Pop & Rock News

Wewantsounds continue its extensive Meiko Kaji reissue program in partnership with Teichiku Records and Meiko Kaji herself, with the release of "Gincho Wataridori," her debut album from 1972. This is the first time the album is reissued since release and it comes with its original Japanese artwork and newly remastered audio. Famous for her 70s exploitation movies ("Lady Snowblood", the "Female Prisoner Scorpion" and "Stray Cat Rock" series) and revered by Quentin Tarantino, Meiko Kaji also released a string of great albums on Teichiku mixing Japanese Pop and cinematic grooves. This reissue comes with deluxe Gatefold sleeve LP, OBI strip and a 2-p insert featuring new liner notes by Hashim Kotaro Bharoocha.

Heavy support by Radio Slave, Sam Divine, Acid Pauli, Green Velvet and Maceo Plex to name a few, while also being played on radio stations world wide. The album marks the beginning of a new chapter for The Glitz as they embark on a journey beyond the world of electronic music. After a wide range of beautiful, inspiring, provoking and uplifting The Glitz-singles, we are now approaching the full album in all its might. The singles have shown us the diverse soundscapes you can find in Andreas and Daniels musical multiverse, with the genres ranging from the classic House and Techno genres, to also introducing their take on Trip Hop, Neo RnB, Hip Hop, Ballad and Electronica. This journey into their musical realm has resonated with fans and colleagues alike the last months, putting the first single on position 1 in the German Club Charts for four weeks straight (it is still in the Beatport top100 after 7 months). Born out of a desire to create a space to explore and expand their unique sound, their new album is a bold extension of The Glitz vision and purpose. It has been a long time coming and is the result of four intense years in the studio together with the unique and talented singer and songwriter Mulay. And now it is time to present the full album to the world. is the mesmerising product of one of their many jam sessions in the studio. It carries the unique The Glitz fingerprints all over it while also letting them shine in a new context. The slow flowing Hip Hop beat paired with Mulays raw vocals and incredibly poetical and personal lyrics is a must hear for old and new The Glitz-fans alike.



Placed between some of the beautiful singles we have heard before, "Ergh" hits us with full force. The track takes us on a breaky, synth loaded trip. As an energetic and driving fresh breath of air, the track combines a frisky attitude with a tension building arrangement, showing that while Andreas and Daniel embrace new genres and styles, they still have good ears for club oriented, heavier hits as well. "Flummi" is put to work in a similar setting, but with a completely different world of sounds. Bright synths slowly build up, paralleled with the pulsating low end and guiding the listener towards an explosive breakdown. The track is followed by the wild and intoxicating "Rabbit Underground" that swoops you off your feet like a rocket launch. A skilfully crafted yet raw drum work with an exquisite snare creates a foundation for tantalising synths and captivating vocals that radiates with power. After this rollercoaster of a track, the wilderness is countered with the soft and playful "Mother". The Glitz bring together various layers of soft synths and smooth percussions, creating a beautiful sphere where the captivating vocals by Mulay shine in a new way. Ending this incredible journey of sound exploration is the stunning ballad "Seven Rivers". No noise, no distractions, just a beautifully stripped down ballad that carries an ocean of emotions. A perfect completion of "Axen". In their own way, each song carries the unique sound characteristics that Andreas and Daniel are so known and loved for, while giving them space to experiment and show themselves in new ways. The mix of emotionally charged, dance floor oriented and vibrant songs are bound to give the listeners an entrancing, unforgettable experience.

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of one of Japan's most coveted albums of the 70s, "Mangekyou" by singer-songwriter Yoshiko Sai. Produced in 1975 by Master musician Yuji Ohno, the album features Yoshiko Sai's superbly crafted songs and crystal clear voice over Ohno's lush, funky sound and breezy arrangements. A strong buzz has been growing around the album over the years and original copies now change hands for large sums of money. This is the first time "Mangekyou" is available outside of Japan, featuring remastered audio, original artwork and a 4 page insert including new liner notes by Paul Bowler.

Two classically trained musicians from vastly different traditions, MD Pallavi and Andi Otto came together to create a jewel of a record in ’Songs for Broken Ships’ and Multi Culti have whipped up a stunning remix package for it featuring Simone de Kunovich, Auntie Flo, Peter Power, Kaleema and more.

Hailing from Bangalore, trained in Hindustani music and poetry since childhood, MD Pallavi’s beautiful voice makes an elegant companion to cellist / composer / producer Andi Otto’s idiosyncratic and unconventional style. Andi’s music has featured on labels such as Shika Shika and Pingipung (which he co-runs and curates) and, of course, Multi Culti, who released his previous album ‘Bow Wave’ which featured his first collaboration with Pallavi.

While the heart of "Songs for Broken Ships" showcased the duo's unique meld of cross-cultural folktronica and acoustic ballads with MD Pallavi's poetic Kannada verses at the core, "Remixes from the Clouds” reframes these elements for a vast spectrum of electronic listeners and club go-ers.

An ethereal hypnotic techno re-interpretation of ‘Prayer to the Cloud’ from Italian producer Simone de Kunovich. Scottish ambient maestro and mushroom aficionado Auntie Flo's ecstatic reinterpretation of "Clockshop". Multi Culti veteran downtempo wizard Peter Power's organic and earthy rendition of "Prayer to the Cloud." The mystic sounds of Kaleema breathing new percussive life into "Clockshop". The package concludes with a 'prayer-a-pella' version of "Prayer to the Clouds", spotlighting MD Pallavi's vocals in their purest form, for DJs and producers seeking to slather their rhythms with spiritual voice.

The Multi Culti imaginarium also present an expanded digital package that includes mixes from Hannah Lee, Bliz Nochi & Emil Jourjou, Migramara, and Poligra. In the words of Shawn Christopher: "people from all nations, dancing together." Celestial harmony, one 12” at a time.

Shannon, and veteran electronic producer and remixer producer Dave Clark, best-known for his Sparky moniker, and as one-half of the production/remix team Optimo (Espacio).

First emerging in 2015 with a couple of compilation appearances, Kübler-Ross released their debut, self-titled album in 2020. Originally released as a limited-edition cassette on the Glasgow label Akashic Records, the album — now resequenced and released on vinyl via Suction Records’ minimal synth sublabel Ice Machine — is a collection of tracks recorded over a three year period in a variety of studios, rehearsal rooms, and gigs, documenting the musical variety and ferocity of their incendiary live performances. The Akashic tape, despite being low-key, under-the-radar, and released in limited quantity, managed to earn them a Long List nomination for SAY (Scottish Album of the Year) for 2020.

Standout cut “Bridges”, first released in 2015, is synthpop perfection — sitting comfortably alongside classics from the first wave of UK electronic classics by Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, John Foxx, and even early Depeche Mode. It’s not the only synthpop track on the record, but the album is dominated by a more tough, raw, and punk spirit, featuring aggressive female vocals, live drums + bass guitar, and judicious use of crude analog synthesizers and tape delay fx. Think Liaisons Dangereuses meets Suicide, and you’re beginning to get close…

Available digitally, and on limited vinyl LP in a reverse-board jacket. We’ve also pressed up a special edition with an additional bonus 7”, featuring covers of songs by US minimal synth oddball John Bender,and Australian industrial mavericks SeveredHeads. The special edition LP and 7” are on pink-vinyl LP + green-vinyl-7”, and strictly limited to 200 copies. Both versions include a Bandcamp download card inside.

Polish composer Piotr Kurek returns to Mondoj with Peach Blossom, an album centered around sung and synthesised vocal harmonies, showcasing the composer’s gentle, uncanny approach to vocal treatments and arrangements. Pairing the vocals of Komi Togbonou and Martin Weigel (both actors of Münchner Kammerspiele) and spoken words by Chinese performer Xiangjie with MIDI and live recordings of various instruments like marimba, flutes, reeds as well as various percussion instruments, the Warsaw-based composer highlights the unique tonal and textural potential of the human voice. The title track perhaps illustrates this approach most strikingly, interweaving wordless layers of vocals that ebb and flow with natural grace. “Breathing” follows with a more abrupt, almost jazz-tinged atmosphere, whereas “Ds / The Moss Beneath'' is more orchestral, almost classical in its approach. The centerpiece of the album is the 12-minute opus “Martin Is Crying”, where the interplay between the vocal layers and glockenspiel resembles classic early renaissance music, while adding more range and harmony to the playful tone.

Peach Blossom is another theater-adjacent release following Kurek's acclaimed collection 'A Sacrifice Shall Be Made / All The Wicked Scenes' (2020). The album features music from a theatre performance at Münchner Kammerspiele in October 2021 titled ‘某种类似于我的地洞：心室片段 Heart Chamber Fragments’ (directed by Tian Gebing / Paper Tiger Theatre), as well as music composed following the completion of this project. ‘Peach Blossom’ is named after a fable written in the year 421 by Chinese poet Tao Yuanming which depicts life in harmony in perfect isolation from the outside world, unaware of it for centuries. Kurek’s aural interpretation builds on it even further, showcasing his incredible world-building ability, creating fascinating, absorbing music from the simplest of ingredients.

Following their first album in 2016, The Pilotwings are back – having gone from two to three members - with the LP « Les Charismatiques » on the infamous Brothers From Different Mothers label.

As witty and sparkling as ever, the trio’s given birth to a 2020 millesime that dares to oscillate from synth-pop to digit dub, psych-rock and new-age ; combining acoustic sounds with traditional music, all tainted with an 80s summer-hit influence…

As whacky as it may sound at first listen through its melting-pot of personal anecdotes and dated corporate speeches, the album does succeed in avoiding the totally-offbeat ; by adjusting sensibilities and altering the way one listens to music these days, these tracks transcend and fly. Guided by anti-conformist synth-sounds, « Les Charismatiques » embarks on the path towards the gilded light of remission and spiritual rebirth !

New collaborations have also emerged on this album from long-lasting friendships but also impromptu meetings, with HAJJ firstly, the Dawn Records’ boss who needs no introduction, but also with their Lyon friend Amélie Arcuri alias Bigoudi, half of Schmilblick ; or more surprising, with the cult underground figure of Robert Lapassenkoff, crooner and singer from the 80s band of the same name who’s been recently re-issued on vinyle before joining the Pilotwings on tour.

5 years later the Pilotwings are back on BFDM with an album that seems ripe for tasting, like a fine wine with a mouthful of flavors.

Sofia Kourtesis veröffentlicht ihr lang-erwartetes Debütalbum ‘Madres’ ,welches ihrer Mutter gewidmet ist, auf Ninja Tune! Als sie mit der Arbeit an ihrem Debüt begann, war Kourtesis scheinbar unaufhaltsam. Eine Reihe von begeistert aufgenommenen EPs und Singles machten sie zu einem der am schnellsten aufsteigenden Stars in der elektronischen Welt und darüber hinaus. Sie zierte bereits das Cover von Mixmag, veröffentlichte eine brillante, energiegeladene und bewegende RA Session für Resident Advisor, erschien auf den Jahresendlisten der New York Times, Pitchfork, DJMag und Spotify (#6 bester elektronischer Song) und spielte sofort ausverkaufte erste Shows sowie herausragende Auftritte beim Pitchfork Music Festival, Glastonbury und Primavera neben Tourneen als Support von Caribou und Bicep. „Madres“ enthält alles, was Kourtesis bereits so beliebt gemacht hat: der doppelte Klang ihrer peruanischen Heimat und ihrer Wahlheimat Berlin ist präsent („mein Herz ist sehr lateinamerikanisch, aber mein Motor ist deutsch“), ebenso wie der Aktivismus für die Gleichstellung der Geschlechter, den Schutz queerer Menschen und den Zugang zu sicheren Abtreibungen in Peru, der ihr so sehr am Herzen liegt.

Sony Music feiert das 25-jährige Jubiläum des legendären Soundtracks "Bodyguard" mit der Veröffentlichung von Whitney Houston - I Wish You Love: More From The Bodyguard am 17. November 2017. Die brandneue Whitney Houston Sammlung enthält eine großartige Auswahl von Live- und Studioaufnahmen - viele davon bisher unveröffentlicht oder bisher nicht erhältlich, welche die größten Erfolge der Künstlerin dokumentieren. Auf dem neuen Album I Wish You Love: More From The Bodyguard finden sich noch nie veröffentlichte Live-Aufnahmen von Whitneys berühmter "Bodyguard"-Tour (1993-1995), dazu noch nie gehörte Versionen der Musikstücke aus " Bodyguard", ein Remix von "I'm Every Woman", zusätzliche Grafiken und vieles mehr. Das Album wird als CD und digital veröffentlicht.Einige der Höhepunkte des Albums sind ein Alternative Mix von "I Will Always Love You" mit einem gesprochenen Intro von Whitney alias Rachel Marron, eine noch nie veröffentlichte Acapella-Version von "Jesus Loves Me" und eine Live-Aufnahme des nur selten gespielten "Run To You". Außerdem enthalten sind Film- und Live-Versionen von "I Will Always Love You", "I Have Nothing", "Queen of The Night".

repressed !

1xLP - gatefold glossy lamination- pink coloured vinyl- printed inner cardboard sleeve. French singer-songwriter Sébastien Tellier wrote and co-produced the 10-track LP, set for release on February 16th and spanning sparkling electronica to lightly psychedelic pop.

Mausimental is the band of longtime friends Leonard Siegl, Conrad Neumann and Niklas Maranca - "Schonzeit" the title of their first release. It was formed in a sculptor's studio and recorded in their own studio St. Gabriel in Halle an der Saale. The tracks were Co-produced, mixed and mastered by longtime Kame House-mainstay Sam Irl in Vienna.

The results are oracular synthpop ballads with electronic sound gimmicks and puzzling, dadaistic lyrics. The melancholic atmosphere of the EP is formed by a dense mesh of modulated synth sequences, which are overlaid by polyphonic vocals. Sometimes in form of detached Sprechgesang in NDW tradition, sometimes sinister and sensual.
Inner monologues draw lines around the contradictions of identities and the fragility of a postmodern constructions of meaning: „Lebst du nicht, dann musst du auch nicht sterben. Du wirst nicht vermisst. Dieses Trauma kannst Du noch vererben, wenn es soweit ist."
With their debut release "Schonzeit" Mausimental show us the way into an inaccessible future.

Milky Chance erzielten mit ihrem Debütalbum "Sadnecessary" einen bemerkenswerten Erfolg, der sie zu internationaler Anerkennung katapultierte. Der 2013 veröffentlichte Hit "Stolen Dance" wurde zu einem globalen Phänomen und zeigte ihre einzigartige Mischung aus Folk, Elektronik und Reggae-Einflüssen. Das Album war bei Kritikern und den frisch gebackenen Fans ein Erfolg, erreichte in mehreren Ländern Platinstatus und festigte den Status von Milky Chance als bahnbrechenden Act. Auch 10 Jahre später wirkt die Fähigkeit des Albums, eingängige Melodien, poetische Texte und innovative Produktionstechniken nahtlos miteinander zu verbinden, so frisch wie eh und je und macht deutlich, warum Milky Chance seither ein fester Bestandteil der Charts geblieben ist.

2024 repress

Uneven Paths: Deviant Pop From Europe, 1980-1991' is compiled by record connoisseur Raphael Top-Secret and label man Jamie Tiller that brings together twenty one tracks from across the continent, exploring the more unusual and unexpected sides of pop music produced during that period. Printed Inner sleeves...
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Drawing material from cult experimental artists alongside one-off independent musical projects rescued from the fringes, 'Uneven Paths' focuses on a selection of tracks that go beyond the confines of mainstream pop music but which also transcend expectations of much of the 'experimental' music of the time. This is music with one foot in the avant-garde and another foot firmly rooted within the sensibilities of Pop, where Jazz musicians detour into Synth-Pop, Punk bands break into Boogie jams, and student doctors jam out on odd melodies with synthesizers and drum machines during their night shifts.

Adja is Brussels-based creator, singer and performer Adja Fassa, an artist rapidly making a name for herself in Belgium and a multidisciplinary with big plans. On the 24th February, she is set to release her debut EP 'IRONEYE' via the groove-obssessed Sdban Ultra.

In a direct line from her personal growth to her artistic practice, Adja translates through jazz, soul, gospel and her ever-expanding and transforming experience of reality, simultaneously using the creative process as a vehicle to make known to herself the answer to those inner questions. Her goal: making her spiritual path in this life as tangible as possible. A force of nature on stage with warm, sensual vocals, Adja is evocative of artists such as Erykah Badu, Solange and Lianne La Havas.



Besides being a musician, Fassa is also a theatremaker, working towards what she calls "Sophisticated Soul in a hybrid concert format." Her music takes centre stage, with her live shows gradually taking on an evolving theatrical character: telling stories through song, accompanied by sensory elements such as scent and symbolic images. All this stems from a desire to shed light on the plane of existence between everyday existence and the hidden stories from our collective memory.

On her music, Adja adds, "I am exploring what 'spirituality' means in this society, in the here and now. This, by not only treating it as an elusive abstract thing, but exploring how to make it as tangible as possible, which for myself means sharing sincere self-reflection with the outside world. I hope in that way to support those who are searching for the trigger to their own catharsis, as I wish to be one of many artists at service of those who are actively searching, actively trying to evolve. I hope some of those people resonate with my music and feel it moves them in the way they need to open up and start a new conversation with themselves, at whatever point they are in their life. I believe the first step to a better world is to look inward, but there is no reason we can't do that together and share some laughs and cries while we do so."

On stunning lead single 'Told you so" she states, "'Told you so' is a song about integrity. In a way, I feel blessed with a curse. The curse of rapid failure when I deviate from what is true to me: It seems that, whenever I am - purposely or unpurposely - dishonest with myself, I crash and burn really fast. A blessing in that sense that it seems my Soul's purpose does not let me waste time, a curse because it means that the teachings of life rarely feel like a gentle push and often like a slap in the face."

From a young age, Fassa always tried to understand the deeper layers in herself and others. A traveller in heart and soul, she studied theatre at KASK in Ghent and then in 2015, travelled to India and Nepal to immerse herself in yoga and other practices focused on the (sub)consciousness. Returning to Belgium to study jazz and vocals at the Leuven Conservatory, she began to combine her singing, theatre, and physical performance. She won the prestigious Sound Track competition for young talents in Flanders in 2021.

The Path is the latest album from Belbury Poly (aka Ghost Box records founder Jim Jupp). This time round Jupp has recruited a full band roster to expand his own unique electronica. He is joined by occasional Belbury Poly collaborator Christopher Budd on Bass and Guitar, Jesse Chandler (of Midlake, Mercury Rev & Pneumatic Tubes) on flute, clarinet and keyboards, Max Saidi on drums plus narration from author and poet, Justin Hopper.

Musically it takes as its starting point a particular moment of early 1970s British film soundtracks by the likes of Roy Budd and Roger Webb; a soundworld of easy-going jazz and funky rhythms gently coloured with pastoral strings and flutes. The Path, however, is unmoored from time or place thanks to Hopper’s narrative style, Chandler’s rustic flutes and keys, Budd’s soulful psychedelic guitars and Jupp’s production and electronics. The co-writers were all chosen for their unique abilities and an
intuitive understanding of the ongoing Belbury Poly project. The spoken word elements form a loose, open-ended narrative; very much an album with spoken word rather than a spoken word album.

The Band and Album Recording:
Christopher Budd: Electric Bass, Double Bass, Guitars, Electric Sitar
Jesse Chandler: Piano, Synths, Mellotron, Flute, Clarinet
Justin Hopper: Narration
Jim Jupp: Electric Piano, Synths, Mellotron, Percussion, Sound Effects
Max Saidi: Drums, Percussion

The project came together over two years, beginning with a conversation between Hopper and Jupp during a walk on the Sussex South Downs. Originally, it was to tell the tale of an American academic unravelling while adrift in an alienating English landscape. From the beginning, the pair wanted on a narration integrated lyrically into the piece, rather than dropped on top. The words gradually became more film-noir and open to interpretation; occasionally a little tongue-in-cheek. The final
texts explore a folklore of alienation; the way we impact the landscape and it impacts us.

Belbury Poly:
Jim Jupp has released EPs, singles and seven albums on Ghost Box as Belbury Poly. It’s generally a solo project, but he calls on a floating roster of like-minded musicians to extend the sound beyond studio based electronica. He is also one half of The Belbury Circle along with Cate Brooks (of The Advisory Circle) - occasional collaborators with John Foxx. He has recorded library tracks for KPM, BMG and Lo-Editions. He’s remixed tracks for several artists including Beautify Junkyards,
John Foxx and Bill Ryder-Jones (The Coral) and co-written a song with Paul Weller for his 2020 album On Sunset.

HOLLYSPLEEF is an Italian electronic music producer, shaping his way through the early 21st Century. He spends his late evenings and early mornings making live recordings with a bunch of analog gear from his hidden studio on the shores of the Adriatic Sea.

On one end pulling from R&B, House and Dub/Reggae, and on the other richly layered ambient and future-jazz. He creates sonically smooth music that rises and recedes like the tide, fitting for the next great surf film soundtrack or a packed club at 2am. Maintaining a steady hold on timeless dance music when he's up in the DJ booth playing the hits and the new 'classics’, HOLLYSPLEEF is a soulful artist whose styles bend time and space with particular groove.

“Paradise Seeds” is about roads, roots, paths and emotions, the ones you’re not used to feeling everyday. But most importantly it is about change, about the inner force one discovers when forced to transform.

After finding out he had to move out his beloved Resonance Jungle Studio, Hollyspleef decided he had to make one last album before the big move. Exploring his inner self through R&B, Jazz, Trip Hop, Footwork and Trap he delivers yet another gem of a record.

Nowadays Records has never lost its taste for compilations. And after having released dozens of them to date, the label is planning to release new ones for the occasion, directly from the Club Nowadays' aerial nights, where artists from different scenes, lesser-known heads and label figures are mixed together, always with this key word: openness.

More than just a name for a party or a compilation, Club Nowadays is also becoming a real artists' collective.

On the 1st compilation "Club Nowadays, Vol. 1" released in June 2022, we found house and techno sounds in the Nowadays style by the artists Chien Méchant, Grand Soleil, La Fine Equipe, Fulgeance, Trifouille1er, Ténéré and Vect (who also signed the whole visual DA of the project).

Nowadays is back with "Club Nowadays, Vol. 2", with other artists such as Phantom Traffic, Le Bag, Jeff The Fool,... In a word, Nowadays gives us its definition of club music. It may not be universal, but it is unique and inseparable from the label's image.

The incredible Flammer Dance Band return with their new long player, and wow...

70's textured, organic percussive rhythms, sweaty psych funk and hypnotic cosmic vibrations.

Spectra Ex Machina brings together rare documents pertaining to so-called occult phenomena, most of them taken from little-known archives. In the course of three volumes, this series traces an audio history of parapsychology through the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses (vol. 1); musician mediums (vol. 2); experiences of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance, psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice phenomena (vol. 3).

The documents gathered here are, by their extravagance and far-fetched aspects, more than the mere objects of belief one would be tempted to reduce them to. They are vestiges of aberrant phenomena, fossils of an unknown civilization buried in the depths of the unconscious that are revived, in a way, when we listen to them. They can be understood as "works" in the full artistic sense of the word, and constitute a kind of "cabinet of sound curiosities" that is worthy of aesthetic interest. Sometimes imbued with a disconcerting dramatic intensity, these documents bear the features of an authentic time machine, placing the listener in the position of a witness of the time immersed in the dim darkness of the experimental hall. And it is at that precise moment that the aesthetic power of these archives takes precedence over their probative value. Their somewhat old-fashioned charm, maintained by the surface noise of magnetic tapes and old wax disks, gets stronger with each listen.

Allchival present their second look at the music of Roger Doyle and Operating Theatre (a little known proto synth-pop act and experimental theatre group that he led.)

In reverse chronological order the second disc contains music from the United Dairies release of 1979 – ‘Rapid Eye Movements’. Experimental tape work heavily influenced by the French school of music concretists and recorded at various points during the 70s in Finland, Holland and Ireland, although it is most certainly a Roger Doyle solo record the label ran by Nurses With Wounds John Fothergill decided to release it under the group name for reasons now lost to the fog of time.

After this a volte-face towards a more accessible sound, coming via his friendship with future Hollywood actress Olwen Fouéré and her connection to the theatre. It also featured the vocals of a young Spanish immigrant Elena López- bucking the 80’s trend by moving to rather than from Dublin. With Fouéré adding the theatrical element to the group (an almost essential part of any early 80s synth act) alongside pulsing synths, brass, a vocoder and the electro acoustic production talents of Doyle himself, it was the first time a Fairlight sampler was used in an Irish studio setting and gives a prescient but alternative take on the new wave sound that came to dominate the charts soon after.
Doyle’s work on the newly released Fairlight sampler had brought him to the attention of U2’s Bono who had seen a feature about his sampling experimentations and reached out to him for piano lessons. This led to a deal on the bands embryonic Mother records for what Doyle calls his first “popular song” - Queen of No Heart - which alongside “Spring is Coming” made up the backbone of the EP which was released some years later (1986) on the Mother Records label. Established by U2 in 1984 and initially intended to launch Irish bands, many of the acts – including this one – were subsequently unhappy about the label’s haphazard approach to releases and lack of promotion. The record was released as a die cut 7 inch with the two main tracks and a 12 inch EP with additional tracks – ‘Part of My Make-Up’ / ‘Atlantean’ / ‘Satanasa’. The Mother experience was for Doyle and the rest of the group a frustrating one with no promotional plan and no tour. After that Operating Theatre as a quasi pop project ‘just kind of fizzled out’ says Doyle.

Doyle, the musical maverick at the heart of the act, continues to produce to this day and has released 30 albums. A frequent collaborator we round out the record with a remix from another Irish outsider - Morgan Buckley of the Wah Wah Wino fame.

King Tubby production, originally a Firehouse, 1986

La Matta Records proudly presents the First Official Reissue of the unique LP made by Stani Labonia, an Italian Soul-Funk masterpiece originally released in 1978 on Vincenzo Micocci’s It/RCA label. This rare album recorded in Naples, finally comes out after more than 40 years, carefully restored from the original tape. Among the talented musicians who worked in the recording of this album we can find names as Jenny Sorrenti of “Saint Just”, Gaio Chiocchio founding member of “Pierrot Lunaire”, Enzo Avitabile and Gianni Guarracino, former “Città Frontale” but most importantly this LP boasts the courtesy arrangement of Pino Daniele in: La Prossima Donna. Labonia, whose real name is Stanislao Smiraglia, is from Bolzano but lived most of his life in Naples, collaborating with the main musicians of that city. He cou ld be compared with the best of the Italian scene, with strong funk and Latin influences. So this is a rare italian gem to anyone interested in Latin Jazz-Funk & Soul. Fully remastered.

It seems like an age since Icelandic producer Adalsteinn Gudmundsson's last album as Yagya, 2020's "Old Dreams and Memories." The first album to be released on his own label Small Plastic Animals it was followed by the four-track "Always Maybe Tomorrow" EP in 2021. "Faded Photographs" is his ninth studio album, the most involved and time-consuming project to date and collaborative on a scale not seen since 2012's "The Inescapable Decay of My Heart." It also marks an exceptionally confident return to the art of song-writing, but where that earlier album was a more upbeat dub techno-pop affair, "Faded Photographs" is nostalgic, wistful, reflective and steeped in poetic romanticism. Gudmundsson's love of the art of the album is also more pronounced here than ever before, almost every single track tied together by the particularly unifying use of triplet rhythms in combination with 4/4 beats, beguiling hushed vocals and enveloping, molten dub bass tones. Combined with a typical dedication to sound design and production, "Faded Photographs" is rendered an utterly seamless experience, demanding to be heard as a whole. Written and produced when we had become more distant and disconnected from one another than ever before, "Faded Photographs" brings together and showcases an ensemble of artists in a spirit of collaboration that flies in the face of adversity, a true product of its time.

The fifth release on Canopy continues to up the ante and expand on the tropical Techni-colour palette already set out by the label.

Alafia was a studio project from the mid 80s in Paris. Masterminded and written by musical maverick Phil Han Mandounou and bringing together musicians from Benin, Cameroon and the French Antilles. The project is a superbly orchestrated and expertly delivered exploration of funk and afro off-beats with 80s synth leanings. Precise musicianship and forward leaning afro synth funk wizardry. Dextrous, extrovert, playful and masterful.

A1. Alafia – Assanssan (Original Mix) (33rpm)
Uplifting vocals are set against shimmering guitars and punctuated by triumphant horns. Growling and bouncing synth bass is underpinned by tight digital drums. Assanssan defies categorisation while encapsulating many vibrant genres and motifs. “A proper mind melting hybrid tropical beast of a tune”!
“Assanssan” refers to a type of quilted fabric popular in West Africa and is a metaphor for togetherness and blending cultures harmoniously. “
Assanssan hé hé hé, come and sing along, Assanssan hé hé hé, come and dance along.”

A2. Alafia – Assiove (Original Mix) (33rpm)
A powerful afro funk groove built around punchy off-beat digital drums and tightly syncopated guitar and bass-lines, augmented by searing synth arrangements and positive vocal passages. Assiove is a highly successful fusion of western and African influences.

B1. Alafia – Assanssan (Bosq Remix) (45rpm)
Bosq, the man with Midas touch, takes Assanssan and pours gasoline on the already raging flames, setting the whole funky situation alight! Swapping out the bass groove for an insistent and pulsing funk, he switches the track into overdrive while the original passages shine sublimely under his benediction.

Few artists find a unique path and even fewer remain committed to it, but with insatiable ambition, Berlin's BOYS NOIZE turned principled dedication into an outsize presence among 21st century DJs and electronic musicians. A career punctuated by audacious cross-genre exploration has earned him an enviable fluidity of practice across borders and scenes, yet his definitive fingerprints are present on every creation. An underground hero with mainstream appeal and acid-dripped, techno-punk sensibilities, he jumpstarts crowds from Berghain to Coachella. In 2021, BOYS NOIZE’s fascination with traversing dualities hits a new apex on his fifth studio album +/- (pronounced Polarity)

“The album dives into the polar tension between the musical styles and worlds I find myself in,” says BOYS NOIZE. “When you combine opposites, something transcendent can take place, something greater than the two parts.And with music, it becomes a magic that can create new worlds.”

The German-Iraqi producer and DJ (born Alex Ridha) never thought much of rules or restraints. His 2007 debut album Oi Oi Oikicked down the door to the music industry, brashly refracting a record collector’s deep knowledge of industrial, house, and techno through a prism of raucous energy and raw production in defiance of the aging dance music establishment’s genre conventions. Self-releasing the LP on his own label, Ridha and Boysnoize Records (BNR) became a gravitational force for an international subculture of new sounds and attitudes sparking fires across clubland. BOYS NOIZE ´s reputation had grown among the fashionable favorites of the indie revival, who sought to bolster their bands’ singles with his rapturous re-edits that fused guitars and synthesizers. With deft mixing, singular taste, and a prowess for connecting rockers and ravers on the dancefloor, the prodigious DJ began playing hundreds of shows spanning a multitude of countries near and far. A tipping point was reached, however, after BOYS NOIZE dropped his intoxicating, anthemic remix of FEIST’s “My Moon My Man,” which buzzed with the start of festival season before soaring to new heights as an inescapable viral hit. The field was now wide open for Berlin’s iconoclastic originator, with every head turning to see what he’d bring next.

While some would temper their edge after finding crossover success, BOYS NOIZEleaned harder into his unorthodox blending of rave and punk, indie and industrial. Reflecting this eclecticism, his next LP, Power, earned him even greater global attention and energized a growing fanbase. Out of the Blackbroadened the scope of his potential, proving, with “Got It,” that even SNOOP DOGGhas a place in BOYS NOIZE ´selectric universe. Both technically masterful and enthrallingly anarchic, 2016’s Maydaydelivered a cinematic soundtrack of synergistic songcraft, rushing forth on a dark wave of industrial rave. Even with his relentless experimentation, BOYS NOIZEremains devoted to Berlin’s electronic music foundations, and Strictly Raw Volumes 1 and2serve as a “no talk, all action” flex of techno-essentialist finesse.He also remains resolutely independent, releasing all of his albums—including +/-—on his own BNRimprint, which celebrates its 16th year in 2021.

One outlet is not enough, however, for BOYS NOIZE ´s perpetual flood of ideas and unstoppable productivity, and so numerous collaborative, pseudonymous, and anonymous side projects have offered new territories for creative freedom. As OCTAVE MINDS, he exchanges timbre and melody with maestro pianist CHILLY GONZALES. Handbraekes’ unhinged, avant-garde disco is the brainchild of BOYS NOIZE and surrealist polymath MR. OIZO. And reaching out across the Atlantic, a friendship with SKRILLEX brings DOG BLOOD, an overpowered meeting of minds propelling their respective talents forward in unexpected directions.

The collective volume and diversity of these projects has put BOYS NOIZE in high demand among artists seeking his proprietary sonic techniques and peerless production. Berlin’s world-renowned subterranean culture acts as a beacon for international stars who are willing to probe the margins for the innovative and unusual, and it is BOYS NOIZE ´s studio where their fresh inspirations are transmuted into even fresher music with his expertise. Over the years, working relationships have flourished and production credits multiplied, including with such luminaries as LADY GAGA, FRANK OCEAN, A$AP ROCKY, BON IVER, MARK RONSON and FRANCIS & THE LIGHTS. And as an unrivaled remixer, BOYS NOIZEhas been enlisted by DEPECHE MODE, RAMMSTEIN, DAFT PUNK and DAVID LYNCH, adding his signature to the work of artistic royalty. Even while personally embracing an outsider role, BOYS NOIZE finds his influence penetrating the center:2020 was marked by a GRAMMYnomination for his collaboration with SKRILLEX and TY DOLLA $IGN“Midnight Hour”—an unlikely blend of late-night R&B, oldskool rave and hard house—while 2021brought a GRAMMY win for LADY GAGA ´s “Rain on Me,” feat. ARIANA GRANDE.

“I've always been inspired by trying to integrate opposing, polar forces,” says Ridha. “There's something really thrilling in it, and it's always a secret motivation for me; building and exploring the combination of contrasts. Techno’s earliest inspiration was the idea of combining man and machine. And you can continue from there—aggression and beauty, past and future...”

BOYS NOIZEs +/-encapsulates a distillation of his career-to-date in waveform shape, where valleys of subterranean techno, industrial and jacking house transition into peaks of star-driven collaborations. Backed by the club adept’s battering beats and cloaked in deep, immersive textures, the songs, while rich, possess a mean bite—even +/-’s most melodic moments bare the sharpened teeth of Ridha ´s modular synthesis and processing; a new breakthrough for the gear lover.

“When I first entered the modular synth world, there was this moment of, 'What the fuck? I’ve never heard that sound before,'” Ridha explains. “To me that was huge, because I always try to make harder sounds than those that previously exist. With modular synths, it's not like having different guitars or a keyboard with different patches. It's going one step further—you must build the guitar, then decide what it will sound like,how it will be played, in what ways it will react. This process is incredibly inspiring to me. It's this mystery of, 'What am I gonna patch together next, and what is it going to do?'”


The +/-album exhibits BOYS NOIZE ́s evolutionary blueprint for bridging diametrical musical positions, while testing the limits through self-discovered modular workflows. A sense of otherworldliness and a suspension of time is shared on “Affection,” an ethereal, trance-gated Atlanta Bass singalong featuring alt-R&B singer ABRA. One also finds this feeling in the monumental, metallic atmosphere of “Act 9,” a brooding ballad featuring VINSON. “Ride or Die” with KELSEY LU and CHILLY GONZALES has BOYS NOIZE juxtaposing the beautiful with the delirious. A tapestry of blissfully affective moods is woven through a pummeling tribal backbone, as if LU’s lush melancholy arrives to heal all the synapses seared by 140 bpm excess. The essence of +/-is found in such paradoxical worldbuilding and the undeniable attraction it elicits through the unfamiliar, a rare accomplishment in an era of algorithmic refinement

“Polarization was a word that arose constantly during the writing and recording of thisalbum, whether in the news or in my own understanding of the different aspects of my music,” says BOYS NOIZE. “But ‘polarization’ assumes that everything must be black and white—the truth and the music deserve to be far more complex.”


Collaboration, however, does not come at the cost of having to compromise. BOYS NOIZE ́slifelong commitment to the throbbing, dark energy of the underground makes its presence known throughout +/-. Each single, whether “Girl Crush” with RICO NASTYor “Nude” with TOMMY CASH, comes paired with a b-side that would challenge any of the aforementioned performers’s fans but revs the engines of the die-hard ravers awaiting their next hit of BOYS NOIZEat his hardest. Visual artist Eric Timothy Carlson, designer of BON IVER’s acclaimed 22 a Million, joined BOYS NOIZEin developing expansive illustrations and iconography for the album and all of its individual works.The artwork offers an esoteric key of glyphs and symbols, mapping the contradictory influences and emotions which served as the elements for an audio alchemy. Through both image and sound, +/-surveys the anything-is-possible output of a distinguished techno producer exploring a newly opened world of distinct collaborations, freed from all confines, in a state of evolution of both genre and self. From the time BOYS NOIZE held his first vinyl record to the release of +/-today, there is still one thing this DJ from Berlin knows will never change: it’s all in the mix.

Gold Vinyl

Die größten Hits von Alphaville aus 40 Jahren Band-Geschichte, komplett neu arrangiert und aufgenommen mit dem Deutschen Filmorchester Babelsberg Alphaville, der größte deutsche SynthPop-Export und Schöpfer der legendären 80s-Hymnen „Big in Japan“, „Sounds like a Melody“ und „Forever Young“, wagt den Schritt ins Symphonische. Die Band greift zum ganz großen Besteck und katapultiert die größten Hits aus 40 Jahren BandGeschichte vom Sound der Synthesizer und Rhythmus-maschine in die Welt der menschlichen Klangmaschine Symphonieorchester.

„Eternally Yours“ ist dabei mehr als eine bloße Übersetzung der Songs in das Klangspektrum eines großen Orchesters. Es ist vielmehr eine Symbiose zwischen Marian Golds einzigartigen stimmlichen
Fähigkeiten, dem originären Alphaville-Sound und dem majestätisch kraftvollem Facettenreichtum des großbesetzten Deutschen Filmorchester Babelsber

Spectra Ex Machina brings together rare documents pertaining to so-called occult phenomena, most of them taken from little-known archives. In the course of three volumes, this series traces an audio history of parapsychology through the exploration of spiritualism and haunted houses (vol. 1); musician mediums (vol. 2); experiences of extrasensory perceptions (clairvoyance, psychokinesis, etc.) and electronic voice phenomena (vol. 3).

The documents gathered here are, by their extravagance and far-fetched aspects, more than the mere objects of belief one would be tempted to reduce them to. They are vestiges of aberrant phenomena, fossils of an unknown civilization buried in the depths of the unconscious that are revived, in a way, when we listen to them. They can be understood as "works" in the full artistic sense of the word, and constitute a kind of "cabinet of sound curiosities" that is worthy of aesthetic interest. Sometimes imbued with a disconcerting dramatic intensity, these documents bear the features of an authentic time machine, placing the listener in the position of a witness of the time immersed in the dim darkness of the experimental hall. And it is at that precise moment that the aesthetic power of these archives takes precedence over their probative value. Their somewhat old-fashioned charm, maintained by the surface noise of magnetic tapes and old wax disks, gets stronger with each listen.

Reflections" ist die neue EP des GRAMMY-nominierten LA-Trios Moonchild (alias Amber Navran, Andris Mattson & Max Bryk). Inspiriert von der kultigen Tiny-Desk-Performance der Band (die mittlerweile 4,9 Millionen Mal aufgerufen wurde), hat die Band auf "Reflections" alte Songs neu interpretiert, darunter einige der größten Hits des Trios.

The new 20 track album from Sigala featuring the Top 10 hits ‘Lasting Lover’ with James Arthur, ‘Wish You Well’ with Becky Hill as well as the new singles with Talia Mar, David Guetta, Sam Ryder and more collaborations TBC

Nach einem monumentalen Jahr macht sich der belgische Superstar-Produzent, DJ und Live-Performer Lost Frequencies bereit, das Jahr 2023 mit einem großen Finale abzuschließen: mit seinem dritten Album 'All Stand Together', das am 10. November über Sony Music erscheint! Auf "All Stand Together" nehmen Lost Frequencies und eine Reihe von alten und neuen Kollaborateuren die Zuhörer mit auf eine Reise voller Wohlfühl-Elektronik. Vom internationalen Nr. Hit 'Where Are You Now' mit Calum Scott, über die aktuelle Soloveröffentlichung 'The Feeling' und einem Titeltrack, der die Szene zum Kochen bringen wird. Featurings mit Netsky, James Arthur, Tom Gregory und vielen anderen. Von House- und Tropical-Sounds über Einflüsse von Folk, akustischen Instrumentals und starken Gesangsdarbietungen bis hin zu tanzbaren Hymnen - "All Stand Together" wird das bisher charakteristischste Album von Lost Frequencies.