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From boundary-pushing koto musicians to experimental jazz virtuosi,
Japanese music has long embraced all things avant-garde.
This Rough Guide highlights some of today’s key innovators whose individualism challenges the conformist perception of Japan.
A unique insight into the richness and diversity of the vibrant underground Japanese scene, which draws on myriad influences from free jazz and electronica to Zen budhism. Pioneering artists who push the boundaries of Japanese music, whilst at the same time paying respect to their musical heritage. Featuring tracks by free-spirited Koto players Michiyo Yagi, Karin, as well as koto/guitar duo tsuMGuito.
Compiled by the renowned radio presenter, journalist, and Japanese music expert Paul Fisher.

Recorded in the spring of 2010 and then mysteriously abandoned by Prince before its release, the statement album Welcome 2 America documents Prince’s concerns, hopes, and visions for a shifting society, presciently foreshadowing an era of political division, disinformation, and a renewed fight for racial justice. The album features some of Prince’s only studio collaborations with the bassist Tal Wilkenfeld, drummer Chris Coleman, and engineer Jason Agel, with additional contributions from New Power Generation singers Shelby J, Liv Warfield, and Elisa Fiorillo and keyboardist Morris Hayes, who Prince also recruited to co-produce the album. The vinyl edition has the 12 songs spread across three sides on 2 LPs in gorgeous gatefold packaging, with a custom etching on the fourth side.

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five full-lengths of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.”

The 3rd album by Scottish industrial enigma Cinder aka Cindytalk began life as the soundtrack to an experimental film by English director Ivan Unnwin entitled Eclipse (The Amateur Enthusiast's Guide To Virus Deployment), and was originally slated for release via Factory Records' video division, Ikon. Inspired heavily by Alan Splet's eerily disembodied sound design in David Lynch's Eraserhead, the collection's 15 pieces seethe between field recordings, wistful piano vignettes, and lurking metallic haze – a hybrid palette Cinder characterized at the time as “ambi-dustrial.” Unfortunately Ikon collapsed on the eve of the project's completion so the film was never distributed, but the Midnight Music imprint repackaged Cindytalk's score as an LP in 1990 under the name The Wind Is Strong... (full title: The Wind Is Strong - A Sparrow Dances, Piercing Holes in Our Sky).

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five full-lengths of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.”

The 3rd album by Scottish industrial enigma Cinder aka Cindytalk began life as the soundtrack to an experimental film by English director Ivan Unnwin entitled Eclipse (The Amateur Enthusiast's Guide To Virus Deployment), and was originally slated for release via Factory Records' video division, Ikon. Inspired heavily by Alan Splet's eerily disembodied sound design in David Lynch's Eraserhead, the collection's 15 pieces seethe between field recordings, wistful piano vignettes, and lurking metallic haze – a hybrid palette Cinder characterized at the time as “ambi-dustrial.” Unfortunately Ikon collapsed on the eve of the project's completion so the film was never distributed, but the Midnight Music imprint repackaged Cindytalk's score as an LP in 1990 under the name The Wind Is Strong... (full title: The Wind Is Strong - A Sparrow Dances, Piercing Holes in Our Sky).

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five albums of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.”

Across decades of activity Cinder’s body of work has forever followed its own elusive muse but nowhere is this restless spirit more apparent and ambitious than the 4th Cindytalk LP, Wappinschaw. Conceived as “a call to arms” inspired by Scotland and its struggle for independence, the title refers to an archaic Scottish battle inspection during which clan chieftains surveyed their group's weapons to ensure they were combat ready. A mindset of reflective preparation threads throughout the record, manifested in forms both naked and noisy, ancient and anguished.

Opening with an aching solo vocal rendition of the British folk standard “The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face),” the album then surges into the Cindytalk classic, “A Song Of Changes,” sparkling and spiraling in strange waves of sorrow and joy. From there the mood fragments, tracing asymmetrical paths of feverish dirge, pensive spirituals, noir abstraction, spoken word (landmark Glaswegian writer Alasdair Gray guests on “Wheesht”), bagpipe drone, and apocalyptic post-punk. Given its aggressive eclecticism, it's not surprising that Cinder describes the creation of Wappinschaw as a “precarious” process, composed from “scraps” with abruptly shifting personnel – a situation only compounded by the impending dissolution of their label at the time, Midnight Music.

Cindytalk is the mercurial, expressionist outlet of Scottish artist Cinder. An evolution of her early 1980's Edinburgh-based punk band The Freeze, she launched the project upon moving to London, inspired by the crossroads of exploratory UK post-punk and early European industrial. Her work thrives on chance and transformation, collaging elements of noise, balladry, soundtrack, catharsis, and improvisation. After a series of celebrated albums for the Midnight Music label as well as collaborations with This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, Cinder migrated to the United States, becoming involved with various underground techno collectives around the Midwest and West Coast. Subsequent relocations to Hong Kong and Japan further expanded Cindytalk's horizons, resulting in a fruitful partnership with Viennese experimental institution Editions Mego, for whom she released five albums of swooning, granular atmosphere. 2021 finds her as engaged as ever, at the precipice of long-awaited back catalog reissues alongside multiple new works, guided by her lasting love of discovery and deviation: “new pathways always being uncovered.”

Across decades of activity Cinder’s body of work has forever followed its own elusive muse but nowhere is this restless spirit more apparent and ambitious than the 4th Cindytalk LP, Wappinschaw. Conceived as “a call to arms” inspired by Scotland and its struggle for independence, the title refers to an archaic Scottish battle inspection during which clan chieftains surveyed their group's weapons to ensure they were combat ready. A mindset of reflective preparation threads throughout the record, manifested in forms both naked and noisy, ancient and anguished.

Opening with an aching solo vocal rendition of the British folk standard “The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face),” the album then surges into the Cindytalk classic, “A Song Of Changes,” sparkling and spiraling in strange waves of sorrow and joy. From there the mood fragments, tracing asymmetrical paths of feverish dirge, pensive spirituals, noir abstraction, spoken word (landmark Glaswegian writer Alasdair Gray guests on “Wheesht”), bagpipe drone, and apocalyptic post-punk. Given its aggressive eclecticism, it's not surprising that Cinder describes the creation of Wappinschaw as a “precarious” process, composed from “scraps” with abruptly shifting personnel – a situation only compounded by the impending dissolution of their label at the time, Midnight Music.

Recorded in a rare moment of freedom between lockdowns, Flightcase represents the joy of collaboration and the importance of human connection.
This is an album of many voices. Influences ranging from Herbie Hancock to Sun Ra, but also from other projects Akin is involved in, Amara & GABO, shine through in an album which acknowledges the various music that inspires and influences Akin, whilst trying to create something new and unique.

Akin Subscribes to the philosophy of allowing each musician to create however they feel to, trying to do little more than create the framework and allow the other musicians to express themselves within this. This felt particularly important in a time marred by restrictions.

Natalie Chami and Whitney Johnson perform as a duo under the
name Damiana.
Both artists have built their own catalogs as multi-instrumentalist improvisers
and composers in the Chicago experimental scene, exploring the intersections
between ambient, electro-acoustic improv, and more legible songcraft based
around their voices and their work with synths and electronics -- all filtered
through their backgrounds in classical performance and education.
Chami’s solo recordings under the TALsounds moniker have appeared on labels
such as NNA Tapes, and Ba Da Bing!, and her collaborative projects include
the trio Good Willsmith. Johnson has released a series of solo LPs as Matchess
on the label Trouble in Mind, and has contributed to recordings and live performances by Ryley Walker, Circuit Des Yeux, and Tortoise’s 20th anniversary
performances of TNT, among other artists.
After meeting in the early 2010s, Chami and Johnson embarked on multiple US
tours together, and their informal duo collaborations naturally crystallized over
time into the Damiana project The duo’s debut album Vines presents their first
recordings after years of live sets and home recording sessions.
The album strikes a balance between the realms of deliberate compositional
sculpting and free-form improvisation, as Damiana’s evolving sessions of looping synth phrases and harmonized vocal lines emphasize austere beauty and
meditation as much as spectral disorientation and instrumental complexity.
While the tracks on Vines create the illusion at any given moment of a standing
cloud, often colored by Johnson’s lush viola and Chami’s effect-manipulated
electronics, a zoomed out perspective of each session reveals an undulating
story arc with contrasting emotional resonances and constantly shifting timbral
focus.
Treading the line between transportive stasis and upward motion, the duo has
honed their sense of when to push forward with a new texture or melodic
flourish without disrupting the atmospheres that they meticulously build together. Packaging: LP Black vinyl. Artwork by Heather Gabel (from the band
HIDE). Manufactured at 8Merch in Poland.

First ever US release of this German chewy pop-psyche goodness so tasty
we included a pack of Glee Gum! Glee is one of the only plastic free gums
on the market. Enjoy your pop bliss!

For the Perth group, creativity and production hasn’t stopped in 2020. Despite
much of this year’s tour plans being put on pause, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets have used their time off road to continue preparing themselves for the release of their fourth studio release, and an eventual blistering return to stages
around the world with a heavy-hitter of an album primed for the live space.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets have already given fans an early taste of the forthcoming SHYGA! era, with ‘Mr. Prism’ in August. The creation of SHYGA! The
Sunlight Mound, especially off the back of 2019’s huge LP And Now For The
Whatchamacallit, came together in a different environment for McEwan and
the results speak to the band’s evolution and McEwan’s evolution as a songwriter.
“For the first time in a long time I was home without any tours booked, no
work, no deadlines and I felt free to create. My writing process became ritualistic; every morning starting with a small walk to the local bottle shop at 11am
and writing whatever flowed, allowing myself to design in all styles without
boundaries, and not trying to theme the album early on. I haven’t had the luxury of writing this way since the first record, which I spent almost a year working
on. It felt like I was myself again, creating without opinion or constraints. I was
gliding through weeks with a day seeming to pass.

NNA Tapes is thrilled to present brand new music from percussionist and
composer Booker Stardrum.
Over the past decade, the Los Angeles and New York-based musician has built
a language of sounds as a solo artist, frequent collaborator, and improviser.
‘CRATER’ is the artist’s third full-length album on NNA, beginning with 2015”s
‘Dance And’ cassette, and followed up by the 2018 limited edition vinyl release
‘Temporary etc.’
The worlds of electronic music and free jazz firmly root Stardrum’s unique
musical syntax; as ‘CRATER’ unfolds, a torrent of microscopic, staccato musical
gestures collide and coalesce into a singular whole, while jagged and angular
sounds coexist harmoniously with their smooth, polished counterparts, creating an auditory balance and swaying symmetry.

This LP is extracted from the CD “Cello” box set which received rave
reviews. Awarded the first prize at the Conservatoire de Paris by
unanimous decision of the jury when he was only 13, Andre Navarra was
barely 20 years old when his soloist career began, taking him across Europe
as he performed with the finest orchestras to play all the concertos
of the repertoire.
Navarra took first prize at the Vienna International Competition in 1937. But
the war put a temporary obstacle in the way of his ascension. Unlike some of
his fellow musicians, he refused to collaborate with the occupiers and he took
refuge behind his music stand, playing as an ordinary member of the Paris Opera orchestra. From 1945 onwards, he could again be heard in the capitals of
Europe, conducted by the likes of Munch, Paray and Barbirolli, and later Mehta,
Ristenpart and Ancerl.
A parallel career opened up for him: teaching. He taught in Paris, Sienna, SaintJean-de-Luz, Nice, London, Vienna, Sion and Detmold. His mastery of the bow
was unique: he borrowed the technique used by violinists. It revolutionized
the method of cello playing, bringing roundedness, sensitivity and strength. He
pursued his two callings with equal intensity, one career enriching the other, as
this collection shows so clearly.
He approached every repertory with the same passion: contemporaries such
as Jolivet and Schmitt; classics such as Bach, Boccherini and Haydn; romantics
such as Dvorak, Brahms, Schumann, Bruch and Bloch; and early 20th century
composers such as Prokofiev, Kodaly and Martin.
Navarra died under the Tuscan sun that was so dear to him, his legacy a school
of cello playing that is unique in the world and whose technique and phrasing can still be recognized in the playing of those who use it, from Heinrich
Schiff, Frederic Lodeon, Philippe Muller, Roland Pidoux, Marcel Bardon, Rene
Benedetti, Anne Gastinel, Valentin Erben, Dominique de Williencourt, Marcio
Carneiro, Yvan Chiffoleau and Christophe Coin to Gautier Capu on, Yan Levionnois, Xavier Phillips, Taeguk Mun, Victor Julien-Laferriere and Bruno Philippe.
His perpetual, intense energy notwithstanding, Navarra leaves us with the image of a warm-hearted, unassuming man, who could, after a day alone with his
cello, invite his students on the spur of the moment to fun-filled spaghetti parties. Pablo Casals, who admired Navarra’s free spirit, said to him at a competition in Mexico City, “Ah, there you are, Andre. The man who never comes when
I invite him. I thought you were afraid of me. But no, the cello is your only love.”

Avant-garde jazz drummer Rashied Ali played with John Coltrane up until his death in 1967, appearing on final recordings like The Olatunji Concert and Interstellar Space. After Coltrane's death, Ali soon formed his own quartet, with Fred Simmons on piano, Stafford James on bass violin and Carlos Ward on alto sax and flute. The quartet's first release, New Directions In Modern Music, released on Ali's own Survival Records in 1973, exploded onto the free jazz scene, influencing the likes of Don Cherry and Archie Shepp (as well as many outside the jazz idiom), becoming a kind of manifesto for avant-garde music of the period.

WOLF Music welcomes Amsterdam’s Retromigration to the family with a five-track summertime sizzler, ready-made for hazy parkside sunsets and beach jaunts alike.

Hotly tipped and rarely skipped, Retromigration has been lighting up the scene with a string of killer releases over the past 18 months on labels like Healthy Scratch, Ltd, W/Lbl, GLBDOM and Ravanelli Disco Club.

Flexin’ that signature chopped and looped style across the EP, the A side is a double dose of house joints via ‘Bloom Street’ and ‘Brining It’, the former a bumpin’ New York nodding cut, the latter an synth heavy roller.

Flip it to find a more jazz-tinged affair but with its feet still firmly in the house domain. ‘Free Spirit’ channels a groove that could last forever, with a bass and keys combo that riffs away any creeping anxieties, before Arthur Dudley joins for ‘One Night With Colin’ a late night, smoked out, jazz joint trip.

‘Slick Walkin’' closes out the EP – a lesson in how to make samples dance any which way you want them to, as piano melodies flicker over a double nice bassline and tasty synth touches.

LTD Edition inklusive 3 Bonustracks auf Vinyl!

The Cinematic Orchestra haben eine ganz besondere Wiederveröffentlichung ihres Klassikers, „Ma Fleur“aus dem Jahr 2007, angekündigt. Es wird eine limitierte Version auf transparentem Vinyl geben welche drei Songs aus dieser Zeit enthält, die noch nie auf Vinyl veröffentlicht wurden; „Flowers“, „Talking About Freedom“ und „Colours“, und werden mit vier doppelseitigen Kunstkarten/Drucken geliefert: Seinerzeit wurde das Album für seine kühne Abkehr von den klanglichen Traditionen der Gruppe gelobt. In den Jahren seither wurde es kontinuierlich gefeiert, wobei Tracks wie „To Build A Home“ mit über einer halben Milliarde Streams bis heute ein riesiges Publikum erreichten. Die Band hat ausverkaufte Shows in einigen der prestigeträchtigsten Veranstaltungsorte der Welt gespielt, darunter die Royal Albert Hall in London, die Philharmonie de Paris, das Auditorium Parco Della Musica in Rom und das Sydney Opera House, außerdem waren Festivals wie Coachella, Glastonbury, Fuji Rock, Montreux und Sónar allesamt Gastgeber*innen für die beliebten Live-Auftritte der Band. Ihr letztes Album, „To Believe“ aus dem Jahr 2019, debütierte auf einem Karrierehoch auf Platz 19 der offiziellen UK-Album-Charts und war #1 in den UK-Vinyl-Charts.

From the Southside of Glasgow now the south side of Berlin, previously most notably The Burrell Connection, but also Alfie and DJ59, is now fully under the alias Dream_E. Kicking off the self-titled vinyl and digi imprint with a mix of Breaks, House & Techno, "Crushed" follows in hot pursuit of the acclaimed "Dreams On 22" Ambient / IDM album released last year on Pace Yourself and a number of releases via longtime fellow deejays, Craigie Knowes. A donation will be made to The Encephalitis Society following each release.

The International Feel label is back from an extended meditation. Well-rested and with a cornucopia of new ideas and records, IFeel is happy to announce the debut album from Charlie Charlie as the starting shot. „Little Things“ is the brainchild of Gabriella Borbély alias Bella Boo and Jens Resch better known as Chords. Born on a beach in Southern California instead of their hometown Stockholm, it is exactly what you would hope for such a record to be: pop music that is informed by hippie or counter culture and by a Balearic ethos (hence the International Feel address) that is free of blinkered definitions. In equal parts, the duo’s ten songs take the listener through honey dripping r&b, while respelling that certain Californian recording studio sound aesthetic, revisit vintage yacht rock and pop tropes as well as they are reflecting dance music influences in a broken, yet gold framed mirror. Most of all, it’s like a day dream that you don’t want to end. To quote our Italian friends from Edizioni Mondo: good listening experience!

Band info:
Charlie is Gabriella Borbély – also known as Stockholm's deep house virtuoso Bella Boo. Charlie is Jens Resch – also known as prodigious producer/musician Chords. The two Charlies met on a beach in Southern California and immediately decided to write a song together.
That first track was built on the sampled sounds of a rusty drainpipe. Charlie fired up a dusty ARP Odyssey and played a woozy solo over the drainpipe beats, then the other Charlie did the same, using that same legendary 70's analogue synth. When they realized the two separately recorded solos played together in perfect harmony, they knew they had to keep heading down their newly found, shared musical path.
Charlie & Charlie have since continued making music together, describing their common process as liberating, free-flowing, genre-less. "Little Things", their debut album, is made up of tracks recorded in Los Angeles and Stockholm, using that very same ARP as well as pianos, electric guitars and machines like the Prophet 6, the Juno-106 and the Syncussion SY-1. Vocal contributions come from the Charlies themselves as well as friends like Mapei and Julimar Santos.

While 1967's Velvet Underground & Nico was a part of Andy Warhol's global artistic vision, 1968's White Light/White Heat was free of all Warholian influence, so in a way it could be thought of as another debut album. Here the music was left to fester on its own, with no artistic visionary interfering or trying to create a soundtrack for his pop art, and the Velvets filled that void with an album that is an aural subway car full of drunkards, junkies and whores rumbling through the bowels of NYC with a one way ticket to oblivion. Translucent purple vinyl LP.

If Shelter swam through the serene side of the Library experience on GBR016, CV Vision blasts off in the opposite direction, riding an explosion of funk breaks and frazzled synths into the event horizon on his retro-futurist opus ‘Insolita’.

As contemporary life accelerates way past peak-weird, CV Vision leans into uncertainty and leaves Earth in the rear-view. Strung out on Simulacron-3, World On A Wire and Omaggio Ad Einstein, the Berlin-based musician imagines his own Brave New World, an alternate eXistenZ in a secret simulation.

Using the space age obsession of the Italian libraries as a launch pad, Dennis Schulze slathers a sonic storyboard with ferocious percussion, psychedelic fuzz and the pastoral electronics of Germany’s Kosmische movement. But this is less Can, more uncanny - and Schulze perfectly renders the cognitive estrangement of a simulated reality through his adventurous production. The monolithic live drums, recorded in a Neukölln garage on a battered Soviet kit are smeared with tape hiss, compressed to death and fired through LFOs, re-materialising on record in impossible scale. Time slips out of joint under the wow and flutter of the reel to reel, drum computers add digital interference to organic rhythms and the unfaltering slew of the 303 lends the hallucinatory thrill of the club sound system to an already psychedelic affair.

As Schulze’s imagination runs free, we’re taken through epic space battles and narrow escapes, moments of reflection and affection and a final resolution, all expressed through a dexterous control of movement and mood. For every explosion of break-fuelled adrenaline, there’s a cruise into cryo-chamber music and holodeck exotica. For each neck-snapping blast of acid funk, there’s a zero gravity lullaby waiting just around the corner.

So put isolation on ice and surrender to the strange, this is a trip you don’t want to end.

The Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition Original Soundtrack features over one hour of ethereal, surreal and organic music created specifically for the exploration of the Salt's surreal world. Blending eclectic electronic scores with sweeping, melodious soundscapes, Thommaz Kauffmann's score is like taking a ride into a new, wonderous land.

Dandara's light but incredibly strong presence was the starting point for all the sound presented in this album, consisting of a soundtrack that sounds hopeful and melancholic at the same time. Her lonely journey into the corrupted regions of Salt narrates each gesture made to fight the fears deep inside the Salt's most uncharted caves.

The textures and musical aesthetics in this soundtrack match a world that suffers from its abandonment to spontaneity, creativity, and vitality. It is with the presence of Dandara that there is a break in these standards imposed in Salt by an authoritarian regime.

Wrapped up in a beautiful, sturdy tip-on gatefold with a rough, black and white aesthetic, this vinyl 2xLP comes with two "Salt" white 180g in two printed inner sleeves.

Composed, produced and mixed by Thommaz Kauffmann

Artwork by Luísa Almeida

Game developed by Long Hat House

Published by Raw Fury

WOLF JAW were born in the depths of the Black Country, UK. Home to greats such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and half of Led Zeppelin to name a few. These bands are heavy influences that have sparked The raging fuzz fueled, groove fired, Riff machine WOLF JAW Having toured with bands such as Crobot, Scorpion child, Jared James Nichols, Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, Stone Broken among others, as well as festivals such as Download, Amplified, Steelhouse and Stone Free under their belt its given Wolf Jaw time to truly master their own unique twist on the power trio formula. 2019 brought a new album entitled 'The Heart won't listen' that is full of muscular riffs mixed with soulful vocals and pounding rhythm. Initially released in 2018, WOLF JAW are re-issuing their debut album ’Starting Gun’ with bonus tracks : "We're super excited to be re-releasing our debut album, 'Starting Gun' via Listenable records. This album was an amazing starting point for us and we still love playing these songs live. In fact we've added 2 live tracks to this version of the album, both were recorded at a live streamed show we did in the first UK lockdown of 2020. We have also recorded a cover of Judas Priests 'You've Got Another Thing Coming' which will be on the CD and available digitally. We're glad this record has got a new home and can't wait to get out there and play these songs live again! » Coming from the same area that gave birth to Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, WOLF JAW display the similar class of a future great in English Metal/ heavy rock !. WOLF JAW were born in the depths of the Black Country, UK. Home to greats such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and half of Led Zeppelin to name a few. These bands are heavy influences that have sparked The raging fuzz fueled, groove fired, Riff machine WOLF JAW Having toured with bands such as Crobot, Scorpion child, Jared James Nichols, Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, Stone Broken among others, as well as festivals such as Download, Amplified, Steelhouse and Stone Free under their belt its given Wolf Jaw time to truly master their own unique twist on the power trio formula. Kerrang! Magazine stated Wolf Jaw housed “riffs dirtier than a bucket of double-fried chicken !! ” .

Originally released onPrivilege, a sub-label of Polydor, this soundtrack by free jazz saxophonist Marion Brown is almost impossible to find in its original pressing. Nowmore than fifty years later it is finally reissued, to the delight of free jazz enthusiasts and film music collectors.

By 1967, Brown, then aged 36, already had a very successful career in the United States, appearing on John Coltrane’s ‘Ascension’, Archie Shepp’s ‘Fire Music’, performing with Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders and recorded several records under his name for renowned avant-gade jazz label ESP Disk.

That year, he however decided to move to Europe where he met with German saxophonist and vibraphonist Gunter Hamphel. Accompanied by Steve Mc-Call (drums and percussions), Barre Phillips (double bass), Alain Corneau (Cowbells) and Ambrose Jackson (trumpet), they recorded in 1969 in the legendary Parisian studio Davout, the soundtrack of the movie by Marcel Camus entitled

“Le temps fou”.

This film, which starred Nino Ferrer, was released in 1970 under the title “Un été sauvage” and unfortunately it did not make history in cinema. Fallen into oblivion, only his two original soundtracks (there is also a 7’’ with titles composed by Richard de Bordeaux and Daniel Beretta) are spreading the word.

The furious double LP "AL AZRAQAYN" documents KARKHANA (with members of KONSTRUKT, THE DWARFS OF EAST AGOUZA, LAND OF KUSH, PETER BRÖTZMANN CHICAGO TENTET, "A" TRIO) at their very best and intense: live on stage.

Consisting of seven of the most adventurous and innovative artists from the Middle Eastern experimental scene (and a veteran jazz percussionist from Chicago), KARKHANA are surely among the most unique and interesting ensembles around. When MAURICE LOUCA (THE DWARFS OF EAST AGOUZA), SAM SHALABI (LAND OF KUSH, THE DWARFS OF EAST AGOUZA), UMUT ÇAĞLAR (KONSTRUKT), MAZEN KERBAJ ("A" TRIO, JOHNNY KAFTA ANTI-VEGETARIAN ORCHESTRA), MICHAEL ZERANG (PETER BRÖTZMANN CHICAGO TENTET), SHARIF SEHNAOUI ("A" TRIO, ORCHESTRA OMAR) and TONY ELIEH (ORCHESTRA OMAR, JOHNNY KAFTA ANTI-VEGETARIAN ORCHESTRA ) come together to perform and / or record, the result is as diverse as their individual musical backgrounds. The septet's sound is neither retro nor avantgarde, not folklore nor jazz or rock – it's an astonishing blend of all these different styles and elements where seductive oriental melodies can intensify and turn into a psychedelic freak-out, fuelled by reeds, guitars and electronics, only to re-start again from quiet sounds till the ensemble seeks catharsis in a collective improv outburst! Defying simple categorization, and in lack of proper terms for the intense experience of KARKHANA's music (as well as the member's other projects mentioned before), someone labelled it "free Middle Eastern music".

And it's not surprising that these skilled musicians are at their best live on stage – as documented on this live recording from a furious, highly energetic concert at Bimhuis / Amsterdam!

In January 2019, at the invitation of fiddler Hans Kjorstad, Alasdair
Roberts travelled from his home in Glasgow, Scotland to Oslo,
Norway, where the two men convened with five additional
Scandinavian musicians at Riksscenen, Oslo’s centre for
Norwegian traditional arts and music. Thus newly-formed, the
group worked on arrangements of songs - self-written and
traditional - from Alasdair’s back catalogue, in preparation for
performances at Riksscenen as well as at ALICE in Copenhagen,
Denmark and the bucolic western Danish island of Fanø. The
group was named Völvur (The Seeresses), a reference to the
ancient Icelandic apocalyptic text Völuspa (The Prophecy of the
Seeress).
In January 2020, Völvur visited England and Scotland, to perform
with Alasdair Roberts at Cecil Sharp House, London and at
Platform, Glasgow, the latter as part of Celtic Connections festival.
The group had new material - freshly written songs by Alasdair
and several traditional Norwegian songs sung by Marthe Lea - and
over a couple days at Sam and Rachel’s Studio in Hackney, laid
down the music which now flows forth as ‘The Old Fabled River’.
The musicians who make up Völvur - Marthe Lea, saxophone,
clarinet and voice, Fredrik Rasten, guitars and voice, Andreas
Hoem Røysum, clarinet, Egil Kalman, bass and electronics, Jan
Martin Gismervik, drums, percussion and the aforementioned
initiator of the project, Hans Kjorstad on fiddle - are a busy and
artistically inquisitive group, involved in a diverse range of projects
with a wide variety of musical interests, from folk and jazz to free
music, modular synthesis, microtonality and beyond. They make
an ideal pairing for such voyages in the alchemical world as
Alasdair pursues in his own music.
On ‘The Old Fabled River’, Alasdair Roberts og Völvur meld their
worlds: fiddle and vocal styles formed in the Norwegian valleys
blending now with exploratory clarinet, saxophone and metallic
bowed guitar drones, now fashioned into baroque folk
arrangements. In one case, instrumental accompaniment is laid
aside, as three voices locate a questing fullness harmonizing
together.

In 1979 as a 15-year-old Eddie Piller was perfectly placed to be at the epicentre of the Mod revival. An inquisitive passion
for music, a family connection to Mod royalty The Small Faces, and an attitude that saw him travelling his home city, then
the country and then the world to take in the sounds that were emerging. In the years since, Piller has been a legendary
figure within the music industry setting up and continuing to own the ground-breaking Acid Jazz label, signing multiplatinum artists such as Jamiroquai and The Brand New Heavies collaborating on compilations with Martin Freeman and as
an award winning broadcaster even setting up his own Totally Wired Radio station. In The Mod Revival he looks back at the
movement that set him on his way.
• Mod is a sixties youth movement original built on sharp clothes, American soul music and nights on the town, that has never
really died. The originals added young British groups to their likes and then moved on, but their influence echoed on
through the 1970s in Northern Soul clubs, and in the sixties influenced bands of the pub rock era. When punk arrived, it was
supposed to sweep away the past, but instead the Sex Pistols were covering the Small Faces. The Clash brought in Mod DJ
Guy Stevens to produce London’s Calling, The Buzzcocks sounded closer to the Hollies than The Ramones and in The Jam’s
Paul Weller there was a musical and sartorial nod to the past of The Who, The Beatles and pop art arrows.
• Weller had spent the 1970s becoming obsessed by mod and saw punk as having a similar youthful energy to the era he had
missed by being born a decade too late. For others Weller’s style proved an inspiration, and as the Jam broke through in late
1978, they saw a wave of bands follow in their wake, and they themselves influenced others to form their own groups. But
there were other things. In bleak late 70s Britain the glorious optimism of the 1960s looked bright and shiny, and as it was
only a decade or so in the past, it was easy to pick up original records, clothes and books for pennies, and as you bought
these you met other like-minded souls who did the same. For those a little too young for punk, it was a community of gigs,
scooters, clothes, bands and records, and for many it developed on through.
• Eddie never stopped being a mod and has a unique perspective having now lived through four decades of being intimately
involved in the music that has emerged from the mod scene. In this part two double vinyl edition (Part 1 and its CD
equivalent reached #14 in the UK compilations charts) Ed guides us through some of his favourite music from the scene. He
guides us through a plethora of bands whose influences include The Who, The Kinks and the Jam, to sixties soul and R&B,
those with an eye on psychedelia. The records have a vitality and a certain stylish swagger to them, that marks them out as
mod. In the deluxe booklet, Piller has written a 5000 word note describing what it meant to him and has granted access to
his own scrapbooksfrom his many years of gig-going from which pages and memorabilia are reproduced.
• Eddie Piller’s Mod Revival is a personal appraisal from the founder of The Modcast, on what the mod explosion of the late
70s and 80s means to him…

Straightaways is the second album by the American rock band Son Volt. It was released on April 22, 1997. The group was formed by Jay Farrar after his previous band Uncle Tupelo broke up. While their first album was still very alt-country oriented, Straightaways featured a more alternative rock sound. Overall, the album was received well and further cemented Son Volt’s popularity.

Available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on turquoise coloured vinyl.

We're extremely proud to present HAPPENSTANCE, a sprawling jazz-concrète project produced by Johannesburg composer and double bass player Shane Cooper. Approached in 2020 by interdisciplinary arts space The Centre For The Less Good Idea to create audio work, Cooper drew on his network in the thriving South African jazz scene, bringing in Bokani Dyer (piano), Cara Stacey (bows), Daliwonga Tshangela (cello), Gontse Makhene (percussion), Jonno Sweetman (percussion) and Micca Manganye (percussion).

Two days of free-flowing composition, improvisation and investigative recording followed, with the results captured on a vintage reel-to-reel tape machine. This tape was fractured and reassembled by Cooper, bringing into surreal focus tiny ecosystems of sound, like curls of static clasped from the air and brought under the magnifying glass. The results - two long, standalone pieces - are dizzying, weightless; musique concrète melding with jazz-schooled virtuosity in a dubbed out bricolage of interludes and u-turns.

Recommended for fans of Abdullah Ibrahim, Tony Allen, Floating Points and Daphne Oram.

Makèz have come a long way since they first sneaked into Amsterdam’s studio 80 at the age of 17 to hand over their demos to Dam Swindle. Those demos led to their debut EP ‘Different planets’ on Heist in 2019 which gained major support from artists like Seth Troxler and Chez Damier. Quickly after, they signed two records on New York based label Let’s Play House. Fast forward two years, and here we are: the release of their debut album “City of all”.

"City of all” shows an admirable level of sophistication and matureness and effortlessly bridges genres across its 13 tracks. You can feel the amount of thought that has been put into this record, with songs happily blending into each other as Makèz submerge themselves in their concept of accidental encounters, inclusiveness and what it means to live in a city like Amsterdam.

On “City of all”, Makèz bring together all the musical influences they’ve picked up in their life as music fans, clubbers and art students. The jazz-funk of opening track “The entrance” feels breezy, casual almost, like the freeform rhythms that are played in a jazz club during soundcheck. That energy also oozes from “Not so different”, which features the smooth vocals of LYMA. There’s a hint of the house-meets-R’n B vibe that made Anderson .Paak the star that he is now. The song is brilliantly funky and shows the songwriting and arrangement talent of Makèz, who cleverly use pop & soul cues to create one of the album’s highlights.

What follows is 4 cuts ranging from the syncopated Balearic funk of “Orbit”, the strings of album title track “City of all”, the organ-led jam “Gonna getya" and the downbeat “Sonder”. Allysha Joy -best known for performing in Melbourne Hip Hop collective 30/70 - is featured on the deep and jazzy cut “Looking up”. If Makèz and Allysha are all looking up, it’s clear they’re seeing the same thing. These kindred spirits perfectly complement each other on this track, where the deep bass, warm harmonies and jazzy percussion prove to be a perfect foundation for Allysha’s rhymes.

Is it an album all about jazz and soulful tracks to listen to at home? Far from that. There’s a nice bit of dance floor-oriented tracks, where the distorted filter funk of “Roselane” featuring Fouk proves to be a highlight along with what is arguably the heaviest cut of the album: “Bent with funk”.

In an EP context, these house tracks would surely do their work, but they really come to life in this album format. No compromise has been made to storytelling and the house tracks all play their part while still standing their ground as powerful club tracks. It’s the expert production and smart arrangement that gives this album its casually funky feel. On “City of all”, Makèz showcase their remarkable talent for writing an album that goes to so many different places, but most of all, just really feels like home.

Enjoy the music,
Maarten & Lars

While 1967's Velvet Underground & Nico was a part of Andy Warhol's global artistic vision, 1968's White Light/White Heat was free of all Warholian influence, so in a way it could be thought of as another debut album. Here the music was left to fester on its own, with no artistic visionary interfering or trying to create a soundtrack for his pop art, and the Velvets filled that void with an album that is an aural subway car full of drunkards, junkies and whores rumbling through the bowels of NYC with a one way ticket to oblivion. Translucent purple vinyl LP.

Tonnon produced the album with longtime collaborator, and The Beths’ guitarist and producer, Jonathan Pearce. Tonnon wrote the bulk of the songs during an extensive period of touring after the release of Successor - a period where Tonnon performed with Nadia Reid in Europe, The Veils in the USA, and The Chills, The Phoenix Foundation and Don McGlashan in New Zealand. The pair workshopped songs between tours, often recording new parts as the live versions developed.

Tonnon and Pearce recorded between 2017 and 2020, and in that time, Tonnon’s practise evolved heavily. He incorporated new technology into his set, including the Wellington-designed Synthstrom Deluge, which allowed him to adapt his set for new performance environments;Art Galleries, Museums, even New Zealand Fashion Week. He took that technology further when he collaborated with the Otago Museum on the immersive show for Planetariums, A Synthesized Universe, which travelled to Arts Festivals around New Zealand in 2019.

Creating a music video for ‘Old Images,’ which explored a lost passenger train network, Tonnon came to the idea for a new experience-based show called Rail Land. It took audiences on railways to reach distant community halls around Aotearoa. The show saw Tonnon combine historical research and spoken word narrative, with the immersive lighting and musical technology he developed for A Synthesized Universe. In March, Rail Land finished a three-night run at Auckland Arts Festival, cementing Tonnon’s move to the concept show.

Over time, Tonnon and Pearce’s production moved further from the traditional rhythm sections that powered songs like Successor’s ‘Water Underground.’ In their place came off kilter electronic rhythms, like the beat in ‘Two Free Hands,’ and textures that blur lines between organic and synthesized sound. Guitars are set against synthesizers, and drums against drum machines in ‘Entertainment’ and ‘Peacetime Orders,’ which Tonnon also used in his soundtrack for RNZ’s 80s spy-themed podcast The Service. In ‘Leave Love Out Of This,’ a ballad starts with a piano and a string quartet, but ends in a wall of electronic sound.

The constant has been Tonnon’s lyrics. Whether singing about evolution and the future of work in ‘Two Free Hands,’ the television industry in ‘Entertainment,’ or environmental disaster and regulatory failure in ‘Mataura Paper Mill,’ Tonnon has followed a distinct approach to subject matter, description and phrasing that have seen him longlisted for the APRA Silver Scroll three times.

Tonnon’s explorations of local government and civic infrastructure in his work - an unusual preoccupation for a songwriter, have taken new meaning in his adopted home of Whanganui, where last year, he was elected by councillors as Whanganui District Council’s representative for public transport.

After Tonnon moved to Whanganui, and Pearce toured almost constantly after the success of The Beths’ first album, the pair conducted their collaboration over distance, but with key sessions at Pearce’s Karangahape Road studio, including drums and bass with long time band members Stuart Harwood and David Flyger, a string quartet led by Charmian Keay and arranged by Matthew Bodman, and additional drums with The Beths’ Tristan Deck.

As Leave Love Out Of This is released, Tonnon and Pearce find themselves in very different places to where they started, working on Auckland’s Karangahape Road, close to the venues like Wine Cellar and Whammy Bar where they regularly performed. Back in New Zealand since Covid, Pearce has had to adjust to being in one of Aotearoa’s best-known bands, while Tonnon, when not working on conceptual shows, wrestles with how to restore civic infrastructure to a post industrial city in the regions.

Created over a life-altering period of, Leave Love Out Of This is the culmination of years of experimentation and development - with new technology, new sounds, and new ways of creating, and performing music.

Hitting number two in the UK album chart and with over a billion streams, in Dissimulation KSI creates space for both his public persona and the personal: big hit features with the likes of Rick Ross and Lil Baby (Down Like That) and AJ Tracey (Tides) sit alongside more intimate, honest tracks. No stranger to defying expectations, Dissimulation received critical acclaim. Clash labelled it “an excellent body of work”; “he’s absolutely smashed it” proclaimed Metro.

It’s no surprise that KSI has been seen on the cover of The Sunday Times Magazine and Music Week; The Observer Magazine, Viper and Notion. Other labels and artists want a piece of the KSI pie too: just look to the success of his features on S1mba’s Loose and Nathan Dawe’s BRIT nominated Lighter. 



With his second album on the horizon, a 2021 tour which sold out in seconds, the launch of his own label and a single with Craig David (Really Love), Anne-Marie (Don’t Play) and YUNGBLUD (Patience), KSI is proving that music is very much his domain. 



KSI brings with him the unrelenting work ethic and infectious energy which YouTube instilled in him. Despite his debut’s success, he’s certain Dissimulation just scratched the surface: the next record, he’s clear, will showcase his artistry’s further progression again. Given FAULT Magazine described KSI as “one of 2019’s biggest success stories - “an emergent hip-hop star” said The i - all eyes will be on his follow up. KSI’s task - writes The Observer - is “not just to make “YouTube rap” but the real thing”. Their verdict? “Mission accomplished.”

A deep dive into the one of most collectable jazz catalogues in the world, a selection of some of the rarest and most sought-after recordings from the 60s and 70s, a time when British jazz began to find its own identity. Drawn from the iconic labels of Decca, Deram, Argo, EMI Columbia/Lansdowne Series, Fontana, Mercury, & Philips. A figure in British modern jazz for over half a century, Don Rendell was both active protagonist and key witness to the main developments in the music from its rise out of tiny clubs and back rooms on up to the most prestigious national stages. From his earliest performances in London’s West End and his work of the 50s and 60s — most not ably with the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet — to the lower profile work of the 70s and 80s, his quite assurance and consistent performance marked him out as a highly respected figure among his peers. He is one of a handful of British artists to feature on Blue Note Records and appeared on some of the most distinctive and characterful British jazz albums by the likes of Michael Garrick, Stan Tracey, Amancio D’Silva, and Neil Ardley. Even though Rendell eschewed much of the free and electric fusion styles that came to the fore in the late 60s, in the main sticking to an acoustic sound with melody and rhythm at its heart, he similarly bridled at any notion that he was merely a ‘bopper’, a description he positively hated. In many ways, Space Walk was as much a valedictory as transitionary album for Rendell. It was his last for Denis Preston, the fabled producer behind Lansdowne Studios, described by Neil Ardley as a ‘rare Diaghilev like figure’ who steered many of the key figures of the British jazz scene into the studio when nobody else would record them. It was also Rendell’s final project for EMI Columbia and his last as a leader for a major record label. After Space Walk, Rendell would record for smaller, independent labels like Spotlite. But as much as the album is a farewell to one chapter, it also marked the way forward to the next..

Before there was Rimarimba, Suffolk-born, Felixstowe-based musician and home recording enthusiast Robert Cox assembled a cast of friends, some musicians and some not so much, for an experiment in group exploration and ecstatic expression under the name The Same. Sonically and gravitationally defined by Cox’s collaboration with guitarist Andy Thomas (a partnership which formed in 1976 to record as General Motors), Sync or Swim, The Same’s one and only album, also featured keyboards by Florence Atkinson and Paul Ridout, and vocals by Robert’s sister Rebecca.

Originally released in small cassette and vinyl quantities on Unlikely Records, Cox’s imprint and a meeting point for many other musicians found at the fringe, the back cover of the original album jacket is as much a map of the personnel, place, and process

fundamental to Sync or Swim as it is a table of contents for DIY music-making at the beginning of the 80s: “Recorded in peaceful Wiltshire between September 18th and October 6th 1981 (using a miscellany of home made devices) onto a Teac A-3300SX via a Teac A-3440. No noise reduction systems were used.”

The additional equipment listed – a combination of consumer technology and DIY innovation – speaks to an unpretentious, improvisational ethos that pilots Sync or Swim, and Cox’s career as a whole. Rimarimba, whose near complete discography Freedom To Spend made available again in 2019, showcased Cox’s simultaneously hermetic and prolific creative process, while The Same celebrates making sound for sound’s sake and the serendipity surrounding those moments.

Wiltshire, home to the Stonehenge stone circles and a county of empty plains in the southwest of England, is worlds away from the commerce and industry of Glenn Branca’s New York City or Neu’s Düsseldorf. While The Same may feel in some ways like a British blend of these minimalist and motorik machinations, Cox and Thomas were curiously fascinated with The Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa’s brand of psychedelic music.

Cox’s own definition of British psychedelia is “folk music meeting technology and going bonkers.” It’s by this definition that Sync or Swim takes unexpected forms, from tape-speed tomfoolery, concrète sound collage and analog delayed marimbas, to the colorful spectrum of interwoven guitar play between Cox and Thomas reminiscent of Ghanaian Highlife but more accurately indebted to Jerry Garcia.

Born in Naples, educated in New York and now residing in Paris, drummer Francesco Ciniglio combines spotless drumming facility with substantial compositional flair, and has the capacity to move, reflect and express through his music. An in-demand sideman, Ciniglio has collaborated with Wynton Marsalis, Shai Maestro, Aaron Parks, Dayna Stephens, Seamus Blake and Tony Tixier. Following his debut solo release (‘Wood’, with Parks and Joe Sanders), Ciniglio returns as leader for his Whirlwind debut, ‘The Locomotive Suite’, a set of compositions for sextet that combine a personal metaphor of resilience with snapshots of his formative familial influences. Barcelona-based Raynald Colom (trumpet), fellow Paris emigr e Matt Chalk (alto) and Matteo Pastorino (bass clarinet) take the frontline duties, with Frenchman Alexis Valet on vibraphone and rising star Felix Moseholm on double bass. The suite is a collection of substantial, knotty harmonies, rhythmic shifts and spacious textures. But it also experiments internally, with chordal horn textures giving bass and vibraphone more melodic freedom. The unusual scoring is inspired by the soundworlds of Pat Metheny and Ben van Gelder, bridging the gap between music for large ensemble and harmonically focused trio music. Or, as Ciniglio puts it, it’s all about “finding an ensemble that’s not too big or small.” “This album is all about movement - getting a train here, marching there,” summarises Ciniglio. But it also reflects on people and places, and on the personal growth that helps make ‘The Locomotive’ Suite a significant compositional statement.

New pressing, with a front punch of color! It’s the yellow belt edition!
(yellow vinyl)Take an auditory trip through a wacky world of oddball and obscure ‘classick’ exploitation cinema soundtracks from the 1960s and early 1970s, presented by one of the most beloved genre film video companies of all time’ Something Weird! Two LPs chock-full of oddities and earworms with great sets of liners and track by track factoids!

With his debut release for Peckham club and label institution Rhythm Section International, Hackney-raised Jerome Thomas is declaring the dawning of a new age for British soul music.

Jerome’s school was a home filled with non-stop music; whether that was bootleg CDs of Rare Groove from East London’s Sunday markets to late 90s R&B on The Box or family favourites; Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, Chico DeBarge, Jill Scott. He learnt his prodigious vocal craft of ad-libs and harmonies by listening to Brandy’s ‘98 LP ‘Never Say Never’ on repeat.

Working with a live 6 piece band of assorted ages and musical backgrounds from rock to classical jazz, Jerome’s sound is a 180 degree turn from the direction of travel of UK R&B which has trended towards producers tracks made inside the computer. Jerome composes the pieces, then allows space for interaction with his long term musical collaborators. The ‘organic decisions’ open up the scope of his music as they jam and record. The result is a sound that could been made in the 70s, the 90s or the 00s. He’s the new blood of the sophisticated British sound that traces back to artists like Mica Paris, Soul II Soul and Omar.

For Jerome, music has literally been a life saving vessel for self expression. Like 1% of the population, he has a stutter, which disrupts the fluent flow of his speech. The stutter disappears when he sings, freeing his voice as it’s transformed into an instrument. As an introverted, intuitive Pisces, the songwriting process lets him explore and express his internal cosmos; “a lot of my songs are like diary entries addressed to people I haven’t been able to talk to or speaking about desires I am too embarrassed to talk about”. Jerome describes his sound using the acronym FOE, standing for “Freedom of Expression” and “Fusion Of Everything”. His music is a space for him to dissolve boundaries and binaries.

“As soul beings we are all a mixture of masculine and feminine; a mixture of our Mum and our Dad”. His fine falsetto explores a register that can read as masculine or feminine. The romantic story that runs across the two vinyl sides of “That Secret Sauce” is told without specifying a gender point of view. As Jerome says “we all experience the same thing with romantic situations, so I didn’t want to pin it to one side”. Like many of the great soul records, a close listen to “That Secret Sauce” reveals its romantic narrative; from first meeting to sexual infatuation to the dissolution of the affair, the breaking up and the moving forward - keeping your energy clear. It’s a tale as old as time, retold.

Krakow's duo Olivia and Chino join Pinkman with their live project Radiation 30376. Both belonging to the generation that has seen decay turn into liberation, together they tint raw industrial soundscapes with the feelings of freedom and nostalgia. Their debut ep Arka consists of 4 uncompromised electro mutants, rich with the atmosphere of the 90s and the sound design of the future.

Before there was Rimarimba, Suffolk-born, Felixstowe-based musician and home recording enthusiast Robert Cox assembled a cast of friends, some musicians and some not so much, for an experiment in group exploration and ecstatic expression under the name The Same. Sonically and gravitationally defined by Cox's collaboration with guitarist Andy Thomas (a partnership which formed in 1976 to record as General Motors), Sync or Swim, The Same's one and only album, also featured keyboards by Florence Atkinson and Paul Ridout, and vocals by Robert's sister Rebecca. Originally released in small cassette and vinyl quantities on Unlikely Records, Cox's imprint and a meeting point for many other musicians found at the fringe, the back cover of the original album jacket is as much a map of the personnel, place, and process fundamental to Sync or Swim as it is a table of contents for DIY music-making at the beginning of the 80s: "Recorded in peaceful Wiltshire between September 18th and October 6th 1981 (using a miscellany of home made devices) onto a Teac A-3300SX via a Teac A-3440. No noise reduction systems were used." Cox's own definition of British psychedelia is "folk music meeting technology and going bonkers." It's by this definition that Sync or Swim takes unexpected forms, from tape-speed tomfoolery, concrète sound collage and analog delayed marimbas, to the colorful spectrum of interwoven guitar play between Cox and Thomas reminiscent of Ghanaian Highlife but more accurately indebted to Jerry Garcia. On the album's culminating final track, "E Scapes," all of these elements are brought together in twenty-minute journey through layers of chiming guitar loops and spritely solos, keyed percussion, and tape experiments, all played as though the sun were rising over the standing stones of Salisbury Plain. Cox would later go to similarly greath lengths with certain solo sound endeavors, but the confluence of musicians on "E Scapes" pushes the piece to exceptional, unforgettable heights. Transferred and remastered from the original tapes, The Same's Sync or Swim arrives on LP July 16th, 2021 on Freedom To Spend, just in time for the album's 40th anniversary.