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Ariwa Sounds started in a front room in Thornton Heath, South London. Four tracks, some homemade equipment, and Neil Fraser, better known as Mad Professor, at the controls. That was 1980. Over four decades later, the label has more than 300 albums to its name and a legacy that stretches well beyond the reggae scene.

This compilation pulls twelve tracks from across the catalogue. Dub, lovers rock, heavy roots music, digital dancehall — it's all here. What ties it together is the Ariwa studio sound all going through Mad Professor’s desk.

Mad Professor is the backbone of it. Dub Me Crazy got him known and his production credits run from Jah Shaka and Horace Andy to Massive Attack, Sade and The Orb. The tracks here — the Dub Sampler, H2SO4, Disco Dude, Kathmandu Dub — show why.

The Jah Shaka collaboration Only One God is a landmark. Two of the UK's most important dub figures on one track. Dark and heavy roots music.

The Robotics appear twice — Hong Kong Flew! and Miss Mood. They are Ariwa's house band and have backed U-Roy, Lee Perry, Big Youth and more over the years.

Aisha closes things out with Can You Feel It. A track that crosses reggae, soul and boogie funk. Collectors have been after original pressings for years.

Starky Banton, Ragga Doll, Professor Doppler and Earl Lawrence complete the compilation. Exactly the kind of thing that reminds you how wide the Ariwa net was cast.

Sleeve design is by Trevor Jackson. One of the UK's most respected graphic designers. His work has defined the visual language of British music for thirty years. His involvement here signals exactly the kind of release this is. A serious serious catalogue and compilation of music, treated with the respect it deserves.

Ariwa sits alongside Greensleeves as the most important reggae imprint this country has produced. This compilation shows why.

Artlab continues the celebration of its 10th anniversary with the highly anticipated second installment of its commemorative vinyl series. Building on the momentum of the inaugural release, this follow-up collection further cements the cultural center’s status as a beacon for cutting-edge sound, bringing together a refined selection of artists who perfectly embody the club’s forward-thinking electronic spirit.

The journey begins on the A-Side with the legendary Voigtmann, who steps up to deliver "Casual," an electro-tinged, hypnotic bomer designed to lock the dancefloor into a steady, driving trance. Following this peak-time intensity, Mateo Dufour—undoubtedly a man of the moment—takes the reins with "Space Child." Infused with classy, mysterious house vibes, the track offers a sophisticated sonic texture that bridges the gap between deep atmosphere and rhythmic precision.

Turning the record over, Franco Cinelli commands the B1 slot with "Ecos Perdidos." A master of his craft, Cinelli presents a dub-infused, hypnotic number that explores deep, resonant soundscapes, perfectly showcasing the label’s commitment to underground innovation. To close out this second anniversary chapter, Revivis brings us "L.T.F.U." A classy, driving production that captures an infectious energy, making it an essential anthem for the summer season and beyond.

With this second installment, Artlab reaffirms its dedication to its multidisciplinary roots, providing a diverse yet cohesive listening experience that continues to define the next decade of its artistic journey.

The sun sat high above the desert outside Joshua Tree on October 17, 2024, baking the rocks and shrubbery outside the Farrington Observatory as a small group of invited guests ventured up a steep path towards the telescope. Kyle Simon, the artist and printmaker who founded the Observatory, was standing outside the print studio sat below the towering cylindrical building, greeting friends alongside his wife Sarah and lifelong friend Brian Weitz, the musician widely known as Geologist of Animal Collective. Simon and Weitz had spent the previous day testing and retesting a system that would transform the light of the oncoming full moon captured by the gigantic telescope into a signal that would modulate the control voltage of Weitz’s modular synthesizer. As the sun dipped below the horizon line, the audience gathered on a small wooden patio surrounded by speakers while Weitz readied himself behind the array of patches and knobs. Simon addressed the group, presenting the history of The Sirens, the sonic exploration of the night sky’s mystical and scientific significance about to unfold.

The music conjured under the Hunter’s Moon that night is now documented on this first official release of The Sirens, which was conceived by Simon and Weitz as a recurring performance piece and sound installation. Over a decade ago, Simon began immersing himself in literature on humanity’s sonic relationship to the celestial realm, including Homer’s Odyssey, Plato’s “Spindle of Necessity, ” Kepler’s Harmonices Mundi, and the field of astroseismology. He fitted homemade telescopes with photodiodes and optical sensors to make the images audible, finding latent patterns in the noisy sonic signals he began receiving from the stars. With Weitz, the process expanded as the signal was routed through an analog amplifier and set to modulate the pitch, filter, and other elements of his synthesizer. Together they developed a system of improvisation, with Simon adjusting the telescope to change the intensity of the light based on its relationship with the moon’s position (imagine a theremin player moving their hands in subtle, meaningful motion), and Weitz responding to that input in real time: bending it, amplifying it, or letting it stand on its own. The duo debuted the piece at the Integretron in Joshua Tree in 2018, providing a crucial proof of concept for the performance at Farrington featured here.

The first thing the listener hears on The Sirens is the opening of Farrington Observatory, the cranking of motor and metal. As the lens of the telescope is exposed to the evening air, a wavering drone emerges from the synthesizer, flickering at the margins, the tuning of the oscillators adjusting to the rapidly cooling desert air. The piece progresses and the drone becomes a luminous, spherical constant, bathing the listener in pure tone as Weitz draws out harmonically ambiguous melodies that spiral upwards. Electronics crackle and convulse, coalescing into dense dissonance before widening out into an open octave. Just as the moon orbits the Earth and the stars shift as the planet rotates, so each sonic element appears in flux, interrelationships slowly forming and falling away. Divided into two parts, The Sirens flows as a continuous conversation between the artists and the starlight completing its thousand-year journey across the galaxy.

The Sirens belongs primarily to a lineage beyond music: of sea captains navigating by looking skyward, of astrophysicists studying the formation of the Milky Way, of the modern myths of werewolves, of the stories embedded in constellations. As Simon writes in the album’s extensive liner notes, “These stories and explorations reveal a collective yearning to become conscious of our connection to the universe, our deep-seated desire to understand how we fit into it all.” This music underscores the history of the night sky as the place where poetry and science find common ground, where exploration hinges on the imagination. Driven by curiosity and ingenuity, Weitz and Simon look up and wonder.

In their own words, it's "more focussed, paced and thought-out." Over 13 tracks that explore the horrors of the outside world and the internal minefield of the brain, Mould's debut also hits with the thrills of a brilliant live band who've distilled that energy to tape. The title comes from a line taken from the time signature-warping 'Emotive Language' that distills what it means to be a band in 2026 down to one concise sentiment. "This has always been the dream, playing with your mates and making good songs and getting to tour and make records," says Kane. "But the realities of trying to start a band now, when you're 30 and also have other goals at the same time are hard. We'd be doing it regardless, but you have to learn a lot. " This duality runs throughout the record, where tracks like lead single 'Float' speak of "strolling through hellscapes" of social media yet surround their frustrations with the sort of barbed, visceral musicality that sounds like if Interpol had grown up in gloomy, rain- soaked Britain. "You're endlessly doom scrolling, past a funny video of a sausage, and then there's Farage and then there's an ad for something," Joe says of the track. "That mindnumbing flashy distraction turns you into idiots."

In their own words, it's "more focussed, paced and thought-out." Over 13 tracks that explore the horrors of the outside world and the internal minefield of the brain, Mould's debut also hits with the thrills of a brilliant live band who've distilled that energy to tape. The title comes from a line taken from the time signature-warping 'Emotive Language' that distills what it means to be a band in 2026 down to one concise sentiment. "This has always been the dream, playing with your mates and making good songs and getting to tour and make records," says Kane. "But the realities of trying to start a band now, when you're 30 and also have other goals at the same time are hard. We'd be doing it regardless, but you have to learn a lot. " This duality runs throughout the record, where tracks like lead single 'Float' speak of "strolling through hellscapes" of social media yet surround their frustrations with the sort of barbed, visceral musicality that sounds like if Interpol had grown up in gloomy, rain- soaked Britain. "You're endlessly doom scrolling, past a funny video of a sausage, and then there's Farage and then there's an ad for something," Joe says of the track. "That mindnumbing flashy distraction turns you into idiots."

A collection of previously unreleased material (between '75 & '90) by Enno Velthuys.
Compiled by Hessel Veldman.

"Hello boys and girls, my name is Enno Velthuys and I am the idiot of the group (and also the
most intelligent, the most sensitive, the most artistic and he who has to carry the heaviest
load, because this boy's luggage, DAMN, it's pretty heavy).
Luckily, I had already been through a lot when I got this ‘knock in the head’. Sex, drugs, lots
of rock and roll and a sunny childhood with beautiful views I look back on with nostalgia.
Later on I lost my focus and I only thought about one thing: how to get out of it (that damn
problem, my shifted reality, my blind spot, that piece of poisoned apple of forbidden
knowledge choking my throat)!

But I can't think my way out of it, psychiatrists are just ordinary people, and very heavy pills
suppress everything (I'll just take my pills) FLASH!

You ask me what it takes to create music or art that is meaningful and tells a story. It’s hard
when you haven't had enough setbacks, nothing more than maybe a little blues. I'm not
saying it was the right path, but at least I've come a long way. And now I'm a fish in a pool.
Please understand that this is very disturbing. It's not my waterway. A fish belongs in a river.
And my star sign is fish. >))D

See you soon, EnnO"

Selva Discos is proud to present its latest release: the EP by the band Discoteca Tropicana. This record features 4 original tracks that celebrate the rhythms that have influenced Brazilian disco music, showcasing the best of this fusion: the swing and tropical flavour that bring sunshine to any dance floor.

The project is the result of a collaboration between Kiko Costato, the enfant terrible of the Brazilian music scene, and Zé Nigro, a producer and multi-instrumentalist who has won two Grammy Awards and has worked with major names in Brazilian and international music such as João Donato, Antonio Carlos & Jocafi and Natasha Diggs.

This EP is based on 4 different themes. For each one, Kiko and Zé Nigro recruited some of Brazil’s finest studio musicians – people who work with Seu Jorge, Céu, Criolo, Metá Metá, Cidadão Instigado and Tulipa Ruiz – as well as pioneering artists from the Brazilian Black music scene, such as the backing vocalists who work with the legendary Gilberto Gil.

“Corpos Celestes” is a more classic “disco diva” track, featuring string arrangements and a grand piano, as if it were the start of the evening, a magical moment straight from the heyday of disco in the United States; “Corpo Treme” is the sweat, the vuco-vuco, a song for that moment when you’ve already let yourself go, a sprint to the frenetic rhythm of the carimbó; “Tobina” is the meeting of Brazil and Africa, from which Brazilian swing is born, an original chant straight from the Congo, with a characteristic African guitar, adapted to Brazilian rhythms, just like the afoxé. Finally, the dancefloor hit “Não Pode Acabar”, a more urban disco track, which works just as well for kicking off a party with the right vibe as for closing a set with the highest energy.

Superfan is the songwriting veil of Kali Priya Flanagan, the Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist and producer. While initially imagined as a solo act, ambitious string arrangements crafted in collaboration with cellist Omeed Almassi have come to define Superfan’s noisy and magnetic pop soundscape.

Today, Superfan announces their forthcoming album ‘My Piledriver Heart’ (MPDH), out October 16 via new label home AD 93 (Joanne Robertson, Dagmar Zuniga, YHWH Nailgun). Along with the announcement, Superfan presents his new single “In the Gold Room” paired with the live version filmed by Garrett Winston inside Agger Fish Building in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

MPDH marks the first release outside of the record deal Flanagan signed at age 14. The album finds Flanagan embracing a more expansive, experimental vision of indie rock - melding deeply tuned acoustic guitar, cello, and Eastern musical influences into what he calls his “Acousticello” sound. Recorded largely live with cellist Omeed Almassi and producer Hudson Pollock, the record explores heartbreak, independence, and hopeful melancholia. Kali says “This time around it was about being (myself) versus becoming myself. This album was made to acknowledge the ebbs and flows in chugging along with life and love, from a place of comfort within the self that opens you up to the beauty in everyday life.” He does so through intimate performances that blur the line between folk, chamber music, pop-rock ballads, and alternative rock. Last year, he released the singles “Apeiron (Fantasy Football)” and “Miss W Jones” and earlier this year he released “Picture of Return.”

Following his acclaimed debut Tow Truck Jesus, Flanagan opened for The Strokes at Red Rocks, and has quietly become a fixture of New York’s DIY scene, performing alongside artists like Horsegirl, Knifeplay, and Quiet Light, while also playing support shows with King Woman and Victoryland this summer. He is also in the rising emo band Holidays in United States.

Before Superfan, Flanagan found success during the pandemic under his first moniker, “KALI.” His initial releases garnered millions of streams and led to collaborations with seasoned high-profile producers and industry teams. Despite his budding career as an indie-pop star, Flanagan was dissatisfied with the conditions of his artistic output and community as he reached adulthood. His coming-of-age years in Los Angeles were marked by an ever-present new-wave pop music oblivion: “hits” made in 5-hour sessions with strangers, a social life suffocated by others’ aspirations for fame, and an absent audience for live music that pushed past the prescriptions of recorded music. On MPDH, Kali says “I can’t help my urge to write these pop-rock ballads, but we really wanted to push the boundary of genre and expressing the sentiments of the songs through experimentation.”

Verdad Y Error (2026) resides in the tension between the thrashing of external noise and beating centred internal calm. Gibrana Cervantes is known for her work across experimental music and contemporary performance, a practice with focussed intensity and surging physicality, often pushing the limits of endurance, presence, and embodiment. A central axis of her performance practice is her ongoing collaboration with acclaimed choreographer Florentina Holzinger, including composing the music for SEA WORLD (2026), Florentina Holzinger’s critically acclaimed installation for the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Alongside this, she is a core member of the experimental ensemble Amor Muere (Mabe Fratti, Concepción Huerta, and Camille Mandoki). Cervantes maintains an active recording practice that directly informs her live output including her collaboration Memoria (2025), with Colombian Drone Mafia (Nyksan) for Ambie-Tón (Tratratrax),

Verdad y Error is a record of her artistic approach which expands her body and the violin’s horizon of possibility to near breaking point. Cervantes uses a register closely associated with Metal, yet buried deep in the alchemy of these pieces are motifs which hark back to her classical background. Across these pieces the violin is used as an instrument with a fragmented and shifting voice — blurred, repeated, and reshaped through distortion. “Many of these pieces come from images, memories, and sensations that have stayed with me for years. I'm interested in the blurring of what actually happened and what time transforms.” The recordings are built with layers of violin tones which oscillate between recognisable, processed, stretched and shifted, and lay embedded in a frequency stratum of volatile static and noise. “The violin on this album doesn't appear as a clean instrument. I process it, repeat it, distort it, and multiply it until it begins to feel more like memory than melody. Something blurry, shifting, difficult to grasp.” The origins of the album were born at a time when Cervantes was seeking inner calm amidst a relentless external noise, questioning the validity or possibility of memory and its radically changing perception in relation to experience. Subsequent reflection on this contemplative moment allowed her to develop a relational music which moves through memory, erosion, repetition, and emotional ambiguity. Creating a space that feels both intimate and unstable, mercurial with the patina of lived imperfection.

Akin to the unreliable narrator and linguistic instability, each piece functions as an emotional landscape suspended between clarity and confusion. An album which balances melody, brutality, fragility and noise
throughout its sprawling recordings and artwork, which operates as an analogue to the music. The visual world of the album developed in collaboration with Mauro Ventura was compiled across various media with a mix of handwritten texts, burned typography, metallic textures, and fragile physical materials. “I wanted the record to feel tactile and imperfect — something emotionally direct but physically worn.” says Cervantes. More than offering explanations, verdad y error exists as a conversation between memory and disappearance, noise and stillness, truth and error.

Love or its absence dominates the intimate songs on the new album from ARBORIST – the musical outlet of Mark McCambridge. Looking For Love, Arborist’s fourth album of exquisitely inventive Americana, places us firmly in his hometown of Belfast, allowing it to act as a microcosm of the wider-world, with all its foibles and charms. We find fictional protagonists scouring the dark corners of the city, wiling-away afternoons in strip clubs, wandering the streets in all weather and reflecting on the harsh reality of modern society, all in search of an elusive love – emphasising our need for it now more than ever.
Looking for Love is ARBORIST’s first album to be self-produced by McCambridge, largely from his home studio in Belfast – and at times it feels like we are in the room with him. It’s a different kind of record for him as previously he has always sought collaboration; whether it be with Kim Deal who chose to sing intertwined harmony on his debut single “Twisted Arrow”, or recording in The Curfew Tower owned by The KLF’s Bill Drummond who described Mark’s songwriting as being “riven with more loss than any record since Leonard Cohen quit this world”, and who Matthew E White and his Spacebomb band collaborated with to such astonishing effect on the previous Arborist LP, 2023’s An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros, winner of the prestigious Northern Ireland Music Prize. This time, with no outside producer steering the way, McCambridge found that the quiet hours were where he felt most at ease, despite periods of trial and error, and, by his own admission, moments of feeling genuinely lost in it all.

Despite playing many of the parts himself, McCambridge still called upon old friends from the community around him; Spacebomb’s resident bassist Cameron Ralston (Bonnie Light Horseman, Hiss Golden Messenger) again features throughout the record, alongside Eamon Ferris (The Waterboys) on drums, with the great and the good from Belfast’s vibrant music scene. Grainne Meyer plays concert harp and Aga Olek plays violin for the quasi-title track “Looking 4 Love” – an off-kilter love-letter to Belfast. Meilana Gillard provides a sleazy saxophone on “Bye Bye Johnny Cash” – a seedy tale of a man obsessively visiting a dancer in a club, and The Larne Community Youth Choir provide backing vocals for “Go Kill The Fatted Calf” – a song Mark wrote about his son growing up, a take on the parable of the prodigal son, with Jonny Ashe’s blistering guitar solo adding an album highlight. The Errigal Ensemble String Quartet and Aisling Agnew’s breathtaking flute solo feature on “What Is It You’re Asking” – a song about love, or its absence, both personally and universally in these times.
McCambridge was recently honoured with a “Fellowship” by the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast where he collaborated with such illustrious names from the literary world as Nick Laird, Caoilinn Hughes and Conor McPherson. Through the University he was given access to the music department's Steinways and pipe organs, and decided to try one out for the album’s centrepiece “I’ve Been A Flaneur”. As Mark explains, "The drone on the pipe organ — and the sound of it starting and stopping — was so visceral that I decided to try a half-written song against it right there and then, and this came out in one take… The song was a breakthrough artistically - I don't think I'll ever record in the same way again after this."
The album was engineered by longtime collaborator Ben McAuley (Van Morrison) and mixed by Jimmy Robertson (Anna Calvi, Beth Gibbons, Fat Dog). The results are staggering, devastating and uplifting in equal measure, calling to mind albums such as Songs Ohia’s Magnolia Electric Co., The Divine Comedy’s Regeneration, The Blue Nile’s Hats and Wilco’s Ode to Joy, as well as early-70s records from John Cale, John Lennon and Bill Fay.

Belfast native Mark McCambridge played his first show as Arborist supporting James Yorkston. A solo tour followed, and impressive performances led to notable support slots alongside Low, Cat Power, Echo & The Bunnymen and Guy Garvey. Arborist's debut single, the Americana-tinged "Twisted Arrow," caught the attention of the critics with an astonishing duet with Kim Deal of The Breeders. The debut album Home Burial (2016) and its follow-up, A Northern View, both received glowing praise, from The Guardian ("instant classic" ----) to MOJO ("devastatingly bleak… upliftingly beautiful" ----) to Uncut (8/10), with BBC 6 Music play from Cerys Matthews, Cillian Murphy, Lauren Laverne, Radcliffe and Maconie and Gideon Coe — and Steve Lamacq calling single "Taxi" "one of those records that makes you immediately stop what you're doing." He went on to even greater success with the 2023 Northern Irish Music Prize winning third LP, An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeroes, which was recorded at SpaceBomb Studios in Virginia with musician and producer Matthew E White. For his fourth LP, Looking For Love, he has signed with Fika Recordings and with a tour approaching in November, 2026 looks set to be a seminal year for the Irish artist.

Murmuration’ is the low hum made by vast, beautifully choreographed flocks of starlings as they simultaneously flap their wings and take to the sky. Some people say that the frequency of this unique, rumbling, oscillating sound can cure diseases...

One of the most exciting live bands in the UK, British Birds combine the garage-punk energy of Billy Childish, the wry English sophistication of XTC and the witty pop inventiveness of The Lovely Eggs. Like a murmurating flock of starlings, they create a unique sound, and might even be able to cure diseases.

Based in Chorley, Lancashire, British Birds are a resolutely DIY band. Bobby records and mixes all the music; Emma creates all the artwork. Their first two albums were self-released, selling hundreds of copies at gigs and at a few chosen record stores. British Birds didn’t wait for permission to take flight. They just got on with it. Their songs are sophisticated, hard-hitting, and very skilful. It may be DIY, but it’s big and it’s ambitious.

Sessions for Marc Riley and Gideon Coe have followed, along with tours supporting The Bug Club, BC Camplight and Lovely Eggs.

‘Murmurate, Oscillate’ kicks off with Lie Down With Dogs, Stand Up With Fleas, a rousing expression of exasperation at our passivity in the face of lame authority. British Birds are acute observers of the English political scene, shrouding their observations in humour and surrealism. Polka Dot Eyes is another piece of sharp social observation: it portrays Lancashire lads – friends from school – who join the Army and return home physically and mentally damaged. The song is simultaneously disturbing, funny and catchy as hell. From the fog of disinformation and doubt that surrounds us all in 2020s Britian, British Birds embrace the darkness, but with wit and verve – no slogans, no easy answers – and with an energy that helps us escape the mundanity of a declining island. This might all sound a bit bleak, but it’s not: every single one of the songs on this album has a chorus as big as a house.

There are personal songs too: Scary Movies is a poignant description of Bobby and Emma’s grandfather, who delighted in showing them horror films when they were kids – giving them sneak previews of the darkness they’d come to embrace as adults; Just Like Them is a celebration of introversion: it might not be fun, but it’s better than being an idiot. (Paradoxically, any other introverts who hear this song will feel impelled to join in in the chorus.) Blame Game and Thunder Claps examine the darkness inherent in relationships: there is always an impending storm, if you recognise the low hum of the imminent thunder. Once again: the choruses of these songs confound the melancholy sentiment.

You’ll get the same impression if you see British Birds live: Bobby’s ferocious guitar and dark lyrics are counterpointed with Emma’s sometimes haunting, sometimes playful vocal responses and insistent rhythms. You’ll be swept away by the energy of a band who don’t know the meaning of limits. And as the songs get darker and darker the smile on your face gets wider and wider.

The core members of British Birds are siblings Bobby and Emma Townson, working from their HQ-cum-nest in Chorley. Drums are by Dominic Lawson (apart from Michael Aindley on ‘Just Like Them’). Bass is by James Robinson.

British Birds will be embarking on a headline tour of the UK in early 2027.

Courtney Storer is Aerofunk, a UK producer who broke out back in 2023 and has been dropping heat ever since., This new EP for Funk Dubs is no different: 'At The Tone' opens with a blend of woozy synth tones and answering machine messages that are offset by gritty and cold drum textures that remind of early tech house greats. 'Relax' is another cut that blends body-popping and elastic bass with snappy drums and odd samples that work perfectly. 'Wet One' is a hot stepping acid-laced tech house slammer with plenty of machine soul and 'White Heat' then closes with more hefty drums that spark plenty of physical reactions and come laced with tactile synth designs.

Of course everyone knows Kurt Hauenstein aka Supermax. He was one of the few Austrians to shape the sound of late-1970s disco, performing and selling records around the world. Not many know his daughters Judy and Nicola, however, and the fact that they in 1987 wrote a song that they recorded together with their father. Well, here it is: Cracy Coconuts, “Rubberdub Dance” – a true Hauenstein family affair. We are proud to re-release this super rare 7” that proves, once and for all, that Austrians can excel at digi-dub. Timelessly tropical and beautifully bouncy, its vibe is quite different from the iconic Supermax productions. Here, Judy and Nicola’s sweet yet confident vocals replace the moustache-driven sotto voce singing that we love Supermax for. The result is oh-so-catchy and bound to be a hit.

The Discos Panorama series heads back to Colombia again for PAN016, pairing a heavyweight cumbia classic from Andrés Landero Y Conjunto with a wild Colombian take on one of the great Afro-funk records.

On the A-side, “La Pava Congona” is Landero in full flight. Known as El Rey de la Cumbia, Landero had that rare ability to make the accordion feel raw, hypnotic and completely dancefloor-ready. This one is all about the rolling rhythm, the call-and-response feel, and that unmistakable sabanero swing. Proper Colombian cumbia with weight behind it.

On the flip, Afrosound take on Manu Dibango’s “Soul Makossa” and send it straight from Colombia’s northern coast. Where the original is already a landmark Afro-funk groove, Afrosound bring their own Colombian flavour to it: fuzzed-out guitar, tropical percussion and loose psychedelic touches and that brilliant energy that made their records so special. A track that when we heard Hugo “Crucial Juice” spin, we knew we had to reissue.

Together, it’s exactly what the Discos Panorama series is about.

As always, PANORAMA Records is here to bring rare and essential music back into circulation with care, respect and admiration. Proper records, properly pressed, and ready for the dancers.

For Louis Johnstone, making music has never been about waiting for the right equipment, the right environment or the right moment. Across more than a decade of work as both Wanda Group and A Large Sheet Of Muscle, the Huddersfield-based musician has built one of British experimental music's most singular bodies of work by embracing whatever happens to be within reach, allowing instinct, improvisation and circumstance to shape the outcome as much as conscious composition.
"'Chinese Benefits' was made over a year ago on an iPhone that had a broken microphone and was on its way out," he explains. "I have made many records after this with clearer sounds. Sharper ideas. That is never the point, though. You work with what you hold in your hands."
Recorded entirely on a failing iPhone 6 that stopped working shortly afterwards, 'Chinese Benefits' isn't a record about damaged technology. It is a record shaped by it. Rather than resisting the limitations of the device, Johnstone allows them to become part of the music itself, where distortion, interference and deteriorating fidelity are inseparable from the recording process.
Across twenty brief but disquieting pieces, corroded spoken word, environmental recordings, abrasive noise and fractured electronics continually emerge and dissolve. Voices drift in and out of range, reverberation stretches everyday sounds beyond recognition, and bursts of white noise interrupt moments of uneasy calm. There are echoes of radio transmissions, field recordings and musique concrète throughout, yet 'Chinese Benefits' never settles comfortably into any one tradition. Instead, it inhabits a space where accident and intention become almost impossible to separate.

That philosophy has long defined Johnstone's work. Through a vast catalogue of self-released recordings on his Umbro G imprint, alongside releases for labels including The Trilogy Tapes, he has consistently favoured immediacy over refinement, embracing imperfection not as an aesthetic but as a practical reality. His recordings are less concerned with perfection than with capturing the conditions in which they were made.
Looking back on 'Chinese Benefits', however, Johnstone's own assessment is characteristically understated.
"Listening back fully, it's quite a nice record actually. Fair enough, I make them and never really listen again TBH. Even better, it was the last Large Sheet Of Muscle record made on that phone with grit and damaged guts."

Like much of his work, 'Chinese Benefits' offers few fixed meanings. Its titles remain cryptic, its voices partially obscured and its structures deliberately unstable. What emerges instead is a deeply personal document of process over perfection, where the limitations of the tools become inseparable from the music they produce, and where the act of making something matters far more than the conditions in which it was made.

Plush shag carpeting, jazz flutes, analogue synths, funk grooves, exotica, and sultry, Italian-style vocalising: Erotica 70 is the new album from Larry Manteca, known for their inventive, tongue-in-cheek reimaginings of classic Italian soundtrack aesthetics.

This time around, the Milanese collective sets its sights on the distinct sonic landscape of 1970s commedia sexy—a film genre that, for better or worse, defined an era and fed richly into the cinematic education of Larry Manteca’s members.

Through this lens, Erotica 70 also becomes a way of celebrating Piero Umiliani in his centenary year—a composer whose name is closely linked to the erotic comedies of the time.

The nod to Umiliani is baked right into the details, starting with the choice of vintage gear like the Eminent synth and the Wurlitzer electric piano. These instruments deliver that particular blend of jazz, groove, electronics, and sensual charm that made the golden age of Italian film music so unique.

Standout track “Lando” is a joyful, playful homage to actor Lando Buzzanca, who starred in numerous films scored by Umiliani, including the iconic 1973 comedy La schiava io ce l’ho e tu no (My Darling Slave).

Larry Manteca is spearheaded by multi-instrumentalists Alessandro Paiola and Riccardo Danieli, flanked by the cinematic flute of Carlo Pelsa, the swinging drums of Andrea Quattrini, and the magnetic vocals of Valentina Castelli and Alessandra Maria Manzoni.

Recorded across various studios in Northern Italy, Erotica 70 is the imaginary soundtrack to an Italy that no longer exists, recreating its atmosphere while rendering it in full, vivid colour. It’s a record whose music seems to come straight out of a provincial cinema, a smoky late-night club, or a long-lost 70s film. But while it looks back to a bygone era, it does so only to bring it straight into the present, making the past sound surprisingly fresh and contemporary.

Inperimental is a bold return from Lithuanian electronic pioneers Plasma, presenting a meticulously crafted double LP that explores the intersections of techno, ambient, and forward-thinking electronic sound. Every element — sound, structure, and visual identity — is
intentional. This is not a collection of experiments, but a fully realized sonic architecture shaped by decades of experience and analog mastery. This vinyl edition is more than just an audio release — it's a multi-sensory experience.

The gatefold cover and packaging feature hidden artwork that can only be revealed using included red-lens glasses. This visual element isn’t just a gimmick — it reflects the same intentionality that defines the music. With no room for improvisation or trend-chasing, Inperimental is a precisely executed statement in both sound and form. The album blends ambient tones, analogue warmth, and dancefloor rhythms. It demonstrates a refined sound palette: humid techno grooves, cosmic textures, and cinematic depth.

Inperimental is described by the artist as a voyage where technology meets pure emotion — “a realm where warmth intertwines with technology, dreams blur into reality, and pure, authentic sound reigns supreme”. A digital download card is also included with each vinyl copy.

With over 26 years, 8 full-length albums and performances in 40+ countries, GOTHMINISTER is regarded as “one of the most iconic gothic/industrial acts” (Terra Relicta). For the first time, the entire album is fully recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Bjørn Alexander Brem himself – delivering the raw and uncompromising sound he always envisioned. Gothminister, an acclaimed icon in the gothic industrial metal scene, delivers a monumental masterpiece with “We are all Demons.” This 11-track album plunges into the depths of our inner darkness, revealing that we all carry demons beneath the surface. Through its bold thematic arc, the album urges listeners to confront their darkness, embrace strength within it, and emerge fearless. Musically, it’s a powerful fusion of gothic industrial metal and modern EDM elements. Expect ferocious synths, thunderous drums, and industrial guitars that cut like steel. Screaming vocals intertwine with female duets, soaring operatic moments, and grand choral sections. All of this creates a dark yet beautiful atmosphere—one that culminates in unity and completion. This is not just an album; it’s a legendary sonic journey, cementing Gothminister’s iconic status.

Those albums that never age, that never cease to surprise with their innovative freshness_listen after listen_defying the years that go by. Released in 2016, Heimat's debut album is one of those records you love knowing is there on the shelf or on the turntable, like a reassuring talisman. To mark its 10th anniversary, and such an awaited repress, we decided to honor this landmark album as it deserves: with a powerful remaster by Tioma Tchoulanov (UVB76, NzeNze) featuring enhanced dynamics, and an ultra-limited edition on blue splatter vinyl. What a beautiful object this is, celebrating_alongside Armelle and Olivier Demeaux_ten years spent exploring the outer limits of music, in France and abroad, from SMAC venues to squats and other joyful initiatives. Their deeply sincere music loses none of its naive tension; the emphasis is there, yet it remains restrained, contained, almost nervous, without any show of. Here, then, is something to make this fantastic album, a subtle milestone in a teeming musical landscape. A fine achievement indeed!

Heavyweight psychedelic improvisers EarthBall are back with their third and most monstrous record to date: ‘Outside Over There’, released on Upset The Rhythm (Nov 7th). Born from the haunted basements of Nanaimo, Canada, the quintet thrives on spontaneity, shaping improvisation into jagged hallucinations and ecstatic eruptions.
Recorded live-off-the-floor in 2024 in Jeremy, Izzy, and Kellen’s basement, and mixed by drummer John Brennan, ‘Outside Over There’ is an album that feels both summoned and inevitable. Each track lands with uncanny purpose, as if uncovered rather than written.
The opener, 100%, features a cameo from comedian and English icon Stewart Lee, who lent his blessing for the band to use a fragment of his stand-up. The album was mastered by John Dieterich (Deerhoof), with liner text contributed by longtime comrade John Olson (Wolf Eyes). Olson describes the album in his unmistakable style:
“This eight-track odyssey unfolds like a dreamscape, where whispered incantations brush against the shadowy fringes of the cosmos, and wild, Cézanne-inspired rock anthems erupt like geysers of color in the midst of a western warm and wet rain storm… culminating in the sprawling eleven minute masterpiece, ‘And The Music Shall Untune The Sky,’ aptly dubbed the Earth Crusher. A creation so utterly deconstructed and intertwined with the pulse of nature itself that if AI was called upon to conceive ‘Outside Over There’ anew, it would just spit back, “F.U. in Tree Font”. An enchanting invitation for even the flat-earthers to join the circle, if only just a little.”
EarthBall’s trajectory has been relentless. Their 2024 album ‘It’s Yours’ was praised by The Quietus as “fully aggressive and fully life-affirming,” and by The Wire as "a boisterous mind-melting album”. The band’s live double set LP ‘Actual Earth Music Vol. 1 & 2’ (2025) captured blistering performances: a performance opening for Wolf Eyes at the Fox Cabaret, and a Café OTO improvised throw-down featuring Chris Corsano and Steve Beresford. These releases on their own confirm them as one of Canada’s most vital experimental exports, not to mention the impressive self-released discography on their Bandcamp. The band’s reach has stretched far beyond their west coast roots with a UK tour May 2024, plus this past June, EarthBall closed Montreal’s Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Raven Chacon. This November they will perform at Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht, with a European tour to follow (tour dates below). Outside of EarthBall, each member carries their own torch. Jeremy Van Wyck, founding member of the legendary Shearing Pinx, has toured extensively, released over 100 records, and has been a vital force in the Vancouver and West Coast underground for the past 25 years. He and Isabel Ford (Izzy) play together not only in EarthBall, but also in Psychedelic Dirt, Shearing Pinx, Behaviours, and Crotch.
John Brennan collaborates widely, including recently with Endlings (Raven Chacon and John Dieterich), Evichen (Victoria Shen), Francesco Fonassi, Plan Your Future (with Greg Saunier of Deerhoof), Brennan/Corsano duo and Physics with John Dieterich. Kellen Maclaughlin performs with KVMP and Ora Corgan, while saxophonist Liam Murphy is a west coast staple, playing with the best across Vancouver Island and the mainland. On three of the tracks of ‘Outside Over There’, the band is joined by their comrade Justin Patterson, who also plays with Brennan in the duo Modale. This cross-pollination fuels EarthBall’s sound - a collective improvisation, psychically overdriven, and grinding into bloom.
Outside Over There’ is more than an album though, it is a ritual, a gathering of sound at the forest’s edge; where feedback, saxophone screams, and ecstatic vocals dissolve the boundary between chaos and clarity. EarthBall invite you into their circle, to share in the joyful terror of spontaneous creation. ‘Outside Over There’ will be released on November 7th through Upset The Rhythm digitally and as a limited blue-in-black vinyl LP.

The year was 1989, and Derrick May was at a creative peak as both a DJ and producer. Under his Rhythim Is Rhythim moniker, he released a string of landmark records on Transmat, while his residency at Detroit's The Music Institute showcased the distinctive DJ style that would soon take him onto the international stage. Around the same time, he hosted a weekly radio show on Detroit radio station WJLB, alongside influential programs by The Electrifying Mojo and The Wizard (Jeff Mills).

For one of these broadcasts, May assembled a 15-minute megamix in his studio during the week leading up to the show. He opened his radio set with this continuous mix, blending his own tracks and versions into a seamless introduction that reflected his approach to DJing at the time. It includes unreleased versions of classics such as ‘Nude Photo 88’ and ‘Strings Of Life’.

‘All of this is unreleased because I made it as I was playing it on the spot as a special Mayday Mix for my show on the radio station WJLB in 1989, edited together straight from the keyboards live to tape. There is no other recording of these tracks in this form, only here’.

The original WJLB master tapes have since been lost, and no official recording is known to survive. Fortunately, many listeners recorded the broadcasts at home. One such cassette, preserved by Richie Hawtin, eventually made it our way. It has been carefully restored and mastered, with the artist’s approval.

To highlight this remarkable document of techno history, the recording is now available as a limited-edition, one-sided 12-inch release. The mix has been cut as a continuous side, visually divided into eight sections, while the reverse features a custom engraving.

Jen Cardini & Shonky revive their 20 year old anthem August In Paris with remixes from Kasra V, Jennifer Loveless and Jump Source.

Originally released on Mobilee Records in 2006, Jen Cardini and Shonky’s record ‘August In Paris’ remains a defining statement from the minimal era. Ahead of its time upon release, the record distilled the genre to its essentials, bleeps, hypnotic grooves and impactful vocals, unfolding with the kind of restraint that continues to resonate two decades on.

To mark its 20th anniversary, ‘August In Paris’ returns with three distinctive reinterpretations from Kasra V, Jennifer Loveless and Jump Source plus a re-release of the original coming out on Jen Cardini’s formidable label Correspondant. As well as this Jen Cardini and Shonky will be playing an All Night Long set at Paris nightlife institution Rex Club on 29th August. Look out for merch on the night too.

Speaking about the project Jen Cardini discussed: “It is crazy to think this was two decades ago and that Shonky and I are still touring and sharing our love for music. For the anniversary, we decided to bring this special track to light again’.’

Each remix approaches the source material from a different perspective while preserving the essence of the original.
UK DJ and producer Kasra V leans further into the track’s skeletal framework, blending his signature sultry sonics into this hypnotic chunky groove to produce something entirely new but familiar.

Jennifer Loveless, an unearthed gem when it comes to production, strips things back even further, delivering a rough and tough uncompromising club version primed for sweaty dark dancefloors, it perfectly encapsulates the original without overshadowing it.

Closing the EP, Montreal duo Jump Source, Priori and Patrick Holland, take the record into more left of centre territory. Their version stretches the original into a warped, slow-burning electro excursion, perfectly suited to the blurred edges of the after-hours.

TIM HECKER’s latest work approaches a form of secular musical transcendentalism from within the battered temple of spirituality.

Recorded in a church in Reykjavik, Iceland and using a pipe organ as the primary sound source, this new piece is essentially a live recording. In reality, it exists in a nether world between captured live performance and meticulous studio work, melding the two approaches to sonic artifice as a unity. It is in parts a document of air circulating within a wooden room, and also a pagan work of physical resonance within a space once reserved for the hallowed breath of the divine.

While the title of the piece “Hatred of Music” might be a clue, the album is also partly an attempt to confront a pervasive negativity surrounding music. Historical rituals of destroying pianos, mountains of pirated CDRs pushed by bulldozers in Eastern Europe, or the melancholy of the digital music era began as sideline motifs which quickly informed the work on this record. They also really didn't at all. Despite that the context is wide open in such a form of musical abstraction, the substance of these immersive compositions showcases Heckerʼs continued mastery of organizing sound into a visceral near entity. It is an almost physical presence that the listener feels as much as hears.

This work is a significant contribution to Hecker's oeuvre, one which spans over ten years of musical production. Ravedeath is an enigmatic document of beauty and force. The album was recorded mostly over the period of one day in July of 2010. Iceland-based musician Ben Frost assisted with the engineering and performs on this recording.

RECEIVED AN 8.6 BEST NEW MUSIC RATING FROM PITCHFORK.

When everything just aligns… then it feels like it is meant to be. I think we have all experienced that feeling; a feeling of completeness and that ‘full circle’ moment. Nihil Young lands his debut album packed full or memories stemming from the day he met his wife, to more recent times and the birth of his first child.

‘Compass’ takes you on a real journey of melodic music expertly written and crafted by Nihil from instruments all through to lyrics and songwriting – he has used all of his skills on this body of work – and he does not disappoint! AT ALL!

The album features collaborations alongside Rowland Giles, Leo Wood, Lasada, Jordan Arts, FRDRK, Adriana Stone, TYGR TYGR and more… Each track sounding as special as the last. THIS IS COMPASS….

This is Nihil Young … This is REALPROG

Wewantsounds it delighted to announce a deluxe reissue of Frank Foster's 'The Loud Minority' LP. Released on Bob Shad's Mainstream Records in 1972, it's a landmark album and one of the key political works of the 70s. Featuring an all-star cast of superb musicians including Elvin Jones, Stanley Clarke, Airto, Cecil Bridgewater and Marvin 'Hannibal' Peterson, it is also Dee Dee Bridgewater's earliest full recordings. This special edition includes a 20-page booklet featuring amazing unseen session photos recently unearthed, an introduction by Judd and Mia Apatow (Shad's grandchildren), an essay by British journalist Kevin Le Gendre and an exclusive interview of Cecil and Dee Dee Bridgewater by Paul Bowler. The album's original artwork as been recreated with original photos and the audio newly remastered from the original tapes.

When he recorded "The Loud Minority" in 1972 for Bob Shad's Mainstream Records, Frank Foster had been a solid sax player for nearly twenty years, playing with the likes of Donald Byrd, Thelonious Monk and The Count Basie Orchestra. For this special session, he gathered a stellar line up of old fellow musicians like Elvin Jones and Harold Mabern and young turks including Stanley Clarke, 'Hannibal' Marvin Peterson, Cecil and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Cecil Bridgewater remembers: "Frank, his thing was, any group that he had he wanted to give young musicians a chance." As usual for Mainstream sessions, the studio was booked for two days and the record was cut live, supervised by Bob Shad's trusted men, arranger Ernie Wilkins and engineer Carmine Rubino.

What came out of these two days is now the stuff of legend, four long funky jams fuelled by two distinct line ups playing simultaneously augmented with a powerful 6-piece brass section led by Foster. The album kicks off with the anthemic "The Loud Minority" (sampled by United Future Organization and DJ Shadow) with its long brass introduction followed by Dee Dee Bridgewater fiery poem, a politically charged statement expressing the fight for civil rights, before the whole group comes together for a funky explosion clocking at 14 minutes. "That was a period where we were really into our African consciousness" reminisces Dee Dee in the interview.

The album continues with the funky uptempo "Requiem for Dusty" while "J.P.'s Thing" adopts a slightly more spiritual feel, with a beautiful Fender Rhodes solo and Foster's soprano sax improvisation. The album ends with "E.W. Beautiful People", a long dreamy improvisation climaxing with Dee Dee Bridgewater's poignant vocals.

The Loud Minority is a key militant jazz manifesto and one of the landmark jazz funk albums of the 20th Century. The album was recorded in two days but its legacy lives on and still resonates loudly in the BLM days. Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue this major works with newly remastered audio and a deluxe 20-page booklet full of breathtaking unseen session photos and insightful texts telling the whole story of this superb album.

The year was 1989, and Derrick May was at a creative peak as both a DJ and producer. Under his Rhythim Is Rhythim moniker, he released a string of landmark records on Transmat, while his residency at Detroit's The Music Institute showcased the distinctive DJ style that would soon take him onto the international stage. Around the same time, he hosted a weekly radio show on Detroit radio station WJLB, alongside influential programs by The Electrifying Mojo and The Wizard (Jeff Mills).

For one of these broadcasts, May assembled a 15-minute megamix in his studio during the week leading up to the show. He opened his radio set with this continuous mix, blending his own tracks and versions into a seamless introduction that reflected his approach to DJing at the time. It includes unreleased versions of classics such as ‘Nude Photo 88’ and ‘Strings Of Life’.

‘All of this is unreleased because I made it as I was playing it on the spot as a special Mayday Mix for my show on the radio station WJLB in 1989, edited together straight from the keyboards live to tape. There is no other recording of these tracks in this form, only here’.

The original WJLB master tapes have since been lost, and no official recording is known to survive. Fortunately, many listeners recorded the broadcasts at home. One such cassette, preserved by Richie Hawtin, eventually made it our way. It has been carefully restored and mastered, with the artist’s approval.

To highlight this remarkable document of techno history, the recording is now available as a limited-edition, one-sided 12-inch release. The mix has been cut as a continuous side, visually divided into eight sections, while the reverse features a custom engraving.

You've never played a game like Blippo+ before, and you've never heard a video game soundtrack quite like Greatest Hits from Planet Blip.

Composed by Rob Kieswetter and Jona Bechtolt from the LA-based trio YACHT, the soundtrack collects 71 tracks from the cult classic video game Blippo+, reworked and sequenced into a continuous listen for this special release —a TV static-speckled gatefold double LP, out Oct. 16 via Hologram Opera, marking the soundtrack’s physical debut.

Taking the form of a cable TV simulator, Blippo+ captures the magical feeling of seizing a mysterious signal from outer space and discovering the television programming of an alien culture. Soundtracking the game’s pastiche of programs is Rob and Jona’s genre-spanning score—synth-heavy, eccentrically electronic, with a skewed sensibility that pays homage to cable access, library music, video art, and the late-night margins of the 80s and 90s underground.

TV obsessives will find plenty to love in Greatest Hits from Planet Blip: with surreal theme songs, jangly jingles, zippystings, catchy kitsch, period-accurate menu music and even pop hits from the alien airwaves, this propulsively playful soundtrack will have channel-flippers tingling with nostalgia.

“Planet Blip is an alien planet where art and music are the only currency and ‘consciousness particles’ form the basis of all media. To capture the spirit of this world, we drew inspiration
from all the music we felt best embodied this ethos and ran it through our own utopian blender,” say Bechtolt and Kieswetter.

Blippo+ is an award-winning, experimental, live-action video game created by YACHT and Telefantasy Studios, along with developers Noble Robot and Dustin Mierau, and published by Panic Games. It was released for Steam, Playdate and Nintendo Switch in 2025 to widespread
critical acclaim and has earned a devoted fandom. A Mac version followed earlier this year, and was nominated for an Apple Design Award.

"Simultaneously nostalgic and futuristic, otherworldly yet
welcoming, Blippo+ is an absolute artistic triumph.
" —Deven McClure, Screen Rant

"Blippo+’s presentation might ape old traditions, but the collective impact of its content is richer, deeper, and more entertaining than any mere remembrance.
" —Garrett Martin, Paste/Endless Mode

"In the increasingly reactionary and prescriptive landscape of video games, it is remarkable to encounter something so distinctive, so hopeful, so celebratory, so devoted to expanding the possibility space of art beyond a single medium." —Sam Bodrojan

Few records sit between genres as confidently as Schöneberg. Not quite techno, not quite trance, not quite house, and precisely because of that, instantly recognisable as something of its own. Originally released in 1993 as part of Marmion's Berlin E.P. on Superstition Records, the track became one of the defining anthems of early European club culture, championed by Tony De Vit at London's legendary Turnmills Trade events and played in the best clubs across the UK, Benelux and beyond.

Schöneberg grew directly out of the duo's DJ sets at the Bunker in Berlin-Mitte. Between techno and trance, Mijk van Dijk and Marcos López were looking for a common ground. The track was recorded in a single night, the result of that search. Its defining details were deliberate: the hi-hat arriving unusually late, the short disorienting break that became a trademark. As López puts it: "For me the piece is still a condensed version of an entire DJ set."

In 2023, Superstition marked the 30th anniversary with a 21-track remix collection spanning three decades of reinterpretations. Now the track returns to vinyl, focused and stripped back to three versions: the original 1993 mix, the in itself legendary Marmion Remix, and the interpretation by DJ T., appearing on vinyl for the first time.

Pressed on orange coloured vinyl, this 2026 reissue sees all three versions carefully remastered from the original sources and newly recut for vinyl, bringing renewed depth and clarity while preserving the character that made Schöneberg a classic.

* long version / previously unreleased on vinyl
** exclusive / previously unreleased
Felix Laband's highly acclaimed electronica masterpiece album "Dark Days Exit" (2005) is now available as an Extended Version 2LP vinyl. Originally planned for last year's 20th anniversary, this special edition features a new design by Felix Laband and includes a double-sided DIN A2 art print. Dark Days Exit features four exclusive tracks, alongside five vinyl-only tracks available for the first time in their original long versions. Listening to the key track, Sleeping Household, on Dark Days Exit is unsettling: like being an impostor rambling around an uncanny house, a Lynchian leitmotif in the form of a young girl divulging secrets that you probably shouldn't hear. Dark Days Exit is an album that paints an interior landscape, an invitation to transgress private thresholds. Made with old-school production tools that require hands-on application, Dark Days Exit is a sound-production tour de force. The music is as wide as the savannah and microscopic at the same time, a lesson in what can be achieved when 'music' is placed on an equal footing with sound as a phenomenon, by an artist who decides to apply themselves without reserve. The masterful manipulation of reverb and delays and hyper-detail was a generation ahead of its time, and Dark Days Exit is preferred by audiophiles for testing their systems. Dark Days Exit is intimate, demanding, and a masterclass in tension, and Laband's ability to use all sound without hierarchy to paint a detailed personal vision — one that is less overtly political and streetwise than on subsequent albums — is unsurpassed. Most discerning listeners are into music because, in the hands of a master, it can manipulate our mood and transport us. Felix Laband opens with a sonic portrait of spring happiness and gradually dismantles the atmosphere in front of our ears, as epitomised by the haunting track Black Shoes. No sooner are we afraid than the artist drops us off where we started. In many ways, the intimacy derives from the tight group of friends and believers whom Laband corralled as contributors: Mark van Niekerk (xylophone, "Miss Teardrop"), Jane Rademeyer (clarinet, "Black Shoes," "Radio Right Now"), Brendon Bussy (mandolin, "Black Shoes"), and Derek Gripper (sampled violin, used throughout) and Alex van Heerden on Minka. The difficulty in categorising Dark Days Exit is probably due to Laband listening mostly to ambient and classical music at the time, and consequently registering the album at the lush, cinematic end of the electronic spectrum. There is poise and restraint in the spare use of beats, and when they do appear, they hit hard. Forged in the optimistic post-apartheid years, Dark Days Exit is music about life and death, spanning hope, despair, terror, tension, with humour and empathy. Twenty one years on, the album's gravity endures, due to its almost perverse authenticity, its timeless themes of hope and despair, and its apex level of technical mastery. The additional, immaculately produced tracks add new rooms to the uncanny house we are invited into.

From Richmond, Virginia, Shy, Low have a reputation as one of the most compelling voices within the modern instrumental underground. Their music speaks to fans of post-rock's emotional grandeur and post-metal's crushing intensity alike, while simultaneously appealing to listeners drawn to experimental, atmospheric, and cinematic forms of heavy music. The band's ability to merge these seemingly disparate qualities has resulted in a body of work that is immediately recognizable and continually evolving. Luminous melodies, driving heaviness, layered textures, and carefully controlled tension allows `Purity Spiral' to move effortlessly between fragile moments of introspection and towering passages of intensity. Whether constructing intricate layers of harmony or driving songs toward explosive climaxes, there is a deep understanding of pacing, atmosphere, and the power of restraint. Momentum is at the heart of this album, through intricate rhythmic detail, and explosive bursts of energy, drums become the anchor and catalyst, supporting the band's expansive arrangements while pushing them toward moments of cathartic release. What distinguishes Shy, Low is their ability to balance enormity with restraint. Their music unfolds patiently, allowing tension to accumulate through layers of texture, melody, and dynamics. Moments of delicate clarity often coexist with overwhelming weight, creating a sense of organic motion. At the core of the band's sound lies an acute understanding of contrast. From shimmering, expansive passages to towering walls of distortion, the rhythm section provides both propulsion and atmosphere, becoming integral narrative voices that shape the emotion. There is a disciplined sense of purpose in their writing, an understanding that every note serves a larger arc. Shy, Low thrives in the space between introspection and catharsis, where subtle details become as impactful as the heaviest climaxes, and listeners are taken on a journey that is as visceral as it is profound. FOR FANS OF Caspian * Russian Circles * If These Trees Could Talk * Pelican * Toundra

From Richmond, Virginia, Shy, Low have a reputation as one of the most compelling voices within the modern instrumental underground. Their music speaks to fans of post-rock's emotional grandeur and post-metal's crushing intensity alike, while simultaneously appealing to listeners drawn to experimental, atmospheric, and cinematic forms of heavy music. The band's ability to merge these seemingly disparate qualities has resulted in a body of work that is immediately recognizable and continually evolving. Luminous melodies, driving heaviness, layered textures, and carefully controlled tension allows `Purity Spiral' to move effortlessly between fragile moments of introspection and towering passages of intensity. Whether constructing intricate layers of harmony or driving songs toward explosive climaxes, there is a deep understanding of pacing, atmosphere, and the power of restraint. Momentum is at the heart of this album, through intricate rhythmic detail, and explosive bursts of energy, drums become the anchor and catalyst, supporting the band's expansive arrangements while pushing them toward moments of cathartic release. What distinguishes Shy, Low is their ability to balance enormity with restraint. Their music unfolds patiently, allowing tension to accumulate through layers of texture, melody, and dynamics. Moments of delicate clarity often coexist with overwhelming weight, creating a sense of organic motion. At the core of the band's sound lies an acute understanding of contrast. From shimmering, expansive passages to towering walls of distortion, the rhythm section provides both propulsion and atmosphere, becoming integral narrative voices that shape the emotion. There is a disciplined sense of purpose in their writing, an understanding that every note serves a larger arc. Shy, Low thrives in the space between introspection and catharsis, where subtle details become as impactful as the heaviest climaxes, and listeners are taken on a journey that is as visceral as it is profound. FOR FANS OF Caspian * Russian Circles * If These Trees Could Talk * Pelican * Toundra

Six years after their last full-length release, Satoshi & Makoto return with Mirage Café, the highly anticipated new album on 8mm Records, in collaboration with Standart Magazine.

A carefully crafted and long-awaited work, Mirage Café is more than an album — it is a fully immersive sensory experience. The Japanese duo expand their signature sound into deeper and more cinematic territory, blending refined electronica, ambient textures, subtle jazz inflections and understated groove with remarkable elegance and control.

The title evokes an imaginary café — a space of contemplation, connection and inspiration. The partnership with Standart Magazine reinforces this conceptual layer, bridging music and coffee culture into a cohesive narrative that feels both intimate and international. The result is an album that unfolds like a slow ritual: warm, enveloping and meticulously detailed.

Throughout the record, Satoshi & Makoto demonstrate a mature and confident songwriting approach. The production is rich yet restrained, atmospheric yet rhythmically engaging — balancing introspection with forward motion. Lush harmonies, delicate arrangements and immersive sound design create a listening experience that rewards both focused attention and late-night drifting.

With Mirage Café , the duo not only meet expectations after a six-year silence — they surpass them. This is a masterwork of nuance and vision, poised to become a defining chapter in their discography and a standout release in the contemporary electronic landscape.

"Steve Watson's roots lie in Paramaribo, at that time the capital of the Dutch colony, where he won the 1975 Suriname Song Festival. This artist had a very strong connection with the music of his country, although unlike other artists - such as Max Nikman, for whom he acted as vocalist too - he performed his songs in English. Siegfried Boerleider, his real name, moved shortly thereafter to the Netherlands, where he also played in the groups The Backlot (with Laura Fygi and Rowan Moore) and Soul Conference. He released several singles on various labels, shaking off the "kaseko" music genre, which fused many different styles from Africa, Europe and the Americas, but considered rhythmically complex. He took time to move toward a simpler, yet well-structured, melodic genre in the recording studio, producing songs that were enjoyable to listen to on the radio and sensually danced to in the disco. With 1981's "Born To Boogie," we risk a seductive journey into the soul music of Suriname, which also possesses the fragrance of Dutch tulips. Then thanks to its charm, exploded in the Netherlands and subsequently in the world. Steve Watson - in addition to his personal style, rich in that simple and genuine expressiveness - also deserves recognition for his excellent songwriting, which led him to write for other Dutch artists, even though his two best songs are on this vinyl: "May Little One" and "Born to Boogie", ....the latter title has never been more fitting !!! Listen to it and go crazy !!!"

For more than two decades, AJJ has been writing albums that attempt to make sense of an increasingly confusing world. And the Arizona band has repeatedly succeeded, somehow managing to find the small traces of hope and beauty buried in the wreckage of a decaying planet. But on their ninth album, Dirty Old Power, they are coming to terms with the fact that they may no longer have the words to express it all. In fact, the proper words of communication may not even exist anymore.

Dirty Old Power takes stock of this surreal moment in American history where the post-World War II power structures of capitalism have given rise to full-on techno-fascism, and where humanity is being displaced by data centers, VR headsets, doomscrolling, and artificial versions of our loved ones.

To capture the disparate array of unique styles that make up Dirty Old Power, AJJ returned to Animal Rites studio in Los Angeles to record with their pal, Grammy-winning producer John Congleton, who also produced 2014’s Christmas Island and 2016’s The Bible 2. And for the cover artwork, the band turned to Winston Smith, the legendary visual artist known most famously for his iconic designs and logo for Dead Kennedys.

Back in November 2015, after years of collaborations with such as Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Obie Trice, Sean Price, Kool G Rap, Eternia and countless others, Toronto-based producer MoSS released his debut producer album entitled "Marching To The Sound Of My Own Drum". Since the beginning of his career, the Canadian beatsmith, record digger and music connoisseur has been making a name for himself with his signature sound and on this record he gives an amazing display of what he's capable of doing being backed up by an all stars team that features AZ, Havoc, Slum Village, Onyx, Inspectah Deck, Ill Bill, Skyzoo, Guilty Simpson and 20+ other legendary MC's. A few years after its original release, we've decided to team up with MoSS to bring you this masterpiece on wax and, for the occasion, he's also added an unreleased bonus track called "We Here" that features Smif-N-Wessun that, together with "Emotional Redux", we've put on a 7" together with its instrumental. Limited edition of 500 hand-numbered copies, with the first 200 pressed on orange/black A-side B-side vinyl, and 300 on black vinyl.

BONUS 7”

A1. Emotional Redux (feat. Big Gov, Guilty Simpson, Jon Connor, Vstylez, Willie The Kid)
B1. We Here (feat. Smif-N-Wessun) UNRELEASED
B2. We Here (Instrumental)

Metal is the debut EP from elisanyhm, an electronic and experimental musician who is based in Berlin.

The tracks that constitute Metal draw on a variety of materials and methods, yet they are commonly marked by an attempt to compose music in connection with a logic of refusal. This results in pieces that are both singular and capable of being set together.

A central tendency of the pieces on Metal is to stretch out time. This tendency could also be understood as: sounding time itself, without the rush of determination.

What might initially seem static can also, eventually, and ultimately be encountered as moving through dense layers. The deconstruction of direction leaves one affected by an indeterminate multiplicity of rhythms, voices, field recordings, and electronic sounds that are more than what one is supposed to construct.

The new album is inspired by the simultaneously magical and insidious ways that advertising and name-brand technology wraps itself around our memories. It’s an ambivalent ode to the nostalgic pull of commercial jingles and proprietary start-up sounds. The best things in life may be free, but childhood and corporate entertainment products are completely intertwined. The obsession with advertising and consumer technology informs the sonic make-up of the music as a source of raw material out of which the foundations of the tracks were built. Speaking on this impetus for the album Robbie Chater says ““It seems to be bound up with the nature of sampling itself. Once we start digging through forgotten sounds and uncovering their meaning, almost inevitably you get sent down a path of discovery. Every forgotten sound opens another door. And that’s what I love - feeling like a kid again. Diving into this whole world of advertising, looking at how jingles get made, it’s the kind of thing that keeps me interested in sampling as a process, an art form.”

This five piece combines their love for pop music and dark sentiments with a punk ethos. Drawing inspiration from a wide range of artists they've crafted a sound that's truly and twistedly their own. Part of the Dutch indie wave that includes bands like Personal Trainer, Real Farmer, Lewsberg and Pip Blom, The Klittens consists of Yaël Dekker (vocals), Winnie Conradi (guitar), Katja Kahana (guitar), Marrit Meinema (bass guitar), and Laurie Zantinge (drums) (vocalist Dekker is also a member of The Hobknobs with Lewsberg's Arie van Vliet). This debut album follows their EP's "Citrus" (2022) and "Butter" (2024). With these EP's the band has toured extensively across Europe and the UK, including as the support for Otoboke Beaver and BODEGA during their European tours. The band combine their love for pop music and dark sentiments with a punk ethos, drawing inspiration from a wide range of artists - such as The Ronettes, MF Doom, Dry Cleaning and Kate Bush - crafting a sound that's truly and twistedly their own. Reviews for Klittens Butter EP: 'Ambition meets weirdo cool on Amsterdam gang's superb EP. By executing both indie-pop and brittle post-punk styles with ease, the band unearth a vibrant space of their own' NME, 4/5 - 'With glorious harmonies, off kilter beats, jangly guitars and a whole manner of instruments throughout it's a joy.' CLASH

London’s Silsila Dubs crew triumphantly return with further explorations into the deeper recesses of sound system culture as a tool for spiritual enlightenment. The Hayes based collective – with close links to the Mya Hi-Fi family - are committed to the preservation of the long-standing ethics and methods of this culture, and the myriad cultural influences and flavours that a city such as London can present. This much anticipated second release mirrors these notions with style and grace.

The second release on the label ‘Walk in the Light’ has existed on dubplate since 2023, with the mighty Aba Shanti-I making it one of his selections at the Notting Hill carnival of that year. An uplifting and motivating digital dub track that boasts live instrumentation, echoing the mammoth influences and spirits of the late Jah Shaka, The Disciples, Conscious Sound, Aba Shanti-I and Nick Mannaseh respectively.

Featuring a beautiful master and cut from Music House alumni Chris Hanson, an inspiring trumpet performance from Silsila family Luther Vine, and a crucial Melodica, mix and version from label head and producer Govind Singh, ‘Walk in the Light’ is a sonic mantra, a vehicle of positive vibration and a means to step out of the shadows.

Tiki for the Atomic Age feels like a mid-century transmission intercepted from a parallel timeline—one where hi-fi futurism, Polynesian fantasy, and postwar optimism never lost their sense of wonder. Kava Kon isn’t recreating exotica so much as reviving its original promise: escape, elegance, and possibility, rendered in warm, widescreen stereo.

Built on shimmering vibraphones, reverb-drenched guitars, analog organs, and ritual-leaning percussion, these tracks move at an unhurried pace. This is oceanic music—designed for dim lights, glowing glassware, and time stretched just enough to breathe. The lineage is clear: lounge exotica, bachelor-pad modernism, space-age pop. But this isn’t pastiche or museum work. It’s retro-futurism with intention, imagined from the future looking back.

The “Atomic Age” isn’t just aesthetic shorthand. It speaks to contrast—leisure in the shadow of anxiety, beauty alongside uncertainty, fantasy as a necessary technology. Kava Kon understands that tiki was never about geography; it was about psychology. A constructed elsewhere. A permission slip to slow down.

Pressed on vinyl, Tiki for the Atomic Age comes fully alive: tactile, immersive, and meant to be lived with. For listeners drawn to mid-century dreamscapes and modern exotica that honors the past without freezing it, this is an invitation—step sideways out of the present and into something more elegant.