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Australian producer 'Well Being' returns to the Fokuz imprint with that sort of track we would place in the 'halftime' segment nowdays. 'There's A Place' contains a soothing trumpet, spaced-out strings and delayed piano riffs all blending together perfectly. Souful vibes on this one!
On the flip Technicolour and Komatic deliver a track called 'Ever After'. It seems this duo has the Midas touch, they can simply do no wrong! A moody vocal, deep bassline and tight cuts. The kind of track track that makes you reflect on whats important.

Repress coming!

A year on from 'Good Evening', the critically acclaimed collaborative album with Verb T & his
stellar contribution to Ocean Wisdom's UK TOP 40 'Wizville' album, producer Pitch 92 is
ready to show off his new works to the world, as he enters a new stage in his career and begins
to spread his wings as a solo artist. Known for his soulful sound, inspired by the likes of
Madlib, Pete Rock & J Dilla, Pitch 92 has carved out his own unique style and pulled out all the
stops for his debut release on High Focus Records.
Entitled 'Lost In Space', this new EP is a perfectly balanced mix of vocal and instrumental
tracks showcasing the raw talent of the Manchester based producer. Pitch 92 has assembled a
healthy roster of artists to work alongside, ranging from UK Hip Hop royalty to up & coming US
artists as well as accomplished musicians.
Spanning from UK Hip Hop favourites such as Jehst & Verb T, to new faces such as K S R ,
Sparkz and Doctor Outer as well as hooking up with Sony Music's Ashely Henry, one of the
UK's most accomplished jazz pianists as heard on 'One Handed' - Pitch 92, armed with his
trusty MPC, expertly provides the perfect backdrop to accommodate each of his guests, as well
as putting forward instrumentals that stand out as masterpieces in their own right, Pitch 92
applies finesse and the ability of a veteran producer, despite only being 26 years old - One
listen of lead single 'Lost In Space' featuring Jehst and Confucius MC is all you need to
confirm that we are indeed listening to a master at work.
In short, 'Lost In Space' is a production masterclass and serves as the perfect introduction to
the Pitch 92 sound, of which you will be hearing more and more, guaranteed.

Welcoming prolific and essential Mexican artist Andy Martin to Animalia, with his mesmerising, mind-bending musical interpretation of the Nahual, a common & integral figure of the belief systems of ancient Indigenous peoples of the Americas, which embodies the spiritual connection between humans & animals. In some traditional stories, this connection is so strong that they are said to transform into one of them. Tierra de Nahuales refers to a region of ancient America inhabited by these mythological beings, which in this EP become part of the Animalia universe, shaped by psychedelic broken rhythms, tribal sounds, and dub influences. A release that feels both deeply personal to Andy's musical & cultural identity as well as the label's own - a telling ode to the abilities of the depth & outer worldly sense to his music - a world-building, shapeshifting & one of a kind artist who feels truly at home in the Animalia family.

POEME ELECTRONIQUE was Dave Hewson (synthesisers, production), Sharon Abbott (lyrics, lead and backing vocals), Julie Ruler (backing vocals) and Les Hewson (bass), formed in 1980 by Dave Hewson in South London, UK, in 1980. Dave was studying music and as a rare kind of student species he had a deep fascination for New Wave and electronic music thus also playing and recording electronic music ever since like using the Boss DR-55, Cosmo Sound Super Drum, Elka Rhapsody 610, EMS Synthi AKS, Korg MS-20(X2)/Polysix/Polyphonic Ensemble 1000/VC-10 Vocoder, Linn Electronics LM-1, Octave Kitten, Roland RS-09/VP-330 Vocoder Plus, Simmons SDS-V Kit and Yamaha CS-80 on this retrospective POEME ELECTRONIQUE album with original material from 1981/82 only. Over the period of more than two years, Dave has remastered these tracks using the latest high-end tools making them sound better than ever before. The deluxe 2LP vinyl album comprises 16 tracks of which 14 have never been published before. “The Echoes Fade” and “Voice” are the original versions taken off their original 7” from 1982. The album “The Echoes Fade” cannot be described other than being a masterpiece and one of the best-ever early 80’s electropop records ever, and it surely has to be lined up with Rational Youth or Experimental Products’ cult albums (in terms of being minimal synth/wave scene reference albums), but to be frank, Anna thinks that POEME ELECTRONIQUE were even above their level.

Truly, they had deserved to go on the successful path like Depeche Mode, OMD or Soft Cell, but fate was against them as it seems. The main difference to other electropop groups of the time was definitely that Dave did not only master his synths technically-wise, no, he also knew how to actually play, and when you hear his amazing multi-track ‘manual sequencing’, programming skills, great harmonies and melodies throughout the tracks, along with the two girls’ performances – well they can really sing! – you will agree there is some something remarkably extraordinary in these tracks. You will find minimal electropop super hits like “Rendezvous”, “She’s an Image”, “Fragile”, or “Dilemma”; hauntingly beautiful melancholic tracks like “A Mourner’s Lament”, “This Night” or “It’s in the Atmosphere”; darkest minimal electronics on “Inside his Head”; and even more poppier tracks like “Follow”. This record will hopefully be loved by any electronic music lover and most probably marks the highlight in the growing Anna Logue Records catalogue – therefore Anna did not shy away from any costs and the album is truly an outstanding release in every single aspect including sound and artwork presentation. Apart from the bonus tracks you will find in the 2LP deluxe vinyl edition glossy inner sleeves with lyrics to all songs, as well as individual mini 7” sleeves for each song designed by our dear graphic designer Steve Lippert plus many additional group photos on the gatefold sleeves’ inner. After so many efforts and more than two years passing by, Anna is so over the moon to see this release being ready now and we have done all we could to make this an outstanding release, so now it’s up to you to give the band their final glory, but Anna is in no doubt that – at least after hearing the sound samples – you will.

There’s a song on There’s A Whole World Out There, the second album by Canadian four-piece Arm’s Length, called “Palinopsia”. Derived from the Greek for “again” (palin) and “seeing” (opsia), it’s a visual phenomenon marked by the persistent image of something that’s no longer actually there. Singer and lyricist Allen Steinberg wrote the song wrote about “pure devotion or love towards someone that may no longer be a part of your life”, but it also applies to the record as a whole.

Because throughout this album’s 12 songs, Steinberg wrestles a with the part of life that’s been and gone. Yet there’s a noticeable difference between the person who wrote this record compared to the one who wrote Arm’s Length’s 2022 debut, Never Before Seen, Never Again Found. “This record speaks more to my life at the moment than the past,” he explains, “even though there’s still a good amount of past on it. But it’s how I’m dealing with it now, as opposed to being enveloped in it—there’s more a sense of being on the other side of it, of seeing it with hindsight. The tone has shifted a little. I’m probably just a bit more mature, as my frontal lobe is developing as we speak.” Produced by Anton DeLost—who worked with the band on Never Before Seen, Never Again Found and 2021’s EP, Everything Nice—There’s A Whole World Out There does indeed expand Arm’s Length’s horizons in accordance with Steinberg’s developing frontal lobe, presenting him as more self-reflective contemplative than he was before. He wrote the parts for all the instruments, as well as the vast majority of the lyrics, alone in his room, and then brought those initial sketches, recorded as voice memos, to drummer Jeff Whyte, who added percussion to Steinberg’s song skeletons. While the majority of the creative process was in Steinberg’s hands, it was only when these songs were recorded as a full band with Jeremy Whyte, who played bass on the record, and Ben Greenblatt that their full potential was realized. The result is that the feelings driving these songs burst and bloom with full force, building on the incredible foundations set by the band’s previous recorded output.

In September of 2019, Deliluh took flight with sights set on new horizons.
A long plotted scheme to uproot the group from their Toronto home and
airlift them into the touring bastion of Europe seemed like a pot worth
gambling their stack on.
Their future in the old world was read with wide-eyed optimism, emboldened
by two albums newly waxed and tour dates rolling in. Greener pastures with
foreign allure, a promised land chalk full of experimental art and sound, and a
plethora of unconventional venues ripe for the picking... it’s open season, what
could possibly go wrong?
Well, the best laid plans... ‘Amulet’ is the first release since Deliluh’s departure
from Toronto, an opening document of the group’s transition to Europe. Mirrored images of the same composition occupy each side; ‘A’ performed by their
previous four-piece lineup (Kyle Knapp, Julius Pederson, Erika Wharton, Erik
Jude) and ‘B’ by the current active two-piece (Knapp and Pederson). ‘Amulet’
is set to be released July 30th on 10” via Tin Angel Records.
The lyrics depict a jewel thief committing crimes with the conviction of a merciless zealot, and justifying them with a spite for the status quo. The protagonist
amuses with the threat of being “caught”, a fate seemingly imminent and yet
laughable in the crooked context of societal greed. Knapp delivers sharp criticisms with a swagger liberated of fear, imploring us all to root for the anti-hero
in a time when danger is craved en masse.
The tonal contrasts between both versions testify to the group’s versatility.
The A side pulls tension by way of minimalism, leaning into a sinister synth
sequence that navigates a pitch dark sonic terrain. Swooning guitar, plucking
violin, whispering synths and darting tape effects peek in and out of the periphery, circling with unsettled starkness around Jude’s gloomy bass drone, through
until Wharton-Shukster’s string soaring climax.
Flip to the B side, and the immediate motorik groove turns the sequence on its
head, snapping to a gritty dance track for nights long yearned for. Pedersen’s
modular synth takes on a fresh persona of dusted drums and otherworldly high
hats, cracking on the beat while guitar scratches, processed sax, and string
synths build with harmonic euphoria, all until the tape slips and pulls the rug
from under the DIY dance floor.
‘Amulet’ demonstrates Deliluh’s potential growing fearlessly in the face of a
tight game. They promise a plentiful stash of recordings soon to be unearthed,
giving the sense that their recently tested process of creation has been far from
hindered. What comes next is anyone’s guess, though Amulet at the very least
reassures that we’re still, as always, in trusted hands.
Knapp: “It’s ‘adapt or parish’ these days.. We’re fortunate to be safe and
healthy, and thankfully, we’re not afraid of taking risks or evolving.”
Pedersen: “It isn’t the end goal that matters, but what you learn while exploring the paths that lead into unexplored terrain.”

Mercurial Swede Axel Boman debuts on Aus Music with four spellbinding deep house beauties

Swedish artists pbeatgirl and Joakim Åhlund & Jockum Nordström feature on one track each
Axel Boman has brought playful charm to the underground for nearly two decades. His colourful, emotive sound marries melodic whimsy with warm, cuddly grooves and is underpinned by invention and experimentation in sound design, rhythm and mood. The Studio Barnhus co-founder is an artist who can make you laugh and cry at the same time, as continually shown across more than 20 EPs and four full-length albums on a tasteful array of labels. He strides into 2026 with a first EP for Aus that embodies everything that makes him easy to love and hard to pin down.

First up is 'Night Blooming' feat pbeatgirl - a provocative figure in Sweden's post-pop underground. The sensual late-night lullaby has soft drums and even softer spoken words whispered in your ear. Add in the dreamy synths, and you have perfect house hypnosis. 'Someone Stop Me' slows the tempo but ups the texture with raw, tumbling drum loops, incidental guitar licks and sustained pads that help you zone out and gaze into the distance on a summer's afternoon.

'Svalor Radiosignal (Axel's Dub)' features Joakim Åhlund, who is currently on tour of Australia with his band Les Big Byrd, and is also a guitarist and lead singer in the Caesars band he founded, as well as being a prolific producer. World-renowned multi-disciplinary artist Jockum Nordström works across painting, sculpture and collage and also features. There's a signature Boman innocence and charming naivety to the melodies here. They leave wispy, painterly trails above the smooth, dubby groove and fill you with warmth and comfort. Closer 'Spooky' journeys later into the night with a more rickety, edgy mood, but beautiful, shape-shifting synths are like a tender hand guiding you into darkness.

This is Axel Boman at his most intimate and expressive, a quietly powerful EP for heads-down moments and after-hours warmth.

Chart topping British singer-songwriter Maisie Peters returns with much anticipated third studio album ‘Florescence’, co-produced with 2x Grammy Winner Ian Fitchuck with collaborators including Marcus Mumford and Julia Michaels. Florescence reflects on how the right love can help heal the wrong ones. It’s an album about perspective, self-realisation, healing, and ultimately, learning how to flourish. This lands as Maisie’s first new LP since she became the youngest solo British female artist in almost a decade to land a UK No.1 album with ‘The Good Witch’ back in 2023. Since then, she’s had the A-list co-signs via Phoebe Bridgers, Sam Smith and Olivia Rodrigo. She’s had a fiercely devoted fandom flock to headline tours around the world. And she’s played shows from Wembley Arena, to Glastonbury, to stadium slots with Taylor Swift and Coldplay.


“Florescence means ‘the process of flowering, of developing richly and fully’ and to me, this album describes exactly that. These 15 tracks depict a blossoming of myself from ages 23 to 25 and a blossoming of a true real love that anchors both me and this record. It tells the story of the last few long winters, with all of their villains and thorns, heartbreaks and rains, and it leads you, by the end, into a perfect English spring, into the hope and catharsis that comes when the first wildflower blooms. It’s a true representation of healing, of finding hope and peace and strength not just in somebody else, but in yourself. It is clear skies, cherry pits on the grass, windows flung open - it is Sussex country roads and London corner shop wine that leaves a stain when you kiss. It is the feeling of flying, then falling, then flying again. It is knowing that there was a point to all the sadness of before, and the point is the woman you see in this mirror now, and the person you see by her side. Love is weaved into every strand of every song on this album and for good reason - love is timeless, love is pure, love is organic and simple and effortless and real. I hope you find this album to be that as well.”

Chart topping British singer-songwriter Maisie Peters returns with much anticipated third studio album ‘Florescence’, co-produced with 2x Grammy Winner Ian Fitchuck with collaborators including Marcus Mumford and Julia Michaels. Florescence reflects on how the right love can help heal the wrong ones. It’s an album about perspective, self-realisation, healing, and ultimately, learning how to flourish. This lands as Maisie’s first new LP since she became the youngest solo British female artist in almost a decade to land a UK No.1 album with ‘The Good Witch’ back in 2023. Since then, she’s had the A-list co-signs via Phoebe Bridgers, Sam Smith and Olivia Rodrigo. She’s had a fiercely devoted fandom flock to headline tours around the world. And she’s played shows from Wembley Arena, to Glastonbury, to stadium slots with Taylor Swift and Coldplay.


“Florescence means ‘the process of flowering, of developing richly and fully’ and to me, this album describes exactly that. These 15 tracks depict a blossoming of myself from ages 23 to 25 and a blossoming of a true real love that anchors both me and this record. It tells the story of the last few long winters, with all of their villains and thorns, heartbreaks and rains, and it leads you, by the end, into a perfect English spring, into the hope and catharsis that comes when the first wildflower blooms. It’s a true representation of healing, of finding hope and peace and strength not just in somebody else, but in yourself. It is clear skies, cherry pits on the grass, windows flung open - it is Sussex country roads and London corner shop wine that leaves a stain when you kiss. It is the feeling of flying, then falling, then flying again. It is knowing that there was a point to all the sadness of before, and the point is the woman you see in this mirror now, and the person you see by her side. Love is weaved into every strand of every song on this album and for good reason - love is timeless, love is pure, love is organic and simple and effortless and real. I hope you find this album to be that as well.”

The album has 17 tracks and features many well known musicians that are currently active on the recording and gig circuits. The artwork is very eye catching and the songs comprehensive despite being multi genre. There is a musicians profiles booklet insert in the vinyl and only the front cover can be seen online, the rest of the artwork is appealing to collectors.

The Nu’rons were a family group consisting of two sets of brothers and cousins, the four young men in question being brothers Daryl Howard and Raymond Gibson (Daryl’s mother registered him under his father’s surname of Howard and Raymond under her maiden name of Gibson) together with Otho Bateman and Charles Bateman. They were all born and raised in Salem, New Jersey and from the age of ten and eleven began singing with a fifth member and Gibson brother Rudolph as a group called The Gospel 5. They eventually decided to crossover to secular music and as a group known for their energetic dance routines they came up with the new performing name of ‘The Nu’rons’ (taken from the word ‘Neuron’ which is a cell that transmits nerve impulses). However Rudolph was soon to leave the group due to physical illness. Also Daryl Howard and Charles Bateman had also been part of a working group known as The Devotions prior to becoming The Nu-Ron’s.Following hours of practice The Nu’rons eventually felt confident enough to put their own shows together and began to perform at local dances and parties around New Jersey and Philadelphia, often being used as a non-paid warm up act for bigger named artists. They moved between several different managers including Jimmy Bishop (Duo Dynamic Productions) until they came under the tutelage of WDAS radio DJ Georgie Woods (his wife Gilda, being the owner of the Philadelphia Gil, Dion and Top & Bottom record Labels). It was Georgie who introduced them to Manny Campbell who in turn invited them to an audition at his and partner Charles Bowen’s Emandolynn Music studio in Chester P.A. The song The Nu’rons chose to audition with was the self penned “I’m A Loner”, the audition went well, as during late January/early February of 1970 Manny and Charles took The Nu’rons into the Sigma Sound Studio’s with Tom Bell and the TSOP musicians to record “I’m A Loner” and “All My Life” which was released on the Nu-Ron label in April of the same year. The two studio takes presente don this release came short after the band moved on from the collaboration with producer Emanuel Campbell to take music matters in their own hands. Beside recording "Disco Hustle" to be part of the disco boom in Philly of the times, they recorded also “You Came Thru”, a rough yet beautiful heavy bassline driven soul funk recording, and the just amazing “Hurry Up Tomorrow”, here presented in one of the original Studio takes.

There’s no direct English translation for the word “hiraeth”. In the Welsh language, it describes a form of longing for an intangible something, somewhere or someone that no longer exists. Sofie Birch and Antonina Nowacka draw on the concept to guide their second collaborative album, a suite of vulnerable, open-hearted improvisations and reflections that attempt to grasp an image of the past that’s chimeric, dissolving almost as soon as it materializes. The duo’s process follows the same distant beacon; unlike Languoria, their critically acclaimed debut, Hiraeth is, at heart, an acoustic record, informed by in-person improvisations with voices and string instruments that gesture to an era before computers, AI and DAWs. It’s just as lush, but Hiraeth is warmer and more muted than its predecessor.
Nowacka and Birch conceived the album in the wake of a slew of collaborative live concerts, spurred on by serendipitous improvisations and an interest in paring down their setup. Unsound arranged a retreat in Sokołowsko, an idyllic village nestled in the verdant hills of Southern Poland, close to the Czech border. Sokołowsko surrounds a large ruined sanatorium that’s rumored to have inspired Thomas Mann’s 1924 novel The Magic Mountain, and has long been a magnet for artists. The two took the opportunity to rethink their approach completely, arriving with just a guitar, a zither and a portable Nagra reel-to-reel machine. Recording directly to tape, they sketched out ideas with just their voices and instruments, reflecting their surroundings without being distracted or mediated by modern technology.
“We wanted to get away from screens as much as possible,” says Birch, “to bring to the world something vulnerable and honest. Without advance preparation, every day we went out into the open air, finding places to sit, during sunset or the midday sun. We discovered new tunings on our instruments, picked up a melody, and started the machine, playing over
and over till we got a take.” In the autumn, they met again in a Copenhagen studio, sparingly and carefully layering old synths and organs to add more depth without muddying the mix.
Both Nowacka and Birch sing throughout, their voices threading the acoustic instruments and tangling with each other, almost becoming one. But it’s the environment of Sokołowsko, “the birds and the light, even the wind playing against the harps,” that’s woven into the music’s lining. Affected by time spent meditating and in nature, as well as the fact that Birch was pregnant whilst recording, the album feels alive and remarkably present. Even the sound quality of the tape machine gives Hiraeth a tactile, organic quality, as Nowacka puts it, “like being in a warm bath.”

They still have the raw recordings from Sokołowsko on old reels, physical souvenirs of their time spent making music in a “habitat for intuitive songs, a little ecosystem, alive and spirited.” The outmoded gear and remote setting helped the duo disengage from the modern world for a few moments and imagine an existence that’s been lost to time and nominal progress. With digital technology receding into the background, Nowacka and Birch had space to make “intuitive connections with frequencies and people,” as Birch explains. Hiraeth is a testament not to nostalgia, but to the power of kinship.

High Focus Records are proud to present the latest collaboration from Verb T & Illinformed. ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ both continues and completes the trilogy that began back in 2015, with ‘The Man with the Foggy Eyes’, before broadening the horizons with last year’s release ‘The Land of the Foggy Skies’. This final chapter returns to the same conceptual landscape as its predecessors, but also sees Verb T & Illinformed returning to a more classic approach to album making. In spite of its concept, the Foggy Trilogy is something of a personal outpouring for Verb T, with the original aim being to vicariously discuss the trials and tribulations that play a part in his life, including his struggles with chronic illness and the feeling of alienation from leaving his hometown, while also reflecting on the state of the world as a whole. Their approach to making the album meant taking it back to the most natural form, where the idea for the track would be outlined, Illinformed would make the beat, Verb T would write to it and then they would tweak and adjust accordingly. The result is 19 of the most finely crafted tracks to emerge from the UK shores this year. As with the previous albums, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ finds Illinformed moving away from the more rugged sound that has shrouded the British scene over the last few months, thanks to his collaborations with the likes of Datkid and Wish Master, instead providing Verb T with an arguably more mellow backdrop. From the string and piano driven introduction on ‘Legacy’, to the blissful head-nod vibes of the closing track, ‘Blind Faith’, the union between beats and rhymes sits at the perfect level. The album also boasts one of the most impressive guestlists of the year, one that is very much a product of both players’ worlds. Thanks to Illinformed’s Bristol connection, there are features from the likes of Res One, Datkid, Leaf Dog, Smellington Piff and Chillman, as well as some locally sourced cuts from DJ Rogue. While on Verb T’s side of the fence, we have features from Rye Shabby and Moreone, along with a collaboration that reignites the same creative spark he found in his early days, as King Kashmere steps into the booth on Feeling Strange. All in all, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ does exactly what it sets out to do, by drawing the trilogy to a close while also providing insights into Verb T’s personal world and the world at large. The fact that it also happens to be one of the strongest rap albums of the year is the icing on the cake

For her new and most radical album »Electroacoustic Works for Halldorophone«, Martina Bertoni used the electronic instrument at EMS Stockholm to create four pieces that are massive in scale and incredibly intimate, sonically restrained and emotionally overwhelming—almost ambient and always demanding your full attention.

Martina Bertoni returns to Karlrecords with »Electroacoustic Works for Halldorophone,« her most radical album yet. The foundation for the four electroacoustic pieces was laid during a residency at Stockholm’s legendary Elektronmusikstudion (EMS) that the Berlin-based cellist and composer used to explore the curious instrument, originally designed by Halldór Úlfarsson in 2008, as an algorithmic system in order to examine tunings and the mathematical relationships between Aiming to analyse and understand their interaction beyond the composer’s control, Bertoni sought to engage more deeply with the concepts of time, tuning, and, most importantly, control. Accordingly, her four »Electroacoustic Works for Halldorophone« seem both massive in scale and incredibly intimate, sonically restrained and emotionally overwhelming— almost ambient and always demanding your full attention.

While the halldorophone—famously used by Hildur Guðnadóttir for her »Joker« score—roughly resembles a cello and can be played like one, it is an electronic instrument. The vibration of its strings is being picked up, amplified, and then routed through a speaker. This creates a feedback loop that becomes increasingly complex depending on how much gain is added to individual strings. Úlfarsson gave Bertoni a carte blanche for how to handle the instrument, but she stresses that she relied on »minimal interventions—some string strumming and plucking« that set the interactions of different sounds and frequencies into motion. »I decided to not approach it like a cellist would,« she explains. »Instead I used it as a kind of generative organ by turning it into a feedback machine, with tuned feedback triggering more feedback depending on the tuning, which was based on tetraphonic scales that I could apply on the four main strings as well as the sympathetic group of strings.«

Bertoni recorded the material in the EMS studio, later composing and arranging the four complex pieces in her home in Berlin, after which they were mixed and mastered by Ciaran O’Shea. While this can be considered a compositional abstraction process, traces of her concrete work as a performer are firmly ingrained in the music. »The halldorophone doesn’t have a line output, just a double set of speakers, which is why I recorded all sounds with two microphones in the EMS studio,« she explains. »That’s why there’s plenty of breathing sounds here and there—label owner Thomas Herbst and I jokingly refer to the album as my ›chamber music record‹.« And indeed, there is a striking sense of intimacy to these four pieces throughout which individual sounds, harmonic frequencies, and even subtle rhythmic figures seem to move both on their own accord but also according to a underlying vision that steers their interplay.

Indeed, »Electroacoustic Works for Halldorophone« is an album built on and marked by contrasts. The soothing polylogue of single sounds in the higher register on opener »Omen in G« is counterpointed by massive bass drones, while the second piece, »Nominal in D,« plays a cunning game of repetition and difference by combining thick textures with all kinds of rhythmic elements. »Fades in C«—the longest of the four pieces, clocking in at 17 minutes—unlocks the emotional potentials of the sonic qualities of the halldorophone, sounding at once serene and anthemic, and »Organon in D« closes the album by underscoring how Bertoni’s unconventional approach allows her to seamlessly transform simple, quiet tones into complex, towering walls of sound.

third album, "Magic Seeds". The record represents his most personal and collaborative work and blends live recordings and analogue synths to create an organic, rhythmic sound reminiscent of trip-hop and hip-hop.

"Magic Seeds" explores themes of growth and reconnection, featuring unexpected musical moments and influences from 90s electronic music to neoclassical. Tracks like "Smoke in the Air" and "Inner Child" highlight his ability to balance emotional peaks with deep, moody atmospheres. The album’s dynamic range and authenticity reflect James's commitment to musical freedom and societal reflection, making it a compelling sonic collage of his recent experiences.

Over the past few years, Leifur James has steadily built a reputation as a vital new voice in electronic music on both sides of the Atlantic. He’s played prestigious London venues like the Barbican and Village Underground in London and toured Europe, as well as being named Pitchfork and KCRW’s ‘best new music’ in the US, and his music has been championed by the likes of tastemakers Gilles Peterson, Mary Anne Hobbs, Bradley Zero and actor Cillian Murphy, and from BBC 6Music to NTS via KCRW and RMC Italia. James has also enjoyed further flagship press support from Consequence of Sound, Clash, CRACK, Passion of the Weiss, XLR8R, Complex, MixMag, DJ Mag, The Vinyl Factory, and more

New album by FLOCKS, the duo of drone specialist WERNER DURAND and percussionist ULI HOHMANN. Musical landscapes that move between traditional as well as experimental sounds with influences from Krautrock and JON HASSELL's "fourth world" aesthetics.

WERNER DURAND has made himself a name with various projects with Dhrupad singer AMELIA CHRISTIANSEN, DAVID CHRISTER HENNIX, as the co-founder of THE 13th TRIBE, ARMCHAIR TRAVELLER and TONALIENS (with ROBIN HAYWARD and HILARY JEFFERY) plus numerous solo albums, released on labels like Black Truffle, Unseen Worlds or Edition Telemark. Having studied saxophone as well as Indian / Persian flutes, the Berlin based DURAND is a highly reputated protagonist in the drone scene, famous for his self-built wind instruments like buzz-clarinets or his PVC neys & horns.

His partner in FLOCKS (and longtime personal friend) is ULI HOHMANN whose early encounters with music from Asia, India and Africa led to studies with the Ghanaian master drummer MUSTAPHA TETTEY ADDY and later Tombak and Daf with NEMAD DARMAN (Iran). HOHMANN played in a couple of projects that explored the language of classical Persian music, and started building his own stringed instruments (being an educated carpenter). In 2014 he joined DURAND and AMELIA CUNI for the album "Clearing", and 2018 DURAND and HOHMANN decided to con- tinue as a duo: FLOCKS was born.

On “Lagoon”, the duo further explores the aesthetics it has crafted on its selftitled debut (2023, on the now defunct ZEHRA imprint): DURAND and HOHMANN shape drone-y soundscapes based on their self-built wind- & stringed instruments, Persian percussion and subtle electronics, drawing ad- ditional inspiration from Krautrock (listen to the irresistible, hypnotique, ever-changing rhythmic pattern of the title track) as well as JON

Marvin Gaye always dreamed of being a smooth crooner, “sitting on a stool, possibly behind a piano,” delivering velvety songs like Nat King Cole. But Motown had other plans. Pushed between raw R&B and polished pop, Gaye fought to find his own voice, eventually rising to become one of the greatest soul singers in history.

Motown Records released the first Marvin Gaye record in 1961 "(I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over", a single intended for (radio) promotion from the singer's debut album. This was followed up by the officially released "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide" a week later. Gaye scored his first real hit with "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" in 1962, which he had co-written himself, joking about his alleged stubbornness. He found his own unique style with the single released at the end of the year: "Hitch Hike". The foundations were now laid for an enormous series of chart successes: "Pride And Joy", "Can I Get A Witness", "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" and "Ain't That Peculiar" are all Motown classics from 1963-1965 which are still being regularly played today after all these years. The duets he recorded with Kim Weston ("It Takes Two"), especially Tammi Terrell and Diana Ross were certainly at least as good.

He scored his biggest ever hit with "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" in 1968. "What's Going On" from the same titled album became a number 1 hit in the USA. The album was received as a masterpiece and is regarded as one of the most important records in pop history. In 1973, the artistically and commercially very successful, "Let's Get It On" album was mainly a musical ode to Marvin's love for his new muse Janis Hunter. His journey continued after a turbulent relationship, addiction and a dramatic creative rebirth in Belgium, where he crafted the global hit “Sexual Healing in 1982.

Marvin Gaye left behind timeless hits, groundbreaking albums, and a legacy that shaped the sound of modern soul. His story, from ambition to artistry, from struggle to brilliance, remains as powerful as the music he created.

Music On Vinyl proudly presents a special coloured vinyl edition of the Marvin Gaye Collected album which is available as a limited edition of 10.000 individually numbered copies on white (LP1) and silver coloured vinyl (LP2) and includes a booklet with liner notes.

• “Guerrilla Girls!”, Ace Records’ much-anticipated first release of 2023, takes us on a thrilling ride from punk’s mid-70s origins, via the left-field post-punk groups, jangly female combos, grunge bands and vigilante Riot Grrrls of the 80s and 90s, to the she-punk bands of recent years – a five-decade alternative to the macho hegemony of rock.

• The collection highlights songs that emerged out of a dynamic underculture of female creative expression. What unites the featured artists is a healthy disregard for the way the music industry ties up its female performers into pretty, neo-liberal packages. From Patti Smith, universal mother of the punk movement, to the Bags, Bikini Kill and Skinny Girl Diet, this music is anti-A&R. Including lesser-known names such as San Francisco street punk Mary Monday and London-based experimentalists pragVec, it shows that, rather than being a few novelty bands existing on the margins, these performers represent a stronger, more three-dimensional version of the female experience.

• Glorious resistance was on display in the first wave of UK female-fronted punk bands. Poly Styrene’s charged vocals on X-Ray Spex’s ‘Iama Poseur’, for instance, were a deliberate refusal to be a pretty punkette. With 15 year-old Lora Logic on saxophone, X-Ray Spex epitomised a fearless, self-defined agency that was at odds with the pastel shades and flowery, submissive Laura Ashley version of 1970s girlhood. By the early 80s, there was a hugely vibrant scene propelled by the diverse rhythms and voices of post-punk feminism. Lora Logic had left X-Ray Spex to form the interweaving textures of Essential Logic, the Mo-dettes mangled ska and off-kilter pop, and Birmingham band Au Pairs sliced political rigour into their lyrics and funky guitar work.

• Some female artists took that elemental energy into pop, creating pop-punk with a twist. We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It!! made a statement on music technology and female power with a cheeky play on words. Their song ‘Rules And Regulations’ shows that what Guerrilla Girls do well is debunking – taking genres of popular song and turning them inside out – like the way the Pandoras and the Pussywillows would amp up the driving beat and high vocals of the 60s girl group style, and subvert it with a DIY garage element.

• In its fanzine culture, use of montage and DIY music, 90s Riot Grrrl bands such as Bikini Kill and Bratmobile drew direct inspiration from 70s punk, articulated through the prism of Third Wave feminism. Too often, Riot Grrrl gigs were invaded by men intent on heckling “the enemy”. Liz Naylor, manager of British Riot Grrrl band Huggy Bear, says that their concerts became war zones. From the US grunge and Riot Grrrl scenes emerged more female instrumentalists, with bands such as L7 and Babes In Toyland proving that it was possible to recruit cutting-edge drummers, bass players and guitarists. Lori Barbero, whose relentless power drumming is a major element of Babes In Toyland, took the one instrument that has been a staple of male rock’n’roll and made it her muse.

• In the 2000s a new generation of girl-punk bands drew on the Riot Grrrl underculture to form their own sound. London trio the Tuts refashioned C86, Riot Grrrl and lush dream pop on songs like the ironically titled ‘Let Go Of The Past’, while the Regrettes injected shots of ska and doo wop into their explosive West Coast pop-punk. What began with Patti Smith and 70s punk has grown into a vast, spikey infrastructure of girl music. Many take inspiration from their foremothers, like Skinny Girl Diet whose vigilante feminism and punk distortion has been championed in return by Viv Albertine of the Slits. As long as these female artists stay aware of their musical vision and what they are trying to express – in a sense, A&R themselves – the underculture will continue to grow and flower. And this “Guerrilla Girls!” compilation is a celebration of that power.


• The back sleeve of the release features a scene-setting introductory essay by Lucy O’Brien (author of She Bop: The Definitive History Of Women In Popular Music). Each of the two discs come in a swanky inner bag containing a track commentary by compiler Mick Patrick (Ace Records’ long-serving champion of female artists of all persuasions) and exclusive interviews with many of the featured artists by Vim Renault and Lene Cortina (founders of the Punk Girl Diaries webzine).

Future Islands feiern ihr 20-jähriges Bestehen mit From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth, einer besonderen Sammlung aus Raritäten, alternativen Versionen und Fanlieblingen, von denen viele erstmals digital verfügbar sind. Statt eines klassischen Best-of-Albums zeigt die Band damit ihre Entwicklung und künstlerische Tiefe jenseits ihrer bekanntesten Momente. Die 20 Songs spiegeln 20 Jahre Bandgeschichte wider - von frühen Auftritten in kleinen Clubs bis hin zu einer gefestigten, zeitlosen Klangidentität. Der Titel steht sinnbildlich für diesen Weg: vom Alltag ("Hole in the Floor") hin zur Verwirklichung von Träumen ("Fountain of Youth"). Musikalisch bleibt die Band ihrem Stil treu: treibende Basslinien, atmosphärische Synthesizer und der eindringliche Gesang von Samuel T. Herring sorgen für einen roten Faden. Themen wie Sehnsucht, Liebe, Vergänglichkeit und emotionale Erinnerung durchziehen das Album. Die Veröffentlichung ist keine nostalgische Rückschau, sondern eine bewusste Neupositionierung. Sie macht verborgene Facetten sichtbar und zeigt eine Band, die in ihrer Zurückhaltung, Reife und Beständigkeit überzeugt. Gleichzeitig wird deutlich, dass ihr Erfolg nicht nur auf Musik, sondern auch auf langjähriger Freundschaft und echter Verbundenheit beruht. So entsteht ein vielschichtiges Porträt, das die Geschichte von Future Islands vervollständigt und ihre besondere künstlerische Identität unterstreicht.

Irish drone-doom-folk act One Leg One Eye, the project of founding Lankum member Ian Lynch and veteran noise monger George Brennan, announce their new album, CRONE, out on 1 May on AD 93.

Today the group share the first track on the album, ‘Many are my Names Besides’, on which they are joined by the elemental force that is legendary actor, performer, writer and director Olwen Fouéré (Operating Theatre) contributing vocals.

Olwen Fouéré comments:

“When Ian and George first approached me to work with them, they were already creating the Crone album as a sonic invocation of the ‘sovereignty goddess’, who personifies the land and the legitimacy to rule it, in her darkest and most terrifying form. As we spoke, the triple goddess figure of the Morrigan entered my mind, reinforced by a marked presence of crows every time we met. The Morrigan is essentially a war goddess, frequently appearing as a crow in a battlefield, a death prophet, a guardian of sovereignty, and a very powerful figure in Irish Mythology.

So I invoked her energy as a starting point, using text extracts that Ian sent me from the Ulster Cycle and other sources. The voice recording was done in one day, improvising the source material while the already composed music occupied my psyche through headphones.

Listening back, at this time in our world, I can only wonder at how much blood and war the Crone/ Crow of sovereignty is preparing to unleash now. Watch out.”

CRONE is the second album from Lynch and Brennan, following on from 2022’s slowburn slab of ambient grit, …And Take The Black Worm With Me. Bewildering, psychedelic and ultimately transcendental, the four tracks of One Leg One Eye’s CRONE shapeshift and morph endlessly in a coarse miasma. Traditional song structures and vocal melody are eschewed, instead the trio directly channel energies from the rich seams of mythological significance submerged below the Irish psyche. The anger, rage and beauty of the sovereignty goddess burn a consistent and deliberate line through the album in the form of obscure incantations and dire pronouncements, the gnarled sinews that bind it all together.

Just as the subject matter of the tracks delve deeper into Irish myth and the remote past, the temporal reality of the album reaches back into the bands prehistory, with the majority of it the material being recorded by Lynch and Brennan in 2021 before One Leg One Eye was conceived of as an entity with Brennan working on the CRONE project while Lynch worked on …And Take The Black Worm With Me.

When they were there they saw a lone woman coming to the door of the Hostel, after sunset, and seeking to be let in. As long as a weaver’s beam was each of her two shins, and they were as dark as the back of a stag-beetle. A greyish, wooly mantle she wore. Her lower hair used to reach as far as her knee. Her lips were on one side of her head.

She came and put one of her shoulders against the door-post of the house, casting the evil eye on the king and the youths who surrounded him in the Hostel. He himself addressed her from within.

"Well, O woman," says Conaire, "if thou art a wizard, what seest thou for us?"

"Truly I see for thee," she answers, "that neither fell nor flesh of thine shall escape from the place into which thou hast come, save what birds will bear away in their claws."

"It was not an evil omen we foreboded, O woman," saith he: "it is not thou that always augurs for us. What is thy name, O woman?"

"Calib," she answers.

"That is not much of a name," says Conaire.

"Lo, many are my names besides."

"Which be they?" asks Conaire.

"Easy to say," quoth she. "Samon, Sinand, Seisclend, Sodb, Caill, Coll, Díchóem, Dichiúil, Díthím, Díchuimne, Dichruidne, Dairne, Dáríne, Déruaine, Egem, Agam, Ethamne, Gním, Cluiche, Cethardam, Níth, Némain, Nóennen, Badb, Blosc, Bloár, Huae, óe Aife la Sruth, Mache, Médé, Mod."

On one foot, and holding up one hand, and breathing one breath she sang all that to them from the door of the house.