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The time has come and my first solo album sees the light of day. I made the songs on it formyself.
The desire to write, experiment and play with sounds has never stopped. The artists you will hear on
this record, some are real life friends of mine and others are people with whom I have never spoken
a personal word to this day. I‘ve been friends forever with artists like Brixx, Farina Miss and of course
Mr. David A. Tobin for years. Andre Espeut and I have maintained an online friendship for a very long
time.
I hired all the other artists from the vastness of the Internet. Some of the artists didn‘t know the
parts of the other artists involved. In the end I puzzled all the pieces together and created a fine dish
with beautiful ingredients from all over the world. I know that an album like this might have a hard
time in this digital world and of course I don‘t have the marketing budget of a major release. But
time will tell and well produced music will find its ways.
Creating music has had a positive influence on my entire life, even though criticism and other
obstacles require you to build strong armor. The good news is when you grow older, many things are
no longer as important to you and you set priorities, focus more on the good things and good people
in your life. I hope you have fun with my music and my people and by listening and spinning my
record you will help to spread the good vibes.
It‘s truly a GOOD TIME FOR GOOD TIMES…

Seit ihren Anfängen hat sich Merrimack zu einem Wesen entwickelt, das die schattigen Gefilde erforscht, in denen die Spiritualität zusammenfließt. Schon der Name MERRIMACK, der für unendliche Tiefe und Abgrund steht, ist ein Vorbote für die Reise, die sie mit ihrem Black Metal antreten.

"Of Gravity and Grace" stellt das Gewebe der Realität in Frage, in dem sich die Dichotomie zwischen flüchtigen Wahrheiten und dem göttlichen Partikel manifestiert. Dieses Album ist eine Rückkehr zu einer ursprünglichen luziferischen Revolte, die die Gefühle von Antonin Artauds Proklamation widerspiegelt: "Wir sind die Mikroben Gottes". In einer Welt, die mit oberflächlichen Ausdrücken des Satanismus vollgestopft ist, überschreitet MERRIMACK die Klischees, indem sie eine tiefgreifende Erforschung des Glaubens und der Dissidenz einschließt. Während sich die eindringlichen Melodien der sieben Titel entfalten, taucht der Hörer in eine akustische Pilgerreise ein, die die Grenzen des konventionellen Black Metal sprengt.

Erleben Sie die Essenz der Alchemie von MERRIMACK, wo das Körperliche und das Kosmische aufeinanderprallen und eine transformative Reise durch die Schatten des Kreuzes bieten. "Of Gravity and Grace" zeigt die ungebrochene Kraft des Black Metal, die den Geist provoziert, herausfordert und erhebt. Umarme die Dunkelheit und lass dich von MERRIMACK durch die Gefilde führen, in denen Chaos auf Ewigkeit trifft.

FFO: Watain, Valkyrja, Ondskapt

Seit ihren Anfängen hat sich Merrimack zu einem Wesen entwickelt, das die schattigen Gefilde erforscht, in denen die Spiritualität zusammenfließt. Schon der Name MERRIMACK, der für unendliche Tiefe und Abgrund steht, ist ein Vorbote für die Reise, die sie mit ihrem Black Metal antreten.

"Of Gravity and Grace" stellt das Gewebe der Realität in Frage, in dem sich die Dichotomie zwischen flüchtigen Wahrheiten und dem göttlichen Partikel manifestiert. Dieses Album ist eine Rückkehr zu einer ursprünglichen luziferischen Revolte, die die Gefühle von Antonin Artauds Proklamation widerspiegelt: "Wir sind die Mikroben Gottes". In einer Welt, die mit oberflächlichen Ausdrücken des Satanismus vollgestopft ist, überschreitet MERRIMACK die Klischees, indem sie eine tiefgreifende Erforschung des Glaubens und der Dissidenz einschließt. Während sich die eindringlichen Melodien der sieben Titel entfalten, taucht der Hörer in eine akustische Pilgerreise ein, die die Grenzen des konventionellen Black Metal sprengt.

Erleben Sie die Essenz der Alchemie von MERRIMACK, wo das Körperliche und das Kosmische aufeinanderprallen und eine transformative Reise durch die Schatten des Kreuzes bieten. "Of Gravity and Grace" zeigt die ungebrochene Kraft des Black Metal, die den Geist provoziert, herausfordert und erhebt. Umarme die Dunkelheit und lass dich von MERRIMACK durch die Gefilde führen, in denen Chaos auf Ewigkeit trifft.

FFO: Watain, Valkyrja, Ondskapt

Der legendäre Rock & Roll-Hall-of-Famer Dion liefert ein neues Album ab, das Generationen überschreitet: Girl Friends. Auf seinem neuesten KTBA Records-Release arbeitet er mit einer herausragenden Besetzung weiblicher Künstlerinnen zusammen, darunter die Soul-Lady Susan Tedeschi, Kraftpaket Shemekia Copeland, Ikone Carlene Carter, Virtuosin Joanne Shaw Taylor und die vielseitige Maggie Rose. Dions zeitlose Stimme und die unterschiedlichen Stile dieser gefeierten Künstlerinnen bilden eine Fusion, die das reiche Spektrum amerikanischer Musik feiert.

Discovered after spending 58 years on a dusty shelf in the Louis Wayne Moody Pictures vault, this previously unissued soundtrack contains a backpack's worth of grieving guitars, somber surf, and haunting hiss, zipped tight with the teeth of abandonment, dashed dreams, moral ambiguity, fate, tearful goodbyes, and lukewarm diner coffee. Because the long arm of society nips at their heels... THEY MOVE I N THE NIGHT.

Discovered after spending 58 years on a dusty shelf in the Louis Wayne Moody Pictures vault, this previously unissued soundtrack contains a backpack's worth of grieving guitars, somber surf, and haunting hiss, zipped tight with the teeth of abandonment, dashed dreams, moral ambiguity, fate, tearful goodbyes, and lukewarm diner coffee. Because the long arm of society nips at their heels... THEY MOVE I N THE NIGHT.

The previously unissued soundtrack to the 1964 noir, You're Not From A round Here, discovered after 55 years in the Louis Wayne Moody archive. A hobo's bindle full of twangy tremolo, reverb-drenched revenge, and existential echo. Songs of a lienation, paranoia, dark alleys, betrayal, prison, prostitution, trains, gun play, feminine betrayal, and the dusty, lonely road of self discovery. A black and white affair trapped under the weight of a post-war technicolor allure, You're Not From Around Here lives in a universe of moral ambiguity.

The previously unissued soundtrack to the 1964 noir, You're Not From A round Here, discovered after 55 years in the Louis Wayne Moody archive. A hobo's bindle full of twangy tremolo, reverb-drenched revenge, and existential echo. Songs of a lienation, paranoia, dark alleys, betrayal, prison, prostitution, trains, gun play, feminine betrayal, and the dusty, lonely road of self discovery. A black and white affair trapped under the weight of a post-war technicolor allure, You're Not From Around Here lives in a universe of moral ambiguity.

Dry Cleaning will reissue their first two EPs, Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks / Sweet Princess, on 8 March 2024. Remastered to celebrate the release, Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks and Sweet Princess will be pressed as one single vinyl. The former will be available on cassette for the first time and include an exclusive bonus single, a demo of New Long Leg single, "Strong Feelings", recorded during the sessions for Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks. Today, the band has shared a new visualiser for the song "Sit Down Meal", the first in a series of new visualisers created for all tracks across the EP by original "Magic of Meghan" video collaborator Lucy Vann. To coincide with the reissues, Dry Cleaning will head back on the road this March and April for headline sets that will lean heavily on songs from Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks and Sweet Princess. The tour will offer fans the chance to see the band play in more intimate venues like Leeds" Brudenell Social Club and East London"s EartH theatre, and honour US shows that were postponed in 2020 (including SXSW and Treefort festivals). Tickets will go on sale this Friday 19 January.

Except from Rachid Taha, who allowed himself a few forays into the teeming, vibrant heaths of techno, no raï singer other than Cheb Malik has ever ventured into this terrain known for its abundance of sound. If you know about Malik Adouane's ancestry, this is hardly surprising. Born in Librecourt, near Lens, he comes from a union between an Italo-Celtic mother who instilled Western sounds into his ears and a father, a former miner born in Biskra (north-east Algeria), a palm grove near the desert, musically renowned for its lively diwan that could be called Saharan opera. In addition, the town is renowned for its chakhchouka, a dish called after its rich blend of various ingredients and spices. Just like Malik’s music, as he was a fan of James Brown, Barry White, classical Arabic and raï music. He had been thinking about it from the beginning, but the dream took a long time to materialize. In January 1986, many raï idols turned up in Bobigny, France, for a historic and seminal festival. In the midst of the audience, the young man, dressed in black leather, provided security for the concerts of many stars before becoming one himself. He would rub his eyes, not because he was dazzled, but because they were clouded by a nostalgia that remained him of itself. So, with his head full of sounds warmly recommended by the best DJs, he set out, a little provocatively, to position himself at the cutting edge of music with a new concept called "After raï". It combined the sweet and precious past with an almost uncontrollable creative audacity. It's a balm made in a test-tube-studio from a mix of Arabic melodies and lyrics - a kind of "Arabeat", and the arrogant modernity produced by samplers, electronic spinning, roaring bass and guitars made for house music. The pinnacle of the record is a masterful cover of Isaac Hayes' Shaft, which set dancefloors on fire in Paris, London, Ibiza and New York, and became internationally known thanks to its presence on a Paris Dernière compilation curated by French musician and DJ Béatrice Ardisson along with Claude Challe's iconic Buddha Bar series. Now, shall we dance?

Back in print on vinyl! Deerhoof debuts their new guitarist John Dieterich and achieves widespread critical acclaim for the first time. 2002's Reveille is a defiant expression of artistic rebirth, spilling over with madcap exuberance, apocalyptic imagery, newfound technical confidence belying their no-budget DIY recording methods, and jarring stylistic about-faces in which no two songs sound alike. The contrast of Satomi's ever-catchy, ever-charming melodiousness with John and Greg's noisy, cinematic bombast still has the power to thrill and tickle and upset, more than 20 years after its initial release. Includes reimagined cover art with the faint morning glow the band had always envisioned, pressed on clear sun-colored vinyl. Complete lyrics included for the first time, written by Satomi on the center labels.

An intimate, vast, and mineral landscape, that's MaMaMa’s first album.

« Hier Sera Meilleur » (« Yesterday Will Be Better ») is the most personal project the musician has ever undertaken. It's an album of confessions and echoes. The echoes of the world within him, those of the past that haunt and drive the present, and also the echoes of the future that are already speaking to us.

Entirely composed, written, arranged, and mixed by Elliot, the tracks that make up this album blend organic recordings with synthetic productions. Euphonium, saxophone, clarinet, or a string quintet recorded in the studio coexist and intersect with various synthesizers and electronic plug-ins.

Ancient textures meet modern sounds. Black and white turns into color.

Everything changes and nothing is ever just what we perceive it to be, MaMaMa seems to tell us, however for the duration of a song, we are there. Yesterday will be better.

The ever poignant yet exceedingly elusive Chorg Dorgon speaks on the new album by Charles Moothart, entitled Black Holes Don’t Choke: “For the sake of clarity, and its clarity that we seek, Charles has been a pillar of our musical experience since he began playing eons ago in the various projects and countless albums he has contributed to. Charles is a musician who has been constantly on the road for years playing in Ty Segall’s Freedom Band and Fuzz. When there has been a rare time away from those engagements especially in the post-pandemic scramble to catch up world of gigs and tours, he has been spending all of his time in his laboratory figuring out how to synthesize all of the info he has collected and musical ideas he has developed in the past few years since the last CFM record and subsequent shows for this new solo work. Just before the pandemic started, he was out playing solo shows in a project that revolved around an MPC sampler, just to give an example as to the wideness of his explorations. His result is Black Holes Don’t Choke. Love songs for the apocalypse. A prayer toward optimism amid chaos. A plea toward nature. The themes on this album are the themes of today. Charles appeals for us to visualize evolution. And with a signature, the music sounds exactly as you want it to. It sounds like Charles Moothart’s music only more evolved and with greater focus and direction. With greater textural dynamic and more sonic variation and realization, but never sacrificing the insane riff that he is clearly the master of. He gets to the point on this record. He is presenting a voice you can understand and rely on as you make your own journey into it. Create your own meanings. The record now belongs to the world. Because we all start a thought as that which is beginning-less and endless and at some certain point it becomes its own thought, takes it owns shape and becomes itself, separate from the thinker, separate from the observer. alive in the ether!”

Delicate and beautiful music from the combined forced of the recently ubiquitous East-Coast psychedelic combo Elkhorn and Pelt’s Mike Gangloff, laying down two epic raga-like performances captured on a 2022 collaborative tour. Gangloff—fresh from the triumph of his VHF solo fiddle album Evening Measures—has found a distinct instrumental voice, blending drone music and trad influences in way that really advances the tradition into new areas. “East Dauphin Suite” builds patiently on the interlocking acoustic guitars of the Elkhorn duo, with Gangloff’s hardanger fiddle carrying the melody over the top. The sound is a neat riff on American primitive, with just enough Appalachian-style touches via Gangloff’s careful glissandos cutting through the Vuh-type chords and patterns to create a unique and supremely melodic hybrid. “Summerfield Raga” takes things further out, with more microtonal variation in the embroidery, with assertive bowing and an increased energy level. Pressed in Chicago and housed in an amazing jacket by Jake Blanchard.

Meatbodies’ latest undertaking and borderline lost album, Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom, is their most varied and realized work to date. It’s a melodic, hook-filled rock epic in which frontman and lead guitarist Chad Ubovich faces the trials of sobriety, redemption, reinvention while literally learning to walk and play again. Resurrection not only accompanies the record, but its production as well, Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom examines themes surrounding love and loss, escapism, defeatism, hedonism, psychedelics and much more. By 2017, Ubovich had reached a crossroads. After years of increasingly insane shows playing to heaving crowds with an everevolving and rotating door of personnel, fatigue had taken its toll and he realized another change was on the horizon. Retreating to the seedy Los Angeles underbelly—in search of meaning and a reset—he escaped into that world, ignoring his own well being, trying to forget his successes. It was at this point that Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom began to take shape—a project built by a man searching for new beginnings and his own sense of self. After sobering up, sessions began with longtime collaborator Dylan Fujioka. However, due to discrepancies with the studio, tensions were high and the plug was pulled. And as the world took a back seat, so did the idea of Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom. Not wanting to sit still at home, Ubovich began to comb through his previous demos, and, with that, 333 was born, the now de facto third Meatbodies album. Yet Flora was never far from Ubovich’s mind. When restrictions started to lift, Ubovich headed to Gold Diggers Sound in Los Angeles, backed by engineer Ed McEntee and a team of colleagues and friends, and completed the final act to the album. It recalls the searing Blue Cheer-meets-Iggy Pop-with-psychedelia that permeated previous releases, but adds new elements of shoegaze, classic alternative, Britpop, drone, and hints of country. Simultaneously an ode to ’80s LA punk and the rise of indie / alternative music in the U.K., it plays like a radio station broadcasting from the void.

Stuck on common ground is the debut album of the Italian Power Trio hijss. With a mixture of heavy blues influenced riffs and synthesized Krautrock parts hijss tries to create a high dynamic range that will keep your attention at all time. On top of gritty basslines and ferocious drums lie cosmic guitars, tantalizing vocals and arpeggiated electronic drones. All three band members come from a vast musical background. Their common denominator is with out a doubt a punkish attitude. The album was produced by Toni Quiroga and hijss, drums were recorded at Nologo Recording Studio, Laives by "holy barbarian" Fabio Sforza. Engineered, mixed and mastered at accept productions by Toni Quiroga, album cover by Luca Guarino.

Today's club culture all started with Northern Soul and its roots in the Mod all-nighter scene of London clubs. All the ingredients were there: DJs privy to the latest imports and advance promos, dancers fuelled by illegal uppers, venues which had scarcely opened when the pubs were all but deserted. The records, drugs and clubs have all changed, true, but the lifestyle is identical. Featuring classics from the Northern Soul Scene including Tom Jones, Ronnie Jones, Brotherhood of Man, Sonny Childe, Billie Davis, Tony Newman, Bats and more. Presented for the first time on orange colour vinyl and CD, this is essential for any funk and soul lovers.

Yellow Vinyl

Love Is Yes is the first album by Sander van der Toorn and Dax Niesten, an audio-visual duo de force of the same name.

This heady debut is rooted equally in the worlds of fine art and experimental music. Sound and image meld wonderfully across 10 tracks, with shifting movements of music accompanied by a wealth of paintings and animations.

Niesten's work summons the likes of Philip Guston and Maurice Sendak - with its crestfallen, cartoonish voids and cockle-warming grotesquery. Serenely contorted creatures are rendered on large canvases, and brought to fuzzy, maudlin life through a full-length animation that can be viewed alongside the record.

Musically, the pair cite influences ranging from Vashti Bunyan to Morton Feldman. There is an ornate fragility, smeared by zero gravity focus shifts. Some glimpses suggest a corroded grail of Boards of Canada samples; motorik guitar, whispered messages, euphoric vistas and tangled memories all bathing in atomic glow.

Known for their multidisciplinary parties and events that shift the technoid boundaries, Rotterdam collective Double Cross XX presents their third release: two cuts of dark hypnotic techno by rising star and one-of-a-kind producer Acidic Male, backed by driving industrial artillery from the Rotor Militia duo. Screenprint by Dineke van Oosten

Despite ‘Hindsight Is 50/50’ being the third album from Ghost Woman in 18 months, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Evan Uschenko believes that this is the first album that “finally captures the true nature of the band”.

The album was recorded mostly live in three days at the analogue Kerwax studios in Brittany, France by Christophe Chavanon (The Good Damn). Uschenko states that “the first two albums were never meant to be albums: they are like pages from diaries that have long since been burned. With the introduction of Ille van Dessel as co-writer/drummer, the project feels like it has a direction”.

There is a confidence and assurance that feels built upon the 2022 eponymous debut and the follow-up ‘Anne, If’, which was only released in January 2023. This urgency to progress and keep moving forward is reflected by the band: “We prefer to keep busy. But we’re lazy too. We still feel like we could be doing a lot more.” Overall, there is a darker, denser feel compared to previous releases, but the sound and vibe of this album is more akin to what the project was supposed to be when it started in 2016, finally realising Ghost Woman’s creative vision.

Born from a virtual encounter in lockdown between two Parisian neighbors, the DJ/producer Prosper and saxophonist Le Marabout, “Le Moustache Conspiracy” is a playful and deeply joyous album, pulling freely from the Afro, Funk, Disco, Hip-Hop, Oriental and Electro influences of the two artists. The iconoclastic DJ Romain “Prosper” Coolen, fervent purveyor of no holds barred euphoria on the dance floor, and the versatile saxophonist, composer and jack-of-all-trades Johann “Le Marabout” Guihard offer us a lavish, eclectic, uninhibited, coherent and furiously groovy album!

The king of Colombian Bass is back on another low-end adventure!
In the vein of his previous work "Colombian Party", "Sendero" is another homage to the diversity of Colombia’s musical cultures and the artist's all-time favorite genres such as bass music, Hip-Hop and Dancehall. The album was entirely recorded between Bogotá and Sunka’s countryside farm, where the artist has been living for the past few years, growing all kinds of fruits and vegetables, Sunka’s new album “Sendero”, featuring Medellin-based hip-hop and reggae singer Raspapulaman, rising stars La Bembera and Zam El Caribean, Bogotá-based hip-hop and punk singer Jacob DMC, hip-hop maestros Kontent Thug and Santacruz Medina of Kartel Pacifico, is not your typical tropical album.
As accustomed , Sunka delivers a perfect blend of sub frequencies, heavy electronic drums and organic elements. Sweet and sharp at the same time,"Sendero" will make you
whine your waist at home and in the club, and will certainly go heavy on your speakers!

This collection assembles the range of sources that Robert Johnson heard and learned from including songs from his mentor Son House and from other Delta performers and from sources that show aspects of the musical world in which he lived. His tastes ranged far and wide and he had a gift for absorbing sounds of all kinds, including from tin pan alley to hillbilly songs. He was a brilliant creative musician who managed a stunningly effective fusion of his Delta roots and the smoother approach of the then prominent contemporary blues artists. As with any genius in any field he was able to produce great work only because he was standing on the shoulders of previous great artists. This collection provides an introduction to a number of them and gives a sense of how Johnson adapted and combined their styles. It presents music that can still excite and inspire us today just as it did to Robert Johnson back in the first golden age of the blues.

In their long career The Grateful Dead have been inspired by a stunning variety of American musical artists and traditions from blues to country to rock to folk - some of the most exciting and moving music ever recorded. Here are the original versions of The Dead's best loved cover tunes that surprise and delight with their musical depth, originality, and feeling. This collection has been lovingly compiled by a group of Dead insiders including Henry Kaiser, David Gans, and others with the enthusiastic support of The Dead itself. There are extensive notes included that give an overview detailing how the band came to cover each of these tunes and when they first played them in concert. The distinctive Robert Crumb cover artwork is an instant attraction and add to the collectability of this release.

Tauchen Sie ein in eine harmonische Mischung aus rauen Emotionen und musikalischer Brillanz. 'The Color Purple (Music From and Inspired By)' verspricht ein Hörerlebnis, das zutiefst nostalgisch und erfrischend neu zugleich ist. So trumpft das Album mit einem Ensemble auf, das seinesgleichen sucht - der für den Golden Globe nominierten Fantasia mit ihren gefühlvollen Melodien, Taraji B. Henson mit ihrer emotionalen Tiefe, Colman Domingo mit seiner fesselnden Energie, der für den Golden Globe nominierten Danielle Brooks mit ihrer kraftvollen Resonanz, H.E.R. mit ihrer zeitgenössischen Kunst und Hallie Bailey mit ihrem strahlenden Gesang. Und Musik von den Grammy-prämierten Songwritern des Musicals - Brenda Russell, Allee Willis und Stephen Bray. Doch hört die Magie nicht bei den zeitlosen Klassikern auf. Tauchen Sie noch tiefer ein und lassen Sie sich verzaubern von einem neuen Kapitel und neuer Musik von Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole, Coco Jones, Jorja Smith, Celeste, Mary Mary und October London sowie einer atemberaubenden Kollaboration von Usher & H.E.R. Von Liebe und Schmerz bis hin zu Widerstandskraft und Erlösung - diese Songs fangen die Essenz von 'The Color Purple' ein und ebnen gleichzeitig den Weg für eine neue musikalische Ära. Und für diejenigen, die einen modernen Twist suchen, gibt es Remixe von Missy Elliot featuring Megan Thee Stallion und Timbaland featuring Black Thought. So schlägt 'The Color Purple' auch eine Brücke zwischen Generationen von Musikliebhabern.

Dry Cleaning will reissue their first two EPs, Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks / Sweet Princess, on 8 March 2024. Remastered to celebrate the release, Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks and Sweet Princess will be pressed as one single vinyl. The former will be available on cassette for the first time and include an exclusive bonus single, a demo of New Long Leg single, "Strong Feelings", recorded during the sessions for Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks. Today, the band has shared a new visualiser for the song "Sit Down Meal", the first in a series of new visualisers created for all tracks across the EP by original "Magic of Meghan" video collaborator Lucy Vann. To coincide with the reissues, Dry Cleaning will head back on the road this March and April for headline sets that will lean heavily on songs from Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks and Sweet Princess. The tour will offer fans the chance to see the band play in more intimate venues like Leeds" Brudenell Social Club and East London"s EartH theatre, and honour US shows that were postponed in 2020 (including SXSW and Treefort festivals). Tickets will go on sale this Friday 19 January.

The Deathmaker open the dance with an Acid Hardtek Core 165 BPM... And then comes a bloody serious Hardcore with Infernal Noise and the Quaver... B side opens on a Hard techno acid core track and finished by... some loud Acidcore overdrive...

Kill The Lights, die aus ehemaligen Mitgliedern von Bullet for My Valentine, Throw the Fight, Threat Signal und Still Remains bestehen, veröffentlichen über Fearless/Concord ihr neues Album Death Melody am 08.03.2024 Ihre songs sind einzigartig- Sie stürmen förmlich von der ersten Note an aus den Toren, supported von galoppierenden Riffs, wobei die Texte in einem wilden, höllischen Stil vorgetragen werden. Das markerschütternde Gebrüll geht nahtlos in einen hübschen, sauberen und melodischen Stil über, der effektiv zeigt, wie brutal und doch soft Kill The Lights sind!

No Wahala Sound Orchestra is a contemporary, London-based collective with members from backgrounds as diverse as Jamaica, Ghana, Bangladesh, Poland, Trinidad, Denmark, Ireland and the UK.Gideon Coe ( 6Music) Neil Luscombe (BBC Radio 3) and Steve Barker ( BBC Radio Lancashire) have all offered their support over the years.

The music takes in elements of electronica, jazz, reggae, dub poetry, Afrobeat, classical Indian music and many other global sounds."On Gossamer Clouds" is a compilation of some key recordings over the last ten years. It features 12 tracks which vary in styles and mood, but form a coherent whole.

"L'idée nous est venu lors d'une conversation un peu arrosée dans un pub du sud de Londres avec Philippe du label Tapeworm" dixit François Kirmann Gamaury alias Franz Kirmann alias Dj Salinger – producteur français établi à Londres depuis plus d'une vingtaine d'années.

"Voyage voyage voyage" est une mixtape. Mais pas dans le sens traditionnelle du terme. Kirmann l'appelle une mixtape subjective, où les morceaux ne sont pas joués tels quels mais présentés tels qu'ils sont ressentis par l'artiste.

Un peu comme le DJ Vladimir Ivkovic qui ralentit certain morceaux sur ses platines pour en révéler un autre aspect, Kirmann zoom dans l'étoffe même des enregistrements, étire les notes et les sons à l'infini, pour en mettre à jour un sens caché, altérer notre perception de ces chansons qui peuvent parfois sembler un peu désuètes. Ici elles sont transformées en nappes fantomatiques et envoutantes qui évoquent un souvenir d'une période de sa vie, une trace sonore d'une époque un peu naive, qui revient aujourd'hui sous forme d'echo, une musique nostalgique trempée dans la reverb et la distortion.

Kirmann a grandit au Sénégal pendant les années 80 et il se souvient des étés de son enfance passé chez ses grand parents, les chansons à la radio, dans le bus du centre aéré, dans un Prisunic en Dordogne, où une fête de camping en Alsace: Catherine Lara, Elsa, Veronique Jeannot et bien sûr Desireless et son fameux tube "Voyage voyage".

Les chansons sélectionnées pour la cassette ont toutes en commun une incitation au départ, une recherche de l'ailleurs, un amour perdu, un souvenir, les thèmes de predilection d'une certaine pop française que l'on nommait variété.

Ces idées d'évasion sont accentuées ici par le traitement sonore qui leur est appliqué. Les chansons sont paralysés dans le temps, figées dans le son, comme si l'on avait souligné certain passages dans un roman pour les détacher du texte intégral.

Distortion, écho, réverbération et autres effets sont appliqués et donnent à la musique et au son une qualité rêveuse et distante. Certains passages reconnaissables se dévoilent et sortent de la brume sonore, ils se révèlent plus net, d'autres sont noyés dans un brouillard imprécis, une musique proche de l'ambient qui enveloppe l'auditeur.

Kirmann: "Chaque track est basé sur une chanson de variété française des années 80, je voulais re-créer une impression de distance, quelque chose de lointain. Les morceaux deviennent des sortes de tapisseries sonores mais dont l'essence de la chanson originelle est toujours présente. Il y'a un roman de Patrick Modiano où les personnages lancent des avis de recherche pour la France à partir d'une station de radio d'un pays lointain. Le son est brouillé, les voix étouffées. J'avais un peu cette idée en tête de faire quelque chose de similaire, comme si les chansons étaient entendus sur un vieux poste de radio mais émises d'une station lointaine et d'un autre temps."

Le résultat est un voyage nostalgique, une musique ambient et nébuleuse façonnée à partir de tubes synthétiques 80's. Imaginez Fennesz ou My Bloody Valentine jouant des reprises de Laurent Voulzy et vous y êtes presque…

Loveless non, Desireless oui!

DJ Salinger. Voyage Voyage Voyage – Disponible en cassette uniquement. 100 exemplaires sur le label Tapeworm.

—

Franz Kirmann is a French music producer living in London. He has made albums for various labels including Denovali, Bytes, Mercury KX. He also writes music for film and TV and is a lecturer in music production at Point Blank Music school.

In the UK ‘Garage’ is most commonly used to refer to Rock music –
mostly of the kind that’s a bit rough (and ready) round the edges. Most
of the Punks were Garage bands, and before them were Psychedelic
Rockers, and before them Surfers and Beat bands. All the groups on
this compilation hail from the late 1950s and very early 1960s. Featured genres are Surfer instrumentals, Doo-Wop, ‘Trash’ Doo-Wop, Frat-Rock and Beat music.

Post-Punk (Originally Called New Musick) Is A Broad Musical Genre That Emerged In 1977 In The Wake Of Punk Rock. Post-Punk Musicians Moved Away From Punk's Traditional Elements And Raw Simplicity, Adopting Instead A Broader, More Experimental Approach That Included A Variety Of Avant-Garde Sensibilities And Non-Rock Influences. Inspired By Punk's Energy And DIY Ethos, But Determined To Break With Rock Clichés, Artists Experimented With Styles Such As Funk, Electronic Music, Jazz And Dance Music; Dub And Disco Production Techniques; And Ideas From Art And Politics, Including Critical Theory, Modernist Art, Film And Literature.

These Communities Have Produced Independent Record Labels, Visual Art, Multimedia Performances And Fanzines. These Three Compilations Are By No Means 'Best Of' Or Collections Of Chart Hits. They Are Compilations That Endeavour (And We Think They Do Well) To Take A Wide-Ranging Look At The UK And American Post-Punk Scene In The Years From 1978 To 1984, But Here Almost Everything Stops In 1981, Giving Space To Bands And Artists That Almost Always Didn't Make It Beyond The 45 Rpm Mark. A Representation Of The True 'Outside Of Everything' Of The Era.

First Word Records is proud to bring you 'The Essance' - the classic debut album by Essa (formerly known as Yungun), originally released in 2004, now released on vinyl & digital for the first time, 20 years on!

A lyricist, lawyer and a Londoner, legendary MC Essa has earned praise over the years from artists such as Nas and Mark Ronson, as well as performing and recording with legends like De La Soul, Wu-Tang Clan, Guru, Slum Village and Pharoahe Monch.

This 15-track album is considered one of the greats to emerge during UK Hip Hop's "golden era"; a vibrant time for the genre when artists such as Ty, Jehst, Roots Manuva, Klashnekoff, Skinnyman, Task Force, Doc Brown and Foreign Beggars were garnering huge fanbases, and an eco-system of shops like Deal Real, club nights like Kung Fu, labels like Lowlife, and stations like Itch FM were prevalent, while BBC 1Xtra was a mere infant.

'The Essance' includes production and features from luminaries such as Harry Love, Mr Thing, Lewis Parker, Kyza, Devise & Ben Grymm, to name a few.

Esteemed author Musa Okwonga says on the reissue liner notes "the most startling thing about 'The Essance' was its range. Yungun (Essa) was one of the few MCs who could perfectly walk the paths of hope and melancholy with equal ease, whose artist name belied the wisdom of his lyrics. Beyond that, his delivery was supremely self-assured, filled with a swagger he could always justify.

Yungun's gifts also extended to the stage, where he was one of the best young actors that many of his contemporaries had seen, and to languages, which saw him writing and rhyming in Spanish with a notable flourish. He was also someone who constantly walked between two worlds, excelling in one of the country's most competitive academic environments during the day and then delivering a soaring radio set by night. Raised in a vibrant vein of North London, endlessly curious about the world around him, Yungun's fine ear for music and passion for the variety of life made him someone who could reach all audiences.

'The Essance' is a beautifully-woven meditation on the human condition, one which takes you from the dancefloor to the summer afternoon barbecue to the bathroom mirror; yet it is also the opening statement of a unique career."

In the words of Essa himself "my key goal for this album was to span so many moods and styles that I couldn't be categorised, leaving me free to then go in whatever direction I chose. I was almost too successful with this – I would later struggle to pin down my own identity, both on and off the mic, as a rapper slash lawyer, of mixed-heritage, blessed to be able to enter many circles but feeling truly at home in none. As I write this, twenty years (plus a marriage and several children) on, I finally feel more at peace with being undefinable, and am getting better at bringing my full, authentic self into as many aspects of life as I can. I am grateful to be able to look both back and forward, with equal passion."

'The Essance' was followed with a collaborative album with DJ Mr Thing ('Grown Man Business'), then some years later on First Word with 'The Misadventures of a Middle Man' in 2014. There's also a forthcoming project in the works, due for release Summer 2024 with all-new material produced by Pitch 92. Both these releases also coincide with the 20th anniversary of the First Word label (named "label of the year" at the 2019 Worldwide Awards).

A timeless piece of work, 'The Essance' is true-skool boom bap through and through that stands up two full decades later, from the ethereal anthem 'Liquid Love', to the uptempo bounce of 'Dancing Shoes', to the grit of 'The Big Idea', to the thought provoking 'What Eye See Pt.2', to bangers like 'Push' or 'Spit Fire', this is an essential addition to the collection of any discerning hip hop head.

'The Essance' is due to be released on vinyl & digital worldwide on February 23rd 2024.

White Marbled Vinyl

Original Son del Barrio, from Monterrey; presenting their first album Tropical Gueto. A trip through different neighbourhoods, with a collection of sounds ranging from Digital Cumbia and Hip-hop to Reggae and Tropical bass. Created as a collaboration between Mexico and Germany (featuring founding member and singer Angel Perez, and Dj and producer Andres Digital), this tropical experiment begins with a series of concerts in Rome, Amsterdam and Paris. Plans are laid for the co-production of Tropical Gueto in said tour; and the resulting efforts saw the participation of Indepe Roots, Bianca Ciocca, Moska Hernandez, Joyce Musicolor and Feo Feo Records; as well as Gran Om, on art duties. Tropical Gueto sets the bar high for Digital Cumbia, setting a clear benchmark for the genre. Angel Perez (aka Son del Barrio) lends his voice to the streets and the “barrio” culture of Monterrey, in the expressive language of his own lyrics and compositions; through the sensitivity and technical ingenuity of producer and Dj Andres Digital (aka Jaky Tuff).

“But into my miserable brain, always concerned with looking for noon at two o’clock" - Charles Baudelaire (1869)

The Foreign Department is the second album by Astrel K, the solo project helmed by Stockholm-based British ex-pat, Rhys Edwards. Those already familiar with Edwards’ work will likely know him for fronting the cultishly great Ulrika Spacek, and given he operates as the principal songwriter in both projects, much of the same hallmarks of his cathartic, elliptical songwriting are present in Astrel K. Nonetheless, The Foreign Department feels like a rubicon moment of sorts, and the album that Edwards has unconsciously been working towards his entire creative life.

As a title, The Foreign Department offers an instructive guide for the listener, framing a life-in-transition/artist-in-exile document that maps two impromptu moves in twelve months for its songwriter: the first from London in pursuit of a relationship, the second between homes in Stockholm as that decade long relationship then suddenly dissolved. Indeed, diffusion, dissolution and reconstitution feel like appropriate touchstones for its recurring themes. Written amidst the flux of two states, at once isolated from home and then any established emotional anchor, the resulting eleven tracks came to represent a precognitive search for shifting identity and with it forming an unwittingly biographical record. It's commendable and somewhat telling that during this shake up, Edwards somehow landed upon his most realised and original work.

With a former life stripped away, there emerged an opportunity to reinvent a sense of self through art, now not just as a writer, but a composer also. Developing the confidence to arrange songs in ways he'd previously considered off-limits, while also taking cues from the opulent string and brass arrangements of records like Mercury Rev's Deserters' Songs and Death of A Ladies Man by Leonard Cohen, Edwards enlisted a range of performers to bring to life the mini-symphonies forming in his head. Perhaps it's inevitable that an album written while facing the consequences of being alone would eventually ossify around the process of bringing people together.

For all its troubled origins, The Foreign Department is a remarkably warm sounding collection. Edwards' lyrics are typically knotty and neurotic, dancing around the poetry of quarter-life anxiety, but the music itself is often joyous and even uplifting, the combination expressing that neat duality of melancholic euphoria. Edwards sings variously of crises, "torrid pieces of art", of "houses on fire" and not "having the guts for it", yet these troubling sentiments are framed by seemingly incongruous swelling strings, chirping horns or motorik percussion, creating that sense of pushing forward or floating above, of wrapping your troubles in dreams, a salve for the moments when you get a bit too much for yourself.

Lead single, 'Darkness At Noon', likely captures this all best. Named for the French idiom "midi a quatorze heures", the maddening idea of attempting the impossible for the sake of some greater possibly pointless cause, it directly grapples with the opposing notions of wanting and not wanting, of being here and being there at the same time. The conflicting and impossible self. It’s something Edwards addresses in the song at perhaps his most open, opining, “I know I want to be seen, but I hate most of what comes out of me”. And yet here is, putting it all out in the open and on the line, the dialectics of his enlightenment up on show.