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Following the contemplative explorations of previous works in the series and hot on the heels of the beautiful Cosmos from E Ruscha, Stella Z's "Figs" emerges as a delicate meditation on growth, patience, and the hidden life of fruit.

Recorded in London yet deeply inspired by distant memories from China, the album is a musical documentary that explores the fig—a plant with a profound personal significance to Stella. "The fig tree was the big, generous presence in our old home, feeding my family and neighbours every summer," Stella shares. "When we moved to an apartment, we thought we had lost the fig tree. But my mum took a cutting and planted it at our new place. To our surprise, a small fig tree started growing again, as if it had never left."

Early support from Vladimir Ivkovic, DJ Harvey, Jaye Ward, Laurent Garnier.

Der britische Synth-Zauberer James Holden und der polnische Klarinetten-Guru Waclaw Zimpel (Saagara, Shackleton) setzen ihre fruchtbare Zusammenarbeit mit dem glückseligen Eskapismus ihres grossartigen Albumdebüts fort: "The Universe Will Take Care Of You" ist ein zutiefst emotionales, warmes und flauschiges Vergnügen. Reiche Texturen und eine betörende Klangpalette bewegen sich frei zwischen idyllischen Pastoralen, eindringlichen Arpeggios und schimmernder Euphorie. Die spielerisch-experimentelle Herangehensweise von Krautrock-Vorfahren wie Harmonia, Cluster oder Eno & Fripp wird aufgegriffen, um ihren tiefsten Improvisationsdrang zu erforschen. Das Ergebnis ist die freudige Konvergenz zweier gleichgesinnter Meister ihres Fachs, die Violine, Schlagzeug, Lap-Steel-Gitarre und die indische Doppelrohr-Algoza-Flöte mit gewohnt-modularem Synthesizer und Klarinette verbinden.
180g White Vinyl LP.

PHASE SHIFTING INDEX is a time capsule record of Jeremy Shaw's vast original artwork that includes audio excerpts, voiceover passages and music composed by There in Spirit and Konrad Black. Shaw's seven-channel video, sound and light installation-that premiered at Centre Pompidou in 2020-uses science fiction, documentary, visual effects and synchronisation to induce an ecstatic experience in narrative temporality. Each video details the belief systems of one of seven fictional subcultural groups spread across time that aspire to induce parallel realities that could redirect the evolution of the human species through embodied forms of ritual, ideology and movement. The vinyl release serves as a gathering of the piece's key audio elements, focussing on their importance to the engineering of the artwork and their stand-alone listening qualities. Side A of the record follows the dramaturgy of the artwork in full-swing, including audio segments from four of its five distinct chapters. Written by long time collaborators Konrad Black and Jeremy Shaw together as There in Spirit, "Cross- Temporal Sync" soundtracks the strobing peak of the installation at the moment when all seven disparate videos fall into a unified choreography in which every person on every screen performs the same ecstatic series of slow-motion movements. The pulsing, hypnotic dirge aligns with the locked choreography in mood and action, caught somewhere between ecstatic trance and somatic takeover. A steady sub line, clipped stabs and a swooping choral gasp harmonise with the dancers movements onscreen while restrained filters open slowly to reveal a submerged melody that builds in intensity towards the chaotic rupture of Black's "Mosh". Here the score breaks into digital shards as heard through analog bodies colliding and pixelating into each other. The dancers eventual dissolution into "Particles" sounds like the field recording of a disembodied neural cosmos. The B-side of the record contains a narrative outline edit of the artwork comprised of music, excerpts and pieces of narration from each video. Listeners can follow along in an accompanying thirty-six page booklet of full-bleed film stills documenting each of the seven groups as they move through the five chapter dramaturgy. Composer Konrad Black's authentically backwards-glancing production and sound design is as disparate as the groups represented on screen. From the bespoke-16mm-tribal-techno of "The Cyclical Culture" and retro-cyber-funk of the "Zero-Ones," to the VHSdark- wave of "The Violet Lux" and skewed vocal/piano minimalism of the "Quantum Modern," each group exists in its own custom-made world out-of-time. The record ends where it began, with the full sequence of "Ramping" playing out as each subcultural world begins to lose control, galvanise, sync, rupture, atomise and scatter throughout the universe, only to loop back into another inevitable beginning. Phase Shifting Index premiered at Centre Pompidou, Paris, in 2020 and has since been exhibited in nine international venues including ARoS, Denmark, MONA, Tasmania, MAC, Montreal and Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin

Manchester-based producer Lily Mumby, the creative force behind Lapalace, has chosen Lavender as her botanical muse for this sixth instalment. Like the aromatic herb that grows from tiny seeds to fragrant purple stalks, her compositions unfold with a similar patience and elegance. Her synthesisers breathe with a natural rhythm, creating textures that emerge and recede like morning dew on lavender buds waiting to bloom.

The standout track ‘new age night’ – a stunning love child of William Basinski's decaying tape loops and Aphex Twin's intricate programming—carries subtle lavender-inspired tones, balancing the plant's calming essence with hypnotic rhythms. Just as lavender requires thoughtful tending before rewarding the gardener with its distinctive aroma, Lapalace's landscapes reveal deeper complexities with each listen.

Much like gardening itself, Mumby demonstrates an innate understanding of when to intervene and when to allow natural development. This approach echoes throughout her career, from her debut EP "Ephemera" which caught the attention of Insult to Injury Records' Timothy Clerkin, through to her contributions to Chez De Milo's "So It Goes" Remix EP and Manchester label Skiptrace's various artists compilation.

Her work across BBC Introducing and fossil.radio reflects this same philosophy – creating environments where sound, space, and organic movement find their natural harmony. But this composition really feels that Mumby has come of age. "Music To Watch Seeds Grow By Vol. 6" represents the continued cultivation of Lapalace's distinctive sound and demonstrates the maturity of an artist way beyond her years. This music stands as a lighthouse through a thick fog of nostalgia, much like lavender standing tall amidst an English cottage garden.

Early DJ support including - Auntie Flo, Ruf Dug, Courtesy, Vladimir Ivkovic.

In ,What's The Matter, M. Ross?", dem dritten Album des eigenwilligen Autors M. Ross Perkins, befindet sich unser Junge auf einer Reise nach innen, auf der er das Transzendente und und Existenzielles mit seinem lyrisch bisher bekenntnishaftesten Album verbindet. Multiinstrumentalist Perkins muss man dem Singer/Songwriter-Zeitgeist zurechnen, der für MJ Lenderman und Waxahatchee schwärmt und gleichzeitig Optimismus vermittelt. "What's the Matter, M Ross?" wurde komplett von Perkins komponiert, gespielt und in seinem Studio in Dayton, OH aufgenommen. Die Kopfhörer-Symphonien bewegen sich mit einer bedächtigen, komponierten Raffinesse, während die Texte neues Terrain erkunden. Die Eckpfeiler des Psych-Pop bleiben: die Schnörkel von Nilsson sind noch da, aber auch Gram Parsons und Jonathan Richman. Wenn man "What's the Matter, M. Ross?" geografisch einordnen will, dann ist das Album zu gleichen Teilen Laurel Canyon und Big Pink, mehr Woodstock die Stadt als das Festival. Perkins ist ein in sich geschlossener Teenage Fanclub (aus der Spätphase) mit George Harrisons spirituellem Sinn für inneres Fernweh.

Exklusive Wiederauflage des Debütalbums der schwedischen Melodic Hardrocker Talisman mit Ausnahmesänger und Songwriter Jeff Scott Soto! Jetzt erhältlich als Ltd. Marble LP!.

Repress of 2018’s classic compilation from Brownswood.

A primer on London’s bright-burning young jazz scene, this new compilation brings together a collection of some of its sharpest talents. A set of nine newly-recorded tracks, We Out Here captures a moment where genre markers matter less than raw, focused energy. Looking at the album’s running order, it could easily serve as a name-checking exercise for some of London’s most-tipped and hardworking bands of the past couple of years. Recorded across three long, fruitful days in a North West London studio, the crossover between each of the groups speaks to the close-knit circles which make up the scene.

Surveying the way that London’s jazz-influenced music had spread outside of its usual spaces in recent years, this album bottles up some of the vital ideas emanating from that burgeoning movement. Giving a platform to a scene where mutual cooperation and a DIY spirit are second-nature, it’s a window into the wide-eyed future of London’s musical underground.

Ubiquitous, much-lauded saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings is the project’s musical director. His own recent projects span from South Africa-connected, spiritually-minded jazz players Shabaka and the Ancestors to Sons of Kemet, who match diasporically-connected compositions with viscerally-direct live shows. His entry on the album, ‘Black Skin, Black Masks’, is typically difficult-to-define: with an off-kilter, shifting rhythmic backbone, repeated phrases – mirrored between clarinet and bass clarinet – shape the track with an alluring hue. His input ties together a deft, genre-agnostic sensibility that’s shared through all the players on the record.

Theon Cross – who’s also part of Sons of Kemet with Hutchings – starts his track, ‘Brockley’, with the solo, distinctive low rumble of his tuba. Winding and mesmeric, it sees tuba and sax lines winding together in rhythmic and melodic parallels. Ezra Collective – whose drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso has toured with Pharaohe Monch – run a tight, Afrobeat-tipped rhythm on ‘Pure Shade’, with the final third changing gear into a melodic, momentous closing stretch.

Joe Armon-Jones, whose ludicrous chops on the piano have seen him touring with the likes of Ata Kak, showcases earworm-like, insistent motifs on ‘Go See’, balanced with a playful, improvisatory approach with room for ad-libbing and solos a-plenty. Taking a softer tact than many of the other entries, Kokoroko – whose guitarist Oscar Jerome has been making waves with his solo material – spin a lyrical, steady-paced meditation on ‘Abusey Junction’, matching chanted vocals with gently-played guitar.

Nodding to spiritual jazz influences, Maisha’s ‘Inside The Acorn’ is a wandering, explorative rumination, balancing delicate washes of piano and percussion with sharp interplay between flute and bass clarinet. In contrast, Nubya Garcia’s ‘Once’ is taut and carefully-poised, her tenor sax guiding a carefully-built energy to an explosive conclusion. And finally, Triforce’s ‘Walls’ is a performance in two parts: starting with Mansur Brown’s languorous, lyrical guitar, the second half switches up to a low-slung, g-funk-tipped groove.

Adrian Sherwood meldet sich mit seiner ersten Musik als Solokünstler seit 13 Jahren zurück: den rhythmisch mutierten Soundlandschaften der EP "The Grand Designer", dem neuesten Teil der langjährigen und beliebten On-U Sound Disco-Plate-Serie.

Der Titeltrack dient als Trailer für sein bevorstehendes Album, auf dem verschiedene Instrumente, die durch Sherwoods Effektpalette gefiltert werden, über einen unwiderstehlichen Groove und die typisch raffinierten perkussiven Details harmonieren. "Let's Come Together" verwandelt denselben Rhythmus in einen mystischen Dub, wobei der leider verstorbene Freund und Kollaborateur Lee "Scratch" Perry für die typisch schrägen Gesangseinlagen sorgt. Die Kollaboration erinnert auch daran, dass Sherwood seit seinem letzten Release unter eigenem Namen alles andere als untätig war: In den letzten Jahren veröffentlichte er von der Kritik gefeierte neue Alben nicht nur mit dem Upsetter, sondern auch mit Horace Andy, Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3) und Panda Bear (Animal Collective), African Head Charge, Spoon, Creation Rebel, Pinch, und anderen. "Russian Oscillator" ähnelt den Platten von Sherwood & Pinch vielleicht am meisten: Experimentelle Elektronik verwebt sich mit schweren Soundsystem-Klängen und einem an Ruffneck-Dancehall erinnernden Swing. Die EP endet mit "Cold War Skank", einer Linksabbiegung vom Highway in glühenden Wüstenblues, verzerrten Slide-Gitarrenmustern über der Atmosphäre einer Breitwand-Filmmusik.

Erhältlich als streng limitiertes 10"-Vinyl-Sammlerstück, gemastert und geschnitten von Frank Merritt im The Carvery Studio, eingepackt im klassischen On-U-Disco-Sleeve mit einer Collage von Studio Tape-Echo, basierend auf einem Originaldesign von Kishi Yamamoto.

Neo Gibson, born in Virginia and based in New York City, records, performs, and produces as 7038634357. This numerical alias, under which Gibson has been releasing work since 2016, offers a window into the careful ambivalences of the musical project. It conjures the impersonal_the opacity and randomness of data, a number that is hard to remember or even say out loud_while also suggesting a direct line of communication with the artist, down to an area code indexing their biography. 7038634357 uses a restricted palette to achieve music that is formally precise and emotionally direct. Their digital-native approach to production, in which frank melodies cross paths with heavy distortion, contains traces of both trance's maximalist arcs and a songwriterly intimacy. Expressive details may appear submerged or abraded, subjected to a canny sense of dynamics and textural specificity. Waterfall Horizon, Gibson's second vinyl record with Blank Forms Editions under the moniker 7038634357, was written for live performance and workshopped over successive shows during their 2022 European tour. Here, hallmarks of their earlier, studio-crafted recordings_digital distortion that obfuscates their lyrics and a slow-burning ambience_are noticeably pared back. Instead, Waterfall Horizon takes on a pop inflection, adopting more traditional lyric scaffolds so that the interstices from verse to chorus or track to track can flourish within their limited tonal range.Across recordings and performances, Gibson activates wide-ranging mechanisms of audience connection: from the relative anonymity of internet platforms to live experiments with the spatial effects of amplification. They have a particular interest in site-specific performances in non-musical spaces, and have performed in a variety of contexts, including the mezzanine of the West 4th Street subway station in New York City and INA GRM/Radio France's Présences électronique festival. Under their own name, Gibson has maintained a longstanding collaboration with the artist Charles Stobbs, working primarily with FM transmission and techniques derived from the early-seventeenth-century English tradition of change-ringing bells. The first 7038634357 vinyl record, Neo Seven, was released on Blank Forms Editions in 2023; previous releases include self-released cassettes and CD-Rs, as well as a pair of EPs on Genome 6.66 Mbp (2018, 2019).

Following the release of Drop Nineteens' first album in 30 years, Hard Light and the reissue of their 1992 shoegaze masterwork Delaware, we are excited to announce the official release of Drop Nineteens' 1991. This LP comprises the band's first two demo sessions which were mailed out via cassette to labels in 1991 finding their way to the UK music press and generating instant buzz and an ensuing feeding frenzy to sign the band. After signing with Caroline Records Drop Nineteens decided to write an entirely new record, Delaware, for their first official release, leaving the songs on 1991 behind, frozen in time. Swells of layered guitars and buried vocal harmonies adom these tracks, displaying Drop Nineteens when the comparison to their UK contemporaries like Slowdive and Ride were apt. 1991'S songs, recorded with a low fi charm, show an ambitious young band capable of writing songs filled with texture and hooks, on the eve of their breakthrough with Delaware.

Bergen-born Bare Folk's songs belong to the ballad genre, with clear elements of jazz and folk music. With harmonious, original melodies, the mood ranges from the melancholic to the life-affirming. Inspired by the greats of Norwegian ballad music, Bare Folk vitalizes the connection between poetry and music. Bergen's very own folk jazz song band Bare Folk has already been critically acclaimed and established as something unique on the music scene in the city between the mountains. Nevertheless, Bare Folk plays songs that songs should sound well-known but fresh, wistful but hopeful, humorous but serious. Their debut album is called "Noe Tror Jeg & Noe Vet Jeg" (Some things I think & some things I know). No surefire title, but it is sure that it contains something for every taste. Here you will find everything from socially critical satire to traditional harp songs to love songs - and everything in-between in beautiful harmony.

In ,What's The Matter, M. Ross?", dem dritten Album des eigenwilligen Autors M. Ross Perkins, befindet sich unser Junge auf einer Reise nach innen, auf der er das Transzendente und und Existenzielles mit seinem lyrisch bisher bekenntnishaftesten Album verbindet. Multiinstrumentalist Perkins muss man dem Singer/Songwriter-Zeitgeist zurechnen, der für MJ Lenderman und Waxahatchee schwärmt und gleichzeitig Optimismus vermittelt. "What's the Matter, M Ross?" wurde komplett von Perkins komponiert, gespielt und in seinem Studio in Dayton, OH aufgenommen. Die Kopfhörer-Symphonien bewegen sich mit einer bedächtigen, komponierten Raffinesse, während die Texte neues Terrain erkunden. Die Eckpfeiler des Psych-Pop bleiben: die Schnörkel von Nilsson sind noch da, aber auch Gram Parsons und Jonathan Richman. Wenn man "What's the Matter, M. Ross?" geografisch einordnen will, dann ist das Album zu gleichen Teilen Laurel Canyon und Big Pink, mehr Woodstock die Stadt als das Festival. Perkins ist ein in sich geschlossener Teenage Fanclub (aus der Spätphase) mit George Harrisons spirituellem Sinn für inneres Fernweh.

Obwohl das Album aus kompositorischer Sicht zu den Lieblingswerken des Sigh-Kopfes Mirai Kawashima gehört, war er nie zufrieden mit der Ausführung und Produktion von "Hangman's Hymn". Mit der aktuellen Bandbesetzung – Nozomu Wakai an der Gitarre, Mike Heller am Schlagzeug – bot sich endlich die Gelegenheit, diesem zuweilen übersehenen Meisterwerk endlich gerecht zu werden. Die vorliegende Neuaufnahme wurde von Lasse Lammert produziert und verleiht dem Album eine neue Dimension mit brutaler Härte.

Obwohl das Album aus kompositorischer Sicht zu den Lieblingswerken des Sigh-Kopfes Mirai Kawashima gehört, war er nie zufrieden mit der Ausführung und Produktion von "Hangman's Hymn". Mit der aktuellen Bandbesetzung – Nozomu Wakai an der Gitarre, Mike Heller am Schlagzeug – bot sich endlich die Gelegenheit, diesem zuweilen übersehenen Meisterwerk endlich gerecht zu werden. Die vorliegende Neuaufnahme wurde von Lasse Lammert produziert und verleiht dem Album eine neue Dimension mit brutaler Härte.

The songwriter Joseph Allred is always prolific, but breaks up their string of solo releases for one of the most orchestrated offerings since the excellent Branches And Trees. Allred’s often monastic guitar works are fleshed out here on Old Time Fantasias, turning them towards ensemble visions of country, Americana, and Appalachia. Album opener, “The Groundhog,” features the distinctive piano of Hans Chew, with bass from Daniel Kimbro and brass from Mikey Allred. Elsewhere the new album features Kelby Clark, Courtney Werner (Magic Tuber String Band), Evan Morgan (Magic Tuber String Band), Lydian Bramblia, and Jack Bird in the mix. “I started recording this album in Spring ‘23, thinking I might be making a mostly solo acoustic album with a couple of duets thrown in for good measure. I met Hans Chew at a Nashville show a few months earlier and sent him a few tracks to see if he wanted to add anything to them. Before long the ‘solo acoustic album’ had given way to what’s probably the most involved and densely orchestrated album I’ve made to date. “I enjoyed following some threads of influence that aren’t as easily discernible in my solo playing—I hear some classic country and psychedelic flourishes, baroque pop glockenspiel and horns, percussion ideas that may be cribbed from Danny Elfman and Tom Waits albums, nods to post-rock-filtered western guitar twang, and a little Cocteau Twins dreaminess. “All in all this was a satisfying record to make. I’m especially grateful to the collaborators for adding their touches and making it a less solipsistic affair than it would have been otherwise. The political climate has changed so much over the last two years that I find it hard to imagine I could make a record with this kind of fantastic mood if I started now. I hope that it can maybe re-enchant those of us who are felling disillusioned.” —Joseph Allred

Blues Rock aus Irlands tiefem Süden: Dieses Power-Trio verbindet nach wie vor Elemente des Hard Rock mit dem Blues von Bands wie Gov't Mule, Lynyrd Skynyrd und Led Zeppelin. Jetzt sind die Jungs mit ihrem vierten Studioalbum zurück, zwei außergewöhnliche Live-Alben gibt's ebenfalls. Die Band wurde 2009 in Cork City gegründet, als Leadsängerin Christy O'Hanlon die ehemalige Rhythmusgruppe der Clonmel Punk Rock Band Aural Ammunition, Stephen McGrath (Bass) und Gev Barrett (Schlagzeug) traf. Allmusic über das Debüt des Trios: "Electric Soup" ist nicht nur ein vielversprechendes Debüt, sondern ein wildes Biest von einem Album: dreckig, mager, gemein und gefühlvoll." Classic Rock Blues Mag über das zweite Album: ,Ich liebe das Album, "Rumble Shake" ist umwerfend". Classic Rock Blues Magazine. In CBCs eigenen Worten: ,Wir haben "Ghost dance" genau so gemacht, wie wir es immer machen wollten. Wir haben unser Lager in den Gaf Studios in Co Tipperary aufgeschlagen, nur wir und der Produzent Philip Magee. Wir haben die Tracks so aufgenommen, dass sie unsere berühmte Live-Energie einfangen, und dann hat Philip die Tracks in den nächsten Monaten in seinem eigenen Studio fertig produziert. Wir sind unheimlich stolz auf dieses, unser neues Album. Das gesamte Werk führt direkt zurück in die 70er Jahre, als Bands wie Ten Years After, George Thorogood, Johnny Winter, Allman Brothers, Cream, Rory Gallagher und viele andere an der Spitze ihres Könnens standen. Und da stehen Crow Black Chicken jetzt auch. Die CD ist ein Digpak, die LP ist rot mit einem schwarzen Marmor-Effekt versehen.

„Skid Row“ ist das fünffach mit Platin ausgezeichnete Debütalbum der New Jersey Hardrock-Band Skid Row. Das 1989 erschienene Album besteht aus der klassischen Besetzung: Dave Sabo (Gitarre), Rachel Bolan (Bass), Sebastian Bach (Gesang), Scotti Hill (Gitarre) und Rib Affuso (Schlagzeug). Es enthält einige der größten Hits der Band wie „18 and Life“, „I Remember You“ und „Youth Gone Wild“.

Man singt und es wird: Im Zuge eines Zusammenbruchs hat Max Gruber den Soloartist Drangsal gekillt und die Band Drangsal gegründet. Am Ende des Tunnels steht das im Juni 2025 erscheinende Album, Aus keiner meiner Brücken die in Asche liegen ist je ein Phönix emporgestiegen.

 Seit über zehn Jahren sichelt Max Gruber mittlerweile die Zick-Zack-Schneise Drangsal durch die deutsche Poplandschaft: Harieschaim aus 2016, Zores aus 2018 und zuletzt Exit Strategy – das ihm 2021 Platz 6 der Albumcharts bescherte – erdachte Gruber größtenteils im Alleingang. Und dann war da noch etwas nach seiner Exit Strategy: Ein Zusammenbruch. Max Gruber wusste nicht mehr, ob und wenn ja, wie er weiter Drangsal machen will, veröffentlichte im Ullstein-Verlag sein literarisches Debüt »Doch«, gründete Die Benjamins, holte so gemeinsam mit Charlotte Brandi, Thomas Götz und Julian Knoth Hans-A-Plast Frontfrau Annette Benjamin aus dem Ruhestand und reaktivierte unlängst das 2016 mit Stella Sommer gegründete Duo Die Mausis.

Und doch, von innen wie von außen, immer wieder die Frage nach einem neuen Drangsal-Album. Wenn es denn überhaupt nochmal eines geben soll, erkannte Gruber, musste er die Arbeitsweise, auf deren Grundlage Drangsal-Songs entstehen, fundamental verändern. Auf alles Ringen folgte, was unvermeidbar war: Der Reset. Max Gruber hat den Soloartist Drangsal gekillt und die dreiköpfige Band Drangsal gegründet – zusammen mit zwei Mitmusikern, die ihn aus seinen Gewohnheiten gelöst haben: Lukas Korn und Marvin Holley.
Erstgenannter ist Gitarrist und Produzent, spielt in der Band Lyschko, produzierte zuletzt das Album silber von Mia Morgan und hat seit 2020 als Bassist an der Drangsal-Liveband partizipiert. Zweiterer studierte Jazz- und klassische Gitarre sowie Komposition in Stuttgart und Wien, stand mit Sam Vance-Law und Fil Bo Riva auf der Bühne und arrangierte für Film und Theater. Lukas Korn und Marvin Holley haben dafür gesorgt, dass sich die zentrale Figur im Kosmos Drangsal dreiteilt.

Das Liedermachen in Bandkonstellation ließ alle Angst platzen: Getragen von Euphorie nahmen Gruber, Holley und Korn ab Ende 2022 etliche Songskizzen und damit den Unterbau eines siebzehnteiligen Albums auf. Nach Kreativurlauben an der polnischen Grenze und Ostsee stand eine von Max Rieger produzierte und von Lukas Korn Co-produzierte vierte Drangsal-LP. Sie trägt den schwergängigen Titel Aus keiner meiner Brücken die in Asche liegen ist je ein Phönix emporgestiegen und erscheint im Juni 2025. Gruber, Holley und Korn haben sich auf das Credo so wenig wie möglich, so viel wie nötig verständigt – und dadurch einen Umbruch im Klangkosmos Drangsals manifestiert, der völlig neue Dynamiken mit sich bringt. Aus keiner meiner Brücken die in Asche liegen ist je ein Phönix emporgestiegen hält Leerstellen aus, in seinem Zentrum stehen, statt Synthesizer, Akustikgitarren, die immer wieder an der Grenze zu Blues und Jazz wandeln. Wo speziell auf Exit Strategy noch überzuckerter Synth-Pop preschte, ist nun Klavier zu hören; Orgel, Klavinet und Cembalo; Xylophon, Violinen und Celli; von Ralph Heidel gespielte Querflöten und Saxophone.

Dazwischen drei Episoden, in denen sich Gospel Chöre und Technobeats breitmachen. Max Rieger hat die drei dazu motiviert, Echtheit, auch Imperfektion im Moment der Aufnahme zuzulassen – und großen Anteil daran, dass »Aus keiner meiner Brücken die in Asche liegen ist je ein Phönix emporgestiegen« ein realistisches Abbild des Trios bietet. Die Stimmung? Dagegen eher ein Wechselbad. Max Gruber singt von Selbstentfremdung, vom Für und Wider des Stillstands, vom Sichhingeben und Sichwegschmeißen – mal auf deutsch, mal auf englisch, mal zart, mal angewidert. Grubers Stimme klingt, nach einer klassischen Gesangsausbildung, die der Einunddreißigjährige angetreten hat, zielbewusster. Umarmungen Marke »Ich hab von der Musik geträumt und Inkomplett treffen auf Gewitterwolken à la Mein Eid und dem Sophia-Blenda-Feature Mein Mo(nu)ment. Entlang rigoroser Entkernung und Hexenjagd geht es Bergab – für dich, für mich, für Max Gruber sowieso. Er ist über weite Teile der Platte hinweg auf der Flucht vor sich selbst, den alten Geistern, dem leidigen Wachzustand: Wär’ ich doch bloß nimmermehr erwacht, ich schliefe in ewigem Glück. Gruber sucht und sucht: Nach innerem Frieden, nach Gnade, nach unverbranntem Boden, nach neuen Versionen seiner Selbst – und das vergeblich. Immerhin scheinen Erinnerungen mit der Zeit zu verschwimmen: Grubers Worte – zu sich und zur Welt – klingen im hinteren Teil der Platte sanfter, vergebender, resümierender. Ein Schlüsselmoment? Das von der Schauspielerin Rosa Lembeck eingesprochene, Monolog artig formulierte Klanggedicht Rosa – Es ist so: Man singt und es wird.

Wie ihre berühmten Vorgängerinnen Alice Coltrane und Dorothy Ashby verbindet die Grammy-nominierte Harfenistin Brandee Younger den flirrend schönen Klang ihres Instrumentes mit dem Groove und der Freiheit des Jazz.

Für Younger, die schon mit Pharaoh Sanders, Lauryn Hill, John Legend, Common, The Roots und Ravi Coltrane zusammengearbeitet hat, ist ihr drittes Album für Impulse! Records auch ihr bislang persönlichstes. Alle Kompositionen stammen aus ihrer Feder, mit den mal balladesk melodischen, mal subtil groovenden Tracks beschreibt sie ein Jahr mit für sie tiefgreifenden Veränderungen.

Drei Tracks beinhalten Kollaborationen mit Shabaka, Courtney Bryan und Josh Johnson.

Listenable Records, ltd. black green marbled vinyl, comes with free poster, postcard and coaster, first pressing

Relentless powerhouse GRACELESS’ new album ’Icons of Ruin’ is the band’s most groundbreaking release to date.
Massively produced, it boats crushing, unrelenting, large-scale, bombastic sonic destruction !
For fans of Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Gorguts, Paradise Lost, Death, Bloodbath

Space-surf-psych-rock quartet Japanese Television’s album ‘Automata Exotica’ has been remixed by invited friends and peers; including Goat Fool from GOAT, Factory Floor’s Gabe Gurnsey, and Edgar Breau from cult band Simply Saucer. Informed by UFO encounters, ritualism, robots, Northern Soul, and nuclear weapons, ‘Automata Exotica’ was released in March 2024 and was described as “Heavy but also joyful” by The Quietus, “A fuzzy blast of space-surf energy”in Shindig and “A remarkable and unique proposition” by Louder Than War.

Rather than having been transformed out of all recognition, “reimagined” is a more apt term to describe this new version of ‘Automata Exotica’. With the album’s eight tracks presented via considered, alternative mixes with pertinent sonic application, it hangs together incredibly coherently - albeit as a wild and feverish psychedelic experience.

JTV toured with GOAT while writing ‘Automata Exotica’, with the fat fuzz tones and extended middle percussion section of ‘Typhoon Reggae Police’ heavily influenced by their time watching and learning from side stage. Starting life as an uneasy mixture of scratchy 60s garage rock and 70s Afghan psych folk, Goat Fool from GOAT ripped the song apart and stitched it back together. Recognisable but weird and uncanny, it’s a stripped down, oppressive, shimmering voodoo nightmare.

“We used to go and see Gabe’s weird, excellent band Factory Floor playing dark little club nights in Shoreditch years ago and marvel at the racket” says JTV. “Gabe’s been a long time collaborator of ours, in fact he’s the only person to not only do more than one remix for us, but has featured on every remix release we’ve done. Our most ecstatic, cathartic song, ‘Tabadaboum’ was the perfect match for Gabe - the motorik krautrock bassline fits right in with the pneumatic grind of his vintage drum machine loops and synth flurries”.

It's hard to measure the impact cult 1970s Canadian space rock proto punk psych band Simply Saucer had on the formation of Japanese Television. The band reached out to Edgar Breau - the band’s founding member and guitarist - who guitarist Tim says was “really generous with his time, and really kind to an overly keen and slightly awkward Simply Saucer mega fan. It's a real honor to have him playing guitar on one of our records”. His cosmic reimagining of ‘Golden Birds’ layers on the delay, reverb and screaming guitars, launching the track into outer space.

‘Automata Exotica (Remixed)' is set for release on 6th June 2025 on limited edition LP and digital formats. Japanese Television tour in Europe through March and April. The album is released by cult underground label Tip Top Recordings (Jim Wallis, Mandrake Handshake, Pearl & The Oysters), run by Ben Rimmer and David Warn.

Absolute stone-cold classic from 1985 produced by the legend Kurtis Mantronik - only ever came out on 45 as a promo and hard to find.

Crafted entirely on an analog monophonic synthesizer with no overdubs, Pièces Monophoniques is a tribute to simplicity in an era of limitless digital possibilities. Since his debut album, Music For Prophet (Les Disques du Festival Permanent, 2017), Majorca-born composer Marc Melià, now a long-time resident of Brussels, has been redefining the contours of electronic music through a minimalist, reductionist approach. Much like a solitary hike through the vastness of mountains, where one carries only the essentials, Melià’s work invites listeners on a journey stripped of excess, focusing instead on the purity of sound and intention.
While some have dismissed monophonic music as overly simplistic, others have embraced its distinct charm. Historical records, such as those by Johannes Quasten, reveal that early Church leaders were drawn to monophonic music because it resonated with the era's cosmological beliefs, highlighting the harmony and unity of all creation. In an age of digital abundance, Marc Melià deliberately embraces constraint, crafting an album that thrives within a limited palette of choices. Yet, from these self-imposed boundaries emerges a stunning universe, brimming with rich textures and elegant harmonies. For his debut album, Melià worked exclusively with a Sequential Prophet. With Pièces Monophoniques, his third LP, he returns armed solely with an analog monophonic synthesizer and handcrafted MIDI sequences etched directly onto a single stereo track. These recordings seek to uncover beauty within the boundaries of limitations and simplicity, rejecting any embellishments that are not essential. Melià presents the bare skeleton of music, highlighting the power of absence and silence as creative forces. Like the hidden mass of an iceberg, what is not heard becomes as significant as what is heard.
The album navigates the boundary where the quest for an uninhibited emotional response intersects with the mechanical sounds generated by synthesizer circuitry. Despite being a collection of beatless tracks, a pulse occasionally surfaces, like in the closing piece, "224 Steps. A sharp sequence blended with multiple delays and reverbs creates the vaporous celestial specter of multiple voices in "Illusions of Polyphony", while "Échoes et Fantasies" conjures the illusion of dual harmony. The expansive reverbs and silences between the euphoric synth phrases in "Overture" transport us to an imaginary magestic landscape shaped out of an electric field. "Resonances," a one-note drone-like sequence, embodies the album's aims as a series of resonances created with the synth filter emerge from the fundamental note.
"Pièces Monophoniques," aims to contribute to a tradition that dates back to the dawn of humanity. After all, there is no denying that the earliest music crafted by humanity was monophonic, from the soothing lullabies sung to newborns to Gregorian chants, traditional labor songs, and the repertoire of solo compositions by countless composers.

‘You are behind the damn wheel every day and you don’t even know it’ , weightily remarks Powerplant’s band leader Theo Zhykharyev on the reading of his latest single. London-based project signals the return to signature formula of marching drum machines and wailing synthesisers, matured by life experiencing of prolonged touring. ’Car is life, brother. Sometimes you drive it, other times - the car drives you. And, statistically, we’ll all see the airbags go off sooner than later as consequence of choices made by us or onto us, consciously or not.’
Crashing Cars breaks out the gates to the heavy low end driven dance floor. ‘I was listening to a lot of Bladee when I wrote it and needed a similar thick kick to get you moving’, says Theo. Its an emotionally loaded cannon of a track that will keep you in its grip until it has run its course and told its story. Yearning from connection unfulfilled, rings out through the heartbroken and weeping synth and choir lines. The ever-morphing and dynamic bass works in tandem with razor sharp guitars. The instrumentation, through combined ‘no looking back’ forward charge and immediacy, conjure a manic and emotional forward momentum, which rings out in the song’s lyrics. The vocal performance ranges from the trademark Powerplant goblin squeaks, to more mature, tour-hardened singing. On a sonic aesthetic level, Crashing Cars vibrates in a familiar fashion to Powerplant’s biggest hit Dungen. However, this time far less playful and harder hitting. Described as the fallout of “avoiding, chasing and running away”, lyrically it paints a dead end in human relationships concluding it car-crash heading for the scrapyard. The song concludes with a loaded four line spoken word poetry segment, that hangs over the fleeting outro.
The B side of the single, Never Smile, rolls the speed back, but throws in jangly guitar hooks and bouncy bass lines. Zhykharyev’s vocals sit in a lower register, hence are more stoic and melancholic. If this track had to be a day of the week, it would be a calm, introspective Sunday. With lyrics about looking into evil omens, the sky and reading people as ‘not something different’, it paints an ambiguous, but heavy conclusion about the world and its people. It tells a story about circumstantially settling into an identity and playing the assigned part for the convenience of the external world. It’s easier to fit than to stand apart. It's a perfect balance of mid-tempo radio-rock that builds and changes, before exploding into a shaggy guitar solo, only to go into an unexpected ethereal outro and this 7”s crescendo.
‘Both of these songs are kinda old now, sitting at around 4 years old. And although I haven’t changed the lyrics since then, I somehow find new meaning in them as time goes on. Being Ukrainian and going into the fourth year of the full scale Russian invasion back home, the chorus “my death to you - a better price to pay” makes a lot of sense looking at how the world powers are trying to spin the devastation of my people for a quick profit and an easier life for themselves. This single coming out now at this very point in my life feels both profound and very ironic. Life never ends’, summarises Zhykharyev.

Rock’n’roll revivalists Split Dogs are not here to make 15 second viral videos, they’re not here to sell you a lifestyle, they’re here to destroy. Born from the frustration of seeing music become commodified and soulless, vocalist Harry Atkins and guitarist Mil Martinez had the idea to form a band as far back as 2015, with the name ‘Split Dogs’ pulled from the classic zombie film ‘Return of the Living Dead’.
In South London, a young Martinez would hear Status Quo, Bachman Turner Overdrive and Dire Straits on the car radio while his father drove him to school. At home he would invade his older brothers’ record collection which leaned towards the harder sounds of punk and heavy metal. Meanwhile in the Black Country, Harry’s mother instilled a love of Northern Soul, Slade and rock’n’roll, with stories of nights out at Club Lafayette and family singalongs at home. According to Martinez, “Our sound is a culmination of all those early influences and, to be honest, it really shows.”
It wasn’t until 2022 that Split Dogs officially arrived on the scene with bass player Suez Boyle joining the band in 2023. Already a prominent figure in the queer punk scene, Suez played the first ever Rebellion Festival at the tender age of 16 with her band The Walking Abortions. Up until that point, drummer Chris Hugall, an old friend of Martinez and former member of ska punks Mouthwash (signed to Rancid’s label Hellcat back in the day), was only on hand to help design artwork. It wasn’t until 2024 Hugall joined the band full time, cementing the current line-up.
The raucous live shows and infectious lyrics saw the four-piece make a name for themselves among the punks of Bristol, a scene that has always welcomed LGBTQ+ and marginalised people. As word spread, so did the gigging, and soon enough Split Dogs were playing to sold out rooms in mainland Europe, eventually grabbing the attention of UK label Venn Records (Gallows, Bob Vylan, High Vis). ‘Here to Destroy’ was recorded over three days at Middle Farm Studios by producer Peter Miles. All tracks were laid straight to a 16 track reel-to-reel tape machine, no autotune, no effects pedals, no computers. To add to the music’s authenticity, the album was recorded live, with Harry singing along in a vocal booth. No cutting and pasting, just nailing takes. According to Martinez, “It was a blast! We fully immersed ourselves, sleeping in a small apartment below the studio, cooking meals and listening to Pete’s extensive record collection”. While the final result is a step away from Split Dogs early punk sound, the attitude is still there in droves. “We wanted the album to have a raw bones feel,” Martinez tells us, “real 1970s rock’n’roll!”. Harry channels the spirit of Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister as they tear through hook after hook, singing about the Northern Soul clubs their mother once frequented (‘Lafayette’), the Orwellian nightmare we’re heading for (“Stay Tuned”) and a touching homage to British working class culture (“And What?”). As the album title makes clear, Split Dogs are here to destroy, but they’re also here to rebuild and remind us of music’s essence. “We’re not beholden to the digital age, we don’t want to get famous on social media, we just want to show the world that rock’n’roll is alive and well”.

Born in Montreal, double platinum- selling artist Sam Roberts launched a career of radio hits with The Inhuman Condition, which included "Brother Down" and the #1 single "Don't Walk Away Eileen". His eight subsequent albums have garnered multiple awards and include life-moment defining favourites "Hard Road", "Where Have All the Good People Gone?", "Them Kids", "We're All In This Together", and "All Of Us".

The band's legendary live show has seen them performing around the world including Australia, Japan, Europe, and North America. Their infectious live energy has brought them to festivals such as Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza and Bumbershoot, and on stages alongside giants like the Rolling Stones and AC/DC.

Frequencies is a carefully curated collection of songs that, while familiar to their North American audience, will be receiving a full-fledged release in the UK for the first time. As a special addition, the album will include a newly recorded version of 'Brother Down', the band's breakthrough single from their debut album We Were Born In A Flame. This fresh take captures the energy and evolution of the song as it has been performed night after night over the decades. The album also features a rework of 'All Of Us' by fellow Montrealer Liam O'Neil (The Stills, Kings of Leon).

Elsden Music presents the vinyl version of 'Above The Clouds', by the Ilario Ferrari Trio, with two brand news tracks - a new recording of the title track featuring trumpeter Henry Spencer and a stunning live version of "Leah Meets Laika"

The release of the vinyl comes at the point of an extensive tour across the UK and Europea between now and the end of this year.

On the cusp of releasing this, his fourth studio recorded album, pianist and singer Ilario Ferrari has developed a distinctive compositional style that integrates instrumental contemporary jazz with vocal harmonies, adding hints of sounds and rhythms from both Indian and Mediterranean culture, alongside some classical nuances with additional influences from Ilario's southern Italian heritage. This approach is singular to Ilario Ferrari as an artist: a style that is perfectly complimented by his two well-known collaborators and rising jazz stars in their own right; drummer Katie Patterson and bassist Charlie Pyne.

At the heart of 'Above The Clouds' lies the notion of relationships. Between us and our planet, the musical and personal relationships between Ilario, Charlie and Katie, and, of course, with their loved ones. It is also about elevation and observation, from 'Above The Clouds' and from the grounded embrace of Mother Earth, impressions of love, loss, and home, expressed through a beguiling blend of vocal led songs and instrumentals.

This recording is more than just a simple jazz trio album, with the trio expanding and contracting as the song requires. The Ilario Ferrari Trio's innovative approach combined with their indisputable skill promises to be a breath of fresh air in the jazz world and beyond.

Ilario Ferrari: piano, piano effects & vocals
Charlie Pyne: double base & vocals
Ketie Patterson: drums & vocals
Plus: Henry Spencer: trumpet (on "Above The Clouds")

Like a fine wine, Fu Manchu's 1999 classic, King Of The Road, gets better with age and fans continue to demand hearing these tunes the way the band intended - on wax. Out of print since 2019, the Joe Barresi (Tool, Avenged Sevenfold, Queens Of The Stone Age) helmed work is back and this time on yellow and black splatter vinyl in a limited edition. This is a repressing of the 2015 remaster done by Carl Saff, which includes 2 bonus tracks: "Breathing Fire" (originally on the German vinyl release) and "Hanglider" (which was previously unreleased). "After a bit of a break from albums, not counting the Return to Earth singles compilation, Fu Manchu fully fired up and took off again with King of the Road, an album that doesn't so much follow on from The Action Is Go as flat out continue it. Hill has a touch more bite to his vocals this time around, but otherwise there's little to differentiate the two records -- and that's very much meant as a compliment. With plenty of touring and other things under their belts, the lineup has fully jelled and sounds it, Bjork's bad-ass drumming (and occasional cowbells, of course) and Balch's insane lead guitar crunch possibly even better than ever. Together it's all one megariff and nasty, slamming rhythm after another, and face it, anyone expecting anything else from Fu Manchu really needs to find another band. Joe Barresi co-produces with the band, and while there's no extra keyboard/organ weirdness this time around, it hardly matters. In as much as there's a theme to King of the Road beyond the basics of driving, drugs, and that demon rock & roll, it's driving -- there's a reason why the cover and internal art features a slew of great '70s-era photos from a massive van rally. The one shot of the fully leather-covered interior of one mobile love nest, complete with black curtains, about says it all. Then there's the megachugging title track ("King of the road says you move too slow!"), "Hell on Wheels," "Boogie Van," and so forth -- call it a concept album that doesn't waste time with elves and yogis. As with the last album, a punk/new wave nugget gets the cover treatment here -- none other than Devo's "Freedom of Choice." Needless to say, now it sounds just like a Fu Manchu original." ALLMUSIC

Oslo-based label Boring Crew Records (BCR) makes its vinyl debut with the Prærien EP. The EP showcases the label’s diverse range and vision, with six tracks that span various moods and genres, setting the stage for what’s to come.

BCR01 kicks off with Oasen by Anders Hajem, a dark and chugging track. The title track, Prærien, seamlessly picks up where Oasen left off, delving deeper into the atmosphere with a hypnotic bassline and subtle tension. Perkules rounds off the A-side with his Oasen remix, stripping it down into a raw, minimal version with a heavy(!) bottom-end.

On the B-side, Henrik Villard’s Cowgirl hits hard with raw and gritty drums, with a touch of dubbed-out vocals. Woodfall Temple follows, enveloping listeners in its tribal and slight meditative energy. Canadian producer Cooper Saver then closes the EP with his mesmerizing remix of Woodfall Temple, ramping up the tempo with layered synth lines that create an irresistible, trance-like atmosphere.

Boring Crew Records’ Prærien EP offers a captivating and dynamic introduction, teasing more exciting releases on the horizon.

Warehouse Find!

Distortion and feedback on Brazilian classics? Only these Sao Paulo mutants dared to reinterpret the standards of the giants of Música Popular Brasileira. Exceptionally talented, curious, and inventive, Os Mutantes infused tropicália with a generous dose of psychedelia. While some listeners were outraged at the time, they stood firm, and their debut album went on to become one of the gems of Brazilian music. Don"t miss their delightfully eccentric coversof "Tempo No Tempo"(The Mamas and The Papas) and "Le Premier Bonheur du Jour" (Françoise Hardy). A true treasure.

STAR CREATURE's Global Caress series started this year off with a bang with newcomer ARSENE's "JACK SHIT" 7" selling out almost immediately. The followup here might just do the same… Another gruesome twosome of hard hitting, left field, electro acid. The half-Finnish, half-Estonian duo LLL add a distinctly Baltic outsider edge to the classic combo of Chicago jackin' house meets UK sound system culture. The fellahs tap an arsenal of original gear rescued and revived over the years to create hyper-saturated textures, thuggish rhythmic beats, squelchy acidic synths and mischievous microphone miscellany

Two Drumcode mainstays, Layton Giordani & Bart Skils, join forces on rapturous but dark-edged techno thriller ‘Deadly Valentine’. Skils is globally renowned for his chart-invading take-no-prisoners techno. The Dutch producer’s last release on Beyer’s imprint was the 2024 ‘Sakura’ EP comprising collaborations with SUDO and Drunken Kong. Giordani, also a chart topper, at the forefront of an exciting new genre-bending sound, combines influences of melodic house, progressive, and indie dance with techno. His last DC outing was a recent rework of the seminal ‘Let’s Go Dancing’ from Tiga and Audion, and the otherworldly but peak time ‘Freaks At Night’ single last June.

The duo have a history of playing B2B at massive events like Drumcode, Loveland and Awakenings. This is their first collaborative standalone single (their ‘Midnight Magic’ was on Layton’s 2020 Drumcode LP). 'I was listening to Spotify and going through an indie dance rabbit hole’ Layton says. ‘I stumbled upon this track, was instantly hooked, and knew Bart was the right guy to collaborate with on this record.’ ‘Layton sent me the vocal idea and I turned it into an arrangement with a rolling groove’ Bart says. ‘After that the track was updated several times and mixed with a new vocalist for release.’ ‘Deadly Valentine’: complex, steady percussion with insistent techno beat gives a dark questioning edge to the high, sweet vocal, fast, echoing, often layered or harmonising with itself, singing the apparently romantic wedding ceremony lyrics in French & English.

Mysticisms is delighted to present the music from one of the inspirations for the whole Dubplate series, the lesser known, but admired Digi Dub label. Hailing from the late 80s / early 90s South-East London squat scene, the music of label head Lee Berwick and cohorts was unlike any other at the time. Not simply a retake on digital dub emanating from Jamaica, Digi Dub mixed the heritage of reggae with the alternative-culture of Britain to forge a unique version.

Inspired by punk and the early electronics of the likes of A Certain Ratio, Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle, Berwick came to music production later, after first quitting a career as a computer programmer to travel through Asia, returning after several years just as electronic “computer music” was gaining a fundamental new lease in 1988. A regular at Jah Shaka gigs over the burgeoning rave scene of the time, he steadily built a studio centered around the Akai Sampler.

Based, at the time, in South-East London, it’s lack of underground “Tube” lines and challenging transport links, helped create its own social and music eco-system. Squatted houses, shops, clubs and parties all thrived around the triangle of Bermondsey, New Cross and Camberwell. After meeting Kenny Diezel and the Mutoid Waste Company, he started to formulate his “dubby electronic sound” by literally play live to thousands of wide-eyed Ravers at Mutoid Waste parties.

Recording as Launch DAT, the first tracks with Kenny formed, soon joined by Harry and Nick, the trio progressed from building a sound system to L.S. Diezel being created. Friends since their teens Harry and Nik progressed from playing in bands, jamming Sly and Robbie dubs to moving from the countryside of the Home Counties to urban Peckham and into the orbit of Mutoid Waste and the squat and party scene.

Progressing to include Atari S1000HD, Akai S3200XL, Alesis Sequencer and Roland 303, the sound expanded but the raw spirit remained. The early recordings with Berwick, in the beautiful “Lovers style” that is For The Love Of and its stripped-back instrumental “Stepper” dub accompaniment in Bad Boys, as well as an early take on take on the merging of digital dub and hip hop in Skunk Funk, all capture the essence of that London period.

However, the inclusion of the seminal Suicidal Dub, that appeared as the title to their debut album and was recorded on a bus a few years later after Mutoid had relocated to Rimini, Italy, offers a glimpse to the future. Heralded as a proto-dubstep classic it has long been sought after and its inclusion makes for the essential.

Mutate The Mystery.

2025 Repress

A tale of paramount love for machines and the inextinguishable power of subjugation that lies in these button-studded boxes teeming with cabled bowels that feel so intimidating to the uninitiated, Italo Brutalo's longed-for debut album "Heartware" is a 12-track voyage across 25 years of intense synth collecting, fiddling,
composing and endless loving for audio synthesis and the art of how robots make human bodies jack.
Throughout the twelve cuts that compose "Heartware", a feeling of retro-gazing, candidly playful glee prevails. Looking right in the eye of the era when dazzling flipper visuals and static-filled VHS glitches
reigned supreme, Italo Brutalo invites us to witness first-hand his own textbook smorgasbord of fast-wheeling arpeggios and vocodized hoodoo ("Heartware", "Reach Horizon"), dystopian digital sunsets by the beach ("I Feel Lonely"), early hip-hop-informed whackin' n' thumpin' ("Analog Bars") and the slo but hard churn of a robot heist score ("Nobody Moves").
A lush tapestry of woozy exotic pads set in contrast with a deft and aggro drum programming ("As Above So Below"), followed by a new-beat oriented hammer-drop that shall leave no raver unscathed ("Heat of the Knight"), Italo Brutalo shifts the scope to radical effect whilst maintaining that cohesive headspace flush with the iconic 80s-to-90s-sourced assets. The hardware used in the making of "Heartware" is obviously the star here, and the inner sleeve pays tribute to that: the ideas behind the album have been there waiting to find their way out for over twenty years!
From adrenalin-boosting fractals of keyboard razzle-dazzle ("Chemical Element") to straight out pumping EBM primed for hi-octane mosh pits down the basement ("You Are Welcome"), via polyrhytmic percs-driven assaults and sizzling hot synth-smithery ("Into a Sampler"), the pressure levels never falter. Yet, Italo Brutalo sure knows how to weave further oneiric, softer narratives for your mind to frolic in unhindered ("Dream Machine") and rounds it all off with a total, space-opera'esque epic bound to have you spinning out of orbit into the great unknown ("Eternia").
"Heartware" is released in a neat double-vinyl gatefold package presenting the concept and machines involved in its making, including a twelve-page booklet featuring Italo Brutalo's key pieces of gear.