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Clarence Carter, blind from birth, was a blues singer with lascivious wit, a talented guitarist, a songwriter with a twinkle in his eye, and a champion of down-to-earth soul grooves who taught himself to play the guitar.

He sang in a gospel choir, completed a degree in music, and grounded the duo Clarence & Calvin but was not however very successful.

After a car crash involving Calvin Scott, Carter started on a solo career and signed a contract with Rick Hall and the Fame label as a soloist.

Among the earliest singles recorded at the Muscle Shoals studio were a few hits. After leaving Fame for Atlantic, he managed to enter the Top 20 of the R & B charts with "Looking For A Fox". His breakthrough came with "Slip Away", which sold a million copies and was awarded a Gold Record.

The legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals remained the home basis, as it were, for Carter during his career with Atlantic. "This Is…" begins with a contemplative, soft sound. "Do What You Gotta Do", written by Jim Webb, is a lovely, melancholic mid-tempo ballad, saturated with Barry Beckett’s keyboard and smothered by lush, plaintive winds.

But the man is primarily funky here … as three danceable, finger-snapping tracks prove; "Wind It Up", with further witty improvisations and a fervid organ solo, the highly syncopated, playful "Thread The Needle", and the smoky, irresistible "Funky Fever" – all written by Carter himself.

Dan Penn’s and Spooner Oldham’s "Slippin’ Around" has an unorthodox bossa nova-like beat that is reminiscent of Ray Charles’s "What’d I Say", while Carter’s unmistakable chuckle is to be heard for the first time on the riotous funk-rock number "I’m Qualified", which has the very same unique, infectious groove as was to be heard on Wilson Pickett’s "In The Midnight Hour". "She Ain’t Gonna Do Right", composed by the same man, brings more Alabama Country to the mix, whereby Beckett contributes a catchy, persistent organ riff in the refrain.

SDK is the collaboration between Stano and David Kitt. Stano, a post-punk pioneer from Dublin, is known for his strikingly individual work. A recurring collaborator with All City, Going Back to the Unknown marks his first new material for the label and his return to vocal work after many years.

The project began after a chance meeting at All City led to a connection with David Kitt. In Kitt’s studio, guitars, pedals, tape delay, and synths combined to form dense, dreamlike textures. The music moves between ambient atmospheres, layered guitars, and fractured song forms. Stano’s words appear only where the music calls for them:

“I just turned the pages until the right lyric appeared — I like when the music dictates what the words should be.”

On the collaborative process, Stano adds:

“There wasn’t a conscious decision, it was just a reaction to what David was playing. It seemed to happen organically, we were really on the same wavelength. At the end of that day I knew we had something really interesting.”

The result is Going Back to the Unknown, a collection shaped as much by intuition and chance as by design. The album is completed by Kitt’s contribution “Fireworks,” which seals the record’s arc.

PRAED return to Discrepant, after their 2017’s entry Fabrication of Silver Dreams (CREP44)

Known for their signature blend of Egyptian Shaabi, free jazz and improvisation, the Lebanese duo behind PRAED - Raed Yassin and Paed Conca - now assemble a full orchestra for the second time taking the music to a deeper, rooted level.

Following their 2020 release Live in Sharjah, also under the PRAED Orchestra! moniker, the duo now revisit their unique blend of Arabic heritage and free jazz sensibilities with an album that keeps pushing further into strange and unexpected directions.

The Dictionary of Lost Meanings is just that, seven fully composed pieces and large-scale improvisations, performed by an expanded ensemble of musicians from across the globe. The result is dense and playful, unpredictable but familiar, a record where Arabic rhythms and microtonal melodies collide playfully against electronics, warped vocals and orchestral textures.

It’s less about genre than about memory — like tuning into a radio station broadcasting from somewhere between the past and the future.

PRAED continue to blur the line between popular culture and experimental music in ways that feel both grounded and completely their own.

PRAED ORCHESTRA! are
Raed Yassin: Synthesisers, Vocals, Beats
Paed Conca: Clarinet, Electric bass
Alan Bishop: Alto saxophone, Electric bass, Vocals
Andreas Bral: Harmonium, Electronics
Elisabeth Klinck: Violin
Christian Kobi: Soprano and Tenor Saxophones
Hans Koch: Bass Clarinet
Martin Küchen: Alto and Sopranino Saxophones
Maurice Louca: Synthesizer, electronics
Stan Maris: Accordion
Radwan Ghazi Moumneh: Buzuk, Vocals, Modular Synth
Youmna Saba: Electric Oud, Vocals
Sam Shalabi: Oud, Electric Guitar
Els Vandeweyer: Vibraphone
Khaled Yassine: Drums, Percussion
Michael Zerang: Drums, Percussion
Recorded by Jasper Jan Peeters at the Summer Bummer Festival, DE Studio,
Antwerp August 26, 2022
Mixed by Adham Zidan
Mastered by Mark Gergis
Produced by PRAED
Photos by Geert Vandepoele

Amsterdam label Spectral Bounce recruits French club stalwart Chris Carrier for SPEC06 — Perfect Encounter. Active since 1994, the Parisian artist has released a wellspring of records on Robsoul, Slapfunk and his own Sound Carrier recordings, parallel to his longtime career as a DJ. Characterised by swirling delays and progressive arrangements, Perfect Encounter shows the producer exploring the mesmeric corners of tech house, ideally fitted to the Spectral Bounce aesthetic.

Opener “XLR8” starts with rolling toms that make way for fluid, modulated tones; each bar ebbs and flows to the sweeping synths set in motion by Carrier. Processed with a multitude of delays, rhythmic FX boldly swish above the drums, making for an immersive soundstage. Second track “Light Side” retains the billowing echoes but moves more nimbly, cutting things back to make for a spacious and breezy number. Its croaking synths hop around the stereo field, accompanied by tight percussion and a walking bassline.

The hallucinogenic “Third Moon” sees Carrier step further into trance-inducing territory. The track’s pulsing, syncopated bass note thrums underneath an arpeggio that evolves into a heady prismatic drone. While the chugging beat is ever-present, melodic refrains rise up and evaporate like wisps of vapour, alongside a vocal that fades away as quickly as it appears. The EP’s eponymous “Perfect Encounter” dials up the tension and closes the record with a mysterious touch. Speedy 16th note patterns propel the beat, creating shifty rhythms that rattle and hiss. A rasping, gelatinous synth and squeaky detuned tones resemble extraterrestrial signals — alien morse code for an enraptured dancefloor.

Credits:

Modern ambient minimalism with early music/baroque influences. Minimal and nuanced, Diary of a Candle is a consoling, melodic suite from acclaimed experimental composer, musician, and producer Faten Kanaan. On this album Faten uses counterpoint as a narrative tool to create music that is mysterious, smudgy, and deeply melodic. From the repetitive structures of modern minimalism and early music/baroque influences - to more languid textural ebbs and tides, there's a warmth in her use of synthesizers that gives her work a curiously timeless feel. Composing intuitively, her music creates its own world - one that isn't easily categorised. Diary of a Candle is punctuated with tender woodwinds and richly-layered strings, touched by the hazy atmospheres of 1970s/1980s films. Its understated heart-on sleeve romanticism follows the rhythm of nature: it bends in the breeze, drifts through the air, and settles on the ground. The ambiance is not an escapism, but the re-focusing of a lens through which humans are no longer the protagonists. Instead, a landscape's intimate details become the central figures. With the sparseness of Hiroshi Yoshimura's 1982 album 'Music for Nine Post Cards' as a starting-point influence, Faten's music exudes a wistful yet hopeful sentiment, honouring moments of beauty in the world around us. Some of the album titles are inspired by East-Asian rites and folkloric superstitions, often related to nature. All music written performed and mixed by Faten Kanaan. Mastered by Heba Kadry(Björk, Bon Iver, John Cale, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Deerhunter, Cate Le Bon, & many more). For fans of Kali Malone, Steve Reich, William Basinski, Sarah Davachi, Stars Of The Lid, , Mary Lattimore and Oneohtrix Point Never.

With Michaela Melián's LP "music for a while", a-Musik is releasing the first album by the visual artist, co-founder of F.S.K., and solo musician since "Monaco", which appeared on Monika Enterprise in 2013. While her last releases, Electric Ladyland (2016), Music from a Frontier Town (2018), and Tania (2022) were created as part of exhibitions and sound installations, "music for a while" is Melián's fourth autonomous LP, characterized on the one hand by her unmistakable dreamlike sound along the interfaces between dark chamber music, solemn ambient techno, and cinematic sound art.

As with her previous albums, there is also a wonderful avant-pop cover version—this time of the track “My Other Voice” (1979) by the Sparks. On the other hand, music for while, whose cover is adorned with Melián's photographs of the clouds above her new home of Marseille, spreads a comparatively ominous mood – one that is nevertheless appropriate given the circumstances in 2025 – thanks in part to the sedate, almost ticking drum sounds of co-producer Felix Raethel. Once again, the multi-instrumentalist, supported by Ruth May on violin and Elen Harutyunyan on viola, weaves her recordings of various string instruments — cello, guitar, bass, and zither — into fascinating, lurching, looping, and almost hypnotic soundscapes, but atonal synthesizer sounds in tracks such as “traverse benjamin” and “märchenwald” open up the music to electroacoustic and experimental music. The concluding cover version of Irving Berlin's “they say it's wonderful” (1946) rounds off one of this year's most impressive releases in an incomparably groovy and melancholic way.

With Until Night Comes, Larry June and Cardo reconnect to deliver a nocturnal cruise through laid-back luxury and introspection. The album feels like a slow ride through the city just after sunset—windows down, sky fading from gold to indigo, and a calm confidence guiding every turn. It’s Larry at his most self-assured and reflective, balancing the cool ease he’s known for with sharper focus and deeper pockets of honesty. Cardo’s production is smooth and expansive—built on warm basslines, polished synths, and sample chops that stretch like the dusk. Together, they create a cohesive soundtrack for night owls, hustlers, and anyone chasing peace in motion. The album continues to refine their seasoned partnership, evolving into something even more purposeful. No wasted energy, just clean living, big vision, and a reminder that progress doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. Features include E-40, Black C, Don Toliver, Payroll Giovanni, HBK, Wiz Khalifa & Richie Rich. Good Job, Larry.

"Full Cold Moon" ist eine Sammlung von EPs, ursprünglich 2014 erschienen, und nun auf 180g Icy Blue Glitzervinyl neu aufgelegt werden. Mehr als ein Sampler ist es ein Dokument des Übergangs in einer Zeit, in der Cold Cave ihren Sound über ein Spektrum von Isolation und Intensität ausdehnten. Von gitarrenbetonten Synthie-Hymnen über reduziertem Cold-Wave-Minimalismus bis zu dystopischen Spin-Outs fangen Tracks wie der ungewöhnliche Underground-Favorit "A Little Death To Laugh", "Oceans With No End", "God Made The World", "Black Boots" oder "Nausea, The Earth And Me" eine Zeit der Klangforschung und rastlosen Neuerfindung ein. Geschrieben während Wesley Eisolds Umzug von New York nach Los Angeles – einer Zeit, die geprägt war von Selbstreflexion und Distanz zum größeren Kontext von "Cherish The Light Years" – kehren diese zwölf Tracks zum nüchternen und einsamen Geist von "Cremations" und "Love Comes Close" zurück. Minimalistisch und doch mitreißend, ist "Full Cold Moon" Cold Cave in ihrer experimentellsten, essentiellsten und emotionalsten Form.

Mit Release The Beast legt CV Vision sein sechstes Studioalbum vor - ein wilder, stilübergreifender Trip durch Psychedelic Rock, Detroit Techno, Black Metal, Library Music und analoge Tape-Ästhetik. Gemeinsam mit dem schwedischen Drummer Uno Bruniusson kehrt er zu raueren Produktionsmethoden zurück und erschafft ein klangliches Mosaik, das trotz aller Vielfalt wie aus einem Guss wirkt. Verzerrte Backbeats, krautige Synths, düstere Grooves und cineastische Harmonien treffen auf DIY-Spirit und Studio-Experiment. Die Tracks changieren zwischen hypnotischem Motorik-Drive, Acid-Referenzen, jazzigen Jams und folkigen Momenten - zusammengehalten durch das charakteristische Bandrauschen zweier kaputter Tonbandgeräte. "Ich wollte einen rohen, direkten Sound - das Tape ist der Kitt, der alles zusammenhält", sagt CV Vision. Release The Beast ist ein Album über kreative Befreiung, über das Chaos im Schaffensprozess - und über die Schönheit, die daraus entsteht.

Reissue des Debütalbums der US-Dark-Wave-Band Cold Cave aus Philadelphia auf Ruby Red Glitzervinyl. "Love Comes Close" (2009) entstand aus späten Nächten, Second-Hand-Synthies und der stillen Dringlichkeit selbst gebastelter Schlafzimmeraufnahmen und erschien zunächst bei Heartworm Press, um später bei Matador Records neu aufgelegt zu werden, als die Band langsam Kultstatus erlangte. Elf düstere Popsongs für Einsame und Suchende – zerbrechlich, romantisch und von kaltem Licht erfüllt. Mit Anspielungen auf die frühen Experimente von The Human League, Throbbing Gristle und New Order verbindet das Album Gothic-Untertöne mit Indie-Charme und Loft-Synth-Pop. Eisolds Gesang ist distanziert und intim zugleich – poetisch, verletzlich und durchdringend. Vom stechenden Puls des Titeltracks bis hin zu den zeitlosen Live-Klassikern "Life Magazine", "Heaven Was Full" und "Youth And Lust" fängt "Love Comes Close" den seltenen Moment ein, in dem Isolation einer Verbindung weicht und Einfachheit auf emotionale Schwere trifft.

Das ursprünglich 2013 veröffentlichte einzige gemeinsame Album von Adam Green von The Moldy Peaches und Binki Shapiro von Little Joy ist eine charmante Ode an den Folk-Pop der 60er Jahre. Das Album nahm Gestalt an, als Green Little Joy einige Jahre zuvor auf einer Südamerikatournee unterstützte. Obwohl die zehn Duette hier offen über gescheiterte Romanzen und die daraus resultierenden emotionalen Turbulenzen sinnieren, sind sie überraschend sanft und sachlich gehalten. Auf luftigen Melodien und gezupften Gitarren, die durch subtile Synthesizer-Klänge akzentuiert werden, unterstreicht das Album die gegenseitige Bewunderung der beiden Musiker für ihre Arbeit und lädt zum wiederholten Hören ein.

Das Dance Arts Center ist ein maximalistisches, genreübergreifendes Musik- und Performance-Projekt der in Los Angeles lebenden Künstlerin Nicolette Norgaard. Angetrieben von Tanzmusik und verwurzelt im Geschichtenerzählen, ist DAC der Ort, an dem Club auf Theater trifft und die Seele des Performers auf das Werkzeug des Produzenten. Ihr Debütalbum ,dance arts center presents" ist ein Konzept-Mixtape im Stil einer fiktiven Broadway-Cast-Aufnahme, komplett mit Ouvertüre und Entr'acte. Es untersucht, wie wir uns in Beziehungen verhalten, uns emotional verkleiden, uns für die Liebe verwandeln und wie die Show manchmal auch nach dem Fallen des Vorhangs nicht endet. Klanglich bewegt es sich in einer Welt aus synthlastiger, grooviger Tanzmusik, die von Indie-Pop-Sensibilität und durchdachtem Songwriting geprägt ist. Jeder Song ist eine Geschichte, und jeder Beat trägt etwas Schwereres in sich, als er vermuten lässt. Aber DAC ist nicht nur aufgenommene Musik, sondern ein sich ständig weiterentwickelndes Live-Erlebnis. Norgaard bringt das Projekt mit der Präzision einer ausgebildeten Performerin und der Freiheit einer Person, die auf der Tanzfläche erwachsen geworden ist, auf die Bühne. Die Live-Show ist theatralisch, narrativ, verspielt und selbstbewusst. Sie bezeichnet es als ,dekonstruiertes Theater" und verwendet von Fosse inspirierte Choreografien, Personas, Metafiktion und Sketche, um etwas zu schaffen, das die Grenzen dessen, was Musik und Theater ,sein sollten", sprengt.

2019 wurde ihr Sound von der Indie-Rock-Legende Doug Martsch von Built to Spill entdeckt, woraufhin er Lê und Joao von Orua einlud, vorübergehend Mitglieder seiner Indie-Rock-Band aus den 90er Jahren zu werden. Später nahmen sie das letzte Album von Built to Spill, "When the Wind Forgets Your Name" auf, das 2022 bei Sub Pop Records erschien. Sie produzierten es gemeinsam und mischten es ab. Nach ausgiebigen Tourneen mit Built to Spill und ihren energiegeladenen Shows in den USA und Europa kehrten Orua nach Seattle zurück und nahmen ihr neues Album "Slacker" KLP307 mit Jim Roth auf, der auf den Aufnahmen auch Gitarre, Synthesizer und Percussion spielt. Ihr Sound mischt weiterhin die elektrischen Impulse dekonstruierter Gitarren mit einem hypnotisierenden Groove, der sowohl das Publikum als auch die Band in eine kollektive Trance versetzt.

"Humdrum" ist das neue Album des Ostlondoner Sextetts Home Counties. Geschrieben im Sommer 2024 und aufgenommen im vergangenen Herbst mit Al Doyle von LCD Soundsystem, behandelt das zweite Album der Band Themen wie streitsüchtige Kommunikation, stillen Groll und die Spirale des Grübelns. Erzählt durch die Doppelstimmen und Perspektiven der Leadsänger Will Harrison und Lois Kelly, setzt "Humdrum" auf drahtige Grooves, zwischen Bedrohung und Euphorie schwankende Synthesizer und messerscharfe Pop-Instinkte – und verpackt vertrackte Ideen in Songs, die sich zugleich sorgfältig konstruiert und vergnüglich verrückt anfühlen.

Josi Miller aus Leipzig-Connewitz macht parallel zu ihrem Studium an der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar erste DJ-Erfahrungen in der ostdeutschen Subkultur. 2017 zieht sie - längst Protagonistin des Homegirls-Podcasts - nach Berlin. Sie begleitet Trettmann jahrelang als Tour-DJ und ist solo ständig auf Achse - von Kapstadt bis London, vom about:blank bis zum Institut für Zukunft, vom MELT bis zur Fusion. Mit KLAN-Musiker Stefan Heinrich gründet Josi das Elektropop-Duo Import Export, veranstaltet unzählige Workshops für Flinta* und beaufsichtigt Produktionen für befreundete Künstler*innen à la Jolle oder Zugezogen Maskulin. Seit etwa zwei Jahren hostet Josi das ARTE-Format "Chat with a DJ", in dem sie regelmäßig Künstler*innen wie Marlon Hoffstadt, Anja Schneider oder Acid Pauli empfängt. Im Herbst 2023 beschließt Josi während eines Kreativcamps in Frankreich ein Soloalbum in Angriff zu nehmen. Im Kreis vertrauter Musiker*innen wie Fatoni, Aywing, Lambert, Torky Tork und BEACHPEOPLE entstehen die ersten Fragmente. 2024 zieht Josi im Rahmen eines Förderprogramms für mehrere Wochen zu Post-Punk-Ikone Gudrun Gut in die Uckermark, wo sich ihr Vorhaben konkretisiert. Am Ende einer intensiven Auseinandersetzung mit der eigenen Psyche und unzähligen Stunden zwischen Synthesizern und Beat-Software steht "4 Stages Of Sleep" - ein Debütalbum, das Breakbeat, Pop und Electronica miteinander fusioniert.

OK EG turn inwards on Silent Green, their new release on Kia's ambient label Cirrus. Written for a live performance in Berlin, Silent Green finds balance between intimate post club dream states and low tempo rhythmic workouts. Fragmented voices harmonise with delicate synths and organic textures on open sky. Wooden machinery clicks and whirs on veil, opening into an inner expanse. Optimistic warmth and melancholy blend on spirit, knitted with resonant hi hats, scrolling wavetables and dubbed claves. Sequenced hand drums and piccolo snares create structure for rising pads and analog bass on death adder, as subtle grooves unfurl under the watchful gaze of digital crows. The artwork, created by the Amsterdam based digital artist Tharim Cornelisse, finds the cycle of life and death in the artificial environment of a greenhouse, digitally blended with patch notes from the first time the music was performed.

The Sator Arepo, or Sator Square, is an ancient word puzzle comprising five palindromes that's etched on various historical sites throughout the Western world. Its origins are unknown, but the square has long been thought to hold magical properties, used as a charm against illness and evil, to cure insanity or to determine whether someone was guilty of witchcraft. Self-styled "punk ethnomusicologist", acoustician and musician Julien Hairon uses this mystical symbol as the starting point for his debut Judgitzu album in an attempt to reconnect with his Celtic heritage, exploring how its hallowed messages might harmonize with contemporary Tanzanian dance music.Hairon has been traveling across the world for over a decade, collecting field recordings from countries such as Indonesia, Australia, Cambodia, China and Bangladesh, and presenting them on his Les Cartes Postales Sonores label, re-issuing any curious cassettes and CDs he came across on the PetPets' TAPES imprint. It was during this time that he became fascinated by rituals that involved spirits, prompting him to examine his own ancestry when he returned to Brittany. "Many artifacts in the landscape remain," Hairon explains, "and the power of spirits is still palpable." He represents this Celtic mysticism on 'Sator Arepo' with murky drones and magickal synth tones, using xenharmonic scales (tuning outside of standard 12-tone equal temperament) that reach back to the ancient world. These sounds are augmented with fast-paced, sci-fi rhythms informed by his time in Tanzania; "Singeli has contaminated me," admits the producer.The most astonishing example of this is 'Miracle', a thrusting soundsystem experiment that layers serpentine, bagpipe-esque electronic wails over extravagant clusters of blocky percussion. Driven by the frenetic 175BPM pulse that echoes through the streets of Dar Es Salaam - popularized globally by forward-thinking producers like Sisso, Duke and Jay Mitta - Hairon opens up a rare conversation, seeking to draw parallels between today's most urgent dance forms and the archaic rituals of antiquity. On 'Vitalimetre', Hairon drives his sonic palette into the red, harmonizing with Dutch hardstyle and gabber, and splaying distorted drones over maddeningly blown-out kicks and ratcheting percussion. 'L'or Des Fous' takes a more meditative route, prioritizing Hairon's eccentric tonality with expressive sheets of pitch-warped sound that ghost walk across energized, rattling beats.If you heard Hairon's last Judgitzu release 'Umeme / Kelele', described by Boomkat as "one of 2019's deadliest dancefloor sessions," then you'll know how mindboggling this material can be. And with 'Sator Arepo', the French producer deepens his reach, grasping a world that we've almost forgotten and juxtaposing it with a landscape most of us barely comprehend.

Drawing from over three decades in electronic music, DJ Rame (one third of the acclaimed Italian Pastaboys team) showcases his House Music expertise with this genre-blending original EP on Memento Records, going right back to the roots of club culture.

Title track Life 3 starts off with a dreamy pad intro and New York-house inspired piano chords, setting the mood for the dance floor and suddenly exploding into a bouncy, tension-and-release energetic swing, trippy percussions and rubberized synth rhythms.

Toyholic’s infectious bassline and syncopated beats match retro-futuristic synths and acid melodies, while Niwa’s faster pace and robotic vocal samples are drenched in 80s Electro Disco moods.

Stone Garden rounds off the release with a breakbeat groove, vintage analog sounds and mesmerizing stop-and-gos.

A visceral ode to the free spirit of the early warehouse parties that came to define an era of revolutionary music, these 4 tracks are one part raw emotion, one part contemporary sonic innovation.

Der international gefeierte Schlagzeuger und Produzent Makaya McCraven meldet sich mit einem besonderen Projekt zurück: Vier neue EPs - Techno Logic, The People"s Mixtape, Hidden Out! und PopUp Shop, die gebündelt als Doppel-LP und Doppel-CD unter dem Titel Off the Record (via XL Recordings) veröffentlicht wird. Es sind McCravens erste Studioarbeiten seit In These Times (2022), mit denen er zu seiner charakteristischen Mischung aus Live-Improvisation und Studio-Nachbearbeitung zurückkehrt. Schon jetzt geben die Singles "Imafan", "Away", "Technology" und "Choo Choo" einen Vorgeschmack auf das Projekt. Die vier EPs greifen auf verschiedene Live-Momente der letzten zehn Jahre zurück: Aufnahmen aus London, Berlin und New York (Techno Logic), ein Jubiläumskonzert in Brooklyn (The People"s Mixtape), eine Residenz im Chicagoer Hideout (Hidden Out!) sowie McCravens Los-Angeles-Debüt 2015 (PopUp Shop). "In einer Zeit, in der vieles virtuell und ungreifbar ist, bleibt es etwas Besonderes, wenn Menschen in einem Raum zusammenkommen und Musik teilen", sagt McCraven. "Diese Energie möchte ich festhalten - roh, menschlich, spontan." Mit Off the Record beweist der als "kultureller Synthesizer" und "Beat Scientist" bezeichnete Musiker erneut, warum er zu den prägenden Stimmen einer neuen Generation zählt, die den Jazz ins 21. Jahrhundert führt.

A decade after its release, A Fragile Geography returns transformed. This limited edition cassette accompanies the AFG10 anniversary reissue, offering an inspired re-envisioning of Rafael Anton Irisarri’s landmark compositions. Reworks presents distinctive readings of these pieces, with each artist leaving their personal mark on the material. The titles remain unchanged, with the sole exception of “Hiatus,” reborn here as “Ausencia.” Together, these reimaginings extend the emotional cartography of the album into new terrains.

KMRU reframes “Displacement” with expansive, glimmering layers that open into meditative ambient landscapes. Nairobi born and Berlin based, he is known for morphing field recordings into vivid aural experiences, often capturing the texture of footsteps, foliage, and distant city life and weaving them into contemplative soundscapes. In this version he introduces subtle new sounds, including stringlike synths that trace and heighten the piece’s emotional arc. The result invites close listening, offering enveloping tones where the organic and the synthetic gently collide and flow.

Penelope Trappes renders “Reprisal” as a voice-led invocation of the delicate and the intimate. Her wistful vocals bloom with fragile sorrow, rising over shimmering strands of strings to create a sound world at once sacred and shadowed. She is adept at channeling inherited grief into music that is transcendent and otherworldly. The interplay of her voice, the strings, and her use of space and depth draws those qualities into Irisarri’s orbit, imbuing “Reprisal” with the same spiritual weight and clarity that define her most powerful work.

Kevin Richard Martin (a.k.a. The Bug) transforms “Empire Systems” into a cavernous “Iced Mix,” driven by polyrhythmic double bass motifs and sculpted from subterranean pressure and negative space. Known for pushing sound to its physical limits, Martin brings the stark intensity of his dub and noise infused practice into Irisarri’s architecture. The track seethes with harmonic distortion and erupts in white noise rhythms, its brooding low end depth and icy reverberant textures amplifying the tension. Vulnerability and force are set in stark relief, as silences feel as heavy as the bursts of sound themselves. The result is a stark study in atmosphere, restraint and impact, reframed through Martin’s singular lens of sonic mass and low end intensity.

On Side B, Mabe Fratti opens with a cinematic, dreamlike, Lynchian reimagining of “Hiatus” in her native Spanish (“Ausencia”). She threads cello and voice so wondrously that her rendering feels at once hauntingly beautiful and disquieting. Emotionally charged melodies shift in unexpected directions, while her soft, intimate vocals hover above Irisarri’s brooding synth textures. Fratti’s gift for blending experimental and avant pop sensibilities with visceral, emotionally powerful expression shines resplendently here. She gives voice to Irisarri’s reflections on the passage of time and his growing desire to reconnect with his familial roots.

Abul Mogard stretches “Persistence” into a vast drone elegy. A master of patient sound sculpting, Mogard layers evolving waves of analog synths into a dense shroud that radiates its own internal light. Gradual surges of tone and subtle harmonic shifts emphasize the piece’s endurance and inevitability. Irisarri’s original composition, in Mogard's hands, becomes a rumination on time’s unrelenting flow. Melancholy and transcendence coexist in equal measure in this engulfing, cathartic rework.

William Basinski and Gary Thomas Wright close the cycle with a spectral version of “Secretly Wishing for Rain.” Basinski’s field recordings of Reseda rainfall and birdsong, which open and close the rework, add a personal touch and evoke the imagined sound of a grainy film reel flickering to life. The piece suspends Irisarri’s yearning for the Pacific Northwest, lodging it hazily between memory, place and an unreachable dream. It feels like a fading recollection, half forgotten and half felt. A final gesture that dissolves the album into vapor, leaving the listener adrift in its lingering afterglow.

Mastered with great care by Stephan Mathieu and featuring a remixed version of the original artwork by Daniel Castrejón, this edition refracts the language of the original through new prisms. Less a return than a passage, across time, across interpretation, into uncharted emotional realms.