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Slow Process welcomes D3070 with ‘Crossing The Unknown’, a brisk six track collection of contemporary, inventive electro.

Track by track:

Opener ‘Interceptor’ is a concentrated blast of overdriven, swaggering energy, setting the tone for an immersive and hard- hitting joyride of a release. A pacy electro assault follows in the form of ‘CBRN’, before pulling the tempo back for the title track, an eight-minute swathe of dark acidic sequences and classic drums. ‘Aim High’ strikes a similar, albeit less dark chord, with some sweeter melodies on display. The introduction of ‘Quantum Leap’ is suggestive of a straightforward four to the floor workout, before evolving into something altogether more off-the-wall. Finisher ‘Our Galaxy’ is a slightly more subdued, minimal affair comprised of lucid melodic motifs, percussive zaps and sub basses.

Includes download codes.

Out on February 20th 2026. The album release will be preceded by the single " The Praise of Folly part 1". First 13 minutes of a long composition that will take up the entire side A of the album for a total of 21 minutes. Guitarist Alessandro Santori says about the album: " We are very excited to finally release these three songs that we have worked hard to arrange on over the past two years. Once again we invite the listener to join us on a journey beyond the constraints of song form and genre, and to dive into The Praise of Folly like reading a book where you never know what will happen when you turn the page... sometimes exactly what you expect, but very often... absolutely not.

From the production point of view we pushed even more on the live aspect and sounds of the single performance. We decided to not edit and comping between different takes of each song but to choose which one to use on the base of general feeling and then add some post arrangements to emphasize specific passages. We definitely did not want to create a perfect Frankenstein but to take the listener in the room with us during the performance, as in concert".

Out on February 20th 2026. The album release will be preceded by the single " The Praise of Folly part 1". First 13 minutes of a long composition that will take up the entire side A of the album for a total of 21 minutes. Guitarist Alessandro Santori says about the album: " We are very excited to finally release these three songs that we have worked hard to arrange on over the past two years. Once again we invite the listener to join us on a journey beyond the constraints of song form and genre, and to dive into The Praise of Folly like reading a book where you never know what will happen when you turn the page... sometimes exactly what you expect, but very often... absolutely not.

From the production point of view we pushed even more on the live aspect and sounds of the single performance. We decided to not edit and comping between different takes of each song but to choose which one to use on the base of general feeling and then add some post arrangements to emphasize specific passages. We definitely did not want to create a perfect Frankenstein but to take the listener in the room with us during the performance, as in concert".

Benannt nach einem Song der Speed-Metal-Formation Xandril aus der Hansestadt Hamburg, wurden Avalon ursprünglich 2019 aus der Taufe gehoben. Zwei selbst produzierte, im eigenen Proberaum aufgenommene Demos und eine Single folgten. »Astral Claw«, die erste Veröffentlichung von Avalon auf High Roller, beinhaltet fünf Songs, aufgenommen in den Van Doom Studios in Gelsenkirchen und produziert von Frederik Aderholz. Brandneu sind “Astral Claw”, “Dante, The Loss” sowie “Eternal Darkness”, während “Cerebus” und “Pandora’s Doom” Neueinspielungen der ersten beiden Stücke sind, die die Band komponiert hat. Der harsche und hektische Stil von Avalon auf »Astral Claw« nimmt dabei mitunter auch Einflüsse von Punk und Hardcore auf. Es ist das Ziel von Avalon, auf High Roller Records demnächst ein vollständiges Debütalbum zu veröffentlichen, das das Erbe des teutonischen Speed und Thrash Metal würdig vertritt. Bis dahin heißt es: Stimmt euch ein mit "Astreal Claw"

Rough Signal Records steps into 2026 with a fresh release, featuring Bristol’s young lion KaiDub, following their link-up on last year’s “Osaka to Bristol” release.

Built together in Kai Dub’s Bristol studio, this record is a straight-up expression of their shared love forUK Dub. Militant UK stepper drums and powered by Dub Kazman’s signature synth lines, forming a heavy, sound system–minded steppers tune.

Every track comes, Dub Mixed by Dub Kazman, including the ruf and tuf cut he dropped as the final tune at NO LOGO FESTIVAL last year. No frills, just heavyweight, pressure, and sound system vibes

Auf dem komplett unübersichtlichen Markt der Vinyl-Wiederveröffentlichungen rarer Aufnahmen aus dem im weitesten Sinne Rock & Roll/Rhythm & Blues/Popcorn-Umfeld hat sich die Serie DOWN AT THE UGLY MEN’S LOUNGE mit einer komplett eigenständigen konzeptionellen Farbe etabliert. Das authentische 10“-Format und die Covergestaltung mit obskuren und anonymen Musikerfotos der ersten fünfzig Jahre des 20. Jahrhunderts sind gleichermaßen unverkennbar wie unwiderstehlich.
Das stilistische Spektrum der neuen Auswahl rarer und rarster Trouvaillen aus dem legendären Archiv von Prof. Bop bleibt dem Ursprungskonzept treu: Zwischen Boogie und Mambo, zwischen Blues und Bop, zwischen Exotica und Egozentrik...weniger amateurhaft gespielter Teenager-Rockabilly, eher Rock & Roll etc. von musikalisch versierten und Jazz-geschulten Vollprofis. Allesamt Aufnahmen der goldenen Epoche 1950 – 1962.

Athens-based percussionist and sound artist Yorgos Stavridis makes a stark, physical debut for Heat Crimes with »Solo Percussion«, a set of one-take improvisations that approach percussion as a field of friction between body, objects, space, and sound. Working with membranes, metals, found objects, and feedback systems, Stavridis foregrounds timbre, texture, and spatial presence, collapsing distinctions between instrument, environment, and recording apparatus.

Microphones and speakers are treated as unstable instruments in their own right, introducing opaqueness, resistance, and feedback into the performative chain. Scrapes, low-end pressure, brittle metallic chatter, and sudden bursts of resonance emerge through close bodily engagement with surfaces and materials, each piece documenting a specific configuration of objects, gestures, and acoustic conditions. Performed and recorded live, »Solo Percussion« captures sound in its most contingent state; situational, physical, and irreducibly present. Eschewing narrative, pulse, or formal development, the record sits squarely in Heat Crimes’ lineage of process-led, uncompromising sonic research, where listening becomes an active, tactile act and sound itself is the primary event.

Un-easy listening from »anti-singer« and improviser Sofia Jernberg, a celebration of the voice in its rawest, most malleable form. Jernberg was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Vietnam and Sweden, so one can only imagine these diverse languages opened up a wealth of phonetic possibilities before she entered academia to study jazz and composition. If you dive into her catalogue you’ll clock her startling range – working as a jazz soprano and as an improviser, collaborating with everyone from Stefan Schneider to Mats Gustafsson, as well as appearances on the stage and screen, most notably in Matthew Barney, Erna Ómarsdóttir, and Valdimar Jóhannsson’s »Union of the North«.

On »Voice«, Jernberg provides a ground-level entry point to her work, meticulously running through a litany of unconventional techniques (non-verbal vocalisation, split tones, toneless singing, and distortion) without any effects, just pure batshit sonics designed to show off the voice’s scope as an experimental instrument. On »Mouth Synthesizer« she purses her lips to make ratcheting pops like some analog oscillator, hoarsely mimicking the sort of blustery, Merzbow-coded distortions you might get if you patched a RAT pedal into a broken guitar amp. It isn’t an act of caricature, it’s Jernberg’s way of demonstrating that expensive modular rigs aren’t an essential tool for experimental music, before throwing a side-eye to the field recording industrial complex on »Birds«, transforming her vocal chords into a nightmare aviary. But it’s Jernberg’s startling »multiphonic« experiments that hit hardest. The album opens on »Multiphonic I«, and it’s difficult to tell that you’re listening to a human voice at first – you could just as well be on Colin Stetson’s overblown sax airstreams. Jernberg creates a captivating spiral of crooked, phased tones and hoarse, guttural croaks that she develops over three movements. On »Multiphonic II«, her voice is turned into a storm of pained shrieks, and on the third and final segment, it almost resembles Arve Henriksen or Jon Hassell’s muted brass curlicues. Each track pulls a different musical muscle, whether it’s »One Pitch« with its unsettling yodel-like quivering drones or »Gurgle«, sounding like a close mic-ed recording of a small pot gently simmering.

Finlay Shakespeare is an electronic musician working from the UK and across Europe. A childhood obsession with his parents’ record collection led him to both create his own music and build his own synthesizer equipment throughout his teenage years. After studying audio engineering, he was invited to become in-house engineer for the Moog Sound Lab UK, leading to collaborations with acts as diverse as Suicide, Charlemagne Palestine, The Grid and Mica Levi & Eliza McCarthy, both in live and studio environments. In 2017, Finlay began recording a series of monthly “Housediet'' releases - all improvised and captured at home utilising drum machines, modular synthesis and processed vocals. After several encounters with Peter Rehberg of Editions Mego, a compilation of the Housediet tracks was drawn up by Rehberg and Shakespeare, culminating in the release of “Domestic Economy” in early 2019. “Solemnities' ', a second album for Editions Mego appeared the following year. In the period since Rehberg’s untimely passing, Finlay has recorded for Superpang, Modulisme and his own GOTO Records imprint. “Illusion + Memory”, meanwhile, continues on from where “Solemnities” left off, with Finlay once again aiming to work at the fringes of electronic pop. Alter is proud to present “Illusion + Memory”, the third full length physical LP of Shakespeare’s utterly unique and sophisticated output. Shakespeare’s obsession and knowledge of late 70’s and early 80’s electronic pop music is once again at the forefront of this intense and dynamic release. Alas, this is not some retro throwback. Shakespeare’s deep understanding of his machines breathes new life into a genre of music once defunct. Supporting the likes of Blancmange bolstered his reputation for sublime synth hooks and dark lyrical content. Building on his previous work in the field “Illusion + Memory” is an unabashed pop record, as joyous as it is intense, moving from the brooding opening ballad “Your Side of the River” through the punchy “Theresa” which could be read as a love song to Throbbing Gristle’s United. Elsewhere “Climb” unleashes the opportunity to the dancefloor as wild electronics snake into all manner of schizophrenic shapes. There is a romantic side to this music. In its homage to electronic pop of the late 70’s and early 80’s but also in the emotional punch Shakespeare injects into every second of every track. Shakespeare’s reboot of these musical forms is technically impressive, one rich in feeling and deep in emotion, atmospherically and vocally. The two come together to create a unique visceral sonic experience… today!

“Tubby did three original dub albums, ‘Dub From The Roots’. ‘The Roots of Dub’ and the third is ‘Brass Rockers’ with Tommy McCook ‘pon the flying cymbals. Where he mixed it with the horn going in and out in a dub way and one named ‘Shalom Dub’ you can call Tubby’s too because he mixed the versions as they were off forty fives’’

Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee

King Tubby and Producer Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee are intertwined in the birth of Dub Music. After discovering a mistake that made a ‘serious joke’ (more of which later...) they went on to release the first pressings of this new musical genre namely ‘Dub Music’. Tubby’s vast knowledge of electronics and Bunny’s vast catalogue of rhythms would lay the foundations of what today is taken as a standard... the Remix / Version cuts to an existing vocal tune.

Osbourne ‘King Tubby’ Ruddock was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 28th January 1941 and grew up in the High Holborn Street area of downtown Kingston. He studied electronics at Kingston’s National Technical College and also on two correspondence courses from the U.S.A... When he had qualified Tubby began repairing radios and other electrical appliances in a shack in the back yard of his mother’s home. His work in the early days included winding transformers and building amplifiers for Kingston’s Sound Systems. Tubby built his first Sound System in 1957 playing jazz and Rhythm & Blues at local weddings and birthday parties. His reputation as a man who knew and understood both electronics and music grew steadily and as the sixties drew to a close. Tubby
purchased his own basic two track equipment. He installed this alongside his dub cutting machine, a home-made mixing console, and his impressive collection of jazz albums in the back bedroom of his home at 18 Dromilly Avenue which he christened his music room.

Tubby and Striker were at Treasure Isle Studio’s one day while Ruddy from Spanish Town was working with the engineer Byron Smith....

“Tubby and myself was talking when Ruddy was cutting some dub but Smithy (engineer) made a mistake through we were talking and forgot to put in the voice. It was two track recording in those days. Ruddy said ‘No Man! Make it stay! and so they cut the rhythm. When I went over to Ruddy’s that Saturday night a dance was in progress and when they played the vocal to the tune... then he said we’re going to play ‘Part Two’. They never called it ‘Version’..and then he played the rhythm track. The song was a catchy song and everybody started to sing along and the deejay started to toast so everything went down well. On Monday morning I went up and I said ‘Tubbs the mistake we made was a serious joke.It mash up Spanish Town! The people went wild. So you have to start to do that now ‘cause when the man put on the ‘Part Two’ everyone start singing this song. It played about twenty times. I said you try Tubbs!’...Well the next Saturday night now when Tubby strung up down the farm U Roy said he’s going to play ‘Part Two’ but Tubby did it different now. He started with the voice then dropped it out and let the rhythm run and then he brought in the voice in the middle and from there Tubby started to get really popular.’’
Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee

Dynamic Sounds upgraded to sixteen track recording in 1972 and Tubby purchased, again with the help of a deal brokered by Bunny Lee. The old four track equipment and the MCI console from their Studio B. The four tracks now gave him far wider scope to work with and he began to create a new musical form where the bass and drum parts were brought up while the faders allowed Tubby to ease the vocal and rhythm in and out of the mix. It was only a matter of time before Tubby’s dub plate experiments began to make it on to vinyl and the first ever long-playing King Tubby releases would feature a collection of his mixes to a selection of Strikers rhythms. So please sit back and enjoy this historic set of sounds. Lovingly restored and with a few extra gems added to the CD Editions. These releases were the first to carry the name of King Tubby and the first to credit the great musicians that contributed so much to the rhythms that made these albums possible.

Malena Zavala is an Argentinian-born, London-based artist, producer, and filmmaker, known for crafting ethereal, genre-blending music that navigates the space between her Latin heritage and her British upbringing. With the forthcoming album If This Life Could Start Again set for release on 30 January 2026 on Paraná Records, Zavala presents her most intimate, cohesive, and accomplished work to date, marking a significant evolution in her artistic journey.
With her new album, Malena creates an atmospheric dream pop world, weaving singer-songwriter intimacy with synth pop, Argentine folk, indiepop, rock and experimental music, threaded together by her blissful vocals and dreamy guitar work. Gorgeously warm and vivid, If This Life Could Start Again charts the journey from pain to acceptance, mapping out the non-linear nature of healing through a sonic landscape. Each song embodies a distinct emotion within that journey, from grief and chaos to feeling lost, seeking refuge, finding confidence, and finally acceptance and letting go. Drawing on her Argentinian roots, Malena uses the Andes mountains as both a visual and thematic anchor – the difficult climb towards higher ground becomes a metaphor for healing, whilst being lost at rock bottom reflects the darkest moments of the journey. 
Completely composed and performed by Malena herself, the album was recorded in Girona’s L’Empordà countryside in Spain with producer Luke Smith. As a professional producer and audio engineer, this was Malena’s first time relinquishing production control – an intimate creative shift that allowed their shared vision to shape the album’s rich, enveloping sound. 
However, Zavala’s career to date has been a testament to self-sufficient artistry. Her critically acclaimed debut, Aliso (2018), was written, recorded, and produced alone in her parents’ garage, which honed her dreamy bedroom pop sound. The album, praised by The Guardian for its “gently warped and beguilingly melancholy guitar pop,” ****, immediately catapulted her from DIY beginnings to prestigious stages, supporting acts like Lord Huron at London’s Roundhouse and Men I Trust at Village Underground and subsequently continuing on their UK/EU tours. Later with standout performances at Latitude, Green Man, and All Points East. Her consistent radio support from key influencers including BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 1's Huw Stephens, and Steve Lamacq has solidified her presence on the airwaves.
Her second album, La Yarará (2020), saw Zavala delve deeper into her roots, exploring Latin traditions like Cumbia and Bolero. This exploration of identity continues powerfully on the new album, but with a newfound lyrical depth and sonic confidence. The new album, If This Life Could Start Again, is a raw and transformative eight-track journey that maps the emotional landscape of healing. Written after a period of personal upheaval, the album traverses themes of grief, hereditary trauma, and self-discovery. The record’s narrative is structured like a mountain ascent. A challenging climb through varied emotional terrain, posing the central question: “Will you join the journey?” Sonically, this journey mirrors the non-linear path to acceptance, evolving from acoustic folk and synth-pop to funk-infused rhythms and rock anthems.
As a formidable live performer, Zavala has built a robust touring profile across the UK and Europe. She will embark on an extensive tour in February and March 2026 to support the album, with dates spanning major cities from London and Glasgow to Berlin, Paris, and Barcelona.
With If This Life Could Start Again, Malena Zavala fully realizes her artistic vision as a self-taught producer to an autonomous artist commanding her career through Paraná Records whilst reflecting the vast landscapes of her heritage and affirming her place as a compelling and evolving voice in contemporary music.

The Meth Lab returns for its third instalment with “Meth Lab Season 3: The Rehab,” a sharp, hard-hitting chapter that cements Method Man’s place as one of hip-hop’s most consistent and enduring voices. Executive produced by longtime collaborator Handz On, this project finds the Wu-Tang legend in rare form—polished, precise, and laser-focused.

“The Rehab” pulls listeners back into the world Meth has been building since the first Meth Lab sessions: a mixtape-style showcase blending razor-sharp lyricism with streetwise storytelling, packed with energy and attitude. Method Man’s flow remains timeless, weaving between gritty boom-bap, polished modern production, and the unmistakable Wu-Tang aesthetic. A strong lineup of guests brings extra fire to the set—Cappadonna, RJ Payne, Redman, KRS-One, JoJo Pellegrino, Jadakiss, Carlton Fisk, Hanz On, Intell, Iron Mic, 5th Pxwer, Chunk Bizza, Eddie I, Cortez, and more—each stepping into Meth’s world with their own hard-edged energy. Behind the boards, producers like P. Version, Rockwilder, Eric Sermon, Adam McLeer, Daniel C. Wells, Darnell Norman McConnell, and Joshua D. Zimmerman craft a gritty yet refined sonic framework that elevates every performance.

More than just another chapter, Season 3: The Rehab feels like a victory lap: a culmination of decades of craft, a celebration of the Staten Island movement, and a reminder that Method Man still out-rhymes rappers half his age. It’s a must-own for Wu-Tang fans, East Coast purists, and anyone who appreciates sharp writing and decades-deep mastery.

Mint Condition - A brand new record label focussed on excavating the outer fringes of classic House and Techno. Unreleased mixes, classics and overlooked gems mined from the last 20+ of contemporary dance music are the order of the day. From Chicago, Detroit and New York to London and beyond, Mint Condition have got their expert digging hats on to bring you exclusive heat and those rarer than rare jams that have been on your wants list for years! Dig in....
The word 'classic' get's bandied around a lot when talking about certain records, artists, labels etc but rarely is it truly justified. In the case of the monumental slab of NYC deepness that is 'I'll Be Your Friend' we feel the tag is genuinely justified. Originally released in 1991 on the RCA label the track has been one of house music's most enduring anthems. Literally one of the deepest tracks out there, it's combination of Owen's vocals paired with the stellar production techniques of Def Mix's David Morales (and THOSE drums) is such a heady combination that the record crossed over so many scenes and to this day remains an evergreen staple in DJ's of all persuasions bags. Featured here we have all the original mixes (with the exception of the shorter radio edit) in their original forms. The record sounds as fresh as it ever did, the sort of track that never dates and will always fit into a set, the very definition of a classic.
Legitimately re-released with the full involvement of RCA records for 2017 and remastered from the original sources specially for Mint Condition by London's very own Curvepusher. 100% legit, licensed and released. Dug, remastered, repackaged and brought to you by the caring folks at your new favourite reissue label - Mint Condition!.

A chance meeting in Mexico City set Points of Inaccessibility into motion. When Ibero-American composer Rafael Anton Irisarri crossed paths with Dutch media artist Jaco Schilp at MUTEK in 2024, a conversation about how technology shapes perception revealed an unexpected common ground. Schilp invited Irisarri to a spring 2025 residency at Uncloud, the Utrecht-based collective he co-founded, where Irisarri's sound began to take form amid an environment shaped by Schilp’s visual research.

The Uncloud studio was located inside the former Pieter Baan Centre, a forensic psychiatric prison where suspects of violent crimes were once confined. Its long history of silence and containment shaped the atmosphere in which the project developed. Within this setting, Irisarri coaxed long bowed-guitar tones through a network of pedals and looping systems. The raw gestures thickened into a vaporous and architectural field of sound. Schilp processed the material through a custom point-cloud software patch that produced images in continuous flux. The visuals flickered, dissolved and reformed like memories that resist coherence, functioning as a digital Rorschach that reflected the observer’s own perception.

Amid these spectral echoes, the project evolved into an examination of how the past persists within present signals. Memory endures as residue and interference, continually shaping perception even when its source has faded.

Schilp’s visual process required a continuous stream of sound in real time. Irisarri improvised throughout the residency, generating material that allowed the visuals to develop in parallel. Once back in his New York studio, he began shaping the recordings by carving pathways through the improvisations and mapping selected passages into MIDI. This process allowed him to build outward from the bowed-guitar material with minimal overdubs, adding Prophet 5 textures, Moog bass and strings that expanded the harmonic field while keeping the original performances at the center. To refine the structure, Abul Mogard provided editorial input, working with Irisarri’s stems to guide transitions and strengthen the overall pacing. The material, originally created under conditions of immediacy and constraint, evolved into a fully realized work through careful revision, patience and sustained reworking.

The title engages the geographic concept of the Poles of Inaccessibility, locations defined solely by their distance from all surrounding points. Irisarri adapts this idea to the conditions of digital life, where new forms of inaccessibility arise through the informational enclosures that structure perception. What appears to be a fully connected network often produces a deeper kind of separation, one shaped by the filtering logic of the systems that mediate experience. In this sense, the digital sphere mirrors its geographic counterpart. We inhabit spaces saturated with signals, yet the possibility of genuine contact becomes increasingly remote.

At its core, Points of Inaccessibility considers what can be understood as the new rituals of capitalist realism. Irisarri uses the term digital shamanism to describe the forms of simulated connection that organize contemporary life. These systems promise comfort through algorithms, influencers and AI interlocutors, yet they often reproduce the same conditions that generate loneliness in the first place. What appears as connection becomes the echo of connection, a sequence of gestures that imitate solidarity while withholding it. Like the geographic poles, these rituals are defined by distance. They pull us into environments where everything is illuminated, yet meaningful proximity becomes increasingly rare. In this sense, the work approaches a hauntology of the present, a reflection on futures that have stalled and intimacies that have been thinned by the algorithmic infrastructures that surround us.

This thematic tension unfolds across the album’s four movements. Faded Ghosts of Clouds introduces the work with textures that rise and dissipate in slow cycles, creating an atmosphere that resists clear definition. Breaking the Unison occupies a pivotal position in the sequence and focuses on the moment when the individual and the system fall out of alignment. Its shifting patterns trace the scattering of signals that once suggested connection, revealing the instability at the heart of contemporary perception. Signals from a Distant Afterglow forms the center of the album and features vocals by Karen Vogt, whose presence enters the sound field like a fragile transmission shaped by distance and delay. The closing piece, Memory Strands, follows motifs that appear, recede and briefly intersect before returning to quiet. Across these movements, the album outlines a landscape in which emergence and disappearance continually inform one another.

Listening to Points of Inaccessibility is an encounter with a sound field that is constantly in flux. Elements surface briefly, shift position and recede, creating a sense of motion that resists stable interpretation. The music moves between closeness and vastness, carrying traces of memory while withholding a clear point of resolution.

The album’s visual identity completes the project’s conceptual arc. In Mexico City, where Irisarri and Schilp first met, Daniel Castrejón transformed stills from Schilp’s point-cloud visuals into the cover image. The final artwork captures a single suspended frame of the digital material, a moment extracted from a field that is normally in constant motion. Its surface recalls the texture and abstraction found in the work of Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies, where material presence and erasure coexist within the same plane.

What emerges is a work that examines the tension between technological systems and human presence. Points of Inaccessibility asks whether connection is still possible within environments shaped by mediation and delay, or whether we have become isolated points within the very networks that promise proximity. What possibilities for relation persist within environments organized by algorithms and interruption? And how are we meant to understand presence when so much of it is constructed at a distance?

Points of Inaccessibility will be released on BioVinyl on February 6, 2026, with audiovisual performances planned throughout 2026.

Mastered by Stephan Mathieu
Artwork by Jaco Schilp
Design and layout by Daniel Castrejón
Artist photo by Iulia Alexandra Magheru.

“Short Story” is the new album by Restive Plaggona. Eight new tracks of industrial techno beats and raw atmospheres. Over the course of 40 minutes the album takes us through different territories and landscapes of immense bass weight sound, sometimes dark and raw, sometimes droning and minimal, always energic.

Restive Plaggona is the music project of the Corfu-based artist Dimitris Doukas, known for his heavy and deep industrial soundscapes with subtle traces of darker forms of techno music. Dimitris is a particularly productive musician, having released more than a dozen records including his own imprint Several Minor Promises.

You don’t need to be Freud to regard teeth as a delicate issue. They can make joy look joyous and pain look painful, and on the cover of the new múm album they do both at the same time. As »Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is Okay« (2001), »Finally We Are No One« (2002) and »Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know« (2009) »Smilewound« is another example of the band’s art of juxtaposing two conflicting meanings and taking advantage of the energy created through the tension between both.

Sparser in sound than many of its predecessors, »Smilewound« is an airy, relaxed record. The múm-core-duo of Örvar and Gunni doesn’t make you laugh out loud (except maybe for the quirky vintage Arcade-sound-start of »When Girls Collide«), but it will make you smile often - despite the heavenly voices singing about violence in one form or another in most songs. Musically, múm’s capability to build playful electronic sound-ornaments around simple melodies is in full bloom. And these days they know that trimming the ornamentation can strengthen the melody. Take »The Colorful Stabwound«: an aguish drum’n’bass piece and »Smilewound« gets close to a straight pop-song. Even that isn’t very close, but it combines its rhythmic strength with a simple yet effective piano-line and the soothing lushness of a female voice to something compelling that follows you like the smell of a delicate eau de toilette. Or »Candlestick« which started out as a little ditty strummed on an acoustic guitar many years ago and has grown into this bouncy piece of synth-pop that changes its musical colours every couple of beats until you feel comfortably dizzy. Perfect pop in very fancy clothes. No wonder that antipodean pop-princess Kylie Minogue wanted to collaborate with múm on the »Whistle«, the main song in 2012-movie »Jack & Diane«.

Recorded in, among other places, the band’s practice-space, an old baltic farmhouse and on the kitchen-table after dinner, the album was produced by múm themselves. And being the revolving collective they are, it comes as no surprise that we see the return of former member Gyda. Defining satellites as part of the core fits nicely with the band’s penchant for ambivalence - in fact that's part of the album's charm.

In 1999, on December 23 to be precise, the electronic music landscape changed forever. On that day, the now legendary Icelandic band múm released their debut album “Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK”. The thing is though, back in the day, hardly anybody realized. It was Christmas after all, people were busy with potentially more important things and didn’t pay attention to some kids selling records on Reykjavík’s high street. Little did those shoppers know.

Thankfully, those 10 tracks weren’t overlooked for long. On the contrary: the album went on to become one of the most influential building blocks of what back then was called electronica and today is considered an art form playing a crucial and important role in shaping and defining the rich electronic music culture of the 21st century. Now, 20 years after the record dropped onto planet Earth, Morr Music is re-issuing the remastered album with its original artwork, adding newly commissioned re-works: A note-for-note representation of “Smell Memory“ by Kronos Quartet (with additional drums by múm’s Samuli Kosminen), a gentle reinterpretation of “Random Summer” by acclaimed pianist and composer Hauschka and an otherworldly new version of “Ballad Of The Broken String” recorded by label mate Sóley. Additionally, four remixes produced in the early 2000s are made available for the first time ever on vinyl here.

In 1999, electronic music was in full bloom. The dance floors were thriving worldwide.Yet the concept of using electronic sounds in acoustic-based productions (or vice versa) was still in its infancy. Many producers were trying, most of them failed. The results felt often forced, fabricated, unimaginative, random and forgettable. New ideas require new mindsets after all. With “Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK”, múm established a new approach in music production. Instead of setting a fixed agenda and working with a distinct hierarchy for their sonic palette, Gyða Valtýsdóttir, Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Smárason let each instrument and sound source be true to itself, creating an ever-evolving universe of sonic bliss. Listening to the album in 2019 still makes every music lover’s heart jump. Combining Drill-and-Bass-inspired beat-chopping, future-informed DSP-programming, ethereal vocal work, indie rock’s boominess, folk music’s soulful brittleness and a lofty feeling for melody and arrangement, the album is a rare example of musical transcendence and remains impossible to categorize.

Many of the ideas formulated and recorded for the album quickly became an integral part of the canonical self-conception musicians around the world were and still are aspiring to. How these ideas really came about, though, is not known – the dynamics, the struggles, the qualms, the sudden realization of having achieved something which might actually stick. Maybe that is a good thing. Örvar Smárason remembers that most of the album “was recorded in a tiny, sweaty room in the summer of 1999 with carpenters banging nails around us, but sometimes we put on headphones so we couldn’t hear them.” It is a good thing they did. As is often the case with classics, all one can do is listen closely and let the magic sink in – again and again.

Explicit isolation is the third album by the international collective E/I, led by composer and percussionist Szymon Pimpon Gąsiorek. The group’s seven core members came together while studying at Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory and the Royal Danish Academy of Music. For this latest release, they are joined by Slovenian musicians Samo Kutin (hurdy-gurdy) and Kaja Draksler (organ), alongside Danish tuba player Rasmus Svale.

The three compositions distill sound down to its essential elements, drifting freely through space. The material is minimal, moving in the geological rhythm of endless cycles of tension and release, formation and dissolution, density and lightness. Pimpon acts here more as a guide than a creator with a master plan. He is a navigator, leading us to the most crucial moments where sonic emissions merge into vibrating drones, building to an inevitable leap—an explosion after which the particles rearrange themselves once again. It feels like futuristic temple music infused with intergalactic spiritual jazz, the extensions of drone music, and acoustic ambient textures, all highlighted by the jolly grin of the navigator.

“I wrote the scores and asked each of the musicians to record their parts individually. What’s interesting for me about doing it this way is that it removes the element of immediate interaction and introduces a factor of randomness. I then edited and mixed it myself, also adding my own parts. Previously, it was strictly acoustic music, and the recordings were ‘live,’ meaning they were captured in one room at the same time, with no subsequent edits.” Pimpon has also incorporated electronics, which make the album even more airy and organically complement the sounds of the hurdy-gurdy and organ, recorded in Trboje, the small Slovenian village.

At 19, Helviofox adds his signature to the batida template that by now seems to have been in existence since forever. Such is the strength of this primordial fountain, a source of rejuvenation. Also within the literal family: Helvio cites brothers Dadifox and Erycox as main influences.

Curiosity for the sound made him go into production by the time he was 13. A couple of years later (2020) he became co-founder of TLS with E8Prod, Alberfox, DiionyG and other mates. His talent fully developed since then, opening a slight detour that became a new path parallel to the main road.

Lively basslines anchor the beat directly lifted from tradition and clearly channeled to the dancefloor. Strong, well rounded grooves, a spot-on sense of timing and tempo, elegant atmospheres, all part of Helvio's notion of arrangement and his perception of dance music boundaries, stretching them just enough to present a challenge but not as far as to disconnect head and feet and risk losing the floor.

This liminal space between experimentation and popularity is both dangerous and attractive. There is no one formula. Precisely why it still retains plenty of fuel for current and future generations to contribute personal visions.

Lisboa, 2025

Melbourne / Naarm strongholdButter Sessionsclock 15 years in the game with a trilogy of 12"s, sustaining their uncompromising streak of peak-form electronics. The family-style V/A binds friends, collaborators, former studio neighbours and DJ booth allies, capturing a label that exists as community as much as catalogue.



A new chapter in Butter Sessions' ongoing Japanese exchange sees Sapporo sound sculptor Kuniyukire-opening a 2015 tour collaboration with label heads Sleep D- a deep, spatial beatdown powered by dub pressure and percussive hypnosis. Shadow-lurking prodigy Mosam Howiesondrops in with his trademark scatterbrain techno, while Hasvat Informantlocks into joint-consciousness big-room radioactivity.


Opening the B-side, Fader Capfuses Balearic psy-ence with Mike Dunn-esque utilitarian jack, hovering somewhere between '80s memory and future vision. Tokyo's Mayurashkafollows with Survival Guide, big beat colliding with drug chug, before Albrecht La'Brooyreunite for a divine chill-out tent slowdown, magnifying sample detail with exacting flow. We're adrift until Sunju Hargunlights the beacon with スカイサーファ(Sky Surfer), Thailand's emissary of ritualistic minimal trance.


Whether taken alone or folded into the three-disc triptych, each instalment stands as a bag-ready constant, charged with Butter Sessions' curatorial finesse.

To decay is also to transform. Rusting metal is the visible traces of passing time, as the oxidation process accumulates dampness in our atmosphere and imprints it as unpredictable patterns onto hard iron and steel. Working in construction for a year now, Kensho Nakamura sees rust all the time, clambering up ageing chunks of material. Normally discarded as waste, Nakamura began discerning beauty in the phenomenon, organically spiralling around and consuming some of the very hardest of manufacturing stuffs into unique new forms.

‘Electric Rust’ continues the conceptual electronic composition mode of Nakamura’s previous works with a series of fractured musical dioramas. These scurrying notes, sparse hums, and quivering bleeps explore the topics of rust and the accumulation of time. The music ticks like a clock, drips like a tap, and manifests unknowable inorganic shapes. Recognisable musical snippets of bells, pianos, or murmured voices are buried inside counterintuitive synthetic rhythms and tension.

On ‘wet air’ piano notes tinkle and pipes gargle, digital detritus tap dances and arpeggios stumble. On ‘unique faces’, idle marimbas and malfunctioning animalistic squeaks flounder. This is music from the promethean space between being forgotten and being conceived. ‘Electric Rust’ is a topography of a world of rust, where corroding structures evolve into new — and beautiful — patterns of life.

This one already has created a nice little stir with the soul crowd, and rightly so.

The A side "Is It Still Good For You" is a wonderful Modern soul chugger that oozes that late night club feel. Simple in its melody and production but bounces along so soulfully. Great vocals but the late Johnny Kemp with the group on some killer backing harmonies.

Kinky Foxx could be described as an ever changing funk machine with nuts and bolts that remained strong over time. This band planted its roots in the Bahamas where the name "Kinky" was given to Joseph Foxx and teaming up with his Brother Donny Foxx formed the musical group named, "DER KINKY FOXX"!!! The two Foxx Brothers added members Kevin Bassett-Guitar, Johnny Kemp-Vocals, and Burnis Stubbs-percussion performing clubs and concerts in the Bahamas. Moving to New York City Kinky Foxx changed members to compete with the major funk venue during the early 80s. Acquiring Dan Atherton Sr. AKA "The Slammin 'Drummer", Larry Robinson-Keyboardist, Timmy Allen-Bass, Kevin Robinson-Guitar these musicians combined forces with Johnny Kemp, Kevin Bassett, and Burnis Stubbs to form the New York City based "Original" Kinky Foxx from '79 to '81, burning up the famous Cellar Club in NYC, the mecca for Black Funk entertainment. With a front line of top musical talent some members moved on to follow solo recording and production careers and contracts. To fill lead gutiarist and Bass guitarist vacancies Jerry Powell was added on guitar,and Leslie Booker was added on bass. In 1982 Kinky Foxx added Vincent Lilly on lead vocals and Curtis Styles on Keyboards.The Foxx released the hit song "So Different" on Sound of New York records in '83 and embarked on a Canadian experiment leaving the US to play briefly in Montreal, Quebec at Club Checkers. The rest is history as the band became so popular in Quebec and Ontario they could have been called Canadian residents, usually working 6 nights a week and 11 months out of the year from '83-'91 . Dan Atherton moved on in '83 to pursue a career as The "Slammin Drummer" for hire, and was sought after by a barrage of major artists,touring with Bobby Brown,New Edition,Levert,Teddy Riley and Guy,Cameo,and Atlantic Starr. Tyrone Govan aka "King" moved in as the Foxx Drummer in '83 and remained with the group until the band went their separate ways in the mid 90's. The Foxx's last performance in the States was in North Carolina on tour and backing Prince's sister Tyka Nelson in the 90's. Currently the band has sparked interest once again writing and recording new material and is forming a reunion show which will eventually lead to additional performances with other recording acts and headline shows.

From the Guts of Essaira claims space in body and time. It follows the path announced with the single ‘Dramla / Xirxe’, expanding its tensions and guiding them towards a more layered, conscious expressive form. It is an album to be listened to without respite, allowing the sonic material to dilate.

The tracks move across a punkstrial terrain rich in synths held in constant tension; sharp guitars and industrial rhythms alternate drive with suspension. The vocals, multiple and layered, do not seek centrality but co‑presence: they enter, disappear, pursue one another, dig deep and steer the listening through zones of friction and release.

The album is released during a period of widespread instability and reflects that mood. The ten pieces construct a compact journey, with darkness and urgency alternating with more rarefied, introspective moments. Nothing is accidental: every segment is functional, every tension is permitted to resonate until the end. From the Guts of Essaira is a physical, visceral record; it works by accumulation and subtraction, strengthened by the fracture between control and abandonment. It breathes, listens, spreads.

Released by Fair Weather Friends Records, "Woven" marks a new chapter for the acclaimed Thessaloniki-based ensemble, featuring special guests Harris Lambrakis on ney and James Wylie on saxophone. Their collaboration expands the trio’s sound with new colors and textures, weaving together tradition and modern expression.

Its cover art is designed by the internationally celebrated and award-winning design studio Beetroot, giving the project a distinctive visual identity that mirrors its sonic depth.

This new quintet formation is a vision that Yako Trio have long aspired to bring to life. The collaboration with Lambrakis and Wylie adds new layers of texture and expression to the band’s music. The mystical, meditative tone of the ney intertwines with the emotive voice of the saxophone, expanding the trio’s sound into new territories. The result is a dialogue full of color, energy, and imagination — connecting tradition with modernism, East with West, and collective memory with contemporary creation.

APORIAMOR noun 1. The death of love’s contradiction.
| “Embody APORIAMOR”

Etymology
aporia-: an irresolvable internal contradiction or logical disjunction in a text, argument, or theory. from Greek aporos ‘impassable’, from a- ‘without’ + poros ‘passage’
-amor: love. Sentimiento intenso del ser humano que, partiendo de su propia insuficiencia, necesita y busca el encuentro y unión con otro ser. Del latín amor.
-mor: latin for death.

APORIAMOR explores the affective ontological and organic processes of love and lust in the turmoil of an urban existence, through the female lens. It expresses the process of strengthening through heartbreak in its various forms.

With her debut EP The Art of the Concrete, elsas knew that by giving that name to a record which was ironically expansive and experimental, she would be calling for a distilled and clearer path further down the line. This is what she’s been incorporating into the sonic world of this new EP, APORIAMOR, signifying the birth of a more matured and distilled version of herself as an artist.

With APORIAMOR (“the death of love’s contradiction”) elsas conveys a personal process of healing in the romantic space. Through different experiences of heartbreak, elsas builds a language - a coping mechanism attached to its subsequent artistic expression – that isn’t founded on hardness or a closing-off, but instead, on a playful but profound reckoning, and learning of self-worth.

APORIAMOR embraces the complexities of being a lover-girl: of moving through life with an open heart. It celebrates the clarity, sweet hindsight, and detachment that come from processing emotion. APORIAMOR is both an affirmation and a release.

elsas makes canonical blends with a forward boundary-bending vision. Her sound in this record is naturally referential of both her Mediterranean heritage and UK alternative music — intrinsic parts of her lived experience. She has had the opportunity to collaborate with artists she deeply admires, each exchange enriching her creative world.

The experience of working hand-in-hand with Sampha for the last 3 years and ongoingly has been a core of her evolution as an artist. She has also collaborated in many forms with artists like Florence + the Machine, Little Simz, Jordan Rakei, Jockstrap, Obongjayar, Black Country New Road, Genevieve Artadi (KNOWER) and Duval Timothy. Additionally, her ongoing work with the Idrîsî Ensemble, of which she is a core member, continues to inform her artistic depth.

The making of this largely self-produced record unfolded over four years — “it’s a well-kneaded dough,” she says. These songs evolved through exposure to multiple environments: from early writing sessions in her childhood home in the Spanish countryside, to stages across the U.S. while on tour supporting Sampha.

Experimentation and modulation are an intrinsic part of elsas’ method, conceiving songs as organisms that respond to their surroundings. Collaborators on this collection of songs include Shrink, Will Lister, Gabriel Gifford, Ethan P. Flynn and more. The record was mixed by David Wrench (a long-time supporter of elsas’) and Nathan Boddy, and mastered by Matt Colton.

With APORIAMOR, elsas creates a visual world from the fabulation of the past, as an act of playful historical revisionism in which she embeds herself as both subject and storyteller. The songs function like an archive of her experiences across various years, each one unearthed and presented as some sort of archaeological artifact. Through this body of work, elsas begins to conceptualize herself as a legacy artist: one who honors the archive of her own becoming while emerging as a distinct and resonant voice in today’s musical landscape.

Mess Esque are a duo featuring music and instruments by Mick Turner
and words and voice by Helen Franzmann. Their self-titled album is a
beguiling travelogue of restless, somnambulant wanderings.
Perhaps best known as one of the Dirty Three, Mick’s been playing
guitar and making music with many collaborators for forty years. He’s
loved his paintings too but revered especially for his solo music - since
1997, Drag City have released four of his albums, plus an EP and an
album of the Tren Brothers (Mick with percussionist and fellow Dirty
Three-ite, Jim White) and two EPs featuring Mick as the Marquis de Tren
with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.
Mick’s last record was 2013’s ‘Don’t Tell the Driver’, a work that found
him departing from his traditional hermetic instrumental template by
employing a rhythm section and brass charts and even collaborating with
a vocalist. After all the purely instrumental music he’s made with Dirty
Three and solo, a singer is now part of the sound he’s hearing in his
head these days; while demoing new material, he realized that he was
again writing music that needed lyrics - and for that matter, someone
other than himself to sing them. But who? In 2019, he was introduced to
Helen through a mutual friend who’d produced her last album. Under the
name Mckisko, Helen has released three albums over the past 12 years,
working and touring with a range of Australian musicians along the way.
Her music has been described as numinous and transformative. Her
most recent album, ‘Southerly’, saw her moving into a more expansive
sound which led to an openness and excitement around further
collaboration.
Helen’s words are carefully observed, her phrasing responding intuitively
to Mick’s looping guitar figures with vocal repetitions of her own. Starting
with a feeling or a voicing, there are often no words - both players are
searching on their own paths. Then suddenly they have arrived and are
passing the emerging meaning back and forth, the rising intensity
forming a kind of undertow that pulls the listener deeper into their world.
Often, Helen would record her vocals in the middle of the night, seeking
that 2am flow, a moment of greatest isolation through which to trace her
melodie with fragility and strength. This crystallizes Mess Esque’s
intention: riding the sleepy drift through the blurred edges of the day…
time-traveling to that moment beyond stasis where sense and no sense
coincide and share space and time and energy. Viewing from afar the
immense peace of this planet when its ghost world of spirits below - the
madness of crowds, people sliding past each other faraway in the night -
are quieted at last.

Banda Black Rio is a Brazilian musical group from Rio de Janeiro that was formed in 1976. They were one of the first to undertake the fusion of Essential Brazilian Music with International Black Music. The songs are based on funk but also including samba, jazz and Brazilian rhythms. Compared to other soul-funk groups, such as Kool & the Gang and Earth, Wind and Fire, Banda Black Rio developed a particular style of instrumental soul music fusing together elements from a number of genres. With saxophonist Oberdan Magalhães, trumpet player Barrosinho, Cristovão Bastos on keyboards, Claudio Stevenson on guitars, Jamil Joanes on bass and Lucio Silva on trombone. Arrangements are from Cristovão Bastos and Claudio Stevenson. The album “Saci Pererê” was originally released in 1980.

Shake Stew ist mehr als eine Band - sie ist ein Ereignis. Seit ihrer Gründung durch Bassist und Komponist Lukas Kranzelbinder umweht die Formation ein Hauch von Magie und Energie, der sich live in eine hypnotische Kraft verwandelt. Zwei Schlagzeuge, zwei Bässe und drei Bläser erzeugen einen Sound, der zwischen tranceartigen Basslinien, eruptiven Grooves und fragilen Klanggebilden oszilliert. Die Jury des Preises der deutschen Schallplattenkritik sprach von "etwas Kultischem", das den Jazz bereichert, während MOJO begeistert: "Shake Stew twists, blisters and burns like a fevered dream!" Ob im Club oder im Wiener Konzerthaus - die Band zieht alle in ihren Bann. Mit dem Jubiläumsprojekt TEN ONE TWO öffnet sich Shake Stew noch weiter: neue Klangfarben, freie Improvisationen, Kooperationen und eine Besetzung, die mit Yvonne Moriel eine aufregende Stimme integriert. Nach zehn Jahren, zahllosen Konzerten und internationalen Auszeichnungen ist klar: Shake Stew definiert Jazz als lebendige Kunstform - kompromisslos, visionär und voller Dynamit.

American singer, songwriter and guitarist Boz Scaggs rose to fame in the 1970s with several top 20 hit singles in the United States. In 1976, he teamed up with a group of session musicians who would later form Toto and recorded his seventh album, Silk Degrees, which became a huge hit. The album reached #2 on the US Billboard 200, #1 in a number of countries around the world, and spawned three hit singles: “Lowdown,” “Lido Shuffle,” and “What Can I Say,” as well as the MOR standard “We’re All Alone,” which was later recorded by Rita Coolidge and Frankie Valli.

Silk Degrees is available as a limited edition of 750 copies on translucent blue coloured vinyl and includes an insert.

A long-overdue vinyl reissue for this underground gem from the Bronx! Originally released in the late ’90s, Ghetto Chronicle Daily stands as a timeless snapshot of New York street rap in its rawest form — a true reflection of the city’s golden era grit and lyrical craftsmanship.

The Money Boss Players — made up of Big Ah (RIP), Lord Tariq, Tre Bag, Eddie Cheeba, C-Dubb, and legendary producer Minnesota — were key figures in shaping that unmistakable Bronx sound. Their chemistry was electric: sharp lyricism, vivid street storytelling, and cinematic beats that carried the DNA of hip-hop’s golden age.

This first-ever vinyl reissue brings this underground classic back to the masses in its full glory and goes a step further with bonus tracks previously unreleased on vinyl, including “Drug War Rages” and “Same Shit” — raw, unfiltered cuts that capture the crew at their most authentic. Also included is “White Chalk Pt. 2”, featuring none other than The Notorious B.I.G., a rare collaboration that cements the group’s deep roots in the East Coast rap lineage.

Since the original release, members of Money Boss Players have continued to carve their own lanes — with Eddie Cheeba and Tray Bag evolving into Boss Money, and Lord Tariq making his mark as a solo artist. In recent years, Bronx rapper Yung JB has joined the fold, carrying the Boss legacy into a new generation.

Now, more than two decades later, Ghetto Chronicle Daily returns to turntables worldwide — remastered and pressed with care for true heads and collectors alike. A must-have piece of hip-hop history, finally on wax where it belongs.

Crystal Tides’ long-awaited debut album Toothpaste is the sound of a band truly coming into their own. Written and recorded completely independently, the record embodies the spirit of resilience, creativity, and raw honesty that has carried the Portsmouth outfit through their journey so far. “We wanted the focus of this album to showcase our independence as a band. We felt it important, given our journey thus far, that it come from us in as raw form as possible.” The seeds of Toothpaste were planted back in 2022 with rough voice notes on lead singer Billy’s phone, evolving into a collection of songs that capture both the band’s infectious energy and their most personal reflections to date. From collaborative writing sessions in the practice room to late-night home demos, every track carries the DNA of Crystal Tides’ unity and determination. Working with long-time collaborator and producer David Evans, the result is a bold, heartfelt body of work that celebrates their independence while delivering polished, stadium-ready anthems. The album takes its name from one of its most intimate tracks. Toothpaste was born out of Billy’s battle with Ulcerative Colitis, which led to life-changing surgery. A passing joke about naming the album after the song became a moment of clarity. It's unusual, striking title felt like the only choice, a symbol of the band’s authenticity and ability to find meaning even in the unexpected.

'Flowers', the new EP from Elizabeth Davis, finds itself at the cross-section of many factors. In part, it’s the result of Davis’ obsession with a seminal folk song. But it also coincides with her rediscovery of the voice and language as an instrument. It was recorded during an autumn residency at Sternhagen Gut, the cultural refuge run by Gudrun Gut and Thomas Fehlmann, located deep in the Uckermark countryside halfway between Berlin and the Baltic coast.

The six tracks on 'Flowers' all take Pete Seeger’s ‘60s protest-folk song 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone' as their starting point. However, they veer off in different directions, from vocal loops and deconstructed lyrics, to instrumental drones and glitchy, manipulated rhythm tracks. Like many musicians, Davis has learnt composition by a process of disassembly, analyzing musical works piece by piece, and 'Flowers' began as one such forensic exercise. “But sometimes,” says Davis, “a source is so loaded up on meaning that the studies and experiments can become worthwhile and meaningful works in their own right.” 'Flowers' began to take on a life of its own, raising renewed questions about age-old themes such as war, authorship, translation and historical structures.

Davis is no stranger to cover versions. From studying violin to playing in free jazz and punk bands, interpreting other artists’ works has long been a key part of her musical approach. And since her radio show 'Deep Puddle' recently drew to a close after seven years, her experiments with narration and sound collage have found their way into her musical work once again. For 'Flowers', she cut up the source material (with a nod to Gysin and Burroughs), and reassembled the lyrics, the musical notes, and recordings by different performers, to create uncanny new forms.

But perhaps the biggest influence on 'Flowers' was conversations about music, art and pop subcultures with Gut. These dialogues helped Davis find a balance between far-out sound design experiments and catchy melodies, combining a certain avant-garde element and modern day songcraft. And it’s this sense of conversation, this revisiting of topics and renewal of ideas, that will keep us coming back to 'Flowers' long into the future.

Belgian electronic duo schntzl, known for their fearless live improvisation and playful fusion of jazz, Dada, and ’90s trance kitsch, invite listeners to hear sound anew with their latest album.



On their new album Fata Morgana, an illusory trip of emotion and confrontation, Belgian duo schntzl conjure mirages of fleeting realities while diving headfirst into a trance-driven, confrontational digital sound.



Fata Morgana unfolds like a hyper-visual journey, constructing enveloping dreamworlds through trance-infused live electronica. Yet trance here is present not in form but in essence—an intensity, a state of being. It may stir the same emotions as club music, but schntzl express them in a language entirely their own. Kitsch loops, improvisation, and distortion bend their music into illusions that dissolve and reappear, creating sonic worlds that never settle into habitual patterns.

Much more than just another punk band, Ideal Victim is a wildfire fueled by fury, grit, and defiance. Formed in Porto in 2022, this young outfit proposes a seemingly improbable formula that proves to be both unique and cohesive: over the raw, unyielding energy of 1980’s British hardcore, they layer the hypnotic vibes of surf rock and the nervous tension of rockabilly—crafting a taut and irresistible balance between atmosphere and aggression.​
At the forefront stands the fierce and outspoken roar of vocalist Mariana, supported by the driving cadence of drums and bass, and by a guitar that writhes as it drowns in distortion.​

Ideal Victim belong to a lineage of bands that never asked for permission to exist: from Discharge to Bikini Kill, from The Cramps to Dead Kennedys, their influences are undeniable. Yet, Ideal Victim refuse to echo them in exercises of nostalgia. Their music is urgent, combative, and strikingly current—a visceral response to the shackles of patriarchy and the open wounds of a world in accelerated collapse.​

Propelled by the impact of their demo Diary of a Pig and a considerable amount of stage experience, Ideal Victim now presents Rage Letters, a debut album that reflects the band's evolution through a set of six brief tracks—where nothing is left unsaid, nor unshouted.​
With Rage Letters, Ideal Victim extend us an invitation to insubordination—and it's one we can't help but accept.

Jackie Mittoo, organ and piano maestro, was also one of the founding members of Jamaica's top session band The Skatalites. Musical arranger for Studio One he provided the backbone to so many of Jamaica's finest tunes. The invention of Ska music and the sounds that rode through the Rocksteady and Reggae period all carry his stamp. Whether it be in his various incarnations, the aforementioned Skatalites, The Soul Brothers, Soul Vendors and the Sound Dimension or under his own name, his distinctive organ and piano sound and musical arrangements have all played a major part in Jamaica's musical history.

Jackie Mittoo (born 1948, Kingston, Jamaica) began playing musical instruments at a very early age. Taught piano by his grandmother he was performing live by the age of 10 and recording by the age of 15. Two Kingston bands that he played with the Rivals and the Sheiks brought him to the attention of Studio One's founder Coxsone Dodd. Who at the time was putting a group of musicians together to be his studio band. Impressed by his skills on both the organ and the piano, Jackie was asked to join in what would become Jamaica's foremost band The Skatalites. The fellow band members were Lloyd Brevett (bass), Lloyd Knibbs (drums), Don Drummond (trombone), Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso and Lester Sterling (Sax), Johnny Moore (trumpet), Jah Jerry (guitar) and Mr Mittoo (piano). This line up ruled the Jamaican scene between 1964 - 1965 as well as inventing the Ska sound, they also performed the backing duties for the other top labels of the time including Duke Reid's Treasure Isle and Justin Yap's Top Deck label.

1965 saw The Skatalites disband and Jackie Mittoo move on to his next musical project The Soul Brothers. Formed with fellow Skatalite Roland Alphonso, this band would back all the hits coming out of Studio One for the next three years with Jackie Mittoo working as band leader and musical arranger. Around this time Jackie also had his own single released, a Ska underground classic called 'Got My Bugaloo'. Rare, as it also features Jackie in the unusual role for him, as lead singer!!!!.

1966 saw the Ska sound evolve into Rocksteady, again with Jackie's band at the helm, and his first hit single the Rocksteady cut 'Ram Jam'. The success of which would lead to a solo career and album releases under his own name such as 'Now', 'Macka Fat', 'Evening Time', 'In London' and 'Keep on Dancing', to name but a few. In1967 the hits at Studio One were still flowing when The Soul Brothers morphed into The Soul Venders and began backing such luminaries as Ken Boothe, Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, The Heptones, The Cables, The Wailers and many other of the labels solo artists.

By 1968 Jamaican music was ready for another change and Rocksteady rolled into a slower groove soon to be called Reggae. Jackie Mittoo would be at the forefront with his latest band The Sound Dimension. A line up that included Leroy Sibbles (bass), Roland Alphonso and Cedric Brooks (saxophone), Eric Frater and Ernest Ranglin (guitar) and Bunny Williams (drums). Being the house band at Studio One they backed all the leading names of the time, John Holt, Horace Andy and Alton Ellis, all of Studio One's output carried his sound.

Jackie Mittoo emigrated in the late 60's to Canada, but travelled to Jamaica and London to record with many of the big new names, who were trying to redress Studio One's supremacy and needed his magic touch. Such Producers as Bunny Lee used Jackie Mittoo on many of his sessions, Sugar Minott among others were always glad of his services.

We have captured some fine 1970's cuts that feature Jackies numerous talents, showing his ability to embellish tracks with a feel that few could better, Musical arranger, band leader all round studio ace. We hope you enjoy the set and I'm sure you'll agree with us Jackie Mittoo does indeed Ride On.........

Mal-One’s first release for 2026 and his first PUNK50 release to celebrate 50 Years of Punk 1976-2026 (where did that go !! ). This 6 track 12” / mini album see’s him working the concept of the Punk Rock Disco. He has dance enhanced the tracks to suit this style. The lead track is ‘Welcome To The Punk Rock Disco’ explaining the concept and to accompany this he has reworked 5 previous tracks that he thought could work within the disco format.

The collage on the cover shows John Travolta and Olivia Newton John getting down with all the punk boys and girls at the Punk Rock Disco.. where all the best Punks Go…
Hope you enjoy the Punk Party.

Today Cork's acclaimed Cardinals announce their much-anticipated debut album 'Masquerade'. Set to land February 13th on tastemaker label So Young Records, the ten song album was recorded with producer Shrink at RAK Studios, London across the summer. It's a record that is at once grand and intimate, awash with romance and flickers of holy imagery, and most of all, it's an undeniable fulfilment of the innate promise the band have shown since their earliest beginnings. These are emotionally expansive songs, some simmering with an undercurrent of violence, cynicism or fervent discontent (Anhedonia, The Burning of Cork, Barbed Wire) and others gleaming with a bright-eyed vulnerability. A vivid first half contrasts a darker second and crafts a record with a clear A-side and B-side. A nod to the band’s collective love of vinyl, that tonal shift takes its cue from a variety of expected and unexpected influences - from the brittle honesty of folk to the theatrical melodrama of goth-rock. Formats and Quantities

“The blueprint was simple: Hot Chocolate rhythms, George Murray bass lines, classical music instruments with pop sensibilities. We, the architects, however, were complicated.” Paul Simpson, 2025 Needle Mythology, the label founded by music writer, author and broadcaster Pete Paphides, is thrilled to announce the release of the much-mythologised ‘lost’ album by CARE – the group made up of IAN BROUDIE and PAUL SIMPSON Prior to forming Care, Ian and Paul had been very active in the Liverpool post-punk scene. Ian played alongside Holly Johnson, Jayne Casey, Budgie and Bill Drummond in Big In Japan, before joining the Original Mirrors. He also produced several early records by Echo and the Bunnymen, most notably the albums Crocodiles and Porcupine. Paul had played with school friend and future Bunnyman Will Sergeant in Industrial Domestic and the founding line-up of The Teardrop Explodes, before going on to form The Wild Swans. CARE were brought together late in 1982 by mutual friend Will Sergeant, when Paul was looking for someone to play a guitar part for a new song he had written. Ian obliged and asked him to return the favour by singing on one of his songs Tall Ships. When Bunnymen manager Bill Drummond heard the result, now retitled My Boyish Days (Drink To Me), he secured the pair a deal with Arista on the back of it. Care would go on to release three acclaimed singles over the course of a twelve-month period between 1983 and 1984 – My Boyish Days (Drink To Me), Flaming Sword and Whatever Possessed You – before Simpson, still struggling to come to terms with the break-up of his previous band decided not to continue. Although top 40 success eluded Care in the UK, the group quickly found an adoring fanbase in the Philippines, where all three singles became huge hits. Love Crowns and Crucifies marks the first vinyl release of the previously unheard songs gathered together on 1997’s Diamonds and Emeralds CD. Working closely with Paul Simpson and with the approval of Ian Broudie, Needle Mythology has been given access to the original quarter-inch tapes which housed everything that Broudie and Simpson recorded together.

“The blueprint was simple: Hot Chocolate rhythms, George Murray bass lines, classical music instruments with pop sensibilities. We, the architects, however, were complicated.” Paul Simpson, 2025 Needle Mythology, the label founded by music writer, author and broadcaster Pete Paphides, is thrilled to announce the release of the much-mythologised ‘lost’ album by CARE – the group made up of IAN BROUDIE and PAUL SIMPSON Prior to forming Care, Ian and Paul had been very active in the Liverpool post-punk scene. Ian played alongside Holly Johnson, Jayne Casey, Budgie and Bill Drummond in Big In Japan, before joining the Original Mirrors. He also produced several early records by Echo and the Bunnymen, most notably the albums Crocodiles and Porcupine. Paul had played with school friend and future Bunnyman Will Sergeant in Industrial Domestic and the founding line-up of The Teardrop Explodes, before going on to form The Wild Swans. CARE were brought together late in 1982 by mutual friend Will Sergeant, when Paul was looking for someone to play a guitar part for a new song he had written. Ian obliged and asked him to return the favour by singing on one of his songs Tall Ships. When Bunnymen manager Bill Drummond heard the result, now retitled My Boyish Days (Drink To Me), he secured the pair a deal with Arista on the back of it. Care would go on to release three acclaimed singles over the course of a twelve-month period between 1983 and 1984 – My Boyish Days (Drink To Me), Flaming Sword and Whatever Possessed You – before Simpson, still struggling to come to terms with the break-up of his previous band decided not to continue. Although top 40 success eluded Care in the UK, the group quickly found an adoring fanbase in the Philippines, where all three singles became huge hits. Love Crowns and Crucifies marks the first vinyl release of the previously unheard songs gathered together on 1997’s Diamonds and Emeralds CD. Working closely with Paul Simpson and with the approval of Ian Broudie, Needle Mythology has been given access to the original quarter-inch tapes which housed everything that Broudie and Simpson recorded together.

Explosive Ukrainian metalcore force SPACE OF VARIATIONS returns with Poisoned Art, out on February 13, 2026 via Napalm Records. Blending furious brutality with heartfelt emotion, the four-piece band sheds their skin and continues to push the boundaries of modern metal, their new record showing a new facet of their ever-evolving sound—a new era. Twice crowned Ukraine’s best metal band, and former tour partners of genre giants Jinjer, SPACE OF VARIATIONS are raising the bar for metalcore with the twelve new tracks of Poisoned Art. Mercilessly honest, the opening track “TRIBE” sees the band battle existential fears in both English and their native Ukrainian. Driving in the urgency are diverse stylings, ranging from djent in “HALO” to fitting sirens in “MAYDAY”, showing that SPACE OF VARIATIONS doesn’t shy away from adding a certain edge to their catchy choruses. “PARALLEL REALITIES” cleverly combines soft melodies with brutality, staging captivating desperation and neck-snapping breakdowns as parallel realities. Explosive outburst “DOPPELGÄNGER” powerfully blends groovy distorted guitars and unrelenting intensity, contrasted by haunting melodic passages and subtle electronic textures, making this song especially hard-hitting. The mix of pummeling ferocity with emotional depth continues throughout “GODLIKE” and “GHOST TOWN”, before “COLDHEAVEN” stands out from Poisoned Art through its exploration of hip hop elements and cold industrial grain. “BACK TO DIRT” continues the djent vibe, while “SNAKE SKIN” delves into electronic territory.