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»Pipe Dreams II & III« presents two new, side-long organ works by Mary Jane Leach, extending the sonic investigations of her 1989 landmark »Pipe Dreams«. Recorded in Ghent and Cologne, the two side-long pieces use shifting stops, resonance and beating tones to turn the pipe organ into a vivid, physical field of sound.

When »Pipe Dreams« was issued on vinyl for the first time by Blume in 2017, it was effectively the first time many of us encountered Mary Jane Leach’s music, finally placing her work in its proper historical context amid the searching Downtown milieu of Julius Eastman, Arthur Russell, Arnold Dreyblatt, Ellen Fullman, Philip Corner, Daniel Goode, and Peter Zummo. Leach collaborated with most of these artists at one point or another, either in Downtown Ensemble or as a guest on their records.

Now »Pipe Dreams II« and »Pipe Dreams III« arrive, recorded in 2023 and 2024 at Miry Concertzaal in Ghent, Belgium, and Kunst-Station Sankt Peter in Cologne, respectively.

»When I was a young child, my family lived next door to a church, where my mother was the organist. I spent many hours lying on the floor of the sanctuary listening to the music, letting the sound of the organ envelop me. I also liked to play the piano loudly with the pedal down, producing clouds of sound, much to my family’s annoyance. These two organ pieces explore some of my earliest musical interests and aesthetics.

In 1989, I lived in a tower attached to St Peter’s Church in Cologne, where I had access to its organ. It had two sets of pipes, front and back, which could create antiphonal effects. I spent countless hours exploring the possibilities of all the permutations of notes, space, and the resulting sound phenomena. I wrote »Pipe Dreams« for that organ. Fast forward to 2023, when I was asked to create a piece for organ for a concert at the Miry Concertzaal in Ghent, Belgium: »Pipe Dreams II«. I had a few days to familiarise myself with the organ, its available stops, and the layout of the console. I choreographed stop changes for a volunteer, as I couldn’t reach them myself. Some amazing sounds began to happen, and at one point the sound was so visceral that I felt as though I were taming a wild beast.

»Pipe Dreams III« was performed in 2024 on the organ that I had spent so much time playing in 1989–90. One big difference, though, was that the console was totally new and computerised. Having access to the organ for only a few hours before the concert, I decided that I did not have enough time to feel comfortable with the console and should not attempt to recreate the piece I had written in 1989. I would instead use the same sequence of stops and perform an improvised piece. I loved the sounds that were being created, and I was having so much fun that at one point I even started to laugh quietly. I began to visualise the beating notes as if they were atoms, opening them up to expose their innards, with the beating, higher-pitched notes — neutrons and protons — shimmering at the top, and the lower notes — the electrons — throbbing away at the bottom. I was playing notes not so much for their pitch value, but for how they affected the notes and sound phenomena already being played. Instead of a time signature, I timed the entries by listening to the beating patterns, waiting for the right moment to enter. And no, I wasn’t hallucinating.«

Mary Jane Leach, 2026

X-Ray Spex was a British punk rock band that emerged in the late 1970s, known for their distinctive sound, socially conscious lyrics, and the dynamic frontwoman Poly Styrene. The band was active during the first wave of punk rock and played a significant role in the punk movement.
Lead vocalist and songwriter Poly Styrene was known for her unique vocal style and often cited as an influential figure in the punk scene.
Other band members on ‘Germfree Adolescents are Jak Airport: Guitarist / Paul Dean: Bassist / Rudi Thompson: Sax / B P Hurding: Drummer.
X-Ray Spex released their debut album, "Germfree Adolescents," in 1978, featuring the title track, "Germfree Adolescents." The album is considered a classic of the punk era.

Poly Styrene's lyrics often addressed social and consumerist issues, and her unconventional fashion sense and energetic stage presence added to the band's overall identity.

There are some first times you never forget. The first time one hears Syd Matters’ captivating voice is one of them.


From “End & Start Again”, his first single in 2003, Jonathan Morali’s warm, soulful vocals and timeless melodies revealed an artist in a league of his own. Success in France and abroad was immediate and has never waned.
Four albums followed between 2004 and 2011, along with a host of unforgettable songs: “Black & White Eyes”, “Obstacles”, “To All Of You” or “I Might Float” left their mark on an entire generation, racking up nearly 200 million streams and 100,000 physical sales. Drawing equally from the songwriting of the 60s, the creativity of the 70s and the modern synthetic era, Syd Matters has developed a unique musical universe, building a loyal and ever-growing audience over the years.


On stage, accompanied by his band, audiences recall intense concerts where the artist and his musicians deliver performances that were at once epic and intimate. Lush and spectacular on stage, their music never lost its center of gravity, gaining even in depth. Syd Matters toured France and Europe (England, Germany, Scandinavia...) for nearly ten years, as well as in the United States and Latin America. In 2011, the tour for his album Brother Ocean culminated in Paris at the mythical venue l’Olympia.
Jonathan Morali then took a step back from the spotlight but remained just as prolific, writing for film, theater, radio, and television and collaborating over the years with directors such Éric Rochant, Rémi Chayé, Thomas Litli, Patrick Mille, and Mélanie Laurent to name but a few. When scoring for films, the musician gives free rein to his desires and intuitions. He works with the very fabric of sounds and their underlying emotions, as if freed from the constraints imposed by the song format.


Between 2015 and 2019, he also composed the soundtracks for the remarkable video games Life Is Strange and Life Is Strange 2, which were massive global hits. Several Syd Matters tracks appeared in the game, and the success was such that it revived the band’s career, introducing their music to a new audience.


After an extended hiatus, Syd Matters will make a major comeback with a new album - their fifth - set for release in September 2026 on Créature - also home to Flora Fishbach and Chassol. They will then tour France and Europe, returning to the legendary stage of the Olympia on November 17, 2026, where they will perform their new songs. And others that we know by heart and haven’t forgotten.

"Solaris", das zwölfte Studioalbum von The Ocean, würdigt die bisherige Entwicklung der Band und verleiht ihr eine neue, intensive Note. Mit Mitgliedern aus sechs verschiedenen Ländern im Kern-Line-up kehrt The Ocean zu einer kollektiven Besetzung zurück und schöpft aus dem Erfahrungsschatz und Talent eines Pools außergewöhnlicher Musiker. Nachdem man mit dem Vorgängeralbum "Holocene" einen anderen Weg eingeschlagen hatte, zeichnet für den weitläufigen, organischen Klang von "Solaris" erneut der schwedische Produzent Jens Bogren verantwortlich, der bereits die beliebtesten Alben der Band - "Pelagial" sowie "Phanerozoic I" und "II" - abgemischt hat. Das neue Album stellt die Sänger*innen Lane Shi und Enrico Tiberi sowie die Gitarristen Emmanuel Jessua und Marco Gennaro vor; sie ergänzen den Gründungs-Gitarristen Robin Staps, den langjährigen Bassisten Mattias Hägerstrand und Schlagzeuger Jordi Farré. Jeder von ihnen bringt seine ganz eigene Note ein, um dieses fast 70-minütige Opus zum Leben zu erwecken - ein Werk, das für The Ocean hinsichtlich Ambition und erzählerischer Tiefe einen neuen Höhepunkt darstellt. Für die Aufnahmen wurde der Kreis der Mitwirkenden noch weiter gefasst: Thorsten Quaeschning (Tangerine Dream) steuerte modulare Synthesizer bei, der griechische Komponist Orestis Zafiriou (Playgrounded) lieferte ebenfalls Elektronik- und Synthie-Elemente, und Simen Eifring von der norwegischen Post-Rock-Band Spurv übernahm den Posaunenpart. Aufgenommen wurde das Album in den legendären Berliner Hansa Studios, wo bereits Klassiker wie David Bowies Low und Heroes, Iggy Pops Lust For Life und Depeche Modes Construction Time Again entstanden. Innerhalb dieser Studiowände entwickelte sich "Solaris" zu einem lebendigen Zeugnis für die Kraft von Entdeckergeist und Teamarbeit. Da der neue Sänger Tiberi zudem ein versierter Pianist und Multiinstrumentalist ist, wurden Klänge von Celesta, Flügel, Rhodes-Piano und Hammond-Orgel zu einem integralen und unverwechselbaren Bestandteil des Solaris-Sounds. Der für The Ocean typische, atmosphärische Post-Metal wird durch den experimentierfreudigen Geist der neuen Mitglieder sowie die Beiträge der exzellenten Gastmusiker bereichert. Die CD und 2LP Gatefold-Sleeves sind jeweils auf 360g Spezial-Karton gefertigt und auf Vorder- wie Rückseite mit roter Metallic-Heißfolien-Prägung veredelt. Die CD mit 6seitigem Fold-Out-Booklet, die 2LP in bedruckten Innenhüllen kommt zusätzlich mit A2-Poster.

The Yummy Fur’s first album of new material in over 25 years is seductive and ambiguous; a fast-paced flip through scenes from art, myth, life and fantasy; a witty whole made from glittering scraps. The band’s original incarnation – fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist John McKeown from 1992 to 1999 – morphed from making quick-hit cartoon-art songs to Eno and Cale-influenced creepers, populated by characters from McKeown’s life in Glasgow and the films, books and poetry that he lived a parallel life through. Everybody Talks About The Weather delights in using every past iteration of the band as potent collage material: a melee of sounds and ideas existing at once, revealing themselves then dipping back into hiding.
Recorded by the original core trio of McKeown, Brian MacDougall (guitar) and Paul Thomson (drums), Everybody Talks About The Weather comes 17 years after the band reformed for sporadic live shows, and seven years after the release of their sorta-greatest hits compilation Piggy Wings (Rock Action). Ten tracks long with nothing to spare, it is as condensed and vital as their best songs, with a new clarity of sound that allows their ambiguities to come into the light.
The album begins with “Cogs”, a taunting inquisition from within. As McKeown stages a fight between his id and ego, the tension heats up between conversational guitar lines and minimalist repetition; threatening sing-song melody and real, palpable menace. The band members are forced in tandem only to break apart, sustaining a genuine sense of just-hidden danger throughout the whole record – except, arguably, “Headphones”, a looser moment which sees McKeown make an existential something out of nothing while waiting for someone in the car (“I should have brought a book.../My ears are bleeding from the compression on your album”)
The songs are riots of reference: “Unity Over Europe” is a slyly complex two act play about the Mitford sisters – Diana, Unity, and Nancy, in a wink to the YF canon – smashing tragic biographical detail together with allusions to Thomas Pynchon and Francis Bacon. Pynchon is also lifted to serve “Blue Sunshine”, a collision of school shooters, serial killers and fictional fuck-ups (“Fast forward to Compton/Fast forward to Pynchon/Fast forward to Columbine'”) whose buzzy guitar lines are taunting and confrontational like a smarmy teenager. The innocuous title of “My Lasagne” belies a song that exists in several time periods at once: a visit to see Guernica, 50 people with their backs to the portrait of Dora Maar; the time that Picasso painted from; the Reina Sofia and the dirty streets of the Malasaña; myth-making musicians and the myths they’re riffing off overlapping and leering at each other.
All this could be laboured in lesser hands, but cultural verbosity is second nature to The Yummy Fur, who transform all this source material into songs that are weird, sexy, funny and absurd. Meaning is not happily understood or flattened. Susan Sontag's essay Against Interpretation accompanied McKeown as he wrote this album, and she’s paraphrased in “Semolina Ballerina”, the album’s justification of artistic ambiguity. Thomson’s motorik beat leads a gathering of back-and-forth instrumental phrases – including a wiry contribution on saxophone – embodying the futility of trying to parse something definitive from repeated action. “Listen to the very first thing that’s in your head,” Sontag-via-McKeown commands directly, then slinks sideways: “Interpretation is a conversation in an unmade bed”
The album features two more focused portraits, or at least The Yummy Fur’s version of such a thing. “Wanda” merges the life of filmmaker Barbara Loden and the title character of her semi-autobiographical 1970 feature film, with Loden’s then-husband Elia Kazan joining the fray of no-good men in her film. It’s a mix of adaptation and avant-criticism, with McKeown’s wordplay and mannered pronunciation mirroring the way that non-fiction and fiction twist around each other in the song. The title track is a series of vignettes and impressions from the lives of the band’s ‘90s inner circle, positing painter Mac McNaughton as a kind of Falstaffian ringleader. As with Piggy Wings and the recent single “New T-Shirt”, McNaughton painted the cover of Everybody Talks About The Weather – like the album’s music, the image of a coy girl in a white dress is an uncanny amalgamation of styles, suggestions and references just out of reach, as though seen in an art museum in a dream.
The album ends with two reads of the same frustration. “King of Nothing” is the closest The Yummy Fur will ever get to sludge-rock: the band melts together into a dusty, dreary haze as McKeown drowns in a drudgery of personal struggle (“Two jumpers on in Babylon/And only cats to talk to”) and the rhythmic toppling of heroes (Rowlands, Duvall, Munro). The majority of visible dirt is cleaned off for “Say Hello”, an uncharacteristic depiction of throwing the windows open after a dark night of the soul. Here, the situation is still cold and hard (“When the sun burns gold, but the heat never reaches your fingertips”) but it feels surmountable. Everybody Talks About The Weather is an unpredictable album from an unpredictable group, but ending on a moment of almost uncomplicated light is maybe its biggest surprise. - Claire Biddles (2026)

The Yummy Fur’s first album of new material in over 25 years is seductive and ambiguous; a fast-paced flip through scenes from art, myth, life and fantasy; a witty whole made from glittering scraps. The band’s original incarnation – fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist John McKeown from 1992 to 1999 – morphed from making quick-hit cartoon-art songs to Eno and Cale-influenced creepers, populated by characters from McKeown’s life in Glasgow and the films, books and poetry that he lived a parallel life through. Everybody Talks About The Weather delights in using every past iteration of the band as potent collage material: a melee of sounds and ideas existing at once, revealing themselves then dipping back into hiding.
Recorded by the original core trio of McKeown, Brian MacDougall (guitar) and Paul Thomson (drums), Everybody Talks About The Weather comes 17 years after the band reformed for sporadic live shows, and seven years after the release of their sorta-greatest hits compilation Piggy Wings (Rock Action). Ten tracks long with nothing to spare, it is as condensed and vital as their best songs, with a new clarity of sound that allows their ambiguities to come into the light.
The album begins with “Cogs”, a taunting inquisition from within. As McKeown stages a fight between his id and ego, the tension heats up between conversational guitar lines and minimalist repetition; threatening sing-song melody and real, palpable menace. The band members are forced in tandem only to break apart, sustaining a genuine sense of just-hidden danger throughout the whole record – except, arguably, “Headphones”, a looser moment which sees McKeown make an existential something out of nothing while waiting for someone in the car (“I should have brought a book.../My ears are bleeding from the compression on your album”)
The songs are riots of reference: “Unity Over Europe” is a slyly complex two act play about the Mitford sisters – Diana, Unity, and Nancy, in a wink to the YF canon – smashing tragic biographical detail together with allusions to Thomas Pynchon and Francis Bacon. Pynchon is also lifted to serve “Blue Sunshine”, a collision of school shooters, serial killers and fictional fuck-ups (“Fast forward to Compton/Fast forward to Pynchon/Fast forward to Columbine'”) whose buzzy guitar lines are taunting and confrontational like a smarmy teenager. The innocuous title of “My Lasagne” belies a song that exists in several time periods at once: a visit to see Guernica, 50 people with their backs to the portrait of Dora Maar; the time that Picasso painted from; the Reina Sofia and the dirty streets of the Malasaña; myth-making musicians and the myths they’re riffing off overlapping and leering at each other.
All this could be laboured in lesser hands, but cultural verbosity is second nature to The Yummy Fur, who transform all this source material into songs that are weird, sexy, funny and absurd. Meaning is not happily understood or flattened. Susan Sontag's essay Against Interpretation accompanied McKeown as he wrote this album, and she’s paraphrased in “Semolina Ballerina”, the album’s justification of artistic ambiguity. Thomson’s motorik beat leads a gathering of back-and-forth instrumental phrases – including a wiry contribution on saxophone – embodying the futility of trying to parse something definitive from repeated action. “Listen to the very first thing that’s in your head,” Sontag-via-McKeown commands directly, then slinks sideways: “Interpretation is a conversation in an unmade bed”
The album features two more focused portraits, or at least The Yummy Fur’s version of such a thing. “Wanda” merges the life of filmmaker Barbara Loden and the title character of her semi-autobiographical 1970 feature film, with Loden’s then-husband Elia Kazan joining the fray of no-good men in her film. It’s a mix of adaptation and avant-criticism, with McKeown’s wordplay and mannered pronunciation mirroring the way that non-fiction and fiction twist around each other in the song. The title track is a series of vignettes and impressions from the lives of the band’s ‘90s inner circle, positing painter Mac McNaughton as a kind of Falstaffian ringleader. As with Piggy Wings and the recent single “New T-Shirt”, McNaughton painted the cover of Everybody Talks About The Weather – like the album’s music, the image of a coy girl in a white dress is an uncanny amalgamation of styles, suggestions and references just out of reach, as though seen in an art museum in a dream.
The album ends with two reads of the same frustration. “King of Nothing” is the closest The Yummy Fur will ever get to sludge-rock: the band melts together into a dusty, dreary haze as McKeown drowns in a drudgery of personal struggle (“Two jumpers on in Babylon/And only cats to talk to”) and the rhythmic toppling of heroes (Rowlands, Duvall, Munro). The majority of visible dirt is cleaned off for “Say Hello”, an uncharacteristic depiction of throwing the windows open after a dark night of the soul. Here, the situation is still cold and hard (“When the sun burns gold, but the heat never reaches your fingertips”) but it feels surmountable. Everybody Talks About The Weather is an unpredictable album from an unpredictable group, but ending on a moment of almost uncomplicated light is maybe its biggest surprise. - Claire Biddles (2026)

“Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic”
Fyodor Dostoevsky - Notes from Underground (1864)

The Intermittent Signal is the sound of resistance.

In the year since The Sick Man Of Europe’s debut album was released, the world has moved on. Steady hands have slipped from the levers of power, logic has shifted underground and the message grows more urgent with every passing day.

Repetition has been relearned and the machine rhythms repurposed, this time with increased intensity. Arrangements have moved beyond the bare bones economy of the first record and there’s a newfound melodicism in places. Clarity and conviction ring true through the static and noise, while utopian ideas to remodel a broken system gain traction. This is a rejection of the attention economy and a call to reconnect through community and organisation. Those simple acts that were once commonplace have become increasingly radical as new fractures emerge.

“Through repetition the message has gained weight and become something more urgent,” The Sick Man Of Europe explains. “The vehicle for this message needed to evolve, grow to gain the strength to carry it. We’ve landed on something more expansive, immediate and immersive. Less is more. Until it isn't.”

“Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally, he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic”
Fyodor Dostoevsky - Notes from Underground (1864)

The Intermittent Signal is the sound of resistance.

In the year since The Sick Man Of Europe’s debut album was released, the world has moved on. Steady hands have slipped from the levers of power, logic has shifted underground and the message grows more urgent with every passing day.

Repetition has been relearned and the machine rhythms repurposed, this time with increased intensity. Arrangements have moved beyond the bare bones economy of the first record and there’s a newfound melodicism in places. Clarity and conviction ring true through the static and noise, while utopian ideas to remodel a broken system gain traction. This is a rejection of the attention economy and a call to reconnect through community and organisation. Those simple acts that were once commonplace have become increasingly radical as new fractures emerge.

“Through repetition the message has gained weight and become something more urgent,” The Sick Man Of Europe explains. “The vehicle for this message needed to evolve, grow to gain the strength to carry it. We’ve landed on something more expansive, immediate and immersive. Less is more. Until it isn't.”

Modi Bardo, an alumnus of Moonshine Recordings, is another who on the surface appears to be at the nascent era of their sound experiments, but in truth is a longtime explorer of outer realms of Dub.

There is much to mention here which can be uncovered with the correct keywords, but one of the early bright points would be Spacelings and Bassheads, the Detroit-based Psych duo Modi Bardo was half of, who although seemingly limited in the realms of recorded output (with only a compilation appearance each via the Electro visionaries Interdimensional Transmissions and Booty bass / Techno orientated Intuit-Solar) where in fact not-so-limited in the era in the way of public performance, even performing at the renowned Packard Plant renegades in the 90's with UR on occasion.

Forward to now, and Modi Bardo has created something that reaches for unknown territory in Dub. With an establishing A side that is deep and primordial in tone, a' la Challenger Deep and Babe Roots releases, this proves to be merely a fantastic tone setter for the B side, which seems to find a zone where Dub Techno, Half Time, and Autonomic DnB have not quite gleaned yet. Truly a record unlike any other, while somehow being an invaluable tool for DJ's exploring the links between the aforementioned sounds and even Dancehall and Jungle in the mix.

A must for all those chasing the evolution of dub reflective arts, and the adventurous DJ in general.

At the outset of the project, Jupp assembled a palette of instruments and sounds which evoke a moment in musical history when digital studio technology just started to take over from analogue. Eschewing Belbury Poly’s earlier mid 70s obsessions, to focus on that period around 1983, when artists who could afford it started to experiment with samplers. It was a musical moment dominated by the sounds of Prophet 5, DX7 & PPG synthesizers, Fairlight & Synclavier music computers, TR808 drum machine & Simmons Drums (those ubiquitous hexagonal drum pads) and of course the much-maligned fretless bass.

It’s also an era that’s now seen as something of a golden age for fantasy, sci-fi, comics, book, TV, movies and games (particularly in Britain where it was often fuelled by a post punk reaction to Thatcher’s regime). In Jupp’s memory these things go hand in hand; as a child his nerdy fandom was soundtracked not as it was for most by Heavy Metal, but by the electronic pop of Bill Nelson, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Japan, and Frank Chickens. Also, by otherworldly TV soundtracks & production music of the era: Elizabeth Parker and Paddy Kingsland at the BBC, The Parry Music Library, Rod Argent’s new age library albums and even Clannad’s Robin of Sherwood score.

Following the much-loved Library Music: Volume One (2022), and hot on the heels of this year’s critically acclaimed ‘After The Rain, Strange Seeds’ (9/10 - Uncut) , London group The Leaf Library return with a second journey through the margins of their catalogue. Gathering together rare recordings, compilation tracks, limited edition releases, collaborations and hidden gems from their ever-expanding musical world, Library Music: Volume Two is another vibrant and varied collection of electronic indie pop, in all its guises.

Far from a conventional odds and ends collection, the double LP compilation reveals another side of a band who have always treated the spaces between albums as places to explore. These are the moments where ideas stretch out; there are hypnotic drones, motorik rhythms, glowing analogue textures, pastoral electronics and the warm, melodic melancholy that has become unmistakably The Leaf Library. There is the electro-pop of Flowers At The Border, the psych rock-adjacent Building Better Worlds, and the gentle chamber shuffle of Kendrick Road. Tracks range from the 22 minute folk kosmiche epic Versatile Clouds to the 59 seconds, record skip punctuation mark of Harmonic Runout, with a whole array of trips, ideas and experiments in between.

Since forming in a pre-Ghost Box, Castles in Space and Clay Pipe world, The Leaf Library have carved out a unique place somewhere between dream pop, kosmische repetition and experimental songcraft — drawing comparisons to Stereolab, Broadcast, Yo La Tengo and the outer edges of library music, while creating a sound entirely their own.

“We’ve always loved making things outside the pressure of a ‘proper’ album,” says singer/guitarist Matt Ashton. “Singles, collaborations and compilation tracks give you permission to follow an idea wherever it wants to go. Looking back, those pieces tell their own story.”

Where their studio albums have shown the group carefully building immersive worlds, the Library Music series maps the pathways between them — the sketches, diversions and unexpected discoveries that often reveal the most about a band.

Across a lucky thirteen tracks, Library Music: volume two is a reminder that some of the best discoveries are found on the shelves you forgot to check.

[a] Flowers At The Border [4.21]
[b] The Long Dead King [7.16]
[c] Bowed Clusters [4.00]
[d] I Learned To Swim Under Water [4.32]
[e] Building Better Worlds [11.59]
[f] Harmonic Runout [0.59]
[g] Kendrick Road [3.36]
[h] Sailing Day (Wintergreen Remix) [3.59]
[i] Versatile Clouds [22.00]
[j] Bells and Thread [2.54]
[k] No Memories, No Plans [4.33]
[l] Everyone I Met Today [1.00]
[m] Tired Ghost In Orbit [9.19]

*Limited edition (500) reissue of The Orchids second album – originally released on Sarah Records in 1991- remastered with the 7” and E.P tracks from the time. Translucent pink*
“The Orchids have a lightness of touch, an autumnal and mellow fruitfulness, a clear-eyed pop nous. Imagine some nexus that takes in Felt, Orange Juice, The Beach Boys and The Go-Betweens”
-Stuart Maconie

“The Orchids can come on like esoteric angels high on Felt and Massive Attack”
– John Mulvey, NME

The early summer bloom of 1992 felt like it had been pollinated by a lot of sunshine-loving records from the year before, optimistic headrushes that embraced hedonistic bliss or at least a sweeter ride. There was still an element of bedroom wistfulness to singles like Higher Than The Sun, Nothing Can Stop Us and even Paris Angels’ Perfume but there was no denying the appeal that techno, rave and Bleep held, especially when it was microdosed. Bands were more willing to experiment with technology and producers, if not necessarily going for all whistles-blazing club bangers.

The Orchids, hailing from the suburbs of Glasgow were unlikely to ever emerge from their hood as contenders for a deal on Soma Records (which had begun in 1991 in that city) but they evidently wanted to stretch their boundaries beyond their introverted debut. Unholy Soul is somewhat breezier than Lyceum. It’s still laced with a Scottish melancholy but there’s more breathing space within the production. They’d hinted as much on their 12” ‘Penetration’ EP from 1991 and lovelorn songs such as Waiting For The Storm and Peaches are now spiked by absent-minded cherubs with an ear for the 3.a.m comedown.

As lead singer James Hackett says today: “Unholy Soul was the first time we had spent more than a couple of days in the studio, doing so after work. It was a thrilling period of creativity and we had most of the songs written but not enough. We didn’t worry about that too much though because with Ian Carmichael there was a new opportunity for studio generation. Also this was the first time we had heard Pauline (Hynds) singing with One Dove so we asked her to sing on some of the songs. We were obviously influenced by a lot of the music of the time but you can still hear it’s The Orchids at heart”.

The next year of course One Dove (with Carmichael programming) released their debut album - produced by Andrew Weatherall - on the Boy’s Own label. It felt like there was a lot of ideas being spun back and forth between artists and producers in the early 90s. If some of the records also sound very much of that time that’s no bad thing either. There was a lot of loved-up nostalgia for the 60s then so it’s no surprise that many of the records have a youthful exuberance coupled to a technological innocence, that’s the charm.

Recorded in Los Angeles over the course of a single day at a studio in the Eagle Rock neighborhood, Dois Desertos was produced by Mario Caldato Jr. and emerged without a predetermined plan or schedule. The project took shape during Portuguese musician João Pimenta Gomes' stay in Los Angeles with his family. During that time, through Rodrigo Amarante, João met Mario and Samantha Caldato, as well as musicians Abe Rounds (drums and percussion) and Gabe Noel (bass and cello). From those encounters, the album began to unfold organically.

Working from simple scores—some containing little more than chord progressions—the sessions left plenty of room for improvisation. Every performance was captured live, in a single take, with no overdubs. The mixing process, also carried out live by Mario Caldato Jr., followed the same philosophy: effects and level adjustments were performed in real time and printed directly to the final two-track master.

At the heart of the album's sound is the Cristal Baschet, a rare instrument played by rubbing glass rods with the hands, causing metal resonators to vibrate and produce an ethereal, resonant tone. João describes its sound as "a trace, almost like a shadow." Rather than taking the lead, the instrument serves as a textural foundation, while the bass and cello carry the melodic lines. Some of these melodies are original compositions, while others draw from traditional Portuguese fado, reimagined through an open and exploratory approach.

The album has a dreamlike atmosphere, reflecting the perspective of someone experiencing Los Angeles from the outside—not in a rush to belong, but fully receptive to the city's unique energy. Two films helped shape this imaginary landscape: Model Shop (Jacques Demy, 1969), in which the French filmmaker uses Los Angeles as a pretext to simply observe and inhabit the city, and Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself. The result is Dois Desertos, an album that, in João's own words, "could never have been made anywhere else."

With Dois Desertos, João Pimenta Gomes invites listeners into a deeply immersive experience, revealing a more exploratory side of his artistic practice while reinforcing Amor in Sound's commitment to releasing original works that engage with the many languages of contemporary music.

Courant Zéro is the new moniker of Montréal multi-media installation artist and Kohlenstoff label co-founder Maxime Corbeil-Perron, signalling his return to purely recording-based electronic music production following several years focused on award-winning experimental film and audio-visual works. Solari channels his cinematic sensibility and decade-long exploration of sound art and electroacoustic counterpoint into deep cuts of maximalist ambient electronica. Drawing on his early background as a pianist and jazz drummer, Corbeil-Perron weaves a fabric of melodic and rhythmic vectors with his unique timbral palette, intersecting modern composition, IDM, ambient, glitch, and noise on a debut album brimming with sonic detail and emotive resonance. A fixture of Montréal's sound art community as both creator and curator since the early 2010s, Corbeil-Perron's work has ranged from "hypnotic A/V onslaught" (FACT Magazine) to the "richly nuanced acousmatic journey" of his 2018 EP Polychrome (Bandcamp Best Contemporary Classical Of The Month), with earlier electronic and techno-adjacent projects like Political Ritual, Dresden, and Le poisson d'argent garnering accolades from avant-music outlets A Closer Listen, Silence and Sound, and Musicworks, among others. Courant Zéro mobilizes this cumulative wealth of explorative sonic experience in the service of distinctive compositional architectures and electronic music pathways that fans of Floating Points, Jan Jelinek, Squarepusher, Tim Hecker, and Oneohtrix Point Never should find compelling. Title track "Solari" opens the album with a cavernous ambient glitch-drone soundscape that envelops ever-shifting timbres of modular arpeggiation, serving as introduction to the clarion call of "En deçà du réel", an homage to video artist Manon Labrecque, where layers of interweaving melodic counterpoint played on Buchla and other synths slowly build to widescreen immersive intensities; "I have this vision of Labreque vibrating eternally between two frames of magnetic VHS tape_ the slow pace of the piece also inspired by Tarkovsky's approach to scenography" says Corbeil-Perron. "Strange Aorta" is ectoplasmic ambient with wistful melody lines transmuting along a central filament, awash in shifting waves of low-end and ricocheting tonal glitch, the title a reference to "the thumping rhythm beating around the main melody_and the heavy remnants of grief related to my father's passing and a brutal confrontation with my own mortality a few years back." Tracks like "La peau des dents" and "Eroding Us" are more firmly rooted in electroacoustic and aleatory systems music, where colliding loops are shaped into unstable flows of deconstructed slippage and reconvergence. Those two pieces bookend the album's pivotal center: the gorgeous piano digitalia of "Horizon n'arrête" and the skittering electronica of 9-minute opus "Unyeldd", its loping broken beat and cascading melodic glitter like a cluster of wind-up music boxes in a dappled forest _ and for Corbeil- Perron also partly inspired by now fellow Constellation labelmates Do Make Say Think: "I spent a lot of time rediscovering their records after seeing them last September 2024 which definitely influenced this piece." Courant Zéro's debut is a vibrant sonic rebus at the junction of electronic, electroacoustic, noise and ambient music that resists easy categorisation. Solari strikes a compelling balance of unsettled disorientation and hospitable warmth, teeming with real feeling throughout. The album's cover art painting Cryptography I by Yen-Chao Lin represents this prevailing sensibility, its mazelike circuitry distinctly carved and crisply rendered, while filigreed with handmade detail and artisanal patina. Thanks for listening.

Mit "Almost There", liefert der Pianist und Komponist ESPEN ERIKSEN nach einer äußerst erfolgreichen Reihe von sieben Alben in 16 Jahren, darunter zwei mit dem bekannten britischen Saxophonisten ANDY SHEPPARD, ein weiteres melodisches Meisterwerk ab. Fesselnd und lyrisch, stets melodisch, aber gleichzeitig auch melancholisch und erhebend, handelt es sich um wahrlich ergreifende Kompositionen. "Music with a rich sense of melody coupled with a poignant lyricism that is infectious". - All About Jazz "A wonderfully plaintive jazz record, abandoned to the lost art of melodic minimalism, stripped back and beautifully near bare. No smoke and mirrors, just the graceful chemistry of superb musicians at the top of their game". - BBC Erwähnt werden muss die atemberaubende Klangqualität des Albums. "Almost There" überzeugt mit einem detailreichen und dynamischen Klang, der insbesondere durch seine organische Natürlichkeit hervorsticht. Die Kompositionen wurden in ESPENs bevorzugtem Studio Propeller Music in Oslo aufgenommen und abgemischt. Dort hatte er sich bereits für seine letzten fünf Alben eingefunden, welche aufgrund ihrer außerordentlichen Aufnahmequalität auch häufig in Tests verwendet und in HiFi-Kreisen hervorgehoben werden. Das ESPEN ERIKSEN TRIO wurde im Jahr 2007 gegründet und veröffentlichte 2010 sein Debüt-Album. Als zunehmend beliebte Live-Band tourte das Trio, bestehend aus ESPEN ERIKSEN (Klavier), LARS TORMOD JENSET (Kontrabass) und ANDREAS BYE (Schlagzeug), bereits auf vier Kontinenten und verfügt über ein reichhaltiges Repertoire. Die Musik zeichnet sich durch äußerst melodische und lyrische Instrumentalstücke aus, manchmal versehen mit nordischem Einschlag, sowie durch einen "Weniger ist mehr"-Ansatz, der von der internationalen Presse oft als einzigartiger Beitrag zur heutigen Jazzszene gewürdigt wird. Alle drei Musiker verfügen über einen vielseitigen musikalischen Hintergrund, der von Pop bis Jazz reicht, und haben bereits mit Musikern wie Bugge Wesseltoft, John Scofield, Joshua Redman, Dhafer Yousef, John Taylor, Vince Mendoza, Eivind Aarset, Knut Reisersrud, Mathias Eick, Nils Petter Molvær, Thomas Stronen, Odd Nordstoga, Håkon Kornstad, Jarle Bernhoft und Bendik Hofseth zusammengearbeitet.

Abramelin’s self-titled 1995 debut is a landmark in the Australian Death Metal scene, featuring some of the heaviest riffs ever recorded Down Under and deranged lyrics brimming with unbridled brutality and violence! Australian Death Metal for the most part has been really solid. Abramelin does nothing to deter from that thought and “Abramelin” is known by many death metal fans as a classic. These Aussies laid forth a chunk of brutal death metal in 1995. Around that time, the established sound of the Florida scene and even in other areas such as Sweden had begun to morph into something else as bands attempted to prevent stagnation. One such new avenue of creativity was to simply get heavier, louder, and more punishing, and by those standards Abramelin’s self-titled debut delivers on every level. Now available again on CD and vinyl, this long overdue re-issue brings back a true underground classic from one of Australia’s most overlooked Death Metal bands.

The works of Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio, the predecessor of Radiopuhelimet, reissued on vinyl in September Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio—better known as KTMK—was a hardcore punk band from Oulu, founded in the fall of 1983 by guitarist Jarno Mällinen, drummer Jyrki Raatikainen, bassist Pekka Salonsaari, and vocalist Antti Penttilä. The band managed to only play a handful of shows before their first five songs were released in the fall of 1984 on the praised Finnish Hardcore compilation Yalta Hi-Life, released by Barabbas Records. In the spring of 1985, KTMK released their now-classic album 666, which led to a breakthrough in the Finnish hardcore punk scene, even though the band didn’t really feel they belonged there. The album was the band’s first and ultimately their last, full-length record. Svart is now bringing this Finnish hardcore classic back to the turntables on a limited edition of 666 copies, completed with a insert. The band’s final concert took place at Mimmiteekki in Muhos, Finland on March 1st, 1986. Just a few weeks later, Mällinen, Raatikainen, and Kangas formed Radiopuhelimet, who have also played some concerts consisting entirely of KTMK songs during their career. One of these shows took place on February 18th, 2006, at the Vastavirta club in Tampere, Finland and was later released on DVD that same year under the title Radiopuhelimet Plays Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio.

CHTHONIC's award-winning 2018 album Battlefields of Asura reissued on vinyl in September via Svart Records CHTHONIC is a Taiwanese metal band formed in Taipei in 1995, with the members nowadays split between Helsinki and Taipei. Their 2018 album Battlefields of Asura is an award-winning release. With this album, CHTHONIC won their second Golden Melody Awards, Taiwan’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards. CHTHONIC's lyrics are inspired by Taiwanese mythology, folk stories, and history, while its music incorporates elements of traditional Taiwanese folk music, enka, and the sorrowful melodies of Taiwanese opera. These are accompanied by traditional instruments such as the hena and koto. Also integral to CHTHONIC's sound are elements of symphonic black metal and melodic death metal, along with intense riffs and solos. Critics have attempted to categorize CHTHONIC as death metal, folk metal, or black metal, but the band has opted for the simpler label of metal. They've performed at many major festivals around the world, including Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic in Japan, Ozzfest in the US, Download in the UK, and Wacken Open Air in Germany, as well as having toured extensively across Europe, North America, and Asia over the years. Prior to this album, CHTHONIC was signed to Spinefarm Records / Universal Music Group, under which they released three albums and toured internationally. After their 2014 European tour, the band decided to slow down, and vocalist Freddy Lim began his political career. He was elected to Taiwan's Parliament in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. During his tenure, he pushed for LGBTQ rights and gender equality, helping Taiwan become the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage, along with advocating for Indigenous rights and other human rights issues..

CHTHONIC's award-winning 2018 album Battlefields of Asura reissued on vinyl in September via Svart Records CHTHONIC is a Taiwanese metal band formed in Taipei in 1995, with the members nowadays split between Helsinki and Taipei. Their 2018 album Battlefields of Asura is an award-winning release. With this album, CHTHONIC won their second Golden Melody Awards, Taiwan’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards. CHTHONIC's lyrics are inspired by Taiwanese mythology, folk stories, and history, while its music incorporates elements of traditional Taiwanese folk music, enka, and the sorrowful melodies of Taiwanese opera. These are accompanied by traditional instruments such as the hena and koto. Also integral to CHTHONIC's sound are elements of symphonic black metal and melodic death metal, along with intense riffs and solos. Critics have attempted to categorize CHTHONIC as death metal, folk metal, or black metal, but the band has opted for the simpler label of metal. They've performed at many major festivals around the world, including Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic in Japan, Ozzfest in the US, Download in the UK, and Wacken Open Air in Germany, as well as having toured extensively across Europe, North America, and Asia over the years. Prior to this album, CHTHONIC was signed to Spinefarm Records / Universal Music Group, under which they released three albums and toured internationally. After their 2014 European tour, the band decided to slow down, and vocalist Freddy Lim began his political career. He was elected to Taiwan's Parliament in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. During his tenure, he pushed for LGBTQ rights and gender equality, helping Taiwan become the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage, along with advocating for Indigenous rights and other human rights issues..

Reckoning is a dense, carefully nuanced, profoundly complex text, though all nine songs are presented as directly as possible: Mary's voice, her guitar, bits of harmonica. Folk music, of a kind, but not a broadside. Nothing so easy as that. Topical songs with a long view, because she's seen and lived too much of it. Mary's most celebrated songs — “I Drink,” “Mercy Now,” “Drag Queens in Limousines” — are confessional stories, closely observed, clear-eyed and compassionate. She sings with the unmistakable languor of her native Louisiana, writes with the bluntness of Boston, where she was once a successful restauranteur, and rewrites with the fierce precision of Nashville, her home for many years. Her 2018 release, Rifles & Rosary Beads, co-written with wounded Iraq war veterans, received a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album, and an Americana Music Association nomination for Album of the Year. During Covid she wrote and saw published (by MacMillan) Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting, part memoir, part reflection on songwriting, through the lens of her most impactful songs. “A reckoning,” Mary Gauthier writes on the outer sleeve to her newest album, “can be personal, political, or spiritual. These songs inhabit all three realms at once.”

In 2024, Audrey Powne emerged as a compelling new voice in contemporary jazz with the release of her acclaimed debut album From the Fire; a self-produced and self-composed work celebrated for its lush string arrangements, soaring trumpet performances, and emotionally rich songwriting. Now, two years later, Powne returns with Bodies of Water, a bold and deeply introspective follow-up that continues her elemental exploration: from fire to water. An exploration of what it means to exist alongside others in an increasingly unstable world, Bodies of Water reflects on vulnerability, responsibility, and human interconnectedness. The album’s title and conceptual foundation were inspired by a passage from Caleb Azumah Nelson’s novel Small Worlds: “...to make himself a body, like water, a still surface, but beneath this, a ripple, and beneath this, an ebbing tide, and beneath that, a violent, constant tow…” Throughout the record, lyrics ruminate on the idea that like all bodies of water, we are vulnerable to disruption and catastrophe. Unlike inanimate bodies of water, however, we are conscious participants in both the damage and the repair. That tension between what we are made of and what we are responsible for became a grounding and harmonious thought. This album is a meditation on that idea, both in my personal life and in a broader, collective sense. Swollen, Broken Record, and Karma, reflect on moments of cruelty and error including her own that felt unbearable. Viewing them instead as forces moving through the landscape of a life, violent but temporary to survive their immediate impact. More socially conscious tracks Stay Awake, Creeds, RYV, and Two Sides confront frustration with political polarisation and the emptiness of language unaccompanied by action. The title and final track Bodies of Water brings these ideas together, reimagining both personal and societal upheaval as events shaped by bodies of water moving through the world destructive at times, transformative at others, and always in motion. Blending traditional jazz with Afrobeat rhythms, Dilla-inspired grooves, ambient textures, and expansive arrangements, Bodies of Water reveals the breadth of Powne’s artistic vision. The record moves fluidly between spiritual jazz, warped soul and rhythm-driven experimentation, while layered interludes and meticulous production thread its disparate influences into a unified and immersive sonic world.

Perhaps because this debut album takes its title from the 80 duplications of the original cell, Eightycuts' first album seems constructed according to an organic logic: one idea contains another, a motif divides, bifurcates, transforms.

The tracks then function like organisms in motion, traversed by passages, secret chambers, and successive metamorphoses.

Nothing remains quite identical to itself. Through these krautrock repetitions, the psychedelic experiments of Siam and Greg, sometimes joined by Frédéric D. Oberland, the group constructs songs that unfold through proliferation. Nervous drums propel the tracks forward while the guitars open up more ambiguous spaces, both abrasive and melodic. Somewhere between the urgency of punk and the slowness of trance.

Marking their second release for GULF COAST RECORDS, the collection favours raw performance over polish, capturing the chemistry, spontaneity, and fearless musicianship that have defined the group for more than three decades. Fronted by the unmistakable voice of JERRY LANGER and the soulful guitar work of RANDY JACOBS - formerly of Was (Not Was) - the EP embraces honest, acoustic arrangements where every note and breath remains beautifully exposed. Produced by Jacobs, Langer, and JOHN WOOLER, the project reveals a band confident enough to let the songs speak for themselves. Recorded primarily at Kaleidoscope Studios in Berlin, the sessions continued wherever the road allowed, with additional performances captured in U.S. studios and hotel rooms between shows. This wandering spirit gives the EP a sense of movement and lived experience. A remarkable ensemble of collaborators adds depth throughout, including Holly Montgomery, Arthur Thompson, Joe Sublett, Mark Pender, Jon Gilutin, and Oliver Leiber. Across six tracks - bold reinterpretations and originals - the band blends Detroit soul, New Orleans groove, blues, and rock & roll swagger. Pull Up the Roots celebrates authenticity, proving that great songs and genuine soul need no embellishment.

In collaborating with iconic vocalists Matthew K. Heafy (Trivium), Josh Middleton (Sylosis) and Anthony Lucero (Cult Leader), Burner take a striking step forward to claim new territory while consolidating their extreme and unique sound into the heaviest and bleakest incarnation of their craft yet. Vocalist Harry Nott elaborates on the themes behind the new album: "If It All Returns To Nothing looked outwards to the world's chaos throughout history, No One Is Coming To Save Us instead looks inwards at its proposed cause; humanity's violent, animalistic nature, begging us for change. This is an album about human behaviour: that people create endless cycles of violence by repeating the mistakes of the past, forging a brutal history that we fail to learn from. But, at the same time, the album is about questioning whether we can ever get past those sins and repetitions. This is a record that is mournful as much as it is angry and engaged. It longs to bitterly recall the moments of greatness and sacrifice in our shared history that created the better world we currently destroy. It longs to look back at these moments for inspiration and optimism, at a time where it feels like hope is running thin. The album is also a struggle for hope, not just that humanity can overcome hatred and violence, but that we can look back on our greatest moments and take courage to build a better world. No One Is Coming To Save Us reflects this duality in its title: that no one will come to save us from the violence and tragedy we create as part of our humanity. But it also proposes that it's up to us to change - to overcome a violent human nature and usher in a better tomorrow."

Burns with brothers Brian and Ewan Mcfie at Glasgow School of Art in the early 1980s. Drawing comparisons to Simple Minds, U2 and R.E.M, their post-punk sound attracted attention from John Peel who aired their single Too Late in 1984. The band signed to A&M and released Real Surprise in 1985 which became a BBC Radio 1 Single of the Week. However, like many bands of the time, their recording deal collapsed. For decades, all that remained were those two singles and a box of unreleased demos. During lockdown, the band revisited the tapes, finally bringing a remarkable lost chapter of Scottish post- punk back to life. In 2025 the band decamped to Beetroot Studios in Airdrie with producer Stuart MacLeod to work on new material. Rhythm of Lies is released by Last Night From Glasgow on blue vinyl and CD. This album is a must have for new and returning fans alike.

Fans and headz worldwide have been clamoring for a follow- up, but all Emapea wanted to do was just 'zone out.' And that's what happened, with the release of Emapea's twenty song album Zoning Out, Volume 1. Emapea's cuts are meant for the listener to get lost in - but they're not only for chilling, or when deep in thought, but also for getting in that crucial head-nod zone, like when the DJ drops the dopest beat. Expertly crafted and sequenced, the album presents a boom-bap journey that's dreamy and spacey while remaining tough and jazzy. "Check It Out" exemplifies the mood with its smooth drums, chiming keys, subtle sax riffs, and hip hop shout-outs. The vibe expands on "Motion", adding an exotic, worldly flavor to the seductively loping rhythm. And "Classy" features a smokey saloon piano melody that cruises smugly out of jeep-beat speakers.

Originally released in 1978. A Classic Reggae album re-released on 180 gram vinyl and produced by Linval Thompson with extensive sleeve notes.
Recorded at Channel One Recording Studio & Harry J's Recording Studio.
Cornell Campbell is one of an elite group of Jamaican reggae singers who has weathered the changes throughout the music's development - in his case, from the ska era to right up to date - whilst retaining their relevance. Witness his recent alliance with UK Afrobeat/reggae band The Soothsayers or Jazmine Sullivan's R & B hit Need U Bad, which sampled his classic 'Queen Of The Minstrel' -a song that still sounds fresh more than thirty years later.
Sweet Baby was pressed on bright red vinyl, which only added to the excitement when you saw the selector position it carefully on the deck.
On the LP cover was a painting of Cornell wearing an emerald green shirt and framed by a lurid sky, which might have left some people wondering if it was a soul album. It wasn't, although there is certainly soul in the grooves, and especially on R&B covers like Gonna Take A Miracle - first recorded by the Royalettes -and Darling You Send Me, which Sam Cooke had introduced to the US Billboard charts some twenty years earlier.
Both are among the highlights but then the whole album is good in truth, and a heartfelt I Need Somebody and My Sweet Baby, plus the two-step favourite Just Enough were regularly played on sound system. Blinded By Love, I Didn't Know and Can't Hide My Love are tinged with melancholy and like the seductive Whenever You Need Me, display all the hallmarks of a classic Cornell Campbell side -swooping vocals, a driving rhythm and seductive lyrics included.

Nearly forty years later, it is gratifying to know there is still no mistaking him when his records are played in a dance. That relaxed vocal style draws you in but it's his falsetto, quivering with understated emotion that hooks you and turns you into a lifelong fan.

,Dead Meat" ist das Debütalbum der Londoner Band The Tubs, gegründet von den ehemaligen Joanna Gruesome-Mitgliedern Owen Williams und George Nicholls. Musikalisch verbindet die Band Jangle Pop, Post-Punk und britischen Folk-Rock zu einem eigenständigen Sound, der ebenso von Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson und der Canterbury-Folk-Szene geprägt ist wie von modernen Indie-Bands wie The Goon Sax oder Twerps. Charakteristisch sind die hell klingenden, treibenden Gitarren, eingängige Pop-Hooks und die Verbindung von traditioneller britischer Folk-Melodik mit der Energie des Indie-Rock. Über diesen Klangteppich legt Owen Williams seine scharf beobachteten, oft melancholischen Texte, die zwischen Selbstironie, Enttäuschung und emotionaler Verletzlichkeit pendeln. Mit Songs wie ,Round The Bend", ,Duped" und ,I Don't Know How It Works" gelingt The Tubs eine faszinierende Mischung aus Folk-Rock, Jangle-Pop und Post-Punk, die gleichermaßen zeitlos und modern wirkt und ,Dead Meat" zu einem der bemerkenswertesten Gitarrenalben seines Jahrgangs macht.

Nach der Breakout-EP „Discount Fireworks“ haben Roman Candle ihren Sound konsequent weiterentwickelt. Die jüngsten Singles zeigen eine Band, die emotionale Direktheit mit kontrolliertem Chaos verbindet; „Can We Watch Something Happy?“ basiert auf persönlichen Erfahrungen von Piper und unterstreicht den ungefilterten erzählerischen Ansatz der Band.

L’Eclisse is the third studio album by Garden City Movement. Drawing from psychedelia, alternative R&B, leftfield electronic music and lo-fi indie songcraft, the album weaves together guitars, synthesizers, layered vocal arrangements and groove driven rhythms into a richly detailed collection of songs. Bringing together different facets of the band's sound into a cohesive body of work, the album reflects a decade of musical exploration while further developing Garden City Movement's distinctive musical language.

Garden City Movement are the duo of Roy Avital and Johnny Sharoni. Over the past decade, they have built an international audience through a distinctive blend of dream pop, electronic music and immersive production. Their releases have received support from Pitchfork, The FADER, Clash, Stereogum and KCRW, while their music has appeared in FIFA 22 and major television productions. Alongside extensive international touring, the band has performed at festivals including Glastonbury, Primavera Sound, Pukkelpop and Lollapalooza India, and shared stages with artists such as Alt J, RÜFÜS DU SOL, SOHN and Cults.

Hailing from Providencia, Colombia (Old Providence Island), Henner, Derrick, Luis, Feliciano and Senen are the Black Diamonds; a band that seamlessly blends the irresistible grooves of reggae with the infectious rhythms of calypso, creating a sound that is both timeless and refreshingly original.

For years, Black Diamonds have been synonymous with the laid-back, soulful reggae sound of Old Providence Island, crafting songs that reflect the Caribbean's easy rhythms and rich cultural heritage. Their debut release, however, takes an unexpected—and thoroughly enjoyable—detour into upbeat calypso, proving that the band is more than capable of stepping outside its comfort zone.

"De Seh Seh" (gossip.. chat and talk to much about the others in Creole) also features a remix by Venezuelan producer and multi-instrumentalist Caribombo, who transforms the song into a dancefloor-ready journey, blending electronic textures with soukous-inspired Afro-house rhythms for a bold, cross-Caribbean reinterpretation.

"Solaris", das zwölfte Studioalbum von The Ocean, würdigt die bisherige Entwicklung der Band und verleiht ihr eine neue, intensive Note. Mit Mitgliedern aus sechs verschiedenen Ländern im Kern-Line-up kehrt The Ocean zu einer kollektiven Besetzung zurück und schöpft aus dem Erfahrungsschatz und Talent eines Pools außergewöhnlicher Musiker. Nachdem man mit dem Vorgängeralbum "Holocene" einen anderen Weg eingeschlagen hatte, zeichnet für den weitläufigen, organischen Klang von "Solaris" erneut der schwedische Produzent Jens Bogren verantwortlich, der bereits die beliebtesten Alben der Band - "Pelagial" sowie "Phanerozoic I" & "II" - gemischt hat. Das neue Album stellt die Sänger*innen Lane Shi und Enrico Tiberi sowie die Gitarristen Emmanuel Jessua und Marco Gennaro vor. Sie ergänzen den Gründungs-Gitarristen Robin Staps, den langjährigen Bassisten Mattias Hägerstrand und Schlagzeuger Jordi Farré. Jeder von ihnen bringt seine ganz eigene Note ein, um dieses fast 70-minütige Opus zum Leben zu erwecken. Für die Aufnahmen wurde der Kreis der Mitwirkenden noch weiter gefasst: Thorsten Quaeschning (Tangerine Dream) steuerte modulare Synthesizer bei, der griechische Komponist Orestis Zafiriou (Playgrounded) lieferte ebenfalls Elektronik- und Synthie-Elemente, und Simen Eifring von der norwegischen Post-Rock-Band Spurv übernahm den Posaunenpart. Aufgenommen wurde das Album in den legendären Berliner Hansa Studios, wo bereits Klassiker wie David Bowies Low und Heroes, Iggy Pops Lust For Life und Depeche Modes Construction Time Again entstanden. Innerhalb dieser Studiowände entwickelte sich "Solaris" zu einem lebendigen Zeugnis für die Kraft von Entdeckergeist und Teamarbeit. Da der neue Sänger Tiberi zudem ein versierter Pianist und Multiinstrumentalist ist, wurden Klänge von Celesta, Flügel, Rhodes-Piano und Hammond-Orgel zu einem integralen und unverwechselbaren Bestandteil des Solaris-Sounds. Der für The Ocean typische, atmosphärische Post-Metal wird durch den experimentierfreudigen Geist der neuen Mitglieder sowie die Beiträge der exzellenten Gastmusiker bereichert. Ein Werk, das für The Ocean hinsichtlich Ambition und erzählerischer Tiefe einen neuen Höhepunkt darstellt. Das CD- und 2LP Gatefold-Sleeve ist jeweils aus 360g Spezial-Karton gefertigt und auf Vorder- wie Rückseite mit roter Metallic-Heißfolien-Prägung veredelt. CD mit 6seitigem Fold-Out-Booklet, die 2LP in bedruckten Innenhüllen kommt zusätzlich mit A2-Poster.

Intentions, the debut of LA-via-Chicago beat maker, composer, and multi-instrumentalist megiapa, is a 40 minute master class in synth-heavy, jazz-informed Neo-soul.

megiapa's lush and emotionally layered album feels less like a collection of songs and more like a living archive of transformation. Across its warm synths, fluttering basslines, meditative voice notes and spiritual grooves, the Los Angeles-based producer, vocalist and composer maps the uncertain terrain between heartbreak, healing, fear, and surrender.

The album's title is genuine.

"The record is literally my intentions," she says. "It's a representation of my intentions, my dreams over the last five years or so."

Those years carried the weight of upheaval: the pandemic, the collapse of a long-term relationship, a move away from Chicago, and the disorientation that follows when the structure of your life suddenly disappears beneath you. But Intentions never sounds defeated. Instead, it radiates the quiet confidence of someone learning to trust herself in real time.

Rochester, NY's The Jet Black Berries existed at the strange and fertile intersection of post-punk restlessness, roots-rock mythology, psychedelic revival, and science-fiction dread. Emerging from the band’s earlier incarnation as New Math, the group refocused in the mid-1980s with a new name, a new vision, and a sound that moved beyond the limits of punk rock and new wave. What followed was darker, stranger, and more ambitious: country-rock ghosts, rockabilly swing, western balladry, psych-punk atmosphere, and beat-inspired storytelling fused into one singular vision. After feeling stymied in their previous form, the renewed band set its sights on breaking out to other countries and, conceptually, other planets.

Recorded in two days in August of 1984, Sundown on Venus was originally released by Enigma/Pink Dust after the newly reconfigured band signed with Enigma. The original 1985 release, however, arrived with complications. Enigma wanted additional material included, so the album was packaged with a bonus 12-inch featuring extra tracks, including a song written for the film The Return of the Living Dead, ill-chosen cover songs, and re-recordings of older New Math material.

Now, the Sundown on Venus Definitive Edition restores the album to what the band originally envisioned it in 1985. Released on CD for the first time with 12 songs newly remastered & re-presented with focus, this "Definitive Edition" brings attention back to the album’s dark narrative arc & unusual genre chemistry. Though the original album received press coverage on both sides of the Atlantic in outlets including Cash Box, Billboard, CMJ, Interview, and the UK’s SOUNDS, Sundown on Venus never found the commercial audience its ambition deserved. What once slipped through the cracks of underground rock history now stands as a missing link between cowpunk, psych revival, rockabilly, goth, post-punk, Americana, & cinematic sci-fi storytelling.

Tsuyushi Hamada, a.k.a. Dayzero, has been producing and DJing for well over a decade, dropping deep heaters on labels including Livity Sound, ZamZam, and many more. We’re very happy to welcome him to the Tectonic family with this epic six-tracker, which sees Dayzero explore the deeper outer reaches of dubstep, techno - and the spaces he gravitates to in between.

‘Ego’ opens the EP at 134 BPM with a primal calling, conjuring spirits from the fire around a delicate but deliberate pitter-patter of interlocking drums and finely tuned delays. Moving up to 140 BPM for the rest of the EP, we’re skirting through the city lights with the techno-compatible energy of ‘Midnight Train’ and taking in old-school grime echoes with ‘Furious Dogs’.

Flip the vinyl here (if you have one!), and ‘Blur’ generates a light disorientation with its polyrhythmic melody. ‘Kingdom’ soundtracks a brooding sense of dread on a late-night drive, before we close with the title track, ‘Soaring’—a conga workout with a thousand-mile stare on it!

It all started with a small party in 2006. Peter Invasion simply wanted to create a home for his band. That small party grew into something bigger, and eventually Riotvan became a record label in 2012 — a home for many different people, all brought together by a shared love for music and art. When Panthera Krause joined the journey in 2017, Riotvan evolved once again, adding a new perspective and another creative force to what it had become. The journey began 240 months ago — or, for those too lazy to do the math, 20 years. A lot has happened since then, but one thing has never changed: the passion. People have come, gone, and stayed. And here we are, celebrating 240 months of Riotvan with our friends, our loved ones, and ourselves. To mark the occasion, we're hitting the road on tour and have put together an extended edition of our Familiar Faces series. It's a colorful collection of music that brings together everything we love and everything that makes sense to us. It couldn't represent the Riotvan spirit any better. We'll definitely see each other somewhere along the way. Here's to the next 240 months.

Roundhouse makes its first statement on wax. Way of the Warrior finds Lukey exploring the space between Japanese fighting culture and the raw energy of South Central Los Angeles, translating those influences into five club-focused cuts. Rolling tech house grooves, acid pressure, analogue textures and West Coast vocal references shape the EP, while a lone breakbeat electro excursion briefly shifts the pace before returning to the record's driving core. A confident introduction to the sound and direction of Roundhouse.

Morikawa Seiichirou, vocals, bass
Yamagiwa Hideki, electric & classical guitar
Takahashi Ikuro, drums & percussion

je prie pour que la goutte ne tombe pas
(I pray that the drop does not fall) is the first international release by Japanese trio Chi To Shizuku. While they have released five albums and a 7” in Japan, their spectral, haunted rock songs haven’t yet reached a much wider audience overseas. With this album, then, a live recording taken at Koenji HIGH, Suginami, Tokyo on 23rd November 2021, the unique, quartz-like character of Chi To Shizuku’s music is writ large, the bleak bliss of their songs carved onto twelve-inch vinyl.
Perhaps the best-known member of Chi To Shizuku, at least for audiences with an ear turned to Japanese psychedelia, is drummer Takahashi Ikuro, known for his membership of almost every group worth a damn from that scene – Fushitsusha, Nagisa Ni Te, Ché-SHIZU, Kousokuya, High Rise, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, LSD March, the list goes on. But the core of Chi To Shizuku’s music is the collaboration between vocalist, bassist and lyricist Morikawa Seiichirou, and guitarist and arranger Yamagiwa Hideki. Morikawa is a member of long-running punk/goth group Z.O.A., and has also played with YBO , Zzzoo, and as collaborator with Takeshi and Atsuo of Boris in A/N; he’s also recently been performing with Mitsuru Tabata. Yamagiwa’s history takes in stints with Katsurei and Cock C’ Nell, and he also recently guested with la scene 裸身.

All this contextual information does relatively little, though, to prepare you for the unique vibration of Chi To Shizuku’s lustrous songs. They shimmer in the same half-light, perhaps, as Shizuka and the quieter moments of LSD March, sharing a similar poise and classicism, and there’s a tenderness and wracked poetry to Morikawa’s voice that reminds of the emotional intensities both of traditional Japanese folk, and of British folk music: on “Musuu No Nemuri No Naka De Kumo Wo Tukamu”, the combination of his singing, backed with gorgeously plangent guitar, reminds of no-one so much as it does The Pentangle or Spriguns Of Tolgus. Chi To Shizuku’s love for the ballad as form gifts their music an archaic, sometimes arcane resonance, and from what you can hear on this album, it’s clear they’re in love with graceful melancholy.

But this is not a folk album, by any means; it just shivers with the same eternal spirit. There are also hints of prog rock, and you can catch some passages of scratchy, distended free rock, on the extended spirit invocation of “Nanhito Hanhito”. je prie pour que la goutte ne tombe pas is an extraordinary album, a melancholy surprise, that reminds dedicated listeners of the seemingly bottomless well of great music to be found via the Japanese underground in its many forms. Perhaps Michel Henritzi says it best, though, in his liner notes, when he writes, “Chi To Shizuku’s music reminds us that our life is a dream that lasts only a season, and that oblivion will follow.”

Recorded at Koenji High Suginami, Tokyo, 23 November 2021
Mix & Mastering: Taku Unami, photography : Noriko Akiyama
Liner notes by Jon Dale Printed by Alan Sherry

When the first JIM album Love Makes Magic was released in 2023, it was the end product of an experiment that had begun during the strange days of the pandemic. Cooped up in his studio, James Baron started fiddling about with an as-yet unnamed new album idea. It became Vicious Charm’s first LP release. Labelled variously as Balearic, folktronica, blue-eyed soul and Laurel Canyon, Love Makes Magic was perhaps all and none of those things: a record rooted less in Californian mythology than in Baron’s own musical world, somewhere between Sherwood, Nottingham, classic songwriting, electronic soul and the no-nonsense good times that have long run through his work under his other monikers (principally the anagrammatic Ron Basejam and, of course, Crazy P) One thing was indisputable, it connected with people... and still does.

The album was a minor hit, appearing in many a Best of 2023 chart and voted Album of the Year in Bill Brewster’s Furtive 50. A tour and a few memorable festival appearances – his 2024 We Out Here Festival being one of those wonderfully timed ‘moments’ - perfectly captured the horizontal vibes on the album, while injecting some live energy into its delivery. While there was a follow-up remix album for Love Makes Magic, JIM was already preparing a sophomore LP: “I wrote the majority of The Curious Case Of Existence in a couple of months at the beginning of 2024, then it was just a case of making the record over the next couple of years in between everything else.”