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In CURSED Plattenbau descends into darker waters, where doom, hardcore, and dungeon synth intertwine, cut with the blade of their signature sound. The record explores the creeping return to feudalism - where rival warlords devastate populations and ecosystems for personal gain, leaving powerless serfs to pick through the wreckage. And yet, despite the dread, CURSED refuses despair. It is not a funeral march but an invitation: rage becomes ritual, noise becomes release, dance becomes defiance.

The post-punk-ish Leipzig garage rockers Onyon put out their last album, 2023’s Last Days On Earth, on Chicago’s revered Trouble In Mind label. Now that Trouble In Mind has ceased operations, they’ll release their forthcoming Pale Horses through the Swish Swash and Mangel labels.

Dr Sure's Blue & Bubble tapes compiled and pressed on vinyl for the first time.
Another fruitful collaboration between Swish Swash Records (France) & Marthouse Records (Aus) who bought us the unholy 'Scomo Goes To Hawaii/While Aus Burns' combination.
Dr Sure's in-between-albums tapes offer an intimate look at artist in perpetual purgatory; music as constant; comfort and catharsis; to protest or profess.

Beige Banquet's dark, brooding sophomore album Ornamental Hermit marks their first release as a full five-piece band. This high-powered record delves into nihilistic dark-punk and industrial-tinged post-punk, delivering an intense and experimental listen.

Originating from noisy improvisations and chaotic concoctions recorded in a basement in Cork, Ireland.
Oaf Milk is a raw byproduct of abrasive, frenzied and hypnotic energy.
Crying Loser are looking to scratch the miserable itch of life at the bottom of the barrel.

Over the years, Tommy Cossack and his trusty band of Degenerators have developed and dishevelled into one of London’s most chaotic nights out. With mindsets occupied by disobedience and destruction, Tommy Cossack & The Degenerators play frantically insubordinate punk music textured with searing synth elements and deranged vocal delivery. Described as “mental breakdown music for the terminally online” their freaky, neurotic style is anxiety-fuelling in all the best ways. Originally a solo-project of Tommy Cossack and then debuting as a full band in 2021, the six-piece tastefully layer the raucous elements found in Australian freak-punk over rock ’n’ roll tendencies.

TERMINATor, the Seattle and New York based trio, are made up of albie, Lauren Rodriguez, and Veronica Dye. The group sits on the edge of no wave, punk, noise, and sweeping experimental.
TERMINATor united in 2017 under the mission of undermining traditional sound aesthetics and expectations. Consequently, part of the emergence of TERMINATor’s superbly unusual approach was the fact that each member learned their instruments as the project developed.
After releasing singles and the visual EP, “Rat (Hopefully the Boy),” TERMINATor has finally debuted their full length album. “Placate Boring Flesh” emphasizes musical texture over traditional melodies.
Even through growth and refinement of their sound, TERMINATor stays ever consistent in beginner’s mind within their idiosyncratic approach to composition. Discordant, angular, and atonal, TERMINATor weaves in and through itself. The group shines in their live performances, inviting their audience into a beautiful auditory disorientation of roaring textural bravado. TERMINATor sits on your temple in a balance of angular and sweeping shapes moving through coarse soundscapes.
Bottom line, TERMINATor is truly here to destroy.
“An instinctual curiosity guides their songs into unusual and interesting places, as is evident on Placate Boring Flesh. TERMINATor affectionately sucker-punch your expectations about how young modern women rock.” - The Stranger
“Placate Boring Flesh stands as one of the most exciting rock records to come out of the city in a while” - KEXP
“This Seattle-based trio’s record is an experimental, floating world of sound. Dreamlike (but not dreamy) in the most darkly surrealist way—like translating a Leonora Carrington or Miro painting to music.” - Maximum Rock N Roll"

UK/ARG/JP ensemble Findom aka Financial Domination specialise in a hybrid of no wave, jazz & punk. From members of King Krule, Kuunatic, Nabihah Iqbal...
Findom know a thing about Britain’s death drive. They know that morbid fascinations of bad faith, morose binds and slow crawls have led us here. Their debut tape confronts the conceit of class deterioration, clashing together energies of No Wave, Jazz, Dub and Goth into a work that, through part satire and part protest, has the hooks to fight back. We are left with five tracks self-described as anti-jazz with an overarching structure that feels like a Killing Joke inspired noir thriller, where moments of dark aggression are sonically punctuated by open stretches of rhythmic disorientation.

Crawling up from the cold underground in Toronto, Canada, Some Exercise delivers their debut record - Web Peril.
Uncompromising and unsettling, the project's inaugural full-length is a noisy yet rhythmic hybrid of classic New Wave tropes and forward-reaching experimentalism. It's a part-post punk, part-industrial analysis of our post-internet age.
Cybernetic beats pulsate beneath jagged and occasionally dissonant guitar licks - recalling the same abstract danceability as underground legends like SPK and Suburban Lawns. Evocative vocals are joined by EBM-style synthesizers, molasses-thick bass, and clanking drum machines.
In a contemporary music landscape where capitalist algorithms promise fame and fortune, Web Peril sinks its teeth the hand that feeds, offering this cautionary tale - the onus is yours. Online is offline. Consume what consumes you.

Scratching and clanking, cold and hypnotic, equally suitable for dancing and crying, this release was and remains a reflection of the harsh and magical Siberian reality.
Two great artists worked on the design of this release. A chaotic punk collage by Antonio Carrau as the cover art, a poster with broken сyrillic calligraphy by Marina Leonteva, and a bilingual inlay layout in a neat book style by me. All together, they reflect the different facets and depths of the musical and lyrical content of the album.

Beige Banquet's 2021 breakout debut album delivers 12 drum machine-driven, cold and robotic tracks that immerse listeners in a world of dystopian weirdo-punk. Initially a one-man project, Beta's arty yet mechanical rhythms quickly became a cult favorite in the underground post-punk scene.

Written in the Winter of 2021 through email collaborations, the songs were constructed and recorded in DeeDee's bedroom and brought to life with Dom's crunchy drums, mixing, and production from his Nashville home studio.
D E A T H B A G' S music bridges fuzzed out garage rock through a post-punk lens while presenting images of cult worship, societal collapse, and the looming impermanence of existence. Within the grooves a new cult emerges

Unfamous prose Australian songwriter Jakson is one of the most satirist corrosive artist from our era. Originally a painter, he describe our 21st century world with a sad reality. In a kind of nonchalant spoken word. Accompanied with guitar, bass and drums, his musicians friends are truly deserving that realistic observation of that world going up in flame in a noisy folk mood.

Six songs that are worth it. Manic electropunk that somehow - consciously or as collateral damage - manages to pack that seventies goblin horror movie vibe (on one track it's also a video game soundtrack) into catchy and contemporary songs that just move forward. Big guitars, big synthesizer, big drum beats and those nasty melodies that can still accelerate demons in 2023. A bit of VOLT could be mentioned as a reference, but the band from mighty, mighty Offenbach (for a world career I would suggest Frankfurt) clearly has its own flair and, despite the home recording, seems so powerful that it hurts. Compared to the Bandcamp stream on vinyl and a decent system, “Havana Syndrome” sounds much more powerful. The almost cheap beatbox is the real icing on the cake, because the guitar, the bass and, above all, that divinely played synthesizer are so amazing that I'm inclined to want a child from a band for the first time. I'll tell you straight away, it won't be pretty, but at least it'll be talented. Exquisite 12”, which especially calls for a second helping! Shortly before the ten points, but there is still something going on.

Gathering Volk Soup’s early singles and B-sides, Incompetent Hits is a sordid encapsulation of the band’s early sound. While showing signs of their gradual escape from genre, this compilation pins down the raw energy the band are known for and offers up a mix of instinctive punk naiveté and ambitious bravura.

After almost two years without a release, Naarm 5-piece Zombeaches return with a post-punk whirlwind of a track. A Taste of Oxygen immediately hooks you with its chaotic garage rock sound, with frantic drums, and scratchy guitar lead. The reverb and distortion partnered with a commanding vocal performance create a hypnotic feeling, drawing you in completely.
What sets this track apart is the energy switch from the raw, aggressive energy in the verses entirely flipped to a more brooding chorus with beautiful harmonies, before being taken right back to the madness of the verses, almost experiencing whiplash as a listener.
Amongst this sonic chaos, lyricist James Young shows off his impressive songwriting skills, detailing how exciting and colourful the big city looks from the outside, only to realise how unhealthy the lifestyle can be.
A Taste of Oxygen is our first taste of their upcoming album, which is set for release later this year. This track sounds like it was made to be experienced live in a sweaty, crowded venue, so definitely keep an eye out for that opportunity

* BIG, BAD AND HEAVY! Two of Pinch's biggest dance floor bangers, remixed by one of UK dubstep's hardest hitters, Kromestar. Guaranteed rewinds.

* 'The Boxer' first appeared on Tectonic back in 2010, fusing grime and dubstep with tribal drums and tearing squarewave bass. Kromestar stays true to the original but switches his stance to swing hard with a left hook, Southpaw style. After a moody build up, the intro breaks away into a brief moment of calm, before bass comes out fighting, throwing knock out punches hard and fast. Tried and tested dancefloor damage of the highest order.

* Flip then for an equally dangerous remix of Pinch's Deep Medi release 'Swish', from back in 2011. Simple, effective and deadly, Kromestar gives this classic an update, setting it up for another few years of wheel-ups!

* DJ Support from: Kahn & Neek, Mala, RSD, Joker & many more.

Critical Music reaches its 100th release in its 15th year, celebrating with the landmark album Fifteen Years Of Underground Sonics. Spanning the broad spectrum of drum & bass that the Critical sound represents, the exceptional 15 album is as bold as it is beautiful and looks to serve the test of time in the D&B history books.

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Kasra Critical

Up Ya Archives returns with its first release of 2026, ‘Northern Step’, from Manchester-based jungle producer & DJ Worsleyy. The track arrives ahead of his upcoming EP of the same name slated for a 13th March release via Up Ya Archives Records.

Fuelled by crisp, tightly swung drums and a smooth, rolling bassline, ‘Northern Step’ is a salute to its junglist roots. Drawing from the Manchester rave records he was introduced to by his dad, and with the help of legendary Mancunion music mixologist Chimpo, Worsleyy channels those early warehouse energies and pairs them with his own progressive and futuristic lens. It’s heritage and evolution colliding, rooted, forward-thinking and built for sweat-drenched dance floors.

When speaking about ‘Northern Step’, Worlseyy said:

“Northern Step is a proper nod to the junglist past with the lush floaty vocals, calculated drum choppage, a smooth rolling bassline and Chimpo hopping on to drive forward the sound of the North.”

Worsleyy is a familiar face across the UK circuit, having played sets at The Warehouse Project and supporting Nia Archives on her 2024 UK tour in Manchester. Drawing from UK rave lineage and contemporary club sounds, his productions balance nostalgia with futurism, channelling the energy of Manchester’s acid raves. His tracks have travelled far beyond UK borders, spun by the scenes most forward-thinking tastemakers like DJ SWISHA, Sherelle, Pete Cannon, and Nia Archives on dancefloors around the world. Worsleyy’s rise has been as visible as it is audible — bold, bass-driven, and impossible to ignore.

2026 Repress

If ever an album could transport you to the hazy sunshine and imagined halcyon paradise of Southern California in the mid-1980s, could capture the early evening warmth of hanging at an inclusive boogie jam as it approaches “magic hour” in Santa Ana or Anaheim, then it’s Vaughan Mason and Butch Dayo’s Feel My Love. A brilliantly produced deep slung, low rider funk classic originally released on Salsoul in 1983. It’s a masterpiece of “funk love music”.

Yes, this is indeed a perfectly formed five track “mini LP” of unparalleled heat, but there’s one song here that, above the rest, represents Orange County boogie-funk. A straight killer beloved by all that have had the pleasure of moving to it. A track that can fill up a dance floor within seconds of its starting. That song is the eternal title track, “Feel My Love”.

This is a work of art that made people fall in love with the funk. It transcends the limitations of genre. “Feel My Love”’s deceptive simplicity makes it perfect to drop during a house set, a classic funk party or at a west coast rap jam. It’s sexy, deeply emotional, melancholic, hopeful, passionate and just radiates so, so much raw energy. This is music.

The rest of the record is hardly filler though. Opener “Oh, Love” is a dizzying, emotional slow jam. With heaven-sent vocals riding gorgeous, sweeping keys that alternate between sweet twinkling lines and funk-fuelled stabbing. It’s sensational. A rollerskating jam named “Rollalong Songs” is an ultra-swish piece of dance floor dynamite. Its slick drums, staccato piano and neck snapping claps underscore Dayo’s buoyant vocals. It’s essentially “Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll Part II”.

The flip begins with “Party On The Corner”. Smoother than silk vocals, day-glo synths, a bubbling bassline and guitar licks that surely received the Prince seal of approval. It’s another example of how Vaughan Mason and Butch Dayo flirt with perfection so routinely. The most majestic closer, the kaleidoscopic, cow-bell-assisted synth-funk heater “You Can Do It” is a proto-rap groover that truly smokes.

This prized LP is a stone cold jam and finding original copies on vinyl at affordable prices has been tough for years. Mastered brilliantly by Simon Francis, cut by Pete Norman and with lovingly reproduced artwork, this fresh Be With reissue ensures this legendary LP now sounds, looks and feels as sensational as it should.

30 years old and sounding better than ever!
The growing bin is over the moon to present a vinyl reissue of Maim That Tune,
the timeless downbeat album that many regard as Cobby & McSherry's best joint effort.
Back on wax for it's 30th birthday - remastered with finesse by master Sergey Luginin
it will blow the minds of those who have listened to to it for hundreds of times
and those who have the pleasure to be At Home In Space for the first time.

As 2025 unfolds, Frenzy wastes no time in unleashing its next chapter. For our ninth release, we welcome Ukrainian mastermind Gene Richards Jr.

Known for his raw, uncompromising energy, Gene delivers a blistering 4-track EP rooted in ghetto-driven rhythms and industrial grit. This is no-holds-barred techno - pure, percussive, and primed for peak-time chaos.

Titled Ride This D, the EP kicks off with four original tracks that showcase Gene's signature blend of punchy drum work and infectious vocal chops. The intensity only builds with two standout remixes: UK legend Mark Broom injects his classic mechanical funk into the title track, while Spain's rising phenomenon DJ Swisherman brings an electrified bounce that reimagines the groove through his distinct, playful lens.

From shadowy warehouse floors to open-air summer raves, Ride This D is designed to detonate.

Matthew Dear's Black City Can't Be Found On Any Map. It's A Composite, An Imaginary Metropolis Peopled By Desperate Cases, Lovelorn Souls, And Amoral Motives. Like Most Literary Gothams, Black City Is A Place To Love And Hate, As Seedy As A Nightclub's Back Room And As Seductive As The Promise Of Power. Matthew Dear, The Musician, May Live In New York City, But The Matthew Dear Of Black City Inhabits A Sound-world Unlike Any Other: A Monument To The Shadowy Side Of Urban Life That Bumps And Creaks, Shudders And Wakes Up Screaming In The Middle Of The Night. Black City Is Matthew Dear's Third Album On Ghostly International, And It's His Darkest And Most Engrossing Work To Date.

From The rst Notes Of Album Opener "honey", It's Clear That The Love-obsessed Matthew Dear Of 2007's Asa Breed Has Given Way To A More Existentially Paranoid Entity, As Creeping Tempos Dominate, Cavernous Atmospherics Envelop The Listener, And Strange Distortions Crackle On The Horizon. In Black City, Nothing Is At It Seems: Leadoff Single "little People (black City)" Is A Nine-and-a-half Minute Disco odyssey, subverting its gleaming electronic lead with eerily giddy backing vocals and cryptic, ominous lyrics ("a frozen wasted heart / has died", "love me like a clown"); "You Put a Smell on Me" is a sordid sex romp set to hysterically chattering percussion and a serrated synth line that will set your teeth on edge; "More Surgery" at rst recalls the barely-there Krautrock of Harmonia in its burbling minimalism, until Dear's chanted chorus of "Alter genetics / to make my body glow / I need more surgery / there's so much more to know" sends the track hurtling into a dystopian future.

And yet, for all the foreboding moods on Black City, it's the album's sweeter moments that illustrate Matthew Dear's growing maturity as a songwriter. "Slowdance" is a futuristic lullaby in which Dear articulates a lover's helplessness ("I can't be the one to tell you everything's wrong") over breathy, Arthur Russell-esque cello swishes; the album-closing "Gem" is an achingly simple, reverb-drenched piano ballad that ends with a long, slow fade. Even in Matthew Dear's Black City, there is hope.

The main idea behind the LP “Companions” was to combine Marc’s different tastes of electronic music on a record and to deliver a variety of moods aimed to be companions in your daily life. Music to work out, to dance to or really just for home listening. This record is a journey into the musical mind of the artist and tells the story of the ever ongoing battle between light and darkness. That's why you’ll find happy and uplifting tracks as well as deeper melancholic songs on this 12th installment of Houseum.

August Greene culminates years of mutual respect and friendship, channeling the musicians’ various talents into a cohesive project. The perfect marriage of jazz, hip-hop and soul, it’s music that just is. This is black expression the way God intended: earnest, unfiltered, and harmonious. Throughout August Greene, you feel the abundance of Glasper’s rolling keys, the sheer honesty of Com’s lyrics, and the nuanced subtlety of Riggins’ drum work. It’s a fluid sound that’s sorely needed in today’s landscape, and a teachable moment for the next wave of creators. “I feel like we need to set the bar for this generation of musicians and producers,” Riggins says. “There’s a lot of computer-driven music. This is the opposite of that. We’re showing you can still use your creative muscle on an instrument to generate your own sound.” August Greene is a meditative offering that stands tall against the era of “fake news.” “They body snatching black girls in D.C. / Politics and propaganda on the TV,” Common observes on the opening track. On “Nirvana,” the lyricist uses a stuttering percussive loop and faint piano chords to search his inner being: “Thought I was gonna fly when Obama became the king … when it’s all done, will I have heaven’s dress code, and been able to let God and let go.” As Com puts it, Glasper and Riggins’ soundtrack allowed him to open up in ways he hadn’t done previously. Like on “Fly Away,” for instance, where he riffs on the public relationships he’s had. Other songs, like “Black Kennedy,” feel spacious and scenic. “I got to go new places with the music, and it didn’t have to fit within a genre for me to participate on it,” he says. “This gave me an experience I haven’t had in a long time, so I want people to feel that. I want this to be a cleansing of whatever doesn’t feel good or inspiring.” In the end, August Greene speaks to those pushing through the dark for brighter days. It's a masterpiece from which virtue can shine. “I want people to go on the ride and be open,” Glasper says. “We just created and it became a sound. I want people to approach this with an open mind and without expectations.” —Marcus J. Moore

Hyas & Pura Pura return with No More Afterparties, a record that takes their mutant club sound to new heights.

Baltimore grooves, footwork energy, broken rhythms, reese-laden basslines, and dubwise pressure run through six tracks built for late nights and dark rooms.

DJ Swisha joins for a standout feature, rounding off a release on 99cts Records, the imprint curated by Miley Serious.

Amsterdam label Spectral Bounce recruits French club stalwart Chris Carrier for SPEC06 — Perfect Encounter. Active since 1994, the Parisian artist has released a wellspring of records on Robsoul, Slapfunk and his own Sound Carrier recordings, parallel to his longtime career as a DJ. Characterised by swirling delays and progressive arrangements, Perfect Encounter shows the producer exploring the mesmeric corners of tech house, ideally fitted to the Spectral Bounce aesthetic.

Opener “XLR8” starts with rolling toms that make way for fluid, modulated tones; each bar ebbs and flows to the sweeping synths set in motion by Carrier. Processed with a multitude of delays, rhythmic FX boldly swish above the drums, making for an immersive soundstage. Second track “Light Side” retains the billowing echoes but moves more nimbly, cutting things back to make for a spacious and breezy number. Its croaking synths hop around the stereo field, accompanied by tight percussion and a walking bassline.

The hallucinogenic “Third Moon” sees Carrier step further into trance-inducing territory. The track’s pulsing, syncopated bass note thrums underneath an arpeggio that evolves into a heady prismatic drone. While the chugging beat is ever-present, melodic refrains rise up and evaporate like wisps of vapour, alongside a vocal that fades away as quickly as it appears. The EP’s eponymous “Perfect Encounter” dials up the tension and closes the record with a mysterious touch. Speedy 16th note patterns propel the beat, creating shifty rhythms that rattle and hiss. A rasping, gelatinous synth and squeaky detuned tones resemble extraterrestrial signals — alien morse code for an enraptured dancefloor.

Credits:

It takes grindin' to be a king and Houston's Mike Jones' work ethic of "You Don't Work, You Don't Eat, You Don't Grind, You Don't Shine" had his phone blowing up in 2005 with the release of his major label debut Who is Mike Jones? on Asylum/Swisha House/Warner Records. Mike Jones started rapping in the early 2000s and he released a couple of independent albums on his own label Ice Age Entertainment before linking up with Michael "5000" Watts of Swisha House. He recorded the underground single "Still Tippin" with Texas contemporaries Paul Wall and Slim Thug, which appeared on the Swisha House compilation The Day Hell Broke Loose 2. The song, full of southern hip-hop slang and braggadocio, was an ode to the classic car culture in Houston, Texas, and could be heard bumpin' out the trunks of cars nationwide with its heavy bass and classical string loops. Before the release of Who Is Mike Jones? girls would ignore him, but after the release of "Still Tippin" they were all up on him, which led to the release of the single "Back Then" where he shouted out his real cell phone number that played a major part in the marketing and promotion of the album.You could call 281-330-8004 and get his voicemail and leave a message, but sometimes he would answer, which led to spreading the word of Mike Jones' debut album. "Back Then" was also a top-selling ringtone because (back then) you had to buy and download ringtones, unlike today. Mike truly went viral before going viral was even a thing. After dropping the two hit singles, Who Is Mike Jones? was released on April 19th, 2005, and would sell over a million copies that year, leading to certified platinum status. Twenty years later, this Texas Rap classic still holds up with features from other H-Town legends including S.U.C.'s Big Moe (RIP),Bun B, Paul Wall and Lil Keke. Juicy J & DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia added their Memphis touch to the "Got It Sewed Up Remix" and the album ends with a heartfelt dedication to Mike Jones' late Grandmother on "Grandma". Get On Down is proud to present the first vinyl reissue of Who Is Mike Jones? in a limited edition silver and red color-in-color pressing packaged with a full color printed insert tocommemorate the 20th anniversary of this H-Town classic

2025 Repress

90'S INSPIRED TRIBAL FUNK TOOLS & GHETTO FUELED DANCEFLOOR SMASHERS FOR DISC-JOCKEYS & COLLECTORS

Legendary New Zealand-born experimental composer and sound art pioneer Annea Lockwood returns to Black Truffle with On Fractured Ground / Skin Resonance, her third release for the label. Having recently celebrated her 85th birthday, Lockwood shows no sign of slowing down in her exploration of new sound sources and collaborations with an ever-growing intergenerational pool of performers – here with Vanessa Tomlinson. Her creative vibrancy is alive as ever on the two recent works presented here, which demonstrate both her engagement with the social dimensions of sound and the deeply reflective, meditative aspect of her art.

On Fractured Ground derives from material recorded with Pedro Rebelo and Georgios Varoutsos for the soundtrack of Maria Fusco and Margaret Salmon’s opera-film, History of the Present (2023). Working together in Belfast, Lockwood, Rebelo and Varoutsos made extensive recordings of the city’s ‘peace lines’, the dozens of walls erected since the beginning of the Troubles in the late 1960s to separate Catholic and Protestant areas of the city. Struck by the immensity of these barriers, ‘the brutal way they sever neighbourhoods’, Lockwood and her collaborators focused not on the sound environment of the city, but on the walls themselves, playing them as gigantic resonant instruments, using their hands and objects such as stones and leaves. Continuing to work in her studio with the material collected for the soundtrack after its completion, Lockwood composed the work presented here, occupying a space somewhere between her own extended-technique percussion music and the Cagean tradition of hyper-amplified small sounds. From deep, gong-like metallic tolling to dry scrapes and uneasy groans, the piece’s sustained attention to single sounds derived from unorthodox sources draws a line all the way back to Lockwood’s classic Glass World (1967-1970). Its spaciousness and delicacy are at odds with the dark historical background of the Troubles, creating a moving listening experience somehow haunted by the shadow of violence and conflict.

Skin Resonance is a collaboration with Australian composer and percussionist Vanessa Tomlinson. Developed through conversations in which the two discussed the idea of ‘sonic attraction’, the piece focuses on Tomlinson’s relationship to the bass drum, reflecting on the complex web of connections embodied in this seemingly simply instrument, which is at once ‘animal, wood, and metal’. Approaching the instrument in a suitably elemental fashion, Tomlinson’s performance strips away conventional technique to explore the resonance and timbral properties of skin, drum, and metal hardware, producing overlapping waves of texture that at times seem closer to wind swishing through leaves or the ocean than anything usually associated with a drum. Emphasising the symbiotic relationship between performer and instrument, Tomlinson’s voice is heard at times, exploring the field of associations and connections the bass drum suggests to her: ‘Maybe the bass drum skin is an ear as well?’

Accompanied by insightful liner notes on both pieces and photographs documenting the recording of On Fractured Ground and a performance of Skin Resonance, this LP is a moving testament to the engagement, generosity, and openness that sustain Annea Lockwood’s work, still finding new directions after more than fifty years of activity.

2025 Repress

On the outskirts of Bratislava, in the pulsating shadows of a refinery's burning chimneys, on the plot of a family house, there stood a small shack. Initially, it housed trials in domestic mushroom growing. Later, after a makeshift acoustic touch-up - lining the walls with old cardboard egg cartons - it became a shelter for music. Sensitive, evocative, nostalgic, lo-fi music by a man named Cadillac Face.

Today we would probably use the term 'safe space', but back then it was (in Cadillac's words) kutica, a cubbyhole. He hid there from a world that ached. Here, Cadillac secretly smoked, sang, and composed. And tried not to go crazy from anxiety. He wrote music unlike anything during his time.

Here, he struggled. With sound (unable to adjust it to his liking), with instruments (which he couldn't bring himself to play), with the world (with which, understandably, he was at odds).

Cadillac Face was a man who didn't belong here.

He wrote and sang in English (in a post-socialist and early-capitalist Slovakia, when command of English was no matter of course); he also wrote in Slovak (blogs and diaries, which, due to a stream-of-consciousness and surrealist style, were as incomprehensible as they were immersive and intimate); gave advice to teenagers (to their quasi-banal questions on talking forums about relationships, life and adolescence, where they were often met with ridicule and mockery); he composed electronic and noise music (at a time when no one had a clue what the abbreviation DAW meant).

This Cadillac's compilation album is not aiming to compete with/replicate Noizy Days - a compilation of Cadillac's contributions to the project Noize Konspiracy. Underground compilations circulated through a local proto-social network. Borderline music without rules - open but often inaccessible. There, Cadillac contributed mostly with experimental-electronic compositions. Noizy Days was compiled by Ďuro Ďurček, one of the initiators of Noize Konspiracy. Both Ďuro and Cadillac have been dead for years.

Songs For The Trees is a selection from Cadillac's songwriting. The most intimate of his intimate recordings. Cadillac at his most fragile, brittle, and quiet. The most romantic, the most tormented, the most painful and direct of his songs I know.

Cadillac became an anthropomorphic grotesque tree. Neither broadleaf nor conifer. Or perhaps it's a candle slowly incinerating – bored, sad, playing the guitar. A tragicomedy. Sometimes it kindles what it doesn't mean to, and it can't put itself out. Or can it?