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"Scottish multi-talented artificer Lomond Campbell has announced the release of his eagerly anticipated ‘LŪP’ album, out via One Little Independent Records on October 22nd.
‘LŪP’ came about when Campbell was commissioned to build a custom tape-looper for prolific Fife-based independent singer-songwriter King Creosote. He tells us “I wanted the machine to embody the compositional ideas of the two esteemed New York avant-garde composers – William Basinski and Steve Reich. It plays 12 second tape loops which ‘disintegrate’ over time as the tape passes near to a rotating magnetic disc. This rotating disc also provides a clock and drives two eccentric cams which sends out ever-shifting phase patterns. You can hook the machine up to a modular synthesiser and process the disintegrating tape loops while generating Reichian phase shifting patterns.” "

Einen schönen Fang hat das Chicagoer Label Trouble In Mind vor Kurzem mit DUMMY gemacht: Das Quintett aus Los Angeles verblüfft auf seinem Debüt ,Mandatory Enjoyment" mit einem derart ausgereiften Noise-Pop-Entwurf, das man kaum glauben mag, dass es sich hier um ein Erstlingswerk handelt. Nach gerade einmal zwei veröffentlichten EPs aus dem letzten Jahr, haben DUMMY ihren mit einem wundervollen Groove ausgestatteten Sound auf ,Mandatory Enjoyment" sichtlich gefunden und bis zur Perfektion destilliert. Das spielfreudige Debüt kombiniert geschickt Einflüsse aus Krautrock, Dream-Pop, Ambient, Psychedelic und Shoegaze zu einem Soundgebräu, das sowohl avantgardistisch als auch immer noch genug im Pop verwurzelt ist. Songs wie "Daffodils" und "Fissured Ceramics" zeichnen sich durch unerbittlich treibende Energie und reichlich psychedelischen Lärm aus. An anderer Stelle gleicht Dummy die Aggression mit meditativen Synthesizerlandschaften aus, die sich auf Sounddesign und Studioexperimente konzentrieren, wie bei dem motorischen "X-Static Blanket". Das Herzstück "H.V.A.C." und der letzte Track des Albums, "Atonal Poem", versuchen schließlich, diese beiden Pole miteinander zu verbinden und bieten mehrteilige Reisen durch unbekanntes Klangterritorium. Im Gegensatz zu der glückseligen Instrumentierung untersuchen Dummys sardonische Texte die Last des modernen Lebens, den Konsumismus, den Zusammenbruch der Umwelt, die Entfremdung und andere Ängste, die aus dem Leben in diesem absurden Moment der Geschichte entstehen. Innenarchitektur, Meeresverschmutzung, die Psychologie kommerzieller Architektur und Atomtests sind Themen, die aufgegriffen werden. Die rastlose Kreativität von Dummy treibt die Band immer weiter voran, sie fordern sich selbst ständig heraus und treiben ihren Sound in aufregende und erheiternde Bereiche. Dies ist - wie der Albumtitel schon sagt - "Mandatory Enjoyment". ENG Los Angeles band Dummy refuses to slow down. After releasing two cassette EP's in 2020 (on Popwig and Born Yesterday respectively), Dummy's debut full-length album arrives via Chicago's Trouble in Mind Records. Employing pummeling guitars and celestial ambience within the same breath, the band folds a myriad of reference points into their drone-pop style. Influence from '60s melodicism and '90s UK noise pop can be found woven in with inspiration from spiritual jazz, Japanese new age, and Italian minimalism. Dummy dodges the brooding, dark, dramatic tropes of contemporary "artistic" music often found in punk, experimental, and electronic, instead insisting on joyous and euphoric sonic palettes. They refuse to be artistically stagnant, continuously shifting their approach to writing across 12 tracks. Shaped by performances around Los Angeles in 2019, songs like "Daffodils" and "Fissured Ceramics" feature relentless driving energy and ample psychedelic noise. Elsewhere, Dummy counterbalances the aggression with meditative synthscapes focused on sound design and studio experimentation, like on the motorik "X-Static Blanket". Finally, centerpiece "H.V.A.C." and the album's final track, "Atonal Poem", seek to synthesize these two poles, offering multi-part journeys through uncharted sonic territory. In contrast to blissed-out instrumentation, Dummy's sardonic lyricism examines "the burden of modern life, consumerism, environmental collapse, alienation, and other anxieties born out of living in this absurd moment in history". Interior design, marine pollution, the psychology of commercial architecture, and nuclear testing are all featured subjects. Dummy's restless creativity keeps them moving ever-forward, continuously challenging themselves and pushing their sound into exciting and exhilarating places. This is - as the album title suggests - "Mandatory Enjoyment".

Einen schönen Fang hat das Chicagoer Label Trouble In Mind vor Kurzem mit DUMMY gemacht: Das Quintett aus Los Angeles verblüfft auf seinem Debüt ,Mandatory Enjoyment" mit einem derart ausgereiften Noise-Pop-Entwurf, das man kaum glauben mag, dass es sich hier um ein Erstlingswerk handelt. Nach gerade einmal zwei veröffentlichten EPs aus dem letzten Jahr, haben DUMMY ihren mit einem wundervollen Groove ausgestatteten Sound auf ,Mandatory Enjoyment" sichtlich gefunden und bis zur Perfektion destilliert. Das spielfreudige Debüt kombiniert geschickt Einflüsse aus Krautrock, Dream-Pop, Ambient, Psychedelic und Shoegaze zu einem Soundgebräu, das sowohl avantgardistisch als auch immer noch genug im Pop verwurzelt ist. Songs wie "Daffodils" und "Fissured Ceramics" zeichnen sich durch unerbittlich treibende Energie und reichlich psychedelischen Lärm aus. An anderer Stelle gleicht Dummy die Aggression mit meditativen Synthesizerlandschaften aus, die sich auf Sounddesign und Studioexperimente konzentrieren, wie bei dem motorischen "X-Static Blanket". Das Herzstück "H.V.A.C." und der letzte Track des Albums, "Atonal Poem", versuchen schließlich, diese beiden Pole miteinander zu verbinden und bieten mehrteilige Reisen durch unbekanntes Klangterritorium. Im Gegensatz zu der glückseligen Instrumentierung untersuchen Dummys sardonische Texte die Last des modernen Lebens, den Konsumismus, den Zusammenbruch der Umwelt, die Entfremdung und andere Ängste, die aus dem Leben in diesem absurden Moment der Geschichte entstehen. Innenarchitektur, Meeresverschmutzung, die Psychologie kommerzieller Architektur und Atomtests sind Themen, die aufgegriffen werden. Die rastlose Kreativität von Dummy treibt die Band immer weiter voran, sie fordern sich selbst ständig heraus und treiben ihren Sound in aufregende und erheiternde Bereiche. Dies ist - wie der Albumtitel schon sagt - "Mandatory Enjoyment". ENG Los Angeles band Dummy refuses to slow down. After releasing two cassette EP's in 2020 (on Popwig and Born Yesterday respectively), Dummy's debut full-length album arrives via Chicago's Trouble in Mind Records. Employing pummeling guitars and celestial ambience within the same breath, the band folds a myriad of reference points into their drone-pop style. Influence from '60s melodicism and '90s UK noise pop can be found woven in with inspiration from spiritual jazz, Japanese new age, and Italian minimalism. Dummy dodges the brooding, dark, dramatic tropes of contemporary "artistic" music often found in punk, experimental, and electronic, instead insisting on joyous and euphoric sonic palettes. They refuse to be artistically stagnant, continuously shifting their approach to writing across 12 tracks. Shaped by performances around Los Angeles in 2019, songs like "Daffodils" and "Fissured Ceramics" feature relentless driving energy and ample psychedelic noise. Elsewhere, Dummy counterbalances the aggression with meditative synthscapes focused on sound design and studio experimentation, like on the motorik "X-Static Blanket". Finally, centerpiece "H.V.A.C." and the album's final track, "Atonal Poem", seek to synthesize these two poles, offering multi-part journeys through uncharted sonic territory. In contrast to blissed-out instrumentation, Dummy's sardonic lyricism examines "the burden of modern life, consumerism, environmental collapse, alienation, and other anxieties born out of living in this absurd moment in history". Interior design, marine pollution, the psychology of commercial architecture, and nuclear testing are all featured subjects. Dummy's restless creativity keeps them moving ever-forward, continuously challenging themselves and pushing their sound into exciting and exhilarating places. This is - as the album title suggests - "Mandatory Enjoyment".

On Now Where Were We, The Exbats hit the ground running like
a dystopian garage rock version of the Shangri-Las, or like
a message to the future from the pre-Velvet Underground doowop
wannabe Lou Reed. The album rings bright, like a beacon
in the wilderness: eminently, effortlessly catchy, and loaded
with buoyant choruses that rank alongside the best chart-toppers
launched by the Brill Building or Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound.
Kenny McClain and his daughter, vocalist and drummer
Inez McClain, formed the nucleus of the Exbats over a decade
ago, when Inez was just 10 years old; today, Bobby Carlson
rounds out the group on bass. Despite their remote location in
Bisbee, Arizona, just eleven miles north of the U.S.-Mexican
border, the group quickly racked up accolades citing a wealth of
influences that run from cartoon quintet the Archies to punk rock
originators the Avengers, and from the so-sweet-it-hurts 1910
Fruitgum Company to Los Angeles antiheroes the Weirdos.
Truthfully, The Exbats embrace a wider swath of musical styles,
incorporating blue-eyed soul, tongue-in-cheek country, Brit
pop, psych, and R&B into their sound.
The McClains describe this album as “more ambitious” than
its predecessors. They tooled ninety minutes northeast to Tucson
to record, per usual, with Matt Rendon at Midtown Island Studios.
Months later, the Exbats emerged with an album imbued
with harmoniously cautious optimism—the musical equivalent
but psychological antithesis to the Brian Wilson-Tony Asher
masterpiece “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times.” While Wilson
was looking for “a place to fit in,” The Exbats have found
sanctuary via the brilliant “Ghost In The Record Store,” which
is “for all of us who need the joy of a little bit of plastic making
lots of noise.” Like the best records to croon along with, Now
Where Were We is captivatingly simple, yet hardly simplistic.
The Exbats are singing from their hearts—and they aren’t afraid
to bare their souls.

Pilgrimage of the Soul is the 11th studio album in the 22-year career of Japanese experimental rock legends, MONO. Recorded and mixed - cautiously, anxiously, yet optimistically - during the height of the COVID- 19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, Pilgrimage of the Soul is aptly named as it not only represents the peaks and valleys where MONO are now as they enter their thirddecade, but also charts their long, steady journey to this time and place. Continuing the subtle but profound creative progression in the MONO canon that began with Nowhere Now Here (2019), Pilgrimage of the Soul is the most dynamic MONO album to date (and that's saying a lot). But where MONO's foundation was built on the well-established interplay of whisper quiet and devastatingly loud, Pilgrimage of the Soul crafts its magic with mesmerizing new electronic instrumentation and textures, and - perhaps most notably - faster tempos that are clearly influenced by disco and techno. It all galvanizes as the most unexpected MONO album to date - replete with surprises and as awash in splendor as anything this band has ever done. MONO began in Japan at the end of the 20th Century as a young band equally inspired by thepioneers of moody experimental rock (My Bloody Valentine, Mogwai) and iconic Classicalcomposers (Beethoven, Morricone) who came be fore them. They have evolved into one of the most inspiring and influential experimental rock bands in their own right. It is only fitting that their evolution has come at the glacial, methodical pace that their patient music demands. MONO is a band who puts serious value in nuance, and offers signi ficant rewards for the wait. "glacial, metallic, all-consuming post-rock" - Stereogum ,Stunning, eloquent, emotionally gut-busting" - Pop Matters "it's the kind of album that's best played start to finish (and best played loudly), and that can truly suck you in and transport you to another world if you do so." - Brooklyn Vegan

Clive Nolan is a British musician, composer and producer who has played a prominent role in the recent development of progressive and symphonic rock. He has been a regular keyboard player in bands such as Pendragon, Arena, Shadowland, Strangers on a Train and Caamora. He is the lyricist and composer of numerous rock albums and musicals, including the Arena catalogue, a monumental rock opera "She" and two Victorian inspired Steampunk musicals, "Alchemy" and "King's Ransom". 'Song of the Wildlands' by Clive Nolan's is a secular oratorio with elements of rock, progressive rock, folk and classical music. The story is based on one of the oldest English poems "Beowulf", which is an account of life and heroic deeds by the mighty warrior protecting the land from the vicious monsters. The album was recorded during the 2020 pandemic and features vocalists and instrumentalists from the UK and Norway playing a variety of rock and Nordic folk instruments, as well as a 200-voice choir recorded distantly by singers from all over the world singing in Old English (Anglo-Saxon). 'Song of the Wildlands' is the biggest music venture from Clive Nolan so far.

Work on 'Fragile' began last August at the height of lockdown. Grill locked himself in the recording studio where he found himself experimenting with new sounds and technologies and was able to learn more about the techniques involved in mixing, production and arrangement. "The aim was to write a physical album maintaining an energy throughout and utilising sounds and structures I'm interested in. Using limitation was a big part of the process to push what I used as far as possible. Reading about Robin Guthrie's breakdown of Cocteau Twins minimal setups across different albums and how Prince distorted the Linn Drum Machine were also inspirations."

Musically, 'Fragile' is a more dance-centric record than 2020's 'Ride', with eleven blistering tracks aimed straight for the dancefloor. From the lush, pulsing synths and blistering beats of 'Another Time', to the hazy, sun-soaked 'Wildflower', Grill seeks to create dance music that is endlessly catchy and hugely uplifting. He draws heavily on a Euro-dance influence in his search for pop perfection with melody instrinsic to each track. The Italo disco sound of Giorgio Moroder is never too far away, climaxing with the pumping 'Crash' while the emotive dance of New Order is echoed in 'Wandering Sky' and 'Romance'.

From a visual perspective, 'Fragile' is inspired by gothic, renaissance art and architecture. The album artwork is a photograph Grill took on Château d'If, a fortress and former prison located on the Île d'If, the smallest island in the Frioul archipelago, a short distance from Marseille in southeastern France.

Days Of Speed is an acoustic, double live album featuring songs from across Paul’s career including The Jam classics; That’s Entertainment and Town Called Malice, The Style Council’s Headstart For Happiness and Down In The Seine and solo hits, You Do Something To Me and Wild Wood. Originally released in October 2001, charting at no. 3 in the UK, the initial double vinyl release was strictly limited and now sells for £250+ on the secondary market. The 2021 reissue features faithful original packaging replication & was cut at London’s Metropolis Studios.

NME: “Live acoustic brilliance from the master songsmith.” (4.5/5)

Die französische Avant-Rock-Band Aquaserge ließ schon immer Genregrenzen verschwimmen. Für die Ausgabe 46 der "Made To Measure"-Reihe widmet sie sich auf The Possibility Of A New Work For Aquaserge der zeitgenössischen klassischen Musik ab Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts: Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), György Ligeti (1923-2006), Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) und Morton Feldman (1926-1987). Inspiriert von den unterschiedlichen Ansätzen der vier Komponisten in puncto Dynamik, Klangtextur und Länge der Stücke oder genauer gesagt, Scelsis Forschung über Klangfarbe und Schwingungen, Ligetis Cluster, Varèses melodischer Kubismus und Feldmans graphische Notation, ging die Band das Album intuitiv wie auch methodisch in einem auf neun Musiker*innen erweiterten Line-Up an. Das Album enthält zum einen drei langsame, ausgedehnt-weitläufige Stücke, in denen die Klangfarben der Instrumente miteinander zu einer klanglichen Materie verschmelzen. Diese Materie ist gleichzeitig immobil und mobil, wie in einigen Ligeti- oder Scelsi-Werken. Dagegen enthalten die Hommagen der Band an Varèse und Feldman Momente des Ausbruchs und wilder Improvisation. Diese von Aquaserge geschriebenen Kompositionen, werden mit raren Stücken von Edgard Varèse, eines davon auf Basis eines Gedichts von Verlaine. sowie von Morton Feldman mit einem Rilke-Text komplettiert, und zeigen das Gespür der Band für Melodien.

Der Titel des zweiten Soloalbums der Chastity Belt-Sängerin Julia Shapiro ist eine Zustandsbeschreibung. Wie jeder Mensch mit einem Puls auf dieser Erde fühlte sich das Jahr 2020 für Shapiro mehr als einmal völlig zorked an. Im März 2020 beschloss Shapiro die spätwinterliche Tristesse Seattles gegen den immerwährenden Sonnenschein von Los Angeles einzutauschen. Also packte sie ihre Sachen, nur um dann in der Stadt der scheinbar endlosen Möglichkeiten kurz nach ihrer Ankunft pandemiebedingt nahezu in die totale Isolation gezwungen zu werden. Da sie nirgendwo hin konnte und nichts zu tun hatte, begann sie neue Songs zu schreiben, deren Grundstimmung ihre damalige Gemütslage perfekt einfangen. Auf ihrem zweiten Album beschreibt Shapiro Los Angeles als eine in Zeitlupe dahinschmelzende Einöde. Als einen Ort, an dem sie mit Geistern und seltsamen Gestalten kommuniziert. Oder wie sie es ausdrückt: "It takes you on a wild ride. There's weird shit in it." "Zorked" wurde von Shapiros Mitbewohnerin Melina Duterte (JAY SOM) mitproduziert, die ihr Haus während des Lockdowns in ein praktikables Heimstudio verwandelte. Die durchaus noisigen Aufnahmen verliefen zum Glück unproblematisch, da ihr einziger Nachbar in Hörweite das ganze Jahr 2020 damit verbrachte, über zehn Stunden am Tag Karaoke zu singen. Auf Dutertes Drängen, entschloss sich Shapiro auch die neuen Songs weniger nach ihrem ersten Soloalbum "Perfect Version" oder nach Chastity Belt klingen zu lassen. Stattdessen sprang sie auf dem Höhepunkt ihrer Unsicherheit und ihres Unbehagens auf der Suche nach etwas Neuem ins kalte Wasser - und fand Kraft in schweren Shoegaze-Klängen.

Following their first offering via Goddess Music DJ DOOM, formed by LUZ1E and DJ Swagger are back with two killer cuts on Warning. The A side comes with an uptempo House groover sparkled with sensual vocals by both of them and some more details populating the overall mellow atmosphere of the track. On the B side things get more wild with Breakz and Ghetto vibes all over the place - serious DJ weapon business for all the gangsters of love out there. Stay true, peace!

Das brandneue Studioalbum des brasilianisch-dänischen Garage-Rock-Duos! The Courettes präsentieren stolz ihr drittes Album, Back In Mono. Es ist ein Meilenstein in ihrer bisherigen Karriere. "Spit 'n'Snarl Garage Rumble-meets-Phil Spector Pop", der die Band in Bestform zeigt - großartiges Songwriting, Spector-esque Arrangements, mit weiteren Nuancen, Einflüssen und Produktionsqualitäten, die ihr Garagenrock-Rezept ergänzen. Vierzehn wagnerianische Teenie-Tragödien-Meisterwerke - es ist, als wären The Ronettes und The Ramones zu einer wilden Party in die Echokammer der Gold Star Studios eingeladen worden. Fuzz-Gitarren, laute Drums, trashige Pianos, Jingle Bells, Tamburine und dreiminütige Dancefloor-Garagenkiller, bei denen eine Wall of Sound die Songs aus den Lautsprechern schmettert! Produziert und aufgenommen von Soren Christensen in den Starr Sound Recording Studios in Dänemark und abgemischt vom Top-Produzenten und Wall of Sound-Liebhaber Seiki Sato in Japan.

LP pressed exclusively for National Album Day 2021 on gold vinyl in
single-pocket jacket with custom dust sleeve and digital download
coupon.
 Through ‘Titanic Rising’, Weyes Blood, aka Natalie Mering, has
designed her own universe to soulfully navigate life’s mysteries.
Manoeuvring through a space time continuum, she plays the role of
melodic, sometimes melancholic, anthropologist.
 Tellingly, Mering classifies ‘Titanic Rising’ - written and recorded during
the first half of 2018, after three albums and years of touring - as The
Kinks meeting WWII or Bob Seger meets Enya. The latter captures the
album’s wilful expansiveness (“You can tell there’s not a guy pulling the
strings in Enya’s studio,” she notes, admiringly). The former relays her
imperative to connect with listeners. “The clarity of Bob Seger is
unmistakable. I’m a big fan of conversational songwriting,” she adds. “I
just try to do that in a way that uses abstract imagery as well.”
 The Weyes Blood frontwoman grew up singing in gospel and madrigal
choirs. (Listen closely to ‘Titanic Rising’ and you’ll also hear the jazz of
Hoagy Carmichael mingle with the artful mysticism of Alejandro
Jodorowsky and the monomyth of scholar Joseph Campbell.)
‘Something To Believe’, a confessional that makes judicious use of the
slide guitar, touches on that cosmological upbringing. “Belief is
something all humans need. Shared myths are part of our psychology
and survival,” she says. “Now we have a weird mishmash of capitalism
and movies and science. There have been moments where I felt very
existential and lost.”
 As a kid, she filled that void with ‘Titanic’. (Yes, the movie.) “It was
engineered for little girls and had its own mythology,” she explains.
Mering also noticed that the blockbuster romance actually offered a story
about loss born of man’s hubris. “It’s so symbolic that The Titanic would
crash into an iceberg, and now that iceberg is melting, sinking
civilization.” Today, this hubris also extends to the relentless adoption of
technology, at the expense of both happiness and attention spans.
 But Weyes Blood isn’t one to stew. Her observations play out in an
ethereal saunter: far more meditative than cynical. To Mering, listening
and thinking are concurrent experiences. “There are complicated
influences mixed in with more relatable nostalgic melodies,” she says.
“In my mind my music feels so big, a true production. I’m not a huge,
popular artist, but I feel like one when I’m in the studio. But it’s never
taking away from the music. I’m just making a bigger space for myself.”

Shall Not Fade is cultivating a tight family of producers for the Time Is Now imprint, showcasing some of the freshest garage and breaks - London based DJ Yosh is well-established within that family now, returning for his second EP of 2021.

Like the last,expect killer cuts of breakbeat madness, built for the darkest clubs and the wildest nights. Tactics EP opens with the rough and ready "Strike Back", harsh percussion and screeching rave stabs that make the heart race and sets the tone for the record. Returning to a more classic sound on "Just Like That", Yosh smatters syncopated samples with UKG elements to create a throbbing dance track.

"Drifted" catches the listener off-guard - chilled out pads that give way suddenly to layers of breaks that make for a dark and dirty jungle breakdown, pushing at breakneck speed into "Hypnotise Me", a rolling tool inflected with garage-esque melodies. EP closer "Gen 1" feels like the wind-down of a rave, stuttering breaks and echoed vocals slowing to a sweaty, satisfied end.

The 2nd tasty release in our series ‘The Swedish Hard Rock Underground - A
Smorgasbord of Heavy Sounds!’ with the best, but previously unknown and
undocumented jaw dropping Swedish hard rock/heavy psych bands from the
totally stoned 1970s.
Let us introduce you to the tale of this unique heavy band from southern Sweden. The fierce dudes that earned the moniker: ‘Northern Europe’s most violent band!’ from their wild live shows.
The band recorded and released two private press singles in 1975 and 1976 respectively. Both were done in micro pressings of 100 copies each making them
very rare and sought after. We follow the band from their first incarnation as a
killer heavy power trio and then expanding in to a massive 5-piece powerhouse
and until the military draft put an end to their teenage hard rock dreams

First-time limited-edition reissue of this mega super-crazy rare US hard
rock/metal heavy psych private press LP from 1981, Limited deluxe
edition of 499 copies.
Includes an insert with line notes and photos. Golden Dragon were a wild Filipino-American quartet from the Bay Area lead by Freddy Mabuhay. The album
is filled with heavy blazing psyched out metallic rock, blistering guitar solos
loaded with fuzz and wah, heavy riffs and stoned vocals.
Freddy was the bass player in the legendary band Dakila who had a fantastic album out on Epic in 1972. Later in 1978, after playing the Diamond Head Crater
Festival in Hawaii, Freddy formed his own group; Golden Dragon.
In 1981 he and his band; consisting of his brother and two musicians from the
legendary Bay Area punk band VKTMS, recorded the amazing Golden Dragon
album. The album was only pressed in a few copies to be sent out as a demo to
secure a record deal. Unfortunately, the deal never happened, and the album
stayed unreleased and pretty much unobtainable for all these years.
The short lived, but lethal, Golden Dragon band performed live at the legendary venue Mabuhay Gardens, aka The Fab Mab, in San Francisco. Sadly, Freddy
passed away shortly thereafter, and the mighty Golden Dragon’s music stayed
obscure growing to mythical status among hard rock and psych rock aficionados. Subliminal Sounds has now put together this release in cooperation with
the surviving musicians. It’s finally time for the world to experience the mighty
sound of Golden Dragon!

Grains is the debut album by Numinos on Mille Plateaux. The Cologne-based producer, DJ, author and lecturer has been writing the tech-reviews in "Groove" for many years, tests equipment for various specialist magazines and teaches at the Institute for Pop Music (IFPOM) and Institute for Computer Music and Electronic Media (ICEM) of the Folkwang University.In his current creative phase, he conceptually deals with the topic of "granular synthesis".
A "grain" is thus, to a certain extent, a tiny spectral snapshot from a larger musical context - an infinitely expandable, flowing intermediate state. This is also where the connection to the cover motif is found that shows the negative of a photograph of a wild field and has been taken Bernd Adamek-Schyma: The negative as an eternal intermediate state between the motif and the developed image. And despite the fact that "Numinos" has a fully equipped studio with a wide range of instruments, the 20 Euro iPad app "Borderlands Granular" turned out to be the creative catalyst that enabled the trained pianist to implement his sound ideas with direct haptic influence.The app gives the Cologne-based sound artist the opportunity to extract tiny fragments from the sample based on their specific tonality, to recontextualize them and thus work out structures that are not audible at the original tempo.
The results are polyrhythmic sound scenes that appear harsh, artificial and strange in a moment, only to transform into contemplative, warm and familiar frequency stratification minutes later. Numinos deceives the listener in many ways. Above all with the supposed rhythm that does not exist. Because in fact almost all granular clusters within the pieces run in completely asynchronous loops. The addition of a simple kick drum then forces the brain to suddenly hear apparent triplets, quintoles or dotted eighths in these mathematically completely chaotic structures, which are purely fallacy.

How Beautiful Life Can Be, recorded at Parr Street Studios, Liverpool. In the company of producers, James Skelly and Chris Taylor, pushes The Lathums’ remarkable story into the next, even more exciting phase! It was only in the summer 2019 that the band’s fuse was lit by Tim Burgess, who offering them a late slot at Kendal Calling where, inside 24 hours, social media chatter caused their audience to spill into the field beyond their tent. A year later they had achieved their first UK Album Chart Top 20 for vinyl-only EP compilation, The Memories We Make, recorded their debut appearance for Later… With Jools Holland and joined the BBC Sound Poll 2021 list of tipped acts . Hailing from Wigan on the overlooked fringes of Greater Manchester, The Lathums are Alex Moore, casting a new outline of the modern frontman, singing alongside student of the Marr-esque jangle guitar, Scott Concepcion, rapid-fire, wise-cracking bassist, Jonny Cunliffe (aka: Bass Mon Jon) and the steady, rhythmic, wise head, Ryan Durrans on drums. Pithily described by those closest as ‘like The Inbetweeners in a Shane Meadows film’, they are four bright, wild flowers growing between grey paving stones.

* Kamana is a multiformat release inspired by and channeling the cultu- re and traditions of the Aeta, an indigenous group from the Zambales region in the Philippines. One of the oldest inhabitants of the region the Aetas are also some of the most fascinating and ancient nomadic and hunter gathering cultures. The release goes from the realms of the
real to the imaginary, from transcription to syncretism, from concrete to abstract. An (un)real Sonic Exorcism filled with

*Ancestral Frequencies, Haunted Ghosts and other animistic spirits roaming the Pinatubo forests.
The release features a series of materials released in different formats from the Field recording digital only release, an LP and CD release to a special 7inch vinyl featuring an Interview with a bat hunter.

* Kamana is a long due homage to the Aeta community that hosted me a few years back, fascinated by the endurance of these people and their connection to their land, devastated by the eruption of the Pinatubo volcano in 1991, they continued to go back to their ancestral lands surviving on basic agriculture and hunting bats and wild pigs. Living with them for weeks, I managed to capture some essential field recordings and sounds that form and com- pose the basis for this release, from the more reprocessed and interpreted LP release to the pure field recording documentation of the digital release. It is meant to be accessible to all and provide a window to the livelihoods of these unique communities. For this reason, this release serves as both an archival document and a syncretic one, trying to channel memories and feelings of living in these jungles whilst listening to their stories as well as witnessing their lifestyles.”
Carlos Casas, 2021

Der Klassiker des einstigen Pfarrers und Kreuzzügler des Allgemeinwohls PASTOR T. L. BARRETT & THE YOUTH OF CHRIST CHOIR von 1971 gilt bis heute als der heilige Gral des Gospel-Soul. Mit dem seinerzeit selbst veröffentlichten Werk des JESSE JACKSON JR.-Mitstreiters demonstrierte BARRETT seine Leidenschaft für die Musik, seine wilde Entschlossenheit, Kinder vor der Straße zu bewahren und sein Talent für mitreißende Predigten (die nebenbei Künstler wie EARTH, WIND & FIRE und DONNY HATHAWAY dazu brachten, seine Kirche zu besuchen) mit einem Album, das vom Chess Records Saxophon Helden Gene Barge und einer Reihe von Musikern wie Richard Evans, Phil Upchurch und dem stürmischen Gesang des YOUTH FOR CHRIST CHOIRs profitiert. Heilige Grooves, Breaks, Beats und Lobpreisungen mit eingängigen Refrains. Chicago pastor and activist T.L. Barrett's rare gospel soul classic Like A Ship. (Without A Sail) is one of the holy grails of gospel soul. Self-released in 1971, Like A Ship was the result of Barrett channeling his passion for music, a determination to keep children off the streets, and his charismatic preaching (which attracted the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire and Donny Hathaway to his sermons at Mount Zion Baptist Church) into the production of the album, a project bolstered by the saxophonist and arranger Gene Barge of the famed Chess Records, and backed by a cast of players that included Richard Evans, Phil Upchurch and the rapturous vocals of the Youth For Christ Choir. Like A Ship... is filled with sanctified grooves and spiritual praise delivered with a righteous, infectious chorus.

The Cool Feedback Quartet’s music is quite similar to a philharmonic orchestra manipulating new material:
feedback, or in other words, the unexpected beauty of sound when it is let loose. Becoming its master so as to make the
best use of it, like a new instrument, the guitar pick up plays again on request. Harmonizing sounds like a string section
gone wild would, like light piercing through ether, tearing up the background and taking us for good to unknown territory.
The bandleader, Grégoire Garrigues, who first got the idea of the concept and got the ball to roll, is a well-known and
respected French guitarist.

The core of the album is seven songs she wrote in the late 1980s and early ‘90s —“One Way Out,” “As Cool As You Try,” “I’m No Angel Myself,” “For the Last Time,” “Save Myself,” “That Would Be Me” and. “Wild Wild Wild.” Rounding out the set are two other previously unreleased songs, “You Have No Idea” and “Life Goes On,” recorded at an intimate and boisterous 2002 concert at the Roxy in West Hollywood.

These songs bristle with energy and emotion, a rock ’n’ roll edge and personal depth as sharp as anything in her canon. The first seven come from a time in which she was finding her first measures of fame with bolstered confidence and ambition. But it was also before she was ready to be fully open about herself. These songs show her finding her voice, but when it came to it she wasn’t ready yet to say it in public.

“It was an emotional space, a tender sort of place that I was reluctant to go to before I came out,” she says. “So yeah, I did hold back on that sort of thing. And now it was really fun to just step forward and fearlessly present these songs and play them. You know, really being set free.”

In 2013, while working on a proposed box set of archival recordings, Etheridge came across these songs again and found that they spoke to her anew with fresh vantage. A lot had happened in the intervening years. Etheridge had come out, become a parent, risen to status of multi-platinum album sales and top concert headliner, was diagnosed and recovered from breast cancer, won an Academy Award (for her song “I Need to Wake Up” from Al Gore’s climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth, gotten married, taken on activist roles on various fronts and had continued to record and tour at as fierce a pace as always. With all of that, these songs needed to be given new voice, new settings.

After the successful ‘Dawn of the Dead’ live soundtrack performance in 2017 and subsequent live LP release by Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin, Svart Records are proud to present another foray into the world of classic Italian horror soundtracks.
This time, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin were invited to Finland to perform a Dario Argento two movie set, opening with a live accompaniment to Profondo Rosso and finishing the night with a striking rendition Suspiria. Recorded on May 19th 2019 and mixed and mastered by Claudio Simonetti himself in his studio in Rome, Svart are proud to release limited vinyl editions of the Live Soundtrack Experience.
These exclusive jewels come wrapped in gatefold jackets with sumptuous new artwork by the master Eric Adrian Lee, including new lobby card designs of shots from the performance as taken by the photographer Marco Manzi. Both LPs are available on limited black and even more limited red vinyl. Get closer to the creepy mystique and jarring horror of this quintessential Simonetti’s Goblin soundtrack, live and in the flesh!

Forty years ago, on July 8th and 9th in 1981, a group formed by the splintering of some of Bristol’s essential post punk bands, entered the hallowed studio at Berry Street in London to record their debut single. What would emerge was not only an exuberant post funk classic on the A-side, but also a wildly influential dub workout on the flipside, whose reverberations can still be heard today. Both songs have proven essential in very different ways.

A focal point for the unique punk-funk that was coming together in Bristol as the bridge from the 70s to the 80s arrived, Maximum Joy was formed by Glaxo Babies multi-instrumentalist Tony Wrafter and 18 year old vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Janine Rainforth. Soon they drafted in additional Glaxo Babies in the form of drummer Charlie Llewellin and bassist Dan Catsis, along with guitarist John Waddington, fresh from The Pop Group. The group set about making a one-of-a-kind mix of funk, punk, pop, jazz, dub, soul, afrobeat and reggae; creating a brilliant charge of danceable tunes wrapped around elastic basslines and complex percussion, punctuated by melodic horns and stabs of guitar, all of it highlighting Rainforth’s naturally enthusiastic vocal style.

Bursting at the seams, “Stretch” feels like it can barely be contained within the studio walls. Rainforth delivers a vocal performance that can only be found within the freedom of someone recording their first ever single. I’m not lying when I say there isn’t another song that sounds quite like it. The group’s love of funk is evident on “Stretch”, but the heavy influence of dub and reggae from their surroundings shapes the moody skitter of “Silent Street”. Here, the sing song vocals seem to drift across the heavy late night air. The two songs are wildly different, yet both could only have come from this key collection of players. Paired with the likes of The Pop Group, The Slits, The Raincoats and the On-U-Sound collective, Maximum Joy still stands out as a unique voice in the movement.

Y Records head Dick O’Dell would join the sessions and give the release a warm home in the UK while legendary 99 Records in New York took on the US release since Maximum Joy made perfect sense being equal parts ESG and Liquid Liquid. This 12” has been a staple for DJ’s in the know since day one.

With 10 years in the 'biz' firmly under his belt, Jiah Wells is poised to release the first full-length LP of his Galtier project, Pulchra Es Elementis. Whilst Galtier is arguably one of the originators of the percussive style that would eventually fall under the Hard Drum label, the heightened theatrics of his recent output have seen him channel Blade Runner-styled sonics and move further away from absolute club functionality. Whilst Galtier's output often seems to soundtrack hypothetical, off-planet words, Pulchra Es Elementis turns the focus inwards: towards Wells' own emotional constellation, his evolving spirituality and his attempts to tap into planes of existence beyond the tangible. The album's Latin title translates to 'Elements are Beautiful' and encapsulates the artist's belief that there is grace in all of life's aspects; pushing past what we deem as good or bad, minuscule or massive.

Pulchra Es Elementis begins with Crystalised Larva, a brooding opener of breathy pad synths and expansive kick drums which reverberate through the mix as if the hits originate from the bottom of a valley. There's an indistinct sense of tension on this track, in part due to a central melody, which never resolves but only descends lower in pitch. This tension turns to explorative wonder on Wilfull Saviour, where a mirage of musical ideas come in and out of focus. Although the sonic worlds Galtier explores are internal to him, Wilfull Saviour still possesses that sense of a cosmic journey we've come to expect from Wells; an ardent fan of dystopian films and literature.

Continuing this emotional odyssey, Bruised, But Not Broken sees the artist push deeper into the psychological undergrowth; its murky tonality juxtaposes crisp, Reggaeton-inspired drum patterns with a heavily compressed one-note synth line that modulates wildly - cutting through the mix like a nagging thought that won't leave your mind. Next up is U Were, U Are & What U Will Be, one of the more club-ready tracks of the LP, which gets us moving with a snarling bassline and layers upon layers of percussive hits and inflections.

At Pulchra Es Elementis' mid-point is the LP's title track, a drumless interlude where blissful, shimmering synths create a patchwork of intensities. Galtier's approach to songwriting shines through here; ignoring musical pragmatics, he opts to feel his way through his compositions without knowing where they might end up. Following on from that weightless breather, Phantasiai turns up the freneticism with its head-spinning mix of drum programming and a glitched-out synth line that yo-yos up and down octaves. Things get even more furious on the Superficie-featuring Cavernam, a hollow Hard Drum banger inspired by Eskibeat sensibilities and designed to create a sense of self-implosion.

The album's penultimate track, (U Are) Beautiful, is a tale of two halves: beginning with a moment of serenity as synthesizers swell like an ocean tide before evolving into a marching crescendo of raw energy. Rounding off the album, Shine Forth hurtles through pacey drum work and all manner of strange zaps and klaxons before giving way to a final dose of nebulous ambience.

A musical journey unlike any other 'club music' albums, Pulchra Es Elementis is an LP that demands to be consumed in one sitting. Reflecting on his place within the universe and the musical landscape, the album could be viewed as a musical exorcism which sees Galtier working through and shedding huge chunks of his ego that stuck to him out of fear of the unknown. Pulchra Es Elementis begins on an insecure, overwhelming or, even, existential note before rounding off with a related sense of vastness seen with new, more positive eyes. It's a voyage we hope you will join him on.

Already renowned for a ball-tearing live show, The Sniffers
made their international debut as one of the hottest tipped
acts at The Great Escape in 2018. Soon afterwards, they
signed deals with both Rough Trade Records and ATO
Records, made a massively hyped appearance at SXSW,
and finally released their self-titled debut album in 2019,
landing them an ARIA (Australian Recording Industry
Association) Award for Best Rock Album, capping off a wild
year for the lunatic, likeable punks.
Late in 2020, Amyl and The Sniffers went into the studio with
producer Dan Luscombe to record their sophomore album,
‘Comfort To Me’. Written over a long year of lockdown, the
album was influenced by and expanded on a heavier pool of
references - old-school rock’n’roll (AC/DC, Rose Tattoo,
Motörhead and Wendy O Williams), modern hardcore
(Warthog and Power Trip) and the steady homeland heroes
(Coloured Balls and Cosmic Psychos).
Lyrically, the album was influenced by Taylor’s rap idols and
countless garage bands and, in her words, “I had all this
energy inside of me and nowhere to put it, because I couldn’t
perform, and it had a hectic effect on my brain. My brain
evolved and warped and my way of thinking about the world
completely changed.”
Seventeen songs were recorded in the ‘Comfort To Me’
sessions and the top thirteen made the cut. They were mixed
long distance by Nick Launay (Nick Cave, IDLES, Yeah Yeah
Yeahs) and mastered by Bernie Grundman (Michael
Jackson, Prince, Dr Dre).
‘Comfort To Me’ demonstrates the same irrepressible smarts,
integrity and fearless candour as their debut but, as you’d
expect of any young band five years on, their sound has
evolved - in Amy’s words, it’s “raw self-expression, defiant
energy and unapologetic vulnerability.”

Songs Of Loss and Separation, the sprawling second album from TIMES OF GRACE is insistent in its bluesiness, bleeding distortion and emotion, weaving effortlessly between pensive, heavy, midtempo rock riffs and atmosphere. The band's sophomore effort and first since 2011 channels a haunting romanticism and deep spiritual yearning that collide in beautiful melancholy. The vocal interplay of Adam Dutkiewicz and Jesse Leach makes for a rich, dense, and enthralling concoction, powering through various trips through dark nights of the soul and mind-expanding excursions into the wild.

o B05 Stormy Scream (Iori Yagami [Stormy Saxaphone 4])





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[o] B05 Stormy Scream (Iori Yagami [Stormy Saxaphone 4])





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Midway through his long, earnest and often very, very
funny essay on the role playing game ‘Dungeons &
Dragons’ in the September 2006 issue of The Believer,
writer Paul La Farge proposes that ‘Dungeons & Dragons’
is not a game at all but rather a ritual. La Farge notes the
marked difference between game and ritual. Whereas a
game seeks to demonstrate how unequal or distinct
players / teams are from one another, rituals seek to do
the very opposite.
 And so, across the 25-year history of Jagjaguwar - an
independent record label curiously named using a
‘Dungeons & Dragons’ name generator - we find this idea
of ritual as a conjoining practice. We see it early on when
Jagjaguwar join forces with a midwestern label called
Secretly Canadian for a powerful fusion. We see it in
familial relationships and collaboration among Jagjaguwar
artists and the ways those artists’ most treasured
collaborators make their ways to the Jagjaguwar game
board.
 ‘Join The Ritual’, a piece of Jagjaguwar’s 25th Anniversary
celebrations, looks to pay homage to the labels and artists
that, whether they know it or not, invited Jagjaguwar to the
table, to this wild, dark magic ritual of music. We’re talking
about independent titans like Drag City, Too Pure, K
Records and Touch & Go. We’re talking about heroes like
R.E.M., Slint, Stereolab and Tracy Chapman. These songs
captured the imaginations of founders Darius Van Arman
and Chris Swanson - and ultimately, opened up worlds to
them.

The Altered Hours have just announced details of their second full length album ‘Convertible’. The Irish group have just signed with Pizza Pizza Records and the 8 track album is set for release in May 2021. Following on from some successful headline tours across Europe supporting their debut album & some blistering EP’s along the way, the group found themselves looking for the next step in their ever- evolving journey. Having previously recorded in Anton Newcombe’s Berlin studio for their debut singles & ending up in the infamous Funkhaus studios to lay down what would become their debut album ‘In Heat Not Sorry ’, the band decided once again to



change the approach & take their new songs back to the privacy of their own studio space on the outskirts of Cork City. The new LP ‘Convertible’ is the result of countless late night/early morning sessions that took place over the past 2 years. Choosing to self produce and engineer this record was a conscious choice as the band felt an urge to take what they had learned on the road & in various studios previously, and condense all of this energy back into the boiling pot of their own rehearsal space.

The group have been a part of some exciting movements since the beginning and their path has been an organic one. They quickly became known in their hometown for taking over an ex-government building in the heart of Cork city, turning into a studio and creating a hub for the scene that surrounded them. The years that follow shine a light on the relentless energy of this group and unwavering love for playing shows anywhere & everywhere. Having been invited to perform at Liverpool Psych Fest numerous times, supporting the Brian Jonestown Massacre, selling out venues, churches & clubs, playing rip-roaring DIY shows in friends’ basements, getting joined by members of Spacemen 3 on stage and more recently, being invited by fellow Irish rockers Fontaines D.C to join them on their 2019 European tour playing sold out shows in venues like The Bataclan, Paris & Paradiso, Amsterdam. It’s been a wild ride for The Altered Hours so far & their music keeps evolving & growing as the experiences build. This is a group with the spirit of music deeply ingrained in them and a passion for making rock music something that you can believe in.

Their second full length album ‘Convertible’ is a window into the band’s idiosyncratic tendencies, a closer look into how their writing & sound continuously moves forwards while somehow remaining rooted in their own unique world all at once. The Altered Hours seem born to be an underground affair, something that they wear with pride and this album is a wonderful culmination of their DIY upbringing, their unfiltered rock ‘n’ roll spirit along with a confident stride into personal songwriting.

Keeping the faith and facing the future, Times Are Changing puts a full stop on pandemic talk for unstoppable indie-pop four-piece Lottery Winners, as the four-piece release the fizzing anthem into a newly optimistic world. The first single from their newly


announced, upcoming, second studio album, Something To Leave The House For, the band has penned the soundtrack to hugging old friends, the rebirth of live music and those summer festivals just around the around the corner.

For front man and songwriter, Thom Rylance, working through the darkness of Covid meant surviving Covid, tying the threads of an unravelling mental state into a new body of work now emerging as bright, arms-aloft bursts of positivity. His famed ‘note to self’, the emotive An Open Letter To Creatives and the band’s sensational, viral collaboration with Nickelback with the Rock Star Sea Shanty were just two moments of levity in a time dominated by the dark clouds forming overhead. Now he and the band are moving on and moving up.

“If something so bleak and harrowing can hit us all, totally out of the blue, and change our lives, then by definition that must mean that something beautiful can too.” says bassist and vocalist, Katie Lloyd (bass and vocals) as Lottery Winners start the next leg of their adventure with Times Are Changing, reflective, ready to party and no less ambitious than before.

Their mammoth, 14-track new album, Something To Leave The House For, follows their 2020, self-titled UK Album Chart Top 30 debut with a Fri 24 September 2021 release via Modern Sky UK, promises to document the tumultuous times and the path back from despair. In true Lottery Winners style, every truth and life lesson is dressed in glass-half-full, wildly optimistic, radio-friendly pop, hip-swinging beats and bittersweet tenderness.

Digitmovies is proud to release on LP the OST by Ennio Morricone: "Noi lazzaroni" (aka "We Rascals”). Ennio Morricone has composed a very "rural" score with the sounds, that represent the life of the protagonist. Although integrated within modern society, the soul of this man is always directed to his past, to his land, to the teachings of his father which he could never leave behind. This adherence to the homeland is expressed through deliberately wild and almost enraged vocal performances of Edda Dell'Orso. Ennio Morricone has composed music which reflects the bucolic atmosphere of this tale through a series of archaically flavoured themes played by instruments like recorder and mandolin. Among the recurrent themes there are a mysterious motif, dramatic music for dissonant strings and a lounge theme with the typical Morricone sound. The main theme is reprised for recorder and guitar and there is Baroque music for the puppet theater played by woodwinds and percussions. Our LP contains two bonus tracks, unreleased alternate takes of the original album versions which will surely be quite attractive for fans and scholars of the music of Ennio Morricone.

Dave Pike Quartet Featuring Bill Evans: Pikes Peak. 180g. Limited Edition High-Definition Premium Vinyl Pressing
“This LP was vibraphonist DAVE PIKE’s second recording as a leader. Pike is joined by bassist Herbie Lewis, drummer Walter Perkins, and most notably pianist BILL EVANS. It was one of the pianist’s first sessions after the tragic death of his bassist, Scott LaFaro, and gives listeners a rare opportunity to hear Evans this late in his career as a sideman. The music is fairly spontaneous. An excellent if generally overlooked straight-ahead set.” (Scott Yanow) “

Originally released in the US on 17th July 2021 as part of RSD, now available to all. Black Vinyl with a poster included. Recorded Live At Grimey's Record Store in East Nashville, TN, Kip Moore performs new takes on tracks from his critically-praised album Wild World. “There is nothing like that feeling of going to your local record store and hand-picking out vinyls for your collection,” shared Moore. “It’s really important that we preserve the local independent record stores in our communities and Record Store Day is a really great way to help continue to raise awareness, even more so during these times. Grimey’s is a Nashville staple and to get to perform some songs from the new record there is something I’m looking forward to sharing.”

We continue our special Dirtybird White Label Series with an artist that embodies what the eclectic new platform is all about, Nikki Nair - A brilliant producer and wildly musical mind.

The "More Is Different" EP is full of eclectic and unique productions. The lead track “It Goes”, seamlessly changes mood and direction from gnarly, contorted bass to angelic melodies. “Socket” boom-baps it’s way with square synths, frenetic beats and pensive keys, while the live drum kit, guitar and warped vocal on “Something” are unexpected, yet refreshing, elements to the anodic track.

The EP rounds out with “Want To You”, a fast-paced and frantic piece of work influenced by juke and ghetto house, perfectly encapsulating the sound of the series and Nikki’s immense talent.

Davide Piras is an Italian producer with a penchant for the tougher, rougher side of British bass music. Creating music under the moniker DJ Chupacabra, Piras has been picked up by labels like Haws and Dr Banana in the past year, and now makes his debut for Time Is Now with more deep raw cuts.

The EP hits hard with deep tech, breaks and rumbling bass. "Grimer" kicks off with sparse, staccato beats for heads down business before the expansive two step of "Rockstar". With its eclectic use of samples and ominous swelling bassline, it's a solid club roller.

Funky, earworming house is the game of B-side opener "Killalot" which hints just a little of an acidic edge. "Morbid" is a heady stepper with plenty of ear teasing melody and atmosphere. The EP closes with a crescendo in "Croissant", which has a chunky minimal deep tech beat and booming bassline which is destined to send the dancefloor wild.

New school techno star Lee Ann Roberts continues to light up 2021 with another brand new single on her own NowNow Records. Her standout original is backed by remixes from MRD and D.A.V.E. The Drummer.

This year already belongs to South African-born, Amsterdam-based Lee Ann Roberts. Her new label has had high-profile support from tastemakers like Charlotte de Witte & Ken Ishii, and is already well known for its off-grid techno sounds. Roberts herself debuted only last year on Suara. She immediately hit the number 2 spot on the Beatport Hard Techno chart and followed up with more on Octopus Warehouse Series. She has played festivals like Caprices this year and is lined up for BPM as well as plenty more headline gigs.

The excellent 'Feel' is a nine-minute, hard-edged roller. The drums are flat-footed and unrelenting, the synths bring turbulence and dark vocals add dystopian unease. The edgy textures and caustic pads make for a visceral groove that is perfectly designed for shadowy warehouse spaces. An Acid Trip Mix sees the track erupt on wild acid lines that spray about the mix and cannot fail to blow up the dance floor.

Remixer MRD hails from Norway and has released plenty of EPs and an album in a short space of time. He has a ferocious sound that fuses new wave, hardcore and banging techno as evidenced here. His version is break-neck techno with trance pads lighting up the airwaves in euphoric fashion.

The second remixer is the legendary London techno titan and label boss D.A.V.E. The Drummer. He heads up Hydraulix Records and Apex Recordings and always brings the fire. His take on 'Feel' is a wall-rattling banger with oversized bass. Saw-tooth synths rip up the track while the stark, strobe-lit stabs and some buried vocals make the floor sweat.

While the world continues to be in a bizarre mixture of feelings and circumstances, we can thankfully still hark back to last fall when the sophomore LP from the elusive and innovative KAMM band, Cookie Policies gave us an opportunity to reflect on the past while fully looking toward the future.
The album presented a beautifully unique blend of listening-oriented music styles, combining the early roots of the four producers and their pre-DJ formative musical travels. It is now our great pleasure to introduce an EP set of specifically dance floor-focussed remixes that take the diverse textural arrangements and expansive sonic bliss of the LP and stretch it around some solid percussive membranes, sure to excite many DJs and dancers out there in the wild as things begin to reopen.

KAMM band members Dave Aju, Alland Byallo, Kenneth Scott, each chose one original album track to rework with a more propulsive feel and from Aju's psychedelic West Coast breaks rendition of the noir-esque "CCBPGC", to Byallo's high vibe leveled-up flight of "Bird Call", or Scott's bold section-by-section recreation of the sprawling "The Soft Glow Of Electric Sex" laser-designed for heads-down late night club sessions, the boys came through to say the least. The real A1 treat of this reinterpretation package however comes from unanimous artist choice and label favorite I:Cube, whose majestic take on "Shleem" sees the veteran producer and master remixer move the bubbling ambient piece into bumping and rich space-age deep house territory, equal parts angelically uplifting and pure 5am club-belter/mind-melter.