quête:the gathering

Dazzle rolled deep. Very deep. In the 1980s, it wasn't unusual for the Milwaukee-based group to show up at various Midwest night clubs in a caravan of 30-40 cars and vans. Their live following was hard won over a career that spanned 20+ years, many line up changes, and a handful of project names. Friends, family, and fans made the journey with them weekend after weekend, a testimony to both the musical prowess of the group and the tight-knit community that they emerged from.

Donald Smith, band leader, was there the whole time - joined by many of his siblings and friends - first as founder of the Ghetto Players, a early 70's nine-piece which also included siblings Michael, Ronald, and Charles. They played hard funk in the style of early Kool and the Gang, and although they sadly left no recordings, the strength of their live act managed to catch the eye of local Milwaukee R&B music entrepreneur Cobie Joe Payne. Cobie had made a couple of records locally in the early/mid 70s as a singer, including the impossibly weird and amazing rare afro-blues-funk 45 "Sweet Thing", but had never enjoyed national success. When the Ghetto Players disbanded in the early-mid 70s, Donald soon put together a new group, C on the Funk (the 'C' referring to lead vocalist and sibling Charles), under Payne's tutelage. Sister Lorrie Smith came in as the drummer, the line-up being fleshed out by brothers David and Melvin Johnson, and friend Robert Mitchell. After a few years as a strictly live attraction, they drove to Chicago and produced a single, "In the Disco" / "A Place" for Payne's small record label Sweet Thang Records in 1980. Lacking the financial backing needed to supply the local R&B disk jockey's "promotional fees" , this single sadly languished in obscurity, gathering dust inside the local tavern jukeboxes and manilla promo envelopes that comprised Payne's DIY distribution network.

C on the Funk were traveling the Mid West extensively at this point, and making some important friends on the road. Ike Wiley Jr. of the Dazz Band/Kinsman Dazz took particular interest and the band was re-christened Dazzle, partially as a tie-in with Dazz, partially to embrace the new sounds that would distinguish the 70s disco scene from what record collectors and DJs would now refer to as the "Boogie" era. There no doubt was a stigma attached to the word "Disco" as the eighties began, and as we see in this collection C On the Funk's "In the Disco" is remixed and transformed into the psychedelic synth instrumental of Dazzle's "Disco's Out", a title which embodies both the next-step approach Smith and company were pushing for, and humorously comments on the state of black dance music in the early 1980s. The Dazzle recording, done in Chicago in 1982, updated the sound and featured an expanded line up, most notably a second synth player (Charles Washington), and a percussionist/second lead vocalist (Greg McDonald). The added synth textures and deep percussive grooves give the Dazzle recordings an elegant late night vibe that resonate just as well in a good pair of headphones as they do on the dance floor. The trance inducing cough syrup-warble of "Explain" may best exemplify this here. Sadly, a pressing flaw in the 12" halted production and promotion, and the EP and the songs within were lost to the ages. The group, having done a much better line in the live music business, followed that path instead all the way to the early 90s. --bio provided by andy noble

and the novelty goes on: mule musiq welcomes another fresh producer to its vast catalogue of music from all around. this time andro gogibedashvili aka saphileaum. he is coming from tbilisi, georgia and already released an impressive body of work, considering he just publishes music since 2016. countless eps and albums, digital, on tape, documenting his feverish creative urge on labels like not not fun records, good morning tapes, diffuse reality, or vodkast. they cover a comprehensive stylistic range from ambient and downtempo to tribal, house, and techno nuances. a deeper shade of soul, precisely fashioned, growing from different playgrounds of inspiration. he was born into a musical family. as a kid he studied georgian folk. in his school rock band, he sang, and the guitar was his love. then electronic music called the tune, and techno hit his heart. in the midst of it all the 26-year-old never lost contact with his spiritual home. “i find deep inspiration in georgian myths and legends, occultism and esoteric teachings, lost civilizations, earth, unity, truth, information, and the secrets of the universe. these things, to name a few, inspire me daily and help me create the music I make.” saphileaum reveals. “exploring together”, his debut album for mule, navigates all these elements through a merry-go-round of gentle driven rhythm zones. fourth-world spheres, balearic tropes, field recording zones, tropical downbeat, tribal percussions, trancing sounds, balafon hums, mallet airs, hooky house – it’s all there, circling the eavesdropper into a dreamland of melodic undercurrents. “my loops come from tribal and cosmic inspirations. tribal, as below, and cosmic as above. the combination of these two, is very interesting to me”, he clarifies, while joking “but, to put it super simply, loops are super handy for djing”. which brings us to the final promotion of “exploring together” - it’s playability. its vast. multifunctional. spiritual. made for gatherings, were all dance time away. lost in music actions, only touched by the hand of rhythm and sound. his ten tracks are created for such flashes, wide spreading a musical narration of illuminating durability. “cosmic, relaxing, fun, tribal, and mystic.”, as saphileaum declares.

This is one of the most obscure records ever released in Venezuela in the 60s and the only recording of The Pets. This 1967 album shows perfectly what the influences of the Venezuelan nueva ola (new wave) scene were at the time, including versions of The Doors, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Paul Revere & The Riders_ as well as the outstanding original "El Entierro De Un Hombre Rico Que Murio De Hambre", one of the finest garage tunes to emerge from Latinamerica. It followed the global triumph of the Beatles that made the wave of beat groups gets bigger and bigger and lots of new bands emerged, some of which would last while others would definitively go into oblivion, and a small number of them would leave at least one recording that today is considered a highly valuable collector's item. This is the case of The Pets. Originally, they were not called The Pets, but The Playboys, and basically the group was formed to liven up the parties and gatherings at Casa Italia, a very important institution in Los Teques, near Caracas, where they formed. At one of these parties, they were heard by a representative of the Discomoda label who insisted on recommending the group to the company, completing the signing of their contract almost immediately. First time reissue, audios remastered from the original tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl.

Immerse yourself in the musical universe of ONE PIECE MOVIES - BEST SELECTION! Enjoy over 70 minutes of music from the One Piece films for the first time on vinyl, taking you on a journey through the adventures of the famous Straw Hat crew.

Fully licensed.

Luffy, a mischievous boy, dreams of becoming the king of the pirates by finding the "One Piece", a fabulous and mysterious treasure. But, inadvertently, Luffy one day swallowed a "magical devil fruit" that turned him into a rubber man. Since then, he is able to contort his elastic body in all directions, but he has lost the ability to swim, the height for a pirate! Over the course of ever more incredible adventures and chance encounters, Luffy will gradually compose his crew and multiply friendships with the peoples he discovers, while facing formidable enemies.

Kohei Tanaka worked on the composition and arrangement of this album.

The debut EP of 'heizen records' takes a step aside from modern production techniques heading towards a late 90's/early 2000's sound. Without waiting for permission, Daito & impala kick off with 'Fuck Protocol', a warehouse tool containing two simple yet well placed synths followed by a pushy acid-lead giving the first track an incredibly energetic drive. impala's & vnice's 'Bohlen' is a ghetto-tech homage with a catchy vocal and a propulsive kick and bass combo which brings you straight to the party. On the B-side, Daito's & emagemuser's 'Grazie' comes in like a stomping closing banger quickly gathering a lot of momentum through its polyrhythmic structure and dreamy pad-synths, whereas the beat of 'Simulektronik' conveys a trippy yet shaky feeling through the swinging synergy of a clamouring synth-line and semiquaver hats followed by a suprising bass lead.

Bringing together over 50 of Jamaica's greatest session musicians, whose work spans from the birth of reggae in the late 1960s until today, Roots Architects is the largest gathering of Jamaican musical talent on one all-instrumental album. Never before have so many veterans, who helped create the immortal rhythms that made reggae internationally successful, been assembled to play on new material without vocals. This project aims to celebrate and pay tribute to the unsung heroes of reggae music: the rhythm builders or Roots Architects.

Before releasing the full album, due out April 2024, this new single gives you a taste of what's coming your way. Legends back together in Kingston studios doing what they do best: creating instrumental music all together! 'Memories of Old' pays tribute to the rocksteady era. You'll be delighted by Ernest Ranglin's guitar solo and Tyrone Downie's organ solo.

BOMBER BACK IN THE RACKS!The Blue Carpet Band feature two
members of the legendary Demented Are Go! They won the Vive Le Rock
magazine Best New band award and Best Newcomer at the Alternative
Gathering festival

An evolved, ecosystemic love expression of Carlos Niño"s self-described "Spiritual, Improvisational, Space, Collage" expression - (I"m just) Chillin", on Fire is the prolific percussionist/producer"s most singular, intentional work ever, featuring a vibrant and abundant gathering of his "friends" (i.e. the highly skilled and accomplished musicians and improvisers that make up Niño"s extensive network of collaborators)

Originally released as a hand-numbered CD on New Year's Eve of 2004, Last Light captures Tor Lundvall 's hushed songcraft at its most ghostly and grayscale, stripped bare like branches bracing for winter. Initially conceived of as "a piano album with sparse electronics" (with the working title November), Lundvall's palette steadily expanded, incorporating synthesizer, samples, bass, metronomes, and his signature spectral vocals. A journal entry from the spring of 2002 proved formative to his evolving vision: "I remember watching the blueish-grey light shimmering outside and hearing distant sounds echoing far away, eventually sinking into silence and stillness." The album's 12 tracks are steeped in this sense of autumnal transience, of bearing witness to what fades. The music moves in whispered swells, between dirge, drift, and devotional. Synths chime like slow-tolling bells; percussion shuffles and shivers, icy and isolated; bass traces a low-lidded plod - it's a mode both austere and seductive, lulling the listener into its landscapes of deepening dusk. Lyrically, Lundvall's language skews observational and depressive ("through lace curtains / grey light falls / dark clouds gather / in my soul" ), with each song like a gauzy glimpse into a different tableau framing winter's descent: rust - colored leaves, frozen ponds, cold crescent moons. Lundvall has long considered Last Light a "personal favorite" in his discography, and it's easy to hear why. In texture, finesse, and pacing, it vividly evokes the rare mood of fragile, frosty pastoral noir depicted in his iconic oil paintings. His is an art of the half-seen and half-remembered, of fleeting figures, shapes and shadows, and gathering darkness. Of all that disappears, and the ghosts that never leave: "So I wait / as the years / slowly drain the magic and the light / and the girl / I never loved / haunts me through the dark roads of my life."

Limited

Edinburgh based DJ and producer Filthy Rich, head honcho at independent techno label ‘Zimp Recordings’, is a deliciously slippery artist with an engorged techno sack who’s always at the ready to spurt his computer generated juicy tit bits all over your proverbial techno flaps.

Furious from the get go with old-skool breaks, filthy rave blasts, scratchy samples and acid-house basslines, this is a release destined for festivals and outdoor parties. And with Randolph Glahs making his welcome return to the label doing exactly what he does best with massive driving kicks, hats and cymbals coming in and out like techno terrorists, the club roofs will absolutely blow off with his remix.

Full of constructed synths, thumpin’ 4x4 kicks, focused tunnel hypnosis and smooth organ overload, the infectious “wub-wub” sounds emanating from this uplifting release will roller-disco it’s way over any sound system that can take its tight ……… FUNKAGEDDON.

These 4 records reissued for the first time, with so rare and rich contents from 1970's Japanese Jazz which is gathering attention globally, were released on Terumasa Hino private label "LOVE RECORDS" and distributed by Japanese major label.

Representing "Ode to workman" from "J Jazz : Deep Modern Jazz From Japan 1969-1984" released on BBE, in his session with local N.Y. musicians, these 4 records are so important pieces in 1970's independent Jazz !

Terumasa Hino and Reggie Workman's second work. As adding two new energetic members, Takao Uematsu and Yuji Imamura, the sound became heavier and more thrilling. Sometimes it leads to dark depression, but sometimes gives a feeling of euphoria, it is still vivid as Afrocentric Jazz. With its quality and rarity, it has been always wanted all over the world.

These 4 records reissued for the first time, with so rare and rich contents from 1970's Japanese Jazz which is gathering attention globally, were released on Terumasa Hino private label "LOVE RECORDS" and distributed by Japanese major label.

Representing "Ode to workman" from "J Jazz : Deep Modern Jazz From Japan 1969-1984" released on BBE, in his session with local N.Y. musicians, these 4 records are so important pieces in 1970's independent Jazz !

In 1970, after breaking up his legendary quintet band, Terumasa Hino moved his base to U.S.
This record shows his great effort in his long-term session with the local musicians, and is very important to know Jazz scene in New York at that time.

With Steve Grossman, Dave Liebman, and Dave Holland, Terumasa Hino produced avant-garde and creative sound that is one and only in the world.

2021 duo album by pianist/composer and Blue Note Records' artist Jason Moran and saxophone great Archie Shepp "Neither Archie Shepp nor Jason Moran are old, and neither are they young - except in spirit and delight. Moran is the more recent arrival, and he's no new kid on the block. They carry age and experience in their playing as much as a youthful fascination with the songs and forms that define this tradition we call jazz. Let My People Go is the timely title of this collection, but when has that message not been relevant? Now, sadly, as ever. This is their first album together, a gathering of duet performances from 2017 and 2018, chronicling a relationship that can sound like the intimate huddling of two old friends: whispered asides, excited exclamations, utterances coinciding with practiced harmony, followed by bursts of laughter. "Ain't misbehavin'!" cries out one. "Waahhhh!!," says the other. Let My People Go offers ample evidence of Shepp and Moran's consanguinity. Both were born in the deep South, raised up in the sound of the blues and black gospel: Shepp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Moran in Houston, Texas."- Ashley Kahn. Archie Shepp: tenor saxophone

'Of No Fixed Abode' gathers fragmented recordings by the Madrid duo of Pablo Mirón and Juan Vacas, the multi-disciplinary artists behind the collective Real No Real (realnoreal.org) and Ediciones Fontenebro label. Working with field recordings, found materials, instruments such as Violin and Harmonica and by manipulating old radios, turntables and reel to reels the pair have been performing across the world of late taking their collage style process with them. 'Of No Fixed Abode' uses cross-continental sound diaries from the 2019-2022 period and has been central to shows at venues and festivals around Europe and South America.

Contributing to the wider field of post-fluxus 'broken music', the duality of natural sound and decaying, processed tape loops along with gentle instrumentation across the record follows in the footsteps of the Dieter Roth school, Anne Gillis, Leyland Kirby or Henry Krutzen yet is anchored in a charming restraint in which each element seems to fall into place perfectly. Miradasvacas have a long history with presenting experimental music through shows on Madrid's Radio Relativa, concerts and gatherings across the city and self-published mixtapes and sound art, though debut here on 12th Isle with their first proper album. Far-flung gallery sonics at their finest.

Gloam is the highly anticipated sophomore album from alternative folk band MAYBEL. Similar characteristics from their debut, Gathering, are carried forward: elegant harmonies, soft instrumentals and a shared optimism coupled with a wide open vulnerability. The songs still echo the intimacy, warmth and closeness of their relationships, yet the band has matured. MAYBEL's evolution shines through with ambitious compositions, thoughtful songwriting, and a deeper understanding of themselves as the album’s themes pierce with growing pains, anxieties and hopes for change. It’s a record about movement and stopping; the ongoing act of coming apart and coming together. Gloam is for listening in your bedroom or in transit, missing friends, on your way to see them. It holds an optimism that rings clear yet nestles and dwells in a brooding, muddy darkness - placing it firmly in the illustrious Canadian folk canon. This is the first album for which all four members (Fez Gielen, Ali Hendra, Loris Kecaj and Lauren Spear) wrote songs. For the most part, they were written during the pandemic separately and then shared in the upstairs living room where Lauren, Ali and Loris used to live together. The result is a shared diary on love, grief and moving on. The band's ability to effortlessly blend traditional folk elements with modern production techniques is reminiscent of the collaborations between Emmylou Harris and Daniel Lanois. Just as Harris and Lanois brought a fresh perspective to country music, MAYBEL embraces experimentation in their sound without compromising the warmth and intimacy inherent to folk music. As with their debut Gathering, MAYBEL recorded Gloam with producer/engineer Jonas Bonnetta at Port William Sound in Mountain Grove, Ontario. Resonating with a sound borne of the studio’s deeply intimate rural environs it is no wonder the band chose to return. Here they were joined by Eliza Niemi on bass/cello, Caylie Runciman on bass/drums with Jonas adding synths and percussion. Gloam is an old Scottish word for twilight. It appears like a fantasy between the day and night, a time seemingly frozen, drifting, or ignored all together. Gloam is the mood and time within which the album takes place. MAYBEL describes it as being: “In transition, between sleeping and waking—a quiet underworld where one is alone with their thoughts, in true presence with the in-between.” The final track on the album, “For Nothing”, captures something of the album’s twilight hope. It begins with lilting solos and gracefully builds in energy and color. MAYBEL sings to its listeners, “All that work for nothing” with a buoyancy and radiance that chimes against the lyrics. They repeat: “All that work for nothing”. For all of the band, the last few years have resulted in significant change and stress. Yet they continue to try, through their music, to will themselves towards optimism. They ask for you to marvel with them at the charming and terrifying possibility of life. They harmonize again, not despairingly, but almost ecstatically “All that work for nothing!”

ONLY AVAILABLE ON PREORDER!!

The first-ever LP box set gathering the entire 10 albums collection of Obscure Records produced by Brian Eno’s.
Curated by Gavin Bryars

Originally issued between 1975 and 1978, nearly 50 years on the output of Obscure remains radically forward-thinking - offering glimpses of a future yet to be fully seen - and amounts to one of the most important, influential, and creatively accomplished album series ever conceived.
Co-curated by Eno and the composers Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman - issuing the recording debuts of Bryars, Nyman, John Adams, Christopher Hobbs, David Toop, Max Eastley, Jan Steele, Simon Jeffes / The Penguin Café Orchestra, and Harold Budd, in addition to important works by John Cage, Tom Phillips, and John White - Obscure’s collective output is a groundbreaking landmark in the histories of Minimalism, modern composition, and Experimental music, and laid much of the groundwork for the soon to emerge movement of Ambient music.

Illuminating the remarkable, and largely otherwise undocumented, creative ferment within and between the British and American scenes of experimental music during the mid to late 1970s, this collection - made in full collaboration with all of the composers or their estates - contains the entire 10 album output of Obscure, the majority of which have been out of print for years, with a number having never received a CD reissue.

Offering each of Obscure’s albums, completely remastered and housed in faithful replicas of their original covers and liner notes, as well as a 80-page book (LP dimension) for LP-BOX SET, filled with rare photos, archival material and texts by - among others - Gavin Bryars, Bradford Bailey, David Toop, Max Eastley, Richard Bernas, and Tom Recchion, this historic collection marks the first time this seminal series has received a complete LP repress.

Einst lebte Helga Gabriel zurückgezogen in den Weiten des schwedischen Hinterlandes. Sie sang in Chören, aber in Wirklichkeit waren der See und die Wälder immer ihre Kirche. Ihre Stimme schwebte wie Vögel durch den Abendnebel und sang Psalmen inmitten von Birken und Kiefern.
Doch 2019 erwachte in Helga eine Berufung. Sie reiste 800 Meilen nach Norden, nach North Yorkshire, wo sie drei Jugendfreunde und einen frühreifen Multiinstrumentalisten traf. Der Rest ist Geschichte. HELGA war geboren.

HELGA schöpfen aus vielen verschiedenen Einflüssen: Schwedischer Folk, Progressive Metal, Post-Rock, Pop, Black Metal. Auf ihrem Debütalbum "Wrapped in Mist" vereinen sie ein gewaltiges Schlagzeugspiel, gespenstische Streicher und tuckernde Riffs zu einer Klage über Sterblichkeit und geistige Gesundheit.
Sie fangen gerade erst an. Aber schon jetzt hat sich diese junge Band als eine frische, starke Kraft erwiesen.

FFO: Opeth, Anna Von Hausswolff, Alcest, The Gathering, Silver Mt. Zion, Myrkur, King Crimson

Einst lebte Helga Gabriel zurückgezogen in den Weiten des schwedischen Hinterlandes. Sie sang in Chören, aber in Wirklichkeit waren der See und die Wälder immer ihre Kirche. Ihre Stimme schwebte wie Vögel durch den Abendnebel und sang Psalmen inmitten von Birken und Kiefern.
Doch 2019 erwachte in Helga eine Berufung. Sie reiste 800 Meilen nach Norden, nach North Yorkshire, wo sie drei Jugendfreunde und einen frühreifen Multiinstrumentalisten traf. Der Rest ist Geschichte. HELGA war geboren.

HELGA schöpfen aus vielen verschiedenen Einflüssen: Schwedischer Folk, Progressive Metal, Post-Rock, Pop, Black Metal. Auf ihrem Debütalbum "Wrapped in Mist" vereinen sie ein gewaltiges Schlagzeugspiel, gespenstische Streicher und tuckernde Riffs zu einer Klage über Sterblichkeit und geistige Gesundheit.
Sie fangen gerade erst an. Aber schon jetzt hat sich diese junge Band als eine frische, starke Kraft erwiesen.

FFO: Opeth, Anna Von Hausswolff, Alcest, The Gathering, Silver Mt. Zion, Myrkur, King Crimson

Founded in 2016, Belleville Boogie is a DJ collective inspired by the vibrant energy of Belleville's nightlife. The collective’s soul feeds on bringing people to bounce on an eclectic curation of vinyl. Belleville Boogie’s debut release is the brainchild of Lemon McWright and Jan Decent.

Born from the depths of lockdown, "Le Pacifique" is a balearic slow burner that captures the longing for the dance floor, while "Grateful" takes us on a jazz-infused journey featuring the talents of FredMelosax, Charif Megarbane, and Rafael Powell. For those who remember the early days of the French House scene, "J'aime Danser" is a playful nod to the scene that shaped us, while "Bella Belleville" lures you into a hypnotic, downtempo trance that's perfect for intimate gatherings or solo listening.

Crafted with the same heartiness as our parties, we're excited to spread the Belleville Boogie spirit with this vinyl. Be sure to check out our upcoming events to see when we'll be bringing the dance floor to your city. Let's keep the good times rolling!

Das erste Live-Album von Dead Can Dance erschien im Oktober 1994 unter dem Titel "Toward The Within". Und damit zu einem Zeitpunkt, als die Band nach den gefeierten Alben "Aion" (1990) und "Into The Labyrinth" (1993) sowie der Retrospektive "A Passage In Time (Best Of)" (1991) auf dem - vermeintlichen - Höhepunkt ihres Erfolgs stand. Um so erstaunlicher, dass "Toward The Within" überwiegend bislang unveröffentlichte Titel enthielt! Das Album wurde 1993 während der ausverkauften Welttour im Mayfair Theater in Santa Monica, Kalifornien, mitgeschnitten. Auch heute noch lösen die Songs Gänsehaut aus. Beim Vortrag von Perry und Gerrard herrscht wie bei einem Klassikkonzert gebannte, geradezu andächtige Stille, nach den Songs bricht frenetischer Jubel los. Mit der vom DCD-Stammlabel 4AD verantworteten Nachpressung von "Toward The Within" ist die LP erstmals seit ihrem Ersterscheinen wieder auf Vinyl erhältlich.

After touring the world's Techno and Goths clubs intensively, Die Selektion are back with their unique blend of Synth- Pop and Electronic Body Music. Heavyhearted but hopeful trumpet melodies, German lyrics that make you question your past and future once again, synthesizer sounds in the great tradition of '80s Wave and Pop, combined with hard-hitting drum machines - this forms the base of their self- proclaimed Prosecco Wave world. Their new album "Zeuge aus Licht" features 9 hits to live, love and laugh to, and makes you forget your everyday worries.

Die Selektion sat down together in a new line-up consisting of all three founding members Gillian, Rief and Rieger, as well as Savenberg, who joined in 2013.

The outcome of this mesmerising gathering is a supersonic experience for body, heart and soul. The new songs expand the sound of the band with an almost casual, elegant diversity. Every single component shines and an understanding of what makes pop really pop comes through, adding ironic glitter to the black nihilism of Dark Wave. With "Zeuge aus Licht", Die Selektion opens a new door in their fluid band set- up. And we should all be excited to find out what's hiding behind it.

Originally released as a hand-numbered CD on New Year's Eve of 2004, Last Light captures Tor Lundvall 's hushed songcraft at its most ghostly and grayscale, stripped bare like branches bracing for winter. Initially conceived of as "a piano album with sparse electronics" (with the working title November), Lundvall's palette steadily expanded, incorporating synthesizer, samples, bass, metronomes, and his signature spectral vocals. A journal entry from the spring of 2002 proved formative to his evolving vision: "I remember watching the blueish-grey light shimmering outside and hearing distant sounds echoing far away, eventually sinking into silence and stillness." The album's 12 tracks are steeped in this sense of autumnal transience, of bearing witness to what fades. The music moves in whispered swells, between dirge, drift, and devotional. Synths chime like slow-tolling bells; percussion shuffles and shivers, icy and isolated; bass traces a low-lidded plod - it's a mode both austere and seductive, lulling the listener into its landscapes of deepening dusk. Lyrically, Lundvall's language skews observational and depressive ("through lace curtains / grey light falls / dark clouds gather / in my soul" ), with each song like a gauzy glimpse into a different tableau framing winter's descent: rust - colored leaves, frozen ponds, cold crescent moons. Lundvall has long considered Last Light a "personal favorite" in his discography, and it's easy to hear why. In texture, finesse, and pacing, it vividly evokes the rare mood of fragile, frosty pastoral noir depicted in his iconic oil paintings. His is an art of the half-seen and half-remembered, of fleeting figures, shapes and shadows, and gathering darkness. Of all that disappears, and the ghosts that never leave: "So I wait / as the years / slowly drain the magic and the light / and the girl / I never loved / haunts me through the dark roads of my life."

Hark! Joel Paterson returns to your holiday turntable with "The More The Merrier" (Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar Vol. 2). The guitar wizard from Chicago slides down your chimney once again with this latest program of instrumental gems. Recorded in lifelike "holiday-phonic" high fidelity, these 14 selections are a study in artistry and sound. "The More The Merrier" is a companion piece to the perennial fan-favorite, "Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar". No mere sequel, this new album will soon join its predecessor as an integral part of your holiday gatherings for years to come. This is music to please guitarists, carolers, and hi-fi enthusiasts alike. Limited "Ruby Red" colored vinyl.

William Eggleston is a famed photographer and musician credited for iconic album covers such as Spoon's Transference and Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American. 512 was inspired and recorded at the Parkview Apartments in Memphis, Tennessee where Eggleston lived for almost ten years. The apartment was full of art and inspiration: cameras, naturally, but also high-end stereo tube amplifiers and objects that you'd rush towards money in hand at your local flea market. But also a gigantic nine foot Bosendorfer grand piano and a massive grand vintage JBL theater speaker console. His home was overwhelmed by music. By recording there the album captures not just his performances, but also the vibe of the place; it often felt as though there were artists lurking in the aether listening along. His visitors over the years were no small change: Lee Friedlander, Carl Sagan, Dennis Hopper , Paul McCartney and many others came to see him and listen to his hypnotic "Musik". You can hear local traffic, a dog barking, weather; reality, in other words. But there was another space layered on top, a kind of surreality echoing his music, as you can imagine a gathering of musicians listening in, eager to join him. Thus came along 512 which features the legendary Brian Eno on bells and production from Leo Abrahams (Regina Spektor, Paul Simon, Jon Hopkins)."

William Eggleston is a famed photographer and musician credited for iconic album covers such as Spoon's Transference and Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American. 512 was inspired and recorded at the Parkview Apartments in Memphis, Tennessee where Eggleston lived for almost ten years. The apartment was full of art and inspiration: cameras, naturally, but also high-end stereo tube amplifiers and objects that you'd rush towards money in hand at your local flea market. But also a gigantic nine foot Bosendorfer grand piano and a massive grand vintage JBL theater speaker console. His home was overwhelmed by music. By recording there the album captures not just his performances, but also the vibe of the place; it often felt as though there were artists lurking in the aether listening along. His visitors over the years were no small change: Lee Friedlander, Carl Sagan, Dennis Hopper , Paul McCartney and many others came to see him and listen to his hypnotic "Musik". You can hear local traffic, a dog barking, weather; reality, in other words. But there was another space layered on top, a kind of surreality echoing his music, as you can imagine a gathering of musicians listening in, eager to join him. Thus came along 512 which features the legendary Brian Eno on bells and production from Leo Abrahams (Regina Spektor, Paul Simon, Jon Hopkins)."

Tel Aviv’s Raw Tapes Records is celebrating 15 years of spreading the magic of music with Puzzles Vol. 5, a compilation gathering the best that the label has to offer, exclusively released here. Featuring
iogi, Amir Bresler, Buttering Trio and many more, this album is the fifth in Raw Tapes' legendary “Puzzles” series which gives a peek into the heart of the label, revealing the different pieces of the Raw Tapes puzzle in one big, colorful, soulful album festively printed on Raw Tapes' first-ever DOUBLE vinyl.

What we love about this compilation is that it’s not one of these boring best off type of stuff, but a gathering of all songs that were published on rare vinyl releases that Hooded Menace put out during the last 15 years. So, in case you had no chance to buy any or all of these 7”s or splits (that go for high prices these days) this compilation is a chance for you to hear some more splendid stuff from these masters of horror. All songs are presented in chronological order, so... The feast begins with two songs which also ended up on the debut album of Hooded Menace “Fulfill the Curse”, but recorded in different versions the year before the album was recorded. We all love how Hooded Menace combines heavy, Doomy riffage with that gloomy, horror atmosphere and some melody. And of course their Doom is strongly infected with old school Death Metal, so this is also why the music of Hooded Menace speaks to many of you so well. Later there’s some stuff from the split with Anima Morte, splits with Coffins, Asphyx and Ilsa. All in all, we have to say that “Gloom Immemorial” is a fantastic compilation of rare stuff from one of the best Doom/Death Metal bands ever. We would love to have them all as originals, as playing such music in vinyl format is simply pure magic and it always give you a special feeling, but if you cannot have what you want, you will be very happy with this substitute. The band and the label took it all seriously and came up with a fantastic booklet, which shows you each original release in details - with lyrics, original artwork and band photographs from that era. It cannot be done better, so this is just a near-perfection type of release with 75 minutes of horror soundtrack on a killer 2-LP.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Jonny Cash"s demise, listen to this double vinyl gathering all the greatest songs by the man in black ! Including : "Folsom Prison Blues", "I walk the line", "Hey Porter"...

Joe Sutkowski (Dirt Buyer)'s new album is a documentation of making it to the other side. Sutkowski grew up in New Jersey, and although he lives in Brooklyn now, he remains " an emo kid at heart ," garnering inspiration from bands like My Chemical Romance and Muse, the latter of whose theatrical, dramatic performances inspired the band's own vocal-forward, soaring takes. Initially working together as a duo while Sutkowski and Ruben Radlauer (Model/Actriz) were at school in Berklee, the band's self-titled 2019 debut album was recorded on an IPhone in their practice room on just drums and guitar, and the quietly striking, nuanced stylings earned them accolades far beyond the " fake record label " the two made up to originally release their music. The band's new album, Dirt Buyer II , was recorded in February 2020, and represents a foray into heavier material that marks a deeper shift for the band. Now working as a trio, Sutkowski is flanked by Tristan Allen on bass and Mike Costa on drums, a fellow Berklee grad who cut his teeth playing in bands across Boston including past collaborations with Sutkowski. Half-recorded while the band was on tour with Surf Curse, the record finds Sutkowski reaching out for places, people and beliefs to ground him. Throughout the album he attempts to wrap his head around the idea of fate and how you can brush up against other people and then leave them behind. The songs themselves play with this concept of light and dark intertwined. Oscillating between urgency and cathartic release and more stripped-back elegies, Sutkowski faces the reality that while the people he'd rather forget can still live on through music, he is able to move on at the same time. Half-recorded in his mother and uncle's upstate house where he turned the living room into a studio, he contemplates the beauty and disaster around him - all refracted through visceral visual imagery of how the physical earth meets the unknown to converge in something greater than ourselves. " This is all a living chronicle of all I want to do, which is feel good and be happy ," he admits. " I'm a completely different person now - a better version of myself ." Processing the past, Sutkowksi has emerged with newfound belief, fully intact and with a new path forward to the future.

Joe Sutkowski (Dirt Buyer)'s new album is a documentation of making it to the other side. Sutkowski grew up in New Jersey, and although he lives in Brooklyn now, he remains " an emo kid at heart ," garnering inspiration from bands like My Chemical Romance and Muse, the latter of whose theatrical, dramatic performances inspired the band's own vocal-forward, soaring takes. Initially working together as a duo while Sutkowski and Ruben Radlauer (Model/Actriz) were at school in Berklee, the band's self-titled 2019 debut album was recorded on an IPhone in their practice room on just drums and guitar, and the quietly striking, nuanced stylings earned them accolades far beyond the " fake record label " the two made up to originally release their music. The band's new album, Dirt Buyer II , was recorded in February 2020, and represents a foray into heavier material that marks a deeper shift for the band. Now working as a trio, Sutkowski is flanked by Tristan Allen on bass and Mike Costa on drums, a fellow Berklee grad who cut his teeth playing in bands across Boston including past collaborations with Sutkowski. Half-recorded while the band was on tour with Surf Curse, the record finds Sutkowski reaching out for places, people and beliefs to ground him. Throughout the album he attempts to wrap his head around the idea of fate and how you can brush up against other people and then leave them behind. The songs themselves play with this concept of light and dark intertwined. Oscillating between urgency and cathartic release and more stripped-back elegies, Sutkowski faces the reality that while the people he'd rather forget can still live on through music, he is able to move on at the same time. Half-recorded in his mother and uncle's upstate house where he turned the living room into a studio, he contemplates the beauty and disaster around him - all refracted through visceral visual imagery of how the physical earth meets the unknown to converge in something greater than ourselves. " This is all a living chronicle of all I want to do, which is feel good and be happy ," he admits. " I'm a completely different person now - a better version of myself ." Processing the past, Sutkowksi has emerged with newfound belief, fully intact and with a new path forward to the future.

Demon Records is proud to present ‘Produced by Tony Visconti’, a new definitive retrospective compilation assembled with the assistance of legendary record producer Tony Visconti.
“This boxset covers five and a half decades of my efforts in the art of making iconic recordings. Some of it is familiar and some will have a eureka moment, ‘I didn’t know Visconti produced that one!’
I am honoured that Demon Records took on this enormous task.”
– Tony Visconti

Often described as one of the most important
producers in rock, Tony Visconti has helped create
countless classic musical moments. His work can be
heard on celebrated albums by artists such as T. Rex,
Procol Harum, The Moody Blues and Thin Lizzy to
name but a few.
• This new collection features 30 tracks personally
curated by Visconti, gathering together some of his
favourite production work from across his career.
• Includes tracks by T. Rex, Sparks, Thin Lizzy, U2,
Dexys Midnight Runners, Gentle Giant, The
Boomtown Rats, Manic Street Preachers, The Good,
The Bad & The Queen, and many more.
• Pressed on 2 x 140g LPs, mastered by Phil Kinrade at
AIR Mastering, approved by Tony Visconti. Artwork
designed by Grammy-winning creative studio
Barnbrook.
• Includes a 12-page booklet with previously unseen
photographs, and extensive track-by-track liner
notes by Mojo writer Mark Paytress based on new
interviews with Tony Visconti.

























x 5. U2 – A Sort Of Homecoming Live

Betamax of The Comet Is Coming and Pete Bennie of Speakers Corner Quartet are Coma World. They have come together again to produce a further batch of rhythmically enlightened Dystopian Jazz, alongside illustrious graphic and sound artist Raimund Wong (Floating World Pictures) for this record - 'Coma Wong' (out 6 October 2023 on Byrd Out). The storm clouds are gathering at sea, with the white horses dancing ever faster on the waves. Coma World chose to ride out the tempest, sail up, speeding along together towards who knows what… Expect drums precision engineered with just the right degree of insouciance, drone-bathed sounds rippling and depth charge bass that explodes beneath the surface across 12 tracks. The Wire on their first album, the self-titled ‘Coma World’: “a bold drum ‘n’ bass affair, a nervy meeting between dub and jazz experimentations with new channels explored track by track”. Tom Ravenscroft on BBC 6 Music on ‘Calamari’ from the new album: “I think this is like my favourite track right now… Love it.”

For singer and songwriter Hilde Louise Asbjornsen, this album was an urge as natural as breathing. Recorded for a 2020 live gig, she dives headlong into handpicked songs from her decades- spanning career. Gathering "all the threads of inspiration through my years as a songwriter and jazz singer", this is the way they were always meant to be heard.

'A Swing of its Own' took Hilde Louise back to the beginning, to a time when she was falling in love with jazz and spinning her mother's old jazz records on a turntable. And yet, nostalgia is notably absent here. Rather, the album brings back to life the sheer energy and irresistible pull of this music which first swept the USA and then the rest of the world. Hilde Louise's career has been a long and winding journey, but now, she feels, she has "finally come home". And to those willing to open up this music - your heart is sure to follow her to that place, too.

ON THORNS I LAY sind griechische Titanen. Während ihre Kollegen von Rotting Christ, Septic Flesh und Nightfall eher dem symphonischen und schwarzen Metal zugeneigt waren, setzte die Band aus Athen auf ihrem Debüt von 1994 auf einen Hauch von Gothic. Das macht Sinn, schließlich sind sie nach einem Sonett von Shakespeare benannt.

ON THORNS I LAY haben bisher 9 Alben veröffentlicht, darunter Orama, Crystal Tears, Aegean Sorrow und Threnos, die großartige Kritiken erhielten (Scream Norwegen, Album des Monats, Inferno Finnland 5/5, Metal Storm Top 5 Alben des Jahres 2020 und viele andere...). Sie teilten die Bühne mit großartigen Bands wie Dream Theater, In Flames, Anathema, Amorphis, Katatonia, Rotting Christ, Tiamat, The Gathering, Satyricon, Septic Flesh und vielen mehr.

Ihr Musikstil ist purer, atmosphärischer, melodischer Doom Death Metal!

Das letzte Album "Threnos" folgte dem Pfad des atmosphärischen, aber dennoch emotionalen Doom Death Metal - eine Hommage an die Wurzeln und ein weiteres Mal das Markenzeichen der Band. ON THORNS I LAY erzählen weiterhin dichte Geschichten von Verlust und Verzweiflung.

Dreißig Jahre und zehn Alben später veröffentlichen ON THORNS I LAY nun ihr erstes Album bei Season of Mist. Ihr selbstbetitelter Longplayer treibt den Death-Doom in epische Höhen und wirft einen neuen, gotischen Glanz auf die muskulösen Riffs und den höhlenartigen Gesang, der an die seligen Tage des Peaceville-Death-Dooms der frühen 90er Jahre erinnert.

ON THORNS I LAY sind griechische Titanen. Während ihre Kollegen von Rotting Christ, Septic Flesh und Nightfall eher dem symphonischen und schwarzen Metal zugeneigt waren, setzte die Band aus Athen auf ihrem Debüt von 1994 auf einen Hauch von Gothic. Das macht Sinn, schließlich sind sie nach einem Sonett von Shakespeare benannt.

ON THORNS I LAY haben bisher 9 Alben veröffentlicht, darunter Orama, Crystal Tears, Aegean Sorrow und Threnos, die großartige Kritiken erhielten (Scream Norwegen, Album des Monats, Inferno Finnland 5/5, Metal Storm Top 5 Alben des Jahres 2020 und viele andere...). Sie teilten die Bühne mit großartigen Bands wie Dream Theater, In Flames, Anathema, Amorphis, Katatonia, Rotting Christ, Tiamat, The Gathering, Satyricon, Septic Flesh und vielen mehr.

Ihr Musikstil ist purer, atmosphärischer, melodischer Doom Death Metal!

Das letzte Album "Threnos" folgte dem Pfad des atmosphärischen, aber dennoch emotionalen Doom Death Metal - eine Hommage an die Wurzeln und ein weiteres Mal das Markenzeichen der Band. ON THORNS I LAY erzählen weiterhin dichte Geschichten von Verlust und Verzweiflung.

Dreißig Jahre und zehn Alben später veröffentlichen ON THORNS I LAY nun ihr erstes Album bei Season of Mist. Ihr selbstbetitelter Longplayer treibt den Death-Doom in epische Höhen und wirft einen neuen, gotischen Glanz auf die muskulösen Riffs und den höhlenartigen Gesang, der an die seligen Tage des Peaceville-Death-Dooms der frühen 90er Jahre erinnert.

These sonic stories emerged from a gathering of artists concerned with alternative uses of everyday objects, subversive anti-aesthetics, sensual-absent poetry, moving optical discs, and echoes of activities occurring in the Earth's orbit. It was a performative celebration of entangled audio-visual events that enabled us to learn once again how to tune in to a place: with our eyes, with our ears, with our minds. While listening to the record, I remember what it sounded like in the space. I remember monologues of chairs that were given voice, phones eavesdropping and speaking back to us, cassettes falling on the floor (intentionally): some visions unfolding in front of our very eyes and others in our minds. Try to imagine all that these short pieces might still contain. As Peter Fengler exclaims in his chorus: it will all work out. Just choose a bicycle, low on emissions and also better for the tummy and the legs! (Lucija Gregov)

An evolved, ecosystemic love expression of Carlos Niño"s self-described "Spiritual, Improvisational, Space, Collage" expression - (I"m just) Chillin", on Fire is the prolific percussionist/producer"s most singular, intentional work ever, featuring a vibrant and abundant gathering of his "friends" (i.e. the highly skilled and accomplished musicians and improvisers that make up Niño"s extensive network of collaborators)

Will Johnson of Centro Matic's ninth solo album. No Ordinary Crown, hums with palpable motion. Travelers, runners and conductors fill its lyrics, and gesticulating storms and emotional highs and lows seep through the instinctual quality of its rock ’n roll performances. It’s also cabled by ephemeral momentum. The songs were conceived in stolen moments and brief windows of time between the responsibilities of family and a multi-hyphenate career. The singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, painter and novelist describes the demo process as “fairly jagged,” a gathering and stitching of audio snippets recorded via cell phone and dictaphone over a year and half. “I finalized the songs on short tours where I could hear my thoughts a bit more clearly,” he says. “Somewhere along the line someone advised me to never be afraid to hurt my characters, that I will always be able to get them out of it,” he says. “I do want there to be these small victories and small portals of hope.” With No Ordinary Crown, people may behave badly, and the road may get rough, but the reward is in the journey. Released via Austin label Keeled Scales (home to Katy Kirby, Buck Meek of Big Thief, Why Bonnie, Twain, Sun June

Paul Hillery's third compilation in this series of rare and hard to find grooves is as much a geographical journey as it is a musical one. With acts, artists and tracks linked to London, Florida, Atlanta, the Netherlands, Switzerland, California, India and Germany and more this compilation is very much proof of the global language that is music. With many of the recordings only previously existing on sold out and obscure private pressings and small runs on indie labels this collection of tracks really is a must have. Complementing the previous two albums curated by Paul Hillery we really do get to see and hear the history of studio recordings from a plethora of touring and travelling troubadours, jobbing composers and song-writers, session musicians, producers and engineers. Again, as with the previous two volumes in the 'Children of the Sun' series, this is an eclectic gathering of styles and genres that have been curated into an accessible fusion of Jazz, Rock, AOR and Folk tinged grooves that all have soul. With many tracks getting a first time digital release this 3 LP album sits nicely alongside the previous albums in the series and rates as an essential compilation for any serious lover and collector of music. In Paul Hillery's words: "Let us gather one more time on another journey through the rhythmic sands of time, traversing continents and genres one track at a time. Taking in joyful places and wide-open spaces while dropping out to the musical pulse that unites us all An album to remind us that we are all made of stardust with more to connect than drive us apart, for . . . We Are The Children of the Setting Sun"