Cerca:challenge

The capstone of Miles Davis’ electric period, Agharta reigns as a funk-rock fireball — a blazing comet streaked energy and elan, a fearless organism feasting on adventure and freedom, a seven-headed Godzilla stomping its way through Osaka, Japan. Recorded on February 1, 1975 at Osaka Festival Hall at the first of a two-show stand, the double album offers an endless abundance of surprises and shifts — as well as a road-proven ensemble whose chemistry and abilities equal that of any of Davis’ celebrated bands. If the true measure of jazz is the capacity to adapt to the moment and challenge perception, Agharta is consummate.

Sourced from the original master tapes, housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 33RPM 2LP set of this epic live release presents it in audiophile sound on a domestic pressing for the first time. Offering greater degrees of separation, detail, and richness than the compressed CD editions and more clarity, openness, and presence than older vinyl copies, this version of the 1975 release helps bring the concert stage to your home. Just make sure your turntable and speakers are up to the challenge of Davis and Co.’s explosive performances — and producing the decibels they demand.

Teeming with vibrant colors, tones, and pace, Mobile Fidelity’s reissue captures the hear-it-to-believe-it flow, sweep, and moodiness of the music. Though the group honors looseness and freedom with religious verve, the specificity and scale rendered by this remaster allows you to detect methods behind the alleged madness that are often otherwise harder to discern. This insight extends to the understated changes in volume, harmonics, and phrasings. In many ways, you can listen as Davis himself did that early February evening as he helped coordinate the overall direction and decided on whether to blow his wah-wah-wired trumpet or take a turn on the organ.

Tellingly, Agharta would likely never have been made if not for Davis’ ventures overseas and, specifically, to the Land of the Rising Sun. Having for years faced a backlash on his native soil for his choices to experiment and blow past all known borders, Davis was welcomed with open arms in Japan. The concert documented on Agharta — as well as the day’s later show, captured on the equally exciting Pangea — stemmed from a sold-out three-week tour that would ultimately mark Davis’ final public appearances for years, as he soon settled into semi-retirement and nursed the wounds connected to an unprecedented stretch of restless and relentless output.

For all the band-fueled merit of Agharta — and there’s plenty, given the cast of saxophonist Sonny Fortune, bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Al Foster, percussionist James Mtume, and guitarists Reggie Lucas and Pete Cosey seemingly blasts off to outer space and travels distant galaxies by the time this minimally edited record runs its course — Davis’ own playing often remains overlooked. As critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton observed, it is “often fantastically subtle, creating surges and ebbs in a harmonically static line, allowing him to build huge melismatic variations on a single note.” He attacks like a man on a mission, out to prove naysayers wrong and bent on trailblazing another new path forward. Convention and skeptics be damned.

Noisy and furious, dark and discordant, abstract and off-balance, radical and intense, abrasive and atmospheric, strangely beautiful and hypnotically eccentric: Agharta evades simple description, and refuses to be pinned down in any established category — rock, jazz, punk, ambient, prog, avante-garde, or otherwise. Shot through with trench-deep grooves, screaming riffs, scalding solos, and free-improv leads, its cosmic thrust comes on as the equivalent of an animated pointillist painting comprised of millions of textured dots, dashes, and dabs that hold your attention so raptly you want to revisit the ideas again and again.

Always steps ahead of everyone else, Davis knew what he was doing even when Agharta debuted in Japan before later hitting U.S. markets. Though “Maiysha” and “Theme from Jack Johnson” are identified in the track listing, the record contains a number of uncredited references to other Davis works, including a nod to “So What.” This decision to bypass labels only adds to the art of the reveal — the rare black magic in which Agharta expertly deals.

The song titles on Van Halen's aptly titled Fair Warning don't lie. The likes of "Unchained," "Mean Street," "Push Comes to Shove," "One Foot Out the Door," and more indicate the mood the band channels on its double-platinum 1981 record — the nastiest, darkest, and fiercest album of the group's storied career. For the fourth time in four years, Van Halen throws down the gauntlet to all challengers and emerges victorious.


Sourced from the original analog tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing, and strictly limited to 5,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP set plays with unfettered clarity, dynamics, and immediacy. Benefitting from superb groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor, and dead-quiet surfaces, this vinyl edition captures what went down in the studio with tremendous realism and involving presence.

Taking a more controlled approach in the studio and still completing everything in less than two weeks, Van Halen and producer Ted Templeman relied on studio amplifiers to direct the sound. Further diverging from the live-on-the-floor approach of its earlier albums, the ensemble also employed overdubs to great effect. The result: Dense, stacked architecture that underlines the hard-hitting tenor of the songs — and which comes alive like never before on this reference edition that looks as good as it sounds.

The premium packaging and gorgeous presentation befit the reissue's select status. Housed in a deluxe slipcase, it features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics that illuminate the splendor of the recording. Aurally and visually, it is made for listeners who want to immerse themselves in everything involved with the album, including the iconic cover art adopted from William Kurelek's haunting painting, "The Maze."

Isolated frames from Kurelek's childhood-inspired work — including a man bashing his head into a brick wall, a guy pinning down an adversary as he delivers bare-fist blows to his face and others watch with apparent glee, a boy tied down on a conveyer belt and being sent through the equivalent of a meat saw — adorn the front and back covers. The sunnier visual disposition of Van Halen's prior efforts gives way to something sinister and tortured, traits reflective of the music within. The band members, too, are visually depicted not in glamorous shots but in a serious black-and-white portrait in which the quartet is clad in black leather jackets.

Tough, aggressive, stark: Fair Warning comes on like a series of bare-knuckled punches to the solar plexus and boasts lyrical narratives to match. Though not a concept record, the concise album revolves around themes of roughing it on the streets and struggling to survive amid dim prospects. Singer David Lee Roth reportedly penned many of the initial lyrics after traveling to Haiti and observing extreme poverty. The characters and situations populating Fair Warning reflect hardscrabble existence, last-chance desperation, and underlying danger.

Witness the crazies, poor folks, and hunters of “Mean Street”; the former prom queen turned pornographic actress on “Dirty Movies”; the menace and vice of “Sinners Swing!”; the streetwise hustle of “Unchained”; the isolation and alienation of “Push Comes to Shove”; the desire for escape on “One Foot Out the Door”: A carefree California beach party Fair Warning is not.

Having said he felt angry and frustrated during the sessions, guitarist Eddie Van Halen uses the forceful arrangements as a playground for his seemingly unlimited arsenal. Supported by a crack rhythm section and a hyped-up Roth, he performs with an almost impossible combination of punk-like intensity, technical finesse, lyrical fluidity, and unbridled emotion. The virtuoso was increasingly butting heads with Templeton and seeking a freedom in the studio he believed denied him.

No wonder he plays like a bat out of hell. Listen to the rapid-fire manner in which he slaps the high and low E strings on the 12th fret of his instrument on “Mean Street,” instilling the tune with funk flair and metal-spiked sharpness. For the pouty strut of “Dirty Movies,” Eddie Van Halen contributes slide guitar magic made possible after he sawed off the lower portion of a Gibson SG so he could reach further down the fretboard.

Related intensity, urgency, and daredevil momentum punctuate the surging “Sinner’s Swing!” A heavily flanged, delicately melodic introduction frames the attitudinal “Hear About It Later,” among the most creative arrangements of Van Halen’s career. And do riffs come any bigger or magnetic than those on the high-wire kick of “Unchained”? As for the out-of-left-field “Sunday in the Park,” an instrumental composed on an Electro-Harmonix micro-synthesizer: Who but Eddie Van Halen to supply creep factor in such an ingenious way?

Despite selling fewer quantities than Van Halen’s prior efforts, Fair Warning remains for many diehards the record that epitomizes all of the band’s immense strengths —Roth’s manic energy and tongue-wagging humor, Alex Van Halen’s rhythmic heartbeat-in-your-chest bombast, and Michael Anthony’s lucid bass lines included. Arriving when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and new-wave movements were taking flight, it signaled a shot across the bow from a band determined to stay a step ahead and provide proof nobody could touch what it delivered.

More than four decades later, Fair Warning still sounds that alarm.

The Cryovac machine operates independently to service the world with an original strain of techno. Our people are pioneers of their own sound and seasoned veterans of its' cause. This cause is the basis for our action and the motivation for our vinyl. Cryovac believes the vinyl format is the truest way to take in our music, and this is why we take great care to personally craft our own plates and photograph our own art. The Cryovac approach and stance make it a true oddity in a world of commodities, and we hope you realize, feel, and respect our work.

Andy Vaz is a rebel from the city of Cologne. He is a creator of techno labels that follow their own path and challenge the standard dogma. His version of the techno sound has gone from stark and funky minimalism to synth cascades and housey feels. Andy Vaz is the perfect choice to collaborate with Andy Garcia. Garcia's brand crunchy soul tech mixed with vocal nonsense is the yin to Vaz's yang. These like minds share a name, a spirit, and a drive to keep moving forward no matter the cost.

Live music needs to offer you something that you cannot get on a studio recording. It's the sense of freedom and intimacy, wondering how the songs will be played and what the reaction will be. Live concerts give you the tingle where the hair stands up on the back of your neck. "Live audiences give you the tension and responsibility to be creative, for me that's the challenge I like," says the iconic Dutch guitarist. After all of these years, you ponder what keeps Jan going out there, night after night. "It's my love to play for people all around the world," he smiles. The supremely gifted guitarist is equaled by very few, and his legendary ability makes him impossible to pigeonhole. His position as Dutch royalty has been cemented; he received the Golden Harp Award in early 2005, Holland's most prestigious music prize, and in 2012, he was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau. This royal honour recognized his contributions to Dutch music and his influence on musicians worldwide.

Relive the excitement of SNK's greatest games with this album featuring cult titles arranged entirely for piano!


Arranged and performed by pianist Nicolas Horvath, a Steinway and Sons artist renowned as a leading interpreter of composers such as Philip Glass, Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy, and Erik Satie.



The album contains a rich selection of tracks composed by the legendary SNK Sound Team, ranging from Prehistoric Isle to The King of Fighters 94, Samurai Shodown, The Last Blade, and Metal Slug 3.


Sometimes dark, sometimes bright, the arrangements beautifully and emotionally revisit the melodies that have marked several generations of gamers!


b a2 Intro, Stage 1, Stage Boss Medley [PREHISTORIC ISLE]
[c] a3 Main Theme & Final Boss Medley [PREHISTORIC ISLE]
[d] a4 Dignity Palace (Kain R. Heinlein Stage) [GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES]
[e] a5 All Over With Blood (Freeman Stage) [GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES]
[f] a6 Fullmoon - A Groan (Gato Stage) [GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES]
[g] a7 Destruction Maniac (Grant Stage) [GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES]
[h] b1 The Twelve Challengers (Player Select), Exotic Lady (Charlotte) [SAMURAI SHODOWN]
[i] b2 Darkness (Shiro Tokisada Amakusa 2) [SAMURAI SHODOWN]
[j] b3 Banquet of Nature (Nakoruru) - Part 1 & Part 2 [SAMURAI SHODOWN]
[k] b4 Ryuhaku Todoh Stage [ART OF FIGHTING]
[l] b5 The Primitive Age [TIME SOLDIERS]
[m] b6 The Age of Rome [TIME SOLDIERS]
[n] c1 PonPonella [ALPHA MISSION]
[o] c2 Vixen [THE SUPER SPY]
[p] c3 The Super Spy, New World [THE SUPER SPY]
[q] c4 Imputation [THE SUPER SPY]
[r] c5 Game Start, Powering Up [Vanguard]
[s] c6 Stage Medley [Vanguard]
[t] c7 Change (Theme 2) [THE LAST BLADE]
[u] c8 Termination (Ending 1) [THE LAST BLADE]
[v] d1 Bioinformatics (UFO Interior Passage 3) [METAL SLUG 3]
[w] d2 The Cenotaph (Stage 4 Alternative Route~Ancient Ruins), Desert (Stage 4) [METAL SLUG 3]
[x] d3 Secret Factory (Stage 3 Alternative Route~Armory) [METAL SLUG 3]
[y] d4 Into the Cosmos (The Void of Space) [METAL SLUG 3]
[z] d5 Opening, Napolitan Blues, Duel R&D, Yuu, Psycho Soldier "K.O.F Version" [THE KING OF FIGHTERS '94]


[b] a2 Intro, Stage 1, Stage Boss Medley [PREHISTORIC ISLE]
[c] a3 Main Theme & Final Boss Medley [PREHISTORIC ISLE]
[d] a4 Dignity Palace (Kain R. Heinlein Stage) [GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES]
[e] a5 All Over With Blood (Freeman Stage) [GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES]
[f] a6 Fullmoon - A Groan (Gato Stage) [GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES]
[g] a7 Destruction Maniac (Grant Stage) [GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES]
[h] b1 The Twelve Challengers (Player Select), Exotic Lady (Charlotte) [SAMURAI SHODOWN]
[i] b2 Darkness (Shiro Tokisada Amakusa 2) [SAMURAI SHODOWN]
[j] b3 Banquet of Nature (Nakoruru) - Part 1 & Part 2 [SAMURAI SHODOWN]
[k] b4 Ryuhaku Todoh Stage [ART OF FIGHTING]
[l] b5 The Primitive Age [TIME SOLDIERS]
[m] b6 The Age of Rome [TIME SOLDIERS]
[n] c1 PonPonella [ALPHA MISSION]
[o] c2 Vixen [THE SUPER SPY]
[p] c3 The Super Spy, New World [THE SUPER SPY]
[q] c4 Imputation [THE SUPER SPY]
[r] c5 Game Start, Powering Up [Vanguard]
[s] c6 Stage Medley [Vanguard]
[t] c7 Change (Theme 2) [THE LAST BLADE]
[u] c8 Termination (Ending 1) [THE LAST BLADE]
[v] d1 Bioinformatics (UFO Interior Passage 3) [METAL SLUG 3]
[w] d2 The Cenotaph (Stage 4 Alternative Route~Ancient Ruins), Desert (Stage 4) [METAL SLUG 3]
[x] d3 Secret Factory (Stage 3 Alternative Route~Armory) [METAL SLUG 3]
[y] d4 Into the Cosmos (The Void of Space) [METAL SLUG 3]
[z] d5 Opening, Napolitan Blues, Duel R&D, Yuu, Psycho Soldier "K.O.F Version" [THE KING OF FIGHTERS '94]

What if fate had followed a different path? Alex Marker and Ben Reed were childhood friends who made music together before pursuing different careers, with Ben becoming a professional musician while Alex followed a career in stage design.

Originally a drummer, Alex set himself a challenge of writing a song for his wife for their wedding day. One song led to another and collaborating for the first time since they were very young Alex and Ben soon found they had a whole album's worth. Influenced by Alex's career in drama each track on Impostor Syndrome aims to tell a tale or paint a portrait encapsulating a moment of change or release. Ben brings a wider palette of musical styles and arrangements to augment a series of songs which draw from a wide range of musical influences including: singer/ songwriter, British prog, folk and rock. Ben Reed is a multi instrumentalist whose playing credits include bass duties on Frank Ocean's albums Endless and Blond as well as work with David Byrne, Sampha, Mustafa, Frank Dukes, Nilufer Yanya, Hayden Thorpe, FKA Twigs and many others.

He has previously released four full length albums of his own; Tall Story, Who Dreams of Hyssop, Station Masters, Loft, Bandaged and most recently You Do You. Alex Marker is a critically acclaimed theatre set and costume designer who has designed over 150 productions for a wide variety of venues including The West End, tours, regional theatres and the fringe. Further back he used to play drums in pit bands for productions and has occasionally been seen on stage too. The album features guests including: organist Ross Stanley (Steve Howe Trio), flautist R achel Hayter ( Alvorada ), bassoonist Philip Dale ( Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment) and Matt Weeks who plays brass alongside mixing duties.

2025 Repress
Juan Mendez aka Silent Servant is a figure in techno history that needs little introduction. As a member of the Sandwell District collective and the label’s art director he collaborated on works that were responsible for a global focal shift in the genre as their label adapted and challenged the paradigm of minimal techno, taking influence from other sources such as dub, post-punk, and even classical minimalism.

But Mendez’s relationship with music goes back much further than these seminal releases. With In Memoriam, Silent Servant’s latest release on Tresor Records, Mendez writes a deeply personal memoir of a 30-plus year career spent exploring and absorbing the shadowy side of music; a carefully crafted elegy to people, places, and times past and the lasting effect they have on the present.

Across the four tracks, Mendez pays tribute to the earliest Detroit techno and electro, the Belgian EBM movement and the wave music that followed, the monumental dub techno sound from Berlin, and the harder, abrasive sound of the UK at the turn of the last millennium; exploring and referencing the genres that informed his later work. Each track name gives a hint to the timeframe he is revisiting and re-contextualising as the E.P. repurposes the styles that exerted an influence on him.

This E.P. represents a pure distillation of Mendez’s memories whilst also cementing his place in the current and future sound of 21st century techno; aware of where we came from but focused on where we are heading.

"Marionette presents Mélodies pour Clairons, the debut album by multidisciplinary artist Ioa
Beduneau. Based in the South of France, Ioa’s world is rooted in creation - building intricate
self-playing installations and handmade DIY electronics. His practice is driven by a desire to
connect, challenge, and open up dialogues around disability and other social constructs.
Proudly identifying as a disabled artist who is attuned to how our bodies interact with the world,
Ioa brings a fresh and inimitable perspective to electronic and electroacoustic music.
On Mélodies pour Clairons, Ioa contemplates lifeforms using modular synths, channeling
principles of physical modeling and bioacoustics. Ideas begin on paper and evolve into sound,
forming an abstract yet intentional sonic ecosystem. Clairons refers both to a musical instrument
and to a loved one with whom this music was shared, serving as a kind of sound diary during
the stillness of the pandemic. The movement of air, pressure, resonance, and the physical
properties of the clairon (a medieval trumpet) are reimagined and manipulated on this album,
resulting in impressionistic and deeply moving compositions with poetic sensibility. Organic
ASMR tones, synthesized bird calls, and pirouetting melodies of pipes and bells score an
imaginary biodome where chaos and harmony coexist. Striking and singular, these works
embody the kind of boundary-pushing music that defines Marionette."

Apex Ten, a Belgian trio hovering in Space Rock, Desert/ stoner Rock and Psychedelic, mainly instrumental, offers a unique experience at each appearance. Fans of bands such as Electric Moon, Ecstatic Vision, Colour Haze, Kyuss or Hawkwind will be able to relate to them during the spacial, strange and contemplative atmospheres they develop. The sound is based on the energetic and powerful bass sound, paired with catchy and energetic drum lines. On top of it, the guitar melodies enable the crowd to travel and dissociate. In addition, the powerful vocal accompanies the listener and becomes the leader of this cathartic experience. On stage, Apex Ten brings their music to life with captivating performances that transport audiences into their expansive sonic world. Their ability to seamlessly transition between delicate, introspective moments and thunderous crescendos makes each show a mesmerizing experience. With a growing reputation for their innovative approach and dedication to their craft, Apex Ten is carving out a distinctive place in the modern rock landscape. For those seeking music that challenges convention and stirs the soul, Apex Ten is a band that stands at the forefront of creative exploration

Gönnen Sie sich eine dringend benötigte Auszeit für Ihren Geist, ganz bequem von zu Hause aus. Die erste Zusammenstellung der Secondhand-Laden- und YouTube-Lieblinge Paradise Is A Frequency, The Style of Life, umfasst 70 Minuten mit Wein-Cooler-Core, Smooth-Jazz-CDRs für den Massenmarkt, Aerobic-Proto-Vape-VHS und Aufzug-tauglichen Library-Music-Tape-Loops von Künstlern wie Metamorphosis, Lorad Group, Ski Johnson, Mensah und anderen. Verteilt auf zwei Mainframes und mit einem Booklet mit Reflexionen, Ausgrabungsstätten und Tapetengruppen für weitere Lifestyle-Upgrades. Das fiktive Software-Update für die nächste Version von Ihnen.

Gönnen Sie sich eine dringend benötigte Auszeit für Ihren Geist, ganz bequem von zu Hause aus. Die erste Zusammenstellung der Secondhand-Laden- und YouTube-Lieblinge Paradise Is A Frequency, The Style of Life, umfasst 70 Minuten mit Wein-Cooler-Core, Smooth-Jazz-CDRs für den Massenmarkt, Aerobic-Proto-Vape-VHS und Aufzug-tauglichen Library-Music-Tape-Loops von Künstlern wie Metamorphosis, Lorad Group, Ski Johnson, Mensah und anderen. Verteilt auf zwei Mainframes und mit einem Booklet mit Reflexionen, Ausgrabungsstätten und Tapetengruppen für weitere Lifestyle-Upgrades. Das fiktive Software-Update für die nächste Version von Ihnen.

The new album by "Thomas Sarrodie & Bi-Polar Blues" marks a fresh start, strongly inspired by the band"s participation in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. This almost initiatory journey to the heart of Blues and Rock has ignited the energy and soul that make this new album the work of an inspired trio (guitar/vocals, double bass, drums), driven by the group"s extensive experience, yet remaining unique and original. With a guitar rooted in blues, blended with contemporary rock energy and 1960s psychedelic echoes, Thomas Sarrodie & Bi-Polar Blues captivates with its enchanting slides, a baritone tuning, a surprising double bass, and a swirling drumbeat. Formed twelve years ago by Thomas Sarrodie (guitar, vocals) and Sylvain Blanquiot (bass), the Thomas Sarrodie Group established itself on stages across Occitania with various drummers, until Jérémy Cazorla joined behind the kit. Influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, Sarrodie adds a personal touch, avoiding clichés, as evidenced by three studio albums and a vibrant live recording. Eager to evolve, the trio incorporated double bass, slide, and baritone tunings, reshaping their sound toward a rootsy blues while retaining rock energy. Renamed Thomas Sarrodie & Bi-Polar Blues, the group embarked on a new tour and the recording of an eponymous EP. This EP reflects their ambition to push boundaries, with compositions evoking the Delta or the Hills, tinged with R.L. Burnside"s influence, while honoring a 1960s tradition with a modern approach.

Finding Ways is a new project from Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear).

Sebastian Rochford is a singular force in British music, an extraordinary drummer, composer, and producer. His work with theiconic group Polar Bear helped redefine the boundaries of jazz and earned multiple Mercury Prize nominations. With a careerspanning collaborations with Patti Smith, Damon Albarn, Brian Eno, Adele and Grace Jones, and his 2023 ECM duo album A ShortDiary with Kit Downes, an album written for his father described as a “ quiet masterpiece” , Rochford has carved out a uniquespace in contemporary music.Finding Ways, his new major project, marks a bold new chapter for Seb Rochford. The first album focuses on the guitar, featuringamong others, the dynamic lineup of Tara Cunningham, David Preston, Adrian Utley (Portishead), and Simon Tong(The Verve,Gorillaz), exploring various combinations and layering up to three guitars at once. The result is a striking blend of jaggedexperimental grooves and raw emotional depth, with an unaffected, pedal-less sound that evokes a timeless, exploratory edge.Rochford’s music, as ever, defies categorisation—a sound that feels alive, fractured, and profoundly human, and all mixed by thesingular talent and master of sound, Tchad Blake.The title Finding Ways refers to a frame of mind he chose to adopt after multiple significant life events happening in a smallamount of time. "It’s about finding ways to keep ourselves moving forward and buoyant, transforming life’s challenges intosomething meaningful, also in a practical, everyday type of way.In Finding Ways, it’s direct, energetic music that refuses to be boxed in, a reflection of Seb Rochford's trailblazing spirit. For fansof his previous work and newcomers alike, this album is a testament to his ongoing quest to find emotional truth in sound.

The label's co-founder and sound alchemist returns! Serving up his signature blend of heavy breaks and trippy ethereal atmospheres, plus a dash of outer-funky flair. All tracks were part of his livesets, including the featured special remix to PWOG.The label's co-founder and sound alchemist returns! Serving up his signature blend of heavy breaks and trippy ethereal atmospheres, plus a dash of outer-funky flair. All tracks were part of his livesets, including the featured special remix to PWOG.

Friend Of A Phantom is the third studio album by the Danish progressive metal band Vola, released under Mascot Label Group. This highly anticipated album showcases Vola's signature blend of intricate rhythms, soaring melodies, and thought-provoking lyrics.

With tracks like "Straight Lines" and "These Black Claws," Friend Of A Phantom takes listeners on a musical journey that seamlessly combines heavy riffs with electronic elements, creating a dynamic sound that is both captivating and innovative.

Vola's musicianship shines through in every song, from the complex drum patterns to the mesmerizing guitar solos. The band's ability to craft intricate arrangements while maintaining a strong sense of melody sets them apart in the progressive metal scene.

The production quality of Friend Of A Phantom is top-notch, allowing each instrument to shine through while still blending together to create a cohesive and immersive listening experience. The album's rich textures and layers reveal new details with each listen, making it a rewarding choice for fans of progressive music.

Overall, Friend Of A Phantom is a must-have for any music lover looking for an album that pushes boundaries and challenges traditional genre conventions. Vola's unique sound and innovative approach make this album a standout release in their discography.

Chris Menist pares his sound right back for A book of imaginary beings, his fourth Awkward Corners outing with a project of electronic and abstracted global grooves. Experimenting with simple melodies and uncluttered arrangements, as well as taking inspiration from the Borges' short stories alluded to in the title, the project took shape in the early part of 2025, in the shorter days and dark evenings of January.

The initial challenge was to knock a basic track into shape each evening after work, then refine it later. There's a melancholy in the air in late winter, compounded by the creeping threat of national and geopolitical instability. Ulla, Natural Information Society, Jabu, Torso and Dawuna formed some of the background soundtrack as each tune took shape.

The track titles came after sitting with the sounds for a while, giving shape to images of people, creatures and their stories for a book that is yet to be written.

Two former friends sets the tone for the album perfectly as a minimal electronic piece with a slowly simmering synth bassline underpinning the groove whilst the trademark Awkward sound of the Shahi Baaja enters drenched in effects. It's the first demonstration of Chris' unique ability to create a world from apparently very little.

Dance of the silver beetles is completely unique in that we can hear chopped up Illimba samples seemingly playing backwards and forewords sometimes alone, sometimes together in duet with Chris' conga rhythms. Add to that a more conventional Illimba melody and added shaker percussion and you have one of A book of imaginary beings most curious chapters.

Anxious shadow puppets is closer to the Awkward Corners sound from previous albums as electronic pulses move around the arrangement with the urgency that the track title suggests. Chris' percussive roots move to the fore with the congas that tie down the Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band's sound. Here, the bassline is more playful and works together with one of Chris' many African Illimbas.

Fans of Chris' adventures on his Roland 808 will dig A leopard with no spots, although the minimal mood continues to flow through on this track. The lolloping, but hard-hitting rhythm track provides the grounding for strange and twisting feedback-sounding tones to work the soundscape.

Abandoned boy (left in charge of the family business) is Awkward Corners at his atmospheric best. Drift off to the sublime sounds of Chris exploring the Shahi Baaja, whilst a soft, repetitive synth line and abstracted pads give the listener that feeling of meditation and peace.

Flamingo with bandaged neck is A book of imaginary beings' perfect coda and is exclusively Shahi Baaja draped in reverbs and delays. It feels like the resolution and the closing of a book that – as of yet – remains unwritten.

Awkward Corners is Chris Menist, a musician, DJ and writer. It started life as a small project in Islamabad, where Chris was living at the time. Initial recordings were made with local musicians in Pakistan and then subsequently in Thailand. This culminated in the Sweet Decay LP that came out on Finders Keepers' Disposable Music in 2014, and in turn led to a limited tape release on Boomkat/Reel Torque of original compositions and re-edits of Thai 45s the same year. Chris released – Dislocation Songs – his second LP proper with Shapes of Rhythm in May 2020, collaborating on many of the tracks with award-winning performer Sarathy Korwar. The LP was picked up by many radio stations including NTS, Resonance FM, BBC 6 Music, Balamii and many more. It made Tom Ravenscroft's LPs of 2020. Amateur Dramatics, Chris' second LP arrived just a year later in 2021 and was a more ambitious project featuring more jazz-focussed compositions and featuring Tamar Osborn and Kitty Whitelaw. Shortly after that came another pivot with the heavier, dancefloor-friendly EP Somebody Somewhere. Somebody Somewhere is Dancing in a Field brought the House (yes House!) vibes, whilst Hector Plimmer turned in a remix of No Words in the same club mood.

As one of NTS Radio's longest-standing presenters, Chris continues to hold down the Paradise Bangkok show. Playing drums and percussion since he was a kid, Chris is the percussionist for The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band as well as co-founding the record label of the same name. Chris has curated compilations for labels such as Finders Keepers, Soundway and Dust-To-Digital. He has been featured on the Boiler Room, Vinyl Factory Collections, played at the Four Tet curated Nuits Sonores festival, and has put together an edition of Volumes which featured unreleased Awkward Corners compositions.






[d] 04: All the Goodbyes (You Tried to Defer) [Original]





[j] 10: Abandoned Boy (Left in Charge of the Family Business) [Original]

ROADS VOL.3 is the third installment of Thylacine's iconic ROADS series, recorded in the heart of the stunning landscapes of Namibia, in his caravan studio. A true sonic journey, this album immerses the listener in a unique universe, where every note tells a story of landscape, emotion, and authentic experience.



Since the breakthrough success of Transsiberian, Thylacine has continued to push boundaries, venturing into new territories in search of stories to tell and challenges to take on. Much like mountaineers carving fresh paths across glaciers, he is constantly exploring new creative horizons. With millions of streams to his name and standout tracks like Anatolia, Piany Pianino, and Satie I, his momentum shows no sign of slowing.
Breaking away from the familiar, his upcoming album Roads Vol.3 draws on the raw beauty of his recent journey through Namibia, offering listeners a collection of previously unreleased tracks. Guided by his instinct for musical nomadism, Thylacine treats each project as a true adventure in its own right. Roads Vol.3 will be released on October 31.

ROADS VOL.3 is the third installment of Thylacine's iconic ROADS series, recorded in the heart of the stunning landscapes of Namibia, in his caravan studio. A true sonic journey, this album immerses the listener in a unique universe, where every note tells a story of landscape, emotion, and authentic experience.



Since the breakthrough success of Transsiberian, Thylacine has continued to push boundaries, venturing into new territories in search of stories to tell and challenges to take on. Much like mountaineers carving fresh paths across glaciers, he is constantly exploring new creative horizons. With millions of streams to his name and standout tracks like Anatolia, Piany Pianino, and Satie I, his momentum shows no sign of slowing.
Breaking away from the familiar, his upcoming album Roads Vol.3 draws on the raw beauty of his recent journey through Namibia, offering listeners a collection of previously unreleased tracks. Guided by his instinct for musical nomadism, Thylacine treats each project as a true adventure in its own right. Roads Vol.3 will be released on October 31.

"Visual artist, musician and composer Satch Hoyt will release a new 10” vinyl album, Un- Muting, on 3 October 2025 on newly minted record label traza, run by Andrea Zarza Canova and distributed by Honest Jon’s Records. This album is the first to document Hoyt’s ongoing, long-term project of un-muting historical African instruments held in Western museum collections and includes his composition: Un-Muting Beyond Misspelt Borders.
Originally commissioned by Nottingham Contemporary for the exhibition Your Ears Later Will Know to Listen, Hoyt’s composition invites listeners to engage with what he calls ‘sonic restitution’, a performative challenge to the silent confinement of instruments within Western conservation standards and ethnographic museums, awakening and celebrating the hybridity, resilience and creativity of the transnational African diaspora.
The composition began with a recording session in October 2023 at the British Museum in London, where Hoyt was granted access to a selection of African instruments held by the British Museum’s Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. In the presence of curators and conservation staff, he played the instruments without written scores, responding instead to their physical and sonic presence.
The recordings were then further developed in Hoyt’s studio, combined with additional performances on both African and Western instruments from his own collection."

For Hoyt, un-muting is both a creative and political act:
"To Un-Mute is to gain access into ethnographic museum collections where I play and simultaneously record the abandoned ancient African musical instruments. These restituted recorded motifs and rhythms accompany my live concerts and recordings. Un-Muting is also concerned with the chapters of patriarchal and racist supremacy which accompany the instruments’ abductions, vehemently opposing the current continuum of this supremacy, its ongoing colonial expansion and continued capital extractivism. It remains focused on the retention of spiritual belief and stalwart visions of liberation leading to eventual global emancipation and self-realisation."
- Satch Hoyt, June 2025

The 10” vinyl record includes a newly commissioned text by critic and scholar Tavia Nyong’o.
The album will be released on vinyl and digital formats on 3 October to coincide with the opening of Satch Hoyt’s solo exhibition Satch Hoyt: Afro-Sonic Mapping Chapter 4 at KARST Plymouth.

Ancient African instruments: Trumpets (Kuba), Sanzas (Chokwe, Lega, Kongo, Yao), Ilimba (Nyamwezi), Whistles (Chokwe, Luba, Pende, Bambara), Talking Drum (Yoruba), Slit Drum (Kuba, Yaka, Tetela, Songye), Bell (Tetela), Rattles (Yoruba, Luba, Bamileke, Pende) and Flutes (Kuba, Kongo, Mossi, Bambara)

Western instruments: Flute, Electric Flute, Roland Handsonic, Synthesizers, Glockenspiel, Wooden Xylophone and assorted hand percussion

Composed, arranged, produced and performed by Satch Hoyt
Engineered and co-produced by Dirk Leyers
Recordings of musical instruments held by the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the British Museum by Adam Laschinger
Studio recordings of African instruments from Satch Hoyt's collection by Dirk Leyers
Uncredited Female Chant on wax cylinder recording by Karl Edvard Laman (c. 1910), held by the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv
Additional sound design and production by Call & Response Studios
Mixed by Hendrick Valera (Cali, Colombia)
Mastering and lacquer cut by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering
Cover art: Satch Hoyt, Score #1, 2020
Design by Elisabeth Klement
Direction by Andrea Zarza Canova

Im Zuge der Louisville-via-Chicago-Post-Rock-Explosion des späten Millenniums kam Mercury Program mit einem Vibraphon in der Hand in einer amorphen ,Szene" im Umbruch an. Von The Vapors of Gasoline - ihrem 2000er Album für Tiger Style - war keineswegs ein Einbruch, sondern zehn intellektuelle und dissonante Jams, die verschämt die nie gestellte Frage beantworteten: Was wäre, wenn New Age und Posthardcore ein Haus in der Vorstadt kaufen würden? Diese Remaster-Version zum 25-jährigen Jubiläum offenbart das Genie eines übersehenen Triumphs in erstaunlich lebendigen Details und bietet atmosphärische Farbe für ehemalige Reptilien- und Periodensystem-Fans gleichermaßen.

Trauma Collective returns with a commanding techno statement from Lowsystem, unveiling Echoes of the Mind – a four-track EP that traverses the fractured landscapes of consciousness and club ritual.

Opening with Finding Reality, a shadow-drenched industrial roller, Lowsystem sets a brooding tone with relentless low-end pulses – the perfect tension-builder for murky warehouse settings. The title track channels the raw, unfiltered energy of early club nights, blending classic techno grooves with an urgent modern edge.

Flipping to the B-side, Distorted Perception descends into darker realms – a peak-time arsenal armed with pounding kicks, razor-sharp synth stabs, and intricately swinging hi-hats that shift the dancefloor into hypnotic frenzy. Closing with Cognitive Dissonance, Lowsystem dissolves rhythmic certainty, crafting fractured broken beats and eerie atmospheres that challenge perception and push sonic boundaries.

The vinyl edition deepens the experience with a printed insert revealing the artist’s creative vision. Also available digitally across all platforms.

Five years after the enigmatic Phylax Society, the ever sonic wanderer Sutja Gutierrez returns with Asystole Flatline, a new full-length odyssey to be released on Lumière Noire Records. Gutierrez delivers a work that slips between worlds - part reverie, part vertigo - haunting the threshold between what"s ending and what"s yet to come. With Asystole Flatline, Lumière Noire reaffirms ist commitment to fearless, genre-defying voices that challenge conventional boundaries.

Many Amerindian cultures share the belief that the future lies behind us, while the past is what we face ahead. This challenge to Western chronology is, however, rooted in common sense: the open possibilities of what is to come are, in theory, what we cannot see—the uncertain—whereas the events that have already happened unfold before our eyes and are available for us to learn from.



This second album by Chilean producer, live performer, and DJ Valesuchi could be described as an experiment with time through music. Some years after relocating to Rio de Janeiro, she released Tragicomic LP (2019) on MAMBA rec—a label founded by the boundary-pushing Brazilian party Mamba Negra—and the self-released EP Cascada (2024). In both works, we can already appreciate her musical imprint: rhythmic and emotional timbral lines—wet, filtered, mathematical,

devotional, multilingual, fantastic, and unreal. However, in Futuro Cercano (Discos Nutabe, 2025), we can hear a leap: the sedimentation of her lived experiences in electronic communities across Latin America, her search for a universal yet personal language to convey emotion and new spiritual meaning, finds in this release a consistency and spontaneity that is rarely heard these days.



In a time when all cultural expression is not only expected to be taggable, but is also increasingly produced from templates that precondition our perception—favoring categorization and connections to works or scenes of the past—the tracks on this album are generically unclassifiable. They represent an openness to experiment without prejudice with electronic instruments and rhythms that are asancestral as they are futuristic. They publicly reveal an intimacy born from the compositional process, a bond formed through the encounter—sometimes tense, sometimes harmonious—between human will and that of the machines themselves. Or, as Valesuchi put it, "cyborging my friendship with the machine and becoming a tempest." Tempest as an eruption of the unknown into the present, the result of opening oneself to a nearly meditative state to uncover the deepest feelings through improvisation on cybernetic feedback and loops. And in that improvisation, to develop “técnicas para estirar o medir el tiempo”

“techniques to stretch or measure time” as she sings in 22, the album’s first track. “Connecting knowledges” as a portal to access that future so near it lies behind us, and to anticipate it as intuition and prospection.



That’s why Futuro Cercano is more than just electronic music: it is a technological ritual, an immersion into the secrets that machines hold as artifacts of human and non-human knowledge, as mysterious objects that allow us to connect with our own otherness—the personal alien hiding beneath the skin that opens us up to uncertainty as possibility rather than catastrophe.

"Across eleven cinematic tracks — each a melodic treasure and short film — Dienel probes: What does freedom look like when rooted in presence, not escape? “Joy, especially queer joy, is revolutionary,” they muse. “Even in the face of everything else, I wanted to show that happiness is still possible — and necessary.”
The record was brought to life with an impressive ensemble of collaborators: producer Adam Schatz (Japanese Breakfast, Neko Case), bassist Spencer Zahn, guitarists Carly Bond (Meernaa) and meg duffy (Hand Habits), drummer Max Jaffe, mixing engineer Jake Aron (Solange, Snail Mail), and mastering engineer Heba Kadry (Björk, Sade). Breaking from their usual DIY approach, Dienel embraced the power of the collective — an experiment in trust, connection, and openness.
Tonally influenced by My Own Private Idaho and widescreen pop, such as Born in the U.S.A., My Heart Is An Outlaw is a warm-hearted exploration. Can we love fully without being domesticated? Can we resist cultural scripts by choosing presence and community over self-erasure? As they put it, “The heart has a mind of its own…It’s the thing holding you back that you have to set free on your own time, in your own way.”
From the early days of White Hinterland to the lush orchestral pop of her solo work, Dienel has consistently bent and challenged the boundaries of independent music. My Heart Is An Outlaw continues that legacy — an unapologetic, joyous declaration of queer love and creative agency."

After their first joint recording experience in 2022, in which they dedicated a monograph to the Beatles, revisiting their great classics,
Sarah Jane Morris, a British jazz, rock, and R&B singer and songwriter, and the Solis String Quartet, a Neapolitan string quartet with
extensive concert and recording experience, are embarking on a new album. This time, it's not a monograph, but a tribute to a series
of artists who have left an indelible mark on the universal music world with their art and unique lifestyle. The project is titled "The 27
Club," a reference to those artists who, despite not choosing to belong to any elite circle, were united by the fate of having left this
world too soon, at just 27 years old. Among them are great names such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Amy
Winehouse, and Otis Redding. Despite their differences, these artists share a charisma and a passion for music that has made them
immortal. Their musical legacy continues to celebrate their memory and inspire new generations. The album is a tribute to these timeless
artists, whose songs remain timeless and continue to move. Forever Young.
"After our first recording collaboration with Sarah Jane Morris in 2022, in which we dedicated a monograph to the Beatles, revisiting
their great classics, we decided to take on a new challenge, no longer a monograph but a work dedicated to a series of artists who have
unmistakably marked the universal musical world with their art and their very particular lifestyle! We called it "Forever Young" and it
tells the story of the "Club of 27" in music; an imaginary, dark and very elitist circle in which artists of the caliber of Jimi Hendrix, Janis
Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Otis Redding found themselves enrolled, certainly unwillingly and without their
knowledge, after death snatched them from success on the threshold of twenty-seven, only to restore them, almost as compensation,
to immortal glory, just a stone's throw from legend. Musically speaking, thanks to the overflowing evocative power of Sarah Jane Morris's
voice, it was both fascinating and stimulating for us to try to restore It integrates the idea and mood that permeated and still live on in
these compositions, the rhythm, the melody, and the lyricism, in an original reinterpretation that accompanies the listener in the rediscovery of these masterpieces! Solis String Quartet
"Greatly talented creative people often die young, like Keats, Mozart, Schubert, Raphael, and the Brontë sisters. We tend to think of
them in two ways: we wonder what they might have accomplished had they lived longer. However, more positively, we can appreciate
their youthful talents as impervious to the passage of time, their brilliance preserved in their eternal youth. They will remain forever
young." Sarah Jane Morris

Unlike anything we have heard from her before, Okkyung Lee returns to Shelter Press with "Just Like Any Other Day: Background Music For Your Mundane Activities", a deeply intimate body of recordings at the juncture of ambient music, minimalism, and the baroque, that stands as radical intervention with what experimental music can be, and the place that organisations of sound occupy in our lives. For more than two decades, Okkyung Lee has stood at the forefront of the most radical trajectories of experimental music: a virtuosic cellist and improviser, renowned for her creative rigour and emotive depth. Particularly noteworthy for her range, dexterity, and adaptability, over the last five years Lee's output has revealed unexpected shifts and developments that move far afield from the realms of free improvisation for which she is most well known. 2020's "Yeo - Neun", a heart-wrenching, ambient chamber work - drawing inspiration from the Korean popular music of her youth - was issued by Shelter Press to great critical response, followed closely by "Teum (The Silvery Slit)" - one of a series engrossing electroacoustic works created at Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris - on Portraits GRM, and then "Na-Reul" in 2021, regarded by Lee as a closing statement of more than two decades living in New York, which set the precedent of her allowing her emotions to fully occupy the forefront of the music for the first time. Marking her return to Shelter press, "Just Like Any Other Day": Background Music For Your Mundane Activities", encounters Lee upturning the apple cart once again, weaving a profoundly intimate artistic statement on completely unexpected terms. Like its three aforementioned predecessors, "Just Like Any Other Day" belongs to broadening shift in Lee's approach to composing that roughly aligns with her return to her native South Korea, having lived in the United States since her late teens. Infused with a deep reengagement with her own culture and relationship to memory, it is equally a response to those critical challenges and questions provoked by significant life change. Worked on in isolation, and continuously returned to, over the course of four years, the album's nine pieces began with a simple recognition that experimental music is not always what we imagine it to be. It is a practice and a pursuit - a music for which, at its inception, the outcome is unknown - rather than an idiom defined by certain syntaxes, approaches, and qualities of structure and sound. From this departure point, Lee began to inquire after the utility of music itself: what is it for, what does it do, and what place does it (or can it) occupy in our lives? This solitary and durational journey, each composition gradually moving through different phases and evolutions over years, led Lee toward uncharted ground: a music that is not only playful, introspective, and seductive, but also intended to provoke a relationship to experimental music beyond its normative expectations. Rather active or deep listening, it pursues passive listening. Rather than a grand statement, it is discreet. Rather than virtuosity, it embraces the elegant and direct. Even more strikingly, for the first time, the music of "Just Like Any Other Day" encounters Lee leaving the cello entirely behind. Created at home on keyboard, computer, and an inexpensive cassette recorder, "Just Like Any Other Day" presents a remarkable form of ambient music - organisations of sound that become their own environment, to be occupied - intended, as the album's subheading infers, as Background Music For Your Mundane Activities. An expansion of the creative pathways opened by the Korean pop imbued compositions of Yeo - Neun, aspects of electronic process explored by "Teum (The Silvery Slit)", and the emotive foregrounding of "Na-Reul", each of the pieces presented across the two sides of "Just Like Any Other Day" implies something far greater than the limits of its own temporarily: a mood, provocations of memory and place, mirrors for the solitude within which it was made, and palpable emotion lingering just out of grasp. For Lee, each of the album's compositions could be continued or looped for an indeterminate duration: straddling a ground between the minimal and the baroque, enveloping the listener in endless cycles of appreciating, repetitive and rhythmical notes, flirting with the melodic and implying a disembodied imagism that borders on the profound. Remarkably beautiful and direct, Okkyung Lee's "Just Like Any Other Day: Background Music For Your Mundane Activities" - issued by Shelter Press on vinyl - represents a radical reconfiguration of experiential music, stripped to its bare essence in defiance of the widely presumed aesthetic signifiers. Unlike anything we've heard from her before, this immersive body of intimate recordings not only reveals new dimensions of Lee's striking range as an artist, but also of how we might regard and occupy music itself: an ambience to lived and felt like a second skin.

Returning with its final instalments, Die Schachtel's Decay Music series extends its explorations of inspired contemporary experimental efforts of the ambient, ethereal, and emotively abstract with Luigi Turra and Elio Martusciello’s “Liminale” and Sergio Armaroli and David Toop’s “And I Entered Into Sleep”, two astounding electroacoustic gestures of blurred space and time, plumbing complexity of meaning bound to sonority. Creatively groundbreaking and inspired, radically rethinking the terms of what ambient music can be perceived to be, they stand among the most striking efforts to appear within the series to date.

Reconfiguring the notion of bridge building on a multitude of terms, it feels fitting that the tenth and final installment of Die Schachtel’s Decay Music series, Sergio Armaroli and David Toop’s “And I Entered Into Sleep”, was co-created by an artist whose work featured in the first suite of LPs issued by Brian Eno’s Obscure Records in 1975, the groundwork toward which Decay Music’s own efforts nod. Since that auspicious debut, “New and Rediscovered Musical Instruments” — his split with Max Eastley — David Toop has been regarded as a pioneer in British experimental and improvised music: a sonic voyager who has continuously challenged the sources and materiality of sound through rigorously thoughtful performances, a vast catalog of recordings, and a steady flow of highly influential texts. Be it as a member of Alterations, his group breaking group with Peter Cusack, Terry Day, and Steve Beresford that ran between 1977 to 1986, or through is noteworthy work with artists like Rie Nakajima, Thurston Moore, Paul Burwell, Rhodri Davies, Lee Patterson, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Akio Suzuki, Elaine Mitchener, and numerous others, collaboration has always played a central role within Toop’s singular practice, but few can claim the sprawling sense of beauty and intimacy that’s achieved by “And I Entered Into Sleep”, his first recorded outing with Sergio Armaroli.

A composer, percussionist, vibraphonist, and multidisciplinary artist, Armaroli has been issuing radical and forward-thinking musical gestures for decades, working as one of Italy’s most noteworthy interpreters of composer’s like Giacinto Scelsi, John Cage, Franco Evangelisti, Giancarlo Schiaffini, and Walter Branchi, as both a solo performer and member of the highly regarded Rib Trio, as well as forging a singular practice as a composer, intertwining his efforts as a painter, concrete percussionist, fragmentary poet and sound artist, within a total art, rooted “within the language of jazz and improvisation” as an “extension of the concept of art”. Like Toop, Armaroli’s career has been populated by many collaborators, notably with Riccardo Sinigaglia, Alvin Curran, and Walter Prati, among others, setting the stage for a remarkable meeting between the pair.

Featuring Armaroli on vibraphone and prepared vibraphone and Toop on electronics, “And I Entered Into Sleep” is “a sonic journey, a Proustian suggestion à la Recherche, into the unconscious between electronic and acoustic sounds”. Using a bell that sounds at the beginning of Proust’s “À la Recherché du Temps Perdu”, which reappears more than 3,000 pages later — signaling a transition of phases, as well an auditory trigger of memory — as a departure point, as an association to the percussive vibraphone pulses that thread the album’s two sides, the pair weave a striking interior world of immersive psychological depth. Feeling almost subaquatic at times, like captured glimpses of rumbling, shadowy ecosystems lost within murky ambiences, before washing ashore in a series of pointillistic, highly detailed alien landscapes of the mind, each artist’s markedly different sound-sources, and treatment of the subsequent material elements, dance in abstract grace, incorporating subtle nods to minimalism, free jazz, and musique concrète within its seamless total form of sparse texture and tone.

Easily one of the most striking and memorable releases by either artist to appear in recent years, Sergio Armaroli and David Toop’s “And I Entered Into Sleep” traverses uncharted realms at the borders of literary reference, sound art, ambience and abstraction through delicately musical sounds, revealing new depths at every turn. Issued as the tenth and final album in Die Schachtel’s Decay Music series, highlighting inspired contemporary experimental efforts of the ambient, ethereal, and emotively abstract.

Cloudy Gold Vinyl. This 10 Year Anniversary Edition features new, gatefold packaging with updated photos, lyrics and liner notes. Disc one incldues the originial album in full and the brand new second disc features rare b-side "Nail In Your Hand," a re-done version of "Heaviside" with artist Wisp performing vocals on the song, and seven never-before heard demo versions of songs from Citizen's second album. Ten years ago, Citizen released Everybody Is Going to Heaven _ a record that marked a bold turning point in their career. Following the breakout success of Youth, the band could have stayed the course. Instead, they doubled down on darker textures, heavier moods, and a fearless sense of experimentation. Released in 2015, Everybody Is Going to Heaven expanded Citizen's sound beyond their emo and post-hardcore roots, weaving in elements of grunge, and alternative rock. Tracks like "Cement" and "Stain" captured a raw, unsettled energy that explored mortality, depression, and identity with an honesty that still resonates today. It wasn't a record built for easy listens _ it was built to last. Now, a decade later, Everybody Is Going to Heaven stands as a defining moment in Citizen's evolution _ a record that challenged both the band and their audience, and helped shape the fearless, genre-blurring artists they've become. As they celebrate its 10th anniversary, Citizen remains a band deeply committed to growth, refusing to be tied to a single sound or era. Everybody Is Going to Heaven didn't just mark where they were; it lit the way for everything that came next.

Im Zuge der Louisville-via-Chicago-Post-Rock-Explosion des späten Millenniums kam Mercury Program mit einem Vibraphon in der Hand in einer amorphen ,Szene" im Umbruch an. Von The Vapors of Gasoline - ihrem 2000er Album für Tiger Style - war keineswegs ein Einbruch, sondern zehn intellektuelle und dissonante Jams, die verschämt die nie gestellte Frage beantworteten: Was wäre, wenn New Age und Posthardcore ein Haus in der Vorstadt kaufen würden? Diese Remaster-Version zum 25-jährigen Jubiläum offenbart das Genie eines übersehenen Triumphs in erstaunlich lebendigen Details und bietet atmosphärische Farbe für ehemalige Reptilien- und Periodensystem-Fans gleichermaßen.

NYOS are a Finland-based instrumental band comprised of guitarist Tom Brooke and drummer Tuomas Kainulainen. Known for their immersive and often physically demanding live shows, NYOS create massive sonic worlds using Brooke's labyrinthine loops and atmospheric layering alongside Kainulainen's kinetic drumming, in music that is rhythmic, raw, and eclectic. Since their formation in 2014, NYOS have carved out a distinctive place within Europe's experimental and post-rock scenes, characterized by their relentless energy, polyrhythmic complexity, and hypnotic layering. While still rooted in their signature loop-based approach, new album `Growl' is "more ambitious with song soundscapes and compositions", says guitarist Tom Brooke, naturally embracing a denser, more textured sound with greater attention to atmosphere and tension. "`Growl' feels like the best we've managed to harness the dynamics, and maybe the one thing we did focus a bit on is finding new ways to create those dynamics and making sure they aren't too predictable - it's our longest record to date, and when producing it, we were very conscious to make sure it is an album that holds the listener" (Brooke) As eclectic and exciting as ever, NYOS are a band in continuous motion, unafraid to challenge themselves and their listeners with ever-expanding sonic vocabularies. `Growl' is an album that is both coherent and seamless in its movement, walking a tightrope between meticulous structure and explosive energy. FOR FANS OF Battles, And So I Watch You From Afar, Don Caballero, The Mars Volta, Lightning Bolt, Tortoise, Hella, Tiny Fingers, Death Grips, Zach Hill, Russian Circles, Explosions in the Sky, Tera Melos

NYOS are a Finland-based instrumental band comprised of guitarist Tom Brooke and drummer Tuomas Kainulainen. Known for their immersive and often physically demanding live shows, NYOS create massive sonic worlds using Brooke's labyrinthine loops and atmospheric layering alongside Kainulainen's kinetic drumming, in music that is rhythmic, raw, and eclectic. Since their formation in 2014, NYOS have carved out a distinctive place within Europe's experimental and post-rock scenes, characterized by their relentless energy, polyrhythmic complexity, and hypnotic layering. While still rooted in their signature loop-based approach, new album `Growl' is "more ambitious with song soundscapes and compositions", says guitarist Tom Brooke, naturally embracing a denser, more textured sound with greater attention to atmosphere and tension. "`Growl' feels like the best we've managed to harness the dynamics, and maybe the one thing we did focus a bit on is finding new ways to create those dynamics and making sure they aren't too predictable - it's our longest record to date, and when producing it, we were very conscious to make sure it is an album that holds the listener" (Brooke) As eclectic and exciting as ever, NYOS are a band in continuous motion, unafraid to challenge themselves and their listeners with ever-expanding sonic vocabularies. `Growl' is an album that is both coherent and seamless in its movement, walking a tightrope between meticulous structure and explosive energy. FOR FANS OF Battles, And So I Watch You From Afar, Don Caballero, The Mars Volta, Lightning Bolt, Tortoise, Hella, Tiny Fingers, Death Grips, Zach Hill, Russian Circles, Explosions in the Sky, Tera Melos

Mutant, in partnership with Back Lot Music, are proud to present the physical media debut of Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World Rebirth Original Motion Picture Soundtrack with music by two-time Grammy® and Academy Award®-winning composer Alexandre Desplat.



To create the score for Jurassic World Rebirth, director Gareth Edwards turned to a distinguished friend, two-time Oscar® winner Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shape of Water), who worked with Edwards on Godzilla. “I feel very fortunate to be doing the music for a movie franchise like this, which entertained me so greatly, as a filmgoer, for decades,” Desplat says. “I dreamed of writing music for movies like this since I was a teenager, and now, here I am,” he adds with a laugh, “part of Jurassic World, almost a teenager.”



Rebirth represents the second time that Desplat has stepped into a franchise and inherited and adapted iconic musical motifs written by an artist he considers his “forever idol,” the legendary John Williams: Desplat previously took on that challenge with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2. “John Williams wrote a fantastic melody for Jurassic Park that I now get to reinvent, rejigger and resculpt in ways benefit our movie,” Desplat says. “My desire was not to quote John’s score bluntly but subtly echo it or make use of it in the original score I have written for the film in playful and meaningful ways.”



"Continuing in the legacy of composers like John Williams, Don Davis, and Michael Giacchino - Alexandre Desplat brings the action packed Jurassic World: Rebirth to life with equal parts bombast, and tenderness." says Mo Shafeek, co-founder of Mutant. "Beautiful piano melodies give reprieve from thundering percussion, in this beautiful and essential addition to the Jurassic franchise.”

Sdban Records is proud to announce the first official reissue of Coal Mining, the 1978 debut album by Dutch jazz pianist René van Helsdingen. This album marks a significant milestone-the beginning of van Helsdingen's decades-spanning career as an innovative and independent musician.

Born in 1957 in Jakarta, Indonesia, but holding Dutch nationality, René van Helsdingen began classical piano studies in the Netherlands in the early 1960s. While initially following in his family's footsteps by enrolling in mining engineering at the Technical University of Delft, his passion for music ultimately prevailed. His academic path may have diverged, but it set the stage, both figuratively and literally, for what would become an extraordinary musical career.

Coal Mining was originally released on Munich Records, a respected Dutch jazz and roots label founded by music producer and musician Job Zomer. The album features a blend of jazz influences from giants such as Oscar Peterson, McCoy Tyner, and Bill Evans, and showcases van Helsdingen's distinctive voice as a composer and pianist at the very start of his professional journey.

The record includes contributions from a rich ensemble of musicians, including Wim Essed (bass), Klaus Flenter (guitar), Børge Ring (double bass), Henk Zomer (drums), Martijn Nesenberend (drums), Dick Pluim (bass), and even a student orchestra formed during van Helsdingen's time at Delft University.

Often mistakenly referred to as Piano, a result of the album's back cover design prominentlyfeaturing the word, Coal Mining is both a literal and symbolic title. It alludes not only to van Helsdingen's brief academic past, but to the depth and labor of jazz creation itself: layered, gritty, and forged under pressure.

A year after the album's release, van Helsdingen moved to Los Angeles to continue his jazz studies. While living in Hollywood, he shared a house with future musical collaborators including Kent Brinkley, Essiet Okon Essiet, Brian Batie, John Rigby, Edmond Allmond, David Best and John Butler. Even in the early stages of his career, van Helsdingen displayed the entrepreneurial spirit that would define his path, self-releasing albums and even pioneering an early form of crowdfunding by selling 400 ad spaces on a record sleeve to finance an LP project. After his jazz studies in Los Angeles, he performed extensively in Europe, Canada, the U.S., Australia and Asia, often traveling with his own 'Stage bus', which housedboth a stage and instruments.

In August 2018, van Helsdingen was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Despite the physical challenges brought on by the condition, he continues to perform and compose music. His openness about the diagnosis-shared publicly in a 2019 documentary-has helped raise awareness of Parkinson's and the role of creativity and improvisation as tools for resilience.

Now, nearly five decades after its initial release, Coal Mining is finally receiving a well-deserved reissue. Introducing a new generation of listeners to the raw talent and visionary beginnings of a true European jazz original.

The official soundtrack to the first season of the acclaimed historical drama Vikings is now, for the first time, available on vinyl, offering fans and collectors a rich and immersive listening experience. Composed by Emmy Award-winning composer Trevor Morris (The Tudors, The Borgias, Dragon Age: Inquisition), the score captures the raw intensity, emotional depth, and mythic atmosphere that helped define the tone of the series. From sweeping orchestral moments to brooding ambient textures, the music reflects the harsh beauty of the Viking world and its complex characters. One of the standout tracks is the opening theme, “If I Had A Heart” by Swedish artist Fever Ray, whose haunting vocals and minimalist electronics set the tone for the series. The track became iconic, earning recognition for its unique contribution to the show’s identity. The series itself has received widespread acclaim and multiple awards, both for its storytelling and technical execution, with the music playing a vital role in its success. Vikings (Music From The TV Series) is available for the first time on vinyl as a limited edition of 750 numbered copies on blue coloured vinyl. This 2LP package includes a 4-page booklet with pictures and liner notes by Trevor Morris.

Originally released in September 2024 we continue the re-release of Clark’s recent catalogue with the chance to get some limited vinyl versions of ‘In Camera’. Since his first composition credit in 2016 with The Last Panthers (Warp) Clark has built a reputation for expanding film and TV scores into intricate, exhilarating soundworlds of their own. Here Clark has expanded his score for Naqqash Khalid’s award-winning debut feature ‘In Camera’ stretching out the film’s surreal ‘modern fairy tale’ atmosphere with reversed vocals and gauzy synthpop-esque chords. Of the recording process Clark says: “Using my vocals but abstracted in a way that totally matched the film was the most unique challenge. I was going to just include the cues but got far too into recording new stuff that fitted the tone and emotion of the film. The record has a very distinct colour/ feel. It’s drenched in muted joy/ dark euphoria”. This includes a gnarly cover of the Carpenters’ ‘Superstar’ that burns closer to the frazzled Sonic Youth version.

TRON: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
24 neue Tracks von Nine Inch Nails: das Duo aus Trent Reznor und Atticus Ross veröffentlicht am 19.
September 2025 sein Album zum Disney-Kultfilm „TRON: Ares“, inklusive der neuen Single „As Alive As
You Need Me To Be”. Damit setzt die Band eine erfolgreiche Soundtrack-Geschichte fort: ihre vorherigen
Untermalungen zu Filmen wie „The Social Network“ (2010), „Soul“ (2020) oder „Challengers“ (2024)
wurden unter anderem mit zwei Oscars, drei Golden Globes, einem Emmy und einem Grammy ausgezeichnet. Die düstere Industrial-Handschrift Trent Reznors fängt die Stimmung der Sci-Fi-Reihe „TRON“, für
deren letzten Film Daft Punk komponierten, perfekt ein. Reznors Einfluss auf die alternative Musikwelt ist
seit den späten 80ern ungebrochen: mit Hits wie „Closer“ und „Hurt“ sowie Alben wie „The Downward
Spiral“ kombinierte das Mastermind elektronische Sounds mit Rockmusik wie nie zuvor. „TRON: Ares“ ist
die erste NIN Veröffentlichung seit fünf Jahren und liefert gleich 70 Minuten neue Musik – erhältlich ab
dem 19.09. auf CD und Vinyl.

Satisfaction comes in many forms. When the magical word Motown is uttered, most people are hard-wired to The Four Tops, the Temptations and The Supremes. But to reduce Motown to the effervescent sixties is only part of the label’s remarkable legacy.
By the 1970s, a different sound was gathering. America was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The Vietnam War had been a disaster, urban street crime was epidemic and the nation’s college campuses were alive with political resistance. The joyful hope that had inspired “Baby Love” now felt anachronistic and out of time.

The music industry was changing too. The vinyl pop single on 45rpm which had been the staple of Motown’s success was being challenged by concept albums.   This was the era of Edwin Starr’s anti-war album War and Peace (1970), The Temptations mind-bending Psychedelic Shack (1970) and Marvin Gaye’s state-of-the-nation classic What’s Going On (1971).
By the early 1970s Motown had a stable of male vocalists that was arguably the best in the world, among them former lead singers from The Temptations - David Ruffin, Dennis Edwards and Eddie Kendricks. Alongside them singer-producers like Leon Ware and Frank Wilson were asserting their presence.

David Ruffin’s “Crime in the Street” captured the epidemic of violence in Detroit allowing his exquisite voice to quietly rage against gun crime. Recorded a few years before his underground classic “Rode by the Place”, both sound more modern today than when they were recorded.
If there is a common thread here, it’s the mid-tempo shifting soul soon to be christened as “quiet storm” including groups on the margins of Motown such as The Originals and The Fantastic Four led by the impassioned “Sweet” James Epps.
Just to keep you satisfied, immerse yourself in the overlooked creativity of Detroit’s male voices in the early 1970s.

Parisian label Chuwanaga is thrilled to announce the upcoming release of "The Milky Way", the first EP from the dynamic Milk & Honey duo, comprised of producers Saint-James and Tour-Maubourg. Known for their raw sound reminiscent of the late nineties house sound, Milk & Honey bring a fresh yet nostalgic energy to the scene, blending vintage hardware with modern sensibilities. Available as Limited Vinyl 12" (300ex) and Digital.

This EP, is a testament to their musical chemistry and shared passion for the classic deep house. Composed in just two days at Tour-Maubourg's studio in Ixelles, Belgium, "The Milky Way" captures the essence of their creative synergy.

From peak-time club heaters like "Back in the Hood", "Lost and Found" and "Sour" — the latter tinged with a darker UK sound - to deeper, more introspective cuts like "Deeper and Deeper","Venus Effect" and "City Stabs" the EP is a rich and textured journey. It's also a testament to friendship: a story told through syncopated rhythms, hypnotic melodies, and intricate drum programming.

Milk & Honey have previously challenged the deep house scene with releases on Groovence Records, drawing inspiration from legends like Glenn Underground.

Seeking overlooked beauty and prizing reflection in a distracted world, Hammock creates cinematic music for the road less traveled. In stirring works of shimmering post-rock ambience that swell with hope and melancholic nostalgia, the Nashville-based duo of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson immerse listeners in living visions of moments long past, animating life's fond remembrances and scarring losses with gentle lens-flare harmonics, heart-surging neoclassical drama, and pensive silence. A direct challenge to the passive existence of modern life, where everything can be experienced but precious little is felt, Hammock demands, and richly rewards, patience and contemplation. One of Hammock's career defining works, the Mysterium, Universalis, and Silencia trilogy came to a close in 2019. The first chapter, Mysterium, was written following the death of Byrd's 20-year-old nephew and dealt with incomprehensible, shattering loss. Difficult understanding came on Universalis, and an altered reality understood through quiet reflection took hold on Silencia. Emerging from the silence, a period that brought with it the global pandemic of Covid-19 that has kept loved ones apart, conscripted months upon months of isolation, and roused directionless longing for escape, Hammock presents Elsewhere. Recorded by Byrd and Thompson at their homes, apart and with minimal equipment, Elsewhere serves as a gateway to another place, materializes feelings of separation and loss without closure, and calls listeners back to live their lives - not spend them longing to be something or somewhere else. - Wyatt Marshal

Within the nine carefully composed tracks of Young Bones, Mel D’s characteristic voice stands out in all its facets, varying from fragile to powerful, haunting to playful, but most of all soulful. With a voice that’s both extraordinarily clear and melancholic, Mel D is something surprisingly rare: a singer whose artistic expression goes beyond the mere use of her voice. On Young Bones, Mel D uses contemporary figures, rephrasing them into timeless formulas. Her unique musical language embodies references to genres like Indie or Alternative. In other moments, her sound leans baroque, then jazzy, soulful, and contemplative. Each song represents an ode to being connected: to the world, other people, and most of all to the beauty of music. Mel D draws her inspiration from struggles felt in the current world climate: “I have felt overwhelmed by the world we live in and its countless challenges,” said Mel D. “As if we’re all a bit directionless in our own lives.” Nevertheless, Mel D uses her musicality as a tool for resistance - using it to transform sadness and anger into creativity, and to give world-weariness a voice that seduces, comforts, and inspires. On Young Bones, Mel D sings us to a place where we might find hope - with songs rooted in concern, solidarity, humanness, and empowerment, inviting the listener to lean into those feelings. Bring the Witches Back, a hymn to witchcraft, is a quiet song that summons the return of witches with feminist urgency, for more love and magic to open ourselves towards each other and the world. Soft, a soulful song with a tender melody, gently lulls the listener into an in-between dimension, full of opportunities. Meanwhile, in the coming-of-age ballad, Slowly Growing, she raises questions about belonging and identity, pointing directly at our emotional core. Where Do You Look When It Hurts? speaks to the sensation of exhaustion and emptiness, offering musical warmth and a sense of community in moments of lethargy. Finally, listening to the album, one always feels in good company. Playfully working in folk and electro-pop elements, Mel D takes us on a ride toward love and a sense of belonging, particularly on the track We win. Young Bones was recorded in Zurich and Paris with two outstanding producers of our times: Renaud Letang, who has previously collaborated with Feist, Chilly Gonzales or Lianne La Havas, and Dino Brandão. The latter recognized Mel D’s artistic uniqueness during their first meeting, inviting her to a recording session in his studio and bringing her into the band of Swiss superstar, Faber. Mel D’s solo project was more a product of coincidence than planning, as she says, even though an undisputed talent and passion for music had always been apparent throughout her youth. During her studies in fine arts in Zurich, she founded the electronica-duo mischgewebe, and composed soundtracks for theater and movie productions, as well as for exhibitions. Long before forming her current artistic identity, she went by the nickname Mel D, in a humorous reference to the Spice Girls. Although her personality and musical language suggest thoughtfulness and a melancholy touch, Mel D acknowledges that an honest laugh is never out of place, making her sympathetic and approachable.