quête:limina

Die Verwandlung von Geschichte in einen Mythos macht persönliche Erfahrungen universell - ein Prozess, der in der Musik der russischen Produzentin Yana Kedrina, bekannt als Kedr Livanskiy, eine zentrale Rolle spielt. Auf ihrem fünften Album, "Myrtus Myth", entwirft sie eine experimentelle Pop-Reise, die von persönlichen und öffentlichen Mythologien inspiriert ist und Esoterik mit erzählerischer Tiefe verbindet. Livanskiys Musik war schon immer von Geheimnissen durchdrungen, von den ätherischen Synthesizern ihres Debüts "January Sun" bis zu den spirituellen Harmonien von "Liminal Soul". Mit "Myrtus Myth" wagt sie sich noch weiter vor und zieht Parallelen zu ihrem zweiten Album "Ariadna", während sie ihre Klangpalette mit dem Produzenten Flaty erweitert, der für seine futuristische, genreübergreifende Arbeit bekannt ist. Gemeinsam gehen sie über die Strukturen von Dance Music hinaus, integrieren Live-Instrumente und Einflüsse von Vaporwave bis Kate Bush. Zu den Höhepunkten des Albums gehören "Anna", eine von Fleetwood Mac inspirierte Pop-Elegie für eine verlorene Freundin, und "Purple Sadness", dessen knackige Synthies an den Cloud-Rap der frühen 2010er Jahre erinnern. Tracks wie "Agata Dreams" erinnern an 90s Electro-Pop, während "Spades on Hearts" ein hymnischer Aufruf zu den Waffen mit marschierenden Trommeln und hochfliegenden Vocals ist. Livanskiys Texte, die auf Russisch verfasst sind, bieten eine Heldenreise über 11 Tracks, die sich auf Mythen wie Orpheus stützen, um die dauerhafte Kraft der Kunst zu erkunden. Obwohl das Album stilistisch vielfältig ist, behält es durch seine mythische Erzählung seinen Zusammenhalt bei. Das eindringliche Schlussstück "Kali-Yuga" beklagt in zarten Harmonien eine verlorene Stadt und lässt den Hörer in einem traumhaften Dunst zurück. "Die letzten Jahre waren für viele schwierig", reflektiert Livanskiy. "Dieses Album erforscht den Schmerz durch das Mythische und Jenseitige." "Myrtus Myth" ist keine Tragödie, sondern eine Geschichte der Unverwüstlichkeit, die den Hörer auffordert, die Menschlichkeit im Mythos zu finden. Während die imaginären Welten verblassen, erinnert uns Livanskiy mit ihrem Werk daran, dass die reale Welt und die Zeit, die wir in ihr verbringen, bestehen bleibt.

The first solo album from Keith Streng, the legendary guitarist of The Fleshtones, the greatest garage rock band in the world! Featuring 12 tracks that span from psychedelic rock to '70s rock, with a strong garage rock essence. For this special occasion, Keith has invited some prestigious artists to collaborate on the album. Two tracks feature The Limiñanas, with whom he will be sharing the stage as a guest guitarist on all their 2025 tour dates. Several tracks include Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey of R.E.M.. The French scene is also well represented, with the young prodigies Dynamite Shakers on one track and Tony Truant on another. And, of course, longtime collaborators Michael Giblin and Kurt Bloch from his side project The Split Squad. Adding a touch of magic, the Red Chuck Tabernacle Choir brings light to the stunning ballad "More Than Beautiful". Kurt Bloch (Fastbacks / Young Fresh Fellows / Presidents of the USA) also mastered the album. The "most hard-working man" Keith Streng will be on stage in France this June for several dates with his fabulous Fleshtones.

Psychedelic music can be many things, but not many are quite like Fomies brand of the genre. This Swiss five piece throws some punk rock a la The Dead Milkmen into the mix and describes themselves as:
“Great followers of the D.I.Y., FOMIES is a garage-fuzz band mainly inspired by obscure records badly recorded in weird places.”
For fans of: Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Harvey Rushmoore & The Octopus.

Annie A, the one-off collaborative project between Félicia Atkinson, Time is Away, Christina Petrie and Maxine Funke, arrives on A Colourful Storm with an inquisitive, exploratory composition evoking questions of inconstancy and reconciliation, vastness and finitude and the sometimes cruel deception of human perception. Who will conduct our dreams if we never wake?

It is a geographically diverse yet like-minded ensemble whose seeds were sown during an A Colourful Storm show in London, where time on stage was shared by Atkinson, Time is Away and Petrie. Atkinson had previously found solace in Time is Away's Ballads (ACOLOUR041), Funke's Seance (ACOLOUR035) and particularly the voice of poet Petrie, whose delivery drifts from a wide-eyed stream of consciousness to crystalline sensory expression. It is the perfect accompaniment to Atkinson's hushed tones, spoken sensitively like a mother to a resting child.

Atkinson's evocative sonic landscapes are formed from keyboard, voice and organic materials collected from life on the dramatic coast of Normandy, as well as field recordings from places far and wide. She breathes life into liminal spaces, the sound of wind, whispers and the distant clatter of rocks conjuring visions of places both beautiful and eerily familiar. Time is Away delicately arranges the field of sounds, their weaving and layering likened to the assembly of an Anni Albers textile. The spirit of Albers guides the piece, Petrie's recounting of her loom and thread a symbol of her endurance, vitality and seeking wonder in intricacies. The piece also features an exclusive concluding track by Maxine Funke, whose meditation on vulnerability confronts and surrenders herself to the enchanting natural world.

Mess Esque is an Australian duo who sound like they literally dreamed themselves into being, made up of Helen Franzmann (McKisko) and Mick Turner (Dirty Three, Tren Brothers). The two enjoy moving at an unhurried pace, but what: here"s their third album in less than five years! "Jay Marie, Comfort Me" feels a hemisphere away from Mess Esque"s first efforts, and a whole new atmospheric level above. The duo began as a correspondence course in 2020, swapping tracks remotely between Melbourne and Brisbane to experiment with pairing Mick"s guitar, keys and loops with Helen"s ruminative vocals. Their third effort arrives after the two actualised into the same space - that is, touring and performing together! - but they"ve continued the absentee ballot as before, collaborating from some 800 miles apart to write another great album. One with an edge... rocking, we daresay! Along with Keeley Young and Kishore Ryan from the live band, the album features cellist Stephanie Arnold and a couple of Australia"s living legends of percussion: Bree van Reyk and Mick"s ol" Dirty Three partner-in-crime, Jim White.

Imagine a road trip aboard a beautiful American convertible, the landscape passes by and you can hear this warm Sixties soundtrack of Santa Maria Death Trip somewhere between the surf rock of La Luz, the sunny pop of Allah-Las and the psychedelic garage sound of their Perpignan fellows The Liminanas. After two EPs, critically acclaimed by the French specialized press like Rock & Folk and Rolling Stone, here is their first full-length album "Lili"s Garden", released on Staubgold/Cougouyou Music.

Mesmeric, confessional alt-folk with hints of americana - weaving beautiful stories with deep and poignant lyricism and relatable storytelling, creating a sense of familiarity even in the ambiguous, leaving no choice but to feel everything with her. Mann’s debut album,

- Clara Mann’s evocative debut album Rift navigates the fractured environment of the in-between—those liminal spaces exposed between light and dark, growth and remorse, loss and reclamation. It is a record that makes a strong case for hope, those luminescent silver linings in the dark. With Rift, Clara Mann acknowledges the cracks through which both despair and hope can seep. It is a deeply personal record, yet it is universally resonant, holding the mirror up to herself and to the world around her. It is a record that reflects on embracing our fault lines, navigating the ruptures that can erupt from them and moving forwards, in motion, with a renewed sense of self and aliveness. Mann’s debut album, Rift is all of her—her past, her present, her emotions, her experiences—and now, it is for you.

- Influenced by artists like Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf, Judee Sill, and Tom Waits, Mann has a deep love and care for songwriting

- The album was primarily recorded at the 4AD Studios in London, produced and mixed by Fabian Prynn (Martha Skye Murphy, Ex:Re, Fabiana Palladino) who carefully facilitated an imaginative space for Mann to express the playful, strange and real parts of herself

- She has previously toured and collaborated with the likes of Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear), Billie Marten, Skullcrusher, Bill Ryder-Jones, Youth Lagoon and Willie J Healey

At the end of the roughest year in their history, Ulver is proud to release their thirteenth studio album, titled Liminal Animals. Liminal Animals is permeated by the smell of disaster and documents, with deep concern, a dark and troubled place in a dark and troubled time. The cover art features The Senseless Seven, a 1911 drawing by Austin Osman Spare. Design by grand magus wolframgrafik Paschalis Zervas.

At the end of the roughest year in their history, Ulver is proud to release their thirteenth studio album, titled Liminal Animals. Liminal Animals is permeated by the smell of disaster and documents, with deep concern, a dark and troubled place in a dark and troubled time. The cover art features The Senseless Seven, a 1911 drawing by Austin Osman Spare. Design by grand magus wolframgrafik Paschalis Zervas.

In der Musik von Chase Petra ging es schon immer um Wachstum: Erwachsen werden, über sich hinauswachsen, die Erwartungen anderer satt haben. Auf ihrem zweiten Album wirft das Trio aus Long Beach, Kalifornien, erneut die existenziellen Fragen auf, die die lange, unvorhersehbare Reise des Lebens durchziehen. "Lullabies For Dogs", der Nachfolger von "Liminal" (2018), wechselt zwischen zeitloser Melodik (wie das düstere "Two Nights In New York" und das hypnotische, akustisch orientierte "Icarus") und unermüdlicher Energie (wie "Centrifugal Force" und "Bread And Circus", die mit der Unberechenbarkeit der frühen Panic! At the Disco kollidieren) – und etabliert Allen, Drummer Evan Schaid und Bassistin Brooke Dickson als einen der geschicktesten Acts der Emo-Szene. Kirschrotes Vinyl.

Following "Shadow People" (2018) and "De Pelicula" (2021) done with Laurent Garnier , The Limiñanas are making their big comeback with their new album entitled "Faded" , whose first single is "Prisoner of Beauty" featuring Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), supporter of the band for years. The French psychedelic - garage duo has also gathered on " Faded" for duets artists such as Jon Spencer, Bertrand Belin, Rover, Penny, Anna Jean & Pascal Comelade.

"Every night we've been listening to RATTLE. They have a stark yet deep trance percussion vibe that is both holistic and rocking." Thurston Moore
“Quietly dramatic and loudly intimate.” The Quietus
“Two drum sets. Two voices. One great idea.” MOJO
Rattle are Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley, they formed in 2011 after meeting on the live circuit whilst both playing in other bands. Katharine was a guitarist who had recently started playing drums in the band Kogumaza, whilst Theresa was the drummer in Nottingham band Fists. They’ve since released two long-players, 2016’s self-titled debut album Rattle (Upset The Rhythm / I Own You) and 2018’s Sequence (Upset The Rhythm) to much critical acclaim in the music press, and with James Acaster discussing the debut on his BBC Sounds podcast Perfect Sounds!
Rattle have honed the four songs that make up ‘Encircle’ by playing them live over the last few years, adapting and stretching them into endlessly inventive new shapes, playing with the concept of time and expectation. ‘Encircle’ was recorded at Foel Studios, Wales, produced and mixed by Mark Jasper, and mastered at Liminal Audio by Shaun Crook. The stunningly colourful artwork was created by Martha Glazzard, who was also responsible for Rattle’s other mesmeric covers.
‘All Burning’ opens the album, a live favourite of cyclical tumbling and evolving wordplay. ‘All Burning’ was built up gradually layer by layer with Theresa’s cumulative snare work and Katherine’s urgent calls for action: “hold your doctor, hold your daughter, hold your horses”. If ‘All Burning’ represents fire, then it’s accompanying 12-minute long track on Side 1, ‘Argot’, is informed by the air. ‘Argot’ is a song about uncertainty, with Katherine singing wordlessly across the majority of the track. “I prefer to sing wordlessly often because it feels a bit more expressive and universal” asserts Katherine. The track feels truly epic with a satisfying release that comes with the eventual introduction of the bass drum and snappy hi-hat section.

Side 2 also pairs a shorter song with a long-form composition. ‘Ritual’ is worked up from a simple snare drum pattern which becomes more and more overlapped into an elliptical form of waltz. Katherine considers ‘Ritual’ as “very earthy song - lots of low lying mist on the ground swirling around and the drums coming together to summon something”! ‘Ritual’ was inspired by a visit to the ruins of Boleskine House so multi-dimensional themes and occult practice loom large. ‘Your Move’ is a step-up gear change with the band wanting it to feel like the tape had suddenly started to spin faster, urging movement, venturing action. Clocking in at over 15 minutes, ‘Your Move’, is mesmeric and boundless, hypnotic in its minimalism of doubled-drums and almost tribal vocal cycles.
With ‘Encircle’ Rattle have grown again, these songs are alive with elemental power. They build-up and disintegrate, existing in two places at once, embracing the nuance, tracing the circle’s edge. These are modes of song as pure gesture and eternal imagination, refined in mirrors after midnight.
Rattle has performed at The Barbican, London and toured the UK with Animal Collective and Thurston Moore Group and Europe with The Julie Ruin and Protomartyr, and performed with Hot Snakes, Bill Orcutt Quartetand Codeine.

"Every night we've been listening to RATTLE. They have a stark yet deep trance percussion vibe that is both holistic and rocking." Thurston Moore
“Quietly dramatic and loudly intimate.” The Quietus
“Two drum sets. Two voices. One great idea.” MOJO
Rattle are Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley, they formed in 2011 after meeting on the live circuit whilst both playing in other bands. Katharine was a guitarist who had recently started playing drums in the band Kogumaza, whilst Theresa was the drummer in Nottingham band Fists. They’ve since released two long-players, 2016’s self-titled debut album Rattle (Upset The Rhythm / I Own You) and 2018’s Sequence (Upset The Rhythm) to much critical acclaim in the music press, and with James Acaster discussing the debut on his BBC Sounds podcast Perfect Sounds!
Rattle have honed the four songs that make up ‘Encircle’ by playing them live over the last few years, adapting and stretching them into endlessly inventive new shapes, playing with the concept of time and expectation. ‘Encircle’ was recorded at Foel Studios, Wales, produced and mixed by Mark Jasper, and mastered at Liminal Audio by Shaun Crook. The stunningly colourful artwork was created by Martha Glazzard, who was also responsible for Rattle’s other mesmeric covers.
‘All Burning’ opens the album, a live favourite of cyclical tumbling and evolving wordplay. ‘All Burning’ was built up gradually layer by layer with Theresa’s cumulative snare work and Katherine’s urgent calls for action: “hold your doctor, hold your daughter, hold your horses”. If ‘All Burning’ represents fire, then it’s accompanying 12-minute long track on Side 1, ‘Argot’, is informed by the air. ‘Argot’ is a song about uncertainty, with Katherine singing wordlessly across the majority of the track. “I prefer to sing wordlessly often because it feels a bit more expressive and universal” asserts Katherine. The track feels truly epic with a satisfying release that comes with the eventual introduction of the bass drum and snappy hi-hat section.

Side 2 also pairs a shorter song with a long-form composition. ‘Ritual’ is worked up from a simple snare drum pattern which becomes more and more overlapped into an elliptical form of waltz. Katherine considers ‘Ritual’ as “very earthy song - lots of low lying mist on the ground swirling around and the drums coming together to summon something”! ‘Ritual’ was inspired by a visit to the ruins of Boleskine House so multi-dimensional themes and occult practice loom large. ‘Your Move’ is a step-up gear change with the band wanting it to feel like the tape had suddenly started to spin faster, urging movement, venturing action. Clocking in at over 15 minutes, ‘Your Move’, is mesmeric and boundless, hypnotic in its minimalism of doubled-drums and almost tribal vocal cycles.
With ‘Encircle’ Rattle have grown again, these songs are alive with elemental power. They build-up and disintegrate, existing in two places at once, embracing the nuance, tracing the circle’s edge. These are modes of song as pure gesture and eternal imagination, refined in mirrors after midnight.
Rattle has performed at The Barbican, London and toured the UK with Animal Collective and Thurston Moore Group and Europe with The Julie Ruin and Protomartyr, and performed with Hot Snakes, Bill Orcutt Quartetand Codeine.

Portland-based ambient architect and far afield sound technician Graintable, aka James Cooke returns with his debut outing on Music To Watch Seeds Grow By and his fourth in the R$N stable; 'Blue Flax'. Following his acclaimed and sold out cassette releases 'Herons', 'Universal Ash' and ‘The Rain In The Trees’ on Ransom Note Records, this new collection sees Cooke delving deeper into the intersection of natural processes and liminal organic electronics.

'Blue Flax', the resilient flowering plant celebrated for its delicate blue blooms and medicinal applications, is native to the Pacific Northwest - the region Cooke calls home. This plant has long grown on the ancestral lands of the Wasco, Klickitat, Warm Springs, Cayuse, and Umatilla tribes. Its connection to this landscape underscores the album’s themes, weaving together ten intricate ambient pieces that reflect the plant's dual nature of part healer, part object of wonder. Recorded during the transitional hours of dawn and dusk in his Portland studio, Cooke’s soundscapes capture both the meditative aspects of watching plants grow and the gradual transformation of organic matter into usable forms. The centrepiece of the album Cerulian FIelds, reminds of the early morning light, those inspiring hours before the rest of the world wakes and the first shoots break through the soil into the new dawn. It’s a beautiful crystallisation of what is Cooke’s most comprehensive collection of meditative compositions to date.

For fans of: Steve Roach, Alessandro Cortini, Suzanne Ciani, Davis Galvin

Early support including: Courtesy, Laurent Garnier, Massimiliano Pagliara, DJ Harvey, Domenic Capello

If there’s one thing we know at International Feel, it’s that good things take time. But sometimes, just sometimes, they take a little longer than expected. Enter IFEEL088, a split remix 12” that stitches together two albums, two projects, and a collection of kindred spirits who understand the delicate art of sonic transformation.
Charlie Charlie (the Swedish duo of Chords and Bella Boo) have been long-time admirers of Mondag, ever since their ears first met the melancholic splendor of Sad Soup. When it came time to create Save Us, they had one request: a sax solo from Kristian (of Mondag fame). A beautiful idea, but as the fates (and studio schedules) would have it, the horns never made it onto the album.
Fast forward, and what began as a missed opportunity has now come full circle. Mondag, still taken with Save Us, took matters into their own hands and offered up a remix – a shimmering, unexpected rework of a track that already carried so much weight. Charlie Charlie obliged. And, because there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing, Bella Boo herself offers a tight and nimble edit, while Gerd Janson drapes the track in an ambient mist for those more horizontally inclined.
Hypernatural exists in some liminal space between waking life and dreamstate, it makes sense that its remixes should play with perspective. The trio—Dan Whitford (Cut Copy), Mirko Vogel, and Mike Gamwell (a.k.a. Knightlife)—crafted their album between the Swedish coast and the Scottish highlands, capturing the sublime and the surreal in equal measure. Now, it’s time to hand things over to new guides.
Mike Gamwell himself steps up, delivering a fresh take that bends and stretches time, while Gerd Janson follows, offering another piece for the puzzle—one that slots seamlessly into the hazy, transportive nature of the Hypernatural sound.
One record, two projects, three perspectives, and infinite interpretations. IFEEL088 is a reminder that sometimes the best things in life are worth the wait.

Mutant, in partnership with Studio Ponoc, are proud to present the soundtrack to their latest animated film The Imaginary, now streaming on Netflix worldwide.

From the studio that brought you Mary and The Witch’s Flower (2017) and Modest Heroes (2019) comes a new sweeping and epic animated feature film based on the novel by A.F. Harrold. Studio Ponoc’s The Imaginary tells the story of Rudger, the made-up and invisible friend of young Amanda, through his eyes as he traverses the magical liminal spaces that Imaginaries inhabit, the dangers they face, and their adventures.

The original score is full of genre swings and poignant beauty. Bouncing from imaginary Yeti attacks, to Venetian Banquets, and Submarine battles, all while deftly navigating joy, and grief and everything in between - Kenji Tamai & agehasprings take us all on a journey that helps us find our imaginations again.

The anthemic closing track of the film, "Nothing's Impossible", written and performed by A Great Big World featuring Rachel Platten. We are proud to present it for the first time in any physical form.

This limited edition release features original artwork by Tom Whalen (continuing his Studio Ponoc series from Mary and the Witch's Flower), and pressed on 2x 140 gram "Zin-Zan Eyes" color vinyl

Meet Leng’s latest signings, Liminal – a Danish duo comprised of guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and producer David Rosenkilde, and DJ, producer and sound engineer Morten Troest.

The pair first met when Rosenkilde was booked to perform as a session musician at Troest studio. They clicked immediately so with Troest’s studio skills and inherent knowledge of what works on dancefloors paired with Rosenkilde’s abilities as a musician they decided to produce their own music together working to one simple rule: try out every idea, however outlandish!

Since then Rosenkilde and Troest have been recording their debut album that’s set for release on Leng later in 2025. First, though, we get a taste of their talents via ‘Keep Coming Back To Me’, an impressive debut single that blends electric and electronic instrumentation while keeping its focus fixed on the dancefloor.

Ushered in by shakers, rubbery bass and flanged guitar licks, ‘Keep Coming Back To Me’ giddily blurs the boundaries between colourful nu-disco, low-slung dub disco and the sun-splashed beauty of the more club-friendly end of the Balaeric spectrum. It boasts a hazy, multi-tracked and lightly glassy-eyed lead vocal, as well as a nagging TB-303 acid line that works its way to the fore as the track progresses, adding extra layers of excitement and energy as it unfolds.

Remixer Ray Mang (AKA long-time friend of the label Raj Gupta) takes the latter element as his inspiration on a stunning, nine-minute plus remix that brilliantly re-frames the track as a blend of tactile 21st century nu-disco colour, hypnotic proto-house and analogue-rich, acid-fired Chicago jack. Re-playing the bassline in an early Chicago house style and reaching for lo-fi and spacey synth sounds, the veteran British producer frequently strips the track back to the groove before re-introducing the vocal and the dreamiest of chords.

Liminal also display their sonic diversity on bonus cut ‘The Moon Is Changing’, a wonderfully atmospheric and star-lit affair in which spacey ambient chords, twinkling electric piano keys and intergalactic electronics slowly usher in a mid-tempo Norse nu-disco groove. The pair build slowly, adding vocals and layered guitar licks. The results are hard to pigeonhole but thoroughly impressive, offering a tantalising glimpse of what’s to come on their must-check debut album.

Following "Shadow People" (2018) and "De Pelicula" (2021) done with Laurent Garnier , The Limiñanas are making their big comeback with their new album entitled "Faded" , whose first single is "Prisoner of Beauty" featuring Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), supporter of the band for years. The French psychedelic - garage duo has also gathered on " Faded" for duets artists such as Jon Spencer, Bertrand Belin, Rover, Penny, Anna Jean & Pascal Comelade.

"With their dulcet fusion of ‘60s French ye-ye pop, slinky Studio One reggae, and liminal Brazilian tropicalia, Claude Fontaine’s songs embody the best kept dreams of a globally connected world. The second album from the Los Angeles artist reflects the dream of creating the soundtrack for this utopia by the sea.

Released on Innovative Leisure, La Mer is a mesmerizing portal. It’s impossible for it to exist outside of the modern moment, but it floats on the gilded dust of the past. At times, Fontaine channels Jane Birkin as backed by Jorge Ben. Francois Hardy locked into sonic reverie with Mulatu Astatke, or Margo Guryan making lovers rock.

None of this is a happy accident. For her second opus, Fontaine assembled some of the most gifted musicians of the last five decades. First and foremost is her co-writer and producer, the multi-platinum Grammy-Award winning Lester Mendez, whose resume includes everyone from Grace Jones and Baaba Maal to Shakira and Nelly Furtado.

As with Fontaine’s self-titled first album, the legendary Tony Chin appears on guitar, bringing the orphic tones expected from someone who has played with some of the greatest reggae musicians of all-time (King Tubby, Dennis Brown, Lee Perry, Jackie Mittoo, Max Romeo, Sly & Robbie). On bass, there’s Ronnie McQueen, one of the co-founders of Steel Pulse. Sergio Mendes’ percussionist, Gibi Dos Santos, supplies propulsive locomotion. So does Ziggy Marley’s drummer, Rock Deadrick. And that’s just the abridged list of storied instrumentalists who appear on La Mer."

It’s written in the Agreement Terms. There’s no getting out alive in Life. And yet, mankind keeps striving for eternal life; through art, through power, through cryogenics, through singularity. In that misguided quest against the inevitable, we all fall into the category of lost travellers. No one is exempt. In that understanding, Confucius MC and producer Bastien Keb offer no misgivings about the destination on the somber “Time Will Come”: Time will come for all of us / try to take your time.

Songs For Lost Travellers is a collaborative album by Con and Bastien Keb that merges unexplored pathways between rap, folk, and jazz into a spiritual triumvirate. Each genre is a balancing force within the record. The result is an album unlike either artist have made previously, possibly unlike any record in existence. Songs For Lost Travellers opens with bedtime stories and fairytales. Both “Tell Me Lies” and “Fairytale” present the creature comforts that trick us into forgetting the truth. Con’s first words spoken are “tell me lies ‘til I swear I can’t remember” over Keb’s lo-fi plucking that feels like it was lifted from a handheld recorder capturing a nursery mobile above a crib. Third track “Time Will Come” resets the album after acknowledging on “Fairytale” there’s “no nourishment in half-truths / no sustenance in eating lies.”

Honest and direct, Con and Keb imbue Songs For Lost Travellers with knowledge and truth from their lived experiences. There is grief hidden in the notes, an inherent sadness that is balanced with an awareness that grief is a protest against the social machinery of remaining numb. The record lingers in a meditative state, unafraid of restlessness and embracing solitude, with the expectation that peace is just as imminent as death.

The production contains a complimentary authenticity. Neither Con nor Keb bothered much with the professional studio in making Songs For Lost Travellers. Instead they opted for the raw state of their home recordings and first takes, matching the intimacy of being alone and reflective in their creative energies. Room static on “Tell Me Lies” makes it feel like you’ve entered their apartments. The immediacy continues on “Gutters,” as Keb plays guitar while watching the tele and Con hums along to the vocal melody in search of the proper pocket for his verse. Someone snaps their finger to mark a cue, but the snap never returns to the mix to keep time.

More drawn to Keb’s recent folk recordings on the Songs For Lilla EP than his funk roots circa Dinking In The Shadows of Zizou or the cinematic soul of The Killing of Eugene Peeps, Con leaned into the spacial freedom he heard in Keb’s lo-fi production cobbled from field recordings and voice notes. Both artists placed their families into the tableau. Con wrote “Little Man” for his son, hoping to add a positive contribution to the canon of parental rap songs. Later, his son appears at the end of “Paramount” to deliver a passage from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet. Keb secretly recorded his mum playing saxophone and sampled his cousin playing sax as well. The result is a near-drumless album (save for “Toulouse” and light tapping on “It Would Speak”) in which Keb’s raw production (plus a few sessions with Kofi Flexxx) gave Con a liminal zone, unencumbered by beats per minute, to craft melodies that turn his philosophical rhymes into mantras.

Perhaps there’s a message in the presence of family? It would be one of many. Con and Keb’s reflective, somber approach to Songs For Lost Travellers does not wallow in the mire. Music is action and it’s taking them through a portal to the other side of grief. We are welcome to join (which is also in the fine print of the Agreement Terms), but first there’s a password in the final song, a single request to answer: Tell me what you care about.

Biography by Blake Gillespie
credits

Miki Yui is a musician, artist, and composer, originally from Tokyo, who has been based in Düsseldorf since 1994. Her whose work has long explored multiple forms of media, while documenting liminal zones of perception. On her latest album, As If, Yui creates a subtly connected suite of electronic music, drawn from improvisations and randomised processes that she has engaged with modular synthesis. Deeply poetic in its expression, even at its most minimal, the six pieces on As If have a curious tenor – they are, each of them, intensely sensuous, almost haptic listening experiences, as though the laser focus that Yui displays towards her compositions allows her to engage them as almost physical presences in the world.

One of the keys that unlocks the intimate complexity-in-simplicity of As If was Yui’s encounters with the Amazonian rainforest in Manaus, Brazil in 2018. Finding that the sounds in the rainforest both shadowed and echoed the music she had been making for two decades, she embraced the possibilities of modular synthesis, the sounds of which she discovered “have astonishing similarities to the sounds I experienced in the rainforest.” There is, indeed, something natural about the way these sounds bloom in real time; in their dedicated focus to the subtle development and mutation of several discrete parameters of sound, they grow slowly, gradually, their rhizomic structures suggesting that we are always situated within the middle of sound.

Sometimes, the material here has a kind of febrile energy, as on the ticking, clacking electronics of “Generativ”, a track that seems to rotate in the air in front of the listener, the light reflecting off its multiple surfaces as we catch the intricacies of its micro-patterns. Elsewhere, we slide into a cooled but welcoming environment, like the late-night fire-fly horizon of “Song 4”; there’s also the humid, dripping tropical sunset that’s documented on “Summernight”. It’s a music that’s hard to locate external coordinates for, though there are, perhaps, some parallels with the work of Laurie Spiegel, Eliane Radigue’s Vice Versa, and Pauline Oliveros’s “Roots of the Moment”. But As If is an extraordinary collection of naturally developing, rich studies for slowly mutating, enveloping, elemental electronics.

Indian born, UK artist Michael Diamond, co-founder of Vasuki Sound label and club night, announces new EP Placid Wakefulness, featuring single ‘Reverse Entropy’. available on all platforms 5th December via Vasuki Sound.

A uniquely multifaceted talent, Michael Diamond’s unforgettable ‘jazzed electronic’ sound is informed by a spectrum of influences, not least by intersection of the scientific and practical worlds of electronic music. From the music scholarship he won to read Medicine at Oxford where he quickly discovered new ways in which the two worlds can co-exist, his days were spent immersed in academic studies of music perception and cognition, while his nights were spent alongside the likes of Ben UFO, Batu & Ross From Friends, playing at one of UK’s most long-established nights ‘Simple’. A chance encounter there also led him to connect with musical collaborator Alex Wilson – the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year semi-finalist and then musical director of Oxford’s Jazz Orchestra – who appears frequently across Diamond’s compositions and on Placid Wakefulness.

No stranger to a concept piece, Diamond’s previous project, the highly personal and critically acclaimed exploration of culture and identity, Third Culture (album of the month/year acknowledgments from Stamp The Wax, Juno and Phonica Records, also earning him a DJ Mag ‘One To Watch’, a Youth Music Awards ‘Rising Star’ nomination and a Gilles Peterson’s ‘Future Bubbler’ accolade) explored the experience of being a ‘third culture kid’ born in Kerala, India and growing up in the UK with a sense of fractured identity.

On Placid Wakefulness, Diamond honours his academic research working alongside world-renowned musicologist Professor Eric Clarke. Specifically how music may affect our sleepfulness and wakefulness, how instinctively we are soothed by some sounds and energised by others - ‘what it is about dance music that makes people go hard all night long?’ and ‘what is it about ambient music that makes people feel the opposite way - to lull them into this sense of calmness or rest?’, mindful of the unconscious ways his findings were already manifesting in his work as an artist. And while his research provides a framework for some of the ideas within the piece, Placid Wakefulness can be viewed as more of an unintentional byproduct, or case-in-point of his findings, rather than a piece consciously constructed in their image.

Across Placid Wakefulness’s four tracks we find the artist unpacking a range of sonic ideas on this theme, from ambient calm to club-adjacent rhythms. The EP opens with hypnotic lullaby of ‘A Way of Listening’ complete with transcendent flutes provided by Alex Wilson, cello by George Lloyd-Own and a mellow groove. On the more energised ‘Reverse Entropy’, rhythmic ambiguity moves to rhythmic disambiguation with a four-to-the-floor beat as the track progresses, releasing tension and inviting an urge to dance as a jazz sax moment transmutes into glorious techno percussiveness.

On ‘Turning and Turning’ the bpm shifts down a gear, a sonic dreamstate where tough textural rhythms create a kind of liminal state tension. Closing out the EP we return to a sense of restfulness with the EP’s title track, where a gorgeous picked guitar loop interplays with vibrating ambient pads and a slow and steady beat. The Placid Wakefulness EP is a captivating testament to Diamond’s singular artistic talent and the fascinating interplay of neuroscience and how we experience and enjoy music.

Chelsea Wolfe presents 'Unbound', the final release in the 'She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out' triptych featuring special, stripped-down versions of Whispers In The Echo Chamber, Dusk, The Liminal, and Place In The Sun, plus a cover of Spiritbox's Cellar Door. Wolfe strips the songs down to their raw essence - just her voice, a guitar, or piano - capturing vulnerability and unfiltered truth. The music stands exposed, stripped and skyclad, each track a rite of passage, a descent into the heart.

Meticulously Serviced Liminal Portal

Erste Vinylauflage der 2022er EP der Alternative-Rock-Band Chase Petra aus Long Beach, Follow-Up ihres Debütalbums "Liminal" aus 2019. Sechs Tracks, die zwischen spritzigem Garage-Pop, donnerndem Emo-Punk und akustischem Alternative-Rock hin- und herspringen, vorgetragen mit einer melodischen Ohrwurm-Note. Blue Marbled Vinyl.

A Walking Contradiction welcomes Sciama to the team with a full EP of his magnificent rhythm workouts. The Auxiliary affiliate, known for his futuristic takes on ambient, techno and drum & bass and everything in between presents an excellent pack of fast moving, ultra focused soundtrips. From breathtaking drone scapes to wiggly high-paced rhythm experiments, all sublimely sound designed with a focus on the low ends.

The four-track EP Reinos Elementales opens with El Descenso de Inanna, an electrifying track characterized by dark atmospheres and a compelling rhythm that transports the listener on a journey as energetic as it is introspective.

Uroboros, the second track on the EP but the first to be composed, was born from the artists first jam session. A rhythmic journey characterized by the cyclical alternation of dub sounds and organic elements, conveying a warm and vibrant sensation thats hard to resist.

Malachite is another gem for the dance floor, where the elements
intertwine fluidly between an urgent rhythm and a liberating atmosphere.

Finally, Stato Liminare is the last track composed by the duo a perfect
B2 that adds a touch of surprise to the EP with its fractured and deep
rhythm. The composers recite a mantra in their native language, creating a magical and hypnotic vocal line that offers a sense of suspension between the tangible and the ethereal.

'Thieves And Charlatans' is brilliant new chapter in the world of Cortez. This was phenomenal already with their debut and they get better and better with each new release. Don't miss out!

Norwegian pianist Eyolf Dale’s lateral approach to composition is given full range on his beautiful new album. Featuring his trio with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, conducted by Edition Records artist Japanese maestro Miho Hazama, The Space Between Two Notes is a nuanced investigation of sound and space.

Eyolf Dale, the renowned Norwegian pianist and composer, releases his latest album, The Space Between Two Notes, his 7th album released under Edition Records. This new album elegantly reimagines selections from Dale's celebrated trio albums, Beingand The Wayfarers, with rich orchestral arrangements featuring the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, conducted by fellow Edition artist, Miho Hazama.

The Space Between Two Notes explores a mesmerising blend of jazz and classical music, harmoniously integrating the intimatedynamics of a trio with the grandeur of an orchestra.

The album is an exploration of musical intervals—the nuanced spaces between notes—which shape the auditory landscapes of Dale’s compositions. This approach sets it apart from traditional jazztropes, which often emphasize vertical structures, like chords and melodies. Dale, however, crafts his music horizontally, focusing on the relationships and distances between sounds.

Eyolf Dale’s approach to music is profoundly influenced by his rich musical upbringing and an early fascination with the varied textures of sound: from the intricate works of Pat Methany to the vibrant tones of Norwegian jazz. This diverse background informs his unique musical language, which is not confined by genre but instead resides in the intriguing liminal space between established musical traditions.

The album features not only Dale's pianistic finesse but also the empathetic interplay of his trio, including Audun Kleive on drums,whose sensitive accompaniment ensures the music's purity of expression. As Eyolf points out "One of the most challenging aspects, in my opinion, of blending classical and jazz elements lies in the delicate balance of the drummer's cymbals.” Together,they achieve a unity of sound that transcends the sum of its parts, further enriched by the poised bass playing of Per Zanussi andthe orchestral collaboration. This synergy allows the music to unfold naturally, each note and silence carefully articulated to communicate more than mere melody.

Limited Edition Orange Coloured Vinyl.

Die griechische Progressive/Alternative Metal-Band Mother Of Millions meldet sich mit ihrem neuen Longplayer 'Magna Mater' zurück! Es ist das vierte Album der Band und hat einen deutlich härteren Ansatz als seine Vorgänger. 'Magna Mater' ist ein Album über Verlust, aber letztlich geht es um das Leben. Eine Empfehlung geht raus an alle Fans von Bands wie Riverside, Leprous, Crosses, Vola, Tesseract oder Monuments.

Die griechische Progressive/Alternative Metal-Band Mother Of Millions meldet sich mit ihrem neuen Longplayer 'Magna Mater' zurück! Es ist das vierte Album der Band und hat einen deutlich härteren Ansatz als seine Vorgänger. 'Magna Mater' ist ein Album über Verlust, aber letztlich geht es um das Leben. Eine Empfehlung geht raus an alle Fans von Bands wie Riverside, Leprous, Crosses, Vola, Tesseract oder Monuments.

As we approach the threshold leading us back to the Black Lodge on our transformative 8th journey, we are escorted through and beyond the mystical portal by the vigorous and fierce forces of Sneaker. Portrait in House is a collection of 3 resonant works, which are unified into a singular vision within its uncanny language that is rooted deeply in the foundations of Jak, New Beat, EBM, and Wave. Existing inside the liminal spaces of where light meets dark, we are presented with a documentation of dissonance and harmony. We begin our voyage with Jihad, a sluggish and slogging piece that unforgivingly drags us through the grime and the dirt in a ritualistic fashion that would have the ghost of Georges Bataille dancing in circles. Voices call out and howl into the dark as the drum patterns of the 707 rhythmically grasps onto its anarchic components. In the dark, we can see the light beyond the known universe. In the words of Sneaker "The name is not our message, but a document of an evident, traditional concept in (y)our world." As we find ourselves sprawled out on the ground following the 1st sonic stanza, a menacing voice bellows and warns that this is a Sax Track. Referencing Chicago icon Lil Louis, this work juxtaposes classical elements of house music together with the bare knuckled spirit of Jak. A magical spell led by disharmonious Portasound FM keys in conversation with a teetering sub bass, where at its core, this plus this, equals something that is uniquely familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. A number fit for any uncanny ritual that will fall under the night sky. Bringing our cosmic procession to a close we pick up the pace with a commanding number titled, Dance On, a no holds barred work that will possess your soul in the name of Jak. Flangers wail unforgivingly alongside a pulsating 101, as samples of the human voice are chopped up and arranged into a conversation that hypnotically calls for our bodies to be transformed into soft machines, while powered by ceremonious motions that are generated from the liberating process of ritual movement. We command you to dance! Words by Justin Aulis Long

Black Vinyl. In Rumi's poem A Great Wagon he writes of a place of total acceptance. "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there," It is a boundless, liminal space where we can release the judgments we make and carry of ourselves, and the comparisons to others. When we think of this field, there is a sense of tranquility that only comes when we are undisturbed by the shadow self and see existence as neither bright nor dim, white nor black. But as lead singer Greg Bertens explains, arriving there is a whole different story. "This is a poem I've returned to over the years, and I love the idea of this place, but getting there is life's journey." Bertens adds "I think the longing for and elusiveness of this field is a recurring theme in our music." Field is enveloped by themes of regret, disconnection and frustration but with the space to understand that these feelings are a natural part of the struggle between reconciling the inner and outer self. The Los Angeles/San Francisco-based group have been indie shoegaze stalwarts since their formation in 2001. After two decades and a handful of line-up changes, their extensive discography presents a dynamically textural, lush psychedelic rock that has featured guest appearances by members of Pavement, My Bloody Valentine, and Snow Patrol, among others. 2021's LP We Weren't Here (Sonic Ritual) was hailed for its dense instrumental blanket, where unrelenting hi-hats and heavy kicks exist alongside dreamy drone guitar. This propulsive nature permeates Field, as members Bertens, Noël Brydebell (vocals), Nyles Lannon (guitar), Jason Ruck (synths), Justin LaBo (bass), and Adam Wade (drums) produce a kaleidoscopic sonic landscape. Patient, sprawling instrumentation builds a foundation in which Bertens' themes of endurance, perseverance and clarity can bloom with a considered poise. As a lyricist who writes in response to the instrumental arrangements, rather than a focus on a specific theme or person, Field is a testament to Film School's ability to create in the moment, and to showcase the magic that stems from when we are truly present. With over two decades in the industry, Field cements Film School as a distinct, dominant force in the shoegaze scene. Soaked in an emotionally open, imaginative atmosphere, the album is both singular and expansive, and leaves the door open for a constantly evolving interpretation. Film School have never confined themselves to the rigidity of specifics, and it's on Field that they urge us to look beyond the binary of certainty, and to take a second look.

Permanent Parts is the second album released by visual artist Katharina Grosse (synthesizer) and musician Stefan Schneider (synthesizer; So Sner, To Rococo Rot). Grosse and Schneider were joined at Galerie Max Hetzler on 29 April 2023, performing as part of the Spectrum without Traces exhibition, by three artists who all generally work within improvised music – Carina Khorkhordina (trumpet), Tintin Patrone (trombone and electronics), and Billy Roisz (noise generator, piezo and mini cymbal). Permanent Parts is an extraordinary set of recordings that inhabits multiple zones at once: within its thirty-five minutes, we can hear the interactions of non-idiomatic collective music making, and the electronic glimmers of electro-acoustics, while, at the same time, the music remains untethered to genre.

This capacity to work within liminal zones makes perfect sense when thinking about both Grosse’s and Schneider’s prior work, whether the energetic diffusions and spatial explorations of Grosse’s artistic practice, or the slippery texturology of Schneider’s recent work with electronics. Khorkhordina, Patrone and Roisz all find their own ways into this dynamic, too, and Permanent Parts feels like an equal exchange of presence and contribution; there are no hierarchies here. This might explain the music’s curious sense of development, where several elements are allowed to exist alongside each other, not in direct contact but in a mode that’s somewhere between carefree layering and unconscious juxtaposition. The musicians are listening, but not just with their ears – their skin, their bodies are hearing, too.

When talking about Permanent Parts, Schneider is careful to place it within contexts that are specific, to some degree, but which allow for difference to blossom. “Although it was recorded live, it somehow was not meant to be a documentation of a live event in the first place. The five piece line up that appears on the record had met for the first time only a few hours before the concert took place.” While it might take a leap of faith for all parties to walk together, and so willingly, into a place of such freedom, of such risk, there is clear sympathy here between the musicians, and a shared appreciation of the immediacies of the situation.

It also throws some of our preconceptions about this music out of the window. “The record does not feel like a document of a performance as the music was not pre-composed and there was no reference,” Schneider continues. “Perhaps it was not even an improvisation?” For Grosse, her musical relationship with Schneider similarly shakes free from expectation: “My sound does not exist without Stefan’s. It is neither written down nor is it improvised. It is instantaneous.” When thinking about the five-piece exploration on Permanent Parts and asked to expand on what each musician brings to the table, she continues, “We all love the thrill of an unknown encounter and we seem to have a need for building connections through the thicket of our voices.”

There’s a curious phrase on the back cover of the album, before the artists are listed: “Wir sind eine Batterie / We are a battery.” This sums up the spirit of Permanent Parts. Schneider recalls that Grosse said this phrase to the musicians at the start of the performance. Grosse explains further, “The figure of the battery referred to our placement in the space building out a small circle facing one another from where the sound could spill into the impressive volume of the gallery.” The battery as an arrangement of similar devices; but I also think of charge, and the conversion of chemical energy, and of fortification. It’s a poetic metaphor that sums up much of the febrile pleasure of the music contained on these Permanent Parts.

– Jon Dale, Melbourne