Pop & Rock News

The Arms of Someone New was formed in 1983 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois by Mel Eberle and Steve Jones. Steve managed and helped record Mel's band The First Things, while in the studio to demo some of Mel's songs, they started collaborating. Both grew up around their families' pianos and got into psychedelic rock drawing inspiration from Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, taking their name The Arms of Someone New' from a line on a Beatle's X-Mas Fan Club Single. They modeled their sound after the melancholic side of Factory Records, The Cure's Faith' period and The Teardrop Explodes. Between 1983 and 1985 they released four cassettes, one 7', and one 12' EP.

In September 1985, the duo self-released their debut full length 'Susan Sleepwalking' on Office Records. To They drafted locals for the album's recordings, including Lynn Canfield, Henry Frayne, Brenden Gamble and Joe Strell (all of the group Ack-Ack!) as well as Nick Rudd. Equipped with Casio keyboards, drum machines, and jangly guitars, The Arms Of Someone New provided an American take on English folk, ambient, and industrial music. Over the album's ten tracks they paint pictures of stillness with sparse instrumentation and simple chord change. Psychedelic vocals add a dream-like veneer. The Arms of Someone New fearlessly mix genres without sacrificing the unity of their vision. 'Susan Sleepwalking' could as well be retitled 'Music for Interiors' - both architectural and of the mind' - The Michigan Daily 1985.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in the original jacket featuring a blood red-tinted photograph with ghostly textures. Each copy includes a 2-sided 11' square insert with lyrics and press clippings from the band's archive.

Espen Beranek Holm is a Norwegian musician and comedian, born 1960 and began his music career as a clarinetist. Inspired by early synthesizer bands Kraftwerk and The Residents, he began making experimental pop music. His debut single Dra te' hælvete' was released in 1981 and was immediately banned by national TV/radio channel NRK due to explicit lyrics. This gave the young artist tons of publicity, helping the single spend almost 6 months on the national charts.

Beranek returned to the Starholm Studios in Oslo from June - September 1981 to record nine new compositions. His debut album, Sound of Danger', was released on Mind Expanding Records in November 1981. Nowhere near as accessible as the previous single, the album fared poorly commercially. Withdrawing from the single's fun, kitsch pop, the album is cool and static, driven by thin rhythm boxes, cold synths, and glacial guitars. Taking heavy cues from David Bowie, all of the songs are sung in a nasally English accent, a rare occurrence in Norway at the time. The lyrics are melancholic, but tinged with paranoia. There are also upbeat tracks that evoke a prog or glam sensibility a la King Crimson, Alan Parsons, or Roxy Music.

All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in the original jacket featuring red, black, and white lines that evoke a visualized Richter Scale designed by Monica Moltzau. Each copy includes a 2-sided 8x11' insert with lyrics and an autographed press photo of Beranek.

Heatsick and Bass Clef partner up and deliver five transparent blue tracks for Angela Bulloch's ABCDLP, which apparently were born out of a live performance of the two (or three) at Art Genève earlier this year. Both calm and frenetic. Poetry infused and few inches off the ground pop music.

JFDR - the latest project from young and prolific Icelandic songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jófríður Ákadóttir (Samaris, Pascal Pinon, Gangly) - releases her debut solo full length album Brazil, set for release in Spring 2017 through her own label White Sun Records. Brazil was recorded in New York in 2016 and co-produced by legendary multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily (Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Yoko Ono, etc.).

Brazil sees a blend of cyclical guitar parts, soft minimal soundscapes, and poetic wanderings of a journey that ends where it began. Drawing from classical, folk, and electronic backgrounds, JFDR amalgamates the sounds of changing seasons, her voice a current that moves through rough seas to smooth waters. But perhaps JFDR shines the most in her capacity as a wordsmith, employing rich imagery to evoke the subtle emotions embedded in each song.

"I got obsessed with her band Samaris a few years ago, and then it was amazing to see her do her own stuff." - Björk in the Guardian selecting JFDR as one of her artist inspirations.

The beautifully shot black and white video for 'Airborne' was created by Timothée Lambrecq with direction from Jófríður.

"'Airborne' was one of the first songs Shahzad and I recorded in New York', says Jófríður. One afternoon I confessed I had never played with a drummer before, so Shahzad immediately called up his friend, Liturgy drummer Greg Fox. After an hour or so of intense Casio wailing and Greg drumming so fast it was borderline droning, it was suggested that Greg had a go at this track we'd recorded earlier that day, a half written song named 'Airborne'. It took about 10 minutes, Greg nailed it.
The result is this half programmed, half live drum performance, carefully but effortlessly stitched together by Shahzad, merged with my fragile piano break up ballad. The track was later blessed by De La Soul's Maseo who stopped by the studio and listened. He said it was dope."

'Airborne' follows the video for the evocatively atmospheric and mesmerising 'White Sun' directed by Brendan Canty, released at the end of 2016 as the first teaser for Brazil.

In an isolation tank, one is immersed in body-temperature salt water. The skin's boundary loses its coherence. It becomes difficult to tell outside from inside. Deprived of light and sound, the mind plays freely. In the tank, it is precisely the softness of water that works to break down the structure of the here and now, allowing reverie to spill in.

It's this paradoxical quality of water, its simultaneous strength and yieldingness, its stillness and impermanence, that Magic Island seeks to capture on her debut LP, Like Water. She describes her wish to return to a sensitivity, a delicate state, to become soft again,' and her songs, each a kind of romantic lullaby, weaving together equal parts R&B and New Age, gain their power from their gentleness, the relentless subtle action of a universal solvent. If Like Water belongs to a time of day, it is not the middle of the night, but the first hours of late-morning wakefulness, when memories present themselves at an unhurried pace, to be studied in a mood of detached reflection rather than compulsive regret.

The first single Alchemy,' with its disorienting swirl of chimes and echoes, is the album at its most alienated, a spell of 'desperation and confusion, about looking for release but becoming a monster. Shepherd,' which first surfaced at the end of 2015, is a story of being lost and hoping for a guide, while the ritualistic Wonders,' explores themes of illusion, those made by others and by ourselves.

On the sultry title track (co-produced with fellow Berliner Karolini) which sees Magic Island demonstrating an impressive new vocal range, the deep bass kick measures out a slow-mo waterfall. Days Go By' shifts midway into a bedroom rave. But elsewhere the drum machine strikes like a becalmed heart heard by an ear held close to the chest, most strikingly on the languid closer Rundry,' and Little Love,' a polyamorous duet with leading indie-crooner Sean Nicholas Savage.

Like Water was written in Magic Island's home studio in Neukölln, and mixed by Dawid Szczesny (Normal Echo) and Lucas Chantre (Fenster), supported by Musicboard Berlin.

'Street Rituals' features ten new songs with a major contribution from Paul Weller as well as vocal contributions from both William Bell and Bettye Lavette.

The bands 4th studio album was produced by Paul Weller, who also features on all the tracks (piano, guitar & vocal including lead vocal on 'Your Balloon Is Rising'). Having been hugely impressed by Stone Foundations previous endeavours, Paul personally contacted the band to propose the idea of working together, initially on one specific track, but having enjoyed the process so much, the resulting ten compositions on 'Street Rituals' now all have musical input from Paul. Two songs - 'The Limit of a Man' & 'Colour Of' - are co-writes with a Jones/Sheasby/Weller credit.

Stone Foundation's Neil Jones commented: "Paul contacted us at the start of 2016 after hearing our last record. He wanted to know if we'd like to get involved with a demo he'd been working on and we obviously grasped the opportunity with both hands. 'The Limit of a Man' was born out of those early exchanges and from that point onwards we never looked back". Neil Sheasby added Paul pretty much joined the band for the recording sessions, playing guitar, piano and adding vocals to several songs as well as overseeing the production of the record.'

Elsewhere on the album there are stunning contributions from legendary soul singers William Bell, who lends his voice to 'Strange People', and the unmistakable tones of Bettye Lavette, providing the lead on 'Season of Change'. The collaboration between Stone Foundation and these internationally celebrated artists cements the bands incredible reputation as one of the finest British Soul bands in existence.

With an extraordinary history of constant surprises and success against the odds, 'Street Rituals' feels like the culmination of years of hard work paying off for Stone Foundation as they continue to develop their unique style of soul on a much broader scale. Subtle horn & string arrangements add glorious swathes of colour and light to a new collection of songs that are unquestionably the groups strongest to date. Co-writers and founding members Neil Jones and Neil Sheasby have consciously delivered thought provoking lyrics that reflect current issues of uncertainty and division, but smartly balance that with a prevailing sense of hope and optimism within their musical delivery.

"These are dark, dark times so I was glad to hear a positive voice and vibrations in the words and a joy in the music...what a pleasure and a privilege it was to work with these fellas". It's their best songwriting to date, and I just hope people get to hear it because there are some great tunes and I like the message on the record. I like the social comment, because you have so little of that these days.' - Paul Weller on the band and record

Limited edtion vinyl 12´" with printed deluxe sleeve, 180g vinyl

12" with HQ Printed Sleeve

Charlotte is a friend of DEEWEE's. She sings in both English & French. This E.P was written in collaboration between Charlotte and Bolis Pupul then produced by the Dewaele brothers (Soulwax / 2manydjs) at DEEWEE in Ghent. Cont...

A brief rundown on the tracks... '1,618' arrives somewhere between a futurist song and a cosmic disco sound. It twists and turns. 'Senegal Seduction' is a slow melodic ride. 'Je m'appelle Charlotte'. 'Le Froid' is a percussive vocal dub piece. Charlotte's vocals turned inside then out again. 'Celle' is a song addressed to a father and a heartbeat to finish.
Sleeve design by Ill Studio, Paris.

Over the past twelve months, Swedish pop star, Zara Larsson has achieved what most artists can only dream of. Becoming one of the biggest and most exciting breakthrough artists of the year and un-­-missable across our screens and airwaves.To date, her TV Performances in the UK so far have included, The X Factor (I Would Like), The Voice (Mashup -­- Ain't My Fault & Lush Life), Jonathon Ross x 2 (Girls Like & Ain't My Fault), BBC's Children In Need (Mashup -­- Ain't My Fault & Lush Life), BBC Awards (Mashup -­- Ain't My Fault & Lush Life) and Christmas Top of The Pops (I Would Like & Lush Life). She will be launching her album release in March with another performance on The Voice UK (Symphony) and Let's Dance For Comic Relief (So Good). Factor in a V Festival Performance, two 2016 MTV EMA wins and opening for Beyonce on both dates of her Formation World Tour at Wembley Stadium, it has been non stop for the Swedish sensation. Having recently graced the cover of NME, featured in Time Magazine's 30 most influential teenagers, become the VEVO LIFT ARTIST for the UK and US and had a string of global hits already under her belt including two successful collaborations with UK Rapper Tinie Tempah and French global star DJ David Guetta for the Euro FA cup in 2016, this will be Zara's first ever global album release. Zara's upcoming promo around album release includes a TV Performance on The Voice UK and Let's Dance for Comic Relief, Radio 1 Live Lounge (So Good), Capital and Kiss FM interviews, a Global Twitter Takeover, Sunday Times Culture Feature, Notion Magazine Cover and 12 page Feature Her upcoming album 'So Good' features her 5 singles that have sold over 2 million combined singles in the UK including her Top 3 debut solo single -­- Lush Life, Top 5 hit with London Producer & singer/songwriter MNEK - 'Never Forget You', Top 2 dancehall cover 'I Would Like' and brand new single 'So Good' featuring Grammy award nominee, Ty Dolla $ign - as well as other smashes co written with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Clean Bandit, Charlie Puth, MNEK and many more great producers / artists. Zara has joined forces with Global sports brand -­- Nike over the past 12 months as a brand Ambassador for their new Jewel Air Max shoe as well as a fantastic global collaboration with H&M. She was also the face of Clinique's pop colour range at the beginning of 2016.2017 is set to be another exciting year for Zara as she is due to embark on a US and EU tour with UK success act, Clean Bandit. She will also be performing at Isle of Wight Festival and Wildlife and Parklife in the summer as well as her own headline shows in the Spring and Fall.

Fans donated €25,000 to Emika for the project
Fans paid for the album before hearing any music
Electronic & Neo Classical. Fits 2 genres / Cross over
The composition is inspired by electronic music
Emika hired double the amount of bass players in a normal orchestra
Emika created a new seating plan for the orchestra, to sound more like a wide stereo pop album
Echo concepts (electronic music)
Romantic piece, lyrical piece, universal themes of love and sadness, huge beautiful melodies
50 piece symphony orchestra
Silver-toned soprano Michaela Srumova
Composed in Berlin
Recorded in Prague at Czech Radio Studios.

* The crossover between electronic music and classical composition has never been in more vibrant and dynamic health. Multifarious musician Emika explores this fertile ground on her ambitious new opus 'Melanfonie': her first orchestral composition, some four years in the making.

* Funded by a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign that exceeded its target by an impressive €25,000.
* While many rebel from their classical training never to return to it explicitly, Emika has always been attracted to the potential and freedoms offered by the symphony form.

* As well as taking inspiration from her electronic music background in composing the music itself, Emika also applied some of production and playback principles from that realm to create a piece whose every element has been carefully considered.

* Emika is on a quest to try and change what we mean when we talk about 'classical music'. For her, the magic of the 'genre' is about the instruments themselves and more importantly the people who play them; not the restricting traditions and conventions of the classical world itself.

* I want to change the face of classical music and give it a more honest and real image. It is time we had something other than pomp and circumstance and avant-garde squeaks and pops..

Supported by
Chilly Gonzales, Zola Jezus, Ellen Alien, Nina Kraviz, Mala, Christian Kellersmann, The Barbican, Francesco Tristano.

A good concert is like a journey. When it starts you might not know what episodes await you, but in your heart you can feel which direction it will take you in. The Miramode Orchestra offers just this type of enriching, exhilarating experience. Although they meander between coordinates including jazz, electronica and groove, the seven musicians can never be tied down to a single musical location. The sound created by a four-man rhythm section and three horn players is always flavoured by a certain ambition, but never fails to let souls fly and get bodies sweating!

Their debut album Restless City' announced the band as fans of both exploration and experimentation. Why break down barriers when you can simply soar over them - after all, they only exist in the mind. It is therefore no surprise that collaborations have already included not only a range of artists more at home in genres such as hip hop, soul and modern club culture, but also a string ensemble. The latter returned to the studio for the band's forthcoming album Tumbler', which is set for release in early 2017 on Agogo Records. There is a noticeable shift towards more song-like structures: The vocals of Inèz Schäfer, Dan Freeman, Mara von Ferne and the band's keyboard player Eren Solak are taking Tumbler to another level.

At times it is difficult not to hear a touch of Bon Iver, 4hero or Cinematic Orchestra. Yet just as listeners are ready to slot a song into a pigeonhole, the Miramode Orchestra whisks them away to a new, unexpected stop on their journey.

The record cover shows a woman walking towards dusk - or is it dawn. Two years after the success of Night Moves, a wander through a threatening nocturnal Los Angeles, H Burns returns with a new record for twilight. Kid We Own the Summer finds its identity between a few landmarks such as David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti's California, the intimacy of Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town, the relative calmness of Suicide's second album, and the elegant melancholy of The National. In order to compose, Renaud Brustlein aka H Burns decided to reinvent himself once again. He didn't repeat the live configuration that he used in 2013 with Off the Map, an 'electric storm' recorded in Chicago, with a band, in a single week, with the legendary Steve Albini. For Kid We Own the Summer, the composer started working in his home studio, by gradual touches, because there's no place like home. The result A melancholy cinematic stroll across stories of misguided couples, unspoken words that end-up ruining people's lives, the pursuit of dangerous situations, like an elegy to the end of adolescence - leading to a place we're unsure of. Born from a keyboard, a piano and a beatbox, these ten songs were brought to light, as always with infinite delicacy, by impeccable guests-friends - strings by Bertrand Belin and vaporous keyboards by Denis Clavaizolle (Bashung, Murat, Daniel Darc) - mixed by Rob Schnapf (Elliot Smith, Beck...) and mastered by the great Greg Calbi (Springsteen, Dylan, Paul Simon).

REPRESSED !!
Ritual Chants skilfully shows insights into applying retro finds into a contemporary setting, much of the material acquired via world tours and capturing the excitement of finding lost jewels and sharing them to crowds across the planet.

Compiled by Danny McLewin, the renowned record digger of the duo, the compilation is carefully programmed and sequenced into 3 themes: Beach, Love & Dance, all of which tenderly demonstrate curious ears with a respectful nod to the past and the future via such touchstones as the pre-new age emanations of 'Water Sports' by Man Parrish, a beautiful tranquil and cascading synth poem which soothes and pulses, and the sublime and haunting 'God's Garden' by John J. Francis, which hints at a forthcoming new age of thinking.

Psychemagik are unique in their perspective, not only is their ability to seek out rare musical treasures from the worldwide musical domain astounding, but there's also a supernatural nature to their curation. They are a duo as infamous for their production technique as their DJ skills, their prolific edits laced with subtle studio production re-interpreting vintage gems and giving them a contemporary bounce. Mixmag named them their 'Stars Of 2012' and their remix output includes Bryan Ferry, Roisin Murphy, Noel Gallagher, Haim, Azari & III, Wang Chung, Paul Weller and Metronomy, with FACT mag summing up their skills best when they observed their "ear for mind-expanding dance floor mysticism".

The electronic based pop group, Shari Vari, founded by Helena Ratka and Sophia Kennedy, is about to release its first EP, Life Should Be a Holiday, of 5 pieces produced and recorded by the duo under broke and alcoholic circumstances. Each piece deals with the traditional forms of song writing by ignoring them - the rules and structures. Combining psychedelic lyrics and chords with dark electronic sounds, the beats are weird and stubborn: a teenage crush on a white cat while drowning in a pool. You'll never want to go to work again: too many psychos in one streetcar are just too hard to handle on an empty stomach. Look forward to plunge into the world of Shari Vari, so hit the booze and run! (to the concert)

Spectators of the Universe is the brand new single from Dutch producer/artist/video director David Douglas, out March 24. Following the release of his critically acclaimed debut 'Moon Observations,' Spectators of the Universe' is a journey through sun-kissed disco and gentle electronic pop, subtly playing with psychedelic and experimental elements and weaving organic textures alongside more robotic landscapes.

2014's Moon Observations' was inspired by a different star-gazer with the same name. That David Douglas was a 18th century explorer and naturalist, whose writings on astronomical observation has inspired the more modern Douglas' latest music. Those eleven tracks of beautifully fleshed-out electronica were certainly a worthy tribute, and Spectators of the Universe' continues the story in blissful fashion.

Emotional is an experimental electronic pop duo made up of Sian Dorrer (The Bomber Jackets, PLUG and Ravioli Me Away) and Adam Parkinson (Dane Law and SDF).
 
They formed in 2013 while experimenting with a collection of Sian's field recordings, ancient Casio keyboards and Zoom drum machine loops. After countless hours spent in subterranean Dalston a collection of skewed electronic pop hits were formed and compiled into their debut album...Emotional. 
With influences of the band varying hyperactively from 90s house and trance music to Kathy Dennis, Depeche Mode and OMD, the music is born out of a deep rooted love of pop and an inability to make it normally. 

Jimi Tenor has compiled a selection of afro jazz tracks that he has written and performed over the years with musicians Icelandic drummer, Helgi Svavar Helgason, Helsinki based guitarist/bassist and journalist Ilkka Mattila, legendary drummer Tony Allen, Cuban & Berlin based trumpeter Daniel Allen Oberto, Ethiopian/Finnish & Helsinki based percussionist Abdissa 'Mamba' Assefa (Itetune), Nigerian/German & Berlin based percussionist Akinola Famson, Helsinki based percussionist Mongo Aaltonen, American & Paris based spoken word artist/singer & painter Allonymous, Helsinki based flügelhornist Tero Lindberg, Finnish & Berlin based guitarist Kalle Kalima, Polish & Berlin based bassist Patrick Frankowski, British trombonist Hilary Jeffery and Ghanaian/German & Berlin based drummer Ekow Alabi Savage. Jimi Tenor, born Lassi Osmo Tapio Lehto in Lahti, Finland, who has been releasing recorded music for 30 years, plays several instruments as is his usual practice. He is credited for playing on the upcoming release Saxentric; acoustic guitar, acoustic piano, background vocals, bass kalimba, drums, drum programming, electric guitar, electric piano, flute, Hammond organ, Korg MS-20, Korg PolySix, Log-o-phone, Moog, organ, percussion, Photophone, plastic bongos, programming, shaker, synthesizers, tambourine, tenor saxophone, vocals and Walton organ.

A/T/O/S 1st album brought shows supporting Tricky (AB Brussels), Melanie De Biasio (Prague), LIVE at London's famous Jazz Cafe, Notting Hill Arts Club, Worldwide Festival, Electric Brixton, Pukkelpop and many more venues & countries across EU & UK. The 2nd album "Outboxed", due for vinyl release on 17th February 2017 has support from Mary Anne Hobbs, Worldwide Radio, Red Bull Elektropedia, Radio Brussels etc + many tour dates already in the calendar.

New EP following this year's Skin album from talent Australian electronic producer Flume

The 12' DANCE series is dedicated to showcasing the finest rare original 12' remixes and extended versions of crowd-pleasing, floor-filling classics. From the Disco, Soul, Rare Groove and Funk mixes of the 70's, to the Groove, Hip Hop/Electro & Techno/House of the 80's and the Acid Jazz, Indie, R&B, Rap & Club/House of the 90's, 12' DANCE will deliver a lovingly curated selection of both the commercial big hitters and the underground cult club classics!

This 2LP set showcases an essential selection of the finest 12' extended versions and mixes from the era. Visiting iconic New Romantics, Synth/Electro pop acts and New Wave legends, artists featured include Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Bronski Beat, New Order, Echo And The Bunnymen and many more.

A special DJ double pack from Emotional Rescue brings together a collection of Razormaid remixes, plus unreleased originals, of two projects from Georg Kajanus, the founder of 70s pop group, Sailor and 80s synth poppers, DATA. With a career spanning late 60s psychedelic folk-rock in Eclection, through to chart success as a member of 70s pop group, Sailor, before embracing the synthesised sound of early 80s New Wave and Synth Pop via the excellent DATA, Georg Kajunas music has covered a lot of ground. Therefore, it should be no surprise that as DATA became established he was pushing the electronic pop sound in a new direction, mixing with it an interest in middle-eastern music obtained from time spent travelling there during his youth. Forming both Fatima and also, And The Mamluks as two separate but joined entities to push this musical vision, these projects saw a number of songs created, but ultimately never released, that utilised the growing interest in World music mixed with a dance floor sensibility. At the same time, the success of DATA had spread across the Atlantic to the US club scene where literally hundreds of clubs were embracing the new European electronic sounds. Out of this scene came a number of re-edit and remix specialists, of which San Francisco's Razormaid were predominant. Taking 80s pop to industrial dance songs and extending them officially or often unofficially, their reworks have since become highly sought after. While sadly both Fatima and And The Mamluks never acheived official releases, the remixes done by Joseph Wyatt and his partner, Art Maharg, while on a trip to Europe, did appear on their own Razormaid label in the mid-80s. Here then for the first time are those remixes, plus the never heard before unreleased originals -remastered and released especially in a DJ style double pack for some proper late night megamixing.

A good concert is like a journey. When it starts you might not know what episodes await you, but in your heart you can feel which direction it will take you in. The Miramode Orchestra offers just this type of enriching, exhilarating experience. Although they meander between coordinates including jazz, electronica and groove, the seven musicians can never be tied down to a single musical location. The sound created by a four-man rhythm section and three horn players is always flavoured by a certain ambition, but never fails to let souls fly and get bodies sweating!

Their debut album Restless City' announced the band as fans of both exploration and experimentation. Why break down barriers when you can simply soar over them - after all, they only exist in the mind. It is therefore no surprise that collaborations have already included not only a range of artists more at home in genres such as hip hop, soul and modern club culture, but also a string ensemble. The latter returned to the studio for the band's forthcoming album Tumbler', which is set for release in early 2017 on Agogo Records. There is a noticeable shift towards more song-like structures: The vocals of Inèz Schäfer, Dan Freeman, Mara von Ferne and the band's keyboard player Eren Solak are taking Tumbler to another level.

At times it is difficult not to hear a touch of Bon Iver, 4hero or Cinematic Orchestra. Yet just as listeners are ready to slot a song into a pigeonhole, the Miramode Orchestra whisks them away to a new, unexpected stop on their journey.

Retrospective For Love is a satisfying new sound for a fresh generation of soul lovers. Hailing from the sun-drenched Mediterranean island of Sicily, vocalist, MC and producer Davide Shorty had a vision to bring back the love and has gathered a tight knit family of similarly soul-centric musicians from his homeland, plus UK-based additions including Parisian co-vocalist Leslie Phillips. With Retrospective For Love, a special force in music was born.

Debut long player 'Random Activities of a Heart', released 10th March 2017 on Wormfood Records, weaves together undeniable, infectious melodies stretching across the stratosphere of Hip-Hop, Soul, and Jazz, whilst adding a little 21st century electronic mastery into the mix.

Akin to the sound D'Angelo might make tripping out on the heavy grooves of The Roots whilst intoxicated by Robert Glasper's experimental spirit, Retrospective For Love take the energy of their influences and move it in new directions. Seemingly innocuous lyrics mask tales of love's most elating and harrowing extremes, capturing the good times, the bad times and all the confusion in between.

Now based in North West London, Retrospective For Love have coined a unique and impressive sound, carefully crafted through the expertise of each individual musician.

Album opener, 'The Picture You Show Me' (produced by Nebbïa), sets the tone, bringing a laid back, comfortable cool to proceedings, with tracks such as 'Water N Dust' (feat. Otty) and 'Wanna Get to Know Ya' (feat. Phat Kat) blending a cool mix of mellow grooves which simmer slowly and burst with flavour.

New single, 'Let Me Know' (feat. Yazmyn Hendrix), is a carefully crafted groove with lyrics loaded with romanticism and nostalgia, allowing their sound to dabble in delirious de-ja-vu bringing you back to the first time you ever felt heartache.

Retrospective For Love is a call for help heard through a vinyl record, because we all need some love in our lives sometimes. The kind of love that brings you back, it's pure and naive, so once again you walk bare feet and dance in the rain. It feels easy, reassuring and it seems to have no limits. Only the right people with the same passion for self-discovery can really make something magical like that happen. So we started working on our own recipe, hand picking what inspires us from Hip Hop, Soul, Jazz, Electronic and Dub',

Played out as a symbiotic creative collective of enlightened minds, the tone throughout 'Random Activities of a Heart' is always optimistic - forever wedded to pure aural bliss and classic entertainment.

Music makes us one with everything, it makes our bodies tremble, our voice quiver and it smoothes out our creased faces into a peaceful and placid portrait. You should try it. There is plenty for everybody. Our flavoured blend is especially recommended for those people whose heart is skipping right up before breaking and it comes with a live band that transcends the mirage of the music production.'

Retrospective For Love have supported such artists as neo soul pioneer Bilal, rising stars Low Leaf, Jordan Rakei, Quantic and performed at numerous European festivals including Hockley Hustle, Soundwave Croatia and Pas De Trai (Sicily).

New Order Presents Be Music is a compilation of productions by members of iconic Manchester group New Order, including classic dance and electro tracks released on Factory Records between 1982 and 1985, as well as more recent remixes for current artists such as Factory Floor, Marnie, Tim Burgess and Fujiya & Miyagi.
The generic tag Be Music was first used in 1981 and covered studio production work by all four members of New Order: Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. Sumner often teamed with Donald 'Dojo' Johnson of A Certain Ratio, including the pioneering electro cuts featured here by Quando Quango, 52nd Street, Marcel King, Paul Haig and Surprize. Morris and Gilbert worked with Thick Pigeon, Life, Red Turns To and also 52nd Street. Although more rock orientated, Hook proved he was no slouch on the dancefloor either with the mighty Fate/Hate by Nyam Nyam.
'Producing was a really important sideline,' recalls Bernard Sumner of the Factory era. 'It's OK doing it because although all the groups are skint, you learn a lot and you're helping somebody.'
After 1985 the band focused more on producing their own records, both as New Order and solo projects such as Electronic, Revenge, The Other Two, Monaco and Bad Lieutenant. However in recent years Stephen Morris in particular has remixed several newer artists, notably London industrialists Factory Floor, as well as former Factory workers A Certain Ratio and Section 25.
Bonus tracks on the 3xCD box set include Knew Noise by Section 25, produced by Ian Curtis and Rob Gretton of Joy Division way back in 1979, and the complete 22 minute version of Video 586, recorded by New Order themselves in 1982.
 All tracks (12 on vinyl, 36 on the CD) are newly remastered. The liner notes feature commentary on the tracks by the artists and the members of New Order. Design and packaging are by Matt Robertson/Peter Saville Studio.

3xCD

New Order Presents Be Music is a compilation of productions by members of iconic Manchester group New Order, including classic dance and electro tracks released on Factory Records between 1982 and 1985, as well as more recent remixes for current artists such as Factory Floor, Marnie, Tim Burgess and Fujiya & Miyagi.
The generic tag Be Music was first used in 1981 and covered studio production work by all four members of New Order: Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert. Sumner often teamed with Donald 'Dojo' Johnson of A Certain Ratio, including the pioneering electro cuts featured here by Quando Quango, 52nd Street, Marcel King, Paul Haig and Surprize. Morris and Gilbert worked with Thick Pigeon, Life, Red Turns To and also 52nd Street. Although more rock orientated, Hook proved he was no slouch on the dancefloor either with the mighty Fate/Hate by Nyam Nyam.
'Producing was a really important sideline,' recalls Bernard Sumner of the Factory era. 'It's OK doing it because although all the groups are skint, you learn a lot and you're helping somebody.'
After 1985 the band focused more on producing their own records, both as New Order and solo projects such as Electronic, Revenge, The Other Two, Monaco and Bad Lieutenant. However in recent years Stephen Morris in particular has remixed several newer artists, notably London industrialists Factory Floor, as well as former Factory workers A Certain Ratio and Section 25.
Bonus tracks on the 3xCD box set include Knew Noise by Section 25, produced by Ian Curtis and Rob Gretton of Joy Division way back in 1979, and the complete 22 minute version of Video 586, recorded by New Order themselves in 1982.
 All tracks (12 on vinyl, 36 on the CD) are newly remastered. The liner notes feature commentary on the tracks by the artists and the members of New Order. Design and packaging are by Matt Robertson/Peter Saville Studio.

RIYL THE CURE /KILLING JOKE/CHAMELEONS; Drab Majesty began as a warbled transmission received via 4-track cassette in a dim, Los Angeles bedroom in 2012. The entity known as Deb Demure, an interdimensional muse of sorts, lent an otherworldly vision to a human contact; one to be realized through meticulously composed lo-fi recordings. Focusing on the aesthetics of cult ritual and the devastating power of music, Deb sought an alternative way to share the cosmic agenda. Culminating in a cassette titled Unarian Dances, Drab Majesty's manifesto to humanity was revealed: revel in the power of artistic influences that reside beyond the self. The tape circulated through Los Angeles, catching the attention of local tastemakers like the heads at Lollipop Records in Echo Park. It quickly found a place on the shelves of LA's underground musical seekers. After a gauntlet of performances and late night manifestations, Drab Majesty came on the radar of DAIS Records.In 2015, Drab Majesty released Careless, the first LP which was received and recorded solely by Demure on living room floors and in cluttered spaces across the city. After three pressings and an imminent fourth, Careless remains a fixture in LA's somber yet sublime nightlife and a noted contribution to the murkier subcultures abroad. Wielding a left-handed guitar, Deb employs a unique style of arpeggiated finger picking, producing vast and organic musical textures reminiscent of Vinny Reilly (Durutti Column) with the anthemic power of Sisters of Mercy and Cocteau Twins. In the past two years Deb has been invited to support bands such as Cold Cave, Psychic TV, Clan of Xymox, The Frozen Autumn, Prayers, and label mates Youth Code and King Dude. From its incarnation, Drab Majesty was a solo act; an interplay between guitar and triggered machines. In 2016, with growing audiences and heightened interest, Drab expanded into a duo, employing the keyboard accompaniment of far-out twin, Mona D - filling out frequencies and upping the spectacle of the live performance.

Released in 1982, "Weltweit" was the sole output of the band. It has appropriately become quite rare and difficult to find with the resulting high prices to obtain an original copy. Inspired by the greats such as Kraftwerk, YMO and Klaus Schulze, the three members crafted an exquisite collection of electronic pop songs played on a very impressive collection of analog synthesizers (Arp Odyssey, Korg MS series, MiniMoog, PolyMoog, Moog Modular System 55, PPG 360, some Rolands, and Doepfer sequencer), self-builds and drum machines (Roland TR-808) that were considered cutting edge at the time. The band would have recorded a second album but split up before that was possible. Members of the band continued to be involved in the music industry at least peripherally but didn't participate in further collaborations or bands. Also interestingly, MONOPOL was basically a studio-only project and actually never played live (despite some TV appearances).

Definitely a must-have for fans of NDW such as Bal Paré, Grauzone, Piefke & Pafke, Rheingold, Stahlnetz, Ti-Tho and the like.

As humans, we are aware of our inner beast and should therefore be able to control it. We understand our hard-wired primal urges and why they exist in an evolutional sense. We understand the relationship between mind and body. Highly evolved and intelligent, we should be able to recognize these genetic hangovers and control them as a means to act positively and move forward as a compassion-ate species. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Recent global events have proven this. The human race is consuming itself.World Eater, the new album by Benjamin John Power's Blanck Mass project, is a reaction to this. There is an underlying violence and anger throughout the record, even though some of these tracks are the closest Power has ever come to writing, in his words, actual love songs.' Maybe subconsciously this was some kind of countermeasure to restore some personal balance,' Power explains. On World Eater, Power further perfects the propulsive, engrossing electronic music he has created throughout his impressive decade-plus career, both under the Blanck Mass moniker and as one-half of Fuck Buttons, as he elaborates upon the sound of 2015's brilliant double album Dumb Flesh. As massive as the sonic world of the new record often feels, its greatest achievement is in its maximization of a limited set of tools, a restriction intentionally set by Power himself. As an exercise in better understanding myself musically, I found myself using an increasingly restricted palette during the World Eater creative process. Evoking these intense emotions using minimal components really put me outside of my comfort zone and was unlike the process I am used to. Feeling exposed shone a new light on this particular snapshot. I feel enriched for doing so.'

Bringing together infectious pop hooks with a wash of synthesizers, drum machines and heavy guitars, 'Swans' is a brooding, experimental pop single announcing a bold new talent

White Kite is the brainchild of Louis Shadwick, who wrote and produced 'Swans' in the flat and home studio he shares in London with twins Tom and Will Dunning (guitar and bass). Shadwick explains that the track is about trying to choose between two different kinds of love... how the grass always seems greener when desire takes over, and how you try to justify that weakness to yourself".

Best Fit, who describe it as "a heady concoction, with super-smooth vocals and fingerclicks flitting about above a mercury-like melee of synths and melody... The end is result is simply stunning." 'Swans' was mixed by Matt Wiggins at The Church Studios, Crouch End.

Rhodes Island. Bathed in sun, the Aegean's sun, a spring of life and inspiration. Surrounded by it's waters. A wall and a path at the same moment. Where the West meets the East. Where worlds become one and civilizations blend. An island that acts like a witch, that captures your soul forever, that makes you always look for it, crave for it, always want to go back. Beauty, history, culture. Rhodes 'Journey To The Light'. A compilation inspired by Rhodes island and it's nomination for 'European Culture Capital City 2021'



The multi awarded dj, radio producer and compiler Tasos Giasiranis signs the island's 6th compilation. A journey into the magical world of electronic music in a unique combination with the 12 breathtaking postal cards included. 12 pictures by the hands of Stelios Kalisperis, Fillip Fillipou and Harris Zambetoulas. The only thing you need to have while leaving the island.

Memories in a box. The Knight island in a luxurious package. A life's goal, promoting Rhodes in every corner of the planet. Tasos Giasiranis keeps on making a dream come true once again. Rhodes 'Journey To The Light'

LP+2CD (CD1 10 tracks Studio album + CD2 The 10 demo versions of the album) version , in gatefold sleeve

Klyne first caught everybody's attention with their critically acclaimed debut Paralyzed EP for Aesop, as well as their maiden remix, a rework of Disclosure's Omen feat. Sam Smith. Water Flow is their follow up to the acclaimed Don't Stop, their Because Music debut released earlier this year; its stunning video was directed by acclaimed choreographer and film maker Holly Blakey (Florence and the Machine, Jungle, Coldplay, Young Fathers) and is nominated for a UK Music Video Award. The duo supported Years & Years and label mate Christine and the Queens on tour this year, and performed their first UK headline show for the sold out Dummy presents Because Music event at the Ace Hotel, London in the summer. More shows will be announced shortly. Vital Sales Points: "mellow electronic pop that's like a long-lost cousin of Jai Paul" - The FADER "infectious and effortless... groove-laden soulful masterstrokes" - VICE / Noisey "minimalist vibes, captivating vocals... impeccable melodies" - Pigeons & Planes "gorgeous electro-pop" - Spin "more fire from the young Dutch duo... the boys are off to a strong start" - i-D