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The second in a series of releases from Digi Dub’s archives, this 10” serves, as the title suggests, as a tribute to the late, great Julian Fairshare.

On the A-side, Julian vocalises, in his unique style, his crazy finger flicking lyrics over a slinky Digidub riddim that was always a favourite on his sound system. Repent, the (only) slightly more traditional flipside, finds him commenting on the politricks and lies of those in charge, asking them to change their ways, with backing vocals by Helen Macdonald.

A true rasta with firm principles and a heart of gold, Julian was brought up by his Windrush generation parents in a Brixton house that hosted blues parties, and as a result became deeply involved in sound system culture from an early age. For years he ran the Fairshare Unity Sound, working with people from all cultures and walks of life, always maintaining an inclusive attitude while also favouring the more experimental side of dub. In later years he used the name ‘Unruly Julian’, which suited him somehow.

He toured widely around Europe and was one of the first to take a roots and culture sound system to the USSR. Nearer to home he played regularly on the London underground scene, which is where Lee Digidub and Julian first met, leading to a steady supply of dubplates for his sound. On a memorable visit to the studio, Julian announced that he wanted to voice a dub that Lee was working on, which led to them releasing I Scream and No Way on David Records.

“Sadly missed, it’s such a shame that the great man isn’t here to enjoy this release in person, but it’s wonderful that people get a chance to listen to Julian Fairshare: a unique vocalist, soundman and mentor to so many” Lee Digidub Berwick

This is a record of noted pedigree. Nottingham is one of thee homes to god-tier hardcore punk. The scene there has evolved, revolved, mutated, and grown over the decades. It's DIY venues and recording studios are now of legend.
The catalogue number of WSR084 is no coincidence. As with Crass and their 'counting down to 1984' aesthetic, this is anarcho hardcore railing hard against the times. If you're not currently furious you're asleep and Blind Eye are spitting anger.
Taking inspiration from The Comes, Jerrys Kids, Aus-Rotten and Chaos UK, this album is a concise call to arms. Perfectly captured over a weekend towards the end of 2025 by Boulty at Stuck On A Name Studios, Mistrust Your Nation sees mid-tempo stompers mix with breakneck ragers, all pressed at 45rpm and sounding as hefty as the band playing in your front room.
Anmarie Spaziano's vocal is at once melodic and raging, giving new definition to “pissed off”. Steve Charlesworth's drums are second to none, they've never been equalled in over 40 years of doing this. Andrew Morgan's guitar on this record is wild: shredding equal parts cosmic noise and brutally-tight riffing whilst Matt Grundy's bass anchors the chaos, pushing every second onwards.
As a label we never tire of bands who have THAT THING. We struggle to describe it and to pin it down, but we know it and we feel it and we only deal with people who have it. When we put gigs on and Blind Eye share a bill with solo banjo player Jacken Elswyth (for example) the sound is clearly different, but the ethics are the same. We can see it and we can hear it and we hope you can too. We are a genre-free label. We are a label that deals only with righteous, inspiring people. Play this record loud. Let it help you through these hideous times - Wrong Speed HQ

After two EP releases and a few millions streams later, Hamburg based songwriter, producer and visual artist KUOKO is about to drop her debut self-titled album. Released via Kabul Fire Records this album is brimming with energy and purpose, the singles such as Perfect Girl and Strong Girls Don"t Cry see KUOKO channeling her frustrations with society"s demands of women, and the impact that it can have on them. As a Vietnamese-German woman KUOKO is claiming her own place in an industry that often doesn"t represent women in the complex and fluid ways in which they actually exist and create music - self-taught, conceptual, ambitious.

The first release of the False Mov Rec. label, an international joint venture between two underground imprints located in Germany and Greece respectively is as unusual as it is unique in many ways. Released in 2017 this split 7" sees DYL from Romania and Paragon from the UK pairing up for the A-Side track "Unstable", a deeply hypnotic and driving minimal take on Halfstep Drum'n'Bass / Bass Music for late night dancefloors whereas Greek producer PS Stamps Back delivers a bass-driven take on psychedelia-infused slow motion Techno for illegal forest raves with "Beyond Lies The Wub" which also comes in handy for tripped out after hours and similar occasions.

Never officially distributed before and available in extremely limited quantities only.

Fust’s first record "Evil Joy" was a bitter domestic drama obsessed with the kitchen-sink passage of time measured by moments of leaving and returning. With "Genevieve", we find a different kind of leaving: leaving behind, leaving one’s old ways, starting anew, a small life together, in “Family Country.” Thus, Genevieve: an historical name for both the saintly and the ordinary, the peasantry and the family, the community and the wife, extreme devotion and absolute forbearance. While sonically and instrumentally louder than Evil Joy, Genevieve is thematically more quiet about its pains—more settled in its ways. It is a collection of pathetic love stories written in dedication to “small life,” moving from gentle exceptions (“I can take the late hours if you’re with me”) to pitiful admissions (“I’m never going to change when I leave…”). What comes with a quiet life? The highest forms of beauty, but we also find here songs of unspeaking companions, the sublime dread of having children, the balance of humility and humiliation, playing the fool for the greater good, and… budget birthday parties. With these stories of possible growth, "Genevieve" can’t help but also feature tried and true examples of crisis and repression: seeking a bygone lifestyle in an old friend who hasn’t changed much over the years, pissing contests, search parties as the form of community for melancholics with no clue what they’ve lost, old flames you won't let go and dying flames you won’t admit. "Genevieve" was recorded throughout 2021-2022 (mostly) at Drop of Sun studio in Asheville NC by Alex Farrar. The painting by Sasha Popovici is exactly right: a domestic scene yet unfinished. Many friends helped to make it much better than it was without them—Xandy Chelmis, Michael Cormier-O’Leary, Indigo De Souza, MJ Lenderman, Courtney Werner.

"It's about being really ambitious, and seeing enhanced beauty in the world, and knowing that seeing things in that way isn't unrealistic," she continues. "It's about striving for that ultimate freedom." Recorded in a joyful stay at Wales' residential StudiOwz, 'Tell Me It's A Dream' rings with the audible fizz of friends hanging out and having fun. Though many of its lyrics began during a complicated time for Walton, the record itself is a testament to choosing life and pleasure and the people that make it all worthwhile. "A lot of the record is about stretching outwards and acknowledging how far love can take you; about expressing how I feel about the people I love through music in ways that words can't," she says. "It was important to capture that lightness from the recording, because that spirit is in a lot of the songs." Frequently euphoric and brightly emotional, the songs themselves aim heavenwards. 'Heart To Heartbreak' cracks through the clouds of a break up, taking influence from emotionally-rich bands like The Cure and Prefab Sprout to translate the feeling at its core. "This is a song about feeling like everything in your life has shattered but realising that relationship was holding you back and the world is opening up," she says. "I wanted this song to feel really visual, like things are starting to sparkle and look colourful again.

"Remnants" is an album marked by the ambiguity of presence and absence. The pieces, recorded using minimal equipment in what Suzuki describes as a ritual-like atmosphere, began as a way of processing the loss of her father in 2019. But beyond this, they also come to speak to the ways in which loss changes our relationship with someone, and our experiences of the world. Indeed, the experience of loss is not marked merely by a single event, but is instead a process that unfolds over time. Despite the other's absence, a particular location, the smell of a certain brand of tobacco, a look on a friend's face - traces such as these are enough to bring about a renewed presence.

It is through these subtle traces and remnants, encountered over time, that we come to understand loss as not only the acceptance of absence, but the recognition of a continued presence. As Suzuki says, "this is not a solo album." Its creation was instead shaped by an ongoing dialogue, the continued elaboration of a complex and ambivalent relationship. At once melancholic, warm, and embracing, it is this ambiguity, these subtle traces, that Suzuki’s compositions speak to. These are not merely the sounds of mourning, but instead have been shaped by the evolving dialectic of presence and absence into something far more subtle and haunting. (Zefan Sramek, 2026)

After six years, Seahaven return with their long-awaited self-titled album, their first new full-length since 2020's Halo of Hurt. Formed in Torrance, CA in 2009, the band built a dedicated following with releases like Winter Forever, blending emotional songwriting with expansive alternative and indie-leaning rock. Their self-titled album marks the next chapter for the band, delivering a focused collection of songs that reflects their continued evolution.

OM2 is a unit formed by beatmaker DJ Monchan and guitarist Aota.
Their story goes back to 1990s New York, when Aota found a roommate-wanted flyer posted in a vintage clothing store in the East Village where Monchan was working. After becoming roommates, the two grew close and were deeply influenced by downtown New York culture at the time.
Later, Aota returned to Japan, formed a rock band, and made his major-label debut. Meanwhile, Monchan stayed in New York, worked at A1 Record Shop, started his own label Dailysession, and became deeply involved in the city’s dance music scene. After following different paths and maturing in their own ways, the two reunited after 30 years to form OM2

"All the tracks on this release come from a live concert at Sharmanka, a beautiful and unique museum of kinetic sculptures in Glasgow, and throughout the record, the sounds of the sculptures moving and emitting noises are incorporated into the music performed. The four pieces presented are entirely improvised. There was no discussion beforehand of what instruments or what approach would be taken, and each piece evolved as a musical negotiation as the performers individually made choices about what instruments to play and how to support and meet each other within the unfolding musical narrative. While Macdonald and Ferlaino both share a lifetime of work with their chosen primary instrument, the saxophone, they also share a passion for exploring other instruments and objects for their sonic and socio-creative potential. This record foregrounds both these aspects of their work: they use saxophones, but also incorporate bells, toys, bagpipes, accordions, percussion instruments and voice.
"Raymond MacDonald is a saxophonist and composer with an extensive career in music, cross-disciplinary arts and academia. He has played on and released over 100 albums, toured and broadcast worldwide and has composed music for film, television, theatre, radio and art installations. He is a founding member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and his work is informed by a view of improvisation as a social, collaborative, and uniquely creative process that provides opportunities to develop new ways of engaging musically.
"Christian Ferlaino is an Italian saxophonist, bagpipe player, improviser, composer and ethnomusicologist. He composes for ensembles of improvisers, both from the jazz and improvised music scene, as well as for contemporary music ensembles. His work explores the relationships between composition and improvisation, and the expressive potential of improvised music. His musical research also focuses on creatively engaging with the sonic and musical realm of Calabria, with special attention to its performing techniques and approach to sound and music generation."

BLUE & WHITE COLOUR IN COLOUR VINYL

In the culinary arts, it’s easy to overcomplicate the final product. Theme, presentation, texture…they’re important but should work to complement the raison d'etre of any food. At the end of cooking a dish, it should taste good and feed people. Some dishes, like barbeque or provoleta, resist the tendency towards hollow showmanship. One of their expressions can be more or less aesthetic, but the first purpose is to be simple and tasteful. Argentinian provoleta goes so far as to blur the line between ingredient and dish. It relies on the inherent flavor of provolone being heated at the right speed for the perfect amount of time. You can add garlic or chives or red pepper to the slice, but ultimately they serve to bring out an essence that’s already there.

Los Angeles’ Cousin Feo has developed his rapping acumen in the five years since releasing Provoleta, but returning to the project today shows that he always had the penmanship, grit and delivery that christens an emcee worthy of remembrance. Like the bubbles rising up in the appetizer that is the album’s namesake, Feo showed that true profundity is found in the simple gestures.

Since dropping the project in 2019, Cousin Feo has expanded his vision of a world where hip-hop and football, two proletarian art forms, mingle in creative and compelling ways. He has collaborated across multiple continents, chronicled football histories, aided in canonizing legends, kept the flames high in age-old rivalries and constantly forced his audience to search for the last time they heard bars this hard. In anyone else’s hands it would be too great a task.

The maturity he showed on Provoleta wasn’t nascent, it was an inherent quality forcing itself to the surface. The songs refract his experience as a working class Angeleno through the archetypes of Argentinian football legends. The kernel that unites the two worlds is hustle. When Feo was coming up, missteps had greater consequences than crashing out in the group stage and street deals had the weight of a Boca-River Plate match.

Each track uses slightly different ingredients to let Feo’s underlying talent shine. “Maradona” feels salvific, fitting for a football legend canonized from the Andes to the Alps and a Los Angeles rapper looking to inspire similar hope in the neighborhoods that raised him. On “Di Stefano” Feo massages the instrumental with the same composure of the late forward, until he pierces through the headphones like one of Di Stefano’s arrows. It’s also refreshing to hear a song celebrating Messi before his meme-ification, focusing on the universal truths contained in his footballing talent instead of using number 10 as a stand-in to make a point in a fruitless argument. And he still finds space to show deference to Batistuta, Kempes and other members of the Argentinian pantheon who’ve been erased from the popular imagination by the national team's contemporary success.

Real ones know that true players, true rappers, and true artists will always stand the attacks of time and consensus. In Provoleta’s first verse, Cousin Feo says he moves with the hand of God. Maybe one day he’ll tell the whole truth and let us know how he was able to wrestle the pen away too. Limited edition of 300 hand-numbered copies.

For well over a decade, MONOLORD have caused mass riff hypnosis with longform epics steeped in repetition, volume, and heaviness. One of heavy music’s most consistent and beloved bands, MONOLORD are gearing up for their next chapter with a new album titled Neverending. In looking for a new take on the genre, MONOLORD approached the legendary producer Sylvia Massy, known for her work with Tool, System of a Down, and Johnny Cash, among many more. The payoff from this new process is undeniable. Neverending feels like the culmination of 13 years of heavy, molten music, with a keen eye towards creating a sharper album. “The recording of this album is an example of the spirit of MONOLORD’s camaraderie,” says bassist Mika Häkki. “We’ve looked back and seen for the first time how much we have done as a band collectively, and realized what an intense 13 years it has been.” "The lyrics on this album are more personal than before because I went through some major life changes in the last couple of years,” guitarist/vocalist Thomas Jäger says. “I usually write about religion and how people are superstitious, but this record is more about relationships between people. But it’s not all about me. Sometimes I’m writing from another person’s perspective.” Neverending’s lead single “You Bastard” offers listeners a sharp contrast: A propulsive groove offset by lyrics about suicide. There’s two sides to suicide,” Jäger points out. “There’s the person who commits suicide and the people who gets left behind...The choruses represent the person left behind, and that person is calling the other a bastard—but it’s not pointing fingers or saying, ‘You suck.’ It’s more like, ‘You left me here with all the bullshit.’ It’s an understanding that life is not easy." Though it might not be immediately obvious, album opener “Iodine” was inspired by 70's rock epics like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird,” The Eagles’ “Hotel California,” and Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter." Elsewhere, album closer “It’s Neverending” is the first MONOLORD song that Jäger doesn’t sing on. Instead, the death-metal style vocals are performed by former Entombed bassist Jörgen Sandström, (also of Grave, Domedagen and Firespawn.) 13 years on, MONOLORD’s path takes a new turn, and Neverending becomes the band’s most befitting album title. “It's been a wild ride and still is,” says drummer Esben Willems. “I've spent a quarter of my life in this band. Looking back, I'm incredibly proud of what we've accomplished along the way, and in many ways, this album feels like the essence of everything we've done so far. My mindset is the same it's always been, to be the absolute best the three of us can be.”

Obsidian rock is igneous, frequently dark, yet opaque. Hard edged and brittle, it’s often been used both for weaponry and alchemical pursuits. Therefore when Lorena Quintanilla – the Mexican-based artist from the group ‘Lorelle Meets The Obsolete’ and also known as J. Zunz – was searching for psychic inspiration for her next musical venture, she need have looked no further. “Once I chose the title, everything I read, saw, listened to, and thought about began to interconnect” she relates. “Obsidian became like a magnetic field.”
“In Mesoamerican cultures, it was used in many different ways – obsidian mirrors, for example, were tools for divination and spiritual vision". Thereafter, Lorena set about creating an album entirely on her own terms. Driven by both the ghost and the heart of the machine, ‘Obsidiana’ open up a portal whereby forbidding drone, ethereal ambience and insistent repetition intertwine elegantly to form a seamless whole.
A study in balance, its emotional charge remains strong and intact whether on the eerie, almost Radiophonic ambience of ‘Imago’ or the dancefloor-adjacent, Chris & Cosey-esque ‘Osiris’. Lyrically meanwhile, ‘Obsidiana’ intersects deep personal explorations with the conflicts and contradictions of life in the unforgiving realm of 2026 – as Lorena says; “he process behind ‘Obsidiana’ was very abstract, yet I wanted the lyrics to stay grounded in the present and in reality".
Ultimately however, ‘Obsidiana’, in all its sharp yet amorphous glory, is catharsis manifest. “Each song carries a clear and deliberate intention” Lorena emphasises. “To conjure, to exorcise, to strip away fear, to rediscover myself, to heal inherited sadness, and to reclaim the night that was taken from us.”

Ten years ago, Adolph Robert Thornton Jr. planted his flag. Released on February 19, 2016, King of Memphis wasn't just a debut studio album; it was a bold declaration of independence and a flawless blueprint for self-made success. To celebrate a decade of this foundational Southern rap masterpiece, Paper Route Empire is honoring Young Dolph’s legacy with a series of exclusive, limited-edition 10th Anniversary vinyl variants.

Before King of Memphis, Dolph had already built a massive underground following through a relentless run of mixtapes. But this official debut elevated him from a local hero to a national powerhouse.

By bypassing the major label system and releasing the project entirely through his own Paper Route Empire (PRE), Dolph proved that undeniable talent, relentless hustle, and business savvy were all you needed to take the crown. The album peaked in the Top 50 of the Billboard 200, an incredible feat for a fiercely independent artist at the time, and cemented his status as a CEO who called his own shots.

King of Memphis is all killer, no filler. Over 11 tracks, Dolph's signature slow-flow delivery and larger-than-life charisma glide over heavy-hitting, trap-defining production from a legendary lineup of producers, including Mike WiLL Made-It, Zaytoven, TM88, and Cassius Jay.

With zero guest features, the project relies entirely on Dolph’s magnetic presence. From the motivational hustler's anthem "Get Paid" to the menacing confidence of "Let Me See It" and "Royalty," the album plays like a victory lap for a self-made king.

Between Bodies als Geheimtipp der europäischen Punk/Indie-Szene zu bezeichnen, ist mittlerweile ein großes Understatement. Nach ihrem Debütalbum, "Electric Sleep" von 2022, war die Band in aller Munde derer, die ein Herz für melodischen, treibenden, emotionalen Punkrock mit DIY Spirit haben. Spätestens über das Jahr 2025, als die Band aus Köln, Toronto und Paderborn, etablierte Acts wie Touché Amore, The Get Up Kids, The Hotelier oder Captain Planet in ausverkauften Clubs supportet hat, auf zahlreichen Szene-Festivals zu sehen war und seine Hörer*innenschaft noch einmal deutlich erweitern konnte, sind Between Bodies zu einer der spannendsten up-and-coming Punk-Bands hierzulande geworden. Die Songs und Texte der Ende 2019 gegründeten Band haben - wird oft behauptet, hier stimmt es einmal - internationales Format und erinnern an Lieblinge wie Joyce Manor, The Menzingers oder Tigers Jaw. Ihr Sound lässt ebenso an 90er Jahre Emo-Punk Klassiker denken, zeigt sich beeinflusst von 00er Jahre Post-Punk/Indie und verfügt dabei über reichlich Charakter und ein Ideenreichtum, der Between Bodies schlicht zu einer außergewöhnlichen Band macht.

Radhika Meera Dade: “Ever since I entered this realm, music has surrounded me in every way possible. The sounds of magic have been nourishing my soul since birth, the first memories I have as a young child are listening to my dad’s eclectic vinyl collection. I feel so lucky to have been exposed to such a range of music at a really young age: artists from Alice Coltrane to The Go-Betweens, all of these musicians have subconsciously and consciously inspired me musically in many different ways”.

Glass Modern is very proud to present the debut album by Radhika Meera Dade. Cine-Pop is a collection of songs that flow gently and easily in and out of each other - a suite, a short film, everything an album should be. Coming in at 33.3 minutes, it’s the perfect length for an album, it doesn’t short change you, it doesn’t stay too long - it’s designed to be played in one sitting. It’s like being in a friend’s house and noticing the things that are most important in their life - objects, family portraits, records, musical equipment, their curated accumulation. It reflects so many things - culture, community, fandom and the incredible bond between Radhika and her father, Sushil, the Future Pilot AKA. The record spans generations and continents but its home is always Radhika and the family jams she made with Sushil in various garages, bedrooms and garden dens - her soaring voice and love of all kinds of music from Bollywood to Goth Pop to The Glasgow School. The songs are collected from memory and the immediacy of time - one goes all the way back to her 10 year old self penning Future Me, an eco anthem. In different moments other musicians appear - most notably key collaborator, Eric MacDonald, on hazy synth and keys, and Radhika’s mother Vinita, who has a gorgeous voice too. The Glasgow School is very present - Mitch Mitchell (The Pastels) , Gerard Love (Lightships/ ex-Teenage Fanclub) and Tracyanne Campbell (Camera Obscura) all bring their casual magic to the table. Cine-Pop, mostly made in Glasgow at La Chunky Studio with the excellent Colin McGeogh (who also contributes flute, keys and electronics) is a one-off. It’s unrepeatable - there, gone. It’s the world through the eyes of a dazzling young Indo-Scottish woman. Everything she is has gone into it, is part of it and is there for a reason. Following on from the first single, Starry Eyes, which was played multiple times on BBC 6Music and other stations, other singles to be released from the album include Feline Bandits plus a version of the Strawberry Switchblade classic Since Yesterday. Radhika will also be collaborating with Glasgow-based film maker, Laura Meek, on promos and the plan is to play live throughout the year.

When The Lights Gone is the new Album from Nostalgia 77. A set of simple songs in primary colours it explores Lamdin’s familiar themes of memory, time, truth and identity. After a hiatus of several years from releasing personal work Producer Benedic Lamdin has two albums set for release this year of which ‘When The Lights Gone’ is the first. When The Lights Gone renews Lamdin’s partnership with Berlin based singer Yosa. Her tracks with Nostalgia 77 are some of their most popular with 30 plus million streams. “It was great to reconnect with Yosa after years not working together. She was about to start a family in Berlin and it seemed like the perfect time to try and pick up - to catch something before that new phase began. “Becoming immersed in family life is such an all encompassing experience It’s sometimes dreamlike in its own way. I think this record has something of that - it is naive and childlike in certain ways itself.” This album is a private press release on Lamdin's new label but publishing a press support is provided by Tru Thoughts.

The aptly named "Momentum" is the label's first EP from Decoder, who recently released an album to wide acclaim on Planet X. Spread across 6 tracks, the EP is drenched in psychedelia as it effortlessly moves through different moods and aesthetics to take dancers through the night.

"Flowing" begins the EP with stripped-back percussion and moody atmospherics, transporting the listener into a trance. "Photon" takes a nostalgic trip back to the 90s, featuring a 909 workout that's heavily processed with intensifying effects.

"Strawbs" presents what might be the most captivating track of the EP, characterized by its rolling, hands-in-the-air vibe that persists throughout the song. To conclude the vinyl, "Dyslexic" is intricate and enigmatic in all thedelightful ways. Mallets intermittently appear and disappear as the 909 maintains a steady rhythm. "Dyslexics untie!"

The collaborative project of Lawrence English and Werner Dafeldecker has consistently been concerned with processes of transformation. This is all the more true for »Fathom Tides,« the duo’s second album for Hallow Ground following up on »Tropic of Capricorn« from 2023. Using field recordings collected from diverse coastal environments made by English and later treated extensively by Dafeldecker, the two sound artists explore cyclical changes in nature across these seven pieces. Through its abstracted soundscapes, »Fathom Tides« poses concrete questions: What impact do we have on the world we inhabit?

»Tropic of Capricorn« was based on material English had recorded around Australia to highlight the country’s colonial past. On »Fathom Tides,« water and tides provided a conceptual framework for the duo’s remote working process—notions of states of action and tidal dynamics becoming guiding principles in their work with the source material. English and Dafeldecker were led by the question how the morphing of solid forms into more liquid states might be captured and used as compositional guides for their respective preparations treatments and the addition of electronics to the source material.

While eroding coastlines, river systems, and glacial transformation served as inspiration, the seven pieces resulted out of the two sound artists paying close attention to seemingly minute details through which immediate and distant histories peek through often in the most unexpected and rewarding ways. Hence, »Fathom Tides« does not provide a macro view on the catastrophic changes humans have facilitated on Earth. It is its own sound world guided by both the pace of its subjects and a recognition that time is fluid—a reminder that our clocks are not those of the world around us.

Limited Apricot/Rose Vinyl. After being only available on his "North America & Japan Tour 2025", Black Screen Records is excited to release the second pressing of VK Blanka's latest studio album "Knightclub" on 1xLP Rosé / Apricot Split Vinyl. The album comes with an exclusive vinyl bonus track "Black Catcher - Piano Version" and includes a lyrics sheet. The Japanese singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist also announced his return to AnimagiC 2026. The convention will be held from July 31st - August 2nd in Mannheim, Germany. Black Screen Records will also return and bring the Knightclub vinyl to the event. Since expanding his activities overseas in 2023, he has performed electrifying live shows in new territories, including North America, Europe, Saudi Arabia, and Latin America. At Brazil's largest anime convention, Anime Friends Sao Paulo 2024, he captivated a staggering audience of 10,000, their voices rising in fervent chants of his name, as he closed out the event as the final act of the night.










[j] 10OLD RIVALS [A SELF-COVER OF RIVALS!]
[k] 11BLACK CATCHER PIANO VERSION [BONUS TRACK]

A guitar stands alone in Wedding, that metropolitan biotope in the western center of Berlin, caught in constant transformation between idyll and abyss. It lets its gaze wander, unsettled, almost shy, until it encounters a trumpet, with which it begins a cautious, then ever more intimate pas de deux.
Welcome to the second studio album by the Berlin-based band Conic Rose.
The album title Wedding is no coincidence. The story of Conic Rose is closely intertwined with the Berlin neighborhood that gives the record its name. The band's studio is located here, and both studio albums were created in the immediate vicinity of the small river Panke. This place settles over the music like a warming patina. The album feels as though the musicians and the neighborhood have invited one another to get to know each other. Not least because Wedding also means marriage. These marriages between a band and an urban landscape, a fading past and an emerging future, fear and hope - unfold in every single song on Wedding.
For their second album, Conic Rose repositioned themselves completely. Not in terms of personnel, but in the question of how to move forward. Conic Rose still sound like Conic Rose; their distinctive blend of cinematic jazz, ambient textures and guitar-led contemporary music remains untouched. And yet Wedding is, in many ways, the conceptual counterpart to their debut album Heller Tag. Where the debut documented movement within an urban setting, Wedding describes a state of being. Behind every piece seems to hover a large question mark.The group opens up its palette, allowing more influences, becoming at once more subtle, more profound, more filigree. It is less about definition than about the spaces in between. The most immediately striking difference from the previous album is the strong presence of the guitar. In Bertram Burkert's playing, many voices seem to converge. His yearning openness forms an equal counterpoint to Döben's trumpet and flugelhorn. Blurred and layered sounds occasionally make the ground seem to slip away beneath one's feet, while Döben's gliding lines create both closeness and distance. Together, the band express in a deeply subtle way a sense of life that corresponds precisely to our time. Something lurks in the background, omnipresent yet still unnameable. Conic Rose need no words to convey this feeling of uncertainty with remarkable eloquence. Perhaps this has something to do with Wedding being a place of confrontational introspection, but Conic Rose confront the escape from escape itself. With the recording and release of Wedding, this process is far from complete. The seed only begins to grow in the listener's ear. With every listen and the echo it leaves behind in memory, the studio bud continues to bloom. The album is merely the point of departure. What ultimately matters is what it sets in motion within those who encounter it.

Fresh from the critically embraced full-length LP/CD, Downward Staircase now arrives in a special remix release - answering the persistent calls from supporters of Joaquin "Joe" Claussell who have been demanding a 12" single. The wait is over.

Downward Staircase is an Afro-Jazz House composition crafted in a way only Joaquin himself can manifest. Layered with masterful percussion from a host of renowned players, the groove is both infectious and deeply rooted. The rhythm section drives with purpose, creating the perfect foundation for the stunning piano work of Joaquin's longtime production partner and favored pianist. The result is a powerful Afro-dance journey - spiritual, percussive, and built to ignite dance floors wherever it's played.

But that's not all.

Also featured on this EP is another Joaquin Joe Claussell remix titled Kwelo, featuring Afro-dance originator Mr. Jephte Guillaume. A collaboration rich in heritage and forward motion, it further expands the sonic landscape of this release.

This project has been over a year in the making - a true labor of dedication and persistence. We're incredibly excited for its release, and we know our loyal following shares that excitement. In many ways, it was your continued support that helped bring this record into existence.

Don't sleep.
.
Enjoy the Journey

In recent years, Midge Ure has spent his time playing live and not has time to fully immerse himself in the studios creating music To that end A Man of Two Worlds is his first album of new material in 12 years. Well worth the wait, the album is a formidable collection of outstanding music, divided into two clear parts.

The first half, World One: Music, consists of eight instrumental pieces, while the second half, World Two: Songs, features eight vocal songs. This concept was partly inspired by the time Midge spent during lockdown listening to instrumental music whilst presenting THE SPACE on Scala Radio. Hearing music that rarely finds a home on mainstream radio, he set about making something without lyrics, where the melodies had to speak for themselves. The eight vocal songs which form the second part of the album, came to Midge as the world reopened. A more divided world, in many ways a much harder and less empathetic one. Sharing an atmosphere with the preceding instrumentals, these songs are incredibly sparse and meditative, and whilst they are subtle, with some songs dealing with the frailty of the human condition, underlying many songs reflect Midge's concerns for the discord infecting world today.

Myth? Legend? No need to pump this up, the music is self evident. As is the crew of Marfox, NK, Nervoso, Fofuxo, Pausas and Jesse, who shaped the universe as we know it. The simplest of elements for maximum (minimal) impact, an imperative burst of energy that perfectly echoes the title of Marfox's first EP: I Know Who I Am.

These are statements of personality directly stamped on the dancefloor. "Hard Tecno" (without the H, yes) embodies the crystal clear intention of the set: to light a fire wherever the beats fall. To make people smile and move. And this was (and is) achieved without the need for obvious smiley culture signposts. The music just came through with fierce enthusiasm. All were youngsters (Nervoso being the elder) in 2007, and youth is definitely a factor in the fearless display of bare bones dance music production. Raw, is it?

A second volume of DJs di Guetto on Príncipe was always going to happen. The tough part was deciding how to organize the bangers on the tracklist without ending up with a quadruple vinyl set. Thus separate volumes 1&2. Volume 1 (2023) was culled from the actual DJs di Guetto compilation (self released in 2006), whereas Volume 2 comes straight from the crew's archives, nearly 100% unreleased tracks produced in 2007.

The crew disbanded as such a long time ago, but the legacy stands as sacred scriptures stand. FL Studio and standard laptop and tower desktop PCs combined as raw materials; a no-fuss approach added by these DJs and producers who sound unequivocally rootsy and primeval, drinking from the source. Also punishingly minimal, dry and alien. Happy-sad, sweet-sour, nice-angry, soft-aggressive. Words fail us. It's 2026, new humans seem to beon the rise but some old ways are still enthralling.

„A Love for Strangers“ ist eine völlige Neuerfindung für Nick Murphy. Sein erstes Album als Chet Faker
seit vier Jahren erweitert seinen etablierten Sound in aufregende neue Richtungen. Mit mondbeschienenen
Saxophonen, die an legendäre Acts wie Prefab Sprout und The Blue Nile erinnern, sowie dem üppigen,
Breakbeat-lastigen Pop von David Grays Klassiker „White Ladder“. In diesen zwölf Songs sinniert Murphy
über Liebeskummer und Unsicherheit im großen Maßstab – er stellt Fragen darüber, wie wir miteinander
umgehen, untersucht, wie wir dabei scheitern, und vermittelt das notwendige Gefühl der Hoffnung, wenn
es darum geht, unsere Beziehungen zur Welt um uns herum zu reparieren.

"Late '80s and early '90s electronic music has had a steering influence on the Altered Circuits catalog curation, so we are delighted to present an EP by one of the pioneers of that era: Olivier Abbeloos. His 40 years of experience as a producer and DJ translate into a Discogs profile so extensive it reveals his real name alone can be (mis)spelled in 20 different ways. "1993-1994: Rare & Unreleased 1" features five tracks produced under three different aliases, all sourced from the artist's DAT tapes vault, dating back to the prolific two-year period referenced in its title. ALT024 opens with two "Conga Squad" tracks. "Combo" is a high-energy cut driven by a savory staccato chord progression, and "Substitute" works a similar, yet more restrained dynamic, that is, until a boisterous vocal sample enters. The quirky bass lines and moody synth work of "Under The Ground", the first "Holographic Hallucination" inclusion, concludes the A-side. Its twilight atmospherics fit right in amid the B-movie horror electro trending on contemporary dancefloors. The flip opens with "Psychosky", which caters slightly more to a slow-burner vibe and sets the stage for extensive piano work. "Dj Flavour", composed under the "Warp Factor One" alias, closes the EP. Here, the Latin-tinged percussion that runs as a subtle thread throughout the release takes the spotlight, while funky basslines and manipulated vocals add layers of detail. It is the only track on the EP that was already released in 1994, appearing as part of a - by the standards of that era - obscure and very limited 300-copy pressing. Those times sure have changed, but the music still sounds as fresh as ever."

Diese EP enthält fünf Tracks von einem der beiden legendären Open-Air-Auftritte von U2 in der RDS-Arena in Dublin im August 1993, der Heimatstadt der Band, auf ihrer weltweiten ZOO TV Tour. Während seit Jahren begehrte Raubkopien der RDS-Show im Umlauf sind, ist dies die erste offzielle Veröffentlichung, was sie zu einem begehrten Sammlerstück für Fans und Sammler gleichermaßen macht.

Das Album ist ab dem 30.08 als Vinyl und CD überall erhältlich

Whenever Emily Nenni is onstage, she welcomes everybody to the dancefloor. The California-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter wants the honkytonk to be a place of escape, where fans can shed their troubles for a few hours and feel safe and free. “I’m always watching the dancefloor and making sure everybody’s being respectful.” Or, as she sings on the supremely funky title track to her new album Movin’ Shoes, “Here’s where you dress for you and dance the way that you want to.”

Movin’ Shoes is an album about how we treat each other and how we treat ourselves. Confident in its touchstones and compassionate in its insights, Movin’ Shoes eloquently and wryly blends southern soul from Memphis and Muscle Shoals with southern rock from Macon and outlaw country from Austin. Making Movin’ Shoes was a process of discovery for Nenni. Musically she found all new ways to combine the disparate artists she loves so much, and lyrically she found all new ways to relate to herself and to others. “We should at all times acknowledge and accept the fact that we’re imperfect people,” she explains. “We all make mistakes and we should all rethink the way we go about things. I am flawed. Everyone around me is flawed. But that’s not a bad thing. It just means we’re all human. This album is about making mistakes and learning from them. I’m always trying to put that into my songs.”

Whenever Emily Nenni is onstage, she welcomes everybody to the dancefloor. The California-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter wants the honkytonk to be a place of escape, where fans can shed their troubles for a few hours and feel safe and free. “I’m always watching the dancefloor and making sure everybody’s being respectful.” Or, as she sings on the supremely funky title track to her new album Movin’ Shoes, “Here’s where you dress for you and dance the way that you want to.”

Movin’ Shoes is an album about how we treat each other and how we treat ourselves. Confident in its touchstones and compassionate in its insights, Movin’ Shoes eloquently and wryly blends southern soul from Memphis and Muscle Shoals with southern rock from Macon and outlaw country from Austin. Making Movin’ Shoes was a process of discovery for Nenni. Musically she found all new ways to combine the disparate artists she loves so much, and lyrically she found all new ways to relate to herself and to others. “We should at all times acknowledge and accept the fact that we’re imperfect people,” she explains. “We all make mistakes and we should all rethink the way we go about things. I am flawed. Everyone around me is flawed. But that’s not a bad thing. It just means we’re all human. This album is about making mistakes and learning from them. I’m always trying to put that into my songs.”

Wasteland is a record that is unafraid to plunge into the darkness of the modern world and embrace the weirder, edgier and more unnerving moments that come from doing so. It is an album that captures all the enormity of life from the micro to the macro, zooming in on the personal as well reflecting on broader societal issues.

“Wasteland is about the idea of a place once known or familiar that is now broken down and unrecognisable,” says Ghedi. “It’s about exploring the process of watching someone’s surroundings and environment collapse.” And within that you have a lot going on. “It also explores death, personal loss, grief, mental health and how the natural world provides solace and meaning for that loss and how these worlds blur into one another.”
Ghedi has always been an artist that in many ways perfectly encompasses folk music in its purest form but he is also someone that frequently pushes the boundaries of that label and no more so is that apparent than on this record. As like previous albums, such as 2018’s A Hymn for Ancient Land and 2021’s In the Furrows of Common Place, Ghedi uses traditional folk songs as a means to explore contemporary issues via modern and experimentally-leaning music. “With the traditional material on this album I wanted to find songs with content that resonated with me,” says Ghedi. “But also that were based roughly around the north of England.” This is a central underlying theme to the album for Ghedi. The feelings of loss, erosion, and degradation are often most pronounced in working class communities and this was something he wanted to weave in. “It was important to voice and choose material that represented or expressed issues that correlated with things going on around me.”

However, as remarkable as some of the traditional material is, some of the most arresting work on the album is Ghedi’s entirely original compositions. Lead single ‘Wasteland’ is a stunning piece of work that while rooted in an environment being corrupted and broken – “there’s violence on these hills” Ghedi sorrowfully sings, before claiming this is no longer somewhere that can be called home – it is also a stirringly beautiful composition that soars and glides as it opens up, as sweeping strings swoop and in and out of Ghedi’s twangy electric guitar.

The decision to incorporate more fuller sounds, such as electric guitar and huge drums, results in a notable shift and evolution in tone for Ghedi. “The lyrical content needed something more band-driven and loud to deliver them,” he explains. “Incorporating the electric guitar in my songwriting was also a big part of opening the sound up, using drop tunings pushed me to use my voice in a wider range, which forced me to use falsetto a lot which I haven’t previously done before. That then opened the sound up and gave me creative ideas for bigger arrangements and to sonically really push things.”

What Ghedi has done in creating his masterpiece is construct a remarkable space where deeply intimate and personal feelings coexist with reflections on environment, place and society, while also interweaving historical context via traditional songs. Wasteland is as much of a world to explore and exist in as much as it is an album, with Ghedi carving out his distinctly unique sonic language and voice to explore that singular environment.

Wasteland is a record that is unafraid to plunge into the darkness of the modern world and embrace the weirder, edgier and more unnerving moments that come from doing so. It is an album that captures all the enormity of life from the micro to the macro, zooming in on the personal as well reflecting on broader societal issues.

“Wasteland is about the idea of a place once known or familiar that is now broken down and unrecognisable,” says Ghedi. “It’s about exploring the process of watching someone’s surroundings and environment collapse.” And within that you have a lot going on. “It also explores death, personal loss, grief, mental health and how the natural world provides solace and meaning for that loss and how these worlds blur into one another.”
Ghedi has always been an artist that in many ways perfectly encompasses folk music in its purest form but he is also someone that frequently pushes the boundaries of that label and no more so is that apparent than on this record. As like previous albums, such as 2018’s A Hymn for Ancient Land and 2021’s In the Furrows of Common Place, Ghedi uses traditional folk songs as a means to explore contemporary issues via modern and experimentally-leaning music. “With the traditional material on this album I wanted to find songs with content that resonated with me,” says Ghedi. “But also that were based roughly around the north of England.” This is a central underlying theme to the album for Ghedi. The feelings of loss, erosion, and degradation are often most pronounced in working class communities and this was something he wanted to weave in. “It was important to voice and choose material that represented or expressed issues that correlated with things going on around me.”

However, as remarkable as some of the traditional material is, some of the most arresting work on the album is Ghedi’s entirely original compositions. Lead single ‘Wasteland’ is a stunning piece of work that while rooted in an environment being corrupted and broken – “there’s violence on these hills” Ghedi sorrowfully sings, before claiming this is no longer somewhere that can be called home – it is also a stirringly beautiful composition that soars and glides as it opens up, as sweeping strings swoop and in and out of Ghedi’s twangy electric guitar.

The decision to incorporate more fuller sounds, such as electric guitar and huge drums, results in a notable shift and evolution in tone for Ghedi. “The lyrical content needed something more band-driven and loud to deliver them,” he explains. “Incorporating the electric guitar in my songwriting was also a big part of opening the sound up, using drop tunings pushed me to use my voice in a wider range, which forced me to use falsetto a lot which I haven’t previously done before. That then opened the sound up and gave me creative ideas for bigger arrangements and to sonically really push things.”

What Ghedi has done in creating his masterpiece is construct a remarkable space where deeply intimate and personal feelings coexist with reflections on environment, place and society, while also interweaving historical context via traditional songs. Wasteland is as much of a world to explore and exist in as much as it is an album, with Ghedi carving out his distinctly unique sonic language and voice to explore that singular environment.

Call it soulful dream pop, proto-trip hop or downtempo jazz - "Tender Rain" is the follow-up LP to the successful "This Is" album and continues to deliver Ghia's unmistakable sonic magic. On this release, the band shares a selection of previously unreleased vocal songs alongside instrumental pieces, all carried by their trademark chilled and almost meditative atmosphere. Most of the recordings date from the early 1990s, while early demo versions of "New Love" and "Teardrops in Your Eyes" may reach back as far as the late 1980s.

The album opens with the title track "Tender Rain," where smooth vocal jazz harmonies merge effortlessly with soulful pop elements. The track originally appeared only on CD in 1993 on the small Mikado label run by renowned German guitarist Ulli Bögershausen. The band recalls that the piece was first pre-recorded using MIDI equipment and a Tascam 16-track recorder before being completed in the studio with drums by legendary drummer Mickie Stickdorn (Carsten Bohn's Bandstand, Cyklus, Elephant, Lake), percussion by Corinna Ludzuweit, and the final touch-Lisa Ohm's remarkable vocals.

At the time, Mikado was also looking for instrumental material for radio and synchronization use. They selected the track "Tropfstein" for a sampler CD and requested more pieces. In response, "und recken ihre schlanken Glieder" (roughly translated as "and stretching their slender limbs") was composed especially for the project, as Frank Simon remembers. Both tracks appeared on the now rare Mikado sampler CD under the alias z. Zt., short for "zur Zeit" ("at present" or "these days").

Several further pieces in a similar vein were created during this period, including the previously unissued "Auf unserm grünen Sofa," "Reise bei Nacht," and "Was ich Dir noch sagen wollte." These tracks are beautifully crafted downtempo pieces featuring smooth, jazzy piano lines combined with touches of ambient and New Age aesthetics. "Auf unserm grünen Sofa" stands out in particular and will likely resonate with all downtempo enthusiasts. Lutz Boberg recalls that many of these recordings were captured during a single afternoon in the studio, fueled by spontaneous ideas and creative momentum.

On tracks such as "Teardrops in Your Eyes," "New Love," and the haunting Dark Spirits Mix of Ghia's song "What's Your Voodoo?", singer Lisa Ohm delivers soulful pop performances with her clear and captivating voice. "Change Your Sex," the third track previously featured on the Mikado sampler, leans more toward late-1980s funk and was aimed at radio and DJs at the time. Its subject matter was relatively daring for the period, telling the story of someone contemplating a change of sex "to get rid of the troubles."

Together with "This Is" and "Curacao Blue", "Tender Rain" forms another essential chapter in the rediscovery of the band's work. More than thirty years after their creation, these recordings still sound strikingly fresh, reflecting a unique style that in many ways anticipated the rise of trip-hop in the early to mid-1990s.

After months of working exclusively on his own repertoire, Matmatah is slowly recovering from his 30th birthday by returning to his first love: covering other people’s songs !
Because Matmatah comes from there, from the steamy atmosphere of bars and clubs.
Back in the day, they played loads of covers. Oh yes, they certainly did.
So why not put a few of them together on an album?
It’s a must, isn’t it?
Except that… There are many ways to record an album of covers.
The band could have taken the easy route and covered the songs they loved in their early days. But that would be to misunderstand these lads. They needed to come up with a proper concept to justify such a project.
They came up with two:
To tackle styles that are diametrically opposed to their own, so they could better make them their own.
To broaden their linguistic repertoire and experiment with different sounds.
The result is a rich, joyful and socially conscious collection of 20 songs, written between the 18th and 21st centuries and performed in no fewer than 10 European languages. A fine tribute to the continent’s diversity.
To spice up this project, they’ve brought in the whirlwind that is Fanny Gillard on vocals for ‘Eisbär’ and ‘Putain Putain’, the powerful voice of Morgane Mercier on the eerie ‘Alison Gross’, mentor Patrick Marie for a space-age ‘Kan Ha Diskan’, and the immense Kevin Camus on the uilleann pipes and whistle for ‘The Winner Takes It All’.
Matmatah takes a wild ride, travelling across Europe and through time, having fun and cheekily reworking songs he never imagined he’d play.
Find the lynx!

‘Their ability to harmonize together is stunning, their reedy voices coming together and pulling apart amid delicate fingerstyle guitar and concertina deployed in just intonation, which imparts a deeply resonant, almost glowing harmonic presence. It’s all quite subtle, and if you only listen to the way the voices of Cater and Rasten blend you might even miss it—but the full sonic spectrum is what distinguishes and, in certain ways, connects it to traditional practice… Although the album is pure balladry, unfolding with exquisite patience, each song contains nifty little flourishes or instrumental elements that set them apart, such as the slide guitar and wheezy bass harmonica on For the Ear That is No More, or the slow peal of trumpet on Death and the Lady, courtesy of Rasten’s partner in Pip and Oker, Torstein Lavik Larsen. (Peter Margasak, Nowhere Street).
‘All done with such grace and elegance, without a note wasted or any required. Wonderful… faultless and deeply considered’ (Glenn Kimpton, KLOF).

Three high English and Scottish ballads, and three original settings of European folk tales.
Matt gatefold cover; gloss spot varnish.
Check it out!

Around 1983 it looked as if Tokyo Blade were destined to become the next Iron Maiden. But somehow it wasn’t to be – history was not kind to them! In the end Tokyo Blade never became the next superstars of the glorious New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement. “Night Of The Blade” was the follow-up to Tokyo Blade's extremely successful self-titled debut album. The band's second record was originally released in 1984 on the English Powerstation label and contained classic Tokyo Blade songs such as “Lightning Strikes”, “Unleash The Beast” or the title track. On the other hand, Tokyo Blade presented some more melodic numbers such as “Someone To Love” or “Rock Me To The Limit”. This slight alteration of the band's musical direction was partly due to the change of the vocalist (Alan Marsh was substituted by Vicki Wright). Guitarist Andy Boulton comments on the differences between Marsh and Wright: “Vic was a different person to Alan, but Alan had been a friend I had known for quite a long time and was a key figure in the band's early success, it was a sad day when we parted ways. Alan was just different from Vic and he had his own distinct sound. I don't want to talk about who was better or whatever, it's for the fans to decide. The material on 'Night Of The Blade' was all brand new, no leftovers from from Killer or Genghis Khan.” Tokyo Blade's debut (1983) and “Night Of The Blade” (1984) are two of the best albums of the entire New Wave Of British Heavy Metal period. “Night Of The Blade” was recorded by Vicki James Wright (vocals), Andy Boulton (guitar), John Wiggins (guitar), Andy Wrighton (bass) and Steve Pierce (drums). High Roller Records is proud to re-issue this long-deleted classic once again on glorious vinyl.

KITCHEN. LABEL is proud to present AGATE, the latest album by Japanese artist MEITEI, marking a deepening of the world he first shaped through his Kofū trilogy released between 2020 - 2023.

Named after the mineral agate, a stone formed through slow accumulation, pressure, and time, the album reflects MEITEI’s patient approach to sound. AGATE brings together extended and newly rearranged works from across the Kofū cycle alongside new compositions and passages, refining material developed through years of performance and sustained practice.

The album presents seven tracks:

HAŌ (Previously unreleased track)
SHIN-OIRAN (Remodeled from Oiran I, Kofū 2020)
SHIN-SADAYAKKO (Remodeled from Sadayakko, Kofū 2020)
SHIN-WAROSOKU (Remodeled from Wa-rōsoku, Kofū III 2023)
KYŪGEKI (Remodeled from Shinobi and Akira Kurosawa, Kofū II 2021)
SHIN-OIRAN II (Remodeled from Oiran II, Kofū 2020)
SHIN-EDOGAWARANPO (Remodeled from Edogawa Ranpo, Kofū III 2023)
Across these works, MEITEI expands the musical vocabulary first introduced in Kofū, a sound he once described as “lost Japanese mood.” While Kofū drew from fragments of folklore, theatre, ghost stories, and forgotten urban memory, it was never an act of historical reconstruction. Rather, it reflected a sensibility of the past observed from the present. With AGATE, this worldview is clarified as Shinpu, a process of discovery in which historical awareness becomes a foundation for contemporary creation rather than a constraint.

During five years of Kofū tours across Japan, Europe, and Asia, MEITEI performed this material in a wide range of spaces, from underground live houses and listening rooms to culturally significant sites. These environments influenced pacing, dynamics, and structure, shaping how the material evolved over time. AGATE is therefore not only a studio album, but the result of material refined through repeated performance.

If the Kofū albums were windows into forgotten eras, AGATE explores what lies beneath, sediment and strata formed through time and pressure. MEITEI’s approach to sound mirrors the nature of agate itself. Grains become texture. Texture becomes narrative. Voices drift through decaying layers of sound, while ancient instruments are used in non-traditional ways, forming distinctive percussive rhythms and melodies that appear and vanish without fixed resolution.

The album’s visual materials were developed under MEITEI’s direction through physical art-making processes. The cover artwork originates from a letterpress print created by Kamisoe, a Karakami atelier in Nishijin, Kyoto, using Kyo-karakami paper. The original artwork, produced through traditional woodblock techniques on handmade washi, was subsequently reproduced on print for the album edition. Kamisoe continues to reinterpret this historical Kyoto craft with a contemporary sensibility.

The title calligraphy was created by Bio Xie, whom MEITEI personally invited to participate in the project. During his performances abroad, MEITEI encountered in Taiwan a lingering atmosphere reminiscent of “Shitsunihon” — a sense of old Japanese memory that quietly endures beyond time. He was deeply drawn to Bio Xie’s distinctive use of Chinese characters, which resonated with this experience, and asked him to contribute to the visual expression of AGATE.

In parallel, MEITEI continues to reinterpret Japanese sensibility through his concept of “Shitsunihon,” presenting it as a contemporary musical language. The refined Kyoto motifs envisioned by Kamisoe and the distinctive calligraphic expression by Bio Xie intersect with MEITEI’s singular artistic direction, weaving together a newly articulated worldview.

The accompanying visual imagery, including the liner photographs, was created by photographer Hiroshi Okamoto, who was also responsible for the visual direction of MEITEI’s previous work, “Sen'nyū.” It draws from MEITEI’s lived experiences of winter seas, solitary cliffs, and breaking waves. These scenes symbolize the inner conflicts of the ten years he spent living in Hiroshima, and his confrontation with solitude and the sounds he creates.

AGATE will be released on 17 April 2025 via KITCHEN. LABEL on 180g vinyl, CD, and digital formats. The album is mastered by Kelly Hibbert, known for his work with Flying Lotus, Madlib, and J Dilla.

With AGATE, MEITEI returns to the material of Kofū with greater focus and discipline, continuing an ongoing process of working forward with inherited material.

The year that NOW’s story began, and where we started our ‘Yearbook’ series back in 2021. An incredible year in Pop music, and a fabulous selection of the years’ hits have featured on that first ‘Yearbook’, and on the ‘80-84 Final’ as part of our appreciation of 1983. Those tracks were generally the bigger hits of the year, with their Chart achievement a factor in their inclusion. However, that’s not the whole story, and our celebration of 1983 wouldn’t be complete without shining a light on some of the year’s singles that have been compiled much less frequently over the past 40 years. Welcome to the THE VAULT for 1983…Some of the tracks were Top 40 hits, some missed the Chart completely, and some were huge in the U.S. and not in the U.K. – but all are part of the wonderful Pop story of 1983. Released as 80 tracks across 4-CDs, available as a standard 4CD and as a a special edition 4CD in ‘hardback book’ packaging featuring a 28-page track by track guide, original singles artwork and a quiz and 45 tracks across 3-LPs, pressed on stunning translucent red vinyl -

Few artists can make chaos sound this fun. Steel Beans, the self-titled album from the genre-bending one-man band, is a wild ride through rock, funk, jazz, and whatever else happens to cross the radar of Everett, WA’s Jeremy DeBardi — the multi-instrumentalist and mad scientist behind it all. Known for his jaw-dropping live performances where he sings, shreds guitar, and drums at the same time, Steel Beans brings that same unfiltered energy to tape, capturing the spirit of a garage jam gone cosmic.

The album moves effortlessly from fuzzed-out psych-rock to greasy funk breakdowns and tongue-in-cheek lyricism, mixing humor and virtuosity in equal measure. It’s unpredictable, unpolished in all the right ways, and full of personality — the kind of record that feels alive because it’s never trying to be perfect. Steel Beans isn’t just an album; it’s a reminder that music can still be weird, raw, fun, and ridiculously entertaining. Whether you’re hearing him for the first time or you’ve already seen the madness live, this album is the perfect introduction to the wild world of Steel Beans.