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Adopting a collaborative approach for the recording of their third album, Death Bells have returned Between Here & Everywhere, an effort that captures the cross-section of Southern California's shadowy hidden interzones, outside of the lights and luxury. The record features nine new songs that represent Will Canning and Remy Veselis' continual growth, as well as accompaniment by an experienced cast of contributors on keys, strings, piano, and operatic backup vocals. Recorded with Colin Knight at Paradise Studios, and mixed by Mike Kriebel at Golden Beat, Between Here & Everywhere bristles with immediacy and emotion, with every element tactile, balanced, and elevated. Between Here & Everywhere sets out to map the potent mess of Los Angeles. Canning cites the "vastness" of the band's adopted home as a constant muse, and much like the city itself, the album ebbs gradually from harrowing to hopeful over its 35-minute runtime. The lyrics are categorized as "narrative, but not autobiographical," born of intrigue, intimacy, and a sense of "looking outward." From the highly-strung blast of "Hysteria", to the hypnotic rhythms of "Lifespring", and the staunchly resonant hope displayed in "Last Days", "Space Without A Name" and "Eternity Street", Between Here & Everywhere encompasses Death Bells' most captivating work to date.

Adopting a collaborative approach for the recording of their third album, Death Bells have returned Between Here & Everywhere, an effort that captures the cross-section of Southern California's shadowy hidden interzones, outside of the lights and luxury. The record features nine new songs that represent Will Canning and Remy Veselis' continual growth, as well as accompaniment by an experienced cast of contributors on keys, strings, piano, and operatic backup vocals. Recorded with Colin Knight at Paradise Studios, and mixed by Mike Kriebel at Golden Beat, Between Here & Everywhere bristles with immediacy and emotion, with every element tactile, balanced, and elevated. Between Here & Everywhere sets out to map the potent mess of Los Angeles. Canning cites the "vastness" of the band's adopted home as a constant muse, and much like the city itself, the album ebbs gradually from harrowing to hopeful over its 35-minute runtime. The lyrics are categorized as "narrative, but not autobiographical," born of intrigue, intimacy, and a sense of "looking outward." From the highly-strung blast of "Hysteria", to the hypnotic rhythms of "Lifespring", and the staunchly resonant hope displayed in "Last Days", "Space Without A Name" and "Eternity Street", Between Here & Everywhere encompasses Death Bells' most captivating work to date.

Canada’s WAKE have never been a band interested in repeating themselves, this abundantly apparent from their discography, having evolved with every release. 2020’s Devouring Ruin made this more clear than ever, hammering the point home with the Confluence EP in the same year, and now they return with Thought Form Descent, their most dynamic, diverse and emotional release to date. “I’d describe the record as a place to reconsider what ‘extreme’ means. The words ‘brutal’, ‘crushing’, ‘devastating’ are overused adjectives for extreme music. We wanted to force people to confront the idea that ‘brutal’ or ‘extreme’ ideas aren’t just blastbeats or angular tritones, or, more importantly, ‘brutal’ elements alongside pointedly passive elements can create their own experience that can channel both and neither.” The result is eight nuanced tracks that run the gamut from relentlessly heavy to exquisitely beautiful, often simultaneously, and instantly grab hold of the listener, demanding their full attention. However, at the same time, they are lushly textured and densely layered, and offer more with every subsequent exposure, unfurling to show hidden depths, and taking WAKE to a whole new level.

KiNK's first release on Sofia Records this year lives up to its title and its creator's reputation. The relentless energy, love of musical adventure and undamped enthusiasm of a KiNK live set can be found here in all its glory.

Wake Up is not only an instruction and a hidden compliment to Laurent Garnier, it's also evidence of the Bulgarians uncanny ability to deliver steamrollers with various twists and turns, while hitting the peak effortlessly.
Beep Beep adds a certain element of mania to the menu. For the lack of a better description, please imagine Mr. Oizo and Steve Poindexter making a record together. Not for the faint at heart.
That can be said for the rest of the EP as well. Featuring Redeye, Room To Jack is on the same level of Beep Beep. Traditional topics of Chicago House get a bench test on a speed farm.
Dancing to Scrambler one would probably need the same room to jack. Swapping the Windy City with British raving fields, KiNK and Raredub deliver a take on the early sound of UK that might miss breakbeats, but manage to re-use all the other ingredients to a hair: fine-tuned and updated. Quotation without modern misinterpretation. Hyper and epic at the same time. And always remember the future!

Towards The SeaVery Limited new pressing on Orange/White Galaxy vinyl. This is for Indies only. Chelsea Wolfe's sound is best described with broad strokes: elemental, intense, radiant, ancient yet modern, intimate yet expansive, dark and sparkling. Hues of black metal and deep blues inform her ever-evolving electric folk—a warm force that wraps itself around the listener, encouraging uplift, seeking triumph. Her voice similarly haunts and soothes, with words that illuminate life's darker corners in order to reveal the unlikely truth and beauty hidden within. Originally hailing from Northern California, Wolfe's formative years were spent tinkering in her country musician father's home studio, however, she long lacked the confidence to share her work. Then, in 2009, an overseas excursion as part of a nomadic performance troupe ignited her passion for performing and initiated a renewed interest in writing and recording. After performing in cathedrals, basements and old nuclear plants to whoever would listen, she returned home with a new drive. She began toting around an 8-track and recording as the mood hit, eventually editing her findings into a breathtaking debut album, 2010's The Grime & the Glow. Marrying the gentle intimacy of folk, the atmospheric voodoo of death rock, and the bleak, sullen nihilism of black metal, Wolfe's sound effectively cast a genre all her own: a cavernous rumble, marked by stuttering drums, ethereal synths, and a wash of guitar, all very much in the service of one of the most hypnotic, celestial voices in modern music. Described as both healing and harrowing, enchanting and narcotic, the album established Wolfe as a force on the rise. Inspired, Wolfe then relocated to Los Angeles and recorded her second album, 2011's Apokalypsis, which found her in an actual studio with her live band. The songs captured therein maintained the strikingly visceral elements of her debut, further showcase Wolfe’s unique songwriting ability, while adding a serious heaviness of sound that balanced eloquently with her transcendent voice. Its release was subsequently met with critical adoration, and rightly landed on numerous best of 2011 lists.

, Ivor Novello award-winning band The Feeling have announced a new chapter in their career with their sixth studio album, Loss. Hope. Love - out May 6th on Island Records - back where it all started in 2006 for their Top 3 debut album Twelve Stops and Home. Self-produced, predominantly at their East London studio during lockdown, Loss. Hope. Love is the sound of a band who have reconsidered their identity, taken control of their sound and embraced the Queen-esque theatrical elements of their DNA, recently realised by the success of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. The Feeling return a whole new perspective. 15 years since their multi-million selling debut record Twelve Stops and Home - the new album is bursting with joy, but with the thread of melancholy that’s always been synonymous with their flawless songwriting.

On their third album »Constant Connection«, West Australian-based Erasers create hypnotic compositions of synth, guitar and voice, evoking the vast expanse of their native landscape and the shrouded emotions behind the senses. Comprising of vocalist, synth player Rebecca Orchard and Rupert Thomas on guitar and synths, Erasers have developed their earthly kosmische music into an open language based on drone, variation in repetition and minimal song structures. Based in Perth, regarded one of the most isolated cities in the world, Orchard and Thomas’s music has brewed in the city’s vibrant DIY/Outsider community and evolved into a meditation on landscape, power, the shadow-world of human emotions and stream of consciousness. »Constant Connection«, with its waves of sound and chant-like vocals evokes a trance that suggests an infinity just beyond the senses.

At the heart of each Erasers composition is the interplay between the instrumentation, played with stoic restraint and recorded directly with minimal effects and the transcendental states induced in the listener. It’s a magic that is performed in plain sight and all the more powerful for it. The recognisable vibrato of Fender Rhodes keyboards and simple drum machine loops, the subtle strands of analog synth melodies that snake in and out of the ear, above all the towering encantations of Rebecca Orchard’s undeniably Australian-accented hymns; all of this is presented with minimal ostentation and yet it instantly engenders a dream state, hints at an infinity beyond the material.

Shades of John Cale’s 70s work with Nico, early 70s German synthesists Kluster and even fellow Australians Fabulous Diamonds can be seen as stylistic touchstones for Constant Connection. Where Nico hinted at the macabre and gothic, Rebecca Orchard’s similarly gliding vocal is more zoned in to a kind of oceanic openness, with words becoming chants and spells that suggested themselves to the singer during recording sessions. It’s this hidden hand of improvisatory, automatic writing that lends a sense of expanse to the music. On opener I Understand, while the lyrics might hint at discontent the emotional spectrum it opens up is far more rich and complex, as layered as the waves of droning chords that are the bedrock of each Erasers track. The title track talks of flow, continuum and balance, the protagonist in the song seemingly weightless, gently pulled through a walking reality that borders on dream. In Erasers’ world, it seems, the borders between reality and dream, consciousness and sub-consciousness are blurred and eroded.

On Constant Connection, Erasers’ music might be deeply evocative of landscape but it’s never clear which one. The vast, open terrain that surrounds Perth is dusty, burned by the sun into desert and Constant Connection feels like the product of the heat and relative isolation, the altered states these elements can create. But it’s these altered states of mind that appear to be the real landscape described by Erasers. It’s a landscape that’s hazy, in-and-out of focus, with emotional undertows pushing and pulling you into a weightlessness. On album closer Easy To See the band dispense with percussion all together, field recordings of the water at the edge of their native city ushering in two duetting synths. Orchard’s vocal undulates with the flow, viewing both the geographical and psychological landscape from the perspective of a consciousness not bound by bodies and from a timescale measured in millennia. The album ends as it begins, with field recordings of the real world that the music seeps out from, temporarily, before regressing back into the other realm it feels like it belongs to.

Between these two recorded hints of reality, Erasers manifest a deeply sensual dreamscape that constantly feels like it’s dissolving at its seams. A desert psychedelia emanating from a real world that might not be that real in the first place.

Meaning all things magic and supernatural, the root of the word occult is that which is hidden, concealed, beyond the limits of our minds. If this is occult, then the Occult Architecture of Moon Duo’s fourth album - a psychedelic opus in two separate volumes released in 2017 is an intricately woven hymn to the invisible structures found in the cycle of seasons and the journey of day into night, dark into light.

Offering a cosmic glimpse into the hidden patterning embedded in everything, Occult Architecture reflects the harmonious duality of these light and dark energies through the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang.

Following the Yin (feminine, darkness, night, earth) represented on Occult Architecture Vol. 1, Vol. 2 presents the Yang. Yang means “the bright side of the hill” and is associated with the male, sun, light and the spirit of heaven, and as such Vol. 2 explores the light and airy elements of Moon Duo’s complex psyche.

“In production we referred to Vol. 1 as the fuzz dungeon, and Vol. 2 as the crystal palace,” guitarist Ripley Johnson explains. “The darkness of Vol. 1 gave birth to the light of Vol. 2. We had to have both elements in order to complete the cycle. We’re releasing them separately to allow them their own space, and to ensure clarity of vision. To that end we also mixed Vol. 2 separately, in the height of Portland summer, focusing on its sonic qualities of lightness, air, and sun. Listeners can ultimately use the two volumes individually or together, depending on circumstance or the desired effect.”

From its earliest utterances, experimental music has been particularly disposed to transnational and cross-cultural collaboration. Seeking the answer for a fundamental problem - how to transcend the boundaries of difference, distance, and time - it presents a means to find common ground and communicate through the elemental form of sound. Over the last 5 years, this precisely what the duo of Félicia Atkinson & Jefre Cantu-Ledesma has achieved, intertwining sublime sonorities across the geographic expanses between their respective homes in France and the United States. Their third album for Shelter Press, ‘Un hiver en plein été’ (‘A winter in the middle of summer’) - the first to have been largely recorded by Atkinson and Cantu-Ledesma together in the same space - distills a mesmerizing pallet of acoustic and electronic sources into an open discourse of radically poetic forms, offering glimpses of warmth and intimacy waiting in the post-covid world to come.

Both veteran experimentalists with celebrated bodies of solo work behind them - each traversing the challenges of electroacoustic practice in their own singular ways - prior to their first recorded outing in 2016, Félicia Atkinson and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma had only crossed paths in person once, initially meeting in San Fransisco during 2009. The mutual bond formed during that brief encounter flowered into their first LP, ‘Comme Un Seul Narcisse’, followed two years later by 2018’s ‘Limpid As The Solitudes’. Both recorded remotely - sending files back and forth, fortified by conversations on a vast range of subjects - these two albums were guided by impassioned conceptual nods to Guy Debord, Baudelaire, Brion Gysin and Sylvia Plath, while seeking resolutions for the challenges and unique possibilities that working at a distance provoked.

Where the triumphs of its predecessors rose from the bridging of disparate moments and divergent spaces, ‘Un hiver en plein été’ culminates as a celebration of closeness, a result of Atkinson and Cantu-Ledesma working together in the studio, responsively in real time, for the first time. Recorded in Brooklyn during August of 2019 - a handful of months before the pandemic would impose chasmic distances across the globe - its six discrete works, carefully crafted and finalized over the ensuing year, evolve seamlessly across the album’s two sides, weaving a sprawling tapestry of sonority, within which both artists retaining their own voices and visions, while drawing each other towards uncharted ground.

Atkinson likens the recording of ‘Un hiver en plein été’ to have been akin to “a playground”, each artist “hungry for each sound, a bit like the rush in the Louvre in Godard’s Bande à part”, to which Cantu-Ledesma adds that the process seemed to have had “a mind of its own”, with both “along for the ride”. This organic sense of entropy and enthusiasm - a joyous exploration of the unknown - guides the momentum of the album’s evolving arc, as unfolding chasms of ambient space ripple with humanity, life, and fleeting glimpses of the actions that led to its material core.

Crafted from deconstructed melodic elements and drifting long-tones - laden with subtle nods to Indian classical ragas and free jazz - searching patterns of speech, textural elements captured within the studio and the outside world, and searching tonal and percussive interventions, ‘Un hiver en plein été’ coheres as a multi-faceted series of electroacoustic dialogues; nesting conversations between two artists working at the juncture of abstraction and narration, field recording and harmony, and the philosophical and phenomenological, in search for the meaning of friendship, and its manifestation in pure sound.

Four Flies' new record series, ITALIAN LIBRARY SONGBOOK - Masters of Cinematic Music Reimagined into Song, hopes to build a bridge between the modern and the contemporary. Producers and songwriters from today's music scene put their spin on hidden tracks and outtakes from the catalogues of Italian soundtrack maestros, reimagining them into new, previously unheard songs poised between pop and club culture – a sound nestled somewhere in between Balearic, downtempo, and organic grooves.

Volume I focuses on Alessandro Alessandroni, a composer whose trajectory is emblematic with respect to Four Flies' journey as a label and publisher. Despite being best known in his lifetime for his unmistakable whistle in Ennio Morricone's soundtracks for Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, Alessandroni was way more than that. He was a refined composer and multi-instrumentalist, and one always ahead of his time. Partly thanks to Four Flies and its contribution to the rediscovery of the Maestro with releases such as the EP "Afro Discoteca" and the compilation album "Lost & Found", this has become unquestionably clear in the past few years, which have seen his name climb to the top of collectors' want lists and gain recognition in the international music industry.

This release goes back to one of Alessandroni's lesser known film scores, Sangue di sbirro (written for Alfonso Brescia's 1976 poliziottesco Cop's Blood), where he created his own version of the soul-infused jazz-funk music typically found in 70s Blaxploitation movies.

More specifically, Neapolitan producer pAd and London singer-songwriter Jessica Duncan reimagine the original "Philadelphia", which appears on Side B and whose title clearly refers to the city that, back in the 70s, saw the birth of (mellow) disco. The result of their collaboration is "Do You Wanna Get Close?" on Side A, a downtempo, jazz-funk and Balearic gem pervaded by warm, sexy and elegant pop-soul vibes that make it a perfect club track to enjoy the night until the early hours of the morning.

To ensure maximum audio quality, the mastering was done by Fabrizio De Carolis at his Reference Mastering studio in Rome's Prati neighborhood (the same neighborhood that was once the epicenter of Roman library music) while the vinyl cut at the The Carvery, the multiple Grammy-nominated London studio behind some of the best organic grooves records of the past decade. The result is a deep, full, rich and three-dimensional sound that enhances the beauty of both tracks.

The series and volume artwork is by graphic designer and calligrapher Luca Barcellona, an artist used to working with analog tools such as ink, brushes and pencils. He drew inspiration from the world of literature, imagining each release as one of the volumes in an elegantly bound classics book series - an analogy that reminds us of the tactile element that makes vinyl records so unique and precious, while also suggesting the cultural value of a music that aims to connect the legacy of the past and the creativity of the present.

Prodigal son of the ESP Institute, Juan Ramos, rises from the cesspool of a world gone mad with 'Agua Del Cenote', his fifth release with the label. Whilst many artists are following their inner light to bring us some much needed joy amidst these rotten times, Juan (being the little shit that he is) follows an inner demon and delivers listeners and dancers a demented clusterfuck of sadistic chaos. The title track opens with what sounds like a butane torch and we metaphorically freebase into oblivion. Our perception of reality unravels, writhing in abrasive textures smeared across a low-slung, mid-tempo erotic thump. Everything feels blurry and distant, as if we’re swimming through an underground aquatic tunnel, in a panic, searching for an invisible band of spirits whose tune summons us into certain annihilation. Following this is a remix from a decorated lord of 20th Century electronics, Harald Grosskopf AKA The Synthesist. Harald wipes away grit and lethargy to reveal elements hidden deep within the mix as well as softens Juan’s sense of terror by building up to an optimistic layer of added synth. We’d love to offer some relief with the balance of the EP, however, the remaining two tracks paint complimentary hues in the same cerebral palette. 'Let It Go (Freaks Only)' veers closely to House in terms of tempo and gestalt, utilizing a vocal sample from Third Generation (Kerri Chandler) and a healthy dose of sub bass, but Juan hardly apologizes for his masochistic tendencies and certainly never relents into an uplifting mood. Closing the EP, Juan serves an antidote of sorts with 'Cuko', as if suggesting a way out of the swamp, but leaves it up to the listener’s intuition to not only see the carrot, but actually follow it into the light, thus completing the quest.

Part Two of Steve O'Sullivan's 'Dimensions' album series featuring collaborations with Steve Rachmad, Mark Broom, Markus Suckut, Vince Watson, Exos, Soela, Derek Carr, Conforce and Prince Morella.

Hey!Tonal was the first album by Hey!Tonal, a project helmed by the
guitarists, multi-instrumentalists and sound designers Mitch Cheney
(Rumah Sakit, Sweep the Leg Johnny) and Alan Mills (Chiisai-oto).
Released in 2009 French label Africantape on CD only it has now been remastered by Carl Saff and pressed to vinyl for the first time. 2LP white vinyl, gatefold sleeve with poster and aluminium outer sleeve.
Cheney initially conceived it as a project to be named “Drummers’ Perspectives”, and that working title sums up its ethos. He became inspired to write
melodies based on the drumbeat being the starting point of the composition.
A fortunate meeting with Alan Mills meant collaborator was now involved with
this rhythmic and melodic building blocks.
The basic concept for their compositional process stemmed from Cheney’s experience with television editing.
They manipulated all the catalogued sounds as if they were visual elements.
The result of this unusual approach is a striking record, full of delicate incongruities hidden in the music; happy accidents were meticulously given purpose
during mixing, malleable drums and guitars intertwined with a myriad of improvised and shaped sounds.
The overall impression is of some oblique explanation to an unsolved mystery
and should be manna from heaven to anyone who dug the first Battles EP’s.

SHY, LOW are true masters of the exquisite craft of stark contrasts and broad dynamics, from delicate crescendos to the grandiose power of the riff_ a craft that lies at the heart of every outstanding instrumental rock record. The Richmond, Virginia based four-piece has made an absolutely incredible and epic album brimming with creativity, groove, heaviness and truly outstanding songwriting- a record that is intricate and mature, yet gloriously anthemic at the same time. The fantastic cinematic and (surprisingly, so) entirely self-produced first music video for the track ,Helioentropy", premiered at Roadburn Redux this year, was only a tastemaker for the 5th studio album and Pelagic debut, Snake Behind The Sun. Recorded, mixed and produced at Vudu Studios in Long Island, NY by Mike Watts (The Dillinger Escape Plan, GlassJaw, Hopesfall, Tides of Man), the album pulls from elements from previous eras of the band, but also pushes into new territory. The result is a slicker, more modern, layered and 3-dimensional sound. The album title is a metaphor for the notion that darkness and negativity can remain hidden even among seemingly positive forces and positive beings in one's life. As a matter of fact, the snake crawled out from behind the sun, while the band was in the studio recording the album: ,By week 3, there were talks of NY state locking down due to the rapid rise in Covid cases; with one day left before the lock down was alleged to go into effect, it became a mad dash to finish tracking the record so we could book it home to Richmond, Virginia", says bass player Drew Storcks. Though entirely instrumental, reducing the band's contemporary sound to the term ,post-rock" wouldn't do this record justice: there is much more to it than lengthy dramatic build-ups and bittersweet melodies played by delay-drenched guitars. Snake Behind the Sun is an astounding and immensely diverse record that will appeal to fans sitting on all ends of the broad spectrum of modern heavy rock music. Limited 2LP red single colour edition! FOR FANS OF PG.LOST, THIS WILL DESTROY YOU, CASPIAN, AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, THRICE

Atlanta’s The Masamune presents his debut 12″ release on Ohm Resistance – 4 absolute dancefloor controllers, with a special guest appearance from DJ Hidden on remix duties. This self-titled EP is aimed squarely at the next generation of Drum & Bass DJs and listeners, competing for the top step on the production podium. A direct representation of the storied Drum & Bass history of the label, The Masamune wires together his signature traditional symphonic strings and orchestral elements with the hardest hitting modern dancefloor sound. His beats range from half time punishers, in his signature Neuro-hop style, to running and rolling steppers, with a strong hip hop/b-boy influence appearing throughout his produdctions. According to The Masamune: “This project was made almost specifically to serve as a prelude to the full length LP I’m currently writing for Ohm Resistance.” The EP showcases the numerous talents of the artist, as well as crucial amplifications from his collaborators. Including Jakob Klug on artwork (previously work includes Black Sun Empire and The Outside Agency) and The Netherland’s legendary DJ Hidden, who has remixed the closing track – Doomslayer. The Masamune comments: “I consider DJ Hidden a pioneer and an early influence of mine. He was gracious enough to lend his talents on the remix of my 2018 track “Doomslayer”. The Masamune is a multi-genre producer, remixer, & live act from Atlanta, GA. A composer and sound designer known for his niche style of blending orchestral elements into the chaotic palettes of hard drums and heavy synths, his tracks explore dark themes and deliver punishing consistency. A top-flight production ethic combines with rich exploration of the dark side of Drum & Bass, his works are an automatic dancefloor uplifter in the hands of skilled DJs. He has released on Harder & Louder, Mindocracy, Smackdown Recordings, and was a participant in the Ohm Resistance 7″ series, as well as an annual contributor to the Perihelion compilation series.




d B2 Doomslayer DJ Hidden Remix

This is incredibly Trees Speak's third album on Soul Jazz Records to be released in the space of one year - and it's amazing! Trees Speak's new album 'PostHuman' once again blends 1970s German electronic and 'motorik' Krautrock instrumentals (think Harmonia, Can, Cluster, Popul Vuh, Neu!), haunting and powerful 1960s & 1970s soundtracks (think Italian prog-rock Goblin and John Carpenter horror movies, Morricone and existential John Barry spy movies), together with a New York no wave electronic synth and guitar analogue DIY-ness (think Suicide, anything on Soul Jazz's New York Noise series or Eno's New York No Wave)! Drawing further upon German krautrock high-concept albums from the likes of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze from the 1970s, Trees Speak create their own powerful new landscapes of sound that manage to be at once contemporary as well as both timeless and with a sense of science-fiction futurism. Trees Speak' segue together all these elements into 'PostHuman,' which follows on from their criticallyacclaimed debut LP 'Ohms', and 'Shadow Forms' released on Soul Jazz Records less than six months ago. This powerful new album is a high-concept collage of retro-futurist science-fiction music, fantastically illustrated by the artist Eric Lee, a dramatic vision of life after humanity. Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona and their music often draws on the cosmic night-time magic of Arizona's natural desert landscapes. 'Trees Speak' relates to the idea of future technologies storing information and data in trees and plants - using them as hard drives - and the idea that Trees communicate collectively. The album includes an exclusive bonus 45 single 'Machine Vision' and 'Seventh Mirror' that will only be available with the first order of the vinyl edition of this amazing and ground-breaking new album. With 'PostHuman,' Trees Speak once again manages to take the listener deep into their unique musical world of unknown visions of the past and the future.

Brock Van Wey returns as Earth House Hold and his third full album under the alias, continuing to explore the furthest influences of Ambient-infused, deconstructed Deep House in all its varying elements.

“...from the second I descended those stairs, lived it for myself, and the events that followed, I knew my life had changed forever. A life that brought with it a beauty as infinite as its pain”.

Daybreak Basements and Broken Hearts explores a new aspect of Brock’s early Deep House influences, one that meticulous followers of this guise would have been patiently trying to guess since his last outing in 2018. If Brock’s debut Earth House Hold album (When Love Lived, 2012) took the grooves and danceability from Deep House, and his second, (Never Forget Us, 2018), highlighted the powerful progression of vocals and melodies, then Daybreak Basements and Broken Hearts continues to build on the many aspects and inspirations of the Deep House genre, with a raw, dirty and somehow deeper take on the sound that Brock grew up with many years ago.

Brock’s signature vocals once again provide the narration and backbone to an album that is designed to progress; from its patient and spacious beginnings to its energetic and emotional closing chapters. Reverberating synths fill cavernous spaces as basslines rumble, bringing a darker, more abstract, early-morning vibe to an album born from a place of both reflection, and personal experiences.

“This is a house album in the purest sense of the word - just as much as the furthest thing from one that ever existed. As much a deconstruction of what deep house means as an attempt to reconstruct a time, and a life, it built.”

"Transitional Being reveals another side of XVARR’s production palette — characteristically tranceinducing, this release highlights the transformational potential of dance music.

Spanning the last ten years, these six tracks handpicked by Aural Medium align with a particular relationship to technology that has formed the central pillar to the XVARR studio set up. Often starting with a drum pattern and sequenced bass-line, the physical rhythm is stripped out and surrounding elements are drawn out and manipulated to convey the ‘hidden’ intention behind the track. With the tracks compiled here, he lets the rhythms ride. The influence of more ‘club-orientated’ music has remained firmly embedded in XVARR’s psyche, although typically the trip has been more introverted. The approach here may differ from other XVARR outputs, but the mood most definitely remains the same, with an overarching desire to channel emotion and passion from the other side of nowhere.

XVARR recognizes the parallels between the ritualistic dance of the Witches’ Sabbath and a dark room filled with sweat, smoke, and sound. It is in this parallel void of transcendent possibilities that tracks such as “Running out of Time”, “The Crooked Path” (a nod to Andrew Chumbley) and “Universal” reside. There’s also a subtle presence of influences from Industrial music, with groups such as SPK, Conrad Schnitzler, Chris Carter and Cabaret Voltaire paving the way for XVARR’s early experiments with electronic music. The alchemical results on this EP float in a universe populated by such luminaries as AFX, Drexciya, and the constellation created by Chain Reaction, within a cosmos governed by the gravitational pull of Baldelli and Weatherall."

A chirp, a wine and a gurgle are the sounds that make the song of swallow. You won't find any of them on here though. The third installment of this sampler series features well-rounded dance and prance material instead. Four artists, four hits. Berlin duo Cyrk pay tribute to their favorite Sunday parties with Italo Blade. Barely hidden by its name, it cuts right through any heart of stone with aural infatuation and elation. Portraying the best moment in someone's life after a gig at the infamous Papaya Playa Project, Smallville records associate Snad, delivers a skippy and irresistible MPC jam that makes one want to whistle along. The baroque effect and element of Voon's music is a given. The Italian duo made that clear with Rose in Japan and is able to repeat the trick with Brando. Like Rondo Veneziano at a rave, it's larger than life and happily jumping over the inhibition gate of restraint. Finally, Lukas Lehmann takes the boiling pot off the stove. Juno Cuts A Caper is an ode to synthesizer number six of the renowned Roland series and a masterclass in simmering down. All in all: fun, fun, fun.-

Dalmata Daniel presents the new album by Dutch West Coast mid-veteran Roberto Auser as an opening act in the label's LP series that comes with colored sleeve and limited to 200 copies. Also includes a hand-numbered riso-print as insert.

Auser (born Derk Reneman) has been into cinematic (or b-videomatic) electro for more than a decade now, with releases on Viewlexx, Pinkman, Gooiland Electro/Enfant Terrible and more, ranging from atmospheric and hypnotic to tight and grim, but always loaded with a vision of a storyteller. In a Dutch way, for sure. Though Second Sun is, again, an audiovisual trip, that's not the primary concept here - it's probably the purest album-like experience of Robert Auser so far, presenting most of his characteristics and sounds, and also new elements, still, all are coherent and organic parts of Reneman's projective language of electronics.

File Under: Jazz / Contemporary Jazz - For fans of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Boards of Canada, Linda May Han Oh, Supersilent, Nels Cline, Makaya McCraven, and Haruka Nakamura! Born in Pinsk, Belarus in 1984 and immigrating to Canada in 1992 with the collapse of the USSR; Alexei Orechin has been actively shaping musical environments with his current projects No Seas, a solo project for guitar and tape, and leading his own ensemble incorporating jazz, chamber, and experimental elements into his compositional work. A diverse talent that is reflected in the company he has shared the stage with: Nas, Akae Beka, Rana Mansour, Shad, Yaadcore, and Sina Bathaie. He has played in USA, Mexico, Europe, and Russia. Performances include the TD and Montreal Jazz Festivals, Caribana, Irie Music Festival, Tirgan Festival, and Pride Toronto. His music for film has been featured at TIFF, CFC, NFB and the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival. He has been featured on CBC, Noisey, Global News, The Star, Dub Rockers, Huffpost, Afropunk, and Relix magazine. 2020 saw the premier of '1992 Ambient', a 45-minute long composition that is a 'therapeutic experiment in slowly melting sound and colour; representing the acculturation and restructuring oneself through emigrating from Russia to Canada in 1992'. 2021 will also see the release of his debut full length album Mirages; an album that showcases his diverse and ever evolving style of composition, ranging from moments of melodic solitude to fractal experimentalism.

Early summer 2019, João Lobo started recording his compositions at les Ateliers Claus in Brussels, with guitarist Norberto Lobo, bassist Soet Kempeneer and recording engineer Christophe Albertijn. The recording sessions were planned over the course of one week, however the job was mostly done in just a few takes. With the addition of some overdubs, the whole process was finalised in a spontaneous wave. It is too simplistic to define Joao Lobo’s compositions with one term, and the association of the album “Simorgh” with this ingenious partnership’s new creations, is inevitable.

While the mix of genres and styles may be easy to distinguish, the focus centres on the result of the mixing: a highly grooving and an occasionally paused and introspective music that seems out of time and out of space. It is difficult to grasp or define a specific period in time or a geographic origin in this fusion of references, as what you listen to is a bold creation of original and surprising elements. Drummers – such as João Lobo – employ a multi-layered concept in their music, weaving the different tracks into a linear wash of sound. He plays the song with the drum set while the other members fly in and out of the compositions, always gathering around their phoenix in order to attain enlightenment.

What João Lobo and many of his contemporaries are up to, can be explained through simple terms as a future exploration of the emotionally expressive possibilities of sound. It breaks away from the conventional order providing space for the discovery of a new order. Simultaneously it allows a more profound and broader expression of what the current reality of music is and represents. It was instantly clear for me that we had to share his music with our audience and create this medium for happiness.

This release is the trio’s debut record, which is the impetus for their personal development in the realisation that features João as a mentor in the creation process. The featured compositions highlight the musicians’ unique physical aspect to control their instruments and their hidden techniques that underlying these tracks. The result is an ongoing aural interplay. It was love at first sound.

This album is a co-release between Les Albums Claus and Shhpuma.

Reissue of this mesmerizing record including an unreleased alternate mix of "Subterranean Zappa Blues". Hypnotic rhythms made of slow minimal beats, industrial textures, intoxicating drones and repetitive voices that seem to merge from dreams. Everything built by two of the most brilliant industrial music minds: Steven Stapleton and Colin Potter.

"This album arrived somewhere after a dream meeting of several individuals, Graham Bond, Joe Meek, Jacques Berrocal and myself. After a few beers and a heated disscussion of puncture repair we all lay down in a circle and point our penises at Venus, telepathic messages are sent out to Colin saying he can use the two golden microphones. He did, and here we are." Steven Stapleton, 17.1.94.

Rock 'n Roll Station began life with Steven Stapleton asking engineer Colin Potter to remix some of the more rhythmic elements of 'Colder Still' from 1992's Thunder Perfect Mind. As Potter gradually warped these sections into weirder and weirder pieces, a new album began to emerge. Potter himself explained it to David Keenan in England’s Hidden Reverse: “What I sometimes did in the studio was to ‘over-use’ effects and processors to totally mutate a piece into something completely different” while Stapleton observed how “it was almost as though telepathic messages were sent over to Colin. We’d started an album together at IC Studio that was never finished. He then sent me some vague mixes, which were just what I had in mind. So, from that basis, I started putting the album together.”

Potter would quickly become a key player in Nurse With Wound’s productions, a position he continues to fulfil to this day. He was first credited as a member on 1992’s Thunder Perfect Mind, a tour-de-force of cold, at times hostile, machined atmospheres, but considers Rock ‘N Roll Station from the following year to still be his favourite.

Building on percussion and drone elements, Stapleton and Potter throw in a huge range of bizarre and atmospheric elements: didgeridoos, chanting voices, and their usual selection of unidentifiable sounds.

Its strong focus on rhythm was erroneously surmised by some as an attempt to join the then rising electronic dance music scene. But it was Stapleton’s recent obsession with the music of ‘King of the Mambo’ Pérez Prado that was beating at the heart of Rock N’ Roll Station’s heady rhythms.

The album’s title alluded to two specifically rock-related stations of influence: the song of the same name by Jac Berrocal, of which a surprisingly straight cover opens the album in homage; and the tragic life of the Sixties British R&B organist Graham Bond who influenced bands such as Deep Purple and Cream. Beset by mental health problems (at one point believing he was the son of Aleister Crowley), Bond died under a train at a Tube station in 1989 and it is this tragic scene that Rock ‘n Roll Station’s closing track, ‘Finsbury Park, May 8th, 1:35 PM (I'll See You In Another World)’, sets in sound.

Mow Records proudly presents L’enfants De Kita, the third album from a series of five, all produced by label owner Mowgan. Each album features vocalists and performers with African heritage, channeling Mowgan’s passion for the continent’s diverse sounds into vibrant, highly emotive productions. On L’enfants De Kita he teams up with Fanta Sayon Sissoko, a female performer from West African nation Mali. Based in Toulouse, where the album was recorded, Fanta’s musical roots go deep - her father played guitar and ngoni for Baaba Maal and her grandmother is Kandia Kouyaté, one of Mali’s best-known griot singers.

Mowgan always dreamed of working with a female singer from Mali, enchanted by their vocal style. After moving back to France a few years ago he bumped into Eric Diaouré, an old friend who he worked with in his teens. Eric is also a musician and just so happens to be from Mali. Mowgan revealed his ambitions to Eric and a meeting with Fanta was arranged - within a few days they were in the studio together.

Like the other albums in this series, L’enfants De Kita is a fusion of Mowgan’s love for African music and his penchant for electronic sounds. Fanta’s raw, affecting vocals are complemented by Mowgan’s considered production throughout with additional instrumentation from a range of performers, including a group of schoolchildren on ‘Tubani’. Featured artists include Solo Sanou (whose album ‘Soya’ was the second release on Mow Records) playing percussion, Mamadou ‘Madou’ Dembele, a multi-instrumentalist who plays ngoni, Yohan Hernandez on guitar and bass plus Madani Touré aka Chanana (a famous Malian rapper from the nineties) contributing to lead vocals on the album’s title track, with Tim Xavier handling mastering.

Mowgan’s approach to creating albums is to get a vibe going with the singer, produce a batch of songs and then select the best seven for each LP. It’s a pressure-free attitude that has led to some truly heartfelt productions, which encapsulate the purity of the creative process when it’s liberated from rigid constraints. You can hear this freedom of expression throughout L’enfants De Kita, Fanta in her element as she sings with passion and grace across all seven tracks.

The album begins with the title song ‘L’enfants De Kita’, which pays homage to Fanta’s hometown, Kita, in Mali. It is the centre of griotism, the local style of passing on knowledge from one generation to the next via spoken-word storytelling. Chanana joins Fanta on this one, which is the most ‘western’ sounding cut on the LP, Mowgan’s deft touch taking us to the dance floor, while Chanana adds extra depth with his rapid-fire vocal refrain. The glorious ‘Tubani’ tells the story of Djene Tubani, a girl who thought she was a bird. She disobeys her parents and neglects her friends, but eventually learns the error of her ways. Fanta’s vocals are amplified by the voices of a group of schoolchildren, including her own daughter.

‘Mobaya’ is a reminder that we can possess wisdom and deep knowing, but we can also enjoy ourselves; dance, sing and party. This is a club-focused production with 4x4 beats and a traditional house feel, which provide a wonderful accompaniment to Fanta’s uplifting vocals. Next up is ‘Dakan’, a cut which is all about destiny: Everyone has been put on Earth for a reason and by working together we can all achieve our destiny. Layers of percussion skip over the warm low end, with a lively trumpet appearing in the second half.

‘Dounouya’ explores the notion that we live in a world where everyone faces negative criticism. Fanta encourages us to take responsibility and move forward no matter what others think of us with this inspiring guitar-led cut. ‘Djonya’ highlights the fact that slavery still exists in today’s world - modern slavery, hidden from public view but still very much alive. “Our Africa is going to be okay if we all hold hands, if we are all together, all united,” she says. Finally,‘Badeya’, a great outtro which focuses on unity. We are all one family on this planet and this song speaks of people coming together but also respecting ourselves above everything else. The pace is slow and the instrumentation perfectly balanced to allow Fanta’s vocals to flourish.

Hypnoskull is part of the global anti-music conspiracy networkTM (since 1992). Hypnoskull was created in 1992 as a solo project in order to experiment in the area of electronic noise combined with rhythmical structures. In the first years of its existence, Hypnoskull was releasing cassettes and tracks on international labels in the so-called cassette network, a widely spread network of independent and experimental musicians and artists who expressed themselves throughout limited tape releases often including artworks, ideas, texts. In 1998, hypnoskull signed to the German label ant-zen and up to today he is still releasing his albums on this highly influential record label. That is not a coincidence: ant-zen stands for ‘anti-zensur’ (anti-censorship), one of the main starting points of the provocative hypnoskull project. Patrick Stevens does not limit himself to just producing music as such, albums always include a severe message, a thought-provoking underlying concept text, questions. The main philosophy: ‘the dance floors, the clubs, the festivals,… are staged warzones with a different set of rules – a therapeutic zone where hidden anger and even aggression of both the artists as well as the spectators can be released in a proper, human way. Music as a means to open up the deepest anger inside human beings, letting it out in a way which is not harmful to others. A strange symbiosis between the two worlds Patrick Stevens is a part of: the techno and the industrial scene. Techno being a genre promoting a peaceful yet hedonistic way of life, industrial on the other hand being a highly nihilistic, philosophic but pitch black reflection on society. The mix of both musical as well as content wise elements of these genres result in what hypnoskull is all about. Added to this an explosive mixture of post-war and contemporary western subversive philosophy – in a rather impulsive manner – makes the project what it is today, after 30 years of existence.

THE KILIMANJARO DARKJAZZ ENSEMBLE are a project which has always been tied to films. Films are luxurious because they dispose of all these boring, unimportant, and trivial parts of our lives. This allows them to fully control our sensations, to put us in a very specific mood. Joy and sadness are occasionally OK, endless joy or endless sadness are clinical. But there is one sensation which can be persistent and unconditionally bearable at the same time. In the absence of a better alternative, let's call it "the mood". The mood is what TKDE are aiming at. The mood.

The mood is infinite and illimitable, but not uniform and unique. On "From The Stairwell", TKDE deliver eight new incarnations of the mood. Stairwells have always been intriguing. They appear to unavoidably lead you to your destination, but they only disclose the path bit by bit. What lies far ahead of you and far beyond you is hidden in the shadows. The stairwell could just as well be infinite. You climb up this murky stairwell, passing by many doors. Every door contains a variation of the mood, a short film, a song. You open the first one, "All Is One". The evaporating mist discloses a large and empty room with a barstool in the middle. On the barstool, a chanteuse from the roaring twenties. Her voice starts to trigger vibrations of the ground, the walls start spiralling around her, but she remains untouched in the eye of the storm. Second room, "Giallo". Sly guy, telling smile, nice suit. Walking down the streets in the dusk. The ambience starts to get out of phase, the guy stumbles in horror while blending with the surrounding to a brown soup. Fourth room. "Cocaine". Naked people with pig heads crawl on the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling. They try to hopelessly suck up the white dust which covers every single piece of this room and is constantly spit out by tubes coming out of the walls. Dissonant sounds accompany the work of this desperate hive. As the people manage to counteract the tubes, fragile melodies start to overpower the dissonances. Sixth room, "Cotard Delusion". Baby morphing into a black fluid morphing into an old man which turns his eyes inwards and finds his inside to be completely empty. The journey up the stairwell, down the stairwell, continues. The pictures fill your head and make you forget where you wanted to go in the first place.

"From The Stairwell" is a surprise and a logical step at the same time. It is a surprise because the songs are far less beat-driven in comparison to TKDE's earlier works, and even contain a few hopeful tints here and there. It is a logical step because in the end each song turns to have a very diverse dramaturgic flow. This could raise the conjecture that TKDE, initially started out to make music for existing and non-existing films, wanted to incorporate the audiovisual impression completely into songs, making the films superfluous. At times, "From The Stairwell" makes you think of 60's soundtracks, but the organic feeling of those is always interwoven with mechanical elements. Altogether, every single of the numerous details present in TKDE's new songs feels to be at the right place and you can either just dive into the mood or pick one of the many aspects and enjoy it on its own - be it Gideon Kiers' beats & fx, Jason Köhnen's bass & piano, Hilary Jeffery's trombone, Charlotte Cegarra's voice & piano, Eelco Bosman's guitar, Nina Hitz' cello, Sarah Anderson's violin, or - appearing as guest musicians - Eiríkur Óli Ólafsson's trumpet and Coen Kaldeway's saxophone & bass clarinet.

It goes without saying that the global metal scene would not be the same without Sepultura. For 35 years now, the Brazilian icons are not only a band revered worldwide; they have been, are and forever will be at the very forefront of Thrash Metal, trailblazing ever since they released their long-since legendary debut album “Morbid Visions” in 1986.
While quickly establishing themselves as leaders of the second wave of Thrash already in the late eighties, to this day they never came even close to stagnation. “Quadra”, their mighty new undertaking, is proof of a will unbroken, a thirst unquenched and a quality so staggeringly high it’s a wonder this band doesn’t implode. Now three albums deep into what may very well be their strongest incarnation yet – uniting the talents of old-school members Andreas Kisser (guitars, vocals) and Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. (bass), vocal force of nature Derrick Leon Green (vocals) and drummer Eloy Casagrande – Sepultura are an unleashed power to be reckoned with, uniting bucketloads of experience and youthful vigour in a totally revived way.
“On ‘Quadra’, we felt the urge to revisit that old thrash feeling of ‘Beneath the Remains’ or ‘Arise“,’ only seen through the eyes of today,” Andreas Kisser utters the magic words. “Add to that the tribal percussion, the orchestral elements, the choirs, the melodies and the clean vocals and you get a thorough run-through of our entire career, backed by a very contemporary approach.” Fuelled by an energy almost uncanny for a band that has been active for so long, Sepultura storm through a contemporary thrash monument, backed by sublime melodies, a very eerie atmosphere and a fiendishly high level of technicality. Kisser is appreciating these compliments, still maintaining his very down to earth approach. “We don’t heed the past and we don’t try to be preoccupied by the future too much,” he shrugs. “We’re in the now, trying every day to make Sepultura a little bit better. That’s what keeping us strong.”
And that’s what they have been doing for the last 30+ years. Album after album, tour after tour, no gap in between records longer than three years. “Music is all we do,” Kisser states matter-of-factly. “If it wouldn’t be for Sepultura,” he laughs, “I would be a sad and lonely guy. Sepultura is what we are.” And “Quadra” is living testimony to that. The old Sepultura echo through the very fibre of the songs in all its raw and morbid splendour, but yet it’s the present, the experienced and refined beast that is Sepultura in 2020 that’s blasting out thrash metal anthems for a fucked-up age.
With now 15 albums under their belts, Sepultura are the work horses of the metal world, always ready to attack. In many ways, “Quadra” broadens the vision the Brazilian thrash troopers had on “Machine Messiah” (2017), again relying on the impeccable talent of Swedish producing giant Jens Bogren and his Fascination Street Studios. “He is so full of passion, it’s unbelievable, man,” Kisser raves. “He’s really there, he really cares about the projects he’s doing. For Sepultura, he’s like the fifth member of the band. The chemistry was so amazing, 99 percent of what we were trying do to actually worked. That was insane!” Even after more than 30 years at the forefront of international thrash, guitarist Kisser sounds positively baffled by working with Bogren. “We felt like we were in our rehearsal room.”
Bringing together a monumental grandeur and a wild, untamed ferocity, Sepultura stepped up their game musically – and conceptually as well. “We were possessed by the number four, by the numerology of it”, Kisser starts to explain. “I divided the album into four parts as if we were doing a double vinyl. Side one is the pure and raw thrash side. Side two brings in the rhythms and percussion from our ‘Roots’ era. Three is getting a bit experimental and four brings forth the melodies and the acoustic guitars.” With John North’s book “Quadrivium” as a further source of inspiration, Sepultura dive deep into a mystical world full of hidden meanings. “You have four seasons and twelve month in a year just to pick one example. A lot of stuff in our culture is divided like that.”
Plus, Quadra also is the Portuguese word for ‘sport court’ that by definition is a limited area of land, with regulatory demarcations, where according to a set of rules the game takes place,” he adds. “We all come from different Quadras. The countries, all nations with their borders and traditions; culture, religions, laws, education and a set of rules where life takes place.” In the Quadra of thrash, however, we all are the same. And we bow our heads in unison to the mighty leader that is Sepultura.

Bastard Jazz is proud to present the sophmore solo album by one of the gems of the New Zealand underground soul scene, Isaac Aesili. Woven through electronic soul, with threads of jazz, funk, R&B and house music, Isaac's 'Hidden Truths' is the stylistic unification of all his previous projects (Karl Marx, Funkommunity, Sorceress) into a dazzling and diverse body of work. Three years in the making, its depth is clear from the first listen, and is peppered with some of New Zealand's finest soul and jazz musical talent, including two stunning female feature vocalists from New Zealand; Ladi6 and Rachel Fraser.

The album opens with an ominous instrumental 'Mirror' setting a dark a tone for the album the start, shimmering with shades of Dilla swing snapping over metallic chords and a graceful trumpet solo that enters midway through. Wild feat. Ladi6' is a heavy downbeat future soul joint with stratospheric synths layered over driving beats that build alongside the elegant vocal weavings of New Zealand's first lady of soul, Ladi6, while 'Player' sees Isaac's unique vocals tell a tale of dangerous seduction within a synth funk-driven dancehall cum house music that feels like the Gap Band on a tropical vacation. 'Jungles' is a deep, native and ocean-like soundscape that begins with syncopated synths and beats that collide dramatically into a frantic, sweeping synth outro, followed up by'Realms' , an intricately crafted song that has sonic elements from techno-house that are other-worldly accompanied by live drums that flip after the breakdown into a swinging conclusion of the album's first half.

'Run Every Way' is an epic percussion-driven electronic blues that begins with a vocal chorus from Isaac that could just as easily be interpreted lyrically as a warning about climate change as it could an expression of the inner-self, while "Refugee" is also a heavily percussion orientated joint that fuses romantic classical strings with otherworldly synth stabs and Isaac's haunting vocals moving climactically into a tender coda conclusion. "Rain Gods" feat. Rachel Fraser is a heavenly pathway into Rachel's luxurious vocals with clever lyrics merging the soaring synths and looped bassline into a short yet memorable chorus'and 'Steps' is classic Isaac Aesili production including deep Rhodes chord changes, a knocking beat with layers of percussion, synths and horns providing a warm emotive accompaniment to Isaac's vocals. 'Last Minute' is a simple yet sophisticated jewel of space and time that concludes the vocal tracks of the album in a proper soulful style, and 'Maureen' rounds out the album as an expressive instrumental outrolude that features Isaac's trumpet.

Isaac Aesili is an Internationally acclaimed solo artist and the producer and creative force behind Funkommunity, Sorceress and Karlmarx. Isaac's original productions have been supported internationally by DJs such as Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 6 Music), Benji B (BBC 1), and Lefto (Belgium, Worldwide FM). His trumpet playing features on many collaborations including 'Layer' by Julien Dyne (Wonderful Noise/BBE) and 'Midnight in Peckham' by Chaos in the CBD (Rhythm Section). A world-renowned musician on both trumpet and percussion, Isaac is a member of the Lord Echo band. His music fuses Soul, Funk, Jazz, Afro and Latin styles with R&B, Hip Hop and Electronic music. Isaac's much anticipated sophomore solo album "Hidden Truths" is out on Bastard Jazz (NYC) in 2020.

For the first release of the new decade we are honoured to introduce LA-based Oxóssi who has conjured a captivatingly sinister sonic palette for his debut EP on the label.

Sama
A scorching 8-bar intro catapults us straight into 'Sama', the first track of the release, where abandoned-jungle-ruins atmospheres meet threatening wooden flutes and weighty wobs - Oxóssi is not messing about. The narration proceeds with a melody sung by a penetrating laser-beam-like synth, which adds a space layer to this organic banger, getting more and more detuned throughout the track while kickstarting a call-and-answer march between the flute and synth-wob melodies. Don't expect to uncover the secrets of 'Sama' at a first listen, this intricate creation will keep revealing itself listen after listen.

Saut Dans Le Vide
An alluring pad harmony and a hidden inspirational message from the artist introduce the fascinatingly titled 'Saut Dans Le Vide', a masterful arrangement of unrelenting piano chords, subtle choir stabs, dreamy flute leads and compellingly staggering drums. Elements keep artfully alternating throughout this convoluted composition which arouses a pensive, melancholy-nuanced hopefulness.

Undead
It's time to get glitchy here, as 'Undead' makes its entrance. Shimmering melodies rain down in a glittery shower of eerie purple confetti, surrounded by rattling white noise strikes and playful-yet-mighty bass hits. As the story evolves, an 8-bit synth lead briefly takes us to a post-apocalyptic landscape before we momentarily wake up from this psychedelic daydream, just in time to take a breath and dive back in for round two.

"The first series comprises six related movements, usually organised in pairs, electronic sounds with instrumental and more rarely, concrete sounds: Incidences/resonances brings into play controlled resonances akin to sounds of concrete origin in a process that helps to expand the variable electronic sound sources.

Here, 'incidents' are opposed to one-off 'accidents' in the second movement: Accidents/Harmoniques (Accidents/Harmonics). In the second movement, very short events of instrumental origin change the harmonic tone of the continuum they interrupt or overlap.

Moreover, the high notes are underplayed, which stimulates the attention given to other phenomena generally hidden by the melodic form applied to the instrumental play. Géologie sonore (Sound Geology) is similar to a flight over an area where different 'sound' layers come to the surface one after the other.

When seen from high above, instrumental and electronic sounds seem to fuse ... Dynamique de la resonance (Dynamics of Resonance) is a microphonic exploration of a single sound resonating through different forms of percussion. L'Etude élastique (Elastic Study) places together various sounds produced by 'touching' elastic or instrumental skins (baloons, doumbeks) or vibrating strings and a number of instrumental gestures close to this 'touch', using electronic processes to generate white noise.

Conjugaison du timbre (Conjugated Tone), the last movement in the series, uses the same substance to apply rhythmic forms onto a perpetually varying tone continuum. "The second series of movements draws its inspiration from concrete and electronic sources rather than instrumental ones. Incidences/battements (Incidences/Beatings) is a reminder of the first movement in the first series which then quickly moves into Natures éphémères (Ephemeral Natures): ephemeral play on instrumental and electronic sounds, singled out by their internal trajectory rather than by the material itself. Matières induites (Induced Matters): just as molecular effervescence triggers a changes of state, it seems that the different states of these sound materials can be generated by each other or through induction processes.

In Ondes croisées (Crossed Waves), the pizz vibrations interfere with somehow 'visible' water drops on the surface of a similar material. Pleins et déliés (Downstrokes and Upstrokes) can be listened to as the energies absorbed in the motion of bouncing bodies, while hollow 'bubbles' and points bring together some people's gravity and others' downwards movements. The work finishes with Points contre champs (Reverse Angle Points).

Here, the notion of perspective of the different sound threads weaving a kind of network, or field, traps the occasional iterative elements in the foreground and progressively absorbs them, giving more space for the angle - and the chanted sound - to grow." (B.P.).

Neurot Recordings are proud to reissue the landmark collaboration Neurosis & Jarboe, which was originally released in 2003. This latest version is fully remastered and with entirely new artwork from Aaron Turner.

Very limited silver metallic and black swirl 2LP - Non-Returnable

Steve Von Till explains the idea behind the remastering; "Bob Weston (Chicago Mastering Service, and member of Shellac) worked closely with Noah on making these new versions sound as good as the possibly can. Noah has the most trained critical ear for fidelity out of all of us being an engineer himself. We recorded this ourselves with consumer level Pro Tools back then, in order to be able to experiment at home in getting different sounds and writing spontaneously.  The technology has come a long way since then and we thought we could run it through better digital to analog conversion and trusted Bob Weston to be able to bring out the best in it....This new mastered version is a bit more open, with a better stereo image, and better final eq treatment."

He continues about the original artwork..."Aaron felt he could create something that would unify the energy of both Jarboe and Neurosis in an elegant manner.  We let him do his thing and I think it definitely adds to mystery of the album and sets it apart from the rest of our catalog."

When two independent and distinct spheres overlap, the resulting ellipse tends to emphasise the most striking and powerful characteristics of each body. Such is the case with this particular collaboration between heavy music pioneers Neurosis and the multi-faceted performer Jarboe (who performed in Swans and who has collaborated with an array of people from Blixa Bargeld, J.G. Thirlwell, Attila Csihar, Bill Laswell, Merzbow, Justin K. Broadrick, Helen Money, Father Murphy, the list goes on...) The musicians pull from one another some of the most harrowing and unusual sounds ever heard from either artist at the time - a sentiment which also rings true to some 15 years later.

Neurosis & Jarboe opens with a high-pitched whirring sound winding up as Jason Roeder's ominous tom-drum beat and Noah Landis' slinking synth line writhe in unison until Jarboe drops in, drawling in her characteristic, corrupted Southern belle voice, "I tell ya, if God wants to take me, He will." From there on in, the album is a series of abrupt shifts and cleverly juxtaposed themes that flows in a rhythm of its own. The sinister and ethereal sounds, vocal coos and electro-pulses of "His Last Words" seem like the perfect soundtrack to a David Lynch film. On "Erase," song parts are dissected and grafted one atop the other, continually building tension as Jarboe wails and yelps with Banshee fervor.

The project began with the artists working in seclusion, recording the elements that would best highlight their own characteristic integrity and personality, rather than either attempting to mimic one another's familiar elements. As recorded ideas were passed back and forth, the collaboration proved to bring out the most unhinged and urgent talents of all those involved.

Throughout the album, that signature "Neurosis note" - the sound of something simultaneously recoiling and erupting, the apocalyptic tone announcing the birth of a new world - reaches its apex and becomes evermore icy and eviscerating. Guitarists Steve Von Till and Scott Kelly trim their tones for cleaner, chorus-drenched effects layered between the thunderous distortion blasts of bassist Dave Edwardson. Likewise, Jarboe's operatic wail and other vocal contortions sound perfectly suited to the eruptive emotional fray of the music.

The collaboration is a deeply textured mosaic that is a culmination of merged aesthetics from two major influences on free-thinking sounds. It unlocked the hidden potential of electronic music as a new force in heavy rock. At a time when groups like Oneida, Wolf Eyes and Black Dice were beginning to experiment with technology in making mind-numbing leaden electro-drone freed from any essence of "dance music," Neurosis & Jarboe redefined all notions of their past - and outlined the course of heavy music to come. It's interesting to look back through the lens of this release, and think about these ideas and concepts in the present.

Neurosis & Jarboe remains the meeting point of all art that takes us beyond ourselves.

New Swedish label Soul X Tension delivers groovy, adventurous & playful dance music. For the 1st release label heads Ebende & Matinda bring you a diverse but coherent split EP. 4 well crafted cinematic pieces of Electronica, with elements of UK Garage, Ambient, Techno, House & Tribal.

Repress!

Wiggle celebrate 25 years and relaunch their iconic label with a releases including co-founders Terry Francis, Nathan Coles and Eddie Richards, as well as artists like D’julz, Silverlining, Mihai Popoviciu, and more.

Wiggle, the brand that gave birth to tech house a sound that would power London’s club music community for over two decades, step out into their 25th year. To mark reaching this remarkable milestone, they plan a special series of international shows and a relaunch of their influential and ground-breaking label.

Taking their lead directly from the acid house movement, Nathan Coles and Terry Francis first brought Wiggle to life through their heady warehouse parties in the early 90s. Unpretentious to their core, these now infamous events were known for their purist values – community and a sound that booms. Finding a kindred spirit in another new face, Eddie Richards became resident from early sets and was a key figure from the off.

Through these now historic events, they embedded themselves deeply into London’s party landscape becoming familiar faces at cultural institution fabric. Heavily based around the core residents they also invited parts of the international and local world from Richie Hawtin, Jay Tripwire, Abe Duque and Colin Dale.

It’s about here we acknowledge Wiggle’s place in originating tech house - working the hard line swagger of techno together with the depth of feeling of house, matching rhythm with bass in a way perfectly aligned with endless hours of hedonism. This potent mix of musical elements is where it began and set down the foundation of London’s rich and active community of DJs, producers and ravers.

The label was founded close to the parties, sourcing tracks from the ever building network of producers who were fuelling this sound evolution. For their 25th birthday you can expect to see the Wiggle imprint coming back in strength - returning to cutting tracks to wax and continuing its legacy for bass fuelled party sounds and pioneering new talent.

2019 will see a series of international shows and a quarterly London party bringing the much loved Wiggle sensibilities and celebrate what they are and have achieved.

RIYL HIDDEN CAMERAS/ARTHUR RUSSELL

Since his recording debut as Choir Boy in 2016, Adam Klopp mined a sound swirls 1980s synth noir with captivating, cinematic songs sweeping with pensive sorrow and glowing hope. As a former member of the Mormon faith, Klopp spent his youth both in the pews of his place of worship, but also churning through DIY punk venues, before leaving the sect in the thick of a mission in Tahiti.

The duality of faith and fiction are central to the lush explorations on his debut album Passive With Desire. Recorded at Studio Studio Dada, the album's tracks permuted as bedroom sketches, awash with camp, the sting of loss, and allusions to halcyon days of nocturnal, electronic driven pop. Retaining elements of Klopp's original demos, Passive With Desire was recorded with a full band and polished with trumpet, strings, as well as archival samples calling back to Klopp's hazy youth.

Engineered by Klopp, Bret Meisenbach, and Stephen Cope, Passive With Desire is the entry point to Choir Boy's world of emotive wit, novella kissed lyricism, and bouncy, synth-forward takes on traditional song writing bound by the universal themes of loss, desire, evolution, and exploration.

Now available for the first time in wide release, Passive With Desire is a proper introduction to Klopp's unique storytelling, orated by his full, rangeful vocals. The expanded CD version comes with a 12-page lyric booklet, and combines the album with seven bonus tracks, including the Sunday Light EP and tracks from the limited Part Time Punks cassette. The repackaged LP edition comes in a sturdy matte jacket with matte Eurosleeve insert with lyrics. The first pressing comes in limited editions of 100 on Clear/Black/Red Splatter, 400 on Metallic Red, and standard black vinyl.

Key Selling Points:
- Expanded CD version comes with a 12-page lyric booklet, and combines the album with seven bonus tracks, including the Sunday Light EP and tracks from the limited Part Time Punks cassette.- LP edition comes in a sturdy matte jacket with matte Eurosleeve insert with lyrics. - LP comes with download- Reissue of debut album

One year after his debut, the label Hidden Tapes is proud and pleased to present CMBM 'cosmic microwave background radiation' by Dark Division, a 2×12' inch gatefold in stores on 12 November: a techno experimental project that range from ambient dimensions to more dark and industrial techno. The release features 8 new tracks including 2 astonishing remixes.

In this new release Dark Division reaches a more abstract dimension with emerging cosmical and spacial feelings, swirling and deep sounds obtained with dark pads, disruptive deep basses, with ever present echoes and focused distortions: the entire projects sound pleasant and challenging.
It's a small journey, lasting 8 tracks, that envision a unique point of view on the scientific theory about multi-universes. His primary and essential sounds blend with other rhythmic elements. The result are rich dynamics and a unique metric structure. It takes multiple listenings to discover a complex blend of sonic fluxes.

On each record there's a remix: the first one features PRG-M, and the second features Matter. Both artists enhance Dark Division's music making this double vinyl an extremely interesting release...

The name Hugo Mari might not ring a bell just yet, but we've got a feeling this is about to change real soon. He's released a handful of EP's under his former alias Books on Omena and XVI including his own edit series on the latter label (check out his killer track 'in the groove or his jazzy deep house collaboration with Zodiac called 'Feel it in my Bones'). Considering he's also remixed well known artists like afrobeat legend Dele Sosimi and grime master Trim, you might share our view of this amazingly talented and versatile producer. His 'Change ur ways' EP for Heist is soulful, jazzy, deep and energetic with three varied originals and a classic soulful house remix by man of the moment, NDATL label head Kai Alcé.

'Get Loose' features the silky-smooth vocals of Zodiac, some lovely solo work on the Rhodes and a 'free jazz' vibe on the horns. There's a constant funk bassline looping throughout the track to keep the energy going while the loose arrangement as well as the drum programming give the track that care-free feeling of a never-ending live jam. With that, 'Get Loose' is a great club track that crosses the boundaries between funk, jazz and house.

The title track still has that jazzy feeling but moves towards a quirkier territory with some 'Frits Wentink' style harmonization, detuned piano's and loosely chopped samples. There's a definite gospel feel to the track, thanks to the choice in vocal chops, which is complemented perfectly by a filtered disco bassline. The percussion layer and rhythmic elements are full of energy without ever crossing the line where of subtlety that makes this track so catchy.

On the flip, there's 'Feel ur senses', the most straightforward deep house track of the release, that gets its mood from an ongoing tremolo on the Rhodes pads. Space bleeps, bells, a hidden arp and 'reverbed-out' hits give the track an almost balaeric sound that will certainly put a smile on your face.

The B side is complemented with a vocal and instrumental remix of 'Get Loose' by Kai Alcé, who has been throwing out one killer tune after the other, remixing Volcov's Isoul8 project (one of our favorites of the year), as well as kicking out releases on his own NDATL label. Kai goes for a full-on soulful house vibe, giving his own chord progression center stage along with a set of rimshots. He chooses to leave the horns out, and instead work the vocal, Rhodes, and cowbells from the original to great effect, adding a little solo work of his own on a bell-like piano where he freestyles happily throughout the track and copies the vocal for added harmonies.
The instrumental version is perfect for those moments where you're done with all the vocals and just want a tight soulful groove.

We couldn't be happier with this release so play it loud and get loose!

Yours Sincerely,

Maarten & Lars

I Started Making These Tracks Without Much Of A Plan Of How I Would Want Them To Turn Out, Other Than That I Desired Something To Sound Ethereal, Weightless But Also Palpable. After Looking For Hours Outside Of My Window, Watching The Subtle Movements Of The Elements In The Sky And Listening To The Sounds I Was Making And Letting Them Do Their Own Thing, Things Started To Shape In A Way That Felt Effortless And Natural. The Sounds I Had Created Were Moving On The Vertical And Horizontal Axis In A Micro And A Macro Level, But Also In And Out Of The Depth Axis. Beat Rhythms And Basslines Were Intertwined With A Web Of Never Resting Sound Modulations, Mixed With Sinusoidal Pads, Chimes And Hidden Bird Voices, Creating An Other-sound-wordliness, For An Otherworldly Club Space.

This Personal Attempt Of Simulating And Re-interpreting The Flow Of Nature's Phenomena, Produced The Two Tracks, "ektos" And "en", That Comprise Disk Capita's New Release.

Dj Dem
Berlin 2018

Seilscheibenpfeiler 003 comes from Canadian native Graham Douglas via his moniker Nautiluss. Having released several EPs on Turbo and Hemlock, he's now bringing his bass influenced sound from Toronto to Berlin.
In Liquid Sky and Reak, Nautiluss puts his skillful use of percussive elements into action, completed by playful synth lines and thus creating heavy bass vibes which won't let you keep your feet still. However, there's no such thing as a comfort-zone for him! Inky, surely the hidden gem on this EP, shows a different side of his production skills: Starting like a 4/4 warehouse banger, it gets a full on twist a` la Nautiluss. An energetic ending to his first release on Seilscheibenpfeiler...

Remastered for 2025

Drumcode has become a label synonymous with some of the most-cutting edge and forward-thinking techno over the last 20 years. Their artists include both emerging and established names, and one of those well recognised is Enrico Sangiuliano. Now announcing the very first concept album of his career.

iomorph is born. A very special concept album designed to take the listener on a journey of evolution. A musical adaptation describing how biological and technological advances over numerous generations of time have all started from the same first step in our own biological journey.

Divided into 4 parts, Organisms opens with atmospheric tones, gradually blending complex textures and timbres to begin the evolutional process. The beginning of this section combines full sounding arrangements before stripping it all back to basics. From here it dissolves into the atmosphere. Organisms then progresses into a break-beat influenced, down tempo track using synths to add complexity to the straight, broken rhythms.

Galactic, futuristic elements are found in both tracks in Cosmic Forces. Upbeat, groovy, electronic synths resonate, before 'Hidden T' brings the tension to get things pumped up with stratospheric swirls and twirls to lay down one of the most mind meltingly deep drops.

Metamorphosis is mysterious, its opening beat is a deep and piercing tone that sends the listener into a sensory awareness of their surroundings before breaking into a fully charged, techno track, with Enrico's trademark sounds and textures.

All evolution has an ending.

Two Probabilities shows the positive, starting out evocative and emotional, with a gentle harmony, gazing towards a 'New Dawn'. On the other side of the spectrum lies the negative. This is influenced with a rhythm that articulates the beat of death, mathematical, cold and metallic in texture, it shows the unsustainability of its nature, with a hectic, anxious break beat influenced ending.

Warped sounds and barely ethnic polyrhythms with few layered elements and careful use of effects such reverbs and delays that drive listeners and dancers alike through subtle sonic movements. Retina.it with their stripped-back techno experiment gave a constant buzz in the underbelly in their version of the track 'Anomalon' thereby giving a valuable boost to the whole release, a streamlined vision of hard hitting contemporary techno.


[B] a2 | Anomalon (Maya Illusion Explicate Order - Retina.it rmx)