Suche:little dee

lim. 2xLP colored yellow and oxblood vinyl with Poster, Sticker & Mp3 Download!

We are back with another chapter in our ongoing series of unearthing smooth vibes from all over the world, this time we go back to the FUTURE for you with: THE SUNSET MANIFESTO Volume 2. After a five year break mainly concentrating on the late 70s/early 80s Westcoast Soul/Yacht/AOR sound, we finally dive deep into the modern world of our beloved sister-label Too Slow To Disco NEO (for the third time after 2018s TSTD NEO - En France and 2020s The Sunset Manifesto excursions). But of course it wasn't a real 5 year break since the first Sunset Manifesto compilation, as in the meantime we also released a few digital TSTD Neo singles, and - more importantly - our "Too Slow To Disco NEO - FM" playlist on spotify (handcurated by Dj Supermarkt every week and now hosting more than 1500 tracks of mellow, modern sunshine vibes) was growing steadily and becoming a new, important fixpoint in the TSTD musical universe. TSTD NEO is the outlet Dj Supermarkt is using to unearth modern laidback, smooth, sunny slow disco vibes with a soulful Westcoast/Balearic touch. For him TSTD always has been about a laidback vibe/feeling, not a certain time period in musical history. And that sunny Westcoast vibe we dug out on those traditional TSTD compilations has become a huge influence to so many modern artists. So it makes sense that we present the cream of new slo/mo NuDisco/Sunset Disco/Daytime Disco acts in the TSTD format, a luxurious compilation, with artists from all across the globe: Not only from the two homelands of that modern slow disco sound, Los Angeles/California and France, but also from Beijing, Montreal, Mexico, London, New York, Stockholm, Rotterdam… the moon, you name it! This music is more a state of mind, a feeling, then a geographical thing. We are happy and really excited to annouce the following passengers are on board with exclusive tracks: Poolside, Woolfy, Prep & Eddie Chacon, Turbotito, Young Gun Silver Fox, Lovetempo, Kimchii, Goodvibes Sound a.m.m.

The title says it all - A Cellarful Of Motown! ..A Northern Soul Love Affair.

West Grand has been set up to mine the deep vaults of mighty Motown courtesy of a licence deal with Universal Music.

The first West Grand LP fuses two musical religions, Motown and Northern Soul.

In some ways they are unlikely bedfellows. Motown became known as Hitsville by churning out hit after hit, while Northern Soul passion is fired by a constant search for the unknown and the obscure.
The 16 tracks here - on incredibly the first Motown various artists vinyl album released worldwide for 40 years - join the dots. All of them were recorded in the 1960s. None of them were released at the time, despite being prime examples of the sublime magic conjured up by Berry Gordy’s genius-like team of singers, writers, producers, arrangers and musicians at that tiny little snakepit of a recording studio on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit.

Motown authority Adam White’s album sleeve notes confirm just how productive that studio was. It often ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
As a result, lots of the most sublime music ever made was somehow rejected for release. It would have stayed unknown and unloved in tape boxes if it had not been for detective work by Soul aficionados turned detectives. That’s Northern Soul power. Many were DJs and collectors tracking down cassette copies or acetates (some of them found in rubbish skips and about to be destroyed). Others, notably Paul Nixon, the founder of the CD series A Cellarful Of Motown! which inspired this album, badgered the Motown gatekeepers so much they were eventually granted access to the forbidden kingdom.

Over recent years all the tracks contained here have been released—some bootlegged, some on legitimate seven-inch issues, some on CD, one download-only. The album proudly boasts debut vinyl release for some in the collection. All have been remastered and have never sounded better.

As a homage to Motown music makers + Rare Soul fanaticism, WEST GRAND believe we have come up with a classic.

Repress.

Marcal is back for round two on Dustin Zahn’s Enemy Records with “Cyber Dystopia.” Marcal’s trademark grooves and clever vocal processing make this one of his most exciting and hypnotic records yet. It’s pure class…there isn’t much else to say!

BUT we have to try anyway…
“Cyber Dystopia” starts off with Bionic Jungle, a trippy peak time roller sprinkled with uh, lifeforms or something? We haven’t been able to identify them, which is just proof that Marcal is living on another planet we haven’t been to yet. We’re standing by for the invite.

Moravex’s Paradox picks up where Bionic Jungle left off…chugging along in his signature style. It’s loopy. It’s tooly…but still heavy on the grooves, making it a perfect fit in deep and peak time sets alike.

Nothing About the United States hits a little harder and darker. Dissonant drones and catchy sound design take over, flipping the switch from “party” to “punish.” For fans of his recent track on Enemy, “Never Wrote This.”

Don’t Fear the Three is a classic Marcal percussive workout in heads-down mode. It’s as equally powerful as every other track on the record.

For his second output on his own label, the Swiss electronic composer Robin Félix, takes this time the listener to West-Africa ; that said, Incantation is lightyears away from “world music”, but closer to the first “Fourth World” LP Jon Hassell recorded with Brian Eno. Moreover, Robin has teamed up with fellow Swiss sculptor, Christian Pauchon, who makes “woodoorina”, inspired by “bolis”, some rather objects used by the Bamanas in Mali and neighbouring countries, that ethnologists view as “fascinating mediators between man and his environment” ; a topic that led the Mauritanian Abderrahmane Sissako and Damon Albarn to compose the opera, The Theft of the Boli. Right from the outset of Goat Skin, one realises that Robin has applied his idiosyncratic way of (mis)treating field-recordings, to dissect and re-model an array of woodoorina calls (sometimes close to drones) entwined to a rhythmic pulse, conjuring up a starry night under which a shaman, adresses his incantations to the spirits of Nature. Robin Félix being who he is, as soon as Corten, his form of quiet electronics show that he is no stranger to Throbbing Gristle or Cosey Fanni Tutti, the self-explanatory Ritual Smoke taking it a little further. The spellbinding organic basses of Rains and Cauris, fused to textures that remind the experiments of David Toop and the electroacoustics of Pierre Henry, lead the listener even deeper into a contemporary avatar of a spiritual journey. In tune with the “call and response” mode, ubiquitous in African music, Pangi brings the EP even closer to the beating heart of the continent, the interactions of the sculptor and the composer blending to such a point that one may wonder if they have exchanged roles. As a meeting point of disciplines and art forms which are not supposed to meet, Incantation is also a convincing demonstration of what the word “inspiration” means, the superb visuals included ; of course, it requires a lot of finesse and respect on all sides

Crowns by The Rebel feat. Corey James Gray is out now on 7’’ via Little Beat More!
The Rebel, aka Tommaso Taroni, producer from Rome and Founder of DJ’s Choice label, delivers a raw, soulful track that opens the door to his debut album. Crowns features the sharp lyrics and smooth, magnetic delivery by Corey James Gray (FKA Ill Spookin), riding over a sturdy groove with crisp drums and deep guitar loops.
On Side B a further explosion comes: Clap! Clap! signs a Power Trio remix of the track that flips everything on its head. With thunderous syncopated riddim and wild brass stabs, this version hits like a futuristic brass band from New Orleans: unrelenting, joyful, and rhythmically overpowering. A bold reimagining by one of Italy’s most visionary electronic producers.
Packaged in a stunning disco bag illustrated by El Moro, this 7” is both a record to play and a piece to keep. A snapshot of a fresh project in the pipeline, ready to go!

LP vinyl only release + 4 page liner notes (comes with hype sticker)

The percussive new age soundtracks of '80s and early '90s Japanese TV, anime and manga built alternative worlds and pushed boundaries in the process.

When Japanese composer Yas-Kaz left Tokyo for Bali in the mid 1970s he had little idea of how influential his trip would become. In studying the storied art of gamelan, the jazz and avant-garde percussionist opened a door to a world of sound and rhythm left behind by the West. The music he and his contemporaries made would become known as new age. It also happened to soundtrack the golden era of anime.

Awash with money and with the prerogative to entertain the burgeoning middle classes, anime in the 1980s experienced a creative and commercial boom. Not constricted by generic expectations, production houses such as the now renowned Studio Ghibli were able to experiment liberally with both form and content. And with it came the space for composers to be similarly adventurous.

TV, Anime & Manga New Age Soundtracks 1984-1993 charts this moment across eight tracks spanning classics of the genre and previously unknown rarities. The collection brings together music that found kinship in electronic and acoustic instrumentation, often combining spiritual or environmental themes with percussive, varied and highly refined syncopations of non-Western musical traditions.

Among them is ‘Kaneda’ by Geinoh Yamashirogumi, the shape-shifting group of self-styled musicians, anthropologists and computer scientists that masterminded the soundtrack to game-changing dystopian anime Akira - and with whom the sound, tuning and breakneck speed of Balinese gamelan has become indelibly entwined.

Reflecting the desires of the era to reach beyond Japan’s borders, many of the soundtracks featured were commissioned for narratives set in distant lands or alternative worlds. There’s violinist and composer Norihiro Tsuru’s ‘Farsighted Person’, written for The Heroic Legend of Arslān, set in ancient Persia; Yas-Kaz’s own ‘Hei (Theme of Shikioni)’, for period sci-fi manga & anime series Peacock King - Spirit Warrior; and two tracks - Tassili N’Ajjer and Fiesta Del Fuego - from Yoichiro Yoshikawa’s soundtrack to NHK’s proto-Planet Earth series The Miracle Planet.

Such was the variety and quality of the music produced, if there is a guiding principle to the tracks collected here it is a sense of escapism and adventure that came with the confluence of modern electronic instruments and a fascination with percussive traditions.

Elsewhere, pioneering children’s TV composer Chumei Watanabe’s ‘Fushigi Song’ (performed by a vocal group Korogi ‘72) offers a trippy and infectious groove with sonic similarities to Don Cherry’s ‘Brown Rice’; little-known jazz-funk library group Columbia Orchestra showcase the best of Tokyo’s session musicians on ‘Hearts Beats - Theme for Andrew Glasgow’; before lawyer-turned-composer Kan Ogasawara closes out the compilation with a dramatic flourish on ‘Gishin Anki’.

Following on from Time Capsule’s acclaimed deep-dive into the world of manga & anime synth-pop in 2022, this vinyl only collection is set to broaden and diversify an understanding of how soundtracks shaped the sound of new age music in Japan for a generation.

Curators: Kay Suzuki, Rintaro Sekizuka (Vinyl Delivery Service)
Artwork: Tu-yang

Much has changed for Ilan Pdahtzur since the release of his Night City Life compilation six years ago. Back then, he was a little-known record collector who shared obscure, synth-heavy music that “captured the night-time glow” of the city he calls home, London, via a dedicated Instagram page. Fast forward to 2025 and Ilan is now a respected member of the international digger-selector community, having delivered must-check mixes for the likes of Bordello A Parigi, Bayete, Hunee’s Lifetones and Sound Metaphors.

It seems a fitting time, then, for Spacetalk to unleash Night City Life II, a second deep dive into Ilan’s distinctive, neon-lit sound world – a place where European synth-pop rarities, Italo-dance treats, dancefloor-focused post-boogie instrumentals soundtrack strolls around shuttered skyscrapers, dockside housing estates and wharf-side warehouse conversions.

In the six years that have passed since the release of Night City Life, Ilan has uncovered many more rarities, private-press gems and slept-on treats, with 14 of these featuring on the dusty-fingered crate-digger’s sublime sequel. As with its predecessor, much effort has been made to track down the artists behind the synth-heavy songs on show, with the vinyl edition featuring extended liner notes where some tell the story of their track in detail. Musically, there’s much to set the pulse racing within Ilan’s superb selections, from the slow-motion shuffle of Playground’s self-released 1984 B-side ‘Rainy Day Woman’ and the brilliance of Shamor’s 1985 South African synth-pop special ‘Close To You (Bwela Pafupi)’, to Sharon & Tracy’s ‘The Sheik’ – a belly-dancing inspired slab of TB-303 bass-driven house – and the kaleidoscopic, piano-rich 1992 Euro-house brilliance of ‘Come Into My Life’ by Jennifer.

Dive deeper into the collection and more under-appreciated musical masterpieces make their presence felt. There’s Sicilian musician Claudio D’Ignoti’s lesser-known boogie-era single ‘Anche Per Noi’, where rubbery bass guitar, Nile Rodgers style disco guitar licks and spacey synths dominate the sound space, Lena’s fashion circuit-inspired, early Pet Shop Boys-esque ‘Embrasse-Moi (Strumentale)’ – one that members of Milan’s Paninaro movement would surely have enjoyed – and a sublime, spaced-out and effects laden dancefloor dub of ‘Rescue Me (Imagination)’ by Jimmy D, a genuinely sought-after jam originally released on a now impossible-to-find seven-inch single. Offering another genuinely distinctive, carefully curated collection of lesser-known musical treats, Night City Life II is another essential, immersive and synthesizer-powered journey through Ilan’s unique sonic world.

Happy to introduce our sub-label, Haworthia Records, the Luzerna's little sister,

For the 1st release, Nømad Soul recalls the 80s/90s nostalgia with its Transpace EP, a futuristic universe with retro sounds.. Side A emanates from body music beats into a ravy atmosphere, towards techno of sideral dimensions with a B-side from the deep space..

Special collaborative project ARUM lands on the ESHU imprint. Something that every ESHU release has in common is that each project originates from friendship or a cooperation between like minded souls. This release is no different from that. "Guus" refers to the owner of a little cabin studio where a group of friends came together to create some beats. ARUM consists of Kaap (De Lichting), Jasper Wolff (Indigo aera), Luna Ludmila and ESHU head honcho Ivano Tetelepta himself. After an extended weekend of studio sessions this was the last jam created on a hazy Sunday afternoon when the crew headed into deep dub territories. The result is a five minute long smooth dub techno ride honoring Guus and the perfect Sunday ethos. If you talk dub techno, you talk about Deadbeat. Nothing would suit this release more than a remix by this true icon in dub techno and a close friend to the ESHU family. Happy Sundayzzz.

Introducing Griffith’s debut release, "Nineteen EP" by Romanian artist Mihai Pol. Known for his instinctive approach to groove and atmosphere, Mihai crafts music that feels organic and immersive, drawing subtle influence from the world around him.

At the heart of the release is "Nineteen", a long-awaited gem produced in 2020. Defined by a hypnotic groove and a striking synth that almost sings like a human voice, the track has become one of Mihai’s most anticipated cuts, impossible to forget once heard. Alongside it, three equally refined productions complete the EP, each carrying his signature rolling energy and deep, immersive flow.

A great first step for Griffith, with plenty more to come.

South Londons’ indomitable Medlar delivers an ambitious new album

The long-time underground favourite has collaborated with the likes of Dele Sosimi, Rebekah Reid, Deevoenay, Finn Peters, Sam Virdie, Afla Sackey and Arnau Obiols on an album that finds him taking his production to new levels.
From roots playing illegal raves in the South West to building up a cultured catalogue that bounces between house and garage, Medlar has long been part of the underground conversation. He has dropped a previous album and many innovative remixes and edits for the likes of Billy Cobham and Shirley Lites, worked in the studio and on stage with Afro legend Dele Sosimi and most recently released an album under his own name that collected myriad different sonic sketches from the past 15 years.

Islands is an altogether different proposition that comes after establishing himself as a mix engineer and producer of other people's music. In that time, Medlar has honed his skills, learnt new tricks and grown more able to express himself in sound. The result is an album that explores a more electronic palette inspired by '80s fusion sounds whilst maintaining a loose, organic flow through his use of live instrumentation. “The idea for the LP was for a collection of music which could sit alone as club tracks, but would work equally well as part of a whole. The name Islands came from this, as there's some connecting ideas but the tracks sit independently in their own little sonic worlds. I took a lot of inspiration from early 80’s electronic music produced during early years of MIDI technology… proto house, jazz fusion, electronic disco and experimental ambient. I wanted to juxtapose some of these methods with more contemporary production and make something that's ultimately quite fun!” says Medlar of the record which could easily soundtrack a summer road trip.

Across 11 tracks, he blends old-school techniques like a fusion of live instruments, FM synthesis and MIDI triggered vocal samples with more contemporary touches such as punchy, club-friendly drums and dub inspired, speaker-wobbling low end. The result is less reliant on samples than his previous works and makes for a perfect blend of retro authenticity and future freshness.

Red Pig Flower brings you her sensational debut album Practice Love, available on Sound Of Vast from 10th April. Her unique sound sits upon the apex of a three-sided pyramid. With Berlin, Tokyo and Seoul as the base, Red is a third culture kid, greater than the sum of her parts. The centre is filled with her incredible appreciation and knowledge of house and electronic music from every pin drop through history.

So taken with Red Pig Flower’s sound, Honey Dijon invited Red to her Southbank Centre show to play alongside her. Moxie loves her that much, that she invited Red to record a mix and to guest on her NTS show. Alan Fitzpatrick, and Just Her are amongst Red’s growing posse of followers.

Practice Love is a culmination of all of Red Pig Flower’s life experiences, brimming with her positive energy and an outlook on life of pure love. Red has collaborated with like-minded artists at every level: the music, the cover art and video all produced with talented friends, who get Red as the wonderful person she is and understand her vision. Her label partner and good friend, Knock in particular helped make Practice Love the incredible album it is. So intuitive is their musical symbiosis, they made 20 tracks and carefully curated and ordered nine of these, making an album of tracks that stand out on their own, yet flow perfectly as an album. Practice Love will make you feel joyous when you play it. By the end, you will feel like you know Red like a friend.

Practice Love kicks off with I don’t care, it makes you feel good: a dreamy, tribal mantra of a track that does exactly what it says on the tin. Next up is I Love To Dance. Red’s beautiful soft vocal is sweet yet poignant, leaving you in no doubt of her sincerity. Thirdly comes Feel Good Music. Are you getting a feel from the track names yet that this is an album of warmth and positivity? You can imagine this one at a Café Del Mar sunset, where those who get the spirituality of Ibiza come together, in the moment to appreciate the beauty of a sunset and understand that no matter how many you see, each is magical and unique.

The three tracks so far have taken you to twilight. The titular Practice Love takes you by the hand onto the dancefloor. There is a double meaning to ‘Practice Love’- The first is to make love your practice. The second is that you need to practice love to be able to become a practitioner of love. The video, shot by her friend Jelly, features Red Pig Flower in Brick Lane, London, wearing a little piggy mask and offering free hugs. The first passersby ignore her sign, but Red isn’t disheartened, spreading the right message, dancing with joy. Her optimism is rewarded, making peoples day better on a cold English afternoon.

Fifth track Sax and Drugs takes things a little sleazier, the beat is filthy and the synths are sexy. Your body starts to move to this one before your brain even realises. The incredible Declan McDermott joins on saxophone, the funkiest synths and Red’s sultry vocal washing your soul with Laurent Garnier inspired sunlight. On Thisiz House Music, again featuring Declan, Red takes you even further back. About Frankie Knuckles O’Clock, with a portal straight to 2025.

By now, you will agree with me that Practice Love flows so, so well. I Wanna Meet Somebody follows incredibly, continuing the feeling that if you close your eyes, you’re dancing with David Mancuso at the Loft. No Money completes this EP-within-an-album. Perfect vocal samples, valve synth riff and 808 drum patterns showing that producers as good as Red Pig Flower make it sound effortless. The best albums finish memorably and No Genre is one of those perfect finishers. Think Andrew Wetherall’s production on Screamadelica. The lights are up in the club, nobody wants to go home, arms in the air wanting more.

Red Pig Flower explains: Practice Love resonates deeply with me because house music has always been a sanctuary—a place for unity, joy, and self-expression. As a nomad and outsider, club culture and house music became my shelter. The cities I’ve lived in—Seoul, Tokyo, Berlin, and London and more—nurtured me and shaped who I am today. That’s why the cover, by the incredible Carlos Sulpizio features their skylines, and the album is multilingual, representing the diverse influences in my life.

Practice Love is like a meal that has been prepared lovingly. They always taste better. And there’s plenty more to come from Red Pig Flower. How was your appetizer?

Nadia Struiwigh returns to Blueprint for her second EP "The X1 Shift EP is more than a collection of tracks; it's a story, a refl ection of the shifts I've embraced, and the identity I'm uncovering at my core. I've always felt that music is storytelling, not boxes to be labelled. Whether through ambient textures, techno grooves, or experimental soundscapes, each genre represents a chapter in a bigger story.


The magic lies in weaving them together into something timeless and deeply resonant-much like the origins of electronic music. For me, the essence of being an artist is freedom-creating without limits and exploring the beauty of the unexpected.

This EP represents thatfreedom: the love of pushing boundaries, the courage to evolve, and the joy of stepping into the unknown. Every sound on X1 Shift is intentional, every transition meaningful, yet there's also room for spontaneity.
Technically, the EP features the tools and hardware that inspire me: the Korg Electribe (my heart), Yamaha DX200, NI Maschine+, Arturia Minifreak, and plugins from NI and Plugin Alliance.
These tools became the palette for painting this journey.

Thank you, James, for supporting this music and giving it a second round. Your belief in this, especially something a little out of the box, means the world to me!!
Here's to breaking free, telling stories, and creating from the heart.

Googling “paradise house”, the first results to pop up are an endless list of European b&b’s with whitewashed lime façades, all of them promising “…an unmatched travel experience a few steps from the sea”. Next, a little further down, are the institutional websites of a few select semi-luxury retirement homes (no photos shown, but lots of stock images of smiling nurses with reassuring looks). To find the “paradise house” we’re after, we have to scroll even further down. Much further down.

It feels like yesterday, and at the same time it seems like a million years ago. The Eighties had just ended, and it was still unclear what to expect from the Nineties. Mobile phones that were not the size of a briefcase and did not cost as much as a car? A frightening economic crisis? The guitar-rock revival?! Certainly, the best place to observe that moment of transition was the dancefloor. Truly epochal transformations were happening there. From America, within a short distance one from the other, two revolutionary new musical styles had arrived: the first one sounded a bit like an “on a budget” version of the best Seventies disco-music – Philly sound made with a set of piano-bar keyboards! – the other was even more sparse, futuristic and extraterrestrial. It was a music with a quite distinct “physical” component, which at the same time, to be fully grasped, seemed to call for the knotty theories of certain French post-modern philosophers: Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Paul Virilio... Both those genres – we would learn shortly after – were born in the black communities of Chicago and Detroit, although listening to those vinyl 12” (often wrapped in generic white covers, and with little indication in the label) you could not easily guess whether behind them there was a black boy from somewhere in the Usa, or a girl from Berlin, or a pale kid from a Cornish coastal town.

Quickly, similar sounds began to show up from all corners of Europe. A thousand variations of the same intuition: leaner, less lean, happier, slightly less intoxicated, more broken, slower, faster, much faster... Boom! From the dancefloors – the London ones at least, whose chronicles we eagerly read every month in the pages of The Face and i-D – came tales of a new generation of clubbers who had completely stopped “dressing up” to go dancing; of hot tempered hooligans bursting into tears and hugging everyone under the strobe lights as the notes of Strings of Life rose up through the fumes of dry ice (certain “smiling” pills were also involved, sure). At this point, however, we must move on to Switzerland.

In Switzerland, in the quiet and diligent town of Lugano, between the 1980s and 1990s there was a club called “Morandi”. Its hot night was on Wednesdays, when the audience also came from Milan, Como, Varese and Zurich. Legend goes that, one night, none less than Prince and Sheila E were spotted hiding among the sofas, on a day-off of the Italian dates of the Nude Tour… The Wednesday resident and superstar was an Italian dj with an exotic name: Don Carlos. The soundtrack he devised was a mixture of Chicago, Detroit, the most progressive R&B and certain forgotten classics of old disco music: practically, what the Paradise Garage in New York might have sounded like had it not closed in 1987. In between, Don Carlos also managed to squeeze in some tracks he had worked on in his studio on Lago Maggiore. One in particular: a track that was rather slow compared to the BPM in fashion at the time, but which was a perfect bridge between house and R&B. The title was Alone: Don Carlos would explain years later that it had to be intended both in the English meaning of “by itself” and like the Italian word meaning “halo”. That wasn’t the only double entendre about the song, anyway. Its own very deep nature was, indeed, double. On the one hand, Alone was built around an angelic keyboard pattern and a romantic piano riff that took you straight to heaven; on the other, it showcased enough electronic squelches (plus a sax part that sounded like it had been dissolved by acid rain) to pigeonhole the tune into the “junk modernity” section, aka the hallmark of all the most innovative sounds of the time: music that sounded like it was hand-crafted from the scraps of glittering overground pop.

No one knows who was the first to call it “paradise house”, nor when it happened. Alternative definitions on the same topic one happened to hear included “ambient house”, “dream house”, “Mediterranean progressive”… but of course none were as good (and alluring) as “paradise house”. What is certain is that such inclination for sounds that were in equal measure angelic and neurotic, romantic and unaffective, quickly became the trademark of the second generation of Italian house. Music that seemed shyly equidistant from all the rhythmic and electronic revolutions that had happened up to that moment (“Music perfectly adept at going nowhere slowly” as noted by English journalist Craig McLean in a legendary field report for Blah Blah Blah magazine). Music that to a inattentive ear might have sounded as anonymous as a snapshot of a random group of passers-by at 10AM in the centre of any major city, but perfectly described the (slow) awakening in the real world after the universal love binge of the so-called Second Summer of Love.

For a brief but unforgettable season, in Italy “paradise house” was the official soundtrack of interminable weekends spent inside the car, darting from one club to another, cutting the peninsula from North to centre, from East to West coast in pursuit of the latest after-hours disco, trading kilometres per hour with beats per minute: practically, a new New Year’s Eve every Friday and Saturday night. This too was no small transformation, as well as a shock for an adult Italy that was encountering for the first time – thanks to its sons and daughters – the wild side of industrial modernity. The clubbers of the so-called “fuoriorario” scene were the balls gone mad in the pinball machine most feared by newspapers, magazines and TV pundits. What they did each and every weekend, apart from going crazy to the sound of the current white labels, was linking distant geographical points and non-places (thank you Marc Augé!) – old dance halls, farmhouses and business centres – transformed for one night into house music heaven. As Marco D’Eramo wrote in his 1995 essay on Chicago, Il maiale e il grattacielo: “Four-wheeled capitalism distorts our age-old image of the city, it allows the suburbs to be connected to each other, whereas before they were connected only by the centre (…) It makes possible a metropolitan area without a metropolis, without a city centre, without downtown. The periphery is no longer a periphery of any centre, but is self-centred”.

“Paradise house” perfectly understood all of this and turned it into a sort of cyber-blues that didn’t even need words, and unexpectedly brought back a drop of melancholic (post?)-humanity within a world that by then – as we would wholly realise in the decades to come – was fully inhuman and heartless. A world where we were all alone, and surrounded by a sinister yellowish halo, like a neon at the end of its life cycle. But, for one night at least, happy."

Laurin Rinder & W. Michael Lewis's Seven Deadly Sins is a hugely influential, synth-powered, atmospheric space-disco masterpiece. It's arguably the best American Disco LP ever made. It's certainly one of the most important albums in the history of dance music. And, like its innovative producers, it's absolute genius.

During the mid to late seventies the production team of Laurin Rinder and W. Michael Lewis helped to define the Disco sound that was coming out of Los Angeles with studio projects such as El Coco, Saint Tropez, Le Pamplemousse (with vocals from The Jones Girls), In Search Of Orchestra and many others.

Like all of their work, Seven Deadly Sins comprises beautifully arranged and incredibly well produced deep disco that is revered by aficionados. A seven track, largely instrumental concept album covering each of the sins, it was recorded for AVI in 1977. It's a brilliantly conceived, groove-fuelled album that layers moogy keys and druggy synths over club-ready rhythms. The idea that this record is celebrating rather than condemning the sins is said to be another factor that made the record a big one in the underground clubs.

Opening sin “Lust” is an intense, swelling, seven minute blockbuster synth journey. An ethereal Loft/Garage classic, it's a sprawling, brooding slice of epic dancefloor dynamite that remains a firm favourite of discerning disco heads like Harvey. So ahead of its time, it still sounds ridiculously fresh today, drifting through a multitude of melodies over a smooth, lightly percussive mid-tempo beat. A slow-mo sexy killer.

Up next, the sprightly-manic “Sloth” is nothing like its title. A driving, swaggering instrumental incorporating the same Euro-disco elements as our Daft Parisian friends did a few decades on, it's certainly not for the faint-hearted.

A clear highlight, the cosmic, throbbing proto-techno of “Gluttony” gets things firmly back on track. Pure industrial vibes with dark synth bass punctuated by uplifting melodic sequences that brilliantly utilise guitar and horns, is this the sound of Wax! Trax being born? You won't be able to get enough of this.

Opening up the B-Side, “Pride” is a breezy slice of classic late seventies jazz/funk with deft Hammond and clavinet grooves and expansive horn sections. It's absolutely fantastic. The wicked leftfield vocal cut “Envy” provides more disco pump with squelchy acid synth flourishes, funky guitar and neck-snapping percussive breaks.

The dark proto-techno/house cut “Anger” is a fully on top tour de force of drums. With heavy African percussion throughout and a short Afrobeat section towards the end, it was sampled by Carl Craig and Laurent Garnier for their Tres Demented project and was also a massive Ron Hardy / Music Box favourite. The album is rounded out by the hard-grooving “Covetousness”, another driving jazz-funk workout par excellence with liberal use of the syndrum.

As Laurin Rinder recalled in an interview with Dream Chimney, the duo essentially lived in the studio: “we really had cots, beds and the whole thing, we were just pumpin’ them out. 7 days a week, 3 different projects at the same time. I played drums on everything but had to play a little differently. I had to ask the engineer ‘What’s the name of this group?‘”.

Evidently, their prolific output was the result of a crazy cocaine-fuelled production schedule: “The amount of coke we did, to do all this, you can’t even imagine. $300 a day. I had to have plastic inserts in my nose so I could do more.” Looking at the frankly terrifying cover, you'd have never known!

Be With is beyond delighted to present the first ever legit vinyl reissue of Seven Deadly Sins, carefully remastered by Be With's engineer Simon Francisco to ensure it sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The unforgettable cover artwork has been reproduced here at Be With - dare you stare back at it for too long?

For their third release Ethos Records invites DimDJ. The well-established Greek artist digs deeper,
matching the label’s previous releases, delivering an unfiltered & raw sounding EP.
This will be sent to the record shops.
The release will be a limited pressing with each record featuring a hand stamped number on the label. Ethos Records is a vinyl only record label based in Athens, GR. It’s aim is to present music from carefully curated artists that are consistent & true to their sound regardless the current trends or hype.

Clear Memory welcomes En Direct back. After their appearance on CLEAR001 they released two EP's on our sister label Lunatic. With 'The Illusion Of Control', En Direct release their first album. A long player diving deep into the realms of the human mind and its abyss. Exploring insecurities, uproar and mania with Industrial studies and EBM, rounding it off with bittersweet Minimal Wave and Electro for the sleepless Edition of 200, comes with Info-Sheet.

Deeply Armed announce release of debut single, ‘The Healing’.

Release features remixes by Andrew Innes (Primal Scream) & Brendan Lynch (Lynch Mob/Paul Weller) and Keith Tenniswood (2 Lone Swordsmen/Radioactive Man).

Belfast’s Deeply Armed have been making subterranean waves for a while now, with tracks being passed around serious heads via various samizdat channels. Andrew Weatherall was an early booster. David Holmes dropped an incredible psychedelic remix that was played out live on specific ritual occasions – but now the trio finally break cover with a three-track 12” that combines deep soul with Krautrock grooves and a rock and roll heart.

With their debut 12” Deeply Armed announce themselves as a singular presence on the fringes of electronic underground sound, hallucinating the kind of phantom dancefloor moves that would reconcile the version, the loop and the live jam with the kind of audacious pop elan of a dream Phil Spector/Dennis Bovell/Conny Plank mega mix.

At times like these we could all do with a little healing, and Deeply Armed are the ones to bring it.

THE VINYLBOX COLLECTION IS BACK REDISCOVER ALL THE BEST SONGS FROM THE CULT MOVIES OF QUENTIN TARENTINO. STARRING : JOETEX, ISAAC HAYES, DICK DALE, ELVIN BISHOP, JOHNNY CASH, AL GREEN, RICKY NELSON, LINK WRAY, ...

2025 Repress

Running Back’s Double Copy subsidiary for house music history returns with four musical masterpieces from Chicago, London and an international cast from Italy on its first various artist sampler.
Originally released on Roy Davis Jr.’s Undaground Therapy outlet, Destination Heaven by the enigmatic Earth Boys project delivers a piece of cloud-nine-deep-house that was a staple at Frankfurt’s Wild Pitch Club and during the early days of its successor Robert Johnson. Produced by Cloudy Eyes and Cole Brooks, we unfortunately have never heard from the duo again. Luckily, Family of Few have been a little bit more productive. Also known as Mind Readers, Kevin Elliot and Billy ‚Jack“ Williams produced some of the more tender moments on Detroits 430 West label. Intervoles is amongst the most peculiar and catchy tracks that slow-burning dance floors can hope for.
The flip side turns the attention to the conclusions that Europe drew from its US-role-models. Released in 1992 on Rena Records with the involvement of New York’s JoVonn (a distinct genius of deep grooves himself), the keyboard skills of Pierre Audetat and the production work of I. Betti, M. Clemente and W. Brown, Dummy Head is one of a kind. Swirly echoes, dubby textures and a heavy bass line mate on the Edit Mix of I Have Been Wanting You to create one of the very first examples of fully formed dub-house.
Similar pioneering properties can be ascribed to the work of Rob Mello. We don’t have enough room here to list all his merits, but rest assured that the UK’s house scene wouldn’t be the same without him (Luxury Service Records, Classic et al). Under the Karim guise, Mello delivered a unique stroke of genius. Distilling the essence of deep house, while looking far into the future, In My Mind is many things at once: broken beat, electro, house with embracing chords, and – if you will – a warm-up banger. and does, what all the tracks in here do: turning heads then, turning heads now. Hardcore Deep House!

Born in 1989 in Bamako, Mali, Nfaly Diakité is a member of the Donsow, Bambara animist hunters. Nfaly Diakité is named after his grandfather, the late Nfaly Diakité, one of Mali’s most respected donso chiefs. His grandfather did not play, but as a leading figure in the donso brotherhood, he was always accompanied by musician Yoro Sidibé. Nfaly grew up alongside Yoro Sidibé, who became his first master of the donso ngoni, a type of eight-stringed antelope skin harp. After leaving school to devote himself to his instrument, Nfaly continued his apprenticeship with Diakaria Diakité and Oumar Sidibé, two donso masters from the Wassolo region.

He quickly made a name for himself in the donso community and was much asked to play at the traditional ceremonies of his brotherhood. He then met percussionist Ibrahim Sarr and joined the BKO Quintet, with whom he recorded an album and toured Europe and the United States. His virtuosity on the donso ngoni soon attracted attention, and he took part in numerous music and dance festivals in Mali and abroad, with the aim of raising awareness of this little-known traditional instrument.

Nfaly Diakité is also a Kônô, meaning that he is responsible for passing on the history and culture of the Bambara people through music and song. He pursues his mission by combining tradition with more contemporary sounds and by collaborating with artists from a wide range of musical backgrounds. For him, music is a means of conveying messages of peace, love and harmony, and his compositions evoke the values of respect, tolerance and open-mindedness.

‘Tribute to Toumani Koné’ is Nfay Diakité’s first solo album, recorded in Bamako in June 2020. On the album, Nfaly is the only singer, providing backing vocals and playing the donso ngoni and keregne. The album is a tribute to the storyteller and poet Toumani Koné, the greatest donso ngoni player since N’gonifo Bourama. Nfaly Diakité is a representative of the new generation of donso ngoni players and he wishes to pay tribute to Toumani Koné, who throughout his long career has been a symbol of courage, daring, loyalty and honesty.

The nine-track of this solo album leaves no room for hesitation. Three instruments (donso ngoni, voice and keregne) manage to carry one into another dimension without ever tiring. The fitting and precise rhythm is a deep but melodious transe. Nfaly’s voice plays between expressive urgency and calm wisdom, and the choruses with his own voice multiply the planes of dimension of the music. The donso n’goni, of which Nfaly is an excellent player, sounds rough and earthy but always clear and sharp. All the strength of a music that does not belong to a single musician but to a long cultural tradition of which he is the spokesman is expressed here. The young Nfaly, thanks to his experience and sensitivity, succeeds on his own in pushing us into this world without feeling the weight of tradition but only the liberation of music that sounds all the more contemporary. This album is to be listened to in its entirety as one tight journey between repeated formulas, highlights and moments of rest within the same relentless rhythm. The densest moment is probably found in the heart of the album, between the tracks Nankama (the predestined one) and Mogote Diabeye (no one can please everyone). Here, the message, which can be deciphered from the translation of the lyrics, seems to transcend language barriers and intepret us directly about our human condition, urging us to move our bodies to the dense rhythm of life.

Born less than an hour from Chicago but now based in Detroit, Rick Wade cut his DJ teeth in Michigan's Nectarine Ballroom in the 80s and early 90s, at the same time as a certain Jeff Mills was also making giant strides at the venue. Wade's sound is more rooted in deep house but, as this four tracker demonstrates, there's a cosmic spirituality and otherworldliness to his music that it shares with the best of UR and other notable Detroit greats. We kick off with 'Groove Tool', powered by a beautifully pliable, funky bassline and embellished with floating chords and subtle bell sounds way up in the high frequency range. 'Pimp Prophecy' boasts a little more disco swagger, with its niggling guitar riff and some excellent bongo bashing. 'Jazzy Tears' revolves around a sturdy kick and a processed, timestretched vocal refrain, played off against jazzy guitar chords and strings ascending to the heavens. 'Ooo Ahh' is probably the catchiest of the lot, with a shuffling beat undercarriage and an infectious hook, all wrapped up - as all four tracks are - in some understated but still lush musicality. 'Deep Incantations' indeed.

2025 Repress
2019 is mule musiq’s 15 years anniversary. we’re going to release twelve 12inchs with our friend artists and stefan marx make the collectable artwork. last release of the series is swedish house maffia axel boman.

first track,”chestnut hearts” is super emotional no beat club banger,axel played at his latest boiler room,”slave to the vibe” is slow mo cosmic tune,”paid by the rhythm” is axel’s signature floating house,”copacabana dub” is epic brazilian affair deep house anthem, “don’t bug me” is dubby rasta tune,”konoba boba” reminds little bit early border community sound.

thank you so much for supporting us 15 years!

Moton Records celebrates its 50th release!

We are proud to announce our 50th release sees a return for The Mighty Zaf, who did Moton 38 back in 2018 - our biggest selling Moton release to date. After four years of inactivity, largely due to the passing of best friend and genius engineer Phil Asher, Zaf has teamed up with Linkwood and created a spellbinding EP every bit as good as his previous Moton release.

‘Things Could Be’ is gospel soul funk killer and was made before its original creator Quincy Jones passed away recently; ‘Connect Here’ is one for the disco funk boys; ‘Gee Oh Dee’ is an obscure left-field disco gospel banger.

Moton’s fiftieth release promises to be special!

DJ Feedback

Colin Dale - I love this 3 tracker. In a sea of so many faceless and monotonous tracks this EP stands head and shoulders above the rest. Music drenched in soul, blues from a more innocent age from back in the halcyon days of black music. Music to ease your soul.

Rocky x press 2: Another mighty 3 track ep of killer cuts from Moton. Perfect companion to the Ghosted Edits 49th release. Loving all 3 edits but Things Could Be is a worthy a side and definitely my favourite. A tribute to the late Quincy Jones and a little nod to Phlash on the label. Class all the way. Massive props to Zaf and the Moton crew.

Jeremy Underground: Uplifting outro that takes you to a higher dimension!

Norman Jay: Does some justice to Q’s work..

Is it really into the unknown? Lewis Fautzi is once again with us, in his own imprint, and everytime he is around we feel deeply appreciated. It means that, although there's a guide line that immediately identifies his work as his, he also opens a little bit more to us. Every EP is like a step further into his own mind, a breach to the deepness of his intrusive thoughts and ideas. All the words would be useless if we tried to describe this one. The tracks are self explainable and were meticulously created as that is part of his trademark. And regarding the first question we can only answer yes, it is really into the unknown. Or at least into something of his we have never experienced before. And perhaps after listening to it we'll be able to know him and understand his work a little bit better than before.

Arriving on a limited 200-copy translucent orange vinyl, 'Dark REM' on Cuddling Monsters’ second release on Mask Records is a hunched-over and direct dub techno cut with forceful drums and deft percussion, adding texture next to warm, sustained pads.

There's a real sense of urgency in this most frictionless groove, which means it cannot fail to cast a spell on the dance floor. The fantastic 'Event Horizon' is then infused with the aura of deep space - sustained chords with a cosmic edge add vast scale to the well-programmed deep techno drums. 'Monster Talk' is a mid-tempo dub track with underlapping drums and rattling, rusted chords that disappear to infinity. It's cavernous and evocative, with myriad little details occupying the mind. 'Temporal Aura' is another standout sound that blends deep techno, dub, and minimal into a serene soundtrack that encourages inward reflection while driving onwards through the cosmos.

Mask Records founder ZentaSkai and his creative partner Laura Merino Allue are Berlin mainstays helping shape the underground. Cuddling Monsters is a new project that debuted on the label in March. It is all about crafting music with analogue instruments, which they believe "offer distinctive sonic qualities, creative constraints, and genuine sound reproduction”. They explore Detroit-infused house, dub techno and minimal soundscapes with raw edges and a great sense of atmosphere. Cuddling Monsters'

Always endeavoring to drop it a little way different, Ital Counselor Records once again stretch things in a forward direction while paying full and forceful tribute to that which has come before. This heartical 7" is a tribute to the late great Prince Lincoln Thompson in the form of a reimagined take on his composition "Kinky Money Game."

It is with great honor that ITAL COUNSELOR records has been able to work with two legends of the music business on this slab of plastic. Firstly, Jeb Loy Nichols comes with a storied history in music and the visual arts. He first came to ITAL COUNSELOR’s attention upon discovering the 1981 compilation, “Wild Paarty Sounds” via Cherry Red/On-U Sound. Later would be greater, with projects skirting the realms of country, soul, reggae, and leftfield. Bands like the Fellow Travelers, solo albums with Adrian Sherwood, and more recently writing songs for Horace Andy’s latest On-U album have all contributed to an impressive body of work.

Over the years when Jeb is not making music, he can be found writing books or churning out block prints of birds, leaves, pithy phrases, and the odd sleeve art for labels like Pressure Sounds, and, yes ITAL COUNSELOR. His sleeve work on this 7” indeed captures the essence of the music hiding under the cardboard exterior. Lo-fi, retro while poignantly on time. Social commentary manifested auditorily and visually.

Jeb’s reinterpretation of Thompson's original bubbles over a slow burning one drop built by none other than Studio One, Riz Records, and Tuff Scout Records alum Gil Cang. In yet another musical first brought to you by ITAL COUNSELOR, this piece of wax represents the only time Jeb and Gil have worked together. The results are a magical mix equally at home in the hands of a sound system operator unconstrained by the current ‘steppers’ norms as it is on a home stereo where one can deeply sit with the lyrics of depth and significance. An old time something feel for these nowadays times. An ITAL COUNSELOR Records essential.

Feel the vibes…

From Sweden with Italo to Dresden with love. Stockholm's DJ City drops his first release on Dresden's Uncanny Valley with the COSMICOMICS EP, a 100% fun record for all the senses, deeply inspired by Italo Calvino's iconic short story collection.

The stories have inspired DJ City to a record that aesthetically draws from 80s Italo Disco and 70s science fiction films. In the book, each story is based on a scientific fact about the world and the cosmos whilst using fiction to ask how we understand it. Where Calvino's stories are comical and absurd, DJ City surrenders to the sublime and romantic and moves further into the metaphysical world that Calvino created to come up with three energetic and melodic tracks bursting heavily with fantasy and drama. Deeply rooted in dance music's history, they shine with Hi-NRG-vibes, strict dancefloor commitment and little easter eggs like that Drexciya-reference in COSMICOMICS.

The cover of the record is a painting from 2020 by Swedish artist Jens Faenge called THE INN. The picture seems to have been broken up into several dimensions, and abstract details make it difficult for the viewer to know exactly what and when the scene is taking place. When shown in Shanghai, the painting was censored by government agents and had to be taken down. A testament to the power of the image. Perhaps it shows our main character, perhaps it shows us the author or the artist. Depending on who listens, who reads and who looks, a multitude of universes open.

First Word Records is very proud to bring you the 10th anniversary edition of Tall Black Guy's debut LP '8 Miles to Moenart'!

It includes two brand new jazz interpretations ('From Home To Work, And Back' and 'Running The Motor'), recorded with a live band, as well as a new intro cut ('Black Detroit'), and an alternative mix of the single 'Mon Amie De'troit', previously only available on 7" vinyl.

The original vinyl LP release was a one-time limited edition pressing; this being the first time this project has been available on wax since then, and also includes entirely new artwork and photography.

From humble origins in Detroit, raised on a healthy diet of Motown, jazz and hip hop, Terrel Wallace (aka Tall Black Guy) has become a standard bearer for the hip hop beats scene. Through a steady stream of soulful productions filled with incredibly clever sample flips and deft production chops, he has won fans across the world, including Gilles Peterson, Benji B, Don Letts, Lefto, Tom Ravenscroft, Lord Finesse, Huey Morgan, Anthony Valadez and countless others, along with sessions for Boiler Room and more.

'8 Miles To Moenart' literally brought Tall Black Guy full circle, and proceeds to do so once again. Detroit was where he started making music, and it's to his hometown he took inspiration for this debut album. Taking in low-slung hip hop, downtempo house and jazz-tinged street soul, it's a record of rare focus. It encapsulated the musical heritage of Detroit, through the looking glass of Tall Black Guy's own signature sound.

Follow up releases included his sophomore First Word album 'Let's Take A Trip' (which also featured the likes of Masego, Daniel Crawford, Miles Bonny and Moonchild), and records on Ubiquity, Bastard Jazz and Street Corner Music, to name a few, along with a steady slew of limited self-released edits amd productions, most recently with his #7DayVaults series.

He's worked with a number of formidable artists worldwide, including recent extensive work with Zo! (Little Brother), Ozay Moore, Deborah Bond and Dee Jackson (80's Babies), as well as collaborations with 14KT and First Word label-mate Allysha Joy, to name just a few. He is also an integral player for DJ Jazzy Jeff's infamous PLAYlist Retreat sessions, along with more First Word family, Kaidi Tatham and Eric Lau, as well as artists like James Poyser, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Questlove, and he was a core contributor to First Word's 'Nothing Leaves The House' series, along with Eric, Mr Thing and kidkanevil.

Tall Black Guy has firmly established himself to be one of the most influential producers working today.

Terrel says "I made the bulk of this album back in Detroit around 2012/2013, before I relocated to the UK. I've been back living and working in the States for a while now, and it's great to look back on this project. But while it's nice to reminisce, it's important to look forwards, so I wanted to include something new here to represent my progression as an artist, so there's some new versions included, that I created with the help of some jazz musician friends of mine."

'8 Miles to Moenart' (10th Anniversary Edition) will be released on digital & vinyl on October 18th 2024.



c 03: Funeral Biz / Welcome to Detroit (Interlude) feat. Malice & Mario Sweet

e 05: Mon Amie De`troit (7" Version) feat. Ozay Moore

Tras el éxito de ventas con su primer lanzamiento, Little Ravers presentan la segunda entrega de esta saga de remixes. Como ya sabes, tras este seudónimo enigmático se encuentran varios artistas desconocidos que están listos para traer de vuelta la magia de la escena rave remezclando clásicos de la gran época dorada de la electrónica
¡¡¡..Si aún no tienes la primera entrega de esta saga, corre a por ella porque quedan muy pocas y están volando..!!!
Ya puedes reservar la segunda entrega…!!!

Cultured Swiss techno label Acquit has put together this cheeky little 7" from Trecci with one great tune on each side. 'Invisible Self' is the opener and it is a delightfully curious, inviting blend of soft focus synth loops and smeared pads that sounds like waking up on a distant planet. On the flip, 'Sit And Wonder' starts with pensive piano chords which are eventually carried away on a supple deep house grove with loopy bongos and a feel-good sense of late-night cruising. Tasteful stuff for sure.

“Wild Boy …” is a reissue of the well-known 2016 release curated by Brian Chidester, renowned researcher and biographer of Eden Ahbez. Especially for this album, Brian wrote an interesting text about Abi’s life, which definitely became the decoration of the release.
With the new 2020 re-release, we went a little further and kept what is commonly referred to as studio cuts. It’s a few more minutes in the studio with ahbez himself, full of emotion and life. In addition, to the delight of fans, the edition includes an additional composition Nature Boy (Mantovani Orchestra).
Especially, it is worth noting the outstanding mastering prepared from practically decomposed tapes by the Grammy-nominated Jessica Thompson, which guarantees the deepest and warmth possible sound. Jessica a huge ahbez fan and we’re highly appreciated for what she has done to save his music for the future.
Eden Ahbez is definitely at the origin of psychedelic music and this release can be taken as further proof. Over the past twenty years, the iconic figure of the world’s first hippie Eden ahbez has become famous primarily for his 1948 song “Nature Boy”, praising universal love, and his amazingly solo album from the 1960s called “Eden’s Island” – one from the first concept albums in the history of music and probably the first psychedelic music album. “Wild Boy: The Lost Songs Of Eden Ahbez” deepens understanding of the origins of the psychedelic movement in the 1950s.
The disc contains a musical selection of works by Eden ahbez himself, written by him in the period after Nature Boy. The inclusion of songs such as “Palm Springs” – Ray Anthony Orchestra and “Hey Jacques” by Erta Kitt gives the listener the chance to discover for the first time the little-known recordings of world-famous artists composed by Eden ahbez. Through “Wild Boy” and “Surfer John” you can hear the author’s handling of absurd rock and exotic experimentation, as well as sweet psychedelic pop like Monterey (with Paul Horn on flute). Overall, Wild Boy: The Lost Songs Of Eden Ahbez offers an overview of the lost works of 1949-1971 with seven unpublished recordings and eight rare singles.
If in 2020 you are missing the hallucinogenic content in Eden Ahbez, it amazingly makes up for that deficiency with simple chords, expansive arrangements, and lyrics about travel, relaxation, free love, and spirituality. Thus creating the standard of psychedelic music. Eden Ahbez’s songs weren’t only fantasy and his personal philosophy was the real thing that he lived.

reviews:

“This carefully and extensively researched compilation culls covers by top notch mainstream artists juxtaposed with unreleased Eden recordings. What might sound like a mixed bag is actually more like a chronological, musical non-fiction novel about Eden Ahbez. While Eden was writing hundreds of songs and performing live and making recordings in various styles, his songs were also being picked up by popular artists like Nat King Cole and Eartha Kitt who recorded with a more polished mainstream style. There are also some early rock n roll style recordings here. Eden’s professionally recordings often end up as Novelty Pop records such as “Child of Nature” and “The Clam Man” but if you read between the lines and listen to the lyrics it is pretty eye-opening that he is singing about Eastern-religion-style and pre-hippie philosophies about being at one with the planet Earth.
All of this is explained in the lengthy liner notes inside the lp along with a few choice photos that establish Eden as a founding father of Southern California mystic/psychedelic music.” – Tiki_News
“Eden Ahbez’s life philosophy was summed up in the lyrics of his most famous song, “Nature Boy,” a 1948 hit for Nat King Cole: the song describes a “strange enchanted boy” who wanders the world in search of truth. “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn,” he concludes, “is to love and be loved in return.” Ahbez was a pre-cursor of California’s beatniks and hippies, and an exalted icon of ex-otica via his rare 1960 album Eden’s Island. Beyond “Nature Boy” and Eden’s Island, though, there were nu-merous lesser-known Ahbez record-ings. Ahbez biographer Brian Chidester has been doing an exemplary job of archiving and documenting that catalog of work. The Exotic World of Eden Ahbez (reviewed in UT#38) appeared a few years ago, gathering together 14 Ahbez-related rarities” – Ugly Things

Into The Woods London returns with their first VA of the series. They have curated a collection of artists for the heads on this one as they welcome seasoned production warriors, Crihan, Jay Tripwire & Miller and Vlad Arapasu alongside the up and coming t.na. The VA is very much sequenced for the club as Vlad leads this release with an A1 roller made strictly for the dance floor. On the B1 t.na adds something with a little bit more grit as quirky vox drops and a sub filled baseline carry the track throughout. On the inner sides you’ll find the deep and textured craftsmanship from both Jay Tripwire & Miller A2 and Crihan B2 have a palpable effect! In the world of minimal and tech, there is something for everyone here!

DJ support: Tim Sweeney, Make A Dance, Parris, Pleasure Voyage, Camillo Miranda

Back yard - Back yard is the first single from the new Teen Daze album, Elegant rhythms, and features singer-songwriter Andy Shauf on drums, and LA jazz staple, Sam Wilkes, on bass. This is a stark change in sound for Teen Daze, who’s last album Interior was an exploration of neon-lit House music. Back yard is a mellow groover, conjuring up images of Laurel Canyon in the 70s, yet still with its flourishes of contemporary sounds.

We’re out of phase again - We’re out of phase again is another vulnerable glimpse into the inner world of Teen Daze, and marks the release of his most personal album to date, Elegant rhythms. In contrast to the synthesized, digital world of his prior album, Interior, here we’ve been brought into a lush, organic arrangement, brought to you in large part to the stunning bass playing by Sam Wilkes. While the verses pulse forward, the chorus slows things down, and evokes the sophisti-pop sounds of The Blue Nile. This track is a stunning showcase of the world of Elegant rhythms.

Nothing’s gonna change my love - Teen Daze returns with his second single of the year, Nothing’s gonna change my love. The stark change in sound, as heard on previous single Back yard, is on display here again: a smouldering, 2 and a half minutes of slow jazz-pop, indebted to the great Sade, or perhaps the feeling of leaving downtown LA at 2 AM. Lyrically, we hear a story of a love, challenged by the unpredictable nature of our lives. This may be Teen Daze’s smoothest song to date.

Neighbourhood - Neighbourhood is the third single from the recently announced LP from Teen Daze, Elegant Rhythms. Along with Andy Shauf on the drums, and Sam Wilkes on the bass, Teen Daze gives us a languid tour of his quiet neighbourhood. The sun has set on the pleasant, tree-lined streets, and a stranger, more surreal environment presents itself. The song plods forward at an extremely comfortable pace, held down by the paradoxically loose-yet-tight rhythm section. Lyrically, we walk around the Neighbourhood at night, and while the chorus reveals a type of sobriety, the vibe of the song makes it easy to feel a little…effected.

Fade away - Fade away sets the tone for Elegant Rhythm’s side B: a deeply personal, though somewhat veiled, confession of loss. How does it feel to grieve something that was never really here? A smouldering, slowly progressing first half erupts in synthetic noise, and then fades into the ether with it’s repeating refrain, “I can feel you / feel you fade away / when there’s nothing / nothing left to say”.

Fall ahead - A sweet piano tune which serves as a quiet break in the record, intended to help the listener reflect and take a moment of pause before we reach the final two songs on the album.

HST underwater - The penultimate track on the record tells a story where the narrator finds themself in an alien, yet oddly familiar place. Arpeggios soaked in crystal blue water flow through the stereo field, while the narrator, vocoded and drenched in autotune, searches for meaning and purpose in a confusing world. This is one of Teen Daze’s most cinematic, emotional songs yet.

In the rain - It’s never really made explicitly clear on this record, but a lot of these songs find Teen Daze wrestling with life as a new father, and this song, the final on the album, expresses the fears of generational trauma. A touching, tender ode to his children, we hear Teen Daze at his most personal and vulnerable. The falling rain surrounds some absolutely breathtaking bass playing from Sam Wilkes, and Teen Daze’s signature ambient keyboard sounds.

Radio Support: Ruf Dug (Soup To Nuts on NTS)

Brixton based polymath Simon Jefferis has been setting mouths ajar with his expertly crafted, atmosphere-heavy beats over the past few years. With his reputation as both a talented instrumentalist, and adaptive producer steadily circulating through the city’s hip-hop undercurrents, 2020 sees Jefferis return to rising label DeepMatter with his debut LP Vibrations.

From the golden era energies of ‘Back 2 Ours’ featuring Austin’s Abhi The Nomad, through to the silky-smooth melodies of ‘White Rabbit’ (featuring the incredible Rosie Lowe on vocals) and shoulder swaying rhythms of ‘Something In The Water’, ‘Vibrations’ is an expertly crafted production masterclass from start to finish. With ease, Jefferis demonstrates the breadth of his musical capabilities, turning his hand to guitar, keys, drums and bass (with a little help from his friends along the way) with incredible results. Head nod inducing beats, jazz infused keys and interweaving make this a standout record amongst the already sonically rich London jazz scene.

Santiago Uribe is back with a deep and elaborate musical oeuvre, further exploring his signature sound of bright timbres and complex harmonic lines. In this double-record, eight track rendition of a variety of moods, he delivers a wide array of ideas and conceptual statements that get their message through. A complete overview of his different style explorations past and present, this collection satisfies the most demanding connoisseurs.