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Throughout her much-lauded career as a DJ and producer, Ciel has worked hard to build community through events and DJ workshops in her home city of Toronto and on a larger scale with podcasts and projects meant to elevate women artists. The title of her latest EP, “All We Have Is Each Other,” reflects her history of mutual support, and in these times when so many of our connections seem broken by the pandemic, it offers a reminder that music still has the power to unite us.

Ciel has never been an artist who lets genres define or constrain her, so it seems only fitting that this release lands on Mister Saturday Night Records, a New York City label with a similar ethos. It’s in this refusal to restrict her sound to narrow definitions that something magical happens.

This 5-track EP spanning dance floor fillers and home listening pieces builds on a frame of tough footwork-paced kick drums, the skip and swing of 2-step garage, broken house, and slow, meditative beats. Woven throughout are hopeful melodies, dappled with sunlight tones and layered with organic percussion. The connective tissue is a deep feeling of joy and hopefulness in the power of music and collective humanity.

When the world goes up in flames, all we have is each other. Music connects us with like-minded communities that both shelter and empower us. With this emotive collection of diverse songs, Ciel reaches out a hand and invites us to be a part of something beautiful and authentic.

Motörhead veröffentlichen ihr 23. (und letztes
Studioalbum) Bad Magic von 2015 noch einmal in einer
erweiterten Version.
"Bad Magic: SERIOUSLY BAD MAGIC" beinhaltet
frisches Bonusmaterial und zwei bisher unveröffentlichte
Tracks: "Bullet in Your Brain" und "Greedy Bastards",
sowie eine glanzvolle Live Performance von der Bad
Magic Tour beim gigantischen Mt Fuji Festival in Japan
2015. Als Bad Magic 2015 veröffentlicht wurde, tat es
einen gewaltigen Schlag und alle, die meinten Motörhead
wären zahmer geworden, wurden eines Besseren belehrt.
Das Album erreichte in Deutschland auf Anhieb die Top 1
Chart Position. Producer Cameron Webb hatte seinen
Anteil daran; er überzeugte die Band, das Album in den
NRG North Hollywood, Maple Studios und Grandmaster in
Kalifornien live aufzunehmen- zum allerersten Mal in der
Ära Kilmister/Campbell/Dee.
Eine der versteckten Juwelen des Albums auf "Bad
Magic: SERIOUSLY BAD MAGIC", ist Motörheads
berühmteste, international gefeierte Version des David
Bowies Klassiker, "Heroes". Ursprünglich sollte der Song
auf Bad Magic (2015) erscheinen, wurde jedoch in der
letzte Minute wieder heruntergenommen. Jetzt aber fand
"Heroes" seinen Platz auf "Seriously Bad Magic".

With his new album, Gecko Turner confirms that he is a standout artist in the global groove scene, a must for the outernational sounds aficionados.

Somebody From Badajoz is the fifth studio album in his much lauded discography and his first in seven years, eagerly anticipated by both his fans and himself: "this business of dedicating yourself to music and making songs... it's a long game."

With the release of his first two, remarkable, albums, Guapapasea! (2003) and Chandalismo Ilustrado (2006), Gecko started cultivating what one astute journalist defined as Afro-maduran soul—the "maduran" bit referencing Extremadura, a region in central-western Spain.

Badajoz, Gecko's birthplace, is the biggest city in the area, on the border with Portugal, by the Guadiana River. It is a place that oozes history, where there is constant movement at the border, and people's character is friendly and open-minded with foreign habits.

Gecko's Afro-maduran soul isbuilt on Afro-American music and drenched in Brazilian, African, Latin American and Jamaican sounds. There are also echoes of a youth marked in equal parts by our man's admiration for the Beatles and the flamenco that could be heard everywhere in Badajoz in the seventies. It makes for a singular sound and a musical language of its own—spicy, succulent, full of nuances, but with a very personal flavour.

The album opens with the Nigerian talking drums of Twenty-twenty Vision, (neo) soul in a magical falsetto, carried by a sumptuous orchestral arrangement with a cinematic flavour: "I'd been thinking about doing something called 'Twenty-twenty Vision' for some time, making a play on words with the vision we have of the world after the year 2020 and the medical expression, which, in ophthalmological terms, means 'normal or complete vision.' Beyond that particular song, I think that's the mood of the album: a look at society in the twenties of the 21st century and the feelings and demons it produces."

It's followed by De Balde, a very special song born from a posthumously discovered lyric by the great writer Carlos Lencero, a regular collaborator of Camarón, Pata Negra, and Remedios Amaya, and also from Badajoz. While conceived as a fandango, Gecko has moulded it into his sound in such a seamless way it now seems as if the words could only have been written to be embraced by the percussion, brass, and backing vocals heard on the album. It's the only lyric on Somebody From Badajoz not written by Turner, still it sits rather comfortably with the rest, sharing the same emotivity and sensitivity, as well as the trademark humour and irony.

Other tracks see more protagonism for the rhythm.The beat-driven Ain't No Fun Preachin' to the Choir features Gecko's vocals walking the thin line between singing and talking over a phenomenal afro-disco-funk-infused trailblazer. In Am I Sad? it's impossible to not bob your head to the queen of Papatosina's mongrel rhythm, as close to the banks of the Guadiana river as it is to the shores of the Mississippi. Qué Siesta Tan Buena, He Babeao Y To! is an ode to the snooze in true Afro-Maduran fashion. And in Come And Try, the Caribbean influence is evident—lovers' rock that invites you to dance in good company.

In these songs, and throughout the album, for that matter, the musicians accompanying Gecko, who himself plays many of the instruments as well, shine brightly. All hailing from Extremadura, Javi Mojave (percussion), Álvaro Fdez 'Dr. Robelto' (bass), and Rafa Prieto (guitar) have been carrying him with delicate forcefulness since he started out as a solo artist. At the same time, the wonderful and essential voices of Deborah Ayo, Astrid Jones, Fani Ela Nsue, and Miriam Solís give the album a sunny variety of colours. And there are many more—a sensational group of musicians contributes dazzling harmonic bursts to many of the songs. The palette of sounds is very diverse and rich in textures and nuances, including, for example, the ngoni, bells, and various repurposed kitchen utensils.

The groove is always around, moving between the magical border sound of Everybody Knows Somebody From Badajoz and Little Dose, the silky soul of The Sibariteo Appreciation Society, and the exultant celebration of End Of The World (which surprisingly sees Gecko turning to the occasional use of autotune), a piece that could be used for the final credits of a Monty Python film and, in fact, closes the album.

Gecko Turner has done it again with Somebody From Badajoz, looking to the future without losing sight of the roots. In times of upheaval all over the globe, when people are looking for purity, he delivers a formidable piece of work: risky, optimistic in spite of everything, and with a decidedly bastard sound. Let's rejoice.

First time on vinyl, expanded version of Japan-only CD album from 2006! Now a double LP with unreleased tracks on audiophile grade colored vinyl (Disc 1: Opaque Baby Blue, Disc 2: Opaque Brown) The Jungle Bros embraced of a range of styles -- including house music, Afrocentric philosophy, a James Brown fixation, and of course, the use of jazz sample , on this reissue double LP Release on Colored Audiophile grade Vinyl , the I got U album is remastered and re-released with additional tracks .Michael Small (Mike Gee), Nathaniel Hall (Afrika Baby Bam), and Sammy Burwell (DJ Sammy B). Known as the pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music, they were the first hip-hop group to collaborate with a house-music producer. The trio released their debut album, Straight out the Jungle in July 1988. Their hip-house club hit single, "I'll House You" was added to the album in late-1988 reissues. Fostered by Kool DJ Red Alert, the Jungle Brothers success would pave the way for De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and eventually the Native Tongues collective that they founded. Hip-Hop-House with a jazzy feel including "I Got U", a re-recorded "Sunshine" and four bonus tracks/versions. -- The Jungle Bros embrace of a range of styles -- including house music, Afrocentric philosophy, a James Brown fixation, and of course, the use of jazz samples -- _John Bush, All Music

BASSIST/COMPOSER PETROS KLAMPANIS LOOKS TO PAST AND FUTURE AS HE TRANSFORMS TRADITIONAL GREEK MUSIC WITH TORA COLLECTIVE

Unique instrumentation bridges Greek folkloric and modern jazz worlds, with Klampanis (bass, artistic direction), Areti Ketime (vocals), Thomas Konstantinou (oud, laouto), Giorgos Kotsinis (clarinet), Kristjan Randalu (piano), Ziv Ravitz (drums, electronics, co-production) and more.

Following up his acclaimed recent outings Rooftop Stories and Irrationalities, bassist and composer Petros Klampanis creates one of his most inventive musical settings to date with Tora Collective, his sixth album as a leader. For Klampanis, who grew up in Athens, Greece
surrounded by the confluence of Mediterranean and Balkan folk cultures, making music has always meant navigating cultural crossroads. With Tora Collective (“Tora”=“Now”) he puts traditional Greek music at the centre, even as he presents it from a bold new angle.

In addition to the two new originals “Disoriented” and “South By Southeast,” Klampanis and his compact hybrid jazz/Greek folk ensemble interpret popular Greek songs such as “Xehorismata,” “Sybethera,” “Hariklaki” and “Menexedes ke Zoumboulia.” These songs, Klampanis asserts, are “not just part of Greek cultural heritage or a fragment of the past, but also as part of the future: they live into the present, breathe into the ‘here and now,’ while constantly evolving in a dynamic state and in dialogue with contemporary music.”

“For me it’s a personal thing,” he says. “I want to reflect on what Greek music and culture offer the world. How can music from the Aegean to Epirus and from the Ionian Islands to Crete, meet and speak to the hearts and minds of musicians and audiences from different parts of the world, different traditions and backgrounds?”

To that end, Tora Collective draws on regional characteristics, as Klampanis explains: “Every region has a strong identity. In Epirus the clarinet is more prominent and the music has this slow, groovy, meditative vibe. The islands are lighter sounding, Macedonia is groovier, faster tempos and energetic dances. Music from Asia Minor or Istanbul is more sophisticated. Greeks often refer to Istanbul as ‘Poli,’ from Constantinopoli, so the songs from there are called ‘Politika.’”

There is magic in the clear and consistent voice of Areti Ketime throughout Tora Collective, as can also be said for the supremely voice-like articulation of Giorgos Kotsinis on clarinet. Ziv Ravitz, on drums and electronics, also plays a pivotal role as coproducer: “He added so much in the orchestration,” says Klampanis. “His knowledge of electronics, all these non-acoustic sounds and keyboards, treatments of the acoustic instruments, it’s all because of Ziv. He brought a new perspective on the whole thing.”

The string element in Tora Collective is also strong: in addition to Klampanis’ bass there is Thomas Konstantinou on oud and the traditional Greek laouto, as well as Kristjan Randalu (the pianist in Klampanis’ Irrationalities trio) providing an anchor and bringing Klampanis’ inventive arrangements into harmonic focus. Additional guests appear: Alexandros Arkadopoulos on clarinet for “Disoriented,” Laura Robles on percussion for “South by Southeast” and trumpeters Sebastian Studnitzky and Andreas Polyzogopoulos on “Milo Mou ke Mandarini” and “Hariklaki,” respectively. (“Milo Mou” is slated as a post-release bonus track.)

Using traditional Greek music to discover a common new voice, the project aims to build dialogue, spark creativity, cultivate respect for the past, pave a path forward, discover a new musical storytelling powerful enough to reach and touch audiences in many countries. This is an experiment that bridges worlds: the east and the west, the traditional and the modern, the nostalgic and the forward-looking, using the power of music and improvisation.

2023 Repress

* Tales of the Inexpressible” was released on Twisted Records in 2001.

It was a much anticipated and well loved successor continuing in the pioneering spirit of the debut album and in this exceptional follow up they gave us plenty more multi-dimensional surprises and new sonic realities to explore and immerse ourselves in.
From the opening sounds on “Dorset Perception”, the first track featuring flamenco guitar and Latin percussion, we can tell we are in for some incredible planetary as well as interplanetary trips on this musical voyage as Si & Raj take us for a spin though their musical worlds, full of influences garnered on their travels to the 4 corners of the earth.

As the Star Shpongled Banner unfurls, the immeasurable beauty of the album is illustriously illustrated with blissful cascades of Indian Flute washing over the minds ear and achingly beautiful synths rippling with dimensional dub effects throughout. As the Shaman’s voice resonates through the digital dream, the Shaman’s drum begins to beat leading us to a vedic celtic crescendo.

By the time Room 23 emanates from the loudspeakers, Shpongle have confirmed their position as the true pioneers once again, shining a light on the deeper development of the Psybient and Psychill sound and unmistakably elevating the consciousness of the listener to previously unheard of heights by bringing the eddying currents of Raj’s magical flute lines and Simons mellifluous keyboard riffs and genius production style together in an extraordinary hallucinogenic mix.

The album holds 9 gems glistening in hyperspace, gems of unmistakable brilliance and radiant beauty in which every composition contains worlds within worlds, as explored by Raja and Simon on their epic voyages into the depths of musical exploration and recounted in these tales.

They have been the soundtrack to innumerable visionary voyages for the neuronaut cognoscenti, because of the multi layered sounds, shapeshifting focus and awe inspiring depths of the advanced Shpongle production techniques. Tales of the inexpressible is quite literally, beyond description and has been a part of creating so many beautiful moments that its absence from our lives is unimaginable. 

Summertime sounds abound on the sixth Drum Chums disc, which comes lovingly dubbed and diced by our friendly Fruit Merchant Hidden Spheres.

Known globally for his free-flowing DJ sets, halcyon house hits and mastery of melody, Tom's been at the top of his game for time now - just check those releases on Rhythm Section and Scissor & Thread - and it's a pleasure to carry his drum sticks for this one. Cracking open his vault of top secret DJ tweaks, Spheres explores sweltering proto-house, tropical disco lilt and deepest waters across three floor-ready cuts.

The Fruit Merchant plucks something ripe from the Kalimba Tree on the A side, starting the party properly with joyous Afro-house jam 'Stolen'. Carnival-friendly drums and a Boyd Jarvis bassline wind up your waist while the call-and-response vocals and exuberant brass send hands and heads skywards before the track transitions into an utterly ecstatic sax-led breakdown. This is magic.

For the B-side, Hidden Spheres treats us to a couple of deep digs from his time in Australia, both originating in the Aboriginal community.
Emerging from the astral vibrations of a didgeri-drone, 'You Better Dance' casually locks into an irresistible 105bpm groove, strolling through the echo-laced dub space as its poetic vocal speaks to your soul.
Balearic-paced and cosmic-minded, this one plays perfectly next to those I-Level 12's.

For finale 'Together', Spheres shifts back into proto-house mode, locking a hypnotic piano riff into some militant snare rolls to lay the foundation for the impassioned vocal. Delivering the occasional diversion into more mournful territories, Spheres reminds us why deep house deity DJ Sprinkles always takes his calls.

100% Drum Fun Guaranteed.

Sublime Frequencies is honored to release the third LP from Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band. Sonbonbela was recorded in the beginning of 2022 in the Republic of Burkina Faso. The group continue to hone their trademark fusion of Mandingue and afro-beat styles. The Mandingo Band are a hit machine, sculpting seven new tracks of near Beefheart/Magic Band dynamics, Fela inspired groovers dusted out in the Sahel zone, rather than the humidity and sweat of Lagos, creating one of the most original and propulsive musical statements to come from the contemporary West African cultural juggernaut. As with previous releases, the band features the legendary guitar pyrotechnics of Issouf Diabate, truly one of the greatest West African (or Earth for that matter) guitarists of the last forty years. The band is completed by a near bottomless barrel of artistry from the Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso musical talent pool. On bass guitar, Wendeyida Ouedraogo, on drums Abbas Kabore, and on percussion and balafon, Nickie Dembele. Leading the charge again is the captain himself, Mamadou Sanou on the Doso Ngoni featuring one of the most distinctive voices of the modern era. The opposite of the banal trends of auto-tune that have pervaded most of West African popular music, Baba’s voice still impresses with its gravel and grit, showcasing a range that is ancient and defiant in equal measure. This LP is a non-stop hit parade of afro-beat bangers destined to light dance floors and living rooms ablaze!!! This album is dedicated to the memory of Massimbo Taragna, the bass player extraordinaire who was an integral part of the Mandingo Band’s trance stun musical power. He passed away in early 2022. RIP TRACKLIST: Side A: CHASSER LES SACHETS, KAMELEBA, AFRO MANDINGO, SEMAYALA Sida B: SEREJUGU, SONBANBELA, WARIKO

NuNorthern Soul may be Ibiza-based, but the label’s connections with Nottingham run deep. Over the years, Phil Cooper’s imprint has offered up countless releases and remixes from some of the East Midlands’ city’s most Balearic-minded residents, including Crazy P’s Jim Baron, Is It Balearic? chiefs Coyote and, most recently, Constellations Workshop associates Brown Fang.

You can also add to that list Torn Sail, a collaboration between Brown Fang members Jon Thompson and Henry Scott, and another Notts-based NuNorthern Soul contributor, Huw Costin. The trio’s mesmerising ‘Disconnected’ recently featured on the label’s deluxe 10th anniversary vinyl box set and now they return with a single credited to both Brown Fang and Torn Sail – the first such occurrence of that happening.

Those who heard Brown Fang’s brilliant mini-album, Sherwood Pines, will immediately feel at home. Both ‘Exit’ and ‘Endless’, the two tracks showcased on this fine single release, feature the same gorgeous, slowly shifting fusion of sun-kissed electric guitar textures, ambient atmospherics and immersive, sunset-friendly sound design.

First up is ‘Exit’, an undulating, slow burning delight where rising and falling electronic melodies and yearning, gently jazzy electric guitar motifs rise above a sparse, shuffling, subtly Latin-tinged drum machine rhythm and warming bass. Endearing, enveloping and endlessly attractive, the track seemingly blossoms in slow motion throughout its’ three-and-a-half-minute duration, with additional musical elements presenting themselves as it progresses. Even by the trio’s high standards, it’s a magical composition.

On ‘Endless’, the long-time collaborators explore their love of mind-soothing ambient soundscapes. Doffing a cap to the 1970s new age ambience of Steve Hillage – whose distinctively languid, stretched out, effects-laden electric guitar solos were undoubtedly an inspiration –Thompson, Scott and Costin deliver a becalmed and brilliant dream-scape full of hazy aural textures, drifting chords and gentle, eyes-closed vocalisations. It feels like a loved-up, smile-inducing evocation of the most visually stunning dawn you’ve ever ushered in after a night dancing under the stars.

The Italian-Irish connection returns on Lunar Disko....

Bari's Armonics delivers yet another EP of Italo wonders! Three tracks of synthesizer magic from a fast rising master of the modern Italo-disco sound.

Massimiliano Pagliara brings us on a cosmic trip with his '7-07AM' remix of 'Indigo Voyage'...a disco bomb for the early morning dancefloors!

After 6 years and 7 volumes, the Tramp Records crew invites you to join them on yet another enlightening journey into soulful Jazz, Folk and Funk from the 1970s.

This 8th volume contains nineteen Jazz, Soul and Folk nuggets from between the late 1960s and the late 1970s. One of the many highlights is the opening track by Bobby Cole which is most likely one of the finest independently produced vocal jazz recordings ever put on wax. So true. Oscar Brown Jr. and Mark Murphy sends its regards. But that's just the beginning. Praise Poems Vol.8 covers a wide selection of genres, from big band jazz (Helmut Pistor's Big Rock Jazz Band and Germany's own Ladykiller) to psych-pop (Portraits in Sound, Harve and Charee and Allison & Shaffer), from folk-rock (Flash, Garndarf and the incredible Fang Buzbee) to AOR (The Menagerie and Penn Central), completing the set with a handful of melancholic folk beauties, most notably Hans Hass Jr.'s mind-blowing "Welche Farbe hat der Wind".

Very few compilation series' release as many as eight volumes and those that get that far often start to run out of quality music or meander too far from their original artistic direction. That certainly is not the case with the "Praise Poems" series which leaps from strength-to-strength as our team of compilers and researchers continue to unearth lost and often overlooked music from an era long gone. Many of these records were released in small quantities as private pressings or by small regional labels. Obviously, those labels neither had the budget, expertise, nor options to promote their releases in a sweeping way. Therefore the majority of these artists failed to find the wider audience their music so richly deserved.

Fly Me To The Sun is a breathtaking German library gem from the hallowed Coloursound label. Originally out in 1983 it features two Polish composers, Andrzej Marko and André Mikola. If outré synth-funk is your thing, you need this record.

Almost blindingly luminous with positive vibes and radiant optimism, Fly Me to the Sun is a collection of funky, sun-dappled compositions for synthesizer and live instruments like drums, bass and guitar. A dope blend of beatbox driven future jazz and electro pop.

The wonderfully sleaze-adjacent opener "Dhamma" includes some grandiose piano chords amid floating ambient sounds a la Steve Hillage with slick drums entering the fray at a languid pace. "Circulation" sounds like Bowie ran into Chaz Jankel during an extended stay in Los Angeles, the Thin White Duke emerging out of a studio at 6am, bleary-eyed and clutching this filthy, bleepy instrumental of sonic smut. "Magic Scenery" is as delicate and astounding as the title suggests, a deep ambient movement conjuring halcyon images of rolling fields with abundant fauna and flora; acid-tinged visions of intense colour and natural beauty. Cool, slo-mo breaks adorn the strutting melancholy of “Longing for Tomorrow” and “Nocturnal Flowers” to close out Side A.

Skip the title track, which opens up Side B, and head straight to “Birth of a Butterfly” for a slice of creeping digi-dub-soul niceness. This should've been front and centre of that Personal Space compilation a decade ago. Raising both the tempo and the temperature, “Riding on a Sunbeam” continues in the mesmerising cosmic funk style before "Osmosis", one of the clear stand-outs, presents a fine vintage synth solo over a mellow funky rubberband beat. The closing track, "Solar Heating", warms things up with slapped bass and bold drum machine beats and the synth lends Sci-Fi vibes to the dark dub-funk-reggae rhythm.

As David Hollander, in Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music, states, Coloursound was "founded in 1979 by composer, music lawyer, and vibraphonist Gunter Greffenius. A Munich-based library with a reputation for releasing innovative and ambitious music, it catered largely to the market for experimental sounds, its first release was 1980’s Biomechanoid, an abstract synthesizer excursion by Joel Vandroogenbroeck, of the pioneering kosmische band Brainticket. The record — complete with imposing, anonymous title and unearthly H.R. Giger cover art — set the tone for the label’s progressive leanings. The label’s catalogue stands as a tribute to the unfettered creative license that libraries were able to provide to forward-thinking musicians who, frustrated by the whims and constraints of the commercial scene, found complete freedom in the world of production music."

As with all our library music re-issues, the audio for Fly Me To The Sun comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. Richard Robinson has brought the original Coloursound sleeve back to life in all its metallic silver glory.

Ugly Mac Beer, a key figure in the French breakbeat scene, founder of Beatsqueeze Records and author of the critically acclaimed albums Modonut 1 & 2 alongside Mister Modo, is back with a new solo album “The Valley of the Kings”, between lofi hip-hop, abstract hip-hop or even broken beat, which will be released on January 27, 2023.

A digger/beatmaker effort par excellence, very inspired by the 90s productions of masters of the genre such as Madlib, DJ Shadow or RZA, the concept of this instrumental album with oriental sounds is based on the search for the sample of “THE” ultimate and perfectly heady loop, which can be listen to over and over again.

The eponymous title track which opens the album sets the tone with its powerful lofi hip-hop drum on a big cinematic and orchestral sound which evokes an Egyptian peplum of the 60s taking place in the heart of the mythical valley of the kings! Another highlight of the album, the track “Les chœurs perdus” resonates like a children’s tale, with its bewitching voices and magical songs set to a catchy beat that evokes the Egyptian goddesses and the mystery of the pyramids. To compose the powerful and rather dark beat of “The New Flame”, another essential piece of the album, the beatmaker drew his inspiration from New York hip-hop from the 90s but also from “crime film” soundtracks from the 70s. The sublime interludes “Fortune & Gloire”, “Years of Despare” and “Ambitious Dream” take us from one track to another, each one more powerful than the other.

In a very cinematographic mood, Ugly Mac Beer succeeds in developing its “old film about Egypt” album concept from start to finish and thus manages to tell a real story that takes us on a journey back in pyramids time.

Ugly Mac Beer, a key figure in the French breakbeat scene, founder of Beatsqueeze Records and author of the critically acclaimed albums Modonut 1 & 2 alongside Mister Modo, is back with a new solo album “The Valley of the Kings”, between lofi hip-hop, abstract hip-hop or even broken beat, which will be released on January 27, 2023.

A digger/beatmaker effort par excellence, very inspired by the 90s productions of masters of the genre such as Madlib, DJ Shadow or RZA, the concept of this instrumental album with oriental sounds is based on the search for the sample of “THE” ultimate and perfectly heady loop, which can be listen to over and over again.

The eponymous title track which opens the album sets the tone with its powerful lofi hip-hop drum on a big cinematic and orchestral sound which evokes an Egyptian peplum of the 60s taking place in the heart of the mythical valley of the kings! Another highlight of the album, the track “Les chœurs perdus” resonates like a children’s tale, with its bewitching voices and magical songs set to a catchy beat that evokes the Egyptian goddesses and the mystery of the pyramids. To compose the powerful and rather dark beat of “The New Flame”, another essential piece of the album, the beatmaker drew his inspiration from New York hip-hop from the 90s but also from “crime film” soundtracks from the 70s. The sublime interludes “Fortune & Gloire”, “Years of Despare” and “Ambitious Dream” take us from one track to another, each one more powerful than the other.

In a very cinematographic mood, Ugly Mac Beer succeeds in developing its “old film about Egypt” album concept from start to finish and thus manages to tell a real story that takes us on a journey back in pyramids time.

50 years after the genre turned the music world upside-down, GRADE 2 bring the raw power of old school punk to a new generation. Their second release on Tim Armstrong’s legendary Hellcat Records is a thumping 15 track tour de force melding the uncompromising ethos of punk with the howl of contemporary injustice, personal identity and frustrations of Gen-Z youth, authentically told by three lads with punk
coursing through their veins.
Formed on their native Isle of Wight when they were just 14 years old, Jack Chatfield (guitar & vocals), Jacob Hull (drums) and Sid Ryan (bass & vocals) honed their craft covering punk pioneers before creating a sound uniquely theirs: ten years on, the eponymous Grade 2 is their magnum opus.
The new album was produced by the band along with Tim Timebomb (Armstrong) and T.J. Rivers at Armstrong’s Ship Rec Studio in Los Angeles. “Returning to Ship Rec Studio resparked that magic dynamic” says guitarist Jack Chatfield. “When we’re in there I feel like we reach our full potential.
Tim would offer tweaks and tips for some songs, while others he’d compliment as finished first time we played them.” “We worked flat-out recording this record,” says drummer Jacob Hull, “but we never felt pressured, Tim keeping us in the zone to make the best tunes of our lives.

Limited Yellow Coloured Vinyl Edition

50 years after the genre turned the music world upside-down, GRADE 2 bring the raw power of old school punk to a new generation. Their second release on Tim Armstrong’s legendary Hellcat Records is a thumping 15 track tour de force melding the uncompromising ethos of punk with the howl of contemporary injustice, personal identity and frustrations of Gen-Z youth, authentically told by three lads with punk
coursing through their veins.
Formed on their native Isle of Wight when they were just 14 years old, Jack Chatfield (guitar & vocals), Jacob Hull (drums) and Sid Ryan (bass & vocals) honed their craft covering punk pioneers before creating a sound uniquely theirs: ten years on, the eponymous Grade 2 is their magnum opus.
The new album was produced by the band along with Tim Timebomb (Armstrong) and T.J. Rivers at Armstrong’s Ship Rec Studio in Los Angeles. “Returning to Ship Rec Studio resparked that magic dynamic” says guitarist Jack Chatfield. “When we’re in there I feel like we reach our full potential.
Tim would offer tweaks and tips for some songs, while others he’d compliment as finished first time we played them.” “We worked flat-out recording this record,” says drummer Jacob Hull, “but we never felt pressured, Tim keeping us in the zone to make the best tunes of our lives.

Originally released in May 2006 through the German label Karaoke Kalk, »Osaka Bridge« was an album that captured the joyful amateurism of Tori Kudo's free-spirited Japanese collective Maher Shalal Hash Baz and Bill Wells’ rich, wistful and easy sense of melody. Approaching brass band and jazz music with a knack for making playing imperfectly feel perfectly right, »Osaka Bridge« became nothing short of groundbreaking when it was released to critical acclaim, becoming an instant classic among musicians and fans alike. Coinciding with the release of the second LP of Wells’ on-going collaboration with Danielle Price on tuba, »The Sensory Illusions«, Karaoke Kalk makes this highly sought-after record available again on vinyl for the first time in 16 years.

The pairing of the prolific Scottish pianist and composer and the fluctuating collective active since the mid-1980s was an easy, natural one—a union particularly apt and complementary. But this is not to say that the 15 recordings which made up »Osaka Bridge« were in any way seamless. The horns played by these self-taught musicians strain and struggle with Wells’ luscious arrangements; each note is given all the stiff emphasis that you’d expect of a high school brass band at its first rehearsal. Songs fall in and out of rhythm, and a track like »Poxy« misses its intended swing feel by a country mile. Of course, this is all part of the magic. Maher Shalal Hash Baz take Wells’ melodies and strip them back to their emotional core, disallowing all artifice and revealing a stark, serene beauty.

Particularly affecting are »On The Beach Boys Bus«—described by colleague Jens Lekman as the »the most beautiful melody I’ve ever heard«—and »Time Takes Me So Back«, the two tracks sung by Kudo’s wife Reiko. Inspiration for both pieces came to Wells in dreams. The former was sung by a group of tanned Californians on the way to a Beach Boys convention, the latter by his grandmother shortly before she passed away. Reiko’s voice gives each song a haunting fragility that enhances their phantasmagoric character. »Cowtail Calypso«, on the other hand, was born when Wells asked Tori Kudo to sing Roger Miller’s »King Of The Road« over a syncopated, propulsive melody. Kudo’s ambiguous response (»maybe,« which according to Wells usually translated to »forget it«) resulted in a brief, idiosyncratic track that nevertheless exceeded all of Wells’ expectations.

Of the instrumental tracks, »Liquorice Tics« stands out for its rolling rhythms and circular melody, while »Family Sighs« creates a brooding atmosphere which perfectly encapsulates the conflicting feelings many people have for their immediate family. For the most part, the instrumentals are concise—a melody stated once and then dispensed with—but their brevity only heightens the impact. Even (or especially) 16 years later, »Osaka Bridge« continues to be an almost accidentally timeless document that captured fleeting moments and personal revelations at their most spontaneous and unaffected. As someone put it so aptly in a Discogs comment a few years back, »this is the album which is able to make aliens understand what humankind is about.« You better turn up the volume so that everyone can hear it everywhere.

*TIP!*
A compilation of old cassette demos from the beginning of 80's plus few new tracks.

All very exclusive and maximally random. Compiled by a 80-90-2000-influencer, punk zine maker and record collector Piitu Lintunen.

Terra Magica Rec. is back with its fifth release “Club TERRAM”! This time it will be another V.A. compilation of never heard and unreleased original gems of electronic body music.

Think: A double 12” vinyl which is fully charged for dismantled club use as those mighty TERRAM clubbers say. Compiled and arranged by Tom Sprenger & Mirko Hecktor all tracks are dance floor oriented rhythms which will activate your maximum energy output as well as total chill out crash. Let the new bots work your life balance. Multiverse to introverse to metaverse. With its discoish genre splicing between 90s-IDM 2 Big Beat and Breakbeats 2 NuCosmic 2 Acid-Madchester 2 rolling trancey driven Goa beats the record reflects the electronic underground culture of dance clubs and discotheques of the past 50 years. These stand for emancipation, gay liberation, cicil rights, working class and democracy. Find your inner peace on the chill out floor side. Or go bonkers to the hedonistic main room floor fillers. Find your unique personal safe space in TERRAMs different floors and hidden rooms. A CLUB FOR A L L. As Richard Dyer wrote in 1979 “In Defence of Disco”: ‘Capitalism constructs the disco experience, but it does not necessarily know what it is doing, apart from making money’.

The underground is where we go moving.

Frokedal is a popular folk singer-songwriter whose haunting vocals have scored the music of various acclaimed bands over the past decade. The members of Sa^ver are veterans of the Norwegian heavy scene. Having toured all over the world playing renowned festivals like Roadburn and Psycho Las Vegas, they now fill and orchestrate the gap between eerie softness and furious anger as a three-piece atmospheric sludge metal ensemble. This split 10" sees each of these artists present a song from the respective other artist's back catalogue, finding a transcendental middle ground between the other artist's musical realm and their own sphere. Commenting on the beginning of her own musical career, Frokedal notes: "Because everyone has a computer these days there's no limit to how many times you can multi-track. I was sick of that. I hoped to go the other way - to remove as much as I could and be left with a beating heart." Remarkably, Sa^ver have done just that in their execution of Frokedal's track «Shot-Put», turning down their guitars to give space to clean vocals and laying bare the synths that are an integral part of their sound. Driven by deep drones and soft layered vocals, the Homeric simile of a meeting at the shot put becomes even more compelling, turning the folksy original into a haunting ambient rock opus. In turn, Frokedal lays bare the heart of «I Vanish» from Sa^ver's debut LP in a gently swaying but bewitching folk version. In a world somewhere between the triple harmony magic of The Staves and the polyphonic madness of Le Myste`re des Voix Bulgares, Anne Lise conjures the unsettling path towards obliteration. Many things can be said about the way these songs sound and even about how they transcend the originals in some ways, but the true beauty of this EP lies in the way both Frokedal and Sa^ver incline towards each other to find a middle ground that is yet unexplored in their respective careers. Coming together, they prove that beauty is found in the eye of the beholder, but transcendence is found in the eye of the storm! Limited (100 copies ww) Single Colour (Dark Blue) Edition!

A travelogue that unites physical and inner space, a series of trance states rendered in vivid colour, a delirious portal into the ether.
Marlene Ribeiro’s first albumunder her own name is all of this and much more. Toquei No Sol is a fresh new chapter for this unique artist, by far the most melodic and transcendent outing yet for her hypnotic dreampop.

This is only the latest release in a long history of sonic experimentation for Marlene, which includes her previous work as Negra Branca across a series of releases on labels such as Tesla Tapes and Zamzam and a long period as a member of audial iconoclasts and Rocket mainstays GNOD, not to mention collaborations with the like of Valentina Magaletti and Thurston Moore.

Toquei No Sol is also a record with a very distinctive and potent sense of place, paradoxically despite having been woven together from recordings made in Ireland, Wales, Portugal, Madeira and Salford.
It’s genesis came via a visit to Marlene’s maternal grandmother Emilia, whose influence as well as the sounds of her kitchen in Portugal.
can be heard on the album’s first track ‘Quatro Palavras’.

“Emilia ended up getting excited about me being able to record things there and then and - total news to me - told me she used to sing a lot when she was younger to the point of getting offered studio time but refusing it as she was fearful of what that could imply in those times” relates Marlene “From that point I planned to include her in this record as sort of the chance she never had of getting her voice out there.”

Elsewhere, a disarmingly catchy and irresistible grace is married to
a utilitarian approach to sound and texture. The ritualistic “Sangue De Lua de Lobo” (first released on a Sofia records compilation Songs Of The Lunar Eclipse) contains random objects from Marlene’s then-garden in Ireland, whereas on the drifting, beatific ‘Forever’ the percussion tracks are constructed from the sounds of pots and pans in her own Salford kitchen.

Yet at all times her fleet-footed approach to melody rings through even as the tracks conjure visions of heat-hazes, meditative spaces and late-night epiphanies. Although listeners may hear echoes of the
loop-driven psychedelia of Panda Bear’s Person Pitch or the incantatory ululations of Pocahaunted in these beguiling soundscapes and magick-strewn mantras, the truth is that the aesthetic here is
very much Marlene’s alone.

“It’s all a big misty haze of nostalgia, playfulness, self-reflection and hopefulness” is what Marlene reckons herself. Yet Toquei No Sol
is also a transporting vision from an artist both returning to her roots
and looking out to new celestial horizons.

The first legendary Pink fairies album: a real must for all psychedelia and garage fans. Contains 'Do It', 'Heavenly Man' and the manifest-track of the band: 'Uncle Harry's Last Freakout", 10 long minutes of anarchist rock, rich of feedback and acid guitars.

This really was 'proto-punk'!

The packaging is just like the original one, with an external artwork on plastic sleeve.

‘Energy MC2’ began as an energetic bunch of 10 and 11year old neighborhood kids, who initially formed a band under the name of ‘Congressional Funk’. The founding members were Vincent Bonham, Opelton Parker (the brother of Ray Parker Jr) and brothers Ufuoma and Eric Wallace, with the later addition of Fred Gordon. Later becoming the backing band for local Detroit act Mad Dog & The Pups. Featuring on some of the ‘Pups’ earliest Magic City releases “Hep Squeeze” (MC-007) and the follow up release “Funky Monkey” (MC-009). A name-change to ‘The Soulful Hounds’ followed which they are credited as on the instrumental flipside of Mad Dog & The Pups vocal version of “Why Did You Leave Me Girl” Magic City (MC-012).

After leaving Magic City, the band went through several changes in both name and personnel, upon hiring bass player Ben "Rat Bass" Adkins, they adopted the name of his former band, ‘Energy’ to which they added Albert Einstein’s formula for special relativity (E=MC2) to finally became ‘Energy MC2’. As Energy MC2” they soon began seriously recording their own original material which included the two previously unissued 70’’s tracks “If You Break It” and “Other Side Of The Mirror” first released on Soul Junction in 2016. The group’s line up on these songs included Vincent Bonham, Ufuoma Akill-Wallace, Arnell Carmichael, Ernestro Wilson, Opelton Parker, Gordon Carlton, Eric Wallace, Leon Lopez, Marvin Carlton and Marlene Rice. A further unissued song the mellifluous ballad “Juliane” also the gained release on the ‘We Got A Sweet Thing Going On’ volume 2 SJCD 5011 cd compilation album.

During 1974 several members of the group boarded a Greyhound bus for Los Angeles. During their week long stay there under the supervision of Ray Parker Jr they recorded the two featured songs the mellifluous “You And Only You” and “Love To Make Love To You” featuring Arnell Carmichael on lead vocals with the session remaining unissued Energy MC2 returned to Detroit. Vincent Bonham and Arnell Carmichael in 1977 returned to L.A. to join

Ray Parker Jr and Jerry Knight to form the band ‘Raydio” later becoming Ray Parker Jr & Raydio when Jerry Knight left to go solo. Ray Parker later too chose to persue a solo career leading to him recording the title track of the box office hit movie “Ghostbusters” a song he will forever be remember for. During 2014 Arnell Carmichael, Vincent Bonham, James Carmichael and Giovanni Rogers revived ‘Raydio’ but only as a touring band. The remaining members of Energy MC2 all enjoyed successful careers as session and backing musicians with many major artists, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Areatha and Carolyn Franklyn, Michael Henderson, Cheryl Lynn, Bettye Lavette, and Parlet’ (part of the P-Funk family) that help George Clinton Land the Mothership!

For this uniquely personal retrospective spread over twelve vinyl discs, Sven Väth takes us back to the early days of his DJ career. On What I Used To Play we meet great pioneers of electronic music, gifted percussionists, obscure wave bands, and innovative producers of a bygone 'new electronic' era. Rough beats and irresistible grooves from the identification stage of house, techno, and acid remind us not just how far electronic music has evolved over the past four decades, but how great it was to dance to EBM, techno, and house for the very first time.

If there is one protagonist of the electronic music scene who has remained curious, innovative and at the very cutting edge of music for over four decades, it's Sven Väth. His multi-layered artist albums and Sound of the Season mix compilations have been defining the genre for over two decades, and even today, he is constantly on the lookout for the next top tune to add to the highlights of his next set. At least, that's the case when he's not producing them himself as an artist or remixer. "Actually, it's always been part of my DNA to think ahead," and nothing had been further from his mind than looking back at his past, but when in spring of 2020 the international DJ circuit had to be scaled down to virtually zero, the 'restless traveler' suddenly had time. Time to stop and reflect on "how it actually was back then, at the very beginning of my career..."

"It was a great trip and with every track, beautiful memories came flooding back".
In the London apartment, he had just moved into, Sven has set up a "little music room", where he cocooned himself for several days, "to look way back for the first time and review my musical journey through the eighties, so to speak."

The interim result was six thematically oriented playlists with a grand total of 120 tracks from 'early 80s' to 'Balearic late 80s', together with excursions into afrobeat, European new wave, and EBM sounds and a few epochal techno/house tracks from the USA in between. From these 'Best of Sven Väth's favorites', the project What I Used To Play crystallized. Sven remembers how the Cocoon team reacted to his proposal: "They found the idea of making a compilation out of it MEGA from the beginning and everyone said 'Sven, go for it', but then, of course, the work really started, namely, to clear the rights and to get clean sounding masters of the up to 40-year-old tracks. There was also disappointment, of course. We couldn't clear certain titles because the rights holders in the USA had fallen out with each other or simply disappeared from the scene. In short, it wasn't easy, but now I can safely say we got the most important tracks."

Finally, after two years of research, curation, design, and administrative fine-tuning, the "little retrospective" from 1981 to 1990 is available. The exquisitely packaged, and three-kilo heavy box set is not only physically impressive, WIUTP is also the definitive record of Sven Väth's musical development. On each of the twenty-four sides of vinyl, you can trace track by track, what influenced him during which phase, and how he took off as a DJ from his parents' Queen's Pub straight into the spotlight at Dorian Gray. There and at Vogue (later OMEN), Sven became the style-defining player in the DJ booth that he still is today.




1981 - 1990: Future Sounds of Now

In the early eighties, the crowd in clubs like Vogue and Dorian Gray danced to what nowadays we call 'dance classics' - mainly disco, funk, soul, and chart pop. It was up to a new generation of DJs, including Sven Väth, the youngest protagonist in the Rhine-Main area at the time, to create their own club-ready music mix. Good new tracks and potential floor-fillers were rarities that had to be sought out and found, in order to prove oneself worthy.
Without MP3s, internet streaming, or other digital download possibilities, music didn't just gravitate to the DJ, instead, it had to be tracked down. In well-stocked record stores in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden or even in Amsterdam, London, or New York, Sven and friends sourced the material for countless magical nights. On WIUTP we can follow Sven's very personal journey through this wild, innovative era in which synth-pop, funk, hip-hop, and disco were successively replaced as 'club music' by house, techno, acid, and breakbeat. By the end of the decade, it was clear to see that these once exotic 'fringe' phenomena would soon become 'mass' phenomena.



Early 80s

Dirty Talk by the Italian-American duo Klein & M.B.O. represents the most innovative phase of the Italo-disco genre in the early eighties like no other track. Mario Boncaldo (I) and Tony Carrasco relied entirely on the original synthetic drum and percussion sounds of the Roland TR-808, coupled with the raunchy vocals of Rossana Casale and guitar accents of Davide Piatto. Of course, other tracks from this period were also influential in style, most notably Unit by Logic System, which worked as the perfect soundtrack to the laser lighting system at the legendary Dorian Gray club. With stomping beats and robotic rap interludes, Bostich by Yello also belongs on Sven's eternal playlist - after all, it caught the attention of Afrikaa Bambaataa, who invited the Swiss duo to perform at the Roxy in New York in 1983.



EBM Wave - Mid 80s

From today's point of view, the almost ten-minute-long, downtempo track Giant by Matt Johnson's band project The The, would probably not be considered an obvious club classic. However, a closer (re)listen reveals the rhythmic intricacies of the percussion overdubs by JG Thirlwell (aka Foetus) on Johnson's composition, and it becomes clear why this exceptional piece of music is one of Sven's absolute favorites. Other classics from this phase include Kaw-Liga by the mysterious The Residents, the hypnotic-synthetic Our Darkness by Anne Clark (and David Harrow), and last but not least, the somber, monotonous anthem Where Are You? by 16Bit, one of Sven Väth's projects together with Michael Münzing, Luca Anzilotti from 1986.



US House - Late 80s

You certainly can't talk about Chicago house without mentioning Frankie Knuckles. The resident DJ at the Warehouse not only gave the name to an entire genre, but also produced epochal floor fillers on the Trax label like the timeless Your Love, sung (and moaned) by Jamie Principle. Acid house protagonists Phuture also hail from Chicago, and on We Are Phuture (also released on Trax) we hear the chirping acid sounds of the legendary Roland TB-303 in full effect. Another featured classic is No UFO's by Detroit's Model 500 aka Juan Atkins, who is rightly considered the 'Godfather of Techno' even if the genre-defining track from 1985 still breathes with the spirit of hip-hop and electro from the first breakdance era.





Afrobeat

Le Serpent, by Algerian-born Abdelmadjid Guemguem, is a track that sounds completely different from everything else on WIUTP. Made in 1978, it's a monumental, rousing groove created without bass or synths, just with five congas! Even though Guem sadly passed away in 2021, his immortal, acoustic beats are understood all over the world and will continue to enrich many thousands of DJ sets for years to come. Another classic that not only Sven appreciates beyond measure is Hugh Masekela's Don't Go Lose it, Baby. In addition to being one of the most important jazz pioneers, the trumpeter and freedom fighter from Johannesburg was very experimental, integrating electronic sounds into his music in later years, in a similar vein to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Dutch jazz pianist Jasper van't Hof's afrobeat project Pili Pili has also aged well. The trance-like, almost sixteen-minute-long track of the same name, manages to fill a whole side on the seventh of twelve vinyl discs in the WIUTP box.



UK-US-Euro - Late 80s

Time for a change of scene, in the truest sense of the word, and from a musical perspective, this section is like landing on another planet. First up is Andrew Weatherall's classic remix of Primal Scream's Loaded, featuring the iconic Peter Fonda sample (lifted from the 1966 biker film Wild Angels) that came to personify the mood triggered by the British Second Summer of Love in the late eighties: "We wanna be free to do what we wanna do, and we wanna get loaded...". This period also saw the emergence of M/A/R/R/S whose only single, 1987's Pump Up The Volume, became a club classic with support from DJ legend CJ Mackintosh. In this most eclectic of sections, we also encounter New York house and reggae producer Bobby Konders and his seminal Nervous Acid.



Balearic - Late 80s

Those who know him, know that Sven had already lost his heart to the 'magic island' of Ibiza as a teenager, so with that in mind, the WIUTP project couldn't end without a Balearic chapter. Inspired by Manuel Göttsching's E2-E4, the immortal, eponymously titled Sueño Latino belongs in there without question. Equally popular on the island was, and still is Break 4 Love by Raze, which thinking about it, would also fit perfectly into the house chapter. Last, but not least, there's an overdue reunion with Sven Väth himself, in his role as frontman of the successful Frankfurt trio OFF. Together with Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti (later of Snap!) this 'Organization For Fun' created the off-the-wall club hit Electric Salsa in 1986 which incidentally turned into an international chart smash, putting Sven in the enviable position of having to decide between pop stardom and a DJ career. Well, we all know how that decision turned out and the rest, as they say, is history. A not insignificant part of his story is What I Used To Play. Enjoy!

Minimood presents a distinguished vision of ACID by David Hausdorf. Four meticulously crafted tracks of full immersion in the squelching magic of the 303. Appropriately, the EP is pressed on luminous yellow wax. Vinyl Only.

This 3-track sampler 12” is being released to tie in with the Network Remixes 2 x 12 Double Album. The Fathers Of Sound and Urban Sound Gallery remixes are included on the album, whilst Ashley Beedle’s rework is exclusive to this 12”. All 3 tracks are classics from the Network catalogue.

The Fathers Of Sound remix sees the Italian progressive house dons reinventing the Surreal gem written and sung by Ann Saunderson. It is massively in-demand.

Ann is co-writer of Day By Day. Andrew Pearce was an inexperienced but incredibly talented 18 years old gospel singer who was plucked from the streets of Wolverhampton and taken to Detroit where he was given The Reese Project template by Ann and Kevin Saunderson. Chez Damier and Ron Trent were then drafted in and conjured up a magical Urban Sound Gallery remix. It is truly a masterpiece.

Inner City’s revival of Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flack’s Soul anthem “Back Together Again” started its life as a fairly faithful slant on the original. That was the plan until Ashley Beedle got his hands on the tapes and created a homage to Walter Gibbons, Larry Levan. The Loft and all things vintage New York true disco.

French pianist Melaine Dalibert, known for his releases on contemporary music labels such as Another Timbre and Elsewhere, his work with David Sylvian, Ensemble 0, Sylvain Chauveau, and world premieres from Gérard Pesson, Giuliano D'Angiolini, Michael-Vincent Waller, Tom Johnson, has signed with FLAU in Japan to release a new album Magic Square.

Across the album's eight tracks, the French pianist and composer takes listeners on a "fantasy journey". Travel is at the heart of Magic Square, but not of the physical kind. Instead, his emotive and intriguing piano pieces inspire inward travel and daydreaming, reflecting the past two years of pandemic and introspection.

Having received his training in Rennes and the conservatories of Paris, Dalibert has a musical background that is naturally entrenched in the technical aesthetic of classical music. However, experimenting with algorithmic ways of writing and other mathematical concepts such as fractals, Dalibert's music combines emotion and logic for captivating results. His music has been played on BBC Radio, Radio France and NTS Radio, among others.

“Melaine Dalibert, himself a composer whose works similarly deal in patience and space, is an ideal interpreter « As with his other releases, Dalibert breaks boundaries difficult to define but easy to hear, rendering and dissolving their polarities with a new iteration of his already luminous language. » (Mark Medwin, Dusted Magazine, juillet 2021) of such beguilingly modest music, and this sensitive recording lets every detail resound.”
Steve Smith — The New-Yorker

“compositions by French pianist Melaine Dalibert, is a warm stream of harmonious ripples that echoes the graceful postclassical music of Max Richter, Ólafur Arnalds, Jóhann Jóhannsson, etc, but the economy and precision, combined with Dalibert’s calm hands on the keys, put it on a whole other level of beauty.”
Derek Walmsley — the WIRE

“As with his other releases, Dalibert breaks boundaries difficult to define but easy to hear, rendering and dissolving their polarities with a new iteration of his already luminous language.”
Mark Medwin — Dusted Magazine

“Dalibert is one of the most effortlessly talented and subtlety creative pianists at work today”
Roger Batty — Musique Machine

“Au-delà des genres et au dessus de ce monde, le pianiste français Melaine Dalibert continue d’échafauder une œuvre d’un autre temps, d’un futur à construire avec une musique qui doit autant à Federico Mompou qu’à l’Acousmatique. Night Blossoms, son dernier disque en date (avec la participation de David Sylvian sur deux titres) est une pure merveille !”
Greg Bod — Benzine Mag

“La musique de Melaine Dalibert, héritière de cinquante ans d’expériences minimalistes, correspond à l’impérieux besoin du public d’aujourd’hui de cultiver un hors-temps et de se plonger au cœur du son. Elle y répond parfaitement”
Guillaume Kosmicki — Res Musica

“Comment des pièces reposant sur des constructions aussi abstraites et rigoureuses peuvent-elles susciter autant d’émotion à l’écoute ? La musique de Melaine Dalibert projette l’auditeur dans un univers où l’assommant temps quotidien n’a plus cours. Plus de mesure, plus de début ni de fin : pour qui accepte de se laisser prendre, Night Blossoms fait perdre tous les repères du commensurable”
Guillaume Kosmicki — Hémisphère Son

Expanded with 2 original single-version tracks. Digitally mastered from original BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. 16-pages booklet with photos & exclusive liner notes by author and journalist Kevin Le Gendre. CD: Original 1969 BYG album. Expanded with 2 original single-version tracks. Digitally mastered from original BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. 16-pages booklet with photos & exclusive liner notes by author and journalist Kevin Le Gendre. *** Having been part of the fabled ‘Canterbury scene’ along with luminaries such as Robert Wyatt and Pip Pyle the irrepressible Australian guitarist-vocalist-songwriter Daevid Allen formed Gong with Welsh vocalist Gilli Smyth in Paris at the end of the ‘60s as France was in state of ferment. Magick Brother introduced Gong as one of the great oddities of the psychedelic and space rock age. The nucleus of Allen, Smyth and Malherbe was able to create a musical vocabulary very much of its own all the while searching for essential metaphysical truths. “The band made strong political statements that comes through loud and clear on this re-mastered version of Gong’s debut album...” Kevin Le Gendre, 2022

Eva Louise Goodman’s Nighttime project locates itself on a musical tree planted on the British Isles, perched atop the branch of folk leaning into sixties rock. Her upstate New York environs don’t stray far from that image. With tempered percussion, floating mellotron, and singing that evokes Bleecker & MacDougal on a fervent Saturday afternoon, her new album Keeper Is The Heart reaches deep into the essence of musicians such as Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier and Pentangle, breaking down the decades into a sound thoroughly and bizarrely modern.

Through her years performing with Mutual Benefit, Goodman fell in love with life on the road and the collaborative energy of a band. In this third Nighttime album, she channels these experiences into her own music. The creative journey from writing to recording to mixing drove her deeper into a sense of self while expanding her sound. In the process, she put aside lo-fi origins and challenged herself to achieve the same intimacy with a bigger production.

Like most paths of self-discovery, the journey started with displacement. In October 2019, Goodman set out to record the album on her own, while cat-sitting at a friend’s empty Brooklyn apartment. Rather than recording, she was drawn to the overgrown garden, where she spent her days listening to music and reading old journals. Charlie Megira, The Incredible String Band and Roy Montgomery invoked the spirit of the album, as she realized that a new, more collaborative approach would be necessary to bring the songs to life.

In March 2021, after a pandemic year immersed in sound experimentation and writing, she entered the upstate New York studio of recording engineer Rick Spataro (Florist). Together, Spataro and Goodman dove into creating the album, recording one song a day, letting the spark and excitement of spontaneity be their guide. “I've always been fascinated with ‘automatic’ arts,” Goodman says, “where things are created intuitively and without premeditation, from the subconscious.” In this light, they worked with abandon–pushing through the heaviness of songs written years earlier with the same energy as songs which were not yet fully developed. Taking chances, improvising, they sought to strip away pretense, and elude perfectionism at all cost.

Among their experiments, the duo manipulated tape speeds–slowing or speeding up different instrument tracks, imbuing passages with altered perspectives. Improvisation was the key in track five, ‘The Way,’ a song about “the magical act of carving out a path through life, amidst all possibility.” After a long day of recording, the song was feeling heavy and uninspired. As night fell, Spataro picked up the Stratocaster and, in one take, laid down a rolling, roiling guitar line that defined the track.

This spirit of surrender weaves through the album. “Break free from time, and sink in the pool of the mind,” begins ‘Garden of Delight’, an energetic highlight, propelled by 60’s-era organ and Jefferson Airplane-esque vocals. The song was accidentally deleted after the first day of recording. By luck or fate, the one surviving file captured the song’s loose and free-wheeling essence. Inspired, Goodman encouraged her circle of collaborators to work similarly: “I gave everyone trust and total freedom to contribute as they felt called to, encouraging an intuitive approach of simply improvising, playing through the song a few times and then sending over the results.” Synth, cello, violin, saxophone and flute all appear, but often in unconventional ways.

Keeper Is the Heart reflects Goodman’s process towards greater creative freedom. The first words she sings: “Lift the veil of all of this hate/To see the fear at its base.” Her last lines: “We’ll follow the fates across the great expanse of time/To the source of the light within our mind.” In between is a work of art awash in personal awakenings that revel in the freedom of intuition, the lifting of veils, and the beauty of transformation. As Goodman states, “What is it you find when you look inward to see beyond, past your fears, to your heart's true desires?”

Chaos & Colour, the energetic and triumphant 25th studio album from British hard rock legends and progenators Uriah Heep, bristles with explosive classic rock guitars, supreme harmonies, and Heep’s famously generous keyboard foundation.

Led by founding member Mick Box, it is no surprise that themes of light, love and, ultimately, positivity are constant through the eleven tracks. Opener “Save Me Tonight” shows the band’s weighty yet blistering chops, whilst “One Nation, One Sun” is a journey of soaring balladic contemplation.

“Fly Like An Eagle” emanates magic and mystery in a way that the late, great Ronnie James Dio would have heartily approved, and “Closer To Your Dreams” is a battle cry for all rockers to get out there and do it, with Shaw imploring that “So many have tried but slipped away/Now it’s time for you to have your say.” Throughout the album, Bernie Shaw’s timeless vocals are expertly supported by keyboardist Phil Lanzon, bassist Dave Rimmer and Box, with Russell Gilbrook on drums rounding out exceptional performances throughout.

Produced at Chapel Studios by Jay Ruston, and engineered by Pieter Rietkirk, Chaos & Colour is a superb album of quality hard rock from the pioneers of the genre who continue to create top class material. Old fans will be reinvigorated whilst new fans will surely find Chaos & Colour an exceptional discovery.

Chaos & Colour will be available to pre-order from November 4, in Black and Coloured Vinyl configurations, as a standard CD Digipak, a Deluxe CD packaged in a hardcover book with Uriah Heep’s Chaos & Colour signature patch and in digital formats.

Motörhead veröffentlichen ihr 23. (und letztes
Studioalbum) Bad Magic von 2015 noch einmal in einer
erweiterten Version.
"Bad Magic: SERIOUSLY BAD MAGIC" beinhaltet
frisches Bonusmaterial und zwei bisher unveröffentlichte
Tracks: "Bullet in Your Brain" und "Greedy Bastards",
sowie eine glanzvolle Live Performance von der Bad
Magic Tour beim gigantischen Mt Fuji Festival in Japan
2015. Als Bad Magic 2015 veröffentlicht wurde, tat es
einen gewaltigen Schlag und alle, die meinten Motörhead
wären zahmer geworden, wurden eines Besseren belehrt.
Das Album erreichte in Deutschland auf Anhieb die Top 1
Chart Position. Producer Cameron Webb hatte seinen
Anteil daran; er überzeugte die Band, das Album in den
NRG North Hollywood, Maple Studios und Grandmaster in
Kalifornien live aufzunehmen- zum allerersten Mal in der
Ära Kilmister/Campbell/Dee.
Eine der versteckten Juwelen des Albums auf "Bad
Magic: SERIOUSLY BAD MAGIC", ist Motörheads
berühmteste, international gefeierte Version des David
Bowies Klassiker, "Heroes". Ursprünglich sollte der Song
auf Bad Magic (2015) erscheinen, wurde jedoch in der
letzte Minute wieder heruntergenommen. Jetzt aber fand
"Heroes" seinen Platz auf "Seriously Bad Magic".

The mysterious hill producer makes a sensational comeback on the cult label SKYLAX RECORDS with 4 high-flying tracks ! On this occasion, he joined forces on 2 wonderful slices of spiritual house with the legendary Detroit born Javonntte. But let's start at the beginning, on A1 we find the magic of the first releases he did under the HILL moniker, namely a punchy, borrowed and sample loving disco house via "land of funk", a whole program ! The same goes for the fantastic "Summer holidays in Rimini" which reminds us the glorious hours of the French touch, Thomas Banglater in the lead. On the B side, he delivers us with "Away" a more contemplative and sensual house with the ultra talented Javonntte, it is a real technical prowess to bring together on the same record the universes of soundstream AND Franckie Knuckles, for their fans, this 12 inch is clearly for you and the mystery remains completely unresolved. Note that on the label's bandcamp, with the purchase of the vinyl, you can get 1 exclusive bonus track : Hill « It's a jam »

The legend of Twilight Force began to form in the year 2007 of the Human Era. It was the result of a yearning to bring back the golden age of Epic Symphonic Power Metal. But Twilight Force soon became an entity of its own, evolving and elevating the genre to new heights and sounds. By fusing triumphant melodies with rich orchestral arrangements and swift performances, Twilight Force creates an intense and immersive experience. Transporting the listener to a magic realm filled with wonder, heroic tales and mesmerising tales from the mythical world known as The Twilight Kingdoms.

Using their vast experience from previous musical endeavours, their classical training, and technical proficiency, Twilight Force spawned the first ever Adventure Metal album in 2014 H.E. - Tales of Ancient Prophecies. Two more critically acclaimed albums followed in its wake, Heroes of Mighty Magic (2016), and Dawn of the Dragonstar (2019), with the fourth opus At the Heart of Wintervale set for release on January 20th, 2023 on Nuclear Blast Records.

Once again, the cover artwork has been created by the brilliantly skilled Kerem Beyit, and is directly connected to the album’s title track as the band explains: “It depicts the tale told in ‘At the Heart of Wintervale’ where an evil curse is broken, and the ancient dragon may finally roam the realms again, free and unfettered!"

At the Heart of Wintervale will be released on CD, Digibook, and Vinyl. The limited Digibook edition will also include three bonus tracks. The first one is a song, many of the band's loyal knights may somewhat recognize; it is an acoustic blend of some of the older works, featuring an entrancing vocal performance and guitar work by Twilight Force's very own wood elf Aerendir. The second and third bonus tracks are orchestral versions of two songs from the album, where fans will have the opportunity to experience a different soundscape, and perhaps discover new exciting elements and intricacies never discerned before.

With the band embarking on a headlining tour through Europe and UK on time with the album’s release, Twilight Force look immensely forward to continue their epic tale.
“So, sharpen your swords, dust off your magic tomes, and brew your strongest potions. It is time to join Twilight Force on their quest for the eternal glory of the Twilight Kingdoms, once again.
May the Power of the Dragon guide you!”

Another Terra Magica release is coming! The new ‚Axisdance‘ - Various Artists (TERRAM003) double-vinyl 12″ compilation coming out this summer August/September on Terra Magica Rec.

With artists from all over the world such as Poly Chain, Mogwaa, Jacques Satre, Jai, DJ Normal 4, Imogen Soundsystem – Ilija Rudman and Antonio Zuza, Gee Dee, Rambal Cochet, Listensport, Johnmon and Hektisch Sprengen DJs.

Every track has its own spirit, in a kind of a 90s journey way. The compilation is a fascinating mixture of weird cosmic and slow goa vibes to more emotional places with powerful bassdriven downtempo techno and slightly trance influenced anthems as well as distinctive tribal acid easiness with epic melodies. Furthermore it involves faster loaded minimal hypnotic synth sounds and dark UK-House with a big-beat touch to it. Raw liquid floating old skool breaks melts into rave stompers which are inhabited by sensitive living microbes vibrating jungle atmospheres.

With this release the label celebrates the return to the ranks of the founder Worg. A triumphant homecoming comparable to that of Jason, the main character of the Argonautica, who travelled in search of the Golden Fleece (Il Vello d'Oro) aboard the ship Argo. After many vicissitudes, the hero returned to Iolco, his homeland, to reclaim the throne usurped by his half-brother Pelias.

This new chapter in the Lykos saga focuses on the deeds of Jason and the Argonauts, but also on a key figure who was indispensable to the success of this quest, Medea. Thanks to her and her magical skills, the fellowship of heroes succeeded in grabbing the Golden Fleece. Through careful sound design, hinted melodic cells and complex rhythms, Il Piano di Medea by Worg, sums up details and facts related to this extraordinary legend. Starting from the prophecies of the Oracles, to the tragic and bloody ending of the epic poem, which took place with the death of King Pelias by his own daughters, hypnotized and manipulated by Medea's magic.

The narrative begins with the track Oracolo, characterized by a syncopated groove, nebulous atmospheres and the presence of a dark anthropomorphic synth, which alludes to the solemn, grave and authoritative voice of an entity. A prophetic spirit that warns the listener of the dangers that lurk for those who dare to enter this new sonic adventure. In order to foretell the future and to spread their word, the gods took possession of the bodies of priests who had fallen into ecstasy, using them as intermediaries. In his reinterpretation of Oracolo Neel, the grand Maestro of techno, in a similar way uses musical elements such as a harsh and acid bass line or a tight rhythm to lead the listener into a psychic state of suspension and mystical elevation.

In the music piece Il Vello d'Oro, Worg draws attention to the rare preciousness of this magical relic, rumored to have the power to heal all wounds and for this reason longed by Jason. To evoke the purity of the golden mantle, the artist uses shimmering percussion, radiant textures and the omnipresence of an FM synth bass, full of brilliant harmonics. All enhanced by sound details scattered throughout the arrangement.

Eryx, the record's final track, has a fluid and sinuous flow, with sound elements that recall water, a natural element, protagonist of the Argonauts' journey to the remote Colchis. A melody echoes in the distance, disappears and resurfaces to then collide, like waves on the rocks, with the complex and jagged rhythms that mark the gradual evolution of the
track.

If you decide to look up the strict definition of outsider in any dictionary, you'll find that the term is understood as "a person who is not involved with a particular group of people or organization or who does not live in a particular place".

Perhaps this is the most accurate description of Santiago Merino. For a long decade and from his native Medellín, this DJ and producer has always tried to keep his sonic spectrum open. An interdisciplinary artist capable of freely navigating through a myriad of genres is rarely encountered, and that may be the reason why Santiago enjoys a non-negotiable respect in the different scenes that make up the music circuit of his city. On this occasion, Back Door Records is pleased to serve as host to receive one of the most anticipated facets within the range of music produced by this Colombian artist.

The Outsider marks the debut of a new project signed by Merino, a new hunch in which house takes the helm of an EP entitled 4 Club Use. Composed of five tracks, 4 Club Use seems to show us the true essence behind a genre that has almost been trivialized over the years. In this case, El Outsider decided to take the basic ingredients of tech house to produce a recipe much richer in flavors, textures and melodies. "Fire People", for example, leaves the window open for the airs of Detroit techno to come in and cool off any sunny afternoon. "Outsider" and "The Heat", on the other hand, are seasoned by the purest amen breaks, as if it were a blessing intended solely for the dance floor.

But the real deal across 4 Club Use is definitely El Outsider's own edit of Merino's track "Those Days". Raw and forceful kicks, meticulously sampled vocals and pads that seem to wrap them magically, make this bomb one of the candidate tracks to take the absolute podium of 2023.

Five tracks of masterful, ritualistic, and pitch-black evil make up the
entirety of Ng'ambu - an album which is meant to be interpreted as a
hymnal to invoke and praise spirits - shows the band drenched in
offerings to the bands personal connection and dedication to Quimbanda,
the Afro-Brazilian diasporic belief system based around magic, rituals,
and offerings
The band explains, "It is both an offering to our Cabula, that is our house, as it is
to the spirits of Quimbanda themselves. In some sense we are turning what could
otherwise be poison into medicine. It is a process of engaging, through struggle,
with those aspects of ourselves and the world which live at the pivot point of
chance and desire. It is about seeking agency even in the thistles of the road.
Quimbanda is the fire by which we forge our iron and the strangling plantst that
cure disease. Quimbanda is both the pox and the inoculation. Quimbanda is our
anxiety and the motivation that anxiety produces. It is conflict and the strength
that comes from engaging that conflict. People say, idle hands are the devil's
plaything, and so we have put those hands and The Devil to work."
For the band's sophomore release, MEHENET connects a powerful fury of black
metal mastery to the deeply rooted sounds of New Orleans - by way of utilizing
samples of the bustling French Quarter and by paying respect and praise to the
cultural music of the city by incorporating congas, whistles, and bells. Recorded
and mixed in 2019 by James Whitten at High Tower Recording in New Orleans,
LA.

Five tracks of masterful, ritualistic, and pitch-black evil make up the
entirety of Ng'ambu - an album which is meant to be interpreted as a
hymnal to invoke and praise spirits - shows the band drenched in
offerings to the bands personal connection and dedication to Quimbanda,
the Afro-Brazilian diasporic belief system based around magic, rituals,
and offerings
The band explains, "It is both an offering to our Cabula, that is our house, as it is
to the spirits of Quimbanda themselves. In some sense we are turning what could
otherwise be poison into medicine. It is a process of engaging, through struggle,
with those aspects of ourselves and the world which live at the pivot point of
chance and desire. It is about seeking agency even in the thistles of the road.
Quimbanda is the fire by which we forge our iron and the strangling plantst that
cure disease. Quimbanda is both the pox and the inoculation. Quimbanda is our
anxiety and the motivation that anxiety produces. It is conflict and the strength
that comes from engaging that conflict. People say, idle hands are the devil's
plaything, and so we have put those hands and The Devil to work."
For the band's sophomore release, MEHENET connects a powerful fury of black
metal mastery to the deeply rooted sounds of New Orleans - by way of utilizing
samples of the bustling French Quarter and by paying respect and praise to the
cultural music of the city by incorporating congas, whistles, and bells. Recorded
and mixed in 2019 by James Whitten at High Tower Recording in New Orleans,
LA.

Money Mouse Records moves effortlessly into the neon-hued vibes of 80's boogie culture with their latest 7" offering from Nashville's CA$H BONU$. Made up of some familiar faces from Music City's funk and soul movement, Andrew Muller and Nick DeVan are joined by Amber Woodhouse who lends her powerfully silken vocals to the mix. With the addition of Pittsburgh's synthesist maestro, Buscrates, along with Muller's deftly executed production flourishes; this record goes straight to the sweet spot of post-disco lushness. "Got Me Thinkin Tonight" is designed for the late-nite dancefloor aficionados, taking cues from some of the era's greats and shaking things up into something new and heaving. The synth work and beats weave together with Woodhouse's amorous lyrics to create a dancefloor jam that sounds just as at home in 1982 as it does in 2022. That magic is repeated on the B-side with "Joy & Pain" a straight up hustler of a track, with a driving drums and heady arrangements that, again, are meant to get the dancefloor churning. Woodhouse's vocals deliver a sweet soulful emotion that jives perfectly with a groove that would make Rod Temperton proud. And don't forget the heavy drum break at the end. CA$H BONU$ is bringing the boogie heat to your feet for real.

‘Fuxsake, what a great ride this album is... …Somewhere John Lee Hooker is smiling and stampin' his foot to 'Runnin' Till I'm Done'! Love the 12 string riffing so much - You just don't hear that enough these days - Brings to mind Stevie Ray on killing it on acoustic. Ledfoot on the Goodfoot got some serious mojo'. - Winter Lazerus, mastering master This record was recorded and mixed in two days - live - straight to tape… no edits, no punching in…just me… honest for better or worse – honesty - What a precious thing ‘ - Ledfoot - In short: 10 tracks recorded analogue live to tape during two magic days at Studio Studio Nyhagen. No bullshit, just a unique artist spitting out his soul in the most naked and real setting possible. Gothic blues! Still, the sound, the lyrics and the performance are very much a product of today. Ledfoot aka Tim Scott McConnell is a 12-string guitarist who plays with fitted heavy strings,
a brass slide, steel fingerpicks and a stompbox. He has been touring and releasing music since the late 1970’s and written for artists as varied as Highasakite and TnT to Sheena Easton. In 2014, Bruce Springsteen recorded ‘High Hopes’ as the title track of his album, written by Tim Scott McConnell for the Havalinas debut album in 1990. It debuted as #1 in over 10 countries including the U.S. and the U.K.

Don"t ask Rozi Plain to explain her spellbinding fifth album Prize. Its ten, magical tracks exist as if in another realm, where feelings matter more than meanings, where thoughts have room to roam and where you can live in the moment for as long as you like. Rozi"s signature, free-floating sound was set with her 2015 breakthrough Friend and cemented with 2019"s globally adored What A Boost ("Like slipping between cotton sheets" was Pitchfork"s description). Prize builds on both, but takes its cues from elsewhere. By a stretch, it"s Rozi"s most upbeat and daring album to date. Electroncia, jazz and saxophone treated to sound like strings, synths and harp all play a part. Economy is key - every sound has an impact out of proportion to its size, every texture pays dividends. Rozi"s bewitching vocals are bolder and brighter than ever before. Male and female backing vocals feel like friends dropping by.

Clear Vinyl

Don"t ask Rozi Plain to explain her spellbinding fifth album Prize. Its ten, magical tracks exist as if in another realm, where feelings matter more than meanings, where thoughts have room to roam and where you can live in the moment for as long as you like. Rozi"s signature, free-floating sound was set with her 2015 breakthrough Friend and cemented with 2019"s globally adored What A Boost ("Like slipping between cotton sheets" was Pitchfork"s description). Prize builds on both, but takes its cues from elsewhere. By a stretch, it"s Rozi"s most upbeat and daring album to date. Electroncia, jazz and saxophone treated to sound like strings, synths and harp all play a part. Economy is key - every sound has an impact out of proportion to its size, every texture pays dividends. Rozi"s bewitching vocals are bolder and brighter than ever before. Male and female backing vocals feel like friends dropping by.

Especially in this time of isolation we need to remind ourselves of the importance of art, just how magical a medium sound is to express, to raise and answer question marks, to open and mend the soul... it's the most universally speaking of all languages as it knows no borders." At a time of global separation, Erased Tapes founder and sonic explorer Robert Raths stitched together a project putting what is most important at the forefront - connection. This collection of works by undisclosed artists from the roster gives space and time to appreciate art at its most honest. By shedding the information noise usually attached to release cycles and by bringing music back to the magic of sound, we're presented with an opportunity for exploration when we need it most. Robert spoke to Mary Anne Hobbs of BBC 6Music about how releasing music without revealing its origin through the 20･･ï¼ìï¼ì0 morse code series enabled him to share what him and the artists have been working on in real-time as opposed to the usual delays that come with releasing music. "All the information, all that noise... As much as it can help give context, it also takes something away. It tends to cloud your senses and take away from the magic of when you first hear something that's completely unknown to your ears. How wonderful a sensation it is to just listen and let the music speak for itself without prejudice or the

The Belgian minimal synth band's three releases – a cassette and two vinyl EPs – were all titled »Against The Dark Trees Beyond«. This compilation collects the songs from these records.

"They were interesting times, the early eighties. Against a backdrop of cold war and economic crises, the DIY attitude of the earlier punk movement had spawned near countless new genres where artists and bands broke the three-chord guitar mould and experimented with new content matter, singular song structures and – in many cases – new instruments. Synthesizers became affordable and were no longer the sole privilege of rock millionaires. All around the globe, musical creativity boomed as never before, and Belgium was no exception: Digital Dance, Snowy Red, The Names, Pseudocode, Marine, 1000 Ohm, De Kommeniste, M.Bryo & D.M.T., De Brassers, Struggler, Siglo XX are but a few legendary names of bands and artists who started making a name for themselves.

In Leuven, things were happening as well. Until then, the music scene in this rather provincial town had been dominated by straightforward rock and blues acts. Not for much longer, though: in places like Arno'z and (later) The Gladhouse, where young budding artists met with kindred spirits, bands were often formed on the spot and, more importantly, started to make ripples.

Ludo Camberlin and Karel 'Bam' Saelemaekers already had a certain track record in Leuven's burgeoning music microcosm. But what they shared would become the cornerstone of A Blaze Colour (Against The Dark Trees Beyond): a fascination for new forms and instruments, a penchant for sonic adventure and a profound love for gripping songs. The full band name, by the way, was inspired by a phrase from the Irish-American novelist J.P. Donleavy, a writer who belongs in the definitely-worth-checking-out section.

After appearing on the first No Big Business LP (1981) with the instrumental 'Fisk', A Blaze Colour's first proper release, as was so often the case in those days, was a self-produced cassette. The music – which would later be dubbed 'minimal' – was characterized by the use of basic rhythm machines (Boss Dr. 55, mainly) and analog synthesizers (for the synth geeks: Korg Delta and MS20, Roland SH-2 and Jupiter IV, and the infamous Casio VL-1). Camberlin’s vocals, meanwhile, displayed an aloofness totally in sync with the zeitgeist. Equally important, though: all five tracks on this cassette were bona fide songs with a clear sense of structure, aided by a sonic mastery that demonstrated a high level of experience: 'Means To An End' started out as a proto-industrial track before bursting out into a moroderesque finale. The remix of 'Fisk' was as sprightly as the next river salmon, while 'Or Lie Again' proved the perfect soundtrack to a nightly walk through wet deserted streets. On the other hand, 'Through With Life', rife with disturbing sound effects countered by a slow portamento, could have been a prize track on a post punk 'Lamb Lies Down On Broadway'. And in true dramatic fashion, 'Follow The Signs' was the perfect ending of this five-song cycle: a driving sequencer and gripping chord progression coupled with a simple but powerful vocal line. Considering the limited technical means the duo was working with, this was no less than a triumph.

A few months later, the band released a seven-inch single on its own ABLACO label. 'Dark Trees Beyond', a quirky pop song, was coupled with 'Addict Of Time', a dark and brooding spoken word piece. Not the kind of single to storm hit parades, but it didn't go unnoticed. The Minny Pops' Wally van Middendorp, who had founded the Plurex label in 1978, invited A Blaze Colour to his studio in the Netherlands, to record an EP. It would prove to be a massive step forward: recording in a semi-professional studio offered great possibilities, the recently acquired TR-808 drum machine allowed for a broader rhythm palette, and the three new tracks (next to the re-recording of 'Through With Life') showed a band on the top of their game: 'The New Ones' was a wry and haunting song built around a live drum loop and an ominous bass pattern, while 'Nowhere Else' was a near-pop track with very un-minimal vocal harmonies. And it's a mystery why 'Altitude' – another instrumental – was never used in a stylized, high-profile detective soundtrack.

Another song from these sessions, the revved-up 'Cold As Ever' turned up on the high-profile Plurex "Hours" compilation, where it shone brightly, next to songs of a.o. X-Mal Deutschland, Nasmak, Minny Pops and Section XXV.

Meanwhile, Camberlin had already carved out a bit of a reputation for himself as a producer, while Saelemaekers was a respected graphic designer. It remains uncertain if this played a big part in the end of A Blaze Colour, but the fact remains: as studio recordings go, 'The Ultimate Fight' on the "No Big Business 2" compilation, was to be their swan song. What a way to go, though: maybe their best song ever, this was a synthetic bastard funk groove, complete with shout-out chorus and punch-drunk middle-eight. It shut a door, for sure, but it did so with a resounding bang.

So there it is and there it was. Short, sweet, visionary, pioneering and highly influential. And as anybody listening to this first ever compilation will be able to assess probably one of the most colourful electronic acts of its time.

On a more a personal note, A Blaze Colour proved to be instrumental in my own coming of age as a lyric writer, when Ludo and Bam graciously adopted some of my earlier writings, warts and all. To hear them translated into songs was no less than magic, and it certainly gave me the confidence to start our own band a bit later. And the magic continued when Ludo became our producer and Bam designed our record sleeves. But that’s another story, obviously. Because this is the place and the time to dive back into the wondrous world of A Blaze Colour!"

Bart Azijn (Aimless Device)

Florence Cats is a poet, visual artist, sound composer, performer and acupuncturist. Born in Vilvoorde (Belgium) in 1985, she is currently living and working where Brussels merges with the Sonian forest.

Florence Cats’ working process involves things about to appear or disappear, and echo one another : air, light, wind, tone, print, voice, water, color, dust, junk, rumor… She creates eclectic pieces related to travel, porosity, natural energies and celestial events. Each proposal is in tune to a context, a space, an environment.

Ys is a generous debut. Raw, courageous.

Sunken Cathedral is Florence interpreting Claude Debussy’s La Cathédrale Engloutie (trans. the Sunken Cathedral). The track reminds me of one of those fabled Charles Ives home recordings. Where he records himself on Speak-O-Phone - an old brand of recordable aluminium phonograph discs - while practicing and composing his music. But unlike Charles Ives treating these home recordings as personal sketches, Florence Cats shares her captured moments as compositions for the public.

Similar to the Speak-O-Phone recordings, we now meet the piano as a physical expression - not as an archetype. We are together with Florence in a room. The pedal. The keys. The hiss of the room. Learn, repeat.

Trough Florence’s hands and feet, La Cathédrale Engloutie is brought out of its pupa stage to become a presence. Instead of being grounded in luxurious concert halls or on high end recordings, the piece is now natural. Sunken Cathedral is a template, an affirmation for amateurs.

The piece was originally created for the group exhibition "Here Comes the Wave” at Project(ion) room, Brussels, February 2020.

In Fall Call, we find ourselves at QO2, a sound art initiative in Brussels. This piece was captured during a residency Florence took over the summer of 2022. We listen to the moment when a summer storm just washed the city.

Fall Call is a testament to Florence’s magical - humanistic way of playing her custom-made theremin. By pushing the controls of the instruments so high, her whole body starts to control the instrument - instead of just her hands. So when she walks around in the room, the instrument answers in full color.

And then, a phone-call. Giving it a bit of a Poulenc vibe.

For the last piece, Drop Out, we find ourselves in Florence’s apartment. When Florence opens the windows, the ambience of the surrounding Sonian Forest seeps in. This is an adorable moment. It predicts new beginnings. The smell of wet dirt and dripping leaves in the air. The poetry of rain.

Deniz Cuylan set out to explore his own distinctive sound on his 2021 solo debut album 'No Such Thing As Free Will.' The album signaled the Turkish musician's first bold step into the spotlight following a winding 15-year path in the music industry playing in multiple bands with home bases dotted all over the globe - Stockholm, NYC, Istanbul - and tackling a wide array of styles both on the stage and in the studio. Now settled into his current home in Los Angeles, Deniz lends his instrumental talents to create scores for independent films and recurring Netflix original series, yet these projects inevitably fulfill the sonic backdrop for another artist's vision. Looking inward on his own for the first time, 'No Such Thing As Free Will' laid the groundwork for his own personal soundtrack, one that fused his love of classical guitar, introspective jazz, and ambient expressionism with his whimsical compositional ear. Over a magical 6-track journey, 'No Such Thing As Free Will' painted a lush cinematic narrative with Deniz's guitar as its guide, delivering an album that "seems to invent new languages for the guitar" (The Guardian) and receiving glowing comparisons to legends like Steve Reich, The Durutti Colum's Vini Reilly, Glenn Branca, and Bert Jansch. With such a singular foundation exposed on a debut album, many artists would stay true to their inventive winning formula and find out if lightning could strike twice. Deniz is not one of those artists. An explorer at heart, Deniz unveils a beautifully alluring and lightly adjusted language on his mesmerizing second album 'Rings Of Juniper.' The record continues to spotlight Deniz's exquisite guitar work and hypnotic compositional skills, yet it boasts a punchier, refined, and more immediate tone right from the start. Accented by a desire to once again uncover a new shade of his sonic palette with the support of a talented cast of friends and artistic collaborators, 'Rings Of Juniper' lays bare a rich, dynamic, and evocative sound that Deniz lovingly refers to as Mediterranean Minimalism.

Jon K and Elle Andrews’ MAL imprint returns with a new LP from one of the London experimental underground's best kept secrets, Rory Salter aka Malvern Brume. His music is rare, eccentric and mysterious - somewhere between Coil's bleak ritual magick and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's most experimental, minimal fringes. 

Malvern Brume operates just beneath the radar, occasionally turning up at Café OTO lineups and on a smattering of releases for Low Company, Alter, Infant Tree and Kasual Plastik - but he’s never one to shout too loudly about his work. ‘Body Traffic’ is his most interesting set to date, laying bare a process melting found sounds, field recordings and spoken word into throbbing, pulsing rhythms. It’s an evocation of a fraught mindset during the early weeks of lockdown in 2020; sequestered in his flat next to a trainline, the infrasonic - and more audible - rumbles of rolling stock and a nagging sense of dread infecting his ambiguously discomfiting recordings.

Operating in a headspace that values world-building and vivid, visual emotionality, Salter’s careful melodies are familiar - the distant, weeping melancholia of 1970s British TV hangs off the recordings like net curtains, and his atmosphere loops into experiments that weave through bare traces of industrial music, blank-faced electro pop, and hedonistic Brummie techno, all reduced to a cinder. 

The mood is set on the bellyaching resonance and crawling walls of the title tune, while 'Through Beaked Fog Horns' is drowned beneath morning mists: lopsided synth drones choke and drift, percussion mutates into inebriated bubbles, and tape-f*cked environmental whirrs create an atmosphere that’s hard to decipher in one take. 

‘Moss Spines Clenched’ follows cryptic stains on peeling flocking, and the icy creep of ‘Tense Branches Waver’ quivers beyond a cracked windowpane. The artist’s voice appears from beneath a cardboard box fort in the imaginary world of ‘Cornered Into Sleat’ as a distant drum beats out a marching thud and traffic squeals are sculpted into chirpy whistles, before ‘Bri Dun’ resolves the eerie tension in an OOBE-like ascent above the dado-rail and across the tracks, watching himself fade into a dissociative bliss.

"All chatter falls quiet…” Salter murmurs thru saturation and white noise. It’s a sound that’s gonna stick with us for a while.

Latvian producer mu tate joins Utter with the ‘Faded’ EP, a collection of five mesmerising ambient electronica pieces.

mu tate - real name Artur Strekalov - has been diligently and unceremoniously weaving his musical magic for the past half-decade. ‘Faded’ walks the same spectral path as his feted album ‘Let Me Put Myself Together’ (Experiences Ltd, 2020), which introduced many to Strekalov’s highly atmospheric, blissed-out sonic explorations. The EP glides along, each track enveloping the listener in a cocoon of undulating frequencies and ghostly rhythm, softly contained yet stretching out beyond into wide open space. Delicate, crackling sparks fizz in and out of perception above.

It’s a trip alright!

‘Faded’ is available on limited vinyl and digital formats, mastered and cut by Anne Taegert at D&M. Artwork by AS, laid out by Alex Egan. A special insert designed by Art Crime is also included with physical copies.

Pianist, drummer, composer and producer Hamish Balfour presents jazz funk, soul and electronic music, bridging the gap from classic Blue Note to Warp via Sonar Kollektiv on Running Colours, his electrifying debut album for London's Shapes of Rhythm Records.

Praised by Jazzwise for hissolo flourishes and sidestepping harmonies, Hamish Balfour should be a recognisable face to jazz addicts. The go-to keys player has performed and recorded alongside American jazz drumming legend Harvey Mason, Tenderlonious, The Temptations, Odyssey, Faze Action, Yolanda Charles' Project PH, Bassically, Nim Quartet and Yam Who. Popping up not only in the credits of many sought-after albums, but also Channel 4, ITV and BBCprogrammes for his compositions on various shows.

Over the course of eleven tracks, Balfour folds in and explores his influences, with a wide yet highly cohesive and strong palette of sounds, whilst interacting with high caliber guest vocalists such as spoken word artist and broken beat icon, Lyric L(Seiji,Nathan Haines), London Elektricity and Hospital Records' star vocalist Elsa Esmeralda, award-winning and chart-storming singer-songwriter Belle Humble (Freestylers, Paloma Faith) and soul and house mainstay Andre Espeut (Afriquoi,Simbad,Faze Action).

Responsible for all piano, synths, percussion and production on the album, Balfour's musicality shines through, a reminder of how overdue this debut album as leader is. However, in addition to the incredible vocalists, he's joined by some of the UK's finest jazz musicians: James Copus (trumpet), Pete Matin (bass), Laurie Lowe and Saleem Raman (drums) and Rob Updegraff (guitar).

Elsa Esmeralda implores us 'not to be afraid' on lead single and title track Running Colours. A perfect invitation to get stuck into this many layered album. Balfour compliments Esmeralda's soothing vocals with delicate piano intro before Lowe's bruk-easque drums and lead an irresistible groove bedded in warm synths and guitar licks.

Yes or No showcases Loose Lips legend Lyric L contemplating the uncertainty of love over a swinging mid-tempo jazz funk boogie groove propelled by tight drums and Hammond chords, closing with a flying trumpet solo from Copus, weaving around Balfour's nimble keys.

Wealth, featuring singer/songwriter Belle Humble, displays incredible depth and restraint. Humble delivers the enticing vocal with ease, as it slides over the intricate webs of jazz fusion and electronics.

Mogul is arguably Running Colours' curveball. An eastern-inspired whirlwind of all manner of synths and twisting drums which constantly morph throughout. Guitars and trumpets take turns to solo on a track that feels like a series of questions that we never quite get answers to.

Balfour's ability to merge free wheeling jazz and fusion with timeless electronic production and soulful compositions is also apparent on instrumental pieces such as Reflector 28. Here, we find the musicians upbeat, uplifting, progressive and playful, showcasing the keys whilst the bass underpins the groove.

South Of The Sun is Running Colours' laid-back moment with Roy Ayers-type vibrations as bass and drums sit in the pocket (at least to begin with), whilst a Rhodes weaves its magic. Like many of the album's tracks we take a few twists and turns before returning to our main feel-good motif.

Hamish's long awaited debut is sure to exceed the expectations of those who know him already, whilst introducing a whole new audience to his wealth of talent and originality.

From an aspiring b-boy to working with luminaries Billy Porter, Joss Stone, Kimberly Davis and Teni Tinks, The Shapeshifters, Simon Marlin announces the release of his brand-new studio album “Let Loose”.

Wrapped in a defining optimistic mood and colourful palette, “Let Loose” plays with the friction between musical persona and influence, delivering a masterclass in Simon’s flourishing depth of integrity as a producer and admiration to those that exert their enduring influence upon him.

“I'm a facilitator of talent. I'm blessed that over the years I've managed to put a team of people together - as a producer, that's what I do, very much in the old school sense like a Quincy Jones or Gamble & Huff, they’re the guys I try to emulate - and make something magic out of nothing, but do it in a contemporary way. That’s what really floats my boat, and that's what this whole project is about.” Simon Marlin – The Shapeshifters

Across the latest and long-awaited studio album “Let Loose” The Shapeshifters pledge rhythmic allegiance to the golden era disco records and their spellbinding qualities; embracing the tension often found between tradition and future to craft a euphoric, certifiable body of work presented to the devoted audience he deserves. The Shapeshifters exemplify a scene in rude health one that is now switching on an ever-younger fan base, and with Marlin being the beating heart of it it’s easy to see why The Shapeshifters are more in demand in the clubs than ever.

The twelve-track album is illuminated with vocal collaborations including the recently released and debut collaboration with the Grammy, Tony and Emmy Award-winning Billy Porter.

Layers of rushing strings, flares of brass and hedonistic grooves provide refreshing dancefloor power dynamics and deliver a liberating, triumphant and inherently uplifting record.

Taking an impeccably smooth course through disco-infused house, The Shapeshifters continue the rich relationship with Glitterbox and its record label; one that has yielded instant classics that epitomise the label’s ethos for preserving disco’s mission to uplift and empower.

Japanese street music icon, Yasushi Ide released new album featuring Don Letts, Josh Milan, Jeff Mills, DJ Krush and more.


"This is a sound track for rude, underground adults! Amazing mixture of reggae, dub, funk, jazz, rock, afro, house. Masterpiece that goes beyond genres of music created by great producer, Yasushi Ide who has relentless motivation and global network of talents." - Shuya Okino (Kyoto Jazz Massive / Kyoto Jazz Sextet)

"Great album! It is amazing to finish such a big project involved many collaborators at this high quality only in a year and 4 months. The magic of Cosmic Suite is there are variety of styles, and it makes you feel deep and spiritual at one point, but at the same time you can feel relaxed. Also, I have to say that the sound quality is great. It sounds very clear and it can only be done with top level recording and mixing professionals." - Ken Ishii

Yasushi Ide is the Japanese street icon. In the 90's he was called "the Guru of Shibuya-kei" which was the movement of Shibuya style of eclectic pop by the artists such as Cornelius, Pizzcato Five, or Original Love who is once again recognized in City Pop revival of recent years. (Yasushi Ide was a manager of Original Love, and also Kenji Ozawa)

Through his works, he has been creating the global network of musicians such as Josh Milan of the Blaze, house music icon, Don Letts, the pioneer of connecting punk rock with reggae, and Jeff Mills, Detroit techno legend, and released a great amount of hi-quality music on his label, Grand Gallery.

The Cosmic Suite project started in 2020, during the pandemic. It started as a project to reconstruct the parts of music Jeff Mills created for Chieko Kinbara, a violinist which Mills produced. However, it turned out to be 36min of spaced themed original track = Cosmic Suite.
(There are few phrases of Jeff Mills music left in the final version) This masterpiece created a buzz in the music scene in Japan and overseas, and became Yasushi Ide's new beginning.

In June, 2022, Ide released "Cosmic Suite 2". Originally, Cosmic Suite was an instrumental. "Cosmic Suite" is the reconstruction of "Cosmic Suite 2" with the element of vocals. In this project, Don Letts, Josh Milan, DJ Krush are featured as guest musicians. Moreover, drums of Tony Allen, the legendary Afrobeat drummer, and Style Scott, a drummer known for his works in early days of ON-U label, and Gota Yashiki, a Japanese drummer known for his works with Soul II Soul are featured in this album. Also, Japanese brightest talents such as Kan Takagi of Major Force, Kaoru Inoue aka Chari Chari, Tomoyuki Tanaka aka Fantastic Plastic Machine and Calm are featured as artists and engineers. This is the true dream team of the Japanese underground music scene.

The artwork is done by Josue Thomas, the founder of popular fashion brand, Gallery Dept. He is also featured as poetry reading artist in track 1 of "Cosmic Suite 2." Ide and him collaborates in various projects under the concept of "Universal Music Connection."

Yasushi Ide's also well received as a dub artist. (beside his wide range of musical styles)
His dub cover of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine (Space Dub Mix)" is selected for "Late Night Tales mixed by Don Letts" in 2021.

Highlight of "Cosmic 2" is the unique dub sound in tracks such as "Lava" feat. UA, the Japanese singer often described as "Japanese Bjork", and "Sumimasen Suite" feat. Rebel Dread (= Don Letts).

Tokyo is the melting pot of street music from all around the World such as Dub, Jazz, House, Hip Hop, Afrobeat, Punk rock, Techno,,, You can see the influence of all spectrums of rebel music in this album. This unique avant-garde music can only be created by Yasushi Ide, who has been heavily involved in this truly unique music scene for a long time.

Limited edition reissue of this legendary, rare and dreamy electronic ambient new age album.

Originally created and released in a small edition in Japan back in 1987 by the mysterious musician/ magician Shiho. The album features floating shimmering synthesizer textures. It's unique and extra ordinarily serene with shifting tone colors and spatial textures bringing the listener to a special magic place. It's as beautiful as it captivating. There's also a haunting edge to parts of the album sounding like what could originally have influenced David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti when they composed the soundtrack to the original Twin Peaks series. Shiho who loves to make improvisational music began studying classic piano at the age of five. She says she gets inspiration from the celestial realms but she never considers melody. She draws a musical picture. Creativity is the unfolding of the unknown realms within the self. Through our chosen ways of expression, each of us is daily creating a unique universe, a unique environment.

The universe created by each and every being in endless repetition are messages of the universe. The breath of this music, expressed from my present environment, flowing through a myriad of places as environmental music is my expression of The Body Is A Message Of The Universe. Part of the album also saw a limited US CD release in the late 1980s which is hard to come by today.

Although Shiho Yabuki continued her career in Japan, both as a musician and magician and became a pioneer of healing music in Asia, for most western listeners it was like Shiho was one of those mysterious artists who puts out an album and then is never heard from again.



Tracks: Tomoshibi / Samadhi / Winterland / Tenshingoso (Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Spirit) / Forestland / Tawamure/Cosmic Dance / Energy Flow/Ki No Nagare (The Way Of The Energy Flow)

Tired of the crazy pandemic lockdown time, we've got another Bourassa release.

Smolny, who recently debuted with the song 'Secret' on the PLUR vol.4 compilation for Lobster Theremin, returns to his label this time with the 'Magic Series' of 4 beautiful rave tracks from the 90s.

The A side offers two wonderful classic old school jungle sounds, which recall the crazy times of that golden era. Cheerful pianos and twisted well-known vocals take us into a magical world.

On the other side, 'Fantasy' and 'Euphoria' at a slightly faster pace of 140 bpm, brings us killin' happy hardcore vibes. Who doesn't remember the epic sample 'Can't beat the system'? Used again in the 'Fantasy' with the new arrangement will definitely destroy the dancefloor on more than one occasion.

Pleasure Pool are Finn O’Hare, Andrew Robertson and a rolling cast of Glasgow-based musicians, performers and artists. They sound like nothing else to have come out of Glasgow recently, exploring the territory between live performance and club culture through their collaborative ethos and party-starting attitude. Their debut EP, Night Scars, arrived in early March 2020 and now comes Love Without Illusion, Pleasure Pool’s debut album, released on Optimo Music.

Love Without Illusion adds layers of complexity and introspection to Night Scars’ squarely dance floor-focused brew, though the record still oozes danceable energy. Open Hours is like opening a door and finding a party already in full swing, an assortment of recurring Pleasure Pool motifs – echoing, dubbed-out vocals, gorgeous, impossibly airy synth melodies, louche percussion, cowbells, rising and falling flecks of trumpet – all introduced in short order. Lick The Bag, which prominently features vocalists Chloe Charlton and Raissa Pardini, has a controlled chaos befitting its morning-after-the-night-before name.

The rest of the album rides this glimmering, night-magic mood at varying frequencies, with the title track a gentle storm of grandiose walls of synth and pulsing vocal fragments. The slow and low flickering funk of album closer Zero Hours pulls all that has come before it together to end things in the woozy bliss of a walk back home in warm, gentle sunlight.

Love Without Illusion is a dazzlingly complete expression of Pleasure Pool’s intoxicating sound and vision. Dive on in and explore.

2022 Repress

Jamaican love songs always came across as heartfelt poetry whether they conveyed a broken heart, unrequited love or even the message ‘it’s all over don’t bother to come back’ anecdotes. But whatever the mood the singers of these songs were so good and versatile that putting such
subject matter over in a few verses was always so moving and believable.
 
Jamaican love songs were a constant in the ever evolving sounds and
journey’s that reggae music took us on, from ska to rocksteady to the early reggae sounds of the late 1960’s early 1970’s. We have complied a great selection of songs that all deal with that timeless subject matter. Max Romeo’s heartfelt ‘Sometimes’ opens our set in fine style, known more for his roots singing this song proves what a great singer he is. The Melodians a great Jamaican vocal group are featured here with ‘Best Girl’. The Sensations provide us with our title track ‘Born To Love You ‘and the theme for this compilation a great rocksteady tune with fantastic harmonies. Alton Ellis gives us the soulful ‘Room Full Of Tears’. Ken Boothe
provides us with his rendition of Dennis Brown’s ‘Money In My Pocket’  the ode that money cannot buy you everything. Cornell Campbell sings one of his most overlooked classic songs with his prideful `She Wears My Ring’. The great singer of love songs  himself  Mr John Holt tells us that we should all `Reconsider’, before giving up on love and a great lost singer Monty Morris gives us two great examples of how to find love in `Do It My Way’ and `Magic Moments’.
A great selection delivered as only Jamaica can do with style and feeling…….

Hope you enjoy the set …greetings from Jamaica… love songs for all…

#PF005 ITRIA VOL.3 is a slow techno-inspired cosmic journey that condenses in a single orbit a great cast of artists coming from different galaxies. It marks an evolution in sound and mood, taking us to a deeper and more visceral dimension.
The first track by Interstellar Funk is a 100% pure electronic mind-trip, a machined groove where thoughts still roam frenetically paves the way for a more intimate experience.
Tamburi Neri’s downtempo track shapes a space-time portal in which to sink; their sound is like a beat echoing from the bottom of the chest and spreading to the tips of the fingers softly.
For the first time, Salamanda co-works with Polifonic framing a Korean unknown soundscape, an ambient loop track through which we break away from this dimension and move towards the exotic.
Hiver restore a connection with reality through their pulsating bass. The heartbeat speeds up, but we still float into a dreamy techno atmosphere.
Claudio PRC & ZIPPO come into play with a powerful combination of techno textures that gets us to resurface and awaken the senses.

With his first release since 2015, Seattle based Indie-folk hero Rocky Votolato returns with Wild Roots, an intimate concept album inspired by and written for his family. Each song a letter dedicated to a specific family member and focused on a special memory or moment in time. After losing his child in December of 2021 in a tragic car accident, the entire album, and especially the song “Becoming Human”, now a posthumous love letter, takes on an even deeper while devastatingly bittersweet meaning. The production on Wild Roots is hushed, handcrafted, and warm — an intimate and personal experience that brings the nature of Votolato’s storytelling to life in very authentic and genuine ways. Produced, engineered, and mixed by Votolato himself, the record is a deliberate construction of his conceptual vision and new phase of his recording career. Additionally, the record features a stellar cast of renowned musicians whose contributions perfectly compliment the delicate nature of these songs — Abby Gundersen (William Fitzsimmons) on piano, string arrangements, and vocal harmonies, James McAllister (Sufjan Stevens, The National) on drums and percussion, Phil Wandscher (Whiskeytown, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter) on electric guitar, and Marcel Gein (Perry O’Parson) on electric guitar. In many ways, Wild Roots is not only a break in silence for Votolato, but the opening of a new chapter — one that feels laser focused on what really matters in life. Whether discovering Votolato for the first time or adding another record to your collection, Wild Roots resonates on the most simple and important human levels — a sharing of experience that encourages us to keep believing in ourselves and in the magic of this life, no matter how harsh and difficult it can be.


Track list: 1. Evergreen 2. 23 Stitches 3. Glory (Broken Dove) 4. There is a Light 5. X1998x 6. Becoming Human 7. Breakwater 8. Little Black Diamond 9. Archangels of Tornados 10. The Great Pontificator 11. The Wildest Horses 12. Little Lupine 13. Bella Rose 14. Southpaw 15. Texas Scorpion (The Outlaw Blues)

The Anne, EP is the afterword to Joseph Shabason's acclaimed 2018 harmonic suite Anne, through which he examined and processed his mother's struggle with Parkinson's disease. Employing a small supporting cast that includes vocalist Dan Bejar (Destroyer) and guitarist Thomas Gill (Owen Pallett), Anne, EP spotlights the Toronto saxophonist as he builds empathic tropospheres of woodwinds and synthesizers, deepening the sentiment established by the EP's companion album. In doing so, Shabason further cements jazz, ambient sound design, and new age revivalism into a timely new genre all his own. Also Available From Joseph Shabason: The Fellowship LP/CD, Anne LP/CD, Aytche CD. “gorgeous and empathetic ambient music.” – Pitchfork // “I love it…very original...so exciting." – Bob Boilen, NPR Music // “…densely textured ambient jazz that is wonderful to immerse yourself in…” - The Guardian // “...seriously engaging…” – Aquarium Drunkard // “…magical transportive healing vibes.” – Gorilla vs. Bear // “…rich, healing ambient jazz.” – The A. V. Club // “…at once intimate and universal, honest and hopeful.” - Resident Advisor // Tracks: 01 West Of Heaven 5:12, 02 1517 5:57, 03 I Don't Want To Be Your Love 4:30, 04 Broken Hearted Kota 5:12, 05 Face Chord 7:13, 06 Gymnopédie No. 1 7:26.

The Anne, EP is the afterword to Joseph Shabason's acclaimed 2018 harmonic suite Anne, through which he examined and processed his mother's struggle with Parkinson's disease. Employing a small supporting cast that includes vocalist Dan Bejar (Destroyer) and guitarist Thomas Gill (Owen Pallett), Anne, EP spotlights the Toronto saxophonist as he builds empathic tropospheres of woodwinds and synthesizers, deepening the sentiment established by the EP's companion album. In doing so, Shabason further cements jazz, ambient sound design, and new age revivalism into a timely new genre all his own. Also Available From Joseph Shabason: The Fellowship LP/CD, Anne LP/CD, Aytche CD. “gorgeous and empathetic ambient music.” – Pitchfork // “I love it…very original...so exciting." – Bob Boilen, NPR Music // “…densely textured ambient jazz that is wonderful to immerse yourself in…” - The Guardian // “...seriously engaging…” – Aquarium Drunkard // “…magical transportive healing vibes.” – Gorilla vs. Bear // “…rich, healing ambient jazz.” – The A. V. Club // “…at once intimate and universal, honest and hopeful.” - Resident Advisor // Tracks: 01 West Of Heaven 5:12, 02 1517 5:57, 03 I Don't Want To Be Your Love 4:30, 04 Broken Hearted Kota 5:12, 05 Face Chord 7:13, 06 Gymnopédie No. 1 7:26.

For their sixth instalment, Lowlife Cartel follow up to their last two compilations (“Pimps Improvisations” in 2018 and “Omnia Vanitas” in 2020) with a new six-track VA named “Kodoku”; a vortical release, both bold and forward-looking, while fully geared for the club environment. Taking its title from a poisonous magic from the medieval Japanese era obtained by placing several venomous insects in a jar and letting them kill one another until only one survives, “Kodoku” - which interestingly also translates as “solitude” - features a cast of producers old and new to the fold including Saverio Celestri, the faceless △, Prince de Takicardie, Tundramane & Ko$te, Solar Alliance and Shampoo.

A staple element of the Lowlife Cartel bunch, Saverio Celestri paves the way and dishes out one of his signature jagged, EBM-informed weapons in “Sundays”. Through this hotchpotch of acid-steeped bass entangled with a frantic newbeat-ish swing and razor-sharp synthwaves, the Italian producer shows off the raw and playful facets of his craft to optimal effect. Unknown contributor △ clocks in with “Crachats de Lune”, a proper ominous banger going straight for the jugular with its clever mix of dusty, drum-laden churn, processed vox stabs and sci-fi-indebted laser bursts flashing by unrelentingly. Tailored for hi-octane action at the defunct Boccaccio or Hacienda, Prince de Takicardie “Jam’on’Acid (House Mix)” blows the winds of euphoria across the club like it was done in 1995. Vibing to a pulsating mix of rabid snares, 303-vehicled charges and mangled vocal samples on a classic free rave tip, throwback material that packs a punch.

Flip it over and here is North-American duo Tundramane & Ko$te shifting the scope to Memphis chopped-and-screwed in true hardcore fashion. Straight-out aggression, “Brick To The Face” lives up to its title, so expect leaving the place with a few teeth out your mouth and a good concussion, though more side effects could appear over repeated listens. A radical U-turn from the previous, Ute.- related triplet Solar Alliance - alias Ekkel, Oprofessionell and Mikkel Rev - bring their dashing trance touch to the comp with “Quest for Kiba”, an uptemp maelstrom for the senses, swirling and whirling up until space and time make no damn sense any more. Topping off that versatile tour de force, Japanese producer Shampoo adds his delectably sensuous spin on the record with the lush, sample-heavy lo-fi appeal of “四季ノ歌”. Unpolished feelgood vibes, sun- streaked soulfulness and deft-handed MPC wizardry are on the menu for this ultimate ride and jolly finale.

(180 gr vinyl) Musique Pour La Danse presents another collaboration with SF-based Jonah Sharp following the first ever vinyl release of his Reagenz LP with Move D in 2021. This time, the iconic Flurescence EP by his Spacetime Continuum solo project gets the reissue treatment, after being released on the Scotsman's own Reflective Records back in 1993 with an unforgettable holographic center label.

Musique Pour La Danse presents another collaboration with SF-based Jonah Sharp following the first ever vinyl release of his Reagenz LP with Move D in 2021.

This time, the iconic Flurescence EP by his Spacetime Continuum solo project gets the reissue treatment, after being released on the Scotsman's own Reflective Records back in 1993 with an unforgettable holographic center label.

There is a good reason why this EP, actually Sharp's debut release, was so hard to find at reasonable prices and why it has appeared in countless compilations and top lists in the last 3 decades with no sign of slowing down.

Truly timeless, this masterclass in forward thinking electronic music focuses on deeply textured, masterfully arranged, and skillfully morphing tracks with a cosmic tinge that feels warm instead of cold, and rewards repeat listens.

Prepare to bend the very fabric of spacetime during the 28 minutes of heavenly chill out and celestial techno/trance contained in this 12" black hole, remastered and repackaged for the 21st century. Title track Flurescence is one of the very few that actually captures the ambience of those magical floating years and a trip to the edges of outer space that never ceases to amaze, while Transmitter is a deep dive to the bottom of an ethereal ocean of fur suspended in time, with mysterious samples from the producer's answering machine to boot. Drift is a bona fide gem of rhythmic psychedelic electronic music, breaking down and projecting early trance, IDM and electronica ideas like a prism turning revealing a colorful spectrum of colours after being hit by light. Finally, the fast-paced dancefloor weapon Drug#6 is up there with Choice's Acid Eiffel, Resistance D's Cosmic Love, and Red Planet's Cosmic Movement in the intergalactic pantheon of narcotic, acid techno cuts.

Needless to say, zero gravity listening is strongly encouraged.

When it comes to post-Dylan psychedelic folk with acid-tinged dreams look no further than legendary 60s Greenwich Village figure Randy Burns. His beautiful string of albums released between ’66 and ’71 on New York’s mythical ESP-Disk are all you need if you’re a loner folk fanatic. ‘Of Love And War’, ‘Evening Of The Magician’ & ‘Song For An Uncertain Lady’ are the source, eerie acoustic ballads, folk-rock that travels wide and distant over melancholy flute arrangements and country grooves. “The Exit And Gaslight Years 1965-69” collects all the best cuts from that an era, opening a crystal clear window on the inspiring work of Randy Burns. RIYL: Fred Neil, Ed Askew, Dave Bixby, F.C. McMahon, Mike Hurley. Genre: Folk / Acid-Folk Track list: 1. Evening Of The Magician 2. Echos Of Mary's Song 3. Standing At Your Door 4. Girl From England 5. When Daylight Comes In Everything 6. Song For An Uncertain Lady 7. Ron's Song 8. Autumn On Your Mind 9. Maybeline 10. Any Tuesday In The Rain 11. Waiting For An Old Friend / Africa 12. Deegan Street

When it comes to post-Dylan psychedelic folk with acid-tinged dreams look no further than legendary 60s Greenwich Village figure Randy Burns. His beautiful string of albums released between ’66 and ’71 on New York’s mythical ESP-Disk are all you need if you’re a loner folk fanatic. ‘Of Love And War’, ‘Evening Of The Magician’ & ‘Song For An Uncertain Lady’ are the source, eerie acoustic ballads, folk-rock that travels wide and distant over melancholy flute arrangements and country grooves. “The Exit And Gaslight Years 1965-69” collects all the best cuts from that an era, opening a crystal clear window on the inspiring work of Randy Burns. RIYL: Fred Neil, Ed Askew, Dave Bixby, F.C. McMahon, Mike Hurley. Genre: Folk / Acid-Folk Track list: 1. Evening Of The Magician 2. Echos Of Mary's Song 3. Standing At Your Door 4. Girl From England 5. When Daylight Comes In Everything 6. Song For An Uncertain Lady 7. Ron's Song 8. Autumn On Your Mind 9. Maybeline 10. Any Tuesday In The Rain 11. Waiting For An Old Friend / Africa 12. Deegan Street

2022 Repress

The Artist Concurrently Known As Jackmate has been already been indoctrinated into our cult since he signed onto he Pampa bookings roster awhile back. As SoulPhiction he is also co-founder of Philpot, the Stuttgart-based label, home to the majority of his releases over the past 10+ years. Anyway, we get the privilege of stamping the Turkey logo on SoulPhiction's first proper release of 2013, following his remixes for Murat Tepeli and Detroit Swindle. 'When Radio Was Boss' is a tribute to those magical electromagnetic waves that ruled yesteryear. With that prototypical Pampa percussion-rattling and clanking its way into the room-and a warm, round bassline bounce combined with some symphonic froth in the atmosphere, this track definitely demands airplay. On the dancefloor, at least! (And right in the middle of the track, catch the pleasantly jarring shout-out from WBAU, the call sign of the defunct New York radio station that counted members of Public Enemy and hosts of Yo! MTV Raps amongst its staff.) On the flip, the bpm gets cranked down just a bit for 'Maybachswagger"-If the A-side is a tribute to radio, the B has roller-skating on its mind. Starting out spooky with a sampled voice cooing over a slightly detuned bassline, the surprise comes in the final third, when a kawaii disco vibe drops in, seducing you onto the rink for a few laid-back laps.

Formed approximately three years ago, before the world changed (temporarily?), Odd Men Out are something of a garage-psych international super-group, with members originally hailing from Italy, Spain and the UK, brought together in the sprawling megalopolis of London in the sticky heat of summer 2019. Lois (drums) and Alessandro (guitar, organ, vocals) had already been playing together in legendary freakbeat trio The Embrooks since '96 (with a 10-year hiatus between 2005 and '15), while bassman Bruno had served time with moody-psych-turned-spiky-British-Beat exponents The Liquorice Experiment and Looking Glass Alice. The untried 'x' factor in this equation is frontman, guitarist, songwriter Nicolino whose love of moody 12-string folk rock and florid psychedelia shapes the overall sound of the band. Late in 2019, the quartet gathered at North Down Sound Studios in south east Kent to record the material presented here. Engineer and State Records mogul Mole was at the controls, manipulating the analogue 8-track recorder to capture the best and most exciting vibes they could offer, in a swirling sea of reverb and audio compression. Tracked predominantly live with a bare minimum of overdubs, this is classic 60s-inspired garage-psych, with elements of The Lemon Drops, Basement Wall and The Baroques to name but a few, yet the four never let their influences get in the way of producing quality original material. The pandemic caused many cancellations and postponements, but Dirty Water Records and Odd Men Out are finally ready to unleash this almighty beast!

Track list:
1. Summer 2. Magic Fudge 3. Mary B 4. Can’t Get Over 5. Big Worries (Big Troubles) 6. Look At Her 7. No 8. Knock On My Door

Limited Metallic Silver Vinyl is exclusive to INDIE STORES. "Money Mouse Records moves effortlessly into the neon-hued vibes of 80's boogie culture with their latest 7" offering from Nashville's CA$H BONU$. Made up of some familiar faces from Music City's funk and soul movement, Andrew Muller and Nick DeVan are joined by Amber Woodhouse who lends her powerfully silken vocals to the mix. With the addition of Pittsburgh's synthesist maestro, BusCrates, along with Muller's deftly executed production flourishes; this record goes straight to the sweet spot of post-disco lushness. "Got Me Thinkin Tonight" is designed for the late-nite dancefloor aficionados, taking cues from some of the era's greats and shaking things up into something new and heaving. The synth work and beats weave together with Woodhouse's amorous lyrics to create a dancefloor jam that sounds just as at home in 1982 as it does in 2022. That magic is repeated on the B-side with "Joy & Pain" a straight up hustler of a track, with a driving drums and heady arrangements that, again, are meant to get the dancefloor churning. Woodhouse's vocals deliver a sweet soulful emotion that jives perfectly with a groove that would make Rod Temperton proud. And don't forget the heavy drum break at the end. CA$H BONU$ is bringing the boogie heat to your feet for real!"

Limited Metallic Silver Vinyl is exclusive to INDIE STORES. "Money Mouse Records moves effortlessly into the neon-hued vibes of 80's boogie culture with their latest 7" offering from Nashville's CA$H BONU$. Made up of some familiar faces from Music City's funk and soul movement, Andrew Muller and Nick DeVan are joined by Amber Woodhouse who lends her powerfully silken vocals to the mix. With the addition of Pittsburgh's synthesist maestro, BusCrates, along with Muller's deftly executed production flourishes; this record goes straight to the sweet spot of post-disco lushness. "Got Me Thinkin Tonight" is designed for the late-nite dancefloor aficionados, taking cues from some of the era's greats and shaking things up into something new and heaving. The synth work and beats weave together with Woodhouse's amorous lyrics to create a dancefloor jam that sounds just as at home in 1982 as it does in 2022. That magic is repeated on the B-side with "Joy & Pain" a straight up hustler of a track, with a driving drums and heady arrangements that, again, are meant to get the dancefloor churning. Woodhouse's vocals deliver a sweet soulful emotion that jives perfectly with a groove that would make Rod Temperton proud. And don't forget the heavy drum break at the end. CA$H BONU$ is bringing the boogie heat to your feet for real!"

On her Signature Sounds debut Til It's Gone, Ali McGuirk delivers a sublime set of songs that pairs her trademark soul sound with rootsy turns and raw rock n' roll detours McGuirk co-produced Til It's Gone with Jonah Tolchin (a star singer-songwriter in his own right) and a set of session legends: Little Feat guitarist/mandolinist Fred Tackett, organist Larry Goldings (James Taylor, Norah Jones), singer Valerie Pinkston (Ray Charles, Luther Vandross), percussionist Lenny Castro (Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder). They provided the astounding chops, but the true magic of the album comes from McGuirk's singular voice as both singer and songwriter. The nine tracks run from intimate introspection to wider meditations on oppression and justice, from tough r&b and tender soul to big rock guitar and twangy folk. And McGuirk's voice bold, buttery, spellbinding " carries each song to the next til they're gone.

Arresto Temporaneo was born very spontaneously as the natural continuation of a collaboration that has lasted for over a year with Tamburi Neri, Adiel and Danza Tribale.

It is pure magic when seemingly different worlds meet and create a dialogue which is the foundation of successfully bringing the creation of this record into fruition. The EP functions as the fusion between the past and the present of the musical experiences of all of us.

Arresto Temporaneo was born by cutting a text "Prepariamoci ad un arresto temporaneo" that the artists liked. The sentence is free to interpret as any of the listeners wish, there is a deliberate reason why the subjective interpretation is avoided.

The EP is filled with the voice and lyrics of A.B. The track "Silenzio" symbolises a moment with which all of us, in spite of ourselves, had to deal with, the deafening noise of silence that can sometimes be devastating and for this reason it is important to understand it and not be afraid of it when it resonates within us.

"Nella penombra" refers to something that moves inside us, not too deep but just important enough to understand, with sounds that nature emits at dawn, when the light still reigns in the dim light, we must learn to move with skills and lightness without harming ourselves and especially others.

The Neapolis label brings us two slices of sun drenched house with a distinctly European feel and a dubby twist, as Partenopes from Naples offer up the beach ready 'Nella' before Craig Bratley takes the track and turns it on its head. His remix is a slow burning acid affair set to leisurely, breezy hip-hop beats, tailor made for that hour when the sun goes down and the tempo goes up. Magical.

Fresh off the back of his highly acclaimed debut album on Astral Black, Footshooter returns to the WOLF Music pack following his ethereal remix of Velour last year, with an exquisite six track journey through his signature sound.

An amalgamation of genres, ideas and vibes blend seamlessly together throughout the record, showing a wealth of knowledge, alongside a production prowess to match. From the cinematic opener 'Welcome In' to the soulful, synth-laden broken beat of ‘Turning’ and 'Archetype 7' on the A side. Samples dance next to magical playing and programming, with hats tipped to legends of yester year whilst keeping things completely fresh at the same time.

Flip it for the B, where UK Funky feels mix with bumping house for the fresh to death, dress to impress 'Dojo'. Footshooter then dips the lights down low and and slows the tempo with the beatsy, piano shimmering brilliance of 'Angel(s)' and the eyes closed, soul healing sounds of 'Hold On'.

Six shots, no misses, Footshooter gets deep into the heart of what’s bubbling in London town right now.

JEFF COTTON OF CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND FAME
RELEASES HIS FIRST EVER SOLO ALBUM -'THE FANTASY OF REALITY'
After playing guitar, lap steel & vocals with the legendary Captain Beefheart & his
Magic Band, appearing on the ground-breaking album 'Trout Mask Replica' (under
the pseudonym Antennae Jimmy Semens), as well as playing on 'Strictly
Personal' & 'Mirror Man', Cotton withdrew from the commercial music business
for nearly 50 years. Using the island state of Hawaii as a home base, he emerges
from his seclusion in 2022 with his first ever solo album; 'The Fantasy Of Reality'.
Whimsical, playful & tongue-in-cheek - Cotton delivers a psychedelic journey that
will delight Beefheart devotees while bringing plenty of new ideas to the table
across the sprawling 22 track, 66- minute runtime. 'Trout Mask Replica' cover
designer Cal Schenkel collaborates once again as he returns to contribute to the
internal artwork of the album to continue the Captain Beefheart canon into the
2020's.
Across the decades, the Magic Band's power & influence has only grown in might
& the cult following of 1969's 'Trout Mask Replica' still excites fans to this day, in
part due to the mystery & enigma of members such as Antennae Jimmy Semens
(aka Jeff Cotton). In 1967, Cotton was scoped by Don Van Vliet - Captain
Beefheart himself, replacing Ry Cooder on guitar. He then went one to help craft
some of Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band's most vibrant recordings & later
contributed to the cult band MU.
Now blending together musical strands such as jazz, delta blues, Hawaiian & the
avant- garde to create a melting pot of ideas, Cotton astonishes fans with his
comeback.
The magic will continue on 'The Fantasy Of Reality', available via Madfish.

Miet, the solo project of musician Suzy LeVoid, was born out of a form of absolute urgency, to make music at all costs Self- taught, when she started playing bass in 2013, the desire to compose and perform on stage quickly led her to create this one-woman band, where the bass
and the voice are the foundations of a raw, sincere, skin-deep music.Only backed
by a looper, she writes and performs alone, and quickly made her way onto the
French stages, appearing alongside Jeanne Added or Shannon Wright.
Although she's always alone on stage or in the studio, Miet expresses how much
the discovery of otherness nourishes her creation, to the point of having chosen
for this second album, still in English, a title in German 'Auslander'. For the
Nantes-based singer, this term means the magic of an unexplained but familiar
word. This "foreigner", or more exactly this "other", seems to take on the
appearance of a character that we learn to discover throughout the ten tracks of
the album.
Suzy LeVoid's newest offering is full of her unique signature sound : abrasive
rock, a deeply personal blend of sound loops, hypnotic rhythms and powerful
distorted bass lines. Strongly inspired by the work of Walt Whitman, Miet, like the
American poet, subtly uses repetition to give a hypnotic character to her lyrics.
This feeling of hypnosis is largely accentuated by the sequence of sound loops,
creating a perception of an infinite cycle and thus giving birth to an almost
mystical atmosphere.

** INITIAL 400 LPs CONTAIN A BONUS 7" OF A RARE XMAS SOUL 45! **

** THE 4th VOLUME OF RARE & HIP-SHAKING SEASONAL GROOVES!! **

Dear Santa, we just loved "Santa's Funk & Soul Christmas Party," Volumes 1-3 TRLP-9013, TRLP-9027, TRLP-9050, and we have really tried to be good this year! Please bring us a whole 'nother album's worth of rare and obscure Christmas-themed funk and soul!

When the third volume of "Santa's Funk & Soul Christmas Party" was released in 2015, everybody involved was certain that it would be the final one. For years, the curators had been looking for "Christmas Rare Grooves" until they finally realized there was nothing left to discover that would justify a fourth volume. Sure, it would have been an easy task to dig through the catalogues of major labels to come up with 40 minutes of more-or-less trivial Christmas soul music. But who on earth would want that kind of album? Since the foundation of Tramp Records in 2003, the label has gained a high reputation as one of the very few German reissue labels of obscure funk, soul, and jazz music. 99% of the songs originate from 7" singles, the small and handy standard-format of the 1960s, which, like Santa's sleigh magically circling the planet on Christmas Eve, spins at forty-five revolutions per minute on the turntable.

So, what can you expect from this, the fourth volume of a series which had ostensibly been completed with only three volumes? After some seven years of digging across the world wide web with open ears and eyes, never tiring of the hundreds of (mainly) shitty songs, hoping to find that kind of monster soul or funk track that constituted the hallmark of the previous volumes, the compilers slowly and surprisingly began to see a fourth volume taking shape. Finally, after more than two thousand days, a complete album's worth of quality tunes had been discovered and secured for release.

"Santa's Funk & Soul Christmas Party Vol. 4" contains a highly diverse selection of obscure Christmas songs. For example, take Bey Ireland's garage-mod-rocker "All I Want For Christmas Is A Go-Go Girl," is something to get you go-going around the tree! Do you prefer mirror-balls to tinsel? Check out Bill Deal with Pure Pleasure. Too fast? How about the dazzling-melancholic "I Won't Be Home For Christmas"? Do you prefer rap music while you wrap presents? Then your choice is going to be Hot & Sassy. Old-School-Hip Hop at its best. Every single song has a compelling reason to be included in this extraordinary selection. Not least is the opening track by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. Their contribution represents the soul sound of the 21st century. Charming soul music with sociocritical lyrics, something you rarely find in the current musical landscape.

Even though the selected tracks that the two compilers and their worker elves proudly present on "Santa's Funk & Soul Christmas Party Vol. 4" are unbelievable, they are very real and will be the surprise gift from Santa this season that can be enjoyed year-round! It took seven years to complete, but believe us when we say it was well worth the wait. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Key selling points:

- initial 400 LPs contain a BONUS 7" of a ULTRA-RARE Christmas soul 45

- ALL but one song appear on CD, Vinyl LP and digital for the very first-time

- the vinyl LP comes with a full album download code

- fold-out CD-booklet and gatefold LP come with liner notes and label scans

First Time On Black vinyl. A lot has happened to the Magic Castles since this was released in April 2021 this release took over a year to be manufactured, the band have toured with the Brian Jonestown Massacre & the Warlocks in the USA in 2022 & the the track “Lost Dimension” was used in the HBO series “Succession” so not a bad 2022 for the band. Sun Reign is the band’s fourth release on Anton Newcombe's label ‘A’ Recordings Ltd. Ironically similar to BJM, the Magic Castles have been plagued by lineup changes over the years. In November of 2019, tragedy struck and Edmonds was seriously injured in a car accident that required hospitalization and surgery. Friends started a Go Fund Me that raised over $20k USD for the uninsured musician’s hospital bills, showing an incredible outpouring of love and support for him and his family. Fortunately, Edmonds has made a complete recovery from his injuries and has bounced back remarkably well. In early 2020, Edmonds managed to finish the remaining work on the album “Sun Reign”, including a previously unreleased song, “Surmise'' penned by guitarist Jermiah Doering, and a rare cover of a moody 1966 garage rock song “Ode to the Wind” by Danny and the Counts. Edmonds also began working with a booking agency, planning a return tour to Europe with the band to support the new album. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Due to the global pandemic crisis of Covid-19, the album was delayed until 2021, and the promising tour was cancelled. In May of 2020, Minneapolis police killed George Floyd two blocks from Edmonds’ home, which incited riots across the country. The protests led to the burning of Minneapolis, where a long time music venue and many other buildings were lost. Edmonds’ studio was not destroyed although many nearby buildings were. Edmonds is a known supporter of Black Lives Matter Tracklisting:- 1) Sunburst , 2) Lost Dimension , 3) Ode to the Wind , 4) Asuras , 5) World of Time , 6) Valley of Nysa , 7) Magna Mater , 8) Surmise , 9) Gates of the Sun , 10 ) Relax Your Mind

Laila Sakini's new album 'Paloma' arrives via Modern Love and is her most striking and ambiguous to date - a pointed and timely meditation on hope and hierarchies that riffs on Zbigniew Preisner's magical "The Double Life of Veronique" score and enduring outsider music tome "The Langley Schools Music Project". Subtly transcendent, fathoms-deep music.

When Laila Sakini's debut album ‘Vivienne’ arrived in 2020, it felt like the record we were waiting for to map out our tangled reactions to an uninvited reality. Never self-consciously strange, it revealed itself slowly and cautiously, like a shadow in the corner of the eye, or an alchemical symbol in a bowl of alphabet spaghetti. This time around Sakini has worked her unique world-building to an even finer point, forming six tracks around a theme that's so close to our heart it's almost beating in time. Initially inspired by Krzysztof Kieślowski's 1991 arthouse classic "The Double Life of Veronique", the cult Polish director's enduring modern fairytale that serves as a cosmic rumination on identity and choice. Detailing two identical women - both singers, both in love - the film lets one live as the other dies, forcing us to consider the implications of art and endurance in the face of life's myriad challenges.

Sakini takes Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner's influential score for the film and uses it as a jumping-off point for ‘Paloma’, bending the more grandiose moments into baroque awkwardness on opening track 'Fluer D'Oranger' and evoking the mood of scene-setting cues 'Weronika' and 'Véronique' on the recorder-led 'The Light That Flickers In The Mirror'. And while Preisner's score zeroed in on the musical virtuosity of the film's lead characters, Sakini reinterprets that as a metaphor for self-discovery. Playing piano, violin, glockenspiel, timbale, recorder, and occasionally singing, Sakini captures a mood of innocence that immediately transports the listener back to simpler times. Her music isn't self-consciously simplistic, but forcing herself to interface with instruments impulsively rather than studiously, her sounds are all heart, no filigree.

In spirit, it reminds us of cult Canadian album "The Langley Schools Music Project", a collection of 1970s recordings of school kids singing rudimentary renditions of pop songs in a school gymnasium. That album's genius was in the bottling of hope and innocence: the feeling of joy from hearing and wholesomely interacting with music that's known and loved without a sense of hierarchy or desire for cultural clout. Sakini subtly subverts this by evoking the amateur spirit in the most bewitching way; instead of sourcing her ideas from Bowie, Fleetwood Mac and the Beach Boys, her stock is the established art canon, and by reforming those sounds she makes an insightful comment on intellectualism and access. European classical music is all too often trapped behind the frosted glass of respectability and assumed skill - craft replaces spirit, and technique replaces soul. By approaching these gestures from a different angle, Sakini softens the edges sonically and intellectually, finding music that bubbles with emotion, and most strikingly - hope.

Her choice of instruments and the way she interacts with them allows us to feel as if we're not only listening but contributing. It's a bottom-up way of absorbing art that's traditionally been top-down, and a reminder that we're all part of the experience, whether we're humming along to the remnants of a theme as it dribbles out of an ear in the shower, or dreaming of spotlights in a parallel life that may or may not be real. Sakini's music is nostalgic in a sense, but nowhere near the buttered popcorn and high-fructose candy migraine of the Netflix/Spotify algorithm generation of regurgitated churn. She makes sounds that remind us of what time and experience may have stolen from us, and how we might recover it.

We, the label, asked Ben Wallers (ex-Country Teasers) to write a press release for his new album. "Press Release And Give Me The Disc as Peter said to Murphy said to Daniel said to Ash said to J said to the drummer subs please check name was it Martyn Atkins? No... scratch that please Roger, there's nothing funny about not knowing all the members of Bauhaus. Announcing the new album by The Rebel, yay! Wow! Fucking hell, great! How long is it this time? Oh it's getting on for the optimal 45 mins. Fit on side of a D90 but go bit wobbly near end of SA90. I am listening to my copy on vinyl record, it's much better than tape. That's the intro. Once upon a time there was a man/boy a sort of immature Peter's Pan type pan-pipe type who COULDNT WOULDNT grow up a bit like Keith Richards and who er where was i? The Vagina Museum is very near Maureen Paley's art gallery where if you hurry you can see some INCREDIBLY GOOD paintings/art. Anyway once upon a time it was february 2021 if that's last year or 2020 if it was the one before that, i've lost count, honestly this Covid thing is SO confusing isn't it? Anyway. Ducking fomestic crisis as usual reached boiling point again and i fucked off didn't i, did a runner, off to Turkey wiv a lih-ooh bih-uh ragarahn me ed, first of all 2 weeks on George's spare mattress, then 2 weeks in Merlin's magical tower, then a week in a fucking EasyJet Hotel with no windows, then at last my new exile retreat, Congreve Ho. Meanwhile Dad got me a new recording device the size of a VHS tape, the Tascam D-POO 8 S-E-X multitrack. Quality, oscar mike golf!! Urine for a surprise Listener/s! Ural b sayin "Y could ont he ov get 1 of these B4?" Well! Paid off the fuckin mortgage, didden Eye listenerz. Paid the fucking mortgage of. Dad said "Lets get you a reward Son! Anything name it!" Well i said ... can you fix it for me to touch Britney's hat? The one she wore for the Milkshake video. Great album. Recorded it in exile, from where i write this press release and give me the tape Kevin Haskins." And he did. Tracklist: 1. Nemo To Self 2. I’m Wok Inner Gdn.C 3. A Cretian Build-Up 4. Lays A Seamless Transition 5. A Bottle Of Timotei Hair-Shampoo 6. Long Way Off 7. Teulleodd Hapys (Dave 1) 8. I Aint Gonna Lie To Ya 1 9. Bisgeden Am Swper Eto (Dave 4) 10. Put Your Fucking Glasses On So You Can Fucking See 11. Happy Families (Dave 3) 12. Pyfgosycfs 2/Aquafauna 13. Dave Two Ukraine Nil 14. Nemo Self 2

Certain to become a staple of countless Christmas and Holiday music
collections for many years to come, More The Merrier, the 8-song holiday
EP from pop artist and songwriter Sarah Reeves featuring the song,
"Winter Wonderland (feat
Clark Beckham)" will fit perfectly alongside Bing and Nat and the Vince Guaraldi
Trio. Listeners are sure to experience all of the sounds and feelings the holidays
have to offer or remind us of, from the lighthearted, jazzy fireside moments to the
sacred. More The Merrier was produced and arranged by Ben Schofield and Mark
Campbell. Sarah signed her first record deal at age 18. For more than a decade, in
addition to pursuing her own artistry, she has dedicated a vast portion of her
career to writing songs for other artists and TV and film. Her music has appeared
in Disney Plus and National Geographic's six- part original series " Welcome To
Earth," starring Will Smith; Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon international trailer;
promos for "American Idol " and UFC; and on television series across major
networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and Netflix, among others. " Winter
Wonderland is one of the first songs I play every year at the beginning of the
Christmas season, "shares Reeves. " It is simple, classic and I was so excited to
record my own version. I asked my friend who is an incredible artist named Clark
Beckham to join me on this song. He was the perfect addition. I hope this song
brings a magical feeling of warmth and nostalgia this Christmas."
Reeves has also been featured on tracks by high-profile DJs, including Gatt so,
Laidback Luke, Justice Skolnik, R3HAB, and Armin Van Buuren. Having amassed
more than 65 million career on-demand streams, the Curb | Word Entertainment
artist has garnered 26 million Pandora lifetime streams and over 37.5 million
YouTube views to date.