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This repress is exactly same as the original version... Except that it has been recut with massive sound ! ...In the 1995's was bringing his radio-emission into the free party. Direct transmission on waves of the sound of the Free bringing the Underground Jungle movement in France... Guiding people trying to reach the very spot !

2x7"
Not so long ago Marlena Shaw was a forgotten figure. The talented vocalist had made several LPs for respected labels such as Cadet and Blue Note, and she'd performed regularly throughout the '60s and '70s. But she hardly had what you might call diva status. Falling into the unfortunate category that slips uneasily between soul and jazz, she was accepted - but not especially admired - by aficionados of either genre. Then came the '90s, and an open-minded enthusiasm for soul and jazz - and more importantly - everything in between - soon changed that. Marlena Shaw became an icon, and the diva status soon blossomed amongst her new-found soul-jazz fans.

Respect is a word that means much to any singer. The artist who stands up in the bright lights before an audience that has handed over their hard-earned cash has only their physical presence and naked voice to rely on. There is no hiding when you're on stage, you're the focus of attention and everybody is gawping at you. The singer yearns to communicate and entertain, and in return not only asks for appreciation and acceptance, but respect. To this end Marlena Shaw has endured decades of singing in the shadows, and she has only recently finally found her niche.

On Disc One we have 'California Soul', probably the most enduring and well-known of her many songs, but just a few seconds listening will tell you that it is much more than that. It's already a classic amongst those who have already seen the light and have danced and swayed to its timeless swing. Upon hearing it all lovers of soul, jazz – or any other kind of good music - will feel an aural glow as warm as the Californian sun. The song 'Liberation Conversation' on the flip was only ever available on her highly revered 1969 LP 'The Spice of Life'. This is where the 'Blues ain't nothing but a good woman gone bad' launches into an irresistible, relentless uptempo funk groove.

Disc Two showcases 'Wade in the Water', an ancient song rumoured to have been developed and popularised by slaves in the American south. The message is to pass on the notion that by fleeing in a bid for freedom through streams and rivers, the scent that bloodhounds use to follow their victims will be obscured. Marlena's version has long been a favourite dancefloor filler since its 45-only release back in 1966.

'Woman of the Ghetto' is one of her best-known songs and ends the set on the other side. The opening number from 'The Spice of Life', it's since been recognised for the classic it is, and as such has been afforded anthemic status. We release the original 45 version here, as used to promote the LP back in the day.

This special 2x7" product from Jazzman is dedicated to the memory of Marlena Shaw, b. 22 September 1939, d. 19 January 2024.

. Lodge has been performing and recording with The Moody Blues for more than five decades, selling in excess of 70 million albums, and also enjoys a successful solo career, doing what he loves, performing and playing music. Lodge has been voted one of the “10 most influential bass players on the planet,” and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including ASCAP, and Ivor Novello Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Music. John was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2019 was given a star in his hometown ‘Walk of Fame’. In 2018, John and the Moody Blues were inducted into the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’, and in 2019 John was given the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Prog Awards. John’s latest release is the new studio Album ‘DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED – MY SOJOURN’. The album was recorded over the last year and has grown from John’s current live show as he, and his 10,000 Light Years Band, lovingly recreate this classic album

With $10 Cowboy, Charley Crockett didn’t set out to make a themed record. He had released a concept album in 2022, the critically acclaimed Man From Waco, propelling Crockett to new heights and establishing him as one of the leaders of a sparkling revival of traditional country and folk music. For the follow up album, Crockett wrote freely, over a two-month period, as he wound his way across the United States on the back of a tour bus. The resulting songs—raw, personal, vivid portraits of a country in transition—ended up being connected after all. “This material is written at truck stops, it’s written at casinos, it’s written in the alleys behind the venues, it’s written in my truck parked up on South Congress in Austin,” explains Crockett. “A ramblin’ man like me, a genuine transient, is in a pretty damn good position to have something to say about America.” As the album unfolds, you begin to understand that a $10 Cowboy is anyone who has hustled to get by, who didn’t fit in, who has slept on other people’s couches, or the street, who has fallen down, gotten up, and ventured from home chasing a paying gig, or a new start. “Being out on the road gives you a first-hand experience of how different kinds of Americans see themselves as going through some kind of great struggle,” Crockett says. “The roughneck working the oil and natural gas fields in West Texas. The single mother raising kids by herself. The young man working a street corner because he thinks it's his only option. I would be dishonest if I said I couldn’t see the thread. Each of ‘em feel invisible. I am struck by the battles they are fighting internally, and the ways they have been entrapped by what America says they are.” The album was recorded at Arlyn Studios in Austin, produced by Crockett and his long-time collaborator Billy Horton. It was recorded live to tape, with anywhere from 6-12 musicians and backup singers on each track, giving the songs the feel of a live performance. It’s a sound Crockett has been after for years. “Reason I cut it on tape is because when you got the right people in the room, and the great players rise to the occasion when that red light is on and the tape is rolling, you get the magic of a great performance.” It's exactly what he achieved with $10 Cowboy. Regular bandmates Fox, Nathan Fleming, and Mayo Valdez are joined by some of the genre’s most talented players—Rich Brotherton, Kevin Smith, Dave LeRoy Biller, T. Jarrod Bonta and others, including a string quartet. Lauren Cervantes and Angela Miller sing on the album. While the musicianship and accompaniment are exquisite, they are also subtle, placed joyously, yet judiciously across the album. No, Crockett didn’t set out to write a themed record. Or, through his studied eye, to find America. But with $10 Cowboy, he might have done both.

Mother Twilight is the second Faun Fables album. It has since been noted by Scottish author R.J. Stewart as a work containing true artifacts of the oral underworld tradition. Dawn and Nils made a hand-assembled first pressing and peddled it to nearly every bar and rural hall across North America from 2001-2003. Drag City reissued the CD in 2004. Things are glowing outside, enough to bring any sun worshiper in for the night. But you must remain outside and begin walking. It"ll prepare you for the night, which otherwise comes as a chilling surprise. If you pay attention this time, maybe you"ll understand why you"re becoming invisible. When your memory began, it wasn"t startling, wasn"t a mistake. It came out of an old, dark and familiar thing, like a storyteller, like Twilight... so save us from fear, mother, and tell your story. Dawn McCarthy"s creative background was forged in oral tradition amidst a large musical family in Spokane, Washington; studying piano, music theater, rock bands, guitar, folklore and ethnomusicology. Dawn cut her teeth as a singer and performer with various bands and cabarets in Madison, Wisconsin and New York City, most notably as yodeler with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, who inspired her to want a gypsy life with a kindred spirit someday. Her focus took a pivotal turn in that direction in 1997 with a solo quest through the UK and Ireland and their bardic traditions; singing songs in clubs and homes, all the while undergoing a pastoral, psychological experience with the land. Upon her return to the States, a fateful meeting with Oakland, CA born-and-raised Nils Frykdahl (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) moved McCarthy back to the West to begin a new creative collaboration in the thriving hills and art community of the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 1999, Faun Fables have released six albums and performed their animist, otherworldly folk music across North America and Europe, with shows in Australia, New Zealand and Israel, as well. Dawn"s writing and voice (described by The New Yorker as "one of the more compelling instruments in contemporary music") opens hearts and minds with a whisper to a rallying battle cry, further animated by Frykdahl"s adventurous musicality and vocals. Dawn has written musical theater performed by the Idyllwild Arts Academy, among others, and has lent her vocals to Bonnie "Prince" Billy on The Letting Go and What the Brothers Sang. In 2022, Faun Fables debuted their family band, joined onstage by their daughters with vocals, percussion, keyboard and dance.

Ever since their auspicious beginnings, more than a decade ago, Laughing Bastards have giddily delighted in impurity. Initially a reeds-guitar-bass trio modeled after the classic Jimmy Giuffre 3, the band has remained truthful to its original spirit. Saxophone player Michel Mast and guitarist Jan-Sebastiaan Degeyter have remained its core, but the band went through several permutations, first welcoming Eline Duerinck (cello) and Marcos Della Rocha (for Unanimal in 2019) and solidifying its present-day line-up with bassist Cyrille Obermüller.

Bastards. It's kind of a rude word to throw around carelessly, but there has always been that element of being irregular, being too stubborn to comply with what is expected, that has set them apart. This is nowhere more evident than in the material contributed by Degeyter, who wrote more than half of the album's compositions. A talented illustrator and designer (he created a few of their striking album covers) as well as a versatile guitarist, Degeyter always manages to add a strong visual component to his material. In combination with his knack for pulling exotic influences into the band's overall sound, it leads to a playful, cinematic eccentricity.

"Tigraman" and "Black Spoon" are examples of this. Both are infused with an Ethiopian-tinged sound, but while the first one develops the catchy throbbing of a trance-like soul/rock tune, the second exudes the lush cadence of Golden Age Ethio jazz, the kind that gets under your skin with those sensual, irrepressible rhythms. They are a nice match with the increasing drama of the Slavic-tinged "Red Lemon", the slow, dreamy flow of the Jamaican dance hall-inspired "Sand", a strong feature for Duerinck, and "Dosi", that shows Obermüller's knack for propulsive melody.

The synesthete in Degeyter gets free reign in "Calliope", chamber jazz in which sweeping sax and cello are kept grounded by guitar, bass and drums. Mast's odd meter-song "Fetish" is another showcase for the band's effortless dancing and some gorgeous tenor schmooze. Della Rocha's "Turquoise" starts off in brooding, contemplative way and keeps simmering on a low, glowing fire. To top it off, there are a few covers that remind you of the band's origins. A new take on Giuffre's rootsy "The Train and the River" stresses their loose flexibility with an Americana style somewhat reminiscent of Charlie Haden, while Carla Bley's evergreen "Vashkar" gets a carefully constructed makeover to close out the album with grace.

On their latest album, Laughing Bastards prove they are a quintessential Belgian band - soaking up sounds and influences from all over the place while maintaining a tight unity - with an international appeal. Combining jazz and chamber music with ideas from pop music and multi-colored strains does not only give their music an iridescent edge, but also keeps the interplay fresh and inspired, something to return to while waiting to see them live on stage.

The third studio album from Rebecca Downes with 12 new, original blues-influenced, rock tracks all written by Steve Birkett and Rebecca. Album mixed by Bill Drescher and Chris Childs. With exciting new material that continues the evolution of the music towards rock, More Sinner Than Saint is worth the wait. At the outset, Downes consulted with producer Chris Kimsey, who has previously worked with The Rolling Stones, to select and refine the 12 tracks and to achieve what she and co-writer Steve Birkett see as the perfect expression of their current writing. With five of the fabulous tracks having been mixed by Californian based Bill Drescher, whose previous accolades include working with Rick Springfield and The Bangles, Downes showcases her trademark powerful vocals throughout. With the remainder of the tracks being mixed by Thunder’s Chris Childs, the pedigree of this album is faultless. With her superb studio band that includes Dan Clark, Lloyd Daker and Magnum’s Rick Benton, there was no shortage of artists queuing to join her on the odd track or two. The multi award winning Alan Nimmo (King King) plays guitar on If I Go To Sleep and Magnum’s Tony Clarkin delivers a fabulous guitar solo on Breathe Out. With her signature voice, style and song writing, it was little wonder that last year she was voted Female Vocalist of the Year at the FORM UKBlues Awards. The release of this jubilant new album once again gives her the chance to showcase her formidable powerhouse and gutsy vocals in tracks that have greater range and depth than anything she’s done before. Rebecca said: “We were honoured and humbled to receive Chris Kimsey’s guidance. He gave us confidence about the direction of our writing changing to a rockier sound and advice on the way the material should be recorded. Meeting Bill Drescher in LA was fantastic – such a lovely, down-to-earth guy – and his mixing took the five tracks to the next level. Chris Childs has since done an excellent job on the rest in matching Bill’s mixing style. We are very proud of this album – and the way the music has evolved towards rock. More than ever before we believe it captures the best of our song writing.”

Stuck in the depths of a dark alley, blocked by yet another breeze, hitting a stone wall, road sign ahead: Dead End.
Impasse. "Cul-de-sac".
Hip‐hop. The original, some would say, official music of the late 20th Century Bronx.
Some say it has endured it's fair share of distractions, detractors and defectors. Some say it has murdered itself, having been abandoned by its so‐called best men, those who have gone off in other directions, or who have, simply, just beat‐retired. Yet, there are plenty of Soldier Monks still out there, prepared to sweat it out in the Temple of Machinery and Mics.
Low Cut honored this cause four years ago, with his MPC crafted minimalist version of NY Minute and he's back to ring the bells and unsheathe the samples!

The starting point of Dead End's production remains the 90's boom-bap, but the will to carry it even further brings it to its destination. By decorating it with rich samples flushed out after digging through vinyls pressed several decades ago, it is guided by a compass pointing deposits to the East. With sound quality inherited from a fastidious composition and mix works, using inspiration rather than just being a copycat, Dead End celebrates it without setting it up as a museum piece.

Picturing the beatmaker stuck in the depths of a dark alley, ended with a brick wall, is easy. But far from isolated in his Parisian basement, Low Cut has rung phones in New York, Baltimore and Detroit, rounding up the faithful. He magnetized the hidden but sharp forces, and gained attendance of legends. The casting of Dead End : Ruste Juxx & Nutso, Dirt Platoon, Guilty Simpson, Torae, Rasheed Chappell and the stainless Masta Ace, among other beat crushers. Also starring DJ Duke, Nix'on, Topic and Ordoeuvre with their DMC titles crates, for a deep beatfight on bars scarified of scratches.
Heavy atmosphere, martial beats and street soul, Dead End is also the final episode of the projects initiated by Low Cut, based on the model of a producer inviting various MCs.
He will then replace his turntable needles, refresh his sample banks, and settle the BPMs of his productions on more abstract frequencies.

Keep It Simple!

That's what Tony Allen told me, whether on stage, in the recording studio or when we were working together on the album "The Source"(Blue Note 2017) in my studio. Obviously, if he repeated it at will, it's because it's so difficult, to express the essential, not to scatter, over-play, over-arrange. So natural for him, so constraining for others! For years he pushed us, the members of his group to develop our projects. I had something in mind, necessarily with him, unfortunately his unexpected demise decided otherwise.
It took a moment to accept his departure, to accept being a voice, to find a new path. The desire to continue the work started together, that of mixing styles, sounds to appropriate them and create new, authentic. The desire also to meet new people, another energy.
After composing music for this project, I asked my friend Ben Rubin, musician and producer to help me record it. I found in NYC what I was looking for, a sense of urgency, that of doing, generous and committed musicians. I knew Jason Lindner, a musician that I have been following for a long time and he was the first person I thought of for pianos and synthesizers. He has this ability to find new and powerful sounds, with a direct and unadorned playing. For the drums, I didn't especially thought about a musician whose playing could come close or far to Tony's. Ben suggested Josh Dion to me, I've been following him since his "Paris Monster" project, I love his ability to make his drums sound like a new instrument by playing the bass synth with his right hand, that forces him to keep it simple! He also plays 2 tracks in drum/synth mode on the album.
I'm also happy that he agreed to sing a song on this album.
So we recorded at the Figure8 recording studio in Brooklyn, Eli Crews providing the sound recording, we decided with Ben to create a powerful and assumed sound from the take. Many biases on the tones, whether on the drums and the keyboards. Back in my studio in Paris, I continued to search, to dig while recording additional saxophones, percussions and keyboards.

I met Tchad Blake during a week-long mixing seminar. His work on the album on is radical.
Keep it simple?
Difficult but I try to remain so on all the phases of evolution of this project, from writing to production, in the improvisation parts. Where I feel it the most is in the immediate joy of playing with Jason and Josh, of tweaking a few sounds in my studio to create the unexpected, surprise in the structures, authenticity. Simple as the desire to go towards something essential, to seek oneself, to find oneself, to doubt but also to invent oneself.

After dark country trio Lost Dog Street Band released its 2022 album Glory, bandleader Benjamin Tod decided it was time to retire the project. Tod, alongside his wife Ashley Mae (fiddle), had been working together as a band since 2011. “I came to terms with letting go of Lost Dog completely, which is how I evaluate a lot of things in general,” explains Tod. “Oftentimes when I'm trying to make a really hard decision, I go ahead and go through the process of mourning its death and accepting that I am going to lose it.” But just a month after recording a solo project in January of 2023, Tod felt an urge to revisit the project one more time. “I thought I was done with Lost Dog, but after recording my solo album, I looked over all the songs that I had ready for a new record. These were songs for my band. I had to admit to myself that I wasn't done with Lost Dog.” Though there was heartbreak at the prospect of the project coming to an end, its resurrection has meant all the more in this new context. “Benjamin and I, both individually and together, have been through some professionally grinding and demoralizing personal times over the past five years,” Ashley Mae explains. “To take a step back from that over the past year and realize, ‘Wow, we held it down and withstood that, and we survived that,’ was a really good, bright, shining moment. It was the high point during a demoralizing time.” As such, Survived is a saving grace, a phoenix rising from the ashes. “This record means everything,” adds Tod. “It just feels like salvation.”

Surface Noise, a brand new LP of well-turned guitar pop, complete with roaring chords and propulsive rhythms behind Dunlap's clever and cultured lyrics. Austin, Texas quartet Gentlemen Rogues celebrate aggressive guitar pop anthems _ bearing the influences of The Replacements, Superdrag, Jawbreaker, and similar visionaries _ and have been gaining momentum and increased attention. Since their debut in 2011, the band _ Danny Dunlap (guitar/vocals), Josh Power (drums), John Christoffel (guitar), and Dave Hawkins (bass, vocals) _ have honed their hooks over numerous singles, EPs, and the 2022 full-length collection, A History of Fatalism. Gentlemen Rogues have supported diverse acts like the Lemonheads, Smoking Popes, the Dandy Warhols, Mrs Magician, and Riverboat Gamblers on stages across the U.S. and the UK. In 2021 Gentlemen Rogues opened for both indie-punk icons Superchunk and Bob Mould, who personally selected the band to provide sole support on the Texas leg of his Distortion and Blue Hearts tour. Little Steve Van Zandt, Springsteen's steady side-kick, has been strong supporter, Pressed on Transparent Electric Blue vinyl! Includes hand-numbered obi-strip and download card.

The music from LES TONTONS FLINGUEURS (aka Crooks in Clover aka Monsieur Gangster) is as instantaneously recognizable as the James Bond theme thanks to a short and recurring melodic motif that can still stick in the heads of 21th century kids. Monothematism is a word used by musicologists to refer to the use of stylistic variations based on a single musical theme as can be heard in the Tontons : on the banjo, during the nose punch sequences, played jazz, blues, gloria or Hully Gally style. Though the Tontons music may on first listen sound nothing different than a straightforward yet catchy soundtrack, it turns out to be a real exercise in style. When reading Michel Magne's autobiography " L'amour de vivre " it clearly appears that mixing folk music and sound experiments was a mindful artistic choice. In the movie, Antoine Delafoy (Claude Rich) who is engaged to Patricia (the Mexican's daughter) is merely a Michel Magne caricature. He embodies a contemporary music composer in search of the " absolute anti-chord " by using a water tap. " We don't really know what it is but it's amusing ". In reality and despite his classical musical education, Michel Magne has indeed had a venture into avant-garde music, going as far as organizing an infrasounds concert at the Salle Gaveau venue (Paris) on July 15th, 1954. Infrasonic frequencies which quickly made the audience run for the toilets. On December 3rd,² 1956 his low-frequency sounds contributed to an " empirique " show at the Théâtre des Trois Baudets (Paris) with Alexandro Jodorowsky, Jean Michel Rankovitch and Tinguely. At the same time he wrote music on words by Françoise Sagan for Mouloudji. Again with this desire to cross the boundaries of musical genres. He recorded in 1959 an album of " musiques tachistes " from which a show with dances was staged by Michel Descombey. His taste for provocation and avant-garde did not prevent Michel Magne from composing and arranging popular music. He hence wrote the music for six Georges Lautner movies including the famous Tontons Flingueurs in 1963.Being part of the avant-garde long-haired world what could Michel Magne think of Michel Audiard ? A most kind character who had nevertheless been burned by supporters of the " nouvelle vague " including journalist Henry Chapier who described Les Tontons Flingueurs as being " chansonnier " cinema (in Combat 1963), meant for disenchanted quinquagenarians. Audiard had responded to Truffaut, another of his dispisers : " Dad's movies filled theaters, son's movies empty them. We should have been warned : with its seaside sounding name the Nouvelle Vague (new wave) drove millions of viewers out on the countryside ". In between melodic effectiveness and daring arrangements and tonality, Michel Magne's work is worth being listened to with fresh ears, cleared of clichés !

If the Chateau Marmont could sing. This would be it. Loren Kramar's voice vibrates with the shameless hum of a room after a celebrity exits Ecstatic aspiration. Doubt. Proximity. Desire. The album "Glovemaker" is about the skins we craft to be seen by the world, and Loren reminds us that we are all in drag. All exposed. No matter what gloves we slip on. "I'm a slut for all my dreams", Loren Kramar sings with Patti Smith brashness, "I'm a whore for them, I've got more of them". Loren's lyrics move like tinsel, shimmering bravely, then just as quickly, curling, fragile under the spotlight. Loren has always been obsessed with fame. Not with famous people, but with the electricity that perverts attention - the crushing desire to be truly seen. And all of Loren, and this obsession, is in this album. He grew up in the Valley, forced to hide his Barbies from his father, so the closet was a gorgeous Spanish ranch house on a gilded cul-de-sac crawling with celebrities. Naturally this gay boy wanted to be a child star so his mother secretly shuttled him to tap and jazz and figure skating lessons. "I've got hands and feet to put in the concrete", Loren croons, in "Hollywood Blvd", a song which clangs with brawny bravado. But "Gay Angels" reminds us that Loren's infatuation with stardom is inextricably linked with his queerness and his own desire to live outside of fear. To be famous is to be out. To be known. To be himself. "Glovemaker has become a kind of code for art making itself. A glove as a covering or mask that follows the contours of the life beneath it. As a song and a symbol, this is an album about studying and tracing a life - and then sharing what's there," Loren says. And his desire to share truth feels urgent. To listen to Loren is to understand there is no choice; the songs must tear through the air right now. This very second. "I see myself tearing and splitting and becoming a trampoline", he belts in "No Man," breaking our hearts right alongside his. Part poet, part theatrical diva, Loren loops together the tragedy of breathing on this planet, because like Eartha Kitt or Cat Stevens, Loren is at his core - an incredible story teller. This whole album is a shrine, a mantle atop a blazing fire of life, spread with the memorabilia of Loren; all of the pain and lust dazzling on unabashed view. This is a songwriter's album. Loren's lyrics are all his, and you feel it with every bright, Maraschino-cherry-like word that falls from his lips. "Like a lover, You scream and I shatter, I hit like a hammer" Loren sings. And we get to feel what Loren feels We live in his brain, riding his genre bending emotions, on a wave of modern pop. And the songs lift, they are anthems of belief, "Hollywood Blvd", "I'm a Slut", "Euphemism", "Gay Angels", are all odes to triumphing over the corroding powers of fear and doubt. And on this ride, Loren's voice is the guard rail, ever eager to stretch and transform, belting, talk-singing, multiplying, keeping us safe. "Glovemaker" slaps and soars. The album is an ecstatic overture to love and loneliness, to dreams and promises, to everything Los Angeles dangles. Buckle up. Loren knows how to craft space, how to move us through darkened bars, strobing arenas, beige carpeted bungalows and yellow lit highways. "How do you like LA?" Loren asks. I hope you love it.

Red Vinyl

If the Chateau Marmont could sing. This would be it. Loren Kramar's voice vibrates with the shameless hum of a room after a celebrity exits Ecstatic aspiration. Doubt. Proximity. Desire. The album "Glovemaker" is about the skins we craft to be seen by the world, and Loren reminds us that we are all in drag. All exposed. No matter what gloves we slip on. "I'm a slut for all my dreams", Loren Kramar sings with Patti Smith brashness, "I'm a whore for them, I've got more of them". Loren's lyrics move like tinsel, shimmering bravely, then just as quickly, curling, fragile under the spotlight. Loren has always been obsessed with fame. Not with famous people, but with the electricity that perverts attention - the crushing desire to be truly seen. And all of Loren, and this obsession, is in this album. He grew up in the Valley, forced to hide his Barbies from his father, so the closet was a gorgeous Spanish ranch house on a gilded cul-de-sac crawling with celebrities. Naturally this gay boy wanted to be a child star so his mother secretly shuttled him to tap and jazz and figure skating lessons. "I've got hands and feet to put in the concrete", Loren croons, in "Hollywood Blvd", a song which clangs with brawny bravado. But "Gay Angels" reminds us that Loren's infatuation with stardom is inextricably linked with his queerness and his own desire to live outside of fear. To be famous is to be out. To be known. To be himself. "Glovemaker has become a kind of code for art making itself. A glove as a covering or mask that follows the contours of the life beneath it. As a song and a symbol, this is an album about studying and tracing a life - and then sharing what's there," Loren says. And his desire to share truth feels urgent. To listen to Loren is to understand there is no choice; the songs must tear through the air right now. This very second. "I see myself tearing and splitting and becoming a trampoline", he belts in "No Man," breaking our hearts right alongside his. Part poet, part theatrical diva, Loren loops together the tragedy of breathing on this planet, because like Eartha Kitt or Cat Stevens, Loren is at his core - an incredible story teller. This whole album is a shrine, a mantle atop a blazing fire of life, spread with the memorabilia of Loren; all of the pain and lust dazzling on unabashed view. This is a songwriter's album. Loren's lyrics are all his, and you feel it with every bright, Maraschino-cherry-like word that falls from his lips. "Like a lover, You scream and I shatter, I hit like a hammer" Loren sings. And we get to feel what Loren feels We live in his brain, riding his genre bending emotions, on a wave of modern pop. And the songs lift, they are anthems of belief, "Hollywood Blvd", "I'm a Slut", "Euphemism", "Gay Angels", are all odes to triumphing over the corroding powers of fear and doubt. And on this ride, Loren's voice is the guard rail, ever eager to stretch and transform, belting, talk-singing, multiplying, keeping us safe. "Glovemaker" slaps and soars. The album is an ecstatic overture to love and loneliness, to dreams and promises, to everything Los Angeles dangles. Buckle up. Loren knows how to craft space, how to move us through darkened bars, strobing arenas, beige carpeted bungalows and yellow lit highways. "How do you like LA?" Loren asks. I hope you love it.

nit is the genius underdog of the current French chanson scene. After playing along with Sébastien Tellier or Juliette Armanet (a huge success in France), after remixing Phoenix, Myd, Dita Von Teese, Cola Boyy, Tony Allen or Jane Birkin, here he comes with his debut album. The balearic sound is always a big nit influence, feel good electronics & lush acoustic chords.

Spotted by French label Record Makers (Sébastien Tellier, Kavinsky, AIR, Cola Boyy) with his 2017 “Dessous de plage” first EP, nit has since grown from funky DIY library music to a lush and complex groovy sound. The magic of this debut album “Big Bang Puzzle” is a keen sense of composition and an innate affinity for 90’s European electronica.
It’s a playful album, the work of an artist at the peak of his craft, determined to twist styles and references (Daft Punk, Ennio Morricone, Robert Miles, Vangelis...) in order to give them a new form.

“Big Bang Puzzle” is a tangle of psychedelic and cartoon-esque pieces, an abstract modernist painting of sounds inspired by vintage pop music. The cover, created by Swiss artist Flora Mottini, offers a first glimpse of his brand new universe.

But it’s also by collaborating with French iconic design studio H5 that nit suddenly enters the French Touch genealogy. nit takes the shape of an n that grows legs and arms to become a cheeky cartoon character traveling through a real space-time continuum. Parisian H5 studio has been involved since the end of the ‘90s in the design of strong visual concepts for French Touch’s elite (Etienne de Crécy, AIR, Mirwais). French music at its best from which nit is a direct descendant. And one who expands and opens even further: pop, italo-disco, trip-hop impulses, Morriconian cavalcades, lo-fi aesthetics, Caribbean music. Producer and mixer Lucien Krampf (Oklou, Ascendant Vierge, Casual Gabberz, CRYSTALLMESS) was the person in charge of mixing this ambitious record.

nit is both a question and an answer, and a musical enigma that pushes us to explore the far reaches of our imagination…

This release follows Chantal's earlier musical odysseys, including Let Your Hands be My Guide (2013), The Sparkle In Our Flaws (2015), Bounce Back (2017), Puwawau (2019) and Saturday Moon (2021). Each album, a testament to her artistic evolution, has resonated with audiences worldwide.

Silently Held comes to life with the collaborative brilliance of accomplished musicians. Bill Frisell with his beautiful understanding of Chantal’s flow of melody, Eric Thielemans who brings his percussive mastery to the mix. Jozef Dumoulin playing the piano with immense calmth. Thomas Morgan's who seems to be picking magic out of the skies with his bass and Shahzad Ismaily's golden touch as a multi-instrumentalist contribute to the album's rich texture. Colin Stetson, renowned for his avant-garde saxophone work but also his work for Bon Iver, lends his unique voice, creating moments of emotive intensity.

And Joachim Badenhorst, Niels Van Heertum and Kurt Van Herck finishing the album with their beautiful brass. Guided by the skilled production of Philip Weinrobe (known from his work for Dirty Projectors and Adrienne Lenker) the album's sonic landscape is carefully crafted. Most of the songs recorded in one take. One breath to keep close to the realness and rawness Chantal was looking for. Meanwhile, the experienced touch of mixing engineer Phill Brown (Talk Talk, Mark Hollis,..) who has been very present on Chantal’s journey for years.

In the quiet embrace of the music, Chantal unveils a raw and authentic portrayal of vulnerability, where every flaw and feeling is held close. The album becomes a sanctuary, inviting listeners to join in this silent communion with the intricacies of the human experience. Through each note and lyric, Chantal Acda crafts a space where imperfections are not only acknowledged but celebrated, creating a profound and intimate connection between the artist and the audience. "Silently Held" stands as a testament to the beauty found in the closeness of our flaws and feelings, inviting us to embrace them with grace and authenticity.

Silently Held by Chantal Acda & The Atlantic Drifters, released 3 May 2024, includes the following tracks: "Above ", "The Friends Parade ", "Taking Part ", "The Barn " and more.

Back On Black Records are set to reissue the D.R.I. "Greatest Hits" album, originally released in 2001. D.R.I.'s music has combined elements of punk rock, thrash metal, speed metal and heavy metal, while their early material has been described as hardcore punk. They are often cited as one of the key bands that helped create the crossover thrash genre, along with S.O.D., Suicidal Tendencies and Corrosion Of Conformity.

Apparel Wax's 7inches vinyl series continues with a release focused on new, exciting sounds. APLMINI003, which drops in late January 2024 is composed, as usual, of two tracks, one per side. Side A kicks off with a nu-disco track, in which the solos of a wild sax and a loopy guitar riff takes the listener by the hand until the very last second. Side B, however, shows the more experimental part of APLWAX's soul, with a beat that seems nostalgic of the 90s/00s UK sounds, a broken beat and a decidedly more pressing rhythm, which recalls D&B influences, British-style Electronica. The possibility of combining tracks with different styles on the same record represents a sonic challenge, but APLWAX has always been accustomed to combining different musical currents, keeping the fresh and happy soul of its brand clear. Everything is represented by the new, elegant graphic design of APLWAXMINI, in which even the smallest details and small changes fill the record's release with anticipation. APLWAXMINI003 is coming.

We Release JAZZ is very happy to announce an exciting new body of work by Joseph Deenmamode aka Mo Kolours. The singular musical spirit’s new 21-track album Original Flow is available as a double LP housed in a heavy 350gsm sleeve with original artwork by Mo Kolours himself and the classic WRJ obi strip, as well as in digipack CD and digital formats.

A catalog of critically acclaimed records, including his self-titled debut (2014), ‘Texture Like Like Sun’ (2015), 2018 album ‘Inner Symbols’ and three companion EPs, established Deenmamode as a prodigious musician and vocalist. Pitchfork extolled his “hypnotic, tribal-infused dance grooves”, DJ Mag appreciated the “colourful celebration of soundsystem culture”, and Resident Advisor advocated that “no one sounds quite like Mo Kolours”. Musical analogies were drawn by The Guardian as “The best album Curtis Mayfield never made with A Tribe Called Quest and Lee Perry” and Mojo as “like Marvin Gaye produced by J Dilla”.

Five years ago, Deenmamode moved to the Japanese countryside. Far away from familiarity, he contemplated his place and further questioned his identity. “I had none of my ‘own’ people around. I had time to really find what makes me tick musically. Japan has helped me go back to those subconscious leanings, really go deep, and reflect the aspects that make up my story”.

The tracks on ‘Original Flow’ have been constructed from sessions, improvisations and soundbites captured around the world during this time; collecting contributions from musicians including Deenamode’s brothers Reginald Omas Mamode and Jeen Bassa plus Andrew Ashong, Charles Bullen, Dwaye Kilvington, Eddie Hick, Stefan Asanovic, Myele Manzanza, Ross Hughes, and Tom Dreissler. Deenamode says “I’m proud of this album’s creative process. Coming from a tradition of scouring through hours of records, I wanted to create my own samples, to find that perfect loop that no other producer could put their hands on. I decided to invite a group of friends and acquaintances, who also happen to be incredible musicians, to a studio in Crystal Palace to improvise based on some loose ideas I had. We spent all day, and recorded everything”.

‘Original Flow’ is an album of UK street-soul nouveau, future indigenous jazz fusion, Rasta Segga, Nyahbinghi jazz, Malagasy Hebrew hip hop. While retaining a spirit of exploration and improvisation, it sees Deenmamode grow and flex beyond beat tape brevity, expanding composition and stretching his musical muscle to play live with other musicians. Themes of empowerment, overcoming adversity, and mental liberation coexist with notes from ancient history, futurism, and science, as well as musings on family and togetherness.

‘Magik Momentum’ springs from a discussion that features at the start of the song, an inspiring mentor answering a question from Deenmamode about improvisation and what role it plays in life when planning and manifesting the future. ‘Rockets to Mars’ questions the lack of care for the billions of people with nothing, while governments plan to explore space. “This sparked a comparison in my mind to a Sonny Okuson song that I would reference when performing. Okuson’s song talked of the lack of resources in many communities in the world, while governments go to the moon”.

He says the music behind ‘The News These Days’ is “possibly my favourite on the album”. Looped like he would a late sixty jazz-fusion sample, there was nothing added and the track was complete within a matter of minutes. “It was the first and best moment from the entire Crystal Palace session”, he adds. The album’s contrasting title track with minimal instrumentation played solo by Deenamode. While frustratingly searching for gems in past recordings, he thought in a burst of ego, “I don’t need no-one else to make a dope beat!” picked up his ravanne, (the traditional frame drum of his fathers home-land of Mauritius), pressed record, and started to play. He says, “In my thoughts were the rhythms of the Nubians in Upper-Egypt and Sudan, the swing of the huge drums played by Mauritanian women, of-course the Sega beat of Mauritius, and the ever inspiring beat of James Yancey”.

Driven by UK broken beat, Cuban congas, Nigerian and Mauritian inflections, ‘Love Vibration’ follows the concept that all emotions carry a vibratory frequency and pays homage to the frequency of creation and the power of love. The two part ‘Tatamaka’ tells of the history of Deenmamode’s ancestors, the maroons of Mauritius. “We are people who managed to run from our oppressors and find refuge in a corner of the island called ‘Le Morne’ where they could not reach us. One bloody day they came in numbers to re-capture, to revenge. Many of us chose to jump to our deaths, rather than be taken back into subjugation. The poem by Creole Richard Sedley Assonne says; “there were hundreds of them, but my people, the maroons chose the kiss of death over the chains of slavery”. Tatamaka was the name of a famed maroon leader who was murdered for claiming his, and our people’s freedom. The song is the imagined journey of escape and freedom by an ancestor of the maroons of Le Morne”.

Born in the west midlands and raised on the traditional sega music of his father’s Indian Ocean homeland of Mauritius alongside records by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Santana and Michael Jackson; his influences expanded with late 90s jungle and drum and bass nights in Bristol, experiments at art college in Camberwell, and the rich culture of Peckham, “at the time we called it the Afro Quarters of London” says Deenmamode, adding hip hop, dub, soul and soundsystem styles to his individual sound.

He explains, “I love drum music, from hand-drums to 808s. I love music from the ancient past, heritage music, indigenous music, traditional music passed down from the beginning of time. Music from the body, hand claps, grunts and foot stomps. Music with audible depth, busy, bustling, highly charged. Music from the soul, the music from beyond. I love music from the islands and the mountains. The music of the streets, hustle music, alleyway beats. Club music”.

He describes the creative process as thinking in images. “The visual world and the world of sound seem to intermingle in my thought process. When I play the drum with my eyes closed, a world of imagery dances and moves with beat. Improvised drumming feels like I am listening to what I want to hear, rather than trying to play what I want to hear. Following the rhythm and finding new pathways to walk within the patterns is what I experience. In this way I often feel I am just a listener, instead of the player”.
Original Flow is pressed on biovinyl, a sustainable alternative to traditional vinyl. Biovinyl replaces petroleum in S-PVC by recycling used cooking oil or industrial waste gases, resulting in 100% CO2 savings in bio-based S-PVC production. Furthermore, it is 100% recyclable and reusable, embracing the circular economy ideology.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce The Mountains Pass, a major new work from Olivia Block. A key player in Chicago’s vibrant experimental music scene since the late 1990s, Block has developed an extensive body of work grounded in a personalised, at times emotive approach to the studio-based practices of the musique concrète tradition, while also encompassing improvisation, orchestral pieces, sound installations, and a sustained engagement with the piano. On The Mountains Pass, recorded by Greg Norman at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio and meticulously edited and constructed over the course of three years, Block pushes into new terrain, introducing her singing voice and drums played by Jon Mueller into flowing assemblages that move seamlessly from ruminative organ tones and fragmented piano airs to explosions of sizzling synths and thundering percussion. Like many of Block’s past works, which include, for example, a sculptural installation using the sound of oyster beds, The Mountains Pass draws inspiration from nature and the animal world. Time spent in a particular mountain range in Northern New Mexico informs this suite of pieces, whose lyrics and titles refer particularly to animal life in the area. Beginning with bursts of white noise and delicate synthetic pops and squeaks, opener ‘Northward’ very soon reveals the special direction the album will take, as lyrical piano lines are joined by Block’s fragile voice, singing words written from the perspective of f2754, an endangered Mexican gray wolf who wandered more than five hundred miles from Arizona to New Mexico in 2022. The fragment of song quickly breaks off, leaving us with a ghostly electronic hum. ‘The Hermit’s Peak’ follows, one of two epic pieces at the album’s core. Beginning with chiming, almost harpsichord-like tones, it moves through episodes of spacious, ruminative piano, Jon Mueller’s sparkling cymbals, stuttering cut-up piano sounds, and a climax of keening organ and trumpet tones (performed by Thomas Madeja). Continuing the exploration of vintage keyboard and synth tones heard on Block’s Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea (Room 40, 2021), the music sometimes suggests the great outer-limits works of 70s Italian prog figures like Franco Battiato or Arturo Stalteri in the languorous drift of synthesizer, organ, and piano tones and the meticulous yet organic flow of its construction. ‘Violet-Green’ opens the second side with another epic journey, its lyrical content concerning ‘a mysterious bird die-off and a forest fire’. Block’s crystalline voice and rich piano chords at times call up the restrained chamber songs of Janet Sherbourne, but fragmented and threaded through passages of woozy pitch-bent keyboards, hypnotic distant thuds, tinkling bells, and searing distorted synth tones. On ‘f2754’, the freedom of the roaming wolf surges through dense layers of rapid keyboard attacks and long organ tones over a propulsive drum performance straight out of Animal Magnetism-era Arnold Dreyblatt. This distinctive sound world is then reencountered in a darkened mirror image in the uneasy, metallic shimmer of the closing ‘Ungulates’, named in reference to a heard of elk roaming through the mountains. Like Battiato’s Clic or Gastr del Sol’s Upgrade & Afterlife, The Mountains Pass inhabits the underexplored terrain where the beauty of song coexists with a radical formal openness, illuminating the deep musicality and warmth that have been present in Block’s work all along.

Dettinger’s Intershop and Oasis have long been held, by many fans of ambient and electronic music, to be some of the finest albums in their field. Produced by the mysterious Olaf Dettinger, about whom not much is publicly known, they were some of the earliest full-lengths released by the then-nascent Kompakt, and in many ways, they both articulated and defined the sound that would come to be known as Pop Ambient, while also existing, somehow, to the leftfield of any clearly recognisable genre.

Beautiful, sui generis works, it is a rare pleasure to see them being reissued on vinyl for a new generation of listeners to embrace. Originally released on CD only in 1999, Intershop was Kompakt’s first artist full-length. The music here simmers and broods, with opulent banks of tone marking out territory for rhythms that seem to be built from the clacking detritus of technology – hisses, thunks, knocks. Bass is deployed carefully, each drop a dubbed-out depth charge; drones spin and spiral, warping and weaving between the beats.

Oasis, released in 2000, refined the palette that Dettinger had explored on its predecessor. A blurred crusade of ambient texturology, its unassuming patterns, and subtle, incremental dynamics, admit to real beauty, and a kind of abstract sensuality that you don’t often experience with music that is, perhaps, similarly tooled, but not as poetic. Through seemingly simple gestures – whether lushly expansive repetitions, hyper-acute tremolo tones, or ear-tickling rhythms – it builds complex emotional resonance. It’s no surprise to discover Oasis is held in high esteem by artists like Panda Bear of Animal Collective, who once said of Dettinger, “For us, he was the dude.”

There is, of course, other music to know Dettinger by, too – his three excellent EPs for Kompakt, Blond (1998), Puma and Totentanz (1999), the latter of which, Michael Mayer once argued, “invented dubstep.” There is also a small, yet graceful run of compilation contributions, many of which can be found on Kompakt’s Total and Pop Ambient series. All this music has plenty to recommend it, sharing a clarity of purpose, and a rare, human warmth and depth. But Intershop and Oasis are the releases that distil Dettinger’s singular vision, and allow him, should he wish, to claim his place as a modern master of ambient and electronic music.

Dettingers Intershop und Oasis werden von vielen Fans von Ambient und elektronischer Musik seit langem als einige der besten Alben in diesem Bereich angesehen. Produziert von dem mysteriösen Olaf Dettinger, über den nicht viel bekannt ist, gehörten sie zu den ersten Alben, die von der damals aufstrebenden Plattenfirma Kompakt veröffentlicht wurden. In vielerlei Hinsicht formulierten und definierten sie den Sound, der später als Pop-Ambient bekannt werden sollte, während sie gleichzeitig irgendwie links von jedem klar erkennbaren Genre existierten.

Es ist eine seltene Freude zu sehen, dass diese wunderschönen Werke auf Vinyl wiederveröffentlicht werden, um sie einer neuen Generation von Hörern zugänglich zu machen. Ursprünglich wurde Intershop 1999 nur auf CD veröffentlicht und war Kompakts erstes komplettes Künstleralbum. Die Musik hier brodelt und brütet, mit opulenten Klangbänken, die das Territorium für Rhythmen abstecken, die aus dem klappernden Gerümpel der Technik gebaut zu sein scheinen – Zischen, Klopfen, Schaben. Der Bass wird sorgfältig eingesetzt, jeder Drop ist eine synchronisierte Tiefenladung; Drones drehen und winden sich spiralförmig und verflechten sich zwischen den Beats.

Oasis, das im Jahr 2000 erschien, verfeinerte die Palette, die Dettinger auf seinem Vorgänger erkundet hatte. Ein verschwommener Kreuzzug der Ambient-Texturologie, dessen unaufdringliche Muster und subtile, schrittweise Dynamik echte Schönheit und eine Art abstrakter Sinnlichkeit zulassen, die man nicht oft bei Musik erlebt, die vielleicht ähnlich ausgestattet, aber nicht so poetisch ist. Durch scheinbar einfache Gesten – seien es üppig ausladende Wiederholungen, hyperakute Tremolotöne oder ohrenbetäubende Rhythmen – baut sie eine komplexe emotionale Resonanz auf. Es ist keine Überraschung, dass Oasis von Künstlern wie Panda Bear von Animal Collective hoch geschätzt wird, der einmal über Dettinger sagte: “Für uns war er DER Typ”.

Es gibt natürlich auch noch andere Musik, die Dettinger bekannt macht – seine drei ausgezeichneten EPs für Kompakt, Blond (1998), Puma und Totentanz (1999), von denen letztere, wie Michael Mayer einmal kühn behauptete, “den Dubstep erfand”. Es gibt auch eine kleine, aber feine Reihe von Compilation-Beiträgen, von denen viele auf Kompakts Total- und Pop-Ambient-Serien zu finden sind. All diese Musik ist sehr empfehlenswert und zeichnet sich durch eine klare Zielsetzung und eine seltene, menschliche Wärme und Tiefe aus. Aber Intershop und Oasis sind die Veröffentlichungen, die Dettingers einzigartige Vision destillieren und es ihm ermöglichen, seinen Platz als moderner Meister der Ambient- und elektronischen Musik zu behaupten, sollte er dies wünschen.

Dettinger’s Intershop and Oasis have long been held, by many fans of ambient and electronic music, to be some of the finest albums in their field. Produced by the mysterious Olaf Dettinger, about whom not much is publicly known, they were some of the earliest full-lengths released by the then-nascent Kompakt, and in many ways, they both articulated and defined the sound that would come to be known as Pop Ambient, while also existing, somehow, to the leftfield of any clearly recognisable genre.

Beautiful, sui generis works, it is a rare pleasure to see them being reissued on vinyl for a new generation of listeners to embrace. Originally released on CD only in 1999, Intershop was Kompakt’s first artist full-length. The music here simmers and broods, with opulent banks of tone marking out territory for rhythms that seem to be built from the clacking detritus of technology – hisses, thunks, knocks. Bass is deployed carefully, each drop a dubbed-out depth charge; drones spin and spiral, warping and weaving between the beats.

Oasis, released in 2000, refined the palette that Dettinger had explored on its predecessor. A blurred crusade of ambient texturology, its unassuming patterns, and subtle, incremental dynamics, admit to real beauty, and a kind of abstract sensuality that you don’t often experience with music that is, perhaps, similarly tooled, but not as poetic. Through seemingly simple gestures – whether lushly expansive repetitions, hyper-acute tremolo tones, or ear-tickling rhythms – it builds complex emotional resonance. It’s no surprise to discover Oasis is held in high esteem by artists like Panda Bear of Animal Collective, who once said of Dettinger, “For us, he was the dude.”

There is, of course, other music to know Dettinger by, too – his three excellent EPs for Kompakt, Blond (1998), Puma and Totentanz (1999), the latter of which, Michael Mayer once argued, “invented dubstep.” There is also a small, yet graceful run of compilation contributions, many of which can be found on Kompakt’s Total and Pop Ambient series. All this music has plenty to recommend it, sharing a clarity of purpose, and a rare, human warmth and depth. But Intershop and Oasis are the releases that distil Dettinger’s singular vision, and allow him, should he wish, to claim his place as a modern master of ambient and electronic music.
Dettingers Intershop und Oasis werden von vielen Fans von Ambient und elektronischer Musik seit langem als einige der besten Alben in diesem Bereich angesehen. Produziert von dem mysteriösen Olaf Dettinger, über den nicht viel bekannt ist, gehörten sie zu den ersten Alben, die von der damals aufstrebenden Plattenfirma Kompakt veröffentlicht wurden. In vielerlei Hinsicht formulierten und definierten sie den Sound, der später als Pop-Ambient bekannt werden sollte, während sie gleichzeitig irgendwie links von jedem klar erkennbaren Genre existierten.

Es ist eine seltene Freude zu sehen, dass diese wunderschönen Werke auf Vinyl wiederveröffentlicht werden, um sie einer neuen Generation von Hörern zugänglich zu machen. Ursprünglich wurde Intershop 1999 nur auf CD veröffentlicht und war Kompakts erstes komplettes Künstleralbum. Die Musik hier brodelt und brütet, mit opulenten Klangbänken, die das Territorium für Rhythmen abstecken, die aus dem klappernden Gerümpel der Technik gebaut zu sein scheinen – Zischen, Klopfen, Schaben. Der Bass wird sorgfältig eingesetzt, jeder Drop ist eine synchronisierte Tiefenladung; Drones drehen und winden sich spiralförmig und verflechten sich zwischen den Beats.

Oasis, das im Jahr 2000 erschien, verfeinerte die Palette, die Dettinger auf seinem Vorgänger erkundet hatte. Ein verschwommener Kreuzzug der Ambient-Texturologie, dessen unaufdringliche Muster und subtile, schrittweise Dynamik echte Schönheit und eine Art abstrakter Sinnlichkeit zulassen, die man nicht oft bei Musik erlebt, die vielleicht ähnlich ausgestattet, aber nicht so poetisch ist. Durch scheinbar einfache Gesten – seien es üppig ausladende Wiederholungen, hyperakute Tremolotöne oder ohrenbetäubende Rhythmen – baut sie eine komplexe emotionale Resonanz auf. Es ist keine Überraschung, dass Oasis von Künstlern wie Panda Bear von Animal Collective hoch geschätzt wird, der einmal über Dettinger sagte: “Für uns war er DER Typ”.

Es gibt natürlich auch noch andere Musik, die Dettinger bekannt macht – seine drei ausgezeichneten EPs für Kompakt, Blond (1998), Puma und Totentanz (1999), von denen letztere, wie Michael Mayer einmal kühn behauptete, “den Dubstep erfand”. Es gibt auch eine kleine, aber feine Reihe von Compilation-Beiträgen, von denen viele auf Kompakts Total- und Pop-Ambient-Serien zu finden sind. All diese Musik ist sehr empfehlenswert und zeichnet sich durch eine klare Zielsetzung und eine seltene, menschliche Wärme und Tiefe aus. Aber Intershop und Oasis sind die Veröffentlichungen, die Dettingers einzigartige Vision destillieren und es ihm ermöglichen, seinen Platz als moderner Meister der Ambient- und elektronischen Musik zu behaupten, sollte er dies wünschen.

The complete original Erroll Garner album Concert by the Sea (Columbia CL-883), which marked the pianist's best-selling record ever. There was actually no official plan to record the concert, and the release came about because Garner's personal manager, Martha Glaser, spotted that a tape recorder was running backstage and decided to use the tape, originally intended for the Armed Forces Radio Network. A live version of the perennial Garner composition "Misty," performed by the same trio the following year, has been added as a bonus. 180- GRAM COLORED RED VINYL - THE COMPLETE ALBUM + 1 BONUS TRACK - Contains new specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz's writer BRIAN MORTON and by Paris' prestigious JAZZ MAGAZINE

On Gut Buster, Yosa Peit spawns fleshy sonic escapades, a swarm of vigorously processed vocals and soulful bass, set to a backdrop of visceral percussive structures. Full of roguish curiosity, the record is cast with an air of lo-fi experimentation, but with a platinum glint of pop sensibility. Peit's second album grapples with the destructive force of modern consumption, Gut Buster is an anti-capitalist battle cry that syntheses intimacy and hostility; a surrealist-punk affirmation and a testament to Peit's singular vision and unique approach. The free-ranging sound of Yosa Peit recalls the intense arrangements of a cyber-era Prince with the surrealist tones of Arthur Russell and early Björk. At the album's core, "World Eaters" unleashes scorching guitars in search of humankind's end, "I was born on a planet, I got hungry and I ate it." Even in the face of planetary doom and personal obstacles, Yosa evokes our propensity for mischief, humor and pleasure. "bb moon" processes sound solely from her bass into wicked oblivion. "CALL ME," a song about friendship, chews up it's anthemic melody into a gnarled strut worthy of an A$AP Rocky production, while "HAD3S" urges us to find balance, nodding to the mystical fuzz of Prince. Yosa's work has been called "personal, punk, poignant, deep" yet her genre-defying production, as textured as it is catchy, escapes definition. Gut Buster takes that collective playground for creation to planetary reaches, congregating friends from Berlin, Cologne, and New York's fuzzy musical underbelly: Employee, Funkycan, Gerry Franke, Glenn Astro, Nauker, Paingel, Tbz, and UCC Harlo. The record was mixed by Brainfeeder affiliate Benjamin Vukelic in Portland and Jan Brauer in Berlin. "Glitchy yet supple, the broken beats and warped abstractions are wholly unpredictable yet deliciously odd, like an esoteric mashup of Bjork, Aphex and Laurie Anderson" Electronic Sound Classic Black Vinyl, Gloss Laminated Sleeve, Printed inner "Gut" sleeve plus DL card.

Like all the best stories in rock 'n' roll, the epic journey of When Rivers Meet has never been plain sailing. Right now, the acclaimed Essex-based blues-rock duo Aaron and Grace Bond stand on the brink of their latest career peak, releasing fearless third album, Aces Are High, shaking stages on their Breaker Of Chains headline tour, toasting a third consecutive victory as UK Blues Federation Band Of The Year and pulling an army of fans along in the current. Combining powerful and heartfelt vocals with thundering guitar riffs, Essex-based Rock band When Rivers Meet offers originality with both talent and authentic personalities. Grace Bond leads with her larger-than-life vocals, as well as bringing raunched-up mandolin and violin instrumentals, while Aaron paints with seismic grooves, hypnotic cigar box licks and harmonies that stop all the clocks. With the Aces Are High material now rattling speakers and shaking stages everywhere from the UK festival circuit to Joe Bonamassa's Keeping The Blues Alive Mediterranean III Cruise in August, everything is flowing the right way for When Rivers Meet. "Looking back to 2019, when we really started as a duo, it's so surreal to think that now we're on our third album," reflects Aaron. "And when you see people singing the words back to you - my God, that's so emotional

Garth Erasmus is an artist and musician based in Cape Town, South Africa. "Threnody for the KhoiSan" is his first album under his own name. Since 1985 his artistic interests have broadened to include music-making, designing and making his own instruments based on indigenous KhoiSan knowledge. From 1999 to 2012 he was a member of the South African First Nation activist group Khoi Khonnexion. In the past couple of years Garth Erasmus has also been a pivotal part of various international performance pieces and exhibition projects which brought him regularly to Europe. Most of these activities were developed and performed in collaboration with the Hamburg based band Kante and his band Khoi Khonnexion. In April 2024 Garth Erasmus will be part of the group exhibtion "Oscillations" at Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

The upcoming album, How to Build an Ocean: Instructions is a project doused in personal conflict, but simultaneously a love letter to the normal and how beauty can be found in just being. Charged with references to literature, philosophy and film, as well as first hand experiences, the band explore thoughts of what it means to find purpose when everything feels purposeless, all whilst ultimately instructing themselves to find “small joys in the face of cosmic indifference”. Produced by George Perks (Enter Shikari, The Doves, You Me At Six), How to Build an Ocean: Instructions marks an exciting new development for Bears in Trees, being the first album they’ve recorded with the help of consultants outside of the band themselves, having previously relied on drummer George’s expertise, who outside of the band, works as an engineer at Subfrantic Studios. Tenderness, triumph, and a totally unashamed feeling of enjoying the ride whilst they're on it, How to Build an Ocean: Instructions is their definitive statement. Though no matter how far this record takes them, the most important thing is that they are together and doing what they love. Because when all is said and done, that's the connection that will last a lifetime. "We started the band because we loved hanging out with our friends and wanted to make stupid music together"; Iain concludes. "That's always been the reason, and it hasn't changed. All we want to do is make what we do as honest and authentic as possible. That's what it means to be in the Bears in Trees business."

The upcoming album, How to Build an Ocean: Instructions is a project doused in personal conflict, but simultaneously a love letter to the normal and how beauty can be found in just being. Charged with references to literature, philosophy and film, as well as first hand experiences, the band explore thoughts of what it means to find purpose when everything feels purposeless, all whilst ultimately instructing themselves to find “small joys in the face of cosmic indifference”. Produced by George Perks (Enter Shikari, The Doves, You Me At Six), How to Build an Ocean: Instructions marks an exciting new development for Bears in Trees, being the first album they’ve recorded with the help of consultants outside of the band themselves, having previously relied on drummer George’s expertise, who outside of the band, works as an engineer at Subfrantic Studios. Tenderness, triumph, and a totally unashamed feeling of enjoying the ride whilst they're on it, How to Build an Ocean: Instructions is their definitive statement. Though no matter how far this record takes them, the most important thing is that they are together and doing what they love. Because when all is said and done, that's the connection that will last a lifetime. "We started the band because we loved hanging out with our friends and wanted to make stupid music together"; Iain concludes. "That's always been the reason, and it hasn't changed. All we want to do is make what we do as honest and authentic as possible. That's what it means to be in the Bears in Trees business."

It’s been over seven years since The Rifles released their previous record, but now the east Londoners are set to return with their new album ‘Love Your Neighbour’ on April 26 which they today preview with the new single ‘The Kids Won’t Stop’. Their previous two albums - ‘Big Life’ and ‘None The Wiser’ - achieved the highest chart positions of their career to date, while their cult-like popularity has continued in the intervening years with countless sold-out London shows at venues including the Roundhouse, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, O2 Kentish Forum, KOKO, Electric Ballroom and Electric Brixton. The triumphant reaction and electrifying energy of those shows inspired The Rifles as they sent about writing ‘Love Your Neighbour’. It’s a record which bursts with the traits that have inspired such devotion amongst fans: songs as gritty as they are anthemic, and full of lyrics which capture broadly relatable experiences and provide evocative snapshots of modern British life. The overriding message of the album is a plea to embrace the power of your local community

EYE – the new band from Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard (MWWB) singer-songwriter/musician Jessica
Ball – has announced the arrival of their eagerly awaited debut album, 'Dark Light’. "These songs have
been many years in the making... Some of these ideas were crafted before MWWB, this is something
I've always wanted to do. Over the last couple of years, I’ve spent some time on finishing and crafting
these ideas and pieces of music into songs. Some were snippets of lyrics from my early twenties which
reflect on what seems like a different person. I think it’s quite poetic how it’s all come together now.”

New album by the successful duo Steve Kilbey (The Church) and Martin Kennedy. Interest and profile of Steve Kilbey has been raised considerably over the past year due to The Church re-forming, touring and issuing 2 new albums. Steve’s solo albums are all getting a complete makeover and the fan clubs are ablaze with rumours and gossips regarding forthcoming releases. Reviews & advertising in Vive Le Rock, Record Collector, Classic Rock, R2, The Big Takeover. Embark on a mesmerising journey with the third and culminating chapter of the highly acclaimed trilogy by Steve Kilbey and Martin Kennedy. Building on the success of Jupiter 13 (2021) and The Strange Life of Persephone Nimbus (2022), their latest epic, 'Premonition K,' unveils a sumptuous and organic sonic landscape, delving into the dark and enigmatic realms that exist between the boundaries of life and death. This album, a testament to their musical synergy, encapsulates a darkly beautiful soundscape, drawing inspiration from diverse sources, ranging from the haunting tones of Roger Waters' Final Cut to the shadowy depths explored by early 1970s Black Sabbath. Steve Kilbey, best known as frontman of legendary Aussie post-prog rockers The Church, infuses each track with an emotional resonance and sense of mystery. Martin Kennedy co-pilots this sonic odyssey with Steve Kilbey, weaving an intricate musical bed for Kilbey's lyrical dreamings. Drawing from his twenty years of soundscaping with All India Radio, Kennedy adds layers of sonic complexity, at once warmly familiar and mysteriously strange, creating an immersive experience for the listener. Together, Kilbey and Kennedy invite you to break out the Ouija board, turn off the lights, and immerse yourself in the mysteries of 'Premonition K'

Noir Brésil is the debut album from Franco-Brazilian artist, composer and producer Yndi. Formerly known as Dream Koala, she decided to retire the moniker back in 2017 and began writing what ultimately became Noir Brésil, a modern pop album where afro-Brazilian percussion meets French and Portuguese poetry to create an immersive soundscape. As Dream Koala, Yndi released EPs Odyssey (2013,) Earth. Home. Destroyed. (2014,) and Exodus (2015,) as well as popular single "We Can't Be Friends", gaining her international success and garnering multi-millions of streams across platforms. In 2020, there were so many images of black people suffering on social media. After that traumatizing year, Yndi needed images showing that being black wasn't only about suffering, she wanted healing images. It's exactly what the Afro-Brazilian culture has been doing for centuries, it conveys a strength that keeps us alive in a dehumanizing society. The title track "Noir Brésil" is a poem for her ancestors. Yndi wrote "Amazona" on an atabaque (Afro-Brazilian percussion) rhythm inspired by the myth of the Amazons, warrior women, and Douanier Rousseau's painting La Guerre. The violence of the lyrics contrasts with the melancholic harmonies. The song pays tribute to the anger and strength required by women to live in the contemporary world. The song "Novo Mundo" and its animated video directed by Nina-Lou Giachettia are a reflection of Brazil, through luminous and colorful landscapes. Here the evocation of the divine, the beauty and the violence of nature reflects perfectly the essence of Yndi'sdebut album.

Dave Lee's "AC Soul Symphony" alias has been releasing delectable and sultry disco since 2005 but reached his magnus opus in 2023 with the release of the "Metamorphosis" LP. Here we find two tracks handpicked from the album and delivered, for the first time, in a 7" format. The single starts much as the album does with the track "Windy City Theme", beautifully scored, recorded, and produced legato strings envelope the track, punctuated with horns and vocals reminiscent of a Love Unlimited Orchestra production. This version of the track has been rearranged, speeding up the pacing of the track and reaching the juicy parts in a really satisfying way. On the flip side we have the title track from the album "Metamorphosis", which is the first time the vocal version has been made available on Vinyl. A bass laden intro gives ways to glistening pianos and those signature strings (have we mentioned how good the strings are?). A more laid back and seductive track than the A side, but no less appealing. Again, due to the limitations of the 7" format, "Metamorphosis" has been expertly rearranged with loving care and attention.

Repress

CRG020V1 and CRG020V2 are the vinyl samplers of the mix Cleric made for its 20th release.

To celebrate hitting their 20th release, Cleric's imprint pulls together 23 talents for a various artist mix compilation including tracks from the likes of Rebekah, Cleric, Stef Mendesidis, Remco Beekwilder & Stranger, Endlec, Kwartz, Setaoc Mass, Roman Poncet, Slam and many more.

Clergy has become synonymous with a balance of atmospheric and hard hitting brand of techno ever since 2014. The boss's own music has been key to that, with carefully curated releases from guests such as Dax J, Kwartz, Reflec and Cleric himself. Helping to make the label an underground favourite. "Clergy Visions 01" sees Cleric invite an array on techno heavyweights to contribute to this compilation that's mixed by the label boss himself.

The mix opens up with the bleak ambience and fizzing electric cables of Jokasti & Nek's "Grained" then Sept's "Artifical" lays down a tunnelling techno groove that immediately locks you in. The mysterious alias, Reizemann heads off to a cosmic realm with its deep space pads slowly building the momentum throughout the drums. The energy levels then stay high throughout tracks from Roman Poncet, Kwartz and Setaoc Mass, then leading onto the groove of Stef Mendesidis.

Testament to Cleric's skills as a DJ and sequencer is the fact this journey is constantly evolving while remaining coherent. A mid-section featuring the likes of Endlec, Sleeparchive and EAS keeps you on your toes with perfectly stripped back but hard dynamic drum programming and intense melody work. Remco Beekwilder & Stranger bring a more hard hitting and industrial style before Slam calm the fires once more allowing you to sink into a smooth, elongated roller. It's left to the dystopian darkness of Rebekah and atmospheric techno brilliance of Lerias to close out this most adventurous mix in real style

2024 Repress

CRG020V1 and CRG020V2 are the vinyl samplers of the mix Cleric made for its 20th release.

To celebrate hitting their 20th release, Cleric's imprint pulls together 23 talents for a various artist mix compilation including tracks from the likes of Rebekah, Cleric, Stef Mendesidis, Remco Beekwilder & Stranger, Endlec, Kwartz, Setaoc Mass, Roman Poncet, Slam and many more.

Clergy has become synonymous with a balance of atmospheric and hard hitting brand of techno ever since 2014. The boss's own music has been key to that, with carefully curated releases from guests such as Dax J, Kwartz, Reflec and Cleric himself. Helping to make the label an underground favourite. "Clergy Visions 01" sees Cleric invite an array on techno heavyweights to contribute to this compilation that's mixed by the label boss himself.

The mix opens up with the bleak ambience and fizzing electric cables of Jokasti & Nek's "Grained" then Sept's "Artifical" lays down a tunnelling techno groove that immediately locks you in. The mysterious alias, Reizemann heads off to a cosmic realm with its deep space pads slowly building the momentum throughout the drums. The energy levels then stay high throughout tracks from Roman Poncet, Kwartz and Setaoc Mass, then leading onto the groove of Stef Mendesidis.

Testament to Cleric's skills as a DJ and sequencer is the fact this journey is constantly evolving while remaining coherent. A mid-section featuring the likes of Endlec, Sleeparchive and EAS keeps you on your toes with perfectly stripped back but hard dynamic drum programming and intense melody work. Remco Beekwilder & Stranger bring a more hard hitting and industrial style before Slam calm the fires once more allowing you to sink into a smooth, elongated roller. It's left to the dystopian darkness of Rebekah and atmospheric techno brilliance of Lerias to close out this most adventurous mix in real style.

The collaborative project from Vincent Lemieux and Guillaume Coutu-Dumont, Flabbergast, returns this March with a new EP, entitled ‘Default Mode Network’ and coming via Swiss imprint Adam’s Bite.

Vincent Lemieux is a staple of the Montreal, Canada underground and a widely beloved DJ for his impeccable technique and selections, he’s also offered up productions on the Studio Club and DISDAT labels and a collaborative EP alongside Ohm Hourani for Jigit and co-founding the Musique Risquée alongside Akufen, Deadbeat and Stephen Beaupré.

Guillaume Coutu-Dumont, a fellow Montrealer has long been a prized producer for his unique spin on micro house and
deep house music with his music finding a home on the likes of Mule Musiq, Meander and Dokutoku among others. In 2015 the two joined forces for their Flabbergast debut on Circus Company, have gone on to release with Yoyaku and Copier/Coller, and here makes a triumphant return for Switzerland’s Adam’s Bite with four fresh original cuts.

Opening the EP is the playful ‘Peppermint Poddle’, fuelled by oscillating synth tones, twitchy percussion and saturated bass alongside a spoken word vocal. ‘Manger Du Bon Manger’ then
shifts focus to cinematic organ lines, jazzy drums and a snaking bass groove throughout.

‘Mou D’état’ kicks off the B-side and sees the duo dive deeper via ethereal atmospherics, their signature wonky, mind bending synths and an amalgamation of processed vocal murmurs. Lastly
‘Dans L’oeil’ sees César Merveille join the party, the trio working collectively to create a unique slice of percussion fueled microhouse with intricately intertwined organic percussion, dubby
synth flutters, cinematic pads and pulsating subs.

Here In, Absence" ("Here, In Absence" for the book) is the result of the dialogue between the Finnish photographer Mikael Siirilä and the music artists The Humble Bee & Offthesky initiated by IIKKI, between March 2023 and January 2024.

After a first release in 2019 on IIKKI ("All Other Voices Gone, Only Yours Remains"), a second one in 2020 on LAAPS ("We Were The Hum Of Dreams"), Craig Tattersall (The Humble Bee) and Jason Corder (Offthesky) come back with a third stunning out-of-time beauty, paired with the Mikael Siirilä photography works.

Craig Tattersall is a former member of The Remote Viewer and Famous Boyfriend bandmate Andrew Johnson. Tattersall's music can be found these days more often under his alias The Humble Bee; as a founder member of The Boats; and in his collaborative works with the likes of Bill Seaman in The Seaman And The Tattered Sail. He has run the wonderful label Cotton Goods from 2008 to 2015 and since 2009 he has recorded 16 solo albums on his moniker The Humble Bee and almost the same under his name on some collaborations.

Jason Corder is experimental-ambient multimedia artist based in Denver, CO. He has been producing music, video art, audio software, and the occasional interactive sound sculpture, for over 20 years. He teaches private courses on generative music and occasionally lectures on various sound design topics at Denver University. He currently is the Audio Director at the Denver based videogame studio Dire Wolf. Over the years, he has worked with labels such as Home Normal, 12k's term, Facture, LAAPS and more. Over the years he has performed at Mutek, Decibel, Communikey and other festivals, sharing the bill with likeminded artists Pole, Matmos, William Basinski, and more.

Mikael Siirilä: "I am a darkroom artist (b. 1978) based in Helsinki, Finland. My small individual photographs examine the themes of absence, presence and outsiderhood. My characters appear immersed in their inner worlds and moments of being: simultaneously absent and intensely present. The pictures also reveal the outsider’s gaze, lost in observation and reflection. My pictures are true observations captured with minimal interaction with the subjects. Their origin is in the act of looking, and they feel causally connected to the world. The craft of printmaking is inseparable from my artistic expression. I work solely with black & white film and the darkroom. The slow, contemplative process lends the pictures a calmness. I make physical pictures I want to stare at, feel and become lost in. Again and again."

Fine Art Book, Ltd. to 500 copies:
Hardcover book printed on Munken Lynx 150g/m2 // 80 pages, 18cm x 24cm, 51 photos // Logo and slot embossed // Selective UV varnish // Visible seam and cutting cover pages // Hand-numbered, hand-stamped.

repressed !

● Essential 14 track collection of "WaJazz" music selected and compiled by renowned Japanese jazz expert Yusuke Ogawa, owner of the Universounds record store in Tokyo.

● Gatefold 180g heavy double vinyl LP. Comes with extensive track-by-track liner notes by Yusuke Ogawa.

● All tracks licensed by Nippon Columbia, Tokyo, Japan.

● Mastering and lacquer cut by Jukka Sarapää at Timmion Cutting Lab, Helsinki, Finland.

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Universounds, HMV Record Shop and 180g team up for an exceptional release: from blazing hard bop to free jazz, to introspective saxophone solos and massive big band sounds, renowned Japanese jazz expert Yusuke Ogawa presents an essential 14 track collection of "WaJazz" music taken from the Nippon Columbia vaults. Featuring Jiro Inagaki, Minoru Muraoka, Hiroshi Suzuki, Hozan Yamamoto, Count Buffalo, Takeshi Inomata, and much more!

"Japanese jazz has been recognized and celebrated by music lovers worldwide for decades. The origins of this trend may be traced back to the rare groove movement that flourished in the 1990s, but its current deep and wide popularity seems to be connected to the fact that Japanese people have been reevaluating their own jazz since the mid-2000s, locally referred to as WaJazz ("Wa" meaning Japan but also theShōwa emperor period, from 1926 to 1989). Since the beginning of the 2000s, there has been a growing trend to move away from the DJ-focused perspective and to appreciate jazz with a deeper understanding. Nowadays, there is more and more interest in the background and roots in which jazz has developed in Japan, with Japanese jazz as a whole now considered as its own distinctive genre.

Of course, even if we speak about "WaJazz" as one genre, there is a truly wide variety of styles within it. However, when Japanese musicians play, there is something uniquely Japanese flowing through that creates a kind of synergy. It may be the melody, the rhythm, or even something deeper, like an inexpressible flicker. I would be happy if some of its charms and secrets emerge from the fourteen tracks included in this collection." (Yusuke Ogawa)

Yusuke Ogawa has been running the Universounds store in Tokyo since 2001, specializing in jazz and second-hand, rare, and collector records. He is also a reissue supervisor, label manager, DJ, and music writer. Known for his vast musical knowledge, eye for detail, and archival skills, Ogawa has worked on more than 250 reissues and compilations – including the highly praised Deep Jazz Reality and Project Re:Vinyl series. He is the co-author of the Wa-Jazz Disc Guide and the Independent Black Jazz of America books.

Repress!

New school Italian techno sensation Alignment is back with a third thrilling EP for on Charlotte de Witte’s KNTXT label that once again stands him apart.

Alignment's previous outings on the label - the Time EP in April 2020, then his Nothingness EP in November 2020 - made huge impacts. They are standout techno offerings from a young and exciting artist who has quickly risen to the top. He has remained hugely busy in the last 12 months with a wide-ranging sound that takes in everything from old school bangers to trance-tinged rollers via futuristic workouts.

Says label boss Charlotte de Witte, "Alignment's music has been strongly represented in all my livestreams of 2020 and 2021 and I honestly can't wait to finally bring his music and his latest creations on Power EP to the dancefloor. It's made to make you move and I'm very happy to have him on board once again!“

The artist himself adds, "The vibes we shared pre-pandemic on our beloved dance-floors inspired me a lot to create Power EP. I tried to focus on effective and highly energetic, peak-time techno weapons for KNTX011. Signature synths, big stabs and kicks following only one formula - no compromise and four to the floor.”

First up is Power, a high octane track with hard drums, slamming bass and bright synths that cannot fail to get hands in the air. The excellent 'Disconnection' has laser-like synths shooting across the face of the track while big, edgy trance stabs light up the barreling drums from way up above. 'Frequency' is another trance-influenced track that brings peak time energy to stomping and distorted drums. It is an emotive rollercoaster that never lets up and will make a mark on even the biggest dance floors. Last of all is 'Radioactivity' which has scuffed metal textures, crashing drums and strobe-lit synth lines that will turn every party into a rave.

Don't judge a book by its cover. Judge a record by its cover.

And, perhaps, its title.

Cedar Walton's Mobius is as outrageously, disorientatingly brilliant as the stunning jacket design, featuring the legendary jazz pianist morphing into a mobius strip, set against a beautiful sky filled with cumulus clouds. A proper jazz-funk fusion slapfest, Mobius is a stellar electric set from - essentially - one *hell* of a SUPERBAND.

Yes, in addition to Walton's Fender Rhodes wizardry, Mobius is elevated by Ryo Kawasaki's stinging electric guitar, pristinely clear vocals by Adrienne Albert and Lani Groves, rootsy percussion by Ray Mantilla and Omar Clay, alto and baritone from Charles Davis, trumpet from Roy Burrowes, Gordon Edwards on bass and Frank Foster's tenor sax. Oh and did we mention STEVE GADD ON DRUMS?!?!

Gem after gem of looping, bliss-inducing gold, it's an incredibly revelatory album. It presents a thrilling synthesis of R&B, funk, blues and hard bop (with a hint of rock), all driven by an idiosyncratic electronic keyboard. Walton, a giant in the jazz world, got quite the workout every time he played, from piano to arp synthesizer to clarinet to electric piano to mini-moog and back again.

Mobius was Cedar Walton's debut for RCA in 1975. The versatile artist confirmed his abilities as a player, composer, interpreter and arranger with this stunning record, and his own bright compositions offered a springboard for the improvisations of the different soloists. Coltrane's "Blue Trane" is the first classic to be given the funkafied Mobius treatment, Ryo Kawasaki let loose all over neck-snapping Gadd-drum gold before the horns take a fiery turn and subsequently give way to Cedar's virtuosity. A sparkling b-boy break version of Thelonious Monk's "Off Minor" (featuring an absolutely *fire* solo from Walton) really sets proceedings alight. Of the three original pieces, the shuffling, percussive power of "Soho" is just absolutely mind bending Latin-influenced jazzy soul whilst the mellow vibes of "The Maestro" bring elegant, sumptuous soul. And then there's the effortlessly funky "Road Island Red". Just too, too good.

Cedar Walton was born in Dallas, Texas, on January 17, 1934 and began his professional career in 1959 when he began touring for several years with the J.J. Johnson Quintet. He later joined the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet and then Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Pretty solid credentials, right? While based in New York City, Cedar played with such luminaries as Donald Byrd, Eddie Harris, Blue Mitchell, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Heath and Milt Jackson. Without question, he was one of the most complete and gifted musicians of his time and Mobius provides proof of that. The fresh, danceable tracks, all firmly rooted in the living tradition of blues and gospel, are skilfully presented by a master who enjoyed keeping abreast of contemporary tastes and was always keen to renew his language.

As the album notes state: “Mobius, which is the theoretical shape of the infinite universe, makes use of the most modern recording techniques and synthesizers. We mastered and mixed so that it’s hotter than the competition, which should help radio play and in-store demonstration.” Indeed. Mobius is really gorgeous mid-70s fusion, ranging from the funky to the ecstatic. It's an absolute MONSTER that will completely blow you away; and, yes, it's as wild and hypnotic as the cover. The audio for Mobius has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring it sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.