Suche:marie

2025 Repress

Wide Yonder’ is a truly remarkable album, offering as much depth and soul as it’s predecessor, yet sounding ultimately fresh and different. Above all, the ten tracks show an artist that’s willing to take risks, find in- spiration in new places and move beyond the sound of his previous album. Trentemøller: ‘Of course I didn’t want to make the same record twice. So the album is for me a logic development from ’The Last Resort’’. Instead he just started to collect new ideas, without thinking too much about the direction the music would take him: ‘The only thing I knew was that I’d want the music to sound more organic and analog.’ Compared to the intimate electronic mood pieces of ‘The Last Resort’, the ten tracks on the new album indeed have a more strange, mystic and dramatic vibe, with a lot of dynamics, distorted, driving twang- guitars, real and electronic drums mixed with haunting synths. With ‚Into The Great Wide Yonder‘ Trentemøller is not only exploring new moody and atmospheric universes, but combines his sense for glorious soundscapes with a firm melodic and tonal touch. The original chord progressions and feel for melodies is fundamental to him, and that‘s also the reason why most of the instruments are played by Trentemøller himself on this album. ‚I like the possibility to be surprised that chords and melodies change into something new. The music that I like most lets the themes and sounds come back in different disguises‘. The Danish multi instrumentalist and producer shows an unexpected talent for finding vocalists that fit the mood of his songs. The first single of the album, the beautifully tender ‘Sycamore Feeling’, featuring Marie Fisker, is a typical highlight. In fact, all the vocal tracks are stunning. Trentemøller chose to collaborate with the English artist Fyfe Dangerfield from UK based Guillemots and Danish singers Solveig Sandnes and Josephine Philip from the debuting Danish indie girlduo Darkness Falls. They all manage to add their own sound and flavour to the album, while their voices blend perfectly with Trentemøller’s atmospheric songs. This is an album that keeps growing for a long time, as every track works its way stealthily under your skin. The sound of ‘Into The Great Wide Yonder’ might be one step ahead of his previous work, but we still easily recognize the hand of Trentemøller, in this inspired collection of songs and atmospheres. The sonic richness, sharp contrasts and daring musical colours are vintage Trentemøller. Into The Great Wide Yonder’ might demand more from the listener than ‘The Last Resort’, as it ended up being quite a dramatic album. This album is more noisy, there’s more happening.‘ But getting to know the tracks definitely is a rewarding experience, as the album will keep growing and growing for a long time to come and its safe to say that Anders Trentemøller has managed to create

Nous'klaer Audio proudly presents Paerels III (aka Pearls 3), the third and final edition of its beloved 3x12" compilation series. This release brings together a refreshing splash of sounds, unbound by genre, blending deep-listening pieces with driving techno, rave-tinged house, and a few playful surprises. Contributions come from both familiar faces and new voices on the label, with some tracks pulled from the archives and others fresh out of the studio - curated by label-head Oberman. Featuring artists like Megan Leber, Mattheis with a remix from Pye Corner Audio, Marie K, Mattias El Mansouri, Cooper Saver, Kems Kriol, Martinou, Human Space Machine, Koraal, Eversines, Erik Luebs, Mathilde Nobel with an Oceanic remix, Mary Lake, and lastly Gotu Jim.

This compilation features tracks released between 1978 and 1988 in Western France.

Through this compilation, we strove to highlight a little-known regional scene, characteristic of the diverse and sometimes opposing music movements of the 80s. Through this musical journey across the Brittany, Normandy, and Pays-de-la-Loire regions, we sought to showcase a resolutely indie aesthetic, sometimes conceived in some of France’s most unusual studios, such as a bunker and a caravan.

We’ve found it difficult to make attribute an established, well-defined genre to some of the tracks featured on this compilation. They draw, each in their own way, from the rock scene that dominated the 80s in France, from countercultures, from American stars who shone on the country’s radio stations and in its record stores, and even from local folk music.

While one could hear an harmony across the tracks featured on Le Grand Ouest, channeling this manifold energy onto a record required extensive research through the Brittany, Normandy, and Pays de la Loire regions’ discographies. Over the three years since the release of Le Grand Sud-Est, we have meticulously researched the references of artists, musicians, studios, labels, and publishers from each region. We sought to trace each artist to identify and listen to all their works from that period, and, when possible, collect unreleased recordings, left as demo cassettes on the artists' dusty shelves.

The synthesis of this research, presented here under the title Le Grand Ouest, hopes to remind us of the timelessness of the indie scene in our country, through the lens of the 80s Western France’s scene. Whereas Le Grand Sud-Est exhibited the funkiest sides of the Provençale and Rhône-Alpes scene, Le Grand Ouest leans towards a more mellow, introverted music, an expression of groups of friends united by the joy of playing together.

The first 500 copies of the record come with an extensive booklet with unpublished photos, press clippings, and texts for each track.

For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.

A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.

In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.

Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.

Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.

After the standout success of last year’s maiden edition, Drumcode returns with volume two of its acclaimed Elevate compilation featuring no less than seven label debutants. The compilation’s manifesto is simple. Platform a broader range of emerging artists on Drumcode and help elevate the next generation to make strides in their careers. At the same time, the project gives fans a taste of the future and a sneak peak of some of the names you can expect to see featuring on the label and at showcases over the coming year and beyond.

22REC006 Capitulo VI Parte I: “Sueños y sombras”

Ozone were a group on Motown between 1980 and 1983. They were put together by Charles Alexander Glenn from Nashville where he had a band The Endeavors. He then brough his best musicians to Los Angeles where Billy Preston recommended to Motown they become the touring band for Teena Marie. They also played for Luther Vandross and then recorded five albums for Motown. “(Our Hearts) Will Always Shine, also credited as “Our Hearts (Will Always Shine)” on Motown has become a timeless and in demand modern soul record, copies of the 7” original now commanding in excess of £300. It has a Gene Page (of Barry White fame) string arrangement and is produced by the group with Michael Stokes (Creative Source, Enchantment, Magic Lady, LTD, Active Force etc)

The A side 'Lip Locked' is an animated collaboration between Parris and Untold, is certified fast house compatible and comes stripped back to the classic raw elements of synth stab, vocal, sub bass and kick drum.

Early support by Ben UFO and Marie Montexier.

'Just Look at the Rain' sees a rare solo outing for Untold spinning crunchy breakbeats and guitar stabs into something both old school and new.

ORO was set up in 2014 as a sub-label of Hemlock for the more 'out there' material and has released music from Brian Routh (R.I.P), Untold, IVVVO and Lord Skywave.

Parris runs the label Can You Feel The Sun with Call Super and has just wrapped up a busy summer with performances at Love International, Houghton and Glastonbury festivals, as well as touring the US and Columbia.

In 2023 Untold founded and began running the modular synth brand Laine.

The wax is hot. The tunes are massive. Oath’s sub-label, Last Year at Marienbad, dispenses a foursome of punchy house tracks for its fifth release, lovingly crafted by some of the genre’s finest producers.

‘The Way We Flow’ by Sam Paradise pairs detuned, lo-fi samples with thumping kicks, and muffled drums. Just when those innocent lo-fi elements simmer, the drums slam back into your periphery harder than ever, making for an absolute dancefloor smasher.

‘De Nuit (3 A.M)’ by Nu-Cleo descends deeper. Swinging drums and chocolatey, indulgent keys lay the basis for a hypnotic acid bassline. Real tension builder.

Flipping over to the B-Side – careful, it’s hot – is ‘She Wrote’ by Gloved Hands. Seemingly just a ride through a well-made bouncing synth and house groove combo at first, this track soon shows off Gloved Hands’ knack for leftfield flavours. There’s an unexpected trap-esque vocal that gets re-contextualised for the club alongside piercing synths and a bulging broken beat.

‘Hard Deep’ by Rick Wade is an obvious one. The stalwart of the house scene serves up another of his zesty, masterful grooves. Shimmering, effortless keys steer a tight drum groove while a subtle bassline nestles between the kick’s low end.

Four cuts from four house experts. Is there much more a dancefloor could ask for?

Drumcode is set to release ‘Elevate’ a 10-track compilation showcasing cuts from a fresh array of label family and friends, including BEC, Juliet Fox and rising talent Chelina Manuhutu, Tini Gessler and DJ Dee. The project is also testament to techno’s global appeal with artists coming from Japan, China and Australia, as well as across the UK and Europe.

Always with an eye on the future, ‘Elevate’ sees a total of seven artists make their Drumcode debut split across three vinyl EPs. The third and final part sees Tini Gessler, Marie Vaunt and BEC let loose three future Drumcode classics.

Drumcode is set to release ‘Elevate’ a 10-track compilation showcasing cuts from a fresh array of label family and friends, including BEC, Juliet Fox and rising talent Chelina Manuhutu, Tini Gessler and DJ Dee. The project is also testament to techno’s global appeal with artists coming from Japan, China and Australia, as well as across the UK and Europe.

Always with an eye on the future, ‘Elevate’ sees a total of seven artists make their Drumcode debut split across three vinyl EPs. The third and final part sees Tini Gessler, Marie Vaunt and BEC let loose three future Drumcode classics.

"Le Disque De l'Art Gué" highlights in a 10-track compilation the avant-garde and dreamlike work of Fizzè, in between medieval ballad, acoustic industrial and psychedelic world music. It includes original tracks from "Kulu Hatha Mamnua" and "Manoeuvres d'Automne" albums released in 1987 + unreleased materials and remixes by Fizzè.

Compilation, concept and production by Fizzé, Orsett & Fischer

Analog mastering by Tim Stollenwerk

Drawings, obi strip and insert layout by Anne-Marie Gratton

The record cover represents the acrylic painting "Till" by Alex Rabus

AVNU (UK) follows up his fantastic recent single on Ellum Audio with a long-awaited and hugely adventurous new album, ‘Tough To Love But Worth The Effort’.

AVNU (UK) is based on the East Coast of Scotland and has been deeply immersed in music for twenty plus years. He has a love of everything from rock, soul and blues to disco, electro, techno, trance and rave. All of that comes out in his innovative sounds, which range from sweat-inducing club tracks to hooky and feel-good grooves. This album finds him working his magic across 15 tracks that bring plenty of fresh perspective to house, electro, synth, techno and pop. They add up to a storytelling record filled with left turns and tracks that work in a range of different contexts.

'Surprise!' opens with a glossy electro beat and shimmering 80s synths that set the tone for the whole record. 'I Love You' brings a French touch influence with plenty of filtered synth loops and crisp drums under a soulful vocal, then 'Supaflake' cuts loose on an old-school funk vibe with nods to early Daft Punk. This most colourful of records plays out through the likes of sombre cosmic techno offering 'Bad Karma,' the longing chords and heavy-hearted electronica of 'Odyssey Jam' feat Mariel Ito and distorted bass of 'Phlegm In The Street' which comes with laser-like synths and menacing vocals.

The future styles continue on 'Yo E, Check This Out' which collides jungle breakbeats with brain-melting sine waves, while 'Wilkie' is a moment to catch your breath amongst bright and shiny synths and deeper drums that suspend you in a celestial sky. 'Proud You’re Mine' is a perfect electro-dance-pop gem that has potential to be a summer festival anthem and the title track closes down with six minutes of enchanting and mystical synth lines and hypnotic drums.

‘Tough To Love But Worth The Effort’ is a spectacularly broad and accomplished album that lives in a world of its own.

Nach einer dreijährigen Pause kehrt der schwedische Singer-Songwriter Thomas Jonsson mit ,Give Up Together" zurück, seinem sechsten Album als I'm Kingfisher. Nach dem 2023 erschienenen, hochgelobten Album ,Glue", das größtenteils gemeinsam mit Jazzmusikern arrangiert wurde, hat sich Jonsson dieses Mal für einen etwas anderen, härteren Sound entschieden - mit einer brillanten Sammlung von Americana-Songs, die von ruhigen Drums, markanten E-Gitarren und satten Streichern umhüllt sind, während sie gelegentlich zu reduzierten Folksongs dekonstruiert werden. Als eines der bestgehüteten Geheimnisse Schwedens und als einer der besten Songwriter der nordischen Folk-Welle hat Jonsson still und leise ein mehr als beeindruckendes Repertoire aufgebaut, während er die Bühne mit Kevin Morby, Courtney Marie Andrews, The Weather Station und Damien Jurado teilte, und ist nun endlich bereit, neben seinen berühmteren Zeitgenossen ins Rampenlicht zu treten.

Pete Lambrou, the visionary composer and multi-instrumentalist behind VLMV (pronounced "Alma"), is one of the most singular voices emerging from the ambient, post-rock, and experimental scenes in the UK. With a career that spans atmospheric solo work, film and television scoring, and evocative live performance, Lambrou has carved out a distinctive sonic universe he describes as "ambient-ish post-something" (Pete Lambrou) a playful yet accurate summation of a sound that is at once genre-fluid and deeply immersive. The album takes its title from Sara Teasdale's 1918 poem and Ray Bradbury's later short story, both of which imagine a world continuing quietly after humanity's disappearance. This idea became the gravitational centre around which the record formed. Written during a period of deep engagement with climate fiction and ecological thought, `There Will Come Soft Rains` reflects on humanity's legacy, its technological ambition, and its uneasy relationship with the natural world. A century on from Teasdale's poem, the balance of power feels less certain, and Lambrou's music inhabits that tension with remarkable subtlety. "The initial ideas stem mostly from chaos, randomness or sound exploration and then get shaped as I go. Typically, and certainly for this album. It's evolved since album 1, which was more song / chord based. It's a fun process of finding the sound and then working out whether it's speaking to me - or merely just a cool noise. That's fun, but it sometimes can't evolve or progress, so then begins the long journey of shaping it into some sort of song format - which doesn't have to be a-typica,l but whatever feels right to me. The subject matter and overall theme is important too - it's got to all make sense within itself. There's no point having a slowly creeping theme and then rush the music." (Pete Lambrou) VLMV embody an emotional honesty that works with patience and nuance. Whether you're encountering his music for the first time or returning to its quiet depths, VLMV offers an aural space that resonates long after the final note fades. Lambrou's singular sonic language sits at the intersection of ambient, post-rock, modern classical, and experimental electronic music, while remaining unmistakably human at its core. "Instrumentally it's far more synth based - as soon as I had the concept, I wanted to make sure technology clash and marry with traditional instruments (at different times) in a sort of slow-moving dance I suppose. One is nature, one is human development and technology. Sometimes working together and sometimes in opposition. On my previous albums I'd say that at least half of the tracks started life as songs, whereas with `There Will Come Soft Rains` I think the majority (if not all) started as experiments in sound." (Pete Lambrou) Sonically, the album is VLMV at its most cinematic and textural. Warm, intimate piano figures and elegiac string arrangements are set against unstable modular synthesis, fractured rhythms, and evolving sound design. The organic and the artificial are locked in a slow, shifting dialogue, mirroring the album's central themes. At times the music feels tender and nostalgic, at others unpredictable and mournful, yet it never tips into despair. Instead, a quiet resilience runs throughout the record. "The album is slightly unusual in that it was mixed in Dolby Atmos before being mixed down to stereo. Most, if not all, do it the other way round. That's because I got to work with a superb mix engineer who just happens to live opposite. It was extremely random and lucky, moving to a tiny hamlet in the South of England and there being a Dolby Atmos studio opposite with a genius of an engineer. We had in mind that we would do it this way round and enjoy the mix process and give everything its own space - it still had issues when folding down to stereo, but overall a more pleasurable mix!" (Pete Lambrou) There Will Come Soft Rains has a geological sense of time: themes creep, expand, erode, and reform, resisting conventional structures in favour of something more patient and immersive. Each sound exists because it needs to; they move, recede, and emerge with a three-dimensional clarity that enhances the music's cinematic quality, giving each element room to breathe while maintaining an enveloping sense of cohesion. Lambrou's unique voice is Intimate and fragile, his vocals hover above the instrumentation, a guiding thread through the expansive soundscapes, drawing listeners closer into the emotional core of each piece. "Long time vocal collaborator Anja Madhvani did lots of harmonies on the album - I wanted to include her voice as much as possible on this album. In terms of string players - 3/4 have been long term collaborators with me. Marie Schreer actually recorded all strings on my first album ALMA, and Fraser & Clodagh have worked on every album (and occasional live shows) since Stranded Not Lost. In terms of art - Joel Cammarata designed the cover, and accompanying art - he designed Sing With Abandon and I absolutely adore his work, but also - he's so great at understanding and developing and capturing the concept." (Pete Lambrou) Layered harmonies drift through the music like distant signals or half-remembered voices. Madhvani's presence adds a human fragility to the album's vast soundscapes, reinforcing the sense of memory and longing that runs beneath the surface. The strings, performed by a close circle of trusted collaborators, further ground the record in warmth and physicality, acting as a counterweight to the synthetic elements that threaten to unravel it. "Despite the heavy subject matter, I wanted to create an album that imparts hope and optimism, marrying traditional instrumentation as nostalgia, with technological innovation through the randomness of modular synths." (Pete Lambrou) The partnership with Pelagic Records feels both organic and significant. Known for championing artists who value emotional weight, sonic ambition, and artistic integrity, the label provides a natural home for VLMV's work. Lambrou's music shares Pelagic's ethos: immersive, patient, and unafraid of scale whether intimate or vast. With There Will Come Soft Rains, Pete Lambrou has crafted a work that feels timely without being didactic, expansive without being overwhelming. It stands as a quiet, but powerful statement that lingers long after the final notes fade. FOR FANS OF Sigur Ros * Olafur Arnalds * Radiohead * Keaton Henson * This Will Destroy You

Pete Lambrou, the visionary composer and multi-instrumentalist behind VLMV (pronounced "Alma"), is one of the most singular voices emerging from the ambient, post-rock, and experimental scenes in the UK. With a career that spans atmospheric solo work, film and television scoring, and evocative live performance, Lambrou has carved out a distinctive sonic universe he describes as "ambient-ish post-something" (Pete Lambrou) a playful yet accurate summation of a sound that is at once genre-fluid and deeply immersive. The album takes its title from Sara Teasdale's 1918 poem and Ray Bradbury's later short story, both of which imagine a world continuing quietly after humanity's disappearance. This idea became the gravitational centre around which the record formed. Written during a period of deep engagement with climate fiction and ecological thought, `There Will Come Soft Rains` reflects on humanity's legacy, its technological ambition, and its uneasy relationship with the natural world. A century on from Teasdale's poem, the balance of power feels less certain, and Lambrou's music inhabits that tension with remarkable subtlety. "The initial ideas stem mostly from chaos, randomness or sound exploration and then get shaped as I go. Typically, and certainly for this album. It's evolved since album 1, which was more song / chord based. It's a fun process of finding the sound and then working out whether it's speaking to me - or merely just a cool noise. That's fun, but it sometimes can't evolve or progress, so then begins the long journey of shaping it into some sort of song format - which doesn't have to be a-typica,l but whatever feels right to me. The subject matter and overall theme is important too - it's got to all make sense within itself. There's no point having a slowly creeping theme and then rush the music." (Pete Lambrou) VLMV embody an emotional honesty that works with patience and nuance. Whether you're encountering his music for the first time or returning to its quiet depths, VLMV offers an aural space that resonates long after the final note fades. Lambrou's singular sonic language sits at the intersection of ambient, post-rock, modern classical, and experimental electronic music, while remaining unmistakably human at its core. "Instrumentally it's far more synth based - as soon as I had the concept, I wanted to make sure technology clash and marry with traditional instruments (at different times) in a sort of slow-moving dance I suppose. One is nature, one is human development and technology. Sometimes working together and sometimes in opposition. On my previous albums I'd say that at least half of the tracks started life as songs, whereas with `There Will Come Soft Rains` I think the majority (if not all) started as experiments in sound." (Pete Lambrou) Sonically, the album is VLMV at its most cinematic and textural. Warm, intimate piano figures and elegiac string arrangements are set against unstable modular synthesis, fractured rhythms, and evolving sound design. The organic and the artificial are locked in a slow, shifting dialogue, mirroring the album's central themes. At times the music feels tender and nostalgic, at others unpredictable and mournful, yet it never tips into despair. Instead, a quiet resilience runs throughout the record. "The album is slightly unusual in that it was mixed in Dolby Atmos before being mixed down to stereo. Most, if not all, do it the other way round. That's because I got to work with a superb mix engineer who just happens to live opposite. It was extremely random and lucky, moving to a tiny hamlet in the South of England and there being a Dolby Atmos studio opposite with a genius of an engineer. We had in mind that we would do it this way round and enjoy the mix process and give everything its own space - it still had issues when folding down to stereo, but overall a more pleasurable mix!" (Pete Lambrou) There Will Come Soft Rains has a geological sense of time: themes creep, expand, erode, and reform, resisting conventional structures in favour of something more patient and immersive. Each sound exists because it needs to; they move, recede, and emerge with a three-dimensional clarity that enhances the music's cinematic quality, giving each element room to breathe while maintaining an enveloping sense of cohesion. Lambrou's unique voice is Intimate and fragile, his vocals hover above the instrumentation, a guiding thread through the expansive soundscapes, drawing listeners closer into the emotional core of each piece. "Long time vocal collaborator Anja Madhvani did lots of harmonies on the album - I wanted to include her voice as much as possible on this album. In terms of string players - 3/4 have been long term collaborators with me. Marie Schreer actually recorded all strings on my first album ALMA, and Fraser & Clodagh have worked on every album (and occasional live shows) since Stranded Not Lost. In terms of art - Joel Cammarata designed the cover, and accompanying art - he designed Sing With Abandon and I absolutely adore his work, but also - he's so great at understanding and developing and capturing the concept." (Pete Lambrou) Layered harmonies drift through the music like distant signals or half-remembered voices. Madhvani's presence adds a human fragility to the album's vast soundscapes, reinforcing the sense of memory and longing that runs beneath the surface. The strings, performed by a close circle of trusted collaborators, further ground the record in warmth and physicality, acting as a counterweight to the synthetic elements that threaten to unravel it. "Despite the heavy subject matter, I wanted to create an album that imparts hope and optimism, marrying traditional instrumentation as nostalgia, with technological innovation through the randomness of modular synths." (Pete Lambrou) The partnership with Pelagic Records feels both organic and significant. Known for championing artists who value emotional weight, sonic ambition, and artistic integrity, the label provides a natural home for VLMV's work. Lambrou's music shares Pelagic's ethos: immersive, patient, and unafraid of scale whether intimate or vast. With There Will Come Soft Rains, Pete Lambrou has crafted a work that feels timely without being didactic, expansive without being overwhelming. It stands as a quiet, but powerful statement that lingers long after the final notes fade. FOR FANS OF Sigur Ros * Olafur Arnalds * Radiohead * Keaton Henson * This Will Destroy You

Each volume in this series dedicated to House influenced by Jazz has been a bestseller.
This volume was previously released only as a double CD, which was long out of print, and now, by popular demand, it has
been released for the first time as a double vinyl.
The sounds here explore not only Jazz but also Soul and Minimal.
All the tracks have never been released on vinyl except the first, a remix by LTJ Xperience, which has long been out of print.
Tracks by Don Carlos, J Boogie, Interanima, Riccicomoto, Guido Nemola, Belladonna, From P60, and Paolo Faz, among others,
are also included.

After months of working exclusively on his own repertoire, Matmatah is slowly recovering from his 30th birthday by returning to his first love: covering other people’s songs !
Because Matmatah comes from there, from the steamy atmosphere of bars and clubs.
Back in the day, they played loads of covers. Oh yes, they certainly did.
So why not put a few of them together on an album?
It’s a must, isn’t it?
Except that… There are many ways to record an album of covers.
The band could have taken the easy route and covered the songs they loved in their early days. But that would be to misunderstand these lads. They needed to come up with a proper concept to justify such a project.
They came up with two:
To tackle styles that are diametrically opposed to their own, so they could better make them their own.
To broaden their linguistic repertoire and experiment with different sounds.
The result is a rich, joyful and socially conscious collection of 20 songs, written between the 18th and 21st centuries and performed in no fewer than 10 European languages. A fine tribute to the continent’s diversity.
To spice up this project, they’ve brought in the whirlwind that is Fanny Gillard on vocals for ‘Eisbär’ and ‘Putain Putain’, the powerful voice of Morgane Mercier on the eerie ‘Alison Gross’, mentor Patrick Marie for a space-age ‘Kan Ha Diskan’, and the immense Kevin Camus on the uilleann pipes and whistle for ‘The Winner Takes It All’.
Matmatah takes a wild ride, travelling across Europe and through time, having fun and cheekily reworking songs he never imagined he’d play.
Find the lynx!

Orange Vinyl with exclusive illustrated notes/lyric insert ltd to 300 w/w.“Zimmerman conjures up a kind of Arcadian folk surrealism that is utterly his own” MOJO Never released before collection featuring Ian A Anderson & Maggie Holland recorded 72-80 is among Tucker’s finest - Free-ranging, Playful, Intimate - his Songpoet imagination unbound and in full bloom now on colour Vinyl for first time with (exclusive to this version) illustrated lyric insert with notes from Tucker.Recorded between 1972-80 this is the first ever release for ‘I Wonder If I’ll Ever Come True’ a stunningly beautiful, homegrown collection by Songpoet Tucker Zimmerman and friends. The range and depth is astonishing. From the heady surreal journey of ‘It All Depends’ Upon the Pleasure Man’, to the uplifting Gene Clark-esque 'So It Goes’, to some of his most beautiful & touching love songs in ‘Let’s Start Over Again’ & ‘Song’. Only one song has seen the the light of day before now - ‘Taoist Tale’ from his 1984 album ‘Word Games’. This recording from a decade earlier loses no power in its folkier stripped down style driven by Tucker’s strong narrative.

While living in bucolic seclusion in Belgium with Marie-Claire, Tucker invited visiting musicians (Derroll Adams, Wizz Jones, Maggie Holland, Dave Evans, Ian Anderson) into his home studio to play and live tape whatever songs he had at hand. Maggie Holland and Ian A Anderson feature, while Tucker found a freeing simplicity in just guitar, ’70s organ, bass and piano. We are so grateful to Ian A Anderson, who carefully kept and curated these recordings from 50 years ago. “Every time I would leave, Tucker would hand me another tape full of songs”. Ian worked with Tucker and ourselves to present this wonderful album. The collection is among Tucker’s finest - free-ranging, playful, intimate - his Songpoet imagination unbound and in full bloom. The ethos, the playing, the freedom, feels like Ronnie Lane’s time in the Welsh Borders. Unhurried, liberated, down-home and cosmic. Extraordinary music made among friends.
"Startling collection of intimate, home-recorded songs from the cult singer-songwriter adored by David Bowie and Big Thief alike.

When I first interviewed Tucker Zimmerman back in 2015 neither of us had any idea that, a decade later, he would be venerated by a new coterie of young fans, touring with maximal folk-rockers Big Thief and recipient of a concerted reissue campaign by the wonderful Big Potato Records. Last year I eulogised the “Arcadian folk surrealism” of his 1974 LP *Over Here In Europe but, if anything, this informal collection of intimate home-studio recordings is even better. Recorded between 1973 and 76 whilst living in Belgium and hosting such visiting folk musicians as Derroll Adams, Wizz Jones, Maggie Holland, Dave Evans, and Ian A. Anderson this is the kind of assured, organic freewheeling folk music that has the mellow, introspective rough-edged feel of some lost private-press LP, the kind rightly revered by Endless Boogie’s Paul Majors as “real people” music. A true find.” Andrew Male MOJO 4/5
“Here's a charming oddity: an unreleased album dating from the mid-Seventies by an American-born songwriter beloved of David Bowie and, more recently, Adrianne Lenker of the folk-rock band Big Thief. Zimmerman's a bohemian type who eschewed the big time for a life of gigging around Europe. He, his wife, Marie-Claire, and a handful of friends recorded these songs in seclusion in the Belgian countryside, and what songs they are. Slide On could have come from the Byrds when they discovered country music, Let's Start Over Again captures the dreamlike experience of being in love with unsettling clarity. This is a real unearthed gem.” 4/5 The Times

Oath sub-label Last Year At Marienbad is proud to present the latest spellbinding work from producer Holo, 'Astro', a record that emulates never-ending ethereal, emotively pure, and endlessly danceable frequencies…
Berlin-based Holo makes dance music that speaks in carefree whispers, through a brilliantly constructed sound that leans as much on the hypnotically emotive as on the core fundamentals of composition.
'Astro' is the next phase of his musical journey, and as a contained experience, it gives over all that Holo has become celebrated for, alongside explorations of invigorating spaces in which his sound has grown. The title track is an airy, free-flowing affair, with its semi-stepping drum pattern providing the frame for the light chimes of the keys to set the soul going. 'Spirits' ups the ante with its tempo change, its direction more towards a dancefloor in some faraway paradise.
'Sympatika' kicks off the B-side in a similar fashion, with its extensive groove fuelling bated breath for the arrival of the synths. 'Cycles' wraps up the EP, which again shifts focus to a more cavernous, absorbing kind of sound. A final blend of audio excellence that wraps up a one-of-a-kind record from a one-of-a-kind producer.

Seven years after their debut ‘Gulden Onversneden’, Klein Volk once again puts bread on the table with ‘In Weelde Verbrast’, a tribute to the important afterthoughts of everyday life in times of utter seriousness. Amidst the vestiges of things taken for granted, Klein Volk felt the need to take root and delicately tend to their kinds of whim and naïveté - all balanced out in a garden of opportunity, for seasons to come.
Klein Volk is Marie Baeke, Timo Bonneure and Wesley Buysse.

With »News from Planet Zombie«, The Notwist return to view after years of exploration and experiment with an album rich in both melancholy and positivity, sketched across a suite of thrilling, fiercely committed pop songs. It’s an album reflecting a chaotic world, but responding with warmth and generosity, to achieve creative and spiritual consolidation. Recorded in their home base of Munich, it reconnects with the security of the local to explore the troubles of the global: a guiding impulse writ large across this album’s eleven songs. It’s also the first studio album since 1995’s »12« that the entire band recorded together in the studio in its expanded live formation.

A new album by The Notwist is always a curious endeavour; their musical language is as consistent and resilient as the contexts for creativity are unpredictable and ever shifting. For »News from Planet Zombie«, the core trio of Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck embraced the plural possibilities of writing together, bringing songs to the collective and then arranging, rehearsing and recording that material live, in the studio.

The result is an album that’s energised, fully in ›the now‹, with spectacular moments where you can hear the magic bubbling up in the dynamic between the Achers, Beck, and fellow members Theresa Loibl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, and Andi Haberl. If »Teeth« begins »News from Planet Zombie« quietly and reflectively, by »X-Ray« everyone’s supercharged, blasting out future anthems with the collective energy cranked up high. The chiming keys of »Propeller« skim the instrumental’s surface like stones across burbling water; »The Turning« clangs its way into one of the album’s most heartwarming melodies.

»News from Planet Zombie« was recorded over one week at Import Export, a non-profit space for arts and music. You can tell, too; there are some pleasingly rough edges here, as though The Notwist’s striving for hazy perfection means they’re also confident enough to let the songs breathe and mutate between our ears. That openness to chance also takes in guest turns from friends both local and international, reflective of a cosmopolitan Munich: Enid Valu joins in on vocals, while Haruka Yoshizawa guests on taishōgoto and harmonium, Tianping Christoph Xiao on clarinet, and Mathias Götz on trombone.

The Notwist aren’t best known for cover versions, but »News from Planet Zombie« features two: a gorgeous version of Neil Young’s »Red Sun« (from 2000’s »Silver & Gold«), which the group originally developed for a theatre play directed by Jette Steckel, and a take on Athens, Georgia folk-pop gang Lovers’ »How the Story Ends«. They slot into the album’s narrative perfectly, nestling in like old friends, revealing The Notwist as poetic interpreters. Played well, the cover version is both acknowledgement of fellow travellers and act of generosity, and The Notwist nail both aspects here.

And that narrative, the way the album plays out? »News from Planet Zombie« acknowledges the distress of our current geopolitical impasse, while reminding us there are collective ways forward. Fed through the figure of the zombie, Markus Acher explores our anxieties: »In the title and some lyrics I reference B- and horror-movies, which is a reference to the crazy world at the moment, which seems to be like a really bad and unrealistic B-movie.« But there’s a reminder here not to lose the thread entirely, that these things, too, will pass.

»The river here in Munich I often go to has been there forever and will be there long after us,« Acher reflects, pinpointing an important source of succour for him, »always the same but always changing. Very calming, but also always reminding me that like this river time only flows into one direction and you can’t go back. Every moment is very precious.«

Artwork by Marie Vermont

The Notwist:
Markus Acher: vocals, guitar
Micha Acher: bass, sousaphone, euphonium, trumpet
Cico Beck: electronics, keyboards, guitar, recorder, percussion
Theresa Loibl: bassclarinet, clarinet, piano, harmonium, organ
Max Punktezahl: guitar
Karl Ivar Refseth: marimbaphone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, congas, percussion
Andi Haberl: drums, dulcimer
+
Enid Valu: vocals on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11
Haruka Yoshizawa: taishōgoto on 6, harmonium on 9, 10, 11
Tianping Christoph Xiao: clarinet on 4, 10, 11
Mathias Götz: trombone on 4, 10, 11

Lange bevor er jemals ein Studio von innen sah, war Sam Snitchy auf der Straße unterwegs und schrie unter dem Namen Maniporno Gedichte - roh, furchtlos und im Einklang mit dem Chaos um ihn herum. Dann begann er, diesen Lärm in Platten zu verwandeln - zuerst als Melker, später als Sam Snitchy. Im April 2026 erscheint nun das dritte Snitchy-Album bei Voodoo Rhythm Records - ein weiterer Schritt auf diesem Weg, tiefer hinein in den Lärm, den Puls, die Verwirrung, mit der alles begann. Das neue Album ist ein klanglicher Exorzismus, aufgenommen mit Marco Fuorigioco, der Bass, Synthesizer und Gitarren verzerrt und das Tonband zerreißt, Philipp Schlotter (Me&Mobi, Music Against Airports) der den Raum mit geisterhaften Synthesizer- Halluzinationen erfüllt, und Domi Chansorn (Sophie Hunger, Knackeboul, Fai Baba, Bonaparte, Marie Krüttli, Béatrice Graf) der die Drums wie einstürzende Türme hämmert. Gemeinsam zerren sie dich durch psychedelische Punkwut, verschmelzen mit den Schatten dunkler Waves, mutieren zu Industrial Noise und Dub-Nebel, verwandeln sich in einen verzerrten Techno-Puls, bis du nicht mehr unterscheiden kannst, wo das eine aufhört und das andere anfängt - alles nährt das Feuer. Und über diesem Sturm spuckt Sam Snitchy seine Worte wie zerbrochene Spiegel - verzerrte und selbstreflexive Geschichten über Menschen, die in ihren eigenen Widersprüchen gefangen sind, über leere Routinen und bedeutungslose Lebensstile, die als Erfolg getarnt sind, über den absurden Tanz zwischen Ekstase und Verzweiflung. Die Texte erklären nicht - sie verstören. Sie halten dir ein zerbrochenes Glas vor und zwingen dich, dich selbst anzusehen, bis du nicht mehr weißt, ob du lachen oder schreien sollst. In VVR's own words: "Sam Snitchy transforms chaos into sound. Once a street poet known as Maniporno, he now blends punk energy with techno pulse, industrial grit, dub tension, and psychedelic garage haze. It's raw and hypnotic _ words like broken glass, beats like heartbeat and collapse spring to mind."

Demetrio Castellucci and Massimo Pupillo present the music of Sleep Technique, a performance by Dewey Dell inspired by the Chauvet cave and its ancient cave paintings.
The music comes to life anew on record, an immersion into the depths of sonic particles, moist electroacoustic rhythms, the repeated forms of speleothems, and the electric bass that scrapes the walls, shaping them into concave or convex surfaces. A voice that moves incredibly slowly, yet is in constant motion, like the millennia-old, unceasing erosion of water.
The album’s journey follows the geography of the cave in reverse, moving from its deepest chamber back to the entrance.

Demetrio Castellucci is a composer and sound designer who has been involved in theater productions, choreography, and film since 2004. Around the same time, he began performing as a DJ, favoring an omnitemporal approach geared toward dance that transcends musical genres. Since 2006, he has been a member of the dance company Dewey Dell, and since 2007, he has been active as Black Fanfare, a maximalist electroacoustic project. He has collaborated on performances by Andreco and Enrico Ticconi/Ginevra Panzetti, as well as on films by Ahmed Ben Nessib, Beatrice Pucci, and Ilaria di Carlo. After living in London and Berlin, he settled in Vilnius, where in 2018 he founded Unarcheology, a digital platform that publishes music and radio programs. He is also active as Airport Gad, an ambient project which, together with Unarcheology, launched its own “Airline Company”: concerts in a flight simulator built from cardboard, where the pilots are also the musicians.

Massimo Pupillo is best known as a founding member of the band Zu, with whom he has released 18 albums and performed over 2,000 live shows worldwide. He has maintained a highly open and multidisciplinary approach that has led him to work with some of the most acclaimed figures in the contemporary art world: South African photographer Roger Ballen, actors Malcolm McDowell and Marton Csokas, Romeo Castellucci and Chiara Guidi of Societas Raffaello Sanzio, American choreographer Meg Stuart, poet Anne Waldman, and Italian poet Gabriele Tinti, among others. He has collaborated live and in the studio with avant-garde musicians and composers such as Alvin Curran, piano duo Katia & Marielle Labèque, and classical virtuosos like Viktoria Mullova and Giovanni Sollima. He has also worked with some of the most influential names in the international rock scene, including Mike Patton, Thurston Moore, Jim O’Rourke (Sonic Youth), Guy Picciotto & Joe Lally (Fugazi), Buzz Osborne (Melvins), and Damo Suzuki (CAN).

In the field of improvised music, he has collaborated with Peter Brötzmann, Toshinori Kondo, Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, and Tony Buck, among others. Within the experimental music scene, his collaborations include Oren Ambarchi, David Tibet (Current 93), Thighpaulsandra (Coil), Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O))), Abul Mogard, Mick Harris (Scorn), Gordon Sharp (This Mortal Coil), FM Einheit (Einstürzende Neubauten), and many more. In cinema, he composed the score for Kirill Serebrennikov’s film LIMONOV, presented at Festival de Cannes in 2024.

With »News from Planet Zombie«, The Notwist return to view after years of exploration and experiment with an album rich in both melancholy and positivity, sketched across a suite of thrilling, fiercely committed pop songs. It’s an album reflecting a chaotic world, but responding with warmth and generosity, to achieve creative and spiritual consolidation. Recorded in their home base of Munich, it reconnects with the security of the local to explore the troubles of the global: a guiding impulse writ large across this album’s eleven songs. It’s also the first studio album since 1995’s »12« that the entire band recorded together in the studio in its expanded live formation.

A new album by The Notwist is always a curious endeavour; their musical language is as consistent and resilient as the contexts for creativity are unpredictable and ever shifting. For »News from Planet Zombie«, the core trio of Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck embraced the plural possibilities of writing together, bringing songs to the collective and then arranging, rehearsing and recording that material live, in the studio.

The result is an album that’s energised, fully in ›the now‹, with spectacular moments where you can hear the magic bubbling up in the dynamic between the Achers, Beck, and fellow members Theresa Loibl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, and Andi Haberl. If »Teeth« begins »News from Planet Zombie« quietly and reflectively, by »X-Ray« everyone’s supercharged, blasting out future anthems with the collective energy cranked up high. The chiming keys of »Propeller« skim the instrumental’s surface like stones across burbling water; »The Turning« clangs its way into one of the album’s most heartwarming melodies.

»News from Planet Zombie« was recorded over one week at Import Export, a non-profit space for arts and music. You can tell, too; there are some pleasingly rough edges here, as though The Notwist’s striving for hazy perfection means they’re also confident enough to let the songs breathe and mutate between our ears. That openness to chance also takes in guest turns from friends both local and international, reflective of a cosmopolitan Munich: Enid Valu joins in on vocals, while Haruka Yoshizawa guests on taishōgoto and harmonium, Tianping Christoph Xiao on clarinet, and Mathias Götz on trombone.

The Notwist aren’t best known for cover versions, but »News from Planet Zombie« features two: a gorgeous version of Neil Young’s »Red Sun« (from 2000’s »Silver & Gold«), which the group originally developed for a theatre play directed by Jette Steckel, and a take on Athens, Georgia folk-pop gang Lovers’ »How the Story Ends«. They slot into the album’s narrative perfectly, nestling in like old friends, revealing The Notwist as poetic interpreters. Played well, the cover version is both acknowledgement of fellow travellers and act of generosity, and The Notwist nail both aspects here.

And that narrative, the way the album plays out? »News from Planet Zombie« acknowledges the distress of our current geopolitical impasse, while reminding us there are collective ways forward. Fed through the figure of the zombie, Markus Acher explores our anxieties: »In the title and some lyrics I reference B- and horror-movies, which is a reference to the crazy world at the moment, which seems to be like a really bad and unrealistic B-movie.« But there’s a reminder here not to lose the thread entirely, that these things, too, will pass.

»The river here in Munich I often go to has been there forever and will be there long after us,« Acher reflects, pinpointing an important source of succour for him, »always the same but always changing. Very calming, but also always reminding me that like this river time only flows into one direction and you can’t go back. Every moment is very precious.«

Artwork by Marie Vermont

The Notwist:
Markus Acher: vocals, guitar
Micha Acher: bass, sousaphone, euphonium, trumpet
Cico Beck: electronics, keyboards, guitar, recorder, percussion
Theresa Loibl: bassclarinet, clarinet, piano, harmonium, organ
Max Punktezahl: guitar
Karl Ivar Refseth: marimbaphone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, congas, percussion
Andi Haberl: drums, dulcimer
+
Enid Valu: vocals on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11
Haruka Yoshizawa: taishōgoto on 6, harmonium on 9, 10, 11
Tianping Christoph Xiao: clarinet on 4, 10, 11
Mathias Götz: trombone on 4, 10, 11

Global Aura Records is back after a long period of silence with this awesome goa fullon psytrance release from Antidot (FR). This upcomming multitalent is wellknownfrom his livesets with Dica and to make this release extra special; he invited Jape Du Marie to do a remix of his track "Astral". This is just the beginning !!! Global Aura is amember of the Flatlife Records Labelgroup.

On his new album, the Ivorian balafon virtuoso Aly Keïta explores new horizons for his instrument in improvised music. Together with his Berlin-based trio, he conquers the peaks of balafon possibilities one by one, wandering between groovy African rhythms, spectacular polyphony and elements of jazz, and combining them into a fusion that is both futuristic and deeply in roots. In Balafon Evolution, Keïta establishes a new level of balafon artistry, creating universal, contemporary soundscapes that transcend cultural boundaries. The Aly Keïta Trio embodies the pulsating spirit of the Berlin jazz scene. Coming from different cultural backgrounds, the three musicians found a common language on stage as they explored the metropole, one of the most active, buzzing jazz hubs of Europe. Aly Keïta and the Dutch drummer Marcel van Cleef, began playing together in 2008, forming the core of the trio"s future "groove machine". As a part of the "Aly Keïta and Magic Balafon" formation, they shared a prize of the Global music contest "Creole" in 2009. Recognised as one of the most intriguing and innovative bass players among the new generation, the Italian bass player Roberto Badoglio, joined trio in 2014, becoming a true "fusion reactor" of the band.

With the album Cousin Zaka Vol. 3, Blundetto is closing the series he began in 2019, ending it on a psychedelic note.

A voodoo spirit of harvests, Zaka is the guardian of agricultural activities and, by extension, a protector of nature.


It is under his protection that Max Guiguet delivers his wandering music and instrumental escapades — those in-between states he strives to capture in his notebooks, mood journals composed between each album and collaboration.

Rooted in the landscape and nourished by long observation, it allows itself to distort, stretch and blur the outlines of this peaceful scenery.

For this last volume of Cousin Zaka, the atmosphere is psychedelic, hippie, and free.


A freedom drawn as much from the poetry of Francis Picabia as from that of musicians Pierre Barouh, Moondog, and Eden Abhez — free spirits whose work informed the composition of this record. The idea is to take a path and let oneself be carried away, to drift as one would during a long walk in the forest.

Cousin Zaka, Vol. 3 is a wide, gentle experience, reminiscent of 1970s freedoms.

Rick James Blends Brazen Attitude, Fearless Sexuality, and Shrewd Charisma on Street Songs:

Punk-Funk Album Aims for the Hips and Head, Includes the Timeless Hit “Super Freak”
Sourced from the Original Master Tapes and Strictly Limited to 4,000 Numbered Copies:

Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 45RPM 2LP Set Presents 1981 Smash in Audiophile Sound for the First Time
1/4” / 30 IPS analogue master to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe


“Punk funk” was a relatively unknown concept before 1981. But once Street Songs took the charts by storm that year, the world soon knew about what became Rick James’ signature style. And how. True to its name, Street Songs blends outspoken sexuality, brazen attitude, and edgy commentary amid contagious R&B-fueled arrangements that simultaneously aim for the hips, head, and various nether regions. And it’s never sounded better.

Sourced from the original master tapes, strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents James’ platinum-certified effort in audiophile quality for the first time. Playing with crisp dynamics, lively textures, airy headroom, and revealing clarity, this collectible edition of the record that stayed at the No. 1 spot on the R&B Album Charts for 20 weeks invites you to get closer to music that beckons you to turn your space into a private dance floor.

Then again, you’ll likely be so taken by how the taut bass lines, snappy rhythms, and four-on-the-floor beats — all rendered in stunning detail and with full-bodied architecture — come across with such accuracy and presence, you might stay pinned to your seat. On this pressing, the soundstaging, imaging, and lit-fuse energy of Street Songs reach new heights. Everything from the rubbery feel of the guitar lines to the depth of James’ temperature-raising vocals to the scale of the horn charts emerges as if James and his ace session crew set up in your room.

The Buffalo native and his ensemble waste no time getting their message across. On the album-opening “Give It to Me Baby,” James and company lay down a mix of sleek funk and pulsing disco that practically activates the bright lights of a discotheque and stimulates the libido of anyone within earshot. Having reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul charts, the song is pure sex — and just one of the carnal delights on a record that embraces the subject as fearlessly as James does his identity.

Of course, the most famous of James’ erotic excursions — the timeless “Super Freak” — hit No. 1 on Hot Dance Club Play charts, No. 16 on the Hot 100, and, later, No. 153 on Rolling Stone’s list of the Top 500 Songs of All Time. Bolstered by a quavering keyboard theme and electro riffs, the much-sampled track worms itself inside your muscles with smile-inducing subject matter, gliding vocals, nimble movements, a hot tenor-saxophone solo, and backing vocals by the Temptations.

The iconic Motown group isn’t the only celebrated guest artist on the Grammy-nominated Street Songs. James’ then-labelmate, Stevie Wonder, lends harmonica to the frank sociopolitical narrative on “Mr. Policeman,” a protest tune that also manages to stroll ’n’ strut via simmering organ, staggering brass accents, and James’ gritty vocal performance. In addition to contributing backing vocals on several cuts, Teena Marie turns in one of the album’s signature moments on “Fire and Desire,” a romantic old-school duet with James that impresses with smoothness, sensitivity, and smokiness.

High-profile colleagues aside, James remains the undisputed star, a figure whose leather-and-latex attire, braided hair, and natural swagger made him misunderstood by some in the mainstream and embraced by everyone in the know as a true original. As a testament to his magnetism and skills, his charisma and rawness seemingly seep through every note, whether on the balladic sweep of the risqué “Make Love to Me” or strident, poke-and-prod persuasion of the moonwalking “Call Me Up.”

On the closing “Below the Funk (Pass the J),” an uptempo autobiographical tale that addresses the visionary musician’s second-favorite love, the singer acknowledges his upbringing and inseparable connection with his roots — an homage to where he began and a toast to where he’s gone.

Rick James, keepin’ it real on Street Songs, still as real as it gets.

"deathcrash’s third album, Somersaults, glimmers with an everyday euphoria. The London-based slowcore/ post-rock quartet has always had an affinity for building worlds only to crush them. From their breakout EP, People thought my windows were stars (2021), through two critically acclaimed studio albums, Return (2022) and Less (2023), they have been both the architects and the destroyers, the creationists and the ones manning the flood barrier. But, recorded between Black Box Studio in the Loire Valley and Haggerston’s Holy Mountain, Somersaults is almost joyful.

Its ten tracks are more vocal heavy than any of the band’s catalogue – think Mark Linkous via The Kinks – but lyrically, Somersaults resists revelation. For all its abrasion, phrases appear half-swallowed, broken off at the edge of meaning, consumed by the smaller textures of living. “Thirty, no career, it fucking worries me / And doing the band doesn’t help,” Banks sings in ‘NYC’. But, “This life is the best life,” he finishes in ‘CMC’ on top of the ambient white noise of an office printer, thankful that the band is still there, “still making noise in the doorway.”

Their role as caretakers of Duster, Low and Codeine’s slowcore lineage is all across Somersaults – songs scud to a narcotic crawl, sound monolithic and inwards before spotlighting a crystalline nothing. Cathartic builds are muddied with tenderness, the bass a heavy grounding, the drums an exhausted heartbeat grasping for air. But more so than ever, even the silence feels collaborative – a gesture of communal trust – friends celebrating the room they’ve made for each other’s ghosts, and some of the biggest, brightest songs they’ve made to date."

Taroug is the solo project by drummer and electronic music producer Tarek Zarroug with roots in the suburbs of the Tunisian desert and having grown up in Germany. Following the release of his 2020 EP, "Perpetual," as well as a number of notable remixes for artists such as Archive, Taroug has continued to refine his musical aesthetic.

Taroug's debut album Darts & Kites, set to be released on Denovali Records, draws inspiration from the Penrose tiling and explores themes of change and transformation. Fascinated from the pattern's unending possibilities, Taroug incorporated its infinite permutations not only into the album's nine tracks, but also in the cover art design. Darts & Kites showcases a blending of genres and styles, resulting in a sonic landscape, that is both hunting and beautiful. Experimental and abstract soundscapes are enriched by oriental influences, collected field recordings, pulsating dark beats and hypnotic vocals.

The album also features the contributions of other notable artists, including Beate Wolff's cello performance on Jewels I. Benedikt Koch's saxophone adds a sense of controlled chaos with delayed and swelling notes to the track Deguech, while Timo Schieber's piano provides a crucial element of the album's title track, Darts & Kites. Niklas Genschel lends his vocals to Queen of Carthage, which also features the saz playing of Abdallah Abozekry.

Created in collaboration with architect and designer Marie Brosius, the album artwork captures different ornaments reflecting the album's content. Darts & Kites is a mosaic of sound, blending together elements of unfamiliar and familiar.

Marielle V Jakobsons has cultivated a signature voice molded by minimalist, ambient and spiritual traditions. Her recordings, from her early work with Date Palms, to the ongoing work with Chuck Johnson in Saariselka, and most definitively with The Patterns Lost to Air, show Jakobsons to be an exceptionally skillful sound sculptor, a musician who knows the value of patience and control. An artist able to derive maximum impact from her chosen sound elements, the album"s layout is shaped by three primary voices of violin, Fender Rhodes, and Moog Matriarch and was recorded in 2024 in the studio Jakobsons built in Oakland, California.

Marielle V Jakobsons has cultivated a signature voice molded by minimalist, ambient and spiritual traditions. Her recordings, from her early work with Date Palms, to the ongoing work with Chuck Johnson in Saariselka, and most definitively with The Patterns Lost to Air, show Jakobsons to be an exceptionally skillful sound sculptor, a musician who knows the value of patience and control. An artist able to derive maximum impact from her chosen sound elements, the album"s layout is shaped by three primary voices of violin, Fender Rhodes, and Moog Matriarch and was recorded in 2024 in the studio Jakobsons built in Oakland, California.

Kacem Wapalek ist seit über einem Jahrzehnt in der französischen Hip-Hop-Szene aktiv. Aber Kacem ist nicht nur Hip-Hop. Ein Künstler, der nicht zögert, sich in einem Universum zu bewegen, das auch vom Jazz und französischen Chansons geprägt ist.

The last time Noir embarked on a similar creative exorcism was for 2012's Jimmy's Show LP which selected choice cuts from 18 E.P. 's released via straight to fan subscription over as many months. The resulting album is one of his most lauded and beloved by fans, with the vinyl now selling for silly money on Discogs.

Programmes for Cools is Jimmy's Show's spiritual successor, idiosyncratic, other worldly and brimming with timeless melodies. Noir's influences seep through the track list, wrapped with a haunting, dreamlike delivery.

First single 'Out Of Sight' is a Fleetwood Mac meets Selected Ambient Works era Richard D James, four to the floor banger. Already a fan favourite, it propels Side A forward with a somewhat misplaced optimism, much like Neil Young's 'Walk On' starting On the Beach.

Side B is more esoteric, exemplified by 'Fireworks’which includes lyrics and vocals from Marie Claude Dequoy,produced with the wooze of golden era Boards of Canada. Elsewhere, influences as disparate as Stevie Wonder, on the wonky clav funk of 'The Fountain', and Ian Brown 'I think I found it' illustrate Noir's disregard for musical straightjackets (the latter may have the most unapologetic baggy, hypnotic groove since the Mondays' 'Halleluiah').

As the album swells to its conclusion, via the epic Led Zeppelin meets the Warhol clique 'Morning Light’and the heart tugging finale of 'Motorbike’(the first song released from the most recent run of E.P.'s), there is a sense of completion and finality...
‘This is the last Jim Noir album. There are no more Jim Noir albums after this one. This time I'm serious. It's been the hardest I've ever worked on anything. I think I have created my own Be Here Now...Sorry.’
Joking and hyperbole aside, the album has more of an Abbey Road feel, and needs to be experienced in one sitting. If the infamous Davyhulme prankster is to be believed and this is his final outing, then you could wish for a more fitting album. - NM