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There is a moment halfway through Hand Habits’ Fun Houseat which musician Meg Duffy asks the question, “How many times must I rewind the tape?”It’s a fitting question planted squarely in the middle of a sonically adventurous record concerned largely with making sense and taking stock. How much time must we spend examining our own past in order to fully understand it? How can we safely acknowledge pain in order to release it and fully actualize who we are supposed to be? Buffeted by strings, synths, and a gently-shook tambourine, the aptly-titled track, “The Answer,” highlights the emotional engine at the heart of the record. “I know the answer,”Duffy sings, “Here’s what I hope to find - it’s always mine.”

There is a moment halfway through Hand Habits’ Fun Houseat which musician Meg Duffy asks the question, “How many times must I rewind the tape?”It’s a fitting question planted squarely in the middle of a sonically adventurous record concerned largely with making sense and taking stock. How much time must we spend examining our own past in order to fully understand it? How can we safely acknowledge pain in order to release it and fully actualize who we are supposed to be? Buffeted by strings, synths, and a gently-shook tambourine, the aptly-titled track, “The Answer,” highlights the emotional engine at the heart of the record. “I know the answer,”Duffy sings, “Here’s what I hope to find - it’s always mine.”

dirt is the latest EP from Hand Habits, the songwriting project of Meg Duffy. Comprised of two songs, “4th of july,” a simmering swell of chaos and beauty and “i believe in you,” a favorite of Duffy’s from the Neil Young cannon, the EP finds the songwriter exploring themes of growth and finding ways to let go of the parts of their past that no longer serve them.

After cutting their teeth in the upstate New York d.i.y. music scene and several years of session and touring guitar work for Kevin Morby, and a long list of other artists, Duffy released their debut album Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void), a home-recorded, self-produced work that announced the project as a full-time affair.

Forged from the fire of internal struggles, Loraine James was wrestling with confidence and a desire for change when she embarked on “Detached From The Rest Of You”. A guiding hand came through producing 2025's “Clandestine” EP with singer Anysia Kym, which gave her the experience of a more 'pop' setting and the tools and insight to work her instrumentals into more conventional shapes; a shift from club driven sounds and winding instrumentals into more precise song forms.


Loraine’s production is stripped to the bone, soundscapes of clicks and glitches inspired by Aoki Takamasa, Ryoji Ikeda, and the early-00s Clicks & Cuts school. Here, often with not much more than sparse keyboard chords to fill in with subtle colouring, she uses the space around the sounds and vocals to draw the listener in to a succinct and direct album, her most confident yet.


Guest contributors include vocalist Sydney Spann on “In a Rut”, Alan Sparkhawk (Low) on downcast anthem “Peak Again”, Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto) on “Flatline”, Anysia Kim on “Score”, and Tirzah on “Habits and Patterns”. Finally her old spar, the rapper Le3 bLACK returns to spit fire with the jazz-indebted track “Ending Us All” with Fyn Dobson backing on tumbling drums.

Dear Friends, Shouldn’t we all take a moment to re­ect on ourselves from time to time, break away from habits, and venture down new paths? Simon Hinter, widely recognised as a house producer with releases on renowned labels such as Freerange, Quintessentials, and Kerri Chandler’s Madhouse Records, is now daring to explore something new with us, while embracing something old: Drum’n’Bass is his great old love, now rekindled with his Confusion EP.

Unsurprisingly, this comes with intense emotions, and the four tracks of the EP oscillate between profound euphoria and melancholia. You can sense both, the beginning and the end of a party night at the same time. These tracks, however, defy the current listening habits shaped by the need for instant grati¬cation. Instead, they are an ode to the loop. Here, the mind is invited to engage, to actively listen and perceptually complete the experience. We hope you enjoy this rollercoaster of emotions! Sincerly yours, Brombért P.S.: The physical release comes with handcrafted, screen-printed artwork by the fabulous graphic artist Zatina Kessl

Kurtiss is a shadowy and enigmatic figure working on the boundaries of civilization. A sporadic figure on the House music scene with eccentric habits, Kurtiss’ music is a rarified sonic experience for those who seek it out. The Ameri-can artist is hard to pin down and his music is a tantalizing little secret only for adept diggers who appreciate the style of Hi-Def House music that the artist has cultivated. Although he’s a known Soundcloud fixture, he’s only put out a handful of digital singles as Curtis Vodka in the past, with Mutual Intentions facilitating his latest and immortalizing his music on their next set of releases. A nomadic artist, who’s worked on music ranging from Ghetto Tech to House, his music has spanned the known musical spectrum, forging uncanny relationships with everything from 50 Cent to Mall Grab. Under the pseudonym Kurtiss (or Curtis Vodka), he’s all about HIGH-Fi House, life, aliens, Jazz and no trends. It’s an attitude that he lays bare on this rare contribution to the physical, recorded format for Mutual Intentions on ‘The Curtis Vodka EP’. The EP weaves classic House music influences through a penchant for vintage sound machines and arrangements that evoke a solemn air. Elements of Gospel and New York’s deeper inclinations in House music seep through his sound as archived vocal samples and noisy machines give his work its defining character. Glistening keys and strings that slither through airy textures create dense aural experiences on ‘The Curtis Vodka EP’, calling to mind the musical masterpieces of House music’s golden era when the likes of Kerri Chandler and Mas-ters At Work were producing som

Born in Douarnenez, at the far edge of Brittany (France), Komodor has quickly established itself as one of the most vibrant names in the French rock landscape. Their high-energy rock, fueled by fuzz, sweat, and vocal harmonies woven in the spirit of MC5 and T. Rex, immediately drew attention: Rolling Stone, Rock & Folk, Libération and Rock Hard Germany all praised the fiery impact of their debut album Nasty Habits (which sold over 2,000 vinyl copies). Since then, the quintet has mostly lived on the road: a long European tour, followed by the larger-than-life saga of Komodrag & The Mounodor, carrying them to stages such as Hellfest, Les Vieilles Charrues, and the Francofolies de La Rochelle, among many others.

Their second album, Time & Space, reveals a band in full metamorphosis. Without abandoning the explosive force that defines them, Komodor widens its scope: volcanic riffs, more sinuous grooves, mist-laden harmonies, psychedelic flashes… The energy is still wild, but more inhabited, more liberated, almost ceremonial at times. The record opens with two telling bursts: Bliss & Joy, a libertarian charge with the feel of a manifesto, and Soul Tricker, a rock incantation where trance overtakes sheer electric assault. Two sides of the same coin, pulled taut between urgency and enchantment.

On stage, Komodor remains a true shockwave, forged across European festivals (Freak Valley, Motocultor, Fête du Bruit, and more) and now awaited at the legendary Desertfest London. Their music feels made for such spaces: a visceral, flesh-and-amp kind of rock, drawing from the seventies’ heritage to speak even more vividly to the present. A band moving forward at full volume, without nostalgia or calculation, carried by a simple conviction: as long as the amps are hot, rock can still burn.

In short: Komodor is the band of friends from Douarnenez bringing pencil-and-paper rock into the streaming age while preserving its analog soul (with the album mastered at the legendary Miraval Studios), the smell of warm tubes, the grain of vinyl. With this second album, they hit harder, truer, and more vividly than ever.
Time & Space stands as a “must-have French rock record”, a tangible piece worth cherishing in any collection.

Born in Douarnenez, at the far edge of Brittany (France), Komodor has quickly established itself as one of the most vibrant names in the French rock landscape. Their high-energy rock, fueled by fuzz, sweat, and vocal harmonies woven in the spirit of MC5 and T. Rex, immediately drew attention: Rolling Stone, Rock & Folk, Libération and Rock Hard Germany all praised the fiery impact of their debut album Nasty Habits (which sold over 2,000 vinyl copies). Since then, the quintet has mostly lived on the road: a long European tour, followed by the larger-than-life saga of Komodrag & The Mounodor, carrying them to stages such as Hellfest, Les Vieilles Charrues, and the Francofolies de La Rochelle, among many others.

Their second album, Time & Space, reveals a band in full metamorphosis. Without abandoning the explosive force that defines them, Komodor widens its scope: volcanic riffs, more sinuous grooves, mist-laden harmonies, psychedelic flashes… The energy is still wild, but more inhabited, more liberated, almost ceremonial at times. The record opens with two telling bursts: Bliss & Joy, a libertarian charge with the feel of a manifesto, and Soul Tricker, a rock incantation where trance overtakes sheer electric assault. Two sides of the same coin, pulled taut between urgency and enchantment.

On stage, Komodor remains a true shockwave, forged across European festivals (Freak Valley, Motocultor, Fête du Bruit, and more) and now awaited at the legendary Desertfest London. Their music feels made for such spaces: a visceral, flesh-and-amp kind of rock, drawing from the seventies’ heritage to speak even more vividly to the present. A band moving forward at full volume, without nostalgia or calculation, carried by a simple conviction: as long as the amps are hot, rock can still burn.

In short: Komodor is the band of friends from Douarnenez bringing pencil-and-paper rock into the streaming age while preserving its analog soul (with the album mastered at the legendary Miraval Studios), the smell of warm tubes, the grain of vinyl. With this second album, they hit harder, truer, and more vividly than ever.
Time & Space stands as a “must-have French rock record”, a tangible piece worth cherishing in any collection.

A moonstone glow infuses Boy Golden’s Best of Our Possible Lives, an album that finds its flow state. A pensive, questioning collection, Best of Our Possible Lives is informed by the artist’s intuitive, observational worldview, beaming honesty and levity in its quest for emotional balance. Buoyant, smooth and disarming, the music of singer-songwriter/producer Boy Golden is charmingly undefinable, drawing lines from the Tulsa sound to North Carolina indie, New Jersey DIY to swampy New Orleans folk. From opening riff to swirling final notes, Best of Our Possible Lives ripples like sun on the lake, an invitation to seek each our own bliss. Produced by Robbie Lackritz (Feist, Bahamas, Weather Station), Best of Our Possible Lives brought Boy Golden to Lucy’s Meat Market in Los Angeles with Pino Palladino (D’Angelo), Gabe Noel (Father John Misty), Joseph Shabason (Destroyer) and Abe Rounds (Meshell Ndegeocello) alongside Church of Better Daze founding members FONTINE and Austin Parachoniak. RIYL - Mk.gee, Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman, Plant & Krauss’ Raising Sand, Paul Simon

Over two years in the making, and many more in the two musician’s shared dream, ‘Real Thing’ unites longtime collaborators Michael Collins (Drugdealer) and Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood). Recorded across continents, ‘Real Thing’ is a return, a refinement and a reminder of the deep connection that has bound these two titans of song over multiple collaborations. The journey of ‘Real Thing’ began when Collins, while on a European sojourn, crossed paths with Parisian producer Max Baby. As one does while in Paris, they found themselves in a studio owned by a member of the 1970s French prog rock band Magma. There, a chord progression long-gestating in Collins’ brain blossomed into a bonafide demo.

Collins recalls, “I realized immediately that it was the perfect thing to show Nat, who I had been wanting to collaborate with again for years.” The connection and musical camaraderie between Collins and Mering dates back to 2014 in Oakland, where a chance meeting and studio session marked the genesis of their enduring partnership. Collins reflects, “Since then, I’ve felt like she’s my musical family. I can’t really ask for more in terms of someone who inspired me to even get to this place in my songwriting.” On the B-side is ‘The News’, Drugdealer’s first collaboration with Robbie Chemical. What began as a simple harmony grew into a panoramic partnership, the musician’s voices effortlessly entwined, and a pop paragon envisioned. Inspired by generational conversations on chaos, change and connection, the track opens a new chapter - topical, personal and unmistakably Drugdealer. As Drugdealer, Michael Collins has crafted a career that blends introspective songwriting with a reverence for classic pop and R&B. A native of the East Coast, Collins’ musical adventure began with the experimental pop collages of Run DMT and Salvia Plath before evolving into the more melodic, refined songwriting heard in Drugdealer’s acclaimed albums ‘Raw Honey’ and ‘Hiding In Plain Sight’.  Natalie Mering, better known as Weyes Blood, has similarly forged a path of emotive, transcendental folk-pop that delves into themes of myth, love and existential longing.

Known for her ethereal voice and evocative lyrics, Mering’s latest works, ‘Titanic Rising’ and ‘And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow’, are nothing short of modern classics, though also feel like just the start of this artist’s undeniable ascent.  “For both artists, this is their first song since their respective 2022 albums, and what a way to come back. ‘Real Thing’ feels like uncovering a forgotten ’70s disco duet” - PASTE  “A lush and insistent folk-pop jam” - Stereogum  For fans of Mac Demarco, Kate Bollinger, Men I Trust, Toro y Moi, TOPS, Alice Phoebe Lou, Tame Impala, Thee Sacred Souls, Vacations, Allah-Las, Kurt Vile, Beach Fossils, Slow Pulp, Foxygen, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Hand Habits, Father John Misty, Oracle Sisters, Whitney, The Lemon Twigs, Mild High Club, Khruangbin, Angel Olsen.

"Across eleven cinematic tracks — each a melodic treasure and short film — Dienel probes: What does freedom look like when rooted in presence, not escape? “Joy, especially queer joy, is revolutionary,” they muse. “Even in the face of everything else, I wanted to show that happiness is still possible — and necessary.”
The record was brought to life with an impressive ensemble of collaborators: producer Adam Schatz (Japanese Breakfast, Neko Case), bassist Spencer Zahn, guitarists Carly Bond (Meernaa) and meg duffy (Hand Habits), drummer Max Jaffe, mixing engineer Jake Aron (Solange, Snail Mail), and mastering engineer Heba Kadry (Björk, Sade). Breaking from their usual DIY approach, Dienel embraced the power of the collective — an experiment in trust, connection, and openness.
Tonally influenced by My Own Private Idaho and widescreen pop, such as Born in the U.S.A., My Heart Is An Outlaw is a warm-hearted exploration. Can we love fully without being domesticated? Can we resist cultural scripts by choosing presence and community over self-erasure? As they put it, “The heart has a mind of its own…It’s the thing holding you back that you have to set free on your own time, in your own way.”
From the early days of White Hinterland to the lush orchestral pop of her solo work, Dienel has consistently bent and challenged the boundaries of independent music. My Heart Is An Outlaw continues that legacy — an unapologetic, joyous declaration of queer love and creative agency."

Comet Dust Red Vinyl. Jason Molina war ein Künstler, der nicht gerne zurückblickte. Während seines gesamten Lebens und seiner Karriere als Singer-Songwriter trieb ihn ein rastloser und sich ständig weiterentwickelnder kreativer Impuls voran, der seinen Fokus auf das Wesentliche richtete. Seine unermüdliche Kreativität und Arbeitsmoral trugen Früchte. In seinem kurzen Leben erreichte Molina das, wonach die meisten Musiker streben: einen Sound, der sofort wiedererkennbar ist, sich aber selten wiederholt. Von den Ufern des Eriesees in seiner Heimatstadt Lorain, Ohio, bis hin zu internationalen Bühnen mit seinen Bands Songs: Ohia und Magnolia Electric Co. spielte Molina sein umfangreiches Repertoire an geheimnisvollen, romantischen, stürmischen und monumentalen Songs, die gleichzeitig innovativ und in der amerikanischen Tradition verwurzelt waren. Er tüftelte ständig an seinem Sound, seinem Image, seiner Band und seinem Zuhause, um seine Muse zu befriedigen. Ein Tenor-Gitarre spielender Außenseiter. Ein liebeskranker Lo-Fi-Indie-Rocker. Ein trauriger Slowcore-Barde. Ein Pionier des Roots-Rock des 21. Jahrhunderts. Ein kanonischer Songwriter des Mittleren Westens. Jason Molina hat seine kreative Flagge in all diesen Bereichen gehisst - um seinen Anspruch zu markieren, um zu zeigen, wie weit er gekommen war, und um eine Spur wertvoller Talismane zu hinterlassen. Mit ,I Will Swim to You: A Tribute to Jason Molina" - benannt nach einer Zeile aus Molinas Song ,Lioness" - würdigen Run For Cover Records und eine Gruppe befreundeter Künstler den bleibenden Einfluss des Songwriters. Die Compilation mit Molina-Covers wurde von einigen der visionärsten Singer-Songwritern der Gegenwart eingespielt, darunter MJ Lenderman, Hand Habits, Horse Jumper of Love, Sun June und viele mehr, und enthält einzigartige Interpretationen von Molina-Fan-Favoriten und weniger bekannten Stücken aus seinen Soloalben und weniger bekannten EPs. Das Ergebnis ist eine unverwechselbare Liebeserklärung, eine oft atemberaubende Gesamtdarbietung generationenübergreifender Talente, die einem der begabtesten, aber unterschätzten amerikanischen Songwriter Tribut zollen.

Die richtigen Songs, aneinandergereiht, geben eine belebte Vision unserer Umgebung, als ob frische Augen allein durch Rhythmus gewährt werden können, neue Formen für das verwitterte Drahtgerüst der Welt finden und die Schatten sehen, wie sie mit dem Licht des Tages tanzen. Animal Hospital, die neue LP der Chicagoer Art Punks Ganser, ist ein Monument der Beobachtung, ein Wälzer verirrter Gedanken, die aufgesammelt wurden, während sie sich durch eine Menschenmenge bewegten, die sich zu einer kollektiven Betrachtung der absurden Widersprüche von vorbeiziehenden Leben zusammenfügte. Animal Hospital ist das dynamischste Album von Ganser, das die Grenzen ihres Sounds in neue Bereiche ausdehnt und die elastischen Grenzen des Klangs testet. Der Kern der Band, Alicia Gaines, Sophie Sputnik und Brian Cundiff, bleiben unbeirrt treibenden Mustern treu; Schlagzeug, das mit exakten Beats auf das Herz schlägt, Puls, der von Bass und Gitarren beschleunigt wird, Synthies, die die Nerven beruhigen. Ein endloser Rhythmus unter Füßen, die sich im Takt auf einer Tanzfläche bewegen oder auf einem Bürgersteig. Was hier zusammengetragen wurde, ist eine Sammlung von Beobachtungen, Erinnerungen an die Minuten, die zu Tagen wurden, die damit verbracht wurden, zu beobachten, wie sich die Menschlichkeit in den Menschen verändert und in neue Richtungen dreht. Die Menschen haben ihre Streifen und Flecken gewechselt, oder vielleicht haben sie nur die Zeichen gezeigt, die sie schon immer hatten. Das Leben wurde auf Distanz gehalten. Die Masken wurden straff gezogen. Die Erforschung der surrealen Wahrheiten, die in unseren Herzen schlummern, hat etwas Tiefgründiges, dass das Traurige und Alltägliche so mühelos mit dem Absurden und dem Schönen spielen kann, um etwas Eindringliches, etwas Auffallendes zu schaffen, Lieder, die stechen und aufsteigen und gleichzeitig zum Tanzen auffordern. Aufgenommen in den Jamdek Studios von Doug Malone (mit zusätzliche Aufnahmen von Nick Broste bei Electrical Audio) und produziert in Partnerschaft mit dem langjährigen Verbündeten Angus Andrews (Liars) zwischen Januar und März 2025, ist Animal Hospital ein Meisterwerk von Gansers Handwerk. Songs, die ihr Leben als Notizen begannen, die bereits im Jahr 2020 gekritzelt wurden (mit Ausnahme von ,stripe", einem Demo, das 2021 überarbeitet wurde), wurden hier auf Band geschliffen und in Wachs gepresst. Ganser haben ihren Sound ausgebaut, Mauern errichtet, die sich zu neuen Höhen auftürmen, und Charlie Landsman und Dove Hollis haben sich auf dem Album zusammengetan, um das Fundament zu stützen. Die Zeit auf Tour mit Künstlern wie IDLES, Mclusky und Ted Leo, sowie Shows mit Amyl & The Sniffers, Bikini Kill, Viagra Boys und so vielen anderen haben das unauslöschliche Talent, das in allen Ecken von Gansers Arbeit lauert, nur noch mehr geschärft. Musik, die sich weigert zu glauben, dass irgendetwas wahr ist, dass stattdessen alle Dinge Kraft und Geheimnisse in ihren Schatten bergen, und dass wir nur dann die unausweichliche Schönheit aller widersprüchlichen Dinge verstehen können, wenn wir uns alle auf den Boden begeben und uns einen Sinn geben.

Arny Margret, Iceland’s remarkable and poetic upcoming singer-songwriter, is due to release her second album ‘I Miss You, I Do’ on March 7th via One Little Independent Records. The follow-up to 2022’s celebrated, minimalist folk debut ‘they only talk about the weather’ sees her working with new producers in America to develop and hone a sound that’s more textured, expansive, and mature.

‘I Miss You, I Do’ incorporates sessions from Arny Margret’s trips to New York City, North Carolina, and Colorado, as well as those recorded in Iceland. During extensive international touring, she wrote prolifically and spent time getting to know producers and musicians who each brought their own unique and individual talents to the project. Arny’s atmospheric and introspective material has been layered with country-inflected full band ensembles, keys, banjo, harmonium, slide guitar and more, adding an ambience that only enhances her natural ability to convey crystal-clear imagery within thematically rich writing.

In pursuit of her creative vision, Arny enlisted producers Josh Kaufman, Andrew Berlin, Brad Cook, and Guðm. “Kiddi” Kristinn Jónsson. Josh Kaufman is best known for his work with Grateful Dead founder Bob Weir, The National, This Is The Kit, Hiss Golden Messenger, Josh Ritter, and The War on Drugs. Andrew Berlin, GRAMMY nominated for his work on Gregory Alan Isakov’s record ‘Evening Machines’, also mixes national punk rock staples such as A Wilhelm Scream, Rise Against, and Teenage Bottlerocket. Brad Cook served as a producer for Bon Iver, Big Red Machine, Waxahatchee, Hand Habits, Kevin Morby, and Whitney amongst others. Arny also returned to Iceland to record with her long-time collaborator and friend Kiddi Jónsson in Reykjavík, Iceland.

Cornelia Murr’s newest album, Run To The Center, began with a question: What do I want? The answer is everything, and it’s never felt more urgent.

On her first LP in six years, Run To The Center, on 22TWENTY, the London-born singer-songwriter delivers her most expansive, confident work yet. Across 10 hypnotic pop songs, Murr crafts a portrait of a woman in her thirties, standing triumphantly in uncertainty and asking life’s essential questions: How do you fit everything you want into a life? How can you want so much and still manage to live?

Run To The Center, which Murr will tour internationally, is her first release since the 2022 EP Corridor and her first LP since her 2018 debut Lake Tear of the Clouds, produced by Jim James of My Morning Jacket. Murr had long wanted to make another LP, but economic and global forces kept getting in the way. Finally, in the spring of 2023, Murr started working with producer Luke Temple (Adrienne Lenker, Hand Habits), adding to her roster of impressive collaborators. Temple, an old friend, helped Murr realize a sweeping album of her most tender, spectral pop yet.

The songs on Run To The Center reflect Murr’s need to explore desire and time. Some are new, born from spontaneous collaboration, while others had lingered in her mind for years. The album’s production, with muscular drums and buoyant synths, is more expansive than her previous work, swirling with a sparse futurism as Murr embraces life’s uncertainties.

Murr wrote much of the album while hunkering down in Red Cloud, Nebraska, restoring an old house. In this unexpected place, she found her center. The result is an album that explores big questions with beauty and humor, as Murr stands fully in her power.

Als Sänger, Songwriter und Komponist verwandelt Emile Mosseri die menschliche Erfahrung in Gesang. Musikalisches Geschichtenerzählen ist sein Lebenselixier - ein Talent, das er mit Songwritern und Regisseuren geteilt hat, indem er Filme wie Minari & The Last Black Man in San Francisco vertonte - und das in letzter Zeit in den Mittelpunkt seiner Arbeit als Künstler gerückt ist. Unterstützt von einer Band, bestehend aus Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Dougie Stu und Kosta Galanopolous, zog sich Mosseri im Herbst 2023 mit seinem häufigen Kollaborateur, Komponisten und Produzenten Bobby Krlic (Midsommar, The Haxan Cloak) nach Altamira Sound zurück, um das Fundament für sein zweites Album Tryin to be born zu legen. Das Album folgt auf sein Debüt Heaven Hunters und gemeinsame Veröffentlichungen mit Sam Gendel und Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.

Am 22. November veröffentlicht section1 eine Sammlung von Soloklaviermusik - 'piano1' enthält Original-Solostücke von 12 Künstlern, darunter Kelly Moran, Hand Habits, Youth Lagoon und andere.

Die Songs auf 'piano1' betonen die Schönheit und heilende Kraft der Klaviermusik und bewegen sich zwischen zeitgenössischer Klassik, Experimentalmusik und Ambient.

Die Compilation stellt sowohl die beteiligten Künstler vor als auch das Klavier als Instrument und die Art und Weise, wie verschiedene Künstler ihre kreative Beziehung zu diesem Instrument gestalten. Das berühmte Zitat von Brian Eno („as ignorable as it is interesting“) diente als Leitfaden für die Auswahl der Beiträge.

ELEPHANT TREE legen eine bemerkenswerte Neuausgabe ihres hochgelobten Debütalbums "Theia" vor. Die Anniversary Edition dieses Meilensteins kommt mit einer Fülle von seltenen Fotos, Liner-Notes und Texten, die das Artwork frisch aufpolieren. ELEPHANT TREE wurden im Jahr 2013 irgendwo in Londons modrigen Seitengassen im Proberaum gezeugt. Dort entsprangen dem Bass von Jack Townley und Sam Harts Schlagzeug die ersten Töne des späteren "Attack of the Altaica" Demos. Damit war das Debüt zum Eröffnungsstück der neuen Raritätensammlung "Handful of Ten" geradezu prädestiniert. Die ansteckende Mischung aus warmem, schmelzendem Gitarren-Fuzz und hochfliegenden Gesangsharmonien auf "Attack of the Altaica" führte schnell zu einem Plattenvertrag und bereits im September 2014 erschien mit "Theia" das erfolgreiche erste Album. Die hart arbeitenden Engländer ruhten sich aber nicht auf ihren Lorbeeren aus und legten schon im Jahr 2015 das selbstbetitelte zweite Album "Elephant Tree" vor, das ebenfalls mit reichlich Applaus empfangen wurde. Mit dem dritten Langspieler "Habits" sollte der nächste große Schritt folgen, doch Pandemie und Schwierigkeiten ihres damaligen Labels machten den Engländern einen Strich durch die Rechnung. Dennoch blicken ELEPHANT TREE freudig auf zehn aufregende Jahre zurück und feiern diesen schönen Anlass mit den Wiederveröffentlichungen von "Habits" und "Theia" sowie mit großartigen Stücken aus ihrem Archiv und packenden neuen Tracks unter dem Titel "Handful of Ten".

Der Samen für ELEPHANT TREE wurde im Jahr 2013 irgendwo in Londons modrigen Seitengassen in einem Proberaum gepflanzt. Dort wuchsen aus dem Bass von Jack Townley und Sam Harts Schlagzeug die ersten Töne des späteren "Attack of the Altaica" Demos hervor. Damit war der Song geradezu prädestiniert zum Eröffnungsstück der neuen Raritätensammlung "Handful of Ten". Die ansteckende Mischung aus warmem, zerschmelzendem Gitarren-Fuzz und hochfliegenden Gesangsharmonien des Demos führte schnell zu einem Plattenvertrag und bereits im September 2014 erschien das erste Album "Theia". Das Debütalbum wurde von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen hervorragend aufgenommen und dieser Meilenstein wird nun als Anniversary Edition neu aufgelegt. Eine Fülle von seltenen Fotos, Liner-Notes und Texten polieren das Artwork frisch auf. Die hart arbeitenden Engländer ruhten sich keineswegs auf ihren Lorbeeren aus, sondern legten im Jahr 2015 mit dem selbstbetitelten zweiten Langspieler "Elephant Tree" erfolgreich nach. Dagegen scheiterte ELEPHANT TREEs Versuch, mit einem Label näher der Heimat zu arbeiten, ohne eigenes Verschulden, an Problemen des neuen Partners. Dadurch erhielt das hoch gelobte "Habits" aus dem Jahr 2020 nicht die nötige anhaltende Unterstützung. ELEPHANT TREE veröffentlichen das gesuchte dritte Album zum zehnjährigen neu über Magnetic Eye, womit es endlich wieder verfügbar wird. Mit "Handful of Ten" blicken ELEPHANT TREE auf zehn aufregende Jahre zurück, die sie mit großartigen Stücken aus ihrem Archiv sowie neuen Tracks feiern. Langjährige Anhänger dürfen sich ebenso wie neue Freunde auf den einzigartigen melodischen Doom der Engländer freuen: nur Thriller, keine Filler!

ELEPHANT TREE machen ihr "verschollenes" drittes Album "Habits" (2020) endlich wieder verfügbar. Nach der Veröffentlichung von "Habits" geriet ihr damaliges Label in Schwierigkeiten, weshalb das von der Kritik hochgelobte Werk nicht die verdiente anhaltende Unterstützung erhielt. ELEPHANT TREE wurden im Jahr 2013 irgendwo in Londons modrigen Seitengassen im Proberaum gezeugt. Dort entsprangen dem Bass von Jack Townley und Sam Harts Schlagzeug die ersten Töne des späteren "Attack of the Altaica" Demos. Damit war das Debüt zum Eröffnungsstück der neuen Raritätensammlung "Handful of Ten" geradezu prädestiniert. Die ansteckende Mischung aus warmem, schmelzendem Gitarren-Fuzz und hochfliegenden Gesangsharmonien auf "Attack of the Altaica" führte schnell zu einem Plattenvertrag und bereits im September 2014 erschien das erste Album "Theia". Das Debütalbum wurde von Kritikern und Fans gleichermaßen hervorragend aufgenommen und dieser Meilenstein wird nun als Anniversary Edition neu aufgelegt. Eine Fülle von seltenen Fotos, Liner-Notes und Texten polieren das Artwork frisch auf. Die hart arbeitenden Engländer ruhten sich nicht auf ihren Lorbeeren aus und legten bereits im Jahr 2015 mit dem selbstbetitelten zweiten Album "Elephant Tree" einen Nachfolger vor. Mit "Habits" sollte der nächste große Schritt folgen, doch die Pandemie sowie Probleme ihres neuen Labels machten den Engländern einen Strich durch die Rechnung. Dennoch blicken ELEPHANT TREE freudig auf zehn aufregende Jahre zurück und feiern diesen schönen Anlass mit den Wiederveröffentlichungen von "Habits" und "Theia" sowie mit großartigen Stücken aus ihrem Archiv und packenden neuen Tracks unter dem Titel "Handful of Ten".

With extensive practical and academic understanding of the ‘remix’ process, Stian Balducci takes on the role of audio architect in this refined and redesigned remix album.

His meticulous approach has not replaced, but built upon Kjetil Jerve’s piano material and boasts a thorough dedication to mood and timbre through-out. The outcome combines new strokes of colour and delicately layered textures, offering fresh perspectives to an old canvas. The aural landscape takes shape in progressive, parabolic pulsations, coupled with sparse, rhythmic heart-throbs that embody the faint silhouettes of drum reverberations. This atmospheric landscape is complimented with subtle, pensive keys from Kjetil’s piano recordings that add emotional depth to the work and pay diligent tribute to the free structures of jazz.

The final project may be understood as a window, giving view to life’s sentient and evocative themes, without ever infringing on their delicacy. The sonic progressions tap into nature’s cycles through meditative repetition and offer the listener some brief respite from innate human habits of over-thinking.

As the contents of the album unfold, we are taken reassuringly by the hand to familiar, foreign lands, filled with curious sonorous tales and subtle insights that shed light on a world of deeper perception.

In keeping with the communal ethos of Dugnad Rec, ‘Tokyo Tapes: Piano Recycle’ reflects a thoughtful exchange between Stian and Kjetil. Stian professed that the project went ahead with just one rule: “to work only with the original source material, no external samples or sound sources”. This puritan approach spotlights a shared characteristic between them; namely, a unified desire to explore vibrations and a wholistic dedication to sound experimentation.

sentiment is a meditation of the poignant emotional terrains of loneliness, nostalgia, sentimentality, guilt, and sex. The album"s narrative arc is guided by delicate musical gestures and artistic vulnerability, audaciously synthesizing disparate and unexpected influences. claire rousay is a singular artist, known for challenging conventions in experimental and ambient music forms. rousay masterfully incorporates textural found sounds, sumptuous drones and candid field recordings into music that celebrates the beauty in life"s banalities. Her music is curatorial and granular in detail, deftly shaped into emotionally affecting pieces. rousay"s vocals and guitar take center stage on sentiment. Her intimate, diaristic lyrics contrast with her mechanical-inflected vocal effects, emphasizing a powerful desire for connection, a deep yearning and a lingering sense of separation. The spare guitar playing and laconic tempo both drive the songs and exude a sense of resignation. Her delicate mastery of nuance draws on her explorative musical past that she, with sincerity and admiration, seamlessly interweaves into her adventurous textures and distinctive compositions. "I want to belong to the worlds and communities I look up to. Same as someone using a Fender guitar or dressing like Kurt Cobain. Emulate your heroes," says rousay. The album balances the poetic soul of her influences with a documentarian heart, rousay capturing moments of her life while living alone in houses across the country, learning to play guitar, and reconnecting with pop music. Her innate ability to conjure pure feeling from sound derives from her delightful embrace of pop forms, the vulnerability found in field recordings, minimalistic arrangements and innovative sound choices. sentiment is blissfully, achingly melancholic, and an undeniably sensual listening experience.

Amazingblaze returns to home label KNTXT with an exhilarating new release that shows another subtle evolution in his style. His Touch The Sky EP features four standout new tracks that are sure to make a global impact.

Amazingblaze emerged as a pivotal tastemaker in the new school scene, marking his debut on KNTXT in 2022 with his Venture EP. Last year, he further solidified his presence on the label, with the release of two EPs and a remix of Charlotte de Witte’s single ‘High Street’. He has been obsessed with music since a young age and that shows in his productions which blend the inspirations of his youth with plenty of fresh contemporary style. His releases consistently aim to leave a significant mark on the club scene, and this latest EP is no exception. With powerful grooves and emotive synths, it sets the stage for another impactful experience.

Amazingblaze on his new EP: "Touch The Sky is a blend of emotions of early trance with the shape of a modern look. From start to finish it's catching you with pleasant pressure and doesn't let you go. Really proud of this one!"

Charlotte de Witte adds: “Amazingblaze is back and I'm just obsessed with these four tracks. They're all masterpieces, representing his very unique and distinctive sound. I'm very proud to be able to welcome him again on the label and continue to be a place he can call home.”

Opener Touch The Sky is a high speed and fresh techno sound that is laced with euphoric trance synths and a heartfelt vocal. It is sure to get hands in the air and dance floors locked into its spell. Kaleidoscope ups the ante further with more scintillating hard techno drums and flashes of synth that will chime perfectly with strobe-lit clubs. A spine-tinging breakdown features angelic vocals before the drums kick in and power things to the next level. Thank You, God Always is more straight up with hard edge drums and synths that spray about the mix with bright rave energy and futuristic soul and last of all is Habits, an urgent and high speed wave of lush trance techno with a classic vocal stab and more celestial voices drifting up to hypnotic effect.

This is another big release from Amazingblaze that shows he has plenty of new tricks up his sleeve.

Deluxe 180g vinyl. Art Edition LP includes set of six 12”x12” art cards.



The follow-up to Kee Avil's acclaimed 2022 debut Crease: "A stunning debut" (The Quietus); "A whiplash style of uninhibited exploration" (The Wire); "Kee Avil's debut is a force" (Foxy Digitalis); "A work of Frankensteinian wonder" (Electronic Sound); "A tightly coiled, finely wrought vision of avant-pop" (Exclaim); "A debut of fiendish creativity" (Bandcamp Album Of The Day / Albums Of The Year) Kee Avil's music is both adventurous and intimate, intellectually challenging and emotionally resonant. The Montréal guitarist and producer's 2022 debut LP Crease garnered plaudits from outlets like The Wire, The Quietus, Mojo and Foxy Digitalis, picking up a Canadian Juno Award nomination and Bandcamp Album Of The Day and Albums Of The Year along the way. Its intricate construction, unnerving atmospheres, and knife-edge take on avant-pop prompted comparisons to early PJ Harvey, This Heat, and Gazelle Twin. A remix EP with work by claire rousay, Ami Dang, Cecile Believe, and Pelada brought collaborative perspectives to four Crease tracks, offering new pathways within those songs. With Spine, Kee Avil strips back her heavily textured compositions, opening up a much rawer sound. She calls it folk… and while traditionalists might scoff, this is urgent music that reflects the precarity of modern life, as well as the jarring mixture of electronic and real-world interactions that have become the fabric of our day-to-day experiences. There's a hypnotic post-punk somnambulance to it all, using the repetition and fracturing of melodic phrases interwoven with delicate electronics to create curious and persistent hooks. While not a concept album, themes of time's passage, remembrance, and decay crop up across multiple tracks. Each track intentionally only has four elements - guitar, electronics, and two other instruments, with Kee's voice and guitar pushed to the front. Within this minimalist framework, the juxtaposition of beauty and discomfort that is key to the Kee Avil sound stands out in skin-prickling relief. "We're shaped by many versions of ourselves," says Avil. "I was looking back at these versions of myself and what could have been, what didn't end up being and what did end up being, and going back like that through time. Seeing the future, the past." Spine was written in Kee Avil's home studio after a lapse in writing while touring Crease and working on other projects. She is a well-known and respected member of the Montréal experimental scene, and formerly ran Concrete Sound Studio with Zach Scholes, who continues to work with her as a producer on Spine. Compared to the three years that went into making her debut, Spine emerged in a matter of months - a process that may also be a factor in its intensity and sharpness: "This record was much harder, like it was really discovering everything from scratch." In her desire to not simply replicate or extend the sound of Crease, she felt she had to rip up the rule book, write in a different way, and pare back songs against her usual instincts. Sometimes, when we work against our ingrained habits, we get to the core of who we really are. Spine is an exercise in that process. Without over-intellectualizing or being didactic, it hits immediately and emotionally, especially if you are a person who has spent much time in the process of self-examination. Kee's voice hisses, whispers, and chants; her guitar bends and rings; electronics skitter and crackle; violin creaks like a door in the wind. There is something so evocative about the atmospheres she creates that it's easy to overlay one's own feelings onto her work, but to do that wholly would be to overlook one of the most important things about Spine: Kee Avil's clear and thoughtful vision. This isn't just the next step forward in her artistic trajectory; it's a stunner of a record that stands on its own, a bracing and thrilling listen that has much to reveal about the contradictions inherent in being human. - jj skolnik

sentiment is a meditation of the poignant emotional terrains of loneliness, nostalgia, sentimentality, guilt, and sex. The album"s narrative arc is guided by delicate musical gestures and artistic vulnerability, audaciously synthesizing disparate and unexpected influences. claire rousay is a singular artist, known for challenging conventions in experimental and ambient music forms. rousay masterfully incorporates textural found sounds, sumptuous drones and candid field recordings into music that celebrates the beauty in life"s banalities. Her music is curatorial and granular in detail, deftly shaped into emotionally affecting pieces. rousay"s vocals and guitar take center stage on sentiment. Her intimate, diaristic lyrics contrast with her mechanical-inflected vocal effects, emphasizing a powerful desire for connection, a deep yearning and a lingering sense of separation. The spare guitar playing and laconic tempo both drive the songs and exude a sense of resignation. Her delicate mastery of nuance draws on her explorative musical past that she, with sincerity and admiration, seamlessly interweaves into her adventurous textures and distinctive compositions. "I want to belong to the worlds and communities I look up to. Same as someone using a Fender guitar or dressing like Kurt Cobain. Emulate your heroes," says rousay. The album balances the poetic soul of her influences with a documentarian heart, rousay capturing moments of her life while living alone in houses across the country, learning to play guitar, and reconnecting with pop music. Her innate ability to conjure pure feeling from sound derives from her delightful embrace of pop forms, the vulnerability found in field recordings, minimalistic arrangements and innovative sound choices. sentiment is blissfully, achingly melancholic, and an undeniably sensual listening experience.

sentiment is a meditation of the poignant emotional terrains of loneliness, nostalgia, sentimentality, guilt, and sex. The album"s narrative arc is guided by delicate musical gestures and artistic vulnerability, audaciously synthesizing disparate and unexpected influences. claire rousay is a singular artist, known for challenging conventions in experimental and ambient music forms. rousay masterfully incorporates textural found sounds, sumptuous drones and candid field recordings into music that celebrates the beauty in life"s banalities. Her music is curatorial and granular in detail, deftly shaped into emotionally affecting pieces. rousay"s vocals and guitar take center stage on sentiment. Her intimate, diaristic lyrics contrast with her mechanical-inflected vocal effects, emphasizing a powerful desire for connection, a deep yearning and a lingering sense of separation. The spare guitar playing and laconic tempo both drive the songs and exude a sense of resignation. Her delicate mastery of nuance draws on her explorative musical past that she, with sincerity and admiration, seamlessly interweaves into her adventurous textures and distinctive compositions. "I want to belong to the worlds and communities I look up to. Same as someone using a Fender guitar or dressing like Kurt Cobain. Emulate your heroes," says rousay. The album balances the poetic soul of her influences with a documentarian heart, rousay capturing moments of her life while living alone in houses across the country, learning to play guitar, and reconnecting with pop music. Her innate ability to conjure pure feeling from sound derives from her delightful embrace of pop forms, the vulnerability found in field recordings, minimalistic arrangements and innovative sound choices. sentiment is blissfully, achingly melancholic, and an undeniably sensual listening experience.

Acclaimed Christian Raphael Prize winner’s debut for Topic Records, produced by Eliza Carthy. The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience is the upcoming record by Cornwall-based folk singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Angeline Morrison, her debut for on the historic Topic Records label. Produced by Eliza Carthy and featuring some of her beautiful, soaring string arrangements, The Sorrow Songs was recorded in Cornwall at Cube Studios and is a work of what Angeline calls ‘re-storying.’

The stellar line-up of musicians on this album includes Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne (anglo concertina, melodeon, vocals), Clarke Camilleri (guitar, banjo, vocals), Hamilton Gross (violin, vocals), Rosie Crow (piano, vocals), Alex Neilson (drums, vocals), Eliza Carthy (violin, fiddlesticks, vocals), Angeline Morrison (vocals, autoharp, double bass) and features Martin Carthy on the album’s closing track.

Sorrow Songs by Angeline Morrison, released 8 March 2024, includes the following tracks: "Black John", "The Beautiful Spotted Black Boy", "Interlude - Nobody Round Here Likes It", "Cinnamon Water" and more.

This version of Sorrow Songs comes as a 1xLP.

The vinyl is pressed as a opaque, green disc.

2023 Repress

Frank Maston’s Tulips is a sample-ready film score to the best 70s movie never made. Originally a super-limited self-release on his Phonoscope label in late 2017, Tulips has already become incredibly sought-after. Be With were introduced to Maston by mutual friends Aquarium Drunkard and it didn’t take long before we decided this modern classic deserved a reissue.

Inspired by the deep-grooving soundtracks of Italian cinema - think Morricone, Umiliani and Alessandroni - Maston conceived the entire Tulips project as a continuation of these revered works. Frank designed the artwork and made two 16mm films to accompany the music: “It wasn’t just the LP… it was kind of a whole vibe I was trying to create. Not really trying to emulate the things that influenced me but more trying to make something that could sit alongside those records on a shelf. I’m still very proud of the project.”

There’s a distinct library music feel too, with wiry organ, spacey keyboards and loping 60s guitar hinting at KPM and DeWolfe. Like the best library music, Tulips creates a cinematic universe through sound alone, evoking moving images in the listener’s technicolour imagination. It turns out that was accidentally on purpose: “I was discovering a lot of library music for the first time… listening to a composer’s entire catalog or finding all this obscure stuff. I wasn’t entirely conscious of the influence until I started making this music and realized I was channeling the vibe. That’s when I began focusing more on weaving melodic themes throughout the record to make it function more like a soundtrack”.

Tulips was recorded between 2015 and 2017 in a small studio in a village called Zwaag in Holland, during downtime from Frank’s touring duties with Jacco Gardner’s band. “Tulips” comes from the title of the very first demo he made in Holland, it was the first thing that came to mind. Makes sense.

Recording in Europe with some very European influences in mind, Frank wanted to eschew any American influences. But we can still feel the studio wizardry of the likes of Brian Wilson and Harry Nilsson in there somewhere. A psychedelic bedroom-pop song-cycle, full of hypnotic hooks and dusty drums, Tulips manages to sound charmingly homemade yet wholly widescreen.

Dreamy opener “Swans” is an exquisite soul instrumental and recalls the soft-psych of Koushik, which Be With loves of course. Tropicalia influences abound in the cool and breezy “New Danger” and the KPM-references are loud and proud on the lush organ pop of “Old Habits”. Fast-paced “Chase Theme No. 1” manages to be both tense and laid back, decorated by acid-drenched spaghetti Western guitars. The glorious Gainsbourg-esque melancholia of “Infinite Bliss” is all gauzy flutes and happy-sad vocalizing and the title is almost perfect: it’s bliss, no question; *if only* it went on forever. Side A closes with “Evening”, a subtle bossa nova beat thing. Gorgeous.

Side B opens with the heat-shimmer guitars of “Rain Dance”, evoking an unreleased Byrds or Buffalo Springfield backing track. Yes, it’s that good. “Sure Thing” is music to accompany an elevator ride you never want to end, but in a good way! The ornate “Garçon Manqué” is as beautiful as the instrumentals on Pet Sounds (think “Let’s Go Away For A While”) and the wistful “Turning In” starts like a stroll in the park before Maston introduces a scorched-Earth guitar solo that would startle if it wasn’t so pitch-perfect. “Chase Theme No. 2” is a briefer, more keening counterpart to what we hear on side A. The head-nod bass-drums-keys funk of “Hues” rounds out this staggeringly assured set; still opening each phrase with a plaintive strum, but using vibrato and heavy reverb to accent the electric organ melody. Sublime.

All these top drawer musical references might sound like just more of the usual release notes hyperbole, but there’s a reason that this still-young LP already changes hands for big money. It really is that good. Of course that first pressing didn’t hang around for long and Frank’s regularly been asked about a re-press pretty much ever since.

Re-issuing Tulips on Be With made sense to Frank “because the record would fit in so well with the catalogue”. Having already delved into the archives of KPM and Themes, and beginning to do the same with Coloursound and Selected Sounds, the collaboration “just makes sense and seems inevitable”. We agree.

Frank wasn’t sure a record of instrumentals with obscure soundtrack references would be an easy sell when it was originally released, and was surprised when Tulips turned out to be exactly what some people wanted to hear. We reckon its timeless beauty ensures that it’ll *always* have an audience.

The record was originally cut to be played at 45rpm, a technical quirk that grants the home listener the opportunity to go deeper, for longer. Played at 33rpm, the more languid unfurling of the tracks proves just as wonderful a trip. As a psilocybin-soaked case study from Aquarium Drunkard back in January of 2019 describes, some of the songs sound as if they were intended to be heard that way. The slower speed allowing the listener to step inside and perhaps even “crack the code” of the music’s meaning.

Mastered for this vinyl reissue by Simon Francis and featuring alternative burnt orange artwork from Maston himself, this Be With pressing is limited to just 500 copies. Hypnagogic it may be, but please don’t sleep.

In March of 2020, after learning that a dear friend’s life was coming to an end, Johansing sat down and in one sitting wrote the song “Daffodils”. An elegiac tribute to someone facing death with grace and curiosity, the lyrics confront Johansing’s own mortality by observing the brief lifespan of a Hlower. Only a week later when the world came to an abrupt standstill, she soon found herself processing this recent loss while trying to make sense of a new global reality. Across the ensuing months, Johansing found herself increasingly untethered by a world of isolation and political upheaval.

Having been a frequent touring member of bands like Hand Habits and Fruit Bats, and often being called into the studio to lend her harmonies and multi-instrumental talents to records, Johansing’s phone no longer rang. Living in Los Angeles she feared her musical community was vanishing, as friends and collaborators continually announced they were leaving the city. It was in returning to her piano nightly that she found the greatest solace, feverishly writing the songs that would be collected on her next album. Resulting from this new sense of time and focus was a deepening of her songwriting. As Johansing recalls, “I felt like a metamorphosis happened during that time. There was a lot of personal growth and healing.”

Throughout Year Away Johansing traverses uncharted emotional landscapes brought upon by the changes occurring all around her. The forced self-reflection of the moment is aptly captured by “Old Friend”, featuring an aching melody and swooning production that recalls the best of Harry Nilsson. The epic piano and saxophone-driven “Smile with My Eyes” addresses the loss of community as friends became distant and political divides between family grew. On “Smile” Johansing pushes her vocals further than ever, expanding her range and using her peerless voice as the singular instrument it is. Facing the loss of a family home due to environmental destruction, “Shifting Sands” is marked by soaring Hlutes, Hield recordings and glassy synthesizers that nod to Japanese New Age.

“Daffodils”, the stunning album centerpiece, is built from a pastiche of looping samples, swirling Mellotron and dazzling vibraphone. “Keep your heart open wide, you never know your time / Keep your heart wild, true Hlower child”, Johansing sings as she says goodbye to an elder, while the band reaches a grief-stricken crescendo of woodwinds and chiming bells. On the title track, Johansing takes listeners on an eerily meditative journey of collective experiences. “I wanted to keep the progression simple and repetitive so that musically we could add new elements little by little, while the emotional tone of the lyrics becomes increasingly more strained and expressive”. The song grows to a fever pitch as Johansing sings higher than she thought possible; the tension of the repeating chords Hinally resolving into a hopeful coda as multiple soloists weave around each other.

Amidst heavier themes, Johansing still leaves room for her love of irresistible pop melodies and lush production. The driving “Last Drop” and mid-tempo “Valley Green” are two of her catchiest songs to date. On the former Johansing sings the anthemic chorus, “As if it were the last drop, and nothing ever lasts forever / As if it were the last stop, too far out to come back ever”, longing for a love that she’ll never take for granted, while also admitting that she doesn’t always know how good she has it. “Valley Green” features shimmering layers of 12- string guitars, stacked horns and an impeccable solo by co-producer and multi- instrumentalist Tim Ramsey (Vetiver, Fruit Bats), hinting at a love for bands like NRBQ.

Having been eager to capture the initial spark of songwriting, Johansing booked time at Highland Park’s 64 Sound Studio the week that it reopened. Over the course of three days, she and her band gathered basic tracks for 10 songs, before returning home to Hinish the record with Ramsey. Setting forth to make an album that paid homage to the music that kept them company during the months spent alone together, the duo pulled inspiration from a wide net including Burt Bacharach, John Carroll Kirby & Haruomi Hosono. Ramsey’s newfound love of early digital synthesizers dovetailed effortlessly with Johansing’s fondness for classic 70’s horn and string arrangements, creating a sound that is distinctly modern yet warm and familiar.

Once again Johansing called upon some of the Hinest players of Northeast Los Angeles’ vibrant music community to lend a hand with the record. The 70s R&B-folk of “Watch It Like a Show” features an electric guitar solo from Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy, while album closer “Endless Sound” boasts backing vocals from electronic musician Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and swooping Indian-inspired violins from Amir Yaghmai (HAIM, The Voidz). The record shines brightly thanks to an ace mix from veteran producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, Cat Power), woodwinds from Logan Hone (John Carroll Kirby, Eddie Chacon), and a featured rhythm section of drummer Josh Adams (Jenny Lewis, Bedouine) and bassist Todd Dahlhoff (Feist, Devendra Banhart). Recorded across multiple studios including LA’s famed Sunset Sound, the album remains steadfastly buoyed by the adept engineering of Tyler Karmen (MGMT, Alvvays).

Though born of turbulent times, Year Away is ultimately interested in moving forward. The album ends with “Endless Sound,” where Johansing laments seismic global changes, (“The water is hotter, the mighty thaw / The current’s reversing, the last are lost”) but vows to keep going (“No storm can take me down / Endless light, endless sound”). It’s Year Away’s resilience that shines through despite the darkness. It’s a sound all her own and Johansing’s most cohesive set of songs yet.

Going, Going, Going, Gone: The Rare Recordings of
Connie Cunningham and the Creeps Vol. 1
When Nick Kinsey moved into his farmhouse in New York's Hudson
Valley, he dreamed that he would stumble upon a trove of unreleased
music from some eccentric artist who'd previously lived there - If anyone
would be inclined to expect that kind of treasure, it would be the prolific
Kinsey, who in addition to his own music has produced and played on
Waxhatchee's St Cloud, toured with Kevin Morby, and drummed for AC
Newman, Hand Habits, and Cold War Kids, among many others
And with all those various styles and ideas swirling around his head, that
imaginary stash of songs appealed more and more. "I needed to create a fictional
character to get into the headspace necessary to finish this group of songs,"
Kinsey says. "I was able to escape my usual writing blocks and get away from any
need to sound 'cool' by pretending I was this fictional weirdo and failed session
musician." And after rounding out his compositions with some key collaborators,
the first volume of Connie Cunningham and the Creeps fulfilled Kinsey's dream in
the form of six brilliant, retro oddball pop planets circling one oddball songwriting
star.

Born of a thousand nights lost in a surrender to stillness and contemplation, In The Air is Anna St. Louis’ second full length album and her most considered work yet. St. Louis’ debut If Only There Was a River seemed to emerge fully formed out of the recesses of her mind; a gritty, mesmerizing affair, filled with jagged edges and ghostly apparitions. The type of record that announces a new voice; one haunted by what has come before.

But this time, St. Louis is no longer concerned with what could have been and sets her sights to exploring what could be. It’s an outlook on the world that was formed when her immediate one was small. The intervening years since her last album found St. Louis in a small one-bedroom cabin in the middle of the woods of upstate New York with a new love and time to think of what she wanted to express with her music. For weeks on end, the only trips she took were to and from her job as the front desk clerk at a nearby hotel. The previous years she had spent on tour and performing constantly in the venues of Los Angeles felt like they had occurred in another lifetime.

“It really compelled me to surrender to the unknown,” she says. And in this surrender, she found liberation. St. Louis is more self-assured, open-hearted and ready to say what she wants. St. Louis describes the writing period as one of a slow harvest; a fertile time but one that required a newfound patience. Instead of documenting her first thoughts, she spent more time with each song, going deeper with the themes and ideas she wanted to express.

This slower approach also guided the sonic textures of the album. Working with producer Jarvis Taveniere (Purple Mountains, Woods) in two extended recording sessions in Los Angeles in 2021, St. Louis used the studio in a previously unexplored way, opening up her songs to more experimentation featuring brighter tones and a more orchestral sound to accompany her new perspective. To that end, she was aided by a cast of friends and collaborators including Jess Williamson, Kacey Johansing, Oliver Hill (Kevin Morby, Vagabon) on strings, Alex Fischel (Spoon) on piano, Josh Adams on drums (Bedouine, Tim Heidecker) and Keven Lareau (Cut Worms, Hand Habits).

In the Air has the sound of a joyous consideration of the present moment; a quiet morning revealing a new snowfall outside, steam coming from the kettle, just before it whistles, St. Louis with her guitar, staring out the window, with a few free hours before work. She’s reflecting on the scene in front of her, imagining the times yet to come. You can hear it; she’s a long way from the noisy bars of Los Angeles, the rigors of the road. As she intones in “Rest”: “You spend your whole life believing in the chase. And then you realize that being somewhere doesn’t matter like it used to.” She doesn’t need a river to carry her anymore ... She’s in the air.

Svart Records are ecstatic to present the first ever vinyl edition of the Mad Juana debut album Skin Of My Teeth. Limited to 500 copies and including a bonus CD with 5 home demos. Mad Juana were Sam Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks) and Karmen Guy, and Skin Of My Teeth will see the light of day for the first time since 1997. After the years spent as the bassist for Hanoi Rocks and Demolition 23, Yaffa began to search for new musical enthusiasm by exploring a wide range of different genres of music, while learning to play numerous new instruments. Mad Juana allowed him to step outside his comfort zone and redefine himself as a musician. “Re-mastered, the record will get a new life in the spring of 2023. The album that was created 27 years ago is still one of my favorite records. Written and created with my ex-wife Karmen Guy, the album is an inspired celebration of limitless musical joy, which combines rock'n'roll, punk, experimental music, a little bit of ethno and whatever came to our minds in the creative process" says Yaffa. Mad Juana's Skin of My Teeth was born in two countries and broke musical boundaries. “The album was first recorded at our home studio in the small Mallorcan village of Montuiri in Spain and finished at the late Hombre Laitinen's studio in Tikkurila, Finland. The album that also featured the percussion maestro, Affe Forsman was a turning point for me personally in creating music and my approach to it. All the rules and habits of making music learned previously were tossed aside, and a door to a new musical world was kicked wide open with a big boot", Yaffa describes the making of the album and continues excitedly, ”Re-mastered and with Svart's great album packaging, the album will hopefully reach the ears and eyes of those who might not have even known about its existence. I'm going to blast the vinyl to 11 as soon as I get my hands on it!".

Knowledge is a tool, and like all tools, its impact is in the hands of the user.

ARTS WHITE presents the debut of one of the brightest artists in the Italian scene, 'Earwax' is a project that aim on highly energetic techno, ispired by the good old habits, this EP showcases a variety of ways to destroy floors in dusty Raves. Club 25 represents the modern key to non-sense underground rave music.

Tape

There are times in our life when we feel magic in the air. When new love arrives, or we find ourselves lost in a moment of creation with others who share our vision. A sense that: this is who I want to be. This is what I want to share. It's a fleeting feeling and one that Kyle Thomas, the singer-songwriter who records and performs as King Tuff, found himself longing for in the spring of 2020. But knowing he couldn't simply recreate this time in his life at will, Thomas-who hails from Brattleboro, Vermont-set out to write a love letter to those cherished moments of inspiration and to the small town that formed him. The one where he first nurtured his songwriting impulses, bouncing ideas off other like-minded artists. The kind of place where the changing of the seasons always delivered a sense of perspective and fresh artistic inspiration. Where he felt a deeper connection with nature and sense of community that had once been so close at hand. And so, Thomas seized upon his memories, creating what he calls "an album about love and nature and youth." The result is Smalltown Stardust, a spiritual, tender and ultimately joyous record that might come as a shock to those with only a passing knowledge of the artist's back catalog. On Smalltown Stardust, Thomas takes us on his journey to a place where past and present collide, where he can be a dreamer in love with all that he sees. References to his Brattleboro upbringing abound, but at the core of Smalltown Stardust is Thomas's desire to commune with nature on a spiritual level. Images of the natural world, from blizzards to green mountains to cloudy days, fill the songs. "I consider nature to be my religion," he explains, and Smalltown Stardust is nothing if not a spiritual exploration. While so much of Smalltown Stardust invokes idealized traces and places of Thomas's past, the album's recording process made his communal vision a reality. Thomas's Los Angeles home in 2020 formed a micro-scene of sorts, with housemates Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Sasami Ashworth recording their own heralded albums (2021's Fun House and 2022's Squeeze, respectively) at the same time. A shared spirit dominated an era spent largely on the premises, with Thomas serving as engineer and contributor to both records, and Ashworth working as co-producer on Smalltown Stardust. Ashworth's contributions are vital to the album: she co-wrote a majority of the record and contributed vocals, arrangements, and instrumentation to each song. In the end, Smalltown Stardust is not merely a nostalgia trip. Thomas not only conjured a special time in his life, he found new inspiration, surrounded by collaborators and a sense of love and wonder for nature. If the first King Tuff record was content to merely state Thomas was no longer dead, Smalltown Stardust is a paean to what that life means. A statement of belief and a hymnal to the magic still to behold all around us.

There are times in our life when we feel magic in the air. When new love arrives, or we find ourselves lost in a moment of creation with others who share our vision. A sense that: this is who I want to be. This is what I want to share. It's a fleeting feeling and one that Kyle Thomas, the singer-songwriter who records and performs as King Tuff, found himself longing for in the spring of 2020. But knowing he couldn't simply recreate this time in his life at will, Thomas-who hails from Brattleboro, Vermont-set out to write a love letter to those cherished moments of inspiration and to the small town that formed him. The one where he first nurtured his songwriting impulses, bouncing ideas off other like-minded artists. The kind of place where the changing of the seasons always delivered a sense of perspective and fresh artistic inspiration. Where he felt a deeper connection with nature and sense of community that had once been so close at hand. And so, Thomas seized upon his memories, creating what he calls "an album about love and nature and youth." The result is Smalltown Stardust, a spiritual, tender and ultimately joyous record that might come as a shock to those with only a passing knowledge of the artist's back catalog. On Smalltown Stardust, Thomas takes us on his journey to a place where past and present collide, where he can be a dreamer in love with all that he sees. References to his Brattleboro upbringing abound, but at the core of Smalltown Stardust is Thomas's desire to commune with nature on a spiritual level. Images of the natural world, from blizzards to green mountains to cloudy days, fill the songs. "I consider nature to be my religion," he explains, and Smalltown Stardust is nothing if not a spiritual exploration. While so much of Smalltown Stardust invokes idealized traces and places of Thomas's past, the album's recording process made his communal vision a reality. Thomas's Los Angeles home in 2020 formed a micro-scene of sorts, with housemates Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Sasami Ashworth recording their own heralded albums (2021's Fun House and 2022's Squeeze, respectively) at the same time. A shared spirit dominated an era spent largely on the premises, with Thomas serving as engineer and contributor to both records, and Ashworth working as co-producer on Smalltown Stardust. Ashworth's contributions are vital to the album: she co-wrote a majority of the record and contributed vocals, arrangements, and instrumentation to each song. In the end, Smalltown Stardust is not merely a nostalgia trip. Thomas not only conjured a special time in his life, he found new inspiration, surrounded by collaborators and a sense of love and wonder for nature. If the first King Tuff record was content to merely state Thomas was no longer dead, Smalltown Stardust is a paean to what that life means. A statement of belief and a hymnal to the magic still to behold all around us.

Limited Loser edition on dark green vinyl. There are times in our life when we feel magic in the air. When new love arrives, or we find ourselves lost in a moment of creation with others who share our vision. A sense that: this is who I want to be. This is what I want to share. It's a fleeting feeling and one that Kyle Thomas, the singer-songwriter who records and performs as King Tuff, found himself longing for in the spring of 2020. But knowing he couldn't simply recreate this time in his life at will, Thomas-who hails from Brattleboro, Vermont-set out to write a love letter to those cherished moments of inspiration and to the small town that formed him. The one where he first nurtured his songwriting impulses, bouncing ideas off other like-minded artists. The kind of place where the changing of the seasons always delivered a sense of perspective and fresh artistic inspiration. Where he felt a deeper connection with nature and sense of community that had once been so close at hand. And so, Thomas seized upon his memories, creating what he calls "an album about love and nature and youth." The result is Smalltown Stardust, a spiritual, tender and ultimately joyous record that might come as a shock to those with only a passing knowledge of the artist's back catalog. On Smalltown Stardust, Thomas takes us on his journey to a place where past and present collide, where he can be a dreamer in love with all that he sees. References to his Brattleboro upbringing abound, but at the core of Smalltown Stardust is Thomas's desire to commune with nature on a spiritual level. Images of the natural world, from blizzards to green mountains to cloudy days, fill the songs. "I consider nature to be my religion," he explains, and Smalltown Stardust is nothing if not a spiritual exploration. While so much of Smalltown Stardust invokes idealized traces and places of Thomas's past, the album's recording process made his communal vision a reality. Thomas's Los Angeles home in 2020 formed a micro-scene of sorts, with housemates Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Sasami Ashworth recording their own heralded albums (2021's Fun House and 2022's Squeeze, respectively) at the same time. A shared spirit dominated an era spent largely on the premises, with Thomas serving as engineer and contributor to both records, and Ashworth working as co-producer on Smalltown Stardust. Ashworth's contributions are vital to the album: she co-wrote a majority of the record and contributed vocals, arrangements, and instrumentation to each song. In the end, Smalltown Stardust is not merely a nostalgia trip. Thomas not only conjured a special time in his life, he found new inspiration, surrounded by collaborators and a sense of love and wonder for nature. If the first King Tuff record was content to merely state Thomas was no longer dead, Smalltown Stardust is a paean to what that life means. A statement of belief and a hymnal to the magic still to behold all around us.

Berlin-based producer Rampue has not released an album in 14 (in words: fourteen) years. Between 2008 and 2020 he toured the world and worked mainly on his live sets in the meantime. So now only a worldwide pandemic had the power to prevent the traveling musician from continuing this hustle and bustle and eventually share a new record with the public. Corona was what brought this standstill and the otherwise well- traveled individual experiences cabin-fever during lockdown. Hence, the new Rampue album "Tragweite" came into existence in February 2021, which portrays the artist's desire for experimentation.
Inspired by a modular synthesizer (Buchla), Rampue has seemingly put himself into a kind of trance, in which he lets the machines work and combines randomly created sounds with airy structures such as low drums or simple grooves. Rampue accomplished to break free by using random sounds as a new impulse and a way out of a creative crisis, which stemmed both from the enforced home isolation and from the self-perceived paralysis. The result is literally unique, as many of the sound products cannot be reconstructed and are preserved in album form for the general public.
Listening to "Tragweite" one gets the impression that the dialectical relationship between chaos and order, further supported by its production, is the defining theme of the album. After an initially perceived chaos, a delicate order, which is determined by structuring drum patterns and basslines, takes over throughout the course of the album.
Later, it frays and loses itself again in sounds and tones created mechanically However, it never seems arbitrary, but willful and skillfully staged. For instance, "Furo?" begins with apparent arrhythmia. The combination of bass and subtle percussion, however, gives this arrhythmia a shape, guiding the track which gradually becomes more and more driving without losing its original playfulness.
Although one might be inclined to think of genres such as Downtempo or Ambient at the beginning in the further course of the album results in such a diverse sound and rhythmic landscape that one willingly questions one's own perception of music while listening and finally throws every type of categorization overboard joyfully. The listening experience is too intoxicating and enlightening to stick to simple genre boundaries. The musical spectrum ranges from straight arrangements that live entirely without a drum foundation ("Fu?r Dich") to almost meditative sound collages ("Regengesicht") to the four-to-the-floor banger "Kembang" which adds a grimmer note with a certain industrial appeal to the overall rather melancholic-progressive curation. "Direct Faden" on the other hand, surprises with its simple guitar-based foundation on which the omnipresent synth snippets and pads are allowed to let off steam towards the end of the record. The track that most closely combines the progressive production style with a danceable club atmosphere is probably "Phobia". Wafting, partly breaking away synthesizer sounds rise higher and higher, while the driving mixture of bass and drums consistently march forward.
Rampue breaks with his old, musical habits as "Tragweite" creates the impression of improvisation and jam character without getting lost. Rampue takes his listeners on a journey that is stirring and moving, sometimes demanding or even a bit disturbing, yet always one thing: incredibly exciting.