quête:66

Repressed! Illmatic, the 1994 studio debut of Nasir "Nas" Jones, was more than just a critical success for the Queensbridge-based rapper. At a time when East Coast hip-hop was increasingly being taken less seriously than their West Coast counterparts, Illmatic's raw jazz and soul-based production, dire atmosphere and lyrics, coupled with Nas' uncompromising flow was integral in restoring interest in the East Coast as a hotbed of hip-hop artistry. Along with key releases from Wu-Tang Clan and Notorious B.I.G.,it shifted attention away from the funky, dayglo synth-based G-funk coming out of California and back to the grimy streets of New York. After such an unprecedented debut record, expectations were understandably high for Nas' follow-up. What came next threw critics and fans for a loop, but was no less influential than Illmatic, and would become the most commercially successful album in the entirety of Nas' discography. The 1996 sophomore follow-up was titled It Was Written, and in contrast to the urban bleakness of his debut, had Nas dipping his toes into the world of mafioso rap. Amidst production from heavy hitters like Trackmasters, Dr. Dre, L.E.S., Havoc of Mobb Deep, and Illmatic-collaborator DJ Premier, among others, Nas weaves evocative narratives of gang warfare, downtrodden neighborhoods, drug deals gone awry, and gangsta triumph, against a backdrop of samples from Sam Cooke, Etta James, the Isley Brothers, and even Chuck Mangione. It Was Written was not hard up for top-tier guests either, featuring major guest turns from Lauryn Hill and Joel "JoJo" Hailey of K-Ci & JoJo. It also introduced the world to The Firm, the brief Nas-led supergroup featuring rappers AZ, Foxy Brown, and Cormega. It even managed to cause some minor controversy in the hip-hop community for its collaboration with West Coast producer Dr. Dre, at a time when the East Coast/West Coast rap feud was reaching a fever pitch, briefly attracting the ire of one Tupac Shakur. Not only was It Was Written received warmly by critics, but became a major commercial success, reaching the top of the Billboard 200 charts, reaching platinum sales status four times, and alongside albums like Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, helped usher in the era of mafioso rap in the mainstream. It rendered chart hits out of singles like the Eurhythmics-mimicking "Street Dreams", and the Grammy-nominated "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)", and proved to be a major influence on artists like Kendrick Lamar, Lupe Fiasco, and many more.

When it comes to post-Dylan psychedelic folk with acid-tinged dreams look no further than legendary 60s Greenwich Village figure Randy Burns. His beautiful string of albums released between ’66 and ’71 on New York’s mythical ESP-Disk are all you need if you’re a loner folk fanatic. ‘Of Love And War’, ‘Evening Of The Magician’ & ‘Song For An Uncertain Lady’ are the source, eerie acoustic ballads, folk-rock that travels wide and distant over melancholy flute arrangements and country grooves. “The Exit And Gaslight Years 1965-69” collects all the best cuts from that an era, opening a crystal clear window on the inspiring work of Randy Burns. RIYL: Fred Neil, Ed Askew, Dave Bixby, F.C. McMahon, Mike Hurley. Genre: Folk / Acid-Folk Track list: 1. Evening Of The Magician 2. Echos Of Mary's Song 3. Standing At Your Door 4. Girl From England 5. When Daylight Comes In Everything 6. Song For An Uncertain Lady 7. Ron's Song 8. Autumn On Your Mind 9. Maybeline 10. Any Tuesday In The Rain 11. Waiting For An Old Friend / Africa 12. Deegan Street

When it comes to post-Dylan psychedelic folk with acid-tinged dreams look no further than legendary 60s Greenwich Village figure Randy Burns. His beautiful string of albums released between ’66 and ’71 on New York’s mythical ESP-Disk are all you need if you’re a loner folk fanatic. ‘Of Love And War’, ‘Evening Of The Magician’ & ‘Song For An Uncertain Lady’ are the source, eerie acoustic ballads, folk-rock that travels wide and distant over melancholy flute arrangements and country grooves. “The Exit And Gaslight Years 1965-69” collects all the best cuts from that an era, opening a crystal clear window on the inspiring work of Randy Burns. RIYL: Fred Neil, Ed Askew, Dave Bixby, F.C. McMahon, Mike Hurley. Genre: Folk / Acid-Folk Track list: 1. Evening Of The Magician 2. Echos Of Mary's Song 3. Standing At Your Door 4. Girl From England 5. When Daylight Comes In Everything 6. Song For An Uncertain Lady 7. Ron's Song 8. Autumn On Your Mind 9. Maybeline 10. Any Tuesday In The Rain 11. Waiting For An Old Friend / Africa 12. Deegan Street

Angis Music invites you to listen to "Selva" the second release from the Padova duo composed of Stefano Cosi and Alberto Lincetto. The three songs featured represent the deep desire to communicate an evolution of sound and to tell a story that goes beyond traditional paradigms and genre labels. The “chiaroscuro”, lights and shadows, that characterize HUMA's music are once again the result of compositional and sound explorations that travel from jazz to 70’s funk, from deep house to electronic, with echoes of Brazil and film soundtracks. Side A opens with the misty and romantic landscape of "Free and Lost”, in which acoustic, electronic and deep bass sounds blend in a dark and spiritual atmosphere. The journey develops further into "An Ordinary Life” which sees the participation of Yeofi Andoh, aka A Race Of Angels, Los Angeles-based vocalist and co-author of the track, and of Amilcar Soto Rodriguez on classical guitar. It slowly emerges from the initial psychedelic sphere, landing on luminous harmonies and funk rhythms to reiterate a contrast that speaks of life cycles and the relationship between man and nature. This path ends with the title track "Selva" in which the synthetic percussive tangle keeps the listener in a meditative state of disorientation guided by the melodic lines of a dusty Fender Rhodes. It is the temporary epilogue of a story that has just begun..

'Rambler of Aeons' is an album of extremes. Musically, both melody and brutality are pushed beyond the boundaries explored in previous albums. The band spans from Motörhead to Black Sabbath passing through Sepultura, Exploited, Paradise Lost, Cro-Mags and everything that is badass. Dealing with all things human and beyond, BARK runs all the red lights from the mundane to the metaphysics, taking us on a euphorical suicide spree between life and death.

JEFF COTTON OF CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND FAME
RELEASES HIS FIRST EVER SOLO ALBUM -'THE FANTASY OF REALITY'
After playing guitar, lap steel & vocals with the legendary Captain Beefheart & his
Magic Band, appearing on the ground-breaking album 'Trout Mask Replica' (under
the pseudonym Antennae Jimmy Semens), as well as playing on 'Strictly
Personal' & 'Mirror Man', Cotton withdrew from the commercial music business
for nearly 50 years. Using the island state of Hawaii as a home base, he emerges
from his seclusion in 2022 with his first ever solo album; 'The Fantasy Of Reality'.
Whimsical, playful & tongue-in-cheek - Cotton delivers a psychedelic journey that
will delight Beefheart devotees while bringing plenty of new ideas to the table
across the sprawling 22 track, 66- minute runtime. 'Trout Mask Replica' cover
designer Cal Schenkel collaborates once again as he returns to contribute to the
internal artwork of the album to continue the Captain Beefheart canon into the
2020's.
Across the decades, the Magic Band's power & influence has only grown in might
& the cult following of 1969's 'Trout Mask Replica' still excites fans to this day, in
part due to the mystery & enigma of members such as Antennae Jimmy Semens
(aka Jeff Cotton). In 1967, Cotton was scoped by Don Van Vliet - Captain
Beefheart himself, replacing Ry Cooder on guitar. He then went one to help craft
some of Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band's most vibrant recordings & later
contributed to the cult band MU.
Now blending together musical strands such as jazz, delta blues, Hawaiian & the
avant- garde to create a melting pot of ideas, Cotton astonishes fans with his
comeback.
The magic will continue on 'The Fantasy Of Reality', available via Madfish.

2xTape

Hate Propaganda's far too overlooked 2019 debut EP "World War 666" sees a much needed reissue on vinyl, remastered and enhanced by brand new artwork commissioned for the purpose by Xerox master P. Van Trigt. When it was first released on cassette tape back in 2019 by War Arts Productions, this war-torn debut offering of primeval warnoise by the mysterious Portuguese war criminals stood out immediately as a crown jewel debut for the genre and as one of the year's most definitive and underrated manifestations of extreme metal's most hateful and berserk fringe. Packing in nineteen minutes of absolute hatred, the annihilating MLP manifests as a nightmare hallucination of complete violence and negativity, evoking eons of perennial apocalyptic global planetary war and terror on the wings of its nefarious design of achieving maximum annihilation in the shortest amount of time possible. To harness this bleak pantheon of ruin, the Portuguese conquerors have assembled a weaponized and uncontrolled sonic chain reaction where grindcore, black metal, death metal and hardcore punk are all accelerated and instigated into an inescapable payload of death aimed straight at the vital sinews of humanity. A sonic maelstrom churned into shape by an onslaught of obscure violent riffs, psychotic leads and ominous laughter which, parallel to a pulverizing drum performance, emanates from oblivion with an antediluvian, negative aura. Comparisons to bands like Diocletian, Heresiarch, Tetragrammacide and Nuclearhammer will run abound, yet these would be only easy superficial conjectures as this is a manifestation of sonic extremism which dwells on a plain of excellence entirely its own. Its uniqueness transpires particularly in the maniacal drumming which underlines the band's hardcore and punk influences, and is exalted further by an unusually crystalline production and by a masterful onslaught of uber-audible riffs hiding behind nothing and seemingly going in the opposite direction of the homogenous and indiscernible sensorial smothering the genre usually opts to go in. Tracklisting: 1. World War 666 2. Neverending Mass Graves 3. Violent Nature of Human Annihilation 4. Welcoming the Nuclear War With Open Arms 5. Let the Sirens Signal the End of Times

Bei solch einer langen Bandgeschichte, muss auch rauschend gefeiert werden!

Heute auf dem Geschenketisch: Eine Vinyl-Neuauflage vom lange vergriffenen Longplayer "VI". Das 2013 veröffentlichte Album steht auch kurz vor einem runden Geburtstag und darf endlich wieder über die Plattenspieler rasen! Wer den Onslaughtklassiker noch nicht kennt: Wir können versprechen, dass es hier pfeilschnellen, aggressiven und erstklassig gespielten Thrash Metal zu hören gibt, der mit einer Überdosis Adrenalin ausgestattet ist, der trotz aller Brutalität aber stets eingängig bleibt. Klasse Platte einer wichtigen Band.

Die Österreichiesche Crossover-Thrash Granate erstmals auf weißem Vinyl!

Urwaxx returns with a long awaited second vinyl from Greenwald.
Inside 5 tracks showing exploration of electro and breaks music.
“Is What I Like” represents a reflection of his own vision of these styles.

Vinyl-Wiederveröffentlichung des HIM-Debütalbums "Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666". Die finnische Band um Ville Valo hat hier bereits das große Potential gezeigt, das ihnen im weiteren Verlauf ihrer Karriere diverse #1-Alben bescherte

Pressed On Clear Vinyl! 1991 was the year that it all broke loose for producer Pete Rock and his rhyme partner, CL Smooth. But the duo was far from an overnight sensation. The two friends had been on the grind since high school in Mt. Vernon, NY in the mid-'80s, and Pete had been building up to his big moment since he first manned the decks on WBLS's hugely influential 'In Control With Marley Marl' radio show, starting in 1987. In '91, Pete's talent finally forced him from the studio shadows into the spotlight, and after remixes and co-productions for Heavy D (1989's Big Tyme album); Johnny Gill ('Rub You The Right Way,' 1990); and Elektra label-mates Brand Nubian ('Slow Down,' 1990); it was time for top billing. As Pete's rep skyrocketed with a revolutionary remix to Public Enemy's 'Shut 'Em Down' in 1991, the stage was set. The duo's debut EP, 'All Souled Out', was the perfect set-up - and bridge to - their flawless LP, Mecca & The Soul Brother, which appeared only one year later. Fans new (thanks to a recent revival, resulting from the song's use in a Google / Android commercial) and old are sure to know the EP's only single, 'The Creator.' The cut is a perfect slice of early '90s hip-hop - jumpy, funky and rolling along at a sprinter's pace, with killer horns that sew up the chorus. Interestingly, it's the only song on the EP where Pete Rock rhymes (and solo at that, with lines written by Brand Nubian's Grand Puba). The remaining five of the EP's songs, with CL Smooth in full charge of the mic, are no less impressive. The sleeper is perhaps 'Go With The Flow,' a kinetic groover with an egregiously thick, muted bassline, surgical cuts and never-endingly captivating lines by the liquid-tongued CL. 'All Souled Out' boasts all of the Pete Rock trademarks - a jumpy, filtered bassline; beautifully stitched horn samples on the hook; and this time with a faster tempo. CL has no issues with Pete's BPM challenge, proving he can drop knowledge at any speed. And of two different versions of 'Good Life' on the platter, the EP's final cut, the 'Group Home Mix,' is perhaps the winner, with an abundance of musical action to back up CL's lyrical musings on ways to achieve success and comfort in life. 25 years after its initial impact, 'All Souled Out' sounds as heavy and essential as ever, and will remind fans how important this duo was to the artform.

Repressed finally. Sometimes a single is released that reaches such dizzying heights of success that it becomes a pinnacle of the decade they're indelibly tied to. "Groove Is In The Heart" by dance-house trio Deee-Lite is one such single. The infectiously quirky, and eminently danceable track is prominently based around samples of "Bring Down The Birds" by Herbie Hancock, and "Get Up" by Vernon Burch, among many others, (Courtesy of dual producers DJs Dmitry and Towa Tei) paired with top-tier guest contributions from JB's veterans Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, background vocals from Parliament-Funkadelic's own Bootsy Collins, and even a guest rap from Q-Tip, not to mention frontwoman Lady Miss Kier's own siren-like vocals. All disparate and disconnected elements, but ones that would come together to form dancehall greatness, and chart-topping success worldwide for Deee-Lite. "Groove Is In The Heart" managed to reach #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but excelled at its best on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, where it reached to the #1 spot. On top of its success in America it was a smash internationally, climbing the heights of the charts in the UK, Canada, Australia, and a variety of other countries. It remained in heavy rotation for much of 1990 on MTV as well. As the decades went on, "Groove Is In The Heart" would be ranked among the greatest dance tracks of all time, as well as one of the greatest songs of the 1990s by VH1, Pitchfork, Buzzfeed, and many more. "Groove Is In The Heart" was a potent single for Deee-Lite to lead with, but the album bearing it was nothing to slouch at either. The group's debut record, 1990's World Clique was released to major commercial and critical success, owing just as much to its addictive hybrid of seductive retro aesthetics, modern dancefloor flair, and esoteric, socially conscious messaging, on the back of celebratory club staples like "Power Of Love", "Good Beat", "E.S.P.", and of course "Groove Is In The Heart." World Clique would reach top 20 charts in the US, UK, and Canada in sales, as well as earn rave reviews from NME, Chicago Sun-Times, Rolling Stone, and Slant Magazine, who called it an "essential pop album." A1. Good Beat A2. Power Of Love A3. Try Me On…I’m Very You A4. Smile On A5. What Is Love? B1. World Clique B2. E.S.P. B3. Groove Is In The Heart B4. Who Was That? B5. Deep Ending

Classic Black vinyl, Lyric insert + DL card. The Black Lips return with their 10th studio effort ‘Apocalypse Love’, scorched with their trademark menace, it cryogenically mutates all recognised musical bases; it spins yarns about vintage Soviet synths, Benzedrine stupors, coup de’ tats, stolen valor and certified destruction, all set against a black setting sun. Since the turn of the decade the band have transformed from austere country pioneers, into a set of Lynchian surrealists, hellbent on recalibrating the history of rock ‘n’ roll. Singer and saxophonist Zumi Rosow muses, “It’s a weird dance record, one that reflects the moment that the world’s in right now…” ‘Apocalypse Love’ is an album that emanates from a dive bar jukebox in the back of your mind; with a playlist that bends between tub thumping doom-glam, Plastic Ono singalongs, cocktail-shaken space age pop, Morricone reverberations and lo-fi outsider acoustic-punk, with mariachi horns, theremins, drum machines and harmonies filtering through the infectious melodies. Stand-out number ‘Among The Dunes’ is an amorphous platform-heeled anthem, a signature sax-fuelled stomper filled with trippy swagger. While opener ‘No Rave’ proffers a hypnotic locked groove, with Cole Alexander’s trademark snarl delivered over a sulphurous wall of distorted hedonism, a dystopian anthem for an apocalyptic manifesto. Meanwhile, the twisted exotica of ‘Whips Of Holly’ with its silver screen façade is like the soundtrack to a classic Theda Bara vamp-fest. As the band venture into their third decade, ‘Apocalypse Love’ is proof that The Black Lips show no sign of slowing down… “A wonderful new chapter… The world may be on fire, but at least we have Black Lips.” The Line Of Best Fit // “Simply masters in their field” NME // Track List A1 No Rave A2 Love Has Won A3 Stolen Valor A4 Lost Angel A5 Whips of Holly A6 Apocalypse Love A7 Operation Angela. B1 Crying on A Plane B2 Sharing My Cream B3 Among The Dunes B4 Tongue Tied B5 Antiaris Toxicaria B6 The Concubine

Before the very popular thrashy death metal band Legion Of The Damned was formed, with albums out on Massacre and Napalm Records, vocalist Maurice Swinkels and drummer Erik Fleuren played in the more brutal extreme blackened death metal band Occult.

 Hailing from Geldrop, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands, the already very extreme barking voice of Swinkels was supported by female vocalist Rachel with an even more brutal grunt. After two studio albums on the Dutch label Foundation 2000 they were on the search for an international record deal and they recorded two demos to achieve that goal.

The first four songs on this album come from a rehearsal room session in 1997, and the last five songs were recorded in the small Harrow Studios in 1998. It resulted in a deal with the German Massacre Records label, and Occult’s third studioalbum, ‘Of Flesh And Blood’, saw the light in 1999.

Now you can finally hear, for the first time, most of these songs in their original, raw and rough demoversions.
For fans of Desaster, Absu, Deicide, Usurper, Vader, Sinister, Skeletonwitch, Goatwhore, Destroyer 666.

Before the very popular thrashy death metal band Legion Of The Damned was formed, with albums out on Massacre and Napalm Records, vocalist Maurice Swinkels and drummer Erik Fleuren played in the more brutal extreme blackened death metal band Occult.

 Hailing from Geldrop, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands, the already very extreme barking voice of Swinkels was supported by female vocalist Rachel with an even more brutal grunt. After two studio albums on the Dutch label Foundation 2000 they were on the search for an international record deal and they recorded two demos to achieve that goal.

The first four songs on this album come from a rehearsal room session in 1997, and the last five songs were recorded in the small Harrow Studios in 1998. It resulted in a deal with the German Massacre Records label, and Occult’s third studioalbum, ‘Of Flesh And Blood’, saw the light in 1999.

Now you can finally hear, for the first time, most of these songs in their original, raw and rough demoversions.
For fans of Desaster, Absu, Deicide, Usurper, Vader, Sinister, Skeletonwitch, Goatwhore, Destroyer 666.

Martin Khanja (aka Lord Spike Heart) and Sam Karugu emerge from Nairobi's flourishing underground metal scene as former members of the bands Lust of a Dying Breed and Seeds of Datura. Together in 2019 they formed Duma (Darkness in Kikuyu) with Sam abandoning bass for production and guitars and Lord Spike Heart providing extreme vocals to the project. Recorded at Nyege Nyege Studios in Kampala over three months in mid 2019 their self-titled debut album fuses the frenetic euphoria, unrelenting physicality and rebellious attitude of hardcore punk and trash metal with bone-crunching breakcore and raw, nihilist industrial noise through a claustrophobic vortex of visceral screams. The savant mix of brutally adrenalized drums, caustic industrial trap, shredding grindcore inspired guitars and abrupt speed changes create a darkly atmospheric menace and is lethal on tracks like the opener "Angels and Abysses" , "Omni" or "Uganda with Sam". The gruelling slow techno dirges and monolithic vocals on "Pembe 666" or "Sin Nature" add a pinch of dramatic inevitability bringing a new sense of theatricality and terrifying fate awaiting into the record's progression. A sinister sonic aggression of feral intensity with disregard for styles, Duma promises to impact the burgeoning African metal scene moving it into totally new, boundary-challenging experimental territories.

Pinkshift are a vehemently unapologetic punk
band whose songs rail against prejudice and
oppression while also examining in great depth the
human condition.
 Foregoing more traditional careers in the hard
sciences / medicine, Baltimore natives Ashrita
Kumar (singer), Paul Vallejo (guitar) and Myron
Houngbedji (drums), are inspiring fans in a
different way.
 The band smash any preconceived notions of what
a punk band should look or sound like.
 After self-releasing the viral hit ‘I’m gonna tell my
therapist on you’ and the ‘Saccharine’ EP, Pinkshift
partnered with Hopeless Records to release their
debut album, Love Me Forever’.
 Produced by Will Yip (Turnstile, Code Orange,
Tigers Jaw), the band have put together an
emotionally cathartic, raucous, and powerful debut
that centres their unique perspective as POC
individuals in a scene that historically did not
represent them.

Christian Naujoks' work has been heard and seen in a wide range of contexts, from nightclubs to concert halls, art venues and the theatre. He released three solo albums on Berlin-based label Dial Records. After his critically-acclaimed album "Wave" (2016), which has been praised as a contemporary masterpiece of ambient romance and "the most exquisitely melancholy thing he's done yet" (Pitchfork), followed by numerous collaborative projects with performance artist Ei Arakawa, filmmaker Loretta Fahrenholz and composer Ari Benjamin Meyers, among others, Christian Naujoks is back with a new record produced during his exhibition "Soft Mouth Data Service" at Galerie Max Mayer in Düsseldorf.

Heady with hooks and unforgettable melodies, gliding on deeply danceable grooves, always with Air Waves’ innate compassion, concision and uncanny pop sense shining throughout. A masterpiece that’s beautifully simple, instantly accessible and entirely addictive. Featuring Cass Mccombs, Skyler Skjelset (Fleet Foxes, Beach House), Luke Temple, Brian Betancourt (Hospitality, Sam Evian), Rina Mushonga, Frankie Cosmos, Lispector, David Christian, Ethan Sass, and Ben Florencio. ‘The Dance’ has waited three years to see the light of day and it comes to us now, blinking, smiling in the widening light of 2022 feeling more needed and necessary but also more joyous than ever before. It’s both a snapshot of these songs as they were recorded but crucially, in the intervening time those songs have had additional arrangements crafted by Nicole, created remotely and virtually, with a few like-minded collaborators. The result is simultaneously Air Waves freshest, most spontaneous yet finessed album yet. Nicole Schneit released their first independent album in 2009 under the Air Waves moniker, a name inspired by a Guided By Voices song - subsequent albums like 2010’s ‘Dungeon Dots’ (which featured a guest vocal from fellow Brooklynite Sharon Van Etten), 2015’s ‘Parting Glances’ and 2017’s stunning ‘Warrior’ crystallised Schneit’s vision of loose-but-focused, convivial but startling pop. ‘The Dance’ continues that trajectory but finds Schneit opening up their music to a more fluid sense of space and movement, while keeping their lyrical eye between the personal and the political, from the specific to the universal with a haiku-like directness and suggestion. You won’t find a better soundtrack for the solidarity, strength, romance and movement we all need right now than ‘The Dance’ - Air Waves’ best album yet // “There is a rawness, both musical and emotional, proving that the simplest ways to communicate feelings are sometimes the most effective” Pitchfork // “More varied and ambitious than ever” Stereogum // Track List A1 The Roof (feat. Luke Temple & Rina Mushonga) A2 The Dance A3 Star Earring (feat. Lispector) A4 Alien (feat. Cass McCombs) B1 Black Metal Demon (feat. Frankie Cosmos & Merce Lemon) B2 Treehouse B3 Wait B4 The Light B5 Peer Peer

Portsmouth post punks Hallan reveal their
pulsating new single, ‘Sich Übergeben’, via Nice
Swan Records (English Teacher, Sports Team,
Courting).
The track is a study in perpetual motion, caught
between an exhilarating swagger and a drunken
lurch. Built around a spiralling, infectious synth
lead line, rolling bass and drums, and skittish
guitars, this all provides the backbone for Conor
Clements’ visceral vocal spitting.
It tells a tawdry tale, examining the propensity for
unhinged views born of banal insularity. As the
band explain: “A father hiding behind a screen, a
family watching the Queen’s jubilee and a wife
leaving her unloving husband for a new life in
Spain. We’ve seen all of these people and we
know them too.”

Not content with a double 12” of acid drenched delinquency, Schrödinger’s Box have drafted in four 303 addicts to bring their own acrid fire to Hard Ton’s Bigger is Better.

To get the bitter ball rolling, Larionov opens. Known for his dark electro and EBM leanings, this reinterpretation of “Transcend Your Body” is a bruiser of throbbing pulses, lancing lines and stabbing synths to pierce the fog and strobe. Rude 66 follows with his beloved vocoder doing battle with Massimo Bastasi’s original vocals. The result is a duel of distant rhythms and shimmering wordplay. The flip sees Nightwave on the attack. Brawny beats elbow lyrics in this driving audio onslaught. Bulging rusted basslines crush speaker cones as a blistering remake takes hold, blasts of body bending brutalism turning Hard Ton’s original into an even sweatier brute. An artist born and raised on analogue squawk and squelch finishes. Posthuman, one of the infamous figures behind the I Love Acid nights, takes the tongue-in-cheek Brit Pop flashback of “Girls and Boys” and contorts it into a grimy Chicago jam.

Re-pressed at last!! Limited purple vinyl. The cultural phenomenon that is the Wu-Tang cannot accurately be described without referencing one of the pillars in the Clan's discography, Chef Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx remains firmly planted as one of the defining triumphs in their artistic legacy. The oft referred "Purple Tape", has been cited and debated by many as the greatest Wu-Tang solo project to date and a remains a bullet point in any discussion involving the greatest "Cocaine Rap" or "Street Hop" albums of all time. Raekwon's narrative, plays out like a movie script from the violent, drug fueled, underbelly of New York City's criminal landscape, intricately woven over instrumentals from the legendary mastermind behind the Wu-Tang Clan, The RZA. Even the album's main feature "Tony Starks aka Ghostface Killer", referred to as such rather described as a "guest star" appearing on 12 of the albums 18 tracks. It should be noted that while the Only Built 4 Cuban Linx did produce a string of successful singles, such as "Ice Cream", "Incarcerated Scarfaces", and "Criminology", like all classic cinema, the album was intentionally engineered to be appreciated in one sitting, played from beginning to end. In continuing with it's proud tradition of honoring historically significant hip hop albums, Get On Down is honored to present Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx" for the first time ever on double translucent purple vinyl housed in a high density resealable poly bag. This edition features for the first time ever on vinyl, the formerly CD only bonus track, "North Star (Jewels)". And if that wasn't enough, the entire album also features completely enhanced and painstakingly remastered audio. This is the definitive must-own vinyl edition of Raekwon's masterpiece.

Forged in Hell’s Fire, November 2018 Singapore, by SHYAITHAN – Guitars (also from IMPIETY). The band at present consists of long time komrades HADES - Vocals (also from and founder of BATTLESTORM), ASURA – Guitars (also from and founder of DEUS EX MACHINA), CRYPTOR – Bass (ex-founding member of DEMISOR) and lastly DIZAZTER on Drums (also from IMPIETY/ DEPRAVITY). XUL ANTICHRISTO from INFERNAL EXECRATOR held Vocal duties at the very beginning, but had to leave after the first EP recording due to his tight schedule (work commitment). DEVOUROR defines it’s sonic wrath arrogantly as ‘Bestial Deathcult Warfare’ with late 80s/early 90s influence from Possessed, Sarcofago, Necrovore, Blasphemy, Death, Sodom. With this being said, DEVOUROR is Not a project of sorts, but a brutal 5 Beast Blackened Metal of Death Squadron that scoffs, hacks and slays the rest of mediocre rubbish that currently saturates the underground. All members are Veteran Diehards with filthy back-grounds of over 25 long years of dedication and commitment raising the old glorious flag of unholy Black Death!

After the release of their highly successful self-titled album in summer 2021 (#1 in Germany and Spain etc.), HELLOWEEN -- one of the most respectable German metal exports and pioneers of German melodic speed metal -- are finally bringing their new anthems to the packed arenas, leading them all around the globe with their »United Forces« tour. The creators of the albums »Keeper Of The Seven Keys, Pt. I & II« (87‘/88‘), which are considered to be among the most successful German metal records of all time and are reckoned internationally as absolute milestones of power metal, haven’t only cemented but even expanded their status as giants of the scene. Caused by the pumpkinheads‘ aforementioned triumphant wave of success, the group’s back catalogue albums are also more in demand than ever which is why Atomic Fire are now set to release a series of brand new vinyl editions including the following hot HELLOWEEN records: »The Dark Ride« (2000), »Rabbit Don’t Come Easy« (2003), »Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy« (2005), »Gambling With The Devil« (2007), »Straight Out Of Hell« (2013), »My God-Given Right« (2015), and last but not least their latest offering »Helloween« (2021).

Die Portugiesen von GAEREA sind auf ihrem dritten Album mit ihrer speziellen Interpretation des Black Metal zurück! Für fans von UADA, NUMENOREAN, THE GREAT OLD ONES, SVARTIDAUDI

Die schwedische Newcomer Rockband Ström veröffentlicht ihren ersten Longplayer. Empfehlung für Fans von Bands wie AC/DC, Airbourne, D-A-D, The Darkness, Hardcore Superstar, Andrew WK, Turbonegro oder Bon Jovi!

WRWTFWW Records couldn't be happier to announce the release of Yutaka Hirose’s never-heard before 11-track collection TRACE: Sound Design Works 1986-1989, available on double LP and double CD, with liner notes from the artist.

TRACE is a collection of 11 unreleased tracks produced by Yutaka Hirose between 1986 and 1989, during the Sound Process Design sessions, right after the release of his classic Soundscape series album Nova. Sound Process Design was Satoshi Ashikawa's label, home of the Wave Notation trilogy (Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Music For Nine Postcards, Satsuki Shibano's Erik Satie 1866-1925 and Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way). Following Wave Notation, Sound Process Design worked with museums, cafes and bars to create site-specific soundscapes, starting with the sound design of the Kushiro Museum. Yutaka Hirose was called to work on these projects.

Rather than simply providing pre-recorded compositions, Hirose sought to create a "sound scenery". To achieve this, he participated in the conception of the space and paid particular attention to the accidental combination of sounds by placing the speakers, using a multi-sound source, and following the concept of "sculpturing time through sound".

The composer explains: "sculpturing time through sound means that time, the space itself, the sound played in it, and the audience all become one sculpture. It is close to the idea of a Japanese tea ceremony where you use all of your 5 (or 6) senses to taste the tea."

TRACE: Sound Design Works 1986-1989 is divided into two parts. The Reflection segment is based on an ambient soundscape. It narrates "a sleep that starts with the sound of water droplets at dawn and slowly disappears into darkness" and feels like a natural and soothing progression of Nova. It was played in entrance halls, at events, in cafes and bars. The Voice from Past Technology segment expresses the dream world born out of that sleep and is based on what Yukata Hirose calls hardcore ambient, environmental music with a noise approach. It was played in museums and science centers.

All in all, TRACE is a crucial addition to every Japanese environmental music fan’s collection, alongside Midori Takada’s Through The Looking Glass, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Green, Satoshi Ashikawa’s Still Way, Motohiko Hamase’s Notes of Forestry, Inoyamaland’s Danzindan-Pojidon, and Yutaka Hirose’s very own Nova.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, Daniel Lanois, Loscil, K Leimer, Deaf Center, Tangerine Dream, Arvo Pärt Wake is a distillation and reflection of the work of three Portland musicians thrown, like the rest of the world, into forced isolation by the continually-mutating curse of a natural world in disequilibrium. The product of involuntarily inward-looking emotional landscapes, Wake emerged sounding surprisingly expansive and confident. The trio uses a variety of instruments –including harp, fretless bass, piano, and a variety of synthesizers– to conjure sparkling panoramas of the imagination that are deep-pooled and impressionistic, bracing yet comforting. Mike Grabarak and Joshua Ward have performed together for years as a duo under the moniker of Location Services, while Derek Hunter Wilson has primarily worked as a solo composer in the classical realm. For the Points Of No Return compilation, Beacon Sound's 50th release and a benefit for the Beirut Musicians Fund, they recorded a collaborative piece entitled "Interdependence In Solitude" that was so promising the label offered to release an album if they continued down the path they had started upon. The resulting eight songs are simply mesmerizing. Made during a period of change and upheaval in the world and society where many people were disconnected from others, the album is the product of a collage-like dialogue built on trust and patience. While the musicians couldn’t physically be together for much of this time, they began sending musical ideas to one another in a conversational back-and-forth that acted as an anchor of stability – something they found they could turn to and depend on when things felt uncertain elsewhere. This comfort zone led to some transcendent moments of experimentation. “Delicate Need”, for example, features recordings of exaggerated pizzicato that were sampled and then run back through processing effects, which were then subsequently performed live over the original track. As things became less risky on the Covid front, they would occasionally meet for backyard rehearsals. Indeed, a recording of one of these rehearsals became the basis for the opening track “Photo Aware”. Wake will be available later this summer as a limited edition LP, with design work by Berlin-based Studio Bernhardt. The cover painting was created by Portland artist Nate Ethington. Highlights: – Derek was invited by the artist Gregory Euclide (Bon Iver, Erased Tapes) to participate in his label project, Thesis, along with artists such as Benoit Pioulard, Loscil, and Julianna Barwick. – Derek‘s first and second albums as a solo artist were released by Beacon Sound (Travelogue, 2017; Steel, Wood, & Air, 2019). – Location Services likewise released their 2019 album Reincorporate on the label. – The artists plan to tour together in 2023. Cascadia release shows TBA. Bios: Location Services is the Portland-based project of multi-instrumentalist Mike Grabarek (Magic Fades) and harpist Joshua Ward. They’ve released music on Beacon Sound and Beer On The Rug. They perform both written and improvised music. Derek Hunter Wilson is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in Portland. He has released two solo albums on Beacon Sound and has also collaborated with visual artist Gregory Euclide for his Thesis Project label, resulting in a split 10" with Spanish musician Rauelsson. He has additionally collaborated with poets Zachary Schomburg and Brandi Katherine Herrera for several sound and performance pieces. He has performed live on the West Coast and in Berlin, sharing the stage with artists such as Colleen, Amulets, and Liima.

Across 6 tracks the Noods Radio resident Gareth Psaltis AKA Barking merges dub, ambient and menacing downtempo.

Having released on Deep Seeded and OpenTheNext, the Berlin-based producer returns to the label after his appearance on the A Call Too Close compilation.

Mastered by Alden Tyrell.
Edition of 200 copies.

Das dritte Soloalbum von Sheku Kanneh-Mason, das von ihm persönlich kuratiert wurde, spiegelt die musikalische Bandbreite des Cellisten wider. „Song“ verbindet fantastische Stücke aus den Bereichen Klassik, Folk, Jazz sowie Pop: Shekus eigene Arrangements schöner Volkslieder, darunter „Myfanwy“; Werke von J. S. Bach, die Sheku zum ersten Mal für mehrere Celli arrangiert hat; Improvisationen über Jazzmelodien wie die weltberühmte Ballade „Cry me a river“; Shekus Solo-Pizzicato-Bearbeitung von Aretha Franklins „I Say a Little Prayer“; ein Satz aus Messiaens bewegendem „Quartett für das Ende der Zeit“ und ein neues Auftragswerk von Edmund Finnis, das speziell für Sheku geschrieben wurde. Das Album
enthält außerdem Stücke für Cello und Klavier von Beethoven und Mendelssohn, die Sheku zusammen mit seiner Schwester und Konzertpartnerin, Isata Kanneh-Mason, spielt. Neben seiner Schwester hat Sheku mit vielen Musikerfreund:innen zusammengearbeitet, darunter dem Jazzpianisten Harry Baker, der Sopranistin Pumeza Matshikiza und dem Sänger Zak Abel, mit dem Sheku einen neuen Popsong für dieses Album geschrieben hat.

(Cargo Collective Title) RIYL: Silver Mt Zion, Rachel’s, Grails & Do Make Say Think. 180g LP, custom window-cut letterpress jacket with artworked 300gsm inner + DL. Esmerine presents Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More, its first album in five years, following a celebrated run of Juno Award winning and nominated records throughout the preceding decade. Founded by ex-Godspeed You! Black Emperor percussionist Bruce Cawdron and cellist Rebecca Foon (Saltland, Silver Mt Zion, Set Fire To Flames), the acclaimed instrumental music ensemble and has long embroidered emotive chamber works using threads of post-classical, post-rock, Minimalism, neo-Baroque, jazz, pop and a wide array of folk traditions. Esmerine conjures a distinctive and immediately identifiable sound that consistently defies the trappings of “fusion”, forging emotive cinematic soundtracks under the overriding sonic sensibilities of postpunk grit, Wall-of-Sound, drone and dark ambient. Recorded by longtime co-producer Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes), the new album manifestly carries on in this fine tradition. Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More completes Esmerine’s “Anthropocene” triptych: a series of album-length meditations that began in 2015. The album title itself has minor meme status in eco-artistic circles, appropriated from its original context Alex Yurchak’s 2005 book about the collapse of Soviet Russia by several exhibitions and works interrogating artistic production in the age of environmental crisis. (Foon is also well-known for her climate activism as co-founder of Pathway To Paris.) The album grapples with existential tensions between atmosphere and airlessness, seclusion and claustrophobia, forbearance and satiation, scarcity and abundance; it is one of Esmerine’s most restrained and wistful works. Instrumental densities ebb and flow, melding into each other with gauzy timbral warmth, sometimes tracing fleeting tendrils outwards, but always rotating around the saturnine gravitational force of a darkly glowing sonic center. Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More is like a somber forest lit by a closely-orbiting opalescent planet; it could be the alternate score to Von Trier’s Melancholia or Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.Esmerine planted these compositional seeds before pandemic rooted everyone in place, under the auspices of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts and a 2019 residency at Le Château de Monthelon in France. Lasek then began documenting the band between lockdowns in various stripped-down configurations with spartan remote equipment at the rural Québec homesteads of Cawdron and Foon, culminating in final sessions at Foon’s converted barn in summer/fall 2021, notably with extensive use of the barn’s resonant acoustic piano. Brian Sanderson appears on his fourth Esmerine album since joining in 2012, continuing to expand the ensemble’s ethnomusicological sensibility and melodic sound palette with guitars, ngoni, ekonting, hulusi, and brass horns of all sorts. Everything Was Forever… also signals the full integration of bassist Philippe Charbonneau, who joined Esmerine as a touring member pre-pandemic and plays throughout the new album, along with sound design contributions via synth, tape echo and other processing. Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More features the pandemic collage artwork of Maciek Sczcerbowksi, in a second Esmerine album art collaboration following their Juno award for Album Package of the Year for Lost Voices in 2015.

A partner album to the previous Miles release "Decoy," this album released in 1985 is also produced by Miles and loaded with the synths of Robert Irving. This LP has some surprising new looks at pop tunes by Micheal Jackson and Cyndi Lauper and also features the return of John McLaughlin on guitar, and a guest performance from Sting. This is the final installment of the prolific and brilliant collaboration between Miles and Columbia Records. Also featured on this album are Al Foster, Kenny Garret, and Daryl Jones.

This record is self produced by Miles himself! Without long time production collaborator Teo Macero, Miles chases new directions with this 1984 recording. Miles allows keyboardist Robert Irving and guitar legend John Scofield to write most of the material on the LP. This record is dripping with some of the new sounds of synths which makes this a very unique entry in the Miles catalog. This album features John Scofield on guitar, Robert Irving on synths and programming, Darryl Jones on bass, Al Foster on drums, Mino Cinelu on percussion, Bill Evans on sax, and a guest appearance from Branford Marsalis.

PRESSED ON OPAQUE YELLOW VINYL WITH JAPANESE STYLIZED INSERT AND DELUXE OBI STRIP

Remastered From The Original Analog Tapes

The first live Miles Davis electric band release since 1977’s very dark and heavy Dark Magus. The album features live performances from shows at Boston’s Kix Club. The double vinyl release contains reimagined versions of songs from The Man With the Horn (1981), tunes from the pre-electric Gil Evans collaboration Porgy and Bess (1959), and a dedication to the Boston venue called Kix. While this was one of the first live Miles Davis performances in over half a decade it certainly did not show!!! This album features R&B legend Marcus Miller on bass, Mike Stern on guitar, Bill Evans on saxophone, Mino Cinelu on percussion, and electric band alumni Al Foster on drums. Produced and edited by long time Miles collaborator Teo Macero.