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The FunkyJaws Music label invites us deep into their world for a third time here with another delicious 12".It's a various artists EP that features one of our top disco favourites - Eddie C. He opens up with 'Do You Wanna Dance' which has vocals pacing about the mix and old school acid bass twangs under raw house drums. Elado's '25.4 Millimeters' is a Middle Eastern funk workout with spangled drum hits and the flip side brings twisted acid disco and the cosmic trip that is 'In Your Ear With It' from Funkyjaws themselves.

Thanksmate have been working together for over a decade and are pioneers of their local scene. They run the notorious Soul Express event and their experiences of keeping its dance floor vibrant and bouncing feeds into this first new EP. It's a bright mix of disco, house and Italo that brings the party in a classy fashion.

Brilliant opening track and lead single 'Your Friend' showcases what Thanksmate is all about - buoyant grooves, big bass drums, lush synth work and a touch of '90s house class with some cult r&b vocals from the early 2000s. It's an irresistibly feel-good record that is well-executed and full of fun. 'M8s On LSD' is a more intense, heads down but just as characterful track with ravey melodic riffs and unrelenting drums run through with flashes of acid. 'Feelings' offers a third different look with exquisite synth craft glowing with plenty of Detroit warmth and soul over super-charged drums. An emotive vocal and cosmic keys finish this new school Italo anthem in style.

Thanksmate's unique mix of charm and colour is a perfect way to kick off what is sure to be an essential label from the tastemaking Marvin & Guy.

Released in 1965, Temptin’ Temptations marked
the band’s third album for Motown’s Gordy
subsidiary. It boasted seven chart-hitting
singles, including “Since I Lost My Baby,” “My
Baby,” “Don’t Look Back,” and “Girl (Why You
Wanna Make Me Blue).” Smokey Robinson
produced six of the tracks, while the album
also introduced Ivory Joe Hunter and Mickey
Stevenson’s production work on “Just Another
Lonely Night” and “Born to Love You” and future
producer Norman Whitfield on “The Girl’s Alright
With Me,” “I Gotta Know Now,” and “Everybody
Needs Love.” The LP climbed to #1 in the U.S.
Top R&B Albums chart, while “Since I Lost My
Baby” and “My Baby” both rose to #4 in the
U.S. Billboard R&B Singles chart. The album
features The Temptations’ top formation, with
David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams,
Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams. 180-gram
VIRGIN VINYL LIMITED EDITION

Lele Sacchi & Asian Fake’s Stolen Goods Records return with the third instalment of Black Loops & Innocent Soul’s ‘High Cutz’ series, accompanied by a remix from Italian house legends Pastaboys.

After a debut compilation featuring the likes of Bawrut, Elisa Bee, Ruff Stuff & label head Lele Sacchi, Stolen Goods Records amassed a following of Dixon, Harvey, DJ Seinfeld, Dam Swindle & many more. The Italian imprint returns this December, dropping two tracks from deep house mainstays Black Loops & Innocent Soul. Black Loops trawls the depths of his record bag in revered clubs around the world while tallying up releases on labels such as Madhouse, Shall Not Fade and Freerange. Additionally, Strictly Street Sound label boss Innocent Soul has made a name for himself for his energetic deep house music.

Together, they join forces for their collaborative ‘High Cutz’ series, which has previously been released via Toy Tonics and Rough Limited. Robust beats form the backbone of ‘Believe In U’, a plucked bassline brings the funk and passionate vocals provide the soul. They warp its earworm bassline deep into the jacking zone, closing out the first in a series of EP’s on Stolen Goods Records featuring established artists and talented newcomers.

Reggae Collected is compiled from the broad world of Jamaican artists, groups and its diaspora. This brand new compilation contains early reggae by Jimmy Cliff, classics from Third World, Peter Tosh, Toots & The Maytals, Steel Pulse, Black Uhuru, lovers-rock from Dennis Brown, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Gregory Isaacs, Yellowman and the #1 hit from Althea & Donna “Uptown Top Ranking” which was championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel.

The album Reggae Collected is part of the Collected compilation series, which is a collaboration between Universal Music and Music On Vinyl. The compilations bring together the biggest and best names of its genre, combined with forgotten hits and less discovered gems, giving the listener an experience of both nostalgia, and uncovering new musical grounds at the same time.

The 2LP Reggae Collected is available as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on yellow (LP1) and light green (LP2) coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

Ltd coloured 2LP edition, w/ etching on side D! "I'm obsessed with late 90's Meshug- gah, early Dillinger Escape Plan, and early Cult of Luna," explains guitarist Pierre Carroz deftly about the influences behind the sound of his brainchild. Combining the sonic agility of the American math-core pioneers with the relentless ferocity of the Swedish progressive metal innovators, Herod produce a brand of heavy music that is truly face melting. Having played with le- gendary metal acts like Obituary, Napalm Death and Carcass, Herod are no strangers to the international metal scene, and it shows in the calibre of their music. Their upcom- ing third album The Iconoclast puts the full power of their artistry on display, redefining musical heaviness and atmosphere at every turn imaginable. Iconoclast sees the Swiss quintet paint with a consistent palette of groovy syncopated riff- ing, heavy breakdowns, and a diversity of vocal techniques and deliveries. Using similar col- ours and textures to create many different pictures, it's an approach that feels almost experi- mental. Like great abstract painters like Kazimir Malevich or Jackson Pollock, Herod continue to develop their technique and method throughout their oeuvre. Iconoclast is a creation of pure magnificence, combining an undeniable artistic mindset with the best of what modern metal has to offer. «The Edifice» features the incredible Matt McGachy from Canadian technical death metal legends Cryptopsy while the album closer sees the band collaborate with long-time friend Loi"c Rosetti: «The Prophecy» poses him against a most ferocious backdrop, capturing two amazing vocalists of the past and present Ocean Col- lective teaming up and facing off, since Herod's vocalist Mike Pilat was the main vocalist on The Ocean's «Precambrian» album (2007). FOR FANS OF Meshuggah, Gojira, Cult of Luna, LLNN, Vildjharta, Primitive Man, Uneven Structure

BRIT Award-winning, multi-platinum selling musician George Ezra today announces his hugely anticipated new album Gold Rush Kid, due for release on 10th June via Columbia Records.

“The Gold Rush Kid? That’s me,” says George, reflecting on the title of his third record – a 12-strong suite of marvellous, transporting, elevational songs, that more than anything “sound like me. That’s what ties them together.”

After two blockbuster albums – Wanted On Voyage (2014) and Staying At Tamara’s (2018), both of which reached number 1 in the UK and sold millions around the world, and the latter of which earned him his first number 1 single in ‘Shotgun’ and won him the 2019 Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist – it was time to return to heart and hearth, with an album written and produced entirely in London with longstanding collaborator Joel Pott.

Wiederveröffentlichung von Nighttime Birds (Vinyl) auf unserem eigenen Label 'Psychonaut Records'.

Nighttime Birds ist das vierte Studioalbum der niederländischen Alternative Rock/Metal Band The Gathering, das am 6. Juni 1997 von Century Media Records veröffentlicht wurde. Das Album wurde aufgenommen zwischen dem 17. Februar und dem 15. März 1997 in den Woodhouse Studios in Hagen, Deutschland, unter der unter der Leitung von Produzent Siggi Bemm und The Gathering aufgenommen. Nighttime Birds war ein logischer Nachfolger von Mandylion, und atmet die gleiche Atmosphäre.

The title of Ital Tek's seventh album "Timeproof" reflects what Alan Myson has observed and learned whilst making the album. Firstly, how distorted the perception of time is in the creative headspace - being in the studio creates a timeless environment, one's mind starts wandering and the perception of time is altered. Secondly, the bizarre effect of the last few years of lockdown have somehow infected the title, temporarily contracting our collective notion of time. And thirdly, Alan has learnt how spending time away from the studio can be as effective as being there, giving one space to process. Appreciating the power of being out in nature, putting other things into perspective, refreshing one's ability to approach work with both patience and creativity. Overall "Timeproof" feels more introspective than Alan's last album "Outland". Perhaps because of the time in which it was created or this new relationship to the creative process. The sounds and textures of the record hint at brutality and menace whilst also pulsing and evolving softly with a more refined interior life. It's expansive and elegant, neatly balanced between light and dark, more mossy and dreamy than the extremes of "Outland".

When making the album, Alan spent about a year or so working quickly and intuitively, churning out ideas, sketches and sound experiments without any attempt to finish or perfect anything. "I let it settle until I was ready to return to this body of raw material with fresh ears some months later, sometimes barely remembering what or how I’d done much of it." Over the course of another year he dived into the details, rendering all of this rough material and sound into something with form. Alan also visited older material and ideas, trying out, reworking and sampling, building it into this new body. The finished album feels open, with a gentle intuition that feels as if it's guiding you through.

Exceptionally talented keyboardist, DJ and producer Moon Boots (Peter Dougherty) has revealed his third studio album ‘Ride Away’. The ten-track LP will land on March 17th on Anjunadeep. The first single, ‘Hot Minute’ featuring Black Gatsby, is out today. Written and produced over a nearly two-year period beginning in early 2021, ‘Ride Away’ contains themes of love, companionship, and personal exploration. Hauling in a crate’s worth of musical influences, Moon Boots has imbued ‘Ride Away’ with his characteristic blend of soul, disco, and house music, whilst also introducing the sounds of synthpop, breakbeats, and psychedelica. Marrying these eclectic styles is part and parcel of Moon Boots idiosyncratic sensibility, honed through years of living and DJing in Chicago, the birthplace of house music, and in the musical melting pot of Brooklyn. ‘Hot Minute’ is the first single and features the vocals of longtime collaborator Black Gatsby. With a sassy chorus that echoes Anderson Paak and Sylvester with a gospel-inflected breakdown, ‘Hot Minute’ shows off the full range of Black Gatsby’s talents and his unique musical rapport with Moon Boots. This bop is a tantalising taste of what Dougherty has been up to in the studio. ‘Hot Minute’ follows the recent release of ‘Come Back Around’ which featured indie darling Cherry Glazerr. The summer anthem was supported by the likes of KCRW, Triple J, and SiriusXM. ‘Ride Away’ follows in the footsteps of Moon Boots’s debut ‘First Landing’ (2017) and sophomore album ‘Bimini Road’ (2019). With an impressive catalogue atypical of the dance world, Dougherty’s third album represents both his tenacity and evolution as a producer and songwriter.

Featuring a swathe of colourful vocalists including the likes of Cherry Glazerr, Dope Earth Alien, and Nic Hanson, ‘Ride Away’ celebrates Dougherty’s longstanding affinity for collaboration, fun effervescent songwriting, and dance-focused production. Other international artists on the album include French singer Praa and Norwegian band Ora The Molecule, whilst longtime collaborators Ross Clark (St. Lucia) and Steven Klavier feature as writers and instrumentalists on the record, rounding out a global ensemble of incredible talent. Having accrued well over 100 million streams on Spotify alone, and having been championed by the likes of Annie Mac, Diplo, Danny Howard, and The Blessed Madonna, Moon Boots has established himself as a trailblazer of R&B-infused dance music.

Steven Wilson, four-time Grammy nominee, multi-instrumentalist,
producer & founder member of Porcupine Tree, released his critically
acclaimed third solo album 'The Raven Refused To Sing' in 2013, reaching
#28 in the UK charts & #3 in Germany
In 2017, he shot back into the charts with his fifth solo album 'To The Bone' at #3
in the UK & #2 in Germany, which built on the success of fourth solo album 'Hand.
Cannot. Erase.', which reached #13 in the UK & #3 in Germany.
Originally released in 2011, 'Grace For Drowning' is the second solo album from
Wilson. A more experimental & more eclectic record it built on the artistic inroads
he forged with 2009's exceptionally well- received Insurgentes. It is a modern
homage to the late 60's & early 70's spirit of using the album as an artist's primary
means of expression; combining jazz, classical & psychedelic music to create
"journeys in sound".
'For me the golden period for music was the late sixties & early seventies, when
the album became the primary means of artistic expression, when musicians
liberated themselves from the 3- minute pop song format & started to draw on
jazz & classical music especially, combining it with the spirit of psychedelia to
create "journeys in sound". So, without being retro, 'my album is a kind of homage
to that spirit. There's everything from Ennio Morricone- esque film themes to
choral music to piano ballads to a 23- minute progressive jazz- inspired piece' -
Steven Wilson

Limited Edition RED Vinyl – 100 units Hand numbered

Omid's parents were Iranian but he spent his childhood in Putney, London. He grew up listening to rock music, and listed Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and the Cure among his favourite artists – after Robert Smith became a fan Omid would later remix various Cure songs. He learnt to play guitar and formed a rock band, but after hearing hardcore records played on pirate music stations he began making his own tracks on basic equipment that he had bought. Beginning in 1995, his early house and techno singles were released on his own Alola and Disclosure labels under the names of 16B and Phaser, but they soon attracted the attention of big-name DJs such as Derrick Carter, François Kevorkian and Sasha, and he signed to Sven Väth's Eye Q label to release his debut album Sounds from Another Room in March 1998, which was described by the Independent on Sunday as "avant-garde" and by Muzik as "quite breathtaking".
Although he started out as a producer, Omid gradually moved into DJing, at the request of friends who asked him to play records at parties. He secured a regular spot playing the Elements club night run by Hooj Choons record label boss Red Jerry. In October 2001 Omid released The Witch/Which Equation under the alias of the Sixteen Million Dollar Man.Inspired by Prince initially releasing his Planet Earth album as a covermount with a British newspaper, Omid released his third studio album Like 3 Ears and 1 Eye (Part 1) in a similar manner as a covermount with the November 2007 issue of DJ Mag.
Omid also formed the SOS collective of DJs, consisting of him, Desyn Masiello and Demi. The trio secured a residency at London's Ministry of Sound nightclub, and were asked to produce the club's first mix CD in 2010

GRAMMY® Award-winning, RIAA platinum-certified international icon Tiësto will release his highly anticipated album ‘DRIVE’ on the 21st April, with pre-order set to go live on the 6th March. The album is more than just an “album,” it’s an experience that showcases Tiësto’s unique style. “DRIVE” will take you on the ride of your life; featuring previously released Don’t Be Shy, The Motto, The Business, Hot in It & 10:35, which have all accumulated over 3.5B streams leading into its release.

Tiësto is a GRAMMY® Award-winning, RIAA platinum-certified, international icon. The DJ and producer is the only artist to ever hold the titles of “The Greatest DJ of All Time” courtesy of Mixmag, and “#1 DJ” according to Rolling Stone. From his underground dance floor bangers to his high profile Las Vegas residency and worldwide crossover success, Tiësto created the blueprint that defines what it means to be a superstar in today’s dance music world. With over 36 million albums sold, 10+ billion cumulative streams, and a social platform with an audience now exceeding 30 million fans around the globe, he continues to revolutionize the dance music landscape.

Tiësto’s first single upon signing with Atlantic Records, 2020’s “The Business,” has dominated airplay and charts worldwide since its September 2020 release, hitting #1 at US Dance radio while also garnering over 1.6 billion worldwide streams to date. A top 10 hit in 10 countries, as well as a Top 50 success on Spotify in 31 countries, “The Business” was honored with “Best Dance/Electronic Recording” nomination at the 64th Annual GRAMMY® Awards as well as 15 platinum certifications and eight gold certifications in countries around the world. “Don’t Be Shy” with Karol G followed in 2021, marking Karol G’s first-ever English language song and the first Latin Artist collaboration for Tiësto.

The historic track currently boasts over 867 million streams, over 1.2 million TikTok creates, and video views exceeding 290 million. The third single from Tiësto’s upcoming album on Atlantic Records, “The Motto” with Ava Max, proved another blockbuster, reaching the top 5 on Billboard’s “Dance/Electronic Songs” chart while earning more than 929 million worldwide streams to date. This summer saw “Hot In It” with Charli XCX reach the top 10 on Billboard’s “Hot Dance/Electronic Song” chart, fueled in part by over 200 million views across TikTok and IG Reels, and over 122 million streams to date.

Time to resound the trumpet as Australian blackened sludge veterans Lo! return with another grand infernal vision, captured in capital riffs and gargantuan grooves! After the universal acclaim of the band's 2017 studio endeavour Vestigial the Australian interstate quartet show no intention of slowing down with The Gleaners_a soul-ripping hell-ride across nine visceral anthems; an affair of raw violence with a touch of sophisticated madness. Lo! herald the end of the existing order of things, executing crushing judgement upon those tyrants who put the poor to powder. On The Gleaners Lo! firmly continue in the vein of their much-lauded third album, setting an over-arching storyline with multiple characters to a symphony of sonic death and destruction. "Vestigial opened up the writing arena for Lo! in many ways," explains guitarist and main-songwriter Carl Whitbread about the predecessor of The Gleaners. "We created an album of anthems without losing the groove or viciousness of performing live, using defined characters and themes that are revisited and interwoven across the record, while also experimenting with atmospheric and cinematic samples to breathe life into the recording." Above all, this record is nothing but a firm rattling of your cage - and who could expect something else from the minds of this Australian quartet who have been churning out nothing but stellar sludgy blackened hardcore over the past twelve years? Like a Hieronymus Bosch painting, the storyline of The Gleaners has little of a focal point, the characters crawl all over the place - its chaos is complete - but somehow its impact is phenomenal. Lo! have gone and done it again, creating a terrifying vision of the infernal madness of our reality that shakes you to your core! FFO Converge, Baptists, Black Breath, Mastodon, Trap Them, LLNN Ltd red single coloured vinyl w/ poster!

"Shut Him Down” was the third song written by Michael Leonhart & Elvis Costello during the 2020 quarantine. The first two, “Radio Is Everything” and "Newspaper Pane”—both of which were produced by Leonhart —appeared on Elvis’ 2020 solo album, Hey Clockface.
Michael and Elvis first met in 2007 at the Molde Festival in Norway, where Costello and the late Allen Toussaint shared a double bill with Steely Dan, with whom Leonhart has played since ’96. The two kept in touch over the ensuing years, including joining forces in 2015 for an Elvis Costello & The Imposters/Steely Dan tour. Early on in the quarantine, Leonhart sent Costello some instrumental music in need of lyrics. Costello states “Michael sent this music to me from New York at the perfect time.” After finishing the first two songs, Leonhart asked Costello to sing over an original heavy Afrobeat song he had been recording with his Michael Leonhart Orchestra during lockdown. Costello crafted lyrics that exist at the crossroads of political commentary and existential contemplation. Leonhart then asked NY rapper, JSWISS to write a verse building off Elvis’ lyrics and the drums grooves of Nick Movshon and Homer Steinweiss. Antibalas guitarist Luke O'Malley then came on board to write and record additional guitar parts.

Side A ends with a fiery bass clarinet solo from Chris Potter, while side B features an extended tenor sax solo from acclaimed saxophonist Joshua Redman.

"Shut Him Down" was first released in March 2022 on The Michael Leonhart Orchestra album, The Norymn Suites (Sunnyside Records) and now becomes available as a limited edition 7” b/w instrumental through Mighty Eye Records in partnership with Fat Beats.

The New York-based heavy metal band Riot released their third studio album Fire Down Under in 1981, which instantly became their most popular effort and is considered by many to be an early ‘80’s classic. It was the last album to feature the vocalist Guy Speranza.
The album features Riot’s most recognizable and popular tune “Swords
& Tequila” as opening track. Other standouts include the fast-paced title
track “Fire Down Under”, “Outlaw,” and “Don’t Bring Me Down.”
Fire Down Under is available as a limited edition of 750 individually
numbered copies on translucent red coloured vinyl.

If you were smart enough to get your grubby paws on the first Scrap Metal compilation, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you’re in for with our second installment. Featuring long-lost gems from ultra-rare 45s and private press singles—plus one previously unreleased banger—Scrap Metal 2 maintains a steady NWOBHM course. Packed with infectious outliers and supremely talented one-and-done metal warriors from the crucial British movement of the late ’70s and early ’80s (and some killer American obscurities inspired by them), this collection delivers all the fist-pumping, riff-mongering and flashy solos of heavy metal’s golden age. As always, every track has been officially licensed and every artist gets paid. As a late entry into the NWOBHM sweepstakes, JJ’s Powerhouse was formed in Merseyside, England, by guitarist Jon “J.J.” Cox with members of his previous band, Quad. Much like the opener to the original Scrap Metal comp, you can hear early Metallica coursing through this legendary ripper. Coincidentally, this ultra-rare 45 was released in ’83, the same year as Kill ’Em All. Taking their name from a 1978 sci-fi novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Welsh super troopers Storm Queen reveled in animal-print clothing and flying Vs. The Motörhead-meets-Priest anthem “Raising the Roof” is the flipside to their only single, which the band self-released in 1982. Led by guitarist Dave Morse, Storm Queen’s earliest lineup included bassist Bryn Merrick (RIP), who would go on to join The Damned. Roaring out of Birmingham, England, in 1975, Jameson Raid palled around with fellow Brummies Black Sabbath and named themselves after a failed 19th century attack that helped kick off South Africa’s Second Boer War. Their three-song 1979 debut featured the infectious “It’s a Crime,” which comes across like a deadly hard-glam version of Budgie. Still fronted by vocalist Terry Dark, they’re going strong as of 2022. A.R.C., a punky proto-metal group from the UK, released the boozy single “Home Made Wine” b/w “The Chase” in 1979 and—as far as we know—were never heard from again. They’re not to be confused with a gang of Tolkien enthusiasts also called A.R.C., who released two NWOBHM singles in the early ’80s and actually were heard from again. Nonetheless, the A.R.C. we have here was led by a thirsty lad named Klaus Brunnenkant, who liked to rock n’ roll all night and party every day. Both sides of Metropolis’ sole single bear the legend, “Unauthorized duplication shall result in getting your ass beat.” This San Jose metal squad released their only single in 1986 and dedicated it to Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who had recently been killed in a bus accident. “The Raven” is the serpentine NWOBHM- and Edgar Allan Poe-influenced flipside to “Time Heals Everything,” and yeah, you can hear the guitars going out of tune on the solo, but that’s part of the charm. Of the two dozen or so metal bands that have called themselves Prowler over the years, we’re pretty sure this particular Prowler is the only one from San Diego. These dudes take a thrashier approach than most of the bands here on Scrap Metal 2: “Temporary Insanity” strikes a deft balance between early Anthrax and early Testament, with just enough hard rock swing to keep it from getting overly staccato. Self-released in ’86 as the band’s only single, the song is the flip to “I Love It.” Not much is known about Christian Steel beyond this: They put out their only single in 1983, which boasted “Need Your Love” as the flip to “I Don’t Want To.” The former, included here, sounds kinda like a dizzy, more metallic version of ’70s Jersey rockers Starz, who famously influenced the likes of Mötley Crüe, Poison and Twisted Sister. Ohio guitarist/vocalist Marty Soski’s career dates back to at least 1969 with the Inside Experience track “Be On My Way,” which we unearthed for our own Brown Acid: The Third Trip. This time, we’ve got a monster Soski cut that he recorded under the name Black Rose. Released in 1982, the absolutely smokin’ “Sidewinder” was the A-side on the band’s sole single. The main riff isn’t far off from Y&T’s major-label banger “Mean Streak,” which was released the following year. When Dark Age titled their 1987 album The Youngest Metal Band in the World, they weren’t even sort of kidding. Legend has it that “Star Trippin’,” which was released as a single a year earlier, was written by guitarist CJ Rininger when he was just 12 years old. His brother Dave, the vocalist, was two years younger. Old photos of the band—complete with pineapple haircuts—seem to bear this story out. Either way, the song is pure flash metal, conjuring Sunset Strip sleaze all the way from Ohio. By now, all you heads know Los Angeles magic men Sorcery from their storied appearance in—and soundtrack for—the death-defying Ozploitation flick Stunt Rock. What we have here in “Whales” is a previously unreleased track from the same 1978 recording sessions. It’s a little bit Zeppelin, a little bit prog, and a whole lotta thundering riffage. Why this languished in the vaults for so long is anyone’s guess. Better late than never!

If you were smart enough to get your grubby paws on the first Scrap Metal compilation, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you’re in for with our second installment. Featuring long-lost gems from ultra-rare 45s and private press singles—plus one previously unreleased banger—Scrap Metal 2 maintains a steady NWOBHM course. Packed with infectious outliers and supremely talented one-and-done metal warriors from the crucial British movement of the late ’70s and early ’80s (and some killer American obscurities inspired by them), this collection delivers all the fist-pumping, riff-mongering and flashy solos of heavy metal’s golden age. As always, every track has been officially licensed and every artist gets paid. As a late entry into the NWOBHM sweepstakes, JJ’s Powerhouse was formed in Merseyside, England, by guitarist Jon “J.J.” Cox with members of his previous band, Quad. Much like the opener to the original Scrap Metal comp, you can hear early Metallica coursing through this legendary ripper. Coincidentally, this ultra-rare 45 was released in ’83, the same year as Kill ’Em All. Taking their name from a 1978 sci-fi novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Welsh super troopers Storm Queen reveled in animal-print clothing and flying Vs. The Motörhead-meets-Priest anthem “Raising the Roof” is the flipside to their only single, which the band self-released in 1982. Led by guitarist Dave Morse, Storm Queen’s earliest lineup included bassist Bryn Merrick (RIP), who would go on to join The Damned. Roaring out of Birmingham, England, in 1975, Jameson Raid palled around with fellow Brummies Black Sabbath and named themselves after a failed 19th century attack that helped kick off South Africa’s Second Boer War. Their three-song 1979 debut featured the infectious “It’s a Crime,” which comes across like a deadly hard-glam version of Budgie. Still fronted by vocalist Terry Dark, they’re going strong as of 2022. A.R.C., a punky proto-metal group from the UK, released the boozy single “Home Made Wine” b/w “The Chase” in 1979 and—as far as we know—were never heard from again. They’re not to be confused with a gang of Tolkien enthusiasts also called A.R.C., who released two NWOBHM singles in the early ’80s and actually were heard from again. Nonetheless, the A.R.C. we have here was led by a thirsty lad named Klaus Brunnenkant, who liked to rock n’ roll all night and party every day. Both sides of Metropolis’ sole single bear the legend, “Unauthorized duplication shall result in getting your ass beat.” This San Jose metal squad released their only single in 1986 and dedicated it to Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who had recently been killed in a bus accident. “The Raven” is the serpentine NWOBHM- and Edgar Allan Poe-influenced flipside to “Time Heals Everything,” and yeah, you can hear the guitars going out of tune on the solo, but that’s part of the charm. Of the two dozen or so metal bands that have called themselves Prowler over the years, we’re pretty sure this particular Prowler is the only one from San Diego. These dudes take a thrashier approach than most of the bands here on Scrap Metal 2: “Temporary Insanity” strikes a deft balance between early Anthrax and early Testament, with just enough hard rock swing to keep it from getting overly staccato. Self-released in ’86 as the band’s only single, the song is the flip to “I Love It.” Not much is known about Christian Steel beyond this: They put out their only single in 1983, which boasted “Need Your Love” as the flip to “I Don’t Want To.” The former, included here, sounds kinda like a dizzy, more metallic version of ’70s Jersey rockers Starz, who famously influenced the likes of Mötley Crüe, Poison and Twisted Sister. Ohio guitarist/vocalist Marty Soski’s career dates back to at least 1969 with the Inside Experience track “Be On My Way,” which we unearthed for our own Brown Acid: The Third Trip. This time, we’ve got a monster Soski cut that he recorded under the name Black Rose. Released in 1982, the absolutely smokin’ “Sidewinder” was the A-side on the band’s sole single. The main riff isn’t far off from Y&T’s major-label banger “Mean Streak,” which was released the following year. When Dark Age titled their 1987 album The Youngest Metal Band in the World, they weren’t even sort of kidding. Legend has it that “Star Trippin’,” which was released as a single a year earlier, was written by guitarist CJ Rininger when he was just 12 years old. His brother Dave, the vocalist, was two years younger. Old photos of the band—complete with pineapple haircuts—seem to bear this story out. Either way, the song is pure flash metal, conjuring Sunset Strip sleaze all the way from Ohio. By now, all you heads know Los Angeles magic men Sorcery from their storied appearance in—and soundtrack for—the death-defying Ozploitation flick Stunt Rock. What we have here in “Whales” is a previously unreleased track from the same 1978 recording sessions. It’s a little bit Zeppelin, a little bit prog, and a whole lotta thundering riffage. Why this languished in the vaults for so long is anyone’s guess. Better late than never!

A beautiful combination of piano, strings, electronics and Ondes Martenot" Hannah Peel, BBC Radio3 "Fusing modern classical and ambient electronic, Missing Island is the highlight of the year in its class. Never predictable, never mundane - a special album."
Louder than War "What is the Missing Island? Snowdrops dances around the title, touching on multiple themes: the elements, the unconscious, the search for meaning and revelation. In the end, the missing island is open to interpretation: the piece that could complete us, if only we could find it." A Closer Listen. France chamber collective Snowdrops return to Injazero Records for their third album Missing Island, a musical fresco in seven pieces, a naturalist painting that exists between contemporary classical, post-folk and electro-acoustic music. Missing Island is the sequel to the highly acclaimed Volutes (2020), and again sees multi-instrumentalists Christine Ott and Mathieu Gabry joined by violist Anne-Irène Kempf on most tracks. This new chapter in the natural history of Snowdrops is lent an earthier texture by the hand-pumped organ, performed by Christine Ott.

With nothing more than a Gibson Les Paul slung over his shoulder, a warm amp turned all the way up, and a hot microphone on and ready, Jared James Nichols churns out the kind of rock that rips, roars and rolls without filter or apology. The Wisconsin-born and Nashville-based singer, songwriter and guitarist delivers a one-two punch of gritty vocals straight from the gut and incendiary fret fireworks. After earning widespread acclaim from the likes of American Songwriter, Guitar, Guitar World, Relix and more, tallying millions of streams, and packing houses at countless shows, he showcases every side of himself on his 2023 self-titled third full-length offering.

Gold Vinyl

Since 2008, "438Hz As It Is, As You Are" is "only" the third solo release from Tomoyoshi Date. The last one dates from 2011. Less is more.
In parallel, from 2013 to 2021, he has recorded some releases in collaborations with Toshimaru Nakamura, Ken Ikeda, Stijn Hüwels, Asuna and Federico Durand.

"This record was recorded on Diapason's upright piano made in the 1950s at the house of his maternal grandmother's sister (*). The piano has moved and tuned many times, and now it has arrived at my living room. It was a pre-mass production piano with a thick board and good sound, but I couldn't tune it without replacing the screws and the weakened base. After consulting with the tuner, I decided to tune the whole tune to the sound of the strings wound around the loosest and most inseparable screws. "As it is"

*Mikiko Yamada: A performer who formed a Japanese music group of contemporary Japanese music in 1964 and made Biwa the first five-line score. She also had a samisen, so I called her "Aunt Pen Pen". Her husband was a shakuhachi player, so she was "Uncle Boo Boo".

When I tuned in the summer, I tried to tune at 442kHz, but I changed the tune in the winter to 438kHz. From now on, the pitch of this piano will decrease year by year as the material ages. I will play the decaying piano and continue to record music that can only be done at that time.

When you drop a needle on a record, a sound is produced on the spot, and the sound constantly changes depending on the air, temperature, and humidity around the needle. The sound also affects all of the listener's life, affecting the frequency of the person's body and mind. The effect of the sound once generated will last forever.

This work was created with the intention of having the listener adjust the pitch at the desired speed according to the mood and frequency of the listener at that time. With a little faster 45 turns, you can listen to this dilapidated piano at 440kHz or 442kHz. You can slow it down, or adjust the number of rotations as you like, whether it is 33 rotations early or late. I really like the stretched sound of the recorded piano. When you want to relax, use slow music to adjust the pitch of the space around you, the creatures, and your own body and mind. "As You Are"

Tomoyoshi Date

Hot on the heels of their sophomore release with DJ Rocca, Cyphon Recordings welcome Tijuana’s Cyborg Nerve to the family for the third installment in their busy label schedule.

A new project helmed by the Cedillo brothers - also known for their work under the monikers Soul of Hex and Mano De Fuego - Cyborg Nerve’s sound tips the hat to the roots of Detroit electro and techno.

The Vicario Musique Recordings bosses have already made a mark under their Soul of Hex alias, pushing their cosmic, vibrant take on deep house. It’s caught the ear of labels and artists across the world; the likes of Delusions of Grandeur, Freerange Records and Quintessentials have shared their music and they’ve even earned the Larry Heard seal of approval, with the legendary Chicago producer stepping up to remix their 2014 track ‘Lip Reading’. As Mano De Fuego they’re also getting their music into the hands of pioneering figures in the American dance music scene - summer of this year saw them release a shamanistic debut via the inimitable Underground Resistance.

For their debut outing as Cyborg Nerve, the pair deliver four tracks of old school electro grooves. Title track ‘Cristalizacion’ kicks things off. A slice of intergalactic electro; celestial pads soar above warm bass and staccato drum rhythms. Their eponymous track follows and takes the energy levels up a notch: a warbling bass line drives the track forward, whirring and revving while crisp hats fizz overhead.

‘Tijuana 3000’ is another cut that's custom-made for the dance floor. As with the title track, the duo call to mind the interstellar jazz-tinged electronics of Detroit outfit Galaxy 2 Galaxy, as they pair cosmic twinkling melodies with a hypnotic acid line that takes centre stage. ‘Machine Effect’ brings the EP to a close. Like its name suggests the track is powered by a raw, machine funk groove and precise drum programming - no bells and whistles, just pure cosmic vibrations to move your body.

A year and a half ago, THE MFA returned to the fore once more, when we released their "Oranges and Lemons EP".

Their new album, “Lights Out”, which could be described as a long time coming, is definitely THE MFA’s most ambitious work to date.

As they put it in their own words: “The album is very special to us. It’s a long ambition brought to fruition. It’s an album that is at home on the dancefloor or at home. We’ve always been influenced by 90s rave culture and the club scene of that era and the explosion of creative freedom through electronic music that happened back then.”

The album sums up what THE MFA stands for; their love of electronic music intertwined their love of songs and melody, sometimes banging, sometimes pensive, sometimes longing, occasionally up-beat and happy. Melodic techno-pop-rave then.

The album opener "My Desire" pins down the essence of the album, showing some pop sensibility and a healthy dose of that early 90s spirit with longing vocals by Rhys Evans. The track shows from many angles of the intensity of what club culture was about. The track has, for sure, that pop quality which sets it apart - it is a very complete and rounded and in the true sense, a hit.

"Identify This" kicks off with blissed-out sci-fi sounds but commences with 90s rave chords that gets under your skin and creates a fantastic kaleidoscopic picture of moody UK rave with these spurts of emotional uplifting moments which are worth every penny.

"Bear Likes To Rave" takes us back to the warehouse days and reminds us of the acid warehouse parties with fanned stroboscope beams and dry ice cannons. It’s like looking down on a rave party happening from above, from a bird's eye view, which is in full swing where the euphoria spills over into the audience. "Girl Ahead" is a vocal track exclusively on the digital version of the album, again with Rhys Evans on vocal duties. Here they ponder all the possibilities of the future and the mistakes of the past. Features space toms and grand piano rave chords to evoke a housy feel within.

With "Freedom24" a Hi-NRG melody meets nightcrawler sounds ala "Klang De Familie". This is a soundtrack for the night.

"Lammas Day" has the chilling exotic quality of 808 State "Pacific State" if you grant us this comparison, paired with some phantastic Dr Who sensibilities! This track is quite a voyage!

"Warehouse"... Make Some F-...ing Noise... A TV presenter speaks about Acid house...... This is a wild mash up of impressions which nicely go together due to the melodic string composition and the 303 sequences.

"The Snapping Branch" starts with a mash up of sounds and then dives into an episodic snapshot of "happiness" when the serotonin shoots in (just before it drops). Experiencing a perfect flow that does not want to end. Every clubber knows that feeling.

"You Make Me Smile" is the third vocal track on the album featuring Rhys Evans on vocals. It has fantastic radical stark mood changes and blatant shifts, therefore throws the listener from one corner to the other. Just like the contrast of day and night. Bits here and there might conjure a Radiohead spirit, but really this is all MFA.

"Lights Out” certainly puts across the feeling you get at the end of the night - the club has closed; you are walking home. These are the sounds and feelings in your memories as you chase the vibe that is dwindling as the club becomes ever further away.

Ground Groove, the third full-length release from the LA-based, Iranian-American producer and DJ, Maral, begins with an invocation: the sprawling, achingly heavy Feedback Jam opens the floodgates of history. Conventional (linear) spacetime collapses, crushed beneath the track’s lumbering 4/4 heartbeat and successive waves of distortion. As each wave recedes, samples trickle forward in the mix — seeking, perhaps, to fill the void. Voices and instruments rise and fall in uncanny reverse. Overlapping, implied melodies flicker into focus, then flit away. Feedback Jam is at once an initiation ritual, and a thesis statement for the record that follows.

Drawing upon a vast personal archive of Iranian folk, classical, and pop recordings (some sourced from mixtapes made by her parents in the eighties/nineties), Maral presents, on Ground Groove, a further refinement of the signature “folk club” sound she developed as a live DJ— a sound she would later codify on Mahur Club (2019) and Push (2020). By collecting, dissecting, and re/presenting sonic fragments from Iran, Maral practices a kind of dance-floor ethnomusicology. The subject of her inquiry: Iranian


culture and contexts, throughout history and in the present. But, crucially, this inquiry is instantiated within and throughout the body of the listener, whether this listener is dancing in the club, or riding the train, nodding along with headphones on.

Maral speaks of being in collaboration with her samples, treating each as a distinct bandmate, often consulting with an artist’s catalog (or even a single recording) as one would a trusted creative partner. In so-doing, Maral claims to seek to transcend the self. In this regard, her output neatly triangulates contemporary dance and heavy music with much of the traditional religious music that she samples. Broadly speaking, each of these idioms addresses a desire —shared by audience and performer alike—to transcend the self through volume, repetition, and movement.

Having, in her youth, studied the Setar under Nader Majd (the founder of Virginia’s Center for Persian Classical Music), Maral cycled through various genres (ex: punk, emo, dub) in her adolescence and early twenties, all the while expanding her knowledge of, and appreciation for, Iran’s diverse musical traditions during regular summer trips to Tehran. In college, Maral taught herself to make beats with a ripped copy of Ableton (which remains her DAW of choice), eventually transitioning to playing and hosting various club nights. Forever abiding by an autodidactic, DIY impulse to create art and foster community, Maral relocated to Los Angeles in 2013, where she quickly immersed herself in the city’s numerous overlapping music scenes.

Collaboration (beyond sampling) has proven an important component of her process, with notable spoken word contributions from the likes of Lee Scratch Perry and Penny Rimbaud, as well as a 2021 Panda Bear collab track (On Your Way), which the Animal Collective founder co-produced. Maral is equally attentive to the visual components of her records (album art, music videos, etc.), drawing upon the work of peers and friends for inspiration.

Indeed, the genesis of Ground Groove can be traced back to an audio-visual collaboration between Maral and the artist Brenna Murphy, originally commissioned for the 2021 Rewire Festival — a project that would eventually serve as the album’s foundation. Tracks eight through eleven on Ground Groove comprise Maral’s half of this installation, with tracks one through seven composed afterwards, inspired by the fruits of Maral and Murphy’s collaboration. Murphy’s visuals will be released alongside Ground Groove as a visual accompaniment. Additionally, Murphy designed the album’s art, directed the video for the lead single (the aforementioned Feedback Jam), and is featured on track six, Shy Night.

Composed largely on Ableton, Ground Groove features more frequent and more prominent live recordings from Maral (guitar, bass, and vocals) than either Push or Mahar Club. The cult favorite Roland MC-909 groovebox rears its head on Mari’s Groove. Mixed by Trayer Tryon (Hundred Waters) and mastered by Daddy Kev, the attention to sonic quality on Ground Groove constitutes another significant step in Maral’s development as a studio artist.

Ground Groove’s eleven tracks are “grooves” in the obvious sense, in that they are each driven by a persistent, propulsive rhythm, but the album’s title may just as well suggest the glacial passage of time—the scope of human history, in which individual voices, like streams, carve paths (impossibly) through earth and stone, winding their way to the vast sea of the present.

Aretha Franklin’s twelfth studio album, released in early 1968. It was her third R&B chart-topper and reached number two on the Billboard 200, tying with I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You for her highest-charting album on the pop chart. The album also included some of her biggest hit singles: "Chain of Fools", and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman".

Kate NV's WOW offers listeners a prismatic shift in perspective and scale, a parallel dimension in which the mundane becomes funny, unfamiliar, and altogether sensational. Turning the contents of her 2020 album Room for the Moon upside down and spilling them across a floor checkered with intrigue and surprise, Kate places sound, object, and ritual under the microscope to magnify the delight hidden in plain sight of everyday life. WOW is Kate Shilonosova's fourth full-length release as Kate NV in six years, and third for RVNG Intl. Her prolific musical output aligns with a highly attuned aesthetic and a deep commitment to visual world building. WOW is one of many of these worlds in which music is fully saturated with color, deeply tactile and textural. Shiny, sproingy, plastic. Where Room for the Moon embraced structure (abstractly speaking) and veered pop, WOW happily abandons conventional song shapes, parsing the experience of musical time into ecstatic fragments. It's difficult to imagine a more fitting album title: pure exclamation, an organic pitch of delight leaving the mouth, with no clear etymological links. On Room for the Moon, Shilonosova's voice was layered and lyrical, with sweeping and urgent melodies. WOW finds her as a peripheral purveyor of high jinks, peeking out from the corners, commenting on her surroundings in non-verbal, and arguably non-human, utterances. Instead of employing lyricism, Shilonosova steps outside of language, and rewards us with a gum ball machine of textures: soda fizz and wind-up teeth and scraps of bubble wrap become comically huge, as if heard from an insect's perspective. Words are tasty plosives, onomatopoeias, percussive chirps and one-liners, and singing serves as another form of what Shilonosova refers to as "funny tiny sounds." WOW skews and skitters, trips over its own feet and laughs about it, plays out of tune on purpose, tilts and leans like a top-heavy flower. Shilonosova is a longtime user of Found Sound Nation's Broken Orchestra sample pack, a sound catalog of over one thousand dilapidated instruments sourced from Philadelphia public schools. These perfectly imperfect instruments are tightly spliced into WOW's patchwork of synthesizer and reworked snippets of Shilonosova's friends playing clarinet, flute, and marimba. It's central to the record's internal logic: a disregard for what is, and isn't, broken, what is, and isn't, a sentence or a song. A commingling of subject and object, with a firmly new wave sensibility. Shilonosova has long had an unusual relationship with inanimate objects (citing her bicycle as her best friend), as if the joys they evoke for her are personality traits of the objects themselves. On WOW, she evinces a kind of inverted anthropomorphism: she shrinks her voice and becomes an object among multitudes, toylike in size and perspective, cohabitating with sedentary, indifferent roommates. This pursuit of childlike perspectives is a thread that runs through much of her catalog, and places her work on a plane with that of her personal hero Nobukazu Takemura, who for decades has treated his music as a portal to childlike curiosity, both in subject matter and tone. With an invitation to pursue this curiosity, WOW further confirms Kate NV's deeply inventive, fluid and technically dizzying artistry. By refusing constraints and rules, Shilonosova embodies a profound freedom, allowing objects, sounds, and processes to unfold organically; or, as she puts it, a commitment to "accepting randomness." She succeeds terrifically at a breed of auditory defamiliarization that is all her own, and the rewards for listeners are many: through her lens, the small becomes monstrous, the abstract becomes sensorial, and the old becomes new. Kate NV's WOW will be released on February 10, 2023 on vinyl and digital formats. On behalf of Kate NV and RVNG, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit War Child, an organization that supports children and their families impacted by conflict, and working to build sustainable peace for generations to come.

Yellow Vinyl

Kate NV's WOW offers listeners a prismatic shift in perspective and scale, a parallel dimension in which the mundane becomes funny, unfamiliar, and altogether sensational. Turning the contents of her 2020 album Room for the Moon upside down and spilling them across a floor checkered with intrigue and surprise, Kate places sound, object, and ritual under the microscope to magnify the delight hidden in plain sight of everyday life. WOW is Kate Shilonosova's fourth full-length release as Kate NV in six years, and third for RVNG Intl. Her prolific musical output aligns with a highly attuned aesthetic and a deep commitment to visual world building. WOW is one of many of these worlds in which music is fully saturated with color, deeply tactile and textural. Shiny, sproingy, plastic. Where Room for the Moon embraced structure (abstractly speaking) and veered pop, WOW happily abandons conventional song shapes, parsing the experience of musical time into ecstatic fragments. It's difficult to imagine a more fitting album title: pure exclamation, an organic pitch of delight leaving the mouth, with no clear etymological links. On Room for the Moon, Shilonosova's voice was layered and lyrical, with sweeping and urgent melodies. WOW finds her as a peripheral purveyor of high jinks, peeking out from the corners, commenting on her surroundings in non-verbal, and arguably non-human, utterances. Instead of employing lyricism, Shilonosova steps outside of language, and rewards us with a gum ball machine of textures: soda fizz and wind-up teeth and scraps of bubble wrap become comically huge, as if heard from an insect's perspective. Words are tasty plosives, onomatopoeias, percussive chirps and one-liners, and singing serves as another form of what Shilonosova refers to as "funny tiny sounds." WOW skews and skitters, trips over its own feet and laughs about it, plays out of tune on purpose, tilts and leans like a top-heavy flower. Shilonosova is a longtime user of Found Sound Nation's Broken Orchestra sample pack, a sound catalog of over one thousand dilapidated instruments sourced from Philadelphia public schools. These perfectly imperfect instruments are tightly spliced into WOW's patchwork of synthesizer and reworked snippets of Shilonosova's friends playing clarinet, flute, and marimba. It's central to the record's internal logic: a disregard for what is, and isn't, broken, what is, and isn't, a sentence or a song. A commingling of subject and object, with a firmly new wave sensibility. Shilonosova has long had an unusual relationship with inanimate objects (citing her bicycle as her best friend), as if the joys they evoke for her are personality traits of the objects themselves. On WOW, she evinces a kind of inverted anthropomorphism: she shrinks her voice and becomes an object among multitudes, toylike in size and perspective, cohabitating with sedentary, indifferent roommates. This pursuit of childlike perspectives is a thread that runs through much of her catalog, and places her work on a plane with that of her personal hero Nobukazu Takemura, who for decades has treated his music as a portal to childlike curiosity, both in subject matter and tone. With an invitation to pursue this curiosity, WOW further confirms Kate NV's deeply inventive, fluid and technically dizzying artistry. By refusing constraints and rules, Shilonosova embodies a profound freedom, allowing objects, sounds, and processes to unfold organically; or, as she puts it, a commitment to "accepting randomness." She succeeds terrifically at a breed of auditory defamiliarization that is all her own, and the rewards for listeners are many: through her lens, the small becomes monstrous, the abstract becomes sensorial, and the old becomes new. Kate NV's WOW will be released on February 10, 2023 on vinyl and digital formats. On behalf of Kate NV and RVNG, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit War Child, an organization that supports children and their families impacted by conflict, and working to build sustainable peace for generations to come.

Tears are in the eyes of Xabiib Sharaabi, nicknamed the Somali King of Pop when he entered the stage of Berlin’s HKW. It is a mix of nostalghia, pain and joy. Like many Somalis he had been deprived overnight of both glamour and friends, the war in his homeland had sent him into exile. The glamorous discos and beachfront stages Mogadishu had once been famous for, had disappeared as the city was bombed to the ground. The King of Somali pop found himself stranded in Sweden, others like the members of Dur-Dur Band Int. ended up in London which until today has the largest Somali diaspora in Europe.

In the last decade many early recordings of Somalia’s funk, soul and disco era have been reissued. This record is not a reissue. The Berlin Session – is the first studio album of its kind since the golden days of Mogadishu came to a halt three decades ago. It is the living proof that Somali music is hot, funky and (!) well alive.

The record captures a historic reunion which took place in 2019 in Germany’s capital Berlin. London-based Dur-Dur Band Int. an eight-piece powerhouse of Somali live- music unites with three legendary Somali singers: Xabiib Sharaabi, Faduumina Hilowle and Cabdinur Allaale for a concert at Berlin’s HKW. Fueled with a restored sense of pride, the freshly reunited musicians decided to get together in a Neukölln studio for two amazing days of recording.

Female vocalist Faduumina Hilowle opens the album with an invitation to kickass: “Let’s shake off the dust, boys!” (Inta ka hurguf). Grooving with such a strong accent on the off-beat, any non-Somali listener may think of Reggae. But when you ask the musicians, they tell you: “They took it from us! It’s Dhaanto! It’s our rhythm”. Originating from the Ogaden region (now in neighbouring Ethiopia’s borders), Dhaanto dates back to the era of “clap & chant”. Some say it is an imitation of the camel’s bounce. Xabiib Sharaabi was once nick-named Somalia’s King of Pop for the body language and magnetising voice with which he incorporated the latest global musical trends - even recording two disco albums entirely in English. On the album Xabiib chooses to sing his Somali adaptation of “Lady” originally by Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. Not unlike the Motown Sound of Detroit and Kingston’s Studio One: a small scene of musicians were fueling that new Somali Disco scene in Mogadishu. Cabdinur Allaale, the third vocalist on the album comes from neighbouring Djibouti. In the heydays the leader of then famous Sharaf Band was a frequent visitor, flying back and forth between Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Kismayo & Djibouti entertaining his fans on the Horn of Africa.

Dur-Dur Band Int. ‚The Berlin Session‘ brings the spirit, joy and hope of this era back: In the last decades Somalis stars have lived among us, spread all over the world, it is time to see them step into the limelight again.

Nicolas Sheikholeslami:
In 2015 Berlin-based Nicolas Sheikholeslami became fascinated by Somali music and ended up compiling a mixtape to share his passion. He did not know that his tape Au Revoir, Mogadishu Vol. 1 - Songs From Before The War would spark a massive international interest for Somali music. Soon later Nicolas co-compiled Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa for Ostinato records which got a Grammy-nomination in 2017. Berlin’s venue HKW took notice and asked him to set up a show with a selection of Somali artists from the golden era. This lead to this remarkable reunion. A studio was booked and within 2 days this album was recorded. The Berlin Session captures this emotional moment. In 2021/22 Nicolas Sheikholeslami finally sat down and mixed the recorded material. This record is the living proof that Somali music is hot, funky and well alive.

2023 Repress

* Nothing Lasts But Nothing Is Lost was the 3rd incredible installation of the Shpongle epic released in 2005 on Twisted Records. Now remastered for 2019.
It proved to be yet another masterclass in the psychedelic fusion of the worlds between musical genre and sonic geometry.
Simon Posford & Raja Ram interweave an impossible myriad of melodies on guitars, vocals, oud and horns with hifidelic sounds of masterfully manipulated glitchy synths and Raja’s inimitable Flute and otherworldly vocal mutations to create these majestic musical soundtracks.

The album famously features 20 tracks (which on vinyl appear as 8 separate tracks) designed so that every one flows seamlessly into another, continuously evolving like a musical hologram. Each new sonic world reflecting a psychedelic spectrum of the uniquely altered states of audio reality that Shpongle are renowned for.

With every track opening doors to new musical vistas, we are blessed to witness the ever changing sonic scenery that constantly shapeshifts in tone, timbre, tempo and time signature.

Opening with kaleidoscopic mandalas of a mythical music box that morphs into psychedelic funk on “Botanical Dimensions”, we know when Raj’s twisted vocal breaks that we are deeply in “Outer Shpongolia”. The diversity of musical sound surfing is unparalleled, touching on both established and newly invented genres such as latin glitch funk, arabic trance, psyfidelic dub, psychedelic samba massive with massive brass band riffs in “The Stamen of The Shamen” and even snake charmer techno- breaks on “Turn Up the Silence”. Nothing Lasts But Nothing Is Lost effortlessly and seamlessly emerges from one to the next and is a musical journey of such gargantuan portions that they barely fit into a 1 hour epic audio adventure!
On the third fantastical instalment of the Shpongle story, Raja & Simon tickle the synapses and kicking up the dust as evolutionary psychedelic textures and other worldly spaces meld with an irrepressible 4 to the floor of the Kickdrum liberally sprinkled throughout the album.

The mystical maestros undeniably delivered another astounding audio adventure, flipping the sonic switch for tripping without a hitch and earning its rightful place of any psychedelic connoisseur. 

Country songwriter from Brooklyn's indie underground, Dougie Poole blurs the lines between genre and generation on his third solo album, The Rainbow Wheel of Death. Rooted in sharp songwritingvand the organic sounds of a live-in-the-studio band, it's a classic-sounding record for the modern world. The Rainbow Wheel of Death's title nods to the colorful pinwheel that appears onscreen whenever a computer's application stalls. For Poole _ who found himself working as a freelance computer programmer once the pandemic brought his touring schedule to a temporary halt in 2020 _ it's also a reference to the holding pattern that's left much of society feeling stuck, unable to move ahead in an uncertain world. That feeling was pervasive when he in his New York City bedroom and wrapping up the songwriting process in the recording studio itself. Once hailed as the "patron saint of millennial malaise" for his sardonic wit and topical, tongue-in-cheek songwriting, Poole broadens his reach here. "High School Gym" builds a bridge between 2020s lo-fi textures and 1980s pop vibes, while "Must Be In Here Somewhere" _ whose narrator sits at a lap top, searching through "every server burning in North Carolina" for a digital souvenir of a long-lost relationship _ mixes modern concerns with classic country instrumentation. If records like 2017's Wideass Highway and 2020's breakthrough release The Freelancer's Blues told stories about uninspired Millennials languishing in dead-end jobs and no-good relationships, then The Rainbow Wheel of Death focuses on more universal issues like mortality, love, and the passing of the time. With The Rainbow Wheel of Death, Dougie Poole breathes new life into country music, retaining the acclaimed elements of his previous work _ drum machines, synthesizers, and his deep-set voice _ while pushing toward something warm, organic, and prismatic.

A completely re-recorded and remastered version of KAUAN's black metal masterpiece, Aava Tuulen Maa. Released with brand new cover art, different arrangements, and updated recording, ATM Revised is the definitive edition of the band's third album. Released in a beautiful vinyl sleeve with a bonus vinyl-sized booklet. ATM Revised (Aava tuulen maa) was recorded in the early days of Kauan. It was the first album recorded outside of the group's home studio with strict budget limitations. Finally in 2021, everything came together. Kauan blew off the dust from the original recordings and carefully removed all the compromises. This is not just a "remastered" version of the original, it's complete recordings of real drums and bass, restored and refined original tracks, carefully mixed & mastered with analogue gear with all respect to the source. Original art pieces by Sergey Jung were also rescanned, together with all the sketches and imperfections, so now you can experience a beautiful new-looking layout.

Vinyl re issue of The Strokes critically acclaimed gold certified third album, ahead of the bands headline performance at All Points East later this year. The album (originally released in December 2005) debuted at number 1 on the UK Official Albums Chart and spawned the singles ‘Juicebox', ’Heart In A Cage’ and ‘You Only Live Once'. A track album pressed on single black vinyl. Marketing activity.

Inspired by the likes of old-school legends including Venom, Kreator, Sabbat JPN & Metallica, James McBain formed Hellripper in 2014, showcasing an electrifying brand of blackened thrash. Building on the already impressive foundations laid by their early EP & split releases, the first full-length album, Coagulating Darkness',
was released in 2017 to media acclaim, with the UK's Metal Hammer hailing Hellripper as Scotland's King of the arcane mosh & the band receiving notable attention throughout Europe & the US. This was followed by the Black Arts & Alchemy' EP, before an eventual deal was inked with Peaceville Records, resulting in the masterful The Affair Of The Poisons', further propelling the band to the forefront of the UK metal scene. Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags' - Hellripper's third studio album - establishes a new threshold of excellence & raises the bar further over The Affair Of The Poisons', with an opus standing at the crossroads between the sound that Hellripper has become known for & a whirlwind of different influences up until now yet to be explored, resulting in James McBain's most personal & diverse
work to date. With a greatly expanded scope to the tracks, incorporating more epic & melodic blackened anthems alongside the high- speed metal attack & blistering solos, Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags' marks a new highpoint for the band. Inspired by the landscapes & legends of the Scottish highlands, McBain explores the darker side of Scottish history & folklore - the title itself taken from a
line in the Robert Burns poem,Address to the Deil' - as well as including references to clan culture (including his own) throughout the album. For example, one of the tracks ( The Cursed Carrion Crown') is based on the legend of Sawney
Bean' & the Bean Clan (a spelling variation of McBain'') & tells the story of a family of cannibals that lived in a cave & committed various gruesome acts. As always, the writing & recording process was carried out by James McBain himself, with a few guests offering contributions in the form of additional vocals & instrumental
parts. With recording taking place between March 2021 & June 2022, the album was also mixed by McBain & mastered by Damian Herring at Subterranean Watchtower Studios. The suitably sinister & ominous artwork appears courtesy of Adam Burke. Hellripper will be embarking upon a series of shows in support of the album throughout 2023.

Sublime Frequencies is honored to release the third LP from Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band. Sonbonbela was recorded in the beginning of 2022 in the Republic of Burkina Faso. The group continue to hone their trademark fusion of Mandingue and afro-beat styles. The Mandingo Band are a hit machine, sculpting seven new tracks of near Beefheart/Magic Band dynamics, Fela inspired groovers dusted out in the Sahel zone, rather than the humidity and sweat of Lagos, creating one of the most original and propulsive musical statements to come from the contemporary West African cultural juggernaut. As with previous releases, the band features the legendary guitar pyrotechnics of Issouf Diabate, truly one of the greatest West African (or Earth for that matter) guitarists of the last forty years. The band is completed by a near bottomless barrel of artistry from the Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso musical talent pool. On bass guitar, Wendeyida Ouedraogo, on drums Abbas Kabore, and on percussion and balafon, Nickie Dembele. Leading the charge again is the captain himself, Mamadou Sanou on the Doso Ngoni featuring one of the most distinctive voices of the modern era. The opposite of the banal trends of auto-tune that have pervaded most of West African popular music, Baba’s voice still impresses with its gravel and grit, showcasing a range that is ancient and defiant in equal measure. This LP is a non-stop hit parade of afro-beat bangers destined to light dance floors and living rooms ablaze!!! This album is dedicated to the memory of Massimbo Taragna, the bass player extraordinaire who was an integral part of the Mandingo Band’s trance stun musical power. He passed away in early 2022. RIP TRACKLIST: Side A: CHASSER LES SACHETS, KAMELEBA, AFRO MANDINGO, SEMAYALA Sida B: SEREJUGU, SONBANBELA, WARIKO

wAFF returns to his Nature imprint as he kicks off 2023 with his latest four-track EP, ‘District’.

A renowned name and personality within the global house music landscape, with releases via the likes of Hot Creations, Cocoon, Desolat and Solid Grooves, wAFF’s journey has stepped up a level after becoming a label owner following the launch of his own imprint, Nature. Founded in November 2021 with the release of his ‘Colours’ EP, the label boss returns for the third instalment on the blossoming imprint as he celebrates a year since its launch with a new EP. Combining a wealth of UK influences alongside subtle global nods across the package, early December brings four new productions to the label as he unveils his powerful and impactful ‘District’ EP.

Title track ‘District’ is a hard-hitting opener as the Nature boss combines sharp metallic production with hazy melodies and resonant vocal snippets, while ‘Locked In’ offers a more paired-back, rolling effort as slick drums and glossy pads combine. Next, ‘Sicko’ steps things up once again with squelching acid lines and rumbling sub- bass, before closing via the organic drums and playful sonics of ‘Rozzo’.

A stalwart of the Leeds music scene for the best part of 3 decades, Tony Burkill has so far maintained a low profile nationally, choosing to favour continued study and development of the instrument over the attainment of success or recognition within the music industry. Working as a sideman for hire on the local circuit, he has impressed audiences with his powerful and gutsy approach to improvisation and has been a well-kept secret amongst both musicians and audiences in the north of England since the 1980s.Recently featuring as a guest soloist on the debut album by The Sorcerers, Tony has been on the radar of ATA Records since the inception of the label. Impressed by his exuberant and earthy performance style they decided to embark on the writing and production of what was to become "Work Money Death", choosing to frame his playing in the context of the performers that have helped to shape his sound, most notably the spiritual jazz of the 60s and 70s.

"Work Money Death"explores the foundations laid by the great Tenor players of the 60s & 70s: Gato Barbieri, Pharoah Sanders, John Klemmer and John Coltrane, taking inspiration from their work and using it as a springboard for Tenor Saxophonist Tony Burkill's improvisation. Co-written with Bassist Neil Innes, the album attempts to frame Tony's playing within the context of that which has been most influential to him over the span of a 20+ year long career. Featuring on the record are Drummer Sam Hobbs (The Electric Doctor M and Producer of Matthew Bourne's Moogmemory), Bassist Neil Innes (The Sorcerers, Eddie Roberts' Roughneck), Pianist George Cooper (Abstract Orchestra), Percussionist Pete Williams (The Sorcerers) and features a guest performance from Pianist Matthew Bourne on the track "Beginning and End".

Support and airplay from Gilles Peterson (BBC6 Music, Worldwide FM), Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2). Good reviews have so far been forthcoming from the likes of Jazzman Gerald and Nat Birchall who described it as sounding "like a lost album from the spiritual jazz scene of the 1970s".

Renaldo Domino
Chicago Soul Legend
Born March 27th 1950) from “The Valley” around 49th & Forestville.
He was nicknamed Domino because his voice was sweet as sugar, Domino being an American sugar brand name.
Renaldo Domino blasted onto the fertile Chicago soul scene of the late 60's with a voice as sweet as sugar and deep grooves that sound just as fresh five decades later. Releasing singles on Mercury subsidiaries Smash and Blue Rock, and later Twinight records, Renaldo’s all-too-brief career has still managed to leave an impact to all those lucky enough to hear it.
He had a relatively short recording career releasing only 7 singles between 1967-1971. His first 45 was recorded whilst he was still attending high school on a tiny label Arnell on a low budget.
The Arnell 45 did well enough for him to get signed to Smash (a Mercury subsidiary) where he released two 45s, re-recording 'I'm Hip To Your Game' for his second Smash single, as it's a different version to the one released on Arnell. His third 45 was released on another Mercury subsidiary, the now revived Blue Rock which had been 'suspended' since 1966 and reacivated in 1968. The records sold reasonably well locally but Dominio left to join Twinight, feeling that his material wasn't being promoted by Mercury, where he released a further three singles between 1969-71. Twinight released him in 1971 and despite trying to get another recording contract he was unsuccessful and left the music business to pursue another career.
He was managed by William Sandy Johnson who also managed LaShawn Collins and Wendy Woods who recorded on Johnson's Sincere label, the only 2 releases on the label. He also wrote Renaldo Domino's first 4 A sides: 'I'm Getting Nearer To Your Love', 'Just Say The Word', 'Not Too Cool To Cry', 'Let Me Come Within'. In addition he wrote 'Do It Now' for Wendy Woods and the flip to LaShawn Collin's classic 'What You Gonna Do Now', 'Girl Chooses The Boy'.
Renaldo returned to the spotlight in 2007 when the Chicago reissue powerhouse Numero Group put him on the cover of their deluxe box set Eccentric Soul: Twinight's Lunar Rotation (which included other greats Syl Johnson, The Notations, and many more). Renaldo’s performing career began to flourish once again with shows around country.
In early 2019 Renaldo teamed up with producer Jeremy Kay and arranger JB Flatt and set out to record new tracks that would live up to Renaldo’s great early records. Assembling a crack team of Brooklyn’s best they pulled out all the stops, creating a mix between the lush arrangements of Chicago’s early soul style and the hard-hitting beat of current Brooklyn soul. The new single “No Laggin’ & Draggin’” / “Give Up The Love”, released Feb 2020, is now available on Colemine Records.
Backed by The Heavy Sounds, Renaldo’s live performances continue to deliver with passion and precision, making new fans young and old.

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The RED GREEN BLUE album will be released via 3CG Records on May 1320 The new Red Green Blue album brings together the band's three unique creative voices like never before with a third of the album written and produced by each brother (Taylor’s Red, Isaac’s Green and Zac’s Blue). The project brings together a team of collaborators, with the album co-produced by Grammy Award-winning Producer, Engineer and Mixer Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilco), and Grammy Award-winning Artist and Producer David Garza (Fiona Apple, Midland, Sharon Van Etten). Beginning in June in Europe, the RED GREEN BLUE WORLD TOUR will bring HANSON to the US and Canada from July-September, Latin America in September and Australia & New Zealand in November. The band’s first major tour since their String Theory album & tour in 2018/2019, fans will be in store for a tour which not only features the premiere of 15 songs from the new project but will also be the first tour to include live performances of 2020’s Against The World as well as career spanning set lists of fan favorites. Fresh off of the release of Against The World, featuring seven songs released consecutively each month, the prolific band of brothers are reinforcing their deep musicality and credibility as writers, performers and producers with the new project. Leading up to May’s full album release of RED GREEN BLUE, fans will get a taste of the trifecta of sound, with a single featuring each of the brothers. Coming February 11 Taylor’s earnest and dynamic “Child At Heart”, March 11 will see the release of Isaac's organic and heartwarming “Write You A Song” and April 15 will feature the rock infused pop of Zac’s “Don’t Let Me Down”.

It seems fitting that a trilogy of albums celebrating nature should conclude some eight years after its second chapter. Manchester-via-Todmorden based instrumental trio Plank’s first two LPs – 2012’s kosmiche-inspired Animalism and 2014’s more expansive and structurally disruptive follow-up Hivemind – enjoyed relatively quick gestation periods. However, Plank are firm believers in letting nature run its course, and so it is that their third LP Future of the Sea arrives early in 2023. “I always knew I wanted to make three albums inspired by nature” says Plank main-man David Rowe (synths / guitar). “Future of the Sea is another exploration into odd time signatures and traditional rock instruments alongside synths and electronics.”

“Future of the Sea is a celebration of the power and majesty of our oceans and how humankind has been destroying them through industrial scale fishing and global warming” says Rowe. “Rachel Carson put it more eloquently in her book The Sea Around Us: ‘It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.’” A post apocalyptic underwater city scape adorns the cover in an illustration by Jake Blanchard, whose work you'll also see on Richard Dawson's latest album 'The Ruby Cord'.
The synthetic nature of Plank’s sprawling rock odysseys feel at their most pronounced on Future of the Sea which leans to the band’s love of Pink Floyd era Meddle, Camel, film score composers like John Carpenter and Vangelis, 70s experimentalists Harmonia, 1980s King Crimson and 90s post-rock adjacent group Tortoise. In polyrhythmic dexterity if not heaviness, Plank also take some influence from Meshuggah, and it’s in their movement between the 16 minute final album track’s sections that it feels most prominent. They swerve from crunching stoner rock jams to more ambient spatial explorations, crescendoing progressive peaks, 80s synth pop and finally a crushing riff-laden finale.

Toronto label and party Hypnotic Mindscapes presents another issue of modern electronics crafted for the dancefloor with the third edition of their compilation series, displaying a bundle of trend-defying tunes from crew-adjacent artists.

A1 opens with long-time friend and collaborator Patamamba (half of Kimchi Records) with “Igoon of Blue”, shades of progressive house music simmered in evocative acid lines reminiscent of 90’s nostalgia. The A2 features Hypnotic originator Cosmic JD with a deep-slamming breakbeat piece titled “Steam”, punchy basslines and trancey Arps bubbling into the early morning. On the flip, scene-vet and Seekers boss Alex Picone debuts on the label with “WhyWasteWine” a fast-paced, modern tech-house number with wonky melodies and metallic artifacts. Rounding things up, Moroccan (via Montreal) up and coming artist Jalil enters with an electro-infused ode to “Technology”. Artwork by Sofia Eleni.