Suche:channel one pres

An air of ancient ritualism cloaks Modern Love’s midnight meeting between UK producer MOBBS and French-Egyptian spellcaster Susu Laroche, carving out a channel between hexed trip hop and shoegaze that’s one part DJ Screw, one part MBV, operating within a long shadow of influence cast by Curve, Leila, Cocteau Twins, Nearly God.

Clasping chiral energies on their debut collab, MOBBS brings a history spanning shadowy production work for big name artists to the grimly stylised vein of performance art and musick explored by Susu Laroche, an Egyptian-French with strong binds to chthonic contemporary London.

Their maiden sacrifice heightens the senses to blends of monotonic, sandalwood scented incantations and carpet-burned downbeats swept in slurred dub. Songs are subtly variegated in tone to spell out shifting plays of light evoking bedsit antechambers and warehouse innards lit by iPhone candle or extractor hood and emergency light bulbs on their last lumens.

It's music that's as elaborately serrated and blemished as early MBV, but positioned in a vastly different cultural landscape, drawing from hip-hop, drone, psych and basement noise. The pair’s range of cultural obsessions maintains a precarious balance between shadowy histories and an asphyxiating present; all too often, when the past is projected it's thru a mollifying, nostalgic lens, so their critical, prudent hybrid sound is a vital, chilling corrective.

From the bell-ringing, chain-rattle jag of ‘Throne’ thru the sleepwalker drift of ‘Roam’, and concrete plangency of ‘Forest’, the marriage of MOBBS’ illusive textures with Laroche’s feel for analog image and film (as evinced in her art for the likes of Blackhaine and Mica Levi) imprints their sound in gauzy layers that leave fleeting impressions on the mind’s eye. At their heaviest, Laroche’s arcane declarations descend in impressive enactments, undressing the excesses of over-glossed trip hop to reveal and revel in the sound at its starkest, sexiest, for new waves of washed up souls.

After humble lo-fi beginnings in the Australian Art-Pop Underground, Donny Benet has expanded his cult-like following across the Globe with a resonant Array of danceable Repertoire dealing with Love- and Affection. New album "Mr Experience" marks a new chapter, informed by a wealth of musical- and personal development.

For Mr Experience, Donny envisioned a Soundtrack to a Dinner-Party- Set in the late 1980's. While his earlier Recordings drew Inspiration from DIY Pop Conspirators such as Ariel Pink & John Maus, Donny channelled the Stylings of Bryan Ferry & Hiroshi Yoshimura as the Impetus for new Material, evident on the Intimacy found on ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ and it's lush production- with a soothing whistle-along Chorus for good Measure!

Sincerity has been a key component of Donny Benet’s output since the beginning. His songs deal with genuine Emotion served on a kitsch Platter. An alter-ego manifested in the beginning of the 2010's, Donny has blurred the Lines of Artifice to create a back- Catalogue that can embrace- and challenge, often simultaneously, - the notion of Irony in Art.

"Mr Experience" moves further away from ironic Notions as Donny explores lyrical- and musical themes which embody Observations of Maturation in his audience, his tightknit musical Community- and himself. While ‘mature’ is a term that often rings hollow as an album descriptor, the term couldn’t be more apt for Mr Experience.

Previous album The Don was created with the luxury of time. The phenomenal Response to that Album across Europe- and the United States - fuelled by accompanying Music Videos clocking in Views in the Millions- meant that there were scant Windows of Opportunity to write- and record a follow-up.

With a legacy in Sydney’s music community, working with Sarah Blasko, and tightknik collaborators Jack Ladder & Kirin J Callinan, Donny Benet is accustomed to collaboration on the Stage- and in the Studio, mostnotably on the 2014 full-length release Weekend At Donny’s.



“There is such immense talent evident in every aspect of the Donny Bene experience - the vision of the character, the steadfast adherence his narrative and the musicality of Benet himself all combine to makesomething truly genius.” - Double J, Australin.

“Donny Benet makes feminine music for everybody” - Vice, Netherlands.

“The Don does not sound like amusical copying machine”. - 3voor12 National, Netherlands.

“The set was punctuated with virtuosic solos and exquisite harmonies, and added another layer of genius to the show.
We almost couldn’t handle it... Donny for president!" - Indie Berlin.

“Everyone loves Donny Benet” - Feature in Gonzai, France.

“Phenomenal Australian Showman... Offers Top-Class Dance Music with Virtuose-Bass Guitar- and Keyboard Parts & incredible Sound-Colour feel.” - Podujatie.sk, Slovakia.

Donny has toured Europe five times since the start of 2018 and has played in the UK, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, France, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Greece and Sweden. The Don will revisit Europe twice in 2020, once for his own headline shows in May then back again in August for festivals!

A1. Mike Berardi is put in the spotlight with an incredible breaks original. Originally born and raised in Italy, Mike has been bringing exquisite sounds to the concrete jungle for over a decade. Mike Berardi has made a name for himself, even working with big names such as Chez Damier. Having an ear for what dance floors crave, his productions continue to land on huge labels around the world. 


A2. Samuel Padden is a producer who needs no introduction. His reputation for making incredible records has brought him around the world, with more and more DJs dropping his originals on the dance floor. The rising star generously delivers another banger to lucky listeners.

B1. Jay Tripwire is clearly an artist who is channeling energy from alternate universes. With a sound unmatched, and a discography like an encyclopedia, Jay Tripwire is undoubtedly one of the greatest producers of all time. We proudly present his mind melting 12-minute minimal masterpiece.

Sharpening his modernist, hybridised club sound with the restless energy he’s made his name on, Breaka returns with Aeoui. Nodding to the vowel-only vocal samples he scatters throughout his tracks, this much-anticipated second album reaffirms Charlie Baker’s reputation as a many-sided bass music innovator.

Since 2019, Breaka has been primarily shaping his own destiny by self-releasing most of his music, and it’s afforded him the space to evolve his sound on his own terms. In the wake of his 2022 debut LP We Move, the consistently prolific producer had been looking for a fitting window to channel his work into a second full-length. The opportunity arose when he struck on a fit of jet-lagged inspiration in late 2023 and laid down two of the new album’s key tunes, ‘squashy track’ and ‘yolo bass rewind’. Jutting out at a distinct angle from his other work, Breaka knew he’d found the anchor point around which to build out the next phase of his sonic evolution.

This productive period also aligned with a new studio space to work in, leading to the album’s striking double-dose opening of ‘Aeoui’ and ‘Are We There’. With the flavour of his new album established, Breaka was able to comb back through his reams of existing ideas and find the remaining pieces that fit the emerging puzzle. There are enduring influences which bind together the Breaka sound — footwork, techno and dancehall continue to guide the infectious floor-ready pressure of the record, but he worked free of stylistic concerns to find a vibe that remained true to his independent spirit.

It’s clear the Breaka DNA reaches beyond purist club music — his roots as a jazz drummer from an early age guide the expressive flair in his beat programming, while he took a more direct influence from a mind-blowing Sons Of Kemet gig in 2022 to make psychedelic centre-piece ‘Roundhouse’. Elsewhere ‘Cascara’ pays tribute to the Afro-Cuban rhythm of the same name, which he fused with amapiano’s lithe log drums and shakers, Brazilian percussion and edgy sound design to create a maverick soundsystem wrecker.

The collision of organic and synthetic, crisp forms and chaotic energy are captured perfectly in the cover artwork created with Jordan Core. It’s a savvy sum-up of where Breaka is at right now, continually building out with clear intentions while embracing the unpredictable energy of lived experiences and the ideas that get sparked along the way. That’s why Aeoui sounds like no one else out there but Breaka.

Sunny War, also known as Sydney Ward, found inspiration for her latest album Armageddon In A Summer Dress while living in her late father's 100-year-old house in Chattanooga, TN. She initially thought the house was haunted. Eerie sounds and visions led her to write the song "Ghosts." However, she later discovered that hallucinations were caused by gas leaks, shifting her understanding of those experiences but not her artistic focus. Armageddon In A Summer Dress explores themes of memory, loss, and the ghosts of past selves. After the success of her 2022 album, Anarchist Gospel, Sunny spent more time touring with artists like Bonnie Raitt and Mitski. To avoid falling back into past struggles with alcohol, she channeled her energy into music, crafting intricate demos and experimenting with sound. This process involved shifting from acoustic to electric guitar, aiming for a fuller band sound. Tracks like "One Way Train" and "No One Calls Me Baby" highlight her blend of punk and roots influences, emphasizing the rebellious spirit shared by both genres. A notable collaboration on the album is with Steve Ignorant from Crass, whose participation in "Walking Contradiction" reflects Sunny's admiration for the band and its critique of modern society. Armageddon in a Summer Dress serves as a reflection on identity and choices, balancing heavy themes with empowerment. Sunny War encourages listeners to live authentically and resist societal pressures. Committed to continual growth, she sees every performance and song as an opportunity for exploration. Through her music, Sunny War captures the complexities of life, loss, and the transformative power of creativity.

The Tonarium is an idiosyncratic instrument comprising of two sets of modular synthesizers: Serge by Random Source, and another one by Bugbrand, both of which operate alongside a mixer constructed by Piotr Ceglarek and Jan Dybała. This intertwinement facilitates precise control over audio and CV signals and integrates technology with analog sound, offering the artists a distinctive sonic palette to delve into.

The present record unfolds in two parts, each exploring the fluctuating nature of sound. Both equally contribute to the work’s immersive imaging characterized by sound intensity, continuity and endless flow. Within its sonic tapestry lies a space for listeners to uncover subtle nuances, pulsations, and moments of harmony flickering through each chord’s firm surface.

In Part I, a formidable force consisting of chord progressions pierced by abrupt shifts and transitions unfolds. This deliberate disruption of harmonic continuity invites listeners to immerse themselves fully in each musical entity, uncovering the intricate details of the chords’ overtonal structure, drifting and steadily glimmering inside their glowing cores.

Part II, on the other hand, presents a more closed form—a recurring four-chord motif that evolves and transforms with each iteration until it finally fades out into whisper-like serenity. Here, the bass pulsates with greater intensity, like a wave enveloping the listener in a froth of feelings, which prevails and swells throughout the composition. In contrast to Part I, it exudes a sense of warmth and intimacy, inviting listeners to reflect over the dimensions of their own inner landscapes.

The Tonarium is to serve as a conduit for expression—a vessel through which the artist Aleksandra Slyz is enabled to channel her creativity and emotion into the music. Both Part I and II of the work have the capacity to drag listeners into a sonic odyssey that transcends time and space, therefore leaving an indelible impression on one’s trembling soul.

Performed & recorded on December 18-19th 2023 while in residence at The New Media Laboratory in Katowice, Poland.

Organized by The Soundscape Foundation

Composed & produced by Aleksandra Słyż

Mastered by Rashad Becker

Photographies by Kacper Krzętowski

Design by Maks Posio

Executive production by Christian Di Vito

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, two-time Grammy® Award-winning Hip-Hop icon, Kennedy Center Honoree, actor, author, NAACP Image Award winner, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder/CEO of Rock The Bells, LL COOL J continues his trailblazing career with upcoming album 'The FORCE'.

LL’s highly anticipated 14th studio album The FORCE (Frequencies of Real Creative Energy) set for release September 6th follows over a decade long hiatus. The record was executive produced by Hip-Hop innovator and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Q-Tip, of A Tribe Called Quest. With this album, LL will help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the creation of Def Jam Recordings. As LL was the label’s first release, there is no better way to represent the legacy of Def Jam Recordings on its 40th year

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, two-time Grammy® Award-winning Hip-Hop icon, Kennedy Center Honoree, actor, author, NAACP Image Award winner, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder and CEO of Rock The Bells, LL COOL J has created one of the most multifaceted careers and brands in entertainment and continues to display his wide range of talents with every project.

Four decades after he first burst onto the scene, LL COOL J continues his vibrant, trailblazing career. LL COOL J helped elevate the burgeoning rap and Hip-Hop scene of the 80’s, which developed into the musical and cultural phenomenon that is Hip-Hop as we know it today. Of LL’s many contributions to the culture, he also is credited with the creation of the acronym “G.O.A.T.” - short for “Greatest of All Time.”

First introduced to the world in 1984 as a Def Jam Recordings’ flagship artist, LL is the first rap artist to amass ten consecutive platinum-plus selling albums, including his critically-acclaimed debut album, RADIO, and the international, timeless anthem and album of the same name, MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT. LL’s hit singles include “Going Back to Cali,” “Doin’ It,” “Around the Way Girl,” “Loungin’”, “Headsprung,” and Hip-Hop’s first rap ballad “I Need Love.”

Up next, this fall LL is back to make his latest artistic contribution and continue to elevate Hip-Hop culture after over a decade long hiatus with the release of his highly anticipated new album, The FORCE (Frequencies of Real Creative Energy), executive produced by Hip-Hop innovator and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Q-Tip, of A Tribe Called Quest. With this album, LL will help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the creation of Def Jam Recordings.

In December 2017, LL became the first rapper to earn the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor, which is America’s highest achievement for any performer. In addition, he received his star on the world-renowned Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 21, 2016.
In March 2018, LL launched his own SiriusXM timeless Hip-Hop channel entitled “LL COOL J's Rock The Bells Radio,” garnering millions of daily listeners. The channel features a wide range of innovative and timeless Hip-Hop content, music, interviews, and in-depth retrospectives curated, programmed, and presented by the award-winning artist himself. Since founding the radio station, Rock The Bells has developed into a global platform that has become the preeminent voice for timeless Hip-Hop. Rock The Bells focuses on content, commerce and experiences that honor the CULTURE and the core elements of Hip-Hop – MCs, DJs, Breakers, Graffiti Artists – and more. Rock The Bells hosted its inaugural eponymous music festival in Queens, New York in August 2022, which sold out back-to-back years in 2022 and 2023, where LL headlined both festivals.

LL COOL J was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on October 30, 2021, in Cleveland, Ohio for the 36th annual induction ceremony. Considered by most as the crowning achievement for one’s musical career, the ceremony was a celebration of LL’s lasting impact on Hip-Hop and the music industry.

In Summer 2023, LL COOL J, Rock The Bells, and Live Nation Urban kicked off his first arena tour in 30 years across North America called The F.O.R.C.E. Tour, inspired by the name of LL’s forthcoming album. Living up to the acronym for Frequencies of Real Creative Energy, the lineup for this tour was personally curated by LL COOL J. Building off their amazing performance together on the GRAMMY® Awards earlier that year celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop, all dates featured collaborative live performances with preeminent Award-winning Hip-Hop band The Roots, the legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff, and DJ Z-Trip.

LL hosted the GRAMMY® Awards for an unprecedented five years in a row from 2012-2016, for which he earned rave reviews. In addition, he hosted and produced the GRAMMY® Nominations Concert Live Special for seven years and has also been a presenter at the Emmy®, Golden Globe® and SAG Awards. Most recently, at the end of 2023, LL helped produce CBS’ live concert special A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

LL has always been an avid philanthropist involved in numerous causes, including literacy for kids as well as music and arts programs in schools. Founded in 2005, LL’s charity “Jump & Ball” – which takes place every August in his hometown of Queens, New York – aims to give back to his local community by offering an athletic and team building program dedicated to bringing wholesome fun to young people.

Between being a musician, actor, philanthropist and entrepreneur, LL COOL J is the ultimate multi-hyphenate whose career continues to expand and where he remains one of the most beloved and innovative brands in entertainment. He currently resides in both New York and Los Angeles.

Legendary 7X GRAMMY and Emmy Award-winning artist/producer Dr. Dre celebrates the 30th anniversary of his magnum opus, The Chronic by announcing the album will be re-released. The Chronic, which is not currently available on streaming services, will again be available to fans on all major DSPs .

Steve Berman, Vice Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M, said: “Dr. Dre is without a doubt one of the most iconic and groundbreaking artists in the modern era. He has also used his platform to fuel some very impactful philanthropic efforts that will ensure his legacy is felt for generations to come. Dre’s solo career all started with the The Chronic, one of the most celebrated recordings of all time.

First released on December 15, 1992, The Chronic peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and has spent 97 weeks on the chart since its release. The album also spawned three top 40 hits on the Hot 100, including top ten records with "Nuthin' But a “G” Thang" (No. 2) featuring Snoop Dogg and "F— Wit Dre Day" (No. 8). The Chronic topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for eight weeks, while "Nuthin’ But a "G" Thang" hit No. 1 for two weeks on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Last June, Rolling Stone placed The Chronic on its 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time List, boasting how the album "redefined the West Coast Hip Hop sound." Pitchfork also holds the seminal album in high standing, saying The Chronic lives on as a “timeless show of strength” and “gave shape to L.A.’s present and future.” Videos from The Chronic are also available on Dr. Dre’s official YouTube channel.

Last year, Dr. Dre dazzled during the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show in Los Angeles. His enormous set was star-studded, as Dre performed alongside some of music's biggest stars, including Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, and 50 Cent. Dre commanded the stage – just a few miles from his birthplace of Compton – with a groundbreaking setlist anchored by hits such as "The Next Episode" and the 2Pac-led "California Love." The historic performance earned Dr. Dre his first-ever Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special (Live). The Hollywood Reporter called the halftime show "thrilling and nostalgic," while Billboard credited Dre for his "seismic impact" on music.

Signed to Death Row Records by Snoop Dogg, the 2025 Grammy-nominated artist channels the spirit of Marvin Gaye in this deeply heartfelt tribute to one of music's most iconic voices. With The Rebirth of Marvin, October captures both Gaye’s timeless influence and his own unique artistry, creating a seamless fusion of the past and the present. The album’s lead single, "Back to Your Place," has already made waves, topping the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart, while earning three nominations at the Soul Train Music Awards.

FEBRUARY 2023 MARKED THE ARRIVAL OF AN ALBUM THAT’S REDEFIFINING THE SOUND OF SOUL FOR A NEW GENERATION: OCTOBER LONDON’S THE REBIRTH OF MARVIN. SIGNED TO DEATH ROW RECORDS BY SNOOP DOGG, THE 2025 GRAMMY NOMINATED OCTOBER LONDON CHANNELS THE SPIRIT OF MARVIN GAYE IN THIS HOMAGE TO ONE OF MUSIC’S MOST SOULFUL VOICES, CAPTURING BOTH GAYE’S TIMELESS INFLFLUENCE AND LONDON’S OWN UNIQUE ARTISTRY.

REFLECTING ON THE PROJECT, OCTOBER LONDON SHARED, “DEAR MARVIN, I’M NOT TRYING TO BE YOU. THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE. YOU’RE ONE OF A KIND. I JUST WANT TO PAY HOMAGE TO YOU, BROTHA. YOU PAVED THE WAY FOR THIS SOUND, AND I’M JUST HERE TO MAKE SURE THEY DON’T FORGET.”

THE ALBUM’S LEAD SINGLE ‘BACK TO YOUR PLACE‘ HAS ALREADY TOPPED THE BILLBOARD ADULT R&B SONGS CHART, CAPTIVATING LISTENERS AND EARNING THREE SOUL TRAIN MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS. FROM HIS BEGINNINGS AS A RISING ARTIST UNDER SNOOP DOGG’S MENTORSHIP TO HIS PLACE AS A FORCE IN MODERN R&B, OCTOBER LONDON’S JOURNEY HAS LED TO THIS PIVOTAL MOMENT.
THE REBIRTH OF MARVIN IS BOTH A TRIBUTE AND AN EVOLUTION, A SOULFUL REMINDER OF THE LEGACY GAYE LEFT BEHIND - AND OF THE NEW PATHWAYS LONDON IS CREATING FOR IT TODAY.

Signed to Death Row Records by Snoop Dogg, the 2025 Grammy-nominated artist channels the spirit of Marvin Gaye in this deeply heartfelt tribute to one of music's most iconic voices. With The Rebirth of Marvin, October captures both Gaye’s timeless influence and his own unique artistry, creating a seamless fusion of the past and the present. The album’s lead single, "Back to Your Place," has already made waves, topping the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart, while earning three nominations at the Soul Train Music Awards.

FEBRUARY 2023 MARKED THE ARRIVAL OF AN ALBUM THAT’S REDEFIFINING THE SOUND OF SOUL FOR A NEW GENERATION: OCTOBER LONDON’S THE REBIRTH OF MARVIN. SIGNED TO DEATH ROW RECORDS BY SNOOP DOGG, THE 2025 GRAMMY NOMINATED OCTOBER LONDON CHANNELS THE SPIRIT OF MARVIN GAYE IN THIS HOMAGE TO ONE OF MUSIC’S MOST SOULFUL VOICES, CAPTURING BOTH GAYE’S TIMELESS INFLFLUENCE AND LONDON’S OWN UNIQUE ARTISTRY.

REFLECTING ON THE PROJECT, OCTOBER LONDON SHARED, “DEAR MARVIN, I’M NOT TRYING TO BE YOU. THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE. YOU’RE ONE OF A KIND. I JUST WANT TO PAY HOMAGE TO YOU, BROTHA. YOU PAVED THE WAY FOR THIS SOUND, AND I’M JUST HERE TO MAKE SURE THEY DON’T FORGET.”

THE ALBUM’S LEAD SINGLE ‘BACK TO YOUR PLACE‘ HAS ALREADY TOPPED THE BILLBOARD ADULT R&B SONGS CHART, CAPTIVATING LISTENERS AND EARNING THREE SOUL TRAIN MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS. FROM HIS BEGINNINGS AS A RISING ARTIST UNDER SNOOP DOGG’S MENTORSHIP TO HIS PLACE AS A FORCE IN MODERN R&B, OCTOBER LONDON’S JOURNEY HAS LED TO THIS PIVOTAL MOMENT.
THE REBIRTH OF MARVIN IS BOTH A TRIBUTE AND AN EVOLUTION, A SOULFUL REMINDER OF THE LEGACY GAYE LEFT BEHIND - AND OF THE NEW PATHWAYS LONDON IS CREATING FOR IT TODAY.

Signed to Death Row Records by Snoop Dogg, the 2025 Grammy-nominated artist channels the spirit of Marvin Gaye in this deeply heartfelt tribute to one of music's most iconic voices. With The Rebirth of Marvin, October captures both Gaye’s timeless influence and his own unique artistry, creating a seamless fusion of the past and the present. The album’s lead single, "Back to Your Place," has already made waves, topping the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart, while earning three nominations at the Soul Train Music Awards.

FEBRUARY 2023 MARKED THE ARRIVAL OF AN ALBUM THAT’S REDEFIFINING THE SOUND OF SOUL FOR A NEW GENERATION: OCTOBER LONDON’S THE REBIRTH OF MARVIN. SIGNED TO DEATH ROW RECORDS BY SNOOP DOGG, THE 2025 GRAMMY NOMINATED OCTOBER LONDON CHANNELS THE SPIRIT OF MARVIN GAYE IN THIS HOMAGE TO ONE OF MUSIC’S MOST SOULFUL VOICES, CAPTURING BOTH GAYE’S TIMELESS INFLFLUENCE AND LONDON’S OWN UNIQUE ARTISTRY.

REFLECTING ON THE PROJECT, OCTOBER LONDON SHARED, “DEAR MARVIN, I’M NOT TRYING TO BE YOU. THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE. YOU’RE ONE OF A KIND. I JUST WANT TO PAY HOMAGE TO YOU, BROTHA. YOU PAVED THE WAY FOR THIS SOUND, AND I’M JUST HERE TO MAKE SURE THEY DON’T FORGET.”

THE ALBUM’S LEAD SINGLE ‘BACK TO YOUR PLACE‘ HAS ALREADY TOPPED THE BILLBOARD ADULT R&B SONGS CHART, CAPTIVATING LISTENERS AND EARNING THREE SOUL TRAIN MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS. FROM HIS BEGINNINGS AS A RISING ARTIST UNDER SNOOP DOGG’S MENTORSHIP TO HIS PLACE AS A FORCE IN MODERN R&B, OCTOBER LONDON’S JOURNEY HAS LED TO THIS PIVOTAL MOMENT.
THE REBIRTH OF MARVIN IS BOTH A TRIBUTE AND AN EVOLUTION, A SOULFUL REMINDER OF THE LEGACY GAYE LEFT BEHIND - AND OF THE NEW PATHWAYS LONDON IS CREATING FOR IT TODAY.

Signed to Death Row Records by Snoop Dogg, the 2025 Grammy-nominated artist channels the spirit of Marvin Gaye in this deeply heartfelt tribute to one of music's most iconic voices. With The Rebirth of Marvin, October captures both Gaye’s timeless influence and his own unique artistry, creating a seamless fusion of the past and the present. The album’s lead single, "Back to Your Place," has already made waves, topping the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart, while earning three nominations at the Soul Train Music Awards.

FEBRUARY 2023 MARKED THE ARRIVAL OF AN ALBUM THAT’S REDEFIFINING THE SOUND OF SOUL FOR A NEW GENERATION: OCTOBER LONDON’S THE REBIRTH OF MARVIN. SIGNED TO DEATH ROW RECORDS BY SNOOP DOGG, THE 2025 GRAMMY NOMINATED OCTOBER LONDON CHANNELS THE SPIRIT OF MARVIN GAYE IN THIS HOMAGE TO ONE OF MUSIC’S MOST SOULFUL VOICES, CAPTURING BOTH GAYE’S TIMELESS INFLFLUENCE AND LONDON’S OWN UNIQUE ARTISTRY.

REFLECTING ON THE PROJECT, OCTOBER LONDON SHARED, “DEAR MARVIN, I’M NOT TRYING TO BE YOU. THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE. YOU’RE ONE OF A KIND. I JUST WANT TO PAY HOMAGE TO YOU, BROTHA. YOU PAVED THE WAY FOR THIS SOUND, AND I’M JUST HERE TO MAKE SURE THEY DON’T FORGET.”

THE ALBUM’S LEAD SINGLE ‘BACK TO YOUR PLACE‘ HAS ALREADY TOPPED THE BILLBOARD ADULT R&B SONGS CHART, CAPTIVATING LISTENERS AND EARNING THREE SOUL TRAIN MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS. FROM HIS BEGINNINGS AS A RISING ARTIST UNDER SNOOP DOGG’S MENTORSHIP TO HIS PLACE AS A FORCE IN MODERN R&B, OCTOBER LONDON’S JOURNEY HAS LED TO THIS PIVOTAL MOMENT.
THE REBIRTH OF MARVIN IS BOTH A TRIBUTE AND AN EVOLUTION, A SOULFUL REMINDER OF THE LEGACY GAYE LEFT BEHIND - AND OF THE NEW PATHWAYS LONDON IS CREATING FOR IT TODAY.

When Acid Jazz was in its mid-1990s pomp, it released a lot of great records. Sometimes they flew past at such a pace, we had moved on to something else before we realised how good they truly were. ‘Lovesick’ by the Night Trains is one such record.

A phenomenal mixture of a distinctive sample turned into a un-ignorable groove, an unforgettable melody (and the soulful vocal from Marcia Johnson), weaved around a Miles-like trumpet. It should have been a hit. But it wasn’t. Instead, it is a cult classic, which we are being fully indulgent in releasing on a 7-inch single.

Night Trains were the brain child of Hugh Brooker, and they released the first ever acid jazz single in 'Open Channel D’, appearing on early groundbreaking Acid Jazz compilations. It resurfaced on the label in 1993 with the ‘Sleazeball’ album, from which Lovesick was the lead single. Hugh has in many forms kept the group going until the present day. A testament to persistence and good taste, in the face of industry indifference. Hugh is one of the originals and we are proud to still work with him to this day.

This is the first time that ‘Lovesick’ has appeared on a 7", and it is flipped with the previously-unreleased on vinyl ‘Only Know About Love' on the B-side.

On December 6, 2024, Randomer will return with a new EP titled MTY-012: Everything Happens for No Reason, released via Anetha’s label, Mama Told Ya.

After a reflective hiatus, the UK prodigy is highly anticipated and ready to deliver meaningful music. The EP features five emotionally charged tracks—four produced by Randomer and one co-produced by Randomer and Anetha. Presented on a single vinyl, the release conveys a deeper message: life’s unpredictability can be embraced, reminding us that we can find our way even in chaos and randomness.

Torn between the meaningful and the meaningless, Randomer channeled his time into crafting music shaped by his extensive study of melodies, subconsciously

seeking to bring harmony to the world. The result is a cathartic journey across five tracks, each evoking a broad spectrum of emotions and inviting listeners to explore the depth of their feelings. Drawing from the music that deeply influenced him, Randomer traverses various genres and moods, seamlessly blending techno, trance, techstep, and sacred choral music in a perpetual act of personal reinvention.

Let the choir sing I Saw the World Melt (A1) right before my eyes, and let the people chant my melancholic melody. Nervous Breakdown. Lost in the riffs with dis ting from London, DHM Jam (A2) fuels me with adrenaline, I’m flying through memories, urged to move on. Yet, I’m still trapped : the clock shows Home Invasion (A3)—better start running. We will survive. But where’s my harmony? I Can’t Believe (B1) it. Why me? Why us? In this trance state of mind, I have so many questions, but those voices on the other side won’t answer. We’re doomed anyway, so why not plug in like the Two Perfect Machines (B2) we are, until the end.

For this new EP, Australian visual artist Nic Hamilton has been commissioned to create a poignant artwork alongside two melting teasers for MTY-012. As always, the design is expertly crafted by Diplomatie Studio, while the mastering is entrusted to Six Bit Deep, ensuring a polished and immersive listening experience.

»Nuts of Ay«, the thirteenth album by the Berlin-based electronic pop duo Tarwater (Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram), is their first in a decade, since 2014’s »Adrift«. Beautifully poised and smartly dressed, it's an album that draws Tarwater’s various pasts into a high-definition present, while bringing the duo, yet again, into productive dialogue with all kinds of fellow travellers.

Tarwater’s music has always been marked by a hypnotic pop-ness, but that’s particularly evident on »Nuts of Ay«, where a song like »Hideous Kiss« weaves together jangling guitar, pastoral flute, and flittering electronics into a gem-like construction. While the lyrics of »Hideous Kiss« are written by the duo, »Nuts of Ay« also continues a longstanding Tarwater tradition of recasting the words of others in their own mould. This time, their remit is broad: poetry from Derek Jarman (»All Nuns«) and Millner Place (»Trapdoor Spider«); lyrics from Jean Kenbrovin (»I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles«), the late Shane MacGowan (»USA«) and, again, John Lennon (»Everybody Had a Hard Year«).

This cast of found and borrowed lyricists also finds collaborative echo in the guest musicians dotted throughout »Nuts of Ay«. Schneider TM turns up on the lovely, Felt-like »Spirit of Flux«, where guitars channel the tangled reveries of Vini Reilly and Maurice Deebank into lush pop. Carsten Nicolai joins, as Alva Noto, dappling »On Waves and Years« with intimate glitching textures; he also provides the album cover art. Elsewhere, Masha Qrella appears on »Down Comes the Goose«, and actor Lars Rudolph pitches in for »USA«.

It may have been ten years since the album's predecessor, but Lippok and Jestram have kept active with other projects. They’ve collaborated with Masha Qrella, Immersion, and Iggy Pop; worked on radio plays with Kai Grehn, some based on the writing of Nick Cave (»The Sick Bag Song«, featuring Tilda Swinton, Paula Beer and Alexander Fehling) and William S. Burroughs (»The Cat Inside«); and made music for several radio-tatorts (radio plays based on »Tatort«, a long-running German police TV series) by playwright Tom Peuckert.

Both voracious and committed in their creative energies, Jestram and Lippok report back from these experiments with »Nuts of Ay«, one of their most compelling, deeply lustrous, dreamlike albums yet. They say there was no concept for the album, which is surprising, perhaps, given its holistic mood, explaining it »grew together like a coral reef in the studio over a period of several years«. There’s something to be said for letting an album gather and mutate naturally, without an overarching framework in place, and »Nuts of Ay« certainly feels like an unforced collection of material that nonetheless inhabits a similar space, one where guitars twist like driftwood next to amorphous, aqueous electronics, Lippok’s droll yet completely convincing vocal delivery riding songs that pulse and plume with curious, unpredictable rhythms.

But you can also hear elements – submerged but still present – of other music that’s inspired the duo: they’ve drawn some connections for us with psychedelic folk, Bowie in Berlin, Burial, and the film music of Popol Vuh and Krzysztof Komeda. This music shares a strong sense of place – whether in the world, or the mind – and the twelve songs on »Nuts of Ay« have such similar presence; a shared mood, a shared world, a shared sense of the possibilities of what electronic pop music could, and should, be. A bold and brave pop experiment.

Artwork by Carsten Nicolai
Mastering by Bo Kondren, Calyx Berlin

»Trapdoor Spider«, »On Waves and Years« & »Breaking Day«: lyrics by Milner Place
»All Nuns«: lyrics by Derek Jarman
»USA«: lyrics by Shane MacGowan
»Down Comes the Goose«: lyrics from a traditional song
»Forever Blowing Bubbles«: lyrics by Jaan Kenbrovin
»Everybody Had a Hard Year«: lyrics by John Lennon

LINKIN PARK—Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Phoenix, Joe Hahn, alongside new members Emily Armstrong of critically acclaimed band Dead Sara as co-vocalist and Colin Brittain songwriter/producer for G Flip, Illenium, One OK Rock as drummer—share their first brand new music in seven years.

The iconic band shared a new single “The Emptiness Machine,” which is also the herald for the arrival of LINKIN PARK’s first album since 2017, FROM ZERO, on November 15.

About the new era, Shinoda stated, “Before LINKIN PARK, our first band name was Xero. This album title refers to both this humble beginning and the journey we’re currently undertaking. Sonically and emotionally, it is about past, present, and future—embracing our signature sound, but new and full of life. It was made with a deep appreciation for our new and longtime bandmates, our friends, our family, and our fans. We are proud of what LINKIN PARK has become over the years, and excited about the journey ahead.”

Right out of the gate, “The Emptiness Machine” channels the DNA of LINKIN PARK, harnessing the band’s explosive energy and retaining the hallmarks of their instantly identifiable and inimitable sound. A chameleonic and catchy anthem, Shinoda’s hypnotic melodies hand off to Armstrong’s blistering chorus, over distorted riffs and head-nodding drums.

Ultimately, with FROM ZERO, the band is looking to harness the purest energy of their past, present, and future. The new era has officially begun.

On his latest full-length, Low End Activist swerves towards weightless grime and suspended hardcore miniatures to tell a very personal story. The UK-rooted producer continues his habit of zeroing in on a distinct approach for each release, leaving a logical breadcrumb trail of soundsystem science in his wake as he channels decades of bass absorption into 14 atmospheric cuts that prize patience and precision over obvious club functionality.

Municipal Dreams plays out as a semi-autobiographical tour through the Blackbird Leys estate that the Activist grew up on. It’s a lived reflection on inequality and the ripple effect it has in working class communities, using the sonic palette to set the mood and scattering pointed samples throughout to spell out the story.

In sampling the exhaust of a stolen Subaru Impreza, ‘TWOC’ looks back to the recreational car theft which was standard entertainment for the kids in his community. There’s an underlying idea that this ‘council estate sport’ wouldn’t have been so prevalent if there were public services and opportunities presented to the scores of disaffected youth looking for somewhere to direct their energy and frustration.

In ‘Just A Number (Institutionalised)’ LEA alludes to the shattered juvenile detention system, growing up seeing friends and family members locked up at ease with little to no support on being released back into society, just meant that the same cycles of behaviour would play out over and over.

‘Violence’ samples from a short film shot by the drama division of the Blackbird Leys Youth Club to evoke the physical threat which formed a background hum to life on the estate. The industrial mechanics of the local car factory, which served an integral role as a workplace for many in the community, gets sampled in ‘They Only Come Out At Night’ while the ‘Everyone I look up to are either junkies or criminals’ sample in ‘Broke’ looks to a lack of positive role models.

Municipal Dreams isn’t a one-note indictment of life on the estate, ‘Innocence’ captures the simplicity of a child at birth before their environment has time to shape them. The Hope interludes cut through the grim honesty of the longer tracks while a subtle thread of wry humour finds its way into some of the talking heads cutting through the signature LEA murk.

But honesty is the operative word here, and the message feels all the more meaningful at a time when the UK’s social divisions are laid bare in the wake of a devastating stretch of austerity. Returning to Blackbird Leys to shoot images for the photo-zine and album cover, the Activist found the local community centre being demolished. The local pub stands derelict, its faded Welcome sign a grimly ironic portent of the options facing children of the estate in the wider world.

Funnelling his memories, hopes and fears into a singular twist on the bass weight tradition, LEA captures evocative scenes that land somewhere between kitchen sink realism and rave futurism.

The Boysnoize Records catalogue contains more than a decade of milestones in the life of Angeleno DJ and producer PILO. His signatures—a focus on sound design, and a digital crunch evocative of hardware rather than software—are present from the very beginning, but the evolution of Pilo’s skill and sophistication is clear as he stretches from electro to experimental to techno and back again in a slowly oscillating gradient. Yet despite his dozen or so releases in just as many years, G.L.A.M. (dropping November 8th, 2024 from BNR) is Pilo’s first proper album. That the record embraces the cyclical nature of time is apropos; the artist’s journey towards self-actualized mastery always ends with a new beginning.



Over the eight tracks of G.L.A.M., Pilo reaches deep into the dream that first ignited the passion that has driven him since. For a chosen few internet-connected American teens in the aughts, the sounds of European electro (and electroclash) trickled down their ethernet cables and instilled a fantasy of exotic, sartorial, sexually-fluid hedonism that felt a world away from the hard-edged masculinity of the hip-hop and skate cultures dominant at home. Pilo opens G.L.A.M. expressing this idealized fantasy with the track “Superstar DJ,” channeling the tongue-in-cheek self-celebritizing of Miss Kitten and The Hacker’s seminal work. “I’m a superstar, come meet me at the bar,” hiss Pilo’s heavily effected vocals, over a bassline of chopped mentasm synths driven by a swift, club-ready rhythm. The fingerprint of 2000’s electro a la International Deejay Gigolo Records is recognizably present, yet Pilo is too adept, too confident in his studio abilities to let his tracks rely on the retro. A great joy of this album is the future-facing richness of its production, always nodding to its spiritual guide of the past, while constantly breaking new sonic ground.



G.L.A.M. continues with “Girls Rule The World,” its vicious, droning bassline and sticky, titular hook making it the perfect electroclash soundtrack for a revenge plot on an ex-boyfriend. “What you Want” offers an instrumental exercise in “synthesizers are the new guitars,” and Pilo’s FX chops really shine as he warps and distorts his sounds into an undiscovered dimension existing somewhere between both. “Loverboy” enters the more melodic, Legowelt-inspired realm of electro, pushing above and beyond the foundation of analogue minimalism with flourishes of impressive sound design to construct something both climactic and cathartic. Scopa lends her perfect coldwave sprechgesang to titular track “G.L.A.M.,” with Pilo’s vocal processing offering surprises throughout and his FX chains wielded as instruments unto themselves.



On the track “A Slow Thinning Halo,” Pilo might be conjuring the haunting vocal chops and chiptune simplicity of early Crystal Castles, but the whiplash snap of his drums and sizzling production are all his own. “Spend the Night” is G.L.A.M.’s least nostalgic—and most unashamedly pop—offering, with the mic being passed between Sana and DEEVIOUS (previously featured on Pilo and Boys Noize’s 2023 track “Pvssy.”) DEEVIOUS’ sultry singing rides atop the bassline as it hypnotically struts across the floor, while Pilo’s skillful arrangement, deft rhythm programming, and atmospheric control elevate the songcraft into full-spectrum worldbuilding.



As the penultimate track, the contemporaneity of “Spend the Night” serves as transition away from the album’s previous, past-leaning exercises, allowing Pilo to step fully into the future with “One Last Embrace.” The closing track still references aughts sounds, but it borrows so widely and prolifically that Pilo’s reassemblage can only be described as singular. Here, Pilo pushes his engineering into psychoacoustic territory, as the eerie, beautiful melancholy of “One Last Embrace” explodes into a thrashing bassline that warbles like a drowning memory, struggling against the sinking weight of time. Pilo allows it to survive for 16 electrifying, gut-wrenching bars before letting go. In G.L.A.M., as in Pilo’s career, as in life, every ending can only be a new beginning.

In Cornish slang it is said that things get done ‘dreckly’; that is, not now, not necessarily tomorrow, but, at some indefinite point...in the future...soon...

Fitting then that when Bristol’s Langkamer decamped to their de facto home-from-home in the picturesque south-west seaside town of Falmouth to record their third album in as many years (with an EP thrown in there too) - there was no particular need to rush things: “The process was much slower and more considered for Langzamer.”, drummer/vocalist Josh Jarman explains: “The first two albums felt pretty urgent, and each was finished in about 6 months, but this one feels a lot more deliberate. It’s taken us two years to get this done.”

Equally fitting too that Langzamer kicks off proceedings with ‘Heart of Tin’: the first bars are languidly lugubrious, so deliciously plucked-out and scuzzed-up that they linger in the air like passing smoke, magically, slowing time down to their own assured and steady will. And in so much time, that also feels like no time at all, comes an opening line of such stark, disarming confessionalism as might be found in the David Berman/Silver Jews songbook: “Do you want the good news or the bad news first? // They’re both bad news, but the bad is worse” It’s Langkamer in a nutshell: embattled, heart-on-sleeve Slacker Rock slaked with twinges of fret-sliding Americana, yet deeply embedded in the folk mythologies, colloquialisms and experiences of the band’s West Country roots.

Throughout Langzamer, confronting the listener again and again is this conflict between the band’s breezy, melodic charm, and the threat of something more sinister lurking in the undergrowth. While those more familiar with Langkamer’s oeuvre to date will have already come to know and love their often self-deprecating yet witty lyricism, the songs on Langzamer take this trademark ebullient gloominess to more challenging plains: “Principally this is an album about grief, and everything that entails...” explains Jarman. “in a sense death brought these songs to life.”

This thread is felt no more so than on ‘Salvation XL’. Inspired by a “particularly bad batch of food poisoning I had in Morocco”, Jarman explains, and beginning with the memorable opening line, “Jesus came to me a Burger King in Marrakech”, the band wind their way through the ‘big topics’: death and God.

“This trip was shortly after a few of my friends had passed away, and I think a lot of my thoughts and actions at that time were being influenced by my grief without me realising it.”, he explains, “Whenever I dwell on grief, and how death has given my life a new context, I come back to that. The ongoing battle between agnosticism and atheism. I wasn’t raised in a very strict religious home, but I come from a long line of methodists, and it’s interesting to think about the way theism and religion have shaped my life without me knowing it. I think that’s being channelled on this album a lot. The uncertainty that comes with disbelief.”

Our collective mortal frailties are also felt on lead single ‘Richard E Grant’. With a trademark bittersweetness, a track that begins as an appreciation of the actor’s humorous social media presence unfolds as a study on “finding healthy coping strategies to deal with loss.”. Elsewhere, ‘At The Lake’ - to the tune of mournful, folk-like balladry - explores binge-drinking culture and the troubled association between unhealthy behaviour and creativity. The listener is left in no mind as to the meaning behind the references to James Joyce and Janis Jopin as “souvenirs stolen from the dark”.

With themes as weighty as these strewn across the album’s 10 tracks, It seemed like a particularly astute move then for the band to personally approach Ben Woods, founder of the Golden Dregs, to assist on production duties. Not only would the delicate intimacies of Woods’ main project - see 2023’s On Grace & Dignity for reference - add an appropriate moodiness, but Woods was also born and raised in Cornwall, where the album was recorded; amidst “eating pasties” and breaks by the sea, Woods and the band transformed the vaults underneath iconic Falmouth venue The Cornish Bank into a makeshift studio for a weeks’ worth of recording. Occasionally friends would drop by to lighten the load; Zander Sharp tracking violin on ’Double Island’ and ‘Flight’; Josh Law and Ben Sadler of Breakfast Records labelmates Getdown Services, both of whom contribute to the soul-stirring ‘mountain’ chorus on ‘Aberfan’.

When compared to the brightness of 2023’s The Noon and Midnight Manual, Woods’ influence on the record seems indisputable. On the aforementioned ‘At The Lake’, for instance, which features backing vocals from Woods. Or, most acutely, on the piano strains of harrowing closer ‘Bluff’, a track with such chilling, spectral severity as to effect the band’s most heartbreaking effort to date. While it’s particularly sombre note on which end proceedings, it's also an appropriate one: Langzamer bravely stands tall as their most restrained, matured, and sincere collection to date. And almost by virtue of its impeccable honesty, those moments of sunshine-joy that creep through the cracks feel that much more golden.

In collaboration with musicians and parody artists Auralnauts, Stumpy Frog Records has pressed the soundtrack to their ongoing series of ‘As Seen on TV’ parodies known as the ‘Infomercial Wars’. During an unspecified point in time, a faceless dystopian company pushes out products under the guise of improving the quality of life for humanity. The commercials have a sexy presentation to them, designed to lull the viewer into a hypnotic state and gloss over what is really being sold to them: enslavement to an evil entity. The true purpose of these products is clear to anyone with an iron will: to imprison your mind, strip away your humanity and weaponize what remains. Humanity’s only hope is a scrappy group of freedom fighters whose key to success is convincing you to buy their products instead of the enemy’s. May the best infomercial win. Beyond humanity. Beyond Copper. The parody series is made up of real life infomercials with complete audio makeovers. The products themselves vary from one commercial to the next, but a popular trend in these ads is the seemingly unlimited uses for copper, which is taken even further by the parody versions. The bubbly pitchman from the source material has been replaced by a soothing, yet vaguely threatening alien presence. This mysterious voice paints a picture of a world that would make David Cronenberg and James Cameron blush, and all of it is held together by a dystopian soundtrack that is perfect for ushering humanity into the next step of this forced evolution. Side A of the album contains six full length studio versions of the music featured in each ad. 1) 300% More Human 2) Techromancer 3) Full Body Copper System 4) Master of Reality 5) Final Boss (Sock Defense Grid) 6) Beyond Copper Side B features the ads themselves, presented faithfully as they appear on the Auralnauts Youtube channel.

Leya Touch & soFa elsewhere aka Dream Baby Dream combine their left-of-centre musical perspectives on an otherworldly new self-titled album that arrives on Hell Yeah this September and will get a Japanese domestic release on CD. The duo's beguiling mix of occult synths and treated vocals ride dubbed-out mid-tempo rhythms on a retro-futurist record that blends cold wave, cosmic disco, dub and trance.

Dream Baby Dream describes themselves as "two children who refused to grow up" and now they offer a glimpse into their very own fantastic land of dreams. This journey into diverse flavours spontaneously started after a cosy dinner and after just three sessions resulted in the album presented here. Playful yet sometimes gloomy, this music echoes life, both imaginary and real - the highs, the lows, the dark moments and the joy, trance-inducted love zones, daydreams and everything in between. It is a coherent hole but one filled with surprising turns, moments of deja vu and plenty of outsider dance floor delights.

Leya Touch is a rising voice and live act on the Brussels alternative scene. Together with soFa, a veteran DJ and producer who released on many forward-thinking labels worldwide, they provide signature vocals and synths that challenge typical genre categorisations.

Opener 'Love Zone' sets a strangely seductive basic channel vs dreamy pop vibe with wispy cosmic melodies and oodles of echoes as Touch's vocals draw you in. Lose limbed percussive jumbled and sci-fi motifs define 'Badalamenti On Fries', 'Curry Con Sax' has an avant-guard sense of soul and melodic curiousness and 'Diskoteka' is a jittery mix of retro synth sounds and whispered vocal coos that shimmer like stars in the night sky. Elsewhere there's the malfunctioning Kraftwerkian electronics of 'Körperkonsum', goa-filter madness of 'Banana Trance' and the eerie interplanetary dub of 'Carpenter On The Beach' while 'Whale Rider' and 'The Rude Red Lady' bring warped lines and enchanting vocalisations that sound like nothing you have heard before.

This is an exultant album of new musical rituals, tiny soundscapes, dehumanised words and combinations of the past, present and future that never fail to excite and intrigue.

Limited to 300 copies

Big Crown Records is proud to present the reissue of one of Brooklyn’s most sought after “holy grail” soul records, YIA Talent Hunt Winners. Youth in Action, Inc. (YIA) was formed in 1963 when the Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council received a grant to develop a youth services program in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community. It was originally organized to identify and address the social problems that were leading to the high crime rate in Bed-Stuy. Recently the Smithsonian Museum of African American History released an archive of footage filmed by a community activist, which shows the real-world effects of the group’s efforts: young people engaged in sports, the arts, and other activities to better themselves and their world. The appearances by Jackie and Bobby Kennedy point to the group's relationship to the Great Society programs of President Lyndon B. Johnson. What there is no mention of in either the NMAAHC’s collection of YIA materials nor in the Brooklyn Public Library’s also extensive collection is this talent show and the record that came to be because of it.
Local vocal groups chose tunes to cover from the era (1964 - 1968) ranging from The Rascals to The Intruders, from The O’Jays to Billy Stewart. All of these groups were backed by a local act called The Thrillers Band. The winners of the talent contest were then invited into the studio to record their versions which would be pressed up on this record and given away to local radio and TV stations. The hope of the whole thing was that this would help the young groups get discovered by producers and record labels and start their professional music careers. The intro to the album is Reverend Horace Tyler congratulating the winners and asking them “to just remember, when you reach the top and become our big stars of tomorrow, don’t forget YIA”.
What this album may lack in fidelity and production it more than makes up for in charm. The engineers at the recording sessions pump in pre recorded applause and screaming to give the it the feel of the day of the contest while the young groups sing their hearts out, clearly giving their all. From today’s perspective, soul music fans will lose it over the choices of covers on this record and the killer, raw, innocent performances of them by these local Brooklyn groups. The Channels 4, Carla & The Carlettes, The United Souls, Sharon Seabrook & The Starlettes, and The Destinations all won that day and got to take place in this record. It makes you wonder, and even pine for the performances of the groups who didn’t make the cut, even if just to find out what tunes they covered, or better yet, were their original songs written by some of them for this contest?
It is with great pleasure that we make this available to the public again. This is a truly rare record, and an awesome piece of New York History.

CECILIA is a nomadic soul. Like in an existentialist epic that traverses different ages on a phantom thread of love, spirituality, desire and rage. She inhabits different bodies, inserts herself in a whole array of different characters. Some are fictional, some are as real as the artists that inspired her, and whose influence appears in CHOEUR under the guise of tiny fragments, direct quotes, dedications and spectral presences. Cecilia channels the poetry of different lives that might have been her own or might have only existed in dreams, and does so within a collection of songs that twist the path of traditional French and Italian songwriting into the inmost recesses of electronic mysticism. The composition of CHOEUR took place mostly around January 2023, a pretty precarious time in the artist life, and happened in a spontaneous and ritualistic manner that could appear as somewhat odd in the realm of electronic music production. Birthing out of ego-free solo jams in hyphened states of consciousness and audience-less performances, these moments of do-or-die energy intake served to funnel the wilderness of her emotions into extremely tight arrangements, ultimately allowing a dramaturgy of fierce and beautiful songs into existence. Striving for the sublime, CECILIA trained her whole body for a paradoxical procedure of disconnection and reconnection. A crucial pin in Melissa Gagné’s system of 7-year creative cycles, CHOEUR marks her debut on Haunter Record as much as the first step towards the possibility of a new artistic identity. A labour of love if there ever was one. CHOEUR is made of Awe, Chants and Ravishment, of Pain until Vision. CHOEUR prays Earth, Water, Stars, Sea. CHOEUR feels Spirits, Lightning, Thunder, Dawn, Dusk, Blood, Flowers. CHOEUR invokes a Return, to Grace. CHOEUR loves Mud and longs to Play. CHOEUR lives in a Dream created by a Dream. CHOEUR lives in a Body created by Love. CHOEUR is about a broken heart, open and ecstatic, about the beauty and the sadness that all is not what could be, about wandering and wondering why were the stars made so beautiful?

crys cole returns to Black Truffle with Making Conversation, her third solo release for the label. After the intimate song-like constructions of Other Meetings (BT096), Making Conversation documents a different facet of cole’s work, presenting three rigorously conceptualised commissioned pieces, each of which extend her signature approach to highly amplified small sounds into new directions.

The side-long title piece is a stereo version of an 8-channel sound installation exhibited in 2023 at the Tabakalera Art Center in Donostia / San Sebastian, Spain. The piece uses a multitude of instrumental, vocal, concrete and electronic sounds to evoke the soundscapes cole encountered during nocturnal listening session in Bali, Indonesia in 2018 and 2019. In this world of night sounds, she explains, she ‘observed the complex interplay between amphibian, lizard, bird and insect communication, domestic animals (roosters, dogs), man-made sounds (airplanes, vehicles, conversations and evening activities) and sounds that were difficult to place’. Drawing on field recordings as memory aids (but including none in the finished piece), cole’s piece uncannily reproduces the spatiality and pacing of environmental sound without attempting strictly to replicate it. We hear insect-like twittering and birdsong fragments, resonant thuds and distant roars, furtive crunches and taps, muffled breath and metallic scrapes. While at times it can be difficult to imagine the source of these sounds, at other points they are clearly instrumental or electronic in origin; in its placement and layering, though, the whole assemblage suggests the glorious, unthinking richness of a non-musical sound environment. Suggesting at once the electronic gardens of Rolf Julius and the little instrument expanses of classic AACM, the piece is a brilliant enactment of the Cagean drive to ‘imitate nature in her manner of operation’.

‘Valid ForeverrRrrRRrrr… (pt. 1)’ began as cole’s contribution to an Issue Project Room commission to realise a score from Alison Knowles and Annea Lockwood’s Women's Work, a 1975 collection of text and conceptual scores by women artists and composers. cole’s piece begins from Beth Anderson’s Valid for Life, a complex arrangement of the letter R in various typefaces. Where the composer suggests a realisation on a trio of acoustic instruments (playing rolls with velvet beaters), cole translates the piece into her characteristic sound and object language as a trio of rolling sounds on ‘two large similar paper things and one 5-pin bowling ball’. Rolling from one side of the stereo field to the other, the bowling ball’s uneven movement is the heart of this immersive textural array, created with the simplest materials, which generates phantom sensations of pitch and phasing effects solely through amplified friction.

On ‘Valid ForeverrRrrRRrrr… (pt. 2)’, cole makes a first foray in translating her signature approach into conventional instrumental sounds, here in the form of a transcription for MIDI percussion ensemble. The result is refreshingly puzzling, comparable perhaps only to the sparsest moments of Keiji Haino’s classic “C’est parfait…” Accompanied with extensive liner notes, photographic documentation and a download code, Making Conversation is an exciting next step in cole’s work, extending her signature concerns in new sonic and conceptual directions.

Jeffrey Lewis’s 2015 masterpiece ‘Manhattan’ in random-colour reground vinyl. “Lewis’s catchiest and finest album” - (Grade: A) Vice. Blang Records are thrilled to announce they’ll be bringing the wild streets of Manhattan to the UK and Europe this autumn with the vinyl re-release of Jeffrey Lewis’s 2015 masterpiece ‘Manhattan’. The LP sold out of its first pressing and has been impossible to buy anywhere for years…until now. Out on exclusive Random Mix Colour Reground EcoVinyl in record shops from 20th September. Blang Records and Jeffrey Lewis have history: before Blang was a label, it started life as a live night at the 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street, hosting many a set of the NY Antifolk artists over on UK shores, including Jeffrey Lewis. Now 20+ years since Jeffrey first played Blang, it feels fitting that tour support comes from UK antifolk linchpins, Blang Records mainstay, and arguably one of the UKs most criminally underrated bands, David Cronenberg’s Wife (“A mix of 80’s fall and the Velvet Underground” - NME). Native New Yorker Jeffrey Lewis is a comic book writer/artist and a musician. A cult hero birthed from the now infamous antifolk movement that sprung up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 90s, Jeffrey has released dozens of albums showcasing his unique blend of bleakly witty observations, scratchy, lo-fi punk and croaky folk/anti-folk, all firmly rooted in a strong DIY sensibility. Jeffrey and his band have toured the world multiple times over, released albums on Rough Trade, Moshi Moshi and Don GIovanni Records, and have been featured by NPR, The History Channel, The NY Times and more. ‘Manhattan’ was mixed by John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Phosphorescent, War On Drugs) and recorded by Brian Speaker at SpeakerSonic Studios NY, produced by Brian Speaker and Jeffrey Lewis. “We’ve been fans of Jeffrey Lewis since seeing him at the Sidewalk Cafe in 2001, so we’re really really pleased to be really-re-releasing the excellent album ‘Manhattan’ just in time for his September UK Tour. This all started when Jeffrey asked for help looking after his merch after his UK tour finished last year and we said we’d help him press some records in Europe from a UK address as the postage costs from the US were way too much. This ultimately led to us re-releasing his classic album (and respectful nod to Lou Reed's New York) ‘Manhattan’. It's beyond a dream come true. Blang is the home of fantastic lyricists and that's exactly what Jeffrey is - this is a perfect fit.” - Blang Records. “Jeffrey Lewis is an amazing musician, and if you don’t know his songs you probably have a hole in your heart that can only be filled by his words… I did!” – Regina Spektor. “Jeffrey is the best pure songwriter I know of… ‘Sad Screaming Old Man’… is one of my favourite songs ever written.” – David Berman, Silver Jews. Tour Dates: Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage, w/ support from David Cronenberg’s Wife - Aug 29th Hertford – Corn Exchange, 30th Coventry – The Tin Music & Arts, Sept 1st Stockton-on-Tees – Georgian Theatre, 2nd York – The Crescent, 3rd Stirling, Scotland – The Tolbooth, 4th Birkenhead – Future Yard, 5th !SOLD OUT! – Halifax – The Grayston Unity, 6th Norwich – Norwich Arts Centre, 7th Northampton – The Black Prince, 8th Carmarthen – CWRW, 9th Nottingham – The Old Cold Store, 10th Southampton – The Joiners Arms, 11th Hastings – The Pig // Jeffrey Lewis solo: 12th London – West Hampstead Arts Center, 13th London – West Hampstead Arts Center

PRESSED ON MYSTIC EYE COLORED VINYL HOUSED IN A GATEFOLD JACKET WITH LINER NOTES INCLUDING AN INTERVIEW WITH KRS-ONE

Last August marked the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop and we continue to honor the artists and albums that had a significant impact on the culture. In partnership with Sony's CERTIFIED, we are following up on our RSD reissue of BDP's Edutainment and KRS-One's Return of the Boom Bap with a long overdue reissue of KRS-One's 1995 self-titled album, KRS-One. Two years after the release of Return of the Boom Bap, KRS-One got back in the studio and behind the boards and enlisted for additional production DJ Premier, Showbiz, Diamond D, Norty Cotto, and Big French Production. In August of '95 KRS-One dropped the Preemo-produced lead single "MC's Act Like They Don't Know" with "Represent The Real Hip-Hop" featuring Das EFX on the B-side of the 12-inch, boasting KRS-One's lyrical skills and backing up his status as one of the best live performers in the game. KRS-One knocked it out of the park on his second solo effort with another Premier single about the current state of Hip-Hop on "Rappers R, N. Dainja" and straight-up Boom Bap rap on the Fat Joe assisted track "De Automatic." He offers political and social commentary on "R.E.A.L.I.TY.", "Hold", and "Free Mumia" with Channel Live and continues to diss sucker MCs on "Wannabemceez" with Mad Lion. Get On Down is proud to present this deluxe reissue packaged in a gatefold jacket with a new interview by Check The Technique author Brian Coleman, complete with a foldout lyrics sheet.

A one-off limited pressing from her forthcoming album. Sensational singer, Leba, daughter of reggae pioneer Toots Hibbert, highlights her vocal prowess & charm, on her first release for 2018 - a cover version of the Bob Marley classic.

Backed by the Taxi Gang Band, recorded and mixed at Channel One Recording Studios, Kingston Jamaica. Produced and arranged by Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare.

In 2004, California-based indie band Golden Shoulders followed up their highly acclaimed debut with their second album, Friendship Is Deep. Now, on the twentieth anniversary of its release, the album most requested by their fans for a vinyl release is finally set for one on Unspun Heroes. Described as “one of the great semi-lost albums of the 21st Century”, the album showcases singer, songwriter, and band mainstay, Adam Kline’s knack for lyrical hooks and penchant for catchy melodies. But, like friendship, this is deeper than its pop sensibilities might suggest.
 
From the moment the opening track I Will Light You On Fire opens with its simple piano refrain and vocal harmonies you know you’re listening to something worthy of further exploration. From this building of tension between its temporary aural chaos and the beauty that ultimately emerges, you’ll be hooked. Yet, scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find this is an album that carries with it a political, pro-peace, and pro-humanity message, albeit somewhat more satirical than you might expect of a band hailing from America’s West Coast. This is particularly notable on tracks such as Golden Soldiers and the Committee, where Kline’s turn of phrase and wit shines through, cleverly weaving words so they create detailed poetic mosaics. 

Golden Shoulders is a loose and ever-changing lineup of international talent, with Kline as the kingpin and sole songwriter. Given the pedigree of those whose talents grace the album – among them, Todd Roper and Greg Brown (Cake), Josh Klinghoffer (PJ Harvey, RHCP, Pearl Jam), Neal Morgan (Joanna Newsom, Fleet Foxes), and Dan Elkan (Broken Bells) – it’s no surprise the compositions and attention to detail present in each and every one of the 14 songs is top notch. It’s this pleasing mix of accomplished individuals, and their mishmash of influences, which lend a pinball effect to the set of stylistically diverse songs on Friendship Is Deep. Collectively though, the music you’ll hear has a focus, one that channels late 90’s Brendan Benson, the poppier side of 80’s Violent Femmes, and even the mid-60’s flair of the Beatles’ Rubber Soul. 

‘The Oakland band’s wide-ranging debut is a whirlwind of biting critique, nervy post-punk guitars, and absurdist humor. Rarely does a first record speak with such a trenchant voice.’ 7.5 PITCHFORK
‘Post-punk lovers have a new act to follow" - PASTE
Fake Fruit’s visceral indie rock operates so firmly in the present that it’s transportive and unmooring. The Oakland trio’s songs careen with volatile energy and lead singer Ham D’Amato’s lyrics are enveloped with acerbic humor and resonant perceptiveness. Though their new LP Mucho Mistrust is a sly reference to a beloved Blondie lyric, the title encapsulates both the anxieties of daily life, a bloodless music industry, and global capitalism as well as the clear-eyed skepticism needed to rebel against it. Across 12 propulsively unpredictable tracks, the album is both their most collaborative and most immediate yet.
Following the 2021 release of Fake Fruit’s self-titled debut LP, the band’s personal lives hit a turbulent and transformational period. “There were big life changes and I was so close to boiling over,” says D’Amato. “I left a bad relationship, entered a more stable and loving one, got diagnosed with alopecia, and I'm turning 30 soon too.” This personal upheaval was channeled into the explosive lead single “Mucho Mistrust.” The track is simultaneously disorienting and direct, with clanging guitars from Alex Post, off-kilter drums from Miles MacDiarmid, and D’Amato snarling, “How you gonna blame me / when you could’ve done something about it / it’s not right / How you gonna marinate me / in shitty things overnight.” She explains, “This song was a snapshot of how I got through a difficult year.”
Recorded live at the Bay Area’s Atomic Garden studio with producer Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Home Is Where), the band’s palpable ferocity shines throughout the record. Single “Más o Menos” is searing punk, with buzzsaw guitars and surging bass. It’s a clenched-fist song, one where D’Amato sings, “I decided to assert myself / After I lost all my sense of self.” Later in the track, D’Amato, who is Chicana, sings in Spanish, “¡No me hables! / ¡No escuchare!” While some of these songs deal in heartbreak, they are charged with way bigger themes. “There's also wanting to break up with capitalism and feeling upset about things politically,” says D’Amato.
For the band, these themes are personal. “I'm managing us while I'm in between changing diapers in my day job as a nanny,” says D’Amato. “Everyone in the band still believes in it and is motivated to keep wading through the bullshit.” On this album, they had no choice but to bet on themselves and each other. No track broadcasts their evolution better than the single “Cause of Death,” which morphs from a gorgeous sax-laden banger to something cathartic and anthemic.
As adventurous and righteous as Mucho Mistrust gets, there’s still an inviting core that never takes itself too seriously. From the ripping “Cause of Death,” which self-deprecatingly takes aim at anxiety and indecision, to the searing title track, Fake Fruit imbue their songs with humor and heart. “Our band is fun,” says D’Amato. “My number one coping mechanism for all of life is to joke about it. Even when the album talks about serious things, I am proud of how funny it can be.”

Completing Kranky's chronologically reverse reissue program of the earlier loscil albums on vinyl, the 2001 debut album is issued on the format for the first time with the addition of three bonus tracks from the same sessions that produced the original release.

‘’Triple Point was my first full length album under the loscil name, and it was my first with kranky - a relationship now 25 years old. This reissue is as much about celebrating that relationship as it is about the music. I am extremely grateful for this journey. Arguably, none of it would have happened without this release.’’

“Pay no mind to the label and pay no mind to the producer's locale (Vancouver isn't Cologne or Detroit); Triple Point is one of the finest—and most varied—ambient techno releases of 2001.”— AllMusic

"Finding itself nestled halfway between the endlessly spacious mechanoid constructions of Berlin's Basic Channel and the drifting expanses of Labradford, Scott Morgan's work as Loscil never ceases to impress with its deft use of technology and percussion.”—Boomkat

Over atmospheric instrumentation expanded by cinematic structure and pacing, Pearlty presents Knifeplay somewhere between dream-pop influenced shoegaze and lofty slowcore, never fully committing to one or the other in its insistence on creating an immersive, organic world.

Originally released in 2019, Knifeplay’s vivid debut Pearlty documents songwriter Tj Strohmer’s expressions of early adulthood in what he describes as “the journey from innocence to experience.”

Written during a time of immense inspiration, Strohmer was able to peel himself away from detached nihilism, uncovering the physicality and therapeutic powers of songwriting. Newly emboldened by this discovery and the talented community surrounding him, Strohmer channeled this revelation into his work, taking Knifeplay from a bedroom experiment that merely wrote songs to a more substantial project with a purpose.

Come Play With Me and Breed Media are excited to present Come Play With Breed, Vol. 2. Featuring D5, Graft, Hannah Rowe and Mica Sefia, the 10” compilation spotlights the Northern Hip Hop and Soul scenes respectively. On the A-side, D5’s upbeat UK Rap opener, “What’s That”, is followed by Graft’s reflective Jazz-influenced Hip Hop track “Vows To The Art.” Hannah Rowe opens the B-side with an addictive fusion ballad for old souls. Finally, Mica Sefia closes the release with a powerful narration on her experiences as a black woman.

Artist Bios:

D5

Hailing from Leeds, West Yorkshire, D5 draws influence from the likes of Drake, Skepta and Brent Faiyaz and his sound flits between moody R&B and upbeat Rap that oozes a calm confidence. Elements of genres such as Garage, UK Rap and US Hip-Hop intertwine neatly to create his signature style. A style that crystalised on his 2020 EP Channel 5. Consisting of 8 songs, all helmed by producer and close friend CSHARP, the project is D5 at his most personal and led to the video for lead single ‘Silence’ premiering on Link Up TV and garnering him his highest streams to date. However, before ‘Channel 5’ D5 had created the EP If Only We Could Go Outside during the height of the pandemic. The track ‘Movies’ received airplay from the esteemed BBC Radio 1 Presenter Melvoin Odoom. With backing from the likes of GRM Daily and DJ Target spinning 2022 single ‘What’s Up’ on BBC Introducing, D5’s star is surely set to rise as he continues to develop his artistry. In addition to this, he has opened up for the likes of Novelist and fellow hometown hero Graft, proving with every successive performance and release that he is worthy of being a headline act.

Graft

Graft, winner of MOBO Unsung and BBC Three's The Rap Game UK, has propelled himself to national recognition for his unwavering sense of self and musical talent. Hailing from the vibrant city of Leeds, Graft’s topical and poetic approach to songwriting takes inspiration from genres such as Hip Hop, Neo-Soul, Jazz and Alternative Rap. This fusion of inspiration has seen him grace the stage at the acclaimed Reading and Leeds Festival, and has collaborated with esteemed brands such as Adidas, Virgin Media, Boohoo and Leeds United. Now with this national acclaim, Graft prepares for the release of his highly anticipated EP, Golden Child.

Hannah Rowe

Hannah Rowe’s emotional range transcends generations; the young singer writes about experiences and shifts in life, offering all listeners a sense of reflection within her rich, authentic, jazz-infused sound. Hannah is backed by a group of highly accomplished musicians who happen to be her adored closest friends. After finding one another at university, Sam Hughes on guitar, Luke Harrison on bass, Owen Moriarty on keys and Charlie Tanner on drums intertwined their varied influences to paint their own alluring and soulful sound - one difficult to define, but has been said to resemble the likes of Raye, Lianne La Havas, Moonchild and Yebba.

Mica Sefia

Liverpool born, Leeds-based future-soul Queen Mica Sefia endorses the interpretive nature of music as an art to be studied and related to by the public. Mica’s own exploration of self-expression solidified her passion in the production of a timeless and authentic style of music. Preferring to keep her lyricisms and narrative open to interpretation, Mica relates to a balanced approach to songwriting, in which her music remains subjective, but retains its emotive sensitivity. Mica’s music leans into the genres of Alt Soul, Rock and Jazz intertwining them to create atmospheric sounds and textured layers.

To celebrate 10 years of one of London’s most loved underground club nights, Tangent, Mr Bongo are thrilled to launch this new compilation series. Crafted by its two residents, John Gómez and Nick the Record, it aims to transmit a taste of Tangent’s spirit. A party rooted in inclusivity and open-mindedness, whose name captures the spontaneous switches in musical direction that are a defining element of their nights. For the compilation, the pair have cherry-picked a selection of their prized, rare and dancefloor-ready tracks from around the globe, that have soundtracked the past decade of parties.

Friends for close to 20 years, music lovers, record obsessives and internationally renowned DJs in their own right, John and Nick have two lifetimes worth of musical knowledge to draw from. John a long-standing NTS Radio resident and compiler for Music From Memory. Nick one of the UK’s go-to record dealers, resident DJ since the ‘90s at one of Japan’s pioneering parties, Life Force, and co-captain / co-edit-expert of Record Mission with Dan Tyler (Idjut Boys).

In 2014, the pair decided to bring some of Life Force’s grassroots principles to the UK, whilst channelling underground clubbing institution Plastic People’s meticulous attitude to sound. Tangent grew from being a small gathering of friends, to an established fixture in London’s nightlife, whilst always maintaining a strict no guest DJ policy. “As London’s clubs have become increasingly reliant on international guests, we wanted to emphasize the importance of a club night growing through its residents”, John and Nick reflect. With 10 years of the duo at the helm, an intimate connection between DJ and dancefloor has been built, allowing for freedom of expression on both sides of the decks.

Tangent reaches around the globe and across different eras to make connections that stimulate emotional reverberations in the unfamiliar. Where the blissfully Balearic ‘Laberinto’ by Miguel Perikás, goes hand-in-hand with the Cameroonian hip-house of King B.’s ‘Love is Crazy’. The thundering ‘Amek Amek’ by L'Innovateur Djoe Ahmed et le Zoukabyle, rubs shoulders with the soulful Caribbean-influenced touch of Champagn’s ‘Bel Ti Négress’. And Pellegrin El Kady’s afro-cosmic ‘Seiva de Carnaval’, crosses paths with Kajou’s Kompa disco anthem ‘Tet Chajé’.

Tangent’s longevity is in part down to it having always embraced contemporary sounds. The sub-rattling bass of Srirajah Sound System’s stunning Molam dub stepper ‘Si Phan Don Lovers Rock’ and the slow, woozy mantra of leftfield dancehall explorer Androo’s ‘Lyriso’, are two shining examples.

This compilation represents an ongoing dialogue between past and present, transporting listeners to the heart of a pure musical experience, where open minds and open hearts are eager to follow the tangent.

Autorisierte Deluxe 2LP Ausgabe des von Henry 'Junjo' Lawes produzierten 'Evil Curse of the Vampires'.
Original Greensleeves zusammengestellter Dub-Klassiker, entscheidende Auswahl von Junjos klassischen, von Roots Radics angetriebenen Rhythmen, aufgenommen bei Channel One und gemischt von Scientist bei King Tubby's.
Das remasterte, ikonische Dub-Album ist jetzt mit einer zweiten Disc mit den Original-Vokalversionen versehen.
Streng limitierte einmalige Halloween-Pressung auf orangefarbenem Vinyl.

"We Can Live Together is the first full LP by Earthtones on Wonderwheel. The title is a message, a prayer, and a vision for humanity. It is a reminder that we are in this life together, that love binds us all, and it is only the ideologies and social systems built to prohibit our ability to recognize how close we are that hold us back. We can live, together. The record is based in Folkloric Futurism, a movement that explores the convergence of global folk traditions with technology. Channeling the influence of proto House & Techno pioneers like Mr. Fingers, Kevin Saunderson and Inner City, Earthtones combines analog synthesizers & vintage drum machines with folkloric vocals and instrumentation in a way uniquely his own. It's a celebration of the intersection of past and future, here and there, ancestry and technology. It celebrates themes of spirituality, feminism, love, and most of all, peace. Highlights include "Ọ̀sanyìn", a prayer to the Orisha Ossain, with Maikel Alberto Salazar of rumba super-group Obbatuké on vocals. Recorded in Santiago De Cuba, the track is evocative of Mala's classic "Mala In Cuba" album that broke down barriers between electronic music & traditional music. "La Mujer Serpiente", having seen a sellout 7" last year features Polaris prize winning artist Lido Pimienta-behind the live cumbia rhythms, bass synths, analog keys, 808 drums & guitars, the vision of this track is one of uplifting womxn and femmes everywhere. Ancestral and contemporary Colombian voices are present on the mid-tempo dancefloor track that is the single "Limones" with Semblanzas Del Rio Guapi, Oliwa & the chugging analog rap soundscapes of "Quiero Que Mami" with Verito Asprilla . The album also touches into ambient moments ("Song of the Wind" , Waves") – inspired by friends Carlos Nino, Matthew David, Colloboh and the vibrant West Coast environmental sound movement. credits







g 07: Selam (Dub) [feat. Etsegenet Mekonnen]

First vinyl edition pressed on Cirrostratus Cloud colored vinyl and includes a "Footlong" OBI.

Underground lifer Nick Sakes returns on the debut LP from Upright Forms. The tight-knit Minneapolis trio feels like the culmination of Sakes' varied and prolific career to date, bringing together the unhinged prog-punk ferocity of Dazzling Killmen & Colossamite with the careening chaos of Xaddax and the shout-along hooks and dynamic songcraft of Sicbay. Blurred Wires is skewed yet tuneful, challenging yet compulsively listenable, concise yet brimming with invention. The experience of a lifetime distilled to 33 rotations across a gripping 33 minutes.

Consider "They Kept on Living," a song that first appeared in an earlier version on the SKiN GRAFT comp Sounds to Make You Shudder!. It starts off with a grinding 7/4 groove, with cryptic lines over scratchy noise-punk chords. After a brief build, the band explodes into a massive chorus, with Sakes shouting the title line against a fist-pumping riff.

The trio sound equally convincing digging into the pummeling aggression of "My Lower Self," where Sakes' vocals start off as a feral snarl and then soar triumphantly during the chorus, or the soothing indie-pop hush of the Paster-penned "Drive at Night."

Various "tug-at-your-heartstrings" touchstones informed "Long Shadow". Sakes channeled Television Personalities, cult heroes of melodic British post-punk, on "Animositine," which he accurately labels "our prettiest song."

Nearly 35 years into his career, Sakes is finding new ways to challenge himself -- and in Paster and Westphal, he's found two musicians who are equally comfortable with both the thorniest and the loveliest manifestations of underground rock. When they reflect on their chemistry, they agree that their openness to collaboration is, as Sakes puts it, "one of our superpowers."

On Blurred Wires, that superpower yields dynamic, challenging and profoundly memorable results.

We are very happy to announce a new release on Mr. Bongo scheduled to be released on the 9th of June 2023. This is a repress of Rio de Janeiro's very own Bala Desejo's debut album "Sim Sim Sim". The album was previously only available on very limited runs in Japan and Brazil and it is now presented and available for worldwide distribution for the very first time.

Bala Desejo could be described as a supergroup, uniting some of the most talented musicians taking part in the current renaissance of the Rio de Janeiro sound. As solo musicians they have worked and collaborated with legends such as Gal Costa or Milton Nascimento. Together they decided to explore new routes and ways, channeling influences from the best of MPB into a fresh and innovative recipe.

Sim Sim Sim went on to win a Latin Grammy in 2022 for the Best Contemporary Pop album in Portuguese language and is the first testimony from one of the most fascinating outlets to come out of Brazil in recent years.

Baby Blue & Halloween Orange Vinyl. In their decade-plus together, the four-piece_Julia Shapiro (guitar, vocals), Lydia Lund (guitar, vocals), Gretchen Grimm (drums, vocals), and Annie Truscott (bass, vocals)_have created a resonant body of work. Live Laugh Love is a natural continuation. Against the bizarre backdrop of the past few years, Chastity Belt remained a supportive space for the members to grow and experiment, drawing on the ingredients most essential to their process since the beginning: authenticity and levity. Recorded over three sessions in as many years (January 2020, November 2021 and 2022), the focus became more about enjoying their time together in the studio than making it feel like work. Their ease and familiarity with engineer Samur Khouja in LA, who also recorded their last album, made for a particularly enjoyable process. Once completed, they returned to renowned engineer Heba Kadry who mastered the album.Album opener "Hollow" sets the tone with a gently driving rhythm while guitar layers stream like sun rays through an open car window. A warmth radiates through Shapiro's voice, even while grappling with feeling lost and stuck. "The older I get," Shapiro says of the lyrics, "the more I realize that I might just always feel this way, and it's more about sitting with the feeling and accepting it, rather than trying to fight it." That wisdom seems to anchor Live Laugh Love. Chastity Belt has never shied from navigating the spectrum of difficult emotions, and an existential thread weaves throughout the subject matter. And yet the songs feel more grounded than ever; there's a sense of quiet confidence and self-assurance that comes with being less numb and more present. Facing discomfort takes more fortitude, after all.Live Laugh Love finds the members in their prime as musicians. Their parts trace intricate patterns over one another, but there's room to breathe between the layers. Everyone contributes to the writing, sometimes switching instruments, and for the first time, all four members sing a song. It's never been more apparent that they are creative siblings, cut from the same belt. "We've been playing music with each other for over a decade," says Shapiro, "so it really does feel like we're all fluent in the same language, and a lot of it just happens naturally.""Laugh" seeks in the balm of friendship, aware of the anticipatory nostalgia that hits during a good time that you're already missing before it's gone; the heavier guitar tones on "Chemtrails" streak ominous chord progressions over Grimm's precision timekeeping, lamenting memories that won't fade easily. During a transitional time, Truscott came across a note in their phone that read, "it's not hard all day, just sometimes," which inspired a poignant line in the chorus of "Kool-Aid," their first song as lead vocalist on a Chastity Belt recording. Another standout, "I-90 Bridge" shines with a silvery melody that soars as Lund belts one of the most resounding moments on the album: "Tell your girlfriend she's got nothing to fear/I'm set in my head/My body's a different story." The track "Blue" saunters nonchalantly with a wink; you can almost hear Shapiro's smile as she sings "Faking it big time/So I can hit my stride/Man, it feels good to be alive," channeling early Chastity Belt channeling early '90s before channeling the late Elliott Smith in a spiral of distortion and insight: "Don't get upset about it/It's gonna pass/Tell all your friends about it/They're gonna laugh.""We have such a strong sense of each other's musical inclinations" says Lund. "I think this allows for a lot of playfulness_we can kinda surprise each other, like a good punchline would."

*REMASTERED ROUGH TRADE 4 TRACK E.P LIMITED TO JUST 500 COPIES*

Everything on “Up Home!” is bigger, richer; the guitars are huge, as though they’re being played through the clouds, massive gusts of blue-green noise that move across the stereo spectrum like weather systems. “Baby Milk Snatcher” is built around face-flattening dub bass, with glinting piano and shards of guitar ricocheting through the song. “W.O.G.S.” is delirious to the point of expiration; “One Way Mirror” is their attempt at weird, lopsided ‘anti-funk’, the song’s melody crushed by avalanches of six-string interference. And the closing “Up” is AR Kane’s masterpiece, a disembodied thud pulsing at its heart as a six-note guitar melody spirals ever onward, Ayuli’s voice lost in its own reverie, hymning escapism via references to Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey’s ‘black star line’.
• Jon Dale, lead review in Uncut Magazine
who grew up together in Stratford, East London. From the off the pair were outsiders in the culturally mixed (cockney/Irish/West Indian/Asian) milieu of the East End, with Alex and Rudy’s folks first generation immigrants from Nigeria and Malawi, respectively. The two of them quickly developed and fostered an innate and near-telepathic mutual understanding forged in musical, literary and
artistic exploration. Like a lot of second-generation immigrants, they were ferocious autodidacts in all kinds of areas, especially around music and literature. Diving deep into the music of afro-futurist luminaries such as Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Lee Perry and Hendrix, as well as devouring the explorations of lysergic noise and feedback from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers, they also thoroughly immersed themselves in the alternate literary realities of sci-fi and ancient history (the fascination with the arcane that gave the band their name), all to feed their voracious cultural thirsts and intellectual curiosity.

It was seeing the Cocteau Twins performing on Channel 4 show the Tube that spurred A.R. Kane into being - “They had no drummer. They used tapes and technology and Liz Fraser looked completely otherworldly with those big eyes. And the noise coming out of Robin’s guitar! That was the ‘Fuck! We could do that!
The duo debuted with the astonishing ‘When You’re Sad’ single for One Little Indian in
1986. Immediately dubbed a ‘black Jesus & Mary Chain’ by a press unsure of WHERE to put a black band clearly immersed in feedback and noise, what was immediately apparent for listeners was just how much more was going on here – a tapping of dub’s stealth and guile, a resonant umbilicus back to fusion and jazz, the music less a conjuration of past highs than a re-summoning of lost spirits.

The run of singles and EPs that followed picked up increasingly rapt reviews in the press, but it was the ‘Up Home EP’ released in 1988 on their new home, Rough Trade that really suggested something immense was about to break. SimonReynolds noted the EP was: Their most concentrated slab of iridescent awesomeness and a true pinnacle of an era that abounded with astounding
landmarks of guitar-reinvention, A.R. Kane at their most elixir-like.

If anything, the remastered ‘Up Home’ is even more dazzling, even more startling than it was when it first emerged, and listening now you again wonder not just about how many bands christened ‘shoegaze’ tried to emulate it, but how all of them fell so far short of its lambent, pellucid wonder. This
remains intrinsically experimental music but with none of the frowning orthodoxy those words imply. A.R. Kane, thanks to that second generation auto-didacticism were always supremely aware about the interstices of music and magic, but at the same time gloriously free in the way they explored that connection within their own sound, fascinated always with the creation of ‘perfect mistakes’ and the possibilities inherent in informed play.

As the winds of music blow, a wise heart navigates the spiral, finding wisdom in each of its twists and turns.

As the releases of DUBBLACK’s catalogue pile up, the novelty and exploration for new music keeps on thriving.


A brand-new record is approaching, as always available both on a 12” vinyl – limited to 300 copies – and in digital format, featuring the presence of two Masters from the Electronic Music scene: A2 Abd El Monim and Tocchitek.


The two-track EP baptised “Dark Side” includes the gems “Euriale” and “Steno”; two expansive compositions that, also due to their length, masterly observe the task of narrating two complementary stories, each with its distinct moments, yet marked by a strong rhythmic temper. Both tracks are planned to share similar sonic elements: a pulsating 160 bpm kick drum, ghostly pads serving as an inevitable backdrop, and indispensable rhythmic details enriching the whole structure and arrangement.


A2 Abd El Monim, born Alan Abd El Monim, is an Italian-Egyptian artist/composer. He expresses himself through the creation of music ranging from electronic to purely instrumental, and through the interaction between the arts. His poetics opens in a “dark” dimension that considers and interprets the facts through the notion of shadows and darkness but also through penombre. His “dark” vision stands as a filter through which he reads the world and its interactions, therefore using also the notion of light. His music has been performed in Festivals including Musica d’arte (Riccione – Italy), Luci d’Artista (Salerno – Italy), GAMO (Firenze – Italy), Spazio Musica (Cagliari – Italy), On Air – On site (Den Haag -Netherlands), Sound Spaces (Malmö – Sweden), etc.


He composed songs for the solo exhibition “La pelle degli oggetti” and for works Lui&Lei by the artist Giovanni Oberti. In 2020 he undertook a collaboration with the poet Milo De Angelis , putting to music the lyric “A volte , sull’orlo della notte, si rimane sospesi”. He wrote music for several theatre performances by director Emily Tartamelli and has written music for several directors films including Reto Gelshorn, Enea Francia, Paola Piscitelli and Fabio Corbellini. He collaborated with the London based fashion brand B DODI and was invited as an artist to participate in the collective exhibition “Instructions to Light-Keepers” (Milano – Italy). In March 2023, “Periodo Nero”, its interactive and generative installation music and video, was selected for the tribute to Picasso in the city of Florence, will be presented at the Certosa of Florence in September of the same year. In 2017 he won the International Competition of Composizione Silenzio Musica, in 2020 the diploma from President and Artistic Director of Winterreise International Composition Competition Moscow, in 2021 the Call For Scores banned by the Cultural Association Esecutori di Metallo su Carta. A2 Abd El Monim is signed to international label F.M.T Records and Dubblack Records, with which he regularly publishes his electronic music.


Tocchitek is an underground Tekno producer and performer born in Milan, Italy. He started playing live in 2007 as part of the “Approdo Caronte” sound system based in Milan. His first significant appearance as a live performer was at a “Mayday Parade” in 2008 in Milan. In 2009, he joined the “R909 Records” chapters crew based in Milan, bringing his live set to many local club dance floors. Meanwhile, he collaborated and played with many crews around Europe, spreading his music in the free Underground Tekno movement. In 2021, in Milan, he launched “F.M.T Records”.


Simplicity is often the hardest thing to achieve when producing this type of music, primarily designed for uncompromising dance-floors, but the duo successfully channels their message with purity and truthfulness.


The visual aspects of layout and design are once again entrusted to Vittorio Valigi, who puts a greyscale spiral at the center of the cover. A spiral within which one an eye can be glimpsed – the eye of the musical soul of DUBBLACK harmoniously fused with that of A2 Abd El Monim and Tocchitek, who become worthy ambassadors of the Dubblack’s sonic mission.