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2026 Repress

Coming in hot on Berlin's Toy Tonics label: a new EP by the talented duo ALMA NEGRA!

Founded in 2013, Alma Negra is a Swiss collective centered around the brother duo Dersu and Diego Figueira, whose diverse roots in Switzerland and Cape Verde inform their sound. The project was launched with the ambitious vision to explore the world's diverse rhythms and drive musical innovation by mixing different styles. Their work is anchored in a process of digging and sampling, skillfully blending traditional sounds-from Fela Kuti-influenced Nigerian afrobeat and Angolan Lamento to Caribbean Zouk and the Maloya sound of Réunion-into a contemporary dance music context.

The Figueira brothers' eclectic DJ sets embody this ethos, peppering disco and house with salsa, samba, jazz, and Afro-Caribbean carnival rhythms, all under their guiding motto: "As long as it's Funky."

Since 2014, Alma Negra has made an important contribution to intercultural exchange in their hometown of Basel. Their international presence began in 2015 with their first shows abroad in countries like France, the Netherlands, and Portugal. From 2016 to 2019, their reach expanded significantly, with performances in major hubs like London, Paris, and Berlin, as well as Istanbul, Tel Aviv, and Tunisia. Highlights from this period include sets at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Dimensions Croatia, and Fuse Club in Brussels. Their standing is further cemented by releases on respected labels like Heist Recordings, Sofrito, and Basic Fingers, alongside remixes from an elite group of peers, including Soulphiction, Kuniyuki, and Yuksek.

Parallel to their studio and DJ work, the project expanded into the Alma Negra Live Band, formed with jazz musicians from Basel. While the band is currently on hiatus, this collaboration made live instrumentation increasingly central to their productions, creating a dynamic they feel is essential for any dancefloor. The live band has performed in cities like London and Hamburg and has led to collaborations with artists such as French singer Pat Kalla and jazz trumpeter Bodo Maier.

Die Band ,The Holy Kiss" aus San Francisco erhebt sich aus dem Grab, um ihre letzte Aufnahme erstmals auf Vinyl zu veröffentlichen. Aufgenommen im Jahr 2009 von Skot Brown (The Phantom Limbs, Altar de Fey) und zuvor auf 50 handgefertigten CD-Rs veröffentlicht, ist ,Gunslinger" ein raues Meisterwerk aus der Blütezeit von The Holy Kiss mit vier Songs, die feurigen Blues mit Blut, Schweiß und einer kräftigen Prise The Birthday Party vermischen. Der Titeltrack der 12", ,Gunslinger", ist ein Cover eines Bo-Diddley-Songs, den die Band so arrangiert hat, dass er ihrem Hang zur melodischen Kakophonie entspricht. Frontmann Matty Rue Morgue singt mit dunkler Sonnenbrille aus tiefster Seele, während ,Schlagzeuger Nick Ott wie ein Riese über einem elfenhaften Schlagzeug thront und die Felle so fieberhaft bearbeitet, dass er eine Selbstentzündung riskiert" (Tatiana Simonian, L.A. Weekly). Das im Jahr 2000 offiziell gegründete, von schwarzem Humor geprägte, altmodische und gut gekleidete Quartett ,erzeugt einen dunklen und auf süße Weise dissonanten Krach, der an Mordballaden erinnert und perfekt dazu geeignet ist, die im Limbus schwebenden Geister der Betrüger, Verrückten, Säufer und anderer gesellschaftlicher Ausgestoßener heraufzubeschwören, über die die Band gerne in ihren schattenhaften, Dickens'schen Liedchen" (Bill Picture, San Francisco Chronicle). Die Veröffentlichung von The Gunslinger enthält außerdem eine Bonus-7"-Single mit Solo-Aufnahmen, die Matty Rue Morgue 2009 gemacht hat - nur wenige Jahre vor seinem viel zu frühen Tod im Jahr 2015. Darauf sind zwei Songs von Matty und ein Song von The Holy Kiss (,Go Head N Count `Em"), die für Solo-Akustikgitarre neu arrangiert wurden. In seiner Version von ,Go Head N Count `Em", gespielt mit Liebe und tiefem Respekt vor der Blues-Tradition, lässt sich Matty gleichermaßen von Lightnin' Hopkins und Lux Interior inspirieren.

The Forbidden Planet is the new album by Tomorrow Comes The Harvest, featuring Rasheeda Ali. The album explores a wide range of electronic and acoustic improvisational conversations, creating expansive and constantly evolving sound landscapes.

The recording carries forward many of the qualities that have made Tomorrow Comes The Harvest so distinctive from its beginnings. The project originated through the percussive dialogue between Jeff Mills and the late Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen. When thetwo creative forces first came together several years ago, what emerged was more than a collaboration or musical conversation. They opened a pathway-a way of creating through instinct, exchange, rhythm and freedom. That pathway continues to lead toward new horizons, and The Forbidden Planet is evidence of just how far it can travel.

The album is the result of an intricate creative process spanning nearly two years, connecting a series of recording sessions at notable studios including Criteria Studios in Miami, Soda Sound, and the legendary Studio Ferber in Paris, France.

The Forbidden Planet explores the more cerebral dimensions of the band's vast musical language. An idea is introduced, and almost immediately it begins to transform. Themes are questioned, reshaped and redirected as the musicians respond instinctively to one another.

As Tomorrow Comes The Harvest is known for, the performances were recorded largely through improvisation, often capturing the energy and spontaneity of an almost one-take process. These recordings were later carefully refined and shaped into the compositional structures heard throughout the album.

The creative seeds have been planted in fertile ground, allowing ideas to grow naturally and without restriction. In rhythm and in spirit, each musician contributes an essential voice to the conversation. Within that collective precision lies something even more important: a shared love of musical freedom and the possibility of creating without boundaries.

Prabhu Edouard - tabla and vocals
Jean-Phi Dary - keyboards
Jeff Mills - percussion and electronics

Featuring Rasheeda Ali on flute, with a special guest appearance by Laurent Vernerey on electric bass.

The Forbidden Planet will be released November 20th, 2026 on Axis Records on Double-Vinyl & CD + DVD. The DVD features selected live footage from Tomorrow Comes The Harvest, featuring Jeff Mills, Jean-Phi Dary, Prabhu Edouard and Rasheeda Ali.

Filmed & recorded live at London Jazz Café on September 27th, 2025, the footage captures highlights from the band's unique fusion of electronic music, jazz, percussion and improvisation.

Celebrating 30 years of ‘Filthy Lucre’ Live, the incendiary 1996 recording that captured the Sex Pistols’ explosive reunion tour of the same name, this landmark live album returns for the first time as a 2LP, set on red vinyl. The album documents Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock reuniting nearly two decades after their original implosion, revisiting the songs that transformed punk and the world we live in today. Recorded at the band’s Finsbury Park performance, the release delivers a raw and uncompromising snapshot of the Sex Pistols at full volume, reaffirming their enduring influence and confrontational spirit.

Drawing heavily from ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’, the setlist features defining tracks including “Bodies”, “No Feelings”, “New York”, “God Save The Queen” and “Pretty Vacant”. Performed with the same abrasive energy that established the band as one of the most influential acts in British music history. This special edition also includes the Japanese bonus tracks for the first time, making it the definitive version of this iconic live recording for fans and collectors alike.

Fourteen years have passed since Woollen Kits released two albums in a single year (Woollen Kits and Four Girls, both 2012), but Melbourne/Naarm’s beloved Kits are back to remind us what we’ve been missing all this time.

Weather the Storm still draws from the same deck of cards, but opens the door to some more classically renowned influences like The Velvet Underground, Television Personalities, Beat Happening ,Marine Girls, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, et al.

Across ten tracks it’s clear just how well they can write a hook, a verse, a chorus, a song; bringing together themes of everyday life, love and sincerity with aphorisms, stories and the classic sound we know and love.

Woollen Kits’ approach is almost as minimal and primitive as it was back in 2007, when singer/guitarist Tom Hardisty first sent a few channels into the red on an old Tascam tape machine. Simple chords, strong melodies, witty lyrics and a clear message. It’s a hell of a combination when it’s done well, and one they would only refine from there.

Tom (Hardisty) recruited a second Tom (Ridgewell, drums) and a Leon (Applebee, guitar) to help guide his new Cramps/Half Japanese- worship bedroom project into a real-life band, playing their first gig on NYE ’08 before launching into 2009 to record their first canon release, the Teenage Love 7”.

Yes, much time has passed since the band’s last record, Four Girls, came out in late 2012, but in the interim members have released plenty of other music across numerous projects, including Constant Mongrel, Nun, Canine Apathy, The UV Race, TB Ridge as The Director, Calamari Girls & more.

You asked for one more. Laibach duly oblige with MUSICK : ENCORE, a follow-up album to their 2026 record MUSICK, out on Mute.

They answer the crowd's demand with six brand new tracks and reworks of songs from the original album, reimagined by an eclectic line-up. Vinyl takers get the core 10-track experience, pairing new songs with four key reworks from the band, Richard X, PUNCHBAG, and Balžalorsky. The CD goes further, expanding to 13 tracks with additional remixes, including a rework of new track ‘#US’ from SILVERWINGKILLER, an Algorithm remix of fan-favourite ‘Allgorhythm’, and a bonus version of ‘Love Machine’ courtesy of The Lincolnshire Poacher.

Where MUSICK turned maximalist, hyper-driven pop into a reflection on our oversaturated, AI-warped media landscape, ENCORE pushes further into that fractured hall of mirrors – glitching, distorting, and rebuilding the original tracks into new shapes, from pulsing electropop to warped Eurodance detours and everything stranger in between.

Ihr habt nach einer Zugabe gefragt. Laibach liefern: Mit MUSICK : ENCORE erscheint auf Mute das Nachfolgealbum zu ihrem 2026 veröffentlichten Werk MUSICK.

Als Antwort auf die große Nachfrage präsentiert die Band sechs brandneue Tracks sowie Neuinterpretationen von Songs des Originalalbums, umgesetzt von einer vielseitigen Auswahl an Künstler. Die Vinyl-Version umfasst zehn Tracks und kombiniert neues Material mit vier ausgewählten Reworks von Laibach, Richard X, PUNCHBAG und Balžalorsky.

Die CD-Version erweitert das Programm auf insgesamt 13 Tracks und bietet zusätzliche Remixe. Darunter befinden sich eine Neuinterpretation des neuen Tracks „#US“ von SILVERWINGKILLER, ein Algorithm-Remix des Fan-Favoriten „Allgorhythm“ sowie eine Bonusversion von „Love Machine“ von The Lincolnshire Poacher.

Während MUSICK maximalistischen, hochenergetischen Pop als Spiegel unserer reizüberfluteten und durch KI zunehmend verzerrten Medienlandschaft inszenierte, führt ENCORE diesen Ansatz konsequent weiter. Die ursprünglichen Tracks werden zerlegt, verfremdet und neu zusammengesetzt – von pulsierendem Elektropop über verschobene Eurodance-Ausflüge bis hin zu allem, was dazwischen noch eigenwilliger und unerwarteter wird.

In 1990, John Williams created the compilation album John Williams Conducts John Williams – The Star Wars Trilogy, which features 13 of his most memorable tracks from the original Star Wars Trilogy. All performed by the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra, it features the iconic “Main Theme” and “Throne Room / Finale” from Episode IV – A New Hope, “The Imperial March” from Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, and “Luke And Leia”. The album brings together some of the best-known themes from the original trilogy in one collection. The result is a varied selection of music from across the three films.

John Williams Conducts John Williams – The Star Wars Trilogy is available on black vinyl. This 2LP package includes an insert with liner notes by the creator of the Star Wars franchise, George Lucas.

Balaise was the original title of Vers le Nord’s debut album. In French slang, balaise means something in between badass and flamboyant. The word keeps popping up throughout the record, like a teenager’s graffiti scrawled on a bus shelter after a few drinks. Balaise robots. Balaise ghosts lurking in the shadows. Balaise is the barfly who fantasies about becoming a street vigilante. In many ways, Matthieu Pellerin's new solo project is entirely contained within that word: a gigantic piece one man against the world cobbled together, a monument shaped by hand using layers of synthesizers sounding like cathedral organs cast in concrete.


Stitching this type of freak together took time. Five years, or what sounds like forever in an age obsessed with career trajectories and content strategies. But for Matthieu Pellerin, it was never about career plans or taking the easy road. Or he would have dug up the rotting corpse of Oi Boys, his now-defunct band, whose brief existence and explosive popularity once united sullen skinheads, gothic street punks, and old school punks alike. Or he would have fully embraced the Metz scene, now that the Great International Triple Alliance of the East (Noir Boy George, The Dreams, The Feeling Of Love...) and rising solo acts like Tune Zitoune, Josy Bazar, Fantôme Josepha, and Tony Gerrano have somehow transformed this sprawling open-air heroin camp into an unlikely capital of cool. But Vers le Nord doesn't point East, and it is as a lone rider that Matthieu Pellerin can fully reveal his songwriting scope.


With Le Seul Élément, his first solo project, the Lorraine native had already shown a rare gift for crafting worlds. Picture vast sonic masses stretching like industrial zones, noise-filled fog pierced by pale neon lights and landscapes caught somewhere between the gnarliest dive bar and a doomsday bunker. And slipping through the soul-crushing slowness and fractured blackened atmospheres, one could perceive a throwback to his years plotting in black metal-tinged Loth and Bishop.

Vers le Nord populates those landscapes that once were rough sketches. Damaged characters reign supreme, with a plethora of exquisite mutts brought to life, rather than outcasts committed to the cause. Where Nuits Blanches —his new supergroup featuring members of Rixe, Lion's Law, Headbussa and La Femme— pulls no punches with raw confessions, Pellerin switches gear for tales of robot apocalypses, vagrants and fam-seeking school shooters, delivered with William Sheller-esque rhymes and striking images. Yet even within fiction, he manages to create something deeply intimate, almost defining, showing very little effort: he is a natural. All in all, à l’aise (at ease). Songs resonate deeply with the listener, perhaps because of Pellerin’s odd way or always addressing someone without ever really naming them, a floating, obsessive and inescapable “you” calling us out.


Despite all of the darkness, Vers le Nord stirs deep emotions. There is something of Type O Negative or Anna von Hausswolff in its constant collision of the ludicrous and the epic gothic, its bleak romanticism that never tells a sordid tale. While the vocals remain rooted in a distinctly French punk lineage—think No Class, La Souris Déglinguée and OG Bérurier Noir—the reactor core is hidden somewhere else. Oneohtrix Point Never feels like a closer relative with his ultra-emotional music made of cold synths and disembodied anthems, swallowing and regurgitating forty years of icy, contemplative new wave across ten songs. It comes as no surprise that Lila Ehjä and Aimable, two rising specialists in lowering the temperature below seasonal norms, appear on “Enterrez-moi bordel” (“Bury Me, for fuck's sake”), a grandiose, spectral and magnificently arrogant finale. And in the end, Vers le Nord starts where the original idea was hiding all along: somewhere amid the ruins, definitely balaise and yet somehow, completely à l'aise.

The Deviants (formerly The Social Deviants) were a British psychedelic rock band originally active from late 1966 to 1969. The bandname was later used as a vehicle for the musical work of writer Mick Farren until his death in 2013.

Musically, the Deviants were something like the British equivalent to the Fugs, with touches of the Mothers of Invention and the British R&B-based rock of the Yardbirds and the Pretty Things.
Their roots were not so much in the British Invasion as the psychedelic underground that began to take shape in London in 1966-1967. Mick Farren said that they were influenced by The Who, Charles Mingus, The Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa.

The Deviants is their 3rd album and is now available as a numbered limited edition of 1000 copies on yellow vinyl and it contains a replica of the original mini booklet.

Harmacy (30th Anniversary Expanded Edition) finally makes Sebadoh’s seminal 1996 indie-rock album available again, and adds 16 bonus tracks, including alternate versions, rare B-sides, BBC sessions, and live material from the Harmacy era.


Sebadoh was formed in 1986 in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr., The Folk Implosion), with multi-instrumentalist Jason Loewenstein completing the line-up in 1989, and Bob Fay taking Gaffney’s spot in 1994. By 1994, the band had released five albums and more or less changed the pockmarked face of indie rock. Their albums were mostly home recordings, decried for their lack of sharp production, but embraced by fans of Barlow's intimate songwriting style, which owed as much to Joni Mitchell as Bob Mould. In 1996 Harmacy, their breakout sixth album, arrived, finding Sebadoh as conflicted as ever: torn between screaming punk and gentle crooning, replete with highly personal songs guaranteed to bring down even the most super-charged midnight ravers.


Released in the wake of The Folk Implosion’s Top 40 hit "Natural One," Harmacy became Sebadoh's first charting album in the U.S., and yielded the hit "Ocean." Interview said, “Harmacy is nothing short of a masterpiece.” The New Yorker called it a collection of “perfectly crafted, honest (read: ambiguous and emotionally twisted), impassioned songs about love and hate.” Harmacy was hailed as one of the best albums of 1996 by Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and NME.

First released September 16, 2016, Fetish Bones was the debut album of Philadelphia based musician, artist, and activist Camae Ayewa, performing as Moor Mother. Recorded in her home studio using a collection of machines, field recordings, and analog noisemakers, the album's 13 tracks fused the visceral anger of punk with the expansive improvisatory spirit of Sun Ra, arriving not as a way to forget but as a demand to remember.

The record was named an Album of the Year by The Wire and Jazz Right Now, and landed on Pitchfork's Best Experimental LPs of 2016, Rolling Stone's Best Avant Albums of 2016, and Thump's 25 Best Experimental Albums of 2016. "Deadbeat Protest" made both Pitchfork's and Noisey's Best Songs of 2016 lists, and Bandcamp named Ayewa its 2016 Artist of the Year while including Fetish Bones among its 100 Best Records of 2016.

Ten years later, Don Giovanni Records celebrates that debut with a 10th anniversary edition, pressed with a foil album cover and featuring the previously unreleased bonus track "Marian Anderson," a collaboration with Wolf Weston and Wooden Elephant. In the years since Fetish Bones, Ayewa has become one of experimental music's most celebrated and prolific voices.

On Expensive Shit, Fela chronicles a failed attempt to imprison him for possession of weed in 1974. At this time, Nigeria was under a military dictatorship that had declared a war on indecency. Fela’s insubordination infuriated the government, and they repeatedly raided his compound, Kalakuta.

During one of the raids, an officer produced a joint from his own pocket and attempted to plant it on Fela, which Fela then swallowed. He was immediately taken to prison, where the police waited three days for him to “produce” an incriminating sample. When the time came, police took Fela’s sample for analysis and found nothing. Each night, Fela and his cellmates had swapped their slop buckets around, allowing Fela to relieve himself without the authorities realizing it. By the time of the public shit, there was no marijuana left in his system. The police had no choice but to let him go.

This 50th Anniversary edition is pressed on gold nugget vinyl, packaged in a trifold jacket that features elements of the original vinyl packaging alongside newly licensed images, a dossier envelope with poster, print, and newspaper clipping, wrapped with a metallic gold foil band.

Eve 6 is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band Eve 6, originally released in 1998. The lead single and popular song "Inside Out" became a hit and reached #1 on the Modern Rock charts. Other singles include "Leech", "Superhero Girl", "Open Road Song" and "Tongue Tied", all contributing to the album's wide recognition.

The album was produced by Don Gilmore, known for his work with Linkin Park and Good Charlotte. Eve 6 became certified Platinum, selling over one million copies in the United States and achieved high positions on the Billboard charts, making it a hugely successful rock debut.

Eve 6 is available as a limited edition of 1500 numbered copies on yellow & white marble vinyl. The record comes in a deluxe sleeve finished with leather laminate and includes an insert with lyrics and liner notes.

Nailbomb's live album Proud To Commit Commercial Suicide, was recorded at the legendary 1995 Dynamo Festival in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

With 110.000 attendees, this was the biggest Dynamo Festival that was ever put together. Featuring a line-up of bands like Machine Head, Life Of Agony, Biohazard, Downset, Dog Eat Dog, Fear Factory, and many more, this was truly an event people from around the world wouldn’t miss.

Nailbomb's legendary live show (featuring appearances from former Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro, Biohazard bassist Evan Seinfeld, Sepultura's Igor Cavalera and Front Line Assembly/Fear Factory keyboardist Rhys Fulber) is still being talked about to this day. The last two studio tracks were recorded at Chaton Studios, Scottsdale, Arizona, in July 1995.

Proud To Commit Commercial Suicide is now available on black vinyl and contains an insert.

Alan Vegas ,Live at Max's Kansas City" fängt einen der furchtlosesten Innovatoren und Visionäre der Musikszene in voller kreativer Kraft ein und verwandelt diesen Punk- Club, eines der kultigsten kulturellen Wahrzeichen New York Citys, in ein Theater aus roher Performance, klanglichen Experimenten und kompromisslosem künstlerischem Ausdruck. Aufgenommen am 18. Juli 1980, nur wenige Wochen vor der Veröffentlichung seines bahnbrechenden selbstbetitelten Solo-Debüts, zeigt der Auftritt Vega an einem entscheidenden Punkt in seiner Karriere, an dem er eine einzigartige künstlerische Sprache entwickelt, in der Rockabilly, Blues, elektronischer Noise und Performancekunst mit elektrisierender Intensität zusammenfließen. Auf sieben Titeln wird Vega von dem jungen texanischen Gitarristen Phil Hawk begleitet, dessen messerscharfe Gitarrenarbeit sich mit Vegas Tonbandmanipulationen und experimentellen Klängen verflechtet, um seine kompromisslose klangliche Vision zu verstärken. Eher vom Instinkt als von Konventionen getrieben, fängt das Album die Kollision von Rockabilly und Blues mit elektronischen Experimenten, unerbittlicher Energie und der radikalen künstlerischen Freiheit ein, die Vegas Karriere prägten. ,Live at Max's Kansas City" ist ein lebendiges Dokument davon, wie Alan Vega am Beginn seiner Solokarriere stand - mit dem unerschütterlichen Engagement seiner kreativen Kräfte. Jeder Schrei, jeder Pfiff und jeder Ausbruch des Publikums wird Teil der Performance selbst und bewahrt den explosiven Austausch zwischen Künstler und Publikum, der Vegas einzigartige Bühnenpräsenz ausmachte. Entdeckt von Liz Lamere und Jared Artaud im Alan-Vega-Archiv, dem ,Vega Vault", wurde ,Live at Max's Kansas City" von Josh Bonati aus den Original-Live-Aufnahmen remastert, wobei die Bänder von Ted Young übertragen wurden. Diese historische Performance, die ein weiteres bisher unbekanntes Kapitel aus dem ,Vega Vault" enthüllt, ist zum ersten Mal auf Streaming-Plattformen und auf Vinyl erhältlich .

Die Rare Groove Collection: Ethiopian Rare Groove beleuchtet einen der faszinierendsten Schmelztiegel moderner Musikgeschichte. In den Clubs und Cabarets des vibrierenden Addis Abeba der 1960er und 1970er Jahre entstand ein einzigartiger Sound, der äthiopische Traditionen mit Soul, Funk, Jazz und Disco verschmolz. Diese Edition versammelt rare und prägende Aufnahmen einer Szene, die bis heute weltweit nachhallt. Künstler wie Mulatu Astatke, Mahmoud Ahmed oder Getatchew Mekurya stehen für eine Musik von hypnotischer Kraft, getragen von polyrhythmischen Grooves, markanten Bläserlinien und unverwechselbaren Melodien. Das Doppel-Vinyl ist mehr als eine Compilation: Es ist ein musikalisches Zeitdokument, das die kreative Energie einer urbanen Hochphase einfängt - rau, elegant und zeitlos zugleich.

In this post Sounds world, the boundaries of Post Punk have not only broadened but splintered. And over the course of (now) four releases, Index For Working Musik have seen to using the sprawling boundaries to great effect, flexing a polyglot of styles to convey the language of the moment. On Which Direction Goes The Beam, the murky, distant ambience that was 2023's Indexé has been fleshed out, incorporating everything from the Brian Aldiss laced, ground lightning shudder of Dome, to the chamber-like arrangements of This Kind Of Punishment. There's even a candle flickering in the window for Think Fellers Union Local 282 that warmed these ears. And if you're a fan of the great Dutch band, Trespassers W (who isn't?), the collective consciousness IFWM enunciates on here is a similar testament of a band growing more sure footed in the pursuit of not only knowing all the ways in, but carving a few of their own on the way out. And it's discerning releases like Which Direction Goes The Beam that keep us in the hunt. Long may they forge. - Tom Lax. RIYL: Brian Jonestown Massacre, Velvet Underground, TOY, John Cale, Wire, Dome

Power Of Soul is the third record as a bandleader by legendary jazz drummer Idris Muhammad, originally release in 1974. He embarked on his solo career in 1970 after years of work as a sideman for the absolute biggest names in jazz such as George Benson, Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, Ahmad Jamal, Pharoah Sanders, and many, many others.

This record was produced by Creed Taylor, founder of CTI, and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder. The architect of the Blue Note sound developed a deep relationship with Muhammad and played a big role in finetuning his sound. But, don't forget the rest of the line-up; the recorded features arrangements and compositions by keyboard legend Bob James and smooth jazz founder Grover Washington Jr., supplemented with performances by Randy Brecker, Joe Beck, and Ralph MacDonald. All in all, you can see why Muhammad's works ended up as samples on so many hip-hop records.

Power Of Soul is available as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on white vinyl.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the release of Remek Depo, the very first electronic record from the former Yugoslavia, the group Beograd has decided to unveil eight previously unreleased tracks in the context originally intended. The band initially planned to title their first album as Mrak ( eng. Dark). Recorded with Du Du A and other collaborators, this album serves as a manifesto of resistance—not only in Belgrade and Yugoslavia but everywhere else.

The A-side opens with the track 1984, named after George Orwell’s seminal novel. This piece was recorded in a single night in the same year, featuring Zoran Zagorcic (Du Du A) and one of the first Yamaha DX7 synthesizers. It encapsulates the dark and tense atmosphere of Belgrade during a period marked by economic crisis, characterized by shortages of essential products like coffee and oil, as well as electricity restrictions. This oppressive environment also impacted personal relationships, leading to unconventional expressions of passion and desire, as exemplified by the subsequent track from 1985, Mracni Predjet Zelja (eng: That Obscure Object of Desire). However, the primary source of frustration was political, stemming from the abuse of nationalism and the incitement of inter-ethnic conflicts within the complex Yugoslav society. This sentiment is vividly illustrated in the songs Hare Krishna and Belgrade Beat, recorded just before the country’s collapse in 1991. Remarkably, despite their protest, these songs convey messages of strong optimism and hope. In “Belgrade Beat Dejan Kostic (Du Du A) raps and Dejan Stanisavljevic sings. ”Od Studija B do Amerike, Beograd širi svoje talase, mi nismo sami u nama je svet, dolazi veliki preokret” (eng. “From Studio B to the USA, Belgrade spreads its waves, we are not alone, the whole world is with us, a great change comes!”). It is no surprise that this song was frequently broadcast on student Radio Index during the student and anti-war protests in 1992.

The B-side features contemporary songs produced by Beograd, which reflect protests against the current societal conditions in post-war Belgrade. Crafted with musical clarity and irony, these tracks satirize figures of repression, hitting their mark with an almost childlike purity, reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” The collaboration between Dejan Stanisavljevic, the leader of the Beograd and the Du Du A group not only influenced his musical expression but also laid the groundwork for the group’s socially engaged music in their later career.

As we remember the two late leaders of the Du Du A group, Dejan Kostic and Zoran Zagorcic, alongside the recently departed member of the Beograd, Milan Bubalo, this gramophone record stands as an important testament to the contributions of previous generations of artists in the fight for a fairer society. We hope it will inspire the younger generation in their current struggles, especially at a time when such inspiration is needed more than ever.

For nearly 30 years, SUNN O))) – Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson – have pushed the boundaries of heavy music, straddling the worlds of the avant-garde and rock to forge a style instantly recognisable as their own. Now, SUNN O))) return with their first album of new material since 2019’s acclaimed Pyroclasts. Their tenth album – their debut for Sub Pop – demonstrates the duo’s mastery of time and space, light and dark, and their willingness to evolve their unmistakable sound into bold new forms.

The eponymously titled SUNN O))) was tracked at Bear Creek Studios, Woodinville, Washington with Brad Wood (HuM, Tar, Sunny Day Real Estate, Liz Phair). This location proved crucial to the recording process. “The vast tracking room had big windows looking out on trees,” says O’Malley. “We could go hiking and be out in the woods, spend time outdoors. That became a big part of it.”

SUNN O))) have long welcomed collaborators into their self-contained world: past work has featured, Attila Csihar (Mayhem), composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, multi-instrumentalist Steve Moore, polymath Mark Deutrom, Silkworm’s Tim Midyett and legendary singer-songwriter Scott Walker. But on this album O’Malley and Anderson found fresh possibilities in the primal territory of the duo format, performing all the instrumentation themselves. “What’s been happening with our performances over the last couple years with the two of us and no other collaborators has been really fresh and exciting,” says Anderson.

The compositions on SUNN O))) are expansive and panoramic yet finely detailed, reflecting the arboreal setting in which they were recorded. Amidst howling feedback and glacial crunch, one finds surprisingly delicate moments: a field recording of water trickles beneath, piano interludes lend a hushed, solemn feel. All while the duo attains fresh heights of telepathic intensity as they shape music that breathes the bracing, earthy air of the Pacific Northwest.

Framing the album visually are two paintings by the late American artist Mark Rothko. Liner notes are by award-winning British writer Robert Macfarlane, famed for his works concerning landscape and the relationship between humanity and nature. Through the work of the band, Macfarlane, and Rothko, sound, word and visual combine into a fully immersive experience that is undeniably, completely SUNN O))).

"Lost Weekend" ist das erste Album von Phoebe Bridgers seit dem mehrfach für den GRAMMY nominierten Vorgänger "Punisher" aus dem Jahr 2020. Bereits ihr gefeiertes Debüt "Stranger in the Alps", veröffentlicht kurz nach ihrem 23. Geburtstag, machte deutlich, welch außergewöhnliches Songwriting-Talent in Bridgers steckt. Mit "Punisher" löste sie dieses Versprechen eindrucksvoll ein: Das Album wurde für seine kluge, eindringliche und zugleich fesselnde Komposition weithin gefeiert und etablierte sie endgültig als eine der prägendsten Stimmen ihrer Generation. Wer nun "Lost Weekend" hört, wird jedoch feststellen, dass Bridgers noch einen Schritt weitergeht. Auf dem neuen Album präsentiert sie sich auf dem bisherigen Höhepunkt ihres künstlerischen Schaffens. Mit bemerkenswerter Präzision verfeinert sie die Motive, die ihre bisherigen Werke ausgezeichnet haben, und erweitert ihren Sound gleichzeitig um zahlreiche überraschende Facetten. Das Ergebnis ist ein Album, das vertraut wirkt und dennoch immer wieder neue Wege einschlägt. Vor ihren jüngsten Pop-up-Shows stand Bridgers zuletzt mit ihrer Supergroup boygenius auf der Bühne, die sie gemeinsam mit ihren engen Freundinnen Lucy Dacus und Julien Baker gegründet hat. Für das 2023 erschienene Album "the record" erhielt die Band mehrere GRAMMY Awards, darunter "Best Alternative Music Album" sowie "Best Rock Song" und "Best Rock Performance" für die Single "Not Strong Enough". Phoebe Bridgers verließ die Preisverleihung zudem als meistprämierte Künstlerin des Abends. Ihren vierten GRAMMY gewann sie in der Kategorie "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance" für "Ghost in the Machine", ihre Zusammenarbeit mit SZA auf deren Erfolgsalbum "SOS". Zuvor war Bridgers als Support-Act auf ausgewählten Terminen von Taylor Swifts "The Eras Tour" zu sehen. Davor absolvierte sie fast zwei Jahre lang ihre eigene "Reunion Tour" mit mehreren ausverkauften Nordamerika-Etappen, rund dreißig Konzerten in Europa sowie abschließenden Shows in Südamerika, Asien und Australien. Auch abseits der Bühne prägte Bridgers die vergangenen Jahre mit einigen der eindrucksvollsten Live-Performances im Netz und Fernsehen, darunter ihr viel beachtetes NPR Tiny Desk Concert sowie ihr Auftritt bei Saturday Night Live. Seit ihrem letzten Soloalbum veröffentlichte sie zudem zahlreiche Singles, Coverversionen und Kollaborationen mit Künstler wie Paul McCartney, MUNA, Bright Eyes, The 1975, Lorde, Taylor Swift und The National.

7–Early Years–79 was The Fall's first comp ever. Originally released on Step-Forward in 1981, the LP compiles the group's first four singles recorded for the label between 1977 and 1979 – Bingo-Master's Break-Out, It's The New Thing, Rowche Rumble and Fiery Jack – none of which appeared on any of the band's studio albums. (Also included is "Dice Man" from 1979's Dragnet.) Taken together, these 7-inches are The Fall as they initially emerged from the primordial soup of '77 Manchester, pushing out from founder Mark E. Smith's poetry-collective origins into the early punk scene.

Right from the first track, "Repetition," Smith and crew's working-class art punk is in full effect. His obtuse lyrical brilliance and inimitable vocal delivery ride atop the band's ringing atonal guitar, looping basslines and propulsive drumming – complemented by wheezy combo organ tones. The tracks from each 7-inch are presented here in reverse chronological order. The Fall's fierce contrarianism defines the early UK punk sound and, at the same time, sounds nothing like any of their contemporaries.

The revolving cast of band members includes Martin Bramah, Una Baines and Karl Burns as well as Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon and Stephen Hanley who would remain in The Fall's classic '80s lineups. Many of their best-known songs are featured here – from "Psycho Mafia" and "Rowche Rumble" to the Mayo Thompson-produced "Fiery Jack."

Superior Viaduct's edition is the first time that 77–Early Years–79 has been reissued on vinyl. Includes liner notes by Stephen Malkmus.

Kisah Pasar Baru: The Modern Sound of 1950s Indonesia

When Indonesia gained its independence from the Dutch colonial government in 1945, politicians and soldiers weren’t the only ones playing a major role in building the sense of national identity.

Also working on the nationalist front were merchants and traders of phonograph records, who prior to the country’s independence served as local agents for foreign labels like Odeon and Beka. In Batavia, one of these traders were Tio Tek Hong, distributor of the international label Odeon and the other figure was Soejoso Soekarso, who also served in the Indonesian Military as an Air Force Marshall.

Irama Records, the music label he founded in 1951, was first attempt to “nationalize” the means of production of “indigenous music” from both foreign labels and intermediaries like Tio.

Soejoso stood at the intersection of music, business, and nationalism. He was the vanguard in the process of popularizing of a new breed of “national” music, especially the type he showcased in the compilation Kisah Pasar Baru: The Modern Sound of 1950s Indonesia, released in 1958.

Yet, the idea of an indigenous music championed by Soejoso was in fact the amalgamation of a myriad of cosmopolitan strands. As an air force officer, Soejoso spent some of his time playing in the Hawaiian band Lieve Souvenier in Semarang before relocating to Jakarta and started jamming with the band Elshinta Hawaiian Senior.

In addition to Hawaiian music, Soejoso was a versatile musician who also had the chops for jazz, a musical genre wildly popular in the 1940s and early 1950s Indonesia. And it was jazz that he first recorded for his Irama Records label.

One night in 1951, he squeezed pianist Nick Mamahit, bassist Max van Dalm, drummer Dirk van der Capellen, and guitarist Dick Abel into a 2×3-meter studio on Jl. H. Agus Salim, Central Jakarta, to record the first local jazz album of the post-independence era.

Kisah Pasar Baru is a compilation of hybrid music that Soejoso and his coterie of musicians championed in the early 1950s, a mix of Hawaiian, Keroncong and Jazz and it became a hit soon after being release.

One of the best compositions on this album, “Pajung Fantasi,” composed by the legendary composer Ismail Marzuki, is essentially built from Bing Slamet’s baritone—Indonesia’s equivalent of Bing Crosby--and the distinctive Hawaiian-styled steel guitar. The most famous song on the album, “Sabda Alam,” also written by Ismail Marzuki, follows the same pattern, its steel-guitar works now backing Theresa Zen’s hauntingly ethereal vocals.

Kisah Pasar Baru was never designed to be a long-playing record, and its presence on the market was to capitalize on a new trend in the recording industry. The album is a greatest-hits compilation, with songs in this album previously circulating individually on 78-rpm discs—a format that was gradually abandoned following the invention of the 7-inch single and the 12-inch long-play vinyl.

This is the first time this monumental record is being reissued for the international market outside of Indonesia.

Originally released on Flying Nun in 1983, Fall In A Hole is a double LP of an especially incendiary Fall show at Mainstreet Cabaret in Auckland, NZ in August 1982. The second of a two-night stand, this would be the band's final concert of its successful first tour of Australia and New Zealand. Recorded by longtime Flying Nun associate Chris Knox – who also made the striking cover artwork – Fall In A Hole follows the release of earlier live albums Totale's Turns and A Part of America Therein, 1981.

Besides capturing The Fall onstage during one of its most feral and exhilarating periods, Fall In A Hole is historically significant for several reasons. It heralds the end of Marc Riley's tenure with the band, an era considered by many Fall fans to be the group's peak, and showcases the two-drummer lineup heard on 1982's Hex Enduction Hour, with both Paul Hanley and Karl Burns sharing drumkit duties onstage. With Riley and Craig Scanlon on dual guitars and Stephen Hanley on bass, The Fall was stepping out in its final iteration with a majority of personnel rooted in their late '70s lineup.

The setlist is peppered with a mix of singles and album tracks old and new – including several that had yet to be released. Rarities like "Fantastic Life," "Backdrop" and "Solicitor In Studio" are given epic, feedback-drenched airings, while fan favorites like "Hip Priest," "Prole Art Threat" and "The Classical" radiate with lively, raucous energy.

Superior Viaduct's edition is the first time that Fall In A Hole has been reissued on vinyl. Includes liner notes by Roy Montgomery. Digital transfers made from analogue master tapes in the Flying Nun Collection and Chris Knox Collection held at the Alexander Turnbull Library (National Library of New Zealand).

Aura Safari are taking it back to the source with new album Spaced Out Disco on Hell Yeah. The eight-track record is inspired by the iconic sound, feel and studio techniques of the original 1970s disco and was played entirely live with real instruments.

Aura Safari are Andrea Moretti, Lorenzo Lavoratori, Daniele Melloni and Nicholas Iammatteo, and they have been releasing EPs, LPs and remixes on this label since 2020. They have long been entrenched in the local scene of Perugia and are live specialists with a unique chemistry that allows them to translate funk, jazz, soul, disco and house into their own timeless and universal musical language.

Integral to the album is the live performance aspect. All the band members hooked up in the studio and played together, often laying down tunes in one take and then adding some post-production for a modern edge. Disco, dub, jazz-funk and instrumental grooves define the sounds while the creative use of classic delay, echo, spacey FX and dubbed out arrangements lead the record the same Jamaican character that inspired original dub-disco pioneers like Arthur Russell, the Compass Point Studio and labels like Prelude and West End.

'Starlove' opens with low-slung grooves and squelchy bass that twist you inside out before 'Spaced Out' shimmers with astral melodies and synths that rise like a rocket disappearing into the night sky. Funky claps and flashes of Dexter Wansel-inspired soul complete the picture, while 'Santa Barbara' eases the pace with a brain-bending dub workout full of weighty low-end and warm, sun-kissed chords. 'Cosmic Affair' lives up to its name, gliding through the galaxy on uplifting guitars and slinky drums, all wrapped in irresistible retro-futurist magic and lit by the moon.

'Disco Mirage' turns inward with simmering bass, dusty open hi-hats and hazy synth trails drifting through effervescent jazz keys that rise like champagne bubbles. 'Magik Space Dust' stretches towards the stars with soaring leads and knotted bass locked into an effortless groove.

Spaced Out Disco does exactly what it promises and plots a richly imagined journey that never stops looking towards the stars while keeping its feet firmly on the dancefloor.

Epicentre was an R&B/funk group formed in Seattle, Washington by keyboardist Ric Ulsky. The band developed a loyal following, playing the extensive NW club, concert and dance venues throughout the mid-to-late 1970s. Their sound was a blend of melodic R&B and powerhouse funk that dependably filled music venues throughout the Western US. Bernadette Bascom was the lead vocalist, who captivated audiences with her powerful yet velvet-smooth voice and commanding, magnetic stage presence.

In 1978, Epicentre worked with Seattle producer Don McKinney to record their music in Seattle's now legendary Kaye-Smith studios. The result was seven strong, fully -produced R&B songs, with occasional horn and string orchestrations tastefully added to the final versions.

Their music quite literally sat on a shelf for decades until McKinney decided that all the hard work and talent should no longer remain undiscovered and it needed to find its audience. He restored and digitized his copies of the master tapes and looked for an opportunity. A chance call to the former leader of the group, Kell Houston, led to a serendipitous introduction to UK boutique/funk/R&B label founder Russell Paine. The result was an agreement to release their music, starting with two songs, "When You Were In Love With Me", and "Magic Carpet."

And now the follow up single of "Searchin/Tongue Tied"

Footnotes: Lead singer Bernadette Bascom became a protegé of Stevie Wonder, and was the first artist to be signed to his label Black Bull , starting a period of collaboration between the two. Bermadette is the daughter of Reverend Dr. Marion C. Bascomb (1925-2012), one of Baltimore's major civil rights voices and pastor emeritus of Baltimore's Douglas Memorial Community Church. Ric Ulsky eventually left the group to play keyboards and tour extensively with The Association. You can also find Epicentre's music on the compilation album "Seattle Funk, Modern Soul & Boogie: Volume II 1972-1987." In addition to Bernadette, the musicians on the 1978 sessions are Kell Houston, keyboards, Michael Cox, bass, John Carmondy, guitar, and Ricky Lynn Johnson, drums and vocals. While their recorded material is primarily original, Stacy Christensen from Seattle's Gabriel contributed two of his compositions.

“Nothing grows in the shadow of great trees,” said Constantin Brancusi when leaving Auguste Rodin’s studio. The same holds true in music, as Richard Raux’s journey proves. At the end of 1970, after recording the debut album of the legendary band Magma, which he co-founded, Raux set out to explore new musical horizons. Under the names Faarmadin and later Hamsa, he crafted a sound deeply rooted in jazz and improvisation, yet daringly open to experimentation.


A devoted admirer of Charlie Parker, Raux played bebop alongside René Urtreger and performed with Bernard Lubat’s Percussion Expérience. Jazz is a cornerstone of Hamsa’s iconoclastic approach, blending seamlessly with psychedelic and progressive rock, and the rich musical traditions of Madagascar, where Raux spent his formative years.


Hamsa is as much a personal endeavor as it is a “family affair.” Alongside his brother Patrice on guitar, Raux brought together a circle of friends—Alain Lecointe (double bass), Jean-Lou Besson (drums), John Faure (guitar), and Alain Pistre (percussion)—to record at the iconic Château d'Hérouville, just outside Paris, at the end of 1974. Yet the spirit of Hamsa is deeply Malagasy, rooted in the village of Andranomadio, which gives its name to the album’s opening track: a vibrant explosion of percussion and color. Africa’s presence resonates throughout the record, whether invoking Brotherhood of Breath (Chris McGregor) on “Johanna,” the Malagasy-infused work of Jef Gilson, or paying homage to John Coltrane’s Africa.


Far from being “just another fusion,” Raux’s music dazzles and transports. The saxophone-guitar unison on “Ahiri Lalita” captivates, the vocals of “Fahamadina” sweep you away, and the manifesto of “L’exploité” hits hard—yet with a liberating warmth. Sunshine and joy shine through on the album’s closing track, “Cultivate the Garden of Your Heart” (with Alby Cullaz on double bass and Jean Padovani on drums), capturing the ethos of Richard Raux and Hamsa—and now, ours too.

ON THE SCENE 1965 (part two) features more bands taking that Black American R&B sound and making it their own. The jazzy mod blues of The Bo St Runners, the pounding R&B of The Little Darlings and The Couriers and the smooth blues of The Mickey Finn make the third in the series essential - as follows:

Consummate selector DJ Sundae returns to Efficient Space with Nothing Ever Was, an immaculate compendium of phantom independent melancholia spanning '60s/'70s village green folk, outsider shoegaze and new millennium domestic pop. Each recording an emotional exorcism, Sundae breathes oxygen into music that was barely there in its own time, made in quiet places and crawl spaces, shared only with a precious few via private presses, hobby labels and now-decaying CD-Rs.

Free of any prescribed epoch, continent, scene or rarity, Noughties homemade indie pop opens both sides with the 4-track wonders of The Motifs and Betelmire, unlinked contemporaries finding their place alongside Andrew Jay's Crazy Horse rust, the regional-garage adolescence of Pauline Scribner and the anaesthetised Mancunian guitar-poetry of the late Quigley.

The remaining coordinates zigzag between the UK and US. Folk wayfarers John Strang & Valentine Lewis Lloyd, Virgin Insanity, Kusudo & Worth and Penny Wager's spartan Garden of Eden acoustica find their mirror in Empress and Slumber's close-quarters indie pangs. Chicago power pop fixture Phil Angotti is caught at his most tender, while Teri Rini takes the final bow with her universe-stopping hotel lounge torch song.

A deeper, more personal exploration of Sky Girl's sentimental songwriting, Sundae found himself amassing a cache of tracks too undeniable to remain confined to his anonymous mixtapes for TTT, P.A.M. and Good Morning Tapes, or bi-monthly hour on NTS Radio. Again his emotional sorcery draws together an unlikely cast, their unwritten narrative assembled from fragmented memories of past lives left behind by future horse trainers, ketamine therapists and Fab Four cover band careerists.

With not a second squandered across 1LP, it took a village to bring this new companion into being, with David Bergot's forensic audio restoration, dreamlike imagery from Matthieu Crozier, Ivan Liechti's elegant design and a perceptive foreword by kindred spirit Jessica Pratt.

Released at a pivotal moment in Opeth’s ascent, Deliverance offers a snapshot of a band refusing to stand still.

Emerging in the wake of the breakthrough success of Blackwater Park, and produced in tandem with Steven Wilson, their sixth studio album boasts unapologetic heaviness, immersive songcraft, and intoxicating atmospheres. Whilst many contemporaries relied on tried and tested formulations to recreate and restructure, Opeth demonstrated true determination in ambition and sonic exploration.

Now, even after two decades Deliverance continues to hold reverence as a true jewel in the crown of modern progressive metal. This new reissue offers a fresh opportunity to revisit a record whose power, innovation and enduring legacy remain as impactful today as when it first arrived.

Visteria ist das Projekt der Warschauer Musikerin Hönorata – Gitarren, Bass, Gesang und Produktion liegen in den Händen einer Frau, deren Einflüsse von Female-Fronted US-Metal bis zu frühem britischen Hardcore der Marke G.B.H. oder Broken Bones reicht. „Ich habe jahrelang zu Bands wie Détente, Chastain oder Znöwhite mitgeschrien und dabei versucht, meine eigene Stimme zu entwickeln“, sagt sie. „Détente war dabei ein besonders wichtiger Einfluss auf den Sound, den ich anstrebe.“
Das selbstbetitelte Debüt-Demo erschien Ende 2024 zunächst bei Godz Ov War Productions und war in der ersten Kassettenauflage nahezu sofort vergriffen – eine zweite folgte, mit demselben Ergebnis. „Visteria“ bietet vier Tracks plus Intro in 15 Minuten: kompakte, furiose Statements, getragen von rohem Riffing und Hönoratas intensivem Schreigesang.
Die Ästhetik — Leder, Nieten, Antikreuze — ist genauso prägnant wie die Musik, und Hönorata zieht keine Trennlinie dazwischen. „Das Erscheinungsbild eines Künstlers ist die visuelle Erweiterung seiner Musik, seiner Botschaft, seiner Haltung und Persönlichkeit. Image und Musik sind untrennbar verbunden.“ Als High Roller Records sie nach dem Black Silesia Festival kontaktierte, war sie überrascht: „Ich konnte es wirklich kaum fassen.“ Die Neuauflage als 12“ Mini-LP und CD gibt nun all denjenigen, die das Tape verpasst haben, die Gelegenheit, ihr Versäumnis nachzuholen.

This album marks a significant evolution for Dream Division, evolving from a solo project into a full band experience. Blending the rich sounds of Italian soundtracks with psychedelic rock, Tom McDowell, the band's core member and founder of Library of the Occult Records, has assembled an all-star lineup for this collaborative record. Featuring members of The Hologram People, Garden Gate, The Psychic Circle, Miles Brown and Men From S.P.E.C.T.R.E., the album navigates through genres while maintaining a cinematic essence. From the sinister melancholy tones of 'Black Rose' to the Giorgio Moroder-esque Giallo disco of 'Technicolor Terror,' ‘A Rose in the Garden of Winter’ unfolds like a lost soundtrack to a classic '70s Giallo film.

983 Cleveland Ohio funk bomb from Dennis “Cash” Roberson’s trio CASH. Co-Written with Mike Calhoun (C-Brand, Dazz Band) and Kevin Kendrick (Cameo, Flash) two midwest talents unmatched. PPU-121 also includes “I Know You Care” the unreleased follow-up single (re-discovered by boogie-times records, france)

Highscore is one of the newest-and quite sensational-discoveries in funk of the 1980s out of Germany. Two tracks Breakin' Out and Girls So Fine, both recorded about 40 years ago and shelved ever since, are finally receiving a long-overdue 12" release.

Label founder DJ Scientist tells the story of how the tracks were uncovered:

"Several years ago, while researching the Crea label-after we had already licensed 'You're Not The One For Me' by Peter Patzer-I also wanted to find out more about another band on the label: Nuages, who had released the stunning jazz-funk/fusion album Cumulus.

Interestingly, a Discogs user had uploaded a hand written promo letter from one of the band members along with the LP. In it, drummer Mike Bach mentioned plans for a second album, as well as a single featuring a 'coloured singer'-which caught my attention. (A note on language: the original letter from 1985 uses the term 'coloured.' We've chosen to quote it directly as a historical document, but want to be clear that this reflects the terminology of the era and not language we would use today.)

Digging deeper, more information was found on Bach's own website, where a project called 'High Score' was mentioned. I immediately got in touch and asked if the recordings from that project still existed. Unfortunately, Bach couldn't locate any of the material at the time.

Years passed before we reconnected, when we featured 'Strange Weekend' by Nuages on our recent yacht rock compilation. I still had the Highscore project in mind and asked again. Once more, Mike had to deny-but he made another effort and reached out to former collaborators. A few weeks later, guitarist and composer Hermann Behrens discovered cassette tapes containing tracks from the Highscore project. I couldn't wait to hear them…"

To go back a bit: Nuages were a jazz-rock band from Bremerhaven, originally formed by guitarist Joachim "Fussy" Fuß in 1982. The lineup included Mike Bach (drums and percussion), Klaus Hinners (bass), and Frank Fischer (keyboards). In 1984, John Dillard, a U.S. GI stationed in Germany, joined Nuages for several live performances as a soul singer.
Around 1985/1986, Dillard and Bach then teamed up with Hermann Behrens with a new focus on electro funk and disco: Highscore was born.

When the three demo recordings were finally sent to us, they immediately blew us away. Breakin' Out stood out as an incredible electro-funk boogie gem-exactly what we had been looking for. What's more, it didn't sound like a rough demo at all, Breakin Out was a well-arranged and almost perfectly recorded track, driven by fresh, vibrant synths, drum machines and guitar. The cassette mix wasn't entirely final, but the remaining details could be refined during mastering.

The B-side, Girl So Fine, impressed just as much-equally strong and just as captivating as the A-side. Our reaction was immediate: this had to be released without delay!

Most importantly, there are a few more recordings from Highscore. However, these only exist as multi-track studio reels, which currently cannot be transferred. In the best case, more material from the band may surface soon-hopefully without another long wait.

The 12" release Breakin' Out / Girl So Fine" comes with a newly designed picture sleeve, featuring an original photo of the band members, including background singer Ruben Hopkins who does not appear on these two recordings.

The vinyl edition is limited to 400 copies.

Some things in life are meant to be consumed whole: a perfectly paced movie, an oyster at Whitstable Bay, a novella on a sunny afternoon. Into this pantheon of singular experiences comes Runners, the second album from London instrumental rock quartet Dog Unit. The follow-up to At Home, the band’s cult favourite 2024 debut album, Runners moves seamlessly across its 42-minute runtime. It finds the quartet – comprising Sam Walton, Henry Scowcroft, James Weaver and Lucy Jamieson – crafting tracks that undulate, churn and yearn in service of a greater purpose as they plough fertile fields of sonic storytelling. Made over the first four months of 2026 at the band’s studio in Limehouse, East London, Runners finds the core group, alongside producer and long-time collaborator Mark Estall, operating with greater ambition and scope than ever before. This time they commissioned a string quartet specifically for this project, and reappointed noted experimental bass clarinetist Heather Roche, as well as taking in a cavalcade of instruments at their studio, including vintage synths, drum machines, pianos, and harmonium. The band’s music is often compared to cinema, and if At Homewas a charming micro-budget indie flick bursting with potential, Runners is a widescreen realisation that stands up to repeat viewings.

'Church & Raves' is a great title for an EP given the strange relationship between the two. You're unlikely to get many people in the UK who go to both, but at the same time the communion of a good dance is often likened to the joys of collective experience that people feel in their chosen place of worship. Jazz pianist, organist, composer and bandleader Jonny Liebeck brings together a background in both here: 'Dancefloor Motive' and 'In My Feels' run jungle's rhythmic urgency through a jazz sensibility and breakbeats are given real harmonic depth rather than just serving as a backbone. 'Underground Soul' and 'Modal House' lean closer to classic house but with those Latin jazz touches from his debut still lingering in the margins. A thoughtful, well-crafted EP for anyone who wants their music with real substance.

Pure Motorised Instinct drives over to Dark Entries with At Last I’m Leaving the Earth, an LP of industrial-tinged ambient and new age. When legendary industrial outfit Nagamatzu went dormant in 1991, band member Stephen Jarvis moved forward with Pure Motorised Instinct, a name he pulled from a line in George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. Throughout two cassette albums - 1991’s Between Intimacy and Elsewhere, and 1993’s Everything Is True - Jarvis pushed the Nagamatzu spirit in new directions. At Last I’m Leaving the Earth collects 9 tracks from this era, which are appearing on vinyl for the first time, along with 3 additional tracks on a bonus CD. The material here sits between the brooding and the optimistic, the claustrophobic and the soporific. Jarvis’s digital synths are pushed so far into tape-scuffed terrain that they talk and squawk analog-like, scurrying with vibrant curiosity. The late-night vibes peak on pieces like “Vincent V,” with its reverb-drenched digital drum machines, or “Geek,” which taps into a wide-eyed proto-vaporwave zone.    At Last I’m Leaving the Earth is Black Lodge ambient for the empty set. 

Following their acclaimed collaboration with Mad Professor, Sensible Soccers return to 8mm Records with a brand new remix EP featuring three true cult producers: Tolouse Low Trax, Danilo Plessow and Peaking Lights.

Opening the record, Tolouse Low Trax reshapes “Efeito Zandinga” into a mesmerizing journey connecting the hypnotic afrobeat of Fela Kuti with the raw pulse of Detroit techno. Ritualistic, immersive and deeply transportive.

On “Saravá”, Danilo Plessow turns the original track into a powerful acid house banger reminiscent of his recent Rude Futures productions, while preserving the warm and organic sensibility of Sensible Soccers. The result is an explosive blend of adrenaline, groove and uplifting energy, destined to set summer dancefloors on fire.

Closing the EP, Peaking Lights deliver a stunning reinterpretation of “Rosa Mota”, elevating the post-dub and psychedelic side of Sensible Soccers into a cosmic electronic voyage of remarkable depth. A simply beautiful finale that pushes the band’s sonic universe even further into new psychedelic and electronic territories.

Three remixes, three unique visions: a powerful meeting point between psychedelic dub, afro-futurism and forward-thinking club music.