Suche:the same

TEMACHII creates immersive worlds where music, visual art, nature, and emotion blur together. Evoking the hazy surrealism of a once forgotten dream, the San Antonio-based multi-instrumentalist has built a devoted global audience through ethereal soundscapes, hand-crafted visuals, and songs that feel both deeply personal and universally comforting. Her music pairs ambient textures and dream-pop charm with an intimacy that feels like eavesdropping on an artist in conversation with herself—absorbing influences like Radiohead, Fiona Apple, Mitski and Aphex Twin while remaining less guided by genre than by feeling.

Her 2023 debut, flora maniia, was anchored by the 50 million-streamed hit “may you never forget me,” blending hypnotic acoustic guitar, lilting synths, and airy vocals into a reflection on love, memory, and the desire to leave a lasting impression. The follow-up LP, akrasiia, arrived later that same year, revealing a more stripped-back side of her sound while preserving the wonder at the heart of her work. Together with 2024 single “not/lost,” the releases have brought Temachii's art to fans around the world, a reach that feels especially meaningful given her Puerto Rican heritage. More importantly, they have transformed that audience into something more meaningful than simply streams and likes: a space for listeners to feel both safe and seen.

It’s not just since James Bond and the introduction of World Overshoot Day that we’ve known: The world isn’t enough. We need an Extrawelt! Arne Schaffhausen and Wayan Raabe have been tinkering with this celestial body for over two decades, and it seems to be slowly nearing completion. You certainly can’t accuse Extrawelt of lacking ideas. They are, so to speak, the legitimate descendants of the legendary planet designer Slartibartfast from Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. No doubt, the downright insanely creative bossa nova-techno bastard “Honey Hunter” will be mentioned in the same breath as Slartibartfast’s award-winning Norwegian coastlines by future civilizations. The other three tracks aren’t half bad either. Take our word for it.
Nicht erst seit James Bond und der Einführung des world overshoot days wissen wir: Die Welt ist nicht genug. Wir brauchen eine Extrawelt! Die Herren Arne Schaffhausen und Wayan Raabe werkeln seit über zwei Jahrzehnten an diesem Himmelskörper und er scheint so langsam bezugsfertig zu sein. Man kann Extrawelt nun wahrlich keine Ideenarmut vorwerfen. Sie sind quasi die legitimen Nachkommen des legendären Planetendesigners Slartibartfast aus Douglas Adam’s “Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis”. Der geradezu irrwitzig kreative Bossanovatechno-Bastard “Honey Hunter” wird von künftigen Zivilisationen in einem Atemzug mit Slartibartfast’s preisgekönten norwegischen Küstenlinien genannt werden. Auch die anderen drei Tracks sind nicht von schlechten Eltern. Glaubt’s und werdet selig.
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Familiar. Usually reserved for things we think we know. A face, a place, a feeling, a record perhaps. Until, of course, they aren’t quite the same anymore. Or maybe you aren’t.
Jennifer’s debut album lives somewhere around there.
It’s a record about time, which is already a fairly ambitious subject considering nobody seems to have figured that one out yet. More specifically, it’s about what
time does to a person. The old versions, the new versions, and all the ones in between that you only notice when something suddenly brings them back. Someone you
haven’t seen in years. A room you used to know. A certain way the light falls. That sort of thing.

There’s a bit of a doppelgänger situation going on, too. Finding something completely new and somehow recognising it. Meeting yourself again without immediately realising who you’re talking to.
Which can be nice. Or strange. Usually both. The songs on Familiar sit comfortably with that contradiction. Looking backwards without wanting to go back. Missing things without necessarily wanting them
returned. Realising that people who once occupied most of your waking hours can become people whose address you don’t know. Meanwhile, some tiny, seemingly irrelevant detail from fifteen years ago remains perfectly intact.
Memory has its own filing system. Not a particularly sensible one.
Jennifer wrote a series of poems alongside the album. In them, familiarity appears in melting snow, rough coastlines, a kitchen already warm in the morning, somebody’s hands fitting into yours. Elsewhere she wonders about someone she
once knew everything about and now knows nothing about. They could live around the corner. They could live on another continent. They could, technically, be dead. Probably not. But that’s time for you.
Maybe Familiar is less about remembering who you were than realising you never entirely stopped being them. Things get added. Things disappear. Things come back looking slightly different.
And somehow, you recognise them.

Following the instant success and subsequent repress of its inaugural release, Stones Taro’s self-release experiment "Foglore" returns with its second installment, further expanding the captivating universe built in Part 1. Rooted in the same core concept—a seamless blend of dubby, fog-laden sound design and a timeless aura reminiscent of ancient folklore—this four-track EP solidifies the very definition of "Foglore." On the A-side, "Weather Wheel" sets an energetic tone as masterfully mixed, chopped breakbeats seamlessly dissolve into hazy, atmospheric pad sounds. It is followed by "Moss Pulse," a track whose precise sound design acts as a natural hub bridging the worlds of Dub Techno and Dubstep. On the flip, "Whorls Of Smoke" delivers a fresh, hypnotic dance cut driven by an intricate interplay between a half-step groove and tam strikes. Closing the EP, "Acid Fog Ritual" combines sticky acid basslines with a deliberate, low-tempo beat to generate a deeply immersive psychdelia. Expanding on its predecessor while boldly redefining its own boundaries, Foglore#2 stands as a brilliant testament to Stones Taro’s evolving sonic vision.

GER Erstes Album mit Hopeless der Atlanta Nu-Deathcore-Band LEFT TO SUFFER! Left To Suffer zählen zu den intensivsten und eindringlichsten Acts der modernen Heavy-Musik, eine Band, die mit der Wucht einer Abrissbirne und der Präzision eines Skalpells zuschlägt. Ihr Sound entsteht an der Schnittstelle zwischen Moshpit-tauglicher Brutalität und eindringlicher Melodik; er richtet sich an Hörer, die ihre Katharsis laut, körperlich spürbar und kompromisslos erleben wollen. Von zermalmenden Breakdowns bis hin zu unheimlicher, atmosphärischer Spannung haben sich Left To Suffer eine ganz eigene Nische geschaffen. Hier existieren Wut und Verletzlichkeit unmittelbar nebeneinander, getragen von messerscharfem Songwriting, gewaltigem Tiefenfundament und Hooks, die wie Nachbeben einschlagen. Left To Suffer jagen keinen Trends hinterher. Sie erschaffen etwas, das schwerer, schärfer und unüberhörbarer ist, und dieses Kapitel hat gerade erst begonnen. Oranges Vinyl, Digisleeve CD Hopeless debut from rising Atlanta Nu-Deathcore band LEFT TO SUFFER! Left To Suffer are one of modern heavy music's most visceral acts, a band that hits with the force of a wrecking ball and the precision of a scalpel. Their sound lives at the collision point of pit-starting brutality and haunting melody, built for listeners who want their catharsis loud, physical, and uncompromising. From pulverizing breakdowns to eerie atmospheric tension, Left To Suffer have carved out a lane entirely their own. One where rage and vulnerability coexist in the same breath, anchored by sharp songwriting, massive low-end weight, and hooks that land like aftershocks. Left To Suffer aren't chasing trends. They're building something heavier, sharper, and harder to ignore, and this chapter is just getting started. Orange coloured vinyl, digisleeved CD.

Reissue from the legendary Proto Garage Record Label Same People, which released some of Persian & DJ Texsta's most pioneering UKG E.P.s.

The Duo helped define the early sounds of UKG & the then unheard sound of Speed Garage, Dubstep & Grime. The Duo had massive success with records like Dangerous & Well Well Well.

Norman Blake und Raymond McGinley machen seit 37 Jahren gemeinsam Musik bei Teenage Fanclub, und auch wenn manche Aspekte des Bandlebens mit der Zeit einfacher geworden sind, können ihnen die einfachsten Dinge immer noch einen Strich durch die Rechnung machen. Blake sagt dazu: "Es ist schwierig, wenn es darum geht, sich einen Namen für ein Album auszudenken. Vor allem, wenn man schon 12 davon gemacht hat." Der Titel ,Do Not Dare To Dream" leitet sich ab von Blakes ,I Do Not Dare To Dream", einem mitreißenden, hymnischen Song, der von klangvollen Akustikgitarren getragen und am Ende von einem Duell elektrischer Gitarren begleitet wird, die sich wie eine beruhigende Umarmung umeinander schlingen. Blake erklärt, dass der Titel jene Memes verspotten soll, die die Menschen dazu auffordern, zu träumen, was für ihn irgendwie lächerlich ist. "Ich glaube nicht, dass die Welt so funktioniert." Das 13. Album von Teenage Fanclub ist voller Songs, die ruhig und entschlossen sind und eine Bestandsaufnahme des angespannten Zustands der Welt vornehmen, ohne der Verzweiflung zu verfallen. Blakes warme, von Orgelklängen untermalte Midtempo-Ballade ,Day In The Sun" und Raymond McGinleys ,Over And Over" sprechen beide davon, wie jeder einen neuen Sinn im Leben finden kann, indem er sein Herz öffnet. "Wir können immer noch fröhlich und optimistisch sein, auch wenn die Lage nicht gerade rosig ist", sagt McGinley. Blake und McGinley werden auf ,Do Not Dare To Dream" von ihren Bandkollegen Euros Childs (Keyboards und Gesang), Francis Macdonald (Schlagzeug) und David McGowan (Bass) begleitet. Dieses Quintett spielt nun schon so lange zusammen, dass keiner der beiden Hauptsongwriter und Gitarristen von Teenage Fanclub das Bedürfnis verspürt, sich vor dem Gang ins Studio über ihre Songs den Kopf zu zerbrechen oder Arrangements auszuarbeiten. Sie warten lieber auf die Beiträge der übrigen Bandmitglieder. Die Aufnahmen fanden im Black Bay Studio in der Ortschaft Kirkibost auf der schottischen Insel Great Bernera in den Äußeren Hebriden statt. Wie langjährige Fans wahrscheinlich wissen, nimmt Teenage Fanclub jedes Album an einem neuen Ort auf, damit die einzigartige Atmosphäre dieses Ortes die Musik beeinflussen kann. Great Bernera war ihr bislang abgelegenster Aufnahmeort, was der Band half, sich auf die Arbeit zu konzentrieren, sie aber auch in einen Zustand der Ehrfurcht versetzte, da sie von der tosenden See und antiken Ruinen umgeben waren. Das Ergebnis ist eine Sammlung von Liedern, die von der richtigen Perspektive von Musikern durchdrungen ist, die schon eine Weile im Geschäft sind, aufgenommen an einem Ort, der schon noch länger existiert. Wie Blake es ausdrückt: ,Ich glaube, es läuft einfach so ab, dass man von einer Sache zur nächsten übergeht, und ehe man sich versieht, sind 30 Jahre vergangen." McGinley fügt hinzu: ,Ja, es ist schon eine ganze Weile her, seit wir mit dem angefangen haben, was wir tun, aber für uns kommt es uns vor, als wäre überhaupt keine Zeit vergangen. An dem Ort, an dem wir das Album aufgenommen haben, wurde schon vor Tausenden von Jahren gesungen. Das Leben ist kurz, aber die Musik ist ewig."

Norman Blake und Raymond McGinley machen seit 37 Jahren gemeinsam Musik bei Teenage Fanclub, und auch wenn manche Aspekte des Bandlebens mit der Zeit einfacher geworden sind, können ihnen die einfachsten Dinge immer noch einen Strich durch die Rechnung machen. Blake sagt dazu: "Es ist schwierig, wenn es darum geht, sich einen Namen für ein Album auszudenken. Vor allem, wenn man schon 12 davon gemacht hat." Der Titel ,Do Not Dare To Dream" leitet sich ab von Blakes ,I Do Not Dare To Dream", einem mitreißenden, hymnischen Song, der von klangvollen Akustikgitarren getragen und am Ende von einem Duell elektrischer Gitarren begleitet wird, die sich wie eine beruhigende Umarmung umeinander schlingen. Blake erklärt, dass der Titel jene Memes verspotten soll, die die Menschen dazu auffordern, zu träumen, was für ihn irgendwie lächerlich ist. "Ich glaube nicht, dass die Welt so funktioniert." Das 13. Album von Teenage Fanclub ist voller Songs, die ruhig und entschlossen sind und eine Bestandsaufnahme des angespannten Zustands der Welt vornehmen, ohne der Verzweiflung zu verfallen. Blakes warme, von Orgelklängen untermalte Midtempo-Ballade ,Day In The Sun" und Raymond McGinleys ,Over And Over" sprechen beide davon, wie jeder einen neuen Sinn im Leben finden kann, indem er sein Herz öffnet. "Wir können immer noch fröhlich und optimistisch sein, auch wenn die Lage nicht gerade rosig ist", sagt McGinley. Blake und McGinley werden auf ,Do Not Dare To Dream" von ihren Bandkollegen Euros Childs (Keyboards und Gesang), Francis Macdonald (Schlagzeug) und David McGowan (Bass) begleitet. Dieses Quintett spielt nun schon so lange zusammen, dass keiner der beiden Hauptsongwriter und Gitarristen von Teenage Fanclub das Bedürfnis verspürt, sich vor dem Gang ins Studio über ihre Songs den Kopf zu zerbrechen oder Arrangements auszuarbeiten. Sie warten lieber auf die Beiträge der übrigen Bandmitglieder. Die Aufnahmen fanden im Black Bay Studio in der Ortschaft Kirkibost auf der schottischen Insel Great Bernera in den Äußeren Hebriden statt. Wie langjährige Fans wahrscheinlich wissen, nimmt Teenage Fanclub jedes Album an einem neuen Ort auf, damit die einzigartige Atmosphäre dieses Ortes die Musik beeinflussen kann. Great Bernera war ihr bislang abgelegenster Aufnahmeort, was der Band half, sich auf die Arbeit zu konzentrieren, sie aber auch in einen Zustand der Ehrfurcht versetzte, da sie von der tosenden See und antiken Ruinen umgeben waren. Das Ergebnis ist eine Sammlung von Liedern, die von der richtigen Perspektive von Musikern durchdrungen ist, die schon eine Weile im Geschäft sind, aufgenommen an einem Ort, der schon noch länger existiert. Wie Blake es ausdrückt: ,Ich glaube, es läuft einfach so ab, dass man von einer Sache zur nächsten übergeht, und ehe man sich versieht, sind 30 Jahre vergangen." McGinley fügt hinzu: ,Ja, es ist schon eine ganze Weile her, seit wir mit dem angefangen haben, was wir tun, aber für uns kommt es uns vor, als wäre überhaupt keine Zeit vergangen. An dem Ort, an dem wir das Album aufgenommen haben, wurde schon vor Tausenden von Jahren gesungen. Das Leben ist kurz, aber die Musik ist ewig."

Sudanese rising star and oud player Sulaf transforms her refugee exile into ABA — blending Nubian roots with modern soundscapes in collaboration with producer Maxime Kosinetz (Imarhan, Tinariwen, Gruff Rhys). Drawing on the Sufi poetry of her great-grandfather, she captures loss, identity, and resilience, carrying Sudan’s spirit across borders with haunting power and emotional depth

"Loving You To Death is very much about being with someone who is hurting you by hurting themself, knowing you should leave but that you can’t live without them. It’s mostly about one night, or one period of time? I don’t really know anymore, but maybe you can relate.

Before writing this I was obsessed with stretching out my little moody riffs into long drawn out ambient pieces, throwing them through the morphagene and seeing what happens. But there is just way too much sound design around me, everything is so slick and impressive and boring and unmemorable. So I tried to keep everything bare, to accept the recordings as they are and to do it without a band.

Long live mid-fi, dramatic relationships, obsessiveness, sing-song melodies and unprofessionalism, and huge thanks to Ariana, Matt, Adam, Yas, Nik, Victor, Ouri, Ziggy, my mom, Alan, and everyone else I drove crazy while making this.

- Richard"

HVS is truly pleased to welcome Cash Kru and Tweeleaf to the label. Two of the hardest working kids in Jungle/Hardcore IMO. With a ton of quality releases under their belts, they just had to get pressed up, because these tunes are absolutely phat!

Cash Kru runs the Asionyta label out of Belgium along with Expo, F.T.C Project & Tweeleaf. Super wicked label putting out digital releases as well as lathe cuts, disks and cassettes. She has loads of top tunes on there, and not strictly Jungle either! She also runs the Devil Dubs label putting out very very quality Jungle. I highly recommend checking both out if you want some gritty, ruthless Drum & Bass.

Tweeleaf out of Pennsylvania (funny enough the same small town the rest of my family is from) also has releases out on both labels as well as his own, Interim Records, focusing on digi singles from him, all currently being sold at “Name Your Own Price” which is insane considering every release is excellent.

These tracks were made with a combo of DAW and emulated Amiga (more info on the center label) and all four are just Heavy as hell. I've been playing them out live a ton and every track crushes the dance floor. Someone always demands the rewind on “Militant Jazz” which is funny because the buildup is so long, but by the time it drops everyone loses it!

A1. starts off the EP on a more mellow tip with a vibey Soul Pride, Think & Amen mashup from CK. The switch up into the 2nd half phased out Amen is so seamless, it's a great way to get the EP going.

A2. goes straight into the ruffness with a relentless amen tune mixed up with some mysterious/jazzy chords/vox all summed together in PT2.

B1. is a remix of a tune of mine that never came out, but CK asked for the stems and did an amazing job with it. I love her choppage on this! Super tight and snappy and hits all the right notes for a destructive tune.

B2. ends the EP with one of the nastiest tunes to come out anywhere this year if I may say so. That Lemon D amen is just crazy, and that S950 time stretch stutter is chef's kiss. But you be the judge!!

Andreas Tilliander returns to Kontra-Musik in a grand style with his second TM404 album. Titled 'Acidub', this highly anticipated release is much more of an evolution than a repetition of the first superbly self-restricted album, where Tilliander even decided to use only one of the two Roland TB-303 waveforms. Acidub is a more playful and open listening experience, no doubt inspired by his extensive live touring with the TM404 concept. In fact, you can almost hear Tilliander's flock of acid machines breaking free from the restrained modus operandi. Every sound is like a migratory bird with a heart yearning for high altitude and favourable winds. The opening track Alinge paints a lucid picture of these acid birds leaving a cold industrial landscape behind, the flickering black shadows from their wings against the white smoke rising from a forest of chimneys below. The very last seconds of Alinge even echo of the place the silver birds are longing for, but that will remain a secret between Kontra-Musik and the avid listener. Sufficient to say, we can follow these birds of passage as they're heading south towards a warmer climate, fleeing the cold discipline of the North. Mutron Mantra, for instance, brings us to a rainforest full of serpentine lianas, giant leaves dripping with moist and green pools of water bubbling with organic life. Don't Defend Mascot guides us through a steaming savannah at dusk with hundreds of yellow eyes following our every step while Pade vividly describes the perils of the flight and the pace and courage needed to press on. In all, Acidub is a surprisingly exuberant follow-up to the more introspective TM404 album. But while the musical journey of this second album is quite different, the experience of sheer aural eminence remains the same. Andreas Tilliander has done it again, and Kontra-Musik couldn't be prouder.

With Parallel Worlds, RFLX opens a new chapter for Eight of Cups Records, delivering a raw and focused statement built around tension and transformation.

“I wanted to avoid any form of release. With Parallel Worlds, tension becomes the language itself. I was drawn to this constant escalation, something that dissolves linear time and locks me into a different state of perception… where the drop never comes. And that’s exactly the point.”

“By removing resolution, I wanted to keep everything open: a space where perception expands and multiple realities can coexist. Parallel Worlds is not about choosing a direction, but about becoming aware that more than one is always there.”

A four-track immersive EP refusing the conventional payoff, Parallel Worlds unfolds as a continuous escalation, creating a suspended space where perception shifts and different realities begin to overlap.

The release features two original cuts alongside exclusive remixes by JOEY BELTRAM and AT-XYA.

Techno pioneer Joey Beltram strips the title track down to its raw essence, transforming it into a relentless dancefloor weapon driven by physical energy, hypnotic grooves and his unmistakable signature sound.

AT-XYA takes the opposite route, deconstructing and reshaping the original into an ethereal, cinematic journey for those fragile moments when night dissolves into morning and everything suddenly makes sense ;)

Completing the EP is Danxome, a deeper tribal-inspired cut reconnecting with the origin of the concept. In the Fon language, Danxomɛ means “in the belly of Dan”, the cosmic serpent and the origin of the world. Before parallel worlds, there was one.

Parallel Worlds started from a simple thought:
Every day, all versions of you exist. You just don’t see them all. You can stay the same, or you can shift.

Gatefold Style - 180gm

Sycophant is the first offering of recorded music from the polymathic Tāmaki artist Hun Lynch.
Recorded almost entirely at her house on a bedroom setup, Hun wrote, played and produced
almost every element on the album (with the exception of one drum track contribution from the
master Cory Champion). Sycophant guides us through lucid cinematic scenes saturated in
hypnotic choral vocals, driving guitar loops and synth-work akin to musique concrète.

Sycophant is a meditation on rediscovering one’s spirituality after both being rejected by and
rejecting organised religion. The processing of these experiences becomes a lamentation of
Christianity’s participation in the colonial rupture across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, from which the
album was born. Grappling with co-existing states of love, guilt, fear, lust, grief and hope.

Pulsing between feelings of grandiosity and insignificance, between the atavistic, animal
experience of being alive and the existential, cerebral confusion of playing a part in the current
world. At the same time, Sycophant is an expression of love and devotion to Hannah’s family
and friends and everyone she knows and doesn’t know.

Created with awhi and guidance of Noa records and Navakatoa Tekela-Pule’s unending support and friendship.

Tracklisting:

2026 REPRESS

With a new alias, TM404, Andreas Tilliander has created enjoyable ambient dub simmering with life and details. The songs have all been recorded live, in real time in the studio. A unique way of operating within today's electronic music. - Everything is recorded in one take. Nothing is post arranged, says Andreas Tilliander, and adds that this might be his most ambitious album ever. The project's name is also a tribute to Roland, although of the more intricate kind. - When they made these machines in the eighties, they avoided the 404, since the sound for four, 'chi', is the same as the sound for death in Japanese. At that time it was therefore taboo and the 404 was never launched. Not until now, due to my album!

Full Range Motion co-founder 393AD returns to his own label with 'Known Universe EP', providing four more introspective modular-based jams using Perkons as the main rhythm box. The Amsterdam-based DJ, producer, and nightlife devotee opens the EP with 'Void' a percussive, rolling, and fluttering cut. 'Cluster', on the same side, is a devious tool in the right hands with its abstract groundwork and overwhelming single stab 3D sound design. Over on the flip, 'Wall' is straitjacket paranoia-techno in stripped form. Closing this EP is 'Filament', the name itself providing a vivid cosmic image for the track: intertwining, spiralling melodies connecting filmic scenes of interstellar dust.

Marc Cotterell has been going about his business with great style in recent years. The Plastik People boss leans into the old school soulful house and garage house scenes for his inspiration and updates those foundational samples with plenty of musicality as well as club-ready rhythms. This solo outing kicks off with the impossibly infectious 'Keep Pushing' with its angelic vocal tones and rich piano chords all overflowing with catchy, feel-good vibes. 'If You Still Love Me' has the same irresistibly joyous results, but this time darts about with a touch of US garage swing and some vibrant horns. 'Boogalou' closes with a more knotted, funky bassline. Brilliantly accessible but sophisticated stuff.

Ezra Collective's Here Because Of Hope is the most ambitious and personal record of their career - conceived as a body of work split into three spiritual and geographical movements, the album traces the movement of Black people across continents and decades, from the music of Africa to the rhythms of the Caribbean, and home to the streets of London. Formed in the youth clubs of London, Mercury Prize and BRIT Award-winners Femi Koleoso, TJ Koleoso, Joe Armon-Jones, James Mollison and Ife Ogunjobi have now spent over a decade making jazz joyful, urgent and undeniable. On Here Because Of Hope, they push that vision further than ever, asking a simple but profound question: why does so much Black music born out of pain sound so joyful? Their answer is hope: the belief, carried across generations and oceans, that something better is possible. Anchored by collaborations with Pa Salieu, Lila Iké, Leona Lewis, and reaching across the full breadth of the global African diaspora (including America, where those same African and Caribbean roots gave birth to jazz itself) Here Because Of Hope is a record of remarkable warmth, ambition and humanity, and the sound of Britain's most vital band at the peak of their powers.

The the disco facelift, the arse tuck, some analog liposuction ...Digby Yakiddin and Cyrus Posatron return to the discoteque coalface to grind out .a value pack of random noid selections for all the family to enjoy. Get your chaps on girls and boys, jump on the Noid Bucking Bronco and lets ride !

Stay tuned for more of not the same

Trumpeter, rapper and sonic wanderer Pan Amsterdam has carved out one of the most distinctive voices operating at the intersection of jazz and hip-hop today.

Pan Amsterdam is a musical enigma wrapped in an enduring riddle. His creator is a jazz musician from Houston who’s found fame working with Detroit punk rock God, Iggy Pop, and British indie royalty, Metronomy, and now makes shapeshifting, adventurous hip hop out of the music’s spiritual home, New York.

He’s an irreverent character born out of frustration and named after a misunderstanding, yet one who’s on the verge of releasing his fifth album of truth-slaying, genre-crossing rhymes and beats. The result is a catalogue that feels both deeply rooted in Black American musical tradition and completely untethered by convention.

Pan Amsterdam returns with ‘Panarama’, his fourth full length album and a bold reassertion of his hip hop identity, released via Def Pressé. Created by Houston-born, New York-based musician and composer Leron Thomas, the record finds Pan Amsterdam embracing the harder edges of his sound while continuing to blur the lines between jazz improvisation, abstract rap, punk attitude, and experimental production

Written as a response to contemporary life and the endless cycle of information, conflict and distraction that defines modern culture, ‘Panarama’ unfolds as a stream of consciousness journey through hyper-normalised realities. Across sixteen tracks, Thomas navigates social commentary, personal reflection, absurdist humour, and cultural critique, delivering his observations with the same spontaneity and freedom that have become central to the Pan Amsterdam project

Lead single ‘Szechuan Beef’, produced by acclaimed collaborator 1FS, serves as one of the album’s defining statements. Built around Thomas’ signature free-flowing delivery, the track explores the overwhelming nature of contemporary life, where domestic conflict, social division, entertainment scandals and political discourse become flattened into a constant stream of content.

In Thomas’ own words: “My stream of consciousness style comes quite naturally to me due to the conditioning of scroll down culture where everything, no matter how minor or extreme, is hyper normalised.”

Elsewhere, the track ‘Vanilla Ice’ was written in response to widely publicised ICE killings and the speed at which tragedy is absorbed and forgotten within online culture. Thomas channels the anxiety and emotional disorientation of endlessly consuming information, allowing his thoughts to unfold in real time as social commentary collides with everyday digital noise. The result is both deeply personal and sharply observational, reflecting the fragmented reality of modern life. Other album highlights include the cinematic, Interpol-esque opener - ‘Old Friend’ complete with shimmering guitar lines and an far-reaching introspective, no-filter vocal as Thomas teams up with Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Brad Truax (Interpol) across multiple tracks, often the production traverses left-field indie territory, but always maintaining Pan Amsterdam’s unique musical identity throughout. For the hip hop purists and beats lovers there are plenty of riches to discover from the clever nostalgic sample flips of ‘Cutlery’, the sleepy lofi of ‘Shuriken’ and the wonky LA beat scene / early Flying Lotus era beats of ‘Drunken Noodles’ - all boasting quick witted lyricism. ‘Deep Fried Shiney Things’ explores early electro and industrial sonics while album finisher is an upbeat new wave / indie band cut which sees Thomas take a break from rapping, but of course never letting up on the sharp observations nonetheless


While his previous record explored more alternative territory, ‘Panarama’ marks a deliberate return to rap, as Pan Amsterdam explains:

“I just wanted to do a rap album again.I enjoyed making my last album, but I felt like rapping again. I like to have the freedom to move in between musical worlds that suit the current state I’m in. Frequency accommodating frequency.”

This philosophy runs throughout the album. Tracks move effortlessly between jazz-inflected arrangements, experimental beats, punk energy and underground hip hop aesthetics, allowing ideas to evolve organically rather than conforming to traditional structures. Thomas describes himself as an improviser first and foremost: “I think like an improvisor. That’s how my albums pretty much move. It’s improvisation.”

Featuring additional contributions from Spice Programmers, AnOtter and Mr. Shn, ‘Panarama’ presents a wide-ranging cast of collaborators while remaining firmly rooted in Thomas’ singular creative vision. The record embraces contradiction, humour and unpredictability, capturing fleeting thoughts and observations with the same freedom and spontaneity that define jazz improvisation itself.

A musical enigma wrapped in an enduring riddle, Pan Amsterdam has built a reputation as one of contemporary music’s true outsiders. The project emerged from frustration, experimentation and artistic freedom, with Thomas drawing equally from his background as a jazz musician and his collaborations with artists including Iggy Pop and Metronomy. Operating from New York while carrying the spirit of Houston’s musical heritage, Pan Amsterdam has developed a distinctive voice that sits comfortably between avant-garde jazz, underground hip hop and experimental music.

Reuniting with Def Pressé for ‘Panarama’, Thomas explores what he describes as the more hardcore side of his artistic identity:

“They let me do anything and everything I wanna do so long as it’s on audio, and I need that freedom. What may verbally be perceived as vulgar to one group of people may be very thoughtful and a poignant description of the times that we’re presently in, so I’m glad that I’m part of a label home that understands that.”

There is a hush most of us only knew as children, the warm drift between familiar household sounds and being carried to bed, a place that belongs to you and to some self you have not met yet. June McDoom’s debut full-length, Follow the Light, lives in that dream space and then keeps walking, slipping out of time and waking somewhere new, barely familiar enough to feel like home yet wholly your own. She came up in a Jamaican household on the edge of the Florida Everglades, an existence built of extended family, communal care, bass and harmonics. Her father, a carpenter and a student of sound, built his own speakers and kept three sound systems going across as many rooms. His low end would rise through her bedroom floor like some wayward cat while she lay above it with folk records, finding harmonies that were new and hers alone. Two musics in one room. Lushness as past and premonition. She found folk on her own, somewhere between the cast recording of The Sound of Music and Simon and Garfunkel, while everyone around her called it sleepy music. She did not mind being the only one. The solitude let her fall for harmony first, before words, before anything else, and harmony is still the thing she reaches for. Generationally speaking, the music was already in the air. Her grandfather, Colin Smith, is a distinguished mento man who played banjo and guitar and built his own rumba boxes, worked to keep Jamaica’s oldest acoustic folk form alive. Mento is the root of all of it: ska, rock steady, reggae, dub and everything after. He is the one who put a guitar in her hands. An inheritance, a gift and a map. Even her name is part of it, though she will tell you she landed on it more by feel than reason. She records as June McDoom, born Alyssa, June being a nickname one of her grandmothers, Joan, went by, a name she thought was cool to carry and simply liked the sound of. An etheric channel that reverberates all the same. A dub all its own.


Made slowly and by hand with her longtime partner Evan Wright, Follow the Light lays the harmony of folk over the rhythm of dub, with Dionne Warwick, Minnie Riperton, Pentangle and the washed guitars of Cocteau Twins haunting its outer edges. Voice and guitar seeking each other out first, then everything else stacked across long days in the studio they keep at home, restraint kept on purpose. The lead single “Without You” is the whole method surfacing, split open and sparkling like a geode in a creek bed. Angelic heroics, and nothing less.


At the heart is family. Her grandmother Aggie, the light behind “Memory,” guiding still. And underneath, the quieter truth the record keeps: none of us are only one person, but a continuum of selves, the ones who shaped us and the ones we have yet to meet. Future you is an ancestor your current self gets to greet. Press play and the same invitation is yours: A few minutes out of time, a place that turns familiar the longer you stay until you surface somewhere new and find it was yours all along

There is a hush most of us only knew as children, the warm drift between familiar household sounds and being carried to bed, a place that belongs to you and to some self you have not met yet. June McDoom’s debut full-length, Follow the Light, lives in that dream space and then keeps walking, slipping out of time and waking somewhere new, barely familiar enough to feel like home yet wholly your own. She came up in a Jamaican household on the edge of the Florida Everglades, an existence built of extended family, communal care, bass and harmonics. Her father, a carpenter and a student of sound, built his own speakers and kept three sound systems going across as many rooms. His low end would rise through her bedroom floor like some wayward cat while she lay above it with folk records, finding harmonies that were new and hers alone. Two musics in one room. Lushness as past and premonition. She found folk on her own, somewhere between the cast recording of The Sound of Music and Simon and Garfunkel, while everyone around her called it sleepy music. She did not mind being the only one. The solitude let her fall for harmony first, before words, before anything else, and harmony is still the thing she reaches for. Generationally speaking, the music was already in the air. Her grandfather, Colin Smith, is a distinguished mento man who played banjo and guitar and built his own rumba boxes, worked to keep Jamaica’s oldest acoustic folk form alive. Mento is the root of all of it: ska, rock steady, reggae, dub and everything after. He is the one who put a guitar in her hands. An inheritance, a gift and a map. Even her name is part of it, though she will tell you she landed on it more by feel than reason. She records as June McDoom, born Alyssa, June being a nickname one of her grandmothers, Joan, went by, a name she thought was cool to carry and simply liked the sound of. An etheric channel that reverberates all the same. A dub all its own.


Made slowly and by hand with her longtime partner Evan Wright, Follow the Light lays the harmony of folk over the rhythm of dub, with Dionne Warwick, Minnie Riperton, Pentangle and the washed guitars of Cocteau Twins haunting its outer edges. Voice and guitar seeking each other out first, then everything else stacked across long days in the studio they keep at home, restraint kept on purpose. The lead single “Without You” is the whole method surfacing, split open and sparkling like a geode in a creek bed. Angelic heroics, and nothing less.


At the heart is family. Her grandmother Aggie, the light behind “Memory,” guiding still. And underneath, the quieter truth the record keeps: none of us are only one person, but a continuum of selves, the ones who shaped us and the ones we have yet to meet. Future you is an ancestor your current self gets to greet. Press play and the same invitation is yours: A few minutes out of time, a place that turns familiar the longer you stay until you surface somewhere new and find it was yours all along

After decades contributing to records where a single riff could transform a dancefloor, Charlie May turns that instinct inward on Trusted Farms.
For over thirty years, Charlie has occupied a position that seems increasingly rare in electronic music: the musician’s musician, the person behind the machines, the extra pair of hands in the studio, and quite often, the person responsible for the melody you end up carrying around in your head for weeks on end. 
Alongside Duncan Forbes as Spooky, Charlie helped shape some of the most important electronic music to emerge from the UK in the early ’90s. That partnership would also sow the seeds for one of Sasha’s defining records: the central riff behind Xpander began life in Spooky’s live material, before Charlie brought the idea into the studio with Sasha and helped transform it into one of electronic music’s most enduring anthems.
Listen closely to Charlie’s work and there’s a particular instinct that keeps returning: knowing when a simple synth line is enough. Knowing which note needs to change. Knowing when repetition stops being repetition and starts becoming the entire reason a track works. More recently, as one-third of Quiet Places on ASIP, he’s taken those same instincts somewhere looser — beatless, gridless and led by improvisation.
Trusted Farms puts those instincts front and centre.
Tiny melodic phrases appear and refuse to leave. Synth lines repeat just long enough to become lodged in your head. Parts rub against each other without being tidied into submission. There’s a sharpness and directness to it all amongst the purposeful analogue warmth.
Some of these tracks feel almost ridiculously simple at first. But simplicity is difficult when you’ve spent decades learning every possible way to complicate something. Many of the parts on Trusted Farms were performed live with minimal editing. A synth line might be doubled, distorted, re-recorded and pushed back through another piece of equipment, but it remains the same idea. Instead of filling the gaps, Charlie works on the weight and character of what is already there. The melodies become physical; slightly worn around the edges.
For someone whose fingerprints can be found across some genuinely monumental moments in electronic music, Charlie has spent decades knowing what to add. 
Trusted Farms is about knowing exactly what to leave alone.
Available on black 12”, mastered by Andreas Lupo LOOP-O Lubich and featuring artwork by Peter Skwiot Smith,

The Civil Wars is the second and final album by americana/folk duo The Civil Wars (Joy Williams and John Paul White). Their songs can only be described as intimate and deeply personal. Although John and Joy's collaboration only lasted from 2009 to 2013, the duo was highly acclaimed, won 4 Grammy Awards, worked with Taylor Swift and toured with Adele.

Their swansong studio album features the Grammy Award Winning Song “From This Valley” plus the singles “The One That Got Away” & “Dust To Dust”. The album also includes a brilliant cover of the Smashing Pumpkins classic “Disarm”.

The Civil Wars is available on black vinyl.

Following hot on the heels of the Frequency Damage EP, DJ Quest returns to Cyberfunk with Squeaks / Snake Style— a two-track release that dives deep into the unmistakable sound that made Quest’s productions stand out during the early 2000s.
Rather than simply recreating the past, both tracks tap directly into the DNA of the original Cyberfunk sound: rolling breakbeats, huge basslines, twisted analogue synths and the kind of distinctive production that became synonymous with DJ Quest at the height of the Bassline Breaks era.
Built around original analogue synth work throughout, Squeaks / Snake Style is a deliberate throwback to the raw, futuristic sound of the early 2000s, produced with the weight and clarity needed for today’s sound systems.
It’s classic Quest, strange noises, big bass, rolling drums and plenty of attitude.

A. Squeaks
Everything DJ Quest became known for rolled into one track. Squeaks is an unapologetic throwback to the classic Quest sound of the early 2000s, driven by heavyweight breaks, deep bass and original analogue synth work throughout.
Twisted electronic squeaks and evolving analogue sounds weave their way around the drums, giving the track that instantly recognisable combination of funk, darkness and futuristic weirdness that characterised so many of Quest’s early productions.
Raw, energetic and built firmly for the dancefloor, Squeaks takes the spirit of the original Bassline Breaks era and brings it straight back onto a modern sound system.
AA. Snake Style
On the flip, Snake Style takes the same analogue-driven approach but moves into deeper rolling territory.
A more hypnotic, heads-down breaks roller, the track develops around a heavyweight bass groove, rolling drums and constantly shifting analogue synth lines. There’s less emphasis on the immediate impact of the A-side and more on building a groove that locks into a DJ set and keeps moving.
Still unmistakably Quest, Snake Style combines the rawness and character of early-2000s breakbeat with modern low-end weight and production, proper rolling Cyberfunk business.
Special Vinyl Edition
Making this release particularly special for collectors, the 12” vinyl comes with an exclusive book showcasing the artwork from some of DJ Quest’s biggest and most memorable releases.
The book looks back through Quest’s extensive catalogue and the visual identity that accompanied the records, bringing together a selection of classic release artwork from across his career plus photo collages of memories made across his journey.
It turns Squeaks / Snake Style into more than just a new DJ Quest 12”, it’s also a celebration of the music, artwork and history surrounding one of the original pioneers of the Bassline Breaks sound.
For long-time followers it offers a piece of Quest history alongside two brand-new productions, while newer listeners get an introduction to the catalogue and imagery behind the sound

Murmuration’ is the low hum made by vast, beautifully choreographed flocks of starlings as they simultaneously flap their wings and take to the sky. Some people say that the frequency of this unique, rumbling, oscillating sound can cure diseases...

One of the most exciting live bands in the UK, British Birds combine the garage-punk energy of Billy Childish, the wry English sophistication of XTC and the witty pop inventiveness of The Lovely Eggs. Like a murmurating flock of starlings, they create a unique sound, and might even be able to cure diseases.

Based in Chorley, Lancashire, British Birds are a resolutely DIY band. Bobby records and mixes all the music; Emma creates all the artwork. Their first two albums were self-released, selling hundreds of copies at gigs and at a few chosen record stores. British Birds didn’t wait for permission to take flight. They just got on with it. Their songs are sophisticated, hard-hitting, and very skilful. It may be DIY, but it’s big and it’s ambitious.

Sessions for Marc Riley and Gideon Coe have followed, along with tours supporting The Bug Club, BC Camplight and Lovely Eggs.

‘Murmurate, Oscillate’ kicks off with Lie Down With Dogs, Stand Up With Fleas, a rousing expression of exasperation at our passivity in the face of lame authority. British Birds are acute observers of the English political scene, shrouding their observations in humour and surrealism. Polka Dot Eyes is another piece of sharp social observation: it portrays Lancashire lads – friends from school – who join the Army and return home physically and mentally damaged. The song is simultaneously disturbing, funny and catchy as hell. From the fog of disinformation and doubt that surrounds us all in 2020s Britian, British Birds embrace the darkness, but with wit and verve – no slogans, no easy answers – and with an energy that helps us escape the mundanity of a declining island. This might all sound a bit bleak, but it’s not: every single one of the songs on this album has a chorus as big as a house.

There are personal songs too: Scary Movies is a poignant description of Bobby and Emma’s grandfather, who delighted in showing them horror films when they were kids – giving them sneak previews of the darkness they’d come to embrace as adults; Just Like Them is a celebration of introversion: it might not be fun, but it’s better than being an idiot. (Paradoxically, any other introverts who hear this song will feel impelled to join in in the chorus.) Blame Game and Thunder Claps examine the darkness inherent in relationships: there is always an impending storm, if you recognise the low hum of the imminent thunder. Once again: the choruses of these songs confound the melancholy sentiment.

You’ll get the same impression if you see British Birds live: Bobby’s ferocious guitar and dark lyrics are counterpointed with Emma’s sometimes haunting, sometimes playful vocal responses and insistent rhythms. You’ll be swept away by the energy of a band who don’t know the meaning of limits. And as the songs get darker and darker the smile on your face gets wider and wider.

The core members of British Birds are siblings Bobby and Emma Townson, working from their HQ-cum-nest in Chorley. Drums are by Dominic Lawson (apart from Michael Aindley on ‘Just Like Them’). Bass is by James Robinson.

British Birds will be embarking on a headline tour of the UK in early 2027.

The Lemonheads release a strictly limited edition 12” single on 21st September featuring three classic tracks on white vinyl. Lead cut is ‘Roky’, Evan Dando’s homage to the late, great outsider genius Roky Erickson (of garage psyche legends 13th Floor Elevator and much solo strangeness).


"If Roky Erickson had vanished from the face of the earth after The 13th Floor Elevators released their epochal debut single, ‘You're Gonna Miss Me’, in early 1966, in all likelihood he'd still be regarded as a legend among garage rock fanatics for his primal vocal wailing and feral harmonica work." AllMusic


‘Roky’ is Evan's incisive take on the songwriter’s struggles and features a searing guitar break from the song's co-writer Nick Saloman (The Bevis Frond)


The Bevis Frond toured with The Lemonheads in support of the latter’s much-praised ‘Love Chant’ album of 2025 from where ‘Roky’ originally comes. And, to complete this unique package, the Frond cover two Lemonheads’ songs, ‘The Great Big No’ and ‘My Drug Buddy’; both sounding like the kind of UK-based left field power pop that inspired Kurt Cobain in the formative days of grunge – indeed, they could have snook out on the original Rough Trade or 53rd & 3rd labels at any time.


Fact fans looking for Roky-styled curveball ley line between events, might note that The Lemonheads covered The Bevis Frond’s ‘Old Man Blank’ on 2019’s ‘Varshons II’, the same year that Roky sadly passed.


Stars & Quotes:
“One of the most distinctive voices of the ‘90s” The New York Times
“The Lemonheads are one of my favorite bands” Jimmy Fallon
“Gloriously euphoric melancholy” MOJO (on Roky)

Yesca is back on Shall Not Fade with ‘Paint on Walls’ 12” EP.

2024’s Yesca EP on SNF - “Mood Loops” - set a high bar, so when we say this record is something special you should take note. Of course if you already know Yesca’s music or have had the pleasure of a Yesca DJ set then you will have already this queued up.

Sweet Spot: Ben Sims, Deetron, Oliver Ho, Vince Watson, Grain (Artwork’s Techno alias). Planet-E, Primate Recordings, Paul Mac & Stimulus Recordings found the sweet spot.

According to the OED the first use of the phrase “Sweet Spot” was in 1976 in reference to tennis rackets and golf swings. It’s where everything hits just right. And that’s what this EP does, hits just right. What strikes me is how descriptive the phrase ‘Sweet Spot’ is. Given enough swings and some luck we all know what it feels like to hit the sweet spot in some regard. Finding the sweet spot regularly though takes time and skill. But being able to hit the sweet spot by design every time, well that’s something different. That’s what makes the greats great.

For us at SNF there’s a consensus that in the lineage of electronic music there have been many moments where artists & labels converged on a sweet spot. One such sweet spot for us is in Techno
around 2003 when at the tail end of Hardgroove tempos began to slow and a groovier more refined tech house infused goodness appeared in the racks from a group of killer techno labels & artists (some mentioned above) that moment before the fuller emergence of the 2nd wave of Tech House in the mid 00’s.

That sound, while often emulated, never quite hit the same for us at least – until Yesca came along. His music has everything that we love about that sweet spot. Raw driving groove, rolling basslines and hip shaking percussion. What’s different on ‘Paint on Walls’ is that Yesca stepped on - he had already found the sweet spot on 2024’s Mood Loop EP - now his sound (or swing) is natural. Repeatable, refined and seemingly effortless. To revisit the tennis and golf analogy, this is the start of a Grand Slam run from an artist ready to etch their name in dance music history. Tiger..... Serena......Yesca.

Run the Tracks:
‘How I Do It (They Wonder)’ - A masterclass in less is more, and a serious DJ tool. Full of groove - slow it down and it will light the touchpaper in a house set - speed it up and you’ve got techno weaponry. Forget gatekeeping, this will make you feel like you just found a 2004 techno white label from the likes of Grain or Ben Sims.

‘I Desire’ - House music that I reckon Deetron would be proud of... Blissed out machine funk, whispered vocals, slick jazzy chords and dubbed out techno stabs are all grounded by Yesca’s impeccable, loopy drum programming. The best tunes always end too soon.

‘Domination’ - The ever rising bass, err, dominates this track and this track will dominate on many a dancefloor, but Yesca's knack for dubbed out swinging synth lines has to get a shout out here too. He turns what would be melodic elements into what feels like part of the percussion. Double Threat. Hands Up and Heads Down business.

‘Paint on Walls’ - It would be a tough call to say Yesca’s saved the best til last with the EP’s eponymous track given what’s come before, but Paint On Walls works all the highlights from the rest of the EP into a latin techno/house infused anthem. Skittering percussion, a hint of Detroit goodness and a deep deep rolling bassline and THAT vocal. In every way hopeful yet resistant, and that is what techno is all about.

Fontaines D.C. announce their fifth studio album, Dopamine Chamber, released on 16th October via XL Recordings. Produced by James Ford, it is the follow-up to 2024’s UK platinum-certified Romance – and the sound of a band moving decisively away from the guitar language of their early records into something colder, stranger and more synthetic. It arrives today alongside lead single “Marianne” and its accompanying video, directed by Dave Meyers.

Dopamine Chamber arrives like a constellation behind undulating sighs of smog: potent balladry, anthemic melodies glinting through the murk. In a world tipping towards collapse, it asks how pleasure mutates amid peril—and what our pursuit of it reveals about us. Across the album, Fontaines D.C. – Grian Chatten, Carlos O’Connell, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan and Tom Coll – move between gratification and dread until the two meld together, reflecting the overwhelm of artificial intelligence, environmental collapse and political violence all riding the same algorithms as memes, jokes and celebrity culture. “The album itself is a dopamine chamber,” says Chatten. “You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”

Where Romance held its tension in balance, this record tips it. “I think Romance was maybe 60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation, and a loss of feeling,” says Chatten, who spent time among the faded grandeur of Venice, Vienna and Sicily in search of lyrical inspiration. “This one feels more like 60 per cent corrupted — the mask is wearing the face a little more.” He resisted any pull towards easy optimism: “I felt it would be more powerful to leave the hope out and reflect the ugliness honestly. This one needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning.”

“Our albums have always questioned a sense of place,” says bassist Conor Deegan. “First Dublin, then being away from Dublin, and then trying to find the romance elsewhere. On this record, the question became: where do you escape to?” Into the self, perhaps – or hedonism, fantasy, cosmetic perfection, eternal youth or the endless refresh of a screen.

Fontaines D.C. have spent five albums refusing to repeat themselves – from Dogrel (2019) through A Hero’s Death (2020), the No. 1 Skinty Fia (2022) and the anarchic, kaleidoscopic Romance (2024). Dopamine Chamber is their most radical turn yet: cold synthesiser tones, marching drums, samples and triggers, several songs with no guitars at all, and the swooning strings of 1960s Italian pop pulled into something synthetic. For guitarist Conor Curley, the aim was to break from the band’s own reference points: “I was trying to find stuff that pointed into the future.” It was made with James Ford between London, the English countryside and Palermo, where Chatten recorded vocals in a makeshift booth built from mattresses and cushions.

“There’s a poignant sense of us being on the brink of some other kind of form of humanity, or non-humanity,” says Chatten. For their fifth album, Fontaines D.C. have built the chamber. What happens to the listener inside it will be the experiment.

Fontaines D.C. announce their fifth studio album, Dopamine Chamber, released on 16th October via XL Recordings. Produced by James Ford, it is the follow-up to 2024’s UK platinum-certified Romance – and the sound of a band moving decisively away from the guitar language of their early records into something colder, stranger and more synthetic. It arrives today alongside lead single “Marianne” and its accompanying video, directed by Dave Meyers.

Dopamine Chamber arrives like a constellation behind undulating sighs of smog: potent balladry, anthemic melodies glinting through the murk. In a world tipping towards collapse, it asks how pleasure mutates amid peril—and what our pursuit of it reveals about us. Across the album, Fontaines D.C. – Grian Chatten, Carlos O’Connell, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan and Tom Coll – move between gratification and dread until the two meld together, reflecting the overwhelm of artificial intelligence, environmental collapse and political violence all riding the same algorithms as memes, jokes and celebrity culture. “The album itself is a dopamine chamber,” says Chatten. “You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”

Where Romance held its tension in balance, this record tips it. “I think Romance was maybe 60 per cent human and 40 per cent corrupted by automation, and a loss of feeling,” says Chatten, who spent time among the faded grandeur of Venice, Vienna and Sicily in search of lyrical inspiration. “This one feels more like 60 per cent corrupted — the mask is wearing the face a little more.” He resisted any pull towards easy optimism: “I felt it would be more powerful to leave the hope out and reflect the ugliness honestly. This one needed to feel more like a catastrophic warning.”

“Our albums have always questioned a sense of place,” says bassist Conor Deegan. “First Dublin, then being away from Dublin, and then trying to find the romance elsewhere. On this record, the question became: where do you escape to?” Into the self, perhaps – or hedonism, fantasy, cosmetic perfection, eternal youth or the endless refresh of a screen.

Fontaines D.C. have spent five albums refusing to repeat themselves – from Dogrel (2019) through A Hero’s Death (2020), the No. 1 Skinty Fia (2022) and the anarchic, kaleidoscopic Romance (2024). Dopamine Chamber is their most radical turn yet: cold synthesiser tones, marching drums, samples and triggers, several songs with no guitars at all, and the swooning strings of 1960s Italian pop pulled into something synthetic. For guitarist Conor Curley, the aim was to break from the band’s own reference points: “I was trying to find stuff that pointed into the future.” It was made with James Ford between London, the English countryside and Palermo, where Chatten recorded vocals in a makeshift booth built from mattresses and cushions.

“There’s a poignant sense of us being on the brink of some other kind of form of humanity, or non-humanity,” says Chatten. For their fifth album, Fontaines D.C. have built the chamber. What happens to the listener inside it will be the experiment.

British electronic music pioneer Dave Angel returns to R&S Records with “A Time And Place”, his first full-length album release for the seminal Belgian label. Arriving thirty-five years after Dave first joined the R&S family, the album reunites one of UK techno's defining voices with the imprint that helped launch his career, renewing one of electronic music's most enduring creative partnerships.



That relationship began in 1991, when R&S founder Renaat Vandepapeliere discovered Angel's ‘Rolling Thunder’ project and invited the young London producer to Belgium. Personally welcoming him into the R&S family alongside a new generation of forward-thinking electronic artists, Vandepapeliere released the landmark “1st Voyage” EP, helping establish Dave Angel as one of British techno's most distinctive new voices. A succession of acclaimed releases followed, including “Stairway To Heaven”, “3rd Voyage”, appearances on the influential “In Order To Dance’” compilation series, and releases on sister imprint Apollo, charting an artistic partnership that helped shape both Angel's career and the wider evolution of UK techno.



Three and a half decades later, “A Time And Place” feels less like a return than the continuation of a conversation left unfinished. Rather than revisiting former achievements, the album reflects the perspective of an artist whose creative journey has continued to evolve. Reconnecting with the label that first championed his work, Angel delivers his most personal and musically expansive statement to date.



Across fifteen compositions, “A Time And Place” reaches beyond the conventions of techno to reveal the full breadth of Angel's musical identity. Drawing on jazz, soul, improvisation and richly textured electronic production, the album balances rhythmic precision with warmth, melody and emotional depth. Reflections on family, heritage, nature and the communities that have shaped his life sit alongside broader observations of the world around him, creating a body of work that feels both intimate and expansive.



That openness is reflected in a carefully chosen cast of collaborators. Celebrated trumpeter Steve Waterman features on both “Réflexion” and “The Yellow Butterfly”, bringing a lyrical, Miles Davis-inspired voice to the album after first catching Angel's attention through his work on Paul Hazel's “Out Of This World”. Elsewhere, legendary Chicago vocalist Robert Owens appears on “Harmony Serenade”, while guitarist Merv Carswell and vocalist Aurii Sky (Dave’s daughter, adding a poignant family connection) add further colour and texture to a record rooted in musicianship and shared expression.



While Dave Angel's influence on British electronic music has long been established, “A Time And Place” reveals another dimension of an artist whose foundations were laid long before techno. Raised in a household immersed in live music and jazz culture, Angel has spent a lifetime absorbing sounds beyond the club, allowing those influences to surface naturally throughout a career defined by curiosity rather than convention.



For R&S Records, the album renews a relationship that stretches back to the label's formative years. For Dave Angel, it reflects both the path travelled and the road ahead. Thirty-five years after “1st Voyage” first announced his arrival, “A Time And Place” reunites artist and label with the same forward-looking spirit that brought them together in 1991, proof that the strongest creative partnerships continue to evolve.

* long version / previously unreleased on vinyl
** exclusive / previously unreleased
Felix Laband's highly acclaimed electronica masterpiece album "Dark Days Exit" (2005) is now available as an Extended Version 2LP vinyl. Originally planned for last year's 20th anniversary, this special edition features a new design by Felix Laband and includes a double-sided DIN A2 art print. Dark Days Exit features four exclusive tracks, alongside five vinyl-only tracks available for the first time in their original long versions. Listening to the key track, Sleeping Household, on Dark Days Exit is unsettling: like being an impostor rambling around an uncanny house, a Lynchian leitmotif in the form of a young girl divulging secrets that you probably shouldn't hear. Dark Days Exit is an album that paints an interior landscape, an invitation to transgress private thresholds. Made with old-school production tools that require hands-on application, Dark Days Exit is a sound-production tour de force. The music is as wide as the savannah and microscopic at the same time, a lesson in what can be achieved when 'music' is placed on an equal footing with sound as a phenomenon, by an artist who decides to apply themselves without reserve. The masterful manipulation of reverb and delays and hyper-detail was a generation ahead of its time, and Dark Days Exit is preferred by audiophiles for testing their systems. Dark Days Exit is intimate, demanding, and a masterclass in tension, and Laband's ability to use all sound without hierarchy to paint a detailed personal vision — one that is less overtly political and streetwise than on subsequent albums — is unsurpassed. Most discerning listeners are into music because, in the hands of a master, it can manipulate our mood and transport us. Felix Laband opens with a sonic portrait of spring happiness and gradually dismantles the atmosphere in front of our ears, as epitomised by the haunting track Black Shoes. No sooner are we afraid than the artist drops us off where we started. In many ways, the intimacy derives from the tight group of friends and believers whom Laband corralled as contributors: Mark van Niekerk (xylophone, "Miss Teardrop"), Jane Rademeyer (clarinet, "Black Shoes," "Radio Right Now"), Brendon Bussy (mandolin, "Black Shoes"), and Derek Gripper (sampled violin, used throughout) and Alex van Heerden on Minka. The difficulty in categorising Dark Days Exit is probably due to Laband listening mostly to ambient and classical music at the time, and consequently registering the album at the lush, cinematic end of the electronic spectrum. There is poise and restraint in the spare use of beats, and when they do appear, they hit hard. Forged in the optimistic post-apartheid years, Dark Days Exit is music about life and death, spanning hope, despair, terror, tension, with humour and empathy. Twenty one years on, the album's gravity endures, due to its almost perverse authenticity, its timeless themes of hope and despair, and its apex level of technical mastery. The additional, immaculately produced tracks add new rooms to the uncanny house we are invited into.

Richly progressive folk-informed heavy post-rock and a sick burn to boot. - The Obelisk Rebecca Vernon (SubRosa), the driving creative force behind THE KEENING returns with her second album, Devotion. The new album sees Vernon and company releasing one of the year's most evocative albums; a truly compelling mix of slow burning, ethereal post-rock, folk, goth, and soaring doom. For Vernon, the writing process for Devotion took place in two starkly different environments. It ranged from the contemplative solitude of a friend’s cabin in a deserted Idaho ski resort, to the hectic reality of a 55+ senior living community in Spokane, Washington, where she was staying with her father. This shift resulted in an explosive album with a subtle duality that resonates throughout its most poignant moments. Take the lead single, "A Little Bit of Blood," for example. Quiet, acoustic guitar strums give way for Vernon's haunting vocals, before the backing instrumentation explodes into a soaring chorus reminding the listener that sometimes the best paths taken are the most difficult. "You drew a little bit of blood to show me Just a little bit of blood to make me see It took a little bit of blood to wake me Just a little wound in the night to free me" In a 2024 interview with Decibel Magazine, Vernon discussed the drastic shift in heavy music's themes in recent years, highlighting a willingness to convey raw emotion: "Metal is beginning to share more vulnerable things, more confessional things. Metal has almost become a safe place to talk about those things. People are being open with their struggles. Twenty years ago, they wouldn't have." Devotion lays these emotional confessions bare and showcases a truly bright burn. Devotion was recorded in April 2022, again at Hallowed Halls in Portland, with Billy Anderson and Nathan Carson featured in their same roles as heard on Little Bird. Once again, Vernon showcases her writing prowess, having a heavy hand on all the instrumentation for Devotion; Vernon played drums, guitar, piano, organ, and hammered dulcimer, and provided most of the vocals on both albums, with a few guest vocalists added to the mix.

"Firebreather formed in Gothenburg in 2016, rooted in crushing, sludge-doused doom from the very beginning. Never wavering from that commitment across all three of their incendiary full-length releases, the trio has pursued weight with purpose, not as spectacle, nor as an exercise in excess, but as the only language broad enough to hold the emotional reach and sonic heft of their sound. The music arrives in a way that writes itself with no distance between the words and the sound; they rise from the same cursed ground, and that honesty has become the band's defining force. Firebreather is a band that never postures or asks to be admired for their heaviness- and to see them live is to experience exactly why. Their weight takes on another life entirely. The band's towering tone and consuming grit don't fill a room so much as alter it. Volume presses against the body before the first lyric lands and riffs arrive like shifting earth. The drums don't drive the songs forward; they anchor them while the line between sound and physical force begins to disappear. Years spent crossing Europe and North America have only sharpened that purpose, and a decade on with a fourth album on the way via the notorious Heavy Psych Sounds Records, Firebreather remains exactly where it belongs. Head down. Volume up."

Gold Nugget Vinyl, limited to 400 copies. "Firebreather formed in Gothenburg in 2016, rooted in crushing, sludge-doused doom from the very beginning. Never wavering from that commitment across all three of their incendiary full-length releases, the trio has pursued weight with purpose, not as spectacle, nor as an exercise in excess, but as the only language broad enough to hold the emotional reach and sonic heft of their sound. The music arrives in a way that writes itself with no distance between the words and the sound; they rise from the same cursed ground, and that honesty has become the band's defining force. Firebreather is a band that never postures or asks to be admired for their heaviness- and to see them live is to experience exactly why. Their weight takes on another life entirely. The band's towering tone and consuming grit don't fill a room so much as alter it. Volume presses against the body before the first lyric lands and riffs arrive like shifting earth. The drums don't drive the songs forward; they anchor them while the line between sound and physical force begins to disappear. Years spent crossing Europe and North America have only sharpened that purpose, and a decade on with a fourth album on the way via the notorious Heavy Psych Sounds Records, Firebreather remains exactly where it belongs. Head down. Volume up."

2026 re-issue, 180g vinyl, remastered from the original tapes

Be With have raided the KPM archives to re-issue another of our favourites from the KPM 1000 series. They say: Hard Afro Pop featuring large percussive rhythm section and front line. We say: One of the best-loved of all the KPM LPs. Afro Rock was recorded at Morgan Studios by John Cameron and Alan Parker in London in 1973 as a collection of stripped-down African rhythms, virtuoso jazz instrumentation, fuzzed up wah wah guitars and spaced out library breaks. The percussion is effortlessly funky, and those flutes so melodic, it’s as if the LP was crafted with the beat lovers of the future firmly in mind. As Cameron himself described it in Unusual Sounds, this is “heavy duty drum-and-bass salsa music”. As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for The Road Forward comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity. And don’t worry! Those KPM stickers aren’t stuck directly on the sleeves!

Without turning anything upside down, the trio has released their second album, gracefully deepening the unique path they have carved out for themselves. It is an album that already stands in stark contrast to the attention-deficit culture of our times. Indeed, whilst music sometimes seeks to concentrate the intensity of its references and artefacts, the trio takes a step back, deploying an intensity that is subtly distributed. Thanks to their progressive instrumental tracks blending elements inherited from dub, jazz, folk and even musique concrète, the trio has never allowed the quality of their music to suffer from their experimentation; at the same time, they have never been afraid to venture off the beaten track to achieve the sound they desire. Every single track of this album cast like fragile bridges over various landscapes that explore cycles and the natural rhythm within. It is up to the listener to tread carefully and not lose their footing and embrace the cinematic movement of this music. The three artists have indeed achieved a musical expression so free that it possesses the power of illusion. We are suddenly swept up in all these illusions, to the point where our memories are in flux. Both haunting and in motion, this trio’s music offers an impregnable mental retreat and an invitation to dance. This album conveys a dreamlike conviction that time, in its relentless flight, might—if only for a moment—be brought to a halt. A halt that awaits you.

Words by Carl Åhnebrink

2026 Repress

On Left At Sunset, Tornado Wallace taps into those fragile, glowing moments after a long night in the club, when the lights come up just enough, the bass softens, and the first hint of morning slips through the windows. Time feels suspended.
The lead track Asahi Ga Yondeiru (“the morning sun is calling”) captures that feeling perfectly. Built around Courtney Bailey’s gentle vocal, it drifts somewhere between late-night house and early morning reflection. It is not about the peak. It is about what comes after it. That quiet euphoria when you realize the night gave you something you will carry back into the real world. The rest of the EP stays in that same emotional zone: warm, slightly melancholic, but full of light. These are tracks for the very last dance, when the floor is half-empty, hearts are wide open, and every sound feels a little more meaningful. Not an ending, really. Just the beginning of whatever comes next.