Search:most

Thirty years after his disappearance, Miles Davis, both the man and his character, is still a subject for debate and controversy. And haven’t we heard that before with all artists? But when it comes to the importance of his contribution to music in the 20th century there is only unanimity.

Everyone says, sure, he was the greatest trumpeter. Other opinions are that he left the world of jazz behind him in 1965. It’s also said he was the catalyst of every decade from 1949 to 1989; that he revolutionised jazz, and brought it out of the ghetto; that he buried jazz; that he was the most important musician of his century... Each of those statements has its share of truth. Whichever way

you look at him, he remains a major figure in jazz and in 20th century music overall. Miles surpassed (or at least equalled) the importance of both Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington for the simple reason that he addressed not only the jazz world but all worlds of music, and that he created (among other things) a fusion of the spheres people knew as jazz, blues, rock and pop, and spoke to every audience, either in turn or collectively.

There was a dinner at the White House during which a perfectly respectable lady, married to a politician no doubt, asked Miles what he did for a living. With some annoyance Miles replied, “Well I’ve changed music five or six times, so I guess that’s what I’ve done ... now tell me what have you done of any importance, other than be white? [...] You tell me what your claim to fame is.” The provocative tone in Miles’ words lifted the veil over his refusal to be hassled, his revulsion against America’s treatment of Black people, and Miles’ awareness of his own importance in the world of music. Even when speaking, Miles maintained the art of synthesis.

In the beginning – this was 1944 – there was a concert in St Louis, Missouri where Miles heard Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie for the first time. “Man, that shit was terrible, I mean Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie ‘Yardbird' Parker, Buddy Anderson, Gene Ammons, Lucky Thompson and Art Blakey, all together in one band [...] that shit was all up in my body and that’s what I wanted to hear [...] and me up there playing with them.1” Miles was 18, he’d been playing trumpet for years and now he knew that this was what he wanted to play, and nothing else: to play with Bird! A year later he’d turned 19 and he was in New York, where he learned it all, up there alongside Bird and Dizzy.

‘Teenage Gizzard’ is a newly unearthed collection
of some of the very first material ever recorded by
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard between 2010
and 2011.
It includes three early singles, two B-sides, four
tracks from the band’s first non-official EP
‘Angelsea’ and one track considered to be long lost
- until now.
‘Teenage Gizzard’ is a glimpse into the past of one
of the most prolific bands in rock history.
LP pressed on magenta and yellow vinyl with
yellow splatter in a die-cut jacket with front window,
rainbow foil inner sleeve and exclusive back cover
t by Ahmad Ok

Rock ‘n’ roll is often hard to define, or even to find, in these
fractured musical times. But to paraphrase an old saying,
you know it when you hear it. And you always hear it with
The Wallflowers. For the past 30 years, the Jakob Dylanled act has stood as one of rock’s most dynamic and
purposeful bands - a unit dedicated to and continually
honing a sound that meshes timeless songwriting and
storytelling with a hard-hitting and decidedly modern
musical attack.
That signature style has been present through the
decades, baked into the grooves of smash hits like 1996’s
‘Bringing Down the Horse’ as well as more recent and
exploratory fare like 2012’s ‘Glad All Over’.
But while it’s been nine long years since we’ve heard from
the group with whom he first made his mark, The
Wallflowers are silent no more. And Dylan always knew
they’d return. “The Wallflowers is much of my life’s work,”
he says simply. That life’s work continues with ‘Exit
Wounds’, the brand-new Wallflowers studio offering. The
collection marks the first new Wallflowers material since
‘Glad All Over’.
‘Exit Wounds’ is an ode to people - individual and
collective - that have, to put it mildly, been through some
stuff. “I think everybody - no matter what side of the aisle
you’re on - wherever we’re going to next, we’re all taking a
lot of exit wounds with us,” Dylan says. “Nobody is the
same as they were four years ago. That, to me, is what
‘Exit Wounds’ signifies. And it’s not meant to be negative at
all. It just means that wherever you’re headed, even if it’s
to a better place, you leave people and things behind, and
you think about those people and those things and you
carry them with you. Those are your exit wounds. And right
now, we’re all swimming in them.”

Lu's Jukebox is a six-volume series of mostly full-band performances recorded live at Ray Kennedy's Room & Board Studio in Nashville, TN. Each volume features a themed set of songs by other artists curated by the multi-Grammy award winner, Lucinda Williams. The series aired as ticketed shows through Mandolin in late 2020 with a portion of ticket sales benefitting independent music venues struggling to get by through the pandemic. Like thousands of artists, Williams cut her teeth and developed her craft by playing in small, medium and large clubs throughout the country, and the world. These venues are vital to the development of artists and their music. Williams has never forgotten her roots, and often performs special shows in some of her favorite halls. This year, the Lu's Jukebox series will be made widely available on vinyl and CD. Volume 1, Running Down A Dream: A Tribute to Tom Petty, features songs from the namesake's celebrated career and is scheduled for an April 16th, 2021 street date.

DEATH, the heavy metal institution founded, realized, and helmed by legendary guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, released the Individual Thought Patterns album (the follow-up to their watershed Human release) in 1993. Expectations were high following Human, but Schuldiner proved once again that he could rise to any occasion. Individual Thought Patterns further honed the forward-thinking and progressive direction birthed with Human, and included “The Philosopher”; arguably the best song to ever come from the world of extreme metal and to this date the most widely-recognized.

DEATH, the heavy metal institution founded, realized, and helmed by legendary guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, released the Individual Thought Patterns album (the follow-up to their watershed Human release) in 1993. Expectations were high following Human, but Schuldiner proved once again that he could rise to any occasion. Individual Thought Patterns further honed the forward-thinking and progressive direction birthed with Human, and included “The Philosopher”; arguably the best song to ever come from the world of extreme metal and to this date the most widely-recognized

Back in print ! Spittle Records present an expanded reissue of Massacre's Killing Time, originally released in 1981. Following the breakup of Cambridge's avant-rock legends, Henry Cow, guitarist Fred Frith moved to NYC in 1979, and soon found himself deep in the heart of the city's robust post-punk and free-jazz scenes. He performed with Bill Laswell and Fred Maher, from the group Material, as a power trio of sorts under the moniker of Massacre. The group quickly garnered a reputation around town, and around the world for that matter, as a heavy and heady band that experimented greatly with rhythm, time signatures, and tone. As Frith himself put it, "the group was a direct response to New York. It was a very aggressive group, kind of my reaction to the whole New York rock club scene." Massacre released one album, Killing Time, before disbanding for nearly 20 years. Their first wave as a group crashed fast and furiously and this one album, recorded in part live in Paris, and in part at Brooklyn's OAO Studio, is a perfect encapsulation of early '80s NYC. In addition to the original album, first released on Celluloid in 1981, this deluxe three-sided double LP includes eight bonus tracks recorded live between '80 and '81 at The Stone in San Francisco, and Inroads and CBGB in NYC. Avant-jazz-post-punk-noise of the highest order from several legends and one of the most important projects Frith and Laswell were ever involved in.

The album features a notable line-up of musician such as: Sami Yaffa (New York Dolls/Joan Jett), Dave Richmond (Serge Gainsbourg/Elton John), Christophe Deschamps (Jean-Michel Jarre), Kath Guifford (Stereolab), Will Crewdson (Adam & The Ants/The Selecters), Danny Ray (Bo Diddley/Brian Setzer)...Mastered at the legendary Abbey Road Studios and cut to vinyl across a 180g LP in a gatefold sleeve with booklet. L'homme de l'ombre immerses you from start to finish in a sonic and lyrical journey that rewards your mind and emotions. Here you will find the glamorous rock attitude of Marc O's musicianship colliding brilliantly with the wise and witty writing of french philosopher Bruno Pons Levy. The result is not so much a double identity, but an intangible and powerful third element, much like the mathematical equation described in the song The triangle squared (Le triangle au carré). This song is emblematic of Marc O's persona: a musician of style and vision, crossing cultures and decades to collaborate with a remarkable team and create this, his most personal album. Press quotes: Ten well realised, vintage aesthetic fantasies ****" MOJO "Singular debut set that lurches from glam-punk to Air-meets-Gainsbourg purr, infectiously Pulp-ish electro-rock and gauche, Bowie-esque panther strut. Formidable! 8/10" UNCUT "Never less than fascinating, this is an important and hugely enjoyable work ****" RECORD COLLECTOR "Propelled by his core rhythm section and lyricist collaborator, they address some weighty subjects with passion ****" SHINDIG! "Blends aggressive and powerful textures and melancholic soundscapes to break down language barriers and deliver a powerful, evocative and stunning album" LOUDER THAN WAR "The music is as strong as Pons Levy's lyrics, mingling melodic rock with chanson in the grand tradition ****" RNR

Musique Pour La Danse is proud to present SPACED OUT!, a compilation curated by Belgian artist and producer DJ Athome (Front de Cadeaux) which focuses on psychedelic dub, space rock, and early electronica created in the UK's festival scene between 1986 and 1996, the result of a life long passion and 30 years of following artists from the festival scene.

It was a loosely organized British musical movement born in the early 80s and focused on free festivals in Stonehenge and other countercultural sites across the country. It represented a continuation of the psychedelic spirit of the 60s, with altered states of consciousness, dub production techniques, non-Western influences as well as instruments featuring heavily, along with a desire to side-step mainstream venues, labels, and attitudes.

Musically, it took on many forms, from mind-expanding space rock to third eye-opening electronica to shattering psychedelic dub. Visually, the zines, cassettes, LPs, and CDs created by this scene also displayed heavy influences from 60's psychedelia, updated for the late 80s and early 90s.

In the 90s, the zines and cassettes reached the eyes and ears of DJ Athome, then a young DJ living in Liège. After meeting a group of like-minded individuals organizing local gigs which was single-handedly responsible for putting Liège on the map for many British bands, he dived headfirst into the sights and the sounds of this festival scene, gathering as many albums as possible and joining local collectives involved in the organization of events.

This compilation is in equal amounts an introduction for newcomers and a confirmation for those who already know that this was without a doubt one of the trippiest and most compelling psychedelic musical movements of the last decades, notable for its hybridity, its sincerity, and above all its wonderfully life-changing effects for listeners and performers alike.

The compilation is presented in 2LP format, along with a limited edition Riso printed scene which features a foreword by acclaimed philosopher Timothy Morton, along with liner notes by David Borsu, one of the key players of Liège's musical collectives in the 90s and illustrations by designer Andrew Beltran.

This LP finally brings a Clipping fan-favorite, 2016's Wriggle, onto vinyl in an improved, expanded version that features new art, previously unreleased remixes, and a track that's exclusive to the vinyl format. The original, digital-only Wriggle EP was six tracks that weren't finished in time to make it onto the group's 2014 Sub Pop debut, CLPPNG. For "Shooter," Clipping recorded themselves firing fifteen different guns, the sounds of which exclusively constituted the beat's drums, augmented only by a synthesized tone-row. The verses referenced the well-worn technique of "hashtag rap," but instead of using it to boast about the rapper's personal wealth and masculine prowess, Clipping put forth imagistic narratives of three violent encounters. True to much of the group's music, "Shooter" was an attempt to reframe a familiar style and test the limits of its formal capabilities. "Hot Fuck No Love" contains what might be the most explicit verse to date from Clipping's favorite New Jersey rapper Cakes Da Killa. The EP's title track, "Wriggle," was built around a sample of the influential power-electronics song "Wriggle Like a Fucking Eel" by Whitehouse, transforming William Bennett's torturous imperative into a instructional dance-floor banger. "Wriggle" and "Shooter" have become classic Clipping tracks and staples of their live show. With this vinyl edition, Clipping fans old and new - and there are many new fans thanks to their breakout 2020 album, Visions of Bodies Being Burned, and Daveed Diggs' thriving acting career - get the vinyl version of Wriggle they've been clamouring for.

Divide returns on Evod with 3 powerful tracks. All tracks contains ‘corroded’ bass sequences, rugged drum patterns and spaced out pad raids. So many layers of sounds were masterfully combined in order to satisfy the most discerning dancefloors.

The Spaces Between were formed out of creative studio sessions in the summer of 2020 and comprises of bona fide house legend Terry Farley, electronic music producer Wade Teo and renowned author and co-owner of Club Chi’ll Records, Ian ‘Snowy’ Snowball. The idea for ‘Ghosts’ came from Terry’s idea to reference the Jazz greats who have gone to glory leaving behind their astonishing musical legacies. Within days of emailing a comprehensive list of jazz artists to Chicago House luminary and The It/ Jungle Wonz member, Harry Dennis, an answer with Harry’s sparse, haunting vocals was received. These were laid down over a bed of live instruments and electronic sounds and the combined talents of The Spaces Between created the compelling jacking jazz vibe of ‘Ghosts’.

Snowy ran the track past Jo Wallace at F*CLR Records – it was love at first listen. Jo suggested the track should be part of an EP with remixes from the newly reformed Black Science Orchestra. It was agreed and provided an ideal opportunity for Ashley to work with Terry once again, reinforcing the Junior Boy’s Own heritage.

The first incarnation of Black Science Orchestra began life in 1992 when Ashley Beedle joined forces with Rob Mello and their debut release, ‘Where were you’ exploded onto the global dance scene via the iconic UK house label JBO. Broken in the US by the Godfather of House, Frankie Knuckles, ‘Where were you’ entered into the hallowed halls of immortal dance music. Black Science Orchestra has become one of the most respected deep house acts of the 1990s, with the revered album ‘Walter's Room’ and the legendary genre crossing 'New Jersey Deep' track that is considered one of the top dance tracks of all time and rarely leaves discerning DJs' record boxes. Fast forward 29 years and original BSO founding fathers, Ashley and Rob decided that both they and the world needed the sound of Black Science Orchestra again and decided to reform, inviting long time musical and studio accomplice Darren Morris to join the collective now in its 6th incarnation!

When presented with the original version of ‘Ghosts’, Rob, Ashley and Darren loved it and all heard various ways it could be reworked in a true Black Science Orchestra way. Donning their pandemic production hats and remotely getting their feet back under the studio desk again, they worked together to create distinctly different remixes ranging from the deep, spacy electronic to the tough and psychedelic sleazy funk. With original BSO productions included on this EP, 'Ghosts' has helped square off the circle and the Black Science Orchestra conductors are back and mean dance floor business!

The first release from Toronto’s newest and most exciting Record Label, EastSide Edits! Limited run pressing of hand-stamped white labels, exclusive to release 001. Blessed by some of the top DJ’s in the world, this is sure to sell out fast! Donuts for the 45 slingers, and donuts for the House DJ’s, EastSide Edits brings a unique twist to the 45’s world by catering to both markets on each release. Carefully selected familiar Edits that work well in both environments is the name of their game! This first release has gained a lot of attention, with the test pressings being championed by some of the top turntable legends in the game. DJ Koco’s recent doubles routine and feature play of the B-side to this record has his massive following asking where to find it.

Side A is brought to you by the young wonder from New York, Pinto NYC. Pinto has been making quite the name for himself, signing music to some stellar House labels across the world, including the legendary Nervous Records, Glasgow Underground, and Simma Black. His upbeat and funky edit of “Rock with you” brings familiarity and energy sure to light the dance floor on fire! Creative sampling and pumping drums are his signature sound. This one hooks the listener early and smashes it home!

Side B is brought to you by the incredibly talented Toronto Disco duo, LeBaron James. LeBaron James are at the top of their game, pumping out high quality Disco Edits to a whole host of successful labels. Home base for them has been the incredibly successful Spacedisco label, run by Juno award winning Toronto artist, Hatiras. Their super catchy Disco edit of “Never gonna give my love again” will have you singing at the top of your lungs, feeling like you’re front and center at Studio 54! The vibe gets pushed even further into overdrive with the onset of a smooth and sexy sax solo that carries through the tail end of the record. This one has already proven to catch the ears of some major players across the globe! Don’t sleep on this white label. House DJ’s have responded overwhelmingly, and after watching DJ Koco’s Instagram routine we are confident that every 45 slinger in the UK will be digging for doubles on this one!

fter a hiatus of over eight years Fuzzy Lights are making a welcome return. Burials is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed album Rule of Twelfths, and the fourth album from the Cambridge-based post-folk collective. 

Their sound has been stripped back to its component parts, deconstructed and rebuilt under less obvious influences. There’s a bedrock of folk-rock - predecessors like Trees and Fairport Convention - but this is then built upon through multiple layers, from the stillness of Talk Talk to the orchestral chaos of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. With Burials Fuzzy Lights have cultivated these sounds and influences into something new and fresh that distances the album from the rest of the folk-rock crowd.

The most striking element of these songs is how intimate they are. Lyricist Rachel Watkins has revealed a lot about herself in these seven songs, which have been written from a very personal perspective. Raw experiences have been distilled into each piece, her translucent vocals often betraying the content of the songs themselves. The album is bookended with the most personal of these. Opener ‘The Maidens Call’ reveals her loss from suffering a miscarriage, whilst album closer, ‘The Gathering Storm’ frames the rallying cry of women’s rights around how individuals must work together now, and in future generations, to destroy prejudice. There is also engagement with humanity’s immediate surroundings and the environment. ‘Under The Waves’ deals with devastation of coral reefs, ocean resources and our natural world, and ‘The Graveyard Song’ imagines the perception of time from the juxtaposed views of a yew tree and a young woman.

As scenarios, paths, and outcomes shift around us, Burials’ amalgam of glowering, intense instrumentation, timeless, weightless melody, and exactingly revealing lyricism carves a very particular path through the world. This is music that tears us away from the everyday not just as a form of escapism, but as a means of self-reflection on hardship and the strategies we develop to overcome it.  It is the band’s rawest yet most accomplished statement to date.

Blue Vinyl
Lynch protégé and Twin Peaks sound designer Dean Hurley coaxes an incredible puzzlebox of atmospheres and mood pieces on this killer contribution to our Documenting Sound series, now remastered and pressed on vinyl for what is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most cinematic and neon-lit instalment in the series. Like a
smudged and overdubbed copy of the BoC Maxima tape, with added iridescence.
Across almost 40 minutes we transition from aerosolised synths to romantic chromatics, thru to Nurse WIth Wound-style severed rhythms and fading glimmers of hope, ‘Concrete Feather’ epitomises Dean Hurley’s prized knack for nuanced instrumental story-telling in the finest and most engrossing style we could imagine. Against the backdrop of the Hollywood film industry that has primed us for as long as we can all remember, the music spans a panorama of lush, mirage-like choral pads and starry flickers thru to gloaming
nightmare sequences and screwed drums, while touching on some of the dankest synth tones this side of his ‘Anthology Resource’ volumes or indeed his soundtrack work for Twin Peaks: The Return. It’s full of dread and a slowly unfolding sense of tragedy.
“Having a regular practice of recording is probably the single most important element to my craft. It’s a way of dropping indiscriminate mile markers while constantly moving forward in time without ability to pause.
Over the years, working for David Lynch taught me a great deal about this and the concept and importance of experimentation. I’ve found myself clinging to those lessons during this time and using them as tools for both productivity and balance. His notion of experimentation is a simple one, yet incredibly profound. It was one of the very first words I heard him say during our initial meeting, and I never stopped hearing the term daily over the subsequent 13 years working together. An ‘experiment’ can provide a legitimate mental back-entrance into the act of creation. It can position an approach toward discovery as opposed to effort, and eliminate the thought that one needs to ‘will’ something into existence. It also aids in calming the judgmental
side of a brain from stepping on/interfering with expression…after all, experiments are not about success or failure, they’re simply about learning. In the Lynch school of thought, multiple experiments then become firewood…and with firewood, one can not only build but actually sustain a fire…even turn it into a multipleacre blaze or more.
Dean Hurley

Greetings to the new generation of ‘Hip-Hop’ and ‘Shake Your Butt’ music. The man behind ‘Timeless Funk’ ain’t exactly no ‘Spring Funky Chicken’, yet he is still the ‘Funkiest Soul’ to rock this here nation.
Rufus Thomas is the Soul King and Grand Daddy of Funk; as his generation knew him then, as we know him today.

In the beginning, the ‘Power of the Most High’ said: ‘Let it be funky’. Then there was Rufus.
Rufus Thomas was born in 1917 in a small town outside of Memphis, Tennessee. At the age of ten he became a tap dancer. In the 1930s, Rufus worked professionally at the infamous Palace Theatre, Memphis, TN, as M.C., performing comedy and dance routines.

During the early 1940s, Rufus began his singing career. He also continued his M.C. acts at various notable nightclubs and theatres, for amateur nights. He was then considered to be a triple threat: dancer, comedian and singer! The notables he crossed hands with in those days were B.B. King, Bobby Bland and Johnny Ace. In the 1950s Rufus became one of the ‘Hip-pest’ DJs in Memphis TN W.I.D.A. radio station and is affiliated with the company to this day. He was quoted as saying ‘I’m young and loose and full of juice’. At those times he recorded ‘Bear-Cat’ for Sun Records, their first R&B hit for the label.
All-right ‘Kiddies,’ now I take you into the light of Rufus in the 1960s. When most of us were on our way to our happy existence, Rufus was already 30 years in the entertainment circuit. He was affiliated with STAX Records. With daughter Carla Thomas, he gave STAX their first hit, the duet, ‘Cause I Love You.’ Rufus’ world famous hits continued under this label, pouring songs out such as ‘Memphis Train,’ ‘Can Your Monkey Do The Dog,’…

The foregoing is merely a scratch on the surface of a remarkable man, who has dedicated most of his life to the entertainment business. It’s kept short and sweet so you know what you are dealing with.
Rufus was quoted as saying, ‘I ain’t a star, I don’t want to be a star. Stars have a habit of falling. I’m like the moon. Clouds may come and cover it occasionally, but it’s always there, and always shining. It’s just sometimes you don’t see it for a while but it’ll be back.’

If it wasn’t for Rufus, Soul Music would be missing one of its loudest sons. If he didn’t exist, somebody

Continued over…

would have to get up and invent him. And Funk? The man practically invented the stuff with James Brown.
Now at the age of 75 ‘The Oldest Teenager Alive’ check him out on this recording of ‘Timeless Funk’. We’ll agree and leave you with this note: Rufus is the ‘Moon’ that brought us what was ‘Funky’ then to what is ‘Funky’ now. So let us get ‘Buck Wild’ on the Funky side of things

Giancarlo Erra Returns With Spellbinding New Lp ‘Departure Tapes’ On
Kscope. Gatefold Oxblood Coloured Vinyl Edition.
UK based Italian composer, multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Giancarlo
Erra started his career in 2005 with one man studio project Nosound. In 2008
Erra signed with Kscope and released a string of albums under the Nosound
banner before recording the first album under his own name ‘Ends I-VII’ in
2019.
He now returns with a new album ‘Departure Tapes’, reflecting what has been
a difficult year with the loss of his father to cancer.
In Giancarlo’s own words “The end result is the most experimental (and darkest at times) material I ever wrote, without compromise or set plan. It contains
all the elements of my music in a very unconscious free flow way. It’s the first
album I wrote without knowing I was writing it, intrinsically linked to one of the
hardest and yet more healing parts of my life.”
‘Departure Tapes’ is an album of contemplative recordings, written while travelling between the UK and Italy. Most of these tracks have been recorded live
by Erra, so for the most part they are totally unique and hold a sincerity which
cannot be replicated.
Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm and the more electronic / ambient
recordings of Brian Eno may offer a reference point by which to enter Erra’s
world, but the depth within these recordings is truly original.
‘Departure Tapes’ is available in a gatefold sleeve on oxblood coloured vinyl and
The DVD-A/V includes high resolution stereo & 5.1 mix: DVD-V: stereo 24/48
LPCM lossless mixes, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS 96/24 5.1 Surround DVDA: 5.1 Surround 24/48 LPCM lossless mixes

Analog Africa Presents Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1, available on
2xLP/Gatefold LP with 20-page booklet / CD with 36-page booklet. It was
in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria, that a new hybrid of intoxicating
highlife music known as Edo Funk was born.
It first emerged in the late 1970s when a group of musicians began to experiment with different ways of integrating elements from their native Edo culture
and fusing them with new sound effects coming from West Africa s night-clubs.
Unlike the rather polished 1980 s Nigerian disco productions coming out of the
international metropolis of Lagos Edo Funk was raw and reduced to its bare
minimum.
Someone was needed to channel this energy into a distinctive sound and Sir
Victor Uwaifo appeared like a mad professor with his Joromi studio. Uwaifo
took the skeletal structure of Edo music and relentless began fusing them with
synthesizers, electric guitars and 80 s effect racks which resulted in some of the
most outstanding Edo recordings ever made. An explosive spiced up brew with
an odd psychedelic note known as Edo Funk.
That’s the sound you’ll be discovering in the first volume of the Edo Funk Explosion series which focusses on the genre’s greatest originators; Osayomore
Joseph, Akaba Man, and Sir Victor Uwaifo: Osayomore Joseph was one of the
first musicians to bring the sound of the flute into the horn-dominated world
of highlife, and his skills as a performer made him a fixture on the Lagos scene.
When he returned to settle in Benin City in the mid 1970s - at the invitation of
the royal family - he devoted himself to the modernisation and electrification
of Edo music, using funk and Afro-beat as the building blocks for songs that
weren’t afraid to call out government corruption or confront the dark legacy of
Nigeria’s colonial past.
Akaba Man was the philosopher king of Edo funk. Less overtly political than Osayomore Joseph and less psychedelic than Victor Uwaifo, he found the perfect
medium for his message in the trance-like grooves of Edo funk. With pulsating
rhythms awash in cosmic synth-fields and lyrics that express a deep personal
vision, he found great success at the dawn of the 1980s as one of Benin City’s
most persuasive ambassadors of funky highlife.
Victor Uwaifo was already a star in Nigeria when he built the legendary Joromi
studios in his hometown of Benin City in 1978. Using his unique guitar style as
the mediating force between West-African highlife and the traditional rhythms
and melodies of Edo music, he had scored several hits in the early seventies,
but once he had his own sixteen-track facility he was able to pursue his obsession with the synesthetic possibilities of pure sound, adding squelchy synths,
swirling organs and studio effects to hypnotic basslines and raw grooves. Between his own records and his production for other musicians, he quickly established himself as the godfather of Edo funk.
What unites these diverse musicians is their ability to strip funk down to its
primal essence and use it as the foundation for their own excursions inward to
the heart of Edo culture and outward to the furthest limits of sonic alchemy.
The twelve tracks on Edo Funk Explosion Volume 1 pulse with raw inspiration,
mixing highlife horns, driving rhythms, day-glo keyboards and tripped-out guitars into a funk experience unlike any other.

Up to kick off 2021 in the most adequately frenzied, thoroughly corrosive fashion, DDS04 serves up a quintet of chrome-tanned, hi-velocity beats courtesy of Italian hardware fetishist Anna Funk Damage (previously heard on the likes of Mind Records, Lux Rec, Lazy Tapes and more) and Austrian-Hungarian outfit Dutch Courage - alias Superskin & Új Bála - each of whom step up to the plate to deliver an exquisitely ear-wormy slice of their deranged industrial gospel.

A-side starts off to the sound of AFD's hard bouncin' "48 Hours Death" - a raw-cooked deluge of head-reducing EBM grit, flaring binary signals and Giallo-infused arpeggios out a blood-stained Suspirian tale. Fear for the deadly scalp hunters lurking in the club's darkest nooks, they've just sniffed out your trail.

Brutal churner "Youssef" picks up the torch and pulls out the quake-inducing breaks without further ado, dressed out with languorous Orientalistic melodies and steely distortions tailored to bend mind by the dozens. Forged in the furnace, the full-out punk-minded "I Come From Fire" rounds off the side on a drum and bass-heavy note, drawing as much from 60s psych-garage as it does from 80s deconstructionist tape music.

Flip sides and here's Budapest unit Dutch Courage taking the reins with the off-kilter treat "Hand Of The Sword" - navigating a weird zone of its own, floating astride post-apocalyptic Bristol bass, sliced-and-diced abstraction and overly textured yet equally bone-bruising riddims.

Wrapping up the journey with both force and serenity, "Neo-Soulmates" follows a similar path with its warped synth flexions and raucous machine cries making the rounds from one end of the spectrum to the other effortlessly, merging to give birth to something genetically contrasting from any contemporary. A most fitting finale to an EP that celebrates and encourages sonic bizarro in all its forms and manifestations.

Following the 70s Peruvian cumbia compilation by Ranil last year, Analog Africa returns to Latin America to highlight the work of one of Perú’s undisputed masters of the electric guitar: Manzanita. This 13th release in the Limited Dance Edition Series includes 14 mostly instrumental compositions of electrifying Peruvian cumbia and guaracha. Manzanita's unique guitar lines rest on confident foundations that shifts gears effortlessly. Limited Edition LP in Gatefold Cover pressed on 180g high quality virgin vinyl

"I was in Lima, hanging out with collector-extraordinaire Victor Zela, who had spent the previous few years pouring his passion for Peruvian Cumbia into the blog „la cumbia de mis viejos“, a trove of incredible music. But after the birth of his first child, his priorities shifted and he decided to part with some of his rarest LPs. I was one of the lucky few given an early chance to examine his treasures, and when I picked up the album Manzaneando com Manzanita, Victor said: “Take it! its one of the best LPs ever recorded in Perú … easily in the top five”. That was all the encouragement I needed … two years later many of the songs from that masterpiece have made it onto Manzanita y su Conjunto, a compilation of electrifying Cumbia sides from Manzanita’s golden era.

Berardo Hernández – better known as Manzanita – first surfaced during the psychedelic Cumbia craze. At the head of the scene were the magnificent Los Destellos, whose leader, Enrique Delgado, was such a six-string wizard that other guitarists found it impossible to escape his shadow. But when Manzanita arrived, his electric criollo style sent shockwaves through Lima’s music scene and posed a serious threat to Delgado’s dominance as king of the Peruvian guitar.

Manzanita had come to Lima from the coastal city of Trujillo, five hundred miles up the coast – a place where Spanish, African and indigenous populations had been living and making music together for centuries – and came of age at a time when the first wave of psychedelic rock from the US and UK was starting to sweep the airwaves. But the sounds of Cream and Hendrix disappeared from the radio just as quickly in 1968 when Juan Velasco seized control of the country in a military coup. The new regime, which favoured local traditions over cultural ‘imports’ from the north, was a blessing in disguise for the Peruvian music scene.

Record labels flourished as new bands, raised on a hybrid diet of electric guitars and Cuban rhythms, rushed in to fill the vacuum created by the lack of imported rock. A new genre, known as Peruvian cumbia, was born and Manzanita quickly became one of its most original voices.

Starting in 1969, Manzanita y su Conjunto released a steady stream of singles that used Cuban guaracha rhythms as the foundation for dazzling electric guitar lines. After countless 45s and several years on the touring circuit, the band signed to Virrey, an important Peruvian label, and recorded two LPs acknowledged as masterpieces among aficionados of tropical music. Most of the songs on Analog Africa’s new compilation Manzanita y su Conjunto are drawn from those legendary sessions of 1973 and 74.

Although he scored a few more hits in the later 70s, his dissatisfaction with the music industry caused him to withdraw from the scene for several years; and when he finally retired for good, the golden age of Peruvian cumbia was a distant memory. But when Manzanita was at the top of his game he had few equals. Victor Zela was right: this is some of the best music ever recorded in Perú."

Before their debut album "Stürmer", originally out in 1982 and reissued by a-Musik, there were two 7" by Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle. Both the eponymous 4-track EP (1980) by Justin Hoffmann, Thomas Meinecke, Michaela Melián and Thomas Meinecke and the 7-track EP "Teilnehmende Beobachtung" from 1981 were released on Alfred Hilsberg's legendary Zickzack Platten.

With "Moderne Welt" and the literally endless "Deutschland, Deutschland", the rare "Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle" single contains two of the most brilliant tracks ever recorded in the Federal Republic of Germany. "Teilnehmende Beobachtung" was produced by Wirtschaftswunder's Tom Dokoupil and established F.S.K.'s status as one of the most singular (and back in those days controversial) phenomena in the history of (west-)german postpunk/pop/underground history.

The LP reissue of these two 7"s comes with printed innversleeve and a 8 pp. booklet with extensive linernotes (in german) by Tim Klütz.

Discos Transgénero re-issue the Marnie Weber classic first solo LP, “Songs Hurt Me” originally from 1989. This seminal record was an important part of the Los Angeles post-punk performative art rock scene. Brooding synthesizers, heavy bass, strange melodies, and poetic lyrics lead you through an industrial journey. These songs were born from Weber’s earliest performance art characters: a deer, an old woman, a manic courtesan, and a butterfly. Songs Hurt Me was originally co-produced by Phillip Drucker AKA Jackson Del Ray of Savage Republic and 17 Pygmies fame.

Marnie is a pioneer in art rock from the 80’s in Los Angeles. She emerged early in the music scene as the bass player in the Party Boys, a formative and important Los Angeles post-punk downtown art scene band. During this period, the Party Boys performed shows with The Minute Men, Savage Republic, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fourwaycross, The Blue Daisies, Perry Farrell’s first band Psi Com, Camper Van Beethoven, and many more. Bruce Licher of Independent Project Records, whom Marnie met in art school, released the first Party Boys record. After performing with the Party Boys, Marnie went on to become a noted solo performative art musician in her own right. She has released five solo records and numerous group album releases.

As a visual artist Marnie created the cover of Sonic Youth’s A Thousand Leaves album – interesting to note Marnie is the hamster girl on the cover. She also designed posters for Sonic Youth and did a co-release of her second album with Thurston Moore on his label Ecstatic Peace. Expanding from her musical roots, Marnie exhibits artwork, films, sculptures, collages, sound installations, and costumes internationally in museums and galleries. She has had two extensive survey exhibitions of her artwork ­– most recently at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Geneva.

Songs Hurt Me was remastered by Mark Wheaton at Catasonic Studios Los Angeles using the original tapes for an unprecedented restoration of this historic album. Discos Transgénero has thoughtfully designed and pressed the reissued LPs in Germany. This unique edition of Songs Hurt Me is a limited release of 400 copies distributed worldwide.

DJ Sotofett and LNS have teamed up with Tresor Records for Sputters. The double-vinyl album with 15 cuts spans a hybrid of warped electro and psychedelic hypnosis, all the while remaining fixed in an unmistakable dance release. Recorded between 2017 – 2020, and bookmarked throughout by intros and interludes dug out from archival material, it's a deconstructed yet classic compound of techno-sonics.

LNS from Calgary, Canada, is rooted in braindance, electro and acid. Releasing 12inches on both her self-titled imprint LNS and Sotofett’s Wania - LNS, whilst in the studio, has often pointed out “the lacking blend of dub and electro in dance music”.
DJ Sotofett, hailing from Moss, Norway, is among a myriad of things commonly known for the extended work of his Sex Tags Mania and Wania labels, without forgetting his afro, dub and jazz releases on Honest Jon's London.
Together both artists give space to a guest appearance by E-GZR, a fellow Wania artist, to open the Sputters journey. The sinus bending drum stutter of K.O. by E-GZR collisions flanging basses and chronic-inducing synth pads to blueprint the technoid atmosphere to come. LNS & DJ Sotofett take control with El Dubbing, evoking an effect-heavy demeanour, typical of the Sex Tags Mania soundworld that DJ Sotofett is responsible for, this time rubbing up against solid electrified rhythms. The hypnotic moods carry over to Dúnn Dubbing's deep delays, freely running over a surprisingly minimal skeleton retaining a solid direction. Crafting a warmly emotive end of Side-A with sparse rhythms to perfection.
A meaner turn introduces Side-B. Hints of electro are scattered everywhere, fat basslines, ricocheting drums and synths that mourn and drift in and out of harmony. Vitri-Oil exposes a tumbling sound design, fog-lit chords of material fragility and nosedives - with an alive mix that wallows and grows in equal measures. The side closes with Shim, a classic drift between house and techno releasing sensual euphoria with the albums first big surprise – grand strings.

“LNS wanted to sell her TR-606, while my reply was for us to make a track with the 606 sounding so fresh that she'd never even think about selling it again” Sotofett states. Side-C proves the artists to be some of the most singular producers around with album centrepiece The 606. Clocking in over 10 minutes, it kicks off as a driving techno banger, chugging bass and big chords. Midway through everything falls away, and out of the void enter scattered drums and improv piano lines emerge, while twisted dubs lead us back in an enduringly warm groove.

Side-D sets the clock back to the original electroid foundation of the album, casting fires with alien vibrations. Synchronic Bass Blort is a hard-hitting electro track, steaming sonics and thrills, its melodic hook diving in subterranean motions. On Sputtering the duo raspily beams into outer space, with fizzy motives that disfigure and dazzle while the harmonies of the closing track is for yourself to experience.
DJ Sotofett and LNS deliver an album inhabiting a world full of sci-fi sonics and fierce groove. Their sound is free and live, simultaneously wondrous and sharp.

Not Waving renders his pop soul on a definitive album opus ‘How To Leave Your Body’, starcrossed with guest appearances by Jim O’Rourke, Jonnine Standish, Marie Davidson, Spivak and Mark
Lanegan
An escapist parable for the times, Alessio Natalizia marks a career high with his most sensitive production and songwriting illuminated by a coterie of notable collaborators. Its 11 songs deal with the necessity of friendship, the fragility of loss and spiritual transcendence via a spectrum of strategies that ultimately arrive at a mutual conclusion: love is the message. It packs sample amounts of nostalgia into a fantasy sequence of elegiac pop, skewed rave and midnight lullabies that fine-tune over 20 years of devotion to his craft, perfectly matching experimental restlessness with enduring pop appeal.
Perhaps unavoidably, circumstances had a hand in the creation of ‘How To Leave Your Body’, forcing Natalizia to work with collaborators remotely. Yet the strength of his bonds bleeds through in the album’s handful of poignant vocal pieces, none more so than the hushed intimacy of Marie Davidson on the bewitching downbeat trance hymn ‘Hold On’, but also in the bruised blush of ‘My Sway’ featuring Jonnine’s spine-tracing lilt over hovering organ and dembow bumps, while the hook-up with Mark Lanegan once again yields bittersweet fruit on ‘Last Time Leaving Home Part 2’, with gravelly blues vox diffused into detuned, miasmic cello that really tugs.
Effortless and made for rinsing, the whole album is testament to the humility and pathos of Natalizia’s oeuvre, which has gotten better with age. It plays out like a lovingly crafted mixtape, decanting all original material with a classic cadence and fleeting play of styles, from aerial jazz notes in ‘You Are Always Younger Than The Future’, to the gnawing club grind of ‘Define Normal’, a noisily gurning ‘Self-Portrait’, and the lushly resolved admittance of ‘My Best Is Good Enough.’
Comparisons don’t really work with this one, it’s just Not Waving.

• With more than 60 MILLION STREAMS across his catalogue listened to by fans all around the world, ‘…TO BE CONTINUED’
is the best ‘greatest hits’ album that you’ve never heard!
• This 12-track Limited Edition Vinyl LP collection, with a brand new floorfiller, features his most popular tracks and fans’
favourites, and this is his first Physical release album to celebrate, LE FLEX has signed 500 prints for this Limited Edition.
• Although LE FLEX clearly states that “I just make Pop music”, his 6 EPs and 6 Studio albums are nothing short of serious and
brilliantly creative blends of nudisco, poolside vibes and slow-jams but retaining the essence of his familiar ‘80s
synthpop/dance-based infusions. The accompanying videos are purely tongue-in-cheek, with more than a smattering of
self-deprecation, as you will see on his dedicated YouTube channel.
• Judging by the comments from long-established fans and music lovers from South America to Australia, via the UK, through
Europe and the Far East, discovering LE FLEX for the first time, they are quick to state that his vocal inflections share more
than a passing resemblance to George Michael, an icon about whom LE FLEX modestly says, “I’m not fit to shine his shoes”.
• LE FLEX is a renowned Producer with his popularity rising, having worked with Jaki Graham, Lemar and Ben Macklin and
was commissioned to produce new Donna Summer remixes in 2020.
• Released on heavyweight 180g Clear Vinyl, if you fancy summery escapism, there aren’t many better ways than doing so
than with LE FLEX

crystal blue vinyl

South London based producer Lxury is a subtle experimentalist, pairing house rhythms with eclectic genre blending and risk-taking. Returning to Shall Not Fade's Lost Palms series for a second record, Smart Digital Life EP shows the maturity and complexity of his production while keeping the energy light and summery.

"1722" opens things up with dreamlike pitched vocals that provide a vaporwave feel, hypnotizing over stuttering synths and a wonky beat. "Spin" has an experimental sound palette, a euphoric pulse and a sweet melody, dance music doused in honey.

This sweetness spills over onto the B side; "Pad Ma" sounds like a pumping club track meets a trip to the fairground - unstoppably buoyant and headsy. The vocals in "When I Wake Up" spin around your head before a muscular beat kicks in, the most stripped back and raw sounding of the record. This one is certain to get heads down and feet moving. "Up High" is an expansive closing track, built around fuzzy drums as the clever use of vocal samples creates a melody with a loved-up feeling; it's a tour-de-force of Lxury's delicate production skills.

Clear Vinyl

DDS catch enduringly absorbing sonic alchemist Jim O’Rourke at his knottiest and most ingenious in a wormholing suite of amorphous rhythm and psychedelic electronics - a massive RIYL Autechre, Roland Kayn, Bernard Parmegiani, NYZ, Keith Fullerton Whitman.
Playing up to and into DDS’ freeform aesthetics, O’Rourke renders 40 minutes shearing hyaline synth tones and ruptured rhythm generated at his Steamroom facilities in Tokyo, a modular outzone trawling that harks back to his iconic Mego releases and some of the more recent Steamroom experiments. It’s an ideal addition to the ever expanding DDS cosmos, following Demdike’s recent ‘Drum Machine’ expo with a slice of purist and screwed modular magick that transcends early
electronics and modern styles in pursuit of musical sensations that defy stylistic brackets.
‘Too Compliment’ was assembled using a bespoke Hordijk modular system, a rare West Coast-style setup hand made by Dutch engineer Rob Hordijk. O’Rourke focuses on the frequency shifter here, using it to coax out fluxing tone thickets, haphazard frequencies and elongated drone corridors.
It’s transportive stuff, harking back to the early days of private press academic synth music but also sitting on edge alongside Autechre’s recent long-form work, as well as O’Rourke’s classic “I’m Happy, And I’m Singing, And A 1, 2, 3, 4” In O’Rourke’s hands, the mass of electronics takes on throbbing, organic dimensions, congealing
grey matter and purplish veins of fluid in viscous transitions that glisten and spark with invention as they form new tissue. What comes out is as unearthly as the earliest electronic music, but also
blessed with a psychedelc spirit in a way that’s long kept O’Rourke right out on his own, teetering between paradigms yet never settling into any single style. If you’ve always been keen on finding a way into that sprawling soundworld, ‘Too Compliment’ is a perfect entry point into a highly rewarding creative macrocosm.

Milan Records release - much anticipated new film from Leos Carax set to open the 74th Cannes Film Festival on July 6th 2021 (general release in France on the same date). Based on an original story and music by Ron and Russell Mael, Annette began life as an (unreleased) album but was transformed into a musical after they met Carax. Having successfully maintained a five decade long career as one of the world’s most innovative and creative bands, it comes as no surprise that their collaboration with the visionary French director has resulted in a unique piece of film-making. Music is composed and performed by Sparks and also features vocal performances from the stars of the film: Adam Driver (Henry), Marion Cotillard (Ann) and Simon Helberg (The Conductor). Produced by Sparks and Marius de Vries (musical director of 'La La Land' and 'Moulin Rouge'). Formats include a 15 track CD presented in a digi sleeve with a 12 page booklet featuring the lyrics and stills from the film and a standard black 180gm vinyl LP with gatefold sleeve and poster. Specialist promo/marketing activity across all media outlets.

Leng Records has long had close ties with the underground music scene in San Francisco, with low-slung dub disco and psychedelic disco outfit 40 Thieves releasing their acclaimed album The Sky Is Yours on the imprint way back in 2014. Now Leng has turned to another stalwart of the Bay Area scene, Cole Odin, on a single that’s every bit as trippy and engrossing as you’d expect from one of San Francisco’s most frequently overlooked talents. Cole made his Leng debut earlier in the year, contributing the electro-influenced track ‘Numbers Game’ to the label’s 10th anniversary compilation. On ‘Little Boxes’, he’s joined by good friend Eddie C, a much-loved disco and house producer from Canada best known for his releases on Endless Flight and Red Motorbike. The pair recorded the track while Eddie was staying with Cole in San Francisco last year.



In keeping with the low-slung, hallucinatory sound that has always been a big feature of the San Franciscan scene, ‘Little Boxes’ is a trippy, mind-altering affair in which waves of sitar sounds, cosmic synths, effects-laden guitars and kaleidoscopic electronics rise above a weighty punk-funk bassline and crunchy, snare-heavy beats. It has serious dancefloor chops but is also atmospheric and immersive: perfect 5am music for Bay Area beach parties and mushrooms-fuelled forest raves.



Fittingly, it’s 40 Thieves who provide the accompanying remix, a 10-minute epic created with the assistance of Adonis and Rodney from the psych rock band ‘Guavatron’ for additional synths and the guitars. Beginning with tabla-style percussion, swirling chords, psychedelic guitar licks and mystical sitar sounds, the remix builds in waves, with looser drums and even weightier bass propelling the track forwards at a metronomic and hypnotic pace. By the time the eyes-closed guitar solos drop two thirds of the way through, you’ll be tripping hard and reaching for the lasers. It’s a genuinely stunning remix of a genuinely intoxicating, mind-mangling track.

Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London

Morgan was one of the most active artists in the Los Angeles underground jazz scene, and a member of the late great Horace Tapscott‘s artist collective Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension (UGMAA). He performed alongside Tapscott, and other Nimbus recording artists like Jesse Sharps, who he introduced to Tapscott. He also performed with Arthur Blythe, Gary Bartz, Azar Lawrence, as well as soul icons Willie Hutch (notably on the Foxy Brown soundtrack) and Rufus & Chaka Khan. Most recently he contributed to Carlos Niño’s 2016 album Flutes, Echoes, It’s All Happening!, and was a part of Niño and vocalist Dwight Trible’s soul-jazz group Build An Ark (which also featured Tribe’s Phil Ranelin).

Journey Into Nigritia was Morgan’s debut as a leader, and the first of three recordings he released for Nimbus West. The album has a strong post-Coltrane spiritual feel, with some modal-based melodies, and some fiery solos from saxophonist Dadisi Komolafe. The record also features a solid rhythm section featuring bassist Jeff Littleton and drummer Fritz Wise.

Review by T J Gorton

At the dawn of the Reagan years, LA jazz pianist Nate Morgan recorded his first album for Nimbus West. Journey Into Nigritia portrays an artist marked by the icons of his day, and striving for reinvention. Although he came from a solid jazz background, coming up through the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra, Morgan found more exciting work with pop bands in the seventies, including glory years with Rufus w/Chaka Khan. On Journey into Nigritia, Morgan re-embraces jazz. Included in the band are Jeff Littleton on bass, Fritz Wise on drums, and Dadisi Komolafe on alto sax.

The collection opens with the Trane-ish Mrafu. Komolafe blasts off in short order, and while the modal chording recalls Tyner, Morgan shows flashes of the nimble loquacious gift that define him. While Alice Coltrane incense perfumes "Morning Prayer, Morgan's devotional sincerity and personnel expression triumph.

Suitably complex with yearning minors, Mother features the trio performing a memorable composition. Littleton's deep-note sustain contrasts Wise's shimmering cymbals, while Morgan tells heart-wrenching truth. With a somewhat solemn theme, He Left Us a Song regularly bursts through into straight-ahead fast break sprints up and down the court. The unexpected "Study in C.T. offers an homage to Cecil Taylor and Morgan's musical roots with free improvisations on a dense and spiky theme. The exhilarating result has Morgan exploring his own way, with a winking slinging of jagged bass chords halfway through.

While a quarter century's experience has nurtured Morgan's prodigious gifts beyond this ambitious debut, Journey Into Nigritia offers enjoyable insights into his artistic evolution, while adding another precious title to the discography of one of the most woefully under-recorded greats of our time.

(part 2/3 featuring Sept, Raven, Frazi.er & Trym) Amelie Lens' EXHALE Records continues to deliver fiercely dynamic techno from the underground's most promising, rising and established artists with its second VA compilation.


Amelie Lens' EXHALE Records continues to deliver fiercely dynamic techno from the underground's most promising, rising and established artists with its second VA compilation.

Following EXHALE's first VA release in 2020, the party series turned label once again welcomes existing members, flourishing producers and blossoming new artists to the EXHALE family for its second various artists compilation.

Opening the second EXH002 vinyl is 'Bóg Jest w Techno' event boss Sept, who presents us with a stripped back cut layered with piercing synth keys and gentle electro elements in 'Beyond The Veil'. Acid stabs and a female voice echo the track title in Raven's trippy cut 'Metal On Metal', with light airy synths to close out that simulate euphoria. We're taken on a dark and weighteir expedition with Frazi.er in 'Systematic Ignorance' - a brooding bass drives the sound, with acid melodies adding texture throughout. Keeping up pace is 'Kendall' by Trym, a cinematic composition that utilises cymbals, hi-hats and synth notes to create a brighter melody over its dark percussion.

Psychedelic Percussion definitely sticks to his title. With the help from Paul Beaver of Beaver & Krause (famous keyboard wizard and sound engineer for the likes of Stevie Wonder), vibe master Emil Richards (check is two fantastic album on Impulse! with The Microtonal Blues Band featuring Joe Porcaro, father of the famed Toto brothers) and Gary Coleman (percussionist in the famous Wrecking Crew), Blaine goes wild in the studio with drums, gong, xylophone, organ, bongos, congas and timpani. Unusual textures and tones lead the way to 12 instrumental exotic numbers similar in a way to Raymond Scott most visionary experiments. This is pure madness, a record full of breaks and still unsurpassed in many ways. Blaine was an American drummer and session musician, estimated to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the history of the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one, as well as many film and television soundtracks. He became one of the regular players in Phil Spector's de facto house band, which Blaine nicknamed "the Wrecking Crew". Some of the records Blaine played on include the Ronettes' single "Be My Baby" (1963), which contained a drum beat that became widely imitated, as well as works by popular artists such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, Neil Diamond and the Byrds.

Award winning saxophonist and composer Binker Goldingreturns to Byrd Out with a new trio comprising giants of theexperimental scene Steve Noble and John Edwards for analbum of unparalleled instant creativity: 'Moon Day'. The albumplays with the post truth zeitgeist, using the first major moonconspiracy of 1835 as a launch pad, throwing a sly wink at BuzzAldrin as the trio impart on their own musical odyssey. Thesheer variety of pace, tone and texture across the record isbreathtaking, from Golding's soft, almost weightless opening on'One Giant Step' through to the skittish re-entry of 'Reflection' asthe musicians ricochet off one another, the album bursts withideas and energy, yet remains coherent and singular in itspurpose. Recorded during a gap between the variouslockdowns of 2020, you can sense the release from themusicians as they combine after enforced isolation with atelepathic sense of where to push each other: Noble interjectingboth chaos and order from the drums; Edwards the rocket fuelpropelling the unit on; and Golding soaring and cutting throughon sax. You will not find a better showcase of these musicians'phenomenal abilities. This is free jazz at its most compelling andmost engaging. 'Moon Day' is undoubtedly a future jazz classic.

Nimbus West spirit jazz essential: the Creative Arts Ensemble's classic debut One Step Out. One of the most sought after and highly-regarded titles to have appeared on Tom Albach's celebrated Nimbus West imprint, One Step Out is a timeless work of spiritualized jazz. A true gem from the Los Angeles jazz underground, the album was pianist and composer Kaeef Ruzadun Ali's first recording as leader of the Creative Arts Ensemble, the only large ensemble group that emerged directly from Horace Tapscott's legendary Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra community jazz group. A Los Angeles native, Kaeef was introduced to the Tapscott circle in the late 1970s. His first experience of the Arkestra's ethos was through PAPA tenorist Michael Session, who took him to the famous "Great House" at 2412 South Western Ave., LA -- a large mansion house which members of the Arkestra had taken over as a space for communal living. Life in the Great House was a continuous stream of music, dance and community events. "When I walked in there," recalled Kaeef, "it was like this whole rush came over me, just from going in the front door -- It was like a very, very warm feeling of love. I went and I came out with 'Flashback Of Time', and that was my first arrangement." Kaeef quickly became a significant contributor of compositions to the Arkestra's songbook -- his piece "New Horizon" would be recorded by Horace Tapscott for the latter's Tapscott Sessions series. But "Flashback Of Time" would eventually appear on One Step Out, played by the new group he had put together from stalwart Arkestra members. Inspired by both Tapscott's example and by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Kaeef had wanted to follow their lead by assembling a larger unit. Featuring seasoned Arkestra regulars including reedsman Dadisi Komolafe, drummer Woody "Sonship" Theus and altoist Gary Bias, with veterans Henry "The Skipper" Franklin on bass and George Bohannon on trombone, One Step Out is a key document of the Los Angeles radical jazz underground. Featuring the sanctified vocals of Kaeef's sister, B. J. Crowley, the album is a tour de force of spiritually energized independent jazz music.

Strut presents one of the most in-demand and significant albums from the archives of Jimmy Gray's Black Fire Records, 'Bow To The People' (1976 )by theatre collective Theatre West, based out of Dayton, Ohio. Recorded at Arrest studios in Washington in '76, 'Bow To The People' brought together songs from several of Theatre West's best known plays including Bow To The People, The System and Black Love and unflinchingly explored serious issues around drug addiction, mental health and cultural awareness. "The whole idea of Bow To The People was to honour our black forefathers," explains Dillard. "It was important to do that for the kids that didn't know." Shelved following the original recording, the Bow To The People album eventually surfaced on a limited CD on Black Fire in 1993. Now receivingits first full international release, the album features the previously unreleased tracks 'Man Of Many Means' and 'I Don't Know Much About Love'

For the fifth anniversary of Buraka Som Sistema's 2016 farewell show in their hometown of Lisbon, Portugal - and the 15th anniversary of their debut EP - we're celebrating this important milestone by releasing 'Buraka 4 Ever', an album created from the recordings of this legendary concert where the band's most iconic songs were last performed in front of a roaring live audience.

Nervous Horizon is happy to present 'Sogno EP', the new project by label co-owner Guglielmo Barzacchini, aka TSVI. Embarking on a journey inside the mind's most deep and intricate illusions and hallucinations, 'Sogno EP' is an exploration into various different types of dream states and altered states of consciousness. Characterised by intricate rhythms, slower beats inspired by techno, dancehall and little to no melodies, the record features Italian ASMR and spoken word to enhance the hazy and hypnotic mood permeating throughout. Taking a close look at his own states of unconsciousness and channelling them into his musical creation, TSVI dives into the abstract and eerie worlds of the subconscious with a project inspired by surreal dreamscapes, trance states and the concept of shadow work, in which each track explores a different aspect of the depth of the human psyche.

I attended a trade fair in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In this show, we met producers, label and festival managers. It is a privileged moment when it is possible to learn about new trends, new musical forms, emerging groups. The timing of the meal is undoubtedly the most important. We take the time to introduce ourselves and discover each other. When my turn arrived, I took out my little map to locate the town of Sète on the map of France. There, an American promoter exclaimed "Yeah! You live in this beautiful city. Where there is this incredible music. ” I admit that at the time I didn’t quite understand what he meant but flattered by his remark I told him yes. Later, I realized that he was talking about gypsy music that made the whole world dream.



When my friend shared this anecdote to me, it resonated deeply with me. Indeed, for us, people of the south of France, this was nothing exceptional. Indeed, every day you could meet in the street a gypsy musician performing a rumba, another declaiming a fandango or another who liked to paraphrase the maestro Django. It is part of our daily environment, but it is indeed a peculiarity of this region. The territory of the Mediterranean arc, from Arles to Perpignan, is indeed the cradle of gypsy music in France. In addition, we must underline the major influence of the Gypsy artists of Catalonia in the development of these different artistic forms. Through weddings and family reunions, the repertoires have shifted to be reinterpreted according to the identities specific to each and the territories of residence.



With this new collection, we wanted to show, to hear all the musical richness of Gypsy and Manouche artists populating the territory. From appropriation to recreation, they never stop bringing this music to life, re-enchanting it and offering it a resolutely modern reading, open to the world. In this first opus, devoted to the guitar, we will take the routes of latin music, flamenco or jazz alongside renowned artists and young talents. With "The sound of guitars", it is a first door open to the gypsy music of the Mediterranean Arc, that we will discover gradually through the "Mediteranean Gypsies roads" collection.

Los Angeles based Alt-rock quartet THE INTERRUPTERS are releasing their first-ever live album "Live In Tokyo!" with a set list that captures the live power that made them one of the busiest touring bands in the world, with fan favorite songs from each of the bands three albums including hit tracks such as "She's Kerosene," "Gave You Everything," "Take Back The Power" and "Bad Guy." Their greatest hits performed in the greatest way you can see THE INTERRUPTERS: LIVE! The past three years have been pivotal for THE INTERRUPTERS. The band toured the world in support of their Fight the Good Fight (2018) album, including their first ever tour stop in Japan, where they captured this energetic live performance for their first live album "Live In Tokyo!" This recording captures the band that is known for their powerful live performances which features the band's most popular tracks from their three Hellcat Records albums. Not to mention, an onslaught of successful touring worldwide including many sold out headlining dates as well as appearances at Download Festival, Slam Dunk and support runs with Green Day and Rancid throughout Europe and the UK. The band shows no signs of slowing down and have recently announced tour dates next year with the Dropkick Murphys across Europe and the UK.

Tony Scott (born Anthony Joseph Sciacca June 17, 1921 – March 28, 2007) was an American jazz clarinetist and arranger with an interest in folk music around the world. For most of his career he was held in high esteem in new-age music circles because of his involvement in music linked to Asian cultures and to meditation. Tony performed with many star as Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Harry Belafonte and before moving to Italy in the early ‘70’s he just cut two sought after masterpiece moving forward from his early idea of bop and cool jazz. In particular ‘Djanger Bali’ (1967 Saba) - recorded with The Indonesian All Stars - and the self titled Tony Scott (1968 Verve) - featuring Richard Davis on bass, John Berberian on oud and Attila Zoller on guitar – set the pace for a revolution in terms. This set recorded in Africa around the mid 90’s is a pure rhythm festival pushing the boundaries of his afro fusion agenda