Electric Satie is a one-off conceptual project by Japanese composer Mitsuto Suzuki, who is mostly known for his work on Final Fantasy soundtracks. Released on CD-only in 1998, “Gymnopédie ’99” reimagines Erik Satie’s beloved piano compositions in electronic form ranging sonically from downtempo bossa-nova (featuring Brazilian percussionist Marco Bosco and vocalist Silvio Anastacio) to freestyle ambience and chillout room IDM, not far from the music featured on Music from Memory’s “Virtual Dreams II” or Warp Record’s “Artificial Intelligence.” A deeply imaginative composer and arranger, Suzuki harnesses a unique mix of drum machines, synthesizers, live percussion, soprano saxophone, piano, and spoken word to craft a lush and vividly futuristic sound world that video game soundtrack enthusiasts will easily fall into.
Suche:wil do
- Swimming In The Ocean
- Time On My Hands (Feat. Jim James)
- Hide Anymore
- Offering (Feat. Anna Graves)
- Love Last
- Where Do We Go From Here
- Devil In My Eyes
- Kind Of Magic
- Descendants
- Wild Fire (Feat. Maggie Rose)
Curioso, Bear Rinehart's third solo release as Wilder Woods, unapologetically explores all the curious corners of Rinehart's sound, powered by his genrebending approach to anthemic American music It's a wide mix of texture, razor-sharp songwriting, held together not by some lyrical thread or overarching story, but simply by the enthusiasm of a longtime musician who's still eager to stretch his legs and cover new ground.
This album is both a musical and political document that tells the story of one of the most brutal massacres that took place in 1976 in a Palestinian refugee camp during the Lebanese Civil War. Pianist Gaetano Liguori, along with Giulio Stocchi and Demetrio Stratos (the legendary singer of the band Area), composed this album, a gut-wrenching blend of free jazz, poetry, and Mediterranean music. The first edition was released in 1978 and, after almost 50 years, unfortunately, nothing seems to have changed. If we call ourselves human, we cannot help but grieve for the suffering of the Palestinian people. This is the third edition of the album, and as with the previous releases, all proceeds will go to charity. This time, we have chosen to donate the funds to UNRWA.
- Mean Street
- Dirty Movies
- Sinners Swing!
- Hear About It Later
- Unchained
- Push Comes To Shove
- So This Is Love?
- Sunday Afternoon In The Park
- One Foot Out The Door
The song titles on Van Halen's aptly titled Fair Warning don't lie. The likes of "Unchained," "Mean Street," "Push Comes to Shove," "One Foot Out the Door," and more indicate the mood the band channels on its double-platinum 1981 record — the nastiest, darkest, and fiercest album of the group's storied career. For the fourth time in four years, Van Halen throws down the gauntlet to all challengers and emerges victorious.
Sourced from the original analog tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing, and strictly limited to 5,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP set plays with unfettered clarity, dynamics, and immediacy. Benefitting from superb groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor, and dead-quiet surfaces, this vinyl edition captures what went down in the studio with tremendous realism and involving presence.
Taking a more controlled approach in the studio and still completing everything in less than two weeks, Van Halen and producer Ted Templeman relied on studio amplifiers to direct the sound. Further diverging from the live-on-the-floor approach of its earlier albums, the ensemble also employed overdubs to great effect. The result: Dense, stacked architecture that underlines the hard-hitting tenor of the songs — and which comes alive like never before on this reference edition that looks as good as it sounds.
The premium packaging and gorgeous presentation befit the reissue's select status. Housed in a deluxe slipcase, it features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording. Aurally and visually, it is made for listeners who want to immerse themselves in everything involved with the album, including the iconic cover art adopted from William Kurelek's haunting painting, "The Maze."
Isolated frames from Kurelek's childhood-inspired work — including a man bashing his head into a brick wall, a guy pinning down an adversary as he delivers bare-fist blows to his face and others watch with apparent glee, a boy tied down on a conveyer belt and being sent through the equivalent of a meat saw — adorn the front and back covers. The sunnier visual disposition of Van Halen's prior efforts gives way to something sinister and tortured, traits reflective of the music within. The band members, too, are visually depicted not in glamorous shots but in a serious black-and-white portrait in which the quartet is clad in black leather jackets.
Tough, aggressive, stark: Fair Warning comes on like a series of bare-knuckled punches to the solar plexus and boasts lyrical narratives to match. Though not a concept record, the concise album revolves around themes of roughing it on the streets and struggling to survive amid dim prospects. Singer David Lee Roth reportedly penned many of the initial lyrics after traveling to Haiti and observing extreme poverty. The characters and situations populating Fair Warning reflect hardscrabble existence, last-chance desperation, and underlying danger.
Witness the crazies, poor folks, and hunters of “Mean Street”; the former prom queen turned pornographic actress on “Dirty Movies”; the menace and vice of “Sinners Swing!”; the streetwise hustle of “Unchained”; the isolation and alienation of “Push Comes to Shove”; the desire for escape on “One Foot Out the Door”: A carefree California beach party Fair Warning is not.
Having said he felt angry and frustrated during the sessions, guitarist Eddie Van Halen uses the forceful arrangements as a playground for his seemingly unlimited arsenal. Supported by a crack rhythm section and a hyped-up Roth, he performs with an almost impossible combination of punk-like intensity, technical finesse, lyrical fluidity, and unbridled emotion. The virtuoso was increasingly butting heads with Templeton and seeking a freedom in the studio he believed denied him.
No wonder he plays like a bat out of hell. Listen to the rapid-fire manner in which he slaps the high and low E strings on the 12th fret of his instrument on “Mean Street,” instilling the tune with funk flair and metal-spiked sharpness. For the pouty strut of “Dirty Movies,” Eddie Van Halen contributes slide guitar magic made possible after he sawed off the lower portion of a Gibson SG so he could reach further down the fretboard.
Related intensity, urgency, and daredevil momentum punctuate the surging “Sinner’s Swing!” A heavily flanged, delicately melodic introduction frames the attitudinal “Hear About It Later,” among the most creative arrangements of Van Halen’s career. And do riffs come any bigger or magnetic than those on the high-wire kick of “Unchained”? As for the out-of-left-field “Sunday in the Park,” an instrumental composed on an Electro-Harmonix micro-synthesizer: Who but Eddie Van Halen to supply creep factor in such an ingenious way?
Despite selling fewer quantities than Van Halen’s prior efforts, Fair Warning remains for many diehards the record that epitomizes all of the band’s immense strengths —Roth’s manic energy and tongue-wagging humor, Alex Van Halen’s rhythmic heartbeat-in-your-chest bombast, and Michael Anthony’s lucid bass lines included. Arriving when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and new-wave movements were taking flight, it signaled a shot across the bow from a band determined to stay a step ahead and provide proof nobody could touch what it delivered.
More than four decades later, Fair Warning still sounds that alarm.
- A1: Close To The Edge Pt. 1
- A2: The Solid Time Of Change
- A3: Total Mass Retain
- B1: Close To The Edge Pt. 2
- B2: I Get Up, I Get Down
- B3: Seasons Of Man
- C1: And You And I
- C2: Cord Of Life
- C3: Eclipse
- C4: The Preacher, The Teacher
- C5: The Apocalypse
- D1: Siberian Khatru
Yes's 1972 3-track recording masterpiece, Close to the Edge, presents a snapshot of an adventurous rock band at the peak of its powers, daring to push itself musically, both as individuals and as a unit.
The first half of the 1970s was an especially fertile period for British progressive rock, laying claim to classics such as Tarkus, Selling England by the Pound, Larks' Tongues in Aspic, The Dark Side of the Moon, and Thick as a Brick. Collectively these and other works represent the best British progressive rock had to offer. Yet, many reviewers cite Close to the Edge as the ultimate prog rock album.
Author and music journalist Will Romano writes: "Yes had previously penned epic tracks for The Yes Album and Fragile, but nothing on the magnitude of the musical gems appearing on Close to the Edge. It's something of a small miracle — perhaps even magic — that the virtuoso quintet crafted such a cohesive and compelling album during an often-hectic recording process that very nearly relegated this monumental work to the dustbin of history."
The album's centrepiece is the 18-minute title track, with themes and lyrics inspired by the Herman Hesse novel Siddhartha. Side two contains two non-conceptual tracks, the folk-inspired "And You and I" and the comparatively straightforward rocker "Siberian Khatru." Original drummer Bill Bruford found the album particularly laborious to make, which culminated in his decision to quit the band after it was recorded, to join King Crimson.
Close to the Edge became the band's greatest commercial success at the time of release. It peaked at No. 4 on the U.K. Albums Chart and No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, the highest position Yes has reached on the latter chart.
In 2020, Close to the Edge was ranked at No. 445 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in a tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket with textured stock by Stoughton Printing.
- Brown Is The Color
- Tame
- No Yawn
- All Odds No Chants Feat. Sara Persico & Elvin Brandhi
- Im Bann Der Wehenden Fahnen
- No Place Like
- Home
- Spellbound To Ancestral Curse
- Though The Trees Feat. Iceboy Violet
- Nowhere Everywhere Feat. Elvin Brandhi & Sara Persico
- Who, Me?
The notion of home isn’t precise, even a dictionary will offer multiple definitions. A home can be a place where you live, a place where you belong, where you originate from or a place where you’re given care; it can be a physical space, a land, a people or even a person. The concept isn’t completely universal, but everyone possesses a unique idea of what home means to them. On her fifth album, Ziúr considers not just what home symbolizes from her perspective, but the word’s resonance to the diverse community that surrounds her, and how their stories have impacted her over the years. Indeed, it’s the first time she’s felt it necessary to examine her own nationality. In the past, she’s deliberately avoided labelling herself as German, feeling disconnected from her country’s politics, culture and even the German language itself. In 2025, the idea of Germanness is in flux and progressives are under attack from all sides. The country’s politics aren’t only being turned inward by the growing throng of far-right voices, but by scared moderates, opportunists and those blinded by comfort, willing to ignore hatred to maintain their privilege. Stepping up to provide a different narrative, Ziúr scours her soul, writing and singing in German for the first time and proposing growth and evolution, not fear and regression. “I never considered being part of Germany,” she explains. “But I am.”
A solemn mood permeates the album’s opening track ‘Brown is the Color’, and Ziúr sings in measured, slow-motion breaths over noisy synth oscillations and doomed piano flourishes. Already, it’s a significant departure from her last run of releases, veering away from the frenetic, satirical chaos of 2023’s Hakuna Kulala-released ‘Eyeroll’ or its fantastical, dubby predecessor ‘Antifate’. Ziúr pulls on real world insights here, tracing her oldest, dearest musical inspirations to present her origins to anybody who might be listening. “Cold world is holding up,” she laments with a metallic crunch. “To let go of your heart, let me go.” And her voice emerges from the shadows completely on ‘Tame’; unprocessed, Ziúr sounds naked and vulnerable on ‘Tame’, curving her precise words around broken, lopsided rhythms and jangling new wave guitars. It’s pop music in its own way, inverted and reconstructed to fit snugly into her well-established sonic landscape. On ‘No Yawn’, brittle, downsampled hi-hats and industrial scrapes ping-pong around distorted riffs, provided by James Ó Ceallaigh aka WIFE; “You fail to sugarcoat your half-ass attempt,” she deadpans, “to build your promised wonderland on quicksand.” Even the beatless ‘All Odds No Chants’, a collaboration with Elvin Brandhi and Sara Persico, reveals another room in Ziúr’s autobiographical suite, mirroring György Ligeti’s enduringly influential choral works with its gnarled, dissonant vocal harmonies.
- A1: Military Madness
- A2: Better Days
- A3: Wounded Bird
- B1: I Used To Be A King
- B2: Be Yourself
- C1: Simple Man
- C2: Man In The Mirror
- C3: There's Only One
- D1: Sleep Song
- D2: Chicago
- D3: We Can Change The World
After finding fame with the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, expatriate Englishman turned West Coast rock icon Graham Nash made an auspicious solo debut on this 1971 disc. It's an exemplary singer-songwriter effort, striking a vital balance between graceful introspection and political fervor — and while it's deeply personal, it still carries the harmonies, heart and politics that made CSN(Y) so essential.
With assistance from the likes of David Crosby, Jerry Garcia, and Dave Mason, highlights include the sensitive internal explorations "I Used to Be a King" and "Man in the Mirror" and the impassioned protest anthems "Chicago" and "Military Madness."
If Déjà Vu was a wild canyon party with four competing egos, Songs for Beginners is Nash's introspective morning after — a mix of heartbreak, hope, and a little bit of righteous protest. He recorded it while reeling from his split with Joni Mitchell, and you can feel that melancholy seeping through the grooves.
But don't mistake this for a wallowing breakup album — it's also a call to action, packed with the kind of folk-rock anthems that made Nash an indispensable voice of his era. If you love CSN's folk-rock harmonies but also crave a more personal, raw touch, this is a must-listen.
This Analogue Productions (Atlantic Series) reissue of Pain in My Heart is a standout for your collection. First, we turned to Bernie Grundman to cut lacquers from the original master tape. Pressing on 180-gram vinyl is by Quality Record Pressings, and the album is housed in a tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jacket by Stoughton Printing.
Unit Nine is a The Hague-based musical collective weaving together soulful melancholy, minimalist composition and soft grooves. Their debut album, Disaster Jester, will be released digitally and on 12’’ vinyl on The Hague imprint PIP Records on November 14th, 2025, celebrated with a release show at Paard, Den Haag. The album was recorded under guidance of renowned producer Tijmen van Wageningen, at The Womb Studio.
Disaster Jester revolves around the archetype of the jester, the trickster who embodies both chaos and wisdom, humour and tragedy. Across the album, music video and cover artwork, he appears as a clown in a shadowy crime narrative and as a weary detective who eventually dons the fool’s hat himself. The image becomes a mirror for the artist: observing, stumbling, laughing & fooling. The track ‘Afgesproken Plek’ features rap artists KC and MC Lost, who provided an imaginary crime skit playing on the detective persona central in the story telling of the album.
While their universal and timeless sound could travel anywhere, there’s something distinctly The Hague about Unit Nine; a mix of irony, unpolished charm, and understated design sensibility. Their city’s blend of rough edges and refined aesthetics runs through their work and places the debut album within a historical tapestry of not-so-mainstream culture and art that the sea town is known to embody.
- A1: Love Is A Rose
- A2: Hey Mister, That's Me Up On The Jukebox
- A3: Roll Um Easy
- B1: Tracks Of My Tears
- B2: Prisoner In Disguise
- C1: Heat Wave
- C2: Many Rivers To Cross
- C3: The Sweetest Gift
- D1: You Tell Me That I'm Falling Down
- D2: I Will Always Love You
- D3: Silver Blue
- A1: Ain't That Loving You (Feat. Chris Murray)
- A2: I Only Have Eyes For You (Feat. Chris Dowd & Tippa Lee)
- A3: Your Old Stand By (Feat. Trish Toledo)
- A4: Are You Lonely For Me, Baby (Feat. Malik Moore)
- A5: Hercules (Feat. Alex Désert & The Lions)
- A6: You Don't Know Me (Feat. Eli "Paperboy" Reed)
- B1: After Laughter (Feat. Destani Wolf)
- B2: Cramp Your Style (Feat. N'dea Davenport)
- B3: Got That Will (Feat. Gina Murrell & Ranking Joe)
- B4: Live & Let Live (Feat. Miles Tackett)
- B5: Tell It Like It Is (Feat. Asdru Sierra)
- B6: Didn't I (Feat. Hollie Cook)
- B7: If You Let Me (Feat. Jr Thomas & The Volcanos)
- A1: Get Up I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine
- A2: Brother Rapp (Part I & Part Ii)
- A3: Bewildered
- A4: I Got The Feeling
- B1: Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose
- B2: I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing
- B3: Licking Stick
- C1: Lowdown Popcorn 9.Spinning Wheel
- C2: If I Ruled The World
- C3: There Was A Time
- C4: It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World
- D1: Please, Please, Please
- D2: I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)
- D3: Mother Popcorn
James Brown wants to know one thing before he and his band begin Sex Machine. “Can I get into the thing, really?,” he asks. His cohorts enthusiastically respond in the affirmative. And for the next hour and change, Mr. Dynamite gets into it and more, turning in a sweat-soaked, feet-moving, hip-swiveling, emotion-purging, in-the-red, drop-everything-you’re-doing-and-dance performance for the ages. Ranked by Rolling Stone among the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the sweeping 1970 effort towers as a testament to Brown’s inimitable legacy as well as the peak powers of his voice, vibrancy, and bands.
Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 33RPM 2LP set presents Sex Machine in audiophile sound for the first time. It explodes with the energy the lightning-strike music demands. Dynamic, immediate, present, airy: Everything from the brassiness and fluidity of the horns to the snap and decay of the snare to the swell and carry of the organ comes across in full-range perspective.
Then there’s Brown’s superhuman singing, which here emerges with a purity, naturalism, and transparency that ensure you feel everything. Screeching, shouting, pleading, moaning, preaching, stinging, commanding, testifying, crooning, humming: The Godfather of Soul contributes one of the finest vocal performances known to man. This definitive 55th anniversary reissue of Brown’s monster funk statement further exhibits a combination of clarity, solidity, separation, and imaging that helps bring to light what he and his crack ensembles committed to tape. Both in the studio and on the stage.
Just how lifelike does this reissue sound? Senior Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab engineer Krieg Wunderlich, who handled the remaster, notes: “There were some artifacts that sounded a bit like mistracking. But they turned out to be breath blasts on the vocal microphone. That is part of history. JB was workin' hard, and breathin' hard. And there was an edit the timing of that was truly strange. Again, a part of history.”
Originally marketed as a live album, Sex Machine contains six songs recorded in the studio and later overdubbed with canned crowd noise and reverberation. Save for “Low Down Popcorn,” the tracks on the latter half stem from a phenomenal performance captured in October 1969 at Bell Auditorium in Brown’s adopted hometown of Augusta, GA. The special relationship between the singer, the audience, and the location is palpable.
As the 1960s gave way to a new decade, Brown experienced immense success and dealt with unexpected change. Soul Brother Number One soon expanded his idea for an official live album captured in Augusta when the ensemble that backed him on that date morphed into the original version of the world-famous J.B.’s just months after the show. The virtuosic abilities, sticky chemistry, and rhythm-forward nature of the J.B.’s prompted him to book a one-off session in Cincinnati, OH, on a late July night.
Anchored by brothers William “Bootsy” Collins and Phelps “Catfish” Collins, the group — as well as two different drummers — laid down a nearly 11-minute rendition of “Get Up I Feel Like Being Like a Sex Machine” and a thrilling medley of “Bewildered,” “I Got the Feeling,” and “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose.” A pair of then-recent studio singles cut in separate locations in 1969, “Brother Rapp” and “Low Down Popcorn,” each featuring his prior group, took care of the second LP worth of material that complements the originally planned live set.
Complicated? Somewhat. Unusual? Definitely. But just as he elevated the expectations for all present and future R&B artists, Brown not only makes it all work. He makes it positively electrifying.
“Get Up I Feel Like Being Like a Sex Machine” is alone deserving of a dissertation on the art of funk music, seeing it moves up and down akin to an oil derrick, witnesses Brown unleashing a trademark series of grunts, squeaks, and “good god” asides, and glides to a hypnotic groove that won’t quit. Or look to the syncopated rhythms of “Brother Rapp (Part I and Part II),” one of multiple pieces here that signify the point where Brown began viewing every instrument as a percussive tool. Brown closes the three-song medley with his new band with a skedaddling “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose,” which provides jolts on the order of sticking your finger into a socket.
Not that the actual live material falls short in any way. Setting an insistent tempo for the vitality that follows, “I Don’t Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing” positions Brown as a role model, leader, and self-sufficient entrepreneur. All simmer and boil, the short and sweet “Licking Stick” dares you to keep pace. The floating, almost comforting “Spinning Wheel” spotlights the instrumental prowess of Maceo Parker and company, and functions as a seamless segue into the tender, horn-saluted “If I Ruled the World.”
And Brown and his mates still aren’t done. Just try to resist the one-two closing punch of “I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)” and “Mother Popcorn.” Mercy.
Ain’t it funky? Sure ‘nuff.
YUMI HARA (TAKANE SHIJOU & TAKAN-YA) / ASAMI IMAI (CHIHAYA KISARAGI & CHIHYAA)
Anime Puchimas! - Petit Idolmaster LP
"Petitmas! PETIT IDOLM@STER" (Akane, original story by Bandai Namco Entertainment, 15 volumes published by KADOKAWA ongoing) is a popular
four-panel comic series currently running in Dengeki Maoh magazine. It's based on "The Idolmaster," a series that has garnered immense support from
fans across a wide range of media mixes. The anime series "Petitmas!" began airing in January 2013, and the 12 solo single CDs by the 12 idols from
765 Production will now be released on LP!
The records will be released as six products, each containing two titles from all 12 volumes of "Twelve Seasons!", on two discs.
The first wave will see the release of three products over three consecutive months.
The jackets feature designs from previous CDs, and are double-jacketed, with the jackets from both volumes on the front and back four.
The tapes for “Ronnie McNeir Makes A Move” were found in Mickey Stevenson’s extensive master tape collection. A full new LP of classic McNeir is an absolute treat for his many soul fans; particularly in Europe where he is so admired.
Ronnie recorded over twenty tracks with Mickey Stevenson’s production company in 1971. Eleven of these were featured on his RCA LP “Ronnie McNeir”, but another ten were left in the vaults.
The title track, ‘Let’s Make A Move’ is an urgent, exciting funk sound, composed with Ronnie’s frequent writing partner, Andre Moore. ‘I’m Sorry’ is an earlier version of ‘Gone Away’ which featured on the 1972 RCA “Ronnie McNeir” LP, without the female singer’s vocal response track.
‘Say You’ is the Motown song first recorded by the Monitors in 1965. It has a more laid-back treatment here, giving it a whole new dimension. We issued the single version on a Kent Select 45 in 2022; both versions are featured on the CD. Another re-envisaged Motown number is ‘The Girl’s Alright With Me’ which features Hodges, James, Smith & Crawford’s backing vocals − as do other tracks on this album. Surprisingly, Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowing In The Wind’ is also covered; in a pleasing, jaunty treatment.
‘My Day Will Come’ is a slow-burning number Ronnie co-wrote with his wife Mona. It is one he is particularly proud of and has been picked up by modern soul DJs as a potential crossover hit. ‘Tell Your Mama’ is a sensuous, Marvin Gaye-influenced groove, while ‘East Side, West Side’ is more streetwise, dealing with the social problems that face many young people.
As a multi-instrumentalist, heavily influenced by jazz, it comes as no surprise that Ronnie would record two jazz / soul instrumental jams which he simply named ‘Ronnie’s Bag #1’ and ‘Ronnie’s Bag #2’. The tracks are keyboard-lead, piano and possibly organ – or more likely one of the early synthesisers that Ronnie pioneered. ‘Ronnie’s Bag #1’ is more jazz-oriented, while ‘Ronnie’s Bag #2’ goes funky.
- A1: Bathtub
- A2: G Funk Intro
- A3: Gin And Juice
- A4: Tha Shniznit
- B1: Lodi Dodi
- B2: Murder Was The Case
- B3: Serial Killa
- C1: Who Am I (What's My Name)? (What's My Name)
- C2: For All My Niggaz & Bitches
- C3: Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None) (If The Homies Can't Have None)
- D1: Doggy Dogg World
- D2: Gz & Hustlas
- D3: Pump Pump
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Snoop Dogg’s multi- platinum Doggystyle, heralded as one of the most important albums of all time, Death Row Records will be bringing this back to retail with the original 1993 track listing on vinyl.
This new 30th Anniversary edition will include the track “Gz Up, Hoes Down” which has not been on the album since its pressing in 1993. For new and old fans alike, this is the definitive version of the classic album that launched Snoop’s solo career and helped define the sound of Los Angeles in the process.
The cultured dub and tech label Sushitech marks its 20th anniversary by branching out with a new imprint, Wood White Sessions, which has been designed as an outlet for more intimate, home-focused listening sounds that don't stray too far from the parent label's original ethos. Dedicated to albums from long-time collaborators and core artists, the new venture expands the Sushitech sound with a softer, more reflective edge and seasoned dub craftsman Another Channel is up first. Across eight cuts rich in texture and atmosphere, he hooks up with Prince Morella, Masis and Yassin Omidi to immerse you in the most shady and pristine dub.
The cultured dub and tech label Sushitech marks its 20th anniversary by branching out with a new imprint, Wood White Sessions, which has been designed as an outlet for more intimate, home-focused listening sounds that don't stray too far from the parent label's original ethos. Dedicated to albums from long-time collaborators and core artists, the new venture expands the Sushitech sound with a softer, more reflective edge and seasoned dub craftsman Another Channel is up first. Across eight cuts rich in texture and atmosphere, he hooks up with Prince Morella, Masis and Yassin Omidi to immerse you in the most shady and pristine dub.
Two musicians, two different folk music traditions, two soundscapes hundreds of miles apart and one nightingale song. Nightingale melodies inspired this intoxicating folk album by Slovakian flautist Michaela Antalová and Norwegian double bassist Adrian Myhr. The Oslo-based duo’s album follows their meditative 2021 debut Zvony (Bells), which featured harmonium, field recordings of crickets and a Slovak male choir.
Sing Nightingale is a translation of ‘Zaspievaj Slavicku’, a traditional Slovakian song. The duo experiments with this theme of the songbird; exploring instrumentation from around the world and its rich tonal textures. On ‘Night Singing’, Michaela plays a Slovakian fujara, a tall, upright wooden bass flute originally played by shepherds. The fujara’s smooth, deep tones are laid over a recording of a nightingale by musicologist Tomáš Šenkyřík, with Michaela’s flute mimicking the bird’s nocturnal chirps and warbles to attract a mate. Michaela is carefully imitating the bird, who is in turn improvising his melody. In ‘Worm Moon’, named after the springtime full moon in March, when nightingales return from Africa where they have spent the cold winter, Adrian’s slow and resonant double bass is brightened by the sweet trills of a real nightingale and Michaela’s fujara.
The Norwegian Hardanger fiddle or hardingfele, features on two specially written songs; ‘Lament’ and ‘Rosenhave’ (rose garden) which bring together the nightingale’s symbolic associations with undying love, sacrifice, deep sorrow and loss. Celebrated Hardanger fiddle player Helga Myhr plays alongside Adrian’s double bass and Michaela’s seljefløyte or willow flute. Helga also plays on ‘Flagre’ (Flutter) and ‘Dance Nightingale’. The seljefløyte is very similar to the Slovak overtone flute koncovka. By using this Norwegian instrument, Adrian and Michaela’s new compositions are reminiscent of both countries’ folk traditions. Folk music often comes from unknown sources; the original writer may not be known and the melodies are typically passed down orally. Michaela and Adrian’s project merges the different folk musics from their respective countries, finding common ground in the sonic qualities of instruments and evolving a new hybrid folk style, authentic in its own right.
For the stunning adaptation of the traditional Slovakian fujara song ‘Dolu Ovce Dolinami’ (‘Sheep down the valleys’), Adrian’s friend Javid Afsari Rad plays the Iranian santur, similar to the traditional Slovak string instrument cimbalom. By coincidence, Iran’s national bird is the nightingale, making another unexpected connection to the symbolic bird. These 11 tracks are a beguiling fusion of traditional folk styles, approached by musicians from an avant-garde, improv and jazz background. The album pays tribute to a hugely expressive bird and finds a strange, soothing universality in the folk sounds of different countries.
- 1: Kingdom Of The Hammer King
- 2: I Am The King 03:36
- 3: Aderlass; Blood Of Sacrifice 0:49
- 4: Chancellor Of Glory 05:3
- 5: I Am The Hammer King 04:1
- 6: Blood Angels 03:2
- 7: Visions Of A Healed World 04:31
- 8: Figure In The Black 04:47
- 9: We Are The Hammer 04:21
- 10: Glory To The Hammer King 07:17
On December 19, 2025, HAMMER KING will release a very special double edition, closing the circle of their band’s history while opening a new chapter. To mark the 10th anniversary of their debut album “Kingdom Of The Hammer King”, the album returns as a freshly remastered edition. The original artwork has received a modern twist, and thanks to Alexander Ecker’s brilliant remastering, the album now sounds warmer and more present than ever – without losing the charm and magic of the original. But that’s only half of the royal celebrations: with “Hammer King X – Alive In '25”, HAMMER KING release their very first live album! Recorded in the summer of 2025, it captures the raw energy and magic of their acclaimed shows – including performances at Summer Breeze, Bongert Open Air, Formosa Bierfest, and their traditional summer homecoming at the 7er Club Mannheim. Of course, the vinyl edition is also included: the anniversary edition is available as a double album on CD and vinyl, making it the perfect gift for all metalheads.




















