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Vordergrundmusik’s Rittik Wystup returns with a slightly-so avant-garde collage of Piano and Beats. Little melodies awake spuriously, welcoming Spring; they interplay with sizzling cymbals and flamboyant drums. The usage of wind is the carrier throughout the record, just as coastlines bring a strong breeze of cool or warm air.

The overture "Rhythm of the Wind" opens a space of gusts and drafts which circle the EP’s leitmotif. Shifting keys only slightly, it’s a calm prelude to the following track.

"Drums in the Deep" tells the story of a drifting wanderer, voiced by Stepan Terteryan, at the shore of Armenia’s Lake Sevan. His poem can be heard throughout the track, mumbling away as he feels the ground beneath him shaken by roaming bears.

"Three Droplets in Space" presents falling water drops, lifted by a steady, sharp beat. As they approach a large pool, they increase in size and weight, becoming more round and abundant. A gnarly FM bass and frozen hi-hats make way for the passage through the thickening air, blitzing the little leitmotif here and there.

Staying in key, "I Exhale" whispers an ascending piano phrase into the air, which upon reaching for the sky reforms into an unwavering, repeated, slightly melancholic expression. A homage to a valley of bells and chimes, it bursts and blasts into tiny fractions before it evaporates.

Traditional drums and plucked strings progress through "Might y Mist". Before they lose themselves in a faraway landscape, feet stomp and heads bob. As they meld into a fog, carrying debris of the wanderer’s voice and his melody, they spread like a mist: over the water’s surface.

Finally, Timo Maas drops a hefty and punchy remix of "Drums in the Deep". He picks up on the poem and its inclinations but keeps the dancefloor in mind when shattering glassy bits over distorted fragments of the melody. A splendid pumpy finisher to a fairly eccentric EP.

Mr Emotinium goes rogue on a new breaks-heavy bop for Acid Waxa, riding a wave of mid tempo squelchers and industrial strength gurner-churners, pressed on vinyl for the very thirst time!

The tough breakbeats, slippery machine funk and fizzier end of the acid spectrum have always been a predominant driving force throughout most of Roy’s impressive output to date but on his new Fenix Break slab for Acid Waxa, Nottingham’s finest lays the mid-tempo gurner-churners on thick with a trowel and goes in deep on a wild, cement mixer bop.

Employing the use of an old Akai sampler avec floppy discs and the mega rare Cwejman S2 & Synton Fenix 19 synths alongside his usual acidic apparatus - Roy delivers six heavily-processed 303 sizzlers, recorded straight to tape for added rawness and pressed on to vinyl for the very thirst time, following a sold out, limited edition cassette version of Fenix Break, released in 2019.

There is a tendency within modern electronica to pigeonhole and categorise, to package music into easily digestible formulae. In direct revolt comes Dutch artist Satori and his new album Dreamin’ Colours, released globally April 22nd, 2022, on renowned imprint Crosstown Rebels. Recorded at the esteemed Sonic Vista Studios in Ibiza, the nine-track LP has been greatly anticipated off the back of its proceeding’s singles: Yellow Blue Bus ft. Laska, Lalai ft. Ariana Vafadari and most recently Gin Song.

An ethereal, swirling body of work, Dreamin’ Colours is rich in texture, colour and imagination. Satori stretches himself out through languorous, mystical explorations of both the digital and the analogue elements of music, the result a beautifully conspired collection of world music, steeped in electronic and Balkan roots, and straddling a multitude of genres from blues and indie electronic to opera, folk and beyond.

Colourful Dream begins proceedings, taking the form of a gently-building opener. From the pluck of a guitar string to hypnotic flute-like elements, we soon arrive at the enchanting world of Lalai ft. Ariana Vafadari. Recorded in a four-hundred-year-old water well, it showcases the transcendent sound with which Satori has become best known, meandering through rustling hats and tribal-like drum patterns whilst the dulcet tones of Ariana shimmer softly throughout.

Tuti ft. Kalima takes on a harder edge, with gritty drum patterns opening into melancholic chords early on. Kalima’s vocals add an emotive touch to the piece, paving the way for Moj Dilbere: a euphoric cut that feels tribal and reflective in one.

We land at a similarly ethereal soundscape on The Gin Song ft. Mybaby, as star-like synths pulse alongside punchy percussion before Yellow Blue Bus ft. Laska takes its place. It begins with real-life ambience, made up of sounds recorded live in Ibiza as a bus passes and birds chirp merrily in the background. This swiftly gives way to a guitar-flecked bassline, opening neatly into the vocal offerings of both Satori and Laska.

Troublemaker ft. El Mundo retains an inherent melodic quality, progressing through poignant strings and whispering kick-hat combos. Powerful and poignant, the mesmeric sounds of Ora Dea and Moshe meander subtly into Lonely Boy (Redux) ft. Hugo Oak. The closing saga brings things to a wonderfully subdued finish, rounding off the album on a wholeheartedly calming note.

Although raised in the Netherlands, where commercial electronic music is of course king, on Dreamin’ Colours it is undeniably Satori’s Balkan heritage that layers his production with dreamy, ethereal, Eastern European influences. The album’s overriding voice lies in his exultant celebration of Eastern European music, weaving vibrant threads of its earthy, melodic, rhythmic sounds into his thick musical tapestry. Written during the pandemic and driven by the ache of separated love, the album is, Satori says, his most personal yet.

From holding down an eighteen-month residency at Heart, Ibiza to having nearly four-hundred-thousand listeners on Spotify each month, Satori is a truly worldwide artist in today’s electronic music scene. Having been championed by Damian Lazarus early on in his career, he has emerged as a must-see live act for fans from all corners of the globe. November 2021 marked the start of his USA tour, where his Maktub concept adorned some of the country’s most iconic clubbing institutions, whilst his discography speaks for itself, with a plethora of acclaimed releases on labels including Crosstown Rebels, Sol Selectas and DGTL Records to name a few. As Dreamin’ Colours introduces him to an ever-growing audience, Satori remains one of the most exhilarating, untamed and truly authentic forces in music.

Less than a year after their debut, Brazil’s Lasso returns with their second EP. While Lasso’s razor-sharp riffing and songwriting remain intact, this time around the sound is thicker and meaner, as if what was presaged in the first EP’s foreboding, ominous sound has finally come to pass. Indeed, as the world has slid into previously unthinkable depths of darkness and brutality, Lasso’s sound has evolved to match, a hard-won sense of steadiness now augmenting the anguish so palpable on their first record. Lasso also introduces a few new musical wrinkles here. A surf-y, Dead Kennedys-esque lead guitar elevates tracks like “Fechado Em Copas” and “Atarantado” to even higher levels of catchiness than their already-infectious debut, while “Mendaz” closes the record with an apocalyptic, mid-paced stomp. Desperate times call for desperate music, which makes Lasso the perfect soundtrack for 2022. Limited to 400 copies.

The story of Tonic revolves around the longstanding, close brotherhood shared among members Emerson Hart, Jeff Russo, Dan Rothchild and Kevin Shepard. Russo is best known for his work as a soundtrack composer, notably Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard and Fargo. For this latter Russo won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special in 2017.

This Grammy Award-nominated Multi-Platinum trio released their debut album Lemon Parade in 1996. The album was produced by Jack Joseph Puig, who also worked among The Black Crowes, Green Day and No Doubt. The album included the hit single “If You Could Only See”, which became a #1 hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Track Charts and reached #11 on the Billboard Airplay Hot 100, where it remained for 63 weeks.

The classic second Big Thief LP originally released in 2017, limited repress at a decent price! Gatefold LP & download code, don’t miss out.

The trails that Brooklyn's Big Thief -- Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums) -- take us down on Capacity, the band's highly anticipated second record out 6/9 on Saddle Creek, are overgrown with the wilderness of pumping souls. After last year's stunning Masterpiece, Capacity was recorded in a snowy winter nest in upstate New York at Outlier Studio with producer Andrew Sarlo. The album jumps right into lives marked up and nipped in surprisingly swift fashion. They are peopled and unpeopled, spooked and soothed, regenerating back into a state where they can once again be vulnerable. Lenker's songs introduce us to a gallery of multifacted women and deal with the complicated matters of identity — at once dangerous and curious, though never unbelievable. Lenker shows us the gentle side of being ripped open. Tricked into love, done in and then witnessing the second act of pulling oneself back together to prepare for it to all happen again, but this time to a sturdier soul, one who is going to take the punches better than ever before and deal some jabs and roundhouses of their own. The album is thick with raw, un-doctored beauty: most of the songs on Capacity were played for the first time in the studio and were recorded the same day. There is a darker darkness and a lighter light on this album,' Lenker explains. The songs search for a deeper level of self-acceptance, to embrace the world within and without. I think Masterpiece began that process, as a reaction from inside the pain, whereas I feel Capacity examines the pain from the outside.'

"We're a bunch of outsiders who refused to be kept out," says High Pulp drummer Bobby Granfelt. "We've never had an academic approach to jazz-most of us grew up playing in DIY bands-so it was the rawness and the energy and the absolute freedom of the music that called to us in the first place." Indeed, there's something defiant, something utterly liberating about High Pulp's remarkable ANTI- Records debut, Pursuit of Ends. Drawing on punk rock, shoegaze, hip-hop, and electronic music, the band's brand of experimental jazz is both vintage and futuristic all at once, hinting at times to everything from Miles Davis and Duke Ellington to Aphex Twin and My Bloody Valentine. The songs here balance meticulous composition with visceral spontaneity, and the performances are nothing short of virtuosic, fueled by raw, ecstatic horn runs ducking and weaving their way around thick bass lines and dizzying percussion. While the Seattle-based collective is centered around a crew of six core members, they also make judicious use of a broad network of collaborators on the album, wrangling special guests like sax star Jaleel Shaw (Roy Haynes, Mingus Big Band), harpist Brandee Younger (Ravi Coltrane, The Roots), GRAMMY-nominated trumpet?er Theo Coker, and keyboardist Jacob Mann (Rufus Wainwright, Louis Cole) to help stretch the boundaries of their already-expansive sonic universe. The result is a lush, cinematic collection that's as unpredictable as it is engrossing, an urgent, exhilarating instrumental album that manages to speak to the moment without uttering a single word.

The next remix installment from Psychemagik’s LP, “I Feel How This Night Should Look”, comes from longtime mates and sonic colleagues, Warehouse Preservation Society, and esteemed dancefloor cornerstone, Bushwacka.

W.P.S., the mutant duo from Los Angeles, have cropped up remixes and originals with reckless abandon these past years, and here, transform the Psychemagik source material into a breakbeat-infused act of nuclear fission, striking out the gate with heavy rhythms that meltdown into a steady hypnotic groove, all accompanied by dubbed vocal stabs and poignant arpeggios.

Bushwacka's remix of Valley Of Paradise has echoes of some of his earlier signature works. Centered breaks and floating pads guide through his cosmic rendition, whilst still retaining a strong melodic anchor from the original track, and glued together with a thick bouncing bassline - a trip for sure!

For their seventh release in partnership with SEGA of Japan, Data Discs is delighted to bring together the complete music from the classic Mega Drive games, Golden Axe (1989) and Golden Axe II (1991), in one special package. This release features the unforgettable artwork from both games, supplied on two thick lithographic prints, with the record itself pressed on heavyweight translucent gold vinyl. The outer sleeve features rare artwork from the 1989 Japanese edition, sourced from the SEGA archives and presented on 425gsm cardstock with gold flood printing. As always, the audio has been carefully restored and mastered using the original console as the source, ensuring these memorable soundtracks are preserved for many quests to come!

Very limited new repress coming, note new price. An air of the unsettled is a staple of Robert Lloyd’s career, from The Prefects’s dank dexterity and jittery paranoia of the first Nightingales’ release, Idiot Strength, onward through four decades of top-notch recordings. If the unique persona of Lloyd and crew always came across on their ten albums and countless line-ups, it was largely as an acquired taste of the musical cognoscenti. Labels good and bad seemed to feel, at one point or another, a public duty and a point of pride to release a Nightingales album before returning to the business of business. Four Against Fate is remarkable. It’s the work of what’s now the band’s longest-serving line-up. The instrumental precision of any version of Nightingales has been one of the band’s defining hallmarks, but the psychic interplay of a group can take a few albums to kick in with full majesty - here’s proof of that. The rhythm section of Fliss and Andi functions now on a purely intuitive level. Jim’s work now ranks with that of any guitarist in modern ‘rock’ music, not just in originality, but also across an egalitarian mass of inspiration. Each member sings. Although Robert’s voice functions as the band’s superego, Fliss takes lead in several songs. Few bands today sound as much like a single unit as do Nightingales, but this group has the bonus of a distinct and credible musical language, exemplified by The Desperate Quartet, which comes across as both a medieval war march and the anthem of looming apocalypse. When at the song’s halfway point, American classical musician Clara Kebabian’s violin and Mark Bedford’s (of Madness) double bass overtake the Robert, Fliss, Jim and Andi, it’s a jawdropper of such intense perversity that it alone defies the listener to not play the album again from the start. Not that this album lacks ‘hits’ - The Top Shelf, Everything Everywhere All Of The Time, Devil’s Due and The Other Side are stunners. Robert claims Four Against Fate is the first of his album on which he skips no tracks on playback! Finally, the world has awakened to one of British music’s last treasures. After forty years of new labels, this is the first time Nightingales have released an album on the same label as their last full-length.

Poets of the Fall are back and announce their greatly anticipated 9th studio album "Ghostlight", out worldwide April 29th. Poets of the Fall is a Finnish rock band from Helsinki founded in 2003. With their previous eight studio albums, they've gained several #1 spots on the charts, performed worldwide to an enthusiastically loyal fanbase and have become one of the most internationally successful bands from Finland. Their music videos have been viewed hundreds of millions of times on YouTube, and their songs are streamed over two million plays per month on Spotify alone. The first Single Requiem for My Harlequin can be described as a massive power-drama that hurls you into a dizzying carnival ride, a thick Metallic Power-ballad full of of crunchy guitars, big symphonic arrangements and the silky-smooth golden vocals the band is famous for.

KAPPEKOFF, REGGIE GOT BEATS & ANDRE ESPEUT team up on this STAR CREATURE 7" single. Some thick juicy fonk vibes. This is classic Earth Boogie. The flip features an instrumental mix with extras added so be sure to double up.

Red Marbled Vinyl

Denise Rabe is back on her own imprint with its specific and unique gloomy witchy techno sound. Entering spheres of the unknown with a marvelous vocal chant on the A-side together with a fantastic built electro remix by Vil.

The B-side drives you one step further with an energetic and loopy track Icaro and a conspicuous deep hypnotic remix from Mary Yuzovskaya.

As always it is important to mention the exclusive hand screen printed sleeves and inserts by Rabe - this time in sumptuous gold ink on thick black card stock. Paired with the vinyl disc pressed in deep "Dracula red" makes this release a dark, elegant and exquisite package to add to your collection.

Loss and hope, isolation and communion, the cessation and renewal of purpose. Timeless and
salient, these themes echo throughout the fifth album from Midlake, their first since ‘Antiphon’
in 2013.
 From the cover to the title and beyond, a longing to reconnect with that which seems lost and
seek purpose in its passing sits at the record’s core. The cover star is keyboardist/flautist Jesse
Chandler’s father, who, tragically, passed away in 2018. As singer Eric Pulido explains, “He
was a lovely human, and it was really heavy and sad, and he came to Jesse in a dream. I
reference it in a song. He said, ‘Hey, Jesse, you need to get the band back together.’ I didn’t
take that lightly.”
 A desire to commune with the past and connect with present, lived experience asserts itself
from the opening of the album. ‘Bethel Woods’ sustains and develops that reconnection,
evoking the steadfast and contemplative urgency of ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ to back a
lyric steeped in yearning for a paradisal time and place of hope and optimism. Soaring guitars
and atmospheric noise effects extend a sonic scope further developed by ‘Glistening,’ where
arpeggios dance like light glancing off a lake. In just three songs, Midlake reintroduce
themselves and reach out into fresh territory with a richly intuitive dynamism, honouring their
past as a seedbed of possibility.
 Elsewhere, the prog-enhanced funk-rock of ‘Gone’ seeks to find hope in relationships that
seem fragile. The ELO-esque ‘Meanwhile…’ draws inspiration from what happened when
Midlake paused after ‘Antiphon’, developing universal resonance as a song about the beautiful
growths that can emerge from the cracks and gaps between things. ‘Dawning’ draws on 1970s
soft-rock stylings for another song searching for hope, its keyboard line reaching out towards
an uncertain future while everything seems to collapse around it; ‘The End’ reflects on the
difficulties of partings.
 On-hand was new collaborator John Congleton, who produced, engineered and mixed the
album, marking Midlake’s first record with an outside producer. “I can’t say enough just how
much his influence brought our music to another sonic place than we would have,” says Pulido.
“I don’t want to record without a producer again. Part of that is the health of the band, because
as you get older you get more opinionated and you kind of need that person who says, ‘No, it’s
going to be this way!’ It’s hard to do that with your friends.”
 The result is a powerful, warming expression of resolve and renewal for Midlake, opening up
new futures for the band and honouring their storied history. Formed in the small town of
Denton, with roots in the University of North Texas College of Music, Midlake delivered an
auspicious debut with 2004’s ‘Bamnan and Slivercork’. For the follow-up, they looked further
afield and deeper within to deliver 2006’s wondrous ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’, a modern
classic pitched between 1871, 1971 and somewhere out of time: between Henry David
Thoreau and Neil Young’s ‘After the Gold Rush’, between 1970s Laurel Canyon thinking and a
longing for something more mysterious.
 Confidence bolstered by a growing fanbase and a developed sense of their own far-reaching
abilities, Midlake - a band acutely attuned to seasonal shifts - then embraced change. In 2010,
they visited darker psych-folk thickets for ‘The Courage of Others’ and backed John Grant on
his lustrously spiky breakthrough album, ‘Queen of Denmark’. When singer Tim Smith departed
Midlake in 2012, Pulido stepped up to the lead vocal role for 2013’s freshly exploratory
‘Antiphon’, teasing out singular routes through vintage electric-folk pastures.
 In reuniting, the bandmates were adamant that Midlake needed their absolute focus. The result
is an album of tremendously engaged thematic and sonic reach with a warm, wise sense of
intimacy at its heart: an album to break bread and commune with, honour the past and travel
onwards with. In ‘Bethel Woods’, Pulido sings of gathering seeds. On ‘For the Sake of Bethel
Woods’, those seeds are lovingly nurtured, taking rich and spectacular bloom.
 LP pressed on 180g vinyl in a gatefold sleeve printed on matt card and printed inner sleeve
with lyrics and digital download card.

Loss and hope, isolation and communion, the cessation and renewal of purpose. Timeless and
salient, these themes echo throughout the fifth album from Midlake, their first since ‘Antiphon’
in 2013.
 From the cover to the title and beyond, a longing to reconnect with that which seems lost and
seek purpose in its passing sits at the record’s core. The cover star is keyboardist/flautist Jesse
Chandler’s father, who, tragically, passed away in 2018. As singer Eric Pulido explains, “He
was a lovely human, and it was really heavy and sad, and he came to Jesse in a dream. I
reference it in a song. He said, ‘Hey, Jesse, you need to get the band back together.’ I didn’t
take that lightly.”
 A desire to commune with the past and connect with present, lived experience asserts itself
from the opening of the album. ‘Bethel Woods’ sustains and develops that reconnection,
evoking the steadfast and contemplative urgency of ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ to back a
lyric steeped in yearning for a paradisal time and place of hope and optimism. Soaring guitars
and atmospheric noise effects extend a sonic scope further developed by ‘Glistening,’ where
arpeggios dance like light glancing off a lake. In just three songs, Midlake reintroduce
themselves and reach out into fresh territory with a richly intuitive dynamism, honouring their
past as a seedbed of possibility.
 Elsewhere, the prog-enhanced funk-rock of ‘Gone’ seeks to find hope in relationships that
seem fragile. The ELO-esque ‘Meanwhile…’ draws inspiration from what happened when
Midlake paused after ‘Antiphon’, developing universal resonance as a song about the beautiful
growths that can emerge from the cracks and gaps between things. ‘Dawning’ draws on 1970s
soft-rock stylings for another song searching for hope, its keyboard line reaching out towards
an uncertain future while everything seems to collapse around it; ‘The End’ reflects on the
difficulties of partings.
 On-hand was new collaborator John Congleton, who produced, engineered and mixed the
album, marking Midlake’s first record with an outside producer. “I can’t say enough just how
much his influence brought our music to another sonic place than we would have,” says Pulido.
“I don’t want to record without a producer again. Part of that is the health of the band, because
as you get older you get more opinionated and you kind of need that person who says, ‘No, it’s
going to be this way!’ It’s hard to do that with your friends.”
 The result is a powerful, warming expression of resolve and renewal for Midlake, opening up
new futures for the band and honouring their storied history. Formed in the small town of
Denton, with roots in the University of North Texas College of Music, Midlake delivered an
auspicious debut with 2004’s ‘Bamnan and Slivercork’. For the follow-up, they looked further
afield and deeper within to deliver 2006’s wondrous ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’, a modern
classic pitched between 1871, 1971 and somewhere out of time: between Henry David
Thoreau and Neil Young’s ‘After the Gold Rush’, between 1970s Laurel Canyon thinking and a
longing for something more mysterious.
 Confidence bolstered by a growing fanbase and a developed sense of their own far-reaching
abilities, Midlake - a band acutely attuned to seasonal shifts - then embraced change. In 2010,
they visited darker psych-folk thickets for ‘The Courage of Others’ and backed John Grant on
his lustrously spiky breakthrough album, ‘Queen of Denmark’. When singer Tim Smith departed
Midlake in 2012, Pulido stepped up to the lead vocal role for 2013’s freshly exploratory
‘Antiphon’, teasing out singular routes through vintage electric-folk pastures.
 In reuniting, the bandmates were adamant that Midlake needed their absolute focus. The result
is an album of tremendously engaged thematic and sonic reach with a warm, wise sense of
intimacy at its heart: an album to break bread and commune with, honour the past and travel
onwards with. In ‘Bethel Woods’, Pulido sings of gathering seeds. On ‘For the Sake of Bethel
Woods’, those seeds are lovingly nurtured, taking rich and spectacular bloom.
 LP pressed on 180g vinyl in a gatefold sleeve printed on matt card and printed inner sleeve
with lyrics and digital download card.

After their debut full-length album, Puritan Masochism, took the entire doom and heavy metal scene by storm upon its release in 2020, critically acclaimed Danish blackened death doom outfit KONVENT returns with a sophomore offering that doubles down on the band’s songwriting talent and brutal, heavy sound! The sonic evolution of KONVENT over the course of just two years is immediately evident on Call Down The Sun, surprising with new elements at every turn. Undoubtedly inspired by recent dark times, the ongoing pandemic and cancellation of live performances, the new album sees the Copenhagen-based band more pissed off, fast-paced and pitch black throughout. Rikke Emilie List’s guttural, sublime growls and fierce screams perfectly integrate with a heavy as hell wall of blackened death and funeral doom metal riffs from guitarist Sara Helena Nørregaard, backed by a thick, profound rhythm section provided by bassist Heidi Withington Brink and drummer Julie Simonsen. Tracks such as “Grains” – a ground-shaking, stomping black doom metal epos that will be a must-hear on KONVENT’s upcoming live setlists – showcase the band’s deep black soul with a hint of post-metal and even progressive elements. Featuring a haunting violin and cello guest performance by Felix Havstad, the band creates dark, eerie yet epic atmosphere on “Harena”, revealing threatening yet beautiful facets of their sound. With songs such as “Pipe Dreams” and massive album opener “Into the Distance”, the four-piece unleashes hurricanes of blackened death doom metal. Recorded and mixed by Lasse Ballade at Ballade Studios, Sweden and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege Studio, the new album’s thunderous apocalyptic sound is impossible to escape. Call Down The Sun a refreshing, vibrant record that is not only poised to top 2022 Album Of The Year lists, but reign as one of the best death and blackened doom metal records of modern times!

The Neptune Power Federation brings back the love song and rocks as furiously as ever on their fifth studio album, Le Demon De L’Amour! The Imperial Princess and her crew of Aussie rockers lord over eight love songs that prove few can push the boundaries of rock and metal like The Neptune Power Federation! Heading into the creation of their fifth studio album, Le Demon De L’Amour, Australian psychedelic rock and roll brigade The Neptune Power Federation couldn’t let go of the fact that love songs had been commandeered, in their words, by “soft rockers, bedwetters and the introvert crowd.” Whereas rock had its glory period during the 1970s and 80s, the art of the love song is now lost within heavier music. Few bands are now willing to venture into such territory — metal and rock have settled comfortably into typical, predictable lyrical tropes that fail to pull at the heartstrings the way they used to. On Le Demon De L’Amour, The Neptune Power Federation reclaims the art of the love song as their own. Off the heels of their acclaimed 2019 Memoirs of a Rat Queen studio album, the members of The Neptune Power Federation utilized the unexpected downtime afforded from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to craft an album that takes more chances than its predecessor. While the band’s trademark rock swagger and prog tendencies still come into play, Le Demon ups the voltage and energy. True, there is a multitude of genre-blurring taking place, but the album’s infectious choruses and leaden riffs easily re-imagine metal and rock’s glory eras without blatant thievery.

Of course, all roads to The Neptune Power Federation run through lead vocalist Screamin’ Loz Sutch and her stage persona, “The Imperial Priestess.” Le Demon’s eight cuts find the indomitable frontwoman in top form, belting out tales of love from a female’s perspective, weaving in stories of cult worship, murder and hypnotism. The album’s artwork (created by guitarist Inverted CruciFox) also introduces her new nemesis — The Wizzard Princess. Recorded at bass player JayTanic Ritual’s The Ped Food Factory in Marrickville, Sydney, with mixing duties provided by Clem Bennett, Le Demon De L’Amour leads The Neptune Power Federation into their tenth anniversary next year. Their journey has taken them from the sweaty clubs of Sydney to a global audience. Now armed with eight love songs sure to melt and captivate the most hardened metal hearts, The Neptune Power Federation boldly goes where few bands dare to go.



"Maybe their best album so far!" - Deaf Forever (DE), 8.5/10, Soundcheck pos. 7 !!

"They can even top the phenomenal predecessor!" - Metal Hammer (DE), 5.5/7

"'Le Demon De'L'Amour' is definitely their most mature and complete album to date!"

"Finest party rock music of the most beautiful kind!" -(DE), 9/10

"An album full of thick, good riffs, solos, melodies and choruses that stick in mind - definitely recommended!" - Rockmuzine (NL), 85/100

"They are in impressive form!" - Saitenkult (DE), 8.5/10

"The Neptune Power Federation add a great piece of music to their list of achievements." - Heavy Music Blog (DE), 8/10

"The band rocks a bit straighter and more pleasing than before through their love song concept." - Rock Hard (DE), 8/10, Soundcheck pos. 6 / Dynamit !!

Limited Edition Vinyl LP – 1971 album cover, thick tip-on sleeve, 700 copies only

Finally putting an end to a long wait for library music lovers, Four Flies Records is proud to present the first reissue of Piero Umiliani's Paesaggi – a record that, despite remaining for many years pretty obscure compared to other titles in the maestro's discography, is now regarded by collectors and experts as the gold standard in Italian library music.

Originally released in two versions with different sleeves, the first on Liuto Records in 1971 and the second on Ciak Record in 1980, the album features tracks composed by the maestro himself (under his alias Zalla) and performed by the legendary super-group of Italian session players I Marc 4, this time with Angelo Baroncini instead of Carlo Pes on guitars (which probably explains the name being spelled with a 'k' instead of a 'c' on the album cover).

The Italian word paesaggi means "landscapes", and that is exactly what the music in the album has been designed to evoke – a journey of moods and emotions, through exotic and pastoral scenery, with loungey sounds that caress your ears like the song of an enchanted nightingale. Mysterious yet captivating soundscapes transport you to a faraway and peaceful place, possibly somewhere in rural Asia. While listening to the record, you'll feel as if you are sitting under a pavilion, right in the middle of a tea plantation, enjoying a freshly brewed green tea and watching the calm sunset.

In addition, Paesaggi is paradigmatic of Italian library music and its genre-defying nature. By using a multitude of instruments, such as flute, vibraphone, harpsichord, sitar, gong and others, it brings together a variety of arrangements, styles, and genres spanning from bossa nova to jazz, easy listening to psychedelic, Latin, exotica, and many more.

Under Umiliani's brilliant direction, the pianos and keyboard instruments of Antonello Vannucchi, the guitars of Angelo Baroncini, the bass of Maurizio Majorana, and the drums of Roberto Podio dance together and – enriched by other instruments played by top session musicians like Bruno Battisti D'Amario (sitar), Franco De Gemini (harmonica), or Franco Chiari (vibraphone) – create the sound that makes Paesaggi so unique.

With the honour of reissuing this masterpiece so many decades since its release comes a responsibility to do full justice to one of the greatest Italian composers of the 20th century and his now celebrated legacy. Four Flies have done their best to put out a record that replicates as closely as possible the value of the original as a cultural artefact, providing Italian library connoisseurs and novices alike with an exquisite sonic, and tactile, experience.

Laced Records and Capcom’s scenarios intertwine once more as we present the music of 2019’s Resident Evil 2 on vinyl.

Following a series refresh with Resident Evil 7, the impressive RE Engine was used to power this third-person reworking of a survival horror classic. The thick atmosphere, tight redesign of locations (including the iconic Racoon Police Department), and expanded role of a certain fedora-wearing hunter combined to make Resident Evil 2 an award-winning hit with a 91 Metacritic average.

The soundtrack played a huge part in establishing the taut atmosphere of Resident Evil 2, as the composers shifted gears between dark ambient electronic music, thumping cinematic percussion, and audacious orchestral and choral passages. Capcom veteran Shusaku Uchiyama — who worked on the 1998 original — was given lead composition duties, and also arranged several of Masami

Ueda’s original pieces. They were joined among the soundtrack credits by Zhenlan Kang, Tadayoshi Makino, Sound Director & Sound Team Leader Kentaro Nakashima, Yuichi Tsuchiya, Masahiro Ohki and Mana Ogura. Syotaro Nakayama and Taisuke Fujisawa supplied the power metal with “Tofu On Fire”; while the vinyl opens with the stomping ‘true ending’ credits theme "Saudade" by Cody Matthew Johnson and Shim.

46 tracks have been specially mastered for vinyl by Joe Caithness, and tracks will be pressed onto audiophile-quality, heavyweight 180g discs.

Exploring hybrid music styles and outernational, borderless musical influences, DJ soFa’s Elsewhere compilation series continues with a sixth instalment, and the second to appear on Kalahari Oyster Cult.

Always ahead of the tide, the Kalahari Oyster is a fine specimen when it comes to the discipline of next-level sound-snooping. Meticulously curated by Belgian sonic globetrotter soFa, Elsewhere XX showcases a dozen outstanding tunes, each dwelling in their own personal space between the imaginary worlds of post-kraut, DIY synth-punk and odd-pop ballads.

Melting these genres with contemporary club music is the mission here. Doused in a thick fog of arcane machine talk, tribal rhythms and cosmic synths, Elsewhere XX is an invitation to escape the hall of LED-backlit mirrors that we’ve so mistakenly come to call our “reality”.

Gathering artists from all corners of the globe – including Radio Hito, Anatolian Weapons, Eylul Deniz, Dame Area and Electronic Body Girl – soFa’s curation lays the groundwork for a unique and thoroughly immersive listening and dancing experience. Through a carefully selected suite of like-minded, yet diverse joints, we run the gamut from distorted funk (“Anita”, “Confiture") and cross-pollinated electroid blueprints (“Walk Away”, “An Abhainn Mhor") to oddball synthpop (“Credo” & Twin Peaks cover "She Can't Die"), reverb-soaked audio safaris (“Fifty Fifty (Anatolian Weapons Dub)") and static-filled postpunk (“Umani”).

soFa's Elsewhere series started in 2017 and this is the sixth compilation to date. Shifting focus with every new instalment, the compilations have previously appeared on labels likes Music For Dreams, Emotional Response and Crevette Records.