Cerca:u man

For most members of the band it's the best album. But, tragically, the release of Operation Heavenly in 1996 was overshadowed by the sudden death of drummer Mathew Fletcher. The promotional tour was cancelled, the surviving members of the band went into emotional hibernation and no-one could bring themselves to celebrate these vibrant, upbeat songs. So, this release by Skep Wax Records, nearly thirty years on, is more like an album launch than a re-issue. Time has healed most wounds, and the songs on Operation Heavenly feel like they can finally emerge onto the stage, with Mathew's spirit very much alive: his effervescent witty drumming sounding as fresh now as it did then. These tracks are gleeful, melodic, sophisticated and knowing. The tough riot grrrl edge that Heavenly had developed a year before with seminal singles P.U.N.K. Girl and Atta Girl, has been blended with a deliberate quantity of Britpop styling. Heavenly were clearly listening to what was going on, liked the energy, but didn't necessarily feel the need to join in. Some of the tracks (eg Ben Sherman) are as jaunty as early Blur, but the lyrics, mocking a narcissistic boyfriend for his obsession with hair, clothes and his own erections, show that Heavenly didn't need or want to be part of the la - or even ladette - herd. Operation Heavenly was the band's first release on a label other than Sarah Records. Matt Haynes and Clare Wadd had brought that exceptional label to a deliberate and dramatic end. The liaison with US punk label K Records continued - as did the duets with Calvin Johnson: Pet Monkey is a moving duet between a growling Calvin Johnson and a sweet-voiced Cathy Rogers, as they dramatize another complex, maybe doomed relationship, with another self-centred boy finding himself frustrated by a girl who won't take any shit. But in the UK, Heavenly needed to find a new home - and Wiija Records were welcoming hosts, ushering the band into a brasher, less cloistered world: the production on this album is brighter than before, the artwork is colourful and upbeat. With tracks as catchy and as complete as Fat Lenny, Trophy Girlfriend and Space Manatee there was an expectation that Heavenly might finally emerge from the indiepop shadows and trouble the charts. And who knows if this might have happened. Mathew was lost before the album was released, and the band had no choice but to bring things to an end. This reissue also contains two tracks that appeared on the B side of the 7" single of Space Manatee. They are both cover versions, and along with Serge Gainsbourg's Nous Ne Sommes Pas Des Anges on the main album, these vivacious assaults on Art School by The Jam and You Tore Me Down by The Flamin' Groovies show that the band, briefly in its prime, could happily embrace any variant of pop music and make it something Heavenly.

ATA Records is pleased to announce the release of Early Works 2: Funk, Soul & Afro Rarities From The Archive, a compilation of tracks recorded in the fledgling days of the label paired with some rediscovered treasures from more recent years. While the majority of the album is previously unreleased material several tracks have appeared on different formats.

This is a rare chance for listeners to experience the birth of the ATA's enduring concept and recording techniques from the comfort of their own home.

In 2020 label founder and musician Neil Innes decided to destroy the studio he had spent 14-years building, destroy it and rebuild it from the ground up.

Once the studio began to take shape again and Innes was finally able to take a breath he began rooting through the label's archives, pulling out reels that had been propping up tables, holding open doors and generally lurking in nooks and crannies for years.

His trip down memory uncovered a wealth of dusty musical treasures and also got him thinking about tracks from newer artists, nuggets to compliment the archive gold.

Along with the first airings of tracks by The Harmony Society, The Disarrays this 11track comp includes appearances by studio favourites: The Magnificent Tape Band, The Sorcerers, The Mandatory Eight, Ivan Von Engleberger's Asteroid and long time collaborator Chris Dawkins (recording under Earl Dawkins).Also on the comp is Joe Tatton's Bang Bang Boogaloo, previously only released on 7 inch and greatly desired by record diggers everywhere.

LOSER pressing on - LIGHT BLUE BIO VINYL. Auf ihrem kaleidoskopischen zweiten Album, The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life, definiert Debby Friday den Erfolg auf ihre Weise. ,Ich will ein Star sein, diesen Wunsch kann ich nicht verbergen", sagt sie. ,Aber ich will nicht den Traum von jemand anderem leben oder einem vorgegebenen Weg folgen." Für die nigerianisch-kanadische Universalgelehrte bedeutet Starrr zu sein, in den Extremen zu leben: öffentlich oder privat, Selbstüberschätzung oder Demut, Fliegen oder Fallen. Ein Starrr zu sein bedeutet, den apokalyptischen Hedonismus eines nächtlichen Raves zu umarmen - und die Gemeinschaft im ,dunklen Raum, Mädchen in der Schlange für die Toilette" in der brummenden House-Hymne ,All I Wanna Do Is Party" zu finden. Es bedeutet, dass sie mit den Detroiter Techno-Wunderkindern HiTech in ,In The Club" Zeilen über Flaschen auf Eis austauscht und auf der Tanzfläche ausflippt, während sie zugibt, dass sie ,in diesen Tagen kaum auf der Tanzfläche ist". Es ist der Sound der Entdeckung, was nach dem Erfolg kommt, von dem die meisten Künstler nur träumen - wie man hell brennt, ohne auszubrennen. In 11 Songs stellt The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life Freitags chamäleonartigen Gesang zur Schau. Von der spärlichen, hauchzarten Schönheit des liebeskranken ,Leave" bis hin zum treibenden Post-Punk von ,Darker The Better". Der Gewinn des Polaris-Preises 2023 für ihr Debütalbum GOOD LUCK hat Debby Friday nur noch mehr angespornt: ,I'm tryna see more/ Man, I want the payoff" rappt sie über laserartige Synthesizer auf dem mühelos kopierten Kiss-off ,Lipsync`. Aber das Leben auf Messers Schneide kann nur eine gewisse Zeit lang aufrechterhalten werden: Während einer Nonstop-Tournee zur Unterstützung des Albums wurde sie schwer krank. Die Diagnose? Stressinduzierte Gürtelrose. Diese Erfahrung zwang Friday dazu, sich nach innen zu wenden. Im folgenden Jahr änderte sich ihr Management, ihre Routine und ihre Prioritäten. Um ihre Vision von radikaler Ehrlichkeit auf der Tanzfläche zum Leben zu erwecken, rekrutierte Friday den australischen Produzenten Darcy Baylis (Wicca Phase Springs Eternal). Die beiden kehrten zwischen ihren Tourneen in ihre De-facto-Heimat London zurück und tauschten im Studio von morgens bis Mitternacht Ideen aus. The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life ist voll von verschlüsselten, wenn-du-weißt-schon-wem-Referenzen, die Liebesbriefe und Anspielungen aus den Namen von It-Girl-Parfüms, französischem Cognac und hellenistischen Prophetinnen, die in Zungen sprechen, verweben. Es liest sich wie eine Manifestation von Freitags Streben nach einem experimentellen Popsound, der sich immer noch unverkennbar nach ihr anfühlt. ,Dieses Album handelt von der Idee, nach etwas zu greifen", sagt sie. ,Es geht darum, die Zeichen zu sehen und diesem Impuls zu folgen, immer mit der Möglichkeit, entweder in die Sonne zu fliegen oder auf die Erde zurückzufallen." Auf The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life erhebt sich Debby Friday in die Lüfte, um ihre Flügel zu befestigen und dem Klang ihrer eigenen Stimme zu folgen.

If anyone knows how to roll with the punches, it’s Travis Roberts. At 24, the Texas songwriter has already battled addiction, buried friends, and been so broke he couldn’t put a roof over his head. Hell, he even joined an underground fight club just to pay for studio time.

“Whoever won the fights took home the lion’s share of the money,” he explains, “but even if you lost, you made something. I lost a lot, but I got what I needed out of it.”

It should be no surprise, then, that Roberts comes out swinging on his blistering debut, Rebel Rose. Recorded with Roberts’ longtime live band, The Willing Few, the album fuses earnest country storytelling with rowdy rock and roll energy as it blurs the lines between roots, punk, folk, and power pop. The writing is raw and visceral here, built on gritty portraits of working-class underdogs just trying to get by, and the performances are nothing short of explosive, propelled by a relentless rhythm section, searing guitars, and infectious melodic hooks. The result is an exhilarating album that defies easy categorization, an alternately bruising and triumphant reflection on growing up, getting clean, and giving it your all from an artist who’s taken more than his fair share of hits.

Every fighter knows, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down. All that matters is how many times you get back up

Since its founding back in 2014, Blume has carved a unique place in cultural landscape, issuing free-standing works, spanning the historical and contemporary, that represent singular gestures of creativity within the field of experimental sound. Joining their broad efforts in building networks of context and understanding that already includes the works by Werner Durand, Sarah Hennies, Bruce Nauman, John Butcher, Jocy de Oliveira, Mary Jane Leach, Valentina Magaletti, Alvin Curran, Julius Eastman, Alvin Lucier, and following the first ever vinyl release to attend to James Tenney's legendary Postal Pieces, the label now presents the first LP published by the visionary Swiss composer Jürg Frey. Drawing from the transformative power of breath and resonance, this release represents one of the most profound explorations of musical metamorphosis to emerge from the contemporary experimental landscape.

The completed work represents a "conjunction of these two artists" that has "activated a transformative form of experimentalism." These renderings "dance with an airy lightness, humour, and play, imbuing them with a beauty and emotiveness that can be rare within experimental music." They exist as "breaths, carrying the curiosities of life, belonging to no time and all time, to no one and everyone: a human music to be inhaled and pondered, for which the outcome remains unknown." In this liminal space between composition and interpretation, between breath and resonance, Zurria and Frey have created something that transcends the boundaries of experimental music itself, offering what might be called a metaphysical cartography of sound in its most essential form. As Bradford Bailey observes in his penetrating liner notes, "music is rarely a fixed entity," existing instead in a state of perpetual flux, "taking on the influences of its interpreters and performers." This fundamental truth finds its most eloquent expression in the transformative collaboration between Italian flutist Manuel Zurria and Frey, longtime member of the Wandelweiser Group. Where conventional recordings might preserve a definitive version, this release activates what Bailey calls "states of unknowing and continued experimentation," allowing Frey's compositions to evolve into entirely new dimensional territories. The original string quartet and piano works dissolve into breath-carried architectures of sound, where "the original remains in a constant dialogue with its transformation." This is not mere arrangement but ontological metamorphosis - an alchemical process through which crystalline harmonies are reborn as atmospheric phenomena.

The metaphysical dimensions of this transformation become clear through detailed analysis of the musical result. Where Frey's original compositions operate through what he calls "basic confidence in the clear and restricted material," Zurria's interpretation activates entirely new perceptual territories. Space holds almost atomic sense of weight against the airy punctuations of timbres, textures, and tones, creating "suspensions of time within which questions and identities posed by instrumentation fade." The Extended Circular Music pieces - each comprising "a small number of bars to be repeated an undetermined number of times" - become organizations of sound that defy being definitive or fixed. Originally scored for different combinations of violin, viola, cello, and piano, these works now exist as pure phenomena of breath and resonance, where "hanging, breath-length utterances dance and intertwine amongst complex harmonic clusters and conjunctions."

The philosophical implications of this transformation illuminate a lineage of composers who have moved "away from abstraction and responding to the need to create" something beyond mere technique. Drawing parallels to Morton Feldman's understanding of non-functional harmony, Zurria's approach represents "a transformative form of experimentalism" that activates what Frey calls the "thaumaturgic power" of music - its capacity to heal and transform consciousness itself. The result is "a radical reimagining of ambience: sprawling sonorities and resonances adrift in space, carrying the liberated traces of the work's former incarnations and their truths." In Zurria's interpretation, Frey's String Quartet n.3 becomes something approaching "an organ played in slow motion, its seals leaking," while the Extended Circular Music pieces transform into "glacial chords from a diverse palette of voicings, harmonies, timbres, and tones."

Performed by Manuel Zurria. Recorded and mixed by Zurria at BigCardo, Catania between 2022-2024, with mastering by Bruno Germano at Vacuumstudio, Bologna, this Blume release represents a profound exploration of musical transformation.

Following on from his highly acclaimed debut Len Parrott"s Memorial Lift, Baxter proves that this was no fluke. His 2nd album Floor Show sounds like it was recorded in St Paul"s Cathedral, with vocals added in the whispering gallery. Narratively, it"s seems to be about a disintegrating relationship, although this is no confession booth moment. Guitars float like ectoplasm, Wurlitzer"s spin beneath mirror balls, summoning the presence of spectral beings, swaying to luxurious, narcotic music that predates trip-hop by a good sixty years. Stand-out tracks include the single "Lisa Said", "Cocaine Man" and the wonderful "Francesca"s Party". The album was produced by Baxter, Nick Terry and mixed by Craig Silvey (The Coral, Magic Numbers) in West London in the winter of 2004 / 2005. The band are Damon Reece on drums and Mike Mooney on the electric guitar- both former members of Spiritualized.

A truly essential piece of early Detroit Techno history here, Octave One's original white label "Octivation" EP from 1990 has long been a sought after and coveted slab of wax. This 5 track journey charts the Burden brothers mood from sinister, spacey, acidic Techno jams ("Sonic Fusion") to deeper, more melancholic mid-tempo cuts ("Nicolette") and along the way manages to usher in a new wave of Detroit Techno sounds.

Steeped in soul and depth "Octivation" was hinting towards the epic style Octave One would shape with their various projects in the following decades and releases. The earliest glimpse (Their 1st release) into a long and fruitful career that is still continuing today. This EP was a game changer and it's influence can still be felt in contemporary House and Techno right now.

Now, finally made available again to be re-discovered and experienced.
Re-mastered, re-pressed and re-issued with all the original 430 West white label and sticker artwork intact, in conjunction with the Burden brothers / 430 West Records.

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- PVC PROTECTIVE SLEEVE
- MIKE OLDFIELD'S TUBULAR BELLS IS INSPIRED
BY THIS ALBUM
- FEATURED IN GRAND THEFT AUTO IV ON THE
RADIO STATION 'THE JOURNEY.'
- 50TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION OF 500 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON TRANSPARENT VINYL

Keyboard virtuoso Terry Riley started experimenting with different instruments in the '50s. One of his electronic music landmarks is his third album A Rainbow in Curved Air. Through the use of overdubbing, he recorded all the instruments to feature on the title track. The composition consists of three movements, each representing another part of his musical influences. As the song progresses, its structure goes through frequent changes. It's an colorful, psychedelic, atmospheric and revolutionary song. The second track consists of a loop of saxophones and is the dreamy and calm opposite of the title track. Fans of electronic music, such as Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, would love this record. Taking inspiration from Hindustani classical music and jazz techniques, Riley's masterpiece influenced many musicians, from the likes of Brian Eno to Emeralds.

A Rainbow in Curved Air 50th anniversary limited edition is available as 500 individually numbered copies on transparent vinyl.

2025 Repress

Kim Anh follows up her highly acclaimed After Dark EP with an eclectic remix package.
Kim Anh’s Can U Not Talk Records launched at the beginning of 2022 with the ‘After Dark EP’, its strong statement of intent receiving high accolades across the world and gaining the support of artists such as
Jennifer Cardini, Josh Caffe, Terr & many more. She now recruits a star-studded cast built around her Panorama Bar Family to remix the EP, showcasing community and connection whilst preserving queer
underground music.
Massimiliano Pagliara kicks things off by drenching the title track in acid, its resonant squelches gliding across the original’s infectious bassline. Alinka’s remix of ‘Recovering’ from the original release features next before Kim Anh remixes her own ‘House of Virgo’, incorporating a catchy organ bass to accompany her soulful, emotive vocals. Spotlight party founder Chris Cruse also provides a version of the track, turning it into a driving & hypnotic acid work-out, warming things up before Chrissy’s D&B flip of ‘Giving’ closes out the release with ripping bass and rolling breaks.

American glam metal band Warrant released their second studio album Cherry Pie in 1990, which became their best-known and highest-selling release. It peaked at #7 on the Billboard 200 and featured two hit singles, “Cherry Pie” and “I Saw Red”. The title track contains a guitar solo performed by Poison’s guitarist C.C. DeVille. The album features more guest performers, including Dio’s Scott Warren, Bruno Ravel and Steve West from Danger Danger. Besides well-known guest performers, the album was produced by Beau Hill (Alice Cooper, Europe) and mastered by Grammy Award winner Ted Jensen, who also mastered the Eagles’ Hotel California and Norah Jones’ Come Away With Me.

Cherry Pie is available as a limited edition of 3000 Individually numbered copies on cherry coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

Repress!

Tony Price is back again with Street Theatre, an electrifying new LP on his Maximum Exposure label that serves up eight tracks of rude, crude, real-deal house music with absolute attitude.

Following the recent release of the psychedelic jazz reveries of Requiem for the Ontario Science Centre, this is his second release of 2025 and marks a return to the dancefloor.

Street Theatre is total midnight music—eight tracks of ferocious Chicago house worship, replete with slamming drum machine beatdowns, laser-guided synthesizers, and radioactive funk refractions that evoke Z-Factor’s primal neon pulse, trench coat-era Prince, WBMX cut-ups, and Ron Hardy’s splice-happy Muzic Box mania.

Produced in the span of a week at his studio in Greektown, Toronto, these recordings exemplify what can now undoubtedly be called Tony Price’s signature style—an unvarnished, elemental, no-nonsense approach to record production and sound design that reduces dance music down to its crudest textures and core principles, an approach and ethos that have guided his entire body of work.

Tony’s recorded output showcases fearless exploration across genres—classic house, funk, electro, and the outer limits of electronic jazz and musique concrète. Street Theatre stands tall alongside his Hit Piece LP, the Bail Bonds EP, and his NTS show, The Maximum Exposure Power Hour, as a bold, ecstatic, and direct expression of the eternal essence of house music.

When unknown virtuoso guitarist Tosin Abasi released his debut solo album under the moniker ANIMALS AS LEADERS in 2009, few would have predicted the band's meteoric rise over the next two years. Although Abasi earned acclaim as the lead guitarist in the Washington, D.C.-based metalcore act Reflux, it was still a long-shot that an instrumental album of progressive metal with jazz, electronic and ambient flourishes would develop anything more than a cult following. With "Weightless," the group's sophomore effort, ANIMALS AS LEADERS is revered worldwide as a trailblazing pioneer of modern heavy music. The group's genre-defying compositions have earned extensive praise; Steve Vai called the band "the future of creative, heavy virtuoso guitar playing," and MetalSucks recently ranked Abasi #2 on their list of modern metal's top guitarists. Whereas the group's self-titled debut was a collaboration between Abasi and Periphery's Misha Mansoor, "Weightless" features the recording debut of ANIMALS AS LEADERS, the true band; Abasi (guitars), Javier Reyes (guitars) and Navene Koperweis (drums). After nearly two years of touring together, the trio wrote and recorded "Weightless" together in mid-2011, with Koperweis producing and Reyes mixing. The group debuted a new track, "Isolated Incidents," during their inaugural headlining tour that summer, which included sellout shows from coast-to-coast.

Roughly two years after the release of their initial statement of intent, debut single “Toutpartout PT2” with its hypnotic ripples, Andi Haberl and Florian Zimmer aka Bella Wakame have successfully channeled the magic of a 2024 live recording (captured at Berlin’s Donau115 & Silent Green) into their first proper studio offering. You can hear inspirations ranging from Bitchin Bajas, Jeremiah Chiu to Groupshow (Jelinek, Leichtmann, Pekler), the hypnotic, intricate battle between form and freedom (the fun of momentary formlessness) continues to unfold over the course of 10 new tracks, featuring album guest Indra Dunis (Peaking Lights). Their first single "Shadows of Nambei" was very much inspired by the wonderful band Spirit Fest and their song "Nambei".

You can either shorten the reins, or you can loosen them – and give things more slack. With Bella Wakame, it’s definitely the latter. Constantly challenging each other, they’re tapping a whole new energy. Tons of different energies.

Based on the impulsive, propulsive interplay between drums/sensory percussion (Andi Haberl) and modular synthesizer (Florian Zimmer), the frenzied, free-form results take listeners into completely new dimensions – sonic worlds that don’t really sound anything like their other musical outlets (The Notwist, SUN, Saroos, Driftmachine etc.).

Whereas most bands tend to notoriously overthink names/monikers, these guys obviously only care about the ecstatic push-and-pull that occurs once their instruments meet and overlap: it’s wildly explosive textures with a booming heart. Moving restlessly between motorik club, electro-acoustic jazz experiments, ambient excursions, and fast-paced instrumental anthems that seem to explode at the seams, one can immediately tell how much they enjoy the newfound freedom, the turbulent encounters born on the spur of the moment.

It’s all about a quick-paced exchange of friendly blows, a chasing of tails into ever-new musical terrains. Relying on just enough form for that wildness to blossom within, their just-in-time dashes continually unfold, refold, return, grow bigger – and leave you startled.

Emotional Especial reaches a landmark with its 50th release. Started in 2012 as a “dancier & trippier”, club friendly spin off, sub label to Emotional Response, it has gone on to forge a path, releasing a myriad of artists including the opening release by Jamie Paton (Cage & Aviary / ESP Institute) to Richard Sen (Bronx Dogs), the debut of Khidja (Malka Tuti / DFA) and on to unearthing the breaks masters Alphonse (Klasse Wrecks) and Junior Fairplay (Crimes Of The Future), the uplifting Italo influenced Lauer (Robert Johnson), the new wave anthem of Sfire (featuring Sophie), plus perfect remixes bt Kris Baha (CockTail D’amore) and INHALT (Dark Entries), the NYC pop-rave-vox of Kim Ann Foxman, through to showcasing upcoming artists like Berlin’s Giraffi Dog (Aiwo Recs) and the global acid adventures of Akio Nagase (Chill Mountain) to most recently, the slo-mo trance muscle of 53X and post-rave uplighters of Remotif (Space Lab) and DJ 1985.

As with every 10th release on the label, the label present a various artists “Showcase” of what and where the label is. Aptly it is recent signing 53X who opens Gracias Especial with the bounce of Radar. Finland’s Jonne Lydén debut EP on Especial, Zen ’23 came out of nowhere, more than simply riding a zeitgeist of the “Trance Revival”, his all-live analogue symphonies drop the bpms, presenting widescreen beats, darkroom bass, sirens and tripped out vox all mix to propel a singularly driven.

Taking things much deeper has been the hallmark of Jamie Paton’s remixes for the label. As well as providing the opening EP in 2013, designing every sleeve and producing 20 remixes and counting another 2 for the label here, it’s impossible not to associate Especial with Jamie’s music. First, he reworks rising star DJ, but recent break out producer Chez De Milo, with a trademark dub excursion that takes the ethnic origins of Kremer to a space echo wonderland. Space is the place, the lulling beats, see you falling through the gaps, true dub style.

Alphonse makes a rightful return to Especial, with Raze Rave highlighting the allusive producers’ unique understanding of the varied history of rave culture via a techno-suite of soundscapes, perfectly mixing uplifting breaks, memory inducing vocal samples and dub bass, with a nod to the pop sensibility that rave encompassed, while being that allusive “lost chord” moment of man and machine.

The finale returns to the trance acid expanse of 53X, with the mastery of label stalwart Jamie Paton. An apt marriage, Paton takes the title cut from Lydén’s debut EP and crafts a trademark durge-dub, where TB303 and space echo intertwine with the De Witte vocal, hinting at touches of dub, new wave, trance and acid house all in one melting pot of sound the label optimistically termed “Protoid” back at inception of summer 2013.

Wer ROME seit der 20-jährigen Bandgeschichte verfolgt, wird nicht bestreiten können: Jerome Reuter ist immer für eine Überraschung gut. Sicher ist der Folk Noir, die düstere Liedermacherkunst mit Akustikgitarre und melancholischen Vocals, seine kreative Basis und Kontinuität. Doch immer wieder finden sich auf seinen Alben atmosphärische Ambienttracks – filmmusikartige Collage und Vertonungen der Konzeptthemen, die ROMEs Ursprung in der Post-Industrial-Culture belegen. Und immer wieder überschreitet er souverän die Grenze zu anderen Genres wie dem Post Punk und dem dunklen Elektropop. Statt luziden Akustikakkorden treten dann noisige, kalte Elemente ins Zentrum, martialische Samples, analoge Synthieklänge und programmierte Beats, die auch auf dem Szenedancefloor nicht stören würden.

„Terres de Sang“ ist nun anlässlich des 20-jährigen Bandjubiläums eine Kollektion von Songs und Instrumentals, die in diesen Versionen noch nicht erhältlich sind, sei es live oder in Remixen. Dazu kommen jene typischen ROME-Klangkollagen, die man von den Intros der Livekonzerte kennt. „Terres de Sang“ ist ein Füllhorn der unterschiedlichen Stile, Themen und Stimmungen, die ROME seit zwei Dekaden kennzeichnen. Daraus ergibt sich kein eigenständiges neues Album, aber ein ebenso spannendes wie unterhaltsames Kaleidoskop der unerschöpflichen Kreativität Jerome Reuters, das dem ROME-Sammler aus dem Herzen spricht. Darunter finden sich auch alternative Liveversionen von beliebten ROME-Hits wie „Das Feuerordal“, „Blighter“ und „Secret Germany“.

Erhältlich als:
- 2CD Digipak
- Schwarzes, 180 Gramm schweres 12“ Doppel-Vinyl, Extra audiophiler Tonträger von hoher Qualität - deutsche Pressung, Gatefold-Klappverpackung, Mehrfarbig bedruckte Innenhüllen, Limitiert auf 500 Exemplare

"After the success of his album Le Bal des Crocodiles in 2023, the Parisian label Teenage Kicks Production has announced the imminent release of the new album by the artist Homme Bleu, titled Dark Matter. Recorded at Garage Studio in Montpellier, this album will feature 12 tracks in English. The mixing was done in New York by Alex Conroy, except for the track The Life in Me, which was mixed by Steve Lyon (Depeche Mode, The Cure, etc.). A resolutely rock album that highlights guitars with modern arrangements. Introspection, existential questions, human relationships, and the passage of time are the artist's favorite themes, with a distinctly pop-rock influence infused with an electro whirlwind. Three singles have already been released from the album: The Life in Me, a high-energy rock track dominated by guitars; I Ride: a groovy mid-tempo ballad reminiscent of Radiohead's universe, an ode to inner freedom and resilience; titletrack Dark Matter, an eponymous track, a piano-vocal ballad. The album cover was designed by Frank Loriou (Manu Chao, Miossec, etc.), with whom Homme Bleu has collaborated since the beginning of his career." Double-LP in gatefold sleeve, blue vinyl.

'Maybe I'm Dreaming' ist die neueste Sammlung von Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring) und Keith Abrahamsson (Gründer und Leiter A&R bei Anthology Recordings) - den Köpfen hinter den beliebten Kompilationen 'Follow the Sun', 'Sad About the Times' und '...Still Sad'. Die zwanzig Tracks von 'Maybe I'm Dreaming' weichen von ihren Vorgängern ab. Sie stammen vollständig aus privaten Pressungen und umspannen neue Jahrzehnte und Produktionsmodi innerhalb der Genres Homepunk-Folk, Softrock und sonstiger FM-Radio-Musik der 70er und 80er Jahre. Die Magie von 'Maybe I'm Dreaming' liegt in den unerzählten Geschichten der Künstler:innen, die hinter diesen Liedern stehen - diejenigen, die den großen Durchbruch verpasst haben, deren Songhandwerk und unerwiderte Sorgfalt aber die richtigen Töne treffen.

'Maybe I'm Dreaming' taucht tief in die isolierte Wildnis ein - eine private Welt, in der Produktionsmacken, nächtliches Bandrauschen und Ein-Mann-Studio-Träume keine Wahl waren, sondern das ausgeteilte Blatt.

Die Songs wurden in persönlichen Sammlungen, in den Tiefen von YouTube, in verfallenen Webarchiven und in den düsteren Ecken von Discogs ausgegraben. Die Auswahl vieler Stücke basiert dabei nicht nur auf Intuition, sondern auch auf persönlichen Verbindungen. Einige Tracks wurden über Freunde entdeckt und fügen der Zusammenstellung einen unsichtbaren, aber tief empfundenen Faden der Kameradschaft hinzu.

Zwar entfernt sich 'Maybe I'm Dreaming' vom Archetyp des „traurigen Mannes mit Gitarre“, der über den Vorgängern schwebte, aber die vertraute emotionale Schwere bleibt erhalten - eine Balance aus Sehnsucht und Leichtigkeit, die diese Ecke des musikalischen Universums definiert. Jeder Track schwankt sanft zwischen Resignation und Hoffnung, Traurigkeit und Gelassenheit, als würden die Künstler selbst einem unerreichbaren Traum hinterherjagen und die Aufnahmen nicht wegen des Ruhmes, sondern aus dem einfachen Bedürfnis heraus machen, diesen ursprünglichen, kreativen Drang in die Welt hinauszutragen.

'Maybe I'm Dreaming' ist eine Einladung, noch ein wenig länger mit halb geschlossenen Augen im Grenzbereich zwischen Erinnerung und Vorstellung zu schweben. Vielleicht träumst du. Vielleicht bist du wach. Vielleicht spielt es keine Rolle.

- 2LP: (Das Doppel-LP-Set mit dem Artwork von Dang Wayne Olsen wird in einer breiten Kartontasche mit bedruckten Innenhüllen geliefert. Zudem enthält es einen Traumtagebucheintrag von Josh Lewellen, dem Experten für Artefakte aus dem pazifischen Nordwesten.)

Mansur Brown präsentiert seine bisher authentischste und ehrlichste Arbeit. "Rihla" ist das arabische Wort für Reise, kann sich aber auch auf Texte über die Reise beziehen. Auf dieser erlebt man einen Künstler in vollem Flow, der sich Trends widersetzt und Musik macht, die sich keinem Genre verpflichtet fühlt. Im neuen Kapitel liefert Mansur erstmals eigene Vocals, begleitet von einer härteren Rock-Unterströmung, ohne dabei seine typisch melodische Essenz zu verlieren. Anklänge an Elektronik und R&B mit Sci-Fi-artigen Synths strahlen lebendige Bilder aus. Die Gitarre bleibt das Herzstück seiner Musik, aber bei weitem nicht die einzige Komponente. In seinen Rollen als Songwriter, Produzent und Multiinstrumentalist prägt der Geist der Eigenständigkeit alles, was Mansur tut. Zuvor arbeitete er mit Yussef Dayes, Joy Orbison und Little Simz zusammen.

Salamanda is the collaborative alias of South Korean producer/DJ duo, and close friends, Uman Therma (Sala) and Yetsuby (Manda). Together they create avant-garde electronic music inspired by minimalist concepts, harmonious rhythms and the work of American composer Steve Reich.

Across the eight tracks of Sphere, their debut for Small Méasures, the pair conjure spherical worlds inspired by bubbles, refracting light and planet earth. Soundscapes laden with percussive elements ebb and flow as arpeggiated stanzas cede to misty synths and shimmering plates, conjuring images of solitary temples sat in vast open plateaus.

“For Sphere, we came up with an abstract concept and image to explore more diversity and encourage imagination. Each track is related to different kinds of sphere we found or imagined. From the big round planet embracing every creature to dancing little bubbles underwater, fragments of ideas floating around, exploding tomatoes, and movement of lights flashing and tickling the eyes…

Or the tracks can be about completely different types of spheres in other people's perspective. We hope Sphere can unleash the imagination and take you on a delightful journey of music.’’