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ARTS is glad to present the very first full length work from one of our most unique artists in the roster, after a few records on the label and an impressive impact on the scene, KRTM worked on a larger project that aimed to express freely something deeper, and most likely something that was inevitable and that needed to get out into the sun. Despite the format, this is little more than a usual LP, the entire body of work is larger, but essentially presented in a very personal way in each single part of the elements and written tracks, we are glad to give you "It Will Make The World A Better Place", there are not many words that are needed to describe what you are going into, we hope that this piece of art will sign your future as will sign ours.

South London’s Oscar Jerome announced his highly-anticipated debut album ‘Breathe Deep’, due for release on July 10th 2020 via Caroline International.

A staple of the capital’s burgeoning jazz scene – previously collaborating with everyone from Shabaka Hutchings to Moses Boyd and Yussef Dayes – the ‘Breathe Deep’ LP sees Oscar bring in an army of collaborators that he says have been an integral part of his journey so far. Other guests include friends in Ezra Collective, Sons of Kemet and Maisha, as well as the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas. The record arrives off the back of a fast-growing catalogue that’s seen the Norwich-born guitarist and vocalist pick up frequent support and playlisting from the likes of 6 Music, Radio 1 and 1Xtra and embark on packed-out tours around the US, UK, Europe and Australia (including a tour with American jazz maestro Kamasi Washington and his biggest headliner to date at London’s Heaven).

Talking about his debut album, Oscar says: “‘Breathe Deep’ is a pretty broad presentation of who I am musically and my journey to get to this point. On a personal level, it’s a reflection of the effort put in during that path of self-bettering, both emotionally and in life more broadly. It’s about preparing oneself for failure and growing from that. Taking a moment to step back and see where things are going and where one has been. It also addresses the resilience of people, which is reflected in the more political moments on the album. The world is a messed up place but people still find ways of preparing themselves for it.”

"We want to make people feel good about things that we feel terrible about." says David Brewis, who has co-led the band Field Music with his brother Peter since 2004. It's a statement which seems particularly fitting to their latest album, Flat White Moon released on 23 April via Memphis Industries. Sporadic sessions for the album began in late 2019 at the pair's studio in Sunderland, slotted between rehearsals and touring. The initial recordings pushed a looser performance aspect to the fore, inspired by some of their very first musical loves; Free, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles; old tapes and LPs pilfered from their parents' shelves. But a balance between performance and construction has always been an essential part of Field Music. By March 2020, recording had already begun for most of the album's tracks and, with touring for Making A New World winding down, Peter and David were ready to plough on and finish the record. The playfulness that's evident in much of Flat White Moon's music became a way to offset the darkness and the sadness of many of the lyrics. Much of the album is plainly about loss and grief, and also about the guilt and isolation which comes with that. Those personal upheavals are apparent on songs like Out of the Frame, where the loss of a loved one is felt more deeply because they can't be found in photographs and compounded by the suspicion that you caused their absence, or on When You Last Heard From a Linda, which details the confusion of being unable to penetrate a best friend's loneliness in the darkest of circumstances. Some songs are more impressionistic. Orion From The Streets combines Studio Ghibli, a documentary about Cary Grant and an excess of wine to become a hallucinogenic treatise on memory and guilt.. Others, such as Not When You're In Love, are more descriptive. Here, the narrator guides us through slide-projected scenes, questioning the ideas and semantics of 'love' as well the reliability of his own memory. The result is a generous record of bounteous musical ideas, in many ways Field Music's most immediately gratifying to date.

LTD EDITION TRANSPARENT VINYL

"We want to make people feel good about things that we feel terrible about." says David Brewis, who has co-led the band Field Music with his brother Peter since 2004. It's a statement which seems particularly fitting to their latest album, Flat White Moon released on 23 April via Memphis Industries. Sporadic sessions for the album began in late 2019 at the pair's studio in Sunderland, slotted between rehearsals and touring. The initial recordings pushed a looser performance aspect to the fore, inspired by some of their very first musical loves; Free, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles; old tapes and LPs pilfered from their parents' shelves. But a balance between performance and construction has always been an essential part of Field Music. By March 2020, recording had already begun for most of the album's tracks and, with touring for Making A New World winding down, Peter and David were ready to plough on and finish the record. The playfulness that's evident in much of Flat White Moon's music became a way to offset the darkness and the sadness of many of the lyrics. Much of the album is plainly about loss and grief, and also about the guilt and isolation which comes with that. Those personal upheavals are apparent on songs like Out of the Frame, where the loss of a loved one is felt more deeply because they can't be found in photographs and compounded by the suspicion that you caused their absence, or on When You Last Heard From a Linda, which details the confusion of being unable to penetrate a best friend's loneliness in the darkest of circumstances. Some songs are more impressionistic. Orion From The Streets combines Studio Ghibli, a documentary about Cary Grant and an excess of wine to become a hallucinogenic treatise on memory and guilt.. Others, such as Not When You're In Love, are more descriptive. Here, the narrator guides us through slide-projected scenes, questioning the ideas and semantics of 'love' as well the reliability of his own memory. The result is a generous record of bounteous musical ideas, in many ways Field Music's most immediately gratifying to date.

Repress

2x12"

Zodiak Commune Records proudly presents its very first double LP made by label resident 1NC1N. High quality techno, acid and electro. Are you ready for the The Butterfly Effect Enjoy this limited release in the insectum serie!

A1. Digisynaptic Resonance
In this new age, technology is resonating on a digisynaptic level.
This track will surprise you...

A2. Voice Of Reason
Everyone has a voice of his own...for a reason.
Let your higher self speak!

B1. Nocturnal Humanoid
Not learning by experience.
Feeding by data is revolution.

B2. The Lost & The Missing (live)
Go back to the beginning of the Acid scene.
Relive the evolution.

C1. Walking Taiko
Listen to the rythmic art of Taiko.
Close your eyes...walk across Japan with all its beauty and hectics.

C2. The Ghost Of Holeenhyrst
Imagine a dark forest with a lost village.
You will be surrounded by this one person who supposed to be left...but did not.

D1. Whispering Transmission
Do not overuse a radio.
Sometimes it s better to communicate through whispering.

D2. Samsara
Embrace the infinity.
Ending it means start something new.

A maelstrom, the chaos, a vortex, a turmoil. These are appropriate words to describe the hard work of the prolific French producer.

With a cryptic history incorporating nearly two decades of aliases and side projects born out of free parties in warehouses, fields and basements, it is under this moniker that the artist has truly come into his own.

His skill and vision spanning from 135 bpm wave powerful to a pensive and subtle ambient track, Maelstrom's sonic universe is both precise and limitless, described better by feeling ('approaching storm over river/horse with the bit in its teeth/sliver of moon') than genre. Maelstrom cofounded the label RAAR in 2015 with frequent collaborator Louisahhh where he released his debut album «Her Empty Eyes» in 2017. Throughout the next 2 years, he has delivered exciting collaborations with cutting edge electro imprints such as CPU and Cultivated Electronics in the UK, Private Persons in Moscow, or Mechatronica in Berlin, while playing an all electro live set in clubs and raves, from Paris to London or Tokyo.

2021 will see the release of his second album, Rhizome, with a focus on the concepts of interdependence and creative ecosystems

It was the end of a century, and as the 1990s inevitably applied its brakes, Dubstar were sent flailing through the windscreen of popular music. Their third album, the unfortunately-titled Make It Better, lay bleeding at the side of the road, itself a casualty of one-too-many personal and professional traumas.


In the following years there were some half-hearted attempts to record more music- even the occasional, low-key live appearance here and there- but it wasn’t until 2015 that Sarah Blackwood and Chris Wilkie found themselves formally reconstituted and writing new material in dedicated earnest. Not because it was expected, but because they couldn't help it.

With the support and encouragement of legendary producer Youth, they began sessions for One, which represented the beginning of a new chapter in the Dubstar story, and one which has audibly benefitted from the passing of time. The album is generally considered to be the first worthy successor to their platinum-selling debut Disgraceful, and serves as generous compensation for the wilderness years, while promising even better things on the horizon.

From co-founder of the Lumineers, Jeremiah Fraites, Piano Piano is a collection of songs that’s been in the works for the better part of a decade, featuring gorgeous, intimate piano-centric instrumental songs capturing Fraites’ reflective moments from his Denver home. Piano Piano is an achingly gorgeous set of songs, emotionally direct yet profoundly revealing. Fraites’ songwriting reaches into deeply personal spaces with moving grace and stark elegance, retaining the folk-inspired melodicism so familiar from his work in The Lumineers, transported into a more classically sophisticated setting. In addition to piano, Fraites plays nearly every instrument on the album, including guitar, drums, synths, and programming. It was co-produced and engineered by David Baron (Jade Bird, Vance Joy, Shawn Mendes) and features other collaborators such as The Lumineers’ violinist Lauren Jacobson, cellists Rubin Kodheli and Alex Waterman, and Macedonia’s 40-piece FAME’S Orchestra.

Ralph Heidel is one of the young musicians that represent the spirit of Berlin’s new musical ecleticism better than others. He is part of the avantgarde circles that mix modern jazz and contemporary classical music with elements of new electronica and experimental ambient music. This is the vibe of Germany's next generation.

Heidel creates a sonic universe that is unique. He takes the listener into a deep, atmospheric travel that stimulates emotions and feelings on a different level. Heidel brings together two worlds: what he learned at Musikhochschule München, Germany’s leading academy for classical music where he studied saxophon and composition and the moods happening in Germany's new electronic circles.

On „Relief“ Heidel created six songs. Except one, all of them are instrumental music. Partly composed and often improvised these sounds take the listener into Heidel's specific sonic universe. Raw beat structures, emotive horn lines, strong harmonical tensions and dramatic build ups. Heidel’s signature sound.
In fact Heidel is a multiple influenced artist with a strong personality that absorbs whats around him, connects it with his own wide artistic knowledge and fullfills it into magical musical moments.

Relief is the next step in what could become a longtime artistic career.
After a (very composed) debut album for string quartet and rhythm section for Kryptox (Moments of Resonance 2019), it was important for Heidel, to process current feelings of daily life.
Not just his cultural learnings, but also emotions connected to the hard COVID times and a lot of personal experiences.

Relief are six abstract, distorted patterns. Long deep transitions that lead into euphoric parts of sonic greatness. Heidel's sense for sound design and the soft tone of his saxophone phrases, add a personal note that is somehow alone in the current music scenario. Sampling his saxophone (reeds, keys etc.) to create very organic beats is one of the many techniques to create that special „Heidel“ sound. Also his calm and wide harmonies over disquiet, rough drums are part of his unique ambivalent, disrupted moods.

Most of this EP has been played by Heidel alone. For a few parts he was joined by musicians from the local scene. In fact besides his albums on Kryptox Ralph Heidel is very connected in Berlin’s current cultural playground: He creates music for underground performance art happenings in Neukölln as well as for new German theater (Volksbühne, Berliner Ensemble). Also German rapper Tarek from K.I.Z heard about Heidels string debut album, so they collaborated for an album, where Heidel reworked his record for stringquartet, piano, drums and bass.

As so many great schemes do, it started with a conversation in a pub. After several sporadic releases on Diffrent Music, including his renowned 2013 debut "Tongues", label boss Dexta wanted more music from Fearful. One thing led to another, and suddenly an album was in the works.

The result is "Interference"; a body of work that is reflective not only of the personal idiosyncrasies and aspirations of its London-based producer, but of an artist who has truly been set free of expectations.

Harnessing his own inbuilt need to defy convention, and looking to influences such as classical game soundtracks, experimental mastermind Amon Tobin, and the brooding tones of Akkord and Lorn, Fearful has crafted an album that's unpredictable yet cohesive, and definitive of his aim as an artist.

From the menacing ambient opener "Rocinante", through the glitchy techno of "The Traveler", skewed drum & bass of "Pulse 0" and "Through The Mist", to the roaring drone and pounding metal-inspired drumwork of closer "Gold To Dust", it's an album that demands full attention and repeat listening.

Nowhere is this free-roaming but pull-no-punches attitude summed up better than the title track. Building through eerie, twisted atmospherics - samples of electromagnetic interference, which can be found throughout the album - it clatters into a domineering breakbeat, before collapsing into a guttural, tribalist techno roller.

Where much of dance music draws on repetition, the concept of "Interference" is simple: progression. Whether that be changing motifs within tracks, switching genres within the album, or developing upon Fearful's own artistic strengths, it's an idea never more at home than on Diffrent Music, and we are very proud to present it.

Even if you don't know her name - you will know her voice. It's 'Melbourne's High Priestess Of Soul' Kylie Auldist's unmistakable vocals on the 2016 global dance hit 'This Girl' by Kungs vs Cookin' on 3 Burners - the track that not only topped almost every pop chart across the planet, featured in many TV shows, adverts and films and social media memes, and has achieved over 1 billion streams & climbing. But of course, that's far from the whole story. Kylie established her enviable reputation as the featured vocalist in the awesome Australian outfits The Bamboos, and Cookin' On 3 Burners, and her fantastically well received solo albums for Tru Thoughts; 'Just Say' (2008), 'Made of Stone' (2009) and 'Still Life' (2012) and 'Family Tree' Freestyle Records (2016). Kylie's brand new album - 'This Is What Happiness Looks Like', her first for Greg Boraman's brand new label Soul Bank Music, further develops the musical approach she began on it's predecessor 'Family Tree' - and is very firmly entrenched on an electro boogie tip, rooted deep in the New York club scene of the early 80's. The opening track 'Everythink' sets out that 1980's electro-boogie sound and then fuses it with the song writing of a classic Wham or Hall & Oates tune - it has an infectious, slinky Moog synth bass line that will lodge itself in people's minds. Kylie's simply stunning vocal performance on this breezy and summery tune will surely make it a future classic. Producers Warren Hunter and Lewis Moody skills in the studio have brought forth many musical highlights on this album, but special mention has to be made for Is It Fun? This is where a brilliant and incredibly infectious composition is further enhanced by some top notch instrumentalists, perfectly executed production, a simply beautiful vocal performance, and results in what should surely end up being an anthemic, brand new 'soul weekender' style classic. Soul boys & girls, funkateers and disco fans won't be able to stop themselves falling deeply for this new collection of tunes, because it's not only a highly original take on a classic sound, but it was conceived, performed and recorded with a genuine passion and love, as Kylie says "Some albums are written fast, some take a long time, some albums experience setbacks, become beset by creative blocks and personal issues, and can generally be a whole lot of hard work which makes you question why you even bothered to start it in the first place - this was not one of those albums - hence the title 'This Is What Happiness Looks Like'!

"Modern Dread is an album that sees Moore exploring personal demons whilst also voicing her concerns for the world at large, a daring exercise in micro versus macro that pays off richly in what is a dazzling step forward in artistry. It follows on from the critically hailed 2017 album “We Used to Bloom” and represents a delicious quantum leap in her career.
A unique blend of quixotic beats and introspective, sometimes harrowing songwriting which will undoubtedly stamp Moore as one of the most original talents we have around right now."

Mhysa, the newest addition to the Hyperdub roster, is ‘a popstar for the cyber resistance’ hailing from Maryland via New York. ‘Nevaeh’ is lo-fi R&B with a bedroom feel and challenging lyricism focussed on identity and black experience for the online generation.

She started ‘Nevaeh’ in late 2017, shortly after the release of debut album ‘Fantasii’, recording at home with some input from Lawd Knows, a frequent collaborator on her Scraaatch project. It is Mhysa’s intimate reflection on the black femme experience from multiple vantage points : sex and sexuality, self-love and self-discovery, black empowerment and lineage, and pleasure or the lack of it.

She describes the album as “a prayer for Black women and femmes to be taken to or find a new and better world away from the apocalypse ... a safe space, a sort of negro heaven.” ‘Nevaeh’ is deeply personal but easily relatable, its intimacy heightened by scattered acapella moments and interludes referencing black pop culture, where Mhysa’s delicate voice is laid bare, while other tracks reprise the melancholic R&B her mother raised her on, updated through a queer lens.

Conversely, several of the album’s tunes have found space in Kode9’s club sets over the last year, like the mischievous ‘Sanaa Lathan’ and skeletal ‘w_me’. Of this record’s progression from the last, Mhysa sought “to be more vulnerable and experiment with vocal range … to write more complicated vocal melodies that would be harder to do”, with her production now experimenting with new techniques, and (often self-taught) live instrumentation, as is her family tradition.

21-year-old New Zealand musician Arjuna Oakes's debut EP,
The Watcher, is a showcase of his ability as a singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and producer, and a testament to his depth of engagement with music. The first two tracks on the EP fit neatly
within the jazz-infused soul music landscape he is quickly becoming part of, but the latter half of the EP is far harder to categorise.

Featuring instrumentation from some of New Zealand’s most exciting young jazz musicians, The Watcher explores a wide variety of themes and musical ideas, with Arjuna’s charismatic soul vocals and robust sonic palette serving as a connective thread. From big social issues to personal relationships and internal self-discoveries, across The Watcher, Arjuna takes his cue from the title track and exploration of mass surveillance, and it’s relevance within our everyday lives.

This watcher theme continues throughout the rest of the EP, with the stories told rendered as if being observed by an outside force. Decorated by cinematic soundscapes, hypnotic grooves, creative improvisation and catchy melodies, Arjuna's debut is a test palette for his future projects, one that makes his enthusiasm to develop and explore themes and style in song abundantly clear.

Direct from the Midwest CLEAR is proud to present four tenacious hardware workouts from Juzer.

In theory the 12” starts slowly, with the 100 bpm rattle of Old Reliable, although it’s fitful energy is anything but, while the following track September coils itself into a tightly wound circuit freak-out. Busy Bees and We Work Hard We Play Hard are the buildup and climax of the record’s machinedriven anxiety, fit for a chase scene in a post apocalyptic megacity thriller.

Juzer is the joint project of two artists central to the underground musicscene in Chicago, Beau Wanzer and Dan Jugle. The work of both straddles the fault-lines between, noise, techno, industrial, EBM, and the more frenzied shades of house. In addition to a prolific number of solo releases, Wanzer is a member of Mutant Beat Dance with Traxx and Steve Summers, Civil Duty with Shawn O’Sullivan, and many more. Like Wanzer, Jugle was a habitual collaborator and his untimely passing last year shocked Chicago’s electronic music community. Jugle was a natural collaborator, the sort of person for whom creating music was a daily act, and even better with friends. In addition to Juzer he was also a member of Dar Embarks, Chandeliers, and Ghost Arcade. Previous Juzer material was issued on The Corner and Dog In The Night.

'Esoteric, modal and deep jazz from the undergound, 1968-77'

Jazzman Records presents the sound of the unsung musicians who – in the midst of the Vietnam War and the fallout of the Civil Rights struggle – created some of the most beautiful Spiritual and meditative music of the era. Sometimes funky, sometimes mellow, but always trying to say something about the world in which we live.
Existing completely under the critical radar and largely ignored or unknown by music fans and critics alike, most of the musicians featured in this album won't be familiar to even the most seasoned aficionado. Their records, frequently turned down by distributors and record stores, saw little attention when first released - and have seen even less since. But in this era of musical apathy, where so many music junkies look to the past for their musical fix, we have re-discovered hidden, obscure and esoteric jazz musicians who looked to the four corners of the earth - and beyond - for inspiration. Here we evaluate Spiritual Jazz – music that is a snapshot of the era after Coltrane, a time which saw the evolution of an underground jazz that spoke about the reform of the soul, the reform of the spirit, and the reform of society: a music which was local and international at once, which was a personal journey and a political statement, and which was religious and secular in one non-contradictory breath.
The music on this album reflects the social and historical forces at work during the closedown of the '60s dream; music made by close-knit collectives and individual visionaries, by prisoners and eccentrics, by mystics and political radicals. It includes music by acknowledged masters, and moments of brilliance by unsung figures known to us from just one or two recordings. It is the jazz music of America in the age of civil rights, brutal repression, political assassination and war; a music that would guarantee the survival of the spiritual dimension in a society that was angry and traumatized, but nevertheless had seen hope of better days to come.

Reissue of this 1976 LP from Zambia. Deep minimal African music, lovely compositions over scarce drum machines and (fuzzy) guitars.. Beautiful music with a deeper message in the lyrics which is explained better in the long review below. Some words from the label. There is music that falls right into place, a perfectly articulated expression of a few distinct influences. Then, there is another kind of median music, something more mysterious, the result of time, place, technology, and alchemy. Zambian writer and musician Smokey Haangala’s Aunka Ma Kwacha (The Money is Gone) released in 1976 is an example of this more mystical metallurgy, falling somewhere between psychedelic Zamrock, US folk, Kalindula, and Sundown Beat (music played after dark) from Tongaland. The unique mix of languages on the album (Bemba, Tonga, Lozi, and English) also suggest this complex cultural crossroads. Underlying the whole album is the insistent beat of a simple drum machine, which was totally unheard of in Zambia at the time, and parallels pioneering experiments by Francis Bebey, Sly Stone, and Shuggie Otis, utilizing a technology which would later come to define dance music. Then there’s the album’s original artwork by Peter Kependa, done in style similar to the infamous Jamaican dancehall illustrator Wilfred Limonious, interpreting the album’s title and primary theme; the burden of financial inequality.

In this sense the album is political, but the theme is extrapolated and explored through its impact on personal life; love, marriage, social status, and diet. The album is full of cautionary tales, folklore and references to magic, aspects of Zambian culture simultaneously mystifying and alluring to outsiders, part of what attracted Western readers to Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola’s hallucinatory Yoruba folktales. After becoming a household name in Zambia for his music, writing, and television appearances, Smokey Haangala died at the age of 38, the very week his book The Black Eye was published, abruptly ending his brilliant and ascending career. We are lucky to have his inimitable work to remember him by, Aunka Ma Kwacha resting comfortably in the pantheon of re-visionary works by Rodriguez, Kissoon Ramasar, TJ Hustler, and William Onyeabor.

In her most personally narrative work to date, A Fossil Begins To Bray is the follow up on Dais Records for NYC producer Hiro Kone, furthering the dialogue set forth on her 2018 release, Pure Expenditure. While the statements on Pure Expenditure rallied behind a point of dangerous excess and injustice, the material on A Fossil Begins To Bray embark upon a journey of discovery and selfanalysis, proposing a potential reorientation towards absence in hopes of illuminating potential futures.

In Mao’s own words, “This album considers the power of absence as neither a lack or deficit, but as a quiet, indeterminable force to cultivate in this time of looming and unrelenting techno-fascism. It asks that we take pause to consider our learned languages and actualities and to better consider how desire shapes our recollections and interpretations of this ‘existence.’” This allegory is expertly applied to every song on A Fossil Begins To Bray. Mao has established a long history of employing absence in her productions to maximum effect. With a vast assortment of diverse elements at play, no single track ever feels overly convoluted and further illustrates Hiro Kone’s skillful attention to dynamic tension and flow. Tracks such as “Fabrication of Silence” and “Submerged Dragon” perfectly represent the power of absence, utilized in a matter to create unique amalgams of decisive, cinematic techno rhythms from the electronic void. As the melodic elements contained within A Fossil Begins To Bray begin to unravel and slowly take form, the unaware are rewarded with a driving yet tangible refrain that offers resolve in contrast to the dense, textureladen backdrop that forms the album’s foundation. The first single, “Feed My Ancestors”, expands upon Hiro Kone’s signature take on electronic music structures. Seemingly free from the predictable contracts imposed by any one genre’s stereotypes, Hiro Kone throttles the foreboding bassline in favor of more calculated, abstract cut-ups that gracefully hold the track in place between hopeful utopia and something more ominous.

Neurot Recordings are proud to reissue the landmark collaboration Neurosis & Jarboe, which was originally released in 2003. This latest version is fully remastered and with entirely new artwork from Aaron Turner.

Very limited silver metallic and black swirl 2LP - Non-Returnable

Steve Von Till explains the idea behind the remastering; "Bob Weston (Chicago Mastering Service, and member of Shellac) worked closely with Noah on making these new versions sound as good as the possibly can. Noah has the most trained critical ear for fidelity out of all of us being an engineer himself. We recorded this ourselves with consumer level Pro Tools back then, in order to be able to experiment at home in getting different sounds and writing spontaneously.  The technology has come a long way since then and we thought we could run it through better digital to analog conversion and trusted Bob Weston to be able to bring out the best in it....This new mastered version is a bit more open, with a better stereo image, and better final eq treatment."

He continues about the original artwork..."Aaron felt he could create something that would unify the energy of both Jarboe and Neurosis in an elegant manner.  We let him do his thing and I think it definitely adds to mystery of the album and sets it apart from the rest of our catalog."

When two independent and distinct spheres overlap, the resulting ellipse tends to emphasise the most striking and powerful characteristics of each body. Such is the case with this particular collaboration between heavy music pioneers Neurosis and the multi-faceted performer Jarboe (who performed in Swans and who has collaborated with an array of people from Blixa Bargeld, J.G. Thirlwell, Attila Csihar, Bill Laswell, Merzbow, Justin K. Broadrick, Helen Money, Father Murphy, the list goes on...) The musicians pull from one another some of the most harrowing and unusual sounds ever heard from either artist at the time - a sentiment which also rings true to some 15 years later.

Neurosis & Jarboe opens with a high-pitched whirring sound winding up as Jason Roeder's ominous tom-drum beat and Noah Landis' slinking synth line writhe in unison until Jarboe drops in, drawling in her characteristic, corrupted Southern belle voice, "I tell ya, if God wants to take me, He will." From there on in, the album is a series of abrupt shifts and cleverly juxtaposed themes that flows in a rhythm of its own. The sinister and ethereal sounds, vocal coos and electro-pulses of "His Last Words" seem like the perfect soundtrack to a David Lynch film. On "Erase," song parts are dissected and grafted one atop the other, continually building tension as Jarboe wails and yelps with Banshee fervor.

The project began with the artists working in seclusion, recording the elements that would best highlight their own characteristic integrity and personality, rather than either attempting to mimic one another's familiar elements. As recorded ideas were passed back and forth, the collaboration proved to bring out the most unhinged and urgent talents of all those involved.

Throughout the album, that signature "Neurosis note" - the sound of something simultaneously recoiling and erupting, the apocalyptic tone announcing the birth of a new world - reaches its apex and becomes evermore icy and eviscerating. Guitarists Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly trim their tones for cleaner, chorus-drenched effects layered between the thunderous distortion blasts of bassist Dave Edwardson. Likewise, Jarboe's operatic wail and other vocal contortions sound perfectly suited to the eruptive emotional fray of the music.

The collaboration is a deeply textured mosaic that is a culmination of merged aesthetics from two major influences on free-thinking sounds. It unlocked the hidden potential of electronic music as a new force in heavy rock. At a time when groups like Oneida, Wolf Eyes and Black Dice were beginning to experiment with technology in making mind-numbing leaden electro-drone freed from any essence of "dance music," Neurosis & Jarboe redefined all notions of their past - and outlined the course of heavy music to come. It's interesting to look back through the lens of this release, and think about these ideas and concepts in the present.

Neurosis & Jarboe remains the meeting point of all art that takes us beyond ourselves.

Carla dal Forno announces her second full-length album, Look Up Sharp , on her own Kallista records.

Dal Forno beckons a bold new era in her peerless output pushing her dub-damaged DIY dispatches to the limits of flawless dream-pop. In a transformative move towards crystal clear vocals and sharpened production, Look Up Sharp is an evolutionary leap from the thick fog and pastoral stillness of her Blackest Ever Black missives, You Know What It’s Like (2016) and The Garden EP (2017). Three years since her plain-speaking debut album, the Melbourne-via-Berlin artist finds herself absorbed in London’s sprawling mess. The small-town dreams and inertia that preoccupied dal Forno’s first album have dissolved into the chaotic city, its shifting identities, far-flung surroundings and blank faces. Look Up Sharp is the story of this life in flux, longing for intimacy, falling short and embracing the unfamiliar. Dal Forno connects with kindred spirits and finds refuge in darkened alleys, secret gardens and wherever else she dares to look.

In her own territory between plaintive pop, folk and post-punk dal Forno conjures the ghosts of AC Marias, Virginia Astley and Broadcast through her brushwork of art-damaged fx and spectral atmospheres. The first half of the record is filled with dubbed-out humid bass lines, which tether stoned hazes of psychedelic synth work as on ‘Took A Long Time’ and ‘No Trace.’ These are contrasted with songs like ‘I’m Conscious and ‘So Much better’ that channel the lilting power of YMG and are clear sequels-in-waiting to dead-eyed classics like ‘Fast Moving Cars.’

The B-side begins with the feverish bass and meandering melody of ‘Don’t Follow Me,’ which takes The Cure’s ‘A Forest’ as its conceptual springboard. It’s the clearest lyrical example since ‘The Garden’ of dal Forno’s unmatched ability to unpick the masculine void of post-punk and new wave nostalgia to reflect contemporary nuance. Look Up Sharp reaches its satisfying conclusion with ‘Push On’ - dal Forno’s most explicit foray into an undiscovered trip hop universe between Massive Attack and Tracey Thorn. The album’s last gasp finds personal validation in fragility: ‘I push on / I’m the Place I’m Going,’ a self discovery lifted by reverberant broken beats and glass-blown vocals.

Adding further depth to Look Up Sharp are the instrumentals, which flow seamlessly between the vocal-led pieces. ‘Hype Sleep’ and ‘Heart of Hearts’ drink from the same stream as The Flying Lizard’s dubbed-out madness and the vivid purple sunsets of Eno’s Another Green World. While ‘Creep Out of Bed’ and ‘Leaving for Japan’ funnel the fourth-world psychedelia of Cyclobe’s industrial-folk into the vortex of Nico’s The Marble Index.

Conceived as a whole, Look Up Sharp is a singular prism in which light, sound and concept bend at all angles. A deeply personal but infinitely relatable album its many surfaces are complex but authentic, enduring but imperfect, hard-edged but delicate. A diamond. Look up sharp or you’ll miss it.

Philippe Cam is the Thomas Pynchon of the electronic music world. Little is known about him and only a couple of pictures have been put online since he emerged on this planet to write his first and only album18 years ago. We know he worked as a sailor and that’s it. If you dig deeper you might find out that he worked as a DJ in the beginning of the 90ies in Brussels and began to study electronic music there and also began to write music for theaters and ballets.

The American distributor Forced Exposure once wrote that about him: „Philipe Cam is a star in his own field. He is among the few people who have succeeded to write hypnotic dance music without a conventional beat still conveying a thrilling, dramatic feel. Cam has developed an accurate, intense and complex formula of modulation-techno. Starting with music similar to Pan Sonic in 1996, his music turned towards a more elegant form of minimal music. Abstract soundtracks lead to an organic form of music, which was equally influenced by modern techno as Wolfgang Voigt's Studio 1/Gas or Basic Channel/Maurizio. Cam's music corresponds heavily to the Cologne scene, where his music is appreciated and played throughout the clubs by the likes of Michael Mayer, Tobias Thomas and various other DJs as well as experimental djs from the A-musik corner.“

So what’s new with his music? Basically the art of filtering is still his passion. Maybe he can be less associated with techno and the themes of his new tracks emerge in a more distinctive pattern? Well that’s hard to say, we would comment the energy of his early techno days in Brussels have returned here in a fierce way with some oft he tracks. The rhythmic movements are classy and stick with you. Whereas other tracks look for a distinctive relaxation of some kind.

We are releasing the album as a double clear vinyl with cover art by Yvette Klein who also designed the cover for his Philippe Cam’s album 18 years ago. Graphics for "Rotterdam" come from Cologne designer Daniela Thiel. We also would like to thank the cultural department of Cologne for supporting us to finance the album and to see the artistic value in this piece of minimalism.

The album kicks off with the mellow and soothing "Cocoa Beach". A Gentle beat that moves like bodies swaying in the hot summer sun. The clock moves a step forward and then a step backward as evolution takes a rest.

"Manga" feels like an acceleration to the moon, the contemplative moments come in spurts and hide in the intervals of the chords which are on the loose. Philippe Cam is the most energetic person in the world when it comes to core activity, this is head banging stuff for the ambient lounge.

"Short Summer" is a heavy and violent recognition. As intensive as it is it knows when to stop and disappear. In the ear and brain of the listeners it leaves an indisputable echo which lingers on for minutes. We suggest not to make a pause but jump directly into "Vermillions Sands".

What can be said about into "Vermillions Sands"? Be prepared some Terry Riley might lure around the corner to offer you some oranges on a silver plate, but don’t eat them. This is luring and beautiful at the same time. Maybe the best ambient track ever written and yet who can ever venture to say that without making a fool of himself. "Vermillions Sands" comes in waves and they could be longer we think.

"Rotterdam" the home of Philippe Cam for a long time but not anymore. He moved away. So that changes the perspective. But when was the track written? "Rotterdam" seems mechanical and rusty and spooky and divided. This arrangement is very different to all the other tracks so far and is almost dub in style but way more fractured. A steady stop and go emerges. But the longer it runs the better it gets. At minute 6 the brain resets itself and tries to grasp what has happened so far, reconstruction as a result of its own phantasmic imagination and hardly true at all, wonderful. Applause included!

Here comes "Bis", a short episode of a track and before we can comment on it, it is already over.

"The Game" is a mule of a track. It has a quiet stubborn sequence that bites and kicks you in the back without any change in near sight. We can hear a voice whispering, which sounds like a miniature vocoder featuring the voice of a child calling out - never stopping. This is treadmill to some extend but starts to breathe towards the middle of the track and slowly changes perspective. In fact there are some changes taking place here which go beyond a sound design that works heavily on the stereo image. Stick with it and the experience will be a great one.

"Ultimate Fly For Halloway" somehow orchestrates how you might feel after you climbed a 8000 meter high mountain and reached the top. A rejoicing off a special kind. Lava for the ears. No cheerleader murder plot sorry.

"Last Track" is a perfect example of a true minimalistic pice of music that manages to make contact with other genres and does this with elegance, determination and a lot of soul.

key selling points: The key selling point is the fact that Philippe Cam once was referred to as one of the main protagonists of the minimal music scene along with Wolfgang Voigt's Studio 1/Gas and Basic Channel/Maurizio. A true artist with a vision which is very rare.

Philippe Cam has picked up the sound he was famous for but has developed it further without selling out to any genre and expectation that rules our daily business.

Exactly this is the strength of the album to create a vivid world of impressions by using instruments in a whole different way than all software developers would suggest.

"Rotterdam" is a piece of art that can set off a firework when you listen to it and it owes nothing to anyone.

In this post-industrial, post-enlightenment religion of ourselves, we have manifested a serpent of consumerism which now coils back upon us. It seduces us with our own bait as we betray the better instincts of our nature and the future of our own world. We throw ourselves out of our own garden. We poison ourselves to the edges of an endless sleep.

Animated Violence Mild was written throughout 2018, at Blanck Mass’ studio outside of Edinburgh. These eight tracks are the diary of a year of work steeped in honing craft, self-discovery, and grief - the latter of which reared its head at the final hurdle of producing this record and created a whole separate narrative: grief, both for what I have lost personally, but also in a global sense, for what we as a species have lost and handed over to our blood-sucking counterpart, consumerism, only to be ravaged by it.

I believe that many of us have willfully allowed our survival instinct to become engulfed by the snake we birthed. Animated — brought to life by humankind. Violent — insurmountable and wild beyond our control. Mild — delicious.

Albert’s Favourites co-founder Adam Scrimshire is set to release his fourth album 'Listeners'. Musically, 'Listeners' draws from Scrimshire's passion for jazz, soul and electronic music of all styles; from an energetic combination of Afrobeat and garage on 'Won't Get Better', to the lushly orchestrated neo-soul of 'Thru You', and the harmonious jazz experimentations of 'I Never'. The album features a host of esteemed guest vocalists and musicians telling their own personal stories, including Georgia Anne Muldrow, Emma-Jean Thackray, Joshua Idehen, Madison McFerrin, Chip Wickham, and James Alexander Bright.

"With this album I wanted to get a more focused sound after six years of relearning and development in the studio. But I also struggled to find my own words, to speak about where I/we are now. So I allowed my collaborators total freedom to tell their own story and as they came back to me, they were telling the same stories I wanted to. It's resulted in some deeply personal confessional pieces: mourning family, collapsing relationships, extremes of self doubt and analysis, trying to balance public and inner persona, and a reminder that life in all forms is important.

It’s called 'Listeners' as I am a listener here, I feel like I've been given these very personal experiences to care for. Listeners because, the travesty of the last few years is that we stopped listening to each other, everyone is shouting at each other and no one is learning. And Listeners because I hope I've made something that is for other people more than I have before. I've tried to craft something warmer and more enjoyable, made for those who give me their time in listening to my music."
- Adam Scrimshire

Since joining the Wah Wah 45s label in 2007, Scrimshire has released three albums of experimental cinematic jazz, and electronic sounds. Following his 2009 debut ‘Along Came The Devil One Night’, his second album ‘The Hollow’ (2011) was a BBC 6 Music Album of the Week, with Gilles Peterson calling it “A late contender for album of the year”.

In the time since the release of his last album ‘Bight’ (“An eclectic range of influences ranging from disco to fusion to more contemporary electronic styles” XLR8R) in 2013, Adam has worked with long-time musical accomplice Dave Koor on new project Modified Man, and launched Albert’s Favourites releasing projects by The Expansions, Hector Plimmer and Jonny Drop. He has continued to gain radio and DJ support for his successful “Scrimshire Edits” series and has produced and mixed records for artist including Stac, Daudi Matsiko, Bastien Keb, Ronin Arkestra, Jonny Drop. He has also continued to develop the Wah Wah 45s label, where he is now a co-owner and director.

Preceded by singles 'Thru You' featuring Georgia Anne Muldrow and 'Life Is Valuable' featuring James Alexander Bright; 'Listeners' is set for release on LP and digital formats via Albert’s Favourites on 19th July 2019.

DJ Support / Press:

Huey Morgan (BBC Radio 6 Music)

Jamie Cullum support on BBC Radio 2

Jamz Supernova on BBC Radio 1Xtra

Thru You Premiered By Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC 6 Music “So Beautiful

Hammered Hulls are a brand new band from Washington D.C. made up of some very old connections.
Mary Timony (bass) and Alec MacKaye (vocals) grew up in the same Washington neighborhood and have spent the better part of their lives in each other’s somewhat distant orbit. Always aware of each other, but never able to play together.
Mark Cisneros (Guitar) has been in D.C. for more than a decade. He cut his teeth in Los Angeles listening to both Mary and Alec’s bands, but also a healthy dose of free jazz and garage. He is the man who plays every- thing with everyone, but this is his band.
Hammered Hulls are rounded out by Chris Wilson (drums), a monstrous drummer with no shortage of love for all three of his bandmates. Every person in this band is a fan of every other person in this band. Mutual respect drives this train. But to say they are an odd collection of influences is to understate the point. If you tried you couldn’t imagine what this band might sound like.
This single was recorded and mixed in a single day at Inner Ear studios, appropriate home to everyone in the DC scene.
mark Cisneros - guitar Alec macKaye - vocals mary Timony - bass Chris Wilson - drums

On 28th June 2019, drummer / producer / composer Myele Manzanza will release his eagerly anticipated third album 'A Love Requited' on First Word Records (winner of Worldwide Awards 'Label of the Year' 2019).

Produced with award winning Australian bassist & long time musical collaborator Ross McHenry and featuring a plethora of New Zealand and Australia's finest young instrumentalists, 'A Love Requited' is as much a musical journey as it is an attempt to process, work through and come to terms with the life around him.

"The music on this record was written often as a place of psychological refuge from the tensions of an ultimately failed relationship at home, as well as an attempt to come to grips with thought patterns and personal history that caused an often problematic relationship to music itself. Meditating on themes of love, fear, family, anger, death, ego and acceptance has helped create a narrative arc that grounds the album as well as a mode of therapy to begin working through these issues for myself.

'A Love Requited' is easily my most personal work to date and my hope is that beyond the music itself it may be of help to others, if only to say that your not alone in your struggle to make sense of the world".

This album also features the stellar talents of APRA award winning NYC based pianist Matthew Sheens (John Pattitucci, Cecil McBee, Ross McHenry Trio), alto saxophonist Jake Baxendale (Antipodes, The Jac), trumpeter Ben Harrison (Dave Douglas, Horns Of Leroy), trombonist James Macaulay (The Lagerphones, Epic Brass), multi-reedist Jason McMahon (The Shaolin Afronauts), flautist Adam Page (NZSO, John Psathas, Noel Gallagher), guitarist Django Rowe (Wizard Tone Records) as well as additional keyboard contributions by longtime collaborator Mark de Clive-Lowe (Ropeadope Records, Mashibeats), Brenton Foster and Jack Strempel.

Where Manzanza's debut album 'One' presented his ability as a producer / beatmaker, and his sophomore album 'OnePointOne' showcased his live performance and band leader prowess, 'A Love Requited' puts Manzanza's skills as a composer to the fore.

"Over the last few years I've really enjoyed the process of getting away from music software tools and just sitting at a piano with some manuscript paper and a cup of coffee and seeing what comes of it. I'm a very amateur pianist and my music theory knowledge is fairly limited, but in some ways that's an advantage as I'd be starting with a basic barometer of "does this sound good to me?", without too much consideration for formal rules and structure. From there, developing the arrangements to present to musicians forced me to get a better understanding of melody, harmony and orchestration and to really hone in on refining my ideas to a point where I now feel as much satisfaction and confidence putting myself out on the world stage as a composer as I do playing the drums."

'A Love Requited' will be available on vinyl & digital from the 28th June 2019.

Patience began as bedroom synth project for songwriter Roxanne Clifford after the break up of her acclaimed indie pop band Veronica Falls. Born out of a desire to experiment with a new sound and analogue synthesizers, the project has since grown to become an all-encompassing persona and serves as the main vehicle for the full emotional spectrum always latent in Clifford’s songwriting. From her first long-sold-out 7” singles on Night School, her knack for melodic hooks and oblique emotional stances already contained a glistening sheen of promise. ‘Dizzy Spells’ serves as an intimate portrait of Clifford’s creative adventure, almost diaristic, conceived and recorded in her home studio, as well as with collaborators Todd Edwards (Daft Punk/Uk Garage fame), Lewis Cook (Free Love/Happy Meals) and engineer Misha Hering (Virginia Wing). Dizzy Spells delivers a debut album that twists Clifford’s songwriting into new shapes and ecstasies. The album dances around melancholy, thrown to the floor like a bad dream to be circled, emerging bright-eyed into the early morning full of hope. The Girls Are Chewing Gum (produced by Todd Edwards) bursts open Dizzy Spells like fresh fruit: sweet and rich with a synth-bass line beamed down from Chicago House heaven. Exquisitely sung by Clifford, it’s a wonderful, funky, instant-classic hinting at sexuality and memories dredged from our bodies’ secrets. The bouncy production expertly renders the addictive power of our ephemeral pleasures. Living Things Don’t Last chases themes of longing and loss, opening up into a life affirming chorus that sings of transience, the passing of time and railing against inertia. It’s the perfect example of a song formula that Roxanne Clifford has almost patented: simple and cutting straight to the point. There are shades of Strawberry Switchblade or French synth pop pioneer Jacno in the happy/sad dichotomy and it is all the better for it. Dizzy Spells features all three long-sold out singles, embedded in the full depth of Patience’s soundworld they fit like pieces of a puzzle. White Of An Eye, The Church and The Pressure—all recorded in Clifford’s former home of Glasgow—crackle with razor sharp melodies and dancefloor-ready dynamics. There are exciting additions to Patience’s sonic palette, brought into sharp relief on Voices In The Sand. In this song, a plaintive Clifford enunciates a heart-torn plea to the antagonist, a mournful cascade of synths and haunting vocals evocative of AC Marias, a sepia-toned ode to anxiety, “a storm is on the way”. On No Roses, a Vince Clarkesque production belies a sunburnt sadness. Clifford defiantly sings “you would go out tonight, but there’s nowhere you like,” describing a disenchantment with her adopted city of Los Angeles, she longs for home in a singular refrain “No roses… no roses for us.” An ode to English folk singer Shirley Collins, a surprising yet innate influence throughout Clifford’s work. On Moral Damage, former Veronica Falls bandmate Marion Herbain joins Clifford on an anglo-french duet that feels instant and spontaneous, a cutting comment on emotional accountability. More than a vehicle for Roxanne Clifford’s songwriting prowess, Patience is holding our hand through the night, dancing with tears in our eyes, dizzy and spellbound.

"I love it. SO beautiful"
Josh Rosenthal [Tompkins Square]

Songs For A One-String Guitar is the debut instrumental acoustic guitar LP from Jonny Dillon. Better known for his analogue electronic music productions and all-hardware live sets under the ‘Automatic Tasty’ moniker [Lunar Disko, CPU, Wrong Island], Jonny’s records (bearing heavy acid and electro influences), along with live appearances at venues like Berlin’s Panorama Bar and Kiev’s Closer belie the fact that he has been quietly exploring the musical landscape of the guitar for nearly twenty years.

Recorded as a series of sketches over the last 10 years, Songs For A One-String Guitar represents a snapshot taken over a long exposure; one individual’s private response to a variety of currents and inspirations both musical and emotional. While informed in large measure by the world of Irish traditional music and song (of Sweeney’s Men, Planxty and Seán Garvey) along with that of primitivism and the American Spiritual (of John Fahey, Hank Williams and Mississippi John Hurt) these songs are equally a personal attempt to give expression to an inner landscape, from the experience of sorrow and loss to the promise of redemption and renewal.

The LP opens with ‘Turning Invisible In An Imaginary Rose Garden One-Evening’ a contemplative piece played in free-time; “I’ve been playing this piece for years, and it’s gone by so many different names in that time. It’s a sort of shoe-staring daydream, to my mind at least. I want people to disappear when they hear it, and think it suits the LP to open up slowly and reflectively”. While a contemplative strain underpins some of these songs, others are informed more directly by the experience of grief; “I wrote ‘A Requiem For Joe Dillon’ at the death of my uncle. He used play lots of wonderful songs of his own at family gatherings when I was a child, and while a very gifted and sensitive soul, was also troubled by his own demons. The last time I saw him alive was at my family home with my father; I was going out to see some friends and Joe called me back, gave me a hug and made the sign of the cross with his thumb on my forehead, to bless me. It still chokes me up when I think about it. A song of his ‘Light A Penny Candle’ I included to finish the piece in his honour.” A sense of longing and hope is present in other pieces; “Songs like ‘Again But With Feeling This Time’ and ‘Start Again (Carry On)’ come from a sort of hopeful yearning feeling which is always within me; a melancholic sort of joy in search of redemption. For me, music has the strange capacity to express contrary positions simultaneously; to console, redeem and offer transcendence while also expressing suffering and pain. I don’t know what any of this means, but feel as though I’m trying to find my way home by writing the same song over and over again.”

Songs For A One-String Guitar may seem to represent a departure for those who know Dillon for his electronic productions alone, though the reality is that these songs merely represent a new opening onto an old landscape; they are an invitation to more fully share in one individual’s yearning to find meaning through creative expression. “These songs are very personal to me, so there’s a certain nervousness in my seeing them released. I hope that they prove of some use, and that they do some small good to those who hear them.”

The result of a Polish Crooner (Byczkowski) and Canadian Producer (Holland) enjoying a summer studio session in the heat of 2018: "All I Need" fixates on the importance of a good time. Influenced by euro dance classics, the two forged a 140 bpm melodic overload, dramatic builds and all. The flip sees Holland ride solo for 9 minutes and 9 seconds. An eyes closed trip through dubbed out chords, melancholic strings, and slamming percussion.... full steam ahead.

180g
In order to celebrate 5 thrilling and inspiring years, we gathered well-known artists, Goldmin regulars and emerging talents. It was really important for us to express the elusive nature of the Goldmin sound, in the form of a compilation tracklisting. Over the past 5 years, we had the chance to meet most of these guys in person, follow their very own creative path, share ideas, thoughts and there’s no doubt that they all had their part to play in crafting our sound. This intimate and stimulating kind of collaboration had to be expressed and there couldn’t be a better way to capture what we’ve been busily working for, than a serie of Various Artists 12″. What it comes down to is a quintessential, hard-to-follow Goldmin selection devoid of any specific standard or norm. And this whole compilation seems to reflect that non-septate artistic direction, this little something, which has grown throughout our whole catalogue, since the label’s birth.That’s why, picking these select few tracks, that could illustrate Goldmin Music’s essential freedom was probably our toughest work yet. It was also important to pick only the most original and iconic tracks from each artist. In the end each track had to be their most Goldmin one and they all have been tried in all types of situations, in club at 1 and 5 AM, on the highway at night or even staring at the ceiling during a sleepless insomnia session. They all fullfilled their duty.

With a celestial voice that's been streamed over 3 million times thanks to acclaimed features with The Kite String Tangle, Golden Vessel and label mate Sampology, Brisbane-based artist Tiana Khasi (Kah-see) shares her debut EP, 'MEGHALAYA', out 29 March via Soul Has No Tempo.

The Sampology-produced debut is a rich tapestry of styles and influence, with inspiration drawing from themes of self-empowerment, family and heritage, collaborating with contemporary musicians while studying jazz. ''Meghalaya' is both geographic and spiritual. It's a place I creatively resort to seeking affirmation of my identity and for true holistic inspiration. I wanted to create a body of work that honestly showed where I was at musically and personally. I felt the growing pains of being a young woman, mixed race/Australian born and studying jazz. I was neither here nor there.'

'Nuketown', the first single from the forthcoming release, is out now following global premieres with Complex UK & London's Worldwide FM. Upon hearing early mixes, Gilles Peterson handpicked the track to feature on his most recent compilation, Brownswood Bubblers Thirteen, via Brownswood Recordings. Touted by local tastemakers and HypeMachine blog Purple Sneakers as "the debut single we didn't know we needed", 'Nuketown' has found airplay with national stations triple j & Double J, placement in Spotify's Just Chill playlist, rotation with Sydney's FBi Radio, and enthusiastic support from community radio and online media around the country and beyond.

"A flawless example of the kind of music we can expect from Tiana going forward. [Nuketown] creates something completely original, drawing elements from jazz but never chasing a particular sound or vibe. Everything comes naturally, taking you on a journey with the instrumentation matching the ebbs and flows of Tiana Khasi's sweet vocals. It serves as an exemplary debut for the young artist, and can only mean better things are on the horizon." - Complex UK

A keystone artist in her hometown whose live reputation precedes her via her work fronting local jazz/hip-hop collective Astro Travellers, Tiana Khasi's voice has been praised as "elegant" (Life Without Andy), "most dope" (Audiosteez) and "as venomous as it is honey-sweet" (Happy). A trained jazz vocalist, Tiana's unique sound is heavily influenced by her Samoan and Indian heritage, and has seen her support Jamaican-American "TrapHouseJazz" sensation Masego, Swedish soul artist Fatima and acclaimed Australian collective 30/70.

*Limted to 300 copies worldwide* It all began in summer 2017 when Peter Broderick's former Efterklang bandmate Rasmus Stolberg invited him to perform at his new festival in Denmark, with the specific idea that Peter would play an entire set of Arthur Russell songs. As a long-time lover of Arthur's work, Peter immediately accepted the invitation and began to learn a collection of Russell songs. Stolberg put together a band of Danish musicians to join Broderick on stage, and the festival performance went off without a hitch.

Immediately after, Peter starting receiving invitations from other festivals, asking for the same thing — a full set of Arthur Russell songs. Even Arthur's long-time partner Tom Lee took notice of these performances of Arthur's work, and reached out to Peter personally. It wasn't long before Broderick was invited to examine some of Russell's archival work, and asked to do audio restoration work on the old tapes.

Peter's strong love for Arthur's work grew exponentially as he dove into the psyche of his hero, listening to hours and hours of unreleased material. He discovered that some of his favorite Russell songs have yet to be heard by the masses, and felt inspired to learn some of these tunes himself.

It was inevitable that Peter would record an album of his own renditions of Arthur's songs. And there was no better place to do it than the state of Maine, where most of Arthur's surviving family are based, and where Broderick himself was born back in 1987. With a large cast of friends and family, including Arthur's niece Rachel Henry and nephew Beau Lisy, Peter set out to capture his love for Arthur's music with a diverse collection of 10 songs, two of which have yet to be released in their original versions.

Its cover adorned with an original painting by Tom Lee, 'Peter Broderick & Friends Play Arthur Russell' is a vibrant and joyful tribute to one of Broderick's greatest heroes. Peter extends his deepest gratitude to all of Arthur's family, friends and fans who have so warmly welcomed his own versions of these tunes. It is hoped that these recordings will serve to honor the truly staggering legacy of Arthur Russell.

Fifth part of the Strata-East Dolphy Series, Glass Bead Games is arguably the crown jewel of the Strata East movement, an amorphous genre that treads an unusual path between post-bop, 70's avant-garde and spiritual jazz, with a groove.

Glass Bead Games is full of revelations at many levels. First, the decade of the 1970s did produce genuinely creative, "human" new music flowing from the jazz mainstream; second, Bill Lee was more than Spike's dad: he was a superlative bassist, a team player of the first order, a powerful catalyst who, if anything, deserves to be better known than his son; third, Billy Higgins was, as so many musicians insist, a once-in-a-lifetime drummer—the bellows inspiriting the collective flame.

Most importantly, Clifford Jordan was an artist of the first order, his playing so effortless and unforced, unselfconscious and focused, mature and wise that, at a time when altissimo fury was all the rage, it's small wonder his authentic voice frequently went unheard. His musical rhetoric is so personally expressive, its substance so compelling, the listener couldn't care less about the extraordinary technique required to convey its captivating message. Compared to some of his more acclaimed peers he's a less aggressive yet paradoxically more directive and shaping influence. The climaxes, rather than spelled out, are merely suggested, registering with deep and lasting impact on the listener. It all comes down to learning the language, those precious little beads. Not every player, including Jordan or the listener, can use it like Shakespeare, but all can learn to read Shakespeare and understand its principles of arbitrariness and serendipity, of invariance and transformation.

Jordan, no less than Shakespeare, requires a like-minded cast of players—in this case four musicians of such redoubtable proficiency that each remains committed to keeping the beads in play. He's not a man content with a mere musical "dialogue" with his fellow musicians nor is he about to take the initiative in pulling his troops up to his level. Instead he begins to tell a musical story that's so compelling his three comrades are inspired equally to contribute to a collaborative narrative. This is brilliant music-making by a Coltrane- influenced successor who feels no obligation to mime the predecessor. It may be the most significant saxophone performance on record since Coltrane and, providing the listener stays with it for any length of time, the most deeply satisfying. Jordan's game—so effortless, unforced, and "level"—erases distinctions between composed and improvised, soloist and ensemble, narrator and narrative, the dancer and the dance. It seems incapable of wearing out its welcome.

By Samuel Chell/All About Jazz

Soundwalk Collective is a multi-disciplinary audio-visual collective founded by Stephan Crasneanscki, including members Simone Merli and Kamran Sadeghi.

The Collective's approach to composition combines anthropology, ethnography, non- linear narrative, psycho-geography, the observation of nature, and explorations in recording and synthesis. The source material of their works is always linked to specific locations, natural or artificial, and requires long periods of investigative travel and field work.

Their recent projects include a collaboration with Patti Smith and reworking the archive of recordings on Jean-Luc Godard's film set.

For the 8th Marionette publication, Soundwalk Collective present 'Death Must Die'. A sound piece that began in 2004 and ended up as a composition for the PS1 radio in NY. For this New release the Collective has revisited the piece in a more musical way.

'Death Must Die' is based on Stephan Crasneanscki's multiple visits to the sacred Indian city of Varanasi, originally known as Kashi and Banares. Sacred texts maintain that Varanasi isn't even a city, but rather a lingam of celestial light, the subtle and cosmic form of Lord Shiva which manifested itself as a city for the sake of seekers of liberation. To bathe in the holy Ganga is to be purified of your sins. To die in Varanasi, is to attain liberation and to bring an end to the cycle of rebirth known as transmigration. Determined to capture the elusive reality of this ancient city, Stephan has day by day recorded and re-imagined his understanding of how to perceive the continuously moving stream of the holy Ganga; performing a simple form of sadhana, which request is to be very alert but also to allow your mind to be quiet, making it easier to slip into the streams, and into the current that both the city and the river are offering.

'Death Must Die' begins before the rising of the sun and reproduces the cycle of a day in Varanasi, going down the river that is believed to be the divinity descended to this Earth in the form of water. She grants us happiness and salvation. The composition attempts to emulate the vibration of Kashi that encourages the kind of interiority that enables a person to get a better perspective on reality than one might have, while constantly being in the current of human life. A vibration dedicated to eliminating the distinction between human and non-human, between alive and dead, between light and dark.

To put it simply, 'True Meanings', the fourteenth Paul Weller solo album, the twenty sixth studio album of his entire career, is a record unlike any he has ever made before.

'True Meanings', is released on September 14th and is an album characterised by grandiose-yet-delicate, lush orchestration: an aesthetic to which Paul's better-than-ever voice, singing some of his most nakedly honest words, is perfectly suited. A dreamy, peaceful, pastoral set of songs to get lost in, it is both an album that a lot of his faithful audience have been wanting him to make for a long time, and an album that many new people outside of that audience will relate to.

On the 25th May this year, Paul Weller turned 60: a milestone that has unquestionably had an impact on the feel, both lyrically and musically, of 'True Meanings' which comes across being the most singer-songwriter-style album he has ever made. However, it is also the most collaborative: with more guests than any record he's been involved in before.

As well as all the members of Weller's band, Rod Argent of the Zombies provides Hammond organ on 'The Soul Searchers' and piano and Mellotron on 'White Horses'; folk legends Martin Carthy and Danny Thompson add picked guitar and double bass respectively to 'Come Along'; Little Barrie plays lead guitar on 'Old Castles'; Lucy Rose sings backup on 'Books'; and 'Movin On' is the result of a 'scratchy demo'on Paul's phone that was sent to Tom Doyle of the White Label project. Even Noel Gallagher makes a sneaky appearance.

Perhaps most surprisingly of all, especially given how personal and introspective 'True Meanings' feels, lyrics for four of the fourteen songs here were written, to Weller's melodies, by others. Connor O'Brien from Villagers came up with the words to opener 'The Soul Searchers', while 'Bowie', 'Wishing Well' and the closing 'White Horses' are all the work, lyrically, of Erland Cooper from Erland & The Carnival.

'True Meanings' was produced by Paul Weller except 'The Soul Searchers', which was co-produced by Paul and Conor O'Brien and 'Movin On' which was co-produced by Weller and White Label. The album was engineered and recorded by Charles Rees and mixed by Jan Stan Kybert.

The album was recorded in just over 3 weeks at Paul's own Black Barn Studio, with the aforementioned, revolving cast of characters dropping in for a day here and there. The orchestration was added soon after, and that was that. It is always a good sign when the recording of an album is swift, and here you can just hear that the man at the centre of these songs is as focused and inspired - more inspired, even - than he has ever been.

Dark Matters label head Amirali returns with the expertly crafted Odyssey EP, employing his vital understanding of
space and texture to construct a highly emotive release featuring a remix from Fort Romeau. The three track
package is out digitally on May 14th followed by the vinyl release a few weeks later.
Leading on from his critically acclaimed discography and curatorial work with the inimitable Dark Matters imprint,
Amirali enters 2018 with grand plans for the future. He is currently conceptualising a live stage show whilst
continuing to provide a platform for all manner of weird and wonderful music.
'Odyssey' is a striking example of Amirali's penchant for songwriting, as well as a testament to his sonic identity,
merging memorable harmonies with heartfelt vocals and complex soundscapes. 'Hidden Past' veers more towards
the dancefloor, brandishing vast sonic explorations and levitating pads amongst detailed drum patterns. For the
'Hidden Past' remix, Fort Romeau mutates the delicacy of the original into a spaced out dose of peak time house,
gradually building rich harmonies around a fierce rhythmic motif.
On the creation of this forthcoming EP, Amirali states:
"Nothing is more important than my craft which is the main reason I'm here. There's no better satisfaction than to
create an amazing piece of music, that's my happiest point in life. I don't want my work to just be good or ok and that
takes a lot of effort and sacrifice in life. I got to a point where I said to myself I have to go and disappear for a while,
go be normal and do normal things. Instead of being on the road all the time, stay home, create an environment I
like to write music. There have been many experimentations involved in my upcoming material. I wanted to try and
push myself to the limit and I believe I've succeeded. For me, it's all about evolving and exploring areas I haven't
touched. That's why sometimes it takes a bit longer than expected, I don't just want to meet people's expectations,
sometimes I want to blow them away. There is so much music coming out week in and week out, the music is
evidently becoming more disposable and I would like to stay out of that chaos. When you stay true to your heart and
try to do something different you put yourself in an uncomfortable situation, that's when you grow as an artist and
also as a person, but the satisfaction you get when you finish a work cannot be put into words.

One of the most unique albums on the Strata East label - and that's saying a heck of a lot, given the creative energies flowing through that legendary jazz outlet! Descendents Of Mike & Phoebe is a righteous little project put together by Spike Lee's father, Bill Lee, and his brothers and sisters (Cliff Lee, Grace Lee Mims, and Consuela Lee Moorhead) - working here in a group named after their slave ancestors, who are paid tribute in a beautifully flowing batch of tunes! Lee's round, warm bass tones are firmly at the head of the group on most numbers - recorded at a similar level to his excellent work with Clifford Jordan on Strata East during the same time - and other instrumentation includes piano from Consuela, flugelhorn from Cliff, and percussion from Sonny Brown and Billy Higgins - all used in a wonderfully evocative style that's even better than some of Lee's later soundtrack work. A few numbers feature vocals from Grace - singing wordlessly and with a really heavenly sort of quality - and together, the whole group have an undeniable sense of power and majesty, yet also one that's touched by a really personal sense of poetry too. Titles include a great version of Lee's "Coltrane", which was more famously recorded with Clifford Jordan.

By Drago Museveni

Truly nuts and really kind of essential... the Starship Commander had his whole approach to the Synthesiser Voice technique. B-Boys/Girls delight. Check the instrumental cut, Mastership - a head nod synth voyage of the highest order. Limited copies. TIP!
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'How are you doing, Earthling' That's how Omer Coleman, Jr. addressed his public in the 80s, driving around Kansas City, Missouri in the electric space-car built especially for his alter ego Starship Commander Wooooo Wooooo.

Left Ear Records went back to Coleman's original master tapes for their vinyl reissue of the Commander's 1981 private press album Mastership, a lost electronic funk classic. Coleman performs in an alien voice that comes not from electronic filtering but from his own natural vocal distortions. This visitor from Mars wants people to be happy and, like his song goes, 'Laugh and Dance.' It's an endearing and very personal space-age funk that blends George Clinton and Kraftwerk in a vision of a better and happier world.

Born and raised in Kansas City, Coleman was musically inclined from an early age. His parents couldn't afford to buy him a real drum for orchestra, so he took up electrical wiring and wood shop instead, which fed his muse in a different direction. Omer built enormous speaker cabinets. In the late '70s he was a DJ, and ran a Mobile Disco business that took him across the country, hosting parties. After a trip to California, he came back to Kansas City inspired to dress up as Commander Wooooo Wooooo.

The future commander began working at the Armco Steel Mill in Kansas City when he was 18. He was inspired by older machinists who demanded perfection in their work and in their character. It was while he was working at the steel mill that Coleman came up with Starship Commander Wooooo Wooooo. One day coworker John Manley came up to Coleman with a vision of an electric car, and built it. His coworkers built all of his equipment, from lighting and fog machines to big steel eyeglasses. Coleman's sister, a seamstress, created his outfits.

Coleman started his own label in 1985 but took some time off from music to raise his children, and when they came of age his son recorded with Coleman as a gospel vocalist. When his son was killed in an auto accident in 2004, it took something out of him, and he stopped making music. But he's starting to get the feeling again.

Now 62, he's currently enjoying his retirement from a long stint with the IRS. The former Commander is in the middle of a house project where he's using metal ceiling tiles to line his walls. It's starting to look like a spaceship. Coleman promises, 'There is a real good possibility that we have not seen the last of Starship Commander Wooooo Wooooo!
Pat Padua'

Diahgonal is the new brainchildl of Ruben Alonso Tamayo, better know
to his fans as FAX. Having released on Static Discos, Level Records, and Leaf to
name a few. Spiral marks Ruben's debut on our imprint, introduces his sonic
reset as Diahgonal to the wider public, and adds another layer of personality to
our talented family of artists. Balancing the old with the new, ethereal sonic
exploration with analog warmth and thump. Every track embraces cinematic
splendour.

The Works of John B. McLemore, the star of one of last years biggest podcasts, S-Town, which is coming out on Dais. The story behind this release is truly fascinating.. the music itself is ambient remixes of Tor Lundvall's best works, but with John's idiosyncratic slant on them, with some having been woven together using the horde of clocks he use to keep in his basement. This story is really worth a read if you get a chance."In September 2012, I received an e-mail from someone named John B. who said he had assembled a lengthy remix of my music, which also incorporated some of his own material. John asked if I'd mind if he posted this recording on YouTube, to which I agreed. He also mentioned that there was a second part to his mix that was "roughed out", but never completed. I was curious to hear both parts, so shortly afterwards, John mailed me two CDrs which I enjoyed very much. The recordings were hypnotic and haunting, evoking images of vast fields at twilight. I was especially fond of the second disc which had a darker atmosphere and featured more of John's original material, beginning with ghostly clock chimes and ending with a mysterious piece using dried seed pods and other cryptic sounds that slowly built-up into an intense, almost claustrophobic environment.

My correspondence with John lasted about two months. In one of his final e-mails, John said "I have to observe that your paintings seem to have a great deal of loneliness involved in them... even multiple characters seem to be together alone, so to speak... I really appreciate looking at your paintings as well as your music, I think I have connected with the spirit of them both as much as anyone can." He went on to discuss his struggles with depression, caring for his aging mom and his concerns about the future. I tried to encourage his music as a possible outlet, perhaps as a means to help transform his feelings of loneliness into a more content solitude. Always easy to say, but as I well know, not always easy to do.

In his last e-mail in late October 2012, John sent me a beautiful slideshow of his Fall flower beds and his dogs. I was touched and I told him how much watching his video had brightened my day. That was the last time I heard from him.

Last year, I visited John's YouTube channel to see if Part One of his mix was still posted, which it was, and still remains. I was shocked and saddened to read in the comments section that he had passed away. The comments also suggested that John had received some sort of national attention recently. This quickly led me to the S-Town podcast. Although I had mixed reactions after listening, I was thankful that S-Town shed more light on John and his remarkable life... but somehow, I just couldn't place the person in the podcast with the person I had corresponded with. Had I not listened to S-Town, I would have remembered John as a very private, somewhat dark and lonely person. He may have been these things, but there was obviously far more to him than that.

After finishing the final episode, I decided to play the second, unreleased CDr of John's recordings for the first time in years. Listening to his clock chimes ringing in the dark was an eerie and chilling moment. I was reminded of a line from my song "29" which says "I live with dreams and a lonely mind, my clock is set to a different time". I wondered what those lyrics might have meant to him.

John had mentioned that he wasn't satisfied with his final mix, but I felt his work was too special not to be heard. I hope that these recordings offer another glimpse into the creative mind of a unique, complex and gifted individual who tragically left this world all too early."

Tor Lundvall
January 17th, 2018

JOHN B.'s NOTES:

This is what was intended to be the second part of my Tor Lundvall Remix series. Unfortunately I am dissatisfied with it due to a few defects, and it is highly unlikely that I will ever be able to complete it. Still it serves as a testament to my interest in the work of Tor Lundvall that I made it this far. Defects are as follows: The first movement is too 'fussy', and the first section of the fifth movement seems a bit long and may bore the listener, but since it consisted of so many slow moving textures, I don't know how I could redo it and still achieve what I was wanting to accomplish. Additionally, this recording was done just days before my Father died, and there are many feelings of guilt associated with the time spent on it. If you are receiving this recording, either you are one of my better friends, or you are a great admirer of Tor Lundvall, and requested that I send it to you.

1st Part: Basically a track of me fiddling around with old clock bells, and air turbulence mixed with Tor Lundvall and Field Recordings of rain, birds, cicadas, frogs and such.

2nd Part: My interpretation of Lundvall's Dark Spring. This track was inspired by the music of Carl Michael von Hausswolff.

3rd Part: Very ambient Field Recordings inspired by the work of Francisco Lopez.

4th Part: A Very Quiet passage consisting of delicate Field Recordings.

5th Part: Music performed entirely by me inspired by the Darker paintings of Tor Lundvall. Most of the instruments on this piece consisted of dried seed pods from the plant; Showy Rattlebox (Crotolaria Spectabilis), that I had collected and dried the previous Fall. There are other sounds from my own environment as well.

This mix was assembled in the Late Fall of 2003. There are some very Quiet passages in this piece, so it requires a nearly Isolated listening environment... It should be heard After Midnight, in the Late Fall of the year, and, not surprisingly, a Very Long Attention span is a Prerequisite.

John B. McLemore
September 10, 2012

Mannequin Records presents a trilogy of reissues from the avantgarde Italian-born producer Doris Norton, "Nortoncomputerforpeace" (1983), "Personal Computer" (1984, originally released by Durium Records), "Artificial Intellingence" (1985).Apple's first music "endorsement" and Roland affiliate, Doris Norton is one of the most important women pioneer in the use of synths and in the early electro / computer music. Norton is the wife of Antonio Bartoccetti, progressive rock guitarist, and mother of the musician and techno producer Rexanthony. As a teenager, she was drawn to medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, not to mention quantum physics, differential equations, organic chemistry, the experimentalism of John Cage and animated movie soundtracks. Her love for modules and circuits found expression through the waves of an old harmonium, the frequencies of a Minimoog, a Roland System 100M, a Roland System 700 and the ARP 2500/2600.

In 1980, Norton began her solo career by recording at Fontana Studio 7, the Milan studio of the composer and musician Tito Fontana, resulting in the electronic opera "Under Ground". Norton became more prolific, continuing her adventures in experimental electronics and computer music with Parapsycho (1981), Raptus (1981), Nortoncomputerforpeace (1983), PC (1984) - whose album cover prominently features Apple's colored logo - and Artificial Intelligence (1985).

While the beat-oriented style of Norton's music aligns her with such global fellow-travelers as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk, her championing of the personal computer as a tool for self-sufficient musical creativity also connects her to more artsy musicians such as Pietro Grossi, Laurie Spiegel, and the League of Automatic Music Composers. Norton's predilection for the bright, glossy timbres of early digital instruments also recalls Hubert Bognermayr and Harald Zuschrader's bizarre 1982 one-off Erdenklang.

Later, her talent and expertise attracted the attention of IBM, who in 1986 named her as an official consultant. Already the reigning queen of the Italian electronic scene, she recorded two CDs for IBM: Automatic Feeling and The Double Side Of The Science. Influenced by her son, the musician and producer Rexanthony, Norton brought her fascination with the early days of techno into the 1990s, when she released three volumes of Techno Shock on Italian trance/hardcore label Sound Of The Bomb.

While her music remains largely out of print and inaccessible, Norton's early records have recently begun to receive the inevitable rediscovery treatment.

"In the late sixties I had already conceived computers as personal.' I have always trusted in the benefits of solitude, (being) alone means freedom... What's better than a personal' computer for materializing ideas, by oneself" (Doris Norton)