change for Psychonaut, both personally and musically, as the band burn away the philosophical narrative complexities of previous offerings with a searing, panoramic clarity that implores us to savour the beauty of the now as a means of leaving a legacy for the future. The traditional, three-piece line up of Belgian, psychedelic post-metal collective Psychonaut has long belied the compositional prowess, captivating narrative depth and crushing live presence of a band now operating at the forefront of forward-thinking, contemporary heavy music. Having sent a shockwave through the post-metal and prog scenes with their three times repressed Pelagic Records debut Unfold The God Man in 2020 before following it up with the transformative metaphysical complexities of 2022's Violate Consensus Reality, Psychonaut have played prestigious Belgian open-air festivals like Alcatraz, Rock Herk and Boomtown Festival as well as boutique events such as Soulcrusher, Roadburn Redux and A Colossal Weekend whilst sharing stages across Europe with the likes of Amenra, Brutus and Pelagic labelmates The Ocean and PG.Lost. The seed of World Maker took shape just as the campaign for Violate Consensus Reality came to a close, with the news that guitarist/vocalist Stefan De Graef was to become a father. This tilting of life's axis led De Graef, like most fathers-to-be, to re-assess what was really important. As such, the music he was inspired to write felt free of the band's previous philosophical and spiritual foundations and instead took the form of life lessons for his unborn son, a legacy of love in case something were ever to happen. This hopeful euphoria shines keenly throughout World Maker as an uncharacteristically optimistic warmth; from the reverberating Rhodes organ on the titular opening track and the meandering, free-jazz inspired guitar solo that introduces `Everything Else is Just The Weather' to elements of world music, electronica and the otherworldly voice of Dutch multi-instrumentalist and old friend Anthe Huybrechts (Anthe/Helion Creek) most notably on tracks like `Origins' which also features tabla, a pair of indian hand drums, as its propulsive heartbeat. Whilst Psychonaut's giant riffs, punishing polyrhythms and guttural vocal rage are more resplendent than ever, there is a wider dynamic spectrum to World Maker that sees the band proudly exploring their more delicate, intimate extremes as well as their most aggressive and abrasive. Not long after the birth of De Graef's son came the devastating news that both his own father and Psychonaut bassist/vocalist Thomas Michiels' father had been diagnosed with advanced cancers. Living day-to-day and torn between joy and grief, the band found themselves shedding the grand scope and world-shattering agenda of Violate Consensus Reality to focus on the here and now. Lead single `Endless Currents', the first full track on the album, explodes in a barrage of staccato guitar tapping but mellows to let the powerful, newly pared back lyrics ring out as a call to embrace the flow and follow joy. The song's final few words `Lead the way. / Soar. / Everlong.' double as both a greeting and a goodbye as the trio build their formidable post-metal might to a thunderous breaking point. Similarly, the pulsing, propellant `Stargazer', named so for De Graef's son being born in stargazer position, pairs delicate guitar motifs and folk-inflected optimism with huge and sprawling breakdowns as some of the band's most genre-pushing work to date; asking difficult but important questions of what happens next. It is `And You Came With Searing Light' though that most immediately exemplifies Psychonaut's redirected ambition on World Maker, as euphoria collides with blinding fury. The first track written for the album, `_Searing Light' is easily the most complex and initially wouldn't sound out of place on Violate Consensus Reality. Originally meant to be the new album's opening track; the decision to defer its impact, not to mention its compositional and dynamic gravity, speaks of a fundamental change to the band's very core. The words "Discover the world with wide eyes" recurring throughout speak as much to those having lost a part of their world as they do to those seeing it for the first time. Amidst such turbulent times, the band found strength and support within their Post-Metal community. The album was recorded and produced by the band alongside their longtime collaborator and close friend Chiaran Verheyden (Hippotraktor) with help and advice from Psychonaut's live engineer Victor, who will no doubt make this album sound just as awesome on stage. Even the artwork for World Maker was a family affair, being designed by close friend Sam Coussens of Belgian cosmic sludge metallers Pothamus. In the face of life's soaring highs and desolate lows, World Maker is direct and brave without sacrificing any of Psychonaut's raw power, creative innovation or inimitable musical depth. Where their previous full-length offerings have charted grand introspective courses through time and space, World Maker is breathtaking in its uncompromising clarity: a father singing to his newborn son as a son bids his own father farewell. FOR FANS OF Mastodon, Russian Circles, Tool, Gojira, The Ocean, Pelican, Hypno5e, Cult Of Luna, Amenra

2026 Repress

Thirteen years after their landmark debut, Italian duo Voices From The Lake (Donato Dozzy & Neel) return with their much-anticipated second album, 'II' (two) on their own Spazio Disponibile.The record marks a new chapter in one of electronic music's most revered projects. Born from a friendship and a singular musical vision, Voices From The Lake first emerged as a one-off live performance in the Japanese Alps, later distilled into their self-titled 2012 album. That record has since become a touchstone in ambient techno, reshaping the global landscape of hypnotic and atmospheric electronic music. In the years since, the duo have performed worldwide, released a handful of EPs, worked on installations, and founded record labels, all while continuing to refine the project's unique identity. Yet the core of Voices From The Lake has always been its deep, aqueous approach to sound, a sensibility that returns in full force on II. "The project was never meant to become what it did," the duo reflect. "At one point, we even paused it. Only to later embrace it in all its forms. II is both a continuation and a reinvention." True to that spirit, Voices From The Lake have explored extremes in recent years, from high-tempo live sets to seated listening concerts, while remaining anchored in the meditative pulse of ambient techno. II extends this lineage, carrying forward the immersive sound design and boundary-pushing vision that has defined their work from the beginning.

Produced in eastern Sicily between Mount Etna and Ionian seashore, Oltremare recalls the idea of what’s beyond the sea, evoking the dialogue between Northern and Southern Italy, Europe and America, and all the extremes that are divided by the sea, in a constant -yet inspiring conversation that can only lead to contamination. Franco Corica and Andrea Normanno join forces with multi-talented and revered dj and producer Byron The Aquarius, who infuses his blissful touch to this jazz-funk inspired house record.

Queens Of The Circulating Library stands alongside Time Machines and Nurse With Wound's Soliloquy For Lilith as a post-industrial pinnacle of sensory-warping long-form drone.

Crafted by the distilled duo of Thighpaulsandra and John Balance, the 49-minute piece unfurls in swirling, cyclical waves, tidal as much as textural, channeling the spirit of levitational minimalism pioneered by La Monte Young. Touted as the first part in "a continually mutating series of circulating musickal compositions" upon its initial release in 2000, the album remains a compelling case study in Coil's exceptional capacity for mutation and extremes. The theatrical introductory monologue delivered by Thighpaulsandra's mother - a career opera singer, in her 80's at the time of recording - sets the stage for a grandiose ascension. Written by Balance, the text is declamatory but dreamlike, refracted through megaphone echo: "Return the book of knowledge / Return the marble index / File under "Paradox" / The forest is a college, each tree a university." As her voice fades, the lulling synthetic infinity deepens, congealing into transient crests of volume and haze, like slow-motion surf misting in moonlight. Thighpaulsandra describes their aesthetic intention as a "bliss out," static but shape-shifting, an amniotic drift towards an eternal vanishing point. A supreme sonic embodiment of the slogan on the sleeve of Time Machines, two years prior: "Persistence is all."

Dancing as an act of rebellion is the first Abraxas LP in collaboration with the Valencian label Soil Records. A compilation of the first project recordings released between 2020 and 2021 plus some new tracks and, in addition to this, a second vinyl by other darkwave electronic artists remixing the first one: Geistform, We Are Not Brothers, Ober Dada, Melting Dogmas, SMforma, HBK1, José Rodríguez, SOJ and PanDemian.

Abraxas is a halfway project between dark dance electronic music, philosophical reflection, socio-political activism and musical entrepreneurship. Its main goal is to shake bodies and minds by spreading messages of individual and social self-criticism from the point of view of duality, extremes and contradiction, inherent to the human being and capitalist society.

With immaculate vocal turns and sleek production, Views is Drake's tour through the city that made him. A meticulous contrast to the off-the-cuff brilliance of recent mixtapes, he taunts adversaries with speaker-rattling anthems ('Hype,' 'Still Here'), revisits his humble beginnings ('Weston Road Flows'), and rekindles the seductive chemistry with Rihanna ('Too Good'). Those extremes—the Caribbean warmth of 'One Dance' and the icy lament of 'Fire & Desire,' the unflinching vulnerability and unapologetic self-assurance—make Views a riveting victory lap from Toronto's game-changing MC.

The Family Men return with their second full-length effort “Co/de/termination”. Since the release of their debut “No Sound Forever”, they have played countless shows, both in their native Sweden and abroad, garnering a reputation as one of the most intense and uncompromising live bands around. A natural progression of their sound, “Co/de/termination” is a crystallized evolution of The Family Men’s sonic identity, pushing their intensity and precision to new extremes. “Co/de/termination” stands as a concise and deliberate statement, shaped by both urgency and restraint.

Schatterau’s third album, »Wir gingen durch leere Stunden« (We went through empty hours), sees the German duo blossoms with beauty and sophistication through a broad creative language.

This opus, presented in the form of vivid auditory tableaux vivants, explores the topography of memory as a landscape in constant motion – full of loops, feedbacks, and mirage-like distortions. Sounds climbing like vines over old walls, concealing details only to reveal new ones. Some pieces feel like fragments of a dream whose origin has vanished, others like displaced echoes of a day long gone.

Memories create paths that only become visible in retrospect – detours that somehow always lead back to oneself. Each track draws the listener into a different recollection, as if opening an old door. Inside, time behaves strangely: it jumps, stretches, and repeats.

»Wir gingen durch leere Stunden« ultimately presents Schatterau at their most experimental, complex and measured extremes, channelling ambiguous human emotional resonance ranging from melancholy to pure ecstasy.

When you name your band Prince Daddy & The Hyena, you sort of accept that chaos isn’t a chapter in your story – it’s the entire ethos. Since forming out of Albany, NY’s DIY scene, Prince Daddy & The Hyena have built a career out of reaching their breaking point and continuing forward anyway. Their first LP, produced by Joe Reinhart, captured a very young band figuring things out in real time; their massive conceptual undertaking Cosmic Thrill Seekers followed and pushed their ambition (and patience) to new extremes. Not long after, a serious van accident nearly took their lives, directly informing the intensity of their self-titled record.

Over the last decade, the band has lost close friends and collaborators, endured relationship struggles, and faced countless moments that would have ended most bands without question. But those experiences never slowed Prince Daddy & The Hyena down. On their upcoming fourth album, Hotwire Trip Switch, they recalibrate and reconnect with their roots while sounding more focused and self-aware than ever. Reuniting with Joe Reinhart for the first time in nearly a decade, the album pulls from the punchy lineage of Green Day, the hook-driven quirk of Weezer, the snarky urgency of Joyce Manor and Jeff Rosenstock – all through the distinctly bratty lens of songwriter and vocalist Kory Gregory.

Since emerging in 2020, the band has carved out a reputation as one of the most exciting rising acts in heavy music, with support from BBC Radio 1, Kerrang! Radio and acclaimed rock and metal press such as Metal Hammer, Kerrang! and Alt Press. 2024 saw the band make their Download Festival debut, undertake their first UK headline tour, and secure huge support slots with powerhouse bands such as Skindred. Following the release of their EP "Echoes", the band has enjoyed a busy schedule in 2025 - with appearances at 2000trees (main stage) and Alyx Holcombe's MANTRA showcase.

In recent months, Mallavora have been popping up everywhere, from the stages of Boomtown and Burn It Down Festivals, to the catwalk at London Fashion Week where they provided the soundtrack to Unhidden's latest clothing range. Most recently, you may have heard vocalist Jessica's incredible vocal abilities in an episode of BBC 1's The Celebrity Traitors, a star- studded game show that features household names such as Stephen Fry, Alan Carr and Claudia Winkleman. Jess was called upon by the producers of the show to produce 'banshee-like' wails, demonstrating her vocal range which stretches from beautiful high octave singing to the extremes of fry screaming. All of Mallavora's achievements have been leading to this moment: the announcement of their debut album ' What If Better Never Comes ?'. Set for release on March 27th 2026 via Church Road Records , this record showcases the band's growth as songwriters and highlights their constant hunger to push the envelope.

London-based musician, composer, and NTS resident Kit Grill presents his extraordinary new album 'Andøya', inspired by a solo residency on the eponymous Norwegian island, a profoundly dramatic territory situated in the Vesterålen archipelago, inside the Arctic circle.

With evocative, sonorous ambient, drone, minimalism, experimentalism, and modern classical music, Grill captures the environmental essence of a remarkable region; an isolated Nordic landscape of small coastline villages, raw peatlands and sublime mountain ranges, surrounded by wide, open views of the Arctic ocean.

Drawn from his experience on solitary excursions around the island - hiking, exploring, and encountering the locals - 'Andøya' is a beautifully stark, stirring exploration of acoustic phenomena, seclusion in nature, and the expressive power of unique landscapes. For Grill, the trip entailed a surreal day-night cycle, and his experience has had far-reaching, existential implications, both for his practice and his perspective:

"On the 8th January 2025 I travelled to the Norwegian island of Andøya, in the Arctic Circle for a three week solo residency. Surrounded by sea, snow, and mountains, I lived in isolation and travelled around the island each day documenting the landscape. At 10am, the background light of the sun beneath the horizon would light the day and in the 4 hour window of light, I would hike into the mountains and explore the wilderness. It was a profound experience that changed the way I thought about sound, solitude, and what it means to be alone in nature."

"Since returning, I created a body of music informed by that time to try and capture the vastness and unpredictability of the Arctic landscape. The album moves through the sensory extremes: ice cracking, storms forming and fading, the rumble of tectonic plates, waves crashing, harsh winds, trudging through snow, and the sharpness of freezing air. The album aims to reflect both the landscape itself and the shifting emotions that came with living in isolation and the Arctic environment. The music and photography serve as a recorded diary of my time there, documenting the experience."

Inspired by witnessing the broken tension and renewed possibilities of a laptop breaking down at a gig – not to mention the void left behind by the sudden end of a relationship – Pentu’s latest release is a jump-cut menagerie of musical moments. Sewn together into ‘And I Saw My Devil And I Saw My Deep Blue Sea’, these fifteen tracks continue the London-based producer’s active departure from the soundscapes and song structures that dominated their previous writing style. These disparate pieces slice themselves off into sudden silence, or veer into unpredictable sidebars, hopping from hyperactive instrumentals to beautifully deconstructed YouTube samples. Described by Pentu as “emotionally intuitive to write”, this is music by and for the endlessly scrolling modern mind – “navigating the world alongside the splintered, interruptive emotional hyper realities of social media.”

The sudden silences, drones, and interruptions are perhaps less surprising than the guitar-based textures of metal & shoegaze woven into several vital passages by Pentu. The result is a collage that encapsulates the erratic feeling, not only of a relationship’s end, but simply of navigating online mediascapes.”I found myself realising that my phone, the constant interrupter of nothingness and silence, was both a cause of depression (reliving memories, dating apps) and a relief from it (creating new friendships, distractions, also dating apps)”, says Pentu.

Pentu’s attempt to overcome content overload by actively curbing his setup of laptop-guitar--synth does little to reduce the scope of this album’s sonic palette. YouTube vlog samples (from videos with next-to-no views) are an attempt to recontextualise and dramatise material that “would have otherwise been throwaway moments lost in the internet”, adding staccato moments of reality to Pentu’s beautiful and jarring album-length paean to overstimulation.

LP, Opaque Pink Vinyl, w/ download card

Mexico City’s Sunset Images emerge with their most daring and immersive work to date, Oscilador, arriving January 23 on Dedstrange. Known for pushing the boundaries of noise rock and psychedelic experimentation, the band plunges deeper into their raw, unrelenting sound—crafting an album that thrives in chaos, distortion, and hypnotic repetition.
Oscilador captures Sunset Images at a new creative peak: jagged guitars dissolve into swirling feedback, fractured rhythms pulse like machinery on the brink, and vocals echo through layers of reverb as if channeled from another dimension. The record balances intensity and atmosphere, offering both catharsis and transcendence. It’s a sonic free fall that feels at once destructive and redemptive—like watching a city crumble only to find strange beauty in the ruins.
The album title reflects the band’s fascination with constant motion and instability, the oscillations of sound and life itself. Across the record, Sunset Images embrace the extremes: minimal passages expand into walls of noise, meditative drones are shattered by bursts of primal energy, and every song teeters on the edge of collapse. This restless spirit makes Oscilador not just a collection of songs, but a visceral experience—one that mirrors the tension and electricity of Mexico City’s underground scene.
Joining forces with Dedstrange, Sunset Images step onto a global stage while staying true to their uncompromising vision. For fans of A Place To Bury Strangers, Sonic Youth, or My Bloody Valentine, Oscilador delivers the thrill of pure immersion—music that doesn’t just demand to be heard, but to be felt in the chest, the bones, and the subconscious.
With Oscilador, Sunset Images invite listeners to lose themselves in noise, distortion, and dissonance—and to find clarity within the chaos.

Predatory Void returns with their third record, an EP titled `Atoned in Metamorphosis`, a concentrated statement of intent that compresses the band's restless energy into four precise movements. The music negotiates extremes: patient, reverb-saturated passages give way to sudden, metallic eruptions; subterranean basslines provide narrative weight beneath volatile guitar textures, vocals growl, wail and lament as drums alternate between measured architecture and volcanic release. The result is an austere, immersive sound that is both incandescent and violently sharp. Conceptually the EP takes on the ugly shadow of the unconscious and cathartically wrestles the demon onto canvas. Calling on elements from sludge, doom and black metal, as well as the unrelenting energies of hardcore and contrasting slower, haunted atmospheres, Predatory Void's signature sound is as volatile and piercing as ever. Concise, tight compositions that hook you in melody and then rage in filthy agony. The music can be confrontational, but it is never gratuitous_force is deployed to clarify rather than to overwhelm as emotional depth is at all times the compass. The production aesthetic prioritises fidelity to performance: takes are preserved for their immediacy, dynamics remain uncompromised, and the mix privileges contrast so that quiet moments carry as much dramaturgical weight as full-band climaxes. `Atoned in Metamorphosis` consolidates Predatory Void's forward motion and stakes a claim for a sound that prizes architectural heft and textural nuance in equal measure. Listeners should expect an immediate physical response in what is undeniably an ardent expression, and enjoy the reward of cumulative detail, for the EP dares you to listen closely: to feel transitions as processes, and to accept tension as a pathway to release. Predatory Void invites engagement, not escape, and demands to be met on its own terms, boldly. RIYL Hexis * CELESTE * Wallowing * LLNN * Downfall of Gaia * Witching

Predatory Void returns with their third record, an EP titled `Atoned in Metamorphosis`, a concentrated statement of intent that compresses the band's restless energy into four precise movements. The music negotiates extremes: patient, reverb-saturated passages give way to sudden, metallic eruptions; subterranean basslines provide narrative weight beneath volatile guitar textures, vocals growl, wail and lament as drums alternate between measured architecture and volcanic release. The result is an austere, immersive sound that is both incandescent and violently sharp. Conceptually the EP takes on the ugly shadow of the unconscious and cathartically wrestles the demon onto canvas. Calling on elements from sludge, doom and black metal, as well as the unrelenting energies of hardcore and contrasting slower, haunted atmospheres, Predatory Void's signature sound is as volatile and piercing as ever. Concise, tight compositions that hook you in melody and then rage in filthy agony. The music can be confrontational, but it is never gratuitous_force is deployed to clarify rather than to overwhelm as emotional depth is at all times the compass. The production aesthetic prioritises fidelity to performance: takes are preserved for their immediacy, dynamics remain uncompromised, and the mix privileges contrast so that quiet moments carry as much dramaturgical weight as full-band climaxes. `Atoned in Metamorphosis` consolidates Predatory Void's forward motion and stakes a claim for a sound that prizes architectural heft and textural nuance in equal measure. Listeners should expect an immediate physical response in what is undeniably an ardent expression, and enjoy the reward of cumulative detail, for the EP dares you to listen closely: to feel transitions as processes, and to accept tension as a pathway to release. Predatory Void invites engagement, not escape, and demands to be met on its own terms, boldly. RIYL Hexis * CELESTE * Wallowing * LLNN * Downfall of Gaia * Witching

Loaded with tension and anchored by bold textural and stylistic contrasts, Sam Slater’s third solo full-length finds the British sound artist, composer, and engineer grappling with his creative contradictions head-on.

Having spent a life time in bands and producing records, Sam transitioned somewhat by accident through his work with Johan Johansson into working as a composer on high profile projects such as his collaboration with Hildur Guðnadóttir on the Grammy Award-winning Joker and Chernobyl, and with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov on the soundtrack to the lauded 2000 Meters to Andriivka. Having a vast set of interests and influences is an asset when helping realise a directors vision for a soundtrack, but one's own musical voice can end up being constrained. In Lunng, Slater has gone back to his wildly divergent range of influences and rather than shy away from the extremes, he's used them to create a singular vision.

Take the opening track “Heatsick”: Slater imagines an extravagant fusion of 2000s drone metal and vintage British brass, welding ear-splitting overdriven drones and blown-out choral vocals to stirring trombone swells from veteran player Hilary Jeffery. On paper, it’s hard to imagine—but Slater’s intentionality conducts these polarizing elements into a surreal blur of sonic extremes, with the guitars’ relative harshness softened by Jeffery’s eerily nostalgic colliery echoes.

His last solo album, I do not wish to be known as a Vandal (Bedroom Community, 2022), showcased this breadth by assembling a team of collaborators including Sam Dunscombe and Yair Elazar Glotman. On this record he’s linking up with acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Maria W. Horn, idiosyncratic sax virtuoso Bendik Giske, versatile percussionist Adam Betts, and the aforementioned Jeffery, Slater ushers these players toward a lattice of calculated confutations.

Working to explore the tension between the divergent practices of his collaborators—Lunng was meant to be challenging. On “Praya”, Giske’s familiar overblown horn phrases are almost vaporized, vanishing among Slater’s weightless synths and Horn’s chillingly hoarse vocals. There are traces of Horn’s Funeral Folk project, but Slater shifts the emphasis, letting her voice brush past the other elements like a hallucination.

Slater’s use of extremes isn’t just in the micro; dynamics drive the album’s overall flow. “Praya” sets the stage for the record’s heaviest, most prickly moment: “Passengers”. Here, Horn’s voice cracks, rasps, and gurgles over serrated synths and Betts’ ritualistic drums. Slater turns an industrial symphony into a folk opera—dark, dramatic, and strangely beautiful—etched with Giske’s fluttering phrases.

But the mood soon shifts. Slater careens toward chaos, unleashing double-time rhythms and piercing textures familiar to anyone with a soft spot for classic black metal. These grotesque incongruities are deliberate; Slater surveys years of musical conflict and leans in, using dissent as fuel to build kinetic energy.

The weight of sentimentality bears down on “Black Metal Rewind (Night Drive Astra, 2006)”, melting teenage memories into hypnagogic ambience—shoegaze dreams whirled with angelic choral delusions. On “Death by Nostalgia, 1688”, he ventures further into polarizing territory, distorting AutoTuned voices with cryptic strings and medieval tonalities, unsettling any stable sense of past or present.

In this record Slater focuses on pure energy, color, and mood. Lunng distills years of listening into a bracing brew—boiling each sound down to its essence, then serving it with unflinching intent.

John Twells, 2025

Audio taken from a live performance by Anar Band (Jorge Lima Barreto and Rui Reininho) with E.M. de Melo e Castro in November of 1978 at Cooperativa Árvore, Porto. The performance was filmed. A segment was included in »Obrigatório Não Ver«, a weekly programme presented by Ana Hatherly on Public Television’s Second Channel. It was not possible to determine the exact date of the event, and no documentation seems to be available in the relevant archives.

»Encontro que Tenho« and »Profissões«: these titles are specific to this release. Having failed to locate the respective poems after a thorough search in E.M. de Melo e Castro’s body of work, it was deduced both texts were created for the occasion.

Even without a full contextualisation, the sound transmits the spirit of cultural agitation proper to these sessions. When this show happened, Anar Band were Jorge Lima Barreto (ARP Odyssey synthesizer) and Rui Reininho (Ibanez double-neck guitar), with the addition of E.M. de Melo e Castro, whom we shall call a poet but whose creative intervention was far reaching. Besides poetry, also continued his efforts in linking up diverse artistic areas (painting, drawing, collage, performance, video) and his official training in textile engineering. He was one of the artists featured in Henri Chopin's »OU Revue« in 1966, establishing his natural connection to the European concrete/visual/sound-poetry avant-garde. Melo e Castro was also proficient in the agitation of minds and political awareness. A good example in »Profissões«, where initially separate professionals (an intellectual, a fisherman, a soldier, a factory worker) are gradually mixed in a show of interdependency. Symbolically, through his words one listens to a transformation of society, although the same conclusion arises twice: surplus always finds its way to the hands of the capitalists.

That was the state of affairs many were looking to change, an economic and social malaise that the 1974 Revolution in Portugal fully uncovered, when dissident voices could finally be heard in public. Each in his own way, all three participants in this recording were non-believers in the structure of society such as it was presented. Through his books and press writings, mainly concerned with Jazz, Jorge Lima Barreto pushed his way into Portuguese artistic and critical circles since the late 1960s. Consciously and unwittingly, he collected enemies and pointed them by name, people he labelled as reactionary, people who delayed progress, social and cultural mixes, the avant-garde; they even delayed the chaos from which new forms and attitudes arise.

Rui Reininho, a non-conformist by heart, experienced incomprehension from an early age. His anarchic ways, a tendency to baffle others, were revealed through the choice of clothes and accessories, public behaviour, and »real life« performances. Just as Lima Barreto, and even together with him, he enjoyed provoking the extremes: Maoists on one side, right-wing conservatives on the other. He translated leftist books and joined Anar Band precisely on the day a duck or swan or goose (one of them) was thrown on stage in Porto, 1976.

This record documents a concrete action, a snapshot of the agitation, something we have no problem calling punk activism, something which allowed two people with little to no musical training to play and record music. By then, Anar Band had managed to release their only LP in 1977. It’s this performance, however, that reveals the naked rawness of the music: improvisation, mutual listening, and choice of intervention between both musicians and Melo e Castro, clearly sensing when the synth has to change tone, the voice has to make pauses, the guitar punctuates both and finds the space to… scream. The sound was captured by the film crew, adding to the rawness: the instruments are palpable, the voice often too close to the mic. Everything was preserved. First time on disc.

Since their formation, The Hirsch Effekt have carved out a unique niche in the German-speaking music scene. Yet, despite—or perhaps because of—their elusiveness, the band has captivated a devoted audience. Musically, The Hirsch Effekt have always embraced limitless possibilities. Acoustic, introspective moments—where bassist Ilja John Lappin brings out his cello or guitarist Nils Wittrock returns to his classical roots—sit naturally alongside massive progressive metal onslaughts. The band is equally at home on intimate club stages as they are at international festivals, evidenced by repeated appearances at Euroblast and numerous events across the UK. Recently, they toured Germany alongside scene giants like Leprous, Tesseract and traversed Europe with Caligula’s Horse. Yet between these extremes, The Hirsch Effekt continually create songs that flirt with radio accessibility—almost—because the band steadfastly resists any form of standardization. With their seventh album, Der Brauch, they continue this course uncompromisingly. While earlier works, despite their diversity, were still labeled “metal albums,” this new record explores paths first hinted at on the multilayered second album, Holon : Anamnesis—the same album that fans of VISIONS magazine voted the only German-language entry among the 20 best albums of all time. Der Brauch can be seen as a return to that pivotal point—and simultaneously as a bold step forward. Drummer Moritz Schmidt doesn’t entirely forgot blast beats, but the record demands a new heading. In the end, though, there is only one truth: it unmistakably sounds like The Hirsch Effekt.

Brussels-based accordionist Suzan Peeters releases her debut album Cassotto on the Belgian label blickwinkel. With Cassotto, she opens a door into a hidden chamber of sound. The title refers to the “cassotto” — a small resonating chamber inside the accordion that warms, softens, and deepens its tone. Listening to this record feels as if you’ve stepped into that room yourself, enveloped in a world where intimacy and grandeur collide.

Although this is her first release, Peeters is already recognised as one of the most promising names in Belgium’s experimental music scene. Her distinctive live shows — from leading venues across Belgium to a packed Café Oto in London — have earned her a reputation for combining accordion, electronics and unconventional objects such as a massage board into a compelling whole where contrasts come together in an unexpected way. Cassotto captures this approach in recorded form, giving listeners the same sense of immediacy as her concerts, but framed within the intimate space suggested by the album’s title.

While the cassotto chamber naturally gives the accordion a soft and velvety voice, Peeters harnesses that warmth to explore extremes — from hushed detail to bold, expansive gestures that fill the room. As such, the album moves between the acoustic and the electronic, the tender and the abrasive, the static and the dynamic, the traditional and the experimental.

With Cassotto, Suzan Peeters presents a debut that places the accordion at the centre of an adventurous and contemporary sound world — one that invites to discover how far an accordion can reach when tradition and imagination intertwine.

Suzan Peeters (*1999) is a Belgian accordionist, composer, and experimentalist. She is constantly looking for new timbres and sound textures within the accordion, pushing its acoustic spectrum to its limits by manipulating the interplay between her body and the body of her instrument.
Suzan studied classical accordion at KASK & Conservatorium in Ghent and at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. She is currently studying Live Electronics at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

Carving vast chasms of space with exacting sound design and deadly poise, Katatonic Silentio returns to the Mantis series for another round of highly detailed leftfield techno exploration. The Turin based sound artist continues to plot her own path through contemporary electronic music, taking cues from soundsystem pressure and dubwise minimalism as much as glitchy experimentation and the meditative repetition of techno. While her output across many different labels can reach to noisy extremes and beatless atmospheres, on her latest for Mantis the Italian artist zeroes in on a hypnotic, mysterious sound cast in the icy moods of late 90s tech step and early dubstep. At all times she finds space for surprise interference even in the most austere of situations, creating a palpable tension that amplifies the deep dancefloor potential of her music and moulding powerful physicality out of subtle elements.

Nest is a tactile and spatial experience; precise and atmospheric, jagged and lyrical. Broshy"s unique approach to developing the material blurs the line between improvisation and composition, mechanical and human to create a sonic experience that holds large extremes close to each other.

- Limited edition solid 2x12” vinyl LP.
- Housed in PMS printed inner sleeve, featuring custom fonts by No Format and spot gloss abstraction of the original album artwork.
- Accompanied with a double sided 2-panel insert and double sided 4 panel poster.
- All sleeved in a custom PMS reverse board outer sleeve with die cut square centre panel and belly band.


Grinning Cat confounded devotees of Sakura with a far more complex set of tracks. A landscape of ambiguous emotional resonance within an album of measured extremes. Sentimental without being schmaltzy, joyful without being saccharine, Grinning Cat sees Yokota at his most playful and experimental, channelling moments of transitory wonder and jubilation, and opening up a sonic environment in which we can romp and play.

For more than thirty years, Arnaud Fournier has been shaping the landscape of the French expe-rimental scene. First within the duo HINT, a singular fusion of experimental, noise and indie music, he released three studio albums in the late 1990s and has continued to perform regularly ever since, including a live album with EZ3kiel in 2009. With La Phaze (1999), Dead Hippies (2013) and later Atonalist (2017), he has always instinctively sought to cross genres and stage dialogues bet-ween extremes. In 2025, with 100% Black Puzzle, he delivers his very first album under his own name, a work where saturated guitars, saxophones, trumpet, hypnotic loops and vast layers of drone meet. Mixed and mastered by Olivier "Cali" Fournier at Studioscope in Angers, 100% Black Puzzle gathers familiar faces around it. Its title resonates as an intentional echo, directly referencing 100% White Puzzle, HINT's debut album. Thirty years on, Arnaud Fournier rediscovers the same spirit of absolute freedom across these five tracks: no format constraints, no compromise on length. The title track, an eight-minute instrumental, sets the tone - a raw, urgent gesture, cap-tured in the moment. In his own words, it was about "finding myself once more in that first-song state of mind, without any confinement." With 100% Black Puzzle, Arnaud Fournier fully embraces signing the work under his own name. No pseudonym, no mask, but an unveiling: a profoundly intimate record, steeped in family and friendship, where noise and beauty constantly collide and entwine. Thirty years after shaking up the French indie scene with HINT, he delivers a body of work that is at once retrospective and forward-looking - a black puzzle that resounds like a rebirth. And what better way to "close the circle" than by heading back on tour?

A record born of insurmountable joy and simultaneous profound loss; World Maker marks a time of great change for Psychonaut, both personally and musically, as the band burn away the philosophical narrative complexities of previous offerings with a searing, panoramic clarity that implores us to savour the beauty of the now as a means of leaving a legacy for the future. The traditional, three-piece line up of Belgian, psychedelic post-metal collective Psychonaut has long belied the compositional prowess, captivating narrative depth and crushing live presence of a band now operating at the forefront of forward-thinking, contemporary heavy music. Having sent a shockwave through the post-metal and prog scenes with their three times repressed Pelagic Records debut Unfold The God Man in 2020 before following it up with the transformative metaphysical complexities of 2022's Violate Consensus Reality, Psychonaut have played prestigious Belgian open-air festivals like Alcatraz, Rock Herk and Boomtown Festival as well as boutique events such as Soulcrusher, Roadburn Redux and A Colossal Weekend whilst sharing stages across Europe with the likes of Amenra, Brutus and Pelagic labelmates The Ocean and PG.Lost. The seed of World Maker took shape just as the campaign for Violate Consensus Reality came to a close, with the news that guitarist/vocalist Stefan De Graef was to become a father. This tilting of life's axis led De Graef, like most fathers-to-be, to re-assess what was really important. As such, the music he was inspired to write felt free of the band's previous philosophical and spiritual foundations and instead took the form of life lessons for his unborn son, a legacy of love in case something were ever to happen. This hopeful euphoria shines keenly throughout World Maker as an uncharacteristically optimistic warmth; from the reverberating Rhodes organ on the titular opening track and the meandering, free-jazz inspired guitar solo that introduces `Everything Else is Just The Weather' to elements of world music, electronica and the otherworldly voice of Dutch multi-instrumentalist and old friend Anthe Huybrechts (Anthe/Helion Creek) most notably on tracks like `Origins' which also features tabla, a pair of indian hand drums, as its propulsive heartbeat. Whilst Psychonaut's giant riffs, punishing polyrhythms and guttural vocal rage are more resplendent than ever, there is a wider dynamic spectrum to World Maker that sees the band proudly exploring their more delicate, intimate extremes as well as their most aggressive and abrasive. Not long after the birth of De Graef's son came the devastating news that both his own father and Psychonaut bassist/vocalist Thomas Michiels' father had been diagnosed with advanced cancers. Living day-to-day and torn between joy and grief, the band found themselves shedding the grand scope and world-shattering agenda of Violate Consensus Reality to focus on the here and now. Lead single `Endless Currents', the first full track on the album, explodes in a barrage of staccato guitar tapping but mellows to let the powerful, newly pared back lyrics ring out as a call to embrace the flow and follow joy. The song's final few words `Lead the way. / Soar. / Everlong.' double as both a greeting and a goodbye as the trio build their formidable post-metal might to a thunderous breaking point. Similarly, the pulsing, propellant `Stargazer', named so for De Graef's son being born in stargazer position, pairs delicate guitar motifs and folk-inflected optimism with huge and sprawling breakdowns as some of the band's most genre-pushing work to date; asking difficult but important questions of what happens next. It is `And You Came With Searing Light' though that most immediately exemplifies Psychonaut's redirected ambition on World Maker, as euphoria collides with blinding fury. The first track written for the album, `_Searing Light' is easily the most complex and initially wouldn't sound out of place on Violate Consensus Reality. Originally meant to be the new album's opening track; the decision to defer its impact, not to mention its compositional and dynamic gravity, speaks of a fundamental change to the band's very core. The words "Discover the world with wide eyes" recurring throughout speak as much to those having lost a part of their world as they do to those seeing it for the first time. Amidst such turbulent times, the band found strength and support within their Post-Metal community. The album was recorded and produced by the band alongside their longtime collaborator and close friend Chiaran Verheyden (Hippotraktor) with help and advice from Psychonaut's live engineer Victor, who will no doubt make this album sound just as awesome on stage. Even the artwork for World Maker was a family affair, being designed by close friend Sam Coussens of Belgian cosmic sludge metallers Pothamus. In the face of life's soaring highs and desolate lows, World Maker is direct and brave without sacrificing any of Psychonaut's raw power, creative innovation or inimitable musical depth. Where their previous full-length offerings have charted grand introspective courses through time and space, World Maker is breathtaking in its uncompromising clarity: a father singing to his newborn son as a son bids his own father farewell. FOR FANS OF Mastodon, Russian Circles, Tool, Gojira, The Ocean, Pelican, Hypno5e, Cult Of Luna, Amenra

Car Button Cloth' is an extraordinary affair of musical and emotional extremes, a soundscape spanning “the most beautiful piano-led mourning in the history of the broken heart” that switches into perky jangle-pop for fleeting moments and contains the ultimate self-deprecating classic ‘The Outdoor Type’, penned by Smudge cohort Tom Morgan, as well as a cover of the bluegrass standard ‘Knoxville Girl’ and ‘If I Could Talk I’d Tell You’ co-written with The Vaselines’ Eugene Kelly. All bases are covered. “One of the most distinctive voices of the ‘90s” The New York Times. To further unravel where Evan’s head was at during the period of its creation, this deluxe double album comes with a record of exquisite and typically eclectic scene setting covers that occupied B-sides and alternative format versions, plus other super rare offcuts, live takes and remixes. A diet of Volcano Suns, Glen Campbell, The Jacobites, The Sir Douglas Quintet and Whitney Houston influenced Evan’s thinking and added further colour to an album that remains something of a Dorian Gray-style masterpiece. The first side of extras is rounded off with the never before released ‘Arise’, originally set for the remake of Great Expectations and later realised as Rancho Santa Fe on solo album ‘Baby I’m Bored’.

An F-bomb saturated hip-hop call & response club cut...from Sun Ra?!

While the most renown track in this omniversal opus is the atomic expletive-filled repartee “Nuclear War,” there is so much more to this dark mysterious journey through the mind of Sun Ra. The sprawling, suite-like 20-minute title track sustains a lyrical edge in spite of an open framework and textures, which encourage sonorities to surface and emerge from the band as if there was no human intention behind them. In opposition to “Nuclear War,” Ra's organ playing here was built less on bombast and sonic terror than it is on whispers, stutters, shivers, and swells. Fireside Chat offers a wide stylistic array, as was the artist’s intent, reflecting his eclectic, seemingly irreconcilable approach to compositional extremes. With Sun Ra you get everything... except predictability. Pressed on lime green vinyl!

Storm Front ist das 11. Studioalbum von Billy Joel, das ursprünglich am 23. Oktober 1989 veröffentlicht wurde. Es enthält unter anderem die Titel »We Didn't Start The Fire« und »I Go to Extremes«.

Repress!

In the mid-1970s, a force of nature swept across the continental United States, cutting across all strata of race and class, rooting in our minds, our homes, our culture. It wasn’t The Exorcist, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, or even bell-bottoms, but instead a book called The Secret Life of Plants. The work of occultist/former OSS agent Peter Tompkins and former CIA agent/dowsing enthusiast Christopher Bird, the books shot up the bestseller charts and spread like kudzu across the landscape, becoming a phenomenon. Seemingly overnight, the indoor plant business was in full bloom and photosynthetic eukaryotes of every genus were hanging off walls, lording over bookshelves, and basking on sunny window ledges. The science behind Secret Life was specious: plants can hear our prayers, they’re lie detectors, they’re telepathic, able to predict natural disasters and receive signals from distant galaxies. But that didn’t stop millions from buying and nurturing their new plants.



Perhaps the craziest claim of the book was that plants also dug music. And whether you purchased a snake plant, asparagus fern, peace lily, or what have you from Mother Earth on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (or bought a Simmons mattress from Sears), you also took home Plantasia, an album recorded especially for them. Subtitled “warm earth music for plants…and the people that love them,” it was full of bucolic, charming, stoner-friendly, decidedly unscientific tunes enacted on the new-fangled device called the Moog. Plants date back from the dawn of time, but apparently they loved the Moog, never mind that the synthesizer had been on the market for just a few years. Most of all, the plants loved the ditties made by composer Mort Garson.



Few characters in early electronic music can be both fearless pioneers and cheesy trend-chasers, but Garson embraced both extremes, and has been unheralded as a result. When one writer rhetorically asked: “How was Garson’s music so ubiquitous while the man remained so under the radar?” the answer was simple. Well before Brian Eno did it, Garson was making discreet music, both the man and his music as inconspicuous as a Chlorophytumcomosum. Julliard-educated and active as a session player in the post-war era, Garson wrote lounge hits, scored plush arrangements for Doris Day, and garlanded weeping countrypolitan strings around Glen Campbell’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” He could render the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel alike into easy listening and also dreamed up his own ditties. “An idear” as Garson himself would drawl it out. “I live with it, I walk it, I sing it.”



But as his daughter Day Darmet recalls: “When my dad found the synthesizer, he realized he didn’t want to do pop music anymore.” Garson encountered Robert Moog and his new device at the Audio Engineering Society’s West Coast convention in 1967 and immediately began tinkering with the device. With the Moog, those idears could be transformed. “He constantly had a song he was humming,” Darmet says. “At the table he was constantly tapping.” Which is to say that Mort pulled his melodies out of thin air, just like any household plant would.



The Plantae kingdom grew to its height by 1976, from DC Comics’ mossy superhero Swamp Thing to Stevie Wonder’s own herbal meditation, Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. Nefarious manifestations of human-plant interaction also abounded, be it the grotesque pods in Invasion of the Body Snatchers or the pothead paranoia of the US Government spraying Mexican marijuana fields with the herbicide paraquat (which led to the rise in homegrown pot by the 1980s). And then there’s the warm, leafy embrace of Plantasia itself.



“My mom had a lot of plants,” Darmet says. “She didn’t believe in organized religion, she believed the earth was the best thing in the whole world. Whatever created us was incredible.” And she also knew when her husband had a good song, shouting from another room when she heard him humming a good idear. Novel as it might seem, Plantasia is simply full of good tunes.



Garson may have given the album away to new plant and bed owners, but a decade later a new generation could hear his music in another surreptitious way. Millions of kids bought The Legend of Zelda for their Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1986 and one distinct 8-bit tune bears more than a passing resemblance to album highlight “Concerto for Philodendron and Pothos.” Garson was never properly credited for it, but he nevertheless subliminally slipped into a new generations’ head, helping kids and plants alike grow.



Hearing Plantasia in the 21st century, it seems less an ode to our photosynthesizing friends by Garson and more an homage to his wife, the one with the green thumb that made everything flower around him. “My dad would be totally pleased to know that people are really interested in this music that had no popularity at the time,” Darmet says of Plantasia’snew renaissance. “He would be fascinated by the fact that people are finally understanding and appreciating this part of his musical career that he got no admiration for back then.” Garson seems to be everywhere again, even if he’s not really noticed, just like a houseplant.

Silver Vinyl. Metalhorse is Billy Nomates' third studio release, following 2023's critically acclaimed, CACTI, and her self-titled 2020 debut. A concept album revolving around the image of a dilapidated funfair, representing the tumultuousness of life - risk and pleasure, danger and exhilaration. The 11 new songs here explore blues, folk and pianodriven arrangements that take Billy Nomates' stark punk sound in a more pastoral direction. Metalhorse is the first Billy Nomates album to be made in a studio and with a full band, the line-up inc. bass player Mandy Clarke (KT Tunstall, The Go! Team) and drummer Liam Chapman (Rozi Plain, BMX Bandits) plus a special feature from The Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell on "Dark Horse Friend". Metalhorse is a balancing of extremes. Reckoning with loss, material insecurity, and trying to stay true to yourself against an increasingly unpredictable backdrop of global chaos, the scales could easily have tipped towards darkness, but the more Maries has had to weather, the more precious those smaller moments of happiness have become. Metalhorse begs the listener to find their own funfair; there will always be things that feel perilous. At the same time, you have to marvel at the lights while they're still on. Dancing with those feelings of uncertainty and joy, Metalhorse is awash with both pain and perseverance.

Silver Vinyl. Metalhorse is Billy Nomates' third studio release, following 2023's critically acclaimed, CACTI, and her self-titled 2020 debut. A concept album revolving around the image of a dilapidated funfair, representing the tumultuousness of life - risk and pleasure, danger and exhilaration. The 11 new songs here explore blues, folk and pianodriven arrangements that take Billy Nomates' stark punk sound in a more pastoral direction. Metalhorse is the first Billy Nomates album to be made in a studio and with a full band, the line-up inc. bass player Mandy Clarke (KT Tunstall, The Go! Team) and drummer Liam Chapman (Rozi Plain, BMX Bandits) plus a special feature from The Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell on "Dark Horse Friend". Metalhorse is a balancing of extremes. Reckoning with loss, material insecurity, and trying to stay true to yourself against an increasingly unpredictable backdrop of global chaos, the scales could easily have tipped towards darkness, but the more Maries has had to weather, the more precious those smaller moments of happiness have become. Metalhorse begs the listener to find their own funfair; there will always be things that feel perilous. At the same time, you have to marvel at the lights while they're still on. Dancing with those feelings of uncertainty and joy, Metalhorse is awash with both pain and perseverance.

The Body & Dis Fig are a natural pair. Each has pioneered instantly recognizable worlds of sound all their own that defy any traditional categorizations or boundaries. The Body, Lee Buford and Chip King, continually challenge any conventional conception of metal, collaborating with myriad artists and from the folk-leanings of their work with BIG|BRAVE to their groundbreaking work with the Assembly of Light Choir to the intensity of their collaborations with OAA or Thou. Dis Fig, aka Felicia Chen, pushes electronic music into dark extremes, from warped DJ sets to, avant production. From being a member of Tianzhuo Chen"s performance-art series TRANCE, to being the vocalist with The Bug. The Body and Dis Fig find kinship in reimagining what it means to make "heavy music". Their debut Orchards of a Futile Heaven is the perfect synthesis of two forces, twisting melodicism and intoxicating rhythms, layering a dense miasma of distortion with intense beats, and a soaring voice clawing its way towards absolution. Orchards of a Futile Heaven affirms The Body & Dis Fig"s distinct and unified tastes as skilled sound sculptors who have an exceptional ability to make deeply affecting music, bracing as it is touching, harrowing as it is awe-inspiring. Together, the three have harnessed their expansive artistry to make music that is profoundly emotional, and staggering in its beauty.

"The album was created in this back and forth of snapshots - we made most of the decisions impulsively without much questioning. That takes a lot of trust." — Violeta García & Hora Lunga

"I'll Wait For You In The Car Park", the first full length collaboration between Argentinian cellist, improviser and composer Violeta García and Swiss musician and composer Hora Lunga, is a work of extremes. Drawing from the realities of life on two continents, and embodying moods ranging from stoic desire to violent bursts, the album enciphers so-called ordinary moments from everyday life into an alluring collection of musical scenes. Seemingly inconspicuous moments are condensed into a tale of synchronicity: colliding time zones and seasons, metropolitan rhythms raining down onto a glacier's ice field, exploring places through street view, the serendipity of loitering at a kiosk. As such, "I'll Wait For You In The Car Park" brings documentary film essays to mind that carefully observe the private and everyday occurrences.
Violeta García and Hora Lunga crossed paths by chance in 2023 and began discussing and sharing music shortly afterwards. What started as a loose exchange of ideas, sending back and forth sketches and demos between South America and Europe, grew into several studio sessions in 2024. Being sucked into a "quite extraordinary flow", the two musicians recorded, arranged and intervened on a level playing field, using the studio as a playground to record musical layers and interweave them with field recordings and audio notes gathered over the course of a year. Speaking a kindred musical language, they quickly realized how their ideas clung to each other like two familiar souls, complementing, intertwining and merging. From gauzy and eerie textures, musical miniatures floating through time, howling and screaming strings, to tumbling and thundering basses – the sound of the ordinary shapes a body that vibrates, writhes and breathes.

Violeta García is a cellist, improviser and composer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Based in Spain, she tours a lot with her band Blanco Teta. She is a performer in many art forms, including free improvisation, contemporary and trans-media experimental repertoire in violoncello and electronics and collaborations with dancers, film makers and visual artists. After years of studying classical and popular music on violoncello and, later, contemporary composition and improvisation, Violeta has developed her own musical voice needed to emerge beyond outside specific genres.

Throughout Swiss composer and musician Hora Lunga's work, the focus lies is on exploring boundaries, both musically and in terms of performance and content. Above all, genre designations lose all meaning, as the music always takes place within a dramaturgically conceived overall framework. In recent years, his projects have ranged from pop music productions to experimental works and sound performances, as well astheatre and film productions. His ensemble WIRREN consists of up to fifteen performers.

Entering its 26th year of activity, the morphing, Los Angeles based experimental outfit, Sissy Spacek, joins Shelter Press with Entrance, among the project's most captivating outings to date. Encountering the duo of John Wiese and Charlie Mumma joined in various configurations by an incredible cast of collaborators - Tim Barnes, Marco Fusinato, Aaron Hemphill, Brad Laner, Katsura Mouri, Ralf Wehowsky, and C Spencer Yeh - collectively transformed into a series a deeply intimate and delicate gestures of musique concrète, Entrance radically repositions the possibilities presented by group improvisation outside of time and place. Founded at the end of the last millennium, the Los Angeles based project, Sissy Spacek, initially emerged from the knotted, fiery context 1990s American noise and grindcore, producing sheets of visceral sonority that quickly set the scene on its head. Going through numerous evolutions, before eventually settling as a duo of John Wiese and Charlie Mumma - joined by a rotating and often recurring cast collaborators - over the last 25 years the band has continuously entered states of evolution that have defied the expectations of its own context, seeding the sonic extremes noise with subtle and sophisticated approaches to free improvisation and musique concrète. Fiercely positioning its efforts within the outer reaches of contemporary experimental music, while resisting the constraints of a singular sound or proximity, Wiese regards Sissy Spacek as being primarily centred around the practice of musique concrète and the pursuit of extremes. From its earliest releases - collage treatments of material gathered from the band's full throttle practice sessions - the project's conceptual framework has continuously evolved within a deeply engaged process of experimentation, not only reworking tactical approaches, but also definitions and perception regarding the location and action of their work. In recent years, this has led to an increasingly varied and diverse output. Percolating within, is a thread marked by a striking sense of delicacy and intimacy, driving forward while doubling as an unexpected challenge, in real time, to perceptions connected to the band's past. Entrance is the most recent of these. Embarking upon the four compositions that comprise the finalized four sides of Entrance, Wiese and Mumma enlisted longstanding collaborators, Tim Barnes, Marco Fusinato, Aaron Hemphill, Brad Laner, Katsura Mouri, and C Spencer Yeh, as well as new initiate, Ralf Wehowsky (of the seminal German electronic noise collective P16.D4), requesting a contribution of sounds from each, determined by a general set guidelines that dictated certain qualities the given sonorities, while allowing for the expression of each player's distinct creative voice. The sets of resulting recordings were then chopped, harvested, manipulated, and reassembled as the four tape compositions that make up the album - Web Of Unfolding Appearance, Figure Of Reflected Light, Trancher And The Inheritors, True Dimension (From The Opaque - Spike) - each blurring the lines of authorship and clear creative proximity in remarkable ways. Where historical gestures of musique concrète tend to draw upon non-instrumental sound sources - regarding its sonorous material as raw elements, unburdened by inherent meaning or association, to be transformed and imbued with musicality - Sissy Spacek turns this position on its head. Entrance comprises works of musique concrète that not only draw upon instrumental sound sources, with all their possible meanings or associations, but also individual characters and personalities of their players, crediting each resulting piece to its respective configuration of contributors. As such, Entrance is an effort of sound collage defined by a rare sense of intimacy and humanity: four pieces that often take on the resemblance of group improvisation, but have, in fact, been assembled outside of time and place. Bent under the ever-present hand of Wiese's tape treatments and manipulation, each of the album's four compositions unfurl startling states of sonic abstraction and percolating texture, marked by a striking sense of hard-shifting structure, that culminate as tense, driven manifestations of ambient music: scrapes, squeals, rattles feedback, rolling drums, bouncing tones, whispers, bent electronics, electric artefacts, and seemingly everything else under the sun, configured into immersive, sublime mediations in sound from the most improbable events.

Freivogel / Sinclaire with their debut Untitled consisting of three live recordings made using only a concert flute and an Octatrack M1. The recordings are live taken from improvised sessions and have been left unedited.

Shifting between playful and austere, the simple goal for these sessions was honest improvisation; comfortable in both its limits and potentials. Placing classical instrument performance and extended playing techniques alongside heavy sonic processing and cavernous acoustics, they are in some ways uninfluenced by genre, governed only by a drive to find moments of clarity amidst chaos.

Recorded in single takes using a simplified setup of the flute – played into a microphone and wired through an Octatrack – every sound heard in the recordings comes in one way or another from the flute as a single sound source, manipulated and looped on the fly with additional live improvisation over the top.

The result is a timeless capsule of heady drones, offbeat electronics, and mischievous flutes, captured during a time when the world stood still. Scuzzy at times, glistening at others, and ever-optimistic in the pursuit of something new.

Adam Sinclaire is a flautist who has worked with artists such as Billy Bultheel and Ziúr, recorded for labels including PAN and Purple Tape Pedigree, and performed for institutions including KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Schinkel Pavillon, and Martin-Gropius-Bau. His practice focuses on using extended playing techniques to explore the limits of the C flute.

Marco Freivogel is a producer and composer who has released an extensive discography on labels including Mannequin Records and Veyl, and collaborated with artists including dBridge, Mare Nero and Mathew Jonson, remixing artists as diverse as Hercules & Love Affair, Shackleton and Yappa. His Prequel Tapes project sits between utopian and claustrophobic, tracing harsh industrial atmospheres and levitational ambient from a lifelong obsession with sonic extremes. Marco currently works on compositions for film and television, alongside his own releases and collaborations. The EP will be released on 14 February 2025 as limited vinyl and digital via Midnight Shift. Art direction by Mauro Ventura.

All record profits from this release will go to 3ezwa.de, providing financial and legal support to those facing repression for their commitment to the Palestinian cause.

Yellow & Black Vinyl. "The first three are innocent in a way, because we didn't have an audience when we were making them," Oberst says. "But from Lifted on, I was definitely aware of an audience. Lifted was well-received right away, and then everything happened with Wide Awake and Digital Ash." Those two albums came out simultaneously. And their lead singles - "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)," from the austere, remote Digital Ash, and "Lua," from the warm, folky Wide Awake - debuted in the top two slots on the Billboard Hot 100. "First Day of My Life," also from Wide Awake, would later be voted the Number One love song of all time by NPR Music's reader's poll.Bright Eyes had officially broken through. It was a heady, exciting time, but also fraught and tense, both because of the band's careening new fame, and because of the state of the world. When Bright Eyes made their Tonight Show debut in 2006, they chose to perform none of their shiny new hits, instead delivering a searing, harrowing rendition of their caustic anti-Bush anthem, "When The President Talks To God."These days, Oberst is still amusing himself by messing with the extremes Bright Eyes baked into this era's releases, extremes that reflected the polar, with-us-or-against-us, fractious feel of the times. The reworked Digital Ash tracks, originally so clean and elegant, are, on the companion EP, full of "harmonica and mandolins - folky vibes," Oberst says. While the analogue sweetness of the Wide Awake songs have been put through a detached nihilism filter.

VERY VERY LTD DELUXE CLOTH BOUND GATEFOLD SLEEVE RED VINYL EDTION, 2LP W/ DLC! "The first three songs alone are like love at first hearing." - Deluxe 2xLP clothbound sleeve edition of 'Car Button Cloth', featuring Lemonheads classics 'If I Could Talk I'd Tell You' and 'The Outdoor Type'. This reissue includes the original record alongside a whole extra LP of rarities and unreleased cuts, continuing Fire Records in-depth series of reissues from the legendary band. 'Car Button Cloth' is an extraordinary affair of musical and emotional extremes, a soundscape spanning "the most beautiful piano-led mourning in the history of the broken heart" that switches into perky jangle-pop for fleeting moments and contains the ultimate self-deprecating classic 'The Outdoor Type', penned by Smudge cohort Tom Morgan, as well as a cover of the bluegrass standard 'Knoxville Girl' and 'If I Could Talk I'd Tell You' co-written with The Vaselines' Eugene Kelly. All bases are covered. To further unravel where Evan's head was at during the period of its creation, this deluxe double album comes with a record of exquisite and typically eclectic scene setting covers that occupied B-sides and alternative format versions, plus other super rare offcuts, live takes and remixes. A diet of Volcano Suns, Glen Campbell, The Jacobites, The Sir Douglas Quintet and Whitney Houston influenced Evan's thinking and added further colour to an album that remains something of a Dorian Gray-style masterpiece. The first side of extras is rounded off with the never before released 'Arise', originally set for the remake of Great Expectations and later realised as Rancho Santa Fe on solo album 'Baby I'm Bored'. "One of the most distinctive voices of the '90s" The New York Times

"I decided to just let myself go," Zzzahara says of their new record, 'Spiral Your Way Out' "I think I finally came to this acceptance that I don't have to be perfect. I want to be a good role model to my fans and stuff like that, but I also don't want to hide who I am." Zzzahara's music wades into the deep waters of love, lust, and self-discovery in a part of the world where artifice and authenticity co-exist. Emerging from the heart of LA's alternative music scene, their sound is raw in feeling and rebellious by nature.

Their 2022 debut album, Liminal Spaces, chronicles a coming- of- age in Highland Park, following painful childhood memories through to late- night, live- fast coping mechanisms, and the changes the neighbourhood has endured over the same period of time. Their 2023 follow- up, Tender, marked a period of slowing down, looking inward, and embracing a softer side of being. 'Spiral Your Way Out' sees Zzzahara evolve again. Emotionally, its foundations are built on scorched earth.

The album finds Zzzahara in the aftermath of a relationship spent trying to fit someone else's mould, being jerked around by indecision, and then hitting "emotional rock bottom." Made in a three-month burst that let all their pent-up frustrations loose, 'Spiral Your Way Out' is in part a work of self-reclamation, swapping there 2nd album Tender's meditative state for something fiery and more assertive. The new album marks another sonic evolution as much as an emotional one. Zzzahara's songs have always come wrapped in a warm glow that reflects how they were written -namely at home in their bedroom.

That glow remains on 'Spiral Your Way Out', but it also packs an ambitious streak and a gutsy punch. Taking a more collaborative approach than usual, Zzzahara worked with a range of producers including Jorge Elbrecht (Japanese Breakfast, No Joy, Sky Ferreira), Sarah Tudzin (boygenius / Cloud Nothings / The Armed), former Ducktails guitarist Alex Craig (Jelani Aryeh / re6ce) and Halsey tour drummer Franco Reid, who helped harness their intimate style of writing and blow it up into something more panoptic. After a year of upheaval, Zzzahara finally feels "calm." The musical equivalent to going several rounds on a punching bag, 'Spiral Your Way Out' finds solace between extremes. It licks its wounds in a place where pain and love, healing and abandon, sit side-by-side. If it has a message, it's one of standing tall in your own shoes - scuffs and all.

"I decided to just let myself go," Zzzahara says of their new record, 'Spiral Your Way Out' "I think I finally came to this acceptance that I don't have to be perfect. I want to be a good role model to my fans and stuff like that, but I also don't want to hide who I am." Zzzahara's music wades into the deep waters of love, lust, and self-discovery in a part of the world where artifice and authenticity co-exist. Emerging from the heart of LA's alternative music scene, their sound is raw in feeling and rebellious by nature.

Their 2022 debut album, Liminal Spaces, chronicles a coming- of- age in Highland Park, following painful childhood memories through to late- night, live- fast coping mechanisms, and the changes the neighbourhood has endured over the same period of time. Their 2023 follow- up, Tender, marked a period of slowing down, looking inward, and embracing a softer side of being. 'Spiral Your Way Out' sees Zzzahara evolve again. Emotionally, its foundations are built on scorched earth.

The album finds Zzzahara in the aftermath of a relationship spent trying to fit someone else's mould, being jerked around by indecision, and then hitting "emotional rock bottom." Made in a three-month burst that let all their pent-up frustrations loose, 'Spiral Your Way Out' is in part a work of self-reclamation, swapping there 2nd album Tender's meditative state for something fiery and more assertive. The new album marks another sonic evolution as much as an emotional one. Zzzahara's songs have always come wrapped in a warm glow that reflects how they were written -namely at home in their bedroom.

That glow remains on 'Spiral Your Way Out', but it also packs an ambitious streak and a gutsy punch. Taking a more collaborative approach than usual, Zzzahara worked with a range of producers including Jorge Elbrecht (Japanese Breakfast, No Joy, Sky Ferreira), Sarah Tudzin (boygenius / Cloud Nothings / The Armed), former Ducktails guitarist Alex Craig (Jelani Aryeh / re6ce) and Halsey tour drummer Franco Reid, who helped harness their intimate style of writing and blow it up into something more panoptic. After a year of upheaval, Zzzahara finally feels "calm." The musical equivalent to going several rounds on a punching bag, 'Spiral Your Way Out' finds solace between extremes. It licks its wounds in a place where pain and love, healing and abandon, sit side-by-side. If it has a message, it's one of standing tall in your own shoes - scuffs and all.

Lili Holland-Fricke and Sean Rogan’s debut album “dear alien” is a constellation of radiant improvised impulses, imagined in lucent fragments of cello, guitar and voice. Spacious, tender and glistening with rich electronic distortion, the record melds a spectrum of processed and natural sound as the artists invite listeners into their dreamlike world of synergetic introspections.

Cultivated through a shared spirit of resourcefulness and play, “dear alien” emerges as an organic meeting place in the compositional output of British-German experimental cellist Lili Holland-Fricke and Manchester-born guitarist and producer Sean Rogan. Having studied their respective instruments at the Royal Northern College of Music, both artists have flourished in eclectic solo and collaborative projects, creating intricate and intimate spheres of sound with a deep appreciation for songwriting and improvisation.

Holland-Fricke’s transition from the classical world to writing her own material, and later vastly expanding her palette with electronics, first converged with Rogan’s distinctive flair for production in 2022 on her EP “birdsong for breakfast” and single ‘draw on the walls’. Now, the duo present an album envisioned through true ‘50/50’ collaboration during the summer of 2023, written across two intensive weeks of improvising and experimenting at Rogan’s Greenwich home studio. A convergence of the artists’ sounds and influences, the music was fostered by the idea of making an album with ‘no plan’ and their shared recent discovery of Arthur Russell, to whom the final track is dedicated.

“dear alien” assembles eight compositions that emerged naturally as the duo created sketches with cello and pedals, guitar, tape loops and poetic vocal musings, forming songs that explore themes of waiting, circling back around, and glitchy communication. Moments of drifting through pillowy layers of sound contrast with saturated visions of electronic modification, where the record’s glowing instrumental contours are pushed to the extremes.

The plaintive shades of ‘half blue’ and meandering deliberations of ‘slow thing’ are teased by the friction of static signals and a sense of ever-mutating sonic mass – a sensibility most acutely realised in ‘dawning’, where cello-vocoder eruptions grow in magnitude, the absence of sound between them burdened with something sinister and unspoken. As the artists expand on this piece, ‘It’s the sound equivalent of squeezing your eyes shut to shield against the brightness of something you don’t want to see, only to find that each time you open them again the world is not softening but getting more relentlessly overwhelming, to the point of being totally blinding.’

Three tracks with lyrics – ‘at first’, ‘dear alien’ and ‘seem asleep’ – refract the album’s wistful and melancholic colours into poetic imagery and metaphors, ushering in reflections on relationship tensions and someone close feeling unknown, with hints towards wider unsettled feelings about climate change. In the spirit of lyrical improv, ‘seem asleep’ compiles lone lines from Holland-Fricke’s journals into a cut-and-paste collage around hopeful patience or futile lingering – either way conjuring a softness that welcomes the hazy ambience of ‘for a. r.’, the final composition which soundscapes the summer days spent making the album. As the artists describe of this track, ‘The music kind of leads somewhere, but then kind of leads nowhere, and just meanders around where it is, content to just be walking in a circle back to where it started.’

Angelo Harmsworth's lands on Warm Winters Ltd. with his newest album titled 'Without Blinking', imbued, as usual, with a kind of gentle de(con)struction. Comprising of two longer compositions and a shorter piece featuring Felisha Ledesma, 'Without Blinking' is music on the verge of collapse, barely held together by its syrupy textures, intoxicated rhythmic gestures and characteristically raw emotionality. It's Harmsworth trying to map the limits of the senses, playing with our perceptions of time, place and sound, creating something hallucinatory, pseudo-slow-motion, yet fundamentally cathartic in its extremes. He describes his approach as "gestural complexity alongside uncomplicated tonality", and recommends listening with your "eyes wide shut" – telling descriptions from an artist who tries to reconcile false dichotomies through intense yet captivating sonics.

'Without Blinking' follows Harmsworth's releases on enmossed/Psychic Liberation, Angoisse, Opal Tapes, and Lime Lodge, and continues his ongoing collaboration with Felisha Ledesma.

2017 album now available at a cheaper price. Limited colour vinyl 12” (Marled colour) DL card included is for indie stores only. Standard LP + DL. CD digipack. Under license from Lakeshore Records. A Fire Records release. Back in 2006, Richard Linklater’s film adaptation of Philip K Dick’s sci-fi novel A Scanner Darkly was greeted with suspicion. No one had done justice to the “master” (Bladerunner, Minority Report, Total Recall, The Adjustment Bureau had or have all met with mixed reviews). And, movies attempting to conjure up the effects of drugs were met with derision from the stoned cognoscenti. How could a story of dependence on Substance D (“Death” for short) be created with multi-million dollar stars in the frame anyway? Linklater had a plan; He’d use rotoscoping (an effect that falls somewhere between Kiki Picasso’s sketches brought to life and Disney on ‘ludes). The celebrities would be shrouded in mystery, in fact Keanu Reeves’ skin suit would make him almost invisible at times, a mumbling wreck swaying centre stage. A waste of talent? A waste of money? To complete the experience, a left field musical score was needed to ensure that everything wasn’t as it seemed. The phone books are full of creative composers but Graham Reynolds And His Golden Arm Trio jumped off the page. The band name is from a Frank Sinatra film where he plays a drug-addled muso. Perfect. Graham Reynolds works in extremes, he’s collaborated with DJ Spooky, the Austin Symphony Orchestra and with live film collage creator Luke Savisky. More importantly his Golden Arm Trio are never three and never the same people twice. For the movie he created short sound bytes – a surf-like instrumental, a country-tinged breather, the sound of stuttering insects crawling through your hair. The resultant soundscape is itchy and scratchy, full of mood swings and musical metaphors, an ever changing and unpredictable set of highs littered with reflective undertones and occasional soft, almost super numb realities. THE SOUNDTRACK: “Strands of post-rock, electronica, jazz, and vintage rock are woven and recombined throughout the album for unusual juxtapositions.” All Musi // “A tactile, emotional resonance often missing in contemporary scoring.” Soundtrack.ne // The music in isolation is bold and uncompromising, shifting as it moves through genres and sounds. THE COMPOSER : Graham Reynolds works in extremes; Short take moments of sound – whether it be a surf-like instrumental, a country-tinged breather or the sound of stuttering insects crawling through your hair – are all in his tick box. The resultant soundscape is itchy and scratchy, full of mood swings and musical metaphors, an ever changing and unpredictable set of highs littered with reflective undertones and occasional soft, almost super numb realities.

Back in 2006, Richard Linklater’s film adaptation of Philip K Dick’s sci-fi novel A Scanner Darkly was greeted with suspicion. No one had done justice to the “master” (Bladerunner, Minority Report, Total Recall, The Adjustment Bureau had or have all met with mixed reviews). And, movies attempting to conjure up the effects of drugs were met with derision from the stoned cognoscenti. How could a story of dependence on Substance D (“Death” for short) be created with multi-million dollar stars in the frame anyway? Linklater had a plan; He’d use rotoscoping (an effect that falls somewhere between Kiki Picasso’s sketches brought to life and Disney on ‘ludes). The celebrities would be shrouded in mystery, in fact Keanu Reeves’ skin suit would make him almost invisible at times, a mumbling wreck swaying centre stage. A waste of talent? A waste of money? To complete the experience, a left field musical score was needed to ensure that everything wasn’t as it seemed. The phone books are full of creative composers but Graham Reynolds And His Golden Arm Trio jumped off the page. The band name is from a Frank Sinatra film where he plays a drug-addled muso. Perfect. Graham Reynolds works in extremes, he’s collaborated with DJ Spooky, the Austin Symphony Orchestra and with live film collage creator Luke Savisky. More importantly his Golden Arm Trio are never three and never the same people twice. For the movie he created short sound bytes – a surf-like instrumental, a country-tinged breather, the sound of stuttering insects crawling through your hair. The resultant soundscape is itchy and scratchy, full of mood swings and musical metaphors, an ever changing and unpredictable set of highs littered with reflective undertones and occasional soft, almost super numb realities. THE SOUNDTRACK: “Strands of post-rock, electronica, jazz, and vintage rock are woven and recombined throughout the album for unusual juxtapositions.” All Musi // “A tactile, emotional resonance often missing in contemporary scoring.” Soundtrack.ne // The music in isolation is bold and uncompromising, shifting as it moves through genres and sounds. THE COMPOSER : Graham Reynolds works in extremes; Short take moments of sound – whether it be a surf-like instrumental, a country-tinged breather or the sound of stuttering insects crawling through your hair – are all in his tick box. The resultant soundscape is itchy and scratchy, full of mood swings and musical metaphors, an ever changing and unpredictable set of highs littered with reflective undertones and occasional soft, almost super numb realities.

With "Morir en otra habitación", Wild Honey delivers a wonderful record full of emotion and warmth. Beautiful pop music that travels through an intimate moment with an unusual and touching naturalness.

It has been just over three years since Guillermo Farré, the singer and multi-instrumentalist behind Wild Honey, released "Ruinas futuras" (2021). Hailed as one of the best albums of that year, that record reflected his recent fatherhood and the exceptional circumstances of the first stage of the pandemic. Now, his new songs are the echo of a difficult and convulsive time after the death of his father.

The result is a mini-album of five songs that swing between fragility, the unexpected and the everyday. It is a snapshot that captures, as Guillermo describes in one of his lyrics, "slow motion avalanches". These are pieces charged with great emotional intensity but also full of light, driven by the expansion and openness of their exquisite arrangements.

"When I try to remember when something happened, I always think of historical events or personal milestones like moving houses, the birth of my children or the records I've made over the years. Recording an album is sort of like taking a photograph of a particular life moment and I've got used to records helping me sort out the time in my head."

"Morir en otra habitación" is the deliberate effort to document the strange and surprising feelings of that period, knowing that over the years these songs will be the easiest way to remember those months. A feverish exercise of describing in songs that journey of extremes where making breakfast for my children, explaining to them what a person's ashes are or playing the game of making a wish upon seeing a shooting star all come together."

In its vinyl edition, the album will include instrumental versions that, without the presence of Guillermo's voice, are close to the soundtracks he has recorded in recent years for film and TV.

Although Wild Honey is a project with a marked personal character, "Morir en otra habitación" has the support of collaborators close to Guillermo. Co-produced with Remate, the album includes contributions from Clara Viñals (Renaldo & Clara), Anna María Biffi, Javier Lorente and José María Rubio. In addition, Sean O'Hagan (The High Llamas) is responsible for the exquisite string arrangements, which recall Scott Walker, Belle & Sebastian or the most delicate Colin Blunstone, and Ali Chant (Aldous Harding, M. Ward, Katy J Pearson) has been in charge of the mixing.

“Django” and “Japanese Funk Machine” are 2 mid80s outstanding avant-garde dance tracks released by UnknownmiX, a Swiss avant-experimental group with unique vocal, punkish/art-pop/minimal wave atmosphere, solid synth and percussions in an anarchic world.

At the center of the project were the very talented vocalist Magda Vogel and the well-known experimental composer Ernst Thoma, who with this radical project sought to push boundaries and explore extremes with sounds that moved between tribal and distorted far ahead of their time.

The remixes were made by cosmic wizard Daniele Baldelli, assisted by the faithful Marco Dionigi, and Delphi (half of Tiger & Woods).

Perpignan Burning: the Southern French capital of garage rock in search of the riff. Or as Lou Reed would put it: "You can"t beat two guitars, bass, and drums." Content: 27 previously unreleased tracks on the double LP and six digital-only bonus tracks. All tracks on this compilation were recorded in or around Perpignan, France, and go to the musical extremes of an extreme city. Whether garage punks or freakbeat mods, country punks or city rockers, whether pioneers or new to the scene: the only thing that counts is the riff. Pascal Comelade, infamous riff explorer since the 1970s, is the unlikely godfather of this bunch of punks and rockers. He opens the trip with his emblematic cover design and closes it with his own Riffifi orchestra to the ultimate riff of The Stooges" "I Wanna Be Your Dog".

2024 Repress

In the frontline of new generation techno, Kenji Hina aka Alarico sets the precedent of density and rhythmic essence with his Tokyo Rythms Trilogy and leads the way ahead of the curve. Each district gives an insight in his imaginary vision of what the depths of Tokyo is about techno wise. An example of the past and the future with clearly a framework in which no rules exist, he's pushing fundamental elements to new extremes.

Dame-Music founder Bloody Mary’s ‘ALTERNATE STATES OF REALITY’ EP marks the 50th release on a label that counts KiNK, Josh Wink, Boo Williams, Fear-E and Thomas P. Heckmann amongst its roster since it launched in 2010.

The release sees Bloody Mary, Tresor resident, live artist, DJ and Producer, return to her own imprint with a full EP for the first time since 2020, produced as part of her live set ahead of her
upcoming Autumn tour, and complete with a remix from Soma Records legends Slam.

In the ‘ALTERNATE STATES OF REALITY’ EP, Bloody Mary explores the varying aspects of her acid sound. Equipped with her TR-909 and 303, she shows her penchant for hardware, starting off with ‘REALITY ONE’, in which crunchy drums and crisp highs ride along a mind-melting acid polyrhythm before ‘REALITY TWO’ opts for a punchy
electro beat, once again drenched in squelch and occasionally soothed by soft, nostalgic pads.

Flipping over the record, the infectious marching drums of Bloody Mary’s ‘REALITY THREE’ leaves behind the 303 and swaps it out for rampaging toms below a furious,
clap-heavy topline. This party-starting track is pure rhythm, expertly remixed by Scotland’s Slam, who this time supply the acid in their version, amplifying the tempo to superb extremes for a hypnotic warehouse pumper and concluding the monumental
fiftieth instalment on one of techno’s most important labels

"One of the best bands to come out of NYC since who gives a shit." -CVLT Nation. When you enter White Hills' lair in Brooklyn, the duo's insatiable desire for music and art is immediately palpable. Crates of vinyl from floor to ceiling line the long hallway. Guitars appear at every angle, one lying across a sofa in obvious mid-play with others in cases tucked beside amplifiers into every conceivable corner. Synthesizers and cables cover the purple satin bed while gouache paintings in various stages of progress strewn the floor. Album covers, movie posters, books, paintings, prints and souvenirs of subversive culture occupy the remaining wall space. A sanctuary of adoration, creation and imagination, it's also the nerve center of their record label Heads on Fire Industries and the site where the final mixes of their latest album Beyond This Fiction took shape. For nearly two decades, White Hills have been blowing minds with their sonic alchemy: a unique mix of neo-psychedelia, art rock, and post-punk- at once original and recognizable. Their cult reputation emblazoned in celluloid following their performance in Jim Jarmusch's sultry vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive, the duo has toured vigorously since their inception. With a vast catalogue that astounds and a relentless punk ethos, time seems to energize the duo, making them increasingly daring and prolific. "Music creates a bliss beyond sex and drugs," professes one-woman rhythm section Ego Sensation. "We'll never stop making music. It's the highest high to be had in life." Founding member Dave W, whose signature other-worldly guitar sorcery defines the White Hills sound, grabs his Les Paul to record a melody lingering in his head from last night's dream before it escapes. Outside, the sound of passing sirens, honking horns and bits of conversation remind you that you're in the middle of New York, a city so flush with rock legacy and artistic innovation it would take lifetimes to drink it all in. A voice from outside shouts, "This shit is going for 3! These people got to be out of their fucking minds!" Dave shakes his head and laughs, "There's no place I'd rather be." Committed to a vocation marked by extremes, doubt, struggle and moments of ecstasy, Dave and Ego continue this torrid affair with music bearing their latest fruit Beyond This Fiction. Inspired by the ideas of Joseph Campbell, the writer/philosopher known for the book The Power of Myth, the album explores the idea of "riding between opposites"- forging one's own path unrestrained by the dualistic constraints of society. It's a cry to all the seers among us- call us outsiders or rebels- who feel smothered by convention and see nonconformity as the gateway into divine mystery. Recorded with Martin Bisi, known for his iconic NYC sound developed through his work with no-wave titans Sonic Youth, Swans and Lydia Lunch, Beyond This Fiction sees Dave W (guitar/vocals/synths) and Ego Sensation (drums/bass/vocals) orchestrating their distinct guitar heavy meditations into songs with a stronger focus on vocals than previous albums. Opener "Throw It Up In The Air" and closer "Beyond This Fiction" both have a lush quality that flirts with shoegaze. "Killing Crimson", a song that takes inspiration from Killing Joke and King Crimson, has a driving beat and a catchy hook that begs for a sing-a-long. "The Awakening" plunges into the meditative ambient abyss the band is well known for, featuring the unique voice of frequent collaborator poet Dan McGuire to deliver the meaning behind Beyond This Fiction. The album harnesses the seductive accessibility of 2015's Walks For Motorists while evoking the tempestuous soul of the band's seminal 2011 H-p1. Notorious shapeshifters, White Hills make Beyond This Fiction a familiar surprise. Back in the lair, Dave draws eyes on his hands in preparation for the day's video shoot. Ego reaches in the closet pulling out the red velvet jacket she wears on the cover of Beyond This Fiction where she stands in a NYC alley holding a glowing orb. "That's the portal- the gateway into the mystery. The music will take you there.".

The world is a firework of overstimulation - and Future Palace have dedicated an album to this feeling of overwhelm. On the new record "Distortion", the Berlin post-hardcore trio deals with an almost oppressing mass of mental illnesses and problems. In doing so they create music that - appropriate to this topic - hits more hooks than ever before from one moment to the next, from the quietest depths to the loftiest heights. While the band had already leaned more towards musical extremes on their previous album, "Run", "Distortion" is the ultimate culmination of all the tones that Future Palace have absorbed on their Europe-wide journey as one of the most exciting acts in alternative guitar music: the most powerful metalcore breakdowns meet trembling darkwave beats, anthemic emocore refrains a la Bad Omens are contrasted with sacred choirs, the coldness of industrial encounters the powerful emotionality of Sleep Token. An album like a manifesto.

The world is a firework of overstimulation - and Future Palace have dedicated an album to this feeling of overwhelm. On the new record "Distortion", the Berlin post-hardcore trio deals with an almost oppressing mass of mental illnesses and problems. In doing so they create music that - appropriate to this topic - hits more hooks than ever before from one moment to the next, from the quietest depths to the loftiest heights. While the band had already leaned more towards musical extremes on their previous album, "Run", "Distortion" is the ultimate culmination of all the tones that Future Palace have absorbed on their Europe-wide journey as one of the most exciting acts in alternative guitar music: the most powerful metalcore breakdowns meet trembling darkwave beats, anthemic emocore refrains a la Bad Omens are contrasted with sacred choirs, the coldness of industrial encounters the powerful emotionality of Sleep Token. An album like a manifesto.

"One of the best bands to come out of NYC since who gives a shit." -CVLT Nation. When you enter White Hills' lair in Brooklyn, the duo's insatiable desire for music and art is immediately palpable. Crates of vinyl from floor to ceiling line the long hallway. Guitars appear at every angle, one lying across a sofa in obvious mid-play with others in cases tucked beside amplifiers into every conceivable corner. Synthesizers and cables cover the purple satin bed while gouache paintings in various stages of progress strewn the floor. Album covers, movie posters, books, paintings, prints and souvenirs of subversive culture occupy the remaining wall space. A sanctuary of adoration, creation and imagination, it's also the nerve center of their record label Heads on Fire Industries and the site where the final mixes of their latest album Beyond This Fiction took shape. For nearly two decades, White Hills have been blowing minds with their sonic alchemy: a unique mix of neo-psychedelia, art rock, and post-punk- at once original and recognizable. Their cult reputation emblazoned in celluloid following their performance in Jim Jarmusch's sultry vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive, the duo has toured vigorously since their inception. With a vast catalogue that astounds and a relentless punk ethos, time seems to energize the duo, making them increasingly daring and prolific. "Music creates a bliss beyond sex and drugs," professes one-woman rhythm section Ego Sensation. "We'll never stop making music. It's the highest high to be had in life." Founding member Dave W, whose signature other-worldly guitar sorcery defines the White Hills sound, grabs his Les Paul to record a melody lingering in his head from last night's dream before it escapes. Outside, the sound of passing sirens, honking horns and bits of conversation remind you that you're in the middle of New York, a city so flush with rock legacy and artistic innovation it would take lifetimes to drink it all in. A voice from outside shouts, "This shit is going for 3! These people got to be out of their fucking minds!" Dave shakes his head and laughs, "There's no place I'd rather be." Committed to a vocation marked by extremes, doubt, struggle and moments of ecstasy, Dave and Ego continue this torrid affair with music bearing their latest fruit Beyond This Fiction. Inspired by the ideas of Joseph Campbell, the writer/philosopher known for the book The Power of Myth, the album explores the idea of "riding between opposites"- forging one's own path unrestrained by the dualistic constraints of society. It's a cry to all the seers among us- call us outsiders or rebels- who feel smothered by convention and see nonconformity as the gateway into divine mystery. Recorded with Martin Bisi, known for his iconic NYC sound developed through his work with no-wave titans Sonic Youth, Swans and Lydia Lunch, Beyond This Fiction sees Dave W (guitar/vocals/synths) and Ego Sensation (drums/bass/vocals) orchestrating their distinct guitar heavy meditations into songs with a stronger focus on vocals than previous albums. Opener "Throw It Up In The Air" and closer "Beyond This Fiction" both have a lush quality that flirts with shoegaze. "Killing Crimson", a song that takes inspiration from Killing Joke and King Crimson, has a driving beat and a catchy hook that begs for a sing-a-long. "The Awakening" plunges into the meditative ambient abyss the band is well known for, featuring the unique voice of frequent collaborator poet Dan McGuire to deliver the meaning behind Beyond This Fiction. The album harnesses the seductive accessibility of 2015's Walks For Motorists while evoking the tempestuous soul of the band's seminal 2011 H-p1. Notorious shapeshifters, White Hills make Beyond This Fiction a familiar surprise. Back in the lair, Dave draws eyes on his hands in preparation for the day's video shoot. Ego reaches in the closet pulling out the red velvet jacket she wears on the cover of Beyond This Fiction where she stands in a NYC alley holding a glowing orb. "That's the portal- the gateway into the mystery. The music will take you there.".

The world of ENDON is one of constant evolution and revolution. The Tokyo-based ensemble of Taichi Nagura, Koki Miyabe, and Taro Aiko have made a name for themselves with their relentless exploration of sonic extremes in the vein of artists such as the Boredoms and Merzbow. The resulting music is a powerful emotional release for both artist and listener. Their commitment to evolution and dystopian noise as a playground for exploration and pure expression carried them through the recent departure of their drummer Shin Yokota and the tragic death of brother and band member Etsuo Nagura in 2020. Where some might have tried to replace members, ENDON"s core pressed forward with an autobiographical work exploring these changes and the shifts in their lives. Honest and raw emotions delivered with uncompromising sonic intensity, Fall of Spring is a thrilling tidal wave of sound and raw emotions born of the psyche of three individuals musically congregating into one tumultuous voice. Fall of Spring captures the electricity and unpredictability of ENDON"s live performances in vivid detail. The album harnesses the power of their storied performances through unpredictable movements, deft arrangements and an exhilarating textural palette. By imbuing their sound with raw feeling at every edge of obliteration, the trio are able to create what they call "organic music with inorganic material." For ENDON, those moments of suspense and surprise are the core of their music. As with their shows, Fall of Spring is a vessel for band and audience to share moments, to suspend time and move through grief and pain, and to bask in catharsis and resilience. ENDON continues to be a mercurial force in the world of extreme music.

Vomitorium' is the new album from ever-evolving Eindhoven band Radar Men
From The Moon. Due out August 16th on Fuzz Club, it's an eight-track
collection of abrasive experimental punk that unleashes their latest line-up
and musical incarnation in typically confrontational form.
Revelling in cathartic excess and a bludgeoning intensity, they power through
90s industrial electronics, discordant noise-rock and the darkest post-punk
extremes. 'Vomitorium' is the band's eighth full-length in an extensive, shapeshifting discography that has also seen collaborations with the likes of Gnod
(as Temple ov BBV), The Cosmic Dead and 10 000 Russos. INDIE ONLY! Clear
Yellow Vinyl.

D. Carbone steps up for the next entry on UFO Inc. with four exhilarating energy boosts. Raised in the Vesuvian area but a longtime resident of Berlin, Davide Carbone has spent years honing in on a bold, industrial-leaning sound that targets the body and mind in equal transcendence. His aesthetics are seemingly on the harsher side, but underneath each phrase lies a carefully arranged sonic mapping that weaves together the raw, the delirious, and the euphoric. As a producer and DJ who works across multiple aliases, Davide's commitment to the culture has been firmly planted over many years of exploring the weirder corners of techno, working with a wide range of beloved labels and performing across the globe. For his debut on UFO Inc, he focuses on a clear sonic paradigm, considering the fusion of uplifting, trance-y breaks and contrasting hard rhythmic frameworks in order to craft a unique space between two extremes.

In the new duo MISTRA, two extremes in the Norwegian music industry collide - Pop queen Benedicte Adrian and metal pioneer Anders Odden. Their first single "Waltz of Death" was performed in the 3rd semifinal of Melodi Grand Prix (the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest) Benedicte Adrian is back in MGP 40 years after the success of Dollie de Luxe. The duo, which consisted of Benedicte and Ingrid Bjørnov, won the competition with "Lenge Leve Livet". They followed up the success with the album "Rock vs Opera" and have composed music for several musicals together. They released their last album as "Adrian/Bjørnov". As a solo artist, Benedicte has, among other things, sung the role of Queen of the Night in "Tryllefløyten" at Den Norske Opera, released the solo album "Desember" and guested on various stages both as a pop artist and a classical singer. Anders Odden has a long life behind him in black metal. In 1990, his band, Cadaver, debuted with Norway's first death metal LP "Hallucinating Anxiety". Since then, Cadaver has released six albums and gained cult status worldwide. Anders has also toured the world as a musician for other bands such as Celtic Frost. He has also collaborated with famous musicians such as Ronni Le Tekrø, Ledfoot, Hank Von Hell and Tony Harnell. Produced and mixed by Adair Daufembach in Studio Tomb, Norway

First time on vinyl!
Newly remastered. LP housed in a gatefold jacket.
Featuring Herbie Hancock, Martha Reeves, Alphonse Mouzon, Chuck Rainey, Patryce “Choc’let” Banks, Carlos Morales, and members of The Pointer Sisters.

In the 1970s, Betty Davis defied genre and gender by pushing her voice to extremes and embracing the erotic. She articulated a kind of pre-punk, funk-blues fusion that had yet to be normalized in mainstream music – a style that few musicians have come close to replicating. As one of the first Black women to write, arrange, and produce her own albums, Betty was a visionary who disregarded industry boundaries and constraints. Raw, unapologetic and in full control, Betty paved the way for generations of future artists who said “funk you” to the music industry and social norms.

In 1979, when Davis entered an L.A. studio to record her fifth and final album, she was reeling from a series of setbacks. Three years earlier, after recording her fourth album, Is It Love Or Desire, Davis was dropped from her label and the LP was subsequently shelved. In 1978, her beloved band Funk House went their separate ways. Looking for a fresh start, Davis relocated to Hollywood to focus on songwriting. Before long, British manager Simon Lait (Toni Basil), offered to fund her next project.

With renewed vigor, Davis reunited with former Funk House guitarist Carlos Morales and brought together industry veterans like fusion drummer Alphonse Mouzon and session bassist Chuck Rainey. Old friends Anita and Bonnie Pointer (The Pointer Sisters) and Patryce “Choc’let” Banks joined Davis on vocals, as did Motown legend Martha Reeves. The resulting album, Crashin’ From Passion, was her most musically diverse, blending elements of reggae and calypso (“I’ve Danced Before”), jazz (“Hangin’ Out in Hollywood,” “Tell Me a Few Things”), dark synth-pop (“She’s a Woman”), and even disco (“All I Do Is Think of You”). Equally exploratory are Davis’ vocals, as she trades in her signature sass and snarls for more nuanced stylings.

Among the album’s few funk tracks is “Quintessence of Hip,” in which Davis hails musicians like Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder, and John Coltrane, while deftly integrating elements of their work. The song also offers a moment of stark vulnerability, as she sings, “Isn’t rich? Isn’t it queer? Losing my timing so late in my career.” It would prove to be a prophetic line in the months to follow.

The mixing process was mired by artistic differences and then cut short, amid the death of Davis’ beloved father. Bereft and exasperated, Davis returned home for the funeral, setting into motion her retirement from the music industry. Crashin’ From Passion, meanwhile, would be shelved for 15 years and licensed for a CD-only release, without Davis’ consent, in the ‘90s. This 2023 edition of the album, made with Davis’ full approval and cooperation, marks its first official release and first time ever on vinyl. The package was designed by GRAMMY®-winning artist, Masaki Koike, while the album cover features an incredible shot of Betty captured in London in the mid-1970s by renowned photographer Kate Simon.

Crashin’ From Passion was remastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters and pressed on vinyl at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI). The accompanying booklet includes a treasure trove of rare photos from the era, plus lyrics, and new liner notes by writer, ethnomusicologist, and Betty’s close friend, Danielle Maggio, who integrates interviews that she conducted with Davis, marking her last ever interviews.

First time on vinyl!
Newly remastered. LP housed in a gatefold jacket.
Featuring Herbie Hancock, Martha Reeves, Alphonse Mouzon, Chuck Rainey, Patryce “Choc’let” Banks, Carlos Morales, and members of The Pointer Sisters.

In the 1970s, Betty Davis defied genre and gender by pushing her voice to extremes and embracing the erotic. She articulated a kind of pre-punk, funk-blues fusion that had yet to be normalized in mainstream music – a style that few musicians have come close to replicating. As one of the first Black women to write, arrange, and produce her own albums, Betty was a visionary who disregarded industry boundaries and constraints. Raw, unapologetic and in full control, Betty paved the way for generations of future artists who said “funk you” to the music industry and social norms.

In 1979, when Davis entered an L.A. studio to record her fifth and final album, she was reeling from a series of setbacks. Three years earlier, after recording her fourth album, Is It Love Or Desire, Davis was dropped from her label and the LP was subsequently shelved. In 1978, her beloved band Funk House went their separate ways. Looking for a fresh start, Davis relocated to Hollywood to focus on songwriting. Before long, British manager Simon Lait (Toni Basil), offered to fund her next project.

With renewed vigor, Davis reunited with former Funk House guitarist Carlos Morales and brought together industry veterans like fusion drummer Alphonse Mouzon and session bassist Chuck Rainey. Old friends Anita and Bonnie Pointer (The Pointer Sisters) and Patryce “Choc’let” Banks joined Davis on vocals, as did Motown legend Martha Reeves. The resulting album, Crashin’ From Passion, was her most musically diverse, blending elements of reggae and calypso (“I’ve Danced Before”), jazz (“Hangin’ Out in Hollywood,” “Tell Me a Few Things”), dark synth-pop (“She’s a Woman”), and even disco (“All I Do Is Think of You”). Equally exploratory are Davis’ vocals, as she trades in her signature sass and snarls for more nuanced stylings.

Among the album’s few funk tracks is “Quintessence of Hip,” in which Davis hails musicians like Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder, and John Coltrane, while deftly integrating elements of their work. The song also offers a moment of stark vulnerability, as she sings, “Isn’t rich? Isn’t it queer? Losing my timing so late in my career.” It would prove to be a prophetic line in the months to follow.

The mixing process was mired by artistic differences and then cut short, amid the death of Davis’ beloved father. Bereft and exasperated, Davis returned home for the funeral, setting into motion her retirement from the music industry. Crashin’ From Passion, meanwhile, would be shelved for 15 years and licensed for a CD-only release, without Davis’ consent, in the ‘90s. This 2023 edition of the album, made with Davis’ full approval and cooperation, marks its first official release and first time ever on vinyl. The package was designed by GRAMMY®-winning artist, Masaki Koike, while the album cover features an incredible shot of Betty captured in London in the mid-1970s by renowned photographer Kate Simon.

Crashin’ From Passion was remastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters and pressed on vinyl at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI). The accompanying booklet includes a treasure trove of rare photos from the era, plus lyrics, and new liner notes by writer, ethnomusicologist, and Betty’s close friend, Danielle Maggio, who integrates interviews that she conducted with Davis, marking her last ever interviews.

Sect have a lot on their minds. With the release of their brand new single, New Low and the promise of Plagues Upon Plagues, the follow up full-length to 2019’s Blood of the Beasts, Sect explore the intersection of issues which have cascaded over us for the last five years, the “plagues” of the title referring to the literal pandemic, and the metaphorical plague of the political state and the rise of fascism.

Comprised of an international cast of stellar musicians, who cut their teeth in a formative moment of political, cynical, antagonistic extremes, Sect unites Scott Crouse (Earth Crisis, Tooth & Claw) & Jimmy Chang (Undying, Catharsis) - guitars, Steve Hart (Day of Suffering, Mania For Conquest) - bass, Andy Hurley (Fall Out Boy, Racetraitor) - drums and Chris Colohan (Cursed, Unwell) - vocals. They released No Cure For Death in 2017 and Blood of the Beasts in 2019.

Plagues Upon Plagues opens with the bereft waves of “No Uncertain Terms”, a side of the band we haven’t seen before. Vocalist Chris Colohan describes this album as “a funeral rather than a trial”, the activism of previous releases fading to sorrow and grief.

Lead single New Low follows with the advent of marching drums, a funereal procession for the world we hoped to build. There’s frantic horror on the album too, with the track “Drowning in Sorrows” taking a look at the ways in which we numb ourselves as a society. “#ForeverHome” is a bitterly angry track about how people used animals for both narcissistic virtue signalling and one-way comfort in the pandemic, and abandoned them en masse just as selfishly when social life came back. Speaking to their straight-edge principles and how that continues to feed into their songwriting, Chris says, “the only kind of straight edge songs I’m interested in writing are dynamic ones that address human realities that you don’t have to be straight edge to engage with.”

On Plagues Upon Plagues, Sect pierce through the veil of complacency, forcing listeners to confront uncomfortable truths about the fragility of our world. The band wields their sonic arsenal like a prophetic warning and with raw vocals and uncompromising lyrics, they confront the harsh realities of existence in these tumultuous times. As society teeters on the brink of chaos, Sect's cold hard statement resonates with an urgency that cannot be ignored.

Progressing from their angst-fuelled selftitled debut (2018), to the escapist world of sophomore LP On All Fours (2021), the South London trio, consisting of Rosy Bones, Lottie Pendlebury and Holly Mullineaux, enter their most self-assured era in 2024, with third album Below The Waste. Co-produced by the band and John Spud Murphy (Lankum/ Black Midi), the album takes the band’s distinctive sound to new extremes, as they delve fearlessly into expansive noise-rock, delicate folk and synth-driven pop.

Melbourne pop eccentric Gregor releases his fourth album Satanic Lullabies, his deepest and darkest record yet. In the years since his first album, 2016's Thoughts & Faults, Gregor's music has got progressively odder, more challenging and more rewarding. The spacious, acerbic pop of Silver Drop (2018), featuring touching single A Song About Holding Hands, was followed by the lovesick Destiny (2020), which put Gregor's inquisitive pop through a warped filter. Now Satanic Lullabies has polar extremes of wide-eyed innocence and deep despair. There are moments of great musical beauty that segue into harsh, bleak soundscapes. "I'm seeking to draw attention to the similarities between heaven and hell," says Gregor, "and to comfort anyone who recognises these." Satanic Lullabies is a modern epic, a bedroom odyssey, like if pre-MAGA Kanye made a Disney soundtrack. Gregor's live show ranges from solo mode up to a ten piece band, and he has played festivals such as Golden Plains, Dark Mofo, Inner Varnika, Boogie and The Others Way (NZ). He was nominated for Best Album and Best Solo Artist in the 2019 Music Victoria Awards, and Best Pop Act in 2021.

"In a small room, tilt’s sound rings out like one big voice. Composed of vocalist Isabel Crespo Pardo, vocalist/bassist Carmen Quill, and trombonist/vocalist Kalia Vandever, the Brooklyn-based group writes intricate, viscerally affecting art-pop compositions that blend carefully interwoven motifs with improvisation. Their melodies are chiseled at extremes, vacillating between the angular and the achingly lyrical. All three members are accomplished artists and composers in their own right, coming from strong backgrounds in the jazz world, and featured alongside artists such as Harry Styles, Mary Halvorson, Dave Douglas, Matthew Barney and more. Their stunning debut LP "Something We Once Knew" is in its own class—a record that teaches us how to listen to it as it progresses. Recorded live in the studio without overdubs, its songs chart troubled and surreal journeys toward understanding or acceptance, passing through mystical corners of its members’ singular musical vocabularies. In these pieces, Quill and Vandever move fluidly between handling melodies with their voices and their instruments, harmonizing closely with Pardo’s melismatic lines. Though the band often works in carefully coordinated group gestures, some of the sharpest moments of catharsis on the record come during virtuosic passages highlighting individual members. Often, Crespo steps into the foreground of pieces, their unfettered vocal phrasing and unorthodox technical approaches investing the lyrics with additional layers of meaning. The music on "Something We Once Knew" might be most readily categorized as jazz, but it is hard to focus on anything but its sui generis aspects and its emotional charge."

2024 repress

Ryoji Ikeda is one of the most influential minimal electronic musicians and sound artists of our time. He also works as a cutting edge visual atist. He creates poetic art reducing the elements to extremes.

Ryoji Ikeda was born in 1966 in Gifu, Japan. He lives and works in Paris, France and Kyoto, Japan.
These two tracks are taken from his first and third album from early/mid 90's and are previously never released on vinyl. Space was newly mixed by Ryoji Ikeda for this EP.

In 1998, melodic death metal had a fantastic momentum. But not only bands from Gothenburg were able create albums that combined the extremes of death metal with a melodic approach that added
qualities like atmosphere, melancholy and a contrast that made the rude parts seem to be even more brutal… NIGHT IN GALES from Germany released their second full-length album “Thunderbeast” in 1998

Functioning on Impatience is the second full-length album by American metalcore band Coalesce.

Embark on a sonic odyssey with "Between Poetry and Catastrophe," a 15-year labor of love by Norwegian electronic artist Ars Dada. The title draws inspiration from the poignant words "Music lives in the span between poetry and catastrophe", of the late Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim.

In this album, Ars Dada delves into the extremes—where chaos intertwines with serenity, and violence meets the poetic. Every track is a meticulously crafted journey, featuring real instrumentation such as vocals, piano, and strings, including a grand collaboration with the chamber orchestra of the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra. From intense breakbeat chaos to delicate neoclassical string pieces, Ars Dada invites you to experience the visceral beauty of this musical tapestry.

This isn't just an album; it's an exploration of the human condition at its most extreme.

Thank you to the performers and Arctic Philharmonic

Written and recorded with support from Fund for Performing Artists

All music written, arranged and produced by Erlend Bilsbak/Ars Dada
All strings recorded in Kysten studio by Sivert Henriksen

Violin on all tracks except Fjordyp, End of September, Skyggespill, and Du Må Ikke Sove performed by Brynjar Lien Schulerud

Violin on Fjordyp, End of September, Skyggespill, and Du Må Ikke Sove performed by Sander Tingstad

Viola on all tracks except Tjernet performed by Heidi Schulerud Bilsbak

Cello on all tracks except Tjernet performed by Håvard Bilsbak

Grand Piano on Fjordyp and Skyggespill performed by Yegor Shevtsov

Alto soprano on Fjordyp, End of September, Sub Luna Saltamus, Du Må Ikke Sove, and Grief performed by Marika Schultze

All strings on Tjernet by performed by Arktisk Filharmoni (Arctic Philharmonic)

Mastered by Julien Guillot at Electric Voyage Studio

Album photo and design by Erlend Bilsbak

- Betty's classic third album, originally released by Island Records in 1975 - New vinly pressing on Metallic Gold colored wax - Featuring Betty's band Funk House - Booklet includes liner notes by John Ballon interviewing Betty plus full lyrics - Newly remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio // In the 1970s, Betty Davis defied genre and gender by pushing her voice to extremes and embracing the erotic. She articulated a kind of pre-punk, funk-blues fusion that had yet to be normalized in mainstream music - a style that few musicians have come close to replicating. As one of the first Black women to write, arrange, and produce her own albums, Betty was a visionary who disregarded industry boundaries and constraints. Raw, unapologetic, and in full control, Betty paved the way for generations of future artists who said 'funk you' to the music industry and social norms. In 1975, Betty Davis's star was on the rise. With the backing of Island Records and a new band, Funk House, Betty's third album, Nasty Gal, leans into the hyper-sexualized persona with which her critics were so obsessed. She raps, purrs, shrieks, and moans on top of Funk House's manic funk-rock and lays claim to the "bad girl" anthems that now saturate the music industry. Mastered from the original tapes, Nasty Gal showcases Betty's groundbreaking work as a performer, writer, and producer.

The Body & Dis Fig are a natural pair. Each has pioneered instantly recognizable worlds of sound all their own that defy any traditional categorizations or boundaries. The Body, Lee Buford and Chip King, continually challenge any conventional conception of metal, collaborating with myriad artists and from the folk-leanings of their work with BIG|BRAVE to their groundbreaking work with the Assembly of Light Choir to the intensity of their collaborations with OAA or Thou. Dis Fig, aka Felicia Chen, pushes electronic music into dark extremes, from warped DJ sets to avant production, from being a member of Tianzhuo Chen’s performance-art series TRANCE to being the vocalist with The Bug. The Body and Dis Fig find kinship in reimagining what it means to make “heavy music”. Their debut Orchards of a Futile Heaven is the perfect synthesis of two forces, twisting melodicism and intoxicating rhythms, layering a dense miasma of distortion with intense beats and a soaring voice clawing its way towards absolution.

Orchards of a Futile Heaven’s walls of sputtering texture and tectonic booms are soaked in the reverence and melancholy of sacred spaces brought to life by palpable intensity by Chen’s voice. Crafted during a time of personal fragility, the album’s devastating force lies beyond any of the expected noise and abrasive textures typically associated with both The Body & Dis Fig. Suffused with a raw vulnerability and a longing for catharsis, Chen’s voice searches for escape in the midst of oppressive atmospheres as if determined to find relief from guilt. “Eternal Hours” patiently unfurls waves of surprising sounds, whispered undulations that are punctuated by sudden crashes, all beneath Chen’s haunting harmonies. “Dissent, Shame” evokes grief and shame with a minimalist drone dirge that gradually builds to an enchanting choral passage. King’s guitar on “Holy Lance” matches the uncanny drone of Chen’s accordion in an all-consuming blast, Chen’s voice transforming the moment from anguish to defiance and empowerment. The album’s arc finishes with “Coils of Kaa” acting as a kind of propulsive exorcism, breaking through a suffocating air before the funeral procession of “Back to the Water” lays the album to rest.

While sampling has long been essential to each, The Body & Dis Fig deftly meld their differing approaches to sampling and creating extreme sounds until the boundaries are entirely blurred. The two found kinship in their desire to find new avenues to make heavy music that looked beyond tropes of metal and electronic music by merging the two. “I always wanted the heavier stuff but I also didn’t really like heavier guitar music,” says Buford. “None of it really felt quite heavy enough to me. A human can’t be as heavy as a machine.” Chen counters, “I love the balance. You could never connect to just a machine as well as you could a human. Which is why the combination is so potent for me. I don’t want to hide. I think nothing connects you more empathetically than another human's voice.”

Orchards of a Futile Heaven affirms The Body & Dis Fig as skilled sound sculptors who have an exceptional ability to make deeply affecting music, bracing as it is touching, harrowing as it is awe-inspiring. Together, the two have harnessed their expansive artistry to make music that is profoundly emotional, and staggering in its beauty.

- Betty's classic third album, originally released by Island Records in 1975 - New vinly pressing on Metallic Gold colored wax - Featuring Betty's band Funk House - Booklet includes liner notes by John Ballon interviewing Betty plus full lyrics - Newly remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio // In the 1970s, Betty Davis defied genre and gender by pushing her voice to extremes and embracing the erotic. She articulated a kind of pre-punk, funk-blues fusion that had yet to be normalized in mainstream music - a style that few musicians have come close to replicating. As one of the first Black women to write, arrange, and produce her own albums, Betty was a visionary who disregarded industry boundaries and constraints. Raw, unapologetic, and in full control, Betty paved the way for generations of future artists who said 'funk you' to the music industry and social norms. In 1975, Betty Davis's star was on the rise. With the backing of Island Records and a new band, Funk House, Betty's third album, Nasty Gal, leans into the hyper-sexualized persona with which her critics were so obsessed. She raps, purrs, shrieks, and moans on top of Funk House's manic funk-rock and lays claim to the "bad girl" anthems that now saturate the music industry. Mastered from the original tapes, Nasty Gal showcases Betty's groundbreaking work as a performer, writer, and producer.

The Body & Dis Fig are a natural pair. Each has pioneered instantly recognizable worlds of sound all their own that defy any traditional categorizations or boundaries. The Body, Lee Buford and Chip King, continually challenge any conventional conception of metal, collaborating with myriad artists and from the folk-leanings of their work with BIG|BRAVE to their groundbreaking work with the Assembly of Light Choir to the intensity of their collaborations with OAA or Thou. Dis Fig, aka Felicia Chen, pushes electronic music into dark extremes, from warped DJ sets to, avant production. From being a member of Tianzhuo Chen"s performance-art series TRANCE, to being the vocalist with The Bug. The Body and Dis Fig find kinship in reimagining what it means to make "heavy music". Their debut Orchards of a Futile Heaven is the perfect synthesis of two forces, twisting melodicism and intoxicating rhythms, layering a dense miasma of distortion with intense beats, and a soaring voice clawing its way towards absolution. Orchards of a Futile Heaven affirms The Body & Dis Fig"s distinct and unified tastes as skilled sound sculptors who have an exceptional ability to make deeply affecting music, bracing as it is touching, harrowing as it is awe-inspiring. Together, the three have harnessed their expansive artistry to make music that is profoundly emotional, and staggering in its beauty.

- Klassisch schwarzes Vinyl
- 2x12" Vinyl
- Deutsche Pressung
- Überarbeitetes Artwork in einem der Bildwelten würdigen Großformat
- Stabile Kastentasche
- Mehrfarbig bedruckte Innenhüllen mit allen Songtexten
- Mehrfarbig bedruckte Vinyletiketten
- Limitiert auf 500 Exemplare weltweit

Following her contribution to this Spring’s Gudu & Friends Vol. 1 compilation, Lady Blacktronika steps out with a full EP for Peggy Gou’s Gudu label.

Whether operating as Lady Blacktronika or her Femanyst alias, Akua Grant has built a deserved reputation as one of house and techno’s most daring and unique artists - one that dates back 25 years now, when she first debuted as a vocalist.

“House and techno” can be a cliched catch-all term, but in Grant’s case, she really has explored the extremes of both sides. Her early Lady Blacktronika work, when she earned the nickname The First Lady of Beatdown, saw her produce and narrate a style of deep house that was both sensitive and transgressive, while as Femanyst, she explores some of techno’s darkest corners, all distorted kicks and serrated edges.

Her EP for Gudu kicks off with some serious intent: ‘Baby I Got It’ chops its vocals rough and raw, pairing them with marching drums and the sort of idiosyncratic synth-work that feels like a Blacktronika signature at this point. ‘Sing the Blues’ and ‘Hold My Hand’ take things smoother, but without ever deferring to type — as ever with Grant’s music, she works with such sleight of hand that it’s easy to skip back three minutes previous and wonder how the hell we got here. Her tracks are just that hypnotic and hallucinatory.

Closing the EP, Octo Octa provides a remix of ‘Hold My Hand’ that extends things to a full 12 minutes (note: slightly shorter on the vinyl due to time constraints), taking us out with crushed percs and held pads over some undeniable drum work.

This EP marks the final release of Gudu’s busiest year to date, with music on the label in 2023 coming from Special Request, Matisa, Mogwaa, Hiver, Matrefakt, DMX Krew, Dukwa, Brain de Palma, Lady Blacktronika, Salamanda and Closet Yi.

Three years on from the desolate beauty of their debut, Quindi Records is proud to present the second album from Dead Bandit. The ghosts of their past endeavours still haunt their guitars, but on Memory Thirteen the duo's delicately dishevelled Southern gothic feels tonally distinct from their prior outing.
Dead Bandit is Ellis Swan and James Schimpl - the former a noted solo singer-songwriter from Chicago with a penchant for eerie, witching hour murder ballads and the latter an accomplished Canadian multi-instrumentalist with a bias towards heartworn, roaming soundscapes. Their instrumental collaboration has an open, lyrical quality which says as much as any spoken line, and on this album they've especially embraced the power of contrast as we're guided between scenes, sometimes within the confines of one track.
'Peel Me An Orange' is especially instructive in this regard, beginning as a blown-out paean to sonic degradation and the acute sense of hopelessness it projects, only to yield to a lilting tape loop of twanging guitar before entirely widening out in an emphatic burst of post-rock optimism.
Post-rock isn't noted for its banal cheeriness as a genre, and Dead Bandit aren't about to lay down feel-good drive-time anthems, but the sense of pulling at extremes of energy and introspection show Swan and Schimpl to be testing the emotional limits of their weatherbeaten sound. The cautiously sentimental mood of 'Blowing Kisses' hints at the hard-won light which can be encountered while pointedly driving into darkness.
Sometimes noise is a subtle device - a looming bed of unease under the forthright pluck of Swan's distinct guitar tone or the cracking round the edges of a beaten up drum machine. On 'Memory Thirteen' the distortion on the bass becomes a central figure in its haggard waltz, while 'Staircase' and 'Perfume' leave the signal wet until the delay feedback becomes the body of the riff. Either way, the sound is never left untouched as Swan and Schimpl grow more comfortable in their exchange, blurring their respective sonic languages as they expand their shared vocabulary to create an album of depth, difference and devoted distortion.