quête:art forest

Having been based in Sussex, Philip moved to an old mill in France and never stopped writing. In 2014 he released his organic and honest solo debut album "I'm Not The Man I Used To Be". This was followed up by the critically acclaimed Mental Home Recordings is upon us. And now Philip Parfitt is set to release Dark light via Chicago/London/Paris based label Tip Top Recordings.

A significant milestone in his long accomplished career, Dark Light features 10 beautifully crafted pieces, including deep cuts 'I know I shouldn't but voices' and 'Dark light' the title track, give ample evidence of Philip's prowess as a wordsmith and musician, but also arranger and producer. Think Nick Drake and Captain Beefheart accidentally bumping into each other at a private viewing of Bright Sta
in Heaven, you won't be too far out of the crease. Philip is accompanied by a merry band of friends and luminaries including Alex Creepy Mojo, Amelie Fish, Lucie Robet (who also wrote title track Dark Light with Philip), Gilda Scouarnec, Rog Mogale (who also mastered the album), and Mark Refoy.

Dark Light is released on digital, CD, limited edition vinyl LP with 200 copies in black and 200 copies in dark purple to match the darkly beautiful artwork by Fernando Ruibal. Sleeve notes come from Matthew Spector within the included booklet with art from Joane Charlotte Senechal, photography by Sarah Baba, and design by Anna Mort.

The Mental Groove Classic series returns with a treasure trove of rare and hard to find tracks plucked from the personal collection of label founder Olivier Ducret, a pivotal figure in Switzerland's acid house and rave-era party scene.

On Volumes Two and Three of the series - the first installment hit stores in 2017 - the Mental Groove and Musique Pour La Danse label founder takes us back to the turn of the '90s, a time he spent promoting parties in fields, squats, forests, warehouses and former factories in and around Geneva and behind the counter of a record shopof the same name. While others in Switzerland's emerging dance music scene gravitated towards US house and garage, Olivier and his crew opted for a bass, breaks and techno-focused sound inspired by regular trips to clubs, raves and record shops in the UK.

Drawing directly from his own record box and a memory bank full of snapshots of euphoric dancefloor moments, Mental Groove Classics volumes Two and Three sees Olivier reaching for cuts of near-mythical rarity, genuinely overlooked gems, and undeniably brilliant tracks that have left a long-lasting impression on the local raving landscape. It's an autobiographical audio document, historical archive and personal musical statement all rolled into one, inspired by a moment in time where musical boundaries were being redrawn in a wave of carefree optimism and freedom inspired new rave scenes across Europe and far beyond.



Matt Anniss

Original artwork by Soho's Brain Club co-owner and artist of early British club culture Mark Wigan.

File under house, breakbeat, techno and warehouse rave music

Few recording artists have aligned the quantity and quality of their releases as well as New Zealand singer/guitarist Roy Montgomery has in 1995. Beginning with kranky's release of the soundtrack for an imaginary film That That Is...Is(Not) by Roy's duo Dissolve early in the year, a series of superb albums and singles have been issued by a variety of labels across the world. Each one of them is a must have. Most recently, the Drunken Fish label released a collection of pastoral drones entitled Scenes From The South Island, singles have appeared on the Roof Bolt and gyttja labels, and further singles are scheduled with Ajax, Siltbreeze and others.
Temple IV is the first solo recording by Roy Montgomery on kranky. The album was recorded by Roy on a 4 track tape deck and then thickened up with monophonic moog. The tracks on the album are thick with interwoven guitar lines and moog drone, inspired by the Guatemalan rain forests and the mysterious ruins of the temple and ruins Roy visited there.
Roy Montgomery spent the past year in New York, Chicago and London before returning to New Zealand. While in the UK he played live with Flying Saucer Attack and collaborated with spoken word performer Kirk Lake. A brief tour across the United States in September saw Roy performing before enraptured audiences in New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles.
The long overdue recognition of Roy Montgomery as a crucial figure in New Zealand's musical history as a member of The Pin Group, Shallows and Dadamah, is now augmented by his new recordings. Temple IV will serve to extend and deepen that appreciation.

Forest Green Vinyl

Seafood Sam is a futuristic artifact. If that description might sound confusing at first, it matches the eclectic dualities found in true originals. With his effortless cool and timeless style, the North Long Beach native defies convention and exact comparison. He's a virtuosic rapper, a stop-you-in-your tracks singer, and a symphonic producer. Welcome to the lavish life of a laid-back transcontinental man of mystery, rolling in old school Cadillacs, eating caviar with a blade in his pocket, and making plays in vintage Pelle Pelle gear. A blaxploitation icon for the Instagram age, blessed with the bars of a `90s legend and 23rd century swagger. Seafood Sam is a true hero of modernity. On his full-length album debut for up-and-coming label drink sum wtr (Kari Faux, Deem Spencer, Aja Monet) debut, Standing on Giant Shoulders, Sam splits the difference between Snoop Dogg and D' Angelo, Curren$y and David Ruffin. The songs reveal a forward-thinking sensibility rooted in ancestral soul. He creates spiritual hymns for the streets that tap into universal ideals and irrepressible groove. In an era plagued by short-term thinking, his ambitions reveal a crate-digging depth of music history and a meticulous ear for detail. The giant shoulders in the album's title refer to James Brown, Bobby Brown, and Miles Davis - the holy trinity who inspired Sam's process. From the Godfather of Soul, Sam took a perfectionist's rigor and focus. The example of Bobby Brown lent an unshakeable confidence and self-belief. While the constant artistic left turns of the trumpeter that birthed Ccool offered an aspirational archetype. The story starts in the glory days of Long Beach hip-hop. As a young child, the G-Funk era soundtracked rides in Sam's father's car. Some of his earliest memories are trying to memorize Snoop's verse on "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang." Beyond gangsta rap, the LBC has historically doubled as a capital of lowrider soul and carwash oldies. At any intersection, you could hear Dogg Food or Brenton Wood, Warren G or Barbara Lynn. This too was absorbed via osmosis. It also just so happened that the art of performance was always in Sam's blood. So at family functions, he and his sister supplied entertainment by singing karaoke renditions of The Isley Brothers. While his Harlem Shake remains a thing of local lore. Long Beach is a culturally diverse mecca of skate parks and gang life, street fashion and tricky dance moves. This is the place that raised Sam on a diet of Wu-Tang and Nelly Furtado, Lil Bow Wow and Allen Iverson. He was the middle ground between his two older brothers: one who gangbanged, the other who graduated with a master's degree from UC-Santa Barbara. But it wasn't until the end of high school that Sam started to take rap seriously. Alongside long-time collaborators like Huey Briss and Reaper Mook, Sam's name began to make waves on the northside of the city, but he was partially distracted by a modeling career that paid the bills and took him all to way to walk in Paris' fashion week. The first turning point arrived with 2018's "Ramsey," a self-produced, slick-talk anthem with over 10,000,000 streams across all platforms. With each subsequent release, Sam showcased his peerless consistency, building buzz both online and in the city streets. Spin hailed his "smooth and unhurried cadences and understated lyricism_ that sounds like nothing else in Long Beach." Clash raved about Sam's "evolution as an artist, cruising through nostalgic production with slick, witty rhymes." The culmination arrives with Standing on Giant Shoulders. It's the evidence of a master, a young sensei in the model of Quincy Jones. All rhymes, singing, production, and arrangements were handled by Sam - with an assist from his close Long Beach kinsman Tom Kendall from the group Soular System. It's hard-edged and lyrical enough for disciples of Larry June and Roc Marciano, but orchestral and melodic enough for fans of Anderson .Paak and H.E.R.

BOTANIST nehmen uns auf ihrem zwölften Album "Paleobotany" auf eine Reise mit, die 70 Millionen Jahre zurück in eine Zeit führt, in der Dinosaurier den Planeten beherrschten und die ersten Wälder zu Kohle wurden. Bevor der apokalyptische Einschlag des Chicxulub-Asteroiden das Zeitalter der Giganten in Flammen untergehen ließ, wuchsen auch viele Pflanzen, deren Artenfamilien auch heute noch Nachkommen haben, zu erstaunlichen Größen heran. "Paleobotany" kommt mit all jenen Markenzeichen daher, die BOTANIST aus der Masse aller Metal-Acts auf diesem Planeten hervorheben. Lyrisch dreht sich bei der Band aus San Francisco, Kalifornien alles um Pflanzen - ein klarer Bruch mit den üblichen Genre-Klischees wie Satan, Drachen und Bier. Ihre Musik ist einerseits deutlich im "Metal" verankert, doch statt 6-saitiger Gitarren verwenden die Amerikaner 110-saitige Hackbretter. Zur Verwirrung aller Traditionalisten statten BOTANIST die perkussiven Saiteninstrumente aus der Folklore mit magnetischen Tonabnehmern aus und verzerren sie mit verschiedenen Mitteln, die von Verstärkern über analoges Tonband bis hin zu digitaler Manipulation reichen. Der daraus resultierende Sound ist ebenso einzigartig wie spektakulär. Die kontinuierliche klangliche Entwicklung von BOTANIST begann an einem hörbar vom nordischen Black Metal geprägten Ausgangspunkt. Die Band entwickelte aber bald einen offeneren, avantgardistischeren Stil, der zu einer wachsenden Komplexität führte. Auf "Paleobotany" haben die Kalifornier einige der verschlungenen progressiven Elemente zugunsten songorientierterer Arrangements wieder abgelegt, die dennoch weiterhin detailreich bleiben und voller Überraschungen stecken. Dies wird dadurch verstärkt, dass das Album vom renommierten schwedischen Produzenten Fredrik Nordström (DIMMU BORGIR, OPETH, AT THE GATES) im Studio Fredman abgemischt wurde. BOTANIST bleiben eine einzigartige Band. "Paleobotany" erweitert die dunkelgrüne Klangpalette ihres Avantgarde-Metal-Sounds zu einem zugänglicheren und dynamischeren Klangerlebnis. Pflanzen bevölkerten schon weit vor den vierbeinige Giganten die Erde - und sie werden immer noch wachsen, wenn die Menschheit längst wieder zu Sternenstaub zerfallen ist. BOTANIST gewinnen ihre musikalische Zukunft, indem sie mit "Paleobotany" Millionen von Jahren in die Vergangenheit reisen!

The title of the Lau Nau's 10th album, Aphrilis, derives from the Latin word aperire, meaning "to open." A fitting verb for the month of the year it is closely associated with — April. And while the images of plants and blossoms coming back to colorful life after a long, cold winter feels appropriate when listening to the rich and lustrous bloom of music on Aphrilis, another definition of open feels even more apt. For under the abundance lies the memory of times of austerity, the friction of hard choices, the acceptance that nothing is fixed and the future is unknown. This literal and metaphorical exploration of complexity and contradiction makes Aphrilis a multi-dimensional antidote for our troubled times, one that emphasizes the quiet and communal over noise and spectacle. Laura Naukkarinen, the Finnish artist behind this project, has long kept her mind and spirit open to whatever sounds and creative ideas felt appropriate for the moment. For the past six years that has meant primarily working with modular synthesis — learning how to build modules and releasing acclaimed work centered on its sounds like 5x4 (2023) or Puutarhassa (2022). Running parallel to this work, however, has been a continued exploration of acoustic instruments and group performances with her trio Lau Nau ja Seitsemäs Taivas. Aphrilis arrives then like fresh growth in a creative season cycle. A companion to her brilliant 2017 release Poseidon, the album, says Naukkarinen, "felt like a needed moment to embrace songs with lyrics again." And through the creation of this work, she remained open not only to her own creative muse, but also the input of her chosen collaborators. Each player on Aphrilis — Matti Bye on celesta and synths, Pekko Käppi on jouhikko, Hermanni Yli-Tepsa on violin and contrabass, Topias Tiheäsalo on electric guitar, Samuli Kosminen (Múm) on various instruments — was given free reign to arrange their own parts to accompany Naukkarinen's compositions. Kosminen’s lush fingerprint can also be heard in the mixing and production of the album, as with Poseidon six years ago. The moniker of this project may be taken from Naukkarinen’s own name, but Lau Nau feels more like a band than ever before. The delicacy and softness of the music is reflected in Naukkarinen’s lyrics. Each song is rife with imagery and creatures from the natural world. The spiders in the forest. The animals that keep a young woman company in her refuge in the woods. Wet grass. The feeling of the music is almost tactile, as if listening to the album will leave a bit of dew or sap on your fingers. The theme of this material, says Naukkarinen, runs even deeper. “The songs tell about cracks and changes of direction in different histories: personal, societal, planetary,” she says. “About moments when a yes can become a no and vice versa. The album wants to propose that at the moment of a crisis there is a possibility to influence the histories by our choices.” That may feel like a lot for such a fragile sounding collection of songs to bear. But Aphrilis is an album of surprising strength and resilience

Born in 1977, in Malang, East Java, Wukir Suryadi began playing music for theatre at the age of 12 with the Idiot The-ater Studio, and later with the Rendra Theater Workshop. In his solo work, and as a member of Senyawa, Error Scream, Bendera Hitam Setengah, Potro Joyo and other groups, Wukir breaks the boundaries of traditional music, death metal and avant-garde performance. On this new release, “Cycle and Prayer,” recorded in 2023, he expands the edges of his unique artistic world further, by digging in to meditative improvisation, art, and community building in his home workshop in the mountains of central Java. These recordings vibrate inwards, toward the microcosmic ecologies of forests and rivers; they distort outwards, resonating with global waves of apocalyptic change that are forcing all living beings to the edges of existence on earth. The result is a meditative poem that moves, as its titles an-nounce, from phenomena to phenomena, praying that humans find a way out from the depths of the depths to the light that illuminates the soul.
An essential mode of creative work for Wukir is the creation of unique instruments, using these sound sources as “bullets of expression.” In addition to the spear-like tube zither Bambu Wukir, he has created the Solet, Enthong, Garu, Luku, Arrows, and Industrial Mutant instruments, which in addition to being used in live performance, have been exhibited in the Instrument Builders Project and the 2017 Jakarta Biennale. In the past few years, Wukir has begun to collaborate with local guitar makers, carpenters, and suppliers of native endemic wood in the mountain region of Salatiga. Using earthen bricks along with local woods (suren, coconut, mindi, and waru lengis) as building materials, he constructed a new studio and workshop space in Tingkir, where this album was made. The trees, water and air of the local environment have exerted a powerful influence in Wukir’s documentations of instrumental sound. On this recording, he uses the simple Cetta guitar, an instrument designed in Bali and made for Indonesian children and local communities of folk and popular musicians, in order to explore the different sonic characteristics of a more “normal” instrument built from local wood.
The themes of the album -- cycle and prayer -- arise from a foreboding series of meta-events that shook Indonesia and the world over the past years, following one after the other: the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukrainian-Russian war, the Kanjuruhan Stadium tragedy in which football supporters were gassed and killed by police, revelations of govern-ment failures and corruption, the rise of personal vehicles, the increasing disturbance of natural patterns of the rainy season and other ecological cycles. “In these waves of technology and narratives of truth made for certain interests, playing a sound at a certain frequency and repeating can try to bring images and feelings to a certain point of con-sciousness,” Wukir told me. “Sound is a prayer that creates a change, whether gradual or rapid, in the behaviour of living things, to face the demands of the time, as humans struggle to live according to what they believe.” The draw-ings and sketches used for the cover spontaneously emerged alongside the recordings, as an instinctive depiction of “time and sound, nature that is outside of oneself, and nature that is within.”

2023 marks the tenth year of Music From Memory; a decade of groundbreaking archival releases, cross-generational collaborations and long-standing creative partnerships with our ever-expanding community of artists.

To celebrate this milestone, earlier this year we asked our roster of artists to submit a piece of music for an anniversary compilation. As submissions gradually came in, we were blown away by what we received and slowly began to piece them together into what was to become “10”.

Featuring work from artists who were present during the formation of the label, such as Gigi Masin, Joan Bibiloni and Michal Turtle, as well as artists like The Zenmenn, RAMZi and Dea, who have helped the label expand over subsequent years, “10” serves as a natural bookmark of where we are musically, whilst simultaneously reflecting on the label's rich musical past.

In keeping with the Music From Memory ethos, the music of “10” spans both time and space, with submissions ranging from Vito Ricci's 'Da Hamptons' (1985) to Yu Su & J. Wilson's 'Mitti Atar' (2023). It crosses the globe, with a total of 10 countries represented across 17 tracks. The final result is an immersive musical compilation that flows perfectly from start to finish.

Tragically, during the last few weeks of finalising MFM066, label co-owner Jamie Tiller passed away in a sudden accident. “10” was always intended to be a way to reflect on the journey of Music From Memory. The fact that it is now also one of the last releases that the team all worked on together adds a whole other level of reflection and makes it all the more special.

In the third release of Organic Signs, we embark on a direct journey to the musical heart of Refractor: the annual gathering held in a forest on the outskirts of Madrid to celebrate dancing under the sun and stars for 24 uninterrupted hours.

With four tracks that encapsulate the sound of different mental states you may experience firsthand on this expedition, we begin with label manager Jan Swam's track. He introduces us to ancestral sounds featuring a flute played by himself, gradually accompanied by a penetrating bassline and synth, along with various elements spread across the stereo field. All of this leads to an unexpected finale. Next, we delve into the track by French artist based in Seoul, Pyramid Of Knowledge aka K.O.P. 32, who has crafted a perfect progression of sounds to immerse us in a trance towards the depths of the subconscious. The intensity builds up gradually until reaching its peak in the final moments.

On the other side, we welcome back our beloved Digitalis, responsible for the label's first release. This time, he presents a lost gem from '97 never before released, transporting us directly to the UK rave scene. Get ready to feel the unleashed pulse of the English artist who left an indelible mark on psychedelic music. Finally, we venture into the last chapter where Tadan pilots an interdimensional ship towards the hidden face of a moon that orbits a planet beyond the solar system. Close your eyes to appreciate the depth of the atmospheres and textures, intertwined with a constant rhythmic line that will guide us to the final moments of the record.

In the dynamic landscape of contemporary jazz, Scottish pianist and composer Fergus McCreadie has carved a remarkable niche. Since 2021, his career has skyrocketed, marked by two acclaimed album releases that propelled him into the limelight – shortlisted for the Mercury Prize and clinching the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) for "Forest Floor." His debut with Edition Records, "Cairn" (2021), set the stage for a journey deeply rooted in natural themes. McCreadie's latest venture, "Stream," continues this intriguing exploration, this time delving into the essence of water. Accompanied by his long-standing comrades, David Bowden and Stephen Henderson, the album flows with the fluidity of its namesake. It's a musical stream that flows through the rich landscapes of Scottish folklore and the sophisticated avenues of contemporary jazz, blending them seamlessly. The album's narrative is a testament to the trio's evolving musical identity, meticulously crafted to mirror a journey from darkness to light. McCreadie shares, "What I like most about this album is that it evolves from dark to light as the album goes on. It's a sort of cloudy skies to sunnier skies journey, quite different from previous albums where the track sequence was more arbitrary." Their sound, a nuanced tapestry woven with delicate touches and bold strokes, speaks of their confidence and exuberance in forging a distinct path. "Stream" is an exploration of shared passions and expressions, pushing the boundaries of their musical language and vocabulary to new depths. With "Stream," Fergus McCreadie, Bowden, and Henderson offer a refreshing antidote to the predictable. Their music is a celebration of individuality, a journey that resonates with the trio's unique voice. It's an invitation to listeners to immerse themselves in a soundscape that's both familiar in its Scottish roots and revolutionary in its jazz execution – a goal every artist aspires to achieve. "Stream" is a musical narrative that flows like water – sometimes calm, sometimes tempestuous, but always moving forward. For those seeking a fresh, engaging, and authentic musical journey, Fergus McCreadie's "Stream" is a listening adventure not to be missed.

Stream by Fergus Mccreadie, released 3 May 2024, includes the following tracks: "Driftwood", "Sun Pillars", "Stony Gate", "Coastline" and more.

Stephen EvEns highly anticipated new album Here Come the Lights is set for release, March 29, the album is self-produced and mastered with Sean McGee (Abbey Road) will be released via Onomatopoeia (Hurtling, William D. Drake, Crayola Lectern). The album celebrates the recent success of his limited-edition vinyl only release, Smoking Is Cool (recorded with Steve Albini). Here Come The Lights takes a step into the future, as folk-art tales are interspersed with psych rock magic and post-punk sensibilities amidst swooping and motoric guitars, sound effects and metronomic happenings, in this rich tapestry of life. A Song For Europe teases, cracking, and fizzing onto our radar, this ‘love affair to Europe’ is a celebration of a continent and moments in time, complete with virtuoso guitar, full backing choir and grunge atmospherics. Firefly has a pure folk aesthetic, sound effects, symphonies, and percussion combine in a call to find one’s true strength. BBQ Head picks-up more of a groove, interspersed with rapping style lyrics fused with the fuzzy intermission of 7 Bells. Lazy Eyes takes on a more mournful and melancholic hue, depicting a couple’s evasive looks over dinner, as they avoid the elephant in the room, cracks into a soaring space-rock ending. A Tree takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey into the forest, as EvEns takes a moment out from modern life, where he and his dog Rudy escape into the autumnal wilderness. A Bee takes on a more high glam Roxy Music appeal meets 70s novelty pop, fun and exhilarating. The album is polished off with a song of hope called Happy New Year, metronomic beginnings, gentle Hammond orchestrations weigh-up the importance of friendship and the meaning of success. Multi-instrumentalist and talented musician Stephen EvEns tours with his own guitar and full band line-up. The album welcomes a whole host of Brixton Hill Studios collaborators, accompanied by former Echobelly/Curve bassist Debbie Smith, Cardiacs alumni Bob Leith and William D. Drake, and Hurtling guitarist and sometime My Bloody Valentine keyboard player Jenny Macro, Stephen EvEns plays live at The Lexington, alongside labelmates from Onomatopoeia

Black Truffle is pleased to announce The Mountains Pass, a major new work from Olivia Block. A key player in Chicago’s vibrant experimental music scene since the late 1990s, Block has developed an extensive body of work grounded in a personalised, at times emotive approach to the studio-based practices of the musique concrète tradition, while also encompassing improvisation, orchestral pieces, sound installations, and a sustained engagement with the piano. On The Mountains Pass, recorded by Greg Norman at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio and meticulously edited and constructed over the course of three years, Block pushes into new terrain, introducing her singing voice and drums played by Jon Mueller into flowing assemblages that move seamlessly from ruminative organ tones and fragmented piano airs to explosions of sizzling synths and thundering percussion. Like many of Block’s past works, which include, for example, a sculptural installation using the sound of oyster beds, The Mountains Pass draws inspiration from nature and the animal world. Time spent in a particular mountain range in Northern New Mexico informs this suite of pieces, whose lyrics and titles refer particularly to animal life in the area. Beginning with bursts of white noise and delicate synthetic pops and squeaks, opener ‘Northward’ very soon reveals the special direction the album will take, as lyrical piano lines are joined by Block’s fragile voice, singing words written from the perspective of f2754, an endangered Mexican gray wolf who wandered more than five hundred miles from Arizona to New Mexico in 2022. The fragment of song quickly breaks off, leaving us with a ghostly electronic hum. ‘The Hermit’s Peak’ follows, one of two epic pieces at the album’s core. Beginning with chiming, almost harpsichord-like tones, it moves through episodes of spacious, ruminative piano, Jon Mueller’s sparkling cymbals, stuttering cut-up piano sounds, and a climax of keening organ and trumpet tones (performed by Thomas Madeja). Continuing the exploration of vintage keyboard and synth tones heard on Block’s Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea (Room 40, 2021), the music sometimes suggests the great outer-limits works of 70s Italian prog figures like Franco Battiato or Arturo Stalteri in the languorous drift of synthesizer, organ, and piano tones and the meticulous yet organic flow of its construction. ‘Violet-Green’ opens the second side with another epic journey, its lyrical content concerning ‘a mysterious bird die-off and a forest fire’. Block’s crystalline voice and rich piano chords at times call up the restrained chamber songs of Janet Sherbourne, but fragmented and threaded through passages of woozy pitch-bent keyboards, hypnotic distant thuds, tinkling bells, and searing distorted synth tones. On ‘f2754’, the freedom of the roaming wolf surges through dense layers of rapid keyboard attacks and long organ tones over a propulsive drum performance straight out of Animal Magnetism-era Arnold Dreyblatt. This distinctive sound world is then reencountered in a darkened mirror image in the uneasy, metallic shimmer of the closing ‘Ungulates’, named in reference to a heard of elk roaming through the mountains. Like Battiato’s Clic or Gastr del Sol’s Upgrade & Afterlife, The Mountains Pass inhabits the underexplored terrain where the beauty of song coexists with a radical formal openness, illuminating the deep musicality and warmth that have been present in Block’s work all along.

2LP Repress!

Yosi Horikawa makes music quite unlike anything you've heard, music that reflects not only the appeal of rhythm and melodies but also the power and hidden musicality of everyday sounds. In that sense Horikawa is not just a producer or musician or sound artist: he is a world builder whose materials constantly surround us, though we rarely stop to appreciate them. Horikawa honed this approach for more than a decade, travelling far and wide to record forests, beaches, cities and people while never missing an opportunity to also find sounds closer to his home in Tokyo.

'Spaces' is Horikawa's new album, following from 2013's 'Vapor' released via London-based label First Word. This time the album is released on Borrowed Scenery, a new label setup by Horikawa and close collaborator Daisuke Tanabe to enable them to operate free of constraints.

The album features 11 songs that combine field recordings and sound design with a range of stylistic touch points: the fluid intricacies of hip-hop, the precise efficacy of IDM, the euphoric physicality of dance music, the humanity of acoustic instrumentation. Each song blends a primary sound source with a certain style, with titles often hinting at the origins of the sounds – "Moldy Vinyl," "Vietnam," "Fluid," "Swashers," "Nubia" – or the mood the music evokes. What ties it all together is Horikawa' s deeply personal understanding of what constitutes music, an understanding shorn from the commercial and stylistic structures of music as a commodity.

'Spaces' is a deeply human experience, and through Horikawa's approach music feels as natural as breathing. Horikawa has collaborated with French producer Fulgeance, American singer Jesse Boykins III and fellow Japanese experimentalist Daisuke Tanabe. His music has been supported by Gilles Peterson and Benji B. Outside of music Horikawa is an in-demand sound engineer and speaker designer who has worked with J-WAVE, Kengo Kuma, Mitsubishi and Sound & Bar Howl in Tokyo. 　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　

(by Laurent Fintoni / Original Cultures)

Having built a loyal local Antwerp following off of the success of their 2019 debut self released album, ‘Forgotten Kingdom’, and growing reputation for electrifying stage performances, Kolonel Djafaar achieved worldwide recognition in 2021 for the ‘Cold Heat’ EP on Batov Records, attracting praise from Music Is My Sanctuary (“triumphant), and support from Gideon Coe on BBC 6 Radio Music, and DJs across Worldwide FM, Soho Radio, Le Mellotron, and KEXP.

The group overcame busy schedules and frequent quarantine periods to hit the studio in February 2022 to lay down four tracks. However, the creative itch persisted, leading to an intense writing session in August, deep in the heart of a tranquil forest. From noon until midnight, the band immersed themselves in the creative process, embracing the freedom to make noise without restraint.

Fueled by hearty breakfasts, unwavering focus, and the ambient clucking of chickens roaming the studio, Kolonel Djafaar crafted the majority of ‘Getaway’. This period marked a pivotal shift as a number of new band members joined just in time for the August sessions.

Membership changes, including Emiel Lauryssen joining on trumpet, alongside guitarist Philip Matthhijnssens, the band's palette has broadened and new sounds are able to break through. From psychedelic rock and soul influence of the Daptone Records’ affiliated Budos Band, surf rock (“Urban Dweller”), Morricone Spaghetti Western guitar, and Afro Cuban (“Kelmendi”), alongside the brassy Afrobeat and Ethio jazz vibes the group have been known for.

The broader dynamics of ‘Getaway’, and the band’s more cinematic and experimental approach, is particularly apparent on "Siren’s Glitch" and "Phil’s First Tear". The latter, first conceived by drummer Anton Van Hove, features the lead guitar doubling up with the bass guitar for added impact. Whilst the origins of "Convoi Exceptionnel", a brass & synths stomper of a march, trace back to a jam session during the band's Hungarian tour, another vital period of prolonged time together, capturing the organic essence of their experiences on the road.

Each track on ‘Getaway’ holds a unique connection to at least one band member, and all benefit from a collaborative approach to songwriting. "Sparking Clover'', an Ethio-inspired psych & soul groover penned by tenor saxophonist Doyin Smith, carries a poignant undertone inspired by personal loss, while psych rock leaning tracks like "Apologies in Advance" showcase the band's evolution and increasing professionalism in crafting a distinct sonic experience.

The curious cover art depicts a lone individual heading down an empty city street towards a large mysterious glowing object, evoking the common emptiness and struggle of urban life, and the search for meaning or just something better. The band envision the object to represent this album, offering a beacon to like-minded listeners. Kolonel Djafaar invite music enthusiasts on an immersive journey, to ‘Getaway’ from the daily grind of life, on an album reflecting diverse influences and marking a new chapter in their musical exploration.

Utter presents 'The Ritual EP' by Frank Rodas.

Frank Rodas is the elusive creator of 2019's 'The Sellout EP' (Optimo Music) and one of the brains behind the excellent 'Out The Flat' label. While his previous release deftly dipped into Electro, Industrial and EBM sonics, 'The Ritual EP' sees the versatile producer travel in another direction, taking the listener on an ethereal, acid-tinged Tribal voyage.

The visuals also complement the EP's cohesive deeper sound. Decadence comics co-founder Lando's immersive artwork draws us further into this imagined far-future world, with a vast flooded landscape dominating the front cover, any remnant of civilisation succumbing to nature. A large 50x70cm panoramic poster is included with every copy of the record.

'The Ritual EP' is available on recycled vinyl and digital formats.

Mastered & cut by Anne Taegert at D&M.

Remastered re-issue of this now classic work of Ambient / Dungeon Synth. Conceived in late 2002 as a soundtrack for one of the most sinister, dark, brutal and morbid periods of European history, the Dark Ages. Diving deep into Medieval works on witchcraft, demonology and theology, as well as the works of modern authors exploring all the aspects of that epoch, Roman Saenko (of Drudkh and Hate Forest) wanted to explore all shades of the Middle Ages. Bringing forth images, details and landscapes of that era into the modern world using a minimalistic yet very poignant pallet of sounds. Artwork by Heresie Studio.

Finland’s Hexvessel return with their sixth album, Polar Veil, a cold, metallic hymn to the Sub Arctic North. Haunted by primal forest spirits, Mat “Kvohst” McNerney summons the ghosts of his past in a jaw-dropping, unheard-of rebirth of style and sound. At once unmistakably Hexvessel, Polar Veil is also steeped in the nocturnal atmosphere of McNerney’s past, churned in the cauldron of Black Metal, Ritual Folk Psychedelia and Doom Rock, and echoing with shivering Gothic undertones. From their inception in 2009, Hexvessel, created by Mat McNerney as what he described to Decibel Magazine as “a free spiritual journey and a musical odyssey with no boundaries”, have captivated audiences and listeners with their evolution. Holed up in a home-made studio in his log cabin during the winter of 2022, McNerney drew on all the fundamental elements of his music career as a shamanic shapeshifter, with only the isolation of nature’s solitude as inspiration. Painting an aura with Polar Veil which resonates with solitary reflection and themes of personal spiritual transcendence, Hexvessel’s new album is a bold statement from an artist who continues to reinvent and explore nature mysticism through music.

Kaleida are the transatlantic duo whose darkly mystic soundworld finds glimmers of hope in the disquiet. Span- ning an ocean, the pair have nurtured a long-distance partnership that withstands the shifting patterns of life. They first formed in 2013 when a friend introduced them over email. Christina Wood was working in the Indone- sian forest while recording demos in her bedroom each night, and Cicely Goulder had been composing for film productions in London. Despite the miles between them, they found an instant musical chemistry.
Kaleida first came to international renown in 2014, when their single “Think” went viral overnight and was featured in the soundtrack for the cult Keanu Reeves film, John Wick. Their debut album Tear The Roots arrived in 2017 and crystallised the pair’s moody pop aesthetic, which merges Wood’s sylph-like, operatic vocals with Goulder’s neo-Noir electronica. The record earned the duo their sec- ond spot in a film soundtrack, this time for Atomic Blonde with a tender take on Nena’s 1980s anti-war classic “99 Luftballons”. It was followed in 2020 by the pair’s second album Odyssey dubbed “a consummate work of electronic artistry.” Their new album In Arms is a record that leans into a near transcendent spiritualism, where their minimalist production conceals a raw, celestial power. With a departure from their previously insular way of working, they invited other musicians into the production process, most notably producer Johan Hugo (Self Esteem, M.I.A, Skepta).

Back in print on vinyl! Deerhoof debuts their new guitarist John Dieterich and achieves widespread critical acclaim for the first time. 2002's Reveille is a defiant expression of artistic rebirth, spilling over with madcap exuberance, apocalyptic imagery, newfound technical confidence belying their no-budget DIY recording methods, and jarring stylistic about-faces in which no two songs sound alike. The contrast of Satomi's ever-catchy, ever-charming melodiousness with John and Greg's noisy, cinematic bombast still has the power to thrill and tickle and upset, more than 20 years after its initial release. Includes reimagined cover art with the faint morning glow the band had always envisioned, pressed on clear sun-colored vinyl. Complete lyrics included for the first time, written by Satomi on the center labels.

dog-rose is an exploration of musical articulation and vocalization. Its themes can be felt gnawing at the surface of the world: people's clumsy everyday intimacies, the neverending pursuit of self-knowledge, God. Of foremost interest was the unreliability of memory as a tool through which we experience life, yielding an attempt to dismantle it into its minute elements.

"I arrived at a combination of diary entries in the form of field recordings, various, mostly acoustic, instruments through which I invoke different modes of memory // its associative functions, and my own voice, more an agent of introspection than any conventional vocal. The lyrics were originally written as pop-songs, but committed to the form of contemporary music they appear as field recordings made to be sung. They are field-songs."

"To me, musicmaking is a dialogue with sounds where I seek to understand their character and how to handle them. This is a performative process and admittedly also a projection – what I am actually discussing is myself. The recording took place at a remote cabin in the forests of Tribeč. Most of my work is created in isolation, regardless of the social distancing and lockdowns of the outside world."

Tomas Pristiak is a member of Tante Elze, Pain Palace (FKA Weltschmerzen), and dog-rose is his first solo album and the 11th release by contemplative label Weltschmerzen.

The English duo Persher, Arthur Cayzer (Pariah) and Jamie Roberts (Blawan), take the same subversive, boundaryless approach to extreme music that underpins their electronic explorations. Their individual singles output are highly anticipated in the dance world in part because of their affinity expression beyond a trend. The debut album Sleep Well is ferocious and innovative. Cayzer and Roberts take a decidedly unconventional approach to writing, using the full potential of the studio in their exploration of extreme music. What sounds like a live band performance is more often than not an amalgam of many different sessions, the duo applying techniques from electronic music to heavier sonics. Recording in Roberts" studio at Funkhaus, the home of the former East German state-owned radio station, Cayzer would improvise long takes on guitar and bass, contorted and mutated by Robert"s using his extensive modular setup to add weight and texture. This primordial ooze of raw sonics was then chopped up and reassembled into bristling hooks and corrosive atmospheres. The duo"s playful, exuberant approach to music is evident in their absurdist themes and lyrics. Much of the album is inspired by "really disgusting food". Medieval Soup from the Milkbar references the epically bad meal of gray, gruel-like soup, and seeps into the track"s noxious slurry and stomach-churning riffs. "Portable Aquarium" was born of a cup of herbal tea overflowing with foliage. Their playful and often self-deprecating sense of humor allows them to find inspiration in the smallest of life"s events. Persher"s Sleep Well provides a daring, revelatory expansion on heavy music"s myriad mutations. The duo uses their production skills and their humor to embrace the powerful release they find in extreme. Persher"s debut album exudes the sheer joy of making music unconstrained by genre boundaries, as gleefully weird as it is visceral and primal.

Brownswood Recordings releases the 7th edition of their Future Bubblers Compilation. An expansion of Gilles Peterson's network supported by Arts Council England, the ongoing talent discovery and artist development scheme focuses on developing unsigned talent and building audiences for new left-field music. With support from PRS Foundation as Talent Development Partners, the professional recording, manufacturing and physical release of Future Bubblers 7.0 is made possible. Unlike any other initiatives within music, the compilation acts as a springboard for the musician's careers, with the cooperative model providing direct revenue to the artists by a share of the profits, resulting in a sustainable income to work from. Previous Future Bubblers include artists such as Yazmin Lacey, KinKai, MC Snowy, Forest Law, Victoria Jane, NeOne The Wonderer and Kayla Painter, to name a few.

The 8-track compilation is a musically diverse collection of tracks, fusing genres across Alt-R&B, Dance, Electronic, Jazz, Rap and Trip-Hop. Opening the project, ROMY NOVA flaunts her hypnotic harmonies on a tender offering, 'The Way', whilst Sheffield-born Jackie Moonbather delivers a Funk performance on 'Separate Ways'. Up next, Ney Liqa's 'Blomster' captures a blend of Trip-Hop and Swedish-Pop, fusing her earliest musical influences before Birmingham's very own Landel's cloud-Rap excellence on '2 Many'. Maintaining the ethereal sonic, Petrelli Purple's 'Brisk' is reflective of his ability to curate a "miscellaneous north" sound, followed by MARYSIA OSU's 'Stryder' that highlights her self-coined "harps, beats, and dreams" ethos. Michael Diamond showcases his ability to float between jazz and electronic landscapes on 'Aether' before COEX rounds off the project nicely with 'Reflections'.

German melodic extreme metal act FAR BEYOND mark their return with their third studio album, The End of My Road, on February 16 via their new label home Prosthetic Records. FAR BEYONDüs latest full-length is an ambitious and fastidiously curated amalgam of melodeath, symphonic and power metal, covering themes of courage and heart in the face of depression and hardship. Formed in the early 2000s, FAR BEYOND is the solo project of Eugen Dodenhoeft. Based in the Franconian Switzerland region of Germany, FAR BEYONDüs history to this point has been one of slow and steady artistic progression with 2005's An Angel's Requiem and 2016's A Frozen Flame Of Ice albums showcasing Dodenhoeftüs penchant for seamlessly alternating dynamics of gothic and death metal symphonia. Lusciously complex by design, FAR BEYOND's latest album shines in its songwriting structure. Across the eight tracks, Eugen compiled up to 30 layers of vocals, synthesisers and orchestral textures. Whilst a solo endeavour at its core, The End of My Road sees collaborative guitar solos from Nathram's Lukas Grasslin as well as additional synthesiser embellishments from Ari Ahrendt on Tempus Fugit and the title track. The End of My Road was then placed in the hands of Patrick Staudle of Glaswald Studios in The Black Forest, Germany. Furthering their quest to understand the complexities of the unknown and transcend beyond the unknown, The End of My Roadüs contemplative atmospherics and concentrated sonic extremities merge seamlessly with a deft poetic touch. With Eugen adding: üThe End of My Road is my invitation to get lost in the sonic realms of FAR BEYOND and find a moment of peace and inspiration. I look forward to sharing this album with the world and hope that it touches the hearts of listeners, providing them with an unforgettable soundtrack for their own journey.

Egil Kalman has levelled up on this one; we were stunned by his last solo opus, and on ‘Forest of Tines’, the bassist/synthesist has traded the EMS Synthi 100 for the Buchla Series 200, recording at Stockholm’s illustrious Elektronmusikstudion (EMS). Here, he builds on themes he explored on his debut with a generous 20 track double album that marks firmer lines between Scandinavian folk music and contemporary electro- acoustic minimalism.

Using woody, synthesised tones that gradually open into sawing wails, Kalman suggests harmonies that lie between the 17th century polska and earlier, pre-Renaissance sounds, mimicking the tonal and textural fluctuations of strings with advanced tuning and sequencing techniques. There are plenty of artists delving into the past to unravel their identity, but Kalman’s approach is refreshingly unadulterated. He recorded the entire set on the fly, using just spring reverb to add extra texture, without overdubs or modern DAW-style layering, the Buchla 200 played almost like an acoustic instrument.

There’s a glimmer of vintage acid on the lithe ‘Dub One’, a complex, rhythmic experiment that lashes its pulses together with willowy portamento slides. And on ‘Klystron’, he absorbs warehouse techno’s architectural oomph, splaying psychedelic, reverberating ascending sequences over jagged kicks; listen carefully, and there’s something else going on in the background too, as Kalman meets his stabs with flute-like echoes. It’s a peculiar cocktail of ideas and provocations: ‘Mbira’ finds the composer shaping his synth into dusty, fluttering hits that resemble the titular Zimbabwean finger harp, and on ‘Drums’, he pipes pre-recorded percussion through the system, triggering its oscillators and helping shape its rhythmic patterns. He’s most comfortable when he’s mines a hazier past, ‘Autumn Leaves’ is a mystickal, just intoned droner that harmonises with Mattias Petersson’s awesome ‘Triangular Progressions’, and ‘Subtines’ sounds as if Kalman has deployed his instrument in a subterranean crevice, resonating his rumbles around synthetic water droplets.

If it’s uncanny court music you’re particularly interested in, there’s plenty of that too. ‘Polska’ is another sublimely hauntological Swedish folk interpolation, while closing track ‘Ocquet’ appears to blur Kalman’s ideas more thoroughly, melting folk phrasing and peaceful, uneasy drones to draw us to a neat conclusion. Soft-hearted but animated, it’s modern electronic music that isn’t afraid of employing vintage techniques to suggest new directions.

As the BBE Music J Jazz Masterclass Series hits its 19th title, the milestone is suitably matched by a collaboration between two giants of jazz brought together to deliver an exceptional album, working with a band of the very best Japanese jazz musicians. ‘Reminicent Suite’ by American pianist Mal Waldron and Japanese trumpeter Terumasa Hino was originally released in 1973 on the famed Victor label and was one of several Japan-only albums recorded and released by Waldron over a thirty-year period, most of which have never been available outside Japan. ‘Reminicent Suite’ comprises two extended tracks, both taking up a side each. The title track on Side A is composed by Waldron, and is a dark, brooding heavy groove typical of his early 70s sound. ‘Black Forest’ on side B is written by Hino and is a vivid and energetic piece, layered and textured with dense percussion and Hino’s signature trumpet tone. Mal Waldron started out in the early 1950s working extensively on the Prestige label with notable figures such as Gene Ammons, Jackie McLean and Charles Mingus. Most famously, he worked with Billie Holiday before leaving the States in the mid-60s and relocating to Europe where he established himself as a major figure working across many countries including France, Italy, and Germany, where he made his home in Munich. In 1969, Waldron recorded the first releases for two major European jazz labels, ECM and Enja, before visiting Japan on tour for the first time in 1970. Waldron instantly fell in love with Japan and, over the next three decades, extensively toured and recorded there for numerous labels. Terumasa Hino is one of the towering figures of post-war modern jazz in Japan. Coming to prominence via the Hideto Shiraki and Sadao Watanabe bands in the mid-60s, Hino soon emerged as one of the prime movers in new jazz generation that changed the direction of jazz in Japan. He explored a more open, freer, and improvised sound, mixing psychedelic and rock elements with freeform and post-bop jazz. Hino recorded for many of the leading jazz labels of the era including Columbia, Three Blind Mice, and East Wind and would go on to relocate to the US in the mid-70s, immersing himself with the leading fusion players of the New York scene including Larry Corryell, Mtume, Al Foster, Dave Liebman and many more. In the early 80s, Hino’s jazz funk tracks were dancefloor smashes on the UK jazz dance scene. Joining Waldron and Hino on ‘Reminicient Suite’ is a band made up of the very best Japanese jazzman of their day: Takeo Uematsu on sax, Terumasa’s brother, Motohiko Hino, on drums, and the legendary bass master, Isao Suzuki. Together, they deliver one of the very best albums of the era, a richly articulated and dynamic session that exemplifies the very best that the Japanese jazz scene was doing in the early 1970s. ‘Reminicent Suite’ is pressed on 200g vinyl presented in a gatefold sleeve plus obi strip, with new photos by Tadayuki Naito; translated original sleeve notes; and a 7500-word essay including interview with Terumasa Hino from Tony Higgins, co-curator of the J Jazz Masterclass Series. This is the first time this album has been available outside of Japan

Vivendum est ut ea libertate utamur, quae prosit amicis, noceat nemini.
We must live to enjoy the freedom that can benefit our friends and harm no one.
- Cicero -

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film directed by Ang Lee. Taking place in 18th-century Qing dynasty China, the story revolves around a warrior who gives his sword, Green Destiny, to his lover to deliver to safe keeping, but it is stolen, and the chase is on to retrieve it. The film was praised for its story, direction, and cinematography, and for its martial arts sequences. It won the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The score was composed by Tan Dun, containing many solo passages for cello by Yo-Yo Ma. The track “A Love Before Time” features Coco Lee. This album is released as a limited edition of 750 copies on translucent red vinyl.

2023 Repress

It's the quiet ones we should watch, they always say. Which is particularly astute advice right now, when loud, constant self-declaration and saturated 'brand' visibility have become the norm. But above the babble and brightness, some voices will always speak quiet volumes ­- with calm eloquence and the kind of certitude that comes from valuing the playing out, not just the prize.

Sweden's José González is just such a voice. He first charmed his way into the UK's earshot via the murmurous and elegant, classically finger-picked folk pop of his 2005 album, Veneer, which has since sold over a staggering 430, 000 copies in UK alone. Two years later came In Our Nature, a further exploration of José's influences (Argentinian Folklore, the '60s US folk tradition and the British pastoral folk-pop style of the same era), on which he resisted the temptation to beef up his alluringly introvert aesthetic. The albums made the UK Top 10 and Top 20 respectively.

Conceived as the natural third part in an acoustic trilogy, Vestiges & Claws is a(nother) hushed and delicate solo set that forefronts the artist and guitarist's compellingly intimate vocal style and intricate playing technique, but it's often strikingly rhythmic in nature and cohere's perfectly, with hand claps and taps on the body of his instrument underlining the songs' mantric rise-and-fall pattern, while elsewhere, over-dubbed guitar parts and multi-tracked vocal harmonies entwine to sweetly immersive effect.

The title refers to both cultural practices and biological features that survive despite having lost their original function, and to currently useful tools, ie the 'claws' of modern life.

Vestiges & Claws was recorded almost entirely by José and self-produced, mostly in his Gothenburg home, using computer plug-ins to achieve a warm, analogue sound. He prefers working alone, mainly for artistic reasons. 'There were a couple of things that enabled me to complete this record: one was curiosity, to be able to play percussion and do a lot of harmonies and also to produce and mix the album; the other was aesthetics. I love to listen to Arthur Russell and Shuggie Otis, to music that has been done mostly by one person in their solitary state.'

As José sees it, the record is his personal, 'zoomed-out eye on humanity on a small, pale blue dot in a cold, sparse and unfriendly space. The amazing fact that we are all here, an attempt at encouraging us to understand ourselves and to make the best of the one life we know we have - after birth and before death.

Drei Jahre nach ihrem hochgelobten Debüt "Infusion" veröffentlicht die Bremer Artrock-Band Rubber Tea nun ihr zweites Studioalbum. "From A Fading World" erzählt die bewegende Geschichte der Protagonistin Emily, die von einem bösartigen Sandsturm heimgesucht wird. Um ihre Mitmenschen vor der nahenden Gefahr zu warnen, begibt sie sich mit ihrem kleinen Flugzeug auf eine heldenhafte Mission. Das Album besteht aus insgesamt 11 Kompositionen, die eine breite Palette von explosiven Jazz-Rock-Rhythmen über filigrane psychedelische Klangsphären bis hin zu epischen Saxophon- und Gitarrensoli bieten. Rubber Tea vertont Emilys abenteuerliche Reise mit beeindruckender musikalischer Vielfalt, begleitet von ausdrucksstarkem und oft mehrstimmigem Gesang. Der LP liegt ein signiertes 24-seitiges Booklet bei, das die Geschichte des Albums mit detailreichen Illustrationen zum Leben erweckt.

Die Indie-Rock-Supergroup Bad Books, bestehend aus Andy und Robert vom Manchester Orchestra sowie Kevin Devine, veröffentlicht eine atemberaubende akustische Neuinterpretation ihres zweiten Albums und Klassikers 'II' aus 2012. Dabei wurden auch Tracklisting und Artwork neu angepasst. Blau-gelb-farbiges Vinyl.

Mustard coloured double vinyl housed in deluxe
gatefold sleeve. Includes double-sided printed art
poster and digital download card.
 Following his breakthrough electroacoustic soundtrack
for ‘Candyman’ and his score for the moody feature
‘Master’ comes a new soundtrack from the everunpredictable composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe.
 Filmed over the course of three seasons,
‘Grasshopper Republic’ follows a local grasshopper
trapping team in verité style, as these modern-day
prospectors who harvest and sell the insects push into
remote forests seeking their fortune by capturing this
elusive prey.
 Lowe’s electronic music soundtracks both the seen
and unseen moments that produced the film’s holistic
abstraction of the intersecting worlds of insects,
humans, and economy. “I wanted to be able to create
a world which was a justifiable language within that
space, and to be able to enhance that experience
because the film is experiential and immersive.” -
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe

2lanes is proud to announce the next single, TINCTURE/ MY SIMULACRA, from his recently minted label AUTO SHOP. The two-tracker finds the artist both deepening his expansive sound and honing it to weave seamlessly into any DJ set. “TINCTURE / MY SIMULACRA” solidifies the cinematic textures and rusty low-end percussive drive of 2lanes’ earlier releases this year, “Diamond Rain EP'' & “Sid Ranger Redux EP.” Spending much of this past year on the road, 2lanes dove headfirst into the contemporary electronic music world, meeting an array of new and exciting producers, some of which are featured remixers on this release.

On the A side, take a dose of TINCTURE and see just how far the rabbit hole goes. Inspired by raving all night with friends, 2lanes linked with Detroit-based singer AKILLACO for a wild talking track like none other. We all know those moments at the party when both nothing and everything makes sense. You want to be prophetic but you just make everyone laugh. You think about the past, future, & present all at once. This is the ultimate message of TINCTURE, which AKILLACO emphatically points out. The long-winded musing is underlined by a heavy swung style beat that 2lanes fans have come to know well. Frequent 2lanes collaborator Salar Ansari joins the fun for the steamy, guitar-laden Howling Diablo remix that could as easily be played at a forest rave as a sleazy dive bar a la Coyote Ugly. Purelink’s MILLIA reduces the solution to an even dubbier chill out mix that begs to be played in the early mornings.

On the B side, we have the bass-heavy vision quest MY SIMULACRA. Ancient percussion meets modern sub bass–and together, they transport you to a new plane of being. This track also features performances from a few regular 2lanes sonic cohorts. Detroit keyboard prodigy Ian Fink (Scott Grooves Ensemble, Omar S) evokes celestial moments with a memotron solo, and Jonah Baseball (Overtone Series) provides a stargate-sounding break beat. MY SIMULACRA features two amazing remixes. The First is from Baltimore-based club aficionado JIALING and the second is a prime cut of rough and ready machine phunk from Los Angele’s 1morning.

Initially recorded at 2lanes’ home studio over Halloween in 2021, TINCTURE has since evolved to its final form that we see now. The tune has even shown up in sets from electric selectors like Scott Zacharias and Livwutang. The record label features beautiful artistic renditions by Norway-based Sverre Brand, whose work can be found on releases by Priori and Dust E-1.

Patrice Bart Williams, also known as Patrice, is a singer,composer, producer and director from Germany and Sierra Leone. His career took off in 1999 with the release of the Lions EP. In 20 years, he has released a dozen albums. His music is a blend of reggae, soul, punk, folk and hip-hop. Over the years,
he has established his own unique style. He settled in Jamaica in 2020 and decided to build a studio in the
middle of the forest. This atypical location became a meeting place for artists and inspired Patrice to explore new territory. The "Super Sundays", live concerts held on the studio rooftop, were attended
by artists such as Richie Spice and Jesse Royal. In 2022, Patrice unveiled the Super Album, an unplugged best of where he reinterpreted his greatest hits including 'Soulstorm', 'Hippies With Guns', and 'Burning Bridges'.
Patrice returns in 2023 with a new album entitled '9', marked by rebirth and the symbolism of the colour blue. This album is the result of seven years' work, a veritable introspection into the depths of his emotions. "I was born on the 9th, the day my grandfather passed away. The notion of rebirth has always been present in my life, from my very first day. For my ninth studio album, I took the time to withdraw, to rebuild myself. The last seven years have been devoted to self-discovery, and it's this inner journey that has given life to this album." - Patrice

Planet P Project is Tony Carey's pseudonym for his science-fiction themed progressive rock side venture from his more pop-oriented rock releases. Its first three albums, Planet P, Pink World, and Go Out Dancing, Part I (1931) were released in 1983, 1984, and 2005, respectively, and the first two saw a fair amount of MTV video airplay. Planet P's most well known singles were Why Me?, a sweeping, energetic romp about outer space and isolation, and the downbeat Static. Go Out Dancing, Part I (1931) is the first of a trilogy; part two, titled Go Out Dancing, Part II (Levittown) was released in May 2008 and Go Out Dancing Part III (Out in the Rain) was released in 2011.

With the label MPS, post-war musical history was written in Germany: noble music productions with many international greats come from the Black Forest and are timelessly legendary. In this tradition, HGBSBlue releases selected projects on high-quality vinyl.

The DLW trio has been working together for twelve years now and is now setting the tone in the modern European music scene, as the trio has long since left the boundaries of jazz behind. DLW, that is the sound-painting vibraphonist Christopher Dell, the virtuoso Danish bassist Jonas Westergaard and the German star drummer Christian Lillinger.

Time and again, the three jazz musicians from Berlin play together with artists from classical or avant-garde music. "Supermodern"
is the project that brings the three DLW musicians together with US pianist Bob Degen. This music is also unikal. It is a reverence
to the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ), which in the 1950s was the link between chamber jazz and European classical music.
With "Supermodern," this reference to the MJQ is illuminated from the perspective of European avant-garde music, rather than
its African-American roots, which nevertheless resonate respectfully throughout.
DLW has "developed a concept based on repetition and difference. The starting point for a piece is always a single bar, which is
rhythmically interlaced and repeated trance-like until the smallest irregularities occur, which are written down and creatively
processed further. From this "superimposed combinatorics" (Christopher Dell) a perpetuum-mobile-like sound movement
develops, which is further radicalized on record by sound alienations and cut-up techniques." Thus respectfully wrote the Neue
Züricher Zeitung in August 2023.
Word has long since spread outside the German jazz scene that the DLW projects are always musically new. This is also the case
with the double LP "Supermodern 2", with recordings made in 2021 in analog at the MPS studio in the Black Forest. Together
with US pianist Bob Degen, who has been one of the creative voices of the German jazz scene for about 50 years, they play highenergy music, with sparkling virtuosity and close communication. A musical treat, further enriched by the immensely present
analog sound of this recording.

Planet P Project is Tony Carey's pseudonym for his science-fiction themed progressive rock side venture from his more pop-oriented rock releases. Its first three albums, Planet P, Pink World, and Go Out Dancing, Part I (1931) were released in 1983, 1984, and 2005, respectively, and the first two saw a fair amount of MTV video airplay. Planet P's most well known singles were Why Me?, a sweeping, energetic romp about outer space and isolation, and the downbeat Static. Go Out Dancing, Part I (1931) is the first of a trilogy; part two, titled Go Out Dancing, Part II (Levittown) was released in May 2008 and Go Out Dancing Part III (Out in the Rain) was released in 2011.

Transluzentes algengrünes Color-Vinyl (140g) inklusive doppelseitigen 12"-Kunstdruck und Download-Code.

Forest Swords (alias der elektronische Produzent/ Komponist Matthew Barnes) kündigt sein neues Album, „Bolted“, an. Nachdem er in den letzten Jahren als gefragter Komponist und Sounddesigner gearbeitet und Musik für Ballett, Film und Videospiele geschrieben hat, wurde „Bolted“ im letzten Jahr in einer Lagerhalle in Barnes' Heimatstadt Liverpool aufgenommen. Auf den elf Tracks taucht er tiefer in sein einzigartiges Klangvokabular ein, um eine Reihe von Tracks zu weben, die gleichermaßen kraftstrotzend und düster, eindringlich und euphorisch klingen.

Wie immer in seiner Musik, fühlen sich Melancholie und Euphorie, Monochrom und Farbe, Vergangenheit und Zukunft mehrdeutig an. Die Emotionen verschieben sich von Moment zu Moment, die Unterschiede zwischen digitalen und akustischen Instrumenten sind verwischter denn je: eine Verquickung von Zeit, Raum und Klang, die sich gleichermaßen spielerisch und absolut vital anfühlt.

Zusammen mit der Ankündigung über das neue Album kommt „The Low“, eine stimmungsvolle, metallische Triphop-Single aus „Bolted“. Barnes kommentiert den Track wie folgt: „‚The Low‘ basiert auf einem Beat, den ich ursprünglich für Yoko Ono vorgesehen hatte, und enthält Elemente, die ich sowohl am Anfang als auch am Ende des Albums gemacht habe, und verbindet so viele der Sounds und Emotionen, die ich während des Schreibprozesses erforscht habe. Das begleitende Video, das ich zusammen mit Sam Wiehl gedreht habe, vertieft einige meiner Artworks und die visuelle Welt, die das Album begleitet.“.

Lucky number 17? You better believe it. We here at Brown Acid have been scouring the highways and byways of America for even more hidden stashes of psych/garage/proto-punk madness from the so-called Aquarian Age. There’s no flower power here, though—just acid casualties, rock stompers and major freakouts. As always, the songs have been officially licensed, and all the artists get paid. Kicking off this trip, Grapple’s “Ethereal Genesis” is a heavy psych gem from 1969 written by J. Bruce Svoboda, a.k.a. Jay Bruce, formerly of The Hangmen and The Five Canadians (who were actually the same San Antonio band). The latter’s 1966 garage favorite “Writing on the Wall” has been endlessly covered, but Grapple were never heard from again. With a guitar riff that blatantly rips off Sabbath’s “Black Sabbath,” Image’s mostly instrumental lysergic obscurity “Witchcraft ’71” (originally unveiled that very year) also boasts a horror-movie organ intro, a voodoo drum break and some championship chanting. Private press heads might recall late Image drummer John Beke from his ’80s reemergence with country rockers Crossfyre. Stone Hedge were a seven-piece rock band out of Michigan with a penchant for Creedence and anthropomorphism. “Smokey Bear” is their 1972 tribute to the official mascot of the U.S. Forest Services—not to mention the A side of their sole single—and it recalls the kind of organ-drenched swamp jam that soundtracked many a Burt Reynolds flick back in the day. If you think being a Southern rock band from Milwaukee doesn’t make much sense, that’s probably why Crossfire changed their sound along with their name—to Bad Boy—after signing with United Artists. Bad Boy’s severely underappreciated second album, Back To Back, is a 1978 hard rock jewel, but you can hear their boogie-woogie roots on this rare 1975 single. With a band name like Primevil and song title like “Too Dead To Live,” you probably expect some gnarly proto-metal riffage. Instead, you a get a harmonica-drenched, soul-infused rock rave-up from 1972. Primevil would release their sole LP two years later: Entitled Smokin’ Bats at Campton’s, it’s a reference to their trusty singer, harp player (and bat smoker?), Dave Campton. Brown Acid regulars already know Pegasus from their appearance with “The Sorcerer” on our Seventh Trip. “Ready to Rave” is the flipside to that 1972 single, in which they explain how they like their whiskey cold and their women hot. It’s another killer glimpse of what might have been if these one-and-done Baltimore hard rockers had been able to keep it together. One of two obscure singles released by Texas musician Bobby Mabe in 1969 (the other appears under the name The Outcasts), “I’m Lonely” delivers a heavy dose of vocal soul to the otherwise psych-garage presentation. Fans of fellow Houstonians the Moving Sidewalks—whom Bobby and his Outcasts may well have gigged with—will especially dig this one. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, may not be known as a cultural mecca, but they did give us Truth & Janey. This deadly hard rock trio delivered their holy grail full-length, No Rest for the Wicked, back in 1976. “Around and Around” is a Chuck Berry cover that originally appeared on a 1973 single the band released under the earlier name Truth. Originally released in 1973, “High School Letter” is the debut single from San Diego rock squad Glory. This infectious bonehead cruncher features future Beat Farmer Jerry Raney and the original rhythm section of Iron Butterfly in bassist Greg Willis and drummer Jack Pinney. Glory is what they got up to after their former bandmates left for L.A.’s garden of Eden. “Jack the Ripper” is a mercilessly bootlegged Cleveland classic from 1978 with a serrated punk edge and vocals that recall Mick Blood of Aussie savages the Lime Spiders. Or maybe it’s the other way around—the Lime Spiders formed the year after Strychnine carved off this lethal paean to the infamous Whitechapel slasher of olde.

'In 1972, trumpeter Baikida Carroll and some of his colleagues from the Black Artists Group (more precisely saxophonist/flutist Oliver Lake, trombonist Joseph Bowie, drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and trumpeter Floyd LeFlore) took the advice of their friends in the Art Ensemble Of Chicago and left their native Missouri to come and discover the bright lights of Paris for themselves. The following year they would even get the chance to record their only album which would rapidly attain mythical status and a collector’s item: “In Paris, Aries 1973”.

Therefore, it was not surprising that they crossed paths with Jef Gilson in the capital. He was always on the lookout for new artists for his recently formed Palm label and had been active on many fronts in jazz since the end of the 50s. The French bandleader / pianist / composer / sound engineer had already recorded, in the preceding months other American musicians who would go on to have great careers: Byard Lancaster, Keno Speller, Clint Jackson III, Khan Jamal... Gilson therefore offered Baikida Carroll the chance to record his first album under his own name, which would be the 13th release on the label. Carroll logically asked Oliver Lake to join him. He also recruited Manuel Villaroel, a young Franco-Chilien pianist from the group Matchi-Oul, who had already released an album on Futura in 1971 and would release another on Palm in 1976. The group was completed with the addition of Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, who had just released a well-received album on the Saravah label. They were ready to enter the studio for the 3rd, 4th and 5th June 1974.

The first side of the album is divided into two long tracks which send free jazz back to its long-lost African roots. The opener “Orange Fish Tears” indeed rolls out a jungle of percussion of all sorts and sizes -the whole group is involved- which weave and mix together reaching a point where all bearings are lost, lending a sense of wonder to the majestic entry of the brass and woodwinds, flying suddenly out from the undergrowth. “Forest Scorpion” (sic) is a real voodoo ceremony where a venomous percussive groove backs the fiery solos from keyboards and saxophone in a furious trance. A warning; after these two tracks listeners are physically and emotionally wiped out!

The other side is more introspective. Deliberately using dissonance and repetition, “Rue Roger” -the only composition by Oliver Lake- in a long dialogue between trumpet and saxophone, could almost remind us of Terry Riley in his favourite ballpark. “Porte D'Orléans”, the fourth and final track on the album, has the group back to their old tricks in a long hallucinatory jam which owes as much to the contemporary music of György Ligeti as to the most angst-ridden Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack music (remember the heavy chords which beat through “Planet of the Apes»).

With these two sides, and in under 45m, Baikida Carroll and his musicians show just what they can do, from cerebral to charnel without ever simplifying things. This is an essential album if you are a fan of free-wheeling avant-garde music from the Art Ensemble of Chicago to Sonic Youth and including Shabaka Hutchings and Rob Mazurek. For those with good taste, in other words.'

Finland’s Hexvessel return with their sixth album, Polar Veil, a cold, metallic hymn to the Sub Arctic North. Haunted by primal forest spirits, Mat “Kvohst” McNerney summons the ghosts of his past in a jaw-dropping, unheard-of rebirth of style and sound. At once unmistakably Hexvessel, Polar Veil is also steeped in the nocturnal atmosphere of McNerney’s past, churned in the cauldron of Black Metal, Ritual Folk Psychedelia and Doom Rock, and echoing with shivering Gothic undertones. From their inception in 2009, Hexvessel, created by Mat McNerney as what he described to Decibel Magazine as “a free spiritual journey and a musical odyssey with no boundaries”, have captivated audiences and listeners with their evolution. Holed up in a home-made studio in his log cabin during the winter of 2022, McNerney drew on all the fundamental elements of his music career as a shamanic shapeshifter, with only the isolation of nature’s solitude as inspiration. Painting an aura with Polar Veil which resonates with solitary reflection and themes of personal spiritual transcendence, Hexvessel’s new album is a bold statement from an artist who continues to reinvent and explore nature mysticism through music.