Search:the teacher

Quartabê’s identity was built upon the metaphor of the classroom: the group sees itself as a school class, which chooses its own teachers from among great masters of Brazilian music. Assuming that the learning and creative processes have in common experimentation and play, the quartet is characterized by its bold versions coupled with irreverent performance.


In addition woto its sound, marked by the group’s various music references - from the São Paulo avant-garde movement to the free improvisation, passing through pop and electronic music - Quartabê also stands out for the formation composed mostly of women who, besides instrumentalists are also arrangers, composers, singers and improvisers - which is unusual in Brazil and it has high political relevance in a music scene where positions of creation and power are still held disproportionately by men. The band started its studies by recording a first album about the work of maestro Moacir Santos, “Lição # 1: Moacir” (2015). After performing this show in Brazil and Europe, the group took a break to record ‘Depê’ (2017), also dedicated to the oeuvre of Santos. In 2018 Quartabê released their third album, starting new studies: “Lição # 2: Dorival”, which was released by the Natura Musical / label RISCO

Alinka Returns to Rekids with her latest EP ‘I’m Your Ghost’

Following the relaunch of her label Twirl alongside Shaun J. Wright, Alinka now brings her brand new EP' I'm Your Ghost' to Radio Slave's Rekids. Having made frequent appearances within its catalogue, her 'I'm Your Ghost' EP sees the Ukranian-born, Chicago-raised and Berlin-residing producer return with four eclectic and club-orientated house tracks. These will sit amongst her previous releases on Permanent Vacation, Needwant, HE.SHE.THEY and Crosstown Rebels.

'Teachers' is the first cut presented on 'I'm Your Ghost' with its sharp percussive layers building towards the well-honed grooves in its composition. Title-track 'I'm Your Ghost' punches through next with weighty, wobbling subs placed against a catchy lead. 'I Still Believe' is featured with rising chord progressions and pounding kicks as '909 Lives' draws the EP to a close with an intricate mix of synths and striding drum work, paying homage to its title. It’s a package highlighting why Alinka is on an unstoppable rise, with support from some of the biggest names across house music.

The ninth installment in Numero's Cabinet of Curiosities is 100% chart smashes. Culled from the depths of the private press, Super Hits gathers 12 magical adaptations from the Me Decade's introspective songbook. Pop this oversized 8-Track into your Fleetwood Weltron and enjoy a motley crew of lounge singers, wedding bands, synth enthusiasts, trailer park dreamers, accountants, gym teachers, and more as they bring their own unique energy to classics by Steely Dan, War, Boz Scaggs, Neil Diamond, John Denver, Smokey Robinson, The Carpenters, Redbone, The Box Tops, Fleetwood Mac, and more. Tape warble not included.

These are the kinds of things I learned from my teacher and mentor, the incredible Ukrainian pianist Mikhail (Misha) Alperin. Misha turned my world upside down from the moment we met. I was 19 then, and he continued to have a huge influence on me ever since. We didn't see each other very often in later years, but every time we did, I was filled with energy and inspiration. And in every meeting, he said at least one little thing that I would think about for months afterwards, whether it was during a brief conversation in the academy hallway, or a two-hour monologue in his office. He was intense. He celebrated life and love.

He was singing, dancing and certainly living through his music. His death has left a void in our world that can never be filled, and he is sorely missed. Helge Lien, December 2022

Synod was created at Concordia Teachers College by three sophomores. The band had a few personnel changes in its first couple of years, but remained very stable for more than four decades. In the 1970s they released two 45 RPM singles and one full length album. This 45 RPM single contains the fantastic "Sheryl Song". On the A-side you find a previously unreleased recording titled "Anchors Away". This fantastic double-sider is certainly made for fans of the Praise Poems series but also everybody else who is into soulful AOR / yacht rock.

Rare Jazz-Funk album from 1978 by Headhunters founder.
Featuring an all-star line-up including Herbie Hancock.
Originally released in 1978 on Tobisha EMI Japan.
First vinyl reissue outside of Japan released in collab w/Totown Records. Comes with double side insert.

Paul Jackson (born in Oakland, California in 1947) needs little introduction. Paul began playing bass at the age of nine and was considered by many of his teachers to be a musical prodigy. Jackson was known as a “Musician’s Musician” and shaped a sound that launched a new direction in contemporary music: the so-called ‘Pulse Playing’, a trademark sound of close-meshed funk grooves combined with sensational rhythms. With this innovative approach, he influenced entire generations of jazz and funk musicians to come. Paul’s compositions were sampled by big acts from the likes of Prince, TLC, Mobb Deep and NWA…just to name a few.

Paul Jackson was a founding member of the Headhunters under Herbie Hancock (THE group responsible for their ground-breaking fusion and jazz-funk compositions that took the world by storm in the 70’s). The solid union between Hancock and Jackson has been especially evident in the many international tours they have made together…not to mention that he participated on most of the Headhunters albums and Herbie’s solo albums.

Paul has also worked as a producer and as a studio/live musician alongside acts such as Santana, Sonny Rollins and The Pointer Sisters. He was a frequent guest performer at renowned international festivals such as the Montreux and Newport events. Jackson’s composing has not gone without recognition and was nominated for Grammy Awards in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Like other highly talented, creatively motivated engineers of music, Paul has expanded his career to other mediums such as playing on blockbuster movie soundtracks such as “Death wish” and “Dirty Harry”.

Paul Jackson also wrote five solo albums worth listening to – including the monster of an album that is known as “Black Octopus” which is considered to be a kind of lost Headhunters album.

His debut album “Black Octopus” saw the light of day in 1978 and is a total piece of art filled with abstract sticky funky grooves, floating electric piano playing, strong thumping bass lines, raw heavy drums and amazing vocal acrobatics (Jackson himself takes vocals in 3 out of 5 songs, and his soulful singing voice strikes an emotional chord that does not go unnoticed).

On “Black Octopus” you’ll also find some of the best all-star musicians from the likes of Alphonse Mouzon (Roy Ayers, Betty Davis, Azar Lawrence)…and last but not least fellow Headhunters Bennie Maupin and Herbie Hancock himself.

With “Black Octopus” Paul Jackson wrote the book on how a jazz-funk-fusion album should sound like. The fact that the album was only distributed in Japan at the time (Jackson resided in Tokyo since the late 70’s, where he passed away in 2021) continues to increase its reputation as an album that is VERY hard to find. This is a must-have gem…not only for fans of jazz, funk and rare grooves, but also for DJs and collectors around the globe.

The tender and curious songs on the first album by songwriter and preschool teacher Mr Greg and acclaimed indie chameleon Cass McCombs
celebrate the joys of learning and discovery
The pair of longtime friends make connections for young children just beginning
to find their own way in the world and for parents regaining their own childlike
sensibilities. Set to tunes straight from the mold of Ella Jenkins and Woody
Guthrie, the duo sings about the importance of friendship, understanding those
different from yourself, and taking care of your body. They also pay musical
tribute to heroic figures of bravery and justice like Ruth Bader Ginsberg and
Harvey Milk. These songs are bridges to many adventures in the making and
include suggested activities for youngsters to supplement their listening and
exploration.
Coverage in Pitchfork, Stereogum, Under the Radar, Brooklyn Vegan, SPIN, Our
Culture

Silver Vinyl. Real people music recorded at a Quaker Boarding school in the mid-'70s. Mixing soft psych, vocal jazz, and sunshine soul, Shira Small and her high school music teacher Lars Clutterham created a peerless artifact of outsider magic. Imagination, wonder, the existential dread of Vietnam and math class and getting caught smoking weed in Nixon's America... it's all here. Is your life alright?

Real people music recorded at a Quaker Boarding school in the mid-'70s. Mixing soft psych, vocal jazz, and sunshine soul, Shira Small and her high school music teacher Lars Clutterham created a peerless artifact of outsider magic. Imagination, wonder, the existential dread of Vietnam and math class and getting caught smoking weed in Nixon's America... it's all here. Is your life alright?

"When the call came from WDR Rockpalast, we were thrilled - And the joy
grew from day to day," says Peter Bursch, head of the German Krautrock
legend Broselmaschine, founded in 1968 by "Germany's most famous
guitar teacher".Back in 1968, the Heinrich-Robert coalmine in Hamm was
still in its full bloom
Coal had been mined there since 1901, the year in which the Heinrich and Robert
shafts - as they are called in miners' jargon - were "abgeteuft", followed by the
Franz shaft in 1923. On November 10, 1997, the colliery closed its doors forever.
In the colliery's former wage hall, where the miners used to receive their
envelopes with their weekly wages, Broselmaschine rolled out carpets, plugged in
cables and set up their instruments on April 20, 2021. The high-ceilinged rooms
not only provided a matchless scenery, but also the basis for a unique ambient
sound. The perfect setting for Broselmaschine. But Corona had almost
completely paralyzed public life at this point; the pandemic was taking its toll on
the entire cultural scene. Spectators were not allowed to the events. The artists
and bands gave concerts anyway, sometimes from their flats, rehearsal rooms or
in small, empty clubs, and then came to the fans' homes via live stream. This also
applied for the WDR's Rockpalast with its "Offstage" series. The makers of
Rockpalast organized concerts with performances by artists in special places
that were deserted during the lockdown. That had its own charm and was
something very special.
This was also the case with Broselmaschine. The band played almost exclusively
songs from their latest studio album "Elegy" from 2019, as well as the title track
of the previous album "Indian Camel" and as a finale the Marc Bolan cover of
"Children Of The Revolution". Broselmaschine put on a great performance, no one
missed the audience that was not physically present. But it was there, this
audience. And it was in the hearts of the musicians. You can feel this with every
note this outstanding band was playing. Never were Broselmaschine more
musically valuable than on that special occasion.But judge for yourself.
Unique Rockpalast concert OFFSTAGE from the Corona era, recorded on April 20,
2021 at Heinrich-Robert colliery in Hamm, Germany - also available on vinyl

Throw on your platform boots and stomp along to the latest 7' double Aside vinyl single and digital release of "Rock N Roller" and "Rock N Roll
Angel" out on Curation Records in May 2023! It's pure bubble glam crunch
rock madness!
Hammered Satin is a glam rock band from Los Angeles California
established in late 2010
Stylistically pulling from what is now known as unkshop Glam from the 1970's. In
other words, they aspire to sound not like David Bowie himself but more like the
hitless wonder wanna- be Bowie's, Bolans, Quatro's, Sweets, Muds ect ad
nauseam. There are also punk or 'Proto Punk" and Bubblegum elements to
Hammered Satin's music that seemingly goes under the radar. The current 2023
lineup includes the three founding members. Noah Wallace lead vocals (formerly
of Teachers's Pet, S'cool Girls), Dan Sandvick Bass, Conor Berhle guitar, and
glampa Don Bolles drums, vocals (formerly of The Germs, Celebrity Skin, 45
Grave among many others). To date Hammered Satin have released two albums,
four two song 7" singles, and four digital-only singles. Their music has made it
onto a few TV shows such as Showtimes 'Dice", and Netflix's cartoon Mr.
Peabody and Sherman. The band has even managed to garner press in Rolling
Stone magazine more than once which is unheard of for an underground band.
Other noteworthy moments were direct support slots for The Ark in Sweden and
The Black Crowes in Las Vegas.

After taking time out from working together to focus on separate musical projects, maverick composer Alan Roberts (Jim Noir) and crowd-rousing vocalist Leonore Wheatley (International Teachers of Pop / The Soundcarriers) have re-joined forces to introduce Co-Pilot. Each the other’s wing person, they’re plotting an escape through Manchester’s claustrophobic grey skies with the pencil case colour of a hand-sewn multi-coloured primary school patchwork quilt. “We are both the creators in charge of navigating Co-Pilot’s overall sound which changes from track to track,” Leonore hints at what to expect. “There are about 6 different genres on one album, it's a pick n mix record!”


Happy in the haze of many boozy hours the album was recorded over just a few months whilst holed up and hanging out in Al’s city centre Dookstereo studio. The former Mill allowed the pair to relax, laugh and create without constraint. Armed with their original demos and vocal recordings from Al’s flat, they’d nip by the offie to pick up some Dutch courage before setting to work: building arrangements from a drum beat and basic chord pattern, the pair were so in tune they rarely spoke, allowing only the music to lead the way. “We’d communicate through nods of agreement or grimaces of dismay,” Leonore recalls. “Using the instruments with Al in production mode, we let the sound dictate the process whilst being drunk enough to follow it.”
The sound of life coming full circle after honing their separate crafts, Leonore had previously played keys and vocals in Jim Noir’s live band before moving on to front International Teachers of Pop for two critically lauded albums of joyous dancefloor filling bangers - their self-titled debut (2019) and Pop Gossip (2020). During that time Al would further expand Jim Noir’s universe with AM Jazz, which was celebrated as the no.1 album in Piccadilly Records’ ‘End of Year Review’ (2020), followed by the Deep View Blue E.P. (2021) cementing his status as one of Manchester’s finest songwriters.
As Leonore added her vocal magic to Al’s early demos of what would eventually become Co-Pilot’s ‘Spring Beach’ and a crooked original version of closing track ‘Corner House’, the vibe was prophetic “like the ending of Grease as Danny and Sandy take flight through the clouds”, letting their imaginations fly. The songs were the catalyst to spark a new phase of the pair working together, picking up where they left off. “From messing about with sounds during rehearsals in the very beginning it was always clear we liked the combination of sounds we made,” Leonore recalls.
Powered by a ‘try anything’ approach, Co-Pilot blends the musical DNA of what you’ve come to expect from each of the pair’s previous flight paths. “Whatever is switched on or nearby gets used. There's no 'correct' for us. If it sounds good, record it,” Al tells. United through typically turbulent wonky pop and lurking samples, whether culled from 70s TV themes or recreations of past and found sounds (see Al’s 60s tropicalia guitar on ‘Brick’, or the innocent ‘Swim to Sweden’ which opens with an ice cream van jingle Al recorded from his bedroom window) their process offers up a bucket load of Easter eggs. The album even features snippets from dearly departed pal Batfinks whilst ‘Motosaka’ is perhaps the most expensive 2-minutes on the album, featuring a Columbia Records Japan-cleared sample of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Thousand Knives’. Its synth squelches and Tom Tom Club funk also received the blessing of Haroumi Hosono, Godfather of Japanese Electronica, who agreed to being sampled in an original version of the song. “We just kept listening back and hitting gold,” Al recalls. “I was thinking ‘yeah, not sure what this is but I like it! We were buzzing with what we had made.”
But the sound wouldn’t come without self-imposed instrumental challenges. Thanks to an old mellotron sample on ‘Move To It,’ the moog riff and nautical accordion breaks on ‘Swim To Sweden’ and the 6/8 and 7/8 jaunt of ‘Brick’, time signatures were lovingly skewed to create Co-Pilot’s unique mood. “It was a bastard getting the drums right,” Leonore reveals, “but I like the wonkiness”. Levelling up through the lyrics, the words of smoky and evocative ‘She Walks In Beauty’ are based on a Lord Byron poem, with the sentiment of remembering Leonore’s late grandparents. “I wanted to see how much I could get away with just singing on one note, and how I could harmonically change everything else around it vocally,” she says. Elsewhere ‘Can You See’ was written from the perspective of a concerned sister to a brother which tells of keeping someone safe. “The lyrics are quite metaphorical about day-to-day happenings, people loved and lost. Others are rhythmic nonsense! It’s up to the listener to figure out what’s true.”
It’s clear from Al’s productive production techniques and Leonore’s knack for vocals and lyricism, Co-Pilot’s course is engineered by two aeronautically adept sonic storytellers. “We share a pretty similar sense of humour,” Al tells, “It is funny listening to this quite serious album but knowing we were giggling as we recorded it all. It’s been great to have another brain to bounce off.” Their destination might be unknown, but the clouds are about to part for a sound that is light years ahead. “You'll like at least one song,” Leonore suggests, “and hopefully them all.”

Robert Pollard has a very strong work ethic. With most of their touring canceled due to the pandemic and then a fractured kneecap, Guided By Voices ran up an extremely prolific streak in the studio, recording and releasing eight albums in the past three years and garnering piles of rave four star and five star reviews in the process. In case one were snoozing, the last album, La La Land was Uncut magazine’s “Best Of The Month.” The pandemic records were particularly notable and unique that the band members recorded most of their instruments individually in separate cities. Welshpool Frillies finds the gang back together, in a Brooklyn basement with producer Travis Harrison. Much of it was recorded live to tape. The catchy ear worms in these new songs are undeniable, as the kinetic energy of the band is captured in its most raw and pure form. The album is brash, no-frills, and punky, inspired by the wiliness of 90s-era GBV, specifically the Scalping The Guru compilation that Pollard put together in 2022. 2023 marks the 40th anniversary of GBV’s start in Dayton, Ohio. Robert Pollard was an elementary school teacher with no formal music training, and his unlikely success has been an odds-defying adventure. It’s never too late to discover this vital rock band and join the GBV cult.

Portsmouth quartet Hallan release the brand new
EP, ‘The Noise of a Firing Gun’, via Nice Swan
Records (English Teacher, Sports Team, Courting).
 Spearheaded by lead singles ‘Unwomanly Face Of
War’ and the BBC 6 Music playlisted ‘The Colline
Gate’, the group’s record sees them leave the
mundanity of the 21st century behind and turn to
real life events of the past, bringing attention to the
stories of historical individuals, from the vestals of
Ancient Rome to the art scenes of Berlin.
 ‘The Noise of a Firing Gun’ debuts a new direction
in songwriting and composition for the band.
Experimenting with new production elements,
Hallan shift their gaze towards synthesised sounds
of the 1980s whilst retaining their post-punk edge.

»A Magnetic Road to Hell« is Robert Millis and Bardo Todol’s first release as a duo. Recorded transcontinentally throughout 2021 and 2022 they traded sounds and ideas between Cordoba, Argentina and Seattle, USA with a stop in Mexico along the way: screamings, rivers, kids, radios, mellotron, records, 78rpm shellac, wax cylinders, field recordings, birds, electronics, guitars, percussion, haze, static, a destroyed Indian piano, talkative violins, talkative people from the 1920s, talkative black and white dreams, tin cans from the streets, Argentinian children's tales about cows being teachers, and more. You’re riding on an unspooling reel of tape, through sounds real and imagined, the tape flapping dangerously, shredding; we are all of us magnetized, attracting together, pushing apart, unwinding onto the floor, stumbling along the road to hell.

Robert Millis and Bardo Todol have each released music on many different labels: Sublime Frequencies, Dinzu Artefacts, The Helen Scardale Agency, Discrepant, Abduction Records, Dust-to-Digital, Fire Breathing Turtle, Sub Pop, and Ikuisuus.

Loek Frey's Add Interaction is an exercise in damp, eerie atmospherics and intricate drum patterns. Released through Omen Wapta, the Dutch producer gets experimental through drum and bass, IDM and breakbeat deconstructed with unexpected tempo shifts and effects. Produced during the pandemic, the EP conjures loneliness, solitude and unfamiliarity. Expect tunneling, meditative, low-end structures fit for a journey through the earth's layers down to its core. And expansive, pearlescent vocals evoking spiritual bodies. Soundscape-leaning IDM weave into polyrhythms and muted breakbeats. Frey's release positions him as a teacher of brooding textures. The unpredictability can draw you deep into the sonic abyss -- if you let it.

'Dream From The Deep Well' is the new album from celebrated Irish singer songwriter Brigid Mae Power. Recognised as a purveyor of dreamier pop with folky leanings, this new album is a departure; a unique marriage of traditional stylings and very modern melodies; a breath-taking soundtrack which underpins her gorgeous vocal. Filled with personal tales of offspring and grandparents, the lovelorn and the lost, it's the essence of re-imagined folk music, from the traditional intro and outro that act as bookends. It's folk music, but not as we know it. In these ever-confusing and often annoying times, Brigid brings us modern folk for modern folk, with her evocative vocal, doubling back on itself with strings, steel guitar, horns and mellotron adding to its baroque loveliness. It's waving back at her rootsy past, daubing new colours on a much-loved canvas. 'Dream From The Deep Well' is a new visionary beginning from a gifted songwriter. Elsewhere, there's the lovelorn longing of her version of Tim Buckley's 'I Must Have Been Blind', alongside a moving tribute to the late Ashling Murphy, a 23-year-old Irish primary school teacher and traditional Irish musician who was attacked and killed while jogging along the Grand Canal just outside Tullamore, County Offaly. It's a harrowing story, delivered with overwhelming compassion. In the best tradition of old school folk music, it opens up a pressing issue to a wider audience. It's an album that's politically primed and socially aware; a broadside for us all, this is Brigid Mae Power's most complete album yet. "Her haunting voice, an instrument that raises the everyday to a near-mystical realm." The Guardian. "The Irish singer-songwriter flits between past and present; between traditional and modern forms; between the heaven in her voice and the earthbound epiphanies of her words." Pitchfork

Ned Milligan is a New York based elementary school teacher and occasional musician. He’s behind the great small-run label Florabelle since 2015. This is his sixth solo album.

"My work in the past five years has been grounded in recording and playing outdoors, trying to communicate the meaning of being in a particular location and finding meaning in interacting with whatever sounds or elements are equally present. I'm still excited by all of it! This sense of purpose continues with Considerable and the most I could wish for is that the specificity of what I am doing and where I'm doing it manages to evoke something in anyone listening--a connection to their own environments and spaces. None of these pieces is strictly documentary or one-take in approach or composition, but I hope that the combination of processed and "factual" sounds achieve integrity."

chimes, singing drum, autoharp, field recordings, processing: Ned Milligan
campfire recording in "Sky Smokes & Electronics": Jerome Klap
additional percussion in "Mosey With Me": Rory Milligan
singing: graciously and anonymously donated

recorded mostly outdoors, sometimes indoors in York, Maine.

Sunna Margrét releases 'Five Songs for Swimming' out on No Salad Records. It is the first release since her award winning EP 'Art of History' that won the annual Kraumur award in 2019 and was twice nominated at the Iceland Music Awards for best song and best album of the year.

'Five Songs for Swimming' includes 5 original songs and a cover. They follow a continuous thread of water and flow and yet Sunna Margre?t keeps close to her influences of bizarre human interactions, present in her lyrics throughout the EP and borrowing the words of New York legends the Feelies on the last song 'When To Go' cover.

It is safe to say that the new release comes to life after loss occurs. This composition of music and lyrics is written in memory of Sunna Margre?t's grandmother, Unnur A?gu?stsdo?ttir, who passed away in February 2021. She was a swimmer in her early life, a champion in Iceland in the 40's, as well as a soprano singer, teacher, bird lover and lifelong inspiration.

Nach einem Jahr voller schwindelerregender Verluste, persönlicher Selbstbeobachtung und bittersüßer Erinnerungen kehren die Foo Fighters mit einem neuen Album ''But Here We Are'' zurück, das am 2. Juni 2023 bei Roswell Records/RCA Records erscheint. Eine brutal ehrliche und emotional rohe Antwort auf alles, was die Foo Fighters im letzten Jahr durchgemacht haben, ''But Here We Are'' ist ein Beweis für die heilenden Kräfte von Musik, Freundschaft und Familie. Mutig, beschädigt und unerschütterlich authentisch beginnt ''But
Here We Are'' mit der neu veröffentlichten Lead-Single "Rescued", dem ersten von 10 Songs, die die emotionale Skala von Wut und Trauer bis hin zu Gelassenheit und Akzeptanz und unzähligen Punkten dazwischen abdecken. Produziert von Greg Kurstin und Foo Fighters, ist ''But Here We Are'' das 11. Foo Fighters-Album und das erste Kapitel im neuen Leben der Band. Klanglich kanalisiert sie die Naivität des Foo Fighters-Debüts von 1995, geprägt von jahrzehntelanger Reife und Tiefe, ''But Here We Are'' ist der Sound von Brüdern, die Zuflucht in der Musik finden, die sie vor 28 Jahren überhaupt erst zusammengebracht hat, ein Prozess, der ebenso therapeutisch war wie es um die Fortsetzung des Lebens ging.

White Vinyl

Nach einem Jahr voller schwindelerregender Verluste, persönlicher Selbstbeobachtung und bittersüßer Erinnerungen kehren die Foo Fighters mit einem neuen Album ''But Here We Are'' zurück, das am 2. Juni 2023 bei Roswell Records/RCA Records erscheint. Eine brutal ehrliche und emotional rohe Antwort auf alles, was die Foo Fighters im letzten Jahr durchgemacht haben, ''But Here We Are'' ist ein Beweis für die heilenden Kräfte von Musik, Freundschaft und Familie. Mutig, beschädigt und unerschütterlich authentisch beginnt ''But
Here We Are'' mit der neu veröffentlichten Lead-Single "Rescued", dem ersten von 10 Songs, die die emotionale Skala von Wut und Trauer bis hin zu Gelassenheit und Akzeptanz und unzähligen Punkten dazwischen abdecken. Produziert von Greg Kurstin und Foo Fighters, ist ''But Here We Are'' das 11. Foo Fighters-Album und das erste Kapitel im neuen Leben der Band. Klanglich kanalisiert sie die Naivität des Foo Fighters-Debüts von 1995, geprägt von jahrzehntelanger Reife und Tiefe, ''But Here We Are'' ist der Sound von Brüdern, die Zuflucht in der Musik finden, die sie vor 28 Jahren überhaupt erst zusammengebracht hat, ein Prozess, der ebenso therapeutisch war wie es um die Fortsetzung des Lebens ging.

Like a winding system of trails and paths cutting through a digital forest-scape, M. Sage's Paradise Crick is shaped by time. Full of wonder and charm, designed patiently and from a rich, curious mulch of synthesized and acoustic sound, the versatile American artist and magic realist's new suite of music is an imaginary destination and a pastoral fantasy that envisions the natural and fabricated worlds as one. Matthew Sage is a musician, intermedia artist, recording engineer and producer, publisher, teacher, partner, and parent. Assembling a sprawling and idiosyncratic catalog of experimental studio music between Colorado and Chicago since the early 2010s, recent highlights include The Wind of Things (Geographic North, 2021), an ensemble-recorded expression of bow-splashed nostalgia, and the four seasonal albums of Fuubutsushi, the improvisatory ambient jazz quartet he formed with friends from afar in 2020. Sage renders projects with nuanced velocity and a completist sensibility _ when it's finished, it's done _ which is what makes Paradise Crick, his debut for RVNG Intl., a compelling outlier. Sage first staked his tent in Crick's conceptual campground five years ago from his home studio in Chicago (he's since returned to Colorado, home to the mountains and prairies often personified in his work). He had just read Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America, a kaleidoscopic reflection of pastoral America's shifting identity by way of magical fishing sojourns. Inspired by that feeling, of getting lost but finding oneself in through the outdoors, he amassed over seventy demos documenting a fictional soundtrack for camping. Pull up to this park, and the sign might read, "Welcome to Paradise Crick. Fire Danger Is Low." The sequence, pruned down to thirteen tracks, courses the dewy mornings, afternoon hikes, and firelit nights of a weekend expedition. While Sage is not a filmmaker, he views the method of making this album as a similar form of world-building via structure, narrative, formal elements, and editorial refinement. Contrasted with his collaborative craft, here he is a sole auteur reclined in total autonomy, able to improvise scenes and implement special effects at will. A parallel precedent for such unchecked imagination in the M. Sage canon is A Singular Continent, his 2014 album that tilted its compass to a faraway land. Where Continent built its world layering samples as composition, Paradise Crick deploys a balance of accessible song structures with experimental instrumentation and sound design. Speckled with harmonica, autoharp, chimes, penny whistle, voice, hand percussion, and other mysteries, Crick's texture is treated as a sensorial adventure; the swamps gurgle, the lakes glisten, and the valleys breathe in robust HD. The rhythms are loose and buoyant, bursting with a few `kick and snare' moments shaped by Sage's lifelong love for drumming and headphone prone electronic music. Crick bumps more than most anything he's done before; crackling static pulses and lush vibrations reveal an intrinsic groove, a hidden beat map. In the landscapes of Paradise Crick, science and magic co-exist, 5k boulders and midi frogs share the frame with real-life memories of Midwest camping trips and the desire to feel extra human in a digitized space. Sage strived for "nature in the holodeck" but couldn't help leaving fingerprints in the simulation, and it's these traces of spirit and character that give Paradise Crick its strange allure. The album's bubbling sense of play, melody, and timbre takes cues from left-field electronic lineage; synth pioneers like Tomita and Raymond Scott up through the more expressive pop tendencies of Woo, Stereolab and the Cocteau Twins, and into contemporary composers like Sam Prekop. The album's vocabulary is uncomplicated; the gestures are sweet and inviting, intended to lull the listener. As much as Sage continues to be an experimentalist by nature in his work, with Paradise Crick, he spins a narrative. Not necessarily a concept album, but rather an invitation to take off for a weekend. That's the modus operandi down here in the Crick, we stretch out. M. Sage's Paradise Crick will be released May 26, 2023 in LP, CD, and digital editions. A portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit Earthjustice, the premier nonprofit public interest environmental law organization.

Mattias Petersson debuts on the Swiss label Hallow Ground with »Triangular Progressions,« a suite in nine parts written entirely in the SuperCollider environment using additive synthesis. The starting point for the evocative piece is a magic number triangle that Petersson invented during his early composition studies and which has been an obsession of the artist for over twenty years, previously forming the foundation of many other of his works. By exploring the harmonic progressions found hiding within the triangle, »Triangular Progressions« at once emits a sense of introspective calm that fosters deep listening and evokes a whole spectrum of emotions, mediating between the abstract and the visceral.

The Stockholm-based Petersson, also known under the moniker Codespira1 and for his long-term collaboration with violinist George Kentros as There Are No More Four Seasons, has been active as a composer of computer music as well as an artist in the realms of live coding and modular synthesis for over two decades. Originally trained as a classical pianist, he also holds a diploma in electro-acoustic composition from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he currently works as an associate professor. Besides his activities as a musician and teacher, Petersson is pursuing a PhD in composition at the Luleå University of Technology. Researching modular systems comprising both human and non-human modules, he is part of the GEMM))) Gesture Embodiment and Machines in Music cluster.

»Triangular Progressions« can be considered a perfect synthesis of Petersson’s academic interests and aesthetic ideas, combining a mathematical approach with artistic rigour. The magic number triangle highlights the beauty of symmetrical properties. By exploring its idiosyncrasies, the composer manages to translate them into engaging sounds. The lush melodies and harmonies of the music at times call to mind the intimate organ and drone works by label mates Kali Malone and Maria W Horn while also maintaining a unique signature sound. The addition of pure sinusoidal waves enables a deep listening exploration of the counterpoint between melodic and harmonic rhythms, chord structures and spectral harmonies that Petersson extrapolates from those magic numbers.

This is Come Play With Me Records' first release since the partnership with EMI North has been announced. The compilation 10” is funded by Breed Media and features local Leeds artists Hang Linton, Claudia Fenoglio, Fehlt and Tirikilatops, with the vinyl featuring exclusive spoken word pieces from Jack Collins and Lily Fontaine (English Teacher). Key Quotes: “With summer on the horizon, ‘As Good As This’ possesses a most welcome warmth, its gentle familiarity as intoxicating as it is reassuring.” - God Is In The TV

Following my recent phone call with Prof. Benson, I left him to continue his 92nd birthday celebrations with his family. We'd talked about his life, his music, his achievements. Throughout our conversation it struck me what a kind, humble and pleasant man he was. I felt that I was in the presence of greatness – not the egotistical greatness that emanates so often from high achievers, but that of someone who had simply won at life.

"I was a music teacher. I wasn't trying to make a record to compete, I was trying to make a record so the students would have something to remember the experience that we had... I was doing it for the kids."

It was 1973 that Prof. James Benson had self-funded his private press LP for the benefit of the teenage musicians he tutored at Cal Poly, California. The album was a momentous achievement for him and his young protegees, something they were all proud of, and rightly so. Taking inspiration from their recent trip to Africa and blended with the radical jazz associated with the young minds of early '70s black America, the Gow-Dow Experience is a unique foray into the enthusiastic mindset of up-and-coming jazz musicians, as encouraged by their mentor Prof. Benson.

We present the album as it was released in 1973 with a heavyweight tip-on jacket and 180g vinyl or on CD. We also include an insert with liner notes and photos provided courtesy of Prof Benson. The LP and CD come with 4 additional tracks taken from the recording session. Until now these tracks have never been heard since the day they were recorded - believe me, they're worth the wait!



Made with love from Jazzman - because we love to dig deeper!

After releasing their debut project “Voyage” in 2022, Tapioca, the Brussels-Kigali-based, Brazil-inspired duo return with LP “Samba em Kigali.” Building on their sound and influence, “Samba em Kigali” is a definitive step up and clear sonic growth for the twosome, whose debut, RA wrote, is "if Anderson Paak. & Marco Valle made a Brazilian pop-funk record.” Arriving via Berlin’s Jakarta Records May 19th.

Tapioca (32k Monthly Listeners on Spotify), the Belgian duo made of rapper / lyricist Alessandro “Le Tagarel” Vlerick and producer & composer Simon “SiKa” Carlier, tapped into a unique and infectious groove with their debut LP “Voyage,” released in 2022 via Jakarta Records’ “Dubplates” series. Positive reviews came flooding in, including coverage from, among others, BBC Radio 6, KCRW, Resident Advisor, JAZZIZ as well as performances and features on Worldwide FM and Bandcamp Daily. Their debut also landed on global editorial playlists such as Spotify’s “Global Groove,” (600k) “Tulum Vibes” (110k) and Deezer’s “Chilling Pool” (31k). “Voyage,” as the name indicates, was an ode to freedom, escape and the discovery of alternative cultural horizons that brought together various spoken-word testimonies from Portuguese friends around the world. Tapioca’s upcoming LP, “Samba em Kigali,” picks up the thread where “Voyage” left off, acting as an ode to traveling and, more broadly, of the inherent beauty of the African continent. Le Tagarel has worked as a teacher in Kigali, Ruanda, for the past years and his time there is reflected in the album’s buttery lyricism, putting forth the proposition that Africa and Brazil are in fact not so far apart - Africa is, and will always be, present in Brazilian culture. Featuring the Dillaesque sound infused with inspiration from rap, jazz, MPB and funk of the 70/80’s to the stunningly fleshed out lyricism - the LP sways like a ship on the smoothest of seas, a pure ray of aural sunshine to welcome the warm weather. Artwork was stunningly put together by Simone Cihlar (Anderson Paak. Tom Misch, Ivan Ave) and visualizers done by the stalwart crew at Die Ottos (Flofilz, K Le Maestro, Suff Daddy, S.Fidelity, Gianni Brezzo). Jakarta is ecstatic to share such a high-water mark of an album, out everywhere physically / digitally May 19th.

Kicking off “Samba em Kigali” is the impeccably smooth 1st single, “Lagoas de Ruanda” out March 22nd along with LP pre-order announcement. Instantly catchy, the crisp guitar, funky bass and buoyant underlying percussion are the perfect vitamin of joy that gives rise to Le Tagarel’s vocals. The track is a perfect sonic voyage that encapsulates the continued growth of Tapioca’s sound and gives a sonic peek into the LP. Infectious and groovy, the song skirts a line along samba, R&B and jazz with an almost hip-hop bounce.

2nd single, “Sabor Swahili,” out April 12th, is a nostalgic groovy splash that melds soft keys, bass and a percussive edge that slides you into an aural pocket. The song moves in a joyous melancholy that is almost impossible to move to, the under-water synth stabs keep your shoulders loose while the rhythm keeps you bouncing along. Even if you don’t know Portuguese, you’ll be singing along by the tracks end. The joyous 3rd single “Terra Preta” is out April 26th and will lift you up high to keep you in a serene mood anytime, anywhere. Focus track is the headnodding grooves of “Cara de Arabe.” Building from “Voyage,” Tapioca provides a fresh, rare vibe, adding a slight dose of disco to the R&B-driven progressions. “Samba em Kigali” is a unique album that is soaked and marinated in a sonic and visual aesthetic that brings with it feelings of joy, movement, and a global home, and sonic moods ranging from Bruno Berle and Marcos Valle inspired arrangements to bouncing progressions with a swingin’ percussive edge. Besides online promotion from the label and artist profiles, the album will further be promoted by external agencies within the US and UK.

Oscillate / verb – to move or swing back and forth in a regular rhythm. Alexander Flood has developed and refined a strong, progressive voice and style on his kit through his 17 years performing and studying. Previously graduating top of his year, he has been the recipient of many prestigious awards including Australia's Best Up-andComing Drummer in both 2012 and 2016, The John ‘Slick’ Osborne Scholarship in 2017 and the Helpmann Academy Jazz Award for Top Overall Graduate in 2018. In 2020 he signed with 6x Grammy nominee Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah to release Alex’s debut LP “HEARTBEAT” and “The Space Between” in 2022. 2023 finds Alexander aligning w/ Berlin’s Jakarta Records to release LP “Oscillate” - a blistering, hard-hitting meld of infectious rhythms, pulsing keys, and a swingin’ groove that melds into a genre-defying conglomeration of creative compositions and collaboration. In mid 2022 Alex travelled from Australia to Berlin, where he assembled a dream team crew of creative innovators featuring Hungarian keyboard player Àbáse, Australian bass guru Horatio Luna, and Brazilian flautista Paulo Cedraz. Together the group cut six unique dance tracks at Berlin’s iconic Jazzanova Studios, engineered by Grammy nominated Axel Reinemer. From the shuffling broken beats and dancing flute melodies in title track “Oscillate” to the experimental uptempo “Deja Vu”, the momentum of the music ceases to stop. “U R THA 1” features a driving jungle sound of repitched drums, vocal chops and 808 bass, and “Berlin” captures a classic funky 90s house feel powered by 4-on-the-floor kick and melodic basslines from Horatio Luna. Paulo Cedraz shines on flute in the Caribbean influenced “Ginealach”, and the LP finishes with the head-bopping “Hüpf” giving the listener a taste of some down-tempo beat music atop a bed of Àbáse’s lush rhodes. From top to bottom, the unique voices and powerful musicianship of each band member is obvious. Australian influence is at the core of the sound not only through the bass and drum chair, but through the punchy characteristic mix by Melbourne’s Lewis Moody and master by Gareth Thomson. The final piece of the puzzle was bringing in Alex’s childhood drum and percussion teacher Joel Prime, where they overdubbed additional percussion parts together in London. Artwork was stunningly put together by Robert Winter (Suff Daddy, Bluestaeb, K, Le Maestro) with visualizers put together by the stalwart KARL-F. Jakarta is ecstatic to share such a high-water mark of an album, out everywhere physically / digitally May 12th. Check the accompanying Press Sheet for Campaign Schedule and more. Besides online promotion from the label and artist profiles, the album will further be promoted by external agencies within the US and UK.

"Akuphone is proud to present the Jerusalem-based improvisational trio Leviot and its hypnotizing debut album. Leviot (Hebrew for “Lionesses”) is a brainchild of multi-faceted musician and composer Yael Lavie, who’s joined by classically trained percussionist and music teacher Cnaan Canetti, and synth enthusiast Yishay Seroussi. The project is a result of Lavie’s ongoing explorations beyond the restraints of classical kanun playing and fascination with electronic sound and modern composition. Initially started following her experience performing and recording with Spiritczualic Enhancement Center, in Leviot, Yael gives up rehearsed pieces in favour of improvised sets, based on virtuous interpretation by Cnaan and Yishay. The three have been active since 2019, playing their immersive shows in a wide variety of settings, venues and festivals. The trio’s debut release is a live session, recorded in late 2020 at Mazkeka Studios (Jerusalem) for the lockdown edition of the annual Zikuk Festival. It’s a meditative improv piece in five parts that combines and melts boundaries between the traditional and the experimental, the primal and the futuristic. With setup as the foundation of the piece and Lavie’s graphic score as the road map, Leviot takes off on a cosmic journey between deep drones, whispering chimes, mesmerizing Arab melodies, pulsating rhythms and iridescent ambient patterns."

As some of you may know, Alice Coltrane was a legendary pianist, composer, spiritual leader, and the wife of John Coltrane, the most venerated and influential saxophonist in the history of jazz. In 1967, four years after meeting John, he died of liver cancer, leaving Alice a widow with four small children. Bereft of her soul mate, Alice suffered sleepless nights and severe weight loss. At her worst, she weighed only 95 pounds. She had hallucinations in which trees spoke, various beings existed on astral planes, and the sounds of “a planetary ether” spun through her brain, knocking her into a frightening unconsciousness.

The critical event of this period was not that Alice fell into the nadir of her existence, but rather that she experienced tapas, a vital period of trial. These tapas (a Sanskrit term she used to describe her suffering) helped prepare Alice for the spiritual ally she found in Swami Satchidananda, an Indian guru, with whom Alice made her first trip to India. On her second trip there, Alice had a revelation instructing her to abandon the secular life and become a spiritual teacher in the Hindu tradition – so she moved out West – eventually opening the Shanti Anantam Ashram on 47 acres she’d bought in Agoura Hills, California.

In his South London flat, James Howard gestures apologetically at the mess of books, lined A4 paper and stationary at his desk. “I butcher poetry for a living,” he explains, “It isn’t a pretty job, but someone has to do it.” This being 2022, every emerging musician needs a side-hustle to keep the house warm. In the daytime, our host writes study guides to help teachers teach poetry to pupils who would rather be elsewhere. “I make sure the poems are clinically dead by the time they reach the schools.”
An explanation punctuated by a mildly contrite shrug makes you want to lean forward and remind Howard about some of the stuff other people are doing for a living. And, more to the point, aren’t doing. Which brings us to the real matter at hand. For Howard, foregrounding his own songs hasn’t always come naturally. An enthusiastic collaborator, he made two well-received albums with his previous band Blue House and played with the likes of Rozi Plain, Alabaster dePlume and his wife Dana Gavanski, as well as running his own music night with Sam Tyler in London, Incredible Society. It’s important to mention these creative hook-ups because Howard feels that, in one way or another, they all helped to give form and shape to the lilting lunar lullabies that would ultimately comprise his ravishing solo debut Peek-A-Boo. 

Veils Of Transformation 1972 - 1980 is a collection of the earliest works of Gregory Kramer, one of the 20th century masters of textural electronic music. This collection is available on CD and cassette with liner notes from Gregory Kramer and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, who first brought this fascinating work to the attention of Important Records.

“Greg is one of the pioneers of electronic music and these pieces are unique opportunities to discover how intricate and dynamic early synthesizers are.” Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

Kramer developed a musical language focused on continuous transformation of timbre, yielding a continuity of attention. This musical language, formed of timbral change, is a compelling aesthetic in its own right and a source of meditative experience. The four works on this album share a deep sense of order derived not from organizing pitches or rhythms, but from the evolution of timbre itself.

Gregory Kramer (b. 1952) is a pioneering electronic composer, inventor, researcher, teacher and author. In 1975 he co-founded Electronic Musicmobile, a synthesizer ensemble later renamed Electronic Musicmobile, a series of synthesizer concerts in New York from which he formed the Electronic Art Ensemble, a highly regarded all electronic quartet. His work extended to developing synthesizers and related equipment. Kramer also co-founded the not-for-profit arts organization Harvestworks in New York City. He is recognized as the founding figure of the intensely cross-disciplinary field of data sonification. Since 1980, Kramer teaches Buddhist meditation.

The four compositions collected here each represent Kramer’s unique approaches:

The structure of Meditations on 32 Parts of the Body (1978) is derived from the means of its production. Recording 5 people chanting an ancient meditation text, then layering to gradually achieve more than one million voices. The layering was all done using analogue tape recorders. The decomposition of the sound reflects the anomalies of tape machines out of sync, and the build up of artifacts from the audio tape itself, such as uneven response curves and tape hiss, are all engaged as musical materials.

Role (1972) was generated using one complex patch on a large hybrid Buchla 200/100 system. Emerging from a zeitgeist that valued pure synthesis as a combined artistic and technological research. At the time this piece was realized its as exceedingly difficult to produce electronic sounds that were internally complex.

Blue Wave (1980) is built on Kramer’s timbral development technique Veils Of Transformation which allows for disparate timbres to be woven into a continuously developing sound.

Monologue (1977) is a virtuosic performance of a massive patch on a Buchla/Electron Farm hybrid electronic instrument. Built into the patch is a pathway for continuous transformation of voice and voltage-controlled synthesizer. The blunt, raw and sometimes harsh sounds of this piece reflect an attitude prominent among composers that music can, or even should, be difficult, contrary to what’s already been done and, by all means, new.

Japan's guitar hero Takeshi Terauchi reworks traditional songs and lets everything go wild with his magnificent and frenzied guitar sound. Enter the electrifying world of Eleki!

Gatefold 180g heavy vinyl LP, reverse board print. Comes with extensive liner notes by Japanese pop culture writer Julien Seveon (Cinexploitation)

All tracks licensed by King Record Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.

Mastering and lacquer cut by Jukka Sarapää at Timmion Cutting Lab, Helsinki, Finland.

Artwork by Nker

The aftermath of World War II gave rise to a global phenomenon that saw new generations of young people rise up determined to forge new paths from their elders – culturally, politically, and musically. Japan was no exception and the recent past made the local youth angrier, hungrier and even more determined to fully experience something different from their parents. The country caught on to the early rock & roll craze almost in tandem as it was happening in the States. Teenager Chiemi Eri singing "Rock Around The Clock" and Kazuya Kosaka with "Heartbreak Hotel" were among the first to make what would soon be called Rokabiri accessible to a large audience. Teacher and parent associations showed concern regarding this new music when teenagers started missing school to attend afternoon shows – one of which most notably being the Nichigeki Western Carnival where all the top names of Rokabiri played to sold out audiences. But by the end of the 1950s, the youth of Japan had moved on to something else entirely: Eleki.

The 50s and 60s were a time of rapid change that saw trends come and go. Japan, like all other industrial countries, saw its youth move from one musical sensation to the next. And in the early 60s, there was one band in particular that created a distinct new flavor: The Ventures. Leaving behind vocals and focusing strictly on the impact of the sound of the electric guitar, The Ventures drove kids crazy all over the world. Other bands followed, most notably The Shadows, but in Japan, no other instrumental rock band managed to leave such an impact. The sound of The Ventures helped boost guitar sales in Japan and soon hundreds of cover bands were popping up all over the country. The Eleki Bumu (electric boom) was now in full effect with Takeshi Terauchi emerging as its first and greatest guitar hero.

Terauchi was born January 1939 in the prefecture of Tochigi, north of Tokyo. His mother taught music and played the shamisen – a traditional Japanese stringed instrument – while his father ran, among other things, an electronics shop. Their respective professions were to be decisive in the path that Terauchi would later take. Serendipitously, at the age of five, Takeshi was given his first instrument – a guitar. His destiny sealed, he quickly began experimenting with different tools from his father's shop to give his instrument a stronger sound. The technological approach came from his father, the technique from his mother. Terauchi's signature playing style owes a lot to his mother's instrument of choice, as he attacks the notes on his guitar as one plucks the strings of a shamisen.

This exceptional compilation you are holding in your hands explores some of the best works by Takeshi Terauchi, recorded between 1966 and 1974, where the guitar hero looks inwards to Japan for inspiration. A meeting between traditional folk songs and the unique way Terauchi and his band play: the content is explosive, inspired, and highly addictive! The 60s and 70s were undoubtedly Terauchi's finest hours, and in the late 60s, one Japanese critic said that Terauchi was not only the best guitarist in Japan, but also in the world. You can now find out why.

Gondwana Records announces 'Goodbyes' the debut album from Estonian pianist and composer, Hanakiv, a deeply beautiful, meditative piano album featuring special guest Alabaster dePlume

"This is an album about healing. It is about saying your goodbyes to everything that doesn't serve you anymore. Each of these songs has a little goodbye in it. So, these are very beautiful and necessary goodbyes".

Hanakiv is a young composer and musician from Estonia (now based in London) who creates meditative piano-based ambient music with elements from classical and electronic music. 'Goodbyes' is her debut recording and draws on influences as diverse as Tim Hecker, Björk "Vespertine", Kara-Lis Coverdale, Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür and Aphex Twin as well as her own cultural heritage. Music has an important part in Estonian culture, especially choir music and its traditions, but Hanakiv also draws on her love of nature – the beautiful Estonian seaside and forests - and on her time in Iceland. However, it was moving to London that gave her the freedom to make her own music: "London gave me the freedom and courage to really be who I am (as a person and musically)" and her heritage and her new home both offer inspiration to Goodbyes, as Hanakiv moves between these two opposite places, a bustling metropolis and a small country full of nature, drawing inspiration from both as she sculpts her own voice.

Hanakiv had an unconventional music education – she started studying music at a school for handbells when she was nine and was part of a handbell ensemble for eight years. Starting on piano at the same time she went on to study composition at high school, and later at the Estonian Academy of Music. Eventually switching to electroacoustic composition, she studied in Reykjavik, and did internships in Malmö, and again Reykjavik before moving to London. She grew up in a musical family and her grandmother was a piano teacher and choir conductor.

"I would always ask her to take me to her choir rehearsals. I remember sitting under the grand piano, listening to the choir and just being mesmerised by the sounds. She also teaches in a local music school in the south of Estonia with about ten pianos, and I'd spend a lot of time there as well. I believe this was the starting point for me to get to where I am now. The last two pieces on the album (Home II and Home I) are composed in this same music school, so it feels like a full circle.

An early influence was Regina Spektor "the first artist who made me really want to play piano" alongside dream pop and Sigur Rós' as well as Estonian contemporary composers such as Erkki-Sven Tüür and Arvo Pärt. Later her studies took her to Reykjavík: "There is this amazing record shop called 12 Tónar in Reykjavik where you can drink espressos and listen to all their vinyls. I spent quite a lot of time there. There is something about Icelandic music that really excited me (the mixture of contemporary electronic sounds with melancholy, emotionality). This is when I started getting more into electronic music, and experimenting outside of classical music". Following a year long break from studying and inspired by making an electroacoustic soundtrack for a friend's abstract video, she was inspired to complete a masters in electroacoustic composition, diving fully into the worlds of sound recording and mixing and focusing on surround sound and how to position and move sounds in space, eventually doing an internship with composer Kent Olofson in Malmö, who works with multi-speaker systems for theatre productions. "I learnt a lot from him and he introduced me to some of my favourite plugins I've used a lot on this album as well."

Hanakiv moved to London just as the pandemic hit and found herself trapped, in a big new city, without any network or family and so just concentrated on making music. "I stayed in my room with my basic equipment - keyboard, Korg minilogue, SM 58 and Rode nt1-a microphones, laptop and speakers. I was reading about mixing, and trying out different things and listening to a lot of music to get the sense of the mixes and production and finishing a commission piece for 5.1 multi speaker system at that time so I set up four speakers for quadrophonic surround sound in my room!". She also found her way back to piano - my instrument – and started practicing again, playing the pieces she used to play, but also just improvising, and this was the beginning of what would become her debut album, 'Goodbyes'.

"I started appreciating everything about music again (even melody!), and everything just came together naturally, and I arrived to a point where I finally found my voice, and I had something that I wanted to say and share. I composed "Meditation I" first and started with "Goodbye", and all the other pieces are derived from that. Without "Meditation I" there wouldn't be this album. If you listen closely, "Meditation I" starts where "Goodbye" ends; "Meditation II" is born from "Meditation I".

But it was meeting Fi Roberts, a sound engineer based at the legendary Strongrom Studios in Shoreditch, London in December 2020 that really brought the album into focus. The pair bonded over an interest in prepared piano and a similar approach to production ideas (a balance of not overdoing it, and letting the songs speak for themselves, but being open to explore) and Fi became a friend but also a confidant and eventually co-producer

"Fi has a big impact on this record but I don't know how to really explain that properly. Of course, this album is sonically stunning thanks to her amazing mixes and recording skills, but she also believed in this music so much and it created something very special - that's difficult to measure with words. She just works with heart, and I really appreciate that"

This then is 'Goodbyes', the first offering from a major new voice, who offers us a meditative work full of space and tranquillity but also life and friendship and meaning. And we are very proud to welcome her to the Gondwana family.

Thaniil Alexandros can’t imagine a life without producing. Under the name of RBCHMBRS, Thaniil has been tinkering with sample based productions for 17 years. In one form or another, RBCHMBRS has mashed inspirations of hip hop instrumentals with the funky, snappy bounce of UKG.

Being half Greek and half Dominican means that Thaniil’s first memories of music were of classic Greek music and his mother’s love of dance and disco. Growing up on the Bronx meant that he was exposed to a mix of genres his entire life. From boomboxes on the street or from the windows of his neighbors home, gave Alexandros exposure to sounds he hadn't heard.

Toe the Line EP was intended to return to stripped down elements of older releases, but something “a little less outer space, a return to earth.” Armed with an SP-404, RBCHMBRS wants to be playful without being reminiscent, always trying to move forward. He believes that nostalgic pain can propel an artist to make their best work.

While noting history teachers as salient inspirations that opened his eyes to cultures unknown to him, as well as a father who is a history buff of his own, Thaniil has inherited some of their reverence for the classics and the importance of learning from the past. Alexandros’ fundamentals are influenced by Madlib, Timbaland (“the early stuff,” he interjects), Q Tip, Havoc, Alchemist, UKG, as well as the culture that surrounded the NBA in the 90s, during his most formative years.

Keeping it in the family, RBCHMBRS works closely with critically acclaimed emcee/producer THERAVADA, who co-produced Sick by Earl Sweatshirt with him, and who is his cousin. Currently, RBCHMBRS is working on a self-proclaimed “sprawling dance album” with Tesh Curry. His audience has a lot to look forward to.

With his Estrella EP, his intention was expressed through the imagined feeling of a time warp, a portal, and maybe coming out the other end of it. He wanted Toe The Line EP to feel more grounded, a down to earth project that he leaned towards as he searched for his life to settle. This EP reminds him that many things in his life have changed for the better, and a lot of that has to do with the structure hes begun to install.

Re-issue from 1995!!

Freestyle drops another 12" rarity from the annals of UK funk & boogie history - this time giving the sounds of VeiraKrew's "Sexy Lady" from 1985 a fresh new cut.

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Elvis Veira was born on the Carribean island of Nevis and moved to England alongside his pianist and music teacher mother at the age of 2, quickly becoming profficient on piano, guitar & bass by the time he was in his early teens. His love for playing music and singing in choirs propelled him on this musical journey, and his late teens to 20s saw him supporting top acts such Heatwave, Wham, Second Image, Katrina and the Waves, Mezzo Forte, Chris Rea, Shakatak and many others.

In 1983 he started working under the alias VeiraKrew, and a couple of years later in 1985 laid down this 12" at Bedford's Thatch Cottage Studio on a shoe-string budget. Backed up with the title-track's killer instrumental version and the b-side "Welcome to a Dream" it was self-released by Elvis on a x1000 run (since becoming quite the collectors item, with clean copies changing hands for up to £150 a piece).

Following the release of Sexy Lady, Elvis continued playing and working as a session musician and vocalist, going on to release a further 12" in 1988 signing to Stevie V's Beatbox International label for the house-inflected track "Good Stuff". Fast forwarding to present day, Elvis has had some time away from music but is now back actively playing and producing, alongside working with the OMG (Outreach Music Group) - helping to provide support and music therapy within the NHS.

ACID KLAUS, the new collaborative solo project from songwriter-producer and Northern England cult leg-end, Adrian Flanagan (The Moonlandingz, International Teachers of Pop, Eccentronic Research Council & lots more) announces his debut concept album co-produced with his music partner in the ERC, Dean Honer titled Step On My Travelator: The Imagined Career Trajectory of Superstar DJ & Dance-Pop Producer, Melvin Harris which will be released on Yard Act"s ZEN F.C. label. The album features contributions from Adrian"s long-time collaborators and friends including actress, Maxine Peake, US musician and video director, Charlotte Kemp Muhl (Ghost of a Sabertooth Tiger), Maria Uzor from Sink Ya Teeth and the Bradford-born pop-noir singer (currently singing in The Specials), Hannah Hu who is joined on lap steel guitar on a track by Richard Hawley. The album is completed by a whole host of fresh and exciting artists (as well as the aforementioned Lieselot Elzinga) - there"s the enigmatic Queen Bee of the Calder Valley, solo artist, Bianca Eddleston who goes under the name Soft Focus and finally from South Wales (and the current talk of the South London scene), the incredible welsh language singer-songwriter, Cat Rin.

Get back to the rich musical universe of Daft Punk with this album dedicated to the legendary duo. Rediscover their best hits with versions interpreted by :Chilly Gonzales, Christian Prommer, The Dø, Señor Coconut, Chamberlain, Kid Loco, Soulwax and many more…