Suche:a hand

2023 Repress

Rave alarm! The Rotterdam-based Perspektiv label returns, with another 2-tracker release coming from the hands of a mysterious stranger - not your average unknown artist...

Daje Funk Records is back with Vol. 4 of the legendary ‘Slam Dunk’ series of EPs, this time featuring Souldynamic - Musta - Les Inferno - Groovemasta !!!

On the A-side, the supremely talented Souldynamic kicks things off with ‘Tales From Q.J.’ - a delicious chunk of late summer grooves bathing in sun-drenched keys and strings. The rolling bassline acts as the hook, and what follows is a gloriously constructed melodic masterpiece sprinkled with heavenly vocals. Fall in love with this, you will.

A2 sees Italian maestro Musta crack open the deep reggae vibes with ’Soup’. You’ll find it hard to resist this bubbling broth of twisted, rhythmic precision bass, ‘one drop’ beats and tight, short skanking guitar riffs. With ‘Soup’, Musta demonstrates his complete understanding of this genre. Darkened room or bar sun terrace - you decide.

On the B-side, label co-owner Les Inferno spices things up several notches with the aptly titled ‘Hot Burn’. And boy, does this track sizzle. A hustling rhythm that takes over your dance nodes from the get go, Les Inferno lovingly sprinkles Latino and Afro vibes all over this searingly hot dish. It’s furious, intense and relentless - and the brass breakdown acts as the tabasco sauce. Drink water. Plenty of water.

Closing Vol. 4 out on B2 is Groovemasta with ‘That Funk’. A track that treats its funky beats and chunky bass like royalty, this 118bpm monster wastes no time in demanding ‘Gimme that funk’. And you’re gonna hand it over. The swirling, gyrating sexiness of ‘That Funk’ can’t be understated - impossible not to lose yourself in this guaranteed dance floor time bomb.

Slam Dunk Vol. 4 seriously raises the bar for this already excellent series, and has to be in any self-respecting vinyl junky’s record box. Grab it while you can!

Eat Your Heart Out - Caitlin Henry (Gesang), Andrew Anderson (Gitarre), Will Moore (Gitarre), Dom
Cant (Bass) und Jake Cronin (Schlagzeug) - aus Newcastle, Australien, stehen in der Tradition der beeindruckenden australischen Geschichte musikalischer Ausreißer von Nick Cave und Silverchair bis hin zu
The Amity Affliction und Parkway Drive, aber sie tun dies eindeutig auf ihre eigene Art und Weise. Das
Grunge-Pastiche der Gruppe aus Emo-Energie, Punk-Power und Pop-Schmackhaftigkeit sorgte bei ihrem
Erscheinen im Jahr 2012 sofort für Begeisterung auf der ganzen Welt. Sie brachten drei von Fans geliebte
EPs heraus - Distance Between Us 2015, Carried Away 2017 und Mind Games 2017 -, bevor sie 2019
ihr richtiges Debüt in voller Länge, Florescence, veröffentlichten. Zu den vielen herausragenden Songs
gehört ”Carousel”, der 2,6 Millionen Spotify-Streams erreicht hat, Tendenz steigend. Das Hysteria Mag
schwärmte: ”Florescence ist ein Meisterwerk einer Band, die erwachsen wird und sich schnell zu einem der
besten Rockexporte Australiens entwickelt.” Dazwischen waren sie mit Bands wie Trophy Eyes, Hands Like
Houses, Knuckle Puck, Real Friends und anderen auf Tour. Ende 2020 richteten sie ihre Aufmerksamkeit
auf das, was Can’t Stay Forever werden sollte. Jedes Mitglied verbrachte fast das gesamte nächste Jahr
damit, Songs zu schreiben, wobei sie auf prägende Einflüsse wie Jimmy Eat World und Taking Back Sunday
zurückgriffen.

This project tells an ambivalent story. Lightness on the one hand - a letting go around friendship and love, a rejuvenation in the line of his first EP - and more intense on the other around fatherhood at the end of adolescence which is told, sung like a precocious adult life. Married at 21, then a parent at 24, his twenties are normally synonymous with lightness, carefree living mixed with student life, but he has reversed the space-time curve of his adult life. He started out as a young father. Now he has just separated and is in some ways returning to that adolescence. He explains: "My daughter bridges the gap between all this, musically she inspires me too. She listens to LCD Soundsystem, but also Damso. She's an anchor for me that keeps me from growing old.

This album is a marker of all that. Each song is a step. An album he considers to be a gentle therapy. He started it while he was still in a relationship and finished it when the relationship ended. "It's like I could feel things happening while writing this album". This album and the whole process of creating it is therefore a sometimes dark and often bright path, which Clément likes to call "life".

Krieg, steigende Energiekosten, Inflation. Eine politische Klasse und ein gespaltenes Land. Das Unbehagen nach dem Brexit, Akte nationaler Selbstbeschädigung und verhängnisvolle Realitätsfluchten. Verzweiflung, Wut und Entfremdung. War es jemals schlimmer da draußen?
Willkommen bei „UK Grim”. Das zwölfte Album der Sleaford Mods baut auf den einzigartigen, aufrührerischen Stärken früherer Alben auf und verfeinert sie gleichzeitig auf eine neue Weise. Es handelt sich um nichts Geringeres als eine Band und eine Stimme ihrer Generation, so wie es The Jam, The Clash oder Public Enemy zuvor waren.

Begonnen haben die Arbeiten zum neuen Album in den Lockdowns von 2021. Schließlich setzte man die Arbeit im JT Soars fort, dem Arbeitsraum und der Kreativzelle der Band, und vollendet „UK Grim“ dann im Heimstudio des musikalischen Kopfes Andrew Fearn. Das Album präsentiert die Band in ihrer makellosesten Wut, gepaart mit wilder Poesie. Nach „Spare Ribs“ von 2021 (ihrem dritten UK-Top-Ten-Album seit 2019 und ihrem bisher erfolgreichsten) ist es, wie alle ihre Platten, eine Diagnose der Krankheiten der Gesellschaft.

Obwohl „UK Grim“ größtenteils vor den Turbulenzen des Jahres 2022 entstanden ist, nimmt es die Erschütterungen einer Gesellschaft, die den Verstand verliert, auf unheimliche Weise vorweg, erzählt von einem Mann, der entschlossen ist, sich mit Heucheleien auseinanderzusetzen, insbesondere mit seinen eigenen. Die 14 Tracks klingen nach knarzigem Punk, widerspenstiger Elektronik und Elementen von Hip-Hop. Sie beschreiben die Realität in zu brutaler Unverblümtheit, um nur einfache Protestsongs zu sein. Sie sind zu Vinyl gewordene Wut, aufgekocht von den Großmeistern des pointierten Zorns – den Sleaford Mods! Wie bei den „Spare Ribs“ Kollaborationen mit Billy Nomates und Amy Taylor helfen auch bei „UK Grim“ Freunde aus: Florence Shaw von Dry Cleaning ist auf dem schaurigen „Force 10 From Navarone“ zu Gast. Williamson ist ein Fan der Band und sagt: "Sie erinnert mich wirklich an die frühen Sachen, die ich gemacht habe, einfach die Art und Weise, wie sie ein einziges Wort benutzt, um eine ganze Geschichte zu erzählen." Perry Farrell von Jane's Addiction rappt auf dem bizarren „So Trendy“, einem Song, von dem Williamson sagt, er sei "sehr vorsichtig... ein wirklich seltsamer Track“.

Seit ihrem Durchbruch-Album "Divide and Exit" von 2014 hatten die Sleaford Mods immer mehr Gelegenheit zum offenen Austausch, sowohl im In- als auch im Ausland. Sie sind eine unermüdlich arbeitende Band, die mit ihren minimalistischen Liveshows unter anderem 2021 in der 10.000 Zuschauer fassenden Nottingham Motorpoint Arena auftrat. Zu den weiteren Meilensteinen ihres Erfolgs gehören Auftritte im US-Late-Night-TV, Headliner-Auftritte auf Festivals und Chart-Platzierungen in ganz Europa mit „Spare Ribs”. Ein großer Bewunderer ist Iggy Pop, der der Band mit einer persönlichen Version des Drogenrausch-Grand-Guignols „Chop Chop Chop” Tribut gezollt hat.

Krieg, steigende Energiekosten, Inflation. Eine politische Klasse und ein gespaltenes Land. Das Unbehagen nach dem Brexit, Akte nationaler Selbstbeschädigung und verhängnisvolle Realitätsfluchten. Verzweiflung, Wut und Entfremdung. War es jemals schlimmer da draußen?
Willkommen bei „UK Grim”. Das zwölfte Album der Sleaford Mods baut auf den einzigartigen, aufrührerischen Stärken früherer Alben auf und verfeinert sie gleichzeitig auf eine neue Weise. Es handelt sich um nichts Geringeres als eine Band und eine Stimme ihrer Generation, so wie es The Jam, The Clash oder Public Enemy zuvor waren.

Begonnen haben die Arbeiten zum neuen Album in den Lockdowns von 2021. Schließlich setzte man die Arbeit im JT Soars fort, dem Arbeitsraum und der Kreativzelle der Band, und vollendet „UK Grim“ dann im Heimstudio des musikalischen Kopfes Andrew Fearn. Das Album präsentiert die Band in ihrer makellosesten Wut, gepaart mit wilder Poesie. Nach „Spare Ribs“ von 2021 (ihrem dritten UK-Top-Ten-Album seit 2019 und ihrem bisher erfolgreichsten) ist es, wie alle ihre Platten, eine Diagnose der Krankheiten der Gesellschaft.

Obwohl „UK Grim“ größtenteils vor den Turbulenzen des Jahres 2022 entstanden ist, nimmt es die Erschütterungen einer Gesellschaft, die den Verstand verliert, auf unheimliche Weise vorweg, erzählt von einem Mann, der entschlossen ist, sich mit Heucheleien auseinanderzusetzen, insbesondere mit seinen eigenen. Die 14 Tracks klingen nach knarzigem Punk, widerspenstiger Elektronik und Elementen von Hip-Hop. Sie beschreiben die Realität in zu brutaler Unverblümtheit, um nur einfache Protestsongs zu sein. Sie sind zu Vinyl gewordene Wut, aufgekocht von den Großmeistern des pointierten Zorns – den Sleaford Mods! Wie bei den „Spare Ribs“ Kollaborationen mit Billy Nomates und Amy Taylor helfen auch bei „UK Grim“ Freunde aus: Florence Shaw von Dry Cleaning ist auf dem schaurigen „Force 10 From Navarone“ zu Gast. Williamson ist ein Fan der Band und sagt: "Sie erinnert mich wirklich an die frühen Sachen, die ich gemacht habe, einfach die Art und Weise, wie sie ein einziges Wort benutzt, um eine ganze Geschichte zu erzählen." Perry Farrell von Jane's Addiction rappt auf dem bizarren „So Trendy“, einem Song, von dem Williamson sagt, er sei "sehr vorsichtig... ein wirklich seltsamer Track“.

Seit ihrem Durchbruch-Album "Divide and Exit" von 2014 hatten die Sleaford Mods immer mehr Gelegenheit zum offenen Austausch, sowohl im In- als auch im Ausland. Sie sind eine unermüdlich arbeitende Band, die mit ihren minimalistischen Liveshows unter anderem 2021 in der 10.000 Zuschauer fassenden Nottingham Motorpoint Arena auftrat. Zu den weiteren Meilensteinen ihres Erfolgs gehören Auftritte im US-Late-Night-TV, Headliner-Auftritte auf Festivals und Chart-Platzierungen in ganz Europa mit „Spare Ribs”. Ein großer Bewunderer ist Iggy Pop, der der Band mit einer persönlichen Version des Drogenrausch-Grand-Guignols „Chop Chop Chop” Tribut gezollt hat.

Released on RCA Records - new album from singer/songwriter/actress/US superstar. This collection is Miley’s eighth studio album and the follow up to 2020’s 'Plastic Hearts'. 2023 finds Miley the strongest and most confident she’s ever been, with the music and imagery of 'Endless Summer Vacation' serving as a reflection of that. Recorded in Los Angeles and produced with Kid Harpoon/Greg Kurstin/Mike WiLL Made-It/Tyler Johnson, Miley describes the album as her love letter to LA. The full tracklisting has not yet been revealed, but does of course include the massive #1 single 'Flowers'. Extensive promo/marketing activity across all media outlets. Upcoming UK promo trip plus nationwide TV ad campaign. Formats are standard black vinyl LP and standard CD.

"Denial” and "Anger" are the first and second movements in Michael Leonhart’s, The Normyn Suite #1: (Soundtrack to the Five Stages of Grieving), which is both a requiem and celebration, inspired by the life and death of Leonhart’s 15-year-old dog, a female mini dachshund named Normyn.

Suite #1 first appeared on the Michael Leonhart Orchestra 2022 album "The Normyn Suites" (Sunnyside Records) and was inspired by “The Kübler-Ross Grief Cycle,” a model introduced by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her 1969 book, On Death and Dying. “The Five Stages of Grief” is a critically acclaimed study on how humans handle loss.

For Leonhart's suite in five parts, he expands the MLO’s live performance palette of brass, woodwinds and strings to include choir and found percussion over gritty breakbeat drums from Nick Movshon. Leonhart shares, “I wanted ‘Denial’ and ‘Anger’ to have an emotional tension and raw quality, almost a whiplash effect..."
The Normyn Suites is an elegy; to listen is to spend time in that space of loss, reckoning, questioning, and mourning. At the same time, though, with each note, each phrase, we are propelled back into life,” reflects author Alexandra Horowitz in the stirring liner notes.

“Eye Of Delirious” is a long-awaited debut Muscut's release of Chillera’s band bass player Ganna Bryzhata — an Odesa-based sound artist. An ambient LP is a smoothy-flow sub-nautical journey with the songs of Black sea sirens glowing under the moon.

Mastering by Gennadiy Boychenko
Artwork by Volodymyr Pavlov
Graphic design by (DN) daynight.info
Neu Medieval and Heymland typefaces by KTF
Riso print by Hands on Press
Muscut, 2023

In den zwei Jahrzehnten ihrer Karriere hat die Norwegerin Ane Brun einen weiten Weg zurückgelegt, seit sie auf den Straßen Barcelonas die Lieder anderer Leute vorgetragen hat. Heute ist sie eine beliebte Singer-Songwriterin mit zehn Studioalben und zahlreichen Auszeichnungen. Mit ihrer einzigartigen, ausdrucksstarken Stimme und ihrem intuitiven Gespür für Melodien setzt sie die hohe Kunst der Coverversion fort. In Bruns Händen werden selbst Songs, die sich unantastbar anfühlen, näher gebracht und in einem neuen und intimen Licht gezeigt. Ob sie nun Beyoncés Siegeszug "Halo" mit einem Cello-Arrangement von Linnea Olsson neu interpretiert oder Radioheads "How To Disappear Completely" eine gespenstische Zerbrechlichkeit verleiht - sie taucht unerschrocken ein, sucht den emotionalen Kern eines jeden Songs und arbeitet sich von dort aus vor. Portrayals versammelt zum ersten Mal zwölf von Bruns beliebtesten Coverversionen sowie eine bisher unveröffentlichte Version des Rodgers & Hart-Standards "Blue Moon". Bruns Bearbeitungen, die insgesamt über 250 Millionen Mal auf Spotify gestreamt wurden und in Filmsoundtracks, Werbespots und bahnbrechenden Fernsehserien wie "Normal People" und "Peaky Blinders" zu hören sind, bewegen sich auf zarte, unvergessliche und oft verblüffende Weise. Portrayals ist die erste in einer Reihe geplanter Veröffentlichungen im Jahr 2023, um das 20-jährige Jubiläum ihres Debütalbums Spending Time With Morgan zu feiern. "Covers sind ein wichtiger Teil meiner Karriere", sagt Brun. "Es ist fast eine eigene Karriere. Es hat seine eigene Dynamik. Ich wollte das feiern, indem ich diesen Songs ihren eigenen Raum gebe."

Duel - Live At Hellfest is the brand new album of the Texas based rockenrollerz Duel. Recorded live at the mighty festival HELLFEST in Clisson, France in June 2022. A heavy rock'n'roll trip that you must have in your record collection! Covert art made by the one and only Branca Studio.

Duel - Live At Hellfest is the brand new album of the Texas based rockenrollerz Duel. Recorded live at the mighty festival HELLFEST in Clisson, France in June 2022. A heavy rock'n'roll trip that you must have in your record collection! Covert art made by the one and only Branca Studio.

Dooley-O commands you to STICK YOURSELF! But not before stocking his new 45 please. Bankrupt Europeans (who have previously produced for RA The rugged Man, Roc Marciano, Chill Rob G, Chubb Rock, AG, Phill Most Chill, Rise and MC Juice) started a back&forth with 90s legend and Stezo cohort Dooley-O a few years ago, even recorded a couple of demos but it wasn't until 2021 that we all had a chance to do this properly! Hands down two of the hardest and snappiest Bankrupt Europeans beats to complement Dooley-O's incredible punchlines and murderous flow. Dooley-O shows that not only has he not lost a step since the days of releases on Stones Throw and Lewis Recordings, but if anything his skills have sharpened over the years!

The A-Side is Stick Yourself and sees Bankrupt Europeans bring this absolute head nodder of a beat, heavy but very funky and laced with modular synth sounds and cuts from DJ Grazzhoppa throughout. Dooley-O’s tongue-in-cheek rap style is sharper than Rambo’s knife as he proceeds to encourage you to Stick Yourself or risk being taken out by himself. There is this comedic bravado here that has Dooley-O displaying just how good his rap style is, while between the lines he saying ‘I’m that good, I shouldn’t have to take you out, that’s your job But, If I have to do it, it ain’t gonna be pretty.’ Flipping it to the B-Side for track 2 we have Death Blow that hits hard with a brooding intro before the heavy bass and eastern sounds inject more adrenaline into your veins! Dooley-O continues the lyrical assault he began in Stick Yourself. Here he delivers a cold and calculated volley of witty punchlines with ease. His plan here is plain and simple, which is to deliver a brutal Death Blow to all those suckers left walking and talking

Available in black wax in 250 hand numbered copies in a company sleeve with a sticker.

Book of Roses is yet another brilliant Vollenweider album, yet it's notably
different from the rest of his works to date
There is a wide range of styles and a tremendous range of different instruments
and sound effects used here. In addition to his electroacoustic harp, you hear
orchestral music, vocals, hammer dulcimer, bassoon, flutes, harmonica, horns/
brass instruments, piano, electric and acoustic guitars, accordion, bass, and
many different types of percussion, e.g. hand clapping, chalk/crayon scratching,
and various kinds of drums. In addition you hear many sound effects: pages
turning in a book, footsteps, clocks ticking, dogs barking, birds chirping, bow and
arrow, and many other special effects.Even though this album is perhaps more
"chopped up" into different songs (and four separate "chapters" like in the book) it
flows together nicely as do the rest of his albums and the songs are great to
listen to. There is a diverse range of styles. It starts off with orchestral
movements, then we have the cheery "Morning at Boma Park" and the smooth
crayon- scratching rhythm of the title track, to the optimistic sounding South
African "Passage to Promise" to the fast paced Spanish- guitar/ harp piece
"Jugglers in Obsidian." Track 13 "Hirzel" is probably the most mainstream
Vollenweider track on this CD. It is an upbeat song with a pop-rock feel and brings
back a similar style and intensity of many of the songs from "Dancing With the
Lion." The final track "Letters to a Young Rose" has a somewhat festive African
feel and beat with several different kinds of percussion and is a perfect way to
end the album.Bottom line: It may be different and more diverse from many of his
previous albums, with many different instruments and sound effects in addition
to his harp, but "Book of Roses" is another must-have Vollenweider album.

Brigid O'Neill's new album The Truth & Other Stories, recorded at Skinny Elephant Studios in Nashville with Neilson Hubbard in the producer's chair, cannot help but be influenced by the times which informed it, 'very few people escaped being affected by the pandemic, writers included.

Somehow the experiences of it seeped through onto our work and I feel The Truth and Other Stories is no exception in that regard.'
That said, this is not specifically an album about Covid or the pandemic, 'I was fascinated by the concept of 'truth' and intrigued by the concept of everyone having a different version of their truth....a personal viewpoint, their own narrative, their own story. The title plays a bit with shades of meaning - a 'counter positioning' if you like. The 'other stories' may challenge the truth, but 'the truth'
retains that sense of the absolute. In the songs I hope to present the realities of different characters through short stories. As I moved through the pandemic however, different stories came to light and sometimes the focus would shift.

Ultimately though, I have been living with these stories and these characters for some time now.'
Neilson Hubbard as producer was an obvious choice for O'Neill. A growing relationship with Nashville had seen her writing, playing and developing relationships with the many truly great musicians available across Music City.

"Being in Nashville with a producer like Neilson who has such an intuitive feel for that music, and with access to musicians who simply live and breathe it, seemed like a good idea. I'd met Neilson a few times through our mutual friend and musician Ben Glover, and it was quickly clear we would get along and had a similar attitude to the music production process. When choosing a music
producer, listening to their catalogue of works is crucial, but so too I think is that 'gut feeling' and knowledge that you can connect. When I sent Neilson my music, I knew he 'got it' and I knew I was in safe hands." Recent years have seen Brigid O'Neill gaining a deserved reputation as one of Ireland's finest songwriters. Reviews of her critically acclaimed latest releases
have reaffirmed that the gifted artist is one of the most versatile, unique and fearless storytellers on the island. Her genre-spanning music appeals to multiple generations, effortlessly weaving elements of folk, country and jazz into relatable tales of happiness, heartbreak and the human condition.

Perennial jazz stars Chet Baker and Bill Evans rarely recorded together and this 2LP set, including a bonus track, represents all of their collaborative sessions.
By the time the music was taped, Chet was already known as much for his singing as for his trumpet playing, but all of the performances here are entirely instrumental. After cutting these sides Baker and Evans would go their separate ways and these recordings remain the only testimony of their subtle and elegant musical
interactions.
Chet Baker trumpet
Bill Evans piano

Herbie Mann, flute
Pepper Adams, baritone sax
Kenny Burrell, guitar
Paul Chambers, bass
Connie Kay, drums
Philly Joe Jones, drums
Zoot Sims, alto sax.
Pepper Adams, baritone sax
Earl May, bass
Clifford Jarvis, drums

Enormous album again... with a clear banging sound and a variety of explorations, from Techno to Drum & Bass with a bunch of those Hardcore magic tricks. A triple album that will never let you down !

Originally released in 1975 by RCA via its subsidiary Midland International—and recorded at the legendary Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia—these two tracks have never since both been released on the same single up until now, appearing once in unison on an acetate reference recording, copies of which have never sold on Discogs and are believed to be in the hands of 4 collectors worldwide.

Touch of Class effortlessly blend together the classic Motor City Sound and Philadelphia’s hard-driving disco groove in one fell swoop, records that sound like they have been produced from both the Gamble and Huff and Dozier playbooks, while retaining a unique register exclusive to the group.

Gondwana Records announces 'Goodbyes' the debut album from Estonian pianist and composer, Hanakiv, a deeply beautiful, meditative piano album featuring special guest Alabaster dePlume

"This is an album about healing. It is about saying your goodbyes to everything that doesn't serve you anymore. Each of these songs has a little goodbye in it. So, these are very beautiful and necessary goodbyes".

Hanakiv is a young composer and musician from Estonia (now based in London) who creates meditative piano-based ambient music with elements from classical and electronic music. 'Goodbyes' is her debut recording and draws on influences as diverse as Tim Hecker, Björk "Vespertine", Kara-Lis Coverdale, Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür and Aphex Twin as well as her own cultural heritage. Music has an important part in Estonian culture, especially choir music and its traditions, but Hanakiv also draws on her love of nature – the beautiful Estonian seaside and forests - and on her time in Iceland. However, it was moving to London that gave her the freedom to make her own music: "London gave me the freedom and courage to really be who I am (as a person and musically)" and her heritage and her new home both offer inspiration to Goodbyes, as Hanakiv moves between these two opposite places, a bustling metropolis and a small country full of nature, drawing inspiration from both as she sculpts her own voice.

Hanakiv had an unconventional music education – she started studying music at a school for handbells when she was nine and was part of a handbell ensemble for eight years. Starting on piano at the same time she went on to study composition at high school, and later at the Estonian Academy of Music. Eventually switching to electroacoustic composition, she studied in Reykjavik, and did internships in Malmö, and again Reykjavik before moving to London. She grew up in a musical family and her grandmother was a piano teacher and choir conductor.

"I would always ask her to take me to her choir rehearsals. I remember sitting under the grand piano, listening to the choir and just being mesmerised by the sounds. She also teaches in a local music school in the south of Estonia with about ten pianos, and I'd spend a lot of time there as well. I believe this was the starting point for me to get to where I am now. The last two pieces on the album (Home II and Home I) are composed in this same music school, so it feels like a full circle.

An early influence was Regina Spektor "the first artist who made me really want to play piano" alongside dream pop and Sigur Rós' as well as Estonian contemporary composers such as Erkki-Sven Tüür and Arvo Pärt. Later her studies took her to Reykjavík: "There is this amazing record shop called 12 Tónar in Reykjavik where you can drink espressos and listen to all their vinyls. I spent quite a lot of time there. There is something about Icelandic music that really excited me (the mixture of contemporary electronic sounds with melancholy, emotionality). This is when I started getting more into electronic music, and experimenting outside of classical music". Following a year long break from studying and inspired by making an electroacoustic soundtrack for a friend's abstract video, she was inspired to complete a masters in electroacoustic composition, diving fully into the worlds of sound recording and mixing and focusing on surround sound and how to position and move sounds in space, eventually doing an internship with composer Kent Olofson in Malmö, who works with multi-speaker systems for theatre productions. "I learnt a lot from him and he introduced me to some of my favourite plugins I've used a lot on this album as well."

Hanakiv moved to London just as the pandemic hit and found herself trapped, in a big new city, without any network or family and so just concentrated on making music. "I stayed in my room with my basic equipment - keyboard, Korg minilogue, SM 58 and Rode nt1-a microphones, laptop and speakers. I was reading about mixing, and trying out different things and listening to a lot of music to get the sense of the mixes and production and finishing a commission piece for 5.1 multi speaker system at that time so I set up four speakers for quadrophonic surround sound in my room!". She also found her way back to piano - my instrument – and started practicing again, playing the pieces she used to play, but also just improvising, and this was the beginning of what would become her debut album, 'Goodbyes'.

"I started appreciating everything about music again (even melody!), and everything just came together naturally, and I arrived to a point where I finally found my voice, and I had something that I wanted to say and share. I composed "Meditation I" first and started with "Goodbye", and all the other pieces are derived from that. Without "Meditation I" there wouldn't be this album. If you listen closely, "Meditation I" starts where "Goodbye" ends; "Meditation II" is born from "Meditation I".

But it was meeting Fi Roberts, a sound engineer based at the legendary Strongrom Studios in Shoreditch, London in December 2020 that really brought the album into focus. The pair bonded over an interest in prepared piano and a similar approach to production ideas (a balance of not overdoing it, and letting the songs speak for themselves, but being open to explore) and Fi became a friend but also a confidant and eventually co-producer

"Fi has a big impact on this record but I don't know how to really explain that properly. Of course, this album is sonically stunning thanks to her amazing mixes and recording skills, but she also believed in this music so much and it created something very special - that's difficult to measure with words. She just works with heart, and I really appreciate that"

This then is 'Goodbyes', the first offering from a major new voice, who offers us a meditative work full of space and tranquillity but also life and friendship and meaning. And we are very proud to welcome her to the Gondwana family.

Serial collaborator and Producer/DJ Regularfantasy rallies long-standing friends Cecile Believe (PC Music) and Priori (NAFF) for a 6-track release on Canada-based imprint Specials.

“As both a collaborator and a solo artist, Regularfantasy has quite the CV, with 12-inches for the likes of Mood Hut and Total Stasis and ongoing collaborations with D. Tiffany as Plush Management Inc and Plush Throw, among other projects. This doesn't even touch on the stream of straight-to-cassette mixtapes she's put out over the years. Still, New Glow feels like a milestone for Regularfantasy, hands down her most accomplished solo release.”

“Cheery house music laced with bona fide vocal hooks for a Vancouver label that focusses on real crossover potential.”

King of Town (KoT), originally from Johannesburg but now in the UK, is back after a nearly a decade hiatus from his mutant disco-inflected remixes.

Prior to his long break, King of Town remixed the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Slow Club, Alice Russell, the Detachments and the Phenomenal Handclap Band.
His remix of Desmond and the Tutus' 'Kiss You on the Cheek', released on Tigersushi in 2009, has become a regular feature of Spotify playlists and has racked up a few million listens across various streaming platforms.

For this release KoT serves up four exclusive re-edits.

Lord Have Mercy is a retouch of Willie West's slow-burn R&B lament of his own elegiac defiance, where KoT underpins West's groove with a 303 acid bassline and synth flourishes.
Swimming in Your Eyes is a beefing up of Pasteur Lappe's 1979 Rhodes-heavy space disco groove.
Troubles of this World takes OV Wrights ridiculously soulful take on a gospel classic and transforms it into a retro-futurist track aimed firmly at the dancefloor.
And with Khomo Tsaka Deile Kae KoT nods towards his roots and inserts drive and snap into fellow South African Marumo's 1982 kwela-touched stomper.

As always the artwork has been completed by the very talented Pedro Carvalho de Almeida.

Vinyl Only.

I:Cube has made a new album. It is a very “hands on” album, as the eight tracks on show were created almost entirely by improvising with electronic hardware – synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines and effects units – and recorded in real time, with very little after-editing. It is also his first album in a decade, should you be keeping track.

During the time he spent recording it, which was in part inspired by the processes behind his ‘Cubo Live Sessions’ series, I:Cube had fun, experimented, unleashed the raw, primitive energy of his machines, and emptied his head of thought. The resultant tracks are instinctive, immersive and otherworldly, driven by the emotion of the moment rather than the formulaic structures of dance music. They are unpolished and immediate, but also immersive and sincere.

Think of it as a soundtrack to time spent alone in the studio, daydreaming in darkness and light, translating mental and physical messages in real time. It is not calculated, overblown or over-produced like much modern electronic music, but gently odd, engaging and pleasingly rough round the edges. In some ways, it is I:Cube’s most personal and emotional album to date.
Matt Annis

Belgian-Japanese piano wizard Alex Koo seemed destined for a career as a classical concert pianist, but in his teens, he became completely enamored with jazz. Driven by his passion, he moved to New York, where he studied and taught at the renowned NYU Steinhardt. There he came into contact with jazz greats Mark Turner and Ralph Alessi, with whom he released the album "Applebueseagreen" in 2019, which was promptly included in the prestigious list of "Best Albums of 2019" by the legendary Downbeat Jazz Magazine with the words "Stunningly original". Domestically, too, one blazing review upon another: "Belgium is too small for pianist Alex Koo" or "We are stunned ", we read in national newspapers De Tijd and Le Soir.
With his brand new Etudes for Piano, composed for and commissioned by BoZar Brussels, he shows how his passion for both worlds - jazz and classical - merge perfectly. Adventurism and virtuosity go hand in hand with melancholy and elbow work (literally, for those who really know Koo knows). His music sounds like a marriage between Debussy, Chopin, Reich, Rachmaninov on the one hand and Keith Jarrett, Craig Taborn, Brian Eno and Philip Glass on the other. Alex Koo is a conjuring natural born storyteller on piano.

This EP contains unreleased music composed and produced by Alessandro Alessandroni in the 70s, taken from a dusty tape found in his vault. Afro Discoteca strikes immediately for its modernity and rich textures, sounding unbelievably contemporary.

Alessandro Alessandroni is one of those pioneers, a maestro that built the legend of Italian soundtracks and library music along with Ennio Morricone, Piero Umiliani and many others. His vault testifies how prolific had been those times, with hundreds of tapes and obscure recordings from that period. Among the many, a dusty tape bearing the hand-written label Afro Discoteca' captured the attention of Four Flies.

The music contained in the tape had never been released until now. When he listened to the tracks, Italian legendary DJ LEO MAS (one of the undisputed inventors of the Balearic sound) told us: It is surprising to listen to something that sounds

so modern... This EP is the perfect union of Afro influences and Italian taste. There's something Afro lounge here but also incredibly cinematic - it makes me think of John Carpenter's atmospheres. B1 (Afro Discoteca) reminds me of clubs I've been in Malindi in the late 70s and the closing track is absolutely spellbinding. This is wonderful.' PAOLO SCOTTI, head of Déjà vu Records and an authoritative Italian jazz expert said: Alessandroni's contribution to music is huge, he's a great musician and a great experimenter. Afro Discoteca sounds like it's been produced yesterday by a DJ of our times, an absolutely surprising EP and proof of Alessandroni's spontaneous genius!'

2023 Repress

Greyscale is extremely proud to bring Martin Schulte to its long growing and talented roster.
Not only is this a double-single but each track is supported with a remix from a top-tier artist in Vril and our very own grad_u! Dancing Street & Skyscraper Street is special in many ways!
On 'Dancing Street', Martin gives your equilibrium a real test with its off-axis beat structure and fantastic chord definition. As the track releases the pressure nearing the end is nothing short of genius. This is not for the faint of heart! 'Skyscraper Street' is the ideal counterpoint to 'Dancing Street'. A perfectly tempoed tech masterpiece, it soars over a city soundscape riding a confident beat. For the B side, grad_u on the remix gives us a wall-shaker! A serious
main floor sound and the only relief from the intense bass is the beautiful chord work. The word epic comes to mind from our label leader! There is a handful of names that are buy on site when you see them and VRIL is no doubt one. This remix of 'Skyscraper Street' is drenched in layer upon layer of shimmering and fractured melodies. This experimental and almost dreamlike state of consciousness is auditory sensory overload of the highest order! Martin Schulte, VRIL and grad_u on the same EP!
Mastered at the legendary Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin on white 180 gram vinyl. The depth of these should not be understated!
Analogue photography by Rima Prusakova

THE SUBWAYS remain one of the most exciting live bands on the current touring circuit, thrilling crowds with their explosive rock sound and wild stage performances.

Back in 2005, with an average age of just 18, Billy, Charlotte and Josh crashed onto the international music scene with their debut album ‘YOUNG FOR ETERNITY’, and their rock-club floor-filling single ‘ROCK & ROLL QUEEN’. The NME proclaimed them “The sexiest thing to sweep rock n roll off its feet in years!”. An appearance on American smash teen drama THE OC and in Guy Ritchie’s London Gangster flick ‘RocknRolla’ has helped make the track a Spotify Rock Playlist mainstay.

The band have released four albums to date. Their sophomore, ‘ALL OR NOTHING’ (2008), was recorded in LA with heavyweight producer Butch Vig and, is “Buoyed with emotional heft and supernova guitar riffs, wired around a maturing song craft” (MOJO). The tracks were written at a time when Billy was battling to save his voice following surgery to remove nodules from his vocal cords. ‘MONEY AND CELEBRITY’ followed in 2011, filled with “brilliantly anarchic punk-pop vignettes; each being a big musical finger that sticks it to financial greed, the mediocre mainstream and the fame fetishists” (ROCKSOUND) and included the Radio 1 A-listed single ‘WE DON’T NEED MONEY TO HAVE A GOOD TIME’. Their self-titled 4th album saw the emergence of singer and songwriter Billy Lunn as a producer, as he took control of engineering and mixing duties and is "On Par with the best things they have ever written... and finds the band energized, focused and battle-ready" Q Magazine.

The global pandemic, though cutting short their 40+ date international ‘Young For Eternity Anniversary Tour’, has kept Billy busy in his newly-established Hertfordshire studio, with Charlotte and Josh in their respective homes focused on remotely recording Album 5. Makeshift under-stair vocal booths were constructed, and the album is now ready for a summer, 2022 release alongside a full European Tour

In April 2021 the band signed to ‘Alcopop’ and released the politically-charged, Black-Lives-Matter-inspired single “Fight”, which they describe as “a letter in two parts: a gesture of solidarity with the Black community and communities of colour as they face their daily oppression at the hands of systemic racism, and a wake-up-call to the white community that such oppressions do in fact exist, and that we must acknowledge these oppressions and fight alongside marginalised communities as allies.”

Mixed Colours Vinyl

Nach der 2021 erschienenen Best-Of-Compilation 'This is Telex' erscheint jetzt der komplette Katalog des belgischen Synth-Pop-Trios als aufwändige limitierte 6CD-Box und als limitierte 6LP-Box, inclusive der Alben 'Looking For Saint Tropez', 'Neurovision', 'Sex', 'Wonderful World', 'Looney Tunes' und 'How Do You Dance?'.

Diese Studioalben wurden alle neu gemastert und von den Bandmitgliedern Dan Lacksman und Michel Moers neu abgemischt, wobei der Geist der Originaltitel erhalten blieb und gleichzeitig eine neue Frische hinzugefügt wurde, um eine endgültige Version jedes Albums zu schaffen. Das Boxset ist eine Zeitreise der Karriere des belgischen Synthpop-Trios, von ihrem Debüt 1979 bis zu ihrem letzten Studioalbum How Do You Dance? (2006).

Everything began with a chat between Systematic label head Marc Romboy and his long time friend Paolo aka Dusty Kid. During the pandemic times they reminisced about the most exciting period of techno music, the beginning of the 90s and exchanged tracks which have blown them away. They listened to tracks on labels like R&S, Plus 8, Industrial Strength and all over sudden they came to the idea to create a concept where Dusty Kid would put his hands on four of his most favorite tracks from 1992 and 1993. The result is this Various Artists track album including new interpretations of four classic tracks which changed their lifes and were, have been and still are iconic. Check every single track and jump into a time machine which transfers you to the early 90s and the future at the same time

Sebastian Gummersbach's Yore debut brings with it a further refinement of the material he's created for the German label Raw Soul. It specializes in material infusing modern house and techno grooves with flavourings of jazz, funk, and soul, the result a timeless take on house music. Anyone who's been keeping tabs on Andy Vaz's Yore releases will realize immediately that the same description could be applied to his imprint.

Given all that, it's easy to understand why Gummersbach, a producer hailing from Neuss, Germany, is such a natural fit for Yore. There's no small amount of artistry in play in the EP's four tracks, each one arguing strongly on behalf of his skills as an arranger and mood shaper. No cut better shows that than the opening “Rough Edges,” which is, frankly, anything but rough. He builds the arrangement methodically, starting with warm, billowing washes and then layering in step-by-step dub atmospherics, a strutting house pulse, congas, and synth ear-worms—a seductively smooth intro to the release.Gummersbach might have been listening to Hall and Oates's “I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)” prior to crafting “Calming Solitude” when the latter sounds so much like a clubby instrumental riff on the hit. Here too silky chords and synth textures merge with a rousing beat pattern to draw listeners to the dance floor.
On the flip side, “Eden” initially changes things up with a classic B-Boy beat and handclaps, but the tune gradually aligns itself to the character of the EP's other body-movers, even if acid-tinged synths become part of the mix. Closing out the release is the most techno-oriented of the four cuts, “Undisclosed Thoughts,” acid once again central to the track's identity and the chugging groove frothy. The word Eden naturally calls to mind the Biblical paradise, and consistent with that the tone of Gummersbach's EP, its A-side cuts especially, is generally smooth, serene, and harmonious; it's also, as stated, a seamless addition to the Yore catalogue.

Knapp vier Jahre ist es her, dass Adel Tawil sein letztes
Album veröffentlicht hat. In der Zwischenzeit erschienen
Singles wie "Niemandsland" und "Labyrinth" mit dem
Hamburger Rapper Bozza. Im März 2023 erscheint
endlich das langersehnte vierte Studio-Album
"Spiegelbild". Wie der Albumtitel schon erahnen lässt, ist
Reflexion und der Blick nach innen und außen das
Leitthema der Platte. Dieses zeigt sich sowohl musikalisch
als auch textlich. "Ich war die meiste Zeit meines Lebens
darauf fokussiert, den Menschen ein positives Gefühl zu
vermitteln. Es gibt Momente auf diesem Album, die ich
früher definitiv gekillt hätte, weil sie mir zu persönlich,
auch zu dark gewesen wären. Der Song ?Autobahn' ist
beispielsweise so ein Moment. Aber ich musste das
machen. Alles andere wäre nicht ehrlich gewesen.? Der
Sound ist neu, aber der Kern ist classic Adel: die Essenz
all dessen, was Adel Tawil zu einer der prägendsten
Stimme des Deutsch-Pops und einem der grössten
Songwriter des Landes macht.
Das neue Album "Spiegelbild" mit 16 Songs inkl. der
Singles "Niemandsland", "Labyrinth (feat. Bozza)",
"Autobahn" und "Die Welt steht auf Pause" im exklusiven
DigiPac. Die Doppel-Vinyl zum neuen Album "Spiegelbild"
erscheint handsigniert von Adel Tawil.

Knapp vier Jahre ist es her, dass Adel Tawil sein letztes
Album veröffentlicht hat. In der Zwischenzeit erschienen
Singles wie "Niemandsland" und "Labyrinth" mit dem
Hamburger Rapper Bozza. Im März 2023 erscheint
endlich das langersehnte vierte Studio-Album
"Spiegelbild". Wie der Albumtitel schon erahnen lässt, ist
Reflexion und der Blick nach innen und außen das
Leitthema der Platte. Dieses zeigt sich sowohl musikalisch
als auch textlich. "Ich war die meiste Zeit meines Lebens
darauf fokussiert, den Menschen ein positives Gefühl zu
vermitteln. Es gibt Momente auf diesem Album, die ich
früher definitiv gekillt hätte, weil sie mir zu persönlich,
auch zu dark gewesen wären. Der Song ?Autobahn' ist
beispielsweise so ein Moment. Aber ich musste das
machen. Alles andere wäre nicht ehrlich gewesen.? Der
Sound ist neu, aber der Kern ist classic Adel: die Essenz
all dessen, was Adel Tawil zu einer der prägendsten
Stimme des Deutsch-Pops und einem der grössten
Songwriter des Landes macht.
Das neue Album "Spiegelbild" mit 16 Songs inkl. der
Singles "Niemandsland", "Labyrinth (feat. Bozza)",
"Autobahn" und "Die Welt steht auf Pause" im exklusiven
DigiPac. Die Doppel-Vinyl zum neuen Album "Spiegelbild"
erscheint handsigniert von Adel Tawil.

Die ultimative
Fanbox zum neuen Album "Spiegelbild". Die Box
beinhaltet neben der CD ein exklusives Adel Tawil
Kartenspiel-Set, Beanie-Mütze, Early-Entry-Pass für alle
Adel Tawil Solo-Konzerte in 2023, schwarzes Lanyard mit
gewebtem "Adel Tawil - Spiegelbild" - Schriftzug.

Bei Daisy Jones & The Six handelt es sich um die fiktive
70ies-Band aus dem gleichnamigen Buch Bestseller von
Tayler Jenkins Reed. Die reale Band wurde im Rahmen
der Buchverfilmung nun gecastet und hat im Zuge dessen
das Album AURORA aufgenommen.
Zur Besetzung der "Daisy Jones & The Six" Band &
Show gehören u.A. Reiley Keough, Sebastian Chacon,
Sam Claflin und Suki Waterhouse.
Die 11-Song-LP AURORA wurde vom
GRAMMY®-nominierten Autor, Produzenten und
Multiinstrumentalisten Blake Mills produziert..
Geschrieben wurden die Songs u.A. von Marcus
Mumford, Phoebe Bridgers und Jackson Browne.
SYNOPSIS: Im Jahr 1977 waren Daisy Jones & The Six
ganz oben auf der Welt. Mit den beiden charismatischen
Leadsängern Daisy Jones (Riley Keough) und Billy Dunne
(Sam Claflin) war die Band aus der Bedeutungslosigkeit
zum Ruhm aufgestiegen.
Und dann, nach einer ausverkauften Show im Chicagoer
Soldier Field, löste sich die Band auf. Jetzt, Jahrzehnte
später, sind die Bandmitglieder endlich bereit, die
Wahrheit zu enthüllen. Dies ist die Geschichte, wie eine
ikonische Band auf dem Höhepunkt ihrer Macht
implodierte.
Daisy Jones & The Six wird ab dem 03. März als Serie
auf Amazon Prime zu sehen sein. Das Album AURORA
erscheint am selben Tag.

"Bernhard von Siluh Records hat mich gebeten, einen Hype-Text über die neue BAD WEED-Platte zu formulieren, und ich fühlte mich zunächst geschmeichelt, hatte dann aber doch Zweifel... Wie kann ich euch dieses Powerpop-Juwel in wenigen Worten erklären und näher bringen? Es ist nicht nur das übliche Jangle-Pop-Ding oder noch schlimmer, nicht etwas, das man heutzutage "Garage-Punk" nennt, nein, Sir! Es ist echter Powerpop im Stil der 70er Jahre, aber wie mein Chef immer zu sagen pflegt: Man kann den Leuten nicht erzählen, wie großartig eine Powerpop-Platte ist - man muss sie sich anhören, am besten mit einem Getränk der Wahl in der Hand, und bald wird sie ihre Besonderheit enthüllen (oder auch nicht). Was liebe ich an BAD WEED, außer der Tatsache, dass sie die hübschesten Jungs der Welt sind, die - nachdem sie 20 Jahre lang in verschiedenen Bands gespielt haben - endlich gelernt haben, ihre Instrumente zu spielen? Es sind die Songs! Es geht nur um die Songs! Die erste Single aus dem Jahr 2015 war etwas anderes, man kann es sogar Garagenpop nennen, ihr Debütalbum vor ein paar Jahren und etwa 100 Shows später war nur der Anfang, hier ist ihr zweites Album mit dem schlichten Titel "II", das Talent, Songwriting-Fähigkeiten und Pop-Handwerkskunst zeigt! Einige dieser 12 Originalsongs erinnern mich an Alben/Bands, die längst vergessen sind, wie z.B. "If you ever pt. 1" könnte eine frühe THE FRESHIES-Single sein, "Breaking Lines" könnte von einer RUDI-Setlist sein oder "Who's gonna love me" klingt wie einer dieser THE COLD-Ohrwürmer. Die meisten Songs haben diesen 80er-Jahre-UK-Indie-Punk-Vibe, der direkt in mein Gehirn und mein Herz geht! Sie haben sogar die Frechheit, TOWNES VAN ZANDT zu covern - und schaffen es, dass es nicht so deprimierend klingt wie das Original, nur ein bisschen traurig vielleicht. Zu behaupten, dies sei ein Wohlfühlalbum, ist nicht ganz richtig, so einfach ist es nicht. Es ist eine Platte, die Lust macht, die Band in einem kleinen Club live zu sehen, eine Platte, die einen einfach lächeln lässt und an gute Zeiten erinnert. BAD WEED ist eine Band für die Hosentasche, eine Band, die man liebt und von der man Freunden erzählen möchte, aber nicht zu vielen, denn die Band sollte klein und in der Hosentasche bleiben und nicht in den Playlists von jedem Tom, Dick und Harry vorkommen_" (Elmar / Bachelor Records) "Debüt-Scheiblette von Wiens Blitzpopgroup. Mitreißender Powerpop-Punk mit ganz viel early UK- vs semi-modern Texas-Sound in den Venen. Buzzcocks , Exploding Hearts, The Jam, Bad Sports, Marked Men, .... Schweine-tight gespielte, tolle Melodien, die einen sofort abholen, bissi Saxophon hier und Orgel da!! Die Platte strotzt vor Energie und Spielfreude, findet einen steilen Breakeven zwischen Witz, Charme und Klassenbewusstsein. Stark!" (FLIGHT13)

Axel Holy and Marka San deliver three songs off their first collaborative effort, the Chess (EP), available on limited 7" vinyl. "Strange World," "Parlez Vous," and "Chess," are the first offerings from the pair's EP.

All 7" include a free download code for the full EP.

The full 6-track features six original tracks with an incredible amount of depth: grime, hip-hop, and trap. Axel Holy delivers gritty UK grime vocals over Marka San's dark post-apocalyptic atmospheric soundscapes.

Bouncing nitty gritty beats and rhythms between Ljubljana and Bristol, Axel Holy and Marka San's goal of a small EP quickly turned into 20-plus songs. The duo handed the songs over to their label, rx:tx, to finalize the track list of what would become the Chess (EP).

Make sure you check out this exclusive 3-track release from Axel Holy and Marka San's upcoming Chess (EP). Don't miss out, get yourself a limited vinyl while supplies last!

Repress!

“This album has been built, robbed, destroyed, rebuilt, held up, postponed, cancelled, shelved, bootlegged, analyzed, exploited, slept on, supported, patiently awaited, and appreciated, long before you got your hands on this slim neat little package.

This collection of thoughts, songs and relationships has literally been on the verge of completion since 1997. It was intended to finally be released in 1999. Most of the songs were written between 1995 and 1998. However, from the first to last verse, it reaches as far back as 1988 and stretches forward up to 2001. Throughout this tedious, relatively arduous process, the people involved in this project have successfully delivered the intended message that was conceived, forged, and galvanized through its delivery. The understanding is the best part. Enjoy!”

Originally intended for release in 1999, The Best Part was shelved multiple times due to label politics, until it was finally released in 2001, as J-Live points out in his prologue above. Now it’s getting the much deserved re-issue treatment.

With an All-Star production team featuring Pete Rock, Prince Paul, DJ Premier, DJ Spinna, 88 Keys & Grap Luva, along with J’s crafted and precise lyricism, this is one not to miss!

Beth Hart hat schon fast alles erlebt. Sie hat die Süße des Erfolgs gekostet, die Spitze der Billboard-Charts erreicht und sich an eine Flasche geklammert, die in der Gosse lag. Sie ist von ihrem eigenen Verstand betrogen worden und sie hat das Glück des geistigen Gleichgewichts gespürt. Das heißt, für eine gewisse Zeit.
Auf My California geht es um Geschichten aus dem Leben. Beths Leben. In "Sister Heroine" geht es um den Verlust ihrer Schwester Sharon. Es geht darum, als Familie zusammenzukommen und sich schuldig zu fühlen, wenn man über die guten alten Zeiten spricht, wenn jemand fehlt, und sogar Schuldgefühle zu haben, wenn man Freude empfindet oder lacht. Like You and Everyone Else" handelt von der Schwierigkeit, mit dem Leben umzugehen, wenn das chemische Gleichgewicht des Gehirns einen immer wieder von einem Extrem ins nächste schickt. Es geht um den Wunsch, so zu sein wie alle anderen, um Zugehörigkeit und schließlich darum, sich mit der Tatsache abzufinden, dass jeder irgendwo in seinem Leben anders ist.
Es besteht kein Zweifel, dass Beth Hart und Rune Westberg mit My California etwas ganz Besonderes gefunden haben.

Beth Hart - My California ist jetzt wieder auf Vinyl erhältlich und zum ersten Mal auf Transparent Red Vinyl. Limitiert auf 2000 Exemplare weltweit!

”Brightside” heißt das 4. Album von Wesley Schultz und Jeremiah Fraites, alias The Lumineers. Produziert wurde es von den längjährigen Partnern in Crime Simone Felice (The Felice Brothers) und David Baron, der auch für Engeneering und Mixing zuständig war. Das Album präsentiert die erste neue Musik der Lumineers nach mehr als 2 Jahren. Nach dem sehr düsteren und sehr konzeptionellen Vorgängeralbum wird schon durch den Titel klar, dass es sich hier um ein sehr frohes und spontanes Album handelt.

Die 9 Songs-Collection spielten Schultz und Fraites zusammen mit Baron in dessen Studio in New York ein und wurden dabei u.a. bei den Backing Vocals von Simone Felices’ Tourmitgliedern Byron Isaacs und Lauren Jacobson, Cindy Mizelle (Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews Band), James Felice (The Felice Brothers) und Singer-Songwriter Diana DeMuth unterstützt.

On her third album, Berlin-based Dutch-Italian composer and sound designer Aimée Portioli, aka Grand River, asks what guiding forces might be driving, enticing, and affecting us. “All Above” is rooted in her deeply personal philosophy as an artist, blurring the boundaries between electronic music and acoustic music and sculpting familiar ambient forms into personal themes painted with rich emotional colours. Written painstakingly over the last two years, the album is the most ambitious and divergent set of music Portioli has assembled so far, with a wide variety of instrumentation (including voices, strings, organs, guitars, and synthesisers) focused around the piano. She‘s keen to assure listeners that while that instrument isn‘t always heard, it‘s constantly at the forefront of the album, shepherding its emotions and anchoring its mood. It makes sense then that on the opening track ‘Quasicristallo’, the acoustic piano is the first element we hear, recorded closely, so its characteristic rattle and creak can speak as loudly as the familiar tones themselves. When the music blooms into abstraction and processed electronics, it‘s almost imperceptible: reverb mutates into ghostly vapour trails, and distortion forms the keys into another instrument entirely.

“All Above“ follows 2020‘s acclaimed “Blink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyes“ and 2018‘s “Pineapple” released on Donato Dozzy and Neel‘s Spazio Disponibile imprint. Having garnered praise from outlets like Resident Advisor, XLR8R, The Quietus, Inverted Audio, and The Verge, Portioli operates in a unique space within the electronic music scene, straddling the art world and the wider electronic music scene. She‘s developed sound art installations for Rome‘s La Galleria Nazionale and the Terraforma Festival-related Il Pianeta, and has appeared at Barbican, MUTEK, Le Guess Who?, Kraftwerk, and other internationally renowned venues and festivals, often collaborating with Marco Ciceri on A/V presentations. Ciceri also maintains the visual identity of Portioli‘s label One Instrument, a concept imprint that asks artists to create music only using a single device. All this experience is poured into “All Above”, a richly visual album that‘s far more than just an imaginary film score. While on ‘Human’, her piano punctuates a rhythmic synthesised bassline and smudged choirs that can‘t help but trace out the silver screen. The composer is keen to clarify that she doesn‘t think of her music (or sound in general) in visual terms.

Portioli studied as a linguist and used her art to develop an emotional language that‘s not bound by expected cultural constraints. When she adds a different instrument or process, it‘s not to reference a visual cue but to mark a journey through different states of being. Each element embodies a different emotion or mood: the electric guitar represents strength or violence, synthesisers shuttle us into the dream world, and the acoustic instruments highlight intimacy and warmth – even heart. Read like this, the tracks are like meditative poems rather than cinematic vignettes: ‘The World At Number XX’ is seemingly centred around a chugging synthesised arpeggio, but the cosmic, Klaus Schulze-esque pads, strangled guitar and evocative organ tones hint at the open-hearted, literate psychedelia of the 1970s; ‘In The Present As The Future’ meanwhile is breathy and windswept, juxtaposing urgent rhythmic phrases with light, flute-like gusts of harmony.

Dedicated to Editions Mego founder Peter Rehberg, who died suddenly last year, “All Above” demands engagement and refuses to evaporate into the background. The album asks listeners not just to absorb the album as a whole but notice the cracks in the structure and discern the tension they cause. That‘s never more evident than on the closing track ‘Cost What It May’, a piece of music almost jarring when Portioli chops into noisy waves of electric guitar. In the wrong hands, this might sound like a power move – some rock posturing to act as a finale. But Portioli‘s expression is different. She‘s forcing a level of engagement that perceives the negative space as just as necessary as the saturated positive, and what could be more haunting and emotionally resonant than that?

Composed, produced and mixed by Aimée Portioli.
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu.
Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin.
Photography by Federico Boccardi.
Design and layout by Riccardo Piovesan.