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Wasteland is a record that is unafraid to plunge into the darkness of the modern world and embrace the weirder, edgier and more unnerving moments that come from doing so. It is an album that captures all the enormity of life from the micro to the macro, zooming in on the personal as well reflecting on broader societal issues.

“Wasteland is about the idea of a place once known or familiar that is now broken down and unrecognisable,” says Ghedi. “It’s about exploring the process of watching someone’s surroundings and environment collapse.” And within that you have a lot going on. “It also explores death, personal loss, grief, mental health and how the natural world provides solace and meaning for that loss and how these worlds blur into one another.”
Ghedi has always been an artist that in many ways perfectly encompasses folk music in its purest form but he is also someone that frequently pushes the boundaries of that label and no more so is that apparent than on this record. As like previous albums, such as 2018’s A Hymn for Ancient Land and 2021’s In the Furrows of Common Place, Ghedi uses traditional folk songs as a means to explore contemporary issues via modern and experimentally-leaning music. “With the traditional material on this album I wanted to find songs with content that resonated with me,” says Ghedi. “But also that were based roughly around the north of England.” This is a central underlying theme to the album for Ghedi. The feelings of loss, erosion, and degradation are often most pronounced in working class communities and this was something he wanted to weave in. “It was important to voice and choose material that represented or expressed issues that correlated with things going on around me.”

However, as remarkable as some of the traditional material is, some of the most arresting work on the album is Ghedi’s entirely original compositions. Lead single ‘Wasteland’ is a stunning piece of work that while rooted in an environment being corrupted and broken – “there’s violence on these hills” Ghedi sorrowfully sings, before claiming this is no longer somewhere that can be called home – it is also a stirringly beautiful composition that soars and glides as it opens up, as sweeping strings swoop and in and out of Ghedi’s twangy electric guitar.

The decision to incorporate more fuller sounds, such as electric guitar and huge drums, results in a notable shift and evolution in tone for Ghedi. “The lyrical content needed something more band-driven and loud to deliver them,” he explains. “Incorporating the electric guitar in my songwriting was also a big part of opening the sound up, using drop tunings pushed me to use my voice in a wider range, which forced me to use falsetto a lot which I haven’t previously done before. That then opened the sound up and gave me creative ideas for bigger arrangements and to sonically really push things.”

What Ghedi has done in creating his masterpiece is construct a remarkable space where deeply intimate and personal feelings coexist with reflections on environment, place and society, while also interweaving historical context via traditional songs. Wasteland is as much of a world to explore and exist in as much as it is an album, with Ghedi carving out his distinctly unique sonic language and voice to explore that singular environment.

Wasteland is a record that is unafraid to plunge into the darkness of the modern world and embrace the weirder, edgier and more unnerving moments that come from doing so. It is an album that captures all the enormity of life from the micro to the macro, zooming in on the personal as well reflecting on broader societal issues.

“Wasteland is about the idea of a place once known or familiar that is now broken down and unrecognisable,” says Ghedi. “It’s about exploring the process of watching someone’s surroundings and environment collapse.” And within that you have a lot going on. “It also explores death, personal loss, grief, mental health and how the natural world provides solace and meaning for that loss and how these worlds blur into one another.”
Ghedi has always been an artist that in many ways perfectly encompasses folk music in its purest form but he is also someone that frequently pushes the boundaries of that label and no more so is that apparent than on this record. As like previous albums, such as 2018’s A Hymn for Ancient Land and 2021’s In the Furrows of Common Place, Ghedi uses traditional folk songs as a means to explore contemporary issues via modern and experimentally-leaning music. “With the traditional material on this album I wanted to find songs with content that resonated with me,” says Ghedi. “But also that were based roughly around the north of England.” This is a central underlying theme to the album for Ghedi. The feelings of loss, erosion, and degradation are often most pronounced in working class communities and this was something he wanted to weave in. “It was important to voice and choose material that represented or expressed issues that correlated with things going on around me.”

However, as remarkable as some of the traditional material is, some of the most arresting work on the album is Ghedi’s entirely original compositions. Lead single ‘Wasteland’ is a stunning piece of work that while rooted in an environment being corrupted and broken – “there’s violence on these hills” Ghedi sorrowfully sings, before claiming this is no longer somewhere that can be called home – it is also a stirringly beautiful composition that soars and glides as it opens up, as sweeping strings swoop and in and out of Ghedi’s twangy electric guitar.

The decision to incorporate more fuller sounds, such as electric guitar and huge drums, results in a notable shift and evolution in tone for Ghedi. “The lyrical content needed something more band-driven and loud to deliver them,” he explains. “Incorporating the electric guitar in my songwriting was also a big part of opening the sound up, using drop tunings pushed me to use my voice in a wider range, which forced me to use falsetto a lot which I haven’t previously done before. That then opened the sound up and gave me creative ideas for bigger arrangements and to sonically really push things.”

What Ghedi has done in creating his masterpiece is construct a remarkable space where deeply intimate and personal feelings coexist with reflections on environment, place and society, while also interweaving historical context via traditional songs. Wasteland is as much of a world to explore and exist in as much as it is an album, with Ghedi carving out his distinctly unique sonic language and voice to explore that singular environment.

"I wanted to travel / Home into somewhere,"Ana Roxanne breathes across an eerie suspended drone on "The Age of Innocence". "I wanted to try / And go very far." These are the first words we hear on Poem 1 and reintroduce an artist who's in a conspicuously different phase of her life than she was when her debut album, Because of a Flower, sprouted nearly six years ago.

Heartbroken and reflective, Roxanne surveys the transformations that followed and displays a new-found boldness. Her voice is naked, vulnerable and alive, no longer shrouded in tape noise or looped and echoed beyond recognition beneath layered electroacoustic textures.

Throughout the course of Poem 1, Roxanne displays her skill as a singer and songwriter in the classic sense, using the limited instrumentation simply to accent her exposed tones. Muted piano phrases and plucked bass notes languidly trail her anguished siren song on "Berceuse in A-flat Minor, Op. 45", making each word count.

On "Keepsake" meanwhile, she sounds as if she's alone in an abandoned bar, stroking the dust off the piano's keys as she inventories her emotional scars. There's a smell of old whisky in the air, but Poem 1 is a remarkably sober album; never wallowing in self pity, Roxanne finds catharsis in the logic of her expressions, twisting out the edges of her memories into surreal, cinematic asides. "Untitled II", the album's pronounced, uninhibited centerpiece, delivers on the Lynchian promise that's been present since her first EP, 2019's ~~~. "

And when she interprets the Robert Schumann's lied "Stille Tränen" on "One Shall Sleep", she turns Justinus Kerner's words into a whispered echo of her own grief, narrating the 19th century poem over syrupy synthesizers and strings. There's a light emerging on the horizon, though; burying her past on the choral standout '"Cover Me", Roxanne shifts the pace and the mood on 'Atonement', lifting her voice into a gentle lilt.

Fay Fife is frontwoman of the legendary punk bands The Rezillos / The Revillos, and has been a pioneer in Scottish music for decades. The Countess of Fife is Fay's current project.

“The music on this record is a reflection of journeys and travel. The real world kind and the metaphorical ones as well. Having experienced the arrival of my children, the decline and departure of my parents, and the many years of venturing out and returning home in my own life, travel feels like the perfect tropology to consider the mysteries we inhabit. Travel and its impressions, rituals, superstitions—the possibilities and risk-all open up onto the landscape of our biggest questions, fear and wonder.

“Two songs established the spine of this music. Songs I’ve always loved, it seems even before I’d heard them. The first one, and the source of the title is ‘You Belong to Me’ by Jo Stafford. Colonial overtones unmissable to our modern ears aside, it’s also a beautiful mid century romance—and an ode to the threat of a shrinking world. The song represents the loneliness and the mystery of being alone and left behind. The singer is not asking their loved one to shut down horizons, merely reminding them to return when the traveling is done. To set aside The Silver Plane of transition, change and the in-between for the intimacy of solid earth.

“The second song is ‘Promised Land’ by Chuck Berry. Also about a journey and another one that moves easily between allegory and narrative. The singer is on the move across segregated America trying to get to the promised land of California. The song is both a tall tale that evokes Mark Twain, and an American epic that can keep good company with Herman Melville. When the hero finally makes it to California, his first instinct is to call home and reassure the Old World that he’s safely arrived in the new one.

“The songs on Fly the Ocean in a Silver Plane were recorded at home over the last couple years. I played electric guitar, rubber bridge acoustic guitar, Ableton Live and an Electron Digitone synth. My friend Mallory Linnehan aka Chelsea Bridge contributed beautiful violin and vocals to a couple of the songs. We recorded those performances on a summer afternoon in Chicago at the Not Not space with the windows open.

“The cover is a photo of my mom—one I never saw when she was alive. With the headscarf and that excited, nervous expression, she looks about to embark on a journey. Ready, finally, to cross the tarmac and board the Silver Plane. “Wishing safe travels to all.” — Mark N / Pan•American



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A modern psych classic!

This album was released in 2017 as free download packs with the band encouraging fans to create their own physical copies with provided templates.

From the band's post accompanying links to different digital packs:
"This album is FREE. Free as in, free. Free to download and if you wish, free to make copies. Make tapes, make CD’s, make records. ... Ever wanted to start your own record label? GO for it! Employ your mates, press wax, pack boxes. We do not own this record. You do. Go forth, share, enjoy."

Gap Mangione's monumentally influential Diana In The Autumn Wind. AKA BEWITH200LP. And, without question, Be With's White Whale.

They said it could never be done. And with good reason.

We've spent the past 12 years trying to license this legendary 1968 recording from Gap and, after much work, it's finally here. Remarkably, this is the first ever vinyl reissue of Gap Mangione's Diana In The Autumn Wind, produced with the full and extensive participation of Gap. An exceedingly rare album, it's been coveted by funk, soul, jazz and hip-hop sample fiends for decades.

It's unarguably *the* most sought after album for J Dilla / Madlib sample collectors. It has also been brilliantly sampled by A Tribe Called Quest, Large Professor, Ghostface Killah, Kendrick Lamar and Talib Kweli.

But this record is so much more than a sample-spotters curio. It's solid gold throughout. Bursting with killer funky-jazz grooves and tracks adorned with warm electric piano, the release is notable for featuring some extremely significant players at the very outset of their careers; Tony Levin, at 21, whose superb playing on both acoustic and electric bass was the harmonic mainstay of the trio and Steve Gadd, at 23, one of the greatest drummers of his generation.

With acceptable copies of this holy grail changing hands for $400, to call this reissue "much-needed" underplays just how vital it is. Gap's story is told in his words alongside rare photos across a sumptuously designed 2-page insert and, to augment this deluxe edition further, its all wrapped up in a beautiful, no-expense-spared luxury tip-on sleeve, as per the original hens-teeth release. And, while we're talking packaging, just take a look at that cover - a work of art in and of itself.

The tracks are short but complex, with that extraordinary rhythm section backing the beautiful piano, organ and electric piano work of Gap. It's like the best ever library funk breaks record you never heard - but all your favourite golden age rap producers were all over it, long ago. It's a stunning blend of the vibrant, driving music of the Gap Mangione Trio coupled with the sensitive composition and superb orchestration of Gap's legendary brother, Chuck Mangione, who helmed an amalgam of seemingly disparate elements – rock, big band jazz, solo improvisation and "classical" music - into a spectacularly cohesive whole that has aged wonderfully well. As Gap himself notes in the liners, "with this group I was able to explore and add new and exciting elements from rock, Brazilian and then-current pop music."

Opener "Boy With Toys" triumphantly swaggers out the gate, all big band horns, flutes and dextrous organ work. The synthesis of everything going on is nothing short of stunning. When one wise YouTube commentator called this tune "old school superhero music", Gap agreed. Rap luminaries did, too, amongst them Talib Kweli, who rapped over DJ Scratch's chopped up intro for "Shock Body" on his Quality album back in 2002.

You've barely recovered from that incredibly affecting opener when you get hit over the head with the exquisite title-track. And now you see how two of the greatest beats of all time emerged from one single track produced nearly 50 years earlier. Unforgettably utilised by Dilla for Slum Village's heartbreakingly good "Fall In Love" and then Madlib for his "Official" beat for Dilla to rap over, on the Jaylib record. Regardless of the records it went on to spawn, this is just a staggering tune in its own right. Be beguiled by the flutes and the flutter tonguing, the counter-melody from the trombones, the soprano sax solo. All of it. Simply beautiful.

The questing organ and horn workout "Long Hair Soulful" deserves a lot more attention, overshadowed somewhat by the opening two monsters but no less fantastic. It swings, it grooves and Gadd and Levin truly cook. Up next, Gap's wonderfully percussive, mellifluously piano-heavy cover of "Yesterday" by some fellas called The Beatles. It's a subtly arresting gem. "The XIth Commandment" is damn fine, with thick, gorgeous electric piano and snappy drum work underpinning chaotic soundtracky horns. To close out the side, "St. Thomas" showcases the "fourth" member of the Gap Mangione Trio, conga drummer Dhui Mandingo. Having performed with the Trio since 1965, Dhui‘s African-based and jazz-latin-influenced style amazed listeners and its way to hear why.

Opening the B-Side, standard "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" breezes along in the late-night jazz club fashion before things get super deep with the outstanding and - up to now - un-sampled "Pond With Swans". It's simply heavenly, and how its moody, melancholic intro has yet to be pilfered is anybody's guess. It oscillates between gentle, sombre movements and bombastic grooves, equally hypnotic and joyous. The rendition of "You Are My Sunshine" is yet another showcase for Gap's virtuoso playing and Gadd's mastery of the pocket. Indeed Gadd's drumming on "Free Again" is nothing short of neck-SNAPPING! Ghostface took it for not one but two "Iron's Theme" tracks across his seminal Supreme Clientele. It's got that Galt MacDermot "Coffee Cold" feel. Suuuuuper cool. The frantic "Dream On Little Dreamer" hurtles along and must've surely had the whole room absolutely swinging from the chandeliers back in Rochester in the late 60s. The album closes with the magnificent Graduate Medley, featuring memorable renditions of "Scarborough Fair", "The Sounds of Silence" and "Mrs. Robinson". The warm electric piano lines of the former were sampled by The Ummah (Dilla again!) for Tribe's "Pad & Pen" from their reappraised final album, The Love Movement, as well as by Large Professor on his much-loved "The LP (For My People)".

Under the watchful eye - and extremely attentive ears - of Gap Mangione himself, the audio for Diana In The Autumn Wind has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, with a few much needed tweaks here and there, according to the artist's wishes. At the prestigious Abbey Road Studios, Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at the always stellar Record Industry in Holland. The artwork restoration has taken place here at Be With HQ and has that drop-dead gorgeous cover artwork popping like new. Buy on sight!

A fresh reinterpretation project from 20/20 Vision’s Ralph Lawson and Carl Finlow that revisits their own classic Blaze remixes for 2026.

Originally remixing ‘Lovelee Dae’ back in 1997 for German label Playhouse and ‘Wishing You Were Here’ in 1999 for Slip ‘n’ Slide, these new takes deliver stripped-back dub versions and refined edits crafted for the dancefloor.

The collection blends classic Blaze soul with deeper, groove-driven house textures—highlighting the timeless songwriting of Blaze while giving it a fresh underground perspective

Billie Eilishs mit fünf GRAMMY®-Awards ausgezeichnetes, mit Multi-Platin ausgezeichnetes Debütalbum
mit den Titeln „bad guy“, „when the party’s over“ und „you should see me in a crown“ – WHEN WE ALL
FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? – ist nun als limitierte erste internationale Pressung auf babyblauem
Vinyl erhältlich.
Diese Schallplatte besteht aus BioVinyl, das zur Vermeidung von Klimabelastungen das üblicherweise
bei der Vinylherstellung verwendete Erdöl durch Altöl und Abgase ersetzt. Alle Verpackungen aus Papier
und Karton sind FSC®-zertifiziert und bestehen zu 100 % aus Recyclingmaterial. Die Druckfarben sind
naturbelassen und pflanzlich, der Glanzdispersionslack ist wasserbasiert. Anstelle von Folienverpackungen
werden wiederverwendbare Hüllen aus 100 % recyceltem Polyester verwendet.
Billie Eilishs Debüt-EP mit weltweit über 2,6 Milliarden Streams, darunter „ocean eyes“, „bellyache“ und
„idontwannabeyouanymore“ – „dont smile at me“ ist jetzt als limitierte, weltweit erste internationale Pressung auf transparentem Vinyl erhältlich.
Diese Schallplatte besteht aus BioVinyl, das zur Vermeidung von Klimabelastungen das üblicherweise
bei der Vinylherstellung verwendete Erdöl durch Altöl und Abgase ersetzt. Alle Verpackungen aus Papier
und Karton sind FSC®-zertifiziert und bestehen zu 100 % aus Recyclingmaterial. Die Druckfarben sind
naturbelassen und pflanzlich, der Glanzdispersionslack ist wasserbasiert. Anstelle von Folienverpackungen
werden wiederverwendbare Hüllen aus 100 % recyceltem Polyester verwendet.

For the first time ever, Roxette release ‘Baladas En Español’ on vinyl. The relationship between Roxette and Spanish-speaking audiences has been a love story since the early ‘90s and this release celebrates that special relationship. The release is timed with Roxette’s 40th anniversary and their return to South America for live shows in April. The album will be available on vinyl and CD, featuring 4 bonus tracks compared to the original release. The vinyl will be released in both a limited coloured edition and standard black.

Roxette have some exciting plans to celebrate their 40th Anniversary this year, including extensive touring, further anniversary re-releases, video upgrades, contemporary remixes and much more!

NOW That’s What I Call 70s Soul brings together 50 era-defining tracks from one of the most powerful decades in soul music, featuring classics from Motown legends, Philly Soul pioneers, smooth balladeers and funk innovators – all pressed across 3LPs on beautiful blue vinyl… Out April 24th!

LP1 opens with one of the decade’s most recognisable love songs: Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’, a US #1 and UK Top 10 hit that became his signature recording. It’s followed by Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’, the socially conscious masterpiece and title track from his landmark 1971 album, and Diana Ross’ Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, which topped the US chart and became her first solo #1. Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)’ remains one of Motown’s most joyful recordings and comes before Commodores’ ‘Easy’ introducing Lionel Richie’s smooth ballad vocals. The side also includes Bill Withers’ timeless ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, a Grammy-winning classic, and The Stylistics’ lush ballad ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’, a UK Top 3 smash, before closing with Rose Royce’s beautiful ‘Wishing On A Star’, one of the most loved soul ballads of the era.

Flip the LP over and The Jackson 5’s ‘I Want You Back’ – the group’s explosive debut single opens the side. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ ‘The Tears Of A Clown’ became a UK #1 and is followed by The Supremes’ Nathan Jones’ showcasing the group’s evolving psychedelic-soul sound. Northern Soul classics from Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons with ‘The Night’, Chairmen Of The Board’s Top 3 smash ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ and The Trammps’ ‘Hold Back The Night’. The O’Jays’ joyous ‘Love Train’ leads to The Blackbyrds’ Walking In Rhythm’, before the side closes with the romantic classic ‘Always And Forever’ from Heatwave.

LP2 opens with The Temptations’ epic ‘Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone’, a Grammy-winning US #1 remains one of the most stunning recordings from the Motown catalogue, is followed by Isaac Hayes’ ‘Theme From “Shaft”’, an Academy Award-winner and a US #1 smash. More funk follows from Ike & Tina Turner, James Brown with one of his key tracks ‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine’, Edwin Starr’s powerful anti-Vietnam protest song ‘War’, and Sly & The Family Stone’s hugely influential ‘Family Affair’. The Delfonics’ sublime ‘Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)’ comes ahead of Billy Paul’s timeless ‘Me And Mrs. Jones’ which closes the side…the other side begins with the 1977 #1 from The Floaters with ‘Float On’, before the breathtaking vocals of Minnie Riperton on ‘Lovin’ You’. The Isley Brothers’ Summer Breeze’ and William DeVaughn’s ‘Be Thankful For What You Got’ have become enduring classics and are followed by a run of ‘80s pop-chart crossover hits completing LP2 from Detroit Emeralds, The Moments Raydio and The Tymes’ #1 ‘Ms. Grace’.

LP3 opens with the unmistakable voice of Barry White and his US #1 hit ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe’, before Aretha Franklin’s ‘Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)’, delivers one of her smoothest performances. Al Green’s ‘Tired Of Being Alone’ and Gladys Knight & The Pips’ ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’ are followed by minimalist soul classic ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ from Timmy Thomas, and the side closes with a trio of defining ballads:- George Benson’s ‘The Greatest Love Of All’ Diana Ross’ ‘Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)’ and The Jackson 5’s ‘I’ll Be There’, their biggest hit…while over on the final side…Freda Payne’s #1 ‘Band Of Gold’, opens alongside Ann Peebles’ influential and much covered ‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’.Marvin Gaye’s sensual ‘Let’s Get It On’ became another US #1, while Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass deliver the contemporary standard ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’. Three massive UK #1s are next…The Stylistics with ‘Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love)’, The Three Degrees’ peerless ‘When Will I See You Again’ and Deniece Williams’ ‘Free’. This amazing collection closes with two timeless ballads: Earth, Wind & Fire’s ‘After The Love Has Gone’, a Grammy-winning classic, along with ‘Three Times A Lady’, a huge worldwide #1 for the Commodores.


NOW That’s What I Call 70s Soul, 50 defining tracks from one of music’s greatest decades. Out April 24th.

After their recent LP Mirages (Kraak Records, 2025) with French turntablist Guilhem’All, the group continues to explore collaborations with artists and instruments from diverse musical traditions. Building on decades of uncompromising acoustic exploration, Razen delves deeper into their practice with five improvisational pieces that unfold slowly in time and space. The duo’s radical core - Brecht Ameel and Kim Delcour - finds in Van der Harst a longtime kindred spirit, united by the impact of sound, intonation, and the sheer joy of playing.

To be released on April 24 via VIERNULVIER Records, the artwork for Stained Glass Starling was created by American visual artist Robert Beatty (Oneohtrix Point Never, Christina Vantzou, The Weeknd, Tame Impala). The physical release comes with a 16-page booklet including artwork and an interview.

A long-standing artistic kinship lies at the heart of this project, with first encounters dating back to the early 2000s in Belgian musical improv theatre. Van der Harst’s lifelong experience in improvised music and music theatre, spanning back to the 1980s, combined with a vast arsenal of rare and historical instruments, opens new tonal territories within the Razen universe.

These explorations are not incidental: his family roots in the former Dutch East Indies — through his great-grandfather — provide a quiet backdrop to his enduring affinity for Asian musical traditions. Instruments such as erhu, Javanese kacapi, and others introduce timbres
that bring the music its most pronounced Asian inflections to date.

Yet despite this shift in colour, the underlying ethos remains unmistakably Razen. Working from sound rather than form, the ensemble approaches music as painters approach a canvas: adding layers, contrasts and shades with care. There is no soloist’s ego here; all voices are equal, echoing principles found in gamelan traditions.

Over the decades, Razen and Dick Van der Harst have crossed paths repeatedly, notably through cult theatre productions by Belgian theatre maker Eric De Volder, including Zwarte vogels in de bomen (2002) and Huis der Verborgen Muziekjes I–II (2000–2006). Recording an albumtogether had long been a shared aspiration — a wish that crystallised after a 2024 concert at Concertzaal Miry in Ghent, part of the Ruiskamer series by VIERNULVIER Art Centre.

Limited edition vinyl pressing of the critically acclaimed 2025 album Solastalgia by German stoner metallers PLASMAJET . A high impact release delivering massive grooves, crushing guitar tones, and a powerful low end, the album showcases an explosive blend of stoner rock, heavy metal, and blues driven soundscapes. Packed with thick riffs, gritty vocals, and massive low end, Solastalgia offers an intense listening experience for fans of Red Fang, Truckfighters and Clutch. Heavy, dynamic, and sonically immersive, this release stands out for its relentless energy, thunderous rhythms, and commanding atmosphere, making it an essential addition for collectors and heavy music enthusiasts

The album is a conceptual work presented as an exhibition of inner emotions, told from the perspective of the Artisan: an artist seeking to express through sound what cannot be put into words.

Musically,An Artisan's Exhibitionis rooted in emotional, passionate and distinctive Frenchcore. The sound is intense yet intimate, driven by untamed energy but crafted with warmth, care and love. Rather than focusing solely on aggressive sounds or speed, the album emphasizes feeling and expression, using Frenchcore as a vessel for storytelling and emotional release. The story follows a journey from misunderstanding and exclusion to despair, anger, and ultimately insight. What begins as an uncomprehended message evolves into a confrontational struggle with emotions, where anger proves to be a misleading response. Only through learning to express his feelings does The Artisan discover his true purpose.

Released on January 1, 1999, this debut album debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon charts.
It was Ayumi Hamasaki's first million-selling album, and its down-to-earth lyrics earned her overwhelming support from young people of her generation.
This timeless masterpiece remains relevant to this day.

Uncompromising Dutch Black Metal – DOODSWENS’ sophomore album out in April via Svart Records Doodswens is a Dutch Black Metal band formed in 2017 by I. Live she performs the drums and vocals, joined by R. & P. on bass and guitar. Doodswens translates to Deathwish, but the meaning and heavy load to the word in Dutch translates better to Driven by Death. The self-titled sophomore album by Doodswens is out on April 17th 2026.

After establishing themselves in the Dutch scene, Doodswens gained an international following doing tours with Marduk & Gorgoroth. Doodswens’ performances are ceremonial and ritualistic, which have been reported to be as uplifting as they are devastating, depending on the demons you bring them to offer. Whatever you carry with you will be exposed. They like to confront instead of bringing comfort. If you've been on the verge of ending your life, or think about it more often than not, then you're living with a death wish. A heavy feeling, like a gray cloud hovering around you, gasping for breath and blurring your vision. This is incomprehensible to anyone. Except for those caught in the middle of it. But this album isn't about giving up. It's about finding strength, about someone who regains new energy after facing death.

This album isn't about wishing for death, but the death of the wish. Band’s establisher I. talks about the new single "Driven by Death": “For me, it was on the way back from a spontaneous adventure, full of music, new connections, and inspiration. A path without a plan and a journey without a goal, with only a very strong feeling that this is where I'm meant to be. With a misty horizon of endless asphalt before me. A large tree at the edge of the road, in the corner of my eye, screaming that this could just be the end. But what I felt wasn't fear, it was happiness. With the thought that if I crash into that tree now, I won't care at all. Because up until this moment, I've done everything possible, experienced every adventure, and each time, gotten up again and faced life with that gray cloud around my head. I have a death wish, so if it happens now, it's okay, and I'm at peace with it. This was the moment I realized, I'm not afraid of life. I'm driven by death.”

Uncompromising Dutch Black Metal – DOODSWENS’ sophomore album out in April via Svart Records Doodswens is a Dutch Black Metal band formed in 2017 by I. Live she performs the drums and vocals, joined by R. & P. on bass and guitar. Doodswens translates to Deathwish, but the meaning and heavy load to the word in Dutch translates better to Driven by Death. The self-titled sophomore album by Doodswens is out on April 17th 2026.

After establishing themselves in the Dutch scene, Doodswens gained an international following doing tours with Marduk & Gorgoroth. Doodswens’ performances are ceremonial and ritualistic, which have been reported to be as uplifting as they are devastating, depending on the demons you bring them to offer. Whatever you carry with you will be exposed. They like to confront instead of bringing comfort. If you've been on the verge of ending your life, or think about it more often than not, then you're living with a death wish. A heavy feeling, like a gray cloud hovering around you, gasping for breath and blurring your vision. This is incomprehensible to anyone.

Except for those caught in the middle of it. But this album isn't about giving up. It's about finding strength, about someone who regains new energy after facing death. This album isn't about wishing for death, but the death of the wish. Band’s establisher I. talks about the new single "Driven by Death": “For me, it was on the way back from a spontaneous adventure, full of music, new connections, and inspiration. A path without a plan and a journey without a goal, with only a very strong feeling that this is where I'm meant to be. With a misty horizon of endless asphalt before me. A large tree at the edge of the road, in the corner of my eye, screaming that this could just be the end. But what I felt wasn't fear, it was happiness. With the thought that if I crash into that tree now, I won't care at all. Because up until this moment, I've done everything possible, experienced every adventure, and each time, gotten up again and faced life with that gray cloud around my head. I have a death wish, so if it happens now, it's okay, and I'm at peace with it. This was the moment I realized, I'm not afraid of life. I'm driven by death.”

Faitiche welcomes a new artist: Christina Kubisch belongs to the first generation of sound artists. Her practice ranges from performances, concerts, to works with video and visual art, but she is best known for her sound installations and electro-acoustic compositions.

TUNING brings together three pieces by Christina Kubisch from different periods of her oeuvre. What they have in common is the way they transform sound phenomena originally considered “non-music” into compositions.

Jan Jelinek: Gaming in Silence (2024) is the most recent work on this compilation. It’s a collage of electromagnetic waves, voice, and abstract sound textures. How did this combination come about?

Christina Kubisch: Gaming was commissioned as a fixed-media composition for the Sound Dome at ZKM Karlsruhe. Since Resonances: The Electromagnetic Bodies Project (2005), I’ve been making recordings in the old and new server rooms at the ZKM and in their permanent collection of historical computer games. Computer games like Asteroids (Atari, 1979) and Poly-Play (VEB Polytechnik, 1986) have specially generated analogue electromagnetic waves that interest me in particular on account of their density, rhythms and textures. I originally studied painting and to me the work of composition often feels like painting an abstract picture. I alter my source material as little as possible, layering and overlapping until a distinctive sound space emerges. In recent pieces, I sometimes combine magnetic waves with field recordings or live instruments. In Gaming it’s my recording of a Chinese song about silence.

JJ: Two persons walking through a street in Madrid (2004) is a recording from your Electrical Walks series. Here we should give a brief explanation of one of your best known works: participants in an Electrical Walk move through public spaces wearing prepared headphones that allow them to receive electromagnetic waves from their surroundings – for example from security gates, ATMs or neon signs. They discover a situation that normally is inaudible to the human ear and they can actively shape it by choreographing their movements. I really admire this piece, not least because there’s no clear dividing line between participants and artist. What exactly do we hear in Two persons walking through a street in Madrid (2004)?

CK: With this early work, I wanted to understand what is heard by people participating in an Electrical Walk in the same place but moving in different ways. The Spanish composer Miguel Alvarez-Fernàndez and I set off from opposite ends of a major shopping street in Madrid, met briefly in the middle, and then continued to the end. We both recorded our walks and I then layered them over one another. You might call it a work of electromagnetic conceptualism.

JJ: Diapason (2009 version) is an installation that plays a composition based on sounds from fifteen tuning forks. This setting is audible in the recording: there’s no dramatic arc, no beginning or end – instead, it recalls a piece of aleatoric music focussing on the decay phase. How did you come to make this work and could you tell us something about your compositional method?

CK: Diapason is part of a series of three pieces that deal with “non-instruments” or instruments that no longer exist: electrical mine bells used to send signals to the workers underground; a historical glass harmonica originally used for medicinal purposes; and tuning forks that were used by doctors to test people’s hearing. All of these methods are no longer in use. The sound of the tuning forks, audible only if held close to the ear, was recorded at the electronic studio at Berlin’s Technical University in such a way that even their decay remained audible. The frequencies range between 64 and 2048 Hertz and they can be adjusted at micro-intervals using small movable weights. The sequence and the duration of the pauses are dictated by chance and were not defined in advance. The 2009 version was created for an installation in the historic Holy Cross Church (Korskirken) in Bergen. Visitors could enter and leave the space at any time, deciding for themselves where and for how long they wished to listen to the sounds played back over an array of small loudspeakers placed on the floor of the apse.

Credits:

Gaming in Silence: commission of the ZKM/Hertzlab, Karlsruhe 2023
elektronic sound processing: Tom Thiel
sound engineering and mixing: Eckehard Güther

Diapason: produced at Elektronisches Studio of TU Berlin
rearrangement: Eckehard Güther

Christina Kubisch, published by Edition Christina Kubisch / Random Musick Publishing

image front: Transitionen 2021 by C. Kubisch, sonagrams of electronic waves (courtesy: Galerie Mazzoli Berlin)
image back: Diapason Tuning Fork, property of Folkmar Hein, Photo: Archiv Christina Kubisch

design by Tim Tetzner
mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi
Thanks to Miguel Álvarez-Fernández, Folkmar Hein, Dominik Kautz and Mario Mazzoli

A magus is a wizard…a sorcerer. Magus, the band, is certainly interested in such things (who isn’t), but the name is especially apt due to the band’s approach to alchemy, the blending of rock, gothic, proto metal, and psychedelic styles to create a sound that is, ultimately, unique. Part of that uniqueness comes from the instrumentation. While guitar is often a dominant instrument of the rock oeuvre, the Fender Rhodes generally plays a supportive role. Not so here, where Jessica Weeks’ deft use of the keyboard dovetails with Greg Weeks’ more standard six-string approach. Not standard is the band’s sound. Doomy yet inspirational, dour yet vibrant, the duo’s tunes map sinister realms whose subjects span metaphysical creatures to enigmatic portals. You know, the typical stuff that rubs elbows with a magus.

Formed in late 2024, Magus sprung from a desire by both artists to experiment with darker, heavier sounds. Long enamored of artists like Flower Travelling Band,, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, the duo delved deeply into trance like riffs and euphoric solos to create the backbone of what has become their debut album, Music for Mandrax. This thirteenth Language of Stone offering features grounded, metronomic grooves, organic, lugubrious synth lines, and tandem vocals (supplied by both Weekses) that, in total, weave a heavy, trancelike spell sure to entice fans of bands as disparate as Sabbath is to Pink Floyd. Recorded at Weeks’ Hexham Head studio (to analog tape, of course), the band enlisted long-time counterparts Jesse Sparhawk (bass) and Ben McConnell (drums) to round out their sound and lock down the grooves that propel the album.

Mixed by Brian McTear and Amy Morrisey at Miner Street in Philadelphia, the band’s fully realized vision came to fruition, which left only the album art to contemplate. The band, wishing to further the gothic aesthetic of their sound, enlisted fashion designer and artist extraordinaire Hogan McLaughlin (Game of Thrones) to create the starkly beautiful line drawings of the front and back covers. The duo travelled to Salem, MA to complete the package with Courtney Brooke Hall, who shot the moody and evocative photographs that grace the gatefold release’s inner panels.

For the first time ever, Roxette release ‘Baladas En Español’ on vinyl. The relationship between Roxette and Spanish-speaking audiences has been a love story since the early ‘90s and this release celebrates that special relationship. The release is timed with Roxette’s 40th anniversary and their return to South America for live shows in April. The album will be available on vinyl and CD, featuring 4 bonus tracks compared to the original release. The vinyl will be released in both a limited coloured edition and standard black.

Roxette have some exciting plans to celebrate their 40th Anniversary this year, including extensive touring, further anniversary re-releases, video upgrades, contemporary remixes and much more!

Debut album by The Upsessions

20th anniversary edition on solid pink vinyl

Previous pressings by Moon Ska and Cherry Red Records have sold out

Generic Flipper, the debut album by Flipper, remains the most absorbing full-length LP to emerge from the early San Francisco punk scene. A constant source of imitation for so-called "noise rock" bands, it has yet to be surpassed in its nihilistic glee.

Recorded between October 1980 and August 1981 and released in 1982 on the indispensable Subterranean Records, this album functions as a chaotic, sticky mass of individual personalities: the magma-like bass eruptions and dual vocals of Will Shatter and Bruce Loose, Ted Falconi's icy guitar scraping and the relentless beat of drummer Steve DePace. At times playful and taciturn, paranoid and absurd, Generic charts a deliberate path that willfully chances destruction.

In early '80s punk, when the hardening default was "faster-shorter-louder," Generic subverts the nascent hardcore scene with a strictly applied regimen of turgid-slower-heavier. The lyrics are bleak, yet unnervingly beautiful. "Ever" sets the tone with trademark restraint – "Ever wish the human race didn't exist? And then realize you're one too?" – while closer "Sex Bomb" is a churning, 8-minute epic with looping bass, saxophone accompaniment and electronic effects of dropping bombs.

Tons of indie bands have attempted to recreate Flipper's mix of acidic guitar, metallic bass sludge and sardonically brilliant lyricism, using the seemingly effortless template they pioneered; however, the effect usually drives listeners right back to Generic. While most of their contemporaries wilt under direct comparison, No Trend, the Butthole Surfers, feedtime and Church Police are a few who can stand the frigid heat.

BCUC – Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness – have been channeling the spirit of Soweto for over twenty years. Indigenous funk, hip-hop consciousness, and punk rock energy fused into something utterly original and deeply rooted. Their mantra: Music for the people, by the people, with the people. From humble beginnings rehearsing in a shipping container, a stone's throw from the church where Desmond Tutu organized the escape of the most wanted anti-Apartheid activists, they kept believing in their dream of self-empowerment. Today they command festival stages worldwide: Glastonbury West Holts, Roskilde, Afropunk Brooklyn, WOMAD, Fusion, Sziget, FMM Sines, Beaches Brew, Boomtown, Colours of Ostrava, Couleur Café – to name just a few. In 2023, BCUC were honoured with the prestigious WOMEX Artist Award, an accolade usually reserved for more established artists, in recognition of their fearless work and transcendent live performances.

THE ROAD IS NEVER EASY

The Road Is Never Easy is BCUC's fifth album and their debut on Outhere Records. On this new offering, BCUC take listeners on another Afro-psychedelic journey into the soul of Soweto. It feels like a gospel sermon colliding with a punk concert, "guaranteed to touch untapped corners of your soul" (OkayAfrica). BCUC's music is deeply rooted in history and echoes the voices of the ones who came before. The road was never easy for the people of Soweto who originally came to work in the mines of Egoli, the City of Gold, Johannesburg. When apartheid finally ended after a long struggle, it was hoped that life would improve. But more than 30 years later, many of those initial hopes and dreams are still waiting to be fulfilled. This album is about that struggle. The album contains 10 brand new songs – a record for BCUC, whose previous albums featured an average of 3 songs. It represents the culmination of more than two decades of performing together and building a reputation as a powerful live act. These ten songs encapsulate that same live energy, each one building gradually and drawing you into BCUC's Afro-psychedelic stream of consciousness. It's a seismic tour de force through life in Soweto today. Songs like Amakhandela (Breaking All the Chains) connect history to daily life: "How is this precious metal inflicting so much pain in us," sing BCUC, "this government has been telling us we are free, but we don't benefit from being free." The album also talks about all the hopes and dreams that remain: "I have too many wishes and dreams in my head," BCUC sing in Um duma khanda, "I think I am losing my mind". The album ends with the soothing Matla a rona ke Bophelo, "our strength is life", praising the spirits and thanking the elders for protection. The Road Is Never Easy is about the harsh reality of life in Soweto, where "people always carry heavy loads". BCUC are street poets trying to deal with that burden: sometimes revolutionary, sometimes soothing, but always hopeful and compassionate. "When you are from Soweto you can't retreat nor surrender." (Sebenzela)

RECORDING

The album was largely recorded in Munich, Germany during tour breaks over two sessions, each three days long. It took place in a small studio located in a German WW II bunker converted into rehearsal spaces. The songs were recorded in one take altogether in one room, with only a few overdubs added, mainly backing vocals, by BCUC at Fourways studio in Johannesburg. BCUC have created their own distinctive way of writing, or rather, finding and creating their songs. The recording process is like an improvised live performance. They bring their ideas into a zone where the music, the rhythm and the spirits take over until the song starts to form. In this Afro-psychedelic zone BCUC create their unique poetry that feeds on the dreams still dreamt, the hopes, the fears and the temptations lingering everywhere. BCUC's songs need to breathe and time to build. The right take was the one when the song took over, and just like their live performances, no one knew beforehand where the song would take them. During the recording, BCUC just let it all flow out: inner turmoil, cries of rebellion, but also resilience and a search for healing, love, unity and compassion. You don't have to be from Soweto to feel the deep meaning and impact of this music. In these times of so much hate and division, BCUC are like a campfire for people to gather around.

PRODUCTION & ARTWORK

"BCUC have a unique magic," says Outhere's Jay Rutledge, who produced the album. "It blew our minds. It's like punk and pure gospel at the same time. Their music can make you dance and it can make you cry, all at the same time. And when the song is over, you feel you're not alone in this world anymore. We felt compelled to do this." The album cover is based on a matchbox design, matches being a common household item in South Africa even today. "These were the matches people used to burn government buildings and cars," explain BCUC. Little messages, addresses, or phone numbers used to be scribbled on the back of these boxes; each one a reminder of the strength, resilience, and resistance that once drove the struggle for freedom in Soweto. BCUC keep this flame burning. The Road Is Never Easy is a heavy spiritual road trip, a deep dive into the subconscious of Soweto and a quest for truth, justice and sanity in this crazy world. BCUC tackle the harsh realities of the voiceless, guided by the spirit world of their ancestors. Rather than reinforcing stereotypes of poverty, BCUC's portrayal of Africa is one rich in tradition, rituals and beliefs. "We bring fun and Afro-psychedelic fire from the hood," says vocalist Kgomotso Mokone.

On 6th October, multi BRIT-nominated DJ/producer Joel Corry releases his debut album, ‘Another Friday Night’ via Asylum / Atlantic Records, with the pre-order going live on the 18th August.

To be released on both vinyl & CD, as well as via streaming/download, ‘Another Friday Night’ is a collection of Joel’s most iconic records of the last five years, including breakthrough hit ‘Sorry’, ‘Lonely’, multi-platinum UK #1 single ‘Head & Heart’ ft. MNEK, ‘BED’ w/ RAYE & David Guetta, ‘OUT OUT’ w/ Jax Jones, Charli XCX & Saweetie, plus fresh 2023 cuts like ‘Dance Around It’ with Caity Baser and the anthemic ‘0800 HEAVEN’ with Nathan Dawe & Ella Henderson, ‘Another Friday Night’ toasts a remarkable run of releases that’s seen Joel become one of the UK’s biggest and most impactful dance acts.

“My debut album ‘Another Friday Night’ is the biggest moment of my life”, says Joel Corry. “Everything I have dreamed about and worked so hard for has come together with the release of this record. It has been an incredible journey and I am so proud to have reached this moment in my career. I want the songs to make people feel good and bring happiness to their days, and the album includes everyone’s favourite bangers from over the years, as well as some really exciting new material. This is the ultimate Joel Corry playlist, perfect for Another Friday Night.”

Ahead of the release of ‘Another Friday Night’ on October 6th, Joel has also announced a special headline show at London’s Ministry Of Sound on Friday 29th September – his first London headline date since playing at former 5000-cap venue, Printworks, in autumn 2021.

Fans who pre-order ‘Another Friday Night’ will be granted early pre-sale access to tickets on August 24th, before general sale opens on August 25th

It seems almost inevitable that at some stage Blue Matter and The Green Ray would be working together, and we’re delighted to say that this is now about to happen. When Blue Matter co-boss, Nick Saloman, was living in Walthamstow, he sat in with The Green Ray many times at the late-lamented Plough Inn on Wood Street (now a mini-supermarket). In more recent times Nick’s band, The Bevis Frond has played live with them on several occasions, and without wishing to disrespect any former members, the current Green Ray line-up sounds as good as they’ve ever sounded, if not, dare we say, even better than before. The Green Ray was originally assembled in the mid-90s by Ken Whaley & Richard Treece, two key members of Walthamstow legends, Help Yourself. During the last 30 years or so, they have released 7 albums and one 12” single.

Sadly, the line-up has changed quite frequently due to the passing of several of their number. Ken & Richard passed away some years ago, and more recently bassist Jeff Gibbs departed this world. However, now under the all-seeing eye of guitarist Simon Whaley, the current line-up is continuing to fly the East London freak flag high. Not long ago Simon asked us if Blue Matter would like to issue their latest offering, and we came back with a resounding “yes please”. ‘Orchard House’ is a superb album, full of great playing and great songs. There are shades of Mighty Baby and Help Yourself (at their trippiest), plus a West Coast atmosphere which put us in mind of Quicksilver and The Grateful Dead. It’s taken some time to happen, but at last Blue Matter & The Green Ray have come together to issue an unmissable album. So don’t miss it.

‘Distracted’ is Thundercat’s fifth studio album, featuring contributions from an incredible cast of friends including A$AP Rocky, WILLOW, Tame Impala, Lil Yachty, Channel Tres, and a long awaited collaboration with the dearly departed Mac Miller. The record was primarily created in close collaboration with a new creative partner – the super-producer Greg Kurstin – plus Flying Lotus, Kenny Beats (Kenneth Blume) and The Lemon Twigs. In the six years since his GRAMMY-winning album ‘It Is What It Is’, Thundercat’s star has risen: playing stadiums worldwide with Red Hot Chilli Peppers with Flea naming Thundercat “the best bass player on the planet”; performing live with A$AP Rocky, Steve Lacy, Tame Impala, Gorillaz, Silk Sonic, Erykah Badu, Spinal Tap, Yo Gabba Gabba; collaborating with Haim, Smino, Kaytranada, Kamasi Washington and Justice. He also branched out into acting with a role in Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett. His warm, playful presence is never too far away, and life’s all the more enlivened by it.

Ein inspirierendes Zusammentreffen musikalischer Köpfe. Zum 20-jährigen Jubiläum von "In A Space Outta Sound" übergab George Evelyn alias DJ E.A.S.E. die Bänder an Dub-Meister Adrian Sherwood, der acht Tracks des Originalalbums in neuem Gewand präsentiert – ganz im Geiste der Reggae- und Sound-System-Wurzeln, die das Original prägten. Das Ergebnis ist eine frische Interpretation eines beliebten Klassikers, der sich in die Reihe von Alben wie Massive Attacks "No Protection" und Spoons "Lucifer On The Moon" einreiht. Mit dabei sind kühne Neuinterpretationen ikonischer Tracks wie "You Wish" (hier als "You Bliss" zu hören) und "Flip Ya Lid" (verändert zu "Flippin Eck"). Neben seinem unverkennbaren Können am Mischpult holte Sherwood auch einige der Kernmitglieder von On-U Sound ins Boot, um zusätzliche Instrumente beizusteuern und diese Kollaboration zu etwas zu machen, das weit mehr ist als die Summe seiner Teile.

Moo is the first wide release on my new label MUP! When I decided to make a new record, it only seemed right to go back to what brings me the most joy, which is, Rock & Roll music. I got my Tascam 388 fixed, the same tape machine I had used to record my first album, King Tuff Was Dead. It had been sitting in my parent’s house in Vermont for the past 14 years, but I had finally dragged it out to LA. I stopped caring if there were mistakes. There’s not enough mistakes. I played my old, blue, Gibson SG, Jazijoo, and she spewed mangled electrified gold. For once, I sang and I didn’t hate my voice. I played the drums badly and bounced them in mono to one track and it sounded like glorious shit. I wish it sounded even worse. Rock & Roll is the music of rodents and bugs. It should sound like it crept from a decrepit trashcan or a crypt or a toilet. It is not chill or vibey, autotuned or on the grid. It is not perfect, which is why it’s perfect. And I don’t care if it’s dead or alive, cool or uncool: when I hear it, and when I play it, as a chubby and balding 43 year old punk weirdo, I FEEL ENERGIZED. All in all, MOO is a full circle moment. A return to form. A return to rock. A return to Vermont. A return to myself. Reconnecting the dots. Restarting the engine. Plugging in the stack. Finally letting King Tuff be King. Fucking. Tuff.

Moo is the first wide release on my new label MUP! When I decided to make a new record, it only seemed right to go back to what brings me the most joy, which is, Rock & Roll music. I got my Tascam 388 fixed, the same tape machine I had used to record my first album, King Tuff Was Dead. It had been sitting in my parent’s house in Vermont for the past 14 years, but I had finally dragged it out to LA. I stopped caring if there were mistakes. There’s not enough mistakes. I played my old, blue, Gibson SG, Jazijoo, and she spewed mangled electrified gold. For once, I sang and I didn’t hate my voice. I played the drums badly and bounced them in mono to one track and it sounded like glorious shit. I wish it sounded even worse. Rock & Roll is the music of rodents and bugs. It should sound like it crept from a decrepit trashcan or a crypt or a toilet. It is not chill or vibey, autotuned or on the grid. It is not perfect, which is why it’s perfect. And I don’t care if it’s dead or alive, cool or uncool: when I hear it, and when I play it, as a chubby and balding 43 year old punk weirdo, I FEEL ENERGIZED. All in all, MOO is a full circle moment. A return to form. A return to rock. A return to Vermont. A return to myself. Reconnecting the dots. Restarting the engine. Plugging in the stack. Finally letting King Tuff be King. Fucking. Tuff.

Double LP in matt-laminate gatefold sleeve with silver detail. We mark a decade since we first released COIL's landmark album 'Backwards', with a special 10 year anniversary vinyl reissue. After the ground-breaking release of 1990's "Love's Secret Domain" album, Coil were not dormant; the main project was "Backwards", which was started in 1992, updated considerably between 1993 and 1995, and transferred in 1996 to New Orleans, where it was finished in the magic of the Nothing studios of Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails). The album saw the fruition of Jhonn Balance's recent vocal coaching, producing haunting, passionate vocals, while reaching new heights. 23 years after its initiation, these tracks have been beautifully preserved by Danny Hyde and are finally available in highest quality audio. Differing substantially from the later, remixed incarnation, "The New Backwards" (2008), "Backwards" contains the original versions of Coil's much-loved tracks; 'A Cold Cell' and 'Fire Of The Mind', which have appeared on various compilations over the years, and are now presented as originally intended. his album is the essential bridge between "LSD" and the later "Musick To Play In The Dark" series. It is an essential conduit, to understand the journey that was taken. It was to be released... it should have been released... but because of issues with grey men it wasn't. It is now, so enjoy. (Danny Hyde).

An album with reflection, resilience, journey, and elemental connections at its core, Hollow Chapters is a collection of original songs written and performed by the Marsh Family - Dad (Ben, 49), Mum (Danielle, 48), sons Alfie (19) and Tom (18), and daughters Ella (16) and Tess (14). Recently featured in The Observer, the multiinstrumentalist family group of six from Kent have a significant international online following passionate about their mix of folk- pop harmonies, uplifting messages, authentic imperfections, and sense of connection and heart. Hollow Chapters ranges across genres (from acoustic protest songs to funk and reggae rock), but has a vintage organic style, rooted in natural analogies, ideas of journey and lifecycle, and epic and inspirational themes. It promises to move people emotionally, whether through ballads about departed loved ones or stirring tracks designed to forge collective action and hope. The songs tell stories using the different voices of family members, drawing inspiration from poetry, landscape, and artefacts.

ADULT. kooperiert nicht. Seit über 25 Jahren verkörpert die dystopische Detroit-Synth-Punk-Institution, gegründet von Nicola Kuperus und Adam Lee Miller, unbeirrbare Frustration, Misstrauen und Beklemmung. Man könnte erwarten, dass sich die Kanten mit der Zeit abschleifen, doch ADULT. hat kein Interesse am Komfort eines Vermächtnisses. Noch nie klang die Musik des Duos so unmittelbar, so dringlich und so unverhohlen wütend wie auf dem abschließenden, kompromisslosen Kissing Luck Goodbye.Mit aufgerüstetem Equipment und einer neuen Klangbibliothek gebaut, ist das Material erdrückend dynamisch, lauter - und zugleich klarer. Kuperus' dominante Darbietung rückt im Mix stärker in den Vordergrund und skizziert ein Arsenal aus lebhaften, ätzenden Rufen, Sprechchören und Gedankensplittern. Lachen - ob in den Texten oder als besessene Präsenz - fungiert als Leitmotiv und verweist auf die bedrohliche Absurdität der modernen Zeit.,THE CHAOS IS WHAT THEY WANT", singt sie in ,R U 4 $ALE" - zugleich eine Absichtserklärung: einer brennenden Welt aus Gier und Unordnung mit trotzigem, meisterhaft zusammengebautem Chaos zu begegnen. ,Du hast in dieser Höllenlandschaft, in der wir gerade leben, zwei Möglichkeiten: kämpfen oder depressiv sein", sagt Miller. ,Beides ist okay. Aber, na ja, die Entscheidung war einfach."ADULT. ist bekannt für hochriskante Katharsis auf der Bühne und griff kürzlich auf seinen Backkatalog an Bassgitarren-Songs aus den 2000ern zurück, wobei sie die vorausschauende Anxiety Always-Ära erneut nachzeichneten - teils aus Notwendigkeit angesichts der heutigen politischen und technologischen Angsttemperatur. Die Reaktion war sofort spürbar: ,Wir waren in Paris, und die Kids sind von der Bühne gesprungen. Und ich dachte nur: Das ist großartig. Das ist irgendwie die Energie, in die ich wieder zurückwill", sagt Kuperus.Diese Erkenntnis fiel mit einer Reihe von Rückschlägen zusammen - Kuperus' Anfällen von chronischem Schwindel, dem Verlust ihres engen Freundes und Kollaborateurs Douglas McCarthy von Nitzer Ebb, dem das Album gewidmet ist - alles unter dem drohenden Regime noch einmal erheblich verschärft. ,Wir dachten nur: Alles zerbricht. Wir zerbrechen. Wir sind kaputt." Dieses Gefühl hielt jedoch nicht an, denn letztlich waren sie viel zu sehr von Wut aufgeladen, um stillzuhalten. Die Stimmung vor Kissing Luck Goodbye waren vier Mittelfinger, die kerzengerade nach oben zeigten.Anstatt sich zurückzuziehen, konzentrierten sie sich auf den Prozess und überarbeiteten ihr Setup - inklusive der ersten neuen Mikrofone seit 20 Jahren. Hält man das Album an irgendeiner Stelle an, zählt man wahrscheinlich ein Dutzend Dinge, die gleichzeitig passieren, in seltsamer, schwindelerregender und dissonanter Harmonie. ,No One Is Coming" attackiert Untätigkeit angesichts des Faschismus - ,NO ONE IS COMING TO YOUR RESCUE". ,None of It's Fun" feuert mit atemloser Dringlichkeit, rasenden Glissandi und pointierten Zeilen wie: ,OH I AM TEARING MY GUTS OUT / LOOK AT ME_ DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS AMUSING?"Eine geradlinige Basslinie und Kickdrum prallen im Abschlusstrack ,Destroyers" auf pulsierende Mantras, werden dann vollständig gesättigt und kakophonisch. Ihre jüngeren Ichs hätten den Song vielleicht sich selbst zerstören lassen, doch hier gelang es ihnen, die Lautstärke durch alle Extreme hindurch zu stabilisieren und Raum für ein eindringliches, abschließendes A-cappella zu schaffen: WE PAY THE PRICE FOR THOSE IN POWER EXPLOITING YOU EXPLOITING ME CONSUMING YOU CONSUMING ME SICK SICK SICK SICKENING IT IS US THAT ARE DEVOURED BY EVERYTHING I WILL EAT YOUR HATE

"The Thinking of the World Began Pounding in Our Ears the Moment We Hit Shore is a studio-constructed album developed as a project rather than a band.

Created by Florian TM Zeisig between 2022 and 2025, the record draws on sessions and material contributed by a small group of collaborators. Recordings were gathered across different contexts and brought together through an extended studio process, with writing, production, arrangement, and assembly treated as a continuous activity.

The album took shape gradually through selection, editing, and re-placement of material over time. Individual pieces were revisited, reshaped, and recontextualized until they formed a unified body of work.

Contributions to the project include work by Mari Rubio (More Eaze), Róisín Berkeley, Don Lyons, Cal Fish, K, Seán Being, and JQ. All tracks were produced, written, arranged, and mixed by Florian TM Zeisig, with co-songwriting contributions noted per track."

Dusty Springfield hosted this impromptu TV special to promote the Tamla Motown artists that were taking part in their first ever European tour in 1965. Motown sent over their six premier - The Supremes, The Temptations, The Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Martha & The Vandellas were all backed by the Motown house band, The Earl Van Dyke Sextet. Dusty was a huge Motown fan and was keen to play her part in bringing the acts to a wider audience. The Beatles and the Stones also went out of their way to give Motown a mention in their interviews. Remember, Motown had only just launched its label in Europe earlier that year and the artists were known only to a small number of soul aficionados, so ticket sales for the tour were very poor. Mary Wilson recalls that the acts referred to it as the ghost tour, but they all put a performance for this fabulous TV show.

Die aufstrebende Singer-Songwriterin waterbaby aus Stockholm, Schweden, sieht alles durch eine romantische Brille. Das hört man in der Musik der aufstrebenden Künstlerin, die nostalgisch, zart und so fließend ist, wie ihr Künstlername schon sagt. waterbaby wuchs in einer musikalischen Familie auf, von ihrem Urgroßvater, einem Jazzpianisten, über ihren Onkel, der in Clubs arbeitete, bis hin zu ihrem eigenen Bruder, der unter dem Namen tt auftritt. Schließlich fand sie ihren eigenen Weg und Sound und veröffentlichte 2023 ihre Debüt-EP ,Foam" bei Sub Pop. Produziert von ihrem Hauptkollaborateur Marcus White (YG, Anna of the North), enthielt das spritzige, bekennende, gitarrenlastige Projekt die Singles ,911", ,Airforce Blue" und ,Wishing Well". Nach den 2025 veröffentlichten Singles ,Amiss" und der preisgekrönten Zusammenarbeit mit Hannes ,Wish" bereitet sich waterbaby auf die mit Spannung erwartete Veröffentlichung ihres Debütalbums ,Memory Be a Blade" vor. Dunkler und üppiger als ihre EP, entspringt waterbabys neue Musik einem Ort unbewusster Herzensqual, an dem sie über eine vergangene Trennung nachdenkt, während sie kurz davor steht, eine neue zu erleben. White holte ein hervorragendes Team von Musikern an Bord, um dem Sound Tiefe und Vollständigkeit zu verleihen, was waterbabys klassischen Musikhintergrund widerspiegelt. ,Es nahm quasi vor unseren Augen Gestalt an", sagt sie über den nahtlosen Prozess, diese emotionalen neuen Songs zum Leben zu erwecken. Diesmal waren die Texte eher improvisiert, was waterbaby mehr Freiheit gab, das auszudrücken, was sie sagen wollte. ,Ich habe das Mikrofon genommen, ohne zu wissen, was ich tun würde", sagt sie, ,und das ist zum ehrlichsten Ventil in meinem Leben geworden."

As one of the Netherlands' most famous saxophonists and the daughter of Hans Dulfer, Candy Dulfer needs no introduction. The self-taught musician started playing at age six and already made her first recordings in 1981, at 11 years old. In 1990 she released her hit album Saxuality (selling more than a million copies worldwide) for which she received a Grammy nomination, and followed this record up with Sax-a-Go-Go, Big Girl and, in 1997, she released For The Love Of You.

For The Love Of You is a continuation of the funk, R&B, and dance path she started following. But make no mistake: Candy's blowing is as fierce, gritty, direct as ever, providing a striking juxtaposition. Like on Big Girl, Dutch vocal mainstays Trijntje Oosterhuis and Berget Lewis are featured again. The album features the songs "Saxy Mood" and "Smooth" and reached #8 on Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz albums for the year 1998.

For the Love of You is available as a limited edition on purple vinyl and includes an insert.

Alongside with the release of the new album “Tote Winkel”, Sankt Otten will be delighting us with another limited vinyl bonus release. “Hymnen und Helden” (hymns and heroes) is a collection of cover versions created over the last few years. As the album title suggests, it pays homage to self-proclaimed musical hymns and heroes from the seventies and eighties.

HYMNEN UND HELDEN – track by track: A well-known Moog sequence leads us on the way into the cover album. Giorgio Moroders 1977 disco classic “I feel love” has been tackled here. Sankt Ottens instrumental interpretation starts out familiar, but ends in a slightly disturbing disharmony of mellotron and ebow guitar.

The instrumental version of the melancholy Wipers anthem from 1983 starts with a rather unusually fast 808 beat for Sankt Otten. The 80s electronic echoes suit the punk rock earworm “Doom Towen” surprisingly well.

Without Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, more unusual electronic music would hardly have been conceivable in Germany in the early 1980s. “Alles ist gut” tribute to this band and singer Gabi Delgado-Lopez, who passed away in 2020 and with whom they shared the festival stage in 2015. Gabi‘s lyrics are rendered by text- to-speech software with the voice of an unknown Claudia.

“Wishing (If I had a photograph of you)” was made famous in 1982 by A Flock of Seagulls. This record was regularly played on Stephan Ottens turntable back then. Reason enough to remember this with “Sehnen (Hät- te Ich von dir eine Fotografie)”. The recordings for this album were made in 2007 and have been updated and completed in the last year. Carsten Sandkämper, who was also featured on Sankt Ottens debut album “Eine kleine Traurigkeit”, contributed the vocals and lyrics.

The Swiss band Grauzone became famous with the NDW hit “Eisbär”. Instead of this title, they took on the B-side of this single with “Ich liebe sie”. A synthpop love song full of innocence, stylishly sung by Carsten San- kämper and refined with Kraftwerk-like choral sounds and an herbaceous motorik beat.

The band has enjoyed a personal friendship with Harald Grosskopf since their collaboration in 2013 on the album “Messias Maschine”. With “So weit, so gut”, they take on his little hit from the album “Synthesist”, which is one of the gems of the synthesizer albums of the eighties.

“Kriegsmaschinen, fahrt zur Hölle” is an anti-war song from 1974 by Günter Schickert, the Berlin master of the echo guitar. Unfortunately, the lyrics are still relevant. Oliver Klemm contributes the delay guitars and Stephan Otten puts the lyrics through a vocoder. Sankt Otten compress the 17-minute original to just under 5 minutes and move it musically from the 70s to the 80s.

Sankt Otten’s adaptation of David Bowies “Heroes” is equipped with warm Juno 106 sounds, ebow guitar and synthesizer pads. The German “Helden” version, known from the movie Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, is sung in a touching way by Carsten Sandkämper.

New York-based Rafael Anton Irisarri was responsible for mastering the record. As part of the series with graphic covers, this die-cut artwork was also created by Mexican designer Daniel Castrejon. The one time only vinyl pressing, limited to 350 copies, comes in a beautifully designed die-cut cover and colored vinyl. The Osnabrück duo Sankt Otten, founded in 1999, have been releasing on Denovali since 2009. The band has dedicated itself to the holy trinity of Krautrock, Ambient and contemporary Electronics.






d Sehnen [Haette ich von Dir eine Fotografie]

The highly anticipated collaboration album “97239 710” by Tokyo-based rap crew TiGht Plump and Olive Oil－who continues to lead the scene with his
one-of-a-kind beat magic－is finally arriving on analog LP from OILWORKS REC!!

In February 2025, more than 1,000 musicians came together to release a silent album protesting the UK government’s planned changes to copyright law, which would make it easier to train AI models on copyrighted work without a licence. The album, titled Is This What We Want?, featured recordings of empty studios and performance spaces, representing the impact on artists’ and music professionals’ livelihoods that is expected if the government does not change course.

The digital release in February 2025 reached no. 38 in the UK album charts. Now, it is being released on vinyl, with a bonus track - a recording of an empty studio - from Paul McCartney. The vinyl is being released by state51.

Under the heavily criticised proposals, UK copyright law would be upended to benefit global tech giants. AI companies would be free to use an artist’s work to train their AI models without permission or remuneration. The government’s proposed changes would require artists to proactively ‘opt-out’ from the theft of their work – reversing the very principle of copyright law. ‘Opt-out’ models are near impossible to enforce, have yet to be proven effective anywhere else in the world, and place enormous burdens on artists, particularly emerging talent.

Facing major backlash from the creative sector and beyond, the government has said its previous proposal is no longer its preferred option. However, it has not proposed an alternative, simply recommitting to its plan to “modernise the copyright legislation”. In the meantime, it has sent creatives a worrying signal, five times rejecting House of Lords amendments to the data bill that would have given rights holders visibility over when their work was being used against their wishes by AI companies.

The album’s track listing spells out a simple message: “The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies.”

Ed Newton-Rex, the organiser of the album, said:
“The government must commit to not handing the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies for free. Doing so would be hugely damaging to our world-leading creative industries, and is totally unnecessary, only benefiting overseas."

Paul Sanders, founder of The state51 Conspiracy, said:
"When tech companies lobby governments to give them songs for free, it’s not so they can cure diseases, feed the hungry, or provide clean water where it is needed. It’s simply so they can make millions of fake songs and keep all the profits for themselves. As a company with a lifelong commitment to musicians The state51 Conspiracy was honoured to be asked to help get this message out on vinyl. All profits go to Help Musicians, which is what our politicians should be doing instead of sucking up to tech bros."

The last time Noir embarked on a similar creative exorcism was for 2012's Jimmy's Show LP which selected choice cuts from 18 E.P. 's released via straight to fan subscription over as many months. The resulting album is one of his most lauded and beloved by fans, with the vinyl now selling for silly money on Discogs.

Programmes for Cools is Jimmy's Show's spiritual successor, idiosyncratic, other worldly and brimming with timeless melodies. Noir's influences seep through the track list, wrapped with a haunting, dreamlike delivery.

First single 'Out Of Sight' is a Fleetwood Mac meets Selected Ambient Works era Richard D James, four to the floor banger. Already a fan favourite, it propels Side A forward with a somewhat misplaced optimism, much like Neil Young's 'Walk On' starting On the Beach.

Side B is more esoteric, exemplified by 'Fireworks’which includes lyrics and vocals from Marie Claude Dequoy,produced with the wooze of golden era Boards of Canada. Elsewhere, influences as disparate as Stevie Wonder, on the wonky clav funk of 'The Fountain', and Ian Brown 'I think I found it' illustrate Noir's disregard for musical straightjackets (the latter may have the most unapologetic baggy, hypnotic groove since the Mondays' 'Halleluiah').

As the album swells to its conclusion, via the epic Led Zeppelin meets the Warhol clique 'Morning Light’and the heart tugging finale of 'Motorbike’(the first song released from the most recent run of E.P.'s), there is a sense of completion and finality...
‘This is the last Jim Noir album. There are no more Jim Noir albums after this one. This time I'm serious. It's been the hardest I've ever worked on anything. I think I have created my own Be Here Now...Sorry.’
Joking and hyperbole aside, the album has more of an Abbey Road feel, and needs to be experienced in one sitting. If the infamous Davyhulme prankster is to be believed and this is his final outing, then you could wish for a more fitting album. - NM

Wishbone Ash's self-titled debut album, released in 1970, introduced a distinctive sound that would become highly influential in British rock. This re-issue faithfully replicates the original UK release in it's gatefold sleeve and is pressed on 180gm vinyl. Blending blues-rock, folk melodies, and emerging progressive elements, the album is defined by the bands signature twin-lead guitar approach, with Andy Powell and Ted Turner weaving melodic, harmonized lines rather than relying on a single dominant lead. Tracks like Blind Eye and Queen Of Torture balance hard-edged riffs with spacious, reflective passages, while acoustic moments add a pastoral, almost medieval atmosphere. The rhythm section, understated yet precise, allows the guitars to breathe and develop organically. Rather than chasing commercial immediacy, the album favours mood, texture, and musical interplay, giving it a thoughtful, exploratory character. As a debut, Wishbone Ash feels confident and forward-looking, laying the groundwork for the bands later classics and helping to shape the twin-guitar sound later adopted by countless rock and metal acts.

„Pilgrimage“, 1971 veröffentlicht, ist das zweite Studioalbum der britischen Rockband Wishbone Ash. Das Album zeigt eine Mischung aus Progressive Rock, Blues Rock und Hard Rock. Wishbone Ash sind vor allem für ihre doppelten Leadgitarren-Harmonien bekannt, eine Besonderheit, die auch auf „Pilgrimage“ zu hören ist. Das Album enthält mehrere bemerkenswerte Titel, darunter: „Vas Dis": Ein energiegeladener Eröffnungstrack mit Jazz-Einflüssen. „The Pilgrim": Ein Instrumentalstück, das zu den herausragenden Stücken gehört und die doppelte Gitarrenarbeit der Band hervorhebt. „Jail Bait“ (Gefängnisköder): Ein rockiges Stück, das sich zu einem Live-Favoriten entwickelt hat, und „Valediction“: Ein eher nachdenklicher und melodischer Song, der die sanftere Seite der Band zeigt.

„Pilgrimage“ wurde von Derek Lawrence produziert, der auch das Debütalbum der Band produzierte. Das Album verkaufte sich gut und erreichte Platz 14 der UK-Album-Charts. Es verhalf der Band auch dazu, in den Vereinigten Staaten und anderen internationalen Märkten Anhänger zu finden.

"Pilgrimage" (1971) ist das zweite Studioalbum von Wishbone Ash und ein entscheidender Schritt bei der Definition des unverwechselbaren Sounds der Band. Diese Wiederveröffentlichung ist eine originalgetreue Nachbildung der UK-Veröffentlichung in der Klapphülle und wurde auf 180g Vinyl gepresst.

It's a wild tribute to the chain- smoking Moto- Man from 1938 -- a character with so much hubris, he makes HAL 9000 look like a bundle of anxious circuits. On the A- side, "Elektro Returns" blasts off as a Clavioline- driven stomper with a bouncy beat and feverish chord changes. Think JEAN JACQUES PERREY on a bad LSD trip. On the other side, "I Am Elektro '25", reinvents their 2019 track of the same name. This fuzz- drenched pounder could have made THE VENTURES' Nokie Edwards wish he'd been built as a robot! Back from the future and outta space - LES ROBOTS return from their intergalactic journey! Moog on!

WE ARE VERY HAPPY TO PRESENT YOU ANOTHER MASTERPIECE BY ALTON MILLER ON RAWAX MOTOR CITY EDITION!
"OTO COLLECTIVE" IS ALMOST THE 4TH RELAESE ON THIS SERIES AND SO FAR THE BEST - IN OUR OPINION.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED HOUSE MUSIC FROM DETROIT!

Deluxe-Doppel-LP-Pressung zur Feier des 10-jährigen Jubiläums von Basements bahnbrechender LP Colourmeinkindness. Diese Sammleredition enthält das komplette Album auf der ersten Disc und vier alternative Versionen von Songs des Albums auf Disc 2 sowie ein Etching auf der D-Seite. Colourmeinkindness war ursprünglich das Abschieds-Album, das der ersten Pause von Basement vorausging, und ein Meilenstein für die Band, der sie als einige der besten Songwriter in der Rockszene der 2010er Jahre zementierte. Nach dem Debütalbum I Wish I Could Stay Here aus dem Jahr 2011 fühlt sich Colourmeinkindness von den ersten disharmonischen Tönen des Openers "Whole" reif an - ein Song, der die Basement Live-Sets seitdem in Aufruhr versetzt. Das Album wurde zum Fan-Favorit, weil es eine Reihe verschiedener Sounds bietet - melodische Singalongs wie "Covet" und "Bad Apple", Emo-inspirierte Refrains wie "Breathe" und "Comfort" und gewaltige Riffs wie in "Spoiled" und dem Schlussstück "Wish" - sie alle stechen auf einem klassischen Album hervor, das es wert ist, 10 Jahre lang und darüber hinaus gehört zu werden.

Swiss artist Lukas Traxel releases his powerful debut album One-Eyed Daruma on We Jazz Records, March 10. The trio features Traxel on double bass, Otis Sandsjö on sax and Moritz Baumgärtner on drums. Compact, deep, and organic to the bone, Traxel & co's sound echoes the innovations of rhythmically driven avantgarde jazz while keeping things moving at all times. There's both drive and freedom to this sound.
ONe-Eyed Daruma features eight new compositions by Traxel, who crafted the outline for the album while dealing with the loss of his father. The group came together after an open invitation from the Zurich jazz club Moods to present a new group. The trio of Traxel, Sandsjö and Baumgärtner creates a full, symphonic, and powerful body of sound despite the instrumentation without a harmony instrument. The trio functions as a collective where the boundaries between composition, melody, and accompaniment are in flux, while keeping the common goal of creating new music together in sight at all times. Traxel reports that after playing bass in various groups with guitar and/or piano, he wanted to create a counterpoint of sorts with his new group and specifically go about it with a more sparse setup. As One-Eyed Drama proves, the idea behind the trio dynamic is a strong one and the unit makes use of their extra space in creating evocative, moody, swinging creative jazz with a distinguishable fingerprint of its own.
Lukas Traxel says:

"The process of composing this music while dealing with the loss of a loved one resulted in a writer's block at first. The notes would just not flow out of my pen until I noticed a mysterious-looking figure in the right upper corner of my piano. It was a daruma, an eyeless figure that in the Japanese tradition brings luck and prosperity. According to the myth, the first eye must be drawn onto the figure while expressing a wish. The second eye can be added only if the wish comes true. My daruma is meant to stay one-eyed as my wish, strongly connected and intertwined with my now gone father, is not meant to be fulfilled. The feeling of unfulfillment and imperfection of life serves as a common thread throughout this album, right down to its title. In a similar fashion, a composition remains incomplete until it is interpreted by musicians, and given form as music. That being said, for me playing together with this trio symbolises the upside: the sense of fulfillment in music and life.

Our musical influences include the American composer and singer Caroline Shaw, Swiss pianist Colin Vallon's trio, and composer/singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane. In addition, I have listened a lot to the trio albums of Jimmy Guiffre and Sonny Rollins. Besides that, my musical heroes like Charlie Haden, John Coltrane, and Keith Jarrett always flow into the music. Another very important influence in the music is the work of American visual artist Agnes Martin, in whose works the imperfection of a multiplicity of repetitions results in a lively big whole in the end. (See "Wild Flower")

Live, the trio takes a lot of freedom in interpreting this music, yet we have a deeper, almost pop-like attitude towards the live performance as an experience. For me it's always important to build a strong narrative with the band while on stage."

One-Eyed Daruma by Lukas Traxel is released on 10 March 2023 by We Jazz Records on LP/CD/digitally. The LP edition is shelved in an inside-out sleeve and pressed on white vinyl. The CD is housed in a cardboard digisleeve with UV lacquer finish.

Guitars On Life solves a nagging mystery about the fate of a musician who stood out as a singularly spectacular bloom even in the verdant creative fields of the San Francisco Bay Area at the turn of the century. After more than two decades of recording silence and about a dozen years away from the bandstand, Jack West is back, still immediately recognizable as a guitarist and composer but miles from the last stop on his ongoing musical journey. There’s poetic symmetry in discovering that his detour from life as a performing musician involved fruitful work devising innovative solar technologies, as he had similarly distinguished himself as an inveterately inventive musician. When we last heard from West he’d carved out a vibrant niche as a guitarist with a percussive attack and lustrous group sound. Wielding a custom-built eight-string acoustic guitar with uncommon rhythmic dexterity, he released six albums featuring his original tunes, mostly recording with his band Curvature (though he also played mesmerizing solo recitals). West’s knack for crafting glistening, minutely detailed soundscapes full of surprising twists and oddly inviting textures prompted NPR to describe his work as “a whole new sub- genre of jazz.” Drawn back to performing in recent years, West saw guitarist Walter Strauss at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage in 2022 and suspected he’d found a kindred spirit. Intrigued by Strauss’s unusual approach to guitar, West “wondered what a musical conversation might sound like between two guitarists who had developed such uniquely different ways of playing the instrument.” An invitation to play together led to them writing the tune ‘More Guitar,’ the bravura opening track that launches Guitars On Life. Several months later they spent a week in Florida together writing intensively, resulting in most of the material for this consistently thrilling project.

Loaded with tension and anchored by bold textural and stylistic contrasts, Sam Slater’s third solo full-length finds the British sound artist, composer, and engineer grappling with his creative contradictions head-on.

Having spent a life time in bands and producing records, Sam transitioned somewhat by accident through his work with Johan Johansson into working as a composer on high profile projects such as his collaboration with Hildur Guðnadóttir on the Grammy Award-winning Joker and Chernobyl, and with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov on the soundtrack to the lauded 2000 Meters to Andriivka. Having a vast set of interests and influences is an asset when helping realise a directors vision for a soundtrack, but one's own musical voice can end up being constrained. In Lunng, Slater has gone back to his wildly divergent range of influences and rather than shy away from the extremes, he's used them to create a singular vision.

Take the opening track “Heatsick”: Slater imagines an extravagant fusion of 2000s drone metal and vintage British brass, welding ear-splitting overdriven drones and blown-out choral vocals to stirring trombone swells from veteran player Hilary Jeffery. On paper, it’s hard to imagine—but Slater’s intentionality conducts these polarizing elements into a surreal blur of sonic extremes, with the guitars’ relative harshness softened by Jeffery’s eerily nostalgic colliery echoes.

His last solo album, I do not wish to be known as a Vandal (Bedroom Community, 2022), showcased this breadth by assembling a team of collaborators including Sam Dunscombe and Yair Elazar Glotman. On this record he’s linking up with acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Maria W. Horn, idiosyncratic sax virtuoso Bendik Giske, versatile percussionist Adam Betts, and the aforementioned Jeffery, Slater ushers these players toward a lattice of calculated confutations.

Working to explore the tension between the divergent practices of his collaborators—Lunng was meant to be challenging. On “Praya”, Giske’s familiar overblown horn phrases are almost vaporized, vanishing among Slater’s weightless synths and Horn’s chillingly hoarse vocals. There are traces of Horn’s Funeral Folk project, but Slater shifts the emphasis, letting her voice brush past the other elements like a hallucination.

Slater’s use of extremes isn’t just in the micro; dynamics drive the album’s overall flow. “Praya” sets the stage for the record’s heaviest, most prickly moment: “Passengers”. Here, Horn’s voice cracks, rasps, and gurgles over serrated synths and Betts’ ritualistic drums. Slater turns an industrial symphony into a folk opera—dark, dramatic, and strangely beautiful—etched with Giske’s fluttering phrases.

But the mood soon shifts. Slater careens toward chaos, unleashing double-time rhythms and piercing textures familiar to anyone with a soft spot for classic black metal. These grotesque incongruities are deliberate; Slater surveys years of musical conflict and leans in, using dissent as fuel to build kinetic energy.

The weight of sentimentality bears down on “Black Metal Rewind (Night Drive Astra, 2006)”, melting teenage memories into hypnagogic ambience—shoegaze dreams whirled with angelic choral delusions. On “Death by Nostalgia, 1688”, he ventures further into polarizing territory, distorting AutoTuned voices with cryptic strings and medieval tonalities, unsettling any stable sense of past or present.

In this record Slater focuses on pure energy, color, and mood. Lunng distills years of listening into a bracing brew—boiling each sound down to its essence, then serving it with unflinching intent.

John Twells, 2025

The second cover album, released in 2013, is now available on vinyl for the first time! It features songs from a variety of genres, both Japanese and Western,
arranged in Clammbon's signature style.



[c] a3. U & I (After School Tea Time [Yui Hirasawa, Mio Akiyama, Ritsu Tainaka, Tsumugi Kotobuki, Azusa Nakano])

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera is one of the most celebrated musicals of all time, and this original London cast recording from 1986 remains the definitive recording. Michael Crawford’s Tony Award-winning performance as The Phantom and Sarah Brightman’s portrayal of Christine Daaé helped make this the best-selling cast recording in history. Re-issued for the first time in decades, this classic album brings the unforgettable score to a new generation of listeners. From the title song to “The Music of the Night” and “All I Ask of You,” every track reflects the power and beauty that continue to make The Phantom of the Opera a global phenomenon nearly forty years after its debut. Since its premiere, The Phantom of the Opera has been seen by more than 160 million people in 195 cities and has received over 70 major theatre awards. It holds the record as the longest-running show in Broadway history and was the first British musical to debut at number one on the music charts. The recording has been certified Platinum in six countries.

MidnightRoba is the solo project of vocalist, songwriter and producer Roba El-Essawy. The voice of Attica Blues (Mo Wax 1997, Sony 2000), Raise A Symphony is MidnightRoba's second solo album. Her first album, Golden Seams, very much rooted in jazz, received support, airplay and features from DJs such as Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 6), Tony Minvielle and China Moses (Jazz FM), Robert Elms (BBC London Live) and Kevin Le Gendre on J to Z (BBC Radio 3). Single releases from this second album have been played by Gilles Peterson (WorldWideFM & BBC Radio 6), Kate Hutchinson (Soho Radio), Marshmello (NTS), Rob Luis (Tru Thoughts), Kev Beadle, Patrick Steele, DJ Amazon, and more.

'Raise A Symphony' is music of our time. A 15-track electronic offering, it comments on topics ranging from colonialism to complicity of silence; from compromised politicians to the power of protest and gratitude to those on the frontlines of change; from displacement and sea migration to the desire to protect our loved ones and the need for kindness; to have faith in the future and the importance of searching for joy in the meantime. The self-produced album 'Raise A Symphony' sees contributions from Saul Williams, Deschanel Gordon, Michael King and Tony Kofi, amongst others. The album title takes it's name from Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' speech where King calls for the nation to rise to gather together and form a 'beautiful symphony of brotherhood'.

"..in Raise A Symphony, Midnight Roba has transmuted talent into something more powerful, where bridges built from her exquisite, unique harmonies, soaring songs and percussive productions allow competing emotions to co-exist and feed into each other. This album itself is a form of community; voices in unison, reaching outwards and offering restoration and upliftment throughout this remarkable work of love and fury." Emma Warren



a 01: Joy (Reprise) [feat. Deschanel Gordon]

ugne&maria is a collaboration between Marija Rasa Kudabaite and Ugnė Vyliaudaite, both residing in Belgium. Their musical style is characterised by a multilayered, down-tempo, yet danceable approach, incorporating violin, synthesizers and sampling techniques.

We were completely blown away by the duo’s live performance at Meakusma Festival in August 2024. It was one of those rare moments when time seemed to stand still: the music, the atmosphere and the audience merged into a single warm, smooth and radiant aura of positive energy and vibes. This experience made us want to share such exceptional talent on Hands in the Dark and we are over the moon to announce the release of ugne&maria’s new album ‘Zotasphere’, dropping on 16th January 2026.

The 8 songs featured on the record came together slowly, bit by bit. Diary-like, each track reflects on different moments and life events that have followed ugne&maria over the past couple of years. Layers of sound and layers of memory are interlaced into the album, an embodiment of all that feels distant, yet still present. Most of the tracks move around a steady, unhurried pulse, never faster than 120 bpm. Some tracks even ended up being intentionally slowed down, as if the music itself wished to breathe more, mirroring life’s natural pace, with elements stretching, shifting and decelerating. Focused on bass and rhythm, influenced by the depth and warmth of classic house and low-end music, ugne&maria let the sounds drift elsewhere. The violin became a voice, the voice became a texture.

'Fully licensed, all tracks restored & remastered for the 1st time!
'Lots of Loving was the third album, originally released in 1980 by Freedom Sound Record, by legendary and controversial Jamaican deejay and singer Ranking Dread.
'Recorded at Channel One studio, with Barnabas as engineer and produced by Sugar Minott the album featured musicians from the Black Roots Players, Sly & Robbie, Steeely (Steely & Clevie) and many others... Voiced and mixed at King Tubby's Studio!
'One of the most dangerous rub-a-dub deejay lp’s!'

Now recognized worldwide as one of the biggest artists, BTS released this album about two years after their Japanese debut, solidifying their status as
top artists in both Japan and Korea. This marks the analog release of their second Japanese album, coming two years after their previous one.

Included on the album are their 4th single "FOR YOU," which earned them their very first No.1 on Japan’s weekly chart, the hit single "I NEED U,"
and their 6th single "RUN," along with Japanese versions of tracks from the "Hwa Yang Yeon Hwa" series such as "FIRE," which capture the most
beautiful yet fleeting moments of youth. Additionally, the album features the Japan-original song "Wishing on a star," as well as many tracks only
available on this release.

A synthesiser sighs up and down the scale, a cool electro beat is wrapped in cotton wool and Fabian Drung aka JFR MOON sings about life in a bubble. "In a Bubble" is the name of this beautifully sentimental synth pop number, to which JFR Moon's new album owes its name. Although JFR MOON produces his music more professionally from album to album, the indie pop characterised by synthesizers and electro beats never seems too pleasing, remains unruly. Sometimes the pieces wander through curious psychedelic harmonies ("Silver"), sometimes they remind us of the Smiths ("Turn Around"), sometimes they stumble onto the dance floor ("Experience"). Blurred chords flit through "Stereo Tap", a yearning guitar melody wanders through "Ready", a nervous synth bass twitches through "Hun I Wish". Grooves meet echoing atmospheric sound textures. "I used to do folk where there was no rhythm at all," he says, "this time I wanted to write more uptempo songs, pay more attention to the drum machine." All tracks written and performed by JFR Moon. Mixed and produced by Thomas Zehnle (All Diese Gewalt, Levin Goes Lightly). Mastered by Enyang Urbiks. Additional vocals on ,In A Bubble" by Martha Rose. Solo guitar on ,Silver" by Dandy Deniz.

Capcom and Laced Records invite you to return to a world of Reploids and cyber-elves, betrayal and Bio-Metals...

Thoughtfully sequenced with a disc covering each of the Mega Man Zero games, and a fifth covering ZX and ZX Advent, this box set will allow fans to fully ensconce themselves in the series.

ultimatemaverickx returns as sleeve artist, producing lore-faithful, vibrantly colorful panels depicting memorable story moments and highlighting major characters in iconic poses.

The Mega Man Zero/ZX soundtracks' glorious mix of urgent acid house, ambient, face-melting metal, and even soaring pop feel downright prophetic in the modern music landscape. Transported from their '00s hardware origins to your turntable come the sounds of our present, broadcast from the past - and it rips.

Some things are just too good to be hidden from view. That's certainly the case with Things To Think About, the first album from Dutch electronic music legend Steve Rachmad's lesser-known Sterac Electronics project.
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Rachmad first rose to prominence in the late 1990s, spearheading a surge in Dutch techno that was heavily inspired by the futurist intent and machine soul of Detroit. Since then, he has continued to successfully explore a wide range of dancefloor-centric electronic styles under a dizzying array of aliases.

It's a while, though, since the public has been treated to a heavy dose of Sterac Electronics material. He first established the alias at the turn of the millennium, primarily as an outlet for hardware-driven electro music shot through with funk and soul.

A handful of highly regarded 12' singles were released on Music Man and Interpersonal XP, before Rachmad began focusing on other projects. When inspiration struck, he returned to the project, jamming out tracks using a mighty collection of vintage synthesizers and drum machines.

Recently, Rachmad and Tom Trago decided to revisit the Sterac Electronics archive, discovering a killer collection of cuts created at different points over the course of the last 15 years.

Now 9 of those spellbinding hardware jams have been gathered together for the first time on Things To Think About, a warm, rich and evocative collection of electro-fuelled workouts that giddily pay tribute to the music of Rachmad's youth.

From the thrusting, synth-driven machine funk of Original Pattern' and mutant electrofunk revivalism of Game Changers', to the baggy West Coast boogie of Metratron' and intergalactic hustle of Archetype' (which sounds like Cybotron covering the 1988 version of The KLF's What Time Is Love'), Things To Think About is an lesson in the emotion-rich, mood enhancing possibilities of spontaneous hardware jams.

The highlights don't stop there, either. Check, for example, the crystalline synthesizer melodies, body popping drum hits and spacey chords of Tuning Into Frequencies' and the breezy humidity of opener Altruistic Endeavor'.

Like the rest of the tracks on the album, they feel timeless, as if they could have been made at any point during the last three decades. From Steve Rachmad, we wouldn't expect anything less.

Things To Think About will be released as a limited-edition double album, preceded by a 12' single featuring another previously unheard gem from the vaults.

Repress

***
silence
a deeper sea
hear me sigh
night sky
nobody ever
finds the one
***

Hamasaki's fifth album, released on18 December 2002.
Includes hit singles such as "Voyage" "Free & Easy" and "July 1st"
The stark, naked cover art drew attention, and this album breaks new ground with the inclusion of English lyrics for the first time, creating a pop yet profound masterpiece.

Stylóo celebrates Christmas 2025 with the new single "Happy Christmas" and an exclusive surprise on the
B-side.
Following the sensa%onal success of "Sweat," which was awarded Italo Disco Record of the Year 2025 and
sold out completely, Stylóo returns to surprise the audience with a special gi, dedicated to all their fans.
For Christmas 2025, Stylóo presents "Happy Christmas," a fes%ve single conceived as a sincere tribute to
their fans and a wish for light, hope, and energy for the new year that is fast approaching. The track merges
the ar%st's melodic sensi%vity with their unmistakable musical elegance, accompanying the holiday
atmosphere with a unique and recognizable touch.
Despite being a Christmas song, "Happy Christmas" maintains all the energy and dance imprint that have
always characterized Stylóo's produc%ons, combining rhythm, melody, and sophis%ca%on in a unique
balance.
The release is already accompanied by an elegant Christmas cover and its physical version, pressed on a
completely black vinyl, a refined and symbolic choice to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 2026
through a sober and high-class aesthe%c.
Making this special vinyl even more exclusive is the surprise on the B-side: the unprecedented remixed
version of "Zombie Lady," signed by A.P. Mono, an interna%onally renowned DJ and producer. A,er producing one of the most appreciated versions of "Sweat" and recently contribu%ng an excep%onal remix
to Savage's latest produc%on, A.P. Mono gives "Zombie Lady" a unique and irresis%ble touch, making the
vinyl a true collector's item.
With "Happy Christmas," Stylóo officially opens the doors to a prolific, crea%ve, and even richer 2026,
confirming the special bond with their audience.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 2026 from Stylóo.

Die LP wird mit einem 48-seitigen Hochglanz- Booklet geliefert. Das Kunsthaus Bregenz freut sich, ,Wish You Were Gay" von Anne Imhof anzukündigen. ,Wish You Were Gay" ist eine sehr persönliche Ausstellung, die mehrere neue Werkgruppen präsentiert, die eine Reihe von Kernelementen reflektieren und weiterentwickeln, die seit Beginn an das Repertoire von Imhof geprägt haben. In der Ausstellung untersucht Imhof Vorstellungen von Endlichkeit, Realität und Künstlichkeit, Zufall und Schicksal, Abwesenheit und Anwesenheit vor dem Hintergrund einer postapokalyptischen Isolation. ,Wish You Were Gay" umfasst brandneue Skulpturen, Gemälde, Klangarbeiten und eine Serie von sechs bisher unveröffentlichten Videoarbeiten, in denen die Künstlerin auf frühes Material aus den Jahren 2001-03 zurückgreift, einer entscheidenden Übergangsphase im Leben und Werk der Künstlerin. Zu dieser Zeit waren Imhofs Leben und Werk eng miteinander verbunden und manchmal nicht zu unterscheiden, was der aktuellen Ausstellung einen deutlich biografischen Charakter verleiht und Themen wie die Wahlfamilie anspricht, eine Realität für viele queere Menschen. Mit dem Aufkommen von handlichen digitalen Camcordern, bei denen der Bildschirm zum ersten Mal gedreht werden konnte und die Vorläufer der heute allgegenwärtigen Frontkameras sind, nutzte Imhof diese neue Technologie als Spiegelaufnahmegerät, vor dem sie Bewegungen und Gesten ausführte, um die Szene zu beleben und zu gestalten. Mit ihrem Körper als Medium, zusammen mit anderen provisorischen Mitteln wie geliehenen Gitarren und Verstärkern, und der Aufnahme von Liedern und ihrer Stimme als Mittel, diese zu finden, schuf sie Kunst mit ihrer Gemeinschaft Freunden, Liebhabern, Mitarbeitern - und nutzte dabei die Rohstoffe des Lebens, wie es sich gerade entfaltete. Diese Videoarbeiten vermitteln ein unterschwelliges Gefühl der Dringlichkeit, verkörpern Kraft durch Beharrlichkeit und Präsenz, die sich in kontinuierlichen Proben und Improvisationen manifestiert. In den folgenden zwei Jahrzehnten verwebte Imhof diese Elemente - durch unzählige Spiegelungen, Verdopplungen und Variationen der Motive aus dieser prägenden Zeit - zu einer tiefgründigenPraxis der Bewegung, die den Körper in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Rohe Momente werden manchmal auf surreale Weise verlangsamt, in eine Stille versetzt, die voller Spannung und Potenzial für explosive Handlungen ist, etwas, das in ihren eigenwilligen Performance-Stücken, die von anderen aufgeführt werden, wiederkehrt und ihre skulpturale und malerische Praxis prägt.

Acclaimed Scottish composer Craig Armstrong releases his new work Pacific via his own label CMA Records. Written for piano, cello, and electronics, the three-movement piece was originally commissioned in December 2024 by Christian Kellersman, a pioneering figure in contemporary classical and jazz music, for his new live event series Berlin Confidential, co-curated with Alexander Szlovák. The series aims to promote innovative new music projects, with a particular focus on emerging musicians and composers.

Armstrong was among the first artists invited to perform as part of Berlin Confidential, premiering Pacific at Berlin’s historic Meistersaal concert hall in March 2025. The concert featured Armstrong on piano alongside cellist Lena Angelina von Almen and producer and musician Guy Sternberg, combining acoustic instruments with live electro-acoustic treatments to create a rich and atmospheric sound world.

Recorded in May 2025 at Lowswing Studios in Kreuzberg, Pacific continues Armstrong’s ongoing exploration of blending acoustic and electronic sound in a natural, seamless way. Over several days in the studio, Armstrong, von Almen and Sternberg developed the work’s intricate textures and dynamic interplay, resulting in a recording that captures both the intimacy and expansiveness of the original live performance.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the piece, Armstrong says: “I wrote this work during a time of great instability in the world, I wrote “Pacific” as an Elegy dedicated to the many suffering in today’s conflicts and in the hope that peace will prevail.”

Across its three movements, Pacific 1 is elegiac in nature, with the main themes stated and developed throughout the piece, punctuated by recurring piano motifs. The movement is reflective and atmospheric, with subtle electronic interventions. The second movement is arrhythmic in nature, following shifting time signatures that reflect a sense of uncertainty - the music is searching and static, ending without resolution but leaving hope for one to come. Pacific 3 moves towards peace and resolution, bringing the work to a close with quiet strength and emotional release.

When speaking about the creative process and his collaborators, Armstrong said: “Lena’s beautiful playing , tone and expression worked so beautifully on Pacific, Lena was also a great collaborator and was always willing to experiment and try new musical approaches. Lena is such a natural musician and she brought so much emotion and beauty to the piece. I wish her all the best in her future musical journey.”

He continues: Guy is a unique combination of being a brilliant engineer and mixer and a prolific very talented musician/composer. I was very fortunate to spend time with Guy in his studio in Berlin. His sensitivity to the project and his electronic programming made a wonderful contribution to the composition. His collaboration and friendship made the days working in Berlin such a great experience I would like to thank Emma Ford for her dedication, enthusiasm and guidance on Pacific”

For both von Almen and Sternberg, the collaboration was equally meaningful. Von Almen reflects on the experience of recording the piece, saying: “As a musician, it is always a great privilege to work on a piece together with the composer, and of course I felt even luckier to go through the process of creating something new with an artist like Craig Armstrong. Figuratively speaking, it felt like knitting a silk scarf: using the finest materials and taking the utmost care during the recording, we have realised another beautiful and touching work by Craig, which will bring us and certainly many others great joy. I feel very honoured to have been part of this and to have experienced this warm encounter.”

Sternberg adds: “Diving into Armstrong’s music while working on this record felt like examining a diamond under a microscope, discovering endless beauty within simplicity. Perfection and complexity emerging from simplicity, where every note, tone, noise, and gesture has meaning. I’m deeply grateful to have been part of this process, and for the freedom Craig gave me to express myself through his music, to let our sonic visions merge into one. It’s been both a lesson in music-making and in setting the ego aside, if only for a moment.”

Reflecting Armstrong’s belief in the role of music as a force for empathy and reflection, proceeds from Pacific will be donated to charities working towards peace: Médecins Sans Frontières and the Red Cross.

The limited-edition vinyl release has been pressed on Eco Vinyl at SeaBass Vinyl, a sustainable plant near Edinburgh. The record features striking cover art by Dirk Rudolph, who has designed several of Armstrong’s previous releases.