Cerca:win win

Kid Katana Records collaborated with the incredible teams at KOEI TECMO GAMES, Team NINJA, PlatinumGames and Xbox Games Studios to bring you the NINJA GAIDEN 4 OST on physical format for the first time.


This release is composed of three premium editions:


4LP Vinyl Slipcase - Limited Edition (No Repress) - no consignment, 25 units minimum order

Limited “blood splatter” vinyls with a unique “splatter” effect: handmade vinyl effect with transparent red base and white splatter. Each vinyl has a unique pattern that evokes Yakumo & Ryu combat style. This edition will not be repressed.

Handpicked curation of the game music, mastered for this specific vinyl edition. Includes “Infinite Gale“ DLC track as bonus.

Matte 4LP slipcase with a glossy effect on the game’s logo.

4 printed sleeves with “Bloodbath” design, alternating between Yakumo and Ryu execution animations.


4LP Vinyl Slipcase - Standard Edition

4 classic black vinyls.

Handpicked curation of the game music, mastered for this specific vinyl edition. Includes “Infinite Gale“ DLC track as bonus.

Matte 4LP slipcase with a glossy effect on the game’s logo.

4 printed sleeves with “Bloodbath” design, alternating between Yakumo and Ryu execution animations.


3CD Boxset

3 printed CDs with “Bloodbath” design, alternating between Yakumo and Ryu execution animations.

Handpicked curation of the game music, mastered for this specific CD edition. Includes 4 DLC tracks and 4 instrumental versions.

Crystal Jewelbox 3CD Boxset vintage packaging.

4-pages booklet featuring tracklist, credits and concept art from PlatinumGames Sound Team.


Kid Katana Record produced this album with supervision from NINJA GAIDEN4 Sound Team, who composed the original game music.

,fantastische Songs" - The Sunday Times ,hypnotisch und eingängig" - Brooklyn Vegan ,7ebra sind auf lange Sicht dabei" - So Young Magazine Es gibt keinen Fahrplan für die Mitte bis Ende der Zwanziger, und auf ,How to Land a Plane" verwandeln die schwedischen Zwillingsschwestern Inez und Ella Johansson von 7ebra diese Ungewissheit in ihr bisher fesselndstes Werk. Das zweite Album des Duos aus Malmö erkundet die Unsicherheiten, Frustrationen und stillen Absurditäten des frühen Erwachsenenalters durch ihr bisher direktestes und weitreichendstes Songwriting. Aufbauend auf dem eindringlichen Minimalismus ihres gefeierten Debüts ,Bird Hour" aus dem Jahr 2023 verbindet das neue Album mitreißende Hooks, summende Synthesizer und treibende Rhythmen mit scharfsinnigen Beobachtungen über Identität, Arbeit, Beziehungen und den Druck, in einer zunehmend unwirtlichen Welt seinen Weg im Leben zu finden. Geschrieben im Anschluss an ausgedehnte internationale Tourneen und gemeinsam mit Produzent Jens Lindgård gestaltet, fängt ,How to Land a Plane" eine Band ein, die in ihr Selbstbewusstsein hineinwächst, ohne dabei die Verletzlichkeit zu verlieren, die sie ursprünglich auszeichnete. In Songs, die dunklen Humor, Selbstreflexion und spätkapitalistische Ängste miteinander verbinden, verwandeln 7ebra persönliche Kämpfe in hypnotischen, emotional mitreißenden Indie-Pop. Im Kern ist das Album ein Zeugnis der einzigartigen kreativen Verbindung der Schwestern, zweier Stimmen, die sich verflechten, gegenseitig herausfordern und unterstützen, und bestätigt 7ebra als eine der markantesten und spannendsten Bands, die in den letzten Jahren aus der schwedischen Indie-Szene hervorgegangen sind.

,fantastische Songs" - The Sunday Times ,hypnotisch und eingängig" - Brooklyn Vegan ,7ebra sind auf lange Sicht dabei" - So Young Magazine Es gibt keinen Fahrplan für die Mitte bis Ende der Zwanziger, und auf ,How to Land a Plane" verwandeln die schwedischen Zwillingsschwestern Inez und Ella Johansson von 7ebra diese Ungewissheit in ihr bisher fesselndstes Werk. Das zweite Album des Duos aus Malmö erkundet die Unsicherheiten, Frustrationen und stillen Absurditäten des frühen Erwachsenenalters durch ihr bisher direktestes und weitreichendstes Songwriting. Aufbauend auf dem eindringlichen Minimalismus ihres gefeierten Debüts ,Bird Hour" aus dem Jahr 2023 verbindet das neue Album mitreißende Hooks, summende Synthesizer und treibende Rhythmen mit scharfsinnigen Beobachtungen über Identität, Arbeit, Beziehungen und den Druck, in einer zunehmend unwirtlichen Welt seinen Weg im Leben zu finden. Geschrieben im Anschluss an ausgedehnte internationale Tourneen und gemeinsam mit Produzent Jens Lindgård gestaltet, fängt ,How to Land a Plane" eine Band ein, die in ihr Selbstbewusstsein hineinwächst, ohne dabei die Verletzlichkeit zu verlieren, die sie ursprünglich auszeichnete. In Songs, die dunklen Humor, Selbstreflexion und spätkapitalistische Ängste miteinander verbinden, verwandeln 7ebra persönliche Kämpfe in hypnotischen, emotional mitreißenden Indie-Pop. Im Kern ist das Album ein Zeugnis der einzigartigen kreativen Verbindung der Schwestern, zweier Stimmen, die sich verflechten, gegenseitig herausfordern und unterstützen, und bestätigt 7ebra als eine der markantesten und spannendsten Bands, die in den letzten Jahren aus der schwedischen Indie-Szene hervorgegangen sind.

"Recorded in Naples historic recording studio Auditorium Novecento ‘notes from the air’ is the second Ciro Vitiello full-lenght album, that turns around the ambiguous figure of the seagull, a coastal apparition both ridiculous and divine, foolish and sacred, graceful in flight yet uneasy on land, something that knows more than it shows, carrying both wonder and threat in its gaze.

The album breathes through that tension, the desire to fly and the fear of falling, the suspicion of having already crashed somewhere unseen.
Wind, creaking ropes, invisible currents: these become signals from another uncoding state, reminders that air can be both home and haunting. The record lingers in suspension. Each track feels like a fragment carried by wind, a message blurred, a memory misplaced, something approaching meaning but never arriving.

The record drifts between orchestral gestures and dream-pop/post-rock shadows, guided by Ciro Vitiello’s fascination with shoegaze textures and cinematic atmospheres, and features contributions by Heith, Renato Grieco, Stefano Costanzo, Caraluce and Daniel Kinzelman. Vocal features include Martyna Basta, Heith and Antonina Nowacka, alongside Ciro’s own voice."

After the release of long player ‘The Gospel Of Jesamy’, Arp Frique & The Perpetual Singers return with a heavy hitting 4-track EP entitled ‘Alpha & Omega’.

The Amsterdam-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer follows up his very well received gospelfunk album with a big chunk of funk fuelled, high energy spiritual music featuring some stellar vocals also present on the previous record:Texas born gospel singer Brandon Delagraentiss, longtime collaborator Marissa Nyamekye aka Mariseya and the legendary LA-born vocalist Rocq-E Harrell who - in her career spanning decades - has sung with Stevie Wonder, Patti Labelle, Earth Wind & Fire, and toured with Diana Ross and the legendary Barry White.

The funky, atmospheric, evocative and sometimes downright weird output of companies such as DeWolfe, Cavendish, Burton and the ubiquitous KPM have always been a guiding inspiration for ATA Records, as evidenced in the spooky soundtrack works of The Sorcerers, the big band brass of The Yorkshire Film & Television Orchestra and even in the soul-jazz of The Lewis Express ('Theme From The Watcher).

Everything released on ATA is written and guided by the label heads Neil Innes and Pete Williams, who frequently dip their toes in the Library pond while working on other projects. These occasional one-off tracks have accumulated over the past few years and have now found a home on the first volume of an ongoing series : The Library Archive

Recorded using the same techniques and equipment used to create the now legendary catalogues of music sold to the film and television industry of the 60's & 70's, The Library Archive could easily sit alongside the plain minimalist covers of KPM or Telesound.

The fierce Brass of 'Whack, Slap & Blow' and 'Kaye Okay' could both be a Keith Mansfield cut, acting as a theme tune to a glamorous saturday night tv show circa 1972. 'Duck Strut' is a cheeky slice of Bass driven Brit-funk, Muted horns and flute adding an element of Quincy Jones amongst the grooving drums and percussion. 'The Needle Nose', 'Midnight Heist' and 'Wiretap' are amongst the more cinematic tracks on the album. Moody and atmospheric, they conjure up images of dark alleys, shadowy figures and dead letter drops. 'Wigged out' channels the wonky organ weirdness of Italian library legends I Marc 4 while 'Nuclear Wind I & II' use Moog and Mellotron as electronic counterpoint to ethereal voices. 'Siren's sea's' acoustic interlude conjures up images of distant clifftops, gossamer vocals enticing you onto the rocks before album closer 'Planet Nine' traverses the cosmos.

Crate digger and music enthusiast James Endeacott compiles ‘Unlock Your Mind With Morning Glory’ for Two-Piers Records – A glorious heady mix of the weird and wonderful eclectic music from his radio show ‘Morning Glory’

“One weekday afternoon towards the end of 2017 I sat in The Lyric pub on Great Windmill Street, Soho with my dear friend Raf. I’d just finished another of my weekly Soho Radio shows and was starting to think about the next one. Raf had been on as a guest playing some of his favourite tunes of the day. We had a few drinks, told a few stories and started to plot and scheme. It was always a dream of mine to have a daily radio show. Radio had always informed and excited me from my early teens listening to John Peel under the blanket when I should’ve been either sleeping or revising right up to the present-day musical excursions of NTS, WFMU and numerous internet based stations.

We decided to speak to Adrian and Dan who ran Soho Radio to see if they’d be up for us doing a daily morning show. To our surprise they were into the idea and within 5 minutes Adrain came up with the name Morning Glory. We all liked it. We were all excited. It was all systems go. In December 2017 Raf and myself started a daily 2 hour show. We did the show together, got guests in and the musical policy was whatever we felt like that day. After several months Raf found the mornings too much. Off he went into the distance occasionally coming back with a smile, and a bag of new music. I carried on alone and then suddenly in March 2020 the world stopped, and we went into lockdown.

We set up in my house in Catford, Southeast London and carried on. The show became 3 hours a day and I started to invite friends, record labels, record shops, bands etc.. to supply me with hour long mixes that I played every day. The show took off during this time. My musical tastes expanded as I spent all day long searching for new sounds from around the globe. People started to send me more and more music. I became obsessed with the show. The audience started to take to social media and ask for certain tracks or artists to be played. I got listeners to make me mixes to play on the show and I did several phone interviews with musicians while playing some of their favourite tunes.

I was grateful that Soho Radio left me to my own devices. They never told me what to do or what to play – they trusted ma and I trusted my instincts.

The music on this compilation is not a ‘best of’ it’s just how I felt when I compiled it at the start of 2025. Apart from a couple of tracks they are all things I’ve come across since the show started in December 2017. If I did a list of tracks now I’m sure it would be completely different. Surely that’s the point. We never stick in one place. We are always moving and searching. Always trying to unlock our minds. Put it on. Take your time and let it take you somewhere” James Endeacott 2025

Accepting the darkness can be a liberating experience. Realising, and struggling with just who we are and what world we live in requires it. By further complicating the fractured sense of beauty found on his droning 2022 release, ‘I dreamt we found a way’, Bristol-based composer, Rob Winstone creates a language that encapsulates the lifelong reach for our own personal heavens, along with the darkness and fear on which those foundations are built.

Winstone’s instrumental palette continues to reach out far from behind his keyboards, however the sound of ‘sifting through heaven’ is stripped back and pared down, putting melody front and centre. 'postcards and loose tea', a love song written for Winstone’s partner during a period coming to terms with health difficulties had previously self-released with heavy spectral and granular manipulation from the artist. Here Winstone re-presents the original: “the stripped back recording I made in my old damp and cold studio that was in a building that has since been demolished”. It reflects the composer’s own journey, doing away with veils and histrionics, and embracing emotional bliss wherever it can be found, warts and all. Even the rumbling dark ambience of ’hospital corridor’ - where distant chimings, groans, and droplets synthesized from field recordings made nervously in a hospital waiting for test results coalesce - harbours a sacred-seeming beauty and aseptic warmth within its very bleak sense of dread.

There’s no better way to describe Winstone’s method than ‘sifting through heaven’. The hymnal organ chords, sketched out acoustic guitar phrases, scattering drum thuds, and meditative field recordings may flit between tenebrous to incandescent, but his focus is always on the embrace of love; “a view of life that embraces positive growth, yet doesn't deny immense suffering,” as he puts it. The album is bookended by two of Winstone’s most outright peaceful moments, summarising his core message: 'in spite of it all...' '...love finds a way'.

A heavyweight classic! 'Don't Laugh' is one of those records, you know you've heard it, you may not who, what or where, but you know it!

The original Winx mix is a classic, often imitated, never bettered, but the real gem here is Richie Hawtin's manic, almost borderline sinister 15+ minute reworking.

Monster doesn't do it justice, tweaked out, narcotic, minimalist jacking gear. A dope combination of severe LOW end and some bracing sine waves that cut straight through. This one will surely test any club sound-system, if the venue is built for it you will know! This is one for the real heads, pure late night business oft overlooked for the more famous A-side, but trust us - Hawtin's mix will smash any dance! Oh, and there's an insane laughing acappella for those who want to mix and blend! Reissued, remastered and re-sorted for 2017 by Above Board Records with the full involvement of Nervous Records NYC.

After their previous Italian stop with Palmiz, the eighth release on the Ukrainian Aimed label comes straight from its co-founder, Cheise.

4-tracker Land Of Dreams EP is infused with the warmth of an Indian summer (like on “I Have A Dream”) and the energy that is enough to warm you even on the coldest winter days (like on “Land Of Fantasy”).

There’s so much “Energy” at the B-side, that you actually will need to “Get Up” to listen to it in full.

Cindytalk has remained a majestic proposition over the decades, one marked by a continued process of disintegration and regeneration. Change has been a constant for Cindytalk, as has been the presence of the Scottish musician Cinder, who has fronted the project since the early '80s. The first Cindytalk albums embraced a dark theatricality of post-punk dissonance and abject rock deconstruction that coupled industrial dirges with Cinder's beatific vocals, these same vocals that were once plied to the earliest This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins recordings,forever binding Cinder to the 4AD lore. But even on those albums, Camouflage Heart and In This World, Cinder was pushing the band to embrace the studio as a tool for further abstraction of sodden drones, cobwebbed dark elegance, and decayed textures.

By the early aughts, Cinder had reimagined Cindytalk through the granular processes of digitalia with a handful of equally celebrated works of glitch-born expressionism for Editions Mego. Cinder explains that "those elements were growing roots under our sound and had started to organically change the shape of what we were doing. The fucked-up rock music was in retreat and the electro-acoustic abstractions were becoming apparent. Fast forward to the early part of the 21st Century and my first laptop. It seemed natural where I needed to begin that part of my new sonic journey. To further explore those and new territories. Sunset and Forever is intrinsically connected to what came before."

Sunset and Forever is a labyrinthine opus, one that returns to the themes of the sacred and profane that have rippled through all of Cindytalk's recordings, albeit in various guises. The opening track "Embers of Last Leaves" is a haunted piece of undulated, cyclical tones that entwine into a sorrowful chorale with Cinder's own voice. Thumps of electronic drum kicks and bass drops dot the apocalyptic menace of "Tower of the Sun" but serve not as a rhythmic grid, but as painterly noises that further disrupt and disturb the machined dissonance. A cinematic radioluminescence blooms from the tempered electronics within "For Those Eyes, Shadows Of Flowers." The finale "I See Her in Everywhere" bookends the opening number with a seemingly human chorus build from electronic tones cast in cathedral reverence. Sounds throughout may appear adjacent to those of Fennesz, Holly Herndon, or even Lovesliescrushing from time to time, but Sunset and Forever remains purely Cindytalk.

Cover designed by Chris Bigg, known for his iconic design work for 4AD. Mastered by James Plotkin.

BYAMM (pronounced 'bye-yam') is a retro soul studio project that was born during the 2021 lockdown. The focus is on soul music with strong themes, memorable melodies and catchy hooks layered with synthesizers, grooving bass lines and a hint of 1980s influences.
Central to BYAMM is a strong song-writing etiquette and a classic and timeless appeal to all ages.

BYAMM stands for Barima Yaw Asante Making Music. Barima is the songwriter, keyboard player and producer. Lead vocals are handled by the seasoned Ade Omotayo, whose credits including working with the late Amy Winehouse, the original members Amy Winehouse Band and the Gorillaz.

BYAMM is supported by a collective of professional session musicians recruited from around the world.

Wishys ,Nature's Pill" fängt eine Welt ein, in der sich das Leben unvorhersehbar und überwältigend anfühlt, aber dennoch voller Möglichkeiten ist. Auf ihrem pulsierenden zweiten Album gibt sich Wishy dem Wahnsinn hin - und fängt romantische Frustration, neurotisches Verlangen und das Melodram ein, das sich daraus ergibt, einfach nur Mensch zu sein, in einem ausgelassenen Remix der Vergangenheit. ,Nature's Pill" trägt alle Markenzeichen von Wishy: schräge Texte, die Melancholie in Freiheit verwandeln, Refrains, die sofort zu Klassikern werden, und eine unheilige Fusion aus zuckersüßem Grunge, Indie-Rock und Dream-Pop. Wishys Entstehungsgeschichte war ein produktiver Ausbruch, angetrieben von der musikalischen Synergie der Band: die EPs ,Mana" und ,Paradise" im Jahr 2023, das Debütalbum ,Triple Seven" im Jahr 2024 und die Folge-EP ,Planet Popstar" im Jahr 2025. Nachdem diese Veröffentlichungen Beifall fanden und das Ansehen der Band wuchs, war die Konzeption von ,Nature's Pill" grundlegend anders. Das Album entstand in engerer Zusammenarbeit als frühere Veröffentlichungen, und die Gruppe traf sich erneut mit dem ,Triple Seven"-Co-Produzenten Ben Lumsdaine in Los Angeles, wo sich das Quintett in ein winziges Studio quetschte und die Hälfte der Songs live im Raum aufnahm, wodurch das Album die unmittelbare Energie einer Band erhielt, die nach intensiven Tourneen perfekt aufeinander eingespielt ist. Das gab ihnen diesmal die Möglichkeit, eine noch größere Bandbreite an Einflüssen zu vereinen, wobei sich der 90er-Jahre-Dream-Pop und Alternative-Rock von ,Triple Seven" mit dem College-Rock der 80er und dem Indie der 00er vermischte.

Wishys ,Nature's Pill" fängt eine Welt ein, in der sich das Leben unvorhersehbar und überwältigend anfühlt, aber dennoch voller Möglichkeiten ist. Auf ihrem pulsierenden zweiten Album gibt sich Wishy dem Wahnsinn hin - und fängt romantische Frustration, neurotisches Verlangen und das Melodram ein, das sich daraus ergibt, einfach nur Mensch zu sein, in einem ausgelassenen Remix der Vergangenheit. ,Nature's Pill" trägt alle Markenzeichen von Wishy: schräge Texte, die Melancholie in Freiheit verwandeln, Refrains, die sofort zu Klassikern werden, und eine unheilige Fusion aus zuckersüßem Grunge, Indie-Rock und Dream-Pop. Wishys Entstehungsgeschichte war ein produktiver Ausbruch, angetrieben von der musikalischen Synergie der Band: die EPs ,Mana" und ,Paradise" im Jahr 2023, das Debütalbum ,Triple Seven" im Jahr 2024 und die Folge-EP ,Planet Popstar" im Jahr 2025. Nachdem diese Veröffentlichungen Beifall fanden und das Ansehen der Band wuchs, war die Konzeption von ,Nature's Pill" grundlegend anders. Das Album entstand in engerer Zusammenarbeit als frühere Veröffentlichungen, und die Gruppe traf sich erneut mit dem ,Triple Seven"-Co-Produzenten Ben Lumsdaine in Los Angeles, wo sich das Quintett in ein winziges Studio quetschte und die Hälfte der Songs live im Raum aufnahm, wodurch das Album die unmittelbare Energie einer Band erhielt, die nach intensiven Tourneen perfekt aufeinander eingespielt ist. Das gab ihnen diesmal die Möglichkeit, eine noch größere Bandbreite an Einflüssen zu vereinen, wobei sich der 90er-Jahre-Dream-Pop und Alternative-Rock von ,Triple Seven" mit dem College-Rock der 80er und dem Indie der 00er vermischte.

Wishys ,Nature's Pill" fängt eine Welt ein, in der sich das Leben unvorhersehbar und überwältigend anfühlt, aber dennoch voller Möglichkeiten ist. Auf ihrem pulsierenden zweiten Album gibt sich Wishy dem Wahnsinn hin - und fängt romantische Frustration, neurotisches Verlangen und das Melodram ein, das sich daraus ergibt, einfach nur Mensch zu sein, in einem ausgelassenen Remix der Vergangenheit. ,Nature's Pill" trägt alle Markenzeichen von Wishy: schräge Texte, die Melancholie in Freiheit verwandeln, Refrains, die sofort zu Klassikern werden, und eine unheilige Fusion aus zuckersüßem Grunge, Indie-Rock und Dream-Pop. Wishys Entstehungsgeschichte war ein produktiver Ausbruch, angetrieben von der musikalischen Synergie der Band: die EPs ,Mana" und ,Paradise" im Jahr 2023, das Debütalbum ,Triple Seven" im Jahr 2024 und die Folge-EP ,Planet Popstar" im Jahr 2025. Nachdem diese Veröffentlichungen Beifall fanden und das Ansehen der Band wuchs, war die Konzeption von ,Nature's Pill" grundlegend anders. Das Album entstand in engerer Zusammenarbeit als frühere Veröffentlichungen, und die Gruppe traf sich erneut mit dem ,Triple Seven"-Co-Produzenten Ben Lumsdaine in Los Angeles, wo sich das Quintett in ein winziges Studio quetschte und die Hälfte der Songs live im Raum aufnahm, wodurch das Album die unmittelbare Energie einer Band erhielt, die nach intensiven Tourneen perfekt aufeinander eingespielt ist. Das gab ihnen diesmal die Möglichkeit, eine noch größere Bandbreite an Einflüssen zu vereinen, wobei sich der 90er-Jahre-Dream-Pop und Alternative-Rock von ,Triple Seven" mit dem College-Rock der 80er und dem Indie der 00er vermischte.

Pain threaded with joy is the sound of survival. On The Hard Truth, Wynonna isn"t letting go of either one, carrying everything she"s endured and reinventing herself as an artist. This ten-track tribute to deep sorrow and dogged persistence strips away layer after layer of the lush production that defined Wynonna"s previous recordings, delivering in its place her most personal and powerful work yet. ANTI- is proud to continue its tradition of embracing American legends and giving them a platform to reach new heights. The Hard Truth has a major contributor in the form of producer Cactus Moser, Wynonna"s partner in music and life. Wynonna and Moser shared songwriting duties on The Hard Truth, and the resulting tracks were recorded to capture and compliment the raw power he"d witnessed decades ago. What they"ve created together is an unvarnished elegy to the dead and the missing, an album that pays tribute to choosing love in the face of suffering. Through instrumentation and arrangements unlike any record in Wynonna"s four-decade career, The Hard Truth rolls in like a night train hitting listeners on the blind side.

Joe Chambers ist ein US-amerikanischer Jazz-Schlagzeuger, Pianist, Vibraphonist und Komponist. In den 1960er- und 1970er-Jahren spielte Chambers mit vielen namhaften Künstlern wie Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter und Chick Corea zusammen und wirkte an mehreren legendären Blue-Note-Alben der 1960er-Jahre mit. Double Exposure, ursprünglich 1978 bei Muse Records veröffentlicht, ist eine seltene und genreübergreifende Session, die zwei visionäre Musiker in einem sehr persönlichen, experimentellen Rahmen zusammenbringt. Der Schlagzeuger und Komponist Joe Chambers wird von Larry Young begleitet, einem wegweisenden Jazzorganisten, dessen modale und avantgardistische Neigungen Tony Williams' Lifetime und Miles Davis' Bitches Brew-Ära mitprägten. Remastered & Cut AAA direkt von den originalen Analogbändern durch Matthew Lutthans bei The Mastering Lab. Gepresst auf 180g-Vinyl und verpackt in Stoughton Old Style® Tip-On Jackets. Enthält ein Insert mit neu verfassten Liner Notes von Bill Milkowski und Barney Fields sowie seltenen Fotos von Jan Persson und Raymond Ross.

Alien Tropical: the perfect title for the second album by Servicio Al Cliente (Customer Service), the project of Colombian-born, Berlin-resident Juliana Martinez. If you were cannily seduced by the debut self-titled Servicio Al Cliente album, from way back in 2021, the wait for a follow-up has felt long, but Alien Tropical was worth the wait. Indeed, it feels like the perfect way for Michael Mayer’s Imara imprint to introduce itself to the new year: an album full of play and spirit, verve and sparkle, rich with pop spirit and with one eye smartly cocked toward the dancefloor.

That first Servicio Al Cliente album was a smart statement of intent, and a wonderful, unexpected turn from Martinez, who’d already been through plenty: being expelled from private music lessons,
training in law, joining a group named Las Palabras Correctas. 2021’s Servicio Al Cliente landed on the turntables of anyone with discerning radar (Ada included “Romántico” on her Connecting The Dots mix for Kompakt, for example). With Alien Tropical, Martinez works the sensual sway of her music even harder, building six luscious songs that twist chant-like repetitions into hypnotic mantras, each song the perfect confluence of melody and mystery.

When asked about Alien Tropical, Martinez pieces together fragments of memory: winter explorations, long road trips, navigating the highways and the heart. “I had been driving a lot at the time on the highway,” she recalls. “I depended on music I played in the car to manage my emotions and my thoughts on those long drives. Everything felt strange and unfamiliar on the highway, and I realised music was so psychological and my only tool to influence my feelings between highways and new places.”

So, the music becomes the narrative for where the body and the heart wants to go. That might explain the gentle yearning in Alien Tropical, and its eternal hypnotic, its sense of forever forward-motion, as though the music is flickering like the highway strip reflected in the rear-view mirror. But there’s also the skyward movement of the melodies, the way their loveliness lifts these six songs up through the clouds, like the helium balloons on the cover. From the sensual swelt