Suche:the real

Hip Hop icon and one of the genre’s most distinctive voices, Big L returns with 'Harlem's Finest: Return Of The King', the latest release in Mass Appeal's 'Legend Has It...' series.

Features guest appearances from Nas, JAY Z, Mac Miller, Joey Bada$$, Method Man and more

Die Musik auf Horse Lords' "Demand to Be Taken to Heaven Alive!" wirkt zugleich unglaublich detailliert und zutiefst menschlich. Die zwölf versammelten Stücke sind vielschichtig, verflochten, tonal und rhythmisch komplex - moiré-artige Muster aus Interaktion und Verzahnung, die sich sowohl körperlich als auch geistig entfalten, voller klanglicher Gänge mit einem unausweichlichen Groove. Künstler sind nicht notwendigerweise Wissenschaftler, Logiker oder spirituelle Führer, doch durch ihr persönliches Verständnis von Ordnung und Erfahrung eröffnen sie einen unmittelbaren Zugang zu gesteigerten Zuständen von Materialität und Immaterialität. Horse Lords wurden 2010 in Baltimore gegründet; sie gingen aus einer anderen Gruppe namens Teeth Mountain hervor und starteten als Trio mit Gitarrist Owen Gardner, Bassist Max Eilbacher und Schlagzeuger Sam Haberman, bevor der Altsaxofonist Andrew Bernstein zum Kernensemble hinzustieß. Obwohl das Quartett aus einer fruchtbaren Noise- und Experimental-Rock-Szene hervorgegangen ist - einem legendären Umfeld für Künstler und Außenseiter, das viele einflussreiche Bands hervorgebracht hat (Lungfish, Matmos) - war ihr Ansatz über sechs Alben, zahlreiche Kollaborationen und als gefeierte Liveband weit vielseitiger, als es die punktierten Rhythmen instrumentaler elektrischer Rockmusik vermuten lassen. Für dieses Projekt wird die Band durch Bassklarinettistin Madison Greenstone, Posaunist Weston Olencki und - erstmals bei Horse Lords - durch Gesang von Nina Guo und Evelyn Saylor ergänzt. Der Entstehungsprozess von "D2BT2HA!" brachte geografische Hürden mit sich, da die vier Mitglieder seit 2021 in unterschiedlichen Städten leben. Nach sechzehn Jahren als funktionierende Band übersteigt ihre gemeinsame Sprache jedoch jeden Ort. Die aus Deutschland stammenden Gardner, Eilbacher und Bernstein trafen sich in Berlin für die Aufnahmen, während Haberman die Schlagzeugparts in Baltimore erarbeitete. Beim Hören würde man dies nicht unbedingt erkennen, und gemeinsames, räumlich getrenntes Arbeiten ist heutzutage ohnehin keine Seltenheit mehr. Die Band merkt an, dass "es wichtiger war, den Konzepten und Visionen der jeweils anderen zu vertrauen, als Abschnitte immer wieder zu spielen, um zu überprüfen, ob die Musik funktioniert - obwohl dieses Vertrauen nur durch sehr enges gemeinsames Arbeiten möglich wurde". Obwohl "D2BT2HA!" nicht im engeren Sinne eine Suite ist, beeinflusst und durchdringt sich die Musik in komplexen Verknüpfungen selbst. Horse Lords erklären: "Uns gefällt die Vorstellung von Kunst als Werkzeug zur Perspektivveränderung - dass man Ideen rotieren kann und sie aus einem anderen Blickpunkt sehen/hören/fühlen kann." Oder, wie es der Swami Satchidananda Saraswati zugeschriebene Satz ausdrückt: "Understanding is standing under where you are already standing." Das Eröffnungsstück ,Eureka 378-B" ist ein Arrangement von sakraler Harfenmusik aus dem 19. Jahrhundert, getragen vom Gesang von Guo und Saylor; seine Melodie entfaltet sich weit und setzt einen tonalen Startpunkt für vieles, was folgt. Dazu kommen die kurzen "Rotations", die Fragmente aus anderen Stücken isolieren. Offensichtlich tragen die Titel der Stücke einiges an Bedeutung, und "D2BT2HA!" bildet da keine Ausnahme - Transzendenz und Erhebung sind der Musik inhärent, und wenn jede Kunst politisch ist, so sind die Tendenzen von Horse Lords optimistisch und gemeinschaftsorientiert. Transformation und Neubetrachtung sind nicht nur kompositorische Strategien, sondern eine philosophische Haltung, was sich in Titeln wie ,A City Yet To Come", dem Titeltrack oder utopischen Bezügen zeigt. Wie sie selbst sagen: "Wir versuchen Musik zu machen, die den Status quo herausfordert und dem Hörer einen Weg zur Befreiung eröffnet. Das Studium und die Erforschung von Klang und Musik hat eine spirituelle und ekstatische Dimension, und wir haben große Ehrfurcht vor ihrer Wirkung auf den Einzelnen und die Welt." "D2BT2HA!" enthält unzählige klangliche und konzeptuelle Schichten, doch angesichts der unverkennbaren Kraft und Menschlichkeit der Musik ist der Prozess, sie zu entschlüsseln, begeisternd und zutiefst lohnend. Selten ist eine Platte, die einen so unmittelbar packt und zugleich bei jedem Hören vollkommen neu erscheint.

Die Musik auf Horse Lords' "Demand to Be Taken to Heaven Alive!" wirkt zugleich unglaublich detailliert und zutiefst menschlich. Die zwölf versammelten Stücke sind vielschichtig, verflochten, tonal und rhythmisch komplex - moiré-artige Muster aus Interaktion und Verzahnung, die sich sowohl körperlich als auch geistig entfalten, voller klanglicher Gänge mit einem unausweichlichen Groove. Künstler sind nicht notwendigerweise Wissenschaftler, Logiker oder spirituelle Führer, doch durch ihr persönliches Verständnis von Ordnung und Erfahrung eröffnen sie einen unmittelbaren Zugang zu gesteigerten Zuständen von Materialität und Immaterialität. Horse Lords wurden 2010 in Baltimore gegründet; sie gingen aus einer anderen Gruppe namens Teeth Mountain hervor und starteten als Trio mit Gitarrist Owen Gardner, Bassist Max Eilbacher und Schlagzeuger Sam Haberman, bevor der Altsaxofonist Andrew Bernstein zum Kernensemble hinzustieß. Obwohl das Quartett aus einer fruchtbaren Noise- und Experimental-Rock-Szene hervorgegangen ist - einem legendären Umfeld für Künstler und Außenseiter, das viele einflussreiche Bands hervorgebracht hat (Lungfish, Matmos) - war ihr Ansatz über sechs Alben, zahlreiche Kollaborationen und als gefeierte Liveband weit vielseitiger, als es die punktierten Rhythmen instrumentaler elektrischer Rockmusik vermuten lassen. Für dieses Projekt wird die Band durch Bassklarinettistin Madison Greenstone, Posaunist Weston Olencki und - erstmals bei Horse Lords - durch Gesang von Nina Guo und Evelyn Saylor ergänzt. Der Entstehungsprozess von "D2BT2HA!" brachte geografische Hürden mit sich, da die vier Mitglieder seit 2021 in unterschiedlichen Städten leben. Nach sechzehn Jahren als funktionierende Band übersteigt ihre gemeinsame Sprache jedoch jeden Ort. Die aus Deutschland stammenden Gardner, Eilbacher und Bernstein trafen sich in Berlin für die Aufnahmen, während Haberman die Schlagzeugparts in Baltimore erarbeitete. Beim Hören würde man dies nicht unbedingt erkennen, und gemeinsames, räumlich getrenntes Arbeiten ist heutzutage ohnehin keine Seltenheit mehr. Die Band merkt an, dass "es wichtiger war, den Konzepten und Visionen der jeweils anderen zu vertrauen, als Abschnitte immer wieder zu spielen, um zu überprüfen, ob die Musik funktioniert - obwohl dieses Vertrauen nur durch sehr enges gemeinsames Arbeiten möglich wurde". Obwohl "D2BT2HA!" nicht im engeren Sinne eine Suite ist, beeinflusst und durchdringt sich die Musik in komplexen Verknüpfungen selbst. Horse Lords erklären: "Uns gefällt die Vorstellung von Kunst als Werkzeug zur Perspektivveränderung - dass man Ideen rotieren kann und sie aus einem anderen Blickpunkt sehen/hören/fühlen kann." Oder, wie es der Swami Satchidananda Saraswati zugeschriebene Satz ausdrückt: "Understanding is standing under where you are already standing." Das Eröffnungsstück ,Eureka 378-B" ist ein Arrangement von sakraler Harfenmusik aus dem 19. Jahrhundert, getragen vom Gesang von Guo und Saylor; seine Melodie entfaltet sich weit und setzt einen tonalen Startpunkt für vieles, was folgt. Dazu kommen die kurzen "Rotations", die Fragmente aus anderen Stücken isolieren. Offensichtlich tragen die Titel der Stücke einiges an Bedeutung, und "D2BT2HA!" bildet da keine Ausnahme - Transzendenz und Erhebung sind der Musik inhärent, und wenn jede Kunst politisch ist, so sind die Tendenzen von Horse Lords optimistisch und gemeinschaftsorientiert. Transformation und Neubetrachtung sind nicht nur kompositorische Strategien, sondern eine philosophische Haltung, was sich in Titeln wie ,A City Yet To Come", dem Titeltrack oder utopischen Bezügen zeigt. Wie sie selbst sagen: "Wir versuchen Musik zu machen, die den Status quo herausfordert und dem Hörer einen Weg zur Befreiung eröffnet. Das Studium und die Erforschung von Klang und Musik hat eine spirituelle und ekstatische Dimension, und wir haben große Ehrfurcht vor ihrer Wirkung auf den Einzelnen und die Welt." "D2BT2HA!" enthält unzählige klangliche und konzeptuelle Schichten, doch angesichts der unverkennbaren Kraft und Menschlichkeit der Musik ist der Prozess, sie zu entschlüsseln, begeisternd und zutiefst lohnend. Selten ist eine Platte, die einen so unmittelbar packt und zugleich bei jedem Hören vollkommen neu erscheint.

Das Debüt des transzendentalen Gitarrenmeisters aus dem Jahr 1971, remastered für all eure Sabbat-Bedürfnisse. 37 Minuten ambienter Gitarrenzauberei und der perfekte Soundtrack für das Erwachen des dritten Auges, Lichtalchemie oder Menschenopfer. Mit diesem Werk könnte man eine Sekte gründen. Der kalifornische Versandhandelsmystiker Master Wilburn Burchette wurde erstmals durch seine Anzeigen bekannt, die auf den hinteren Seiten des ,Fate Magazine", von ,Beyond Reality" und ,Gnostica News" versteckt waren. Im Angebot: Burchettes siebenteiliger, im Blockdruckverfahren hergestellter ,Psychic Meditation Course", der den Menschen beibringen sollte, wie man Musik hört. Passend zu seinen Lektionen verkaufte Burchette eine Reihe von Instrumentalplatten mit Gitarren- und Elektronikmusik, die mit kunstvollen, handgezeichneten Cover-Motiven versehen waren und Höranweisungen vom Meister selbst enthielten. Bereits seit seinem zwölften Lebensjahr war Burchette von der Parapsychologie fasziniert und verbrachte ebenso viel Zeit mit dem Lesen von Büchern über die Grundlagen der tibetischen Mystik wie mit dem Üben auf der Gitarre, deren Schwingungen er nutzte, um Klangbilder und -muster zu erschaffen. Nachdem er eine Zeit lang klassische Gitarre unterrichtet hatte, veröffentlichte Meister Wilburn Burchette in den sieben Jahren von 1971 bis 1977 sieben Alben, bevor er abrupt alles, was mit seinen musikalischen Erkundungen zu tun hatte, verbrannte und wegwarf.

Yellow Days' new album Rock And A Hard Place is a tour de force which sees George van den Broek returning to his soul roots, channelling everyone from Stevie Wonder to Gil Scott-Heron to his idol, Ray Charles, in a set of emotionally charged songs constructed with an attention to detail worthy of the Brill Building.
Beautifully sung, brilliantly played and almost glowing with intelligence, it's the sound of Yellow Days coming of age.

Biz has some serious techno credentials, having landed on esteemed labels like Transmat and Acquit Records before now, and here he is back on his Subjekt label with a third outing in his limited series. This is cerebral techno steeped in Detroit style but looking to the future. 'No Pain, No Gain' is awash with crystalline pads over a surging groove, 'Monozukuri' gets more prickly with metallic percussive textures and a forlorn lead. 'Manipulate' unhinges from reality with trippy synth cascades that remind of 8bit video games and the flip then has a more introverted sound across three minimalistic, deep rhythmic excursions.

"4EVER" is a complete and eternal album.
It celebrates friendships, connections, discoveries, travels, and experiences that Buvette has honored over more than ten years of activity around the world. Through 4EVER, he pays tribute to those without whom nothing would exist: loved ones, those who have passed, love itself, and this life, which must be lived as fully as possible. Music remains the universal language, and 4EVER is a kind of Buvette DNA, one he invites you to incorporate into your own.

Two legends. One record. Light-Years sees Nas link with DJ Premier for the legendary Hip Hop release that fans have been anticipating for years. A must have addition for any serious collection.

Xistence Records is destroying the boundaries between house and techno. The Rise E.P. simply goes to show you a good label does not lose it's competency after 4 years of releasing music. This 4 tracker sounds sublime! If you like deep emotional melodic music, you should have this 12”.
Difficult to pick a standout track as they all offer something different…

The original version of Resilience is a stunning track, reminds of the early Octave One sound with a great mixture of percussion, classy bassline, nice layering of textures and melodies.

While Gerald Mitchell (Underground Resistance/Los Hermanos) retouch is a soulful stripped back tune with elegant drum work, linked together by a uplifting synth pattern.

Sunset To Sunrise, a delightful piece of haunting electronica. It’s a real journey back to the birth of Los Hermanos. Class!

Meteoric Rise original version came out as digital earlier on the label, Journey Around The Sun Mix here has the UR sound. It’s more complex, Detroit lesson in syncopation and rhythmic programming with chord stabs and shuffling drum work drives this one forward..epic!

“Without Hope None Of Us Have Anything “

Namastrange and Pletnev debut on Earth Dog with the transatlantic tek of Desire Machine. Four supple rollers featuring a remix from label co-founder Jek.
Based separately in San Francisco and Barcelona, Namastrange and Pletnev collaborate sans studio to instead combine ideas virtually from afar. It’s a remarkable union in this respect; a fully-formed sound where heritage, influence and realities all collide to form an inimitable club-ready racket with Namastrange’s vocals sprinkled in to the mix. Sonically, this finds solace with Jek and djfix’s burgeoning tek stable of Earth Dog.
Desire Machine zones in from the parallel; its pulsating bassline grounding the evolving rhythm amidst Namastrange’s hypnotic mantra. Jek’s refix tramlines the shuffling groove to a psy-chotic break, with added dub delirium and prog attitude. Ego Collapse on the flip finds minimal solitude, gliding a dastard squelch with a sass’d up step. Splitting then gets it together for curtain call, a subversive pump with flirtatious persuasion that rides a phat tek bounce towards the finale.

2026 Repress

Swin delights and surprises with this excellent EP featuring the anthemic “Stay At Home”. You could be forgiven for thinking that this record was produced by the leathery hands of a mature industry professional long-settled in the Ibizan sun, rather than by a friendly northern lad in Newcastle who vaguely remembers seeing sunshine when he was 6. Quality and range beyond his years - Swin is surely one to watch!

Obscura Pulse I marks the start of a new label series delving into contemporary pulsating sounds of underground wave-infused music. Selected tracks of previously unreleased material or available on vinyl for the first time.

The first edition moves through the realms of European wave music, with support from German EBM act XTR Human, Dutch/Romanian synthpunk act Badtime, Italian darkwave/post-punk duo Schonwald, German Age O.P.F., Dutch darkwave queen Camy Huot, Austrian minimal synth duo Mitra Mitra, Dutch minimal wave act Raderkraft, Belarusian goth/coldwave act Tout Debord, Dutch synthwave wizard Adam Tristar and Croatian minimal synth maestro Neon Lies.

Explore the shadow frequencies of the underground pulse: from the hard hitting warehouse EBM energy in opener “Sledgehammer” by XTR Human (remixed by Dancing Plague). The analog machinery mastered by Raderkraft in future minimal wave classic “Virtual Reality Check” or Adam Tristar exploring cinematic synth landscapes balancing between retro futurism and dark club momentum in “Goosebumps”. On the flipside, Schonwald’s “Starless” bolts menacingly on gritty drones, metallic drum programming and rumbling bass lines. Mitra Mitra crafts suspense in the elegantly synth-driven soundscape “The Lure of the Naïve” and Neon Lies closes the circle with moody synthwave melancholy in “Heavens”

Diffuse Reality presents Acheronte - Plastic Thoughts. A 12" vinyl and digital release built on solid, raw Techno. Four tracks on vinyl, complemented by one additional digital cut. Fully designed for peak-time dancefloor moments, this record is made to stay in your bag. Dynamic sounds that pull you in from the very first beat, a powerful kick that doesn't let you breathe, combined with thick, weighty textures and intense atmospheres, make this EP a key tool for your sets. Heavy, driving energy, now delivered straight to you.

DJ DIE SOON is the apocalyptic alter-ego Daisuke Imamura, whose performances of masked malice have been a fixture in the Berlin underground for the past decade. His latest record My Brothel The Wind takes inspiration from Sun Ra at his most grotesque, conjuring a distorted phantasmagoria with an eclectic crew of compatriots like Rully Shabara, Sara Persico, and longtime collaborator Kiki Hitomi. Film director Hiroo Tanaka’s visual contributions in the album art, poster, and music video complete the album’s narrative, telling a story not of villainy but of phantom caprice in a dying world.
My Brothel The Wind shows DJ DIE SOON as an alchemist of distortion, transmuting the club-forward beats of his 2020 debut Kappa Slap and the seething horrorscapes of DIEMAJIN, his 2022 collaboration with Tokyo vocalist MA. Imamura’s obsession with noise stems from his upbringing in Tokyo, where he grew up hearing the deafening roar of trains every day. “The buildings were really tall, so the sounds reflected so much and it was so loud that you couldn’t even have a conversation on the phone. Hearing this noise every minute when living in this flat, it became a normal thing,” he says. While most would content themselves with avoiding loudness, DJ DIE SOON seeks to unpack its visceral potential.
DJ DIE SOON’s subterranean productions form a monstrous gestalt with the eclectic contributions of his network of co-conspirators. “Unfinished” and “Directions” are pulsating chimeras that highlight animalistic vocalizations from Hitomi and Shabara; Italian MC Franco Franco’s verses snake underneath the noisy onslaught. The tectonic textures of “Dandelion Crackers” are courtesy of multi-instrumentalist Laure Boer’s handmade stone synth. Sara Persico’s mangled vocables hang as fleshy reminders of human fragility on “SAQ4IME”; in the Hiroo Tanaka-directed music video, the track’s sonic uncanniness is made cinematic, with an ambient dread that references Hiroshi Teshigahara’s 1964 psychological thriller Woman in the Dunes.
While Sun Ra’s intergalactic Moog reached for the stars, DJ DIE SOON plunges into the depths of hell. “Everybody, Shake Your Body, We Chill At Party” feels like the sonic equivalent of a wax museum burning to the ground, rigid smiles melting into the fire. Rather than a vision of the future, My Brothel The Wind is a laugh-cry of despair in the face of a Hadean present. DJ DIE SOON confronts the world with a new hand-made mask, reborn in the ashes.

1 Umbrella represents a watershed moment for modern Bay Area hip-hop, effectively serving as the region's "Avengers" assembly designed to consolidate the Northern California sound. For years, the local scene has been bisected by the distinct "mob music" bounce of Oakland and the melodic, trauma-drenched "pain music" of San Francisco; this collective is the first major commercial force to deliberately fuse these competing energies into a single, dominant infrastructure. The roster is a calculated cross-Bay alliance that balances opposing sonic weights: Lil Bean and Lil Yee anchor the group with the emotive, auto-tune-heavy melodies that define the current SF landscape, while Zaybang cuts through that introspection with his signature high-octane aggression.

Balancing the scales are ALLBLACK and 22nd Jim, who inject the classic East Bay attitude-ALLBLACK delivering the motivational, sports-heavy "player" lineage of the region, contrasted against Jim's nonchalant, rhythmic flow. Backed by the powerhouse infrastructure of EMPIRE and united under tracks like "Baller Blockin" and the unification anthem "The Blueprint," the group is attempting to solve the fragmentation that has historically plagued the Bay's independent market. By synchronizing their movement with the arrival of Super Bowl LX, 1 Umbrella is positioning itself not merely as a rap group, but as the official cultural ambassadors for the region, betting that a unified front can finally command the national spotlight that often eludes the West Coast's independent giants.

There's a tendency in metal to mistake aggression for honesty, volume for depth. To confuse the performance of darkness with its actual weight. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest, the new album from San Francisco-based post-black metal band Bosse-de-Nage, sidesteps this entirely. It’s the group’s most fully realized work yet, precisely because it refuses to be pinned down.

Bosse-de-Nage have been working with The Flenser for over fifteen years. They were one of the first bands the label ever partnered with and have the longest active relationship in the label's history. But unlike most bands who build momentum through constant touring and visibility, Bosse-de-Nage has largely existed apart from the music world's usual machinery. They've evolved on their own terms, in relative isolation, allowing the work to develop without outside pressure or influence. What began rooted in black metal anonymity has mutated into something that actively defies categorization. The aggression is still there, but it's no longer the point. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest finds the band treating emotions like physical objects, feelings with spatial properties. “No Such Place"" describes a space that can't exist but does anyway, somewhere between thought and location. ""Immortality Project"" examines infinite possibility not as promise but as problem, endless options collapsing under their own weight. These songs don't use metaphor to describe emotion. They make emotion into something you could theoretically touch.
Tracked by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Oathbreaker) at Atomic Garden East and mixed and mastered by Richard Chowenhill of Agriculture, Hidden Fires Burn Hottest was years in development, with some tracks beginning in 2018.

The long writing process offered time that most records don't get. Time to live with ideas, revise endlessly, to let structures settle. For the first time, lyricist Bryan Manning wrote everything in advance, creating a surplus to pull from rather than working under deadline pressure. The difference shows.
Coming off Further Still, an album built on constraint and economy, Bosse-de-Nage sought the opposite: sprawl, strangeness, fewer rules. Space for ideas to develop without rushing them. Dynamics that move through quiet as much as noise. Presence earned through atmosphere instead of volume. The record even includes ""Mementos,"" which might be considered the first love song the band has ever written.

Nothing here coheres into a theme. These are pieces pulled from low moments and private feelings made public through sound. The band has never been interested in positivity, in music that resolves cleanly or offers comfort. But bleakness doesn't mean humorlessness. There's something darkly funny running through much of it, even when it shouldn't be.
Hidden Fires Burn Hottest doesn't explain itself. It just insists: what you feel is as real as what you can see."

Ushering in a new era, Berlin based, New Zealand heavy psych duo Earth Tongue lower the castle gates on their third album Dungeon Vision, a trove of fuzz-drenched anthems produced by garage rock luminary Ty Segall in Los Angeles. Guitarist Gussie Larkin and drummer Ezra Simons spent the Berlin winter of 2025 refining the album’s twelve tracks in their self-described “windowless cave” rehearsal space, crafting a record that channels both isolation and the duo’s live intensity. With the songs finally taking shape and a studio deadline looming, they flew to Los Angeles to turn their hard-won ideas into the real thing. Once there, the band and Ty captured lightning in a bottle, recording and mixing Dungeon Vision in just ten days at Altamira Sound. Tracked live to tape, Dungeon Vision pulses with human energy, fuzz guitars, bone-battering drums, and hauntingly tuneful vocals. Ty Segall’s influence is all over the record with Ty choosing the best takes based on feel rather than technical perfection. The “king of fuzzy guitar tones” pushed the duo to find new sonic textures while championing their raw chemistry. “Ty’s been a big driving force,” says Ezra. “We supported him in New Zealand back in 2023, and he’s backed us ever since even bringing us on tour through Europe and the UK in 2024.” Since their emergence in 2016, Earth Tongue’s world-building, visuals, and relentless touring have earned them global attention and a cult-like following. Their 2024 album Great Haunting, also released on In The Red Records, received a Taite Music Prize nomination and saw them win Best Group at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards. They’ve toured extensively, sharing stages with the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, IDLES, Acid King, Brant Bjork and Kikagaku Moyo. With Dungeon Vision, Earth Tongue deliver their most immersive work yet, a richly human, fuzz-soaked journey that bottles the magic of their live show and cements their reputation as one of the most exciting psych rock acts on the planet.

»Cosmogonical Ears« is Amosphère's first album for Hallow Ground. Following her contribution to the Swiss label’s »Epiphanies« compilation and her 2021 full-length debut »More Die of Heartbreak« on 33-33, it features three expansive pieces. The Paris-based composer and multidisciplinary artist delves deeper into themes of time, space, cosmology, human perception, and psycho-physical effects, crafting profound sonic meditations. Drawing on a minimalist approach while blending electronic and acoustic elements, Amosphère’s long-form compositions are living, breathing entities whose sonic richness and evocative power unfold gradually over time, putting »Cosmogonical Ears« in direct kinship with previous Hallow Ground releases by artists such as Kali Malone and FUJI|||||||||||TA.

The album opens with its longest piece, »Land of eternal delight,« composed for the Buddha10 exhibition at the Museo d'Arte Orientale in Turin. Written during three years of isolation—a period in which Amosphère explored meditation practices and diverse belief systems—it merges mythology with personal transcendental experiences, reflecting on a challenging time for humanity. »By blending Buddhist philosophy and sculpture with my own meditation practices, I sought to explore a way for people to transcend the boundaries of space and time—not as a believer, but as an observer,« she explains. Featuring handmade ceramic instruments and recorded by Thomas Lefevre, the piece combines Amosphère’s electronic organ with Marc Lochner’s flute contributions, creating a sound that is simultaneously minimalist and expansive.

The concept of teleportation and how it challenges traditional notions of time and space serves as the foundation for the second piece. »Recent advances in quantum physics suggest that teleportation might be possible through quantum entanglement,« Amosphère notes. »What if science fiction is becoming reality—or has already existed in ancient times?« Drawing inspiration from theories proposed by physicists such as Roger Penrose, Amosphère again worked together with flutist Lochner, this time using her VCS 3 synthesizer. »Teleportation« weaves single notes into intricate, non-linear patterns that defy conventional logic, creating a complex auditory tapestry. The last piece »Black hole in, white hole out« was recorded on Corsica and features Miao Zhao’s bass clarinet drones alongside Amosphère’s church organ. It imagines the possible sound of crossing a black hole while also suggesting the study of its theoretical exit and its potential applications for large-scale time and space travel.

The questions posed by »Cosmogonical Ears« do not yield straightforward answers. Instead, Amosphère’s restrained yet intricately layered compositions require full immersion and concentration from the listener. As expressed by the album’s title—which envisions the birth of a new universe through listening—»Cosmogonical Ears« offers an experimental approach to auditory perception as a tool for seeking truth, freedom, and harmony between the outer world and the inner self.

‘Confession' is an album of quiet upheaval. An album about closeness that arrives late and unexpectedly. About stability rubbing up against desire. About the way friendship can suddenly tilt into something charged — and how that charge unsettles everything around it. Where earlier work often observed from a distance, Confession turns inward. The voice is closer, warmer, less shielded. “This wasn’t the album I intended to make,” says Carla dal Forno. “I originally wanted something veiled and abstract, but I realised I couldn’t hide behind abstraction — the songs only worked when I leaned into emotional truth.”

This is dal Forno’s fourth LP, written and recorded over several years in a small country town, in a studio housed inside a partially abandoned hospital. Long corridors, humming lights, emptied rooms — a place built for care and waiting, now quiet enough for thoughts to echo. That stillness shapes the record: intimate, watchful, unadorned. “I live in a small country town that offers a stillness my life didn’t previously have,” she explains. “In that quiet, feelings I might’ve ignored in a busy city grew loud.” Dal Forno sings plainly and conversationally, with an emotional precision that sharpens the everyday into something quietly unsettling.

The album moves through paired states: going out and staying in, wanting and withholding, devotion and distraction. Domestic calm set against private unrest. A long-held relationship offers safety and routine, while a newer connection opens emotional fault lines — longing, jealousy, fantasy, self-exposure. “At the heart of the album is a friendship that became emotionally charged in an unexpected way,” dal Forno says. “That shift brought daydreaming, jealousy, tenderness, confusion, self-awareness — and eventually acceptance.”

The drama here is internal, incremental, lived. Musically, Confession feels lighter on its feet than its subject matter suggests. Melodic basslines anchor the songs while guitars, harmonies, and gently off-kilter rhythms move around them. There’s a looseness, even a playfulness — “like the sensation of tension lifting once you finally admit something to yourself,” as dal Forno puts it. The album traces a subtle arc: attraction blooming where it shouldn’t; obsession quietly taking hold; fantasy overtaking reality; clarity arriving slowly, sometimes painfully. Visually and emotionally, Confession returns to modest spaces: backyards, beds, night streets, overgrown paths. “The record exists in that contrast,” dal Forno reflects. “Peaceful surroundings, unsettled interior.”

Like all of dal Forno’s work, Confession resists clean conclusions. It doesn’t moralise desire or romanticise restraint. Instead, it lingers in the in-between — where love is stable but not total, where yearning teaches as much as it hurts, where solitude becomes a form of care. Plain-spoken but emotionally complex. Rooted and restless. Held together by bass, breath, routine, weather. An album about admitting what you feel —and living with what that admission changes.

There is a kinetic energy that binds drummer and producer Karriem Riggins and singer-songwriter, rapper, and producer Liv.e, the spark that happens when instinct meets flow and spirit finds rhythm.

Their collaborative debut as GENA (short for “God Energy, Naturally Amazing,” and loosely inspired by Gina from Martin), The Pleasure Is Yours feels like a playful, soulful conversation between two kindred improvisers: Liv.e’s smoky, unpolished vocals glide through Riggins’ warm, percussive universe. Rooted in jazz, soul, and hip-hop, Liv.e brings a raw, experimental approach to R&B, while Riggins known for his work with Common, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Madlib, and his close kinship with J Dilla, extends his lifelong dialogue between jazz improvisation and beat science.

Together they create a world that’s analog and ethereal, percussive and poetic, bridging eras without settling in one, the sound of two artists finding a new shared language rooted in rhythm, vulnerability, and exuberance.

Pressed on 180g vinyl, the album comes in an embossed sleeve and is avaible in red and black splatter.