Cerca:the hands

Amsterdam based DJ and producer Perdu aka Alain van der Born returns to Live At Robert Johnson for his second release: On his Illusion Of Choice EP, Perdu drives his sound one notch harder, yet retains his trademark 1980s tinged vibe. Perdu has already secured releases on DGTL Records, Heist and Let’s Play House amongst others, and surely is a keen producer to keep your eyes and ears on.

A1 Archi gets into gear with a straight and focused beat arrangement. It’s a trippy uptempo vibe, intertwined by a slightly modulated Arpeggio-Bassline and its transposed twin figure.

A2 Grey Rush features a filtered broken beat, quickly rushing inbetween sprinkled effects and noises, off into a resonating Bass figure and outstanding melodic arrangement, both which dominate the better part of this energetic track.

B1 Sitrao doesn’t hesitate long in letting a pounding Kick Drum escort you right into an uptempo Cosmic vibe. It’s that arpeggiated Bass, catchy melody and silky pads, which might just get those hands in the air again.

B2 Blue Rush is a subtle variation of Grey Rush, omitting the resonating Bass figure. Yet it doesn’t compromise its level of energy, as this keeps the beat stand out contoured, compared to its twin track Grey Rush. credits

Second edition of Night Defined Recordings’ new compilation series launched last year. NDVAX02 gathers tunes of longstanding old hands alongside rising talents. Four songs that find their common ground in a strongly pronounced emotional and melodic level.

Breaking News! DJs Pareja and Matias Aguayo have joined to form the dance project MDM Factory!

Modern transcendental Techno music for those who know, and those who want to learn!

In a turmoil of events nightlife would change forever, and confined to their respective places - A flat in Buenos Aires and a house in the jungle Diego Irasusta, Mariano Caloso and Matias Aguayo joined forces to create new communication on distance via music.

Taking all their dance floor knowledge and dreaming of sound systems and togetherness in a better future, DJs Pareja & Aguayo put their minds, bodies and souls to work on this stunning EP that will please the forward thinking underground freaks as well as the big room techno pros.

Let’s dive into this divine mess of glorious dance floor jams from the future...

A1. Curvas Peligrosas

With the first track it becomes clear what this is all about: Wobbly metamorphous sounds from outer space jamming with stomping and bass driven techno beats of tomorrow, a new kind of rave, hypnotic and seductive, utterly strange but wonderfully catchy and contagious in a good sense, harsh shuffled hiatus and alternating kick drums, a relentless bassline and sophisticated electronic sounds in a a permanent evolution resembling and invoking altered states of consciousness.


A2. Love Boat

This new rave anthem seems like a classic you haven’t heard about. Muscle memories from dancefloor days trigger your body as you listen on your headphones, awaiting the chance to play it out soon, hopefully, as the dance floors slowly reopen. Alternating between parts of kickdrum, clap and snare awesomeness, and the mangled rave signals that slowly morph into a more concrete melody reminiscent of ancient dreams of the future, this track has it all for the club kids of today.

B1. La Vida Loca
The title track is a tech banger that will please those who dig Kenny Larkin, Claude Young, The Surgeon, Dave Clark or any other star in the nocturnal sky of Techno Techno, as well as the lovers of DJs Pareja’s classic Cómeme Clubbangers, or the more Techno side of Mr. Aguayo. Definitely has the potential to become a huge hit if enough djs that don’t rely on algorithms get their hands on it


B2. Las Llaves

The closer is hyper modern tech funk at its best. Percussive greatness as you can find it on many Cómeme releases is triggered in a different way, “sabroso” rhythms that are played in the light and purposeful way of an elegant jazz drummer, pave the way for an always evolving psychedelic lead synth sound, that will be a useful tool for the dj who knows when to keep the groove, prolonging those magic times between the risings...

Fabio & Grooverider have been at the forefront of UK dance music for over 3 decades. This is the roots of their story told through music. The 2 London DJ's are part of the DNA of the global Jungle / D&B movement and they have remained relevant, cutting edge, authoritative and essential to this truly underground art-form since it's inception. RAGE could arguably be the ground zero of Jungle. The party was started at London's cavernous Heaven club by Fabio & Grooverider in 1988, at the height of Acid House fever that was making it's way up and down the motorways, slip-roads, fields and warehouses of the M25 and further beyond every weekend, troubling the nation, the police, your parents and the press as it went. RAGE was a different beast, it certainly channelled some of that Acid energy but pitted it against the new and exciting sounds emanating from Belgium, Amsterdam, Detroit, Sheffield, Essex and Hackney and in turn created a new style, a new sonic attitude and energy in the process. Rumbling bass-lines, narcotic synth rushes and roughly chopped and sped-up breakbeats all merged into a style that we now know as Jungle. Nothing like this had been heard before, this was a brand new style and it was coming out of London's West End and Fabio & Grooverider were the people firmly behind it. RAGE is approaching its 30th anniversary. Its sonic and cultural legacy is still being felt today, Fabio & Groove are still shutting down raves and festivals every weekend all over the world with their superior DJ sets and musical knowledge guided by their pioneering spirit. This musical selection you hold in your hands, the first of 4 parts, sees them delve into their prodigious memories and record boxes to select a true musical representation of the very beginning of one of the UK's most unique and influential musical movements of the last 50 years. Across 4 x 2 x 12"s compilations we are taken on the journey through the sounds of RAGE, accompanied with track by track notes from Fabio & Groove themselves. This is the sound of the underground, from the inside out. This is a masterclass in the old-school. The roots. There is no filler here, it's simply ALL killer. Lovingly selected and programmed by the masters - 'The Living Shock' & 'The Ladies Choice'. Produced in conjunction with Above Board distribution and Fabio & Grooverider. All tracks mastered from original sources and fully licensed. Mastering by Optimum, Bristol. Artwork and design by Atelier Superplus. 2019

Splash Blue is proud to present a brand new album borne from the latest collaboration between Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick and Francisco Sales of Incognito – ‘The New Guitar Underground Vol 1’.

THE NEW GUITAR UNDERGROUND
The New Guitar Underground are Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick and Francisco Sales of Incognito. Neither require introduction – Bluey – founder of the legendary Incognito, Inner Shade, CitrusSun and co-conspirator on the STR4TA project, solo artist, Composer and Record Producer & Francisco Sales, guitarist of Incognito and Citrus Sun, as well as being a solo artist in his own right, have come together to deliver a set of 10 highly crafted and accomplished tracks that lift the spirits and soothe the soul.
Inspired by the inspirational playing of the giants of the guitar world – Tony Mottola, Denis Budimir, George Benson, Bill Jennings & Melvin "Wah Wah" Watson to name but a few, the album reflects the deep love that Bluey and Francisco have for this multi faceted and beautiful instrument.
Guests on this album include bass players Francis Hylton, Hendrik Linder, Rui Pedro Pity and Julian Crampton, keyboardists Matt Cooper, James Berkeley and drummer Francisco Mendolia.
Of course the quality and depth of this musical composition should not be a surprise – given the pedigree of the artists involved, however, as Bluey says himself in the album notes, ‘’This is not a project seeking chart success. Just two guitar buddies having fun chasing musical waterfalls, and not sticking to the rivers and the lakes they’re used to.
We are just making ourselves happy. And if in doing so we make you happy too, then that, as they say, is "the payoff!" The result is an intoxicating fusion of guitars, samba, latin jazz, drum-driven beats, heavy bass lines - with some scratching and sampling thrown in for good measure!

A staggering collection Detroit techno-soul music, beamed directly into your consciousness from 1994. Kenny Larkin should need no introduction to those whose ears are trained in the ways of the motor city and her musical sons and daughters. He is one of a handful of artists from the city whose original and unique sonic output has helped shape and advance techno as an art form and as a serious musical movement across the world and it's galaxies beyond, a formidable DJ and producer whose music continues to push the envelope today. 'Azimuth' gives us what would be Larkin's first full length offering, and across 11 tracks of blistering hi-tech machine funk, ambient, soul drenched rhythms and futurist club music he deftly crafted a classic. This is the album you hold in your hands now, here in 2021. Originally released on Warp Records, 'Azimuth' is back here in it's expanded form of a 2 x LP and bonus 10" reissue. A record that effortlessly sounds like it came to earth yesterday while being 25 years old, a true Detroit classic that still makes waves across the planet today. File under - 'Essential'.

'Azimuth' has been legitimately reissued for 2021 on Kenny’s own Art Of Dance imprint. Remastered from DAT tapes and original sources by Curve Pusher. Designed by Atelier Superplus

At the start of 2021 I realized I hadn't paid much attention to my own productions lately, rather spending time doing remixes
or mixdowns for others or like many others, worrying over what the future will bring.

I started going through tracks and ideas I had started on but not completed and now as another annus horribilis nears the end
I have 2 albums ready for release, entitled "8" and "9".

Although I promised myself to never say it I personally think they're my best work so far and I hope someone else will get the
feeling of "a light at the end of the tunnel" when listening to these tracks just like I feel when listening back to them.

There are contributions from the very capable hands of Bugge Wesseltoft("8") and John Carroll Kirby(on both "8" and "9"), besides that it's just me.
Prins Thomas December 2021

4 Hands, an intimate and surreal musical conversation on the piano from German sound pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius and American composer Tim Story, is an example of all the warm yet otherworldly beauty that can come from approaching a shared love for a singular instrument from overlapping directions.

Recorded sequentially but on one and the same grand piano, Roedelius laid down a few impromptu piano études in May 2019 whilst visiting his transatlantic friend Story. Tim then learned all their intricate phrasings to add his own parts in the following months.

"Together we shaped the basic compositions, sometimes carefully preparing the piano with various materials (including my own hands), and Achim’s performances were committed to tape. I continued to compose and refine my parts in the following months. Because it was all recorded on the same piano, the result has a very appealing consistency of sound, and hopefully blurs our individual contributions into a single integrated voice,” Story explains.

4 Hands encapsulates rippling minimalistic patterns and delicate, ghostly interactions with surprising harmonic twists. Roedelius’ intuitive and instinctive approach based in improvisation, paired hand in hand with Story’s deliberate distilling of ideas over time, creates two sides of an engaging and thought provoking conversation that seems to evolve and deepen with each successive listen.

"4 Hands is not just a new album — the logical continuation of the long-standing friendship between two composers. It’s our tribute to awareness and listening, coaxing a new sound language from the endless possibilities of a single piano played by our four hands. For me, these pieces express a different kind of beauty, they evoke more than the sum of their parts, they are a wordless dialogue, a bridge across the great water that separates our cultures from one another. Allons enfants des deux patrie, haha!” adds Roedelius.

Magic spells, time-traveling futurists, sword-bearing horse riders, mountain-residing sorcerers, possessed journeyman,

ominous warnings: Demons and Wizards lives up to its title as a collection of fantasy-based narratives rooted in dreamy,

gothic-minded arrangements. Universally recognized as the finest effort of Uriah Heep's four-decade-plus career, the 1972

LP also perseveres as a prog-rock landmark that influenced countless of bands ranging from Metallica to Styx. And now, it

sounds better than ever on this extremely cool green-vinyl gatefold pressing from Wax Cathedral.

The first album on which founding members Mick Box, Ken Hensley, and David Byron are joined by staple drummer Lee

Kerslake, Demons and Wizards captivates by way of taut songwriting and instrumental execution. Rather than function

as the primary attraction, make-believe lyrical themes augment a formidable assembly of folk-derived melodies, sharp

medleys, and powerful hooks. Acoustic guitars weave webs of finite textures through which crackling, church-like organ

passages and space-conscious bass lines maneuver. Songs come across with an ethereal, powerful feel.

Glowing with old-fashioned tube-amp warmth, concise and punchy fare like 'The Wizard,' 'Traveler In Time,' and the hit

'Easy Livin'' touch upon garage-rock basics. Epics such as 'Circle of Hands' and 'Paradise/The Spell'—a multi-part sonic

excursion whose choral grace and spiritual glide evoke distant lands, misty cloud forests, and peaceful eternities—cling to

a sensitivity underscored by deft piano touches. No wonder Uriah Heep spent the remainder of its lifespan trying to again

capture such a balance.

Flashback to 2008. Barack Obama is in charge of the US, China is hosting the Summer Olympics and Amy Winehouse's 'Back To Black' is ruling the charts. In Belgium - more specifically in Aalst - four friends of friends decide to make music together. A year or so later, Intergalactic Lovers achieves its first successes and in 2011, with 'Greetings and Salutations', the band records its first album. The press is wildly enthusiastic, the gigs are piling up, the train is rolling...

13 years and two more successful albums ('Little Heavy Burdens' (2014) and 'Exhale' (2017)) later, singer Lara Chedraoui, guitarist Maarten Huygens, bassist Raf De Mey and drummer Brendan Corbey know each other like the back of their hands as they have navigated many waters together, both professionally and privately. The unbreakable foursome is ready to start the next chapter in the career of Intergalactic Lovers. "We kept a low profile the last two years" Brendan admits, "but we always have to disappear for a while after a tour. From the stage and from each other. Otherwise, you couldn't keep doing this for 13 years alongside a job, a family..."

After the incredible success of Polygondwanaland in 2017, we want to give everyone a chance to get their lucky hands on these King Gizzard albums, so let’s make it real together one more time with fair prices and no margin ! MAKE IT VINYL!

Live at The Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia, April 22nd 2021

Fabio & Grooverider have been at the forefront of UK dance music for over 3 decades. This is the roots of their story told through music.

The 2 London DJ's are part of the DNA of the global Jungle / D&B movement and they have remained relevant, cutting edge, authoritative and essential to this truly underground art-form since it's inception. RAGE could arguably be the ground zero of Jungle. The party was started at London's cavernous Heaven club by Fabio & Grooverider in 1988, at the height of Acid House fever that was making it's way up and down the motorways, slip-roads, fields and warehouses of the M25 and further beyond every weekend, troubling the nation, the police, your parents and the press as it went. RAGE was a different beast, it certainly channelled some of that Acid energy but pitted it against the new and exciting sounds emanating from Belgium, Amsterdam, Detroit, Sheffield, Essex and Hackney and in turn created a new style, a new sonic attitude and energy in the process. Rumbling bass-lines, narcotic synth rushes and roughly chopped and sped-up breakbeats all merged into a style that we now know as Jungle. Nothing like this had been heard before, this was a brand new style and it was coming out of London's West End and Fabio & Grooverider were the people firmly behind it.

RAGE is approaching its 30th anniversary. Its sonic and cultural legacy is still being felt today, Fabio & Groove are still shutting down raves and festivals every weekend all over the world with their superior DJ sets and musical knowledge guided by their pioneering spirit. This musical selection you hold in your hands, the first of 4 parts, sees them delve into their prodigious memories and record boxes to select a true musical representation of the very beginning of one of the UK's most unique and influential musical movements of the last 50 years. Across 4 x 2 x 12"s compilations we are taken on the journey through the sounds of RAGE, accompanied with track by track notes from Fabio & Groove themselves. This is the sound of the underground, from the inside out.

This is a masterclass in the old-school. The roots. There is no filler here, it's simply ALL killer. Lovingly selected and programmed by the masters - 'The Living Shock' & 'The Ladies Choice'. Produced in conjunction with Above Board distribution and Fabio & Grooverider. All tracks mastered from original sources and fully licensed. Mastering by Optimum, Bristol. Artwork and design by Atelier Superplus. 2019

Khruangbin and Leon Bridges announce their latest collaborative EP, ‘Texas Moon’, out on Dead Oceans.

 An extension of the two’s chart-topping four-song ‘Texas Sun’ journey, ‘Texas Moon’ is an introspective stroll through the dark. “Without joy, there can be no real perspective on sorrow,” say Khruangbin. “Without sunlight, all this rain keeps things from growing. How can you have the sun without the moon?”

 Crediting their mutual home state for inspiration, ‘Texas Moon’ pensively examines Texas’ musical perception, while paying homage to the marriage of country and R&B that’s become synonymous with the lone star state. Propelled by rolling guitar licks, conga and bongo, lead single ‘B-Side’ meditates on meeting in a dream and frolics across the nearing contemplative night-time state with its longing joy.

 Elsewhere on ‘Texas Moon’, the artists channel a newly intimate musical scope that’s illustrated most dramatically when the spacy sensuality of the minimalistic ‘Chocolate Hills’ leads into the stark spirituality addressed on ‘Father Father’, a reminder of both acts’ gospel roots. Over a simple rolling guitar figure, Bridges pleads with the heavens - “Look at the mess that I made / Just a man with unclean hands” - only to be reminded of God’s eternal love.

 For Khruangbin, one song in particular was indicative of the trust that Bridges put in them. “The song ‘Doris’ is about his grandmother making the transition from this world to the next realm,” says Khruangbin’s Donald Ray ‘DJ’ Johnson Jr. “It’s a very somber, very deep record. And when someone places that kind of work into your
hands, the last thing you want to do is junk it up, overproduce it, or do too much. We treated it with the respect it deserved, and treated Doris with the respect she deserves.”

 “It’s like a short story...,” says the band’s Laura Lee of the music. “And it leaves room to continue having these stories together. It’s not Khruangbin, it’s not Leon, it’s this world we created together.”

 Upon its release, ‘Texas Sun’ soared to the No. 1 slot on Billboard’s Emerging Artists Chart along with landing the No.1 on spot on Americana/Folk Albums, among many others. Significantly, both parties’ musical directions were deeply affected by their time working together on ‘Texas Sun’.

 Khruangbin’s most recent studio album, ‘Mordechai’, moved their own vocals to the forefront, a change they readily admit was a direct result of working with Bridges.
Their sound was also tapped for remix / reinterpretation of a Paul McCartney song for the ‘McCartney III Imagined’ project. Meanwhile, in addition to his genre-defying Grammy-nominated album ‘Gold-Digger’s Sound’, Bridges has put out several other challenging, shared collaborative tracks, including work with John Mayer, Lucky Daye and, most recently, Jazmine Sullivan. Each of the artists appeared recently on Austin City Limits and will tour throughout the new year.

Deluxe 2LP editions with artwork re-imagined by Ian Anderson of 'The Designers Republic'. "If I could watch any jazz band in the UK, any, I would choose Matthew Halsall's band, just love what he's been doing over the last few years ... It's always high level, spiritual jazz music" - Gilles Peterson BBC Radio 1. Matthew Halsall (*September 11th' 1983, in Manchester, England) is a Worldwide Award winning and MOBO nominated trumpeter, composer, producer and DJ.

Since 2008, Matthew has released seven critically acclaimed studio recordings and has been a key figure in the rise of a new jazz sound in the UK. In addition to his own releases Halsall has collaborated with many DJs and producers, most notably DJ Shadow and Mr. Scruff, and in 2013 Matthew's music was selected by Bonobo for his Late Night Tales compilation. Halsall is also the founder of Gondwana Records, a genre bending independent record label featuring a wealth defining albums by the likes of Portico Quartet, GoGo Penguin, Hania Rani and Mammal Hands. His own rich music draws on the spiritual-jazz of Alice Coltrane and Phaorah Sanders, contemporary electronica and dance music alongside his travels in Japan, the traditional art and music of which, has left a lasting impression on his compositions.

Sending My Love (2008) and Colour Yes (2009) were his first releases and document Halsall's first great bands featuring the likes of flautist Chip Wickham, saxophonist Nat Birchall, harpist Rachael Gladwin, bassist Gavin Barras and drummer Gaz Hughes. Joyful, life-enhancing albums, drawing on UK jazz and spiritual jazz influences but with a decidedly modern bounce, they introduced Halsall's music to the world gathering support from the likes of Gilles Peterson and Jamie Cullum, Mojo, Straight No Chaser and beyond. But Halsall was never completely happy with how the records were presented and as part of Gondwana Records 10th anniversary decided to revisit the recordings, meticulously remixing and remastering them for vinyl and commissioning new artwork from Ian Anderson, one of his favourite designers. These then are the definitive editions of the records. Sending My Love comes complete with the beautiful bonus track This Time, while Colour Yes features the equally striking It's What We Do and Ai.

"I am very proud of these early recordings. They represent the starting point of my musical journey in Manchester and showcase some of the cities finest musicians such as: Nat Birchall, Chip Wickham, Rachael Gladwin, Adam Fairhall, Gavin Barras and Gaz Hughes. They are also the very first recordings my brother and I decided to release on our record label (Gondwana Records). Listening back they sound full of energy and joy and really reflect how I was feeling at that precise moment. But as much as I loved the music, I was never 100 percent happy with the sound of the mixes and mastering. So I decided to go back to the original tapes to remix and remaster them and present them the way I'd always wanted, and along the way we unearthed a couple extra unreleased tracks, which we decided to include as bonus material. Myself and my brother also decided to bring in Ian Anderson of The Designers Republic to re-imagine the artwork and we are super blown away by the results!" Matthew Halsall, Oct 2019.

WPH label boss Red D has always considered Adham Zahran to be the Moodymann/Theo Parrish of Egypt, so it is only fitting that for his second release on the label Adham joins the WPH U.S. Series ranks. His deep dusty house sound oozes soul and groove and this release is no exception.

Opening track ‘Flowing Green’ kicks off the E.P. with shining chords that will go down like a treat on any house dancefloor in the hands of the right DJ. ‘No Sorrow’ takes things more heady, but make no mistake, it kicks like the proverbial mule if you let it roam free. On the B-side we first have Detroit’s mainstay Brian Kage on remix duties for the final track ‘Picture Of The Tree’, providing that extra motor city funk we all love. The original finishes the proceedings in – dare we say it – deepest fashion to round off another quality outing from the WPH camp.

After the incredible success of Polygondwanaland in 2017, we want to give everyone a chance to get their lucky hands on these King Gizzard albums, so let’s make it real together one more time with fair prices and no margin ! MAKE IT VINYL!

Live at The Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia, April 22nd 2021

Sticking to the galactic theme of his ‘Apollo’ series, ‘Neptune’ sees Shadow Child deliver a Techno-touched cut steeped in nostalgia. With classic-sounding synths wreaking havoc over a rumbling bassline, this track is a peak-time floor-thriller of planetary proportions.

Reimagining the 1997 offering of Belgian pair Hand’s Burn, Shadow Child turns ‘Good Shot’ into a track that resonates with his theme of worlds beyond. Helmed by an authentic bassline that synergizes perfectly with the perpetual arpeggios and cosmic chords, ‘Good Shot (Mercury)’ has fans throwing their hands to the stars from start to finish.

Khruangbin and Leon Bridges announce their latest collaborative EP, ‘Texas Moon’, out on Dead Oceans.

 An extension of the two’s chart-topping four-song ‘Texas Sun’ journey, ‘Texas Moon’ is an introspective stroll through the dark. “Without joy, there can be no real perspective on sorrow,” say Khruangbin. “Without sunlight, all this rain keeps things from growing. How can you have the sun without the moon?”

 Crediting their mutual home state for inspiration, ‘Texas Moon’ pensively examines Texas’ musical perception, while paying homage to the marriage of country and R&B that’s become synonymous with the lone star state. Propelled by rolling guitar licks, conga and bongo, lead single ‘B-Side’ meditates on meeting in a dream and frolics across the nearing contemplative night-time state with its longing joy.

 Elsewhere on ‘Texas Moon’, the artists channel a newly intimate musical scope that’s illustrated most dramatically when the spacy sensuality of the minimalistic ‘Chocolate Hills’ leads into the stark spirituality addressed on ‘Father Father’, a reminder of both acts’ gospel roots. Over a simple rolling guitar figure, Bridges pleads with the heavens - “Look at the mess that I made / Just a man with unclean hands” - only to be reminded of God’s eternal love.

 For Khruangbin, one song in particular was indicative of the trust that Bridges put in them. “The song ‘Doris’ is about his grandmother making the transition from this world to the next realm,” says Khruangbin’s Donald Ray ‘DJ’ Johnson Jr. “It’s a very somber, very deep record. And when someone places that kind of work into your
hands, the last thing you want to do is junk it up, overproduce it, or do too much. We treated it with the respect it deserved, and treated Doris with the respect she deserves.”

 “It’s like a short story...,” says the band’s Laura Lee of the music. “And it leaves room to continue having these stories together. It’s not Khruangbin, it’s not Leon, it’s this world we created together.”

 Upon its release, ‘Texas Sun’ soared to the No. 1 slot on Billboard’s Emerging Artists Chart along with landing the No.1 on spot on Americana/Folk Albums, among many others. Significantly, both parties’ musical directions were deeply affected by their time working together on ‘Texas Sun’.

 Khruangbin’s most recent studio album, ‘Mordechai’, moved their own vocals to the forefront, a change they readily admit was a direct result of working with Bridges.
Their sound was also tapped for remix / reinterpretation of a Paul McCartney song for the ‘McCartney III Imagined’ project. Meanwhile, in addition to his genre-defying Grammy-nominated album ‘Gold-Digger’s Sound’, Bridges has put out several other challenging, shared collaborative tracks, including work with John Mayer, Lucky Daye and, most recently, Jazmine Sullivan. Each of the artists appeared recently on Austin City Limits and will tour throughout the new year.

Introducing Tread Records, a fresh new imprint from London. Taking the reins for the debut release is the unique Guava, whose previous releases on labels such as R&S and Holding Hands, has made him one of the big names to watch in the leftfield electronic world. Collaborating on the release are two of London’s finest session guitarists, Alex Blake and Leo Abrahams. Their impressive CVs include work with artists such as Jon Hopkins and Skepta, respectively. Things open up with ‘In Cloud’, a blissed-out slab of broken techno, spaced out with guitar riffs played by Blake. Both ‘Libelle’ and ‘Equinox Meaning’ continue on this theme with a cut of bass weight with more silky guitar, performed by Abrahams, on the latter. Dublin-based Sputnik One is on remix duties, turning ‘Libelle’ into a beefed-up club weapon fit for any sound system.

Eve Adams offers solace within life's shadows. Un-numbing senses with anthems of surrender and tender-hearted tales that tingle with Californian folk-noir, her album Metal Bird takes flight with the turbulence and romance of Hollywood’s golden age, and meditates on the mysteries of love, death, insecurity and loneliness.
Like a match struck in a cobwebbed attic, Adams voice is a fiery detective, unafraid to explore the unseen; the liminal spaces between mourning and rapture, between the coldness of a corpse and the heat of cremation. Imagery of flight and the denial of gravity floats slyly through the ten songs on Metal Bird by the California-born musician and hints at the experience of being caught in purgatory, like a passenger on a plane ride from Hell to Heaven.
Combining airy folk with haunting soundscapes the album takes listeners on an auditory voyage from sonorous lullabies, to dreamy ambience, skeletal jazz, 1930s torch songs and 1940s film noir. Metal Bird has a distinct, genuine tone, with orchestral arrangements, ambient hallucinations and high fidelity vocals that are unafraid to be heard loud and clear.
For those who are hopelessly enamoured with a by-gone time, there is solace in these songs and sounds.  Flickering back and forth between dread and hope, the unrelenting march towards a spiritual transformation and the realization that each of us are driven by our own dreams and as much as we want to hold it in our hands, often it is intangible. The sublime remains elusive, existing somewhere in the heart, and it sounds like Eve Adams knows this best.