Cerca:j man

Audiojack and Kevin Knapp return to Crosstown Rebels with their ‘Get It’ EP. Out on 22nd May 2026, the longstanding collaborators serve up a heavyweight two-tracker on Damian Lazarus’ imprint.

Leeds-born, Ibiza-based duo Audiojack reunite with US mainstay Kevin Knapp for their third Crosstown Rebels collaboration together on 22nd May, adding to 2021’s impressive ‘Under Your Skin’ EP and 2017’s ‘Implications’ EP. Having spent two decades at the forefront of the scene, the Gruuv bosses’ blend of house, minimal, and garage influences has landed on labels such as Hot Creations, Solid Grooves, 8bit, and more. Meanwhile, house music stalwart Kevin Knapp continues to push his own chunky and vibrant take on house music via international performances at venues such as fabric, Circo Loco, and Elrow, as well as releases on labels like Cuttin Headz, Repopulate Mars, Desert Hearts, and his own Plump Recordings. Marking their return to Damian Lazarus’ iconic imprint once more, they serve up two punchy cuts that showcase their ability to balance attitude and authority into a house workout.


“Get It,' is all about momentum! A driving club track with a mantra-like vocal to lift you up and motivate you to go harder at whatever you’re doing in life.” - Audiojack


"I'm just enamoured with the concept of being in charge of our own destiny and the thought of getting out of things what you put into them. I feel like this record sonically presents those sentiments in a way I love and appreciate.” - Kevin Knapp


Title track ‘Get It’ is a rolling floor-focused cut, driven by a tightly wound bassline and rattling cowbells, while a brooding low-end foundation sets the stage for Kevin Knapp’s commanding vocal drops, elevating the cut into a full-throttle peak-time weapon. On the flip, ‘This Frequency’ is an equally potent club tool, built around an unfolding tracking groove and a wobbling melodic synth line, propelled by an electro-tinged bassline that steadily draws listeners further into its spell.

In this new project on Audio Music World, we find an internaonal-renowned Italian trio composed of
DJs/producers Daniele Baldelli, Marco Fra-y, and Marco Flash.
Their sound explores every nuance of Electronic Music, keeping one eye on the past and a steady gaze
toward the future. Following several notable producons and successful remixes, this new venture from the
three producers is certainly among their most accomplished.

Fela Kuti in Dub is a showcase album containing four essential songs by Fela Kuti in the style of a Jamaican Discomix, evolving from an instrumental cover version to a dub version, celebrating the musical heritage of Nigeria and Jamaica likewise.

Please understand this work as a hommage to both musical cultures.

The four tracks were chosen because they are a timeless witness to the political potential of music, that being proofed by their actuality. The songs feature essential dub effects like echoes, reverb and filtering but also feature analogue sound effects underlining and sonically illustrating the missing lyrical content. These vary from thundery spring reverbs and percussion instruments imitating the pouring rain on „Water No Get Enemy“ to marching soldiers and shot gun like reverbs on „Zombie“. From a cash register on „Expensive Shit“ to the dub sirens created live on a Korg MS10 on „Everything Scatter“.

Only analogue instruments, sounds and dub effects were used on this recording. Mixing, dubs and arrangements were done live in consecutive sessions. The premaster was done by Sodi Marciszewer at Zarma Studios (Fela Kuti, Femi Kuti, Seun Kuti, Damian Marley) on the original Decca desk used by Fela Kuti in Lagos. Fela Kuti In Dub was conceived and produced by Cpt. Yossarian alias Manuel da Coll musician, producer and soundman from Munich/Germany. His last work „Bob Marley In Dub“ (2021, Echobeach) attained a lot of critical acclaim and was featured by Don Letts on BBC6, the Riddim Magazine and Helmut Phillips book „DUB - The Sound Of Surprise“ amongst others.

Five years after their radiant debut Ufo Bar, Italian cinematic funksters Banda Maje are back with Costa Sud to take us deeper into their land of ‘Salifornia’—a Southern province of sun-drenched coastlines and decaying buildings where dreams of exotic escapism sprout and bloom.

Once again, behind the eight tracks in the album—and behind the wheel of the fiery red Alfasud on the cover—is composer and keyboardist Peppe Maiellano. He has meticulously tailored each piece to his virtuoso partners in crime: a 'family' of exuberant musicians spread between Salerno and Naples, all bound by deep-rooted ties to the region and a shared belief in the grit of independent artistry.

The Costa Sud (South Coast) imagined by Banda Maje is a shimmering ribbon of sun-baked asphalt stretched between the sea and the ancient pine forests of the Gulf of Salerno. It is a land of enchanting but wounded places, where the grace of Ancient Greek civilization sits in a restless silence alongside the scars of rampant building and neglect. “But if truth is beauty and beauty is truth,” Maiellano explains, inverting Keats’s famous line, “with the right eyes, you can find beauty and poetry even under a layer of moral and material filth."

Conceived and recorded entirely in the South, the album nevertheless looks beyond the horizon. While Neapolitan funk and golden-age Italian soundtracks remain the double helix of the band's DNA, this album welcomes new influences from across the ocean, weaving Italy, Brazil, Africa, and contemporary sounds into its unique vision of the 'global South.'

Side A is an immersion into Salifornian territory and its myths: from the carefree instrumental disco-funk of the title track, which sublimates local contradictions into enveloping cinematic atmospheres, to the mellow groove of “Baia”—a fusion of Neapolitan funk, afrobeat, and disco that pays homage to Salerno’s famous beach, squeezed between millennia-old sea rocks and mountains of shipping containers. The band’s heartfelt sense of belonging shines in their fresh soul-disco version of “Mo…” (a 1981 cult classic by Neapolitan legend Peppino di Capri) featuring Maiellano’s own vocals, while the reimagining of Tonico 70's “Jet Lag” celebrates a fraternal partnership with the Salerno-based rapper/producer, charting a musical itinerary that unites Brazil, the States, and Salifornia through evocative grooves, sharp synths, and Gianfranco Campagnoli’s exquisite trumpet.

On Side B, the sound becomes even more eclectic with the samba-funk warmth of “Samba Maje”, where Mediterranean melodies and lush vocal harmonies marry jazz-funk arrangements and disco-inflected Brazilian rhythms. The next track, “Africana”, is dedicated to a legendary dolce vita nightclub on the Amalfi Coast (and its founder Luca Milano); here, a rhythmic mantra incorporating tribal African elements blends with synths that evoke RAI television themes of the late 70s. The journey concludes under the sign of the silver screen: the disco-funk elegance of “Black Glamour Girl” (from the early-80s road-trip comedy In viaggio con papà), a tribute to the compositional genius of Piero Piccioni, and “Lovebossa”—an easy-listening homage to the "Cine Bossa" atmospheres that characterized so many Italian soundtracks of the 60s and 70s, finally carrying the listener ‘ncopp’ ‘e nuvole (above the clouds—which is basically Salifornian for "somewhere over the rainbow").

Available on LP and Digital from 15 May 2026.

Soul Jazz Records celebrate 25 years of working in partnership with Studio One with brand new editions of FIVE of their best-selling CLASSIC Studio One collections all released on limited-edition one-off pressing coloured double vinyl. Also available in new limited-edition card wallet CD editions. The new edition featured albums are Studio One Funk, Studio One Dub, Studio One Ska, Studio One Roots and Studio One Classics.

Studio One Classics features a non-stop selection of stone-cold classic Studio One killers! Spanning 40 years of the legendary label, this album is a celebration of the music of Studio One Records and features a who’s who of Jamaican Reggae: Bob Marley, The Heptones, Horace Andy, Sugar Minott, Don Drummond, Prince Jazzbo & more. This collection contains numerous legendary tracks, including Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “Simmer Down”," "Love Me Forever" by Carlton & His Shoes, Slim Smith's "Rougher Yet," Horace Andy's "Fever,", Alton Ellis’s “I’m Just A Guy’, The Skatalites’ blazing ‘Confucious’ and loads more. Timeless stuff - every track here is indeed a classic, no-one can argue about that! Studio One produced literally hundreds of hits and this selection includes some of the label’s most enduring songs.

It is simply impossible to imagine modern Jamaican music without Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, founder of the iconic Studio One where virtually every singer and musician of note in Reggae cut their teeth. Studio One's output spans over four decades, all represented here. Coxsone Dodd pioneered nearly every new form of Jamaican music as it developed over time and this album includes Ska, Dancehall, Roots, Rocksteady, DJ, Lovers and more. This is probably the best entry of the many Soul Jazz Studio One releases if you're after a primer in the Studio One sound. Like it says on the wrapper 'Classics' pretty much sums it up

ANORAX lives up to its #eatsleepcollect mantra with this limited edition one side only plays special 7”.

Making a cover version of Mezzoforte’s Icelandic jazz funk classic GARDEN PARTY is not a task for the feint hearted.

Phil Hooton and fellow producer Mark Gambe pull it off with aplomb.

The duo are enjoying success with their single GARDEN OF EDEN by Phil Hooton Featuring Pete Simpson. That involved a new song being written and sung over their instrumental remake of GARDEN PARTY.

The original idea was to only release the new vocal creation but the instrumental version - featuring virtuoso playing by some of the UK’s top session musicans - was simply too good to be left on the shelf.

Only 200 copies of this one sided 7” have been manufactured.

The first release of the False Mov Rec. label, an international joint venture between two underground imprints located in Germany and Greece respectively is as unusual as it is unique in many ways. Released in 2017 this split 7" sees DYL from Romania and Paragon from the UK pairing up for the A-Side track "Unstable", a deeply hypnotic and driving minimal take on Halfstep Drum'n'Bass / Bass Music for late night dancefloors whereas Greek producer PS Stamps Back delivers a bass-driven take on psychedelia-infused slow motion Techno for illegal forest raves with "Beyond Lies The Wub" which also comes in handy for tripped out after hours and similar occasions.

Never officially distributed before and available in extremely limited quantities only.

Soul Jazz Records’ long out of print classic ‘Studio One Funk’ collection is being re-released in three new one-off limited-edition coloured pressing 18th anniversary format editions!
Firstly, a heavyweight special limited edition one-pressing only red 2xLP vinyl + download. Secondly, there is also a new special limited-edition one-off pressing edition red-pressed CD enclosed in jewel case and slipcase. And thirdly there is a very limited unique new one-off pressing red-cased cassette format (200 copies only)! 18 years on from its original release Studio One Funk remains one of our Studio One releases most in-demand titles and like all our earlier special coloured editions is sure to sell out fast!
Studio One Funk is made up of rare and unreleased Reggae Funk from the vaults of Studio One. Ever since the birth of Funk in America, the sound has been an ever-present ingredient in the melting pot of Studio One’s musical output.
The music on this release is a combination of originals, US covers and versions of existing Studio One cuts. Jackie Mittoo shows his appreciation for Booker T and The MGs, the studio group at Memphis’ famous Stax Records with ‘Hang Em High’, itself a cover of a film soundtrack by Dominic Frontiere. Incredibly this version has never before been released. Booker T’s super-funky ‘Melting Pot’ is also covered by the little-known Underground Vegetables.
Other versions include Isaac Hayes’ classic Blaxploitation soundtrack ‘Shaft’ again by Cedric Im Brooks track - another unreleased gem, straight from the tape master. Motown gets a look in with Alton’s stripped-down version of the Spinners classic ‘It’s A Shame’, written by Stevie Wonder and Syreeta.
James Brown is apparent in spirit with the JBs-inspired groove on the super rare cut “Now” by Lee Arab. Lloyd Williams similarly does a fine Kingston-style version of the hardest-working man in showbusiness on ‘Reggae Feet’.
Version-wise, we have ‘Idleberg’, Cedric Im Brooks tough instrumental cut on Horace Andy’s seminal ‘Skylarking’. The little-known Prince Moonie gives us a rare DJ cut of another Horace Andy classic, ‘See A Man’s Face’.
Pablove Black’s cut of Sidewalk Doctor (A/K/A Poco Tempo) is one of a handful of Studio One releases featuring Augustus Pablo’s trademark instrument, the melodica, played by Black himself.
Add to these original cuts from Studio One’s heavyweight session players including Leroy Sibbles, Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles, Eric Frater, Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace, Richard Ace, Vin Gordon and more and you have one of the finest selections of reggae and funk you will ever hear.







"This collection goes deep into the Brentford Road vaults and unearths a rake of previously unreleased gems alongside hard to find classics. Heavy and inspirational, totally unique and essentially timeless." Straight No Chaser
"An absolute treasure trove for the collector as well as being great for the ears and feet. Jackie Mittoo's 'Hang Em High' is worth the price of the album on its own." Echoes
"A superb collection that shows how much many Jamaican musicians were influenced by the heavy funk belting out of American studios from the early seventies onwards.” Touch
"The most satisfying listening experience so far in the Studio One series." The Wire
"Rare and unreleased grooves from Jamaica's house of excellence." Mojo

The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice Grogu. The Mandalorian & Grogu Original Score Vinyl features 13 brand new score cues by Ludwig Göransson.

Produced by Manilow and longtime collaborator Michael Lloyd, What A Time brings together an eclectic and cross-generational group of collaborators, including Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, nine-time GRAMMY® winner Dave Cobb, and longtime co-writers Bruce Sussman and Adrienne Anderson. The result is a collection that pairs Manilow’s signature melodic grandeur with fresh textures and stylistic turns — from classic, string-swept torch songs to groove-driven R&B flourishes, heartland rock touches, and gospel-inspired crescendos.

Soul Jazz Records celebrate 25 years of working in partnership with Studio One with brand new editions of FIVE of their bestselling CLASSIC Studio One collections all released on limitededition one-off pressing coloured double vinyl. Also available in new limited-edition card wallet CD editions. The new edition featured albums are Studio One Funk, Studio One Dub, Studio One Ska, Studio One Roots and Studio One Classics. Studio One Roots set the standard for Soul Jazz Records’ long-standing series and features many of the classic artists from Clement 'Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s mighty roster of reggae. This album includes Freddie McGregor, Willie Williams, Cornell Campbell, Alton Ellis, Devon Russell alongside some of the defining in-house groups of Jamaican reggae history - The Sound Dimension, Brentford All-Stars, The Skatalites, New Establishment and more. The album is filled with a mixture of seminal cuts and super-rarities from the vast vaults of 13 Brentford Road.

Stand-out tracks include Alton Ellis’s ‘Blackish White’, a surreal and powerful Afro-centric dream, Count Ossie’s Rastafarian drummers’ genre-defying interpretation of Booker T and The MGs ‘Meditation’, Willie Williams aweinspiring versioning of the Skatalites' seminal Rastafari anthem ‘Addis Ababa’ and many, many more. Original sleevenotes by Lloyd Bradley (author of When Reggae Was King), compiled by Mark Ainley (Honest Jons), high-quality Soul Jazz mastering, wicked images of Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari on the cover, and a rare image of Clement Dodd and musicians inside the studio at Studio One on the full colour inner sleeves. “There isn't a weak number across these 16 tracks, from the Gaylads’ ode to ‘Africa’ and Devon Russell's version of the heavyweight ‘Drum Song’ rhythm, to stunning instrumentals such as Jackie Mittoo and the Cyclones with nyahbinghi drummer Count Ossie on ‘Meditation’, Lenny Hibbert’s sparkling vibe work over Mittoo's ‘Ghetto Organ’ and The Sound Dimension’s ‘Congo Rock.” Pitchfork “The music of this compilation is of a rare, rare beauty and is essential to anyone's reggae collection.” All Music

Erstauflage als "Sparkle Starlight Vinyl" 2LP mit Etching auf der vierten Seite. Im technischen Sinne war jedes bisherige Album des französischen Trios SLIFT eine Fantasie - ein Mix aus Genres und Formen, der es der Band ermöglichte, zu improvisieren und so lange zu jammen, bis sie sich scheinbar gemeinsam ins All zu winden schienen. Ihr gefeiertes drittes Album, "Ilion" aus dem Jahr 2024, war eine Science-Fiction-Geschichte, aufgebaut aus 10- bis 13-minütigen explorativen Eskapaden, die oft mit Doom Metal oder Stoner Rock begannen, bevor sie sich frei in glorreiche instrumentale Vergessenheit drehten. Doch mit einer gewissen absichtlichen Ironie heißt SLIFTs viertes Album tatsächlich "Fantasia". Es ist ihr bisher schlankstes und direktestes Album. Es ist auch ihr bisher fesselndstes Album, eine pointierte Saga über die Überwindung internationaler Umbrüche, vorgetragen von einer Band, die mit voller Kraft vorangeht und dabei keine einzige Sekunde verschwendet. Obwohl nur Jean und Bassist Rémi Fossat verwandt sind, ist SLIFT im Grunde eine Band von Brüdern. Mit Schlagzeuger Canek Flores sind sie schon seit der Highschool befreundet, und 2026 markiert ein Jahrzehnt zusammen in diesem Trio. Sie proben mit religiöser Regelmäßigkeit in einem Keller auf dem Land in der Nähe von Toulouse, in dem Jam-Raum, in dem sie schon lange ihrer Vorliebe für langatmige Wunder frönen. Für die Albumaufnahmen zu "Fantasia" überquerten sie die französische Nordgrenze nach Belgien, um in dem riesigen Live-Raum der Daft Studios ein kompaktes Set aus schlanken, agilen und druckvollen Songs aufzunehmen. Die vielfältigen Einflüsse der Band sind offensichtlich: Das Album erinnert an Clutch in voller Wildheit, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, den sowjetischen Schriftsteller Michail Bulgakow, Pink Floyd und Black Sabbath aus der "Master of Reality"-Ära. Und das klangliche Gewebe wird durch das gekonnte Mixing von Kurt Ballou (Converge, Cave In, High on Fire) unterstützt. Den Songs fehlt es nicht an der Komplexität oder Intensität, die SLIFT zu einem aufstrebenden Star der Heavy-Musik gemacht haben; sie haben einfach neue Wege gefunden, die Komplexität ihrer Vergangenheit in jedes Stück einzuflechten, wie ein Wandteppich, der jedes Mal, wenn man hinschaut, eine neue Ebene offenbart. Damit vermitteln sie eine bestätigende und dringliche Botschaft: Gemeinsam können wir die Zeiten, in denen wir leben, noch immer verändern. Heutzutage ist es furchtbar leicht, sich machtlos zu fühlen. SLIFT setzt sich auf "Fantasia" direkt mit dem modernen Ansturm von Grausamkeit und Absurdität auseinander, sei es die Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber unserem Heimatplaneten oder zueinander. Aber in diesen acht Songs geht es darum, auf eine verborgene Kraft zu vertrauen, um zurückzuschlagen, um an eine Welt zu glauben, in der etwas, das wir noch nicht in Worte fassen oder definieren können, nicht nur einen Weg bietet, den Status quo zu durchbrechen, sondern ihn vielleicht sogar vollständig zu zerstören. SLIFT sind laut, heavy und aggressiv in diesen Hymnen. Sie bereiten sich auf einen Kampf vor, von dem sie glauben, dass wir ihn noch gewinnen können.

FEAR - das gemeinsame Album von Jared Mattson von The Mattson 2 und Ruban Nielson von Unknown Mortal Orchestra - wurde im Juni 2024 aufgenommen. Alle Aufnahmen und der Mix fanden in Palm Springs statt. Gemastert von Matt Colton in den Metropolis Studios in London. --- "Ich wachte gegen Mittag auf, desorientiert, noch halb im Traum. Musik lief - unbekannt, voll ausgereift, die Art von Klang, von der man annimmt, dass sie zum Leben eines anderen gehört. Einen Moment lang dachte ich, ich würde noch schlafen und Musik hören, von der ich mir wünschte, ich hätte sie gemacht. Dann dämmerte es mir: Ruban Nielson war bereits wach, im Studio, und hörte sich an, was wir geschaffen hatten. Wir wussten es beide. Diese Musik hatte etwas Unvermeidliches an sich - als wäre sie weniger geschaffen als vielmehr entdeckt worden. Wir hörten sie uns immer wieder an, lachten und schüttelten den Kopf. Ein Track rief ein gemeinsames Bild hervor: einen immergrünen Wald an einem See bei Sonnenuntergang. Ruban blickte plötzlich auf, die Augen weit aufgerissen, als hätte man ihm gerade eine Botschaft überreicht. ,Ich habe den Titel", sagte er. American Eagle. Der Name wirkte genauso wie die Musik - klar, offensichtlich, unbestreitbar. Der amerikanische Traum: Hot Dogs, Cola, Fahrten bei Sonnenuntergang. Wir brachen beide in Gelächter aus, Tränen in den Augen, weil wir minutenlang so heftig lachten. Wir schwammen in seinem Pool. Das Gespräch hörte nie auf. Der Fluss blieb konstant, nährend, mühelos. Dann sagte Ruban es noch einmal - den Satz, der bereits zu einem Grundsatz geworden war: ,Lass uns mehr davon machen, das genau so klingt." Also taten wir das. Zwei Tage später war ,FEAR" fertig." - Jared Mattson

The Scottish singer Donovan embraced the folk-music boom during the sixties that swept both England and America.

In 1965 Fairytale was released, his second studio album which planted the seed of what was yet to come. It foreshadowed the jazzy feel and descriptions of life in urban London that Donovan would continue to explore over the next two years. Fairytale features his hits “Colours”, “Universal Soldier” and “Jersey Thursday”.

Fairytale is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on transparent vinyl.

Forever – Jazz steht für zeitlose Eleganz und die Essenz eines Genres, das Generationen geprägt hat. Diese stilvolle Vinyl-Ausgabe vereint ausgewählte Meisterwerke und schafft eine Atmosphäre zwischen sanfter Melancholie, swingender Leichtigkeit und virtuoser Improvisation.

Mit unvergesslichen Interpretationen von Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong und Ella Fitzgerald uvm, entfaltet sich ein Klangbild, das sowohl entspannt als auch inspirierend wirkt. Instrumentale Höhepunkte von Miles Davis und Dave Brubeck runden das Hörerlebnis ab.

Forever – Jazz ist mehr als eine Sammlung – es ist ein stilvoller Begleiter für besondere Momente und ein Muss für alle, die echten Jazz in seiner schönsten Form genießen möchten.

The new recordings from The Dengie Hundred unfurl on Tain Records after a busy year releasing a solo tape on Sagome and a collaborative LP and tape with Japan Blues on Demdike Stare's DDS imprint.

Lammas Land is an album which meditates on the Walthamstow Marshes, an ever-changing watery landscape, rich with history and wildlife. The Dengie Hundred writes:

"I am sitting at my table overlooking the marshes listening to Lammas Land in November 2023, watching crows fight a never-ending aerial battle with the gulls. In summer, you can see bats from here every evening, fluttering around the windows as the light begins to fade, but today it is colder so there is smoke rising from the boats on the River Lea and the dog walkers are wrapped up tight against the wind.
Most of Lammas Land was made sitting right here, playing guitar and recording the sounds passing by. I would hang a microphone out of the window to capture the ‘putput’ boat which delivers provisions, or the trains that rattle along the tracks that cut across the marshes and up to Stanstead, carrying passengers to the airport and away.
I wonder what tourists make of the marshes as they cross them, the landscape opening up for a moment between the urban sprawl of the East End and the rampant development of Tottenham. They offer a jarring pause of green and sky. I feel very lucky to be living in that pause, a resident, for now…

The album contains a whole year of found sounds recorded from the window and while out walking. It is full of bird song and radio sounds, singing, life.

Many others have been inspired by this space, this pause. The author Esther Kinsky who wrote River, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, captures this area so perfectly. I borrowed the two track names for this album from her book. I hope she doesn’t mind.

Also, the photographer Paul Fuller whose work reflects the atmosphere I feel here precisely. On hearing the music he wanted to collaborate on the Lammas Land project, He spent a year filming the marsh through the seasons. Some of his images are included with the vinyl release, and there is an accompanying film close to completion. I am so pleased this project is continuing in new forms.

The vinyl also contains a piece of writing, ‘Sound Fishing’, by Gemma Blackshaw, an author, art historian and curator who in a twist of fate also found herself spending time on the marshes, but that is her story, for another day."




The Dengie Hundred
Lammas Land
LP, with essay insert + five photographic prints
Cat No: TAIN02
Price: £14.49
Due next week

A: A hand full of ever thickening twilight
(Sample clips 1 / 2 / 3)

B: A string of pearls pulling
the night away
(Sample clips 1 / 2 / 3)

Ein Album mit dem Titel ,Roses" würde sich mit romantischen Gesten befassen. In den zehn Titeln, aus denen sich das siebte und neueste Widowspeak-Album zusammensetzt, werden intime Räume und Phasen der Liebe durch eine nostalgische, mit Vaseline überzogene Linse eingefangen. Kerzen brennen in rotem Glas, während sich Liebende in einer Lederbank näherkommen. Porträts von Prominenten blicken wie Engel in einem Restaurant herab. An anderer Stelle sind Nelken in ein schwarzes Buch gepresst, und Tänzer ziehen sich gegenseitig an sich. Widowspeak ist eine Band, die große Emotionen thematisiert, ohne sich selbst allzu ernst zu nehmen. Die Süße, ja sogar Albernheit einer ausgedehnten Verliebtheitsphase, die so alles verzehrend wird wie ein kitschiger Taschenbuchroman. Autos und ihre Fahrer dienen als Mittel, um über gegenseitige Abhängigkeit zu sprechen. Wenn Musik gleichzeitig naturalistisch und noir, gesättigt und üppig sein kann, dann ist das Widowspeak. Sie sind eine Band, die es versteht, eine Szene zu inszenieren. Diese Songs nutzen intime Momente, um über tiefere Herzschmerzen zu sprechen: die der modernen Existenz innewohnende Unruhe, das Herumwarten darauf, dass etwas geschieht. Oder das Gefühl, im Widerspruch dazu zu stehen, eine Rolle im eigenen Leben zu spielen. ,Roses" mag das romantischste Widowspeak-Album sein, aber es ist auch das zutiefst realistischste: Die Bühne wird nicht mit dramatischen Ouvertüren bereitet, sondern vor dem Hintergrund der Kleinigkeiten und Wiederholungen alltäglicher Handlungen. Kleine Beobachtungen vor, während und nach der Arbeit: das Ritual, Kunden Wasser einzuschenken, sich an seinem freien Tag eine Erkältung einzufangen. Davon zu träumen, im Lotto zu gewinnen, oder vielleicht zu erkennen, dass man bereits gewonnen hat. Hier ist Liebe ein Mittel, um darüber zu sprechen, was uns antreibt, und Widowspeak suggerieren, dass sie der eigentliche Sinn sein kann. Das Licht, das die dunklen Ecken eines Tages, eines Lebens erhellt. Ein Grund, weiterzumachen, trotz des Schmerzes, den es verursachen kann. Widowspeak sind eine der produktivsten und fleißigsten Bands der Szene, die knapp unter der Oberfläche brodeln. Molly Hamilton und Robert Earl Thomas bilden den Kern der Gruppe und sind ihre Songwriter; sie haben ihren Sound über sechzehn Jahre hinweg und mit einem beeindruckend konsistenten Werk verfeinert. Als eine von vielen Bands, die in der fruchtbaren New Yorker Musikszene entstanden sind, begannen sie damit, ihre Ausrüstung zwischen mittlerweile geschlossenen Veranstaltungsorten und ihrem Proberaum im Monster Island Basement hin- und herzuschleppen. Widowspeak ist heute ein Ehepaar, das in der eigenen ,Nebensaison" Tagesjobs ausübt. Robert ist Tischler, Molly Kellnerin. ,Roses" ist Widowspeak in Bestform und schöpft aus zeitlosen Einflüssen. Die Magie der Band liegt nach wie vor im Zusammenspiel zwischen Molly und Robert in ihren beiden Hauptrollen: ihrer trägen, facettenreichen Stimme und seinem instinktiven Gitarrenspiel. Im Kern ist ihre Musik etwas Besonderes, weil sie echt ist: vor allem für die Menschen, die sie machen. Zerbrechlich und vergänglich, und doch lohnend, wie die Liebe selbst.

Das neue Album von Slippers-Mastermind Madeline BB ist ein Meisterwerk. Als hätte man die Beatles mit Sprühdose und Wachsstift bemalt. Das letzte Album von Slippers trug den Titel ,Do You Like Slippers?". Passender wäre ,Do You Like Pop Music?" gewesen. Denn wenn die Antwort auf eine der beiden Fragen ,Nein" lautet, was machen wir dann hier überhaupt?

Ltd Edition 10"

Budapest based concept label Blue Sun welcomes formerly independent local afrobeat-jazz ensemble to its catalogue with a nuanced 4 tracker EP. The release not only marks the beginning of the collaboration, but a definite new musical direction in the band’s life.

Written in a one week jam session retreat in the Hungarian countryside, and recorded at one of the highest peaks of Hungary after a year of global touring, The Garden becomes an amalgamation of the band's personal and artistic experiences. The material conveys a more jazzier approach, with complex harmonies, and an almost cinematic, dreamlike atmosphere, somewhat distancing from (but not completely forgetting) the previously emphasized, dance-oriented Afro- and Latino roots. Song for Ramon serves as the EP’s emotional climax inspired by the passing of a close friend and local underground chef pioneer.

Formed in 2019 in Budapest, Hakumba is a staple of the Hungarian festival circuit, with a growing international presence (SXSW London, SHIP, PIN Music Showcase). They’ve recently finished a tour in Australia this January.

The groove-driven ensemble blends afrobeat, jazz, and various strands of world music into a sound that is both rhythmically powerful and harmonically adventurous. With an eleven-piece lineup featuring an expansive horn section, multiple vocalists, percussion, and keys, the band moves effortlessly between dancefloor energy and more intricate, jazz-influenced musical ideas.

Like the band’s previous album, the EP was again recorded, mixed, and mastered by András Weil, the producer behind The Qualitons, the only hungarian band ever performed Live at KEXP. This continuity preserves Hakumba’s recognizable sonic identity while giving space for new colors and more complex musical ideas to emerge.

Written & performed by:

Soma Számel – drums
Endre Szép – bass
Imre Hegedűs – guitar
Zalán Bendegúz Huff – guitar, vocals
Csongor Mari – keys
Noel Nagy – percussion, vocals
Dorka Foster – flute, vocals
Kristóf Szabó – alto sax
Alpár Sikó – tenor sax
Gáspár Simon – trumpet
András Téglásy – baritone sax

Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Andras Weil
Artwork by Eszter Lukács
Graphic design by Péter Tóth
Manufactured by AD Records
Distributed by Rush Hour

Recorded at Galyatető, Hungary

Released under the Blue Sun

Hit the North is a DJs’ movement
Not a label. Not a revival. A discipline.

Over the years, the collective travelled across multiple states in the US and parts of the UK, digging deep into private collections, basements, garages, storage rooms and forgotten boxes.

They weren’t looking for classics.
They weren’t looking for hits.
They were looking for attempts.

Artists chasing something bigger than themselves.
Trying to sound like Motown.
Trying to sound like Detroit.
Trying to sound like the records that saved them.

Many of them dreamed — at best — of becoming a one hit wonder.
Most never got that far.

Some never crossed a state line.
Some never crossed the street at the end of their block.
Some never played outside their hometown.
Some never played at all.

What they left behind were fragments.

Raw versions.
Unfinished recordings.
Alternate takes.
Rejected mixes.
Test pressings.
Acetates passed quietly from hand to hand.

Sometimes with real credits.
Sometimes with fake ones.
Sometimes with handwritten labels leading nowhere.
Titles that didn’t match the music.
Stories that changed every time you asked.

Often, the trail simply disappeared.

What remained was intention.

Energy.
Urgency.
Hope pressed into sound.

So the collective worked on it.

They edited certain parts.
Extended others.
Cut what didn’t serve the floor.

Not to modernise.
Not to rewrite history.
But to unlock the power that was already there.

The result sounds like Northern Soul pushed to its breaking point.
Fast. Physical. Emotional.
Built for movement.

Some circulated privately.
Others were never pressed at all.

Recorded in personal studios, borrowed studios, friends’ rooms, temporary spaces.
Always outside the system.

This is not nostalgia.
This is unfinished business.

Definition of spin doctor: a spokesperson employed to give a favorable interpretation of events to the media, especially on behalf of a political party. Spin Doctors weren't part of a political party but spread the word about romance.

The band was formed in New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong". Those 2 songs were hits all over the world, and are still big hits in the streaming era. Pocket Full of Kryptonite is the first studio album (and second release) by the Spin Doctors, and originally released in August 1991.

The album was a top 10 hit in many countries, including the UK, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden. It was the band's bestselling album and was certified 5x Platinum in the US. Not to be confused with the 3 Doors Down song 'Kryptonite' from 2000, the Superman theme was all over the Spin Doctors' album, with the title, a song called "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" and the album cover showing a phone booth (referring to Clark Kent frequently ducking into a nearby phone booth to change into his Superman attire).

This pressing of Pocket Full of Kryptonite is a limited 35th anniversary edition of 4,000 individually numbered copies on green vinyl. The jacket has a deluxe leather-texture laminate finish.

Immerse yourself once again in the worlds of Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, the two Studio Ghibli masterpieces created by Hayao Miyazaki and set to music by Joe Hisaishi, in this new original production for solo piano!



Based on the official piano scores by the original composer of the Studio Ghibli films, Joe Hisaishi, this album is a new journey of discovery into the two beloved worlds of Hayao Miyazaki, performed by pianist Nicolas Horvath, a Steinway & Sons artist renowned as a first-rate interpretor of composers such as Philip Glass, Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy, and Eric Satie.

The album features a total of 26 tracks from the two cult films Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime) and Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi), composed by Joe Hisaishi.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade original motion picture soundtrack, now available on sand colour vinyl, featuring music composed and conducted by John Williams.

Der aus Sydney stammende Soul-Revival-Troubadour Don West veröffentlicht das erste Vinyl seiner selbstbetitelten 2024er EP parallel zu ausverkauften Tourneen durch Europa, UK und seinem Heimatland Australien.

Vanisher, Horizon Scraper is the highly anticipated follow-up to Quadeca’s 2024 critically acclaimed mixtape Scrapyard, which received a coveted score of 9/10 from Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop) and currently sits as the #28 highest-rated mixtape of all time on RateYourMusic.


Vanisher, Horizon Scraper is a concept album—a modern apocalyptic folklore about a man who sails into the ocean alone in pursuit of freedom and cosmic understanding, subconsciously driven by his own self-destruction.


With a runtime of nearly 70 minutes, the album takes listeners on a transformative sonic journey, blending genres such as world music, ambient, hip hop, bossa nova, folk, rock, and other experimental styles.

Der aus Sydney stammende Soul-Revival-Troubadour Don West – mit knapp 3 Mio. monatlichen Spotify-Hörern - veröffentlicht sein Debütalbum "Give Me All Your Love" parallel zu seinen ausverkauften Tourneen durch Europa, UK und seinem Heimatland Australien. Australiens einziger Spotify Radar Artist für 2025 wurde bereits für die Australian Independent Records Awards in der Kategorie "Beste Soul/R&B-Veröffentlichung" und für den APRA AMCOS Award in der Kategorie "Meistgespieltes Soul/RnB-Werk" nominiert und erreichte Platz 6 der australischen ARIA-Charts.

"Wenn Sie sich ein Gedankenexperiment gewünscht haben, das berauschend sinnliche Soulmusik aus der Blütezeit von Stax und Motown mit dem Charme eines angesagten Frauenschwarms verbindet, dann hat Don West die harte Arbeit für Sie erledigt; er ist die Antwort." – Onestowatch

Bolka is known as the man with the cap. His cap has lived through a lot: his glitchy and microtonal experiments, studies at Institute of Sonology in The Hague or through countless performative works. A few years ago, Bolka’s cap fell apart. By that time he was already a fixture on the slovak experimental scene, but only releasing his debut album, “smutné stropy.” He started wearing new caps from then: somehow reminiscent of the old one, but much more varied — same as “smutné stropy,” bubbling with motifs, charming humour and pop sensitivity layered over detailed soundscapes popping with surprises.

On schwarzkopf, Bolka returns wishing for a thick black hair. With his charming love songs, that are positioned somewhere between a tightly run freak folk orchestra, deconstructed ballads and colorful ecstatic melancholy, he creates an album that thrives on juxtapositions that are completely unique, yet strangely familiar. Bolka’s songwriting is at once tender and irreverent — lovestruck whispering suddenly tripping over absurdist jokes and surreal images that fizz like soda. His songs move in that strange space between vulnerability and mischief, where intimate confessions collide with radical playfulness and the poetic rubs shoulders with the delightfully ridiculous.

On schwarzkopf, Bolka expands his world with a wide circle of collaborators and an even richer sonic palette. The album is meticulously detailed yet carefree: delicate moments sit next to sudden explosions, drifting from gentle pop to bursts of noise. Toward the end, the album even slips into a footwork-infused remix by Kodiki, passes through Julek ploski’s signature neon-baroque string perspective, and briefly wanders into Lénok’s cinematic sonic world. Bolka sings that he wants to dissolve into a healing ointment, to be ground in a mortar with calendula — and he invites us into this musical spa with him: a place that stings a little but ultimately soothes, a gorgeous soundscape that is both painful and joyful at the same time.

DJ Pone returns to his roots with Bass Culture (out March 6, 2026), a new 19-minute mixtape. A renowned turntablist, DJ Pone delivers an immersive and mesmerizing mix. Following his success with Birdy Nam Nam, he has released several genre-blurring projects, including the cinematic Radiant and the deeply introspective 1978. These albums showcase a producer with a meticulous ear for detail, atmosphere, texture, and storytelling—at times overshadowing the full extent of his talent and charisma behind the decks. With this new release, he reconnects with his first love: sound collage, razor-sharp cuts, and the magic of real-time manipulation. The mix fuses a burst of tracks into a seamless journey, punctuated by precise breaks and UK and tropical inflections. The sound design feels both cathartic and transient—a subtle blend of beats and sonic landscapes that echo and dissolve into one another with remarkable finesse. From an opening manifesto paying tribute to DJ Shadow and DJ Qbert to a rawer section infused with urbex textures, recalling the energy of Company Flow, Pone crafts a narrative that is as thoughtful as it is intensely joyful—yet paradoxically soothing. Mostly instrumental but never lacking soul, Bass Culture is filled with glitched melodies and vocal samples, echoes of his recent travels to Barcelona and beyond. The project stands as a personal, tactile canvas—instinctive and unembellished—pushing back against an era dominated by digital excess. It resonates as a true statement of faith in the art of DJing, reminding us that, even as a producer, DJ Pone’s touch on vinyl remains grounded and almost magnetic, far removed from today’s passing trends.

Neu-Auflage auif schwarzem Vinyl im Gatefold

Die schwedischen High-Energy-Rocker The Hellacopters haben kürzlich ihr 30-jähriges Jubiläum gefeiert und nach der Veröffentlichung ihres neuen, vielgelobten Albums »Overdriver« am 31. Januar 2025, das zum zweiten Mal in der Bandgeschichte Platz 1 der schwedischen Charts erreichte 1 der schwedischen Charts erreichte – ist es nun an der Zeit, ihrer treuen Fangemeinde etwas wirklich Nostalgisches zu bieten.

»Cream Of The Crap! Collected Non-Album Works • Volume 3« ist der lang erwartete Nachfolger einer Reihe von Raritäten-Sammlungen, die 2002 begann und Material aus einer Vielzahl von Singles, EPs und Compilations vereint. Die 24 Titel dieses Sets wurden ursprünglich zwischen 1995 und 2004 veröffentlicht, die meisten davon nur auf Vinyl, und umfassen Originale wie »Disappointment Blues«, »Freeway To Hell«, »Doggone Your Bad-Luck Soul« und »Long Gone Losers« sowie Coverversionen von Songs von Motörhead, Wilson Pickett, Mc5, Smokey Robinson, Alice Cooper, The Ramones, The Nomads, Adam West – dessen Sänger Jake Starr die Liner Notes für diese Veröffentlichung verfasst hat – und vielen, vielen anderen.

Filmmaking and music-making share a common element of worldbuilding. Whole cloth, environments are raised in which a perspective can be placed; the viewer, the listener, is taken on a ride into the unknown for a time. Movie, the newest album by DMV-based duo Lifted, is like a film shot with microphones rather than cameras, using the pacing, spatialization, and semiotics of cinematic sound design to lead us through a surreal soundworld that draws as much from Foley artistry as dub, jazz, and electronic music. Musical elements and field recordings shift in and out of focus, collaged in spontaneous improvisation sessions on CDJs by the core duo of Andrew Field-Pickering (Max D, Dolo Percussion, Beautiful Swimmers) and Matt Papich (Co La, Ecstatic Sunshine). We may not see where we are, but our ears give us all the information we need.

We open on a pedal steel, played by More Eaze, but it’s been warped and slowed, gradually pitching upward until it's met by drums and electronics. Imagine the THX logo emerging onscreen. Movie is bookended by two related themes, “The Ice Chewers (Opening Credits), ” and “Midnight Snack (End Credits), ” giving the spatial experiments at the heart of the record form and focus. If there’s a broader narrative to latch onto, it’s in the transition moments, the juxtaposition of various field recordings that indicate movement of characters through space and life happening at its own pace. Tracks are defined by other thematic elements: a wandering piano in "Repossessed, " the drone of Duncan Moore’s bagpipe on “Melts Very Nasty, ” the delicate dance of Dustin Wong’s guitar over Jeremy Hyman’s drums on “Midnight Snack. ” Even with such an expansive ensemble cast, the focus remains squarely on the flow from one scene to the next.

Robert Altman’s use of sonic perspective shifting, as well as Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s intricate construction of environmental ambience and aural representations of the unknown, were both inspirational for Lifted’s focus on sound as a way to establish set and setting in film. We hear Altman especially in the way dialogue emerges and recedes: as Papich puts in a sandwich order, as Field-Pickering browses the grocery store. These techniques have been a part of the duo’s arsenal in Lifted and their own projects for years, but here, without the mandate to make something overtly musical, they are foregrounded and placed in crisp focus. Here is another way to listen to the world, to understand how time, place, and personality are communicated through sound as Lifted closes the gap between artforms. What you can’t see only drives the imagination to more brilliantly invent.

Fust’s first record "Evil Joy" was a bitter domestic drama obsessed with the kitchen-sink passage of time measured by moments of leaving and returning. With "Genevieve", we find a different kind of leaving: leaving behind, leaving one’s old ways, starting anew, a small life together, in “Family Country.” Thus, Genevieve: an historical name for both the saintly and the ordinary, the peasantry and the family, the community and the wife, extreme devotion and absolute forbearance. While sonically and instrumentally louder than Evil Joy, Genevieve is thematically more quiet about its pains—more settled in its ways. It is a collection of pathetic love stories written in dedication to “small life,” moving from gentle exceptions (“I can take the late hours if you’re with me”) to pitiful admissions (“I’m never going to change when I leave…”). What comes with a quiet life? The highest forms of beauty, but we also find here songs of unspeaking companions, the sublime dread of having children, the balance of humility and humiliation, playing the fool for the greater good, and… budget birthday parties. With these stories of possible growth, "Genevieve" can’t help but also feature tried and true examples of crisis and repression: seeking a bygone lifestyle in an old friend who hasn’t changed much over the years, pissing contests, search parties as the form of community for melancholics with no clue what they’ve lost, old flames you won't let go and dying flames you won’t admit. "Genevieve" was recorded throughout 2021-2022 (mostly) at Drop of Sun studio in Asheville NC by Alex Farrar. The painting by Sasha Popovici is exactly right: a domestic scene yet unfinished. Many friends helped to make it much better than it was without them—Xandy Chelmis, Michael Cormier-O’Leary, Indigo De Souza, MJ Lenderman, Courtney Werner.

Originally released in 1987, Deathcrush is more than just an EP; it is the debut recording of the most infamous band in extreme metal and the first studio release to emerge from the Norwegian Black Metal scene. Reissued with meticulous attention to detail, this new edition captures the raw, chaotic energy of Euronymous, Necrobutcher, Maniac, and Messiah before the genre was fully defined.

Daughter of Swords ist das Soloprojekt der Singer-Songwriterin Alex Sauser-Monnig aus North Carolina (they/she), die auch mit Bands wie Mountain Man und The A's Musik veröffentlicht hat. Ihr Solodebüt, Dawnbreaker, war eine ruhige Folk-Platte, die 2019 veröffentlicht wurde; in den Jahren seither hat Sauser-Monnig ein neues Selbstverständnis gefunden, persönlich und musikalisch. In den letzten Jahren ist die Musik von Daughter of Swords dorniger geworden, ein unvorhersehbares Gewirr aus Synthesizern, berauschenden Gitarren und blubbernden Rhythmen, ein Glanz, der Songs über die rohe menschliche Intensität im großen Stil umhüllt - Verknalltheit, Verlangen, Wut, Entfremdung, die Schrecken des Spätkapitalismus, die kaskadenartigen Paradigmenwechsel, auf die wir alle zuzusteuern scheinen. Eine Neubewertung innerer Systeme und Beziehungen aller Art - mit Kunst und Kreativität, mit anderen Menschen, mit dem Geschlecht - all dies ging einher mit Sauser-Monnigs Hinterfragung der spätkapitalistischen Kultur, die das Leben für arbeitende Künstler zu einer ungerechten Plackerei macht. Gezwungen, ihre gewohnten Denk- und Lebensweisen aufzugeben, fanden Sauser-Monnig neue Energie darin, alte Beschränkungen aufzulösen - sei es in Bezug auf das Musikgeschäft oder ihr Konzept von Geschlecht. Ihre Priorität war es, die Stimmung jedes Tracks zu maximieren, was in "Alex" Schichten aus synthetischen Texturen und unorthodoxen Schnörkeln zum Ausdruck kommt.

Seit mehr als drei Jahrzehnten befindet sich AFI in einem nahezu ständigen Prozess der Neuerfindung. Die Band hat es sich zum Ziel gesetzt, sich mit jedem Album weiterzuentwickeln - manchmal sogar dramatisch - und sich niemals zu sehr in einem Genre einzurichten oder sich auf ihren beeindruckenden Erfolgen auszuruhen. Dieser Ansatz hat ihr Publikum vergrößert, aber auch herausgefordert mit einer klanglichen Identität, die sich in wilde, unerwartete Richtungen entwickeln kann. Mit ihrem zwölften Album "Silver Bleeds the Black Sun_" stehen AFI erneut am Anfang eines mutigen neuen Kapitels, nur dass sie es diesmal geschafft haben, sich selbst zu überraschen. Wie schafft es eine Band, die für kreative Umbrüche bekannt ist, immer wieder Wege zu finden, sich selbst aus ihrer Komfortzone herauszuziehen? Normalerweise beginnt die Band ein Album, indem sie sich sofort in das Schreiben stürzt und sich einfach von ihrer intuitiven musikalischen Sprache leiten lässt. Für "Silver Bleeds the Black Sun_" jedoch haben AFI sich bewusst dazu entschlossen, ihren kreativen Ansatz komplett zu ändern. Diesmal begann alles mit einer Frage: Wie könnten sie neue Wege beschreiten? Der Schlüssel zum Fortschritt lag letztendlich in der gemeinsamen Vergangenheit von AFI. "Wir begannen mit etwas, das wie Echo & the Bunnymen klang", erklärt Gitarrist Jade Puget, der das Album produzierte und abmischte. "Aber schließlich landeten wir bei dieser Mischung aus Death Rock und Postpunk - all diesen Einflüssen aus den späten 70ern und frühen 80ern, mit denen wir aufgewachsen sind, wie Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus und Siouxsie and the Banshees." Das Ziel war es, ein Album mit einer einzigartigen Stimmung zu schaffen, etwas Verträumtes und Ätherisches, und die Bandmitglieder tauchten kopfüber in Einflüsse ein, die schon immer tief in der Musik von AFI verwurzelt waren, jetzt aber in den Vordergrund rückten. "Silver Bleeds the Black Sun_" ist düster und jenseitig, aber auch grandios und würdevoll, bissig und schön zugleich - mit anderen Worten: Es ist sehr AFI, aber doch anders als alles, was man bisher von der Band gehört hat.

BBE Music’s celebrated J Jazz compilation series reaches its fifth and final volume in early 2026, culminating in a track list that maintains the exceptionally high standard first set with volume one back in 2018. This final volume features a selection of tracks that is as diverse as it is deep, reflecting the rich and varied Japanese jazz scene that spanned from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, a golden era of innovation and creativity. J Jazz volume 5 sees compilers Tony Higgins and Mike Peden dig ever deeper into their respective record collections to reveal tracks that encompass myriad styles including white hot jazz funk fusion from Toshiyuki Honda (Eastern Legacy) and Mikio Masuda (Sonic Barrier), super rare ethnic jazz crossover by Christal Zone - their one-off 45 promo release from 1971, Rai Rai, a deconstructed and abstract jazz classic by Yasuhiro Kohno with his solo piano rendition of My Favourite Things, and Mile and Half’s skin-tearing, shredding freak-out from their mega rare private press album.

A track that is so relentless, it leaves the listener in need of oxygen and a Valium. These hand-picked selections sit alongside other specially chosen numbers that embrace hard-driving samba (Seiichi Nakumura’s Judy’s Samba), epic head-nodding soul jazz (Masaru Imada’s World Line), psychedelic private press fusion (Aoyama Gakuin 101’s Fervor), angular post-bop tear-ups (Akira Miyazawa’s Nijimasu), intense and insistent fusion (Motohiko Hino’s Olive Step), serene cinematic pianism (Hideo Ichikawa’s On the Trade Wind) and tripped-out hallucinogenic tribal funky jazz (Masahiko Sato’s Garandoh’s Africa to Africa). Most of the tracks on this collection are being reissued for the first time, many of them only available previously on extremely limited and mega-rare private press or independent releases. J Jazz volume 5 is a fitting end to a compilation series that helped create a new audience and appreciation of Japanese jazz Some of the albums the tracks are drawn from are featured in the large format book J Jazz: Modern and Free Jazz from Japan 1954-1988, by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden, published by BBE Music in 2024. With almost 7000 words of extensive sleeve notes, J Jazz volume 5 comes in a triple 180g vinyl set inside a deluxe gatefold sleeve with obi strip, and comes with a 4-page insert, with photographs from the renowned Tokyo Jazz Joints project. It is also available as a double CD and digital download. Mastered at the Grammy-nominated Carvery Studio by Frank Merritt, this latest collection is a worthy successor to the preceding four volumes that set the bar so high. The J Jazz series is curated for BBE Music by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden.

On March 20, 1964, legendary American comedian and harpist Harpo Marx joined the Riverside Symphony on stage at a benefit for the Southern California organization. By then, the comic had been in semi-retirement, and after a series of heart attacks in 1961, he was told to stop working altogether. But to a lifelong performer, nothing compared to the feeling of being on stage. Benefit shows, he slyly argued, were not technically work, since he wasn’t getting paid. For the next few years, Marx’s wife and doctors grudgingly went along with the pitch. Harpo Speaks! The Riverside Symphony Concert, out June 5 from Ramseur Records, captures a considerably remarkable, one-of-a-kind performance: The silent Marx Brother, the one whose trademark persona led many audiences to believe he was actually mute, spoke. As Harpo Marx’s first, and last—recorded just six months before his death—live album, Harpo Speaks! places listeners in the room, immersed in the swell of the Riverside Orchestra as Marx performs alongside the symphony and leads them in a narration of Peter and the Wolf. In another unusual move for Marx, he allowed the recording of the show for posterity, though the tapes seemingly disappeared after his death. Harpo Speaks! is the result of heroic archival work. Recently discovered by longtime Marx Brother archivist John Tefteller, he and Marx biographer and expert Robert Bader set out to restore the long lost recording. “The fact that we have a recording is a miracle,” says Bader. “It was not the most professionally recorded thing.

It was very haphazard. The work that was done to rehabilitate it is stunning. It’s as if you’ve found something covered with layers of mold and dirt, got it all cleaned off, and now are able to see something brand new underneath it.” Across the recording’s near-43 minute runtime, Marx, alongside the Riverside Symphony, takes the cheering audience through the delightfully lighthearted “Toy Symphony” and carries them into the softly romantic “Moon Medley,” (a medley of “Fly Me to the Moon” and “How High the Moon,” arranged by his son Bill, alongside his own composition, “Moon Tune”) and a rare instrumental performance of his composition “Guardian Angels.” And then the concert’s true highlight: the near 22-minute long riveting narration of Peter and the Wolf. For the first time, Harpo reveals his voice: deep, yet soft-spoken, refined, yet still retaining the slightest hint of his New York City origin. And, in speaking, he entertained, getting laughs not just for his physical gags, but for the storytelling itself: the dramatic inflections in moments of suspense, the arch mischievousness, and tongue-in-cheek references to Goldwater, Rockefeller, and Nixon.

Das Debütalbum ,Good To Go" von Occrasy wurde auf analogem 8-Spur-Tonband aufgenommen - eine bewusste Entscheidung, um alles Überflüssige wegzulassen und sich auf das Wesentliche zu konzentrieren: rohe Energie, live und hautnah. Gemeinsam mit Produzent Niklas Berglöf, bekannt unter anderem durch seine Arbeit mit Hurula und Linn Koch-Emmery, nahm die Band elf Songs auf, die schrill aufschreien, unkontrolliert verzerren und der schwedischen Rockszene neue Energie verleihen. Das Ergebnis ist ein Hexengebräu musikalischer Einflüsse - von Boogie-Grooves und Rock im Stil von Primal Scream bis hin zu liebevollen Verbeugungen vor dem Debütalbum von The Strokes.Musikjournalist Fredrik Strage beschreibt Occrasy als ,den besten Garage-Krach aus Borlänge seit Mando Diao - oder vielleicht sogar seit Sator."