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Still on and about after years of the most intense crate digging, gem mining, desperate head-scratching and avid schooling, thirsty as ever for the next musical thrill to wrap our ears and brains around, here comes the fruit of our life-long love story with Japanese electronics, Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku Vol. 1 and Vol.2. From the soul-fulfilling first crush felt upon hearing the iconic soundtrack of ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’ by Ryuichi Sakamoto onto our release of Inner Science ‘Cosmo Tracks’, through the life-affirming sets of Laurent Garnier at Dijon’s seminal club, l’An-fer, which have at all times nurtured and expanded our taste for Easternmost delicacies, the influence of Japanese music on our vision and endeavours was paramount to the development of our catalogue, whether directly or indirectly.

This first volume gets the ball rolling with a fine assortment of mostly ambient, electronica and deep house-focussed joints. Draped in organic membranes and ASMR-like synth tapestries, K. Inoue’s nu-agey opener ‘Em Paz’ takes us on a ride across the most serene dreamscapes. Jazzing up these lush and oneiric coastal vibes, Gabby & Lopez ‘Drive form the Miracle’ merges a sense of Californian psychedelia with a straight out hard-bop swing. No stranger to our catalogue, Inner Science returns to serve up a crystalline slice of laid-back house on a mystique-imbued tip he holds the secret to. Flip it over and here comes Aquarium with the splendidly immersive ‘Rainy Night in Shibuya’, which very much feels like wandering amidst its neon-upholstered streets and swarming hallways in a bubble of your own.

Naohito Uchiyama treats us to a synth-drenched nocturnal ballad with the ‘80s-inflected vibes of ’Shugetsu’, whereas Keta Ra cuts a path of ethereal sublimation via the mischievously fun and bouncy balearic lounge of ‘equals’. Masterly crafted by Yuu Udagawa, ‘Infinite Possibility’ eases us in a realm where weightless pop and low-slung abstract hip-hop combine to further exhilarating effect. All in harp-driven brittleness and velveteen sub-bass stealth, Noah ‘Gemini - Mysterious Lot’ has us drifting to a lavishly orchestrated headspace, laying down an impressive work on textures and arrangements. All in on the sedated drip-tease flex, Sauce81 ’Sign of Secret Love’ is a blast of freaky hedonism, just as ready to cast its hypnotic spell down the sweatbox as it was upon its original release ten years ago.

Languid jacking house tune ’Tai+Dai’ from Keita Sano blows the winds of discoid luvin’ across the room with its impeccable balance of sharp, glimmering synthwork and driving bass onslaughts from the depths. An odd slice of reshuffled folk music, Waltz ‘Folkesta’ makes for some eerie invitation of sorts, enchanting and spookily haunting in equal measure. Back to a fevered, hip-swaying mindset, Kuniyuki hi-NRG jazz number ‘Free’ is an absolute wonder of piano and drums-driven boogie, cut from the same cloth as some of Blue Note’s finest Cuban jazz classics. Rounding off the package, Japanese legend Ken Ishii’s version of Larry Heard’s house Hall-of-Famer ‘Can You Feel It’ is pure bliss in a can, tailored to turn any crowd into a shapeless cloud of balmy euphoria and universal love, whatever the place or time.

Still on and about after years of the most intense crate digging, gem mining, desperate head-scratching and avid schooling, thirsty as ever for the next musical thrill to wrap our ears and brains around, here comes the fruit of our life-long love story with Japanese electronics, Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku Vol. 1 and Vol.2. From the soul-fulfilling first crush felt upon hearing the iconic soundtrack of ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’ by Ryuichi Sakamoto onto our release of Inner Science ‘Cosmo Tracks’, through the life-affirming sets of Laurent Garnier at Dijon’s seminal club, l’An-fer, which have at all times nurtured and expanded our taste for Easternmost delicacies, the influence of Japanese music on our vision and endeavours was paramount to the development of our catalogue, whether directly or indirectly.

This first volume gets the ball rolling with a fine assortment of mostly ambient, electronica and deep house-focussed joints. Draped in organic membranes and ASMR-like synth tapestries, K. Inoue’s nu-agey opener ‘Em Paz’ takes us on a ride across the most serene dreamscapes. Jazzing up these lush and oneiric coastal vibes, Gabby & Lopez ‘Drive form the Miracle’ merges a sense of Californian psychedelia with a straight out hard-bop swing. No stranger to our catalogue, Inner Science returns to serve up a crystalline slice of laid-back house on a mystique-imbued tip he holds the secret to. Flip it over and here comes Aquarium with the splendidly immersive ‘Rainy Night in Shibuya’, which very much feels like wandering amidst its neon-upholstered streets and swarming hallways in a bubble of your own.

Naohito Uchiyama treats us to a synth-drenched nocturnal ballad with the ‘80s-inflected vibes of ’Shugetsu’, whereas Keta Ra cuts a path of ethereal sublimation via the mischievously fun and bouncy balearic lounge of ‘equals’. Masterly crafted by Yuu Udagawa, ‘Infinite Possibility’ eases us in a realm where weightless pop and low-slung abstract hip-hop combine to further exhilarating effect. All in harp-driven brittleness and velveteen sub-bass stealth, Noah ‘Gemini - Mysterious Lot’ has us drifting to a lavishly orchestrated headspace, laying down an impressive work on textures and arrangements. All in on the sedated drip-tease flex, Sauce81 ’Sign of Secret Love’ is a blast of freaky hedonism, just as ready to cast its hypnotic spell down the sweatbox as it was upon its original release ten years ago.

Languid jacking house tune ’Tai+Dai’ from Keita Sano blows the winds of discoid luvin’ across the room with its impeccable balance of sharp, glimmering synthwork and driving bass onslaughts from the depths. An odd slice of reshuffled folk music, Waltz ‘Folkesta’ makes for some eerie invitation of sorts, enchanting and spookily haunting in equal measure. Back to a fevered, hip-swaying mindset, Kuniyuki hi-NRG jazz number ‘Free’ is an absolute wonder of piano and drums-driven boogie, cut from the same cloth as some of Blue Note’s finest Cuban jazz classics. Rounding off the package, Japanese legend Ken Ishii’s version of Larry Heard’s house Hall-of-Famer ‘Can You Feel It’ is pure bliss in a can, tailored to turn any crowd into a shapeless cloud of balmy euphoria and universal love, whatever the place or time.

«Opening Soon» is a culinary buddy movie with a background of gourmet grooves where body tricks at the turntables have been replaced by acrobatic pizza tricks. This album from Jean Tonique and Mi Man is a real tomato concentrate and ingredients cleverly dosed which abound in suave and feel good tracks. 11 tracks that we can imagine as the perfect soundtrack to accompany the dolce vita 2.0 of this great musical duo (between Mario Bros and Cheech & Chong).

A tasty and pop cuisine that gives pride of place to a nostalgia that gathers behind the tiled counter («No One Really Knows», «Memories») or on the dancefloor («Running After Time», «The Music»). We let ourselves slide and be lulled by the smoothness of the arrangements as silky as an «Extra Virgin Olive Oil».

Do The Right Thing, as they say, and it seems like those two found a way to celebrate a lifestyle full of friendly looks.

Tonique, who had already accustomed us to the spiciness of his sharp guitars continues to demonstrate a knowledge all in funk and finesse. He is accompanied by Man, who brings his sweetness and harmony. They combine their strength on this project initiated with the title «Day & Night» and its languorous disco tinged with rhodes and percussions with Salsoul accents.

If the tablecloths are white and red, we don't doubt that the inside of the delivery van is lined with silk and velvet of the most beautiful effect to "cruise" the night as in Brooklyn and East Harlem to the rhythm of «Never Get Old». Lightness and nonchalance for a songwriting full of coolness and analogical charisma boosted by a Moog which invokes the best of the 70/80's.

Iconic and timeless, with or without a disco ball, wouldn't the key word be Pizza-Yolo?

Nonesuch releases Sorry I Haven’t Called, the new album by Vagabon, the moniker of Lætitia Tamko. Co-produced by Tamko and Rostam (Vampire Weekend, Haim, Clairo), it finds Tamko reinventing herself once again and features the most playful and adventurous music of her career, as evidenced by its lead track and opening song ‘Can I Talk My Shit?’. Vagabon has also announced an autumn tour that includes a headline run in the US, as well as European dates with Weyes Blood.



“I didn’t feel like being introspective,” says Tamko of her new album. “I just wanted to have fun.” Following her intimate 2017 debut Infinite Worlds, the New York artist favoured expansive and evocative electronic textures in her breakthrough 2019 self-titled follow-up. But her latest album feels like a wholly new era for Tamko, one that’s transformational and uncompromising. Across 12 vibrant tracks she wrote and produced primarily in Germany, she channels dance music and effervescent pop through her own confident sensibilities. These conversational songs are alive and unselfconscious, a document of an artist fully embracing her vision and reclaiming her joy.



The first words she sings on the album are, “Can I talk my shit? / I got way too high for this.” It’s a statement of purpose for the rest of the album that this is an unapologetic artist. “This whole record is how I talk to my friends and how to talk to my lovers,” says Tamko. “I think honesty and conversational songwriting can become poetry. There’s beauty in plainly speaking without metaphors and without flowery imagery.”



The story of Sorry I Haven’t Called started in grief after Tamko’s best friend died in 2021. This devastating and unexpected loss unmoored Tamko but also gave her a newfound clarity. “The things that I thought I cared about, I no longer cared about,” she says. “I had a realization that I need to make sure to feel everything that comes my way.” She decided to sell her things and move to a small lakeside village a few hours north of Hamburg in northern Germany to process everything. “There's no linear path to grief, and everyone handles it differently, but uprooting my life just felt like exactly what I had to do,” says Tamko. “I needed a place to think and go through my discomfort privately but to also explore the newness and urgency I was feeling in my life.” In the village, her phone didn’t work and there were no close grocery stores or restaurants, so she spent her time alone working on music.



Despite the palpable absence in her life, her new songs were her most disarming and ebullient yet. The first one she wrote was ‘Carpenter’, a mesmerizing track anchored by a tangible bass groove, where she sings, “I wasn’t ready to move on out / but I'm more ready now.” It’s a fully-realised track and feels like the culmination of her catalogue so far. “A lot of the music that I was making there had nothing to do with my grief at all,” says Tamko. “Once I gave myself permission to make a record that's full of life and energy, I realized that’s the point of this album. In the midst of going through all of these tough things, it became a record because of the vitality that these songs had.” For Tamko, there’s power in pursuing happiness.



While writing in Germany, Tamko nurtured her love for dance music and let it seep into her new songs. “The only things that were giving me access to a feeling were dance music and going to a rave in an extremely dark club where if I wanted to cry, I could do it and be around other people,” she says.



After a few months in Germany that included marathon writing sessions and a whirlwind romance, Tamko decided to stay with friends in Los Angeles and finish her record. She enlisted co-producer Rostam to help her unify her vision.



Sorry I Haven’t Called is a warm and resilient album about embracing the ecstatic moments wherever you can by knowing how you love and how you mourn. It’s an album born of both communal dancefloor revelations and the clarifying peace from solitude, an emotional rebirth as well as an artistic one. “This record feels like what I've been working towards,” says Tamko. “When I think of this album, I think of playfulness. It's completely euphoric. It's because things were dark that this record is so full of life and energy. It’s a reaction to what I was experiencing at the time, not a document of it.”

CLEAR VINYL. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!


Suzanne Ciani’s Improvisation On Four Sequences somehow represents the complete histo- ry of electronic music, as the enthusiastic audience at Week-End Fest 2021 were lucky enough to experience. From the awakening of American avant-garde music at the end of the 1960s, right through to the development of the electronic sound of the club scene in L.A. and New York. But above all it is the dialogue between artist and machine, which simply ends when the concert is over, that comes across. Laconicism, precision, sound sensitivity and the weight of a tradition that Ciani was instrumental in founding all come together. It is spectacular precisely because it is so unexciting.

Norwegian drummer/composer Gard Nilssen debuts on We Jazz Records with his major new album "Family" with the 17-piece Supersonic Orchestra. A veritable who"s who of Scandinavian jazz (and beyond), the Supersonic Orchestra is one of the most exciting large groups in the current international jazz circuit. Captured at Mondriaan Jazz Festival in Den Haag, Netherlands, "Family" presents the ensemble in top form across the 8 tracks, all of which are original compositions by Gard Nilssen and André Roligheten.

The Faithful Brothers

Soul and R&B from Tel Aviv

"It's so difficult to produce the feel and the excitement of the classic northern sound, but The Faithful Brothers were born to do it and they do it so well." Craig Charles, The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show, BBC Radio 6 Music.

Is there a Northern Soul scene in Tel Aviv? The surprising answer is – yes, there is. If you're a soulie and in town, look for the Tel Aviv Soul Club, and you might find yourself swaying across a talcum-powder covered floor to Tel Aviv's own unique blend of classic Northern Soul 45s and early 1960s R&B sounds.

Chances are that those 45s will come out of the record boxes of one of the brothers Neeman, Johnnie and Bin. Sons of an Israeli diplomat, they travelled abroad extensively as children, in the 1960s and 1970s, discovering the wonderful world of rare soul music on the way. Tel Aviv Soul Club, aka TASC, is the brainchild of Yashiv Cohen, a DJ who, in 2006, lured the brothers Neeman, whose massive soul collections been hitherto confined to their respective living rooms, into playing their records to the Tel Aviv public. Yashiv is also the lead singer of Men of North Country (MONC), a Tel Aviv band with a distinct sound, blending rock, British pop and soul, that has recorded two albums for the London based label Acid Jazz Records, and toured Europe numerous times.

Since Neeman means Faithful in Hebrew, Yashiv woke up one morning with the crystallization that MONC must create a spin-off, a more puristic soul band, called the Faithful Brothers. There the biological Neeman/Faithful brothers would be joined by some of the members of MONC and a few more musical brothers from Tel Aviv to create new, original soul and R&B music. With a nod to the Northern Soul slogan "Keep The Faith", the name seemed too perfect to waste. The fact that the Neeman brothers were collectors, and not musicians, did not bother a man of vision like Yashiv. One day, he sent Johnnie some lyrics he wrote, asking him to compose music for it. Well, Johnnie called Bin, and they met in Johnnie's record room. With Johnnie playing some of the few chords he knew on his dusty old acoustic guitar, out came Teenage Frost, the first-ever musical composition of the Neeman brothers, recorded by MONC.

It took a few more years, but gradually the brothers succumbed to their fate, to continue their musical progression, from collectors to DJs to musicians. Johnnie took his guitar, Bin took to the piano, and the brothers began pouring out some of their influences, creating new songs. It is finally all coming together. The Faithful Brothers – now an eight-piece band, complete with a mighty brass section – release their first album "The Faithful Brothers".

"Paul, Rick and River" is a programmatic title for the new album from Munich-based Paul Brändle Trio, a Modern Jazz group led by the eponymous 31-year old guitar player and band leader. Playing together for years and across continents, this recording manifests the trio's current state of matter, focusing on a no-gimmicks approach and a classic, melodic style of musical world-building.

Killah Priest’s Mystery Channel EP is his first release on 600 Block Records after his acclaimed features on Pugs Atomz’ Test Drive LP in 2022. The EP, coming on limited edition vinyl, features two original productions from Tusk57, an amazing Tall Black Guy Productions remix, and instrumentals of all three tracks. Tall Black Guy’s remix of Mystery Channel is a soulful jazzy take on the EP’s namesake, bringing his signature style to his first collaboration with 600 Block Records. From humble origins in Detroit, raised on a healthy diet of Motown, Jazz and early Hip Hop...Tall Black Guy has become a standard bearer for the current hip hop beats scene. Through a steady stream of productions filled with incredibly clever sample flips and deft production chops, he has won fans across the world, including Gilles Peterson, Lefto, Jazzy Jeff, Questlove and countless others. Killah Priest made his first appearances on such Wu-Tang side and solo projects as Gravediggaz’ 6 Feet Deep, Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers, and Genius/GZA’s seminal Liquid Swords. His contributions to those releases especially Liquid Swords’ “B.1.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth),” essentially a Priest solo track paved the way for the release of the MC's acclaimed debut album, 1998's Heavy Mental, and a lengthy and respected career in the hip-hop underground. In addition to his prolific solo work, he was an integral member of the groups Sunz of Man, the HRSMEN (aka the Four Horsemen), and Black Market Militia. About Tuskb 7 - A musician turned producer, Tusk57 brings a live feel to recording sessions and is most at home leading a band in front of a live audience. He is a multi-instrumentalist songwriter who has released multiple records under many other stage names in various genres, garnering critical acclaim including a Billboard hit. He is how based in LA and is using this moniker to develop a signature textured sound for hip hop and soulful music.

The debut album from Winnipeg psychedelic jazz-funk collective Apollo Suns, 'Departures' (Do Right! Music), finds the band evolving across new styles and moods, encompassing the shifting tides of the pandemic years.

Produced by Juno award-winning producer Ben Kaplan (Bootsy Collins, Five Alarm Funk), Departures is a cinematic journey inspired as much by artists like Goblin, Lettuce, and Frank Zappa as film, TV and video game scores and soundtracks. The band combines classic compositional techniques with synths and electronics, showcasing genre-melding finesse. Introducing strings, acoustic guitar, grand piano, and lap steel into the mix, Apollo Suns explore the visceral and heavy, the elegant and ethereal, epic house rock to New Orleans-y brass, proggy pathways, string-backed balladry, greasy funk and beyond.

"It's been a heavy couple of years. We wanted to make an album that summed it all up," says bandleader Ed Durocher. "I always kind of think of music as the different parts of life. Sometimes it's aggressive, sometimes it's fun and loose, and sometimes it's sad and hard. So, since we don't have vocals, a lot of these songs try to convey those experiences through sound."

'‘Begin Again’ is the first single to be taken from The Mysterines’ forthcoming LP, and sees the four piece build on their signature introspective lyricism, stripping instrumentation back for an incredibly powerful set up and delivery. It’s the sound of a band truly refining and maturing their craft, and speaking further about the single Lia Metcalfe says: “Written during a full moon in a barn in the West Country, ‘Begin Again’ felt like finding a key to the spirit realm the evening it arrived. It felt like I was embarking on a surreal journey of self dissolution; think of the first verse as a set of instructions, and see how far reality stretches.”
Riding high on the success of their critically acclaimed, UK Top 10 debut album ‘Reeling’ released March 2022, The Mysterines have been achieving remarkable success since the release, including two tours of the UK, two of North America and one in the EU, and now a tour with their personal heroes Arctic Monkeys across UK stadiums this summer.

Brussels-based power trio Don Kapot are set to release their rousing new album 'I Love Tempo' on the 15th of September via W.E.R.F. Records - NEWS distribution.

A lifeboat of free jazz, afrobeat and krautpunk sailed by Giotis Damianidis (bass), Viktor Perdieus (baritone saxophone) and Jakob Warmenbol (drums), the album follows the release of their critically acclaimed 2022 album 'Un Peu Live' recorded with Dutch multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer Fulco Ottervanger, and described by Bandcamp Daily as a 'very fun mix of modern jazz and krautrock.'

Don Kapot strike hard with their fourth album, mixed and co-produced by Greg Saunier (Deerhoof). Using a wide range of instruments, they evolve their sound into a solid complex rhythmic wave, shaken by demented samples and punk attitude.

From the vibrant, pounding rhythms of opening track 'Me Pig' to the off-kilter, whimsical beats of 'Macarona' and 'Terryble,' Don Kapot integrate new instruments and sounds into their repertoire, including keyboards and sampling. The groove remains a central element to the sound as the trio deliver a palpable blend of high tension and joyous energy where genres are demolished.

Elsewhere, the funk-heavy 'Bernadette' allows the magical, freestyle sax work of Perdieus take centre stage while 'Don Be No' is an urgent, flippant blast of vigour and zest before the album title track 'I Love Tempo' is an exhilarating and hypnotic journey that combines the freedom and verve of free jazz with the trance-like zeal of artists such as Tony Allen, Fela Kuti and Kologbo

Releasing their self-titled debut album in 2018 via Mr. Nakayasi Records, in 2021 they signed to Flemish record label W.E.R.F. Records and have released three albums under the label and have performed sold-out shows across Belgium and the Netherlands.

The players in Don Kapot also extend their musical adventures to other projects. Damianidis leads Punk Kong and has performed with Akira Sakata, Sakis Papadimitriou, Oghene Kologbo, Tony Allen, Baba Ani, Balasz Pandi and Gonzalo Almeida among others. Warmenbol was a member of The Unrevealed Society, Robbing Millions and M(h)ysteria. He also performs with Ruth Tafebe & the Afrosoul Messengers (with Giotis), Under The Reefs Orchestra and Monolithe Noir. Perdieus performs in Punk Kong and with Pompelmoes and The Milk Factory and took part in Ifa y Xango, Laia Arkestra, Bolhaerd, Nest and VVolk. He has also recorded and played with Andrew Cyrille (Bambi Pang Pang).

Formed in 1992, Boris boldly explores their own vision of heavy music, where words like "explosive" and "thunderous" barely do justice. Using overpowering soundscapes embellished with copious amounts of lighting and billowing smoke, Boris has shared with audiences across the planet an experience for all five senses in their concerts, earning legions of zealous fans along the way. This is the highly-requested, unbelievably-anticipated official vinyl and streaming release of Boris's 2002 album and first dive into the stoner rock idiom, originally released in Japan on CD only. Heavy Rocks (2002) is heavy, sure, but fuses sludge, noise, stoner rock and hardcore all together for a deeply bone-shaking and unforgettable trip. For fans of: Melvins, Kyuss, Fu Manchu, BORIS

Pure Noise Records and Pabst Blue Ribbon have teamed up again to present ‘Dead Formats Volume 2’, a 15-track compilation featuring the Pure Noise Records roster sharing their takes on classic songs from Elton John, New Radicals, The Kinks and scene favourites Taking Back Sunday and more. The concept with Volume 1 was originally curated as a way for fans to discover new, like-minded bands, the same way legendary comps like Atticus’ Dragging The Lake, Punk O Rama, or the Vans Warped Tour Compilations did in the 90’s and 2000’s. Volume 2 will open up a wealth of artists from across the years.

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

For their fourth album, »Bear In Town«, indie avant-pop supergroup Spirit Fest made a virtue of distance, with group members split across Europe, and recording sessions taking place after a brief 2021 tour of Europe. It’s an object lesson in perseverance and commitment, as the music here is some of Spirit Fest’s most moving yet. The six songs on this album illuminate different aspects of the transnational quintet’s character – lovely, heart-rending pop songs; melancholy chants; the joys of simple repetition – with the group’s guitar pop tended by gentle flourishes of piano and electronics.

Some of those flourishes were spirited onto »Bear In Town« across the waves, with Mat Fowler (Bons, Jam Money) contributing from Britain, while the body of the music was recorded in a small apartment studio in Munich by the other members of Spirit Fest: Saya and Ueno (Tenniscoats), Markus Acher (The Notwist) and Cico Beck (Joasinho, Aloa Input). »Bear In Town« is concise and powerful, the infectious joy of the spirit communicated, beautifully, by melodies that balance the heartfelt with the melancholy. Reflecting on those sessions, Acher says, »I think the album captures how well we played together at that time.« It’s all the more impressive given this material was put down live in the studio, with a few vocal overdubs. The depth of feeling at the core of Spirit Fest’s music is evident from the opening notes of »Bear In Town«.

»Kou-Kou Land«, the first song on the album, recalls several earlier Tenniscoats songs, like »Baibaba Bimba«, in the way the musicians weave gentle complexity around a simple, repeated chant; the stop-start structure of »Kou-Kou Land« builds anticipation, while Saya’s simple melody is lovely, delivered in an absent-minded hum that’s deeply affecting. »Lost & Found« revolves around a delightful descending chord change that breaks up the swaying, folksy verses, gorgeous electronic whirrs and purring winds floating through the song. The following »In Our House« possesses such sweet sadness, it’s one of Spirit Fest’s most moving songs yet.

»Like A Plane« repurposes a song that Markus Acher originally wrote and recorded for his solo EP of the same title, released on a 2022 10-inch single on Morr Music. The original was a gentle, introverted lament, but the version on »Bear In Town« has a widescreen tenderness, its melancholy framed by raindrop piano. The album concludes with two moments of playful splendour, the bossa-inflected »Hill Blo«, and the driving title track, both led by Saya, who is in stunning voice on this album; on »Bear In Town«, her awestruck wonder perfectly captures the sense of possibility in the song’s capacious chords. Like the rest of the album, it’s full of kindness, rich with psych-pop splendour… a balm for troubled times.

The Vaselines have long been celebrated by musicians and music enthusiasts across genres and across the globe, including super-fan Kurt Cobain. Emerging in the mid-eighties under the wing of The Pastels' Stephen McRobbie, The Vaselines came to define the sly wit and irresistible pop hooks of the era's Scottish indie scene. Sub Pop's remastered reintroduction of The Way of The Vaselines is an opportunity for those already familiar with the Scottish band's brief career to delve deeper into their body of work, while those new to their music can experience firsthand why so many hold them in such high regard. Originally mastered from a cassette tape (and since remastered on much better equipment in the new millennium), The Way of The Vaselines compiles the band's two EPs (Son of a Gun and Dying for It) and their sole LP release (Dum-Dum). This 2023 edition is the first ever vinyl release of The Way of The Vaselines, which originally came out on CD in 1992.

The Vaselines have long been celebrated by musicians and music enthusiasts across genres and across the globe, including super-fan Kurt Cobain. Emerging in the mid-eighties under the wing of The Pastels' Stephen McRobbie, The Vaselines came to define the sly wit and irresistible pop hooks of the era's Scottish indie scene. Sub Pop's remastered reintroduction of The Way of The Vaselines is an opportunity for those already familiar with the Scottish band's brief career to delve deeper into their body of work, while those new to their music can experience firsthand why so many hold them in such high regard. Originally mastered from a cassette tape (and since remastered on much better equipment in the new millennium), The Way of The Vaselines compiles the band's two EPs (Son of a Gun and Dying for It) and their sole LP release (Dum-Dum). This 2023 edition is the first ever vinyl release of The Way of The Vaselines, which originally came out on CD in 1992.

A long-in-the-works project of ours, here comes A Tribe Called Kotori's first foray into full-length territories, as the immensely talented Rampue takes us on a melancholy-riddled ride across his phantasmatic mindscapes. A true sound explorer, deftly steering his ship down the junction of electronica, abstract and balearic-infused prog house, the Berlin-based vibist has us transfixed and elevated throughout the twelve cuts that form the backbone to this lushly textured promenade in sound - at times understatedly euphoric, at others rivetingly exotic.

Of the creative process that lead to 'Bubblebath Trance', Rampue explains "It all started and ended in the same moment: my cherished feline companion, my laptop awash with an unintended bath, and alas, a dearth of backups. The resultant calamity, an echo of chaotic tranquility." Under the generous layer of irony lies some unaltered truth about Rampue's debut long-player for A Tribe Called Kotori: this sense of serenity that goes with stepping into this warm and bubbling primitive chaos of sorts infuses the listening experience far and wide. Distantly emulating the "euphonious strains" of iconic PS1 video games soundtracks from his youth days, the album has us surfing a constant paradox of emotions, wistful but not abandoning itself to sorrow, dynamic yet suspended in some sort of mind-expanding stasis. As if you were looking at the world beneath you in exploded view, conscious of all thing, slowly moving up the many layers of our atmosphere towards uncharted skies.

A paragon of Rampue's most poignant take on classic electronica tropes, 'Harmonie' blazes with a poetic fire that engulfs about everything in its wake. Just figure yourself riding a chocobo across the sand-covered expanse of North Corel (toasting to the FFVII nerds here) as this blasts out in the distance. From this trancey bubblebath emerge lots of musical shades and nuances, from the nicely dubbed-out, brass-heavy coastal jazz of 'Schattenschranz' to the choppy, trip-hop-adjacent future electronics of 'Inside', via the exuberantly joyous mess of faux-organic number 'Tripomatic' and cinematic charisma of 'Ich hasse Sonne' high-flying orchestrations.

Connecting the dots between that trance-indebted ebullience and further downtempo-friendly attraction, 'Verfahren' perhaps encompasses best what 'Bubblebath Trance' is about: gracefully walking the tightrope in-limbo nostalgia-soaked inner movements and a powerful outward thrust, burning to let the feelings ooze out from the shell that holds them.Clad in purely 90s-compatible breaksy motion, 'Salz' is another attempt to reconcile emotional and physical dissonance, like kneading all states - solid, liquid and vaporous - into an impossible mega-vibe of its own; malleable, strong and enveloping in equal measure. Borrowing from two-step and UK garage, 'Take Away' is a definite high in Rampue's master unfolding of musical twists and turns, summoning a Boarder Community-esque atmosphere and clashing it alongside floor-ready footwork motifs to fascinating effect.

An ode to his studio companion, 'Buchla Trip' finds Rampue's exploring his machinic friend's quirky yet soulful array of electronic potentialities - making it sound like a conversation you'd have with R2-D2 in the heart of a Sandcrawler, whereas 'Kajal' beams us up to a fragmented headspace, halfway altered PC-Pop and arps-loaded electronica on amphetamines. Effusive and transporting, the title-track 'Bubblebath Trance' could well figure as the album's no.1 medley in essence: a bountiful lucid dream of dancing forms, colours and sentiments to wrap your head around, confidently drifting from a liminal state of consciousness down the rapids of one's troubled inner workings.

Rounding off the package, the languid ambient finale of 'Die Leiden des hungrigen Fruehstuecks' rubber-stamps the feeling that 'Bubblebath Trance' belongs to that rare category of albums. The ones that mint their own alphabet aside from typical norms and expectations, teaching you the ropes of their new language as it unreels between your ears - real and unreal, elusive to any other meaning than the one your guts and brains will be inclined to give it to, in real time. A crystal-pure object if you will, that shall not reveal its secrets, even after a thousand listens and just as many wowing moments.

This is the first ever solo album from the legendary cult singer Attila Csihar, known for his work in Mayhem, SUNN O))), Plasma Pool and Tormentor. For this album Attila traveled to the Monolith of Baalbek archeological site in Lebanon and conducted two sessions. The first was an all night session situated directly across from the massive trillion stones of the Temple of Jupiter. For the second session he recorded directly on one of the 900 tons trillions a few km from the temple site. A work in progress for ten years, I am deeply honoured to have the chance to present Attila's work on Ideologic Organ. He has continued to be an inspiration of what is possible to surprise and develop within the extreme sides of music, in a radical and intelligent way. To say he has been a fundamental inspiration of art music creation is an understatement.

Queer tweemo from the pop fringe of Little Rock, Arkansas's thriving '90s DIY scene. Paper Airplanes, Paper Hearts gathers Everyone Asked About You's complete recorded works, including the Let's Be Enemies LP and their two and a half 7"s released between 1997-2000. Remastered from the original DATs for maximum nostalgic crunch, this deluxe 2xLP is housed in a gatefold tip on sleeve and includes a 20-page book crammed with flyers, photos, lyrics, and an extensive essay on this crucial missing link between midwest emo and the Moog synthesizer.

Antifreeze Green Vinyl. Black Market Brass is proud to present Hox, due out on Colemine Records on September 8, 2023. Their third LP is a new take on afrobeat that combines traditional grooves with heavy, hypnotic, sci-fi sounds that reflect the band's myriad of influences as record collectors across genres. "We didn't leave the traditional afro-beat sound behind, but we did allow ourselves to pull from different places with less hesitation." Shared saxophonist Cole Pulice. Like their previous albums, the 9-piece band recorded Hox live to tape. "The sound and aesthetic of the analog recording process is important for this kind of music," Pulice explained. "We're looking to capture lightning in a bottle." With that, the album features several sections of heavily processed synthesizers, harsh glitches, fuzzed out guitars, and a burning percussion section that pays homage to the traditional drumming cultures of Nigeria and Ghana. The performances are dynamic and confident. The grooves are infectious and hypnotic. BMB has pushed further into musical experimentalism, but at the end of the day, they're still making dance music. Krautrock, free-jazz, doom metal - the inspirations for Hox stem from all kinds of musical backgrounds, but the sound is far from scattered. It's a polished, innovative record that's sure to exceed expectations and keep the listener engaged from start to finish.

EACH COPY Personally SIGNED BY LEN FAKI

Len Faki has always been a defining character of the techno underground. His unique approach to DJing, the consistent work as a producer and the quality output of his label Figure has all shaped the current environment.
Starting out as a clubber in the 90's, his inspirations have always reached back to the first encounters with electronic music, when new worlds opened and everything seemed possible.

While these experiences have always influenced Faki's productions and used to be released under many different aliases back in the day, they have been waiting since to be made into a proper album under the Len Faki moniker.

After quickly climbing to the top of the international DJ circuit, busy touring schedules never quite allowed for it. Finally faced with the opportunity of a long overdue creative break, Faki decided tackle the life-time venture with the necessary dedication and focus.

Excited about the new project, he also took the time and energy needed to expand his production methods. Finding new techniques allowed him to truly bring all his different influences to the surface. The process was one of following his own heart, occasionally challenging and surprising himself. Naturally the result emerged as two parallel experiences, which are now presented across two discs. Both still carry all the signature features of Faki's style but with added layers of depth and detail. There's that special contrast of dark and heady grooves, paired with dreamy melodies that transport the listener to places beyond the mind. But we also see all strains of his previous work being incorporated, mixed and molded into something new altogether.

While the first disc focuses on the kind of techno, which Faki has been brought up by and given back to for so many years of his life, the second is more loose and experimental, with forays into house, ambient and broken beats - the sounds he has always kept very passionate about.

It creates two distinct experiences, showcasing the entire breadth of Faki's cosmos. Where some ideas stay straight and kick hard, like the neon bleep opener Tor 8 or joyfully booming Astra, others take the newfound freedom to inspire a wistful broken beat ballad such as Hymn (In the Name of Fantasy) or the soulfully subdued Drum & Bass closer Voices.
Many songs even exist as pairings, with their respective counterpart on the other disc. For example, the duo of Shri Yantra/Yantra, where similar soundscapes have been looked through different lenses, making for a more straight-laced or shuffled rhythm. Also noteworthy are Faki's appearance as a veritable house producer on Hymn (In the Name of Freedom) as well as the inclusion of two very personal pieces:
The Halide tracks were made in remembrance of Faki's late mother, who passed away during the final production stage of the EP. These delicate tracks capture the intense sadness Faki was feeling at the time and helped him to process his grief and eventually to finish off the album.

By doing so Faki has given us a complete artistic statement, one that proves him to be as curious and driven now as ever, taking his sound to all-new realms.

New double-LP edition of a selection from Saltern’s acclaimed collection of recordings surveying the career of renowned, American cellist, Charles Curtis. Selected by Curtis and Tashi Wada from recordings spanning two decades, Performances & Recordings 1999-2018 offers a broad, inclusive view of Curtis’ activities across the diverse worlds of music he inhabits, featuring the music of

180g ultra clear vinyl, download card included. Western Mystery Tradition' is the third studio album from Detroit, MI via Brooklyn, NY outfit Moonwalks and is due for via Fuzz Club. A departure from the band's DIY psych-rock roots to a more mature and polished sound, the album was produced by Mattiel's Jonah Swilley and recorded in May 2019 at Detroit's acclaimed (and rumored haunted) Masonic Temple with Bill Skibbe (Jack White, The Kills) in a lodge belonging to the Free Masons' Detroit chapter. "Western Mystery Tradition was conceived in the winter of 2019 amidst a polar vortex in Detroit, Michigan", Moonwalks recall of the record's origins: "At the time and in between touring, we lived together in a house on the west side that lacked a working stove and had no power in half of the building. The band - trapped indoors due to temperatures in the negatives and massive amounts of snow - drew inspiration from our isolated state amidst a bleak Michigan winter." Moonwalks consists of Kerrigan Pearce (drums), Jacob Dean (guitar), and Kate Gutwald (bass). Originating in Detroit's DIY scene, the trio started out playing in warehouses and makeshift venues across the city. Since then, they've gone on to tour extensively throughout North America and Europe supporting acts like The Murlocs, Metric, Julian Casablancas & The Voidz, Thee Oh Sees, The Liminanas, and The Mystery Lights to name a few

Pressing Info: 180g black vinyl double LP, etched D-side, hand-numbered gatefold sleeve, limited to 500, download card included. Porto-based trio 10 000 Russos will release their new 'Live In Berlin' double LP on March 24th 2023 via Rubber Duck, a new live album imprint by Fuzz Club Records. The record captures the band storming through their subterranean motorik psych-drone live at Berlin's Astra Kulturhaus on October 16th 2021. Recorded whilst out on a European tour, 'Live In Berlin' finds 10 000 Russos performing their 2021 'Superinertia' LP in full the album's five songs expanded and taken to even more transfixing and hedonistic heights in a live setting. These shows were 10 000 Russos' first with the new, more-electronic line-up and sound, with newly-recruited synth player Nils Meisel making his debut on the 'Superinertia' LP and completing the line-up alongside founding members Joao Pimenta (drums/vocals) and Pedro Pestana (guitar). Across the hour-long set, Pimenta's deadpan sprechgesang vocal and machine-like percussion, Pestana cascading psych guitar-loops and Meisel's repetitive synth basslines all combine on a performance that will pull you into a trance at times and get you on your feet at others.

Die zweifache GRAMMY®-Preisträgerin und Entertainment-Legende Tanya Tucker, die gerade in die Country Music Hall of Fame aufgenommen wurde, wird am 2. Juni 2023 ihr mit Spannung erwartetes neues Album ”Sweet Western Sound” bei Fantasy Records veröffentlichen.

”Sweet Western Sound” wurde erneut von Brandi Carlile und Shooter Jennings produziert und bringt das preisgekrönte Trio nach der Veröffentlichung von Tanyas bahnbrechendem Album ”While I’m Livin’” (2019) wieder zusammen.

Ihr erstes neues Album seit 17 Jahren, ”While I’m Livin’”, machte Tucker einer neuen Generation bekannt und gewann den GRAMMY für das beste Country-Album sowie den besten Country-Song für die ergreifende Single ”Bring My Flowers Now”.

”Sweet Western Sound” basiert auf Tuckers exquisitem & warmem Gesang und einer spektakulären Sammlung von Songs mit Tiefgang - ein selbstbewusstes Bekenntnis zur Vitalität und Zielstrebigkeit einer unbändigen und unersetzlichen Countrymusik-Ikone.

Formed in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in November 1987, the band is best known for the tracks 'Not Sleeping Around', 'Happy' and 'Trust' all featured on this explosive Live album. Don't miss your chance to experience their electrifying live performance."

Promotion across social media platforms. Advertising in Classic Pop Magazine & Record Collector.

Expanding on the shoegaze-shaded emo that made Parannoul's To See the Next Part of the Dream so beloved by lo-fi and indie rock fans alike, After the Magic sees the anonymous auteur striving to write a follow-up as worthy of acclaim as the last.

Across the album's ten songs, Parannoul plunges yet deeper into his diverse pool of influences, coming back to the surface with a record that captures and extends the magic of its predecessor. Unexpected flashes of orchestral ambient and glitched-out electronica meld seamlessly with Parannoul's signature passages of noisy, distortion-laden shoegaze, offering a real time glimpse into the maturation
of one of indie rock's most exciting artists.

In the artist's own words, "This album is not what you expected, but what I always wanted."

Antifreeze Green Vinyl. Black Market Brass is proud to present Hox, due out on Colemine Records on September 8, 2023. Their third LP is a new take on afrobeat that combines traditional grooves with heavy, hypnotic, sci-fi sounds that reflect the band's myriad of influences as record collectors across genres. "We didn't leave the traditional afro-beat sound behind, but we did allow ourselves to pull from different places with less hesitation." Shared saxophonist Cole Pulice. Like their previous albums, the 9-piece band recorded Hox live to tape. "The sound and aesthetic of the analog recording process is important for this kind of music," Pulice explained. "We're looking to capture lightning in a bottle." With that, the album features several sections of heavily processed synthesizers, harsh glitches, fuzzed out guitars, and a burning percussion section that pays homage to the traditional drumming cultures of Nigeria and Ghana. The performances are dynamic and confident. The grooves are infectious and hypnotic. BMB has pushed further into musical experimentalism, but at the end of the day, they're still making dance music. Krautrock, free-jazz, doom metal - the inspirations for Hox stem from all kinds of musical backgrounds, but the sound is far from scattered. It's a polished, innovative record that's sure to exceed expectations and keep the listener engaged from start to finish.

Minor Science—aka UK-born, Berlin-based musician Angus Finlayson—makes his Balmat debut with Absent Friends Vol. III, the third installment in a shape-shifting series across a variety of formats and platforms. And with it, he pushes forward his vision of ambient music as neither static vista or merely mood-setting atmosphere, but rather a dynamic matrix of textures, sensations, and even rhythms.

The first two Absent Friends—a 2014 set for Blowing Up the Workshop, and a 2017 cassette and web player for Whities (now AD93)—were hybrid affairs, part DJ mix and part collage, mostly featuring music made by other people. Then, in 2020-21, Finlayson developed the project into a live show of his own material. Armed with hundreds of bespoke stems created in his studio—idiosyncratic FX chains, feedback loops through cheap rack gear, heavily post-processed field recordings, found voices, etc.—he would improvise on four CDJs, mixer, FX, and live synths, extending techniques he learned as a club DJ into a live context, accompanied by visuals by Stockholm-based artist Paul Witherden.

Absent Friends Vol. III is an album of studio versions of the music developed for the live show. But in Minor Science’s world, even a category as simple as “studio versions” is slightly opaque. “Most of these tracks weren’t ‘composed’ in the studio,” Finlayson explains: “The sounds started out as stems and source material for the live show, and might not have been intended to go together—but then through performance, they settled into shapes that worked. I then recreated those performances in the studio.” That organic process of ideation and realization might help explain the unusual coherence of the album, in which sounds and textures flow seamlessly from one to the next, sometimes seeming to stand still, and sometimes looping back. There are virtually no melodies, few recognizable motifs or riffs, yet the eight-track album nevertheless moves with a distinctive logic and a determined sense of purpose, from the frozen-in-time shimmer of the opening “Introduction” through the early cuts’ studies of space and light; from the seemingly autobiographical “Summer Diary” through the rushing trance (yes, trance) arpeggios of “Contingency” and on to the dulcet denouement of the closing “Gather Your Party (Dispersed Mix).”

Nous'klaer Audio presents Martinou - Chiral, the follow full-length up to his 2021 album Rift. This time nine tracks across two vinyls. An album flowing 'in a way' like Rift, but it's different: More outspoken, heavier sound design and it peaks on a blissful note. ''Open up the blinds and take me there. We'll break the surface tension. We'll dive in. I'm locked in your devotion. You give an inclination to our demise. It will be our exit. To bliss, we'll be its guardian. Once there was love. Clear as glassy water. No ripples, no waves. I followed while you led. Our arrival was warm. Hot, even. Stunning to a startling degree. Hands intwined, frolicking towards the blue. Hours passed, and white heat cede to an orange hue. We cooled down. Red. We rallied. Black. It began. Into the deep darkness we ran. White sand, it has a tendency to get everywhere. Salt water will only dehydrate you more. Shriveled and dry. Scratchy and coarse. More. And then we were lost. Fingers once locked grew distant. Morning, dear. Where have you gone? We looked. A glimpse from afar. Red. We rallied. Shall we share a bottle of wine? Black, lost again. Afternoon, friend. Where were you? Red. Alone. Black. We rallied. Shall we try somewhere new? Sand and salt. Evening, sir. Reservation for one? Reservations a plenty, I say. Evening, miss. Dining alone? Aren't we all? Dining, miss, not dying. Oh, yes, alone. Black. Sand and salt. I found you. No. No. Wait, do I know you? You feel like a dream. Don't touch me. Move along, sir. Who are you? Leave. Who are you? Where did you go? Keep moving. I am, I will. Time to move on. I'm moving! Leave. Don't touch me. Leave. Why are you? Exit. Purple. Orange. Yellow. White. Blue. Morning, dear. Shall we have breakfast? I think I'll sleep some more. But it's our last day. I know. See you downstairs when you're ready. OK. I open up the blinds. A bird breaks the surface tension. Locked in. To Devotion? No. Demise. An inclination. Reverie. Take me there. Where? Exit (To Bliss) '' Text by Gregory Markus

Disco re-edit master Moplen sprinkles his magic on the golden grooves of Jackie Moore’s classic, ‘Holding Back’ for the third release on A’s and Bees backed with the original Breakdown and Chin-Mental mixes from the mighty John Morales and Sergio Munzabai (M&M).

Continuing their run of heavyweight pressings that marry remastered originals with new interpretations of those prized cuts, A’s and Bees look to ’83 with this sensuous slice of disco heat, blending beefy slap bass with a soaring string section and Jackie’s soulful vocal tones. A cover of David Simmons’ 1979 classic ‘Holdin' Back’ penned by Gregg Diamond and Steve Love, Moore’s interpretation is a high energy disco hit from across the Atlantic.

Opening up the release, re-work whiz Moplen was graced with the stems to the original recording, tweaking, finessing and squeezing out all the best bits of the original building the tension across 7 sublime minutes, that balances deftness with full frontal power. Taking the A2, the original vocal mix in all its glory, produced and arranged by MFSB’s Bobby Eli.

On the B side two masterful M&M mixes from the legendary duo of John Morales and Sergio Munzabai in the form of the Breakdown and Chin-Mental versions.

50% of the profits from this release will be donated towards the British Beekeepers Association.

Clearlight returns, two years on from his DNO debut alongside regular collaborator Owl, with five otherworldly solo excursions.

What’s most striking about the Belgian’s work is the way he brings digital textures to life. Like an alien biosphere that doesn't abide by our own natural laws, his soundscapes are irregular and uncanny, but in a way that makes them feel all the more real.

Tracks like ‘Super Strong’ and ‘Heavy Feet’ sway and wobble to cumbersome beats, lumbering through swamps of croaking, chirping, fizzing things. The former eventually collapses into total abstraction, while the latter endures blasts of technoid bass, like the retrorockets of some hulking spacecraft coming in to land.

‘Spinning Head’ is powered by a buzzing oscillator that rolls back and forth across the stereo field. Paired with assorted clattering, clanking percussive debris, it’s an unnerving yet oddly pleasant experience, as if someone were rummaging around between your ears to help find a part that’s come loose.

Lead track ‘Water Willy’ is stranger still. Shifting from something akin to an exotica record played at the wrong speed to a melancholy whalesong lullaby, its twangs, chimes and plodding bass pulse create an eerie but beautiful ambience reminiscent of the deep ocean.

Only bonus track ‘Salt Cube’ is willing to break the spell, upping the pace to deliver the EP’s most traditionally dancefloor-friendly cut in the form of glitchy minimal d&b, with a heavyweight halftime switch post-breakdown.

Taking sounds from the club, but clearly not feeling forced to cater for it, Clearlight grows alternate realities that feel familiar, but offer wondrous, illuminating new experiences. Step inside and join him.

Rhythms of postmodern realism at the very bottom of the DNO.

Weighing in heavy with murderous intent across three guaranteed dance levellers, Trends & Boylan land on Sneaker Social Club with a bang. The pair have been slugging out grime-leaning gear for the past five years, causing a ruckus with their truly evil ‘Norman Bates’ beat, releasing also on Trends own Mean Streets label and linking up with Slimzee’s foundational stable Slimzos for some dubplate action.

They bring that street-level swagger to the tracks on the Ninety Nine EP, but here their punchy 8-bar flex is embellished to blend in with the Sneaker surroundings a treat. ‘Carnage’ tips towards chopped up Think Breaks while ‘Nocturnal’ doubles down on the dirtiest of b-lines. Confirming their allyship from dubplates' gone by, Slimzee links up with Trends & Boylan for the double A side slammer, ‘Ninety Nine’, weaving dread-side D&B stabs around a tightly-wound beat with devastating results.

There’s not an ounce of excess on these cuts precision tooled to smashup the dance good and proper. Need we say more?

Super proud to introduce this special 12" by UK Liquid Funk pioneer HIDDEN AGENDA. I first heard their music on Fabio's February (1995) KissFM show, taping from Leighton Buzzard on my parents JVC tuner. I had it playing as my sound track non-stop on my Walkman for months - deep minimal Jungle had arrived! It was the legendary 'The Flute Tune'. I soon purchased a copy on the mighty METAL HEADZ that year with my giro cheque in Coventry from Bang-in Tunes. 'Get Carter' was my next purchase, it was however, 'The Sun' on Fabio's Creative Source (1996) that set me off like a roman candle (and still does to this date) - I consider this the first Liquid Funk track.

HIDDEN AGENDA next hit us super hard by surprise in the winter of 2003. I was DJing late night at a squat in East Finchley on London's Rude FM 88.2 back-to-back. DJ Haze played this 12" that sent me totally hyper and turned out to be Jason's 'Groove Me' on Eastside Recordings. So hyped was I, that DJ Haze gave me that very copy on the spot!

I went onto paint a huge epic 200x200cm oil / acrylic painting to be photographed for the HORRIFIC13 cover. Set in the South Bronx 1978 (which is the title of the Side AA.) - a train Rolls over RAE ST with a semi-wild style piece which reads HIDDEN AGENDA - GOLDEN SKY with a mini 1978 piece also sprayed on the bridge.

- Jimmy Somerville's debut solo album Read My Lips is re-issued with rarities and new remixes.

- Originally released in 1989, the album enjoyed Gold Sales and 3 Top 30 hits, as well as Jimmy's Top 10 cover of Sylvester's 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)'.

- Across these expanded versions are remixes from Gerd Janson, AMYL, Arpeggius and William Orbit; unreleased demos, B-Sides and rarities such as 'From This Moment On' (from Red, Hot + Blue)
and I Believe in Love (with Arthur Baker and The Beat Disciples).

- New liner notes from journalist and author Paul Burston.