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The long-awaited reissue of this rare Eastern and psychedelic Jazz LP by the famous Hungarian guitarist, originally
released in 1968. For the first time and as extended Edition with four bonus tracks: radio version from 1968/69 7”
singles 7”. Deluxe 6-sided Digipak CD with 20 page booklet and Gatefold Vinyl comes with long, exclusively written
inner notes by the famous researcher and biographer Douglas Payne.
“The performances on this LP have a restrained, introspective quality. Szabo’s work is lyrical, rather economical, and
somewhat angular, and his tone is warm and glowing.” – Harvey Pekar, DownBeat
“Gabor Szabo is at the musical zenith of his career. This album could rank as his best to date.” - Billboard
“But for sheer lyrical beauty, few players are in Szabo’s class. His startling use of dissonance is a delight, too, and
time and again he will alter a final phrase just slightly, totally reorienting a familiar tune.” – Alan Heineman, DownBeat
“This is definitely one of my ‘go to’ Gabor albums.” Mike Stax, Ugly Things
"Gabor Szabo’s Bacchanal documents one of the earliest and finest examples of what was then known as “jazz rock.”
Years before this new jazz style evolved – or devolved, according to some – into “fusion,” jazz rock was mostly
fashioned by younger jazz players whose ears were open to the emerging sounds coming out of rock and roll,
especially those of the Beatles and, later, Jimi Hendrix. " - Douglas Payne
After recording four albums for Impulse in 1967, the distinctive guitarist Gabor Szabo cut three strongest records for
the Skye label in 1968-1969: "1969", "Dreams" and "Bacchanal" all of them became a legendary classic. This time
EBALUNGA!!! are rediscovers "Bacchanal". Szabo's regular group of the era is heard on record for the last time:
guitarist Jimmy Stewart, bassist Louis Kabok, drummer Jim Keltner and percussionist Hal Gordon. With the exception
of two Szabo originals, the material is comprised of current pop tunes including two songs by Donovan, "Love Is Blue,"
"The Look of Love" and "Theme from the Valley of the Dolls."
Gabor Szabo was one of the most original guitarists to emerge in the 1960s, mixing his Hungarian folk music heritage
with a deep love of jazz and creating a distinctive, largely self-taught sound.
Born in Budapest, on March 8, 1936, Szabo was inspired by a Roy Rogers cowboy movie to begin playing guitar when
he was 14 and often played in dinner clubs and covert jam sessions while still living in his hometown. He escaped
from his country at age 20 on the eve of the Communist uprising and eventually made his way to America, settling
with his family in California.
He attended Berklee College (1958-1960) and in 1961 joined Chico Hamilton's innovative quintet featuring Charles
Lloyd. Urged by Hamilton, Szabo crafted a most distinctive sound; as agile on intricate, nearly-free runs as he was
able to sound inspired during melodic passages. Szabo left the Hamilton group in 1965 to leave his mark on the popjazz of the Gary McFarland quintet and the energy music of Charles Lloyd's fiery and underrated quartet featuring Ron
Carter and Tony Williams.Szabo initiated a solo career in 1966, recording the exceptional album, Spellbinder, which yielded many inspired
moments and "Gypsy Queen," the song Santana turned into a huge hit in 1970. Szabo formed an innovative quintet
(1967-1969) featuring the brilliant, classically trained guitarist Jimmy Stewart and recorded many notable albums
during the late '60s. The emergence of rock music (especially George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix) found
Szabo experimenting with feedback and more commercially oriented forms of jazz.
During the '70s, Szabo regularly performed along the West Coast, hypnotizing audiences with his enchanting,
spellbinding style. From 1970, he locked into a commercial groove, even though records like Mizrab occasionally
revealed his seamless jazz, pop, Gypsy, Indian, and Asian fusions. Szabo had revisited his homeland several times
during the '70s, finding opportunities to perform brilliantly with native talents. He was hospitalized during his final visit
and died in 1982, just short of his 46th birthday.

Mall Girl: «Superstar» Jansen Records 2022 «Superstar», the debut record from Norwegian art-pop outfit Mall Girl, represents an exciting new chapter for the buzzed-about band. The release follows a string of successful singles, including their 2018 track “Slay Queen,” which introduced them as an act to watch in the alt-pop arena. The chaotic year of 2020 brought a string of infectious, vibey singles, including “My Sweet Mall Girl” and the fierce “Bad Girl." Members Iver Armand Tandsether, Hannah Veslemøy Narvesen, Eskild Myrvoll and Bethany Forseth-Reichberg were forced to get creative when the pandemic hit, sidelining best-laid plans to flesh out some songs before heading into the studio together. "Because of COVID regulations and the four of us living in two different cities, we changed the way we worked with the songs quite radically in the months leading up to the studio recording,” Narvesen says. "We’ve always been very oriented towards the live performance of the songs, including when we compose them together in our rehearsal space. That way of working has led to some challenges when recording, as you end up listening to the songs in a different manner and might figure out you should have done everything differently." While others put their creative endeavors on hold, Mall Girl opted to try something different. Many of the songs on «Superstar» were tracks that the band regularly performed, but they wanted to seize the opportunity to evolve their sound even more. “We actually ended up ‘remote composing’ big parts of the album, with everyone working from their own home studio and bouncing ideas back and forth,” Narvesen explains. "This was a very welcome change of workflow for us, and it lead to us making some songs which probably wouldn’t have turned out that way had we been together in the same room." This experimental shift in their creative process led to the creation of songs bursting with infectious hooks, hypnotizing grooves and punchy lyrics.

While Bobby Oroza puts the finishing touches on his next album, he treats us to this killer two-sider to end out 2021 and hold us over until the new record is finished. Bobby's debut album "This Love" made big waves around the world and amassed him a cult following from the US to Japan and everywhere in between. He found big love in the sweet soul scene early, but has since made fans in a myriad of circles and subcultures globally. It has by now become clear that his music is not just one thing, analog soul textured for sure, but also with an array of influences that span far beyond the soul ballad world. It is that inability to really nail down his sound that has become the biggest charm, an esoteric and profound passion permeate the lyrics and vibe of everything about Mr. Oroza. This new 7" shows off two sides of Bobby's song writing, an upbeat number on the "plug" side and a heavy duty ballad on the flip. The A side "The Otherside" is an optimistic tune that Bobby humbly shares his story about the troubles we can create for ourselves and the possibility of having a change of mind that frees us from them. The track is equally encouraging with its sunny energy that carries an important message from Bobby to anyone who is struggling and can't see a way out. The B side "Make Me Believe" is another instant classic for the slowie enthusiasts. A moody, soul bearing, cry for help that comes off with a sweet- ness.

Bristol techno, noise and hardcore supremos SCALPING are
releasing their highly anticipated debut album ‘Void’.
‘Void’ comes on the heels of an extremely exciting 2021 for the
band, which saw them play to sold-out crowds at the Roundhouse
twice in two weeks - both on tour with Squarepusher and at
Pitchfork Festival London - as well as releasing two widely
acclaimed EPs titled ‘FLOOD’ and ‘FLOOD Remixed’, the latter of
which featured treatments from producers Hodge, Azu Tiwaline,
object blue, AQXDM and Laurel Halo and Scottish instrumental
rock legends Mogwai.

SCALPING are heavy metal in 4D; the sound is moody, distorted
and rhythmic, but the use of electronic techniques gives the finer
details room to breathe, making more space for experimentation.
Tracks such as ‘Tether’, featuring Oakland rapper DÆMON, puts
a modern, metal twist on Bristolian trip-hop, whereas album closer
‘Remain in Statis’ features fast-rising artist Grove, a Bristol-based
rapper and self-professed metalhead whose commanding
presence sets the track alight.

In the heat and darkness, it’s a swarm of low-end frequencies and
ripping guitars, somewhere between Black Sabbath-esque
psychedelica and The Bug’s sub-bass headfuckery. Live, the
effect is immense. SCALPING play continuously for the duration of
their sets, generating a storm of metal-and-techno through a rising
beats-per-minute count.

‘Void’ will be put to the test, as the band kicks off an eight-date UK
headline tour, culminating in a live performance at fabric on May
5th. As live shows return in 2022, SCALPING will continue to
prove themselves as one of the UK’s most impressive, ambitious,
and original new live bands.

25TH DELUXE ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF AMERICAN BABYLON FEATURING LIVE TRACKS WITH BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Grushecky and his band had been a club fixture in the Northeast for nearly 25 years when they released American Babylon in 1995. The Pittsburgh band had proven themselves to be the consummate bar band with occasional flirtations with national success. American Babylon found them teaming up with Bruce Springsteen, who handles production, plays on several tracks, and wrote two songs for the album. The title track is an uptempo rocker detailing the disintegration of societal mores. There are plenty of songs outlining love gone wrong and the struggles of common folk, all delivered in Grushecky’s warm, well-worn voice over a barroom mixture of blues-based traditional rock. However, delivered with such earnestness and spirit makes American Babylon a worthy contender and an enjoyable listen for fans of Mellencamp, Seger, and, especially, Springsteen. The 25th anniversary deluxe reissue edition will include LIVE tracks from the Houserockers’ legendary October Assault Tour recorded at an enthusiastic hometown show that same year. “American Babylon is an impassioned, sharply-etched portrait of working-stiff triumphs and travails.” -Rick Reger, Chicago Tribune “As the leader of the Pittsburgh-based Iron City Houserockers, Joe Grushecky hammered out four heartland rock albums in the late 70s and early 1980s. These won over more critics than fans, so he became a special education teacher to support his family. Still, he maintained a close relationship with Bruce Springsteen, and in 1995, they teamed up for American Babylon. The two remain tight and play together at least once a year, but this album remains their greatest joint accomplishment.” -Rolling Stone “At a time when rock had splintered into grunge, industrial, alternative, and more, Joe Grushecky planted a defiant flag in the soul of rock and roll with American Babylon--one of the very best and undeservedly overlooked albums of the 1990s, and one that sounds just as fresh, vibrant, and relevant 25 years later. Bruce Springsteen may have helped bring the album to life, but his contributions only elevate a collection of songs that in another time would have been radio classics on their own.” -Ken Rosen, E Street Shuffle

On their third album »Constant Connection«, West Australian-based Erasers create hypnotic compositions of synth, guitar and voice, evoking the vast expanse of their native landscape and the shrouded emotions behind the senses. Comprising of vocalist, synth player Rebecca Orchard and Rupert Thomas on guitar and synths, Erasers have developed their earthly kosmische music into an open language based on drone, variation in repetition and minimal song structures. Based in Perth, regarded one of the most isolated cities in the world, Orchard and Thomas’s music has brewed in the city’s vibrant DIY/Outsider community and evolved into a meditation on landscape, power, the shadow-world of human emotions and stream of consciousness. »Constant Connection«, with its waves of sound and chant-like vocals evokes a trance that suggests an infinity just beyond the senses.

At the heart of each Erasers composition is the interplay between the instrumentation, played with stoic restraint and recorded directly with minimal effects and the transcendental states induced in the listener. It’s a magic that is performed in plain sight and all the more powerful for it. The recognisable vibrato of Fender Rhodes keyboards and simple drum machine loops, the subtle strands of analog synth melodies that snake in and out of the ear, above all the towering encantations of Rebecca Orchard’s undeniably Australian-accented hymns; all of this is presented with minimal ostentation and yet it instantly engenders a dream state, hints at an infinity beyond the material.

Shades of John Cale’s 70s work with Nico, early 70s German synthesists Kluster and even fellow Australians Fabulous Diamonds can be seen as stylistic touchstones for Constant Connection. Where Nico hinted at the macabre and gothic, Rebecca Orchard’s similarly gliding vocal is more zoned in to a kind of oceanic openness, with words becoming chants and spells that suggested themselves to the singer during recording sessions. It’s this hidden hand of improvisatory, automatic writing that lends a sense of expanse to the music. On opener I Understand, while the lyrics might hint at discontent the emotional spectrum it opens up is far more rich and complex, as layered as the waves of droning chords that are the bedrock of each Erasers track. The title track talks of flow, continuum and balance, the protagonist in the song seemingly weightless, gently pulled through a walking reality that borders on dream. In Erasers’ world, it seems, the borders between reality and dream, consciousness and sub-consciousness are blurred and eroded.

On Constant Connection, Erasers’ music might be deeply evocative of landscape but it’s never clear which one. The vast, open terrain that surrounds Perth is dusty, burned by the sun into desert and Constant Connection feels like the product of the heat and relative isolation, the altered states these elements can create. But it’s these altered states of mind that appear to be the real landscape described by Erasers. It’s a landscape that’s hazy, in-and-out of focus, with emotional undertows pushing and pulling you into a weightlessness. On album closer Easy To See the band dispense with percussion all together, field recordings of the water at the edge of their native city ushering in two duetting synths. Orchard’s vocal undulates with the flow, viewing both the geographical and psychological landscape from the perspective of a consciousness not bound by bodies and from a timescale measured in millennia. The album ends as it begins, with field recordings of the real world that the music seeps out from, temporarily, before regressing back into the other realm it feels like it belongs to.

Between these two recorded hints of reality, Erasers manifest a deeply sensual dreamscape that constantly feels like it’s dissolving at its seams. A desert psychedelia emanating from a real world that might not be that real in the first place.

Often when music is constructed with synths and other electronically generated sound makers, their level of exactitude and control is such that the vocalist will either wittingly or otherwise seek to emulate the relative artifice of the soundscape. This is often done to great effect, think Kraftwerk. But what if there was a unit whose music was synth-generated but the vocals were coming from a hot-blooded, singing-for-the-cheap-seats approach? If done well, it’s a case of two great tastes that taste great together, which brings me to System Exclusive.

Their multi genre / time period collision is like a car accident where all parties walk away not only unscathed but sure they had a great time, like two different recording sessions sharing the same space and making it work. Vocalist Ari Blaisdell (previously of Lower Self, The Beat Offs) co-exists excellently amidst the driving beats and synth waves and her guitar further helps to jailbreak the tunes from the often sterile entrapments that synths provide. Matt Jones (previously of Male Gaze, Blasted Canyons, and continuing Castle Face behind-the-scenesman)’s smart use of live drums bring great juxtaposition against the machines. Ari’s irony-free sincere delivery is the perfect closer on this very cool record, recorded ably by Enrique Tena Padilla (Osees, Wand, Beach House) in their backyard studio mid-pandemic and adorned with original artwork by Miles Wintner (L.A. Takedown, Mr. Elevator, Devon Williams). If you don’t get this slab of goodness, well, that act of non-compliance will confirm you as the pain-in-the-ass that many have described you to be in great detail during Zoom chats. How dare they! Prove them wrong! Reduce their snark to mere pseudo-intellectual piffle! Your lifeline arrives in March. Grab it. — Henry Rollins

We've always done things our own way and without any outside pressure,” says Paul Isherwood of The Soundcarriers. “Making music like this keeps things fresh, you always lose something and gain something as you go along but I think of it as just another chapter.”

There have been many chapters in the life of the band to date and each one is defined by the singular approach and style of the group. Since forming in 2007 the band - comprised of Isherwood, Adam Cann, Dorian Conway and Leonore Wheatley - have released three albums that position them as a distinct and unique force in British music. Eschewing fads and trends that come and go, they have instead focused on honing their own sonic world that glides between woozy psychedelia, immersive grooves, subtle pop and rich, enveloping soundscapes. They’ve consistently moved at their own pace and on their own terms and on their fourth album, Wilds, they return after seven years since their last. “The sessions started in a cottage in the wilds so there's a literal meaning,” Isherwood says of the title. “But figuratively we've pretty much been in the wild for the last few years as far as a lot of people are concerned.”

The recording was staggered over a few different locations, from cottages to primary schools, before finishing in an art gallery. “The beauty of recording in non-studio studios is you have the time for the unexpected to happen,” says Isherwood. “Which is really what keeps you coming back for more.” As a result of the timeframe of the album, it’s one that has changed and grown a lot over the years. “The record has been through a lot of stages,” says Isherwood. “It's almost been circular. We started off wanting to do an album of more shorter, concise tracks and then sort of sidestepped into some more spacey ambient ideas so in a way the album is kind of a synthesis of the two phases, overall carrying on with many of the themes and influences of the first three but with a more focused approach.”

The opening ‘Waves’ leaps out the gate with an infectious hook kissed by a touch of French pop before leaping into a devilishly catchy chorus and into a mini prog-like flute breakdown. It sets the tone for an album that is rich in adventure and unpredictability that manages to balance experimentation with accessibility. ‘At The Time’ is almost unrelenting in its grinding charge, managing to create a groove that cracks and pulses at the same time, ‘Wilds’ is a gorgeously floating piece of music that skips along with strutting bass as Wheatley’s vocals merge melody with texture magically. The closing ‘Happens Too Soon gently stirs to life with an almost pastoral folk air to it, as it slowly builds into swirling psych pop rich in texture before reaching a rousing crescendo. “I feel this album sums up a lot of our influences,” says Isherwood. “There’s a strong folk influence in the sense of the actual songwriting but musically we wanted to create songs that were like those rare oddities you find on a bizarre charity shop record. A collection of "one offs" capturing a moment rather than trying to make a hit song.”

This sense of it being an album of unique songs is clearly apparent throughout but it also maintains a natural flow and cohesion. This is something that stems from the band’s approach to songwriting for the record. “A lot of the tracks started with a feel or groove,” says Isherwood. “Then building it into a more concise arranged piece. We were conscious that we didn't want the recording to sound too over-polished so although a lot of the tracks were quite painstaking in how they evolved we wanted the actual recording to be quite raw and not be reliant on cutting things up or overly editing things. We wanted it to sound natural rather than perfect.”

By the power of darkness and the might of black-hearted will no two Mayhem albums have been or will be the same. Over the course of Mayhem’s storied and groundbreaking 35-year career—from De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) through Esoteric Warfare (2014)—the Norwegians have continuously challenged the orthodoxy of the genre they helped create. Originally informed by greats Hellhammer, Venom, Bathory, and Sodom, the Norwegians eventually imbued their damnable attack with influences from all over the music extreme spectrum, indicated first on the harsh and angular Wolf’s Lair Abyss (1997) EP and foremost on the enterprisingly brutal and revolutionary Grand Declaration of War (2000). In 2019, Mayhem yet again reinvent on new album, Daemon. “Mayhem will always be Mayhem,” says guitarist/songwriter Teloch (aka Morten Bergeton Iversen) says. “If we put the genre game aside a bit, no one else sounds like Mayhem. Even when De Mysteriis came out, it was not at first considered to be a black metal album, if my memory serves me right. Tricky to label this band, metal would be the most fitting; it’s not pure black metal in my opinion. Not sure it has ever been actually, despite what the general opinion is. People can call it whatever they want. If it’s black metal to them, then fine. We don’t really care. But to me it’s important to keep some sort of black metal vibe at least

Released in 1958 on Columbia, the five- star review by AllMusic's Thom Jurek called it ".. a classic album with blues material in both bebop and post- bop veins…….which introduced modalism in jazz and defined Davis' subsequent music in the years to follow."A precursor to 'Kind of Blue', 'Milestones' was the first session to feature John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley.

"Davis' statements here are genuinely eloquent. Coltrane's efforts here do indicate that he is rapidly moving toward a niche of his own, absorbing influences but not being obsessed by them. Adderley is less than individualist but is performing on a level of fluency which will make the discovery of a self-sustaining role less difficult in time." - Don Gold, DownBeat (1958)

Released in 1959, The Amazing Nina Simone was Nina Simone's first album for Colpix Records. In contrast to her debut album 'Little Girl Blue' (Bethlehem Records), which highlighted her piano playing as well as her singing, this production downplayed the piano in favour of string arrangements. The production also featured a variety of material, including jazz, gospel, and folk
songs.

"There is a remarkable amount of variety on this disc, Nina Simone's second recording. She does not play much piano (just cameos on two songs) and is backed by a subtle orchestra arranged by Bob Mersey that is effective accompanying her vocals. This session finds Nina Simone's voice in top form and with a few exceptions is generally jazz-oriented." - Scott Yanow, AllMusic

"The exquisite corpse shall drink the new wine", wrote the French Surrealists almost 100 years ago, and from this missive stems the parlor game in which we partake here. Through obscuring the tower itself, they cobble together meandering staircases in which to ascend with absent-minded haste; spontaneous line-weaving amasses figures and phrases into new planes of thought, therefore holding captive the illusion of creative reciprocity. Although housed in unrecognizable quarters, dull rain now tallies itself upon your window panes just as it once kept count on theirs. Apparitions unknown sound instruments of winding origin in celebration of the ink dry in the well. A graffito of tea leaves stains the porcelain cup.

This cloven tall-tale traces an epistolary journey between id and consciousness upon a page that has been adorned and wiped clean again and again and again. The wet meadow expands and contracts within a breath, moving through the windpipe to expel upon the glistening dew. From this dew rises anthills of diminishing complexity, and busying themselves within insanity, the occupants labor to hold fast against the unseen wave of oblivion.

An exercise in aleatoric sentence-finishing between two aligned performers, The Exquisite Corpse Shall Drink the New Wine mimics the economics of unconscious beauty-making to such a degree that light will neither pass through it nor divert its path. Draw upon it what you will, and ready yourself for the unrelenting ataraxy.

Linda Fredriksson (they/them) shares their debut solo album "Juniper" on We Jazz Records, 29 Oct 2021. Linda (of Mopo and Superposition) has been working on the compositions heard on the album for several years, composing them mostly on guitar, keys and by singing. Only later have they been arranged for the band heard on the album, including Fredriksson on saxes and various instruments, Tuomo Prättälä (of ilmiliekki Quartet) on rhodes, moog and piano, Minna Koivisto on modular synth, moog and OP, Olavi Louhivuori (of Superposition) on drums, and Mikael Saastamoinen (of OK:KO and Superposition) on bass, plus featuring the Swedish artist Matti Bye on piano.

At heart, "Juniper" is a "singer-songwriter album", performed by an instrumental jazz band. The end result is unique, personal, and as Linda themself puts it "quiet and introspective". The first single from the album is "Neon Light and the sky was trans", "a song from the shining streets – the beginning of something new", featuring field recordings of rain falling down behind the window of Linda's Helsinki working space.

It's a fitting introduction to an album full on wonders and carefully crafted secrets ready to be discovered. "Juniper" is a world unto itself, and Fredriksson describes the process as one of isolation and of learning slowly to do new things. After the demo stage, the songs were taken to the full band, but what's on the record often stays true to the minimal nature of the early demos. Linda credits their co-producer Minna Koivisto as a key ally in the process of maintaining the demo sessions' fragile beauty on the actual finished record.

With regards to instrumentation, those who have heard Linda Fredriksson in Mopo and Superposition are likely to be surprised by their credit listing including not only alto and baritone saxophones, plus bass clarinet, but also guitar, Rhythmic8 synths, ambience recordings and drum programming. Linda describes the way of finding new sounds through their beloved old guitar as follows: "It's an old acoustic guitar that has been hit by a car and is literally full of holes, but that makes the sound just perfect for this album and you can hear the instrument on 'Pinetree song' and 'Lempilauluni' (Finnish for 'My Loved Song')."

In fact, Linda began their music-making with guitar and vocals, and the debut of the hole-filled vintage acoustic guitar makes perfect sense here, while also describing the album's immediate sound perhaps better than any other individual instrument used. The influence list for the album name checks the likes of Feist, Neil Young, Susanne Sundfør, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Eric Dolphy and Fever Ray, yet the number one inspiration for Fredriksson prior to making the album was "Carrie and Lowell", the 2017 album by Sufjan Stevens. Different as the albums are in terms of instrumentation and general scope, it's fascinating to draw parallels between them by listening to the quietness and immediacy of the music. "Nana – Tepalle" also relates to the world of "Carrie and Lowell" in being a dedication to a lost family member, Linda's grandmother (she is featured in the digital single artwork).

Throughout the album, Linda plays their saxophones in a way that is serving music first and foremost. The musician's ego, so often at the forefront in jazz, takes a backseat, and the songs themselves remain. Linda thinks as a composer, utilising their instrument where and how necessary, not presenting "chops". "It's sometimes hard to play simple," they say, "but I tried to follow my instinct about what the songs need. The mood rules here, any solos or improvisations happen around that at all times."

"Juniper" can still be heard as a jazz album, but perhaps one reminding that the word doesn't need to mean any one thing in particular. At its best, jazz music is highly personal and "of the moment", both true on "Juniper". The album has been made in two different studios, three homes, two summer cottages and four working spaces. It was recorded with professional studio equipment but also with an iPhone and on a basic built-in laptop speaker. With that, "Juniper" stands as a remarkable musical diary of a creative musician and composer during the early 2020's.

"Way back in the 1990s, Mark Hand, Neil Iceton & Jez Nicholl channelled their love of sci-fi-fired Motor City techno into a string of inspired releases under the alias Cubic Space Collective.

After reuniting for a memorable machine jam at Freerotation festival in 2016, Hand & Iceton headed back into the studio for a one-off session and recorded 'Holiday in Beta Centauri', a musical love letter to Mad Mike and the rest of Detroit's most militant futurist techno crew.

Sending us surging skywards via 'Binary System', where lilting lead lines, fizzing electronics and enveloping chords dance atop a snappy, cymbal-heavy drum machine rhythm, before 'Arps in Hyperspace' sees them step things up a notch via layered waves of synths, sparkling melodies and a driving, hyper-speed groove.

The North-East-based twosome then attempt to warm us to the core in the shape of 'Rigil': restless organ stabs, undulating Michigan bass, alien electronics, psychedelic acid lines and Galaxy 2 Galaxy style chords catching the ear. Bringing us gently back down to earth, they complete their deep space mission with 'Beyond The Nebula (Holiday in Beta Centauri)', a bustling electro number full of stabbing analogue bass, star-burst electronics, meditative ambient chords that shimmer full of night-sky melodies.

A fine return to action for this Teesside UR-loving techno twosome... 3,167 miles away in Detroit, their achievement will be noted."

“They were so solid. They meant what they said, they did what they did… here’s two guys, a guitar player and a harmonica player, and they could make it sound like a whole orchestra.” – Taj Mahal

“It was perfect. What else can you say?” – Ry Cooder

Nearly sixty years after they first played together, Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, longtime friends and collaborators, reunite with an album of music from two Piedmont blues masters who have inspired them all their lives: GET ON BOARD: THE SONGS OF SONNY TERRY & BROWNIE MCGHEE, on Nonesuch Records.

With Taj Mahal on vocals, harmonica, guitar, and piano and Cooder on vocals, guitar, mandolin, and banjo – joined by Joachim Cooder on drums and bass – the duo recorded eleven songs drawn from recordings and live performances by Terry and McGhee, who they both first heard as teenagers in California.

Explaining where Terry and McGhee took him musically, Cooder says, “Down the road, away from Santa Monica. Where everything was good. ‘I have got to get out of here,’ was all I could think. What do you do, fourteen, eighteen years old? I was trapped. But that first record, Get on Board, the 10” on Folkways, was so wonderful, I could understand the guitar playing.”

Taj Mahal adds, “I started hearing them when I was about nineteen, and I wanted to go to these coffee houses, ‘cause I heard that these old guys were playing. I knew that there was a river out there somewhere that I could get into, and once I got in it, I’d be all right. They brought the whole package for me.”

Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder originally joined forces in 1965, forming The Rising Sons when Cooder was just seventeen. The band was signed to Columbia Records but an album was not released and the group disbanded a year later. The 1960s recording sessions, widely bootlegged, were finally issued officially in 1992. GET ON BOARD is Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder’s first recording together since then.

Harmonica player Sonny Terry and guitarist Brownie McGhee, both originally from the southeastern United States, had active solo careers as well as collaborating with some of the most celebrated musicians of their time. But they were best known for their forty-five-year partnership, which began in 1939 and included mesmerising live performances around the world and numerous acclaimed recordings.

Their Piedmont blues style became popular during the folk music revival of the 1940s and ’50s, centered in New York City’s flourishing club scene for jazz, boogie-woogie, blues and folk music. Terry and McGhee traveled in the same circles as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, and Josh White, among others in a rich mix of writers, actors and musicians. As a new generation emerging in the 1960’s drew inspiration from folk and blues, Terry and McGhee toured the world as the foremost exponents of the acoustic music of the Piedmont. They were named National Heritage Fellows in 1982 in recognition of their distinctive musical contributions and accomplishments.

“You got the south on steroids, when you got the music of the south, the culture of the south, the beauty of the south, through Brownie and Sonny,” Taj Mahal says. He describes McGhee as a “solid rhythm player. To really play behind the harp like that. He would set stuff up. He wasn’t making many notes. Sonny had all the notes, running around. But Brownie, he laid it down.” Cooder adds: “This thing of squeezing the thumb and first finger and a little bit of the second finger, which I still do. I’d forgotten where it came from. That’s what Brownie did. I saw him do that and said, ‘I think I can do that.’”

Taj Mahal calls Terry “a wizard harmonica player”. Cooder says, “Sonny had incredible rhythm for one thing. Making sounds with his voice and the harmonica so you couldn’t tell quite which was which. He was good at that.”

“We’ve been doing this a while,” Cooder says. “Perhaps we’ve earned the right to bring it back. Taj Mahal concludes. “We’re now the guys that we aspired toward when we were starting out. Here we are now… old timers. What a great opportunity, to really come full circle.”

Legendary privately pressed 1979 LP from Scotland. This illusive, super rare and sublimely wonderful percussion album is like no other. Hypnotic, celestial, even cosmic and ambient in parts and totally unique in all ways, it was played by a group of 11 girls with an average age of 14. The group included Evelyn Glennie, who was destined to become one of the world’s greatest percussionists. This is her first ever record.

The Cults Percussion Ensemble was a group formed by percussion teaching legend Ron Forbes in the mid 1970s. The ensemble must have one of the best group names of all time. To many it will immediately come across as something sinister, a touch spooky and possibly a bit dramatic too. They are certainly two of those but the use of the word “Cults” here is easily misinterpreted. Cults, in this case, is the suburb of Aberdeen.

The average age of the students was just 14. They came from a few of the schools in the area, including the Cults Academy, Ellon Academy, Aboyne Academy, Inverurie Academy and Powis.

My original copy of the album came from Spitalfields market in London. I loved the music the second it started, because it reminded me of Carl Orff and peculiar library. So I started to investigate it further, and eventually, thanks to the highly tuned world of percussion, was given the address of Ron Forbes. I got in touch with him and now we have this, a formal release of something quite lovely that was only previously available very briefly in 1979 at concerts when the young girls performed.

The music here is really quite unique, with a celestial swirling hypnotic quality. The blend of glockenspiels, xylophones, vibraphones, marimba and timpani drums is quite intoxicating and can recall the shimmering warmth of the desert sun one minute (“Baia”) or freezing glacial ice caps the next (“Circles”). The Ensemble perform with an effortless tightness and deftness of touch, building textured layers with recurring percussive motives which appear simultaneously dense and yet sparse, almost sounding like modern sampling. In fact, while struggling to find a musical comparison, during the pulsating introduction to "Percussion Suite" I found myself recalling "Gamma Player", a piece of soulful Detroit techno minimalism from Jeff Mills (Millsart - “Humana” EP 1995) with its rhythmic percussion layered with complex emotion. Weirdly enough, other tracks on that EP also prominently feature xylophone and tuned percussion, although obviously synthesised and programmed, a good 20 years after the CPE first recorded.

Sleevenotes also include a letter from Ron Forbes:
“I decided to form a percussion group to provide an outlet for my percussion pupils to play music specially written for them. The group soon became well known in the region and as a result of winning the outstanding award at the National Festival of Music for youth on three occasions, they were invited to play at other festivals within Europe, one being in Erlangen in Germany - hence the Erlangen Polka - and Autun in France - hence the Autun Carillon. During these visits we were often asked if we had any recordings and so it was decided to make an LP”.

Thanks to Ron Forbes and Trunk Records, more people can now enjoy the simple hypnotic musical charms of the Cults Percussion Ensemble

White Vinyl

The Duo met on a rainy day in Tilburg (NL) while working for a dance project — they came down from very different roads. Fhunyue, a stage director–performer–musician chameleon, works alone or collaborate with Annalena Fröhlich (Robinrobin, Just Another Woman In Space), Thom Luz, Unplush, Peeping Tom, Dorit Chrysler, Ko Murobushi, Damien Jalet, The Scottish Dance Theatre, Bern Ballett, for a most colourful variety of venues in Europe. She is a member of the music association Bongo Joe (Switzerland). Sven, an established musician living between Hamburg and Nairobi, who released several records on Honest Jons and Bureau B and collaborated with several artists like Shabaka Hutchings, Ogoya Nengo, Marc Ribot, John McEntire, Sofia Jernberg, Nils Frahm, Hauschka, F.S. Blumm and Stefan Schneider.

Their encounter quickly revealed that both their musical sensitivity and their instruments (Marimbas, Drums, Percussions, Electronics, Theremin, Buchla Synthesizer, Piano) matched stunningly, and that they had to play together. After a short while of rocky life adventures and theatre projects in which they collaborated, their off rehearsal sessions would become a lively necessity. The wish to give birth to a project entirely their own, grew so strong that they locked themselves in Sven’s studio at Jaffestrasse in Hamburg, and started working on the debut of their duet. They are happy to present and share with you their labour of love, in hope that it will be good to your heart.

The Duo met on a rainy day in Tilburg (NL) while working for a dance project — they came down from very different roads. Fhunyue, a stage director–performer–musician chameleon, works alone or collaborate with Annalena Fröhlich (Robinrobin, Just Another Woman In Space), Thom Luz, Unplush, Peeping Tom, Dorit Chrysler, Ko Murobushi, Damien Jalet, The Scottish Dance Theatre, Bern Ballett, for a most colourful variety of venues in Europe. She is a member of the music association Bongo Joe (Switzerland). Sven, an established musician living between Hamburg and Nairobi, who released several records on Honest Jons and Bureau B and collaborated with several artists like Shabaka Hutchings, Ogoya Nengo, Marc Ribot, John McEntire, Sofia Jernberg, Nils Frahm, Hauschka, F.S. Blumm and Stefan Schneider.

Their encounter quickly revealed that both their musical sensitivity and their instruments (Marimbas, Drums, Percussions, Electronics, Theremin, Buchla Synthesizer, Piano) matched stunningly, and that they had to play together. After a short while of rocky life adventures and theatre projects in which they collaborated, their off rehearsal sessions would become a lively necessity. The wish to give birth to a project entirely their own, grew so strong that they locked themselves in Sven’s studio at Jaffestrasse in Hamburg, and started working on the debut of their duet. They are happy to present and share with you their labour of love, in hope that it will be good to your heart.

Yosh returns with his fourth Time Is Now release. Following the success of UKG-focused 5-tracker, "The Warning" released at the end of last year, Modulate EP sees the London producer put his inimitable spin on breaks, translating into 4 tracks firmly rooted in the genre's antecedents yet offering something distinctly new.

"New Dawn" is a prime example of Yosh's priceless ability to create something which is at once hard-hitting and soulful with clattering breaks and luscious vocals which float blissfully above them. Next up, "Modulate" adds a thumping 4/4 beat into the equation, creating an assertive march with plenty of swing before "Snap Back" brings the ruffage with a sharp two-step rhythm and fierce bass womps. Finally, it's up to "Track 1" to close proceedings. A real heater, a syncopated triplet rhythm lends it its driving propulsion - almost resembling the club sounds native to northeastern regions of the US such as Jersey and Baltimore. Thudding assertively beneath the stylistic tropes of UKG, this makes for a truly unique sound and solidifies Yosh's status as a highly innovative and forward-facing producer.

Lance Ferguson is back for a killer follow-up 7" to his second volume of classic re-works and re-imaginings, Rare Groove Spectrum Vol. 2 - released on Freestyle in late January on LP, CD and digital formats.

We just couldn't resist putting this take on Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers cover of Gladys Knight's Got Myself a Good Man on a 45. Keeping true to the source, yet somehow simultaneously sounding like no-one else, this version is 100% guaranteed to put a spring in the step of any crowd as the sun starts gradually to come out from hiding. Aside from the faithfully executed and expertly recorded drum-track, which sits pretty higher up in the mix than it's precursor, the star of this particular show comes midway through when Lance's lilting and sun-kissed guitar solo comes gliding in. If you can't move to this, even just a little bit, then you might actually be lacking a pulse. Backing things up is the undeniable latin-funk strut of Mandrill's Mango Meat. Given an instrumental work-out here with Remco Keijer's Flute and Daniel Mougerman's keys putting in work over a heavy-as-lead rhythm section, those delectable salsa-inflicted horns upping the spice levels.

Lance's work across the Rare Groove Spectrum series can often be looked on as something akin to a "live re-edit" on the originals, at times switching up sections or extending the groove. These two choice cuts however are a masterclass in subtly teasing out some of the original elements on the tracks that really make them work on a dance-floor, and bringing those to the fore while retaining 100% respect for the OG arrangements.

This album doesn't blurt it out: There is no loud "Ta-Dah!", no exclamation mark. "The ghost that carried us away" flatters in a rather unobtrusive way. However, it has encircled you after the third song at the latest. Fragile hymns of nonchalant casualness, created by the 24-year-old Sindri Már Sigfússon. Guitars, piano, his almost bashful and yet so present voice. "Nature, mortality, love", these are the topics of his debut album. Even the one who listens only briefly, is able to make them out within the sounds. "Do you remember how the things look when you were young."

Reykjavik again. Iceland, the musical heartland. On top of that, there is a violinist with her voice in the clouds: Gudbjörg Hlin Gudmundsdóttir (violine, vocals, harmonica). There further are musicians Sindri shared his hometown and his passion: Orn (guitar, lapsteel) who forms together with Sindri and Gudbjörg the inner triangle of Seabear. Or Eiki, Orvar, Gudni and Dóri. One plays the flugelhorn, the slide-guitar or upright-bass. One belong to the live line-up of Sigur Rós (Eiki). Another is part of the sensational múm (Orvar). Some are stage members of Benni Hemm Hemm's Band - the other Icelandic artist on morr music. Sindri Már Sigfusson has invited them into his small studio, placed them in front of the only microphone, let them think about his musical thoughts. He likes the notion and the feeling of LoFi, Sindri says. Only for the recording of the drums three microphones were used. The result is reminiscent of the reduced stereo recordings of the 1960ies.

Libraries is the most direct promise that pop music is able to make. Tiny and gigantic, unobtrusive and exciting at the same time. A song like a blink into the most beautiful sunrise. A tumbling piano, swinging drums. Melodies, melancholy: "My little bird flew away from me". Or "hands remember", the singing being close to one's ear. "The voice of an old friend", a murmur, two violins. There is later "summer bird diamond", birds twitter to the accords of an old banjo, a glockenspiel. It is almost a radio play, chamber folk. And "seashell" at last, a pocket symphony, arranged around jumping drums. Sufjan Stevens would have done it in a very similar way.

After 'Transit', his successful solo debut, Safe is the second album Bert Dockx (Dans Dans, Flying Horseman, Ottla, Strand) is releasing under his own name.

This collection of songs and instrumentals navigates between threat and dream, between silence and storm. Unlike 'Transit', 'Safe' mainly consists of original work and just two interpretations (of The Velvet Underground & Ornette Coleman tracks). This time Dockx is not flying entirely solo either, he gets musical assistance from Loesje and Martha Maieu (Flying Horseman, Blackie & The Oohoos) and Thomas Jillings (Ottla, Linus). Koen Gisen, Ghent based producer for connoisseurs, is back at the controls. Together with them, Dockx paints a richly variegated and adventurous soundscape with echoes of his other musical projects.

We hear folk, psychedelia, ambient, introverted guitar rock, shaded jazz. Colourful vistas are contrasted with gloomy introspection. Careful listeners will also discover the narrative of a complex, painful, passionate love.

Analog Africa delves deep into the scene of the Mexican's sonideros (sound-system operators) to present the "Rebajada" movement they've created using locally made pitch controls, speakers and sound effects.

"In 2010, I had asked Eamon Ore-Giron - aka DJ Lengua - if he would be interested in compiling a Latin project for Analog Africa, and if so, if he had a theme in mind. He replied, “Have you ever heard of rebajada?“ The question mark above my head, together with the wall of China, must have been the only other object visible from out of space because Eamon, probably noticing I got paralysed, continued, “Rebajada in Spanish means “to reduce, to lower”. It’s basically Mexican sonideros (soundsystem operators) slowing down the beat of a Cumbia to create a much more tangible music to dance to. I’ll send you a mix I made last year and let me know what you think.“ And so he did.

That mix was called Rebajada Mota Mix and I began listening to it on a loop. Although I was not immediately hooked it was intriguing from the get-go, and so I kept listening until magic began unfolding. Slowed down music allows you enough time to hear right through it, revealing itself in ways I had rarely experienced before. Everything became more transparent and I was noticing sounds normally only perceptible by bats. A near psychedelic experience. That mysterious mix included a few Ecuadorian songs by Junior y su Equipo - aka Polibio Mayorga (a cult figure in the sonidero scene), a couple of Mexican tunes, one Colombian, and various Peruvian songs, undoubtedly the driving force behind this project.

The sonidero who brought Peruvian and Ecuadorian music to Mexico was the legendary Pablo Perea from Sonido Arco-Iris, and although his fingerprints are all over the compilation Saturno 2000, this selection of songs in rebajada is exclusive to DJ Lengua. With the exception of a few classics from Polibio Mayorga and La Sampuesana – the queen of all rebajadas – most of these songs were probably never performed as such before, let alone released.

So how did rebajada come to be? In a nutshell; Rebajada started with two families of brothers – the Pereas and the Ortegas – who travelled all over Latin America and returned to Mexico with heavy loads of records which they would sell to the various sonideros always on the lookout for new tunes. Colombian beats especially seemed to fit almost perfectly with the Mexican dance steps – but they were just a bit too fast. As a result some sonideros began experimenting with equipment, and Marco Antonio Cedillo of Sonido Imperial created a revolutionary pitching system that could slow records down to an extent other players could only dream about. And so rebajada was born . . . or so we thought.

At the same time in north of the country, in Monterrey, sonidero Gabriel Dueñez almost got electrocuted by a short circuit that nearly set his record player on fire. As a result the platter started spinning in slow motion for the rest of the party, turning Cumbia into a different affair altogether. The youngsters went crazy for it and started harassing the sonidero with requests to record cassettes for them. Reluctant at first, Dueñez finally began recording a series of pirated cassettes called “Rebajada” which included mainly Colombian cumbia and porro in slow-mo exclusively. Those tapes took the city by storm and turned rebajada into a celebrated and defiant movement of the youth.

Of course it would not be a Mexican urban legend if it didn’t include dramaturgical elements, and so for nearly 30 years, until this day and probably for ever, both cities have been arguing and claiming ownership the creation of rebajada for themselves. But sonidera Joyce Musicolor, who never has time for such trivial arguments, got straight to the point: “Rebajada, and the equipment to perform it, is from here Mexico City but it was Monterrey that popularised it.“

After 'Transit', his successful solo debut, Safe is the second album Bert Dockx (Dans Dans, Flying Horseman, Ottla, Strand) is releasing under his own name.

This collection of songs and instrumentals navigates between threat and dream, between silence and storm. Unlike 'Transit', 'Safe' mainly consists of original work and just two interpretations (of The Velvet Underground & Ornette Coleman tracks). This time Dockx is not flying entirely solo either, he gets musical assistance from Loesje and Martha Maieu (Flying Horseman, Blackie & The Oohoos) and Thomas Jillings (Ottla, Linus). Koen Gisen, Ghent based producer for connoisseurs, is back at the controls. Together with them, Dockx paints a richly variegated and adventurous soundscape with echoes of his other musical projects.

We hear folk, psychedelia, ambient, introverted guitar rock, shaded jazz. Colourful vistas are contrasted with gloomy introspection. Careful listeners will also discover the narrative of a complex, painful, passionate love.

Soul Jazz Records are releasing PUNK 45: I’m A Mess, a new collection of punk and D-I-Y rare 45s from the UK, as a one-off pressing limited-edition double album with a bonus 45 exclusive
for Record Store Day 2022.

Soul Jazz Records’ long-lasting Punk 45 series are high-quality editions of early punk 45s. While previous editions have focussed on the early days of punk in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Akron, France, and proto-punk, this new edition focusses on mainly do-it-yourself, or self-released 45s, all made in the UK in the early days of punk.
While only a handful of Punk 45s were released in 1976, the following two years produced an avalanche of them. Aside from the few punk bands who signed to major labels, many of these singles were self-released private press 45s or independent label 45s. With limited distribution and access to the media, many of these sunk without trace and were lost in history. This album features many of these independent punk 45 gems, lost nuggets of gold from the sea of time!
The bands featured here come from all across the United Kingdom. Here you will find The Drive, Scotlands’ answer to the New York Dolls, Dansette Damage from Newcastle, Stormtrooper, from the Isle of Wight and many more - a snapshot of some of the finest private-press 45s ever made.

Other bands include Cybermen, The Exile, Neon as well as the early punk incarnations Johnny and The Self-Abusers (who later became Simple Minds) and The Killjoys (with vocals by Kevin Rowland who later formed Dexy’s Midnight Runners).

These are all one-off and super rare releases from bands that you have probably never heard of! – totally hidden gems from the wastelands of the early days of punk. Totally in keeping with the
spirit of the time, this is high-octane, righteously-independent - DIY or die!

The RSD special edition comes with an exclusive 45 of Stormtrooper ‘I’m A Mess’/’It’s Not Me’.

FROM MUSIC COMES HARMONY
HARMONY BRINGS BALANCE
BALANCE RESTORES PEACE
Enter the heart of drums ..

With obvious intent Nui and Simon set out to create an album that encompasses all of their influences and experiences as musicians and journeymen in the world of African inspired rhythm and sound and have arrived at a work that is at once global, innovative and deeply funky !

It’s been an incredible journey that has taken them from the wilds of the northern hinterlands of New South Wales in Australia to the dreamy secret gardens of Marrakesh, from the onsite recordings of Afro-Cuban choirs of Havana, to the Gnawa street sounds of Moroccan medinas.

Nui and Simon have traversed the globe to create these recordings and have collected diverse and international group of artists to collaborate with in the making of Heart of Drums.

Artists such as Cazeaux Oslo, who is an African-American Mc and vocalist hailing from California.

Olugbade Okunade , Nigerian trumpeter and vocalist , was formerly a member of the Femi Kuti Positive Force band.

Members of Clave y Guaguanco, One of Cuba’s foremost folkloric groups, who have been around since the 60’s.

Lalita Yagnik, Portuguese Speaking Indian, vocalist and martial artist.

Radouan Naim, Traditional Moroccan vocalist and instrumentalist .

And

Close Counters, Australian Up and coming Electronic duo.

Digital Afrika is made up of two main protagonists:

Zhonu ‘Nui” Moon (Future Roots)
An African-Australian producer, percussionist and Dj that has performed and recorded all over the world.

With a strong focus on African music,He has worked with the likes of Femi Kuti , Mulatu Astake and Tony Allen.

And Simon Durrington (Si Fixion ) who is an Australian based producer, keys player and DJ. With extensive experience of working with Melanesian , Indian and world musicians.

Drawing on these influences, Si weaves these styles together seamlessly with his unique high quality electronic production.

This album ‘Heart of Drums’ is a synergy of lush analog electronica and fiery African percussion, vocals and instrumentation.

With occasional reinvented throwbacks to the Disco and Funk era as well as forward thinking Afro-futuristic Record bag essentials, Heart of Drums really brings the party!

These are constructed dance floor motivators for any environment.

The artwork for this record deserves special mention as the mask was handcrafted by the interesting and talented artist Ju Mu Monster. Based in Berlin, the studied fashion designer creates colourful, wildly dancing image-worlds, in which beings from diverse cultures are combined with shamanism and spiritual worlds. Her enchanting works of art include murals and canvases as well as magical masks.

All tracks produced and arranged by Zhonu (Nui) Moon & Simon Durrington

Following widespread acclaim for his recent LP ‘Always Inside your Head’, on March 4th / April 8th Matt Cutler AKA Lone releases four re-works of tracks from the album, entitled ‘Natural Aerials’.

On ‘Natural Aerials (Mouth of God Part Two)’, Lone utilises a similar sound palette as album track ‘Mouth Of God’, but rebuilds it into a brand new banger. Energetic, deep, trancey and driven by jungle-schooled breakbeats, with bassbin shuddering low-end, he delves deeper into the vortex. Whereas the album was made predominantly using software, Cutler has since been buying hardware – and this marks the first track made on these newly acquired synths.

Based around a version from Lone’s recent sold-out live show at London’s Village Underground, on ‘Inlove2 (One Thirty Mix)’ he ups the original’s BPM count, with sights set firmly on the dancefloor. Taking cues from the ‘Ambivert Tools’ series, this is a high-grade, proggy, main room acid rush.

On ‘Visited By Astronauts (SHERELLE Had A Groove Remix)’, the fast-rising star takes an ambient interlude from the album, and gives it what she calls “a space age, footwork jungle twist”. Her first released remix, Sherelle continues an impeccable purple patch, with a re-rub that’s both airy and light, but also heavily percussive, full of propulsive forward motion. She states, "it’s a pleasure and honour to remix for Lone, as being a long time fan, it's a beautiful thing to be able to collaborate. I really wanted my first remix to be special and also for someone who I hugely admire, so Matt asking me to be involved in this process wastruly magical!”

‘Echo Paths Ebb And Flow’ takes a downtempo album highlight, strips it back to just the synths, then unfurls them into a blissful ambient work that’s melodic, warm and fuzzy, swaddling the listener in candy floss clouds.

The Hill District were a group of working musicians assembled by bassist Walter “Sonny” Hughes who following one afternoon rehearsal session together the very same evening recorded their only ever 45 outing the somewhat elusive and now sort after amongst group harmony collectors “Your Scared Of Falling In Love”. The other group members were Sonny’s brother Richard Hughes (Lead Guitar), Anthony Law (Keyboards), William M. Standard Jr (Piano), Mark Smith (Drums) and Daniel S. Lee Jr (Lead Vocals). The groups name was taken from a grouping of African American neighbourhoods in the city of Pittsburgh P.A. locally referred to as ‘The Hill’. The recording session was held under the direction of record producer and song writer James Richard Calloway (A.K.A) Rich Calloway. Calloway would go on to release “Your Scared Of Falling In Love” on his own ‘C-Way Records’ label featuring a instrumental version on the flipside. Rich Calloway hailed from Uniontown P.A. with Uniontown being known affectionately by the local black community as ‘Oniontown’ the name which Calloway adopted for his publishing company. Unfortunately for the Hill District the final mastering of their song left something be desired (a scenario we’ve now rectified with our release) and as a result local Pittsburgh Disc jockeys refused to plug their song leaving their one and only 45 outing to fade into obscurity with the group members going their own separate ways to continue their careers as session musicians with other ensembles. Producer and lyricist Rich Calloway also continued with his own C-way Productions company later composing both sides of The Cleveland Ohio group ‘The Entertains’1975 outing for Steel Town records “Love Will Turn It Around/Why Couldn’t I Believe Them”. Calloway was no stranger to Cleveland having been earlier employed by Way Out Records owner Lester Johnson to compose the lyrics to Jesse Fisher’s “Your Not Loving A Beginner”, the songs arrangement’s being originally laid down by members of the Way Out group The Soul Notes, William Bell (A.K.A Bill Spoon), John Washington and Ricki Dannison under the working title of “I’ve Been Waiting For Your Love”. Prior to the Hill’s District release Rich Calloway had penned and released a 45 single on another local Pittsburgh artist Richie Merrett. The 1973 outing You’ll Always Have Yesterday Standing By” b/w “I Gave It Up” (C-Way 103). Merritt a professional singer who performed with several groups including The Electron’s on their 1968 outing “Turn On Your Lovelight (Shock 209) recorded his first solo outing on the Nashville Deltron label “Can I Get A Rebate/It’s Never Too Late” which he later released again on his own R.A.M label followed by two early 90’s outings, the modern soul favourite’s “Where Did I Go Wrong” and “You Got Problems”. Richie still performs today doing one off shows in between his solo performances aboard 7 Day Cruise ships travelling between Los Angeles and Sant Cabos, Mexico. “You’ll Always Have Yesterday Standing By” was later produced by Walt Maddox under the shortened title of “Yesterday’s Standing By” on his own group ‘These Gents’.

Therefore Soul Junction brings you two 70’s soul/Lowrider in demanders back to back for your delectation.

New York-based Synthwave/Italo disco duo, Bunny X, will release their highly anticipated first full-length album, ‘Young & In Love’, on October 5, 2021 through Aztec Records.

Taking inspiration directly from 1980s John Hughes classics such as The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, Bunny X (Abigail Gordon and Mary Hanley) created ‘Young & In Love’ as a concept record oozing with nostalgic and youthful themes such as young love, first crushes, teen angst and anxiety.

“We wanted to take our listeners back to a time when music connected with us in a passionate and relatable way,” says Abigail. “These tracks pay tribute to what made 80s music so special — the fact that it was delivered in an earnest and unironic way.”

The Retrowave 10-track list of “Young & In Love” brings Bunny X together with Synthwave stalwarts Sellorekt/LA Dreams and Don Dellpiero, NYC-based producer Gosteffects and GRAMMY Award-winning engineer, Tony Lake.

Bunny X has been electrifying stages with their live performances in NYC and beyond for nearly a decade. The duo have released Italo disco and 80s-inspired music throughout their career, including two EPs and numerous singles. This is their first LP-length collection.

Twice JUNO-nominated and two-time Polaris Prize listed, Toronto's soul songstress Tanika Charles unveils her album "Papillon de Nuit: The Night Butterfly".

"Papillon de Nuit: The Night Butterfly" is the third studio album from Canadian Soul/R&B powerhouse Tanika Charles and is slated to be released worldwide on Milan-based Record Kicks label on April 08th. Composed and recorded while in and out of lockdowns, "Papillon de Nuit" is an album anchored in growth and maturity. The thematic inspiration came from an unlikely source, a creature that soars after the sun sets, but often goes unnoticed until the light shines on it. It is the "papillon de nuit" to some, but drably referred to as a moth by others, revealing a bias in language alone.

"I always thought it was a strange insect. Once while in Paris, a friend swatted at one and I asked: 'Was that a moth?'. I was told: 'No, that's a papillon de nuit.' I thought that was the most beautiful description for this otherwise overlooked creature. When I later learned of the symbolism associated with it, I felt that really spoke to both my own situation and also what we've all been going through." Production on "Papillon de Nuit" was helmed by a mixture of old and new collaborators. The Safe Spaceship Records production team, consisting of Scott McCannell (Lydia Persaud, Claire Davis), Ben MacDonald and Chino de Villa (re.verse, Jessie Reyez), produced four songs on the album. The group also assisted as session musicians for songs produced by newcomer Todd "HiFiLo" Pentney (Allison Au Quartet, JUNO Award winner). "The Gumption" contributor Kevin Henkel ("Tell Me Something", "Look At Us Now") returned with three compositions, and old friend Jesse Bear (Sean Kingston, Stan Walker) contributed to one song.

Following the success of "Soul Run" (2016/17) and "The Gumption" (2019), Tanika had found a comfortable pace of releasing albums then hitting the road the following year to bring her show to new markets far and wide. So when things changed for all of us, and plans of touring "The Gumption" properly fell through, there was a realization that getting to work on the next project was the healthiest choice to make.

"I was in some dark places. My energy was stagnant and the only reliable constant was this perpetual uncertainty. I had gone from feeling like I was everywhere to only being in one place. From seeing so many new faces, to only my own, in the mirror, everyday and having to face that. Getting back to work on music allowed me to explore these feelings through the format I know best. And I wanted to make sure that when things were ready to resume, I'd be ready with something new for my audience too."

Tanika, who took part in the writing of most of the album, was also assisted by regular co-writer Robert Bolton ("Soul Run", "Remember to Remember") and accomplished solo performer Tafari Anthony (Priyanka, of RuPaul's Drag Race). Featured guests include the multi-disciplinary artist Khari McClelland and rising Toronto rapper, DijahSB. Both Dakarai Morris-James (Joanna Majoko, BeBe Zahara Benet) and Sean "D/SHON" Henderson ("Love Overdue", Serena Ryder) assisted with vocal arrangements across multiple songs.


"I think this album represents my best work to date. And yet, it also represents me coming to terms with who I am as an artist. For the first time I think I've actually accepted my own voice. I can hear beyond the imperfections, and I realized that when paired with the right music, it can sound pretty good. I still have my doubts and my dark places, but a little less of them."

In March 2020, Tahiti 80 had a plan to start recording their new album in the studio. That plan, of course, along with everything else in the world, got derailed. But the five-piece group was resilient and resourceful. They quickly shifted to a socially distanced plan B that included file swapping and virtual sessions, all refereed by producer Julien Vignon. The result, due for release in March 2022, is the buoyant Here With You, a collection of eleven upbeat songs that unfold like a prescription for a post-pandemic panacea.

“When lockdown in France happened, we said, 'We're not going to stay at home not doing anything,'” says singer-guitarist Xavier Boyer. “And our new plan became a hopeful thing, waking up every morning and seeing what the other guys had worked on. It wasn't always easy, but this new method allowed a freer approach where we could really go all the way with an idea without being influenced by each other’s suggestions. It must've been overwhelming for Julien, who ended up selecting all our arrangements. But he stayed positive all the way through.”

To help stay inspired and focused during their time in isolation, the band created a mood board, with the centerpiece a photo of an early '90s rave in the UK.

Boyer says, “Whenever you see pictures from this era, people seem very innocent. There are no cell phones and everybody is in to what they are experiencing. We kept that picture in mind as a kind of mantra that would help everyone feel connected to this idea of people celebrating, gathering and just having fun. We were missing the connection with people, and thought it would be great if we could create music that would inspire that kind of emotion.”

Indeed, the songs on Here With You are brimming the feeling of communion that we've all been missing over the past two years. It's there in the catchy opener Lost in the Sound, which walks the walk with Chic guitar flicks, urban nightfall sparkles and an inviting chorus (“Your heart grooves like a thousand 808s on the right time”). It's there in the Jackson 5-style syncopated bounce of “Vintage Creem,” the lush, dreamy “Breakfast in L.A.” and the panoramic sweep of “UFO.” And it's there in the first single “Hot,” which matches an irresistible groove with a neon-lit, percolating arrangement that evokes the disco clubs of 1979.

What's remarkable is that though Tahiti 80 displays a clear affection for sounds of the past, from bubble gum to '70s soul, they never trade in mere pastiche. Their take is more a slightly warped and playful carnival mirror mash-up of classic pop styles, given depth through Boyer's hang-gliding, coolly emotive vocals and lyrics that often rub against the euphoric grain of the music.

“I like to think of songs as a three-minute drama,” says Boyer. “This concept of drama definitely adds different levels to our music. There's the melody, the lyrics, then the production that can maybe emphasize or counterbalance the interaction between the yin and yang in a song.

“There's a difference between the very upbeat, sunshine-y soft rock and the lyrics, even on our past albums,” he continues. “Not dark, but a little more melancholy, and also looking for some kind of motivation, talking to yourself. Like with a lot of Motown songs, you get that feeling where you body’s dancing while your mind’s reflecting, reminiscing.”

That alluring blend of happy-sad has been a signature part of the Tahiti 80 sound from the time Boyer and bassist Pedro Resende formed the group in 1993, as students at the University of Rouen. Taking their name from a souvenir t-shirt given to Boyer's father in 1980, the duo recruited guitarist Mederic Gontier in 1994, and with the addition of drummer Sylvain Marchand a year later, the lineup was complete. The foursome released a self-produced and self-financed EP, 20 Minutes, in 1996, which resulted a record deal with French label Atmospheriques in 1998. Their full-length debut Puzzle, produced with Ivy's Andy Chase and mixed by Tore Johansson, went gold and featured the international hit “Heartbeat” that established the band throughout Europe and Asia.

In the years since, Tahiti 80 – with the additions of Raphaël Léger on drums and Hadrien Grange on keys - has released eight acclaimed albums. The band has fused what MOJO called a “glorious entente of old and new technology” (including singles like “Yellow Butterfly,” “1000 Times,” “Sound Museum,” “Crush!” and “Big Day,” which was featured on a FIFA video game soundtrack), while collaborating with such producers and arrangers as Richard Swift, Tony Lash and Richard Anthony Hewson, who famously arranged The Beatles' “Long and Winding Road.” Boyer has also put out two solo albums, the first under the anagram Axe Riverboy and the second under his name. In 2019, the band released Fear of an Acoustic Planet, a stripped-down reimagining of some of their best-loved tracks from the previous twenty years. It served not only as a look back but a reminder of their formidable songwriting skills.

Boyer is definitely a student of the timeless three-minute pop song format pioneered by '60s artists like The Beatles and The Beach Boys. He says, “I see it as kind of a frame for a painting. Most of the songs on this album, I wrote a verse, pre-chorus and chorus. There aren't many middle eights. I wanted it to be very concise. I feel like people have less attention. There's so much music. It's too easy to switch off or skip to another track, so I want to hook the listener. The three-minute song is kind of an easy code to crack, but at the same time you have to figure out a new way to tell the stories that we've heard before.”

And the stories on Here With You are very much about the longing for connection. Of the album title, Boyer says, “In the world right now, that can mean a lot of different things. Like missing our fans, missing going to concerts. In a way, it can be a statement of what happened last year, and a wish of 'I want to be here with you again.' It's our ninth album. We've had some had some very open, conceptual titles like Puzzle, Activity Center. Sometimes they were more specific like Fosbury orWallpaper for the Soul. Here with You, seems more personal, more engaging in terms of relationships. When I suggested that title, everyone in the band said, 'Yeah, that's it.'”

Until Tahiti 80 can resume a full tour schedule, Boyer says he hopes the new record will make that personal connection. “If I see from the point of view as a music fan, sometimes I see albums I like as companions throughout my life. So if we can be a part of people's existence, even if it's a song that reminds them of the time they were driving with the windows open and it was sunny. Or a sad song that resonates with them after a breakup. That's what we're all looking for when we're making music. You do this very personal thing and you want it to touch as many people as possible.”

Deliciously seasoned with a more than a little kick! Following up his 2020 debut, TYPE returns to SweetBox with two fiery jungle cuts built on his Akai MPC X.

Known as the MPC Jedi, TYPE is the tech wiz behind the Tubedigga YouTube channel, where he serves up music production and sound design tutorials from his hoard of MPCs and other vintage and modern tech. As a hardware devotee, he performs live on MPC rather than DJing, and it was during one of these live sets, for the launch of his previous SweetBox EP in 2020, that Dexta and the Diffrent crew first heard ‘Cherry Bomb’ and ‘Eclipse’ and immediately snapped them up.

‘Cherry Bomb’ is a quintessential junglist workout, pushing a combination of four sampled and homemade breaks to their limits over an otherworldly sound bed. With kicks that land like a mortar strike and the explosive militancy of a supercharged drill sergeant, this one’s ideal for peak-time switch-ups and ready to send any dancefloor into a frenzy.

‘Eclipse’ shuffles and steps with the South London producer’s signature precision, though the percussion takes something of a backseat this time. Front and centre instead are an array of monstrous technoid rasps, elasticated subs and an LFO-esque, earworm bleep repurposed from TYPE’s days as a video game sound designer. This is heavyweight business screaming out for a dark room and a big rig.

Marina proudly present the first ever vinyl issues of three classic albums by Glasgow's finest, The Pearlfishers: "The Young Picnickers" (1999), "Across The Milky Way" (2001) and "Up With The Larks" (2007). They are issued in deluxe 2-LP vinyl editions in beautiful gatefold sleeves with enhanced artwork and complete lyrics. All albums feature four (!) bonus tracks each, most of them never released before and not available on any streaming platform. Three albums of masterful, classic pop music, driven by main man David Scott's exceptional songwriting which was often compared to Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb, Todd Rundgren and Brian Wilson. The beautifully crafted arrangements include woodwinds, trumpet, flugel horns, banjo - and real strings! "David Scott's compositions sound something like The Carpenters and Burt Bacharach - except much more poppy, upbeat, and current!" (Babysue). These albums also feature some of the finest Scottish musicians. Duglas T Stewart of BMX Bandits co-wrote two songs. Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub contributed backing vocals on "The Young Picnickers" and co-produced four tracks on "Up With The Larks". Mick Slaven, one of the most unique guitarists ever (Jazzateers, James Kirk, Paul Quinn & The Independent Group), plays on "Across The Milky Way". So does trumpet maestro Colin Steele who later recorded an entire album of Pearlfishers songs in terrific jazz arrangements ("Diving For Pearls", 2017). "The Young Picnickers" was selected "Indie album of the month" in MOJO magazine. "Up With The Larks" was recently voted one of "Scotland's favourite albums" in The Herald.

Raa spelar Pierce & von Euler ("Raa plays Pierce and von Euler") is Raa's
third studio album, following the acclaimed Skanes jarnvagar (2018) and
Ljungens lag (2019)
The A-side is comprised of two songs by Spiritualized, and the B-side contains
dub- like versions of Stockholm- based musician Henrik von Euler's piano EP,
Hemskogen. As everyone knows, four songs are rarely enough for an LP. So, it
was time to dig up a few old favourites. "I have loved Spiritualized ever since the
release of their debut album, Lazer Guided Melodies, in 1992. I'm especially fond
of the slow songs and their abysmal bass lines. "Take Your Time" is one of them,
and the idea to make something with it has followed me for a long time. "I Think
I'm in Love" is here translated into "Jag tror jag är kär". The energy of it invites
irresponsible late-night driving", says Magnus Sveningsson.

Joe Tatton, keyboard player with UK/US funk/soul jazz kings The New Mastersounds, releases this new 7 inch single in March 2022 and this time there is a lovely double A-side 7" physical vinyl option. Two tracks that showcase Joe's skills as a pianist and vocalist and confirm his talent for writing quality original compositions.

"Timeline" is Joe's spotlight on today's social media obsessed society delivered in the style of his musical hero Mose Allison. The latter was the legendary Mississippi born/New York based jazz/blues musician and singer whose wry and intelligent lyrics married to amazing original music shone a light on society and the world from the mid-1950s until his death in 2015. Mose was a huge influence on musicians like Georgie Fame, Van Morrison and Ben Sidran and was and still is one of Joe Tatton's favourite musicians of all time. This song is the title track for Joe's debut solo album due for release later this year on Rodina Music.

"Stomp" is a slow bluesy instrumental funk burner that has a New Orleans swagger about it and features Joe's grand piano solo followed by JTQ band member Gareth Lockrane cutting loose on the flute. If you like music by Allen Toussaint, Ramsay Lewis and Herbie Mann, you'll be feeling this one.

Joe Tatton has been a member of The New Mastersounds now for 16 years now and has recorded over a dozen albums and many singles with them playing organ, piano and keyboard. Annually, he tours 8-9 months a year with the band, mainly in the USA but also across Europe and Japan too. Prior to joining The New Mastersounds, Joe held down the keyboard role with UK jazz-funk kings The Haggis Horns appearing on their first two albums "Hot Damn!" and "Keep On Movin". He's also featured on piano/keyboards on the worldwide hit single "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae.

Over the years he has played live sets with Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley as well as Art Neville, George Porter Jr and Zigaboo Modeliste of The Meters. He's always maintained his own trio under his own name as a side project, releasing singles and EPs via ATA Records (UK) and Color Red Music (USA).
A few years ago, he needed to find the time and place to record them. So in 2020, between New Mastersounds gigs, he managed to book a few days at a studio near Nashville USA, "The Rockhouse", run by Grammy winning engineer Kevin Mckendree. He hooked up with a couple of Nashville session musicians, Steve Mackie (double bass - longtime Dolly Parton bassist) and Kenneth Blevins (drums), and put down all his original songs and also a cover of Mose Allison's "Ever since the world ended", the first single released last year

Now comes the second double A-side single and a further taste of what's in store from Joe and the band later this year when the "Timeline" album drops later in the year. However this time, there's a lovely little black vinyl offering for all the record lovers out there. Just a small first pressing which will no doubt sell out very quickly so people need to jump on it super fast. Once they're gone, they're gone.
"Time line / Stomp" double A-Side single by the Joe Tatton Trio. Released worldwide on Rodina Music - March 31st March 31st 2022.

"We’ve reached book IV in Rupert Clervaux’s series of “Zibaldone” audio diaries, at which point we find him telling a different kind of story.

“The first three all had very specific themes, while this one feels a little bit looser and doesn’t have just one thematic thrust,” he tells me, which maybe explains why listening feels a bit like annotating. I’m underlining, emphasizing, drawing arrows from here to there, highlighting symbols and noting motifs, realising, questioning, eureka-ing. An impressionistic meaning’s been encoded in and we’re lucky to be given the space to play that most poetic and boundless of all mental games: narrativization.

There are no wrong answers, but Rupert offers some clues either way. If there’s any cipher here it’s “something like a meditation on the concept of ‘depth’––in all its connotative forms.” Think below the surface, (the) underground, yawning oceans, being ‘down in the dirt’, soil, roots, rootlessness, pulling at the dregs, collapse, profundity, stable and unstable horizons, distance, perspective, intuition, not to mention relative opposites: to be shallow, to be above, to be beyond.

It’s got me thinking of Bresson’s “Bring things together that have as yet never been brought together and did not seem predisposed to be so.” His: “Dig deep where you are. Don't slip off elsewhere.” Rupert has realized these—two favourite goals of mine!—here.

This is music that catches you at your own periphery, gives pause, has you offering a little “huh” to, asking “I wonder why” to. Again, it’s got me musing on another mindworm, this time from New York publisher and multi-sensory reading room Dispersed Holdings: “Feeling-making-knowing feedback loop; cartography of feeling; water as text, read to know the land beneath and around it, and body as reader.”

Is it ok to offer up these other contexts out of context? I think so, because Zibaldone IV articulates a similarly swirly tone. Like, we’ve got Rebecca Solnit talking through Kropotkin’s “Mutual Aid” and later calling out to Michael Ruppert a ways away, and “Easy Rider” is playing in the wings. We’ve got Susan Sontag magically contextualizing Mariah Carey with poet Thylias Moss triangulating in order to sketch out (Rupert again) “something a little more interesting than wilful eclecticism or that laboured and patronising kind of pop-savvy.”

Are we following? Whether yes or no Vanessa Bedoret follows on with a performance of a performance of Moss’s 'Water Road’: to be once or twice removed, via strange transitions, purposeful confusions, and, suddenly, seagulls. We’re on a boat with Ingeborg Bachmann—and how I wish I could actually be! But maybe thanks to this music I can as literature, films, friends, lethargy, coincidences, little mental links, eternal wormholes, lingering notions come together to imagine something better."

Text by Natalia Panzer

Swarm Intelligence continues to push techno into unchartered territories with a bold new self-titled EP and label. The debut EP explores emergent technology and dystopian themes. Autonomous weaponry is hinted at in the title of the first two tracks before the resultant human resilience of ‘The Glory Is You,’ and finally AI’s awakening and gaining of sentience on ‘Edge of Chaos’. Opener ‘Lethality’ is an intense and arresting weapon. Slamming kicks and frosty synths create a wall of impenetrable techno sound that will strike fear into any dance floor. ‘Slaughterbot’ is just as punishing and dark. Mangled vocals are locked in a prison of caustic synths and tortured drums as a post-apocalyptic meltdown plays out all around. There is subtle drum funk to ‘The Glory Is You’ that lifts you above the drama. Lithe kicks bring a sense of energy as haunting sequences, bright stabs and fizzing synths weave their way in and out of the mix. The brain-frying ‘Edge of Chaos’ closes down with monstrous effects, laser-like synths firing across the track and seriously weighty and distorted drums powering things along. Swarm Intelligence is the sound of an unknown techno future made brilliantly real.

Meaning all things magic and supernatural, the root of the word occult is that which is hidden, concealed, beyond the limits of our minds. If this is occult, then the Occult Architecture of Moon Duo’s fourth album - a psychedelic opus in two separate volumes released in 2017 is an intricately woven hymn to the invisible structures found in the cycle of seasons and the journey of day into night, dark into light.

Offering a cosmic glimpse into the hidden patterning embedded in everything, Occult Architecture reflects the harmonious duality of these light and dark energies through the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang.

Following the Yin (feminine, darkness, night, earth) represented on Occult Architecture Vol. 1, Vol. 2 presents the Yang. Yang means “the bright side of the hill” and is associated with the male, sun, light and the spirit of heaven, and as such Vol. 2 explores the light and airy elements of Moon Duo’s complex psyche.

“In production we referred to Vol. 1 as the fuzz dungeon, and Vol. 2 as the crystal palace,” guitarist Ripley Johnson explains. “The darkness of Vol. 1 gave birth to the light of Vol. 2. We had to have both elements in order to complete the cycle. We’re releasing them separately to allow them their own space, and to ensure clarity of vision. To that end we also mixed Vol. 2 separately, in the height of Portland summer, focusing on its sonic qualities of lightness, air, and sun. Listeners can ultimately use the two volumes individually or together, depending on circumstance or the desired effect.”

Vinyl Edition of 300 copies

Aesthetical in collaboration with Sync presents "Detect" by Marco Monfardini.

Originally developed as an audio/video live performance, Marco Monfardini based his research for Detect on the decoding of inaudible sounds, sound generated by electromagnetic emissions left from electronic devices and inaudible to the human ear. By using various electro-smog detectors Marco Monfardini creates a sort of detection mapping where electromagnetic emissions are the starting point for the sonorous development of each single composition.

A path that creates a parallel with our lives by questioning how much these emissions affect unconsciously our choices, tastes and perceptions, seeking a relationship between the massive use of technology in everyday life and our emotional state.
The album Detect is developed in 15 tracks in continuous play, an imperfect, faulty mosaic inhabited by invisible beings manifesting themselves in the form of sound streams, mutable entities that find a definitive form in the pattern of the compositional structure.

The album opens with “aR1 detection", sounds of pure detection place themselves in the sound space giving the initial coordinates for the exploration of unconscious parallel areas. The boundaries transform and gradually expand until they flow into the structure of "kernel variations", a growing rhythmic pattern decodes the impulses projecting a perspective that dissolves in the unstable and fluctuating electromagnetic emissions of the subsequent "[a]3020t detection", "binary defect "and "core[2] ". “[A.box]emission” confronts the use of sound downloaded random from internet sample banks and the emissions generated during the download itself, micro sound fragments arrange themselves in an organized and regular pattern, shaping a rhythmic structure. The first part ends with the short “[sa]6030” and “[det]x1a”, absence and presence provide an alternation of movements, inaudible and elusive signals all trying to establish a contact with our perception. “det : scan” opens the second part of Detect, a sort of scanning, leaving EMF (electromagnetic field) textures, a static multilayer that progressively expands until it dissolves into the rhythmic emissions of a common smartphone “[4s]detection”.The track “[rs]zone” " is pushing itself deeper, two minutes of sound speleology that reveal the existence of sound artifacts that seem to vanish getting in contact with the light accented by the bass drum of "[det] 0100+" a constant, rhythmic pumping, a luminous pulsation that reveals an apparent void, which seems to subside entering in the winding and waving atmosphere of "conductive [area]" and "[s3] microfunktion". Detect comes to the end with “[emf]terminal” a mirror of the unarrestable technological acceleration intercepting the flow of data that feeds the system of communication , digital micro waste suffocates the living space by centering up the invisible in an unconscious map.

[a] A1

[c] A3

[e] A5 core[2]
[f] A6 [A.box]emission (2)
[g] A7

[i] B2 [4s]detection
[j] B3
[k] B4 [det]0100+
[l] B5 conductive[area]
[m] B6 [s3]microfunktion
[n] B7 [emf]terminal

This album is a tribute to Pastor Wylie Champion, who died while we were in the process of releasing this, his first record, and his wife, Mother Champion, who died a few months earlier. We met Pastor Champion a few years ago while we were putting together another release, The Time for Peace Is Now: Gospel Music About Us. We found him in a collection of YouTube videos from the 37th Street Baptist Church in Oakland, California, put together by the pastor there, Bishop Dr. W.C. McClinton. There was quite a lot of talent in those videos, and among them was Pastor Champion whom we liked so much that we decided to make a record with him. Pastor Champion wasn’t like any other pastor you’ve ever met. As an itinerant preacher, a carpenter, and a father of five, he made a name for himself traveling up and down the California coast with his electric guitar. He traveled alone and he played alone, well into his seventies. The easiest way to describe him would be as an outsider gospel artist. Other than these bare facts, we never learned much about him—except that he was also the brother of the well-known soul singer Bettye Swann. In fact, most of what we knew about him we got from his sister’s Wikipedia page. We decided that because we met Champion through the 37th Street Baptist Church, we would record him there too. We recorded him live on a two-track Nagra reel to reel, as we wanted the album to be analog in the style of traditional gospel recordings. Over the course of two evenings (when the workday was done), Champion taught his band—musicians who had never played together before—a handful of songs, a small selection of the nearly 2,000 fragments of songs and sermons that he regularly performed. We listened in as they all got more familiar with the material and each other over time. At some point, we mentioned to Champion that he would have to be interviewed by someone to write notes for the album. He wasn’t too pleased with this idea, saying he’d had a hard life and he didn’t want to talk about it. Over the next few months, we kept asking Champion to talk to someone about his life. He told us that he didn’t want to talk about growing up in Louisiana, his mother being accosted by the Klan, or that his father was a gambler. He didn’t want to talk about being jailed for 90 days for using a whites only bathroom, being in gangs or having a street name. We told him that was fine—he could talk about what he wanted to talk about. And he told us that he didn’t want to talk about anything. You know, there are times when you make a record where it’s already made in your mind before you start. But then in the end, the record you thought you were making is not the record you made. We spent years puzzling over this one, trying to figure out what it was saying, who it was for, and how to get people to pay attention to it. But Champion knew that this record wasn’t going to be for everyone. He didn’t really care. The important part for him was just getting the message out there in the same way that he always had, travelling alone with his electric guitar. “I want to say what I mean,” he said, “be practical, precise, to the point, and, at the same time, diplomatic.” In other words, he just wanted to be a good man. God bless Pastor Champion and Mother Champion, peace be with them and their family. Love to all.