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OVERVIEW KEEP OF KALESSIN - KATHARSIS is set to be released in March 2023! via Morningstar Music & Back On Black Records, Distributed by PlasticHead Distribution. KEEP OF KALESSIN return with their most epic work to date! The pioneers of Epic Extreme Metal have crafted an album that will hit both hard and direct as well as challenge the listeners with its rich detail and enormous atmosphere. Epic and melodic. Extreme, yet diverse. Intense, captivating and simply grand in every form! KATHARSIS marks a new era for a band that has proven to continue to make metal of the highest quality despite facing many challenges and lineup changes along the way. 2017 would leave the band without a drummer and it would take KEEP OF KALESSIN a few years to get the new lineup together, but these changes have given the band renewed energy and main man Arnt Obsidian now leads what is probably one of the most powerful bands in Norwegian metal. And together they have crafted an album that is so epic and so diverse that it has the potential to capture listeners from the entire spectrum of the metal genre. KEEP OF KALESSIN longtime bass player Wizziac and one of the most well known YouTube metal drummers, Wanja "Nechtan" Groeger, complete the lineup for KATHARSIS and the band sounds more mature and powerful than ever. As EPISTEMOLOGY was Arnt Obsidian's first take on vocals and frontman of the band, KATHARSIS proves that he is not only one of the fiercest riffers out there, but now also one of the most diverse singers. KATHARSIS is simply an amazing journey exploring everything from the most empowering emotions to the deepest fears and darkest thoughts. It is a life journey explained, battling both outside challenges and inner emotions. All this set in epic otherworldly surroundings. It is the rebirth. The resurrection. The purgation. The battle of leaving the old and embracing the new. It is the musical embodiment of you against you!

As a true Brazilian music aficionado, Skinshape was naturally captivated by Pedro Mizutani's charm. So, when Pedro visited Europe in the summer of 2023, Skinshape invited him to its London studio. Together, magic effortlessly unfolded.

Pedro sets the rhythm, while Skinshape sets the grain. With Skinshape weaving in basslines and other arrangements around Mizutani's mesmerizing guitar playing, the collaboration was a breeze. The two musicians understood each other in the blink of an eye.

Together, they crafted a true homage to bossa nova. Without overshadowing Mizutani's style, Skinshape brought out his full musicality. It was a seamless symbiosis. The duo created a one-of-a-kind work. In the spirit of the Afrobeats movement, one could even describe it as "bossa-pop," maintaining the essence of the genre while incorporating British aesthetic elements under Skinshape's discerning ear. A sprinkling of shimmering bells here, kicks dipped in reverb there, and jazzy basslines for that extra touch of groove. As for Pedro Mizutani, he excelled in delicacy as always and did not lose altitude, soaring to even greater heights.

Kompakt is proud to announce, finally, a reissue of the first, self-titled GAS album. Originally released on electronica imprint Mille Plateaux back in 1996, it’s been unavailable in its original form ever since – the version of GAS included in 2008’s Nah Und Fern box featured several different tracks. Here, however, GAS is restored in all its glory, the debut full-length from Wolfgang Voigt’s most enigmatic, quixotic project.

There had, of course, been signs of what was to come. Back in 1995, Voigt essayed the first GAS release, a slender, yet remarkable four-track EP, Modern. Its centre label featured a reduced symbol – an overhead or lamp light, switched on, its glow radiating outwards in four bold black lines – a perfect representation of the tight, stylised ambient electronic pop contained on that 12”. A few curious compilation tracks were floating around, too, for Mille Plateaux’s Modulation & Transformation and Electric Ladyland series. If you were attentive enough, you could tell something was up.

But nothing quite prepared us for the languorous, effervescing loops and regular-like-clockwork beats that Voigt folded together on GAS. Its six long tracks, all untitled, neither begin nor end but hazily fade into earshot, vibrate majestically in your cochlea for fifteen-or-so minutes – some a bit shorter, some longer – and then meander away, reading the mise-en-scène for the next example of Voigt’s drift and dream logic to unfold. The material is referential in the most distant way, and you can sense only the most evanescent of ghostly presences, haunting these six compositions.

GAS feels, also, like a more pliable hint at what’s to come, as the GAS concept really solidified on its successor, 1997’s Zauberberg, and reach its apotheosis on Königsforst and Pop. Those three albums share a very similar palette – blurred, hazy samples, often of classical music, stacked and cross-thatched across a muted 4/4 thud. GAS, then, is an outlier of sorts: it’s more expansive in its remit, lighter in its mood, perhaps more fleet of foot. This, of course, is part of its charm.

In clearing space for Voigt, by preparing the terrain, GAS sits both at the edge of the forest, and at the verge of an expansive, wide-eyed future; one where GAS would become truly eternal.

Text by Jonathan Dale

Kompakt ist stolz, endlich eine Neuauflage des ersten, selbstbetitelten GAS-Albums ankündigen zu können. Ursprünglich im Jahr 1996 auf dem Electronica-Label Mille Plateaux veröffentlicht, ist es seitdem nicht mehr in seiner ursprünglichen Form erhältlich – die gleichnamige Version von GAS, die 2008 in der Nah Und Fern Box enthalten war, enthielt verschiedene andere Titel. Nun liegt das 3er Album in seinem naturbelassenen Originalzustand wieder vor.

Bereits 1995 zeichnete sich mit der Maxi GAS - Modern auf Profan, sowie einigen Kompilation-Beiträgen auf Modulation & Transformation und Electric Ladyland auf Mille Plateaux dieser frühe, weltentrückte, rätselhafte GAS Sound ab, der sich erst in den sechs scheinbar endlosen, majestätisch-sprudelnden Tracks des Albums voll entfaltete. Die Musik ist von ätherischer Leichtigkeit, in der wie aus einer anderen Sphäre abstrakte Referenzen aus weiter Ferne nur andeutungsweise herüberzuwehen scheinen.

Dieser frühe, eher sphärisch-leichte, gleich einer sonnendurchfluteten (Wald-)Lichtung anmutende GAS Sound, stellt gewissermaßen den Ausgangspunkt der audiovisuellen „Welt“-Reise in den düster-romantischen Acid-Wald dar, in den sich GAS ab 1997 mit den Alben Zauberberg, Königsforst, Oktember und ab 2000 mit Pop an anderer Stelle wieder hinaus und in seine ganz eigene Ewigkeit begeben hat.

In 2004, California-based indie band Golden Shoulders followed up their highly acclaimed debut with their second album, Friendship Is Deep. Now, on the twentieth anniversary of its release, the album most requested by their fans for a vinyl release is finally set for one on Unspun Heroes. Described as “one of the great semi-lost albums of the 21st Century”, the album showcases singer, songwriter, and band mainstay, Adam Kline’s knack for lyrical hooks and penchant for catchy melodies. But, like friendship, this is deeper than its pop sensibilities might suggest.
 
From the moment the opening track I Will Light You On Fire opens with its simple piano refrain and vocal harmonies you know you’re listening to something worthy of further exploration. From this building of tension between its temporary aural chaos and the beauty that ultimately emerges, you’ll be hooked. Yet, scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find this is an album that carries with it a political, pro-peace, and pro-humanity message, albeit somewhat more satirical than you might expect of a band hailing from America’s West Coast. This is particularly notable on tracks such as Golden Soldiers and the Committee, where Kline’s turn of phrase and wit shines through, cleverly weaving words so they create detailed poetic mosaics. 

Golden Shoulders is a loose and ever-changing lineup of international talent, with Kline as the kingpin and sole songwriter. Given the pedigree of those whose talents grace the album – among them, Todd Roper and Greg Brown (Cake), Josh Klinghoffer (PJ Harvey, RHCP, Pearl Jam), Neal Morgan (Joanna Newsom, Fleet Foxes), and Dan Elkan (Broken Bells) – it’s no surprise the compositions and attention to detail present in each and every one of the 14 songs is top notch. It’s this pleasing mix of accomplished individuals, and their mishmash of influences, which lend a pinball effect to the set of stylistically diverse songs on Friendship Is Deep. Collectively though, the music you’ll hear has a focus, one that channels late 90’s Brendan Benson, the poppier side of 80’s Violent Femmes, and even the mid-60’s flair of the Beatles’ Rubber Soul. 

A late period hard-rock, proto-punk entry in Zambian guitarist and bandleader Paul Ngozi’s extensive catalog. Featuring drummer Chrissy Zebby Tembo. LP includes oversized 8 page booklet detailing Ngozi’s arc, rare photographs, discography and annotations. Released under license from the Estate of Paul Nyirongo. “Zambia's Zamrock movement that exploded in the 1970s ... provided young musicians access to European and American music, and created a unique sound. At its root, Zamrock melded fuzz-toned psychedelia, chugging garage rock and roiling funk with a broad mix of African cadences and beats.... enlivening a scene that included bands like Musi O Tunya, Amanaz and the Ngozi Family.” - The New York Times Zamrock was a bona-fide rock scene, with albums released through independent labels based in Zambia. This music scene was complete, encompassing the genres of rock, acid folk, fusion, Afro-beat, South African jazz and traditional Zambian melodies. It quickly became a uniquely Zambian movement, befitting of its name. WITCH, Paul Ngozi and Amanaz sound nothing like other rock music from the African continent or elsewhere.

"Green" is distinguished by its fusion of thrash metal with progressive and technical elements. The band expands its musical horizons by incorporating more complex rhythms and innovative song structures. Sharp and precise guitars are intertwined with intricate solos that demonstrate the musicians' technical skill. Now reissued by Black Sleeves on a limited edition LP Gatefold Picture Disc. The album is a milestone in their discography and a gift for fans looking for a deeper and more nuanced thrash metal experience. With "Green", Forbidden not only defied expectations but also expanded the boundaries of the genre. It's a fantastic LP Gatefold Picture Disc edition limited to 330 copies!

‘The Oakland band’s wide-ranging debut is a whirlwind of biting critique, nervy post-punk guitars, and absurdist humor. Rarely does a first record speak with such a trenchant voice.’ 7.5 PITCHFORK
‘Post-punk lovers have a new act to follow" - PASTE
Fake Fruit’s visceral indie rock operates so firmly in the present that it’s transportive and unmooring. The Oakland trio’s songs careen with volatile energy and lead singer Ham D’Amato’s lyrics are enveloped with acerbic humor and resonant perceptiveness. Though their new LP Mucho Mistrust is a sly reference to a beloved Blondie lyric, the title encapsulates both the anxieties of daily life, a bloodless music industry, and global capitalism as well as the clear-eyed skepticism needed to rebel against it. Across 12 propulsively unpredictable tracks, the album is both their most collaborative and most immediate yet.
Following the 2021 release of Fake Fruit’s self-titled debut LP, the band’s personal lives hit a turbulent and transformational period. “There were big life changes and I was so close to boiling over,” says D’Amato. “I left a bad relationship, entered a more stable and loving one, got diagnosed with alopecia, and I'm turning 30 soon too.” This personal upheaval was channeled into the explosive lead single “Mucho Mistrust.” The track is simultaneously disorienting and direct, with clanging guitars from Alex Post, off-kilter drums from Miles MacDiarmid, and D’Amato snarling, “How you gonna blame me / when you could’ve done something about it / it’s not right / How you gonna marinate me / in shitty things overnight.” She explains, “This song was a snapshot of how I got through a difficult year.”
Recorded live at the Bay Area’s Atomic Garden studio with producer Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Home Is Where), the band’s palpable ferocity shines throughout the record. Single “Más o Menos” is searing punk, with buzzsaw guitars and surging bass. It’s a clenched-fist song, one where D’Amato sings, “I decided to assert myself / After I lost all my sense of self.” Later in the track, D’Amato, who is Chicana, sings in Spanish, “¡No me hables! / ¡No escuchare!” While some of these songs deal in heartbreak, they are charged with way bigger themes. “There's also wanting to break up with capitalism and feeling upset about things politically,” says D’Amato.
For the band, these themes are personal. “I'm managing us while I'm in between changing diapers in my day job as a nanny,” says D’Amato. “Everyone in the band still believes in it and is motivated to keep wading through the bullshit.” On this album, they had no choice but to bet on themselves and each other. No track broadcasts their evolution better than the single “Cause of Death,” which morphs from a gorgeous sax-laden banger to something cathartic and anthemic.
As adventurous and righteous as Mucho Mistrust gets, there’s still an inviting core that never takes itself too seriously. From the ripping “Cause of Death,” which self-deprecatingly takes aim at anxiety and indecision, to the searing title track, Fake Fruit imbue their songs with humor and heart. “Our band is fun,” says D’Amato. “My number one coping mechanism for all of life is to joke about it. Even when the album talks about serious things, I am proud of how funny it can be.”

10 years after its release, Lydia Loveless sits down at the piano for an intimate reimagining of her landmark album, Somewhere Else. Title track featuring guest vocals by Jason Isbell. “Over the last 10 years I’ve been told by countless people, emotional and earnest, that their favorite record of mine is Something Else. I love that, and I nod in amused reverence to it here. The me of 2012-2013 was drowning in pain and insecurity and my own press, pissed off that nobody could see me for who I really was, what I had really been through, and how hard it was to be me. I was walled in by fears and worries that I would never be good enough. I was struggling with my voice after a debilitating virus and a six week tour. I had rented a little room in the Grandview neighborhood of Columbus and was plugging away on my splintered acoustic guitar with a tape recorder.

I was frustrated as could be, not coming up with anything that I felt was 'me' or even remotely song like. One day, when I finally thought I had a nugget of something, I read the lyrics aloud to my then husband and he looked at me confused and said, 'what are you even trying to say in this, though? Who is the narrator?' I don’t remember what I said to that but I’m sure it wasn’t kind. When I went back into the studio with my friend Caeleigh Featherstone recording me this go round, she looked at me at one point and said, 'Were you singing these songs in front of old dudes? Like, your husband?' Yes, I was, I told her. We both shook our heads and laughed at the hubris on 22-year-old Lydia Loveless.” - Lydia Loveless

Live In Europe 1967 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 showcases the ex- plosive transformation of Miles Davis’ “second great quintet” with Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass), and Tony Williams (drums). Miles’ Quintet lineup during that time is acknowledged as one of the high reference points in 20th century jazz, and its influence continues to reverberate in small group jazz today. It was the quintet’s live performances, as they evolved into Miles’ ideal of a “leaderless” jamming ensemble, that truly immortalized them.

Culled from original state-owned television and radio sources in Belgium, Denmark, and France, this set contains three northern European performances over the course of nine days in October and November 1967. Live In Europe 1967 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 is the best historical album of 2012, according to the Downbeat Critics Poll 2012.

Live In Europe 1967 – The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 is available as a deluxe 5LP boxset, housed in a lift-off box. The set includes printed inner sleeves and a 16-page booklet with exclusive photos and liner notes by jazz-historian Ashley Kahn.

Zero One Zero is a no nonsense American Hard Rock Band. There comes a time when enough is enough and you want to take your music back! Rock music has turned into a bland cookie cutter version of its former self. Zero One Zero is going against the norm and providing a valuable service. Delivering a kick ass, grade A, American made product! No phony over produced, auto tuned garbage. This is Retro-Aggressive Hard Rock for the people! The Band is Rob ‘Boots‘ Zawisza – Vocals, James Ferrentino – Guitars, Mark Ahles – Drums, Marc Russell – Bass. The band’s latest release Traces Of Yesterday was produced by Grammy Award winner Paul Nelson (Johnny Winter). As the band explains, “We were approached by Paul in December of 2020 as he wanted to produce a record with us. After hearing our second studio album Full On. We were honoured to have a Grammy Award-winning Producer and talented musician find interest in us. We all met at his studio, The Music Room in February of 2021 and worked out the details of what would become our third studio album, Traces Of Yesterday.” Unfortunately, Paul passed away suddenly in March of 2024 but not without leaving his mark on Traces Of Yesterday. With standout tracks like the first single “You Knock Me Out” and follow up “I Am Calling”. Zero One Zero is now about to take their spot in Hard Rock as a force to be reckoned with.

Not everybody has not one, not two, but twelve producers attached to her debut release. Not everybody has her one and only album pranked by British artist Banksy (who substituted a topless photo for the cover). Nope, not everybody is Paris Hilton, who has lived in the public eye since, well, forever. She first announced plans to make an album in 2003, during her run on the reality TV series The Simple Life. Originally entitled Screwed, and then Paris Is Burning, the record—finally simply entitled Paris—came out in 2006. And it was…uh… good? Yeah, for real. This record goes expensively pedicured cuticle to cuticle with anything Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson or any other pop culture chanteuse of the like ever put out, and the Paris the heiress displays some real savvy both in her taste of material and the Madonna-like manipulation of her sex symbol image. And her voice? Definitely respectable despite what the haters said. Indeed, the single “Stars Are Blind” went top 20, and the album itself went all the way up to #6, selling over 600,000 copies worldwide. Since Paris has finally answered the pleas of her fans and made a second album, we thought the time was right for a revival of Paris, so we’ve taken the fetching photos from the CD package and given them plenty of acreage to show their stuff, with a gatefold jacket and 4-color printed inner sleeve. And for this release, we’re pressing Paris’ album in her favorite color, pink…and of course it’s hot! A pop culture keepsake from an enduring pop culture icon!

Repress

Songs ’94-’98 is a smart selection of material from The Cat’s Miaow, an Australian indie-pop group that gifted their decade with some of its finest songs. Released on World Of Echo, the album draws from the group’s string of excellent seven-inch singles, a small clutch of compilation contributions, and features one previously unreleased song, “I Take It That We’re Through”, recorded in 1998. Part of the burgeoning international pop underground of the nineties, The Cat’s Miaow’s legend has only built over subsequent decades, as more people discover this most quixotic and curious of groups: a recent appearance on A Colourful Storm’s compilation of Australian indie-pop, I Won’t Have To Think About You, is testament to their enduring influence. In part emulating the selection of tracks on the 1997 CD-only compilation, Songs For Girls To Sing, Songs ’94-’98 is also the group’s first ever full-length 12” vinyl collection. The Cat’s Miaow started out in 1992 as a home-recording duo, Bart Cummings (guitar, bass, vocals) and Andrew Withycombe (bass, guitar) taking time out from duties with Girl Of The World and The Ampersands (respectively), knocking out songs on Withycombe’s four-track. Soon joined by Kerrie Bolton (vocals) and Cam Smith (drums), the quartet spent the next five years quietly, slowly working away in the suburbs of Melbourne, recording gem after gem of independent pop. Like many of their Australian precursors or peers – The Particles, Even As We Speak, The Cannanes – The Cat’s Miaow were more successful overseas, a sadly typical phenomenon within the Australian musical landscape. The Cat’s Miaow were always worldly and stylish, anyway, each seven-inch single a refined artifact, each song a peaceable jewel. You could hear some relationships with other music – someone (if not everyone) in The Cat’s Miaow was a Galaxie 500 fan; there’s a minimalism to the playing and melodies that recalls Young Marble Giants, Marine Girls, Beat Happening – but the spirit in these songs is endearingly individualised, the result of a hermetic vision, an ideal of what a simple, unadorned pop song could be. They had a winning way with simplicity, songs like “Autumn”, “Crying” and “I Can’t Sleep Thinking You Hate Me” passing by in the blink of a moistened eye, and when they stretched out, as on “Firefly”, you can hear hints of the drifting ambience they’d perfect in their other band, Hydroplane. It’s not much of a surprise that The Cat’s Miaow found a receptive audience, and no small amount of support, from the networked communities of indie-pop labels and fanatics that developed in the nineties – they released records on imprints like Drive-In, Darla, Bus Stop and Quiddity, shared a flexi-disc with Stereolab, and appeared on countless compilations over the years. But they also understood the importance of the local: their first few cassettes reached the world’s mail routes via Wayne Davidson’s legendary Melbourne tape label, Toytown; they turned up on a split single with Davidson’s group, Stinky Fire Engine; they appeared on a tribute cassette for one of Australia’s finest, The Sugargliders, and indeed that’s Josh Meadows of said group playing wah guitar on “Stay”. The Cat’s Miaow also rarely played live – one launch gig, for the Munch video compilation, and a few parties – which is a great way to maintain mystique. Cosmopolitan yet homely, dedicated to their craft, The Cat’s Miaow always felt a little like a group moving in slow motion, using that pace and focus fully to embrace the art of the perfectly stated pop song – every element in place, no flash and no fuss, no excess, just the core of the thing. Few managed to tease such fierce poetry from such understated, elegant means. From Australia or anywhere.

Katya Shirskova - David Maranha - Le Héron / A Reuniåo

Stellagedelivers a compelling split LP fromKatya ShirshkovaandDavid Maranha, "Le Héron / A Reuniåo," set for release in July 2024. Created and produced in residence at La Box contemporary art gallery at ENSA - École national supérieure d'arts de Bourges in 2023, this album is a profound exploration of the two artists' respective voices, showcasing their distinctive approaches.

Katya Shirshkovaopens the LP with side-long "Le Héron." This piece is an unadulterated exploration of voice, devoid of any field recordings or added effects. Embracing minimalism, the work revolves solely around vocal loops and re-recordings, creating choral structures that evoke folk traditions while delving into experimental realms. The ASMR-like techniques employed serve not merely as an auditory gimmick but as an intricate tool to illustrate the delicate flight of birds, mirroring the ethereal quality of the entire composition.

"Le Heron" aptly draws inspiration from its avian namesake, weaving birds into its fabric through the concept of vertical polyphony. The piece is underpinned by a profound understanding of this polyphonic approach, demanding meticulous precision in its looping technique. Each fragile construction is crafted in a single, unbroken take, showcasing an impeccable blend of simplicity and complexity.

David Maranhatakes over on the flip side with "A Reuniåo," delivering seven suites of powerful, minimalist drone compositions. Maranha's mastery of sustained tones and evolving harmonics creates a mesmerizing, meditative experience that is both intense and transformative.A dynamic interplay of harmonics creates a dense, immersive auditory environment, a study in sustained tones and subtle variation, leaving a lasting impression.

Mixed and mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi

Salétile return to the Keroxen tenfold with their second long play of 60’s inspired psychedelia and neo shoegaze tunes.

With its members hailing from a particular area of northern Tenerife with its ever present “panza de burro” —a layer of insistent low clouds overcasting the region—, the tone and feel of Salétile’s music had to be naturally clouded and sombre. A periphery sound from the periphery then, a local approach of a popular sound with a calm and serene atti-tude.

While their first album, Humanoides del abismo (Humanoids of the Abyss), evoked an underwater journey, for their second outing Salétile emerge swiftly into the surface to continue their peculiar sound explorations of their precious surroundings, adding different layers of pressurisation.

A more pronounced melodic intention is present but without abandoning the care for textures and atmospheres that defined their debut, as well as the use of contemporary techniques such as looping and real-time processing, encom-passing influences as diverse and timeless as classical music, 1950s R&B, 1960s pop, hip-hop, dub, 1990s English shoegaze, concrete music, slowcore or math rock.
A loopy pot of sources from a hermetic band that is not afraid of pushing their many influences to the foreground. Emerge!
Salétile are Daniel García, Elsa Mateu and Ruymán García
Mastered by Daniel García
Artwork by Gustavo García

Vinyl pressed in Spain

After the success of her breakout EP, 'Water-Based Lullabies', a playful, Zodiac-inspired odyssey through life and love, Mancunian fan favourite Abbie Ozard is back with a bang. The last release hinted at an evolution in sound, and in the soon-to-drop album 'Everything Still Worries Me', we see all that potential realised as Ozard's musical and personal growth is laid bare.

Growing pains and the overwhelm of those first steps into adulthood of stand out as overarching themes in this more serious, introspective body of work, in which Ozard explores beyond her bedroom-pop origins and lays bare the vulnerabilities that will resonate with so many young women becoming adults in a complex, confusing and ever-changing world. Even without the transcendent vocals that could belong to no one else, Ozard is present in every second of this album - from musical performances from close friends to samples of old family videos, she is enshrined in this spellbinding debut that could not be more authentic to its creator.

goat (JP) are renowned for two albums released in 2013 and 2015 that took Kraftwerk’s man-machine concept back to its roots with swingeing, inch-tight drums, bass and guitar patterns that needed to be heard to be believed. For their long-in-the-making new album ‘Joy In Fear’, band leader Koshiro Hino (YPY, KAKUHAN) describes the process as “90 percent pain” - and we can well believe it - few other records we can think of transmute DAW-composed rhythmic precision into such an expressive instrumental performance. It really is a feat of determination, skill and execution that seems to defy human dexterity.

Make no mistake - an academic exercise it ain’t - in the most visceral sense, goat (JP) make BODY music, for dancing, flailing, for losing yourself in completely. As usual, Hino plays guitar, backed by bassist Atsumi Tagami, while Akihiko Ando joins on saxophone, while Takafumi Okada and Rai Tateishi step in to handle percussion, with the latter moonlighting on flute. Every sound is sculpted into a fragment of cadence: guitar and bass prangs alternately echo and dance between the drums, and Ando's sax is mutated into a respiratory slobber of guttural smacks and phantom breaths.

In some respects, it's tempting to label it jazz, but the kind of jazz that Miles Davis spearheaded on the game-changing 'On The Corner', the blueprint for so much post-punk, electronic music and avant rock. goat (JP) take that raw alloy and sharpen it like a blade, mangling the template with the knotty metrics of Autechre or Ryoji Ikeda. The accuracy is galvanic; it's almost impossible to comprehend each player keeping a mental note of the mathematical time signatures, and yet they floss them out with trills and icy stutters that seem to evaporate around the thick, taiko-like thuds.

They practically get our teeth gnashing with the bruxist rictus chatter of ‘III I IIII III’ , before ‘Cold Heat’ introduces subtly harmonised, new aspects to their sound with slivers of Hassellian flute and ringing overtones of their percussion, while the winding sensuality of ‘Warped’ slips down very nicely. Their links to OG no-wavers like Glenn Branca & Wharton Tiers’ Theoretical Girls - is manifest in the 8 mins of chipping stop/start pulse and parry to ‘Modal Flower’, while a total left turn into Mark Fell-meets-Ligeti-esque messed up metronomics in ‘GMF’ ties it off with a properly beguiling flourish.

Black Truffle is thrilled to announce a reissue of Chico Mello and Helinho Brandão’s self-titled release from 1984, the first return to vinyl of this classic of Brazilian experimental music with its original cover art and complete track listing. An under-recognised figure whose work inhabits a singular terrain where radical new music techniques and music theatre meet musica popular brasileira, Mello has lived and worked in Berlin since the late 1980s. A student of Dieter Schnebel, Mello played in the 90s iteration of Arnold Dreyblatt’s Orchestra of Excited Strings alongside compatriot Silvia Ocougne, with whom he produced a radical and hilarious deconstruction of MPB classics on Musica Brasileira De(s)composta (an early and rather atypical release on Edition Wandelweiser).

On this release, his only recording predating his move to Europe, Mello works with the alto saxophonist Helinho Brandão, who appears to be otherwise unknown outside Brazil. The record’s six tracks range from solo saxophone improvisation to densely layered ensemble works bridging minimalism, acoustic sound art and a plaintive melodic sensibility that calls up Edu Lobo or Milton Nascimento. Beginning with a dramatic, dissonant wind and string surge from which emerge ominously pounding piano chords, opener ‘Água’ slowly builds in intensity, a halo of clustered vocal harmonies gradually closing in on Brandão’s squealing sax until the piece opens up to reveal a gorgeous passage of melodic singing. The piano accompaniment reduces to tolling bass notes as the voice begins a repeated incantation, suggesting a ritualistic atmosphere reminiscent of parts of Xenakis’ setting of Oresteia. Dissonant, sawing tremolos on the strings climb to a crescendo before disappearing into the sounds of water being poured and splashed into metal vessels, presented not as a field recording but as a percussive element performed by the ensemble. A child’s voice then appears, singing to piano accompaniment the same melody heard earlier in the piece. After a brief solo alto improvisation from Brandão, working with the guttural pops and fleeting melodic gestures of Braxton or Roscoe Mitchell, the remainder of the first side is dedicated to the leisurely unfolding of ‘Baiando’ over the course of twelve minutes. A trio for Brandão on soprano saxophone, Mello on a very period-appropriate phased nylon string guitar and Edu Dequech on bongos, the performance eases its way hypnotically through subtle variations on a set of rhythmic and melodic patterns, almost derailed at points by Brandão’s wild forays into extended technique but held together by Mello’s droning guitar notes.

The second side opens with another multi-part epic for a larger ensemble, ‘Matraca’, which makes use of strings, electric guitars and a wide range of South American percussion instruments. Rasping violin harmonics hover as drum hits, repeated guitar notes and triangle accompany a slowly descending bass glissando. A sudden change in direction introduces a thrumming, incessantly repeated bowed bass tone, beginning a series of episodes of minimalist phasing and pattern variation, the combinations of electric guitars and orchestral instruments giving the ensemble an ad hoc charm like the early Penguin Café Orchestra but with more percussive drive. Eventually the piece is overrun by a cacophony of the titular matracas (a kind of ratchet/cog rattle). Following a lyrical trio improvisation by Mello, Brandão and Gerson Kornin on bass, the final ‘Danca’ focuses entirely on Mello’s layered acoustic guitars and vocals, using this restricted palette to build up a haunting piece of almost orchestral density, reminiscent of the 70s work of Egberto Gismonti in how it thickens a folkish ambience with harmonic sophistication.

Arriving in a starkly beautiful gatefold sleeve and sounding better than ever in its new remaster, one might call the stunning music contained on Chico Mello/Helinho Brandão ahead of its time. But what (other than some of Mello’s own work) produced in the years since its initial release has really touched the organic fusion of minimalism, free improvisation, radical instrumental technique and popular song achieved here? Forty years after its first release, Chico Mello/Helinho Brandão remains music of the future.

Not everybody has not one, not two, but twelve producers attached to her debut release. Not everybody has her one and only album pranked by British artist Banksy (who substituted a topless photo for the cover). Nope, not everybody is Paris Hilton, who has lived in the public eye since, well, forever. She first announced plans to make an album in 2003, during her run on the reality TV series The Simple Life.

Originally entitled Screwed, and then Paris Is Burning, the record—finally simply entitled Paris—came out in 2006. And it was…uh… good? Yeah, for real. This record goes expensively pedicured cuticle to cuticle with anything Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson or any other pop culture chanteuse of the like ever put out, and the Paris the heiress displays some real savvy both in her taste of material and the Madonna-like manipulation of her sex symbol image. And her voice? Definitely respectable despite what the haters said. Indeed, the single “Stars Are Blind” went top 20, and the album itself went all the way up to #6, selling over 600,000 copies worldwide.

Since Paris has finally answered the pleas of her fans and made a second album, we thought the time was right for a revival of Paris, so we’ve taken the fetching photos from the CD package and given them plenty of acreage to show their stuff, with a gatefold jacket and 4-color printed inner sleeve. And for this release, we’re pressing Paris’ album in her favorite color, pink…and of course it’s hot! A pop culture keepsake from an enduring pop culture icon!

One of the prominent growing voices in Timmion Record's roster, singer Emilia Sisco blesses your turntable with another deep soul ballad. Joining hands with Cold Diamond & Mink, Emilia pours a generous helping of deep soul magic into "Let Me In", gliding over the southerntinged beat with melodic grace. It's almost impossible to remain ambivalent to Emilia's talent when the spine-tingling chorus with its clever twists rolls in. The bittersweet love song's timeless feel pours over the listener like the flooding Mississippi, anthemic but understated. Flipping the single, we get to revisit Emilia's previous single "Love Can Carry Me" but this time in instrumental mode, titled as "Way Past Midnight". It's not just a vocal strip down, but this time Cold Diamond & Mink has equipped the track with a jazzy Grant Green styled lead guitar. Tasty. You would have to be a cold-blooded robot not to feel something from this soulful double sider. Forget the dance floors and bedrooms for a minute, these songs are the best fertilizer for your personal mind garden.

Since surfacing into the Scandinavian synth-pop scene 16 years ago, Nicklas Stenemo and Christian Hutchinson Berg aka KITE have steadily grown from local icons to a global phenomenon, yet until now they've never released a full-length studio album. VII breaks the ice, collecting 14 of the duo's deepest and most dynamic anthems into a stormy saga of immersive, apocalyptic emotion. Sourced from a series of six 7-inch singles released over the past half-decade, the collection persuasively showcases KITE's distinctly cinematic strain of Swedish darkwave in all its glory and desolation. Stenemo and Berg had both logged time in other bands before joining forces in the mid-aughts, although their unique chemistry became apparent immediately. After forming in Malmö, Sweden, they soon relocated to Stockholm, further refining their fusion of brooding synths, booming rhythm, and vocal theatrics over a string of celebrated, numbered EPs (named I through VI). Despite their rising profile, KITE then and now have largely refrained from publicity, allowing their music to speak for itself - which it clearly has, as KITE's live performances have become the stuff of legend, prompting frequent festival invitations, international tours, and limited engagements on prestigious stages (recently at the Royal Swedish Opera, and Dalhalla, the former limestone quarry turned open air amphitheater, to name a few). VII offers a compendium of KITE's potent recent discography, including collaborations with Blanck Mass, Anna von Hausswolff, and Henric de la Cour. From yearning dystopian pop ("Hand Out The Drugs," "Bowie `95"), to widescreen existential balladry ("Tranas Stenslanda," "Glassy Eyes"), and sleek New Romantica ("Remember Me," "Teenage Bliss"), KITE's wavelength is one of soaring heights and abysmal depths, anguish and ecstasy, pouring one's burning, battered heart into the here and now. Their years of visceral commitment and artistic integrity have been hard fought and hard won; it bleeds between the words and melodies in one holy moment after another: "I switch my ways / To seize the day / To face my life / Not fade to gray."

Since surfacing into the Scandinavian synth-pop scene 16 years ago, Nicklas Stenemo and Christian Hutchinson Berg aka KITE have steadily grown from local icons to a global phenomenon, yet until now they've never released a full-length studio album. VII breaks the ice, collecting 14 of the duo's deepest and most dynamic anthems into a stormy saga of immersive, apocalyptic emotion. Sourced from a series of six 7-inch singles released over the past half-decade, the collection persuasively showcases KITE's distinctly cinematic strain of Swedish darkwave in all its glory and desolation. Stenemo and Berg had both logged time in other bands before joining forces in the mid-aughts, although their unique chemistry became apparent immediately. After forming in Malmö, Sweden, they soon relocated to Stockholm, further refining their fusion of brooding synths, booming rhythm, and vocal theatrics over a string of celebrated, numbered EPs (named I through VI). Despite their rising profile, KITE then and now have largely refrained from publicity, allowing their music to speak for itself - which it clearly has, as KITE's live performances have become the stuff of legend, prompting frequent festival invitations, international tours, and limited engagements on prestigious stages (recently at the Royal Swedish Opera, and Dalhalla, the former limestone quarry turned open air amphitheater, to name a few). VII offers a compendium of KITE's potent recent discography, including collaborations with Blanck Mass, Anna von Hausswolff, and Henric de la Cour. From yearning dystopian pop ("Hand Out The Drugs," "Bowie `95"), to widescreen existential balladry ("Tranas Stenslanda," "Glassy Eyes"), and sleek New Romantica ("Remember Me," "Teenage Bliss"), KITE's wavelength is one of soaring heights and abysmal depths, anguish and ecstasy, pouring one's burning, battered heart into the here and now. Their years of visceral commitment and artistic integrity have been hard fought and hard won; it bleeds between the words and melodies in one holy moment after another: "I switch my ways / To seize the day / To face my life / Not fade to gray."

HLZhas comes correct with his debut solo single on Utopia Music.

For true drum & bass enthusiasts, Emilio Dimitri akaHLZ's name should already be on your radar. These tracks offer creativity and integrity, pushing the boundaries of his own respected style within the genre and nodding to times past with a modern update.

"Black Core" kicks things off with its icy break workouts, featuring raw, rasping drums with an industrial edge. It's not a high-speed roller but rather a sneaky creeper that satisfies those who want intricate beats backed with nightmarish overtones.

With "Arcane,"HLZtakes us on a journey of pure pressure in the way he knows best, stepping rhythms, stabbing yet gut-punching bass design, working in tandem with groovy tablas, clever fx builds, topped with lush euphoric pad work, 170 in the truest form.

Fera’s trajectory sticks out like a sore thumb, you need to invest time, carefully divided between body & mind, to truly take a deep dive into his audacious output. After the acclaimed ‘Stupidamutaforma’ and ‘Corpo Senza Carne’, Fera is back with ‘Psiche Liberata’, an oblique, imperfect and broken record, in other words, exactly the type of magical voyage you want to be on. The mind, finally liberated.

Fera is Andrea De Franco, electronic composer from Southern Italy now residing in Bologna, also known for his work as visual artist/designer and member of the Undicesimacasa collective. His musical cosmos is profound and imaginative, intergalactic atmospheres that condense fragmented IDM, scintillating textures, distorted synthscapes, crunchy technoid rhythms and swirling abstractions that weave gently, sometimes moody and stark, more often celestial and awe-inspiring.

Mixed in Berlin by Steve Scanu ‘Psiche Liberata’ encapsulates Fera’s dense and intricate thought process in contrast with his simple and direct approach to writing and recording that finds its more natural output in his rapturous live sets where a mono signal runs through a few analog pedals transforming instantly into menacing alien grooves and fluid ecstasis.

Like ‘Psiche Liberata’s artwork, hand-drawn by Fera, every detailed miniature leads to a single cell of sound, tracks collide against each other in a psychotic kaleidoscope where every safe space is confronted with subsequent noise, alterations or interruptions. The black terror of ‘Celestial Anacusma’ is followed by the space-jazz banquet of ‘Milk Tears In The Hug Chamber’ doped up cyber Sun Ra extravaganza featuring Laura Agnusdei and Luigi Monteanni (Artetetra) on saxophones and flutes; ‘Silenzio Solare’ sprinkles Mille Plateaux era minimalism all over hallucinations, while ‘Diluvia’ crosses industrial acid with perpetual motion; title track ‘Psiche Liberata’ murmurs mechanically, a downtempo drifter for the wide-eyed 7AM comedown: ‘Simulacrima’ melts Boards Of Canada’s mellow pastoralism with dystopian meta-level dreamland and ‘Riposa’ showcases an overwhelming melancholy executed with elegance in a slo-mo world where the ineffable transcends notions of ambient and becomes a warm embrace.

Created on a Monotribe, MS20 & Volca Sample/fm, ‘Psiche Liberata’s velvet heaviness was achieved by re-amping many of the instruments through a Leslie Rotary Speaker and a reel-to-reel Telefunken. Fera’s sonic tapestry is in constant flux, underlying themes of love longing and affection run through the record but in a turbulent, volcanic, unleashed fashion, almost on the brink of utter noise or complete silence, reminding us that this is an artist like no other amidst the ever changing electronic scene. These are transmissions from the gutter, where the inevitable meets the unattainable and collapses.

"Fera’s tarnished materials are destined for ruin; “Stupida,” full of longing and regret, sounds like an elegy for a fallen world." Pitchfork

"A cut of dark magic that fits like a glove to overcast days, wild winds and lashing rains. Insistent, the treacle-thick bassline oozes out, soaking the space between the melancholic synth lines." Inverted Audio

"The songs on Stupidamutaforma feel hypnotizing...it establishes De Franco as a composer who uses space and time to create a set of rich, immersive works." Bandcamp 'Album Of The Day'

Lullaby for the Debris is the second album from Moses Brown of Institute’s solo project Peace de Résistance. Those of us who loved Peace de Résistance’s 2022 debut, Bits and Pieces, will be pleased to hear that much of what made that album so memorable—the glam-infused art rock sound, the gritty yet richly textured production, and Moses’s bluntly class-conscious lyrics—carries over into Lullaby for the Debris. Yet Lullaby for the Debris also sounds more refined, more timeless than its predecessor, with “40 Times the Rent,” “Coddle the Rich,” and “Ain’t What It Used to Be,” all built around chooglin’ Lou Reed-style riffs beamed in from the great rock and roll beyond. Elsewhere on the record, Moses’s arty side shines through, with “The Funny Man” and “Pay Us More” full of uncanny sounds that invite the listener to bathe in their rich sonic textures. “I Am” and “You Are Absurd” move into a new territory Brown calls “despondent funk,” their rubbery bass sounds and eerily progressive soundscapes evoking Station to Station-era Bowie, while the title track closes the album on a pensive note, landing somewhere between 70s minimalist composition and the mellower moments from Eno’s solo albums. The real strength of this record, though, is Brown’s ever-developing songwriting skills, which meld wry social observation and Crass-style confrontational politics to melodies you’ll sing along with for the rest of your life

One of the prominent growing voices in Timmion Record's roster, singer Emilia Sisco blesses your turntable with another deep soul ballad. Joining hands with Cold Diamond & Mink, Emilia pours a generous helping of deep soul magic into "Let Me In", gliding over the southerntinged beat with melodic grace. It's almost impossible to remain ambivalent to Emilia's talent when the spine-tingling chorus with its clever twists rolls in. The bittersweet love song's timeless feel pours over the listener like the flooding Mississippi, anthemic but understated. Flipping the single, we get to revisit Emilia's previous single "Love Can Carry Me" but this time in instrumental mode, titled as "Way Past Midnight". It's not just a vocal strip down, but this time Cold Diamond & Mink has equipped the track with a jazzy Grant Green styled lead guitar. Tasty. You would have to be a cold-blooded robot not to feel something from this soulful double sider. Forget the dance floors and bedrooms for a minute, these songs are the best fertilizer for your personal mind garden.

Prepare to embark on a sonic journey that will ignite your senses with Incognito's highly anticipated remixes from the album, 'Into You.' This captivating collection reimagines 2 of the band's most iconic tracks with a blend of soulful house and funk. Groove to the infectious rhythms of 'Nothing Makes Me Feel Better,' reimagined with pulsating keys and soulful bassline. 'Keep Me In The Dark' is given a soulful and atmospheric reimagining, its lyrics floating over a thumping bassline. Incognito's remixes are an electrifying fusion of old and new, showcasing the band's enduring creativity and ability to blend genres seamlessly.

2024 Repress

Finders Keepers invite you to witness the incredible first ever Buchla synthesiser concerts/demonstrations providing a distinctive feminine alternative to The Silver Apples Of The Moon if they had ever been presented in phonographic form. This is history in the remaking.

This spring Finders Keepers Records are proud to release an archival project that not only redefines musical history but boasts genuine claim to the overused buzzwords such as pioneering, maverick, experimental, groundbreaking and esoteric, while questioning social politics and the evolution of music technology as we've come to understand it. To describe this records as a game-changer is an understatement. This record represents a musical revolution, a scientific benchmark and a trophy in the cabinet of counter culture creativity. This record is a triumphant yardstick in the synthesiser space race and the untold story of the first woman on the proverbial moon. While pondering the early accolades of this record it's daunting to learn that this record was in fact not a record at all... It was a manifesto and a gateway to a new world, that somehow never quite opened. If the unfamiliar, modernistic, melodic, pulses, tones and harmonics found on this 1975 live presentation/grant application/educational demonstration had been placed in a phonographic context alongside the promoted work of Morton Subotnick, Walter Carlos or Tomita then the name Suzanne Ciani and her influence would have already radically changed the shape, sound and gender of our record collections. Hopefully there is still chance.

In short, Suzanne was a self-imposed twenty-year-old employee of the Buchla modular synthesiser company, San Francisco's neck and neck contender to New York's Moog. Buchla was run by a community of festival freaks and academic acid eaters whose roots in new age lifestyles and the reinvention of art and music replaced the business acumen enjoyed by its likeminded East Coasters. In the eyes of the consumer the creative refusal to adopt rudimentary facets like a piano keyboard controller rendered the Buchla synthesiser the more obscure stubborn sister of the synth marathon, steering these incredible units away from the mainstream into the homes and studios of free music aficionados, art house composers and die-hard revolutionaries. Championed and semi-showcased by composer Morton Subotnick on his albums The Bull and Silver Apples Of The Moon, Buchla's versatility began to open the minds of a new generation, but the high-end design features and no-compromise modus operandi was often confused with incompatibility and, in the pulsating shadow of Moog's marketing, the revolution would not be televised nor patronised. Suzanne Ciani, as one of the very few female composers on the frontline (and also providing the back line) did not lose faith.

These concerts' are the epitome of rare music technology historic documents, performed by a real musician whose skills and academic education in classical composition already outweighed her male synthesiser contemporaries of twice her age. At the very start of her fragile career these recordings are nothing short of sacrificial ode to her mentor and machine, sonic pickets of the revolution and love letters to an absolutely genuine vision of and 'alternative' musical future. In denouncing her own precocious polymathmatic past in a bid to persuade the world to sing from a new hymn sheet, Suzanne Ciani created a bi-product of never before heard music that would render the pigeon holes ambient' and futuristic' utterly inadequate. Providing nothing short of an entirely different feminine take on the experimental records' of Morton Subotnick and proving to a small, judgmental audience and jury the true versatility of one of the most radical and idiosyncratic musical instruments of the 20th century. These recordings have not been heard since then.

The importance of these genuinely lost pieces of electronic musics puzzle almost eclipses the glaring detail of Suzanne's gender as a distinct minority in an almost exclusively male dominated, faceless, coldly scientific landscape. Those familiar with Suzanne's work, a vast vault of previously unpublished non-records', will already know how the creative politics in her art of being' simultaneously reshaped the worlds of synth design, advertising and film composition before anyone had even dropped a stylus in her groove. Needless to say this record, finally commanding the archival format of choice, courtesy of the Ciani and Finders Keepers longstanding unison, was not the last first' with which this hugely important composer would gift society, and the future of a wide range of exciting evolving creative disciplines.

You have found a holy grail of electronic music and a female musical pioneer who was too proactive to take the trophies. With the light of Buchla and Ciani's initial flame Finders Keepers continues to take a torch through the vaults of this lesser-celebrated music legacy shining a beam on these non-records' that evaded the limelight for almost half a century. You can't write history when you are too busy making it. With fresh ink in the bottomless well, let's start at the beginning. Again. You, are invited!

"Nordvisor” is the inaugural chapter in a series of vinyl releases chronicling the musical essence of Nordvis and the artists whose passions fuel its fires. It focuses on analogue, folkish expressions – distilling the melancholy and beauty inherent in the wilderness, transforming them into music that resonates with the primal force of nature itself.

Born from a vision of collaborative creation, “Nordvisor” steps beyond the conventional compilation format that assembles rare and unreleased tracks. Each song is a bespoke creation, tailored specifically for this project, reflecting the communal ethos and artistic integrity of the participants.

“Nordvisor – Ett samlingsverk från Nordvis” will be released as a double LP, featuring a premium gatefold sleeve with Pantone elements, an 8page, 12-inch booklet, and multi-coloured vinyl.

This release is not merely a label sampler but a celebration of Nordvis’ heart and soul, forming a mosaic of connections between music, landscape, and the human experience. It features exclusive material from Örnatorpet, Bhleg, Blood and Sun, Hagathorn, Grift, Over the Voids, Fields of Mildew, JoDöden, Undantagsfolk, Prag 83, Sons of Crom, Draugurinn, Varde, Saiva, and Forndom.

“Dreaming With Alice” by British folk musician MARK FRY was released only in Italy in 1972.

This album has been quite an obscurity already by the time of its release. Recorded by 19 year old Mark Fry for an Italian sub label of RCA it presented a beautifully naive kind of psychedelic folk similar to what the INCREDIBLE STRING BAND laid down at the same time just a bit more straight forwarded. We saw originals in good condition go for about 1600 Euros already, therefore such a reissue is always welcome among fans of totally psyched out music ,done by mostly acoustic instrumentation and vocals. Young Mark enchants his listeners with dreamy vocal melodies of utter beauty which create an outmost peaceful atmosphere. The picturesque tunes take you onto a trip out to the English countryside on a gentle and warm spring morning and into a fairytale world. You might get lost within this colorful dream and not be willing to return to grey reality anymore but this music indeed burns on as the flame of love within your heart. The direction despite all psychedelic elements is definitely determined by British folk music of the 60's and 70's. One charmingly odd aspect of the album is that the title track has been split up over the whole album as short sections flanking the longer tunes. I cannot recall anybody else ever doing that, so this is making this nifty little record a unique effort. If you are a fan of PERRY LEOPOLD or the above mentioned INCREDIBLE STRING BAND this record will fulfill your wildest dreams but will also please those into STEELEYE SPAN, WOODS BAND or PENTANGLE. Mark Fry plays his acid folk from the bottom of his soul without thinking about satisfying the demands of the mainstream audience. This is a must have for all fans of acid folk from the late 60s to the early 70s era. This music is intriguing, keen and absolutely one of a kind with a mood changing from rainy days to sunny mornings out in the meadows.

Filipovich is one of a kind. The Belarus-born, Paris-based artist works in a multitude of media - found footage films, painting, silkscreening and performance to name a few. It's her musical output that has caught the attention of late, though, with Filipovich dropping a run of releases in recent years which began with 2021's Magnificat on Time Released Sound. Filipovich takes as much of a novel approach to her music-making as she does with her other artistic endeavours - Magnificat was centred around treated samples of Sergei Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil, and she's also combined classical composition with contemporary electronic techniques on her subsequent drops.

For Idealized, Filipovich's debut on Sheffield's Central Processing Unit, she maintains the gothic air which characterised her previous releases and applies it to a record of widescreen contemporary techno joints. These tracks represent something of a gear shift for CPU, a label which has long made its name by delivering top-quality electro and machine-funk jams, but such is the quality of Idealized that these superbly-executed techno productions are sure to win over label fans both old and new.

Idealized is very much schooled in the German tradition of minimal/dub techno. Tracks like 'Physical', 'Wave' and 'Dance Minor' all anchor themselves on single, steady drum pulses and delay-drenched single-chord loops. Filipovich generally lets the central idea of these tracks play out across several minutes while introducing increasingly disorientating elements into the rest of the mix - wiccan atmospherics, clashing chords, spiralling delays and so forth. It's an approach at once respectful of Filipovich's predecessors - Basic Channel, Deepchord, Ellen Allien and so on - but also full of idiosyncrasies and individuality.

Many of the club cuts here hardwire us into the moody, murky environs of the darkest Berlin Basements. 'Ultra Red' rides forward on a crisp drum machine snap, a menacing burble of bassline and an eerie single-note synth whistle in the upper end of the mix; 'Dance Minor' shows off a bit of KiNK in the brain-bending modular loop that waxes and wanes at its centre; the second-half run from 'Wave' to closer 'Small Cave' travels ever-further out into deep space - the kick drums remain insistent, yet the textural elements are delivered with an edge and flair that evidences Filipovich's ability to think outside the box.

Filipovich's unusual methods, and the influence of sound art and electroacoustic composition on her music, are drawn out further when Idealized steps away from the dancefloor. 'Hydra' comes off like a more gothic version of Pole - its central pulse draws from dub techno but never quite settles into a danceable groove, and this beat is combined with the kind of unnerving keyboard work that would make John Carpenter proud. Although closer 'Small Cave' eventually locks into another dark-room techno roller, the opening section of the track delivers a weightless soundscape of bright, tinny chords and a scene-setting field recording.

Idealized, the first drop on Central Processing Unit from Paris-based Belarusian Lina Filpovich, broadens the label's horizons with a selection of finely crafted minimal/dub techno joints.

RIYL: Andy Stott, Deepchord, Ellen Allien, Moritz von Oswald

Sunny Crypt is incredibly happy to announce its seventh release: a retrospective compilation of six previously CD-only tracks by Nightmare Lodge, a name that might ring the bell to many enthusiasts of Italian experimental music.
It Passed Like A Dream is a selection of some of our favourite tracks they released between 1994 and 2000, aiming to spotlight a small glimpse of the amazing body of music they did throughout the years.
Nightmare Lodge is a musical project by Minus Habens Records / Disturbance founder Ivan Iusco alongside vocalist B. Mazzilli and bass player Gianni Mantelli, when the Bari based trio decided to decided to embark on a path in search of their own dreamlike musical dimension tied to introspective explorations.
Over the years, the group's lineup evolved, eventually solidifying as a duo comprising Iusco and Russolo.
With their first release dated 1987 and staying active till the early 2000s, it is quite challenging to put the Nightmare Lodge discography in a precise musical box. Their first outings flirted with post-industrial music and a more stripped down sound palette marked by a DIY approach to composition, while in later years leaning towards a more horroresque / cinematic feeling and following the development of new technologies but always charactering their output with a ritualistic, trance inducing and mystical approach, whatever if it’s ambient, downtempo, techno not techno, or a whole lotta else...

Pedro Vian and Merzbow release their first joint work, an unbounded expression of creativity and experimentation. Over the album's forty-minute duration, listeners can experience a blend of field recordings made by Pedro Vian at the DIA Bacon Foundation in NYC, specifically inside Richard Serra's sculptures. These recordings are interwoven with the ambient percussion and melodies characteristic of Vian's work, alongside the piercing and sharp computer frequencies produced by Merzbow, one of the most acclaimed artists in the global noise scene.

"Inside Richard Serra Sculptures" is both a complex and spontaneous piece, an abstract journey into the unconscious that may be difficult to grasp for closed minds. This work stands as a masterpiece of contemporary expressionism, merging ambient sound and noise in a way that challenges and redefines the boundaries of sound art.

The collaboration between Vian and Merzbow is notable not only for its innovation but also for its ability to transport listeners to a space where sound becomes an immersive and visceral experience. The use of Richard Serra's sculptures as a source of inspiration and sonic material adds a unique dimension to the project, emphasizing the interaction between physical space and musical creation. Photo by Alba Ricard

LOS ANGELES—To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the celebrated Talking Heads and Jonathan Demme’s concert film Stop Making Sense, the set will be re-released as a 2LP and 2CD/Blu-ray set this summer.

Released last year, the sold-out Deluxe Edition of the soundtrack will return as a 2-LP black vinyl on Rhino and 2-LP crystal clear vinyl at retail. Both variants feature a 12-page booklet with liner notes from all four band members –Tina Weymouth, David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison—and band photos. The 2CD/Blu-ray version includes the entire 28-page booklet from last year’s Deluxe Edition and a Dolby Atmos mix of the complete concert, mixed by Jerry Harrison and E.T. Thorngren, who also mixed the original release. Both will be available on July 26. Pre-order now.

The band appeared together for a sold-out screening and Q&A last night at the Pantages Theater, the same theater at which Stop Making Sense was recorded. They were joined by Blondshell, who performed “Thank You For Sending Me an Angel.” Another special screening with the band will occur in Brooklyn at the King’s Theater on June 13, with the Q&A hosted by Questlove and The Linda Linda’s performing “Found a Job.” The two events cap off a banner year of celebrations for what many consider to be the best concert film of all time.

The inspiration for Stop Making Sense came when director Jonathan Demme saw Talking Heads perform during the band’s 1983 tour for Speaking in Tongues. Afterward, he approached them with the idea of making the show into a concert film. They agreed and worked together over the next few months to finalize the details. Ultimately, Demme filmed three shows at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983 to create Stop Making Sense.

The concert film presents a retrospective of the band up to that point, with a performance that weaves together songs from all six of its studio albums. The show progresses methodically, opening with Byrne onstage performing “Psycho Killer” alone with a drum machine. After each song, he’s joined by a new band member until Weymouth, Frantz, and Harrison are all on stage with him. The group continues to grow throughout the concert as members of the stellar touring band are added: keyboardist Bernie Worrell, percussionist Steve Scales, guitarist Alex Weir, and backup singers Lynn Mabry and Ednah Holt.

The band performs 18 songs in Stop Making Sense, including its recent single at the time, “Burning Down The House.” That summer, the song was in heavy rotation on radio and MTV, helping the song become the band’s first top 10 hit in America. It was, however, a different song from Speaking in Tongues that was destined to deliver one of the film’s signature moments. Talking Heads would perform “Girlfriend Is Better” wearing the now iconic, oversized suit inspired by costumes worn in traditional Japanese theater. For good measure, a picture of David Byrne in the suit also graces the album cover.

Stop Making Sense focuses mainly on music by Talking Heads but does include a few songs recorded outside the band: “Genius Of Love” by Tom Tom Club, “What A Day That Was” and “Big Business” from Byrne’s 1981 album, The Catherine Wheel. Limited edition vinyl versions of both of these albums, along with Harrison’s The Red And The Black, were released for this year’s Record Store Day.

When it arrived in September 1984, Stop Making Sense was an artistic and commercial triumph. The film had people dancing in theatre aisles, and the soundtrack sold over two million copies. Just last year, the Library of Congress added Stop Making Sense to the National Film Registry in recognition of its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.

Weymouth praises Demme as a collaborator: “…Jonathan was a very enthusiastic, highly adaptive, and imaginative guy who was just as good a listener as he was a talker and collaborator. From the get-go you just got the impression he was as flexible as he was disciplined. Being team players, that boded well for a great relationship and a great film!”

Harrison says the film still holds up today: “To me, Stop Making Sense has remained relevant because the staging and lighting techniques could have been created in a much earlier time period. For example, Vari-Lights, lights with motors to re-aim them, had just come into vogue. Had we used them, there would have been a timestamp on the film, and it eventually would have felt dated...The absence of interviews, combined with the elegant and timeless lighting, created a film that can be watched over and over.”

Byrne says it’s interesting that this album was – for many people – an introduction to Talking Heads. “We had done a live album before this, but coupled with the film, and with the improved mixes and sound quality, this record reached a whole new audience. As often happens, the songs got an added energy when we performed them live and were inspired by having an audience. In many ways, these versions are more exciting than the studio recordings, so maybe that’s why a lot of folks discovered us via this record.”

Frantz recalls the sheer joy surrounding the entire Stop Making Sense experience. “I’m talking about real, conscious, transcendent joy… I’m talking about what the Southern gospel people call ‘getting happy,’ which means ‘to be filled with the Spirit.’ That is what happened to us onstage every night, and from my seat behind the drums, I recognized that this was happening to the audience too. Joy was visible in front of me and all around me every night.”

Repress!

The label has a simple mantra; no frills club cuts designed for the dancefloor. For their second outing, Demi Riquísimo has enlisted Kiosk Radio and Fuse Brussels resident DC Salas to fulfill the brief, via the ‘Tio’ EP.

A DJ noted for his versatility with his sets effortlessly melding a plethora of styles from house, techno and trance to disco & new beat. This broad range of influences is on full display on the buttons as DC Salas shows his range as a producer right across the ‘Tio’ EP.

The EP kicks off with the emotive title track ‘Tio’. DC explains the context:

“It features the voice of my godfather (my dad’s uncle, who was like a brother to him) who passed away unexpectedly some months ago. We found a video of him (he hated being filmed) one week after he passed away, with a wonderful talk he did on his birthday last year. The vocal is an extract of this video.”

Up next is 'Fearless Is More', a track where DC’s production dexterity comes to the fore. The track combines elements of 90’s trance, with a jackin’ bass line and vocal samples that evoke images of the early Amnesia Ibiza golden era.

The B-side opens with 'Never Ending Story', another track which speaks to Salas’ vast array of influences with a synth topline sounding like it was straight out of the Ancienne Belgique. 'A Departure' chugs along menacingly with an acid house flourish in its second stanza, for some peak time perfection. The EP is completed with 'Slowtospeed', which juxtaposes melancholic pads with progressive synths and a driving to bass to make for an extremely well rounded first outing for DC Salas on the burgeoning imprint.


DJ Feedback:

Job Jobse - Great release!!!

Make A Dance - this is wicked, Never Ending Story is the track for me.

Kiara Scuro - Absolutely love this! Definitely will be playing.

Dave Harvey - This is great.

Tech Support / Asa Tate - DC is king!

Timo Deeprhythms / Echocentric Records - Stupid good release!

REES - Love this one!

Martyn Bootyspoon - Absolutely send these over!!

Sara Miller / Public Possession - Really really like this record. Totally my vibe :) All are excellent tracks but Fearless is More is my fave. But really digging Never Ending Story and Tio too!

Aletha / Rinse FM - Sounding perfect for my sets at dimensions

Aiden Francis - Wooooah, love these. Such a varied release!

Ciel - I love the A1 on this! Tio is gorgeous.

Holly Lester - Great release, Tio is biggg!

After meeting in 1992 as members of St Etienne's touring band, Debsey Wykes (Dolly Mixture) and Paul Kelly (East Village) turned their shared love of the soft rock and sunshine pop of the 1960s and 1970s into the now-legendary Birdie. In the summer of 1998 Birdie recorded their debut album "Some Dusty" with the estimable Brian O'Shaughnessy (Denim, Moose, The Clientele). It's a deep and beautiful album, with melodic & sophisticated (yet understated) arrangements providing the perfect setting for Debsey's sweet and soulful soft-pop vocals. Add in gorgeous string arrangements from The High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan and you have all the makings of a pop classic.

Subsequent singles and a second album cemented their reputation as top-notch purveyors of pop, but family life and other artistic pursuits called and Birdie has only been sporadically active since 2001. Their brief but perfectly-formed discography has become the stuff of legend, though, charming savvy pop fans around the world with its timeless songcraft and flawless production.

Summer 2024 will see the long overdue vinyl reissue of "Some Dusty" on US indie label Slumberland Records, returning this classic album to much-needed availability in deluxe remastered form with a deluxe 60s-style laminated heavy card jacket and a fine insert with rare photos and liner notes by Chickfactor’s Gail O’Hara.

Coloured vinyl repress of Penguin Cafe album Rain Before Seven… A sense of optimism infuses Penguin Cafe’s fifth studio album, not the braggadocious, overconfident kind, but more a blithe, self-effacing optimism in keeping with the national character. Even when all signs point to the contrary, it operates within the certainty that things are going to be alright. Probably.

The title comes from an old weather proverb with the rhyming prognostication — fine before eleven — hinting at a happy ending, irrespective of the science: “I found it in a book and I'd never heard it before,” says Arthur Jeffes, leader of Penguin Cafe. “It has faintly optimistic overtones and I quite like it. It's fallen out of usage recently but it does describe English weather patterns coming in off the Atlantic.”

From the widescreen reverie of opener ‘Welcome to London’ with its cheeky nod to Morricone to ‘Goldfinch Yodel’, the self-described “Maypole banger” at the denouement, there’s a welcome sense of sanguinity, always with an undercurrent of exotic rhythmic exuberance. Playfulness pervades, with a titular nod to A Matter of Life... from 2011, the last album title that concluded with an ellipsis. That Penguin Cafe debut is the bridge between the legendary Penguin Cafe Orchestra, led by Arthur’s father Simon Jeffes, and the much- loved descendent, led by Arthur.

“Stylistically it's really satisfying to get back to playful rhythms and instruments,” says the younger Jeffes, who kept the group’s debut from 12 years ago in mind when writing the new album. “Certainly when starting out, I became aware that we’d stopped using quite a few of the textures that had been there at the beginning—and it was certainly there in my dad's earlier stuff. So there's a lot of balafon and textures from completely different parts of the world, musically and geographically: ukuleles, cuatros and melodicas that you can hear.”

Encouraged by co-producer Robert Raths, the rhythmic elements of Rain Before Seven... have never been more to the fore and, at times, even hint at the electronic. ‘Find Your Feet’, for instance, is underpinned with more than just a pulse. Mixed by Tom Chichester-Clark, it brings to the musical melange what Arthur describes as a “near electronic feel”. He adds, excitedly: “There are elements of fun here which we haven't really done with the last three records.” Another ebullient highlight is ‘In Re Budd’, dedicated to the late ambient godfather Harold Budd, who Arthur discovered had died on the day he’d been writing the celebratory ear worm with a deceptively tricky syncopation. Played on an upright piano with some “prepared” felt to accentuate the bounce, Jeffes feels a track with an Afro Cuban Cafe vibe would appeal to Budd’s contrariness.

repressed!

Kerri Chandler delivers ‘Lost & Found Vol.1’ this March, a four-track collection of revisited, unreleased archive cuts, including Kerri’s own Grampa, Calvin Reed Sr. as a featuring artist on the opening track.

New Jersey’s Kerri Chandler has been at the forefront of house music since the beginning of his career in the early 90’s. Over the past three decades he’s released an extensive back catalogue of material including several albums on his own Madhouse and Kaoz Theory imprints as well as the likes of DJ Deep’s Deeply Rooted, Apollonia, Jerome Sydenham’s Ibadan and Watergate Records.

Here we see Kerri dig up some never before heard archived material from the 90’s and early 2000’s for this four-track EP. Up first is ‘What Will We Do ft Grampa’, featuring spoken word and vocal lines from Kerri’s Grandfather Calvin Reed St. atop gritty swinging drums, organ lines and rounded subs. ‘Tonight’ follows and tips focus over to airy chord sequences, choppy bass notes, dreamy arpeggio lines and dynamic drums.

‘Into The Night’ opens the b-side next, bringing a raw bass hook, tension building strings and vocal chants of the track’s title into the forefront while bumpy stripped-back drums keep things driving. ‘This and That’ then rounds out the release, bringing twitchy resonant synths and phaser sweeps into the mix alongside stuttering drum programming for a funk-infused, loop driven eight minute workout.

DJ Feedback:

Honey Dijon - Classic
Kerri still has his A Game intact! Great Ep!

Laurent Garnier - Kompakt, MCDE, F Communications
PURE LOOOOOOOOOVE

Jimpster - Freerange, Delusions Of Grandeur
Kerri!!!! Classic tracks with that inimitable groove and production which makes him such an icon. Big ups!!

Terry Farley - Junior Boys Own
BACK 2 DA RAW

Fouk - Heist, House of Disco, Razor N Tape
Super hard to pick a fav as each track has its own vibe! LOVE THIS <3

Enzo Siragusa - Fuse London, InFuse
Quality as always from Kerri!

Harvey Sutherland - MCDE, PPU, This Thing
always.

Roy Davis Jnr
Full support.

Jason Kendig Honey Sound System
Always fire tracks from kerri!

DJ Bone - Subject, Metroplex
Love the entire release!

Politics of Dancing (Guillaume & David)
one love for Kerry as always :)

Joyce Muniz - Exploited Ghetto, 20:20 Vision
Nice Ep!

Massimiliano Pagliara - Panorama Bar, Ostgut Ton
groovy!

Shadow Child
king.

Tobi Neumann - What Came First
Brutally good House Music. This one I wanna have on vinyl. Thanks master Chandler for the music!

Chrissy - Chiwax, The Nite Owl Diner
Very excited for this one

Halo Varga - All Inn Music, Surface, Inmotion Music
Kerri is GOD

Mutiny - Azuli, Skint
Kerri on that deep classic vibe..Love

Alinka - Permanent Vacation, Twirl!
Brilliant as always

Diz - Robsoul
90's freshness!!!

Fish Go Deep - Innervisions, Defected
The long-awaited follow up to She's Crazy! Beautifully done. The other tracks also slamming, packed with dancefloor drive and emotion. Can't wait to play loud.

Art Of Tones, Llorca
Superb EP !

Lupe
The Grampa one, instant cult hit, very endearing! Great stuff

BD1982 - Diskotopia, Tokyo
Classic material from an absolute legend

Johannes Albert - Need Want, Mirau, Berlin Bass
vibes for days!

Joseph G. Bendavid
kerri can't fail, always bomb tracks

Terry Grant
Stone. Cold. Legend.

Harri - Sub Club
Lovely

Severino - Horse Meat Disco
oh yes quality

LOS ANGELES—To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the celebrated Talking Heads and Jonathan Demme’s concert film Stop Making Sense, the set will be re-released as a 2LP and 2CD/Blu-ray set this summer.

Released last year, the sold-out Deluxe Edition of the soundtrack will return as a 2-LP black vinyl on Rhino and 2-LP crystal clear vinyl at retail. Both variants feature a 12-page booklet with liner notes from all four band members –Tina Weymouth, David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison—and band photos. The 2CD/Blu-ray version includes the entire 28-page booklet from last year’s Deluxe Edition and a Dolby Atmos mix of the complete concert, mixed by Jerry Harrison and E.T. Thorngren, who also mixed the original release. Both will be available on July 26. Pre-order now.

The band appeared together for a sold-out screening and Q&A last night at the Pantages Theater, the same theater at which Stop Making Sense was recorded. They were joined by Blondshell, who performed “Thank You For Sending Me an Angel.” Another special screening with the band will occur in Brooklyn at the King’s Theater on June 13, with the Q&A hosted by Questlove and The Linda Linda’s performing “Found a Job.” The two events cap off a banner year of celebrations for what many consider to be the best concert film of all time.

The inspiration for Stop Making Sense came when director Jonathan Demme saw Talking Heads perform during the band’s 1983 tour for Speaking in Tongues. Afterward, he approached them with the idea of making the show into a concert film. They agreed and worked together over the next few months to finalize the details. Ultimately, Demme filmed three shows at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983 to create Stop Making Sense.

The concert film presents a retrospective of the band up to that point, with a performance that weaves together songs from all six of its studio albums. The show progresses methodically, opening with Byrne onstage performing “Psycho Killer” alone with a drum machine. After each song, he’s joined by a new band member until Weymouth, Frantz, and Harrison are all on stage with him. The group continues to grow throughout the concert as members of the stellar touring band are added: keyboardist Bernie Worrell, percussionist Steve Scales, guitarist Alex Weir, and backup singers Lynn Mabry and Ednah Holt.

The band performs 18 songs in Stop Making Sense, including its recent single at the time, “Burning Down The House.” That summer, the song was in heavy rotation on radio and MTV, helping the song become the band’s first top 10 hit in America. It was, however, a different song from Speaking in Tongues that was destined to deliver one of the film’s signature moments. Talking Heads would perform “Girlfriend Is Better” wearing the now iconic, oversized suit inspired by costumes worn in traditional Japanese theater. For good measure, a picture of David Byrne in the suit also graces the album cover.

Stop Making Sense focuses mainly on music by Talking Heads but does include a few songs recorded outside the band: “Genius Of Love” by Tom Tom Club, “What A Day That Was” and “Big Business” from Byrne’s 1981 album, The Catherine Wheel. Limited edition vinyl versions of both of these albums, along with Harrison’s The Red And The Black, were released for this year’s Record Store Day.

When it arrived in September 1984, Stop Making Sense was an artistic and commercial triumph. The film had people dancing in theatre aisles, and the soundtrack sold over two million copies. Just last year, the Library of Congress added Stop Making Sense to the National Film Registry in recognition of its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.

Weymouth praises Demme as a collaborator: “…Jonathan was a very enthusiastic, highly adaptive, and imaginative guy who was just as good a listener as he was a talker and collaborator. From the get-go you just got the impression he was as flexible as he was disciplined. Being team players, that boded well for a great relationship and a great film!”

Harrison says the film still holds up today: “To me, Stop Making Sense has remained relevant because the staging and lighting techniques could have been created in a much earlier time period. For example, Vari-Lights, lights with motors to re-aim them, had just come into vogue. Had we used them, there would have been a timestamp on the film, and it eventually would have felt dated...The absence of interviews, combined with the elegant and timeless lighting, created a film that can be watched over and over.”

Byrne says it’s interesting that this album was – for many people – an introduction to Talking Heads. “We had done a live album before this, but coupled with the film, and with the improved mixes and sound quality, this record reached a whole new audience. As often happens, the songs got an added energy when we performed them live and were inspired by having an audience. In many ways, these versions are more exciting than the studio recordings, so maybe that’s why a lot of folks discovered us via this record.”

Frantz recalls the sheer joy surrounding the entire Stop Making Sense experience. “I’m talking about real, conscious, transcendent joy… I’m talking about what the Southern gospel people call ‘getting happy,’ which means ‘to be filled with the Spirit.’ That is what happened to us onstage every night, and from my seat behind the drums, I recognized that this was happening to the audience too. Joy was visible in front of me and all around me every night.”

Archeo Recordings' rewarding relationship with Tony Esposito continues on AR027, as the label provide a remastered reissue of his transcendent fusion-pop masterpiece "Pagaia" alongside a trio of brand new reworks from Perugia's mighty Feel Fly. Whether you're looking for cosmic house, mellow acid, trancey techno or dubby downbeat, these remixes have you covered, and the original remains a true work of art. Available in all good record stores on 12th July as a 50 copy super limited edition on Solid Blue Vinyl (including gadget scarf) and limited black vinyl edition.
50 copy Solid Blue Vinyl Edition (including gadget scarf), and also limited black vinyl run "Pagaia" hails from the Neapolitan percussionist's 1982 LP Tamburo, his first release for the brilliant Bubble imprint. Though the album delights and excites from start to finish, dancing through jazz-funk, Mediterranean pop, slow disco and smooth fusion, it's "Pagaia" which is first among equals. Esposito's nuanced hand drums lay the foundation for Claudio Pizzale, Sara Borsarini and Simona Pirone's wordless vocals, a life affirming chorus which carries us onto the swell of bass, piano and horns which drive the track through four and a half minutes of emotional release. Emphatic and expressive, the track transports the listener into a state of body moving rapture, all driven by Tony's rhythmic fluency. The song found its way into Italian living rooms over the credits of TV show Domenica In, and found its way into club culture thanks to fanatical support from the likes of Daniele Baldelli, who even included it on his first official Cosmic compilation.
Following a string of essential releases for the likes of Internasjonal, International Feel and New Interplanetary Melodies, Daniele Tomassini, better known as Feel Fly, now joins the Archeo family with a trio of contemporary club translations of the killer "Pagaia". The Perugian's "Cosmical Remix" extends that familiar introduction into a deep and DJ-friendly blend of drum and voice, awash with airy reverb and augmented by additional percussion, building through the original piano and bass into the churn of a dance floor wormhole. Driven by an unstoppable sequencer throb, the interpretation skirts the dark side of space before landing in the light of the miracle, those heavenly vocals and lush keys leading the way. The "Instrumental Cosmical Remix", not entirely instrumental, but utterly cosmical nonetheless, sees Daniele serve a tense and tracky arrangement of his first rework, perfect for deep space exploration. Stripped of the joyful exuberance of the original, this variation is a complex blend of shadowy trance idents and the mature techno we'd expect from the likes of François K. Not content with soundtracking either side of the peaktime, Feel Fly serves up a third version, following the Compass Point through a musical map of club-dub to turn out an immersive interpolation of deep bass, spring reverb and stabbing keys that sits perfectly beside the Rhythm & Sound catalogue. Each interpretation is an emphatic demonstration of Tomassini's musical talent, production prowess, and stylistic range, and furthermore a fitting tribute to the lasting genius of Esposito's original.

Acid Jazz's announcement of the 30th anniversary 2LP remastered edition of Mother Earth's The People Tree is a momentous occasion for fans of acid jazz and soul music alike. Originally released in 1994, this album holds a significant place in the genre's history, blending elements of soul, funk, and folk-tinged rock from the 70s with a modern twist. The special edition reissue boasts the original album, along with three previously unreleased tracks and six making their vinyl debut. Remastered from the original analogue recordings, this release promises to breathe new life into the beloved classic. Featuring guest appearances from iconic artists like Paul Weller, Dee C Lee and Simon Bartholomew of Brand New Heavies, The People Tree is a testament to the collaborative spirit of the acid jazz scene. Notable bonus tracks include the previously unreleased alternative version of 'Apple Green,' an alternate take on 'Illusions,' and the title track itself. First-time vinyl cuts offer fresh perspectives on tracks like 'Jesse' and 'Slide Sweet Baby,' adding depth to the listening experience. The album's presentation is equally impressive, with a beautiful 'wide-spine' layout, printed inner sleeves, and insightful notes from label-founder Eddie Piller, accompanied by unseen photos from the original cover shoot. Overall, this anniversary edition of The People Tree is a album worth your time as it often selected for one of the best examples in the genre.