Cerca:tin man

Alanis Morissette Delivers the Equivalent of a Spiritual Awakening on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie:
Introspective Themes and Compassionate Emotions on Eastern-Tinged Album Have Grown More Relevant
1998 Smash Plays with Enhanced Detail, Rich Textures, and Sharp Focus on Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 33RPM 2LP Set:
First-Ever Audiophile Edition Strictly Limited to 3,000 Numbered Copies
1/2" / 30 IPS analogue master to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe

Alanis Morissette refuses to adhere to convention on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. While most artists follow-up their breakthrough with an album that closely parallels the approaches that helped make them famous, the maverick singer-songwriter stayed true to herself and drew inspiration from travel to India before she began the recording sessions. As much as the preceding Jagged Little Pill put her on the global radar, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie confirmed her role as a vital generational voice — and proved her blockbuster success was no fluke. Having set a mark for most sales of an LP in its debut week by a female artist, the 1998 smash remains a pop-rock staple.

Sourced from the original master tapes, strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, housed in a Stoughton jacket, and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 33RPM 2LP set of Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie presents the triple-platinum LP in audiophile sound for the first time. Benefitting from defined grooves that befit the album’s nearly 72-minute length, this pressing plays with enhanced detail, refined clarity, sharper focus, and broader dynamics than prior versions.

Those traits are key given Morissette’s use of more textured and atmospheric soundscapes, not to mention her evolution into a more nuanced and controlled singer. Similarly, the scale and reach of David Campbell’s string arrangements come across as orchestrations should. Ditto the synth-based architecture shaped by producer and principal Morissette collaborator Glen Ballard. All in all, Mobile Fidelity’s collectible edition simply delivers more information via transparent means.

Notable for its balance, sophistication, and richness, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie at heart finds Morissette pausing, taking a breath, and learning how to navigate life in a healthy manner after enduring one of the most exhausting and rocket-to-fame stretches any musician ever experienced. It’s the sonic equivalent of a spiritual awakening, a call to betterment, a brave assessment of the self and humanity as a whole. As such, the tunes on her second international (and fourth Canadian) release teem with gratitude, compassion, love, empathy — emotions that lend themselves to the largely mellow, contoured scope and Eastern-tinged melodies of the songs themselves.

“How ‘bout how good it feels to finally forgive you,” Morissette sings on the lead single “Thank U.” “How ‘bout grieving it all one at a time.” Those sentiments, and the vocalist’s embrace of concepts such as divinity and acceptance, not only provide a foundation on which Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie rests. They also reflect the personal maturation she gained from her embrace of Buddhist culture in India and a mindset bent toward notions of reconciliation, peace, and sensuality that were nearly absent in popular music in the late ‘90s.

Those themes continue on “That I Would Be Good,” a confident reflection that takes stock of one’s mental, physical, and emotional state in the face of both changing and unpleasant circumstances — and concludes with Morissette performing a flute solo, further exposing the raw intimacy of the introspective tune. She channels relatable simplicity and joy on “So Pure,” with her invocations of “dance” and “freestyle” speaking to the freedom of expression that courses throughout Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. And perhaps no song finds Morissette showcasing her refreshed attitude toward life and opening up more than the relationship-themed “Unsent,” whose unconventional structures and lack of a chorus only add to its directness.

Akin to many albums that were ahead of their time, and despite the critical and commercial accolades afforded it upon release, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie attracted new appreciation and perspective as it got older. Issued during an era where its ideas of serenity, absolution, tranquility, and contentment seemed largely alien, the record — akin to the ways its predecessor foreshadowed a movement — now functions as a visionary beacon that foretells of way to maintain sanity, dignity, and goodness amid a contemporary landscape filled with constant distractions, polarizing views, and incessant calls to purchase, promote, and produce without questioning the what-for purpose.

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie dares to ask the questions and, at its best, supplies meaningful answers and alternatives that lead to longed-for enlightenment, healing, and laughter. For these reasons alone, it’s a record that never goes out of style.

HEMELBESTORMER have been a commanding entity in the heavy music scene for over 10 years, with their idiosyncratic take on the merger of post-rock, doomgaze and black metal. Made up of veterans from the Belgian hardcore and metal community, the four piece from Hasselt, Belgium create intricate sonic journeys through space and time built over punishing riffs and spine-chilling climaxes. With their fourth full-length The Radiant Veil HEMELBESTORMER take their songwriting and production to new heights, honouring their name as trailblazers on the intersection of dark and light, the crushingly heavy and the hauntingly beautiful. Having appeared at many of Europe's finest music festivals - ranging from Roadburn festival to Dunk! festival to Graspop Metal Meeting - HEMELBESTORMER feel right at home on stages with a wide variety of heavy, experimental and ethereal acts. The road combining ethereal post-rock with seething black metal has been travelled by many acts, but with HEMELBESTORMER that winding path has taken a different turn. Facing away from shoegaze or indie rock influences, the band find a more sophisticated way of incorporating unsettling melodies, blast beats and lo-fi synthesizers to emulate the dark void of space and eerie cold light of stars. HEMELBESTORMER are a sight to behold on stage, and with The Radiant Veil they penetrate deeper than ever into the farthest reaches of their sonic space ethos. Once more the Belgians capture the cavernous expanse between the cold lights of the universe, but also our power as humans to explore it, proving their greatness as masterclass storytellers in sight and sound. FOR FANS OF Neurosis, ISIS, Year of No Light, The Ruins of Beverast, WuW

HEMELBESTORMER have been a commanding entity in the heavy music scene for over 10 years, with their idiosyncratic take on the merger of post-rock, doomgaze and black metal. Made up of veterans from the Belgian hardcore and metal community, the four piece from Hasselt, Belgium create intricate sonic journeys through space and time built over punishing riffs and spine-chilling climaxes. With their fourth full-length The Radiant Veil HEMELBESTORMER take their songwriting and production to new heights, honouring their name as trailblazers on the intersection of dark and light, the crushingly heavy and the hauntingly beautiful. Having appeared at many of Europe's finest music festivals - ranging from Roadburn festival to Dunk! festival to Graspop Metal Meeting - HEMELBESTORMER feel right at home on stages with a wide variety of heavy, experimental and ethereal acts. The road combining ethereal post-rock with seething black metal has been travelled by many acts, but with HEMELBESTORMER that winding path has taken a different turn. Facing away from shoegaze or indie rock influences, the band find a more sophisticated way of incorporating unsettling melodies, blast beats and lo-fi synthesizers to emulate the dark void of space and eerie cold light of stars. HEMELBESTORMER are a sight to behold on stage, and with The Radiant Veil they penetrate deeper than ever into the farthest reaches of their sonic space ethos. Once more the Belgians capture the cavernous expanse between the cold lights of the universe, but also our power as humans to explore it, proving their greatness as masterclass storytellers in sight and sound. FOR FANS OF Neurosis, ISIS, Year of No Light, The Ruins of Beverast, WuW

Black Vinyl LP. The world has changed, we shouldn't try and pretend otherwise. While we were shut away in isolation our routines shifted, social patterns evolved, and our hopes and dreams were twisted into cobwebs we're still trying to wipe from our fingers. Ziúr tentatively approached this on her last album Antifate, an ambitious and complex hybrid pop fever dream that looked back to a Medieval escapist fantasy as the scent of revolution seemed to hum in the air. But when restrictions were eased, she found herself staring down a discombobulated society that had trapped itself in a spiral of microwaved nostalgia and detached, narcotic repetition. Eyeroll then is Ziúr's musical panacea, a tincture to wake us from our creative slumber and prompt external connection and reflection. It's a polyphonous hex that demands human interaction, and Ziúr's hand-picked alliance of collaborators - Elvin Brandhi, Abdullah Miniawy, Iceboy Violet, Juliana Huxtable, Ledef, and James Ginzburg - each provide distinct voices that together herald a bewildering sonic epoch. Ziúr's palette had to evolve to match the scope of the project, but it was pure necessity that informed the album's defining tone. Recording mostly at night, Ziúr was conscious of the noise she was making so developed a unique way to record organic percussion. Using a set of rototoms - low profile tunable drums - she scratched, scraped and gently tapped the skins to build up the undulating and unstable rhythmic backdrop for each track. It's the first sound we hear on the opener 'Eyeroll', rattling like lost marbles against Elvin Brandhi's primal croaks and screams. And when Brandhi's twisted articulations form words, Ziúr matches the energy with chaotic thuds and serrated blasts of saturated electronics. "I roll the shittiest cigarette," she squeals like she's about to start a mosh pit at Paris's GRM Studios. Without pause, Abdullah Miniawy takes over on 'Malikan', building on the promise of material with Simo Cell, Carl Gari and HVAD with corrosive trumpet blasts and charged, politically incendiary Arabic vocals. Inspired by pre-Islamic poetry and the Qu'ranic chanters he heard growing up in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, he spins labyrinthine stories that cross between the worlds, breaking down physical and spiritual borders simultaneously. Miniawy's scope is expanded even further on his second collaboration, 'If The City Burns I Will Not Run'. "If it rains and the city drowns," he utters over gaseous electronics, "I will not run away, but I will be anxious for the heart of one close to me." After a supple vocal turn from Manchester's Iceboy Violet on 'Move On' and a surreal interlude from poet- DJ-artist-theorist Juliana Huxtable on '99 Favor Taste', Brandhi returns with two more hyperactive collaborations: ,'Nontrivial Differential' and 'Cut Cut Quote'. On the former she slices into Ziúr's skeletal jazz eruptions, screaming and crooning interchangeably, fluxing between the rap battle and the cabaret. The latter is completely different meanwhile, with Brandhi settling into her role as front-woman and groaning dizzying improvised passages that sound like grunge crossed with psychedelic no-wave. Brandhi's spiky musical history has prepared her well for this collaboration; she's a prolific producer and has been using her voice spontaneously since debuting with father-daughter improv duo Yeah You in the mid 2020s. She's found an ideal foil in Ziúr, a producer who matches her restless energy and willingness to bend formality, and leaves an indelible mark on Eyeroll. But the album's most tender moments are from Ziúr herself, who winds the album down on 'Hasty Revisionism', growling over collapsible beats and cascading strings, and comes to an unexpected conclusion with country coda 'Lacrymaturity'. Its feverish amalgamation of country music and euphoric, experimental electronics might seem incongruous at first, but in context with the rest of the album is the only possible conclusion. With Eyeroll Ziúr is making a firm statement about togetherness, humanity, and the renewal of hope when all seems lost. By bringing together such a wide but philosophically harmonic team of collaborators, she's conducted a body of work that speaks to the creative fringe in no uncertain terms. Now's the time to throw away what you think you know, and build bridges you didn't think you need. Now's the time for action. She may have spent her entire career avoiding the solipsistic trappings of "queer art", but by assembling a communal statement that questions so many normative assumptions about music, politics, and beyond, Ziúr has chanced upon her queerest album yet. Cringe? Eyeroll.

The hardcore house heads at Dungeon Meat have assembled another funky slab of waxy deliciousness to tuck into and this time it's a various artists affair. Mance serves up the starter, 'In A World Of,' which is rock solid cut with a physical low end but infused with real soul warmth. Timmy P's 'Utter Filth' is another muscular house workout with an elastic bassline and trippy lead. Pimp C's 'Where My Bitches' is a sleazy and ghetto-tinged pumper and Jesse Merlin brings some warped low ends and twitchy synth menace to the prowling rhythms of closer 'Do The Umm'. Essential tackle.

"World of Pooh immensely brightened the dark corners of San Francisco, California during the years 1983-1990, with their most recognized guise being the MMF trio that existed & thrived during the years 1986-1990. This is the lineup you’ll hear documented on this exceptional collection of 45s, compilation tracks and assorted ephemera. The band has ranged from being a footnote for some (“is that the band Barbara Manning was once in?”) to a fondly-regarded memory for others (“the Land of Thirst album is a forgotten classic”) to a turnstile, door-opening band for still others — like me. They arrived in my life as they were slowly exiting theirs, and I eagerly attended a half-dozen shows of theirs circa 1989-90 around San Francisco moments after I moved there. They were instantly my favorite local band, one I was instantly duty-bound to see whenever & wherever they played. Their jagged and discombobulated take on underground pop music was exceptionally fertile, feral and fetching, and it served as a personal gateway drug that flowered my own appreciation for many different kinds of subtle musical tension.
I also spent at least five glorious years watching Jay Paget, who drummed for World of Pooh and later the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, ply his rhythmic trade with much aplomb. He was always a steady hand behind the musical wheel of innovative bands who often threatened to careen off course. And I’ll admit to an untoward admiration of (and fascination with) World of Pooh founder, guitarist and singer Brandan Kearney from the moment I met the guy. Not only was he exceptionally friendly and welcoming to a carpetbagging interloper quickly trying to horn in on his scene (me), he was at once one of the most quick-witted, self-deprecating, highly intelligent & musically conversant people I’d ever met. Everything he and his band were doing, along with the mind-boggling DIY gunk he was pushing through his record label, Nuf Sed, and via his multiple other bands (among them: Caroliner & Archipelago Brewing Company, with several more to follow), made me extremely curious and not a tiny bit jealous about these wiser, weirder and musically more daring freaks who were making art, love & war in the relatively grittier & non-gentrified San Francisco of the day.
What I’ve learned in the 35 years since the band broke up is just how highly regarded they were (and remain) by not only those who saw them, but by a now-considerably larger group of humans who’ve subsequently heard & loved their records. I know that their place in the late 1980s was a small but special one, and I’ve seen plenty of online clamoring for more, more, more about this ephemeral and poorly-documented band. And rightly, here it is, lovingly assembled: their two hard-to-come-by 45s, a handful of comp tracks, and a quartet of phenomenal songs just coming to light for the first time, including that Half Japanese cover that dimly existed in my memory as a live song they naturally pulled off with sangfroid, from a time and space when we were all a little younger. - Jay Hinman"

Repress!

In the mid-1970s, a force of nature swept across the continental United States, cutting across all strata of race and class, rooting in our minds, our homes, our culture. It wasn’t The Exorcist, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, or even bell-bottoms, but instead a book called The Secret Life of Plants. The work of occultist/former OSS agent Peter Tompkins and former CIA agent/dowsing enthusiast Christopher Bird, the books shot up the bestseller charts and spread like kudzu across the landscape, becoming a phenomenon. Seemingly overnight, the indoor plant business was in full bloom and photosynthetic eukaryotes of every genus were hanging off walls, lording over bookshelves, and basking on sunny window ledges. The science behind Secret Life was specious: plants can hear our prayers, they’re lie detectors, they’re telepathic, able to predict natural disasters and receive signals from distant galaxies. But that didn’t stop millions from buying and nurturing their new plants.



Perhaps the craziest claim of the book was that plants also dug music. And whether you purchased a snake plant, asparagus fern, peace lily, or what have you from Mother Earth on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (or bought a Simmons mattress from Sears), you also took home Plantasia, an album recorded especially for them. Subtitled “warm earth music for plants…and the people that love them,” it was full of bucolic, charming, stoner-friendly, decidedly unscientific tunes enacted on the new-fangled device called the Moog. Plants date back from the dawn of time, but apparently they loved the Moog, never mind that the synthesizer had been on the market for just a few years. Most of all, the plants loved the ditties made by composer Mort Garson.



Few characters in early electronic music can be both fearless pioneers and cheesy trend-chasers, but Garson embraced both extremes, and has been unheralded as a result. When one writer rhetorically asked: “How was Garson’s music so ubiquitous while the man remained so under the radar?” the answer was simple. Well before Brian Eno did it, Garson was making discreet music, both the man and his music as inconspicuous as a Chlorophytumcomosum. Julliard-educated and active as a session player in the post-war era, Garson wrote lounge hits, scored plush arrangements for Doris Day, and garlanded weeping countrypolitan strings around Glen Campbell’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” He could render the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel alike into easy listening and also dreamed up his own ditties. “An idear” as Garson himself would drawl it out. “I live with it, I walk it, I sing it.”



But as his daughter Day Darmet recalls: “When my dad found the synthesizer, he realized he didn’t want to do pop music anymore.” Garson encountered Robert Moog and his new device at the Audio Engineering Society’s West Coast convention in 1967 and immediately began tinkering with the device. With the Moog, those idears could be transformed. “He constantly had a song he was humming,” Darmet says. “At the table he was constantly tapping.” Which is to say that Mort pulled his melodies out of thin air, just like any household plant would.



The Plantae kingdom grew to its height by 1976, from DC Comics’ mossy superhero Swamp Thing to Stevie Wonder’s own herbal meditation, Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. Nefarious manifestations of human-plant interaction also abounded, be it the grotesque pods in Invasion of the Body Snatchers or the pothead paranoia of the US Government spraying Mexican marijuana fields with the herbicide paraquat (which led to the rise in homegrown pot by the 1980s). And then there’s the warm, leafy embrace of Plantasia itself.



“My mom had a lot of plants,” Darmet says. “She didn’t believe in organized religion, she believed the earth was the best thing in the whole world. Whatever created us was incredible.” And she also knew when her husband had a good song, shouting from another room when she heard him humming a good idear. Novel as it might seem, Plantasia is simply full of good tunes.



Garson may have given the album away to new plant and bed owners, but a decade later a new generation could hear his music in another surreptitious way. Millions of kids bought The Legend of Zelda for their Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1986 and one distinct 8-bit tune bears more than a passing resemblance to album highlight “Concerto for Philodendron and Pothos.” Garson was never properly credited for it, but he nevertheless subliminally slipped into a new generations’ head, helping kids and plants alike grow.



Hearing Plantasia in the 21st century, it seems less an ode to our photosynthesizing friends by Garson and more an homage to his wife, the one with the green thumb that made everything flower around him. “My dad would be totally pleased to know that people are really interested in this music that had no popularity at the time,” Darmet says of Plantasia’snew renaissance. “He would be fascinated by the fact that people are finally understanding and appreciating this part of his musical career that he got no admiration for back then.” Garson seems to be everywhere again, even if he’s not really noticed, just like a houseplant.

Black Josh continues to carve out his own lane with YSL Bootleg, a project that encapsulates his unique presence in underground rap while setting its sights far beyond any imposed labels. This is a release built on the foundations of collaboration and a genuine community of music makers—his years spent with Levelz, the legendary Manchester-based collective that blurred the lines between rap, grime, and rave culture, shaping a generation of artists, and Cult of The Damned, a crew of rappers who raised him, cultivating an audience that has seen him regularly pack venues and tour the UK, AUS and NZ.

The project captures Josh’s signature blend of sharp wit, undeniable Mancunian cadence, and layered references that land harder for those from the North West. It’s the next step for an independent artist who has never signed a record deal yet has amassed millions of streams across tracks like Paul Scholes, Own Ting (featuring Eliza and Jesse James Solomon), and the Skepta-produced, Cigaweed.

This is the first full-length project Josh has released since supporting Danny Brown on tour, an opportunity that saw him sharpen his already unruly stage presence under the mentorship of one of rap’s most unpredictable voices. Their pairing made perfect sense—two outspoken, off-kilter artists with a mutual disregard for convention. That energy is embedded in YSL Bootleg.

The project includes Council Pop featuring Sly Moon, a track that has been doing the rounds since its release last year. A lead single, Aw, Here it Goes, drops Friday February 28th ahead of the full release.

Garfield (track 8), incorporates a genuine jazz breakdown—an unexpected but fitting evolution from the days of sweaty, beer-stained basement shows that were a rite of passage for a young Black Josh. The production across the tape reflects Josh’s versatility, with tracks produced by Blah mastermind Lee Scott and longtime collaborator Sumgii.

With YSL Bootleg, Black Josh once again proves that his music is on his own terms—crafted with his peers, rooted in Manchester but designed to travel far beyond.

House music doesn’t get much funkier than Demuir’s ‘New spirit’ EP. Whether it’s the classic sampling on the title track – an homage to his mother-, or the rolling funk bass and vocal chops on ‘Ain’t no stoppin’ ‘, Demuir brings an unstoppable groove with his 2nd release on Heist.

The man behind so many great house records has kept himself rather busy with building his own fanbase, openly debating the role that big platforms play and the firm grip they have on talent. Rather than conforming to the standard route, Demuir chooses to navigate the winding road of building his own following through his production classes, engineering and music releases through artist-first channels like Patreon.

His recent move from Toronto to Chicago feels perfectly in line with the sound Demuir is bringing forward on his first record on Heist since his 2019 classic ‘Werq, feel, gruv, vogue’. Those 6 years were well worth the wait: The ‘New spirit’ EP is a perfectly-balanced mix of creativity, confidence and character. The Demuir sound is instantly audible throughout the release and he’s not afraid to make bold choices. Each track has its own identity, its own place on the record and it’s one of the things that make this record stand out in the best way possible. The forward-leaning grooves, the tight mixing and the classic use of soulful samples are a treat to listen and dance to. There’s hints of the 90s New York sound (New Spirit), soulful disco-tinged grooves his new home-town is known for (Ain’t no stoppin’), lean-back and summery melodic grooves (No minions allowed) and deep, bassheavy dubby grooves (Whatchu want is all I got) to remind everyone that Demuir is an absolute master of modern day house music.

We’ve been playing all these songs for a while and we’re happy to finally share these with you.

As always, enjoy the music and play it loud!

Lars & Maarten

Underground Pacific is back with a new double vinyl compilation titled ‘The Only Good Wave is a Dead One’ that confirms, once again, its uncompromising taste for bold electronic music, psychedelic textures, and raw, electrified rock ‘n roll. This release brings together a varied group of artists, each of them adding something special to the journey.

The trip begins with “Excursions” by Gregory Moore, a piece that floats into a humid sonic world, between the nostalgic tones of vintage video game soundtracks, the Fourth World atmospheres of Jon Hassell, and the shimmering calm of ’90s Japanese ambient à la Takashi Kokubo.

Next comes Talee, the Rotterdam-based regular of the label, with “Makes Me Wonder”. Here, grunge-soaked vocals meet a tight dark disco groove, pierced by crystalline guitar chords that shimmer at the track’s heart. A song with its soul in the past and its feet in the club.

Label founder Cantor teams up once again with German duo New Hook on “Achtung! Achtung!”, an homage to the eponymous track by Italian producer Black Saagan. Fueled by vintage drum machines, punk-infused vocals, and melodies echoing the krautrock minimalism of Cluster, the track channels pure Cold War disco energy.

On “Scavengers”, Berlin based World Wild Web and Rasp Thorne deliver a pure mix of electro-rock noir – Suicide by way of David Lynch. Picture a never seen before episode of the series where Martin Rev and Alan Vega are playing live at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks, while Laura Palmer slowly moves her head to the music, with a devilish smile on her face.

All the way from Grenoble to Berlin, H.L.M. deliver a dirty bass-driven anthem called ‘Fronde’. French spoken vocals spitfire over layers of distorted drones and hypnotic rhythms. The result is rough, hypnotic, and brings to mind the grooves of Death in Vegas.

New Hook return, this time solo, with ‘Unity’: a blend of groovy downtempo percussions, melancholic guitar riffs, and their signature brand of spoken word, a style that’s quickly become their sonic fingerprint.

Then it’s the turn of mexican-wave exponents Montessori featuring Vongold on “Ad Libitum”: a techy sunrise piece with soft pads, subtle build-ups, and an ecstatic sense of endlessness. After-party music for vast, open spaces.
Next up are SX2 from Ireland with their ‘Buttons’, offering a rolling tech-house banger laced with desert guitars. Psychedelic FX’s and whispered vocals drenched in delay slow the pace in a breakdown full of tension, preparing the floor to an euphoric release.

A dream from the pandemic era reappears: Cantor’s “Hannett’s Dream”, originally released in 2020 by Modular’s Project’s imprint ‘Nothing Is Real’ together with their own reworked version present also in two very limited vinyl-collector editions released by Underground Pacific. The introspection and hypnotic structure of the original cut here is replaced by a more stripped down arrangement, with a four-to-the-floor groove that is perfectly crafted for peak-time ignition.

Closing out the release is “Carissima” by the man behind iconic label Wonder Stories, Aimes – a Moroder-esque bassline and sensual vocals play on top of a warm groove that suddenly fractures into jazz-tinged, breakbeat mood, in the style of early Warp Records, just in time to get back into its disco-ish swing.

Contrary to what the title of this release might suggest, the wave isn’t dead at all. It’s well alive in the underground, reanimated by labels like Underground Pacific who are always ready to welcome artists who aren’t afraid to crash genres together and, above all, who are driven by the desire to make free-form, inspired pieces of music.

After several killer EPs and tracks on labels such as Tresor, Multi Culti, Hard Fist, or Playground Records, Antonio De Oto aka A-Tweed finally delivers "Spring Music" his first solo LP via Abstrakce Records, changing perspective on his music and way of producing. A minimal approach, where echoes and reverbs become some of the main characters of the full journey, mixing up weird acid, experimental downbeat, electro, dub, and tribal vibes across a wide range of tempos.

Slow-motion beats pulse beneath swirling acid lines, while dubby echoes and reverberations sculpt a landscape that is both immersive and mysterious. A-Tweed’s meticulous production draws from the label’s tradition of organic textures and ambient vibes, yet carves a distinct path balancing deep bass, shimmering synths, and a subtle sense of psychedelia that lingers long after the needle lifts.

A cohesive journey, crafted for those who seek introspective voyages without giving up new forms of dancefloor communion. A manifesto about the power of slow rhythms, dub sensibilities, and acid-tinged experimentation, out of any hype and trend, aiming for a distinctive sound. An essential addition to the ever-evolving Abstrakce catalogue. The spring has just arrived.

Rodina is the project of singer-songwriter Aoife Hearty and partner Joe Tatton, keys-player & co-writer from The New Mastersounds and leader of the Joe Tatton Trio. On Good Company, their first new album in 6 years, the two are joined by other great musicians including guitarist Lucas De Mulder, drummer Luke Flowers, The Filthy Six horns, and members of The Haggis Horns, among others.

Like their previous records there is a strong acid jazz slant to many of the songs, whether interpreted through a modern soul lens such as in opener "Simple Pleasures" or swaying more towards cosmic jazz-funk such as "We Go Out Of Our Way" or "Trust In This Life", which were the first singles lifted from the album.

Throw in some hippy Americana and even a tinge of Gospel and you end up with catchy songs that include both uptempo earworms like the super charged foot stomper "Good People" or the festival anthemic "Inspiration" and some beautiful chilled moments such as "All Over The Sky" and "Flowers".

Recorded at their small countryside recording studio in the Peak District this is the fourth vinyl produced at their studio after The New Mastersounds' Old School and Joe Tatton Trio's Galactico.

Unreleased electronic / jazz / madness from two titans of jazz and experimentation: JOHN SURMAN and KARIN KROG.

I could now write a load of blown up puffery about how amazing this is, but everyone does that, and a lot of the time it’s all a load of bollocks. But basically this was sent to me by Karin / John when I asked if they had anything hanging about that had not been released. This came through and blew my tiny mind. Like something from prime Annette Peacock “Pony” period. Here is what John Surman said…

John Surman writes:

Back in 2012/13 there had been some talk about a big futuristic open air urban dance/theatre production for about 80/100 actors/dancers with lasers and all kinds of lighting effects on different stages. I was invited to get involved and, together with Ben and Karin, we eventually decided to get to work on some ideas. I think that the original plan was that in performance there would be a mixture of live music and electronica.

Not altogether surprisingly, bearing in mind the complexity of the project, it never moved forward and developed into anything more than an interesting idea. It was probably over ambitious & I guess the funding never came through.

The only information I that I can find relating to the production refers to two silent movies made in 1927/1928 by the filmmaker Eugene Deslaw, entitled `La Marche Des Machines´ and `Les Nuits Électriques.These were clearly intended to act as inspiration for the project.

After months turned into years it became obvious that the project was going nowhere, and so the recorded music laid around gathering dust until Johnny Trunk asked Karin if she had any interesting music that he might be interested in releasing. One thing led to another and so, finally, Electric Element found a home!

For anyone interested in the equipment used this will have to be an approximation since the memory might be playing tricks. Karin was probably using a Yamaha Rex50 f/x unit, a Roland VT-3 Voice Transformer and an Oberheim Ring Modulator. I was playing Bass Clarinet and Contrabass Clarinet through various f/x units together with a Yamaha WX5 wind synth. All the instruments and voice were also processed through Ben´s equipment. After writing this I asked Ben for his recollections and he came up with the following:

John, Karin and I created this music in 2 or 3 days in the winter of 2013 at their studio in Oslo, Norway. I followed up with another 2 or 3 days of mixing, editing and post-processing . We kept a collaborative, improvisational and free-form approach to the sessions. I grew up immersed in music such as Cloudline Blue, the 1979 duo album of Krog/Surman, and this felt like a similar approach. I have mixed sound for many of their live duo concerts and I would use effects and electronics as an

accompaniment and counterpoint to the performed music. The relation of organic and artificial sound sources in music has always fascinated. In this case, I used some contemporary digital signal processing to introduce my own aesthetic into the conversation, in particular using granular synthesis to recombine small 'clouds' of sound into alternate forms. Some of the software tools I used included Ableton Live, Max/MSP and Reaktor.

Manchester-based producer Lily Mumby, the creative force behind Lapalace, has chosen Lavender as her botanical muse for this sixth instalment. Like the aromatic herb that grows from tiny seeds to fragrant purple stalks, her compositions unfold with a similar patience and elegance. Her synthesisers breathe with a natural rhythm, creating textures that emerge and recede like morning dew on lavender buds waiting to bloom.

The standout track ‘new age night’ – a stunning love child of William Basinski's decaying tape loops and Aphex Twin's intricate programming—carries subtle lavender-inspired tones, balancing the plant's calming essence with hypnotic rhythms. Just as lavender requires thoughtful tending before rewarding the gardener with its distinctive aroma, Lapalace's landscapes reveal deeper complexities with each listen.

Much like gardening itself, Mumby demonstrates an innate understanding of when to intervene and when to allow natural development. This approach echoes throughout her career, from her debut EP "Ephemera" which caught the attention of Insult to Injury Records' Timothy Clerkin, through to her contributions to Chez De Milo's "So It Goes" Remix EP and Manchester label Skiptrace's various artists compilation.

Her work across BBC Introducing and fossil.radio reflects this same philosophy – creating environments where sound, space, and organic movement find their natural harmony. But this composition really feels that Mumby has come of age. "Music To Watch Seeds Grow By Vol. 6" represents the continued cultivation of Lapalace's distinctive sound and demonstrates the maturity of an artist way beyond her years. This music stands as a lighthouse through a thick fog of nostalgia, much like lavender standing tall amidst an English cottage garden.

Early DJ support including - Auntie Flo, Ruf Dug, Courtesy, Vladimir Ivkovic.

35. Jubiläumsfeier von MÖTLEY CRÜEs Nr. 1 in den Billboard Top 200 und 6-fach Platin-Album. Enthält die Hit-Singles „Kickstart My Heart“, „Dr. Feelgood“, „Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)“, „Without You“ und „Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.).

Mit fünf riesigen Hit-Singles, die die Wunsch-Hotlines von Radio und MTV überlasteten, war MÖTLEY CRÜE auf der Dr. Feelgood World Tour über 2 Jahre lang mit ihrem eigenen Privatjet unterwegs und in der Luft. Die erste Single „Dr. Feelgood“ mit ihrem sofort einprägsamen Anfang, dem eingängigen Refrain und dem düsteren Musikvideo gab den Ton an und erreichte die Top 10 der US Hot 100 Single-Charts. „Kickstart My Heart“ war bei seiner Veröffentlichung ursprünglich ein Top-30-Hit und entwickelte sich zu MÖTLEY CRÜEs beliebtestem Meilenstein. Von der Kreissägen-Einleitung über den Cheating-Death-Text bis hin zum Musikvideo, das bei einer seltenen Rückkehr zu einer Clubshow im weltberühmten Whisky-ago-go in Hollywood gedreht wurde, hat es mittlerweile weit über 1,5 Milliarden Streams verzeichnet und ist fast täglich in Filmen, Werbespots, Videospielen und Sportveranstaltungen auf der ganzen Welt zu hören!

"As one of the biggest albums of the ‘80s, Foreign Affair showcased Tina Turner at her very best, further cementing her position as The Queen of Rock ‘n Roll. Celebrated in this 2LP white vinyl edition (33rpm), it includes the original album fully remastered for the first time.

Foreign Affair was Tina’s third studio album since her dramatic global resurgence, following the monumental success of Private Dancer (1984) and Break Every Rule (1986), as well as her lead role in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in 1985. It went on to be a multi-platinum record across the world, including UK, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and many more. The biggest track to come from the album was the 80s anthem, “The Best.” The track continues to transcend generations, with one of the most recognisable choruses in music history. On top of The Best, the album is complimented by several Tina favourites, such as Steamy Windows, I Don’t Wanna Lose You and the title track Foreign Affair."

o encapsulate the themes. “Aseurai means around you in the atmosphere, hard to reach, fading away,” Choi says. “It’s a poetic expression. You wouldn’t say it in normal conversation, but I like that.”

Following the four-piece band’s 2024 self-titled EP, Aseurai adds disco and city-pop influences while staying true to dream-pop roots. While Phoebe Rings was originally a solo project of Choi’s, Aseurai marks a shift with contributing songwriting credits from the whole band. The four musicians cut their teeth working on other notable NZ projects such as Princess Chelsea, Fazerdaze, Tiny Ruins, AC Freazy,, Sea Views and Lucky Boy.

With a more ambitious collection of instruments, Choi says this album heralds the start of true collaboration: “I feel more precious about this LP because it includes everyone’s gems.” Guitar/synthesist Simeon Kavanagh-Vincent spearheads unexpected arrangements, with bold fuzzy guitar textures, to spice up the mix. Benjamin Locke adds maturity to the lyrics, paired with perfectionist bass lines. And drummer Alex Freer’s slick production soars Aseurai to diverse and synergetic heights. The broth is richer with more cooks in the kitchen, and the brewing of textures creates a distinct ‘Phoebe Rings’ sound.

If the EP was spacey, then Aseurai settles on earth, rooted in tangible moments. “Without getting too gloomy, it’s a weird world out there. A lot has changed in the world since the EP came out,” says Kavanagh-Vincent on this transformation. The album delves into hope and longing across all possibilities, and this exploration of holding on and letting go is organically threaded throughout. Across ten songs, Phoebe Ring’s storytelling ranges from tongue-in-cheek musings on gentrification to tender autobiographical memories.

아스라이 흩어지는 하늘의 별이 (May the falling light of faraway stars) / 그대의 손 끝에 닿아 숨이 돼주길 (Reach your fingertips and let you breathe),” Choi sings in the title track “Aseurai.” Imagined as a breezy track inspired by a 90’s Korean pop band, Choi discovered, when fleshing out the lyrics, that it was about yearning for people she couldn’t see anymore. In the old-school disco track, “Get Up,” Locke addresses struggles with mental health in a Matrix-inspired driven mantra:  ‘Just get up / Just get up.’ The groove persists with ‘Fading Star,” a quirky ballad filled with steely jazz/rock guitar solos dedicated to a suburban aging musician. Kavanagh-Vincent’s lead single ‘Drifting’ is an unrequited celestial love song with bouncing bass and playful synths.

The band wrote, produced, and engineered the album across studios and band members’ homes in 2023/2024 in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). It features mixing/mix production by local legend Jeremy Toy (Bic Runga, Aaradnha, Princess Chelsea) and mastering by Kelly Hibbert. With Aseurai, Phoebe Rings mark out a brilliant new constellation in their sky, bringing their individual compositions to the fore whilst seamlessly threading them into one celestial body - launching skyward on Carpark Records in June 2025.

A bumper package of six - count 'em - reworkings of disco grooves by Russia's Scruscru, offering a myriad of new takes on classic sounds. Beno, Bernardo Campos's 'Space Gruv' opens proceedings with a luxurious, soulful edge, while Tree Threes' 'Sunshine Miss' coasts along gracefully with more of a beefed up jazz house vibe. Manuel Kane's 'Disco Visions' throws more beautifully jazzy chord shapes and adds a devastating diva vocal for a proper peak time feel, Immersif's 'La Tournee Des Phares' employs more of a broken beat shuffle and 'Rebecca's Mystery Mood' by Punky Wash revolves around Latin beats and lilting guitar lines. Finally comes arguably the EP's jazziest moment of all, Justnique's 'Elevator Music', with some mighty impressive tinkling of the ivories. Authentic, gorgeous sounds overlaid on some sturdy 4/4 templates - pure DJ heaven.

Spectral Bounce’s fifth instalment comes courtesy of L.A.’s rave archivist and dancefloor operative Dreams, A.K.A. Jesse Pimenta. Throughout his decade-long career the California native has inspected, dissected and concocted all manner of dance musics, leaving his mark with drops on Apron Records, Pinkman, BANK NYC and his own imprint Dance Data. On SPEC05 — Dangerous When Wet — he hijacks the synapses with 4 accomplished productions, plotting a high BPM course through manifold styles using the raw aesthetic that characterises his output.

“Losing Control” is a frenetic dancefloor invitation, immediately locking into a pacing groove. Beneath wild hand drums, Dreams plays with an insistent 303 bassline alternating between rasping buzz and oily squelch, while stern vocals are layered on top of breaks that have been processed to a viscerally satisfying end.

Taking things from delirious dance circle to underwater biosphere, the EP’s eponymous track explores a submerged 1980s Miami. Weighty & enveloping, “Dangerous When Wet” is pure aquatic pop-n-lock — hydraulic electro for a drowned world. Ocean floor caustics are transmuted into auditory form: arpeggios bubble up; drones shimmer mystically; hi-hats hiss like air from an open valve. Amongst the sonar bleeps, a barrage of pummeling low-end is sure to give subwoofers a workout.

“XTC Messenger” delivers an infectious paranoid dispatch, astutely balancing the sensual with the deranged. A slow-mo dial tone unfolds languidly, running counter to nervously twitching high frequencies. Its punchy percussion is tuned for maximum dopamine release; the track’s abrupt vocal chops and mechanical kick-snare pulsation evoke the leather jackets and jagged edges of 1980s industrial discotheque.

“Pressure Points” closes the EP on a heady and mesmerising polymetric trip. The parting track is a lithe yet spacious number, propelled by a rattling break. Here Dreams follows from track 2, creating an immersive environment in which sounds tightly twist and twirl. Shifting oscillators call out like tiny creatures as the bass throbs and wriggles further into your brain, long after the needle hits the runout groove.

Action Speaks Louder Than Words is the 1975 debut album by Chocolate Milk, a funk and soul band from New Orleans. The band emerged in the mid-1970s and quickly gained recognition for their unique sound that blended the rich musical traditions of their hometown with the influences of contemporary funk and soul. The band was discovered by producer Allen Toussaint, a legendary figure in New Orleans music, whose influence is evident in the polished arrangements and the band's tight, cohesive sound. The album's themes of social awareness and personal reflection, combined with its infectious grooves and skilled musicianship, have ensured its lasting appeal. Also due to the single and title track "Action Speaks Louder Than Words", which charted well and was later sampled by numerous artists, including Public Enemy, Eric B. & Rakim, Aaliyah, Neneh Cherry and Toni Braxton feat. The Notorious B.I.G & Puff Daddy, cementing its place in music history. Action Speaks Louder Than Words is available as a limited edition of 500 copies on blue coloured vinyl.

Fast Castle kicks off 2025 with another five-track heater: Stable Units by Gent1e $oul!
Across five tracks, Gent1e $oul hones his signature blend of bass-driven genres, adding more dancefloor-focused cuts to his ever-expanding sonic universe.
The opener, 4TC Boom, came together in a single restless session, crafted as a late-night special for the label’s most recent dance at Fitzroy. Its thick, drippy bassline—born from Digitakt overdrive manipulation—makes it the perfect stalactite cave anthem.
Next up, Paladin—named after the strongest horseback unit in Gentle $oul’s beloved AOE II—marks Gent1e $oul’s second collaboration with recent Femme Bass Mafia production graduate Rolex3k. This jersey-tinged, wubby roller was first road-tested by MSJY at Reef, where it proved its undeniable dancefloor potential.
Who doesn’t love that classic M1 grime flute? +390 pairs its signature "ring ring" sound with rolling UK techno drums, making for a no-brainer DJ tool.
On the flip, Steppe Lancer is a brooding, venomous mutation—headsy, progressive, and laced with heavy, evil energy. An FCHQ favorite and one for the heads!
Closing things out, Parthian Tactics dives deep with a late-night dubstep cut. Powerful enough to shake the subs, yet swaying in half-time for those introspective moments.
For the artwork, our graphic wizard Jonas went all out, creating a stunning detailed Bronze Age–inspired 3D equestrian design. Snag the full-cover printed vinyl via Bandcamp or at your favorite record store.

Quick Guide
4TC Boom, 154bpm – Drippy stalactite cave, peak-time weapon
Paladin, 142bpm – Wubby jersey roller, groovy DJ tool
+390, 138bpm – Grime-tinged dubstep x techno hybrid
Steppe Lancer, 154bpm – Headsy, progressive rattlesnake venom bomb
Parthian Tactics, 146bpm – Deep dubstep for late-night sessions

Album "My Life - Preisner's Music is a live recording from a concert held in November 2024 in Bielsko-Bia?a, marking the occasion of Zbigniew Preisner receiving Honorary Citizenship of his hometown, Bielsko-Bia?a.
This year, on May 20th, Zbigniew Preisner will celebrate his 70th birthday, and the album is a his gift he made to himself.

The album includes 17 iconic themes composed by Zbigniew Preisner among others from Three Colours, Decalogue, The Secret garden, The double life of Veronique, Damage, When a man loves a woman, Eminent Domain, Aberdeen, Mouvements du desir, Lost and Love, but also Lacrimosa from Requiem for my Friend in the interpretation of Dominik Wania.

Few words from Zbigniew Preisner:
"For years, I've been thinking about reducing my orchestral themes to a single instrument. As a composer, I pay special attention to melody-each of my compositions always has melodic themes.
Ten years ago, I met Dominik Wania, now a jazz star and a brilliant pianist who records albums for ECM. I knew he was the perfect person to bring my idea to life.
The concert you are about to listen to is the result of our collaboration, which has given me great satisfaction. Dominik Wania's interpretation went beyond my wildest expectations. I hope you will enjoy the album."

Reviews of the album:

"When I teach the films of Krzysztof Kieslowski at Columbia University, I always mention that Zbigniew Preisner is one of the world's greatest film composers. He has many fans among my students. And now there is a new album, a haunting distillation of his movie scores into solo piano performances. It demonstrates how he is the master composer of the tritone, trill and tremolo. Listening to his compositions in their own terms - separate from the cinema screen - foregrounds his distinctive and often plaintive melodies.
Because orchestration, lyrics and narrative function are absent, the listener can focus on the richness of the "standalone" music, beautifully performed by Dominik Wania. For example, the memorable score from Kieslowski's "Double Life of Veronique" now feels more ominous than lyrical. From "Mouvements du desir," the tinkling piano sounds grow into cascading notes that envelop the listener. Whether classical (as in "When a Man Loves a Woman" and "The Waltz from The Funeral") or jazz ("The Secret Garden"), the music reigns when there is no movie screen to distract us. This is equally true of the minor-key gems like "Dekalog" and the briskly upbeat "Transient from Twilight" (which invokes for me the joy of Jon Baptiste's compositions).
In addition to Preisner's scores, the mournful "Lacrimosa" is stripped down from a public performance - which included a choir - to a more personal evocation of grief via solo piano. Finally, listening to "Lost and Love" suggests that if Frederic Chopin and Keith Jarrett had an heir together, it would be Zbigniew Preisner".
Annette Insdorf, Film Professor Columbia University

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. "We were trying to find our own space," says Cinder of the formative period Camouflage Heart emerged from, amidst a move from Edinburgh to London and Cinder's evolving exploration of gender identity, well before culture at large was equipped to understand. With contemporary discourse we see that the project manifested her transgender ideas as visceral music. The guttural, feral sound marked a notably darker turn from The Freeze's sixyear run on the fringes of punk. Changing the project's name became vital, not just because they kept hearing the former was already taken, but the desire to embody the spiritual and sonic shift, "to uncover new pathways_to feminize it," she says. Cinder, with bandmates David Clancy and John Byrne, arrived at Cindytalk, a winking nod to Sindy, the British fashion doll rival to Barbie known then for its pull-string talking mechanism. "The goal was to have a more interesting narrative, more interesting dialogue. Music was ultimately my only way of talking to people. That was my conversation with the world, an abstracted conversation_an attempt to make some kind of tiny, tiny mark, if possible, you hope somebody will notice." Over the years, Cinder has heard from fans who did pick up on the signals and find refuge in Camouflage Heart. Camouflage Heart plays with tension and pace, from creeping to feverish to claustrophobic. The percussion moves between restless marches and barely-there pulses; for some parts, they scratched and hit a tin bath, among other objects. Guitar lines vibrate and stab as Cinder contorts her voice freely. She pulls poetry from a cerebral abyss, like "make the snake in your eye, pierce the camouflage heart" on the slow-droning centerpiece "The Spirit Behind the Circus Dream." In that register is raw power, both vulnerable and menacing, an ability to locate something deep and emotionally charged within. "I still remember that person who was way too intense for their own good," Cinder reflects. "I couldn't make a record like that now, certainly not vocally, while that anger hasn't dissipated; there's still a kind of warrior." For all the destruction and disintegration of Camouflage Heart, Cinder maintains the objective was never full-on fatalistic; these songs seek not to destroy but to poke and provoke, to transform and heal, to find cracks of light in a crumbling world. She points to the last lines of the opening track, "It's Luxury": "Don't look down," the lyric pines through static and rhythm. Cinder extrapolates, "I'm essentially saying, just keep fucking going. As time went on, for me, that falling became flying. Camouflage Heart is the beginning of believing in flight."

Jerry David DeCicca is songwriter and producer. He makes his living as a vocational rehabilitation provider for special education students and adults. He"s produced albums for Ed Askew (Tin Angel Records), Bob Martin and Ralph White (Worried Songs), Will Beeley (Tompkins Square), Chris Gantry (Drag City), Larry Jon Wilson (1965 Records/ Drag City) and worked on reissue projects for Numero Group. Collaborators on his DIY solo albums include David Hidalgo, Kelley Deal, Augie Meyers, Jeff Parker, Spooner Oldham, Will Oldham, and many others. He lives in the rural town of Bulverde, TX with his two dogs, three cats, five toads, and wife. His previous band, The Black Swans, released 5 albums and toured for 10 years.

A noughties classic, an earworming anthem, an eventual schoolyard ringtone favourite; Roman Flügel’s once inescapable ‘Geht’s Noch?’ celebrates turning 21 on Running Back, refreshed and remixed by a scene-spanning set of artists paying keen tribute to its absurdist energy.
Casually released as part of a Cocoon Records compilation in 2004, ‘Geht’s Noch?’ rose from the depths with the support of Sven Väth, becoming an international phenomenon, conquering and uniting the dominant scenes of minimal and electroclash alike. Some have said it laid the foundations for the ‘Dirty Dutch’
house scene, albeit from over the border in Germany.
Well known for injecting much-needed levity into the contemporary club landscape via her Live From Earth parties, DJ Gigola adds additional firepower to ‘Geht’s Noch?’, inducing a planet-shaking kick drum, before sending the track’s signature bleeps into nonsensical Morse code for even greater pleasure. Another rave
culture connoisseur, Luca Lozano, offers two alternate takes; his ‘Technocs’ mix rolls deep with additional cowbells, robotic voice commands and stadium-sized claps. Meanwhile, the ‘Gehts Garage Remix’ draws a savvy connection with the original’s as-yet-untapped UK funky potential.
Peder Mannerfelt, who straddles the line between innovation, functionality, humor and seriousness quite like its original author, takes ‘Geht’s Noch?’ to truly wuthering heights. His remix builds unexpected drama and catharsis around the enduring riff, before a collaboration with studio partner Par Grindvik as Aasthma
spins the club out with a glossy, anime-tinted take, full of whimsy and colour.
And while the digital release of Geht’s Noch? also spans interpretations from Audion, Domnik Eulberg & Moguai, this vinyl release presses Steve Angello vs Who’s Who remix to wax, that which helped take ‘Geht’s Noch?’ out of the underground and into the stratosphere. Twenty years on, and Flügel’s offbeat hit is
always ascending. Love it or hate it, ‘Geht’s Noch?' will still get you good.
Words by John Loveless

NOW is proud to present the next instalment in our ongoing ‘Yearbook’ series, and the final one representing an individual year from the 1980s: NOW – Yearbook 1989. 78 tracks across 4CDs – celebrating a magnificent and eclectic year in pop! This release is available as a standard 4-CD set, and as a special edition 4-CD set in ‘hardback book’ packaging, which includes a 28-page booklet packed with notes about all of the 78 featured tracks. Also available as 42 tracks across 3LPs, pressed in stunning pink vinyl…celebrating a magnificent and eclectic year in pop!

After a collage tape collab with Bardo Todol back in 2022 (SUC52, Magnetic Road to Hell) Robert Millis finally gets his Discrepant debut proper, a much overdue entryin our random catalogue of lost musical oddities.

The not so self explanatory title Interior Music explores Millis obsession with hidden sounds and its anomalies. An hermetic rearrangement of emptiness could be another more big headed title. But I leave the man to talk about his thing:

‘’The phrase interior music occurred to me a few years ago as a way to describe some recent work. It’s about the resonances inside of hollow wooden chambers (and hollow heads) like gramophones and talking machines, music boxes, instruments, metal containers, and resonant rooms. It’s about exploring tiny audio fragments—single notes, vinyl and shellac surface noise, recording mishaps and anomalies—and arranging them into something meaningful. It is about my own interior mishaps and anomalies and attempts to arrange THEM into something meaningful. It also references “interior design” with the placement of sounds in specific locations, layers or in juxtapositions.

Inspirations include Steve Roden’s lowercase work, Toshiya Tsunoda’s field recordings, Eliane Radique’s slowly shifting ambiances, and the musique concrete of Pierre Schaeffer, as well as the dhrupad and kayal traditions of Indian classical music—especially Kesarbai Kerkar and the Dagar family who have a sublime way of stretching out individual notes and exploring their endless permutations, combinations and connotations.’’

Robert Millis is a sound artist known for his work with Climax Golden Twins, the Helen Scarsdale Agency, the soundtrack to cult horror film Session 9, the Victrola Favorites book and cassette series, and many releases on Sublime Frequencies including Indian Talking Machine, Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road, compilations of the earliest music recorded in Korea, Japan and Myanmar, and the documentaries This World is Unreal Like a Snake in a Rope and Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan. Somehow he is a Fulbright scholar (to India 2012-13) and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (2020). He has or currently does play with AFCGT, Idol Ko Si, and/or Telescoping.

Risk/Reward is the brainchild of New York based, London-born underground music scene veteran and Archivio Records owner Daniel Dutts.

The label fuses leading contemporary artists, with iconic 90s producers to create a playful yet sophisticated sound, firmly focused on creating dance floor magic!

The first EP showcases rising Philadelphia talents Post Play (Sweater & John Raffaele), whose previous excursion on Small Moves became a much sought after cult classic.

Danger is what’s commonly known by DJs as a “sure thing”, guaranteed to get the most stubborn of crowds moving. A cheeky bass groove, quirky stabs, hip hop breaks and scratched vocals, create a vibe best described as “if DJ Premier made a track for Wiggle in the late 90s”

Go blends vintage Nu Groove style NYC house with progressive and techy elements to create a unique dancefloor monster. warping speed garage style sub bass combines with punchy stabs, lush pads, trippy synth leads and skippy, swinging drums, creating an atmospheric but driving track, that keeps you guessing til the very end.

Bushwacka! channels his Plank-era heyday to create a remix of Danger that delivers multiple “what the f#%k was that?” moments, as he takes you on a breakbeat voyage with crisp percussion, devastating low end, hypnotic ragga vocals and a didgeridoo no less! A reminder of the man’s genius and genre-defining sound.

What I Meant To Tell You merges warm, J Dilla style sampled chords, with punchy 808s, a deep and warm bassline, dreamy pads and enchanting male/female call and response vocals. Perfect for a warm up or deep in the afters.

With heavy support from the likes of Dyed Soundorom, Tini, Harry McCanna and more, the Post Play boys are ready to add another buy on sight record to their growing discography.

Yuno's full-length debut, Blest, out May 16 on Sub Pop, finds the enigmatic indie-pop visionary transforming the emo-tinged suburban malaise of his 2018 Moodie EP into more expansive, widescreen pop drama - suited for big moves and bigger stages. The kaleidoscopic sound he devised as a millennial hermit in his childhood bedroom in Florida has since broadened his horizons, taking him on tour with Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Superorganism, and soundtracking various series for Netflix and HBO. Imbued with elements of dream-pop, rock, trap, and psychedelia, his eclectic songs serve as bids for love and connection, which especially in the fractured era of social media, have resonated with many listeners who find solace in his vulnerability. Yuno's superpower lies in the way he mines a multitude of genres for their pop potential and surfaces with a tapestry that feels novel and fresh. Take, for instance, "Blest," the immediate, blissful, and bright title track, which is inspired by Rich Harrison-breakbeats and Neptunes-esque jangle. Or the breezy single, "True," in which Yuno moderates a lover's quarrel with slick, trap percussion. Amid the breakbeated dream-rock of "Gimme Ocean," he introduces his guitar solo with a searing emo scream, run through an EarthQuaker Devices pedal. Don't let his sanguine aura or his sherbet pink wardrobe fool you; he can shred as hard as he wants to when he wants to. All songs on Blest were written and performed by Yuno, co-produced by Yuno and Frank Corr (Morning Silk), who also contributed keyboards, drums, and guitar throughout the record, with additional production and instrumentation by Patrick Wimberly (Chairlift) at The CRC in Brooklyn, and Nick Sanborn (Sylvan Esso) at Betty's in Durham, NC. Blest was mixed by Steve Vealey and mastered by Joe La Porta.

Canadian bowed guitarist and multi-instrumentalist C. Diab announces his fifth album Imerro, out February 16th, and presents the trip-infused lead single 'Lunar Barge'.

(Real name) Caton Diab creates soundscapes that evoke the spectacular wilderness of his childhood home in northern Vancouver Island. Incorporating experimental textures, folk overtones and tape manipulations, C. Diab uniquely finds the unseen spaces in-between, and fittingly dubs his creations "post-classical grunge". Imerro explores new sonic realms and is the culmination of a sound world that Diab has built up since the critically acclaimed 'No Perfect Wave' (2016, Injazero) and subsequent releases 'Exit Rumination' (2018), 'White Whale' (2020) and 'In Love & Fracture' (2021). The Wire calls it "ambient music in the best sense - music for living, which can be both non-invasive and immersive...epic"

Imerro was recorded in late July and August of 2021 at Risque Disque Studio in Cedar, BC, during the summer's unprecedented second "heat dome", which saw temperatures soaring to over 40 degrees. Recorded with regular collaborator and engineer Jonathan Paul Stewart, the pair journeyed by boat to the studio to a place with minimal distraction with a plan of "simple ecstatic improvisation." Diab explains: "I wanted to place myself in a space for creation with little thematic pretence, with the belief that music 'shows its face' as you move along. I would pick up an instrument, whether I had experience playing it or not, and make a sound. If it wanted to be played, it would play."

Emerging from the Minneapolis underground and heading straight towards the sky, IE arrive on Quindi with a full-length album of sparkling, sophisticated wonder. Touching on kosmische grandeur, Riley-esque cyclical patterns, lounge pop and dubbed out psychedelia, the five-piece allow their songs to unfurl with a natural, hypnotic elegance which can take many different forms.
There's a loose, live quality to the recordings IE's members commit to record, which reflects their steady presence gigging in Minneapolis and the surrounding area. Since putting out their first release in 2016, they've glided from drone and synth-led jam band ambience (2018's Pome) to strung out, stoner-tinted slowcore (on 2023's outstanding Junk Body). For Reverse Earth they strike a smoky note that wraps itself around your skull across extended run times that evolve with a meditative poise.
From the deceptively driving 4/4 thrum of the opening title track through 'Divination Bag's snaking tryptamine mantras on to 'Simplify's slow and smouldering indie-soul, IE's sound is bathed in a sumptuous warm glow that rounds out the lows and the mids, creating a nocturnal shroud in which their nebulous song structures can feel deliciously endless.
Meredith Gill's drums provide rolling and tumbling undercurrents for the slowly shifting phases of the instrumental players, as Michael Gallope and Travis Workman trade keyboard parts and Workman and Sam Molstad chop and pick at their six-strings. Atop the thrum of her bass, Mariel Oliviera's vocal adapts to the scenery, from a distant, dreamlike siren song on 'Reverse Earth' to a spoken word meditation on 'Babel'.
There's space in each track for every instrument to cut through and have its moment, from a spiralling key vamp to a chicken-scratch guitar flex. The gently twisting, head-feeding groove exercises of the first four tracks give way to a slow and powerful march on 'Dark Rome', closing the record on a noirish anti-ballad fit to peal out in the closing slot at Twin Peaks' Roadhouse (circa season three).
As much as the tracks teem with composition, musicianship, and production to savor, a sound like IE's has a soporific quality that soaks in unconsciously. It's an evocative portal where the band feel as if they could just play on each piece ad infinitum - where the time itself seems to dislodge from its moorings.

Neon Pink Vinyl. For their tenth LP in a career spanning more than two decades, Tulsa's Unwed Sailor deliver their heaviest riffs, loudest squalls, and most deeply textured arrangements yet. Cruel Entertainment is a catalogue of contrasts - dissonance and harmony, hardcore crunch and post-rock grandeur, complexity and catchiness - that adds a vibrant new dimension to the second phase of their discography, spanning thus far from 2019's landmark Heavy Age up to the "vivid, starry-eyed psychedelia" (AllMusic) of 2024's Underwater Over There. Opener and lead single, "Rock Candy", roars in with a gale of feedback, pounding drums, and nimble bass, until a latticework of howling guitars ushers us into a more goth-tinged space. It's a characteristically intricate, energetic composition that flows with remarkable ease between its parts, and wastes not a moment of its three minutes. "Monster Collecting" brings a rare combination of melancholic and driving energy, reminiscent of avowed heroes New Order, but ups the ante with a tight, fastpaced rhythm section and litany of guitar lines, until opening up into a cascade of reverberating textures and tenuous sweetness. According to Ford, the title Cruel Entertainment refers to "the hardships of being an artist and musician in the crowded, imbalanced world of social media and streaming," where the completion of a new work demands that the creator also be a promoter, content strategist, and agent, among many other intensifying challenges. Pointedly drawing inspiration from noisier, rowdier bands - including Fugazi, Quicksand, and Cherubs - here they seek a much-needed catharsis in the ongoing fight to keep the creative soul intact. Second side standout, "Monty Donahue", typifies this form of release, as massive, mid-tempo percussion leads a fluid low end theme - inspired by the dual bass assault of Dianogah - and Swatzell's chords burst into shimmering nebulas across a labyrinthine arrangement that's equally loud and beautiful. Title track, "Cruel Entertainment", is a mosaic of sound for which Ford's bass provides the mortar: taut drums list between the channels, washes of guitar stretch to the horizon, and metallic heaviness punctuates the drift. There is a confident immensity here, proving that, although Unwed Sailor have witnessed a wild amount of changes in the music industry, their knack for creating complex, vital, and masterfully produced work remains untouched.

Extending the melodious and mad, three-decade story of Super Furry Animals projects by adding another bombastic and beautiful chapter, Huw Bunford, Cian Ciarán, Daf Ieuan and Guto Pryce reconvene to announce the release of their second album, Pando.

Meeting every pummelling motorway mile with the beat of their psychedelic-soul-house blend since the release of their debut, Official UK Breakers Album Chart No.1 album, DK.01, in late 2023, Das Koolies’ energetic return to festival fields, intimate venues and service station shopping has affected no distraction from their mission. Committing to more time on the road at the same time as sharing rich spoils from the studio, Das Koolies include Newport, Nottingham, London and Manchester in their live plans. Determinedly exploring capability and ambition, the band’s continued, restorative return to wired and wonderful, man-and-machine-based music, following years of psych-folk-rock experimentation as four Furries, hasn’t meant forgetting the past. Som Bom Magnífico’s tour story, combining wistful and weary memory, rests the band’s case.

Taking on the lead lyrical and vocal role, Daf Ieuan, says: “Hindsight and rose-tinted glasses. It’s a song about a time when it was normal to order a veggie breakfast in hotels as a concession to a healthier life style, then following up by requesting to see the ‘Breakfast Wine Menu’. As Lou Reed sang: "Wine in the morning!".
Everyone should live like that for a while. Could be for a couple of days or a couple of decades. We’ve never laughed so much, but never again.”

Extending the melodious and mad, three-decade story of Super Furry Animals projects by adding another bombastic and beautiful chapter, Huw Bunford, Cian Ciarán, Daf Ieuan and Guto Pryce reconvene to announce the release of their second album, Pando.

Meeting every pummelling motorway mile with the beat of their psychedelic-soul-house blend since the release of their debut, Official UK Breakers Album Chart No.1 album, DK.01, in late 2023, Das Koolies’ energetic return to festival fields, intimate venues and service station shopping has affected no distraction from their mission. Committing to more time on the road at the same time as sharing rich spoils from the studio, Das Koolies include Newport, Nottingham, London and Manchester in their live plans. Determinedly exploring capability and ambition, the band’s continued, restorative return to wired and wonderful, man-and-machine-based music, following years of psych-folk-rock experimentation as four Furries, hasn’t meant forgetting the past. Som Bom Magnífico’s tour story, combining wistful and weary memory, rests the band’s case.

Taking on the lead lyrical and vocal role, Daf Ieuan, says: “Hindsight and rose-tinted glasses. It’s a song about a time when it was normal to order a veggie breakfast in hotels as a concession to a healthier life style, then following up by requesting to see the ‘Breakfast Wine Menu’. As Lou Reed sang: "Wine in the morning!".
Everyone should live like that for a while. Could be for a couple of days or a couple of decades. We’ve never laughed so much, but never again.”

The Scream, Siouxsie & the Banshees' first album, was released late enough in the punk era to bear some claim as the first post-punk album, with only a minor traces of 'punk' (one lingering early song, "Carcass" comes to mind) and enough hints of what had come even earlier, Andy MacKay-like saxophone flourishes - to feel utterly new. Not to mention the effort producer Steve Lillywhite must have put into the album, his first fully-credited major label production. Siouxsie was clearly the focus of the band, with her unique vocal style and lyrics, but the real star, we've always known, was John McKay, who wrote most of the album's music (as well as singles like "Hong Kong Garden"), creating a wholly new guitar sound - harsh and brittle, yet melodically intoxicating . . . best articulated by a somewhat confounded Steve Albini years later ". . . only now people are trying to copy it, and even now nobody understands how that guitar player got all that pointless noise to stick together as songs". McKay's influence lives on; many of the most influential guitarists of the past four decades credit him as a major influence - Geordie from Killing Joke, Jim Reid of The Jesus And Mary Chain, U2's The Edge, Thurston Moore, Johnny Marr and even the two guitarists - The Cure's Robert Smith and Magazine's John McGeoch - who followed him in The Banshees. McKay's burgeoning status as the anti-guitar hero was halted when he and Banshees drummer Kenny Morris - at odds with Siouxsie and bassist Steve Severin - fled the band just after the start of a tour supporting the group's second album, Join Hands. It was a weekly music paper scandal, later the subject of a BBC documentary, and Siouxsie's vitriol working its way into the lyrics of a later Banshees b-side, "Drop Dead / Celebration". Aside from a solitary single on Marc Riley's In Tape label nearly a decade later, no music was heard from McKay again. So it comes as a major surprise to learn of a pile of excellent recordings made in the years just after he left The Banshees, unheard by all but a very few, some of which feature drummer Kenny Morris, plus Mick Allen from Rema Rema, Matthew Seligman of the Soft Boys and longer-term collaborator Graham Dowdall and John's wife Linda . . . the latter three of whom now all sadly deceased. Sixes And Sevens is an historic lost album. Brazenly genius and bearing fair claim as the lost treasure of the post-punk era, the album collects eleven studio tracks, carefully mastered from original tapes. It's a masterpiece which best speaks for itself.

Contemporary Belgian techno powerhouses Charlotte de Witte and Amelie Lens come together on a groundbreaking new “One Mind” EP.

Between them, this pair have very much refined the sound of techno over the last few years. Both hail from Belgium, and both came up through the clubbing scene with their own unique interpretations of techno and its many different nuances.

Charlotte de Witte, a global techno icon and founder of the KNTXT label, has released numerous EPs with a focus on acid and techno, blending in trance and ambient into compelling club cuts. With millions of fans, she also has a history making presence in underground clubs, at electronic music festival main stages like Tomorrowland and Ultra, and crossover festivals with her recently completed production tour "Overdrive". She’s also been crowned DJ Magazine’s World’s Number 1 Techno DJ five years in a row. Through KNTXT, she innovates with ventures like the archival Époque label, immersive pop-ups and spontaneous street parties. Poised for a groundbreaking 2025, she remains at the forefront of revolutionizing the electronic music landscape.

Amelie Lens, the leading figure in modern techno, is known for her exceptional productions and performances. Beyond music, she is a proud mother, record label owner, and activist. She founded Exhale and LENSKE, two globally recognized labels and event platforms celebrated for their inclusivity and unique on-site experiences. Exhale focuses on nurturing fresh talent, signing its youngest artist at just 16 years old. Amelie made history as the first woman with a residency in Ibiza and is now collaborating with Vogue Collective, becoming the first techno artist to do so. Her strong relationships with top designers like Chanel further highlight her creative vision beyond music. From festival appearances at the biggest festivals in the world to performances at iconic venues like The Sphere in Las Vegas, Amelie consistently pushes boundaries, shaping the future of electronic music.

To enhance the unified concept of the EP, both Amelie and Charlotte’s voices are subtly layered into the tracks, together, as one.

The brilliant 'One Mind' kicks off with rock solid, earth rattling kicks and intimate vocal whispers that draw you in close. Flashy, strobe lit synths soon electrify the groove and ensure hands will go skywards as acid lines bring extra drama. 'Where Do We Go' is another fantastic, turbocharged and acid-laced trance-techno gem with high-speed drums and synths racing along under icy spoken words that bring spine tingling sensuality.

This is a super coming together of two of modern techno's most potent creative forces.