Search:through

Welcome to the exhibition! After his renowned tour de force on Cocoon Recordings, Rico Puestel continues with his dedicated streaks of unique and progressively driven Techno on his brand-new imprint 'Exhibition'...

Planned and intended to come into existence for almost 15 years now, Puestels' 'Exhibition' imprint combines the intrinsic exposure of his artistic repertoire, the vast unreleased material from his vault back stock and the visual artistic streak of exclusively crafted paintings for each record, providing a dignified completeness of art and a general haptic experience.
'Exhibition' represents Rico throughout the realms of his widespread techno modes, enriched with his in-depth compositional pathos to form a force of an unbound essence and unbridled passion, paving the way for consecutive exhibits throughout the realms of 'Exhibition'.

Oscillate Tracks 003 is the first split EP featuring resident Johanna Knutsson and alumni Karen
Gwyer. The two performed together early last year, Karen live with her shimmering textures
before Johanna introduced her bleepy tales. Their musical affinity was easily recognisable and
our aim was to bring their dynamic connection from one fleeting experience onto the enduring
form of a record. What developed exceeded all expectations. On Johanna’s side, the Swedish
producer plays with tempo and panning, constructing vast soundscapes on the backdrop of a
dubbed-out alternating bass drum with refrains from her Nord synth rippling throughout. On the
flip we find Karen exploring melancholic ambient IDM, layering sparkling notes over lush
melodies interlaced with rapid percussions, forming utterly exquisite works of art.

Following 2018’s full-length, Dominance, Deep’a & Biri reemerge on their Black Crow imprint for Black Crow 012, presenting three immediate yet sophisticated cuts traversing techno and electro, brimming with character and detail.

‘Approaching Skopje’ is a tunnelling slice of techno, landing with enough bass weight to drive a wormhole through any heaving rave, coupled with layers of trippy electronic textures that blend inherent heaviness with sheer hypnosis.

On the contrary, ‘Quantum Hypnosis’ sees an instantaneous swung-groove gradually blossom into a weightless electronic lullaby, wrapped in fluttering modulations and a sense of shimmering intrigue.

Finally, ‘Roots‘ builds a bridge between both tracks and bodies and minds beside; a loose breakbeat flirts a circling analogue signal, demonstrating the duo’s subtle craftsmanship at it’s most psychedelic and soaring.

TV Victor was one of the first artists of Tresor Records where he became legendary with several of his ambient and trance productions including Trance Garden 1-3 and Trancecology Chapter 1. In 1989, he launched his first solo project: Moondance - The Magic Sound of the Moon, where he lay foundations for later explorations with experimental sounds fused with pop elements and anticipated an ambient excursion to be had in the future.

In the following decades TV Victor created impressive solo works that traversed between ambient and trance, he collaborated with artists like Moritz v. Oswald, Max Loderbauer, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Paul Browse and Tobias Freud. Contrary to common mainstream tendencies he created a very unique interpretation of both genres. In recent years Victor has concentrated on creating experimental and abstract sonic spaces for escaping reality, spaces that live through the imagination of the listener. Each piece, a segment of a larger musical movement; stands alone to create new sonic continuums. Otherworldy music that is in its own sphere.

30 years after the release of Moondance and 50 years after the first landing, Lullabies For Insomniacs revisit TV Victor's musical roots with 'Back To The Moon'. The previously unreleased works were carefully selected from his vaults and restored by Berlin based engineer Brett Olke (B Ashra), the album offers a glimpse into the future by creating a soundtrack for mankind's settlement of beyond in a conceivable hereafter.

Available on vinyl for the first time in 40 years, Outernational Sounds proudly presents a cornerstone document from the Los Angeles jazz underground, Flight 17 – the first appearance on record of the legendary Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, led by their founder and mastermind, Horace Tapscott.

"The Arkestra would allow the creativity in the community to come together, would allow people to recognize each other as one people and ask, “Now what can we do to make this community better? What can we do for this community together?”...That’s how the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra – the Ark – began, with the knowledge that we wanted to preserve the black arts in the community."
Horace Tapscott

Horace Tapscott’s Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (P.A.P.A.) was one of the most transformative, forward-thinking and straight-up heavy big bands to have played jazz in the 1960s and 1970s. Countless musicians passed through its ranks, and in Tapscott it was led by a musical visionary who should be ranked with the very greatest names in the music. If P.A.P.A. doesn’t have the interstellar rep of that other famous Arkestra, and if the name Tapscott doesn’t ring bells like Monk or Tyner, there’s a reason why: in an industry dominated by record labels, a band that doesn’t record doesn’t count. And the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra didn’t record for nearly twenty years. But recording success was never their concern – they weren’t about that.

First formed as the Underground Musicians Association in the early 1960s, Tapscott always wanted his group to be a community project. From their base in Watts, UGMA got down at the grassroots. They played for the people, organising fundraisers in parks and coffee houses, hosting teach-ins and workshops for young and old, and mixing it with radical theatre groups, firebrand poets, political radicals, Black separatists, community groups and churches. They lived communally, supporting each other and their people, and built an ark for the Black arts in the heart of the city. The group was renamed the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1971, and soon after they established a monthly residency at the Immanuel United Church of Christ which ran for over a decade, while still playing all over LA and beyond. But through all this, they never released a note of music.

It was the intervention of Tom Albach, a fan of Tapscott and the group, that finally got them on wax. Determined that their work should be documented, Albach founded Nimbus Records specifically to release the music of Tapscott, the Arkestra, and the individuals that comprised it. The first recording sessions in early 1978 yielded enough material for two albums, and the first release was Flight 17. From the surging avant-gardism of Herbie Baker’s title track to the laid- back summertime groove of Kamonta Lawrence Polk’s ‘Maui’, or Roberto Miranda’s uptempo Latin jam ‘Horacio’, Flight 17 showcased the radical voices of the Arkestra’s members. Led out by Tapscott’s hard-swinging piano, this is the first flight on wax of the West Coasts’ foundational community big band – energised, hip and together. Open up the gates and prepare for departure!

This edition of Flight 17 contains two tracks previously only available on the 1997 CD edition: ‘Coltrane Medley’ and ‘Village Dance’, recorded live at the Immanuel United Church of Christ. It is released as a limited vinyl-only edition on a 180g pressing by Pallas. Fully licensed from Nimbus West founder Tom Albach.

Italian duo Howl Ensemble team up with Turquoise Blue to release four infectious cuts entitled ‘Be Punk As Fuck’ EP.

Italy’s Howl Ensemble – made up of Giovanni Verrina and Germano Ventura enrich a deep, effervescent production style concentrated on the freedom of expression and creativity. In addition to releasing music on Tour Records, Nilla and Infuse, the pair established their Howl Records imprint that embodies a philosophy of releasing dancefloor focused music contributed to by the likes of Dana Ruh, Bassa Clan, 100 Hz and more. Howl Ensemble’s ‘Be Punk As Fuck’ EP sees the duo join the Turquoise Blue family following the likes of DJ Jes, Dan Curtin, Phonogenic and Ekkohaus to name a few.

‘In An Age Of Cruelty’ begins proceedings with alleviating melodies, low-slung bass chords and raw, shuffling percussion before ‘Kindness’ deploys dynamic synth sweeps, rolling low-frequencies and effervescent rhythms maintaining a consistent energy throughout.

On the flip, an organic drum sequence fused with eccentric modulations and undulating deepness takes the focus in ‘Is Punk As Fuck’ until ‘Be Punk As Funk’ rounds things off with broken-beat rhythms and irresistible vocal flutters floating over sparse pad work and funk-infused bass grooves

Apollo are delighted to welcome the return of Australia duo Albrecht
La’Brooy AKA Sean La'Brooy and Alex Albrecht with their blissful new
album 'Healesville' recorded in a mud-brick hut on a strawberry crop
in the Melbourne countryside.
Apollo are delighted to welcome the return of Australia duo Albrecht
La’Brooy AKA Sean La'Brooy and Alex Albrecht with their blissful new
album 'Healesville' recorded in a mud-brick hut on a strawberry crop in the
Melbourne countryside. 'Healesville' follows on from the bucolic wonder of
their Apollo debut 'Tidal River' which took inspiration from the duo's visit to
the beautiful Wilson's Promontory (a remote national park on the South
East coast of Australia). "Late last year, we trekked out to a beautiful mudbrick studio located next to a large strawberry crop in Healesville," Albrecht
explains. "We spent a few days capturing the feeling of the slow-paced,
relaxed surrounds: The wildlife, the strawberry pickers, the sounds of the
night, and improvising a response to them with music we felt suited."
Setting up their favoured musical equipment, which included two pianos, a
Waldorf, a Nord and a clutch of microphones the long-form improvisations
began. "The physical construct of the hut imparted a warm and acoustically
interesting environment to record in," Alex explains. "It also allowed us to be
as close to the strawberry crop itself - we positioned a mic out the window
to capture the recordings of the sound outside. During one of the sessions,
a harvest was taking place, and you can hear tractors passing and workers
talking and laughing in the recording. The resulting drowsy pieces were
completely improvised (augmented by percussionist Joseph Batrouney,
guitarist Carla Oliver (Badskin) and guitarist Oliver Patterson), freeform
recordings that explores themes of relaxation, sleep and dreams;
somnambulant piano figures are caressed with delicate guitar passages
bathed in the bucolic field recordings of the Healesville environs. Recording
the album proved to be as relaxing and civilised a process as listening to it:
"We cooked nice dinners, enjoyed good wines, and took plenty of walks
through the landscape to break up the sessions," Alex shares. The resulting
record is one of quietly sozzled majesty - a delicate fusion of ambient
electronic textures, live instrumentation and field recordings that beguiles
and soothes the listener in these troubled times. — Recorded live at Earth
Mud Straw in Healesville by Alex Albrecht and Sean La'Brooy. Guitar by
Oliver Paterson and Carla Oliver (Badskin), Percussion/FXs by Joseph
Batrouney. Mastered by Corey Kikos. Thanks to Sabbine, Boomtown wines
and the strawberry pickers in Healesville.

Brous One is one of the best-known artists in the field of instrumental hip hop. So far his beats have been strongly inspired by the sound of the Boombap era, but on his latest release "Cityscapes" the producer from Saarbrücken goes in a more relaxed direction. Jazz is still the main inspiration, but the beats are much smoother. "Hasta Luego", for example, is carried by a dreamy piano melody and the soothing vinyl crackle is omnipresent. Thus the musician creates a perfect feel-good atmosphere for a nocturnal ride through the "Cityscapes".

Originally a Library oriented Music label, Apollo Sound by the mid 70s commissioned contemporary musical pieces from new composers, aiming presumably to provide atmospheric backgrounds for film, television and advertising, and to feed the burgeoning demand for ‘New Age’ music. Therefore comes Following The Light.
While certainly melodic, Owen’s music makes no concessions to mid-afternoon mindfulness or commercial use and reuse. Instead, Following The Light - whose title is taken from the Tao. Number 27 - is a deep and immersive listening experience, clearly the work of a singular musical imagination following its own rules in its own way.
With the help of Katherine Sweeney on violin and Milada Polasek on electric piano and organ, Albert Alan Owen recorded Following The Light in “live” condition, taking profit of a strong use of the digital effects which were in its infancy at this time; the music was written to make the most of what technology was available, resulting a singular piece of music of sheer beauty
The record demands to be considered as a stand-alone unit, its three sections unfolding elegant and propulsive by turns, as reoccurring themes answer each other through the layers. There are echoes of Reich and Riley in the use of delay, that warm rolling repetition and those bass pulses. But this is not in the service of a system. There is something more lyrical, more humane at work in the music.
With Following the Light, Albert Alan Owen has given us a record that stands outside of time and place, it’s familiar elements made strange and new, all bathed in magic hour light.

‘One of our favourites’ iD Magazine

‘Mesmerizing’ The Guardian

‘Keep an eye on this guy!’ - Gilles Peterson


Catching Flies’ music draws from a wide-ranging palette of influences including jazz, soul, hip-hop, house and electronica and has previously seen him handpicked by Bonobo to provide support on his World Tour. Over the past few years, his music has gathered the support of Gilles Peterson, Annie Mac, Lauren Laverne, Julie Adenuga & Huw Stephens, critical acclaim from the likes of iD Magazine, The Guardian, Dazed & Confused, and Nowness, and a growing fanbase which has seen him perform both Live and DJ sets across the UK, Europe, the USA and Asia. This has culminated in over 60,000,000 streams to date.

Catching Flies is set to release debut album ‘Silver Linings’ on 5th July 2019. Containing shades of house and jazz, to hip-hop and electronica, ‘Silver Linings’ is a melodic mesh of bright electronics and intricate rhythms. It’s a beautiful, moving record, with sounds that unmistakably come straight from the heart.

Producer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ George King began Catching Flies in late 2012, when he recorded and self released his first two EPs. With huge radio and press support around the world - including multiple #1’s on Hype Machine, BBC Radio support from Gilles Peterson, Mary Anne Hobbs, Lauren Laverne, Tom Ravenscroft, Nemone, Annie Mac, Huw Stephens; praise from i-D, Dazed, The Guardian, Complex, Notion, The Line Of Best Fit, Clash, Dummy and more - he’s since attracted millions of listeners.

Against his instincts he signed with a big management agency and got talking to a label: it almost derailed his career. He explains “What I'd found so inspiring originally was the total freedom to make a tune on my own terms and just decide to put it out the next week. There was a hunger that came with that, and a sense of achievement from being the driving force, but as soon as I tampered with that ecosystem, it wasn't as exciting anymore”.

Touring with electronic music giant Bonobo - who also included him on his BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix - allowed him to watch up close someone who had taken a slow and steady path from tiny clubs in Brighton to arenas worldwide, and see it was possible to do without any compromise. After being teased through a succession of warmly received singles this past year, and seven years on from that first EP recorded and released from his bedroom, his debut album ‘Silver Linings’ is now ready to be revealed.

“It's taken me a while because I didn't want to speak until I had something to say. I wanted to make something positive, hopeful and colourful...The world isn't in the best place at the moment, and the last thing it needs is another dark and moody electronic record. I wanted ‘Silver Linings’ to be a scrapbook of the last three years. It’s definitely eclectic, and it’s supposed to be. Over three years a lot changes, your perspectives change, your tastes change; and I wanted to celebrate that by picking tracks that meant the most to me. One of my favourite things about making music is that it takes me right back to where I made it - the keyboard I used, the chair I was sitting on, the room I was in. It kind of teleports you back to a certain point in your life. A bit like a diary entry.”

Recalling those moments brings back a range of memories: ‘Satisfied’ began by being tapped out on a £15 keyboard bought from Kentish Town Cash Converters, ‘Yǔ’ was made in the mountains of China during a few days off from touring, while an evening on Hampstead Heath inspired ‘Kite Hill Theme’. Also featuring on the album is ‘New Gods,’ a collaboration with London’s bright stars Jay Prince and Oscar Jerome and the beautiful and meditative ‘Opals,’ inspired by the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto.

Catching Flies is already looking to the future, closing the first chapter in an exciting and inspiring story, ‘Silver Linings’ is only the beginning.

“A few weeks after I finished the album, I moved out of my house I made all the music in, so it feels like the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another. I can’t wait to make the next one now.”

On 28th June 2019, drummer / producer / composer Myele Manzanza will release his eagerly anticipated third album 'A Love Requited' on First Word Records (winner of Worldwide Awards 'Label of the Year' 2019).

Produced with award winning Australian bassist & long time musical collaborator Ross McHenry and featuring a plethora of New Zealand and Australia's finest young instrumentalists, 'A Love Requited' is as much a musical journey as it is an attempt to process, work through and come to terms with the life around him.

"The music on this record was written often as a place of psychological refuge from the tensions of an ultimately failed relationship at home, as well as an attempt to come to grips with thought patterns and personal history that caused an often problematic relationship to music itself. Meditating on themes of love, fear, family, anger, death, ego and acceptance has helped create a narrative arc that grounds the album as well as a mode of therapy to begin working through these issues for myself.

'A Love Requited' is easily my most personal work to date and my hope is that beyond the music itself it may be of help to others, if only to say that your not alone in your struggle to make sense of the world".

This album also features the stellar talents of APRA award winning NYC based pianist Matthew Sheens (John Pattitucci, Cecil McBee, Ross McHenry Trio), alto saxophonist Jake Baxendale (Antipodes, The Jac), trumpeter Ben Harrison (Dave Douglas, Horns Of Leroy), trombonist James Macaulay (The Lagerphones, Epic Brass), multi-reedist Jason McMahon (The Shaolin Afronauts), flautist Adam Page (NZSO, John Psathas, Noel Gallagher), guitarist Django Rowe (Wizard Tone Records) as well as additional keyboard contributions by longtime collaborator Mark de Clive-Lowe (Ropeadope Records, Mashibeats), Brenton Foster and Jack Strempel.

Where Manzanza's debut album 'One' presented his ability as a producer / beatmaker, and his sophomore album 'OnePointOne' showcased his live performance and band leader prowess, 'A Love Requited' puts Manzanza's skills as a composer to the fore.

"Over the last few years I've really enjoyed the process of getting away from music software tools and just sitting at a piano with some manuscript paper and a cup of coffee and seeing what comes of it. I'm a very amateur pianist and my music theory knowledge is fairly limited, but in some ways that's an advantage as I'd be starting with a basic barometer of "does this sound good to me?", without too much consideration for formal rules and structure. From there, developing the arrangements to present to musicians forced me to get a better understanding of melody, harmony and orchestration and to really hone in on refining my ideas to a point where I now feel as much satisfaction and confidence putting myself out on the world stage as a composer as I do playing the drums."

'A Love Requited' will be available on vinyl & digital from the 28th June 2019.

* Debut LP from a UK based band
* Simiah on MPC, Dan Somers on Keys, Craig Crofton on Sax
* Lacquer cut by Pete Norman, mastered by Strype Audio
* Design by Rolling Drums Studio
* 300 copies. LP in PVC sleeve with sticker
* For fans of jazz, instrumental hip hop

The band was formed in Bristol, England and consists of 3 members; Simiah (MPC), Dan Somers (keys), & Craig Crofton (tenor & soprano sax).

The album is a collection of jazz inspired, hip hop instrumentals with MPC drums and live instrumentation. Simiah is well known for his live double MPC show cases and has performed alongside other live musicians so this new project is like a studio album of what he does naturally on stage. The unique sound has been developed through a monthly residency at Bristol's Gallimaufry bar where the band has improvised new material and fine-tuned ongoing compositions while welcoming special guests from the local jazz scene to sit in.

“A genius” - Nai Palm
“One of the most incredible live performances I’ve seen” - Gilles Peterson
“He's like a human centipede sewn out of all the greatest musicians from the past 80 years” - Liam Pieper

Emerging from Brisbane’s music-art bohemian West End in 2008, self-taught, prodigious musician Lachlan Mitchell aka Laneous, began his eclectic and colourful journey in music as the leading member of funk band KAFKA, stamping his trademark falsetto croon on an Australian music landscape that wasn’t quite ready for an artist whose standout influence was D’Angelo’s ‘Voodoo’. Word of their talent soon reached UK’s perennial tastemaker Gilles Peterson who featured the band on his compilation, Brownswood Bubblers Four alongside other breakthrough acts at the time, Mayer Hawthorne, Floating Points and Lone. A world-class guitarist, vocalist, composer, visual artist and – significantly - muse, Mitchell’s unique ability to shine, create and inspire across genres was his obvious forte, even then. Regularly sought after to provide features for other bands and cover art for Hiatus Kaiyote albums Tawk Tomahawk and Choose Your Weapon, he worked diligently to support his community. But while Hiatus’ Nai Palm told media Laneous was “a genius” he often credited music and drawings to pseudonyms.

In 2016, after 8 years of humbly dominating the Australian underground art, soul and jazz scene [with ‘mutant-soul/croon punk’ cult group Laneous & The Family Yah, reggae band Kooii and improv-jazz-beat trio, Vulture Street Tape Gang] Mitchell relocated to Melbourne - a move that would instigate and inspire the long-awaited debut solo LANEOUS record that fans and peers had been craving for nearly a decade. Excited to create new music with an artist they’d previously referenced as an inspiration, Paul Bender and Simon Mavin (Hiatus Kaiyote) came on board swiftly, joined by Hudson Whitlock (Cactus Channel) on drums and Donny Stewart (Jazz Party) on vibraphone and flugelhorn - a key element in bringing Mitchell’s vision of an exotica/soul infused album to life. In classic Laneous fashion, the musical references for the record run deep, winding through an eclectic array of artists from Martin Denny, Burt Bacharach and The Beach Boys to Shuggie Otis, Wild Cookie and Wu-Tang.

The debut single Modern Romance was unleashed in October 2018 with a kinky, captivating visual accompaniment that marked the return of the Laneous legacy. After selling out the Melbourne launch of the single, the band was invited to headline Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM x Northside Records live Melbourne broadcast, teasing exclusive album cuts and drawing high praise from Peterson, stating it was “..one of the most incredible live performances I’ve seen’.

Out May 10 via Soul Has No Tempo, Mitchell’s MONSTERA DELICIOSA stands as a sublime genre work, peerless in Australia - his magnum opus bears the name that’s backed him from day one:

Maybe the best Alessandroni's album ever. A true holy-grail for any collector and worldwide music lover, which we can consider nowadays as the most sought-after record of the whole legendary RCA SP 10000 series, and as the rarest album from the king of Italian libraries.

Jazz, mellow-funk, downtempo breaks, and incredible rock blends, make this record a refined portrait of the 70's American way of life, viewed through the fully Italian lens of Alessandroni's sensitivity.

The magic around Spontaneous is that this album is not only beautiful and astonishing, but is certainly on of those amazing records to which time gives new life and freshness, making it sounds unbelievably contemporary.

After five years of exhausting research, finally Four Flies can give a light to this obscure and fascinating mystery, rescuing it from the darkness. It's not just another piece of Alessandroni's legacy that is finally put back in the right place. This should be considered as the definitive act to re-estabilsh Alessandroni's leadership into the library music scene, and beyond.

Available again from July 19, coming in 180gr black vinyl, housed in a hard tip-on sleeve cover.

Limited Edition 500 copies, don't sleep!

Elina Shorokhova aka SOELA is a multi-talented artist hailing from southern Russia who now calls Berlin her home. It is there where she continues to build her presence in the community through her live and DJ sets alongside documenting the local scene and artists through her lens as a photographer.

LILY EP may be 4 tracks but as a collected whole, sounds and feels like an album when heard from beginning to end. The title track emits her talent as a pianist by setting a tone of gracefulness that is carried throughout the EP – broken beats float in and out of dub drenched ambience that flows with cascading vocals. CLOSE YOUR EYES echos a spirit of Detroit House with refreshing new intensities. Again, her vocals caress the track but as an incredibly catchy hook. WHITE BECOMES BLACK shows her own interpretation of dub techno and combines that into a classic house beat. I HAVE A DREAM sounds like she bridges all of the previous track elements into a single whole which makes this tune the perfect closing track for any DJ set and of this release. A steady low-end groove keeps the ricocheting snares and somber synths cruising to an up-tempo rhythm.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce the release of this genuine head-scratcher, the first collaboration between DJ/mixtape-compiler Kayo Makino and underground legend Tori Kudo. Originally created to be played between acts at the launch of Eiko Ishibashi’s acclaimed The Dreams My Bones Dream and then reworked and refined for LP release, the two side-long pieces are sonic environments constructed by Makino for Kudo’s piano to inhabit, or, as the LP’s credits suggest, a cinéma pour l’oreille in which Kudo’s piano plays the starring role. Beginning with a soothing field recording of crickets dramatically punctuated by smashing glass, the first side finds Kudo playing his way repeatedly through one of Satie’s 1897 Pièces froides. Best known to many listeners for his role as leader of the ecstatically shambolic rock unit Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Kudo’s performance of Satie’s whimsical yet haunting melody is alternately halting and fluid, delighting in the hesitations of unstudied technique and the subtle variations between repeated attempts. While the combination of Kudo’s piano and the background of crickets initially suggests a documentary approach to recording – as if the we are simply hearing incidental sounds creeping through an open window – things take an unexpected turn a few minutes in when Kudo’s piano is suddenly doubled. Layering two separate attempts at the same piece of top of each other, Makino’s unorthodox mixing blurs Satie’s original into a fog of stumbling echoes that becomes increasingly dreamlike as the chirping crickets are overtaken by pattering rain, German dialogue and traffic sounds. The second side begins in a similarly inscrutable vein, with snatches of birds and film music providing a gentle backdrop for Kudo’s improvisational variations on a chord progression that, as his performance builds over its twenty-minute duration, somehow begins to suggest the sadly swaggering grandeur of Mick Taylor-era Rolling Stones. Makino accompanies and eventually overwhelms Kudo’s piano with a bizarre layer of digitally processed voice and drums, stretched out into a disorienting haze before suddenly retreating to leave Kudo’s piano accompanied only by a barking dog. Seemingly unrelated to anything else being produced in the world of contemporary music, this is a striking collaboration between two unique musical personalities that bridges the mundane and the surreal, opening up a dream-space both haunted and hospitable.

Mateo Kingman conceives of his second album Astro as a cure for the healthy. It’s a journey across the constellation of the snake, a journey at once earthly and cosmic. The poetic text expressed with a multiplicity of vocal timbres drives the musical journey, starting with the decision to face up to our demons, passing through a deep sense of vertigo and sacred healings, to return us to ourselves, reconciled and grateful.
 
Musically, Astro expresses an intense investigation, tying together different threads: contemporary urban song (trap, hip hop, and elements of electronic music), traditional Latin American melodies influenced by shamanic icaro chants, and the emphasis on synthesizers, resulting in a new, hypnotic kind of sound. 
In a world in which we increasingly need more stimuli and approval from the outside, Astro invites us to take a look inside and explore all the aspects of the self, from the darkest to the lightest. On this record, Mateo Kingman shows a strong point of view as the author, although he moves away from the sounds and themes with which he made his name, daring to mix current trends, urban rhythms and vocal experiments, forming a constellation through which we can all travel, showing a clear personal and musical evolution.   

Having broken a decade's silence with 2016's 'System', LA-based electronic musician Joseph Fraioli, a.k.a. Datach’i, returns this summer with his eighth album 'Bones'.
Released on Venetian Snares' Timesig imprint, 'Bones' features 12 tracks of mind expanding electronica, once again recorded on his custom-built Eurorack modular system. Much like its predecessor, 'Bones' manages to make the most of the possibilities modular systems offer, whilst avoiding their many pitfalls that can often turn such music into little more than a dry academic exercise. Indeed 'Bones' is a remarkably intimate album, written and recorded in the time following his father's death, and reflects this intense period of personal change in Joseph's life.

"Creating this music was a therapy of sorts," Joseph recalls. "It was almost like a close friend being there for me, and it's something that I hope others can perhaps utilize in the same way."

The connection to his father is something that is reflected not just in the emotional intensity of 'Bones', but in the actual production itself. "My father and I were very close," he explains. "Whilst he was sick with cancer I bought him a guitar as he wanted to learn how to play, just to have something to do while he was getting treated. After he passed away my mother gave me the guitar to have as a sort of memory of him. I had the idea to record some sounds and music on the guitar and load it onto granular sample players on the modular synth so I could make new music from those sounds as a sort of tribute to my dad. You can hear some of those sounds on a few of the tracks here like 'Arrivals', 'Motion in the Living Room' and 'Undimension'."

The resulting album grapples with the intensity of these emotions. But for all their weight, tracks like 'Saugerties Road', ‘Rockledge 3A’ and ‘Antumalal’ transform that heaviness into something warm and comforting whilst the aforementioned 'Arrivals' or ‘Wand’ ultimately achieve some kind of escape velocity and soar. Even though 'Bones' is about endings and finding closure, it also looks forward to new beginnings.

"It was something very much on my mind throughout recording this album," he relates, "ends being beginnings and beginnings being the end. Cycles of time and how time works, it's all reflected throughout the album right down to how the tracks are ordered."

Ranging from blissful ambience and guileless, starry eyed melodies, to intricate claustrophobic rhythms that forever sound close to collapsing in on themselves before expanding into bold new patterns, 'Bones' is the work of a producer who, twenty years on from his debut, continues to push the boundaries of electronic music.

On July 26th the top-ranking leftfield star Clark will release ‘Kiri Variations’, via his own label Throttle Records – and as always, he has musically metamorphosized into something fresh and new.

This album of plaintive beauty, eerie wyrd arcadian horror and childlike outsider music epitomises his constant ability to flip-the-script and coherently organise an abundance of new ideas.

Mysterious and morbidly beautiful pieces driven by piano, harpsichord, clarinet, strings, electronics and voice are interspersed with fabulously unusual and highly original curveballs:

Odd-in-a-brilliant-way, the faux naïve ‘Kiri’s Glee’, evokes traveling minstrels of yore accidentally eating the wrong ‘shrooms, and ‘Coffin Knocker’ has diffracted psych feel, like David Axelrod’s work with the Electric Prunes, but chopped, screwed and scorched.

‘Forebode Knocker’ is darkly funky, like the kind of lost diggers’ nugget unearthed and sampled by RZA, whilst the sonically-perfect ‘Primary Pluck’ unfurls exquisitely, swaying slowly ever forward like a funeral march.

‘Cannibal Homecoming’ is nothing short of Clark’s most song-based composition ever, featuring augmented human voice as evident elsewhere and also a fully-fledged vocal sung by him.

‘Kiri Variations’ started life as the score to the BAFTA-nominated TV program ‘Kiri’, but only a small (and highly effective) portion of the music recorded was used – intentionally sparingly – by director Euros Lyn. That first incarnation has since grown and morphed intosomething entirely of its own being; a proper artist album.

“In addition to my usual methods of controlled randomness and tangential ideas, the TV commission was a prominent spark for new approaches. It’s a great balancing contrast with the solipsistic studio album”, Clark explains.

The record allows simplicity and playfulness to shine through: “It’s a skeleton of an album, reduced to bare essentials, although it started out rather dense - the thing that takes time is making it succinct."explains Clark. “Certain parts are also what you could call anti muso – for example the recorder on ‘Kiri’s Glee’ is totally out of tune – but it sounds so colourful. I can’t resist the primary paint of acoustic instruments; it’s an antidote to frictionless digital music.

Kognitiv Records is about music that connects with the listener on a deeper level, evoking emotion. Music plays a large part in so many lives and guides us through all emotional states as a form of therapy. So join us for your own Kognitiv Therapy.

Label boss DeVante delivers the third release for Kognitiv Records titled “Experimental”. He has invited Italian powerhouse duo Marvin & Guy to remix.

“Experimental” is a track that follows the storyline of an experiment. Whether it be a social experiment or science experiment, the emotional journey can be very similar. Feelings of uncertainty, tension, suspense, contentment and/or grandeur feature throughout this track. DeVante allows listeners to take their own journeys through all his tracks, so have a listen and find out where “Experimental” takes you!!


Marvin & Guy are making waves worldwide for their signature sound and it is an absolute pleasure to welcome them to Kognitiv Records. The boys have delivered a gem of a remix suitable for all occasions. Not only is it a great track to listen to in your day to day life, their remix tears the roof off a dance floor. Marvin & Guy have a strong ability of fusing current musical trends with nostalgic 80’s sounds and we love everything they do. We are sure you will too!

“Experimental” is Kognitiv Records first venture into the world of vinyl. There are very limited copies being pressed, so be sure to grab yourself a piece of Kognitiv Records history.

Kognitiv Records will donate a percentage of profits from every release to a different mental health charity in an effort to create further awareness and provide support to people suffering from mental illness.

* Metallic percussion contorts and splinters throughout the maximalised Second Freeze', whilst Simple As' courses with a transcendental bare bone rhythmic intensity.

* Randomer follows up releases on Dekmantel, Clone and L.I.E.S, by teaming up with Livity Sound regular Hodge for a collaborative 12" on the reverse Livity Sound label.

Durban gqom ambassador DJ Lag and London-based Okzharp combine over four club heavy tracks rooted in their long-term long-distance connection, the EP’s title originating from the Durban nickname for the local clubs where much early gqom-style music was played. Opener ‘Now What’ layers a wooden percussion scraper with a ticking cow bell and chants. Set at a slightly faster pace than most gqom, the track harbours a dark energy at its core generated by a low rumbling background synth and pitch shifting claps.

‘Steam One’ - inspired by DJ Lag’s set at Hyperdub’s club night Ø after he brought the heavy steam room vibe - has a slow and entrancing build up with a subtle melody layering on stabbing syncopated kicks, leading up to awoozy synth breakdown. “We were inspired by that moment in the club when things get hazy and bendy and glowy. It has South Durban via South London DNA, so inevitably there's a heavy kwai-gqom vibe with a grimey funky London twist running through it”. ‘Nyusa’ opens with a grinding acidicbass line overlaid with a metallic and gravelly melody with suppressed chants.

Sharp kicks drive the track leading up to a wobbly synth breakdown and back up synth stabs raising the energy. Finally, ‘Sambe’ pairs menacingstrings with a steel drum melody, displaying characteristics of both funky house and gqom in a subtle meeting of the two styles. ‘Steam Rooms’ is a collection of dancefloor heaters set to make the club sweat, the amalgamation of a London / Durban link up reflecting both producers environments and sound palettes for icey cold gqom tracks with funky house shadings.

Hyperdub launch new sub-label Flatlines for the release of ‘On Vanishing Land’, an audio-essay by Justin Barton and the late Mark Fisher. ‘On Vanishing Land’ evokes a walk along the Suffolk coastline in 2006, from Felixstowe container port ("a nerve ganglion of capitalism") to the Anglo-Saxon burial ground at Sutton Hoo. A walk under immense skies, through zones of deep time, and within sunlit, liminal terrains, into the eerie. Everywhere there are charged atmospheres, shadowy incursions, enigmatic departures. A derelict radar base, coastal heathland, drifting thistledown, towers of overgrown shipping containers - music haunted by wider levels of reality, narrations about rarely visited zones and potentials, voices of dreams and stories. This music includes newly-composed tracks by John Foxx, Gazelle Twin, Baron Mordant, Raime, Pete Wiseman, Farmers of Vega, Skjolbrot, Eerie Anglia, Ekoplekz and Dolly Dolly. Alongside these are glimpsed views toward M.R.James’s ‘Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad’ (1904), Joan Lindsay’s ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ (1967), and Brian Eno’s ‘On Land’ (1982). Beyond the surface of the day something becomes visible, a way forward, an escape-path from capitalist reality. ‘On Vanishing Land’ is about following the lines of terrains and dreams. It is about a micropolitics of escape, of disappearance. A micropolitics of waking the faculties. ‘On Vanishing Land’ was initially part of an exhibition commissioned by The Otolith Collective and The Showroom in London, and after ‘londonunderlondon’ (2005) it was the second audio-work collaboration by Justin Barton and Mark Fisher.

The LP cover features photos taken by Mark Fisher, and a short essay by Justin Barton. Pressed on 180g vinyl, in deluxe rigid board sleeve, with free mp3 download code.

The 2 songs are remixed by south London-based artist Klein (Hyperdub), and Tokyo-based
experimental hiphop musician Killer Bong (Black Smoker Records)
Mastered by Bunsho Nishikawa, who is known for his works with goat and Tenniscoats,
among others.

The ominous clockwork nursery song “Kazega Fuitara Sayonara” (Goodbye When The
Wind Blows) was originally written by Koichi Yamanoha and released under the name of
Grimm Grimm via Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) and Charlotte Marionneau (Le
Volume Courbe)’s Pickpocket Records / Honest Jons in 2014.
London-based Tokyo-born singer-songwriter experimentalist Koichi Yamanoha has been
operating under the guise of Grimm Grimm since 2013. The project is an outlet for his
fragile, haunted, otherworldly forays into baroque folk, futurist lyricism and electroacoustic
oddities. His debut album, “Hazy Eyes Maybe”, was released by ATP Recordings in 2015. A
track “Last Word Is Mine” from the album was used over the end credits for the Aaron
Brookner / Jim Jarmusch directed documentary film “Uncle Howard” (2016), featuring
William Burroughs. His sophomore album, “Cliffhanger” was released in June 2018.
And currently the 3rd album has been mixed and co-produced by Marta Salogni.

The virtual 3D music video for Klein remix has been directed and edited by London based
film maker Kenichi Iwasa. He filmed the footage in Tottenham using Super 8, 3rd
generation iPhone and 4K Camera, and created the zero zone virtual world with glitchy SFX
work by William Cunningham. Iwasa is also known for his legendary Krautrock Karaoke
night as well as being a sought after collaborator throughout Europe.

Exhausted Modern from Prague (Endless Illusion founder) and the techno veteran DimDJ from Thessaloniki are going together on this split EP, the fourth release on Lyon's imprint Blue Night Jungle. With their strong analog approach, they each explore the infinite possibilities of raw sound materials, going from wild acid aesthetics to classical Detroit's electro aesthetics. Two universes that are largely complementary, strengthening each other, and therefore creating a beautiful representation of what BNJ "Dance" sublabel aims to focus on. With this new release, Blue Night Jungle goes fully European by letting these two underground artist express themselves through a common way.

Limited to 200 copies. Sturqen is a highly overlooked techno duo from
Portugal … they have been releasing their own style of techno since 10
years Has been the style of Sturqen since they started … This new EP
showcases their style of dark beats … from EBM orientated to
pounding industrial to flirt with … Review: This is exactly the kind of
techno that also goes down well with the EBM and industrial group:
analogous, somber, hypnotic. The most important track here is
probably “Nik”, a high-pitched song, interspersed with atonal noise and
driven forward by a whipping 1987 EBM beat. Especially through this
song and also the experimentally broken “Absoluto”, “Marginais” owns
the weirdness of old EBM / Industrial records from the early 80s and
also the works of the legendary Alien Sex Fiend … Maybe “Nik”
became so after their own named by crazy singer; said “Absoluto”
certainly reminds more than a little bit of ASF’s old street tunic
“Hurricane Fighter Plane” … Either way: The Portuguese Sturqen fit so
well as a techno act on that label, that in the past has given us the
works of Agent Side Grinder, Sulfur Yellow, and the crazy techno /
EBM mystics Newborn Night Music. On vinyl, limited to just 200 copies.
Uwe Marx for Sonic Seducer

CAIN closes out his Fine Grains triptych with a vivacious EP of signature bass shuddering, polyrhythmic drums. ‘High Call’, his first 12” on the now Amsterdam-based label, offers 6 original tracks and a remix by Japanese producer Jun Kamoda in homage to the revelatory spirit and pre-medieval origins of carnivals. Artwork by Dutch/Scottish artist Roos Dijkhuizen created through ink and water drawings.

Colours emerge from the dark, glowing torches and fire embers flicker through the night. ‘Caapi’ warmly draws you into proceedings, an alluring tease of soothing chimes and preview of the infectious shuffling drums that will follow. From ‘Apsara’, Cain sets us on the front foot. A pounding, stuttering rhythm ignites the track, as spinning chord sounds echo and a haunting, hallucinatory vocal lead us on. The carnival is fully alive in ‘Gundon Night’, a sinister and menacing broken track steered by Cosssack warrior chants. High on the mountain we reach the pinnacle of ‘High Call’, a triumphant lead track with CAIN’s recognisable warm and driving, rhythmical drum patterns. The otherworldly psychoacoustic melodies of ‘Taiyi’ and slower-paced triplet drums structures of ‘Zetwal’ make these tracks the outliers of the EP, but they also complement and help to complete the picture. Jun Kamoda’s zany turned up marching techno take on the lead track signs out ‘High Call’ in playful, multi-coloured order.

Two outstanding performers, Carlos Santana and Alice Coltrane, collaborated to record their fantastic trip through time called Illuminations. Santana’s interest in the Indian culture and different musical styles led him to the musician Alice Coltrane. They shared their vision of expressing their spirituality through music. Illuminations is the wonderful outcoming of the work they recorded together. Guitar, harp and saxophone forming the strong basis on which this album is founded. “Angel Of Sunlight “is the album’s centrepiece, showcasing the outer limits of their musical ideas. It was Santana’s ultimate trip into the jazz, as he stepped back into the commercial music only a few years later. The package includes an insert.

Producers at the heart of the broken beat revival, EVM128 and James Rudie met through the CDR project, and soon after started to mess about collaborating with Gonzi. After coining the concept of INPUT, they found a home via Tony Thorpe at Studio Rockers and the seed was sewn. The concept is simple, make a beat, pass it on, and let someone else add to it. Its about letting go of self and letting the music go somewhere it wouldn't have gone otherwise. It was a labour of love until each track felt right. Talented musicians, producers, singers and rappers came on board to fulfill the brief, and the end product is a modern day broken masterpiece. It's about collaboration, whether in the mixing and arrangement, performance, keys, percussion, synth, bass, - everything was a joint effort.

INPUT is released on Studio Rockers on 19th July 2019 as a double vinyl release.

A LITTLE ON THE ARTISTS INVOLVED :

Written by curator EVM128, James Rudie and Gonzi are both killer producers who met me at CDR and also became part of Co-Op presents Selectors Assemble with IG Culture and Alex Phountzi. You can hear them both on Naughty Groove and Gonzi on Gut Level.

ISHFAQ is an elusive producer that has been making beats for time but is still under the radar. He's a force to be reckoned with. Watch him cos he's dangerous! Hear him all over Naughty Groove on Keys and on Complete Me ft Natalie May. He just knows where to fit into a tune... He has an acute ear!

TurboJazz met me after Djing together in Milan and working together on remix jobs, where I remixed Turbo's 'Please You' ft David Blank on Local talk Records. In return Turbojazz remixed the EVM Beyond ft Uk Soul legend, OMAR. It was only natural to get them involved with this project.

iLL Smith aka MR K is a heavyweight producer making serious waves in the new Dubstep 140 low end scene. He gave me a couple tracks that were broken beat he had been sitting on and said "You should do something with these". One of which is GOLD which I only really added a Clap to and worked the arrangement and first mix down. I called on Daz I Kue for a rapper I'd heard on one of his tracks which had the right energy. Daz hooked me up with Nesha Nycee, a fierce rapper from Atlanta Georgia. She smashed it straight away and the tune just worked. This was probably the easiest out of all of them!

Nesha Nycee is a REAL rapper.

Shy One is a friend of mine and has worked with me on music a few times in the past. I always love when she sends me a beat, she has that lo fi dirty grime kind of approach, then I add my style to it and it just seemed to bode well. We worked together on Mother Nature on the Nova LP and this track for INPUT (One Design) which we were sitting on for a while. Tony got Steve Edwards (All Seeing I, Sheffield) on the vocals. This was an unexpected turn on this track that we couldn't have imagined, but it worked! This track is the epitome of INPUT in that, it went somewhere completely different!

Steve Edwards is a singer songwriter from Sheffield who works on projects with All seeing I. He has a great energy and the lyrics made me cry! Really amazing heartfelt lyrics that speak of now and has a positive uplifting vibe to it that we can all relate to. It will stick in your head for ages believe me.

Natalie May met me through soundcloud. She's been releasing UK Funky tracks for a while and worked with Rudimental. She reached out to me after hearing the Nova LP and the stuff on CoOp presents. She went to the studio with me after already writing to some instrumentals. Very professional and on point in the studio. Her voice is sweet and the perfect juxtaposition to the rough bass and drums on 'Complete Me' and when ISHFAQ got his hands on it, well... Nuf said really !

Daiva from the Lithuanian band KeyMono has worked with me for a good few years. We met in Lithuania when I was teaching music production to young people through MTV, I met their manager Istvan. She was on my Naked Truth EP and the Nova LP. I Love working with Daiva she's great! Her voice is amazing as is her professionalism. She sounds somewhere between Erykah Badu, Little Dragon and Fatima. She's always my go to for any collaboration! Hear her on 'The Edge'. The lyrics were written by Kermit (Black Grape / Ruthless Rap Assassins).

Renato Paris.. wow ! I mean what!!? We sent the backing track and two days later he sent back the vocal and we fell over! He has a voice that echo's Stevie Wonder and Omar! Really professional work ethic too. Still cant get over how good he is. This guy can REALLY sing and play keys. Watch out for more from me and Renato... Bruk meets RnB / Jazz.

We have created something special and unique where you can hear each persons input in the

tracks. We love it and hope you will too.

The second chapter in the Family Matters serie marks the 10th release on the Belgian record label 9300 Records. Via electro, through house and breakbeat, all the way to New Beat, established members offer you their view on the different aspects in the spectrum of electronical music. It's a nostalgic reference to the past, through the eyes of the present. Alessandro Parisi makes his first contribution to the label with an ominous New Beat influenced track, while Betonkust joins him on the dark B-side with his well known non compromising electro. A-side consists of dance-floor approved electro/house tracks of both Intimacy & Innershades and a sober, yet sophisticated anthem by the hand of Robert D.

Second release by Onrijn Records with cosmonaut heroes Staatseinde. Who treats us with their dystopian electro and synthwave drenched into dark distorted sounds.

Climb aboard their spaceship while “Ruimte Issues” starts with the countdown. Travel through all kinds of different space/time dimensions with “Panspermia” Finally you’ll land your spaceship in “The City”, a perfect track for all kind of humanoids in an intergalactic night club, ready to riot!

Turn the record over and our interstellar adventure continues with a classic fast electro track “Gut Gemacht” with a modern 2019 HAL’s offspring vocoder. “Blaue Augen” will give you that haunting artificial intelligence EBM / Wave vibe. The last track on the record “Glauben” is the perfect conclusion of this futuristic space adventure called DREIHEIT.

Sheffield’s Tommy Vicari Jnr delivers a study in contrasts for his first release on Drone. ‘Kept In’ is a concordant, synthetic techno pop excursion that bursts into your head like a thought and ricochets throughout. The static and reverb harnessed by Vicari to create ‘Closing In’ is a dub/techno assault, and inverse to the propulsive and glitchy rhythm of the A side.

Craig Leon revisits the extraterrestrial origins of civilization on Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 2: The Canon, a continuing chronicle of his early 80s albums Nommos and Visiting. Exploring the cosmic lore of Leon’s earlier work, The Canon expands upon the conceptual cycle based on the alien and mathematical relationships that backbone the creation of art, architecture, science, and music.

In 1981, producer and composer Craig Leon, known in the downtown New York zeitgeist for his production on The Ramones and Suicide’s debut albums, released Nommos, a minimal, primitive electronic exploration based on a speculative, wildly imaginative anthropology.

After viewing an exhibition of Dogon art at the Brooklyn Museum in 1973, Leon remained fascinated by the Mali tribe’s creation myth that the Earth was visited in ancient times by the Nommos, a semi-amphibious alien race who travelled from the white dwarf Sirius B to impart their wisdom to mankind.

Nommos, curiously released on John Fahey’s Takoma Records, manifested Leon’s obsession and investigation: an abstract, ascendent collection of music that could have soundtracked the interstellar visitors’ journey to Earth. Shimmering, mechanical, and anchored by an entrancing pulse of the Dogon’s ceremonial music, Nommos and its sequel, the privately pressed 1982 album Visiting, careened into obscurity.

In the intervening years, while Leon pursued his career as a successful producer, cult interest in the albums grew, culminating in the Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1., the 2014 archival collection which presented Nommos and Visiting as they were intended to be heard, two sides of the same coin.

The Canon picks up where Nommos and Visiting left off, tracing the path of ancient wisdom imparted by the Dogon’s alien visitors spreading from Mali into Egypt and across the water to Greece as imagined in William Stirling’s ""The Canon,"" an anonymous exposition of cosmic law published in a nearly invisible print edition in 1897.

Though the music – propulsive and spacious – is clearly of a part with Nommos and Visiting, the alien sounds of the Nommos become more familiar to western ears and musical vocabulary as the album narrative thrusts forward. The Canon implies – through ecstatic, contemporary sound and synthesis – that the origins of Western thought, and civilization itself, lie in the great beyond.

Nearly four decades since their first collaboration on Nommos and Visiting, Leon is once again joined by his partner Cassell Webb on vocals and album production. Leon composed, and both he and Cassell performed, and produced all of the music of The Canon, consciously engaging many of the same synthesizers and programs of Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1 for Vol. 2.

Venezuela born, Barcelona based Cardopusher's career goes back over 12 years- the proverbial 10,000 hours to master a skill long fulfilled. His forthcoming LP "New Cult Fear" on Boysnoize Records proves it through disciplined, focused craftsmanship. It's the type of no-frills production that deceives the amateur listener with it's simplicity, while the seasoned listener knows that the simpler the elements, the harder it is to make a track that moves the dancefloor. Moving dancefloors it does, although there's few smiles to be had. This is music for dark rooms, for Nitzer Ebb's famous pairing of "muscle and hate." This is being electrocuted by a broken TB-303- only you find the feeling erotic, your exclamations recorded on a haunted reel-to-reel. And it's never sounded so good.

Marius & Cesar are brothers. The 1st has been Disc-Jockey and Art Director for a while, the 2nd, a producer and co-founder of the music studio SODASOUND for almost a decade. They grew up in a family of musicians and started learning and playing music very early.

Fatal weapon of Sodasound’s label, they’ve been DJing for years in Parisian clubs, and launched their own party called AFTERBEAT, where they perform all night long on turntables plus a few analog toys for marathon DJ sets. They are now resident DJs at RINSE and AFTERBEAT FM is their monthly radio show since 2015.

Their debut EP “B.R.O.T.H.E.R.S.” is a blend of their eclectic influences, from 80's synthetic disco to balearic techno through impressionist music, ambient or acid house. It will be out on June 21st, 2019 (digital and vinyl).

Adele Sebastian was an Afro American jazz flutist and singer, active from the early 70s (when she was still a teenager) until her untimely death at the age of 27 (!) in 1983 from a kidney failure. In fact she had been depending on monthly dialysis to stay alive for years. She lived through and for the music and you can hear it on her only solo album 'Desert Fairy Princess' which was first issued in 1981. The mostly acoustic instrumentation brings a very natural and therefore rather retrospective sound considering the year the album was recorded. Adele and her band pull it off right from the start as if it had been 1966 and it was time for a revolution to shake the dust from the old time jazz. In a perfect way she mixes classic American vocal jazz elements with playful and more free passages, Latin music and tribal African sounds in the lengthy and quite rhythm oriented 'Man From Tanganyika' and makes the title track start with a mystical 'Allahu akbar' chant while it turns more and more into a dark and gloomy song with something like a psychedelic edge reminiscent of Pharoah Sanders on his early works. Wild rhythms from drums, percussions with tons of bells and chimes weave a thick groove carpet and conjure a magical atmosphere. Those jazz aficionados who love the mid 60s John Coltrane, his sidekick Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane will go crazy for this album.

A wonderful reminder of Big Boi's unparalleled prowess in the rap game. He has literally been doing this longer than some rappers have been alive.' - High Snobiety

Big Boi is one of the OGs of hip-hop and he's still reinventing himself more than two decades after entering the game.' - XXL
An all-star affair.' - Rolling Stone

Big Boi reveals June 16 as the release date for his highly-anticipated third full-length solo album and first release for RCA Records, Boomiverse.

Tonight, the seven-time GRAMMY® Award-winning, RIAA diamond-certified hip-hop luminary, producer, and member of OutKast takes the stage at NBC's The Voice for the very first time. Big Boi and Levine will team up to perform Mic Jack' live during the semifinals. In addition, he's set to debut the song's official music video in revolutionary fashion.By Shazam-ing the performance, fans can unlock the exclusive premiere of the visual. The Voice airs at 8pm ET/7pm CT on NBC.

Kill Jill' and Mic Jack' have already begun to amplify excitement for the album's arrival. Kill Jill' has racked up over 3.1 million Spotify streams to date, while Mic Jack' garnered 1.5 million Spotify streams in just a few weeks. Big Boi unveiled the songs during a high-profile Apple Music Beats 1 premiere before performing Mic Jack'' on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In addition, both tracks continue to draw critical praise.

One of history's tightest and most clever rhyme mavericks, Big Boi's indelible influence courses throughout two generations of rap music. As one-half of OutKast, he achieved seven GRAMMY® Awards, sold 25 million records, and created a string of music's most influential work, including Aquemini, Stankonia, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzikand Speakerboxxx/The Love Below—which went RIAA Diamond making OutKast the first and only hip-hop artist in history to win the GRAMMY® for 'Album of the Year.' Big Boi's 2010 solo debut, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, bowed at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 and received unanimous critical acclaim with Pitchfork proclaiming it one of the "100 Best Albums of the Decade 'So Far'" and topping year-end lists from Time, Paste, Vibe, and more.

His 2012 follow-up Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors enamored tastemakers and fans alike and boasted collaborations with A$AP Rocky, Killer Mike, Kid Cudi, and more. In 2015, Big Boi collaborated with Phantogram to create supergroup Big Grams. Their debut self-titled album was released to critical and fan delight.

Karen Gwyer returns to Don't Be Afraid with her first new work since 2017's Rembo LP, which gained critical acclaim for its powerful body music and melancholic melody led pieces. Man On Mountain EP is a further evolvement of the duality and nuances in moods and emotions that make Gwyer's music so impactful. Resetting, rebuilding and subverting atmospheres and rhythms is a constant in her music and Gwyer builds on that more in this latest instalment.

The low swung weight of opener Faces On Ankles' bassline is full of suspense, alternating between rolling fluidity and unpredictable kick patterns, while a dubby melody dances alongside glossy, introspective arpeggios. The EP then weaves suddenly into cosmic drone that snarls with tension and desolation on Ian On Fire. You can sense contrasts between these two musical spaces – luscious, bouncing techno that nods directly to Gwyer's Midwest upbringing (Faces on Ankles, Cherries On Shoulders) and darker drone experiments where light peeks through the composition that adds balance to the mood, (Ian On Fire, Ribbon on Neck). Gwyer's music takes a different path with each record while holding onto elements of previous incarnations of her sound and Man On Mountain adds new dimensions to the bold and open minded spirit she embodies.

History of Heat is an eroto-intellectual retelling of a love story. It is the scholarship of heat, and the sources of its production in the body: desire, exaltation, anticipation, fear, rage and mourning . It is a fable circulating through the nerves, pumped and distributed by its own mythologies. Through different chapters, we follow the heroine of our story from the initial desire to love, the sensual pull which oscillates between the grotesque and sacred longing of the flesh (‘L’Enfer en pleine lumière’ translates to ‘Hell in plain sight’)...to the sudden ghostlike appearance of the Other (Apparition) as a projection of the dream. We enter into the spiritual, the seeing visions and the blindness of love. ‘Animal’ speaks of instinct, the smell of the beloved, already the deconstruction of the divine back into the realm of the physical. The title track ‘History of heat’ sings the hesitation of love, the precipice of openness and the invitation of the contract: Dance with me... (This is where the metaphoric marriage is forged). In ‘Perfection’, the pressure which keeps the relationship on the pedestal of the absolute stunts and paralyses love. Unrealistic expectations of the self and the other person creates the push and pull of the not wanting what one wants and the fear to get what one has been asking for. ‘Tiny engine’ speaks of mechanical attachment, attachment to the lover as habit, as a second nature, and the call to the other person as a magnet. In ‘Ditectrice’, the madness and the folly of separation spawns war and confusion. It is the violent refusal to live without the other... the pleading with god. ‘Feed him’ follows with resignation and exhaustion. Love has become the beast of burden who eats away at itself insatiably. ‘War text’ brings forth the devastation, the peace treaty and finally the metaphysical Divorce. In ‘Guttermoon’, the vita contemplativa begins, the blood starts to cool, the scene is a ghost town. ‘Wrong god’ similarly winds down as an ode to remorse and mourning. Finally, ‘Cinema Verité’ closes out the album with a mistrust of ‘reality’: the heroine becomes a philosopher, she becomes an artist... did the relationship ever exist or was it a projection “In front of a movie screen” ?

History of Heat is an experimental narrative and cinematic pastiche of all original and self recorded material. A chaotic mix of sounds both analog and digitally produced recalls a warlike interpersonal breakdown. The mood established by the lyrical content of the piece is meant to be demanding, enclosing the listener within a unique and compelling cocoon of otherworldly sound. the Album is framed within a discursive love story which reflects larger relational problematics and interpersonal traumas. looped vocals act as incantations woven in and out of lyrical singing and spoken word. The instrumentals embrace chaos and intensity. Improvised violin and broken down beats compliment and balance the melancholic overtones which flutter above off the grid rhythms in this charged ficto-personal account.

The word masterpiece gets bandied about a lot. Not least by us. But here is a release that truly befits such a lofty title.

In 1980, Randy Muller’s Skyy dropped the monumental “Here’s To You”, comfortably one of the greatest dance singles of all time. Released on Salsoul, “Here’s To You” is now exceptionally hard to find in its original form. On this special Be With double-header, we present the sought-after 12" mix and back it up with the strutting “You Got Me Up”, which has never been on a 12" before.

Naturally, both are cut loud and bumping for devastating dance floor power.

A sure-fire classic of the NYC club scene and a true block party rocker, “Here’s To You” beautifully combines sweeping synth-strings, loose cymbal hits and swaggering lyrics delivered with enviable style. But the real hero is *that* bassline. Oh, wait, no, actually, it’s *that* synth refrain halfway through. Harnessing the Oberheim Matrix 12 to emulate a horn section has provided goosebumps on discerning dance floors ever since.

As Muller expressed in his 2007 Red Bull Music Academy lecture, “It’s a very special record, it’s positive and has that spontaneous, life-giving spirit in the groove. Everything locks, just pure chemistry.”

Like we said, it’s a masterpiece.

If that wasn’t enough, over on the B-side is “You Got Me Up”, a real hidden gem from Skyy’s Skyway LP. Also released in 1980, the track is a wonderful showcase of the group’s airtight rhythm section and Muller’s uncanny ear for a groove and a melody.