Suche:get it

"Detroit Stories" is the name of this cool social project happening in Motorcity, USA, aka Detroit. It's a rad way to capture and show off the history and present of the city and its peeps. They're doing it by interviewing OG residents and immigrants from way back, the ones who lived through all the ups and downs of the Motor City. You've got stories of good times, hard work, opportunities, but also struggles, violence, and social movements that shaped Detroit's rise and slow fall. This city's always had a lot to offer in terms of music, culture, and beyond.

And guess what? DJ and producer Luca Fronza gets in on the action, finding some of those interview podcasts. He's turning their stories, the vocals, and speeches into some killer beats, with the distinctive motorcity raw house touch that we absolutely love here at Flexi. And to top it off, you've got a remix by the master himself, Prins Thomas! It's gonna be lit!
All tracks (except B2) produced and composed by Luca Fronza Remix of “Gipsy” is by Prins Thomas

With their 2018 debut album, ”Windborne”, Oslo based trio Kanaan quickly established themselves as one of the most important groups in the youngest generation of psychedelic impro-rockers. As accomplished players – all three educated in jazz – they marry fiery energy with musical intricacy, and possess a rare ability to balance power and delicateness. They devote as much energy to exploring airiness and atmosphere as they do to intensity. On this set the trio join forces with Causa Sui guitar player and producer Jonas Munk, for a series of semi-improvised sonic excursions. Recorded in Jonas Munk's Odense studio, where most of the El Paraiso magic happens, the band explores a looser side of their sound. Jonas Munk joins on guitar on every track, and occasionally synths as well, unlocking new modal possibilities and a Grateful Dead-esque dual-guitar flow that suits the band well. These four tracks unfold in a panoramic slow burn, only occasionally exploding in blazing leads. They know just when to hold back and when to let loose. On the final track, ”Urgent Excursions To The Tundrasphere”, the four eventually let it all rip, creating a complete sonic meltdown. For fans of freeform psychedelic rock this is as essential as it gets.

Italian cosmic couriers San Leo return with fifth album, ’Aves Raras’: a resounding statement of intent, arguably their most accomplished and well-rounded effort so far. Clocking in at around 38 minutes, “Aves Raras” has it all: analog slag of tribal ritual music, bold guitar riffs, shimmering layers of synths. Frantic grooves, ghostly vocals, dazzling walls of noise and pastoral tonal passages – the ultimate call to enlightenment through euphoria. Over again, San Leo prove to be inclined to explore new pathways in their sonic journey, without relying on formulas of any kind. It doesn’t get any tighter, crucial, and most alive than this. Recorded by Andrea Scardovi at Duna Studio. Drums recorded by Yuri Pierini at Blue Audio Studio. Additional recording by San Leo. Mixed by Francesco Donadello at Kalimba Studio and Synecdoche Music Research, Berlin. Mastered by Giovanni Versari at La Maestà

Tape

Vestigios, Aeondelit’s second full length record after recently releasing an EP of shifting club music influenced by postmodern philosopher Leotard on Tel Aviv’s Sadan records, tells a lucid, captivating story of heritage, transformation, vulnerability and healing. It will be released via Berlin-based art platform and record label Unguarded as a digital and tape release with an artwork created by Petra Hermanova, and will be accompanied by limited textile pieces by Diane Esnault. Aeondelit’s music is strongly influenced by the rocky surrounding of his hometown Manizales and fuses electronic sensibilities, ambient streams and avant-percussive rhythms that build his sound identity. Aeondelit's evocative music has previously been released via the Insurgentes imprint, Vienna-based Ashida Park and was recently featured on the 'Unguarded 2 – Entangled' compilation. Cortés describes the meaning of Vestigios as such: “The memories of past generations: the lives that burn within me, are the pillars of who I am. They constitute longings and traps, sin and strength, the temple that breaks down and rebuilds. The different dimensions of consciousness converge in the mind, which constantly tells us who we are, synthesizing and projecting our contradictions. The pain that comes with getting in touch with our vulnerabilities opens the doors to healing through confrontation. This lays the foundation for a more honest relationship with our past, present and future. 'Vestigios' is the bridge between the temporal and the eternal, the crystallized remnant of pain caused by transformation and recognition of the convulsive underworld of our psyche.” Aeondelit, birth name Sergio Cortés, is a Colombian music producer who explores themes related to technology and human condition in sound. He focuses on the creative use of sample manipulation techniques and digital sound synthesis to deepen the idea of a dialogue between computer and human, and how both influence each other. Deep in Colombia's Andes, surrounded by big mountains and the sacred Nevado del Ruiz, Aeondelit has been forging his own sound identity, exploring the intersection points between sparkly experimental club music and melodic ambient electronic. His first release Editing Destiny on the Colombian label Insurgentes was well received by the public and DJs, named one of the best albums of 2020 on Mixmag. His last release on Sadan Records, Anima Minima, was reviewed and premiered on platforms like DJ Mag, THE BRVTALIST and Orb Mag. He is also the co-founder of the independent record label Nvrclose, where his debut album as Æon Series: Dualidad, was released. About Unguarded: Unguarded is a Berlin based experimental electronic music label and art platform. In 2020 long-term collaborators Tim Roth aka Sin Maldita aka 1k Flowers and Phillipp Hülsenbeck founded Unguarded to foster forward thinking artists with a focus on exploring cross-disciplinary collaboration and embarking on sonic adventures. Unguarded was founded in a time of turmoil and uncertainty for artists and music, trying to keep personal connections alive through shared personal and collective experiences between doom and destruction and glistening hope. Amongst their own contributions, Hülsenbeck and Roth gather a collection of genre-defying works by longtime collaborators as well as artists they bonded with in recent years. Their releases constantly escape from definition but through entangling their unique artistic marks, this diversity remains absorbing and compelling throughout their sprawling sonic miasmas. Combining earth-shattering club cuts, equally elegant and bouncy, Unguarded contributes to and connects the experimental music scene in and outside of Berlin. We invite the curious to a deep, tense but rewarding experience.

Fall is here after all the summer maddness with festivals, mediterranean tours and Ibiza residencies, it full on vinyl releases for Vega Records. Introducing the 5 Pack Unreleased IV edition, Vega Records takes another step into the world of unreleased music from the Vega Family. Gems from Leroy Burgess, Two Soul fusion, Tony Touch, Professor Featuring Ndu Shezi & Thebe, Johnny Dangerous, and gospel royalty Bebe Winans to Elements Of Life Demos and songs in the making all come together on this special 5 piece vinyl set. With 12 tracks in the sequence there are a select number of talented producers on the project which include Two Soul Fusion AKA Louie Vega & Josh Milan, Pablo Fierro, Johnny Dangerous, Luis Radio, Pietro Nicosia and musicians Axel Tosca and Luisito Quintero. They all contribute to these unique pieces of music mastered by the one and only who we call “The Quincy Jones Of Mastering” Mr. Herb Powers of PM Mastering and the vinyl manufactured by Optimal, Germany. With a limited number of copies made make sure you get your hands on them, they will be rare and very fast!!! Vega Records “always bringing you top quality music” !! Distributed by Above Board, UK.

House of Harm are proud to announce the forthcoming release of their new album Playground, out December 1st, 2023. The new record builds and expands upon the three-piece’s enthralling shadow-pop sound, a mix of midnight atmospherics, 90s era jangle pop, and contagious synth drenched hooks that further elevate the transcendent vocals of lead singer Michael Rocheford. Rounded out by Cooper Leardi (guitar / synths) and Tyler Kershaw (guitar / synth), House of Harm have amassed an impressive following as something of a best kept secret among their growing fanbase, leading to sold out shows on both coasts by the power of word of mouth alone. The band members have been drawn to music for as long as any of them can remember, and the drive to be around like-minded artists and make their own noise drew them all to Boston after high school. There they all quickly enmeshed themselves, playing in other bands before meeting each other. Ever since, House of Harm have been quietly making a name for themselves among music fans with darker pop persuasions via a steady stream of releases in single, ep and album form. That attention to detail and workmanlike approach at the expense of chasing instant gratification seems to be paying dividends after years of steady effort. The journey of their new album Playground saw House of Harm stay true to that ethos. The band painstakingly narrowed the record down to an efficient 10 tracks that they felt made the most sense, both standing on their own as well as fitting into an LP that built a cohesive world for the listener to get lost in. The album’s name also reflects the experimentation and happy accidents that came about during the writing and recording process. On “The Face of Grace” they set out to explore different dynamics by writing a song entirely without drums, but couldn't help themselves from putting emphasis on the song’s 6/8 waltz time signature. “Two Kinds” is another first for House Of Harm in that it’s predominantly driven by acoustic guitar. That aforementioned vulnerability shows up in other areas of the songwriting process as well with “Two Kinds”, one of their most revealing songs to date from a lyrical standpoint, written from a place of reflection and weakness and tackling feelings uneasy to be put on display for public consumption. Taken as a whole, the end result is an album representing a collection of the band’s most raw and expressive songs yet.

Atomçk are back! Expanded to a quartet, here is more of their uniquely eccentric and offbeat brand of grindcore for thee end-tymes. Another head crusher of cacophonous chaos, all furiously catchy riffs and inhumanly shrill, stuck-ape vocals with pinpoint drums that border on the chaotic. "Newly expanded to a quartet, Towering Failures is undoubtedly the band’s heaviest and most sonically flattening release to date, boasting a gigantic tone that sounds downright apocalyptic on slower numbers. For the most part though, this album races past at lightspeed, but manages to convey a host of different moods and textures in amongst its frantic delivery. Atomçk have been getting better and better with each subsequent album, but this is surely their most powerful and definitive record to date, and one of the most inventive and memorable grindcore records of the year thus far." - The Quietus "Like a budgie with a whistle" – Ninehertz

The birth point of ecstasy in British music is usually credited to acid house and the second summer of love: a cemented vision of kids sweating and vibrating in clubs, fields and warehouses in 1988, united by universal empathy and mind-popping sounds. However, in 1981, a couple of young men from Leeds went to New York, discovered the drug in its infancy, fused its’ gritty synth pop to acid house’s squelchy 303 groove and recorded an album: Soft Cell’s Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The rest, as they say, is history.

Shortly before that Soft Cell’s debut single Memorabilia was born. Originally recorded a decade before the explosion of acid house and rooted in predominantly black NYC, Chicago and Detroit gay clubs, Memorabilia is a seminal early prelude to rave culture. Merging a

strutting disco bass line with a futuristic proto acid-techno beat, Marc Almond has past described Memorabilia as “the first acid house techno record ever”.

Dave Ball remembers: “Memorabilia got to about number 99 in the charts, but the clubs picked up on it. In NME or Sounds they had a chart for the Danceteria in New York, and we were in it. Our label Phonogram saw this and thought: ‘why is this weird little duo from Leeds that no one’s heard of suddenly getting played in one of the hippest clubs in New York?’ So I think they thought: ‘we’ll give them another chance’.”



Berlin’s very own upcomers Wally Funk round off the remix package, upping the original tempo slightly, while combining elements the of original production with the later Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing version to create a new hybrid, best played extremely loud!

Limited

Edinburgh based DJ and producer Filthy Rich, head honcho at independent techno label ‘Zimp Recordings’, is a deliciously slippery artist with an engorged techno sack who’s always at the ready to spurt his computer generated juicy tit bits all over your proverbial techno flaps.

Furious from the get go with old-skool breaks, filthy rave blasts, scratchy samples and acid-house basslines, this is a release destined for festivals and outdoor parties. And with Randolph Glahs making his welcome return to the label doing exactly what he does best with massive driving kicks, hats and cymbals coming in and out like techno terrorists, the club roofs will absolutely blow off with his remix.

Full of constructed synths, thumpin’ 4x4 kicks, focused tunnel hypnosis and smooth organ overload, the infectious “wub-wub” sounds emanating from this uplifting release will roller-disco it’s way over any sound system that can take its tight ……… FUNKAGEDDON.

Altered Circuits' next release comes by way of Bologna-to-Berlin transplant Jacopo Latini. On the Motherboard EP he combines stubby drums and sultry, efficient basslines with richly hued synth work. Once the cuts get going, a tapestry of melody reveals itself: gated leads are accompanied by burbling arpeggios, momentous chord progressions and bright pads that crawl in and out. The patches often incline to the bright and dreamy but are deployed with restraint; in the same vein, concealed and aloof vocal samples get sprinkled in. These techniques - staples for the artist - add an inscrutable quality to his work's mood. It is dance music that feels direct on the surface yet hides more ambiguous emotions underneath. Being a DJ was Latini's first approach to the electronic genres, and it arguably still is his main inspiration - it even occurs he writes tracks with a specific venue in mind. Since starting over a decade ago, and having meanwhile swapped the local Italian stages for the international ones, he has amassed a ton of analogue gear to help him do so. On this occasion, he plugged in his Roland D-50, Moog Sub 37 and microKorg XL, among other favorites, to take on progressive, trance and tech house. "Motherboard", "High Voltage", "It Comes In The Morning", and "Dual Effect" make for a diverse selection but have indeed the same objective: the club floor.

Those familiar with the sound and style of the DIY scene in Chicago's Logan Square may be surprised to find out that it was the birthplace of psych pop quintet Lucille Furs. They are a little surprised themselves.

At the time it wasn't exactly the place to hear harmonies and harpsichords so much as songs about sniffing glue. This isn't to say they didn't like the raucous power of Magik Milk, on the contrary. But, as the people who would come to make up the band began to talk, it became clear that they wanted to make something different entirely. They wanted to make something with the heartbeat of sweaty city basement shows but with the unrestrained imagination of places and times where they had never been.

Bassist Patrick Tsotsos will tell you about the music of post-war Greece where his grandparents grew up. Guitarist Nick Dehmlow will tell you about the garage bands of LA. Drummer Brendan Peleo-Lazar can fill you in on a late 60s London studio session as though he was running the tape machine. Mellotron/organ player Constantine Hastalis can show you a record by some long-forgotten folk singer who writes so earnestly you won't forgive the world for forgetting it. Singer Trevor Newton Pritchett is unapologetic about what they borrow. "You might hear the Zombies for their kind of haunting and contemplative quality, the Kinks kind-of casual criticism, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band for their distant romantic quality, Temples, Love, Diane Coffee, Charles Bradley or our Chicago people Post Animal, Jude Shuma and Whitney." Now that half of the band is located in Los Angeles you'll be likely to hear those influences, too.

And that's what becomes crystal clear when listening to the upcoming album Another Land. It's an immersive listen, the kind of record you can get lost in on a cross-country drive from the midwest to the west coast. A record with warm blood running through its veins. Music where thought can be abandoned.

The whole record is dressed up in surreal and esoteric terms, in exchange for being topical. Think Dylan lyrics from the late 60s. "Paint Euphrosyne Blue" is kind of a meta-level example of that. The song is a reference to the goddess of mirth, about the human need to adapt to the point of becoming unoriginal. It's about chasing Van Gogh's depression because it makes you feel like a better painter.

The album was written through September 2017 and was recorded following the release of the self-titled Lucille Furs album later that year. It was recorded direct to tape before being completed at Treehouse Records in Chicago.

For fans of: The Kinks, The Zombies, Love, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Byrds, The Beatles, Foxygen, Triptides, Temples, Mystic Braves, Levitation Room

Those familiar with the sound and style of the DIY scene in Chicago's Logan Square may be surprised to find out that it was the birthplace of psych pop quintet Lucille Furs. They are a little surprised themselves.

At the time it wasn't exactly the place to hear harmonies and harpsichords so much as songs about sniffing glue. This isn't to say they didn't like the raucous power of Magik Milk, on the contrary. But, as the people who would come to make up the band began to talk, it became clear that they wanted to make something different entirely. They wanted to make something with the heartbeat of sweaty city basement shows but with the unrestrained imagination of places and times where they had never been.

Bassist Patrick Tsotsos will tell you about the music of post-war Greece where his grandparents grew up. Guitarist Nick Dehmlow will tell you about the garage bands of LA. Drummer Brendan Peleo-Lazar can fill you in on a late 60s London studio session as though he was running the tape machine. Mellotron/organ player Constantine Hastalis can show you a record by some long-forgotten folk singer who writes so earnestly you won't forgive the world for forgetting it. Singer Trevor Newton Pritchett is unapologetic about what they borrow. "You might hear the Zombies for their kind of haunting and contemplative quality, the Kinks kind-of casual criticism, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band for their distant romantic quality, Temples, Love, Diane Coffee, Charles Bradley or our Chicago people Post Animal, Jude Shuma and Whitney." Now that half of the band is located in Los Angeles you'll be likely to hear those influences, too.

And that's what becomes crystal clear when listening to the upcoming album Another Land. It's an immersive listen, the kind of record you can get lost in on a cross-country drive from the midwest to the west coast. A record with warm blood running through its veins. Music where thought can be abandoned.

The whole record is dressed up in surreal and esoteric terms, in exchange for being topical. Think Dylan lyrics from the late 60s. "Paint Euphrosyne Blue" is kind of a meta-level example of that. The song is a reference to the goddess of mirth, about the human need to adapt to the point of becoming unoriginal. It's about chasing Van Gogh's depression because it makes you feel like a better painter.

The album was written through September 2017 and was recorded following the release of the self-titled Lucille Furs album later that year. It was recorded direct to tape before being completed at Treehouse Records in Chicago.

For fans of: The Kinks, The Zombies, Love, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Byrds, The Beatles, Foxygen, Triptides, Temples, Mystic Braves, Levitation Room

Temple, Bassey, MacLaine and now, Hurt; in a world of Shirleys, the name Sophia Ruby Katz has chosen for her music is perhaps prophetic as it captures her stunningly emotive vocal approach. And whilst Shirley Hurt might be the perfect nom de plume for the creative Toronto-based artist, it’s her self-titled debut album which positions her as protagonist of her own universe.

Traversing sonic landscapes, Shirley Hurt’s vocals ebb and flow like lyrical Ley lines tracking the contours of her own well-travelled map. By the age of 18, Hurt had travelled extensively, having lived in upwards of 20 different apartments and houses, as a result never really feeling “at home” anywhere. At this age was when Hurt found herself in New York, dipping her toes into various scenes and musical realms. The first and only place she ever felt at home, and a partial home-base for her, she travelled between Toronto and New York until the age of 26.When the project she was working on in New York reached a dead-end she returned West, moving in with musicians Harrison Forman (Hieronymus Harry, Zones) and Patrick Lefler (Roy, Possum). Being surrounded by their improvising at all hours, a new approach emerged. “Harrison is a virtuosic guitar player, and I hadn't picked up a guitar in any serious way since I was 16,” she says, “by osmosis I started playing again for fun.” Without agenda, the process grew organically from there.

Hurt and Forman decided to travel across the US and Canada in a trailer for half a year, with the entire album written in the final months of their trip. Hurt had been writing loose ideas here and there but felt blocked creatively. When the pair reached Berkley, they wound up house-sitting for a tuned-in friend who recommended she pray, in a very direct way, to remove the block. “I took her advice and to my surprise it worked. The album was conceptualized and finished within a couple of months.” Shapeshifting in tone and phrasing, Hurt’s music alchemizes the furthest corners of experimental indie folk, pop, and country into a singular sound with elegant unpredictability.

Whilst Shirley Hurt’s lyrical and structural ideas may have emerged on the road, the album was self-produced and recorded at Joseph Shabason (The War on Drugs)’s Aytche studio in Toronto’s West End. It was engineered by Nathan Vanderwielen and Chris Shannon (Bart), and Hurt enlisted collaborators Jason Bhattacharya, Nick Dourado, Patrick Lefler, and Harrison Forman to hone her vision. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the songs until we returned to Toronto,” she recalls. “Joseph and I had been talking about working together after sending across some demos and Jason happened to recommend his studio at the exact same time, so everything came together naturally at that point.”

Whilst her most recent adventures may have seen Shirley Hurt bound for Texas as an official SXSW artist (hand-picked by Gorilla Vs Bear to perform at their own showcase), she currently resides in her native Canada, more specifically rural Ontario, close to friends and family, and is already working on her second album. The ties to lineage are interwoven in the fabric of the music. Hurt’s mother, artist Leala Hewak, instilled a lust for life and innate value of creativity in her from a young age as she explored the role of gallery owner, vintage jewellery show host, mid-century modern furniture expert, real estate agent, painter. Hurt’s father, a civil litigation lawyer and new-wave obsessed music lover with an extensive vinyl collection, introduced Hurt to a wide-range of artists at a young age such as Nina Hagen, Laurie Anderson, Tom Tom Club, and endless others.

In her video for ‘Problem Child’ Hurt’s grandmother walks her through a generationally revered pie-making process. One would be tempted to hear this, and other songs, as autobiographical. Yet, Hurt’s lyrics are rarely pulled from her relationships or personal history––at least not consciously. Rather, they arise from somewhere less tangible or defined. “Lyrics tend to come to me when I am doing non-musical things - washing dishes, brushing my dogs, walking to the grocery store. I have a lot of voice memos on my phone and half-filled notebooks and when I hear something, I have to stop what I'm doing to get the idea down. Usually it’s bits and pieces. It's rare a full song comes to me in one go, but it's great when they do, and those are often my favourites.”

Carving out a space of her own in an all-encompassing universe, Shirley Hurt is the introduction to a long artistic story, and if the journey so far is anything to go by, it will be stippled with evermore unpredictable chapters.

2023 Repress

It was surely a matter of time before Leicester natives, darlings of the UKG revival Y U QT graced Time Is Now with a release. Cooper and Darryl Reid have been repping the Midlands' oft-forgotten 2-step and bassline scene since being picked up by Riz La Teef's South London Press in 2019; since dropping two EPs on Warehouse Rave and getting picked up for a remix by Conducta's award-winning Kiwi Rekords. For Time Is Now, the duo have put together five tracks of dynamic, cheeky garage that takes influence from the full breadth of the genre.

Studded with bangers, the EP kicks off surprisingly gently with "Be Real". Some spaced out keys float over the 2-step rhythm before hitting a sidewinding bassline and the pace picks up in "Keep On Lovin' Me" - a classic speed garage sound you can't help but move to. Cooper and Reed show their ruder side on the frenetic, brass infused "Look Good" and the deeper, Niche-style wobbling bassline on "Chopper". The record closes with "Hardly Keep it Inside"; icy synth and contorted trancey diva vocals make this track feel somehow larger than the others - you could imagine it going off in a cavernous club on a mountainous soundsystem, a swirling bassy number that sucks you in. This headsy release makes your feet want to move in the way only garage can, bringing out some of the best that the UK sound has to offer.

2023 Repress!
Since 2009’s critically acclaimed Machine Dreams they have not sat still, touring the globe and making some high profile friends along the way.
No one in their right mind would have expected the future of soul music to come from Gothenburg, Sweden. But there it is in the dreamy, rhythmical, shifting, moody rainbow creature that is Little Dragon. It is easy to see why some of the world’s top musical luminaries are falling over themselves to work with them. Stylishly seductive in their own right, their 2007 selftitled debut was filled with classy songwriting and cool production, with the stunning track ‘Twice’ getting played on Grey’s Anatomy and countless adverts since it’s release. Machine Dreams showed a bouncier side, as they flexed their dancing nous and came up with an album that would turn Prince’s head.
Damon Albarn invited them to collaborate on two tracks for last year’s Gorillaz record Plastic Beach, which became album highlights for the critics with Pitchfork describing the songs ‘Empire Ants’ and ‘To Binge’ as “two of the most arresting things here; they’re airy, elusive and amazingly beautiful”.
Little Dragon started 2011 with a headlining tour of the U.S. and a performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in March, thanks to a recommendation from super-fan Questlove of The Roots. In May, the band appeared on the track ‘Just Don’t’ from Raphael Saadiq’s Stone Rollin’, a record some are already calling the album of the year. Then Big Boi and DJ Shadow called to invite the group to work on new music.

Dez Andres must have had a busy year in the studio because he has a few new joints dropping at the moment. Beretta Music has his latest and it comes in the form of a 7"to follow up his 'Back in My Space' from back in Spring. Once again here the Motor City native, former Slum Village DJ and house maestro dips into his more soulful side with some fresh breakbeat tunes that are sure to get the floor popping. Yelping vocals and some signature Andres basslines finish it in a fiery fashion. Fellow Detroit talent Brian Kage steps up with a booty-shaking remix that gets even heavier on the drums to make for another fine 7".

Me Neither is a 29 track double album of instrumental guitar music. While juggling a number of other projects James Elkington began writing "music for which there was no purpose." It became a new way of working for him - waking up each morning and improvising and recording the first thing that came into his head. "The only rules I gave myself were that I should make most of the sounds with a guitar, changing the speed or processing the recordings afterwards to get the effect I was looking for." Before long he had an albums worth of material. About mid-way through the second album Elkington had a liberating thought: he was making his own version of library music "if you're writing library music, you don't have to know what it's for - that can be someone else's job."

2023 repress on Translucent Purple double vinyl! A Brand You Can Trust is the classic 2009 debut album from hip-hop supergroup La Coka Nostra feturing House of Pain's Everlast alongside Danny Boy & DJ Lethal with Ill Bill (Non Phixion), and Slaine (Special Teamz). Additional contributions come from such hip hop elite as Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill, Immortal Technique, Bun B and The Alchemist. A breath of fresh air in the days of contrived airbrushed rap music, Ill Bill explained that, "This record is a no holds barred burst of hardcore hip-hop to the fullest, representing everything we love about this art form but feel is missing from the game right now." "This shit bangs," Slaine added. "We set out to make a boom bap hip-hop record and we did that, but to stop there would be selling it short, because lyrically, musically, and sonically this album doesn't fit in a box." Though similar stylistically to the group's prior 2009 online releases, the debut album features songs grounded more in reality. Subjects touched upon include politics, death, drug addiction, raising a child and terrorism. AllMusic gave four out of five stars. Andrew Kameka of HipHopDX wrote that "the album is a mostly solid effort and exactly what someone would expect from a supergroup of like-minded members known for high-energy music". Adam Kennedy of the BBC while praising some the moments of the album said "it's a tantalising parting taste of potential capabilities, yet until they improve a customer satisfaction hit rate that barely troubles one in three tunes here". Steve Juon of RapReviews gave it a seven out of ten. Thomas Quinlan of Exclaim! said "La Coka Nostra are an interesting collection of collaborators that live up to the hype".

Renowned Berlin-based music discovery platform COLORSxSTUDIOS will release their new vinyl compilation album, ‘MOVE:FEEL1’, just in time for the holidays.

The limited-edition double disc gatefold vinyl will feature 16 beloved A COLORS SHOW tracks, both recent and from the archive, including London-based rapper Kwengface’s ‘Freedom’ that was released earlier this year, critically-acclaimed Malian artist Fatoumata Diawara’s ‘Nterini’ from 2019, and Dominican-Italian star YEИDRY’s breakout 2020 hit ‘Nena’.

The album is truly international—it will feature songs sung in six different languages (including English, Swedish, German, Bambara, French, Vietnamese, and Spanish) and represent artists from 15 different countries across the world.

‘MOVE:FEEL1’ reflects and celebrates the launch of COLORS’ new ‘MOVE’ and ‘FEEL’ playlists that are now available across all DSPs. Updated monthly, these playlists will curate COLORS’ genre fluid output into cohesive listening experiences that cater for varying emotional states.

The songs on the ‘MOVE’ playlist—and hence on the ‘MOVE’ sides of the vinyl—are uptempo, bold, sexy and energetic, and aim to set the tone for daring and unapologetic enjoyment. In contrast, the tracks on the ‘FEEL’ playlist and discs are downtempo and emotive. They are for relaxation, and to help listeners contemplate their internal and external environments

Designed by COLORS’ in-house creative team, the vinyl cover is mirrored, meaning its appearance adapts depending on the light and colors it reflects. This was an important decision to ensure the cover represents all of the featured artists, who all performed their A COLORS SHOWS against different colored backdrops. The mirrored material also enables the audience to literally (and hopefully metaphorically) see themselves in the album.

Each side of the mirrored cover is adorned differently: while the “MOVE” side features embossed lines, stripes and slashes indicative of motion, the more introverted “FEEL” side is debossed with goosebump-like grooves. Even with their eyes closed, people will be able to feel which side of the album is which, adding an extra sensory layer to the listening experience.
MOVE:FEEL1’s design also prioritizes sustainability, using no single-use plastics for its packaging.

Official soundtrack to the video game Grendizer, Feast of the Wolves, composed by Marcin Przybylowicz and Magda Urbańska.

Get ready for an unforgettable adventure with Grendizer, the famous giant robot. This action-adventure game, adapted from the cult anime series, will plunge you into the world of its creator, Go Nagai, and give you the chance to pilot the most powerful of robots and fight the forces of evil.

Grendizer is a cult manga created by Go Nagai in 1975. This sci-fi masterpiece revolutionised the mecha genre by introducing giant robots in epic battles. The captivating story plunges us into a futuristic universe where the hero, Actarus, pilots the powerful robot Grendizer to protect the Earth from alien invaders.

As soon as it was published, "Grendizer" was a phenomenal success. The visual impact of the detailed drawings and spectacular battle scenes contributed to the general craze. The manga quickly became a veritable social phenomenon, generating spin-off products, animated adaptations and a devoted fan base.

The career of composer Marcin Przybylowicz is marked by his exceptional talent and memorable contribution to the video game industry. Przybylowicz has brought his musical creativity to many projects, but it is his collaboration with CD Projeckt on The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 that has earned him worldwide recognition!

Dass PALE noch mal auf die Bühne zurückkehren, war nicht vorgesehen. Doch nach dem finalen Album "The Night, The Dawn And What Remains", mit dem sich die Aachener Band Ende 2022 selbst ein Denkmal setzte, ging es nicht anders... Am 02.03.2023 spielten PALE ihr letztes und größtes Konzert, in einem ausverkauften Gloria Theater in Köln. Über 900 Fans erlebten eine Nacht, die immer noch nachhallt. Ein Konzert, das man nicht vergessen kann. Dieser Abend, bei dem PALE von zahlreichen Künstler*innen auf der Bühne unterstützt wurden, musste für die Ewigkeit festgehalten werden. Am 08.12.2023 erscheint deshalb der (fast!) komplette Mitschnitt des Konzerts als 3fach-LP - "Bigger Than Live" ist das große Finale und der Schlussstrich unter PALE. Für Nächte wie diese wurde Musik erfunden.

Limited Edition of 3,000 on Opaque Blue vinyl. - Includes 4 Bonus Tracks from the "Commitment" sessions. - Includes 12 Page Booklet with Liner Notes by Critically Acclaimed Writer, Michael Krugman. // Bobby Darin was, by any definition, a superstar - a chart-topping, multimillion-selling, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, a Golden Globe-winning actor, visionary entrepreneur, and committed political activist. Restless and daring, his refusal to be constrained by genre, resulting in an endless string of top 10 hits, including "Splish Splash," "Queen of the Hop," "Dream Lover," "Beyond the Sea," and "If I Were a Carpenter." While his public persona was all bright lights and glamour, Darin was driven and inspired by the generational shifts and social upheaval of the 1960s. Despite his weakened health, Darin devoted nearly all of his free time towards multiple causes, tirelessly campaigning for his friend Robert F. Kennedy until his assassination in June 1968, after which Darin withdrew from the spotlight and embarked on an unlikely personal journey. He swapped his crooner's tuxedo for folk singer denim, his toupee for an outlaw mustache, a Beverly Hills mansion for a secluded trailer at Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur. Commitment is grittier and more audacious than Darin's previous work. From the counterculture anthem "Me and My Hohner" (with its ironic reference to "The Star-Spangled Banner") and the soul-searching "Sausalito" to the wryly autobiographical "Distractions (Part 1)" and the tense funk of "Light Blue," the album's experimentation and free-wheeling songcraft affirm Darin as a generational talent uniquely capable of crossing the borders of age and politics.

Many years have passed since the last album by Munich-based indie rock band dASbAND. The country has changed, the city changes and so does the band. Hard but productive years lie behind her. Lockdown paranoia, a serious illness of one of its members, dark nights. But there was always hope, light and the healing power of a creaky guitar lick, a subsonic bass line, a driving beat. Emma Luna joined last year, a new member as adept on the microphone as she is on the keys. Bassist Gurin "Gringo" Goh had joined in 2019.

On their third album, dASbAND counter the feints of existence with casual - sometimes ironic, sometimes charming - rock & roll stoicism. They skewer the hollow Zuspäthipstertum as well as the lazy facade of the new Biedermeier ("Kein Ding"), which makes itself comfortable in core- rehabilitated old buildings. They sing of the confusion of medicinal flights of fancy ("High Heals") and of „Melancholie Modul" loosely based on Martin Kippenberger. They poach in Northern Soul realms ("Darkness") and cover The Velvet Underground. "Geh weg" is an acutely danceable melange of dub- reggae and post-punk articulation. dASbAND are buccaneers in the Mehr der Möglichkeiten. They write German songs with edge, but never forget to gallantly hold the door open for you. They worship the Sleaford Mods as much as the Byrds or the wahwah pedal. They break a lance for the rogue in us, for the holy power of a bulky punk riff, for the shalala of a chorus you can't get rid of. They've learned their lessons in the "Spiel of Life." And they have fun with it.

„Spiel of Life" was recorded at Tobias Siegert's "Minga Studio" in Untergiesing and at Michael Heilrath's "Bereich 03".

Detroit Beatmaker Apollo Brown and Fresno Rap veteran Planet Asia are proud to announce their new album - "Sardines" - the follow up to the duo’s beloved 2017 collaborative album “Anchovies.” Apollo and Planet Asia improve upon the minimalist, grimy Hip-Hop theme from the first collab with pristine execution. The new album promises grime just like its predecessor. Featuring Sick Jacken, Ty Farris, Marv Won, and TriState.

Indie pop quartet Melenas hail from Pamplona, Spain, a picturesque region nestled just south of the Pyrenees. Such beauty can't help but inform the band's songwriting, but Melenas aren't content to just sit placidly & take in the scenery. Since they burst onto the scene in 2016, the band has hit the ground running, playing incessantly both locally & on the stages at national festivals like Primavera Sound & Eurosonic as well as releasing a debut full length (2018's "s/t" album) and a 7-inch single both triple-released on local labels Elsa, Nebula & Snap! Clap! Club. Trouble In Mind is honored to be releasing their new album Dias Raros and is the first label outside of Spain to release Melenas music to the world.Dias Raros hums right from the get-go, peppering their garage-pop punch with elements of lysergic dream pop, melancholic indie rock and strident guitar jangle. The album title translates to "Strange Days" an acknowledgement - according to the band - of "...those days where you spend more time inside than outside. Inside your own self, inside your bedroom and your own universe thinking about your wishes, dreams, memories, obsessions or fears." The lyrics - sung entirely in their native Spanish - reference "those interior dialogues where sometimes you fight to escape from a situation, you wonder what another person will be thinking about or feeling, you gotta say goodbye, or you just enjoy the time by yourself. Days that, for different reasons, you're feeling different, they are strange". Opener "Primer tiempo" buzzes with an urgent organ drone, unfolding into a yearning ballad of modern guitar-pop bolstered by the group's lush harmonies & sets the tone for the rest of Dias Raros. Songs like "No puedo pensar" "3 Segundos" and "Despertar" follow suit, with the rhythm section galloping headlong into an insistent guitar strum, while ballads like the tender "El Tiempo ha Padsado" rely on the band's melodious voices bolstered by a lilting guitar riff and gentle organ swells. Elsewhere mid tempo rockers like the stomping "Los alemanes", the simmering "Ciencia Ficción" and "Ya no es Verano"s insistent jangle recall underground greats like The Pastels, R.E.M. and Shop Assistants. "Vals" ("Waltz") closes the album in 3/4 time, named for the ballroom dance as well as the last name of a close friend - a dedication to her. Its dreamy sway alluding to classic Brill Building songwriting; dusted with melancholy, but lifted by cascading voices, and organ and guitar waves and guitars that twinkle and shimmer over a cracking backbeat. Dias Raros is the perfect introduction to a band bursting with promise, confidently inhabiting their own space built upon the foundation of their influences both geographically and culturally, as well as musically.

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To wrap up the year, W133 has put together its second Various Artist release featuring a diverse lineup of emerging and established artists.

Kicking off the EP is the French producer Monibi, offering a groovy and bass-heavy breakbeat track titled “Mahsa Amini.” This track serves as a call to fight for women’s rights, not only in Iran but around the world.

On A2, San Francisco-based Kudeki showcases her love for tripped-out Techno with “Cursive.” This mesmerizing track, featuring a relentless bassline and a 4/4 kick, creates a spooky atmosphere.

On the flip side, label head Pino Peña teams up with samwho from Rotterdam to deliver a percussive power workout. “Jacarandas,” named after the purple trees in CDMX, definitely has those Latin American vibes and rhythms that will get you moving.

For the closer of the EP, speed dembow heavyweight Siu Mata delivers a fast-hitting tribal bomb called “Dubiquity,” which takes you on a journey through dramatic pads and spaced-out percussions.

The release is, as always, complemented by pictures taken by analogue photographer Freya Gerz and is available on vinyl with fully printed cover sleeves.

Introducing HUUUM, a new group comprising of Tehran born/Vienna-based artist Rojin Sharafi, working with Iranian singer Omid Darvish and Austrian saxophone artist Astrid Wiesinger on their debut album.

It's hard to know where to start with this, it's dark, beautiful, haunting, challenging & dreamlike throughout. The unexpected arrangement creates a mood that fluctuates constantly, scythed by Darvish's vocals and Wiesinger's Saxophone - all orchestrated by the mastermind of Rojin Sharafi. It's forward thinking music at it's finest, experimental music that is fascinating to get engrossed by.

Roy Porter's classic 1975 album Inner Feelings has long been a treasure trove of sample sources for hip-hop artists over the years. DJ Spine is one of those who made use of parts of the album's opener 'Party Time' in his own tune 'Rock.'

Now for the first time that single gets reissued on 7" along with DJ Spinna's edited version on the flip. The original is a real funk classic with fat bass grooves and hefty drum breaks. This track was once released on the famous tax scam label with the artwork which is presented here. It makes for a package with a great backstory and an even better sound for lovers of rare grooves and hip-hop.

It's time for a new match on Waxmania, Lello Di Franco aka L.D.F. vs the Dutch icon Orlando Voorn for the super Challenge EP!

Session Victim return to Jimpster's ' Delusions Of Grandeur' imprint with a third studio album. 'Listen To Your Heart' is the result of a year of cross-continental scripting, started in their Hamburg studio and wrapped up stateside in San Francisco's Room G Studios where the duo had worked on their 2014 LP 'See you When You Get There'.
Sampling still remains an ever present backbone throughout the album. Session Victim have dug deep for sounds, resulting in a richly detailed and organic sound collage that goes hand-in-hand with their live instrumentation, this time enhanced through several guest musician appearances, most notably Carsten "Erobique" Meyer (ex-International Pony). Smooth guitar samples are built up on 'Over and Over' while on 'Moons & Flowers' the live instrumentals that Session Victim do so well come to the fore.

The treasure trove of San Francisco's record shops proved to be a hard bait to resist and the pair spent a large part of their Californian time hunting for records to sample. Three new tracks emerged from these digging sessions, with the sweeping disco string arrangements on 'Shadows' standing out as a prime ode to days spent combing through bargain bins.

Listen To Your Heart is equally a product of the road. While heavy touring is often cited as a hindrance to the creativity of artists, Session Victim see their live shows as a catalyst to their creativity. Two US tours in 2016 gave the Hamburg duo the opportunity to take track sketches and fragments on the road to incorporate into their live shows and then digest them back in the studio. The playful funk soaked groove of 'Matching Half' captures the sense of movement present throughout Listen To Your Heart and the LP mix of 'Up To Rise', which caused heavy ripples when it dropped as part of 2016's Matching Half EP is an extension of the upbeat and euphoric groove that permeates the album.

Tommy Boy Music veröffentlicht ein Compilation-Projekt mit dem Titel "... And You Don't Stop", um das 50-jährige Jubiläum des Hip Hop mit einem 6 LP Box-Set zu feiern. Es wird einige der größten Hits aus dem Katalog enthalten, von den kultigen Naughty By Nature, De La Soul, Digital Underground und Queen Latifah bis hin zu digital unveröffentlichten Hits von G.L.O.B.E & Whiz Kid, Sweet Trio und mehr.

There was definitely something in the Welsh water during the COVID lockdown! By the third lockdown Spencer was missing going out dancing at indie clubs He wanted to write an album to replace that feeling of being out all-night to jangly melodic pop. The influences on the album are the kind you'd see on any poster advertising an indie night including Teenage Fanclub, Belle and Sebastian, REM, The LA's The Cribs, The Strokes, Violent Femmes, Fleet Foxes, Suede, Pulp and Television, As a result of the honing down over two and half years of material, every track on the album could be a single and it is a bold claim from us, but we think it is possibly the best indie pop album of the new millennium. "You're a Lighthouse, I'm at Sea" contains the singles "And We Get Burned" and "Disco In Your Heart".

Smoove returns with his label Wack Records and delivers two killer cuts straight from the heart of Motown.

Utilizing original Multitracks from the home of Rick James and The Supremes, Smoove gets his swirv on and delivers two up-tempo Hip-Hop bangers!

180g audiophile vinyl reissue of American blues guitarist Melvin Taylor's 1995 album 'Melvin Taylor & The Slack Band', which is appearing on vinyl for the first time with remastering by Cicely Baston at Alchemy/Air Mastering, London "The U.S. release of Melvin Taylor's two early-'80s LPs by Evidence a decade later was a shock introduction to a blues guitarist who seemingly blazed out of nowhere - outside of Rosa's Lounge in Chicago, that is. "Blazed" is the right word, too, because Taylor is a total maximalist who unleashes torrents of notes to fill up every space. But he's so convincing a player that the concept of "blues guitar hero" might get a good name again, even with fans dead- tired of excess who never thought they'd think things like, "Man, can Melvin Taylor play the ever-loving (add the expletive superlative of your choice) out of the guitar" again. Taylor's first real-time release, Melvin Taylor & the Slack Band, is a pretty straightforward affair - basic trio with minimal overdubs, serviceable vocals in an Albert King mode, and a mix of originals and very classic covers. The opening "Texas Flood" lets him rip on a slow blues, constantly changing up his playing with wah-wah blitzes as the real ace in his sonic hole. The originals "Depression Blues" and "Groovin' in New Orleans" add some funk flair, while "Talking to Anna Mae" is a straight- up Chicago boogie instrumental that Taylor shines on. But he's even more in his element on the unadorned slow blues "Tin Pan Alley" and King's "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong." It's partly the speed but even more the phrasing - the unexpected stops and starts, the spiky and blazing runs and flurries, the unusual note selections he tosses in - that sets his playing apart. The other covers have their sporadic moments - "TBone Shuffle" is inconsequential, but Otis Rush's "All Your Love" and "Voodoo Chile" are worth listening to, even if the latter doesn't add anything to the famous Hendrix wah-wah workout. Taylor actually doesn't sound that radical here, like he was playing to establish blues circuit credentials by putting his stamp on familiar songs more than indulging offbeat personal touches like the mellow lounge jazz take on the Champs' "Tequila." But his playing can be truly electrifying and Melvin Taylor & the Slack Band is recommended for anyone, especially Stevie Ray Vaughan fans, looking for a distinctive new blues guitar voice." - Don Snowden, AllMusic Personnel: Melvin Taylor, guitar, vocals / Willie Smith, bass guitar / Steve Potts, drums Recorded and mixed on March 27-30, 1995 at Dockside Studios, Maurice, LA

'Ultrasound', the fifth release under the Banger Factory umbrella, is a further stride forward toward founder and trumpeter Mark Kavuma's vision of bringing together seemingly disparate elements from within the bubbling London jazz scene, uniting sounds, and players from across generations and creating a unique, exciting, and fresh sound all its own Marking the start of a new partnership with alto sax player Theo Erskine strengthening the imprints artistic reach and sparkling ever more creative ideas, Ultrasound is the product of hours and days spent practicing together during the pandemic - hours and days that turned into time spent plotting and planning future musical collaborations and projects when getting together in person became impossible. The recording itself captures the zeitgeist (spirit) of a unique moment in time when musicians starved of creative, collaborative music- making during the pandemic, were able to meet again and record, each track suffused with palpable joy, yet tinged with reflection. 'The Day After Tomorrow' promises respite from a hangover, 'The Return of Johnny Bravo' characterises a re-emergence in a whirlwind of excitement . 'June' describes the glinting skyline of a world- reopened and 'The Loneliest' explores how peace is drawn from inward sources in the loneliest of times. Personnel: Theo Erskin- tenor saxophone, Mark Kavuma - trumpet, Noah Stoneman - piano, Michael Shrimpling - double bass, Shane Forbes - drums

Compiling the follow-up to a very successful first album is always a tricky task, but just 12 months since the release of volume one in the 'With Love' series, miche has excelled himself once again with another glorious, deep dive into the world of rare soul. 15 tracks of independently released music, created by magnificent artists with stories to tell and primed for rediscovery.

The ambition to celebrate under-the-radar artists has remained, but instead of a facsimile of volume one, what we have here is a selection shaped by life changes. Volume two is for the dancers; still soulful, still ultra-rare and slept-on records from the USA, Chile, Brazil and beyond, but the dynamics of the collection have shifted slightly. It represents a move from being immersed in a week in week out environment of beautiful, soulful music in a cosy, dimly lit hi-fi bar to playing livelier, more energetic, dancefloor-focused music in nightclubs. This volume will get you on your feet, make you move and unleash whatever it is that makes you get down.

One of the jewels in the crown of this compilation is a joyous, anthemic gospel version of Stevie Wonder's 'As' by The Family Tree (a project produced by the fantastic Julius Brockington). We are also treated to a rare and sought-after Pennsylvanian funk / AOR bomb by Maxwell, a stunning modern soul tune 'High On You' by Freedom, and self-released Brazilian 45s by Banda 22 and Zé Da Lata. P.J. City's 'Straight Forward (Non-Stop)' is gospel-disco perfection, and we also have 'Dame Solamente Amor’, a sublime, soul beauty from Chile by Rogers Mitchell. Many of these artists featured in this compilation aren't household names, but they deserve their moment to shine, to be heard, loved and appreciated for their artistry.

As Miche says it, “I hope this compilation helps in some way to keep this glorious music alive and play a part in connecting generations of music lovers from the worldwide soul family. As always, it has been made ‘With Love’.”

A Tribe Called Quest wurde 1985 in Queens, New York City, gegründet und bestand ursprünglich aus dem Rapper und Hauptproduzenten Q-Tip, dem Rapper Phife Dawg, dem DJ und Koproduzenten Ali Shaheed Muhammad und dem Rapper Jarobi White. Alle sechs Alben der Gruppe wurden mit Gold oder Platin ausgezeichnet. ATCQ gilt als eine der innovativsten und künstlerischsten Rap-Formationen der 1990er Jahre.

"Trolls Band Together (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" ist das Album zum gleichnamigen DreamWorks-Animationsfilm. Der mehrfach preisgekrönte Künstler Justin Timberlake kehrt als ausführender Musikproduzent des Soundtracks an der Seite des GRAMMY-prämierten Produzenten/Songwriters Mike Elizondo zurück. Timberlake schrieb und sang neue Originalmusik für den Film, der auch Musik von den Darstellern und einigen der heutigen Top-Künstler wie Kid Cudi, Camila Cabello, Troye Sivan, Anna Kendrick und anderen enthält. Das Album enthält auch den ersten gemeinsamen Song von *NSYNC seit zwei Jahrzehnten, "Better Place"

In 2022 we journeyed to the center of the earth with Agartha, Lasha Chkhaidze's first album. This time we go the opposite direction, and fly towards the outer edge of the atmosphere.

Atmos, the latest offering of the young and talented Georgian artist, sees him explore the ether. Subtle and intricate layers are weaved together on the course of six tracks. This ambient album offers a completely different artistic direction compared to his previous work. Where melancholia and piano dominated Agartha, we are throughout Atmos taken into an otherworldly environment. The LP’s atmospheric undertone combined with its glitchier elements brings it into a lightly psychedelic dimension. With its really beautiful soundscapes and subdued intricate ideas, Atmos will undoubtedly please listeners of finely written ambient.

Lasha Chkhaidez is a gifted musician capable of crafting evocative music, The Intergalactic Institute for Sound is glad to present his deeply immersive experience to the public.