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Written and recorded between 1972 and 1982 in Western Oregon, Back to the Woodlands is a previously unreleased, and nearly lost, album made by Ernest Hood during the same era as his near mythical album Neighborhoods . A visionary combination of field recordings, zithers, and synthesizers, Back to the Woodlands offers an unprecedented depth of access to this singular artistic mind. Born into a musical family, Ernest Hood began a promising career as a jazz guitarist during the 1940s, touring internationally with his brother Bill Hood and the saxophonist Charlie Barnet , before contracting polio in his late twenties. The disease left Ernest unable to play the guitar and confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It also forced him to adapt and innovate around his musical practices in the face of adversity; Hood's value of sound matured with a remarkably democratic and nonhierarchical approach and application. Taking up the zither, a less physically-demanding stringed instrument to the guitar, embarking upon the unprecedented process of incorporating field recordings into his work as early as 1956, and eventually discovering the synthesizer, Hood's music became imbued with optimism and subtle cultural critique. This ethos and technique - refined over the coming decades - would lay the groundwork for a sprawling body of radio work, mail order recordings for homebound listeners, and Neighborhoods , self- issued as a small vinyl edition in 1975. Where Neighborhoods , a nostalgic opus, drawing from a well of collective memory of the 1950s, is defined by traces of human activity, Back to the Woodlands leaves the modern world behind, delving into Hood's love for nature. Only recently discovered in his archives, the album dramatically expands his concept of "musical cinematography," imagistically triggering states of sensory memory from within its zither and synthesizer melodies, intertwined with field recordings made during Hood's extensive travels throughout Oregon. If Neighborhoods is a retreat into the gauzy joys of a romanticized past, Back to the Woodlands is an immersion in the timeless sanctuary of the natural world. A fascinating counterpoint to its predecessor, Back to the Woodlands brings us even closer to Hood's belief in the transportive qualities of sound; that field recordings could serve as a vehicle for the imagination and liberation, particularly for those with similar mobile disabilities as his own. Across the album's twelve compositions, the rippling instrumental harmonics - shifting between abstraction and playful melody - fold so seamlessly into the birdsong, bubbling brooks, and other environmental ambiences, that they often give the impression of having been recording within the landscapes toward which they whisper. Falling somewhere between the immersive calm of healing music and New Age, the creative field recording practices of sound ecologists world building for Folkways, and the jazz infected ambiences during Obscure / Editions EG's highest heights, Back to the Woodlands sculpts an singular proximity of music for its moment; a form of ambient sonic realism that draws the consciousness toward its surroundings as much as within. Working closely with his estate to maintain his original vision, Freedom to Spend has restored and remastered this never before released, lost masterpiece by Ernest Hood from the original tapes. Ernest Hood's Back to the Woodlands will be issued on vinyl, as well as on CD in combination with its contemporary Where the Woods Begin , with new liner notes by Michael Klausman . On behalf of Ernest Hood and Freedom To Spend, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit Oregon Wild, an organization dedicated to protecting and restoring Oregon's wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy for future generations.

Gold Vinyl

No binaries, no simple opposition. Either/or is subsumed by infinite relations and dizzying possibilities, by the perpetual crest of and/and. Freedom is the key to bring about all complex and incongruous multiplicities. Embodied, embedded, relational freedom is the key.
Mue is a duo based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal composed of Catherine Debard and Léon Lo. Formed in the Spring of 2020, the electronic musical project merges two distinct practices and explores the way they interact with each other. Drawing on early-IDM, illbient, minimalism, and natural phenomena, the resulting real-time hardware improvisations weave asymmetric patterns, create spaces, and digest various sounds.

Recorded in 2020, Les vasières explores unsynchronized hardware electronic impro-visations where individual sonic elements come to life by creating new and complex layers and organizational logics — melodically and rhythmically modulating each other.
The French album title translates to “The mudflats.” Sounds from disparate sources form an aural silt that is brought to life by waxing and waning cycles, each improvi-sation presenting a new, different mudflat scenario.
Mue asked visual artist Katherine Melançon to create the album’s artwork, which was the artist’s first dive into compost as source material. The resulting image—an otherworldly organic smear, both intimate and alien — was incorporated into graphic designer Haley Parker’s montage, hard frames recalling the flatbed scanner used by Melançon, and branch-like typography nodding to the organic concerns of all the artists involved.

LOCUS unveil the second instalment in their VA series ‘LOCUS Trax’ with fresh material from Mathijs Smit, LaRosa, BODJ, and Nolga.

Continuing to quickly grow as one of the most-loved emerging labels in the game, LOCUS looks set to go from strength-to-strength throughout the remainder of 2022 as the FUSE family builds yet another label offering quality and consistent material from across the house sphere. Having launched their new various artist series LOCUS Trax earlier this year, TBC welcomes the arrival of the sophomore offering with four fresh productions as Groningen’s Mathijs Smit, Brooklyn’s LaRosa, Athens’ BODJ and Manchester’s Nolga all make label debuts.

Mathijs Smit’s ‘Green Hill’ is a slinking cut guided primed for peak time fun as slinking acid tinged low-ends meet playful samples and sweeping pads, while ‘Amelia’s Groove’ sees LaRosa work shuffling drums amongst warped vocals and rich melodies. Next, BODJ veers towards spacey sythns and colourful electronic motifs across ‘Back To Party City’, before Nolga lays down woozy chords on top of a no-nonsense bassline to close the show.

The latest edition in the Summer Sampler series offers 12 tracks from an assortment of global artists who are all connected by their chilled-out styles.

Less than a hundred miles inland from the capital city of Lima lies the great Peruvian jungle, an untamed land of impenetrable forests and endless winding rivers. In its isolated cities, cut off from the fashions of the capital, a unique style of music began to develop, inspired equally by the sounds of the surrounding forests, the roll of the mighty Amazon and Ucayali Rivers, and the rhythms of cumbia picked up from distant stations on transistor radios. With the arrival of electricity, a new generation of young musicians started plugging in their guitars and trading in their accordions for synthesizers: Amazonian cumbia was born.

Powered by fast-paced timbale rhythms, driven by spidery, treble-damaged guitar lines, and drenched in bright splashes of organ, Amazonian cumbia was like a hyperactive distant cousin of surf music crossed with an all-night dance party in the heart of the forest. While many of the genre’s greatest tracks were instrumental, and others were simple celebrations of life in the jungle, the goal of every song was to keep the party going.

Radio stations in Lima remained unaware of the new electric sounds emanating from the jungle, but a handful of pioneering
record producers ventured over the mountain passes to the cities of Tarapoto, Moyobamba, Pucallpa – even Iquitos, a city
reachable only by boat or plane – and lured dozens of bands to the recording studios of the capital to lay down their best
tracks. Although many became local hits, few were ever heard outside the Amazonian region … until now.
With eighteen tracks from some of the greatest names in Amazonian cumbia, Perú Selvatico is both the improbable soundtrack
to a beach party on a banks of the Amazon and a psychedelic safari into the sylvan mysteries of the Peruvian jungle.

Jackson Ryland comes in focused and ecstatic with his first vinyl release under his technoid alias JR2K. Jackson is based in Washington DC as one-half of both Superabundance and Rush Plus. He’s recently released on Peach Discs and Pleasant Life, showcasing his knack for presenting energy as a delicacy. JR2K “Walking Backward” is another illustrious highlight in the savvy DC producer’s already-accomplished underground career. Played on Hör Radio by Kush Jones and supported by Peach, Ciel, Clarisa Kimskii, Ryan Elliott, CMD, Davis Galvin, livwutang, Furtive, Golden Medusa, Lychee, Miley Serious, and Jialing!

The A side opens up whooshy and hard with “ExoGeni Approach”. This illustrates perfectly what I love about Jackson’s style(s)...it sounds like the sickest mid-90s techno track, full of energy and movement while taking in the atmosphere with repose. After the rollercoaster intro, the acidic up-ticks, lush synth layering, and perfectly crunchy closed-hats sink your ass straight through the dance-floor to tumbling free-for-all in the green-screen collage of your daydreams. Wake up…A2 “Call Back” splashes you with a glass of refreshing water…you still got hours at the party, and you’re coming up on some healthE shit…time to get back to that business of dancing your soles and soul away to this driving monorail of euphoric acidic techno. Choo choo choose your own dance destiny, baby!

We're glad to be back with the third instalment of our new series of DJ and Artist curated 12" mini compilations: Melodies Record Club.
Following Ben UFO and Four Tet's selections last year, Hunee helms volume three which includes three tracks this time including music from Digital Justice, Dorothy Ashby and Frantz Tuernal. Available early November in loud 12" format.
In his own words: " These three distinct pieces of music tap into different layers of my memory. One being part of the imagination, the other two rooted in the memories of a special morning in the woods of Houghton (and other times and places). On one side we have a beatless ecstatic piece of electronic music by Digital Justice called Theme From 'It's All Gone Pearshaped'. Originally released in 1994 on Rob Gretton's (ex-manager of Joy Division and New Order) label Robs Records, Pearshaped is a 13 minute live jam from two friends messing around in a loft studio full of synths, inadvertently creating magic that can "take many shapes and forms in the hands of a DJ and the movement of a dance floor, whilst its harmonic counterpoint shines through the wildest mixes and combinations"
On the flip, we have Dorothy Ashby's spiritual piece featuring Koto and spoken word "For Some We Loved" from her classic album "The Rubáiyát Of Dorothy Ashby" originally released in 1970 on Cadet and Frantz Tuernal's "Koultans" originally released in 1986 by l'AMEP (Association Martiniquaise d'Enseignement Populaire) which was also a school in Martinique. "After dancing to a set from Cedric Woo at an intimate, after-closing dance party at Brilliant Corners called "Freedom Suite" which completely re-calibrated my sense of experiencing and dancing to music, I went home and immediately searched through my collection for music to listen to and potentially play with these new found sensitivities - the very physical experience of music, the pulling force pushing one into the transcendence of time and space. Dorothy Ashby's "For Some We Loved"immediately took me back to that feeling and opened up in front of me an otherworldly-world through it's free flowing polyrhythms and sparkling Koto playing. I have yet to play my own "Freedom Suite"night, but I hope when that moment comes, I can give back what I have received back then, and "For Some We Loved"is a first step in trying just that.""I have been shown Frantz Tuernal's privately pressed 12"containing "Koultans" by my trusted music friend Nicolas Skliris from Paris a few years ago. An unlikely piece of music (a Zouk song with flamenco-inspired guitar playing) from Martinique that was both a highlight back at Giant Steps when I played the song 3 times in a row in the early morning, and a few weeks later in the woods of Houghton where a few thousand dancers were deeply moved to its melody, when the sun came up in the morning and started descending upon the lake behind the DJ booth, bathing the smiles upon the dancers faces with its reflection."

Hunee's instalment is out early November in loud 12" format, and the first press comes with a folded A2 insert with words from and about the Artists. Graphic design by Atelier ChoqueLeGoff, illustration and animation by Nevil Bernard and for the audiophiles out there, remastered and cut at half speed by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios!

To those who embraced 2000’s Nixon—Lambchop’s fifth album, whose luscious country soul grooves provided the sprawling Nashville collective with a significant British breakthrough that even found them selling out London’s 2,500-capacity Royal Festival Hall—the deceptively gentle Is a Woman, delivered two years later, administered a quiet but compelling shock. Gone almost entirely was frontman Kurt Wagner’s euphoric, Curtis Mayfield-esque falsetto, replaced by a tranquil, contemplative vocal style; and instead of the joyfully warm brass arrangements that had encouraged Zero 7 to remix “Up With People,” one of Nixon’s standouts, pianist Tony Crow now took center stage, teasing out gentle, ingenious melodies. The contrast was acute.

To discover the true spirit of Is a Woman, however, one need only listen to the remarkable “My Blue Wave,” one of the band’s finest recordings to date. Here, Wagner depicts a world of helpless tragedy in which comfort can nonetheless be found in the smallest of gestures, as he journeys from the contented sight of his pets—“You lay around the house… Just bones and squirrels inside your head”—to recollections of a devastating phone call from friend and bandmate William Tyler: “And William called and tried to tell me /

That his sister’s boyfriend has just died / He’s not sure what to do / And I’m not sure what to tell him he should do / Sometimes William, we’re just screwed / In my blue wave.”

Deniz Cuylan set out to explore his own distinctive sound on his 2021 solo debut album 'No Such Thing As Free Will.' The album signaled the Turkish musician's first bold step into the spotlight following a winding 15-year path in the music industry playing in multiple bands with home bases dotted all over the globe - Stockholm, NYC, Istanbul - and tackling a wide array of styles both on the stage and in the studio. Now settled into his current home in Los Angeles, Deniz lends his instrumental talents to create scores for independent films and recurring Netflix original series, yet these projects inevitably fulfill the sonic backdrop for another artist's vision. Looking inward on his own for the first time, 'No Such Thing As Free Will' laid the groundwork for his own personal soundtrack, one that fused his love of classical guitar, introspective jazz, and ambient expressionism with his whimsical compositional ear. Over a magical 6-track journey, 'No Such Thing As Free Will' painted a lush cinematic narrative with Deniz's guitar as its guide, delivering an album that "seems to invent new languages for the guitar" (The Guardian) and receiving glowing comparisons to legends like Steve Reich, The Durutti Colum's Vini Reilly, Glenn Branca, and Bert Jansch. With such a singular foundation exposed on a debut album, many artists would stay true to their inventive winning formula and find out if lightning could strike twice. Deniz is not one of those artists. An explorer at heart, Deniz unveils a beautifully alluring and lightly adjusted language on his mesmerizing second album 'Rings Of Juniper.' The record continues to spotlight Deniz's exquisite guitar work and hypnotic compositional skills, yet it boasts a punchier, refined, and more immediate tone right from the start. Accented by a desire to once again uncover a new shade of his sonic palette with the support of a talented cast of friends and artistic collaborators, 'Rings Of Juniper' lays bare a rich, dynamic, and evocative sound that Deniz lovingly refers to as Mediterranean Minimalism.

Classic Black Vinyl repress in soon note new price. LP with DL card. “a songwriter testing the limits of her sound and redefining herself in the process” - Pitchfork // “Rundle’s voice floats above the seething morass, graceful and triumphant, an angel welcoming the apocalypse” Stereogum // The cover to Emma Ruth Rundle’s fourth solo record, On Dark Horses, bears a blurry photo of the songwriter obscuring her face with a large toy horse with broken legs. The photo suggests something candid but also hidden, graceful but also fractured a fitting portrait for an artist who has established a career by vacillating between shrouding herself in mystery and exposing her wounds to the world. The first peek behind the curtain came with her Sargent House debut Some Heavy Ocean, where layers of distortion were excised in favor of acoustic guitar and Rundle’s beguiling vocals. There was a distinct difference by the time Rundle released Marked For Death, a stark and deeply personal meditation on mortality and self-destructive behavior. Her entire musical trajectory from the cinematic instrumentals of Red Sparowes to the lush haze of Marriages and onward through her solo career seems like a gradual disclosure of intimate secrets. With On Dark Horses, Rundle doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable realities or retreat into a private world, but it does capture an artist who has survived their personal nadir and come out stronger on the other side. Taking the full arrangements of Marked For Death on the road demanded a backing band, which Rundle pieced together from tour companions first Dylan Nadon from Wovenhand and Git Some and later Evan Patterson and Todd Cook from Jaye Jayle. Rundle’s budding romance with Patterson prompted a move to Louisville, Kentucky, which not only amplified the equestrian themes of the record but also yielded a new writing process. “This the first time I haven’t played all the guitars on my own record,” Rundle says of Patterson’s contributions to the writing process. “It was stressful letting go but it was also rewarding.” The collaboration worked both ways, with Rundle contributing to Jaye Jayle’s No Trails and Other Unholy Paths. That album’s “Marry Us” mirrors On Dark Horses’ “Light Song”, with the union of Rundle’s siren vocals and Patterson’s poised baritone conjuring a dizzying and feverish update on the duets of Johnny Cash and June Carter. The eight tracks of On Dark Horses capture the evolution of Rundle as an artist, with vestigial traces of the savvy guitar work of Electric Guitar: One, the siren song beauty of Some Heavy Ocean, and the amplified urgency of Marked For Death all factoring into the album’s rich tapestry. Rundle arrives at the end of the album with an ode to a traumatized and heartbroken friend on the grand and triumphant “You Don’t Have To Cry”. After laboring over the majority of the material for the album, she wrote the finale in one sitting, describing its easy birth as a gift from the gods. It’s a fitting closer, a song announcing Rundle’s newfound hope and reminding us to take control during our darkest moments instead of succumbing to them. Track Listing: 1 Fever Dreams 2 Control 3 Darkhorse 4 Races 5 Dead Set Eyes 6 Light Song 7 Apathy on the Indiana Border 8 You Don’t Have to Cry

-The second LP of Jazz Playaz, a followup album to International Jazz Playaz. -Blue w/ White Splatter 12" edition limited to 250 copies. The Jazz Playaz return to provide nostalgic rhythms to comfort you in the time of need. 16 tracks that are to soothe your mind and ease all anxiety from troubles. The Jazz Playaz ask you to join their ride for a Nostalgic Vacation. Starring DJ Domsta & Professor Creepshow.

TRACKLIST: 1. Entry Fee 2. Saturday Morning Energy 3. Feels So Nice 4. Dialing Progress 5. Aquatic Feedback 6. Arcade Tokens 7. Purple Lights 8. After Hour Cinema 9. Dial Up 10. One Way 11. All Inclusive Stay 12. No Service 13. Layers Of Funk 14. Royalty Reception 15. Won't Say No 16. The Way We Feel

-The second LP of Jazz Playaz, a followup album to International Jazz Playaz. -Blue w/ White Splatter 12" edition limited to 250 copies. The Jazz Playaz return to provide nostalgic rhythms to comfort you in the time of need. 16 tracks that are to soothe your mind and ease all anxiety from troubles. The Jazz Playaz ask you to join their ride for a Nostalgic Vacation. Starring DJ Domsta & Professor Creepshow.

TRACKLIST: 1. Entry Fee 2. Saturday Morning Energy 3. Feels So Nice 4. Dialing Progress 5. Aquatic Feedback 6. Arcade Tokens 7. Purple Lights 8. After Hour Cinema 9. Dial Up 10. One Way 11. All Inclusive Stay 12. No Service 13. Layers Of Funk 14. Royalty Reception 15. Won't Say No 16. The Way We Feel

Jon K and Elle Andrews’ MAL imprint returns with a new LP from one of the London experimental underground's best kept secrets, Rory Salter aka Malvern Brume. His music is rare, eccentric and mysterious - somewhere between Coil's bleak ritual magick and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's most experimental, minimal fringes. 

Malvern Brume operates just beneath the radar, occasionally turning up at Café OTO lineups and on a smattering of releases for Low Company, Alter, Infant Tree and Kasual Plastik - but he’s never one to shout too loudly about his work. ‘Body Traffic’ is his most interesting set to date, laying bare a process melting found sounds, field recordings and spoken word into throbbing, pulsing rhythms. It’s an evocation of a fraught mindset during the early weeks of lockdown in 2020; sequestered in his flat next to a trainline, the infrasonic - and more audible - rumbles of rolling stock and a nagging sense of dread infecting his ambiguously discomfiting recordings.

Operating in a headspace that values world-building and vivid, visual emotionality, Salter’s careful melodies are familiar - the distant, weeping melancholia of 1970s British TV hangs off the recordings like net curtains, and his atmosphere loops into experiments that weave through bare traces of industrial music, blank-faced electro pop, and hedonistic Brummie techno, all reduced to a cinder. 

The mood is set on the bellyaching resonance and crawling walls of the title tune, while 'Through Beaked Fog Horns' is drowned beneath morning mists: lopsided synth drones choke and drift, percussion mutates into inebriated bubbles, and tape-f*cked environmental whirrs create an atmosphere that’s hard to decipher in one take. 

‘Moss Spines Clenched’ follows cryptic stains on peeling flocking, and the icy creep of ‘Tense Branches Waver’ quivers beyond a cracked windowpane. The artist’s voice appears from beneath a cardboard box fort in the imaginary world of ‘Cornered Into Sleat’ as a distant drum beats out a marching thud and traffic squeals are sculpted into chirpy whistles, before ‘Bri Dun’ resolves the eerie tension in an OOBE-like ascent above the dado-rail and across the tracks, watching himself fade into a dissociative bliss.

"All chatter falls quiet…” Salter murmurs thru saturation and white noise. It’s a sound that’s gonna stick with us for a while.

Born on November 25, 1912, Asmahan, whose real name was Amal al-Atrash, was a Syrian singer and actress of the first half of the 20th century. Modern and free, she was the sister of Farid al-Atrash; and perhaps the only singer able to compete with the famous Oum Kalsoum. Her private and public life is worthy of a Hollywood movie and was particularly eventful during the Second World War, where she played spy for Germany, France and Great Britain. She died in 1944, at the age of 32, in a mysterious car accident, leaving only a few recordings. This record features her most popular titles, to be rediscovered by the music enthusiasts of today.

For its second release, Elmir once again puts 1980s pop-raï in the spotlight with the identical reissue of Cheb Kader's masterpiece: El Awama. Originally self-produced on cassette in 1986, this album was then released on vinyl by Michel Lévy, who was then Cheb Mami's manager and producer. Back then, the album was not the hit it was expected to be, because a little too avant-garde for the time. But more than 35 years later, fans and collectors consider the few remaining copies as priceless. The raï of Cheb Kader is a subtle compromise between the melodies of Oranese suburbs, the electricity of Casablancan guitars and the roaring layers of reggae. The listener can only be fascinated by this Awama (witch) who burns in his heart and to whom he declares his love; they can only be carried away by his hypnotic Reggae-Raï. This record is a rejuvenating find that makes you fall in love with the raï of the beginnings all over again. This new edition was remastered by Josh Stevenson in Canada and enriched with notes in French and English by the specialist Rabah Mezouane.

Cultivated Electronics presents For The Floor, a new series of split 12s on its vinyl-only sister label CE LTD. For the Floor is strictly aimed at the dance floor and showcases CE regulars alongside new artists with EPs incoming from DeFeKT, Rico Casazza, Tripeo, Cycloplex, Steve Allman, Alex Jann, Cyphon, Obzerv, Maelstrom and Sync 24 x Alienata. Hot on the heels of his latest release on the mighty Tresor, Irish Electro king and CE regular DeFeKT kicks off the series with 2 dancefloor destroyers. "Control Your Mind" rips through with harsh distorted 808s and booming vocals while "Fear and Body" is a spooky, funky electro groover perfect for dark basements. On the flip, CE welcomes back Rico Casazza to the label. Rico continues the electro funk vibes with "Home Here Us", slick beats and a bubbly bass line lay down the backbone of this peak time banger. Things then go deep and trippy and acidic with "Caldo" , a rolling robotic groove made for the club!

Following their iconic remix of ‘Space Date’ in 2019, the classic collaborative work of Adam Beyer, Layton Giordani and Green Velvet, we are thrilled to have Pleasurekraft back on Drumcode for their debut solo release on the label.

Not keen to colour within the lines, the production duo caught Adam Beyer’s ear as they carved out their self-dubbed ‘cosmic techno’ niche within the techno genre. Conceived as a musical vision that attempts to go beyond mere hands-in-the-air moments, Pleasurekraft incorporate a cinematic soundscape as a canvas for philosophical themes regarding humanity's place within the cosmos. Their 2020 album, ‘Love in the Age of Machines’ explored the myriad and often dystopian relationships we have with the ubiquitous technologies that pervade our every interaction.

The new two-tracker ‘Sex and the Machine’, continues this thematic trajectory in considering the role machines will increasingly play in satisfying the more carnal desires of our species. The title track considers questions such as, will machines of the future have the capacity for thoughts and feelings? Will our answers to such questions be forever tainted by our singular perspective, unable and unwilling to grant future silicon entities such capabilities? The EP’s second track, ‘Body Horror’, with its repeating refrain, “You are changing”, considers the manner in which future technologies will continue to merge with biological entities giving rise to all manner of unimagined consequences. Both tracks showcase the tough, yet still melody-driven cosmic techno sound Pleasurekraft has become synonymous with. However, despite the cerebral content that inspired the music – the form is still pure dance floor muscle.

Pianist, drummer, composer and producer Hamish Balfour presents jazz funk, soul and electronic music, bridging the gap from classic Blue Note to Warp via Sonar Kollektiv on Running Colours, his electrifying debut album for London's Shapes of Rhythm Records.

Praised by Jazzwise for hissolo flourishes and sidestepping harmonies, Hamish Balfour should be a recognisable face to jazz addicts. The go-to keys player has performed and recorded alongside American jazz drumming legend Harvey Mason, Tenderlonious, The Temptations, Odyssey, Faze Action, Yolanda Charles' Project PH, Bassically, Nim Quartet and Yam Who. Popping up not only in the credits of many sought-after albums, but also Channel 4, ITV and BBCprogrammes for his compositions on various shows.

Over the course of eleven tracks, Balfour folds in and explores his influences, with a wide yet highly cohesive and strong palette of sounds, whilst interacting with high caliber guest vocalists such as spoken word artist and broken beat icon, Lyric L(Seiji,Nathan Haines), London Elektricity and Hospital Records' star vocalist Elsa Esmeralda, award-winning and chart-storming singer-songwriter Belle Humble (Freestylers, Paloma Faith) and soul and house mainstay Andre Espeut (Afriquoi,Simbad,Faze Action).

Responsible for all piano, synths, percussion and production on the album, Balfour's musicality shines through, a reminder of how overdue this debut album as leader is. However, in addition to the incredible vocalists, he's joined by some of the UK's finest jazz musicians: James Copus (trumpet), Pete Matin (bass), Laurie Lowe and Saleem Raman (drums) and Rob Updegraff (guitar).

Elsa Esmeralda implores us 'not to be afraid' on lead single and title track Running Colours. A perfect invitation to get stuck into this many layered album. Balfour compliments Esmeralda's soothing vocals with delicate piano intro before Lowe's bruk-easque drums and lead an irresistible groove bedded in warm synths and guitar licks.

Yes or No showcases Loose Lips legend Lyric L contemplating the uncertainty of love over a swinging mid-tempo jazz funk boogie groove propelled by tight drums and Hammond chords, closing with a flying trumpet solo from Copus, weaving around Balfour's nimble keys.

Wealth, featuring singer/songwriter Belle Humble, displays incredible depth and restraint. Humble delivers the enticing vocal with ease, as it slides over the intricate webs of jazz fusion and electronics.

Mogul is arguably Running Colours' curveball. An eastern-inspired whirlwind of all manner of synths and twisting drums which constantly morph throughout. Guitars and trumpets take turns to solo on a track that feels like a series of questions that we never quite get answers to.

Balfour's ability to merge free wheeling jazz and fusion with timeless electronic production and soulful compositions is also apparent on instrumental pieces such as Reflector 28. Here, we find the musicians upbeat, uplifting, progressive and playful, showcasing the keys whilst the bass underpins the groove.

South Of The Sun is Running Colours' laid-back moment with Roy Ayers-type vibrations as bass and drums sit in the pocket (at least to begin with), whilst a Rhodes weaves its magic. Like many of the album's tracks we take a few twists and turns before returning to our main feel-good motif.

Hamish's long awaited debut is sure to exceed the expectations of those who know him already, whilst introducing a whole new audience to his wealth of talent and originality.

Belgian artist Melawati steps up to Ellum Audio with an arresting debut album, Artimia. Produced with an array of modified machines and modular synths, it is a testament to finding beauty in chaos.

Martijn Ravesloot aka Melawati makes music out of mistakes. He comes from an indie background but has always admired Aphex Twin while playing in bands such as The Subs and working in theatre. He has a love of experimenting with soundwaves that gives rise to his complex, experimental and improvised sounds. He first met Maceo Plex while jamming and that session turned into the track 'Daliah' which dropped on Ellum Audio and was remixed by Tale of Us.

After that, Melawati wrote this most absorbing and beautiful album during the pandemic in a dark studio attic in the heart of Brussels. He set about recording live experiments on analog synths and then deconstructed and reconstructed them into the tracks presented here. The angelic tones of guest vocalist Lisa Jane feature on two tracks though the pair have never met, and Melawati is now set to take his impressive live show to Tomorrowland. His life has changed since writing the album, he now has two children and lives on a farm, but the power of this music where organic and alien worlds intersect remains utterly compelling.

Opener 'I Just Want To Go Walking' pairs a heavenly vocal with celestial chords and a bustling broken beat that strikes a powerful emotional note right from the off. The excellent 'Riddles' showcases more majestic synth work and molten melodies that suspend you in mid-air while 'Slow Pulse' is an intense layering of drones and heavy drum tumbles that again offsets light and dark, tension and release. 'Red Herring' rests with beautifully pensive synth patterns that twinkle, warp and melt before your very ears and 'You And I' takes off on a rubbery groove overlaid with heart-aching keys and shimmering, wordless vocals. 'Somebody' is brain-soothing synth bliss with lush patterns and icy drums that gently unfold to get you in a trance and the gorgeous 'Radiate' then offers a widescreen and cosmic ambient interlude. The heartbroken synths of 'Let Your Love Wash Over Me' speak of the end of a cosmic love affair and 'Violent Thoughts' rebuilds on smooth arps and smeared pads over downtempo drums. The final trio of tracks offers rousing breakbeats on 'New White Noise', uplifting synth catharsis on 'Pain And Pressure' and a melancholic lullaby on 'Stellar'.

Artimia is a beautiful mix of harmony and dissonance, of real emotional power and improvised musical elegance.

From an aspiring b-boy to working with luminaries Billy Porter, Joss Stone, Kimberly Davis and Teni Tinks, The Shapeshifters, Simon Marlin announces the release of his brand-new studio album “Let Loose”.

Wrapped in a defining optimistic mood and colourful palette, “Let Loose” plays with the friction between musical persona and influence, delivering a masterclass in Simon’s flourishing depth of integrity as a producer and admiration to those that exert their enduring influence upon him.

“I'm a facilitator of talent. I'm blessed that over the years I've managed to put a team of people together - as a producer, that's what I do, very much in the old school sense like a Quincy Jones or Gamble & Huff, they’re the guys I try to emulate - and make something magic out of nothing, but do it in a contemporary way. That’s what really floats my boat, and that's what this whole project is about.” Simon Marlin – The Shapeshifters

Across the latest and long-awaited studio album “Let Loose” The Shapeshifters pledge rhythmic allegiance to the golden era disco records and their spellbinding qualities; embracing the tension often found between tradition and future to craft a euphoric, certifiable body of work presented to the devoted audience he deserves. The Shapeshifters exemplify a scene in rude health one that is now switching on an ever-younger fan base, and with Marlin being the beating heart of it it’s easy to see why The Shapeshifters are more in demand in the clubs than ever.

The twelve-track album is illuminated with vocal collaborations including the recently released and debut collaboration with the Grammy, Tony and Emmy Award-winning Billy Porter.

Layers of rushing strings, flares of brass and hedonistic grooves provide refreshing dancefloor power dynamics and deliver a liberating, triumphant and inherently uplifting record.

Taking an impeccably smooth course through disco-infused house, The Shapeshifters continue the rich relationship with Glitterbox and its record label; one that has yielded instant classics that epitomise the label’s ethos for preserving disco’s mission to uplift and empower.

Robohands, aka Andy Baxter, joins the Bastard Jazz family with a new EP titled "Giallo." Partly inspired by Italian Giallo (meaning "yellow") film soundtracks of the late 70s and 80s, as well as the experimental sounds of pioneering krautrock bands like Tangerine Dream and NEU! Armed with an old Juno 60 synthesizer, Andy wrote, recorded, and mixed all the parts himself, including the live drums, adding in multiple layers of effects.

Spread across 8 tracks, "Giallo" spans atmospheric meditations ("Giallo;" "Claws;" "Relax") to jazzy improvisational explorations ("Fear"), interwoven with brief solo instrumental tapestries ("Horror;" "Float By Like Clouds;" "For the Different"). There is an elegant cinematic quality to the EP, further refined by Robohands' production prowess and technical chops. "Giallo" builds on the Robohands sound, taking it in an exciting, more experimental direction.

Lucky', the title of Nada Surf's fifth album, is at once literal and ironic. Like the songs that singer / guitarist Matthew Caws, bassist Daniel Lorca and drummer Ira Elliot crafted for their previous two albums, Let Go' (2003) and The Weight Is A Gift' (2005), Lucky is filled with images of restlessness, longing and the elusiveness of love. Yet the band counterbalances the lyrical bitter sweetness with musical buoyancy. Intimate songs become in-it-together anthems, thanks to the chiming guitars, propulsive rhythms, and the emotional candour in Caws' vocals. A song like Beautiful Beat' segues from a sparsely arranged, confessional first verse into a harmony-laden chorus and reaches multi-layered, canon-like proportions before the track fades out. If Caws is often suggesting that romance and resolution may still be an inch or two out of reach, he's also proffering immediate musical solace. Turn up the volume, hit the repeat button, and your troubles, for a blissful three minutes or so, will disappear.

The three members of Nada Surf have played together now for a dozen years. They've survived overnight major-label success and the inevitable morning-after bleariness, persevering past obstacles that would have sunk a less resilient combo, to become one of America's most truly independent and respected bands. Experience has only made their work richer, bringing gravity to the subject matter and lightness to its presentation. Keeping things honest has become a modus operandi.

repress !

Wax’o Paradiso Recordings presents its debut outing on vinyl, OK EG’s Intertidal Zone EP. The new label from the long standing Naarm (Melbourne) party is set to explore hi-fidelity, landscape-driven and cerebral music from the antipodes and beyond.

After sold out pressings on local imprints Animalia and Steeplejack, this EP explores a more contemplative side of OK EG, suitable for discerning dancefloors and meditative home listening alike.

Conceived in 2019 and completed in 2020, Intertidal Zone was recorded in collaboration with percussionist Phil Stroud. The rhythm tracks are a fusion of drum machines and hand drums, loose percussion, human voices and tuned percussion immersed in water. Joined by analog synthesisers, layered vocals, processed guitar and field recordings, the music evokes solastalgia and a reverence for nature.

The final track, Golden Hour, came from an improvisation with multi-instrumentalist Adam Halliwell on flute and jazz musician Jack Doepel on Korg bass, later transposed to modular synthesiser.

Wax’o Paradiso and OK EG acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this music was recorded, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, and pay their respects to elders past, present and emerging.

Pleasure Pool are Finn O’Hare, Andrew Robertson and a rolling cast of Glasgow-based musicians, performers and artists. They sound like nothing else to have come out of Glasgow recently, exploring the territory between live performance and club culture through their collaborative ethos and party-starting attitude. Their debut EP, Night Scars, arrived in early March 2020 and now comes Love Without Illusion, Pleasure Pool’s debut album, released on Optimo Music.

Love Without Illusion adds layers of complexity and introspection to Night Scars’ squarely dance floor-focused brew, though the record still oozes danceable energy. Open Hours is like opening a door and finding a party already in full swing, an assortment of recurring Pleasure Pool motifs – echoing, dubbed-out vocals, gorgeous, impossibly airy synth melodies, louche percussion, cowbells, rising and falling flecks of trumpet – all introduced in short order. Lick The Bag, which prominently features vocalists Chloe Charlton and Raissa Pardini, has a controlled chaos befitting its morning-after-the-night-before name.

The rest of the album rides this glimmering, night-magic mood at varying frequencies, with the title track a gentle storm of grandiose walls of synth and pulsing vocal fragments. The slow and low flickering funk of album closer Zero Hours pulls all that has come before it together to end things in the woozy bliss of a walk back home in warm, gentle sunlight.

Love Without Illusion is a dazzlingly complete expression of Pleasure Pool’s intoxicating sound and vision. Dive on in and explore.

Following their breakout album, WIND ROSE quickly became one of Italy’s rising power metal acts, with many fans anticipating what the band would bring with their next release - and they were not disappointed! Wardens of the West Wind is a massive, bombastic, epic, and outrageous album packed with large riffs, symphonic layers, guitar solos, and bold vocal arrangements! The amazing musicians of WIND ROSE crafted elaborate songs that contain twists and turns to further push their unique sound of progressive power metal to their current fans and any new fans they amass! The band’s debut album made waves in the power metal scene, and Wardens of the West kept their storm of progressive power metal churning, poising the band to become one of the modern key players of the power metal scene!

Italian, French-speaking and blessed with a Belgian accent Christophe Clébard brings a coherence that prevails both for his person and for his music: a wobbly mound, which sometimes resembles a series of explosions, sometimes a pile of layers cut by a flood of words from which parts can be distinguished. Relying on the amplified intonation of a saturated microphone, a pounding rhythm box and a synthesizer, his performances absorb the hearing to spit it out in a universe where nothing has any meaning, except "we're going to die". A punchline that he chants far from the cliché darkness of the dark wave, since for him death is jubilant and colorful, with the grim reaper as the owner of the nightclub. A nightclub well anchored in his head, without a future, with the upcoming emptiness and the hazy memory of his Christian upbringing.

All tracks composed and recorded by Christophe Clébard at les ateliers claus. The album was recorded during a residency at Les Ateliers Claus during the month of April 2021, mixed by Piccolo Bruno and Christophe Clebard, mastered by Elvin Vanzeebroeck at Rare Sound Studio. Photos and Cover projects by Jonas Meier.

"Escape" (1981) war einer der erfolgreichsten Longplayer der aus San Francisco stammenden Supergroup Journey. Der wesentlich von Sänger Steve Perry, Keyboarder Jonathan Cain und Gitarrero Neal Schon getragene zeitlose Sound katapultierte die ausgekoppelten Singles "Open Arms", "Who's Crying Now" und "Don't Stop Believing" bis in die Top Ten der US-Charts. Produziert wurde die Scheibe übrigens von Kevin Elson, der fünf Jahre später Europe mit ihrem Megahit "The Final Countdown" zu Welthit-Ehren führte.

Tape
Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band's Wede Harer Guzo is the third release on Awesome Tapes From Africa for Ethiopian keyboard and accordion maestro. In the years since Shemonmuanaye, Mergia has revamped his touring career, playing festivals and clubs worldwide, including a recent tour supporting Beirut. By 1978, Addis Ababa's nightlife was facing challenges. The ruling Derg regime imposed curfews, banning citizens from the streets after midnight until 6:00 am. But that didn't stop some people from dancing and partying through the night. Bands would play from evening until daybreak and people would stay at the clubs until curfew was lifted in the morning. One key denizen of Addis' musical golden age, Hailu Mergia, was preparing a follow-up to his seminal Tche Belew LP with the famed Walias Band. It was the band's only full-length record and it had been a success. But his Hilton house band colleagues were a bit tied up recording cassettes with different vocalists. Still Mergia, amidst recording and gigs with the Walias, was also eager to make another recording of his instrumental-focused arrangements. So he went to the nearby Ghion Hotel, another upmarket outpost with a popular nightclub. Dahlak Band was the house band at Ghion at the time. Together they made this tape Wede Harer Guzo right there in the club during the band's afternoon rehearsal meetings, with sessions lasting three days. Dahlak Band catered to a slightly more youthful, local audience, while Mergia's main gig with the Walias at Addis' swankiest hotel had a mixed audience that included wealthy Ethiopians, foreign diplomats and older folks from abroad. Therefore, their sets featured lighter fare during dinnertime and a less rollicking selection of jazz and r&b. Meanwhile, Dahlak was known more for the mainly soul and Amharic jams they served up for hours two nights a week to a younger crowd. Mergia released Wede Harer Guzo ("Journey to Harer," a city in eastern Ethiopia) with Sheba Music Shop, which was located in the Piazza district but has long since shut down. His cassette copy is the only known source we could find. Jessica Thompson at Coast Mastering managed to restore the recording to clean up layers of hiss, flutter and distorted frequencies, made worse by years of storage. Although there are some remaining sonic artifacts of the era's recording and cassette duplicating quality, this reissue captures the band's inimitable vibe. Recalling the audience's positive reaction to Wede Harer Guzo's novel arrangements, he says it sold well and found many fans. However, as no trace of the tape can be found online, there's no indication as to why the cassette appears largely forgotten until now

Teil 38 ist hier! 39 Tracks mit Cuts und Tracks des einflussreichsten Rappers aller Zeiten: DR DER, der den Stars des Hip Hops wie 50 CENT, SNOOP DOG oder EMINEM auf den Weg geholfen hat. Dies ist eine ganz besondere Waffe für alle Hip Hop Mixer und DJs.

Soft Raw is a new label from Danielle – a natural extension of the Bristol-based DJ’s expansive tastes within contemporary club music. Over the past few years the NTS resident has become a leading light in the multifaceted world of modernist techno abstractions, ably balancing soundsystem pressure and propulsive rhythmic intensity with experimental textures and explorative energy variations. Soft Raw seeks to continue that mission with releases which will progress stylistically from one approach to another, taking in exciting, emergent producers unique in their approach but bound together by the idiosyncratic curation of Danielle – a faithful reflection of her proven skill as a selector.

The label launches with a six-track drop from Slacker. Sam Black has been winding up a potent strain of needlepoint techno which leans towards jungle and half-time D&B in its tempo and structure. Across a selection of various releases, Black’s sound has evolved into an accomplished and detailed style which draws on moody atmospheres and advanced engineering in the grand tradition of UK soundsystem music. Across this EP the Slacker sound matches up to the spirit of Soft Raw, balancing fierce kinetic energy with delicacy and finesse and leaving some space for outright ambience. At times he locks into a half-step warm-up mode, while elsewhere the amens creep in for a more pronounced jungle rinse-out.

It’s a strong opening statement for this new label, but crucially this doesn’t spell out the future in absolute terms. True to Danielle’s broad outlook, subsequent releases are set to take in everything from straight up 4/4 and acid to footwork and electro, with a narrative binding each release together according to her internal logic and the tension between soft and raw qualities explored across consistently cutting-edge tracks.

Pique-nique Recordings is proud to present People’s Dream, the latest solo release from NYC-based vibraphonist and electronic producer Will Shore.

Inspired by Francis Bebey and Don Cherry’s electronic music from the 70s and 80s, People’s Dream draws heavily from modal jazz, minimalism, and dance music. It blends tightly composed percussive phrases with freely moving melodic improvisations that feel as much at home in a DIY loft space as they do on a custom-built sound system at Nowadays.

Shore says: “The vibraphone is the thing that I know best, but I’ve always found the instrument quite limited. Its pure bell-like tone can seem too pretty to evoke a wide range of feelings. I normally find ways to obscure that pure sound: I distort it, pitch it down, or layer rougher textures over it. But for People’s Dream and Lucid, instead of obscuring the sound quality, I decided to embrace it.

I used the vibraphone for not only melodic parts but also as a driving rhythmic element. I let the entrances and exits of melodies appear and disappear in a dream-like way, and added electronics and percussion as texture, to create a more cinematic atmosphere.”

On the B-side, UK producer and label-head Tom Blip (Blip Discs) flips Lucid into a driving, bass-oriented club track, fit for vibrant dancefloors this summer. On the back of successful collaborations with East African artists Swordman Kitala and Mubashira Mataali Group, Blip unleashes a trademark peak-time drum track designed to elude any dream-like state.

People’s Dream is the seventh release on NYC/Sydney label Pique-nique Recordings, which worked with Shore in 2019 on their signature event, Take Two. Shore led a nine-piece band through a reinterpretation of Albert Ayler’s Spiritual Unity for the occasion, utilizing his mentor Butch Morris’ conduction technique to rapturous effect.

The inspirational intake and respectful tribute of and to Hindi Cinema Soundtrack artists Kalyanji-Anandji and R. D. Burman and the Simla Beat guitar organ psych records of the early/mid 70’s, coupled with the Italian silver-stringed heavy-funked composers Piero Umiliani and Stefano Torossi kaleidoscopically conjure the sounds brought to you by Pleasurewood in this 7” single.

Firework is ushered in by a Hofner Beatle bass’s nasal clacking joyfully assisted by clapping hands through murky spring reverb.
A breakbeat incantation to the sun scored with Farfisa, Guitar Wah and Arp Odyssey.

Move! is a more pensive post-apocalyptic funk hymn with the instrumentation of piano, cimbalom and mellotron, plus the layered and flanged vocals of the composers Paul Elliott and Anthony Donje, with the instruction to ‘Move!’ by studio kingpin Buddy Elliott.

Welcome in!

WEȽ∝KER's 'ENHANCER' offers a high dive into the soggy hands and lands of Dujat & Beedles.

Having planted their flag firmly at the forefront of modern computer music, WEȽ∝KER return with 'ENHANCER', an astonishingly dynamic display of technique and form. This isn't sound for sound's sake; the duo's playful approach to composition ties many discrete events together to weave a warm-bath narrative. A tug at the skittering top layer reveals something so rare: there's real musicality under there, aching chords snaking through the crunchy boot-up sequence of "Gator" and underpinning the pneumatic drift of "Ohmbase".

ENHANCER's tracks unfurl with an instinctive flow, pulling/pushing in all the right places and guiding the listener through aural aqueducts. WEȽ∝KER are just truly properly at it again. Dive in, isn't it?

ENHANCER's artwork is the result of an all-Mancunian collaboration with sculptural artist and dead-powder virtuoso Nicola Ellis. Photographed by Glen Cutwerk and Bazz Patel, shot in the spleen of Salford's The White Hotel. Drippy, oily notes with a hint of flesh.

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Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.

Available on pad-printed solid white cassette housed in a clear double case w/ exclusive gloss laminated cover-art. Pro dubbed by Headlesstapes Includes free download code Limited Edition of 50.

Debut album by Dutch producer w1b0, who passed away in August, to be released in November on U-TRAX.

Wibo Lammerts' sudden death on August 15thshocked the worldwide electro community, and also left the record label, that had been working on the debut album with the artist known as w1b0 for the past two years, dumbfounded and in grief.

Wibo had jokingly always called his upcoming debut album 'his legacy', which now sadly has become a painful truth. With the support of Wibo's family, U-TRAX is now doing the only thing that doesn't feel totally wrong: proceed as planned, and release 'When Humans Ruled The Earth' on November 11.

W1b0 made quite a name for himself with heavy electro tracks that he released on labels like Bass Agenda, Hilltown Disco and Discos Antónicos. Standing at 202 meters, and combined with a cheerful character, most people remember him as the gentle giant of electro.
For this album, Wibo wanted to steer away from the dark and heavy electro he mostly made until then. The idea of having a platform to create delicate electronic music in different styles, and make it a showcase of his versatility, was very appealing to him. And that is where he and U-TRAX found each other.

The full-length album (over 75 minutes on cd and digital) comes after 'The Pilex Program EP', released in October, that featured a remix by Detroit's Ectomorph of 'Pilex Driver' and saw 'Program Yourself To Feel' remixed by a well-known Dutch producer that recently created the new 'techno alias' Human Form.
As usual with U-TRAX, the album comes in three different editions, with the 11-track double vinyl version containing the Ectomorph and Human Form remixes. The CD and digital version boast original versions only, plus four additional tracks: 'Alternate Reality Interface', 'Mixed Matter Fluctator', 'Synthetic', and 'In There'. The cassette version more or less has the same track list as the CD/digi version, but has both aforementioned remixes and a bonus track in the incredibly hypnotizing 'I Wanted You', a track that unfortunately couldn't be on the CD and vinyl versions.

Buyers of the physical releases get treated on superior quality products, another trademark of U-TRAX. The vinyl edition boasts over one hour of music, on two 180 grams, green vinyl discs, in a black & white & neon green gatefold sleeve. The eye-catching artwork is created by Utrecht artist Leffe Goldstein, known amongst others for his psychedelic beer can designs for Utrecht brewery Maximus. Wibo, being the beer lover he was, had zero doubts about having Leffe Goldstein do the cover for his album. The CD has a total playing time of 75 minutes and comes in a beautiful 6-panel digipack, while the cassette will have full-color on-body print and comes in a plastic-free Maltese cross fold-up sleeve.

Buyers of the physical releases get treated on superior quality products, another trademark of U-TRAX. The vinyl edition boasts over one hour of music, on two 180 grams, green vinyl discs, in a black & white & neon green gatefold sleeve. The eye-catching artwork is created by Utrecht artist Leffe Goldstein, known amongst others for his psychedelic beer can designs for Utrecht brewery Maximus. Wibo, being the beer lover he was, had zero doubts about having Leffe Goldstein do the cover for his album. The CD has a total playing time of 75 minutes and comes in a beautiful 6-panel digipack, while the cassette will have full-color on-body print and comes in a plastic-free Maltese cross fold-up sleeve.

Opener 'Acid Whip' is one of the oldest compositions on this album, in which a dark 303 bassline hums over layers of spacey strings. Wibo named it after the legendary Whip It party in Amsterdam's De Melkweg. 'Alternate Reality Interface' then presents bouncy rhythms toying around with all sorts of analog (bass) synthesizers, before we go really deep with the epic ambient techno track 'Wandering Souls'.
Then things get a little lighter spirited: 'Mixed Matter Fluctator' is an electro track that builds on sounds created by Matt Buggins. It has very strong Detroit influences, the city Wibo loved so much and that he made a pilgrimage to with a group of friends that called themselves 'The Techno Tourists'. The tempo goes up a notch in 'Program Yourself To Feel', that halfway opens up in wide science fiction strings that evoke memories of Star Wars, the movie series that Wibo was a great fan of, and that was the source of many of his tracks' names. The Human Form remix opens the vinyl edition of this album and is a downright belter of a track.

Next is a somewhat experimental intermezzo named 'Synthetic'. Erratic beats and pounding bassdrums get accompanied by very subtle eerie-sounding strings, before melancholic synthesizers and piano chords take over. This is an excellent prelude to the epic 'Hologram Computing', a track that is one of our favorites. It slowly and softly builds and builds, before a pounding bassdrum breaks loose and a hypnotic arpeggio takes you to higher planes.
Not ready to letting the listener relax, w1bo then serves 'Beilstein Reference', which again presents his trademark cocktail of down-to-earth electro rhythms and catchy melodies, covered in all sort of little sounds and noises, giving the song a lot of energy. What follows is 'Hit me', a track loosely based on a song by Dutch indie rock band Mr. Joe Abe. Wibo met the band's singer on a camping site while being on holidays and the two decided Wibo should do a remix of one of their songs. Nothing was left of the original except the vocals, and the result is a remarkable cheerful, poppy electro song.

'Anticipated Input' is one of the more recent tracks Wibo made for this album, combining electro, acid and, yes: epic strings. But not all is peace and quiet on this album, as 'Pilex Driver' shows. This is w1b0 going experimental in a danceable fashion: Industrial sounds make the track sound like we're passing a construction site that is playing loud electro music. On the vinyl version of this album, Ectomorph totally decomposed the original and made it into a mysterious, almost subdued, and totally brilliant electro track that sees a main role for the retro Roland CR drum machines sounds.

TFHats, Wibo's fellow member of the Transhumanism collective, added lyrics to 'Cartesian Coordinates'. His vocals add a pleasant New Wave flavor to this song, that has breaks that remarkably reminds one of Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. What follows is the most personal track on this album. 'Fornan' is a song that Wibo made for his wife Nanette, and was added as the last piece of the puzzle that creating an album is. The warm Detroit techno atmosphere in this electro song couldn't be a more beautiful tribute to his love, and mother of their two young boys.
The album then takes a surprising detour through a 1980s landscape with 'In There', that features the Joy Division-esque vocals of another one of Wibo's friends, indicated only as Vincent. The super slow and gloomy track is a treat for anyone that loved the darker side of New Wave. The album has a worthy closer in the sensitive, yet playful 'Schlegel Diagram'.








h 08: Hit Me (w1b0's Slugfest Assault Dub) feat. Mr Joe Abe

The Outer Edge is very proud to release another quite sensational release. Here are the official reworks of Hans Hass' proto-AOR / cloud rock hymn "Welche Farbe hat der Wind" (which translates to "What color is the wind").

The main producer for this release was Marian Tone (of Key Elements), who reworked the track almost from scratch. He re-recorded the drums, the bassline, and some chords while keeping Hass's original vocal layer. The distinctive guitar playing by co-composer Gabor Kristof sparkles throughout. The result is exactly what we had hoped and asked for: a DJ-friendly version of this überclassic track.

The idea for this rework project came to mind when label owner DJ Scientist got word from Tobias Kirmayer of Tramp Records that "Welche Farbe hat der Wind" would be officially re-released for the first time on his compilation series "Praise Poems" as well as on a single reissue. Scientist immediately asked if he could make an edit with louder drums to make the track more playable in a DJ set. However, as the masters of the Tramp reissues had already been submitted to the pressing plant, he was granted permission to re-license the track and rework it for his own label instead.

Hence, the reworks feature Scientist's "vintage drums" mix, which has the drums mixed louder, plus drums added at the quite psychedelic and experimental last third, with a few other sound adjustments made.

But it was up to Berlin-based DJ and music producer Marian Tone to put the icing on the cake and rework and enhance the song further with his own version. With fellow Key Elements bandmember Steffen Kieslich, he completely re-recorded the drums. Then it was up to Doron Segal to replay the bass and the keys. What we get is the classic sound of "Welche Farbe hat der Wind" - just updated and fresher.

For the first time ever, the track is also available as an instrumental version. Here, the great original guitar playing keeps the song going and going, and makes it perfectly clear that this tune, which originally came out on the schlager album "Reise in eine glückliche Zukunft" in 1974, is pretty damn funky!

It has been difficult to put "Welche Farbe hat der Wind" into a genre box, But it has been described as "rare groove","psychedelic schlager", and even "proto-AOR". For facility, Scientist has coined the new term "cloud rock" to describe this particular style of soft but groovy music. The name cloud rock bears a conspicuous reference to the krautrock genre as well. More tracks in a similar vein will be heard soon in a DJ mix under the same name.

Marian Tone's rework, as well as the corresponding instrumental version, will be released on a limited 7" single with a full-color picture sleeve. The digital release will feature the DJ Scientist re-mix plus an alternative version that puts more focus on the re-recorded bassline. In any case, this is an essential item for any music lover as well as the ideal contribution to your ultimate "cloud rock" DJ set!

In hugo, there’s a central question that Loyle Carner keeps coming back to: “I’m young, Black, successful and have a platform - but where do I go next?” The answer is explored in this epic scream of a third album. With urgent delivery and gloriously widescreen production, Carner confronts both the deeply personal (“You can’t hate the roots of a tree, and not hate the tree. So how can I hate my father without hating me?) and the highly political (“I told the black man he didn’t understand I reached the white man he wouldn’t take my hand”). Cinematic in scale and scope, hugo is both a rallying war cry for a generation forged in fire and a study of the personal internal conflict that drives the rest of the album - as a mixed-race Black man, as an artist, as a father and as a son. With Mercury and Brits nominations, NME Awards and appearances in global brand campaigns (Nike, YSL, Timberland), Carner has undoubtedly had a meteoric rise to the top, culminating with his second album Not Waving, But Drowning charting at number 3 in the UK albums chart in 2019. However, hugo sees Carner taking a sharp detour from his previous work, putting it down to lockdown and the “hedonistic side of career being stripped away. There were no shows, no backstage, no festivals, no photoshoots”. By continuing to write in these tumultuous times with a renewed clarity and sense of artistic freedom, Carner reached deeper beneath the surface than he ever had before. The result is his most cathartic and ambitious record yet, a coruscating journey into the heart of what it means to be alive in these tumultuous times, and one which looks set to neatly cement his position as one of the most potent and vital young talents around today. Working alongside renowned producer kwes. (Solange, Kelela, Nao), Carner leaves no stone unturned on this album, in both its sound and its stories. In a 10-track album that moves from gorgeous neo-soul moments to thundering hip hop, with immediate, infectious bangers and sampled interludes from non musicians (mixed-race Guyanese poet John Agard and youth activist and politician Athian Akec) Carner shifts seamlessly from micro to macro, confronting everything from strained relationships with family to the societal tears caused by class stratification. It also lays bare bruises in his personal life that he has never revealed before – often in painful, deeply uncomfortable ways, focusing on Carner's experience of becoming a father in the context of growing up without contact with his biological father. With the song “Polyfilla”, against the backdrop of a warm melodic beat, Carner explores his desire to “break the chains in the cycle” of dysfunctional Black fatherhood, commenting on the narrative of fatherhood in the genre, and saying a key part of the process was realising that his father “grew up in a world where nobody showed him how to love or nurture”. The follow up track “A Lasting Place” is an exploration of the MC’s failure and inability to be perfect in this mission. The album closer is a powerful statement of love and forgiveness; with his signature lyrical dexterity, Carner declares his relentless commitment to his son and sees forgiving his father as a key part of this. The song closes with an emotional ending of Carner telling his dad “still I’m lucky yo that we talk”. There’s a striking duality of hugo’s bold, multilayered tracks and its often starkly intimate and tender lyricism, and that dichotomy is deliberate - it is a message for young Black men, but really, anyone, who is listening. Cognizant of the immense pain and fear and confusion that we are faced with everyday, Carner has thrown down the gauntlet, defying us not to rise above the fray, wake up each day and be ambitious. Ambitious in building strong personal relationships. Ambitious in our pursuit of our goals. Ambitious in never refusing to back down against injustice. Rejecting the title of leader, Loyle Carner sees himself “as holding up a mirror”, and that clearly translates into the album's universal messages.

WRWTFWW Records is proud to announce the worldwide reissue of Midori Takada’s solo album from 1999, Tree of Life, available on vinyl for the first time ever in a new audiophile mix by the Japanese percussionist herself, and in full half-speed-mastered glory. The 180g LP comes in a heavy sleeve with a beautiful design by Kohei Sugiura. Tree of Life is also available in CD (digipack) and digital formats.

Originally recorded in September 1998 at legendary Ginza (Tokyo) studio Onkio Haus (founded in 1974 and where Ryuichi Sakamoto’s "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" and many more were recorded) and released on CD only for the Japan market in 1999, Tree of Life is Midori Takada’s best kept secret, a lost gem of minimalism and percussive ambient. The album is separated in two parts, the first one finds Takada exploring her trademark environmental soundscapes with precise mastery of marimba, drums, and bells, notably on the magnificent fan-favorite "Love Song Of Urfa". The second half is a collaboration with Chinese virtuoso Erhu player Jiang Jian Hua, allowing Midori Takada to unveil new layers of her artistic mind with a slightly more theatrical approach and a beautiful crystallization of complex simplicity.

The entire album was given a fresh new audiophile mix by Midori Takada herself and was mastered at Emil Berliner Studios, with half speed cutting for the vinyl version, to ensure an audio presentation aligned with the Japanese pioneer’s vision.

This Tree of Life reissue follows two newly recorded Midori Takada albums, Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter and You Who Are Leaving To Nirvana, both available on WRWTFWW Records, along with her 1983 masterpiece, Through The Looking Glass.

Creative offspring of Tushen Rai and Cornelius Doctor’s musical fantasies, Hard Fist has been a non-profit project encompassing producers, graphic designers, djs and dreamy party worshippers since its inception in 2017.

“We would never have thought that this collective story would bring us this far, that it would take such a place in our lives and that it would bring us so many beautiful encounters. It was only possible to celebrate our 5th anniversary with the unreasonable idea of making something out of the ordinary.

So we thought big, a digger’s dream: a double vinyl in limited edition with 20 artists from 17 countries gathered around exceptional collaborations: producers who have marked the history of the label these last 5 years, friends, but also peers, people who inspired us and gave us the desire to create Hard Fist.

In this Unidentified Noisy Object (U.N.O), you can expect borderless music flirting with Nu-Rave and No Wave, Cosmic Dub and Post-Punk, a slice of Psychedelic Electronica, a lot of Acid and a bit of Slow Goa Trance. As well as some beats of Krautrock played with an Afrobeat groove and a few Darkwave’s synths. But not only that. It’s never only that. But what is it then? Just a label without label, to dance and to explore.

Tripper, the Fruit Bats' 2011 follow-up to The Ruminant Band, is more
pared down, with bandleader Eric Johnson doing most of the legwork
himself
Synthesizers and keyboard loops replace the knotted guitars. Atmospheric
washes of sound replace the sunny, straightforward hooks. On songs like € The
Fen, € instruments replace vocals entirely, sounding more like a clip from an
orchestral movie soundtrack than the work of a rock band. The majority of the
work was done by Johnson and producer Thom Monahan, resulting in a layered
sound that stacks overdubbed harmonies onto combinations of pump organ,
found sounds, acoustic guitar, and various bleeps and bloops. Whether he's
working alone or leading a full lineup, though, Johnson knows his way around a
good pop hook, and Tripper's best songs are rooted in catchy, sunny melodies
that shine through their heavy wrapping paper. Proof that Johnson knows how to
stretch his legs without losing his balance. Pressed with LP on White Color vinyl
and 7" on Seaglass Blue Color vinyl.

Stockholm's Havenaire follows up a series of head-turning ambient releases on the likes of Shimmering Moods, Polar Seas and Glacial Movements with a limited new long player on Past Inside The Present. Across six slowly shifting soundscapes he layers up his misty-eyed chords into music that is designed to empty your mind but that also gently sweeps you heart. There is subtle hope and optimism amongst the ambient fog here that leaves you feeling cleansed and soothed. All six pieces have their own character but are very much united by a sense of calm and serenity that is utterly captivating.