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Das kanadische Ensemble BADBADNOTGOOD machte sich einen Namen als sie kurzerhand Jazz und HipHop miteinander verbanden - nun kehren sie mit ihrem Debüt auf XL Recordings zu ihren instrumentellen Anfängen zurück! Mit dem Talk Memory reflektieren sie die Geschichte und die Innovationen der Musiker und Komponisten, die sie auf dem Weg zum eigenen Sound beeinflussten. Die Band formte sich 2010 im Humber College Jazz Kurs in Toronto, das feste Trio-Line-Up mit Alexander Sowinski (Drums), Chester Hansen (Bass) und Leland Whitty (Gitarre und Holzbläser) existiert seit 2015. Für die drei ist ein Song ein lebender und atmender Organismus, der sich natürlich entwickelt und je nach Umgebung anders klingt. "Talk Memory" ist ein Album, das ganz in diesem Sinne entstanden ist und markiert auch einen Wechsel vom Ego hin zum Kollektiv, zur Balance und zur Harmonie. Es enthält musikalische Beiträge von Arthur Verocai, Karriem Riggins, Terrace Martin, Laraaji und der gefeierten Harfenistin Brandee Younger, die bereits mit Moses Sumney und Thundercat gearbeitet hat. Die Visuals entwarf Virgil Abloh mit seiner Designfirma Alaska-Alaska_äó, der auch das Albumcover gestaltet hat. "Talk Memory" ist ein Album, das betont, wie Musik als Konversation unabdingbar kollektiv und improvisiert sein muss. Es erinnert dabei an die typischen Momente einer Live Jazz- oder Soul-Show, in der der Frontmann jedes einzelne Bandmitglied vorstellt, um ihm/ihr den gebührenden Applaus zukommen zu lassen. Und so ist ein Album voller tiefer Zuneigung zur Musik und zur Community entstanden.

Toolroom founder and Grammy-nominated producer Mark Knight announces his new album Untold Business: 13-track collection of vocal house music which aims to inject a much-needed dose of meaning and longevity into the world of dance music.

Mark Knight has gone back to his roots on his new album Untold Business, reprising the sounds and records that made him the artist he is today. Diving through his extensive collection of classic Funk, House, Soul and Disco records from the 1970s and 80s has provided the bedrock for the album, which is an homage to the soulful, vocal-led house music that Mark first fell in love with in the 90s.

Step forward Mark Knight with a collection of meticulously crafted, positive, life-affirming records with a focus on real instrumentation and properly crafted songs that will stand the test of time. Untold Business is the antithesis of the functional, cookie-cutter dance music that has become increasingly ubiquitous over the years, and it sounds absolutely glorious.

Lead single ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’ features vocals from Beverley Knight as well as the London Community Gospel Choir, who together bring a powerful message of positivity, solidarity and hope: themes that echo throughout the rest of the album.

“I wanted to write a song of hope as we come out of this incredibly tough time. I feel that musicians and producers have a responsibility to provide the soundtrack to people’s lives, and with this glimmer of hope on the horizon, I wanted this song to be a moment of positivity for the future ahead.” Mark Knight

From the string section, to the 14-piece London Community Gospel Choir, to the incomparably brilliant Beverley Knight on lead vocals – Mark worked with some incredible musicians on the single: an approach that informs his approach for the entire album. Untold Business features further collaborations with the likes of Shingai (Noisettes), Michael Gray, Robert Owens and many more.

In addition to the 10 new tracks recorded especially for the album, Untold Business also includes three of Mark’s singles from 2020, including one of the biggest releases of his career to date. All 4 Love was a collaboration with Rene Amesz and Tasty Lopez which became firmly lodged on the Radio 1 A list for six weeks with worldwide success following soon after. Picking up more than 10 million streams on Spotify it was without doubt one of the biggest house records of the year. Also included here are ‘If It’s Love’ - a joyous celebration of a soulful house sound that came to prominence in the 90s – and ‘Tonight’, which took inspiration from the brisk, looping, filtered house music of the early 00s.

Alex Nemec (Mirabilis Label Boss / Tronic / Bush Records) & Nik Feral (Dynamic Reflection / Stahlplatten) gave us the labels best selling release of 2020 and so we follow up with a all star remix EP featuring Barem (Minus / Sci+Tec), Simon Baker (Get Physical / Cocoon / Rekids), Iain Taylor (Dirtybird / Balance / Rejekt Music Boss) alongside a previously unreleased rework of original track Ultra from last year’s release.

Early DJ support from Apollonia, Marco Carola, Davide Squillace, Butch, Cristian Varela, Tim Green, Michel De Hey, Tomasz Guiddo, Anderson Noise, Dave Angel with radio plays from Kiss FM, Ibiza Radio 1, Ibiza Global Radio, Ibiza Sonica Radio, Warm FM, Eldarado FM, Dance TV, Dancetrippin TV, Pioneer DJ Radio, Datatransmission Radio and Digitally Imported Radio Belgium.

Last autumn Leng Records welcomed a new name to the roster, Greek DJ/producer Lex, via some warming and colourful tracks on the label’s 10th Anniversary LP and sampler EP. Now the Athenian has returned with his first full release for Paul Murphy and Simon Purnell’s popular imprint.



Real name Alex Andrikopoulos, Lex first rose to prominence in his home city of Athens when he ran the Radical Soundz record shop during the first decade of the millennium. More recently his reputation has spread worldwide thanks to his association with Leng, a recent 12” on B2 Recordings and DJ sets that frequently join the dots between disco, house and techno.



His first full EP for Leng is arguably his most musically expansive collection of tracks to date, with a swathe of guest players – keyboardist Artis Boriss and drummer/percussionist Harold Perez most prominently – swinging by to help bring Lex’s vivid musical visions to life.



For proof, check out lead cut ‘Punta Allen’, an eight-minute chunk of organic dancefloor goodness in which Lex and his musical associates layer steel pan style melodies, spacey synthesizer flourishes, eyes-closed electric piano solos, warming chords and jangling guitars atop a heady bass guitar line, unfussy drums and sweaty pots-and-pans percussion. The track’s effortless evolution, which slowly unfurls before rising towards a gorgeous and joyous conclusion, is testament to the Greek producer’s dancefloor instincts.



You’ll find more low-slung, dub disco-influenced bass on the exotic ‘The Jamail Pass’, where mazy and feverish organ solos and rolling hand percussion provide a platform for Paqua member Alex Searle’s Nile Rodgers style guitar sounds. The track’s inherent funk – emphasized by occasional bass guitar solos and fills, as well as some tumbling synth sounds – is apparent throughout the track, something that only adds to its smile-inducing allure.



Closing out a very impressive first EP on Leng is ‘Angels of Rhythm’, a hazier, faster and more intergalactic excursion that cannily combines the low-slung bass of dub disco with the intoxicating vibes and warming dreaminess of deep house. The track’s intoxicating late-night feel is partly due to an undecidedly cosmic spoken word vocal from sassy singer Harrier Summer, though Artis Boriss’ pitch-bend-sporting synth solos and fizzing electronic noises certainly help. Driving but also deep and groovy, ‘Angels of Rhythm’ offers a memorable conclusion to a very impressive EP.

“Montreal’s genre-defying post-rock combo BIG|BRAVE could very well be the most noteworthy recent heavy curiosity to come out of the city in recent years.” - NOISEY

“…combines elements of Björk, Neurosis and Sunn O))) into a cohesive whole; but this whole is an ever evolving and challenging sonic mass.
- THE QUIETUS

Minimalism and instinct, structure/freedom and meticulous timing form the cornerstones of their precise, rhythmical sound.
Lyrically, the album explores the weight of race and gender, endurance and navigating other people’s behaviours, observation and protest. The band further comment “this album involves what it means navigating the outside world in a racialized body and what it does to the psyche as a whole while finding individual worth within this reality.”
This time featuring the core trio Robin Wattie, Mathieu Ball and Tasy Hudson, for their most collaborative record they’ve made so far. The band elaborate “having cut our teeth in very different musical backgrounds respectively, our intuitions vary, which has an interesting effect on our individual approaches and ears.”
For this record, BIG | BRAVE once again made the trek down to Rhode Island to record with Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets. They remark “we fully trust his instinct as an engineer and his creative output, getting to experiment with textures, concepts, layers, and with pretty much every single recorded sound, the process of making records with Seth is an absolute journey and pleasure.”
With the initial seeds planted in 2012, with no other goal than simply experimenting with the instruments in their possession, Robin Wattie and Mathieu Ball started writing subtle ambient/minimalistic folk songs together. When long time friend Louis Alexandre Beauregard joined on drums, the goal still remained to play as tranquil as possible. After an incident where Wattie’s acoustic guitar broke, and having borrowed a friend’s electric as a replacement, larger amps that Ball had in storage from previous bands started to get incorporated to the outfit. Now with amplitude as a compositional tool, BB never lost interest in the power of minimalism and fragility. It became clear that loud volume would become just as effective as the lowest possible ones and the juxtaposition of both would become something BB still uses as their main MO to this day.
After self-releasing Feral Verdure in 2014, the band had the opportunity to open for Thee Silver Mt Zion in Montreal QC. After which, Efrim Manuel Menuck found something meaningful in the members and the band and invited them to open on future shows with Mt Zion and with Godspeed! You Black Emperor.
In 2015, the band entered the studio with Menuck and recorded “Au De La”. With no home for the record, they decided to take a chance in writing to Southern Lord. As luck would have it, Greg Anderson happened upon their email among hundreds and responded. Since then, the band has had a home with Southern Lord Records. (Along with Au De La, Southern Lord has released Ardor in 2017, A Gaze Among Them in 2019 and VITAL in 2021).
After Beauregard’s departure in 2018, the band traveled down to Rhode Island with Loel Campbell on drums to make a first record with Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets. After the album’s release, with Campbell unable to tour, Tasy Hudson joined the ranks and the band spent most of the year touring their 2019 album “A Gaze Among Them”.
In 2020, the core trio of Ball, Wattie and Hudson once again made the trek down to Machines with Magnets to record their 5th LP “VITAL”.
Since their inception, the band has had many honours and privileges of touring a number of times in North America and Europe with bands such as Sunn O))), MY DISCO, The Body, Thou, Primitive Man and Thee Silver Mt Zion.

Beautiful orange & yellow sunburst vinyl - Solstice '21 sees twelve bright lights of independent electronic music mark the coming Summer Solstice. In such dark days, the age-old practice of celebrating the move from shadow to light, feels steeped in a renewed symbolic power. Solstice '21 marks this significant moment with a rich array of musical offerings. Reflective, lively, and always powerful, this collection is spun with modern twists of an ancient thread. Rotator - This is the first outing under this moniker from Justin Owen, also known under the alias Licit, as well as being a protagonist in the world of modular synthesis as the man behind the Abstract Data modules; Letters from Mouse - "Bubbling analogue synthesis from Scotland." This analogue synth maestro and inimitable broadcaster (aka The Magic Window), boasts a string of quality releases, including the recent highly acclaimed album An gàrradh, also on Subexotic; Cub/cub - "Cub/cub explores the world in-between nostalgia and nihilism, analogue and digital, real and false; creating evocative and mournful musical collages." First discovered on Boards of Canada forum Twoism, Cub/cub's two debut releases with Subexotic demonstrated his considerable talent to mix fascinating texture with beguiling melody. With an astonishing follow-up album coming soon, his rising star feels unstoppable; Orbury Common - "aural ephemera from the home of the orbs." This mysterious duo from the West of England are blessed with delightful musical cunning; their brilliant debut on Subexotic lifted the lid, and this offering reaffirms exciting times lie ahead; Onepointwo - "Minimal electronics, abstract radio signals and dystopian soundscapes are proceeded from both digital and analogue sources." A creator of intricate yet powerful collage, with finely wrought motifs that repeat and build to create a shimmering psychedelic impact. This is Onepointwo's glorious trademark. Spell-binding releases already exist on Woodford Halse, Poeta Negra, Lotus, as well as an imminent powerhouse album forthcoming on Subexotic; Giants of Discovery - "Experimental electronica with the occasional noisy guitar thrown in." Giants of Discovery's ability to get to grips with the musicality of his subject, has lead to previous exquisite sojourns into realms such as Victorian cosmic horror and Greek mythology, as well as an equally fantastical, towering follow up album on Woodford Halse; Wonderful Beasts - "A Wonderful collaboration between boycalledcrow and Xqui." Their playful interaction finds ways of crafting acoustic fragments into unexpected kaleidoscopes of sound. With beguiling debuts on cult label Wormhole World (soon to be followed up by an extraordinary new album on Subexotic), there is a kind of breathless magic about everything they do; Dogs versus Shadows - Electronic Sound Magazine says "A rare example of gamekeeper turned poacher...a welter of impressive electronica." Lee Pylon's ability to straddle a wealth of uncompromisingly inventive creations, and his broadcasting prowess as the much loved Kites & Pylons, is already the stuff of legend. A multitude of releases across many labels including Subexotic, Woodford Halse, Miracle Pond, Third Kind, Submarine Broadcasting, Sensory Leakage, provide a glittering treasure trove of work; Counter Silence - A stalwart of Subexotic, Counter Silence's sparkling and wistful musical work very much stands alone in temperament and style. 2020's Pathways EP on Subexotic remains a precious oasis, imbued with a haunting solitude that lives on in the memory; Transient Visitor - "All music unlocked by Alex Cargill (C.O.I. Central Office of Information) and Martin Jensen (The Home Current)." These two intercontinental maestros (well Sidcup & Luxembourg) boast impressive solo back catalogues across many labels (including Castles in Space, Polytechnic Youth, Woodford Halse). Their newly conceived collaborative Transient Visitor project, brought about the superb TV1 album in 2020 - we can see the sparks fly again in this welcome 2021 return; Simon Klee - "Natural, Electric, Organic Psychedelic - Sounds, noise and psychedelic beats." Klee's playful alchemy engages the mind and spirit, as witnessed in a flurry of top quality releases in recent times (e.g. Subexotic, ANR, Woodford Halse), and there is a visceral joy in his work that is perfectly placed for a midsummer celebration. Klee also produces a truly excellent mixcast and increasingly essential tape label, both under the guise of Anticipating Nowhere; Rupert Lally - "Hailing originally from England but now based in Switzerland, Guitarist, Percussionist and Electronic Musician Rupert Lally began his career as a Sound Designer and Composer for Theatre and TV, before launching his solo career in 2005. Since then his releases have blurred the boundaries between electronic and acoustic music." Lally's consistently brilliant work is always a highlight of the electronic music calendar, including recent stellar works across many labels such as Spun Out Of Control, Third Kind, Woodford Halse, and Modern Aviation.

Papa Roach are set to release their second greatest hits album, which covers the second decade of their career. On top of numerous fan favourites, the album includes exclusive remixes, previously unreleased acoustic versions and a new version of 'Broken As Me' feat. Danny Worsnop (Asking Alexandria). Papa Roach vocalist Jacoby Shaddix will also appear in the upcoming horror thriller 'The Retaliators'.

First released by Cazzo Film in 2001, ebo hill’s Bonking Berlin Bastards has long achieved the status of an underground punk porn classic. Like the Cazzo productions of director Bruce LaBruce, hill’s vision was both ahead of its time and a playful distillation of 90s and early-2000s Berlin Zeitgeist: queer, industrial, hypersexual, exhibitionist and fueled by electronic music. The story is told in large part by the soundtrack, to be released for the first time on Ostgut Ton sublabel A-TON. The music follows a group of squatters, punks and drag queens as they fuck, party and stumble their way through an empty city at the turn of the millennium. Approaching these themes more through location than plot, the film’s narrative freedom is also a narrative of freedom; between chance encounters and sex in public, atop the maze of roofs in the city’s former East, bent over bridges and moaning in ecstasy at oncoming traffic, pants down in telephone booths, packed into sex clubs, in the shadows of abandoned factories and techno clubs lost in time. Composed by improvisational techno trio AeoX and noise / industrial producer Rouage aka CNM (respectively), the music spans a broad range of appropriately pounding industrial, weird techno, noise, ultra-stoned ambient, improvised dub and electro. It’s a sonic spectrum that connects Berlin’s queer hardcore techno and squatter party scenes from which AeoX and Rouage emerged, drawing a direct line between the likes of Berghain-forerunner OstGut (a primary meeting point for the film’s cast & crew) to the more industrial, breakcore and noise- oriented independent party collectives and locations who provided multiple settings for the film, including Grüne Hölle and Stellwerk.

*Artists:* CNM / Rouage (Kathinka): Born in 1975 and raised in East Berlin. Co-organization of subcultural events since 1998 in Berlin, Potsdam, Leipzig and Barcelona. Experimental music, collaborations, exhibitions and audiovisual shows since 2000.

AeoX: Active between 2001 and 2007. Originally a quartet, then a trio, the group eventually shrank to two permanent members: Alex.E and Hanno Hinkelbein. The latter founded Null Records, where AeoX released two album and numerous EPs. They also released on Mental.Ind.Records founded by former OstGut resident Cora S. Musically, the group experimented with combining improvisational hardware techno, breaks, traditional instruments (guitar, clarinet, piano) industrial and metal.

Ursprünglich 2001 von Cazzo Film veröffentlicht, hat Bonking Berlin Bastards von ebo hill längst den Status eines Underground-Punk-Pornoklassikers erreicht. Wie die Cazzo- Produktionen von Regisseur Bruce LaBruce, war auch hills Vision seiner Zeit voraus und ein spielerisches Destillat des 90er- und Anfang-2000er Berlin-Zeitgeists: queer, industriell, hypersexuell, exhibitionistisch, angetrieben von elektronischer Musik. Die Geschichte wird größtenteils über den Soundtrack erzählt, der auf Ostgut Tons Sublabel A-TON zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht wird. Die Musik folgt einer Gruppe von Hausbesetzern, Punks und Drags, die ficken, feiern und durch die leere Stadt um die Jahrtausendwende streifen. Bonking Berlin Bastards erzählt diese Themen mehr über die Drehorte als über die Handlung. Die erzählerische Freiheit des filmischen Narrativs ist gleichzeitig eine Erzählung von Freiheit: Von zufälligen Begegnungen bis hin zu Sex in der Öffentlichkeit, auf Dächern im früheren Osten Berlins, sich über die Brüstungen von Straßenbrücken beugen, trotz und wegen des Verkehrs stöhnen, mit heruntergelassenen Hosen in Telefonzellen, in überfüllten Sexclubs, im Schatten aufgegebener Fabriken, zeitverloren in Technoclubs. Der Soundtrack wurde sowohl vom Improvisationstechnotrio AeoX als auch von Noise-/Industrial-Producer Rouage aka CNM komponiert und spannt einen weiten Bogen von explizit pumpendem Industrial, schräg klingendem Techno, Noise, ultra-stoned Ambient, improvisiertem Dub und Electro. Das musikalische Spektrum verbindet Berlins queere Hardcore-, Techno- und Hausbesetzer-Party-Szenen, aus denen AeoX und Rouage selbst hervorgingen und zieht dabei eine direkte Linie zwischen dem Berghain- Vorgängerclub OstGut (ein wichtiger Treffpunkt für die Darsteller und Crew des Films) und den eher Industrial-, Breakcore- und Noise-orientierten Independent-Partykollektiven und -Locations wie Grüne Hölle und Stellwerk, welche mehrfach als Drehort und Kulisse des Films auftauchen.

CNM / Rouage (Kathinka): 1975 geboren nd aufgewachsen in Ost- Berlin. Co-Organisation subkultureller Events seit 1998 in Berlin, Potsdam, Leipzig und Barcelona. Experimentelle Musik, Kollaborationen, Ausstellungen und audiovisuelle Shows seit 2000.

AeoX: Aktiv zwischen 2001 und 2007. Ursprünglich ein Quartett, dann ein Trio, dann verkleinerte sich die Gruppe auf zwei permanente Mitglieder: Alex.E und Hanno Hinkelbein. Letzterer gründete Null Records, auf dem AeoX zwei Alben und zahlreiche EPs veröffentlichte. Ebenfalls Veröffentlichungen auf Mental.Ind.Records, welches von der ehemaligen OstGut resident Cora S. gegründet wurde. Musikalisch kombiniert die Gruppe improvisierten Hardware- Techno mit Breaks, traditionellen Instrumenten (Gitarre, Klarinette, Klavier), Industrial und Metal.

File Under: Jazz / Contemporary Jazz - For fans of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Boards of Canada, Linda May Han Oh, Supersilent, Nels Cline, Makaya McCraven, and Haruka Nakamura! Born in Pinsk, Belarus in 1984 and immigrating to Canada in 1992 with the collapse of the USSR; Alexei Orechin has been actively shaping musical environments with his current projects No Seas, a solo project for guitar and tape, and leading his own ensemble incorporating jazz, chamber, and experimental elements into his compositional work. A diverse talent that is reflected in the company he has shared the stage with: Nas, Akae Beka, Rana Mansour, Shad, Yaadcore, and Sina Bathaie. He has played in USA, Mexico, Europe, and Russia. Performances include the TD and Montreal Jazz Festivals, Caribana, Irie Music Festival, Tirgan Festival, and Pride Toronto. His music for film has been featured at TIFF, CFC, NFB and the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival. He has been featured on CBC, Noisey, Global News, The Star, Dub Rockers, Huffpost, Afropunk, and Relix magazine. 2020 saw the premier of '1992 Ambient', a 45-minute long composition that is a 'therapeutic experiment in slowly melting sound and colour; representing the acculturation and restructuring oneself through emigrating from Russia to Canada in 1992'. 2021 will also see the release of his debut full length album Mirages; an album that showcases his diverse and ever evolving style of composition, ranging from moments of melodic solitude to fractal experimentalism.

Recumbent Speech, Ezra Feinberg’s second album, opens with a lament. Named for the Robert Frost poem, “Acquainted with the Night” was written during one of the many devastating spectacles of injustice under our current regime. Repeating flutes and synths beam out of a low-end darkness, reflecting a collective sense of loss and alienation. Rising slowly, thickening with guitars and strings, “Acquainted with the Night” lifts off, and so too does the album from there. The second track, “Letter to my Mind,'' features the dynamic interplay of Feinberg's guitar with the loose and playful drumming of Tortoise's John McEntire, both pushing and pulling atop a looping bass figure. "Palms Up" begins with a lockstep pulse recalling early Terry Riley before jumping into an Ashra-like jam with Afrobeat accents. Side B opens with "Ovation," a tryptic with McEntire on drums which sets a wide lens onto a sweeping landscape, with soaring flutes, wordless vocals, and a hypnotic bassline played on a humming fretless that recalls classic ECM jazz-fusion. The piece plunges into an ambient, interior space before reemerging with a guitar solo fried through an old Space Echo effects processor, conjuring lidded Pompeii-era Pink Floyd. The album's title-track finale, "Recumbent Speech," features the magical pedal steel of Chuck Johnson. Unwinding atop a Balearic analog synth pattern, Feinberg stretches textures of Fender Rhodes and acoustic guitar around Johnson’s lyrical steel, with nods to Japanese ambient legend Hiroshi Yoshimura, as well as Cluster & Eno. Recumbent Speech refers to the possibilities, pleasures, fears, and fantasies that occur the moment the noise dies down, when we are recumbent, in repose but still awake, still speaking, and still aware of ourselves as part of the maddening world. Ezra Feinberg is a guitarist, composer, and psychoanalyst living in Jackson Heights, NY. Feinberg was the founding member of the San Francisco psychedelic rock collective Citay, releasing albums on Important Records and Dead Oceans throughout the 2000s. After relocating to NYC, he issued his first solo record, Pentimento and Others, on his imprint Related States and on cassette on Stimulus Progression in 2018. The release, his first since Citay folded in 2012, earned praise from numerous music outlets including Paste Magazine, The Wire, Stereogum, Vice, and Aquarium Drunkard. In recent years, Feinberg has performed and toured near and far with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Steve Gunn, Alexander Turnquist, Cruel Diagonals, Daniel Carter, Jonas Reinhardt, Christopher Tignor, Kath Bloom, Robbie Lee, High Aura’d, Glasser, Ava Mendoza, Buck Curran, Real Estate, and many others, and has ongoing studio collaborations with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Arp, contributing both guitar and songwriting to the last Arp album Zebra.

‘Life Guarding’ offers a first glance into an upcoming album by Wolfgang Tillmans. The song finds Tillmans in open waters, lyrically exploring wor(l)ds as they appear like undertows and tie in the listeners by his candid approach to accept whatever the drift throws at him and leaving him exposed at his most vulnerable. It seems no coincidence that the video Tillmans’ shot and directed for the song finds a similar approach to ‘liquidity’ in visual language. Shifting the lens between micro and macrocosms, collages of body parts, fruit and insects, we find him equally paying attention to the waves of the Atlantic Ocean as well as to the ’same’ water in the form of drops, evaporating on a hot kitchen plate. This current shape of ‘Life Guarding’, in equal measures upbeat and melancholic, emerged in sessions with Tillmans’ long term musical collaborators Tim Knapp and Jay Pluck in early 2019 at Trixx Studios in Berlin, that were further developed and produced by Tim Knapp and Bruno Breitzke. ‘Growing’ was originally part of Wolfgang Tillmans’ sound, light and video installation ‘South Tank’ at Tate Modern in 2017. This summer finally sees the independent release of this collaboration with the L.A.-based duo Wreck and Reference. The song also features excerpts of Fred Weyrich’s lyrics for German singer Alexandra’s 1968 hit ‘Sehnsucht’ (Longing). ‘Growing’ involved the band placing samples of Tillmans’ singing and spoken word over a kick drum-driven techno track made with synthesizers, acoustic drum recordings converted to digital drums, and noisy samples of jangling keys. ‘Wreck and Reference’ are an experimental music project from California by Felix Skinner and Ignat Frege. Drawing upon the blown-out intensity of black metal and noise rock, they eschew traditional guitar-centric instrumentation to construct songs with digital samples, drums, and voice. To date, the band has released four EPs and four full-length albums, and has contributed to the producti

Birthed from Arizona’s regaled Ascetic House collective, Body of Light is a dark synth-pop outfit comprised of young brothers Andrew and Alexander Jarson. What began as a vehicle for their exploration of noise and sound during their early teens has evolved into an established production over the last decade, as Body of Light continues to carve out their own style of complex, structured, and moving dancefloor electronics.

Their music is not only individually personal, but drawn from experiences shared between the two brothers – and calls on elements of new wave, freestyle, goth, and techno to create timeless and singular tracks without fear of trend or passing fashion.

On their third album Time to Kill, Body of Light refines their brand of cold and driving synth pop with a bold pallet of sounds and a focus on uncharted technique and purpose. Like the pale digital stare of the modern devices surrounding our daily lives, the album weaves stories of love and obsession in an era of technical bondage and fleeting exhilaration. Written over a period of intense and profound change, Time to Kill stands as a startling reminder of how important our existence truly is. Haunting keys, swelling pads, and punching rhythms score their work as Alex Jarson presents an alluring and romantic dialogue with confident projection. The title single “Time to Kill” kicks off the album with a merciless signature beat, complimented by distorted sample patterns against an infectious, moving bass groove

Following up on the release of his first album in eight years, Agoria has collaborated with enigmatic French musician Jacques on new EP ‘Visit’, out 14th June.

The two-track offering pairs electronic elements with organic, real-world sounds to masterful effect. Title track ‘Visit’ is the best example of this, with a wonky beat trudging through a plethora of immersive sounds. Meanwhile ‘Jardin’, with a grooving bassline, has a greater dancefloor focus.

“The first time I met Jacques, we were sitting at the same table but we didn’t exchange any words,” Agoria explains. The second time, a year later, we started speaking. A lot. During hours. About Vipassana, a technique of meditation that you practice in silence. The third time, I thought I should share his words and breaths, delivering the untold. So I offered him to record a Sapiens Talk. The fourth time, we both agreed it was finally time to record music together.”

Jacques is a musician who pushes back the border between music, sound and noise, using music as a medium of expression on his quest of transversality. Invited to several TEDx conferences to talk about his obsession with the idea of infinity, he has also revealed his new theory called “Vortex”, which he created with Alexandre Gain in 2015.

His first album in eight years, Agoria described Drift as “sitting on your sofa between your guilty pleasure and your tasteful opinion”. The deeply melodic 10-track LP came off the back of a much-lauded Essential Mix for Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 show, which was later nominated for Essential Mix Of The Year.

The new release comes amidst Agoria’s first ever Ibiza residency, which kicked off on 31st May at the Blue Marlin. Named after the new album and featuring everyone from DJ Harvey and Gerd Janson to Groove Armada and Idris Elba, the unique day-to-night parties will take place every Friday until 27th September. He will also take his all new live show on tour this summer, with dates including Barcelona’s Primavera Sound, Belgium’s Pukkelpop and Lowlands Festival in Amsterdam.

Yonder Kids get a deserved spotlight 20 years after the journey suddenly stopped.

A musical legacy which could have been lost in the background noise of time is finally edited, mastered and cut into vinyl.

Liška, the Czechoslovakian word for fox. Beguiling in its beauty, cunning in it's charm. Said to be one of the most intelligent animals on the planet its global family consists of thirty-seven varieties; all of them recognised, respected and feared for their persuasive, creative, resourceful and elusive nature. The Liška we will talk about today is no exception to these hereditary rules and within the grooves of this record Finders Keepers present an 'elusive' musical artefact that best exemplifies every facet of this composer's animal namesake.

Had he not been born in the small Bohemian town of Smecno in the early 1920s the story of The Fantastic Mr. Liška might have well taken a different course. Alternatively, fettered by the hampers of communism, this lifelong resident of Czechoslovakia would never quite find his seat at the same table as the likes of John Barry, Ennio Morricone, Michael Nyman and Stanley Myers, nor drop enough phonographic breadcrumbs to track his legacy. But having waited patiently behind the borders of the wider landscapes of international cinema, Liška's musical brood, spanning multiple stylistic decades and generations, has now started to walk proudly amongst his would-be, latter-day compeers. In an era where music lovers have almost become immune to adjectives like 'lost', 'rare' and 'unreleased' in a climate where previously lesser-known off-kilter master composers such as Vannier, Kirchin and Axelrod have become widely revered, it is perhaps the perfect time for discerning listeners to advance above the feeding trough and seek out this truly pioneering and revolutionary Eastern European composer. Rivalled only by the likes of Krzysztof Komeda and Andrzej Korzynski in Poland, alongside Alexandr Gradsky in Russia, and often splitting workloads with fellow Czech composers like Luboš Fišer, Zdenek Liska's filmography of over almost 300 fully formed movie scores virtually eclipses the achievements of these socialist era luminaries. Respected unanimously in both Czech and Slovakian by studio bosses, producers, directors and actors alike Liška is widely known for his ability to take the existing energy in a reel of film and literally change the polarity to suit his own interpretation while maintaining the full support from his 'client' who would in-turn end up working under this composer's creative direction. Not only was Liška a genius of emotive orchestral and coral composition, his grasp on small group arrangements and intimate, minimal scores set him above the competition. By utilising primitive sample techniques by 'looping' a films existing ambient noise, or rearranging found sounds and dialog into subtle melodic arrangements, Liška would independently develop his own techniques which had simultaneously become known in Paris as musique concre`te. It is a direct extension of these experiments that saw Liška also draw parallels with Walter Branchi (Ennio Morricone's main electronic sidekick) in Italy as well as Daphne Oram in the UK, making Liška a relatively untravelled pioneer of early electronic composition and sound design due to his unlikely global environment. Imprisoned, preserved or reserved; time has been kind to Liška's music.

Rhythmic Brutalism' is the title of this release, available as a two CD set or two separate LPs, the title is also a very apt description of the music itself. Romanian-born Alexandra Atnif was fascinated by the harsh, grey concrete beauty and minimally repetitive force of the brutalist post-war architecture of her homeland, and this fascination has given rise to the music here. Vol. 1 is an EM Records edition, compiled from an earlier self-released double CD featuring recordings from 2014-15. Vol. 2 consists of previously unreleased recordings from 2015 to 2017. Using elemental, inexpensive technology, Atnif' s music is heavy and harsh, stripped down to distressed skeletal frameworks, rhythmic noise, rusting metal and weathered concrete, a distorted DIY realization of her beautifully brutal vision. With a background in European modernist/avant-garde music, Atnif has been influenced by early rhythmic industrial music such as Throbbing Gristle, Esplendor Geometrico and Muslimgauze, as well as later practitioners of rhythm and noise including Pan Sonic, Autechre, Winterkälte, Prurient and Scorn. Across the relatively brief span of years contained within these two volumes, we hear the rhythmic structures begin to fracture and fray, and the outlines darken and become more obscure, with Antif's sensibility evident throughout.

HINOSCH are a duo of Koshiro Hino from Osaka and Stefan Schneider from Düsseldorf, they first (met and) began their collaborative work of musical interaction and exploring contrasting possibilities in 2017. After a number of concerts in the EU and in Japan a debut EP (HINOSCH EP/TAL05) was released in late 2017. Fully instrumental, their first full-length album HANDS offers a more steeply focussed approach than its largely improvised predecessor.

Encouraged by the momentum generated during a number of on-the-spot recordings in Osaka, where Schneider had held a residency in April 2017, the overall sound of the album has been honed down through meticulous studio engineering. One of the outstanding qualities of HANDS certainly is an unprejudiced approach of sound and song structures. The instrumentation is condently reduced to a small range of analogue and digital machines. Snatches of tape-loops deliver lower-pitched vocal and drum machine samples. This characteristic technical set up soon proved ideal in order to dene a tactile vocabulary of fully unsynchronized rhythm patterns. The word tactile perfectly conjures that quality which is the very essence of HANDS. It is the result of the manner in which interdependent threads of rhythm units are deliberately disconnected to form a cohesive, soulful and exible whole. Most tracks on HANDS are devoid of a central motif and examine an unpredictable dialogue. A fantasy of constant change and a search for musical suggestions is the most vital ingredient in this abstract environment.

The album title HANDS refers to physical aspects of electronic music production. Every live concert of Hinosch usually starts out with a hand shake between Hino and Schneider. The general process of collective music making, programming, button pushing, playing, recording, decision making, all demand utmost concentration. The image on the front of the abum sleeve (designed by Takashi Makabe) reects the general approach of HANDS: layers of tuckled fabrics confronting one another to articulate a form for themselves to no other end than their own orchestration.

After having emerged from the ever thrilling Osaka music scene onto the international playgrounds of electronic music just a few years ago Koshiro Hino's solo activities as YPY and his involvement with the band GOAT have already garnered him a very favourable international reception. Stefan Schneider has over the years produced and collaborated with a.o. Joachim Roedelius (Cluster), Arto Lindsay, Klaus Dinger (NEU!), Dieter Moebius (Cluster), Alexander Balanescu, John McEntire (tortoise), Katharina Grosse, Bill Wells and St.Etienne.

Mirror Box is the solo analog synth project of Dallas musician Sean Kirkpatrick. With an extensive resume that includes keyboard duties for Kill Rock Stars' 00s noise rock band The Paper Chase as well as his concurrent projects, dark post-punk-synth-rockers Nervous Curtains and darkwave duo Little Beards, Mirror Box is Kirkpatrick's first foray into the purely electronic realm. Blending together elements of Giallo moodiness, dub texture, techno propulsion, a passing nod to your favorite wave music, and a flare for the kosmiche, Mirror Box' debut release, Minimal Compliance EP, is a tour de force of the veteran musician's exploration of a wide range of influences and experience.

Released by Dallas-based Gavin Guthrie (TX Connect)'s TRU (Texas Recordings Underground), the 5-track EP kicks off with the immediately-gripping title track. A huge mid-tempo 808 beat drives the menacing Moog bass while cosmic synths explore the skies over gritty, urban terrain. 'The Body,' grounded by its stuttering and singular bass line, is an expansive reworking of a track from Little Beards' debut album which features Nan Kirkpatrick on the release's only vocal appearance. Side A closes with 'Destabilized Agent,' a retro-futurist dream that effortlessly voyages from Sagan's Cosmos to a melodic minimal wave refrain.

While the first side's lush synthesizers and sophisticated syncopation are somewhat of a departure for TRU, a label that has so far defined itself by bringing the electronic sounds of Texas' underground warehouse scene to dance floors across the sea, the flip side of the record is where the four hits the floor. 'Grifter React' opens with a hard kick and electro zaps, letting the rhythm take the lead until a distorted bass finally enters to provide the hook. Minimal Compliance EP finale, 'Critical Blitz,' weaves together all of Mirror Box' finer elements into a concise mission statement. Pulsing, hypnotic mono-synth, vintage mellotrons, classic hats and claps, sweeping production (courtesy of Alex Bhore at Dallas' Elmwood studios) and sparse synth melodies converge in dark analog pleasure that will guide you along like on a cool air-conditioned drive through a devilishly hot Texas night.:

Echocord's Echo Echo sub-label continues with its third releases this August, courtesy of German producer and Credo founder Alex Bau with his 'Zenstory' EP. Germany's Alex Bau has been a prominent name on the underground DJ circuit on his home turf, and further afield, for three decaces as well as racking up an impressive back catalogue as a recording artists for labels like Cocoon, CLR, Sleaze and of course his very own Credo label which has been a platform predominantly for his own material whilst welcoming the likes of Kyle Geiger, Takkyu Ishino and Electric Rescue onto the imprint also. Here though we see Bau joining the roster of Echocord's fledgling sub-label Echo Echo with a new four-track EP and taking the lead on the package is 'Clouds' with pulsating low-end tones, hissing analogue noise and dusty drums samples all flowing in unison with ethereal chords and sweeping pads. 'Contour' follows, tipping the focus over to bubbling delayed stab hits, fluttering sub bass and evolving white noise bursts throughout. The 'Prelude' of 'Zenstory' opens the flip side and as the name would suggest it's a cinematic build up to the title-track featuring tension-building, expansive atmospherics ahead of the original mix which features a thumping muted kick, stuttering atmospheric echoes and spoken word vocal tucked into the depths of the record.

Aaja is a UK based cultural project encompassing a space, label and parties. Not following too many fads or trends. Aaja is an audible quest for deep and raw club rollers and late night neon tales.

For AAJA001 we're pleased to gather 4 friends and artists in their own right for a diverse, inaugural 4-track Various Artists EP. Commencing proceedings on the A1, 'Abzent Mindz' by In:State & Guili lets rip. Following their recent 12" on Not An Animal, this ever-giving cross-European collaboration churns out something that is both functional and emotional. TIP!

For A2, whilst this might be the start of his production journey, Ady Toledano is a permanent fixture on Berlin's queer club scene and we're excited to share his latest production. Regularly spinning at Cocktail D'Amore, Buttons at About:Blank & Riot,
Toledano delivers 'Rare Earth'. A deep, ceremonial journey best suited for those late night, deep in the rave moments and let's be honest, mornings. Flipping the 12" over for B1.

The third track of the EP is produced by Everson. One of the co-founders of Aaja teases sample-work in an out of a grinding, tool style track bridging busy, UK influenced percussion and influence with slower, sledging techno.

Finally, Alex Richards finishes off the VA with 'Platform' on the B2. His words about the track... 'messing about making noises'. Richards lends the compilation a superlative, building and stripped back tune. Suited equally to the early doors as it is the
early morns.

The remarkable thing about BELP's new album is its two-dimensional function. It works both on a loud and a quiet volume. Some tracks would go down well as a club track, like opener 'Travelling Thru Galaxies'. This track brings back memories of the best work released on the Hyperdub label, with it's fine combination of synths and irresistible, dubby beats. Elsewhere, 'Off Ending' might start off as 'dancehall-but-not-quite dancehall' track but when half way the synths kick in they change the feeling of the track to a more cerebral level.

BELP is the artist name of Sebastian Schnitzenbaumer. Born in Munich, he partially grew up on the Seychelles islands off the coast of East Africa. Educated in classical piano, those two gravitational poles, European and African influences, form the basis for his musical development. Currently he has close ties to the (dub) Sausage Studio in Hackney, London. In his hometown Munich, the Bavarian capital, BELP took a central role in a series of discussions and events aiming to improve the image and possibilities of Munich, which to his regret is a predominantly posh and hedonistic city where optimistic and uplifting music take central role.

In different guises Schnitzenbaumer works as a much needed antidote. Since 2013 he runs the Schamoni label, focusing on supporting local artists like Leroy and Protein. Its sublabel Jahmoni is responsible for recent works by international artists like Aaron Spectre and DJ Marcelle/Another Nice Mess.

BELP's music is dark, serious and layered. His love for dub and dancehall shines through in his broken beats. At the same time the synth layered tracks give the album an atmospheric feeling.

This also is what makes this album essential: it's refusal to be pigeonholed. The last track on side A, 'By Beauteous Softness', is an a cappella rendition of a 17th century Henry Purcell piece, beautifully sung by Alexander Schneider. This track is preceded by 'Transmission', which is a brilliant abstract work, sounding like wind closing on you from all sides. And you can sip a cocktail whilst listening to the jazzy 'Time And Again' (BELP once worked as a jazz pianist).

It's clear to hear BELP took a long time recording this album. Every note, synth, drum beat, is carefully placed. But what the album might lack on spontaneity it more than compensates this with its sheer musical beauty. This also reflects on the abstract sleeve, like 'Elephants' designed by BELP himself.

Enjoy this album on big speakers, as background music or simply on headphones. There will always be new sounds and layers to be discovered!

One of the most promesing releases on Retune Music, a powerful techno EP with solid remixes from Alexi Delano and Xpansul.

Red Vinyl

After a very successful label launch last year with "In Aeternam Vale - Self Destruct EP". Linda Records returns with another straight talking, analog fuelled 10". This time welcoming aboard Berlin based Russian artist "Alexey Volkov". His three track EP "Cold Blooded Genius" comes finely presented on transparent red ten inch vinyl (limited pressing). Whilst staying true to its current white label feel, this time Linda's trademark eyes, also a fitting red. On the A Side at 45RPM the title track "Cold Blooded Genius" and on the B Side two tracks will spin at 33RPM, "Unfriendly Nation" & "Curtains Of Flesh". We hate to categorise and attempt to summarise what these pieces of music craft sound like into words, we'll leave you to indulge for a short time to the machine noise of the highly regarded talent that is Alexey Volkov...

Immersed in the early days of the 90s midwest rave scene, Bill Converse began DJing at a young age in Lansing, Michigan. Luminaries such as Claude Young, Traxx, and Twonz were key early influences. Since moving to Texas in 1998, he has experimented with analog techniques in varied studio bunkers. Early techno, noise, ambient, tape, and paranormal processing are all part of his uncanny sound palette. Warehouse Invocation' is Converse's debut 12 release, collecting material from a cassette release on Obsolete Future plus a new unreleased song. Three of the tracks, Warehouse Invocation', Senys Magick' and Consulted Acid', were recorded in Austin TX between 2012-2013 at home and direct to tape with no overdubs or multi-tracking. Riverbank' was also recorded at home in early 2014 in one take with a mic placed outside of the window to record the the sounds of the river late at night. Bill is informed by his surroundings, influenced by scenes of desolation in nature, the sea, the desert, and places of industry, like power stations, old factories, and warehouses. The songs on this EP length reveal a sublime influence from Detroit techno, early Chicago house, and Acid. The album was recorded and mixed by Bill at his home studio in Austin and mastered by Dave Alex. All songs were EQed for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. A custom-made jacket designed by Eloise Leigh features a mystical collage by Josua Dorje Ngodup with acid yellow hues on a deep blue-purple background. Each copy includes a postcard with notes and a Buddhist mandala

“Trash Can Lamb” is a new solo album from Akron, OH-based multi instrumentalist Keith Freund. For the better part of twenty years, Freund has been producing intimate, shape-shifting music on his own and as part of collaborative projects such as Trouble Books, Lemon Quartet, and Aqueduct Ensemble. Here, he concocts a heady, homespun broth of analog synthesis, bit-reduced sampling, piano, standup bass, saxophone, and location recordings, arriving at a loose and evocative set of songs. Throughout the album, we hear 8-bit experimental delays mangling airy acoustic materials, denaturalizing them into primitive loop structures while retaining their golden-hued, melodic cores. The sputters, hisses, and croaks of handmade electronics nuzzle up to wistful piano and saxophone ruminations; the pure pandemonium of chaotic triangle wave patching and filtered noise settles into the serenity of a backyard dusk full of spring peepers (or maybe they’re crickets…). It’s in the space between the ragtag and rough-hewn and the romantic and yearning that Freund situates these compositions; it’s a peek inside a workshop that sits atop the trees, branches scraping on the windows, bluejays who just won’t knock it off, a table fan spinning slower and slower, its cheap blades covered in dust.

All music by Keith Freund, with contributions by Linda Lejsovka, G.S. Schray, Steve Clements, and Corey Farrow.
Mastered by Kassian Troyer at D&M.
Art/design by Alex McCullough and Felix Luke.