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For the last seven years, sound artist, technologist, and electronic musician Moisés Horta Valenzuela (aka Hexorcismos) has been studying artificial intelligence and generative art, wondering how these new technologies might be augmented into his musical process. Born in Tijuana and currently based in Berlin, Hexorcismos has long attempted to break down the permeable borders between musical styles and expressions, using the spaces in between to reinforce his politics and worldview. And on 'MUTALISMX - becoming sonic network', he expands his vision, inviting artists from across the globe to collaborate on work that questions the biases inherent in AI models, offering a collective alternative that could serve as a blueprint for further research.

The majority of AI art at this stage works with "big data", taking ideas from the cultural canon and muddying them with our contemporary reality. But if we accept that mass culture is always politically biased, always swaying towards historical prejudices, then there must be a counter-narrative. Hexorcismos began to develop a bottom-up approach, using "small data" to interrogate his idiosyncratic approach to art; he built a tool called SEMILLA.AI based on neural audio synthesis that could not only mimic his sonic fingerprint but transform it into another. So when he offered the synth to his network of collaborators, he gave them the option of either using only their data or sharing the signatures of each other artist involved in the project, blurring their identities into a mutual voice.

The result is a compilation that unspools with the coherence and fluidity of a single-artist album or adventurous DJ mix, genreless and boundless but unified by a singular message. Hunanese-American artist Kloxii Li for example takes rugged percussion and tense, industrial ambience, smudging her soundscape into a swirling gust of ghostly dissonance. Hexorcismos himself contributes two compositions: the lengthy, hypnotic 'Acaso de veras se vive con raíz en la Tierra', an AI-powered scramble of his pointed tribal guarachero experiments; and 'Interferencias', a collaboration with Mexican club veteran Bryan Dálvez, aka El Irreal Veintiuno that drives intense dancefloor rhythms into a dense haze of frozen drones and radio static. Elsewhere, Berlin-based Lebanese artist and writer Jessika Khazrik dissolves her voice into a mesh of obscured rhythms and dissociated whirrs, blending the organic with the artificial but retaining an overpowering sense of humanity.

Some artists were drawn to the nebulous aspects of the technology, searching for truth in a soup of different sounds, while others, such as KMRU, used Hexorcismos's synthesizer the examine their output. On 'hidden options', the Kenyan sound artist fed his immense catalog into the neural net, bringing out his mannerisms and tendencies in the process. Each track is singular but myriad, prompting both mutual respect and a sonic becoming, a feedback process between the artist and the tool, the individual and the collective. Data sets are made by people, and by engaging directly with musicians, Hexorcismos suggests a new way of utilizing a technology demonized and glorified without careful examination. Each artist owns their AI model, and alongside the album Hexorcismos will release SEMILLA.AI to the public (with custom-made models to start the process), allowing anyone to access this revolutionary technology.

Even the album's artwork reflects the political message, conceptualized by Chilean duo hypereikon, who used AI processes to develop a visual reflection of the technology and its possibilities. Operating outside of academia and capitalist enterprises, MUTUALISMX proposes an alternative future - one without borders that's not beholden to the Western canon, where independent labor can be prioritized and celebrated, and where creativity can truly flourish.

East Los Angeles quartet Levitation Room’s floaty, cosmic songs are always a trip. Since forming nearly a decade ago, they’ve self-produced dizzying, otherworldly music that’s connected with fellow travelers in the hallucinogenic world of outré rock music. Led by singer and guitarist Julian Porte along with founding members Gabriel Fernandez (lead guitar) and Johnathan Martin (percussion), the band has enchanted live audiences at Desert Daze and on tour with like-minded groups Post Animal and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. The band’s vivid sound has found them placed on popular playlists like Modern Psychedelia and the legendary superproducer’s Danger Mouse Jukebox. Their 2015 debut, “Friends,” has surpassed 18 million streams. Joined by new member Kevin Perez (bass) in 2021, Levitation Room have continued to expand their colorful, unearthly sound, a process that has culminated with the vibrant new album Strange Weather. Collaborating with former Brian Jonestown Massacre keyboardist Rob Campanella, Jason Kick (Mild High Club), and Black Crowes’ Joel Robinow, Levitation Room take a new step in their story and vision with Strange Weather. The record’s lyrical narratives—about love in the park, life in the city, and the fact that “The world today is such an illusion”—are appropriately steeped in ’60s sonics and a dreamy, lo-fi atmosphere. It’s spacey, celestial guitar music for escaping into, and “it feels just like heaven.” Join Levitation Room on their new voyage.

Treten Sie mit Tamás Kátais visionärem Projekt in das Reich des Avantgarde-Metal ein: Thy Catafalque. Seit über zwei Jahrzehnten leistet Thy Catafalque meisterhaft Pionierarbeit im Bereich der extremen Metal-Musik. Jetzt wird das bahnbrechende Album Sublunar Tragedies, das den Beginn dieser musikalischen Reise markierte, auf dem Label Season of Mist wiedergeboren. Ursprünglich wurde dieses avantgardistische Meisterwerk im September 1999 der Weltöffentlichkeit vorgestellt und dient als Grundlage für das Vermächtnis von Thy Catafalque. Versetze dich in das Jahr 1999 - als die Welt eine neue Perspektive auf den Metal kennenlernte. Thy Catafalque tauchten auf und boten eine einzigartige Mischung aus harschen Black-Metal-Klängen und detaillierten Synthesizer-Überlagerungen, die eine Symphonie hervorbrachte, die sich über die Konventionen der damaligen Zeit hinwegsetzte. Heute steht Sublunar Tragedies als ein Relikt von Kátais fortwährendem künstlerischen Schaffen und ist bereit, das Publikum durch seine Wiederveröffentlichung auf Season of Mist erneut zu fesseln.

JOACHIM WITT ist eine Lichtgestalt der deutschen Kulturszene. Seit über 40 Jahren steht der erfolgreiche Musiker auf der Bühne. In diesen Jahrzehnten hat er eine enorme Wandelbarkeit bewiesen. 17 Alben veröffentlichte Joachim Witt seit 1980. Beginnend mit "Silberblick" und der Auskopplung "Der Goldene Reiter" (Gold-Status) in der Zeit der NDW, über das 1998 erschiene Comeback-Erfolgsalbum "Bayreuth I", das Platin Status erreichte, bis "DOM" in 2012 mit der Singlekopplung "Gloria" und dem kontrovers diskutierten Video, seinen Auftritten beim Wacken Open-Air oder auch seiner jüngst entdeckten TikTok-Karriere: Der 74-Jährige gebürtige Hamburger ist ein Garant für Vielseitigkeit, Genre Wechsel und Stil-Mischungen.

Sein neues Album trägt den Titel "Der Fels in der Brandung" . Keine Metapher passt zu JOACHIM WITT persönlich besser: Der Ausnahmekünstler hat im Laufe seines Lebens immer wieder Veränderungen unternommen, unzählige Herausforderungen gemeistert, Höhen und Tiefen durchlebt und dabei seine künstlerische
Integrität fortwährend bewahrt.

JOACHIM WITT nimmt sich immer wieder neuer Visionen an und verwirklicht diese konsequent.

"Der Fels in der Brandung" ist ein Album, das seine Zuhörer auf vielen Ebenen überraschen wird. In enger Zusammenarbeit mit dem Flensburger Gold-Produzenten Hardy Krech (Elephant Music), hat JOACHIM WITT wieder einen neuen und eigenen Sound kreiert, der seine Stärken und seine Botschaften in eindrucksvoller Weise mit elektronischen Klängen und Gitarrenmelodien verwebt

East Los Angeles quartet Levitation Room’s floaty, cosmic songs are always a trip. Since forming nearly a decade ago, they’ve self-produced dizzying, otherworldly music that’s connected with fellow travelers in the hallucinogenic world of outré rock music. Led by singer and guitarist Julian Porte along with founding members Gabriel Fernandez (lead guitar) and Johnathan Martin (percussion), the band has enchanted live audiences at Desert Daze and on tour with like-minded groups Post Animal and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. The band’s vivid sound has found them placed on popular playlists like Modern Psychedelia and the legendary superproducer’s Danger Mouse Jukebox. Their 2015 debut, “Friends,” has surpassed 18 million streams. Joined by new member Kevin Perez (bass) in 2021, Levitation Room have continued to expand their colorful, unearthly sound, a process that has culminated with the vibrant new album Strange Weather. Collaborating with former Brian Jonestown Massacre keyboardist Rob Campanella, Jason Kick (Mild High Club), and Black Crowes’ Joel Robinow, Levitation Room take a new step in their story and vision with Strange Weather. The record’s lyrical narratives—about love in the park, life in the city, and the fact that “The world today is such an illusion”—are appropriately steeped in ’60s sonics and a dreamy, lo-fi atmosphere. It’s spacey, celestial guitar music for escaping into, and “it feels just like heaven.” Join Levitation Room on their new voyage.

East Los Angeles quartet Levitation Room’s floaty, cosmic songs are always a trip. Since forming nearly a decade ago, they’ve self-produced dizzying, otherworldly music that’s connected with fellow travelers in the hallucinogenic world of outré rock music. Led by singer and guitarist Julian Porte along with founding members Gabriel Fernandez (lead guitar) and Johnathan Martin (percussion), the band has enchanted live audiences at Desert Daze and on tour with like-minded groups Post Animal and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. The band’s vivid sound has found them placed on popular playlists like Modern Psychedelia and the legendary superproducer’s Danger Mouse Jukebox. Their 2015 debut, “Friends,” has surpassed 18 million streams. Joined by new member Kevin Perez (bass) in 2021, Levitation Room have continued to expand their colorful, unearthly sound, a process that has culminated with the vibrant new album Strange Weather. Collaborating with former Brian Jonestown Massacre keyboardist Rob Campanella, Jason Kick (Mild High Club), and Black Crowes’ Joel Robinow, Levitation Room take a new step in their story and vision with Strange Weather. The record’s lyrical narratives—about love in the park, life in the city, and the fact that “The world today is such an illusion”—are appropriately steeped in ’60s sonics and a dreamy, lo-fi atmosphere. It’s spacey, celestial guitar music for escaping into, and “it feels just like heaven.” Join Levitation Room on their new voyage.

Clear Vinyl

Blue Lake is the musical moniker of American born, Copenhagen based multidisciplinary artist and musician Jason Dungan, who signs to the Tonal Union imprint for the release of his new longform album ‘Sun Arcs’. It follows 2022’s release ‘Stikling’, earning a nomination for ‘Album of the Year’ at the Danish Music Awards plus warm praise from The Hum blog and musicians and DJs alike including Jack Rollo (Time is Away/NTS) and Carla dal Forno. A self taught player, Dungan began freely experimenting with self-built multi-string instruments, preferring to build his own hybrid 48-string zither and working in the realms of left-field ambient music, off kilter folk and improvised acoustic minimalism.

The starting point of ‘Sun Arcs’ saw Jason travel for a week alone to Andersabo, a cabin set in the idyllic Swedish woods just outside of Unnaryd, known also as the music project, festival and residency space which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe and Ellen Arkbro. Whilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls: “My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.”

The album’s immersive world unfolds with the opener ‘Dallas’, an ode to his home state and a musical synthesis of these two disparate spaces (Texas and Denmark), the touchstones of Dungan’s life. A folk-esque single acoustic builds to a flowing arrangement of clarinets, organ and cello drones coupled with percussion. ‘Green-Yellow Field’ chimes in as the first of two solo oriented zither recordings twinned with the dreamlike title track ‘Sun Arcs’, both densely rich as cascading and overlapping harmonic tones resound. ‘Bloom’ emerges with a krautrock psyche before an eruption of cello drones, slide guitar and free-ranging zither playing, ushering in the anticipation of spring. With half of the recordings conceived in Andersabo, Jason returned to Copenhagen to form the album's centre piece ‘Rain Cycle’ which features a tempered Roland drum machine alongside shifting zither improvisations. ‘Writing’ explores the shimmering harp-like qualities of sweeping playing figurations with Dungan mapping out adjusted tuning “zones” on the zither for unconventional but creatively liberating effects. ‘Fur’ captures the feeling of openness and the momentum of time, seeing Dungan perform waves of solo clarinet, often in one takes and embellished with textural drones, a zither solo, and layers of guitar. ‘Wavelength’ the album's closer is fondly inspired by the film works of Michael Snow and Don Cherry’s seminal live album ‘Blue Lake’ (1974), as it builds out from a drone-generated zither chord and features an alto recorder solo. Dungan found a deep connection to Cherry’s stripped back performance ethos, focusing on the core beauty of minimal instrumentation creating a genre-less meeting between folk and jazz. A dialogue is formed between the solo and the bandlike performances, interlinked in a geographical duality with all finding a sense of commonplace as musical sketches of visited landscapes. The bountiful instrumentation ebbs and flows as further layers emerge with Dungan constructing his material much like an artist would, recording and reviewing, adding and subtracting.

Musically it portrays a form of double life led by an American-identifying person living in Scandinavia, and a new found presence in Denmark, seeking out underdeveloped marshlands and barren stretches of beach adrift from other rhythms and distractions. Highlighting their individual and potent importance Dungan concludes: “Both places feel like “me”, I think on some level the music is always some kind of self-portrait.” ‘Sun Arcs’ depicts the intricate balance of nature’s cycles and the paths outlined by the seasons, from a winter dormancy to a warm sun drenched scene. The album scales new glorying heights and further defines Dungan’s musical narrative, inhabiting a unique space in left-field, improvised and experimental music, borning his most accomplished compositions to date. A singular and visionary expression, drawing on an array of instruments and sound worlds with a renewed sense of joy and discovery.

The album's rich tapestry was mixed by Jeff Zeigler (Laraaji, Mary Lattimore, Kurt Vile /Steve Gunn) and mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Kali Malone, KMRU, Félicia Atkinson).

Red Vinyl

EVOLV is a visionary window into the mind of Dubfire, the journey of the ‘hybrid’ being and its evolution. Last year in October, an 11-track debut album was released on his long-standing SCI+TEC imprint. And now, just over a year later, Grammy award winning producer Dubfire returns to that sonic discourse, drafting in an impressive array of names to re-interpret the material, and accompanied by Dubfire's new audio-visual EVOLV show which picked up where the critically acclaimed electronic performance experience HYBRID had left off.

From the rotten bowels of Portland USA crawls out the most hideous death metal unit called Petrification who have cursed mankind with their old school style of filth since 2017. After their Summon Horrendous Void EP (2017) and Hollow of the Void album (2018) Petrification is now ready to release their next full-length opus called Sever Sacred Light via Svart Records. Petrification’s themes may revolve around the cosmic horrors and repugnant themes, but this isn’t your typical nowadays technical progressive metal where the number of notes compensates for the lack of true vision. Sever sacred light delivers eight tracks of crushing doom laden and HEAVY - in the true sense of that word - death metal combining the down tuned caveman mid-tempo riffs of Coffins to Bolt Thrower style grooves spiced with an Autopsy worship. You can also hear the echoes from certain Finnish death metal acts from their most dark past, but (sl)easiest way to describe the Petrification’s blunt to the core delivery is: sick old school death metal for the diehards.

From the rotten bowels of Portland USA crawls out the most hideous death metal unit called Petrification who have cursed mankind with their old school style of filth since 2017. After their Summon Horrendous Void EP (2017) and Hollow of the Void album (2018) Petrification is now ready to release their next full-length opus called Sever Sacred Light via Svart Records. Petrification’s themes may revolve around the cosmic horrors and repugnant themes, but this isn’t your typical nowadays technical progressive metal where the number of notes compensates for the lack of true vision. Sever sacred light delivers eight tracks of crushing doom laden and HEAVY - in the true sense of that word - death metal combining the down tuned caveman mid-tempo riffs of Coffins to Bolt Thrower style grooves spiced with an Autopsy worship. You can also hear the echoes from certain Finnish death metal acts from their most dark past, but (sl)easiest way to describe the Petrification’s blunt to the core delivery is: sick old school death metal for the diehards.

Meltheads have been spreading wildfire on stages in Belgium and The Netherlands for a good while now, driven by the metronomically tight rhythm section of Tim Pensaert (bass) and Simon de Geus (drums), and fuelled by the razor-sharp and skilful guitar of Yunas de Proost. And then there’s frontman Sietse Willems, a man born to be on stage, like Morrison, Plant and Iggy Pop in one brutal and gnarly package. On 9 February they will be releasing the long-awaited debut album ‘Decent Sex’. The album kicks off with the title track, linking Stooges to The Doors, and not beating about the bush: it’s going to be at breakneck speed, and it’s going to be loud. Just 30 minutes later, once the final notes of fever dream Melvin have died out, ‘Decent Sex’ leaves you knocked out on the floor after an insane trip along blaring post punk, visceral noise, sweeping psych and good old rock ‘n’ roll. Part of the world is already turning its head, as renowned radio stations like KEXP and Radio X Manchester are picking up songs like I Want It All and Theodore, and fellow Antwerp based rock legends dEUS took them on tour, even as far as London’s Electric Brixton. Influential music magazines like Visions (DE), Clash and DIY (UK) dug up superlatives – and comparisons to The Birthday Party – for Theodore, a song about looking for (self) love, but also about the mess drug use can lead to. All not very uplifting, and most themes return in several songs, like the dark side to relationships and sex (White Lies, Decent Sex), or toxic masculinity (Vegan Leather Boots, Theodore again) and even politics (No One Is Innocent, Arbeit). Pretty heavy stuff, but wrapped in the highly infectious and piercing guitar rock Meltheads are serving, it’s going like a bomb. Decent Sex is out on 9 February, followed by release shows in Belgium, The Netherlands and Paris. At the end of January, Meltheads will vigorously kick off the year with a show at the highly influential ESNS showcase festival, where the part of the world that is still in blissful ignorance will get to know the brute force of Meltheads.

Decent Sex by Meltheads, released 9 February 2024, includes the following tracks: "Vegan Leather Boots ", "White Lies ", "No One Is Innocent ", "Gear " and more.

Currently celebrating ten years of releasing music on vinyl & cassette and following hype for recent releases from Moscow (via Tallinn)’s Galun (glagol album) and Osaka's Kiji Suedo (Hosek EP & Riot album), Edinburgh's Hobbes Music label continues to mine a leftfield seam with this brand new album from singer/songwriter George Demure (Tirk, Output) aka DJ/producer George T (Greco Roman, Optimo), better known as George Thomson to his mum. And it’s another absolute peach if you have a taste for post-club sounds of a more leftfield persuasion.

This is the follow-up to his 'The Record Store' EP which came out via George's own All Noise imprint in 2021. He has also released the Roll On, King's Cross single via Hobbes Music under his George T moniker last November (plus various bits for the Paradise Palms and Ramrock labels in the interim).

“It all began with the Record Store EP in 2021,” explains George. “Limit my options. No samples, one drum machine, two analog synths (mono and poly), computer simply to record. I was so happy with the results I began with what you hear today. Same drums, same machines (or lack thereof) maybe some real percussion and melodica but hey, I only answer to me.”

Imagine, if you will, Scott Walker jamming with Kruder & Dorfmeister in a very small studio…

Bonus Album ‘Dandy In Dub’ features dubs, instrumentals and bonus tracks, with yet more regular flashes of pure brilliance. Be sure to check out opener 'After' and closer 'Blue Lou', which sound like George might well have sound-tracked some French 80s flick of the 'cinema du look' period (Betty Blue, Diva et al) in another life. Plus ‘Mr Minilogue’ with its clarinet-like synth.... Does it really get any better than this?!!

Sleeve art by the amazingly talented Bernie Reid, another local legend.

Feedback/Reviews to date:

'He's so talented!' JD TWITCH (Optimo)
'Love the LP. Sounds really together, production is awesome. I love the aesthetic. Vocal tracks sit nicely with instrumentals. Vocals sound light-hearted' THE MAGHREBAN
"On a bobbled and float-y, light sunbeam dappled vapor of deep house, garage, electro, kosmische, leftfield pop electronica, dub and new wave (both the German and UK’s), the Edinburgh DJ/producer and singer-songwriter George Thomson continues the good work he laid down on the last EP... It’s a most lovely, swimmingly blend of motivations, feels and deep grooves that effortlessly comes together in a generous offering of electronic music: the very epitome of the Hobbes label’s remit in delivering leftfield unique visions of now techno, house and club sounds." MONOLITH COCKTAIL
‘I love the album’ LEO MAS
‘Lovely stuff’ S/A/M (Music For Dreams/DK, Cafe Del Mar, Pikes, Playasol Radio and many more, Ibiza)
Plus play/s from Andy Wilson on ‘Balearia’ Ibiza Sonica Radio
+ DJ Dribbler (Pikes, Ibiza // Paradise Lost, Red Light Radio, Pure)

Kali Malone's anticipated new album "All Life Long" is a collection of music for pipe organ, choir, and brass quintet composed by Kali Malone, 2020 - 2023. Choral music performed by Macadam Ensemble and conducted by Etienne Ferschaud at Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-L'Immaculée-Conception in Nantes. Brass quintet music performed by Anima Brass at The Bunker Studio in New York City. Organ music performed by Kali Malone and Stephen O'Malley on the historical meantone tempered pipe organs at Église Saint-François in Lausanne, Orgelpark in Amsterdam, and Malmö Konstmuseum in Sweden. Kali Malone composes with a rare clarity of vision. Her music is patient and focused, built on a foundation of evolving harmonic cycles that draw out latent emotional resonances. Time is a crucial factor: letting go of expectations of duration and breadth offers a chance to find a space of reflection and contemplation. In her hands, experimental reinterpretations of centuries-old polyphonic compositional methods become portals to new ways of perceiving sound, structure, and introspection. Though awe-inspiring in scope, the most remarkable thing about Malone's music is the intimacy stirred by the close listening it encourages. Malone's new album All Life Long, created between 2020 - 2023, presents her first compositions for organ since 2019's breakthrough album The Sacrificial Code alongside interrelated pieces for voice and brass performed by Macadam Ensemble and Anima Brass. Over the course of twelve pieces, harmonic themes and patterns recur, presented in altered forms and for varied instrumentation. They emerge and reemerge like echoes of their former selves, making the familiar uncanny. Propelled by lungs and breath rather than bellows and oscillators, Malone's compositions for choir and brass take on expressive qualities that complicate the austerity that has defined her work, introducing lyricism and the beauty of human fallibility into music that has been driven by mechanical processes. At the same time, the works for organ, performed by Malone with additional accompaniment by Stephen O'Malley on four different organs dating from the 15th to 17th centuries, underscore the mighty, spectral power that those rigorous operations can achieve. All Life Long simmers in an ever-shifting tension between repetition and variation. The pieces for brass, organ, and voice are alternated asymmetrically, providing nearly continuous timbral fluctuation across its 78-minute runtime even as thematic material reiterates. Each composition's internal framework of fractal pattern permutations has the paradoxical effect of creating anticipated keystone moments of dramatic reverie and lulling the listener into believing in an illusory endlessness. On an even more granular level, the historical meantone tuning systems of each organ used, and the variable intonation of brass and voice, provide further points of emotional excavation within the harmony. The titular composition "All Life Long" appears twice on the album, first as an extended canon for organ and again in the final quarter, compactly arranged for voice In the latter, Malone pairs the music with "The Crying Water" by Arthur Symons, a poem steeped in language of mourning and eternity. For organ, "All Life Long" moves with a patient stateliness, the drama concentrated in moments when shifting tonalities generate and release dissonance and ecstasy. For voice, each word is saturated with feeling, the singers swooping gracefully downward to capture the melancholy of the narrator's relationship to the timeless tears of the sea. "Passage Through The Spheres," the album's opening piece, contains lyrics in Italian pulled from Giorgio Agamban's essay In Praise of Profanation. In it, Agamban defines profanation as, in part, the act of bringing back to communal, secular use that which has been segregated to the realm of the sacred, a process Malone enacts each time she performs on church organs. This is not music of praise, or of spiritual revelation, but it is an artistic enactment of translating the indescribable. It carries the gravity of liturgical chant, and its fixation on the infinite, but draws its weight from the earthly realm of human experience. A music that draws the listener into the present moment where they can discover themselves within the interwoven musical patterns that can come to resemble the passage of days, weeks, years, a lifetime.

Franco-British artist, born in Birmingham suburbs in 1993, Albert Newton welcomes us into the metaphysical universe of his debut album scheduled for release early 2024 on Byebye records.

After releasing his first EP «Bedroom Posters (*Spring)» in 2020, Henry met a quantum researcher and an astrophysicist who opened his eyes to the reality and beauty of the scientific world we live in. These encounters would prove a major inspiration for the writing of his first album, «Twin Earth».

A 10-track album influenced by a wide range of musicians from Bowie, MGMT and Tame Impala to Frank Ocean or even Philip Glass. Produced by Max Baby (Hannah Jadagu, Goldie Boutilier).

The multilayered lyrics map the traditional rollercoaster of emotions as well as their place in the celestial architecture . Nothing is ever perfect on this twin planet, but Albert Newton looks upon it with tenderness and gratitude, and shares a much-needed optimistic vision.

20. Jubiläumsalbum der weltweit bekannten klassischen Crossover-Gruppe Il Divo mit neuem Material, darunter ein neuer Originalsong. Erstes Album
mit dem neuen Mitglied Steven LaBrie,nach dem Tod von Gründungsmitglied Carlos Marin im Jahr 2020. Il Divo hebt 2024 mit ihrem 10. Album "XX"
ab. Wieder einmal machen sie einen kreativen Sprung nach vorne und erweitern gleichzeitig ihren Stil und ihre Vision. "Das Album hat wirklich einen
eigenen Sound", so Sébastien weiter. "Es ist aufregend zu hören, wohin wir gehen. Es ist Il Divo, aber es ist das nächste Kapitel"."Es hat etwas
Magisches, dass wir 2022 auf Tournee waren, enge Freunde wurden und zusammen Musik machen", führt Steven weiter aus. "Es ist unglaublich."Für
Il Divo beginnt jetzt eine neue Zeitrechnung."Für mich ist Musik mehr als nur Unterhaltung", sagt David. "Sie trennt den Menschen vom Rest des
Tierreichs. Die menschliche Stimme ist zu Dingen fähig, die jeder im Publikum schwingungsmäßig zuordnen kann. Wir haben alle schon Traurigkeit
und Glück erlebt. Il Divo übersetzt extreme Emotionen in eine moderne Erfahrung von Menschlichkeit. Das ist keine Hintergrund Musik. Wir spiegeln
in unseren Schwingungen wider, wie Sie sich vielleicht fühlen, und ermöglichen eine Katharsis. Wir möchten, dass dies so lange wie möglich andauert.
Solange wir den Atem haben und in der Lage sind, das zu tuntun können, was wir tun, ist das alles, was wir wollen. Wir wollen Fenster der
Transformation für jeden schaffen, der bereit ist zuzuhören.""Alles, was wir tun, ist für das Publikum", erklärt Sebastien. "Carlos wird immer in
unseren Herzen sein. "Nachdem wir einen Bruder verloren und in 20 Jahren so viel erlebt haben, sind Il Divo und unsere Musik kein bisschen müde",
sagt Urs weiter. Das ist für mich das Wichtigste: Il Divo ist nach 20 Jahren immer noch da, und Il Divo ist da um zu bleiben."

Hail the sonic mayhem as we commemorate two decades of groundbreaking beats! Bong-Ra's iconic masterpiece, 'Bikini Bandits Kill! Kill! Kill!,' is set to make its vinyl debut on Rotterdam's Redrum Recordz. This record is a genre breaking fusion of breakcore, jungle and experimental electronic sounds that define Bong-Ra's visionary work. Safe to say; a classic! With guest appearances of The Dirty Dred (Skindred / Dub War), Mike Redman (Deformer) and Lolita Storm. In homage to the album's relentless energy and fiery spirit, the 20th-anniversary edition comes in striking red double vinyl. Order now to ensure you don't miss out on this limited release.

Directed by David Robert Mitchell, the supernatural horror film It Follows tells the story of a teenager (Maika Monroe) who finds herself haunted by nightmarish visions and the inescapable sense that something menacing is after her. The film was met with much critical acclaim and established Monroe as the movie industry’s newest “scream queen”.

It Follows features a stunning, electronic-driven score, heavy with pulsating synths and dread in equal measure. It was composed by the renowned musician Disasterpeace. This electro, 80s influenced score is a character in itself in the movie, and will haunt the listener long after the film has stopped rolling.

Robert Wienes Stummfilmklassiker von 1920 in neuem Klanggewand, komponiert von ex-Kraftwerk-Musiker Karl Bartos. Die Filmzeitschrift Licht-Bild-Bühne hatte damals nicht mit Superlativen gegeizt: "Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari" sei nichts Geringeres als "der modernste, aktuellste, gewagteste Film, den die Welt je gesehen hat", schrieb das Magazin 1920 und damit kurz nach der Premiere über den ersten Psychothriller der Filmgeschichte. Einer, der sich besonders intensiv mit diesem Meilenstein der Geschichte des expressionistischen Films auseinandergesetzt hat, ist der Komponist und Musiker Karl Bartos - vielen gut bekannt als langjähriges Bandmitglied und Co-Komponist von Kraftwerk, jenen Pionieren der Elektronischen Musik, die in ihrem Bereich mindestens ebenso "modern, aktuell, gewagt" waren. Seit fast 20 Jahren hegt der ursprünglich klassisch ausgebildete Musiker eine Leidenschaft für diesen wohl einflussreichsten deutschen Stummfilm aller Zeiten und arbeitet daran, dem experimentellen Film ein ebenso experimentelles Klanggewand zu schneidern. Mit kristallklaren Bildern, die von der Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung digital restauriert wurden, ist der Film nun in der besten Qualität zu sehen, die es je gab, und mit Bartos" Soundtrack gibt es nun auch einen beeindruckenden Sound zu der eindringlichen Vision.

The latest release on An’archives, Suikyō, documents a first-time meeting between three Japanese improvisers: Takashi Masubuchi on guitar and harmonica; Ayami Suzuki on voice and electronics; and Tomo on hurdy-gurdy. Recorded at Permian on the 29th of January, 2023, it’s a stunning, forty-minute long improvisation of rare artistic sympathy. Notably, it was the first time the trio had performed together, though Masubuchi and Suzuki have prior form as a duo; on the evening itself, the trio performance was preceded by solo sets from Suzuki and Tomo, which served as a kind of introduction, of sorts, to the broader aesthetic visions of two of the musicians on Suikyō.

Masubuchi, Suzuki and Tomo make for a fascinating trio, not only due to the shared musical sympathy that’s clear from their performance, but also due to their histories, and the way these dovetail on the music you hear on Suikyō. Masubuchi has recorded a number of stunning solo albums for guitar and has also improvised with a number of musicians: you can hear his responsiveness and thoughtful playing on albums alongside Suzuki, Taku Sugimoto, Straytone, Shizuo Uchida, Takahiro Kawaguchi, and more. Suzuki’s work for voice has been documented on several solo cassette releases, and in consort with Tetuzi Akiyama, Rob Noyes, Leo Okagawa, Aidan Baker and Tobias Humble. And Tomo’s music can be heard on a small clutch of solo CDs, as a member of Tetragrammaton and Archeus, and in collaboration with Junzo Suzuki.

The way their instrumental voices meld together on Suikyō, though, is evidence of a capacity both to draw from these histories, and to take these collective knowledges to new places. And sometimes, unexpectedly old places: Masubuchi notes that his guitar on this set took him back to the rock and blues he used to play, perhaps in earlier groups like Pelktopia, which he suggests contributes to “the psychedelic mood” of Suikyō. Tomo’s hurdy gurdy matches this by pulling drones out of the air or allowing melodies to slowly morph and envelop the listener – their development, at times, reminds me of troubadour music from Occitanie.

Suzuki’s presence is equally compelling and curious. Her voice is an eternally flexible instrument, and whether it sits unadorned within the soundworld magic’d into space by Masubuchi and Tomo, or slips between the cracks thanks to subtle use of electronic effects, it has a quality about it that is both otherworldly – at times, the voice soars and pirouettes – and thoroughly, deeply grounded, of this earth, a most human and intimate encounter. There is a lovely consort between Suzuki and Tomo, the voice and hurdy-gurdy shadowing each other: as Tomo notes, “the hurdy gurdy has been an instrument played to accompany singing since the Middle Ages.” For Suzuki, the performance was “psychedelic and hedonistic in a good way,” but it wasn’t simply given in to that experience: “we were at the same time looking at it from an objective point of view.”

That feels like the right way to approach Suikyō: as a performance that both sets the mind and ears spinning, but with a careful, thoughtful, and considerate objectivity to its moment-by-moment development. It’s also incredibly gorgeous. As a first encounter, it’s surprising in both its comfort and its challenge: and as Masubuchi says, the playing together feels just the way it had to be: “instinctive, unintentional, and inevitable.”

Skylax Welcome Back Nicolas Aftalion With Another Powerful Ep "Spirit of House Ii" After His Sensational Debut on the Label, Acclaimed by the Queen of the Genre Cinthie. Deeply Inspired by the New Jersey House Sound Popularized by Tony Humphries, and the Vibrant Energy of the New York Scene. This Release Embodies the Essence of Original House Music, Delivering an Exhilarating and Impactful Experience. Following the Success of "Spirit of House I", This Sequel Is a Natural Progression in Aftalion's Musical Journey. Prepare to Be Transported by the Enchanting Tracks Within. "Cruise in Paradise" Blends Jazz and Spanish Influences, Reminiscent of the Iconic Moments on the Album "Forever Changes" by the American Band Love (As Crazy as It Sounds), Fusing Original House With Free Jazz in an Improbable Yet Captivating Manner. "A Message to Mad Mike" Pays Homage to the Visionary Dj and Producer of Underground Resistance, Expressing Profound Admiration and Love. This Is a Monumental Record That Encompasses Everything Contemporary Electronic Music Has Forgotten. "Paris Is Burning" Serves as an Ode to the Voguing Culture of the '90s, a Celebration of Queer Expression and Vitality. "Soulful in Paris" Takes Us Back to the Soulful and Rhythmic Sounds of Strictly Rhythm and the Timeless Energy of Ultra Naté. as a Digital Bonus, Indulge in the Excellence of "Baby Driver" and "Blaster." "Spirit of House Ii" Is a Masterpiece That Captures the Essence of House Music's Roots While Embracing Innovation and Artistry. Prepare Yourself for an Extraordinary Musical Journey That Showcases Nicolas Aftalion's Profound Understanding of the Genre and His Ability to Create Timeless and Groundbreaking Compositions....

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When we established Balmat in 2021, neither of us could have imagined that within two years, we’d be putting out an album by one of our musical heroes: Mike Paradinas, aka µ-Ziq. The British producer has been an inspiration to label co-founders Albert Salinas and Philip Sherburne since the 1990s. In fact, his album-length remix project The Auteurs Vs µ-Ziq was one of the very first pieces of electronic music that Philip bought, way back in 1994. To have the opportunity to release his music now feels like a real full-circle moment.

Paradinas, of course, needs no introduction. Under a slew of aliases, chief among them µ-Ziq, the British artist revolutionized leftfield electronic music in the 1990s—coincidentally, this year marks the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Tango N’ Vectif, for his friend and sometime collaborator Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label—and his label Planet Mu has built up a formidable catalog of visionary, forwardlooking records, mapping virtually every corner of the electronic spectrum. With 1977, he turns the clock backward in a sense, and not just with the album’s title: Rooted in classic ambient and electronic sounds, these 15 tracks evoke the anything-goes spirit of the early ’90s, before the tools and tropes had calcified into cut-and-dried styles.

There’s no shortage of familiar sounds on 1977. There are echoes of raves and chillout rooms and transmissions from the fringes of techno; there are detuned synths and glistening reverb tails and, above all, gauzy vox pads, the eerie glue that holds it all together. The title, he says, is meant to invoke a general sense of nostalgia, bookmarking a year in his boyhood when he became more selfaware. More than anything, 1977 sounds like µ-Ziq distilled: Stripped of his signature breakbeats and customary chaos, Paradinas’ first-ever strictly (well, mostly) ambient album presents the essence of his music in a whole new light.

Along the way Paradinas touches on dark-ambient drones (“Marmite”), horror-film themes (“Belt & Carpet”), jungle breaks (“Mesolithic Jungle”), and even house music (“Houzz 13”), which marks the first bona fide dance-floor moment on Balmat to date). Yet the album never—to our ears, anyway— feels expressly retro. Rather, Paradinas plucks timeless sounds out of the ether and gives them a gentle tap, spinning them into unexpected new orbits. At times, 1977 feels like an experience of extended déjà vu: When we first listened to it, we had the sense that we already knew this music. It was as though we had heard it years ago, perhaps on a battered cassette tape lent to us by a friend, and been searching for it ever since. We hope you feel the same.

The Smile veröffentlichen ihr mit großer Spannung erwartetes Debütalbum "A Light For Attracting Attention" am 13. Mai 2022 digital auf XL Recordings. Die Vinyl- und CD-Veröffentlichung folgt am 17.06. Die 13 Tracks des Albums wurden von Nigel Godrich produziert sowie gemischt und von Bob Ludwig abschließend gemastert. Die Songs werden von Streichern des London Contemporary Orchestra und einer kompletten Bläsersektion zeitgenössischer britischer Jazzmusiker wie Byron Wallen, Theon und Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman und Jason Yarde begleitet. Die Band, bestehend aus Thom Yorke und Jonny Greenwood von Radiohead und Tom Skinner von Sons of Kemet, hat bereits die Singles "You Will Never Work in Television Again", "The Smoke" und "Skrting On The Surface" veröffentlicht. "The Smoke" wurde außerdem als Dub-Remix des legendären Reggae-Produzenten Dennis Bovell veröffentlicht. Die letzte Single "Pana-vision" von The Smile wurde bereits am 3. April veröffentlicht und lief im Finale der BBC-Serie "Peaky Blinders". Das animierte Video zu Pana-vision zeigt Artworks des Radiohead-Künstlers Stanley Donwood sowie Thom Yorke. Die brandneue Single "Free In The Knowledge" erscheint heute parallel zur Albumankündigung. Das Video zum Song entstand unter Regie von Leo Leigh. Der Song wurde erstmals im Dezember 2021 von Thom Yorke im Rahmen der "Letters Live"-Veranstaltung in der Londoner Royal Albert Hall aufgeführt - dem ersten Auftritt von Thom Yorke seit Beginn der Pandemie. Bei der Vorstellung des Songs widmete er ihn allen britischen Musikerkollegen. Im Januar spielten The Smile drei aufeinanderfolgende ausverkaufte Liveshows innerhalb von 24 Stunden in London. Diese Shows wurden gleichzeitig per Livestream an ein weltweites Publikum übertragen. Die Band beginnt ihre Europatournee Mitte Mai 2022 und wird am 20.05 in Berlin im Tempodrom spielen.

Penelope Scott is a songwriter and producer who absorbs the mania and magnificence of Gen Z life in her expansive, entrancing, and extreme musical vision equally steeped in tender acoustic balladry and hyperpop paroxysms. Gathering hundreds of millions of streams and receiving widespread acclaim from Billboard and more, she showcases both sides of her sound on the 2023

double-EP, Girls Night and Mysteries for Rats.. “When I was making the project, I realized there was a split down the middle,” she reveals. “Half of the songs are in the more acoustic folky style, and the other half are computerized synth sounds. So, I decided to do multiple EPs. It gives people different options and flavors already sorted out for them.” Penelope explores every facet of who she is on the double-EP and appeals to a myriad of emotions in the process as just “a singer-songwriter, aspiring music software knower.”

Everybody Trance is more than proud to crash onto labels bubble, with the first episode: Various Vol. 1., illustrating our bash vision with a frenetic and hypnotic grooves tour. Dense, knotty and intoxicating tracks, overflowing with finesse, display all over this EP, including Maelita & Kick 21, Botwin, Gogo Gadgeto, Subsism and Ekzander, mastered by Alden Tyrell and designed by Jimmy Premier.

After 10 years of silence, Regimen Galáctico Totalitario is the new release of the Mexican producer Dellarge, reknown as well for his experimental noise project I.N.R.I. (Indústria Nacional del Ruido Infinito). In this mini-album, Dellarge presents his vision of nowadays evolution of EBM towards a futuristic blend of breakbeat, industrial, and electro creating the perfect soundtrack for a futuristic apocalypse. Presented in a ONE-OFF, truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high-quality solid BLACK vinyl. All tracks have been specially mastered for vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios (Germany).

Enigmatic Mancunian Act AnD brings a dynamic and raw take on modern techno in his dj sets. He maintains always strong analogue production ethics and showcase this in his heavy hitting live show. Alongside production work that takes in everything from techno to electronica to hip hop with the uncompromising AnD attitude towards sound design.Always expect the unexpected!!!” Embracing the shadowy outskirts of techno, AnD’s covert productions on his own selftitled white label series looks to push them even further into their own brand of sonic destruction. In doing so AnD follow in the footsteps of UK luminaries Surgeon, Regis, James Ruskin and The Black Dog by continuing to shape a genuine and unflinching vision of techno. – credits All music by AnD Mastering by Joe Farr

Dwell into The Outside Agency's mechanical mind - an enclosed sphere through which soundwaves and hard-hitting beats bend and deform to the automatic articulations of the machinery that is their 'Machine Visions' EP. Feel the tracks' grinding bass wrench open your inner-spirits and guide you to an elevated sense of mechanical completeness!

Ein bahnbrechendes Album aus dem Jahr 1975, das mehr als dazu beigetragen hat, den Reggae einem neuen internationalen Publikum nahezubringen. Der Titeltrack ist auch heute noch eine der ikonischen 70er Reggae-Hymnen und das gesamte Album ist randvoll mit Roots-Reggae-Klassikern. Aufgenommen bei Channel One, Randy's & Harry J's und gemischt auf Treasure Isle.
Black Star Liner hat bei seiner Veröffentlichung die Messlatte für Roots-Reggae-Musik sehr hoch gelegt, und die Zeit hat nichts an seiner Majestät eingebüßt.

Mariah Careys 30-jähriges Karrierejubiläum geht weiter! Nach der Veröffentlichung der Doppel-CD "The Rarities" am 2. Oktober erscheinen am 6. November ihre Alben "Emotions", "Music Box", "MTV Unplugged EP" (erstmals auf Vinyl), "Daydream", "Butterfly" und "Rainbow" - neu gemastert - auf schwarzem Vinyl.

GALACTICA MUSIC Launches for all Ravers, invaders and techno music Lovers.

After a big success, GALACTICA FESTIVAL decides to create a Record Label where can express his vision of music.

This discographic adventure starts with a V.A. Series called ''ICARIUS'' where great artists with techno cuts on many shades are brought together.

The label presents a 12-track VA (double vinyl) where you can find all the best of the techno scene, ranging from electronic to industrial, acid break and hard techno.
Not a Monothematic V.A., but a right compilation that encloses the essence of techno with all its shadows and variations.

First album in seven years from Maple Death Records founder James Jonathan Clancy (Italy/Canada), and the first under his birth name following previous ensembles His Clancyness (Fat Cat, Maple Death) and Brutal Birthday (Total Punk, Improved Sequence). In the interim between those projects and this latest, ‘Sprecato’, Clancy has refined and honed his vision —steadily and carefully drawing from a host of disparate influences to create a new kind of singer-songwriter album that bridges the divide between cosmic loner-folk, proto-ambient music, and the epic, intricately arranged world of vintage Italian soundtrack music. For ‘Sprecato’, Clancy has assembled a transnational cast of renowned guest collaborators; including Stefano Pilia (co-producer/guitar/modular/synths/bass), Andrea Belfi (drums), Enrico Gabrielli (flutes, PJ Harvey/Calibro 35), Francesca Bono (piano, Bono/Burattini) —while the core of the band features Dominique Vaccaro (guitars, J.H. Guraj), Andrea De Franco (synths, Fera) and Kyle Knapp (sax, Cindy Lee/Deliluh).

Written and recorded between London & Bologna, the initial spark for the album was to be found in the book length work ‘Gli Sprecati’ (Canicola Edizioni), by visionary Italian comic’s artist Michelangelo Setola, who ultimately provided Clancy with the graphics

that grace the album’s cover and overall visual sensibility. Something of Setola’s near apocalyptic pastoralism runs through the record, even as Clancy’s themes grow beyond the seed they’d originally planted. Drum machines that sound as if they’ve been excavated from the earth meet detuned pianos and guitars; bucolic traces of synths stretched beyond all reckoning. While the band is both loping and epic —with shades of Pentangle’s Terry Cox in the live drumming in particular —there’s a new emotional depth and

What a collection of talent on this rarity from the Brunswick label— production by disco maestro Tony Valor, arrangements by Chi-Soul legend Eugene Record, and mix by the great Tom Moulton. Not to mention instrumental accompaniment from Valor’s highly esteemed Tony Valor Sounds Orchestra...no wonder this 1976 release is deemed a stone-cold proto-disco classic across the globe (it’s been reissued on CD in Japan multiple times).

For its first vinyl reissue, we’re giving it the Real Gone treatment, with a new remastering for vinyl by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, and a clear with blue, green, and pink swirl (to match the cover art) pressing limited to 900 copies (note: check out the version of the Chi-Lites’ “Stoned Out of My Mind” for instant soul salvation).

The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series Entry #7: Composer, producer & arranger Mario Luciano and vocalist Lauren Santi of Polyphonic Music Library deliver a collection of recordings that delve into Psychedelic Jazz, Experimental Soul & Cosmic Fusion. This is the next up in a series of music library releases, with future volumes produced by DJ Muggs, Karriem Riggins and more. The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series was created by Madlib and Egon to give their creative friends a chance to stretch out and indulge in whatever type of music they wanted. This music was created for easy, one-stop clearance in film and television synchronization usage and for sampling. You can also enjoy these albums in the way that many do with the best of the best vintage library catalogs – listen, ponder, repeat.

Industrial/metal/glam outfit Orgy was the first act signed by Korn’s Jonathan Davis to his Elementree imprint, and the move paid off right away with their 1998 debut, which went Top 30 and scored a huge hit with its cover of New Order’s “Blue Monday.” Somehow, though, this enduring late-‘90s favorite has eluded a vinyl release...till now! With the full cooperation of the band, we’ve had it remastered for vinyl (by Mike Milchner of Sonic Vision) and placed this platter inside a beautiful gatefold jacket. Clear with red and yellow swirl pressing!

"Candyass" by Orgy includes the following tracks: "Dissention", "Fetish", "Blue Monday", "All the Same" and more.

This version of the album comes as in a Gatefold Sleeve packaging.

The LP is pressed on transparent, red & yellow vinyl!

The weird world of Wombo is a kaleidoscopic journey of sharp turns and surprising visions, a melting pot of influences with a cheeky cheshire-cat grin that coalesce into a trippy but infinite universe of the band's own, and a portal into their unique vantage point without limitation. Already committed to living outside the traditionally-heralded country sound of the music scene in their hometown of Louisville, Sydney Chadwick (vocals) and Cameron Lowe (guitar) had previously played in punk pop band the Debauchees, and with the addition of Joel Taylor (drums) in 2016 they found a winning combination of more straightforward indie rock combined with Chadwick's pitched up, oscillating vocals and unpredictable shifts in melody that see the band moving forward at an impressive pace. Their 2020 Blossomslookdownuponus LP is a snapshot of Wombo's wide-ranging aspirations that careen across avant pop, post punk and warbly indie interludes with a sky's-the-limit approach to translating the mundanity of regular life into their own high-frequency language.

Blossomlooksdownuponus by Wombo, released 2 February 2024, includes the following tracks: "Ginkobiloba", "Blossom Bear", "Chugging", "Black Hole Sun II" and more.

This version of Blossomlooksdownuponus comes as a 1xLP.

The vinyl is pressed as a baby blue disc.

Steeped deep in the waters of memory, Privacy dreams up visions of electro music's past, present and future on his inaugural EP for TRUST. The revered Australian producer (of Klakson and Klasse Wrecks fame, half of Negroni Nails with Steffi) channels the energy of his genre-busting DJ sets into four tracks that straddle a set of influences as diverse as discoid techno, West Coast electro, and far fiction dubstep in deliriously asynchronous fashion.

One year after his surprising debut, Agosta, the Catania musician-non-musician and Space Echo Records return to the point with “Reworks and Remixes”. Which from the very title disengages itself from the industrial 'album+remix album' chain and on listening reveals itself to be a record capable of moving, in total autonomy from its antecedent, on three different levels of reading. For, at its base, we would say, there is a much more stimulating idea than the simple compulsion from alternative versions, b-sides and so on.

Point 1, transfiguration. Because, contrary to the genre stereotype, the remix mode allows songs to express themselves in creative and experimental ways.

Point 2, the Rorschach Test. Because, on those songs, there is the personality, that is, the result of the cross-vision with experience, of the individual producers being measured against itself.

Point 3, the stage backdrop. That is, its ability to show a cross-section of the current electronic scene in Etna.
Agosta wanted some of the pillars of Catania's black-minded electronic scene with him and, together with them, reinterpreted songs from his first album. The result is a work that is as multifaceted, in terms of the specific weight of the artistic individualities involved, as it is homogeneous, in their idea of a sound that is as physical as it is mental and, above all, in terms of a totally Mediterranean underlying taste with which every single track is imbued.
Whether it is the pensive house of “Apple 65” or “Lady G” (Butterfly Agosta's Rework) as much as AN-AN's dub on “Varanni”, between Grace Jones and Adrian Sherwood, or Galathea's more psychedelic and twilight Trip-Hop on “Three Chestnuts”. The Shaft-esque swagger of Salvo Borrelli and Reverend James, the donwnbeat pop of “Cellars” by Go.Soul.Map. and the caress of “Hearing The Call” (Lady G In A Rainy Day Version) by The Invisible Session, in which spoken and what they once called nu jazz flirt.

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FOLLOWING THEIR RECENT REUNION, THE DELGADOS REISSUE THEIR FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM HATE ON COLOURED VINYL AND CD TO MARK ITS 21st ANNIVERSARY

Ushering in a new era of emotionally vulnerable and cinematic songwriting for celebrated Glasgow group The Delgados, 2002’s Hate is the group’s most ambitious recorded statement to date. Recorded amidst a backdrop of personal change and international crisis, Hate’s internal alchemy transmogrifies darkness into light. It’s an enclosed universe full of tragedy and magic, a swirling galaxy of lush orchestration, misanthropy dealt with kindness and black humour. Above all it showed a band coming to terms with their fragility with a new power and grace.

In Hate, the band’s ambition saw them striving to reflect the breadth of human experience, both the joy and tragedy of living in tumultuous times. Initially commissioned by The Barbican in London to compose music for a film about artist Joe Coleman, the instrumental music that instigated Hate was laden with darkness from the outset. The Delgados’ worldview has always been informed by nuance, an oblique but incisive lyrical perspective but on Hate a new rawness is woven throughout the songs. Coleman’s original subject matter - portraits of troubled historical figures like Ed Gein, Mary Bell and Jayne Mansfield - influenced the tonality of the music but the songs were written against a backdrop of international tumult and personal life changes for the band members. Beginning writing sessions following a family bereavement in drummer Paul Savage’s family, Hate was then recorded while both Alun Woodward and co-singer/guitarist Emma Pollock were expecting new additions to their young families, the latter with drummer Paul Savage. In the background to the recording process were the attacks on the World Trade Center of September 2001 and their aftermath. In this context, it’s remarkable that an album was made at all, let alone one so grand and compassionate. It’s a masterclass in restraint and imagination.

Hate sounds like the world in all its ugly glory. Recorded in Glasgow and New York with Tony Doogan, Dave Fridmann and the band as producers and using over 20 additional musicians, Hate grabs the baton from the group’s breakthrough critical and commercial success The Great Eastern. Bolder, broader and more all-encompassing than anything the band had previously attempted, the album’s palette is furnished by a string section, brass and reed instrumentation, a choir and electronic elements augmenting the core group of Emma Pollock, Alun Woodward, Paul Savage and Stewart Henderson. Far from being over the top, the group’s skill is in attention to detail, in honing and refining each arrangement, allowing each element its space.

It’s a fine balancing act that pays massive dividends. Woodward’s new lyrical vulnerability is spotlighted on tracks like The Drowning Years, which throws elegiac string arrangements against the narrative of characters living in darkness, punctuated by couplets that bring a real-life documentary feel to the narrative. All Rise brings a black comedy to the idea of a confessional before a transcendent, choir-led refrain brings ecstatic resolution to Woodward’s vocal in its highest register. On the single All You Need Is Hate, Woodward’s trick of subverting the Beatles standard showcases the dark humour at the centre of Hate. Here The Delgados’ perversity is in full flow, nurturing a glowing light from darkness, the resolving melody and Fridmann production recalling contemporaries The Flaming Lips (whose Michael Ivins assisted in mixing) or Mercury Rev. The perversity is the surging serotonin induced by the group while singing the lines “Hate is everywhere, inside your mother’s heart and you will find it there. You ask me what you need? Hate is all you need.”

It’s a dark magic that pervades Hate, indeed it’s almost the driving force throughout the album. Flipping minor to major and back again, Favours is fuelled by fear and violence before blasting into the heavens with the gauche line “and you’re feeling fine,” operating in stark contrast to the verses’ tone. Album opener The Light Before We Land finds Emma Pollock in the aftermath of recent family trauma. Her vocal is effortless; a study in steady restraint against the massive, Fridmann-patented drum sound powering Savage’s playing and Henderson’s instantly recognisable melodic basslines. Coming In from the Cold is Pollock in full flight, lifted to the heavens by wide-screen, instrumental texture. Her presence on Hate highlights her knack for lyrical impressionism, the timbre of her voice lending itself to drama while always retaining a mystique. Never Look At The Sun, inspired by the Coleman painting The Big Bang Theory (itself an explosives-themed study), revels in paranoia, her performance ringing out in the eye of the storm conjured by the swirling arrangements. It reaches the peak of a redemptive arc while seemingly parodying the very idea of redemption.

Hate was the sound of The Delgados completely fulfilling their potential, a fully realised vision buoyed by the weight of coming through a darkness into light. For its 21st anniversary, the album is being reissued on the band’s own Chemikal Underground on coloured vinyl and CD. Hate is all you need

Die New Visionaries sind der in Großbritannien lebende australische Künstler Joel Sarakula und der niederländische Musiker Phil Martin. Ihr fesselndes Neo-Soul-Debüt 'Roadmaps' lässt den Hörer in eine Klangexpedition eintauchen, bei der Grenzen verwischen und sich zeitgenössische Elemente mit Anspielungen auf musikalische Pioniere zu einem charakteristischen Sound für Soul-Enthusiasten, Filmgrooves-Liebhaber und Musikentdecker verbinden. Trotz Phils Engagement in der europäischen Soul/Funk-Szene und Joels Neigung zum Soul-Pop ist ihre gemeinsame Affinität zu modernen Instrumentalbands (Khruangbin, Calibro 35, Air El Michels Affair) und klassischen Einflüssen (David Axelrod, KPM Library Series) massgebend.

Belgian independent label De:tuned celebrates 15 years with an expansive series of new releases throughout 2024. Founded in 2009 by Ruben Boons and Bert Hermans, De:tuned and British influential electronic music pioneers The Future Sound Of London team up to mark the beginning of its momentous 15th anniversary.
The inimitable Future Sound Of London grace De:tuned with 'Pulse Five', the 5th installment and follow-up to the classic Pulse EP series. 'Pulse Five' contains 8 tracks of previously unreleased DAT tape material from the early 90s. These unheard vintage recordings date back to the era of FSOL's much sought after classic singles and highly acclaimed Accelerator album. Brace yourself for visionary techno-driven rave work under their iconic aliases such as Mental Cube, Indo Tribe, Yage and a rare Smart Systems track. This is the sheer brilliance of the iconic duo in full effect.
The impeccable Kevin Foakes (Openmind, DJ Food, Ninja Tune) created all the matching graphic work. Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis to ensure the highest quality. De:tuned would like to thank you for the continued support, stay tuned!