Suche:genuine

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have developed an international reputation as the #1 group on today’s soul scene. Soul Time! is an exploration of the full range of their dynamic sound through twelve songs handpicked by the Daptone Records gang, each one a precious exclusive.

The needle drops on Genuine Pts. 1 & 2, a supercharged funk arrangement that evokes the late Godfather not only with the spirited syncopation of the Dap-Kings rhythms, but also with the raw power of Jones’ voice. It is performances such as these that have earned her the moniker “the Female James Brown.” Though it has long been one of their best-selling singles, it makes it’s album debut here. Longer and Stronger, written for her 50th birthday, is a deep mid-tempo soul celebration of the strength and determination with which Sharon Jones has earned her long overdue success. It is heard here for the first time, but will undoubtedly join other Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings songs in the canon of great soul music. The theme of empowerment pushes on through “He Said I Can”, an energetic stomper belted over an arrangement reminiscent of the Isley Brothers early-seventies heyday, and “I’m Not Gonna Cry” brings us back to the raw funk intensity of Genuine with a squealing tenor solo and a fiery vocal. Side one wraps with a scorching studio performance of “When I Come Home”, long a highlight of the band’s live show but rearing its head on album here for the first time as well.

“What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?” kicks the second side off with a bang. A strong anti-war message pours over a revolutionary mid-tempo groove, accentuated by the conga work of the legendary Johnny Griggs of JB’s fame, while Settling In is a greasy rhythm and blues grinder. And who says Christmas can’t be soulful? Jones et al. make it so over their sought after holiday exclusive, “Ain’t No Chimneys in the Projects.” Next is an energetic romp into Motown intensity with “New Shoes”, a walking-out-the door belter that picks up where These Boots Were Made For Walking left off. Without A Trace shows yet another dimension of the band, stretching a dreamy mid-tempo groove down the road to Memphis and back. The record winds up with a deep laid back cover of Shuggie Otis’ psychedelic soul jam “Inspiration Information.” From the first note to the last, Soul Time! confirms this band’s place at the head of the table as the world’s greatest funk and soul showband. Whether you’re a lifetime fan, or just getting turned on, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings’ have yet again made a record that will blow your mind. Get ready world, because It’s Soul Time!

Last time he brought his Emperor Machine project to Leng, via the seductive, call-to-the dancefloor that was ‘Dance Par Amour’, Andrew Meecham had vocalist Severine Mouletin in tow. On this welcome return to the label, Meecham has enlisted the help of another sublime singer: Bom Carrot 봄캐롯, lead vocalist with South Korean punk-pop outfit Tirikilatops.

Although the pair share a mutual friend, who had extolled the virtues of a potential collaboration to Meecham, it was only when Bom Carrot 봄캐롯 reached out on social media that the pair were finally connected. Meecham jumped at the opportunity to kick-start a collaboration, quickly firing over a track he’d been working on. A few months later, her vocals landed in his inbox and the rest, as they say, is history.

The resultant track, ‘춤춰 Chumchwo – Let’s Dance’, may feature many of the aural trademarks of Meecham’s Emperor Machine work – spiralling analogue electronics, vintage synth sounds, effects aplenty and infectious grooves inspired by New York’s no-wave movement of the early 1980s – but is somehow even more thrillingly wild, excitable, and exhilarating than you’d reasonably expect.

A big part of that, of course, is the inspired contributions of Bom Carrot 봄캐롯. Her freewheeling vocals – part sung, part spoken, and part improvised – are energetic, distinctive, and addictive, adding layers of post-punk abandon and a genuine sense of musical freedom. Combined with Meecham’s outrageously unpredictable backing track – there are twists and turns aplenty, as well as surprising percussive and musical touches that seemingly appear and disappear at will – the resultant song is like the unlikely sonic lovechild of Talking Heads, YMO, Pierre Henry and K-Punk.

As you’d expect given his track record of delivering freewheeling instrumental reworks, the vocal version comes backed with an extra-special Emperor Machine ‘Instrumental Dub’ version. Stripped back and percussive, with dropouts and breakdowns aplenty, this is no mere vocal-free take, but rather a reconstructed revision piled high with extra percussion, spacey electronics, echoing vocal snippets, bubbly bass and razor-sharp Tom Tom Club guitar licks –all arranged to rise, fall and rise again around Meecham’s killer groove. As the track’s title suggests: “Let’s Dance!”

This is no easy listen... sparse, complex, often brooding arrangements coupled with Cassandra Wilson's deep, earthy voice and complicated phrasing demand your attention. Waver and you're lost. But... give this album the listening time & space it deserves and reap the rewards. Unusual, highly atmospheric tracks that combine superb singing and marvellously "distant" musical backings to weave real magic.

Cassandra Wilson's own excellent, jazz tinged compositions sit alongside a stunning set of ingenious covers from a highly diverse spectrum of composers. "Last Train To Clarksville" is transformed from a catchy pop song into a stripped-down and genuinely effective jazz vocal work-out. "Harvest Moon" slows down Neil Young's already wistful ballad to an almost painful level and, in so doing, takes it to an even higher level of gentle reflection. Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" & U2's "Love Is Blindness" are transformed into 3 in the morning jazz club classics. The vocals and backing to Robert Johnson's "32-20" are simplified to the point where only the essence of the blues is allowed to shine and, Lewis Allan's "Strange Fruit" becomes as desolate and challenging as it's horrific lyrics.

For an artist whose career is flush with enigma, myth, and disguise, Nashville Skyline still surprises more than almost any other Bob Dylan move more than four decades after its original release. Distinguished from every other Dylan album by virtue of the smooth vocal performances and simple ease, the 1969 record witnesses the icon's full-on foray into country and trailblazing of the country-rock movement that followed. Cozy, charming, and warm, the rustic set remains for many hardcore fans the Bard's most enjoyable effort. And most inimitable. The result of quitting smoking, Dylan's voice is in pristine shape, nearly unidentifiable from the nasal wheeze and folk accents displayed on prior records.

Mastered on our world-renowned mastering system and pressed at RTI, this restored 45RPM analog version zeroes in on the shocking purity and never-again-replicated croon of Dylan's vocals. Enhanced, too, are the images associated with the calmly strummed and picked acoustic guitars and decay connected to the fading notes. The dimensions and ambience of the Columbia studio translate via subtle echoes and natural blend of instruments melding with one another, akin to honey integrating with tea. Providing comparably soothing effects, relaxing vibes pour forth from this reissue, which affords this masterpiece the fidelity it's always deserved. Wider grooves mean more information reaches your ears.

"Is it rolling, Bob?," Dylan famously queries producer Bob Johnston at the beginning of "To Be Alone With You," indicating the laissez-faire feelings that surrounded the sessions and helped yield the laidback, convivial music defining the album – arguably the most unique in the artist's vast catalog. While he dipped his toes into country waters on the preceding John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline throws its collective arms around the style in bear-hug fashion and drops any obvious folk references. Everything from the songs' moods to the amicable arrangements reacts against the era's turmoil and popular sounds.

This beautiful and beautifully executed effort might stand as Dylan's most effective protest ever, even if many missed the point upon original release. Advocating peace, love, and old-world allure without calling attention to any characteristic in an overly forward manner, Dylan frames the songs as ballads, rags, lullabies, and gentle honky-tonk dances. He adheres to expeditious brevity, keeping the arrangements tight and free of any filler, thus allowing the melodies to immediately work their magic and place hummable memories inside listeners' heads.

Indeed, if any Dylan masterpiece is overlooked, it's Nashville Skyline. In addition to his superb singing and infallible songs, Dylan enjoys backing from a crackerjack assembly of Nashville session musicians including Charlie Daniels, Marshall Grant, W.S. Holland, Charlie McCoy, Ken Buttrey, and Norman Blake. Country pros, and their respective performances, don't come any better.

As much as on any of his records, Dylan resides in a good place, mentally and emotionally. The idyllic, warmhearted environs of Nashville Skyline stand apart now just as they did in the late 1960s. The sincerity conveyed on the inviting "Lay Lady Lay," relief sighed on the romantic "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You," and unlimited promise expressed on the jittery "To Be Alone With You" parallel the lessons-learned yearning and genuine desire found on "One More Night," bracing "I Threw It All Away," and eternal "Girl From the North Country," performed to perfection with Johnny Cash.

Labyrinth Records presents a release from mysterious London-based producer Picpoul. A distinct talent that has an abundance of experience producing dance music, and displays his genre-defying studio prowess here with a huge club three-tracker entitled ‘The Feeling’ EP.

Stepping off the precipice with the colossal title track ‘The Feeling’, where Picpoul flexes a distinct ability for crafting mind-altering sounds presented with a unique harmony amongst a super-tight arrangement. Funky clavinet chords swell across a splashing breakbeat with interjections of throbbing synth bass and nano-slivers of vocals diced in for good measure. The pinnacle of ‘The Feeling’ comes via a monumental build-up where vocoder vocals and cascading breaks amass at a critical point. 'The Feeling' is a track with a grungy bassline and rolling breaks that should appeal to the heads but equally has a vibrancy and sparkle that genuinely has crossover potential in the mainstream. For this reason, the EP includes an extended version and radio edit.

MC DUKE was one of the first UK rappers to find a serious level of success, laying the ground work for a generation of hip hop talent to follow. As well as being a UK hip hop legend, he was also one of the pioneers of the early British hardcore / jungle sound & owner of the Hard Disk record label.

The legacy of MC Duke with the early rave sound was cemented in history forever when The Prodigy sampled his voice for their chart topping hit Everybody In The Place! He was also one of the first MC’s on London’s infamous Kool FM. As a producer Duke was signed to the Boogie Times label, sister imprint of the genre defining Suburban Base, under the alias E.K.U.D.C.M. (which is MC Duke spelled backwards).

The first slice of vinyl on this collection features rare cuts from 1993 and perfectly showcases the evolution of the rave era into the sound that was at the time described as jungle techno, the precursor to jungle as we now know it.

Vinyl number 2 is the one that will get the collectors salivating... Featuring music by The Man With No Name, currently the only copies of these tracks are available at an asking price of £167 on the resale market, with people already parting with up to £155 to own a copy via re-seller site discogs!

Our third & fourth disc once again features 2 of MC Dukes alias’ with the darkside goodness that is Quiji Board, and closes with the most up to date track from the compilation by Phiziks previously unreleased on vinyl.

All tracks on this Hard Disk compilation have been expertly re-mastered to give you the optimum listening experience while retaining that authentic early 90’s sound you’d expect. This four-part vinyl collection is placed in a beautiful presentation box for which we’ve digitally re-created the original artwork style from Hard Disk releases back in the day to make this a true collector piece for those wanting a genuine piece of UK culture history.

Vocalists/multi-instrumentalists Claus Lessmann and Michael Voss, who also produces acts such as Michael Schenker: a combination that makes rock fans sit up immediately. Considering the two’s various collaborations - lately as members of PHANTOM V - spread over several decades, »Rock Is Our Religion« is way more than a debut. The album, which was recorded and produced by Voss at German Kidwood Studios Münstertal and Kidroom Studios Greven (only Vincent Golly’s drums were tracked by Mathi Brandstetter at Home Studios Hamburg, Germany), rather is a relevation, a bow down to genuine rock packed in 49 minutes of handmade music performed to the point. Lessmann and Voss complement each other over these 12 tracks as if they hadn’t done anything else before: from mysteriously starting opener 'Medicine Man' to lead single 'Smoke Without A Fire', the recording of 'Take My Heart And Run', circling back to one of their earlier songwriting cooperations in the '90s, and the duo’s interpretation of AMERICA’s 1975 hit song 'Sister Golden Hair' (feat. Kenny Lessmann on drums and Martin Huch on pedal steel guitar), this album impressively shows that it still doesn’t need many frills to create impactful heavy music nowadays. Amen!

Now onto its fourth volume, NuNorthern Soul’s annual Summer Selections EP is fast becoming a must-check for fans of slow-motion sunshine sounds, contemporary Balearic beats and sumptuous downtempo grooves.

Summer Selections Four showcases six hand-picked tracks from EPs and albums to be released by NuNorthern Soul in 2022. A genuine ‘cream of the crop’ or ‘best in class’ feel, with NNS label boss and curator Phil Cooper putting together a varied EP piled high with evocative melodies, atmospheric chords, tactile grooves and ear-catching instrumentation.

First to step up to the plate is experienced producer James Bright, whose cut ‘Amber’ offers a bubbly, colourful and analogue-rich stroll through mid-tempo Balearic house territory. The track is one of the highlights of Bright’s forthcoming Totem EP. It’s quickly followed by ‘Nana a Leon’ from Be.Ianuit’s Entre Dos Islas EP, a gorgeous mixture of deep bass, twinkling pianos, sultry synth-strings, sparkling synthesiser arpeggios, echoing machine drums and spoken word vocals from guest performer Marcos de la Fuente.

San Francisco’s Cole Odin offers a snapshot of his forthcoming Songs For Suns EP via ‘Growing’, a slow-motion sunset soundscape built around ethereal chords, chiming melodies and head-nodding drums, while Gold Suite’s ‘The Cowboy’ – taken from the On My Horizon EP – brilliantly joins the dots between jangling Americana, mid-‘80s Balearic reggae and sun-soaked instrumental synth-pop. While brand-new, it could easily be mistaken for the kind of obscure, hard-to-find gem that gets Balearic record collectors so hot under the collar.

Next up is another new signing to NuNorthern Soul, North of the Island, whose debut EP Feeling Free is undoubtedly a highlight of the label’s 2022 release schedule. ‘I Feel’, the track showcased here, adds attractive, sunset-ready musical flourishes to a chugging, delay-laden rhythm track and the kind if squelchy bass-line most often found in proto-house and early ‘80s electro-funk cuts. It’s a spaced-out, mind-altering delight.

Rounding off another sizzling Summer Selections excursion is ‘Smoke & Fly’ from fast-rising twosome Residentes Balearicos, an Ibiza-based Italian duo who impressed many with their 2021 EPs on Balearic Ensemble. Dusty, bass-heavy, drowsy and picturesque, the track is a simply gorgeous chunk of Balearic dub piled high with organic percussion, undulating acid lines and mazy solos. It provides a fittingly triumphant conclusion to another essential sampler EP from NuNorthern Soul.

Decomposed recalls classic American hardcore like Bad Brains, Poison Idea and Jerry’s Kids or Japanese ragers like Paintbox, The Comes, Eiefits and Skizophrenia. But there’s also a healthy slug of classic UK and US punk and even a bit of Krautrock, psychedelia and Black Sabbath in there too. Nottingham has always been a melting pot for heavy music. For a small city, it has boasted more than its fair share of genre defining bands and artists, not to mention record labels. Bands cross-pollinate, form projects and offshoots and play one-off gigs that would result in lengthy careers and world tours if they had happened across the Atlantic. It has always been like that there. No big deal (but yet, a really big deal if you know). One such band/project/offshoot were Endless Grinning Skulls. Formed by guitarist Andy Morgan (also from Bloody Head, Army Of Flying Robots, Nadir and countless more), drummer Steve Charlesworth (Heresy, Wolves Of Greece, Meatfly, Geriatric Unit) and bassist Gords (Hard To Swallow, John Holmes, Geriatric Unit) in the early twenty-teens, they re-set the bar for the 3-piece hardcore band before (perhaps inevitably) burning out in 2018. Morgan and Charlesworth weren’t done though. They’d forged a bond in EGS and wanted to carry on playing together so - in a familiar Nottingham storyline - they recruited former Pitchshifter guitarist Stu Toolin on bass and Anmarie Spaziano (who you might know from running a famous burger joint) on vocals and formed Blind Eye. They knew Toolin was about to relocate to Portland, Oregon so they wrote and recorded an EP (released on Morgan’s own Viral Age Records). Quick-sharp. No messing about. And that – by rights – should have been that: over and out. New band please. However, the demo captured a rare intensity and vitality that more considered projects often fail to achieve. This was a band let loose, free from previous shackles and loving the noise they made. It seemed a shame to stop there. Recruiting Matt Grundy (a former bandmate of Morgan’s in both Nadir and Dead In The Woods) to the bass vacancy they went back to Stuck On A Name Studios in 2021 with Ian “Boulty” Boult at the helm again and delivered the album Decomposed.
Decomposed genuinely rocks out without losing one iota of the effervescent anger that made the demo such an essential listen. From the insistent, minimal opener Ready To Go Now via the unhinged thrash of Straw Man and the menace of the stomping Pero No Quieres, to the measured chugging and epic crescendo of closer Broken Star, this record is a fucking blast. Needle off, flip it back over, play it again. Your neighbours are loving it so much they’re banging on the walls to tell you. “I suppose the intention was to write high energy, catchy hardcore, with a nod to what has come before, but also to do our own thing,” explains Andy. “Lyrically, the album was written during the pandemic, and although it’s not ‘a pandemic album’, I think it deals with a lot of the feelings of loss, separation and isolation

He might be vocalist in bands such as Brighton-based progressive act Diagonal and psychedelic outfit Baron, but when it comes to his solo work Alex Crispin has typically worked in more wordless fields. Last year the songwriter, vocalist and producer released a triptych of ambient albums, consisting of two older albums in 'Idle Worship' and 'Open Submission', as well as new meditative work in 'Resubmergency'. On his new self-titled album, however, Crispin re-emerges from the cavernous soundscapes to – for the first time – put his vocal and song writing stamp on a record under his own name. “I personally find it easier to create more guarded, moody music, but I was at a point where I wanted to embrace a more universal, intimate and open side to what I might say” Crispin says. “Over time I’d got over certain blocks or preoccupations and so wanted to create something accessible and open hearted, which became a big driver for this record.” Pointedly self-titled to reflect the newfound confidence in his song writing away from the collective of a band, the album’s nine tracks are a warm embrace amidst troubled times. Musically there’s nods to everything from tropicalia and Brazilian MPB, to 80’s dusk pop balladeers The Blue Nile and Paul Simon’s explorations into African music. Lyrically aware of the snowballing turbulence that surrounds us, Crispin in reaction tries to see hope and looks around at the relationships and connections in his life that provide him strength. He opens 'Invisible (To Us)' with the words “Before the world did end, there was just one moment when, everybody thought there might be time, to look around again, to laugh to cry to sing.” Elsewhere, 'Listen & Learn' strikes at the heart of other underlying themes of the record, of the rarity of people opening up, taking on new ideas and allowing change. It’s accompanied with a rich, maximal sound palette of flute and sax that play around each other as Crispin’s vocal chips in with gentle encouragement. “One of the main markers on the album that I was aware of from the start, was to let myself express joy and positivity in the music” he says. “I have come to greatly prize the power of accessibility and universality over artistic 'coolness or trend', much in the same way that so often for me, the greatest pieces of art humans make nowadays are things like Pixar movies, with their combination of undeniable human talent and craft, alongside genuinely moving and accessible themes.” Indeed, there is a cinematic feel to much of Crispin’s own music, something brought over from his ambient creations – although his self-titled album possesses a panorama all of its own. Something like 'When I Reach The Ocean' has a hazy, pastoral feel to it like something out of the Canterbury Folk scene; there’s space between the notes though, which in turn pushes the track out to a greater expanse than the comparatively soft-edged and modest sound palette used to create it. Similarly, the likes of 'Effert' revel in the space afforded to them - in the case of the aforementioned in particular, Crispin lets his voice take a back seat and creates an open wash of sound that he allows the guitar to probe and explore within. “In making any music I am definitely conscious of trying to put in only what is effective” Crispin says. “It is so easy to clutter tracks without realising it, just having the ability to add stuff can just become addictive as it’s so easy to do with recording setups now.” The album started coming together at the end of 2020, with Crispin getting most of the songs to a concrete state, before starting recording in May 2021 with Diagonal bandmates Luke Foster (drums) and Daniel Pomlett (Bass), who put down rhythm tracks. Jazz saxophonist Rob Milne then added parts which would become the glue that held the whole organic aesthetic of the album together. There’s no doubt that lockdown played a part in proceedings, with a kind of forced focus resulting in a need for joyful expression. However, Crispin and his partner also suffered a bereavement which led to her travelling for large periods of time. “It was a very intense and difficult time and I think some of the intensity of emotion of that situation coupled with being alone must have inevitably contributed to the work itself” he says. It's perhaps why when even in moments of sheer happiness, such as the 'Sabu’s' breezily euphoric opener, Crispin ponders: “No-one really cares beyond this moment, and even when it's here, it's never here”. It’s the first of several bittersweet moments on the record that give the album its weight. On this new LP, Crispin recognises that sadness doesn’t mean throwing out hope, and that even in moments of joy there’s still a path ahead of you to take.

Swedish progg is not to be confused with "prog" as in progressive rock music. When we are talking about progg, we are referring to the Swedish music movement influenced by the political climate of the late 60's, to some extent the hippie movement and in many cases also Swedish folk music. Music highly driven by a political agenda. Blod's Knutna Nävar, originally released in an edition of 150 copies on Förlag För Fri Musik in 2018 and later a small cassette run, is pretty much a lost progg classic from the 70's. This is not a case of copying a certain sound though, far from it, neither are ideas really rehashed nor does the album feel nostalgic in that sense. Rather it feels like if someone has read about the progg movement and all the records but never actually heard it, yet decided to do an album and somehow managed to succeed big time. Further developing the sound palette and ambience initiated with parts of the Leendet Från Helvetet recording, the music feels slightly louder and more in your face. It's like it's more of everything. The melodies are immediate and it's quite impossible to resist the brash catchiness of it all. Albeit mentioning progg music and its importance for this recording, the actual musical side of Knutna Nävar has in reality more in common with soundtrack/library music and Swedish composers like the late Björn Isfält when you attempt to break it down. The crude DIY approach and anything-goes mentality just adds an extra dimension to it all and ultimately places the music somewhere else. There's a rather blunt use of samples throughout the record (sources probably best to leave out, though you don't have to be a Einstein to figure these out), but then again this is made by the same guy that gave the world the ABBA album. Those samples has managed to become an integral part of the music through the few years that has passed and though well familiar with the records those snippets are now to me genuinely Blod and nothing else. It seems like everyone has their own favourite but Knutna Nävar is the Blod album I have returned to the most. It has that extra something that sets it apart and if I would have to pick up a few records that sums up why Gothenburg has been a pretty damn awesome place to be in the last 10 years or so, this would definitely be one of the top picks.

Shaka is back on Local Talk with a follow-up to "The Riverwalk EP" released back in 2020.

The Bird's Eye View continues on the same deep, soulful and uplifting house tip with waves of ear-pleasing music.
There's a genuine swing to the opening track Short Circuit that is infectious and Shaka really gets to work on those keys.
It brings back memories of those golden years of house music when every track Strictly Rhythm classic was a classic...

The Birds Eye View offers a deeper and jazzier spin on the lush and spiritual house music Shaka flirts with.
If delightfully playful house music is your secret crush then look no further.

Jose Medeles feat. M Ward, Marisa Anderson & Chris Funk
Railroad Cadences & Melancholic Anthems Led by drummer Jose Medeles (Breeders, 1939 Ensemble, Revival Drum Shop), Railroad Cadences & Melancholic Anthems is a drummer's tribute to guitarist and DIY iconoclast John Fahey Joined for a series of guitar and drum duets with M. Ward, experimental guitarist Marisa Anderson, and Chris Funk (Decemberists, Stephen Malkmus), it's a genuinely honorific project, featuring not Fahey compositions, but rather a series of improvised rendezvous inspired and informed by his looseness and rhythmic idiosyncrasies. Recording in the comfortable setting of Bocce Recording in Vancouver, WA, in 2020, these duets are playful and spiritually deep, presented with snapshot clarity Medeles likens to the recordings of Alan Lomax or Chris Strachwitz, 'who boldly captured field recording of Southern chain gangs and juke joint raconteurs decades ago. The result here is similar: pure and honest recordings.'

Since slipping out a decade ago, Fürsattl’s sole 12” on Claremont 56 has become an in-demand item, thanks to a mixture of its’ undeniable quality and the patronage of several high-profile, well-regarded DJs. Because of this, the label has responded to demand for a reissue of those two tracks and announced the release of a double-album of the krautrock-inspired trio’s works for the label.

Presented in a gatefold sleeve sporting Mark Warrington’s original 2012 artwork and limited to 400 copies, the 2022 album edition of Rheinlust not only tells the tale of the band’s now decade-long association with Claremont 56, but also features a previously unreleased track from the archives, ‘Für Paul’. Tucked away at the end of the LP, the track is amongst the most atmospheric in their catalogue – a slowly building number in which celestial synthesizer chords, ambient textures, echo-laden electric piano chords and lilting synth strings rise above a rubbery bassline and Jaki Liebezeit style drums.

It provides a superb conclusion to a genuinely evocative album of music you can get lost in, but it’s by no means the only highlight. Fittingly, the album’s first slab of wax boasts both tracks from Fürsattl’s hard-to-find debut 12”: title track ‘Rheinlust’, a driving but deep and hypnotic krautrock masterpiece full of elongated chords, restless bass, twinkling motifs and cascading electronic melodies, and the wonderfully epic ‘Links Der Pegnitz’. Clocking in at just under 15 minutes, this sublime excursion features band members trading glistening guitar and colourful synthesizer solos over a funky but laidback groove that sits somewhere between krautrock and cosmic funk.

The album’s second slab of wax showcases Fürsattl’s lesser-known tracks for Claremont 56, alongside the previously mentioned unreleased cut. These two workouts were originally featured on the label’s Claremont Editions compilations and further expand on their now trademark krautrock sound. There’s ‘Leerlauf’, a breathlessly up-tempo, weighty and immersive chunk of low-slung dancefloor creepiness that you’ll want to get lost in time and again, and the twangy and buzzing ‘Haru’, a birdsong-splattered affair that sounds like their tribute to krautrock originals Neu! and Harmonium. Like the rest of the album, these are seriously seductive outings that slowly build towards impactful, emotive conclusions.

In 1990 Ronald Lee Trent Jr. was the teenage creator of Altered States – a raw, futuristic techno-not-techno anthem, which in retrospect was something of a stylistic anomaly for the young artist. Across subsequent years, with time spent in Chicago, New York and Detroit, came the development of his signature sound, and renown as a world class purveyor of deep, soul infused house/garage. This story has already been told, and on casual inspection, the well-worn platitude ‘house music legend’ is an old shoe that still fits. However, in fact, he’s actually so much more, and has been for quite a while. A genuine musician, songwriter, and ‘producer’ in the proper, old-school sense, the artist today has more in common with Quincy Jones than he does your average journeyman DJ track-hack.

To those in the know, these broader skills haven’t gone unnoticed, which is why on the highly collaborative, career-topping new LP ‘What Do The Stars Say To You’, it took little persuasion to recruit serious star power. Brazilian royalty Ivan Conti and Alex Malheriros from Azymuth, violin maestro Jean Luc Ponty, ambient hero Gigi Masin, hype band Khruangbin and more performed, whilst NY cornerstone François K provided mastering duties. At various points Ron himself played drums, percussion, keys, synths, piano, guitar and electronics.

Harking back to the 70s and 80s boom in adventurous, luxurious albums, WDTSSTY is a love letter to the longplayer, where rich musicality and a liquid smooth, silky flow make seemingly odd genre bedfellows acquiesce harmoniously. Each song its own high-fidelity odyssey, Trent incorporated a broad range of live instruments and electronics into a sophisticated, euphonic whole. Described by him as being “designed for harmonising with spirit, urban life and nature”, this is aural soul food, gently easing you into balmy nights, where everything is alright.

Originally wanting to be an architect, Trent’s views his approach to collaboration and music in general as having the same principles. A firm believer in the nourishing qualities of sound, he sees direct parallels between the two disciplines, being as the purpose of good architecture is to improve quality of life. “With WARM, through sound design, I built frameworks for the musicians, who furnished and occupied these structures beautifully, which was a big compliment for me”, he comments.

The conditions required for a good collab are more than simply structural though, as Trent expounds, “I’m a huge fan of everyone on the record, especially Jean Luc and Azymuth, who’re part of my DNA. Each track was made with that guest in mind – for example, when I started writing ‘Sphere’, I immediately thought ‘this IS Ponty’. I played the keys in his style, and did a guide violin solo using a synth, which he then re-did, amazingly. ‘Cool Water’ is based around Azymuth themes, so when I sent it to Ivan, he could immediately see himself in the piece; He got what I was going for straight away. For ‘Melt Into You’ I hit up Alex on Instagram, sent him the track, he liked it, and within 24 hours he’d sent back six different bass passes!”
“Conversely, Admira began with a sketch sent by Gigi and became something combining Jon Hassell-esque chords and the feel of ‘Aquamarine’ by Carlos Santana, which links back to Masin’s recurrent nautical theme”, he adds.

With community, history and the need for racial equality never far from Ron’s mind, ‘Flos Potentia’ translates from Spanish as flower power, but rather than promoting some hippy idyll, instead it refers to plants which drove the slave trade: tobacco, sugar and cotton. Joined by Khruangbin, together they propel Dinosaur L, Hi-Tension and afrobeat into an ethereal, clear-skyed stratosphere.
Aside from these esteemed guests, other key influences cited by Trent include ‘Gigolos Get Lonely Too’ by Prince, ‘Beyond’ by Herb Alpert, David Mancuso, Jan Hammer, Tangerine Dream, The Cars, Trevor Horn, Alan Parsons Project and pre-Kraftwerk incarnation Organization. A multitude of others are audible too, including George Bension, Vangelis, Loose Ends, Maze, Flora Purim, Weather Report, Atmosphere, Grace Jones, James Mason and Brass Construction.

On the subject of influences, although opposed to the fences erected by genre tags, to understand where Ron is coming from, and where he’s at, it’s important to acknowledge just how big the palette is from which he paints. Traversing jazz funk, quiet storm, sophisti-pop, new age, new wave, kosmische, Balearic, samba, afrobeat, Latin rock, soft rock and yacht rock, his deeply entrenched digger’s knowledge pays off in dividends.

In 1990 Ronald Lee Trent Jr. was the teenage creator of Altered States – a raw, futuristic techno-not-techno anthem, which in retrospect was something of a stylistic anomaly for the young artist. Across subsequent years, with time spent in Chicago, New York and Detroit, came the development of his signature sound, and renown as a world class purveyor of deep, soul infused house/garage. This story has already been told, and on casual inspection, the well-worn platitude ‘house music legend’ is an old shoe that still fits. However, in fact, he’s actually so much more, and has been for quite a while. A genuine musician, songwriter, and ‘producer’ in the proper, old-school sense, the artist today has more in common with Quincy Jones than he does your average journeyman DJ track-hack.

To those in the know, these broader skills haven’t gone unnoticed, which is why on the highly collaborative, career-topping new LP ‘What Do The Stars Say To You’, it took little persuasion to recruit serious star power. Brazilian royalty Ivan Conti and Alex Malheriros from Azymuth, violin maestro Jean Luc Ponty, ambient hero Gigi Masin, hype band Khruangbin and more performed, whilst NY cornerstone François K provided mastering duties. At various points Ron himself played drums, percussion, keys, synths, piano, guitar and electronics.

Harking back to the 70s and 80s boom in adventurous, luxurious albums, WDTSSTY is a love letter to the longplayer, where rich musicality and a liquid smooth, silky flow make seemingly odd genre bedfellows acquiesce harmoniously. Each song its own high-fidelity odyssey, Trent incorporated a broad range of live instruments and electronics into a sophisticated, euphonic whole. Described by him as being “designed for harmonising with spirit, urban life and nature”, this is aural soul food, gently easing you into balmy nights, where everything is alright.

Originally wanting to be an architect, Trent’s views his approach to collaboration and music in general as having the same principles. A firm believer in the nourishing qualities of sound, he sees direct parallels between the two disciplines, being as the purpose of good architecture is to improve quality of life. “With WARM, through sound design, I built frameworks for the musicians, who furnished and occupied these structures beautifully, which was a big compliment for me”, he comments.

The conditions required for a good collab are more than simply structural though, as Trent expounds, “I’m a huge fan of everyone on the record, especially Jean Luc and Azymuth, who’re part of my DNA. Each track was made with that guest in mind – for example, when I started writing ‘Sphere’, I immediately thought ‘this IS Ponty’. I played the keys in his style, and did a guide violin solo using a synth, which he then re-did, amazingly. ‘Cool Water’ is based around Azymuth themes, so when I sent it to Ivan, he could immediately see himself in the piece; He got what I was going for straight away. For ‘Melt Into You’ I hit up Alex on Instagram, sent him the track, he liked it, and within 24 hours he’d sent back six different bass passes!”
“Conversely, Admira began with a sketch sent by Gigi and became something combining Jon Hassell-esque chords and the feel of ‘Aquamarine’ by Carlos Santana, which links back to Masin’s recurrent nautical theme”, he adds.

With community, history and the need for racial equality never far from Ron’s mind, ‘Flos Potentia’ translates from Spanish as flower power, but rather than promoting some hippy idyll, instead it refers to plants which drove the slave trade: tobacco, sugar and cotton. Joined by Khruangbin, together they propel Dinosaur L, Hi-Tension and afrobeat into an ethereal, clear-skyed stratosphere.
Aside from these esteemed guests, other key influences cited by Trent include ‘Gigolos Get Lonely Too’ by Prince, ‘Beyond’ by Herb Alpert, David Mancuso, Jan Hammer, Tangerine Dream, The Cars, Trevor Horn, Alan Parsons Project and pre-Kraftwerk incarnation Organization. A multitude of others are audible too, including George Bension, Vangelis, Loose Ends, Maze, Flora Purim, Weather Report, Atmosphere, Grace Jones, James Mason and Brass Construction.

On the subject of influences, although opposed to the fences erected by genre tags, to understand where Ron is coming from, and where he’s at, it’s important to acknowledge just how big the palette is from which he paints. Traversing jazz funk, quiet storm, sophisti-pop, new age, new wave, kosmische, Balearic, samba, afrobeat, Latin rock, soft rock and yacht rock, his deeply entrenched digger’s knowledge pays off in dividends.

From deep in the heart of Moomin Valley, frozen in time for many
midwinters passed, comes a genuine treasure chest of never
heard Moomin melodies and instrumental comet songs composed
for the continued animated adventures of our Fuzzy-Felt freak folk
friends who disappeared from UK TV pastures in the mid-1980s.
From the top of the Hobgoblin’s Hat and the bottom of Snufkin’s
satchel, original Moomins composer Graeme Miller (‘The Carrier
Frequency’) kindly shares this patchwork selection of spellbinding
sound poems and percussive peons made using the very same
selection of ocarinas, kalimbas, miniature squeak boxes, Waspy
synths, cornflake box shakers and a seemingly endless array of
talent and lo-fi home studio trickery.

Regarded as one of the most enigmatic, beguiling and haunting
imported children’s programmes to ever grace UK TV screens,
‘The Moomins’ was one of the first-ever commissions by Anne
Wood (‘The Teletubbies’) who ingeniously replaced the original
Polish/Austrian/Finnish soundtrack with homemade music
experiments by unknown post-punk theatre students Graeme
Miller and Steve Shill (aka The Commies From Mars) who, after
the screening of two unforgettable series in 1983 and 1985, were
left in eager anticipation of rescoring further Moomin adventures
with new melodies, arrangements and sound designs, which then
lingered in the ether waiting until the Groke awoke and
Snorkmaiden sang once more.

With future felt adventures screened exclusively in Poland and
Germany for many years (often as feature films) these unheard
recordings are the only genuine musical sequel to the bizarre UK
version of ‘The Moomins’ and stand as important inclusions in
Graeme Miller’s own portfolio of theatrical theme music and sound
installations as part of The Impact Theatre Cooperative, including
collaborations with artists and writers such as Russell Hoban.

Witnessed in fragmented form during a short run of incredible rare
live screenings at The Barbican Theatre and various film festivals,
this record marks the first time this music has been heard in its
original full-length form, free from sound effects, dialogue and
whimpers of euphoric joy and nostalgia from those who have
continued to crave the company of our Moomintrolls and their
mysterious music over the last five decades.

Limited edition 180g blue vinyl with its own unique sticker, includes
specially prepared liner notes by the 'Penguin Guide to Jazz' writer, Brian
Morton
"In a very real sense, Come Fly with Me captures Sinatra at his untouchable
zenith: his manner seductive, his promise romantic, his range of contacts, as the
track titles suggest, genuinely international." - Penguin Guide To Jazz

Featuring Squirrel Flower and Liam O’Neill (SUUNS). Recommended If You Like: Mount Eerie, Low, Richard Swift, the Weather Station, Lomelda, Fleet Foxes, Squirrel Flower, L’Rain. Cedric Noel is a songwriter, bassist, collaborator and producer currently based in Montréal, Québec. The newest longplayer from Tio'tiá:ke/Montreal staple Cedric Noel lands with a stunning sense of surety and self. Hang Time stands as a high water mark for a songwriter who's spent the past decade quietly expanding the borders of his music. Longtime fans will recognize the fluid elements of the album’s open-ended rock formations: reflective strumming, soaring choruses, searing guitar lines, subtle bass grooves; all occasionally dissolving into pools of pure ambience. New listeners will find surprises throughout: threads of folk pop, ambient and sound collage fasten the foundations of this expressive whole. However, what’s most striking on Hang Time is Noel’s newfound sense of voice, both literal and metaphorical. Written primarily in 2017-18 during an intense period of self-reflection, this collection of songs finds Noel wrestling profoundly with his sense of identity, self and place. The album’s material was captured faithfully at The Pines, a beloved downtown Montreal studio whose doors shuttered shortly after amidst the strain of the pandemic. Noel worked closely and patiently with friend and engineer Steve Newton, ensuring the songs had the time and space needed to come fully to fruition. Hang Time features subtle rhythm work from drummer Liam O’Neill (SUUNS) and guest spots from Brigitte Naggar (Common Holly) and Tim Crabtree (Paper Beat Scissors) among others. The album opens in mid-air with ‘Comuu’, a song that implores a becoming-more while hovering triumphantly. Then follows a suite of songs (‘Headspace’, ‘Keep’, ‘Stilling’) that recall the heart-rending power of y2k-era Low, albeit with a more vigorous beat. On ‘Bass Song’, an intimate duet with musician Ella Williams (Squirrel Flower) that explores the depths of interpersonal constriction. At the crux of the album sits ‘Born’, a deceptively pleasant-sounding song that explores the confounding emotionality of adoption before fading into a distended soundfield. Throughout the back half of the album, Noel double’s down on this commitment to his genuine, proud, Black self. The most confrontational track, ‘Allies’ finds him refraining “Are you on my side?” as a trailing guitar solo interweaves a Malcolm X soundbite, eventually engulfing the composition. Glorious lead single ‘Nighttime (Skin)’ traces the artist’s sense of ancestral dissociation through to a triumphant moment of pride in self-acceptance. Throughout Hang Time, Noel finds a way to ask hard questions (both of the listener and himself) in ways that are compassionate, open and honest. The ebb and flow of tension and tenderness that moves within these tracks helps to grow the heart and redefine what Black music can be in 2021.

AOW is a new collaborative project from Dan Ghenacia and Tolga Fidan emerging from a new period of creativity and inspiration for the Lisbon-based artists.

Long time friends and fellow lynchpins of the European house and techno scene, Ghenacia and Fidan started working closely together through 2020 and 2021 while sharing studio space at Boa Lab. They found themselves at the heart of an artistic community of musicians, designers and engineers, which took shape around Ghenacia’s experiments with alpha wave generation, inspired by Bryon Gysin’s Dream Machine.

Ghenacia and engineer Anine Kirsten developed a modern update on Gysin’s 1950s design, which has been installed at exhibitions in London, Lisbon and Paris. At its heart, the project explores the natural hallucinatory effects of alpha wave projections on the eyelids, and the therapeutic benefits of the experience. Out of this spirit of psychedelically-charged experimentation, Ghenacia and Fidan have been working beyond the confines of their typical club-oriented material, creating ambient soundtracks to artist exhibitions in Boa and auditory backdrops to Alpha Wave Experience installations.

AOW bridges the gap between this new period of creativity and Ghenacia and Fidan’s life-long passion for electronic dance music. Compared to the strictures of house and techno they’re best known for, the three tracks on Hear the Light explore a more open, inquisitive sound with roots in UK electronica and West Coast psychedelic breaks (a seminal scene when Ghenacia was in the Bay Area in the 90s). Crucially though, it’s not a pointedly retro sound, but rather a result of rich streams of inspiration meeting and passing through crisp, modernist production techniques to offer something
genuinely fresh on the ears.

Working outside of their comfort zones and guided by creative philosophies springing from research, shared experience and community, Hear the Light marks a new step forward for Ghenacia and Fidan, with many more developments promised for the future.

Just as one can smell a storm swelling on the horizon, the cataclysmic tremor that is IMMOLATION approaches to unleash its latest, immense creation: ACTS OF GOD. Due to be released in winter of 2022, this 11th studio album serves as the next chapter of IMMOLATION’S Death Metal epic. With 5 long years passed since the most recent studio album, ATONEMENT, ACTS OF GOD vigorously showcases IMMOLATION’s ability to consistently create fascinating sounds, while still keeping their feet firmly rooted in the old school, New York Death Metal for which they are renowned.

Emblazoned with a haunting new masterpiece by artist Eliran Kantor, ACTS OF GOD displays a trifecta of angelic beings desperately trying to prevent one another’s flesh from melting in a blackened light from above. The muted colors and ethereal images will ring familiar to fans of IMMOLATION’s previous album covers. “We wanted this cover to feel much darker; more melancholy and hopeless. The music has always been very dark, and a lot of Kantor’s work had the feeling that we were going for; the semi-surreal colliding with a classic, almost renaissance feel,” explains founder and vocalist/bassist Ross Dolan. “It’s unnerving. It really reflects the music perfectly,” agrees founder and guitarist Robert Vigna.

The album’s third track “The Age Of No Light” is a powerful, hard hitting song with an extreme yet catchy melody. “It’s quick, hits hard, and gets straight to the point” explians Vigna. Consistently changing speeds and patterns throughout, the song is short but remains both dynamic and memorable.

“Blooded” has all the usual IMMOLATION elements: the slow, the fast, the explosive, the big overlaid sections of groovy harmony eventually dropping into evil, ripping guitar work. “It’s a little powerhouse,” describes Vigna, “it’s straightforward, and it has all the elements you would expect from us in a nice, neat package.”

A song like “Immoral Stain” is a slightly mid-paced track with an intense, creepy atmosphere. Equipped with plenty of unusual moments, the beat is catchy, dark, and echoing. Searing guitar starts to recite a story and then quickly begins a conversation with thunderous vocals and a vociferous beat. “That whole section of build up just needed to be done exactly as it is. That’s what makes it sound different and interesting,” describes Vigna. Much like the rest of the album, while the lyrics cover the usual, general topics of genuine evil and the great deception of religion, the specifics are most certainly left to the listener’s interpretation. Fortunately for IMMOLATION fans, there is no shortage of corruption and catastrophe in this world.

Fittingly, the concluding track “Apostle” was the last song written for the album. “Some of those chorus sections have a weird almost dream-like quality,” describes Dolan. Its steadily growing momentum discharges rounds of guitar solos and relentless vocals which eventually lead way to an explosive finale to the album.

The creative journey for ACTS OF GOD began with years of notes, and an abundance of inspiration. With Vigna at the helm of the structural writing as usual, further composing and concepts were tossed back and forth amongst all 4 members. Eventually, they began to skeletonize the beginning of what would become a full length, studio album. While the recording process and entering the studio can be a very sterile experience for some musicians, the ferocity of the demos combined with the expertise of long time friend and recording counterpart Paul Orofino of Millbrook Studios (BLUE OYSTER CULT, BAD CO, GOLDEN EARRING), assured that this would not be an issue for IMMOLATION. “Having such a level of comfort is key,” remarks Dolan. Final touches were brought about on the mixing and mastering by Zack Ohren of Castle Ultimate Studios.

Firmly aligned with Nuclear Blast Records, the often coveted sound of IMMOLATION has reemerged from the depths of a cursed and cruel world to illuminate our minds and ears with exquisite, sonic destruction.

Following Pre-Choreographed released in April 2020 where he mixed his classical pieces with electronic sounds and started developing the relationship between dance and music, Japanese pianist Koki Nakano is back with Oceanic Feeling. The music deals with his inability to fully live in this so-called oceanic feeling, capturing thus the composer's longing, frustration and ultimately search for harmony within his own limitations. He composed much of Oceanic Feeling while watching dancers move to what he played and the album's singles come accompanied by mesmerizing videos featuring renowned choreographers and performers such as Tess Voelker and Marion Motin. Musically speaking, Nakano is constantly moving through the grey area between intellect and instinct on Oceanic Feeling. Tracks oftentimes feel simple, and in that simplicity, genuinely touching. Yet behind every piano key is a complex, layered recording system developed by the artist himself that gives sounds a unique depth. Oceanic Feeling is an impressive avantgarde journey that moves and stirs without ever losing balance.

Recommended If You Like: Bugg, Young Guv, Turnstile, Supercrush, Angel Du$t. Hey, what's up. You heard of Jacky Boy? They're this band from Indiana, and I like em a lot. They put out a record a few years ago that is really good (2017's On Good Terms With Everyone You Know). Kind of vulnerable, but not-too-emo, catchy as hell, fun-and-feeling Midwest rock songs. Anyway, they made a new record called Mush, and it's great! This entire album is built on top of an unambiguous sense of relief. Relief from immaturity, relief to grow, relief to be happy, relief to be free because it makes you happy, these are the recurring themes of the album, and also exactly how it feels when you listen to it. With the addition of Zac Canale's waning-Gen X / Millennial Rising MTV-College-Rock guitar fluency, Jacky Boy's previous nods to 1990's slackerdom are injected with a new genuine authenticity and exploration. And Mark Edlin's emotive, confident drumming betrays his youth without a noticeable care in the world. But the cares are in there. This isn't throwback music. This record is strong and cathartic and speaks for itself. The songs are catchy and fond, the vibration is easy, and the feeling is real. Mike Adams.

Sean Johnston has put together some righteous compadres to form a new project - The Summerisle Six. Featuring Jo Bartlett (Yellow Moon Band) on vocals, Andy Bell (Oasis and Ride amongst others) & Duncan Gray on guitars, Kev Sharkey (That Petrol Emotion, The Undertones, Elvis Costello to name a few) on percussion, Mick Somerset Ward on Sax (Clock DVA, Was Not Was, Crooked Man). This Is Something is a driving pop groover reminiscent of a late 80's early 90's Indie Dance anthem. The Dub mix invites the OG mix to ALFOS, turns the lights off and presses the smoke button for a chuggy heartwarming trip across the dance floor. There are no words to describe Rico Connings mix other than to say this 10 min journey has to be heard to be believed. A genuine Balearic gem.

Praised for his genuine originality, the American-Canadian Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation. In 2004 he released Want Two, his fourth studio album. According to Wainwright himself, it is the darker sibling of 2003’s Want One - its subject matter concerned with “the world we live in” after Want One focus on the intensely personal. Wainwright produced the album in collaboration with Grammy Award winning British producer Marius de Vries, who is best known for work with U2, Madonna and Björk.

His mother Kate McGarrigle and aunt Anna McGarrigle both sing on the track “Hometown Waltz”. The album also features Wainwright’s popular tracks “The One You Love”, “Agnes Dei” and “Old Whore’s Diet”. The latter features Anohni from Antony and the Johnsons.

Want Two includes an insert with lyrics.

Released in 1958 on Columbia, the five- star review by AllMusic's Thom Jurek called it ".. a classic album with blues material in both bebop and post- bop veins…….which introduced modalism in jazz and defined Davis' subsequent music in the years to follow."A precursor to 'Kind of Blue', 'Milestones' was the first session to feature John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley.

"Davis' statements here are genuinely eloquent. Coltrane's efforts here do indicate that he is rapidly moving toward a niche of his own, absorbing influences but not being obsessed by them. Adderley is less than individualist but is performing on a level of fluency which will make the discovery of a self-sustaining role less difficult in time." - Don Gold, DownBeat (1958)

A cold wind blows while a disembodied drum marches in distance, diving slowly into an orchestra warm-up that ends with a bang: Marmo Music welcomes back Massimo Pegoraro, aka Modus, this time with a special tape release that carries genuinely shaped musical fantasies by the enigmatic electronic music composer and DJ from Genova. Each tune brings a new shade of his polychrome musical universe. He wrote a library music leaning ode to Moondog, recalls forgotten WW1 battles with longing choirs’ chanting along a minimal droning dream house Cello tone, and drops a melancholic fairytale that pits footage of kids laughing at a street market against Fellini-Score spinet melodies. Three of 14 mesmerizing, profoundly written pieces of music, that tell multi-layered contes with Synth reverberations, jazz ambiances, experimental Brit pop sonics, and a sundry range of field recordings. Together they build an enthralling story arc, that displays the open-minded spheres of the broad musical cosmos of Modus. To open the doors to his universe extensive, he additionally wrote some author’s notes for each single composition, that evoke vibrant images on his inspirations and their sounding outcome. Check the spell below while listening to intensely produced explorer music, that brings you obscure ideas from afar who express all the many subtle spirits of Modus.

Clear Vinyl

Written and conceived by Stephan Crasneanscki, ‘LOVOTIC’ is a concept album by Soundwalk Collective, composed in collaboration with lauded actress and singer/songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourg. Featuring veteran techno stalwart AtomTM, rising singer/composer/performance artist Lyra Pramuk, celebrated actor Willem Dafoe, and writer/philosopher Paul B. Preciado, the album is released by the new Berlin-based Analogue Foundation.

Inspired by a relatively new field of research that seeks to explore and develop the possibilities of sexual and emotional relationships – and even love – between humans and robots, ‘LOVOTIC’ interrogates the impulses, ideas, and needs underlying this phenomenon. The project ventures into a future where sex, intimacy and desire are reformulated through the connection of humans, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

In an age of such hybrid entanglement with the machine, human identity requires the construction of new forms of intimacy, gender, and sexuality. At present, however, such technologies are primarily used to produce programs of limited sexual iterations that do not question the preformatted categories of gender and sexual orientation. In contrast, on ‘LOVOTIC’, Soundwalk Collective ask whether the future of sex and sexuality could instead be an exponentially expanding kaleidoscope. Where does the impulse of preference come from? What sets of words from our vocabulary can be communicated to the AI mind to generate a new identity for desire? Could the machine be another technology that brings us closer together?

Sonically ‘LOVOTIC’ is unidentifiable, artificial, and genuinely futuristic, occupying an amorphous androgynous netherworld at the borderlands between biotic and android. Traditional musical signposts are virtually non-existent, instead offering a mercurial, formless sound which mirrors the flourishing of gender fluidity it suggests could be on the horizon.

The production tangibly evokes the odd, rubbery textures of faux flesh, the slick virtual glide or glitchy mishaps of software, and the sleek shine of hardware. Gleaming sound design creates shard-like surfaces redolent of Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Glass’, the slippery stretched sonics Gabor Lazar, and the unsettling dark ambience of TOWERS and Hallmark ‘87.

At turns intimate and inviting, with whispering-in-your-ears ASMR vocals evoking blissful, heightened sexual states, within ‘LOVOTIC’ there’s optimism, but also unease; As well as the positive, it implies the negative ramifications of technology. At points a synthetic siren’s call appears to lure the listener to a darker place, with audio malfunctions suggesting dystopian science. Voices morph from gentle to distorted – a glitch in the system causing the mask to slip, like virtual lizards – ‘They Live’ or ‘V’ (?), for the metaverse age.

Here, Charlotte Gainsbourg invokes a being of unknown identity – an artificial eve, the oracle and the portal – speaking from an unspecified time in the future. The voices of AtomTM, Lyra Pramuk and Willem Dafoe weave in and out of Charlotte’s, often overlapping, merging into one another, expressing the entity of a being that’s ephemeral and in constant flux, oscillating between the natural and artificial. The record’s other bonafide singer, Lyra Pramuk’s delivery alternates between spoken word, operatics and partially- unintelligible language.

A multi-media project, ‘LOVOTIC’ also features the work of writer, philosopher and curator Paul B. Preciado – a leading thinker in the study of gender and body politics. Paul contributes a post-apocalyptic, quasi scientific and fictional text, which adds further fantasy, artistic and intellectual depth, augmenting the listener’s experience. Like all the best Sci Fi, his words seem prescient, describing what could become a likely reality in the future. Paul performs his written texts on the opening and closing tracks of the album; ‘The Age Of Mutation’ (in Spanish) and ‘Primate Love’ (in English).

Soundwalk Collective is an experimental sound collective helmed by Stephan Crasneanscki in collaboration with Simone Merli, which operates in a continuously rotating constellation of sound artists and musicians. The Collective’s approach to composition combines anthropology, ethnography, non-linear narrative, psycho- geography, the observation of nature, and explorations in recording and synthesis.

Improvisation and experimentation are at the core of Robocobra
Quartet’s DNA, almost intentionally at odds with their roots as a
post punk band.
 Including members with no musical training alongside European
music conservatoire innovators, the result is a groove-driven but
cerebral blast, invoking the likes of Fugazi, Talking Heads and
contemporaries such as Squid and Black Country, New Road.
 The eclectic free nature of their live shows allows them to
channel hop from moments of joy and playfulness to periods of
intense fury, creating a unique sound that has earned them
invitations to Montreux Jazz Festival and Latitude.
 Robocobra Quartet have a rule: No Guitars Allowed. Their
unique sound, concocted and self-produced in Belfast, Northern
Ireland, sees that ‘middle’ space filled by other instruments such
as saxophones, samplers, keyboards and sound effects,
swirling around the melodic basslines and powerful drum
rhythms which prop up the core of each of their songs.
 On top of this music sits a single vocal from behind the drum kit
amid a fury of rhythm, sometimes marrying perfectly with the
pulse of the drums and occasionally at complete odds with it.
 Live dates / tour to be announced.
 “I genuinely don’t think there is another band like ‘em, anywhere
in these islands” - Tom Robinson
 “Free-floating musical explorers” - Hannah Peel
 “Fugazi meets Mingus.” - Drowned in Sound
 “Exploratory pioneers.” - BBC Radio 3 Late Junction
 “A cunning marriage of jazz, spoken word and punk” - The
Quietus

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dengue Fever on Vinyl! This Deluxe Reissue contains 5 bonus tracks not
availble on the original release / w download
Fronted by amazing vocalist Chhom Nimol, Dengue Fever has surprisingly
universal appeal - Chhom herself is already quite accustomed to seizing the
hearts of listeners (including the King and Queen of Cambodia), as she comes
from a family best considered as a Cambodia pop music dynasty– not unlike a
Cambodian version of the Jacksons. The rest of the band is no flake-fest either,
consisting of Zac Holtzman (Dieselhed) and his brother Ethan on Farfisa organ,
Senon Williams (Radar Brothers), David Ralicke (Beck) and seasoned drummer/
engineer Paul Smith. Their covers stay remarkably true to the crazy party music
spirit of the '60s- and '70s-era originals. But there are also original songs, some of
which veer off into the darkened corridors of lost love and ghostly noir
romanticism, dissolving sometimes into spaces of genuine bleakness and
tragedy — all in the Khmer tongue. Far from mere novelty or cheap Orientophile
thrill, Dengue Fever keeps listeners on their toes, dancing to their way-out tones.
The Deluxe Reissue contains 5 bonus tracks not availble on the original release.

7" Black Vinyl limited to 1000 copies.

Teenagehood, brotherhood and a genuine love for alternative music has united THE GOA EXPRESS from the off. Hailing from the industrial town of Burnley and adopted by the Manchester culture carriers, their teenage years can be viewed as something of a hedonistic pilgrimage into the underbelly of suburban rock and roll- their first gig having been 3 songs blasted out their mates garage, the next on top of a local vintage shop where the floor nearly caved in: “when there’s fuck all, you make do with what you got”. The intensity of this friendship has resulted in the occasional bust up along the way, yet it only adds to the burning chemistry that the band offer on record and on stage. Together, brothers James Douglas Clarke (Guitar + Vocals) and Joe Clarke (Keys), along with Joey Stein (Lead Guitar), Naham Muzaffar (Bass) and Sam Launder (Drums) all contribute to a fuzzy wall of diverse sound, becoming harder to pin down with their constantly evolving, psych-umbrella’d, rock and roll. What sets THE GOA EXPRESS apart from other musicians who sit comfortably within scenes is that their identity as a band has been growing organically long before the 5 of them decided to pick up instruments and teach themselves art of killing time. Their genuine joy in the everyday; their attitude and antics seem to hark back to the glory days of the NME- if they talk about a night out, you want to be there because these lads ooze charm and wreak havoc. This purist, old school approach to creating music through unified experiences and stimulated good times is married with the plain fact that they are very much young people of this generation, and while they see its flaws its hyperreality, its sheep-like tendencies, they still understand the importance in the immediacy of pop music: of a banging riff, or a glorious chorus and how effective this can truly be, and they want everyone along for the ride. With influences ranging from Spacemen 3 and The Brian Jonestown Massacre to French existentialism, from Beat Literature to long hours working at the Bookies to the journey into the sunrise on the night bus home, it is their ability to be all these things at once which makes THE GOA EXPRESS a guitar band for the 21st Century. Nothing is ever a compromise because they are so unapologetically themselves in everything they do- proud Northerners with a DIY foundation that aren’t afraid to look into the often dim future and see themselves shining brightly in it, unforgiving and unpretentious. So far, the band have released 3 singles with great success. The first: ‘Be My Friend’, produced by Ross Orton right next Sheffield’s famous ‘City Sauna’ brothel, presents itself to us as a cheeky, snarling pop song, holding undertones of raw cynicism laden with psychedelic sunshine. Ross Orton’s studio was also right next door to where the band recorded their last single ‘The Day’ with Nathan Saoudi of Fat White Family at ‘Champ Zone.’ Both these producers have been able to give these instant pop classics a grittier feel, capturing the essence of the unfettered lifestyle the band were living at the time that they were able to capture themselves in the music video for ‘Be My Friend’. After signing with Ra-Ra Rok, (WU-LU/Bingo Fury) the band released anthemic summer hit ‘Second Time’, that went straight to the 6 music B-List before quickly heading up to the A-List 2 for 2 weeks. This was followed by the release of its B-Side ‘Overpass’ that almost immediately caught the eyes and ears of BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, who had the band on his ‘Next Wave’ Segment. Closing the year that saw them play to 1000 strong crowds at festivals like Latitude & End of the Road, the band headlined their biggest headline show to date at Manchester’s Gorilla. Its fair to say that this really is only the beginning.

25 years of perpetual, subtle and occasionally lunatic compositional, recording- and production-wise workouts finally result in the first and withal last album „Asphalt“ from the realms of Rico Puestel's childhood pseudonymous getaway „Tetzlaff“.

„Asphalt“ tells genuine stories of mobility and industrialisation, freedom and boundaries, the reciprocity of humanity and technology within the tension of past, present and future. Beneath its overall nostalgic and somehow timeless electronic retro charme it has been inspired by different currents, questions and approaches from philosophy to diverging sciences that shaped this long-haul monument of creation.

Following numerous artistic and technical ordeals, the consistently analogue production went through an emotional roller coaster ride while growing up, defined by the diverging poles of magic momentums and withering setbacks and combined with a fear of never finishing what once has been initiated, wanting to become reality some day.

Years and years of striving and searching for the right gear and recording setups to make this miniature album sound the way it should, never left out the central aspect of one perceptible and pure storytelling. Each song, as intimate, neat and almost predictable it might appear, has been elaborately designed moment by moment, second by second, byte by byte, revised hundreds of times, scrapped and recreated, dismantled and reconstructed.

„Asphalt“ enters and exists stage as a conceptual and musical unicum of its own that claims its self-fulfilling destiny by an endless circularity of endings and new beginnings...

Deadletter release their new 7” single, ‘Pop
Culture Connoisseur’. Hailing from Yorkshire, the
now South London rooted band channel the droll
fury of The Fall and the lopsided rhythms of Talking
Heads into a strain of danceable post-punk,
exploring the darker side of existence through a
ens of narrative-driven levity.



Previously supporting the likes of Squid, Viagra
Boys and Pip Blom, Deadletter have emerged as a
genuinely thrilling live prospect. Experts in the field
of intensity, the band seamlessly switch from
conversational verses into a mix of unadulterated
post-punk fury and irresistible rhythm, addressing
hemes such as bureaucracy, loss of personal
dentity and modern-day consumerism.

New single, ‘Pop Culture Connoisseur’, produced
by Theo Verney (TRAAMS, Lazarus Kane, FEET),
finds singer and frontman Zac Lawrence switching
from the overt politicism of previous releases into a
more tongue-in-cheek narrative centred around the
case of PC Read, a police officer fired for stealing
doughnuts through a self-service checkout. In
addition to providing a case study into the fashion
hose in positions of authority often consider
hemselves above the law, the track also aims to
comment at the manner modern morality so often
relates to PR optics, as the cultural trope of law
enforcement eating doughnuts is played out in real
ime.

Genuine, warm, almost primal house music to celebrate the first release of Time To Play Records, a label founded by Filippo Tazzer on the wave of the ten-year Vicenza party dedicated mainly to black music. The debut of the label bears the signature of Reekee, Emilian producer founder of Wrong Notes Records and globally recognized for the releases on Uzuri Rec. And the prestigious collaborations with artists such as Kai Alcé, Erik Rico, Patrice Scott and Alex Attias .Side A opens with “Don’t look back”, which will then also be the title of the ep, in which you breathe the air of Detroit for the construction of a powerful and hypnotic rhythm, embellished with refined piano turns. Then follows Butterfly, who blends the intense bond between Reekee’s exquisitely house background and his passion for jazz, which is touched with light keyboard virtuosity.On the B-side, Reekee “completes his work with Wanna be Away” by flirting with his Drum machine to reach the territories of the broken beat. The ep is completed by a remix of Don’t look back signed by Colosimo (it will be his second release of Time to Play records), capable of essentially working on the drums of the song and giving it an acid touch perfect for the most energetic tracks.

This compilation album collects Decca tracks from
1942 onwards and covers Jordan's golden period;
featuring 11 Number 1's and 5 charting in the top 10.
Louis Jordan has left a real lasting legacy, as without
his ground breaking musical journey in the 40's & 50's,
we can genuinely say that none of the music we knew
and loved thereafter may have happened. Can't say
that about many artists, can you?

Born in Norfolk, Virginia on 11 February 1935. At the age of 12 Vincent
was given his first guitar by a schoolfriend. There was no generosity
involved in the gift because it wasn’t his friend’s guitar. It belonged to his sister, who was learning how to play. He couldn’t stand the racket she was making so he gave her guitar away. But unwittingly, this cruel act was a crucial moment in Gene’s life as he soon began to entertain with the blues, gospel and country from his porch. ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ was to be the first single by Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps. Selling 3 million copies, it opened the door to national fame and untold riches. Followed by the release of the album ‘Bluejean Bop‘ on Capitol Records. He was the ultimate greaser, the genuine article and the authentic voice of his generation.

Was unsure if to do this Modern rarity on 45 due to there being no master tapes and the original pressing is really rough with loads of sibilance, but having had so many requests to put this out I thought fuck it, the end result came out better than the OG but nonetheless ill get crucified by the discogs police but ill take it :) and the rest of us can have this Modern banger in our box without having to sell your car.

What it lacks in audio quality, it makes up for in musicality ten times over, a genuine two-sided 7" of modern soul royalty, rare and good.

Larry Tee and Radio Slave announce The Royal Acadamy Of Fierce. Featuring Justin Vivien Bond and Tobell von Cartier, ‘Fashion Queen / Black Pussy’s Revenge’ drops in March.

Founded by US icon Larry Tee and Rekids label boss Radio Slave, The Royal Academy Of Fierce is a project inspired by underground drag culture and the unmistakable sound of early nineties New York house. Featuring Broadway star Justin Vivien Bond and drag sensation Tobell von Cartier, the first release from the project channels this raucous energy across a ferocious pair of club-ready tracks.

Best known for writing the smash ‘Supermodel (You Better Work)’ for RuPaul, as well as a discography that includes seminal late 80s house cuts on Funtone and Quark alongside pivotal work with Princess Superstar, Scissor Sisters, Erasure’s Andy Bell, and Peaches, Larry Tee’s rep goes way beyond his coining of the ‘electroclash’ genre in the early 2000s. A literal party starter for decades, nights like Love Machine (NY), Super Electric Party Machine (London) and KRANK (Berlin), Tee’s a genuine cultural institution.

Sardinia-based heavy psych and power stoner
rockers Bentrees’ sound is a vibrant mix of fuzzy
power blues and hard rock influences, drawing
from the 70’s and wrapped in the glory of 90’s and
early 2000’s stoner rock.
 Bentrees create a wild ride of addictive and heavy
riffage into psychedelic wonderlands. They have
been continuously looking for an authentic and
genuine formula, often represented by
introspective lyrics - a reference to their homeland
and connection with nature.
 Following the band’s 2017-debut, ‘Psychollage’,
and countless live shows with acts such as
Yawning Man, Black Rainbows, The Cosmic Dead
and The Spacelords, Bentrees are now ready with
their new opus, ‘Two Of Swords’.
 For fans of Lowrider, Celestial Season, Atomic
Vulture, Kyuss, Nebula, Spirit Caravan, Monster
Magnet, Acrimony, King Buffalo.
 LP pressed on blue vinyl.