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2023 Repress

"banging piece of sound art" - The Observer

"...a fascinating piece of Brutalist techno that pivots between crisp machine-like minimalism and granulated noise." - Clash

"A piece of immediately engaging techno it reveals more of itself with each listen." - CMU Daily

Nik Colk Void is well established with her work as one half of Factory Floor, one third of Carter Tutti Void (alongside Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti) and with the late Peter Rehberg as NPVR, but perhaps surprisingly, "Bucked up Space" is her first solo album release.

Void explains, "When Peter Rehberg initially asked me to produce a record for Editions Mego, I didn't feel quite ready and asked if we could make a record together instead. Collaboration is so ingrained into what I do, I only felt ready to make this album after working through ideas live, using the audience in place of the collaborator."

Bucked Up Space combines Void's love of improvisation with the driving force of beat-driven music absorbed from performing in galleries, residencies and clubs across the UK and Europe. She goes on to say, "You find out more about yourself when you explain your ideas to others, and that's how I felt the live performance worked for me."

The process steadily teased out a language and Void employed a variety of tactics in the recording process including a methodical approach of collecting data at her home studio in a manner not dissimilar to keeping a diary. Her microscopic focus on raw instrumental noise, layered and reformulated, resulted in a sound catalogue that Void divided into groups for their tone, density and texture.

These initial pieces were taken to a studio in Margate to put them into a more cohesive compositional context. Something that pragmatically started as cold and detached was given warmth, unity and emotion in the studio. Via improvised repetition co-existing alongside organised production, Void conjures new sonic muscle with tracks such as 'Interruption Is Good' and 'FlatTime'. Initial recordings are rendered into sequences initiating the organic rhythms, triggering awkward jerks of high hats and percussion, or used to activate the margins of post effects detectable in the tracks like 'Demna', 'Big Breather' and 'Oversized'.

Void explains: "It was important to me that the simplicity in the work disguised a lot of complexity, I want this work to be absorbed instinctively."

The sleeve image, a still from We Are City by Brazilian artist Maria de Lima, was chosen to illustrate Bucked Up Space, which Void describes as "a distorted reality, the space that lives at start of an idea, then floats in public view, before returning to inform my understanding of the idea. Once the idea is out in the world, it moves and morphs into something else entirely."

Written, performed and produced by Nik Colk Void, the album was engineered by James Greenwood, mastered by Rashad Becker and tracks 1, 4, 5, 7 and 9 were mixed by Marta Salogni.

Bucked up Space is the result of the ideas and resulting sounds of free exploration morphing into a personal structured album that fearlessly moulds patience, listening and restraint. It's a sharp focussed work embracing collective action through the lens of the self. All this, and also one of the best abstract dance records you will hear in some time!

Loraine James' new ambient-minded alias, Whatever The Weather, follows her 2021 solo LP Reflection (Hyperdub). In contrast to her club music sensibilities, this mode embraces keyboard improvisations and vocal experimentation, foregoing percussive structure in favor of shaping atmosphere and tone. From this divergent headspace emerged new coordinates and climates, a new outlet: Whatever The Weather. A longtime fan of ambient-adjacent Ghostly International artists such as Telefon Tel Aviv (who she'd ask to master the album), HTRK (whose singer Jonnine Standish features on Nothing), and Lusine (whom she remixed at the start of 2021), James saw the label as the ideal home for this eponymous album of airy, transportive tracks as they began to formulate. The titling on Whatever The Weather works in degrees; simple parameters allowing James to focus on the nuances as a mood-builder. Her suspended universe fluctuates; freezing, thawing, swaying and blooming from track to track. James describes her jam-based approach for the sessions as "free-flowing, stopping when I felt like I was done," allowing her subconscious to lead. The improvisations have an intrinsic fluidity to them, akin to sudden weather events passing over a single environment - the location feels fixed while the conditions vary. The album opens at "25°C," a sunshower of soft hums and keys. As the longest piece, it serves to establish stability, the inflection point where any move above or below this temperate breeze breaks the bliss. Given James' proclivity for organized chaos in her production, this scene is fleeting, naturally. From that utopia, we plummet to the most melancholic read on the meter, "0°C," its isolated synth line traversing a hailstorm of steely beats and static. Next, the dial jumps for the propulsive standout "17°C." Like a timelapse of springtime in the city, the single accelerates across a frenzy of frames; car horns, screeching brakes, and crosswalk chatter fill the pauses between rapid jolts of multi-shaped percussion. For portions of the work, James leans neo-classical, rendering pensive vignettes of cascading piano keys and warm delay. "2°C (Intermittent Rain)" ends the A-Side on a short and stormy loop; a resulting sense of reset permeates the B-Side's opener, "10°C." The producer mingles intuitively on echoed organ, locking into and abandoning atypical rhythms that suggest her jazz-oriented interests. "4°C" and "30°C" display the range of James' vocal experiments. The former chops and pitches her voice to a rhythmic, otherworldly effect, the latter reveals James at her most straightforward (she cites Deftones' Chino Moreno and American Football's Mike Kinsella as inspirations), singing tenderly and unobstructed for nearly the duration before beats collide in the climax. Whatever The Weather closes at "36°C," while a sweltering heat by any standards the track eases along comfortably on a chorus of synth waves, acting as an apt bookend for this evocative, sky-tracing collection that started in a similar state. Cyclical, seasonal, and unpredictable, true to its namesake.

Growing up in the Californian sprawl and the vast suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, Caleb Dailey largely dismissed the country and western music that surrounded him. Instead, he was drawn to independent rock, experimental zones, and other genre-defying forms, which led him to create skewed rock music with Bear State and establish the “minimal art label” Moone Records with his brother Micah Dailey in 2013. But in the early half of the 2010s, Dailey began to hear things differently. Drawn into the left-of-center works of artists like Gram Parsons and Blaze Foley, a more idiosyncratic take on country, folk, and roots music began to swirl in his imagination.

Wandering into the form’s cowboy chords and lonesome scenes, Dailey found himself wondering what his own country album might sound like. The result is his debut solo album, a collection of covers called Warm Evenings, Pale Mornings; Beside You Then. Produced by John Dieterich of Deerhoof, Keiko Beers, and Dailey himself, it’s a melancholy charmer, rooted in traditional ideas but free roaming in its scope. Laced with synths, pedal steel, acoustic guitars, and commanded by Dailey’s full and woozy voice, it owes as much to the busted waltzes of Lambchop and the homespun lo-fi folk of Little Wings (whose Kyle Field appears on the album via a spoken intermission) as it does to the songwriters and performers who provide its source material, which include Parsons, Foley, Elvis Presley associate Chips Moman, steel guitarist Buddy Emmons, and others.

“The subversive nature of country music isn’t as much at the surface as some other genres,” Dailey says. “But the deeper down the ‘country hole’ I went, the more I wanted to be part of it. It is truly a strange world.”

The hands of Dailey and his collaborators, which includes a wide roster of DIY experimentalists like James Fella of art punks Soft Shoulder, Jay Hufman (Gene Tripp), Lonna Kelley of Giant Sand, Japanese DIY hero’s Koji Shibuya and Tori Kudo, Nicholas Krgovich, Markus Acher of The Notwist, and more, that strangeness is accentuated. Dailey doesn't aspire to retro Nashville fetishism or sanctioned notions of “realness” so much as a genuine outsider authenticity. Take his version of Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” for example: a highlight of the record, it pairs familiar genre signifiers like pedal steel and guitar strums with warbled synths. Then there’s his read of “Dreaming My Dreams,” originally made famous by Waylon Jennings (who also did time in the Arizona desert), which morphs from a mournful ballad into a wash of far-off sonic noise.

The attention here is on the songcraft itself, with Dailey inhabiting these songs and turning them inside out to reveal unexpected tenderness and playfulness.

Recorded at home with an acoustic guitar and 4-track, Dailey began open correspondences with his collaborators, who fleshed out ideas and added touches, often working with skeletal frames before Dieterich and Dailey shaped it into a cohesive whole. “John is the reason this album exists,” Dailey says. “He sculpted all these parts together in such an otherworldly way. He is truly a magician.” Deeply allergic to insincerity, Dailey avoids any trace of irony. He’s created a cohesive gem out of disparate parts, uniting Americana songcraft with experimental disassemblage. From this bric-à-brac, he’s made something touching and beautifully strange.

Der offizielle Soundtrack zur dritten Staffen von Star Trek Discovery auf Blue/White Marble Vinyl. Jeff Russo komponierte bereits die Soundtracks der ersten beiden Staffeln der Erfolgsserie.

Der aus Los Angeles stammende Produzent/Songwriter Chris Adams aka PENDANT veröffentlicht auf Saddle Creek sein zweites Album HARP, ein üppiges Werk, das 90er Rave-Sounds mit Hip-Hop, Shoegaze und Pop kombiniert. Da er im Lockdown keinen Zugang zu seiner traditionellen Gitarre hatte, gab es für den langjährigen Fan elektronischer Clubmusik plötzlich keinen guten Grund mehr, sich nicht in die beatlastige, synthiegetränkte Welt zu wagen und HARP auf eine eher impressionistische, frei assoziative Weise zu skizzieren.

Die aus erfahrenen Musikern bestehende junge Band REXUL, stammt aus NRW/Deutschland und präsentiert uns hier nun ihr Debüt Album "Erebus... Virtuosus... Alpha...". Ein wahrer musikalischer Hassbrocken, satanisch, fies und brutal gibt es hier 13 Tracks (inkl. Intros/Outros) in die Gehörgänge geballert. Purer, klassisch amerikanisch geprägter, wuchtiger Death Metal für Fans von BRUTALITY, MORBID ANGEL oder DEICIDE. Definitiv ein Death Metal Highlight !!!

"Erebus... Virtuosus... Alpha..." wurde durch B. Oprea aufgenommen, gemixt und Gernhart Studio Troisdorf gemastert. Das Cover Artwork stammt von S. Milizia.

"Wer auf MORBID ANGEL, DEICIDE, MONSTROSITY oder auch NOCTURNUS steil geht und dabei seine Lauscher auf Anspruch und Qualität eingestellt hat, sollte hier zuschlagen" - Rock Hard Magazin
"Rexul vermengen auf ihrem sehr geilen und packenden Debüt "Erebus... Virtuosus... Alpha..." gekonnt verschiedene Merkmale des US-Death Metals der frühen 90er zu einem spannenden, feurigen und virtuosen Glutofen des Todes voller Killerriffs und Brutalität! Old Skull-Sickos müssen hier unbedingt reinhören!" - Hotel 666
"REXUL legen ihr erstes Album vor und huldigen dem Ami Death Metal der frühen 90er Jahre." - Twilight Magazin
"Die Burschen sind vom amerikanischen Death Metal beeinflusst und bieten sehr gute Kost für Fans von Morbid Angel, Deicide, Immolation und Brutality an." - Time For Metal
"...eine gelungene Mischung aus Melodie und eingängigem Todesblei, ohne dabei das Ziel aus den Augen zu verlieren- eine eingängige Scheibe zu präsentieren, die sich ohne Probleme schnell ins Hirn frisst." - Raben Report
"Rexul plays old-school death metal with a stronger link to genre veterans like Morbid Angel and Deceide. With this Floridian death metal inspiration in mind, Rexul combines harsh riffs, deep growls and an atmospheric vibe in a stunning way." Markus' Heavy Music Blog
"Recommended! Category: Kickass Death Metal" Voices From The Darkside

The second strike of Leipzig’s new electro offshoot sets
Friedrich Ernst on the offensive. With these four new tracks
he progressed his sound signature from a playful but
reected 8bit world soundtrack on SELF001 to a rm and
gritty b-boy attitude. With SELF002 the do-it-yourself label
team of DJ Unisex and Friedrich Ernst back up nothing less
than their label mission: "We believe in the human mind as a
self-learning system" – and it has the basement dance in the
eye. Classic electro otakus will parté about the succinct
elements that ts each other seamlessly on Class Beat while
the groove remains alert and phantasmagoric. Back 2 The
Ol_ Skool invites two breakdance crews to battle out who
owns the oor: the pale electro robot boys on the left and the
hoover sound loving UK hardcore girls on the right. Wildstyle
is the living proof that a tight 808 groove still smashes
especially hard when complimented with a proper breakbeat.
Best played loud and from vinyl. The last bit of the whole
enchilada is almost tranquilizing until you realise how far
your stone rolled already. Rhythm Control is a crowd pleaser
with endless qualities. Collaboration partner Dominik
Widmann delivers the stunning artwork again for their
ongoing conceptual series with his acrylic paintings.
Included as A2 inlay print in every record.

Deliciously seasoned with a more than a little kick! Following up his 2020 debut, TYPE returns to SweetBox with two fiery jungle cuts built on his Akai MPC X.

Known as the MPC Jedi, TYPE is the tech wiz behind the Tubedigga YouTube channel, where he serves up music production and sound design tutorials from his hoard of MPCs and other vintage and modern tech. As a hardware devotee, he performs live on MPC rather than DJing, and it was during one of these live sets, for the launch of his previous SweetBox EP in 2020, that Dexta and the Diffrent crew first heard ‘Cherry Bomb’ and ‘Eclipse’ and immediately snapped them up.

‘Cherry Bomb’ is a quintessential junglist workout, pushing a combination of four sampled and homemade breaks to their limits over an otherworldly sound bed. With kicks that land like a mortar strike and the explosive militancy of a supercharged drill sergeant, this one’s ideal for peak-time switch-ups and ready to send any dancefloor into a frenzy.

‘Eclipse’ shuffles and steps with the South London producer’s signature precision, though the percussion takes something of a backseat this time. Front and centre instead are an array of monstrous technoid rasps, elasticated subs and an LFO-esque, earworm bleep repurposed from TYPE’s days as a video game sound designer. This is heavyweight business screaming out for a dark room and a big rig.

Nach den Erfolgen der 3LP- (schwarzes Vinyl) und 4LP-Ausgaben (farbiges Vinyl) - jeweils mit 33 Tracks - erscheint nun mit der LP 'The Greatest Harry Potter Film Music Collection' die Essenz der Filmserien-Soundtracks mit den 11 besten Tracks von John Williams (der zwei Oscar-Nominierungen für die Reihe erhielt), Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper und Alexandre Desplat, eingespielt von den weltberühmten Prager Philharmonikern. Schwarzes Vinyl.

Dear is Pauwel's big step forward. His debut album on Unday (due April 2020) is a mature collection of songs about loss in all its different facets. Pauwel openly confronts his demons, without ever losing sight of the essence: rock-solid and captivating folk songs between hope and despair, comforting and disquieting at the same time. Dear turns out a record to cherish and completely disappear into.

Shortly after Pauwel finished his previous EP, his mother passed away. A few weeks later, Europe went into lockdown for a second time. Pauwel wanted to cope with this turbulent episode on his debut on Unday Records, but the isolation during the pandemic only cast more doubts. During the darkest winter months, the 31-year-old songwriter realized that loss comes in many guises: lovers come to leave, suddenly leave or turn out to have become strangers. "Dear" is the account of this dark period in Pauwel's life. A reckoning with all the bad that happened to him and his peers. It is also a bridge to whatever comes next, a hopeful glance at the future.

On 'Dear', Pauwel expands his musical universe considerably, without losing his characteristic melancholy and distinctive voice. With the help of musicians Sander Smeets, Koen De Gendt and David Broeders - his new backing band - the rough folk diamonds were polished into mature songs. The stunning voice of Catherine Smet (aka Bluai) serves as a comforting echo on a handful of songs.
"Dear" was recorded at three different locations by producer Bert Vliegen (Whispering Sons, Sophia). The opening track "Murderer" and the haunting "Bones" were created in a hut in Walcourt. The bulk of the record was recorded during an intense week at the GAM Studio in Waimes. While the TV news showed apocalyptic images of the floods in the province of Liège around the clock, Pauwel and his band finished the songs. Rich, spacy arrangements ("Lazy"), rambling country-rockers ("Deer" & "Sister") or a tearful one-taker on Fender Rhodes ("Mother"): during this session "Dear" finally came together.

Back by popular demand is DJ Crisps with his third solo contribution to the Time Is Now catalogue: the fierce 4-tracker which explores the many flavours of garage and justifies the Rotterdam producer's ever-growing ubiquity in today's UKG circuit.

Kicking off proceedings is "Keep It Up" - a high-octane speed garage banger, prepped with intervals of slamming reverse sweeps which carry their own rhythm. After "Alright's" unique blend of old skool grime samples and diva-esque vocals which play in dialogue beneath a sharp two-step beat, "Today" strips things back a little with a modest bassline melody and ragga vocals. Finally, with pitched-up, syrup smooth vocal licks "Bounce" captures UKG at its most soulful.

The idiosyncratic musical style and production practices by Sheldon, Sidney Thompson (aka Sid Le Rock) are shaped by the DIY electronic-music movement that has encouraged his creativity to develop and thrive since the late ’90s. This is a contributing factor to his impressive discography that currently stands at twelve albums under his various aliases, including Sid’s collaborations with artists from various fields and musical genres such as Depeche Mode, DJ Koze, Placebo, and persistent impressions of the journeys he has made throughout the world as a result of his live music performances.

These invaluable experiences are the supplements for his next important leap forward as follows: As a tribal member of the Algonquin First Nations, Sid seeks to explore his ancestral heritage to uncover the traditional, ceremonial soundscapes of the Native American indigenous peoples as an integral component for his new solo album project – Invisible Nation. It is his respectful endeavour to bind this seamlessly together through his knowledge of music theory and his own distinctive production sound. Sid Le Rock’s current album concept is a fusion of traditional music and organic elements utilised by the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, combined with the modernisation of electronic-based music. Mixing of both sound styles achieve balance with a shared importance to rhythm as a source of impulse and functionality. It is his equitable attempt to produce and deliver a complementary synthesis of sonic peculiarities, modern electronic methods and the repurposed use of ceremonial music, to showcase a profound pride and pay homage to his forebears.

The Algonquin First Nations otherwise referred to as Anishinaabe, are a group of indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada. They consider music and dance to be sacred and an integral part of their lives. It is a culture in which it heavily relies on rich oral traditions to pass on its stories, teachings, history, and cultivates their verbal language. Membranophone, idiophone, aerophone, and chanting are traditionally essential components to our sacred sound, "Drumming is the heartbeat of Mother Earth, chanting is the heart”. This musical connection produces a narrative depth that can transport an effective atmosphere to dance-floors, bridged by the unconventional virtues, to which electronic music permits limitless possibilities. Sid Le Rock’s latest release, marks his eighth studio album – Invisible Nation, is an exploration into his cultural roots, combining myth and musical expression to bring forth a prideful nation.

Kadi Yombo, published in 1989, is the most successful album in the quest for a fusion between tradition and modernity in Bwiti harp music of the Tsogho people of Gabon. Combining beating rattles with a layer of synthesizers, Papé Nziengui blends in a contrapuntal dialogue characteristic of harp playing: male song in appeal and female choir in response, male voice of the musical arc and rhythms of female worship. But above all it’s Tsogho ritual music and modern studio orchestration. The result is an initiatory itinerary of 10 musical pieces which are all milestones likely to be simultaneously listened to, danced, meditated on, and soon acclaimed. In the years since, Nziengui has traveled he world from Lagos to Paris, from Tokyo to Cordoba, from Brussels to Mexico City to become a true icon, the emblem of Gabonese music.

Like Bob Dylan, "electrifying" folk and Bob Marley mixing rock with reggae, some purists have criticized Nziengui for having distorted the music of harp by imposing a cross with modern instruments. They even went so far as to claim that Nziengui was just an average harpist covering his shortcomings with stunts that were only good for impressing neophytes; like playing a harp placed upside down behind his back or playing two or three harps simultaneously. Sincere convictions or venomous defamations, in any case, Nziengui never gave in to such attacks, imposing himself on the contrary to pay homage to the elders (Yves Mouenga, Jean Honoré Miabé, Vickoss Ekondo) while instructing the maximum of young people. He is thus the promoter of many young talents, the most prominent of which is certainly his nephew Jean Pierre Mingongué. In a conservative society where the sacred is confused with secrecy, exposing the mysteries of Bwiti in broad daylight can be punished by exclusion or even execution.

Papé Nziengui has always claimed that he faces such risks because he never felt enslaved to a community that governs his life, that regulates his conduct, that has a right of censorship over his activities. Like Ravi Shankar, the famous sitarist, Papé Nziengui is a man of rupture but also of openness, a transmitter of culture. As proof, he has established himself in Libreville, Gabo’s capital, as the main harpist for sessions and concerts, accompanying the greatest national artists (Akendengué, Rompavè, Annie-Flore Batchiellilys, Les Champs sur la Lowé, etc.) as well as foreign artists (Papa Wemba, Manu Dibango, Kassav', Toups Bebey, etc.). In 1988, he was the first harpist to release an album in the form of a cassette produced by the French Cultural Center (Papé Nziengui, Chants et Musiques Tsogho). At the same time, he created his own group (Bovenga), combining traditional music instruments (musical bow, drums, various percussion instruments, etc.) in the framework of a true national orchestra, which gave the first concert and the first tours of a traditional music that was both modern and dynamic, thus "democratizing" the harp, to the dismay of certain purists.

On the other hand, in modern music, dominated by the logic of profit or even commercialism, artistic creation must often be adjusted for a specific audience based on reason rather than heart. But instead of allowing himself to be distorted, Papé Nziengui has always tried to produce music that is not a caricature, worthy in its expression as in its content, of the sacredness and transcendence of the music of the Origins. This is what makes Nziengui not only the musician, but the man someone whose age hasn’t altered any of his freshness or authenticity

Kadi Yombo, published in 1989, is the most successful album in the quest for a fusion between tradition and modernity in Bwiti harp music of the Tsogho people of Gabon. Combining beating rattles with a layer of synthesizers, Papé Nziengui blends in a contrapuntal dialogue characteristic of harp playing: male song in appeal and female choir in response, male voice of the musical arc and rhythms of female worship. But above all it’s Tsogho ritual music and modern studio orchestration. The result is an initiatory itinerary of 10 musical pieces which are all milestones likely to be simultaneously listened to, danced, meditated on, and soon acclaimed. In the years since, Nziengui has traveled he world from Lagos to Paris, from Tokyo to Cordoba, from Brussels to Mexico City to become a true icon, the emblem of Gabonese music.

Like Bob Dylan, "electrifying" folk and Bob Marley mixing rock with reggae, some purists have criticized Nziengui for having distorted the music of harp by imposing a cross with modern instruments. They even went so far as to claim that Nziengui was just an average harpist covering his shortcomings with stunts that were only good for impressing neophytes; like playing a harp placed upside down behind his back or playing two or three harps simultaneously. Sincere convictions or venomous defamations, in any case, Nziengui never gave in to such attacks, imposing himself on the contrary to pay homage to the elders (Yves Mouenga, Jean Honoré Miabé, Vickoss Ekondo) while instructing the maximum of young people. He is thus the promoter of many young talents, the most prominent of which is certainly his nephew Jean Pierre Mingongué. In a conservative society where the sacred is confused with secrecy, exposing the mysteries of Bwiti in broad daylight can be punished by exclusion or even execution.

Papé Nziengui has always claimed that he faces such risks because he never felt enslaved to a community that governs his life, that regulates his conduct, that has a right of censorship over his activities. Like Ravi Shankar, the famous sitarist, Papé Nziengui is a man of rupture but also of openness, a transmitter of culture. As proof, he has established himself in Libreville, Gabo’s capital, as the main harpist for sessions and concerts, accompanying the greatest national artists (Akendengué, Rompavè, Annie-Flore Batchiellilys, Les Champs sur la Lowé, etc.) as well as foreign artists (Papa Wemba, Manu Dibango, Kassav', Toups Bebey, etc.). In 1988, he was the first harpist to release an album in the form of a cassette produced by the French Cultural Center (Papé Nziengui, Chants et Musiques Tsogho). At the same time, he created his own group (Bovenga), combining traditional music instruments (musical bow, drums, various percussion instruments, etc.) in the framework of a true national orchestra, which gave the first concert and the first tours of a traditional music that was both modern and dynamic, thus "democratizing" the harp, to the dismay of certain purists.

On the other hand, in modern music, dominated by the logic of profit or even commercialism, artistic creation must often be adjusted for a specific audience based on reason rather than heart. But instead of allowing himself to be distorted, Papé Nziengui has always tried to produce music that is not a caricature, worthy in its expression as in its content, of the sacredness and transcendence of the music of the Origins. This is what makes Nziengui not only the musician, but the man someone whose age hasn’t altered any of his freshness or authenticity

Produced by Moccio and recorded in solitude at his home studio, Lionheart continues the intensely intimate narrative begun on his acclaimed album Tales of Solace (released in 2020). “I created both these albums because I very much needed to, on a personal level,” says Moccio, who hails from Canada but lives in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon. “With Tales of Solace I was dealing with necessary cathartic changes in my life. However, this album feels much more positive, like a rebirth.” Written in the throes of quarantine, Lionheart channels that sense of renewal by way of finespun melodies that Moccio describes as introspective

Sic transit gloria mundi! Roy Bianco & Die Abbrunzati Boys, die Halbgötter des Italo-Schlagers, nehmen den Ariadnefaden beherzt in die Hände und ziehen als gemachte Vielzahl von Theseus aus der Mitte des Labyrinths. 2020 is over if you want it. Und schon bot 2021 der Gruppe ein neues Reich der Ideen. Man schöpfte tief aus den Quellen der Inspiration über das heilige Land Italien und schließlich gab es neue große Werke des Italo-Schlager-Pops. Denn auserzählt ist diese Erfolgsgeschichte zwischen Kunst, Konsum und Kritik noch lange nicht. Von Roberto zu Roy, von „Greatest Hits“ zu neuen Titeln, heißt das neue Album fast schon folgerichtig „Mille Grazie“. Denn zum 40-jährigen (gegründet wurde die Gruppe schließlich 1982)
Bandjubiläum im Jahr 2022 muss man nach so einer bewegten Zeit auch einmal ganz bescheiden hinter den Mythos treten. Sich selbstverständlich mit dem nötigen Augenzwinkern, bei der großen Mutter Musik, bei den Fans und schließlich auch bei sich selbst bedanken.

Spain’s fastest-rising band, Belako are announcing a very specialedition of their 2020 album ‘Plastic Drama’. The new, deluxe double LP will be released on 8th April via BMG and includes exclusive remixes by the likes of Wolf Alice, The Vaccines, Hinds and Crystal Fighters.

Hailing from the small town of Mungia near Bilbao, Belako have been playing non-stop in Spain and beyond these past few years, building a dedicated fanbase in their native country, which has quickly been spilling out into other parts of Europe and the US.
2020’s ‘Plastic Drama’ was the band’s fourth record, but the first since signing a major international record deal, and certainly their most ambitious to date. Self-produced by the band, ‘Plastic Drama' searches for “the real meaning of things in a world that translates everything into assembly lines, manufacturing and the exploitation of living beings,” say the band. “It’s about the harsh reality our generation is facing and the only good use of new technology, which is the ability to spread the word and call for action. The title of the album has another message, as it also reminds us the first world issues we’ve come so keen to complain about. We can only hope for a more responsible human legacy”.

They were named best new band by Rolling Stone Magazine (ES) and ‘Plastic Drama’ picked up top UK support from the likes of 6 Music, Clash, DIY, Dork, The Line Of Best and NME who hailed the record as ‘a bold next step from a band who have never been afraid of the weird or the wonderful. Belako step up and earn their place among the major players of the scene’.

Relentless in their craft and a ferocious live act at their core, Belako were the first band to tour Europe in the summer of 2020, breathing new life into old forgotten Spanish cinema drive-ins across the country for their live shows. The ‘Belako Pandemic Tour’ documentary was premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and will soon arrive on digital platforms.

Having supported the likes of DMA’s, QOTSA and Liam Gallagher at Finsbury Park, and played major international festivals such as Primavera, SXSW, Rock En Seine & Benicassim, Belako’s explosive live performances have excited crowds from small dive bars in their early days to huge international festivals. Their anything-can-happen stage attitude showcases the power, electricity and punk ethos of this exciting young band, which also lead to them being the first ever Spanish act to be booked for the main stage at Reading & Leeds Festival.

Fast forward to 2022, Belako reinvigorate ‘Plastic Drama’ with a 50-date world tour to be announced shortly, kickstarted with the release of their new deluxe edition album in April, featuring remixes by some of alternative music’s biggest names. The band will also celebrate the release with an album launch party on the rooftop of Madrid’s prestigious Riu Plaza on April 6th. Details for all UK dates this summer will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Loraine James' new ambient-minded alias, Whatever The Weather, follows her 2021 solo LP Reflection (Hyperdub). In contrast to her club music sensibilities, this mode embraces keyboard improvisations and vocal experimentation, foregoing percussive structure in favor of shaping atmosphere and tone. From this divergent headspace emerged new coordinates and climates, a new outlet: Whatever The Weather. A longtime fan of ambient-adjacent Ghostly International artists such as Telefon Tel Aviv (who she'd ask to master the album), HTRK (whose singer Jonnine Standish features on Nothing), and Lusine (whom she remixed at the start of 2021), James saw the label as the ideal home for this eponymous album of airy, transportive tracks as they began to formulate. The titling on Whatever The Weather works in degrees; simple parameters allowing James to focus on the nuances as a mood-builder. Her suspended universe fluctuates; freezing, thawing, swaying and blooming from track to track. James describes her jam-based approach for the sessions as "free-flowing, stopping when I felt like I was done," allowing her subconscious to lead. The improvisations have an intrinsic fluidity to them, akin to sudden weather events passing over a single environment - the location feels fixed while the conditions vary. The album opens at "25°C," a sunshower of soft hums and keys. As the longest piece, it serves to establish stability, the inflection point where any move above or below this temperate breeze breaks the bliss. Given James' proclivity for organized chaos in her production, this scene is fleeting, naturally. From that utopia, we plummet to the most melancholic read on the meter, "0°C," its isolated synth line traversing a hailstorm of steely beats and static. Next, the dial jumps for the propulsive standout "17°C." Like a timelapse of springtime in the city, the single accelerates across a frenzy of frames; car horns, screeching brakes, and crosswalk chatter fill the pauses between rapid jolts of multi-shaped percussion. For portions of the work, James leans neo-classical, rendering pensive vignettes of cascading piano keys and warm delay. "2°C (Intermittent Rain)" ends the A-Side on a short and stormy loop; a resulting sense of reset permeates the B-Side's opener, "10°C." The producer mingles intuitively on echoed organ, locking into and abandoning atypical rhythms that suggest her jazz-oriented interests. "4°C" and "30°C" display the range of James' vocal experiments. The former chops and pitches her voice to a rhythmic, otherworldly effect, the latter reveals James at her most straightforward (she cites Deftones' Chino Moreno and American Football's Mike Kinsella as inspirations), singing tenderly and unobstructed for nearly the duration before beats collide in the climax. Whatever The Weather closes at "36°C," while a sweltering heat by any standards the track eases along comfortably on a chorus of synth waves, acting as an apt bookend for this evocative, sky-tracing collection that started in a similar state. Cyclical, seasonal, and unpredictable, true to its namesake.

Der aus Los Angeles stammende Produzent/Songwriter Chris Adams aka PENDANT veröffentlicht auf Saddle Creek sein zweites Album HARP, ein üppiges Werk, das 90er Rave-Sounds mit Hip-Hop, Shoegaze und Pop kombiniert. Da er im Lockdown keinen Zugang zu seiner traditionellen Gitarre hatte, gab es für den langjährigen Fan elektronischer Clubmusik plötzlich keinen guten Grund mehr, sich nicht in die beatlastige, synthiegetränkte Welt zu wagen und HARP auf eine eher impressionistische, frei assoziative Weise zu skizzieren.

Raa spelar Pierce & von Euler ("Raa plays Pierce and von Euler") is Raa's
third studio album, following the acclaimed Skanes jarnvagar (2018) and
Ljungens lag (2019)
The A-side is comprised of two songs by Spiritualized, and the B-side contains
dub- like versions of Stockholm- based musician Henrik von Euler's piano EP,
Hemskogen. As everyone knows, four songs are rarely enough for an LP. So, it
was time to dig up a few old favourites. "I have loved Spiritualized ever since the
release of their debut album, Lazer Guided Melodies, in 1992. I'm especially fond
of the slow songs and their abysmal bass lines. "Take Your Time" is one of them,
and the idea to make something with it has followed me for a long time. "I Think
I'm in Love" is here translated into "Jag tror jag är kär". The energy of it invites
irresponsible late-night driving", says Magnus Sveningsson.

ENVY OF NONE IS THE NEW BAND & DEBUT ALBUM FROM ALEX
LIFESON (RUSH), ANDY CURRAN (CONEY HATCH), ALFIO ANNIBALINI &
SINGER MAIAH WYNNE
The ambient, cinematic darkness that the collective creates evokes a
powerful atmosphere that will excite superfans & new audiences alike
Lifeson & Curran's long-time friendship was the catalyst for the band's inception -
but Envy Of None is not defined by its members resumes - they aren't Rush or
Coney Hatch & far more than the sum of its collective parts.
Above the beautiful cacophony of guitars, synths, bass & drums sits the fragile
melodies of 24- year old vocalist Maiah Wynne - the newest name in Envy Of
None's impressive personnel. Hearing Mariah's voice intertwined with the music
will bring back memories of when you heard Shirley Manson of Garbage or Amy
Lee of Evanescence for the first time. Wynne brings charm & beauty to these
recordings in spades - with floating hooks & emotive lyrics transcending the
oftentimes textural aesthetic.
The Storm Thorgerson- esque visuals that grace the cover may remind fans of
Lifeson's earlier work - Andy Curran explains: "the Hypnosis style artwork of
albums like Pink Floyd & Led Zeppelin & others were so eye catching, surreal &
attention grabbing & we wanted to scratch that itch. We were instantly drawn to
Lebanese photographer Eli Rezkallah at Plastik's photography & design work. We
fell in love with a bunch of his work - we had a hard time choosing something
because he had so many great images". However, the 70s prog/ Rush
comparisons may end with the artwork - the music that this ensemble creates
treads new ground with each track throughout their 42- minute debut, from
industrial/electronic influences to post-progressive soundscapes. Envy Of None
create a sound that will haunt, comfort & ignite.
"If you can picture maybe Massive Attack with a little bit of some electronic stuff
with Nine Inch Nails influences, with this beautiful, fragile, sweet voice & some
very, very dark heavy sounds" - Andy Curran (Envy Of None)

Wenn eine internationale Wochenzeitung einen Musiker als »weißen Papst der schwarzen Kunst« betitelt, klingt das verdächtig nach Altersmilde eines Bluesers in den besten Jahren, der die guten schon hinter sich hat. Von wegen! Bei Johnny Winter schlugen die Beurteilungen während seiner Tournee 2011 den Tonfall der frühen Jahre an, als das Blatt "Rolling Stone" den hageren Mississippi-Barden als »schielenden Albino mit langem, fließenden Haar« beschrieb, »der so ziemlich die flüssigste Gitarre spielt, die man jemals gehört hat«.

Ob gewollt oder nicht: man ließ Winter damit ein wenig an dem Rocker-Lorbeer schnuppern, der für den jungen Clapton und Jimi Hendrix reserviert war. Doch Winter lässt hören, dass er nur den Blues wollte, kratzbürstig, um Howlin' Wolfs oder Muddy Waters’ geigenden Höhlengroove zu beschwören, und doch fingerfertig genug an den Saiten, um mit verblüffend geschmeidigem Spiel Tongirlanden herbeizuzaubern, die haarscharf zwischen zwei Taktstriche passen.

Ziemlich cool bleibt Winter, wenn man persönliche Leidenskurven aus seiner Musik herauszulesen versucht: »Wenn ich Blues spiele, geht es mir gut«, diktierte er jüngst einem Journalisten ins Oktavheft. Dass dies auch vor über 40 Jahren schon so war, beweist das Debüt-Album auf beiden Seiten.

Aufnahme: 1969
Produktion: Johnny Winter

Kadi Yombo, published in 1989, is the most successful album in the quest for a fusion between tradition and modernity in Bwiti harp music of the Tsogho people of Gabon. Combining beating rattles with a layer of synthesizers, Papé Nziengui blends in a contrapuntal dialogue characteristic of harp playing: male song in appeal and female choir in response, male voice of the musical arc and rhythms of female worship. But above all it’s Tsogho ritual music and modern studio orchestration. The result is an initiatory itinerary of 10 musical pieces which are all milestones likely to be simultaneously listened to, danced, meditated on, and soon acclaimed. In the years since, Nziengui has traveled he world from Lagos to Paris, from Tokyo to Cordoba, from Brussels to Mexico City to become a true icon, the emblem of Gabonese music.

Like Bob Dylan, "electrifying" folk and Bob Marley mixing rock with reggae, some purists have criticized Nziengui for having distorted the music of harp by imposing a cross with modern instruments. They even went so far as to claim that Nziengui was just an average harpist covering his shortcomings with stunts that were only good for impressing neophytes; like playing a harp placed upside down behind his back or playing two or three harps simultaneously. Sincere convictions or venomous defamations, in any case, Nziengui never gave in to such attacks, imposing himself on the contrary to pay homage to the elders (Yves Mouenga, Jean Honoré Miabé, Vickoss Ekondo) while instructing the maximum of young people. He is thus the promoter of many young talents, the most prominent of which is certainly his nephew Jean Pierre Mingongué. In a conservative society where the sacred is confused with secrecy, exposing the mysteries of Bwiti in broad daylight can be punished by exclusion or even execution.

Papé Nziengui has always claimed that he faces such risks because he never felt enslaved to a community that governs his life, that regulates his conduct, that has a right of censorship over his activities. Like Ravi Shankar, the famous sitarist, Papé Nziengui is a man of rupture but also of openness, a transmitter of culture. As proof, he has established himself in Libreville, Gabo’s capital, as the main harpist for sessions and concerts, accompanying the greatest national artists (Akendengué, Rompavè, Annie-Flore Batchiellilys, Les Champs sur la Lowé, etc.) as well as foreign artists (Papa Wemba, Manu Dibango, Kassav', Toups Bebey, etc.). In 1988, he was the first harpist to release an album in the form of a cassette produced by the French Cultural Center (Papé Nziengui, Chants et Musiques Tsogho). At the same time, he created his own group (Bovenga), combining traditional music instruments (musical bow, drums, various percussion instruments, etc.) in the framework of a true national orchestra, which gave the first concert and the first tours of a traditional music that was both modern and dynamic, thus "democratizing" the harp, to the dismay of certain purists.

On the other hand, in modern music, dominated by the logic of profit or even commercialism, artistic creation must often be adjusted for a specific audience based on reason rather than heart. But instead of allowing himself to be distorted, Papé Nziengui has always tried to produce music that is not a caricature, worthy in its expression as in its content, of the sacredness and transcendence of the music of the Origins. This is what makes Nziengui not only the musician, but the man someone whose age hasn’t altered any of his freshness or authenticity

The Deacon had been in exile from
the following crimes committed
faith and sonic soul saving
using the Holy Ghost as the
weapon of choice.

Last known whereabouts Mt Fuji Japan.
but since then a virus has infected the world
it also has affected the soul in music
and prevented people from gathering,
dancing and living normal everyday lives.

So the deacon returns from exile
to fight and do battle with the faithless,
un soulful sounds created by the fear
of the global pandemic by using
faith,hope and the "Holy Ghost" to
restore the faith and soul in the hearts
and minds of people through music
and bring order back to the global
dance community...

Tallinn-based label Processed presents its ten year anniversary with a vinyl release called Split EP. Dance floor oriented “Float Boat” and “Potion” by 1DERL&, first released on Processed in 2012 on the debut album “Reflection”, got revived for this weighty 180-gram record. A dreamy and melodic ambient track “Left With Memories” finishes off the A-side journey. On the flipside fellow estonians Fractal Elements and Steve Rig are debuting on Processed with darker scapes on bass heavy “Structure 576” and crunchy sounding “Inside The Fusion”.

The next release on Cultivated Electronics Ltd shines a light on some of the fresh talent emerging from within the Electro scene across this double-vinyl 12" which will be pressed on balck and colour vinyl editions. IMOGEN has enjoyed a whirlwind rise, and her reputation as one of the most talented newcomers is well recognised. Her discography includes releases on Earwiggle, Shared Meanings and fabric where she is also a resident DJ, and presents a monthly radio show on NTS. She opens the compilation with the tough beats and twisted melodies of 'Anatta'. ARMEC (Robbie Mecrow) is an Electro and Acid producer from Manchester who has already impressed with releases on Nebulae, Echocentric, Further Electronix and most notably 20/20 Vision. His beat-led track 'Acute' delivers a serious punch with plenty of sub-bass. Russia's SERGEY TIMOSHOV is the promoter and resident DJ at Warehouse, held weekly at the Propaganda club in Moscow. Here he utilises that experience in fine style for his club-ready 'Electro Beats 1'. UK artists OBSERV and CYPHON collaborated on their debut EP for Gunfinger Food last year, but here they deliver 1 track apiece. Obzerv brings pure destruction on his tumultuous track 'Octro'. While Cyphon, known for his live hardware sets, supporting artists like Assembler Code, Radioactive Man and Afrodeutsche, plus releases on International Chrome and Blind Allies brings dark phunk to 'Nightmare'. KHALILIAN is probably best known as one half of US duo Joonam (with Elon Admony) who have been self-releasing on their Balagan label for the last few years. 'Valda' pitches things down with Detroit-esque chords and a deep, subterranean atmosphere. TOM FAZAK is a 21 year old DJ/Producer from Cardiff now based in Bristol. Better known as a DJ, he's spent the past 9 year collecting records and garnering inspiration from all aspects of dance music. For the last 3 years he's focused on production and draws on cosmic influences for his contribution, 'Weightless'. LINDSAY GREEN is one half of Co-Accused, long-standing residents of Glasgow's prolific underground club scene via their club nights in Paisley's Club 69 and the launch of their Co-Accused Records label in 2021. Going solo for the closing track, 'Creepin' bridges to gaps between Electro, Techno and Acid.

- The complete 1967 Film Score by Akira Ifukube - "Element X" Radioactive Green Colored Vinyl - New artwork by Ross Murray - 12" x 12" Art Print - Heavyweight Gatefold Packaging with Matte Finish // Prepare to plunge into panic with Waxwork Records' release of KING KONG ESCAPES Original Motion Picture Score by Akira Ifukube (Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, War of the Gargantuas, & more) Directed by the king of kaiju, Ishiro Honda, KING KONG ESCAPES follows evil genius, Dr. Hu, on his mission to manipulate Kong into retrieving radioactive Element X from the North Pole. The film stars Rhodes Reason, Linda Miller, Mie Hama, & Akira Takarada. Waxwork Records is honored to release the complete original film score by Akira Ifukube (Godzilla 1954, Mothra Vs. Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, and many others) as a deluxe vinyl album officially for the first time outside of Japan. Enjoy the dynamic orchestrations that range from tranquility to combat as King Kong fights monsters and the wicked influence of Dr. Hu. We are thrilled to present the official King Kong Escapes score with 180 gram "Element X" colored vinyl, deluxe packaging, new artwork by Ross Murray, heavyweight gatefold jackets with matte coating, a 12"x12" art print, and more!

Stalactite is a collaborative recording project by renown Japanese artist and multi-instrumentalist Susumu Mukai AKA Zongamin and producer Drew Brown, whose discography ranges from his own group Off World to a variety of integral productions for artists such as Blonde Redhead and Beck. Their self-titled debut for the ESP Institute is a grand gesture, a broad stroke that illustrates both singular focus and vast complexity, which is no easy feat considering the almost oppressive immediacy and availability of tools at the disposal of contemporary artists. There’s a level of creative confidence and discipline needed to work so fundamentally, and whether or not the listener has an appetite refined enough to process the tasteful subtleties throughout this production, these same subtleties accumulate regardless and land that listener in a highly considered and developed space. The deceptively naive melodic approach consistent across these nine tracks can feel transparent, familiar to a point the listener can anticipate its path, but when listening with acute focus we find a variable range of texture, temperature, depth and negative space. As alumni of the Minimal, Cold Wave, Synth Pop era, Susumu and Drew successfully personify a motley crew of synthesizers to work in concert, reduced to their core personalities and presented as their most honest selves — austere, shy, cinematic, percolating, bulbous, glistening, cantankerous, rubberized, clumsy and animated. Each masterfully paired with complimentary counterparts, these players assemble into a sound-stage we typically find in live recordings, enveloping and inviting us to the center of an acoustic cavern to wade through sonic impressions of monolithic stalactites.

‘Hive Mind Records are here to help you through the winter months with this generous helping of Wet Tuna with their signature deeply fried rural psychedelia.

Matt Valentine (MV) and Pat Gubler (PG Six) have been jamming together since the mid '90s, floating around in the US psych-folk scene, playing together in Tower Recordings and separately with influential underground crews Woods, The Golden Road, Garcia Peoples and The Weeping Bong Band. Both MV and PG Six have been prolific with their solo work and over the years they've recorded for labels such as Ecstatic Peace, Drag City, Woodsist, 3 Lobed, and Crash Symbols and we are very happy to be joining such esteemed company.

On these recordings, made during the first months of the COVID lockdowns in the forests of the Vermont wilderness, MV and PG Six handle the guitars and synths but they're joined by fellow forest freaks S. Freyer Esq, Jim Bliss, Coot Moon and Carson 'Smokehound' Arnold on bass and drums. Brought to you in their patented mind-expanding SPECTRASOUND, Eau'd To A Fake Bookie Volumes 1 & 2 delivers an irresistible gumbo of deep, cosmic psychedelia, primitive drum-machine grooves and woozy country-funk jams. These 6 songs are cover versions of artists as diverse as The Blackbyrds, Michael Hurley and Jimmy Cliff, but stretched out over 4 sides, the album is entirely Wet Tuna - loose, free-flowing and lots of fun!’

To a degree, all musicians are a product of their environment, the places they record and the venues they play. For proof, check out the alumni of the n-wave era CBGBs venue in New York, Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works studio in Sheffield or more recently London’s Total Refreshment Centre.

We can now add to that list the Constellations Workshop in Colwick, Nottingham, a project that provides employment through making studio furniture, for out-of-work musicians. It was here, after-hours, that the music on Brown Fang’s impressive and ear-catching debut album took shape.

Both members of Brown Fang, bassist John Thompson and guitarist Henry Scott AKA Henry Claude, have a long association with the Constellations Workshop. Though their musical projects are manifold – Thompson having toured with the likes of The Nectarine No9 and The Selecter, with Scott being both a mainstay of Nottingham jazz circuit and recording ambient music as Fang Jr – the work provided by the community-minded project has kept their heads above water and allowed them a space to record in when the shutters go down and the bandsaws get switched off.

Yet the music showcased on Sherwood Pines is more morning-fresh and sun-kissed than industrial and sawdust-sprinkled. Combining the pair’s brilliant musicianship – think languid bass guitars and Pat Martino-esque jazz guitar licks – with saucer-eyed electronics, occasional downtempo drum machine rhythms and plenty of glistening special effects, the set’s eight tracks are as blissful and becalmed as an early morning saunter through Sherwood Forest on a misty autumn morning.

For proof, check epic opener ‘Tracing Paper’, a slow-build ambient soundscape in which bubbly electronic lead lines and colourful chords sashay around Scott’s sparkling, laidback guitars, and the beguiling ‘That’s All You Can Think’, a subtle tribute to Steve Reich masterpiece ‘Electric Counterpoint’ in which slow-burn, stretched out synthesizer sounds wave in and out of a gradually evolving cycle of delay-laden electric guitar motifs.

The band’s love of classic American minimalism – as well as a shared love of the Duratti Column and Robert Fripp – comes to the fore on ‘HDMI I Love You’, which boasts a deliciously dubby bassline, Tangerine Dream style synths and the deepest of ambient chords, while ‘I Nearly Married a Human’ and ‘Fridgewords’ balance bespoke electronics – languid, dewy eyed and comforting – with Scott’s gorgeously laidback, slow-release guitars.

Every great album needs a triumphant conclusion, and Sherwood Pines is no different. You can hear everything that makes Brown Fang great on ‘Goodbye Donkey Jacket’, from the pin sharp, effects laden jazziness of Scott’s guitars and the fluid dexterity of Thompson’s bass, to the pleasingly spacey pulse of the synths and the gentle rhythms of the soft-focus machine drums. It’s a confident, ear-catching conclusion to a debut album that’s been years in the making.

Gold Vinyl

'You Belong There' ist Daniel Rossens ausgefeilte und eindringliche Betrachtung dessen, was nach dem rastlosen Enthusiasmus der Jugend kommt. Es ist eine fesselnde 10-Song-Wiedereinführung in eine Stimme, die sowohl völlig vertraut klingt, als auch durch den Akt des ungehinderten Ausdrucks und der neu gefundenen Selbstsouveränität völlig neu belebt wird. Fast zwei Jahrzehnte lang war Rossen entscheidender Bestandteil von Grizzly Bear, deren gemeinsame Harmonien und verschachtelte Texturen die Musik der frühen 1980er neu interpretierten. Er ist auch Gründungsmitglied der gefeierten Folk-Electronica-Band Department of Eagles. Vor vielen Jahren verliess Rossen die Enge Brooklyns, zog zunächst ins New Yorker Hinterland und dann nach Santa Fé, wo er in seinem Haus in der Wüste langsam die Welt von 'You Belong There' aufbaute. Rossen besorgte sich Kontrabass, Cello und Holzblasinstrumente und spielte fast alle Songs selbst ein, wobei Chris Bear von Grizzly Bear als Gast auf 'Tangle' mitwirkte.

Interior sounds from Madalyn in an album that flits between eerie ambience, environment, and hermetic logic. The music’s timing and sequencing feels distant, the elegant constructions conjured and organised semi-consciously, drawing the listener deeper into the dream and towards a zone where watch hands tick forward accurately and their perception of time unspools. Here each neatly tuned conversation and clockwork assemblage harmonises, spinning tantalisingly just out of range and understanding.

“Puzzle Music is the desire to create images out of diverse pieces of sound. To collect timbral colours in a gradient procession and connect them until they create reason. Principally not knowing how the image will turn out, or what the picture even is. It is the act of placing sound shapes next to one another in the hope that clarity will gradually be revealed.

When grouping the songs together I was thinking of them as mechanisms in a timepiece. I have something of an obsession with Swiss watchmaking, although I think this stems from a desire for creative mastery and the design of an energy source independent of electronic needs. Hopefully the songs all serve a purpose towards the end goal of the album... but also, the way the Oberheim Xpander pans sounds is in a very clear circular pattern, which makes me think of gears turning.”

Gondwana Records sign LA bassist and composer Seth Ford-Young's Phi-Psonics project and announce a remastered deluxe-edition of The Cradle featuring bonus material

Phi-Psonics is a meditative, immersive instrumental group from Los Angeles, led by bassist Seth Ford-Young and featuring Sylvain Carton on woodwinds, Mitchell Yoshida on electric piano, and Josh Collazo on drums. Their deeply soulfulmusic draws on jazz and classical influences together with Ford-Young's own musical experiences, relationships, and his introduction to spirituality, yoga and philosophy at a young age, to create something uniquely its own. Phi-Psonics' name and ultimate aim is to find 'Phi' – the golden mean – in art, nature and self. Ford-Young explains:

"It's a bit of a cliché, but music saved my life many times and instilled in me a belief in the great power of healing through art. It is my hope and intention that this music provides healing to someone somewhere."

Originally from Washington DC area, Ford-Young moved to California in the early 90s and fell in love with the deep sounds of the upright bass and the music of Charles Mingus, John and Alice Coltrane, and Duke Ellington along with Bach, Chopin, Pärt, and Satie. He immersed himself deeply in music and keen to learn combinedintense personal study with collaborations, tours, and recordings with artists such as Tom Waits, Beats Antique, and John Vanderslice. In 2010 he moved from the San-Francisco Bay area to the Los Angeles hills and continued his explorations. But great music is rarely just about music and Ford-Young's meditative, soulful music draws on more than just the twin wellsprings of jazz and classical music:

"My mother was a yoga teacher from the early 70's until recently and taught me yoga and meditation at an early age, my stepfather is an Aikido instructor and student of the teachings of Gurdjieff. Those were all early areas of study that I came back to many times throughout my life. Phi-Psonics has been a project that unapologetically synthesizes some of these ideas into our music".

It's this mixture of influences, musical and extramusical, that gives the music of Phi-Psonics it's immersive quality and quiet power. Revealingly the music that would becomeThe Cradle, wasn't written specifically for an album, originally Ford-Young was just writing down what was coming through. As time went by and the album began to take shape, the world situation seemed to be getting darker and his compositions aim to offer hope as a response to the negative influences that abound today. Remarkably for such a beautiful sounding record, it was recorded at the composer's home, rather than in a studio, but the relaxed nature of this process gives the music an airy lightness that propels the music to some magical spaces.

Originally self-released on vinyl in a limited run just as the world went into lockdown, The Cradle reached Matthew Halsall (founder of Gondwana Records) when he aws looking for music for his Worldwide FM show and he was blown away, hearing a kindred spirit at work. Halsall explains:

"Phi-Psonics make beautiful, humble and honest music, it's not showy, but it has a deep vibe that will elevate your mind and soul if you let it. When we heard The Cradle we reached out and are really super delighted to welcome Seth and his band to our label". Whereas for Ford Young: "Connecting with Matthew and the Gondwana records family has been a light in the darkness of the last years - to have my music make connections even as we are more isolated."

Ford-Young is currently putting the finishing touches to the second Phi-Psonics record, but aware that only a select few had heard The Cradle, let alone had the chance to buy a copy, and entranced by its deceptive simplicity and elevating energy, Halsall suggested that Gondwana present the album as a remastered 'deluxe edition' with an extended running time featuring extra tracks and new artwork from Daniel Halsall.

The Cradle starts with First Step, perfectly setting the tone for the whole album, it is a beautiful, soulful slice of musical calm gently propelled by Ford-Young's resonant bass and elevated by sublime flute and Wurlitzer electric piano solos. The seductive title track The Cradle was written way back in 2011 during a time of great personal change that led the composer to a feeling of newness and nurture. The magical, winsome Desert Ride is inspired by many rides through the grandly cinematic Mojave Desert. You can experience how incredibly full of life it's harsh landscape is if you slow down to its tempo. The gentle, sublime Mama is a tribute to mothers of all kinds, beautiful and heroic. Drum Talk was largely improvised, Ford-Young and the band agreed on a topic and recorded their conversation. Choosing their notes based on how Josh's drums were tuned. Like Glass is named for the special properties of Glass. Like some music, glass is delicate, yet has structure. The first of the two bonus tracks Still Dancing was written during the early days of 2020 in response to the challenges we all were facing then. It's a reminder that the figurative dance continues and that real dancing is essential. And the second, The Searcher, also written as a response to 2020, is a gently hypnotic song about the introspection and growth that can spring from a difficult situation.

This then is The Cradle, a quiet self-contained masterpiece, life-affirming and elevating in equal measure and the first offering from a wonderful new voice in spiritual jazz and the latest members of the global Gondwana Records family.

Haze - released via Ki Records - is Greek producer and composer, Hior Chronik's latest creation. Aligning with his previous critically acclaimed album, Descent, Haze creates an electro-ambient world which accentuates modern classical minimalism. It is an album which deeply embodies tranquility, fulfilment and meaningful connection, aspirations born out of Hior Chronik's past in Athens, and realised by his relocation near to a forest in Berlin, where he can truly feel at-home, surrounded by the awe-inspiring beauty of nature. Through 15 tracks, Hior Chronik guides his listeners in an immersive journey which features magical soundscapes built using DX7 and Roland synthesizers, beats from the Lofi drum machine and Volca samples. Inspired by the best of his previous work in moody electro soundscapes, alongside his own history as a listener and lover of early 90's electronic music, artists like, Lali Puna, Solvent and Remote Viewer, this album demonstrates a new dimension to Hior Chronik's artistry which exudes light optimism.

The next remix installment from Psychemagik’s LP, “I Feel How This Night Should Look”, comes from longtime mates and sonic colleagues, Warehouse Preservation Society, and esteemed dancefloor cornerstone, Bushwacka.

W.P.S., the mutant duo from Los Angeles, have cropped up remixes and originals with reckless abandon these past years, and here, transform the Psychemagik source material into a breakbeat-infused act of nuclear fission, striking out the gate with heavy rhythms that meltdown into a steady hypnotic groove, all accompanied by dubbed vocal stabs and poignant arpeggios.

Bushwacka's remix of Valley Of Paradise has echoes of some of his earlier signature works. Centered breaks and floating pads guide through his cosmic rendition, whilst still retaining a strong melodic anchor from the original track, and glued together with a thick bouncing bassline - a trip for sure!

Trauma Collective returns to shock to your system on their fifth release, which comes courtesy of Spain's Rafael M. Espinosa aka Geistform. The Barcelona-based artist, also known for his exploits under the Univac alias, has crafted a singular style that exists at the interzone of IDM, digital noise and electro and having earned him releases on Pi Electronics, Femur and Hands Productions in recent years.
Espinosa executes four programs in sonic warfare on the Antena EP, all sounding akin to complex bitstream amplification. A multi-level barrage of frequencies play offense on opening cut "Proxima B", which sets the theme for more widescreen pulsations that gash the senses, as heard on the syntax error of "Note Repeat" and building up to a climax on the monochromatic soundstage of "Norc" - a jagged and angular exploration in bass artefacts and static redux.
Since unleashing the austere techno of Birmingham legend Mick Harris (as Monrella) and hometown hero Kwartz on unsuspecting ears, the Madrid-based collective has now ventured into more experimental spheres, as heard on the off-kilter mentalism of ASC's Loop Research and the brooding atmosphere of Makunaimadama's limited cassette release last year. Antena is the logical progression for the label's next chapter, where it continues to push the threshold of electronic music's outer limits.