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Korean artist and musician Jin Won Lee (이진원), otherwise known as Gazaebal, began his career in New York. Working as a sound engineer, alongside such illustrious artists as the Wu-Tang Clan and Janet Jackson, led him to develop a keen ear for dexterous audio design, melodic flair and catchy rhythm. But his true interest lay in uncovering the unique textures and synthetic qualities of electronic music. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Gazaebal focused on developing himself as a producer, synergising a uniquely potent take on club music, releasing three albums and appearing on numerous collaborations.

An established figure in the realm of contemporary art, Jin Won Lee is well-known for his hybrid, highly technological practice. In 2008, together with Jang Jaeho, he formed The Tacit Group, a collective for computer-coded art. Presenting works that manipulate audio and visuals in real-time through programming, the group has performed at the FAMS Choice selection, Lincoln Center in New York, at the Seoul branch of the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, among many others. As a solo practitioner, he initiated in 2023, a project that examines sound as abstracted vibration. brings together Jin Won Lee’s decades long investigations into sonic experimentation and the physicality of noise.

Outside the avant-garde, Gazaebal has enjoyed mainstream success, collaborating with Big Hit Productions founder and BTS songwriter Mr. "Hitman" Bang on remixes and arrangements for K-POP albums. They also formed the two-man group Banana Girl, with Gazaebal focusing on composition while Bang handled vocals, achieving a big hit with their 2000s track ‘Butt.’

Another crucial figure in Gazaebal’s life is his wife Nine who operates as his agent and business partner. Initially released in 1999 on Nine’s independent imprint dmstrax, the titular track ‘Talk’ first appeared on techno@kr, a compilation CD of Korean electronica. Together, they co-founded G Records, which was partly absorbed into Bighit Entertainment in 2005. Appearing as the inaugural record on Bighit, the original version of 'And So On' – featuring Bang’s vocal production – was not available for re-release due to licensing difficulties. But thankfully the multitrack was well preserved. Utilising these components, Nawon Ha (AKA Korean-but-Amsterdam-based artist Naone) re-imagines the song for Betonska Records.

A combination of un- and self-released material, Talk is an album that firmly belongs to the millennium while sounding utterly outside of space and time. A cosmic trance trip that draws on rock’s steely drive, wiggy acid basslines and warbling dub, the record is presented as a mix-friendly mini-album, with the 6 tracks ideally tailored to DJ-level quality and loudness. As much suited to the psychedelic rave scene of yesteryear as they are to present-day dancefloors, Gazaebal’s productions are defined by his idiosyncrasies. Melding the sheen of tight production and pop sensibilities with a flagrant DIY spirit, his music assuages the high-commercialism of the 2000s, resulting in a style that’s as definitely punchy as it is precise

Debut album of heavy Colombian salsa by the obscure and short-lived El Clan Antillano. Founded in 1975 by singer Jacky Carazo and radio personality / composer Mike Char and backed by a studio orchestra comprised mostly of Fruko Y Sus Tesos band members. The record has been remastered from the original tapes, with an additional three bonus cuts taken from two rare 45 singles, including the sought after track ‘Alma’. First time reissue. 180g Vinyl.

El Clan Antillano was an obscure, short-lived salsa group started in 1975 by singer Jacky “El Caballo” Carazo, originally from Cartagena, and radio host / song composer Mike Char, from Barranquilla. The band was active only until 1977, with a mere two albums to its name. Carazo and Char, “los amigos costeños” (friends from the Caribbean coastal area) created El Clan Antillano as a fresh start after the previous group Carazo had been the lead singer for, El
Afrocombo, had become inactive.

Char primary passion was music, especially songwriting. One of his skills in this area was adapting foreign songs, often in a different language, rhythm, arrangement or genre, and refashioning the tune in an uptempo Caribbean dance mode as a salsa or cumbia. This formula, as well as his own original compositions, soon brought him success not only with costeño friends like Carazo and Vicentini, but also with Medellín’s Fruko, allowing him to make a name for himself with record labels in that city. It was at this juncture, in 1975, that El Clan Antillano was born. This is their first album and was recorded with local studio musicians. It’s been said that most on the first album were from Fruko Y Sus Tesos (the voice of Joe Arroyo can be heard on coro) as well as others involved with various groups like La Protesta (de Colombia) and Juan Piña’s La Revelación.

The album kicks off with ‘Donde ‘sta? Donde ‘sta?’, a medley of costeño lyrical phrases quoting various popular porros. Gradually changing the vibe, this is followed by Enrique Aguilar’s ‘El baile del
ratón’, a humorous cumbia that changes into a salsa halfway through. As if El Clan Antillano were not entirely confident about featuring purely salsa from the start, the same cumbia/salsa hybrid formula is used in the third piece, a faithfully rendered version of Eddie Palmieri’s ‘Mi cumbia’.

‘Estás equivocada’ rocks hard like the best Venezuelan salsa of the time. ‘Esta mañana’ is a cover version of an obscure bolero from Curaçao’s Erwin Castaneer with Super Combo Castaneer. ‘En la oscuridad’ is an interesting mashup of Puerto Rican bomba and New York style pachanga. ‘El despertar’ is a sunny sounding pop song reinvented as a Nelson y sus Estrellas style salsa/cumbia hybrid with a fantastic ‘montuno’ section.

Up next is a hard salsa jam in the ‘pregón’ (street vendor’s cry) genre, written by Fruko Y Sus Tesos percussionist Álvaro Velásquez (composer of ‘El preso’). The original album track list closes out with a fantastic rendition of Puerto Rican singer/composer Bobby Capó’s classic ‘El negro bembón’ that the world first leaned to love through Cortijo y Su Combo. Three bonus tracks have been added to the album as it was originally very short. Interestingly, there were four songs from two 45 singles cut by the band that were never included on either long play. While the ephemeral El Clan Antillano may not be as well known as the groups it’s related to, namely El Afrocombo and Fruko Y Sus Tesos, it certainly deserves credit as a worthy participant in the historical evolution of salsa colombiana.

The 1973 album “El Violento” was the fifth full-length salsa LP led by Julio Ernesto Estrada Rincón, aka Fruko, and the second credited to Fruko Y Sus Tesos. Though it did not contain hits like ‘A la memoria del muerto’ or ‘El Preso’, it’s a collector’s item today in places like the US, Europe and Japan, perhaps precisely because it is obscure yet full to the brim with unrelentingly hard and heavy salsa bangers that never let up from start to finish (hence the title, which translates as “The Violent One”). A mix of originals and interesting covers, the LP is “all killer and no filler”, purposely designed to set the dance floor ablaze. It features Fruko’s two main vocalists that took over from the first pair of Humberto “Huango” Muriel and “Píper Pimienta” Díaz, namely the beloved duo of Álvaro “Joe” Arroyo and Wilson “Saoko” Manyoma. Los Tesos were a talented “wild bunch” who listened to their fearless leader, with Fruko holding down the bottom end on electric bass, Hernán Gutiérrez in the piano chair, the Villegas brothers on hand percussion (Jesús tickling the bongos and Fernando slapping the congas), augmented by Rafael Benítez on timbales and an ace horn section of Freddy Ferrer and Gonzálo Gómez (trombones) and Jorge Gaviria and Salvador Pasos (trumpets). The super aggressive sound comes directly from the South Bronx playbook of Willie Colón. The snarling trombones and soaring trumpet are somewhat sweetened by a nice little Puerto Rican cuatro guitar solo. Sonically lightening the mood somewhat, ‘Nadando’ (‘Swimming’) is a bouncy tune in the ‘Mercy’ genre (basically a hybrid of pop, funky soul, cumbia and salsa, in the style of Nelson y Sus Estrellas), gleefully sung by Joe Arroyo. The beats are complex and ever changing, with a little bit of mozambique, conga, bomba, jala jala and of course salsa thrown in for good measure. The side closes out with a brilliant, uptempo salsa reworking of the venerable ranchera chestnut, ‘Tú, sólo tú’. Side two explodes with the frenetic descarga jam session ‘Salsa na’ ma’—which is exactly that: nothing more than the hottest “sauce” to make the dancers go crazy. Fruko’s tune is dedicated to the Latin community in New York that listens to salsa from everywhere and dances to it so fervently on the weekend. The relentless percussion propels the listener along at breakneck speed as if hurtling down the Bronx Expressway, demonstrating that Fruko y Sus Tesos have mastered the ‘violent’ form of urban salsa that was having its transnational moment in the early 1970s. While “El Violento” may not be as well known as some Fruko records, it certainly deserves a new look and should be assessed on its own merits as a very powerful, confident entry in the historical evolution of Colombian salsa dura.Sleeve

Double LP compilation featuring Italian dancefloor music from the end of the Afro/Cosmic scene to the beginning of the Italian Rave era, between 1987 and 1994.

Stunning bit of research by Andrea Dallera (Dualismo Sound) and Gabriele Casiraghi who've been meticulously digging Italian bins. After endless sifting through this crucial time in Italian dance floor music, we are presented with their final distillation of this transitory period between 80's afro cosmic and Italo's peak into early 90's rave and Italo house era. In their words: “The whole concept was born as we started to find records that were into a kind of hybrid zone that was clearly pre-announcing some of the huge musical changes brought by the 90’s. The sound at play can be understood as looking closely to Belgian New Beat, Uk's Acid House and German early Techno but still connected with some dynamics of the ‘80s sounds: lashing snares and catchy melodic phrases joined by filthy acid bass lines, highly compressed kicks and 'World music' samples are just some of the most recurring elements.”

Hands down mandatory for any dance floor oriented record collection.

We've been writing new material as a trio since the first lockdown in the spring of 2020. 
An organic and electro-acoustic impulse that translates both mine and Eliete's need of self-archiving, 
re-inventing and auto-cannibalising Tetine's past, present and

future in order to explore other aural 
landscapes and modes of composing intuitively, while at the same time, re-experiencing moments of our 
trajectory as a hybrid organism. 



Music For Breathing was born as a respiratory, meditative, and improvisatory piece of DIY 
tropical-mutant-punk "chamber music" written for cello, voice, piano, organ and electronics. 
The work responds to the suspended acts of breathing and vertigos experienced in contemporary polluted
 environments in political, social and philosophical transitions, whilst investigating the 
secret ontologies of inanimate objects and architectures, as well 
as the echoes and ethics of modes of operating things. 



Recorded during the intense period of heatwaves that hit London between July and August 2022, in 
a small studio set up in our flat's kitchen - so that we could capture the acoustic instrumentation 
(in particular, for the recording of cellos) without much

noise interference from the street - 
this vinyl version of the album comprises of 5 distinct yet complementary reflective movements. 


Musically and lyrically, it explores the atmospherics and syntaxes of time and space, voice, rhythm, 
as well as themes such as hearing loss, menopause, pollution and respiration. It builds an expanded suite of unexpected 
electro-acoustic textures through repetition, minimalistic motives, simple melodies, chromatic 
developments, free counterpoint and atonalism. Conceived as an ode to the poetics of slowness, 
the sounds you hear give continuity to the music we composed for the performance-film 
The Ether - Prelude No.1 over the first lockdown in 2020 as it simultaneously explores the warmth, 
melodiousness and power of the cello in conjunction with electronics. 
Music For Breathing evokes this transitory moment: a place and time where language runs out, 
communication and information lose their functions, sound and meaning do not correspond. Facts do not correspond to contexts. Spaced Out in Paradise. The last degree of the structure, the 
loss of memory. The lost voice.


The album also features our 12-year-old daughter Yoko Afi on cello and vocals. It reflects 
a period of free sound experimentation influenced both by romantic composers of the late
 19th / early 20th centuries and contemporary electronic music. The pieces you hear were composed, arranged, and recorded 
with the joy and melancholy of "those who do not know". In other words, "with the arrogance 
of a second childhood" as Derek Jarman once put it. 'Agile and candid as a child'(1).

1) Manifesto da Poesia Pau-Brasil, Oswald de Andrade, Correio da Manhã, 18 de Março de 1924.

With his new album, Year Of The Living Dead, Vienna-born and LA-based producer John Tejada finds a blissful extended moment of balance between the new and the familiar. Anyone who’s followed his career to date, which has included four previous albums for Kompakt, outings for storied labels like Plug Research, Playhouse and Cocoon, and numerous remixes and collaborations – most recently, his Wajatta duo with actor and musician Reggie Watts – will immediately sense the warmth and eloquence that Tejada brings to his gilded, pliant techno and electro hybrids. But there’s more here, too; an explorer’s glimmer in the producer’s eye, as he gets to grips with new ways of working and being, while offering a reflective opening for the listener, something echoed in artwork by graphic designer and ‘contemplative artist’ David Grey.

“The album was started using tools I was unfamiliar with, which became an interesting exploratory process,” Tejada says. “Staying away from the obvious and having to re-learn simple things was a fun challenge.” You can hear these new creative pulsions pushing the eight tracks on Year Of The Living Dead ever-forward; the album has an unique cast, and though there are trace elements of the genres Tejada has indulged previously, he’s never quite put them together this way before. There’s the dubwise glitter sprinkled across the moody opener “The Haunting Of Earth”, the kind caresses found amongst the deftly woven textures of “Sheltered”, and the churchy melancholy, all hymnal and golden, of “Echoes Of Life”.

Year Of The Living Dead also speaks obliquely to its moment, though Tejada works this implicitly, allowing the strange circumstances of 2020 to cast their inevitable shadow without being obvious or didactic. “The production process began right before lockdown and continued through what felt like a very serious time for all of us,” he recalls. “Not being able to see or touch our loved ones made me feel we are all like ghosts. We can observe from a distance but cannot really be there. We are isolated and alone.” And yet, Year Of The Living Dead’s tenderness offers an out for that anxiety and loneliness, its intimate immensities gifting the album a redemptive and compassionate core. Compact and glistening, Year Of The Living Dead sculpts unassuming beauty.

Mit seinem neuen Album “Year Of The Living Dead“ findet der in Wien geborene und in Los Angeles lebende Produzent John Tejada die richtige Balance zwischen Neuem und Vertrautem. Wer seine bisherige Karriere verfolgt hat, seine vier Alben für Kompakt, Beiträge für Labels wie Plug Research, Playhouse und Cocoon, zahlreiche Remixe und Kollaborationen wie zuletzt das Projekt Wajatta zusammen mit dem Schauspieler und Musiker Reggie Watts, spürt sofort wieder die Wärme und Eloquenz, die Tejada in seine geschmeidigen Techno-Elektro-Hybride einbringt. Doch es geht auch noch einen Schritt weiter. Da ist dieses Aufblitzen des Entdeckers im Auge eines Produzenten, der sich mit neuen Arbeits- und Seinsweisen auseinandersetzt und dem Zuhörer gleichzeitig etwas sehr Offenes und Nachdenkliches anbietet, etwas, das im Artwork des Grafikdesigners und "kontemplativen Künstlers" David Grey nachklingt.

"Ich hatte angefangen, das Album mit mir noch unbekannten Tools zu produzieren, was sich zu einem interessanten Forschungsprozess für mich entwickelte", sagt Tejada. "Sich vom allzu Offensichtlichen zu trennen und einfache mal Dinge neu lernen zu müssen, war eine recht spaßige Herausforderung.“ Man kann diese neuen kreativen Impulse hören, die “Year Of The Living Dead“ auf einer Länge von 8 Tracks nach vorne treiben; das Album hat einen einzigartigen Ansatz, denn obwohl es Elemente der Genres gibt, denen Tejada zuvor gefrönt hat, hatte er sie doch noch nie zuvor so zusammengefügt wie hier. Da ist dieses dubbige Glitzern im atmosphärischen Opener "The Haunting Of Earth", die freundlichen Zärtlichkeiten, die man in den Texturen von "Sheltered" findet, und schließlich die heilige Melancholie im hymnischen "Echoes Of Life".

Auch “Year Of The Living Dead“ enthält Andeutungen auf die momentane Situation und erlaubt es, den seltsamen Umständen des Jahres 2020, ihren unvermeidlichen Schatten zu werfen, ohne dabei zu offensichtlich oder gar belehrend zu sein. "Der Produktionsprozess begann kurz vor dem (ersten) Lockdown und setzte sich in einer Zeit fort, die sich für uns alle als eine sehr ernste Zeit anfühlte", erinnert er sich. "Da wir nicht in der Lage waren, unsere Lieben zu sehen oder zu berühren, hatte ich das Gefühl, dass wir alle wie Geister sind. Wir können nur distanzierte Beobachter sein, aber wir können nicht wirklich anwesend sein. Wir sind isoliert und allein." Und doch scheint die Zärtlichkeit von "Year Of The Living Dead" einen Ausweg aus dieser Angst und Einsamkeit anzubieten, die grenzenlose Intimität des Albums enthält einen erlösenden und mitfühlenden Kern. Derart konsistent und schillernd formt "Year Of The Living Dead" eine unprätentiöse Schönheit.

Finnish jazz producer Valtteri Laurell reworks some of J Dilla’s most iconic beats into adventurous big band versions. With drummer/producer Teddy Rok (Teppo Mäkynen of Five Corners Quintet, Stance Bros. etc.), flutist extraordinaire Elena Pinderhughes and Laurell’s own 17-piece Ricky-Tick Big Band, he creates a big band album that you never thought you would hear. Using the sparse and visionary beats of J Dilla as a starting point, Laurell has composed and arranged material on top of the original versions, performed by Ricky-Tick Big Band. ”My original idea was to write very abstract big band moments, that would be like samples Dilla might have used in his work. During the process though, on some of the tracks I started to feel more of a Bob James or Henry Mancini vibe in the arrangements, so the end result is a hybrid of those worlds. Naturally, the spirit of Gil Evans and the later work of Duke Ellington is also floating in the air”. To create a strong connection with the original material, Laurell asked Dilla-aficionado and drummer/producer Teppo ”Teddy Rok” Mäkynen to work with him on the rhythmic side of the pieces. Teddy Rok also mixed the album. As a special guest star, flutist Elena Pinderhughes is featured on Won’t Do and Rico Suave Bossa Nova. Ricky-Tick Big Band, which Laurell founded in 2010 is also well on display here, with rising baritone sax star Linda Fredriksson featured on Beej-n-Dem and trumpetist Jukka Eskola featured on Y’All Ain’t Ready.

Visionary producer Ibrahim Alfa Jr, who's been traversing the rave's farthest fringes since the late '90s, returns with his most focused and concise set to date, an anthology of undulating, bass-heavy experiments that surveys techno and its distorted history, printing fractured pulses and cybernetic synths over vanishing snapshots of jazz, funk, trip-hop, broken beat, dub and ambient music. It's a body of work that coalesced during a difficult time for Alfa.

After returning to Brighton and sobriety in 2022, he was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism, subsequently suffering two debilitating heart attacks. With his immune system compromised, isolation was the only option, so for months on end Alfa devoted each waking hour to his art, recording samples, building digital synths and effects and meticulously sequencing some of his waviest, most experimental material to date. Over this period he finished over 500 tracks, writing impulsively and constantly challenging himself. "There was nothing to hold me back," he explains. "I just had music, I didn't know if I would see the next day."

Now recovered from his ordeal, Alfa looks back at this prolific period with optimism and fondness. It was a chance for him to reconnect with his art holistically, writing purely for himself without any outside influence. Because, at this stage in his life, Alfa has already been through a series of artistic evolutions. When he was still just a teenager, he penned a slew of grinding, jacking techno 12"s (under a variety of mysterious monikers) in the late '90s before re-emerging a decade ago with the acclaimed 'Hidden By The Leaves', an album made up of deeply personal archival tracks that were thought to have been lost. A few years later, Alfa returned wholeheartedly with a series of records for Mille Plateaux that redrew the boundaries of his "Black political music without words." And on 'Infinite Black Inside', those different strands are muddled with Alfa's profound life experiences and he expresses himself free of any self-imposed boundaries, writing quickly on a hybrid analog-digital setup to document as many ideas as possible.

There's a palpable sense of liberation that drives the album's opening track, 'Subutrax', lubricating polyrhythms that isolate the connective tissue between footwork and Detroit techno as they slip between looped electric piano vamps and vaporous synths. On 'Naked Lunchbreak' meanwhile, the beat generation's excesses are illustrated by mesmeric fast-paced acoustic drums that Alfa balances out with brassy drones and euphoric keys. He captures rubbery hits from a Ghanaian djembe on 'Drum Slinger', re-sequencing them into seismic waves that rumble underneath live woodwind blasts. And on 'Capture', decelerated breaks and garbled voices tumble into humid pads, suspending the album somewhere between the chill-out room and the night sky. It's a record of new beginnings and fresh narratives that collapses the hardcore continuum, revealing a sonic signature that's Alfa's alone.

Sweden has long had a celebrated techno scene and you'd be hard pushed to find anyone who has contributed to it as significantly as Cari Lekebusch. He has a vast back catalogue dating back to the mid-90s under many different aliases, including this one, Phunkey Rhythm Doctor, which yielded his 'Underground Poetry' EP back in 1995. 'Jazz Maze' is an exceptional start - urgent and punchy with freeform melody that brings the fun. 'Mad Poet' is much darker and has a doom-laden vocal over stiff, crisp drums. 'Sugardaddy' is a dubby bumper with a wobbly bassline and wispy synths, cyborg electronics and a cavernous groove. Don't sleep on this one.

Sixteen killer 70s reggae funk and soul cuts from the likes of John Holt, Lee Perry, Cornel Campbell, The Cimarons, The Chosen Few and more featuring superb reggae takes on songs by artists including The Jackson 5, William DeVaughn, Diana Ross and The Supremes, War, The Temptations, Roberta Flack, The Stylistics and others!

Well-documented is the influence of American black music on Jamaican styles of the 1960s – from the birth of ska music, when The Skatalites ska-ified the jump-up southern USA rhythm and blues music of Rosco Gordon, Louis Jordan and Fats Domino, through to the creation of rocksteady when Jamaican artists like The Techniques, The Paragons, Alton Ellis and The Melodians turned to the slower rhythms and soulful harmonies of groups such as The Impressions and The Drifters for inspiration. 

Less-well established is that in the 1970s Jamaicans didn’t (shock!) stop listening to American black music styles, with many 70s reggae artists as invested in soul, funk and the proto-disco sounds of Philadelphia, as was the case with rhythm and blues in the previous decade. In the 1970s, while Jamaica promoted its own roots reggae styles around the world, powerhouse USA soul labels such as Motown, Philadelphia International and Stax Records were at the same time all popular on the island.
This interaction between American and Jamaican music was not limited to Jamaica. In Britain, first-generation Caribbean-émigré children in the 1960s and early 70s grew up with an equal love of both soul and reggae, which manifested itself in the home-grown arrival of lovers rock in the mid-1970s.
Soul Jazz Records’ new ‘Reggae Island Soul’ tells this story of how soul and funk-infused reggae in the 1970s united the sounds of Jamaica, USA and the UK into a highly addictive cultural hybrid of styles.

In the rapidly shifting tectonic plates of the global Afrobeats scene, few arrivals have been as seismic as that of Ahmed Ololade—better known to the world as Asake. With his breakout project Mr. Money With The Vibe, the artist didn’t merely debut; he effectively recalibrated the tempo of the Nigerian pop soundscape. The EP functions as a masterclass in synthesis, pulling from the ornate, percussive history of Fuji music and grafting it onto the driving, bass-heavy architectures of contemporary Amapiano. It is a calculated, deeply rhythmic hybridization that manages to feel both nostalgic and jarringly modern.

From a critical vantage point, Mr. Money With The Vibe is defined by its brevity and density. Asake treats each track as a focused vignette, utilizing a vocal delivery that oscillates between a melodic, almost liturgical chant and the staccato urgency of a Lagos street orator. The production—characterized by sharp, frenetic percussion and deceptively simple melodic loops—creates a high-intensity atmosphere that mirrors the relentless pace of urban life. He avoids the pitfall of bloated experimentation; instead, he doubles down on a "street-pop" ethos, prioritizing accessibility without sacrificing the complex rhythmic interplay that gives the genre its distinctive texture.

Ultimately, Mr. Money With The Vibe stands as a pivotal document of the current era, capturing the transition of Afrobeats from a regional powerhouse to a dominant global force. By blending the aspirational "hustle culture" narrative with an increasingly sophisticated sonic palette, Asake established a blueprint that has since influenced a new wave of artists. The project is a testament to the idea that authenticity, when paired with relentless precision, remains the most effective currency in contemporary music.

Oceanine, Jolanda Moletta’s third album and her first for Beacon Sound, is a powerful and ethereal statement of artistic community. Expanding on her previous work, each track represents a collaboration with a different female vocalist, with the foundational elements being generated entirely by her own voice. By turns haunting, enchanting, and inspiring, you won’t want to come up for air once you’ve been pulled under. Representing a
musical practice that is distinctly feminist, this is an album with a longer view in mind, to an age when the altars were to goddesses and women were centered as powerful beings representing the earth’s cycles of regeneration and renewal. Oceanine then, in all its beauty, can be viewed as an album of survival. It is deeply transportive, accessing something that lies within all of us. As the late, great Lithuanian folklorist and archaeologist Marija Gimbutas noted, “We must refocus our collective memory. The necessity for this has never been greater as we discover that the path of 'progress' is extinguishing the very conditions for life on earth.”

Jolanda Moletta is a multimedia artist and one-woman electronic choir. She creates wordless compositions through extended vocal techniques, integrating wearable-controlled live processing, alongside symbolic visuals. Moletta considers her performances to be a collective ritual and creates her Sonic & Visual Spells following the cycles of nature and the moon. Jolanda's 2022 critically acclaimed album Nine Spells was released on the Ambientologist label, followed by Night Caves on Whitelabrecs in 2025. Moletta’s artistic practice is a radical and spiritual journey through sound art, ritual, and the symbolic archaeology of the feminine.

Oceanine is inspired by sirens, water nymphs, and the timeless call of the sea. At its core lies Jolanda’s deep, lifelong connection to the Mediterranean Sea and to the ancient and modern myths and folklore that have emerged from its waters. Growing up by the Mar Ligure, Jolanda was surrounded by stories carried by salt, wind, and waves: legends of sirens, echoes of ancient voices, and the sea as both origin and oracle. This intimate relationship with the Mediterranean is not merely a backdrop, but a living source that shapes Oceanine’s emotional, symbolic, and sonic world.

Each track features a different female vocalist, creating a rich tapestry of voices, styles, and perspectives. This artistic choice not only broadens the album’s sonic palette, but also deepens its narrative core: celebrating the power, beauty, and mystique of feminine energy through myth, history, and sound.

The entire album is built exclusively from the human voice, processed and layered, yet always remaining voice, and nothing else. For each piece, Jolanda invited every vocalist involved to contribute a raw stem: a short, unedited melodic fragment of just a few seconds, inspired by the album’s themes. These intimate vocal seeds became the foundation of each track: the guest artists’ voices appear as brief, melodic stems, while the entire surrounding “orchestral” fabric is created solely from Jolanda’s own layered and processed voice. In this way, Jolanda’s voice becomes the Ocean itself, embracing, absorbing, and carrying the sirens’ calls within a vast, immersive soundscape. Every song is a unique expression of the feminine experience, revealing its depth, complexity, and emotional range, echoing the call of the sea and the many faces of the siren archetype.

The figure of the siren has transformed across centuries. In myths of Ancient Greece and Rome, sirens were hybrid beings, part woman, part bird, whose irresistible songs lured sailors to their doom. During the Middle Ages, the image shifted toward the half-woman, half-fish figure, often associated with temptation and danger. Historically, the voice of women has often been feared. Sirens were considered harbingers of misfortune not simply because they seduced or destroyed, but because they were powerful liminal beings.

In Ancient Greek, sirens functioned as psychopomps: figures who existed between worlds and guided souls, especially between life and death. Their songs were believed to carry forbidden knowledge, including prophetic insight and the ability to reveal truths about fate and the future. The danger of the sirens lay in what they revealed: knowledge that humans were not meant, or ready, to hear.

Oceanine confronts this legacy head-on. The voices heard throughout the album are not merely beautiful: they are dark and luminous, wild and enchanting, magical, soothing, dreamy, and at times fractured or distorted. They whisper, lament, beckon, and enchant. Like sirens, they skim the surface of the water and sink into its depths, hovering on the edge between tenderness and danger, vulnerability and power. They rise toward the sky, dissolve into mist, and return as echoes charged with raw, elemental emotion: voices that seduce, warn, mourn, and remember. They refuse to be reduced to decoration.

Alongside the album’s release in May, Oceanine will also unfold as a visual and performative work through a short art film. The film includes a live session recorded inside a sea cave facing the Mar Ligure, the very coastline where Jolanda spent her childhood, dreaming of sirens and listening to the sea as if it were speaking directly to her. This site-specific performance reconnects the music to its place of origin, allowing the voice to resonate within stone, water, and air, and transforming the cave into both a sanctuary and a threshold between myth and reality.

What if the sirens’ songs were considered dangerous because they carried another truth, an ancient truth long forgotten?

Oceanine embraces the idea that we are still deeply woven into myth. Though we may see ourselves as rational and modern beings, our world is saturated with ancient symbols and archetypes, often distorted, simplified, or stripped of their original meaning. And if those symbols are allowed to shift, if the mirror once held by the siren becomes an invitation to look beyond appearances and into what has been obscured, then we may finally uncover a deeper truth and reclaim the voice that was always ours.

Oceanine is not just an album. It is a reclamation, a spell, and a call from the depths.

Late Bush presents “Hoarses” on the label Vlek Records, an original repertoire in which he blends electronic music - power ambient, IDM, avant-pop - and early music, which share the same affective intensity, a taste for ornamentation and a form of sonic excess.

At the heart of this material, AI-cloned voices, both human and spectral, extend the idea that any baroque interpretation is a reconstruction of the unknown. They contrast with organic strings recorded with Echo Collective, in a temporal and radical hybridization, creating a fluid and unstable material, between memory and simulation.

One of the conceptual starting points is essential: we have no sonic trace of baroque music as it was played. Only scores remain, and sometimes contradictory indications, a sensitive archaeology, even an imaginary projection.

Everything that is played today is therefore, in fact, a reconstruction, an interpretation of a vanished material. According to this logic and to pursue this reflection, the cloned voices, transformed by AI, are not a rupture but propose a natural continuation of this chain of reinvention, of this relationship to the invisible, to the indefinite. They do not aim to replace a human voice, but rather to embody the fact that any baroque restitution is already a fiction.

The project does not seek to imitate the real, but to play with the thresholds of the plausible, of the spectral. The music then becomes a fluid material, manipulable, alterable, and the performers, musicians or machines, are its vehicles.

The strings, carried by the sensitive and expressive interpretation of Echo Collective, breathe into the project a vibrant authenticity. Their presence brings an organic and tactile dimension that contrasts with the fluid and intangible aspect of the voices and the electronics.

Ever since the late 1950s bossa-nova revolution, Brazil’s influence on French music has been undeniable. Pierre Barouh, Georges Moustaki and a vast array of lesser known artists, all made the Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB) an axis of promotion at the service of a cool and metaphysical, modern and mixed Brazilian lifestyle. Some were seduced by the poetic languors of the bossa, some were looking for fun, and others just loved the American hybridization of jazz-bossa, jazz-samba.



What is bossa nova? One of its creators, Joao Gilberto said: "Its style, cadence, everything is samba. At the very start, we didn't call it bossa nova, we sang a little samba made up of a single note - Samba de uma nota so .... The discussion around the origins of bossa nova is therefore useless”. It is nevertheless useful to remember that these magnificent Brazilian songs, which the guitarist describes as samba, were shifted and balanced around improbable chords. "I like things that lean, the in-betweens that limp with grace," said Pierre Barrouh, quoting Jean Cocteau.



With emotion, arrangements for violin and supple guitar licks, bossa nova rapidly changed. A transformation that can be heard in the Tchic, tchic, French Bossa Nova 1963-1974 compilation, the result of a cultural reappropriation, which traveled through the United States and supplemented itself in France.

A musical revolution that has remained significant, bossa nova was born in Rio. From 1956 to 1961, Brazil lived through its golden years. In five years, the country had invented its modernist style. Elected president in 1956, Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, an elegant man with a broad forehead, brandished a promising slogan: "Fifty years of progress in five years". He quickly got to work. Not worried about increasing debt, he launched the project for a new federal capital, Brasilia, designed by the communist architect Oscar Niemeyer. Volkswagen opened state-of-the-art factories and created the “fusquinha”, the Beetle. In Rio, the Vespa made its first appearance. The Arpoador Surf Club crew run into the “girl” from Ipanema, Helô Pinheiro - the tanned garota ("chick"), between a flower and mermaid, who at 17 walked by the Veloso bar, where the fiery author and composer, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, were getting drunk on whiskey. From then on, bossa symbolized cool.

In 1958, Joao Gilberto recorded Chega de Saudade, which the directors of Philips denied, calling it "music for fagots". The marketing director, who believed in it, secretly pressed 3000 78-inch vinyls and distributed them at schools around Rio, creating a tidal wave.

American jazzmen then took over. In particular, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and guitarist Charlie Byrd. In November 1962, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded a "Bossa-Nova" concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, inviting the genre’s pioneers. Unprepared, the show soon turned to disaster. But the troupe was invited to the White House by Jackie Kennedy. The first lady loved "the new beat" and in particular Maria Ninguem, a song by Carlos Lyra, later covered by Brigitte Bardot.

In Brazil, the 1964 military coup quickly ended this euphoria. The destructive atmosphere that ensued pushed many Brazilian musicians to leave, if not to exile. Thus, Tom Jobim, Sergio Mendes and Joao Gilberto arrived to the United States. In New York, Joao Gilberto met saxophonist Stan Getz. At the time, he was married to the Bahianese Astrud Weinert Gilberto, who had a German father. She had never sung before, but she knew how to speak English. Getz therefore asked her to replace her husband on The Girl From Ipanema. The Getz/Gilberto record with Tom Jobim on piano, was released in March 1964. Phil Ramone, the "pope of pop" was in charge of sound.

Bossa nova arrived in Paris through the classic “guitar-voice” channel (Pierre Barouh, Baden Powell, Moustaki…) But France loved jazz and Paris had already welcomed its American contributors. All these good people were to pass through Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The cabaret l'Escale became the Mecca of Latin American sound where one could find Pierre Barrouh and his friends, such as the Camara Trio, samba-jazz aces, whose only record was published by the Saravah label. With a band strangely called Les Masques (a band that included Nicole Croisille and Pierre Vassiliu, among others), the Camara Trio recorded an interesting Brazilian Sound, including the track Il faut tenir which is present on this tasty compilation of rarities.

Other enlightened musicians can also be found on the compilation, such as Jean-Pierre Sabar (songwriter for Hardy, Auffray, Leforestier ...) and the French pop rock organist Balthazar. In 1975, Sabar recorded Aurinkoinen Musiikkimatka on a Finnish label, which featured the crazy Vai, Vai, included on this record. We are now following the footsteps of Brazilian electronic musicians such as Sergio Mendes, Eumir Deodato or Marcos Valle who created funk and disco sounds on their keyboards and synthesizers. A style that influenced Véronique Sanson when she wrote Jusqu’à la Tombée de la nuit in 1969 for Isabelle de Funès, the niece of Louis and a great friend of Michel Berger - Sanson did end up singing this track on her 1992 Sans Regret record.


The pinnacle of exoticism and travel, Sylvia Fels’ Corto Maltese includes bongos, sea mist and ocean sounds. The title was taken from Jacky Chalard’s concept album written in 1974, Je suis vivant, mais j’ai peur (I am alive, but I am scared), based on Gilbert Deflez’s science fiction novel.


However, bossa nova extended the scope of popularity. "In the 1970s, I was a fan of Sergio Mendes, Getz / Gilberto. I fell in love with this music that I knew because I had been an orchestral singer, " explained Isabelle Aubret, who in 1971 delivered a composite record of covers by the very funky Jorge Ben, Orfeu Negro, Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Morais and Jean Ferrat. "I recorded this album for Meys Records in Paris, far from Brazil, with wonderful musicians, François Raubert, Roland Vincent, Alain Goraguer...". The latter wrote the arrangements for Casa Forte, a very percussive title borrowed from Edu Lobo, one of the initiators of the bossa who spent time in California. "Jazz and bossa came together and produced very rhythmic music. I love singing, it allows me to dream, to have fun, to feel a high on stage, and these songs brought me joy, made me swing, my singing felt like a dance.”


The world tours of French singers and their desire for the tropics, often brought them to Rio with its hills, forests, caipirinhas and tanned bodies. There are surprises though, like this Iemenja (Iemenja is the goddess of the sea in the Afro-Brazilian candomblé religion). Not unlike the composer and musician Jean-Pierre Lang, based in Sao Paulo, Claire Chevalier taught Brazil to Brazil. In 1970, the singer and painter published a 45-inch vinyl, Mon mari et mes amants (My husband and my lovers), under the improbable pseudonym of Clarinha (little Claire). She was then living in Rio, with her husband, Joël Leibovitz, who founded a band called Azimuth, and who owned a record label specialized in "sambas enredos" songs for samba school parades.


For its B side, she asked Pierre Perret to come up with lyrics for a song composed by Carlos Imperial: "Oh goddess of the sea, o goddess Iemenja, I bring a white rose to adorn your long hair ..." . "Perret came to see us, and we had fun, remembers Joël Leibovitz. We wrote Lemenja for fun, we recorded it at the Havaí studio, behind the Central do Brasil the central station. Erlon Chaves, the arranger who worked with Elis Regina, joined us" adding his share of Afro-Brazilian percussions and funky brass to the mix.

There is a common misunderstanding in Franco-Brazilian history: that bossa, admittedly hedonistic, is perceived as funny, even though the poets who wrote the texts are often philosophizing on the human condition. Its French interpreters pull it towards a carnival inspired universe, far removed from its fundamental essence. Thus, Jean Constantin covered the famous Samba da minha terra, an ode to the art of samba written by the classic Bahian composer Dorival Caymmi, renaming it with the enticing title of Pas tant de tchi tchi pompon: "On your pier there is no tchi tchi / when you arch your back, you know everything is alright ”(lyrics by Gérard Calvi). This expedited bossa aims for the absurd, but retains a certain elegance.

Indeed, Jean Constantin was not an idiot, the rather large man had a huge mustache and liked fantasy, (Les pantoufles à papa, Le pacha, inspired by cha-cha-cha-cha, salsa and jazz) but he was also the lyricist of Mon manège à moi interpreted by Edith Piaf, the composer of Mon Truc en plume by Zizi Jeanmaire and the soundtrack of François Truffaut’s 400 Blows. Le Poulpe, published in 1970, from which this bossa is extract, was arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier, an accomplice of Serge Gainsbourg’s Melody Nelson. In short: "There is enough of samba / By looking at the parasol / Because my poor cabeza / Is going to die in the sun".

Even the American actress Marpessa Down, who was at the heart of the bossa nova revolution with her role as Euridyce in Marcel Camus’ film Orfeu Negro, winner of the 1959 Cannes Palme d'or, fed the clichée with Je voudrais parler au petit cuica - "Tell me how you manage to always make people want to dance / It's true, I must admit that I cannot resist your magic" - in consequence, once can hear the cuica, a little drum inherited from the Bantu.


But bossa nova had many angles. Societal, of course, pushing actresses who were symbols of women's liberation like Brigitte Bardot, Jeanne Moreau, or Sophia Loren to engage in the exercise of accelerated bossa. In February of 1963, Sophia Loren made a record in French in Rome, Je ne t'aime plus, featuring the song De jour en jour, a bossa written by two Italians, Armando Trovajoli and Tino Fornai, which was released a little later by Barclay. Bossa accompanied the 1960s, a decade of moral liberation. Ann Sorel, who interpreted La Poupée des favellas, caused a sensation with L’amour à plusieurs, a provocative song written by Frédéric Bottom and Jean-Claude Vannier. As for the actress Andrea Parisy, she displayed her bourgeois cheekiness in Marcel Carné's Les Tricheurs before interpreting Les mains qui font du bien. And Magalie Noël, the friend of Boris Vian, who sung Johnny fais-moi mal, was hired to sing Une énorme Samba, composed by Alain Goraguer (arranger to Gainsbourg, Bobby Lapointe and Jean Ferrat) with lyrics by Frédéric Botton.

But in the end, of what wood is bossa nova made of? The answer is given by Christianne Legrand, daughter of Raymond the conductor, and sister to Michel the composer: "With me, with jà" - jà means "immediately" in Portuguese. In 1972, the singer, an expert in vocal jazz and a member of the Double Six, published Le Brésil de Christianne Legrand. Two songs included on the Tchic Tchic compilation that demonstrate how bossa, jazz, funk, rock, etc. work like a swiss army knife: the music is used to denounce broken systems, or miracles, HLM et ciné roman, Cent mille poissons dans ton filet, two songs from the O Cafona soundtrack, a successful telenovela broadcast, at the time in black and white, on TV Globo. The first was adapted in French by the fighter and friend of the Legrand tribe, Agnès Varda. The second is content with a play on words, jostling them into a summer fun.



Véronique Mortaigne

Horrorful Heights markiert ein beeindruckendes neues Kapitel im umfangreichen Werk von The Bevis Frond und zeigt die anhaltende Kreativität des Songwriters, Gitarristen und Frontmanns Nick Saloman, der nun in ein weiteres Jahrzehnt als Musiker startet. Seit langem als eine der markantesten Stimmen des britischen Underground-Rock etabliert, verfeinert Saloman weiterhin die Qualitäten der Band aus melodischer Psychedelia, drahtigen Gitarrenepen und Songwriter-Kunst. Einer der zugänglichsten Einstiege in die Bevis Frond Welt, welcher alle Stärken zu einem zusammenhängenden, lebendigen Ganzen vereint. Das Album bewegt sich fließend zwischen klirrendem Psych-Pop, schweren Gitarrenriffs und pastoralen Träumereien. Die Bandbreite des Albums ist groß, aber klar definiert. "Draining The Bad Blood" erinnert an den klassischen Bevis-Frond-Stil melodisch inspirierten Gitarrenpops der 60er Jahre, "Space Age Eyes", eine prägnante neunminütige Odyssee, verweist auf die transzendentalen Erkundungen des elektrischen Miles Davis der 70er Jahre. Der mit Sitar untermalte Titeltrack driftet durch rauchige Psychedelia mit mehrstimmigem Gesang und geschichteten Tablas - ein liebevolles Echo der Headshop-Mystik, mit der Saloman während der gesamten Bandgeschichte gespielt hat. An anderer Stelle verbindet "Mossback's Dream" lysergische Leads mit der treibenden Energie des amerikanischen Hardcore der 80er Jahre und schafft so einen Hybrid, der sowohl zeitlos als auch völlig eigenständig wirkt. Weitere Höhepunkte sind das von den Byrds beeinflusste "Buffaloed", das wirbelnde "Silver Insects" und "That's Your Lot", ein rasantes Feuerwerk melancholischer Euphorie und einer der unmittelbarsten Songs des Albums. Obwohl eklektisch anmutend, ist es ein fokussiertes Porträt von The Bevis Frond im Jahr 2025 - vital, melodisch und frei von Nostalgie. Saloman beschreibt die Sammlung ganz einfach: die besten Songs, die er in den letzten Jahren geschrieben hat, entstanden ohne Zwang und ganz instinktiv. Das Ergebnis ist ein Höhepunkt aus der Spätphase einer der stillsten einflussreichen Underground-Bands Großbritanniens.

Nuevos Ríos ist das neue Projekt, das aus der Zusammenarbeit zwischen der legendären kolumbianischen Band Canalón de Timbiquí, angeführt von der unverwechselbaren Stimme von Nidia Góngora (Quantic, Ondatrópica, The Bongo Hop), und dem in Toulouse ansässigen Trio Reco Reco entstanden ist, das für seine Erkundungen tranceartigen Rhythmen aus Südamerika und darüber hinaus bekannt ist. Als neueste Kreation der pulsierenden kolumbianischen Szene, die sich durch vielfältige Hybridisierungen auszeichnet, bietet Nuevos Ríos einen atemberaubenden Einblick in die afro-kolumbianischen Traditionen der kolumbianischen Pazifikküste, ergänzt durch elektronische und verstärkte Elemente. Das Ergebnis ist beeindruckend: eine Odyssee, die nie von ihrem Kurs abweicht, Grenzen überschreitet und die Zuhörer auf die Entdeckung eines neuen Flusses voller gewundener Pfade mitnimmt. In dieser Musik spüren wir tropische Hitze, die verkörperte Kraft musikalischer Traditionen und den Schweiß europäischer Tanzflächen in einem einzigartigen Cocktail - sofort süchtig machend, manchmal introspektiv und immer unwiderstehlich tanzbar. Das Projekt entstand an den Ufern des Flusses Timbiquí und nahm durch die Begegnung zwischen Canalón de Timbiquí - der Gruppe, die von Maestra Nidia Góngora gegründet wurde, deren faszinierende und sofort erkennbare Stimme Projekte wie Quantic, Ondatrópica und The Bongo Hop geprägt hat - und Reco Reco, leidenschaftlichen Entdeckern tranceartiger Musik, insbesondere aus Südamerika, Gestalt an. Weit abseits der ausgetretenen Pfade, im Herzen der kolumbianischen Pazifikregion, fanden die beiden Gruppen auf natürliche Weise im Dorf Timbiquí zusammen, dem Ursprung der Musik von Canalón und von Nidia Góngora selbst. Durch eine Reihe von improvisierten Jam-Sessions im Erdgeschoss von Nidias Haus wurde die Verschmelzung ihrer Musik zu einem offensichtlichen Weg - geboren aus dem gemeinsamen Wunsch, aufmerksamen Zuhörern die Kraft dieser menschlichen und musikalischen Begegnung zu offenbaren. Dieses erste Kapitel, veröffentlicht bei ZZK Records - einem Label, das dafür bekannt ist, südamerikanische Juwelen zu entdecken (Son Rompe Pera, Nicola Cruz, La Yegros_) - wird von der einzigartigen Komposition und Klangfarbe von Nidia Góngora getragen. In den Tracks findet jedes Element des Ensembles seinen richtigen Platz: Die Kraft der kolumbianischen Pazifik-Percussion und die Poesie der Marimba de Chonta fesseln uns mit einem würzigen Gitarrenriff, das nie weit von Westafrika entfernt ist; die Stärke der Stimmen wird durch elektronische Texturen noch verstärkt, während sich Schlagzeug und Bass zu einem doppelten Motor für das gleichnamige Schiff Nuevos Ríos verbinden. Die Texte erzählen vom Alltag in enger Verbindung mit der Natur, rund um einen Fluss, der sowohl eine zentrale Verkehrsader als auch ein Kanal des Austauschs ist - ohne die harten Realitäten einer Region zu verschleiern, die von den internen Konflikten Kolumbiens gezeichnet ist. Und vielleicht ist diese Musik bereits eine erste Antwort auf einige dieser Wunden, in Form eines Rituals der kollektiven Feier. Das selbstbetitelte Debütalbum bietet eine einzigartige Perspektive auf das afro-stämmige Erbe der kolumbianischen Pazifikküste - ergänzt durch die Kraft verstärkter und elektronischer Musik. Man spürt die Wärme der Tropen, die Kraft der perkussiven und vokalen Traditionen und den Schweiß europäischer Tanzflächen, was zu einem unwiderstehlich hypnotischen und zum Tanzen animierenden Ergebnis führt.

In ,Osni the Flare", dem zweiten Teil von Tristan Allens mythischer Trilogie, zeigt der Komponist, Produzent und Puppenspieler, wie ein Sterblicher durch die Entdeckung des Feuers zu einer Gottheit wird. ,Osni the Flare" wurde über vier Jahre hinweg mit wortlosen Gesängen, Orgeln, Okarinas, einer Menge Spielzeuginstrumenten und einem ausgeklügelten Sounddesign aufgenommen und erzählt in vier akustisch und visuell beeindruckenden Akten von den Ursprüngen der Flamme und der Zeitlichkeit. Allen webt einen Schöpfungsmythos, der zwischen Schönheit, Schatten und wehmütiger Glut wechselt, und schafft so ein Portal zu einem sorgfältig gestalteten, emotional kraftvollen Klang und einer Geschichte, die durch ein fantastisches Reich hallen. Allen wurde in Saratoga Springs, New York, geboren und hat Kindheitserinnerungen an den Aufenthalt seiner Familie in Japan. Sein Weg führte ihn zu prägenden Begegnungen, darunter mit seinem Lehrer Andy Lorio, der das wachsende Interesse und Können des jungen Musikers am Klavier durch Improvisationstechniken förderte, und Amanda Palmer, die ihn mit 16 Jahren während eines Sommerprogramms am Berklee College entdeckte und seine erste Veröffentlichung durch Crowdfunding finanzierte. Nachdem er an der Berklee Klavier studiert, das Live-Elektronik-Kollektiv Nue mitbegründet, mit der Metal-Band Dent durch China getourt und zwei Solo-Klavier-EPs veröffentlicht hatte, zog Allen 2018 von Boston nach Brooklyn. Eine Anzeige auf Craigslist führte zu einer Puppenspielausbildung bei Mike Leach, der ihnen sechs Monate lang beibrachte, wie man eine Marionette richtig führt, was ihnen eine Stelle als Darsteller am renommierten Puppetworks Theater einbrachte. Diese harte Arbeit, zusammen mit dem Kontakt zu den Artefakten des Bread and Puppet Theater ihres Vaters und dem balinesischen Schattenspiel, brachte Allen zu ihrer kreativen Praxis: Komponieren für akustische Instrumente, elektronisches Arrangieren und Auftritte mit Puppenspiel. Osni the Flare erzählt einen Schöpfungsmythos, in dem die Titelfigur in einem Garten aufwacht und Äpfel von einem Baum pflückt. Von einem Loon herbeigerufen, macht sich Osni auf, den Baum vor der Kälte des Winters zu schützen. Als der Loon von einem Drachen verschlungen wird, wagt sich Osni in dessen Bauch und entdeckt dort Glut. Als er diese Glut dem Baum anbietet, entzündet sich dieser - der Ursprung des Feuers selbst. Iso, der Gott des Meeres, greift mit einer Flut ein, die Osnis Garten überschwemmt. Nach seinem Tod gelangt Osnis Seele in das Reich der Schatten, wo sie sich Tin und Iso anschließt und zur Gottheit des Feuers wird - Osni the Flare. Das Album klingt menschlicher und kindlicher als sein Vorgänger ,Tin Iso and The Dawn" und wechselt von der Perspektive der Götter als Beobachter zu der des ersten sterblichen Charakters in Allens Welt. Unterstützt durch neue Liebe, kanalisiert das Projekt Gefühle in Musik, die zu einem ganz eigenen Zauber wird. Wie Tin Iso beginnt und endet das Album mit Klavierklängen als Portal, das die Heimat repräsentiert, während Osni sich auf eine Reise durch drei Reiche begibt: das Land der Lebenden, das Zwischenreich und das Jenseits. Osni the Flare wurde fast komplett mit einem Aston-Kondensatormikrofon in Allens Wohnung in Brooklyn mit Blick auf den Cypress Hills Friedhof aufgenommen und besteht aus Spielzeugklavier und Flöten, Okarinas, Harmonium, Pumporgel, E-Bass und Kontrabass, Gadgets und einer umfangreichen Sammlung von Spieluhren und Glocken. Die Gesangsmelodie - inspiriert vom Summen seiner Partnerin Virginia Garcia Ruiz, das an Pans Labyrinth erinnert - war Allens erster Ausflug in den Gesangsbereich, wobei er eine Melodie ohne Worte verwendete, um den Zuhörern zu ermöglichen, die Protagonisten zu bleiben. Die Flöten wurden Note für Note akribisch aufgenommen, darunter balinesische Sulings, Fundstücke aus chinesischen Souvenirläden und vogelförmige Okarinas. Die Spieluhren wurden langsam aufgezogen, einzeln gesampelt und dann neu arrangiert und gestimmt, um Virginias Summen zu verdoppeln. Ein ausgedientes Casio SK-1 mit einem kaputten Lautsprecher wird mit einem Harmonium kombiniert, um Akkordtexturen zu erzeugen. Stundenlange Improvisationen, die durch Bastl Thyme und NanoVerb geleitet wurden, erzeugten lange, ausklingende Delays, wobei die besten Momente für Songs ausgewählt wurden. Feuergeräusche entstanden durch Fingernagelklicken auf Klaviertasten. Feldaufnahmen hielten das Zerlegen eines Klavieruntergestells, das Löschen von Kerzen und Geräusche aus einem Hospiz fest. Die Stimme des Drachen spricht Worte aus Allens erfundener Sprache. Die Melodie liegt oft im Bass - inspiriert von Goth und Gamelan - mit nach oben gerichteten Verzierungen. Der detailreiche Ansatz spiegelt eine Punktierung wider, die Allens Original-Artwork für das Albumcover ähnelt und durch ihre obsessive Arbeit kleine Teile zu einem großen Bild zusammenfügt - unter der Dusche, vor dem Einschlafen, mitten im Satz. Das Klavier wurde von der Toningenieurin Katie Von Schleicher bei Figure 8 Recording neu aufgenommen, gemischt wurde das Album von Paul Corley. Der technische Leiter Jim Freeman arbeitete vier Monate lang am Halsgelenk und fünf Monate lang an den Schultern der Basswood-Stabpuppe, die von Bruce Schwartz' Ballerina inspiriert ist. Freeman verbrachte Jahre damit, ein selbstgebautes LED-System zu entwickeln, um das Puppenspiel von der Bühne aus zu beleuchten, und sein unwillkürliches Pfeifen während der Arbeit wurde heimlich aufgenommen und ist im Schlussmoment zu hören. Die Herstellung der Puppen wurde von Miryam Moutillet und Lauder Weldon überwacht, die hybriden Köpfe wurden von Duygu Bayar Ekren entworfen. Seit der Veröffentlichung von Tin Iso im Jahr 2023 hat Allen in der experimentellen Puppenspiel-Community von New York City eine Heimat gefunden und wird von der Jim Henson Foundation und La MaMa unterstützt. ,Osni the Flare" steht für Tristan Allens kontinuierliche Weltgestaltung mit akribischer Kontinuität - viele bewegliche Teile, die in funkelnder Kohäsion präsentiert werden, wobei sich jede Komponente aus einer Idee entwickelt, wie eine Fantasy-Serie, die im selben Reich spielt. Das Album erreicht das, was sich Allens kindliches Ich beim Anschauen von Fantasy-Filmen vorgestellt hat: Musik, die nicht so klingt, als würden Menschen Instrumente spielen, sondern wie das Werk der fantastischen Welt selbst. Durch die Kunst des Puppenspielers, ,wahre Lügen zu erzählen", lädt Allen die Zuhörer ein, etwas Ursprüngliches und Unmittelbares zu erleben. Während Osni sich von einem Sterblichen zu einer Gottheit verwandelt, zeichnet das Album nicht nur den Ursprung des Feuers nach, sondern auch den Ursprung des Mythos selbst.

Veränderung, so sagt man, ist das Einzige, was im Leben immer gleich bleibt. Passenderweise fühlt sich die vielseitige Musikerin Avalon Emerson wohl dabei, den ständigen Wandel ihres Lebens in ,Written into Changes" zu verarbeiten, ihrem zweiten Album, das sie unter dem Namen Avalon Emerson & the Charm rausgebracht hat. Das Album ist das Ergebnis intensiver kreativer Arbeit und Überarbeitungen. Die Themen des Albums, persönliche Entwicklung und die Entwicklung von Beziehungen, ,wurden erst klar, als alles fertig war", so Emerson. Die Entstehung von ,Changes" war, wie es sich gehört, ganz anders als die von ,& the Charm". Während dieses Album, wie Emerson sagt, ,sanft und intim" war, ist es diesmal energiegeladener, weil Emerson genau überlegt hat, wie das Material live rüberkommen würde. Das Ergebnis ist ein bandorientiertes, aber grooviges und tanzbares Werk. Der von Breakbeats untermalte Titel ,Eden" hat einen ,baggy" Sound, der an Dance-Rock-Hybride der späten 80er und frühen 90er Jahre erinnert. Der witzige Titel ,How Dare This Beer" wurde als liebevolle Hommage an die Magnetic Fields geschrieben. ,Die Jahre 1987 bis 1994 sind für mich die beste Ära der Musik", sagt Emerson. ,Und mit Nathan überschneiden sich unsere musikalischen Vorlieben ziemlich stark." Nathan ist Nathan Jenkins, alias Bullion, der ,& the Charm" mitproduziert hat und nun zurückgekehrt ist, um den Großteil des Nachfolgealbums zu übernehmen. Ein Großteil der Aufnahmen fand im Winter und Frühjahr 2024 in Braintree, England, statt. Die beiden mit Rostam Batmanglij koproduzierten Tracks (,Jupiter & Mars" und ,Earth Alive") wurden in Los Angeles aufgenommen. Synth-Elemente wurden in der Synth Cabin bei Rosen Sound in Glendale, Kalifornien, hinzugefügt. Obwohl sich die gemeinsame Arbeit an ,Written into Changes" ziemlich von Emersons Solo-Produktionen für die Tanzfläche unterscheidet, ist der Einfluss von Dance-Musik überall zu spüren. Emerson hat sich bei der Arbeit an ihrer Musik besonders auf die tiefen Töne konzentriert. ,Der Bass hatte definitiv Priorität", sagt sie. Emerson schrieb die Melodien und Texte für ,Written into Changes", wobei letztere größtenteils aus ihrem persönlichen Leben stammen. ,Dieses Mal war es mein Ziel, mit meinen Texten etwas direkter zu sein", sagt sie. Der Titelsong, einer der Favoriten der Künstlerin, handelt von ihrem Umzug von Berlin nach Los Angeles im Jahr 2020. Das frenetische ,Happy Birthday" hat eine sonnige Stimmung, die durch sanft-verheerende Texte wie die des Refrains untermalt wird: ,Too young to die / Too old to break through" (Zu jung, um zu sterben / Zu alt, um durchzubrechen). Der Track wurde bereits in Clubs getestet - Emerson hat ihn schon in ihre Sets in Clubs wie der Panorama Bar im Berliner Berghain und im Nowadays in Brooklyn eingebaut. Sowohl ,Eden" als auch ,Country Mouse" sind Oden an Emersons Beziehung zu ihrer Frau Hunter, während ,I Don't Want to Fight" und ,Earth Alive" davon handeln, ,zu erkennen, dass man Menschen nicht ändern kann und versuchen muss, sie so zu akzeptieren, wie sie sind, und manchmal bedeutet das, sie aus der Ferne zu lieben", sagt sie. Written into Changes ist ein Album, das nicht nur davon handelt, Veränderungen zu akzeptieren, sondern sie mit offenen Armen zu empfangen. Fortschritt ist sowohl auf dem Album als auch hinter den Kulissen ein Thema, sodass ,written into changes" eine bewusste Herangehensweise an den Ausdruck und das Leben selbst beschreibt.

INTERWOVEN' is a four-track split EP that binds together two of Denmark's most forwardthinking heavy acts: HIRAKI and Meejah. Built on a shared appetite for boundary-pushing intensity, the collaboration channels the urgency of electronic hardcore, the spaciousness of experimental rock, and the emotional depth of cinematic metal into an immersive work that is at once confrontational and deeply connective. As a part of Denmark's flourishing underground scene for dark and heavy music, the HIRAKI trio deploys an aggressive style of progressive synthpunk from the edge of the abyss. The band presents this sonic assault to accompany the inevitable fact that our world is sick, and we all take part in maintaining the fucked up systemic structures. MEEJAH is a Post/Experimental Danish-Korean band from Copenhagen weaving together Nordic Melancholia & Korean Ancestry. The results sound like Heaven, Thunder, Mountain, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Lake. Across these four tracks, both bands challenge each other to step past familiar contours, unraveling and recombining their musical identities until a new hybrid shape emerges_volatile, textured, and unmistakably alive. FOR FANS OF The Body * The Armed * Sightless Pit * Massive Attack * Julie Christmas * Death Engine

INTERWOVEN' is a four-track split EP that binds together two of Denmark's most forwardthinking heavy acts: HIRAKI and Meejah. Built on a shared appetite for boundary-pushing intensity, the collaboration channels the urgency of electronic hardcore, the spaciousness of experimental rock, and the emotional depth of cinematic metal into an immersive work that is at once confrontational and deeply connective. As a part of Denmark's flourishing underground scene for dark and heavy music, the HIRAKI trio deploys an aggressive style of progressive synthpunk from the edge of the abyss. The band presents this sonic assault to accompany the inevitable fact that our world is sick, and we all take part in maintaining the fucked up systemic structures. MEEJAH is a Post/Experimental Danish-Korean band from Copenhagen weaving together Nordic Melancholia & Korean Ancestry. The results sound like Heaven, Thunder, Mountain, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Lake. Across these four tracks, both bands challenge each other to step past familiar contours, unraveling and recombining their musical identities until a new hybrid shape emerges_volatile, textured, and unmistakably alive. FOR FANS OF The Body * The Armed * Sightless Pit * Massive Attack * Julie Christmas * Death Engine The single colour edition comes as white vinyl!

For their fourth release, Australian label Lunatic Music welcomes Chris Stoker (UK) and Jamie Blanco (UK born, AUS based) to the fray for a dubbed out analogue synth workout that is indisputably Ess O Ess.
Fusion unfolds in Simply Nothing. Analogue synths intertwine with exquisitely programmed percussion and George Humes' chorus-drenched, draped in a veil of spectral vocals by Sarah-May Brown. The result is a retro-futuristic sonic whirlpool that is as memorable as it is delicate.
A waterfall forms in The Lotus & The Banksman. An otherworldly mutant breakbeat techno floor filler. Ethereal pads and dubby textures ripple across the surface whilst the resonant bassline churns below. Gentle currents give way to surging momentum as the percussion kicks in wth the repetitive chant of Time Travelling Man throughout, again by Sarah-May Brown.
On Remix duties, Hybrid Man applies their refined proto-trance formula to Simply Nothing, drawing out its hypnotic core.
Mayurashka fractures The Lotus & The Banksman, sifts through the pieces, and assembles a mind-melting, wonky techno drum work-out from the fragments.

B. Chamber (Stratum A), by B. Close, is the first full length solo release by Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary artist Brian Close. The first of two volumes assembled from some thirteen hours of music produced by Close while residing in Connecticut from 2021-2025, B. Chamber (Stratum A) offers a vivid, fractal afterimage of a prolific, specific time and space in the artist’s oeuvre.

After leaving New York City early in the pandemic to a farmhouse in the countryside with dedicated spaces for multiple sound stations, Close developed an intensive daily practice of melding with the machines. The vast, pastoral backdrop of rural CT provided inspiration and contrast for his ongoing investigations into dynamic, poly-rhythmic electronic music. The sounds on B. Chamber (Stratum A) range from the machine-modeling of acoustic instruments and natural environments to the utterly unhuman, spinning on the axis between crystalline, pointillist precision and shifty blown-cone distortion. Close’s atypical interpretations of rhythm, noise and other undefined musics land in a hybrid zone of their own.

Throughout B. Chamber (Stratum A), Close’s productions are in perpetual motion. Foxtrot’s shifting hi-hats and disembodied voices rise like cicadas propelled by glitching machines and tangled rhythms, Many Drive draws momentum from dubby stabs and twinkling atmospherics. Character Community’s nimble, drifting snares and erratic static are uplifted by swelling synths, and Mpan’s modular mining forgoes drums but is no less propulsive for it. Acre Voices’ seasick pads and deft drum patterns tap an energizing nerve, and closer 5D Bow’s ambush of pummeling machine gun fire spirals into the tryptamine palace and emerges completely rinsed and refreshed.

Equally powerful in the club as in the outdoors, in the headphones eyes closed or on the move, B. Chamber (Stratum A) grants an immersive temporary trip on B. Close’s unique wavelength, with Stratum B to complete the picture in the summer of 2026.

RIYL - Mark Fell, muay thai, Vladislav Delay, gaming, Errorsmith, modular synthesizer.

+++++

Brian Close (b. 1979, NYC) uses the cold logic of mathematics to trigger states of total sensory displacement. Close co-founded multiple AV studios to explore the "hypnotic"—a ritualistic practice of motional-graphism and improvisational sound. His work is a study in synesthesia and the architecture of trance, using geometric precision to dissolve the sense of time. It is a digital-visceral experience built on heavy logic, designed for large-scale immersion and timelessness.

Close is one half of Georgia who have released records on Palto Flats, Firecracker Recordings, Meakusma, Youth, OOH-Sounds and EM Records, and have a long-running residency on NTS.

B. Chamber was written, produced and mixed by Brian Close.
Mastered by Rashad Becker.
Artwork by Brian Close.

If you’ve been following the wanderings of prolific psychedelic magicians Elkhorn, you might be surprised that Elkhorn guitarist Drew Gardner’s solo LP Wave Field is the most out and out “rock” record on VHF in many years. Working here in a small group with excellent players Tom Malach (guitar), Andy Cush (bass), and Ryan Jewel (drums), Gardner cuts loose on a set of propulsive and swinging material that allows him to greatly expand his sound into unexpected areas. “Rhizoid” starts with a sneaky groove riding the nimble bass and drums of Cush and Jewel before a leap into the ripping Sonic Youth/NEU! hybrid of “Space Ray.” “Shadow Casting Grass” brings things back down to end the side with some Elkhorn-adjacent gentle guitar weave backed again by the sly rhythm section. “Wave Field” kicks off side 2 with an extended buzzy guitar raga with Cush’s melodic and fat bass providing jammy counterpoint. The epic “Mayan Bees” closes the LP with an extended workout on another extremely fine drum and bass ostinato, a hypnotic minor key riff that slow builds over 10+ minutes.

Koma Saxo, the explosive quintet led by Berlin-based Swedish bassist/producer Petter Eldh, returns on We Jazz Records with their new album, cut live at We Jazz Festival in Helsinki, December 2019. Whereas their lauded debut was a triumph of remapping the goal posts for an acoustic jazz combo for the 2020's, "LIVE" takes you right to the heart of the actual ensemble sound, with 5 musicians tearing the place down, no post production. From the fiery opening sequence kicking off with "Euro Koma", on to the much calmer beauty of "Waltz Me, Waltz Me Baby, All Night Long" and the first single "Fiskeskärsmelodin", the 8-song set is pure fire, never failing to convey the extraordinary intensity of the group: Eldh on bass, Otis Sandsjö (Y-OTIS), Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen on saxes, and Christian Lillinger on drums.

An excerpt of liner notes by Peter Margasak:

"When I first saw Petter Eldh's quintet Koma Saxo in Berlin in September of 2019 I was floored. The raw, sprinting energy of the band was both infectious and astonishing, but what I most remember was a sense of cognitive dissonance. Was this the same combo that recorded a fantastic eponymous 2019 studio album that represented one of the most convincing, pleasurable, and driving hybrid's of searing post-bop and the production ethos of hip-hop? There have been endless stabs by producers trying to remap the machinations of an organic, all-acoustic jazz band with electronic post-production, but Eldh, channeling a sonic language heavily informed by J Dilla, nailed it in a way I'd never experienced before. Having the trust of his three imaginative, high-octane saxophonists—Jonas Kullhammar, Otis Sandsjö, and Mikko Innanen—he used their grainy sound as raw material, smudging and smearing it like a painter creating new hues on a palette, and then extending, editing, and powering it up within the imperturbable grooves meted out by he and drummer Christian Lillinger. He didn't really alter the essential core of the band's performances. There's no question that a seriously burning quintet had laid the tracks down, even if the performances reflected the kind of concision many jazz groups adapt for a studio endeavor. But the way his jacked-up bass lines and Lillinger's impossibly peripatetic, stuttering rhythms buffeted the massed saxophones elevated Koma Saxo to plane all its own, and I repeatedly returned to that place—half the time trying to figure out what the hell Eldh had done, and the other half lost in giddy ecstasy.

The live show, on the other hand, featured the band without any production tricks. Its soaring, pithy repertoire came alive in a different way, and this excellent live recording from the 2019 We Jazz Festival, has reminded me of how fun and visceral that experience was."

Koma Saxo "LIVE" is released by We Jazz Records on 30 April 2021 on two vinyl editions (silver + black), as a bundle with an unreleased 7" (+ silver vinyl edition), on CD and digitally. The vinyl versions plus the CD come complete with silver embossed lettering. The vinyl is delivered on heavy-duty tip-on sleeve, complete with an insert featuring liner notes by Peter Margasak, Andreas Müller, Matti Nives and Petter Eldh.

a 01: Euro Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
b 02: Puls Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
c 03: Fanfarum for Komarum III (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
[d] 04: Waltz Me Baby, Waltz Me All Night Long (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[e] 05: Otis and Christian (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö & Christian Lillinger]
[f] 06: Blumer (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[g] 07: Fiskeskärsmelodin (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]

Silver Vinyl

Koma Saxo, the explosive quintet led by Berlin-based Swedish bassist/producer Petter Eldh, returns on We Jazz Records with their new album, cut live at We Jazz Festival in Helsinki, December 2019. Whereas their lauded debut was a triumph of remapping the goal posts for an acoustic jazz combo for the 2020's, "LIVE" takes you right to the heart of the actual ensemble sound, with 5 musicians tearing the place down, no post production. From the fiery opening sequence kicking off with "Euro Koma", on to the much calmer beauty of "Waltz Me, Waltz Me Baby, All Night Long" and the first single "Fiskeskärsmelodin", the 8-song set is pure fire, never failing to convey the extraordinary intensity of the group: Eldh on bass, Otis Sandsjö (Y-OTIS), Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen on saxes, and Christian Lillinger on drums.

An excerpt of liner notes by Peter Margasak:

"When I first saw Petter Eldh's quintet Koma Saxo in Berlin in September of 2019 I was floored. The raw, sprinting energy of the band was both infectious and astonishing, but what I most remember was a sense of cognitive dissonance. Was this the same combo that recorded a fantastic eponymous 2019 studio album that represented one of the most convincing, pleasurable, and driving hybrid's of searing post-bop and the production ethos of hip-hop? There have been endless stabs by producers trying to remap the machinations of an organic, all-acoustic jazz band with electronic post-production, but Eldh, channeling a sonic language heavily informed by J Dilla, nailed it in a way I'd never experienced before. Having the trust of his three imaginative, high-octane saxophonists—Jonas Kullhammar, Otis Sandsjö, and Mikko Innanen—he used their grainy sound as raw material, smudging and smearing it like a painter creating new hues on a palette, and then extending, editing, and powering it up within the imperturbable grooves meted out by he and drummer Christian Lillinger. He didn't really alter the essential core of the band's performances. There's no question that a seriously burning quintet had laid the tracks down, even if the performances reflected the kind of concision many jazz groups adapt for a studio endeavor. But the way his jacked-up bass lines and Lillinger's impossibly peripatetic, stuttering rhythms buffeted the massed saxophones elevated Koma Saxo to plane all its own, and I repeatedly returned to that place—half the time trying to figure out what the hell Eldh had done, and the other half lost in giddy ecstasy.

The live show, on the other hand, featured the band without any production tricks. Its soaring, pithy repertoire came alive in a different way, and this excellent live recording from the 2019 We Jazz Festival, has reminded me of how fun and visceral that experience was."

Koma Saxo "LIVE" is released by We Jazz Records on 30 April 2021 on two vinyl editions (silver + black), as a bundle with an unreleased 7" (+ silver vinyl edition), on CD and digitally. The vinyl versions plus the CD come complete with silver embossed lettering. The vinyl is delivered on heavy-duty tip-on sleeve, complete with an insert featuring liner notes by Peter Margasak, Andreas Müller, Matti Nives and Petter Eldh.

a 01: Euro Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
b 02: Puls Koma (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
c 03: Fanfarum for Komarum III (Live) feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger
d 04: Waltz Me Baby, Waltz Me All Night Long (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[e] 05: Otis and Christian (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö & Christian Lillinger]
[f] 06: Blumer (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[g] 07: Fiskeskärsmelodin (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]

[a] 01: Euro Koma (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[b] 02: Puls Koma (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[c] 03: Fanfarum for Komarum III (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[d] 04: Waltz Me Baby, Waltz Me All Night Long (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[e] 05: Otis and Christian (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö & Christian Lillinger]
[f] 06: Blumer (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[g] 07: Fiskeskärsmelodin (Live) [feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]
[feat. Otis Sandsjö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mikko Innanen & Christian Lillinger]

The Roots of Chicha, compiled by Barbès Records, was originally released in 2007 and became the first recording to popularize psychedelic cumbia around the world.

From the late 60's through the 80's, Peruvians invented a new popular musical hybrid inspired by music from the Americas. In 1968, Enrique Delgado released his first record on Odeon with his new group, Los Destellos, single-handedly creating Peruvian cumbia. He codified the genre early on by using the electric guitar as the primary melodic instrument, and mixing cumbia rhythms with folkloric huaynos, criollo voicings, Cuban guarachas and guajiras, rock, boogaloo, surf, psychedelia, oriental music, classical music, and bits and pieces from Brazil, France, Chile... All Peruvian cumbia bands for the next thirty years would end up drawing from the exact same sources (Grupo Celeste, Los Mirlos, Juaneco Y Su Combo, Manzanita Y Su Conjunto...).

This new wave of Peruvian cumbia came to be known as chicha. Chicha is originally the name of an alcoholic drink, made of fermented maize, which the Incas were especially fond of. In the past thirty years, however, the word has taken on a pejorative connotation. Peruvian cumbia started being called chicha in the late 70s, around the same time that the music came to be viewed as the expression of the slums – the pueblos jovenes. Little by little, the word became an adjective, and people now talk of chicha culture, chicha press, chicha architecture, even of a chicha president, and none if it – you guessed right – is meant as a compliment. Chicha suggests corruption, shady deals, and cholos – a derogatory term for a person of Andean heritage that, of late, is being reclaimed and worn as a badge of honor by the very cholos it was supposed to demean in the first place.

Since 2018, BBE Music’s J Jazz Series of compilations and album reissues has been at the forefront in focussing attention on the hitherto cloistered and rarified world of Japanese jazz. True to the ethos of the series, curators Tony Higgins and Mike Peden have once again dug up a truly rare gem in the form of a 45 from the mysterious Christal Zone, originally released in 1971 only as a promo and reissued here for the very first time. Several years before pianist Tohru Aizawa and brothers Tetsuya and Kyoichiro Morimura formed the now-celebrated Tohru Aizawa Quartet — whose 1975 private- press spiritual jazz LP Tachibana Vol 1 has become a cornerstone of the J Jazz canon and previously reissued by BBE — they were already venturing into bold, experimental territory. Their 1971 single Rai Rai, released as a promotional 7-inch on Liberty Records under the short-lived moniker Christal Zone was written and arranged by koto player and composer Hideakira Sakurai. An almost unclassifiable hybrid of jazz, Japanese folk, Algerian raï, and free improvisation. Sakurai’s visionary approach dominates the track, blending traditional Japanese instrumentation with a dense polyrhythmic groove that evokes not only avant-garde jazz but also the raw street energy of Algerian raï — celebratory, unfiltered, and joyfully unrestrained. The story behind the recording of Rai Rai is as spontaneous as the music itself. While casually rehearsing at Sakurai’s villa, the group was overheard by producer Kunihiko Murai, who was so stunned by what he heard that he arranged a studio session for them the very next day. The resulting 7-inch — Rai Rai / Kanashiyana, released under the one-off Christal Zone name — is now one of the rarest artefacts in Japanese jazz, with original copies fetching astronomical prices among collectors. BBE Music has faithfully reproduced the original artwork and packaging to celebrate this extraordinary and super rare piece of J Jazz history. A piece that bridges the ancient and the future, Japan and North Africa, in under four minutes of controlled chaos. A truly one-of-a-kind artefact, Rai Rai is a manifesto from a generation unafraid to rip up the rulebook and follow their own path.

Supergroups existed before Emerson, Lake & Palmer formed in 1970. And, as we all know well, many came after. But few, if any, matched the English trio’s chemistry and its elevated combination of virtuosity, vision, and verve. Having influenced a multitude of followers, ELP’s prowess was obvious from the start. The band’s self-titled debut stands as a towering statement of creative imagination, execution, and discipline more than five decades after its original release.

Mastered at MoFi’s California studio, housed in a Stoughton jacket, and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 33RPM LP of Emerson, Lake & Palmer presents the benchmark album in audiophile sound. Clear, dynamic, and balanced, this collectible edition honors the perfectionist approaches that both informed the playing and recording of the record.

Distinguished with black backgrounds, this reissue brings to light the epic scope, tonal depth, and mind-bending degrees of musicianship on display. Aspects — textures, nuances, effects, melodies, tempo changes — that go hand-in-hand with the trio’s compositions and interplay are rendered amid broad soundstages and delivered with pinpoint detail. Whether you’ve owned multiple copies of this touchstone or seeking out your first version, you’ll relish the presence, separation, imaging, and crispness that help make every song come across as if the group has set up shop in your listening space.

Opening the door to the seemingly infinite possibilities of progressive rock while steering clear of excess, Emerson, Lake & Palmer achieved a rare feat in that its complex, cerebral music didn’t prevent it from attaining mainstream success. The gold-certified effort launched the career of a band that would sell tens of millions of records. It also landed a Top 50 single in the form of the ballad “Lucky Man,” whose vocal harmonies, folksy strumming, multi-tracked instrumentation, and breakthrough Moog solo almost feel quaint in the face of the other fare on the album.

Comprised of genre-defying originals and hybrid arrangements of two classical pieces, the album Rolling Stone originally and rightly said is “best heard as a whole” matches outrageous ambition with the otherworldly skills of three musicians who remain among the finest to ever pick up their respective instruments. While Emerson soon drew the lion’s share of headlines for his ability on keys — clavinet, Moog, piano, Hammond organ, and pipe organ included — Greg Lake’s aptitude on guitar and bass, along with well as Carl Palmer’s monster talents behind the kit, created a three-headed hydra that devoured everything in front of it.

That extends to the radical reinterpretation of Bela Bartok’s “The Barbarian” that begins the LP, a performance that in less than four-and-a-half minutes runs the gamut from distorted to churchy to angular and blustery. More classical flourishes, keyboard wizardry, hard-rock heaviness, and gothic signatures emerge throughout “Knife-Edge,” which reimagines music by Leos Janacek and J.S. Bach — and ultimately invites you to explore a cathedral of sound teeming with separate bursts of keys and percussion.

And did someone say “drumming”? Check out Palmer’s monster salvo on “Tank,” a rhythmic showcase that marches out with knee-bent notes and mirror-reflected passages. Or dive into the mythological suite “The Three Fates.” Replete with three parts and Emerson playing the pipe organ at Royal Festival Hall, it shoots off sonic fireworks via sophisticated arpeggios, jazz improvisations, dancing counter-meters, sizzling chords, and a few explosions. Please don’t hold anyone at MoFi responsible if your system cannot handle it; this is heady stuff.

Indeed, everything on Emerson, Lake & Palmer is there for a purpose. Whether you aim to attempt to dissect all of the notes, shifts, and polyrhythmic bluster or just want to absorb this album as one living, breathing organism, this version invites you to do both as many times as you desire.

Hydro-grind maniacs CEPHALIC CARNAGE presents the deluxe 25th anniversary reissue of their monumental Relapse Records debut album Exploiting Dysfunction! The 2LP/2CD reissue was remixed and remastered by Dave Otero (Cattle Decapitation, Allegaeon, Khemmis) and features CEPHALIC CARNAGE classic tracks "Hybrid" & "Rehab" + previously unreleased bonus and demo tracks!

Astropolis Records — the label born from the legendary electronic French festival — celebrates a decade of electronic devotion with a generous and deeply emotional anniversary compilation - a bit late, but never short on flair.

This double vinyl gathers the many faces of the Astropolis galaxy: in-house artists, long-time companions of the festival, and rising voices from a perpetually vibrant French scene. Across 18 artists, listeners are invited on a sonic journey where rave legacy, electronic dreamscapes, and collective fervor intertwine — true to the DNA of a festival that’s never known boundaries.



The record opens with grace and wonder courtesy of Rone, whose electronic touch channels both the intimate and the infinite. Between electronica and downtempo, The Dolphin Ambassador bathes in luminous melancholy, offering a moment of calm before the storm. In the same contemplative vein, we’re proud to unveil one of the first productions from Célélé alongside Théo Muller: Drum and Drift, a subtle blend of dubby vibrations and sunlit textures.


Astropolis has always thrived on happy collisions — and this compilation is proof of it. The unlikely meeting between Mézigue and Swooh sends house spiraling into a g-tech vortex on Broken Roll To Venice, a playful burst of groove, hybrid energy, and cheeky mischief. The same spirit of alchemy fuels Belaria & Madben, whose Into The Void burns bright as a 90s rave-meets-EBM anthem wrapped in hypnotic trance. Zaatar & Trunkline bring raw intensity to Come Into The Light, a sweaty, visceral banger at the crossroads of techno, dark disco, and EBM.


French techno pillars Scan X & Electric Rescue deliver a masterclass in elegant machine soul on Lost In Time. When Manu Le Malin teams up with Kmyle, the result is as sharp as it is cinematic: Little Big Man pulses with dramatic tension, balancing raw emotion and restrained fury. Elsewhere, Oniris & Benjamin Rippert reconnect with the melodic techno spirit of the label’s early days on Sonate, guided by a craftsman’s sense of harmony.
For the machine lovers, Legowelt & Cuften resurrect the spirit of early electroclash on Liar, a carnal fusion of analog synths and DIY attitude. And for the diehard dancefloor devotees, KiNK finally releases a cult track from his live sets: Give Me, a breakbeat-meets-vintage-house stormer tailor-made for those late-night sweats.

This anniversary compilation reaffirms the label’s openness to new generations and hybrid sounds, while paying tribute to the techno roots that shaped its foundation. Like the festival itself, it embodies sincerity and collective energy — a small manifesto linking generations, aesthetics, and territories, celebrating roots without nostalgia and the future without bending to trends.

2025 Repress

At last, we get doused from the source; four priors of reissued gems and newer beauts now land us at the quintus maximus: the inaugural Spray on Spray. It’s large and in charge, as we pull back the velvety curtain to reaffirm the exquisite curator is just-as-exquisite a melody maker. OT Rails adjusts the prog antenna to broadcast 3 anthems from the great big dance satellite in the sky, including a collaboration with French cuties Baraka. You’ve had your trad, now dance!

The title track struts along its psychedelic catwalk with a sexy house swagger, unlocking a wobbly stack of pineal-tickling melodies en route. The angels soon sing in positiva harmony, before the piano-lude calls for a tight embrace with those closest to you on the dancefloor. Raise those hands aloft, you know what’s coming; that hard house’d snare roll soon erupts and, before you know it, you’re soaring like the white dove you are. Why does it feel so good?

Spray then switches channel to Ceathair, coaxing the prog spirit from the motherland as the psilocybinised breaks wisp through the undergrowth. The vibe is bouncy, as the diva croons and bassline sings, before the vista opens and the sprayed piper summons you home. Open that third eye, súil eile.
Our swan song is reserved for Baraka and Spray, conjoining their tech trance powers on Think Of Me. The trio up the pace for the grand finale, rolling the tight groove from the off while igniting its hybridised trance rump with hypnotic fervour. The friendly mantra floats heavenly above throughout, absorbing you in a semi-lucid ecstatic state. It’s a whirlwind of dancefloor energy from beginning to end, and Spray wouldn’t have it any other way.

RAW, RUTHLESS AND CEREMONIALLY DARK!

Only two years after its inception in 2023, the ominous entity hailing from Germany has come up with their first full-length. Consisting of 6 songs with the first one being an instrumental intro, "Fiery Paths" is a very convincing effort on all levels. Notwithstanding the fact INFERNAL PRESENCE has only been active for 2 years, their hybrid of Black and Death Metal sounds as if it had been composed by a seasoned band. Unlike many outfits whose songs consist of a salad of riffs randomly thrown together, INFERNAL PRESENCE are apt at cleverly composing their material by frequently alternating between different tempi and moods. Fast tremolo picked riffs akin to DISSECTION or MAYHEM are alternated with palm muted Thrash riffs or atmospheric slow-paced arpeggios reminding of WATAIN or ONDSKAPT.

In so doing the two-piece creates dynamic songs that succeed in truly capturing the listener's attention. Just listen to standout tracks like "Eternal Exodus" or the exceptional "Tomb Procession" with its slithering groove and you will see our point proven. Although, only sharing certain musical elements with said bands, the suffocating atmosphere of "Fiery Paths" reminds of NEGATIVE PLANE's first album or early SECRETS OF THE MOON. Fortunately, the production fits the material just splendidly, too. While being gritty and raw, thus emphasising the album’s ferociousness, it's still polished enough so that no detail gets buried in the mix.

INFERNAL PRESENCE unleashed a record suffused with unrelenting darkness! If you consider yourself a fan of some of the bands mentioned above, do yourself a favour and listen to this beast of an album!

Extended Field vereint Horse Lords und Arnold Dreyblatt für die achtzehnte Ausgabe von FRKWYS, einer generationsübergreifenden Zusammenarbeit abenteuerlustiger Musiker, die sich von der klanglich strahlenden Welt der reinen Stimmung angezogen fühlen - einem alten Stimmungssystem, bei dem die Tonintervalle aus ganzzahligen Verhältnissen abgeleitet werden. Dreyblatt tauchte erstmals in den 1970er Jahren in New York in diesen Ansatz ein, während Horse Lords fast vier Jahrzehnte später begannen, dessen Möglichkeiten zu erforschen und anzuwenden. Gemeinsam schaffen sie eine lebendige harmonische Umgebung, die von ihrer gemeinsamen Leidenschaft für Rhythmus angetrieben wird und eine Verbindung von diskreter, aber verwandter Ästhetik für die Ewigkeit herstellt. Dreyblatt ist ein Pionier des psychoakustischen Phänomens und war von 1975 bis 1977 Assistent von La Monte Young, bevor er bei dem legendären Alvin Lucier an der Wesleyan University studierte. Er entdeckte die klangliche Kraft angeregter Saiten, rüstete einen Kontrabass mit Klaviersaiten nach und schlug mit schnellen Schlägen darauf, um einhüllende Wolken metallischer Obertöne zu erzeugen. Dreyblatts Album Nodal Excitation aus dem Jahr 1982 legte einen klanglichen Entwurf fest, der bis heute das Herzstück seiner pulsierenden Musik bildet. Schließlich zog er nach Berlin und leitete im Laufe der Jahre verschiedene Ensembles, die das kompositorische Gerüst, das er um seine klingenden Töne herum aufgebaut hatte, verstärkten und interpretierten. Im Gegensatz zu Dreyblatts hyperfokussierter Praxis haben Horse Lords einen ganz eigenen ekstatischen, hybriden Sound entwickelt: Hard-Driving-Rhythmen unterstützen eine Kollision aus traditioneller Ritualmusik, Free Jazz und spektral brillanten elektronischen Schauern psychoakustischer Klänge. Nachdem sie sich mit ihrem 2020 erschienenen Album ,The Common Task" eine treue Fangemeinde aufgebaut hatten, zog der Großteil der Band 2021 nach Deutschland, wobei sich Gitarrist Owen Gardner und Bassist Max Eilbacher in Berlin niederließen und Saxophonist Andrew Bernstein nur wenige Stunden entfernt in Bayern. Schlagzeuger Sam Haberman blieb in Baltimore, trifft sich aber weiterhin mit der Band für Albumaufnahmen, darunter das 2023 erscheinende Album ,Comradely Objects", und ausgedehnte Tourneen. Ohne es zu wissen, teilten beide Seiten ein gegenseitiges Interesse an der Musik des anderen. Anfang 2017 schlug Dreyblatts langjähriger Kollege und Freund Werner Durand ihm vor, sich die Band anzuhören. Er erinnert sich: ,Nachdem ich sie gehört hatte, antwortete ich schnell: ,Klingt großartig! Ein bisschen wie meine Musik. Ich habe noch nie von ihnen gehört!` Ich schickte ihnen eine Nachricht über ihre Bandcamp-Seite, und sie antworteten: ,Hallo! Danke für die Nachricht, wir sind große Fans deiner Musik!` Aber erst als Dreyblatt die Band im Oktober 2021 in Berlin sah, kreuzten sich ihre Wege endlich. Einige Tage später schlug Bernstein eine Zusammenarbeit vor. Dieser Prozess verlief langsam, aber sicher; beide Seiten waren sehr beschäftigt, und als die Musiker schließlich zusammenkamen, mussten sie unterschiedliche harmonische Vorstellungen miteinander in Einklang bringen und brauchten jemanden, der Haberman am Schlagzeug ersetzte. Dreyblatt schlug Andrea Belfi vor, einen angesehenen italienischen Schlagzeuger und Komponisten, der in Berlin lebt. In den folgenden Kompositionssitzungen lernten Horse Lords und Dreyblatt die Feinheiten der harmonischen Vorlieben des jeweils anderen kennen und fanden Wege, diese zu einem einheitlichen Klang zu verschmelzen. ,Andrew und Owen schlugen Strukturen für die Navigation durch meine Tonsysteme vor", erklärt Dreyblatt, ,während Max in SuperCollider gewichtete algorithmische Frequenzmuster entwickelte." Viele Bewohner des Stimmungsuniversums haben hartnäckige Überzeugungen darüber, was richtig und was falsch ist, daher ist die Geduld und Offenheit beider Seiten ziemlich ungewöhnlich, wobei die Partnerschaft faszinierende Akzente und Veränderungen hervorbringt. ,Als Fans von eingeschränkter/algorithmischer Kunst (nicht der schlechten Art!) haben wir beschlossen, diese Matrix in den Mittelpunkt unserer Entscheidungsfindung zu stellen, um uns sowohl eine nicht willkürliche Möglichkeit zu geben, die ansonsten unendlichen Möglichkeiten zu begrenzen, mit denen man bei der Komposition mit Zahlen konfrontiert ist, als auch einen Ausweg aus festgefahrenen Gewohnheiten", schreibt Gardner über die Schaffung von Grenzen für ihre harmonischen Welten. Anstatt den Prozess einzuschränken, zwang diese Entscheidung die Musiker, ihre Komfortzone zu verlassen, und erforderte mehr Einfallsreichtum und Bedachtsamkeit bei ihren Entscheidungen. Das Endergebnis ist weit mehr als die Summe seiner Teile, da beide Parteien sich auf die Ideen des anderen einlassen, ohne die Vorrangstellung ihrer eigenen Ideen zu opfern. Der galoppierende polyrhythmische Antrieb, der ein charakteristisches Merkmal der Musik von Horse Lords ist, bleibt allgegenwärtig, und ein Stück wie ,Extended Field" nutzt die numerische Matrix von Dreyblatts System sowohl harmonisch als auch rhythmisch. In dem sich endlos wandelnden Drone-Stück ,Suspension" umschmeicheln Horse Lords Dreyblatts gestreifte Bogenstriche mit ihren eigenen pulsierenden Tönen. Obwohl ihre Rolle in den jeweiligen Werken unterschiedlich ist und sie im Verhältnis zu anderen Elementen in unterschiedlichen Anteilen vorkommen, ist die harmonische Erforschung das Herzstück dieser atemberaubenden Zusammenarbeit. Wie man im Schlussstück ,Impulse Array" erkennen kann, führt das Stöbern der Horse Lords in Dreyblatts Matrix zu den klanglichen Entdeckungen, für die sie leben. Wie Gardner bemerkt: ,Jede Wendung offenbart einen überraschenden, aber irgendwie unvermeidlichen neuen Akkord, dessen Verlauf seltsamerweise an einen Bach-Choral erinnert, der sowohl sehr zielgerichtet als auch ohne Ziel ist."

Slip is Paul Abbott’s response to his 3 day residency at OTO in 2023. It’s a continued exploration of the acoustic-digital hybrid drum setup Abbott has been developing for some time, which involves drum kit and synthetic sounds combined closely—through an entanglement of limbs and cables—in an intimate but strange relationship with each other.

Paul Abbott hasn’t had any formal musical training, but has a long history of making music, having collaborated for years with Seymour Wright, Pat Thomas, Michael Speers, Cara Tolmie, Anne Gillis and many others. Eventually, led by a profound suspicion of what is fixed or limited, Abbott began finding other ways to organise sound - or what he calls ‘material’:

“I wanted a way to 'persuade' or guide the possibility of something happening - my activity or the events of an algorithmic composition - for example, but without certainty or formalism. It felt to me, during playing, that certain ideas had a particular sort of shape, but more than the form of a line. I began to write alongside (before/after) playing the drums, and ‘characters’ began to enter the scene as a more wobbly, and therefore appropriate option to notation. Working with these characters allowed me to simultaneously approach body, imagination, language and music: without dividing things up or separating these aspects from each other. It allowed me to leave things messy and entangled, whilst trying to deal with form and specificity: wanting to have some things feel or respond differently to other things at other times.”

In approaching his residency, Abbott developed a fixed cast of characters - crystal, lleaf, reiy.F, reiy.C, strike, nee, qosel, sphu and aahn. They each communicate using different kinds of movement and drum kit/s, and Abbott choreographed them as ‘dances’ based on different feelings, or outlines of behaviours suggestive of ways of moving (body, drums, sounds). He then arranged these characters into ‘compositions’: one for each performance day, with each composition featuring multi-layered activity - options for behaviours, ways to move around the rooms, play drums, develop synthetic sounds, change the lights or re-distribute the sound in the space.

After the performances, Abbott took home 9 hours of recordings split into up to 28 multitrack channels for each day, and re-organised his cast once more into a performance for 2LP, CD and digital. It’s an enormous amount of work - but Abbott is activated by the process. For him, the pleasure of unstable edges, possibilities, slippages, is the vital attraction. Like all living organisms, Abbott’s characters have malleability and responsivity. They stimulate a bundle of possible behaviours, a tendency to act a certain way, a temperament, a boundary of respective limits or affordances.

It’s an affective way of working, inclusive of Roscoe Mitchell, Sun Ra, Nathaniel Mackey and Milford Graves. In ‘Pulseology’(2022), Milford Graves reminds us, ‘Breath varies, so cardiac rhythm never has that (metronomic) tempo. It’s always changing. All the alignments of the heart are determined based on the needs of the cells, specifically tissues and organs. The heart knows if it needs to speed up.’ In Slip, to slip, in a heartbeat, is to descend not into the grid of the even metre accorded to the heartbeat, but into a play of mutability and modality. To change is the condition of the heart.

Im Juli 1955 reiste der damals 19-jährige Luciano Pavarotti zusammen mit seinem Vater und einem Chor aus
Modena nach Wales, um am Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod teilzunehmen. Dort gewannen sie
den Wettbewerb der Männerstimmen mit großem Abstand. Dieser besondere Moment inspirierte Pavarotti,
professioneller Sänger zu werden. 40 Jahre später, im Jahr 1995, kehrte er zurück, um während der
Eisteddfod-Woche ein besonderes Konzert im Pavillon zu geben. Diese Aufnahme dokumentiert das bisher
unveröffentlichte, historische Konzert. Zu der versammelten Menge im Pavillon sagte Pavarotti: „40 Jahre,
mein Gott, es fühlt sich an, als wäre es gestern gewesen. Ich habe so viele Dinge getan. Wenn Journalisten
mich fragen, welcher Tag in meinem Leben besonders war, dann sage ich, es war der Tag, an dem ich
diesen Wettbewerb gewann, weil ich mit all meinen Freunden zusammen war.“
Die Sammlung präsentiert ein Programm voller Arien aus Cavalleria rusticana, Il trovatore und Macbeth
sowie bekannte neapolitanische Lieder. Sie enthält außerdem zwei Tracks aus dem Jahr 1955, die als die
ältesten Aufnahmen von Luciano Pavarotti gelten. Das beiliegende, 100 Seiten starke Buch bietet einen
lesenswerten Essay von Maestro Mark Wilkinson über dieses historische Konzert sowie seltene historische
Fotos aus dem Llangollen-Archiv. Die SACDs in dieser Box sind hybrid und verfügen über eine PCM-AudioEbene, die auch auf Standard-CD-Playern abgespielt werden kann, sowie über eine DSD-Ebene.

A new release from Fox & His Friends Records, Chapters (Screen & Stage Dancefloor Jazz from Yugoslavia 1971-1984) by Ozren Depolo brings to light a trove of previously unreleased music spanning more than a decade of his work in film, theater and television. This gatefold audiophile 180g LP, including a 12-page booklet with archival photos and detailed liner notes, offers for the first time a full album composed exclusively of Depolo's own authorship, drawn from master tapes held in private and institutional archives. Mastering and cutting was done by Frank Merritt from The Carvery Ozren Depolo rarely pursued opportunities to record original material, in part due to a general lack of interest among local publishers in jazz discography. Yet he was more than a gifted composer: he was also an accomplished saxophonist, clarinettist, flutist, pianist, arranger and occasionally, a jazz journalist who contributed articles to specialized programs on Radio Zagreb. Depolo also played in international big bands alongside jazz greats such as Clark Terry, Oliver Nelson and Gerry Mulligan, as well as in formations led by Bosko Petrovic, including the Nonconvertible All Stars and the B.P. Convention Big Band. He was a member of ensembles including The Alfi Kabiljo Orchestra, The Dragutin Diklic Ensemble, Jugoslovenska Pop Selekcija, The Stipica Kalogjera Octet, Vaclav Zahradnik & His East All Stars Band and the Zagreb Jazz Quintet. As both composer and arranger, he produced a significant body of work for large jazz orchestras and small ensembles. He was deeply engaged in jazz improvisation and avant-garde classical music, recording numerous chamber pieces for saxophone. A long-standing member of Acezantez, Zagreb's renowned contemporary music ensemble, he also collaborated with international figures such as Ted Curson, John Lewis, Johnny Griffin, Art Farmer, Leo Wright, Art Taylor, Slide Hampton and Lucky Thompson. This selection also includes his collaboration with Igor Savin and jazz vocalist Zdenka Kovacicek who were played on Karl Lagerfeld's fashion shows. The release demonstrates how Depolo was able to shift fluidly between idioms: from driving big-band passages to intimate chamber-like arrangements, from funk-tinged motifs to lyrical, impressionistic soundscapes. This stylistic breadth, always anchored in his deep jazz and funk sensibility, gave his music an adaptability perfectly suited to the hybrid world of stage and screen. The LP highlights that versatility while also presenting the coherence of his artistic voice, one that had gone unrecognized precisely because it was dispersed across so many contexts.

In the two years since Parallel Minds’ Juno-Award-winning 5th release Homesick by label co-founder Ciel, we have taken our time reassessing our next moves as the larger dance music scene experienced a paradigm shift. What does it mean to release music made by underground artists from lesser-known scenes like Toronto at a time when bookers and A&Rs are taking fewer risks than ever before? How do we truly celebrate the musical diversity of electronic music when the bottom line threatens to reduce any and all forms of risk-taking?

You just do it, of course.

In truth, few artists have come to represent the music scene in the Big Smoke more than Phèdre, and having seen the duo’s progression from indie weirdo-pop to live hardware act to breakbeat wunderkind in the last decade has been nothing short of amazing. It’s really artists like these that inspired us to start the label in 2018, and we are super elated to usher in PM006 with their long-awaited album, Liquid Constancy.

On its face, Liquid Constancy is a breakbeat record. There are housier joints, to more bassy Baltimore club bangers, to breakneck footwork and jungle steeped in sunshine. All of them share a distinctly syncopated, dubwise rhythm that grounds the album’s tracks. With some having been developed as early as seven years ago, these tracks had their genesis in Phèdre’s mostly improvised live hardware sets from some of Toronto’s most notorious warehouse raves. Primarily powered by two Korg Electribe ESX-1s and the semi-modular Moog Mother-32, the jams found new life in the studio when the duo began recording them as tracks, which demanded a mindfulness of their permanence that Daniel Lee and apè Aliermo at first found intimidating.

Over time, the pair developed a synergistic workflow that pulls from Daniel’s background in drums and apè’s keen ear for texture and movement. They sourced samples featuring voices of BIPOC and feminist icons, drew from their shared love of sci-fi and kung fu movies, and from their Filipino, Chinese, German, and Surinamese backgrounds. Samples were manipulated via techniques like lowering bit rates and adjusting speed to maximize usage due to the Electribe’s limited sample time, which was a subtle way of injecting their interests into their music without being too on the nose. Growing up in the melting pot of the GTA, going to raves as teens, bumping post-punk, industrial, electro, hip-hop and 90s R&B — these experiences all had an undeniable influence on Liquid Constancy. As kids of immigrant parents, equally informed by both their adopted and native cultures, Phèdre makes music informed by sampling and defined by cultural hybridity. In times like these, what is more feel-good than believing in music as a universal language that brings our different backgrounds together?

Orange Vinyl
After his acclaimed EP "Shiny Black Leather" and a dream collaboration with Dario Argento for the soundtrack of his new film "Occhiali Neri", Maestro Arnaud Rebotini is back on Mannequin Records with a new 4-tracks EP "I Drive East".

For this new EP, Arnaud started working more on a song form, deeply inspired by his rock'n'roll roots. Having heroes like Suicide or Alien Sex Fiend in mind, he was able to create the perfect link between EBM and Industrial Rock. The final production was orchestrated diving deep into percussive drums and digital synthesizers, a mega hybrid of analog and digital, recalling back our favourite mid-80's productions.

Three lesbian sardines! Shouted by a heckler at a performance by the Dadaist Hugo Ball on stage at the Cabaret Voltaire. Is a perfect title for Nurse With Wound's final appearance at the `Great Monster Dada Show' at the legendary Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Oslo, 2019. The largest exhibit of dada art and artefacts this century, over 250 artworks by 43 artists including Kurt Schwitters, Jean and Sophie Teuber Arp, Hannah Hoch, John Heartfelt, Tristan Tzara, Max Ernst, Francis Picabia, Raoul Hausmann, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray. This electric performance captures the band at their most eclectic and playful. Here six tracks feature the classic line up of Steven Stapleton, Andrew Liles and Colin Potter including the toe tapping crowd pleaser `Flea Circus' - a mutant hybrid of Kraftwerk and Aphex Twin and is amongst the best the band have ever recorded. `Broken America' is timely reminder of the dire situation we are all facing with the arrival of Trump's America. The cover features stunning new artwork by acclaimed artist Babs Santini. 500 copies only in NEON GREEN VINYL.