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"Alles ist nur Übergang": So heißt das neue Album Max Riegers. Man kann dies als künstlerisches Credo betrachten, als Selbstbeschreibung, als ästhetisches Programm. Bei Max Rieger war es schon immer so; es ist immer schon alles im Übergang gewesen: im Werden, im Fluss. Seit über einem Jahrzehnt gehört er zu den prägendsten Künstlern im deutschen Pop, wandlungs- und erfindungsreich wie kaum einer sonst. Mit seiner Gruppe Die Nerven hat er dem elektrisch verstärkten Gitarrenrock hierzulande eine neue Gestalt und neue Schärfe geschenkt. Fünf Alben haben Die Nerven seit 2012 herausgebracht, zuletzt 2022 ihr schwarzes Album, finstere, harte, zugleich nihilistische und ironische Musik, getragen von großer Weisheit und dem Wissen um die Weisheit des Primitiven. Max Rieger ist auch ein großer Klangschöpfer, er ist jemand, der Musik und Ideen zu veredeln versteht, der sich ebenso inspirieren lässt wie er inspiriert. Für eine ganze Generation junger Künstlerinnen und Künstler ist er zu einem wichtigen, prägenden Partner und Mentor geworden, als Produzent und als unterstützender Songwriter. Er hat für Casper 2022 das Album "Alles war schön und nichts tat weh" produziert, Mia Morgan, Stella Sommer, Ilgen-Nur, Jungstötter und Drangsal gearbeitet und zuletzt mit den legendären Noise-Pionieren Swans. Wer die wahre Größe Max Riegers ermessen will, der - freilich - muss seine Soloalben anhören, die er unter dem Namen All diese Gewalt veröffentlicht. "Kein Punkt wird mehr fixiert" hieß das Solo-Debüt 2014, seither sind zwei weitere Alben erschienen, das majestätisch-weiche "Welt in Klammern" 2016 und das kühle "Andere" von 2020. "Alles ist nur Übergang" ist nun sein viertes Werk als All diese Gewalt, es führt die großen Linien des Rieger"schen Schaffens fort und hebt seine Kunst doch auf eine neue Ebene: So organisch, so schwebend hat seine Musik noch nie geklungen, so scheinbar anstrengungslos dahingespielt und zugleich intensiv, mit einem unwahrscheinlichen Gespür für Dramaturgien, für das rechte Maß zwischen dem Treibenlassen der Klänge und dem plötzlich alles ändernden Break.

In the decade or so that hard-working New York quartet Sunwatchers have operated, the group has steadily & subtly refined their sound - a brain-blasting mixture of jazz, psychedelia, krautrock, punk, noise, & Saharan blues - into something that is avant-leaning enough to appeal to the discerning jazz & experimental music fan & weird & wooly enough to get the true heads' toes tapping. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is the band's 5th album, and fourth for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records, seeing the long-running lineup of Peter Kerlin (bass guitar), Jim McHugh (guitars), Jason Robira (drums), and Jeff Tobias (alto saxophone and keyboards) in prime form. Album opener "World People" is a classic Sunwatchers number whose title expresses their Anarcho-Internationalist ideology (and the atypically multi-culti make up of their crowds), with an underlying melodic resonance to New Orleans funeral marches à la Albert Ayler _ a triumphant call to arms to all peoples. Live fave "Too Gary"'s gang vocal shout punctuates a motorik rager named for a phrase often uttered by a badass eight year old skateboarder McHugh knew with a speech impediment (it means "that's too scary"). "T.A.S.C." (or "Theme For Anarchist Sports Center") is inspired by Sonny Sharrock's maligned 80's output & sounds exactly like a wrathful, mutant version of a prime-time athletic show theme, replete with the requisite "sitcom ending." The sun- scorched "Foams" - a longform piece intended to depict natural stuff like tides, nightfall, and time slowly passing, ancient, peaceful and slightly gross all at once - practically jumps out of the speakers, its palpable intensity crackling in your eardrums. The title of "Tumulus" might reference an ancient burial mound, but the music itself might be the group's most high-tech song to date, complimented by an arpeggiating sequencer, three different forms of tape delay and an electric saxophone; ecstatic, fiery & deeply spiritual. "There Goes Ol' Ooze" is a smoky creeper that lets Tobias & Kerlin take a walk for a while, with respectful nods to the Stones and Steve Reich. "Song For The Gone" closes out the album, showcasing a sincerely tender moment for the gang, as an expression of love and resolve for dear friends who had recently, tragically died. Its cascading, bluesy melody attuning itself to our own collective unconscious grief. Having the distinct pleasure of being the first band to record in John Dwyer 's new LA-based recording studio Discount Mirrors, "Music Is Victory Over Time" boasts a beefed up sound. The band worked closely with in-house engineer Eric Bauer - facilitator, troubleshooter, sonic obsessive, a legendary freak and a DIY lifer. The band also had full access to the studio's epic armory of gear: amps, axes (it's Dwyer's Eddie Harris model electric sax), synths, a bass guitar once belonging to Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys. Crucial for the sounds and the vibe. The album art was created by Josh MacPhee, the activist artist, author, archivist and founding member of both the radical artist collective Just Seeds and Interference Archive, a public collection of materials from social movements based in Brooklyn. MacPhee's participation in the project works as a statement of Sunwatchers' progressive utopian intentionality, and organically underscores their involvement in revolutionary projects within and without of their hometown. Listening to "Music Is Victory Over Time", Sunwatcher's rebellious spirit & unbridled enthusiasm remain fully intact, but the secret sauce is their infectious irreverence in the face of the horrors of this world. Much of our best cultural commentary is Trojan-horsed to the general public via humor & satire & the band has a knack for lacing the ridiculous with the radical. It's good to have them back. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is released worldwide digitally via most DSPs, on CD, black vinyl & a limited "Sunflare" blue/red splatter vinyl while supplies last.

In the decade or so that hard-working New York quartet Sunwatchers have operated, the group has steadily & subtly refined their sound - a brain-blasting mixture of jazz, psychedelia, krautrock, punk, noise, & Saharan blues - into something that is avant-leaning enough to appeal to the discerning jazz & experimental music fan & weird & wooly enough to get the true heads' toes tapping. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is the band's 5th album, and fourth for Chicago-based Trouble In Mind Records, seeing the long-running lineup of Peter Kerlin (bass guitar), Jim McHugh (guitars), Jason Robira (drums), and Jeff Tobias (alto saxophone and keyboards) in prime form. Album opener "World People" is a classic Sunwatchers number whose title expresses their Anarcho-Internationalist ideology (and the atypically multi-culti make up of their crowds), with an underlying melodic resonance to New Orleans funeral marches à la Albert Ayler _ a triumphant call to arms to all peoples. Live fave "Too Gary"'s gang vocal shout punctuates a motorik rager named for a phrase often uttered by a badass eight year old skateboarder McHugh knew with a speech impediment (it means "that's too scary"). "T.A.S.C." (or "Theme For Anarchist Sports Center") is inspired by Sonny Sharrock's maligned 80's output & sounds exactly like a wrathful, mutant version of a prime-time athletic show theme, replete with the requisite "sitcom ending." The sun- scorched "Foams" - a longform piece intended to depict natural stuff like tides, nightfall, and time slowly passing, ancient, peaceful and slightly gross all at once - practically jumps out of the speakers, its palpable intensity crackling in your eardrums. The title of "Tumulus" might reference an ancient burial mound, but the music itself might be the group's most high-tech song to date, complimented by an arpeggiating sequencer, three different forms of tape delay and an electric saxophone; ecstatic, fiery & deeply spiritual. "There Goes Ol' Ooze" is a smoky creeper that lets Tobias & Kerlin take a walk for a while, with respectful nods to the Stones and Steve Reich. "Song For The Gone" closes out the album, showcasing a sincerely tender moment for the gang, as an expression of love and resolve for dear friends who had recently, tragically died. Its cascading, bluesy melody attuning itself to our own collective unconscious grief. Having the distinct pleasure of being the first band to record in John Dwyer 's new LA-based recording studio Discount Mirrors, "Music Is Victory Over Time" boasts a beefed up sound. The band worked closely with in-house engineer Eric Bauer - facilitator, troubleshooter, sonic obsessive, a legendary freak and a DIY lifer. The band also had full access to the studio's epic armory of gear: amps, axes (it's Dwyer's Eddie Harris model electric sax), synths, a bass guitar once belonging to Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys. Crucial for the sounds and the vibe. The album art was created by Josh MacPhee, the activist artist, author, archivist and founding member of both the radical artist collective Just Seeds and Interference Archive, a public collection of materials from social movements based in Brooklyn. MacPhee's participation in the project works as a statement of Sunwatchers' progressive utopian intentionality, and organically underscores their involvement in revolutionary projects within and without of their hometown. Listening to "Music Is Victory Over Time", Sunwatcher's rebellious spirit & unbridled enthusiasm remain fully intact, but the secret sauce is their infectious irreverence in the face of the horrors of this world. Much of our best cultural commentary is Trojan-horsed to the general public via humor & satire & the band has a knack for lacing the ridiculous with the radical. It's good to have them back. "Music Is Victory Over Time" is released worldwide digitally via most DSPs, on CD, black vinyl & a limited "Sunflare" blue/red splatter vinyl while supplies last.

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson lebt in seiner Heimatstadt Los Angeles und ist einer der herausragenden Musiker, Orchestratoren, Arrangeure und Komponisten unserer Zeit. „Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1“ ist sein lang erwartetes Debütalbum. Es präsentiert uns eine leidenschaftliche Liebeserklärung und ein Reich der schönen Möglichkeiten.

Es gibt eine Fülle von Möglichkeiten, sich Miguel Atwood-Fergusons Musik zu nähern - und es gibt keine Grenzen, wohin sie jemanden führen könnte. Als Komponist, Arrangeur, Multiinstrumentalist und Produzent hat er an mehr als 600 Alben und Soundtracks für genreübergreifende Künstler:innen gearbeitet, darunter Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Anderson .Paak, Mary J. Blige oder Seu Jorge. Seine Klangpalette umfasst Jazz, Klassik, Hiphop, Electronica, Avantgarde, Pop und vieles mehr. Zu seinen gefeierten Live- und Aufnahmeprojekten gehören die innovative orchestrale Neuinterpretation des Repertoires von J Dilla, „Suite For Ma Dukes“ (2009), seine produktiven Werke mit seinem langjährigen Freund und Kollaborateur Carlos Niño, darunter das improvisierte Album, „Chicago Waves“ (2020), auf International Anthem, und seine Gruppen wie das Quartetto Fantastico und das Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble. „Les Jardins Mystiques“ ist ein Projekt, das Miguel Atwood-Fergusons musikalisches Universum offenlegt und mit anderen teilt. Es hat sich über ein Dutzend Jahre hinweg entwickelt, wurde größtenteils von ihm selbst finanziert und zeigt seine ausgesprochen elegante Musikalität (u. a. auf Geige, Bratsche, Cello und Keyboards) sowie seine freigeistigen Dialoge mit mehr als 50 Instrumentalist:innen. ‚Volume 1‘ ist hierbei bloß der erste Teil eines geplanten Triptychons, das insgesamt ganze zehneinhalb Stunden origineller und erfrischend ausladender Musik umfassen wird. Atwood-Ferguson verband sich mit seinen Gastmusiker:innen auf vielfältige Weise: durch gesellige Studiodialoge, durch Fernkommunikation während der Pandemie und durch die Energie von Live-Auftritten in seiner Heimatstadt, darunter im Del Monte Speakeasy (das herrlich belebende, von einem Klavier begleitete „Dream Dance“) und im Bluewhale (u. a. „Ano Yo“ mit dem temperamentvollen Alt-Saxophon von Devin Daniels und den kosmischen Harmonien von „Cho Oyu“). Bennie Maupin, der legendäre US-Multi-Blasinstrumentalist, zu dessen Repertoire auch Miles Davis' Fusion-Opus „Bitches Brew“ gehört, spielt Bassklarinette auf der hinreißenden Eröffnungsnummer „Kiseki“. Im Laufe seiner illustren Karriere hat Miguel Atwood-Ferguson mit Künstler:innen wie Rihanna, Ray Charles, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga, Anderson .Paak, Dr. Dre, Kamasi Washington, Mary J. Blige, will.i. am, Big Boi, Arthur Verocai, Bonobo, Lianne La Havas, Kaytranada, Moses Sumney, Seu Jorge, Common, The Roots, The Cinematic Orchestra, Jamael Dean, Shafiq Husayn, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Carlos Niño, Bilal und viele mehr zusammengearbeitet.

"Alles ist nur Übergang": So heißt das neue Album Max Riegers. Man kann dies als künstlerisches Credo betrachten, als Selbstbeschreibung, als ästhetisches Programm. Bei Max Rieger war es schon immer so; es ist immer schon alles im Übergang gewesen: im Werden, im Fluss. Seit über einem Jahrzehnt gehört er zu den prägendsten Künstlern im deutschen Pop, wandlungs- und erfindungsreich wie kaum einer sonst. Mit seiner Gruppe Die Nerven hat er dem elektrisch verstärkten Gitarrenrock hierzulande eine neue Gestalt und neue Schärfe geschenkt. Fünf Alben haben Die Nerven seit 2012 herausgebracht, zuletzt 2022 ihr schwarzes Album, finstere, harte, zugleich nihilistische und ironische Musik, getragen von großer Weisheit und dem Wissen um die Weisheit des Primitiven. Max Rieger ist auch ein großer Klangschöpfer, er ist jemand, der Musik und Ideen zu veredeln versteht, der sich ebenso inspirieren lässt wie er inspiriert. Für eine ganze Generation junger Künstlerinnen und Künstler ist er zu einem wichtigen, prägenden Partner und Mentor geworden, als Produzent und als unterstützender Songwriter. Er hat für Casper 2022 das Album "Alles war schön und nichts tat weh" produziert, Mia Morgan, Stella Sommer, Ilgen-Nur, Jungstötter und Drangsal gearbeitet und zuletzt mit den legendären Noise-Pionieren Swans. Wer die wahre Größe Max Riegers ermessen will, der - freilich - muss seine Soloalben anhören, die er unter dem Namen All diese Gewalt veröffentlicht. "Kein Punkt wird mehr fixiert" hieß das Solo-Debüt 2014, seither sind zwei weitere Alben erschienen, das majestätisch-weiche "Welt in Klammern" 2016 und das kühle "Andere" von 2020. "Alles ist nur Übergang" ist nun sein viertes Werk als All diese Gewalt, es führt die großen Linien des Rieger"schen Schaffens fort und hebt seine Kunst doch auf eine neue Ebene: So organisch, so schwebend hat seine Musik noch nie geklungen, so scheinbar anstrengungslos dahingespielt und zugleich intensiv, mit einem unwahrscheinlichen Gespür für Dramaturgien, für das rechte Maß zwischen dem Treibenlassen der Klänge und dem plötzlich alles ändernden Break.

Five groups, one mythical studio - documenting the emergence of a generation!

The initial postulate was simple: five groups, one emblematic studio and 24 hours for each to imagine and record two unreleased tracks with one objective - the will to document a French jazz scene in the midst of renewal.

In these last few years, several innovative currents have shaken up the world of jazz and attracted new fans. They have bubbled up from Los Angeles, impregnated with hip-hop culture (Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, Thundercat), or from London, tinged with African rhythms (Nubya Garcia, Kokoroko, Ezra Collective). Meanwhile, in France, a new scene is emerging, carrying with it more of a dancefloor-oriented sound influenced by electronic music - an obvious kinship with the French Touch explosion of the late 90s.

Historically, every movement has been assimilated to a certain neighbourhood, to specific clubs where late at night, young guns stayed up to imagine the jazz of tomorrow - the Cotton Club for the jazz of the 20s, Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem for Be-Bop, the Black Hawk in San Francisco for West Coast jazz, Birdland in New York for Hard-Bop or a lot more recently, the Total Refreshment Centre which has been the playing field for the new London scene.

In Paris too, this new sound is associated with actual venues, places which have allowed these groups to form, create a repertoire and forge an aesthetic - Le Baiser Salé for Monsieur Mâlâ, La Gare/Le Gore for Photon, La Pêche in Montreuil for Ishkero, La Petite Halle for Underground Canopy and also le Duc des Lombards and le 38 Riv’ for Alex Monfort; it’s in a live context that this music will always continue to evolve.

Keeping this “live” spirit, with all its spontaneity, was actually the guiding line for the elaboration of this Studio Pigalle compilation. Each take was recorded in the most organic way possible, bringing all the musicians together in the same room to limit post-production alterations before the final cut was assembled, in just one day, by studio in-house sound engineer, Felix Rémy.

A feeling of urgency permeates a record guided by an artistic production taking care to crystalise the essence of this artistically free-range generation whose childhoods were rocked just as much by Bill Evans and Roy Hargrove as by J Dilla and Jeff Mills. One of the two tracks recorded is geared towards the dancefloor, and the other, more cosmic/ambient gives freer rein to individual interpretation.

There were therefore many possible ways of interpreting these guidelines for the five formations which number among the most distinctive on the current French musical landscape, and the occasion, for some, to rummage through their archives! With Transe (Mbappé) and Da Verdere (Vella), Monsieur

Mâlâ present us with two unreleased tracks issued from the very first rehearsals of the quintet reworked especially for this compilation. “Seen the aesthetic range of this group, it all worked out very naturally in the studio”, recounts keyboardist Nicholas Vella “Recording like they did in the sixties with all the channels live and working with small imperfections was a very interesting task, even when it came to the mix, we had to make do with the takes we had... “

“Our group is very recent, and with this session, in just two tracks, we had the opportunity to present the entirety of our musical universe,” says Photons pianist Gauthier Toux. “All too often, we assimilate this fusion between jazz and dance music to computers and post-production modifications. For “Dessine”, we kept the first take, and we must have recorded just three or four for the other track with more of a techno bent. In one day, we understood that we could play our entire repertoire live, from A to Z”.

“When the Komos label offered me this project, it immediately spoke to me”, remembers Alex Monfort “Straight away, I thought of “Since I Met You”, a track with a nine/four time signature which really is reminiscent of a new- soul groove, but with this extra cosmic vibe! I wrote the words to the chorus and Nina Tonji placed her voice on the track, adding her own verses. For “Tonight”, the up-tempo track, I wanted to head off in more of a hybrid direction inspired by Kaytranada or the Black Radio series by Robert Glasper. A cross-over between jazz and hip-hop which really does represent my world, and I also tried to place vocals centre stage (Emcee Agora)”.

“We truly resonated with the way Antoine Rajon imagined this compilation and the recording session”, confide Warren Dongué and Jérémy Tallon from Underground Canopy. “When arriving in this studio we felt as if we had gone backtothe70s! Inkeepingwiththespiritofthisera,heknewhowtoletus keep our spontaneity, without recording in too many takes, and that’s how we like to work”.

“We managed to adhere to the themes of the compilation without changing our instrumentation, we wanted to remain faithful to the sound of Ishkero on these new compositions and take them somewhere else” – says drummer TaoEhrlich -“Withoutaddinganyelectronics.Thesessionwassupervisedin a truly subtle and benevolent manner. From a human perspective, it was also a wonderful experience”.

Whether turned towards hip-hop, ethnic or electronic music, the artists featured on this Studio Pigalle compilation represent the eclecticism of a new generation in the process of writing the first chapters of its history. Open to experimentation, these artists continue to hold high an immutable love for improvisation and creation in the moment... another definition of the word Jazz!

Die Psychedelic Porn Crumpets sind mit ihrem sechsten Studioalbum zurück. Das australische Psych-Rock-Fünfergespann hat seit der Veröffentlichung von "Night Gnomes" im Jahr 2022 an "Fronzoli" gearbeitet - ein Titel, der so viel bedeutet wie "etwas Unnötiges, das als Dekoration hinzugefügt wurde". Dilemma Us From Evil" ist die neueste Singleauskopplung aus dem Album und ein Paradebeispiel für Psychedelic Porn Crumpets' verblüffende Mischung aus schweren, melodischen Gitarren, harmonischen Texten und exzentrischem Songwriting. Es folgt auf die Singles "Nootmare (K-I-L-L-I-N-G) Meow!" und "(I'm a Kadaver) Alakazam", die Anfang des Jahres veröffentlicht wurden. Das Album strotzt nur so vor dem überdrehten, glitzernden Sound der Band aus Perth, der Einflüsse von klassischen Rockgrößen wie Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin und den Beatles sowie experimentellen elektronischen Jazz enthält. Diese Rockeinflüsse sind auf "Fronzoli" deutlich zu hören, mit thrashigen Grunge-Tracks wie "Sierra Nevada" und dem frenetischen "Hot! Heat! Wow! Hot!", in denen die hyperaktiven Gitarren und die schrägen Texte der Band zur Geltung kommen. Die Band, die als Freunde begann, bevor sie sich zusammenfand, ist stolz auf ihre fröhliche und ungeschliffene Unordnung, wenn es um Songwriting und Produktion geht. "Diese Platte ist mein bisheriges Lieblingswerk", sagt Songwriter und Frontmann Jack McEwan, "jede Nuance wurde diskutiert, verleumdet und sorgfältig in die richtige Position gebracht, es wird sporadisch außerhalb der Linien gemalt, so dass diese extravertierten Schnörkel übrig bleiben." Jede LP-Farbe ist auf nur 250 Exemplare limitiert. Die CD ist ein aufklappbares Digipack, 500 Stück gepresst.

Confident and deliberate. Lightning in a bottle. The Rapture’s Echoes was and is a clear-eyed kick in the teeth, a band at the peak of their powers and producers with an ambitious vision making. a. point. The whole “indie crowd finally learns to dance” narrative is overwrought and irrelevant in 2023 - perhaps context is no longer king - but what remains clear is that this album, made by a San Diego punk band who had moved to New York via Seattle, and produced by the DFA in their own studio, where time and gear and ideas both good and bad were aplenty, maintains an energy and search for catharsis that could bulldoze even the most uptight. For whatever reason, it’s remained out of print on vinyl since its initial run.

Next in line in the Snaretrade series is an EP by one of our favourite people: Gols.

He operates the Hoot label, has released with Ghent label/party Ojoo and has been crafting tracks low key for a long time.

We start out with dessert: In Au bain marie we’re given some elegant yet hard to follow instructions on how to make the perfect chocolate mousse. DJ and Knetterbar operator Yentl kindly lent her voice, not knowing the recording would be used as a final take. In Hundreds and Thousands, Gols weaves thick layers of percussion and synths, forming a dense and deep structure that pulls us in. In the midst of moving his music studio, this track was the last one to be recorded before pulling the plugs and boxing the gear up. On the flipside, Regrooved is a shuffling, sneaky and amusing bit of house that never really admits if it’s just arriving at the party, or just about to leave. After-hour fare for those who like something sweet after dinner.

The last twelve months have been a whirlwind for Henry Counsell and Louis Curran, the men who make up Joy (Anonymous). Having established themselves during the Covid-19 era by playing impromptu meet-ups on London’s South Bank, they have graduated to bigger venues, travelled to far-flung locales and recorded their second album, Cult Classics, while maintaining the spontaneous energy and irrepressible joy that made their name. Their music revels in the euphoria of being alive and all the feelings, good or bad, that come with it. It invites us into a community, draws us close and promises the night of our lives.

Recorded over the course of a year, the blueprint for Cult Classics was laid down over a two-week span at Imogen Heap’s Round House in east London. Joy (Anonymous) invited friends old and new to visit - they’d record live instruments in jam sessions upstairs and then retreat to a second room to flip and loop and generally mess with the sounds, moulding them into sizzling dance tracks. “Loads of people were coming up to me like ‘I thought this was going to be a dance record?’” Louis says, remembering the quietly beautiful music they’d be recording. “I’d be like, don’t worry about that, just keep playing.” He’d send it back to people later and they’d be floored - “That was my bit and you’ve made it... jungle!”

It was an organic and creatively fulfilling approach, one that didn’t allow any of the music to get stale or stagnate. As they built the tracks from the sounds they’d collected, Joy (Anonymous) would weave the new songs into their famously improvised live sets, testing them, refining them, taking note of the audiences’ reactions. In a year punctuated by a lot of travel, they’d also incorporate the voices of people they met along the way - “Beazley’s Poem”, which opens the record, features the words of a man who was working security at a Fred Again show at New York’s Terminal Five. “He was basically doing the opposite of his job and being a hype man, climbing on the fence and ramping up the crowd - we ended up hanging out with him - like, who’s this legend?” Louis explains. “He just speaks really amazingly about his life, all these amazing thoughts and opinions - he started jumping on the mic when we were playing, preaching these amazing messages to the crowd, like that we all need to be nicer to each other. The first time we played the record in its entirety, he introduced us and that’s the recording we’ve used.”

Joy (Anonymous) remain dedicated to the spirit of spontaneity. They shut a street down with a surprise waterside party in New York. On a trip to Copenhagen they played an impromptu set in a cafe, which turned into a house party and a night-long good time. In Lithuania, they ended up playing in a decommissioned prison. It’s harder, perhaps, to keep that spirit alive now that they are operating more within the confines of the music industry but they will keep lugging their kit to wherever the party calls for as long as they can. “I think if we lose that, we’ve kind of lost what makes us us,” Henry says.

Bursting with multi-genre reference points and disparate influences, Cult Classics is very much a dance album. The samples we made ourselves or we took from music that is quite different to dance music, but we definitely wanted to shout out a lot of the dance influences that we love,” Henry says. They listened to a lot of Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx as well as The Prodigy (“more rage stuff”), taking songwriting tips from their dance forebears, but also recording bits that felt more like jazz and motown (see: A Place I Belong and the lovely album closer, You’re In Or You’re Out). Emir Taha’s gentle classical guitar runs like a thread throughout Cult Classics, washing into the undertones of the record, tying it all together.

The album follows the beat of a night out, from frenetic, sweaty movement to the gentler winding down as the dawn breaks. At times it is euphoric, celebratory and pure, whirling fun, at others it seeks the joy in the darker emotions that life throws our way. 404 is designed to encapsulate everything about the Joy (Anonymous) journey so far. Skittering beats and ghostly vocals give way to vibrating house chords: sirens blare as we approach a dubstep drop. It’s dramatic and wild, ratcheting up, seeming to settle then hitting you with an intense and frantic breakdown before the ghostly vocal returns to lull us back into the world. It has the feel of a hungry cat playing with a mouse, toying with it before letting it get away.

What sounds like someone playing the spoons on playful, housey How We End Up Here is actually Louis’ restless habit of clicking his rings on everything, one of a myriad of calling cards and easter eggs that day one fans will recognise. They rework Miley Cyrus and Swae Lee’s Party Up The Street into a French-electro-inspired future classic, adding a note of melancholy to a tune that you can imagine hearing blaring from every car on a summer drive. The lyrics on Cult Classic are generally reassuring, inspirational, originally drawn from Henry in stream-of-consciousness freestyles. You’re fine the way you are, they seem to say - the repeated “No need to try” of A Place I Belong, the assurance that “It’s in me all the time” on In Me All The Time. Even the summery but regretful Did You Wrong hints at the growth that is possible from less than ideal behaviour. For Joy (Anonymous), joy isn’t about just being “happy” all the time - it’s about relishing every element of your being.

The name ‘Joy (Anonymous)’ is taken from the work Henry did with Alcoholics Anonymous groups: it is a way to build a community around sharing joy. Their impromptu live sets are known as ‘meetings’; they encourage fans to share moments of joy to their website. They care deeply about the scene they’ve come up in and are determined not to leave it behind. Every show is another chance to reach out and connect with people who love to come together and revel in music as loud as it can go.

Support slots for Fred Again and The Streets, wild B2Bs with Fred and Skrillex, and a set at Four Tet’s Finsbury Park all-dayer this summer have given the duo the opportunity to live out childhood dreams and introduced their infectious live shows to new audiences at huge venues.

With an album as assured and joyful as Cult Classics on the horizon (and a killer collab with The Blessed Madonna coming up), they’re only going to reach higher heights. But the essence of Joy (Anonymous) remains on the South Bank. Between shows at Ally Pally in September, they dragged their camping chairs and gear back down to the banks of the Thames: and it just felt right.

The visionary French musician stays true, in this third compendium too, to his path of planetary asceticism. A new treasure chest of secrets reveals to us the same spirituality of total experimentation, by balancing the universe and the inner soul. In Taste The Fullness Of Life Ariel builds his symphonic pillars toward the cosmos, eternal architectures that always smell of Indian fragrances. The music always communicates a state of full grace, spreading balms of bliss. An unprecedented whispered narrating voice, evident especially in Spiritual Chanson D'Esprit, is embellished with textures of harmonic bells, tropical flutes, spacey harmoniums and drones of mystical light. In the recordings of Going Inward, also made on the occasion of a Tantric workshop, Kalma oscillates between tribal electronic dances, metalic almost industrial rhythms, but then always falls back in a comfort zone made of desert carpets of synths and baths of sound (gong/bells). Harmonica Galactica crowns interestellar dreams with unscrupulous drum-machine gears and pulsing saxes, superb use of VCS3 with arabesque and Schulzian overtones, and suave touches of fingerpicking guitar with freak vibes typical of psych-folk.

Seit ihrem Auftauchen Mitte der 1990er Jahre haben beide eine starke Präsenz im Kontext der amerikanischen experimentellen Musik und beide jeweils seitdem einige der fesselndsten Originalwerke produziert. Kenney ist eine experimentelle Vokalistin, Komponistin und Lehrerin, die sich auf die transformativen Kräfte der Stimme und die Beziehung des Klangs zu mystischen Erfahrungen konzentriert. Neben ihrer Zusammenarbeit mit Oren Ambarchi, Tashi Wada, Avey Tare, Alvin Lucier, Sarah Davachi, dem Ensemble Nist-Nah, Sunn O))) und zahlreichen anderen ist sie bekannt für ihre Aufführung indonesischer Vokalmusik (Sindhenan) und persischer Vokalmusik (Radifs) sowie für ihre eigenen Kompositionen, die Elemente beider Musikrichtungen aufgreifen. Kang, ein Komponist und Multi-Instrumentalist, der für seine einzigartige Herangehensweise an die Bratsche hoch angesehen ist, hat auf zahlreichen Gebieten gearbeitet und auf Alben von Bill Frisell, Joe McPhee, Sun City Girls, Wayne Horvitz, Ikue Mori, Laurie Anderson, Aki Onda, John Zorn, Blonde Redhead, William Hooker, Animal Collective, Lou Reed, Oren Ambarchi und zahlreichen anderen mitgewirkt sowie eine Reihe von Solowerken geschaffen, die Elemente seiner isländischen, dänischen und koreanischen Herkunft enthalten. Azure ist eine hypnotische Rückkehr zu Kenneys und Kangs einzigartigem Ausdruck von "Unisono-Musik" und gehört zu den am stärksten reduzierten und minimalistischen Arbeiten des Duos seit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt. Die fünf Kompositionen werden durch Anspielungen auf die natürliche Welt unterstrichen.

Seltene Tracks von Alex Chilton, produziert von Chris Bell. Linernotes von Rich Tupica und Elizabeth Hoehn (alias Lesa Aldridge). Jetzt zum ersten Mal auf 12"-Vinyl.

Es ist Mitte bis Ende 1975, was von Big Star übrig geblieben ist, gibt es nicht mehr, Third/Sister Lovers steht im Regal und Alex Chilton ist in Memphis an einem Tiefpunkt angelangt. Chris Bell verbrachte einen großen Teil des Jahres in London und versuchte, einen Solo-Plattenvertrag zu bekommen, ging aber leer aus und flog im Spätsommer nach Hause, um seine Familie zu besuchen. Während er zu Hause war, nahm Bell bei Ardent weitere Solotitel auf, von denen einer, "You And Your Sister", einen Harmoniegesang brauchte, so dass er Alex hinzuzog.

Fans haben lange geglaubt, dass dies die letzte Aufnahme war, bei der Bell und Chilton im Studio zusammenarbeiteten, aber nur wenige Tage nach dieser Session waren sie wieder zusammen im Studio, wobei Bell eine Reihe von Demos für Alex aufnahm. Chilton nahm frühe Takes von "My Rival" (später für das Like Flies On Sherbert-Album umgeschnitten) und "All Of The Time" (später für die Singer Not The Song-EP und das Bach's Bottom-Album umgeschnitten) sowie die damals unveröffentlichten Tracks "She Might Look My Way" (das zuerst auf dem 1978er-Album Losing You To Sleep von Co-Autor Tommy Hoehn erschien) und "Windows Hotel" (das schließlich 2015 auf dem Live-Album Ocean Club '77 veröffentlicht wurde) auf. Leider war weder eine Zusammenarbeit noch eine wie auch immer geartete Big Star-Reunion geplant.

Semi Delicious return for their 16th edition with the impressive ‘Asylum Of Love’ VA inviting faces old and new to the imprint. A label noted for bringing together impressive collections of talent, SEMID016 is no exception with contributions from Krywald & Farrer, Gallegos, Tattie Dee, Omar Smadar & DJ Gear, Scarlett O’Malley & label boss, Demi Riquisimo.

The A-side welcomes Krywald & Farrer, Gallegos and Tatie Dee. The release kicks off with ’Seize The Source’ from the aforementioned Krywald & Farrer. A classic house beat with modern, psychedelic flourishes, the track sets the tone nicely for an EP loaded with club ready heaters. Up next is label regular Gallegos with ‘Asylum of Love’, in keeping with the
house-centric motif, Gallegos delivers an acid laden, Chicago inspired weapon. ‘For My Niece’ by Tatie Dee wraps up side one on dreamy, Balearic tip.

Omar Smadar & DJ Gear’s ‘Check One’ opens up the B-side. A cruising progressive jam that's certain to be heard throughout the autumn and for the duration of 2023’s club season. Next Rinse FM resident and Club Cowgirl label boss Scarlett O’Malley makes her Semi Delicious bow with the grooving percussive ‘Hey Party People’. Demi himself puts the finishing touches on SEMID016 with a 2023 interpretation of his own ‘Rocking You Internally’ from his own ‘Mirage Over’ EP, released on the same imprint.

Catalogue number 6 from Dedicate highlights a reissue from a timeless beat mixtape dropped in a pre-streaming era in 2012. The original 2rbostatic was released as a handmade USB flash drive/Cassette tape hybrid in combination with a free download. For the first time now the remastered version will be on vinyl.

On 50 minutes playtime Kollege Schnürschuh expresses his affection for Hip-Hop with 27 (almost) exclusively instrumental tracks representing the full spectrum of musical influences in all shapes and forms. A short entertaining journey through MPC sampling and synth sounds with an extraordinary love for details.

Transluzentes algengrünes Color-Vinyl (140g) inklusive doppelseitigen 12"-Kunstdruck und Download-Code.

Forest Swords (alias der elektronische Produzent/ Komponist Matthew Barnes) kündigt sein neues Album, „Bolted“, an. Nachdem er in den letzten Jahren als gefragter Komponist und Sounddesigner gearbeitet und Musik für Ballett, Film und Videospiele geschrieben hat, wurde „Bolted“ im letzten Jahr in einer Lagerhalle in Barnes' Heimatstadt Liverpool aufgenommen. Auf den elf Tracks taucht er tiefer in sein einzigartiges Klangvokabular ein, um eine Reihe von Tracks zu weben, die gleichermaßen kraftstrotzend und düster, eindringlich und euphorisch klingen.

Wie immer in seiner Musik, fühlen sich Melancholie und Euphorie, Monochrom und Farbe, Vergangenheit und Zukunft mehrdeutig an. Die Emotionen verschieben sich von Moment zu Moment, die Unterschiede zwischen digitalen und akustischen Instrumenten sind verwischter denn je: eine Verquickung von Zeit, Raum und Klang, die sich gleichermaßen spielerisch und absolut vital anfühlt.

Zusammen mit der Ankündigung über das neue Album kommt „The Low“, eine stimmungsvolle, metallische Triphop-Single aus „Bolted“. Barnes kommentiert den Track wie folgt: „‚The Low‘ basiert auf einem Beat, den ich ursprünglich für Yoko Ono vorgesehen hatte, und enthält Elemente, die ich sowohl am Anfang als auch am Ende des Albums gemacht habe, und verbindet so viele der Sounds und Emotionen, die ich während des Schreibprozesses erforscht habe. Das begleitende Video, das ich zusammen mit Sam Wiehl gedreht habe, vertieft einige meiner Artworks und die visuelle Welt, die das Album begleitet.“.

Ivan Pavlov aka CoH characterizes his latest solo work,Radiant Faults,as “the recording of a dialogue,” rather than a set of compositions. Crafted using a rare new synthesizer,the Silhouette Eins, Pavlov’s first encounter with the instrument across a long, late night session resultedin a continuous set of textures, patterns, and subliminal melodies. Atsome point during the process, he realized he was not alone: “It was as ifsomething was speaking to me through the gear–the feeling was very intense.No matter how determined and specific I attempted to be, theresults were something else. They felt like 'responses.’ This instantly reminded me of ELpH.

Ivan Pavlov aka CoH characterizes his latest solo work,Radiant Faults,as “the recording of a dialogue,” rather than a set of compositions. Crafted using a rare new synthesizer,the Silhouette Eins, Pavlov’s first encounter with the instrument across a long, late night session resultedin a continuous set of textures, patterns, and subliminal melodies. Atsome point during the process, he realized he was not alone: “It was as ifsomething was speaking to me through the gear–the feeling was very intense.No matter how determined and specific I attempted to be, theresults were something else. They felt like 'responses.’ This instantly reminded me of ELpH.

Kingdom Eighties is the latest videogame instalment in the award-winning Kingdom series by gaming studio Raw Fury. It's a single-player adventure game of micro-strategy and base building, heavily inspired by the memories and references of Eighties Americana. You play as The Leader, a young camp counsellor who will have to defend their town and family from the relentless attack of the mysterious Greed. Kingdom Eighties provides a minimalist feel with a beautiful, handcrafted modern pixel art aesthetic, combined with the neon lights of the Eighties and an Eighties inspired synthwave soundtrack.

The score is composed by Andreas Hald, a Copenhagen-based film and media composer who has written scores for movies and television. For Kingdom Eighties, Andreas used the exact same instruments that music producers were utilizing in the Eighties, using nothing but analogue gear and tools to create a signature, authentic Eighties sound. To top it off, the soundtrack was mastered for vinyl by Grammy Award-winner Adam Ayan at the Gateway Mastering Studios. The master audio went through multiple iterations to make sure the highest quality sound was obtained for this specific vinyl release.

Kingdom Eighties is available as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on translucent magenta coloured vinyl. This 2LP set includes a poster of the game and a 4-page booklet with liner notes by the composer and game director. Additionally, it includes two full colour printed innersleeves and is housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve with gloss laminate finish.

A captivating work of impressionistic memories, observations and intimate confessions, Ebony wrote her debut self-titled solo album while coming into prominence as an in-demand portrait photographer within New Zealand’s contemporary literature and independent music scenes. The release comes five years after her alt-country band, Eb & Sparrow, amicably parted ways in 2018.

Recorded on vintage analog studio gear and mastered to tape, EBONY LAMB finds Runga and Nielson placing Ebony’s distinct, fragile-but-firm voice within a cinematic confluence of jazz, folk, psychedelia, alt-country and ambient pop. Written over the last five years while coming to terms with the realities of a changing world, themes of gratitude, loss, acceptance and aspiration run through the album like a river, especially in the nocturnal groove of ‘My Daughter My Sister My Son’ and ‘Brother Get Me Home’.

From the album’s opening notes, Ebony expresses herself in non-judgmental terms, singing with a raw tenderness that draws listeners into her reflections on friendship (‘Drive Me Around’), the complexity and contradictions of success (‘Successful Feelings’), and connections in seemingly hopeless moments (‘Come, Put A Record On’). Yet while her songs can feel like she’s sitting just across from you, Runga and Nielson’s production imbues them with an expansive sensibility. Spare, vivid and moving,

EBONY LAMB is an album that captures a defining artistic leap from a talented artist coming into her own. Singing to herself and the listener, she implores us to continue reaching forward without losing sight of what we have and the elements of our lives that truly matter.

The eponymous debut disc from German-Swedish supergroup 4
Wheel Drive went straight to the top spot as Best-Selling Jazz Album
In Germany For 2019. And the media didn’t hold back with their
praise either: “Four first-league jazz musicians with pure joy of playing
and a love of good pop music,” said ZDF’s ‘heute-journal’ about this
spirited and enjoyable group that combines trombonist / singer Nils
Landgren, pianist Michael Wollny, bassist / cellist Lars Danielsson
and drummer Wolfgang Haffner.
 For ‘4 Wheel Drive II’, it is evident that things have shifted up a gear
right from the start, with the rocky, pulsating opening track, ‘Chapter
II’, straight from Wollny’s compositional workbench. Landgren likes to
let his trombone roar like a sports car engine. In similarly dynamic
vein are pieces like Danielsson’s final track of the album, ‘The
Wheelers’, which, thanks to Haffner’s nimble brushwork, makes you
think you’re on a high speed train.
 Compared to the first album, there has been another change, an
increase in the proportion of original compositions written by all of the
participants, as Lars Danielsson, who has contributed a sensitive,
poppy ballad to the new album, ‘Just Another Hour’, remarks.
“Interpretations of worldwide hit songs were a factor behind the huge
success of the debut album, but the ratio to original compositions
here is getting closer to 50:50. That said, the fuel powering 4 Wheel
Drive has remained the same: this band is all about creating music
from deep within, and with like-minded people whom you can
absolutely and implicitly trust to be in the driving seat.”
 “It just flows,” enthuses drummer Haffner, “we’re a group of close
friends with nothing we need to prove, we can just go for it. I've had
so many magic moments with this band, it really is incredible!”
 On the new album, listeners are treated to several new moments of
pure magic, continuing 4 Wheel drive’s illustrious story. For example,
their new instrumental version of the Simon & Garfunkel classic,
‘Sound of Silence’, has something mysteriously Nordic about it. Or
their newly-cast version of the surprisingly infrequently covered
Genesis ballad, ‘Hold On My Heart’, putting it into a jazz context. The
courage to approach pop tunes that have become so ingrained in
many people’s minds from a completely different perspective pays off
in full. Within 4 Wheel Drive are four originals at work, each of whom
can be recognised from the very first note they play or sing.

"Pretty Paper" ist das erste Weihnachtsalbum und das 24. Studioalbum des Country-Sängers Willie Nelson. Es war auch seine letzte Veröffentlichung in den 1970er Jahren. Nelson wendete sich erneut an den Produzenten und Arrangeur Booker T. Jones, mit dem er im Jahr zuvor am gefeierten Album "Stardust" gearbeitet hatte. Der selbst komponierte Titelsong war 1963 ein Weihnachtshit gewesen, als er von Roy Orbison veröffentlicht wurde. Willie liefert außerdem äußerst charmante Interpretationen von "White Christmas", "Jingle Bells", "Silent Night", "Here Comes Santa Claus", "Frosty the Snowman", "Blue Christmas", "Winter Wonderland" und mehr!

Moments of eternity: the first plucks at the strings, a bass note cementing the drift into place a little more than a minute in. The organ drones, iterating unrelivable ancient history, a chiming note of the church. Guitars strings, climbing that stairway to heaven. Gossamer-light when viewed from a distance; up close, the gears grind with a visceral physicality. With BCMC, Cooper Crain and Bill MacKay unite to create Foreign Smokes: provocalogues, equal parts avant-garde noir and fire-and-icy jams to recall bright shades and warm stretches of infinity drawn through the buzzy overdrive of this side of life"s strange and sunny days. Cooper"s organ and synths and Bill"s guitar draw songs from spontaneous statements and elegiac scraps, floating closer, then farther, and closer again to the sounds of the other. Starting with a melody, as set of progressions or even as little as a scale or just a key, gives room for either one of "em to take the lead, depending on where they are or are going at any given time. The reigning motif most often seems to be, to melt and wind around each other"s sound, part of a singular undulation, handed back and forth, a slowly emerging trip up into and through an ideal of exuberance.

Formed in the spring of 2020, Los Angeles-based Sacred Skin is the creative duo of Brian DaMert and Brian Tarney. In short order, the pair has shown a nearly unmatched ability to create anthemic pop music steeped in romanticism and melancholy and drenched in layers upon layers of new wave nostalgia. Backed by an impressive string of singles throughout 2021 and into the following year, the band released their highly anticipated full-length debut, The Decline of Pleasure, in May of 2022 to much fanfare. Armed with vintage gear such as the Sequential Circuits Prophet-VS & E-mu Emulator II and buoyed by strong songwriting, expert production work, and DaMert’s emotionally-charged vocals, Sacred Skin has delivered a modern masterpiece of an album that belongs as much to the ‘80s as it does the present day. An album worthy of standing next to the strongest efforts of idols like Duran Duran, INXS, Peter Gabriel, Depeche Mode, and New Order. An album that has captured the hearts of so many already and will no doubt continue to do so for years to come.

Midnight Mannequin Records is proud to present this deluxe reissue of The Decline of Pleasure, pressed for the first time on 2xLP colored vinyl and housed in a gatefold jacket complete with OBI strip. Newly remastered and cut at 45 rpm for exceptional sound quality, this is Decline like you’ve never heard it before. Featuring the bonus tracks Killer’s Mind and a remix of fan favorite Earthbound by fellow synth pop disciples Nuovo Testamento.

For this album Ghetto Kumbé has enlisted an all-star roster of artists from four different continents, they’ve put together a fresh version of their debut album that’s been specifically geared to the world’s diverse slate of dancefloors, whether at home or in the club, this double 12” 45 RPM is the perfect format to experience this music. There's no denying the power of the drum. It's primal, it cuts across borders and most importantly, it makes you want to move. Ghetto Kumbé don't just understand that they celebrate it, and it's why the tambor was at the heart of the Bogotá-based trio's 2020 self-titled debut album. Rooted in mysticism and the Afro-Caribbean rhythms they'd grown up with all their lives, the critically acclaimed LP thrillingly updated the traditional Latin template, folding in elements of modern hip-hop, house and bass music while also delivering a transportive Afro-futurist vision. On Clubbing Remixes, that vision has been further amplified, as Ghetto Kumbé who were already one of Colombia's most prominent alternative acts have now gone fully global; enlisting an all-star roster of artists from four different continents, they've put together a fresh version of their debut album that's been specifically geared to the world's diverse slate of dancefloors. As the title implies, the new LP is meant for the club, which is why Ghetto Kumbé have turned to Latin music heavyweights like Trooka a multiple Grammy winner whose resume includes work with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Residente and Monte (a.k.a. Bomba Estéreo founder Simón Mejía), along with top-shelf DJs like Nickodemus and Uproot Andy, two NYC artists who've spent decades championing Afro-Latin rhythms. True to the LP's global spirit, the record also includes reworks from batida maestro DJ Firmeza, fellow Afro-Portuguese outfit Studio Bros and Parisian house groovers Les Enfants Sauvages, plus genre-blurring remixes from sonically adventurous Colombians Montoya (himself another ZZK artist) and Cero39. Even the artwork on Clubbing Remixes is a remix, as Ghetto Kumbé have tapped Uganda's Denzel Muhumuza to transform the cover of their debut album into a new, explicitly Afro-futuristic illustration. Depicting a strong Black face and glowing neon fauna beneath a sparkling moonlit sky, the fantastical image speaks to both the ritual magic and Afro-indebted heritage of Ghetto Kumbé's music, and thanks to Clubbing Remixes, the group's passionate, drum-fueled sounds will soon be blasting out of soundsystems around the globe.a

Since stepping onto the scene over a decade ago, Romanian producer Nu Zau has become a figurehead for the microhouse scene his homeland is synonymous with, racking up releases on the likes of the Italian Modbox helmed Castanea, Stockholm’s Sono Unica and Aurum, sub-label of the renowned white label Telum imprint. Here, we see Nu Zau joining the roster of Basel, Switzerland’s Adam’s Bite, home to material from the likes of Barac, Cristi Cons, Traumer and Ion Ludwig amongst others.

Leading the way on the package is ‘Feeling Alive’ a subtly unfurling journey that twists and turns through bouncy bass notes, an amalgamation of modulating synth flutters, hypnotic voices and crisp percussion. ‘Your Turn’ follows next and shifts gears towards squelchy acid bass, choppy stab sequences and ethereal pads, all underpinned by a crunchy, raw drum workout.

On the flip-side ‘Intense Jazzy’, as the name would suggest leans into a more organic feel with a snaking bass line, a shuffled jazz-tinged rhythm and a murky underlying tension perfectly crafted for dark, smoky rooms. ‘The Light We Carry’ then rounds out the release, bringing swirling resonant synth textures and robotic voices into the mix alongside a swaying sub bass groove and low-slung drums

Five years in the game marks a very special milestone for In-Reach Records, a label born from a love of drum & bass music and a passion to share that love with like-minded individuals. What better way to celebrate that milestone than a compilation of the sounds and souls that have fuelled the labels journey so far. The artists behind all nine of IRR’s past releases have combined, along with some important members of the In-Reach family, to create this exquisitely emotive VA album.

Heading up the release is a very serious piece of wax dropping in September 2023. The 12” vinyl exclusive album sampler comprises two tracks that have been causing waves in the scene for some time. Kicking off with Kid Drama’s remix of ‘Another Place’, we have an expert re-work of an already awesome track from Sam Binary and Deviant. The hissing bass joins the drum break half way through the intro while the vocal sample repeats its mantra. As expected, a gear change hits on the drop with the entry of sub bass stabs, which take on an increasingly melodic form as they evolve throughout the track.


The legendary Madcap takes on remix duties for the B-side with his take on Greekboy’s & AKA's ‘The Jungle’, which first aired on LTJ Bukem’s Radio 1 Guest Mix in 2021. The stepping drum break enters from the outset, building atmosphere alongside the pads and vocal cries in preparation for the extremely weighty running baseline.

Reach for the geiger counter - Park End comes shelling in the direction of Sneaker Social Club with some plutonium-plated, 2-stepping swelterweight gear for the grubbiest of dancehalls. All we can ascertain about the shadowy figure on the buttons for this latest release is that they’re clearly schooled in the lineage of UK hardcore, pirate radio culture and the sympathetic tenets of UKG, jungle and dubstep.

Opening up the A side, ’Same Dream’ is a claustrophobic, gnarly creeper with razor-sharp snares, growling low end and enough heads-down malaise to turn the most blissful sunrise set ice-cold. ‘The Immortality Of The Crab’ pays tribute to the fine tradition of illegal radio broadcasting and its importance for the development of rave, leaning on a staggered, mucky garage beat that smacks hard just how we like it.

On the flip, Park End turns attention to the synergy between RnB and garage with a refix of BBL Sound’s ‘BBS’, pairing the sweetest vocal chops with plenty of bitter b-line pressure, while ‘Rekt’ draws on an unnamed voice for another fission between human sensitivity and mechanised intensity. This parting shot borders on anti-anthemic by the time it reaches its peak while holding true to the pitch-black vibe creeping out around the edges of this rough diamond of an EP.

Für das Prequel 'Gears Of War: Judgement' (2013) schufen die Komponisten Steve Jablonsky und Jacob Shea eine brodelnde, industrielle Klanglandschaft aus gewaltig klingenden Synthesizern, knackigen Gitarrensounds und sparsamen orchestralen Elementen. Streng strukturierte, emotional angespannte Cues untermalen die Geschichte um Damon Baird und das Militärtribunal von Kilo Squad. Deluxe-Ausgabe auf dunkelrot und dunkelblauem 180g Doppelvinyl mit 30 remastered Tracks im Gatefold-Sleeve.

This EP is the first release to mark the start of a new adventure, illustrating Rude Jude's commitment to a smooth and melodic vintage sound.

Featuring 3 original songs, a cover and an epilogue, it is deeply inspired by the legends of Adult Oriented Rock and a mix of 70s/80s Soft Rock, Jazz and Pop.

The contribution of the talented vocalist, songwriter and violin player, Jon GK can't be understated in creating and interpreting these songs. All the parts are played by musicians and the production is made through as much analog gear from that era as possible. It is not just a tribute but an attempt to carry the torch and bring something new to the current music landscape.

One year after his first release, the french producer and multi instrumentist Antoine Bourachot returns with Diversions, a groove filled journey into espionage.

Inspired by great fusion and disco records, with the help from virtuosos Jim Grandcamp (Guitar) and Shoko Igarashi (Soprano Saxophone, Flute), this record is a tribute to musicians and their craft.

Alongside cinematic instrumental tracks, a pop side of the record emerges. Miracle, with epic celestial vocals from Giacomo Lecchi d’Alessandro and the ever so sweet Action with his trusted studio mate Irfane (Breakbot).

Created in a gear sanctuary somewhere in Paris this record takes the listener into a spy fantasy, portrayed on the cover by the very talented Julia & Vincent.

The South London formed in 2017 as a duo of bassist Josh Longman and guitarist Frank Wates, they then recruited vocalist Jenna Kyle before reaching their final form at the start of 2021 with the recruitment of drummer Kieran Weston.

After releasing three EPs, they are now gearing up for their debut album Lost In A Rush Of Emptiness, where the band felt free to experiment, always keeping true to their alternative nature. The songs on it are packed with widescreen, dreamy soundscapes that pushed their aesthetics forwards and continued the experimentation that exists at the heart of the project.

GAF are back!!! This time under their Estrella de la Muerte configuration and with a gateway musical behemoth double album into the cosmic unknown.
The prolific project, helmed by local Canarian anchorman Mladen Kurajica, dwells deep into esoteric rock genres and this time, they waste no time in plunging the listener into their brave new type of cosmic rock with a deeply influenced krautrock voyage of 70’s jamming and psychonautic exploration.
Recorded over three days in the cultural space of El Tanque, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, at the height of the covid pandemic of 2020 and during one of the hottest summers to date, the band entered the space with no plan in mind deciding instead to approach the recording sessions without any preconceived ideas or pre-composed songs. Clean out of external influences and ready to experiment they loaded in all their available gear, including an array of modular synths, in order to create a new approach to song writing and flesh out some ideas for a future album in situ. The very process of that search, through pure improvisation and jamming, became the album we’re presenting here.
No overdubs or subsequent edits were done, except for cutting some songs so that they could fit on the album. Almost 5 hours of recordings in total, finally reaching a 7 track, 69-minute double LP. All the reverb heard on the record is the natural reverb of El Tanque, a 16 second tail natural reverb recorded with several room mics at different locations in the venue. Eventually this became the first fully instrumental album by the Estrella de la Muerte configuration, with a line up of 7 musicians (Gaf y Estrella de la Muerte are normally a sextet).
Enter then, this inspired selection of psychedelically damaged tunes, 70’s space rock, psychoacoustics and Kosmishe inspired jamming. This is healing music for your mind altering journeys. The titled Pyramids here serving not only as a gateway to the cosmic unknown but also as an exploratory symbol of the bands willingness to freely embrace their subconscious inner flows into a cosmic collective. Ecstatic music for our times!

Schicksal is the alias of Rudi Huybrechts coming from Hoboken, a small town near Antwerp. He started experimenting with synths and drum computers in 1982. Heavily inspired by Front 242 first album “Geography”, DAF’s elektronische körpermusik “Alles Ist Gut” and Kraftwerk’s “Man Machine” and “Computer World”, Rudi spent lot of hours programming and composing at home with just some gear and a tape recorder. Some of these tracks appeared on local compilations but it was not until the hype of New Beat in Belgium that Schicksal gained a real attention. In 1988 Rudi persuaded Marc Grouls, the resident DJ of discotheque Prestige in Antwerp, to play the track “24 hours”. All the people on the dancefloor just got wild and the next day Schicksal signed a contract with Maurice Engelen for the release of a maxi-single on Subway Records. This new edition includes all original tracks plus two new remixes of “24 Hours” and the new track “Fate”

The 3rd release on the Sydney/Eora based imprint Natural-High brings 2 varying techno cuts from Neotex. The A-side is on a deep tip and the B-side is heavier gear for the later hours.

Andy Taylor - Songwriter, Gitarrist, Sänger und Mitglied der Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, der unter anderem mit Duran Duran, The Power Station, Robert Palmer, Rod Stewart, The Almighty, Thunder und The Ting Tings gearbeitet hat, kehrt mit seinem neuen Album Man's A
Wolf To Man" zurück, seiner ersten Solo-Veröffentlichung seit über 30 Jahren.

Der Umstand, dass sich die Veröffentlichung von "Man's A Wolf To Man" durch die Auswirkungen der Pandemie verzögerte, gab Andy die Möglichkeit, das Album zu überarbeiten und neu zu gestalten.
Während dieses kreativen Prozesses wurde er mit der Nachricht
konfrontiert, dass der Prostatakrebs, gegen den er angekämpft hatte, unheilbar war. Das Ergebnis ist jedoch ein Album, dass alles andere als wütend ist: "Influential Blondes" beispielsweise startet mit einem durch und durch mitreißenden, glamourös anmutenden Refrain, "Try To Get Even" - ein Duett mit Tina Arena - ist eine wunderschöne Country-Rock-Ballade, "Reachin' Out To You" steht genau für die Art von funkigem Rock, den die Fans von The Power Station lieben werden. "Gettin' It Home" ist purer, energiegeladener Hardrock, in "This Will Be Ours" oder auch "Gotta Give" erleben wir, wie Andy sich von Skiffle geprägten Grooves in raues, Stones-artiges Stampfen gleiten lässt.

Mit einem Soloalbum, auf das er zu Recht stolz ist und einer speziellen Therapie, die sein Leben retten und nachhaltig verändern wird, spielt Andy Taylor im Jahr 2023 in der ersten Liga mit.

"RTR makes a dazzling return to WeMe Records with Circle coming through with 6 new tracks. 6 ways to outline his love for playful melodies, sauntering arrangements, squelching synths. Less breakbeat, more dancefloor oriented, RTR shows off some of his best and most colourful material as of late The record is both raw and punchy, kicking into gear over and over like an old fashioned detuned drum machine loop."

Candlebox is gearing up for an unforgettable finale as the legendary Seattle rock band prepares to retire at the end of the year. The group’s Long Goodbye Tour is currently underway, and its final album, The Long Goodbye, will be released later this month. Today, Rhino announces it will spotlight Candlebox’s early years with a 7-LP vinyl boxed set featuring all three studio albums the group released on Maverick, plus more than a dozen previously unreleased recordings that are only available in the collection.

THE MAVERICK YEARS will be available exclusively on vinyl on September 22. The set introduces newly remastered versions of Candlebox (1993), Lucy (1995), and Happy Pills (1998) as double LPs, along with a single album of unreleased outtakes, demos, and more. Candlebox and Lucy will make their North American vinyl debut, while Happy Pills will be available on vinyl for the first time anywhere.

The Maverick Years chronicles the band’s dramatic ascent, starting with its eponymous debut, a quadruple-platinum smash celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The album spent more than 100 weeks on the charts, peaking at #7 with hits like “Far Behind,” “You,” and “Cover Me.” The original album has been expanded on the new vinyl version with two unreleased bonus tracks, “Sorry I Let You Down” and a demo for “10,000 Horses.”

Geoff Downes ist ein legendärer Keyboarder, der das Genie hinter einiger der denkwürdigsten Pop-Rock-ProgSongs der letzten 40 Jahre war. Chris Braide ist einer der größten Songwriter, die Großbritannien je hervorgebracht hat. Er hat mit Sia, Hans Zimmer, Nicki Minaj, David Guetta, Paloma Faith, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue und Lana Del Rey gearbeitet. Zusammen bilden sie die Downes Braide Association - eine Kreativpartnerschaft mit einem Stammbaum wie keine andere.

Erstmals und endlich auf Vinyl erhältlich - das Solodebüt des Musikers und Produzenten Tobias Kuhn aka Monta aus dem Jahr 2004. Erscheint als weißes 180g Vinyl im Gatefold-Sleeve. "Wir unterteilen das Leben gerne in künstlich voneinander getrennte Kapitel, sprechen von "Neuerfindung" oder "zweiter Geburt", wenn jemand nun plötzlich etwas scheinbar ganz anderes macht als zuvor. Tatsächlich aber ist das Neue immer schon im Alten angelegt, die meisten Übergänge sind fließend. Nehmen wir zum Beispiel Tobias Kuhn: Natürlich ist Kuhn heute vor allem als einer der renommiertesten und besten deutschen Musikproduzenten bekannt. Kuhn hat mit Clueso, Udo Lindenberg und den Toten Hosen gearbeitet. Man kennt ihn als Produzenten und Co-Songwriter so unterschiedlicher Künstler wie Feine Sahne Fischfilet, Mark Forster, Alec Benjamin, Alice Merton, Noah Kahan, Lost Frequencies, Gurr und Milky Chance, er schrieb für den "Tatort" die Musik, man könnte die Liste endlos fortsetzen. Aber vor dieser Geschichte, vor der Geschichte des Top-Produzenten Tobias Kuhn gab es eben noch eine andere - und wenn man genauer hinguckt, gehören beide untrennbar zusammen. Begonnen hatte sie in Würzburg. Es sind die Neunzigerjahre, Familie Kuhn hatte in Cambridge und in Peking gewohnt und war nun ausgerechnet nach Unterfranken gezogen: Das malerisch gelegene, architektonisch reizvolle Würzburg mag bedeutende Universitäten haben, mit 130.000 Einwohnern knapp als Großstadt gelten und das sogenannte "Herz der Weinregion Franken" sein, als Popmetropole ist die Stadt eher nicht bekannt. Aber natürlich kommt der beste Pop traditionell ja genau aus solchen Orten, aus der Provinz, von den Hochschulen, aus den Fabriken. Eben dort, in Würzburg, gründet Tobias Kuhn mit 15, 16 Jahren die Band Miles gemeinsam mit Gilbert Hartsch zunächst als klassische Schülerband. Der Schlagzeuger Andreas Wecklein und René Hartmann (Bass) komplettieren das Line-up, letzterer wird später durch Nina Kränsel ersetzt. Wie gesagt, es sind die Neunzigerjahre: In den USA initiiert der Sänger und spätere Pop-Impressario Perry Farrell die erste Ausgabe der heute weltweit erfolgreichen Festivalreihe Lollapalooza als grellen Rock'n'Roll-Zirkus und Abschiedstournee seiner Band Jane's Addiction. Das gefällt Kuhn und seinen Freunden natürlich, also schmieden sie in der bayerischen Provinz den einigermaßen größenwahnsinnigen Plan, in Deutschland etwas ähnliches aufzuziehen. Spoiler: es gelingt. Auf diese Weise entstanden drei Alben, bis der Gitarrist ausstieg und irgendwie allen klar wurde: alles erlebt, alles erzählt, mehr geht nicht. Kuhn schrieb sich daraufhin für Medizin ein, doch die Musik ließ ihn nicht los. So begann das zweite musikalische Kapitel im Leben des Tobias Kuhn. Unter dem Namen Monta wendete er sich einem intimeren, Folk-grundierten Ansatz zu und nimmt so zwei Alben auf, deren Veröffentlichung er selbst übernimmt. Bald gab es ein weltweites Netzwerk kleiner Indie-Labels, die die Monta-Musik vertrieben und sogar die "Sunday Times" machte "Where Circles Begin" zum Album der Woche. Und so begann die dritte, bis heute andauernde musikalische Karriere von Tobias Kuhn: die des Produzenten und Songschreibers. Kuhn wäre nicht Kuhn, wenn nicht auch dieser Abschnitt wieder von einer Reihe scheinbarer Zufälle und Begegnungen befeuert worden wäre, die sich eben nahtlos aus allem, was davor war, ergaben." Torsten Groß