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Blocaus series is back with it's 8th release, "Gods & Robots" EP by rising French artist Ruhbarb for his debut EP on the label. Involved with labels such as Materia and Odd Oven, Ruhbarb's sound is a mixture between techno, dub and ambient, nurturing a tone that is driving, groovy and dark, but always loaded with great emotional depth. Part of a promising new generation of French producers and DJ's, Ruhbarb delivers 4 fantastic cuts in his own personal style including on the B side two killer remixes from Answer Code Request and Antigone.

PRESSED ON ECO-FRIENDLY VINYL AT THE GREENEST PRESSING PLANT IN THE WORLD

The ends of days are ones with which Damian Lazarus is familiar, but, much like his biblical namesake, he too, has come back from the brink and risen to fight on, his career is interwoven with themes of survival and re-birth. Fittingly then, his second solo album does not wallow in our current dark times but charts a path of hope. Flourish, offers a glimpse of a new world worth living in and surviving for.

Flourish takes us through the many lives of Damian Lazarus, who, as he has grown older, and traversed the globe, has come to more deeply examine the role the dance floor plays in his own life and that of others. With parties cancelled, it would have been easy to wallow, but instead urgency took hold, and isolated Italian countryside Damian took the space to tackle the larger questions he has been grappling with for years.

As anyone who has watched Lazarus DJ can attest, his inspirations are deep and varied, criss-crossing show tunes, drum n bass, jazz, electro, soul, house, techno and everything in-between. This album reflects his immersion in a multitude of scenes over the years, from the early days of London drum n bass, to his role as a figurehead in the electroclash scene, and of course the significant impact his Crosstown Rebels label has had on contemporary underground house and techno. Flourish is far from a box of functional DJ tools, in the same way as Damian’s debut album Smoke The Monster Out or the more worldly outings in his brace of albums with the Ancient Moons. It’s a personal, brave and varied body of work. It’s also the work of an artist who has grown over the ten years since his last solo album. Lazarus plays with nuances of texture, tempo and style to create a rich and dense album that takes us on an odyssey that is at times both dark and uplifting. Vocals of his own cast an intimate shadow over the album with those of his sole collaborator Jem Cooke offering a soothing balance amidst the madness.

Damian’s work reminds us that however taxing the journeys there are always moments of beauty to be found.

We Release Jazz is delighted to announce the official reissue of Ryo Fukui’s final album, the very personal contemporary jazz offering, A Letter from Slowboat, sourced from the original masters and available on limited edition 180 gram vinyl mastered at half speed for full audiophile sound, as well as on digipack CD.
Known for his miraculous albums Scenery (1976) and Mellow Dream (1977), legendary Hokkaido pianist Ryo Fukui, with the help of his wife Yasuko, opened his very own jazz club in Sapporo in 1995, Slowboat. This is where Ryo Fukui spent the latter half of his career, playing again and again, welcoming peers for unforgettable sessions, and perfecting the craft he lived for: jazz.

A Letter from Slowboat is a poetic, soulful, and honest love letter to Hokkaido, to Fukui’s jazz club, and to endless hours of practicing artistry in a place called home. Backed by longtime collaborators Takumi Awaya on bass, and Ittetsu Takemura on drums, Ryo Fukui flows through classics and originals with natural class, fluidity and absolute precision, expressing a smooth balance between skills and heart. Slowboat, full of breathtaking solos and exquisite moments of clarity, is another crucial piece in the career of one of the most fascinating jazzmen to ever grace the piano. It was released in 2016, sadly the year Ryo Fukui passed away, leaving behind a legacy of works that is sure to captivate jazz lovers for generations to come, and Slowboat, where the magic still happens to this day.

This is reissued in conjunction with Ryo Fukui’s Ryo Fukui in New York (1999), also available via We Release Jazz.

Asyncro presents the second release of the series - a collection of tracks produced by OL between 2017 & 2020. In addition to solo works the record includes collaborations with Sensational, Flaty and Micxail. These interactions emphasize the author's interest in communicating with other artists through the music recording process. "Wildlife Processing" is an archive of compositions reflecting OL's trajectory and personal vision of electronic music over the past years.

Following contributions from Carl Craig, Stacey Pullen and Wajeed, Swiss DJ and producer Mirko Loko steps forward to mix the fourth volume of Planet E's mix series, Detroit Love. Active since the late nineties when he first began DJing in the clubs of Lausanne, Switzerland, Mirko Loko has always felt a deep connection to the music of Detroit. Having been personally invited by Carl Craig to play at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2001, that connection has stayed consistent and electric ever since. Mirko Lokois also known as a Cadenza mainstay and a curator of Verbier's Polaris Festival, but the music of the Motor City has been the guiding force of his creative career.

At the forefront of the Irish electronic music scene, Sligo-born Berlin-based duo Brame & Hamo, aka Tiarnan McMorrow and Conor Hamilton, announce their hotly anticipated fourth EP, 'Celebrity Impersonator' out on the 29th October 2018 via their own imprint, Brame & Hamo.

The title reflects the duos personality and playful energy, nodding to their love of celebrity impersonators whilst growing up. 'We have a bit of a soft spot for impersonators as it is a pretty ridiculous way to earn a living. A bit like DJing! Our favs were those of Tom Cruise, Bill Gates, Gordon Ramsay and Johnny Depp'.

Opening with 'Midnight Express', the rolling melodics nod to the early sounds of prog house and Italo, acting as a transitional opener to their signature trance via techno scores. On the B-Side, title track 'Celebrity Impersonator', is a moody four four that edges into the darker realms with their love of breakbeat shimmering through, resulting in a club ready anthem. Melting down into a rolling trance groove with a late night heady feel, 'Request Rhythm' closes the EP.

With an impressive discography of EP's behind them on their own imprint - Trants, Club Orange and the DJ favourite, Limewire, as well as bookings worldwide the Irish pair are set to propel onwards from Sligo to Berlin and beyond.

»Sonic Healing« is the third full-length release by Martin Steer’s Bad Stream project. While the concept was started by one person in response to a singular situation, it fully came to life as a product of collective imagination. For the album, Steer sent a single guitar loop to twelve musicians from the extended network of his ANTIME label who improvised with the recording, which was later collaged by Steer into a single, 39 minute long track that stylistically ranges from feverish jazz to brooding ambient and abstract electronica. Together with the Iranian artist Arash Akbari’s vivid animations based on generative algorithms and real-time processing, »Sonic Healing« does not ask how one person can deal with turmoil in their life alone, but how we can create new forms of being together with art as a mediator.

Black Truffle is very proud to present Peaks by Australian cellist Judith Hamann, her debut release of electro-acoustic music. Known mostly for her live performance work with composers including Sarah Hennies, Yvette Janine Jackson, Alvin Lucier, Tashi Wada, and La Monte Young, here she steps away from the cello, moving into an intimate dreamscape woven from recordings gathered over years of itinerant touring.

Peaks is a work in two distinct parts, crossfading between different landscapes and apertures; from rooftop to church, from stasis to flares of momentary romanticism. Peaks considers summits as being both above and below, reframing the idea of apex from a more intimate perspective. Hamann considers how our domestic and personal geographies might form their own apogees, meridians, or nadirs.

Assembled in 2019 while an artist in residence in Krems, Austria, Peaks begins with Hamann’s more familiar cello but soon unravels into resonant electronic interiors; Southern California nightscapes heard through windows, San Francisco bathroom fans, snatches of recordings of friends, hand organs, and engines. signal/centinela draws primarily on recordings from Hamann’s time living in San Diego, and carries with it a certain sense of nostalgia in the sense of homesickness, longing, and displacement of distance and time. Side B is composed from recordings gathered on a different continent, Europe, weaving piano with recordings of sleep, breath, church organ, and the act of climbing. under/over emerges as it recedes, overlapping moments of arrival to create another kind of ‘spire’ in the sense of spir (breath). Peaks, with its omission of any recordings from Hamann’s home of Australia, hints at how the very construction of home itself, might be restless, untethered, changeable, and malleable.

On Peaks, Hamann interrogates tropes of ambient concrète musics, intentionally pivoting formally around material which teeters on the edge of cliche. This exploration asks whether familiar frames of harmony, field recordings and narrative trajectories can excavate new territories, or be ruptured. Peaks untangles a very personal sense of tension between beauty and shame in experimental music: treating lushness and harmony as possessing potentially muscular musical properties that might wrestle with or construct senses of belonging and home.

Wenn einer der größten Popstars der Welt auf ein neues Album zusteuert, genügen schon drei Buchstaben und alle wissen Bescheid: „KP5“ lautete monatelang das inoffizielle Kürzel für Katy Perrys kommenden Longplayer. Das Album heißt „Smile“, klingt nach „Smile“ – und kommt am 28. August. Die erste Single „Daisies“, eine Hymne auf die Unabhängigkeit, zeigte schon sehr gut die Richtung fürs neue Album, denn die Sängerin will in der aktuellen Situation vor allem inspirieren, das sprichwörtliche Licht am Ende des Tunnels aufzeigen, wie sie kommentierte. Die Titelsingle ”Smile” ist ein weiteres durch und durch positives, absolut lebensbejahendes Statement. „Drei Minuten absolut zuversichtliche Energie sind das“,
so ihr Kommentar. Auch die schon 2019 veröffentlichten Singles „Never Really Over“ und „Harleys in Hawaii“ werden auf dem Album vertreten sein, die in der Standard-Edition insgesamt 12 Songs vereint und sehr persönlich klingt, weil Katy ganz offen Probleme und Zweifel anspricht, mit denen sie in den letzten Jahren zu kämpfen hatte. Seit KP im Jahr 2008 mit „I Kissed A Girl“ erstmals die #1 in Deutschland
erobern sollte, hat die US-Sängerin alles abgeräumt. Zuletzt erschien das Album „Witness“, mit dem sie wieder einmal die #1 in den US-Charts eroberte (in Deutschland wurde u.a. die Single „Chained To The Rhythm“ vergoldet).

The Story Itself

On the 12th of April 1961, Yuri Gagarin was launched into orbit for the first and - so they tell us - the last time. Upon returning to Earth, Yuri became a global hero, travelling the world to tell of his adventure.

Secretly, he was plagued by strange hallucinations and a persistent glow around his vision; a cornucopia of colour in a constant corona. In 1964 - following a silent coup by Leonid Brezhnev - Yuri was banned from embarking on further manned missions into space. At first fearing madness, the cosmonaut came to see these apparitions as a signal, an invitation, a welcoming beacon from a distant lighthouse blinking across the cosmic void.

On the 27th of March 1968, aided by trusted friends within the space program, Yuri Gagarin swapped places with another cosmonaut on a secret test flight and was once more blasted into outer space. Knocked unconscious by the extreme velocity of his experimental craft, Yuri awoke a mere 15 minutes later in view not of the rapidly shrinking Earth, but an entirely alien vista; he was elsewhere...

About Tony Neptune

Tony Neptune is a multi-media persona created by the Leeds-based artist and producer Sam Jefferies who, inspired by the narrative and musical legacies of early Detroit techno culture, aims to tell a complete story for the senses through a combination of image, sound and text. Asa member of the DimensionsDJ Directory three years running, some know Jefferies for his notorious DJ sets—whether he’s playing new wave or booty bass; as Tony Neptune or Yuri; solo or alongside Mark ‘Turbo’ Turner in another peak time marathon b2b, it doesn’t take long for crowds to catch on to his deep knowledge of all things riddled with Hi-Tech Funk and Soul. But this isn’t the only storm he’s cooking up: in his visual work, Jefferies uses oil paint to unveil the surreal and celestial adventures of the original cosmonaut and space pioneer, Yuri Gagarin, capturing every aspect of their dream-like surroundings with an eye devoted to detail and depth. This painting lies at the heart of his debut EP, Reflections on a Daring

A memorable name with an outstanding cover, Fuzzy Duck is a classic slice of underground London art rock and melodic psychedelia. Originally released on MAM in 1971, it’s truly a musical force of infectious riffs and fiery solos, sharp tempo changes, a tight rhythm section and heavy, Hammond-drenched grooves. With echoes of Spencer Davis Group, early Grand Funk and Vanilla Fudge, it comes on like a heavier Soft Machine or Caravan. No wonder Fuzzy Duck’s cult appeal has endured.

The album features Mick Hawksworth (Five Day Week Straw People, Andromeda) on bass, acoustic 12-string, electric cello and some of the vocal duties, and also Roy “Daze” Sharland (Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Spice) on organ and electric piano. Accompanying those two were Paul Francis on drums and percussion, and Grahame White on guitars and the rest of the vocals.

Originally released in an edition of 500, Fuzzy Duck became legendary all over the world through a holy trinity of scarcity, personnel and its sheer brilliance.

The album kicks off with a heavy, bass-fuelled, Hammond rocker titled “Time Will Be Your Doctor”. This is pure hard-edged blues rock, brilliantly played. Its drum break intro was sampled by DJ Premier for Gang Starr’s “Mostly Tha Voice” on 1994’s legendary Hard To Earn. And we can hear its personality all over Harvey and Thomas Bullock’s Map Of Africa.

Rollicking highlight “Mrs. Prout” follows. At nearly 7 minutes long, it incorporates more psych-leaning guitar and drawn-out keyboards à la Ray Manzarek with the band effortlessly switching from jazzy rhythm section to a progressive one. That magnificent instrumental jam that starts half-way and continues through to the end is a true wonder.

“Just Look Around You” is propulsive folk-rock with a soaring, proto power-pop chorus, backed by frenetic organ and heavy bass high in the rich, intoxicating mix. Back comes the heavy, strung-out psych to both close out side one with “Afternoon Out” and kick off side two with “More Than I Am”. Both tracks are improvisational winners that stylistically nod to the late sixties and “More Than I Am”’s guitar hook, catchy organ and memorable chorus would’ve surely made it a great single.

“Country Boy” quenches the thirst for rhythm and melody, only the lyrics and vibe are wonderfully creepy. The sudden cut of the groove and the drop into a more sinister tempo will make you stumble, before the band pick up speed and toss you back again into the opening jam, this time with a badass organ to ride you home. The final, fully fleshed out track is the majestic “In Our Time”, which oscillates between endless organ-driven boogie and heavenly, genuinely moving vocals. Just stunning.

Infamous instrumental cut “A Word from Big D” rounds out the album. Yes, that’s the band jamming with duck quack sound effects accompanying the music. “Ducking vocals” as the sleeve says. You know, just in case the whole “duck” theme had passed you by. It’s an appropriate closer for what sounds like an album that must have been *a lot* of fun to record. It’s definitely fun to listen to.

Mastered by Be With’s chief sound duck Simon Francis and cut with glee by the veteran Pete Norman, this reissue of Fuzzy Duck’s one-and-only LP sounds as mighty as it should. That unforgettable sleeve artwork has been carefully restored and the records pressed by the wonderful Record Industry in the Netherlands. Essential.

Seeing himself as a social commentator, Coops continuously draws inspiration from everything around him and is feeling more inspired than ever. Having signed to the label in 2018 he has already released 2 poignant albums and continues to create at rapid speed.

The 8-track project - which was made in just 4 studio sessions - is unlike Coops’ usual 14+ track albums both he and his fans have become used to. Coops turned the album around in record time to ensure his music was released during this unparalleled time in history. The homegrown beats come from his close friend and long term collaborator Talos who has produced almost all his beats to date.

In the opening track, ‘ Boom Biddy Bye’ Coops doesn’t waste a second in putting his fellow rappers through their paces. A block rapper with no one to please but himself, Coops professes that he barely listens to what other rappers release to ensure they don’t infiltrate and influence his own music. Highly appropriate for these times, title track ‘ Crimes Against Creation ’ is the stand out voice of this generation and his message to the world. ‘W arped perception, thwart connections, they force perfection, then claim the antidotes an injection...’ plays out and we begin to appreciate how the current situation is playing heavily on his mind. As the album progresses we get to see all sides of Coops’ personality with ‘Piss Poor’ reminding us of the raw gritty London lifestyle from which he has risen from, whilst ‘Profile’ demonstrates his softer more promiscuous side as well as touching on themes of fatherhood and online relationships.
Coops’ musical entry point begun by making music with his friends, but it wasn’t until he really looked at himself and the world around him when he decided he needed to go it alone, opening his mind and his solo stream of creativity which hasn’t stopped since. A self-proclaimed hermit he embodies the essence of a true artist and only finds comfort in doing what he loves, not what he is told.

"Modern Dread is an album that sees Moore exploring personal demons whilst also voicing her concerns for the world at large, a daring exercise in micro versus macro that pays off richly in what is a dazzling step forward in artistry. It follows on from the critically hailed 2017 album “We Used to Bloom” and represents a delicious quantum leap in her career.
A unique blend of quixotic beats and introspective, sometimes harrowing songwriting which will undoubtedly stamp Moore as one of the most original talents we have around right now."

Multi award-winning saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia is back with her much anticipated debut album, SOURCE. Her first release on Concord Records, under the iconic Concord Jazz imprint. The album follows her 2018 self-released EP, WHEN WE ARE, the title track of which was described as “effervescent” by The New York Times and named one of NPR’s Best Songs of 2018. Her debut EP, NUBYA’s 5IVE, released in 2017, was hailed as “exceptional” by The Vinyl Factory and sold out on vinyl within 24 hours. In 2018, Garcia also featured on five of the nine tracks on WE OUT HERE, the Brownswood compilation project celebrating London’s young and exciting jazz scene. She won the Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year Award and the Sky Arts Breakthrough Act of the Year Award in 2018, and the Jazz FM UK Jazz Act of the Year Award in 2019.

A collection of sonic mantras to live by, SOURCE is a deeply personal offering in which Garcia maps cartographies around the coordinate points of her identity, her family histories, grief, afro-diasporic connections and collectivism. SOURCE is fundamentally about getting grounded within yourself, so that you can be present with others. It's about a realization of personal and collective power: the evolution of the saxophonist’s values as she re-connects with herself, her roots and her community. Garcia digs deep to present an album with a global outlook: from London to Bogota, Caura to Georgetown, it's a record drawing inspiration from the many places Garcia calls home.

The first notes of Relapse’s “Underground Rave Hits for a Shuttered Club” are obscured with abrasive noise. For this Pinecone Moonshine album, the Bristol based musician known for drum and bass drew from many influences. Melodies and harmonies suggest ideas from extreme metal, blues, folk, and unique medieval, ritual notations. The album ranges from slower tempos like the funky 100 bpm “Curse, or a Swan” up to the 200 bpm breakcore “Hitroll Beat Heart.”

Released during the late 1970's Disco era, Milton Wright's sophomore long player has always stood out as a singular, innovative example of the deepest, rarest grooves known to underground Soul lovers all over the globe. This often overlooked body of work has found a whole new audience who revisited the man's work retrospectively, pushing the LP into the domain of "holy grail" status amongst Black music lovers and Funk fanatics. "Spaced" has been at the top of the wants lists of serious music lovers for decades, often unattainable and commanding stellar collectors prices on-line, sometimes fetching amounts of upwards of £400. This unique LP could be perceived as being Wright's most personal work, tragically overshadowed by the burgeoning successes of his then label mates on Miami's Alston Records imprint. The sheer craftsmanship and songwriting prowess on show is undeniable, as is the top level musicianship and production, sounding ridiculously fresh almost some 40 years later. Above Board distribution has collaborated with Alston / TK Records to ensure the quality of this fully legitimate repress of this long lost Soul / Funk classic has been maintained. Remastered, reissued and represented with the full cooperation of the license holders for 2016. Do not pass up the chance to own a true gem, a pivotal, lost LP like "Spaced", now made available again to be enjoyed by all. "Magic Music".

ebut full length LP from Japan's favorite underground native son. A fixture in the Japanese beat scene & known by those in-the-know for years now, PEPIN lands his spaceship in Chicago courtesy of STAR CREATURE for his debut, modern funk meets space boogie anchored by Japanese King, SAUCE81.

“Les choses qu’on ne peut dire à personne” is Bertrand Burgalat’s fifth studio album. The record features 19 titles that set the bar very high, speak about the world as it is, with strength and subtlety. Racy songwriting, supple rhythms, sumptuous harmonies, corrupting voices: the testimony of a goldsmith at the height of his art. A masterful record that looks like no one else.

2020 Re-issue of Keith Kenniff's debut under his Goldmund moniker. Originally only released on CD in 2005 via John Twells' Type Recordings, this album of rare and unusual minimalist beauty is now presented as a vinyl edition for the first time.

Multi-instrumentalist Keith Kenniff is a busy man. He has appeared as Helios on a number of acclaimed releases, including Deaf Center’s ‘Neon City EP’, and released a debut album ‘Unomia’ on Merck records which has appeared on many best of 2004 lists. All this while studying at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and playing drums, guitar or contributing production to a host of amazing musicians. Kenniff lives and breathes music, something that is very obvious when hearing tracks under any of his pseudonyms.

As Goldmund, Kenniff has disregarded the electronic elements of his music almost entirely in favour of just a piano, a microphone and occasionally a guitar. ‘Corduroy Road’ is thirteen tracks of pure recording, the sound of the piano being opened and the feet on the pedals, the sound of fingers pressing lovingly onto the keys. This is a record of rare and unusual beauty, so shocking and yet unpretentious in its simplicity. When the guitar does emerge from beside the delicately touched piano, it serves as a balancing point for the record. Weaving in and out of the melodies, it adds another layer to what is already incredibly moving music.

‘Corduroy Road’ is rooted in Kenniff’s love of folk music from the American Civil War. We can hear this directly from his rendition of Civil War era classic ‘Marching Through Georgia’, but the influence carries throughout the record. There is an unheard voice which propels each track through history, maybe the ghosts of dying soldiers whispering in a long forgotten bar. Every haunting note drifts deep into the psyche and is lost in the ether of nostalgia. In this way it is a concept recording of sorts, it certainly has a narrative and has to be listened to in sequence. The story has clear themes; loss, history, friendship, camaraderie, forgiveness and hope, all clearly marked out by musical segments. It is no surprise that Kenniff’s passion for cinema shines through so strongly.

It would be hard to draw comparisons to music so rooted in folk traditions, but the music evokes traces of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mark Hollis, Keith Jarret or even Eno’s more piano based compositions. Yet influence seems unimportant when listening to this deeply personal work. Just let it sink in and drift into the psyche.

Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles announces details of his highly anticipated new album Articulation, released on Erased Tapes on 31 July 2020.
‘Articulation’, the lead track and album centrepiece, links the record back to the analogue fluidity and colour of 2016’s Night Melody. The division of varying time signatures, intertwined with a complex structure of notes, creates an expression of a moving structure and conjures a dreamy motorik energy. Ryan Lee West explains, "The title track is about articulation and playfulness with shape and time. Its structure is very machine-like, but I was really interested in how melody and sense of story could develop out of this, and it became an exploration of mathematical structures - patterns and shapes having a conversation. I love that something on paper can appear rigid and calculated, but then take on new meaning based on the context that surrounds it, or how it changes over time."
Articulation (which follows 2018’s Persona) was conceived with a very visual way of thinking, unusual for the London musician and producer. During the writing process Ryan drew structures, shapes and patterns by hand to try and find new ways of thinking about music, giving himself a way to problem-solve away from the computer. The album title references a piece by the avant-garde contemporary composer Györgi Ligeti, though not for its music, but for the non-traditional graphic score that accompanied it.
“I find electronic music is often battling to say something with integrity because technology and production can easily get in the way. I think the goal of a lot of electronic composers is to find a balance between the vision of the idea and the power of possibilities on the computer. With a pen and paper sketch you can compose and rethink ideas without technology getting in the way, so for me it acts as a very helpful tool to refresh the process.” - Ryan Lee West
The idea of using analogue drawings and tools to bolster digital creations can be heard in the structure of the pieces that make up Articulation from the broody techno opener ‘Vibrations on a String’ all the way to the album’s boundless closer ‘Sudden Awareness of Now’. While the anthemic rise and fall of ‘Still Here’ and the beatless ambient meditation ‘Melodica’ evoke a certain nostalgia, ‘Forwardism’ achieves the very opposite by burying its melody within the fast-paced rhythm of its pulsating synths.
Rising out of birdsong heard from his studio window, ‘Sudden Awareness of Now’ has a particular urgency about it and seems to perfectly capture a longing for escape. Built around a simple and repetitive melodic theme, expanding and retracting over the course of its seven-minute odyssey, Lee West explains; “I like the fact that if you say something over and over again in music, then over time it can become something else, something reflective.”
Since the release of Persona, Ryan Lee West has taken his captivating live A/V set to all corners of the world. Last seen live on stage with 17 players of the London Contemporary Orchestra for a sold-out orchestral performance at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in January 2020.
Meanwhile Lee West has kept busy. After contributing an exclusive track titled ‘Them Is Us’ to Adult Swim’s coveted Singles series, he recently shared the beautifully textured solo piano piece Winter’s Lament on this year’s Piano Day. He has also been in high demand as a composer, scoring Charlie Brooker’s much talked about Black Mirror episode Striking Vipers, composing original music for Secret Cinema presents Stranger Things as well as renowned choreographer Alexander’s Whitley’s groundbreaking new work Overflow which was set to premiere at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre this spring.
Articulation will be available worldwide on 31 July, with live activities to be announced as soon as the situation allows safe event planning

Shine Grooves is a multifaceted artist, and this second record for Kimochi Sound explores two sides of that personality. The delicate, introspective, expressive precision of After All, DPS v55, and Secret move from sublime resignation to summery exuberance to a kind of earnest meditation. On the other side, collaborations with X343 yield a more extroverted approach: spontaneous mutations turn rolling grooves into unpredictable improvisational explorations.

Emma-Jean Thackray, an outstanding figure in the UK jazz scene, releases Um Yang, her long-dreamed project dedicated to the Taoist philosophy of duality and harmony. Ahighly ambitious and personal record that sees Thackray leading a septet featuring
Soweto Kinch and Steam Down’s Wonky Logic, recorded straight to vinyl. An accomplished trumpeter, beat-maker, singer, composer and DJ, Thackray draws on far wider influences than jazz. Her sound is distinctive; in the words of The Guardian like “Bitches Brewera Miles entering the dub chamber with a New Orleans marching band – in a good way”. Since debuting in 2016, Thackray has directed the London Symphony Orchestra, performed at the NY Winter Jazz Fest, played Glastonbury five times in 2019 alone, and launched her own record
label, Movementt (in association with Warp). Championed by Gilles Peterson, Theo Parrish and Jamie Cullum, Thackray has firmly cemented her place among a new wave of exciting young
musicians, collaborating with Makaya McCraven, Junius Paul and Angel Bat Dawid, and still finds time to host her monthly radio show on Worldwide FM. Raised in Yorkshire, Thackray inherited a grounding in Taoism from her father, and approaches her music with the same pursuit of harmony between Um & Yang (the Korean Ying & Yang), balancing melody and rhythm, groove and free improvisation, cerebral and physical. For this one-off recording, Thackray has applied this ideology in every sense, even down to the ensemble itself featuring not one but two percussionists. Um commences with ethereal interplay between keys, percussion, and Thackray’s trumpet, recalling the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane’s classic records. As the piece builds, an earthy groove emerges. On both trumpet and vocals,
Thackray leads the ensemble further out until the piece peaks with an epic breakdown. On the flip, Yang starts on the same cacophonous note but progresses to a joyful groove before returning to a peaceful state again, balance restored.

Working with sonic archetypes rather than genres, in recent years Moscow's Pavel Milyakov has transcended the average practices of what one might call "the electronic music scene" and built his personal artistic universe where the visual and time-based arts are blended into one another. His new conceptual album PSY X, a collaboration between Gost Zvuk and Buttechno's own imprint Rassvet, can be understood as a collection of audio, video and graphic documents fused together in a homogeneous form. Profoundly rethinking the interactions between various media, Pavel utilizes a vast variety of creative tools and technologies - from generative music algorithms to laser equipment - to create (in)determinate "environments", rather than simply "tracks" or "pictures". The result is simply stunning: a meticulously crafted visual container that encases kinetic, alluring and deeply immersive music from one of Russian burgeoning scene's most vivid voices.

The man in the crowd is a wonderer with relaxed habits. In him the course of things and movement of the city is reproduced. The Düsseldorfer Detlef Weinrich is such a man in the crows. Some one who is constantly listening to future winds through rushes of the past. He loves the night for its free will. And his music tells stories about it. You might know him as a member of the band Kreidler. As a solo artist he goes under the name Tolouse Low Trax. And he's already got three Eps and two albums under his belt. His first solo album „Mask Talk“ thrives on a feathery beat frequency and cool new-wave-strength. His recently released piece „Corridor Plateau“, which appeared as a limited edition to accompany the exhibition „Corridor Plateau“ contains percussive electronics and Industrial sounding like its from the second industrial revolution. His third album „Jeidem Fall“, is also not from here. It sounds like music brought down to earth from the heavens. But its a dark cosmos in which there are only fleeting glimpses of light. All eight tracks were composed in a short space of time over the period of just a few months and fit together perfectly atmospherically. With a musical expressiveness that undoubtedly twists your emotions, „Jeidem Fall“ attacks the subconscious and clouds the mind. The drums have more movement that on „Mask Talk“. Along with the constant tapping of drumsticks goes melodical arpeggios dancing dark and dirty. At times longing vocals drift abstractly through the room, as on „Sa Seline“ or „Geo Scan“, without telling any obvious story.

To sound like stylistic cross references from the present and past is all just speculation for nothing on „Jeidem Fall“ really sounds like anything that has gone before. You could compare the dark minimal timbre of the drum computer aesthetic with Craig Leon's first reductive album „Nommos“. There is also a hint of the minimallist industrial of the Spanish band Esplendor Geometrico in the bubbly textures. But Tolouse Low Trax is still looking from the present into the future and filter and filters all his personal preferences through his MPC and his small synth setup to make them come alive here and now in a new way. Again Tolouse Low Trax has created a truly mysteriously vibrating drum computer music which offers hypnotic magic for the shadowy dance floor. Only a little light should illuminate the whole thing and the bodies that move above them should have no fear from threatening percussion which are displaced into a misty trance. A dark swaying shadowy mass, ideal for a journey at the end of the night and all those non-places where longing sleeps and the last romantics dance while getting drunk.

The first 2000 copies of the LP will be available on transparent turquoise or pink vinyl, randomly picked. 'All The Time', Jessy Lanza's first album since 2016's 'Oh No', is the most pure set of pop songs that she and creative partner Jeremy Greenspan have recorded, reflective and finessed over time and distance. Innovative juxtapositions sound natural, like rigid 808s rubbing against delicate chords in 'Anyone Around', subtle footwork flutter giving a nervous energy to 'Face', unusual underwater rushes underpinning 'Baby Love'. The songs also sound more "live" than ever before. Jessy's voice is treated, re-pitched and edited on songs like 'Ice Creamy' and gestural sounds seem to respond to her lyrics in songs such as 'Like Fire', which reward the listener on repeated plays. More than previous albums, the lyrics on 'All The Time' became an important focus for Jessy too, channelling the negativity of anger and frustration arising from some significant changes in her personal situation into the text. These lyrics sometimes process raw feelings, which aren't obvious to begin with, but are soon felt, standing in stark contrast to the cushioned settings of the music. 'All The Time' has ended as a triumph and an abstracted diary of a sometimes difficult, but enduring friendship and creative relationship, and it's their best work yet.

Berlin based producer and sound designer BLUSH_RESPONSE presents VOID IN, his first full length for MEGASTRUCTURE_.

VOID IN features 10 tracks of meticulously crafted sound sculpture that transmit the listener into a deep atmospheric liquid metal world. Blush’s signature synthetics create an ever changing sound palette that ebbs and flows through the album. Generative granular textures meld with echoing voices and rolling, distorted beats to create realities that contract and expand like gravitons spiraling through a black hole.

This album is a showcase of Blush’s prowess as a producer and sound designer, and presents yet another chapter in the ever evolving world of BLUSH_RESPONSE. Having contributed recent design work to companies such as Arturia and Elektron, Blush follows through on his commitment to personal timbral evolution. Join in once again for his annual report from the sonic dimension.

After the success of the 2 Late 4 Love EP, Roy Of The Ravers returns to Emotional Response with a double LP with a deeper perspective, experimenting in ambient and drone textures, lucid techno travails and acid interludes.

Recorded between 1997 and 2017, the album was pieced together over the last six months after Roy's archives were first feared lost and then found. Approached by the label to release a follow up with something more introspective and personal, it was discovered that a recent move to a new studio had led to over 20 years of music being misplaced after it was believed they were mistakenly dropped at a local charity store. However, deep in a box of what were thought to be patch cables were in fact the decades worth of hard drives and here presented, is a sample of those lost recordings.

The nature of the music is introspection, eschewing the acid beats and white noise for a personal encounter between man and machine. The orchestral opening of the title track gives way to the submarine beats, pulsing TB303 and gliding hats of Robinson College 10 to set the outlook to come. Even with the scattering A Dim And Distant Past waking lulled senses, the melodies and feel all lead to a pause and reflect rather than jump and shout.

This is continued with the haunting drives of Bounce Erec and Oriental X0X-Press; the twisted, warped jams of The Weber Traum Boat Pt.3, Ichi and Roland Corp Labs 05; and the beautiful, heartfelt odes in Sade Lost Theme, The Clock House Pt.2 and closer, Nemesis '01. The album's melodic nature hums and shines as CS (6x8) appears as much a centre piece as a alternative consideration to the acid tinged, club bangs of Roy's releases to date.
A surprise package maybe, but in the rolling, word of mouth phenomena that was Emotinium II, all this and more was sensed and so White Sunrise Music II, spreading across 12 songs of contrasting moods, is a further affirmation that there is something good and worthy of exploration.

According to the feudal system which was introduced into England by William of Normandy, the king was an absolute monarch, so he could do whatever he liked.
(from Origins of the Magna Charta).

In a cardboard media background, where cliche is law, where the digital essence of the personal data is more meaningful than the person itself, the Bait e Borghi project arises. The natural environment beyond anthropization, the technic and technologic strained clutch inside the places that inspired the album. The traveller meant as the one that makes the trip his own life, and that inevitably moves so far away from common archetypes that defeats every possible storytelling but the sound evocation. A sound that becomes the last unreal notebook like the matter which dreams and memories are made of. An unlikely but possible distopia where our last Thule remains the passage between body and machine, cyberpunk myth yet beautifully imagined and illustrated during the eighties. Not by chance Bait e Borghi share the same starting point, the same region that assumes twisted features if observed from the mid Adriatic offshore oil platforms point of view. Squalo, Giovanna, Ombrina are the point at issue, monumental media short-circuits, disclosed and hidden truths at the same time

Full Pupp is 15 years old and we’re marking the occasion by inviting old and new friends to contribute a track each. Doc L Junior from Tromsø returns to our shores with a track that took us 15 years to get our hands on. Blackbelt Andersen made this fun little track for him to play out, now you can too. Bjørn was the first person I asked for music when I started the Full Pupp’s precursor label “Tamburin". It’s a true pleasure to finally have him on board. it only took 18 years. Dj Fett Burger as Dj Fett Birger rehashes an old remix he did of Prins Thomas.

These are the first two songs released from The Jacknife Lee, the new album from Jacknife Lee. "I wanted to work with people i’d been a fan of so I found out their email addresses and sent beats. Open Mike Eagle was the first person i contacted and he came to the studio and we did Made It Weird. The track is built around sample of Francis Lai’s Young Freedom. "I loved Kenyan Message by Muthoni Drummer Queen and dm’d her on instagram. I sent her three beats and she chose this one. Sisa Wabaya is about being a wild badass. Muthoni tours all the time so she recorded her vocal in Switzerland with some friends".

The first-time teaming of Poland’s dynamic Marcin Wasilewski Trio and bigtoned US tenorist Joe Lovano brings forth special music of concentrated, deep feeling, in which lyricism and strength seem ideally balanced.

The alliance plays four new tunes by Marcin and one by Joe, as well as Carla Bley’s classic “Vashkar” (in two variations), plus collective improvisations with strong input from all four players; Slawomir Kurkiewicz’s bass skills are particularly well-deployed in the spontaneous piece “Arco”. Joe will be joining the Polish trio for a number of selected concerts in the autumn.

Arctic Riff was recorded at France’s Studio La Buissonne in August 2019, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Personnel: Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone; Marcin Wasilewski: piano; Slawomir Kurkiewicz: double bass; Michal Miskiewicz: drums

Brigitte Barbu's Muzak pour ascenseurs en panne (Muzak for broken lifts) marked a bold new addition to the Circus Company repertoire. In a gilded haze of resonant tones conjured by traditional and non-traditional methods, Brigitte Barbu created an inviting sound world brimming with life and doffing its cap to 1970s signal processing. Out of such sonic research and development comes a wealth of material for other artists to sink their teeth into, and so we proudly present an accompanying remix EP that takes Brigitte Barbu's distinctive stamp into new territory.

Roman Flügel makes a first appearance Circus Company with two versions of "Dae-Boj DeMoya" that showcase this constantly versatile lynchpin of European techno. First up is his "kraut remix", which unsurprisingly channels the grainy beauty of Neu! and early Kraftwerk, before his "synth remix" dials back the drums and diverts our attention towards an expansive arrangement of melodious flourishes from classic synthesisers.

John Tejada and Reggie Watts reunite as Wajatta following their triumphant LP Don't Let Get You Down on Brainfeeder to deliver a particularly inventive, soul-stirring vocal techno version of "Couvre chef en peau de taupe". Watts soars over the signature warmth of Tejada's production, while Brigitte Barbu's mysterious tones linger in every fold of the mix.

Matthew Herbert offers up a "Butter Dub" version of the album interlude serie "Trou Vert" that pits his signature stark sampling methods against Brigitte Barbu's material and creates a fruitful dialogue of crooked 4/4 mechanics with all the playful curiosity of the original and a strong dose of Herbert's inimitable musical personality.

Black Vinyl Edition

The Log and the Leeway follows a 6 year journey of personal exploration and drastic change for Bram Bosteels and his singular Kaboom Karavan universe. What entails is a sound-curiosity of rare format, following a metamorphosis that goes beyond the musical.

Early in the process, Bram was struck by the word/concept of a Leeway : the gradual departure from an intented course due to external influences. Following a boyish fascination for explorers travel journals, logbooks and the far fetched corners of the world, he could not have forseen how fitting of a title he had chosen. Drastically all of a sudden one day, completely unexpectedly, Bram experienced his own father dying in front of him from a rare disease. Shocked and confused by this intense encounter, his perspectives and musical course departed from its original path. But at the same time it was an enlightenment and a necessary influence for him to realise the initial idea and finish this album, started over half a decade before.

The ones familiar with Kaboom Karavan already know that nothing really sounds quite like it. Bram’s musical (and non-musical) universe is of the rare breed that seems to be entirely his own. Self-contained, but never opaque. Quite the opposite actually. Bram never pushes us away, instead, by listening to his music we are given view to a synesthetic wunderkammer of images, places, objects and possibilities. Distant but magnetic, alien but intimately familiar, Kaboom is folk music from another dimension. Listening to The Log and the Leeway is like waking up next to a bonfire in the middle of a swamp wearing somebody else’s clothes: You may not know how you got here, but whatever is happening seems to very directly involve YOU. What will happen?

Note from Erik K Skodvin (Miasmah): All the sounds, fabrics, instrumentation and stories that binds The Log and the Leeway together go far beyond what can be touched up in this simple writeup. As someone who have followed this journey since the beginning, and seen it shift from lighthearted fun to the most crepuscular personal experience, heard the stories behind (almost) every field recording and gone through boundless amounts of clips, visual details, notes, and inspirations – I can only say that it is with great pleasure and certain nostalgia I can present this record in full through Miasmah and close this quite extraordinary chapter. Bram is without doubt the most fascinating person I know. Like I told him in April 2020 during a trying time: “If everything fails, we´ll open a Kaboom Karavan museum” - an idea that might not be as far-fetched as it sounds.

Featuring: Cover painting by John Lurie. 16 page booklet of Musical illustration / collagés by Walter Dhoogh & Erik K Skodvin that more or less connects (or confuses) the dots between the music and stories behind. Mastered by Lupo at Loop-O

As a long-time admirer of his work, R&S/Apollo boss Renaat has signed up Italian craftsman Nuel for a stunning concept album that finds the artist becoming "my own imaginary band" after ten years of personal growth and exploration. Nuel has been revered in underground techno circles for many years. He is a meticulous sonic sculptor who has made some of the most meditative and hypnotic electronic grooves of the last decade on labels like Semantica, Kontra-Musik and Sublunar. He also put out cult classic and highly sought after album 'Trance Mutation', which found him playing all the sounds himself on a wide array of instruments. 'Fantasia' is physical, dance-able music but crafted from unfamiliar sound sources that make it as suited to a campfire gathering as an experimental club setting. It's expertly assembled and utterly unique.

Optimo Music presents “Vanessa 77” the debut album from New Zealander Vanessa Worm. Originally due in May it was rescheduled due to the lockdown but we couldn’t wait any longer to get it out into the world, so here it is, on vinyl and digital.

After entrusting us to release 3 much loved singles it seemed right to let Vanessa stretch out across an album and show the world what she is about and how talented she is. Vanessa is exactly the kind of artist Optimo Music dreams of finding; her music fits in with no genre and no scene – it is its own genre and its own scene. Musically free and anarchic, Vanessa conforms to nobody’s dogma. Before lockdown Vanessa played a series of Southern Hemisphere live shows that entranced all who saw them. Hopefully next year she can come and do the same in the Northern Hemisphere.

We asked her for a few thoughts about her album. Vanessa says – “Vanessa 77, like most creative endeavours is a journey of self discovery. Mentally, emotionally and creatively. I spent most of my time alone in winter 2019 – focused solely on personal development & self realisation via the creation of this album. It was a way for me to put my mental state onto a plate – the joys, the fears, the epiphanies, and so on. I so desperately wanted to share what I was learning with the world too – I intended for Vanessa 77 to help others to heal, self-realise and alchemise. It was a 9 month process of death and a re-birth from the old into the new. Much like the world is experiencing now entering 2020, I hope this album can provide some form of healing, soothing, celebration and act as a sub-conscious guide for us as we enter into this New Earth. Thank you to all who listens, enjoy!”

Decha’s Hielo Boca LP was released in early 2019 and quickly was embraced by many as an exceptional experi- mental yet very personal and soulful piece of art. Artist Viktoria Wehrmeister (half of renowned duo Toresch along- side fellow Düsseldorfian Tolouse Low Trax) is already working constantly on her sophomore album for Malka Tuti that will come some time in the near future. In the meantime, longtime fans of Viktoria, many friends of the label asked to participate in the remix project that fol- lowed Hielo Boca. On this record we will present 4 remixes that are as imag- intive, inspirational and clever as the original composition. Tapan, Eva Geist, Khidja & Philipp Otterbach took upon themselves to reconstruct Viktoria’s ideas in very surpris- ing, intriguing and “out of the box” ways.

With this collection of deeply personal tracks, I wanted to reconnect to my inner emotions and to my love of melody, showing my most introspective and passionate side. Locking myself away in my studio, surrounded by vintage analog machines and acoustic instruments, my desire was to create a late night journey of contemplative experiences in music.

Drifting away from the harder, dancefloor oriented sound, this concept album reveals a thoughtful observation on the state of our world today and on these times of turmoil and uncertainty, ending with a positive message of hope and peacefulness".

For their sophomore album, Chemical Reaction, Galaxians have stripped back the music and pumped up the vocals. Emma Mason's unstoppable voice elevates the group to a fully-formed musical act. This new LP is all about her voice.

Mason's powerhouse vocal on the West End Records-inspired Chemical Reaction beckons you onto the dancefloor. Jed Skinner's bright and breezy synth melodies allow the song to really breathe, whilst Sam Bell's front-and-centre conga groove (straight out of Double Exposure's My Love Is Free) and Matt Woodward's intricate rolls ramp up the track's energy and momentum. The shorter Mama Ghetto Vogue Edit is brought to life by Darren Pritchard, vogue dancer and mother of Manchester's House of Ghetto, who meets a neon wonderland in the electrifying video.

Elsewhere on the album, Heartbreaker champions female empowerment and personal freedom over a pounding boogie groove. It's a tight arrangement which drops into a delay-drenched Levanesque drum break before crescendoing back into a final chorus via one of Skinner's trademark JX-3P synth solos.

On the proto-house funk of Fight For Love, where Emma flexes her vocal chords to jaw-dropping effect, a failing relationship is thrust into the spotlight over a punchy Linn Drum groove. On the silky shuffle of after-hours jam Work It Out, which brings to mind the classic Sly & Robbie Compass Point productions, Emma croons about a lover, her voice cast in a softer, more subdued glow. Heat of the City sizzles with the essence of an urban summer, and is peppered with heart-stopping hand claps.

Third single Horizon sees the band in more reflective low-key mode, and could be their minor hit of the summer. There's some neat drum programming here, intertwined with Woodward's intricate fills and hi-hat playing.

On Not The Money, Mason's vocal shifts to a lower register in the mid-section, bringing to mind Grace Jones at her most commanding.

All in all it's a life-affirming experience, one born out of a sense of community and collaboration. Seven years on from their early explorations Chemical Reaction sees Galaxians retain sight of the principles that make their output, and dance music as a whole, so vital - commonality of experience, singular moments shared by a crowd, and rhythm as the best medicine.

French synth-pop talent Lucien & The Kimono Orchestra unveils his new solo piano album, a journey into cinematic soundscapes

Alone at the piano, Lucien takes us on a very personal album in a deep and quiet reverie. We spend a soft winter morning in his company, reminiscing about tender childhood memories.

Between previously unreleased tracks and revisited Kimono Orchestra pieces, "Piano Matinée" concludes a trilogy of recordings which have barely been released, while paving the way for a wider future. Universal, sensitive, cinematographic, the piano language spoken here by Lucien opens us to his musical world in a light that is both more authentic and accessible.

The album also tells us a personal story. That of a grandfather - an exceptional pianist but forced to give up his career when the Second World War broke out - who passed on to him a taste for music in his early childhood, before passing away.

Many years later, Lucien came across old cassette recordings of his eldest son, soon afterwards having a disturbing dream in which he swore he had had a dialogue with him and decided to go his own way. The self-taught musician spent a whole year honing his piano skills before deciding to freeze his performance in the summer of 2019 at the legendary Steinway at the Studios Saint-Germain.

Drawing freely on all his influences - jazz, funk, classical, cinema - Lucien's "Piano Matinée" is a special object, as intimate as it is melodious.

Arguably poised as Kool Keith’s most sophisticated release to date, “Saks 5th Ave” serves as both a stepping stone forward in the artist’s prolific career, as well as a much needed reminder that the world’s most innovative emcee has a thorough grasp on far more than your average rapper. Touching on everything from the use of high fashion products to personal experiences including a near fatal car crash which occurred in 2017, The 16 track studio album produced by the versatile beat maker Dean “Landon Price Beats” Trotter channels Keith in a smoothly conscious state while laying down effortless bars over modern yet timeless hip hop production. From the artist who brought you "Dr. Dooom”, “Sex Style”, “Keith” and everything in between, “Saks 5th Ave” is the latest and greatest haute couture in a world of Gap and Old Navy hip hop.