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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.

The Italian duo of Fabio della Torre & Ennio Colaci, founders of Bosconi Records, are in sprightly mood on their latest EP for Jorge Caiado’s Inner Balance label, one of the catalogues under Chez Damier’s legendary Balance imprint. Funky, snappy, playful — these four whipsmart house tracks skip along like Gemini records of old, trading sinuous leads and walking basslines with cheeky abandon. 
Minimono have been doing this for a while now yet their signature sound hits as fresh as ever.

Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.

All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.

At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.

There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.

The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.

The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?

Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.

All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.

At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.

There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.

The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.

The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?

After impressions of Unguja and Borneo islands, Discrepant's chieftain Gonçalo F. Cardoso continues his sonic travelogue on insularity with 'Impressões de Várias Ilhas’.

Literally translated as "impressions from various islands", this third tome dwells on recordings and inspirations from three archipelagos of Macaronésia. Soaking in the sounds and recollections from Azores, Cape Verde and Canary Islands these diaristic endeavours spread throughout a number of real environments, from water caves and black stone beaches and lagoons to small harbours and everyday life scenarios, to project them into this not quite imaginary but not quite real memory haze that goes from a deeply personal impression to a resonating one.

Melding raw field recordings with processed ones and synthesized landscapes, Cardoso never falters into sonic tourism, conjuring small-ish takes both vivid and dreamy, infused with a sense of wonder that feels both bewildering, comforting and escapist. The breaking waves of 'Bufadeiros de São Vicente' soothing in their irregular pattern, mingling with the lone echoing tones not completely removed from Black Dice's 'Beaches & Canyon's most pensive passages, flow into the underwater ambience and suspended pads of 'La Cueva Scuba Livre', as reflections of the same sea crashing in on different lands, nature’s psychogeography. Further on, the queasy warm chord and scraping murmurs of 'Noite em Rabo de Peixe' mirror their nighttime framing while 'Rãs em Xoxo' veers closer to pure musique concréte, crossed by a subdued feeling of unease that lingers in the nostalgia of 'Cozido da Caldeira Velha', brimming within the haze of a Boards of Canada vignette. Summoning the past lives and future hauntings of its scenery, 'Salinas de Pedra Lume' is like the quiet epic of the album, meandering into the unknown among crackling field recordings, decaying synths and flute-like howls - or is it howl-like flutes? - recurring as glimpses from foregone existences, not necessarily Gonçalo’s own. Maybe ours?

Music & Photography by Gonçalo F. Cardoso
Artwork layout by Jeroen Wille
Master by Rashad Becker

Discrepant 2025
Pressed in Spain

2025 Repress

Kid Katana Records teamed up once again with DON’T NOD to release Lost Records: Bloom & Rage OST on vinyl.



This album accompanies the adventure of four teenage girls between 1995 and 2022, in the seemingly sleepy little town of Velvet Cove, Michigan.


With their growing friendship embodied by their punk band, music plays a key role in both the story and gameplay. In terms of music, this 18-track OST features different genres: dream pop, ambient, and punk, featuring an incredible lineup of artists and several songs with vocals: Ruth Radelet – former Chromatics front singer, Milk & Bone – acclaimed Canadian electropop duo, Nora Kelly Band – fresh Canadian alt-country / punk band.



This roster defines a dreamy and ethereal soundscape resonating with the 90s nostalgia and the Super 8 aesthetics of the game.

The physical edition is a 2LP designed in close relationship with the game studio:


- 2 colored vinyls: transparent pink & blue, matching the cover art.
- gatefold art: featuring exclusive in-game graphics
- teenage punk poster: nod to the game’s rebellious spirit & characters
- liner notes: giving insights from the game’s creative team and featured artists

2025 Repress

Another collection of early cassette recordings from J DILLA feat. more raw unreleased DILLA originals. "GENIUS" includes 14 remastered tracks showcasing DILLA's sonic growth in the late 90s—including him rapping and singing, working out a track. Packaged in full color sleeve

Coral Grief, das Rocktrio aus Seattle, und Air Between Us, sein Debütalbum, sind treffend betitelt. Die ersten Töne von Sam Fasons Gitarre im Opener ,Starboard" treffen wie ein Windstoß Seeluft ins Gesicht. In nur wenigen Sekunden schwebt man, zu gleichen Teilen unter dem Himmel und über dem Meer. Es ist ein ähnliches Dazwischen, in dem Coral Grief gedeihen, denn sie konstruieren ein kunstvolles Geflecht aus doppelten Bedeutungen in dieser Hommage und Lobrede auf ihre Stadt und Community. Die Sängerin und Bassistin Lena Farr-Morrissey und Fason sind durch die psychische Chemie verbunden, die man nur durch jahrelanges gemeinsames Spielen in Bands entwickeln kann. Die Gitarre von Fason ist das Segel zu Farr-Morrisseys Anker, und hier schafft er Texturen, die so dicht sind wie der Wind. Das Bindeglied - der Motor in dieser nautischen Metapher - ist Schlagzeuger Cam Hancock, der von gemeinsamen Freunden wärmstens empfohlen wurde. Sein treibendes Spiel dient als Brücke der Ideen, als letztes Puzzlestück, als Meister der Dynamik und Übergängen, der ihre Songs in neue Gefilde treibt, ohne dabei aufzufallen. Gemeinsam lassen sie sich von Stereolab, Broadcast, Th' Faith Healers und Seefeel inspirieren, und umrahmen diese sehr spezifische Sorte von britischer Coolness auf eine einzigartige Weise wie es sie nur im pazifischen Nordwesten gibt. Um die Songs zum Leben zu erwecken, begab sich das Trio ins The Unknown - eine eine stillgelegte Kirche, die als Segelmanufaktur und Aufnahmestudio in Anacortes, WA dient. In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Toningenieur Nich Wilbur, der sich von fünf Matchas pro Tag ernährte, wurde der Arbeitsraum zu ihrem Workshop. ,Wir wollten die Dinge zu dritt angehen, aber auch, dass es so üppig und voll wie möglich klingt", erklärt Fason.

We are talking Holy Grail territory…

Edwin Starr and JJ Barnes were two of the main stars at Ric-Tic, the legendary 1960s Detroit Soul label that ended up being purchased by Motown to take out the competition.

JJ Barnes REAL HUMDINGER Ric-Tic 45 is a standout gem from the Motor City’s Soul heyday years and an all time Northern Soul classic. Edwin’s Ric-Tic 45s and subsequent gems for Motown made him such a Northern Soul icon that he moved to live in England.

What Anglophile Edwin never revealed is that he actually recorded the first version of REAL HUMDINGER for Ric-Tic. It never got released and its’ very existence was unknown. After painstaking detective work WEST GRAND found about the recording and have now managed to licence it from Universal Music / Motown for its debut worldwide release News of the discovery has created huge interest amongst Soul fans globally, As a bonus the flip side is another “wow find” that had been stuck, also unknown and unloved, in the tape vaults for nearly 60 years. It is a preciously unused alternative take on SCOTT’S ON SWINGERS.

The track is in effect an extended jingle for Detroit back in the day star radio DJ Scott Regan based on Edwin’s smash S.O.S (Stop Her On Sight). The released take came out on a limited edition RIC-Tic giveaway single that now commands a £400 price tag.

Debut 12" from the new label RE-DISCO-VER. A new series from SOULSIMMER & ALVARO who have been delivering sundry melodies at their intimate and private gatherings for some time. Check out these 4 simmered and extended adaptations aimed to peak your interest. Limited color vinyl. Paper sleeves.

Emerging from the Kansai underground with a sense of ritual and restraint, G Version III returns with a slab of meditative pressure, carved for sound systems. Following last year’s cassette release on Digital Sting, the Kyoto-based producer deepens his exploration of experimental steppers and sacred low-end science.

TRK 1 treads heavy—medium-tempo four-to-the-floor steppers, soaked in 80s/90s UK dub DNA and wired with flickers of celestial synth energy, edged with something unknown.

TRK 2 drifts off-grid—a 100bpm oddity conjuring sacred synth rituals and off-beat spatial tension. Droning and eerily weightless, it hangs like a vapor of frozen scent in an echo chamber.

Flip the plate and TRK 3 and 4 ignite—raw, unrelenting steppers built to test the physical limits of the rig. No compromise, no decoration—just ritual voltage for the floor.

Riddim Chango’s 16th release channels something ancient through circuitry, born for the weight.

Mayssa Jallad is a Beirut-based bilingual singer-songwriter, architectural researcher and teacher. Her work deals with the highly personal as well as the political, as with her first solo album "Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels", which explores the histories of urban battles that occurred before she was born, during the Lebanese Civil War, through a collaborative musical and architectural lens. "(Marjaa) is, as one might expect, a sombre affair largely comprised of Jallad's delicate vocals backed by acoustic guitar and ethereal synthesizer. Elsewhere, co-composer and producer Fadi Tabbal adds the crackle of distant artillery and a ghostly wind between the high-rise blocks." - Daniel Spicer, Songlines, April 2023 "Historical trauma, strings, drones, metallophones and buzuks wrap around powerful stories and gossamer vocals on Lebanese singer's tender, intimate debut. With shades of Nico, Jarboe and Elizabeth Fraser, '80s' 4AD fans will rejoice." - Andy Cowan, MOJO `Marjaa_' (tr. `reference') combined Mayssa Jallad's two main vocations: music and urban research/architectural history. The album was co-written with Fadi Tabbal and based on Mayssa's Historic Preservation master's thesis (`Beirut's Civil War Hotel District: Preserving the World's First High-Rise Urban Battlefield'). The thesis examined a 5-month conflict that took place within Beirut's skyscraper-laden luxury hotel district of Minet El Husn near the start of the Lebanese Civil War. Addressing a post-war generation who have never been taught this difficult history, `Marjaa_' was an attempt to process trauma, and "a call to protest for the renewal, rather than the recycling of the political class that once destroyed the country and holds us, to this day, hostage of its violence". In 2013, Mayssa founded indie-pop band Safar with guitarist Elie Abdelnour, releasing debut album In Transit with Lebanese indie label Ruptured in 2017, and follow-up EP Studies of an Unknown Lover in 2019. Both albums were produced by Lebanese producer Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios in Beirut. Mayssa's most recent multi-genre collaborations include "Madina min Baeed" (2022) with electronic musician/producer Khaled Allaf; "Bi Kheir" and "Fil Aatma" (2022) with indie supergroup Baada Ab (Dani Shukri, Ezra Tenenbaum and Omaya Malaeb), released by Thawra records and Found Sound Nation. Next is the Versions version of Marjaa, which sees Civilistjävel! (aka Swedish producer Tomas Bodén) apply a stripped, dub methodology to Mayssa's original rich stems, refracting the Arabic source through the hazy prism of Northern European electronica. 140gsm vinyl, jacket printed on 20pt board with aqueous gloss coating, with a 3.5mm spine and a black paper inner dust sleeve.

Sweet Free Association is back with new productions this time, an essential debut EP from London-based producer Convertible.
A three track 12inch that touches on all areas of house but stays driving and DEEP! TIP!

The label says:
"Every once in a while something special comes along and this is one of those moments!
Sensitively crafted over time, the result is lush and timeless electronic music that is full of emotion and depth and that invokes the highest feelings of ecstasy!
Teased over the last 6 months in clubs and on radio, the music is consistently the highlight of my set, with the reaction from both the floor and the amount of messages I have received about these ‘unknown’ being staggering. But try it for yourself and you will find out!

Support from Chaos in the CBD, Ryan Elliott, Alex Kassian, Kléo and Millos Kaiser."

All tracks written and produced by Convertible.
Mastered by Frank at The Carvery.
Like The Rain additional mixing by Brain Rays.
Comes in gradient-coloured sleeve.

Kesha’s sixth studio album, . (PERIOD) – yes, it's just a period. – is an unapologetic, unfiltered declaration of artistic freedom and fearless authenticity from the 2x GRAMMY® Award-nominated pop icon. Conceived, co-produced and co-written by Kesha, the 11-song collection transcends pop norms to create a raw, daring, and intensely personal sonic journey, a defiant act of self-expression that refuses to adhere to expectations or play it safe.
More than just a new album, . (PERIOD) is Kesha at her most powerful best, turning her experiences into vibrant, audacious art with a spiked heel at the neck of pop culture.
Among its many exhilarating highlights, . (PERIOD) includes 2024’s blockbuster hits “JOYRIDE” and “DELUSIONAL,” both available everywhere now. Currently boasting over 103M streams at Spotify alone, “JOYRIDE” proved a true sensation since its Independence Day release, reaching #6 on Billboard’s “Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles” and “Hot Dance/Electronic Songs” along with the top 30 on “Pop Airplay” and chart success around the world from the UK to New Zealand. Produced by Zhone and co-written by Kesha, Zhone, and Madison Love, the track marked the triumphant first chapter of a milestone new era for Kesha, celebrating both her long overdue empowerment as an independent artist as well as a powerful sonic evolution following 2023’s critically acclaimed fifth studio album, Gag Order. Along with its popular achievement, “JOYRIDE” has been met by high-profile critical applause from the likes of Rolling Stone, Variety, and Vulture, to name only a few. Perhaps NYLON said it best: “Everything about ‘JOYRIDE’ is a trip…The original glitter-faced party animal of the 2010s is back with a fiery vengeance.”
“JOYRIDE” joined by an equally acclaimed official music video streaming now on YouTube.
Directed by Dimitri Basil (Kylie Minogue, Vance Joy), Cooper Roussel (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Miami Horror), and Laura Gorun (Joywave, Kings of Leon), the high-octane visual received wide-ranging attention from major publications and top online outlets around the globe, including Billboard, Vulture, and Rolling Stone, the latter of which raved, ““Kesha is taking her foot off the brakes and going full-speed ahead on her new video for ‘JOYRIDE.’ The video sees Kesha racing through the desert in a hot red convertible while being chased by a helicopter, gun-toting assassins, and a shirtless dude hell-bent on catching up to the pop diva.”

Kesha’s sixth studio album, . (PERIOD) – yes, it's just a period. – is an unapologetic, unfiltered declaration of artistic freedom and fearless authenticity from the 2x GRAMMY® Award-nominated pop icon. Conceived, co-produced and co-written by Kesha, the 11-song collection transcends pop norms to create a raw, daring, and intensely personal sonic journey, a defiant act of self-expression that refuses to adhere to expectations or play it safe.
More than just a new album, . (PERIOD) is Kesha at her most powerful best, turning her experiences into vibrant, audacious art with a spiked heel at the neck of pop culture.
Among its many exhilarating highlights, . (PERIOD) includes 2024’s blockbuster hits “JOYRIDE” and “DELUSIONAL,” both available everywhere now. Currently boasting over 103M streams at Spotify alone, “JOYRIDE” proved a true sensation since its Independence Day release, reaching #6 on Billboard’s “Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles” and “Hot Dance/Electronic Songs” along with the top 30 on “Pop Airplay” and chart success around the world from the UK to New Zealand. Produced by Zhone and co-written by Kesha, Zhone, and Madison Love, the track marked the triumphant first chapter of a milestone new era for Kesha, celebrating both her long overdue empowerment as an independent artist as well as a powerful sonic evolution following 2023’s critically acclaimed fifth studio album, Gag Order. Along with its popular achievement, “JOYRIDE” has been met by high-profile critical applause from the likes of Rolling Stone, Variety, and Vulture, to name only a few. Perhaps NYLON said it best: “Everything about ‘JOYRIDE’ is a trip…The original glitter-faced party animal of the 2010s is back with a fiery vengeance.”
“JOYRIDE” joined by an equally acclaimed official music video streaming now on YouTube.
Directed by Dimitri Basil (Kylie Minogue, Vance Joy), Cooper Roussel (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Miami Horror), and Laura Gorun (Joywave, Kings of Leon), the high-octane visual received wide-ranging attention from major publications and top online outlets around the globe, including Billboard, Vulture, and Rolling Stone, the latter of which raved, ““Kesha is taking her foot off the brakes and going full-speed ahead on her new video for ‘JOYRIDE.’ The video sees Kesha racing through the desert in a hot red convertible while being chased by a helicopter, gun-toting assassins, and a shirtless dude hell-bent on catching up to the pop diva.”

A psychedelic start for the imprint where Digregorius tricks and conducts us into unknown lands...
Find the answers through this spiritual and musical exploration that waves from Folk to electro/ techno.

Mexican enfant extraordinaire Iñigo Vontier is rolling in with his debut EP for Feines Tier and it’s a match made in heaven. Just judging on the name alone, as he seems to be from some kind of royal Tier family descent. But enough with the mind-numbingly bad puns and on to some brain-meltingly good music.
Rolling. Everything’s rolling. Zongato is rolling. We don’t know who or what a Zongato is (a Google search just led to a Twitch streamer with that name and 0 followers), but they are definitely rolling. It’s got this special combination of straight and uncompromising beat and bass paired with psychedelic synth sirens floating around your head that somehow only the Mexicans really know how to nail.
Astrolo is rolling. Like a well-oiled machine. Well, maybe like a not so well-oiled machine, one that’s shrieking and creaking, but has been running since forever and reliably will do so until we’re all gone from this Earth.
If you ask Google Translate, Mucha Onda means „very cool“ in English, „molto bello“ in Italian or „valde frigidus“ in Latin and there is nothing more to add to that.
The psychedelics are back (were they ever gone?) and kick in in full swing on Hedonist Lizard. A dangerous cocktail of high-proof alcoholic drum and bass patterns paired with some sugary spicy herbals of unknown origin, better not down it in one go. You were warned.
On The Sounds Are Good, the sounds are good indeed! And rolling.

Yellow Vinyl

'70s Disco Music wan’t just Abba or Studio 54. In the same way that punk or glam rock were evolving at the same time, the "disco" phenomenon generated a plethora of obscure and bizarre studio projects which remained unknown for decades, despite often being more inspired and creative than the few ones that reached stardom and sold millions of copies. 45 rpm singles that remained unsold, sitting in junkshops all over the world for decades hide forgotten gems, revealing genius and avant-garde only guilty of not being at the right place at the right time. Whether it's Moroder-oriented proto synth-wave, groovy space-disco or acid afro funk, volume 1 of the Cosmic Discotheque series is all about rediscovering those forgotten treasures while setting your dancefloor on fire!

New R&B discoveries continue to emerge and entertain the many followers of the New Breed musical cult; nobody finds more than the Kent connoisseurs.
Berna Dean’s two previously unheard recordings are by far her best. They were laid down at Cosimo Matassa’s New Orleans’ studios by GNP Crescendo but eschewed in favour of two relatively average sides. The great 50s R&B songwriter Jesse Stone provides a rocker for the much-admired Jimmy Breedlove and a super-catchy ‘This Morning’ for an unknown mixed vocal group that has a joyous gospel feel. Jesse also penned ‘Private Eye’, a classic early 60s story-song, for Buddy Wilkins which was issued on Al Sears’ Tri-Ess imprint.
The title track is used twice, on two very different Fraternity recordings. Kenny Smith’s version was issued in 1964 and has many followers, but the equally meritorious Coasters-inspired composition by the Citations is newly discovered. Win Menifee’s ‘I’m Runnin’ Around’ from the same Cincinnati label comes complete with a fascinating back-story.
There are three cover versions. Vermettya Royster’s ‘All Around The World’ is backed by James Brown’s 1961 band, while Roosevelt Lee's 1970 update of the 1947-originated ‘Hey Little Girl’ funks the tune up a la Godfather of Soul. The cover that will make the biggest noise is undoubtedly west coast band the Afterglows’ version of Barbara Lynn’s evergreen dancer ‘I’m A Good Woman’ – this is a future monster.
Golden Crest provides two fabulous male vocal group sides – the swinging ‘What’s On Your Mind’ by Eddie Daye’s Four Bars and the delightful harmonies of the appropriately-named, but unknown Delights ‘Mary Don’t You Weep’.
Blues still thrived into the 70s as Albert Washington’s mean and moody ‘Case Of The Blues’ proves. Smokey Wilson took the music into the late 70s with the storming ‘Goin’ Away Baby (Round Like An Apple)’, which benefits here from a 45-style edit. His Pioneer Club on 88th Street in South Central L A provides the atmospheric photo for this collection.
More early 60s movers come from Wilbur “Hi-Fi” White with ‘Don’t Look Now’, future hit songwriter Johnny Madara’s raucous ‘You Make Me Mad’ and Big Boy Groves ‘Bucket O’ Blood’ which brilliantly describes the kind of club these tracks would fit right into.
The LP version loses a few tracks, but so many collectors have strong preferences we’ve thrown the vinyl junkies a lifeline.

"Word on the Street" ist das amerikanische Debütalbum der kanadischen Avant-Pop-Singer-Songwriterin und Performance-Künstlerin Elle Barbara und geht auf das Konto von Elle Barbara's Black Space - einer Gruppe von Instrumentalisten aus Montreal, die Barbara zusammengerufen hat, um mit anderen schwarzen Musikern ins Gespräch zu kommen und dabei nicht den Erwartungen an den Klang schwarzer Musiker zu entsprechen. "Word on Street" wurde von Elle Barbara in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Renny Wilson geschrieben, komponiert, arrangiert und produziert. Renny Wilson hat das Album über einen Zeitraum von acht Jahren aufgenommen, bearbeitet und abgemischt, in denen Elle, eine schwarze Trans-Person, sich sozial und medizinisch neu orientieren musste, während sie von Sozialhilfe lebte und sich häufig von nur 11 CAD pro Woche ernährte. In diesem Sinne ist "Word on the Street" ein Sieg gegen Klassenkampf und Vetternwirtschaft und ein unverschämtes Zeugnis dafür, wie eine einkommensschwache, von der Sozialhilfe unterstützte, schwarze Mann-zu-Frau-Transsexuelle mittleren Alters es geschafft hat, alle Ressourcen zu nutzen, um die Musik zu machen, die ihr vorschwebt, und die Konventionen der Musikindustrie völlig zu ignorieren. "Word on the Street" ist auch vehement radikal und unabhängig; ein Meisterwerk der DIY-Prog-High-Production, inspiriert von der Art und Weise, wie das Konsumverhalten und die gegenwärtige technologische Zeit dazu führen, dass sich unser Leben verschlechtert und wir uns zunehmend voneinander entfremdet fühlen. Mit einer breiten Palette von Einflüssen, darunter Todd Rundgrens "A Wizard, a True Star", Prince and the Revolution mit "Purple Rain" und "Running Out of Time" von Rexy, beschwört jeder Track auf "Word on the Street", abgesehen davon, dass sie sehr melodisch sind, einzigartige Bilder herauf, die sich aus scheinbar unvereinbaren Bildern zusammensetzen, wie z. B. korrupte Justizsysteme, die Prophezeiungen von Nostradamus und das Eishockeyteam Montreal Canadiens. "Word on the Street" ist eine gemischte Tüte, deren verschwörerische Ästhetik eine antikonsumistische Haltung verbirgt, die zum Widerstand gegen den Aufstieg der künstlichen Intelligenz und anderer Werkzeuge der technologischen Unterdrückung aufruft und außerhalb der aktuellen Überwachungssysteme arbeitet, was wiederum mit Elle Barbaras Vorstoß für Low-Tech-Unterstützung wie Vinyl-Schallplatten übereinstimmt.

Named after a (US) West Coast grocery store chain, The Whitefronts started out in 1982 as a quartet of art and theater students attending UCSB. The band quickly mutated into a sextet. In 1984, they moved north to establish themselves as part of the SF DIY culture. Live shows usually consisted of open jams drawing from what the band was obsessing about at the time—free jazz, The Velvet Underground, Caribbean music, improv noise—as well as their own unheralded genres that popped in and out of existence like subatomic particles. Shows with local bands like Slovenly, Camper Van Beethoven, Caroliner Rainbow, Vomit Launch, Barnacle Choir and Barbara Manning provide some context as to their eccentric position within the indie scene of the era.

In 1985, the band released their sole LP, Roast Belief, on their own Bogden label. This was an ambitious attempt to document the various ideas that were happening live. Though practically unknown today, it’s an extraordinary record—a mid-80s classic serving up eclectic derangement on a par with contemporaries like the Butthole Surfers, Meat Puppets, Sun City Girls, Tuxedomoon and Eugene Chadbourne.
The Mamo Waves LP was compiled from recordings made between 1982-1987. As with Roast Belief LP, it’s a mind-melting jumble of the genres explored by Whitefronts throughout their existence. It was originally supposed to be released by Camper Van’s Pitch-A-Tent imprint, as a couple of WF members were touring with CBV in 1987, but the release fell through the cracks when CBV was airlifted to Virgin Records in 1988. Today, it’s clear that Mamo Waves belongs to the same 1980s Californian sub-underground aesthetic that nurtured mythical 80s bands like Departmentstore Santas and Prominent Disturbance. It’s a real WTF m.o. that still sounds like the future.

[e] B1 When You Were Young, Mixed By – Alan Moulder, Flood, Producer – Alan Moulder, Flood, Producer [With] – The Killers
[f] B2 Read My Mind, Mixed By – Alan Moulder, Flood, Producer – Alan Moulder, Flood, Producer [With] – The Killers
[g] B3 For Reasons Unknown, Mixed By – Alan Moulder, Flood, Producer – Alan Moulder, Flood, Producer [With] – The Killers



[k] C3 Runaways, Mixed By – Alan Moulder, Producer – Brendan O'Brien, Producer [Additional] – Damian Taylor, Steve Lillywhite

For Wilkes-Barre's One Step Closer - the concept of home is complicated. "I've never felt so distant in my life," vocalist Ryan Savitski screams on the lead single "Pringle Street," a place in his hometown that binds the album's lyrics to both a precise location and feeling of displacement. On their first ever full-length album and debut for Run For Cover This Place You Know, the band offers a modern coming-of-age story about growing up and grasping both the known and the unknown. One Step Closer started in 2016 and in their short five years, Savitski, along with drummer Tommy Norton, bassist Brian Talipan and guitarists Ross Thompson & Grady Allen have come into their own as a modern hardcore mainstay. Their 2019 EP 'From Me To You' countered existing trends in exchange for a more melodic sound in the vein of bands like Turning Point and Title Fight. They went on to open for Have Heart at the band's now legendary reunion shows that summer, and joined bands like Knuckle Puck and Turnstile on tour before pausing to write their debut album. This Place You Know grapples with the weight of themes like isolation, depression, and loss - all amplified by driving bass lines, em-phatic guitar riffs and unwavering drumming performed by the band. From the first moments of album opener "I Feel So," the stakes are made clear by the anchoring lyric 'this place you know, sometimes it hides the truth and lets people go" - One Step Closer is attempting to resolve the unresolvable anguish of moving on from everything you once knew.

Far above the skylark sings And beats the air with joyful wings Till all the sky with music rings At high noon of the day With 2022's critically acclaimed album Ghosts, enigmatic Shropshire group HARESS markedout their own place in a growing landscape of artists navigating the world of the traditional and the rural in new ways. Ghosts led to the normally reclusive Haress venturing out from their base in the Shropshire Hills for live performances with the likes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Shovel Dance Collective, Big Brave, Steve Von Till and appearances at Supersonic and Krankenhaus Festivals - not to mention making fans of everyone from Kevin Martin to James Holden in the process. Skylarks is perhaps the natural conclusion of these past few years for the group. Whereas previous Haress recordings have embraced something of the unknown in the process of their making, Skylarks sees a well-travelled group of musicians carefully craft long and expressive pieces of music in a powerful and instinctual way. The music here might be long, but it never sprawls out of control. The telepathy present in live performance has been harnessed and used to carefully compose and arrange these four pieces, narrating a journey through landscape and time that is as powerful as it is beautiful. Inspired by found folk songs, the power of nature and the power of community and Ben Myers' brutal tale of resistance The Gallows Pole, Haress have created a genuinely epic soundtrack to a world both past and future, real and imagined. The ambience and atmosphere of the recording (expertly captured by Phil Booth of JT Soar Studio on location in the group's hometown of Bishop's Castle) is entirely natural, the sound of an ensemble playing live in the room around you. The only vocal interjection this time comes from a choir of voices, replicating the communal singing that has been the centrepiece of Haress live performances. When the voices emerge, it feels truly euphoric and heavy. Not heavy as in metal, but heavy as in the Earth itself - a primal, joyful gut punch to the system. "This blissed-out psychedelia is not quite pastoral – there’s nothing twee about these unwinding grooves – yet evokes water and wood, light and shadow, a place of forgotten labour and the absent human form with a beguiling grace" - Luke Turner on Ghosts, The Quietus Albums Of The Year 2022 "That timelessness of the old sounds but with an added tripped out modernity and dissonance hooked into the past by the power of drone is magical and exhilarating stuff – they are truly spellbinding – ancient and modern like British ragas or a damp searching for the soul of England take on the desert blues of a Tinariwen" - Jon Robb reviews Krankenhaus Festival 2023, Louder Than War

The buzz about the Crystal Teardrop that has been growing for the past two years looks set to reach fever pitch with the release of their debut album _IS FORMING. Featuring a dozen memorable compositions by the bands Alexandra Rose and Leon Jones, the album more than lives up to the promise of their 2024 single releases and their ecstatic live performances on stages across the UK and Europe. The band formed in Stoke-on-Trent in early 2023, "inspired," explains Alexandra Rose, "by a mutual passion for the sights, sounds and creative experimentation of the late 1960s." In addition to Alexandra on lead vocals on guitar, the band comprises Leon Jones (guitar, sitar), Stuart Gray (keyboards, Mellotron), Ed Quigley (bass, vocals), and Huw Woodward (drums, percussion). Intuitively blending elements of garage rock, folk-rock, power pop and psychedelia, the band have created an appealing concoction infused with their own perspectives and personalities. To best capture their sound, they recorded at an all-analogue facility, Tilehouse studio in North London, working closely with White Stripes producer Liam Watson of Toe Rag Studios fame.

TWICE A MAN pflanzten die Saat für "The Coloured Breeze Is a New Dimension" mit dem Song 'Dahlia', einem "neuen" Stück, das sie zur Ergänzung der Albumkompilation "Songs of Future Memories" geschrieben hatten. Drei Jahre lang düngte und hegte das schwedische Dark-Electronic-Trio den Keim, bis er feste Wurzeln in ihrem musikalischen Erbe fand und damit begann, neugierige Ableger in neue fruchtbare Böden jenseits der zuvor errichteten Klanggartenmauern zu senden. "The Coloured Breeze Is a New Dimension" ist ein organisches Gebilde, das etwas Neues schafft, indem es seine musikalische DNA auf verschiedene Weise rekombiniert. Als Ergebnis erblühen die frischen Songs in vielen elektronischen Farbnuancen. TWICE A MAN waren schon immer Vorreiter. In ihrem Heimatland Schweden waren sie die anerkannten Pioniere der elektronischen Musik. Und schon lange bevor es in Mode kam, positionierten sich die Schweden als selbstbewusste Umweltschützer. Musikalisch wurden sie liebevoll mit Bezeichnungen versehen wie: "Ultravox auf Gras - wenn auch melancholisch und ohne zuckriges Pathos" oder "wie ein trauriger Gary Numan, aber mit einem warmen, organischen Touch". In ihrem Sound finden sich auch sanfte Anklänge an TANGERINE DREAM, KLAUS SCHULZE und THE HUMAN LEAGUE neben vielen anderen möglichen Referenzen. Als sich Sänger, Gitarrist und Keyboarder Dan Söderqvist im Jahr 1977 mit dem Synthesizer-Spieler Karl Gasleben zusammenkam, gründete das Duo zunächst COSMIC OVERDOSE, die erste elektronische Band Skandinaviens, aus der dann TWICE A MAN hervorging. Während ihrer bemerkenswerten Karriere veröffentlichten die Schweden zahlreiche Alben, inklusive spezieller Projekte, und zwei Kompilationen. Sie spielten zahllose Konzerte und schufen den Soundtrack für sieben abendfüllende Theateraufführungen im Königlichen Dramatischen Theater in Stockholm, Musik für Filme, Ausstellungen, Tanzaufführungen und sogar Computerspiele. Die Natur spielt auch in den Texten und im Sound von "The Coloured Breeze Is a New Dimension" wieder eine große Rolle. TWICE A MAN haben ein musikalisches Äquivalent dazu geschaffen, Trost in der Natur, Kunst und der Freude an Büchern zu finden, um zumindest für eine Weile den Übeln der modernen Welt zu entkommen.

2025 Repress

A tale of paramount love for machines and the inextinguishable power of subjugation that lies in these button-studded boxes teeming with cabled bowels that feel so intimidating to the uninitiated, Italo Brutalo's longed-for debut album "Heartware" is a 12-track voyage across 25 years of intense synth collecting, fiddling,
composing and endless loving for audio synthesis and the art of how robots make human bodies jack.
Throughout the twelve cuts that compose "Heartware", a feeling of retro-gazing, candidly playful glee prevails. Looking right in the eye of the era when dazzling flipper visuals and static-filled VHS glitches
reigned supreme, Italo Brutalo invites us to witness first-hand his own textbook smorgasbord of fast-wheeling arpeggios and vocodized hoodoo ("Heartware", "Reach Horizon"), dystopian digital sunsets by the beach ("I Feel Lonely"), early hip-hop-informed whackin' n' thumpin' ("Analog Bars") and the slo but hard churn of a robot heist score ("Nobody Moves").
A lush tapestry of woozy exotic pads set in contrast with a deft and aggro drum programming ("As Above So Below"), followed by a new-beat oriented hammer-drop that shall leave no raver unscathed ("Heat of the Knight"), Italo Brutalo shifts the scope to radical effect whilst maintaining that cohesive headspace flush with the iconic 80s-to-90s-sourced assets. The hardware used in the making of "Heartware" is obviously the star here, and the inner sleeve pays tribute to that: the ideas behind the album have been there waiting to find their way out for over twenty years!
From adrenalin-boosting fractals of keyboard razzle-dazzle ("Chemical Element") to straight out pumping EBM primed for hi-octane mosh pits down the basement ("You Are Welcome"), via polyrhytmic percs-driven assaults and sizzling hot synth-smithery ("Into a Sampler"), the pressure levels never falter. Yet, Italo Brutalo sure knows how to weave further oneiric, softer narratives for your mind to frolic in unhindered ("Dream Machine") and rounds it all off with a total, space-opera'esque epic bound to have you spinning out of orbit into the great unknown ("Eternia").
"Heartware" is released in a neat double-vinyl gatefold package presenting the concept and machines involved in its making, including a twelve-page booklet featuring Italo Brutalo's key pieces of gear.

Oh yes, we love it when Theo represses some of his most sought after tracks and this one is particularly well-timed. Leron Carson is still an unknown figure, a kid who used to make viciously raw and futuristic techno tracks in the late 1980's! "China Trax", alongside the rest of his tracks on a different Sound Signature double 12", is totally ahead of its time and if it was truly made in 1987 then it is nothing short of amazing. Of course, it's not just the year it was made in that's interesting but also the fact that it's music without an age, able to be appreciated by any generation of techno freaks. Theo's own "Insane Asylum" on the flipside is also pretty monumental; rigged beats, off-kilter grooves and that familiar spontaneity so heavily associated to the label. RECOMMENDED.

Finally available following strong support from Antal and Hunee, including soundtracking the closing of Rainbow Disco Club Festival in Japan: Cabo Verde Show's 1984 showstopper “Bem Danca” revisited in its original form alongside a perfectly stripped-back, synth-focused edit by The Square Sun. Now on a 12” pressed loud at 45 RPM, with the edit on the A-side and the original version on the flip!

“Bem Danca” was a B-side cut from a 1983 release, featuring lead vocals from Luis Da Silva. The original is a party-ready Funaná jam with intricate horn and guitar work. The Square Sun’s edit takes the track deeper, extending some instrumental parts to build tension before the culmination of synths and horns that truly sparkle in this version. An essential for your bag as we begin to enjoy those open-air dancefloors once again!

Remedy Entertainment und Laced Records präsentieren die wegweisende, unvergessliche Musik des preisgekrönten Videospiels 'Alan Wake 2' auf Vinyl.

Remedy und sein Creative Director Sam Lake sind wohl unübertroffen in ihrem Engagement für die Musik in ihren Spielen. Für den Soundtrack verfolgten sie vier kreative Hauptstränge: Der langjährige Mitarbeiter Petri Alanko (Alan Wake, Quantum Break, Control) kehrte als leitender Komponist zurück und lieferte einen bissigen und doch gefühlvollen dramatischen Horror-Score sowie die bei den Fans beliebte Hausmeister-Ballade „Yötön Yö“, gesungen von Martti Suosalo (Ahti).

Der Musikkünstler POE und Sam Lake haben sich zusammengetan, um vier Teile des spiralförmigen, melancholischen Epos „This Road“ zu schaffen, das das Ende von Wakes Reise durch den Dark Place darstellt.

Die Poets of the Fall schlüpften erneut in die Rolle der alten Götter von Asgard und schufen mehrere Prog-Opera, darunter das monumentale „Herald of Darkness“ mit dem Gesang von Matthew Porretta (Alan Wake) und David Harewood (Mr. Door).

Schließlich versammelte die Musikproduktionsfirma Fried Music in Zusammenarbeit mit Nordic Music Partners eine kleine Armee außergewöhnlicher Songwriter-Talente, um die vielseitigen, atmosphärischen und im Universum angesiedelten „Chapter Songs“ zu komponieren.

Not much is known about De Frank Kakra - let alone his birth name or where he is today. A few liner notes scattered across his records give a glimpse of his career as a backing vocalist and percussionist on the Ghanaian highlife scene of the 1970s, notably with Vis-A-Vis, K. Frimpong's band (Cubano Fiestas). He later formed his own bands, The Professionals and The Diggit Ways, alongside Sammy Copper, recording throughout West Africa. His recordings have now been unearthed, remastered and compiled in a triple LP anthology of his musical works. Although much remains unknown, RastaPastaRecords' goal is to ascertain several discoveries made about his life during the production of this record and to continue the research. "Call Me Frank" is a funky take on 1970s highlife set to a vintage Afro - rock fusion that evokes a time when West African dance floors vibrated with raw energy and relentless groove. "Psychedelic Man" is a full dive into the De Frank Kakra sound. With its hypnotic guitar riffs, cosmic organs and head- nodding drum rhythms, this infectious anthem will plunge you into a state of nostalgic psychedelia.

Over the decades, the image of Kompakt as a pirate ship has taken root in our minds, braving the dangers of the seven seas of the music market. Sometimes it glides with a tailwind through calm waters, sometimes it has to survive violent storms. When we set sail in 1993, we never would have dreamt that our journey would still be going on after more than three decades and with 500 releases to date.

In our fast-paced business, the 500 mark is rarely reached, so we want to celebrate it with a lavish 5LP box set. In a democratic process, we have selected 50 pearls from the thousands of tracks released over the last 33 1/3 years and pressed them onto 5 brightly coloured vinyls. Alongside many Kompakt evergreens, there are also some real rarities from the early ‘Kompakt Sound of Cologne’, which have been lovingly remastered here to shine in new splendour.

The box also contains a 144-page book that tells the story of Kompakt from 1993 to today with detailed texts and images. In addition to the manifold musical and graphic achievements of Kompakt, the multidisciplinary links to the visual arts are also highlighted here.

The Bonus Picture Disc opens with the symbolic tolling of 500 bass drums, followed by 50 locked grooves from the 5 Kompakt founders, looping into infinity at 133 1/3 BPM, and the ‘33 1/3 Years Loop Opera’ – in which the loops are combined into one track that, in its reduced essence, is more than the sum of its individual parts. The magic of groovy loop minimalism and the ‘art of omission’ are once again brought to the proverbial point.

On 23 May 2025, the big KOMPAKT 500 art exhibition will open at the venerable Kölnischer Kunstverein to coincide with the release. The entire visual cosmos of Kompakt will be shown here in an unprecedented way on three floors, with the participation of many renowned artists. Of course, there will also be dancing and partying at the vernissage party, with DJ sets and live shows by the Kompakt Allstars.

The last one turns off the bass drum.


Im Laufe der Jahrzehnte hat sich in unseren Köpfen das Bild von Kompakt als Piratenschiff festgesetzt, das den Gefahren der sieben Weltmeere des Musikmarktes trotzt. Mal gleitet es mit Rückenwind durch ruhige Gewässer, mal muss es heftige Stürme überstehen. Als wir 1993 die Segel setzten, hätten wir uns nicht träumen lassen, dass unsere Reise nach über drei Jahrzehnten und mittlerweile 500 Veröffentlichungen immer noch andauert.

Die 500 ist in unserem schnelllebigen Geschäft eine selten erreichte Katalognummer und soll daher mit einer üppigen 5LP-Box gebührend gefeiert werden. In einem demokratischen Prozess haben wir aus den tausenden Tracks der letzten 33 1/3 Jahre 50 Perlen ausgewählt und auf 5 knallbunte Vinyls gepresst. Neben vielen Kompakt-Evergreens finden sich auch einige echte Raritäten des frühen “Kompakt Sound of Cologne”, die hier liebevoll remastered in neuem Glanz erstrahlen.

Die Box enthält außerdem ein 144-seitiges Buch, das mit ausführlichen Texten und Bildern die Kompakt-Geschichte von 1993 bis heute erzählt. Neben den mannigfaltigen musikalischen und grafischen Errungenschaften von Kompakt werden hier auch die multidisziplinären Vernetzungen zur bildenden Kunst beleuchtet.

Die Bonus Picture Disc wird mit einem symbolischen Glockenschlag von 500 Bassdrums eröffnet, gefolgt von 50 Endlosrillen der 5 Kompakt-Gründer, die sich bei 133 1/3 BPM in die Unendlichkeit schleifen sowie der “33 1/3 Years Loop Opera”, in der die Loops zu einem Track zusammengefügt werden, der in seiner reduzierten Essenz mehr ist als die Summe seiner Einzelteile. Die Magie des groovenden Loop-Minimalismus und die “Kunst des Weglassens” werden einmal mehr auf den sprichwörtlichen Punkt gebracht.

Am 23. Mai 2025 eröffnet parallel zum Release die große KOMPAKT 500 Kunstausstellung im ehrwürdigen Kölnischen Kunstverein. Der gesamte visuelle Kosmos von Kompakt wird hier unter Beteiligung vieler namhafter Künstler*Innen in nie gesehener Form auf drei Etagen gezeigt. Selbstverständlich darf zur Vernissagenparty auch getanzt und gefeiert werden zu DJ Sets und Liveshows der Kompakt Allstars.

Der Letzte macht die Bassdrum aus.

The first in a proposed series of transmissions, Surface Detail's mystifying debut introduces an incorporeal body that exists only through sound and sensation, prompting listeners to discern a spiritual realm beyond the physical. Its surging electro-acoustic compositions push past the material world to plunge into deeper sonic dimensions, slowly revealing a philosophy borne of near-death and out-of-body experiences that challenges perception itself.

Overhauling vintage experimental techniques with their bespoke modern methodologies and processes, Surface Detail rearrange the musical timeline, merging vastly different concepts to hint at questions rather than provide solid answers. Their uniquely immersive soundscapes use texture, rhythm and tonality to help brush away the superficial and contemplate the unknown, approaching its delicate, controversial subject matter with sensitivity and sensuality. Not just an auditory experience, 'Surface Detail' tests the potential of sound itself, eliciting visceral physical reactions with its uncanny subtleties.

Those principles are divulged immediately on opening track 'Marée Noire', as breathy saxophone notes loops and swirl over cosmic oscillations and microtonally tuned drones. It's music that cracks open a passage that snakes through various genres, suggesting silhouettes rather than affirming banal musical preconceptions. Skeletal rhythms appear in the ether for only a moment, disappearing into the sonic landscape, and Surface Detail's bespoke instrumentation materializes just to bring out the cellular intricacy of the music, concentrating the gaze on microscopic textures and irregularities that discompose the senses. As the album drifts forward, it bends material reality even further: on 'Southern Breach', warm, lower-register organ tones intermingle with sinewy guitar twangs, evaporating into warped, hypnotic oscillations and eerie echoes; and by 'Superbook of the Dead', the conspicuous details have almost disappeared completely, replaced by subterranean clangs, industrial ambience and other-worldly electrical interference.

It's in this way that Surface Detail softly assert their convictions, insinuating a narrative that subliminally ushers listeners down an hypnagogic River Styx by removing all traces of the familiar. On closing track 'Broken Silicates', distant lullabies, dissociated stutters and ghostly woodwind sounds blot fractal patterns on the wide open space, reincarnating the album in a liminal zone that's not constrained by somatic logic. Whisper quiet and utterly beguiling, it transcends material existence, dissolving barriers between surface and depth.

The visionary Walter Maioli (Futuro Antico, Aktuala) and the eccentric electronic musician John Zandijik first met in 1984 when they both gravitated toward the experimental Sound Reporters collective, participating in the release of Ethnoelectronics (1986). Shortly afterward, the two met at Zandijik's studio in Rotterdam, where they completed their journey of exploration to the edge of the Universe in just three nights. The recordings were made only after 3 a.m., when psychic energy is at its peak, and inspiration belongs solely to the realm of dreams. It was a ritual of long galactic fluctuation, where the mystical sound of the flute was filtered and expanded by the Aureal system, a device capable of breaking it down into cascades of aureal harmonies. Through its extemporaneous approach, the music transforms perceptions of ancient pyramids or tropical forests into phosphorescent nebulae, luminous fountain openings, and unprecedented planetary interstices—interstellar portals leading to new archetypal-ancestral visions. It feels like sailing through colored orbits in the red gases of Jupiter and Mars, lost and dissolved forever in the engines and gears of the most secret cosmos. Between Pink Floyd-esque psychedelic flashes and Tangerine Dream-inspired sidereal architectures, Maioli and Zandijik reveal the most phantasmagoric and unknown side of Sound Reporters.

Only the first plate of the LP. (AB side)

New Zealand drum & bass titans The Upbeats have galvanized the global turbulence and turmoil during COVID to create their most explorative and emotionally heavy album to date "Not Forever". Featuring the likes of Fat Freddys Drop frontman Joe Dukie, Jordan Dennis, Levine Lale, Sylvee, Syrene Favero and US MC don Armanni Reign, "Not Forever" is unlike anything the duo has released before. Written in a different way, approached from another perspective, created with a newfound love for the creative process and the scene at large; It's a whole new side to the duo who have continually pushed themselves and their sound into the unknown...

Again Mysteries delivers 3 exellent long dark atmospheric tracks upholding the established label philosophy. Mastered by Pozek. Artwork by Darkam.
The tribal triumvirate of C. Ysme, Kbyl and Yukai supply fuel for the nomadic war machine. Relentlessly driving, pushing forward at 150 bpm, only stopping for the next gathering in pirate utopia. A maelstrom swirling, drawing you in to the centre of the dance.
Darkness merchants and veterans Too Old Boyz team up with Kaoslog and descend into the catacombs to deal with the fear factor. In the blackness a synth melody shines like a greenish light. Amply named Adrenaline this track urges to keep on moving and confront the monsters. 150 bpm, epic and hard as nails.
After Mysteries #6, #10 and VC 27 Keflat 23 is back and ups the pace going 170 beats full on pumping tribalistic yet subtle in line with the spirit of Mysteries, carefully laying out a mental map of realms and conzepts unknown. Immer geradeaus but when you see the rabbit ask it for directions.
This release includes a 2 side poster, digital download code and artwork sticker.

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.

Three LPs packed in a trifold jacket. Pressed on Deep Ocean Pearl, Gold & Dark Green Vinyl. Take up your sword, channel your magic or board your Mech. Chained Echoes is a 16-bit style RPG set in a fantasy world where dragons are as common as piloted mechanical suits. The game is set on the continent of Valandis during the time of a multi-generational war between three kingdoms, Taryn, Gravos and Escanya. After a great catastrophe caused by Grand Grimoire shakes the continent, the kingdoms agree to sign a peace treaty. One year later, an unknown force strives to begin a new war. A group of unlikely heroes joins forces and eventually becomes the clan of Crimson Wings in order to stop it. The outstanding soundtrack for Chained Echoes was passionately composed, arranged and recorded over four years by Eddie Marianukroh as well as many other musicians who worked under his direction. It includes 50 tracks at two hours in length. Even the game has been out for a while, Marianukroh's admiration and enthusiasm for the game and his addition to it remain undiminished: "It has been over two years now since the release of Chained Echoes, which is rather difficult for me to believe. Time really flies, and it's honestly a bit frightening when I think about it. But, despite that, when I listen to the music I've written for this game, I still very much remain proud of what I composed. I really did give my all for this soundtrack. I will forever be grateful to Matthias for trusting me with the music for his game. I can vividly remember how I felt when I first came across his project, and how I nervously reached out to him about the composer position. I truly, truly cannot thank him enough for giving me this memorable experience that I will always hold dear. Thank you, my friend."

The deadbeat Danish duo return to serenade us with their signature sound of fuzzed-out garage-rock guitars, falsetto vocal supremacy, and an unyielding rhythm section. Gabestok find themselves lodged at the pinch point between the grandiose and the garage, crafting songs that are at once eminently epic yet raw and direct. Alle Dør I Fremtiden is a road trip into oblivion, always accelerating toward some unknown precipice until inevitably driving you over the edge. Laying in the wreckage of an old car smelling of stale cigarettes and beer you wonder what happened, then flip the record and start again.
A short conceptual album steeped in hopelessness, regression, power, and the almighty battle against mob mentality in the wake of advancing technology and knowledge. Set amidst a geomagnetic storm on a desolate, scorched Earth, we follow an obsessive collector who has amassed a vast physical repository of lost knowledge now esoteric in an era of hard drives and remote storage. Books, piles of papers, and artefacts are all locked away in his private Citadel, far removed from a population of spiritless people, trapped within their own thought-prisons, fiercely guarded by corporate algorithms.
Fire and flames come in many disguises and eventually We All Die in the Future.

The legendary New Jersey House collective Smack were responsible for a long list of hits throughout the 90's, with members of the team producing under a number of different aliases and alongside Blaze, Kerri Chandler, Tony Humphries were at the forefront of the New Jersey sound.

One such alias was Princess Di, produced by Smack Productions own Healey LeCator and featuring an unknown vocalist. Together they released a string of X-rated house tracks from 1994 until 1996 that have gone on to be cult classics, standing the test of time.

With the permission from Jeffrey Collins from Music Station, WOLF have hand-picked their favourite Princess Di tracks and combined them onto one bumper 12". Fully remastered and cut LOUD. Sometimes you have to look back in order to move forward!

TELEFAX PRODUCTIONS present a special, four-track wax release of one of 2024’s hottest club cuts - revivalist hip-house jam ‘Break This House Down’. Formed by two vastly experienced producers whose working partnership began way back in the late 1980s, TELEFAX PRODUCTIONS was born to provide a platform for established and unknown artists. One of 2024’s hottest club cuts supported by Honey Dijon, Luke Solomon and London’s Faith crew, ‘Break This House Down’ stars previously unheard mic man DeeVoeNay – a young rapper hailing from Buffalo, NY. Joining the original on this vinyl package is a live version with DeeVoeNay’s band HR Nightmare, alongside a bruk remix from London broken beat torchbearer EVM128, plus TELEFAX PRODUCTIONS’ vinyl-only Acid House Remix. ‘Break This House Down’ spotlights DeeVoeNay’s distinctive flow and party-starting lyrics front and centre, with the well-established, multi-faceted artist Jimmy Cauty responsible for the bold and highly stylised artwork - with Cauty also designing a special physical print included in this unmissable vinyl package.

Soul Jazz Records’ new Secret Superstar Sounds brings together a wealth of incredibly catchy tunes from late-70s/early-80s British groups that you have probably never heard of! Powerpop mixed together a love of lyrical and melodically beautiful 60s pop and garage sounds, together with the energy and attitude of 70s punk. Almost completely out of kilter with the fashions of the day (punk, new wave and post-punk) these bands managed to fall between the musical cracks at almost every step of the way – leaving them practically unknown to all but a few.

Inspired by the D-I-Y messaging of bands like The Desperate Bicycles, Sniffing Glue fanzine and early UK punk labels like Stiff, Chiswick and Rough Trade, these bands chose mainly to go into a studio and make their own private press/D-I-Y records themselves – then try to work out everything else (promotion, marketing, etc) afterwards. As mainly outsiders to the mainstream music industry, and usually unable to make any inroads into it, save for sending their own record to John Peel, most of these bands fell at the first hurdle.

These records remain both beautifully crafted 3-minute musical gems, and long-lost micro-histories of an essentially hidden genre.
Featured bands here include The Squares, The Meanies, The Monitors, Plummet Airline, Tours, Gobblinz, Krypton Tunes and more. Most of these records were self-published D-I-Y releases made in very limited-editions and were often the only tracks ever released by these groups.

Depressive black metallers GHOST BATH have emerged from beyond the veil with their new album, Rose Thorn Necklace, through long-time partner Nuclear Blast. Free from the Moonlover-Starmourner-Self Loather conceptual trilogy, sole proprietor Nameless (aka Dennis Mikula) explores the most intense and introspective GHOST BATH’s oeuvre, advancing with blackened blasts and melancholic movements while moving his only child forward into the unknown. Hoisted into the firmament by the shimmering ‘Vodka Butterfly’ and the dissonant bliss of ‘Well, I Tried Drowning’ on one end and lowered into Mikula’s personal abyss with ‘Dandelion Tea’ and the riveting title track on the other, Rose Thorn Necklace is absolute danger and
haunting beauty.

Der britische Jazz-Produzent Daylight Robbery kehrt mit seinem neuen Album Third Island Suite (auch bekannt als Third Eye Land) zurück, das über Melting Pot Music auf LP und digital veröffentlicht wird. Eine fesselnde Fusion aus Spiritual Jazz, Fusion und Hip-Hop, die in Zusammenarbeit mit dem renommierten New Yorker Pianisten Nick Marks entstand.

Als Nachfolger seines Debütalbums Moons of Jupiter aus dem Jahr 2022 lässt sich Third Island Suite von John Fowles’ metafiktionalem Klassiker The Magus inspirieren und erkundet klanglich eine Welt psychologischer Illusionen und meisterhafter Täuschungen. Das Artwork hat der Kölner Illustrator Jens Roth entworfen.

Beyond the Bridge proudly presents the latest EP from Dutch sonic architect Spekki Webu, titled "Neural Network," set to release on April 15, 2025. As the founder of Mirror Zone, Webu masterfully conjures a spectral world where time collapses and frequencies bend, inviting listeners on a mind-expanding journey through sound. His ritualistic compositions transcend conventional boundaries, merging past, present, and future into a singular, fluid moment. The eight-track EP delves into an abstract landscape of high-intensity frequencies and textural flux. Webu's sonic manipulations challenge linearity, evoking cyclical movements that oscillate between chaos and order. Each track serves as a kinetic force, pulsating with raw energy and enveloping the listener in immersive sonic architecture. The release also features two transformative remixes from Beyond the Bridge label head K.O.P. 32 and acclaimed producer Feral, each expanding the boundaries of interpretation into new dimensions. credits releases April 15, 2025 All tracks written, produced, and mixed by Spekki Webu at Into The Unknown in The Hague. Additional production by Feral and K.O.P. 32. Mastering by K.O.P. 32 at Pacific Sound Network in Seoul. Visuals by Anton Braun. ? Beyond the Bridge 2025.

'Atmospheric death metal'. Three simple words to describe one's music, chosen by JADE mainman J. himself, although they don't seem to quite pay justice to the gigantic scope of their music. Because ever since the release of their debut demo back in 2018 they've proven again and again to be more. Much more. Historically speaking, the word 'jade' referred to a rare but valuable mineral in ancient times all over the world. From Mesoamerican cultures to Chinese and Southern Asian ones, the greenstone was conferred with deep spiritual symbolism and used to connect the earthly level to the unknown. The history of countless traditions, legends and cults remain as an endless source of topics in terms of lyrics for the band, with a rich historical narrative also poetized. JADE's music is described by J. as "a tribute to the timeless obscure metal language, from early death/doom manifestations to later atmospheric black acts, in a really heavy, intense and epic form which transcends ages, as the greenstone cult has endured." The sophomore album, and second full-length after last year split LP with SANCTUARIUM, Mysteries Of A Flowery Dream carries an ominous wave of darkness, redefining heaviness with new levels of musical production and arrangements, compared by J. to "a journey into the dialogue between conscious and subconscious dreaming states and the mysteries around." The album's lyrics are in direct line of those themes, echoing the celestial world and how it can help us overcoming ominous times ("The Stars' Shelter"), how dreams can be interpreted as omens ("Light's Blood") and how they allow us to travel the Mayan cosmovision and its various worlds for guidance, healing and messages ("Shores Of Otherness"), among others. You can even find on the cover artwork elements of the ancient Mesoamerican cosmovision, mainly the powerful moon goddess Ixchel, a creative yet destructive entity, portrayed here as the Spider and threading human fate like an umbilical cord, determined to give life but also to destroy it if needed. A frightening, fragile yet utterly fascinating balance perfectly illustrated by Mysteries Of A Flowery Dream.

Scorpion Child wields a sound that hearkens back to when guitar rock ruled the airwaves and going to concerts was the ultimate main event. The Austin, TX quintet released its self-titled debut in 2013 via Nuclear Blast Records. The album landed at #26 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and #99 on the Billboard Hard Music Albums chart. Following its premiere by Eddie Trunk, iTunes named "Polygon Of Eyes" its "Single of the Week," and Scorpion Child earned a nomination for "Best New Band" at the Classic Rock Magazine presented "Classic Rock Awards." The group's second album, 2016's 'Acid Roulette' was recorded with GRAMMYr Award-nominated producer Chris "Frenchie" Smith Meat Puppets, _And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and featured the fan-favourite tracks "Reaper's Danse", and "My Woman in Black". The band's new album, 'I Saw The End as it Passed Right Through Me', is set for release on February 14 '25. Austin, Texas band, Scorpion Child, plays dark rock and roll that blends haunting themes and atmospheric melodies; the group's unique fusion of post-punk, hard rock, and brooding aesthetic has garnered it a dedicated fanbase. On the heels of a multi-year reinvigoration, the unit returns in 2024, galvanized with a fortified lineup and renewed dedication. The first taste of what the strengthened Scorpion Child delivers lies in wait with the new single, "Outliers", a powerful punch of a song, filled with introspective lyrics, that perfectly encapsulates the band's distinct style. "Outliers" was recorded at Austin's Point West Recording with Charles Godfrey (Black Angels, The Mountain Goats) and represents the first official new music from Scorpion Child since the 2016 release of its full-length LP, 'Acid Roulette' (Nuclear Blast Records). "Outliers" will appear on Scorpion Child's impending new album, 'I Saw The End as it Passed Right Through Me', slated for an early 2025 release date via Noize In The Attic. With the drop of "Outliers" comes the track's accompanying music video; stream Scorpion Child's "Outliers" now at this location. "Outliers" deep dives into the organizational use of fear tactics and the related, unknown forces that we are supposed to run from, or conform to," offers Scorpion Child vocalist Aryn Jonathan Black. "The song is a look into the thought that "they" are always watching us and that we should play the same game from our POV in the shadows." The vinyl LP is milky clear.

We are proud to present the Singapore-based artist Case Woo. Yet unknown here in Europe he started his musical career 10 years ago with 80's New Wave synthetic sounds. Originally released on the Muller offshoot Lifetime Music in 2002, we are happy to offer some original 2004 Muller press copies! Some of these tracks represent a sound that is looked for by DJ's with great interest again today. From more straightforward synth-led Techno to the more Electroclashy sound, it's all in there!

For their much anticipated second release 'Music From Memory' take you into the world of Italian musician Gigi Masin....TIP!
Part of only a small and very much underground music
scene in his hometown of Venice, Gigi Masin self released two modestly pressed LP's 'Wind' (1986) and 'Wind Collector' (1991) and appeared along side Charles Hayward for the Sub Rosa compilation LP "Les Nouvelles Musiques De Chambre Volume 2" (1988).

Having met with little commercial success in Italy at the time, Gigi Masin's solo albums remained for the most part totally unknown. His music has though in recent
years, and seemingly by pure word of mouth, developed almost something of a cult following.

Gigi Masin's uniquely intricate and at times deeply emotive compositions take the listener into a realm of contemplation, a spellbound mind state where time and space appear to dissolve. His sparse and hypnotic often loop-based compositions seem to draw parallels with Detroit Techno's earliest beginnings, all at once conjuring those same feelings of both melancholic longing and ecstatic joy.

Combines Northern Soul, Psychedelia, 90s Indie Rock and an orchestral soundtrack feel into a homogenous, convincing work that looks promising and feels damn good in a not so rosy time.

The fourth album by the Frank Popp Ensemble, will be released on Unique Records. Written. recorded and produced in Spain in 2024. As with the predecessor ,Shifting", various guest singers can be heard on the lI brand new tracks.

Gerry Love, once the lead singer of the legendary Teenage Fanclub, who, according to Popp, wrote and sang almost al of the Glasgow cult band's favorite songs. lends his captivating voice to an orchestral, soulful version of "Save", a rather unknown but brilliant piece that Love wrote for the Scots in 2004. Gerard Love already contributed a cover of Frank Popp's "The World Is Waiting" to the "Under Covers" compilation and has now done another wonderful job on Waves.
Another hero from Popp's record collection is Nicke Andersson. Formerly a drummer with the death &rollers Entombed. then singer of the incomparable Hellacopters and mastermind behind other top bands such as The Solution, Imperial State Electric, Lucifer, etc., can be heard on "Caught In AWeb". A Northern Soul stomper in classic "Magic Touch" mania.
Emma Noble, an up-and-coming soul singer from London sings on the girl-groupish soul anthem "Unstoppable". The second single from the album has what it takes to be the next UK floor filler and was already played and praised on Craig Charles' Soul Show on BBC a t the end of 2024.
An absolutely exceptional artist is J Mahon, who can be heard on 5 tracks on the album and contributed significantly to the album. His sweet voice works on his songs as well as on "Going Going Gone", which is the first single release and is reminiscent of certain young Motown artists in the early 70s with its catchy brass hooks and j's androgynous soul vocals.
Audrey Ollesen from Cologne, an old buddy from the Rhineland mod scene, joined by chance after Popp became aware of her singing skills through private recordings. On "Common Stranger" Audrey can be heard on a recording for the first time.
On "Waves" Frank Popp combines Northern Soul, Psychedelia, 90s Indie Rock and an orchestral soundtrack feel into a homogenous, convincing work that looks promising and feels damn good in a not so rosy time. We are all excited...






f Heartbreak (In A Really Good Way) [feat. J Mahon]






[f] Heartbreak (In A Really Good Way) [feat. J Mahon]

Process of Elimination explores sickness as a teacher for anti-capitalist modes of being; a rewilding of the self. The product of an attempt to be indestructible, this sickness has an unknown diagnosis. The only route to determine the indeterminable is via a process of elimination. Eliminate the noise so it may quieten and make space for listening to what whispers underneath, allowing a return to the present moment. Slowness and queerness as technologies, questions as answers and mysticism as a path to healing when science alone does not suffice.

London-based multidisciplinary artist El Hardwick’s sophomore album follows their experience of becoming chronically ill after years of treating their body like a machine. El explains: “After failing to receive a diagnosis, which is only given via a lengthy process of elimination, I instead turned to autonomous modes of healing rooted in mysticism and herbalism; putting aside the need to be defined. My journey towards accepting my disability is told in parallel to my coming-out as trans. I also see my non-binary identity as a process of elimination: I am neither gender, both, in-between. It is through rewilding myself from capitalism and gender normativity that I learn how to connect to my body and the earth; no longer allowing either’s energy to be extracted from. The less I sought answers, language, metrics and analysis, the more peace I found.”

With Short Circuit Control, Berlin electronic duo Diagram (made up of Brian Jonestown Massacre guitarist Hákon Aðalsteinsson and Fred Sunesen) re-emerges ith a refined yet unpredictable sound, a testament to resilience, collaboration, and the endless possibilities of analogue synthesis. What began as a bedroom project by Aðalsteinsson culminated in the debut album Transmission Response (2019, Fuzz Club), a raw and exploratory work that set the foundation for what was to come. When Sunesen joined, Diagram evolved into a live act, carving out a space for itself in Berlin’s underground music scene. Built on mechanical rhythms and eerie textures, their second album Short Circuit Control plays with tension and release, its analogue pulse imbued with a restless, human energy. There's a hypnotic, almost ritualistic quality to the music, where modular synths hum and crackle, beats loop and fracture, and melodies emerge like ghostly transmissions from some distant, flickering signal. The result is an album that feels both controlled and unpredictable—moody, immersive, and always teetering on the edge of something unknown. It is released on P.U.G Records, the new label from the Psychedelic Underground Generation music blog.

DESCRIPTION
Looming above Hastings on the South Coast of the UK, carved into East Hill, three black shapes are visible from a distance. Mysterious and ominous, they assume the aspect of the entrance to a church or a portal to dimensions unknown. Closer inspection however reveals them to be no more than mere follies carved and painted into the rock, as hoaxster John Coussens sought to convince visitors that an elaborate subterranean kingdom lurked within. Centuries later, this coastal town remains a place that serves as a magnet to the wyrd and the mischievous. And it’s here that the meeting of minds took place that led to 'Folly' - the second release for Rocket’s Black Hole series - an imprint focused on the unorthodox, otherworldly and esoteric. The journey that led to ‘Folly’ began in the dingy cellar of a wine bar in the town. Black Arches formed around a regular local experimental night in such environs aptly named Weird Shit, initially as a freeform musical outlet for author and musician Gareth E. Rees’ later incorporating Matt Frost from his garage rock troupe The Dirty Contacts, and frequent collaborator James Weaver, to form a vehicle for wild experimentation and psychic abandon. Given he was also a regular attendee, it was no surprise when Sexton Ming, arch maverick outsider artist and uncompromising iconoclast of over four decades standing, entered the picture. Soon after a perplexing but serendipitous chain of events took place, with demons conjured up via improvised sessions, poetic licence taken, dystopias chronicled, audio files gone awry, vocals overdubbed and laptops lost, Somehow amidst the sturm-und-drang ‘Folly’ was summoned in all its murky glory. As we embark on the second quarter of an uncertain century, just maybe this psychic travelogue is a dark prism to make sense of the chaos we confront. Whichever, it remains a spectacle as compelling as that by which Black Arches were named

Comes in limited 180 gram black Vinyl

Trippy Journey presents Dollar Cat EP — a cosmic musical adventure dedicated to the memory of Dollar, the beloved cat, muse, and symbol of the label. As with every Trippy Cat release, this EP continues the cosmic saga of Dollar the cat. Through music, Dollar travels to distant planets, guiding listeners through worlds unknown in the pursuit of sound.

The release includes two solid remixes. Dollar Cat is reimagined by Prince de Takicardie, delivering a hypnotic Dark House sound, perfect for late-night dancefloors in uncharted galaxies. The second remix comes from DOTT for Serving Size, whose style blends deep minimal rhythms with interstellar vibes, creating a striking contrast to the darker tones of the first remix.

This release is a tribute not only to Dollar but to all the beloved cats who have left their mark on our hearts.

Mastered by Marco Pellegrino at Analogcut.

The annual Bonkers Music compilation returns, delivering another round of high-energy bangers. This year, the release explores a slightly evolved musical style while staying true to its signature sound. Celebrating its sixth edition, “Year VI” will be available on 12” vinyl, accompanied by a few exciting surprises.

A1. Neskeh’s “106 Cabrel” revolves around a melodic yet hypnotically repetitive lead sequence, crafted to evoke a trance-like state on the dance floor and radiate positive energy. The foundation of big, punchy kicks and a robust bassline gives it a quintessential club vibe.

A percussive break in the middle shifts the mood entirely, paying homage to Goa rhythms and shamanic rituals, immersing listeners in a more primal atmosphere. The drop reignites the momentum, enhanced by the warm tones of the beloved Minilogue, adding an almost epic dimension to the journey.

A2. Berlin’s Mike Sacchetti and Madrid’s David Meyer unite on “Agria Pachanga,” a dance energy piece that pulses with percussive drive and a subtle touch of Latin identity.

Acid-inspired arrangements swirl around classic drum machine sounds. The syncopated rhythms and pumping basslines push the track towards an agitated club atmosphere, building this song into a bold declaration of fiesta.

A3. Two friends from Guadalajara, Mexico, Leonor & Ludviq, now living in different European cities, (Barcelona & Lyon) join forces to bring you Capybara Trance, This electrifying track combines dark, driving energy with intricately sequenced melodies, a hard-hitting chugging bassline, and the unique touch of capybara-inspired sounds. Anchored by a commanding kick drum that sets an unrelenting tempo.

B1. “Nebula” is a deep, atmospheric journey through cosmic sounds and pulsating rhythms. The track blends hypnotic melodies with dark synthetic textures, evoking a sense of drifting through endless galaxies. With a strong groove and intricate arrangements, it delivers energy that fits perfectly in both morning sets and more conceptual playlists. The collaboration between Radial Gaze, Ducati Flux, and Persona RS captures the spirit of exploration, creating a versatile track that can be the highlight of any set

B2. Intruso hailing from Bogota, now based in Barcelona brings “Somos Acido” this track draws inspiration from the early 2000’s House and Trance, capturing the nostalgia and emotional resonance of his first experiences with electronic music as a child. A driving Acid bassline injects dynamic energy, making it perfectly suited for the dance floor.

B3. Argentinian born, Australia based producer Poulper teams up with Mexican maestro Hugo Vallejo to kick off this intergalactic adventure. This track weaves together acid-laced elements and an infectious rhythm, layered with haunting post-dark vocals that narrate the fiery, cosmic tale of love burning in the vast expanse of space. A bold and immersive journey into the unknown, perfect for this stellar compilation.

Taba voices a subtle yet surprising shift for the Japanese musician and producer Satomimagae. Observing and absorbing the fleeting scenes and sounds of life flowing outside of her home studio, Taba unfolds as a series of vignettes that document the personal and the universal. Satomi sings beyond herself in an orbit of souls and systems known and unknown, seen and unseen, in the present and in the strange flux of memory, leaving linear songwriting to rest for circuitous stories expanded and expansive in tone and texture. Following the logic of taba, a Japanese term for a bunch, bundle or grouping together of different things, the album is assembled as a loose collection of short stories. Shapeshifting into something like a poet-narrator, Satomi casts her writer's eye to the often perplexing shapes that form from quotidian events and exchanges defining our increasingly alienated age. Where Satomi's last full-length, 2021's Hanazono, bloomed from the lush soil of a private inner sphere, the bird's eye of Taba searches to place the artist_somewhere, somehow_within a wider, wilder world. Collaborations with other artists and musicians close to Satomi's universe further elevate the album's sweeping sonics. Synthesizer lines from Norio, who also helps define the album's visual identity through photo and video, enliven the tender ballad "Kodama." The bell-like Rhodes piano ringing in and around Satomi's guitar on "Dottsu" is played by Akhira Sano, who created the cover art for her 2021 Colloid EP. Yuya Shito's clarinet was the missing puzzle piece that completed "Spells," and it was also Yuya who mixed Taba with an ear for its organic textures and elegantly frayed edges, giving utterance to a distinctly different energy than Satomi's earlier expressions. The tonal and rhythmic play that lay the foundation of these songs also animates a colorful palette of melodic gestures, noisy resonances and pointed moments captured by Satomi's close-at-hand recorder. While Taba is still carried by the innate intimacy that has defined Satomi's music to date, these songs channel her newly spacious and inquisitive songwriting approach, unlocking unusual layers in the process. Some are subsumed in the speculative poetics of sound design, while others peer through the window of bedroom pop. Gathering imagistic reflections, tracing vast ideations and quietly lingering in humble moments, Taba connects vivid lines between the individual and the collective, the constructed and the cosmic, the articulated and the felt. Satomi's sonic tales gain an eloquent coherence by the simple fact of existing in conversation, humming a harmony of parts that buzzes with the tangled circuitry of a life in motion. Taba is the fifth album from Japanese musician, songwriter and dream traveler Satomimagae, following her 2021 album Hanazono and the 2023 reissue of her debut album Awa, both for RVNG Intl. On Taba, Satomimagae leaves linear songwriting to rest for circuitous stories expanded and expansive in tone and texture, unfolding as a series of vignettes that document both the personal and the universal. Some of the songs on Taba feature intimate moments captured on Satomi's hand recorder, poetic moments of sound design animated by tonal and rhythmic bedroom pop foundations. As with Hanazono, Taba's album artwork features a wooden block print by Satomi's sister, the artist Natsumi Magae.

Nocturnes 2 was created at the initiative of the label Midnight Special Records. We invited artists to write music for a new planet, a new world, and then to come and record it in our studio.



With this album, we aim to offer you a journey across different celestial bodies, each designed by the selected artists who participated in this project.



The album is also a tribute to Joe Meek's work I Hear a New Word, recognized for its innovative approach to production and its sound explorations.



We recommend listening to this album when you are calm, or wish to be.

KLÄMP ist ein britisch-niderländisches Kollektiv aus Mitgliedern von IDLES, Sex Swing, Tall Ships, Manatees, Do Me Bad Things, Pulled Apart By Horses, Petbrick und Mugstar. Seit ihrer LP "Hate You" (2020) bei God Unknown Records hat die Band eine tiefgreifende Transformation durchgemacht. Ihr neues Album "TOTAAL TECHNIEK" deckt ein breites Genrespektrum ab und verbindet nahtlos Elemente aus Krautrock, Breakcore, Industrial und Postpunk. Jeder Track ist eine neue Reise, geprägt von innovativem Sound und komplexen musikalischen Texturen. Ihre Entwicklung vom Trio zum innovativen siebenköpfigen Ensemble macht sie zu einem der aufregendsten und unberechenbarsten Acts der heutigen Szene. Human Worth veröffentlicht eine limitierte "TOTAAL GOLD" Auflage der LP, von der 10% aller Einnahmen an Compass Collective gespendet werden – eine Wohltätigkeitsorganisation, die die Integration junger Flüchtlinge und Asylsuchender im UK durch die Künste unterstützt.

Für Fans von: Swans / Sonic Youth / Black Sabbath / Godspeed You Black Emperor / Mark Lanegan / Einstürzende Neubauten / The Fall / Sunn O))) / Wire / Aphex Twin / Portishead / Godflesh / Earth / My Bloody Valentine / Gnod / Anna Von Hausswolf / The Bug

Isabelline curator and label head Practitioner reveals a stunning selection of his own archival productions with 'Portobello Innocent', the third release on the mysterious and acclaimed Berlin-based imprint. Recorded between 2016 - 2024, these «ve selected works offer a broad look into Practitioner’s sonic sphere. Introspective club re¬ections that cover a grand scope of machine-translated human emotions. The EP feels like a dug-up lost tape, timeless tracks untouched by current modes or trends, each composition progressively digging deeper into unknown chasms of the enigmatic producers' distinct sound.

Raisina - A hypnotic club track featuring sharp drum machine rhythms and a prominent vocal sample from a 1960s North African love song, creating an alluring and surreally beautiful opener. Well-Behaved Boys - Pulsating, shu®ing techno drums take front and centre, as warped frequencies from raves of a bygone era tune in and out, ¬ickering between past and present with frenetic rhythms and spoken fragments. Form & Emblem - An effervescent ambient interlude, its shimmering textures and layered atmospheres provide a meditative pause amidst the EP’s harder edges. Kala - Hazy and dreamlike, this track layers a wandering dub bassline under a steady house beat, glimmering jazz chords and ethereal textures surround the sonic sphere, evoking ¬ickering memories and lingering mystery. Council - A relentless, bassheavy techno groover with sharp vocal cuts and infectious energy. Council feels like a culmination of all that camebefore, resulting in a hypnotic and kinetic underground offering that feels in«nite. With 'Portobello Innocent', Practitioner offers a rare glimpse into his abstract realm, crafting magnetic spaces between memory and rhythm, the ancient and the future, the human and machine.

A1 - Planet Genesis

Chronicle makes his Spatial debut in style with Planet Genesis, opening with a beautifully crisp 2-step break over light atmospheric padwork, quickly accompanied by Hot Pants snares and dancing strings. Graceful hi-hats and insanely subtle vocal usage ebb and flow in the mix while soothing melodies enter and depart at will. The breakdown offers an intense change of tone before the breaks resume and continue the journey to a destination unknown.

A2 - Crystal Clear

Very much living up to its title, Crystal Clear sees Chronicle deliver a finely tuned assortment of beats with a remarkable clarity that truly shines in the "old school brand new" sensibilities of throwback atmospheric drum & bass. Snippets of various classic breaks can be heard in the mix with a superb attention to detail, taking you back with a style quite reminiscent of the golden era of late 90's Logical Progression.

B1 - Libra

Airy pads and a rousing yet subtle melody delicately introduce Libra, as Chronicle gradually builds towards a thrilling yet thoughtful amen workout set to blissful atmospherics. With a plethora of exquisite production techniques on show, the track showcases the versatility of Chronicle, offering something new to enjoy on each listen - the layers of detail are truly impressive.

B2 - Higher Limits

Echoing whirs and clicks dance playfully around light pads in the unique DJ-friendly intro to Higher Limits, a detailed, joyful track which celebrates a bygone era with sharp, expertly edited breaks and a smooth 808 bassline to die for. Micro melodies and long waves of delicious synths add texture and depth to the mix, resulting in the perfect closing track to a superbly varied and elegantly produced debut EP.

Words by Chris Hayes (Spatial / Red Mist)

Nach ihrem letzten Album GERMAN ENGINEERING ZWEI – auf dem Future, Mariah the Scientist,
Hunxho, Fridayy, Anycia und viele mehr zu hören waren – erobern sie mit ihrem neuesten Projekt LONDON’S CALLING, zusammen mit Dré Six, britischen Boden. Mit Kollaborationen mit 163Margs, Unknown
T und Morrisson festigt das Projekt ihre Verbindung zur britischen Szene.
Wenn man sich ”London’s Calling” anhört, das Album in voller Länge dieser Künstler ausBerlin und London,
ist es ein wirklich offensichtliches Team-up, wenn man darüber nachdenkt. Sie mögen beide Schwarz-Weiß,
sie stehen beide auf Minimalismus und sie sind beide verdammt einzigartig. Das 11-Track-Album klingt,
als wäre es so gedacht. Wunderschöne Melodien treffen auf Trap-Geschichten auf einigen der bisher progressivsten Produktionen von KitschKrieg. Die Leereder Musik lässt viel Raum für den ruhigen und intimen
Gesang einer der originellsten Stimmen Großbritanniens.
Dré Six singt über das Leben, das er kennt und hinter sich lassen will, ohne Filter, ohne Fake News. Eine
Welt der Zombies, die immer wieder das Produkt kaufen, das sie in Zombies verwandelt hat. Eine Welt, in
der man beim Schlafen weder Trainingsanzug noch Schuhe auszieht. Eine Welt, die süchtig macht, nicht
nur für die Nutzer.

Japanese free jazz legend Akira Sakata and Greek avant-garde guitarist Giotis Damianidis present Adyton, their first-ever duo recording. Having collaborated since 2018, the two musicians have developed an intuitive and electrifying musical dialogue, culminating in this live performance at Haekem, Brussels—the final concert of a two-week tour with Entasis in September 2023.

Sakata, who turned 80 on February 21st, 2024, delivers his signature fiery alto saxophone, evocative clarinet, expressive voice, and resonant bells, while Damianidis expands the sonic spectrum with textural guitar and effects, weaving a dynamic interplay between structure and chaos.

Titled after the "Adyton"—the innermost, most sacred part of an ancient temple—this album invites listeners into a raw, unfiltered space of musical exploration, where spontaneous energy and deep-rooted tradition converge. A testament to Sakata’s lifelong commitment to improvisation and Damianidis’ boundary-pushing approach to guitar, Adyton is a powerful, transcendental journey into the unknown.

Co-directed with Maxime Daoud (Ojard), this 7th opus was written and composed with passion and recorded with an outstanding team of musicians. The message of Barbara Carlotti's new album is direct and essential: "Cherish your future!" It is an invitation to welcome the unknown, to view our destinies with tenderness, to strive toward the future while taking care of our style, to counter life's setbacks, to chase the green ray, and to reinvent love. The goal is to liberate expression, heal the wounds of the past, articulate desire with elegance and humor, and let ourselves be moved by fleeting yet eternal joys, the sight of the ocean, or the infinite beauty of a singing voice that fills us with hope and strength in an outpouring of freedom.

Incl. huge Barac remix. Welcome to an odyssey that only those with a unique understanding can embark on. We have gathered these artists to transport you to a world of fantasy, where anything is possible. Join us on this journey of sensations.

Argentine artist Nektar Agu unlocks this enigmatic path, where you may come face to face with your deepest fears. Are you ready? By grasping the essence of Leviosa, you will come to appreciate the magnificent masterpiece created by Barac. It is an honor for us to present this historic sound on our label—we still can’t quite believe it ourselves. The Romanian artist continues this journey with his signature sound, leaving us speechless as we follow him into the unknown. Closing the experience, Forty Eyes—a collaboration between our label owner, Lucas Moss, and Nektar Agu—immerses us in a pure atmosphere of grace, offering a breath of clarity after this bewildering passage through auditory flavors.

Âsan’s self-released Beychen EP is a raw odyssey through the chaos and catharsis of creation. Across four relentless tracks, the producer mirrors the turmoil of nearly losing their passion for music—only to rediscover it by dismantling old habits and surrendering to the unknown. What emerges is a vortex of psychedelic techno, where layered rhythms spiral into the deep-down and morphing soundscapes warp time itself.
The title track Beychen channels the claustrophobic unease of a creative block with its brainmelting progression, only to erupt in a complete loss of control and, therefore, relief. The other three tracks deliver visceral techno in similar fashion, each piece evolving like an own entity with hypnotic force. This is music for darkened rooms and muddy forest stages, where the dancefloor becomes a mirror for Âsan’s internal reckoning. Here, the anxiety of creation is not conquered, but alchemized.
Âsan, a New York-based producer and co-founder of the label Cellar Door, always chases a certain feeling in his work—an elusive sensation that guides his creative journey. For him, dancing begins in the head, as rhythms and soundscapes take shape in a space between thought and intuition. His music invites listeners to step into that headspace, where the body follows the mind’s spiraling patterns.

On ‘Cordial’, Ursula Sereghy traces the sensation of home; not as a place, but as something fleeting and deeply felt. Comfort appears in glimpses, nestled between moments of dissonance and unraveling structure. There is joy, but it carries the weight of absence, the quiet grief of realizing what was missing all along. A laughter that is both liberating and bittersweet.

Sereghy’s music moves with no fixed center, shedding hierarchies and opening itself to the unknown. Sounds unravel and reform: fragments of voices, reshaped textures, the shimmer of manipulated recordings all bending into semi-familiar contours. In this space, harmony is not a destination but an unfolding process, a web of shifting connections rather than rigid form.

Deeply drawn to natural processes, Sereghy’s music resonates with an elemental force: chemical reactions, unseen currents, the quiet logic of interconnection. Sound becomes a space where trust takes shape, where loss is acknowledged but never final, and where the act of feeling remains, above all, an act of survival. It is music in constant negotiation with itself - dismantling, reshaping, and reaching towards something vast, untethered and luminous.

Jess Sah Bi is well-known as half of the legendary duo Jess Sah Bi & Peter One who brought homegrown Country-Americana to the West African masses with their smash debut Our Garden Needs Its Flowers in the mid-1980s. Touring stadiums and reaching listeners worldwide, their music has racked up millions of spins on YouTube and remains imprinted in the hearts of Ivorians of a certain age. ATFA reissued their album in 2018, garnering critical acclaim from publications including Pitchfork and Rolling Stone and reaching a new generation of listeners outside Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire). Sometime in the early 90s, Die Sahbi - or Jesse, as he known to friends-became gravely ill with an unknown ailment and almost died. He visited various doctors and all kinds of religious healers and nothing helped. One day he went down to an Evangelical Christian revival in his neighborhood. They prayed over him and he was delivered. He says, "Their prayers helped chase out whatever demons and unhealthy spirits were inside me. After that my illness went away. When I went to the United States a few months later on an exchange program I wanted to make music to thank God because I was saved." He recorded an album of music praising God in order to honor a promise he made to himself at the depths of his desperation in the hospital. The album Jesus-Christ Ne Deçoit Pas Jesus Christ Does Not Let Us Down came out in 1991 and sold around 3000 cassettes in Ivory Coast. The master tape was lost along the way so the recording has never been on digital platforms until now. Jesse didn't have much time to record while visiting South Carolina, hence the relatively short album, 6 songs including two reprises for filler. A local pastor connected him with a studio and some American musicians (Robert Fortner and Gary Davis) to help. They added acoustic guitar, percussion and keyboard accompaniment to Jesse's soaring French and Gouro vocals, harmonica and finger-picked acoustic. The resulting recording is deeply soothing and contemplative music that perfectly compliments the songs already embraced by millions. But he had to find the rest of the studio expenses-$600 total-which he secured drawing cartoons for UNICEF. Jesse is Ivory Coast's first political cartoonist, a vocation for which he was widely celebrated at the time. It also made him a few enemies which lead to him leaving the country permanently a few years later. Jesus-Christ Ne Deçoit Pas is Jess Sah Bi's first and only gospel album. Fortunately, fans responded with enthusiasm: widespread radio airplay and concerts followed, along with a growing solo profile in the country. The first big gospel artists in Ivory Coast were the duo Mathieu et Constance, who emerged in 1989. There was a bigger gospel music movement in English-speaking counties like Ghana and Nigeria (Christians make up roughly 40% of the population in Ivory Coast, slightly less than Muslims). Jesse didn't have any intention of working in Christian music but he realized, "You don't make music to make money-you want to send a message." In the years since Jesus-Christ's release, gospel music in Ivory Coast has grown to become a key part of music culture in the country. Spiritual music appears in community actives across the public and private spectrum from religious gatherings and parties to television broadcasts and music festivals. And, as it has evolved and indigenized locally, gospel music has picked up elements of traditional Ivorian music, reggae and soul. The album ultimately precipitated the demise of the duo, who were soon separated geographically as Peter One relocated to Nashville. He went on to become a nurse and release a successful solo album on Verve following the ATFA collaboration. Nowadays Jesse lives in the Bay Area and continues to record and perform music wherever and whenever he has the chance. He is publishing a new book of humorous cartoons in 2025 and his most recent album Never Give Up came out in 2020

Mazy Fly, the second full-length by the Bay Area artist SPELLLING, explores the tension between the thrill of exploring the unknown and the terror of imminent destruction. Chrystia Cabral spent the summer of 2018 in her Berkeley studio reflecting on the thresholds of human progress and longing for a new and better tomorrow. She was struck by the way the same technologies that have given humans the ability to achieve utopian dreams of discovery have also brought the world to the precipice of dystopic global devastation. Despite the darkness of this reality, Mazy Fly is defiantly optimistic. It is a celestial voyage into the unknown, piloted by Cabral. Mazy Fly musically traverses the spaces between languid, honey-soaked vocals and distant angelic whispers, from thumping 808 club beats to crunching tape loops, and from silky, smooth R&B to whirling organ sonatas. Cabral became enamored by the idea of flight as a harbinger of both progress and apocalypse, and that was expressed in the textures and compositional techniques she utilized. Swarms, flocks, flies, angels, spaceships, flying saucers - all are represented sonically by Cabral and her Juno-106 synthesizer.

Cult musician Paddy Hanna announces his forthcoming album Oylegate with the release of his new song ‘Oylegate Station’, out Wednesday, 29th January via Strange Brew Records.

In celebration of Oylegate, which arrives on Friday, 11th April, Hanna plays Whelans on Thursday, 17th April. Tickets are €21.95 + fees and can be purchased here.

After his fourth album, Imagine I’m Hoping, arrived to critical acclaim but not the mainstream success needed for him to continue on as a musician, Hanna found himself at a personal and artistic low point. However, thanks to support from the Arts Council and the encouragement of his family, ‘Oylegate Station’ sees Hanna returning as the intrepid captain of his own ship; he may not know the destination, but he’ll see us along the journey with his graceful pop sensibilities.

Speaking about the new track, Hanna’s cryptic explanation could be confused for a missive from a lonely cosmonaut: “Low rent fuel, caffeine of all shapes, the midpoint of hope and despair, engine still running at Oylegate Station.”
Elation and exhaustion. Love and terror. The weight of responsibility and the strange, disorienting beauty of watching life unfold before your eyes. OLYEGATE, the latest album from Paddy Hanna, is a journey through the euphoric highs and crushing lows of parenthood, delivered with his signature blend of melancholic wit and lush, off-kilter charm.

Determined to sidestep the usual sentimental trappings of writing about having a child, Hanna found an unlikely creative companion in grim Soviet-era cinema. As he wrote, films like Solaris flickered in the background—bleak, meditative landscapes that mirrored the depths of sleep deprivation and the existential wonder of bringing a new life into the world. This contrast of warmth and detachment, of intimate revelation and surreal detour, courses through the album’s DNA.

Despite its moments of cold introspection, OLYEGATE is sonically rich and enveloping—an effect captured in a single request to producer Daniel Fox: "sweet, sweet caramel." Hanna wanted the music to feel like satin lining the listener’s ears, wrapping them in warmth even when the themes tilt towards darkness.

True to form, OLYEGATE marks yet another creative leap for an artist who refuses to be boxed in. "One advantage of being an ‘artist’s artist’ is that you never have to worry about being creatively different between albums. There's real freedom in doing whatever you want and not being judged for it. And even if you are judged, who gives a shit?"

That spirit of fearless exploration—of finding joy in the unknown, the absurd, and the deeply personal—defines OLYEGATE. An odyssey of tenderness and turbulence, it’s the sound of an artist embracing life’s messiest, most beautiful contradictions.

Songs of Silence is a beautiful turn-based strategy game of fantasy warfare. Leading one of the game's distinct factions, it is the player's task to conquer randomized maps through military might, subterfuge or arcane means. Intriguing hero stories grounded in a rich fantasy world create emotional bonds and give meaning to the player's actions. Roguelike meta-game progression, based on heroes' personal stories and unlocking new features and content via playing, ensuring long-time motivation and keeping the game excitingly fresh. The atmospheric soundtrack of the game is composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, the famous artist behind all-time favourites such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy 12 and Valkyria Chronicles. Sakimoto describes his way into creating the soundtrack for Songs of Silence: "Regarding Songs of Silence, the stage design and the world-building are incredibly detailed and meticulously crafted. The settings are thoroughly developed and each region has its own unique culture. Given this highly refined world, I believe that my role was primarily to support and enhance the atmosphere with sound. At the same time, I wanted to ensure that the music conveys the uniqueness of this world. When people see it, I want them to feel its strong presence while also recognizing that it is a world unlike anything they have seen before. Expressing this uniqueness and reinforcing the impression it leaves is, in my view, the role of music and sound." But Sakimoto's music isn't just pushing the gamer's experience, it aims to add a little extra in a way that only his profession is able to: "It's a bit difficult to describe the specific 'feeling' I was aiming for, but I intend to create sounds and music that people have rarely heard before. Since the world itself is already well-defined, my approach was to add an extra layer - something that cannot be conveyed through visuals or text alone - through music."

Doomed Utility is the debut album by Alex Wang, a bass-heavy, noisy, and abstract work that blends industrial and club music into an unsettling soundscape.

Sound existed before there were human ears to hear it—ancient and eternal, as silence itself. In the first few hundred thousand years after our cosmos was born, a deep hum traveled through a plasma of hot particles, eventually finding its way into our machines. Now, computers weave a web of sound around us, abstracting from meaning, pleasure, or melody, crafting disharmonies that dig into us raw.

In Doomed Utility, that primordial hum resurfaces—fractured, raw, and discordant—pulling us into rhythms of exhaustion, exhilaration, and annihilation.

This is a sound that doesn’t merely enter us; it claims us. It lingers, waits—hungry. It tears through cognition and rips through bodies. We may have no obvious use for it, but it has a use for us.

Computer sound perpetuates itself through our ears, our thoughts, and our human culture. It recalls all things, binds all things, moves all things. We are its resources, its vessels for messages not yet decoded, and for purposes yet unknown.

An exclusive 7" re-release of this psychedelic funk ballad from Tulsa's "Outback" Band. As featured on Now-Again's 'More Loving On The Flipside' compilation, "Strangers (In Our Homeland)" epitomises the expression of social & political change during an era of psychedlia infused music. In partnership with the two surviving members of Outback, both Symphonical & Now-Again are proud to showcase the voice of independent artists.

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The origin of "Outback" dates back to the late 50s, a five-piece blues outfit named "Little Lo and the Rest of Us" included music educator & bass guitarist Edward "Cha-Cha" Cherry, saxophonists Eugene "Buggy" Roach & James "Flab" Farley whom, alongside drummer Roscoe J. Dabney III "Roach", Ronnie Wilson on trumpet, guitarists Roy "Rochester" Walker & Michael Collins, would form The Magnificent Seven, the house band for Tulsa's 'Rose Room'.


Alumni of Booker T. Washington High School, The Magnificent Seven influenced & set the standard for the Tulsa sound, as demonstrated through their only single, recorded in 1966, the two part 'Pluck-A-Pluck'. 'The Sevenettes', the groups' female vocal trio, included the rotation of Lena Luckey Wilson, Gwendolyn French, Rose Brewer Lewis, Jeanetta Williams & Maxayn. The Magnificent Seven, led by "Cha-Cha", toured nationally throughout the 60s with their infectious, raw R&B sound, and were the platform for many of Tulsa's talent including Ronnie & Charlie Wilson who would later create the GAP Band.


Roscoe J. Dabney III, the first Black Panther to establish the Tulsa chapter in 1969 known as the NCCF (National Committee to Combat Fascism), proposed the name change to "Outback" in the early 70s. Their sound & formation was changing from R&B to Psychedelic, from the grit to the phase, epitomised by their unique line-up of having two bassists playing simultaneously, both Reggie Cherry & "Chilly" Willie Lewis, the musical foundation to their only recorded single, "Strangers (In Our Homeland)" & "Reggie's Thang".


Song writer & band affiliate, Maurice Pope, produced the lyrics to "Strangers (In Our Homeland)" and handed over the musical attributes to Willie Lewis & Outback to convey his message, as sung by Lena Luckey Wilson. Dabney recalls the song is based on religious scriptures, whilst highlighting the parallel of Black slavery in the U.S.


"Reggie's Thang", written by Dabney's cousin, bassist Reggie Cherry, provides a psychedelic instrumental, a sound which Lena recalls is what set apart Outback from other Tulsa groups. As well as playing clubs, the seated shows provided an environment for the group to showcase their musicianship to those who wanted to be immersed & listen.


Their single, released on Empathy, was recorded in 1972, and are the only known recordings by Outback. Recorded live onto 8-track at a studio located at on East Pine St in the heart of Tulsa's Black community, an independent & unknown studio located on a strip mall.


The Outback members who recorded are:


Lena Luckey Wilson - Vocals

Roscoe J. Dabney III "Roach" - Drums

"Chilly" Willie Lewis - Bass

Reggie Cherry - Bass

Edward "Cha-Cha" Cherry - Keys

Joyce Daws - Trumpet

Roy Walker "Rochester" - Guitar

Robert Luckey "Uncle Bobby"- Percussion

Fredy Berry "Freddy" - Tenor Sax


Band leader & group manager: Edward "Cha-Cha" Cherry

Booking Agent: Ernie Fields Sr.

In 1973 whilst performing in Ft. Worth, TX, Buck Ram approached Willie Lewis backstage and invited him to join The Platters, Lewis accepted. Supposedly, a recording deal was offered to Outback in exchange, which never happened.


The group continued in various formations after Lewis left, however as an integral member, the feeling never equalled their original form and soon after dissolved.


Leon Russell approached Lena Lucky Wilson in 1974 to go on tour with the GAP Band as their backing singer, upon returning Tulsa Lena moved to Los Angeles to pursue her musical career with Leon & Mary Russell amongst various others.


Dabney continued music and became a TV producer & director in 1976.


The only surviving members of Outback today are Lena Luckey Wilson & Roscoe J. Dabney III.

Unknown DJ & producer steps up for the first in a brand-new edit series featuring four killer cuts that are sure to get any dancefloor moving!

Inspiriert vom Leben und Mythos des Schauspielers Dennis Hopper haben Mike Scott und The Waterboys - die schottische Rockband bekannt für ihre Hits 'The Whole Of The Moon' und 'The Big Music' - dieses umfangreiche Album als Hommage an eine der faszinierendsten Persönlichkeiten der amerikanischen Popkultur geschaffen. Das Album mit ausschließlich eigenen Songs ist sehr konzeptionell angelegt und bringt hochkarätige Künstler wie Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple und Steve Earle zusammen, um Hoppers Leben musikalisch zu durchdringen, einschließlich eines Songs für jede seiner Ehefrauen.

- Die Verpackung enthält Fotos aus dem Archiv von Dennis Hopper

- Col. 2LP: (Burnt Colored Vinyl in Gatefold-Hülle mit bedruckten Innentaschen)

Inspiriert vom Leben und Mythos des Schauspielers Dennis Hopper haben Mike Scott und The Waterboys - die schottische Rockband bekannt für ihre Hits 'The Whole Of The Moon' und 'The Big Music' - dieses umfangreiche Album als Hommage an eine der faszinierendsten Persönlichkeiten der amerikanischen Popkultur geschaffen. Das Album mit ausschließlich eigenen Songs ist sehr konzeptionell angelegt und bringt hochkarätige Künstler wie Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple und Steve Earle zusammen, um Hoppers Leben musikalisch zu durchdringen, einschließlich eines Songs für jede seiner Ehefrauen.

- Die Verpackung enthält Fotos aus dem Archiv von Dennis Hopper

- Ltd. Col. 2LP: (Psychedelic Waves Colored Vinyl in Gatefold-Hülle mit bedruckten Innentaschen)