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Eminem, the biggest selling music artist of the decade returns with his eagerly awaited new album - his first original studio album in over four years. Already A-listed at Radio One, Kiss, 1Xtra, Capital, Choice. He will be in the UK for promo including an appearance on Jonathon Ross. There will also be a follow up album "Relapse 2" released later in the year.

For Record Store Day 2026, Brownswood Recordings mark two decades of boundary-pushing independent music with Twenty Years Deep, a limited-edition 3xLP vinyl compilation celebrating the label’s rich, global catalogue and enduring influence.

Founded in 2006 by broadcaster, DJ, and cultural tastemaker Gilles Peterson, Brownswood has spent the last 20 years championing forward-thinking artists who sit just left of centre: rooted in Afro-diasporic music, but never confined by genre. Twenty Years Deep is a snapshot of that journey: a carefully curated collection spanning the label’s early breakthroughs, cult classics, and defining moments.

Pressed exclusively for Record Store Day on 3 piece coloured vinyl Twenty Years Deep brings together tracks that reflect Brownswood’s long-standing commitment to artistic freedom, musical lineage, and future-facing sounds. From deep jazz explorations and dancefloor mutations to global collaborations and genre-defying hybrids, the compilation captures the connective thread that has defined the label since day one: trust in artists and belief in music that lasts.
Rather than a greatest-hits exercise, Twenty Years Deep functions as an archive and a statement documenting how Brownswood has maintained its own point of view. By following a highly instinctive approach to A&R the label has shaped music culture, introduced new voices, and built a catalogue that continues to resonate well beyond release cycles.

Twenty Years Deep will be available exclusively at participating independent record stores on Record Store Day 2026, pressed as a limited-edition 3 piece vinyl release.

Sweden has long had a celebrated techno scene and you'd be hard pushed to find anyone who has contributed to it as significantly as Cari Lekebusch. He has a vast back catalogue dating back to the mid-90s under many different aliases, including this one, Phunkey Rhythm Doctor, which yielded his 'Underground Poetry' EP back in 1995. 'Jazz Maze' is an exceptional start - urgent and punchy with freeform melody that brings the fun. 'Mad Poet' is much darker and has a doom-laden vocal over stiff, crisp drums. 'Sugardaddy' is a dubby bumper with a wobbly bassline and wispy synths, cyborg electronics and a cavernous groove. Don't sleep on this one.

Pon is Tujiko Noriko’s sixth album for Editions Mego and a further extension of her already significant body of work as both a solo and collaborative artist. Dedicated to her cat who she adopted as an infant and passed away due an accident having been born deaf, Pon is imbued with abstraction, tenderness and a deep emotional resonance.

Noriko’s palette of electronics, romantic melodies and surprising sonic details are all fully present here, and like her last full length, 2023’s Crépuscule this is an epic work, released as a 2LP by Editions Mego alongside a Japanese CD release.

The unmistakable hue of Japan hovers throughout this emotional rich landscape. Subtle field recordings and fragile, abstract motifs drift through the album, all cloaked in a warmth and humanity that only Noriko seems able to conjure.

Pon moves effortlessly between the childlike and the obscure. There are moments of deceptive simplicity where unexpected elements suddenly surface — strange voices emerge on Boku Wa Obaka, Knife of Yonder is a standout: a startling ten-minute unfolding that begins with a warm, almost Eno-esque drift before launching into a soaring mid-section and finally landing somewhere unexpectedly blues-adjacent.

Kikoeru Pon is brimming with childlike wonder — a heartfelt ballad that dissolves into domestic field recordings, including sounds of the feline for whom both the album and track are named. A quietly devastating ending that brings the personal nature of the record into sharp focus.

There is a deep sense of the human in the way Noriko embraces technology. This is far from cold abstraction; rather, Ponfeels like a colourful photo album, documenting Noriko’s inner world and instincts with remarkable intimacy. Hovering in liminal states between pop, ambient and abstraction, this is a deeply affective and moving release that reveals new surprises with each listen.

The emotional range of Noriko’s latest offering inspires hope in a world in disarray. It is both gentle and epic and one which we feel embodies the work of an artist fully at the height of her powers.

Art Blakey is one of the inventors of the modern bebop style of drumming. Known as a powerful musician and a vital groover his brand of bluesy, funky hard bop was and continues to be profoundly influential on mainstream jazz. For more than 30 years, his band Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers included many young musicians who went on to become prominent names in jazz.

Released in the late fifties, A Night In Tunisia is a jazz milestone and prime example of Blakey's exceptional rhythmic prowess. This album is not all about drumming though; it leaves much space for great melodical interplay by fellow musicians Sam Dockery on piano, John Griffin and Ferris Benda on saxophone, Bill Hardman on trumpet and Jimmy De Brest on double bass.

A Night In Tunisia is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on orange vinyl, and is packaged in a deluxe sleeve with linen laminate finish.

The small print:
• Due to rights restrictions, this item is only available in the MOV store to European customers.

Carve is the second full-length by Bay Area artist Kathryn Mohr. Written over the course of five years and recorded over several weeks in a rural singlewide in the Mojave Desert, the album centers on love experienced as a form of grief, not as an aftermath of loss, but as a condition of intimacy itself.

Mohr describes Carve as an album about how memory exists outside the body, embedded in places and landscapes. It is shaped by her first return to the American Southwest since a childhood road trip at age five, and by the experience of moving through terrain that holds emotional weight long after its origins fade. The record considers how intimacy feels after years of isolation, and what it takes to carve out a life that allows for trust, presence, and feeling rather than mere survival. The project took form after a difficult tour that ended in Joshua Tree. Mohr pointed her car into the desert and drove alone, crisscrossing the Mojave on dirt roads. Months later, she returned to record the album, working alone with an acoustic guitar, a field recorder, and limited supplies. Following that period, Mohr began to allow for intimacy and connection. The time she spent recording Carve in the desert did not create isolation so much as mirror it. Working alone out of an old, western-themed jail Airbnb, the physical enclosure reflected the emotional conditions under which much of the record had been written: distance, restraint, and long stretches of stillness. In that context, love was not experienced as escape, but as something inseparable from impermanence and the awareness of loss.

This tension between connection and inevitability sits at the center of Carve. Some of the album’s songs were written earlier, during a prolonged period marked by emotional distance and apathy. Over those four years, Mohr was working through unprocessed childhood memories and their long-term effects on her ability to connect with others. The work was slow and difficult, involving a fundamental reshaping of how she related to herself and to the world. Carve was mixed by Richard Chowenhill of Flenser labelmates Agriculture. Rather than offering resolution, the album documents the act of remaining present within tension. Carve is not about escaping grief, but about accepting it as inseparable from love itself. Kathryn Mohr’s previous effort “Waiting Room” received the coveted ‘Best New Music' designation and a score of 8.4 from Pitchfork.

Highscore is one of the newest-and quite sensational-discoveries in funk of the 1980s out of Germany. Two tracks Breakin' Out and Girls So Fine, both recorded about 40 years ago and shelved ever since, are finally receiving a long-overdue 12" release.

Label founder DJ Scientist tells the story of how the tracks were uncovered:

"Several years ago, while researching the Crea label-after we had already licensed 'You're Not The One For Me' by Peter Patzer-I also wanted to find out more about another band on the label: Nuages, who had released the stunning jazz-funk/fusion album Cumulus.

Interestingly, a Discogs user had uploaded a hand written promo letter from one of the band members along with the LP. In it, drummer Mike Bach mentioned plans for a second album, as well as a single featuring a 'coloured singer'-which caught my attention. (A note on language: the original letter from 1985 uses the term 'coloured.' We've chosen to quote it directly as a historical document, but want to be clear that this reflects the terminology of the era and not language we would use today.)

Digging deeper, more information was found on Bach's own website, where a project called 'High Score' was mentioned. I immediately got in touch and asked if the recordings from that project still existed. Unfortunately, Bach couldn't locate any of the material at the time.

Years passed before we reconnected, when we featured 'Strange Weekend' by Nuages on our recent yacht rock compilation. I still had the Highscore project in mind and asked again. Once more, Mike had to deny-but he made another effort and reached out to former collaborators. A few weeks later, guitarist and composer Hermann Behrens discovered cassette tapes containing tracks from the Highscore project. I couldn't wait to hear them…"

To go back a bit: Nuages were a jazz-rock band from Bremerhaven, originally formed by guitarist Joachim "Fussy" Fuß in 1982. The lineup included Mike Bach (drums and percussion), Klaus Hinners (bass), and Frank Fischer (keyboards). In 1984, John Dillard, a U.S. GI stationed in Germany, joined Nuages for several live performances as a soul singer.
Around 1985/1986, Dillard and Bach then teamed up with Hermann Behrens with a new focus on electro funk and disco: Highscore was born.

When the three demo recordings were finally sent to us, they immediately blew us away. Breakin' Out stood out as an incredible electro-funk boogie gem-exactly what we had been looking for. What's more, it didn't sound like a rough demo at all, Breakin Out was a well-arranged and almost perfectly recorded track, driven by fresh, vibrant synths, drum machines and guitar. The cassette mix wasn't entirely final, but the remaining details could be refined during mastering.

The B-side, Girl So Fine, impressed just as much-equally strong and just as captivating as the A-side. Our reaction was immediate: this had to be released without delay!

Most importantly, there are a few more recordings from Highscore. However, these only exist as multi-track studio reels, which currently cannot be transferred. In the best case, more material from the band may surface soon-hopefully without another long wait.

The 12" release Breakin' Out / Girl So Fine" comes with a newly designed picture sleeve, featuring an original photo of the band members, including background singer Ruben Hopkins who does not appear on these two recordings.

The vinyl edition is limited to 400 copies.

Bliss Point is proud to welcome the Bogotá born, New York based Matük to the label with Sendero, a collection dripping with life, with lust, with joy in the face of it all.

Birthed from weekend-long studio sessions in the heat of New York summer, Sendero is luscious and visceral party music, crackling with the spontaneous possibility that runs through city streets as temperatures peak, asses throw and emotions run high.

Hailing from Colombia and deeply immersed in the New York underground, Matük’s influences collide into an ecstatic tapestry on Sendero, blending the rich traditions of Afro-Caribbean musics with experimental and club sonics, long the sounds of joy as defiance from deep within the imperial core.

Many paths cross on Sendero. “Ricotta” features vocals from BRAVA, the Basque DJ and MC whose raw, infectious spirit has injected new energy into the international bass and footwork scene. She is joined by Argentinian-Colombian artist FEDRA on synth and vocals, transforming voice notes the trio sung into their phones over a long weekend of dancing into a party anthem of their own. “Lio”, the EP opener, pairs Mexico’s Renn Loop with Matük himself, trading sultry, heated frustrations over latinx futurist production. Things slow down on “De; Dioses y Pantallas”, a yearning, introspective plea to the night sky, before returning to the party with the bouncing, acid-fueled remix of “Ricotta” from Mexico City’s Soos.

Sendero is a snapshot of a scene in motion, a document of serendipity and collaboration, music made in the long tradition of enjoyment as a revolutionary act.

Starting in 2021 the critically acclaimed Next Wave Acid Punx series has seen Luca Venezia, aka Curses, celebrate the music that has shaped both his life and career. Across the first two compilations Luca took us from the industrial and post-punk sounds of the late 70s,through the emergence of EBM, new beat and freestyle in the 1980s and onto the music he both makes and plays himself in clubs today. Bringing the series to a close Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS sees the Berlin-based musician and DJ return full circle, this time exploring the sounds that first initiated him into Brooklyn's rave scene and the music that, in some way, continues to embody its eclectic spirit today.

Spread across three 2LPs and 3CDs Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS captures a moment whose influence can still be heard reverberating around clubland today. With the nascent rave scene obliterating boundaries, this was a moment where the darker, harder industrial electronic sounds of the mid 1980s were crashing headfirst into the ecstatic wave that was washing over clubland creating thrilling juxtapositions. Whether in the clubs and warehouses of New York, London, Frankfurt, Valencia and beyond, electronic music would never be the same again as countless new genres we take for granted today were born from the chaos and energy that had been unleashed.

Featuring 46 hard-to-find, new and exclusive tracks, Next Wave Acid Punx TROIS both documents that fertile period and shows how, despite rumours to the contrary, that early anarchic spirit can still be found today. From the Detroit Techno of Model 500 to Nitzer Ebb's EBM and the proto-Trance of Age of Love and onto brand new tracks from some of today's best producers such as Zaatar, Italo Deviance and Leona Jacewska, this compilation closes out a series that has to date revelled in exploring the darker corners of clubland in uplifting style.

This is Chapter 3.







f B2. Javi Redondo - HALT [Process]

A Lisbon classic by now, Paraiso (a label, a radio show, a party and now also a documentary) is back for its 19th release with a pairing who's no stranger to the label or the portuguese techno underground: lucky for us, head honcho Shcuro got back in the studio with techno legend in the making Vil to make Repercussions part 2 - and they invited iconic Spanish producer Annie Hall (Delsin, CPU) as a remixer. The record opens with a tour de force, the relentless yet perfectly in control, mutanting and experimental yet elegant and timeless 'Motorik'. In it, you can hear echoes of Detroit groove sense, but also a generous splash of dub sonics seamlessly merging into pure peak time, closed eyes, layers of ear-candy hypnotizing you type of stuff. Things strip back a little in 'Emergence Dub' - still immersive fast techno ammunition, but there is a playful, experimental and sometimes ravey spirit to it, with a wonky mutating key, vocal pads and cheeky percussion working together to create a stunning modern dance piece. Side B is inaugurated by 'Origins', a deep bow to dub traditions with delay-drenched stabs and a bouncy bassline for days. An energetic yet dreamy piece with spoken word samples that will have your heart melt, it perfectly mirrors the duo's influences in a beautiful closing original. Annie Hall steps in for the remix, taking A2 'Emergence Dub' into Breaks geographies, with a talking bassline fit for an electro banger, and the ever-present pads sending us off in zen mode after a delightful ride.

Transversales Disques proudly presents PANORAMA Vol. 2, another deep dive into rare French soundtracks, Library music, and instrumental oddities that have largely remained untouched by reissues or compilations.

This curated selection features 11 forgotten gems recorded between 1968 and 1980. It showcases the brilliance of celebrated maestros like Francis Lai, Karl-Heinz Schäfer, Eric Demarsan and Jean-Claude Petit, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with unsung composers such as Oswald d'Andréa, and Jean-Louis Bucchi.

Embark on a cinematic journey brimming with moody string arrangements, funky flanged drums, signature French basslines, and deeply dramatic atmospheres.

Deluxe Tip-On jacket LP with printed innersleeves
Including exclusive and extensive liner notes.
Vinyl Only / No Digital

GALA announce Ten Years of GALA – a compilation marking a decade of independent culture

Ten Years of GALA is both an archive and a horizon: a reflection on where GALA has come from, and a signal of what lies ahead.

Founded in 2016 as a one-day gathering in South London, GALA has grown into a global point of reference for dancers, artists and collectives drawn together by a shared commitment to independence, collaboration and underground music culture. Rather than charting success through scale alone, the festival has consistently prioritised integrity, community and musical curiosity – values that underpin this release.

Spanning fifteen tracks, Ten Years of GALA unfolds as a considered journey. It opens with an intimate spoken contribution from Charlie Dark, grounding the compilation firmly in GALA’s home of Peckham before gradually expanding outward into fuller, club-focused terrain. From there, the record moves between moods and tempos, tracing a path from reflective moments into the physical language of the dancefloor.

The compilation brings together longtime friends of the festival alongside newer voices drawn into its orbit in recent years. Each artist contributes a distinct perspective, but collectively the tracks form a coherent portrait – not of a single sound, but of a shared ethos shaped over ten years of gatherings, collaborations and days spent dancing together.

Rather than a retrospective in the conventional sense, Ten Years of GALA functions as a living document. It captures fragments of past editions, scenes and relationships, while remaining firmly oriented toward the future. These are not museum pieces, but records designed to be played, shared and folded back into the spaces from which they came.

Together, the compilation holds a piece of GALA’s first decade – not as a closed chapter, but as a foundation for what comes next.

妖精の通る道 (The Path Where Fairies Pass) is the debut vinyl release by Reimaki, the duo of Rei Yokoyama (Triggers Flowers, Stakaidan, Lapiz Trio, 新井薬師自警団, and Fujio, Chiko Hige and Rei), and Maki Miura (Tsubamegami, Les Rallizes Dénudés, Shizuka, Fushitsusha, Ohkami No Jikan and Katsurei). The duo has been an understated presence in Tokyo, playing occasional under-the-radar shows and self- releasing a few CD-Rs, but they’ve recently started to break cover, with a recent cassette on UFO Creations, released in support of a late 2024 tour of China. It’s also a welcome reappearance on the scene for both musicians; Miura’s musical history, in particular, is being reevaluated thanks to a recent string of welcome Shizuka reissues.

But the music Reimaki make together is a different thing entirely, much as it shares some psychological and aesthetic interests with both Miura’s and Nokoyama’s other projects. Their sound is split between two main interests – an extension of glacial, deoxygenating psychedelic improvisations, and a deep interest in medieval European music. They’ve also been known to cover compositions by English prog/improv musician Fred Frith. These various elements of the Reimaki aesthetic are all present through 妖精の通る道, from the fragility of the opening “Novel Amor” through to the smeared, hazy textures of the three extended pieces that comprise the album’s flipside.

There’s a beautiful sympathy in these performances, and a generous simplicity, too; you can sense that this music is informed by decades of finding just the right way to say the right thing in the clearest manner possible. Yokoyama and Miura never overstate things; make the statement, play the song, let it hang in the air for a while, and then move on to the next essential expression. The music is unburdened by self- consciousness. Their take on medieval music cuts to the core of melody and melancholy; their psych- improv side is blurred and drifting without ever lapsing into rote generic gestures.

There’s some shared space with other artists who suspend the timeless within the kaleidoscopic possibilities of the psychedelic – Kendra Smith & The Guild of Temporal Adventurers; Emmanuelle Parrenin; Rosina de Peira – and a tangled folksiness that might put listeners in mind of Jan Dukes De Grey, Comus, Current 93, and Tower Recordings. Accompanied by beautiful photography from street photographer Takehiko Nakafuji, who was also personally chosen by Mizutani to document Les Rallizes Dénudés, 妖精の通る道 is a most unique and necessary trip.

Mr Bongo presents a reissue of one of the rarest releases on the illustrious and now ultra-rare tax scam label TSG Records. A label with a checkered past, operated by Lloyd Price and with alleged ties to boxing promoter Don King. The album in question, Disco Party by Reality, is a stunning journey through ‘70s dancefloor-focussed funk into early proto-disco grooves. Back in mid-‘70s Manhattan, Dr. Otto Gomez and a group of fellow New York musicians including Tony Dixon, Norman Drayton, Tony Dupree, Al Jones and Fred Nanton were brought in for a recording session by songwriter and producer, Billy Nichols. Laying down one of Nichols' songs and a selection of the group's own, they were paid as session musicians and thought little of it. The tapes came to the attention of Lloyd Price who struck a deal with Nichols unbeknownst to Gomez and the rest of the band. Price then pressed the album and put it out in 1976 on a newly formed subsidiary label, TSG Records, that would later be documented as one of the US tax scam labels of the ‘70s. Such labels were created to exploit a loophole in the US tax system, running up inflated production costs / losses that investors or the parent label could write off against their tax bills. Releases on these labels were never intended to have commercial success. They would usually be produced in incredibly limited pressing numbers and have little to no promotion or distribution. As such many of these records instantly fell into obscurity, becoming mythical amongst DJs and record collectors. Sadly, this meant that artists like Dr. Otto Gomez and friends never had the chance for their record and their talents to shine at the time. In fact, it was only when Jazzman reached out for their 2022 reissue that Dr. Otto Gomez became aware that the album had ever been released and heard the story behind it. Disco Party is a time capsule where ‘70s instrumental funk edges and intertwines into an early disco sound. The sessions are for the dancefloor, minimalist and groove-based. The bass and drums are at the forefront, providing the pulse of the album. Driving funky guitar licks, and a brilliant horn section weave their way in and out of the productions. Highlights include the uplifting feel-good ‘Let's Party People’, the early disco swagger of ‘Reality’, and ‘Disco Party (Let's Have A)’ with its wah-wah groove and percussion break, which could easily have found its home on a Blaxploitation film soundtrack of the period. It’s not just rarity that makes this record so sought after, but rather the fact that it is a superb example of dancefloor-focussed mid ‘70s funk and disco.

Continuing its faithful documentation of the early years of Monolake, Field Records proudly present the first-ever vinyl pressing of seminal 1999 album Interstate. In a kaleidoscopic lattice of micro-rhythms and exquisitely dynamic textural work, Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles fully collaborated for the final time on this record — and created an electronica landmark in the process.

Monolake's evolution from their earlier dub-techno-tinted works saw their exploration of Max/MSP go further out. The duo yielded greater complexity in the behaviour of their sound palette to achieve an organismic quality that remains an enduring influence on so many strands of experimental electronic music today. Interstate is a vivid record that builds up eight different ecosystems of sound and subtly threads elegant grooves through their root structures.

There's a house-like undulation to the low-end driving 'Tangent-I' and 'Tangent-II', but the infinitesimally detailed layers of sound on top swoon from techno synth shimmers to trickling waters, snaking delay trails and pin prick percussion. You can hear the unmistakable, snappy rhythmic thrust of drum & bass driving 'Ginza', but here it's used as an engine for the crispest array of designer percussion and dub-soaked synth chirrups. Across every track, Henke and Behles demonstrate a potent combination, both groovily instinctive and eternally fascinating to try and pick apart.

After Interstate, Behles departed to focus entirely on the development of Ableton Live and Henke steered Monolake towards a leaner — but no less pioneering — sound. Every Monolake record has its own unique context and sound, and the circumstances of Interstate could never be repeated. Capturing the leaps in progress that were being made in digital music production at the end of the millennium, it's an information-rich document of a moment in time that still sounds wildly futuristic 27 years later.

Tucked in the heart of Koreatown, Los Angeles, lies The Libra Hotel—the titular architecture of Nick Malkin's new album and site of his musical and psychogeographic exploration. Unlike most musical "site-specific" studies, Malkin remains wholly ambivalent to the documentarian approach, instead sharpening an auteur-like focus on the site as a conceptual and highly expressive backdrop. The Libra is musically explored as a space that houses a noir fragmentation of identity—the exhausted trope of a complicated protagonist walking through rain-soaked street corners and fumy neon lights—where an inner monologue is rendered in both miniature and at a cosmic scale. Casting aside stifling tropes around field recording, ambient, and improvised music, Malkin's work finds its own unique fidelity and emotional core through the assembly and reassembly of memory. Nearly every sound on the album—from frayed saxophones, lambent pianos, and dissected jazz drum kits—are multiplied, shattered, and reconstituted into shapes that adorn The Libra in a motion-blurred fog. The narrative of the Hotel suddenly appears as if out of the mist, with intersecting characters interacting within its walls by happenstance. Adminst the languid set pieces, wraith-like sonic grains gravitate around wide subbass beams that give structural form to The Libra, a narrative tension like when a scene is shot from hundreds of different perspectives: an image both luminous and veiled.

Much like Frank Sinatra's own spatial residency immortalized on "Live at The Sands," "At The Libra Hotel" showcases an exuberant view of entertainment, hospitality, and a form of masculinity, one that can quickly detourn into darkness. Knowing this, Malkin extracts a melancholic core out of The Libra locale. The flickering shadows of American decadence are shown in their ephemeral honesty, lines that trace how even in everyday life virtue is tested, sanity is tested, even reality is tested within the confines of desire, within the night. The album is draped in fleeting textures, carefully arranged with a trance-like microtonality, the faint inflections and articulations of a jazz band cascading into dissipated stillness. Voicemails about changed locations and covert eavesdropping on guests' whispered conversations provide an atmosphere of missed connection and voyeurism—a purloined letter of desire receding into a vanishing point. Like the music itself, The Hotel, a chapel perilous at the intersection of desolation row, the center of it all, yet simultaneously at the edge of town, becomes a structure between libidinous virtuality and actuality—our inevitable half-light.

Ultimately, the pensive atmosphere of "At The Libra Hotel," powerfully asserts a plea for the kinds of intimacy only possible in transient spaces. Here, memory cascades into a force that feels like something supernatural, perhaps even religious, yet always subject to the infidelity of our imagination. Here, the album opens into its primary psychodrama, the transient nature of subjectivity itself and how this becomes fractured in the tumult between our commitments and desires. Within this nocturnal space, to quote Louise Bourgeois, "you pile up associations the way you pile up bricks. Memory itself is a form of architecture."

The record is largely sung in Scots language, one of Scotland’s three official languages along with Gaelic and English. “Scots gives me a way of expressing myself which is connected directly with the landscapes I love. It brings the songs alive and it is a fascinating language. The name of the record is in Scots - Forefowk means the people who came before, or ancestors. When we say ‘mind me,’ we can mean a few things- remind, remember, watch over or care for me. The record explores how tradition needs to be constantly reconnected with, built upon, looked after, and shared.”
Quinie sings with a style inspired by Scottish Traveller singers. “I began singing unaccompanied Scots Song in 2015 after hearing Scots Traveller singer Sheila Stewart on the radio. Initially I felt like I shouldn't sing these songs because I'm not a Traveller, and I saw people around me doing that in a way that made me uncomfortable. But on the other hand this music made sense to me and I felt driven to learn. Over the years I have met Traveller friends who taught me that settled people sharing these songs could contribute to raising awareness. Scottish Travellers are marginalised and discriminated against in modern Scotland, despite being custodians of so many of our important traditions. So I started to perform them and tell this story. From there I built on my repertoire and started writing my own songs”.
To develop this record, Quinie travelled across Argyll with her horse. They went on a pilgrimage of sorts through the ancient landscapes of the West of Scotland to explore the interconnected relationships between people, ancestors, animals, and place. The album’s vinyl release is accompanied by a book and film, documenting this unusual research process.
Forefowk, Mind Me was recorded in August 2024 at The Big Shed in Highland Perthshire with support from Creative Scotland. Quinie is accompanied by an ensemble of musicians: Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (viola), Oliver Pitt (duduk, bouzouki, percussion), Harry Górski-Brown (small pipes, violin), and Stevie Jones (double bass, recording, and mixing). Each of these artists brings their own distinctive voice, bridging contemporary experimental practice with worlds of traditional and early music.

Ten years ago, Anderson .Paak didn't just release an album; he staged a full-scale takeover of the soul and hip-hop landscape. Released on January 15, 2016, Malibu served as the definitive arrival of an artist who had spent years grinding in the underground before a star-making turn on Dr. Dre’s Compton. While his previous work hinted at his potential, Malibu was the moment the world met the "Cheeky Andy" persona in full—a virtuosic drummer, a raspy-voiced crooner, and a sharp-witted rapper all rolled into one. The album is a sprawling, sun-drenched journey through the Southern California coast, blending 1970s funk, church-reared gospel, and gritty boom-bap into something that feels both nostalgic and entirely futuristic. With a heavyweight production lineup including 9th Wonder, Madlib, Kaytranada, and Hi-Tek, the record maintains a warm, analog texture that was a breath of fresh air in an increasingly digital era. It’s an album that breathes, full of intentional imperfections and the kind of "in-the-pocket" groove that can only come from a seasoned live performer. Beyond the infectious, dance-floor-ready energy of tracks like "Am I Wrong" and "Come Down," the album is a deeply autobiographical masterwork. .Paak uses the 65-minute runtime to unpack his life story with startling clarity, touching on his mother’s gambling addiction, his father’s incarceration, and his own brushes with homelessness with a sense of resilience that never feels heavy-handed. He weaves these heavy themes through a lens of triumph, grounded by vintage surfing documentary samples that give the project its cinematic, coastal atmosphere. It’s a celebratory record born out of struggle, anchored by his impeccable technicality on the drums and a guest list—featuring ScHoolboy Q, Rapsody, and The Game—that feels hand-picked to complement his specific brand of West Coast swagger. A decade later, Malibu stands as a modern classic and the blueprint for the soulful revivalism that would eventually lead .Paak to global superstardom and Grammy-winning heights. It remains a testament to the idea that the most profound music often comes from the most personal places, proving ten years on that the best way to move forward is to stay rooted in the groove.

Al Wahem (“The Illusion”) is the new full-length release by PRAED, the Swiss–Lebanese duo of Raed Yassin and Paed Conca. Recorded between Beirut and Berlin, the album returns to the group’s central aesthetic: a rhythm-driven weave of Egyptian shaabi, electronics, improvisation and the gritty pulse of street-level sound. Nearly twenty years into the project, PRAED have distilled their approach into four pieces that subtly shift the listener’s bearings, reordering grooves and fragments until familiar elements take on new identities.
The twenty-minute title track sets the tone. A tightly interlocking two-drum foundation from Pascal Semerdjian and Ayman Zebdawi shapes a structure that expands steadily: synth figures branch outward, clarinet and bass lines act as internal guideposts, and brief vocal calls from Yassin and guest singer Mayssa Jallad sit inside the texture rather than leading it. PRAED’s shaabi keyboard language is present, but the duo stretch it outward, building tension and movement through patient accumulation.

“Al Hathayan,” at 4:46, tightens the focus. Conca’s clarinet moves between melodic arcs and clipped rhythmic gestures, threading through electronic loops that surface and disappear. Zebdawi’s percussion adds a raw, tactile quality, placing acoustic patterns and electronics in direct conversation. The piece acts as a bridge between the album’s two long-form compositions.
Side B begins with “Al Maraya,” a thirteen-minute piece that relies on electronic, bass and clarinet interplay. The atmosphere nods to the breadth of PRAED Orchestra!, but remains anchored in the duo’s rhythmic foundations. Rather than building mass, the layering creates a sense of depth, as if new spaces were opening inside the groove.
The album closes with “Assarab,” featuring keyboardist Amr Said. Semerdjian and Zebdawi again form a dual percussive axis, while synths hover between melody and pulse, and themes recur in widening circles rather than building vertically. The porous boundary between electronic and acoustic sources — processed clarinet mistaken for a sequencer, rhythmic figures springing from live drums — is where the album’s theme of “illusion” shows itself most clearly.

Al Wahem follows a long arc: early releases on Annihaya, a key appearance on Ruptured Sessions Vol. 5 – Live at Radio Lebanon (2013), later albums on Akuphone, and the large-scale PRAED Orchestra! documented on Morphine Records. This new Ruptured/Annihaya co-release brings the duo back to a concentrated format, reorganizing their familiar materials with renewed clarity and intent.

In the rapidly shifting tectonic plates of the global Afrobeats scene, few arrivals have been as seismic as that of Ahmed Ololade—better known to the world as Asake. With his breakout project Mr. Money With The Vibe, the artist didn’t merely debut; he effectively recalibrated the tempo of the Nigerian pop soundscape. The EP functions as a masterclass in synthesis, pulling from the ornate, percussive history of Fuji music and grafting it onto the driving, bass-heavy architectures of contemporary Amapiano. It is a calculated, deeply rhythmic hybridization that manages to feel both nostalgic and jarringly modern.

From a critical vantage point, Mr. Money With The Vibe is defined by its brevity and density. Asake treats each track as a focused vignette, utilizing a vocal delivery that oscillates between a melodic, almost liturgical chant and the staccato urgency of a Lagos street orator. The production—characterized by sharp, frenetic percussion and deceptively simple melodic loops—creates a high-intensity atmosphere that mirrors the relentless pace of urban life. He avoids the pitfall of bloated experimentation; instead, he doubles down on a "street-pop" ethos, prioritizing accessibility without sacrificing the complex rhythmic interplay that gives the genre its distinctive texture.

Ultimately, Mr. Money With The Vibe stands as a pivotal document of the current era, capturing the transition of Afrobeats from a regional powerhouse to a dominant global force. By blending the aspirational "hustle culture" narrative with an increasingly sophisticated sonic palette, Asake established a blueprint that has since influenced a new wave of artists. The project is a testament to the idea that authenticity, when paired with relentless precision, remains the most effective currency in contemporary music.

Near the end of fifth grade, Eli Edwards’ mom gave him $20 and told him to go find a friend. His team had won its soccer game that day, so they were out celebrating at a local pizza parlor with games. But, more importantly, there had been one other Black kid that day on the pitch in Spanaway, WA, a Tacoma suburb and military-base town at the rainy northwest corner of the United States. That kid just happened to be Xayvien Young. An instant deep connection was formed between Edwards and Young—Eli and Xay, as they prefer to be called were inseparable— and now twelve years later they are the electrifying, boundary-skipping duo Casi.

Along the way, Eli had relocated to Los Angeles with the indie rock band Enumclaw he had helped found, but he found himself flying home maybe a little too much. He was ostensibly visiting his girlfriend, but he spent most of his time with Xay. They cut tracks in every bit of free time they found until they had an epiphany: Maybe this music they’d made together for a dozen years was actually something special. Casi’s 10-track, self-titled debut out on Carpark Records is the electrifying proof they needed.

On the record, they enthusiastically explore every musical interest they have ever had—explosive hip-hop and unbridled hardcore, high-gloss nü metal and a little bit of emo—as a pair. These songs don’t ignore genre lines; they delight in destroying them, in finding ways to slam hip-hop and hardcore, emo and nü metal together until it seems illogical that they were ever apart. Take “Jumper,” where heavy metal guitars and face-kicking drums stir the moshpit for rabid verses about crushing ICE and the lessons you learn riding the poverty line. And take closer “Bridges,” where the melodic imprint of Deftones meets the relentless confessions of Death Grips. Here are the hard, funny, and loud stories of two 23-year-olds, screaming about the world over a breathless composite of all the music they’ve ever loved.

When Eli was in Los Angeles, Xay missed his friend. But in his absence, he also felt the spark of inspiration. Music was something that had just been their childhood hobby, but now Eli was in a rock band that had press accolades and tours. He got serious about the craft. Eli would write about the dislocation and isolation he felt in California, while Xay would document the hardships of being a young Black man with a complicated family while working menial jobs in Spanaway.

This isn’t a coming-of-age album for Casi; it is, instead, a raw and riveting snapshot of that process, painful as it can be. “Eleven87” is a breakup song, a soul beat springing beneath arching emo vocals. And “Intrusive Thoughts” treats that topic like a punching bag, Eli and Xav fighting against the mental habits that keep them down. These 10 songs instantly close that gap.

Always lurking amidst the underground Porto music scene is Spitbender, the most stable moniker of the ever-morphing Francisco Antão. Spin gathers a collection of tracks that demonstrate his experimentalism & coy sonic precision. Spitbender takes cues from Jungle & Hip Hop producers to create his own unique blend of Downtempo. What becomes clear throughout the album is the attention to detail: it is infused as much by Industrial's red-line spectra as it is by the dubplate logic of the Darkside Continuum, yet it does so at its own tripped out speed.

Spin begins with the laid-back but constantly shifting 'Global Overgroove'. Its breakbeat science moves in & out of DSP glitch-work & dub reflections. When its slinky bassline melody arrives, a certain dread sets in.

'Weyward Fold' drops into a driving, hard-edged chug, threaded with snippets of Malcolm X's disobedient pedagogy. The momentum carries into 'Headnod Doctor', where the bass distortion thickens & the cymbal circuit is overloaded, landing somewhere between Hip‑Hop grit & metal weight.

Side A ends with the downtempo roller 'Dogs and Moles (Skylurk Mix)'. The familiar break drifts into new territory, pulled along & wrapped in a slap-back echo. A quirky melody cuts through the haze, giving the track a fresh tilt. The mulch of the track forms a steady, unhurried pulse.

Spitbender's spacious atmospherics & groove-focused approach comes further into focus on 'Nothing Here But the Recordings'. Creating his own chapter in the book of Trip Hop, his minimalist touch is laid out in full.

'Force the Hand Ov Chance' pulls Boom Bap gently into dub mechanics, letting space do the heavy lifting. Its simplicity hides a deep pocket.

Returning to broken-up distortion, 'Mirrors of Flesh (Dub Mix)' finds Spitbender using the mixer as an instrument to push & pull the heavy drums of Benjamin Brejon of Méchanosphere alongside the voice of Rui intoning the title phrase.

Sitting between the album's two poles, 'Out Take Dub' fuses the clipped‑obsession timbres of Spin's heavier moments with its blissed out flow. Feedback & distortion are welcomed & drawn long.

In the end, Spin hits like a fully formed statement—lean, focused, & unmistakably Spitbender. Every track pushes its own angle, but together they land with a clarity that feels earned. It's a sharp marker in his trajectory, & it leaves a charge in the air.

**LIMITED 500 UK COPIES ON BLACK VINYL** VINYL ONLY RELEASE for RSD: Rival Consoles, UK producer Ryan Lee West, shares his original score for MindsEye, the highly anticipated narrative-driven game from Build A Rocket Boy, the studio led by visionary game director Leslie Benzies. The industrial techno score doesn’t just accompany the game, it’s embedded in the code of the world they have created together. The full score sees its debut on vinyl for the first time as a limited-edition Record Store Day 2026 release.

Set in Redrock, a sprawling desert metropolis ruled by surveillance and automation, MindsEye follows Jacob Diaz, an ex-soldier haunted by fractured memories. As his personal mission escalates, he’s forced to navigate a world shaped by rogue AI, militarized tech, and a fragile grip on control, all while confronting the truth about his past. "In MindsEye, sound is a critical storytelling layer, from ambient detail to emotional drive, every element is designed to shape how players feel inside the world," said Craig Conner, audio director at Build A Rocket Boy. "Rival Consoles’ tracks brought something truly special to that vision. Ryan’s music adds a distinct emotional charge and texture that elevates key moments. It doesn’t just accompany the game, it sharpens its edge, deepens its atmosphere, and perfectly complements the world we’ve built." The score was produced over the span of three years in his London studio, and contains some of West’s most ambitious and heaviest compositions to date.

To coincide with today’s release of the game, the 10-track score is now available to stream in its entirety. MindsEye follows West’s previous scoring work, including bespoke music for 2019’s Black Mirror episode Striking Vipers, featuring ‘I Love This, I Love You’, 2022’s Netflix feature doc El Caso Figo about the legendary football player Luís Figo, and Alexander Whitley’s contemporary dance production Overflow, which was released as a studio album with the same name in 2021. The most recent Rival Consoles album, Landscape from Memory, was released in July 2025 to critical and fan acclaim. A world tour continues into mid-2026.

Nobody knew. Not the crowd packed into Circolo Kessel that Sunday evening, not even the six musicians on stage. When Giardini di Mirò played on March 19, 2023, it was supposed to be just another homecoming show in Cavriago, the kind of night where you play for the people who’ve known you longest. Some were missing from the audience, though: “Our closest friends stayed home to watch the football match tonight,” Jukka quipped from the stage. “But that’s fine, we’ll deal with them tomorrow.” In hindsight, even Juventus fans who celebrated their 1–0 victory over Inter made the wrong choice.

Seventy minutes in, all the instruments converged into a one-chord riff, driven by the drums and punctuated by screaming guitars. A repetitive rhythm that paired brutal volume with hypnotic precision. Even those at the back of the room felt it: that trance-like state where sound becomes physical. Then the wall of sound collapsed. Guitar feedback lingered in the air for a few seconds before fading into nothing.

This was the last sound Giardini di Mirò made. They haven’t played since, and there are no plans to do so again. But in that moment, nobody knew.

The closing song that night was also the opener of their debut full-length, recorded more than two decades earlier. Its title, A New Start, carries an unintended irony the band would likely appreciate. It is also oddly fitting that their final show took place in the same building where they began. Circolo Kessel, previously known as Calamita, served as the band’s rehearsal space for many years. Yet since their rise to becoming one of Europe’s defining post-rock acts, they had never performed a concert there.

In a fortunate coincidence, Markus Mathis – a longtime fan who had recorded several of their shows before – also captured this final concert using two room microphones and a feed from the mixing desk.

Quasi Casa is the complete, unfiltered document of that night: an “official bootleg” spanning over 70 minutes of purely instrumental music, drawing on material from across their entire career, from the earliest releases to Del Tutto Illusorio. It captures, with striking clarity, the intensity that defined the band’s live performances.

Rather than simply uploading the recording and calling it a day, the band chose to assemble a physical release as a parting gift to their fans. The double LP includes a 16-page booklet with extensive liner notes and visual material.

Critical Thot ist das kraftvolle neue Kollaborationsalbum der in der Bay Area ansässigen Rapperin und Produzentin Sha Ray sowie der Produzentin und Elektronikmusikerin DJ Haram - zwei kompromisslose Künstlerinnen, die Rap und experimentellen Sound neu definieren. Es ist eine spannende Kombination: Haram ist die eine Hälfte des Duos 700 Bliss zusammen mit der Rapperin und Poetin Moor Mother und hat zudem mehrere Soloalben veröffentlicht - darunter Beside Myself (Hyperdub, 2025), das von der Kritik gefeiert wurde - sowie hochkarätige Kollaborationen mit BbyMutha, Fever Ray, Ghais Guevara und Armand Hammer.Währenddessen handelt es sich bei Critical Thot zwar um Sha Rays offizielles Debütalbum, doch ihr Ruf als aufstrebendes Talent der nächsten Generation eilte ihr bereits voraus. DJ Haram wurde 2022 auf sie aufmerksam, als sie Sha Ray bei einem Auftritt in Brooklyn sah: ,Wir haben uns vor Ort unterhalten, und danach habe ich ihr auf Social Media gefolgt. Sie hat eine unglaubliche Performance abgeliefert, also war ich sofort dabei, als sie mir später eine Nachricht geschrieben und nach Beats gefragt hat", erklärt Haram.Ein Armand Hammer/DJ Haram-Konzert in Los Angeles wurde schließlich zum entscheidenden Moment, an dem sich diese Verbindungen konkretisierten. Sha Ray reiste aus der Bay Area an, um sich mit Haram zu treffen. Auch wenn an diesem Tag noch keine Aufnahmen entstanden, bildete er den Ausgangspunkt für die spätere Zusammenarbeit über große Distanz hinweg, die in Critical Thot mündete. Das gesamte Album entstand remote: Haram produzierte Beats in Brooklyn und schickte sie an Sha Ray, die ihrerseits Demos und Anmerkungen zurücksandte. Während der Arbeit an diesem Projekt lernten sie sich sowohl künstlerisch als auch persönlich besser kennen.,Haram und ich haben viele ähnliche Erfahrungen als Frauen in der Musikindustrie gemacht, was unsere Verbindung enorm gestärkt hat. Außerdem hat mich ihr markanter Produktionsstil stark beim Schreiben dieses Albums inspiriert", sagt Sha Ray.Diese Texte sind messerscharf und erfrischend direkt. Sha Ray beweist schnell, dass sie in ihrer eigenen Liga spielt und selbst die komplexesten Produktionen von DJ Haram mühelos meistert, ohne an Energie zu verlieren. Haram schöpft aus dem Vollen und bewegt sich mit ihren Beats zwischen experimentell-abrasiven Sounds, geschmeidiger Leichtigkeit und dunkel bedrohlicher Atmosphäre. Perkussive Einschläge und Schüsse werden mit feinen Details und weichen Klangflächen kombiniert. Ein traplastiger Banger löst sich plötzlich in einem Strom aus Streichern auf, während eine minimale industrielle Klanglandschaft sich langsam zu einer wuchtigen, kakophonischen Rap-Attacke steigert. Sha Ray navigiert sich souverän und trotzig durch jede Drumstruktur und jeden Synthesizer.,Als Rapperin interessiere ich mich fast ausschließlich dafür, Misogynie und Sexualität in meiner Arbeit zu hinterfragen. Critical Thot ist eine Auseinandersetzung mit unapologetischer weiblicher Autorität und gleichzeitig eine ehrliche Reflexion darüber, wie komplex es ist, an Selbstobjektifizierung teilzuhaben und Sexualität als soziale Währung zu begreifen", erläutert Sha Ray. ,Auf diesem Album geht es stark darum, Macht in weiblicher Sexualität als etwas Relationales und ständig Wandelndes zu definieren - und damit als grundsätzlich unvollkommen. Aber es ist eine Macht, die ich habe, und ich werde sie nutzen."Critical Thot enthält Beiträge von Nappy Nina, JWords und Archangel.

Critical Thot ist das kraftvolle neue Kollaborationsalbum der in der Bay Area ansässigen Rapperin und Produzentin Sha Ray sowie der Produzentin und Elektronikmusikerin DJ Haram - zwei kompromisslose Künstlerinnen, die Rap und experimentellen Sound neu definieren. Es ist eine spannende Kombination: Haram ist die eine Hälfte des Duos 700 Bliss zusammen mit der Rapperin und Poetin Moor Mother und hat zudem mehrere Soloalben veröffentlicht - darunter Beside Myself (Hyperdub, 2025), das von der Kritik gefeiert wurde - sowie hochkarätige Kollaborationen mit BbyMutha, Fever Ray, Ghais Guevara und Armand Hammer.Währenddessen handelt es sich bei Critical Thot zwar um Sha Rays offizielles Debütalbum, doch ihr Ruf als aufstrebendes Talent der nächsten Generation eilte ihr bereits voraus. DJ Haram wurde 2022 auf sie aufmerksam, als sie Sha Ray bei einem Auftritt in Brooklyn sah: ,Wir haben uns vor Ort unterhalten, und danach habe ich ihr auf Social Media gefolgt. Sie hat eine unglaubliche Performance abgeliefert, also war ich sofort dabei, als sie mir später eine Nachricht geschrieben und nach Beats gefragt hat", erklärt Haram.Ein Armand Hammer/DJ Haram-Konzert in Los Angeles wurde schließlich zum entscheidenden Moment, an dem sich diese Verbindungen konkretisierten. Sha Ray reiste aus der Bay Area an, um sich mit Haram zu treffen. Auch wenn an diesem Tag noch keine Aufnahmen entstanden, bildete er den Ausgangspunkt für die spätere Zusammenarbeit über große Distanz hinweg, die in Critical Thot mündete. Das gesamte Album entstand remote: Haram produzierte Beats in Brooklyn und schickte sie an Sha Ray, die ihrerseits Demos und Anmerkungen zurücksandte. Während der Arbeit an diesem Projekt lernten sie sich sowohl künstlerisch als auch persönlich besser kennen.,Haram und ich haben viele ähnliche Erfahrungen als Frauen in der Musikindustrie gemacht, was unsere Verbindung enorm gestärkt hat. Außerdem hat mich ihr markanter Produktionsstil stark beim Schreiben dieses Albums inspiriert", sagt Sha Ray.Diese Texte sind messerscharf und erfrischend direkt. Sha Ray beweist schnell, dass sie in ihrer eigenen Liga spielt und selbst die komplexesten Produktionen von DJ Haram mühelos meistert, ohne an Energie zu verlieren. Haram schöpft aus dem Vollen und bewegt sich mit ihren Beats zwischen experimentell-abrasiven Sounds, geschmeidiger Leichtigkeit und dunkel bedrohlicher Atmosphäre. Perkussive Einschläge und Schüsse werden mit feinen Details und weichen Klangflächen kombiniert. Ein traplastiger Banger löst sich plötzlich in einem Strom aus Streichern auf, während eine minimale industrielle Klanglandschaft sich langsam zu einer wuchtigen, kakophonischen Rap-Attacke steigert. Sha Ray navigiert sich souverän und trotzig durch jede Drumstruktur und jeden Synthesizer.,Als Rapperin interessiere ich mich fast ausschließlich dafür, Misogynie und Sexualität in meiner Arbeit zu hinterfragen. Critical Thot ist eine Auseinandersetzung mit unapologetischer weiblicher Autorität und gleichzeitig eine ehrliche Reflexion darüber, wie komplex es ist, an Selbstobjektifizierung teilzuhaben und Sexualität als soziale Währung zu begreifen", erläutert Sha Ray. ,Auf diesem Album geht es stark darum, Macht in weiblicher Sexualität als etwas Relationales und ständig Wandelndes zu definieren - und damit als grundsätzlich unvollkommen. Aber es ist eine Macht, die ich habe, und ich werde sie nutzen."Critical Thot enthält Beiträge von Nappy Nina, JWords und Archangel.

The debut release by Confusion on Incompetence Records documents an exercise in disciplined spontaneity, a jam session where organic interaction is rigorously shaped into form. Recorded live in Belgrade by Dmitrii Steinberg, Aleksei Siubaev, Viktor Volkovich, Evgenii Piankov, and Leonid Lipelis, the material was subsequently dissected and reassembled with a scalpel like precision reminiscent of Teo Macero’s landmark edits for Miles Davis. What emerges is not a loose improvisational document but a suite of cohesive constructed pieces: weightless structures suspended over a hypnotic pulse, steeped in cosmic vibes and soft psychedelia. There is a slo mo insistence to the grooves, a kosmiche drift that folds jazz funk rituals into something both intimate and expansive. For musicians previously orbiting rare groove, house, indie rock, and modern composition, Confusion expands their explorations into a terrain where genre dissolves into texture and intention. The record’s mesmerizing beauty lies in its restraint, motifs surface, dissolve, and return as if refracted through magnetic tape memory, each fragment locked into place yet breathing with human elasticity. Rather than presenting virtuosity, the quintet channels it into atmosphere, into a patient, glowing continuum that feels less like a jam and more like a carefully mapped inner cosmos, calibrated for deep listening and slow revelation.

* Begleittext vom legendären Musiker, Autor und Compiler Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith, Nuggets) * Das Booklet enthält bisher unveröffentlichte Fotos und Raritäten * Das Cover wurde restauriert und auf ein Gatefold-Cover erweitert * Neu remastert * Platz 5 auf Kurt Cobains Liste der 50 Lieblingsalben 1968 schnappten sich drei Schwestern aus Fremont, New Hampshire, ihre Instrumente und nannten sich ,The Shaggs". In diesem Moment begann eine eigentümliche Geschichte, die weit über die fünfjährige Existenz der Gruppe hinausreichen sollte. Dot, Betty und Helen (und gelegentlich Rachel, die vierte Schwester) spielten in der Gruppe auf Drängen ihres Vaters, Austin Wiggin Jr., der überzeugt war, dass sie groß rauskommen würden. Jahre zuvor hatte Austins Mutter ihm aus der Hand gelesen und vorausgesagt, dass ihr Sohn eine strohblonde Frau heiraten würde, dass er nach dem Tod seiner Mutter zwei Söhne bekommen würde und dass seine Töchter eine beliebte Musikgruppe gründen würden. Die ersten beiden Vorhersagen traten ein, also war Austin sicher, dass auch die dritte eintreffen würde. Mit unerschütterlichem Selbstvertrauen und der kühnen Vorhersage seiner Mutter beschloss Austin, dass seine Töchter auf den Besuch der örtlichen Highschool verzichten und stattdessen zu Hause unterrichtet werden sollten, unterbrochen von einem strengen Programm aus Instrumental- und Gesangsübungen sowie Jumping Jacks und Sit-ups. Bald darauf betraten The Shaggs die Fleetwood Recording Studios in Revere, Massachusetts, um ihr einziges Album ,Philosophy Of The World" aufzunehmen, eine Sammlung von Garage-Rock-Songs, die Charme und Dissonanz gleichermaßen in Einklang brachten. Austin gab den Großteil seiner Ersparnisse nicht nur für die Aufnahmen aus, sondern auch für die Produktionskosten, um 1.000 Exemplare des Albums zu pressen (von denen 900 nach Fertigstellung auf mysteriöse Weise verschwanden). Im gesamten Album werden einfache Wahrheiten durch die Feder von Schwester Dot, der Songwriterin der Band, offenbart. Die Reichen wollen das, was die Armen haben, genauso wie die Armen das wollen, was die Reichen haben. Deine Eltern lieben dich. In der Nähe liegt Glück und in der Ferne Traurigkeit. Das Album erfüllte Austins Erwartungen an den Rockstar-Ruhm nicht, doch die Gruppe blieb bis zum Tod ihres Vaters zusammen und trat regelmäßig im Rathaus von Fremont und in einem örtlichen Pflegeheim auf; weitere Alben wurden jedoch nicht veröffentlicht. Das hätte das Ende sein können, bis die Rockband NRBQ eine Kopie bei einem Radiosender in Massachusetts entdeckte und sie 1980 neu veröffentlichte. Der damalige Rezensent des Rolling Stone beschrieb es als ,die atemberaubend schrecklichste wunderbare Platte, die ich seit Ewigkeiten gehört habe". Fast 50 Jahre später zählt das Album zu den polarisierendsten LPs aller Zeiten. Manche sagten, es sei das Schlimmste, was je produziert wurde. Andere empfanden es als eines der großartigsten Langspielalben des 20. Jahrhunderts. Frank Zappa bezeichnete die Band bekanntlich als ,besser als die Beatles", während Kurt Cobain das Album auf Platz 5 seiner Liste der 50 Lieblingsalben setzte. Originalausgaben des Albums erzielen Preise von 10.000 Dollar. Jahrzehnte später könnte man argumentieren, dass Austin vielleicht die ganze Zeit recht hatte. Wir sind alle hier und immer noch fasziniert von der Reinheit der Shaggs.

Forever Records

Music springs eternal. Recognising the enduring power of timeless albums to guide us through life, Forever Records is a reissue series dedicated to rediscovering lost musical treasures from across the spectrum of head-feeding, heart-rending electronic music.

Established by Rush Hour co-founder Christiaan Macdonald and Delsin founder Marsel van der Wielen, Forever Records places heartfelt faith in a carefully curated sequence of seminal, largely forgotten records from disparate eras, scenes and spaces within electronic music history. Tipped towards the mellow and introspective, these are albums that stop time when the needle hits the groove, stirring only when it's time to flip over before you sink back into the experience. That's what albums were always meant to be about, back then, right now, always and forever.


The Release:
Dancing on the wildest edge of the 90s outsider techno zeitgeist while proudly independent of any so-called scene, Ov Biospheres And Sacred Grooves: A Document Ov New Edge Folk Classics is both of its time and out of time. Rooted in the experiments of electronic music pioneers, industrial culture and ethnic music from around the globe while responding to the house and techno explosion, Robbert Heynen, Reinier Brekelmans, Reinoud van den Broek and Tim Freeman's freewheeling masterpiece takes in lush electronica and murky abstraction on its singular voyage through parts unknown.

Forever Records presents an extensive reissue edition of the first 'fully released' Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia album. Originally released in 1992, this is the first time the full, previously CD-only, version of Ov Biospheres and Sacred Grooves will be pressed on vinyl. The original LP and CD artwork from the various editions released in the early 90s has been combined and designed by the band, and the audio has been remastered with their full approval. As well as a new LP edition of the album, there will also be a uniquely numbered, limited edition available housed in a gatefold sleeve that comes with a bonus 10" featuring two previously unreleased tracks.

Press response to Ov Biospheres and Sacred Grooves - A Document Ov New Edge Folk Classics:

“That’s Magick! The Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia are Holland’s best kept secret.”
Sherman, NME, UK 1992

“PWOG’s debut LP is an organic invocation rite — the soundtrack to a new world coming to life, an odyssey. Cross-cultural rhythms, ambiences and environmental samples segue into one another like a fluid relay, and unlike the majority of dance records, it never settles into a routine. It’s always evolving, always unpredictable, an indefinitely religious experience.”
John Selzer, Melody Maker, UK 1992.

"Grown men, who snorted their first ecstasy to this record, stammered with tears in their eyes about divine experiences and the cosmos, man."
Peter Erik Hillenbach, Marabo Magazine, Germany 1992.

Sacred Grooves’ introduces tribal dance music for the mind, body music leaning on the avant garde. Its ripples of sound drift through tranced out ritualistic beats into ambience and serenity resembling something akin to The Orb meeting Klaus Schulze at a brain tuning session.
Sherman, NME, UK 1992

"There's still dance for a moment, in the opening track "The Challenge," then Psychick Warriors roam the earth, where African drummers, tropical sounds, and science-fiction chords have found their place in a spiralling interplay of rhythms and sounds. A captivating, almost magical ritual." Corné Evers, Oor Magazine, Netherlands 1992.

"It's truly astonishing what these Dutchmen have come up with for their first LP. Their roots might explain the enigma, for Psychick Warriors are more in the tradition of Psychic TV than in the desolate temples of techno-house fetishists, to which they are wrongly relegated. Here, chromosomes dance, not instincts." CMK, Tip, Germany 1992.

"The transcendental essence of this album is spread throughout, with musical gravitations emerging unexpectedly from sonic experiments that are sometimes primitive, sometimes
futuristic in intention… But there is always an aura of cosmic magic that constantly puts all the parts involved in conflict and which, upon closer analysis, ends up being the main reason for the final result." Blitz Magazine, Portugal 1992.

WRWTFWW Records is thrilled to announce their 5th archival release taken from cult Tokyo label FORM@ RECORDS' catalogue, this time with the first-ever vinyl edition of Re-Form Ver-1.0. The remarkable, yet not widely known, 1999 remix compilation is now available as a limited edition 45rpm cut double LP housed in a heavyweight sleeve, as well as in digital format.
Originally only available on CD in extremely limited quantities, Re-Form Ver-1.0 resurfaces as a fascinating document of FORM@ RECORDS' late-1990s creative peak. Re-imagining key pieces from the label's catalogue, the remix collection offers a rare glimpse into Tokyo's electronic underground, where techno, house, ambient, and IDM breathe freely through FORM@'s soulful and exploratory vision.
Highlights include two remixes of Missing Project's adored gem "Poisson D'Avril" (including its well known ethereal ambient Galaxy Dub which appeared on Music From Memory's Virtual Dreams II) as well as the otherworldly Fossil (aka the legend Virgo) Mix of Penance's "Cure & Soul". Throughout, the compilation balances dancefloor sensibility with introspective listening, embodying the warm human approach to machine music FORM@ RECORDS excels in.
Another essential time capsule from a crucial era of underground music, Re-Form Ver-1.0 echoes the spirit of Warp's Artificial Intelligence era, alongside the forward-thinking energy of Ken Ishii, Carl Craig, The Black Dog, and Ian O'Brien, while keeping its feet and individuality firmly rooted in local context - the magic recipe for creating a universal, timeless language of electronic expression.
Re-Form Ver-1.0 follows the vinyl edition of Virgo's Landform Code (1998) and Remnants (1999), as well as the FORM@ compilations Art Form I (1997) and Art Form 2 (1998), further expanding WRWTFWW's archival series dedicated to uncovering hidden gems of late '90s Japanese electronic music.

p:m joyfully welcomes DJ Sofa to the expanding roster. Now firmly established as a premier new-gen jungle artist, across 3 tracks Sofa draws influence from some of the best mid- to late-‘90s and early ‘00s artists and labels - Tom & Jerry, Reinforced, Nico, early Optical, Doc Scott, the Bristol sound, DJ Trace, Digital & Spirit, Breakage - and sprinkles their Finnish magic on top.

Featuring rare- and first-on-vinyl tracks from beloved producers such as 2000 And One, Stasis, and CiM. Remastered by DMX Krew and with an accompanying online essay by Oli Warwick.

Across eight carefully selected slices of starry-eyed machine soul, Cold Blow presents an exquisite tour through backroom techno and downtempo electro. With a focus on thematic flow and an immersive listening experience, the London-based label explores works from leading lights of the 1990s and previously unreleased cuts that celebrate the human heart that can be discovered in synthetic sound practices. The development of techno in the 1990s saw the music evolve in different directions across the world. From the expressive blueprint laid out by the Detroit pioneers, a wide range of tempos and energies emerged. Techno's evocative synthesis and intricate drum machine programming was especially potent for deeper explorations away from the dancefloor. Documents Of A Different Reality casts back to when technology was steering quantum leaps in communication and creativity and the future was shot through with naive optimism. It was also a time when the media and industry hadn't caught up with the music to box it into distinct categories. As such, there's a sense of creative freedom that informs the older tracks on the album, from 2000 And One and Sandy Huner's sparkling example of early Dutch techno to London-based LA Synthesis' detailed take on braindance and the majestic night sky vision of cult legend Stasis. There's also space for rare, late 90s machine funk from Icelandic outlier Thor alongside Connective Zone's charmingly fractured bleep dream and a more contemporary offering from Barcelona-based duo Permutation. Meanwhile Mind Control and CiM both capture the spirit of stylistic fusion with twitchier rhythms that take influence from hardcore and jungle as much as techno. With an atmospheric through-line of melancholic pads and harmonious leads, this small but perfectly formed collection naturally follows on from previous, equally thought-out compilations on Cold Blow, and adds a distinct perspective on the history and continuing legacy of pioneering early ambient techno.

Capturing the full scope of the Straw Hat Crew’s journey into the Grand Line, this collection brings together the massive, high energy score by award winning composers Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli. From the shores of Loguetown to the snowy peaks of Drum Island, every moment of the voyage is brought to life through soaring orchestral arrangements and unforgettable pirate anthems.

2LP Audiophile Black Vinyl: Two 12 inch records pressed on high quality black vinyl for a classic look and superior sound fidelity, delivering every orchestral swell with crystal clear precision.

Double CD Set: Two discs featuring the complete original score and songs, presented in a premium compact format.

Premium Packaging: A double gatefold jacket for the vinyl edition and a three fold digipack for the CD, both showcasing vibrant cinematic artwork of Luffy and the Straw Hat Crew.

Complete Soundtrack: Over 40 tracks spanning the entire second season, including character themes, emotional moments and epic battle motifs.

Whether at home or on your own journey, this release is the perfect way to keep the spirit of adventure alive, immersing you fully in the world of One Piece.

Netflix’s epic high seas pirate adventure, ONE PIECE, returns for Season 2, unleashing fiercer adversaries and the most perilous quests yet. Luffy and the Straw Hats set sail for the extraordinary Grand Line, a legendary stretch of sea where danger and wonder await at every turn. As they journey through this unpredictable realm in search of the world’s greatest treasure, they will encounter bizarre islands and a host of formidable new enemies

Who could have imagined that Ryo Fukui had left behind a recording like this? Captured on June 8, 1977, this previously unreleased live session was recorded at the Sapporo jazz club Vidro by Masataka Ito, the producer behind Fukui’s albums Scenery and Mellow Dream. It is unmistakably the Ryo Fukui Trio of that era, yet the performance possesses an overwhelming intensity and freshness that far surpass any studio recording—excitement in its purest form.

The 16-minute, searing performance of “Mellow Dream” is just the beginning. The propulsive energy of “Speak Low”, the beautifully woven lyricism of “Body & Soul,” the blistering drive of “Love For Sale”, the weighty depth of “Mr. P.C.”, and the crystalline fragility of “My Foolish Heart”—each track is delivered with feverish brilliance. It was this very live recording, excerpts of which were evaluated at the Trio Records headquarters at the time, that ultimately led to the production of Fukui’s second album Mellow Dream. In every sense, this is an extraordinarily precious document.

Random vinyl, ReVINYL Edition. The Tallest Man on Earth released The Wild Hunt this past April, and the album found its way into the hearts of fans everywhere. The connection that the Tallest Man on Earth (aka songwriter Kristian Matsson) has with his fans is a sight to behold - he has performed around the world, at clubs and festivals, and the bond between Matsson and his audience is breathtaking. Matsson is the rarest of performers, charismatic and captivating, and his passion for performance bleeds through every single time he takes the stage.At many of the Tallest Man on Earth shows this year, Matsson closed his set with a new song titled "Like the Wheel." It quickly became a fan favorite, with YouTube videos spreading virally, and the sets closing on a high note night after night."Like the Wheel," along with four other new songs, make up Sometimes The Blues Is Just a Passing Bird, an EP written entirely after The Wild Hunt. Recorded during a quick break from touring in the summer of 2010, "Like the Wheel" is joined by "The Dreamer," a soon-to-be-classic that Matsson performs on electric guitar. Sometimes The Blues Is Just a Passing Bird is an open and shut chapter in the Tallest Man on Earth's songbook - five new additions to those magical performances.

This is joy beyond expectation the arrival of a new Ryo Fukui recording. Captured on June 26, 2004, this live session documents the ninth anniversary concert of Slowboat, the jazz club Fukui founded and considered his musical home. The trio features Ryo Fukui on piano, Benisuke Sakai on bass, and Yoshihito Eto on drums. Fukui was 56 years old at the time, and his playing is powerful and expansive, yet still marked by delicacy and razor sharp precision. In terms of energy, stamina, and technique, he was entering a true period of artistic maturity. He delivers the music of his beloved Phineas Newborn Jr. and Tommy Flanagan with depth and elegance, and approaches the works of Wayne Shorter—an early-life influence—with thrilling intensity. The performance captures Fukui at a moment of profound fulfillment, offering a truly compelling glimpse into his late career brilliance.

Wer ist Born At Midnite und warum sollte dich das interessieren? Born At Midnite sind keine gewöhnlichen Drag-and-Drop-Produzenten, sondern eine vertikal integrierte Songmaschine. Mit Samplern, künstlichen Drums, Tonbandgeräten und hauseigenem Artwork, alles im Homeoffice-Tempo; seit einem halben Jahrzehnt steuert das Duo aus Montreal ganz lässig auf den Status der ,coolsten Band der Szene" zu. Indem sie den allgegenwärtigen Narzissmus und die Selbstverliebtheit unserer Zeit ausspielen - und sich gleichzeitig darüber lustig machen -, flicken die Jungs eine Art ungesponserten ,Product-Placement-Punk" zusammen. Also sag mir, was hat es mit ihrem Debütalbum auf sich? Was ist das Gegenteil eines Wunsches, der mit einem schrecklichen Fluch einhergeht? Es ist etwas, das niemand wollte, das aber vor ewiger Verdammnis schützt; es ist ,Eternal BAM Nation", das lang erwartete und doch schnell zusammengestellte Debütalbum von Born At Midnite. Und du weißt, dass diese elfeinhalb Songs den Kern der Sache treffen.

Gadea’s original soundtrack to In the Beginning, the new animated short film by director Ala Nunu, unfolds across three surreal, yet surprisingly real, stories about people and the world around them: a lunar probe’s tardigrade cargo, 16th-century myths surrounding birds of paradise, and Hong Kong’s pandemic-driven hamster cull. The film is a tonally absurd documentary-fiction essay on anthropocentrism and the human need to control narratives.

This is Gadea’s first musical accompaniment for animation. Collaborating with Marina Herlop on vocals, Gadea’s sonic palette sits somewhere between field-recording minimalism, chamber electro-acoustics, and the more fragile end of speculative composition.

Detroit producer, Shawescape Renegade, comes to Tresor Records with Exoframe, a five-track EP of pure techno and electro, including a remix by Arpanet.
As with so many forerunners and peers in the Detroit techno world, Shawescape Renegade, is a deep thinking and a world-building story teller and Exoframe uses the traditional sci-fi narrative to explore recent thought Shaw has had on the potential hidden costs of technological
evolution: what happens when overspecialisation leads to a dead end; when inflexibility means a return to the old forms becomes difficult.
The EP opens with 78 Light Years From Earth, an effects-laden slab of electro that pulls the percussion into other dimensions. Mechanus 9 brings a techno edge before Terraformers Warning unleashes a bass-driven beast.
A fast-paced remodel of Terraformer’s Warning from Gerald Donald’s Arpanet project follows, before the EP is closed out with another bassline-forward track, Ignition One, an updated version of the Shawescape cut that soundtracked the section of the Black To Techno
documentary focussed on the Detroit’s Jit dance scene. The strong symbiosis between Jit and Techno is a foundational part of Detroit’s culture and a community tie and suggests that while technology may lead to stagnation, the cultural muscle memory offers a path back to
authenticity.
In a thoughtful nod to the praxis of the DJ, the vinyl versions of A1 & B1 are five BPM slower than the digital, moving the music to between 128BPM and 151BPM on a standard Technics turntable and opening it up for play in a greater range of club environs.
It’s this deep respect for the artistry and traditions of Detroit’s longstanding music and dance scenes that mark Shawescape Renegade out as one of the true inheritors of the city’s heritage.

Auf "What's This?" liefern CS Cleaners 11 Tracks verzerrten, neonfarbenen Art-Punk, der gegen die Absurdität des modernen Lebens wettert. Die Band ist beeinflusst von der Downtown-Musik New Yorks von der ersten vielfältigen Welle des CBGB über die Mutationen und Dekonstruktionen des No-Wave. Doch auch wenn der Sound von CS Cleaners in einer Musik verwurzelt ist, die manchmal ziemlich hart sein kann, nehmen sie sich selbst keineswegs ernst: "What's This?" ist in erster Linie Tanzmusik, wenn auch in einer Form, die wild genug für diese extremen Zeiten ist. Die Charaktere, die auf What's This?" porträtiert werden, sind oft in Momenten der Selbstzweifel und Panik gefangen. Wie der narzisstische Musiker auf der Vorab-Single "Come & Go", der total ausflippt, weil er befürchtet, das Rampenlicht zu verlieren. Ben Petrosor vermittelt Pathos in Zeilen wie "if I swallow my pride, I'll split in two", die Mitgefühl für einen unsympathischen Charakter in einer nachvollziehbaren Situation wecken. Wir erleben eine Vielzahl solcher Panikattacken auf "What's This?". Sie entspringen dem Überwachungsstaat der sozialen Medien, dem Druck, in einer zunehmend feindseligen Stadt zu leben, und natürlich der Überlastung.