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Unpolished, refined, energetic club "mutations" Rantzen and Spinoglio go way back in time as old friends, and we are reuniting some of their old and recent pieces to forge a strong atmospheric dance LP with a unique flavor. Luen is also contributing strongly through her collaboration with Andy on " Black cloud". Some tracks in this release were made 15 years ago and some others were made in the last 5, but who cares ? Enjoy the music

Joji returns with long-awaited 4th studio album ‘Piss In The Wind’ via Palace Creek. The new LP cements his place as one of the most distinctive and genre-defying artists of his generation, balancing haunting melodies with gritty yet atmospheric production. The album captures the quiet contradictions that always defined his music, wrestling inner turmoil into something strangely beautiful. Features “PIXELATED KISSES,” “Past Won’t Leave My Bed,” and more.


Joji kehrt mit seinem lang erwarteten vierten Studioalbum „Piss In The Wind“ zurück. Die neue LP festigt seinen Platz als einer der markantesten und genreübergreifendsten Künstler seiner Generation, der eindringliche Melodien mit einer rauen, aber atmosphärischen Produktion in Einklang bringt. Das Album fängt die stillen Widersprüche ein, die seine Musik seit jeher auszeichnen, und verwandelt innere Unruhe in etwas seltsam Schönes. Mit „PIXELATED KISSES”, „Past Won’t Leave My Bed” und weiteren Titeln.

Brazilian duo DEAFKIDS returns with a vital and combustive new album, CICATRIZES DO FUTURO (SCARS OF THE FUTURE).

This nine-track sonic assault forges a path beyond the conventions and boundaries of static musical genres. Here, electronic fury and feverish organic percussion collide with a relentless Latin American punk spirit.

Vinyl is opaque orange with black dot splatter. Limited


PRESS FOR PREVIOUS ALBUM ‘METAPROGRAMACAO’ (NR113)

LEAD REVIEW IN WIRE MAGAZINE: 'BRAZIL'S DEAFKIDS PERFECT AN UNHOLY COLLISION OF DUB, METAL AND PSYCH ON THEIR CACOPHONOUS NEW ALBUM'
'OPENER 'MENTE BICAMERAL' SOUNDS LIKE BAD-TRIP MINISTRY AND THE SEVEN MINUTE CENTREPIECE 'RAIZ NEGATIVA' IS ABSOLUTELY HUGE' 4.5/5 NARC

“ONE OF THE MOST INDIVIDUAL ENDEAVOURS OUR COMMUNITY WILL DELIVER THIS YEAR” ZERO TOLERANCE.

9/10 REVIEW IN LOUDER THAN WAR: “. IT'S NOISY, IT'S INDUSTRIAL, IT'S PUMMELLING AND ULTIMATELY, IT'S COMPLETELY SATISFYING..

Conceptually, the album is a visceral diagnosis of a world intoxicated by its own fictions
of power, tracing the anatomy of a systemic grand deception and exploring its mechanics
of psychological, social, and material domination, the indelible marks imprinted on bodies
and minds and its catastrophic consequences.

It is a journey from the poisoned and addicted collective psyche to the desperate search for an antidote, while the future seems to be already cursed by the very forces that pretend to build it. Yet, for all its thematic weight, CICATRIZES DO FUTURO is hypnotically danceable - physical and ritualistic music that demands body movement as a form of mental cleansing. The album doesn’t just reflect a fractured and violent world — it breathes desire to live and resist through new sonic paths

Kaiso Power is a collection of rare jazz, calypso and percussive gems from Trinidad and Tobago from the revolutionary generation of the 1970s, bringing radical new political vision and reclaiming ancient spiritual consciousness through music. At the dawn of the 70s a shift was taking place all around the world. The streets of Port of Spain thronged with Black Power marches, trade union demonstrations and Carnival protest bands - one epicentre in a growing global exchange of ideologies and strategies among Pan Africanist circles in Jamaica, Guyana, London, New York, Montreal, Lagos, Accra and beyond. And when the meetings were over, the revolution moved to the cramped secret dance halls, the Carnival fetes, the steelband yards. The music always had a sharp edge. Searing commentary has always been part of the various types of music in Trinidad, and in the absence of lyrics, the defiant use of the drum maintains the resistance, as well as the re-framing of the playing of European instruments to the needs of the message. Lancelot Layne, Delano Abdul Malik De Coteau, Andre Tanker, Clive Zanda, Mansa Musa were more than artists, they were teachers, community workers and advocates for justice. These recordings are as raw as an all-night Carnival jam, the horns loud, the percussion ringing out, the bass dripping with joy and rebellion. Under the modern influences is a solid rhythm, an unbroken connection to Africa, the songs and keys and cadences brought across the middle passage. These songs are a peep into the untapped treasures of a revolutionary generation, looking at the world with fresh eyes and believing that music was a central part of the mission to build consciousness and regain confidence.

The fifth release from Diggers Society Records is signed by one of the most influential duos in the underground electronic scene of the past 20 years: The Analogue Cops. Lucretio and Marieu deliver a finely crafted, dancefloor-oriented EP, strongly defined by the techno, electro, acid, and house sounds that have become their unmistakable signature. The A-side opens with two full-on techno dancefloor bangers, ‘Fake Black Out’ and ‘Do What You Want’, while the B-side leans more towards house, driven by the hypnotic progression of ‘Milano Gipsy’ and the intense bassline of ‘Chinese Coffee’. The duo’s creativity and brilliance shine through in raw, unconventional solutions that surface in every moment of the EP.
Artwork by @designattitude_graphic

The fifth release from Diggers Society Records is signed by one of the most influential duos in the underground electronic scene of the past 20 years: The Analogue Cops. Lucretio and Marieu deliver a finely crafted, dancefloor-oriented EP, strongly defined by the techno, electro, acid, and house sounds that have become their unmistakable signature. The A-side opens with two full-on techno dancefloor bangers, ‘Fake Black Out’ and ‘Do What You Want’, while the B-side leans more towards house, driven by the hypnotic progression of ‘Milano Gipsy’ and the intense bassline of ‘Chinese Coffee’. The duo’s creativity and brilliance shine through in raw, unconventional solutions that surface in every moment of the EP.

This special edition also includes a 10" limited to 100 hand-numbered copies, featuring two exclusive productions: “Burning Jack” and “Yes Or Not”.

Artwork by @designattitude_graphic

Phonogramme is pleased to re-issue one of the finest and most saught after material of Ukrainian genius Vakula, originally released in 2010 on Firecracker Records. All the DJs must check the cruising Detroit beatdown of 'Black & White', the properly laidback vibes and the rich atmospheres of 'You Can Do' and the smoky jazz tangibility of 'Different Tone'. Fans of Fudge Fingas, Linkwood, KDJ, Theo P ... this is for you.

We are heartbroken to announce this very special release — a tribute to the genius of Keith McIvor aka JD Twitch (Optimo), who sadly left us on September 19, 2025. Over 20 years ago, when Skylax had no money and was just starting out, Keith was among the very first to believe in us. He delivered four unforgettable remixes of Denise Motto – I M N X T C, sharp, uncompromising cuts that defined the true spirit of underground dance music. At the time, due to limited means, only one made it to vinyl. Now, for the first time, we are proud to present the complete set: four remixes — the unreleased acid mix, blackrabbit whorehouse mix, industrial mix, and alternative mix , all cut loud and mastered with love. This release is more than a record; it is a homage to Twitch, a true pioneer and tastemaker, our generation’s John Peel. His art of digging, his fearless intelligence in music choices, his no-compromise vision — all of it stands in stark contrast to the disposable culture of today’s Instagram DJs. What we celebrate here is the real thing: edgy, sharp, timeless. A piece of history, pressed in vinyl forever. Featuring a stunning artwork by H5 (Daft Punk, Air, Logorama), specially designed to pay homage to the legend. Ultra-limited, no repress.

You may be excused if, seeing the dazzling China Moses on stage, online, or on-air, you thought that she, fabulous and French, an orchestra trailing her, with one of those light-up-a-room smiles you only hear about in myth, was someone who might only be singing cheery songs about her glamorous musical life. Not so. It’s complicated… vibrates with the joy, wistfulness, ambivalence, and wisdom of a woman who’s been on many journeys, down many paths, and landed here, in your ears, on purpose, with something to say.

Through these songs, China captures the many hues of grown Black womandom: her choices, her regrets; her place in society as both citizen and observer. Her voice is girlish and playful; gritty and growly; truly prismatic, as Anthony Peyton Young’s cover art suggests, to reflect the many lives she’s lived. And she does all this with vulnerability, a quality that transcends and supersedes genre, taste, or ability. Of all the tools a singer-songwriter could possess, it might be the most important one. Though there is bravado here (“I can be happy”, the song and the video, are the best example), this is an album that taps into the full, resplendent spectrum of human experience, its many facets hewn into these 10 gems before you.

It’s complicated… and it’s complex. How could it be anything else?

— Kyla Marshell

WRWTFWW Records is ecstatic to announce a limited edition vinyl release of the remarkable PONYBOI (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Chilean-born composer, arranger, music producer, and multi-instrumentalist Cristobal "Cristo" Tapia de Veer (The White Lotus, Utopia, Smile, Black Mirror, and many more).
This collector's edition presents Tapia de Veer's complete original score for the critically acclaimed feature film PONYBOI - a bold, genre-defying neo-noir tale directed by Esteban Arango and and starring filmmaker, actor, screenwriter, model, and intersex rights activist River Gallo who also wrote the movie. The soundtrack arrives as a deluxe audiophile vinyl LP, housed in a luxurious 350gsm gold cardboard sleeve, cut with utmost precision by Sidney Claire Meyer at the legendary Emil Berliner Studios, home to Deutsche Grammophon's world-renowned legacy.
Vivid, seductive, gritty, dreamy, tender, and sometimes heart-pounding in its tension, the PONYBOI soundtrack is a sinuous creature of its own - an emotional, atmospheric, and deeply textural listening experience. Tapia de Veer fuses shimmering electronics with haunting melodies, raw rhythms, shadowy ambience, and surges of romantic intensity, perfectly embodying the film's world of danger, desire, identity, and survival on a single wild New Jersey night. It's daring, intimate, stylishly noir, and unmistakably Cristo: music that refuses boundaries and speaks directly to the pulse.
The LP showcases Cristobal Tapia de Veer's uncanny ability to blend experimental sound design with narrative emotion - a talent that has earned him global acclaim and numerous awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for The White Lotus.
This new WRWTFWW edition celebrates his artistry in its purest form: warm, rich, analog, and physically stunning. A must for soundtrack fanatics, ambient and experimental music lovers, and rare memorabilia collectors.

Black Moon Mother blends light and heavy soundscapes that pull from elements of Psych-Rock, Pop, Doom Metal and Shoegaze. Formed out of a Nashville music collective in 2017, the band put together a demo EP that became their live set, kickstarting their musical journey. At the beginning of 2018, Black Moon Mother began writing new material and continued the show-a-month ritual, while adding a new song to the live set one by one. January 2020 brought Black Moon Mother to Dark Art Audio in Madison, TN where they worked with engineer and producer Mikey Allred. Their newest album Illusions Under the Sun showcases an expanded musical depth and songwriting maturity, while exploring themes of nature, purpose, and perspective.

A decade ago, Taylor Swift was already a world-renowned and dominant force in the pop world. In 2014, she was on a world tour that took in a stop at Tokyo Saitama Arena on June 1st and the recording of it captures the electrifying energy of her sold-out performance during the iconic "Red" world tour. This live album showcases Swift at her early peak and delivering heartfelt ballads and powerful pop anthems with her signature charm and stage presence. Fan favourites resonate with emotion and live energy, while quieter moments like 'All Too Well' highlight her storytelling prowess. The Saitama Arena crowd adds to the magic throughout.

UK Street Soul, electronic, Deep House

After enticing tastemakers and fans the world over with her 2-track junket into street soul, Be Loved / What Could Happen, Kuzco doubles down with the after-hours antidote. Bound to Be presents the final two tracks to complete the 4-track EP, plus 2 remixes from Ladymonix and Black Moonchild.

Ladymonix delivers an uncompromising scat dub of Be Loved - a niche and signature style to emerge from the Detroit underground that Ladymonix champions. This one is strictly for the house dancers. The B-side features "Waaalk" and "Ha Ha Ha", a sultry and energetic jaunt into ghetto tech and electro. If it wasn't already evident, Kuzco is clearly making a stand and representing the FLINTA and queer club spaces that she embodies.

The B-side is perfectly complemented by an outstanding remix from Detroit powerhouse Black Moonchild - a superbly deep and hypnotic techno groove reminiscent of UFO activity over the Motor City, with bleeping electronic signals passing through jittery hi-hat and drum passages, married with Kuzco's saucy spoken word.

Bézier ripples their way back to Dark Entries with Decompose, an LP of doomed spa music. Multi-instrumentalist Robert Yang has made numerous appearances on Dark Entries for more than a decade, with releases spanning the stylistic gamut from hi-NRG disco floor-fillers to lush ambient epics. Decompose, Bézier’s second LP, is perhaps his most introspective work yet. It is an album almost ten years in the making, a deep investigation of life, loss, and the struggle of knowing oneself. If one were to pull a tarot deck for this album it would be the Nine of Swords. The album honors the lives of the fallen victims of Pulse Nightclub. It honors lives lost or suffering through the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The title track takes the form of a Buddhist chant, a brooding synth-driven meditation that scales steadily until breaking into John Carpenter-esque arpeggios halfway through. Tracks like “Egg,” “Marionette,” and “A Fading Citadel Atop Black Sand Bluffs” build on this soundworld, one in which intricate melodies and cavernous reverb induce in the listener feelings of both claustrophobia and free-fall. The album’s dancefloor-leaning moments, like “Codebreaking” and “Split a Path Towards the Thicket” are spartan, tunnel-vision techno tracks speeding towards ego-death. Decompose chronicles Yang’s journey to find peace with himself, as a gay Asian American. During this process, they learned to “repot” long-lost parts of their identity so they could grow forth in wholesome fashion. The sleeve for Decompose was designed by Eloise Shir-Juen Leigh, and features a photograph by Frankie Casillo of Robert laying on a bed of rocks in savasana pose, resembling an ascetic, evocative of the monastic vibes of the record.

Disco legend Sylvester comes to Dark Entries with Private Recordings: August 1970, an intimate collection of vintage jazz, blues, and gospel. While Sylvester is best known for his chart-topping collaborations with producer Patrick Cowley, such as “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” this release reveals his passion for the sounds of the 30s and 40s. In 1970 a 22-year-old Sylvester had moved to San Francisco and found himself involved with the Cockettes, the infamous psychedelic performance art troupe. Among this milieu was Peter Mintun, a pianist and record collector living in a commune devoted to retro culture. According to Mintun, “We were like hippies who lived in the twenties. We lived in a house that didn’t have anything modern in it. Nothing in it was made after World War II.” Mintun and Sylvester bonded over their love of Black singers of yore and were allotted a slot during Cockettes performances reviving the music of the Prohibition Era. One afternoon, Sylvester and Mintun recorded a number of their shared favorites using a high-end microphone a friend had acquired. Private Recordings features 9 songs from this session, including standards like “Stormy Weather,” “Happy Days Are Here Again,” and “God Bless the Child.” Sylvester’s unmistakable falsetto brings depth and a dash of camp to these familiar tunes. The recordings are casual and intimate, even capturing banter between Sylvester and Mintun; their brief rendition of “When My Dreamboat Comes Home” has the duo working out a melody in real time. In addition to their sonic explorations of decades past, Sylvester and Mintun also staged photographic shoots in vintage couture. Private Recordings comes with a 16-page booklet on firm cardstock featuring images from these never-before-seen shoots as well as liner notes from Mintun detailing his friendship with Sylvester and their experiences recording. All this is housed in a metallic silver sleeve designed by Eloise Leigh featuring a 1920’s Art Deco aesthetic. The record will be released on September 6th which would have been Sylvester’s 76th birthday, and all proceeds from Private Recordings will go to the two charities that Sylvester left his royalties after his death: Project Open Hand and PRC (formerly AIDS Emergency Fund). This essential release documents the earliest known recordings from one of disco’s greatest talents.

After the last release ‘Innocence’ with Nathan Cable gaining support from John Digweed on his renowned Apple Music Compiled & Mix Series, we bring forth one of the remixers for his own single release ‘Snake Altar’.

Richie Blacker Northern Ireland’s progressive house & breaks prodigy who’s seen releases on Sasha’s Last Night On Earth, Scream’s Of Unsound Mind, Franky Wah’s Shen, Armada, Anjuna Deep and so many more including his own imprint Mess Express. We were super excited to sign the original breaks mix of ‘Snake Altar’, an amazing ethereal & euphoric progressive breaks track with its haunting ethnic vocals we just knew who could step up as the originator (this time) to remix the third Break-The-Future project.

Ray Keith delivered his signature sound system Jungle / Drum & Bass sound to which we think you’ll absolutely love, just oozing in class. The way it flows from euphoric to his heavy hitting signature darkness to deep jungle roots and back is exactly what we wanted from the big man himself and absolutely buzzing to have Ray on the label for our third release.

To finalise the package Richie Blacker delivered a 4x4 mix, now the lead track and to close off the release a beatless mix & acapella giving you some serious tools to work with… THIS IS ESSENTIAL!

Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders return with their best album yet, and a UK tour this August. Press by Silver PR
‘’On the alternate timeline where the Meat Puppets inherited the bulk of the Grateful Dead’s tourheads when Jerry Garcia died in 1995, none of this would be necessary, because Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders are a household name for evolving their own musical space that overlays dusty folk, cosmic jazz, deep psych, free improv, and even (gasp!) indie rock, building an audience that ranges from open-eared curiosity seekers to deep committed music weirdos that’s also yielded the Heavy Lidders, an infamous sub-cult of concert tapers that you’re already sick of hearing about. A lot of other things are better over on that timeline, too.
But in this consensus reality (and probably the other one, too), Liquid Donnon catches the Lidders at their heaviest, “heavy” in the Lidderverse being far from a monolithic musical idea. There’s heavy like the album-opening “From Loch Raven to Fells Point,” one of several tracks with elegant and gnarled conversational jams featuring the core Lidders lineup of Alexander alongside guitarist Drew Gardner and bassist Jesse Sheppard (both of Elkhorn) and drummer Scott Verrastro. But there’s heavy, too, like “Calliope Walker” and “Tightroping,” featuring Gardner shifted to dream-space vibraphone, the former with saxophonist Tacuma Bradley, the latter with Christina Carter of Texas noise-psych legends Charalambides on veil-crossing wordless vocals, her first collaboration with Alexander in some 20 years.
But then there’s also heavy like the cover photo of Alexander’s late friend and album namesake Donnon, taken at a Dead show at Rich Stadium in Buffalo in 1989, a spirit threading through the songs and weaving unexpectedly into Alexander’s life decades later, emerging especially when Alexander passed through a near-death experience of his own. But, taken together, the different heavies of Liquid Donnon add up into a state of musical grace, where all the Heavy Lidders from all the universes come together as one. Just, like, imagine.
Convened in 2019 on Alexander’s relocation back to his native east coast, the Heavy Lidders are the latest hard-touring expression for the guitarist’s music, joining a vast and tangled discography (and tape list) that includes the beloved long-running west coast Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band and, before them, the Iditarod and Black Forest/Black Sea, as well as a bushel of solo play-all-the-instruments projects, a stint with Jackie-O Motherfucker, sessions with Kemialliset Ystävät and Avarus and others, and you’ll have to keep digging for the rest.
And while it’s not hard to find tapers at Lidders gigs (and they encourage you to be one), or to track themes and songs over Alexander’s many live releases, Liquid Donnon makes a new primary text, the original versions of six new pieces for the repertoire. The album closes with a devastating pairing of “Reservoir Drop” into “The Summer Song,” floating into a duo between Alexander’s guitar and Carter’s voice. Catch a half-dozen Lidders shows this summer, and you might not ever catch them playing it like that again, but you just might open the doorway back to that better place." - Jesse Jarnow (writer, WFMU DJ, producer and host of The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast)

Andrew Weatherall never wakes up in the morning and decides to start a new album that day. Instead, recording music is a continuous process usually working with different collaborators and seeing where the muse takes him. Somewhere down the line the rewards of a collaboration will coalesce into a body of work between thirty minutes and an hour long and he will put a call into the Rotters' team to say he has a new release ready to go.

We were visiting the studio catching up on new tracks in various states of readiness when he offered up some remixes of tracks from his recent "Ruled by Passion…" he'd been sent by fellow musicians. Tim Fairplay, Andrew's partner in The Asphodells, Sean Johnston from A Love From Outer Space and Scott Fraser live and work in the area and all popped in at various points.

Andrew's black book reads like the who's who of contemporary music but rather than plunder it for remixers he'd let drop the idea of a remix with friends and neighbours. These plus a couple a swaps with musical friends who were new to the concept of remixing, gave Andrew an hour of music he thoroughly enjoyed listening to.

It goes without saying none of the tracks are duds but our ears always prick up when Justin Robertson's take on "Beglammered" ups the heart rate or Daniel Avery's own unscrewing of "… the Axis" ruffles the neck hairs. We've stopped arguing in the office about which is the best track. They all are.

Earth Running, originally released in 1979 on the Tappa's Stars label, can be considered the Jamaican's toaster's maturity album. Lyrics here are rooted in the "ghetto life" as always. A work with an international flavour: On Side B, two convincing dance tracks, the anthemic funkfest "Freak" and "One More Chance", often championed by DJs in the following years. A work that explored new territories, a mandatory re-issue for all authentic reggae lovers.

Constant Black is one of the many, many labels that Burnski heads up. It's where he focuses on stripped-back minimal and tech house with a moody undercurrent. Kerouac is a mainstay in his orbit and here takes one side of a new 12" that opens with 'This Method,' a rigid thumper with an eerie edge. 'Produce To The Max' has a dark bassline and ghoulish vocal sounds, while 'Talking About' is a more light and bumpy percussive number. Mees Mattern takes care of the flip with the dusty, garage-y loops of 'Sloppy Tekniic,' rubbery bass minimalism of 'Reeses Pieces' and grittier '404 Not Found. Six fresh tools for rewiring a dancefloor.

Nicolás Mirón presents Hi-Tech Thoughts, his debut release on Echo Alpha Recordings. A record that draws inspiration from Detroit Techno, as well as New York Hip-Hop and MPC culture, reflected in the way he works with samples and programs chops on his AKAI MPC 2500. His production focuses on beat-making, pursuing a raw, hardware-driven sound rather than an overproduced one.

Nico’s creative foundation is rooted in Black music in all its forms, from soul and jazz to electronic sounds, while also embracing the legacy of figures like Kraftwerk, and genres such as Italo Disco, and New Wave. His musical career began with his residency at Radio Relativa in 2022, with his program “Pa’ Riparla Benne”, a connection between skateboarding and music, as well as its evolution and close relationship with contemporary culture. In the show you can hear different styles of music that have appeared within this scene through legendary video parts from skateboarding history, along with stories and curiosities behind these pieces of art.

2026 Repress

Originally from Malaga but a Berlin resident for the past 13 years, Carlo is thrilled to unveil his first album released under his own record label, Bisiesto. This label stands out for its unique approach, releasing just one album every four years on leap day, February 29th. In contrast to his previous style, this album blends all his musical influences into a unique mixtape of instrumentals.

Reminiscent of Nightmares on Wax, Kid Loco, and Mushroom Jazz, this album offers a unique auditory experience. Lora Ute brings a hint of tangy mellowness to ‘Because’ balancing dreaminess with playful notes, while Jose Fernancaster, with his immaculate guitar skills, infuses ‘Todo Mal’ with sexy guitar riffs and wahs. Intr0beatz's hip-hop touch enhances ‘Lemon Haze’, while Black Loops, a percussionist at heart, collaborates on ‘Midnight Cruiser’ to encapsulate the solitude of night-time city cruising with a lo-fi sound. Piek rounds off ‘Esperanza’ with an empowering bassline, tying the track together with a golden ribbon.

After the excellent response to the first volume, Acid Jazz Classics returns with the second volume.
The Acid Jazz sound born in the 1990s, which harked back to the Soul Funk of the 1970s, found in IRMA one of the labels most dedicated to
this world, and still releases music that can be categorized under this name.
From songs from the 1990s with artists like Jestofunk, Bossa Nostra, Black & Brown, Gazzara, Italian Secret Service, LTJ Xperience, Sarah
Jane Morris, to the present day with artists like The Smoke Orchestra, Yuts and Culture, Fusion Funk Foundation, Micky More & Andy Tee,
Belladonna, and many others.
19 tracks on a double vinyl, some of them never before released on vinyl, all rigorously perfect for both the club and listening.
In fact, some tracks are little club gems:
"Say It Again" by Jestofunk in its very first version from 1993;
Belladonna - Black Jazz, one of her most requested songs ever released on vinyl;
Key Tronics Ensemble - You For Me, the Montuno Salsa version performed for years by Little Louie Vega at many of his gigs;
the Micky More & Andy Tee remix of Sarah Jane Morris's Hold On To Love!

The new album by the collective that for
over 25 years has been among the most
representative names of the Italian dance
and electronic scene worldwide.
“BLOOOM”, this is the title of the new release,
will be available in all traditional stores and
on digital platforms starting January 16.
Set against the soundscapes that have become
the Planet Funk trademark, the lyrics by Dan
Black attempt to give voice to a fragile and
contradictory condition of our time: an
intensified sensitivity that, instead of
turning into openness and connection, often
becomes emotional overload. A generation
constantly overwhelmed by excessive stimuli,
relentless information, anxieties, and fears,
called upon to find its way in a world thaoffers neither pauses nor silence. In this paradox, sensitivity is no longer just a natural gift, but
a daily effort: staying open and receptive without being overwhelmed, trying to preserve a human and
vulnerable gaze in order, despite everything, to fully appreciate life and the present moment.
The single’s artwork—like that of the album—curated by Nationhood, visually conveys this tension: the
distant sirens of a city that amplifies feelings of disorientation and loneliness even when we are
surrounded by thousands of people.
“BLOOOM”, preceded by the single “FEEL EVERYTHING”, arrives at the end of an intense, creative year
full of music, which saw Alex Neri (DJ, keyboards, synthesizers), Marco Baroni (keyboards, piano,
programming), Dan Black (vocals and guitar), and Alex Uhlmann (vocals and guitar) engaged between
studio work, collaborations, and live performances in Italy and abroad. A journey that today
transforms into new energy, into an even more open vision oriented toward the future.
Exactly one year ago, PLANET FUNK released “Nights in White Satin”, a single that reached the top
positions of the radio charts and launched a season rich in concerts and DJ sets in Italy and around
the world. The subsequent “I Get a Rush”, the collaboration with Alfa and Manu Chao on the remix of
their hit “A me mi piace”, and the track “È Naturale” together with Francesca Michielin, confirmed
Planet Funk’s ability to renew themselves and engage with different musical worlds while always
remaining true to their own identity.
Throughout this journey, music has inevitably intertwined with life. The memory of Sergio Della Monica
and Domenico “Gigi” Canu, pillars and founding souls of the PLANET FUNK project, is a living part of
this new chapter. Their vision, creative spirit, and way of understanding music continue to be a
constant guide, a deep root from which new ideas and new directions can grow.
“BLOOOM” is also this: a personal and artistic blossoming that, starting from the legacy left by
Sergio and Gigi, transforms into a living process of growth, metamorphosis, and discovery. An album
that does not look back with nostalgia, but forward with awareness, momentum, and a desire for
renewal.
Founded in 1999, for over 25 years PLANET FUNK have represented one of the most important, solid, and
influential realities in the international electronic music scene. Born from the meeting of Souled
Out! (Domenico “GG” Canu and Sergio Della Monica) and Kamasutra (Marco Baroni and Alex Neri), and
following their debut with “Non Zero Sumness” in 2002 (a gold record and a turning point for the
band), PLANET FUNK have managed to reinvent themselves over time while maintaining a unique sonic
identity. This has led them to collaborate with internationally renowned artists, deliver iconic
performances around the world, create soundtracks and international advertising campaigns, and
continue to demonstrate constant creative vitality

Clear Vinyl mit blauer Marmorierung. Das luxuriöse Atelier Ryza (Original Soundtrack Trilogy)-Vinyl-Boxset enthält 45 Songs auf drei LPs, darunter die beliebtesten musikalischen Highlights aller drei Spiele. Jede Vinyl-Schallplatte steckt in einer polylined Innenhülle und befindet sich in vollständig illustrierten Covern mit Rücken. Das Set beinhaltet außerdem ein 24-seitiges Booklet mit Konzeptzeichnungen, Charakter-Artworks, Liedtexten sowie Liner Notes auf Englisch und Japanisch. Alles ist in einer hochwertigen, schweren Box verpackt, die diese Sammlung zu einem echten Must-have für jeden Fan des Spiels, seiner Kunst und natürlich der Musik macht, die immer ein wesentlicher Bestandteil des Erfolgs der Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy war.Die Atelier-Serie ist ein JRPG-Franchise mit dem Thema Alchemie, entwickelt von GUST und seit 1997 laufend. Die ,Secret Trilogy" umfasst die Videospiele Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout (2019), Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy (2020) und Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key (2023). Sie ist die erste Reihe innerhalb der Atelier-Serie, die über mehrere Titel hinweg dieselbe Protagonistin zeigt. Die Geschichte folgt einem gewöhnlichen Mädchen, Reisalin ,Ryza" Stout, die die Alchemie entdeckt und gemeinsam mit ihren Freunden ein Sommerabenteuer erlebt, welches ihr persönliches Wachstum durch diese Erfahrungen widerspiegelt. Alle drei Titel im neu veröffentlichten Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack bieten Verbesserungen hinsichtlich Bedienkomforts sowie zusätzliche Inhalte, um die ,Secret"-Reise weiter aufzuwerten.

Clear Vinyl mit blauer Marmorierung. Das luxuriöse Atelier Ryza (Original Soundtrack Trilogy)-Vinyl-Boxset enthält 45 Songs auf drei LPs, darunter die beliebtesten musikalischen Highlights aller drei Spiele. Jede Vinyl-Schallplatte steckt in einer polylined Innenhülle und befindet sich in vollständig illustrierten Covern mit Rücken. Das Set beinhaltet außerdem ein 24-seitiges Booklet mit Konzeptzeichnungen, Charakter-Artworks, Liedtexten sowie Liner Notes auf Englisch und Japanisch. Alles ist in einer hochwertigen, schweren Box verpackt, die diese Sammlung zu einem echten Must-have für jeden Fan des Spiels, seiner Kunst und natürlich der Musik macht, die immer ein wesentlicher Bestandteil des Erfolgs der Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy war.Die Atelier-Serie ist ein JRPG-Franchise mit dem Thema Alchemie, entwickelt von GUST und seit 1997 laufend. Die ,Secret Trilogy" umfasst die Videospiele Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout (2019), Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy (2020) und Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key (2023). Sie ist die erste Reihe innerhalb der Atelier-Serie, die über mehrere Titel hinweg dieselbe Protagonistin zeigt. Die Geschichte folgt einem gewöhnlichen Mädchen, Reisalin ,Ryza" Stout, die die Alchemie entdeckt und gemeinsam mit ihren Freunden ein Sommerabenteuer erlebt, welches ihr persönliches Wachstum durch diese Erfahrungen widerspiegelt. Alle drei Titel im neu veröffentlichten Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack bieten Verbesserungen hinsichtlich Bedienkomforts sowie zusätzliche Inhalte, um die ,Secret"-Reise weiter aufzuwerten.

Globally adored Spanish techno protagonist Indira Paganotto releases her debut album 'Arte Como Amante' via ARTCORE / PIAS Électronique. It brings together thirteen fearless tracks that stretch way beyond any one genre. It's high-pressure, high-energy, and deeply personal. A full-spectrum dive into the world of one of electronic music's most dynamic artists.

It follows a huge 2025. She debuted at Coachella. Played her first ever b2bs with Armin van Buuren at Sonar and Sara Landry at EXIT. She became the first woman to close Monegros. She held down her first Club Room residency at Hï Ibiza for 14 weeks, and even launched her own creative studio space, ARTOPIA, in Santa Eulalia. Her label ARTCORE the home of this special album also took their presence in the dance world to the next level with their own curated stages at Tomorrowland, Mysteryland and Dreambeach.

Now, she's telling her story. The title 'Arte Como Amante' means 'art as a lover'. For Indira, that's not just a phrase. It's her life. This album has been 14 years in the making. It began in Madrid in 2012, when she was 19, and was completed in 2024. She waited for the right moment. She lived life. She collected experiences. She built the sound. "I know to take 14 years to make an album seems crazy," she says, "but without living those experiences, how could I have made the music about them?"

The result is a diverse, adrenaline-fuelled body of work that hits hard and moves deep.

Evolution can be ugly and beautiful, painful and euphoric. An Undying Love For A Burning World is the first new release from Neurosis in a decade, and a potent statement of intent and rebirth - one that marks the first new steps of resolve and resilience.

An Undying Love For A Burning World is an epic album of colossal hypnotism - beautiful, fearsome and utterly compelling in a way that only Neurosis can be. Aaron Turner (Sumac, Isis) joins the band on vocals and guitar, a name whose legacy is intertwined with the band’s own and a true kindred spirit.

“From the moment I first heard Neurosis over 30 years ago, I felt this was the music my heart and mind had been seeking but not yet heard. Now after many years travelling along various musical paths of my own, the singular sound and spirit embodied by Neurosis continues to speak to the depths of my being. It is an honor and a true pleasure to have been welcomed so warmly into a band that not only shaped my perspective on the limitless possibilities of music - but has lived and exemplified the necessity of upholding creative integrity and camaraderie above all else.” - AARON TURNER

Neurosis have never been afraid of change, and here they embrace endless regeneration, surrendering to the emotional exorcism through heaviness and distortion that their music incites. Just as the universe tends towards balance, Neurosis’cacophony of noise, rhythm and dissonance always resolves towards moments of beauty. The addition of Turner's powerful vocals and wildly creative and unhinged approach to guitar proves to be a vital force as Neurosis find themselves again at the mercy of evolution and expression.

On every song in the band’s history, Neurosis shifts restlessly between tension and relief, invoking a feeling both feral and transcendent in listeners. The band describe their songwriting process as an inescapable impulse to create with each other - a need rather than a choice. Indeed, the band insist that their return is “not a reunion - we never broke up.”

The album was recorded by Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City, Sumac, and Great Falls) at Studio Litho in Seattle during three weekends this winter, and mixed in three days just six weeks before release at Evan's Antisleep Audio in Oakland.

Neurosis will play their first show in seven years on the traditional lands of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana as part of Fire in the Mountains festival by special invitation of Firekeeper Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to reducing youth suicide in Indian Country.

FITM, is a unique festival known for bringing epic music to epic landscapes with the intent of reconnecting and immersing oneself with the natural world, and strengthening our ancestral roots as human beings - an aim which aligns directly with Neurosis’ deep-rooted power.

Swiss DJ and composer Dexter Troy has made a name for himself with notable productions on labels such as « King Street Sounds, » « Groove Culture, » and « Mood Funk Records, » alongside iconic artists like Kerri Chandler, Dennis Ferrer, Masters At Work, Satoshi Fumi, and Dimitri From Paris. For over 15 years, he has shared his passion for electronic music in bars, clubs, and festivals in Switzerland and abroad.

His rich and diverse musical universe draws from multiple influences: house, funk, disco, all enhanced with a touch of electro-techno. »

One year after the part 1, « The Double Take part 2 » is coming to put the finishing touches to the project. He’s joined by BAKA G, a talented artist who made a name for herself on the Brussels house scene and distinguished herself with releases on labels such as Happiness Therapy.

„10 Jahre Bunte Träumerei“ is a selection "Best Of" from our catalogue released so far - pressed into black gold and packed into a full print cover artwork

Cut The With The Cake Knife was recorded by Rose McDowall in 1988/89 following the break up of her group Strawberry Switchblade. Produced with the aid of several musicians in several studios, the album features songs written for the fabled second Strawberry Switchblade album. More importantly perhaps it showcases the honest, direct and life-affirming songs of one of the greatest unsung songwriters of the modern pop era at a tumultuous time in her career.

Tibet opens the set and could be one of the best pop songs you've never heard. The innate sadness of the songs' content - the loss of a friendship, impending sorrow - is heightened to heart-melting level by McDowall's pop nous and melodic sensibility. Choruses and hooks are everywhere on Cake Knife, from the outsider take on stadium 80s pop in Wings Of Heaven to the spiraling, ecstatic So Vicious, a glorious anthem that highlights the human fragility in McDowall's vocal performance, an instrument that has never lost the naïve purity it first exemplified in Strawberry Switchblade's early 80s recordings. The centerpiece of the album, the title-track, is the greatest Switchblade pop chart hit that never was. Like the veiled melancholy of her former group's hits, Cut With The Cake Knife hints at a darkness beneath the gloss, a darkness that saw McDowall delve into more esoteric territory with her subsequent recordings and collaborations. Cut With The Cake Knife serves as the bridge between the pop music McDowall had been making with her friends Jill Bryson, Lawrence from Felt and Primal Scream to what became a more extreme, deep sound informed by neo-folk and post industrial music.

Rose McDowall's role in the canon has always been one of an outsider. Beginning in Glasgow's East End in the avant proto-noise group The Poems, achieving fame briefly in the 80s and then disappearing into counter-cultural folklore, the emphasis in the internet-age has been skewed towards her image and cultural significance. Unseen to many, her solo work, her groups Sorrow and Spell and her collaborations with a whole host of underground luminaries have still touched lives. As McDowall elucidates: 'They're real sad songs, about real life. I've had people come up to me to say I'd connected with them and helped them. I remember a gig in America when we made a whole room cry. It was bizarre. A couple at the front of the stage started crying and then these two boys beside and suddenly everyone was crying. And I thought, "that's power."

Night School's issue of Cut With The Cake Knife includes unpublished photographs, extensive sleeve notes from Rose McDowall and 2 bonus tracks culled from the bootleg 7' 'Don't Fear The Reaper.' First vinyl pressing is Clear w/ Black swirl; 500 only / has DL card and booklet, with a poster
CD has extensive booklet and is packaged in anO-Card.

Beginnend mit dem fröhlichen Ska von Lord Creators Unabhängigkeitshymne 'Independent Jamaica' zeigt das Chapter One Album den wahren Verlauf der jamaikanischen Musik in den 1960er Jahren mit einer virtuellen Who's Who der Reggae-Musik, darunter Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots & The Maytals, Rico, Skatalites, John Holt & Alton Ellis. Wunderschön verpackt mit Innenhüllen mit seltenen Fotos und Liner Notes von Steve Barrow von Blood & Fire.

Smith war ursprünglich Sänger bei Good Times in der Andy Williams Show im Jahr 1963.
Die Aufnahmen entstanden zwischen 1967 und 1972 und wurden vom Künstler selbst auf der Straße verkauft.
Die Neuauflage wurde von Smiths Bruder Gary und dem Autor Mike Stax zusammengestellt, der Herausgeber des Ugly Things Magazine und Verfasser des Buches „Swim Through the Darkness: My Search for Craig Smith and the Mystery of Maitreya Kali“ ist Smiths Geschichte von seinen bescheidenen Anfängen bis zu seinem tragischen Tod umfassend erzählt.

Seit einer einmaligen Pressung im Jahr 2019 vergriffen.

Für Fans von Rodriguez.

LP1 weiß mit schwarzem Marmor & LP 2 transparent orange mit schwarzem Marmor (Inca), plus Bonus-7„-Single in Schwarz

In spring 2025, Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri created the source material for their second album, Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun, during a three-day residency at Morphine Raum in Berlin. Functioning as both recording studio and performance venue, the space has no stage, with the audience gathered around the performers. Working within an open framework, the duo reshaped the music each evening while recording the performances live to multitrack. Rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar formed the core of their sonic language, captured through a 1970s mixing console and microphones placed around the room.

Back in Mogard’s studio in Rome, the material was further crafted as motifs were stretched, fragments isolated, and tempos dissolved. Irisarri recorded additional guitar textures and treatments in New York, while passages recorded by Martina Bertoni and Andrea Burelli in Berlin reinforced the harmonic centres and brought breath, refinement and a new sensibility to their compositions. The process continued as Mogard’s layering and subtraction reassembled everyone’s parts into the final arrangement.

The album opens with “In the Eastern Wild,” building from a sparse outline into a monumental formation of low-frequency weight, its internal motion shaped by the rotating Leslie speaker. “Over the Domes” widens into a broader acoustic field, where sustained modular tones meet waves of softly plucked guitar. The music then turns inward with “A Blue Descent,” centred on Bertoni’s cello, whose growling timbre introduces a melancholic depth.

At the album’s centre, “In a Quiet Radiance” unfolds around a slow guitar ostinato, its luminous stillness opening into a more expansive and reflective state. Across its ten-minute span, Burelli’s violin lines and Bertoni’s lower cello phrases gradually surface, weaving through the harmonic field. Mogard brings Burelli’s processed voice to the fore, its emotive, operatic presence becoming one of the record’s pivotal moments. “Of Blessed Ages” suspends the sonic flow, shifting between parallel major and minor chords as lingering, slowly decaying melodies shape the music’s internal drift. The closing “Among Shadows” settles into a darker resonance as layered textures recede.

Mogard and Irisarri’s shared language balances restraint and maximalism. UK magazine Crack describes the music as “a tidal wave held in suspension,” while Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant writes, “What a colossal sound, and how this music strikes at the emotions.” Reflecting on the residency sessions, Irisarri recalls: “At moments I genuinely couldn’t tell if a sound was coming from me or from Abul. It stopped feeling like two people making decisions and began to feel like we were inside a system moving on its own."

Marja de Sanctis’ cover artwork revisits the vessel sculpture from the duo’s first album, Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close. There it appeared as raw, unfired clay. Here it has been fired in the kiln and finished with a glaze. Light gathers on its polished surface and spills into the surrounding space. As she explains, “I wanted to convey the idea of continuity within the duo, and the vessel became a kind of container for that idea. However, their music felt different this time, and with the collaboration of Martina and Andrea, I felt it should have a sleeker, softer, more glamorous look, very distant from the first raw appearance.” The transformation of the vessel from raw clay to fired form suggests a passage from immediacy toward permanence, mirroring the music’s gradual expansion.

In spring 2025, Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri created the source material for their second album, Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun, during a three-day residency at Morphine Raum in Berlin. Functioning as both recording studio and performance venue, the space has no stage, with the audience gathered around the performers. Working within an open framework, the duo reshaped the music each evening while recording the performances live to multitrack. Rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar formed the core of their sonic language, captured through a 1970s mixing console and microphones placed around the room.

Back in Mogard’s studio in Rome, the material was further crafted as motifs were stretched, fragments isolated, and tempos dissolved. Irisarri recorded additional guitar textures and treatments in New York, while passages recorded by Martina Bertoni and Andrea Burelli in Berlin reinforced the harmonic centres and brought breath, refinement and a new sensibility to their compositions. The process continued as Mogard’s layering and subtraction reassembled everyone’s parts into the final arrangement.

The album opens with “In the Eastern Wild,” building from a sparse outline into a monumental formation of low-frequency weight, its internal motion shaped by the rotating Leslie speaker. “Over the Domes” widens into a broader acoustic field, where sustained modular tones meet waves of softly plucked guitar. The music then turns inward with “A Blue Descent,” centred on Bertoni’s cello, whose growling timbre introduces a melancholic depth.

At the album’s centre, “In a Quiet Radiance” unfolds around a slow guitar ostinato, its luminous stillness opening into a more expansive and reflective state. Across its ten-minute span, Burelli’s violin lines and Bertoni’s lower cello phrases gradually surface, weaving through the harmonic field. Mogard brings Burelli’s processed voice to the fore, its emotive, operatic presence becoming one of the record’s pivotal moments. “Of Blessed Ages” suspends the sonic flow, shifting between parallel major and minor chords as lingering, slowly decaying melodies shape the music’s internal drift. The closing “Among Shadows” settles into a darker resonance as layered textures recede.

Mogard and Irisarri’s shared language balances restraint and maximalism. UK magazine Crack describes the music as “a tidal wave held in suspension,” while Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant writes, “What a colossal sound, and how this music strikes at the emotions.” Reflecting on the residency sessions, Irisarri recalls: “At moments I genuinely couldn’t tell if a sound was coming from me or from Abul. It stopped feeling like two people making decisions and began to feel like we were inside a system moving on its own."

Marja de Sanctis’ cover artwork revisits the vessel sculpture from the duo’s first album, Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close. There it appeared as raw, unfired clay. Here it has been fired in the kiln and finished with a glaze. Light gathers on its polished surface and spills into the surrounding space. As she explains, “I wanted to convey the idea of continuity within the duo, and the vessel became a kind of container for that idea. However, their music felt different this time, and with the collaboration of Martina and Andrea, I felt it should have a sleeker, softer, more glamorous look, very distant from the first raw appearance.” The transformation of the vessel from raw clay to fired form suggests a passage from immediacy toward permanence, mirroring the music’s gradual expansion.

In spring 2025, Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri created the source material for their second album, Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun, during a three-day residency at Morphine Raum in Berlin. Functioning as both recording studio and performance venue, the space has no stage, with the audience gathered around the performers. Working within an open framework, the duo reshaped the music each evening while recording the performances live to multitrack. Rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar formed the core of their sonic language, captured through a 1970s mixing console and microphones placed around the room.

Back in Mogard’s studio in Rome, the material was further crafted as motifs were stretched, fragments isolated, and tempos dissolved. Irisarri recorded additional guitar textures and treatments in New York, while passages recorded by Martina Bertoni and Andrea Burelli in Berlin reinforced the harmonic centres and brought breath, refinement and a new sensibility to their compositions. The process continued as Mogard’s layering and subtraction reassembled everyone’s parts into the final arrangement.

The album opens with “In the Eastern Wild,” building from a sparse outline into a monumental formation of low-frequency weight, its internal motion shaped by the rotating Leslie speaker. “Over the Domes” widens into a broader acoustic field, where sustained modular tones meet waves of softly plucked guitar. The music then turns inward with “A Blue Descent,” centred on Bertoni’s cello, whose growling timbre introduces a melancholic depth.

At the album’s centre, “In a Quiet Radiance” unfolds around a slow guitar ostinato, its luminous stillness opening into a more expansive and reflective state. Across its ten-minute span, Burelli’s violin lines and Bertoni’s lower cello phrases gradually surface, weaving through the harmonic field. Mogard brings Burelli’s processed voice to the fore, its emotive, operatic presence becoming one of the record’s pivotal moments. “Of Blessed Ages” suspends the sonic flow, shifting between parallel major and minor chords as lingering, slowly decaying melodies shape the music’s internal drift. The closing “Among Shadows” settles into a darker resonance as layered textures recede.

Mogard and Irisarri’s shared language balances restraint and maximalism. UK magazine Crack describes the music as “a tidal wave held in suspension,” while Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant writes, “What a colossal sound, and how this music strikes at the emotions.” Reflecting on the residency sessions, Irisarri recalls: “At moments I genuinely couldn’t tell if a sound was coming from me or from Abul. It stopped feeling like two people making decisions and began to feel like we were inside a system moving on its own."

Marja de Sanctis’ cover artwork revisits the vessel sculpture from the duo’s first album, Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close. There it appeared as raw, unfired clay. Here it has been fired in the kiln and finished with a glaze. Light gathers on its polished surface and spills into the surrounding space. As she explains, “I wanted to convey the idea of continuity within the duo, and the vessel became a kind of container for that idea. However, their music felt different this time, and with the collaboration of Martina and Andrea, I felt it should have a sleeker, softer, more glamorous look, very distant from the first raw appearance.” The transformation of the vessel from raw clay to fired form suggests a passage from immediacy toward permanence, mirroring the music’s gradual expansion.

Indiana Jones never dug this deep.
Church – the brainchild of Joe Washington – were a band both lucky and cursed to come up in the seventies. Lucky, because they rode a wave of community activism, uplifting messages and a moment when music truly mattered. Cursed, because those same times meant their tight, heartfelt output went overlooked.
Mid-sixties to circa 1980 soul and funk were extraordinarily rich. The era’s big releases have aged like fine wine, yet countless hidden gems remain buried. Church’s only single was one of them. Their hypnotic 1976 release “How Long” b/w “Da Da Song” arrived the same year as Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, Marvin Gaye’s I Want You, Diana Ross’s Diana, and at a time when Black mainstream music was shifting toward disco. Church, however, sounded like Sly & The Family Stone in an alternate timeline — gritty, focused, stripped of additives.
“Da Da Song” is pure grits and gravy: furious, tight drums and lyrics that sound like both a plea to DJs to play their record and an insistence to keep the party alive, noticed or not. It cooks from start to finish in just two and a half minutes.
“How Long” is its own universe. Where “Da Da Song” is skeletal, “How Long” blends key strands of Black music in under three minutes: touches of spiritual jazz with a Gary Bartz-like sax, gospel-blues undertones, and echoes of the era’s flower-power-tinged Black creativity — The Undisputed Truth, The Family Stone, even the poetic freedom of Nikki Giovanni. The lyrics are a timeless plea for love.
Church formed in the Bay Area in the early seventies, shaped by the movement, culture and activism of the time. Joseph Washington, based in San Jose, never chased a music career — for him, music was a way to bring people together. Before Church, he led a backing band called Wash, then added gospel singer Linda Williams (née Stephens) and New York–born Joel Como on xylophone to complete the group.
They rehearsed in Joe’s garage, spread through word of mouth and played every gig they could: Black colleges, opening slots for The Whispers, neighbourhood house parties. Some members studied at Nairobi Junior College in East Palo Alto, then a hotbed of Black community activism, with revolution in the air and messages woven naturally into the music.
This single is a message from that era, resurfacing at last — ready to be sampled just as another Joe Washington track, “Look Me in the Eyes”, was on Drake and J. Cole’s “First Person Shooter”. These rare, spirited tunes are begging for new life through samplers, again and again.

Im Februar 2026 erscheint zum zwanzigjährigen Jubiläum Hard to Love a Man" von Magnolia Electric Co. als erweiterte Edition und zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl. Diese Jubiläumsausgabe der ersten EP der Band enthält drei zusätzliche Tracks: remasterte Demos von 31 Seasons in the Minor Leagues" (zuvor unter dem Titel Tonight I'm So Down" bekannt) und Lonesome Valley", aufgenommen in den Echo Park Studios in Indiana während der Hard to Love a Man"-Sessions, sowie One Thin Dime", aufgenommen während der Black Ram"-Sessions in den Sound of Music Recording Studios in Richmond, Virginia. Working-Class-Rock" ist ein Begriff, der häufig zur Beschreibung von The Magnolia Electric Co. verwendet wurde. Kategorisch hatte sich die Band ihren Platz unter gleichgesinnten Ikonen wie Bob Seger, CCR, Tom Petty und Bruce Springsteen gesichert, doch es handelte sich nicht nur um eine ästhetische Beschreibung, sie untermauerten dies mit ihrer Arbeitsmoral. Im Jahr 2005 waren The Magnolia Electric Co. erstaunlicherweise acht Monate unterwegs. Diese Tatsache wurde den Bandmitgliedern selbst am deutlichsten bewusst, da sie so lange von ihrem Zuhause und ihren Liebsten getrennt waren. Daher die Bedeutung des Titeltracks. Wenn Jason Molina die Perspektive der Person einnimmt, die er zurückgelassen hat, und in Hard To Love A Man" singt: "It was hard to love a man like you / Goodbye was half the words you knew / While you were waiting for me not to call / I sent my love", dann wird die Einsamkeit und Schuld der Trennung schmerzlich deutlich. Jennie Benfords verletzliche Stimme, gepaart mit Jason Groths fließender Gitarre und Mike Kapinus' klagender Orgel, unterstreicht dieses Gefühl eindrucksvoll, unterlegt vom charakteristischen, präzisen und geschmackvollen Rhythmusfundament von Mark Rice und Pete Schreiner, während Nicole Evans eine neue, dynamische Stimme hinzufügt. Hard To Love A Man" und der Live-Favorit Werewolves Of London" wurden mit Steve Albini in seinen Electrical Audio Studios aufgenommen, die übrigen Tracks entstanden während eines kurzen fünftägigen Heimaufenthalts in Indiana bei Echo Park Studios mit Paul Mahern, dessen Engineering-Resume schon damals Projekte wie The Blake Babies, Lisa Germano und John Mellencamp umfasst. Während die Magnolien weiter wuchsen und erblühten, ließ Jason Molina die Insassen das Irrenhaus regieren.