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The world moves faster than ever these days, and even in the digital age, things can always be counted on to go in cycles. Despite all of the advances in computer recording technology, home studios, and electronic instruments, there is a flourishing interest in analog recording techniques and in recreating the mood and sound of vintage soul records. With one foot in the past but their eyes firmly set on the future, El Michels Affair are among the leaders of a resurgent funk & soul movement from New York City that’s sweeping both the music community and the charts.

Led by saxophonist/organist Leon Michels and producer/engineer Jeff Silverman, El Michels Affair began as a loose collaboration of session musicians (including members of top-selling acts Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, the Budos Band, and Antibalas) that looked to blend some of the vibrant quality of soundtrack records with the recording aesthetic of early reggae, and the rawness of 60's rock--they called it 'Cinematic Soul.' This delicate balance was evident on their 2005 debut album Sounding Out the City, which earned critical acclaim and acted as the inaugural full-length release for Michels and Silverman’s burgeoning label Truth & Soul (also the moniker for the duo as a production team).

The buzz generated from the album and a series of moderately successful 7” vinyl singles from Truth & Soul led to an invitation by Toyota’s Scion division for El Michels Affair to accompany the rapper Raekwon of Wu-Tang Clan for a promotional concert. As avid Wu-Tang fans, not only were the band leaders thrilled with the opportunity, but Michels found that the ‘Cinematic Soul’ sound was consistent with the moods of RZA’s gritty soundscapes on the classic Wu-Tang releases. The concert was such as success, El Michels Affair went oan to play several more concerts nationwide backing Raekwon and other members of the Clan, and the shows led to the recording of two smash 7” singles featuring instrumental reinterpretations of the Wu-Tang classiac songs “C.R.E.A.M.” and “Bring Da Ruckus.” The singles combined to sell an extraordinary amount of over 7,000 units worldwide, and their success led to a contract in 2007 with indie hip hop powerhouse Fat Beats Records to record an entire album of Wu-Tang Clan interpolations entitled Enter the 37th Chamber.

Since the contract was inked, a worldwide explosion of retro soul led by Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings has transformed the pop music landscape, and the Truth & Soul production duo have been in strong demand, recording with everyone from breakthrough Grammy-nominated artist Adele to punk rock innovator Iggy Pop. They’ve been commissioned for official remixes of Amy Winehouse and Dinah Washington (for the popular Verve Remixed series), and produced for Australian multi-platinum acts Jet and Gabriella Cilmi.

Despite the eclectic group of clients for the Truth & Soul production company, El Michels Affair continued to build an audience within the hip hop community. A track from Sounding out the City was sampled for Ghostface Killah’s 2007 track “Shakey Dog Lolita,” and a horn part written and performed by Michels (for Menahan Street Band) was famously lifted for Jay-Z’s smash single “Roc Boys.” Truth & Soul also worked in the studio on original productions with multi-platinum producer Just Blaze (T.I.’s “Live Your Life,” Jay-Z, Usher).

With their increasing presence behind the scenes in the industry, El Michels Affair looks to have their status as recording artists rise significantly in 2009. With the release of their finally-completed album Enter the 37th Chamber, they can finally step out of the shadows of the retro-soul trend and establish their status as one of the most exciting and versatile bands in modern recorded music.

Folly Group become the first band on Ninja Tune imprint Technicolour
(Elkka, Sofia Kourtesis, VTSS) with their new EP ‘Human and Kind’.

The four-piece of Sean Harper, Louis Milburn, Kai Akinde-Hummel and Tom Doherty formed in the tumultuous melting-pot of the London musical circuit. They released their debut EP ‘Awake and Hungry’ last year, receiving wide acclaim for their electronic infused post-punk sound and furiously brilliant live shows, landing coveted slots at Pitchfork Music Festival, in NME’s 100 Artists On The Rise and a co-sign from IDLES’ singer Joe Talbot.

Speaking about the EP, Folly Group said: “Where ‘Awake and Hungry’
doubled as a diary of the band’s formative months and encapsulation of our live show, ‘Human and Kind’ is a projection of our ambition, and our desire to push ourselves through what we might previously have
perceived as the ceiling of possibility for four players.”

For fans of Black Country, New Road, Squid, Yard Act, Black Midi, Dry Cleaning, Shame, Do Nothing.
140g crystal clear vinyl in 12” sleeve with spine and printed inner, plus
digital download code. Pressed sustainably within a 99% circular
environment at Deepgrooves.

“Every track is so good. They haven’t released anything that isn’t
amazing.” - Joe Talbot (IDLES, speaking on BBC 6 Music)
“thriving in well-crafted chaos.” - NME
“brilliant, experimental jungle rock” - i
“Give me that post-punk syncopation any day of the week” - Lauren
Laverne, who has made the band’s last three singles (including ‘I Raise You…’) her While You Were Sleeping Track Of The Day.
Headline UK Tour starting 31 March, taking in London, Bristol,
Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Margate, Newcastle,
Southampton, Milton Keynes and more.

Amsterdam-based flutist Han Litz returns with another genre-bending release where he teamed up with long-time collaborator Kid Sublime. Together they know how to add sincere soulfulness to the dance floor, ranging from house to broken beat-inspired rhythms with Han's captivating flute playing telling the stories. Including stellar remixes by original Bugz In The Attic broken beat icon Daz-I-Kue and rising Dutch talent, Kofi The Unknown.

London producer Keplrr debuts on Midgar with ‘Plumes’. Known for his productions on trendsetting outlets like Control Freak Recordings and Pressure Dome where he showed his excellent take on forward thinking broken techno music, right here for Midgar he uses a more straight forward approach with two versions of title track ‘Plumes’. The original is a subtle, percussive and playful techno groover, where the ‘Meditation Mix’ flips this impeccable groove into an airy atmospheric after-house mood. Second track ‘Pulse’ continues on this breezy atmosphere, it’s a floaty eyes-closed deep trip, with carefully arranged drums creating the perfect breakdown. Keplrr’s creative process delves into the profound, seeking to encapsulate the sensation of falling or morphing, blurring the lines between reality and reverie. His aim is to transport listeners to a state somewhere between a dream and a trip, where the boundaries of perception dissolve, and the subconscious takes flight. This EP embodies that quest, each track a sonic voyage into the depths of consciousness.

First Time On Wax! Pressed On White Vinyl! Originally released on July 9th, 2012, only via Soundcloud, Cigarette Boats is NOW available on wax! When Curren$y (aka Spitta Andretti) & Harry Fraud collab, they create classics, something which is most definitely evidenced on 'Cigarette Boats'. The merger of Harry's signature production and Spitta's deadly flow show why XXL Magazine named it the "2012 EP of the Year." The duo decided it was time to make Cigarette Boats available in all formats, releasing the instrumentals exclusively on vinyl. Fraud recalled his audition for Curren$y, after meeting him while working on a Smoke DZA project: "I had met Curren$y briefly for one second at a radio station, but that was the first time we really kicked it. He just asked me to play some beats,

and I played like five beats, and he was just like, 'Yo, I need all of those. We gotta do a little EP with those.'' Those same five beats became the entire sound bed for the 'Cigarette Boats'.

The 9th studio album of the band tumido features trumpet player Alex Kranabetter (Soap and Skin, Vodoo Jürgens). For more than 20 years Tumido has been on the lookout for something new, always on the move, focused on energy in any form, driving rhythms, powerful bass, spacey drones. Trumpet has always been a big part of their sound universe, so it felt very natural to collaborate with a master of trumpet sounds, Alex Kranabetter and record an album together.
Lithox - a maelstrom you can't escape, sucked in by a hypnotic bass & driving rhythms into a trance world you don't want to leave Dwa - a summer hit out of Hades on the slide to hell.
180° - a volcanic eruption on a lonely island - pure energy; Dirt Rodeo - the branches of the fire tree dance with laughter, clouds of smoke cloud the senses and the landing is a success.

'Bra Tid' marks the vibrant debut LP from D. Apal, a playful exploration of dance music characterized by creamy synths, dub-infused rhythms and soulful melodies.
The album showcases a fusion of 70's and 80's influences alongside nods to modern music, resulting in a captivating blend of funk, disco and electronica.

2024 repress.

Ever dreamed to travel to Trinidad & Tobago? Disco Segreta makes this dream come true with it’s 6th release: the much awaited officially licensed reissue of this tropicalo-disco synth bass boogie atomic bomb, from the original analog masters.

Written in late 1983 by Mario Baldoni aka Miro of “Real Life Games” LP (1977) and Brina’s “Stranamore” (1984) fame. Originally released in July 1984 on the small Pineapple label – a sublabel of Armando Sciascia’s “Vedette” – with close to no success and a pressing fault: a glitch on the vocal version, that affected all copies.

This tropical summerish blend of italo and boogie, along with the male/female alternate spanish/english singing, turned into a true classic of the genre over the years, slowly making the playlists of the most respected DJs and diggers worldwide. The 4-tracks 12″ features the original vocal and instrumental versions in their original length, carefully dubbed from the analog stereo masters and taken back to new life through Disco Segreta’s usual respectful mastering. Also, two new remixes are featured.

Keith Hudson was a one-of-a-kind musical innovator with an impeccable track record from the start: his first studio recording involved former Skatalites, and his earliest releases provided solid-gold hits for Ken Boothe (“Old Fashioned Way”, 1967), John Holt, Delroy Wilson, U-Roy and the others.

With Pick A Dub Hudson produced one of the best dub albums ever, and with The Black Breast Has Produced Her Best, Flesh Of My Skin, Blood Of My Blood he released the first concept album in reggae history, bringing his all-around talents to full fruition as early as 1974. Thematically dedicated entirely to Black history, the latter of these two albums is a masterpiece that captivates with an atmosphere that is as dark as it is deeply spiritual, charged by Hudson's eccentric vocals. Like Lloyd Bullwackie Barnes, his splitting from tradition was dynamic and all his own.

As his career moved on, Hudson found himself working outside of Jamaica, more frequently in London and New York studios and for transatlantic audiences, his dark experimentalism becoming increasingly better suited to the LP than the cardinal 7” reggae format.

Playing It Cool & Playing It Right was released in 1981 on the Joint International label, in NYC, with Lloyd Bullwackie Barnes as the executive producer. The Love Joys and Wayne Jarrett, stalwarts of Barnes' record label, Wackies, would also inimitably feature Hudson at the microphone. Like Bullwackie, Hudson was a devotee of Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One and Playing It Cool & Playing It Right follows Dodd’s then strategy of overdubbing his signature rhythms. The Studio One sides were aimed at the dancefloor and Hudson’s reworkings of tracks like “Melody Maker” are more psychological. Here, deep Barrett Brothers rhythms are made deeper with reverb, filters and distortion; everything pitched down and overlaid with new recordings of guitar, percussion, keyboard, and voice, often heavily treated.

Playing It Cool & Playing It Right continues Hudson’s psycho-acoustic journey into the abysses of existence, and overwhelms with the beauty of artistic self-empowerment. "Too much formula," sings Hudson, whose voice is occasionally reminiscent of Sly Stone or even Tom Waits. "Darkest night," answers an echoing background choir elsewhere. Even more fascinating is Hudson's production, which reflects Black history in even the smallest sound detail, the flashing whip of the slave driver still echoes in the sound of the snare drum. Rarely has a roots sound been made so electrifying, so expansive in all directions, so crystal clear, so bass-warm and echophonic as on these 30 minutes of music.

Playing It Cool & Playing It Right is legendary, strange, utterly compelling music that has possibly never been more topical than it is today.

In this collection of bass-led duets, Charlie Haden enlists Don Cherry (trumpet/flute), Archie Shepp (tenor), Hampton Hawes (piano) and a trumpet playing Ornette Coleman on the four tracks. Hawes’ playing on the Ornette-penned “Turnaround” is the clear straight-ahead highlight of this generally exploratory album. This Verve By Request title is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Third Man in Detroit.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce Resonant Trees, the first vinyl release from French composer-performer Léo Dupleix. An active member of the international community of younger musicians working with just intonation, Dupleix has composed works for solo instrumentalists and ensembles in Europe and Japan, as well as performing extensively on harpsichord, piano and electronics. His music is distinguished by a formal clarity and elegance of surface, gently shaping pure intervals into delicate melodic patterns and shimmering harmonic planes.

Resonant Trees presents two side-long pieces for harpsichord and ensemble, both setting slowly repeating patterns played on harpsichord and guitar within an environment of sustained tones. Dupleix performs on a French double manual harpsichord (tuned to a just intonation scheme of his own devising) and Prophet synthesizer, joined by Juliette Adam (bass clarinet), Johanna Bartz (traverso flute), Cyprien Busolini (viola), Fredrik Rasten (6- and 12-string guitars), and Mara Winter (traverso flute). The harpsichord begins Resonant Tree I alone, slowly sounding out a series of arpeggiated chords that emphasise the unique (and for unaccustomed listeners, sometimes unsettling) harmonic and timbral qualities of justly tuned intervals. Long tones from synthesiser, bass clarinet, viola and Baroque traverso flutes slowly creep into the spaces between the arpeggiated chords, joined after several minutes by delicate patterns of harmonics played by Rasten on acoustic guitars.

On Resonant Tree II, a similar structure and ensemble (without the flutes) are used with quite different results. We again hear only the harpsichord at first, but this time playing a series of flowing melodic lines, each of which is repeated several times. Joined again by long tones from the ensemble, here the viola is particularly prominent and its interplay with the harpsichord creates fascinating acoustic effects. In both pieces, repetition gives the music a static, stable quality while, at the same time, the exact shape of the repeating patterns remains difficult to grasp. As Dupleix writes, these pieces dream of music as ‘space and a sound that one could grasp in one’s hand.’ As the near-static quality of the repetitions and long tones with little incident make these two stretches of musical time feel like spaces for the listener to inhabit, the small variations on a narrow range of related material act like a three-dimensional object whose each facet is examined in turn. At once austere and seductive, Resonant Trees takes its place beside the work of contemporaries like Catherine Lamb, while also calling up the languorous melodic world of Mamoru Fujieda, the dignified melancholy of Satoshi Ashikawa’s classic Still Way and the espaliered chamber atmospherics of the Obscure catalogue.

Rockpile was a short-lived yet highly influential quartet, composed of Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner and Terry Williams. Though Rockpile played together throughout the 1970s, the original 1980 release of Seconds of Pleasure was the only time the band was able to capture their magic on tape. Meshing the sounds of pub rock, power pop and rockabilly all through a blossoming new wave lens, Rockpile were renowned for their blistering live performances, which were brought to national attention on tours supporting Blondie, Bad Company, Van Morrison and Elvis Costello. Seconds of Pleasure has stood the test of time and cemented Rockpile as a one-album-wonder, but what a wonder it is! Featuring classics like Lowe’s pop-perfect “When I Write the Book” and “Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)” and Rockpile’s sole Billboard hit “Teacher Teacher,” Seconds of Pleasure remains a classic that should be found on the turntable of every music collector. Yep Roc is proud to announce a long overdue vinyl reissue of Seconds of Pleasure, pressed on yellow color vinyl and limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. The reissue was pressed at the state-of-the-art facilities of Citizen Vinyl in Asheville, North Carolina and the lacquer was cut by renowned mastering engineer Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Over four decades later, Seconds of Pleasure has brought years of enjoyment and now has never sounded better!

Multi-talented US punk, Jeff Rosenstock releases fourth album on Specialist Subject Records (UK /EU) & Polyvinyl (Worldwide)! NO DREAM comes at a time of unparalleled chaos and confusion, division and despair, the depths of which would have been impossible to predict when much of it was being written over the course of the last few years. And yet the record feels prescient, unexpectedly and uniquely suited for this moment. Newly settled in Los Angeles after a lifetime on the East Coast (namely Brooklyn by way of Long Island), Rosenstock recorded NO DREAM with Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Hard Girls, Joyce Manor) at Oakland's Atomic Garden, and even took on mixing duties alongside Shirley for the first time. Opting to stay off the computer "even more than usual" and record to tape with outboard gear, the result is a lived-in sound that gives each song its own individual voice and organic energy. After building a cult following with the acerbic ska-punk of the Arrogant Sons of Bitches and DIY heroics of Bomb the Music Industry!, Rosenstock's first proper solo record, 2015's We Cool?, was a step into uncharted territory, fully untethered from genre and expectation. Followed by 2016's WORRY. and the surprise New Year's Day launch of POST- in the early hours of 2018, Rosenstock was facing down that least punk of opportunities: a career playing music. Having taken some time away from his work as a solo artist to recalibrate and reset over the last year, Rosenstock stayed busy playing alongside Mikey Erg, recording and touring with the Bruce Lee Band, releasing a Neil Young covers record with frequent collaborator Laura Stevenson, reissuing two of his own out-of-print early albums, compiling a live album which was recorded during a run of four sold-out shows at Bowery Ballroom, making a 76 page photo book, and scoring over 80 episodes of the Cartoon Network series Craig of the Creek. In fully returning to his own voice, it's no surprise that Rosenstock's output has never been more eclectic, reflected across NO DREAM's 13 songs.

When I arrived in Geneva, Claude picked me up in his Aston Martin. He had a tape deck playing Lowell Fulsom – a guy who used to come to Memphis a lot and I knew some of his musicians. I grew up around the Blues, so this was a natural sound for me. Claude didn’t tell me until much, much later that he played Blues harmonica. He took us to the hotel where we had a warm and cordial welcome. Montreux was a quaint and sleepy town in 1967. However, there was a palpable excitement in the air and we could feel it. Everyone seemed to know that they were about to launch something great – the Montreux Jazz Festival - and there was no turning back. I was their first international artist to perform there with my quartet with Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette and Ron McClure.

We played two concerts at the Casino one in the afternoon and one at night. That was the start of three great and lasting friendships; Claude Nobs, Montreux Jazz Festival co-founder, Rene Langel, and the engineer of the recording, Pierre Grandjean, from Radio Suisse. And - a fourth person, who was 6 at the time, Yvan Ischer. We did not meet until many years later and have become good friends. It is thanks to Yvan’s persistent belief in this music and Pierre Grandjean’s safe keeping of the tapes, that we hear them now, more than fifty years later. live at Montreux Jazz Festival, June 18, 1967. Featuring Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett, Ron McClure, and Jack DeJohnette.

A kaleidoscopic sonic riot, Nandakke? is the hotly anticipated debut album from Japanese-Belgian duo Aili. Featuring 10 tracks of surreal electro-pop, joyful electronica, house music and more, Nandakke? is a euphoric album that sees Aili Maruyama and Orson Wouters more than fulfil the promise of their acclaimed debut EP.

Recorded over the course of six months in Orson's studio, packed full of vintage synths, Nandakke? captures the spontaneous spirit and creativity of those sessions. Exchanging riffs and rhythms, bouncing sounds and samples off each other, Aili and Orson would let the music take them where it wanted. The result,an album full of wild ideas and bold, playful experimentation.

More than anything an exhilarating feeling of discovery courses through Nandakke?, leaving you never sure where it will go next. One minute a pulsing electro-pop number featuring Aili's dad discussing his takoyaki (battered octopus) recipe, the next an explosive high energy workout song like Up & Down.

Certainly Aili was surprised to find herself singing in her own unique version of Japanese again.

"I thought that I was done with that after our debut EP, but apparently not as I speak even more Japanese on the album!" said Maruyama. "Every time we were in the studio these words would just tumble out. It's a complicated language but I just love to play with it.

"In many ways I'm an outsider, I left Tokyo aged 7, so there's a lot I notice as someone who is not a native speaker and it doesn't always make sense, there's a lot of mistakes in it.But in a way that sums up the whole philosophy of the album and how Orson and I work together."

That notion of duality, a sense of belonging but feeling apart, of being between two worlds and inventing your own captures the spirit of Nandakke?, itself a Japanese word that roughly translates to "Well, what was it?".

"It's something you say when you're looking for a word, like you know it but have forgotten how to say it. That's literally how I communicate with my dad the whole time," Maruyama explains. "The main feeling I have when I go to Japan is that I know the language, I can speak it, but part of me still feels like it doesn't have all the vocabulary. There's a gap there that nandakke has always filled for me. All the lyrics come from that place, that seven-year old trying to speak Japanese."

Whether Aili's singing about the language she invented with her father over the years to bridge the gap between them (Nandakke?), the idiosyncratic Japanese relationship to fashion (Fashion) or riffing on children's playground songs (Yubikiri) the result is a remarkable album that defies easy categorisation.

Bursting onto the Belgian scene in 2021 with their acclaimed debut EP, Dansu, its lead track spent 8 consecutive weeks at the #1 spot of Radio 1's VOX list and saw the band nominated for Studio Brussel's De Nieuwe Lichting ('New Generation') award. Since then Aili have appeared playing live on the Belgian TV show Roomies, been tipped by the likes of Rolling Stone, become regulars on tastemaker stations like KEXP and KCRW in the US and Nova in France, toured across Europe and, just recently, played their first sell out shows in Japan.

This is the second album recorded about a year after "Scenery". The delicate yet emotionally rich playing is still there, but this time it has more power, and the world that Fukui has depicted comes to life with clearer contours and a greater sense of depth. The sweet and sad melody of "Mellow Dream" and the dynamic and fast-paced "Horizon" are among the dazzling performances. In addition, the album features three original songs, compared to only one on the previous album, which allows the listener to enjoy Fukui's musicality even more. Considering its maturity and rich content, it is safe to say that this is a masterpiece that surpasses the first album. Regrettably, Ryo Fukui passed away in 2016. His delicate touch, rich tone, and beautiful compositions. We are deeply grateful to him for the "pleasant dream" he showed us.

‘Empires into Sand’ is the first album of new material from Normil Hawaiians in 40 years. The group first refined their sound during the early 80s, hitting on a pastoral experimentalism that drew on ambient drone, motorik impulse and post-punk pep.
‘Empires into Sand’ came together in the familiar manner of their original three albums, with improvisation and nuance informing the blueprint of the tracks. It was with the official release of this last record ‘Return of the Ranters’ (originally recorded in 1984/85, but then unconsciously shelved) in 2015 by Upset The Rhythm that led to the group reconnecting with the intention of playing music together again. Normil Hawaiians played a launch show for that ‘lost album’ and followed that up with more concerts, including an appearance at Supernormal, a residency at the Edinburgh Festival, gigs at Cafe OTO. They were even chosen by Richard Dawson to perform with him in London.
Throughout this time, Normil Hawaiians revisited their original songs for live performance. However for a group always so interested in evolving their sound, it came as no surprise that they shirked at the idea of a faithful retread. The band pushed their songs into new inventive dimensions, still progressive at core, but now imbued with a cosmic uncanny. A cinematic approach that was always quietly present has come to the fore. The quaint weirdness of folk song, the humanity of communal practice and the group’s ecological mindedness have all found a place in Normil Hawaiians’ current sound world.
When Normil Hawaiians write and record music they prefer to gather in a remote location and live together for a while, such is their communal ethos. Being far-flung across the UK, the Family Hawaii (numbering seven key members) decided to encamp to Tayinloan, a small village on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. They set up their own studio in an isolated, windswept house overlooking the sea and started the tape rolling. Noel Blanden from the band explains the process neatly: “we set up and began playing, slowly and patiently, allowing the music to take its own shape based on where we were staying and our ongoing friendship. We recorded for days, capturing everything. A lot of new and rich ideas began to emerge”.
Normil Hawaiians took their time to develop these threads at their own pace, allowing songs to mutate and settle over months. Simon Marchant deftly produced and recorded the album whilst also performing in the band, this marked the first time the band had total control of their own sound. The last few years has seen the band reconvene in Herne Bay, Faversham, London and Leith to record new parts, constantly responding to the changing form of these quietly spectral songs of defiance.
‘Empires into Sand’ incorporates samples from old rehearsals and live music into the new finished pieces, this is in continuum with their previous records. Snippets of sound from the static of short wave radio and satellite transmissions also embellish the work. In fact the whole album is stitched together with interludes, creating an acutely immersive 45 minutes. ‘Exiles’ opens the album amid swirling atmospheres, synth flights and recordings of Vilnis Egle (father of Zinta Egle from the band) retelling his experience of fleeing his home in Latvia during Soviet occupation in 1942. George Bikandy also features on this track talking about his flight from Syria in 2014. ‘Ghosts of Ballochroy’ is a winding river of a song featuring a lively discourse in Scots courtesy of Rodney Relax. There’s a commitment to truth telling present across this hopeful album populated with angels, incoming tides, long shadows and the rose-washed sun. “From our broken windscreen, we feel the breeze” soars Guy Smith triumphantly over the driving beat of ‘Waterfalls : Bedford 330’. ‘Big City Sky’ flutters and sparkles with rapid synth runs, tape-looped drums and Jimmy Miller’s commanding vocal. With ‘In The Stone’ Zinta’s melody is deliberately jagged and blunt, exaggerated by octave-layered vocals and interjections from Guy.
This is thought-provoking, boundary-bothering music. Honest in intent, a solidarity of vision. The album’s title is derived from a poem by band member Mark Tyler, who sadly passed away during the recording process and the transience of life is felt heavily throughout. Noel best coins the group’s wish for the album: “we wanted to create an album that acknowledges our history and also reflects who we are today. We remained true to ourselves and we wanted to make something beautiful without removing the edges.” ‘Empires into Sand’ certainly does that, it’s an echo from the past, an echo from the future.

Plasma Color Vinyl. 'The way Bloomsday's Iris James Garrison writes songs feels like somewhere between a mirror and a memory. Spacious, full-bodied folk songs, they are an ode to things that are good no matter how small; they sometimes feel like the ghost of a Mary Oliver poem. Bloomsday's new record, 'Heart of the Artichoke', is a relic of unfettered creativity and community. They recount the miracles of the mundane, the memories that become sacred, an ode to all that is holy: nightswimming, songs plucked from the ether, the ways friendship can endure. Like earlier Bloomsday songs, the work here is threaded with warmth; it's simmering, crisp and deeply human, an encapsulation of the present moment. Recorded across 10 days in June 2023 in upstate New York at duo Babehoven's studio and co-produced by Babehoven's Ryan Albert, with mixing by Henry Stoehr of Slow Pulp. The record was built out with a wideranging group of collaborators, including inventive drumming from Andrew Stevens (Lomelda, Hovvdy), Alex Harwood, Richard Orofino, Babehoven's Maya Bon, Hannah Pruzinsky (h.pruz, Sister.), and Chris Daley. It was an insulated and collaborative experience: all family dinners on the back porch, bonfires, feeling a full sense of joy, of friendship, of purity in the artistic self. Collaboration is an integral part of Bloomsday's musical process. Garrison is malleable in the studio, their songwriting generous and spacious. But in listening to the record, there's a sense that Garrison leaves room for the players, for the listener; for songs to find the shapes they're meant to take. Garrison's role as maestro is crucial, singular - it's a collaborative, exploratory spirit harnessed by Garrison's intuition, and by an honest commitment to carve out creative space for play, to delve into what's known - or pushing past that, into unknown. "The ghosts of the past still come up and haunt me," Garrison says, "but I sit in what I have and see it. All of these songs are about loved ones, about personal struggles with getting out of my head and being present." Heart of the Artichoke was written from a healed, matured place - written in a moment of safety from chaos. It's a prayer for the present, an appreciation of tenderness and what happens once we give ourselves the space to really see, and really feel - becoming free and whole - an ode to the way healing allows us to bloom.

'The way Bloomsday's Iris James Garrison writes songs feels like somewhere between a mirror and a memory. Spacious, full-bodied folk songs, they are an ode to things that are good no matter how small; they sometimes feel like the ghost of a Mary Oliver poem. Bloomsday's new record, 'Heart of the Artichoke', is a relic of unfettered creativity and community. They recount the miracles of the mundane, the memories that become sacred, an ode to all that is holy: nightswimming, songs plucked from the ether, the ways friendship can endure. Like earlier Bloomsday songs, the work here is threaded with warmth; it's simmering, crisp and deeply human, an encapsulation of the present moment. Recorded across 10 days in June 2023 in upstate New York at duo Babehoven's studio and co-produced by Babehoven's Ryan Albert, with mixing by Henry Stoehr of Slow Pulp. The record was built out with a wideranging group of collaborators, including inventive drumming from Andrew Stevens (Lomelda, Hovvdy), Alex Harwood, Richard Orofino, Babehoven's Maya Bon, Hannah Pruzinsky (h.pruz, Sister.), and Chris Daley. It was an insulated and collaborative experience: all family dinners on the back porch, bonfires, feeling a full sense of joy, of friendship, of purity in the artistic self. Collaboration is an integral part of Bloomsday's musical process. Garrison is malleable in the studio, their songwriting generous and spacious. But in listening to the record, there's a sense that Garrison leaves room for the players, for the listener; for songs to find the shapes they're meant to take. Garrison's role as maestro is crucial, singular - it's a collaborative, exploratory spirit harnessed by Garrison's intuition, and by an honest commitment to carve out creative space for play, to delve into what's known - or pushing past that, into unknown. "The ghosts of the past still come up and haunt me," Garrison says, "but I sit in what I have and see it. All of these songs are about loved ones, about personal struggles with getting out of my head and being present." Heart of the Artichoke was written from a healed, matured place - written in a moment of safety from chaos. It's a prayer for the present, an appreciation of tenderness and what happens once we give ourselves the space to really see, and really feel - becoming free and whole - an ode to the way healing allows us to bloom.

EELS veröffentlichen ihr 15. Studioalbum mit dem Titel 'EELS TIME!', das über E-Works/Play It Again Sam erscheint!

Die Albumankündigung folgt auf ein arbeitsreiches Jahr 2023 für EELS, die endlich ihre lang erwartete 'Lockdown Hurricane'-Tour durch Europa und Nordamerika antraten, und der Veröffentlichung ihres zweiten Compilation-Albums 'EELS So Good: Essential EELS Vol.2' mitsamt eines brandneuen Weihnachtssong 'Christmas, Why You Gotta Do Me Like This', mit der sie ihre drei Jahrzehnte währende Bandgeschichte feiern.

'EELS TIME!' wurde in Los Feliz/Kalifornien und Dublin aufgenommen und enthält zwölf brandneue Tracks und einige von E's introspektivsten und persönlichsten Stücken der letzten Jahre sowie Kollaborationen mit dem amerikanischen Musiker und Schauspieler Tyson Ritter, Frontsänger der Rockband The All-American Rejects.

Das sich ständig verändernde Projekt um Sänger/Songwriters E (Mark Oliver Everett) hat seit seinem Debüt 'Beautiful Freak' aus dem Jahr 1996 insgesamt 14 Studioalben veröffentlicht. Im Jahr 2008 veröffentlichte E sein hochgelobtes Buch 'Things the Grandchildren Should Know' und spielte die Hauptrolle in dem preisgekrönten Dokumentarfilm 'Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives', der sich mit seinem Vater, dem Quantenphysiker Hugh Everett III beschäftigte.

- Col. LP: (Translucent Neon Pink Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve, Printed Inner Sleeve)

Described as an "intensely British" record, Peanuts is a wry and observational album, with a newfound sense of compassion and reflection on Liz's inner feelings and their projection on the outside world. Peanuts is a playground game, also known as Mercy, where two kids twist each other's fingers until one cries out, 'Peanuts!', signaling that they have met their pain threshold. From 2013, Liz was performing as a backing singer for Bombay Bicycle Club up to their hiatus in 2016, and again when they reformed in 2019, touring the world. Liz has been a regular collaborator with the band ever since, "It was a life-raft for me. It was such a natural fit, and they became my friends for life" says Liz. Peanuts is Liz Lawrence's first album release with Chrysalis Records, spanning 11 tracks full of topics spanning from plant names to the gender wealth gap. "Peanuts is Cate Le Bon meets Primal Scream going off on one about landowners. It's learning the names of different trees and sweating over being polite in emails. It's a petition to stop Elon Musk from spacejunking up the atmosphere so we can't see the stars anymore and it's a big deep breath after going under." -Liz Lawrence

When Man Man released its last album, "Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In Between," frontman Honus Honus (née Ryan Kattner) was in a state of unrest, oscillating between hope and cynicism. Perhaps fittingly, the album dropped during the pandemic, a time at which we could all relate. But, much like that bizarre turn of events, the ennui now seems so distant to Man Man. A revived sense of purpose washes through Man Man's new album, Carrot on Strings, radiating a mix of calm and confidence. Kattner always embodied a wild-man pied-piper vibe: his melodic, unhinged art-rock was at once intriguing and angsty. He was so alluringly creative that you went along with it, even if you were never sure where Man Man would take you. Carrot on Strings is no less inventive, but its ethos is radical in context of the band's two-decade career. "When I was younger, I would feed off of chaos. I would, you know, be upset and get drunk and smash chairs," Kattner explains. "Now those chairs are in my head: It's less of an outward projection, more of an interior monologue." The name "Carrot on Strings" came to Kattner while experimenting with the sound of someone munching on the vegetable, which you can hear in the cacophonous, similarly named song. It alludes to how success always seemed to dangle uncertainly before him, often just out of reach. But listen intently and you'll hear a more content Kattner finding an uneasy peace: "Life, as far as I've known it, has always been side hustles. Would it be great if I could go into a studio and record for a year without figuring out how to finance it? Yeah, it would be," he says. "But ultimately, I need to keep making music because art is an extension of my psyche. It's how I have learned to translate the palpitations of my heart. Simply put, I'd go insane without it." Growing up as a multiracial Hapa kid (half Filipino, half white) with a father in the U.S. Air Force, Kattner lived an itinerant childhood that included a few pivotal years in Germany, where he honed in on an appreciation for out there German cinema and art. His film obsessions and screenwriting background were crucial to Carrot on Strings. The album nods to the films of Werner Herzog and Rainer Werner Fassbinder as much as Italo-disco, Randy Newman, goth rock, and avant pop. (Kattner continues to work in the film industry with an acting role in the upcoming horror-comedy movie Destroy All Neighbors, for which he also served as composer; music supervising season 1 & 2 of the Interview With The Vampire AMC TV series; and shopping around, with director Matthew Goodhue, a script he wrote that he describes as a Wim Wenders road movie on acid.) In a bid to not overthink anything - his last album took seven years to make - he recorded the bulk of Carrot On Strings in five days in Mant Sounds studio in Glassell Park, Los Angeles with "very chill" producer Matt Schuessler, who had worked on Man Man's cover of Neu!'s "Super" for the seminal Krautrock band's box set. The resulting album represents a newfound sense of self for Kattner, who finds himself inspired and at peace both personally and artistically in ways that eluded him for most of his first 15 years playing music. When, on Carrot On Strings, you hear Kattner croon humbly, or sing of the tension between his outsize stage persona and the thoughtful, soulful guy he actually is, you're hearing Kattner liberate himself. "I first got into music to escape from myself," he says. "And now, it sounds so corny, but I have zero doubt that music ended up saving my life."

Hello! Tim here. My band is called Strand of Oaks. This is my eighth record and it's called Miracle Focus. I spent over three years building Miracle Focus. In the midst of writing, I became a painter and spent two seasons acting on a television show (Mayans MC). The dichotomy of painting for days in my garage and then flying out to LA to play a villainous biker on TV was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. The idea of Miracle Focus was born out of one simple concept: to make people feel good. Throw in a healthy mix of Ram Dass, yoga, Freddie Mercury, Alice Coltrane, and Beastie Boys, plus over a year of writing and building the extremely dense architecture of the songs, and Miracle Focus was born. The result is FUN, wild, rhythmic music filled with synth layering and mantra-like lyrics intended to uplifting and hopefully bring some light to whoever listens. In many ways, this record is a love letter to bliss. Through meditation, I found a way to connect with something greater, a positive force that allowed me to write music as a manual towards a more love-focused life. And the miracles I refer to aren't asking the universe for anything; it's just acknowledging and celebrating this complex beautiful moment that we all get to share. It will be gone, it will re-emerge as something new, that will be gone, repeat....repeat... repeat - this eternal cycle. My most sincere hope is that whoever listens might through sonic osmosis experience a similar joy. Sending peace and love. Thank you for your time. - Tim

Hello! Tim here. My band is called Strand of Oaks. This is my eighth record and it's called Miracle Focus. I spent over three years building Miracle Focus. In the midst of writing, I became a painter and spent two seasons acting on a television show (Mayans MC). The dichotomy of painting for days in my garage and then flying out to LA to play a villainous biker on TV was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. The idea of Miracle Focus was born out of one simple concept: to make people feel good. Throw in a healthy mix of Ram Dass, yoga, Freddie Mercury, Alice Coltrane, and Beastie Boys, plus over a year of writing and building the extremely dense architecture of the songs, and Miracle Focus was born. The result is FUN, wild, rhythmic music filled with synth layering and mantra-like lyrics intended to uplifting and hopefully bring some light to whoever listens. In many ways, this record is a love letter to bliss. Through meditation, I found a way to connect with something greater, a positive force that allowed me to write music as a manual towards a more love-focused life. And the miracles I refer to aren't asking the universe for anything; it's just acknowledging and celebrating this complex beautiful moment that we all get to share. It will be gone, it will re-emerge as something new, that will be gone, repeat....repeat... repeat - this eternal cycle. My most sincere hope is that whoever listens might through sonic osmosis experience a similar joy. Sending peace and love. Thank you for your time. - Tim

"Kindred Spirits" versammelt elf Coverversionen, allesamt im Alleingang eingespielt, eingesungen und aufgenommen von Ronny Moorings. Und was für eine Auswahl uns hier erwartet: "Blue Monday" von NEW ORDER, "Question Of Time" von DEPECHE MODE, "Decades" von JOY DIVISION, "A Forest" von THE CURE oder "Alice" von THE SISTERS OF MERCY mögen Stücke sein, die man in der ewigen Playlist eines Ronny Moorings vielleicht schon immer vermutet hätte; die Art und Weise, wie er diese Songs zu neuem CLAN OF XYMOX-Leben erweckt, erstaunt und begeistert dennoch mehr als man das jemals erwartet hätte. Warm, organisch, irgendwo zwischen waviger Elektronik und nebelumwalltem Goth Rock geben sich diese Respektbekundungen, zeigen eine gänzlich neue Seite von CLAN OF XYMOX und lassen ganz nebenbei unsterbliche Klassiker wieder aufleben.

Dass "Kindred Spirits" kein herkömmliches Coveralbum ist, zeigt neben der Songauswahl auch der beinahe sakrale Charakter, mit dem Ronny Moorings an diesem Album gearbeitet hat. Es sind allesamt Songs, die ihm viel bedeuten, die ihn geprägt haben und ihm zweifellos über die eine oder andere besonders dunkle Stunde hinweggeholfen haben - genau, wie es die Musik von CLAN OF XYMOX bereits für unzählige Menschen getan hat. "Kindred Spirits" ist ein Album, so persönlich wie ein gemeinsamer Abend mit Ronny Moorings und seiner Plattensammlung. Eine Lehrstunde in Sachen seelenvoller Musik - gesehen durch die Augen eines hoffnungslosen Musikliebhabers.

Mehrfarbiges Vinyl, Blau, Schwarz und Weiß, Farben viskos ineinanderlaufend und gesprenkelt, Individuell von Hand gefertigt, Jede Schallplatte ist ein Unikat, Deutsche Pressung, 180 Gramm, Überarbeitetes Artwork, Stabile Kastentasche, Mehrfarbig bedruckte Innenhüllen, Mehrfarbig bedruckte Vinyletiketten, Limitiert auf 500 Exemplare weltweit

San Francisco psych-pop legend announces new album, “La Fleur” out June 7th, 2024. Between outside musical projects, pushing past 50 years old and becoming a father for the first time, San Francisco psych-pop legend Kelley Stoltz has spent the past two years steadily writing and recording his 18th album, “La Fleur”. The dazzling 12 song collection will be released in June by Agitated in Europe/UK and Dandy Boy Records in the USA. “La Fleur'' finds Stoltz once again playing nearly all of the instruments on the album- though a new friendship with pop guru Jason Falkner has led to Falkner appearing on two songs, “Hide In A Song” and “Make Believer” respectively. There’s the requisite 60’s meets 80’s pop rock confections that Stoltz favors with a new focus on out front vocals and perhaps a bit shinier production. Pandemic era blues, politics and fatherhood are lyrical touchstones throughout. The album’s first single “Reni’s Car” is the jangle rock lead single based on an actual event of Kelley riding around Manchester in the Stone Roses drummer's car. The accompanying music video was shot (partially) on location. “About Time” marries Twin Peaks synths to Fleetwood Mac and Avalon era Roxy Music in a cautionary tale to Stoltz's young daughter. “Human Events” puts revolutionary prose to a Moody Blues strum that floats off into Osees territory …and do I hear a nod to Gershwin in there? During the 2010’s Kelley played live as a sideman with Rodriguez and Echo & the Bunnymen, as the 2020’s dawned he was invited to support Pavement on their big reunion tour. He’s also been heard playing drums live with Robyn Hitchcock as well as adding sitar to Hitchcock's last two albums. In 2022, Stoltz was championed with a live appearance on Marc Riley’s BBC6 show. As producer, he has recorded the new album by Brigid Dawson formerly of the Ohsees. In my ears, Stoltz rarely does any wrong, and these comparisons are only just that little fruit to get you curious- he is still one of a kind. An under the radar hero to a few, and still after all these great songs, deserving of more. Climb on the bandwagon - as ever it’s quite pleasing here. - GEORGE CLOUD San Francisco, CA 2024

San Francisco psych-pop legend announces new album, “La Fleur” out June 7th, 2024. Between outside musical projects, pushing past 50 years old and becoming a father for the first time, San Francisco psych-pop legend Kelley Stoltz has spent the past two years steadily writing and recording his 18th album, “La Fleur”. The dazzling 12 song collection will be released in June by Agitated in Europe/UK and Dandy Boy Records in the USA. “La Fleur'' finds Stoltz once again playing nearly all of the instruments on the album- though a new friendship with pop guru Jason Falkner has led to Falkner appearing on two songs, “Hide In A Song” and “Make Believer” respectively. There’s the requisite 60’s meets 80’s pop rock confections that Stoltz favors with a new focus on out front vocals and perhaps a bit shinier production. Pandemic era blues, politics and fatherhood are lyrical touchstones throughout. The album’s first single “Reni’s Car” is the jangle rock lead single based on an actual event of Kelley riding around Manchester in the Stone Roses drummer's car. The accompanying music video was shot (partially) on location. “About Time” marries Twin Peaks synths to Fleetwood Mac and Avalon era Roxy Music in a cautionary tale to Stoltz's young daughter. “Human Events” puts revolutionary prose to a Moody Blues strum that floats off into Osees territory …and do I hear a nod to Gershwin in there? During the 2010’s Kelley played live as a sideman with Rodriguez and Echo & the Bunnymen, as the 2020’s dawned he was invited to support Pavement on their big reunion tour. He’s also been heard playing drums live with Robyn Hitchcock as well as adding sitar to Hitchcock's last two albums. In 2022, Stoltz was championed with a live appearance on Marc Riley’s BBC6 show. As producer, he has recorded the new album by Brigid Dawson formerly of the Ohsees. In my ears, Stoltz rarely does any wrong, and these comparisons are only just that little fruit to get you curious- he is still one of a kind. An under the radar hero to a few, and still after all these great songs, deserving of more. Climb on the bandwagon - as ever it’s quite pleasing here. - GEORGE CLOUD San Francisco, CA 2024

Staring 10th Anniversary Deluxe Sky Blue Vinyl. A cornerstone of the Arbutus catalogue, this deluxe LP features a multi-page photo zine, huge party poster, and sky blue colour vinyl. TOPS were formed in Montreal in 2011 when song-writing duo David Carriere and Jane Penny decided to join forces with drummer Riley Fleck. Delivering a raw punk take on AM studio pop, Picture You Staring is a lush array of timelessly crafted songs. Singer Jane Penny gives a new voice to the silent girl at the edge of the circle, disillusioned but honest and unpretentious, a tone complemented by David Carriere's seamless guitar playing and the measured drumming of Riley Fleck. TOPS' subtle arrangements are delivered with a cool restraint that blend with the individuality and self-assured desire of their female lead. Picture You Staring gathers strength through intimacy. Self-written, recorded and produced at Arbutus Records' studio in Montreal over the course of a year, this album contains 12 impeccable examples of pop craftsmanship that will reward repeat listeners.

"A 'Pear' of albums on one vinyl LP... a combo of heavy psychedelia, drum and bass grooves, bouncy boogie, catchy tunes and sprinkles of tastee horns, keys and strings thrown in... kinda like a thumb over the genre-hose nozzle, something for everyone and nothing for someone... guaranteed! 'Grow A Pear' has been in the works for 5 years. What started as my contributions for the 'new' Butthole Surfers' album that was not to be... turned into a solo album I recorded with contributions from some of my favorite flavor players to create an album that most represents where I came from and bridges to where I'm at right now. My wishes for the future, is that everyone in the world will finally 'Grow A Pear'" - JD Pinkus 'Grow A Pear' features a veritable cornucopia of American Indie music radicals: Åsa Söderqvist and Lina Ericcson of Shitkid, Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers, Sam Coomes of Quasi and Jon Spencer's Hit Makers, Mike Savino of Tall Tall Trees, Walter Daniels of Bigfoot Chester, Mike Alfred of Shed Alford, Jed Willis of Khandroma, Michael Brueggen of Honky and Syrup, and Billy Sheeran.

A home, a house, has countless frequencies. Each room, each corner feels different. Swings differently. And as you grow older, you realize which corner is yours. But yeah, it takes time…

It certainly marks the end of an era when the house one called home as a kid no longer exists. This home, it was the starting point of so many journeys. Of one big, ongoing journey. And so it feels good, soothing, reassuring to at least return to a spot nearby – to that (proverbial) hill from where you can see it. Feel the vibe that made you.

Andi Haberl’s debut solo album as Sun is sort of dedicated to that house. It’s a journey leading to that hill overlooking everything that made him. It’s not about nostalgia, not about actually returning to a specific place. Instead, it’s about finding a personal frequency, an overlapping of sounds and samples, an open space that mirrors and extends whatever frequencies felt right at different points in time.

“To me, the results feel like Gold Panda/Four Tet meets Steve Reich meets Krautrock meets film scores. I just really wanted to create moods that touch me – and ideally others, too.”

Talking about his first solo album, Haberl recalls many stages: early compositions that ended up on Alien Ensemble’s albums, early DIY/home studio/multi-instrumentalist inspirations (Le Millipede), new technologies that came and went, even a set of wildly convincing arrangements (done with Cico Beck’s crucial input) that ultimately became stepping stones for yet another round of DIY takes. “It was a long, recurring process, and the songs went through so many different versions,” he says, talking about phases of growth (“I added more and more equipment over time”) and pruning, “cleaning up my music a bit.” Tending towards instruments that open up space, and slowly falling in love with sampling, he certainly didn’t rush things once it was time for interior design decisions ;)

“During this whole process I got to learn so much about my own taste, how I prefer to listen to the pieces, which musical elements really matter to me… and what my own voice is. For example, that acoustic elements are most important to me: the banjo, piano, drums, my voice, glockenspiel, trumpet, melodica. Anything that opens up some space.”

Every journey begins with a search: “Missing” with its plucked chords opens like a sunrise over pastoral plains, gently leading the way towards the intricate, playful explosion that occurs once a certain amount of energy (“Sun”) hits dirt and other surfaces: things grow, clot and curdle into new shapes, like new buds; layers of sound move forward, drenched in Spring’s new light. Relying on samples to ask for precipitation (“Rain On Me”), robotic “Low” goes from barren to bass-heavy after its midway shift in pace, full of loops plucked from the shade.

Towards the album’s midpoint, things are suddenly reversed: “Cluster” has that backwards pull, you can’t tell what’s what, yet everything is perfectly locked in, as the pace increases once again. And before the title song shimmers with densified cheering (to eventually stand tall like early Lymbyc Systym), “Beside Me” swipes you off your feet with its booming bass drum. The beat returns once again (“Daydream”), full of searching voices underneath, and at “Dawnday,” we can finally catch a melancholy view of the house. Voices hum. It’s the score moment of the album. Everything makes sense now. A happy end of sorts?

“I want to take people on a journey. A personal journey, too, because when my parents split up and sold the house I grew up in, I felt a bit like the ground had fallen out from under my feet. But I have dedicated the album title and the accompanying piece to this house… so I can keep it in good memory.”

“I Can See Our House From Here” has been a long time coming. It’s been a long journey. Homeward-bound. Leading to a place that’s really Haberl’s – his sound. His frequencies.

Known as a long-time member of The Notwist and various other bands/projects (Alien Ensemble, AMEO, jersey, Ditty etc.), Berlin-based drummer/composer Andi Haberl has also worked with My Brightest Diamond, Till Brönner, Owen Pallet, and Kurt Rosenwinkel, to name a few. “I Can See Our House From Here” is his first solo offering.

A1 - Polaris
Going all in to open the EP with a truly stand out 2-step roller, ASC crafts a distinctly energetic vibe with Polaris, featuring an intricate old school break seldom heard in drum & bass - packed with high-end detail and a glorious raw energy. With long radiant pad work, a classic jumpy 808 bassline and a stunning, reverberating female vocal sample whooshing and panning across the mix, Polaris will instantly become a favourite in your setlist.
A2 - Things Left Unsaid
Opening with an intriguing fusion of suspenseful keys and deliciously crisp bongos that each play a key role throughout, Things Left Unsaid asks the listener questions of yesteryear in a varied odyssey filled with a myriad of echoed vocal samples, horns and effects, set to a break-laden beat pattern that hops along with kicks and snares each snatching the attention. A calmer vibe from ASC that still packs a punch.
AA1 - Temple Bell
A thumping, spirited beat pattern with rapid kicks and metallic snares provide a visceral aural onslaught as the aptly-named Temple Bell blends our imperious breaks with darkly, epic tolls radiating through a vast ornate hall of resonance -suitably reverberating alongside a backdrop of synchronic atmospherics. Heavily EQ'd vocal samples colour the mix to complete a weighty musical collage.
AA2 - Contrast
Beginning with a flurry of cow bells in a vibrant, expertly edited take on the classic Circles break, ASC serves up a delightfully laid back yet danceable piece with Contrast. Space FX, swirling pads and a mellow, memorable key melody overlay a beautiful mosaic of calm as the continued thrust of the break drives a constant energy to the track, perfectly capturing the ethos of Spatial and closing another immense EP

Words by Chris Hayes Spatial/Red Mist

A1 - Permeate
JLM returns to Spatial with another superb selection of old school inspired tracks. Kicking us off is Permeate, with anxious melodies evocative of 90's sci-fi introducing proceedings before filtered old school breaks slowly rise into the mix. An early breakdown with the playful bassline flying solo for a spell precedes superbly executed amens adding a thick layer of detail to an eclectic beat pattern.
A2 - Orogeny
Orogeny opens with a lush old school riff, classically off-key melodies and echoing pads as the varied beats takes shape - effortlessly navigating a range of breaks to create a unique, bouncy pattern evoking a dynamic mid 90's energy with a captivating rhythm. Tuneful synth work and jazzy drum samples deliver an entertaining breakdown before the breaks resume for the latter half, airy pads adding further texture to the track.
AA1 - Subsidence
A contemplative, introspective tone is set by a delicate melody in the introduction to Subsidence, a track which showcases the variety of atmospheres JLM Production scan glean from his unique brand of drum & bass on Spatial set to the usual high standard of classic breaks and bass. Majestic pads and synths envelop the listener in a solemn haze, while a more intense, darkly melody counters, creating a divergent synergy to the vibe.
AA2 - Laminar Flow
Closing the EP in style, we are treated to a jazzy, melodic introduction to Laminar Flow with rising strings and vocal samples, before inspired 80's style synth sounds zip around the mix to a subtle, clean 2-step breakbeat. JLM ups the ante with a crisp Hot Pants break layered over the top while the jazz-inspired Rhodes key shifts craft a tuneful aura as cow bells ring throughout, rounding off another sublime and varied experience for the ears.

Words by Chris Hayes Spatial/Red Mist

Limited White VInyl Version
Solo Paraiso will be available on vinyl for the first time in 10 years and Digitally for the first time.


Solo Paraiso is Molly Nilsson’s mini-album from 2014 recorded during a 6 month residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
For it’s 10th Anniversary, Night School and Dark Skies Association is making the most sought after long player in Molly Nilsson’s catalogue available again on a new format with new artwork designed by Molly Nilsson and Jonas Raam.
Pop music rarely comes as honest and heartfelt as when delivered by Molly Nilsson. Having traveled around the world singing to the romantic and the doomed, Nilsson found herself in the Summer of 2014 in Buenos Aires. Inspired by the crumbling urban landscape and the heavy hearts that populate it, Sólo Paraíso is not only an ode to a specific time and space but a musical novella that meditates on youth, idealism and belonging. The soundtrack to a summer you thought you had when looking over bleached out old photo albums.

Sólo Paraíso has the feel of a bridge between the more lo fi, first phase of Nilsson’s career and the expanded sonic scope she has employed in the last decade. Recorded quickly, with instinct and feeling of paramount importance over rectitude or perfection, amongst the eight tracks of this mini LP are some of the biggest fan favourites of her career. As with all Molly Nilsson songs, each of these tracks is bursting with perfect moments. Opener Summer Cats sails over sun-kissed piano chords, chasing the sun eternally as it dips over the horizon, while show-stealer Blue Dollar draws parallels between the doomed Argentine economy and the failure of a love affair. It’s the most feel-good, romantic peon to an economic downturn you’ll ever hear. As Molly says “why is it so damn easy to break all the things that are so damn difficult to make?”
Using cracked synths, shimmering piano, heat-stroked drum machines and above all her direct, from-the-heart vocal delivery, Nilsson’s songs have never been so precise and on-point. For fellow doomed romantics, Sólo Paraíso is the perfect sound for an imperfect Summer.

Solo Paraiso will be available on vinyl for the first time in 10 years and Digitally for the first time.


Solo Paraiso is Molly Nilsson’s mini-album from 2014 recorded during a 6 month residency in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
For it’s 10th Anniversary, Night School and Dark Skies Association is making the most sought after long player in Molly Nilsson’s catalogue available again on a new format with new artwork designed by Molly Nilsson and Jonas Raam.
Pop music rarely comes as honest and heartfelt as when delivered by Molly Nilsson. Having traveled around the world singing to the romantic and the doomed, Nilsson found herself in the Summer of 2014 in Buenos Aires. Inspired by the crumbling urban landscape and the heavy hearts that populate it, Sólo Paraíso is not only an ode to a specific time and space but a musical novella that meditates on youth, idealism and belonging. The soundtrack to a summer you thought you had when looking over bleached out old photo albums.

Sólo Paraíso has the feel of a bridge between the more lo fi, first phase of Nilsson’s career and the expanded sonic scope she has employed in the last decade. Recorded quickly, with instinct and feeling of paramount importance over rectitude or perfection, amongst the eight tracks of this mini LP are some of the biggest fan favourites of her career. As with all Molly Nilsson songs, each of these tracks is bursting with perfect moments. Opener Summer Cats sails over sun-kissed piano chords, chasing the sun eternally as it dips over the horizon, while show-stealer Blue Dollar draws parallels between the doomed Argentine economy and the failure of a love affair. It’s the most feel-good, romantic peon to an economic downturn you’ll ever hear. As Molly says “why is it so damn easy to break all the things that are so damn difficult to make?”
Using cracked synths, shimmering piano, heat-stroked drum machines and above all her direct, from-the-heart vocal delivery, Nilsson’s songs have never been so precise and on-point. For fellow doomed romantics, Sólo Paraíso is the perfect sound for an imperfect Summer.

For singer/songwriter Jesse Daniel, country music is nothing short of a life force. Hailing from a rural mountain town on California’s Central Coast, the Austin-based artist first explored his innate passion for music by playing drums in punk bands, then drifted down a troubled path that included years of battling addiction and spending time in and out of jail and rehab. As he took his first steps toward getting clean, Daniel immersed himself in the pure joy of writing country songs, fully embracing the unbridled vitality of California country and bringing a lived-in honesty to his lyrical storytelling. Since releasing his 2018 self-titled debut on his own record label, he’s earned great esteem as a country traditionalist and built a wildly devoted international following—thanks in no small part to his freewheeling live show and tendency to tour nearly 200 days a year. Recently signed to Lightning Rod Records, Daniel now offers up his fourth studio album Countin’ The Miles: a high-powered body of work born from his ardent belief in preserving country’s legacy.

Ella Fitzgerald was an great American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. Louis Armstrong, nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of jazz. Together Ella & Louis recorded various songs. On this 3 LP in a gatefold sleeve the complete “Ella & Louis”& “Ella & Louis Again” albums (30 tracks). All these tracks were recorded in Hollywood in 1956 & 1957 with on most tracks Oscar Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass. Buddy Rich played drums on Ella & Louis. Louie Bellson drums on the “Ella & Louis Again” tracks. This Classic Albums Collection is a must have for music lovers.

"The debut longplayer from Washington, DC-based Ekko Astral is a complex mesh of bubblegum noise punk and no-wave art rock that holds an elastic space for the knotty, tangled horrors of living in the imperial core. Their songs thrash with intense, necessary defiance against codified gender-based violence, their distortion and sibilance a direct response to the dangers outside our front doors.

pink balloons opener “head empty blues” specifically bites back against the terrors of the normative male gaze that dominates so much of American culture. Over a post-punk passage that plays call and response with a wall of harsh noise, frontwoman Jael Holzman belts playfully morbid details of the head-exploding anxieties that haunt her daily: “is it bon eye-ver or bon iver? / i don’t care / i’ve got stalkers outside / not going out tonight / gonna sit and take pics / in my underwear.”

Holzman formed the band in 2021 with best friend Liam Hughes (guitar), and eventually rounded out the band’s lineup with Miri Tyler (drums), Guinevere Tully (bass), and Sam Elmore (guitar). Ekko Astral’s local scene quickly welcomed the band for their wildly fierce live presence, emboldened by the community-building message behind the band’s mascara mosh pit brand.

Ultimately, Ekko Astral are here to uplift, a mission exemplified by the frenetic and bewitching pre-release singles “baethoven” and “devorah,” cornerstones of pink balloons in both style and theme. The former serves as a reminder to keep your larger than life personality in a world that wants to downsize you, where the latter proclaims urgent solidarity with missing and murdered people. Such crucial messages of upliftment are the foundation of pink balloons, and, by extension Ekko Astral, whose thrashing debut leaves no stone of solidarity unturned."

“A Pawn Surrender is an album about relationships: with myself, with friends, with lovers, and with the world around me. It’s about learning how to play the game, what moves to make, figuring out who I’m up against (most often my toughest opponent is my own internal chaos), choosing when to fight for what you want, or when it’s time to surrender. I’m at the cusp of my thirties and very interested in understanding how to best utilize varying traits within myself to move through life with some sense of strategy and intention; to slow down, celebrate my strengths and ponder my weaknesses. I love the chess motif running throughout the album because chess is a game that requires patience, understanding, and acceptance — three virtues that I struggle to maintain but will always seek to embody.”

“A Pawn Surrender is an album about relationships: with myself, with friends, with lovers, and with the world around me. It’s about learning how to play the game, what moves to make, figuring out who I’m up against (most often my toughest opponent is my own internal chaos), choosing when to fight for what you want, or when it’s time to surrender. I’m at the cusp of my thirties and very interested in understanding how to best utilize varying traits within myself to move through life with some sense of strategy and intention; to slow down, celebrate my strengths and ponder my weaknesses. I love the chess motif running throughout the album because chess is a game that requires patience, understanding, and acceptance — three virtues that I struggle to maintain but will always seek to embody.”