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Beautifully packaged in a deluxe slipcase, this 4LP box set combines the red vinyl.

Volume 1 and blue vinyl Volume 2 2LP collections. The fully illustrated inner sleeves contain new liner notes with various band members and long-time producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley,

in conversation with renowned author and journalist Paul Sexton.

AOKI takamasa and Tujiko Noriko’s 2005 album »28« has become a cornerstone in the artists’ respective discographies. 20 years after its initial release, Keplar issues it on vinyl for the very first time. Three years in the making, »28« saw the sound artist and the avant-pop singer-songwriter combine their distinct aesthetics for an album that defied categorisation. Their combination of advanced electronic experimentation and pop appeal paved the way for a new generation of artists and turned »28« into an enduring fan favourite. Remastered by Stephan Mathieu, the reissue comes with a brand-new artwork by Joji Koyama and a changed track listing—authorised by Takamasa and Tujiko—for the vinyl version to fit it on a single LP, while the digital version remains identical to the original release.

Tujiko and Takamasa first shared the stage together after the turn of the millennium. Both were emerging solo artists, with Takamasa a mainstay on the Progressive Form label and Tujiko forging a connection with Mego in Vienna, Austria. »I simply liked Noriko’s voice and music, and since we often performed at the same events, it felt like a natural progression for us to start working together,« remembers Takamasa. They first collaborated in 2002 for two shows at the Fondation Cartier in Paris and at SonarLab in Barcelona, respectively. The first joint piece was a rework of Tujiko’s »Fly« from »Hard Ni Sasete (Make Me Hard)« by Takamasa, appearing as the album opener »Fly2« on »28.«

After that, the Paris-based Tujiko and Takamasa, still based in Osaka, worked sporadically and remotely on new material. For the first two years of their collaboration, the two met in the context of live events or Takamasa’s visits to the French capital to discuss their process and exchange hard drives while also occasionally sending each other CDrs in the mail. »Aoki made beats and sounds that complemented my music perfectly, building the foundation on which my voice could float,« Tujiko says today. Takamasa used hardware such as the Nord Modular, the Korg Z1, and the Korg ER-1, while also working with different kinds of software and plug-ins as well as Logic. Tujiko was using Cubase, her preferred piece of gear at the time being an AKAI MPC.

After Takamasa moved to Paris in 2004, this enabled the duo to finish the album together in person. Starting with its subtle use of glitches to the almost-anarchic way in which it deals with the structures of a song, »28« came to be an incomparably intricate album. 20 years on, it remains timeless because of its flawless synthesis of the cutting-edge avant-garde ideas of early 2000s electronica with an idiosyncratic but accessible pop sentiment. Both artists look back fondly—though not uncritically, with Takamasa noting a certain »youthfulness« in his contributions—to the album that was titled after their respective age at that time. »Maybe we should make ›51‹ now?,« quips Tujiko. See you in three years, perhaps.

“In a concert, I show something with a beginning, a middle and an end. But, there is no end. Of course, there is no end. Because I am the music, and I am still here.” - Sophie Agnel

‘Learning’ - Sophie Agnel’s first solo LP, feels like the dark, physical inversion of her excellent ‘Song’ which came out on Relative Pitch earlier this year. Sinking her unique sound into vinyl for the first time, the LP arrives as Agnel recovers from a brain tumour - a shocking discovery that will require Agnel to start again with the piano. It’s a terrifying prospect, but Agnel has been here before, having reorientated herself almost entirely away from her early classical training over the last 4 decades of her work.

‘When I was young I had very good ears, oriole absolute. Then later I began to make strange sounds with my piano, to do different kinds of music. I was more interested in the sounds than the melody, for example. I remember once I sat down in a shop to try to read the scores of Schubert and there was a light emitting a very strong bzzzzzzz. And I couldn't listen to my oriole internal - I couldn't read the score. I was entirely subjugated by the sound of the light. And I understood that something had changed. Ten years before I could read and not hear the light. Now I understood that my ears were completely different. I was more open to the sounds of life.”

Born in Paris in the 60’s and playing her parents piano as soon as she could stand up, Agnel quickly grew tired of the classical world. What frustrated her was the strange disconnect between the frame of the piano and its keyboard - a weird boundary that seemed to form some hushed code of etiquette. “The first thing I put inside the piano was a plastic goblet. I’d seen a few pianists do it: Fred Van Hove, for example, put rubber balls inside his. But what didn’t appeal to me was that there seemed to be no link between the pianos outside and inside.”If you see Agnel play now, the body of her piano is littered with fish tins, ping pong balls, wooden blocks - not that you’d recognize their sounds. Having absorbed the language of the European avant-garde, Agnel is known for pulling the piano’s interior outside of itself by tipping her handbag into it. But these ‘strange sounds’ don’t just come from Cage - they also share the poetic force of Cecil Taylor and ‘Learning’ demonstrates that Agnel’s work on the piano's keyboard is just as important as what she’s littered on its strings. The record lets loose her ability to unleash a formidable sound mass and then rope it back to one single, clarifying note. With one hand, Agnel plays 88 tuned drums and on the other an enormous guitar - with the LP rotating through oncoming trains, and blues harmonica and feedback. It’s single minded stuff, borne out of a dedication to a wholly personal language of gesture, accumulation and deft reduction. “Maybe when I’m 80 I will not need anything,” Agnel says in a recent film made at her home. “I will do the same but with one note, and one finger. Maybe it's enough.”

‘Learning’ arrives in a reverse board sleeve designed by Jereon Wille. Recorded live at Cafe OTO by Billy Steiger on 6th June 2023 and 4th June 2024. Mixed by James Dunn and Benjamin Pagier. Side B edited by Benjamin Pagier. Mastered and cut by Loop-O. Front photograph by Aimé Agnel. Typography and layout by Jeroen Wille.

As always - the U JAZZ ME vinyl is numbered to 100 copies and it was pressed on 180g black wax.

Music was composed and produced by Bartosz Weber (guitar, electronica) with creative aid of Michał Fetler (saxophones) & Jacek Prościński (drums).

This Molar record was created in a few stages. First it was substantial to find creative means which would spark the new material. The Polyend Tracker was perfect for that as it is both simple and surprisingly fresh. Only after that I applied my favourite environment and comfortably sat in my digital domain. The next stage was to find kindred spirits who share the same mental and musical sensibility. Michał Fetler and Jacek Prościński seemed to fit like a custom-made rubber glove. It was equally important that they are excellent and experienced musicians as well as good humans. Fetler brought his own sensitivity and ideas, we tried sampling his instruments live which you can hear in quite a few places on this record. We still apply this technique during performances. His contribution is best heard in Berry Teaching, or Stimulating Labourer. In both cases he starts the fun and I enter sampling and answering to his parts. Jacek Prościński fits the bill both in terms of his creative approach and contagious enthusiasm. His style also encouraged me to pick up the guitar and completely change a few parts which led to a more extreme ending in Brav0o (initially it was played on synths and calmly faded out into oblivion). What more is there to do than sit back (or stand up, run, float or fall, whichever you prefer listening to music) and enjoy this selection of audio extravaganza.

Backyard Babies was formed in 1987 in Nässjö and can by rights be called Sweden’s most influential glam punk act. Between 1994 and 2019
they released eight studio albums of which both Making Enemies Is Good and Stockholm Syndrome won them a Swedish Grammy.

In 2005 they released their only live album, recorded at La Maroquinerie on May 6 2004, and features blistering, turbocharged renditions
of album hits such as "Minus Celsius", "Earn the Crown", and "Brand New Hate". The chops of guitarist Dregen (of The Hellacopters fame)
propel the whole thing forward with reckless abandon while singer Nicke Borg keeps riling up the crowd in between songs,
adding to the immediacy of a tightly recorded live album. This edition comes with a 4-page booklet containing concert photos.

Live Live In Paris is now available on vinyl for the first time as a 20th anniversary edition of 666 individually numbered copies on yellow & black marbled vinyl.

Norwegian–Cuban duo to you they are birds, to me they are voices in the forest return with their second album, Primordia. Using field recordings, electronics, and live instruments, they craft improvised soundscapes that blur the line between natural and musical environments.
Primordia continues their focus on the interaction between people, nature, and sound, combining raw textures with subtle improvisation. The result is an immersive work that feels both organic and otherworldly.

In 2023, k.d.b lived in a crumbling farmhouse on the edge of the River Maas. Each morning, he’d wake at 6:00 and walk along the river’s bank with his dogfriend Miemel, pausing at sunrise for a cup of coffee.

It’s 6:34, and a thick rug of mist rolls out across the river. It’s so dense that k.d.b can’t see the water beneath it. Then comes the sun: a single ray cutting through the mist like a tube of light, landing on Miemel’s face. In her mouth is a CD she’s picked up, and on the CD is the title Instrumental Romance.

'What is Instrumental Romance?' thinks k.d.b. 'Romantic instrumentals? Or a romance used instrumentally? As in, a romance used to get something—like love?'

Miemel drops the CD and turns her attention to a stray purple grape on the path. Grapes are poisonous to dogs, and as she bends toward it, k.d.b. shouts, “NO!” At that precise moment, a large fish rises from the mist. It launches into the air, mouth wide open, and hangs there above the clouds. His shout, having traveled across the river, bounces back towards k.d.b with a “NO,” and in perfect synchrony, it appears the fish is also shouting at Miemel. The timing is so perfect, they can’t be sure it isn’t.

The fish falls back down, entering its watery world with an eerie, splashless silence, leaving k.d.b and Miemel standing open-mouthed on the bank. Before they can register the perfection of this duet, another fish (or maybe the same one again) rises from the mist in the exact same spot and launches into the air. Without thinking, k.d.b shouts again. The word “ROMANCE” comes out. This time, however, he is slightly too late, and the word is too long, so “ROMANCE” lingers on after the fish has already fallen back down.

'What even is romance?' thinks k.d.b. 'The construction of mystery or excitement with dead red flowers and timing?'

A foghorn sounds behind him, and k.d.b turns 180 degrees to see a boat moving freight, right to left, along the River Maas. 'That’s strange', he thinks. 'If the river is there, then what’s that behind me, below the mist?'

Staring at the boat and its shipping containers as they float out of sight, k.d.b imagines a man. The man is standing at the bottom of a small valley, holding a fish. 'Who is this man, and what does he want?'

- Jacob Dwyer

The brilliantly named duo - formed by Adam Morrow and Jamie Sego - might be based in "the hit recording capital of the world", Muscle Shoals, Alabama, but somehow, they have made a concept album about the ancient religious outpost off the coast of northeast England. It's a stunning record that mixes fuzzy guitars with folk horror and fantastic melodies - for fans of Ride, Slowdive, Galaxie 500, Talk Talk, Yo La Tengo and The Clientele. Despite its lyrical inspiration lying thousands of miles away, it comes imbued with the soulfulness of their surroundings - not least because it was recorded in the old Muscle Shoals Sound studio by the Tennessee River, now Portside Sound, which is run by Jamie. "The story of Lindisfarne gave us a framework for what were otherwise very abstract ideas and emotions," explains Adam. "It became a way to make sense of our own moment in history. We really want our lives and societies to always get better, and to be left alone to make that happen. But we are stuck in these cycles of progress and regression, and I think most people are really driven to make sense of it and assign meaning. Lately, we've lived through a global pandemic, a devaluation of truth and reality, and a resurgence of far-right politics into the mainstream. Not really what I expected out of life in 2025." He is keen to point out that, despite the seriousness of its inspirations, the duo had a lot of fun making the album and really want it to be "a living and breathing thing". "We want people to be able to engage with it regardless of whether they care about it as a concept record," he says. "For me, it's just another reason to expand the pedalboard," concludes Jamie. "We hope you enjoy it. Peace, love and reverb from Alabama." Coloured Vinyl LP, and Bonustrack CD available, this version is `Lindisfarne Sky' Blue & White Vinyl and adds a postcard.

Alex Voorhies, known to dance floor connoisseurs as lil_art_hoe, is a multidisciplinary artist based in Louisiana, where they operate the boutique imprint Techno Money Records. lil_art_hoe’s signature sound is raw and unedited, with an array of grooves and melodies endlessly swirling to create truly unique tracks full of big ideas, but completely lacking in regard for normalcy.
For this Studio Barnhus debut, lil_art_hoe delivered two prime examples of their sonic practice, with elements constantly expanding and contracting, resulting in some of the most captivating yet straight-forward club music heard at Studio Barnhus HQ in recent times. A side standard living comes with a special dub mix prepared by the artist themself, while OG rave daddy and long time Studio Barnhus hero Truncate was called in to deliver a high octane techno take on flipside recall.
“standard living and recall were tracks spawned in the springtime when I was yearning for balance and reminiscing on moments that got me to the present. I was exploring a lot of live funk recordings for recall, while standard living was an emulation of going back in the work force and reestablishing a 9-to-5 schedule as a chef”, says lil_art_hoe in a rare communique straight from the swamps of south Louisiana.

Something is brewing in the state of Norway! Kronstad 23 are the latest trailblazers from northern Scandinavia: a creative force exploring the boundaries of musical genres, including but not limited to: psych rock, jazz, post-rock & scandinavian folk music. The group of young players follows the footsteps of Motorpsycho, Elephant9 & El Paraiso’s own Lotus, Fra Det Onde & Kanaan, carving out their path through the musical landscape in seemingly effortless ways! One minute you’re floating on cosmic Pharoah Sanders waters, the next you’re ascending on electrified if-Tortoise-played-Allman Brothers-style jamming.


The band describes their approach as: “Sommermørket is an escape from inhumane technology and politics in search of something that feels authentic. The music breathes in the little that is left of old air and rises slowly into the hazy summer twilight like brittle thoughts that try to connect and fade away.”


Kronstad 23 was formed in Kronstad, Bergen, Norway in the Autumn of 2023. As old friends and musical collaborators, they rekindled a creative spark that had been dormant for over 10 years. Rarely rehearsed and often caught on first take, Sommermørket was recorded live on tape in the studio of Keyboardist Øyvind Vie Berg in Bergen, Norway. The record captures three sessions across one year, from spring and late summer in 2024 to winter of 2025.

Sascha Ring aka Apparat’s work as a producer, artist, musician, live act and DJ has always been in a constant state of metamorphosis, while simultaneoulsy always managing to stay true to his trademark musical sound.

There is a unique spirit that lives within his projects and productions or rather they all have this special vision of music which becomes more distinctive with every release and spans his ‘Multifunktionsebene’ and ‘Walls’ albums on Shitkatapult, his ‘Moderat’ album made together with the boys from Modeselektor on Bpitch Control and his DJ-Kicks mix for !K7.

Following on from Kode9 and his friend James Holden, Apparat offers a wonderful mix and insight into the tracks that have influenced and roused his passion for club productions over the years as well as his current favourites in his box.

The mix includes an exclusive track ‘Sayulita’. Together with this mix, it also symbolises a nice reference point in an important chapter in Apparat’s own history – club music. This is a chapter that is by no means finished, for the more he succeeds in re-writing the narrow parameters of techno music, the more important it remains as the driving force in his life.

On November 7, 2025, the Belgian label Sdban Records will release a reissue of the mythical Open Sky Unit (1974) by the eponymous jazz fusion group featuring Micheline and Jacques Pelzer, Steve Houben, Ron Wilson, Janot Buchem and Michel Graillier. The album returns on vinyl, highlighting a pivotal moment in Belgian jazz history, where soul, funk, and free improvisation came together in a vibrant and family-driven project.

Formed in the early 1970s as a homage to Dave Liebman's group Open Sky, Open Sky Unit grew out of informal jam sessions in Liège, Belgium, into a unique collective. One of the central figures was Jacques Pelzer, father of drummer and vocalist Micheline Pelzer, alongside his second cousin, saxophonist/flutist Steve Houben, bass player Janot Buchem, percussionist Michel Graillier and American pianist/composer Ron Wilson.

Their 1974 debut album was released on the Duchesne classical music label, run by Pelzer's brother-in-law. The group's sound carefully balanced jazz and soul and was largely directed by Wilson, a Californian pianist and singer who settled in Liège and nearby Maastricht after his army service. Wilson composed the entire repertoire. Open Sky Unit was recorded live at Jazzland club in Liège, and the band made several short tours in Belgium and abroad (including Tunisia) until around 1975-1976, when Houben left for Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music.

Although the original live recording from 1974 was not technically perfect, the group succeeded in capturing their heartfelt live energy. Tracks such as Open Sky, Sunshine Star, and Passion and Compassion are striking examples of this. Years later, the album version of Sunshine Star found its way onto Funky Chicken (2014), the compilation that not only brought the track back into the spotlight but also marked the beginning of Sdban Records.

In addition to the standard reissue, a limited edition of 200 copies will be released for collectors, featuring a 7" single of Ron Wilson's Sunshine Star as a special bonus. This single was originally released in 1973 with the acoustic version of Sunshine Star (piano and vocals) on the B-side, recorded a few months before the longer jazz-funk version later featured on the LP Open Sky Unit. The A-side, Peace Is The Answer, was only released on that single at the time and is now being reissued for the very first time. The 7" is thus a faithful and long-awaited reissue of a rare piece of Belgian jazz history, it's intimate, soulful, and an ideal complement to theexisting and well-known LP.

Although the band never achieved a major international breakthrough, they were highly valued in progressive European jazz circles and later secured a place in anthologies such as Utopic Cities: Progressive Jazz in Belgium 1968-1979. The reissue of Open Sky Unit brings their music back into the spotlight and reaffirms their role as key figures in the Belgian jazz scene of the seventies.

In the two years since Parallel Minds’ Juno-Award-winning 5th release Homesick by label co-founder Ciel, we have taken our time reassessing our next moves as the larger dance music scene experienced a paradigm shift. What does it mean to release music made by underground artists from lesser-known scenes like Toronto at a time when bookers and A&Rs are taking fewer risks than ever before? How do we truly celebrate the musical diversity of electronic music when the bottom line threatens to reduce any and all forms of risk-taking?

You just do it, of course.

In truth, few artists have come to represent the music scene in the Big Smoke more than Phèdre, and having seen the duo’s progression from indie weirdo-pop to live hardware act to breakbeat wunderkind in the last decade has been nothing short of amazing. It’s really artists like these that inspired us to start the label in 2018, and we are super elated to usher in PM006 with their long-awaited album, Liquid Constancy.

On its face, Liquid Constancy is a breakbeat record. There are housier joints, to more bassy Baltimore club bangers, to breakneck footwork and jungle steeped in sunshine. All of them share a distinctly syncopated, dubwise rhythm that grounds the album’s tracks. With some having been developed as early as seven years ago, these tracks had their genesis in Phèdre’s mostly improvised live hardware sets from some of Toronto’s most notorious warehouse raves. Primarily powered by two Korg Electribe ESX-1s and the semi-modular Moog Mother-32, the jams found new life in the studio when the duo began recording them as tracks, which demanded a mindfulness of their permanence that Daniel Lee and apè Aliermo at first found intimidating.

Over time, the pair developed a synergistic workflow that pulls from Daniel’s background in drums and apè’s keen ear for texture and movement. They sourced samples featuring voices of BIPOC and feminist icons, drew from their shared love of sci-fi and kung fu movies, and from their Filipino, Chinese, German, and Surinamese backgrounds. Samples were manipulated via techniques like lowering bit rates and adjusting speed to maximize usage due to the Electribe’s limited sample time, which was a subtle way of injecting their interests into their music without being too on the nose. Growing up in the melting pot of the GTA, going to raves as teens, bumping post-punk, industrial, electro, hip-hop and 90s R&B — these experiences all had an undeniable influence on Liquid Constancy. As kids of immigrant parents, equally informed by both their adopted and native cultures, Phèdre makes music informed by sampling and defined by cultural hybridity. In times like these, what is more feel-good than believing in music as a universal language that brings our different backgrounds together?

For the first time ever, the only full-length album by Spanish soul and garage legends Z-66 is being reissued. Z-66's signature blend of powerful soul, psychedelia, and pop-clearly influenced by bands like The Move, Stones, Vanilla Fudge, and Blood, Sweat & Tears delivers a bold, modern sound that remains fresh and compelling. Unlike other Spanish bands of the time, Los Z-66 enjoyed unique conditions that allowed their sound to stand out as one of the most advanced on the local scene in the late 1960s. As was the case with many other groups, their repertoire for entertaining discotheques had to include the hits of the moment and was not always open to the songs of the most daring international bands, which was the sound that most stimulated the musicians. In the case of Los Z-66, being based in Mallorca meant they had privileged access to hard to-find records, imported by foreign tourists, and to a much more modern atmosphere than in other parts of the country. Songs in Italian and French soon gave way to English hits by the Animals, the Stones, and the Beatles. But it was the offer received from Mike Jeffries, manager of Jimi Hendrix, the Animals, and others, to serve as the house band at the newly opened club Sgt. Pepper's that allowed the group to raise their live performances to a level rarely seen in these parts... They even soon incorporated the distorted sound of fuzz into their guitar when they received a fuzz face pedal as a gift from Jimi Hendrix himself, who was invited to play at the club's opening! Their excellent blend of stunning soul, psychedelia, and pop became their hallmark, not only in the band's concerts but also in the handful of singles and EPs they released on the Regal label. We are now re-releasing for the first time their only full-length album, originally published in 1969, which is actually a compilation of songs previously released in 45 rpm format, complete with two bonus tracks not included on the original LP plus a booklet with liner notes and rare photos.

The perfect accompaniment to that deep fall feeling, Frank Maston's beloved 2025 single finally gets its long overdue vinyl release! As our friends New Commute articulated beautifully, "Foreign Affairs" drifts through London fog and Paris shimmer, its avant-lounge glow wrapping each melody in a wistful ache. On B-side "Liaison," ghostly strings and a solitary piano paint a deserted twilight shoreline, Pacôme Henry's distinct 16mm cinematography hovering nearby." We've pressed just 500 of these gorgeous records so, be quick, Maston always flies.

Originally written for a film Maston was scoring in 2024, he decided to keep it aside for himself. And, well, us all. The song has a vibe Maston has previously flirted with; he wanted to dive in...all the way: "The arrangement is huge, definitely the biggest I've written, and it merited live musicians playing together. Also another experiment, to do it with all live musicians playing my arrangements. I wanted to make something that you'd want to put on when you bring a date back to your place. It's on the edge of sappy but that's sort of the point. I decided to give myself an unlimited budget - just spend whatever was necessary to get the right musicians and record it the best way possible."

It's this dedication to sonic perfection which Maston is rightly lauded for. We couldn't not put this on a cute wee 7" when we heard it.

The A side, "Foreign Affairs", is a brilliant, Bacharach-esque romp with a bit of that unapologetically romantic Morricone angle. Says Frank: "I was trying to synthesize that sort of jazzy/sexy/classy/romantic mature sound, where the edginess is in these surprising chord changes and subtle arrangement cues."

A wonderful complement, the flipside "Liaison", evokes Martin Denny, but Eden's Island was in Frank's head, too. He wanted to take a deep dive into that exotica sound - a genre he'd referenced a bit but never fully committed to - so the piece is lavished with those big sighing strings and a pretty lush arrangement. Happily, it all sounds super rich. Also, "Umiliani is always a reference for this sort of thing (Il Corpo etc.), That almost mechanical arrangement of things moving together and a simple melody over it (something I nicked from Ennio)".

The two songs were recorded in Paris and London in the summer of 2024. Aside from the rhythm section and piano, there's vibraphone, a full string section, trombones and alto and concert flutes. "Liaison" boasts strings, vibraphone, a female choir and tenor sax. Maston played piano and acoustic guitar but that's it (as opposed to playing basically everything on Tulips). His friend Oscar Sholto Robertson played drums and percussion whilst Maston mainstay Elie Ghersinu (formerly of L'Eclair) played bass.

The theme for a lot of Maston's titles is that they have two meanings. So "Foreign Affairs" is both a reference to him living abroad and the idea of constant cultural diplomacy and then there's this sexy/cheeky interpretation of foreign affairs in a literal way - "an affair abroad, ooh la la!". The artwork for this 7" single has Roman campaign flags, referencing the foreign affairs in sort of a sassy way. There's a violence implied. But then if you look from a bit of a distance it looks like a bouquet of flowers. So Frank thought it went with the spirit of the title. Also, he's used a lot of roman motifs now so he kept that theme going, even with the terracotta cover.

This is a vitally important project for our Frank. He explains why, here: "For whatever reason, these songs really resonated with me. I feel like they are either the end of a stylistic era for me or the beginning of a new one. They're sonically the culmination of what I'd been working towards and trying to get better at since I started. If I heard this when I was making Tulips I would have said "YES! *This* is what I want to be doing!". So that's the essence of it. It's a statement and the intended reaction is "This is really good, but why now?". Like the edge to it is the context of someone making this sort of thing in 2025, which I think is a huge strength. The real heads will get it. My music always has like a 2-3 year latency until people really catch onto it, and these ones will have a nice payoff I think."

We couldn't put it better ourselves. So we haven't.

“A good song can survive and shine in different ways in the hands of different musicians,” says Emmylou Harris. “It can have different meanings at different times in your life. A good song can travel with you anywhere.” That philosophy has guided her fifty-year career in country music, during which she has covered countless songs across countless genres and put her own indelible stamp on each one. More specifically, it’s the philosophy that animates both Spyboy, her touring band in the late 1990s, and Spyboy, the 1998 live album that demonstrates how these musicians made her songs shine. Sequencing old songs alongside new ones, the album tests the tensile strength of each one, pushing them into wilder and more psychedelic territory while remaining grounded in earthy country music. It’s completely unique in her catalog, a crucial document of an important chapter in her career, and it’s finally getting reissued after years of being unavailable. “It’s such a special record,” she says. “Well, they all are, but this one is really, really special. That was such a fantastic band and such an amazing time.”

Spyboy grew out of Wrecking Ball, Harris’ groundbreaking 1995 collaboration with producer Daniel Lanois. In 1996 and 1997 together with Buddy Miller, Brady Blade and Daryl Johnson, The band, also named Spyboy, toured America and Europe together, never playing a song the same way twice. Buddy Miller brought along his recording gear and recorded nearly every show on the tour. When their time on the road ended, Miller and Harris sat down together and they culled through hundreds of tracks to choose the ones that best represented the Spyboy ethos of endless possibility. They whittled the original release down to 14 tracks and in 1998 Eminent Records released Spyboy on CD.

The Band Rotosphere has become a cornerstone of the Blues Festival Baden (Switzerland). Since 2005, led by guitarist and bandleader Nic Niedermann, they"ve been lighting up the festival"s legendary Late Night Jam Sessions. Over the years, they"ve shared the stage with blues icons such as Magic Slim, Susan Tedeschi, Coco Montoya, Justina Lee Brown and Chicago"s own blues harpist, Matthew Skoller. A truly magical moment unfolded in 2022 when Mark Slate took to the stage. The charismatic blues and soul singer captivated the audience from the first note with his powerful voice. Having spent years on the road with the "Joe Cocker Tribute Show", Slate embodies the raw and gritty essence of the blues. Now, performing alongside Rotosphere, they deliver original tracks brimming with energy, passion, and musical fire - an unforgettable experience for every listener!

On November 7, 2025, the Belgian label Sdban Records will release a reissue of the mythical Open Sky Unit (1974) by the eponymous jazz fusion group featuring Micheline and Jacques Pelzer, Steve Houben, Ron Wilson, Janot Buchem and Michel Graillier. The album returns on vinyl, highlighting a pivotal moment in Belgian jazz history, where soul, funk, and free improvisation came together in a vibrant and family-driven project.

Formed in the early 1970s as a homage to Dave Liebman's group Open Sky, Open Sky Unit grew out of informal jam sessions in Liège, Belgium, into a unique collective. One of the central figures was Jacques Pelzer, father of drummer and vocalist Micheline Pelzer, alongside his second cousin, saxophonist/flutist Steve Houben, bass player Janot Buchem, percussionist Michel Graillier and American pianist/composer Ron Wilson.

Their 1974 debut album was released on the Duchesne classical music label, run by Pelzer's brother-in-law. The group's sound carefully balanced jazz and soul and was largely directed by Wilson, a Californian pianist and singer who settled in Liège and nearby Maastricht after his army service. Wilson composed the entire repertoire. Open Sky Unit was recorded live at Jazzland club in Liège, and the band made several short tours in Belgium and abroad (including Tunisia) until around 1975-1976, when Houben left for Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music.

Although the original live recording from 1974 was not technically perfect, the group succeeded in capturing their heartfelt live energy. Tracks such as Open Sky, Sunshine Star, and Passion and Compassion are striking examples of this. Years later, the album version of Sunshine Star found its way onto Funky Chicken (2014), the compilation that not only brought the track back into the spotlight but also marked the beginning of Sdban Records.

In addition to the standard reissue, a limited edition of 200 copies will be released for collectors, featuring a 7" single of Ron Wilson's Sunshine Star as a special bonus. This single was originally released in 1973 with the acoustic version of Sunshine Star (piano and vocals) on the B-side, recorded a few months before the longer jazz-funk version later featured on the LP Open Sky Unit. The A-side, Peace Is The Answer, was only released on that single at the time and is now being reissued for the very first time. The 7" is thus a faithful and long-awaited reissue of a rare piece of Belgian jazz history, it's intimate, soulful, and an ideal complement to theexisting and well-known LP.

Although the band never achieved a major international breakthrough, they were highly valued in progressive European jazz circles and later secured a place in anthologies such as Utopic Cities: Progressive Jazz in Belgium 1968-1979. The reissue of Open Sky Unit brings their music back into the spotlight and reaffirms their role as key figures in the Belgian jazz scene of the seventies.

Although they emerged from Melbourne bayside outer suburbs onto the local live scene with their fresh and spirited indie-rock update of the garage-beat sounds of The Easybeats, Kinks and early Beatles only a year or so ago, Gnome actually started out as a bedroom solo project for teenaged singer/songwriter/ guitarist Jay Millar a few years back. Jay, playing everything himself, started recording and releasing a steady succession of material - quite a few albums' worth - on his own Goblin Records label via Bandcamp. Realizing he needed a band to start playing out, Jay approached some like minded players from Frankston's rehearsal hub Singing Bird, and with Jay on lead vocals and lead guitar, Ned Capp on guitar, Olly Katsianis on bass, and Ethan Robins on drums, Gnome became a band.

Early in 2025, the last solo Jay recordings released under the Gnome name caused something of an international underground sensation when the Bandcamp only I Like It EP - four songs of kranked up Kinks-style mono riffage - was posted by a Spanish garage-punk YouTube page and quickly clocked up over 50,000 views.



At the same time, the band quickly began gaining attention on the thriving Frankston scene and around Melbourne. They started breaking out, sharing bills with the likes of Drunk Mums, Skegss, Split System, The Prize, The Unknowns, Cosmic Psychos, Hockey Dad, Guitar Wolf, The 5.6.7.8's, The Breadmakers, Loose Lips, fellow Frankstoners/Singing Bird alumni The Belair Lip Bombs, and, on a quick trip to Sydney, Cammy Cautious & The Wrestlers.

And now, finally, we have The Gnomes' debut album. Twelve killer tracks that combine the best of the '60s with the best of today. Twelve killer tracks that show off assertive and accomplished songwriting, singing and playing and an explosive and authentic swinging group sound. Twelve killers slices of raw rock'n'roll running the gamut from the savage Rhythm & Blues of "Play With You" and “Better With You” to the vibrant beat pop of "I'll Be There" and "I'm Not The One", with forays into the heavy reverb psych of "Stung", the Cavern/Star Club stylings of "Flippin' Stomp" and the first flyte jangle of "Time Will Tell" along the way. There’s more of course, including a new version of that Kinks-style kranker “I Like It” for good measure.

Frankston’s Fab Four are taking their sound to the world. Join them for the ride!

Wounds is the band's long-awaited fifth album - their first in six years, their most eclectic and ambitious work to date. As heavy as it is haunting, the record masterfully blends doom, post-punk, and driving krautrock in a dynamic, hypnotic maelstrom - pushing London's most exciting cult band into intoxicating new territory. "Wounds is a series of songs about the different ways people live with and process 'the wounds' of their lives," explains vocalist Maya. "A strange celebration of that formative pain we have all experienced in some way. The loss and joy of survival - the celebration of finding others like us, the gift of knowing life comes after fire." Wounds was recorded by Mike Bew, on location at Foel Studio. The band could be found working deep into the witching hours, experimenting with new sounds and filling the valleys with cantankerous wails of sound, bursting from amps borrowed from My Bloody Valentine. "The Welsh countryside has a mystical quality to it," says guitarist Adam. "We recorded in a deep, dark valley; misty days and shooting stars at night. You could wander through nearby woods and stone circles during breaks. Foel Studios is woven into this setting with a transcendence of its own - its storied history includes sessions by Electric Wizard, Hawkwind and The Fall." Synths on the album are arranged by Berlin-based Bow Church, an influential figure in the dark electronic scene and a longtime collaborator of the band. His work weaves icy and atmospheric textures into the album's tracks. While meticulously crafted, Wounds captures the visceral energy of Cold in Berlin's renowned live shows. The album's arrangements and raucous sound remain true to the unrelenting intensity and atmosphere of their stage performances - every track retains the sweat, urgency, and immediacy of a band performing in the moment.