quête:the pan

Lucinda Williams’ music has gotten her through her darkest days. It’s been that way since growing up amid family chaos in the Deep South, as she recounts in her candid new memoir, Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I told You. Over the past two years, it’s been the force driving her recovery from a debilitating stroke she suffered on November 17, 2020, at age 67. Her masterful, multi-Grammy-winning songwriting has never deserted her. To wit, her stunning, sixteenth studio album, Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, brims over with some of the best work of her career. And though Williams can no longer play her beloved guitar – a constant companion since age 12 – her distinctive vocals sound better than ever. The band rocks out on the album’s jubilant opening track, “Let’s Get the Band Back Together,” which features a gang of background singers, including Margo Price and Buddy Miller. Inspired by “that need for community after all the isolation of the pandemic,” Williams offers, the song is “about getting old friends together again who’d drifted apart.” Price also joins her on the bluesy protest, “This Is Not My Town.” The evocative “New York Comeback” also includes guest vocalists – Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa. A Lucinda Williams fan, Springsteen had joined her onstage in London a few years back, and he and Scialfa had wanted to contribute to a Williams album for a while. With Reese Wynans on B3 and the Pettibone-Mathis guitar attack, the musical setting perfectly matches the theme of “Comeback,” as well as on the catchy story-song “Rock N’ Roll Heart,” to which Springsteen and Scialfa also contributed vocals. Says Williams, “Having Bruce and Patti on these songs feels really great. It’s just so cool!” As she promises on the powerful last track of Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart–one of the best albums of her career–Lucinda Williams is “never gonna fade away.”

The post-industrial Ruhr-Area has been an indisputable part of Germany's techno landscape since the very beginning. More than 30 years after techno's golden era and after a manifold challenging pandemic, the scene and its sounds are blooming like never before. Ahmet Sisman and his project The Third Room can be described as key factors for both the area's ongoing, sustainable dedication to electronic music and its current success, being more and more embedded in cultural contexts and society overall.

It's unsurprising that the first album of Ahmet Sisman, the multitalented artist and man of action, is a well-considered mix of familiar and pioneering sounds, enriched by countless influences within and beyond technos constantly evolving sub-genre scenery. With a sophisticated 50/50 mix of four on the floor strikes and innovative breaks, Sisman manages to hit a sweet spot between raw but groovy, experimental but subtle nostalgia, melodious but noisy.

All this is already worthy of a listen, but placed in context, it perfectly fits the musical approach of the Ruhr-Areas biggest transcendental techno project - The Stone Techno Series and Festival. Like the bound-breaking release series of the last two years, 'The Third Space' maintains the metallic and fierce sound vision of a coal mining tradition with everlasting impact. The time travel through industrialization and renaturation continues here with T3R008 and gains a whole new dimension from Sisman's skilled handwriting.

Mike Viola is a producer, musician, songwriter and singer. Viola may be best known for his work with Panic! at the Disco, Andrew Bird, Ryan Adams, Jenny Lewis and Mandy Moore, but his solo career stands on its own starting with a number of acclaimed records as the leader of New York based cult favourite Candy Butchers and 7 critically adored Mike Viola records. His original music has been featured on soundtracks for movies such as That Thing You Do!, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Get Him to the Greek. Decades into his career his music continues to resonate with and inspire new generations of musicians and music lovers. Viola is cranking out more music than ever including the fan favorites; “The American Egypt” from 2019 and “Godmuffin” from 2021. Paul McCarthy was recorded over the summer of 2022 on 1/2” tape at “Barebones”, Viola’s home studio in Los Angeles. Joined by his friends Jake Sinclair on bass and Brendon Urie on drums. Viola says, “I set out to make a sonic monster using the legs of James Gang Rides Again, the heart of Black Sabbath Paranoid, with my kid brain inside my greying middle aged head on top. I’ve hit a point in my life where instinct has taken the reins fully, logic now waits in the wings to sweep up the stage and pay the taxi fare home. This album is the result of committing to this path fully and laughing all the way.” Viola will support the album release with his first tour in over a decade with dates in Europe and the US in Winter/Spring 2023, and more dates to follow later in 2023.

Images Of Goo is what Munich sound bricolageurs Leo Hopfinger aka LeRoy (head of Das Hobos, H, Spiritual Emojis and others) and Cico Beck aka Joasihno (active member of The Notwist, Aloa Input, Spirit Fest and others) call their first musical dialogue in album format.

It is equally a dialogue with the elements of their sonic repertoire of echo variations and sonic shadows from the percussive instrument box. In their sum, a Wunderkammer of a panaudic, which can be approached and departed in six tracks per side.

There we pass a fuzzy factory flow music of sound tiles and find ourselves in the next station in a game of pot banging and gong shower with firecrackers and other sound explosions. Tinpan tinkertoy and sparkler warehouse become an offbeat downbeat of sound loops, and already we imagine ourselves amid the hammering and pounding of a magic sound forge at the center of the earth, which may be the center of a distant galaxy.

On side two, we enter a dripstone cave boogaloo ("Let's start tripping") and it drips candle wax from a vocoder space-age melody, emoting and coagulating into a Morse-coding cumbia chant. Wax music this is - music that grows out of itself, even if by the means of tape and collage.

At the end there is a music snake, which, having become snake music itself, disappears in front of our ears with a swing. And maybe this is the beginning ...

Ghanas Linda Ayupuka spielt zeremonielle Fra Fra-Musik über schnelle Feuertempi und hypnotische Drumloops, die auf eine internationale Palette elektronischer Tanzstile verweisen, vom DJ-geführten Balani Show-Straßensound Malis über Electro-Acholi bis zu modernem Dancehall/R&B. Auf 'God Created Everything' fängt sie die Unmittelbarkeit früher Aufnahmen von Größen wie Oumou Sangaré und Rokia Traoré ein, um sich als neues westafrikanisches Gesangstalent zu präsentieren. Ihr Produzent Francis Ayamga (Top Link Studios), Live-Drummer von Ghanas King Ayisoba und Produzent der meisten Tracks auf dessen jüngstem Album für Glitterbeat, hebt Lindas Gesang mit seiner spielerischen Produktion von Laptop-DJ-Samples und abstürzenden Drum-Pads in den Himmel.

"(Linda) exists somewhere between the Malian singer Oumou Sangare´ and the lo-fi-to-the-future beats heard on the Nyege Nyege Tapes label." - NPR - All Songs Considered - Best Of 2022

"Combining traditional instrumentation and call-and-response vocals with sparkling synths, rapid-fire beats, and drum machine polyrhythms. Ayupuka achieves an electrifying syncretism on this album, giving Fra Fra gospel its rightful place on the global dance music stage." - BANDCAMP, Best Of 2022

"An uptempo blend of choral chants and sparkling, 80s electro synths." - THE GUARDIAN, Albums Of The Month

"Linda Ayupuka fait du gospel façon disco au Ghana et chante son amour de Dieu sur des synthés entêtants." - LE MONDE

"A mashup of gospel, disco and savannah sounds, produced with all the D.I.Y vim of Balani Show, Nyege Nyege Tapes and the Awesome Tapes roster." - PAN AFRICAN MUSIC - Best Of 2022

"Super interesting!" - GILLES PETERSON, BBC 6MUSIC

The seminal EP »In Rhythm«, the sole 1982 release by post punk/mutant disco wizards Scream And Dance, reissued on vinyl for the very first time. A necessary addition to the influential Bristol scene dominated by Rip Rig and Panic, Pop Group and the likes.

Originally released in 1982 on Recreational Records, this maxi single was produced by Steve Street, who began his career in 1976 on the Bristol music scene by recording demos for The Pop Group, and later in 1978/89 for Glaxo Babies. This dub-inflicted takes on classic indie/funk/wave still sounds refreshing today.

Label head J.Wiltshire returns to Super Hexagon with eight tracks of ambient techno-inspired music paying homage to some of the collective's early influences.
‘sun link' is laced with tensile rhythms, tinged with sun-washed melodies and plots a winding path through warm, Ultra Panavision soundscapes and icy dub techno sonics.

Mastered by Andy Miles
Design by Joe Gilmore

About J. Wiltshire:

Jacob Wiltshire has been releasing music and spearheading the Super Hexagon label and event series since 2015 - starting with the collective’s early showcases in Leeds and through to recent releases from Christoph de Babalon and Isabassi. ’sun link’ marks his return to the label for his third solo endeavor into the long play format.

The first album from sparkle*jets u.k. in over two decades is a joyous celebration of the LA pop scene of the late '90s and early 2000s.

Zweieinhalb Jahre nach "Moral Panic" sind die Engländer von Nothing But Thieves mit ihrem vierten Album zurück: "Dead Club City". Darauf zu hören ist u.a. die erste Single "Welcome To The DCC" - ein Rocksong mit einem Hauch von Funk und 80er-Jahre-Einflüssen. Nothing But Thieves hat weltweit 1,2 Millionen Alben verkauft und wurde über 2 Milliarden Mal gestreamt!

Zweieinhalb Jahre nach "Moral Panic" sind die Engländer von Nothing But Thieves mit ihrem vierten Album zurück: "Dead Club City". Darauf zu hören ist u.a. die erste Single "Welcome To The DCC" - ein Rocksong mit einem Hauch von Funk und 80er-Jahre-Einflüssen. Nothing But Thieves hat weltweit 1,2 Millionen Alben verkauft und wurde über 2 Milliarden Mal gestreamt!

(Incl. tracks by Alex Medina, Marco Bailey, Testimony, MTRZ, Diego Infanzon, Alex Finkin & Rocco Rodamaal)

Hand-picked by Laurent Garnier & Scan X, this latest volume is another diverse collection, leaning towards the wonkier and of techno and electro, but with jaunts into other ballparks, such as the hip-hop and spoken word drift in Testimony's 'Soul Sellers'.

Early support from The Blessed Madonna, John Digweed, Joseph Capriati, Ross Allen & DJ Deep.

In the quiet surrounding the pandemic, Madeline Kenney made sonic sketches in the basement studio she shared with her then-partner. She arranged phrases that called her—the sharp knife of a synth cutting a path along a blooming arpeggio, drums stuttering firm and tight. Working this way, she amassed a collection of songs she had no particular aims for. Some formed her 2021 EP Summer Quarter, others languished.

But in 2022, Kenney’s partner left suddenly and without warning, plunging her into the solitary act of untangling what happened. In the wake of her ensuing depression, she revisited these songs and found in them something prescient. She’d already laid the foundation for A New Reality Mind.

That her relationship’s end came without warning is only half true, though. The warnings were in the feelings and fears that inspired Kenney’s critically-acclaimed third album, Sucker’s Lunch (2020), which was co-produced by Jenn Wasner (Flock of Dimes) and centered around the idea of flinging oneself freely into the seemingly-assured destruction of new love, come what may.

If sonically Sucker’s Lunch was letting yourself be pulled into the warm bath of a good story, A New Reality Mind reflects the harsh light of truth coming to break the spell. But as sobering as morning light can be, there’s brilliance to it, too. To see in the clarity of day is a gift. A revolution. Rather than reckoning with love lost, the songs on A New Reality Mind grapple with the self that chose to fall. “I guess I only needed to look twice / Reflected in my attitude, my constant compromise,” Kenney sings on “Red Emotion,” the musical landscape screeching and gasping around her observations of how she made herself small to keep the dream of love alive.

These notions of sight and vision pervade the record as Kenney stands before the infinity mirror of selves she’s been to preserve bonds in her life. On “I Drew a Line,” Kenney contends with the stories she’s told herself to keep plodding along, and the way those stories shape her perceived reality. She invokes John Berger’s Ways of Seeing—“Everything around the image is part of its meaning,” we hear him say. “Everything around it confirms and consolidates its meaning.” Here, Kenney isn’t interested in shaming herself for being carried away by the fantasies of the heart, but rather in investigating the unavoidably human propensity to do so. “I, like everyone else, am muddling through my most ordinary disaster of a life,” she acknowledges, a sentiment which reverberates through album opener “Plain Boring Disaster.” “I don’t need to start again,” she sings at the song’s close. “But I can change when it ends.” We may all be doomed to repetitive, ordinary heartbreaks, Kenney realizes, but at least we can cultivate a capacity to witness our missteps and build new realities for ourselves.

This is Kenney’s most expansive work, while also her most solitary. Produced and recorded alone in her basement, these songs are manifestations of what it feels like to be transformed by pain. Textures collide and collude; sonic ornaments emerge and dissipate capriciously; saxophones soar untamed, as on the 80s pop elegy to self-sacrifice, “Reality Mind”. These songs beg you to dance, then pull the rug out from under you once you’ve caught the beat, leaving you dizzy like the whiplash of love’s end.

But in the propulsive power of A New Reality Mind, there’s also acceptance, self-forgiveness, and a willingness to move forward into life, with all its ways of making a sucker of you. “That way of living, I’m over it,” Kenney declares of the habits that hold her back on “Superficial Conversation”. “I do not need to be reminded of what I did,” she assures, the song opening wide and beaming, like a smile expanding to taste a new breath of air.

Repress!

**NEW 2018 ALBUM FROM KIKAGAKU MOYO**The shifting dimensions of Masana Temples, fourth album from psychedelic explorers Kikagaku Moyo,are informed by various experiences the band had with traveling through life together, ranging from the months spent on tour to making a pilgrimage to Lisbon to record the album with jazz musician Bruno Pernadas. The band sought out Pernadas both out of admiration for his music and in an intentional move to work with a producer who came from a wildly different background.

With Masana Temples, the band wanted to challenge their own concepts of what psychedelic music could be. Elements of both the attentive folk and wild-¬-eyed rocking sides of the band are still intact throughout, but they're sharper and more defined.
Kikagaku Moyo started in the summer of 2012 busking on the streets of Tokyo. Though the band started as a free music collective, it quickly evolved into a tight group of multi-¬-instrumentalists. Kikagaku Moyo call their sound psychedelic because it encompasses a broad spectrum of influence. Their music incorporates elements of classical Indian music, Krautrock, Traditional Folk, and 70s Rock. Most importantly their music is about freedom of the mind and body and building a bridge between the supernatural and the present. Improvisation is a key element to their sound.



More than the literal interpretation of being on a journey, the album's always changing sonic panorama reflects the spiritual connection of the band moving through this all together. Life for a traveling band is a series of constant metamorphoses, with languages, cultures, climates and vibes changing with each new town. The only constant for Kikagaku Moyo throughout their travels were the five band members always together moving through it all, but each of them taking everything in from very different perspectives. Inspecting the harmonies and disparities between these perspectives, the group reflects the emotional impact of their nomadic paths. The music is the product of time spent in motion and all of the bending mindsets that come with it.

In 2016, After Reissuing Two Bruce Haack Albums, Haackula And Electric Lucifer Book Ii, Telephone Explosion Began Speaking With Ted Pandel (bruce's Lifelong Friend And Business Partner) About Working On The 1970 Masterpiece The Electric Lucifer. It Turned Out There Was Another Matter That He Wanted To Discuss: Finding A Final Resting Place For The Bruce Haack Archive.

We Were Shown Test-pressings Of The Electric Lucifer Board Mixes From His Columbia Studio Sessions, Countless Pieces Of Written Music, A Large Number Of Personal Photos, An Invitation From Raymond Scott Inviting Bruce To Play His Newly Created Electronium
Instrument (now Owned By Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh), Poems, Press Clippings, And, Most Importantly, A Heavyduty Shelf Containing 213 Reel-to-reel Tapes. All Of The Chosen Material On The Preservation Tapes Is Unreleased, Has Only Been Heard By A Handful Of People And Showcases A Relatively Unknown Period In Bruce's
Musical Career Where Bruce Was Recording For Sparrow Records (who Billed Themselves As "america's Best Christian Music Record Label'). Bruce's Signature Farad Vocoder Continues To Feature Prominently, But The Lyrical Content Is Decidedly More Religious.
The Bruce Haack Archive Is Now Resting In The Provincial Archives Of Alberta, In Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada.

Orpheu the Wizard has a magic touch at finding records that fall between the gaps in music - oddities, curios, the weird, the wonderful. But that's just half the trick. It takes a sensitive and selective ear to construct a coherent, accessible narrative from them. So you get DJs who can play for the crowd and "selectors" adept at mining the black gold. In Orpheu, you've got yourself someone who can do both. On a festival main stage, he can keep it weird enough for the heads. In an audiophile setting, he'll keep the flow.

These skill sets come into play on the fifth The Sound of Love International compilation. Jumping between genres, decades, continents, the truly rare, and many B-side cuts that passed you by. But never eclecticism for its own sake; this collection makes sense. Orpheu never loses sight of the listener - he's a friendly and knowledgeable guide to the cosmic outer reaches.

He opens his account with the warm, psychedelic electronics of Drawing Future Life, with ‘1969’. Tucked away on the B-side of an LP of ambient/trance hailing from Fukuoka, this is a very pretty piece of music on a truly rare piece of wax. Then, leapfrogging a couple of decades and timezones, we have Rutuu Poiss' "IHATSIN." Off-kilter, experimental sounds with an endearing melodic hook, followed up by the with lethargic ambient breakbeat of Digital Distortion's "Mellow Bug".

On the B-side, things start to get lively. French Audacity featuring Valerie's "That Fine One" is Gallic garage that has simultaneously got it hugely wrong and mas­sively right. Owing as much to new wave as New York house, this is propulsive and quirky dance music at its finest. Next, we're on a ferry over the channel for DJ Spike and "Gaps In Space." Up-tempo electro with a fondness for sampled vocal cut-ups, like its predecessor.

lnterdance's "Kurz" (another B-side) is the perfect segway - house from 1990 with that sweet, slightly goofy naivete. Things move toward the gnarly with Bad Behaviour and "Living on Smoke," a lesser-known cut on the legendary Atmosphere records. The tempo edges upward on "Systematic Input" by Frequency, hectic hardcore techno that still retains a lightness of touch.

"Lushes" by Diffusion spins us off into space, filigree techno with an emotive trance edge. The chiming intro of "Blue to Be Happy" by MFA lulls us into a sense of false security before massively putting the boot in with a pounding kick drum, bassline, and arpeggiation. From there, it's a sharp left turn into the urban psychedelic dub of R.I.P's "E.O Pan" on cult label Digi Dub.

Sticking with UK sound system music but taking it down a notch, Orpheu closes proceedings with a leftfield reggae excursion from the master of the mixing desk, Mad Professor’s"Oh Hell".

It's a compilation as varied as the many moods and grooves of Love International itself - from sun-dappled olive groves to moments deep in the strobes. This is serious music for party freaks or party music for serious freaks. Tisno is calling.

JAG PANZER not only are one of the most important US Heavy Metal bands, but also one of the first ones. The band was formed in 1981 in Colorado, and released their debut album entitled "Ample Destruction" just 3 years later, in 1984.

Today, almost 40 years later, the album – which already presented the band’s very own and unique style - is known as one of the pillars of American Heavy Metal, and is often referred to as the trailblazer of the Power Metal scene. In the last few decades the Heavy Metal scene was going through ups and downs, and so was the band’s career.

Nevertheless, JAG PANZER managed to release 10 more studio albums, and earned the status of an absolute legend of the genre. Yes, they are being called legends, they are being called veterans – but it absolutely doesn’t mean that the band sounds outdated. Exactly the opposite applies:

Their new concept studio album entitled "The Hallowed" of course includes all trademarks and sounds like a classic JAG PANZER album. But it also includes an impressive dose of energy and high-octane in-your-face attitude that will please both old school die-hard fans and young enthusiasts of the genre alike!

Panthera returns to Bordello, their identity still shrouded in secrecy.

Following on from the four tracks of Synthesizer Hits, this unknown entity is back with a further quarter for Synthesizer Hits Vol. 2. Rich melodies and pulsing percussion characterise the infectious “Demon.” Key shifts and samples linger as textured toms and crisp snares keep the energy high. The tempo lowers for the considered “Stallion.” Bright and hopeful bars ascend before breaking to shimmering dawn. The juddering arpeggios and drum rolls of “Newlook” draw us back to the dancefloor. Melodies glow overhead in this celestial composition. The finale is steeped in the unforgettable tradition of italo. A heartwarming tribute to spaghetti dance, Panthera delivers an addictive rift, sparking synthwork and rhythms that are crisp. A perfect end by an artist who is garnering deserved attention amongst the faithful.

Cory Hanson"s third solo LP follows upon 2020"s luminescent Pale Horse Rider, upping the heat to molten levels, six strings at a time. In search of further adventures, Cory draws with vampiric glee from the madness coursing through the world outside; a spiraling shitshow that"s reawakened a compulsion in him - an old ambition, even! - to crush brutality and elegance together into a fresh set of rocks to hail down upon us. Western Cum is a high-stepping, hard-dancing, first love/heartbreak, tonight"s-the-night, future nostalgia kind of good time - the sound of guitars through the speakers of luxury cars. Like the dream you had once, alone, asleep in an amplifier, blasting Guns N" Roses through every last orifice in your body. And it"s coming through! Western Cum"s map to the treasure is less about pastiche, though; more toward executing the songs by executioner"s axe, rolling their decapitated rhythm heads and soaring melodies, the panoply of Cory"s melodic impulses with guitars, guitars, guitars. Harmony leads are just the tip of the iceberg, but be quick - the guitars like to melt everything in their path! The eight songs of Western Cum are driven by the stalwart bass of brother Casey Hanson and the drums of Evan Backer with a few passing acoustics from Cory and the intermittent spirit-moans of Tyler Nuffer"s steel guitar. The quartet sound - two guitars, bass and drums - acts as beat-making principle/phrasing device, as well as template for Cory"s layers of six-string and vocal textures. From the rooftop of their musical safe house - the band in their makeshift hut and Cory ensconced in an outhouse - they let loose with a blast both face-melting and mind-blowing: a social service that gives constipation a good name.

Back in 2018, two mysterious twelve-inch singles appeared in underground record sthops. Credited to Blotter Trax, a previously unknown outfit who cherished “faceless” anonymity, the pleasingly twisted and mind-altering music on show was a mutant form of electronic psychedelia. The included tracks were variously informed by analogue techno, acid, electro and minimal, but inhabited their own clandestine sonic space. These tracks were, we later discovered, lightly edited “straight to tape” jams, crafted on the fly by their creators in one of Berlin’s most admired studios.

By the time Blotter Trax delivered their follow-up on Clone offshoot Frustrated Funk a year later, the secret was out: the project was in fact a collaboration between two storied artists, techno titan Magda – a DJ/producer who should need little introduction – and serial underground aggravator (and man of many aliases) Jay Ahern, sometime Hauntologists member and acid techno royalty thanks to years spent releasing similarly shadowy EPs as T.B Arthur.

In the years that followed, and before the COVID-19 pandemic grounded them in Berlin, the pair took their incendiary, modular-driven live show to esteemed clubland institutions (Fabric included), on an acclaimed tour of Japan, and onto the stages of festivals across Europe.

Four years on from that appearance on Frustrated Funk, Blotter Trax are back in updated and expanded form. Now a trio thanks to the addition of bassist Hannes Strobl, the band is set to release their far-sighted, funk-fuelled debut album, Super Conductor – a pulsating, thrill-in-minute ride includes contributions from a swathe of notable guests (Nina Hynes, Ilhem Khodja and David Moss provided vocals, Shigeru Tanabu played guitar, Matthew Styles mixed the set and old friend John Tejada mastered it).

While rooted in electro and acid, the album is impressively low-slung, stylish and funky, with nods towards Blotter Trax’s mutual love of Arthur Russell, early ‘80s NYC downtown disco, leftfield new-wave pop and flash-fried punk-funk. Released by JD Twitch’s Optimo Music imprint, it charts the ongoing dancefloor evolution of a band whose days of mystery and mischief are now a distant memory.

Green Monster, the 4th Kito Jempere studio album is a journey through love, interconnectedness and creative freedom, bound together by musical friendship that breaks through walls, borders, languages and shapes; accumulated over a celebrated twenty year career and ten years of Kito Jempere.

Over fourteen tracks Kito teams up with over 26 artists from all over the world: a range of talented artists including Warp records artist Jimi Tenor, Red Snapper drummer Rich Thair, Azari & III ex-vocalist Starving Yet Full, L.I.E.S. records Lipelis (on bass), Curly Castro and SINDYSMAN. The album blends hip-hop, free-flowing jazz and world-building soundscapes into a piece dedicated to Kito’s musical roots; marrying multiple artforms, cultural influences and international artists into a body of work that feels deeply personal, healing and detailed. The accompanying artwork is a world created by Kito made using Midjourney prompt, connecting the albums audio world with visible objects — both vinyl and CD will contain booklets with lyrics and the visual world of Green Monster.

Kito describes the album ‘like getting Ennio Morricone, Weezer, The Beatles, Oneothrix Point Never, Eduard Artemiev, Jaga Jazzist, Massive Attack, Fugazi, Jimi Tenor, Hans Zimmer, Radiohead, John Cage and Aphex Twin all together, then collaborating with movie-directors Wes Anderson, David Lynch, Dziga Vertov and Andrei Tarkovskiy.’ Used as a metaphor to help create his album.

Repress!

Japanese crustpunk and grindcore icon Eri Fuzz-Kristiansen, aka Gallhammer’s Viviankrist, keeps
the curveballs coming on Diagonal with a bloodied mastication of charred noise and and rhythmic
electronics, following up the label’s acclaimed sides by Sote and Not Waving/Jim O’Rourke
Co-released with the metal-minded Ritual Productions label, ‘Cross-Modulation’ is a brutal
testament to the acridly personalised sound that Viviankrist has explored solo since 1995 in Tokyo,
when she performing vocals, sax and SP-202 sampler in her first industrial/noise unit. 23 years
later her music is still sorely raw, yet riddled with a new found poignance and atmospheric unease
that places her music sometimes as close to Kali Malone’s see-sawing dissonance as the power
electronics of Pan Sonic or the possessed pulses of Conrad Schnitzler and Merzbow.
Since the demise of Eri’s main project Gallhammer at the start of this decade, when she moved
from Tokyo to Oslo (home of her husband and bandmate in Sehnsucht, Maniac - also former
vocalist for BM legends Mayhem), she returned to her early Viviankrist alias from 2017 as a place
to express her primitivist-futurist urges, resulting a trio of CDs including the vicious solo strike
of ‘Morgenrøde’ for Cold Spring. Now on ‘Cross-Modulation’ she intuitively tempers that album’s
phosphorous burn with a deadly incisive application of what Black Metal/Techno pioneer Black
Mecha terms “mentation electronics.”
Alloying avant-metal with rhythmic noise, ambient techno and mind-bending drone to a
metallurgic tang, ‘Cross-Modulation’ serves a dense flux of energies in seven parts, piercing a path
thru maelstrom electronics in ‘Eleventh’ to churn up grizzled Vainio-esque rhythms in ‘Blue Iron’,
while the tenderly bruised ambience of ‘Midnight Sun’ provides a bittersweet palette cleanser for
the tart technoid prang of ‘Insects’, a bout of slow gripping psychedelia in ‘Out of Body’, and the
rugged North European pastoralism of ‘Behind Mirror.’

History has proven that when the world is in flames, it ignites the empathetic artists to siren their words, music, and rhythm, to blanket our society"s fury and nurse scorched souls. The seemingly endless years of pandemic lockdown and social distancing, coupled with the turbulent plague of civil unrest and racial injustice, called on Vintage Trouble to step into their battle wear. Like so often before, they have spun records to drop onto the fighting grounds, with the intent to freeze the frame long enough to momentarily halt the warring world. And while at ease, we can freely choose to think before we strike or decide to retreat, rather than thoughtlessly charge into repeating history. This collection of heavy hymns is from the heart, and it provides a necessary rise to our ever reckoning.

Das sechzehnte Album der New Yorker Noise-Rock-Urgesteine Swans um deren Kopf und Sänger Michael Gira, inklusive einer Schar an namhaften Gästen wie Ben Frost.

"Nach zahlreichen pandemiebedingten Tourabsagen für das vorherige Swans-Album 'leaving meaning' und einer scheinbar bodenlosen Grube des Wartens, Wartens, Wartens und der seltsamen Orientierungslosigkeit, die mit dieser plötzlichen, aber nicht enden wollenden erzwungenen Isolation einherging, beschloss ich, dass es Zeit war, Songs für ein neues Swans-Album zu schreiben und alles andere zu vergessen. Es fiel mir relativ leicht, sie zu schreiben, immer in dem Bewusstsein, dass es meine letzten sein könnten. Als ich endlich in der Lage war, mit den Songs in der Hand nach Berlin zu reisen, um mit meinen Freunden an diesem Album zu arbeiten, war das Gefühl ähnlich wie der Moment in 'Der Zauberer von Oz', wenn der Film von Schwarz-Weiß auf Farbe wechselt. Jetzt fühle ich mich ziemlich optimistisch. Meine Lieblingsfarbe ist rosa. Ich hoffe, dass euch das Album gefällt."

'The Beggar' erscheint auf Doppel-Vinyl in einer braunen Spanplattenhülle, als Doppel-CD in einem braunen Spanplatten-Digi-Pack sowie digital. Der knapp 44minütige CD-Track 'The Beggar Lover (Three)' liegt der LP als Download-Karte bei.

- Ltd. 2LP: (Doppel-Vinyl in einer braunen Spanplattenhülle mit einer Download-Karte für zusätzliche 44 Minuten Musik)

Jason Mraz is living full spiral. It’s not full circle, exactly, because he’s changed and his experiences have changed, but on his eighth album, Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride, the musician has found himself returning to a familiar junction in space. The new songs, which are unabashedly pop, see Mraz reuniting with numerous collaborators, including Los Angeles band Raining Jane and producer Martin Terefe, who helmed 2008’s We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. In fact, as Mraz looked at the number eight, he instead saw an infinity sign.

Das intensive, neue Album der britischen Alt Metal Durchstarter!
2021 haben die UK Alt Metal Durchstarter VEXED mit ihrem Debut Culling Culture eines der aufregendsten Alben des Genres veröffentlicht. Mit roher Brutalität und urbaner Attitüde entpuppte sich die Band als die Neuentdeckung der Szene und weckte schon bald großes Medieninteresse. Ein durchschlagender Erfolg, an den das Quartett jetzt mit dem Nachfolgewerk anknüpft, das unter dem Titel Negative Energy am 23. Juni 2023 über Napalm Records erscheint. Auf ihrem Zweitwerk stellen VEXED ihr neues Selbstvertrauen unter Beweis. Brachialer und ungezügelter denn je verarbeiten sie dabei Themen wie Tod, Verrat, Schmerz und Trauer durch markerschütternd ehrlichen, modernen Sound.

Wie bereits der Titel erahnen lässt, hält Negative Energy nichts von erzwungener Positivität. Vielmehr dienen die 13 neuen Songs als Selbsttherapie gegen den aufgestauten Frust der Band. VEXED verpacken tiefgründige und ergreifend ehrliche Lyrics und laufen dabei zu musikalischer Höchstform auf.

„Um Stärke zu finden mussten wir zuerst akzeptieren, dass es uns nicht gut geht, unser Trauma annehmen und uns ihm stellen, indem wir unsere Verletzlichkeit, Ängste und Schwächen teilen”, fügt die
Band hinzu. Negative Energy erweist sich als atemberaubendes, zerstörerisches musikalisches Ventil, das VEXED hernehmen, um vorhandenem Schmerzund Frust Luft zu machen und den frei gewordenen Platz voller Wucht mit Leben zu füllen.

Taken from Skinshape’s ‘Nostalgia’ album. For fans of Khruangbin, El Michels Affair, Tame Impala and Bonobo.

‘Turn Away’ is a song in two parts” explains Skinshape aka Will Dorey. “The front section is intended to be classic songwriter style, with a focus on the chord progression and lyrics. The second half perhaps represents a curious epiphany, a realisation of something profound”. As the plot develops, Dorey’s clandestine charisma creates an alchemic, and most gentlemanly, cleansing of the soul. From his director’s chair, Dorey expands that “following the theme of film music, ‘Dreams of Panama’ could be an exotic scene in the movie, featuring a slight Latin twist and an epic introduction with full choir”. The track also makes the most of an opportunity to use a solo female vocal as the main melody.

Remotely Together introduces new works by claire rousay & Morita Vargas, Maria Chavez & Valentina Magaletti, and KMRU, all commissioned through remote residencies for Rewire’s 2021 - online edition. In the midst of COVID-19 lockdowns, Rewire initiated these collaborations between disparate artists from all over the world, connecting them remotely to explore new creative practices both online and in isolation. The audiovisual results of these residencies were presented during the online edition of the 2021 festival. Newly edited versions of a selection of these performances have now been compiled for this release.

Featuring an enthralling mix of ambient, noise, field recording, and experimental sound art, the scene of Remotely Together is set by the crunching sounds of footsteps over a grassy environment on atmospheric opener Humo De Margatina Dulce, a collaborative song between North American percussionist and improviser claire rousay and Argentinian vocalist Morita Vargas. rousay’s textural mix of field recordings, everyday sounds, and deep electronics coalesce with Vargas’s ethereal vocals, paving the way for compelling music that gradually draws its listeners deeper into its mysterious soundworld.

Meanwhile, New York–based turntablist Maria Chavez and celebrated Italian percussionist Valentina Magaletti collaborate on Particle, featuring hypnotic textures and dreamlike percussion that seems to sonically propel itself forward, slowly expanding into a rich and layered work of stretched-out free jazz.

During his online residency, Kenyan sound artist KMRU teamed up with Dutch filmmaker Donna Verheijden. MicroVerse showcases his evocative mixing of field recordings, entrancing noise, and improvisation, resulting in a piece where the seemingly gentle sounds of the natural world begin to blend in with the artificial muck of droning noise.

Peruvian-born and Amsterdam-based graphic designer Jonathan Castro Alejos has designed the artwork of Remotely Together. It was thought of as a sculptural documentation of the unnoticed urban gestures between Amsterdam and Lima during the pandemic – further reinforcing the relationship between isolation and interconnectivity explored during the remote residencies of Rewire.

Orange Vinyl

D.T.D. is the debut release of Naples’ Giuseppe Augello. The project embodies both sonic experiments with DIY noise boxes, field recordings and sample manipulations and is showcasing Giuseppe’s industrial and post-punk influences with formidable musical variety: Sharp, earthshaking drums or sinister, trance-inducing rituals – D.T.D. offers it all.

Downtempo dark hardcore, the doom is back and his toaster is angry hungy ! Dark Vibes !!!

Marco Vella and Anth Wendt step up to International Feel with a five-track EP of Balearic-tinged bliss for their first collaborative release as Other Mother.

There’s definitely something in the air round the Adelaide Hills. Longtime friends Marco (aka Body Corp) and Anth (aka Oisima) finally got together in Anth’s studio after the pandemic and the result is Numero Uno an EP of laidback synth guitar and drum machine workouts mixing 303 riffs and sunsets for a supremely low-slung vibe.

After cruising around the Hills in the day the pair worked on tracks by night and their carefree days soaking up the sun shines through. Opening track About Time sets a steady pace with its lush delayed guitars slow-rising acid melody and hefty sub perfect for Sunday pub garden appreciation. A side closer Zwang! drops the tempo but brings the percussion into focus for another masterclass in tension and release with interwoven 303s and dub feedback.

Side B keeps the beach-side atmos flowing with guitar licks working around sumptuous synth chords for Anyway Music - a song that’s the ultimate soundtrack understated parts fitting together seamlessly in service to the feeling and belying the technique required. Lost In The Forest makes use of expansive ambient pads synth riffs and shakers to evoke a sense of wonder sunlight coming through the trees.

The EP concludes with Where’s The Fifty a dreamy piece of drum synth phrases and 303 interplay that perfectly characterizes Marco and Anth’s collaboration - two musicians and producers playing to serve the song. They write elements that combine for a harmonious whole greater than the sum of its parts. This is the underlying feel of Other Mother and Numero Uno - we’re all in this together - and by working collaboratively a brighter future might just be around the corner.

For MAN ON MAN, the duo of boyfriends Roddy Bottum (Imperial Teen, Faith No More) and Joey Holman (HOLMAN), 2021 was a monumental year. Without knowing exactly what they were making the year prior, the couple had recorded a batch of songs while traveling across the country to be with their ailing mothers during the pandemic, both of whom passed away in the span of just 6 months. The songs that came out during this time celebrated the love they have for each other while championing the queer scenes they surround themselves with. They are deeply intentional and their overall message is rooted in the Queer experience – songs about gay love, pride, acceptance, self-empowerment, and appropriation. The tracks would eventually appear on their self-

"Nobody wants to live a life that is disposable," says Taylor. "Everybody wants their life and their time to mean something, and I think in our daily lives, there's a choice that can be made to do small things every day so that you really do feel like, 'hey, my life has value." The title and the record's lyrics are partly a reframing of the average human experience. Modern culture has convinced us that a 'normal' life is unremarkable, but this paves over the beauty inherent in routine relations. "Everyone looks at their experience as like, 'I want something more," explains Taylor. "But any conversation that you have with anybody, there are things that you can pull out, or walking somewhere and just looking around and being alive- There's a lot of meaning to me in that, even if you go for a two block walk." The songs on Disposable Life came from ideas Taylor workshopped with lead guitarist Kevin Maida.

When the band gathered again post-pandemic restrictions, the goal was simple: write songs and hinish them without any external end goal. Between December 2020 and February 2021, the band wrote and demoed four songs before recording in Crown Point,

Indiana at longtime collaborator and producer Seth Henderson's Always Be Genius Recording Studio. Vince Ratti (Circa Survive, The Wonder Years) mixed the EP and Kris Crummett (Dance Gavin Dance, Mayday Parade) mastered.

Der Titel des fünften SATURNUS-Albums, "The Storm Within", spielt sowohl auf die Stürme an, die in der Natur tosen, als auch Aufruhr in der Seele. Es ist recht offenkundig, dass die lange Zeit, welche die Dänen für dieses Album gebraucht haben, und die persönlichen Gründe, die hinter dem Umbruch in der Band standen, dessen künstlerischen Ausdruck stark inspiriert haben. SATURNUS haben sich mit "The Storm Within" selbst übertroffen. Die musikalischen Themen Meer, Regen und stürmische Gewässer ziehen sich wie ein roter Faden durch die Songs, in denen sich Wut, Verlust, Melancholie und Schmerz gleichermaßen widerspiegeln. Die handwerkliche Reife des Albums verleiht seinen erhabenen aber auch ruhigen Momenten sowie den gelegentlichen brutalen Ausbrüchen eine äußerst spannende Dynamik. Obendrein sorgt die erneute Zusammenarbeit mit Produzent Flemming Rasmussen, dem legendären dänischen Produzenten der METALLICA-Klassiker dafür, dass der Sound von "The Storm Within" seiner herausragenden musikalischen Qualität mehr als gerecht wird. Die Anfänge von SATURNUS liegen im Jahr 1991 als Sänger Thomas A.G. Jensen im Umfeld der dänischen Hauptstadt Kopenhagen nach Mitmusikern suchte, um eine Death-Metal-Band zu gründen. Nach mehreren Umbenennungen und Umbesetzungen wurde der Name SATURNUS schließlich im Jahr 1993 in Beton gegossen. Die Band veröffentlichte ihr erstes Album "Paradise Belongs to You" im Januar 1997 und erhielt sofort eine Einladung zum berühmten Roskilde Festival. Der Auftritt wurde vom norwegischen Rundfunk (NRK) aufgezeichnet und in ganz Skandinavien ausgestrahlt, was die Band binnen kürzester Zeit in Nordeuropa zu einer Marke in Sachen Death Doom machte. Nach ihrem zweiten Album "Martyre" (2000) und dem ikonischen dritten Studioalbum "Veronika Decides to Die" sowie ständigem Touren durch Europa und zunehmend auch darüber hinaus, erschien 2012 "Saturn in Ascension", das erneut von Flemming Rasmussen produziert wurde. Zur Feier ihres 20-jährigen Bestehens kehrten SATURNUS auf Europas Straßen zurück und traten unter anderem bei renommierten Festivals wie dem Brutal Assault (CZ), Copenhell (DK) und ArtMania (RO) auf. Von 2014 bis 2017 tourten die Dänen nur mit gelegentlichen Unterbrechungen, was sie bis nach Russland und in den Nahen Osten führte. Nach einigen signifikanten Umbesetzungen stießen die Gitarristen Indee (ehemals CLOUDS und EYE OF SOLITUDE) und Julio von AUTUMNAL im Jahr 2020 zu SATURNUS. Trotz weiterer Hindernisse, die durch die Pandemie entstanden, begann die Band schließlich mit der Arbeit an ihrem nächsten Album und setzte dabei auch die Zusammenarbeit mit Flemming Rasmussen fort. Die lange, schwierige Entstehung von "The Storm Within" verlangte SATURNUS auf dem Weg einige schmerzhafte Opfer ab. Blut, Schmerz und Schweiß haben ihre Spuren auf diesem Album hinterlassen. Doch aus jeder Note spricht eine brutale Ehrlichkeit. SATURNUS offenbaren ihre Seele und genau das macht "The Storm Within" zu einem brillanten Stück Musik.

Der Titel des fünften SATURNUS-Albums, "The Storm Within", spielt sowohl auf die Stürme an, die in der Natur tosen, als auch Aufruhr in der Seele. Es ist recht offenkundig, dass die lange Zeit, welche die Dänen für dieses Album gebraucht haben, und die persönlichen Gründe, die hinter dem Umbruch in der Band standen, dessen künstlerischen Ausdruck stark inspiriert haben. SATURNUS haben sich mit "The Storm Within" selbst übertroffen. Die musikalischen Themen Meer, Regen und stürmische Gewässer ziehen sich wie ein roter Faden durch die Songs, in denen sich Wut, Verlust, Melancholie und Schmerz gleichermaßen widerspiegeln. Die handwerkliche Reife des Albums verleiht seinen erhabenen aber auch ruhigen Momenten sowie den gelegentlichen brutalen Ausbrüchen eine äußerst spannende Dynamik. Obendrein sorgt die erneute Zusammenarbeit mit Produzent Flemming Rasmussen, dem legendären dänischen Produzenten der METALLICA-Klassiker dafür, dass der Sound von "The Storm Within" seiner herausragenden musikalischen Qualität mehr als gerecht wird. Die Anfänge von SATURNUS liegen im Jahr 1991 als Sänger Thomas A.G. Jensen im Umfeld der dänischen Hauptstadt Kopenhagen nach Mitmusikern suchte, um eine Death-Metal-Band zu gründen. Nach mehreren Umbenennungen und Umbesetzungen wurde der Name SATURNUS schließlich im Jahr 1993 in Beton gegossen. Die Band veröffentlichte ihr erstes Album "Paradise Belongs to You" im Januar 1997 und erhielt sofort eine Einladung zum berühmten Roskilde Festival. Der Auftritt wurde vom norwegischen Rundfunk (NRK) aufgezeichnet und in ganz Skandinavien ausgestrahlt, was die Band binnen kürzester Zeit in Nordeuropa zu einer Marke in Sachen Death Doom machte. Nach ihrem zweiten Album "Martyre" (2000) und dem ikonischen dritten Studioalbum "Veronika Decides to Die" sowie ständigem Touren durch Europa und zunehmend auch darüber hinaus, erschien 2012 "Saturn in Ascension", das erneut von Flemming Rasmussen produziert wurde. Zur Feier ihres 20-jährigen Bestehens kehrten SATURNUS auf Europas Straßen zurück und traten unter anderem bei renommierten Festivals wie dem Brutal Assault (CZ), Copenhell (DK) und ArtMania (RO) auf. Von 2014 bis 2017 tourten die Dänen nur mit gelegentlichen Unterbrechungen, was sie bis nach Russland und in den Nahen Osten führte. Nach einigen signifikanten Umbesetzungen stießen die Gitarristen Indee (ehemals CLOUDS und EYE OF SOLITUDE) und Julio von AUTUMNAL im Jahr 2020 zu SATURNUS. Trotz weiterer Hindernisse, die durch die Pandemie entstanden, begann die Band schließlich mit der Arbeit an ihrem nächsten Album und setzte dabei auch die Zusammenarbeit mit Flemming Rasmussen fort. Die lange, schwierige Entstehung von "The Storm Within" verlangte SATURNUS auf dem Weg einige schmerzhafte Opfer ab. Blut, Schmerz und Schweiß haben ihre Spuren auf diesem Album hinterlassen. Doch aus jeder Note spricht eine brutale Ehrlichkeit. SATURNUS offenbaren ihre Seele und genau das macht "The Storm Within" zu einem brillanten Stück Musik.

Der Titel des fünften SATURNUS-Albums, "The Storm Within", spielt sowohl auf die Stürme an, die in der Natur tosen, als auch Aufruhr in der Seele. Es ist recht offenkundig, dass die lange Zeit, welche die Dänen für dieses Album gebraucht haben, und die persönlichen Gründe, die hinter dem Umbruch in der Band standen, dessen künstlerischen Ausdruck stark inspiriert haben. SATURNUS haben sich mit "The Storm Within" selbst übertroffen. Die musikalischen Themen Meer, Regen und stürmische Gewässer ziehen sich wie ein roter Faden durch die Songs, in denen sich Wut, Verlust, Melancholie und Schmerz gleichermaßen widerspiegeln. Die handwerkliche Reife des Albums verleiht seinen erhabenen aber auch ruhigen Momenten sowie den gelegentlichen brutalen Ausbrüchen eine äußerst spannende Dynamik. Obendrein sorgt die erneute Zusammenarbeit mit Produzent Flemming Rasmussen, dem legendären dänischen Produzenten der METALLICA-Klassiker dafür, dass der Sound von "The Storm Within" seiner herausragenden musikalischen Qualität mehr als gerecht wird. Die Anfänge von SATURNUS liegen im Jahr 1991 als Sänger Thomas A.G. Jensen im Umfeld der dänischen Hauptstadt Kopenhagen nach Mitmusikern suchte, um eine Death-Metal-Band zu gründen. Nach mehreren Umbenennungen und Umbesetzungen wurde der Name SATURNUS schließlich im Jahr 1993 in Beton gegossen. Die Band veröffentlichte ihr erstes Album "Paradise Belongs to You" im Januar 1997 und erhielt sofort eine Einladung zum berühmten Roskilde Festival. Der Auftritt wurde vom norwegischen Rundfunk (NRK) aufgezeichnet und in ganz Skandinavien ausgestrahlt, was die Band binnen kürzester Zeit in Nordeuropa zu einer Marke in Sachen Death Doom machte. Nach ihrem zweiten Album "Martyre" (2000) und dem ikonischen dritten Studioalbum "Veronika Decides to Die" sowie ständigem Touren durch Europa und zunehmend auch darüber hinaus, erschien 2012 "Saturn in Ascension", das erneut von Flemming Rasmussen produziert wurde. Zur Feier ihres 20-jährigen Bestehens kehrten SATURNUS auf Europas Straßen zurück und traten unter anderem bei renommierten Festivals wie dem Brutal Assault (CZ), Copenhell (DK) und ArtMania (RO) auf. Von 2014 bis 2017 tourten die Dänen nur mit gelegentlichen Unterbrechungen, was sie bis nach Russland und in den Nahen Osten führte. Nach einigen signifikanten Umbesetzungen stießen die Gitarristen Indee (ehemals CLOUDS und EYE OF SOLITUDE) und Julio von AUTUMNAL im Jahr 2020 zu SATURNUS. Trotz weiterer Hindernisse, die durch die Pandemie entstanden, begann die Band schließlich mit der Arbeit an ihrem nächsten Album und setzte dabei auch die Zusammenarbeit mit Flemming Rasmussen fort. Die lange, schwierige Entstehung von "The Storm Within" verlangte SATURNUS auf dem Weg einige schmerzhafte Opfer ab. Blut, Schmerz und Schweiß haben ihre Spuren auf diesem Album hinterlassen. Doch aus jeder Note spricht eine brutale Ehrlichkeit. SATURNUS offenbaren ihre Seele und genau das macht "The Storm Within" zu einem brillanten Stück Musik.

Zach Phillips und Olia Eichenbaum lernten sich 2018 online kennen und begannen schnell mit der Remote-Zusammenarbeit in Frankreich und Brooklyn. Zunächst arbeiteten sie unter dem Namen Pearly Gates zusammen und tourten 2019 durch Westeuropa. Nach einem Jahr Pause entstand das gesamte 'Perfect Angels' Album innerhalb eines knappen Monats während der Pandemie, wobei die Remote-Overdubs von Olia und ihren Gästen etwas mehr Zeit in Anspruch nahmen. Es wurde vollständig auf Tascam 388 1/4" 8-Spur-Band aufgenommen, wobei Computer nur während der Overdubs, des Mixings und des Masterings eingriffen.

Taiwanese label JIN records enters autumn 2022, with a new promising release by South Korea’s Yetsuby. As always searching for gems in the pan-Asian domain, JIN is delighted to have Yetsuby for its latest/6th release.

On this EP, one-half of the ambient duo Salamanda, Yetsuby showcases her expertise in mood setting soundscapes, taking listeners on a sound journey across a wide array of musical spectra.

Opening on A1, Yetsuby reinterprets a traditional Korean folk story of a bear devouring garlic and green onions, transforming the animal into a human being. Aptly named ” Bear Becomes The Human,” she transforms the transformed, turning the bear into a buzzing modern drum & bass-fused energetic tune. It turns out garlic is a powerful source after all.

B1’s “Jelly” showcases Yetsuby’s talent for stripped-back glitch music: With a minimal bass and drum pattern, the track gently muddles along and presents itself as well suited warm-up track for the earlier hours of any party.


For the remix sides, Cleveland delivers a vinyl only remix of “Bear Becomes The Human” with a futuristic house tune filled with jungle like drum pattern and techy yet smooth atmosphere on A2.


On B2, New Zealand’s Eden Burns takes an entirely different path on his reinterpretation of Jelly. Embarking from the original pattern, he turns the original into a slow brewing psychedelic trance cracker that seems most suited for the early morning after hours that need an energy boost.

Smoke M2D6's boundary-pushing musical production and Jedi-like audio engineering have earned him wide and enthusiastic artistic acclaim, as well as a host of awards. As an MC, Smoke M2D6 has toured the country, performing in all of the lower 48 states, and was one of the original founding members of Northwest super-crew OLDOMINION. Though Smoke M2D6 has not released an album since the 2006 opus Bleed, he has been super-busy creating beats and producing other artists including many of his Oldominion crew mates Onry Ozzborn, Nyqwil, IAME and JFK. The global pandemic finally cleared the deck, allowing Smoke M2D6 to get back to doin' his thing: "When the quarantine started I found an old JFK verse from 2013 where he was talking about a pandemic - 'I've got to build on this,' started cutting it up." We start with an overwhelming feeling of being at the beginning of societal collapse: Quarantine Heart Throb, a mass pak of apocalyptic art. Featured are several NW hip hop legends and mainstays, artists Smoke M2D6 has either "mixed for them, produced for them or is a fan of them." If you are a fan of Smoke M2D6 and have been waiting since 2006 for this album, "You will not be disappointed - - - Quarantine Heart Throb shows my growth as a person, a producer, an engineer and as a rapper." Far out. Smoke M2D6 also appears on (and produced) the K Northwest hip hop compilation All Your friends Friends KLP255.

Since we've known him, Robert Lloyd has made quite clear his enormous affection for the songs and sounds of Freakwater, the duo of Janet Beveridge-Bean and Catherine Irwin who've been wrongly denied their place as rightful and willful progenitors of alt-country's 'movement', which (frankly) is to their credit. Their genius in offering absolute authentic to the sound old-time Appalachian folk music with a modern façade that in no way negates tradition (one of their albums is titled Feels Like The Third Time) is unparalleled within the genre, and Freakwater remain under-appreciated. After the start of Covid, Robert dared approach Janet with the idea of recording together. Over the course of the long pandemic, songs were bandied about for months, and when recording was finally practical, a band was assembled with dates set up for a recording session in Valencia, Spain. Robert and Janet were joined by Robert's long-time ally, Pete Byrchmore, the musical foil for Robert's solo album on Virgin and a former Nightingale, Mark Bedford, the bassist for Madness and Terry Edwards' Near Jazz Experience, and Pablo Roda, Spanish mystery drummer, couldn't have worked out more perfectly. Tracks were selected without regard for collective presentation, just the goal of walking out of the studio with an album of perfect gems. Forget Lee & Nancy or George & Tammy, Rob and Janet have an immediate chemistry that only sounds long-lived - and too uniquely them to merit any comparison. The title track, Black Cat, Dark Horse is the sole Lloyd / Bean / Byrchmore composition and one of the record 's highlights. Jim Elkington, collaborator with Jeff Tweedy and Richard Thompson, contributes Heavy Reckonings and a song written with Janet, The True Lovers' Knot And The Lie, while Robert adds reworkings from past releases - Sweet Georgia Black and Black Country (with Pete) - not to mention the unreleased Eggs And Bacon. Janet brought One Shot and the unheard Freakwater song Arc Of A Smile. Covers of tunes from Dion and The Monkees and a magnificent Jon Langford song, "Tears Like Stars" round out the album. We daresay the album is among the finest you'll hear in 2023. That it doesn't fit perfectly into any preconceived genre is a testament to its quality. "Songcraft" is a word used infrequently today, yet Black Cat, Dark Horse will show that good songs endure. We're proud that Robert and Janet will find some new admirers through this album's release. The Michael Cumming / Stewart Lee film King Rocker made a case for Robert Lloyd-as-losthero; this album furthers that idea and shows a compelling side of Janet's talent and abilities which will be a surprise to her fans and serve as an entry point to exploring her many other compelling projects.

Pitch language - Modular synth wizard Blawan brings his brand of distorted, syncopated electronic productions. Toast introduces the EP with a playful head bopper with ethereal sounds and menacing overtones. One of the biggest acts in dance music playing international festivals such as Pitchfork 2022, ADE, Nuit Sonores.

Plays from Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC 6 music and coverage from Resident Advisor, Pitchfork, Dekmantel, CRACK, The Face “losing himself in modular synthesis without ever sacrificing soul for science”

Exotica, ye-yé cumbia, guaracha infused twist, rock’n roll mambo, Spanish rumba, boogaloo beat, tropical garage and other unexpected bastard genres are featured in this festive compilation of bizarre hits taken from the glorious catalog of records released during the 60s and 70s on the Peruvian label Discos MAG. Some clearly unite genres, others are projects with creative names, but all are bold musical initiatives that got and will always get people onto the dance floor. “Sabroso Go Go” brings together fourteen musical mixes created in the recording studios of Manuel Antonio Guerrero (MAG), in which music directors combine rhythm with alchemy in a quest to find the philosopher's stone of the dance. Exotica, ye-yé cumbia, guaracha infused twist, rock’n roll mambo, Spanish rumba, boogaloo beat, tropical garage and other unexpected bastard genres are featured in this festive compilation. Although this compilation begins in 1957, experiments like this (some more memorable than others) were not new in Peru. The songs on this album were however much more successful hybrids. Some clearly unite genres, others are projects with creative names, but all are bold musical initiatives that got and will always get people onto the dance floor. At the end of the fifties, rock music shook the foundations of Peru, and orchestras rushed to cover hit songs and explore the possibilities of mixing them with tropical music. Lucho Macedo's orchestra took up the mantle and reinterpreted a well-known guaracha by Celia Cruz ('Rock and Roll') in mambo style, renaming it 'Rock and roll Mambo'. 'Maestro de Rock and Roll', a hit by the Cuban Conjunto Casino, received similar treatment. Another mix in this vein is the rock tune 'El Rock de los Chinos' by the Mexican Manolo Muñoz (author of 'Speedy González') recorded by the Chilean Choche Mérida for MAG in 1961. The following year, Chubby Checker’s 'The Twist' hit the scene and was immediately fused with guaracha by maestro Nelson Ferreyra. A legendary MAG musician, Carlos Pickling, composed 'La Charanga del Espacio' in 1963. The space sounds are produced by Pickling and his inseparable Hammond. He himself is the one who leads the orchestra that accompanies Benny Del Solar, Lita Branda and Pablo "Melcochita" Villanueva in the tropicalized version of Spanish Rumba, when the beats of the Iberian rumba were still exotic in South America. Around that time, the Chilean Willy Marambio was already living in Lima. In the track included on this album, the go-go style showcases his virtuosity on the trumpet. Another outstanding trumpet player, Roberto "Tito" Chicoma from Chiclayo, played as a session musician with MAG from 1959. A few years later, he became one of the most popular Colombian cumbia players, a talent he demonstrates in the song on this compilation, which blends the fun of go-go with yé-yé beats. 'Batijugando' was a hit from Mexico and was played in all the rhythms played across the Hispanic world since 1967. Inspired by the "Batman" series, it was performed at MAG by the Betico Salas orchestra, with vocals by the Panamanian lady crooner Nallye Fernández. 'Computador Electrónico' is another surprise on this album, performed by Panamanian vocalist Patty Pastel, it is the only known version in Spanish of 'Der Computer Nr. 3', originally sung in German by France Gall. Two other songs feature Edgar Zamudio. The versatility of Zamudio y Los Vikingos (originally a Chilean group) is demonstrated in the guitar-heavy song composed specifically for the late sixties skate fashion ('Go Go en Patines') and in his idiosyncratic protest song ('Día de Pago') performed in beat style. In the mid-seventies, Los Kintos, led by guitarist Francisco Acosta, developed different harmonic ideas in an instrumental track that veers from boogaloo to salsa, the fashionable rhythm of the day. Finally, in 1976, when the bumping hips dance craze swept the continent, Manuel Guerrero was quick to jump onto the bandwagon, composing a Bump song, together with his son Carlos. The Italian musician based in Lima, Luciano Luciani performed the song 'A Bailar Bump' backed by his band of local musicians Los Mulatos.

For fans of Khruangbin, El Michels Affair, Tame Impala and Bonobo. “I spent a while thinking about the title for this album; it was quite hard to pin down the feeling I felt it represented. At a certain point I realised it was nostalgia, for everything; our life passed by, childhood, moments of happiness and sadness, where we grew up”. – Skinshape // Will Dorey aka Skinshape has proven himself time and again as a connoisseur for the cosmopolitan, across a prolific career expertly exploring understated sounds and theatrical textures. Taking his place alongside the likes of Khruangbin, Tame Impala, Bonobo and Madlib, Skinshape’s global kaleidoscopes are loaded with warmth and wisdom created on vintage analogue equipment applying a perfectionist’s touch. As a former member of indie band Palace, he has played everywhere from Glastonbury and BBC Maida Vale to headlining Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Conversely as a solo artist Skinshape has never played live preferring to record, releasing an album a year (two in 2020’s lockdown) and keeping away from the trappings of stardom.

Gacha Bakradze releases his third album on Lapsus entitled "Pancakes", and while the name may appear conventional at first glance, it actually contains esoteric philosophical concepts.

The Georgian producer perceives the making of pancakes -a transformative and healing parental activity that he loves to partake in with his son- as a metaphor for alteration, metamorphosis and change. A reflection that also accentuates the importance of balance during each process of preparing a simple recipe, which in turn highlights key human attributes such as patience, attention to detail and willingness to adapt to shifting circumstances.

On a sonic level, Gacha’s new album embodies precisely that: the contextual reworking of his music, while maintaining the essence of his previous work. "Pancakes" provides the typically melancholic yet vibrant genetics already recognisable in his music, but also embraces new genres, including his unique and personal take on hyper-pop and trance. It is an album of contrasting elements, where bucolic interludes make way for heavier tracks that are more suited to a club environment, an aural universe that hybridises IDM, electro, bass music and cutting edge techno, and once again demonstrates that trying to pigeonhole Gacha Bakradze's sound is a somewhat fruitless task.

Beatservice are delighted to present the debut album from the irrepressible Norwegian outfit, b0ka, with 13 genre-surfing tracks lovingly presented on the gloriously pop-centric 'Forever, My Friend'.

Friends since as far back as kindergarten, the b0ka players released a selection of highly regarded singles between 2013 and 2016, with their music arriving via prestige imprints including Eskimo, Paper Recordings, Diamond Club, and their own b0ka Recordings. They've since pursued a diverse range of projects, including Lakehouse, OJKOS, Bjørnar Sira and Den Kosmiske Overorden, with their expansive sounds routinely winning admirers throughout the global music community. The pandemic-induced lockdowns allowed the band an opportunity to re-visit long lost b0ka projects: reviewing dusty hard discs before funnelling the best morsels into the Sagrada Jukebox mixtape earlier this year. It was during this journey of sonic rediscovery that the masterfully diverse 'Forever, My Friend' was ushered into existence.

Drawing on all-manner of far-flung influences and brilliantly assembling the components with a pop-ready sophistication, this is spectacular work from b0ka, marking their return to release action in breathtaking style.

For his new album, Without People, Donovan Woods explains: “Anything but protest music feels out of place right now. In the middle of a pandemic, as the truth of our environmental devastation sinks in, in the thick of protests reshaping our thoughts on policing and crystallizing the reality of white supremacy at work in all corners of our society, it feels silly to write about relationships. I was thinking about that when the title “Without People” came to me. It made me think about the intrusion of real life, other people’s needs and opinions into our internal worlds. It made me think about life as a series of lessons that all seem to be about learning to cope without people you love. And it made me think about how beautiful the world could be without us, and how we’re perhaps the first generation to consider that notion as a real possibility.”

»Ced Gee X Kool Keith«, beide Mitglieder der legendären Ultramagnetic MC's, haben sich für eine neue Ultramagnetic MC's-Platte zusammengefunden. Das Wiederaufleben des klassischen Hip-Hop wird im Jahr 2022 mit der neuen Veröffentlichung von Ultramagnetic MC's »Kool Keith x Ced Gee« fortgesetzt Die Ultramagnetics Kool Keith, Ced Gee und DJ Moe Love, die Mitte der 80er Jahre in der Boogie Down Bronx als weit verstreutes Hip-Hop-Trio mit einem Haufen neuer Ideen auftraten, nehmen so etwas wie einen einzigartigen Platz im Pantheon der alten Schule ein.

Die Ultramagnetic MCs kombinieren funkige Songs mit rockigen Beats und obskuren lyrischen Anspielungen und können auf eine Reihe von Premieren verweisen: Sie waren die erste Rap-Gruppe, die einen Sampler als Instrument einsetzte, die erste, die ausgiebig mit Live-Instrumenten arbeitete und die erste, die einen ehemaligen Psychiatriepatienten (Kool Keith) am Mikrofon hatte.

Frühe Singles wie »Something Else« und »Space Groove« wurden zum festen Bestandteil von Blockpartys und schlugen Wellen im Underground, so dass die Gruppe schließlich bei dem von Disco dominierten Label Next Plateau landete, wo sie ihr unterschätztes Debüt veröffentlichte. In den folgenden Jahren wechselte die Gruppe von Label zu Label und veröffentlichte Alben auf Mercury und Wild Pitch, bevor sie sich trennte, um verschiedene Projekte zu verfolgen. Bei dieser besonderen Veranstaltung werden Kool Keith und Ced Gee klassische Ultramagnetic MCs-Songs vortragen und Geschichten über die Entstehung ihres ikonoklastischen Katalogs erzählen.

On this second vinyl from the new label of Barcelona’s club Les Enfants Brillants, Mannheim-born producer Fabe has taken control of this new release delivering 'Hyped By Light', an EP consisting of four deep club-ready deep house tracks with heavy-bass sound and sparkling groovy notes.

Repress!

It can take a while for an artist to find their musical voice. For Alex Andrikopoulos, it’s been a journey that’s taken the best part of two decades. Now he’s set to mark a major milestone in his transition from record store owner, label co-founder and DJ to producer with the release of his long-promised first solo album for Leng, Waving. The Greek artist first joined the Leng Records roster in the autumn of 2020 and has since gone in to release the acclaimed ‘Punta Allen’ EP for the imprint. Before that, he spent the first decade of the century running the popular Radical Sounds record shop in Athens, before refocusing on running Quantized Music with fellow DJ/producer Tolis Q and developing his DJ career, where his unique blends of disco, house and techno tracks earned him bookings at some of Europe’s most storied clubs.

Waving, which appears on the back of a handful of fine EPs for a variety of labels, is his boldest and strongest statement yet as a musician and producer. Created with a little help from guest musicians and collaborators including keyboardist Artis Boriss, bassist Brotha Gilla, percussionists Ilario Arnel and Harold Perez, pianist Luciano Ledesma and guitarist Alex Searle, the album brilliantly blurs the boundary between 21st century disco, afternoon-ready downtempo grooves, and the kind of dancefloor-minded Balearic fare that’s devilishly difficult to pigeonhole.

Fittingly, the set begins with previous single ‘Punta Allen’, an eight-minute chunk of organic dancefloor goodness which slowly unfurls before rising towards and gorgeous and joyous conclusion, and ends with the squelchy, slo-mo cosmic funk of ‘Patrol Di Caribe’, where trippy synthesizer lines, layered percussion and more tuneful style pan style lead ins catch the ear.

In between, highlights are plentiful, from the driving, piano solo-laden dub disco brilliance of ‘Down My Soul’ and the languid, sun-kissed, beach-ready downtempo grooves of ‘The Jamail Pass’, to the rubbery, pitched-down electrofunk of ‘Window Spells’ (featuring a fine lead vocal from Max Giovara, the flash-friend, dubwise Balearic funk of ‘Waving’, and the throbbing brilliance of ‘La Di Da Di’, whose crunchy Clavinet lines, fluid electric piano solos, snappy drums and pulsating, arpeggio-style bass encapsulate all that is good about the album.

The digital edition of the album also comes bundled with eight more tracks not featured on the double-vinyl LP. Featuring the same blend of expansive musicality, organic drums and dancefloor nous, this octet effectively extends the album via a string of similarly playable, club-ready and sofa-friendly tracks. Standouts include the non-stop, nu-disco-meets-house excellence of ‘Large Stacks’, Hammond-laced head-nodder ‘Take The High Road’, horizontal Balearic funk shuffler ‘Prezend’ and hazy, vocal-sporting dub disco roller ‘Angels of Rhythm’, which previously appeared on the flipside of Lex’s ‘Punta Allen’ 12”.

Soundway presents a double-sider of raw, West Indian Funk from 1977. Led by King Wellington’s ‘Shango’, the stand-out cut harvested from his Sooner Or Later LP finally gets the 45 treatment
it deserves.

Inspired by the Shango ritual with its roots in Yoruba culture, traces of Calypso music are driven by hypnotic bass and Wellington’s signature vocal, making up a musical blend only found in the
Caribbean.

Hidden on the B-side, ‘Mystery Music’ fronted by Canadian musician Tony Springer, embarks on a dreamy, dynamic and even a touch psychedelic trip.

Steel pans coupled with floating horns, electronic keyboard effects, crisp drums and subtle guitar licks cook up a soundscape baked by the Trinidad sun. While original copies climb their way to impossible-to-find status, enthusiasts will be excited to hear this sought after piece of music is available on the 45 format again.

Joaquín Cornejo is back on Earthly Measures with 'Vision Versions' his 2nd vinyl release - a unique reimagining of Markandeya's dub album 'Vision Dubs'. Journeying through the depths, the Ecuadorian producer reinterprets Markandeya’s works with his signature flavour, space echoes, dub sirens, digi delays, organic grooves and all to provide the perfect follow up to the hugely popular 'Las Frutas' EP.

DJ Feedback:

Valentina Montalvo – “Beautiful and uplifting, gracias!!”

Severino Panzetta (Horse Meat Disco) – “LOVELY”

Jaye Ward – “wow!! this is super lovely.. so so deep and well balanced.. brilliant want to love heart the whole thing because its a proper long player version excursion”

Balearic Clouds – “Mountain High my favorite but all sounds beautiful!!”

Paul Cottam – “Holy Father Feat. Cedric Myton (Joaquín Cornejo Version) is a BELTER”

Mark Sampson - “Favourite has to be 'Holy Father' because I love Cedric Myton's voice.”

Pete Herbert - “Superb!”

Roberto Rodriguez – “Lovely dubs”

Max Essa – “Deeply Satisfying!”

Chris Coco – “These are beautiful”

Orange Galaxy Vinyl

Names You Can Trust presents the second release in their "Panama Gold Series" and the first official reissue of one of the heaviest holy grails to come out of the isthmus, the Jungle Rat USA. This impossibly rare 45 was originally issued in 1971 as a promotional 7-inch on the independent imprint Discos Nino. Its origin story has remained utterly elusive and unknown — until now. The newly remastered press contains both original sides: the raw funk masterpiece "Just Love One Another," and "Have a Little Faith," one of the finest old school examples of the coveted souldies style that has taken the modern day record world by storm. Licensed and researched with the help of the Jungle Rat's musical director Dwight Brewster, this deluxe reissue includes a lush 10-page photo booklet with liner notes, detailing the full account of the twists and turns of Brewster and his band's journey from New York City to Panama.

As the siren’s song echoes out of systems worldwide, perhaps we are (re)turning to the liquid age of dance; with natural ephemera such as moss, sentiments for ecology such as swamps, and mercurial aspects of water all absorbing the aesthetic forefront. A return to nature, a deep dive under the lily pads. Here Marijn with her debut EP guides our plunge, a trip previously taken via her podcasts on Kulture Lab, where you can also find her previously released music.

Whispers from the ethereal plane drift around the headspace, a rumble in the distance of sound traversing the water, voices to guide and to keep you from floating too far from the line. Audio hallucinations are aplenty when submerged, a serenity of space, yet distant growls assure that peace is not always 2 be found. The melancholia within the daydream, the pang of loss caught in reflections, internal and from the water, with the lily pads floating above as a guiding entity, an anchor, something to hold. Under the lily pads we rumble.

On the flip everyone’s fav casual breaks n rave hooligan Luca Lozano asks the recurring thought within dance music, a question we quest, yet rarely want the answer. Abstraction via squeaks and tweaks, you better bop your bleepin’ head to this 1.

‘Leave A Message’ leaves the tranquil waters disturbed and rippling to the outer edges, providing jumps for the lily pads to ride on the incoming tide, with the ebb and flow making way for a storm surge. Aka big beats are the best, a notion the directly honest final track ‘Made (Drums)’ follows, bringing a twisted jack attack logic to a deranged assembly of samples, a manic orchestra of tumbling drums who have conspired to freak out, albeit with cute bubbles underneath to revel in the allure of sonic mania.

Nach der Veröffentlichung der Step By Step EP von Braxe + Falcon kommt nun die gleichnamige Remix EP der französischen House-Pioniere, mit Mixen von A-Trak, ABSOLUTE, Amtrac, Shakedown, Didi Han und anderen, die den vier Original-Tracks des Duos neues Leben einhauchen. Die Collection enthält auch die "Axel Boman's In The Air Version" ihrer großartigen Single "Step By Step" mit freshem Gesang von Panda Bear.

Deerhoof's fan-favorite breakthrough album, Apple O', gets a 20th-anniversary edition after years of being out of print in the physical realm. They say the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge was actually a pomegranate. But Pomegranate O' did not sound as catchy. Of course, knowledge of what, exactly? Could be the serene and orderly discipline of music, it could be the ability to instantaneously destroy the entire species in an apocalyptic fireball. This album is a love story. It is about Satomi's mom being a Japanese girl when Truman got that ecstatic glint in his eye and blew up chunks of her country in a mushroom cloud, and next thing you know Satomi has moved to San Francisco and taken over an American noise-rock band. It is also about a different US president with an ecstatic glint in his eye, selling a criminal invasion with lies about weapons of mass destruction. This edition of Apple O' is on vinyl the color of cotton candy accompanied by a bonus 7" of previously unreleased live recordings.

Legendary New York band M'lumbo distil experiences from their pre-pandemic shamanic travels into their stunning new album The Summer Of Endless Levitation. The eight-track vinyl LP is an avant-garde take on folk music informed by painter and sculptor Jean Hans Arp's 'Biomorphic' works and it serves as a sonic renewal of self.
The cult M'lumbo collective has been a legendary and groundbreaking act since first forming in the mid-80s. They cross genre boundaries as they draw on jazz, world, electronic, rock and experimental music that escapes the commercial world and take you into another realm entirely. There is no limit to their sound; each member brings their own cultural background to the mix, making the band all the more unique.

As the coronavirus pandemic struck, three members of the band Rob Ray Flatow, Paul-Alexandre Meurens and Brian O'Neill under-took a regimen of shamanic traveling in New York City. The experiences led them to spontaneously compose and perform a suite of pieces, informed and inspired by Jean Hans Arp's works but also by the feelings of isolation and indefinite exile yet to come in their urban environment.

Compared to the works they have done as part of the larger M'lumbo band, this album is a more modest and naive affair that is "a vehicle for the renewal of feeling using only a few instruments - acoustic and electric guitar, keyboard, flute, small percussion, kalimba and clarinet - and locating a sense of both the deep sadness and uplifting powers of reverie."

'There Are No Words' kicks off with heavenly chords and organic percussion that recalls the jungle jazz of Don Cherry, then 'Shoreline' is a five-minute dub with percolating rhythms and new age melodies before the soul-soothing acoustic guitar of 'The Afternoon Levitation' blisses you out on a sunny day. The perfectly entitled 'Swoon' is another gloriously uplifting piece of musical spirituality that fuses the electronic and synthetic with the ancient and ritualistic. There is more jungle jazz, big-band horn work and cosmic synth modulations of 'Open The Heavens' while 'Quanta' is a shuffling, jumbled mix of radiant chords, wigged-out electronic lines and celestial charm. 'Planetfall' goes from free-form jazz to double-time techno and back to cathartic ambient. The final trio of tracks conjures up everything from the transcendental jazz of Alice Coltrane to the cinematic downtempo of Calm.

The name NxxxxxS (pronounced "N-Five X-S”) sounds like it could be an equation, or a mystery. But to begin to unravel the identity of the French producer who just signed to Because Music and Mad Decent (the label founded by Diplo), you first have to look for clues on YouTube and Soundcloud, where so many underground artists have found a place to hone their craft. In the ten years preceding the release of his second album Short Term Agreement in 2023, NxxxxxS built up a solid reputation for himself in the international vaporwave, vaportrap & phonk scenes. This is no small feat considering he didn’t have any real knowledge of production or composition before deciding to take on these classic genres of “Internet music”.
The Paris native first gained exposure when he started making beats on YouTube, taking his inspiration from American rappers of the blog era - when artists, especially in hip hop, used digital technology to break away from traditional distribution models - like Mac Miller or Odd Future. Building on this initial success, NxxxxxS turned to Soundcloud, an essential platform for music enthusiasts, tastemakers or anyone on the lookout for the sounds of tomorrow.
Following in the footsteps of The Alchemist and other producers of the same ilk, NxxxxxS soon became one of the pioneers of vaporwave and vaportrap music. Featured prominently in modern productions, these styles originated on social media platforms such as Reddit or Tumbler in the 2010’s and are recognisable by their frequent use of commercial samples ranging from the 70’s to the 2000’s (taken from jingles, lounge, jazz or elevator music). Altered, chopped up and slowed down to around 60 to 70 BPM to match hip-hop standards, the music offered a critique or satire of capitalism, consumer society and any culture that grew out of it, most notably yuppies from the 80’s.
NxxxxxS put his own spin on the recipe by creating a new world filled with soaring melodies and countless references to movies and horror scenes, and eventually released his debut album Fujita Scale (a scale used to measure the damage inflicted by tornadoes) in 2014. The album reached a worldwide audience because of its composer’s story and of the secrecy around his French nationality, and even won over unexpected fanbases such as the highly closed off Chinese market. Fujita Scale landed on one of China's streaming platforms, making NxxxxxS an identifiable artist in Asia who went on to tour his album three times across the continent.

NxxxxxS kept the ball rolling, collaborating on a new series of more accessible projects, which aimed to be less niche in terms of the references or sub-genres they tapped into, so he could find a new audience. This led to his first hits, “Synthetic Corporation” - which would also become the name of his label - “Remember Last Summer” and “Formatted Excess”, as well as his most popular track to date, “Playa Shit”, with over 11M streams on Spotify. The upcoming album’s title, Short Term Agreement, is a playful reference to his unyielding desire for independence and productivity, and his eagerness to preserve the personal freedom he turned into strength.
Yet NxxxxxS is never one to refuse support, and he has now joined forces with Because Music & Mad Decent to further establish himself as a producer at the international level - alongside Diplo especially, who is a case in point - so that this understated and ever prolific artist can meet his ambitions of widening his audience and have his name known by all.
And so the tracks on Short Term Agreement serve as the foundation for NxxxxxS' new identity, featuring a rich and diverse array of sounds thanks to the numerous guests involved: London rapper Jeshi - a new British rap phenomenon also freshly signed to Because Music, French rappers 8ruki & Bitsu, Canadian Freddie Dredd and American underground talents Pollari . Avoiding the pitfalls of a compilation-like producer album, NxxxxxS has once again carved out his own style from the modern hip hop rule book.

In other words, NxxxxxS’ constant evolution has brought us this much closer to solving the mystery that is his name.

In the years since The Aces released their acclaimed sophomore album, ‘Under My Influence’ in 2020, the band has been on a journey of self-discovery. Faced with the realities of a global pandemic, sisters Cristal and Alisa Ramirez (lead vocals/guitar and drums, respectively), Katie Henderson (lead guitar/vocals), and McKenna Petty (bass) used quarantine as a time to reflect, confronting personal mental health issues as well as processing experiences they’d had growing up together in Provo, Utah, as part of the Mormon church. When The Aces returned to the studio, their vision — and the honesty and trust between them — felt stronger than ever. The result of this growth period is ‘I’ve Loved You For So Long,’ the band’s third LP. Written and executive-produced by the group (along with Keith Varon, the sole collaborator on the project), the album is a sparkling indie-rock record that’s by far their most personal and self-assured work to date. From tracks that ruminate on mental health and self-sabotage to searing anthems about love, longing, and heartbreak, ‘I’ve Love You For So Long’ is a record that’ll work its way into your head and heart — and will have you singing along all the way through. ‘I’ve Loved You For So Long’ is also an opportunity for The Aces to reach new heights and build on their many previous successes. To date, the group has earned over 205 million career streams; ‘Under My Influence’ alone garnered more than 75 million (including 35 million on its lead single “Daydream”). The album also appeared on numerous charts, including #53 on Billboard’s Top Albums list. Further, The Aces have toured with the likes of 5 Seconds of Summer, X Ambassadors, The Vamps, and COIN, and have played at festivals all over the world, including NY Pride, Lollapalooza, Firefly, Bonnaroo, OUTFEST, and more. After selling out their last U.S. headline tour in 2021, the band will hit the road again this year, with dates soon to be announced.

Limited to 1000 copies on Sea Blue vinyl! There's freedom to be found in consistency. Until recently, Juan Wauters may not have agreed with this statement. As a touring musician and multinational citizen, transience had always come naturally to him. Circumstance, however, recently prompted him to reconsider the benefits of staying in one place. His most introspective work to date, Wauters' sixth solo album Wandering Rebel finds the artist taking stock of how he's changed, how the world sees him, and what he wants out of life. Written mostly during an extended break from touring, the songs on Wandering Rebel are candid reflections on subjects like career ("Wandering Rebel"), romantic commitment ("Amor Amor"), mental health ("Nube Negra") and the personal toll of touring ("Let Loose"). On "Modus Operandi," he voices his frustration with New York's fairweather residents, who fled the city at the onset of the COVID-19 lockdown. Vocal contributions from fellow New Yorker Greta Kline (Frankie Cosmos) add to the chorus of playful disapproval. On the singalong-worthy "Millionaire," he turns his eye to the west coast: "It's hard to get around Los Angeles / If you don't have a car / I'm staying in a privileged part of town / It's suspicious for me to be walking." The clarity with which Wauters approaches these subjects lyrically is reflected in the music as well. His trademark eclecticism is still present (fans of Real Life Situations' spirited hip-hop should look to track 6, "Bolero"), but it's more refined this time, anchored in his signature Latin-influenced indie folk. Wandering Rebel is peppered with delicate additions that add depth throughout: rain sounds and hand drums on "Nube Negra," a strings section on "Modus Operandi," a gentle vibraphone on "Amor, Amor." Some of these are classic Wauters touches, but others are owed to outside influences, like production from Brooklyn-based Carlos Hernandez (Ava Luna, Carlos Truly) and Brazilian indie artist Sessa, as well as vocal contributions from Kline, Luz Elena Mendoza (Y La Bamba), Zoe Gotusso, and Super Willy K. Throughout Wandering Rebel, Wauters attempts to reconcile the stability he's come to enjoy with the nomadic restlessness that's characterized his life thus far. In the end, though, it's the interplay of both of these elements that makes the album so strong.

Recycled Col. LP

McKinley Dixon calls the late Toni Morrison the greatest rapper of all time; and the way he tackles topics like survival, violence, and religion within the expansive landscape of the Black experience, evokes her novels. It is from the title of Morrison‘s Beloved trilogy where he finds the title of his new album with City Slang Records: Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? Musically his household was defined by “artists whose first name was Mary,” including Mary J. Blige and gospel duo Mary Mary. Discovering Outkast was formative for Dixon, deepening his love for hip-hop while he also grew curious about the more theatrical rock of groups of the day, bands like My Chemical Romance and Panic! At The Disco that his Maryland friends introduced him to. “Those groups also helped me with my sense of longing, since their music reflected a sense of longing,” he says. Eventually he channelled these competing influences into a debut EP he released in 2013. With time, his music became his primary means of self-expression, whether discussing Blackness or his own relationship with healing. Across his next releases, his style evolved and his confidence grew, especially when it came to live instrumentation. His 2021 debut album For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her was a game changer, as Dixon set his sights on heartache and grief. “I was making these really dense and chaotic songs, stuffing whatever thought I had into five and a half minutes,” Dixon says of that project. Beloved! Paradise! Jazz?! is an attempt at channeling different impulses. Sometimes rough and other times delicate, this record is a journey into is a journey into the psyche of McKinley Dixon, with all of the of the attendant peaks and valleys.

A pivotal record for contemporary times; bright, free, adamant, optimistic. Brain Worms is RVG's fullest, most pristine album yet. All throughout Brain Worms, it's apparent that this is a band in very fine form. Album opener 'Common Ground' sets the tone for what's to come; a shiny, thrilling, punch of an album, with all the beloved RVG hallmarks. Vager's voice is unfiltered and commanding as ever when delivering her clever, not-quite-ironic lyrics. Here, though, those lyrics feel so much less resigned to yearning, and so much more defiant and joyous. 'Tambourine' is the only Covid song Vager wrote when "trying not to write Covid songs", and it's a painfully honest portrait of grieving mid-isolation. 'Brain Worms' tells the all-too-familiar story of a person falling down the internet rabbit hole and finding comfort in conspiracies. 'Nothing Really Changes' is a keys-heavy new wave-ish thing, while closer 'Tropic of Cancer' sparkles with Vager's self-assured new manifesto: I know what I'm like, and I know how I get. If you think I'm strange, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Bloxham, Nolte, and Wallace are flawlessly adept in bringing Vager's songwriting to life. Recorded in London at Snap Studios with James Trevascus (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, PJ Harvey), all ten tracks surge with lush sounds and clear intentions and the magic of an acoustic guitar once owned by Kate Bush, given to her by Tears for Fears (who, legend has it, wrote 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' on it). Between the four bandmates lead singer and guitarist Vager, guitarist Reuben Bloxham, drummer Marc Nolte and bassist Isabele Wallace this is the most confident they've ever felt in RVG. They've moved past their influences, pushed themselves, and tried new things. And they have made a record they can, by all accounts, call their best. "Brain Worms feels like the antithesis to what a post-pandemic record could easily be. For a band who were already writing music about being reclusive "we were depressed and not going outside on our first two albums" the enforced isolation and time to think gave Vager space to write about anything she wanted. And, it turned out, she was ready to write about acceptance. "If we could only make one more album, it would be this one," says Vager. "Easily one of the most vital bands on the Aussie scene today" Rolling Stone "A calling card for outsiders... dynamic and vital post-punk" The Guardian

Wait, what? A new Quince? Call the newspapers! It has been YEARS since the Dutch techno producer from Utrecht found the peace of mind to actually release something.

In fact, the Anthology of Interest EP on the illustrious NOWHERE series is his first proper record in eight years. His daytime job as a medic kept him rather occupied. You might remember those times when there was a pandemic around? We missed Quince, even though his sound is rather timeless.

Fluid Detroit infused techno with pulsating rhythms, alluring keyboard stabs and sultry basslines, like on Ghost In The Machine and the extremely funky The Butterjunk Effect.

Opening track Meanwhile has that hazy peak time feel you love so much while dancing with your eyes closed. But the winner of this very versatile EP may just be Space Pilot 3000. A futuristic and jumpy electro-track where the worlds of Drexciya and Juan Atkins collide in a blinding orange supernova. Can someone call a doctor!

20th Anniversary Edition of the long-deleted fifth album by THE PEARLFISHERS from 2003.
Deluxe 2-LP set in a beautiful gatefold sleeve with enhanced artwork and all lyrics. The album has been remastered and features four previously unreleased bonus tracks. Non-Returnable.

Masterful, melody-laden classic pop music, driven by main man DAVID SCOTT’s exceptional songwriting which has often been compared to PAUL MCCARTNEY, BURT BACHARACH, JIMMY WEBB, TODD RUNDGREN and BRIAN WILSON

Tineke Postma, a highly acclaimed bandleader, composer, and saxophonist, is set to release her eagerly awaited 8th album "Aria" in May 2023 via Edition Records. Aria reflects Tineke's personal musical journey since the release of her "Freya" album in February 2020. The album features new compositions, including pieces inspired by the Bimhuis Composition Assignment 2021 she worked on during the COVID-19 pandemic. The title "Aria" represents Tineke's passion for incorporating breath and space in her music, which is more important than ever in today's world. It also signifies melody, a musical form central to opera, a genre Tineke holds dear and is influenced by, particularly the singing of Maria Callas.

Im November 2021 startete De Staat sein Projekt „red yellow blue“. Nach mehr als 1,5 Jahren wird das Projekt im Juni 2023 seinen Höhepunkt erreichen und in voller Länge veröffentlichen. Dazu gehören Songs wie: “Who’s Gonna Be The GOAT?” (yellow), “Look At Me” (red) und “Running Backwards Into The Future” (blue).

Während der Pandemie gab es mehr Ruhe und Raum, um gemeinsam an neuen Songs zu arbeiten. Während des Entstehungsprozesses bemerkten De Staat verschiedene Stile in ihren Demos wieder - alle mit dem erkennbaren, eigenen Sound. Nachdem die ersten Songs fertig waren, wurden sie der Einfachheit halber in Primärfarben unterteilt. Diese drei Farben stehen für Gemütszustände: Rot für die dunkle Seite, Gelb für unbeschwerte, tanzbare Songs und Blau für Melancholie. Zusammen bilden sie das gesamte Spektrum
dessen ab, was De Staat im Moment ausmacht. Sobald sie das erkannt hatten, konnten sie die Grenzen innerhalb dieses Rahmen erweitern.

Während Torre schon immer den Großteil der Musik geschrieben hat, war die Band mehr als früher am Schreiben neuer Songs beteiligt. So entstanden Stücke, die sonst nicht geschrieben worden wären. Andrew Scheps ist der Mischtechniker dieser Songs. Er erhielt Grammy-Auszeichnungen für seine Arbeit an Red Hot Chili Peppers „Stadium Arcadium“, „21“ von Adele und „Fly Rasta“ von Ziggy Marley.

Endlich ist sie erhältlich: Die limitierte Vinyl-Edition von The Book Of Making.
Eric Johnson, der mit einem Grammy ausgezeichnete Multi-Genre-Gitarrist, liefert mit Yesterday Meets Today & The Book of Making zwei Geschwister-Alben, die während des Pandemie Lockdowns fertiggestellt wurden. Johnson hat Inventur gemacht - sowohl emotional als auch musikalisch - und die vielen unvollendeten Tracks, Outtakes, Demos und klanglichen Ideen in seinem Archiv durchforstet, um die 18 Songs zusammenzustellen, die schließlich auf den Alben landeten: "Jedes Mal, wenn ich eine Platte mache, mache ich normalerweise zwei Platten; ich lagere einige der Stücke, die ich nicht verwendet habe, im Tresor", erklärt Johnson. Mit dem Luxus der Zeit war Johnson in der Lage, zwei vollwertige Alben abzuliefern, wobei weitere Tracks Ende des Jahres als EP veröffentlicht werden sollen.

Verpackung: Schwarzes Vinyl mit Standardgewicht. Standard-Hülle. Inklusive 11x11 Einleger mit Lyrics und Album Credits

Ein zentrales Album für die heutige Zeit: hell, frei, unnachgiebig, optimistisch. Brain Worms ist das bisher vollste und makelloseste Album von RVG. Auf "Brain Worms" wird deutlich, dass die Band in bester Form ist. Der Album-Opener 'Common Ground' gibt den Ton an für das, was kommen wird; ein glänzendes, mitreißendes, schlagkräftiges Album mit allen geliebten RVG-Merkmalen. Vagers Stimme ist ungefiltert und souverän wie immer, wenn sie ihre cleveren, nicht ganz ironischen Texte vorträgt. Hier fühlen sich diese Texte jedoch viel weniger resigniert und sehnsüchtig an, sondern viel mehr trotzig und fröhlich. Tambourine" ist der einzige Covid-Song, den Vager schrieb, als sie "versuchte, keine Covid-Songs zu schreiben", und es ist ein schmerzhaft ehrliches Porträt der Trauer inmitten der Isolation. Brain Worms" erzählt die nur allzu bekannte Geschichte eines Menschen, der in den Kaninchenbau des Internets fällt und Trost in Verschwörungen findet. Nothing Really Changes" ist ein Keyboarder-lastiges New-Wave-Ding, während das abschließende "Tropic of Cancer" mit Vagers selbstbewusstem neuen Manifest glänzt: Ich weiß, wie ich bin, und ich weiß, wie ich werde. Wenn du denkst, ich bin seltsam, hast du noch nichts gesehen. Bloxham, Nolte und Wallace erwecken Vagers Songwriting mit Bravour zum Leben. Aufgenommen in den Londoner Snap Studios mit James Trevascus (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, PJ Harvey), strotzen alle zehn Tracks vor üppigen Klängen, klaren Absichten und der Magie einer Akustikgitarre, die einst Kate Bush gehörte und die ihr von Tears for Fears geschenkt wurde (die, so die Legende, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" darauf geschrieben hat). Die vier Bandmitglieder - Leadsänger und Gitarrist Vager, Gitarrist Reuben Bloxham, Schlagzeuger Marc Nolte und Bassist Isabele Wallace - sind so selbstbewusst wie noch nie bei RVG. Sie haben ihre Einflüsse hinter sich gelassen, sich selbst vorangetrieben und neue Dinge ausprobiert. Und sie haben ein Album gemacht, das sie nach allem, was sie sagen, als ihr bestes bezeichnen können. Brain Worms" fühlt sich an wie die Antithese zu dem, was eine Post-Pandemic-Platte leicht sein könnte. Für eine Band, die bereits Musik über das Zurückgezogensein schrieb, "wir waren deprimiert und gingen auf unseren ersten beiden Alben nicht nach draußen", gab die erzwungene Isolation und die Zeit zum Nachdenken Vager Raum, über alles zu schreiben, was sie wollte. Und es stellte sich heraus, dass sie bereit war, über Akzeptanz zu schreiben. "Wenn wir nur ein weiteres Album machen könnten, wäre es dieses", sagt Vager. Rolling Stone: "Eine Visitenkarte für Außenseiter... dynamischer und vitaler Post-Punk" The Guardian: "Eine der vitalsten Bands der australischen Szene von heute.

Eric Johnson, der mit einem Grammy ausgezeichnete Multi-Genre-Gitarrist, liefert mit Yesterday Meets Today & The Book of Making zwei Geschwister-Alben, die während des Pandemie Lockdowns fertiggestellt wurden. Johnson hat Inventur gemacht - sowohl emotional als auch musikalisch - und die vielen unvollendeten Tracks, Outtakes, Demos und klanglichen Ideen in seinem Archiv durchforstet, um die 18 Songs zusammenzustellen, die schließlich auf den Alben landeten: "Jedes Mal, wenn ich eine Platte mache, mache ich normalerweise zwei Platten; ich lagere einige der Stücke, die ich nicht verwendet habe, im Tresor", erklärt Johnson. Mit dem Luxus der Zeit war Johnson in der Lage, zwei vollwertige Alben abzuliefern, wobei weitere Tracks Ende des Jahres als EP veröffentlicht werden sollen.

Verpackung: Schwarzes Vinyl mit Standardgewicht. Standard-Hülle. Inklusive 11x11 Einleger mit Lyrics und Album Credits

Tristan Da Cunha dons his Freakenstein alias and debuts on UTTU with a special split release! the Hot Haus Side shows show off his sought after House prowess before flipping over to the UTTU side for Freakenstein’s Electro flare to shine over 2 red-hot-elektro-werk-outs.

First time reissue of mega rare 1972 psych-folk album from Venezuela.
180g LP.
One of the most obscure records ever released in Venezuela that was originally distributed in tiny quantities as a promo-only album.

A magic blend of protest songwriting, with a strong environmentalist statement, and folky pop with psych ingredients —such as the use of sitar sounds— recorded by the collective of artists “Una Luz”, and “El Zigui” who was once described as the local Bob Dylan.

The late ‘60s was a short period of time, long enough to turn the world upside down.

Music, paying attention to the ancient Greeks who said that changes in society are also reflected in it, also undergoes violent transformations in its structure. The turbulent joy of rock and roll and twist gives way to the meditative sounds of the waves of the sea contained in surf to finally welcome music of soft and delicate harmonies with songs full of references in their lyrics to the state of society and their relationships with the environment.

On the other hand, in Venezuela, although the expansive wave of May 68 had not reached it, a certain degree of dissatisfaction began to be perceived, especially through the music of a singer-songwriter from the countryside of Venezuela known as Ali Primera, El Cantor del Pueblo. Thanks to a scholarship from the German government, he studied for a few years in that country, and it was there that he recorded his first album, with songs whose lyrics reflect the essence of authors such as Bob Dylan and Atahualpa Yupanqui. And Ali Primera becomes one of the greatest influences of our artist: El Zigui.

Guillermo Sánchez Corao —known as El Zigui for some strange reason— was born in the Venezuelan city of Maracay, capital of the State of Aragua, on January 13, 1948. From a very young age he began to study guitar playing and, already in his teens, we can find him as part of the duo El Zigui & Franklin together with Franklin Laudelino Mejías, another young man with a great musical pedigree.

It is during his bohemian phase as a troubadour, in the surroundings of the Ateneo de Caracas, when his music caught the attention of producer Mario Tepedino, the most important youth music producer at the time. Mario takes him to his TV show “2001 Juvenil”. With the incorporation of other musicians such as Rubén "Micho" Correa —who would later become a great arranger and record producer— he created the group El Zigui y Una Luz, which would later be joined by musicians such as Carlos "Nene" Quintero and Alfredo Padilla, members of the amazing Grupo Pan. Later on, another outstanding singer would also join Una Luz: Guillermo Carrasco.

With this formation they made it into a recording studio in 1972 where they managed to record, in just 30 hours, a long-playing album of which only 60 copies were pressed and has therefore gained cult status among collectors. As expected, the strong content of the lyrics was not supported by the media, making the promotion of the album impossible to accomplish. However, it was with the help of Mario Tepedino that they made it to television, with appearances on “2001 Juvenil” and “Antesala Lunar”, a show that was especially produced for the broadcast of the arrival of man on the Moon.

That was probably one of the main reasons for El Zigui to move to Canada and then France until 1978 when he returns to Venezuela. He would then join bands like Xabañón, Fogón and De Vuelta al Futuro, a 12-member super group. The former members of Una Luz had become well known musicians in the country, especially Guillermo Carrasco who was one of the greatest ballad artists in the ‘80s and targeted by the biggest record companies at the time. El Zigui died in a traffic accident on June 22, 1999. If he had lived through these crazy times... where would he have gone?

Eponymous collaboration between Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay - their first
since 2018's 'The Hawksworth Grove Sessions' and their debut for Topic
Records
Postponed for two years due to the small matter of a global pandemic, finally, as
some semblance of normality took shape, in February 2022, the duo headed into
Giant Wafer Studios, mid-Wales, with very little rehearsal time and recorded the
entire album live, with no edits or overdubs over three days.
Jim Ghedi and Toby Hay are both prolific, praised and established artists in their
own right. Hailing from South Yorkshire, Ghedi's previous work has often been
instrumental, exploring the natural world and his relationship to it, as seen on
2018's A Hymn For Ancient Land but also developing into using his voice,
songwriting and traditional material on his more recent album, In The Furrows Of
Common Place. Toby Hay, hailing from the Cambrian mountains, professes
likewise, that the landscape serves as eternal muse and the spiritual groundwork
of his entrancing guitar playing which has dazzled critics and listeners alike
throughout his career. All of this makes their collaboration with the world's oldest
independent label and custodians of UK folk music, Topic Records, a natural
home for this exceptional record.
The album arrtwork includes beautiful liner notes by Andrew Male, senior
associate editor of Mojo magazine; film, radio and TV writer for Sight and Sound
and Sunday Times Culture.

Sylvie Vartan's most wonderful songs beautifully remastered by Mr. Nick Robbins at Sound Mastering... Super cute, lovely, yet Rock n Roll artwork by Mr. Allan NoMan

Detailed liner notes by M.Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe, author of the acclaimed, beautiful, and definitive book "Ye-Ye Girls of '60s French Pop"

Imagine..if you will...a world in which your dearest chic girl pop singer guests a couple of humour records, goes on to have hit after hit, is all over TV and media, with the coolest radio shows and magazines for youngsters being almost fanzines for her. Then she gets her own TV shows and um, marries Elvis, and does a multi-night stand at the Paris Olympia where The Beatles are supporting HER! That world existed, it was early 1960s France, a marvellous, self contained world of music, film and art, where Vince Taylor was not a weird guy in leather pants who never really clicked with the kids,but the major star he was in his own head! And..Well, obviously, it wasn't really Elvis, but the French-World analogue Johnny Hallyday (handsome, good hair, and a great dancer!), so..in France it WAS!... But the hits? The TV shows? And the magazines and radio? Yes! Those really happened....and The Beatles did support her (and it was a big and lucky night in their career!)...Now, don't you wish we were there, in that world? A bizarro technicolor mix of....I don't know, Viva Las Vegas/HELP!/Les Demoiselles de Rochefort? I certainly do...or maybe pop this record on and let's pretend? Oh, I think so, yes...

Jack Vegas is the sixth album by Swedish electro/post punk outfit Agent Side Grinder. It marks the band’s first exploration of American culture, drawing heavily on the beatnik-era works of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, as well as the proto-punk and avantgarde movements — while maintaining a contemporary storytelling perspective.

The American dream becomes a symbol for escape from a Europe ravaged by pandemics, war and financial instability. Lyrical themes revolve around boredom, resilience, government and corporate intrusion, and mental health — with the occasional glimmer of light. It’s a drum machine-driven road movie, plotting its course through the desperate heart of rural Sweden.

The name Jack Vegas’ is derived from a Swedish chain of low-stakes slot machines.

The album has been produced by former ASG member Henrik Sunbring, and recorded in Stockholm during 2022.

Genre-wise Agent Side Grinder has always existed in some kind of twilight zone. Deeply rooted in early electronic and industrial music as well as proto- and post punk, their sound is driven by iterative, suggestive beats and sudden bursts of untamed ferocity, built on equal parts dissonant samples and elegant melodies.

Iyer's 2020 full-length KIND was the result of years of touring, connecting
with community, and an ethos based in self-love
But rest is approached from a different angle - Rest is in many ways a reflection
of myself, asking the question, "Who am I when it all stops?", explains Iyer,
referencing, of course, the early pandemic and its halting effect on the world.
Being stuck at home indefinitely allowed Iyer to examine her relationship to rest
on a more critical level. With this newfound downtime, Iyer began to realize an
active pursuit of rest, with deliberate and kind intention, eventually turning to back
songwriting as part of her new practice. The resultant five songs that comprise
rest explore Iyer's mindful intentions through a graceful amalgam of tender pop
with inflections of jazz, backed with orchestral experimentation.