quête:ear dis

10th Anniversary edition of the debut album from the Devonshire duo who have been laying waste to
clubs from Brighton to Burnley, building up a firm following of disciples LIMITED PRESSING ON RED VINYL
INCLUDES BONUS TRACK Moriaty have already enjoyed a full page feature in Classic Rock magazine and
reviews in Uncut, Record Collector, Art Rocker, Classic Rock, The Clash, Rock Sounds, R2, Vive Le Rock
(feature) Shindig, NME

Lucila Justina Sarcines Reyes was born on July 19, 1936, in the Rímac district. Lima, which had just mourned the death of the emblematic composer Felipe Pinglo two months earlier, was a city on the verge of modernization that clung to its colonial and racist ways. Having been born black marked a difficult path in her life: after the father's premature death and a fire that left her and her 15 siblings homeless, she takes the streets to financially support her mother, and at 5 years old learns to sing in bars while begging for money in the port of Callao. After being admitted to a Franciscan convent and studying only until the third grade of primary school, now a teenager, she returns home, but suffers an attempt of rape by her new stepfather; she is forced to move to the central neighborhood of Barrios Altos, to live with her uncle, a guitarist from the legendary Guardia Vieja, also known as the founders of the Peruvian criollo waltz. This group of non-professional musicians, made up of bricklayers, merchants, artisans, marble workers and other employees, prolonged the oral traditions of their African slave ancestors in working-class neighborhoods of the capital. While the wealthy reject the music of their peons, which they associate with alcohol and disorder, it is the workers who listen carefully to the European waltzes and Aragonese jotas at the aristocratic halls, and later, back in their famous one-pipe alleys, transform their music under the spell of the night. It is in these sociability spaces that house numerous low-income families, where these criollos cheer up birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and other parties until dawn with the trill of their guitars and cajones. It is there that Reyes, at 16 years old, picks up the legacy of the Guardia Vieja and her life changes forever: she is often asked to sing in jaranas (criollo parties), and since her voice stands out immediately, she is encouraged to make her debut on a radio show called "El Sentir de los Barrios", whereshe performs the waltz "Abandonada" by Sixto Carrera.

Futurismo proudly present a celebration of the Paisley Underground scene with TWISTED DREAM MACHINE The Paisley Underground / California’s Psychedelic Renaissance: 1982-1986, the next volume in their Altered Vision compilation series.

This collection draws from the neo psychedelic movement that took hold in California during the early to mid 80’s, one that melded the psychedelia, country, garage rock, avant-garde and pop of the 60’s with the DIY ethos of the then burgeoning punk scene, a hypnotic amalgamation of sound that came in staunch contrast to the blown out sonic excesses of the time.

Twisted Dream Machine takes you on a trip from the city to the desert, as the kaleidoscope of noise drifts from the The Dream Syndicate’s Velvet Underground inspired take on Crazy Horse and The Three O’Clock’s chiming baroque powerpop, to Rain Parade’s dreamy Beatlesesque melodies and the Bangles hook-laden Love inspired pop. Also featured are the wondrous sounds of Green On Red, The Long Ryder’s, Game Theory, True West, Thin White Rope and others highly worth your attention. If you are not familiar with some of the bands here, you will surely question how that is possible. The Paisley Underground, if anything, encapsulated a certain musical mindset, an outlook where the past and the future would collide in the moment. This thread would bond the bands, yet each honed it’s own sound in a twisted incarnation of the seeds planted two decades earlier. Whilst the ‘scene’ did remain contained, its influence did in fact spread throughout mainstream culture as the Bangles stuck a chord into the heart of MTV, whilst Prince took inspiration from the movement in his own songwriting and the naming of Paisley Park, as well as signing The Three O’Clock to his label and writing one of the Bangles biggest hits.

As you listen to the tracks on Twisted Dream Machine you will be reminded that there is still music left to discover and inspire, this compilation is aimed to hopefully delight longtime fans, as well as ignite a passion for those new to the bands. The Paisley Underground was the sound of neo psychedelic rock, it was subterranean pop...in

the classic sense, it was alternative rock before the term existed, a distillation of the fundamentals present at the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll, with a twist. The bands of the Paisley Underground may have been writing out of their own time, but as you listen to them in today’s context these songs should be heard as landmarks, rather than throwbacks. After all, nothing this good should stay underground. This 2xLP comes on limited edition coloured vinyl, it is housed in a gloss laminated outer sleeve with colour inner sleeves and contains a large fold-out poster with unseen photos and liner notes by Lisa Fancher of Frontier. Also available on CD with Gloss laminated Sleeve and Fold Out Poster.

Nach dem fantastischen 'The Reckoning Dawn' kehren die Meister des atmosphärischen Black Metal und bedeutendste UK-Black-Metal Kraft Winterfylleth mit ihrem brandneuen Album 'The Imperious Horizon' zurück, das am 13. September über Candlelight erscheinen wird.

Für Fans von: Emperor, Enslaved, Wolves In The Throne Room, Primordial

Nach dem fantastischen 'The Reckoning Dawn' kehren die Meister des atmosphärischen Black Metal und bedeutendste UK-Black-Metal Kraft Winterfylleth mit ihrem brandneuen Album 'The Imperious Horizon' zurück, das am 13. September über Candlelight erscheinen wird.

Für Fans von: Emperor, Enslaved, Wolves In The Throne Room, Primordial

Nach dem fantastischen 'The Reckoning Dawn' kehren die Meister des atmosphärischen Black Metal und bedeutendste UK-Black-Metal Kraft Winterfylleth mit ihrem brandneuen Album 'The Imperious Horizon' zurück, das am 13. September über Candlelight erscheinen wird.

Für Fans von: Emperor, Enslaved, Wolves In The Throne Room, Primordial

Balancing glitch-pop and contemporary piano, the Belgian pianist explores the edges of her voice, language and twisted electronica



The Belgian pianist and producer maya dhondt releases a new album titled 'wow, x', marking her debut solo album under her own name. Navigating between bedroom glitch-pop and contemporary piano, she presents sounds of alienating beauty.



The album ‘wow, x’ will be released on September 13 on vinyl and all digital platforms via VIERNULVIER Records.



“I find beauty in the uncomfortable and disorienting" - maya dhont



The first single, 'desire,' is a mutated synth-pop track that gets under the skin. The song centralizes longing for something you don't know (yet). Perhaps it's the smell of damp earth, which can be both pleasant and unsettling? The single is now available on all streaming platforms and comes with a schizophrenic video by Sakis Brönnimann.



The first release show is scheduled for Saturday, October 5, at De Koer, Ghent.

More shows will be announced soon.



A postmodern cramp, that's how one could describe the music of pianist and producer maya dhondt. Her music is an intuitive and a never ending exploration that has the potential to be and become a multitude of things at once.



On her first solo album under her own name, 'wow, x,' she presents 10 varied tracks in which she creates equally idiosyncratic sound worlds. She takes the liberty to endlessly experiment with vocals, piano, and a mix of distorted lo-fi electronic sounds with an open mind. The result is sometimes synthetic and weird, sometimes compellingly beautiful, and always captivating, drawing you into its underlying melody. These intelligently crafted productions are connected by a penchant for alienating beauty: like a warm, but damp cave where it’s pleasant to linger just a little longer. Her original sound moves within a sonic spectrum reminiscent of contemporary artists such as Lolina, Astrid Sonne, claire rousay, aya or Carla Dal Forno.



"What I create never stands alone, it can be many things at once"



If the world were a sculpture garden, maya dhondt eagerly picks from it to draw inspiration from both visual and literary passages as well as personal experiences. Her highly personal bedroom productions are grounded firmly in the world due to philosophical references and politically charged messages. And the world she lives in is being questioned on 'wow, x', as the title refers to "What Or Why?". This is evident in the single 'desire': "What is the thing that matters / to exist / or to know you’re existing?" What does one choose in life: to live in the moment or to live to remember that moment?



In the lyrics on 'wow, x', maya dhondt plays - at times childishly - with language and its boundaries. On 'tip toe tip,' banal wordplay leads to an unexpected confession, and the seemingly simple phrases in 'untitled' conceal hidden life lessons. dhondt's world of words is multilayered and multilingual: Dutch ('kleine cijfers, groot verlies'), English ('desire'), and French ('untitled') are at her disposal. And on the fierce track that is 'minimalinvasiv,' not only she turns to hardstyle, but also to German - a language dear to her due to her Swiss heritage.

Mutant is proud to present Academy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino's latest album, Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen – Volume 1, featuring iconic scores from Giacchino's extensive portfolio rendered in the retro lounge style of Exotica from the 1950s.



“It's no secret that we at Mutant are huge fans of Michael Giacchino,” says Spencer Hickman, Co-Founder of Mutant. “We're excited to release a retrospective of his astonishing three decades as a composer. Rather than just curating a simple compilation of his previous works, Michael went back into the studio, rearranged and re-recorded every major theme from his career. These tracks have been recorded in an Easy Listening style inspired by such greats as Martin Denny and Les Baxter, creating not just a unique and incredible look back at some of the most beloved movie and television themes of the modern age, but also bringing a fresh, exciting take to the beautiful journey he has taken us all on with him. It feels like you are discovering these songs for the very first time: timeless, beautiful, and a joy to listen to. These newly recorded themes transport you to a far-off sunset, looking out at the ocean, complete with a cocktail in hand, providing a much-needed escape from the stress of modern times, and we can all agree that is something we all crave right now.”



Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen – Volume 1 spans nearly two decades of Michael Giacchino’s music, from his early video game scores to his television hits and blockbuster films. The album transforms these works through the lens of Exotica, replacing epic strings and thundering drums with vibraphones and marimbas.



“This album was inspired by the work of Arthur Lyman and Martin Denny,” says Giacchino. “What would they do with the Star Trek theme? Or video games like Medal of Honor? It was a way for me to play in that world I loved so much growing up. I thought it would be fun to create a fantasy world, where this album was recorded back in 1967 and then lost, only to resurface today.”

The album showcases Giacchino’s unerring talent for melody, stripping down grand symphonies to their essential elements while retaining their aesthetic and emotional core.



“So much was rooted in the big orchestral sound, so it was really about scaling it back. The real trick is figuring out the little fun hooks and things you can add along the way. There were no rules; I was up for anything. It was a way to re-engage with the material and be creative in a new way.”



Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen – Volume 1 includes an array of reinterpreted pieces from Michael Giacchino’s career. Highlights include ‘Primordial Forest’ from the 1997 video game The Lost World: Jurassic Park, ‘Life and Death’ from Lost, the theme from Ratatouille, ‘Roar!’ from Cloverfield, ‘Enterprising Young Men’ from Star Trek (2009), ‘A Man, A Plan, A Code, Dubai’ from Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and a Super 8 suite.



Featuring package design by Luke Insect, and liner notes by Charlie Brigden.

Satan’s history is storied, their albums and incendiary live shows, iconic. The Newcastle, England-bred lineup may quip that their career has been “44 years of prolonged mayhem with a 20-year lunch break”—forming in 1980, eventually pausing before reuniting in 2011—but circa 2024 finds the band thriving, writing, recording, and touring at the top of their game. Proof positive is their seventh studio album, and third for Metal Blade, Songs in Crimson. If 2022’s Earth Infernal album was brutal, up-tempo and with loud guitars, guitarist Russ Tippins calls Songs in Crimson “concise. It’s more to the point and gets there quicker. One of the reasons behind the title Songs in Crimson is that this record is very ‘song’ focused. There’s more punch this time around. Each chorus speaks for itself.” An eminently relatable song is “Era (The Day Will Come).” “There is nobody on this planet who is not familiar with the feeling of loss. When you get to the age we are at in this band, it becomes a weekly occurrence. If there is a message in the lyrics, it is pretty much ‘do not take anything for granted.’ Especially people. You just don’t know what is around the corner that you can’t see coming.” Satan’s chemistry, honed by years of collaboration, brotherhood and love, is unbreakable. “We played at a metal festival where the headlining band had zero original members,” Tippins says. “I cannot get my head around that, though I admire their bravery. We are the genuine article.” To be clear: “We did not reunite just to trade on past glory,” he concludes. “If you want nostalgia, this is not the band for you. We look only ahead and always will.”

Satan’s history is storied, their albums and incendiary live shows, iconic. The Newcastle, England-bred lineup may quip that their career has been “44 years of prolonged mayhem with a 20-year lunch break”—forming in 1980, eventually pausing before reuniting in 2011—but circa 2024 finds the band thriving, writing, recording, and touring at the top of their game. Proof positive is their seventh studio album, and third for Metal Blade, Songs in Crimson. If 2022’s Earth Infernal album was brutal, up-tempo and with loud guitars, guitarist Russ Tippins calls Songs in Crimson “concise. It’s more to the point and gets there quicker. One of the reasons behind the title Songs in Crimson is that this record is very ‘song’ focused. There’s more punch this time around. Each chorus speaks for itself.” An eminently relatable song is “Era (The Day Will Come).” “There is nobody on this planet who is not familiar with the feeling of loss. When you get to the age we are at in this band, it becomes a weekly occurrence. If there is a message in the lyrics, it is pretty much ‘do not take anything for granted.’ Especially people. You just don’t know what is around the corner that you can’t see coming.” Satan’s chemistry, honed by years of collaboration, brotherhood and love, is unbreakable. “We played at a metal festival where the headlining band had zero original members,” Tippins says. “I cannot get my head around that, though I admire their bravery. We are the genuine article.” To be clear: “We did not reunite just to trade on past glory,” he concludes. “If you want nostalgia, this is not the band for you. We look only ahead and always will.”

In their musical journey spanning 15 years, Jungle by Night always knew their music isn't about individual talent, but in the blend of all elements its members bring to the table. This realization birthed the theme of their seventh album, “Synergy”. With the mantra "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" echoing in their minds, Jungle by Night embarked on a mission to make an album that is recorded right in the moment, and as live as possible, to capture the energy between musicians. And to take it a step further, they threw open the doors of their studio in Amsterdam and invited some of Holland’s most prolific vocalists such as: Spinvis, Sef, Merol, Pitou, and Meral Polat. Each vocalist brought their unique style to the mix, infusing the tracks with depth and emotion. Recorded in their beloved studio in Amsterdam Noord, "Synergy" captures the essence of Jungle by Night's creative spirit. Here, imperfection is embraced, and spontaneity reigns supreme. It's about capturing the energy of the moment, where music comes alive in all its vibrant glory. So, dive into the world of "Synergy" and experience the crazy world Jungle by Night, and friends. It's more than just an album – it's a testament to the beauty of coming together and creating something greater than the sum of its parts. Jungle by Night are seven Dutch guys who together form a live act to be reckoned with. This Amsterdam band consists of a lot of synths, drums, bass, guitar and percussion enhanced by a trumpet and trombone. From more brass-heavy earlier albums to a stronger focus on the electronic groove on their latest, they bravely go where no band has gone before and now find themselves in the goldilocks zone between analogue dance music, nu-disco, Krautrock, 70’s funk and 80’s electro. The transfer to a more electronically driven sound might have been a small step for this merry band of highly skilled musicians, but it became a giant leap for the people on the dance floor. Their radiant and energetic live shows have become the must-see festival act that festivalgoers all over Europe include as a staple in their concert schedule. They know this won’t be a show, it’ll be a downright party. It’s like that tree in the forest. Was it really a festival if you didn’t see Jungle by Night? What constitutes this ever-present attraction is the highly danceable and addicting build up of their set, in which they take their audience by the hand and lead them into the groove. What happens when you come out on the other side? Depends. Just know you won’t be the same.

Over a catalog of six albums, Native Harrow have produced a discography of “rich, engrossing records” and “instant classics” while single-mindedly following their own artistic code, acquiescing only to the exigence of the song: each song its own world with its own rules.

Formed a decade ago, Native Harrow spent their first five or six years crisscrossing the United States and Canada on numerous tours, averaging more than 150 concerts per year in 47 states and 4 provinces, on the back of two self-released albums, Ghost (2015) and Sorores (2017). In 2019, they released Happier Now, partnering with London alt-country stalwarts Loose Records. The record garnered glowing reviews, with Rough Trade selecting it for its album of the month, writing “Beautifully soaring... rolling grooves ground languid and dreamy clearwater shimmers of sound.” The critical acclaim and Americana chart success of the album prompted three back-to-back UK tours in 2019 and early 2020, ultimately leading to a three-year stint living and touring in the UK and Europe. In this time, Native Harrow released two more critically acclaimed records with Loose; Closeness (2020) and Old Kind of Magic (2022), playing for audiences ranging from rock clubs in Norway and Sweden to opera halls in Portugal, and every stop in-between, as well as performing at festivals such as BST Hyde Park (supporting the Eagles and Robert Plant & Alison Kraus), Greenman Festival, Black Deer Festival, The Great Escape, Celtic Connections, Moseley Folk Festival, SXSW, and many more.

Following the eruption of its title track, Side A of “Divided Kind” transitions nimbly through hazy tremolo-laden dusty canyons, past an intimate soulful love letter, and towards a moody anthem of devotion buoyed by propulsive grooves, before ultimately settling on a gentle bird’s-eye-view of love and transcendence. Side B opens with the debut single, “Goin’ Nowhere” a soul transmission over incendiary bass and undulating layers of guiro, congas, tambourines, shakers, and handclaps that sidesteps into moments of infinite dial-toned burnished, Rhodes-propelled soul-jazz and self-assured blues rock à gogo before ending in a spectral folk reading on celestial meditation.

“Divided Kind” was produced and recorded by the pair, in their home studio surrounded by the vintage acoustic and electric guitars, dusty semi-functional amplifiers, and out-of-date Rhodes, B3, piano, and assorted percussion they’ve grown accustomed to. Chicago-based Alex Hall was again drafted to add drums and to mix, and Philadelphia drummer and engineer Joshua Friedman mastered the record. London-based musician Joe Harvey-Whyte added the pedal steel to “Borrowing Time”, with all other voices and instruments being performed by Tuel and Harms.

During the early days of Deepchord Records, Detroit's transient and forgotten subculture musically inspired label founders Mike Schommer and Rod Modell in significant ways. The apex of Mike's creative fixation with the city was in 2001 when he recorded the Von Schommer album dc15. To capture the nature of the environment he found so fascinating, Schommer recorded the project at the Crown Motel in Detroit, Michigan. While overlooking the transient life displayed in the motel courtyard, Mike crafted lonely tones from his modular synthesizer and mixed them with his rudimentary DIY electronics. Still, most significantly, he allowed the music to become impregnated by the environment (much like the stains in the permanently soiled carpets of the motel room floor), creating a holistic experience that remains close to his heart almost 25 years later. Initially available as a limited edition preorder cdr to the Hypereal 313 maillist, the album has been remastered and is now available on color vinyl for the first time.

Original photography and treatments on tracks untitled 4 and untitled 10 by Rod Modell.

Born in Los Angeles in the early 1990s via a residency of week after week jam sessions at a dive club called Raji’s—then relocating to New Orleans—the band’s trajectory lasted about a decade and ended when Hurricane Katrina demolished their homes and the band members scattered. Key members included Vicki Peterson (Bangles), Susan Cowsill (The Cowsills), Peter Holsapple (The dBs, R.E.M.), and many more—including the only member who has been with them from the beginning, Mark Walton (Giant Sand, The Dream Syndicate). However, there were also several singer/songwriters (Carlo Nuccio, Gary Eaton, Ray Ganucheau) without an impressive pedigree that shine as brightly as their slightly more famous bandmates. The best possible comparison that we can make is that the Continental Drifters had a similar vibe to the classic roots combo Delaney & Bonnie & Friends—more of a “collective’ than a band—in which there were several distinctly original lead singers, blistering sidemen instrumentalists and an inspiring blend of both original and seminal cover songs with a southern fried blue-eyed soul approach that couldn’t be beat.

Spectres have been stirring in the shadows for years now. Dark eyes watching from pallid faces. Siren songs calling to lost souls. In the blackest corners of the UK underground, a name whispered relentlessly amongst the faithful, first with curiosity, then soul-shuddering awe: Zetra.

Zetra is also the title of their striking debut LP. Ten tracks whose indefinable blend of shimmering shoegaze and pulsating goth-metal work deep beneath the skin, it is a masterclass in intimate dark romanticism and sweeping elemental beauty. It could be seen as a reaction to the geography of a strange new world, but also to the jagged topography of the human psyche itself. Is it a manifesto? A roadmap? A riddle waiting to be solved? Profound pleasure lies in peeling back its many layers.

Travelling alone, armed only with synths, guitar and drum-machine to compose, The Wanderers’ music could sound skeletal. Instead its early metallic bones have been fleshed-out with the electronic new-wave of Gary Numan and Pet Shop Boys and dreamy, droning guitars that hark to heroes like Slowdive and Sonic Youth as well as dark contemporaries Deafheaven and Alcest. As harsh as the truths with which they deal may be, these songs deliver beguiling brilliance.

Acolytes to spread the word of Zetra aren’t hard to find. British ‘contemporaries’ like Burner and Wallowing, Celestial Sanctuary and Employed To Serve have been dementedly singing their praises as far back as they can remember. Tours with the heavyweight likes of Creeper and Godflesh, VV and SKYND have taken their once-subterranean sounds into the spotlight. Unto Others’ Gabriel Franco (‘Moonfall’), Svalbard’s Serena Cherry (‘Starfall’) and Sólveig Matthildur Kristjánsdóttir from Iceland’s Kælan Mikla (‘Shatter The Mountain’) even crop up amongst these recordings, dissolving into the cult of Zetra themselves. But none are as important as the legions of fans Zetra are yet to reach with a dark gospel still unpicking all manner of psychological knots and existential truths.

2024 repress

Rush Hour’s RSS series excels in unearthing buried treasure, offering a second chance for artists and releases that have long been overlooked. That’s certainly the case with ‘Witches’, the superb sole single by British 1980s wave trio Zenana.

Originally released on seven-inch by the tiny PRM label in 1986, ‘Witches’ was the product of a sister-brother songwriting team whose music was mostly recorded in the front room of a terraced house in Nanpean, a small industrial village in Cornwall, England’s most south-westerly county. While the single was infectious, impeccably produced and dancefloor-ready, it sold in limited quantities at the time.

Zenana’s story can be traced back to the early 1980s, when singer-songwriter Anita Tedder founded the all-female trio as a vehicle for her musical ambitions. To bring her songs to life, she joined voices with her brother Mike, an early adopter of electronic music who had built a studio – nicknamed MFR, short for ‘Mike’s Front Room’ – in his Cornish home.

Countless Zenana tracks were recorded at ‘MFR’ between 1984 and ’86, with the resultant demo cassette securing the band a management contract, a slew of live bookings, a video shoot and even a television appearance. Buoyed by this underground success, they headed to the remote Sawmills Studio in Cornwall – famously only accessible by boat – to re-record ‘Witches’, a song inspired by local folk tales of witches gathering near Mike’s home.

While this version of ‘Witches’ failed to make an impact at the time, it has become something of a cult classic following its’ rediscovery by crate digger Kiernan Abbott – and subsequent championing by other dusty-fingered DJs including Antal, Skyrager, Trevor Jackson and Luke Una – in early 2023. The buzz inspired Zenana to perform live again for the first time in decades, with the story of their surprise comeback being covered by British media outlets including the BBC and (more surprisingly) the Daily Mail.

Now presented in re-mastered form, ‘Witches’ is a genuinely slept-on gem. Propelled forwards by punchy drum machine beats, a killer synth bassline and fizzing keyboard sounds, the song benefits greatly from strong vocals and an extra-percussive middle eight layered with vocalisations, cosmic spoken word sections and swirling noises.

It comes backed by a brand-new extended ‘spell of love’ courtesy of Bristol duo Bedmo Disco, AKA music journalist Matt Anniss (author of Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music) and DJ/production partner Gareth Morgan. Anniss is a long-time friend of Mike and Anita Tedder who has fond memories of visiting Mike’s home studio with his family around the time that ‘Witches’ was recorded.

Working from Zenana’s original MFR eight-track recording (tapes of the single version were lost years ago), Anniss and Morgan have turned in the extended ‘dance mix’ the track never had first time around. More atmospheric, clandestine and dancefloor-focused, it offers authentic nods to New York proto-house, mid-80s Shep Pettibone dubs, and the pioneering synth-pop productions and dub mixes of Factory Records regular Martin Rushent.

The debut album from Paris Paloma, 'Cacophony' follows (and includes) her breakthrough single 'labour'. Written around themes of feminine rage, societal expectations on women and deeply embedded misogyny, the album continues the deep consideration and dissection of Paris' own experiences and observations as a woman. 'labour', and subsequent singles including 'as good a reason', have seen her lyrics and music resonate deeply with an every growing fanbase. The 700+ fans at her sold out London show were termed a 'politely loving coven', capturing the sense of community and female energy which Paris inspires. Unheard tracks such as 'his land' are emotive and cinematic, while the gloriously climactic 'the last woman on earth' has become a fan favourite already via TikTok.

Suburban Base legend Mark XTC is back! Starting out at The Hacienda, and working in the mighty Eastern Bloc record store at the height of the rave scene, DJ XTC was on every major Rave flyer nationwide throughout the period. Going on to form Da Intalex with partner Marcus Intalex, releasing incredibly influential Drum & Bass during the earliest stages of its evolution. Mark XTC is currently a resident on Kool FM continuing to bring cutting edge music to a worldwide audience.

Collectors that have his Subbase releases Intalex Productions presents The X, and Ill Figure can now grab the next instalment! A four track EP of banging tunes celebrating the golden eras of Rave and Drum & Bass!

Genuine uncovered unreleased DATs from the period, Mark breaks down some info on these hidden gems!

'Unite' - Mark made this in the mid/ late 90s after working with vocalist Charmaine. Big distorted bass, 'Amen' drums and his trusty EMU sampler.

'To The Beginning' - Another late 90s creation, adding some P-Funk to the Amen drums with a Sub Bass filling the tune with heavy vibes.

'Oldskool Massive' - A more recently made dedication to the classic Belgium techno of early rave, with heavy 4/4, acid riffs and of course those distorted stabs and hoovers.

'Taking It Back' - Mark made this in 1998, and even then was taking you back to that classic 94 Jungle sound and loops.

The duo Acid Mondays have brought their quirky forms of house and techno to a wealth of respected labels over the years - Warp, Circus and 2020 Vision to name but a few. Now, Negghead and Lex Wolf can add Guy Gerber's forward-thinking RUMORS to that list, with their humorously-titled 'Tacos Per Minute' EP which looks set to add to the imprint's hard-earned reputation as a breeding ground for innovative techno.

The eponymous lead track features skittering metallic echoes, a pulsing sub-bass, distorted vocals and futuristic synth chords for an atmospheric opener.

The first of the B-sides, 'Mezcalid' takes things darker and deeper. Rattling, mechanical percussion combines with a satisfyingly heavy, rhythmic bass-line before joining skipping riders for an irresistible groove.

That characteristic sub-bass makes a reappearance in 'Techno Wellies', a track whose driving drums and up-tempo claps set the scene for a multitude of echoing effects and shimmying percussion eventually developing into a samba-esque piece of techno.

The 'Tacos Per Minute' EP is a danceable yet quirky techno release, whose attention to percussive detail and slightly dusty feel mark it out as a characteristic Acid Mondays production, sitting comfortably amongst the high-calibre catalogue of RUMORS releases.

Limited Gray Marble Vinyl. This vinyl edition includes two EPs, one on each side: 'By the Ash Tree' and 'Upstream Dream', originally recorded and released in 2020 and 2021 respectively. To connect these compositions, Matt Kidd (Slow Meadow) composed new segues/crossfades from song to song, allowing the pieces to be experienced in one cohesive and harmonious flow. From Marc Weidenbaum's 'Disquiet' review: "Slow Meadow's new album, 'By the Ash Tree', opens with cascades of delays and proceeds through three tracks of reflective piano". The title track of 'By the Ash Tree' is one of Slow Meadow's most popular and enduring compositions. 'Upstream Dream' was composed around the time of 2019's Happy Occident. Soft electronics, bearing otherworldly tones and, at times, a sense of playful mischief, subtly shift expectations and bring discovery and wonder at every turn. It bookends a period of creative output that introduced Kidd's vision of calming and meditative ambient music. With a foundation of piano, string orchestration, and an ever-evolving electronic palette, Slow Meadow traverses the borders of neoclassical and minimalist electronics and delivers a deeply personal and transportive experience that speaks directly to the ebbs and flows and mundanity and marvels of life.

Globally renowned Danish group WhoMadeWho has returned with their 8th studio LP, the highly emotive and melodic Kiss & Forget, marking their first album release since 2022’s acclaimed UUUU. The ever-evolving outfit step into a new era with a vibrant collection of 13 tracks featuring indie electronic, pop, house, disco, synthwave, and more elements. Boasting an impressive list of album collaborators - RY X, Blue Hawaii, Adriatique, Kölsch, and nour - Kiss & Forget offers a concoction of diverse sounds that evoke the collective’s perpetually youthful spirit. Kiss & Forget is due for release on September 13th via the band’s imprint, The Moment.

Despite their extensive and storied career, WhoMadeWho - comprised of Tomas Høffding, Tomas Barfod, and Jeppe Kjellberg - has been having one of their best years yet. Since announcing the album in late 2023, the band has teased fans with a series of singles that highlight the diverse sonic palette of Kiss & Forget. The nostalgic lead single, “Children,” boasting the angelic timbres of the Danish children’s choir Vesterbros Ungdomsgård, became an instant hit, earning Pete Tong’s highly sought-after “Essential New Tune” title on BBC Radio 1. This was followed by the ethereal “Love Will Save Me” featuring GRAMMY-nominated RY X, the dreamy “Kiss Me Hard” with Canadian indie duo Blue Hawaii, and “Heartless” with fellow venerated Danish electronic producer Kölsch.

Solomun & CASSIM remix two of the track rake from Radio Slave’s Venti album released earlier this year

Diynamic boss and Ibiza titan Solomun remixes Radio Slave ‘The Lunatics’ on Rekids, following the original’s inclusion in Matt Edwards’ acclaimed ‘Venti’ album in May. The original, a rework itself, reimagined the 1981 Fun Boy Three track ‘The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum’, with Edwards’ ode to the band’s late lead vocalist and The Specials frontman Terry Hall winning support from Saoirse, Erol Alkan, Jennifer Cardini, Laurent Garnier, Paul Woolford, and Honey Dijon.
Solomun’s remix of ‘The Lunatics’ is sparkling aural nostalgia executed with total joy. Crisp 80s drums, Stranger Things-esque Jupiter 8 synth swells, the vocoded titular vocal, and a gloriously rich sliding bassline combine to drag the listener back to 1983 in the best possible way. As the track builds, rousing guitars join the ensemble, completing what is a hypnotic, melodic trip to the 80s via what’s set to be a 2024 anthem.

CASSIMM’s remix of Radio Slave vs Audion’s ‘Mouth To Mouth’ continues the story of Matthew Dear’s classic, which Radio Slave revived and reinvented as part of his 2024 LP, ‘Venti’.
Radio Slave’s hi-NRG disco cover of Audion’s minimal/maximal 2006 and era-defining anthem has dominated dancefloors since it emerged as a single in late 2023, with the likes of Erol Alkan, Job Jobse, Sean Johnston, Jennifer Cardini and Eats Everything continuing to play it today and the latter awarding it an Essential New Tune whilst sitting in for Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1.
Now, recent Rekids alum CASSIMM continues his huge run of form with a chunky, main-room house interpretation that shows just why his recent release, ‘House of Moves,’ won DJ support from the likes of Tong, Arielle Free, Paul Woolford, Honey Dijon, and Jennifer Loveless.
CASSIMS’s remix of Radio Slave vs Audion quickly follows Lindstrom and Solomun’s remixes of the ‘Venti’ LP’s tracks, which have seen support from the likes of Ivan Smagghe, Chloé Caillet, Nightmares On Wax, and more.

Honour's debut album is a ligament stretching from Lagos to London and to New York, curling across the diaspora and brushing the darker hues of blues, hip-hop, free jazz, ambient, gospel with Christian mythology and Yoruba folklore. As cinematic as it is painterly, Alàáfíà is a meditation on themes of life, death and love that pulls inspiration from the unexpected poetic profundity of casual conversations, field recordings, literature, ephemera, or personal archives. The result is an impressionistic vision in Black and Blur that both exhausts and implicates language_substantiating a mythos proposed by Fred Moten that sublimates boundaries between everywhere and nowhere; history and the present; the individual and the universal. Alàáfíà delineates a gothic landscape cut by overdriven beats, swooping orchestral blasts, choral bursts and ear- splitting fuzz, where the fleshly and spiritual realms commune. Dedicated to Honour's late grandmother, the title track began to take form after their last embrace and remains steeped in her influence and spirit_a tape-saturated composition that starts in Lagos and ends in London's smoke-stained cityscape, the song's dream-like quality developed out of the artist's grief and PTSD coping with this loss. Beneath the stretched guitar drones and stuttering loops, their grandmother's shared faith bubbles to the surface. "When Angels Speak of Love," borrows its title from two works by Sun Ra and bell hooks, respectively. Sculpting echoes of praise music into disorienting spirals perforated with syrupy DJ Screw-inspired breaks and sharp splinters of melancholic guitar, "When Angels Speak of Love" engages a conceptual dialogue with the spirits of both late thinkers, folding them into Honour's pantheon of ancestral guides. The album's ninth track, "Giz Aard ($uckets)," is a dirge of regimented drums which anchor this somber melody as it whirls into a blizzard of heartache, uncertain if its consequence will be death or eternal joy. The album's sole lyrical offering, "Pistol Poem (Lead Belly)," begins with a darkly humorous bar, "He went thru hell and back/ came back/ 2 get the strap," that swells into a haunting allegory based on the life of Philip "Hot Sauce" Champion. A modern take on the Blues, Honour's lyrics reify the artist's status as a student of both literature and popular culture, crossbreeding the artist's clever wordplay with additional references to Richard Pryor, Robert Johnson, Kelly Rowland & Bryon Gysin. Setting core principles of hip-hop, R&B, jazz and gospel music to atemporal soundscapes and compositions, Honour crafts a record that marinates in its own knotty contradictions. The ghosts that sit on the artist's shoulders have never been more tangible than with this emotive debut.

Slush Records are back for their second outing, remastering and rereleasing Sedona’s highly sought-after 1995 track, ‘Pulsation’. A portal to the underground of the ‘90s, Sedona’s original mixes and the remix from Robert Vaughan, fuse progressive house, trance and breakbeat, each oscillating to their own unique frequency. Not stopping there, Slush Records enlist the expertise of Seoul-born, Amsterdam-based Naone for a mesmerising new remix that harnesses all of that early ‘90s energy, with a fresh dynamism.

The story of Sedona begins with Dale Charles and Benny Blanco. As a touring DJ and buyer at Boston Beat Records in the mid ‘90s, Dale Charles was in diggers paradise. Freestyle was big business at the time and as a progressive house and breaks DJ, Dale couldn’t help but notice how good the drum programming was on some of the tracks. He spent endless hours trawling through the shops near 10,000 freestyle records, hoping to find that elusive secret weapon.

One day Dale found the break he was searching for and took it to Benny’s studio. Benny was an aspiring DJ and, more crucially, a producer with a conveniently concreted basement apartment he was slowly filling with synths, samplers and drum machines. Sampling and chopping up this gem of a break, utilising two TB-303’s that Benny recorded live for the acid lines and creating that signature throbbing arp on a Roland JD-800, the basis of ‘Pulsation’ was born.

The duo created a series of different mixes to tweak the feeling of the track. The ‘Ascending Mix’ and ‘Sinister Mix’ bookend this reissue. The former, a club-focussed cut with subtle to squelching 303 lines, rumbling sub bass frequencies and pulsating arps that anchor the track, as the sacred drum break fires your brain into trance-infused euphoria. The latter, an ominous slice of teleportational ambient electronica, sucking you into a wormhole of galactic synthesis and dream-state harps.

The first of the remixes sees Slush draft in the progressive wizardry of Naone to provide a fresh new take on the track. Leaning into the otherworldly ‘90s atmosphere of the original, Naone radiates the pulsating theme through swelling synth stabs and a driving acid bassline. Switching up the feel with an electro-tinged drum beat, she distorts the acid dials till the track explodes into a dystopian realm of twisted techno.

The second is Robert Vaughan’s ‘Test Tube’ mix from the original 12 Inch. A no-nonsense prog headspinner, that garnered plays from the likes of Sasha and Digweed. An acclaimed DJ and producer across the ‘90s, with releases on the likes of Space Records and Metropolis, Vaughan injected the track with added breakbeat energy and swirling, tripped-out breakdowns to masterful effect.

A timeless dancefloor classic, expertly remastered and reissued with a remix that both honours and updates the original.

Unter den Galionsfiguren der französischen Disco hatte Bernard Fèvre, besser bekannt als Black Devil, wahrscheinlich die kürzeste Karriere, aber er war der brillanteste und einzigartigste Kopf von allen. Sein erstes Album Disco Club, das 1978 erschien, blieb zwar zunächst unbeachtet, ist aber inzwischen ein Muss, ein Sammlerstück, das viele Hörer dazu veranlasst hat, sich mit seinem umfangreichen Werk zu beschäftigen. Von Rockmusik bis Music Hall, von Sound-Illustration bis Disco, von Pop bis Reggae, von Filmmusik bis Werbung - Bernard Fèvre hat mit so vielen Genres experimentiert, dass es schwer war, den Überblick nicht zu verlieren. Eines seiner besten Alben trägt sogar einen so eindeutigen Titel wie The Strange World of Bernard Fèvre. Machen Sie sich auf den Weg in eine kosmische Dimension, die an das Unbekannte grenzt. BERNARD FEVRE (BLACK DEVIL DISCO / MILLPATTE / SUSPENSE) SPACE ODDITIES ist eine Reihe, die sich der Library-Music französischer (und anderer) Elektronik-Pioniere widmet. Das Projekt wird von Alexis Le-Tan & Jess initiiert und kuratiert und von Born Bad Records veröffentlicht.

Domenico Niki is the man charged with the curation of the Echoes From Disco label and it will all be with a focus on rediscovering and re-editing disco, boogie and jazz from across the world. The inaugural outing features four re-edits that cover a wide array of styles. 'Through That Door' is jazz-funk with twanging guitars and sunny piano keys while 'African Horns' is a deep Afro-funk cut with fluid rhythms soon getting under your skin. 'Copacabana' is a busy, relentless and sax-laced funk banger and 'Follow Me' then slows things down with a more 80s-sounding downtempo soul vibe perfect for early evening sessions.

The mighty U Roy is the originator, the man who put the DJ phenomenon on the map and made it an artform. From Kingston Jamaica to the corners of all the Dancefloors, Clubs and Sound Systems across the world. U Roy (B. Ewart Beckford, 1942, Kingston, Jamaica) began his musical career spinning records for Doctor Dickies Sound System way back in 1961. The mid sixties saw him working for Sir George The Atomic before moving in 1967 to the man who best shaped his sound King Tubby on his Home Town HI - FI. Tubbys work in the dub field, dropping out vocals on his versions for the Sound Systems allowed U Roy to voice over these spaces adding to the excitment of the Dance!!!

U Roy moved into the recording arena firstly cutting two disc's for Producer Lee Perry 'Earths Rightful Ruler' and 'OK Corral' and then following this with 'Dynamic Fashion Way' and 'Riot' for Producer Keith Hudson. Producer Duke Reid seeing the protential in this new found form brought U Roy to his Treasure Isle Studios to voice over his back catalogue of Rocksteady Hits. His first three releases for Duke Reid 'Wake The Town', 'Rule The Nation' and 'Wear You To The Ball' held the Top 3 positions for 12 weeks in early 1970's.

We have compiled some of U Roy's best loved cuts from his mid 70's period when all were still looking at him for guidence.  The opening cut Call On Me sees him working over Delroy Wilson's 'Got To Be There'.  You Never Get Away gets U Roy answering Delroy Wison's 'Keep On Rocking'. Johnny Clarke's 'Time Gonna Tell' with rootsy bassline turns into Every Knee Shall Bow. Cornell Campbell the Gorgon himself gets his 'Check Mr Morgon' turned into Gorgon Wise. Johnny Clarke's Hold On gets reworked. Jeff Barnes 'Blowing In The Wind' tuned into Number 1 and alongside King of The Road which sees Lennox Brown blow his saxophone over the instrumental 'In The Swing of Things', was one of U Roys first releases. Linval Thompson's 'Let Jah Arise' is versioned to Joyful Locks. I Originate which lends us to the title of this compilation, says it as it is, a classic built over Dave Barker's 'Shocks of Mighty'. Linval Thompson again provides the backbone with his Cool Down Your Temper cut for U Roys version. The mighty Burning Spear's Creation Rebel although providing our next track, it is Johnny Clarke's version that gets worked over. Leo Graham's 'Birds of A Feather' turns into Stick Together. Soul Syndicates instrumental 'Goliath' grows into Riot. A big hit for Max Romeo Wet Dream sounds great under U Roy's new rendition.

Two extra tracks for the CD release of this album sees the great voice of Slim Smith on his 'Let's Stick Together' becomes ‘Ain’t To Proud To Beg’ and Cornell Campbell's 'Stand Firm' works with
U Roy to sign us off with ‘I Shall Not Remove’.  A fine collection i hope you agree to the Daddy of all DJ's who in his own words ''I Originate, so you must appreciate, while the others got to imitate'' says it all really……

Composed in the aftermath of family tragedy, NY Graffiti’s Burden is an album full of peace anthems, psalms, dirges, and confessionals. In the pursuit of consolation, the tectonics of techno, dub, and post-club aesthetics are pushed past their margins onto new emotional plateaus.

Like the series of EP’s that NY Graffiti has released in recent years – including a split with Subtext affiliate UCC Harlo – Burden is an amalgam of dub-informed club music, acoustic emulations, and doom-scroll sourced social media chatter, filtered through the artist’s unique sonic palette that has developed over years on the fringes of New York’s contemporary club scene.

From the largely-improvised opener (and closer) “Approximation”, to the discord of the steppa-inflected track “98 Prayers”, and the dystopian ambiance of “Reach” (evoking early Hype Williams), Burden constantly reconfigures itself in search of catharsis. The album's seven tracks are dense and claustrophobic yet unexpectedly grounding. Amid the weight of grief, and the bleakness of our shared geopolitical realities, the NYC-based artist provides moments of solace that are intimate, direct, and revelatory.

Burden was initially released as a digital album earlier this year and is now available on vinyl through NY Graffiti’s own Peace Anthem Records and Switzerland-based Präsens Editionen. While the former has primarily focused on releasing NY Graffiti’s own projects, the latter is the publishing house of zweikommasieben Magazin and has released music and sound works by artists such as Anom Vitruv, Red On, Belia Winnewisser, Martina Lussi, Samuel Reinhard, and Magda Drozd

Rob Zombie and Waxwork Records have partnered to release an exclusive, curated line of classic Horror movie soundtracks! “Rob Zombie Presents” features several never-before-released film soundtracks that were personally selected by the singer, songwriter, and filmmaker.

“I have always been a huge fan of movie soundtracks. So I jumped at the opportunity to work with Waxwork on this project.” Says Zombie, “I can’t wait to release these albums. So many of these films are greatly under appreciated and, they all contain such great music. So, to be able to release these deluxe packages is a dream come true.“ - Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie and Waxwork Records are thrilled to announce the debut vinyl release of THE LAST MAN ON EARTH Original Motion Picture Score by Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter. The Last Man On Earth is a 1964 post-apocalyptic science fiction horror film based on the 1954 novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Starring Vincent Price, the plot follows Dr. Robert Morgan (Price) who lives in a world where the human population is infected by a plague that has turned them into undead, vampiric creatures that cannot stand sunlight, fear mirrors, and are repelled by garlic. Every day, Morgan follows a routine where he marks days off the calendaqr and sets out to hunt the vampires, killing as many as he can and then burning the bodies.

After working together on the successful release of the official soundtracks to Zombie’s films House of 1000 Corpses, The Devils Rejects, 3 From Hell, The Lords of Salem, Halloween 1 & 2, and The Munsters, Zombie explored other ways to collaborate with Waxwork in an effort to unearth, re-master, and release classic, left-of-center Horror soundtracks from films that he is a life-long fan of. The line of soundtracks features deluxe packaging, heavyweight colored vinyl, new artwork by prominent Horror illustrator Graham Humphreys, liner notes and interviews conducted by Rob Zombie with filmmakers and actors. Titles include premiere releases of Spider Baby, Carnival Of Souls, The Last Man On Earth, The House On Haunted Hill, The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, and many selections from the HAMMER film library.

The Flaming Lips will celebrate 25 years of their seminal 1999 album, The Soft Bulletin, with the brand new The Soft Bulletin 25TH Anniversary Vinyl out September 6. It will be available in limited-edition 2LP Vinyl with stunning Zoetrope designs notably co-created by Drew Tetz and band frontman Wayne Coyne. Plus, it boasts brand new sleeve artwork in addition to an insert with text penned by Wayne.

The Flaming Lips first unveiled The Soft Bulletin on May 17, 1999. Anchored by staples such as “Race for the Prize,” “Waitin’ for a Superman,” and “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate,” it earned some of the highest critical praise of the band’s career. Pitchfork placed it at #3 among “The Top 100 Albums of the 1990s,” hailing it as “godlike music” and professing, “Remarkably, the band's music maintains a general air of feel-goodness while their lyrics concern sobering subjects as bleeding, bites, and mortality.” Moreover, Entertainment Weekly bestowed an “A” rating upon the record, Spin scored it “9-out-of-10,” NME applauded it with a “9-out-of-10,” and Pitchfork delivered a rare perfect “10.0” score.

The core members of Jaubi are true masters of their craft, coming from a rich lineage of accomplished musicians. Kashif Ali Dhani is a classically trained tabla master from the Punjab gharana, and is the accompanist of choice on the local scene for some of Pakistan's great classical vocalists and instrumentalists, as well as in Europe and the USA. Zohaib Hassan Khan is a 7th generation sarangi master, who has performed globally, and is one of only 3 professional sarangi players left in Pakistan. Multi-instrumentalist, composer and Jaubi bandleader Ali Riaz Baqar aka Ila Zair began his musical journey as a hip-hop enthusiast, evolving into a jazz guitarist following the exposure to the genre’s rich sampling culture. He then became a disciple of the Senia-Shahjahanpur gharana, a lineage of musicians specialising in the sarod. His playing now focuses on merging North Indian classical music with modern jazz harmony on a traditional, unaltered 6-string electric guitar.

The collaborative relationship between the core group and wider collaborators dates back to April 2019, when 22a label founder and multi-instrumentalist Tenderlonious and EABS/Bloto keyboard and synth maestro Marek ‘Latarnik’ Pędziwiatr travelled to Lahore, Pakistan to take part in some improvised recording sessions with Jaubi. Nothing whatsoever was written down during the recording sessions – no sheet music, no song titles. It was sincere, bottled lightning. All egos were left behind, with hearts and souls being opened and poured into the music. The result has been described as spiritual jazz-fusion meets psychedelic Hindustani classical with nods to golden era hip hop.

An adventurous and absorbing record ‘A Sound Heart’ is the next chapter for Jaubi, both sonically and spiritually. The title is inspired from a verse in the Holy Qu’ran (26:89), where one comes to God with a spiritual or sound heart (Qalb) which is sincere, without doubts and free of materialistic attachments. Importantly it refers to a state where the heart is spiritually healthy and content with only God. A Sound Heart’s basis is goodness, rooted in love. In this case, it is the love for one’s creator. The album also acts as a tribute to fallen heroes, paying respect to the greatness that has come before, casting new light via cross-cultural collaboration and improvisation.

Throughout this incredible journey, meditative ragas blend with Herbie Hancock-esque motifs, joined by lament-filled contemporary melodies intertwining with the intricate sounds of the sarangi and earthy layering of the tabla. A true masterpiece of composition from start to finish.

A new album by Medway's premier alt-folk outfit The Singing Loins! Yes indeed. We caught up with Rob Shepherd to find out more about their brilliant new LP Twelve_ Q: "The new album is called Twelve. Could you settle an office debate - is it your 12th album or have you called it that because it has twelve songs on it? (We thought Here On Earth was your 12th but not according to Discogs. Also, our ability to count accurately has diminished over the years!)" A: "A bit of both. Course, there's the 12 songs, but then, depending on how you count, it's also our 12th album (from 91-98, there's the 1st 4 LPs that Damaged Goods collected together on The Complete & Utter - that's a comp though, so we can't count that eh - then there's At The Bridge with Billy, so that's 5_..we can skip Alive In Dunkerque as well cos it's a live album....then there was 2004-13 where we made four more with you, then in 2019 we got back together and made 13 Moon Songs From Merry Hell, released on the Vacilando 68 label...so that's 10_and then we did another record with Billy, The Fighting Temeraire_ so yeah, that makes this one number 12)." Q: "The album has features newly recorded versions of several Loins classics. Was it a difficult decision deciding which back catalogue songs to record?" A: "No, pretty easy - it's basically the 12 songs we enjoy playing the most with the current lineup. Saying that, it's been a bit of a meandering road getting to this point. Since Brod passed away, Arf & me have done few nights of Loins songs - and it's felt good - celebrating the songs we all wrote together - so that started the selection process. Oli, Arf's lad, joined us on percussion and then Rich, who Billy had introduced to us, joined on violin - then Chris came along to play the drums, so Oli switched to guitar - and through all that we were refining the set of songs, and we got a point where we felt that, yeah, we've sort of worked out how to do this (you know, respecting and celebrating our past, without coming on like a tribute band to ourselves), so it made sense to make the album - just to reflect where we'd arrived at....so we went into Jim's Ranscombe Studios and bashed them all out live in a couple of hours....no overdubs, no fussing over mistakes....just sing and play the songs as if it was a gig." Q: "It's been 33 years since the debut Loins' LP - How does it feel to be the elder statemen of Kent's alt-folk scene?" A: "Ha ha, are we? We don't know any other folk bands, alt or not, so it doesn't feel as though we're qualified to be the statesmen of anything! Elder, certainly, but statesmen? Nope." Q: "There's been plenty of gigs recently with more to come around the album's release, including some European dates. For people who've not seen you before what can they expect from a Loins gig?" A: "Yeah, as I said, now that we've worked out how to do this, and as we're having so much fun with it, we thought we'd get out & about. We're off to Serbia immediately after the album's release, so that'll be an adventure - Serbia was always special for us (Aleks, the promotor, took us out there to play seven or eight times in all) and we've stayed in touch over the years, so it'll be lovely to see everyone out there again. As for what can anyone expect when they see us? "Riotous fun filled joy" I've just been told, but best let everyone else be the judge of that!" Q: "The Singing Loins wouldn't have existed of course if it wasn't for Chris Broderick. Chris sadly passed in 2022. What would he have thought about the fact you're carrying on with the band and recording new music?" A: "Yeah_ he'd be happy. In the week before he passed away, he asked Arf & me over, basically to say goodbye and tie up any loose ends. And he told Arf that we should carry the Loins on. So yeah, I think he'd be pleased and proud that we're keeping the songs, and his words, alive."

On August 16, Toronto-based musician and producer David Psutka aka ACT! (fka Egyptrixx / Anamai / Ceramic TL) will release his latest project ‘Face to Face, Day by Day’ for his own Halocline Trance imprint.

This is is Psutka’s third album proper as ACT! following the release of the “sonic mixtape” ‘Universalist’ in 2018 and the augmented reality soundtrack ‘Grey Matter AR’ in 2021; a series of Snapchat filters created by artist Karen Vanderborght and soundtracked by ACT! which explored the poetic and existential potential of AR and social media.

“Aesthetic accidents in the periphery of the ‘work’ can be the message. In 2018, at an Egyptrixx concert at Bagni Misteriosi de Teatro Franco Parenti - a gorgeous, sprawling outdoor pool theatre in Milan - I had a clarifying moment. Gigs around then had mostly been in pummelling, dark music venues, so I wasn't prepared for this expansive space (and the thoughtful work of the organisers who had layered sheets of plastic film on the pool to parallel eco-materialist themes from a previous album). It was the midday soundcheck that struck me most - brittle digital sounds from the set echoed off the colonial Milanese facades and ricocheted down the Via Carlo Botta, pinging off buildings in the distance and clashing with the noise of traffic, tourists and whatever else. It was a strange, collisionist moment, and a reminder that my essential approach to music is, above all, a preoccupation with the materiality of sound. 

Everything on Face to Face, Day by Day began as an improvisation. Openness to accidents and the emotional complexity that comes from centering them in composition has become important to my work, and helps the music go beyond the possibility of what is playable, imaginable. I also wanted to channel adventurous solo pop records of the 1970’s and 80’s, like Yasuaki Shimizu, Jon + Vangelis and Stevie Wonder. These came from an interesting era in commercial music as studio production techniques became increasingly formalised as compositional devices, like AMS RMX16 percussion sounds and early digital stereo effects. 

Like many musicians, I’ve been travelling and performing less since the pandemic and as a result, have wanted studio sessions to feel more collaborative and improvisational. There were great writing and recording sessions for this album. Vox, synth, sax and guitar jams - much of what ended up on the record isn’t edited much, if at all. I jammed a sm57 into Colin Fisher’s sax bell and created feedback loops using various preamps and distortion units. The clunky sounds were sampled and used as percussion elements. I also had a great synth jam session with Jeremy Greenspan at Barton Building Studio in Hamilton, which was recorded by filmmaker Liz Adler. 

I’ve had a few months to sit with this album and see clear throughlines connecting it to previous projects. There are aspects of the experiential and structuralist sound design ideas from the EGYPTRIXX records; and also some arrangement tricks borrowed from ANAMAI - specifically, the use of interruptionist sound events. Perhaps most of all, it feels connected to the Ceramic TL + Ipek Gorgun record ‘Perfect Lung’ and its splattered take on musical complexity. “ (David Psutka)

In addition to ACT!, Psutka has released music with numerous projects including Anamai, Egyptrixx and Ceramic TL, he has collaborated widely with artists such as Junior Boys, Ipek Gorgun, and Kuedo as well as Jessy Lanza (2016) and an official remix for Massive Attack’s ‘Hymn of the Big Wheel (2012). The contributions on this album, from Robin Dann and Ben Gunning, reflect the deeply collaborative nature of the Halocline Trance label and the Toronto creative scene more broadly.

Many of Psutka’s releases have received critical acclaim from media outlets such as Pitchfork, Exclaim, The Quietus and Resident Advisor. As a live performer, he has toured extensively including performing at Sonar Festival, Roskilde, Mutek, MOMA PS1 Warm-UP and CTM Festival. He’s also presented sound installations at various institutions such as Galeria Civica Commune di Modena, and Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).

In 2015, Psutka launched Halocline Trance as a home for his various sound projects, events and collaborations. Now a creative collective and label, it has grown to include a diverse array of artists including Casey MQ, Xuan Ye, Myst Milano, Colin Fisher and others. The label is described as “genre-agnostic” and conceptually open, supporting work across a wide spectrum of creative fields including soundtrack recording, AR design and traditional artist albums. Their impeccable roster also includes, theorist/improviser Eldritch Priest, and AR/VR artist Karen Vanderborght. In recent years, Halocline Trance has established itself as a platform that facilitates many of Canada’s most exciting creative music projects. Many of the releases have received critical acclaim from outlets including Pitchfork, Exclaim, Bandcamp and Resident Advisor.

Bobby Hutton is from Detroit, Michigan. In 1971 he performed on the very first nationally aired Soul Train TV programme. He recorded with Phillips (the in-demand “Come See What’s left Of Me” now a separate 7” release), then ABC where her recorded his LP “Piece Of the Action” (released by Expansion on LP/CD) including “Lend A Hand”, the other separate 7” side on Expansion). The two tracks on this 7” (which feature as bonus tracks on the Expansion CD reissue of “Piece Of The Action”) were first released back-to-back in 1974 on the ABC label. Both songs are co-written and produced by McKinley Jackson, key to songs for Lamont Dozier, Freda Payne and The Four Tops at ABC in the early to mid-70s. The other co-writer is the Grammy Award winning Reggie Dozier, brother to Lamont Dozier. This 7” has not been reissued for 40 years, and an original copy on Discogs will set you back £200 in the UK.

Kato Hideki's Statement: "The Walk is the first collaboration between me and my brother from another mother, Kramer. We started working together in the late summer in 2023, discussing the thematics and the sonic palette of the album. We shared strong connections with the writings by Robert Walser and Basho - both of them walked, dreamed, lived and died on the road. Ambient music was our natural plane for us to transduce the power of their literature into our music as signifiers. Neither of us imagined just to make 'another ambient record', nor a direct translation of their writings. My instinct was to use various modal colors with modulation - slow yet structured music that sounds deceivingly similar to ambient music. Kramer's genius was apparent to me: his ability to elaborate the music as a composer / musician with his keen ears; to frame the album conceptually, sonically and musically as a producer. What you hear in this album is a true collaboration between two artists who trusted each other to let the music transcend. Here you have it, enjoy YOUR walk - dream, live and die well!" Kato Hideki - Brooklyn, NY on April 3rd, 2024 Kramer's Statement: "Sometime in the latter 20th Century, I became aware of the art of The Brothers Quay, two American animators living in London and making the most beautiful works of art I'd ever experienced in cinema. I noted that some of their work was inspired by_ 'the writings of Robert Walser'. Fast forward to 2024 and I have now read every word there was to read (translated into English) by this unique Swiss-German writer. I'd waited decades to find the right 'environment' in which to create music in dedication to this great prose writer and poet, and in 2023, I found that it was not 'the right environment' that I'd been waiting for, but rather, the right collaborator. Kato Hideki and his extraordinary work as composer for film, dance and just about every other creative discipline you can imagine, was equally as inspiring to me for this project as the words and worlds of Walser and Basho. Our journey in collaborative composition began all over the global map, but arrived at the same physical endpoint, and at the very same point in time. I'm not sure that I would even be interested in music at all, unless there were other artists to partner with as I worked. Working alone means Nothing to me. This months-long act of co-creation i have shared with Kato for "THE WALK" has made me as happy to be alive as Walser and Basho were so happy to be alive while on their walks, as evidenced by their extraordinary descriptive powers, knowing that the world around them - so simple yet so very complex - made life so wondrous, and so well worth the sometimes seemingly insurmountable struggles of finding a way to survive Today, so that we might try again Tomorrow." - Kramer, April 9, 2024 (Asheville, NC)

Copenhagen’s Echocord returns this September with the ‘Invincible Nature’ EP by Altone, backed by a remix from Thomas Fehlmann and Another Channel. Atone is the guise of Tokyo’s Yuki Takasaki, one of the leading figures of the genre out of Japan with releases on the likes of Greyscale, Lempuyang, Vuo, Æ Recordings, Primary colours and many more. His distinctive twist on Dub Techno has earned him accolades worldwide within the underground and here he joins the roster of the esteemed Echocord, the Kenneth Christiansen helmed label that’s been at the forefront of Dub Techno for more than two decades now. The original mix of ‘Naturally Unnatural’ opens, showcasing Altone’s unique style via subtly nuanced chord flutters, expansive reverberations, pulsating low end tones and ever unfolding, subtly unfurling feel. The ‘Naturally Flowing Thomas Fehlmann Remix’ follows, the Swiss sonic wizard and former member of the legendary The Orb among many other projects delivers deep, throbbing subs and glitched out synth modulations intertwined with fragments of the original composition. ‘Unnaturally Balanced’ then opens the B-Side with Altone diving deeper into dub realms courtesy of ever alternating, billowing dub echoes and a raw, reduced rhythm section. The ‘Another Channel Version’ of ‘Unnaturally Balanced’ then rounds out the EP, embracing a more classic dub techno aesthetic as crunchy drums, swirling atmospherics and spaced out echoes ebb and flow amongst one another across the six and half minute duration.

Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube Records are proud to present to you the 2nd LP from TOMOYUKI TRIO (Tomoyuki Aoki, Mike Vest & Dave Sneddon) following their debut LP ‘Mars’ on the esteemed Riot Season Record Label. Tomoyuki Aoki is the founding member and lead guitarist of the legendary Tokyo Psych Monsters UP-TIGHT. Of all the Japanese psych-rock groups that emerged in the late nineties and early noughties, Up-Tight are the most reverent, the most directly plugged into the source, from their name (Velvet Underground) with knowing referential song titles like “Sweet Sister” to their extended heavy, dark black clad acid fried one chord psych melters -- we're talking bands like Fushitsusha, White Heaven, Kousokuya, Shizuka, and the grandaddies of 'em all, the deservedly-legendary, Les Rallizes Denudes. Shitsuren If anything has got an even heavier, dronier edge than what we heard on the last one. Super fuzzed guitars, sad ballads, grinding distorto epics and numbed, narcotic rhythms. This is one to play at maximum volume so that you can soak up its molten magik as over 2 sides of Shitsuren’s grueling guitar hypnotics you uncover the darker side of the ensembles personality to find them digging deep to drag the audience with them into the shadows of stoner psyche. If you can picture Okhami No Jikan, Asahito Nanjo. Musica Transonic & Toho Sara then you’re close to the outrageous levels of psychedelic excess captured here, a riotous concoction of ferociously brooding, locked down heavy bearing intensity of fierce/brutal speaker battering in the red levels.

Coming out on September 6th on Sharptone Records, Sundiver is Boston Manor’s fifth album and one that represents a glimmering dawn for the Blackpool five-piece. Grown from a seedbed of optimism and sobriety, the LP celebrates new beginnings, second chances and rebirth. With two members recently stepping into fatherhood, hope is baked into every note. “Datura came out of these really dark few years over the hangover of the pandemic,” Henry reflects. “I'd been struggling a lot with drinking and not taking care of myself and bad mental health and stuff. We wanted Sundiver to be the next morning of the following day.” He explains that it feels good this time round to write through the lens of positivity. “The themes began to emerge, of rebirth, spring, dawn, sunshine and then other elements just started to fit into that.” It was during the making of Sundiver that Henry found out he was going to be a dad. This album is a significant one for the band. Originally coming out of the emo and pop punk scene, they’ve explored sonics and genres throughout their career, taken risks and achieved more than they could ever had dreamed of. They’ve grown up as Boston Manor – their lives and the world changing around them. They’re now taking stock, at a crossroads of the band they were and the band they could be.
While writing the album, they revisited the bands that shaped them in the late 90s and early 00s. “I was listening to the music I loved when I was a teenager and I just thought, why don't we make music like our favourite bands?”, guitarist Mike Cuniff remembers with a smile. “So we brought our interests to the table that way. Y2K kind of vibe. There are elements of Deftones, there are elements of Portishead in there, some Garbage, The Cardigans.” He laughs and adds NSYNC to the list of inspirations. From this cocktail of classics comes a dynamic and ambitious record, rich with depth, groove and more hooks than Peter Pan’s nightmares. Lyrics that foxtrot from parallel universes to personal growth, vivid dreamscapes to raw grief. Individually they’re single strokes full of meaning and magic. Together they’re a landscape.
Container (out Feb 15th) is the first single and it’s them at their best – impassioned and infectious. “This song is about the stagnancy of life creeping up on you & how that can bring about change.,” Henry explains, citing Ocean Song by US band Daughters as an inspiration.

The concept of the butterfly effect is present on Sundiver – how small actions can lead to big changes. This is no clearer than on their second single, Sliding Doors (out April 5th). It has the golden sound of late 90s Lollapalooza rock – think Smashing Pumpkins - rebooted with crisp 2024 production and a potent heaviness. In the lyrics Henry wonders, what if?, pondering on what could be. The idea that there are infinite versions of you whose lives splinter off in different directions at every decision you make. That there’s another you out there somewhere right now reading this sentence, and another me writing it. “So much is down to chance and circumstance,” Henry says. “You might catch that train and your life totally changes. Or you might miss it and things stay the way they are.”
Heat Me Up (out May 30th) is defiant and victorious, the audio equivalent of quitting your shit job and driving into the hot summer sun with a head full of dreams. “The lyrics are about love and gratitude,” Henry shares. “Another theme on the record is just appreciating what you have. It’s about not taking for granted the things that you've been afforded.”
There was some natural magic in the creation of Sundiver. They worked with their usual producer, Larry Hibbitt, and engineer, Alex O’Donovan, but instead of recording in London again they ended up in the green pastures of Welwyn Garden City. “Because Larry lives out in the countryside now, it was a way different environment and way different experience recording this time,” Mike remembers. “That contributed a lot to the brighter sound of the record.” The daily barbecues they had during their recording sessions imbued the process with harmony – five old friends spending quality time together and making quality music.
However, the album is by no means one-note. Birthing this new world they’ve created wasn’t without it’s pain, and that can be heard in the heavier moments on Sundiver. What Is Taken Will Never Be Lost is the most-stripped back on the album, a slow rock number seasoned with the downtempo Portishead influence. The heartfelt lyrics are Henry’s way of processing the loss of his grandfather, who died in a hospice last year(?). “It was just fucking horrible. It was always cold when I went there and they were always trying to get rid of me. The song title, What Was Taken Can Ever Be Lost, is the idea of his memory fading at the time because of dementia.” Henry goes onto explain that shoeboxes of photographs, diaries and a legacy is what he’s left behind. “He lived a really rich life and it has really impacted me and my father. His legacy is etched into the fabric of history in a very small way.” This song continues the connection between his grandfather and the band, as his painted face is emblazoned on the cover of the very first Boston Manor EP, Driftwood. As well as emotionally heavy themes, there’s heaviness in the music of Sundiver too. The closing song, Oil In My Blood, descends into an intense shoegaze outro with Debbie Gough from Heriot screaming hellfire. It’s in moments like this that the band show us aggression and fury can be as much a part of positive change as quiet introspection. The last lyrics of the song, “It resets and starts again,” leaves us in contemplation as the final chord rings out.
Touring the US, Europe and Japan over the years makes for an impressive CV, but if you know anything about Boston Manor you’ll know that they’re all about their hometown. Their choice to work with Blackpool-based photographer Nick Barkworth is testament to that. They’ve been working with him since the pandemic. “He captures Blackpool in a light that really reflects the weirdness and quirkiness of the town,” Henry says.” He's got a really good way of presenting that.” For the Sundiver cover, Nick photographed a 30ft tall abstract glass sculpture made by the local artist John Ditchfield. A striking and bewitching monolith that’s familiar to them but unusual to most people. “It has such kind of a gravity and power to it,” Henry describes the sculpture which stands in a field just outside of the seaside town. “It reminds me of either an explosion or a star or a supernova. To me it represents new life, power and radiance.” Boston Manor have got a knack for that - connecting the otherworldly and the everyday, the stars and the streets.
They’re a band known for using their music to make bigger statements about society. This time round they’re harnessing the uplifting power of music, and the communion it creates, as an antidote to the daily doom and isolation. “It seems like absolute chaos out there at the moment,” Henry says. “You’ve got Gaza and Israel, you've got Russia, you've got the fact that 40% of the world is going to have an election this year and increasingly most governments are leaning very far to the Right. The internet is dividing everybody, people are getting poorer and more desperate. It's really, really scary.” They considered trying to tackle the weight of it all in their music. “We could’ve written Welcome to the Neighbourhood on steroids, where it's just absolute darkness and misery”. He’s referring to their 2018 concept album that deals with class, inequality and the bleaker side of Blackpool. “But I think it's really important to write something that people can be immersed in and find some sort of solace in. Somewhere they can escape to from the modern day pressures and everything that’s going on. We’re all in this together.”

Empty Empty is Cinema Paradiso's 3rd album. Cinema Paradiso functions as a trio without a leader, consisting of Kurt Van Herck (Brussels Jazz Orchestra, Dizzie Gillespie Big Band, Bert Joris Quartet), Eric Thielemans (A Snare is a Bell, EARR, Talking About the Weather) and Willem Heylen (KRAKk, Aki, Sargam).

After his guest contributions on several tracks during the recording sessions that resulted in the compilation of the first two albums (Volume I and Volume II), Jozef Dumoulin (Lidlboj, The Red Hill Orchestra, True Company) was involved in the entire creation and recording process of Empty Empty.

Now focusing on original compositions (along with some Indian chants and a piece by Claude Debussy), this album also distinguishes itself from the previous two albums by presenting a new sonic landscape. Blending the rich timbres and textures of both the acoustic and electric sonic worlds of the musicians, we were looking to get a strong, direct, full sound that still retains enough detail and acoustic warmth.

The album was recorded and mixed by Joris Caluwaerts (Stuff) at his Finster Studio in Antwerp.

Returning from time apart to a world forever changed, dread-fuelled duo A SWARM OF THE SUN bring with them their fourth studio album, `An Empire'; its brooding, yet beautiful, melancholic narrative arc allows the band to dig ever deeper into desolation whilst a newfound lyrical focus adds a tenderness that is both harrowing and heartwarming at once. With the early bones of forthcoming `An Empire' tabled by events beyond their control in 2019, Erik and Jakob came together years later and scrapped them in favour of creating something entirely new; something distinctly different to break the cycle, defy categorisation and reflect the uncomfortable uncertainties of the times we now live in. The result is astounding; continuing the thread of narrative composition seen on `The Woods', `An Empire' is a six-track tale told in four distinct movements that are nothing short of devastating, from plaintive piano ballads to raw, full-band fury. For instance, taken from the album's third side, lead single `The Burning Wall' embodies this sprawling compositional feat perfectly, with the painfully frank opening couplet of "I know I fail you / I know that I run" establishing a gripping narrative trajectory backed by a simmering, impatient pulse that slowly and inevitably rises to an inescapable crescendo of cymbal chaos and wall-of-sound guitar drone. Elsewhere, 18-minute epic `The Pyre' represents Side B of `An Empire' with the confessional intimacy of a waltz-time ballad; the raw, wavering emotion of Jakob's words accompanied only by a haunting, lilting piano refrain before it too is consumed by the bittersweet might of post-rock euphoria to leave only embers of the apocalyptic lyrics in its wake_ `An Empire' marks a significant evolution of A Swarm of the Sun's already indelible post-metal sound. With increasingly bleak times forcing the band to reassess their relationship with creativity and suffering, this new body of work captures all the anthemic, intimate highs and crushing, debilitating lows of modern life on a knife edge.