Search:year of no light

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s return to his most spaced-out work, that marks his 2002 comeback album Jamaican E.T. The extra-terrestrial is back with some groovy reggae which creates a bridge between dub, roots and hip hop. But in the end it never ventures to far away from the traditional reggae. The album continues in showing his fascination with aliens, drugs and religion. His own voice is often multi-layered and contrasting with each other. It’s a wonderful record and it shows that even after all those years he was still capable in recording an album which stands out during the time of release.

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development of dub music and worked together with artists such as Bob Marley and the Wailers, The Clash and The Beastie Boys. Nowadays he’s still performing and recording music.

Jamaican E.T. is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on orange coloured vinyl.

It had taken him almost three years to record, but in 1985 Jake Hottell finally finished his debut solo album, Break The Chains. Inspired by his opposition to fracking, anger at government corruption and a series of profound spiritual experiences, a hundred copies of the album were pressed and given away to radio stations, friends and local business interests in Hottell’s home state of New Mexico.



The album would have remained an obscure footnote in musical history had it not been for the efforts of DJs Danny McLewin and Jeremy Spellacey. Between them, they tracked down Hottell to hear his story, offering the former electronics engineer and Nashville-based music producer the chance to get his music to a whole new audience. Now, some 34 years after the private press edition was produced, Spacetalk is giving Break The Chains a full release for the very first time. Hottell began recording the album in 1982 after reading Your Body’s Many Cries For Water, a best-selling book by Dr Fereydoon Batmanghelidj about the health benefits of clean, purified water. Remembering the poisonous, methane-laden water that came out of his mother’s taps in the 1970s – a by-product of extensive fracking activity in the area around the family farm – Hottell wanted to create a set of tracks that registered his concerns, reflected his recent spiritual experiences (many of which he still finds it difficult to discuss today) and offered a meditative listening experience.



The resultant set is suitably cosmic and emotive, with Hottell cannily fusing gentle drum machine rhythms and dreamy synthesizer motifs – influenced, he says, by a love of the contemporaneous new age output of former jazz label Windham Hill Records – with his own glistening guitar passages, which sit somewhere between the homespun riffs of country music and the classical guitar solos that have long been a sonic staple of Spanish styles such as Flamenco. Many of the tracks have stories attached. “Horizon” features a profound spoken word vocal from local man Darald McCabe – whose homemade purified water helped Hottell recover from serious illness – while “El Rio dos les Delores” was composed after discovering that fracking was taking place on a local Native American reservation. “The Truth Is All I Want”, meanwhile, reflects Hottell’s growing exasperation at the extent of corporate greed and government corruption in the United States.



This new edition of Break The Chains has been painstakingly re-mastered from the original master tapes, while extensive new liner notes shed light on the remarkable musical and personal experiences that inspired Hottell to create an obscure, overlooked classic.

‘Autonomy’ is a fiercely independent album and serves as a testimony to the united couple’s instinctive DIY attitude; for 10 years now, everything The Golden Filter has done from, producing, mixing, releasing, to shooting videos and press shots is a sovereign endeavour. Here, the duo finds themselves at a point of fearless positivity and an unbreakable creative synchronicity. This is undoubtedly one of their most focused and ambitious releases so far.

Born out of their own self-contained studio in Peckham, free from external influence, Penelope and Stephen set about on a mission of self-searching and solipsism drawing influence from their love and unity that sternly defies the damage caused by the ever-growing daily trauma of capitalism and politics. Staunchly feminist and optimistically reflecting on the growing human disconnect from reality, ‘Autonomy’ pulls subtly from the gloomier sides of British life and culture, The Golden Filter’s home now for the last four years.

‘Autonomy’ mines dark and experimental electronic tones; simultaneously conjuring dystopian synthscapes, EBM, post-punk, motoric electro and minimal wave. ‘Coercion’ is a mournful new wave cut that places Penelope’s recent brand of “inky dream pop” underpinned by Stephen’s pulsating synths as the perfect soundtrack to the rapture.

Tracks like ‘Autonomy’ and ‘Infinity’ find The Golden Filter in more familiar territory, thrusting post-punk electronics that straddle the gap between Panorama Bar staples and wayward, thought provoking art-pop. ‘Electric Light’ is an updated homage to old-school sounds of Siouxsie and New Order that take on the duo’s message of finding light in the dark and remaining open minded to each other as humans. Album closer ‘All The Queens’ is the most front-facing example of the duo’s political inspirations; imagining a new world, reborn under the rule of divine femininity.

Exactly a year on from 'Travel Light', we release the final single from Children of Zeus' debut album. A dinked 7" single, containing one of the stand-out tracks from the album, 'Hard Work', and a re-vocalled Lover's Rock version of 'The Heart Beat' (a demo version of which appeared on 'The Winter Tape' from Christmas 2018).

'Hard Work' is a term than can easily summarise the past twelve months in the life of Tyler Daley and Konny Kon. They've been busily touring Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Europe and the UK twice in that time, as well as rocking shows at countless festivals across the continent.

'Travel Light' was named "Album of the Year" by Complex Magazine, BBC 6 Music's Huey Morgan and Rinse FM's Jyoty, as well as taking 2nd place at the Worldwide Awards (for which their label First Word was named "Label of the Year") and numerous high-placing's from Fact, Mixmag, The Vinyl Factory, Juno, Bandcamp, Mi-Soul, Wordplay & Piccadilly Records, amongst numerous other notable selectors, blogs, tastemakers and musicians, with fans far & wide from Radio 1's Benji B to Chase & Status, Jazzy Jeff to Lily Allen, Stormzy to Goldie.

The depth of styles & genres included on 'Travel Light' confirmed that Tyler & Konny are not easy to put in a box. Their initial inspirations of Manchester pirate radio in the 80's/90's all make up to form the sonic tapestry of hip hop, soul, r&b, broken beat, jungle and, in this instance, reggae.

One of the album's biggest surprises was this now-anthemic track, 'Hard Work', which sees Tyler Daley effortlessly ride a one-drop riddim drenched in positivity, and is a highlight in their live sets, as anyone who's witnessed will testament to. Meanwhile, the flip-side transforms the quiet storm vibe of 'The Heart Beat' into a heavy, heavy dubwise track, creating an essential accompaniment and fitting sequel to the original lick.

Pressed on a limited edition rustic JA-style dinked 7", this one is, of course, essential for any discerning collector, fan and DJ. Released on First Word Records, July 12th 2019.

Music collective Africa Express announce the release of a brand new studio album titled EGOLI, coming on the newly created Africa Express Records imprint.

Hailed as the most revolutionary force in popular music for two decades, Africa Express was founded in 2006 and brings together musicians from different cultures, genres and generations to break boundaries and offer a new perspective on Africa and its music.

Each record and event is unique, based upon on-the-spot collaboration and filled with unique moments of magic; the collective have hosted trips and concerts in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mali and UK to date.

Africa Express travelled to South Africa in January of last year to complete an electronic album in just 7 days, a week of discovery, collaboration and music-making. The result is EGOLI - 18 tracks capturing the fresh, joyous sounds of Afro Futurism, straight out of Johannesburg.

Featured artists include Damon Albarn, Blue May, Gruff Rhys, Georgia, Ghetts, Mr Jukes, Nick Zinner, Remi Kabaka, Otim Alpha and Poté as well as emerging and established stars of the buzzing South African music scene including BCUC, Blk Jks, Dominowe, Faka, Infamous Boiz, DJ Spoko, Mahotella Queens, Moonchild Sanelly, Muzi, Morena Leraba, Nonku Phiri, Radio 123, Sibot, Sho Madjozi, Zola 7, Zolani Mahola (Freshly Ground) and Maskandi guitar legend Phuzekhemisi.

Velvet May returns on “ Tears On Waves” with the 4-
tracker EP “Unknown Bodies”.
This time he is joined by the live duo Years of Denial
and the northern-irish artist Autumns who delivered
their own interpretation and vision of the tracks in the B
side.
"Unknown Bodies" tell us a story, a contorted story of
lust and infernal gazes, yet divine that spread infamy
and glory, grief and bliss. A story of lost inhibitions and
sensations. A story of burning breasts. Now is the time
when each flower fades away like incense and sounds
and scents turn in the evening air.
“Bodies entwined 
Hearts resounding 
The shivers of sweat 
Coming and going”
The artist wants to show something. A natural desire
which finds its fulfillment in the body, but that instantaneously dies at the end of the sensations.
Sensations too much strong to last so much time. That’s
exactly why he doesn’t never renounce to let go his
inhibitions completely, having fear to be burnt, devoured
and thrown in the deep end.
On the B side, the original tracks find a completely
different vision, but especially a new light, leading the
listener to a different path of the same perverse and
twisted nature.
Years of Denial is the alter-face of French musician/DJ/
producer Jerome Tcherneyan and Czech performance
artist/DJ Barkosina Hanusova. With the use of hardware
combined with vocals and a plethora of dub devices,
YOD are re-visiting the dark corner of Post Punk,
Industrial music movement and rave culture. Its remix
fully distorts the mood, introducing a new color and
identity, juxtaposing acid sounds and sharp groove
elements. The vocal has a new touch, and processed in
another way, drags everything to it creating a vortex.
Autumns is the solo project of Christian Donaghey, from
Derry, Northern Ireland, an outlet for electronic post-
punk with a lethal pulse. He delivered a train-shaped
remix, making the bass line a key element for the whole
track and finding the perfect “carpet” where to express in
a powerful and straight groove, based on his beloved
Roland 707.
Label copy-credits
Written, produced and performed by Andrea Davide

As with the first SchleiBen series, Emotional Response follows the success of the second set of split releases with a stand-alone album by one of the highlights, in Neil Tolliday.

Recorded over a 17-year period, the ambient, drone and noise pieces collected here offer a glimpse in to the depth of a supremely talented, thoughtful and at times, troubled musical mind.

As his love for house music and the success of his Nail moniker grew and waned during the ascent 90s boom, there followed his somewhat surprising success as one half of Balearic-pop combo Bent, propelling Tolliday in to a world of indie-charts and endless touring. The eventual unhappiness of this 'music career' and increasing need for personal escapism led him start experiment new musical forms of expression.

A thinker and oft-over drinker, success was viewed with a deep suspicion and introspection, drug use and later, depression. As his other music projects slowly imploded, this new, personal music was for many years, made purely for Tolliday's own absorption and comedowns.

Taken from an initial 4 track recording in Nottingham in 2000, more pieces were subsequently recorded around the globe on numerous devices - old portable cassette recorders, hand held digital stereos and even mobile phones. These heavily manipulated samples were slowed down, reversed, smudged and stretched before analog and modular patching, Mellotron, editing, programming and post production were added to the melting pot.

With hundreds of tracks collated, in the last few years Tolliday began putting them out via Bandcamp using different aliases, on made up record labels, with no press or mention to anyone. This would happen every 6-9 months - a new label was created with logo, band/artist names and a few albums worth of music, leaving it there for a few weeks before then deleting the lot.

Here then is a snapshot of those recordings, chosen to represent the depth of music, while trying not to think too much about in to the emotions that were used in making them. With special hand painted artwork by Sam Purcell, commissioned from the artist's own photographs taken from a adjournment at Homerton hospital, the hope is to do justice to such wonderful music and present Neil Tolliday, finally an artist, shorn of pseudonyms, in a broader light.

Audioslave may be one the rare cases of remnants of 2 great bands coming together and creating an even greater band. Consisting of three quarters of Rage Against The Machine plus former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, Audioslave came onto the music scene with a mix of 70's Zeppelin & Sabbath warped into the year 2000 and beyond. Having Chris Cornell as their leadsinger was producer Rick Rubin's idea and the band penned no less than 21 songs in a period of 19 days, jamming and rehearsing.
Their live debut was a David Letterman gig on the rooftop of the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York, kicking off a successful world tour. Debut single 'Cochise' was a worldwide smash and the 2nd single 'Like a Stone' even topped that (certified Gold by the RIAA)! The album was certified Gold in the USA within a month after its release. 2 Audioslave albums followed, before the members parted ways to join their former bands.

The Black Keys’ long-awaited ninth studio album, “Let’s Rock”, their first in five years, is a return to the straightforward rock of the singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney’s early days as a band. Auerbach says, “When we’re together we are The Black Keys, that’s where that real magic is, and always has been since we were sixteen.” The album includes the hit single ‘Lo/Hi’. The Black Keys’ touring begins in North America in September, with further international dates to be announced soon.



“Let’s Rock” was written, tracked live, and produced by Auerbach and Carney at Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville and features backing vocals from Leisa Hans and Ashley Wilcoxson. “The record is like a homage to electric guitar,” says Carney. “We took a simple approach and trimmed all the fat like we used to.”



The “Let’s Rock” Tour will hit cities including Chicago, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and Austin. Special guests Modest Mouse will provide support on all dates, and Shannon & The Clams, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, *repeat repeat, and Jessy Wilson will each open select shows on the tour. The band also headlines 2019’s Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas on September 21.



Rolling Stone named ‘Lo/Hi’ a “Song You Need to Know” and said, ‘the Keys have officially returned, louder than ever’ and the New York Times calls the song ‘the kind of garage-boogie stomp that the band never left behind.’ In the words of the NME, ‘It’s the soundtrack to the type of party that doesn’t exist anymore, but one you still wish you were cool enough to get the invite to.’



Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys have released eight studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), and, most recently, Turn Blue (2014). The band has won six Grammy Awards and headlined festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Governors Ball.



Since their last album together, both Auerbach and Carney have been creative forces behind a number of wide-ranging artists:



Dan Auerbach formed the Easy Eye Sound record label, named after his Nashville studio, in 2017, with the release of his second solo album, Waiting on a Song. Since its launch, Easy Eye Sound has become home to a wide range of artists including Yola, Shannon & The Clams, Dee White, Shannon Shaw, Sonny Smith, Robert Finley, and The Gibson Brothers; it also has released the posthumous album by Leo Bud Welch as well as previously unreleased material by Link Wray.



Patrick Carney has produced and recorded new music with artists such as Calvin Johnson, Michelle Branch, Damns of the West, Tobias Jesso, Jr., Jessy Wilson, Tennis, *repeat repeat, Wild Belle, Sad Planets, Turbo Fruits, and more. He also created the theme music for the Netflix TV show BoJack Horseman with his late uncle, Ralph Carney.

7am. Tilburg. Black room. Strobe light. Dutch Soundsystem Wirwar. "Party Like It's '96" celebrates 23 years of musical debauchery, rinsing BPMs and battering bodies in forests, squats or wherever a PA system could be plugged in. Five tracks from five different aliases make up this descent into drum beat battery. Noses are up against sweat drenched wall from the needle drop, the thundering pace of Trippy D's maniacal offering being elbowed in the ribs by Bart Bral's nosebleed inducing "No Shit, Sherlock!" Distortion slices into squalid acid lines in the blazing "Water On Mars" by RAF before broken beats are blended and blitzed by Just So Nah. The night, or morning, comes to an end in Roel's nightmarish fairground ride. "Wurlitzer Express" minces chiptune cuteness with splintered snares, cracked kicks and mutated percussion to leave hearts, minds and souls thoroughly stained.

Any historians keen on the subject of "French youth in the 1980s" are holding a treasure in their hands. As a true archaeologist of this decade dedicated to disposable culture, digger-in-chief Vidal Benjamin with his newest compilation, 'Pop Sympathie', offers them a unique journey in the heart of the cyclone of emotions that struck all teenagers during the first seven years of François Mitterrand's mandate. Fifteen musical nuggets, exhumed from the dungeons of history, each and every one of them teaching us about what really obsessed the youngsters at that exact moment, i.e. what happens when the city lights come on at dusk, when irrepressible urges that stir them to get lost even more appear until the end of the night.

The artists gathered here did not have the honour of breaking into the local charts, but they all individually reached for the sky. Each song of 'Pop Sympathie' tells more or less the same story: that of a girl who throws herself into the night like one immerses one's self into the void, who rushes into a one-night adventure to become a star. And too bad if in the early morning she finds herself back at square one. In all these miniature odysseys there is neon lights, lasers, smoke machines, broken glass on checkered tiles, strangers on leather benches, celebrities in the bathrooms, stolen kisses, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, Polaroids, venetian blinds and radioactive tubes.

If the first opus of Vidal Benjamin, 'Disco Sympathie', focused on the funky mood of songs that could have been played at Le Palace, then 'Pop Sympathie' develops itself as the imaginary soundtrack of another nightclub, Les Bains-Douches, the capital’s epicenter of nocturnal drifts. So what do we listen to, blasé, at Bains-Douches? Mainly synthesizers. The child of punk and post punk, French New Wave celebrates the matrimony of machines and lolitas under the auspices of a retro trend that revisits the atomic age. Trying to surf on that wave and hit the charts, a bunch of producers (Stéphane Berlow, Laurent Stopnicki, Bernard "Black Devil" Fèvre, Johny Rech, Jean-Yves Joanny ...) will spot their talents amongst friends, in a travel agency or at the local bar. These virtual stars are called Cecilia, Laurent, Sonia, Janou, Fabienne, Anne, Arielle or Ronan, not even 20 years old, and often leaving just an overexposed photo and their first name on a single as the only memories of their swift passage in this particular musical story. It took all the love and sweet madness of Vidal Benjamin to bring them back in the light of day.

Clovis Goux

Aggelos Baltas is a veteran of the global electronic music scene, responsible for a handful of celebrated EBM 12”s as Dream Weapons, and a particularly heady and open-ended brand of krautrock as Fantastikoi Hxoi. His newest project, Anatolian Weapons, was conceived as a way to bring together these two seemingly mismatched concepts, with the polyrhythmic percussion and wailing tones of Greek folk music serving as their unlikely bonding agent. His output garners praise particularly around the Golden Pudel scene, such as Vladimir Ivkovic, and Phuong Dan. Lena Willikens, from the same circle, included Baltas’ track “Disillusioned” on her Dekmantel Selectors compilation in 2018.

But where much of what Baltas has released as Anatolian Weapons is instantly recognizable as dance music, To The Mother Of Gods—Baltas’ debut album for Beats In Space—is something else entirely. Created in tandem with Greek folk musician Seirios Savvaidis, it is a work of simultaneous collaboration and subtraction whose meticulous construction becomes more apparent with every listen. An album-length exploration of what happens when the principles of dance music are applied to pre-digital musical modalities. It is a record of psychedelic folk music that has more in common with Kikagaku Moyo, Minami Deutsch, and the Habibi Funk label than it does with anything else Baltas has produced under any alias. It’s difficult to imagine this music in any kind of club setting.

And yet, it’s very much the work of a DJ. Baltas initially heard Savvaidis’ music through a friend, and was absolutely amazed. “It was his very esoteric, pagan [music and] beautiful lyrics that grabbed me,” he writes. Seirios is a composer and performer of traditional Greek folk music with a growing discography of regional psych-rock gems. Baltas reached out to collaborate and the seeds of To The Mother Of Gods were sown.

Savvidis contributed stems of ten songs, which Baltas deconstructs and rearranges with appreciation of the ancestry of their lineage and of the deceptively ancient eerie, droning qualities inherent in the style. Occasionally augmenting Savvaidis’ recordings with his own, Baltas treats these elements as if raw materials for an architectural process.

To The Mother Of Gods showcases Baltas’ arrangement skills. He treats Savvaidis’ songs as landscapes, filling them with slanted, droning light and setting the singer’s vocals in dead center. His years behind the decks have given him an intuitive understanding of dynamics—drums crest and recede like tides, snippets of bassline repeat and swirl. He knows how to entrance, and when to push the music from the head to the body. Opener “Taratchi Katarratchi” (“Stormy Cataract”) is sung as a spell to ward off the fear of death, but Baltas’ orchestration demonstrates that dancing is an equally effective way of dispelling the darkness. The beat he assembles from Savvaidis’ playing recalls the late-night ecstasies of Primal Scream circa Screamadelica.

To The Mother Of Gods is a reminder that folk music and dance music are both powered by their audience as much as the musicians themselves. Savvaidis’ lyrics echo pagan Greek themes, touching on what Baltas calls “the magic of nature.” At times, as on “Kalesma” (“Invitation”), this can feel incantatory. Savvaidis chisels his vocal melodies into hard, clipped syllables, their cadence recalling Gregorian chant, and yet Baltas cloaks these details in washes of distortion. “Ston Stavraito” (“In Stavraithos”) is delivered with a lamentive tenderness that Baltas swells into a prideful stomp, immersing Savvaidis in marching drums and distant vocals that form a resilient protest-song. To The Mother Of Gods is a testament to the ongoing and innate truth that music can take us beyond ourselves. That repetition and drone can shepherd us to a liminal space beyond thought and rationality, where the wall between perception and reality does not exist. Call it spirit, if you want, and watch as it courses its way through modern-day dance music, mid-century psych, and the ancient sounds of the anatol.

Anatolian Weapons’ To The Mother Of Gods will be available from Beats In Space on June 14, 2019 in limited vinyl and unlimited digital forms.

Artist Highlights
• Aggelos Baltas is an Athenian music producer creating and Djing under the monikers of Anatolian Weapons, Fantastikoi Hxoi, and Dream Weapons.
• The Anatolian Weapons moniker is an outlet for Baltas to explore global music—from African to Anatolian and Middle Eastern, while also incorporating sounds from his home country of Greece.

Over the last decade, we’ve come accustomed to Jason Letkiewicz releasing material under a dizzying array of aliases, each utilized to explore a different side of his multi-faceted musical persona. Now, some 14 years after he made his recording debut alongside Ari Goldman as Manhunter, Letkiewicz has joined forces with Into The Light Records to release his first album under his real name.

The Reflecting Pool sees Letkiewicz exploring the uncomplicated and uncluttered in the pursuit of pure aural beauty. While his recent album as Opposing Currents was dense, dark, urban and industrial, The Reflecting Pool is stripped back, quiet and melodious. The contrast between the two projects is marked, with The Reflecting Pool drawing more on Letkiewicz’s love of crystalline ambient, slow burn synthesizer soundscapes, early ’80s library music and the kind of obscure electronic new age music that has been a hallmark of Into The Light’s releases to date.

The set’s 12 tracks gently ebb and flow, with Letkiewicz making great use of dusty old drum machines, effects units and a range of vintage analogue and digital synthesizers. It’s a set-up that results in a range of complimentary mood pieces and interludes, from the delay-laden military drums and lilting lead lines of “Out of Body Experiences”, to the drowsy, sunrise bliss of “Sunspot”, the bubbling Tangerine Dream style shuffle of “Mind Awake Body Asleep” and the outer-space atmosphere of “The Kill Fee”.

Throughout, Letkiewicz showcases his seemingly intrinsic grasp of mood, atmosphere and melody. It can be heard within the glacial guitar motifs, occasional beats and elongated chords of “The Reflecting Pool”, the rhythmic bustle of “Numb Drums”, the glassy-eyed melancholia of “Arhythmia” and the cinematic paranoia of “Burning Off The Morning Fog”. It’s also evident amongst the classically beat-less ambient of closing cut “Weightless”, whose alien electronics, effects-laden pulses and opaque chords recall established masters of the genre.

With The Reflecting Pool, Letkiewicz has provided us with a much-needed dose of stress-free musical escapism, at the same time offering hope that in these troubling times, love may still save the day.

With more than 220 million cumulated streams in 2013, Poldoore is far to be unknown from international future-beat and hip-hop scenes. His new record, Mosaïc, comes back confirming to be the spearhead of a booming music genre, where beatmakers emerge from the shadows to the light, to assert themselves as artists in their own rights. Coming from Belgium, more precisely Louvain near Bruxelles, Thomas Schillebeeckx began to explore his parents record collection at age 5, when the family moved to the US. Since, the will to combine this musical heritage to his more modern surrounding sounds never left. Because Poldoore music has a credo: assembly the era with sampling, mixing the genres to create a new musical touch.

Since his beginning in 2013, with the album The Days Off, the young musician talents gave him the opportunity to perform for an international tour with famous venues such as Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival, Dour Festival, or the giant Tomorrowland. Everything you need to create a huge fanbase, one that never let you down through your musical evolutions. At this stage, Poldoore is already ahead of his time, playing a music focused on the future, making his place among lasting artists by getting to the top sales on Beatport. Six years after, he's still here, more than ever.
The following of his career brings him to Bulgaria, Spain, Turkey, Germany, Greece, and developing remixes for international artists such as Selah Sue, Wax Tailor, Declaime or Talib Kweli.
He is also nominated at the Red Bull Elektropedia Awards in Belgium, for both Album of the Year and Best Newcomer of the year, mostly thanks to the hit: the remix of the classic Fugees song, Fu-Gee-La. Everything to set the stage for his second album, The Days Off in 2016. The natural identity of Poldoore music rings out more than ever, and allows him to sign several projects and EPs on prestigious labels: Chinese Man Records, Nowadays, Cold Busted or Darker Than Wax.
His forthcoming album Mosaïc is a pure exploration of genres. The offbeat hip-hop, beautifully embodied by the track Lessons About Life, the electro-funk with Darts Is Not A Sport, his beloved jamaïcan sounds on A Brand New Day (featuring ASM and Balkan Bump), or the break-electronic on Solace. But it's mainly his unusual ability to give a second groove to 70s soul samples and epic strings, that makes this record truly essential. The whole tracklist is haunted, whether on the excellent Walking Through A Sunlit Forest or on Melatonin, last of the 13 tracks. Always seeking to marry different musical periods, always linking the past and the future. With Mosaïc, Poldoore is not only showing us his talent, but takes the listener through out Time. And isn't it what the music is supposed to do














 

New LP from French beat-makers La Fine Equipe featuring Illa J, T3, 20Syl, Mr J Medeiros, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Fakear ...

Let's be clear: La Fine Equipe is a band. The numerous hats wore by its four members are so various that it could mislead one's. Indeed, surrounding Blanka, oOgo, Chomsky and Mr. Gib, there are recording studios, collaborations, lives, side-projects... There is also and especially a whole universe built during the past ten years around their passion for beatmaking, embodied by the release of « 5th Season », new album.
So yes, La Fine Equipe is a band, but it's also much more than that.

Since their creation in 2006 and their first album « La Boulangerie » two years later, the four producers became inevitable when you think about a new scene breaking the barriers between musical genders. Hip Hop is at the heart of their craft, corner stone of their musical background and inspirations where the paths of J Dilla, Madlib, Flying Lotus, Kaytranada and the turntablists A-Trak, C2C and Birdy Nam Nam are crossing ways. Two things gather La Fine Equipe and those big names, the constant need of collaboration with other artists, and this thirst of discovery, main feature of the digger.

From 2008 to 2014, La Fine Equipe mastered its craft with the « Boulangerie », compilation gathering 34 beatmakers on 113 tracks. They also work on the creation of the label Nowadays Records (Fakear, Skence, Unno, Clément Bazin, Leska, Douchka...) and released more than 75 EPs and LPs in five years.
With an outrageous number of shows across the world, tour in Asia, South America, collaborations with several international artists... Their success changed the game: Whereas many producers coming from this environment where isolated, La Fine Equipe federated a growing scene and became its reference.
After years spent paving the way for other artists and creating a structure that could support the growth of a musical scene, they decided to go further and launch a new era with « 5th Season ».

Because the band works with eight hands and four brains, there's nothing surprising in the fact that the album sounds like a condensed of each and everyone inspirations and experiences, from hip hop and sampling, to electronica, jazz and Latinas inspirations. If homogeneity is the new trend, La Fine Equipe isn't ready to sacrifice its wishes to fit the mould.

« 5th Season » is also a glance at the world looking over our planet's current state, the cosmos, the vegetal and these things that are greater and stronger than us, and the things and behaviour that could led to our loss.
It's an almost apocalyptic vision of our future, but full of optimism at the same time. There is something solar and cinematographic in this album, a format that goes beyond the one chosen before, closer to playlist and compilations such as the three Boulangerie opuses remind us.

Loyal to their status of ambassadors, the four beatmakers keep on inviting other artists to complete their universe. Illa J and T3, respectively brother and partner (Slum Village) of the late J. Dilla, make the connection between a glorious past and the future embodied by La Fine Equipe on the track « The Source ». With « Aurora », it's the solemn and mystical voice of Madjo that take this electro-pop track to another level. The American rapper Mr. J. Medeiros on the boom bap anthem « What Eva », the Montrealer ZeFire on « Typical », each and every artists brings its stone to the edifice of « 5th Season », giving to the album a limitless and freed musical richness.

But to release an album isn't enough. In parallel, each member of La Fine Equipe continues to fulfil its multiples tasks and work on a new concept live show bringing a scenic and visual show in addition to their music. It is what the artists looking toward the future do, and La Fine Equipe is looking straight ahead.

_________________________________________________________________________

TRACK BY TRACK

AURORA (Ft. Madjo)
Already remixed by the quatuor on the beautiful track « Choose The Heart », it's Madjo's turn to be invited by La Fine Equipe for a collaboration. Her mystical voice, which fragility paradoxically seems to strengthen its power, turns the track into an epic pop anthem.

NOBU (Ft. Grems & 20syl)
The association of these three names seems obvious, like a family reunion. Grems did the visual of the anniversary box of La Boulangerie, 20syl (C2C, Hocus Pocus) was one of the beatmakers who took part in the project.
This time, the two big brothers are side by side behind the mic, for the first French speaking collaboration of La Fine Equipe.
On this trapy/footwork beat, the two rappers ring the alarm before it's too late to save our house, the earth.

THE SOURCE (Ft. T3 & Illa J)
In the family of Hip Hop jewels of 5th Season, here is one coming from the USA. Fans of J Dilla and Slum Village since the first hour, La Fine Equipe pays its respects to its influences by inviting T3 and Illa J. Respectively member of Slum Village and brother of the legendary Detroit producer, these two MCs build a bridge between the eras and let their sharpened flows confuse our perception of time.

5TH SEASON (Ft. Fakear)
A second collaboration with their little brother from the Nowadays Family, Fakear. Eponymous title, it represents the universe of both entities, true road trip through Fakearians melodies and La Fine Equipe's funk declined in five seasons.

TYPICAL BOY (Ft. ZeFire)
With « Typical Boy », La Fine Equipe express its love for House music with chopped rhythms and a heavy but swaying bass line. The freed track oscillate between power and lightness. A beat that quickly becomes ZeFire's playground. The Montreal singer, already heard on Her's tracks, brings a missing r'n'b touch to create the perfect chemistry.

For Against Fascism Trax 006, Auntie Flo takes us to Brazil, a country that is dealing with having a bona fide fascist president, with an EP recorded in Rio De Janeiro. I’m going to shut up and let Afonso Marcondes from Sao Paolo take it from here -

In a world in which culture policies (incl. music) win nationalist tones, Brazil has lessons to give with the catastrophic failed experience of the last government and the teletubbies talk on Culture from the current one.

As one sometimes feel as if one is on a time-warp from time to time, most often taken there by music, songs like March of The Berimbau here, could easy make for the perfect soundtrack for the political history of Brazil, country in which Auntie Flo got his inspiration and recorded this tracks.

From the military regime that gave Brazil bossa nova in the 60’s, the tropicália sounds of the 70’s to the pop rock era of the 80’s all the way from the rave scene of the 90’s to todays Bahia Bass, music in Brazil has always been instrumental in helping shape the political scene.

One thing about the Brazilian music ’scene’ is that rarely it lends itself to extreme political views, via lyrics or otherwise, after all, carnaval must be kept a happy time! The number of different cultures living in peace, side by side in Brazil has strenghten the country disapproval of hate talk in music since I can remember growing up in the interior of São Paulo state.

As per wiki: Fascism is a form of radical ultranationalism, characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition… Children bedtime reading if you follow the past 15 years in Brazilian politics and the rise and fall of Brazil’s Labour Party, together with its disastrous polices on culture and synergy with de definition above; including the views of a important cultural Party branch that continuously 'preached' that Authors should need no rights over their works. That couldn’t bit music in Brazil.

Fast forward to the first 5 months of government of an unfortunate retired army officer, whose every word sounds like Trump, and whose views on culture is to extinguish the Culture Ministry and cut low the state incentives to the sector, that, so far, is not bitting music in Brasil.

Hope that Auntie Flo’s music inspired everyone as the place where it was made and recorded inspired music in Brazil, as a beacon of light against any hate talk darkness.

“Ta Da” is the debut full length from J. McFarlane Reality Guest, the collective name for the trio headed by the eponymous McFarlane. As a member of the group Twerps, McFarlane has traversed guitar-centric, melodic pop music for some years while honing a highly unique, personal musical language. Ta Da is the first recorded unveiling of McFarlane’s affecting, oblique songwriting panache. Originally released in her native Australia on Hobbies Galore, Ta Da will be released worldwide by Night School in June 2019.

Wheezing into view with a troubled reed instrument set against a s of whoozy synth lines, Human Tissue Act is a foggy curtain the listener is invited to peel back. The dissonant notes are left to dance entwined, with clarinet heralding a Harry Partch-esque mallet percussion interlude. It’s a mood. With no resolution in sight, an audience dragged closer into uncertainty is suddenly drenched with the light of inter-weaving wah wah synth and saxophone. I Am A Toy introduces us to McFarlane’s vocal, an effortless and matter-of-fact, accented statement that quietly takes the reins. While McFarlane’s previous work in Twerps might reference 80s UK and antipodean guitar pop, Ta Da showcases a different influences immersed in psychedelic music and synths. It’s a brilliant, deft concoction swimming in Young Marble Giants-type minimalism washed with bare pop and harmony similar to Kevin Ayers making sense of a Melbourne suburb full of faces half-recognised in the blanching sun.

What Has He Bought begins with a Casio-keyboard rhythm pattern, palm-muted guitars and immaculately enunciated vocal give way to a burnt melodica part that elevates the spirits. Simple patterns repeated, like a well-tempered pop song that does what it needs to do and no more, build into the sound of summer leaking orange juice. They’re moments of joy, layered on top of each other like a melting cake. Do You Like What I’m Sayin’ recalls Marine Girls covering a classic ‘66 Garage nugget, organ lines fighting funk with guitar chords played just behind the percussion. “In a talking world, meanings are the same. Words want to hold on to the people they contain. Do you like what I’m sayin’?” We’re in a Beckett play perhaps, obtuse absurdities rendered pretty. Alien Ceremony is a heart-melter, given a melancholic timbre by bowed double bass it’s a tragi-comic piece that almost reeks of Robert Wyatt at his mid-whimsical twisting a fugue completely out of shape. Beneath the layers of harmony and twinkling instrumentation you sense there’s a genuine sadness somewhere even if it remains veiled.

Through out Ta Da, McFarlane plays with counterpoint and contrast to sometimes delirious effect. On Your Torturer, a simple, upbeat chord progression is hard panned, underpinning a flute solo which seems out of place, hence making it completely in place on this warmly surreal album. My Enemy is a slowly swinging eulogy to a failed relationship punctuated by analogue synth burbles, with our protagonist simply asking, in the aftermath, “can we be nice?” Here McFarlane’s vocal is straight forward, lyrically conversational but still not completely in focus, a surreal kitchen sink drama filtered through a dream where everything is in the wrong place. It’s a fine precursor to Heartburn, which similarly borrows BBC Radiophonic Workshop-style noise synths and the use of space to carve up the simple “You Will Make My Heart Burn” line. At this point, the listener has been in such close proximity to McFarlane’s show, the reality guest in a performance where they’re the sole audience member, that when Where Are You My Love rises on the horizon as a sleepy, psychedelic send off it’s uplifting. The vocal drifts away into the sunset, simple and direct. It leaves the listener slightly confused, perhaps, but grateful for the gentle surprise.

A fruitful collaboration between lyricist Andrew Birtles, composer David Watts, producer Dave Foister, and the beautiful voice of Kym Amps of which only two tracks were released on a 7". Now, almost 40 years after the original release date, the full album finally sees the light of day through Monte Cristo.

Kym Amps' powerful and moving vocal performance is supported by minimal electronic new-wavish arrangements that were produced with, at the time, cutting edge equipment.

ZamZam 72 comes from one of our favorite producers for the last few years, the elusive Andy Mac. Known in particular for his “Diving Bird” series, a buy-on-sight trilogy of 12”s on Bristol’s Idle Hands, the idiosyncratic producer also has releases on No Corner (in collaboration with Ossia), and the seminal Punch Drunk label. His unique style of chopped, techy, warm, pastoralist dubwise had us from the first, and the tunes he sent us flew through our A&R gauntlet with ease. His are records we return to again and again, revealing more subtlety with each listen, free from genre or tempo constraints.

“Dawner,” the first of two transmissions from Lands End, Cornwall, is a perfect encapsulation of the Andy Mac sound: melancholy yet uplifting, rooted in techno-steppers yet rough-hewn and organic, breezy yet piercingly introspective. Led by a staccato kick and insistent metallic snare, featuring a bubbling Hammond organ lead by Richard Blackbarrow of cult UK Rough Trade band “Bob,” this one shimmers with summer warmth, lens-flare refracting saturated side-light, made for dusk sessions and sunrise sets, preferably out of doors, far from any city.

Layered with field recordings of streams and sea, “Tawny Grammar” is an altogether deeper affair, a dark, hallucinatory journey into the power of repetition in a 140-ish style. Shaker, kick, and hi hat lay the foundation for a looping and loping Binghi drum and guitar chop that begin their journey hacking through a dense undergrowth of sound, only to find themselves ensnared in a web of backwards delays and psychotropic effects that suspend the unwary in a strange tension between minimal and claustrophobic… the dance’s dark beating heart.

“Built By Humanoid” is Humanoid's second album, a mere 30 years after the debut, though Brian Dougans claims the first album wasn't really him anyway.
Humanoid's classic acid house single, ‘Stakker Humanoid’, highly regarded as one of the key tracks from the era (Richard James (Aphex Twin) sights the Stakker project as a major influence), enjoyed massive success in 1988. Reaching No.1 for 5 weeks in the UK dance charts, performances on Top of the Pops, a John Peel session for the BBC and European tours eventually led to an album deal.
Whilst all this was happening, Brian Dougans (one half of electronic legends Future Sound of London) claims he was returning to his squat in Kings Cross with no electricity or water. He not only became disillusioned with the business, but also became increasingly ill from the conditions he was living in. Around 6 tracks into the album, he left London and record label, Streetsounds, returning to Manchester to recover and regroup his thoughts. However, Steetsounds pressed ahead with the album and it was finished in Brian’s absence with guest performers.
Brian left Humanoid behind and went on to create FSOL with Gaz Cobain becoming leading lights in the burgeoning ambient scene, scoring a top 10 album "Lifeforms" on Virgin Records.
In 2003 Rephlex (Aphex Twin’s label) released a posthumous album of 1988 out takes compiled by Brian.
Recently Humanoid tracks have been popping up on modern compilation albums (Touched Music / Gasman, etc) signalling a possible return.
“Built by Humanoid” is a brand new nine track album of future acid cuts, breaks and electronics, a lot of which is credited to 2 synthesisers co-designed by Brian Dougans and English Electronics company Digitana. It is this innovation that has helped usher Humanoid back into the limelight and consequently the album has a rather new and unique sound and style.
The track ‘Polymath’ is created using a possibility / probability theory that results in a track which at no point repeats itself - 303 tinged acidic bubbles. Meanwhile ‘Traktion’ is a break beat, pulse laden, bass heavy monster. ‘Fu*k It’ is the future sound of 303. Fast, frantic and beat driven. Whilst ‘Post Humans’ combines thumping 909 and 303 into an acid hallucination.

Born in 1949 in Recife (Brazil), Roberto De Melo Santos, despite a very light discography, is among
the true icons of the Brazilian Soul music under his artist alias, Di Melo. He’s indeed only needed an
eponymous album, released in 1975 on Odeon, to assert himself as a star in his native country, but
also as a legend for all collectors and connoisseurs of the world. More than 40 years after its release,
this famous album sells for several hundred euros in its original version, and even for the few
reissues that were offered. Not very active since then, Di Melo however returned in 2016 with the
album O Imorrível, released on the Brazilian label Casona Produções.
It is then that a year later, came a meeting with the French group Cotonete, that Florian Pellissier,
founding member and keyboard within the band tells us about: “On tour in Brazil with Cotonete, we
had a few days off in Sao Paulo and I really hoped to make a collaboration with an important artist or
band from the Brazilian funk scene. We had thought of Marcos Valle, Meta Meta or Ed Motta... but
Rafaela Prestes our Brazilian "sound ingineer/genious" told me she’d worked with Di Melo for his
recent comeback and gave me his number. No sooner said than done, as I'm a huge fan of Di Melo.
The next day he arrived at our house with Jo, his wife, and Gabi, his daughter. He takes the guitar in
front of us and gives us a private show of 3 hours… we cried the tears of joy. He had 400 original
songs never recorded, a gold mine. On the same night, we started working the arrangements for 2
days, followed by a rehearsal and two small gigs in Sao Paulo. Immediately after, we recorded in the
magical Epsilon B studio. This album is the summary of this moment, of these 5 days of madness
spent together between “the best band in the world” and the legend Roberto Di Melo… Simple,
beautiful, Brazilian-French, human music…”
Today, Atemporal found its final version in collaboration with Favorite Recordings and is proudly
presented as what we believe will become the genuine long-awaited follow-up to the classic Di
Melo’s LP.

Exactly two years after their latest Front Teeth LP, the Zürich-based duo VEIL OF LIGHT is back with a new album called Inflict which will be out May 10 on Avant! Records. This is their fourth full-length and their industrial-tinged synth-based post-punk keeps on getting better, making Inflict their strongest release to date. In these eight new cuts you'll hear how their sound has gotten heavier, bulkier, even more beat-driven. Tracks like So Hard and Holy Wars display drums pounding like noises from a rusty machinery, synths on You Done Me Wrong and Fact2019 they’re so sharp they can slice through your skin, Europe and Animal Instinct feature melodies from the abandoned industrial district of your ghost town. We could go on but you are probably aware of what these two Swiss are all about, and if you don’t you'll know the Veil Of Light when you face it. Artwork by Basel-based visual artist and photographer Samuel Trümpy. Limited edition LP on orange vinyl!

Melody (vocals, synth), Casey (vocals, synth), Bill (bass), Scott (guitar) and Marcus (drums) united through a shared post-punk sensibility and began experimenting with some angular drum and guitar give-and-take, layered with duelling synth refrains.

Over this Melody and Casey worked-up their vocal harmonies through impulse, developing an interplay reminiscent of The Go Go's at both their most serene and severe. The pairs vocals drift through each track, punctuating the profound and guiding us through each song's uncanny terrain.After a busy year of local shows and bouts of instinct-first songwriting, Red Channel chose a number of their most resonant songs to record with Andrew Schubert at Golden Beat. These were subsequently mixed by Eric Carlson and then mastered by John Hannon for this debut 7' EP on Upset The Rhythm entitled 'Crazy Diamonds'.

The title track launches the listener through a stratosphere of cascading notes, swoonsome lyrical turns and tack-sharp pivots in rhythmic practice. 'Crazy Diamonds' is an exhilarating rush of a song, both wistful and defiant. Melody explains that it is 'about the forever fluctuating reality that weaves in and out of ecstasy, loneliness, yearning and destruction. It's about women being free from a superficial beauty, it's about the cessation of ideals and power worship.'  'Giver' is a similarly sprightly yet pointedly questioning track, 'alone in your room, alone with your thoughts, of sleepless shadows, but what do I get' sing Casey and Melody in spooked unison.

'Demons' swirls with minimalist pop moves, a trailing backing vocal and a tumbling bass motif, whilst a dream-like quality pervades the guitar and keyboard lines. Melody then peppers the song with references to extinguished lights, evil forces, bags of sugar, floods and heaven on earth, drawing us so close that we enter the vision too. 'Slowness', which brings this debut EP is a close, is another triumph of illusory lyrical association and punchy gesture. In fact the band sound 'caught in a fragment, non-corporeal' throughout all the four tracks. Opalescent passages freewheel into splintered eruptions, there's a duality constantly in play, 'somebody dies, somebody's born'.

The songs collected here are manifestly catchy, conjured in cyclical patterns that are distorted by a desire that tends towards stream of consciousness. It's this willingness to wake-up in the unreal and see each moment reflected in the mirror which really sets apart Red Channel's first record.

Groove Line Records series of officially licensed disco / funk 12' reissues continues in 2019 with two fabulous cuts of gospel disco from The New York Community Choir (NYCC), 'I'll Keep My Light In My Window' & 'Express Yourself'.

The New York Community Choir (NYCC) began in the early 1970s, a gospel ensemble which developed a style that also gave secular R&B, soul, and pop songs a spiritual dimension; bridging Saturday night and Sunday morning, as it were.

'I'll Keep My Light In My Window' is a slice of joyful uplifting gospel disco, which is as needed in these times as it was when it was released in 1978. This was a great favourite of David Mancuso and Larry Levan at the time, and has remained a much loved dancefloor track for the disco cognoscenti ever since.

This came from NYCC's second LP for RCA, Make Every Day Count, produced by Warren Schatz (who also produced The Brothers, which was Groove Line's first reissue 12' in 2014).

NYCC released a self-titled debut album, also produced by Schatz in 1977 included the dance hit "Express Yourself," the B-side of this release in its 11m45s David Todd & Warren Schatz Disco Mix version.

All Groove Line Records releases are fully licensed and taken from the original master tapes, this 12' has been remastered and cut at half-speed by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering (Mastering Engineer of the Year 2013 & 2018). All vinyl is heavy weight 180g manufactured Optimal Media in Germany, one of the world's finest pressing plants.

Groove Line Records cut no corners when making sure that each and every one of our releases has the highest quality performance possible.

Groove Line Records' deluxe reissue of 'I'll Keep My Light In My Window' & 'Express Yourself' is an essential purchase for any serious Disco, Gospel, Funk, or Soul vinyl collector who demands the very best in quality vinyl pressings. Find out more at

Five years after his track 'Mr. Croissant Taker' appeared on Soulwax's Grand Theft Auto V radio station, Belgian producer Transistorcake releases his official debut release, the 'Future Plans' EP on Eskimo Recordings. Featuring 4 tracks of hazy electronica that would sit neatly alongside early releases on Aphex Twin's Rephlex label or recent excursions by the likes of Palmbomen and Betonkust.

Opening tracks 'Future Plan I' and 'Future Plan II' sets out Transistorcake's stall nicely. Swirling synth melodies, an ever evolving bassline that leads you down a labyrinthine maze and diaphanous strings and pads all add up to create an ecstatic yet at the same time melancholic quality to the music that manages to sound both ancient and modern.

"Future Plans I and II are constantly changing routes of ideas, improvisations and coincidences," explains Transistorcake, "nothing is a constant in the two numbers, outside the pulse of the drums. You can see them as two possible versions of the future or as an old version of the future alongside its current variation."

Whilst cut from the same cloth as the previous tracks 'Ribbles' has more than a touch of the Nordics to it. Sparkling, playful melodies glitter like snowflakes caught in the flash of a strobe light before a pulsing disco beat rockets the track into the stratosphere. In his own words the track is "an ode to spontaneity and dancing without braking. I pictured it being played by a live band next to a pool at an LA cocktail party in the '80s."

Closing the EP we have 'Kluts', driven by a stuttering, head-nodding, rhythm that recalls that rapping sound of a woodpecker in the forest, the track is gently swaddled in a warm embrace of synthetic stings that gradually develops and asserts its dominance over the course of nine, all-too brief as it happens, minutes. For all its gauzy textures there's also an undeniable solidity to these tracks, an underlying organic quality and nostalgic warmth that permeates them.

Having previously studied jazz composition and played in several bands over the years, Transistorcake brings a sense of spontaneity to the often all-to-structured world of electronic music. This EP just capturing a snapshot in time of these songs that can be endlessly reworked and reimagined in his live set, where live bass and drums, are added to his collection of vintage synths to an endless back and forth between man and machine.

The only woman featured on Worldwide FM's Sydney broadcast, and having recently produced her first old out all-female showcase featuring musicians, visual artists, poets and DJs, 20-year-old Ella Haber has worked toward her debut for 15 years.

Shocked by a hushed crowd reaction at her first public performance, Ella's realisation her voice could halt and occupy an audience's thoughts bleeds into all aspects of her life. With early demos of her debut EP, CLAY, reaching the ears of Brisbane-raised, London-based musician Jordan Rakei, the recent Ninja Tune signee - impressed with her vibrant songwriting and compositions - lent his production chops to the project, arranging and recording live instrumentation at Old Paradise Audio in London, while Ella worked on vocal recordings in Sydney.

'Ella's timeless vocals and mature songwriting sensibility was the reason I wanted to work with her on this project. In a climate where artists often take shortcuts, Ella's determination and strong vision will make her stand out from the rest. It was a pleasure bringing her songwriting to life and I can't wait for the world to hear her music!' - Jordan Rakei

A multi-lingual multi-instrumentalist deftly weaving her songwriting prowess with trumpet, piano, spoken word, fresh lyricism and powerful jazz/soul performance, Ella's ease within music is in stark contrast to her feeling for every other established structure. Set to release her debut single, Old Friends, written when Haber was only 17, she reflects on the impact Amy Winehouse's debut album, Frank, had on her songwriting: 'I had been writing music since I was a kid, but listening to Frank just gave me permission to write about love and all its pains and confusions in this way of transparency and brutal honesty I never had before. Old Friends was actually the first track I wrote from the EP, and, the first song I ever really felt proud of'

In a genre, and society, where identity is increasingly scrutinised, Ella Haber resists, comfortable only in the confines of music composition. Challenging, with full colour love and intelligence, she's not letting anyone off lightly. Her debut EP, CLAY, is out April 26 via Soul Has No Tempo.

The Naturals' debut album is more than just an rediscovery of one of the great lost albums of the last decade, but of how things were always intended. When Eddie Ruscha (Secret Circuit) and Thomas Bullock (Rub'n'Tug/STD) appeared as The Laughing Light of Plenty, their journey offered untold troves. Now at last the pulse is set for outer orbit and all are welcome to join.

After a mind-melting debut EP sold again and again, an album expanding their unique psychebalearicfolk imaginings was prepared and even pressed before being lost somewhere between a lock up in New York and limited quantities reaching Asian shores and dealers
trading at dizzying Yen.

Lost, but never forgotten, years passed until a nagging memory that an earlier, rawer mix had always been superior. A return to the original band name seemed The Natural(s) choice and so a project idea started to be (re)born.

A sunny Spring afternoon in a grand English garden, pots of tea, talk of life's travails, deep yogani, love affairs, kids growing up, the power of now and music, always music led to two labels coming together to dust down the desk and not just resurrect, but seek and offer the original intentions.
Here at last is the double album as intended. Of two great friends jamming their deepest vibes and flowing with love to offer tales of higher consciousness. Travel inward, beyond meer chakras. Aim for the stars. The devil is in the details so see the trails and follow to some avail.

Begin your own journey.

(Limited edition of 300 copies on clear & black marbled vinyl with full printed sleeve and textured coloured printed insert)

This is the 1st vinyl release on a quiet RIOT, an independent electronic music label based in Scotland.

Following his Interferenza cassette for Osiris Music, Berlin-based sound artist Adam Winchester returns with a new body of work that sees him embracing ever more forthright rhythms while adhering to his established lines of sonic enquiry.

With roots in the Bristol dubstep scene and a long-standing partnership with Christopher Jarman in Dot Product, Winchester has spent the past few years investigating alternative methods of sound generation that deal in hidden electromagnetic frequencies and spectral tones found lurking in circuitry. Bringing these extremities back to a more structured focus, Muutto is a highly personal work that captures the period of transition as he moved from Bristol to Berlin.

While the finely sculpted tonality and artful distortion of his recent work is plain to hear throughout, Muutto is also grounded in arrangement and melody, weaving a tangible narrative that pivots around steely rhythmic architecture, nodding to his roots in club music without expressing anything explicitly 'dancefloor.' Even at its most physical, as on the weighted march of 'Hold,' the emphasis is on atmosphere and mood, no matter how heavy the drums fall. In the distant murmurs of pads and poignant vocal threads, the bittersweet emotional backdrop to the record comes through in abundance.

There's space afforded for the more avant-garde tendencies in Winchester's music too. 'Metaphors' is caked in guttural feedback that comes on like a particularly noisy Albini studio session strapped to a chassis of the swampiest blues rock lurch you're likely to hear all year.

In its needlepoint detail, broad scope of sound palettes and potent expression, Muutto is an accomplished offering, but more significant is the way these facets are bound together by immediacy and form that transcend the freeform experimentation many of Winchester's traits are drawn from.

'a quiet RIOT' is an electronic music label based in Livingston, Scotland orchestrated by Nomad and is the sub-label of the highly renowned 'RIOT Radio Records.'

Since 20th February 2015, Nomad has run his own very successful fortnightly internet techno radio show called the "RIOT Radio Show.' Each show has a resident warm up set then a further hour with a wicked guest, the majority of whom are among the world's top electronic artists. The show gets thousands of listeners on each transmission with every set recorded exclusively for it. You will not hear them anywhere else.

A hoard of very well-known and simply stunning acts always feature on the show along with a whole host of very talented local music makers.

This was the build up to the record label being launched in April 2016 that will show-case major acts and amazing local talent.

Global pop star and 3-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo has partnered with 2015 Grammy producer of the year Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, The Rolling Stones, Beyonce) for a full circle re-imagining of Talking Heads' 1980 landmark album Remain in Light. The album features appearances by Alicia Keys, Questlove of The Roots, Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend, Blood Orange, Tony Allen, Angelique's longtime guitarist Dominic James, and Magatte Sow (percussionist for the 'Black Panther' film score). Visual artist Kerry James Marshall collaborated on the album artwork.

As a musical act, Xeno & Oaklander (Sean McBride and Liz Wendelbo) conflate a rich love of analog synths, melody, and mythology with eloquent nuance and a nod to the heritage they draw from. While that construct is the duo's immediate kiss and crush, there's a deeper importance to their collaboration which began in 2004. As evidenced in their debut Vigils (2004), McBride and Wendelbo's artistic dynamic is more than just a mutual love for electronics but a contrast between architectural precision and painterly expression. From the film scores to the traditional albums they've recorded in their Brooklyn studio, they've both spurred and fostered the global synth wave revival through a commitment to analog-only production and performance as well as a strident respect for the medium.

On their latest album Hypnos and first for the Dais imprint, the duo leveraged the talents of visual artist and live sound engineer Egan Frantz to mix the album. It's a touch that adds both punch and balance, allowing their inherent conceptual voices to converge into a collage with defined edges and warm, synapses of frequency and beat.

'Musically, Hypnos is a return to polyphony after several years of using strictly monophonic synthesizers,' McBride says about the album's ethos. 'This has brought dense harmonies and a more complex counterpoint to the composition. Staying with the same equipment and processes without the inveterate compulsion to update and refashion allows for a clearly perceivable genealogy with our previous work.'

'I felt the desire to tell mythical stories, I also wanted my voice to sit strongly in the mix,' Wendelbo explains. 'I channeled the spirits of 60s French Pop chanteuse Françoise Hardy and 80s New Wave New York icon Tina Weymouth.' Her intentions are best evidenced on the tracks 'Angelique,'and 'Insomnia,' the former a spry track sung in French, against a springy rhythm. Laden with expanding and contrasting frequency and a penchant for strategic rhythm, Hypnos juxtaposes dance with distance, creating an immersive oeuvre that exudes contrast and control.









d

Nothing Makes Us Jump Up From The Desk, Shouting 'whaaaaat ' Like A Bitter End New Release !

The Label Continue To Forge A Path That's Entirely Their Own, With Another In The Limited Pre-release Series...

'kneel B4 Thelma' On Side A, Flips One Of Her Biggest Hits Into An Utterly Futuristic Cyborg-soul Anthem !
Almost As If We'd All Forgotten How Good One Of Earth's Greatest 20th Century Divas Might Sound Over A Filthy 21st Century Klanken-banger !

On The Flip 'mast Song' Transports Us To A Seaside Tavern, Where The Old Folks Sit In The Back, Evoking (and Imbibing) Strong Spirits, With Traditional Shanty's While The Next Generation Find Communion In The Gentle Throb Of The 4/4 In The Tap Room Next Door

Light Years Ahead !

Connaisseur posthumously releases Daso's self-titled long player to create a final memento for his musical legacy.

We first came in touch with Daso when we saw him performing live at the
Dachkantine in Zurich around 2006. He really had this stage talent which
fascinated us straight from the beginning. At this party we agreed on the first release on Connaisseur, the "Adventure EP" including the strong "Sam n Max", which was a great presentiment of the many releases to come.
Daso was a unique character with a lovely sense of humour, and surprising quirks which could be like marvels to us. One moment, we would be worried just seeing him crossing a busy street and in the next, he would be rocking the stage with major self-confdence and the attitude of a real rock star.
In our history of Connaisseur, he defnitely was one of our most important
artists, and some of his best music was released with us. He played many label nights, and together we enjoyed uncountable laughs, discovered cities and countries while touring and collected invaluable memories.
It is the way of the world that we as a label eventually focussed on new artists, and Daso, too, embarked in new directions. We still stayed in touch, even though the gaps between our contacts became bigger with time. The frst time we realized that Daso was ill was in the frst quarter of 2016. We had invited him to our 10th anniversary party in Berlin, but he didn't feel well enough to be able to come. Shortly after this, he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with cancer. We were shocked. Daso was always such a positive person, it simply didn't add up for us that someone like him could get sick.
Obviously an irrational and unjust thought, but it just felt so unfair.
When he started chemo therapy I spoke to him on the phone, and my label partner Martin, who lives in Berlin, gave him a frst hospital visit early in summer of that year. A bit later we visited him together, and yes, he was optimistic, still full of humour and also motivated to pick up his career again as soon as possible. This impression was of course only from a distance, but I was delighted to see how confdently he presented himself on socials after all his treatments, and how after recovery he started playing gigs again.
At some point I realized Daso hadn't been active on his socials for a while, which concerned me. This was in the frst quarter of 2018. His last post on Facebook had been made on November 30th and I knew this couldn't bode well. After contacting some common friends I was told his prospects were not good. I was about to go on an Easter holiday but planned to visit him on my next monthly trip to Berlin. I didn't have the chance. On Easter Monday, April the 2nd, 2018 Daso passed away.
At Daso's funeral, which was on a wonderfully sunny day in late spring, his father came up to me and asked if I might be interested in releasing this album, which Daso had been able to fnalise in the last months and weeks of his life. We didn't decide on doing so lightly, knowing that the release of a post-mortem album can bring up certain issues. However, in the end, we agreed to do it, as we sincerely strive to create a fnal memento for Daso's musical legacy.

The self-titled album Daso will be released on April 5th, three days after the first anniversary of Daso's obit.

One of Brazil's most prolific artists, Eumir Deodato has participated in the creation of over 450 albums, racked up 16 platinum records, won a Grammy (and received two more nominations), and sold over 250 million records in the USA alone. Over the course of his career, he has written for, arranged music by and played with artists including Frank Sinatra, Tom Jobim, Kool & The Gang, Earth, Wind & Fire, Marcos Valle, Aretha Franklin and Bjork, among others.

At the height of Deodato's productivity in the early 70s, Os Catedraticos 73 was recorded between Rio de Janeiro and New York, featuring a Brazilian rhythm section comprising Azymuth drummer Ivan 'Mamão' Conti, percussion master Orlandivo, and Sergio Barroso on bass, while the horn section features some of the big apple's top players from the CTI in-house brass.

A firm favourite with rare-groove enthusiasts and fans of Latin jazz alike, Deodato melds the musical sensibility of post-bossa nova Brazilian jazz with North American soul & funk, and the explosive Latin influences of '70s New York. Os Catedraticos 73 certainly swings harder than some of Deodato's earlier releases and opening track 'Arranha Ceu' (Skyscrapers) is a euphoric dance floor classic, which has been lighting up clubs for years.

With the blessing of Deodato himself, this official Far Out reissue has been remastered and pressed to 180g vinyl, with replica original artwork from the OG Equipe release.

This was Charles Tolliver's first album as a leader. The setting is unique only because his second Freedom-Black Lion album 'The Ringer' and all of his subsequent albums on Strata-East featured his quartet Music Inc. with pianist Stanley Cowell. Here he is surrounded in quartet and quintet formats with a truly stellar cast of the leading players on the New York jazz scene.

Charles plays the role of leader, composer and trumpeter. But it is surely that last role that deserves the most attention. The trumpet is a brass instrument that leans toward a hard sound and staccato phrasing. Yet Tolliver is the quintessence of fluidity. While it may be undeniable that he has learned from his musical heritage and past trumpet masters, a trumpeter of such flow, tone, control, lyricism and creativity is, by definition, a major musician.

Charles Tolliver first came to the professional jazz scene in the mid-sixties, when he first met Jackie McLean. Under McLean's leadership, he played on a number of Blue Note record sessions, some of which have yet to be released. He contributed original tunes to many of those sessions.

Within a couple of years, Tolliver was a well known figure in New York circles, playing and/or recording with Booker Ervin, Archie Shepp, Andrew Hill, Roy Ayers, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Willie Bobo, Gerald Wilson, McCoy Tyner, Hank Mobley, and many others. His compositions were getting recorded by many artists. He gained his greatest recognition during a two year stint with the Max Roach quintet that also included Gary Bartz and Stanley Cowell.

There is also a previously unreleased bonus track of the song, "Repetition", recorded by Charles for this LP which will be included on this new release of the album. This song was originally made famous by Charlie Parker's LP With Strings.

This album is certainly an important and lasting document in light of the musicians involved and in light of its unique context for Charles Tolliver. But basically, it is just a great album to listen to. Michael Cuscuna

Icons Karen O and Danger Mouse unveil their debut recording as a duo, 'Lux Prima,' today—listen here. The song, out today on BMG, is the first to be released from a forthcoming joint album.

'Lux Prima is the first song we wrote for the record,' says O. 'After making music for the past twenty years and embarking on making this record with Danger Mouse I knew a couple things: one was that the spirit of collaboration between us was going to be a pure one, and two was that the more I live the less is clear to me. When you create from a blurry place you can go places further than you've ever been. I think we both were excited to go far out.'

Alt. folker Will Oldham - better known as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - is set to drop a joint record with gently psychedelic crew Trembling Bells

Just four years after their debut album Carbeth, Trembling Bells are amassing a formidable body of work at a startling velocity. Just twelve months after the release of their critically acclaimed third album The Constant Pageant, the Glasgow quartet return to share the billing with a similarly restless creative spirit. A few thousand miles separate Will Oldham and Trembling Bells' drummer and principal songwriter Alex Neilson, but their stories intersect as far back as 2005, when the young Leeds-raised Neilson found himself playing drums on Alasdair Roberts' No Earthly Man, with Oldham producing. In time, a friendship between mentor and student became one between two kindred musicians. Neilson augmented his work with free-psych-drone practitioners Directing Hand by playing with the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy band. The drummer's eagerness to experience new epiphanies yielded unforgettable memories. In Big Sur, he recalls, 'we took mushrooms at midnight, then visited a natural hot spring built into the dramatic cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The stars were as vivid as frozen fireworks.' All of which is worth dwelling on, because without that background of mutual openness and empathy, it's hard to imagine The Marble Downs existing.

Neilson recalls a conversation about a 'collaboration' in the summer of 2010, though stresses that it 'was nothing too formal at first'. By the end of that year, a limited-edition seven-inch New Year's Eve Is The Loneliest Night of the Year showed what an inspired match the vocals of Trembling Bells singer Lavinia Blackwall and Will Oldham made. The cut-glass precision of the classically-trained student of medieval music and the worldly, careworn tones of Oldham created an unlikely chemistry. It must have seemed that way to Neilson too. He set about assembling a cache of songs with the purpose of further harnessing that chemistry. The result is an album that has, once again, redrafted the boundaries of what Trembling Bells can achieve together. Indeed, genre-lines aren't terribly helpful this time around. Yes, Trembling Bells' love affair with traditional music remains a constant — most emphatically so on the unaccompanied Blackwall/Oldham two-hander, My Husband's Got No Courage In Him. Then there is Blackwall's musical setting of Dorothy Parker's poem Excursion Into Assonance — and the thorough-going new-found classicism of Neilson's increasingly assured songwriting. Albeit delivered with Trembling Bells' rain-lashed sense of abandon, Love Is A Velvet Noose sounds like a standard of sorts — a warped consequence of Neilson's increasing fascination with the songbooks of Cole Porter and Hoagy Carmichael. 'I'm not saying I stand any chance of emulating them,' he adds, 'but the appreciation is definitely there.'

The knowledge that Oldham and Blackwall would be sharing centre-stage on The Marble Downs gave Neilson extra impetus to flex his songwriting muscles. I Can Tell You're Leaving finds both vocalists on irresistible form, dissecting their dying relationship with no heed to the other's feelings. 'You treat me like a child,' sings Oldham. 'I need a man,' she responds, barely catching breath. 'Now like Merle Haggard, you'll see the fighting side of me,' he later promises. 'I guess that's one of the lighter moments on the album,' ponders Neilson, 'I was trying to get a Planet Waves-era Bob Dylan feel there, with the piano and walking bassline.'

Here and elsewhere, the band — Blackwall, Neilson, bassist Simon Shaw and guitarist Mike Hastings — has never sounded more psychically attuned to one-other. On the slow-reveal sonic establishing shot of I Made A Date (With An Open Vein), two minutes of manic modal chaos elapses before Oldham takes the narrative reins of a majestic call-and-response folk-rock epic. The electrifying free-folk portent of Riding — a revival of the Palace Brothers classic — is no less compelling, calling to mind the words of broadcaster Stuart Maconie when he praised Trembling Bells for their ability to invoke simultaneously 'the charm of folk music and the power of rock.' Ditto Ain't Nothing Wrong With A Little Longing, in which Neilson slams down a four-to-the-floor beat over a synergy of demonic krautrock keys and a dialogue between Oldham and Blackwall that scales Nancy & Lee levels of romantic intrigue.

With nine songs gone and one remaining, the album's sonic undulations find an arresting denouement in the form of an inspired cover. Adapted from Robin Gibb's 1970 solo masterpiece Robin's Reign, Lord Bless All sees Trembling Bells tease out the hymnal qualities of Gibb's original with a slow volcanic upswell which — on four minutes — explodes into heavy psychedelic technicolour. What pleases Alex Neilson when he listens back is 'a sense of a common vocabulary and identity being forged.' If, by that, he means that there isn't another band on the planet that quite sounds like Trembling Bells, it would be hard to disagree. The evidence is right here.

'I didn't know anything about Trembling Bells. I just heard them and was knocked out. I instantly became a fan.' Paul Weller

'Trembling Bells are my kind of band.' Joe Boyd

"Jesus fucking shit! These jamz claw so hard at the tatties below methinks the Lord misnamed them, having intended to say Trembling BALLS." Will Oldham

'A poetic incantation of British identity far brighter than Michael Gove's GCSE syllabus.' Stewart Lee

'This time, I'm attempting to reclaim the art of songwriting from the charity shop bargain bin.' Alex Neilson

Virtuoso compositions, subtle synthetic atmospheres, voices oscillating between pure intentions and dreamlike fantasy, a confusion of feelings and desires, time and space...Garden of Love, the 3rd album by electro duo Scratch Massive makes an impression from the first moments that you hear its enigmatic beauty. Like a ghost train moving along a tightrope - between shadow and light, failure and redemption, violence and melancholy - this fourth studio album reaffirms the Parisian DJ/Producer duo style/vibe with their hybrid sounds and sensory experiences. For 15 years, Maud Geffray and Sebastien Chenut have maintained artistic and aesthetic control as they participated in the 'revolution of the dancefloors'. In the early 2000s, 'Made in France' electro became known for its hedonism and as the savior of an entire techno generation ready to fight (or at least on the dancefloor!) for a future that was increasingly frustrating and hypothetical.


On first glance, Garden of Love, appears to be an invitation to love and peace, however, nothing is ever that simple, as the album cover evokes a multitude of interpretations. The lyrics speak to the depths of the soul, covering a range of emotion from love, emotions, and fears ... Garden of Love is for our hearts and bodies to become receptive again: the disenchanted poetry of the Last Dance, the sumptuous opening track set against a backdrop of electro-pop murmured in the light and shadows as painful caress; the psychedelic scent of Sunken (a duet recorded with the complicit and poisonous voice of Léonie Pernet); and the dark-tech shores of "Fantome X" with the evanescent and hypnotic pop clarity of Feel The Void (both magnified by the vocals of Romain Thominot of the Reims pop band Grindi Manberg). Scratch Massive draws the outline of an electronic music in search of redemption - reinventing their icy grooves and confronting it with a naive elegance and a disillusioned romanticism that embodies our time.

Introducing a new label, Koko Music, founded in West London by a long time friend of ours. Their first release:

'Allegedly Coltrane's favourite singer, Andy Bey recorded as vocalist for Max Roach ('Members, Don't Git Weary'), Horace Silver ('Won't You Open Up Your Senses'), Gary Bartz ('Celestial Blues') and Stanley Clarke in the late sixties / early seventies. He released one solo album and then disappeared from view for 20 years, resurfacing in the nineties.

This 1998 album showcases his four-octave range, the intimacy of love songs and raw power of the blues on a mixture of standards ('Pretty Girl', 'Some Other Time'), Latin ('O Cantador', 'Drume Negrita'), modern (Nick Drake's 'River Man'), and a couple of original tunes. Available for the first time on vinyl, cut at 45rpm, it features Andy on vocals and on piano, with appearances from Gary Bartz and Geri Allen.'

The lighter shades of electronic music found a home in our very own Horoom for quite a while already. It's time to bring our love for melodies and rhythms into an output: under the roof of Bassiani records we are proud to announce a new sublabel. HOROOM001 inaugurates the platform that will be home to the likes of virtuoso Francis Harris and the craft of Hamatsuki. They've contributed, A to B, to the first release on the new imprint and be sure to find tracks that are going to enchant you with both beauty and depth. Jazzy, elegant and yearning: no more words needed.

With one of the hippest jazz albums of recent years under their belt, Jukka Eskola Soul Trio is back with a fresh new single. It's truly a double-sider of the highest order, as both of the tracks deliver a completely distinct flavor.

"Tiny B" on the A side is a neat bossa jazz number, and as usual in top of the genre, the lightness serves only as a facade. The composition starts to evolve before the listener gets too comfortable, transitioning into a beautiful cinematic section, which is followed by tight solos by Eskola on trumpet and Mikko Helevä on organ. The trio rises beyond its numbers, as the maestro Teppo Mäkynen overdubs his drumming with added percussion and vibes.

Hiding on the B side is a furious jazz dance burner, which sees the trio rise to energy levels that surpass even Five Corners Quintet in their tightest form. "Stick of a Branch" is highly syncopated business that takes its cues from a sound refined by 1970's independent afrocentric jazz groups. It's a style, which is inherently modernist, without a slightest interest in mass appeal, and firmly rooted in the blues.

If you need some no nonsense organic jazz on your turntable, it's hard to go wrong with this single.

Eduardo De La Calle has been doing his thing since the early 2000s, but the last couple of years have seen him move into overdrive. Releases on Planet E, Hivern Discs, Nitsa Trax, Turbo Recordings, Gigolo and Darkroom Dubs to name just a few have shown he is both prolific and consistent, and this new four-track collection is just as compelling as his recent output.rnrnDistortion Theory III is a whirring hypnotic machine jam that melds shimmering synth snippets to mind-bending FX undulations and throbbing low end. Disorientating and wonky as hell, it's the sound of a funky computer malfunction somewhere in deep space.rnrnLight Tunnel continues the theme, coming across like the dying throes of space station spinning out of control due to excessive amounts of sub bass. It's a dizzying, disorientating ride.rnrnAcid Aaron C (Edit) wastes no time getting down to business with its gurgling, incessant 303 line present from the get-go. Shuffling percussion rubs up against heady female vocal lines and wonky detuned 8-bit synth blips, the undercurrent of the track swelling and calming seemingly at will. rnrnThe Dub Math takes things down a notch with hazy sounds and plodding sub bass combining with heavily reverbed vocal incantations which all combine to bring together the vibe referenced in the title.

The record you are holding in your hands is a previously unheard masterpiece of Israeli multimedia artist Ami Shavit. As a professor of both philosophy and art and established kinetic artist in the 1970s Shavit was fascinated with new and interactive technologies. While mostly focusing on visual art and mixed-media installations, a trip to New York in 1972 introduced him to synthesizers and triggered his curiosity to do some explorations into the world of music or "sound" as he preferred to call it.

Ami's research was focused on the concept of meditative music that would help people to relax and create a cosy mood associated to the alpha brain waves and biofeedback. Before starting his artistic career, like all Israeli citizens, he had to serve in the army to his personal regret. Shavit had an operational position, which meant a high probability to get involved in a so called 'hot situation'. When in 1973 the Yom Kippur war broke out, Ami was enlisted again and got the unfortunate opportunity to encounter, in Hanoch Levin's words 'the dead'. Being an operation officer he was in charge of evacuating Israeli wounded officers from battlefields to hospitals. Some 6000 injured men passed through us during that war, he recalled one year later in a newspaper interview.

'I witnessed some sights that I can hardly forget. On the one hand I felt that as an artist I had to express the war events, on the other hand I felt that this is an almost impossible mission. Only Goya and Picasso, in his Guernica, addressed this topic successfully.'

Yom Kippur is the final and seminal of Shavit's sound experiments ever recorded and now finally available to the world. We believe that this is an extraordinary strong piece in which the hectic moods and terrific experiences of war are deeply transmitted to the listener. May all soldiers, who are often forced to go through traumatic experiences beyond their own will, find ways to artistically digest and process the unwanted memories.

Ami Shavit was born in 1934 in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Known as visual artist, his work involves in creating virtual environments with optic and kinetic art, including structures worked by electricity, moving tubular configurations illuminated by colored lights. He published In Alpha Mood in 1977 on Amis records, his own record company, at 500 copies, republished by Finders Keepers Records in 2015 and Neural Oscillations And Alpha Rhythms in 2018. Yom Kippur is his ultime recordings.

2018 played host to a bumper crop of sounds from some of Philly's grittiest, including Great Circles mainstays M//R and Chaperone. To close out the year that was, we are pleased to present Heckadecimal's 'Murder Tape.'

A Minneapolis-based producer and acid auteur, Heckadecimal has been a fixture within the vibrant Midwestern electronic music community for nearly 20 years. Founder of the legendary 'Anti-human' events and co-curator of the ever-prolific Always Human Tapes imprint - alongside Ryan Wurst and Peter Lansky - Heckadecimal's reputation is one of unrelenting creativity and tireless advocacy for sonic experimentation. His work has found its way to light via a slew of pseudonyms and stage monikers, including The Worm, noface and Wonder Sirens.

In short - Heckadecimal lives and breathes the sonic matter that he leaves pouring out of studio monitors, busted bar systems and finely tuned rave stacks, wherever his travels take him.
Live performance lies at the core of Heckadecimal's practice. When he stormed through Inciting HQ in Philly earlier this summer, he took command over an arsenal of hardware that reminded us of how Octave One or Shawn Rudiman might show up. These were machines that he had lived with; touched with custom modifications, hand-drawn stickers and pockmarks incurred in battle, one got the sense that the gear was a personal extension of the artist.

Perhaps it's a bit maudlin, but we feel a certain kinship with this project. Indeed, these tracks at times feel very much of a piece with the gnarled tonalities in which our stable typically traffics; all low-slung riddims that reach at equal lengths towards mutated IDM aesthetics and post-Packard Plant techno extrusions. These are future perfect grooves that glide along under the vast Midwestern sky, providing a fertile communication conduit with the City of Brotherly Love.

Give thanks for acid. Great Circles will see you in the New Year..

Blues Creation was founded in Tokyo in 1969. They released this, their impossibly rare debut of American blues covers, that same year. Featuring covers of Sonny Boy Williamson, Chester Burnett, Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, and more, this is the greatest recorded example of the Japanese obsession with American blues music. The band would record several more albums and then come back as, simply, Creation, but nothing reached the sheer blues rock heights of their debut.

Jimi Tenor delivers another 7" on Philophon. This time he teamed up with the two glorious gospel queens Florence Adooni and Lizzy Amaliyenga from Bolgatanga/Northern Ghana. This release is a first insight into the next album by Jimi on Philophon, which will be released later the year.

Vocalize My Luv is a charmingly presented lure for love. The secret of the song is that drummer Ekow Alabi Savage's upfront high-life beat is triggering a Jimi-operated Korg MS-20 bass synth. Man and machine are melting down into a light and sportive groove, which irresistibly invites you to do some frisky aerobic moves on the 3am dancefloor. Ki'igba is a classic Frafra gospel song by Alogte Oho, completed with some jubilating flute by master Jimi.

Zeitreise: go Back', Way Back. Die Musik Erinnert An Arthur Russell, Es Hat Aber Nicht Nur Abstrakte Reminszenzen An Arthur Russell's Garage Sound: Steven Hall Aka Nirosta Steel, Der Hier Singt Und Gitarre Spielt, War Der Gitarrist Und Sänger Von Arthur Russell's Hits Wie is It All Over My Face', in The Light Of A Miracle' Oder tell You Today'.

Der Niemals Oxidierende Nirosta Steel Trifft Hier Dj, Produzent Und Chinesischen Record Shop Betreibenden Tomasz Guiddo, Der Bereits Eine Maxi Auf Compost Disco Veröffentlicht Hatte. Als Kalabrese Das Original Hörte, Sagte Er Spontan: Klingt Für Ihn Wie Ein Versteckter Talking Heads Track. Auf Jeden Fall Hat Kalabrese Seinen Typischen Hand-gespielten Coolen Disco-ritt Draus Gemacht, Während Shahrokh Dini go Back' In Die Oberste House-hemisphäre Puscht. Es Gibt Auch Noch Einen Michael Reinboth Remix, Exklusiv Auf Vinyl Und Digital In Dem Fetten 25 Years Compost Records 10x12' Box-set (2019).

Metric Systems is the name of a covert project of over 20 years duration. It has moved across multiple continents, under multiple names. The 8 songs that make up 'People in the Dark' were recorded between 2000 and 2016 in various locations across Sydney, Melbourne and New York. The bright-eyed sci-fi fascination of Australia's Clan Analogue collective intertwines with the more sinister facets of modern technology - echoed voices pepper the album like fragments of a surveillance tape collected by our digital panopticon. A pervasive sense of paranoia and unease winds its way through these 8 tracks that move between techno, downtempo and more abstract strains of electroacoustic experimentation. Fittingly housed in a striking sleeve by American photographer Trevor Paglen, whose MacArthur-winning work revolves around these same themes of omnipresent surveillance and data mining.

'People in the Dark' opens with the wordless vocals of 'Your Room', drifting over the unspooling synthesizer sequence that seems to swell and recede from the foreground like the ebb and flow of a lapping tide, lapsing into dreamy ambience before the drums come back in. The smartly programmed drums are the focus of 'Chinatown Warehouse', whose hip-hop swing gives a distinct 'nod factor' to the otherwise hazy mechanics of the track. On 'Laika', a 303 line weaves its way across the subdued mid-tempo groove, gently recalling the ambient-acid of Susumu Yokota's 'Ebi' project. The penultimate track, 'Stellarwind' starts with a dark, foreboding drone before shining pads arc over like a glimpse of light through the track's murky darkness, the tension between these two poles moving together as the song unfolds.

This record reflect just a small selection from a large archive of recorded materials. All songs written and produced by Kate Crawford and Bo Daley.

If you read the name Shankar you may right away think of Ravi Shankar, the grand master of contemporary Indian folk music who was very popular in the 60s due to his connection with the music industry in the United States despite staying away from the pure pop music by maintaining his classic sitar and tabla style ragas to express himself musically. Ananda Shankar used to be his nephew who also made a journey to the USA to gather inspirations from rock artists like Jimi Hendrix among others. His first album from 1970, a conglomerate of classic Indian folk tunes and instrumental versions of the hottest rock songs of the day clothed in a veil of sitar melodies and backed up with tabla drum grooves, was an attempt to combine the spiritual approach of his cultural origins with the light minded blissful attitude of western psychedelic pop music. It worked well in the sense that it is still, nearly fifty years later on, a groovy little album that leaves nobody sitting around at any random hippie party. He took a five year break from recording to create what should become his second album and this is what I am about to present to you now. The cover-tunes were replaced by all original compositions with a lush instrumentation that features the typical sitar, tabla and bowed string instruments such as sarong and sera arrangements mixed with sounds that have a definite western origin such as rock guitars, Hammond organ and moog synthesizers plus full drum kits that take care to enhance the actual groove. Psychedelic rock, raga, fusion-jazz and funk flow into each other quite naturally giving birth to something fresh and exciting I would label as Bengali pop'. The borders between eastern and western music get abrogated here. If it was not for a few deeply mythical chants on a bed of drones here and there you could not even tell this was a record by an Indian artist. This album is quite accessible most of the time and comes with a certain slickness that makes it easy for the listener to understand and appreciate what is going on. Still there is the other side of the coin, the depth pop music often lacks. So in the end this might have been too far out for the average western mainstream fanatic back in 1975 when disco began to rule but it is an awesome sound trip for fans of psychedelic dance music like INCREDIBLE BONGO BAND and all eastern influenced popular rock.

Invoking imagery of condensed, interstellar warfare - Dayzero takes command of the controls for Sentry Records' eighth release. Based in Japan, the acclaimed producer follows up on his substantial outings for Wheel & Deal and Hatched Music among others - having continuously refined his highly effective compound of Dubstep with vocal support from the scene's vital tastemakers. Now joining the Sentry roster with two monumental armaments, the newest signee shows us how it's done. Enrichening the sound system music scene with a no-nonsense production style as well as his innovative, experimental approach - all killer, no filler.

Taking off to another dimension in 'Sunday on Spaceship', listeners are met with feigned lo-fi soundscapes, carved out of analogue noise and detuned echoes. A state of overt tension dissolves into Dayzero firing up the heavy weaponry with stripped down sub bass tremors and meticulously crafted off-kilter groove. Amongst granular, apocalyptic percussion reverberating voices of days past flicker. Diverse drum instrumentation and supple distortion keep it lively, a no-questions-asked onslaught and guaranteed way to light up any dance.

Flipping over to the B-Side, we're placed on the receiving end of another ton of musical napalm. Finding ourselves being churned through bare concrete, laced with psychedelics. 'Down By Law' oozes of sonic variance, as industrial plucks shine through the cracks - furthering the aberration alongside narcotic staccato arpeggios. Subtle use of eerie harmonies and surging feedback wails is firmly kept in check by brute-force kicks and snares - ceremonious pressure underneath. Venting high-pressure 808's amidst supremely crafted breaks, leaving us yearning for more. A pair of mean-spirited sound-bwoy murder tracks on a twelve-inch platter - enough said!

Lost Futures is a new label that explores experimental and often radical approaches to dance music from the past. In a musical landscape that increasingly claims to seek and reward new forms and ideas, Lost Futures delves into the recent past to revisit forward-thinking, optimistic projects that, owing to the social, musical or outright political climate, perhaps struggled to find an audience. Allowing only time to re-contextualise these leftfield, sometimes misunderstood and ultimately human bodies of work, Lost Futures taps into the inherent idealism of rave.

LF001 trips back until the early nineties to revisit the alternative scene emerging from the Dutch city of Utrecht. Here, three young men - DJ Zero One (Sander Friedeman), TJ Tape TV (Arno Peeters) and DJ White Delight (Richard van der Giessen) - joined forces to form 'The Awax Foundation'. Inspired by the transcendent and revolutionary electronic music arriving on their shores imported from Chicago and Detroit, combining their knowledge, gear and ever-expanding vinyl collection allowed additional freedom in paying sincere tribute to these intoxicating sounds, while also developing their tastes in a more personal, eclectic direction.

The musical flavours of Awax initially leaned toward acid house and the roots of techno. However, with three different mindsets in the mix, their tastes were rarely fixed. One thing each shared in common was a devotion to collecting rare sounds, specifically more adventurous and international samples than those emanating from the increasingly-hard, masculine dance music emerging from the Netherlands during the period. Inspired by the cross-over global sound of bands like Suns of Arqa, or 'World Music', as it was perhaps patronisingly termed at the time, the trio became interested in the idea of making techno with 'ethnic instruments'.

Of course, this being 1992, none of The Awax Foundation had access to such instruments, instead, they had a vast, collective library of samples from all over the world. There were no collaborations and no clear plan. Instead, they set to work using a Yamaha TX16W sampler, the legendary Atari 1040ST computer, a cheap mixing desk and a couple of low-end synths and FX machines. When Richard mentioned the project to his friend, Akin Fernandez, the London DJ and owner of cult label Irdial Discs, Fernandez was intrigued enough to invite the trio to record a one-hour show for his 'Monster Music Radio' series on London's then-burgeoning Kiss FM.

Forced to come up with a name, 'CultureClash' seemed like the obvious choice, even if the members of Awax were only creatively sparring among themselves. Along with the term 'ethno-techno', slightly dubious to a hopefully more conscious Western audience in 2017, these were the only guiding principles to the quietly ambitious project that soon combined cutting-edge machine rhythms with samples sourced from everywhere from Bolivia to Togo, and inspired by everything from Ravi Shankar's epic soundtrack to the Oscar-winning movie Ghandi, to the technical limits of their own setup requiring a dazzling degree of cut-and-paste work. Some tracks even emerged out of academic studies within the ethnomusicology department at The University of Amsterdam.

The show aired on October 2nd, 1992, recorded in one blistering take and without any rehearsals, traversing a huge variety of tempos and styles. If the performance wasn't seamless, it was undeniably thrilling, fresh and ambitious. As such, several labels, including Fernandez's aforementioned Irdial Discs expressed an interesting in commercially releasing CultureClash, while another imprint proposed a series of twelve-inches and an album. But the sheer complexity of the project meant that it never saw the light of day, while the trio embarked on different journeys ahead, both creative and personal.

Twenty five years later, and the original CultureClash lineup and founding members of The Awax Foundation provide the sound of the first release from Lost Futures. An otherworldly, ambitious and optimistic compilation, accompanied by extensive sleeve notes from the trio, CultureClash is a timeless ode to experimentation in dance music's ever-overlapping culture.

'1929 - Das Jahr Babylon" marks Thomas Fehlmann's third full length release of 2018 and presents what appears to be a creative peak in his career that spans beyond his solo career to his early days in Palais Schaumburg, collaborating with Moritz von Oswald as 3MB to his long time work with The Orb. Having left The Orb in late 2017 has set free unforeseen energies in Fehlmann's studio.

A departure from his recent dance floor-friendly album "Los Lagos" (KOM388, KOMCD148) released in September on Kompakt, Thomas Fehlmann's '1929 - Das Jahr Babylon" is a film soundtrack from the documentary that aired on ARD network on September 30, 2018 and is now available as a podcast series.

To compliment the internationally lauded TV series "Berlin Babylon", German director Volker Heise has created a documentary about 1929, the fateful year during Germany's "Weimarer Republik" in which "Berlin Babylon" is settled. Heise's stirring documentary portrays Germany's sizzling capital that is faced with radical changes by the dark forces whom are about to toss the world into the abyss we know as World War II.

This marks the second time that Fehlmann is partnering up with Volker Heise after 2010's marathon documentary "24 Stunden Berlin" which was released as "Gute Luft" (KOM211, KOMCD81) in the same year. Fehlmann's composition for "1929" consists of sample material taken from the era and thwarts the exaggerated lust for life with threatening undertones that anticipate the dawn of mankind's darkest chapter so far. Although all the sounds breathe yesterday's atmosphere this soundtrack bursts with modernity. Fehlmann accomplished the daring feat to musically render the unsettling resemblance between the political situation 90 years ago and our current time.

We at KOMPAKT feel that Fehlmann's score has turned out spectacular enough to give it proper release on limited vinyl and CD as well as on all digital platforms.

Mit '1929 - Das Jahr Babylon" legt Thomas Fehlmann schon seinen zweiter Longplayer innerhalb eines halben Jahres vor und dokumentiert damit eine kreative Hochphase seiner überaus stattlichen Musikerkarriere. Die Trennung von The Orb scheint bei ihm ungeahnte Energien freizusetzen.

Anders als auf dem cluborientierten "Los Lagos" tritt Thomas Fehlmann auf "1929" musikalisch einen Schritt zur Seite. Und das aus gutem Grund: Analog zur international gefeierten Fernsehserie "Babylon Berlin" entstand unter der Regie von Volker Heise der Dokumentarfilm "1929 - Das Jahr Babylon" - ein ergreifendes Sittengemäde Berlins während des Schicksalsjahrs der Weimarer Republik. Wie schon zu Volker Heises vorangegangener Berlin-Doku "24 Stunden Berlin" (2010 erschienen als das Album "Gute Luft" auf KOMPAKT) hat Thomas Fehlmann auch diesmal den kongenialen Soundtrack beigesteuert. Basierend auf Klangmaterial des Jahres 1929 hat Fehlmann eine beeindruckende Musik geschaffen, in der manchmal die übertriebene Lebensfreude und Dekandenz jener Zeit aufflackert. Eine Musik, deren Stimmung jedoch unterwandert ist von den bedrohlichen Strömungen, die Deutschland kurz darauf in seine dunkelste Epoche stossen werden.

Thomas Fehlmann ist damit ein wahres Kunststück gelungen. So sehr die Produktion den Geist einer vergangenen Zeit atmet, so modern mutet sie an. "1929 - Original Filmmusik" klingt somit wie die zu Musik geronnene Erkenntnis, dass sich Gestern und Heute auf erschreckende Weise ähneln.

Wir bei Kompakt sind der Ansicht, dass Thomas Fehlmanns Filmmusik zu "1929 - Das Jahr Babylon' so spektakulär geraten ist, dass wir sie nun als limitierte CD und Vinyl-Auflage, sowie auf allen digitalen Plattformen verfügbar machen.

2018 played host to a bumper crop of sounds from some of Philly's grittiest, including Great Circles mainstays M//R and Chaperone. To close out the year that was, we are pleased to present Heckadecimal's 'Murder Tape.'

A Minneapolis-based producer and acid auteur, Heckadecimal has been a fixture within the vibrant Midwestern electronic music community for nearly 20 years. Founder of the legendary 'Anti-human' events and co-curator of the ever-prolific Always Human Tapes imprint - alongside Ryan Wurst and Peter Lansky - Heckadecimal's reputation is one of unrelenting creativity and tireless advocacy for sonic experimentation. His work has found its way to light via a slew of pseudonyms and stage monikers, including The Worm, noface and Wonder Sirens.

In short - Heckadecimal lives and breathes the sonic matter that he leaves pouring out of studio monitors, busted bar systems and finely tuned rave stacks, wherever his travels take him.

Live performance lies at the core of Heckadecimal's practice. When he stormed through Inciting HQ in Philly earlier this summer, he took command over an arsenal of hardware that reminded us of how Octave One or Shawn Rudiman might show up. These were machines that he had lived with; touched with custom modifications, hand-drawn stickers and pockmarks incurred in battle, one got the sense that the gear was a personal extension of the artist.

Perhaps it's a bit maudlin, but we feel a certain kinship with this project. Indeed, these tracks at times feel very much of a piece with the gnarled tonalities in which our stable typically traffics; all low-slung riddims that reach at equal lengths towards mutated IDM aesthetics and post-Packard Plant techno extrusions. These are future perfect grooves that glide along under the vast Midwestern sky, providing a fertile communication conduit with the City of Brotherly Love.

Give thanks for acid. Great Circles will see you in the New Year..

One thing The Vryll Society aren't short of is admirers, Lauded at just about every turn by press and public alike, the release of their debut LP for Deltasonic Records is hotly anticipated thanks to the promise this band have shown through their live sets and recent single releases.

Discovered and nurtured by the late and much missed Deltasonic founder Alan Wills, they fitted the type for him perfectly. He instantly saw in them similar attributes he'd previously found in the early days of The Coral and The Zutons. The confident swagger, the solid union formed by their band-of-brothers gang mentality, their willingness to stand outside the conventional and often stifling jangly Liverpool scene, and the work ethic. Always the work ethic.

Wills instilled in The Vryll Society something which has become over the ensuing years a key element of what they are, what they've become, and of the music they produce. He gave them belief. A belief that hard work and determination will bring them to the place they wanted to reach.

'Alan taught us that all you need to conquer the world is a rehearsal room, your instruments, a good work ethic and a positive attitude and you'll get there. He kind of taught us the rules and the attributes that you need to have to be successful so we've just continued on that path' says frontman Mike Ellis.

Ellis has stated that it was that attitude and that work ethic which got them through the subsequent tragic loss of their friend and manager in 2014, driving them forward through those times, propelling them to harder work, and bonding them even closer together as a unit.

That unit have spent the intervening time creating and honing their own brand new-psych sound, and building up a fanbase with their superlative live shows. Drawing from an eclectic palette of influence from deep funk to Krautrock, electronica and prog, they've created a heady, intoxicating, pin sharp, and tightly wound mellifluous groove, washed over with cyclical motifs, acres of effects laden guitar hooks, and shimmering, textural technicolour soundscapes. It is at once blissful, dizzying and madly infectious. It's that eclecticism, that kaleidoscopic swirl of influences which brings together hip hop flavours, with the prog stylings of names such as Aphrodite's Child and The Verve - pre Urban Hymns - when the drugs were still working. The dynamic leaps and folds through all these influences is where you find The Vryll Society's own brand perfect pop. Its all there in the loops, in the hooks, the drive and the vibe of this unique band. But this isn't frippery, these aren't throwaway cheap thrills for our disposable times. No, this is heavier. This is music too feed your head.

Live too, The Vryll Society are a formidable force. That gang mentality binds them together over the ideas formed by spending long hours together in the rehearsal every day. Hotwiring these ideas into the heads of the crowd through extended psych jams and deep solid grooves gives a different show every time, and with each and every set, the offer gets better. Recent travels have seen them take SXSW 2017 by storm as guests of BBC Introducing as well as major festivals such as Glastonbury and Leeds/Reading.

The songs that fill the delicious grooves of Course Of The Satellite weren't so much written as devised or developed, brought together organically over months in the band's underground lair, or over weeks in Liverpool's Parr Street Studios. Working closely with producers, Wills' right hand man and Deltasonic brother-in-arms Joe Fearon and Tom Longworth, the album took shape organically, biding its time and finding its way. The result is a work of impressive confidence and stature. It's a record that believes in itself, and for all the right reasons. This is an effortlessly cool album, the sort of record that makes friends easily. The world is ready, willing and more than able to take The Vryll Society even deeper to their heart. The path Alan Wills showed them awaits. It's a path that leads to greatness.

a1 | Course Of The Satellite
a2 | A Perfect Rhythm
a3 | Andrei Rublev
a4 | Glows And Spheres
a5 | Tears We Cry
a6 | When The Air Is Hot
b1 | The Light At The Edge Of The World
b2 | Shadow Of A Wave
b3 | Soft Glue
b4 | Inner Life
b5 | Give In To Me

Bristol-based producer Drone finally makes his bow for Coyote Records with the release of new four-track EP, 'Light Speed'. Written over the first six months of 2018, 'Light Speed' forms Drone's most accomplished and absorbing release to date, bringing new textures, layers and depth to his music and to the club - a space where his beats have been a mainstay in the sets of producers like Kahn & Neek since debuting on Hear Other Sounds in early 2017. A regular at Coyote's Bristol parties over the course of 2016 and 2017 and inspired by the clinical, freeze-dried grime of label contemporaries like Last Japan, as well as Sector 7 bosses Boofy and Lemzly Dale, Drone has probed, honed and developed his sound to marry the raw impact of his early beats with detailed, widescreen scope. There are nods to the soundsystem culture of his new home city of Bristol on the coarse textures and booming, dubby low-end of 'Narroways' for example, while title-track 'Light Speed' captures the icy, shimmering Coyote sound aesthetic in full view. B-side tracks 'Probiscus' and 'Fangz' continue this theme apace, bleeding into one another like patchwork to showcase a grime sound moulded by the club, but finessed away from it. Born in Hastings, Drone has spent the last three years studying Music Production in Bristol, during which time he's guested on Rinse FM, released on London's Hear Other Sounds and Boofy and Lemzly Dale's influential Sector 7 imprint, as well as self-releasing a limited edition USB - comprised of a slew of unreleased beats - in February 2018.

The body never lies. Every dance is a graph of the heart. Nothing is more revealing than movement.

These are the words of Martha Graham, one of the greatest American dancers and choreographers of the 20th century. Massimiliano Pagliara might as well have them tattooed on his chest, close to his heart, being an accomplished dancer, too. He has studied contemporary dance in Milan and Berlin, and went on to dedicate his life to transforming experience into movement, be it musical, physical, or spiritual. Massimilano's message is clear: Don't stand still. Don't keep looking back. Know where you are coming from, but don't remain petrified by the past. Take a chance at Endless Change, instead. Move on! Just like Massimilano did.

Stemming from Lecce province, an area at the south-eastern-most tip of Italy, Massimilano has been based in Berlin for several years where he's been one of the main forces behind recombining the city's hardboiled techno scene with an often overlooked sensibility for the soft and the tender. Call it underground disco passion. Massimilano's last and sophomore album, With One Another, released in 2014, was about celebrating the joy of human encounters and in parts seemed like a big get-together with like-minded artists and friends (among them nd_baumecker, Lee Douglas, and Credit 00). The record quickly hit the number one spot in Groove magazine's album chart - and its creator hit the road.

Besides his busy DJ schedule and far from the usual club circuit routines, Massimilano dedicated himself to intense travelling and exploring the world anew. 'I felt like I have lived more than ever,' he states. 'Getting to discover all these beautiful places around the world and meeting so many lovely interesting people, has inspired me in many different ways. I feel enriched.'

The result of these experiences is Feel Live, Massimiliano's third full-length endeavour. It was recorded in several intimate, sometimes improvised studio settings between Los Angeles, Portland, and Massimiliano's homebase in Berlin as well as at airports and on intercontinental flights high up in the sky. Featuring vocals by Private Agenda, Peaking Lights, Kim Anh and instrumental contributions by Fort Romeau, Tim K, and Jules Etienne, Feel Live is Massimilano's most playful and imaginative work to date. It's as emotional as sensual, as vibrant as the first ray of light after a thunderstorm has cleared the air.

Is it awkward or odd to call this record jazzy Presumptuous to pinpoint its spacial, almost orchestral qualities Unfair on the ruling Cosmic powers to highlight its aspirations of founding a new land of Balearic Harmonia and getting down at a huge fertility rite with electro enthusiasts and house lovers Not one bit. Feel Live is pure grandeur and elegance. It feels like an eternal movement.

Martha Graham has dedicated her whole life to dancing. 'It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way,' she said. 'Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable.' Massimilano couldn't agree more. His advice when facing the inevitable: 'Live what you are feeling, feel what you are experiencing, good or bad, it is an experience.'

Bitter End continue to forge a path that's entirely their own, with another in the limited pre-release series...

'Dimension Extension' on side A, cooks up a sumptuously throbbing, cockle-warming Disco stew from the meagre ingredients of a sprouted wah wah guitar potato, brass carrots and a bouquet garni of dizzying strings. Yum
On the flip 'Be There Again' takes as inspiration a swirling Funk-Soul nugget from '77, augmented with some 21st century sonic sorcery and most welcome synth noodle in the 3rd act

Once again Bitter End rips up the rule book, and crafts a whole set of new, better ones in which freedom reigns

Light years ahead !

Russian producer Nocow returns to Rekids with an enthralling full-length album entitled 'Atoner' this November.

Real name Aleksei Nikitin, Nocow is known for his versatility, producing a large body of genre spanning work on labels like Clone Royal Oak, Figure, Fauxpas Musik, Gost Zvuk and Styrax. The St. Petersburg-based producer debuted on Rekids last year with his 'Samaya Dolgaya Noch' EP, a mellow release complete with vocal driven cuts as well as 2-step rhythms, and now returns with a myriad of productions in a fourteen track album entitled 'Atoner'.

'Atoner' opens with an eponymous track that gently unravels with soaring synths and subtle percussion before Nocow's voice emerges alongside twinkling atmospherics in 'Complie'. Throughout the long player are also intricately produced short tracks sitting between the two and three-minute mark such as looping vocal number 'Dancerecter', the melodic and rattling 'Leto' and ominous 'Delore'.

Ostanovitsa' is a murky offering featuring a meandering organ riff, leading into the pitter-patter drums and serene chords of 'Starveme (feat. Tayut Ogni)'. 'Come Along' is a crystalline and otherworldly experience from start to finish, whilst 'Melting Lights' is comprised of echoing, subterranean sounds, making way for reverberating snares and metallic stabs in 'Standalone'.

Husky murmurs and soothing notes then make up 'Neva', moving into the syncopated beat and idyllic chord sequences in 'Can't Get Enough' ahead of 'Stonecold' and its icy aesthetic. Finally, the album reaches a mesmerising conclusion with the spellbinding 'Footer'.

Strut present the frst ever international reissue of in-demand '80s zouk LP 'Las Palé'
by Feeling Kréyol, out of Guadeloupe.
Producer Darius Denon explains: 'This was 1988 and bands like Zouk Machine and Kassav
were huge. I had met producer Frankie Brumier when I was performing at festivals and
parties and he wanted to record a girl group so we began scouting venues, mainly around
the Grande-Terre district in the island's capital, Pointe-à-Pitre. I ran auditions and picked out
the best three voices - Fabienne, Leïla and Yolande. One was singing in a choir and none of
them had met each other previously.'
Recording at a studio in Le Gosier, Denon trained them to sing the songs and spent around
6 weeks recording the album: 'I gave them a couple of compositions that I had planned for
my own solo album. I remember that we all got on really well; the sessions were fun.'
The title track 'Las Palé' was the lead track pushed as a single and achieved modest
success domestically. The band did a few promotional performances in the island's
discotheques but, in the end, the album stalled. 'Studios were expensive and there was
no cheap technology as we have now. So, the producer ended up cutting corners with the
production - the mix was not completely fnished and the voices were not synchronised
right to some of the tracks.'
For Denon, he continued his career to the present day, successfully moving to Paris and
breaking through with the hit 'Je t'emmene' in 1998. Meanwhile, although 'Las Palé' turned
out to be Feeling Kréyol's only recording, the interest in the album has grown in recent years
with the title track's lo-f charm fnding its way into sets by Invisible City and onto Red Light
Radio and more. This frst full reissue is remastered by The Carvery and features full original
artwork along with a new interview with Darius Denon.
KEY POINTS:
- First ever reissue of sought after original zouk LP from 1988
- Sleeve notes by modern day zouk star and album producer Darius Denon
- Remastered by The Carvery
- Tracks already cult classics through plays by Invisible City, Motor City Drum
Ensemble and more
FOR FANS OF:
Sofrito, Digital Zandoli, Kassav, William Onyeabor, Soundway, Invisible City, Motor
City Drum Ensemble, Disques Debs, zouk, Haitian compas, Gilles Peterson, Darius
Denon, Les Vikings

Earlier in the year, Red Light Radio co-founder Hugo van Hejiningen and Identified Patient joined forces to debut their new musical project, Stallion's Stud. Artificial Dance is ready to release the first fruits of the duo's studio collaboration.
The four-track EP digs deep into their shared love of electronics, post-punk era experimentation, DIY music culture and dubbed-out drum machine rhythms. The results are undeniably dark and intoxicating, with former punk singer Hugo fronting proceedings via mind-altering vocals and twisted lyrical flows.

Opener 'Promising Promises' sets the tone for what follows, with Hugo's spoken vocals wrapping themselves around ricocheting industrial dub rhythms and raw, delay-laden electronics. The delay trails to oblivion remain a force to be reckoned with on the creepy, fuzz-fuelled cold-wave doom of 'Instrumental Aria', while the throbbing and clanking 'Unpredictable' and 'Voice of No' ratchet up the intensity by several notches via end-of-days guitars, heavyweight bass and face-melting percussion.

Recorded already in 1983/84, these soulful songs still show a relation to 1970s soul pop with lush
arrangements that work with real instruments and have a vibrant atmosphere. An all in all memorable songwriting
and the incredible vocals of Mavis Staples from The Staple Singers make the album stand the test of time, even 35
years after the initial recording sessions and 25 years past its first CD/MC release. Licensed by legendary BRIAN
HOLLAND and for the first time on vinyl now by EVERLAND!

Mavis Staples has come to fame and fortune as member of the family vocal group THE STAPLES
SINGERS from the late 50s onward to the mid 80s and she has released a fair amount of solo albums as well,
many of them in recent years. - Love gone bad' is a solo effort from 1993, originally titled - Mavis Staples' and only
released on CD and cassette back in the days. So EVERLAND have now done the right thing and put out the first
ever vinyl of this gem. And a real gem can be found here. Soul music in a down tempo with a slick production and
lush arrangements that still have this vivid expression making it real music by real musicians. The songs contained
on this album all date back to the early 80s, from a session not released until 1993. The melodies and the way the
compositions flow go back to a mid to late 70s soul pop style that incorporates elements of funk and dance music
but in a moderate pace. You can easily float upon the dancefloor and drift away in silky dreams. Some tunes have
a synthesized beat with a typical 80s sound, but these are compositions that stand the test of time and 25 years
after their initial release and 35 years after these recording sessions they shine on as diamonds of black soul pop
and R'n'B music (not to be confused with Rhythm & Blues). Mavis sings like a grand lady of soul with a timeless
quality that makes her stand out from the crowd of similar crooners. Even in the most gentle moments here the
tunes have an irresistible groove that moves the listener. But you can also sit and listen and explore piece by piece
digging deeper into the arrangements to unearth great bass and guitar lines. You will sing these vocal melodies
over and over again in the days to come until you throw this onto your turntable once again. I wonder why this did
not see a regular release back in the 80s as it would have led Mavis Staples to the top positions of the charts, Pop,
Black Music and Billboard. She was meant to make an impact and although she was already in her mid 40s when
she recorded this collection of soul nuggets, she brought a lightfooted youthful spirit in, which gives so much life to
her songs. A must have for all aficionados of female fronted soul pop.

SVET(Light in Russian) was established to release dubby-influenced music from a vast pool of artists, with whom MAYAK has connected during past four years. Our first release is a various artist compilation from unique musicians across the globe.

While the A-side(from veterans) is quite moody and not that straightforward, B-side (from newcomers) is ready to rock dancefloors without any concerns.

LMYE first came to light in 2016 on Funkineven's Apron imprint with the LMYE EP, which quickly became a regular fixture at the London label's infamous parties and bbqs as well as with house DJs worldwide. Since then the pair have been relatively quiet, only appearing once on record, with a release for Bristol's Idle Hands in 2016.

The paucity of their output though belies a busy production schedule behind the scenes. Tracks from those sessions have surfaced occasionally in the sets of DJs like Shanti Celeste and Ben UFO but they have never seen the light of day on a full release until now.

As you would expect from their first releases, the self-titled LP treads a line between classic house and UK garage with a nod here and there to boogie and Latin freestyle, genres which have inspired their production techniques.

From barnstorming new jack house cut 'The Gift' to the classic UK funky sound of 'Hypnotized', LMYE have selected only the most weighty numbers at their disposal, with the aim of offering an LP that will catch the ear of those at every end of the house spectrum.

That's not to say that this is an LP of dancefloor-only cuts though. 'Long Island at Night', which features Bristol's Typesun and Adam Davies live in session, shows the softer, more musical side of LMYE's output. Meanwhile 'XTC Rising' is a uk garage cut with a classic edge which nevertheless still feels modern and up to date in its outlook.

In short, 'LMYE' collects the highlights of a number of years' work, with the aim of finding a home in the boxes of the most discerning and listeners for years to come.

I Conceived 'darkly' In 2015 As A Piano Album. I Was Fascinated By This Instrument And Couldn't Think About Electronic Music At All. I Spent A Lot Of Time In Front Of The Instrument Before My Fingers Could Play What Was Needed. And At Some Point, I Got A Few Solo Piano Tracks, But They Sounded Very Raw And Unfinished. Almost At The Same Time, I Was Getting Back Into Experiments With Electronic Music And Focussed More On Recording Piano In An Electronic Context. Paying More Attention To Different Textures And Multilayeredness. I Was Working On Soundtracks For Films By Noir Films And This Helped Me Finish Two Compositions, Which Later Determined One Of The Directions Of The Album And Served As A Bridge Between The Solo Piano Compositions I Recorded At The Beginning, And The New Electronic Tracks. At The Beginning Of 2018, I Got Back To The First Solo Piano Tracks To Give Them A Finished Form, Adding The Missing Elements That I Could Not Hear Three Years Earlier. I Wanted To Make A Piano Album, But I Got The Album Which Was Formed By Itself And Became A Result Of My Experiences, Worries, And Events Of My Life That Occurred During These Few Years. I Dedicate This Work To A Human, Which Shares This Life With Me, Supports Me And Believes In Me Like Nobody Else! I Dedicate It To My Wife.

"darkly" Comes Out On Limited, Double, Grey Vinyl (including Download Code)

No one had been through those doors in years. Unchanged, seemingly untouched, just a Guard watching over it, one wondered whether the place would ever see the light of day again. Built in the 70s by Scotch, there were only twenty such places in the entire world. Twenty studios, all identical. Most had undergone a digital makeover in the 80s, but not this one; situated in Lomé, this studio had stayed true to its original form. Silent and uninhabited but waiting for one thing, and one thing only: for the sacred fire to be lit once again. That of the Togolese Recording Office, is studio OTODI for those in the know. Through thick layers of dust, the console was vibrating still, impatient to be turned on and spurt out the sound so unique to analog. That sound is what Peter Solo and his band Vaudou Game came to seek out.

The original vibrations of Lomé's sound, resonating within the studio space, an undercurrent pulsing within the walls, the floor, and the entire atmosphere. A presence at once electrical and mystical sourced through the amps that had never really gone cold, despite the deep sleep that they had been forced into. In taking over the studio's 3000 square feet, enough to house a full orchestra, Vaudou Game had the space necessary to conjure the spirits of voodoo, those very spirits who watch over men and nature, and with whom Peter converses every day.

For the most authentic of frequencies to fully imbibe this third album, Peter Solo entrusted the rhythmic section to a Togolese bass and drum duo, putting the groove in the expert hands of those versed in feeling and a type of musicianship that you can't learn in any school. This was also a way to put OTODI on the path of a more heavily hued funk sound, the backbone of which maintains flexibility and agility when moving over to highlife, straightens out when enhanced with frequent guest Roger Damawuzan's James Brown type screams, and softens when making the way for strings. Snaking and undulating when a chorus of Togolese women takes over, guiding it towards a slow, hypnotic trance. Up until now, Vaudou Game had maintained their connection to Togo from their base in France. This time, recording the entire album in Lomé at OTODI with local musicians, Peter Solo drew the voodoo fluid directly from the source, once again using only Togolese scales to make his guitar sing, his strings acting as channels between listeners and deities...

Odd Beholder, the project of Zurich-based musician Daniela Weinmann, releases the full-length debut album "All Reality Is Virtual" this fall.

"All Reality Is Virtual" is an intelligent, tenderly flowing and weird pop album, colourful, assertive. It deals with the strange temptations of our time: from tinder to AI, from offline loneliness to obsessive self-marketing. "I noticed that the main temptation of a digitalized life is the idea that everything can be measured, recorded and therefore known." says Weinmann. "But I yearn for surprise, for wonder. The unknown, the uncontrollable is appealing to me."

Odd Beholder have released two highly acclaimed EPs already, "Lighting" and "Atlas". Followed by the "Remixes" EP. Those remixes have been contributed by friends made along the way and artists Odd Beholder became fans of: The/Das, Fejká, Hundreds, Alessandro Giannelli, Kalipo, Thomas Atzmann. After having played tours in China, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, Daniela Weinmann teamed up with swiss musician and producer Martin Schenker to finish producing Odd Beholder's debut album. "All Reality Is Virtual" will be out Oct. 19th, 2018 on Sinnbus and Mouthwatering Records.

It's not the fall that hurts, it's when you hit the ground - that's what - Failing Upwards' is all about. On Lehult's fourteenth release Lucky Charms breaks away from 4-to-the-floor territory to deliver a fun trip through skippy drum workouts and jazzy warmth. Spread out across the full A-Side is 'Einbahnstraßen-Sound". Heard first on the Lehult Worldwide FM Special last year, this highly requested tune finally sees the light of day in all its trippy, warm, analogue glory. 'Oase' takes things a notch deeper by layering lush synths, swarming melodies and ski field recordings over a laid back electro-groove. 'Rex Dubius' translates the vibe of the first two tracks into a more straightforward, dubby groove - not without the skipping beats and the warm counterparts, though.

180g vinyl, limited pressing

In the sweltering North-Eastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco lies the coastal city of Recife, where Amaro Freitas is pioneering the new sound of Brazilian jazz. For the prodigious young pianist, the spirit of his hometown runs deep. From the Afro-Brazilian maracatu born on the sugar plantations of slavery, to the high intensity carnival rhythms of frevo and baião, Amaro's heavily percussive approach to jazz is as indebted to these Pernambuco traditions as it is to Coltrane, Parker and Monk.

As with many of the greats before him, Amaro began playing piano in church aged 12, under the instruction of his father, leader of the church band. As his natural talents became obvious, the young prodigy quickly outgrew his father's instruction. He won a place at the prestigious Conservatório Pernambucano de Música but had to drop out as his family could not spare the money for the bus fare. Undeterred, Amaro gigged in bands at weddings and worked in a call centre to fund his tuition. The transformative moment came at age 15 when Amaro stumbled across a DVD of Chick Corea concert, 'he completely blew my mind, I'd never seen anything like it but I knew that's what I wanted to do with a piano'.

Despite not actually owning a piano, Amaro devoted himself to studying day and night - he would practice on imaginary keys in his bedroom, until eventually striking a deal with a local restaurant to practice before opening hours. By the age of 22 Amaro was one of the most sought-after musicians in Recife and resident pianist at the legendary jazz bar Mingus. It was during this time he met and begun collaborating with bassist Jean Elton and the pair went in search of a drummer. 'We kept hearing about this crazy kid who was playing in 7/8 or 6/4, we knew we had to meet him'. Hugo Medeiros joined, and the Amaro Freitas Trio was born.

'I want to show the simplicity of music, to break the stigma that the piano is for a particular social class. Yes, it's a difficult instrument, which many people do not have access to, but with it you can express everything.'

Following his critically acclaimed debut album Sangue Negro (black blood), the title of his sophomore release Rasif is a colloquial spelling of Amaro's home town. A love letter to his native northeast, Amaro explores its traditional rhythms through the jazz idiom, employing complex mathematical patterns reminiscent of some of the most challenging works by fellow Brazilian masters Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti and Moacir Santos.

Preferring to see the piano as a though it were a drum with 88 unique tones, Amaro's intelligence and emotion intertwine on every track, from album opener 'Dona Eni': a scorching reconstruction of the baião rhythmic structure, played in seven measures instead of two, to the serene homage to the coastal reef and its ecosystems on the title track 'Rasif'. 'Aurora' is a suite of three parts, representing the sun's journey from the light and soft of the rise, to the aggressive dissonance at its midday zenith and descending chromatic cadences as the sun sets.

Due for an Autumn release on Far Out Recordings, Rasif sees Amaro Freitas take a deserved step onto the world stage. Having already made a name for himself in Brazil, Amaro and his phenomenal band will embark on their first European tour later this year.

Amaro Freitas - Piano

Hugo Medeiros - Drums & Percussion

Jean Elton - Double Bass

Henrique Albino - Baritone Sax, Flutes & Clarinet

All compositions by Amaro Freitas

Produced by Amaro Freitas

Recorded by Bruno Giorgi @ Carranca Studio, Recife, Brazil

Mixed and mastered by Bruno Giorgi @ Quarto Studio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Executive producer and management: Laercio Costa

"It's Maths classes. A red-haired boy sits in the back, rhythmically tapping his fingers on a table like a madman. Although other students' eyesight is focused on the formula being written on the black-board, the boy could not care less. Out of a corner of his eye he notices as the sequence of numbers slowly begins to melt off the blackboard, glittering with colours, and finally spills all over the floor like a fractal leakage from some other dimension. Students from the first rows, scared, put their legs up - and then you start to hear the rhythm. The sounds, once set free, feedback from the walls and find their way to all chinks and cracks, circle all around to finally reach the teacher's ear. The lady cannot stop the upcoming fury, grabs Krzysztof Ostrowski (number 28) by his ear and circumventing the leakage she leads him out of the classroom. It's not the first nor the second time such thing happens. Years later, the boy finally sits by the machine; subtle light comes through the window slightly ajar, the curtain dances with the wind. Krzysztof, bent, is programming the rhythm."
It's warm and bright Autumn of 2018 and Krzysztof emerges again, this time on vinyl released by Jacek Sienkiewicz's label Recognition. The experimental style of "Primary Fluctuation" might come as a surprise to many of Jacek's followers, but there are surely some common features for the two art-ists - from attention to detail to a kind of serious melancholy present in their music. Ostrowski's rec-ord is a journey through futuristic polyrhythm, with enough space for menacing basses or unorthodox samples, reminding the aesthetics of fusion of broken techno and bass music championed recently by the labels like Timedance or Livity Sound. Four tracks (five in digital version) make up a cohesive, intriguing and surprising record, announcing series of special releases prepared by Recognition for the forthcoming months. ,

Spectral Empire are George Thompson (aka Black Merlin / Karamika) and Kyle Martin (Vactrol Park / Land of Light). With the release of Iron Muscle they are celebrating 10 years since their debut ep Innerfearence saw the light of day in 2008 on the now defunct THISISNOTANEXIT record label. Legend tells all track were made around the same time (2008-2009), at what was back then Kyle's studio in Archway, London, however opinions remain divided over the validity of this info. What is remembered for a fact is that they'v used practically every home appliance and improvised noise they could find, record and harness, in order to create the feeling of what they describe as a ' Robot walking' for the title track Iron Muscle. Anything from kitchen drawers to DVD's and cutlery was sampled and then drenched in effects and manipulated in order to create what came out as a cinematic futuristic piece to dive into again and again, a soundtrack for an unwritten sci-fi movie, or just a dramatic soundtrack for your everyday lives.. With See the invisible, rules do not apply. An arpeggiated groove sitting on a steady half time 60bpm beat, its like the perfect soundtrack to the perfect car chase. Mediterranean riverbed guitars- not-guitars, sirens, and a heavy (dreamy) atmosphere fill the voids and keeps the track pushing forward throughout... The 4th track on the record is a never before seen the light of day epic remix by Die Wilde Jagd, that back then still included Ralf Beck (Unit 4) as an active member of the band (back when they were still known as Der Rau¨ber und Der Prinz). The release will be a vinyl only release, and is already getting massive support from the likes of Vladimir Ivkovic, Michael Mayer, John Talabot, Red Axes, Manfredas, Trevor Jackson, Lena Wilikkens, Man Power and many more...

Leifur James will release his debut album in October through Late Night Tales' artist label Night Time Stories.
A Louder Silence is the London-based producer and multi-instrumentalist's first proper release; his two earlier singles feature on the record, after gaining support from Gilles Peterson's Worldwide FM with a live airing and interview in 2017, plus continued backing from XLR8R, Stamp the Wax, and BBC Radio 6 Music DJ's.
The album is both spacious and thought-provoking, energetic yet restrained, brimming with nuanced electronic instrumentals, dubby synths, and jazz breaks — creating an array of rich textures, complemented occasionally by James' own soulful vocals.
While James' early unreleased work was singularly electronic, A Louder Silence focuses on analog synths and warm acoustic instruments, all played by his own hand. It's the product of a two-year spell in James' home studio, with additional live drums recorded with Jim Macrae at London's Old Paradise Audio.
James' rich musical influences are laced through the release. Encouraged by his mother, a classically trained pianist, he learned to play the cello and developed adeep understanding of rhythm and melody that informs his approach to writing electronic music. James playsthe piano he grew up listening to in 'Mumma Don't Tell' and samples an indefinable percussive element to drive forward 'Suns Of Gold.' 'Night and Day' sees cello plucks and long melodic strokes interlink with a grooving synth line. He also field records the atmospheric Moroccan sea in 'Red Sea.' Inspiration stems from the experimentation of modern day electronic producers, fused with the Jazz, Classical, Blues, and Soul music that soundtracked his youth.
Central to the album is the idea of space. James recalls the early advice of his uncle, a jazz guitarist, who features on 'Uncle Blue': 'I remember him saying to me: "What goes in comes out' James says. 'Every detail should be a worthy detail; sometimes nothing is better than something.' Moments of blissful, structured intensity are juxtaposed with stillness and near silence — dark and light; loud and quiet. This also forms the foundation for the album title: A Louder Silence reflects the dichotomy of finding pockets of stillness in a noisy world.
The result is 10 distinct tracks delivered as one coherent and well-structured long-player debut, set for release on LP, CD, and digital, on 5th October 2018.
Live dates follow a debut live show earlier this year at the Jazz Café with Yazz Ahmed, including an album launch at London's Ghost Notes in October.

AUDREY CHEN's long-awaited new solo album "Runt Vigor" is an adventurous sonic exploration of the voice, cello and analog electronics.

AUDREY CHEN began her relationship with sound through the cello and voice over 30 years ago and since the past 15 years, her predominant focus has been her solo work, joining together the extended and inherent vocabularies of the cello, voice and analog electronics.

More recently, she has begun to shift back towards the exploration of the voice as a primary instrument, delving even more deeply into her own version of narrative and non-linear storytelling. She derives her sound material in continuous process, championing the "in-between" and overlooked. Regardless of instrument, CHEN's mode of experimentation touches both the abstractly beautiful and the aggressively unsettling, creating a kind of curiously imagined architecture, non-prosaic song or ritual that reaches beyond gravity or language.

Recent projects, aside from performing solo, includeher long running voices duo with PHIL MINTON, duos HISS & VISCERA with modular synth player RICHARD SCOTT, BEAM SPLITTER with Norwegian trombonist HENRIK MUNKEBY NØRSTEBØ, and the "romantic noise duo" AFTERBURNER with DORON SADJA (electronics/light projection). Past projects include work with German conceptual artist JOHN BOCK, a duo with NYC abstract turntablist MARIA CHAVEZ, and a quartet with NATE WOOLEY, C. SPENCER YEH and TODD CARTER that released a LP on MONOTYPE. Hernew projects include a double duo/quartet with BEAM SPLITTER and STREIFENJUNKO's, EIVIND LØNNING and ESPEN REINERTSEN and MOPCUT with LUKAS KÖNIG and JULIEN DESPREZ.

The final single in a series featuring regular Ghost Box artists, special guests and one-off projects. This time our guest artist is folk singer, Sharron Kraus with a remix by Belbury Poly on the B side.

'Something Out of Nothing' is a beautifully simple yet profound baroque pop folk song. Kraus sings, plays guitar and synth and is ably assisted by a studio band comprising: Jenny Bliss Bennett on Viola de Gamba & Fiddle, Nick Jonah Davis on Slide Guitar, Neal Heppleston on Bass, Oliver Parfitt on Synths, Nancy Wallace on Backing Vocals and Guy Whittaker on Drums.

Sharron Kraus is a singer of folk songs, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose solo work and collaborations offer a dark and subversive take on traditional music. As well as drawing on the folk traditions of England and Appalachia, her music is influenced by gothic literature, surrealism, myth and magick.

In addition to eight solo albums, Kraus has recorded an album of traditional songs 'Leaves From Off The Tree' with Meg Baird and Helena Espvall (Espers, Beautify Junkyards) written an album of songs to celebrate the seasons of the year, 'Right Wantonly A-Mumming', which was recorded with some of England's finest traditional folk singers including Jon Boden, Fay Hield and Ian Giles. She has also recorded and performed with Ex Reverie's Gillian Chadwick as Rusalnaia, with Tara Burke (Fursaxa) as Tau Emerald and with Irish free-folk collective United Bible Studies.

Jim Jupp, co-founder of the Ghost Box label, records as Belbury Poly. His melodic, folk inflected electronica references 70s library music & TV soundtracks. It's music that's both light and weirdly unsettling.

The Strictly Rhythm imprint is legendary and is instantly recognisable by connoisseurs worldwide. It's a label that has contributed time and time again to dance music culture across it's almost 30 year lifespan. Countless classics passed through the NYC offices of Mark Finkelstein and Gladys Pizarro and this brand new 'Strictly Classics' series looks to celebrate this cornerstone dance label and it's immense catalogue by going back to the archives and presenting some double-header action for diehard fans and newcomers alike. That's right, the 'proper' mixes, reissued from source and remastered to the highest spec, each track spread across one side of a 12" for optimal sonic playback.

Number 3 in the series kicks off on a proper old-school tip with CLS' mammoth 'Can You Feel It' from 1991, a collaboration between Todd Terry and Benji Candelerio CLS made a huge and lasting impression with this euphoric and anthemic slab of dancefloor madness. Instantly recognisable from it's ravey riff and funky drum programming, file this one under 'rave classic'! Over on the flip side we have South Street Player's smoothed out '(Who) Keeps Changing Your Mind', a rolling and deep jam from Roland Clark and George Morel that came out in 1993. This one's some lights down, honest to god soulful house music, skipping garage drums and that organ driven groove offer the perfect vehicle for Clark's gorgeous vox to soar over. Yet another set of absolutely essential SR cuts from the archive!

Remastered with love by Optimum mastering, Bristol from original master sources. Made in conjunction with Strictly Rhythm 2018.

Horrorfilm 'The Johnsons' was one of the biggest productions of 1992 in The Netherlands. The film won international acclaim and became a cult classic in the U.S. and Japan, yet failed to make an impact on the Dutch cultural landscape. Or so it was
thought... 25 years later, the celebrated documentary 'XANGADIX LIVES!' (Bram Roza & Yfke van Berckelaer, 2017), shines a new light on the untold story behind the film's troubled
production and the legacy it left behind...

XANGADIX LIVES! the original motion picture soundtrack, is composed by award winning producer and Deformer initiator, Mike Redman. It's now available on limited edition blood splattered vinyl. Get it now, because when we say limited edition, we mean limited edition!

*Repress*

The Future Sound of London's long and varied history stretches back almost 25 years and as such a vast amount of unrealised material exists in the FSOL Archives.
 
1988 to 2018 - 30 years of recorded history
 
Archived 9 brings further treats from the mammoth FSOL archives - this time ranging from early 90s right up to recent times.

14 unreleased tracks woven together to form over 60 mins of mind bending sound experiments 
From light to darkness from forests to deserts
onwards............ 
 
Did you know - The Future Sound of London were the first band to distribute their music via the internet, in 1994
 
Did you know - The Future Sound of London were the first band to use ISDN technology to transmit their music via the internet and also to radio stations across the world - a system that has now been adopted by the radio industry worldwide

After a string of acclaimed EPs on Heist, Dirt Crew and Quartet Series, Amsterdam's Nachtbraker presents 'When You Find a Stranger in the Alps', his first longplayer on his own Quartet Series imprint. The good-humoured Dutchman - tongue always firmly in cheek - has always refused to stick to the 'sound du jour' and the industry's conventions, following his own path instead, continually willing to step out of his comfort zone. 'When You Find a Stranger in the Alps', a nod to his favourite Coen Brothers' movie, is testament to Nachtbraker's studio prowess and drive to explore new sonic pastures and styles. The album consists of thirteen tracks, made over the course of 2,5 years in his studio at Volkshotel Amsterdam. Constantly shifting through different settings and moods, the album feels like a deep dream, with vivid details, blurry edges and a warped sense of time. The word 'stranger' in the title references to this dream state in which you sometimes can be a stranger to yourself. Album opener 'The Dream Sequence' sets the mood with a lo-slung hip-house groove that relies heavily on field recordings, like the sound of one of the capital's trams. 'Flambo', a delectable slice of up-tempo French filtered house, is aimed straight at the dance floor. Nachtbraker dims the lights on 'NSFW', cleverly manipulating samples from adult oriented flicks, and turns in a hilarious skit with 'LOL'. Flip over for 'Randy', a quintessential Nac

If you check the credits of The Rolling Stones' Goats Head Soup LP from 1973 you'll find a certain "Pascal" listed on the percussion section. That is none other than Los Angeles based artist Nicolas Pascal Raicevik (1933-1994), aka 107-34-8933, aka Head, aka Nik Pascal, aka Nik Raicevic. Besides his hitting the bongoes on the Stones album, Nik was a great artist on his own, both as a painter and as a musician. As a musician, he was a pioneer in the use of synthesizers, preceeding the Berlin school by some years when his Head LP was released on on Buddah in 1970. Buddah probably saw in Head the opportunity to cash in some money from the remains of the psychedelic scene - the three tracks on the LP are named after drugs used in the late sixties. The sounds, however, are accomplished works that show Raicevic as one of the most interesting pioneers in the use of synths. The album probably didn't do too well, since Buddah didn't renew the contract with Raicevic, who instead took his own way releasing his works on his very own Narco Records and Tapes label. Between 1968 and 1975 Narco would issue 4 LPs credited either to Nik Raicevic (Beyond The End... Eternity) or Nik Pascal (The Sixth Ear, Magnetic Web and Zero Gravity) plus one credited to 107-34-8933 (Numbers, which is in fact the same LP as Buddah's Head, albeit with different cover art). Copies of these LPs came with an ironic sticker over the shrinkwrap that read "Do not listen to this LP if you are stoned".

1972 saw the release of The Sixth Ear (Narco NR666), this time credited to Nik Pascal. A more complex work than Beyond The End..., it adds consistent rhythmic patterns to the mix with the addition of bongoes and also explores some interesting chord progressions.

Besides his musical explorations, Nik was also an interesting painter. His paintings are auctioned from time to time, and are consciousness expanding works influenced by abstract cubism and surrealism, some kind of Salvador Dalí on drugs exploring the outter and inner space. All the artwork on the sleeves of his LPs is done by himself. Spacey landscapes and psychedelic colours that fit perfectly to the music they contain.

"Nik Raicevic's music is at the intersection of radical psycho-electronic weirdness and kraut kosmische music (in particular the scifi-hypno-minimal modules of Conrad Schnitzler in Grun, Rot and Blau). It presents mega epic & tripped out electronic improvisations.

"This is an absolute must for collectors and fans of visceral, neurotic soundscapes." (progarchives)

"As far as late-60s / early-70s American Bedroom' Electronic Music goes, these LPS have to be among the first transmissions from this sector, made all the more attractive when coupled with Raicevic's alien topographIes - the covers are high-color portrayals of Venusian lanes, knotted growths, & future-past architecture in a style you might equate with Vintage' sci-fi pulp-novel covers - & copious Downer' sentiment. This music is imbued with a sort of lonely, anti-social sensibility that's about as far as you can get from the Academic' Early Electronic vector. I will say that if the Steve Birchall, Cellutron & the Invisible, and/or Pythagoron™ seed your garden, this will likely do the same." (twoheadeddog)

Never reissued before on vinyl format, the Wah Wah reissue features original sleeve artwork made of paintings and drawings by Nik himself and reproduction of the famous ironic "Do not listen if you are stoned" sticker. Limited edition, 500 copies only.