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Following their 2023 LP Presents, Nathan Nelson's American Cream Band bring the Twin City heat back to Quindi with an album rooted in duality. From the yin and yang party-starting A side and meditative B side to the dual-attack boy-girl vocals, the nature of opposites and equals steer the expansive, artful strain of rock n' roll that spill out of this wholly unique Minnesotan export. For the ever intriguing Quindi, it's a strident step into Spring after the frosty introspection of Roudi Vagou & Läuten der Seele's Taghelle Nacht. While the world burns and injustice prevails, Twin is a celebration of unity and radical expression-all the more urgent against the backdrop of authoritarian overreach and righteous protest that has whipped through Minneapolis in recent times.
Twin continues Nelson's drive at the helm of American Cream Band to draw in a colourful cast of players to feed into his orgiastic sound, meshing the trance-induction of krautrock with the irrepressible funk of the post-punk-new-wave explosion. But principal among the cast of characters and forming a central tenet to the identity of this album is Liz Buhmann, lead vocalist and a formidable, playful foil to Nelson's own Midwestern twang. Around the electric spark between Buhmann and Nelson, a heavy duty ensemble wrangle guitar, bass, sax, a cornucopia of synths and a battery of percussion into all manner of sonic forms.
The double-sided concept manifests throughout Twin. On 'Call Me' Buhmann sings in French to contrast Nelson's English, while the strident strut of the NYC disco groove is offset by an inherent dreaminess that turns the track into a more cosmic kind of dancefloor workout. 'Ethical Vampire' is a spiky cut with a garage rock patina that spirals into a psychedelic, synth-soaked get-down. 'Don't Burn The House Down' is a loose and limber roller that captures Can at their funkiest along with the hypnotic vibe of other such esteemed long format jammers, but American Cream Band boils that energy into a hook-laden art pop sensibility before a gentle, drawn out landing.
Even the more pensive moments on Twin find space for friction. For all its tender, smoky temperament, 'Leda and the Swan' lets the electric piano and guitar fray at the edges and bleed into the red while Mat Heinrich's tumbling drums lurch with pent-up intensity on the one. 'No Funeral Necessary' skirts around the mellow pools of new age but prefers to let liberally doused Tape Echo tweak out Alex Meffert's honeyed sax inflections and Buhmann and Nelson's disparate sermons.
Nelson describes Twin as "an oppositorum coincidentia" - a reference to the mystical Latin concept of the coincidence of opposites that suggests contradictory ideas 'fall together' in a higher reality. Beyond the sound of the album, this idea also manifests in the cover photography by Sho Nikado and the swans on the LP labels by Autumn Garrington. As freewheeling and wide-open as American Cream Band feels, nothing appears by accident. The end result feels like a nourishing whole - rich with substance and nuance, deep enough to be explored and absorbed yet also so brazen and immediate you can't help but feel its surface charms from the first thrusts of 'The Hive Is Pissed' to the last ripples of 'We're Not So Sinister'.

‘An Undying Love For A Burning World follows Converge’s Love Is Not Enough this year as a pivotal metal album about acknowledging the darkness for what it is and trying to accept it.’ - the QUIETUS

‘Neurosis Know You’re Hurting. Their Stunning New Album Is a Life Preserver.
An Undying Love for a Burning World, the band’s first album with new member Aaron Turner, is a reminder of how even the darkest music can be a guiding light’ - 9/10 ROLLING STONE

Evolution can be ugly and beautiful, painful and euphoric. An Undying Love For A Burning World is the first new release from Neurosis in a decade, and a potent statement of intent and rebirth - one that marks the first new steps of resolve and resilience.

An Undying Love For A Burning World is an epic album of colossal hypnotism - beautiful, fearsome and utterly compelling in a way that only Neurosis can be. Aaron Turner (Sumac, Isis) joins the band on vocals and guitar, a name whose legacy is intertwined with the band’s own and a true kindred spirit.

“From the moment I first heard Neurosis over 30 years ago, I felt this was the music my heart and mind had been seeking but not yet heard. Now after many years travelling along various musical paths of my own, the singular sound and spirit embodied by Neurosis continues to speak to the depths of my being. It is an honor and a true pleasure to have been welcomed so warmly into a band that not only shaped my perspective on the limitless possibilities of music - but has lived and exemplified the necessity of upholding creative integrity and camaraderie above all else.” - AARON TURNER

Neurosis have never been afraid of change, and here they embrace endless regeneration, surrendering to the emotional exorcism through heaviness and distortion that their music incites. Just as the universe tends towards balance, Neurosis’cacophony of noise, rhythm and dissonance always resolves towards moments of beauty. The addition of Turner's powerful vocals and wildly creative and unhinged approach to guitar proves to be a vital force as Neurosis find themselves again at the mercy of evolution and expression.

On every song in the band’s history, Neurosis shifts restlessly between tension and relief, invoking a feeling both feral and transcendent in listeners. The band describe their songwriting process as an inescapable impulse to create with each other - a need rather than a choice. Indeed, the band insist that their return is “not a reunion - we never broke up.”

The album was recorded by Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City, Sumac, and Great Falls) at Studio Litho in Seattle during three weekends this winter, and mixed in three days just six weeks before release at Evan's Antisleep Audio in Oakland.

Neurosis will play their first show in seven years on the traditional lands of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana as part of Fire in the Mountains festival by special invitation of Firekeeper Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to reducing youth suicide in Indian Country.

FITM, is a unique festival known for bringing epic music to epic landscapes with the intent of reconnecting and immersing oneself with the natural world, and strengthening our ancestral roots as human beings - an aim which aligns directly with Neurosis’ deep-rooted power.

Stay tuned for further news over the coming months.

PREVIOUS PRESS:

‘In less skilful hands, this relentless sonic oppression would be gruelling, but by expressing human frailty with such visceral abandon, Neurosis have once again turned darkness into euphoria.’ - 4/5 THE GUARDIAN

‘The Oakland band has evolved from gritty metallic punk to harrowing post-hardcore prog to the majestic doom of their current phase’ - 7.9 PITCHFORK

‘It’s not often an album of such stature exceeds one’s anticipations, but Honor is too astounding to not be revered.’ - The QUIETUS

“Fires Within Fires is the summation of thirty years of experimentation in tonality and texture. Yes, NEUROSIS are firmly positioned within the extreme metal underground yet their music, with its ability to generate images of beauty akin to those many of us have experienced in our own lives – not to mention the loss that accompanies them – challenges this categorization. ‘’ - WIRE MAGAZINE - FULL PAGE REVIEW.

"Their intensity remains undimmed on Fires Within Fires...The already converted will take heart from the evidence that age is unable to wither the fury of this heaviest of bands." - KERRANG! 4K REVIEW

"Every monstrous sludge riff gnashes menacingly for the right amount of time and every delicate moment of folk-inspired drift is emotionally exacting. Neurosis continue to create art without equal, and Fires Within Fires is another worthy addition to an awe-inspiring canon containing a number of truly pioneering and timeless albums." - METAL HAMMER - 8/10 LEAD REVIEW

Apex militant late '70s style here, if you think you are into steppers you should have this one firmly in your sights. One of Mr. Smart's hardest records, this originally appeared only as an album track, but also had some fame as a dubplate played at the time by Jah Shaka and others. We've long had that cut in our sights, and while some nice new re-mixes of this tune appeared in the last few years, here is the real thing from '79 steel. The A-side features the raw dubplate cut vocal, no horns or other adornment, HARD to the point stepping drum and bass style. The B-side features the original Gussie Clarke dub mix aptly titled "Hot Steppers", also previously released only on album. This cut as well was run on dubplate back at the time, a killer mix with full horns but no vocal. Leroy Smart is one of our all time favorite artists and we take pride in having re-released a handful of his all time best records, this one now added to that list.

Release week Focus Track: Paint the Rain RELEASE TIMELINE 12/10 - TMR signs Natalie Bergman Announcement with video on Youtube: I Will Praise You (Live) 01/27 - Announce w/ PreSave/PreOrder IG1: Talk to the Lord + (music video) 02/24 - IG2: Shine Your Light On Me + (music video) 03/24 - IG3: I Will Praise You (album version) 04/21 - IG4: I’m Going Home Potential Video Asset - Live set of all the IG tracks released 05/05 - IG5 and Official Music Video: Paint the Rain 05/07 - STREET DATE w/ Focus Track: Paint the Rain Mercy is Natalie Bergman's debut, a self-produced solo album recorded in the strangest of times, during a personal period of profound sadness and reinvention. It's startling, and often beautiful — a rush to the edge of the cliff, with an unflinching look below Recorded at her brother's home studio in Los Angeles, CA, Bergman has already had a lengthy, successful career as one half of the brother-sister duo Wild Belle, but this is the first time she wrote and played all the material. This record absolutely pulses with redemptive power; it is replenishing and original, and deeply cathartic. And before we go any further, you should know that this is kind of a gospel record. It should also be said -- Natalie made this record because she absolutely had to. The music of Mercy began to germinate a few months after she lost her father in a wrong-way, head-on collision. He and her step-mother were killed by a drunk driver. Shortly after, Natalie visited a monastery in the southwestern desert, and there she began to embark on this album. "The first song I wrote on Mercy was 'Home At Last,'" she says. "It is the best song I have ever written. I sing a lot about home on this record. Believing in that place has been my greatest consolation. I had an urgency and desperation to know that my father was there. His sudden death was a whirling chaos that assaulted my mind. This album provided me with my only hope for coming back to life myself. Gospel music brings hope. It is the good news; it’s exemplary. It can bring you truth. It can keep you alive. These songs have kind of written themselves, and they rely on me to sing them.” Natalie Bergman made one of the first great albums of 2021.

High Focus Records are proud to present the latest collaboration from Verb T & Illinformed. ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ both continues and completes the trilogy that began back in 2015, with ‘The Man with the Foggy Eyes’, before broadening the horizons with last year’s release ‘The Land of the Foggy Skies’. This final chapter returns to the same conceptual landscape as its predecessors, but also sees Verb T & Illinformed returning to a more classic approach to album making. In spite of its concept, the Foggy Trilogy is something of a personal outpouring for Verb T, with the original aim being to vicariously discuss the trials and tribulations that play a part in his life, including his struggles with chronic illness and the feeling of alienation from leaving his hometown, while also reflecting on the state of the world as a whole. Their approach to making the album meant taking it back to the most natural form, where the idea for the track would be outlined, Illinformed would make the beat, Verb T would write to it and then they would tweak and adjust accordingly. The result is 19 of the most finely crafted tracks to emerge from the UK shores this year. As with the previous albums, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ finds Illinformed moving away from the more rugged sound that has shrouded the British scene over the last few months, thanks to his collaborations with the likes of Datkid and Wish Master, instead providing Verb T with an arguably more mellow backdrop. From the string and piano driven introduction on ‘Legacy’, to the blissful head-nod vibes of the closing track, ‘Blind Faith’, the union between beats and rhymes sits at the perfect level. The album also boasts one of the most impressive guestlists of the year, one that is very much a product of both players’ worlds. Thanks to Illinformed’s Bristol connection, there are features from the likes of Res One, Datkid, Leaf Dog, Smellington Piff and Chillman, as well as some locally sourced cuts from DJ Rogue. While on Verb T’s side of the fence, we have features from Rye Shabby and Moreone, along with a collaboration that reignites the same creative spark he found in his early days, as King Kashmere steps into the booth on Feeling Strange. All in all, ‘Stranded in Foggy Times’ does exactly what it sets out to do, by drawing the trilogy to a close while also providing insights into Verb T’s personal world and the world at large. The fact that it also happens to be one of the strongest rap albums of the year is the icing on the cake

Packed with live classics and brimming with his frenetic brand of mutated, electronic, anti-pop, this album marks the next step in Anklepants' march to world domination.

Anklepants' act gets a reaction from everyone that witness it. The hysteria surrounding him has gained momentum since the release of his 12' vinyl 'SPEEK You Little Re-facéé' on Love Love in 2013, propelled by a European tour last year with Otto Von Schirach and his sensational Boiler Room set. The 'SPEEK You Little Re-facéé' vinyl single served as a taster of what was to come with its 2 bombastic extended cuts (both also featuring here). Now, having sown the seeds of his message around the world, his debut album has arrived on Vinyl and CD.

The CD version of this album comes with a second disc containing reworkings of Anklepants' original tracks by other artists similarly carving their own paths through the modern übergründé, including Eomac, Valance Drakes, Kraig Grady, Lenkemz, Monster X, Bintus, FUKNO + more.

The Mamas & The Papas were formed by husband and wife John and Michelle Phillips, formerly of The New Journeymen, and Denny Doherty, formerly of The Mugwumps. The last member to join was Cass Elliot, Doherty's bandmate in The Mugwumps. The group considered calling itself The Magic Cyrcle before switching to The Mamas and the Papas as apparently inspired by the Hells Angels, whose female associates were called "mamas".

They released a total of five studio albums and seventeen singles over a four-year period, six of which made the Billboard top ten, and sold close to 40 million records worldwide. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for their contributions to the music industry.

The band’s first single, “Go Where You Wanna Go”, was released in 1965. The second single, “California Dreamin’”, was released later in 1965 and quickly peaked in the charts. The band’s album, If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears, was released in March 1966 and became the band’s only number 1 album on the Billboard 200. The third and final single from their debut was “Monday, Monday”, which became the band’s only US number 1 hit. The song brought the band international success.

Collected is a perfect overview of the multiple classic hits and tracks throughout the career of The Mamas & The Papas and complimented with several popular tracks by Mama Cass Elliot.

Music On Vinyl proudly presents a special edition of The Mamas & The Papas Collected compilation, which is available as a limited edition of 5.000 individually numbered copies on blue vinyl, and includes a booklet with liner notes.

The open skies of Ochre's new album, Oversail, replace the dense canopies of his last, Understory back in 2020. This time, UK-born, Netherlands-based talent Christopher Leary trades rhythmic intricacy for something more exposed and reflective on a record that unfolds in measured steps, with each passage revealing fragile melodies set against sparse, shifting frameworks. There's a tactile quality to the sound design, hardware elements clicking and sighing like ageing machinery still in motion. Tracks feel suspended and the focus is on slow revelation across the quietly affecting 'Casadastra', airy beauty of 'Meristem' and hopeful synth sequencing of 'Canthropa.'

Mana is the International Anthem debut by trombonist and composer Kalia Vandever. The collection carries the spirit of their first solo album, We Fell In Turn, while entering a new landscape of spacious songwriting. Mana, which in Hawaiian means "foundational, supernatural, or divine power and strength", reveals more of their voice and words, drawing from yearning, loss, and bewilderment. Vandever"s music has quickly and widely gained traction in the last few years despite the fact that their style has been consistently difficult to pin down, boasting a compositional scope ranging from the palatial modern jazz of their quartet work to the synthetic, gauze-like droning ambience of their solo material. Mana leans into the expansion of the latter: solo trombone filtered through a well-dialed pedalboard, manipulated live; spare piano à la the late-career work of Ryuichi Sakamoto; electroacoustic interplay simultaneously echoing and transforming the long-note melodicism of Vandever"s melancholic brass work; head-on, unambiguous, and deeply personal lyricism - a particularly fresh move for the composer... Appropriate for the early riser"s first step into the day or the night owl"s weary and quiet walk home.

Making his first appearance on Flat White Records, NYC’s Malik Hendricks arrives with Stretching, a four-track EP that leans comfortably into the grey space between Deep House and Techno. Across three original cuts, Hendricks delivers warm, hypnotic, and quietly confident sounds that are unmistakably his own.

Rounding out the release is a remix from London-based, Spain-born producer Beringei. Known for his broken-beat excursions, Beringei with a 4x4 workout that still carries his unmistakable percussive touch, proving that even when stepping outside his usual lane, his identity remains firmly intact.

With previous releases on respected imprints like Eglo, Darker Than Wax, and Phuture Shock Muzik, Hendricks arrives in trusted company, thus making it an easy call to hand him the reins for our 15th release.

Born in the ’80s and raised in the ’90s, Malik Hendricks is a product of transatlantic club culture, drawing inspiration from Detroit’s futurism, New York’s grit, and the UK’s rhythmic experimentation. A DJ for over a decade, he approaches music with an almost academic curiosity, seeing the dancefloor as a shared space for cultural exchange.

Recently, his work has caught the attention of heavyweights like Eli Escobar, Byron the Aquarius, James Bangura, and Roy Vision, all stepping in to remix his material. With Stretching, Hendricks continues to prove that subtlety, craft, and groove still go a very long way.

Early DJ Support from: Shy One, LDLDN, Louise Chen, Dam Swindle, LTJ Bukem, Christophe Salin, Franck Roger, Jazzanova, Mr Redley, Last Nubian, Glenn Davis, Seven Davis Jr, Stonie Blue, Stu Clark (WOLF), Adriatique, Marco Weibel, Mr Ties, Tereza, Cottam, Joyce Muniz + MORE

Jhobei has been on a constant ascent in the last couple of years, and he's worked with some of the most credible labels in the game in that time, from Fuse to Picnic to Semi Delicious. Now he steps up to Burnski's Pilot with four absolute nuggets. 'Pulse Reflex' is amped right up and ready to go - tightly circling synths, buoyant beats, garage shuffle and slick fills that all demand you bust out some moves. 'Believe' dials things back into a more heady, deeper dub tech vibe and 'Cannei Getcha (To Feel)' brings crispy electronic synths and pensive pads to a future groove before 'Synthetic Symphony' closes with buffed neon pads and smooth progressive chords that ride clean, meticulous drums.

"Life & Death has been a bucketlist label for me since day one. I've always been inspired by the way DJ Tennis approaches music and the whole philosophy around the label. What always stood out to me is the variety in the releases. One record can be deep and emotional, the next one raw and club-focused, but it still feels like it belongs to the same world. That balance is something I am always chasing in my music. Next to this: in a world that is focussed more and more on short term wins and commercial performance, i really can tell that Tennis still values the art and process of making music the most, which is something i really appreciate"

I remember hearing him play at Circoloco in Ibiza and later in the Loft in Amsterdam and thinking: 'fuck, I should've send him the tune I made last week.' When I came back home, I immediately put together a pack of tracks to send to him. Two were released as part of the Fabric release, and 4 of them are on this EP.
For me, this release is a next step in my career, and I'm happy and proud to be part of a label that is both legendary and super relevant in 2026."

Phara returns with a second project under his In Glass alias. In 'Scratching the Surface', we're light years away from the heavier, more instructive dance records that have become synonymous with Phara's style. In this EP, the Belgian artist reaffirms his celestial, delicate sound in four tracks that delve further deeper into the emotional soundscape proposed in the first EP.

'Sally' begins the project with the most dance floor oriented of the four tracks, proposing an intoxicating blend of styles that bloom throughout its six minutes. Soft pads and bright keys twinkle along a cradling rhythm as In Glass delivers a truly musical piece that sifts through memories. Percussion is then taken out of the equation as 'All Things (424 Version)' comes and lands softly on the center stage. Lush, ambient waves come lapping at the shore of 'Scratching the Surface', describing nothing but space and serenity - a breath from everything. The dreamy tone of 'All Things' oscillates along reassuringly into the B side, keeping the tempo low and the sound design organic. Here, we step into In Glass's world of dub techno and adjacent sounds that defined his first record last year. 'Plateau' rises slowly from the wax with a round low end and suspended chords that hover high above. Opening stabs over a harmonic bassline make a head massage of a track that sways along. The raw emotion behind In Glass's music is inviting, flashing by as ethereal synths open and close to install a personal, meditative experience of electronic music. The percussion remains discrete, allowing the harmonic information to wash over the listener into the last track of the EP. He concludes with 'My Idle Hands', pressing further into the dub techno sound that echoes through a cathedral of memories. Blurry shapes pass by over a more determined rhythm section, confirming the intimate nature of In Glass's music. The music wanders along, its head in the clouds but with a full heart, telling stories of being lost and finding home.

Evolution can be ugly and beautiful, painful and euphoric. An Undying Love For A Burning World is the first new release from Neurosis in a decade, and a potent statement of intent and rebirth - one that marks the first new steps of resolve and resilience.

An Undying Love For A Burning World is an epic album of colossal hypnotism - beautiful, fearsome and utterly compelling in a way that only Neurosis can be. Aaron Turner (Sumac, Isis) joins the band on vocals and guitar, a name whose legacy is intertwined with the band’s own and a true kindred spirit.

“From the moment I first heard Neurosis over 30 years ago, I felt this was the music my heart and mind had been seeking but not yet heard. Now after many years travelling along various musical paths of my own, the singular sound and spirit embodied by Neurosis continues to speak to the depths of my being. It is an honor and a true pleasure to have been welcomed so warmly into a band that not only shaped my perspective on the limitless possibilities of music - but has lived and exemplified the necessity of upholding creative integrity and camaraderie above all else.” - AARON TURNER

Neurosis have never been afraid of change, and here they embrace endless regeneration, surrendering to the emotional exorcism through heaviness and distortion that their music incites. Just as the universe tends towards balance, Neurosis’cacophony of noise, rhythm and dissonance always resolves towards moments of beauty. The addition of Turner's powerful vocals and wildly creative and unhinged approach to guitar proves to be a vital force as Neurosis find themselves again at the mercy of evolution and expression.

On every song in the band’s history, Neurosis shifts restlessly between tension and relief, invoking a feeling both feral and transcendent in listeners. The band describe their songwriting process as an inescapable impulse to create with each other - a need rather than a choice. Indeed, the band insist that their return is “not a reunion - we never broke up.”

The album was recorded by Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City, Sumac, and Great Falls) at Studio Litho in Seattle during three weekends this winter, and mixed in three days just six weeks before release at Evan's Antisleep Audio in Oakland.

Neurosis will play their first show in seven years on the traditional lands of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana as part of Fire in the Mountains festival by special invitation of Firekeeper Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to reducing youth suicide in Indian Country.

FITM, is a unique festival known for bringing epic music to epic landscapes with the intent of reconnecting and immersing oneself with the natural world, and strengthening our ancestral roots as human beings - an aim which aligns directly with Neurosis’ deep-rooted power.

(*Previously unreleased)

Two lost cuts from the orbit of Tony Humphries surface at last, pulled straight from acetates in his private archive and pressed here for the first time. Unearthed like messages from the booth itself, they capture that raw, transitional moment when club music was still inventing its own language night after night.
On the A-side, Kerri Chandler with “Kerri Kaoz Beats”, a stripped, swinging tool full of basement pressure and early-morning intent. No excess, no compromise, just Kerri doing what Kerri does best. Flip it over for Dee Dee Brave – “My My Lover (Tony Humphries Dub)”, a previously unheard Humphries reconstruction that stretches the vocal into something deeper, moodier and unmistakably floor-ready. Spacious, patient, and quietly euphoric.
Two pieces of house history that never made it past the acetate stage until now. Not revisions, not edits, but originals finally stepping into the light. Essential documents from the roots that still point forward.

We welcome Blade back to Metalheadz for his second release, the 4 track 'Times Gone Bye EP' arriving on Metalheadz Platinum vinyl.

Drawing influence from across the spectrum, from foundational artists to contemporary producers, Blade channels those reference points into a sound that feels rooted in the past but firmly present. There's a looseness to his process that gives the music its character, something that has remained consistent throughout his discography over the last 15 years.

‘Cécile McLorin Salvant ... sings standards, show tunes and old novelties in a taut, flinty, elusively beautiful voice, erring toward material with difficult lyrics and tough places in history. Salvant wins over her audiences by tweaking them slightly: daring them to go there with her—not just into the archive, but toward the darkness of the past.’ – New York Times

‘Although Salvant is known as a jazz musician, her approach to music is defined by her instinct for experimentation ... Her music is beloved for ... embracing theatre and subverting classics with playful renditions.’ – Guardian

Salvant, who has performed with orchestras regularly over the last decade-and-a-half and intended to make an album with one sooner in her career, but logistics and her abundant creative ideas led to other new projects intervening. Having finally found time to make this album, With Every Breath I Take is a different sort of record than it might have been even ten years ago.

“It is a rare opportunity to be able to make an album at this scale, which has been a dream of mine for many years,” Salvant says. “Darcy James Argue wrote stunning arrangements and the Metropole Orkest, conducted by the extraordinary Jules Buckley, gave these stories a cinematic dimension. We overcame quite a few obstacles to even get into the recording studio for this project; it took almost four years for us to do so, and I am so incredibly proud to share it.

“I did not choose these songs because they are beautiful, but because they are crucial to me,” she adds.

Cécile McLorin Salvant, a 2020 MacArthur Fellow and three-time Grammy Award winner, is a singer and composer bringing historical perspective, a renewed sense of drama, and an enlightened musical understanding to both jazz standards and her own original compositions. Classically trained, steeped in jazz, blues, and folk, and drawing from musical theater and vaudeville, Salvant embraces a wide-ranging repertoire that broadens the possibilities for live performance.

Salvant’s performances range from spare duets for voice and piano to instrumental trios to orchestral ensembles. Her unreleased work Ogresse is an ambitious long-form musical fairy tale that is being made into a feature length animated film. She has performed at national and international venues and festivals such as the Newport Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Village Vanguard, and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Her previous Nonesuch albums, Ghost Song (2022) Mélusine (2023), and Oh Snap (2025) received critical accolades; the former two were both nominated for Grammy Awards. Salvant is also a visual artist, and Oh Snap was named a best album of 2025 by the Guardian, Jazzwise, JazzTimes, and the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll.

Bella Boo lands on Aus Music with a mix of party-starting and heart-racing house jams

Swedish artist KURT. brings her characterful style to the title cut

Bella Boo has lit up the house world since breaking through in 2018. She has become a Studio Barnhus mainstay with a sound that is both emotional and energetic in the way it contrasts light and dark. It's built on solid grooves with fresh sound designs and has taken her to dj everywhere from Panorama Bar to Printworks. Her debut LP, as well as follow-up EPs, have seen her nominated for several Swedish Grammys and seen her profile grow around the world. KURT. is a rising star from Stockholm with an electric sound that blends club, r&b, pop and soul. It's high on attitude and laced with her own provocative vocals. She guests on opener 'Shake Down', which is a chunky, bass-first rhythm packed with character: hints of jungle breaks, heat-damaged synths and blasts of gloopy bass all bring the fun before KURT.'s vocal motifs - which are variously sultry, whispered and visceral - inject even more heat. The Regrette Rien Mix takes on a late-night feel with sustained chords and a silky smooth vocal from KURT. that turns you inwards. Bella Boo then goes solo for the super vibey 'Atlas', a deep, cruising house cut with catchy percussion and lush, layered bells. The golden chords and shimmering pads are immersive and expansive as the bass powered on. Lastly, '8Ball' quickens your step with bumpy kicks and increasingly detuned, wonky synths that bring a future feel to a punchy yet cuddly and feel-good groove.

After a brief hiatus, Cosmocities returns in 2026 with Tech Rico EP, the final release from longtime collaborator, visionary artist, and producer Erik Rico. Completed shortly before his passing last year, the EP stands as both a creative evolution and a tribute to an artist whose influence crossed genres and generations.

Erik Rico first connected with Cosmocities founder Matt Soulie through Inkswel during the release of Cosmic Love Affair EP in 2022, leading to further collaborations including The Rare Groove Project. Following that release, Soulie encouraged Rico to explore a more techno driven sound, which became the foundation for Tech Rico EP.

The EP sees Rico stepping into new sonic territory while maintaining the rich musicality that defined his career. “Tokyo By Train” marks his first full dive into techno with driving rhythms and atmospheric textures, while “Afro Beatdown (Let’s Go)” blends Afro rhythms and broken beats inspired by the spirit of Fela Kuti. “Summer In Chi Town” pays tribute to Chicago house with warm synths and skippy drums, later reworked by Inkswel with additional vocals from Erin Buku and Marley Love into a soulful bruk infused remix. Closing track “Madrid or Manhattan” delivers a hypnotic house groove layered with trippy vocoder vocals.

A singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist, producer, and DJ, Erik Rico spent more than two decades shaping a sound that bridged soul, house, hip hop, and Afrobeats. His career included collaborations with Tupac Shakur, Q Tip, Ladybug Mecca, and Jurassic 5, as well as scoring work for HBO, MTV, and PBS.

More than just a release, Tech Rico EP celebrates Erik Rico’s artistic spirit, fearless evolution, and the deep musical connections he built throughout his life. Cosmocities is honoured to share this final chapter with the world.

For their first release, it was pretty obvious for Hypnophone to give a new life to an all-time favorite but forgotten project : GLO. Released in 1995 on CD’s only, « Even As We » is the first and last album of the duo, composed of Stephan Lewry and Gilli Smyth, both ex-members of the legendary rock band GONG and pioneers of psychedelic music.

This double LP, carefully handcrafted and redesigned, is the result of a lovely 2 years collaboration between Hypnophone and Stephan. A cosmic, unique masterpiece, who also features a new thirteen minutes track, specially produced by Stephan while remastering the album in 2025. In the dear memory of Gilli ♡

Note: Includes two printed inner sleeves, transparent red vinyl and an A5 insert.

Andreas Tilliander returns to Kontra-Musik in a grand style with his second TM404 album. Titled 'Acidub', this highly anticipated release is much more of an evolution than a repetition of the first superbly self-restricted album, where Tilliander even decided to use only one of the two Roland TB-303 waveforms. Acidub is a more playful and open listening experience, no doubt inspired by his extensive live touring with the TM404 concept. In fact, you can almost hear Tilliander's flock of acid machines breaking free from the restrained modus operandi. Every sound is like a migratory bird with a heart yearning for high altitude and favourable winds. The opening track Alinge paints a lucid picture of these acid birds leaving a cold industrial landscape behind, the flickering black shadows from their wings against the white smoke rising from a forest of chimneys below. The very last seconds of Alinge even echo of the place the silver birds are longing for, but that will remain a secret between Kontra-Musik and the avid listener. Sufficient to say, we can follow these birds of passage as they're heading south towards a warmer climate, fleeing the cold discipline of the North. Mutron Mantra, for instance, brings us to a rainforest full of serpentine lianas, giant leaves dripping with moist and green pools of water bubbling with organic life. Don't Defend Mascot guides us through a steaming savannah at dusk with hundreds of yellow eyes following our every step while Pade vividly describes the perils of the flight and the pace and courage needed to press on. In all, Acidub is a surprisingly exuberant follow-up to the more introspective TM404 album. But while the musical journey of this second album is quite different, the experience of sheer aural eminence remains the same. Andreas Tilliander has done it again, and Kontra-Musik couldn't be prouder.

In this, the return of the one and only XI to the last standing first wave US Dubstep label LoDubs, which brought him out onto the scene over a decade and a half ago with the Jazz-step a’la Silkie preceding anthem “G-Funk 3000”, XI once again shows he has an indelible gift for making choons that are system rocking and cerebral all at once.

Heavy support from a slew of sound system stretchers. Currently being heavily featured by Distinct Motive on his tour spots, of which XI is joining the DM on selected dates.

Melody As Truth and Future Days Radio present ‘At the Emerald Pool’, an album by Tomo Katsurada and Jonny Nash.

Netherlands-based artists Tomo Katsurada (Ex-Kikagaku Moyo / Future Days Radio) and Jonny Nash (Melody As Truth) combine forces for an exploration into the sonic potential of the guitar duo, rooted in their experiences performing together over the last 12 months.

Friends and admirers of each other’s work for a decade, their musical collaboration began in 2024 with Katsurada asking Nash to contribute guitar to his debut EP ‘Dream Of The Egg’. Sensing the need to explore this further, they spent the following year performing together in different configurations, with Nash joining Katsurada’s trio and Katsurada in turn playing with Nash as a duo, across a wide spectrum of spaces, from churches and temples to concert halls, theatres and outdoor festivals. With new ideas developing organically out of these performances, recording new material became the next logical step. A short period of three days was set aside with a clear goal: to capture the essence of their fluid, intertwining melodies and guitar playing in a way that felt as direct and unfiltered as possible. Working from a handful of pre-existing sketches, they left ample room for experimentation to unfold within the process.


The results are presented on ‘At The Emerald Pool’, a collection of ten pieces that offer the listener a full immersion into the pair’s sound. With guitar as the primary instrument for both artists, it is no surprise that the core of the album lies here, specifically in the fluid interplay between the two players. Layers of gentle, delay-soaked fingerpicking often make it almost impossible to distinguish where one player ends and the other begins. As soloists, both Katsurada and Nash have a gift for crafting melodic lines that feel open and ascending, expressive and hopeful without becoming saccharine. Longer, more abstract pieces are counterbalanced by a series of shorter songs, with five vocal tracks appearing across the album. The decision to share vocal duties lends the record a unique quality and a strong sense of variation, bringing a wide expressive range out of a deliberately focused musical framework.


‘At The Emerald Pool’ represents the first chapter in an ongoing musical dialogue, an attempt to capture a moment of connection, openness and discovery, laying the foundation for what continues to unfold.

2026 Repress / Blue Vinyl

After releasing five sell out various artists EP’s featuring 25 artists, positivesource is excited to present a new chapter for the label with a diverse and anthemic EP from Berlin based producer Regent.
No stranger to the label, Regent contributed to src005 last year with his smooth techno roller ‘Off Agenda’ alongside music from Neri J, Alpha Tracks, Vil & Cravo. His tracks have featured heavily in DJ sets by label founders Blue Hour and Philippa Pacho over the years, naturally the idea to present the first artist EP on positivesource with Regent comes as no surprise. The record starts on a hypnotic tip with ‘Occult’, grooving along with an infectious bass-line swung beats and blissed out atmospherics before stepping up the energy levels on ‘Khmera’, a relentless chord driven percussive anthem with nostalgic vocals rising to new heights. On the flip the title track ‘Aphid Riot’ is bold and vibrant leaning heavily into UK flavours using sliced up vocals, breakbeats and a classic ‘Reece’ bass-line. Completing the record is a ‘broken’ version of ‘Aphid Riot’ highlighting an ethereal tonal melody with a deeper and more introspective take on the original. It’s a new sound exploration from the producer, emonstrating his versatility and perhaps a rare moment in his discography

2026 Repress

Weiss has made a bit of a welcomed habit in recent years of dropping a Sun-drenched bomb on Toolroom around this time of year and following on from 'You're Sunshine' last year, 'Feel My Needs' is his submission for 2018!

Recent Weiss highlights have included him playing the main stage at Dirtybird's own Campout festival, regular dates at the world-renowned Fabric as well as a US tour and an album in the making.

In true Weiss style, this record will have the hairs on the back of your neck standing to attention in a matter of seconds. Lush, old skool piano riffs and sublime vocal licks, all laid over the top of a crisp and infectious house backing.

This is a sure-fire future anthem with two killer remixes to add to the vinyl from Purple Disco Machine and Gorgon City, both of which have been premiered on the mighty Radio 1 Dance shows.

DJ Support:

Pete Tong, Annie Mac, Danny Howard, MistaJam, Huxley, Gorgon City, Claptone, S-Man, Dario D'Attis, Robosonic, Dosem, Tube & Berger, Steve Lawler, Groove Armada, Sonny Fodera, Man Without A Clue, The Magician, Eli Brown, TCTS, Martin Ikin, Mat.Joe, Richy Ahmed, Low Steppa, Kry Wolf, Kraak & Smaak, The Golden Boy

Aftersome refers to that suspended moment of wonder, when you realize you’ve been led here by a chain of unexpected events and small decisions — so improbable they almost feel preordained. Between chance and destiny, it is a fragile state where emotion and reflection intertwine.
This album by You Man embodies precisely that idea: each track is a step along this path, a resonance born of accidents and coincidences, ultimately shaping a coherent trajectory despite its improbability.
The work moves between techno, house and post-wave, infused with science-fiction and fantastical influences, constantly blurring the line between reality and imagination.
The experience is enriched by remarkable collaborations: Marc Almond (Soft Cell), Local Suicide, Jérôme Voisin, each bringing their own brilliance to this odyssey.

So… what are we actually supposed to tell you about HCL? Honestly, it’s a pretty nice story. A collaboration the way it’s meant to be.

HCL stands for Horkheimer, Consti aka Zeitstill, and Delenz — not hydrochloric acid, but liquid music. One shared idea of sound, without a fully mastered plan. Most of the tracks were born during long studio sessions — long nights, extended jams, ideas taking shape naturally. No big concept, just working it out together and seeing where things go (or not).

After the first two HCL tracks found their way onto various samplers — including the 25 Years of Live at Robert Johnson compilation and Freeride Millennium’s own Queer Base Vol. 2 — it felt like the right moment to take the next step and release the first pattern. Not as a conclusion, but more as a checkpoint. This is far from the end. There are more patterns, more sessions, more ideas already waiting to be published.

Describing the genre is, as always, not that easy. It drifts somewhere between techno and all the other things orbiting around it. Purely electronic music, rooted in the club, but not obsessed with functionality. In a way, it reminds us of the early 2000s — deep, slightly twisted, hypnotic, driving but never aggressive. Music that takes its time, creates space, and pulls you in rather than pushing you forward.

For moments that are meant to last — tracks you don’t want to hear mixed out. For getting lost on the dancefloor, for forgetting the noise and madness outside for a while, for drifting into yourself and letting time fly. Honest club music, built for immersion.

Enjoy the music. Enjoy yourself. Love.

Yours, HCL

Since last year's EP “rhyme09,” a quiet storm has been brewing around the label. This release is not only long overdue, but Vienna is also home to numerous new talents as DJs and producers. The label boss makes the selection here and kicks off this release with a completely crazy track that is unlike anything else out there. There is virtually nothing else like it, making this track unique with its bassline, offset kick drum, and acid grooves. The second tune on the A Side comes from Fabiano Jose’, a well-known DJ in Vienna who, with his brand “Merkwürdig” has been an important player in the local party scene for several years. A catchy tech house tune, “step in” if you can!

The first tune on the B Side is a collaboration between ZentaSkai, well known for his label MASK Berlin, and Thomas Grün, also a long-time DJ and producer in Vienna who releases house and tech house tunes also on his own label “Untitled100 records”.

With Manu Script on B2, we have a debut here. With his great taste as a DJ and producer, he delivers a powerful groove. Another true Party stepper! Be ready...

Fresh off their recent collaboration with Stephanie Cooke on “Love All Round”, Steal Vybe returns alongside Terrance Downs with a timeless, soul-driven composition built to last. When You Feel is a record about freedom the freedom of music, of choice, of doing exactly what you feel in the moment.

The track delivers a soulful, funky groove with an uplifting four-to-the-floor pulse, wrapped in warm, organic pads and Rhodes that instantly make you feel good. A driving bassline pulls you deeper, keeping the energy flowing and the desire for more alive. Terrance Downs’ vocal performance seals the deal warm, atmospheric and deeply emotional, sending chills straight down your spine and touching the soul.

NOCTURNIA

An Enigmatic Collective of Sound

Step into the depths of sound with NOCTURNIA, a captivating deep techno project that brings together the unique talents of Kenny Dahl, Lakey, Salvatore Foglia, and PWCCA. This diverse collective combines distinct influences and styles to create an unforgettable auditory journey.

Kenny Dahl is recognized for his intricate soundscapes that blend organic textures with hypnotic beats, crafting immersive experiences on the dancefloor. Lakey delivers dark and deep tracks that resonate with haunting atmospheres, drawing listeners into an emotional abyss with every pulse and rhythm.

Salvatore Foglia infuses a raw, underground edge into the mix, pushing the boundaries of sound with innovative production techniques that capture the essence of techno culture.

Lastly, PWCCA contributes an experimental touch, creating avant-garde sounds that challenge perceptions and invite exploration
of the unknown.

Together, these artists form NOCTURNIA, a space where night
meets sound, and every track unfolds a story. Whether through driving rhythms or atmospheric builds, their music invites you to lose yourself in the night, exploring the depths of your mind and the thrill of the dancefloor.

After the last release ‘Innocence’ with Nathan Cable gaining support from John Digweed on his renowned Apple Music Compiled & Mix Series, we bring forth one of the remixers for his own single release ‘Snake Altar’.

Richie Blacker Northern Ireland’s progressive house & breaks prodigy who’s seen releases on Sasha’s Last Night On Earth, Scream’s Of Unsound Mind, Franky Wah’s Shen, Armada, Anjuna Deep and so many more including his own imprint Mess Express. We were super excited to sign the original breaks mix of ‘Snake Altar’, an amazing ethereal & euphoric progressive breaks track with its haunting ethnic vocals we just knew who could step up as the originator (this time) to remix the third Break-The-Future project.

Ray Keith delivered his signature sound system Jungle / Drum & Bass sound to which we think you’ll absolutely love, just oozing in class. The way it flows from euphoric to his heavy hitting signature darkness to deep jungle roots and back is exactly what we wanted from the big man himself and absolutely buzzing to have Ray on the label for our third release.

To finalise the package Richie Blacker delivered a 4x4 mix, now the lead track and to close off the release a beatless mix & acapella giving you some serious tools to work with… THIS IS ESSENTIAL!

Melbourne / Naarm strongholdButter Sessionsclock 15 years in the game with a trilogy of 12"s, sustaining their uncompromising streak of peak-form electronics. The family-style V/A binds friends, collaborators, former studio neighbours and DJ booth allies, capturing a label that exists as community as much as catalogue.

Disc Three entrantRBIserves up a tweaked-out psy-not-psy cut with a built-in spin-back upending the room, beforeUnsolicited Joints- siblingsCousinandBen Fester- slide in with a deep dub techno shuffler. Tokyo mainstayHarukaseals the side withEventide, a serotonin-tipped house curveball made in collaboration with Rotterdam'sCharlton Bakeliet, one of the last internationals to grace the Mercat X booth.

The B-side blooms withOK EG's zoned, psychoactive techno, handing over toHybrid Manto diffuse the tension with their morphing dubwise excursion.Yuzo Iwatacontinues his uncategorisable strain, self-described as EPM (Electronic Psychedelic Music), marked by Japanese ingenuity and free of genre boundaries. Finally,Sleep Dround out the set with a rogue link-up withPosseshot, a raw and adrenalised raver laced with a vocal that snarls closer to The Prodigy than hip-hop.

Whether taken alone or folded into the three-disc triptych, each instalment stands as a bag-ready constant, charged with Butter Sessions' curatorial finesse.

Indiana Jones never dug this deep.
Church – the brainchild of Joe Washington – were a band both lucky and cursed to come up in the seventies. Lucky, because they rode a wave of community activism, uplifting messages and a moment when music truly mattered. Cursed, because those same times meant their tight, heartfelt output went overlooked.
Mid-sixties to circa 1980 soul and funk were extraordinarily rich. The era’s big releases have aged like fine wine, yet countless hidden gems remain buried. Church’s only single was one of them. Their hypnotic 1976 release “How Long” b/w “Da Da Song” arrived the same year as Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, Marvin Gaye’s I Want You, Diana Ross’s Diana, and at a time when Black mainstream music was shifting toward disco. Church, however, sounded like Sly & The Family Stone in an alternate timeline — gritty, focused, stripped of additives.
“Da Da Song” is pure grits and gravy: furious, tight drums and lyrics that sound like both a plea to DJs to play their record and an insistence to keep the party alive, noticed or not. It cooks from start to finish in just two and a half minutes.
“How Long” is its own universe. Where “Da Da Song” is skeletal, “How Long” blends key strands of Black music in under three minutes: touches of spiritual jazz with a Gary Bartz-like sax, gospel-blues undertones, and echoes of the era’s flower-power-tinged Black creativity — The Undisputed Truth, The Family Stone, even the poetic freedom of Nikki Giovanni. The lyrics are a timeless plea for love.
Church formed in the Bay Area in the early seventies, shaped by the movement, culture and activism of the time. Joseph Washington, based in San Jose, never chased a music career — for him, music was a way to bring people together. Before Church, he led a backing band called Wash, then added gospel singer Linda Williams (née Stephens) and New York–born Joel Como on xylophone to complete the group.
They rehearsed in Joe’s garage, spread through word of mouth and played every gig they could: Black colleges, opening slots for The Whispers, neighbourhood house parties. Some members studied at Nairobi Junior College in East Palo Alto, then a hotbed of Black community activism, with revolution in the air and messages woven naturally into the music.
This single is a message from that era, resurfacing at last — ready to be sampled just as another Joe Washington track, “Look Me in the Eyes”, was on Drake and J. Cole’s “First Person Shooter”. These rare, spirited tunes are begging for new life through samplers, again and again.

Michael Mayer returns to the Speicher series for his first release since last year’s brain-bursting The Floor Is Lava album. And yes, the floor is indeed lava when Mayer is on peak form, as he is here, with three tracks that oscillate, effortlessly, between the twin poles of Mayer’s music: dancefloor detonation and heart-wrenching beauty. To be fair, there’s more of the former here, but there’s beauty in generous discipline, too, and the unrelenting “Cry Me A Raver” feels, somehow, like it brings together decades of Kompakt pleasure in six giddy minutes – disco-fied arpeggios, glistening and hand-burnished textures, abstruse patterns that fall in and out of step. “Don’t Sync With My Tag” stomps with destructive glee, a beat as undeniable as the shaker cross-rhythms are silkily sexy. There’s always been something practical, functional, and utilitarian about Speicher, but it doesn’t get more everyday DJ-life than this: Mayer tells us the title is “a super-annoying message that pops up every time you open Rekordbox. Nobody knows what it means. It’s a DJ mystery.” But who needs answers, anyway? By the time you’ve started to get close to solving the riddle, Mayer’s taken you to Detroit via Cologne with “It Isn’t What It Isn’t”, a little doffing of the cap to Rhythim Is Rhythim. “You’re May, I’m Mayer, I used to tell him,” Michael chuckles. This made one of our cats almost jump out of its skin, with its stealthy slyness – creeping, amorphous electro noise; percussives that just won’t quit; the whole thing flooded with twitchy strip-light energy and silver-machine flare- outs.

Speicher is as Speicher does, and this is a damn good one. Make Mine Mayer!

Michael Mayer returns to the Speicher series for his first release since last year’s brain-bursting The Floor Is Lava album. And yes, the floor is indeed lava when Mayer is on peak form, as he is here, with three tracks that oscillate, effortlessly, between the twin poles of Mayer’s music: dancefloor detonation and heart-wrenching beauty. To be fair, there’s more of the former here, but there’s beauty in generous discipline, too, and the unrelenting “Cry Me A Raver” feels, somehow, like it brings together decades of Kompakt pleasure in six giddy minutes – disco-fied arpeggios, glistening and hand-burnished textures, abstruse patterns that fall in and out of step. “Don’t Sync With My Tag” stomps with destructive glee, a beat as undeniable as the shaker cross-rhythms are silkily sexy. There’s always been something practical, functional, and utilitarian about Speicher, but it doesn’t get more everyday DJ-life than this: Mayer tells us the title is “a super-annoying message that pops up every time you open Rekordbox. Nobody knows what it means. It’s a DJ mystery.” But who needs answers, anyway? By the time you’ve started to get close to solving the riddle, Mayer’s taken you to Detroit via Cologne with “It Isn’t What It Isn’t”, a little doffing of the cap to Rhythim Is Rhythim. “You’re May, I’m Mayer, I used to tell him,” Michael chuckles. This made one of our cats almost jump out of its skin, with its stealthy slyness – creeping, amorphous electro noise; percussives that just won’t quit; the whole thing flooded with twitchy strip-light energy and silver-machine flare- outs.

Speicher is as Speicher does, and this is a damn good one. Make Mine Mayer!

2026 Repress

***
Distort with scornful strident cries
The tragic masks of tortured stones
Plunging form the scouring seas
To the magnetic turning sun
***

Mr Thing returns with his 2nd release on Friday's Funky 45 after the 1st one Cool V sold out almost immediately! (repress coming soon) This time out Marc crafts a couple of 2 steppers to warm up your winter dancefloors. Side A is a nice flip of Cherelle & Luther's Saturday Love and side B a lovely version of Michael Wycoff's Looking Up To You - you know how the last one went - don't sleep!

Azu Tiwaline & Cinna Peyghamy, Amotik, Quelza, and Alarico remix four tracks from Ben Klock and Fadi Mohem’s collaborative album ‘Layer One’. Released last year on the pair’s label LAYER, each artist on the ‘Layer One Remixes’ EP retains the weighty, low-end edge that shaped the album, while reinterpreting four tracks through a myriad of techno, IDM, bass, and experimental shades.

Honouring the conceptual direction of ‘Layer One’, which delved into a post-human world and offered a serene reflection on a realm that continued to flourish in the absence of humanity, the ‘Layer One Remixes’ EP echoes the same theme. The remaining human survivors on Earth signal a remembrance of their sensibilities, told through the powerful lyrics and vocals of grime MC Flowdan and interdisciplinary artist Coby Sey.

Azu Tiwaline & Cinna Peyghamy open the EP with their remix of ‘Our Sector’ featuring the commanding vocals of Flowdan. Fragmented bass-driven textures skitter across the sparse soundscape, culminating in a track primed for the weirder hours of the night. On ‘Ultimately’, Amotik delivers his take on the original featuring spoken word by Coby Sey, and whips up a rolling four-four number pierced with bleepy percussion.

On the flip, Quelza’s reinterpretation of ‘Our Sector’ unfolds with zappy motifs and technoid flourishes, permeating the shadowy pads and spine-chilling harmonics that slink through the atmosphere. Alarico remixes ‘Clean Slate’, serving a potent techno track laced with equal parts restraint and release, enhanced by Coby Sey’s taut vocals.

While the original album represented the more exploratory sides of Ben Klock and Fadi Mohem, the ‘Layer One Remixes’ EP offers a further step into the void, led by five contemporary artists who are unafraid to delve into the murkiest corners of the dystopian world conjured up by Klock and Mohem.

After years of shaping the UK underground from behind the scenes, Alex Nut steps out with his first official solo EP, serving up an intoxicating blend of Spiritual Jazz, Deep House, Dub, Hip Hop and analog electronics. The Present Under Construction EP is rooted in a deep musical language and future-facing energy, it captures a moment of creative transformation and exploration.
Built up over a few years from rough sketches made on an old MPC2000XL, the tracks were revisited, reshaped and eventually brought to life in the studio with longtime friend and collaborator Sam Crowe (Cleo Sol, Lianne La Havas). Together, they added a range of analogue sounds using the Dave Smith Prophet Rev 2, a Fender Rhodes, and a Moog Sub 37. Those recordings were then chopped, resampled, and restructured into the versions you hear on the record today. The records lead track 'andthenitstarted' features saxophonist James Mollison (Ezra Collective, Nala Sinephro) and includes remixes from Detroit House legend Patrice Scott and fellow Eglo Records alumni Last Nubian.

Best known as a DJ, broadcaster, curator and co-founder of Eglo Records, Alex has spent over a decade championing soulful underground music, through fabled Radio shows to legendary club nights, his fingerprints are all over a scene that continues to evolve. Initially making noise alongside the likes of Floating Points, Steven Julien, and Fatima, Alex Nut has long been a cornerstone of the UK's soulful underground. His work continues to champion the evolution of Jazz, Soul, House, and Broken Beat — nurturing a generation of artists now reshaping the global soundscape.

“Everything flows – nothing remains, there is only an eternal becoming and changing” is a well-known formulation of the river theory of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, also known as panta rhei (ancient Greek: πάντα ῥεῖ, “everything flows”). This teaching states that everything in the universe is subject to constant change and that nothing stays the same forever. The metaphor of the river illustrates this: You can't step into the same river twice because both the river and you are constantly changing. The water is constantly flowing, but the river stays in one place. Thus, reality is constantly changing, even if sometimes perceived as constant.”

„Same Same but Different.“ Always different – always the same. Chill-Out DJ Heraklit

For the 26th time, the most consistent of all ambient compilations, in a constant flux of static change, is released on Kompakt. Joining good friends from the early days and reliable confidants are some new additions to the non-hierarchical charts of contemplative rapture culture.

Leading the way is Micå, a Japanese electronic musician whose finely chiseled, graceful musical style has made it onto the new collection with two pieces. Also making his debut is Richard Ojijo, a seasoned sound engineer known, among other things, for his long-standing collaboration with the artist Marcel Odenbach and the Cologne-based label Magazine. Oskø aka Max Hytrek, a multi-talented newcomer to Kompakt and the music scene, debuts with his rapturously ecstatic piece "Ar Vag." He's followed by Sebastian Mullaert, appearing for the second time—this time teamed up with Sebastian Lilja aka Hush Forever. After his surprise return last year after a 20 year hiatus, we are delighted that Tetsuo Sakae aka Pass Into Silence is back again this year with one of his distinctive sound gems. As are Dirk Leyers (Closer Musik) and Mikkel Metal. 18 tracks are featured on this CD. "Erlösung" (Redemption) is the title of Segensklang's closing track. A kind of ambient bolero into infinity. Or at least until next year...

And what would Pop Ambient be without the iconic, artistic cover design of Veronika Unland, who once again, in her unmistakable way, says through the digital flower: The eye always listens...