Поиск:x tension

SMFORMA returns with Quiet Collapse, their third EP, continuing to explore the boundaries between techno, industrial, and EBM. With a career defined by hard-hitting, direct sounds, their new work reinforces their identity through three original tracks where rhythmic tension and raw energy merge uncompromisingly.

Additionally, the EP features remixes by Statiqbloom, Radical G, and Nghtly—key names in the European EBM-Techno scene—who each bring their own vision to SMFORMA’s sonic power. Expect sweeping bass, electric textures, and a sound crafted for both the club and immersive listening.

Underground Pacific is back with a new double vinyl compilation titled ‘The Only Good Wave is a Dead One’ that confirms, once again, its uncompromising taste for bold electronic music, psychedelic textures, and raw, electrified rock ‘n roll. This release brings together a varied group of artists, each of them adding something special to the journey.

The trip begins with “Excursions” by Gregory Moore, a piece that floats into a humid sonic world, between the nostalgic tones of vintage video game soundtracks, the Fourth World atmospheres of Jon Hassell, and the shimmering calm of ’90s Japanese ambient à la Takashi Kokubo.

Next comes Talee, the Rotterdam-based regular of the label, with “Makes Me Wonder”. Here, grunge-soaked vocals meet a tight dark disco groove, pierced by crystalline guitar chords that shimmer at the track’s heart. A song with its soul in the past and its feet in the club.

Label founder Cantor teams up once again with German duo New Hook on “Achtung! Achtung!”, an homage to the eponymous track by Italian producer Black Saagan. Fueled by vintage drum machines, punk-infused vocals, and melodies echoing the krautrock minimalism of Cluster, the track channels pure Cold War disco energy.

On “Scavengers”, Berlin based World Wild Web and Rasp Thorne deliver a pure mix of electro-rock noir – Suicide by way of David Lynch. Picture a never seen before episode of the series where Martin Rev and Alan Vega are playing live at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks, while Laura Palmer slowly moves her head to the music, with a devilish smile on her face.

All the way from Grenoble to Berlin, H.L.M. deliver a dirty bass-driven anthem called ‘Fronde’. French spoken vocals spitfire over layers of distorted drones and hypnotic rhythms. The result is rough, hypnotic, and brings to mind the grooves of Death in Vegas.

New Hook return, this time solo, with ‘Unity’: a blend of groovy downtempo percussions, melancholic guitar riffs, and their signature brand of spoken word, a style that’s quickly become their sonic fingerprint.

Then it’s the turn of mexican-wave exponents Montessori featuring Vongold on “Ad Libitum”: a techy sunrise piece with soft pads, subtle build-ups, and an ecstatic sense of endlessness. After-party music for vast, open spaces.
Next up are SX2 from Ireland with their ‘Buttons’, offering a rolling tech-house banger laced with desert guitars. Psychedelic FX’s and whispered vocals drenched in delay slow the pace in a breakdown full of tension, preparing the floor to an euphoric release.

A dream from the pandemic era reappears: Cantor’s “Hannett’s Dream”, originally released in 2020 by Modular’s Project’s imprint ‘Nothing Is Real’ together with their own reworked version present also in two very limited vinyl-collector editions released by Underground Pacific. The introspection and hypnotic structure of the original cut here is replaced by a more stripped down arrangement, with a four-to-the-floor groove that is perfectly crafted for peak-time ignition.

Closing out the release is “Carissima” by the man behind iconic label Wonder Stories, Aimes – a Moroder-esque bassline and sensual vocals play on top of a warm groove that suddenly fractures into jazz-tinged, breakbeat mood, in the style of early Warp Records, just in time to get back into its disco-ish swing.

Contrary to what the title of this release might suggest, the wave isn’t dead at all. It’s well alive in the underground, reanimated by labels like Underground Pacific who are always ready to welcome artists who aren’t afraid to crash genres together and, above all, who are driven by the desire to make free-form, inspired pieces of music.

Originally published by Tomlab in 2001, “Seleya” is the second full- length issued by Kristian Peters’ Novisad project. Twenty-four years after its initial release, the album’s thirteen loop-based arrangements continue to resonate with striking clarity. Keplar presents Seleya with a previously unreleased bonus track from 2004 and a fresh vinyl cut by LUPO.

These evocative miniatures feel haunted with the passage of time, bearing traces of the exploratory studio workflows, tactile imperfections, and emerging technologies that would have given birth to them: plain DAW manipulations, aliasing digitalia, the tones and timbres of the “misused” equipment ambient musicians utilized before Ableton, Eurorack, and the rise of the boutique electronics that have streamlined electronic music production.

In our present epoch, these compositions feel almost eerily nostalgic, documenting the sort of trembling, wide-eyed spirit and enviable naivety that characterizes cultural production as it ventures into new waters, unfettered by the sediments of established methodology and trend. This tendency to avoid aesthetic orthodoxy results in music that refuses to settle into predictability. Subtle frequencies drift and collide, counterpoint loops run in quiet opposition, and elegant dissonance gives rise to unexpected harmony. The album’s emotional power lies in these tensions, in the way it balances melancholy with beauty and familiarity with complexity.

"Wind, Again" is Sary Moussa’s fourth studio album and second album on Other People. Based between France and Lebanon, Moussa returns with a riveting electro-acoustic album informed by his ever-changing relationships to space, listening, and resonance as well as his growing interest in the study of harmonics in electronic and electro-acoustic music.

Years in the making, “Wind, Again” approaches distinct musical worlds and languages by bringing together improvisations by musicians performing on Western and West Asian instruments such as the Hammond organ, clarinet, saz, and buzuk with electronic arrangements and textures. Rather than force a rapprochement of these musical worlds through the instruments, and keenly aware of the weighty sonic histories they carry, Moussa proposes another way through which they can exist together in contemporary electronic composition.

Composed of six tracks, each of which demonstrate an array of recording and processing techniques, the album generates moments of tension produced by the synthesis of textural, tonal, and harmonic encounters that Moussa calls “shadows”, which outline an impressionistic musical language, existing at the edge of familiarity. Such moments permeate tracks like “Everywhere at once” and “Violence” that open with the Hammond organ and the saz respectively and slowly reveal an expansive field of sounds that showcases each of the musicians’ characteristic performances and Moussa’s densely layered textures. It is a latent yet unrelenting tension through which the composer invokes rather than represents a collective experiential state, especially familiar to those who know his environment. In “Wind, Again” these shadows are articulations of sounds steeped in traditions they are never quite tethered to. Such articulations are implied and alluded to, they play within a musical reference without the latter explicitly existing in the recording, always teetering, never completely here nor there.
Sonically and musically, the album is fueled by the cultural, social, and personal realities that Moussa was brought up and lives in.

Both personal and musical ties with the musicians who feature on the album is central to Moussa’s practice. In the title track “I will never write a song about you”, musician Julia Sabra opens with rolled piano chords, followed by Paed Conca on clarinet and Abed Kobeissy on buzuk, before Moussa’s electronic processing pieces together, lifts, and sustains the melodic direction of the track that emerged from the musicians’ separate improvisations. For Moussa: “The initial connection between the three performances was made on a track that no longer existed, the original recording was both an obstacle and necessary step for the track we hear on the record. It’s as if we were all telling different stories and I pulled on the thread that held them together”. The track, and more generally the record, is tinged with a melancholy of things lost, though it never fully succumbs to it.
“Everything inside a circle”, Moussa’s most personal track and for which he provides the only vocals on the record, harkens back to a childhood memory of listening to music with his mother in a car: “There was a sound I was looking for — a memory of a sound and how I first heard it. This track is a hybrid of that memory and what I wanted to make of it”. The track relies heavily on generativesystems and perhaps embodies most the ambiguous quality of the record’s music in its refusal to be pinned down by one musical tradition or another.
“Wind, Again” is both familiar and alien, cold and warm; it pays homage to the mechanics, materials, and tactility of the instruments and converges acoustic and synthetic spaces. What anchors the sound of the album are the elements of a whole that cannot find its own idiosyncrasy and that is precisely why Moussa’s album is a tour de force.

Stepping up to the plate for the second release of our catalog, we are pleased to share 'Aura Protocol', a four-track collection that taps into the emotive and melodic depths of 90s influenced progressive house from Mexico based Producer, Mahkina.

The A1 track ‘God, How Do I Handle This’ kicks off the EP with an introspective mood, blending atmospheric pads and hypnotic bass-lines. The deep, melodic structure recalls the emotional core of 90s prog, while evolving into an intricate tapestry of sounds. The second track ‘Flavour & Spice’ plays into Mahkina's latin roots. A fusion of playful percussion, and lush chord progressions, evoking the vibrant energy of classic 90s house, with an added modern twist from the artist's production style.

Flipping over to the B-Side, ’Sacoodelo" takes listeners to a well placed euphoria. Combining driving rhythms with evolving loops and rich synth work, its experimental side takes influence from the rhythmic structures of classic trancey house. The final track ‘Connected’ feels like the emotional and sonic culmination of the EP. Taking the listener on a more expansive journey, weaving through moments of tension and release via atmospheric build-ups, emotional breakdowns, and a sense of resolution toward the end.

RLF002 is a well represented embodiment of Mahkina's ability to fuse classic styles with contemporary sounds, resulting in an immersive, dynamic listening experience that resonates with both the heart and the body.

For three seasons, Jung’s (of Parasite and Mickey 17 fame) iconic music has been essential in creating the intense atmosphere and emotional impact of the series. For this vinyl release, Jung Jaeil has exclusively compiled the best moments from three seasons of Squid Game.

On this double LP, you’ll hear Jung’s mastery of blending classical, electronic and minimalist elements to create a soundscape that reflects the psychological tension and moral complexity
of the show. From eerie piano motifs to unsettling
ambient textures, the soundtrack heightens the suspense and emotional gravity of the survival drama. Squid Game’s soundtrack not only complements the show’s gripping visuals, but also stands
as a masterclass in modern TV scoring. Jung Jaeil’s work has received widespread acclaim, cementing his reputation as one of the most visionary contemporary composers.

Sweden’s Tiger Stripes returns to Rekids with the ‘Dance For Peace’ EP, following on from February’s ‘All Night Long’ and 2024’s ‘I Heard It Through The Bassline’ EPs. Across four warm and funk-fuelled cuts, he delivers another essential selection of House grooves primed for peak-time moments and deep, late-night sessions alike, already supported by Oliver Dollar, Riva Starr, Anja Schneider, and more.

The opening track, ‘Time For Peace,’ is a brilliantly loopy roller, featuring bouncy drums, muted synth motifs, and a vocal swirl of soulful cries that ramp up the energy. It’s a stylish tension-builder, paving the way for ‘Rockin’, a chunky jam with funky melodic riffs buried in the beat and wordless ad libs teasing out the soul. ‘The Street’ keeps the vibe flowing with swinging drums, knotted guitar licks, and subtly filtered vocals worked into a steamy, party-starting groove. Closing things out is ‘A Dance’, a deeper cut drenched in lush chords and hazy vocals—perfect for blissed-out dancefloor moments.

Founder of the Strange Idols label, Tiger Stripes has spent over two decades forging his own path with standout releases on Hot Creations, Get Physical, Kwench Records, and Rekids. After stepping back to focus on his indie-rock project Little Lies, he made a full return in 2024 and quickly recaptured the form that’s made him an international favourite.

Hackney Electronica come to Dark Entries with the Synaptic Shadows EP, featuring 5 cuts of acidic rave-inflected wave. Quinn Whalley (Paranoid London), Unai Trotti (Cartulis Music), and Margo Broom (Hermitage Working Studios) formed Hackney Electronica during COVID era. Trotti and Whalley were spending countless hours digging through records and making music during lockdown. As their sound took shape - heavy and hypnotic - they invited Broom to join, cementing the motley trio. The five pieces on Synaptic Shadows explore themes of altered states, late-night cityscapes, and the fine line between pleasure and paranoia. Each track pulses like a memory from the backstreets of Hackney, where the night transforms the city into an electrified maze of fleeting highs and inevitable crashes. The anxious grooves on “H.E. Nuestro Circuito” and “Whispers from the Depths” channel 1980s DIY electronics onto the contemporary dancefloor, while “Efecto Perfecto,” “The One”, and “Nueva Ola” offer breakbeat-laced electro that will keep you dancing until dawn. Housed in a sleeve designed by German Bardo, Synaptic Shadows is more than just a debut release, it’s a journey through the flickering alleys of the mind, where tension and transcendence intertwine.

Matching vivid world-building with a full house of kinetic rhythms, Polygonia delivers her latest album to Dekmantel as an invitation to experience 12 different dream scenarios.

As Polygonia, Munich-based Lindsey Wang has established herself as a constantly inventive, omnipresent operator within the modern electronic landscape, exploring varying shades of ambient and deep techno while increasingly spreading into downtempo and leftfield electronica with a playful yet mysterious spirit.

Dream Horizons is an instructive title — Wang approached her new album as a collection of different dream scenarios, with all the creative freedom the concept implies. From oceanic calm to artful propulsion, she was free to shift gears from track to track while relishing the strange and beautiful atmospheres her inspiration pointed towards. A multi-instrumentalist as well as a producer, Wang recorded her own voice, saxophone, flute, violin and percussion to inject organic, human vibrancy into the surreal spaces she was shaping out, capturing the uncanny sensation of alien and familiar that hangs over the places we visit when we sleep.

There are pointedly direct techno workouts on the album, from deft beatdown 'Soul Reflections' to shimmering ear worm 'Set Me Free', and 'Twisted Colours' relishes shifting blocks of flute around a sprightly, footwork-tickled framework. Elsewhere, there's space for softer expressions on pearlescent opus 'Crystal Valley' while elastic rhythms and tactile textures slither around at a lower tempo on 'Flakes Flying Upwards'. In between, Wang plays with fractured beat patterns and sharply sculpted sonic matter with a staggering level of detail and intention. 'Gate To Amygdala' is the perfect example of the bold scope of her expression — the midpoint track thrives on nervous tension and a dislocated sense of momentum without anything like a conventional techno trope. 'Mindfunk' equally pushes and pulls at sensory perception with an off-kilter, awkwardly looped synth phrase that relishes the opportunity to skew dance music conventions within the flexible rules of the dream world.

For all the smart production and knowingly experimental approaches that form the basis of the album's sound, it's also a record charged with the full range of emotions you might expect to experience on a break away from consciousness. Whether it's the melancholic impressions that smudge into incidental pauses on 'Metaphysical Scribbles' or the mantra-like breath and sax combination of 'Essential Breath' that closes the record, Polygonia's heart bursts out of the album's vibrant form as brilliantly as her exacting, studio-synced mind.

Depth.Request proudly announces the debut full-length album from French electronic artist Pierre Berge-Cia - a culmination of two years of dedicated experimentation and creative exploration. This inaugural LP represents a significant milestone in Pierre Berge-Cia's musical journey, showcasing his innovative approach to electronic music.

Crafted through experimental processes and delving into themes of tension, control, and movement, "If You Do, Then When?" unfolds as a visceral journey through the complexities of bodily and sensory experience. Each track is designed to reflect the human body in all its shapes and forms, using innovative sounds and structures to evoke physicality and movement, and aiming to resonate with listeners on a deeply corporeal level.

The album was produced using a combination of the Elektron Digitone synth, a Mackie CR1604 mixer, a Shure SM57 microphone, and a limited selection of digital plugins to maintain sonic consistency. Mastering was handled by Pierre's close friend, Stefan Brown - also known as "Lesser Of". His expertise as a top-tier sound engineer at Abbey Road Studios helped shape the LP's pristine and powerful sound identity. Additionally, the tracks were tested and refined using some of the electronic scene's most beloved sound systems, ensuring an impactful club experience.

The album's artwork, created by Pierre Berge-Cia himself, is a reinterpretation of one of his favorite art performances: "Rest Energy" by Marina Abramovic and Ulay. The tension of the drawn bow and the close-up framing of the subject evoke a palpable sense of danger and emotional intensity, mirroring the physical and psychological strains within human connection. Pierre used his own hands as the model, infusing the artwork with a deeply personal and intimate touch that amplifies the psychic gravity and thematic cohesion of the album.

Pierre Berge-Cia's debut LP is a multi-sensory experience that challenges listeners to feel sound in its most physical and affective form.

Introducing "Still Quiet", the latest sonic exploration from The Soundbyte, the innovative project of guitarist and composer Trond Engum from the legendary The 3rd and The Mortal. The album Still Quiet transcends musical boundaries, seamlessly blending Norwegian folk traditions with electroacoustic textures and metal influences, creating a sound that defies conventional categorization. Central to the experience are Trond Engum's distinctive guitar style and Rune Hoemsnes' (The 3rd and The Mortal, Manes) signature drumming. They are joined by a carefully chosen ensemble of renowned musicians whose contributions complement the captivating vocal performances of Kirsti Huke and Andreas Elvenes. The album weaves together unsettling rhythms, innovative guitar work, haunting soundscapes, and strong melodic lines-each track forming part of a greater whole. The music captures the fragile tension between stability and uncertainty, shifting effortlessly from quiet melancholy to uncompromising rawness and intensity. Still Quiet invites listeners into a moving and immersive sonic experience, challenging musical norms and rewarding those who revisit it again and again. With this album, The Soundbyte deliver their most compelling and ambitious work yet.

The Collective Cuts sub-label of Cinthie’s 803 Crystal Grooves makes a welcome return
with a fresh VA package, featuring Willy Mikkelson, Luca Olivotto, Batch One and Roque
(CRP).
Since its inception back in 2020, Cinthie’s Collective Cuts imprint has welcome the likes of
KETTAMA, 9th House, S3A, UC Beatz, Anaxander, Azuni and many more onto the label. Here
the story continues with more dynamic house jams from Cinthie’s coterie of underground
artists from across the globe.
Nashville, USA’s WiLLY MiKK leads with Devastate, laying the foundations for the records
with a classic Hip House vibe, fusing crisp drums, bright stabs and bumpy bass with
choppy hip hop vocals. Small Great Things head honcho Luca Olivotto follows with
‘Passion’, the Berlin based Italian delivers his refreshing disco-tinged House aesthetic via
funky guitar licks, bright chord melodies, ethereal pad textures and shuffled drums.
Batch One’s ‘When U R Free’ follows to open the flip side, merging snaking arpeggios and
bouncy bass notes with uplifting piano lines and a raw, robust rhythm section. Spanish
artist based out of Basel, Switzerland Roque (CRP) then concludes the package with ‘Bring
It Down’, perfectly rounding things out on a deeper tip, raw, reduced drums carry the
groove alongside an amalgamation of chopped vocal chants, dubbed out stabs and tension
building strings.

"Bordeaux-based emerging talent Salomee deals in menacing and moody atmospheres, drawing on a range of techno, electro, house, and the ill-lit corners in between. Hypnotizing and neon-tinged melodies drive her tracks: these are bare bones, high on repetition, and very compelling. They come backed by elaborate and agile drum rhythms, composed with a rawness that references the most seasoned inspirations. The Before Time Began EP sees the artist further develop her sangfroid aesthetics with four tracks that assuredly reach beyond bunkers and basements. On Sacred Gatherings, several entrancing, alternating arpeggios work up a spark against a backdrop of tightly choreographed kicks and SH101 patterns. When the cut rises to a peak, a salvo of vocal chops drops - a rare event in Salomee's discography, even though the samples are rearranged beyond recognition. Before Time Began utilizes a similar palette, but this time, an undercurrent of melancholy seems to propel the track. A leisurely modulated, dubby sub segment amplifies the theme. By The Sea combines dark bass sequences and strings as gloomy as a fog horn with vivid 909 drums. The highs of the lavishly programmed hats and claps and the intense lead provide a slug of energy. It is a rendition of trance, manipulating both the genre's and the artist's signifiers. On Love Prevails, a slowly filtered, heavily delayed lead is spread atop a Bristol techno style beat. An array of cinematographic chords and subtly mixed gasps inject this closing track with a precarious balance, one that explores the tension between yearning and relief."

Personified, reinvigorated, and re-imagined!

Tech-metal outfit FALLUJAH expand horizons and solidify their position as one of America’s most exciting artists on their new album, Xenotaph, through Nuclear Blast. The Bay Area-based quintet’s confidence in the lineup that made their previous album, Empyrean (2022), such a resounding success—earning high marks from Metal Injection, New Noise, and Guitar World—has been reconfigured slightly, with guitarist Sam Mooradian (INHALE EXISTENCE, SAM MOORADIAN) and drummer Kevin Alexander (DISEMBODIED TYRANT. BROUGHT BY PAIN) bringing their jaw-dropping musical proficiency to the fold, as vocalist Kyle Schaefer, guitarist Scott Carstairs, and bassist Evan Brewer enter a new chapter with FALLUJAH. Moored by singles ‘Kaleidoscopic Waves,’ ‘Labyrinth of Stone,’ and ‘Step Through the Portal and Breathe,’ Xenotaph is FALLUJAH personified, reinvigorated, and re-imagined.
As a details-oriented record Xenotaph benefits from moments of low tension, atmospheric delight, and Schaefer’s winged clean vocals. This
dynamic isn’t particularly new to Fallujah, but the group spent considerable time honing what each song needed—from blast-laden speed runs and jazz-fusion solos to vocal restraint and brutality—which resulted in a brighter, more exhilarating experience. Musically, it truly feels like the listener is embroiled in the album’s sci-fi concept and Peter Mohrbacher’s stunning cosmogonic cover art, which is aesthetically in line with his previous covers (Dreamless and Empyrean) for FALLUJAH. Close encounters with ‘Step Through the Portal and Breathe’, ‘Labyrinth of Stone,’ and ‘Kaleidoscopic Waves’ spark wonder and stimulate the soul.

This is what you get when an emcee/producer is fed on a diet of abstract hip-hop, Southeast Asian samples, and Taoist folklore. Together with the Clementi Sound Appreciation Club (a five-piece band of up-and-coming musicians schooled in jazz from the local scene in Singapore), Mary Sue melts samples with live instrumentation on 'Porcelain Shield, Paper Sword.' At the core of the album is the tale of a time-traveling oracle, struggling to find meaning in the modern world-where ancient wisdom feels fragile, and truth is ever-shifting. A reinterpretation of idioms shapes its journey, where spiritual pursuits feel performative, and where the weight of the past clashes with an uncertain future. The music mirrors this tension: phrases of Gamelan music dissolve into smoky brass, spectral melodies unravel over off-kilter drums, and time bends through layered textures. 'Porcelain Shield, Paper Sword' is both a reckoning and a dream, where echoes of the past find new life in the chaos of now. A porcelain shield shatters on impact; a paper sword folds before it cuts. It's about the constant, fragile push-and-pull between aesthetics and money, tradition and progress, meaning and spectacle. "Like the oracle, we're all stuck in a world where spiritual longing gets tangled up with consumerism, where authenticity is blurred by performance, and where finding real meaning feels shakier than ever," rapper and producer Mary Sue explains. "'Porcelain Shield, Paper Sword' lives in that field of tension. The album drifts between beauty and collapse, truth and illusion, and past and present, without ever landing on solid ground."

Light Yagami, a gifted young student, one day picks up the "Death Note", a notebook previously kept by a shinigami (God of death), Ryuk, who apparently was bored in his world. Just write the name of a person in this notebook, and this one dies (according to certain conditions that the shinigami will explain to Light during their meeting). Thus, with the "Death Note" in hand, Light decides to rid the planet of all criminals to make it a just world, a perfect world. However, who is he to judge people? He therefore becomes the worst wanted criminal on the whole planet.. Two composers and arrangers composed for this work: Hideki TANIUCHI (HAJIME NO IPPO, NANA) and Yoshihisa HIRANO (FINAL FANTASY, HUNTER X HUNTER).

Marconi Union, one of the most influential names in contemporary ambient and electronic music, announce their twelfth studio album, The Fear of Never Landing, set for release 6th June via Just Music. The news is paired with the release of first single Eight Miles High Alone, out 20th March on all major streaming platforms.

Known for their ability to craft cinematic, immersive soundscapes that blur the lines between ambient, electronic, and experimental music, the Manchester-based duo once again push the boundaries of sonic exploration. The Fear of Never Landing takes us on a dynamic journey that’s atmospheric, diaphanous and never short of mesmerising. While the new record is certainly infused with a sense of hope, there’s more than a soupçon of anxiety too, as the title suggests.

A 55-minute odyssey presented as one seamless piece divided into nine movements, they transcribe the nexus of modern living into a mostly wordless odyssey. The album encapsulates Marconi Union’s ability to translate the complexities of the human experience into sound, all while maintaining a stunning sense of cohesion.

While the music feels effortless, the creative process was anything but. During the two years it took to complete the album, members Jamie Crossley and Duncan Meadows faced creative struggles that even led them to briefly question the band’s future. A pivotal moment came when they performed a live soundtrack to the 1975 skateboarding film Downhill Motion, rekindling their connection to atmospheric composition. By testing new material live and returning to their roots, Marconi Union redefined their creative process, leading to some of their most emotionally impactful work to date.

“We’ve always made atmospheric music but we had started to lose that aspect. Other than some rough ideas, we had no sense of what we were doing anymore, a kind of musical wilderness. Eventually a couple of things fell into place, and it was like, ‘Ah, okay.”
With a foundation to build upon, they went back to basics and decided to take their time going forwards. “We tried out a few new tracks live which gave us the opportunity to see what worked and what didn’t. We've never given ourselves that luxury before.”

The first track to be shared, Eight Miles High Alone, is a mesmerizing sequencer-driven track that builds an immersive, atmospheric soundscape. Its hypnotic pulses and intricate layers evoke a sense of solitude and weightlessness, perfectly capturing the album’s blend of tension and introspection. “Eight Miles High Alone was the first piece that we managed to complete and helped to inform our approach to the rest of the album.”

Formed in Manchester in 2003, their debut album, Under Wires and Searchlights (2003), introduced their signature sound, but it was their 2011 release of Weightless that brought international acclaim. Developed in collaboration with a sound therapist, Weightless was scientifically recognised as “the world’s most relaxing song”, praised for its ability to reduce anxiety and heart rates. With over 900 million streams and widespread coverage across media, the track remains a cultural phenomenon.

Over the years, Marconi Union has continued to evolve, producing critically acclaimed albums such as Signals (2021), Ghost Stations (2016), and Tokyo+ (2017). Their work has been hailed for its emotional resonance and sonic depth, with The Quietus noting their ability to find “beauty in the bleakest places” and The Sunday Times describing them as “amongst today’s most talented musicians.”

Beyond their studio albums, Marconi Union has collaborated with visual artists, provided soundtracks for installations, and remixed notable acts like Max Richter and Vök. Their invitation by Brian Eno to perform at Norway’s Punkt Festival further cemented their reputation as innovators in the ambient music sphere.

With The Fear of Never Landing, Marconi Union once again showcases their unmatched ability to create immersive soundscapes that resonate deeply. The album reaffirms their position as masters of atmosphere and emotional storytelling, making it an essential addition to their storied catalog.

José James just can’t leave the ’70s alone. Or maybe it’s the other way around. The singer, songwriter, bandleader, and producer was born in 1978, after all, but over his past 17 years of fundamentally forward-looking, blessedly mercurial music, he keeps getting pulled back in. His 2013 Blue Note breakthrough No Beginning No End revisited the hooky, funky, jazz-streaked songcraft of the time through a modern crate-digger’s ears. On 2020’s No Beginning No End 2 — James’ debut on his own Rainbow Blonde Records — he went back through the portal with a small army of fellow celebrated eclecticists. Just last year, there was the album 1978, a richly layered love letter to said year that felt deep, luxe, and cool. It’s as if — vested with the restless fluidity of jazz, the tuned-in sensitivity of soul, and the revisionist grit of hip-hop — he is trying to play his way into the exact moment when, culturally speaking, everything was about to change.

“I'm still so fascinated by the tension in that era of all these seemingly clashing things happening at once,” says James. “The loft scene, the jazz scene, Elton and Billy, Bob Marley, the Isleys, Funkadelic, disco being this behemoth in a way I don't think we even understand today… And then there’s where everybody went from there — into hip-hop, into punk rock, exploding jazz. It's like a summation of the ’70s, and it's about to transform. It's the peak of the rollercoaster.”

Literally breaking into history is impossible, of course, but James’ new LP, 1978: Revenge of the Dragon, does feel like breaking through or bursting out. In loving contrast to its predecessor, the fresh set plays hot, like a Friday night out at the Mudd Club in its prime. Though he’s dreamt up albums with collaborator counts approaching the dozens, James gathered a tight crew for this one. Himself and Taali on vocals. BIGYUKI on keys and analog synth. Jharis Yokley on drums. Bass split between David Ginyard (Blood Orange, Terence Blanchard) and Kyle Miles (Michelle Ndgeocello, Nick Hakim). And an all-star brass lineup: Takuya Kuroda on trumpet, young lion Ebban Dorsey on alto sax, and genre-spanning ronin Ben Wendel on tenor sax. They set up in Dreamland Studios near Woodstock, a restored 19th century church, and recorded live to tape, two tracks, drums pushed to the max — “a small homage to the rise of punk,” says James.

In that place out of time, the band laid down a handful of choice covers and some wild originals, like the single “They Sleep, We Grind (for Badu),” a decades-collapsing cut powered by an ugly groove. Steeped in dub, funk, and sampledelia, James chants an artists’ mantra (“They sleep, we grind / Man, f--- your nine to five”), makes lyrical callouts to Marley and Nas, and channels everything from George Clinton to J Dilla, not to mention the earthy mysticism of Erykah Badu. In 2023, James released and toured his Badu covers LP, On & On. “Living in her musical house for a year was transformative,” he says. “This is my summary of everything I learned through her, tying it to this idea that artists move differently. We are in society but we are outside, too, looking out and in at the same time. Our hours are different, our schedules are different.”

To that point, James and co. actually began each day in the woods, filming the album’s visual companion piece, Revenge of the Dragon, an honest-to-God kung-fu short complete with bad overdubs, training montages, camera tricks, and plot twists. The film pays tribute not only to the genre’s greatest year (1978, of course), but also its cinematic exchange with Blaxploitation, plus James’ own recent Shaolin training and admiration for Bruce Lee as a culture-bridging force (the LP’s cover recreates an iconic shot of Lee). On top of that, says James, “We had this immediacy in the studio. Live, one take, no overdubbing. I feel like that's where the martial arts piece comes in, where it's about being relaxed but also aware, and there's immediacy in your movements.”

Across the project, tribute takes that refracted, multifaceted form. From his personal late-’70s playlist, James chose four covers reflecting the era’s disco-fied churn: the MJ-meets-Quincy dancefloor masterpiece “Rock With You”; Herbie Hancock’s prescient vocoder fever dream, “I Thought It Was You”; and a pair of Black-radio hits from two bands whose fans typically wouldn’t have been caught dead in the same stadium: “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones and the Bee Gees’ “Inside and Out.” All of it gets filtered through a contemporary Black (and beyond) lens, coming out loud, free, funky, and buzzing — dynamic, yes, but also of a joyous piece.

1978: Revenge of the Dragon transports you to a crowded room where all this is playing out in real time. That feeling is helped out by opener “Tokyo Daydream,” a bass-driven swan dive into a neverending night of boutique bar-hopping and neon revelry. Later, “Rise of the Tiger” finds James bringing rare braggadocio to a propulsive track with growling synth lines and a hunger for whatever comes next. And then there’s the closer, “Last Call at the Mudd Club,” which with its upbeat energy and string of Stevie-inspired pickup lines, evokes the sort of unabashedly elated track the DJ throws on at 3:56 a.m. before everyone is kicked out. “I wanted to leave the album on that note,” says James. “If this was a night out in New York, this would be the last thing you hear before you get in that taxi and go back to your apartment.” Or, perhaps, back to 2025.

Voidless Records debuts with Tectonics, a four-track EP by Barcelona-based producer Cyberdom, where Electro collides with a narrative of collapse and transformation.

What if collapse isn’t the end, but the beginning?

The main theme of the release draws inspiration from the natural forces that shape our planet. Plate tectonics. This cycle of breakdown and reformation becomes a metaphor for social crises, collective uprisings, and personal processes of transformation.

The journey begins with ‘Mariana Trench’, a dense ambient piece evoking a descent into the deepest ocean trench. ‘Collapse’ follows with tight beats and simmering synths building slow-burning tension. The title track ‘Tectonics’ delivers syncopated basslines, robotic patterns, and vocoders that encapsulates the concept of the release. The EP is brought to a close with ‘System Strikers’ a four-on-the-floor weapon driven by heavy kicks, vocoders, and sharp arpeggiated basslines.

This first release lays the foundation for Voidless Records — a forward-thinking imprint rooted in concept, where each work carves its own path, unbound by genre and driven by deeper artistic intent.

In Marking A Boundary With The Turning Point, Ard Bit and Radboud Mens explore the tension between stasis and movement. Operating within the realm of drone and electroacoustic music, they construct a sonic landscape where sustained tones and microscopic events constantly shape and reshape each other. What initially appears static reveals itself to be rich with detail: tiny acoustic shifts breathe life into apparent stillness, inviting focused and attentive listening. The album emerged from a process where sound research, improvisation, and sound design merge. Self-built instruments, the search for timbre and texture, and recordings of the learning process itself form the foundation of these compositions. Rather than following a traditional musical structure, the result is a sonic field in which the minimal continually transforms, depending on the listener's perspective. Ard Bit (Ard Janssen) is a composer, sound artist, and field recordist based in Rotterdam, trained at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague. His work moves between improvisation and system-based composition, exploring the space between ambient, drone, and sound art. Radboud Mens is a sound artist with a decades-long practice grounded in minimalism, acoustic subtlety, and physical resonance. His work focuses on the perception of sound, the materiality of audio, and the creation of spatial listening experiences. Together, they present a layered and handcrafted album that doesn't narrate but questions. Marking A Boundary With The Turning Point is not a boundary, it's an invitation to listen beyond expectation.

After the release of 2017's Chroma, Buzz Kull (real name Marc Dwyer), has returned with his sophomore album. Traversing EBM, darkwave and goth sounds with ease, New Kind Of Cross traverses much darker waters than Dwyer’s last effort, speaking to the rapid change and tension at play in Dwyer’s own life.Marc spends a good portion of each year in a new city every night - and when settled in Sydney, is constantly between jobs. It makes perfect sense that New Kind Of Cross deals explicitly with themes of isolation, introversion and sometimes anger. The music on this record is heavy and unforgiving. Throughout the past, Dwyer has refined his sound to a knife's edge, proving his capabilities within the realm of darker music time and time again.

Swiss saxophonist Gilles Torrent, perhaps known from our recent Spiritual Jazz collection 'A Tribute to 'Trane', leads the way with his new album 'Buleria'; a mesmerizing set of modal jazz pieces that will speak directly to any listener who has felt the other-worldly depths of John Coltrane. The album comprises of Torrent originals and explorations of Coltrane standards. It reaches for something beyond the mundane, and blends complex harmonic structures with raw, improvisational energy.

The Torrent original, 'Danse Tropical', opens the set with a contemplative tone. Led by a sax that pulls the listener through a maze of scales and modes, the rhythm section remains steady, creating a grounding space for exploration.

'Quannassa' drives the energy forward, and the band moves seamlessly through shifting tensions as Torrent's saxophone searches for answers within a pantheon of harmonic structures.

The standout track, "Buleria" is a daring 8-minute piece, with an evolving, meditative flamenco piece that showcases the saxophonist's raw improvisational skill, a spiritual journey that takes us to the windswept plains of Iberia.

The quartet is a faithful tribute to classic modal jazz, with the interplay between piano, bass, and drums feeling natural and organic. They provide a harmonic foundation that encourages the saxophone to glide and soar, pushing into new emotional territory, going from tender and melodic to fiery and free. This interplay gives the album its distinctive feel - while drawing from Coltrane's influence, it's clear the musicians are searching for something new, something personal.

Luv Shack Records serves up another irresistible batch of sonic treats with Disco Biscuits 6, blending sun-drenched disco vibes, hypnotic grooves, and deep-dive dancefloor goodness.
Kicking things off, Das Komplex delivers the cheekily titled Pajda Banana, a lush and sprawling jam brimming with cosmic textures and low-slung funk. Ubre Blanca follows with Renzo, a synth-driven trip balancing cinematic tension with pure Italo heat.
On the flip side, Gregory (AT) teams up with Alexander Wirth for Peaks, a shimmering House excursion with soaring melodies and a pulse built for late-night euphoria. Closing out the pack, Kelton Prima’s Strawberry Cream oozes with silky basslines and irresistible groove — the perfect sugar rush for discerning selectors.
From deep disco dreamscapes to peak-time party weapons, Disco Biscuits 6 has all the flavor you need.

2025 Repress

Words by Costanza Acernese
MOVING PRESSURE 04 / Obscur
With its fourth release, Moving Pressure welcomes its first external artist: young Slovenian producer Obscur. With a signature sound that is driving and subtly psychedelic, his debut on the label doesn't stray from the core tenets of its sonic ethos. Obscur delivers minimalism with purpose-dynamic, intentional, and wholly physical.
'F135' opens the A-side with a sinister tilt-rubbery squeaks stretch and coil around a flickering, synthetic voice. It's tactile and strange, without losing movement. 'Soul Eater' follows with a slow-burn crescendo, nestling psychedelic inflections into a warm low-end. On the flip, 'Stockholm Syndrome' pares things back. Dry, stripped rhythms carry an atmospheric tension-it's austere yet playful, leaving space for darker hues to linger without fully settling. A precise, heads-down statement. 'Blasphemy' follows with a tighter percussive grip and Feral-esque, panning modulations. Highs slice through a foundation of finely textured grooves-functional at its core, but laced with enough detail to give the track a sharper, more intricate edge. The digital bonus, 'Diamond City', stretches the sonic palette even further. Not through layers, but through tone: steel blues and deep violets bounce off metallic bleeps with cinematic restraint, closing the EP on a reflective note.

A cult album by Belgian songwriter and producer Benjamin Schoos, aka Miam Monster Miam, Soleil Noir (2005) celebrates its 20th anniversary with an exclusive vinyl reissue.A haunting album at the crossroads of British folk, cinematic blues, and introspective French chanson. Evoking Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, Léo Ferré, and Ry Cooder, it unfolds a melancholic poetry elevated by the words of filmmaker Olivier Smolders and lush orchestrations, featuring the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra and the intricate fingerpicking guitar work of Jacques Stotzem.A nocturnal and spellbinding record, where narrative tension and raw emotion intertwine.

"In less than a ten-year span, Subsonic Eye have established a deep catalog across jangle- and indie-pop spectra. On their 2023 album All Around You, the Singaporean five-piece refined their signature snappy hooks with a renewed appreciation for the natural world’s entanglement with their urban milieu. Ever enraptured by nature and their surroundings, Subsonic Eye have dedicated much of their music to celebrations of their environment.

Their fifth album, Singapore Dreaming, centers their hometown through a more focused lens. Where All Around You comprised a space to sit with the complex feelings inspired by the intense world we inhabit, Singapore Dreaming is that intense world itself — Subsonic Eye’s interpretation of their high energy urban context refracted through straight-to-the-point, poppy, ergonomic songs tinged with tension that could explode at a moment’s notice.

Despite the newly honed vision, Singapore Dreaming still has all of Subsonic Eye’s signature elements: spellbinding walls of tone, hooky riffs, zippy rhythms, and punches in the perfect place — all led by singer Nur Wahidah’s dreamlike voice, whose vaporous and velvety character always makes the layers whole."

"Max Knouse’s voice feels like laughter that follows a well-loved joke. Only afterward, it dawns on you that you don’t fully understand the punchline. Or for that matter the set up. In fact, you’re not even sure what language the joke was told in. What to make of such a laugh—inexplicable, delightful, surprising, seemingly nonsensical? And what to make his voice, at once comforting, beguiling, and just beyond the bounds, like a blues moan or a Mingus lick or some ancient guttural holler? It’s the kind of haunt that lingers long after the record fades, echoing back in your imagination, laden with cryptic possibilities and occulted meanings.

Chipmunk’d Away is his third album. Known for his sessions and live shows with artists like Califone, Jolie Holland, Adan Jodorowsky, Psychic Temple, Simon Joyner, Alex Dupree, and others, Knouse has established himself as an essential factor in the West Coast indie pop underground, brandishing guitar chops that mirror the rawness of his voice; he treats his instrument like a divining rod of spiritual tension and joyful racket, pushing and pulling on it with affection and sometimes something darker.

From the swelling cosmic folk of “Mint and Tobacco,” which features Knouse intoning apocalyptically over engineer Michael Krassner’s washing guitars, “Your breathing ain’t so deep,” to the jazz standard swooner-meets-West Coast psych-pop title track, to the nightmare-scape blues of “Clumsy Hunter,” to the concluding audio collage sway of “Banana, Orange, and Something Else,” Chipmunk’d presents the range and scope of Knouse’s style: bold, adventurous, frightening, and then frequently, when you least expect it, heartbreakingly lovely, like a joke that clarifies your feelings before you could actually verbalize what those feelings even are. They had been hidden from you, chipmunk’d away, but now Max Knouse has revealed them."

The Ottawa composer/performer and head of Black Bough Records plays every instrument on his CST debut: an accessibly avant-garde work of dark/ambient modern chamber music. Mark Molnar has been a linchpin of the Ottawa experimental music scene for over two decades, spanning contemporary classical, electroacoustic, industrial/noise, and improv. As a string player in a wide range of projects, an organizer and curator of innumerable shows, and via his own avantgarde label Black Bough Records, Molnar's unflagging contributions to independent music culture in Canada's capital city have been significant. EXO is his Constellation debut: a remarkable and bracing suite of post-classical composition on which Molnar plays every instrument. Meticulously self-recorded, primarily with strings, harp, and piano, EXO balances thematic melodicism, polytonality, and dissonance across three elegiac pieces of exquisitely expressive dynamism. This is exacting modern chamber music that blends formal and harmonic complexity with a solemn emotive sensibility accessible to a broad audience. Listeners that yearn for some edge and disquietude in a landscape of often all-too-approachable post-classical music should find EXO eminently worth their time and attention. While Molnar is a highly trained string player, and studied music under Aubrey Wolfe, microtonality with James Tenney, and composition with R. Murray Schafer, his trajectory has been entirely and intentionally outside the academy, signalling a socio-artistic commitment to DIY culture, forged from an early passion for the sonic worlds of post-hardcore, post-punk, no-wave, free improv, power electronics, and other independent/underground musics. His classically-informed works have been described as "tense currents of musical modernism invigorated with punk's raw vitality." EXO carries an undercurrent influenced by dark industrial and ambient metal in particular, with microphones purposely placed to pick up the low-end frequencies of the piano body, and of a bass drum positioned as a resonant skin in the acoustic space; an electroacoustic strategy organically meshed to the crisply defined and pristinely recorded pointillisms and polychords of strings, harp, and piano, which feed into this noisefloor of crepuscular sub-bass disquietude and decay. It's a production aesthetic that lends EXO a distinct undertow of tension and feeling, a sort of roiling maximalism where the chamber instrumentation traces arcs and waves of form and flow as if drawn from a dark, impervious ocean below. It also reinforces the profound hermeticism of Molnar's process, as a forbiddingly solitary creative act of immersion and navigation. The album artwork, featuring semiabstract stills of the sea by British photographer Ed Allen, further reifies this metaphor. The album's opening piece 'Sub Luna' (and its shortest at 8 minutes) showcases Molnar's adeptness at naturalistic and flowing complexity: tight cascades of climbing and descending chordal clusters hold their polytonal densities for various durations, yielding to more clarified harmonic suspensions and motifs, as melodic themes led primarily by violins in the higher registers provide a fractured lyricism. Molnar says: "the opening and closing figures of this piece act as opposing shorelines; the shorelines provide a reliable expression of range and key signature, and the tides come in and swallow them up, the motion of a body that addresses the relationship between states of lucidity and melodic figures." On 'Terre Sacer' everything happens in soupier waters, as a slow and doleful theme, anchored by grinding bass notes, circles in a gyre of dark resonances, until glistening strings gradually ascend to enrobe a plaintive and gently harrowing single-voiced ostinato over the composition's final third. Molnar's drone, ambient, minimalist, and goth-industrial influences are on display here. Side Two of EXO features the 18-minute multi-movement 'pallida Mors' (pale death): a waterfall of heterophony introduces dense chordal movements where strings are recorded and mixed to evoke pipe organ, in the album's most overtly dissonant and (anti)liturgical sequence. This gives way to ever more open and fragile spaces, before a resurgence of dark clusters and noise treatments introduces a final repeating piano coda, shrouded in devastated bass resonance, settling into what Molnar calls "a meditative hollow." Constellation is honoured to release this work by Mark Molnar, a longtime fellow-traveler whose selfless and boundlessly generous activities as an independent arts enabler sometimes obscure his own accomplished and uncompromising artistry. We trust EXO can help shed some much deserved light on this fine composer. Thanks for listening.

Returning to an aphotic minefield of sound – Seismic Records is back with its third release, Drum Ring, crafted by Norwegian producer and Ute Records co-founder Ekkel. Emerging from the forests of Nordic electronic heritage, Teo Bachs – aka Ekkel – channels the raw energy of ’90s progressive sounds into his mind-bending productions. From the studio, his signature blend of breaks and intricate percussion create soundscapes that are as cerebral as they are propulsive. Titled Drum Ring, the EP captures the feeling of a complete mental trip through a narrative of tension, ancient textures, and enchanting melodies.

Poised with a sense of urgency, the A-side unfolds with a neatly rolling rhythm. Hradec Fog Fever builds a controlled frenzy of percussive elements, with layers stripping in and out, consistently driving the track forward. Slipping into A2, Owl Foot casts a sonic mist, a haze that tentatively creeps forward, flickering between atmospheric dips and shadowy contours. Vocal-cut whispers transcend through the soundscape, shy yet impactful, drawing you closer. It’s a tender introduction to a minimalist, dark progressive journey – a delicate balance of intrigue and mystery, where each sound lingers like a secret waiting to be discovered.

The B-Side strikes with poignant, powerful drum kicks that reverberate through layers of distortion. Drum Ring displays echoes of tension and unease, building a restless energy that urges deeper introspection. Ancient, enchanting tones weave through the chaos, grounding the frenetic soundwaves in something timeless and mystical. Sealing the EP, Endphase begins with faint, distant string notes that offer a fleeting, hopeful moment of rest. Growling chords and textures swirl, edging you to a meditation, only to be punctuated by sharp, deliberate drum patterns, adding a sense of momentum and purpose – a glimmer of light breaking through the mist. Experience the full cycle of a delicate trip as Ekkel guides you through Drum Ring – a precious and dark progressive journey.

Recorded in Kobe, Kyoto, Tokyo, September 2015 Photos by Jim O'Rourke. Layout by Shunichiro Okada Despite decades of activity and having crossed paths in various collaborations Editions Mego is honoured to release the first ever duo recording from two of the most highly regarded citizens of planet experimental electronic. Individually, Jim O'Rourke and Christian Fennesz have been responsible for numerous legendary works which merge the traditional avant-garde with contemporary sensibilities. On It's Hard For Me To Say I'm Sorry these giants of experimental electronic practice come together for an immensely powerful sonic experience. The signature of both O'Rourke and Fennesz cohabit this new release with O'Rourke's gurgling harmonies swimming amongst the shimmering frequencies and strummed melodies produced by Fennesz. Two side long tracks situate themselves as a warm electronic adventure. Simultaneously radical and comforting these works shift from gentle sonorities to fully distorted explosions all of which reside within a template of tension between musical and non-music matter. Timeless in execution and presentation It's Hard For Me To Say I'm Sorry is a deeply rewarding sonic experience from two of the most romantic gentlemen active in experimental music today.

Repress now on 140 gram black vinyl comes with download code. SLOW AIR is the fourth album by Still Corners. Evoking the atmospheric sounds Still Corners are known for, SLOW AIR continues the band's journey with an album full of tension and brooding all the while wrapped in a reverb laden dream. Written in the hill country in Austin, Texas, Slow Air nods towards a classic sound with emphasis on the guitar, both acoustic and electric, combined with the alluring and ghostly voice of Tessa Murray.

It’s always a pleasure to welcome Scottish producer Milton Jackson back on Freerange and this time he joins forces with a trio of Detroit heavyweights to deliver the Fire Emoji EP. Brian Kage is a producer / DJ, founder of record label Michigander and has released on esteemed labels such as FXHE and Planet E. Here, Brian is on co-production and mastering duties and helps bring a raw yet musical quality to all four tracks. HazMat Live is a Detroit native known for his unique approach to music and live performances having graced records and live shows with the likes of Kenny Dixon Jr, Amp Fiddler, Bilal, Soul Clap and Delano Smith. Finally, Jon Dixon adds his own inimitable touch to the release with his deft keyboard work. Jon Dixon not only leads the Underground Resistance live acts Galaxy 2 Galaxy and Timeline but has also performed with everyone from Jeff Mills, Carl Craig and Mike Banks through to Goldie, Leon Ware and Dwele.

Lead track Fire Emoji is probably best described as a serious stomper. A paired back club tool which pumps hard and will keep the energy levels simmering on any dance floor worth its salt. Echoing vocals and reverb-drenched hits add a trippy edge whilst an extended break adds extra drama and tension to the arrangement.

The Sunsetters lightens the mood with a euphoric slice of chunky, deep house which acts as the foundation for HazMat Live to deliver his epic synth solo, accompanied by lush strings, deep pads and punctuating 909 snares.

Wanna C U fuses US and UK Garage sounds to form a taught, muscular club groove which will lock you in with it’s fat stabs, swinging beats and repeating sampled vocal hook.

2025 repress

Wilson Tanner come to shore with a new album of floating melodies, lightly salted. Throwing electroacoustic conventions overboard, Andrew Wilson (Andras) and John Tanner (Eleventeen Eston) recorded this new work aboard a 1950s riverboat with a resourceful array of weatherproof electronic instruments and a long extension lead. These eight compositions pull in a by-catch of maritime folklore; of Siren and Selkie, Seagull and engine oil slick. A change of course from their debut album 69 (Growing Bin Records, 2016), the ambient temperature drops as II casts out to sea in uncertain weather and returns to the safe harbours of Port Phillip Bay.

The seafarers head out to My Gull's poised optimism. The birds watch but do they listen? By the arrival of Loch and Key, the shoreline has dissolved completely, the boat floating in serene infinity as the rest of the world spins. Conditions soon take a treacherous turn on Killcord Pts I-III - a 12 minute odyssey that battens down the hatches as these sailors eye merciless waves and blinding ocean spray, jointly channelling Berlin-school electronics and sea legs. In the aftermath, the waterlogged bleeps of Idle survey the damage as our parched crew sound the distress signal and ultimately descend into delirium.

Known for navigating individual courses as solo musicians, Wilson and Tanner's collective storytelling is saturated in detail, buoying between tension and harmony. II modestly stands as some of both artists' most accomplished material.

Mia Zapata was the greatest rock singer of her time. She may have likely been the greatest blues singer in punk rock history, the woman who married the 78 and the '78. Tragedy did not make this true. Mia Zapata made this true, and the ferocious, spring-loaded shrapnel frame that was built around her by Andy Kessler (guitar: metronomic and furious), Matt Dresdner (bass: fluid, punching, beat-addicted and melodic), and Steve Moriarty (drums: martial and explosive) - who, with Mia, combined to form The Gits - made it true. The Gits were formed at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in mid-1986, grabbing and swapping pieces of art, thrash, noise, punk rock, classic rock, and all the sorts of magical silly and bookish jingle bells that an old-school liberal arts education handed you; for the next few years they worked on turning it all into something tough, sensitive, both brutal and kind. Andy, Matt, Mia, and Steve moved to Seattle in middish 1989, landing in a house on Capitol Hill where they (and fellow travelers) wood-shedded and rehearsed for the next few years. The Gits put out three EPs in 1990 and '91 before signing with C/Z Records and releasing their first full-length album, Frenching the Bully. Seattle quickly claimed the quartet as their own and embraced the Gits blend of ferocious fangs and soft heart, the slug/slap of the guitars, and the gorgeous, soft underbelly of the poetic emotions. These qualities not only fit in with the doe-eyed/sharp-clawed grunge ethos but earned the Gits the respect of their peers, including Nirvana, who tapped them to open a major local show in 1990. Then other stuff happened, and their frantic, confessional barbed-heart snowball began rolling up hill very, very fast; the Gits "quickly" (hah! After half a decade learning to implode and explode hearts and stomping their boots on manifold beer-softened, Marlboro-weeded wood stages!) inspired rapture, awe, and the levitation that happened when peak emotion meets peak grindage in front of amps spitting out something that sounded like the mad marriage of Bolan swagger and Dischord tension_ all fronted by a genuinely incomparable woman who held her heart in her mouth and shared it, in all its celebration and fear, without hesitation. The Gits were an angry, inflamed slinky fully in tune with and tuned by the Bessie Patti Smith of her time, truly the only singer who could summon Joplin, Poly Styrene, Sam Cooke, Iggy Pop and Ian MacKaye all in the same goddamn song. In 1993, less than four weeks after accepting an offer from Atlantic Records, Mia died. I leave it at that, because this is not about death; it's about an extraordinary life. I do not say, "You should have been there," I say, "We are lucky so many of us were, and I am so glad we have this extraordinary evidence of the power and gifts of Mia and the Gits that you now can hold in your hands." And I note that Frenching the Bully, this extraordinary testament to the soul, shock, fury and feeling of the Gits, has been long out of print on vinyl and CD, and this new edition - remastered by legendary Seattle engineer Jack Endino - joyfully rectifies that. -Tim Sommer

Finally available following strong support from Antal and Hunee, including soundtracking the closing of Rainbow Disco Club Festival in Japan: Cabo Verde Show's 1984 showstopper “Bem Danca” revisited in its original form alongside a perfectly stripped-back, synth-focused edit by The Square Sun. Now on a 12” pressed loud at 45 RPM, with the edit on the A-side and the original version on the flip!

“Bem Danca” was a B-side cut from a 1983 release, featuring lead vocals from Luis Da Silva. The original is a party-ready Funaná jam with intricate horn and guitar work. The Square Sun’s edit takes the track deeper, extending some instrumental parts to build tension before the culmination of synths and horns that truly sparkle in this version. An essential for your bag as we begin to enjoy those open-air dancefloors once again!

French singer, songwriter and producer Léa Sen’s debut album Levels, is a deeply immersive journey through memory, self-discovery, and emotional growth—imagined as a surreal, liminal hotel where each room holds a different chapter of her life.

Created in collaboration with her brother, Florian Fourlin, and inspired by Léa's own coming-of-age, Levels blends experimental pop with slinky R&B, woozy trip-hop, and warm, smudged guitars. The album plays with the tension between reality and dreamlike abstraction, examining the mysterious ups and downs of existence.

Techno innovator Regent has already made his mark on Mutual Rytm with two previous outings highlighting his refined but powerful style. The Berlin-based artist joins the dots between bold percussive grooves and distinct cerebral layers, with his productions continuing to receive wide support from DJs and tastemakers across the globe. This return to SHDW's flourishing label features one of his most anticipated tracks to date - a truly timeless warehouse anthem that marks an exciting new chapter for both Regent and the label.

'Permean' is a raw but sophisticated piece of techno that merges powerful drums with hypnotic pads. It brims with surgical sound design. While the groove is fierce, a haunting melodic touch adds a soft and deeply emotional edge
as Regent explores the tension between permanence and decay, delivering a timeless and essential track.

The first remix comes from Steve Rachmad under his Sterac guise. This version channels the spirit of his early work - pure, stripped-back techno at its finest. Tightly programmed and deep, it features burrowing bass and impish synths dancing up top to occupy the mind while the body moves.

Next comes a remix from one of the most innovative producers of our time, Rene Pawlowitz, under his Head High alias, a project reserved for his more house leaning sounds. His 'Power Tool Mix' brings his signature loopy style with thudding kicks, raw hi-hats and twitchy synths - already shaping up to be a summer hit. Pawlowitz then steps out under his renowned techno alias Shed. His 'Forceful Pressure Mix' is a blistering and unrelenting weapon, with rusty textures and powerful bass locking you in its glitches, unresolved loops and booming low end.

This new anniversary edition from London's the Duke Spirit marks 20 years since their adrenaline-charged debut roared onto the UK indie scene. Originally released in 2005, it's now remastered and paired with a second LP of B-sides, demos and rarities, pressed on heavyweight yellow and red splatter vinyl. It's a suitably bold presentation for a record that remains as full-throttle and emotionally raw as ever. Built around the magnetic presence of vocalist Liela Moss and the jangling, distorted interplay between guitarists Luke Ford and Dan Higgins, this is a sound forged in post-punk grit and heavy rock swagger. Tracks like 'Lion Rip' and 'Love Is An Unfamiliar Name' still land with venom, but it's the depth and tension of songs like 'Fades The Sun' and 'Hello To The Floor' that show their full range. The bonus material only adds to the mythology i 'Boot Hill (demo)' and 'Scratching Around (demo)' offer glimpses of the band's early energy in the raw, while 'Souvenir' and 'Now Be Still' stand strong on their own. It's a beautiful document of a band at full force, and a reminder that sometimes the most exciting sounds are the ones that never tried to fit the moment.

Drone legends Earth, the Seattle group led by Dylan Carlson, ready their first release on Fire Records. Deluxe Ltd edition 'Dark Star' effect vinyl with matte and spot UV sleeve, DL card. Unreleased live recording taken from their show at London's KOKO in 2016. Includes live renditions of fan favourites 'The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull' and 'High Command'. For fans of: Sunn O))), Sleep, Boris, OM, Spacemen 3, Witch, Hawkwind, Boris, Melvins. Seattle drone-rock titans Earth release their latest live document, WEM Dominator (Live in London NW1, 2016), an unrelenting display of the band's seismic force, recorded during their performance at London's KOKO in 2016. Sharing the bill with legendary heavyweights Neurosis, Earth delivered a set of hypnotic intensity, crushing volume, and towering, glacial beauty. For over three decades, Dylan Carlson and his ever-evolving ensemble have been crafting tectonic soundscapes that defy convention, forging a path between meditative drone and colossal doom-laden riffs. WEM Dominator is an album of mesmeric modal patterns, it's a recording that captures the trio's intricate, slowly evolving euphoria in a period when their experimentation swerved through endless possibilities. From the creeping grandeur of "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" to the ominous crawl of "Even Hell Has Its Heroes," the album presents Earth at their most immersive and powerful. This record reasserts Earth's mastery of atmosphere and weight, where every note feels tectonic, and silence itself becomes an instrument of crushing tension. It is a hypnotic, stripped down sonic symphony embracing influences as wide ranging as the Velvet Underground, Terry Riley and La Monte Young, a visceral slow-motion reading of the original sound that inspired Sun O))) and the generation that followed. The lineup of this performance was Dylan Carson (guitar), Jodie Cox (baritone guitar) and Adrienne Davis (drums), it was recorded live at KOKO, London on November 7th 2016 and is mixed and mastered by Mell Dettmer at Studio Soli in Seattle.

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. "We were trying to find our own space," says Cinder of the formative period Camouflage Heart emerged from, amidst a move from Edinburgh to London and Cinder's evolving exploration of gender identity, well before culture at large was equipped to understand. With contemporary discourse we see that the project manifested her transgender ideas as visceral music. The guttural, feral sound marked a notably darker turn from The Freeze's sixyear run on the fringes of punk. Changing the project's name became vital, not just because they kept hearing the former was already taken, but the desire to embody the spiritual and sonic shift, "to uncover new pathways_to feminize it," she says. Cinder, with bandmates David Clancy and John Byrne, arrived at Cindytalk, a winking nod to Sindy, the British fashion doll rival to Barbie known then for its pull-string talking mechanism. "The goal was to have a more interesting narrative, more interesting dialogue. Music was ultimately my only way of talking to people. That was my conversation with the world, an abstracted conversation_an attempt to make some kind of tiny, tiny mark, if possible, you hope somebody will notice." Over the years, Cinder has heard from fans who did pick up on the signals and find refuge in Camouflage Heart. Camouflage Heart plays with tension and pace, from creeping to feverish to claustrophobic. The percussion moves between restless marches and barely-there pulses; for some parts, they scratched and hit a tin bath, among other objects. Guitar lines vibrate and stab as Cinder contorts her voice freely. She pulls poetry from a cerebral abyss, like "make the snake in your eye, pierce the camouflage heart" on the slow-droning centerpiece "The Spirit Behind the Circus Dream." In that register is raw power, both vulnerable and menacing, an ability to locate something deep and emotionally charged within. "I still remember that person who was way too intense for their own good," Cinder reflects. "I couldn't make a record like that now, certainly not vocally, while that anger hasn't dissipated; there's still a kind of warrior." For all the destruction and disintegration of Camouflage Heart, Cinder maintains the objective was never full-on fatalistic; these songs seek not to destroy but to poke and provoke, to transform and heal, to find cracks of light in a crumbling world. She points to the last lines of the opening track, "It's Luxury": "Don't look down," the lyric pines through static and rhythm. Cinder extrapolates, "I'm essentially saying, just keep fucking going. As time went on, for me, that falling became flying. Camouflage Heart is the beginning of believing in flight."

t's been a half century since Pavlov's Dog burst onto the burgeoning progressive rock scene of the early 1970s. Hailing from the city of St. Louis, Missouri, their heady blend of rock, classical and folk music turned them into cult legends. The band has seen lots of lineup changes and internal turmoil over the years, leading to extended breaks between album releases. But today, David Surkamp - lead singer, main songwriter and last remaining original member of Pavlov's Dog - continues to fly the banner high, accompanied by an accomplished group of musicians that is a credit to the band's good name. For decades, Pavlov's Dog's "lost album" - "Has Anyone Here Seen Siegfried?" - recorded in St. Louis in 1977 - was available only in inferior quality. With the rediscovery of the master tapes several years ago, it became possible to hear the album as originally intended. Tensions within the band had reached the boiling point as they entered the studio and would lead to a breakup soon thereafter. Nevertheless, tracks like the piano ballad "Only You" and the somber "Suicide" are brilliant additions to the band's canon.

Legendary UK Breakbeat artist Future Funk Squad presents Six! Breakbeat masterpiece!!!

Three acid techno cuts to suit the situation, especially if the situation is a blacked out warehouse with a strobe where only the pulse of the sound system matters.
The A side: "Tech 97" weaves undulating pads through sustained tension, shadowing the acid riff until it breaks into a hypnotic workout where calculated moments of release command the floor.
The B1 "Manic Mix" pushes boundaries with an urgent buildup of the 303 and metallic high hats, culminating in pure dancefloor abandon - snares and claps cutting through the darkness.
The B2 "Calm Mix" explores deeper territory with dubbed-out vibes. The acid riff maintains its spectral presence against the rhythm, while ethereal chords spiral outward creating an almost nautical motion beneath the surface.

This edition explores identity, presence and the fragmentation of self.
It features a standout work by iconic Los Angeles photographer Parker Day, whose hyper-saturated portraits dissect the construction of persona and the tension between surface and essence.
Design is handled by legendary New York illustrator Braulio Amado, injecting the project with bold typographic energy and haunting visual language.

The zine includes poetry by Cristiano Grim, alongside original music by:
Foie Gras – drone and reimagined Americana from San Francisco / Los Angeles
Machino – Mexican electronic producer out of LA, blending distorted guitars, psychedelic riffs, and cinematic pulse into a sound that feels like driving through a neon fever dream
Valley Latini – dark Latin pop performer from New York
David Oliver Rose – post-punk rude boy from New York
Nick Hadad – dark ambient producer based in New York

FAKE4-MASK VS PERSONA presents a 25-page, 11x11” offset-printed, paired with a 12” 180g vinyl record featuring all contributing artists.
Audio mastering by Spaventi Studio.
It operates as both an aesthetic object and a critical inquiry, merging the disciplines of literature, music, photography, and design into a single act of publication as performance.

Jump Source is back with their 6th instalment: a collection of 4 tracks fine-tuned for the chaotic club. “Bleach” and “Condenser”cyclically build tension through their sneaky yet brazen tangents – no momentum lost from start to finish. The latter was born from a session with frequent collaborator Sabola, exploring the possibilities of the Roland sh- 05, which would become the backbone of the song. On the b side, the pair enrolled Martyn Bootyspoon and Frankie Teardrop to deliver vocals that break the fourth wall, sending you down an introspective dance-floor experience. “On” takes the foreground approach, while “Get It Done” comfortably hangs back, but the question remains : “What are you on?

In 2022, Osàre! Editions founder Elena Colombi approached artists and musicians with a prompt: Every body, everyone needs love to flourish. In her book The Will to Change, the eminent author and social activist, Bell Hooks, invites men to excavate their innermost selves, challenging the way that patriarchal society limits their capacity for intimacy, tenderness, care and emotion. As hooks lays out, feminist thought and work requires the collective participation of all genders in order to realise a liberated world. How can we imagine cross-gender solidarity through music and art? And how can we tell sonic stories that facilitate our full potential as desiring beings? These are the questions that The Male Body Will Be Next starts out from.

The title of the record draws connections between hooks' writing, a film by Rebecca Salvadori and Peter de Potter's stunning photo series of the same name. In de Potter and Salvadori's depictions, men's bodies appear as vulnerable, naked and exposed.

Divided into two parts, the first instalment of The Male Body Will Be Next hinges on colliding energies – the melding of club dance floors and haunting ambient textures, agile techno and noisy experimentation.

'The sun on my skin… it’s so warm and gentle,’ speak-sings Olivia Salvadori on ‘Su Di Te M’Infrango’, visualising utopias. Laurel Halo crafts a dreamscape spun from golden threads of synth and strings. Pensive and reflective, Ben Bertrand’s bass clarinet roams searchingly, its piercing tonality full of longing. Yet, in between these lucid, cinematic passages and spoken word, The Male Body Will Be Next finds space to dance together. Moving in fervent, rhythmic patterns, Sepehr’s ‘Divooneh’ pivots between tension and release. Filmmaker unleashes a wave of energy and The Spy delivers a potent take on vintage electro, the track title hinting at the double-bind of gendered expectations. Propelled between these eclectic styles, the record encapsulates the full spectrum of sonic expression.

Necro State dives deep into emotional liminality — a space where anxiety, disconnection and introspection merge into a dark, immersive soundscape.

Across six tracks, NOAMM crafts a narrative that moves between restrained tension and cathartic release, drawing the listener into an inner journey that lingers long after the signal fades.

Mastering: Boris Divider

The East Sussex three piece take a sidestep to their country punk debut. The revamped sound is gritty and raw, with basslines that rumble with unfiltered intensity and drums that drive each track with pounding, relentless energy. The dark twang elements have not disappeared but if you break the surface you will find a restless undercurrent of electronic rhythms, adding complexity and tension. Andrew J Davies’ baritone vocals help answer the question you never knew you needed to ask. What would Lee Hazlewood guesting on a Leftfield track sound like?

A special Japan connection for the next release on DJ Nobu's Bitta label. Osaka-based Erik Luebs joins the roster with an EP of iconic, tranceinfluenced techno melancholia. Having released most of his work through his own DIY channels, Luebs' sounds have reached many dancefloors worldwide. He now teams up with Bitta for something special. On Nontemporal Void, Luebs delivers four tracks that perfectly showcase his diverse sound palette. Each track hits a different box of energy--all while injecting a healthy dose of hypnotism. With a keen eye for detail, the EP moves from slowly built-up tension to eyes-closed techno grooves and synth-heavy euphoria, showcasing the many sides of a magnificent sound designer and creative artist.

OONA Recordings is proud to announce the upcoming release of the soundtrack for The Girl With The Needle by Frederikke Hoffmeier. Hoffmeier, whom performs under the stage name Puce Mary, brings a raw, intense and atmospheric score to this Oscar-nominated film, which is contending for Best International Feature. Known for her bold, experimental approach to sound, Hoffmeier’s composition immerses listeners in the film’s dark, emotionally-charged world. Directed by Magnus von Horn, The Girl With The Needle premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it earned praise for its uncompromising vision. The film went on to receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Non-English Language Film and won two prestigious awards at the European Film Awards, including Best Score for Hoffmeier’s hauntingly powerful work. The score to The Girl With The Needle is as dark as it is compelling, a masterclass in creating tension, unease, and raw emotional weight. Hoffmeier’s sound design is equal parts abrasive and intimate, drawing the listener into a world of fractured beauty. Her use of organic textures, electro-acoustic undertones, and dissonant, atonal melodies challenges traditional notions of film music, offering something deeply visceral and unpredictable. The Guardian described Hoffmeier’s score as "nerve-abrading," highlighting the relentless, uncomfortable energy that underpins the film. The Chicago Reader similarly calls the score haunting, noting how it amplifies the film’s stark atmosphere. Drawing comparisons to the intense works of composers like Mica Levi, Awards Radar Magazine praises Hoffmeier for pushing the film’s emotional core to its breaking point, deepening the agony of the protagonist. Throughout the film, Hoffmeier’s score becomes as much a character as the people on screen. Her collaboration with von Horn is marked by a shared vision of pushing the limits of cinema and sound. Screen Daily describes the score as "daring," with its aggressive, contemporary tones standing in stark contrast to conventional film scores. The result is a uniquely modern, avant-garde work that reflects the film's visceral and unsettling nature. Hoffmeier crafts a world of sound that lingers long after the credits roll. The soundtrack’s fusion of organic instrumentation with electro-acoustic elements and bold industrial sounds sets it apart from the ordinary. The British Film Institute notes how Hoffmeier’s "atonal score" creates an "enervating effect," pulling listeners deeper into the film’s raw emotional depths. The combination of brutal sound design and haunting melodies builds a layered, evocative listening experience, one that grows increasingly intense with every listen.

"After a first appearance on the "Various 1" EP, Oshana now makes her full release debut on Altered Circuits. The "Origins EP" is, in the artist's words, a collection of old-meets-new four-to-the-floor club flavours. Originating from her live set practice, it's a proper representation of where she's currently at: making a push for the bigger and bolder. Her obvious talent for meticulously stacking textures doesn't stop her from shifting to the stripped-back and straightforward when needed. The constant throughout is a sensibility for the dancefloor, which never lets anything get in the way of groove and rhythm. "Above We Soar" drops right into the action with a menacing bassline and equally gloomy synthesizer layering. The cut's gothic-black palette works a charm merging palpable tension with restraint. It builds for 4 minutes towards a drop - and then a slamming acid line succeeds in cranking the energy even up another notch. "Space And Time Dimensions" is a loopy roller which, by the sound of its reverb levels and ambient noises, might have been recorded at a missile silo. The stretched vocal samples and ever-evolving drums propel it forward in a vintage, Chicago house type way. There's a moment of calm when those briefly fall away; one of its quirky basslines subsequently makes room for a slick little polyrhythm sine, and everything clicks even more. On the other side, "Girls In The Front" doesn't loosen the reins either, as hefty kicks and another sturdy bassline immediately set the tone. The air appears charged with static electricity, and Oshana's way of niftily adding and subtracting seamlessly draws the listener into a groovy trip. 5 minutes fly by, and then the lead still has to emerge. The one that eventually comes in is huge and hypnotic. Topped off with a selection of vocals that burst with impatience, the track hints at the anthemic. Closer "Origins" taps into a more progressive and trance side with its modulated formant bassline, jittery arpeggiator lead and heavily flanged flourishes. A gust of electronic flutes and sleek chords take a turn for the - almost - idyllic. Not for long: not uncharacteristically, it switches back to the main beat and back into more ambiguous yet familiar territory."

D-Leria's latest Alta Tensione gets remixed by Shoal, Polygonia, Anthony Linell and Giuseppe D-Leria himself.

"JUJU" drops on May 17th (WERF Records) and is programmed at Gent Jazz Festival (July 11th)



Juju continues the work done on the second album half, with the Terre Sol Four quartet: Willems' voice, drums, percussion objects, keyboards and field recordings accompanied by the saxes of Marc De Maeseneer, Vincent Brijs and John Snauwaert.Juju fits perfectly in Willems' output. Also: in the coherent oeuvre it has become, it is perhaps her most consistent release yet. It's infectious as hell, carefully crafted, packs a punch and more accessible than ever before.



Everything is connected. Not just in the grand scheme of things - politically, culturally, socially,... - but also in the colourful universe of Karen Willems. A lifelong quest for profound experiences through organizing sound led to the crucial Terre Sol-series, four tapes released in 2020. Out of that fertile well, Grichte (2022) was born. A double LP that presented Willems as an original explorer as well as a committed bandleader, it was her boldest statement to date.

While the first (solo) album halfalready received a follow-up in K A A P M I J (2023), another tape release that suggested there's still a lot of ground left to uncover, Juju continues the work done on the second album half, with the Terre Sol Four quartet: Willems' voice, drums, percussion objects, keyboards and field recordings accompanied by the saxes of Marc De Maeseneer, Vincent Brijs and John Snauwaert. It was already something to behold on Grichte, swerving from introspective exploration to expressionist riff rock and semi-Dadaist avant-garde.

On Juju, the four-piece digs even deeper and the results are utterly spellbinding. One of the many attractions of Willems' recent work is that it combines relentless artistic experimentation with a commitment to broader socio-political issues. In essence, the artist tries to set up a discussion with her surroundings, sending out musical invitations to connect and participate, reminding ourselves of responsibilities that are too easily forgotten in these hectic, self-centered times. The refugee crisis is one, ecology awareness another, and it's hard not to consider "Voor De Stranden Verdrinken" ("Before The Beaches Drown") a caustic warning. Things need to change.

As said earlier, the music on Juju remains as adventurous as before, but this time around, the playing feels even more confident, diverse and punchy. If the album opener accentuates its urgency with a throbbing pulse and reed sirens, "Tako Deli" continues with rich vocal arrangements, roaring saxes and sweeping melodies. What follows strikes with vigor and consistency: "Nuuki" is as dense as it is infectious, while "Fuzzy Williams" manages to combine Ellingtonian abundance with Swans-like preaching.

And there's more, much more. Eccentricity and playfulness ("The Woo Woo Room, Dance Back In Style", "In Open Veld") go hand in hand with smoldering exercises in tension and release ("Koortsdromen") and a ridiculously infectious call for connection in antisocial times ("Come Vai"). Guest contributions by Nabou Claerhout, Kapinga Gysel, Esther Lybeert and Filip Wauters enrich the band's sound considerably. By the time you reach album closer "When Daytime Lands", Willems takes you on a short trip through that eerie soundscape-land she previously explored.

In short: Juju fits perfectly in Willems' output. Also: in the coherent oeuvre it has become, it is perhaps her most consistent release yet. It's infectious as hell, carefully crafted, packs a punch and more accessible than ever before. It's the sound of an artist at the peak of her powers, not just expanding her range, but digging deeper with obvious glee. It's not just intriguing; it's inspiring to witness..

The resistance continues! Sev Dah returns to PROLETARIJAT013 with a four-track weapon forged in the fires of relentless, old-school hypnotic techno spirit. Paljba and Juriš - names that echo the battle cries of past uprisings - unleashing raw, driving rhythms, spiraling loops, and relentless tensions straight to the frontlines.No compromise. No surrender!

We are proud to present the first official reworks of the disco/jazz-funk masterpiece Trip To Your Mind - now available for the first time with a picture cover featuring a classic shot of composer Reginald Hudson on the front.

For decades, Trip To Your Mind was celebrated as a Brit Funk classic, though its true origins remained a mystery. While recorded at London's Advision Studio, Hudson People were neither local nor British - a fact first uncovered with its official 2022 reissue on Backatcha Records. In interviews with label owner DJ Scientist, Reg Hudson revealed that the backing band behind his composition was Body Heat, a GI group based in Germany. The recording, believed to date back to around 1977, remained shelved for some time. By the time it was finally released in 1979, Body Heat was on the verge of disbanding, leading to the track being credited to Hudson People. Since then, Trip To Your Mind has been heavily bootlegged and compiled since the late '90s, cementing its status as an in-demand classic.

For our rework release, the A-side features a brilliant DJ-friendly edit by Delfonic, based on the original Hithouse mix. Unlike the later Ensign Records remix, this version starts with an 8 bar intro crescendo that was missing from subsequent reworks. When we approached Delfonic about reworking the track, he was immediately hooked - especially since he had already started an edit years ago but never completed it. His version builds tension through an extended intro before leading into the beloved vocal line: "Take a trip through your mind, surprises you will find." Delfonic's masterful editing ensures the track keeps listeners engaged until the very end.

The B-side features a rework by Italian DJ and producer Luca Trevisi, aka LTJ Xperience. His version is based on the Ensign remix of "Trip To Your Mind" by Chris Hill and Robbie Vincent. Some may recall a slightly different, clubbier version of this rework, which was released by a UK label in 2010. That version became a sought-after gem - however, Hudson never received any payment from the label. When we reached out to Trevisi about an official re-release, he generously revisited his edit, resulting in a more organic and dynamic mix. His version will appeal not only to disco and funk lovers but also to house and club DJs. The new mix was mastered by Frederic Stader on an EMI TG124 - an iconic mixing desk, famously used at Abbey Road Studios.

Both edits preserve the psychedelic essence of the original while making it more compatible with modern listening habits. Pressed on a high-quality, loud-cut 12", this release is a must-have for any DJ's collection. It follows our label's GI-related releases by Grand Slam and "Shake It - Make It Loose" by J.D. Puma Lewis - another project that composer and keyboardist Reginald Hudson was involved in.

With Ylh Bye Bye, Swiss-Moroccan producer Sami Galbi delivers a raw and electrifying debut album after the succes of his first single Dakchi Hani / Rruina. Merging North African folk, chaâbi, and trap with forward-thinking electronic club music, his punk energy and DIY ethos stem from years immersed in Lausanne’s underground squat scene, shaping a sound that’s both deeply personal and politically charged.

Driven by infectious North African melodic loops, heavy basslines, and percussive textures—blending bendir drums, karkabas, and analog synths—Ylh Bye Bye pulses with urgency. From high-energy dancefloor anthems to dreamy acid pop ballads, the album explores themes of migration, identity, and belonging. Galbi’s Arabic vocals oscillate between auto-tuned harmonies and spoken word, capturing the tensions of diaspora life.

With Short Circuit Control, Berlin electronic duo Diagram (made up of Brian Jonestown Massacre guitarist Hákon Aðalsteinsson and Fred Sunesen) re-emerges ith a refined yet unpredictable sound, a testament to resilience, collaboration, and the endless possibilities of analogue synthesis. What began as a bedroom project by Aðalsteinsson culminated in the debut album Transmission Response (2019, Fuzz Club), a raw and exploratory work that set the foundation for what was to come. When Sunesen joined, Diagram evolved into a live act, carving out a space for itself in Berlin’s underground music scene. Built on mechanical rhythms and eerie textures, their second album Short Circuit Control plays with tension and release, its analogue pulse imbued with a restless, human energy. There's a hypnotic, almost ritualistic quality to the music, where modular synths hum and crackle, beats loop and fracture, and melodies emerge like ghostly transmissions from some distant, flickering signal. The result is an album that feels both controlled and unpredictable—moody, immersive, and always teetering on the edge of something unknown. It is released on P.U.G Records, the new label from the Psychedelic Underground Generation music blog.

Sasha links up with Joseph Ashworth for epic new single 'HiFiHi' comes on Sasha's Last Night on Earth as two different versions

Sasha has been on an exceptional run of form of late, not least in collaboration with a wide range of innovative producers. His work continues to explore the most moving end of the electronic spectrum, both in terms of well-crafted grooves but also inescapable synth emotions. This time he links with Joseph Ashworth, Sound Of Outside label head and a regular on the likes of Anjunadeep, Needwant and Pets Recordings. His painstakingly crafted sound draws from a wide spectrum of influence, is rich in texture and melody and has seen him serve up indelible DJ sets all over the world.Together these studio wizards cook up 'HiFiHi' which is a sublime seven-minute trip built on bass, full of drama and tension. The silky synth lines weave in and out with rising chords and vocal motifs all enriching it with warmth and soul. After an epic build-up, fresh synth energy breaks out with trance-inducing magic and euphoric chords that bring great emotional release. The LoFiLo Mix is more mellow and with extra vulnerability in the elegant blend of synths and melodies that wash over you in a beautifully serene and escapist fashion.

Arcane returns to Foxy Jangle to deliver the tenth record in the series.

Its double-a deep dive into razor-sharp breaks, rolling subs, and atmospherics. Expect a masterclass in tension and release, weighty basslines, and fierce drum edits.

Out soon

Following nearly 20 years of working together as a trio, and numerous cross-collaborations in different configuration between them, Ideologic Organ presents Placelessness, the debut full-length by Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim, comprising two long-form works at juncture of ambient music, minimalism, rigorous experimentalism and improvisation, and machine music. Having carved distinct pathways across a diverse number of musical idioms for decades, Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim are each, respectively, among the most noteworthy and groundbreaking figures to have emerged from Australia's thriving experimental music scene. Ambarchi and Avenaim first encountered Abrahams when seeing the Necks - the project that has served as the primary vehicle for his singular approach to the piano since its founding in 1987 - together during the late 1980s, not long after having met in Sydney's underground music community. The pair's collaborations date back more than 35 years, criss-crossing Ambarchi's pioneering solo and ensemble work for guitar and Avenaim's visionary efforts for SARPS (Semi Automated Robotic Percussion System), robotic and kinetic extensions to his drum kit. In 2004, fate brought the three together in a trio performance at the What Is Music? Festival, the annual touring showcase of experimental music founded and run by Ambarchi and Avenaim between 1994-2012. For the nearly two decades since, Abrahams, Ambarchi, and Avenaim have intermittently reformed in exclusively live contexts, in Australia and abroad, cultivating and refining the fertile ground first tilled in that early meeting. Placelessness is the first album to present this remarkable trio's efforts in recorded form. Placelessness is the joining of three highly individualised streams, working in perfect harmony; the point at which friendship, mutual respect, and decades of creative exploration produce a singular spectrum of sound. Featuring Abrahams on piano, Ambarchi on guitar, and Avenaim on drums, the album's two sides draw on each artist's enduring dedication to long-form composition. Its two pieces, Placelessness I and Placelessness II, initially began as a single, 40 minute work, before being divided and reworked into distinct, complimentary gestures for the corresponding sides of the LP. Beginning with restrained clusters of reverberant piano tones, Placelessness I progresses at an almost glacial pace, with Abrahams' interventions increasing met by sparse responses, darting within vast ambiences, on guitar and percussion by Ambarchi and Avenaim. Remarkably conversational within its convergences of tonal, rhythmic, and textural abstraction, over the work's duration a progressive sense of tension unfurls and contracts, refusing release, as each of the ensemble's members contribute to an increasingly tangled sense of density at its resolve.While an entirely autonomous work, Placelessness II rapidly realises a distillation of the energy hinted at across the length of its predecessor. Following a luring passage of harmonious calm, Abrahams' launches into shimmering lines of repeating arpeggios, complimented at each escalation of tempo by Avenaim's machine gun fire percussion work and Ambarchi's masterful delivery of tonality and texture, as the trio collectively generate dense sheets of pointillistic ambience within which individual identity is almost lost, before slowly unspooling into unexpected abstractions and dissonances that deftly intervene with the work's inner logic and calm. What could easily be termed a maximalist take on Minimalism, Placelessness is a masterstroke of contemporary, real time composition, that blurs the boundaries between ambient music, experimentalism, free improvisation, and machine music. Drawing on Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim's decades of respective solo and collaborative practice, and the culmination of nearly twenty years of working together as a trio, it's two durational pieces - Placelessness I and Placelessness II - take form with a startling sense of effortlessness and grace, neither shying away from explicit beauty or rigorously tension within their forms

Few albums evoke a sense of place as vividly as Desire!, the third offering from Friend of a Friend. The duo—Claire Molek and Jason Savsani—craft music that feels cinematic and immersive, threading themes of yearning, transformation, and resilience through a palette of lush synths, tactile rhythms, and haunting vocals. Recorded in a sprawling Victorian mansion in rural Illinois, with a history steeped in spiritualism and the paranormal, Desire! not only embodies the environment where it was created but also reflects the duo’s evolution as musicians and sonic architects.

Producer Jordan Lawler (M83), who also worked with the duo on FACILITIES, played a pivotal role in shaping the album’s sound. His approach seamlessly integrates analog and electronic elements, from shimmering synth pads to deep, tactile rhythms. The result is a record that feels both vast and grounded, inviting careful listening to its intricate details.

With Desire!, Friend of a Friend captures their evolution as musicians and storytellers, offering a record that lingers in the spaces between tension and beauty. The result is an immersive and deliberate work, one that showcases their musical innovation and their ability to create a vivid, otherworldly sense of place—haunting and cinematic, like stepping into a film where every sound carries a story.

The band has been named an artist to watch by Rolling Stone, an “American visionary” group by Mesmerized, an “indie rock band taking the scene by storm" by Wonderland Magazine, a "cultural phenomenon" by Extravafrench, "sonic visionaries" by Plastic Magazine, "the next huge thing in indie rock" by Each Measure, and "seamlessly intriguing" by Obscure Sound.

Wielding an ethereal croon and masterful whistle crafted from a lifetime chasing lizards through the Ozark hills, Nick Shoulders is a living link to roots of country music with a penchant for the absurd. Combining his family's deep ties to regional traditional singing with his years of playing to crowded street corners, Nick has sought to forge a hybridized form of raucously clever country music; born of forgotten rocky hollers and bred to confront the tensions of the 21st century South. As evidenced by his surreal album art and anachronistic songwriting, Nick’s creative output is steeped in the complicated history of his beloved home of rural Arkansas, but crafted as a conscious rebuke of country music’s blind allegiance to historical seats of power and repression. With a kind word and a mean yodel, Nick hopes to put the ‘Try’ in country.

A cry out against the withering void of listless Americana, Okay, Crawdad, is the fledgling full-length album from Nick Shoulders and company. A two-step laden dose of indignation, loss and profound elation, the album is inspired as much by the chaos and decadence of south Louisiana as it is the rural sounds of yesteryear from which it sprang. Despite a pandemic-inspired relocation to his home in the Natural State, New Orleans and its community helped meld the forces at play on the album; pitting an adherence to tradition and refusal to conform against each other with grand results. Embracing the mania of the podunk zeitgeist while seeking to enfranchise the meek, Nick Shoulders is here to stay.

'Sexy Tears' is a bold departure from Tristanne's (fka Tristan) critically acclaimed pop-jazz debut Wellif and lets you veer into uncharted territory, from the first tone, the bittersweet and haunting violin tones fade in on opener 'Steady Mouth'. In a split second, Tristanne lets you vanish in a dazzling matrix deep down a rabbit hole, a place where Piero Umiliani's 70s sleazy giallo era sensually resonates with Oneothrix Point Never goldwave frequencies. With a whisper of panting tension, her soothing voice and sonic subliminal temptation she unravels her own lush love secret domain, unlocking deeply hidden lost emotions and mutated feelings.

While mellifluous harp chords in 'If Only' set a scene for a tantalizing new world utopia the percussive clutter of 'Whordus' syncopes and mutate this future dream with a chiastic slide into a videodrome for a jilted generation.

With the help from her musician friends Elisabeth Klinck (violin), Indr? Jurgelevi?i?t? (kanklès), Kaat Vanstralen (flute) and Gert Malfliet (drums), Tristanne's 'Sexy Tears' will hit you straight in the heart, like a modern-day Cupido with a well aimed dazzling sonic arrow. Ready to stay there forever.

Under her stage name Tristanne (formerly known as Tristan), Isolde Van den Bulcke makes music she defines as sitting in a 'grey zone'. By valorizing self-reliance and learning as much as possible from the get-go, the musician and producer hasn't let hardship nor pursuing a niche genre hold her back. She studied jazz vocals for 8 years, released 2 ep's before her debut album 'Wellif' in 2022.

Recommended if you like Piero Umiliani on a Sunday morning, Broadcast on the beach, Oneohtrix Point Never in a romantic mood, Autechre on Ice, Ennio Morricone on LSD, and Pierro Piccioni popping perks.

LIMITED POSTER EDITION (stickers included)

The Acid Machines series is back with its third electrifying release! Dedicated to the darker side of acid techno, this VA compilation is primed to ignite dancefloors and leave a lasting impression on any rave.

Leading the charge, G303 returns with a gripping opener. Starting with an entrancing breakbeat, the track seamlessly transitions into a thunderous four-on-the-floor rhythm, underpinned by resonant basslines that drive its powerful energy forward.

Acidupdub follows with "Steampunk," a masterclass in atmospheric tension and energy. The track evolves from a deep, pulsating low-end into a relentless techno anthem, featuring hypnotic 303 sequences and immersive basslines that demand attention.

New to the Acid Machines family, Citric Acid makes a stunning debut as a resident artist with "Damage" This one-take analog acid experience is a whirlwind of raw, unfiltered energy and pure acid techno brilliance, showcasing Citric Acid's exceptional production skills.

Acid Machines Vol. 3 is a must-have for fans of dark acid techno. Out now on Zodiak Commune Records. Unleash the acid and let the machines take control!

The debut album from CEM, 'FORMA' was developed as a soundtrack to Mauro Ventura’s series of "action painting performances" and uses various bell sounds (cowbells, doorbells, Shinto bells, singing bowls) to pick out anxious giallo sequences and heaving Dadaist formations.

CEM's best known for pneumatic DJ sets that have propped up Berlin's queer underground for a decade at this point, but don't expect to find any vaped darkroom tek on 'FORMA'. Each of the six compositions were commissioned for Ventura’s performative installation at Volksbühne in 2022, and CEM opted to represent the piece's themes of labor and repetition by sampling an arsenal of bells and metal objects that anchor his varying widescreen vignettes. 'The Calling' is a relatively subtle introduction, establishing the space with double bass drones and ratcheting digitally altered chimes - it's 'Bells Corrupt' that cements CEM's concept more righteously, harking back to Goblin's iconic 'Suspiria' score without pastiching any of its Italo-prog themes. Cycling ritualistic bell loops with squashed, industrial-strength thuds and granulised laptop belches, CEM silhouettes the tension and the vivid color of Argento's film, chrome plating the result.

'An Industrial Satire' is even more convincing; this one takes its cues from legendary German sound artist Limpe Fuchs, and the first part integrates scraped, alien resonances with CEM's loping industrial rhythms and squelchy EBM bassline. The real shift occurs in the second part, when CEM's choppy electroacoustic minimalism falls away to unlock his rolling hand drum performance, that he matches with a ghaita sample lifted from the Master Musicians of Joujouka's 1971 album with Brian Jones. With the future-facing deconstructions a memory, 'Statue Garden' beds reedy organ drones in eerie gallery ambiance, and closer 'The New Sincerity Test' finds Lithuanian performance artist Gertrūda Gilytė skewering the wellness industrial complex over nauseous subsonic oscillations and scratchy noise.

For their second album 'The Foel Tower', Quade holed up in an old stone barn in the cradle of a Welsh mountain valley.
The valley was a stark and windswept backdrop with little daylight, as the band would huddle around crackling fires each evening. “There was very much a feeling of being on the complete fringes of society,” the band says. “The last vestiges of settlement before the unrelenting barren moors that loomed over us.”
It was an environment that would shape the band – a Bristol four piece made up of Barney Matthews, Leo Fini, Matt Griffiths and Tom Connolly – and the record they have made. It’s an album that is as dreamy as it is melancholic, and as quiet and tender as it is forceful and potent – gliding across genres like winds blowing over those wide-spanning Welsh hills – to arrive at something the band half-jokingly, yet somewhat accurately, describe as “doomer sad boy, ambient-dub, folk, experimental post-rock.”

Quade is a band but it’s also a very close-knit group that have been friends since childhood who use this musical vehicle for interpersonal explorations and connections. “We’ve individually experienced a lot of difficulty over the last several years and Quade has represented a space to shelter from these,” the band says. “This means we often communicate extensively with each other about the issues affecting us individually and collectively. These conversations and concerns are central to The Foel Tower.”

In many ways, the making of this record – or any Quade record – goes way deeper than the simple writing, construction and recording of music. It is a profoundly deep and meaningful experience. “A key theme of the album relates to why we connect with specific places in the way that we do,” the group says. “We often remove ourselves to isolated valleys, sheltered from some of the painful personal struggles that we have experienced as a band. These become spaces in which we collectively purge ourselves of some of these difficulties hoping to make Quade a physical and emotional place of solace. This album celebrates these places that we’ve been able to retreat to and recuperate.”

It is a deep, dense record that is stuffed with musical, cinematic and literary influences – from Ursula La Guin and Cormac MacCarthy through to RS Thomas and Yeats – but despite the heavy, introspective and anxious nature of some of the material, it is also a record that is remarkably deft, agile and considered.

Made with producer Jack Ogborne and mixer Larry ‘Bruce’ McCarthy, there is a pleasing duality to the final sound of the record. One that feels fragile and intimate but also powerful and forceful, as introspective as it is expansive, and a record that is as detailed and textured as it is wide open and spacious.

The album title also pays homage to the place that shaped it so greatly. Within this remote Welsh valley stands the Foel Tower, a stone structure filled with valves and cylinders that can raise and lower the level of the reservoir to draw off water. Which it can then send as far as 70 miles to Birmingham. However, in the late 1800s this land was occupied by local farmers and families in the hundreds until the British Government acquired the land, cleared the valleys, and promptly displaced them in order to begin serving the vastly expanding industrial English city. The band dug into the history and politics of this and wove it into the themes they were already thinking about, using what the Foel Tower stands for as something of a contemporary metaphor. “This tension was something that we wanted to explore without the haughty judgement of our more metropolitan lifestyles,” they say. “And to explore how this specifically relates to ourselves: how can we envisage a genuinely ecological future for ourselves – one that is accessible, affordable and in harmony with endangered rural practices.”

What makes The Foel Tower such an incredible record is that it feels born of a time, place and situation that only existed in that very moment. It’s a snapshot of those 10 days spent in rural Wales and all the feelings and anxieties the band were experiencing at that specific time, magically caught on tape. “The album very much feels tied to this valley for us and the conversations and experiences we shared there,” they say. “It brings up a great deal of poignancy for us, an emblem of some fleeting respite from the strains we all have to experience. But there’s also deep sadness knowing how transient these moments are – in fact, there’s just a great deal of sadness in this album. But it’s also a record that while personal, resigned, and emotionally burdened, is ultimately hopeful.”

The signal mutates. Following the first installment, Parallax Effect PT.2 finds Versalife shifting gears, distilling his unmistakable rhythmic instincts into something even more elastic and unpredictable. Smeared low-end and restless sequences coil around a framework of percussive movement, flickering between restraint and momentum. There's an underlying tension--one moment held in suspense, the next unfolding into fluid motion. The machine logic remains intact, but with an organic pulse running through it, shaping each track in real time. A fitting counterweight to PT.1, this second chapter bends the perspective once more, closing the series with a sense of motion still lingering in the air.

2025 Repress

Mint Green Vinyl. Graham Jonson is drawn to the comforts of melody and noise. How the two conspire in tension, tonally and atonally, stirring up memory and mood. This quality animates the technicolor world of quickly, quickly, the psych-pop project that emanates from Kenton Sound, his basement studio in Portland, Oregon. "Everywhere your eye lands, there's another curio to marvel over," noted Pitchfork's Philip Sherburne when he visited Jonson's recording space for a Rising feature just after the release of his "strikingly original" 2021 debut LP, The Long and Short of It. Since then, Jonson formed a live band, released his Easy Listening EP in 2023, and navigated the up-and-downs of a young musician, the sustainability of tours and relationships. While shaped by personal bouts and fallouts, his highly-anticipated full-length follow-up finds Jonson making music that's universal, open-ended, and rewarding, like great songwriters can do. He set out to make a folk album but couldn't help coloring it in with noise; a confluence of lush instrumentation and unexpected sounds. Ambitious yet intimate, hi-fi yet homespun, the idiosyncratic songs on I Heard That Noise curve around the contours of everyday life with warmth, wit, and dissonance.

A collaboration between US label Astral Spirits and Sweden’s Thanatosis Produktion, It could / If I marks the debut album from Stockholm-based duo Johan Jutterström (saxophone) and Alex Zethson (piano). Together, they reinterpret jazz standards and explore an eclectic mix of compositions by Leonard Cohen, Pet Shop Boys, John Lurie, and 19th-century composer Alexander Fesca.

Jutterström and Zethson’s musical partnership dates back to their teenage years, when they bonded over a love for jazz and the struggle to find their own voice within it. Their duo work has always been about navigating that tension—trying to capture jazz, failing, and finding another way forward. This album continues that pursuit, emphasizing not just what is played, but how it is played.

The record’s title reflects their approach: a process of reaching for something just out of grasp. Songs are deconstructed, rearranged, and treated like palimpsests—scrubbed clean and rewritten while allowing traces of the original to shine through. The result is a dynamic and deeply personal exploration of sound, filled with both reverence and reinvention.

Both musicians have extensive backgrounds in jazz, improvisation, and experimental music. Zethson, a prolific pianist and composer, has worked with ensembles like Fire! Orchestra and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, and plays keyboards in ensembles such as Vilhelm Bromander Unfolding Orchestra, Goran Kajfes Tropiques, Vathres, and Angles (current with the jazzopera The Death of Kalypso). Jutterström, a saxophonist with an artistic PhD, has performed internationally and runs the ensemble STHLM svaga, a band who have performed commissioned pieces by jazz legends such as Ron Carter, Archie Shepp and Roscoe Mitchell.

With It could / If I, the duo crafts an intricate, ever-shifting dialogue—an ongoing attempt to "stick jazz music," as they put it, constantly approaching, never quite arriving, and finding beauty in the pursuit.

Lion, The Lion is Definition's summary of a phase of life. It roars with an unmistakable sense of strength, woven into every resonating beat and drifting melody.
Through shimmering synth textures, driving basslines, and subtle vocal traces, it carries you across a spectrum of emotional states—from feverish, pulsing energy to meditative introspection. Each track feels like a small yet significant battle won, a testament to resilience in the face of challenges. Percussion elements build tension, then dissolve into moments of calm, highlighting the dynamic interplay of fragility and power. Beneath its surface lies a constant wave of determination, anchoring the album’s softer elements in a foundation of raw strength.
Twisting tempos and sudden shifts in atmosphere propel you forward, ensuring that no section remains complacent or still. There is both grit and grace here, fused together in a complete experience that summons courage from the very first note. As the journey unfolds, a quiet resolve emerges, a promise of hope amid challenging times. Ultimately, the record stands as a moving ode to perseverance, asserting that true might resides not in grand gestures, but in the steady, unwavering pulse that keeps us going.

Dekmantel UFO Series continues its resurgent form with a new album of bruising, industrial wave and techno from Broken English Club. UK techno mainstay Oliver Ho debuted his dark and brooding alias more than 10 years ago with a release on Jealous God under the guidance of the late, great Juan Mendez (Silent Servant) — Songs Of Love And Decay is explicitly dedicated to Mendez, whose influence runs deep in this seductively sinister corner of underground, independent electronic music.

Within the overarching aesthetic of the Broken English Club sound, Ho finds the freedom to deliver a full spectrum album as diverse as it is consistent. You can sense the shadow of his roots in 90s tribal techno punching through on 'Crawling' and 'Death Cult', while 'England Heretic' leans on thick swathes of analogue synthesis indebted to Giallo soundtracks and the ever-compelling lure of 80s synthwave. In its grinding layers of distortion and dubbed out vocals 'Vessel Of Skin' speaks more to the post-punk influences which have set Broken English Club apart since the outset. This isn't a purely retro-fetishist expedition, though — 'Pacific Island Kill' and 'Lost Gods' exude stark modernism in their sharply-angled sequences and dramatic sound design, moving beyond the functional demands of 4/4 dance music to reach to more cinematic zones.

These are but some of the approaches Ho burrows into as he shapes out the depth and breadth of his muse on Songs Of Love And Decay. It's marked by the undeniable impact of his production, perfected over a decades-deep career at the bleeding edge of machine music. At times the album celebrates the addictive thrust of the dancefloor, while elsewhere it relishes the tension of suspended animation. Throughout, the gritty veneer binds together this accomplished, uncompromising body of work as both a fierce artistic statement and a loving tribute to Mendez — an artist who equally embodied the darker side of the dance.

Across eight tracks, Tilliander and Kajfes masterfully balance slow, lumbering machine pulses, delicate synth textures, and impeccable trumpet lines. Tilliander's use of both analog and digital synths carve out the structure of these sonic sculptures, while Kajfes's elegant trumpet playing pushes against them, infusing the dreamy soundscapes with both acoustic tension and melodic detail. Individually, Andreas Tilliander and Goran Kajfes have long been recognized as leading names in Swedish electronic music and jazz, respectively. Both have consistently pushed and transcended the boundaries of their genres. Tilliander has explored everything from techno, drones, and dub to clicks'n'cuts under monikers like TM404 and Mokira. Kajfes has been a relentless innovator in jazz, playing a central role in bands such as Oddjob, Subtropic Arkestra, Tropiques, Nacka Forum, and Fire! Orchestra. Now, they join forces, forging a new path for both ambient and jazz music.

Moving Pressure 03 lands as Rene Wise's third release on his imprint. With a refined approach to rhythm and restraint, the artist once again distills techno to its purest form: hypnotic, percussive, and propulsive. Across four tracks and in line with the label's essence, MP03 thrives on movement-low-end mastery meets tightly coiled grooves, while textural elements shift and evolve with subtle precision.
A1 'Relax' sets the foundation with a mighty sub-base, rolling forward with effortless force. Chopped-up claps ricochet through the mix, while a funky, disembodied vocal repeats a single command: "relax". Then comes 'Chomp Chomp', a denser offering in Wise's sensorial arsenal. Layered with gritty textures, his signature percussion builds a soundscape that is both tactile and weightless, evoking a kinetic dream state where groove and space are in constant conversation. On the flip, 'Cave' plunges into murkier terrain. Swathed in fog and sinister atmospherics, it unfolds through an eerie blend of sci-fi surrealism and grounded physicality. Bleeps hover like distant signals, their sharpness softened by a cavernous, smothering embrace. It's a study in tension-hypnotic and unsettling in equal measure. Closing the release is 'Deep Under', a track that embodies its name with subterranean mystique. The soundscape is rich with detail, an ecosystem of sonic fragments shifting beneath the surface. It's immersive yet elusive, like catching glimpses of something just out of reach-a mirage that flickers between the tangible and the ethereal.
This is minimalism with intent, built for deep immersion. Less, here, is infinitely more.

Songs of Silence is a beautiful turn-based strategy game of fantasy warfare. Leading one of the game's distinct factions, it is the player's task to conquer randomized maps through military might, subterfuge or arcane means. Intriguing hero stories grounded in a rich fantasy world create emotional bonds and give meaning to the player's actions. Roguelike meta-game progression, based on heroes' personal stories and unlocking new features and content via playing, ensuring long-time motivation and keeping the game excitingly fresh. The atmospheric soundtrack of the game is composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, the famous artist behind all-time favourites such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy 12 and Valkyria Chronicles. Sakimoto describes his way into creating the soundtrack for Songs of Silence: "Regarding Songs of Silence, the stage design and the world-building are incredibly detailed and meticulously crafted. The settings are thoroughly developed and each region has its own unique culture. Given this highly refined world, I believe that my role was primarily to support and enhance the atmosphere with sound. At the same time, I wanted to ensure that the music conveys the uniqueness of this world. When people see it, I want them to feel its strong presence while also recognizing that it is a world unlike anything they have seen before. Expressing this uniqueness and reinforcing the impression it leaves is, in my view, the role of music and sound." But Sakimoto's music isn't just pushing the gamer's experience, it aims to add a little extra in a way that only his profession is able to: "It's a bit difficult to describe the specific 'feeling' I was aiming for, but I intend to create sounds and music that people have rarely heard before. Since the world itself is already well-defined, my approach was to add an extra layer - something that cannot be conveyed through visuals or text alone - through music."

Mazy Fly, the second full-length by the Bay Area artist SPELLLING, explores the tension between the thrill of exploring the unknown and the terror of imminent destruction. Chrystia Cabral spent the summer of 2018 in her Berkeley studio reflecting on the thresholds of human progress and longing for a new and better tomorrow. She was struck by the way the same technologies that have given humans the ability to achieve utopian dreams of discovery have also brought the world to the precipice of dystopic global devastation. Despite the darkness of this reality, Mazy Fly is defiantly optimistic. It is a celestial voyage into the unknown, piloted by Cabral. Mazy Fly musically traverses the spaces between languid, honey-soaked vocals and distant angelic whispers, from thumping 808 club beats to crunching tape loops, and from silky, smooth R&B to whirling organ sonatas. Cabral became enamored by the idea of flight as a harbinger of both progress and apocalypse, and that was expressed in the textures and compositional techniques she utilized. Swarms, flocks, flies, angels, spaceships, flying saucers - all are represented sonically by Cabral and her Juno-106 synthesizer.

"Petrol", one of Manu Kenton's most iconic tracks, makes its highly anticipated return in a limited edition that will appeal to both collectors and techno enthusiasts. This special version features not only the original track, but also exclusive remixes that reinterpret the piece from different angles, offering a diverse and exciting sonic palette.

Manu Kenton, staying true to his creative genius, revisits his own track by adding an energetic and catchy vocal, bringing a fresh new dynamic to the already electrifying atmosphere of the original.
The Gregor Size remix is a true powerhouse: dynamic, industrial, and powerful, it transforms "Petrol" into a heavy, punchy piece, with dark textures and irresistible rhythms that leave a lasting impression.
Greg Denbosa, on the other hand, delivers a progressive techno remix, with a dynamic and repetitive beat that builds tension, creating a hypnotic experience perfectly suited for the dancefloor.
Finally, Bestien offers a nervous, straight, and punchy version, ideal for the peak moments of a night. His explosive remix ramps up the intensity on the dancefloors, with raw energy and power that demands attention.

Visually, this vinyl stands out with its "Yolk" effect, a unique blend of white and white with luminous accents, creating a striking and modern design that will enhance any collection.

Français

"Petrol", l'un des morceaux les plus emblématiques de Manu Kenton, fait son grand retour dans une édition limitée qui séduira aussi bien les collectionneurs que les passionnés de techno. Cette version spéciale inclut non seulement la version originale du titre, mais aussi des remixes inédits qui réinterprètent le morceau sous des angles différents, offrant ainsi une palette sonore variée et excitante.

Manu Kenton, fidèle à son génie créatif, revisite son propre morceau en y ajoutant un vocal énergique et entraînant, donnant une nouvelle dynamique à l'atmosphère déjà électrisante de l'original.
Le remix de Gregor Size est un véritable tour de force : très dynamique, industriel et puissant, il transforme "Petrol" en une œuvre lourde et percutante, avec des textures sombres et des rythmes irrésistibles qui marquent les esprits.
Greg Denbosa, quant à lui, propose un remix techno progressif, avec un beat dynamique et répétitif qui crée une tension croissante, offrant une expérience hypnotique et parfaitement calibrée pour les sets dansants.
Enfin, Bestien livre une version nerveuse, droite et percutante, idéale pour les moments intenses d'une soirée. Son remix explosif fait monter l’intensité sur les dancefloors, avec une énergie brute et une puissance qui ne laisse personne indifférent.

Visuellement, ce vinyle se distingue par un effet "Yolk", un mélange unique de blanc et de rouge lumineux, créant un visuel frappant et moderne qui enrichira toute collection.

Z Records returns with a Hustle-tastic 12" to light up both your life and DJ sets. It's the boss himself Dave Lee who kicks off with his extended rework of a bonafide Brit Funk classic in the shape of Hi Tension's 'British Hustle'. Featuring David Josephs's signature vocals over the chugging Caribbean rhythm track, its a song that's never received an extended club mix from the tapes since its first release in 1978. His second cut is a Re-Wriggle of a Funky Worm volume pumping classic that becomes a fat-bottomed house jam with stomping brass, ear-worm vocal hooks and Latin inspired keys. "On the flip' (as they say) is Foreal People's 'Tango Hustle' - a driving clav heavy, jazz funk workout complete with chanting dance instructions over various solos. Add in an Acapella and some 'Hustle Beats' and you have a very muscular package.

Kneading dough is tricky – you should know how it’s supposed to feel. If you try too hard you could make it worse. It’s a beautiful practice – creation with a gentle touch, to work at something so it can be left alone. “If it’s too drawn out it’s awful. It’s easy to give too much.” Dance in the mirror. Contemplate your veiny hands. Who do they remind you of?

You begin by mixing flour and water. “What happens when your people die? Why’d they move the rock to the other side of Ulster Park?” Eliza Niemi asks two seemingly unrelated questions in a rising melody with guitar accompaniment, like fingers playing spider up to the nape of your neck. Gentle pressure. Strands of gluten form to bind the mix. A new question lingers in the binding. When she admits “but I don’t know how to tell if I’m feeling it or not,” that question surfaces through the text. It is reiterated throughout the album. When I’m working with dough I think the same thing to myself.

On Progress Bakery, her second album as a solo artist, Eliza knows to leave some questions alone – to let juxtaposition and tension be the proof. It doesn’t have to be hard. The feelings and revelations they provoke rise in the heat. The smell is sweet. Crispy on the outside and soft all the way through. She playfully slip-slides through words and sounds and images, delighting in surprise, skimming ideas like stones cast across clear water, touching down briefly with uncommon grace.

The question provoked between those opening lines resurfaces in the strands between songs – “Do U FM” is fully formed and beautifully layered, while “Novelist Sad Face” is a short, acapella rendering of gentle curiosity. What is holding these ideas together? Some songs demand more, seem to carry a whole load – eventually the skipping stone will halt to sink and resume its idle duty – while others drift in and out of focus, the way thoughts and dreams become interwoven before the mind is sunk into true sleep.

Music and words don’t always have to interact. Where she decides to keep them apart gives a new contour to where and how she puts them together. The kind of thing you’re supposed to take for granted with songs and their singers comes alive in Eliza’s hands – the little miracle of mixing, kneading, stretching, and stopping.

So often on Progress Bakery, Eliza teases out truth and meaning by asking questions. “Do I wanna be crying?” “Do you want me good or do you want me bad?” “Do I need an eye test?” “I’m writing songs in my head while you’re going over stuff with me — is that cruel??” In “Pocky” Eliza ends with a question that feels to me like the actual biography, succinct and revealing:

I don’t wanna be made to see
I just wanna ask “what’s that?”

Grace that ought to be rare, but in its care and precision is offered humbly, with great generosity, and without announcing itself. Eliza’s simple, miraculous music is given further form and shape by a group of collaborators – invaluable guest musicians Jeremy Ray, Evan Cartwright, Steven McPhail, Kenny Boothby, Ed Squires, Carolina Chauffe, Dorothea Paas, Louie Short, and Avalon Tassonyi. Together with Louie Short, who recorded, mixed, and produced the album along with Jeremy Ray and Lukas Cheung, Eliza has cultivated a richness in sound and texture that prods and provokes the ticklish ear. Barely audible guitar tinkering, a brief lo-fi field recording of trumpets, the harmonic clicking of a looped synthesizer, a flourish of reeds, a child’s conversation, each uncanny sound perfectly placed, rippling out under a soft breeze.

Lay in bed alone at night and ask aloud to the stillness,

“What were you doing at the Albuquerque Airport?
What were you doing there??”

And hear your question answered by a dream of swelling, undulating cellos. Try to grasp at the melody and structure. It’s not an answer (if there could be one), but it moves deeper, closer to the weird layer of fleeting moments and disconnected images, barely perceptible at its core. Wait for the dream reel to click into place.

Eliza took me for a ride in Nicole (her beloved Dodge Grand Caravan) and told me she’d been thinking of the album as an embodiment of transition – and I think every transition, known or unknown, carries the weight of new meaning, skittering off the surface tension of life as you know it, creating ripples, sometimes bouncing off and sometimes breaking through. There is a trick you can use to tell if a dough is glutinous enough. You’re supposed to stretch it out as thin as you can without breaking it and hold it up to the light. If you can see through, even if it renders the world murky and uncertain, you should leave it alone. I love this trick. It’s one that Eliza seems to know intuitively: work gently and ask questions and don’t always expect answers, and when you can, take a glimpse at something new, and then leave.

Kneading dough is tricky – you should know how it’s supposed to feel. If you try too hard you could make it worse. It’s a beautiful practice – creation with a gentle touch, to work at something so it can be left alone. “If it’s too drawn out it’s awful. It’s easy to give too much.” Dance in the mirror. Contemplate your veiny hands. Who do they remind you of?

You begin by mixing flour and water. “What happens when your people die? Why’d they move the rock to the other side of Ulster Park?” Eliza Niemi asks two seemingly unrelated questions in a rising melody with guitar accompaniment, like fingers playing spider up to the nape of your neck. Gentle pressure. Strands of gluten form to bind the mix. A new question lingers in the binding. When she admits “but I don’t know how to tell if I’m feeling it or not,” that question surfaces through the text. It is reiterated throughout the album. When I’m working with dough I think the same thing to myself.

On Progress Bakery, her second album as a solo artist, Eliza knows to leave some questions alone – to let juxtaposition and tension be the proof. It doesn’t have to be hard. The feelings and revelations they provoke rise in the heat. The smell is sweet. Crispy on the outside and soft all the way through. She playfully slip-slides through words and sounds and images, delighting in surprise, skimming ideas like stones cast across clear water, touching down briefly with uncommon grace.

The question provoked between those opening lines resurfaces in the strands between songs – “Do U FM” is fully formed and beautifully layered, while “Novelist Sad Face” is a short, acapella rendering of gentle curiosity. What is holding these ideas together? Some songs demand more, seem to carry a whole load – eventually the skipping stone will halt to sink and resume its idle duty – while others drift in and out of focus, the way thoughts and dreams become interwoven before the mind is sunk into true sleep.

Music and words don’t always have to interact. Where she decides to keep them apart gives a new contour to where and how she puts them together. The kind of thing you’re supposed to take for granted with songs and their singers comes alive in Eliza’s hands – the little miracle of mixing, kneading, stretching, and stopping.

So often on Progress Bakery, Eliza teases out truth and meaning by asking questions. “Do I wanna be crying?” “Do you want me good or do you want me bad?” “Do I need an eye test?” “I’m writing songs in my head while you’re going over stuff with me — is that cruel??” In “Pocky” Eliza ends with a question that feels to me like the actual biography, succinct and revealing:

I don’t wanna be made to see
I just wanna ask “what’s that?”

Grace that ought to be rare, but in its care and precision is offered humbly, with great generosity, and without announcing itself. Eliza’s simple, miraculous music is given further form and shape by a group of collaborators – invaluable guest musicians Jeremy Ray, Evan Cartwright, Steven McPhail, Kenny Boothby, Ed Squires, Carolina Chauffe, Dorothea Paas, Louie Short, and Avalon Tassonyi. Together with Louie Short, who recorded, mixed, and produced the album along with Jeremy Ray and Lukas Cheung, Eliza has cultivated a richness in sound and texture that prods and provokes the ticklish ear. Barely audible guitar tinkering, a brief lo-fi field recording of trumpets, the harmonic clicking of a looped synthesizer, a flourish of reeds, a child’s conversation, each uncanny sound perfectly placed, rippling out under a soft breeze.

Lay in bed alone at night and ask aloud to the stillness,

“What were you doing at the Albuquerque Airport?
What were you doing there??”

And hear your question answered by a dream of swelling, undulating cellos. Try to grasp at the melody and structure. It’s not an answer (if there could be one), but it moves deeper, closer to the weird layer of fleeting moments and disconnected images, barely perceptible at its core. Wait for the dream reel to click into place.

Eliza took me for a ride in Nicole (her beloved Dodge Grand Caravan) and told me she’d been thinking of the album as an embodiment of transition – and I think every transition, known or unknown, carries the weight of new meaning, skittering off the surface tension of life as you know it, creating ripples, sometimes bouncing off and sometimes breaking through. There is a trick you can use to tell if a dough is glutinous enough. You’re supposed to stretch it out as thin as you can without breaking it and hold it up to the light. If you can see through, even if it renders the world murky and uncertain, you should leave it alone. I love this trick. It’s one that Eliza seems to know intuitively: work gently and ask questions and don’t always expect answers, and when you can, take a glimpse at something new, and then leave.

Berlin based Greek artist Georgios Papamanoglou returns to his Deep Series imprint with the ‘Instan Bliss’ EP this March, accompanied by two remixes from Iron Curtis.

Georgios Papamanoglou has been been involved in the underground House and Techno scene since the turn of the millennium, making him mark through his multiple imprints Diaphan Music and Deep Series with releases from himself and other artists such as Nekes and Ekkohaus among others. After a few years hiatus 2023 saw Georgios return to relaunch his Deep Series label with the ‘Dark Path’ EP, featuring a remix from fellow Greek Techno stalwart, XDB. Here he returns with his new project ‘Instant Bliss’ made up of two originals and two remixes from the much loved Office Recordings and Hudd Traxx regular, Iron Curtis.

‘Millions Of Sounds’ opens the release and sees Georgios lay down a bubbling arpeggio lead line, shimmering analogue drums and intricately oscillating synth lines all dynamically evolving and unfolding throughout. Iron Curtis’ ‘Drama Mix’ of ‘Instant Bliss’ follows and sees the German artist employ hypnontic atmospherics, cinematics strings and a choppy bass sequence alongside stripped back drums.

Opening the b-side is Iron Curtis’ second remix the ‘Supersorry Mix’ of ‘Instant Bliss’, this time round laying focus on squelchy 303 licks, crisp breakbeats and an underlying textural tension. Papamanaglou’s original of ‘Instant Bliss’ then completes the package, a nine minune cinematic journey through enchanting strings, polyrhythms and robotic glithes.

Hüma Utku returns to Editions Mego with her new album. The title Dracones makes reference to the mediaeval latin term "Hic sunt dracones" (Here be dragons), marking the unexplored, dangerous places on world maps, expressing the fear of chaos, the unexpected and the unknown.

This new work by the Istanbul sound artist is a sonic journal of an expedition into uncharted territory, one which occupies self and domesticity. Inspired by Utku’s experience of matrescence, Dracones explores the themes of familial demonology, metamorphosis and homecoming as well as human relationship to the experience of love woven layers of euphoria, alienation and consumption.

Musically, Dracones traverses a wide array of sonic tools whereby industrial sounds are imbedded with certain psychological angles, this is an album where, all matter meshes into a sly snapshot of the human experience with a tension and release exposure occurring frequently with dark corners opening up to bright layers of electronic experimentation.

The haunting opening track ‘A World Between Worlds’ tackles pregnancy, of which Utku was experiencing when making this record. The emotional, physical, spiritual and mental experience of this journey is all documented here.. This track features the ‘Lyraei’, an electromagnetic string instrument and modern interpretation of the ancient lyre, that was built and played by Mihalis Shammas. ‘Comfort of The Shadows’ moves from within to without, what was once hidden is now exposed. Utku’s ability to conjure the visual in the sonic is at the forefront as howling electronics give a distinct impression of movement. ‘A Familial Curse’ presents a desire to break the cycle of generational trauma with a creeping sense of dread that rolls into an industrial rhythm prior to landing in a beautiful place represented with shimmering guitar tones. ‘Here be Dragons’ is a rich and dark evocation, a spooked surrender to the themes of the record whereby Utku’s wildly distorted voice beckons all manner of phantasmagoria over cello and recordings of her ultrasound. ‘Care in Consume’ engages in further sonic exploration as a means of conjuring ‘matriphagy’, with its unique psychic energy coursing through electronic veins. ‘A House within a House’ could also be read as a body within a body as the pulse of ultrasound audio rattle amongst a cage of thudding rhythms and swirling electronics, one also ending in optimism as an exquisite melody is born from the prior fire. The striking journey ends with the more soothing ‘Ayaz’a’, a track embracing love and all the hardships that a period of fundamental metamorphosis brings, this is a heartfelt dedication to her son and concludes an album draped in life, experience, joy and pain.

Dracones is a deeply visual journey through inner and outer worlds, a space where symbolic evocation is supreme and passive listening is not an option.

All tracks composed,performed and recorded by Hüma Utku
Buchla 100, vocals, cello, electric guitar performed by Hüma Utku
‘’A World Between Worlds’’ features the ‘Lyraei’ built, played and recorded by Mihalis Shammas
Buchla 100 recorded in EMS Stockholm 2022-2023

Mixed by Enyang Urbiks
Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC
Cover Artwork by Marco Ciceri
Design by Tina Frank

If every significant artist has an underrated gem in its catalog, then Mirage is that album for Fleetwood Mac. An obvious return to relative simplicity after the dramatic tension of Rumours and experimental ambitions of Tusk, the 1982 album finds the band re-grouping after a brief hiatus and again climbing to the top of the charts. Extremely well-crafted, well-produced, and well-performed, the double-platinum effort distills the group’s hallmark strengths into a filler-free set that never runs short of addictive pop hooks or daft accents.

Sourced from the original analog master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, and housed in a Stoughton jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents Mirage in reference sound for the first time. The efforts co-producers/engineers Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut went to capture the splintered albeit formidable band can be heard with stunning accuracy, range, depth, and detail.

Though Rumours understandably gets a permanent spot in the audiophile hall of fame, the smooth, clear, and dynamic sonics on Mirage confirm that the record that stood as Fleetwood Mac’s last effort for five years deserves a place in the same vaunted arena. The presence and imaging of Mick Fleetwood’s percussion alone on this reissue might have you wondering how this slice of soft-rock bliss has gone under-noticed for decades. Other prized aural aspects — separation, definition, impact, tonal balance — are also here in spades.

Like much surrounding Fleetwood Mac in the 1980s, arriving at Mirage was not easy. Caillat searched for studios located outside of Los Angeles on a mission to change up the vibe of the band’s prior recording sessions. Everyone settled on Le Chateau in France, where relations between some members remained icy — and cooperation with the producers strained. Battles with exhaustion, bitterness, and addiction further informed the proceedings at the 18th century complex in the French countryside, where even communal meals were allegedly eaten in silence.

Inevitably, the feelings that co-producer Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, and company harbored — as well as the situations in which they found themselves — drifted into the songwriting. In its rapid ascent to rock-star royalty status, Fleetwood Mac drifted apart, embarked on solo pursuits, and found it was lonely at the top. Emptiness, the illusion of dreams, the longing for love, the want to escape to bygone times of innocence and happiness: Such themes inform a majority of the narratives. Even if the lyrics regularly take a back seat to easygoing arrangements that allow Mirage to come on like a refreshing breeze on a sunny summer afternoon.

Home to three Top 25 singles in the U.S. and having occupied the pole position of the Top 200 album charts for five weeks, Mirage rightfully resonated with the mainstream and attracted listeners on both sides of the pond. And how, via a smart blend of sugary melodies, warm harmonies, interlaced notes, nimble rhythms, taut structures, and passionate vocals. Not to mention the presence of what arguably remains Nicks’ signature song, the biographical “Gypsy,” a meditation on the loss of her close friend Robin Anderson that teems with majesty, mystery, and mysticism — and which gets an assist from Buckingham’s shaded tack piano and richly strummed guitar chords.

Its ranking as an all-time classic aside, that No. 12 hit has plenty of company when it comes to brilliant pop turns on Mirage. On the subject of Nicks, the raspy singer gets a little bit country on “That’s Alright.” Its clip-clopping pace and two-stepping progression complement subtle vocal swells that emerge during the final verse of a tune that is ostensibly about leaving but still conveys forgiveness and grace. And what would a Fleetwood Mac record be without Nicks drawing on the tools of the supernatural — cards, dreams, wolves, and the like — on the twirling “Straight Back.”

Despite the potency of Nicks’ primary contributions, Mirage seemingly unfolds as a tight competition between Buckingham and McVie — and one that ultimately ends in a draw. Buckingham’s salvos include the contagious “Can’t Go Back,” a yearning to time-travel back to the past that’s complete with hall-of-mirrors backing vocals; “Oh Diane,” out-of- left-field ear candy sweetened with hiccupped vocals and salt-and-pepper-shaken grooves; the chiming “Eyes of the World”; and “Empire State,” a delightfully fluttering track whose high-range vocals, lap harp notes, and ringing xylophones hint at the galaxies of sound that would erupt on Tango in the Night.

Then there’s McVie. As elegant, understated, and coolheaded as she’s ever been on record, she pours her heart out on cuts that revolve around her inevitable split with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. In the process, she punctuates Mirage with a characteristic not always associated with catchy pop music: emotional weight, and the sense of dreaded acceptance in the face of dreams deferred.

“I wish you were here/Holding me tight,” McVie sings over a delicate melody on the album-closing piano ballad “Wish You Were Here.” Though they hoped otherwise, for the members Fleetwood Mac, distance and separation were always close at hand. Believing otherwise, inviting nostalgia, and pretending everything was fine only amounts to a mirage.

That’s the Price of Loving Me marks Dean Wareham’s (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean & Britta, ) evocative return, rekindling his partnership with producer Kramer for the first time since Galaxie 500's This Is Our Music in 1990.

Recorded in six days in Los Angeles, the album is steeped in lush, haunting soundscapes, driven by Wareham's signature reverb-soaked guitars and melancholic, dreamlike vocals. Britta Phillips joins on bass and harmonies, while Gabe Noel’s cello adds depth and tension. “Two takes yield more treasure than twenty,” notes longtime friend Matt Fishbeck, as Kramer's insistence on spontaneity infuses the project with raw immediacy.

Thematically, Wareham delves into the poetry of memory, set against a backdrop of wistful nostalgia and existential reflection. "Songs are in dialogue with other songs" Fishbeck writes. The lead single, “We’re Not Finished Yet,” is a playful, introspective meditation where Wareham drops his own name while relishing the tactile joy of the guitar. “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray” unfolds like a somber narrative, underpinned by Noel’s cello and crowned with a haunting bass harmonica by Kramer, encapsulating the emotional ambivalence of friendship and loyalty.

“That’s the Price of Loving Me” pulses with conga rhythms and Kramer’s vintage Moog, capturing Wareham’s musings on the life of a performer and the sacrifices it demands. Fishbeck describes “The Mystery Guest” as "an acrostic poem" and concludes by saying "We're not finished yet." 'Loving Me' also includes two covers, Mayo Thompson's 'Dear Betty Baby' and Nico's 'Reich der Träume.' The latter highlights his love for blending history and homage, sung entirely in German for a chillingly authentic touch.

Dean returns with his fourth solo album and his first album for Carpark Records. Inspired by the past yet resonant in its present-day relevance, the album’s sonic palette is reminiscent of Galaxie 500’s dream-pop roots, tempered with the matured introspection of Wareham’s later works. “Dean traffics in memory,” writes Fishbeck, reflecting on the record’s seamless blend of intimate recollections and catchy hooks. The result is a cohesive work encapsulating the duality of Wareham’s career: haunted by the past, yet steadfastly pushing forward. As Fishbeck poignantly puts it, “Imagination is nothing but the working over of what is remembered.”

OHYUNG aka Lia Ouyang Rusli describes their new album as “my trans self and my former self in conversation, from both perspectives.” The record represents their lengthy, complicated, but crucial journey between lives, strewn with both doubt and excitement. It is an ecstatic, pop-oriented shift in direction from an artist primarily known for noise, experimental hip-hop, and ambient music, but carried with sleek confidence, maturity, and a silvery, hallucinogenic shimmer that reveals Rusli’s experimental background. It is, writes Rusli, “sometimes written from a dark place and other times from a place of happiness.” Throughout, darkness and light rise and fall in layers of phased strings, trip-hop drum production, and earworming vocal lines.

Also a film score composer, Rusli’s songwriting craft is meticulous and nuanced. You Are Always On My Mind was, perhaps surprisingly, formed primarily from processed “generic string loops” found in online sample packs - a strange and wilfully jarring reminder that what seems to be is not always what is. Recontextualised, these string loops enshadow the simplicity of their origins and reveal a grace and purposefulness perhaps not even imagined by their authors, subtly drawing out euphoria and tension in equal balance.

Rusli also writes of the influence of rave culture central to their transition, and of the record’s production and theme. “It’s a declaration of love for raves and the dark hazy rooms that helped me to be free and true with myself— seeing other people who are so free and beautiful and thinking that one day that can be me— that’s me in the future.” But there is also a fear and unease present. Key moment “no good” explores “the worst version of myself as a trans person, feeding doubt to my pre-transition self” with its core lyric anyone can see / I’m no good for you, delivered over a relentless beat, swooning strings, and glistening synthesis.

Later, “i swear that i could die rn” renders a Spectreish Motown beat lamenting and lush with breathy synths and knife-edge melodies that eventually yield a hazy, gliding string section, created again from mutated, spliced, and transitioned royalty-free sample packs. The track is about “seeing my beautiful friends at raves and feeling at home appreciating the harsh noises of hardcore techno and acid. Feeling that I could die at this moment and be happy.”

We're delighted to welcome these two Australia based producers to the Samurai family with Onyx - a 4 track EP that delivers a blend of tight edits, chest heavy bass, and intricate sound design. Pugilist & Tamen combine nostalgia with forward-thinking production and Onyx traverses a rich landscape of jungle-rooted moods.
Onyx introduces a step forward in the duo's production, utilising sculpted distortion as an instrument. Seen on 3 of the 4 tunes, this approach adds a temperative tension as the tunes give the impression they have gone too far into the distortion no go zone but ultimately finding a balance that compliments and enhances the tunes overall sound pallette perfectly.
Raw and direct with rich layers and honed grooves that ultimately mark the tunes as memorable, Onyx is on a new level for Pugilist & Tamen.

They are in their thirties, meaning they are "too much too young" to have felt the vibrations of the ska revival of the late 1970s and early 1980s live, when The Specials, The Selecter, Madness and the likes of The Beat were electrifying England at a time when social tensions were running high and were getting brass missiles into the charts, hitting all of Europe. Far too young, it goes without saying, to have experienced the initial shakes of the music that would fuel all that was to come: 1960s Jamaican ska and its later evolutions, bluebeat or rocksteady, from which reggae drew its essence and fever.

That’s the Price of Loving Me marks Dean Wareham’s (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean & Britta, ) evocative return, rekindling his partnership with producer Kramer for the first time since Galaxie 500's This Is Our Music in 1990.

Recorded in six days in Los Angeles, the album is steeped in lush, haunting soundscapes, driven by Wareham's signature reverb-soaked guitars and melancholic, dreamlike vocals. Britta Phillips joins on bass and harmonies, while Gabe Noel’s cello adds depth and tension. “Two takes yield more treasure than twenty,” notes longtime friend Matt Fishbeck, as Kramer's insistence on spontaneity infuses the project with raw immediacy.

Thematically, Wareham delves into the poetry of memory, set against a backdrop of wistful nostalgia and existential reflection. "Songs are in dialogue with other songs" Fishbeck writes. The lead single, “We’re Not Finished Yet,” is a playful, introspective meditation where Wareham drops his own name while relishing the tactile joy of the guitar. “You Were the Ones I Had to Betray” unfolds like a somber narrative, underpinned by Noel’s cello and crowned with a haunting bass harmonica by Kramer, encapsulating the emotional ambivalence of friendship and loyalty.

“That’s the Price of Loving Me” pulses with conga rhythms and Kramer’s vintage Moog, capturing Wareham’s musings on the life of a performer and the sacrifices it demands. Fishbeck describes “The Mystery Guest” as "an acrostic poem" and concludes by saying "We're not finished yet." 'Loving Me' also includes two covers, Mayo Thompson's 'Dear Betty Baby' and Nico's 'Reich der Träume.' The latter highlights his love for blending history and homage, sung entirely in German for a chillingly authentic touch.

Dean returns with his fourth solo album and his first album for Carpark Records. Inspired by the past yet resonant in its present-day relevance, the album’s sonic palette is reminiscent of Galaxie 500’s dream-pop roots, tempered with the matured introspection of Wareham’s later works. “Dean traffics in memory,” writes Fishbeck, reflecting on the record’s seamless blend of intimate recollections and catchy hooks. The result is a cohesive work encapsulating the duality of Wareham’s career: haunted by the past, yet steadfastly pushing forward. As Fishbeck poignantly puts it, “Imagination is nothing but the working over of what is remembered.”

Inscrutable Eager Tension Builders