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* Strictly limited-edition 2x12” vinyl in full colour sleeve. Includes card to download full album in WAV format.
* ‘Strange Days’ the debut album from one of the standout Drum & Bass acts of recent years, due for release on the legendary V Recordings on 3rd December 2021.
* Features collaborations with Serum, Makoto, MC Fats, Lorna King, 2shy MC, Cleveland Watkiss, Blak, Riya, A Little Sound, Elipsa & T.R.A.C.
* With support already secured from the likes of Shy FX, Bryan Gee, Fabio & Grooverider, Rene LaVice, Hybrid Minds, Serum, Randall and with a growing international fanbase at their back, Paul T & Edward Oberon's new album 'Strange Days' is set to be one of 2021's defining drum & bass releases.
* Their recent run of singles, including two Beatport number ones and collaborations with vocal talents like Cleveland Watkiss, MC Fats, A Little Sound & Lorna Kings have given us a flavour of this monumental project. An eclectic array of influences from jazz to jump up have been filtered through the unique musical perspective of this duo to bring us something that we've never quite heard before.
* Drum & bass has the capacity to deliver, on the one hand, soulfully emotive musicality and, on the other, sheer rave-inflaming filth. Paul T & Edward Oberon, however, have consistently performed the alchemical magic of bringing together both the music and the mayhem without compromising either.
* But of course they have. Paul and Edward have years of experience creating music for some of the most prestigious labels in the scene and drawing from a myriad of influences. Individually, they have credits stretching back decades, and, as a combo, they've been dusting dances around the world since 2011.
* Having won an army of new-gen fans with anthems like 'Stomp', 'Look for the Light' and the absolutely huge scene smashing Serum-collab 'Moon in Your Eyes', these veteran artists have wasted no time in stepping things up to even greater heights as they gear up to drop their album.
* Balancing vibes and viciousness, 'Strange Days' lays out the definitive manifesto for Paul T & Edward Oberon's dirty soul sound. Operating as both a self-contained audio journey and a collection of rave-ready deejay weapons, this LP is a piece of work that demands your attention!

First Word Records is very proud to welcome back Don Leisure, with a brand new 25-track album 'Shaboo Strikes Back'.

Five years have passed since the first 'Shaboo' album was released. A collection of beats and pieces that documented the road trip of Don's youth - hip hop music interspersed with Asian radio station jingles of old, dedicated to Bollywood actor, Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwani - Don Leisure's late uncle.

This album was heralded as "the best album of its kind since J Dilla's 'Donuts'" and deemed "unmissable" by the folks at Piccadilly Records. It also had strong support from BBC 6 Music's Tom Ravenscroft ("very, very good this indeed"), Huey Morgan ("my beat of the week"), Worldwide FM's Lefto ("defo down with this"), Rob Da Bank ("this is wicked") and the likes of Mathieu Schreyer (KCRW, LA), Alex Ruder (KEXP, Seattle), Kid Fonque (5FM, South Africa), Om Unit, Jon1st, Mr Thing, Rob Luis (Tru Thoughts), Dom Servini (Wah Wah 45s), Tim Parker (NTS) and tons more from across the globe.

Don Leisure is a DJ and producer based in Cardiff, Wales, sometimes known as one half of Darkhouse Family, along with Earl Jeffers. He's been a prolific beat-maker for many years, releasing under a variety of monikers for labels such as Metalheadz, International Anthem, Fat City, Izwid, Earnest Endeavours and Group BraCil. His most recent release was a remix for Gruff Rhys, which was released on Rough Trade.

In 2020 he was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize for his 'Steel Zakusi' project, and has dropped several releases for First Word, including the acclaimed 2019 'Halal Cool J' album and various Darkhouse Family projects, including collabs with artists as diverse as Charlotte Church, Om'Mas Keith and Children of Zeus's Tyler Daley, additionally to remixes from DJ Spinna and label-mate, Kaidi Tatham. As a DJ he has provided mixes for BBC 6 Music, NTS, Rinse FM, Solid Steel and Boxout FM in India, as well as performing at The Jazz Cafe, Fabric and on Boiler Room.

'Shaboo Strikes Back' is a much-awaited sequel to the 2017 smash, and again features a modest 25 tracks. Psychedelic fuzzy samples and phat beats aplenty, Don Leisure once again takes us on a far-out trip across soundscapes. A real tapestry of flavours, from jazz to reggae, and from the soulful to the spiritual, this time round he's invited a few special guests to join him on his travels - most notably Welsh legend Gruff Rhys provides the vocals on 'Neon Drizzle (Hotel Shaboo)', whilst acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid and Jazzman-signed harpist Amanda Whiting lend their talents to 'All Praises Due'. There is even a special cameo appearance from his young daughter, (aka Shaboo's great-niece!), Naima, on 'Naima's Dream'.

Once again, this is a journey into sound.

'Shaboo Strikes Back' is released on vinyl & digital by First Word Records, March 2022.

Dedicated to Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwan
























x 24: Neon Drizzle (Hotel Shaboo) feat. Gruff Rhys

Gondwana Records sign LA bassist and composer Seth Ford-Young's Phi-Psonics project and announce a remastered deluxe-edition of The Cradle featuring bonus material

Phi-Psonics is a meditative, immersive instrumental group from Los Angeles, led by bassist Seth Ford-Young and featuring Sylvain Carton on woodwinds, Mitchell Yoshida on electric piano, and Josh Collazo on drums. Their deeply soulfulmusic draws on jazz and classical influences together with Ford-Young's own musical experiences, relationships, and his introduction to spirituality, yoga and philosophy at a young age, to create something uniquely its own. Phi-Psonics' name and ultimate aim is to find 'Phi' – the golden mean – in art, nature and self. Ford-Young explains:

"It's a bit of a cliché, but music saved my life many times and instilled in me a belief in the great power of healing through art. It is my hope and intention that this music provides healing to someone somewhere."

Originally from Washington DC area, Ford-Young moved to California in the early 90s and fell in love with the deep sounds of the upright bass and the music of Charles Mingus, John and Alice Coltrane, and Duke Ellington along with Bach, Chopin, Pärt, and Satie. He immersed himself deeply in music and keen to learn combinedintense personal study with collaborations, tours, and recordings with artists such as Tom Waits, Beats Antique, and John Vanderslice. In 2010 he moved from the San-Francisco Bay area to the Los Angeles hills and continued his explorations. But great music is rarely just about music and Ford-Young's meditative, soulful music draws on more than just the twin wellsprings of jazz and classical music:

"My mother was a yoga teacher from the early 70's until recently and taught me yoga and meditation at an early age, my stepfather is an Aikido instructor and student of the teachings of Gurdjieff. Those were all early areas of study that I came back to many times throughout my life. Phi-Psonics has been a project that unapologetically synthesizes some of these ideas into our music".

It's this mixture of influences, musical and extramusical, that gives the music of Phi-Psonics it's immersive quality and quiet power. Revealingly the music that would becomeThe Cradle, wasn't written specifically for an album, originally Ford-Young was just writing down what was coming through. As time went by and the album began to take shape, the world situation seemed to be getting darker and his compositions aim to offer hope as a response to the negative influences that abound today. Remarkably for such a beautiful sounding record, it was recorded at the composer's home, rather than in a studio, but the relaxed nature of this process gives the music an airy lightness that propels the music to some magical spaces.

Originally self-released on vinyl in a limited run just as the world went into lockdown, The Cradle reached Matthew Halsall (founder of Gondwana Records) when he aws looking for music for his Worldwide FM show and he was blown away, hearing a kindred spirit at work. Halsall explains:

"Phi-Psonics make beautiful, humble and honest music, it's not showy, but it has a deep vibe that will elevate your mind and soul if you let it. When we heard The Cradle we reached out and are really super delighted to welcome Seth and his band to our label". Whereas for Ford Young: "Connecting with Matthew and the Gondwana records family has been a light in the darkness of the last years - to have my music make connections even as we are more isolated."

Ford-Young is currently putting the finishing touches to the second Phi-Psonics record, but aware that only a select few had heard The Cradle, let alone had the chance to buy a copy, and entranced by its deceptive simplicity and elevating energy, Halsall suggested that Gondwana present the album as a remastered 'deluxe edition' with an extended running time featuring extra tracks and new artwork from Daniel Halsall.

The Cradle starts with First Step, perfectly setting the tone for the whole album, it is a beautiful, soulful slice of musical calm gently propelled by Ford-Young's resonant bass and elevated by sublime flute and Wurlitzer electric piano solos. The seductive title track The Cradle was written way back in 2011 during a time of great personal change that led the composer to a feeling of newness and nurture. The magical, winsome Desert Ride is inspired by many rides through the grandly cinematic Mojave Desert. You can experience how incredibly full of life it's harsh landscape is if you slow down to its tempo. The gentle, sublime Mama is a tribute to mothers of all kinds, beautiful and heroic. Drum Talk was largely improvised, Ford-Young and the band agreed on a topic and recorded their conversation. Choosing their notes based on how Josh's drums were tuned. Like Glass is named for the special properties of Glass. Like some music, glass is delicate, yet has structure. The first of the two bonus tracks Still Dancing was written during the early days of 2020 in response to the challenges we all were facing then. It's a reminder that the figurative dance continues and that real dancing is essential. And the second, The Searcher, also written as a response to 2020, is a gently hypnotic song about the introspection and growth that can spring from a difficult situation.

This then is The Cradle, a quiet self-contained masterpiece, life-affirming and elevating in equal measure and the first offering from a wonderful new voice in spiritual jazz and the latest members of the global Gondwana Records family.

Rare Nigerian Afrobeat-Funk from 1976.

First vinyl reissue since 1976.

First Ever Release Outside Of The African Continent.
Comes With Insert/Liner Notes.
180g BLACK vinyl limited to 500 copies (w/obi strip) - Non-Returnable.
THE FRIIMEN MUZIK COMPANY (also known as FRIIMEN) was formed after the Biafran war in 1973-1974 in the town of ABA in the eastern part of Nigeria. Aba was the Number 1 Music Hub in the entire Eastern Region of Nigeria. While bands and artists like ‘Ofege’ and ‘Fela Kuti’ ruled the LAGOS scene, bands like ‘Friimen’ and ‘The Apostles’ were ruling the ABA scene.
Before forming the band, most of its members were already working together as freelance session musicians backing up solo artists on several recordings and concerts (or were playing in military bands that gradually became civilian bands because the war had just ended). FRIIMEN members’ credits were numerous and they played, wrote or performed on recordings from well-known acts like The Funkees, The Jets, The Apostles…and countless others.
When they started concentrating on writing their own songs, the group instantly took off and became an overnight hit that resulted in them doing multiple successful nationwide tours. FRIIMEN would go on to record three albums: Free Man (1976), We Can Get It On (1978) and Merry Man (1979). All three albums were released on the Aba based label Anodisc Records (THE key label to be on if you wanted your music heard and out there), Anodisc also released hit records by ‘Sweet Unit’ and ‘Voice Of The Cross’ but The Friimen Muzik Company was the label’s signature band.
The Friimen Muzik Company was so solid that every new group or artist wanted the Friimen to back them up in the recording studio. As a result, Anodisc Records received tons of demo cassettes from aspiring artists…the label would then first consult the Friimen members to see if these new acts were worthy of giving a chance to record and release an album for Anodisc. Over the course of the years the band went through several line-up changes…but in 1980 the band finally broke up and their story came to an end.
The album we are presenting you today (Free Man from 1976) was recorded at the famous Decca Studios in Lagos and comes swinging right out of the gate with a set of no less than EIGHT monster tunes. Expect nothing less than crazy afrobeat and over the top melodic funk influenced by a wide array of artists (both local and international). Mesmerizing solos, captivating grooves, impeccable sequences that turned many heads…everything you need to get a dancehall into a complete uproar. The musicians’ skills are just plain incredible! FREE MAN is a quintessential record that every serious collector or fan needs to have in his/her collection.
This reissue also comes with an insert featuring pictures of the band and extensive liner notes from band-member Arthur Freds.
Tracklist:
Release Yourself , Free Man , My Dreams , Funky Workshop , Word of the Lord , We'll Get Our Share , You Can't Change Anything , Gimme Some Time

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the iconic HELP album a new generation of artists came together to create, at the time, the fastest recorded album ever. They recorded Help! A Day In The Life on Thursday 8th September 2005 which the record available for download just 32 hours later.Help! A Day In The Life is part of a series of four re-releases by War Child Records making the amazing music artists have donated to the charity available on DSPs and vinyl for the first time. All proceeds from these releases will directly fund War Child’s life saving work with children affected by conflict.

Nothings Real, So Nothing’s Wrong is Kevin’s 10th full length record. His career began in the early 2000s with the band Miracle Of ’86. Along the way Kevin has amassed a loyal and rabid fan base. He has built an interesting career with the ability to play as a solo artist, his own band – The Goddam Band – and as a member of Bad Books alongside Manchester Orchestra, and as a touring member of The Front Bottoms and Brand New. In 2015 Kevin started his split 7” series – artists involved included Craig Finn, The Front Bottoms, Matthew Caws (Nada Surf), David Bazan, Meredith Graves and many others. This helped open up a new audience. Kevin has toured the world as a headliner and toured with a wide variety of artists including Manchester Orchestra, Frightened Rabbit, John K Samson, Julien Baker and Pinegrove to name a few. Also, Devine has appeared at numerous festivals including Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Ohana, Shaky Knees and many more. From Kevin: Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong is a grown-up break-up record, for strugglers by a struggler. It’s a record about fatherhood written during a pandemic. It’s a kitchen-sink 10th album pivot, painstakingly brought to life by two career-long collaborators and their shared and split obsessions. Lyrically evocative, excavating and unflinching without irresponsibly printing your journals.

Nothings Real, So Nothing’s Wrong is Kevin’s 10th full length record. His career began in the early 2000s with the band Miracle Of ’86. Along the way Kevin has amassed a loyal and rabid fan base. He has built an interesting career with the ability to play as a solo artist, his own band – The Goddam Band – and as a member of Bad Books alongside Manchester Orchestra, and as a touring member of The Front Bottoms and Brand New. In 2015 Kevin started his split 7” series – artists involved included Craig Finn, The Front Bottoms, Matthew Caws (Nada Surf), David Bazan, Meredith Graves and many others. This helped open up a new audience. Kevin has toured the world as a headliner and toured with a wide variety of artists including Manchester Orchestra, Frightened Rabbit, John K Samson, Julien Baker and Pinegrove to name a few. Also, Devine has appeared at numerous festivals including Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Ohana, Shaky Knees and many more. From Kevin: Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong is a grown-up break-up record, for strugglers by a struggler. It’s a record about fatherhood written during a pandemic. It’s a kitchen-sink 10th album pivot, painstakingly brought to life by two career-long collaborators and their shared and split obsessions. Lyrically evocative, excavating and unflinching without irresponsibly printing your journals.

Desiderii Marginis, Troum, Martin Bladh & Karolina Urbaniak and Anemone Tube, who have gathered to pay homage to the first four novels of British writer J.G. Ballard: »The Wind from Nowhere«, »The Drowned World«, »The Drought and The Crystal World«, which are often seen as disaster novels. Each of the four projects presents a very unique take on the chosen work, using the respective text as a starting point to offer sonic representations of and (further) perspectives on these books, using drones, field recordings, words and much more to create evocative and richly layered soundscapes.

Adorned by a painting of German artist Alex Tennigkeit depicting a sphinx-like hybrid creature, a phoenix rising from the ashes of our civilization, the double album also includes an in-depth essay by Michael Göttert (African Paper) on Ballard's works in which he argues that the novels can best be understood as texts of transformation, as well as texts by the sound artists.

The double album starts with Desiderii Marginis' track “The Wind From Nowhere”, on which field recordings and intense drones suck the listener into a stormy vortex. Troum interpret The Drowned World, and their two dynamic tracks illustrate both the changes happening to the (outer) landscape and the (inner) world of the protagonists. Martin Bladh & Karolina Urbaniak make use of sound and words on “The Poisoned Well”, their interpretation of The Drought, referring to Shakespeare, the Bible and scorched earth policy amongst other points of reference. The album closes with Anemone Tube's take on The Crystal World, using field recordings made in Japan’s Mount Fuji forest. “Sea Of Trees” aims to show a devolutionary process, in which man gains access to his actual spiritual home – a primordial wisdom, which lets him discover an internal non-dual space, allowing to ultimately becoming one with the earth as body-being consciousness – the ‘perfect dream’ landscape.

Tape

Lucia H. Chung is a Taiwanese experimental artist based in London. She performs and releases music under the alias 'en creux'.

Under this alias, Lucia is interested in the underlying structures of what we call noise and is examining the effects of human interventions into its complex web of tones. Repetition and chance operations are fundamental to Lucia‘s music. It is not built on the dionysian maximalism and symbolic harshness of lots of noise artists; catharsis is not reached via an explosion of sound, but via concentration on sound phenomena and small changes, which, not unlike some minimal disco night your usual mind-altering drone ritual, sucks you in more with every tiny alteration. This music is as intense as it is sensitive.

„The Liberated Mind“, in Lucia‘s own words, „is a sort of split release between two no-input configurations“. For „Wyldside“, she tuned two different feedback mixers with identical routings as close possible, as much as tuning is possible at all on these highly volatile instruments. „The two channels naturally phased in and out from each other. I guess the process was actually akin to Steve Reich's tape techniques on Come Out and It's Gonna Rain. The whole release extrapolated from that point onwards...“ Finding and replicating similar routings/settings on no input mixing desks is the nightmare of every control freak and a task doomed to failure, but in letting go and embracing these failures, patterns emerge. And thanks to Lucia‘s careful work, these patterns become hypnotic as she carves out the essence of each feedback loop, or, as she puts it: „Actually, I did remember the setting for the final track „Earthrise“, but for whatever reasons, I just cannot reproduce the sounds and it's forever lost (at least for this point in time, maybe when the conditions are primed again for the machine, the same sounds will emerge again...). I guess that's really the essences of improvised NIMB setup. Every single sound was the effect of the previous iteration and the cause of the next iteration... (Wait... isn't it just like a Blockchain? Ha!)“

A collection of no-input studio sessions improvised with Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro, TAPCO MIX260FX, MXR Phase 90 and Electro-Harmonix Bad Stone Phase Shifter. All tracks recorded live, no overdubs. Recorded in London in February 2020. Mastered by causeandcondition

Lucia also works as independent curator, producer and broadcaster at Happened. Check out Lucia‘s other albums on Hard Return, Falt and SM-LL.

The Hip Hop world had long been looking for a breath of fresh air when four legendary emcees stepped up, together, as EMC. EMC consists of the Midwest phenom Stricklin, the widely respected Lyricist Lounge duo Punchline & Wordsworth, and the Brooklyn-bred, battle-tested Juice Crew all-star Masta Ace. The Milwaukee born and raised Stricklin garnered attention in the late 90s while signed to Tommy Boy Records, and Punch and Words were integral in the success of the groundbreaking MTV program “The Lyricist Lounge Show” and have released EP’s both as a group and as solo artists. After the three toured extensively with Ace in 2001, the four became extremely close. Both the rappers themselves and the fans recognized the chemistry and, according to Masta Ace, “the group idea was a natural progression of the relationships we had all made from being on the road together. It wasn’t just about the music with us, we are pretty much like brothers.” EMC started a feeding frenzy in 2007 with the release of the 12” single “E.M.C.” and the subsequent 2008 full-length album The Show. With more than 20 tracks and appearances by Sean Price, Little Brother, Ladybug Mecca (of Digable Planets), DJ Eclipse, and Money Harm (of Product G & B), The Show satisfied even the most Rap-hungry fan. And while the album proved to be a showcase of lyrical talents, the beats themselves delivered as well, with production by Marco Polo, The Are of K-Otix, Ayatollah, Nicolay, Koolade, and more. Stricklin’s personality combined with the cleverness of Punchline, the wordplay and work ethic of Wordsworth, and the leadership of the Music Man himself Masta Ace, proved to be a massive success and this sought after album is now back in print and ready to be devoured by hungry rap fans once again.

For Susanna, nothing happens in a vacuum. Every creative act responds to what's come before. And by exploring this dialogue, we can learn new things about ourselves and the world. This idea has inspired the Norwegian artist throughout her near two1decade career. It's behind her unforgettable covers of classic songs and her interpretations of the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch. And it found its purest expression on 2020's Baudelaire & Piano, a stripped back song cycle setting texts from the 19th century French poet's The Flowers of Evil. In Elevation, its followup, Susanna's engagement with Baudelaire's work blossoms into a collaborative enterprise, combining tape, spoken word and song. The result is a unique musical conversation spanning centuries and disciplines; a "time travelling" project, as Susanna puts it, that moves between creative dimensions. She brings collaborators back into the process, nurturing connections made over a series of Baudelaire & Piano live shows presented in 2020 and 2021. Composer1improviser Delphine Dora offers teasing renditions of the original French texts, layering spoken recitation and otherworldly singing in a set of atmospheric vignettes. And tape recorder soundscapes from Stina Stjern-familiar from Susanna's Hieronymous Bosch project Garden of Earthly Delights (2019)-frame the album with hiss, hum and soft fingers of melody, like mist settling on a landscape. These contributions deepen the album's mystery and its evocative power. The result is an engrossing interleaving of sounds and registers; and, as Susanna describes it, "an intuitive and collective ceremony of the ethereal and mystical in life." Elevation features work by American occultist artist Cameron (1922-1995), an adherent of Aleister Crowley's Thelema movement. Her illustrations "Witch Woman", "Pan" and "Danse" adorn the release, which will be available on cassette as well as in the usual digital, CD and vinyl formats.Oslo-based artist Susanna has released music as Susanna and the Magical Orchestra and 'just' Susanna since 2004, through labels like Rune Grammofon, ECM Records and her own outlet SusannaSonata. She has collaborated with artists like Jenny Hval, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and John Paul Jones, highly active with different projects, songwriting/composing, and making personal interpretations of other people's songs.

Badaboombap is like Terminator, the first one is good but the second one is even better ! Badaboombap is that type of record you find in a box in the basement, along with old memories. The good old rap record that we were missing. French beatmaker James Digger produced this follow-up while meeting American, Quebec and South African artists. There are guests from the golden age but also from the new generation of boombap. The cover picture was taken by Philippe Hamon, the great photographer of 90's rap. Featuring Masta Ace, Tedji & Helmé, Dooz Kawa, 4-Ize, Souffrance & Cenza, Melly-Me, Punchline, Rockin' Squat, Mad Squablz, Passi, Gennessee and Bonbec.

Richard Thompson’s 1976 album of (at the time) career spanning retrospective unreleased recordings - ‘(Guitar, Vocal) A Collection Of Unreleased and Rare Material 1967-1976’ - is to be reissued on double 180g vinyl on March 25th through UMC. ‘(Guitar, Vocal) A Collection Of Unreleased and Rare Material 1967-1976’ was originally released in 1976 after Richard and his wife Linda announced their retirement from the music business. As the album's title suggests, this is a collection of unreleased recordings made over an eight year period which spans Richard’s early years recording with the Fairport Convention as well as the time he spent performing and recording as a duo with wife Linda. Thankfully, this did not transpire to be Richard’s final piece of recorded work, but did become an essential record to fans of Richard’s work giving an alternate perspective on his early career. Following an almost two year hiatus, Richard and Linda returned and released ‘First Light (Richard and Linda Thompson album)’ in 1978 and Richard has remained a prolific songwriter and one of the most respected British folk artists of all time releasing, to date, 22 studio albums and 14 live albums.

The official soundtrack for Nomadland, a film by Chloe Zhao. This film has won 2021 Golden Globe awards for Best Director and Best Motion Picture - Drama. Film synopsis: After losing everything in the Great Recession, a woman embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad. Music from Einaudi, Arnalds, Nat King Cole and more.

The official soundtrack for Nomadland, a film by Chloe Zhao. This film has won 2021 Golden Globe awards for Best Director and Best Motion Picture - Drama. Film synopsis: After losing everything in the Great Recession, a woman embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad. Music from Einaudi, Arnalds, Nat King Cole and more.

Previous album released on Dead Oceans. Previous album was a collaboration with Brian Eno. Past press coverage from Pitchfork, SPIN, The Guardian, Drowned in Sound, Dusted, The Quietus, and many more. Since the release of his last album 2017’s Finding Shore, a collaboration with Brian Eno pianist and singer-songwriter Tom Rogerson’s life has undergone a number of dramatic transformations. While writing his new album Retreat to Bliss, Rogerson had a child, lost a parent, and received his own diagnosis of a rare form of blood cancer. The new decade brought him from Berlin to the Suffolk of his childhood, composing profound pieces of minimal songwriting in the church next to his parents’ home. Rogerson studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music under mentors like Harrison Birtwistle, and he made his live debut as an improvising pianist in 2002, before releasing an improvised record with Reid Anderson (Bad Plus) and Mike Lewis (Happy Apple, Bon Iver) in 2004. He formed the band Three Trapped Tigers in 2007, expertly blending elements of electronic, jazz and noise rock into a cohesive whole. The band earned a reputation for innovative live shows and went on to perform and collaborate with artists like Brian Eno, Deftones, and the Dillinger Escape Plan. It was working with Eno, another Suffolk native, that eventually led Rogerson back to his roots and back to a place where he could write Retreat to Bliss, his solo debut album. “All my life, the piano has been my constant companion, my confessor, my best friend, and my worst enemy,” Rogerson explains. “I’ve always written music on and for the piano, but it felt too personal, too private to release.” Indeed, listening to Retreat to Bliss feels almost like eavesdropping, as though you’re crouched in the belfry of a Suffolk church, bearing witness to a form of musical bloodletting. For the first time in his noteworthy career, Rogerson has combined masterful piano playing and subtle electronics with the texture of his own voice, an attempt to express deeply private emotions that were difficult to articulate using instrumental music alone. “The last few years have brought some struggle, some joy, and a lot of change. My response has been to retreat to what I trust the most: the piano, my voice, and the landscape I grew up in. That’s how the album got its title, and how I came to be ready finally to release a solo record.” The eleven tracks that make up Retreat to Bliss were recorded by Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, David Byrne, Grace Jones) over the course of just a few days, a process that emphasized spontaneity and the artist’s own commitment to improvisation. Secular yet devotional, intensely personal yet profound, the experience of listening to Retreat to Bliss seems to evade characterization. It’s physical and emotional, a glimpse into the mind of an artist who has chosen exposure over withdrawal, who uses his command of the piano to chart an unflinching path forward, never looking back. UK press campaign by Someone Great. Press Quotes "A meeting of minds that is full of rewarding surprises, challenging and surprising one another, and their listeners, with music that feels alive and wondrous…” Pitchfork // "Both mournful and dazzlingly optimistic, a taste of the conflict found so ofen in nature and reflected so elegantly across the course of the record.” The Line of Best Fit // "Many avant-garde instrumental albums exist to craf a mood; Rogerson and Eno merge these moods, sounds and themes together efortlessly and radiantly on Finding Shore” Exclaim // Track List 01 Descent 02 Oath 03 Buried Deep 04 Toumani 05 Drone Finder part 2 06 Chant 07 Rapture 1 08 Open Out Span Wide View 09 A Clearing 10 Retreat To 11 Coda

EVEN THE CHIMERA is the debut album by Wild Terrier Orchestra, a new project by Dimitris Papadatos, aka Jay Glass Dubs, based on interchangeability and open improvisation. A newer, freer incarnation of Papadatos’ creative intent, the project acts more like an open container of disparate and idiosyncratic contributions from a mutable cast of musicians and artists. Often times not provided according to a pre-planned structure, these contributions are actually more likely to arrive in the form of free improvisations, unconnected musical segments and fragmented splinters of sound. This allows Papadatos to aggregate all the constituent parts according to an intuitive process that bridges between the detailed craft of electronic music production and surrealist techniques such as the Cadavre Exquis and the Cut-Up. It’s both a harmonization of contrasting tones and a research for commonality within difference, although none of the wild terriers are ever nearly tamed. Unsurprisingly, the main inspiration for this new chapter came from a a pinnacle of avantgarde literature: poet Andreas Embirikos’, considered Greece’s first surrealist and all-out paradoxical figure. Specifically, this release is guided and instigated by his poem OKTANA, in which Embirikos inscribes a manifesto for a hedonistic utopia years ahead of any accelerationist theories, bursting with contradicting presences and mutating identities. Written in the aftermath of the Greek civil war, the poem calls for a time of eternal poetry and spiritual intoxication that can only be reached through a painful process of violent deconstruction. Thus, EVEN THE CHIMERA was born: a culmination of Papadatos’ decades long research on traditional Greek and Byzantine music, free jazz and free improvisation. Firmly spread between two side-long tracks, the contributions of American singer and musician Cruel Diagonals on vocal duties as well as Greek artist and musician Fotini Korre on ney suggest the existence of a filament that connects the west and the east through the creation of ‘’possible musics’’. This happens in accordance to Papadatos’ practice of a counterfactual approach to the process of what music history dictates. It is also directly shaped by the musician’s frequent dwellings in the isle of Cyprus, a land in which the clash of worlds and culture has often taken both violent and beautiful shapes. The long drones, acoustic ghosts and unbalanced choirs that form the album seem to call from the Mediterranean itself, not only from its history but also from its possible futures and unreal narrations, invoking it as a nexus of diversity and possibility.

Ruth B is releasing her sophomore album "Moments In Between" via Downtown Records. With the breakout success of her debut single “Lost Boy,” Ruth B. emerged as an immediately captivating artist who drifts between moody realism and a dreamworld of her own making. An occasional poet who created her own storybooks as a child, the Canadian- Ethiopian singer/songwriter/pianist infuses all her songs with a raw emotional honesty, even as she lets her imagination wander into fantastically charmed terrain. On her sophomore album Moments In Between, Ruth pushes that dynamic to a new level of boldness and sophistication, embracing her most beautifully strange impulses while delivering her most impactful work to date. As the daughter of immigrants from Ethiopia, Ruth grew up on music from her parents’ native country and later discovered the artists who would become formative influences on her songwriting, such as Stevie Wonder and Lauryn Hill. After taking up piano at the age of eight and singing her entire life, Ruth began writing songs in her late teens and soon came up with “Lost Boy.” Initially posted on Vine in 2015, the Peter Pan-inspired piano ballad quickly went viral, with listeners undeniably drawn to Ruth’s heart-on-sleeve storytelling. By the end of 2015, she’d released her gold-certified debut EP The Intro, which led to such triumphs as winning Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2017 Juno Awards. Made with producers like Joel Little (Lorde, Taylor Swift) and Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor), her gold-certified full-length debut Safe Haven arrived in 2017 and earned her three Juno nominations, including Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. Executive-produced by Patrick Wimberly (Solange, Blood Orange, Ellie Goulding), Moments In Between finds Ruth also working with producers like Ido Zmishlany (Demi Lovato, Shawn Mendes), Justin Raisen (Angel Olsen, Santigold), Doug Schadt (Maggie Rogers, Ashe), and D’Mile (a five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his work with Khalid and Ty Dolla $ign). In a departure from the minimalist alt-pop of Safe Haven, the album unfolds in a more elaborate and kaleidoscopic sound, yet never overshadows the understated power of Ruth’s vocals or the pure vulnerability of her songwriting. “For me writing songs has always been therapeutic, and I hope that hearing my songs helps other people in the same way,” she says. “Whether they’re feeling lonely or heartbroken or happy, I want them to know that someone else understands what they’re going through.”

Les Disques du Crepuscule presents a new double vinyl remaster of two seminal albums by German synth wave pioneers Gina X Performance, whose groundbreaking singles Nice Mover, No G.D.M. and Kaddish remain enduring electroclash staples after four decades of club supremacy.

Remastered for vinyl in 2021 by Zeus B. Held and Lars Lafeyette Fassbender, the double album set is housed in a gatefold sleeve with new artwork and pressed on clear and green vinyl + digital copy. This pressing is limited to 1000 copies only worldwide. The inner sleeve features a brand new interview with Zeus.


Formed in Cologne in 1978, the core of Gina X Performance composed vocalist Gina Kikoine and producer/keyboard/vocoder wizard Zeus B. Held. ‘I had in mind science fiction-inspired tracks,’ explains Zeus.‘Really cold sounding music, with no blues-ey chords or melodies, no guitar and nothing rocky.’

Originally issued on German imprint Crystal 1979, icy, noirish debut album Nice Mover spawned two radical Eurodisco hits, with gender-bending single No G.D.M. becoming a firm favourite at the legendary Blitz Club in London’s Soho. At the same time Zeus B. Held also became an in-demandproducer, working with John Foxx, Fashion, Rockets and Dead or Alive.

The third GXP long player, Voyeur, from 1981, followed a brief spell on EMI and saw the duo return to their experimental, avant-gardist roots, the material by turns seductive, provocative and confrontational. Since then countless electronic artists have acknowledged or betrayed the influence of Gina X Performance, including Depeche Mode, Propaganda, Ladytron and Peaches.
Critical praise for Gina X Performance: “Pioneering electro-pop from 1979 with hints of Kraftwerk, Nico and Studio 54-era Grace Jones” (Mojo); “Like an artier Moroder” (Uncut); “No G.D.M. is one of the most influential songs to come out of the Continent” (Q); “Disco for the intellect” (NME)

Selma's own Doctor T, a.k.a. Lenoah Presley Strong, a.k.a. Rick Strong, was a fierce Selma talent, he could pick up any instrument and play it and was always playing local clubs. Lenoah came from a large musical family, his Dad, a professional gospel singer, would mentor him and his brother, who ended up recording on Malaco Records and has an underground classic - "Doing It Cause It Feels Good.

Lenoah split his time between the historic community of Selma, AL, where he was born, Beverly Hills, CA where he worked as an auto body hand alongside his older brother, Chuck Strong, a musical force in his own right. In California, T impressed the great Willie Hutch with his playing, rubbed elbows with soul icons such as Leon Haywood and Carl Carlton.

Athens of The North is proud to present a compilation of Doctor T's 7" Recording, all have been difficult to find on original vinyl even to the most avid collectors, most notably "Love Is A Heartbreaker," which is one of the best ballads and grittiest recordings ever laid to wax.

T recorded all of the instruments himself and had an ear like no other, always listening to music and drawing inspiration from his surrounding artists and musicians. Sadly, T passed away in 2021 at the age of 68 but leaves us some timeless Funk & soul that will endure

Bristol's jazz daddies The Jazz Defenders drop their second album for Haggis Records (home of UK funk kings The Haggis Horns), in March 2022 and it's a real departure from their debut release "Scheming" (released in 2020). Whereas that album was a homage to the late 1950s/early 1960s classic jazz style known as hard bop, this release moves into new territory with hip-hop/jazz, cinema soundtrack flavours, Latin rhythms and soul-jazz all upfront in the mix. Three taster singles from the album released in mid/late 2021 and march 2022, "The Big Man/Love's Vestige, "Live Slow" (featuring US rapper Herbal T), and "Perfectly Imperfect" (feat Doc Brown) received great radio support from the likes of Craig Charles (BBC 6 Music), Helen Mayhew (Jazz FM), Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2), Ashley Beedle (Worldwide FM), Colin Curtis (Worldwide FM) amongst many others, all loving the Jazz Defenders' musical fusion of retro meets modern.

The classic sound that has inspired the band this time is very much from the mid-late 1960s era and the merging of soul and funk beats with jazz solos/improvisation. Tracks like "Wagger Jaunt" and "Munch" nod to the piano and organ-led soul-jazz of artists like Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock, Reuben Wilson, and Jimmy Smith. Meanwhile "Saudade" and "Love's Vestige" feature Brazilian bossa rhythms but with some added film soundtrack overtones. Speaking of movie soundtracks, "The Oracle'' is a pure homage to the classic cinematic compositions of maestros like John Barry(James Bond, The Ipcress File) or Lalo Schifrin (Mission Impossible, Bullitt) right down to the very impressive string arrangement, beautifully scored and orchestrated by band leader George Cooper.

A big departure from the previous album comes via the two hip-hop/jazz tracks, both of which feature guest MCs. "Live Slow" has US rapper Herbal T blessing the mic over an uptempo soul-jazz number whilst "Perfectly Imperfect" features London MC/actor Doc Brown rapping on a nice and slow 90's style head-nodding hip-hop groove. Both compositions show George Cooper's love for old-school boom-bap hip-hop (by the way, he also plays keys with renowned UK hip-hop big band Abstract Orchestra). For classic jazz lovers who dug the first album, there are two pure jazz tracks that join the dots between that debut release and this sophomore one - "Twilight" and "From The Ashes" - with plenty of vibrant solos for the discerning listener.

"King Phoenix" is a statement in itself from The Jazz Defenders. After 2 years of music being destroyed by the pandemic and many musicians inactive, the band has risen from the ashes with new vigour, energy and vision to try something new and not just repeat past musical glories. A band that sticks to the same script every release might just end up having a short shelf life but the Jazz Defenders are planning on being around for a long time.










j Live Slow (Album Version) feat. Herbal T

The original Wild Style soundtrack is such a landmark that it has spread its DNA throughout hip-hop ever since. So many artists found inspiration in it, so many producers fished for samples among its choppy waves. If you haven’t played it for a while, it still has the power to surprise – hook after hook that fed into hip-hop history. That countdown from Public Enemy’s ‘Louder than a Bomb’? The chorus from Cypress Hill’s ‘A to the K’, vocal samples that underpin MF Doom classics and A Tribe Called Quest gems? All here.

Phat Kev – aka Kev Luckhurst – teases out some of those notable moments in his superb cut-up from the 2007 reissue. The Brighton-born DJ subjects the Wild Style OST to a classic ‘Lesson-style’ cut and paste, teasing out some of the most classic moments, taking you on a whirlwind tour of the finest beats and most indelible rhymes. Here you’ll find ‘Stoop Rap’ interwoven with ‘Basketball Throwdown’ and ‘Fantastic Freaks at the Dixie’.

The temptation to overcomplicate matters is wisely resisted – Phat Kev lets the guitar of Chris Stein, the drums of Lenny Ferrari and the lyrics of legends such as Grand Master Caz, Busy Bee and Rammellzee shine in their own right.

Available for the first time on 7”, this is an outstanding tribute to one of the key records in hip-hop history.

In the midst of the UK house rave-olution of the early-’90s, London’s V4 Visions imprint documented the confluence of street soul, deep house, swingbeat, and jungle sounds emanating from the clubs and pirate radio signals. Over the course of half a decade, V4’s unparalleled 12” output referenced every significant Black British music scene; from lovers rock to jazz-funk, sound system reggae to hip hop, new jack swing to garage, from artists Ashaye, Julie Stapleton, Maureen Mason, Rohan Delano, The Wades, and Endangered Species. This 18-track double LP is the first critical overview of the label, with extensive notes by Simon Reynolds, era-defining photographs, and fresh remasters, all housed in a glorious foil-stamped gatefold tip-on sleeve. Is this a dream?

This is Lost Soul Enterprises big 15th release on wax, a tidy compilation of off-kilter dance floor cuts and misfit synthpunk anthems.

Side A commences with the gothic, neon-soaked Miami bass of ALONZO's "Cruising with Pap," featuring sinister verses delivered by a shadowy syrupsipping secret guest vocalist. Up next is bucking bronco NICK KLEIN's slow-mo industrial headbanger "Posture Test. The sonic equivalent of a sweat-soaked concrete floor, it lurches along at its own mechanical pace amid the metallic hiss and howl. Lastly, wild synth lines and ethereal dubbed-out samples dart in and out over a tough, punchy rhythmic foundation in NAEEM's "TLX," an android's sci-fi electro vision gone haywire.

On the B side, HEIDI SABERTOOTH's "Was It You" launches us deep into chugging acidic territory, combining enigmatic spoken vocals and a psychedelic, slowly evolving SH-101 line over a persuasive groove. Like a slap in the face after that comes raucous synth-punk powerhouse SSPS with "Paradise Lozt," raw as fuck, chanting a litany of dystopian tales atop pumping drums and a wash of demented organ-like synth stabs. Finally we close with the short but powerful "New Vape City" by the nomadic DOUCE ANGOISSE - an absolute earworm, a doleful coldwave ballad whose lush production plays perfect counterpoint to the icy, deadpan sentiments within.

"Rush to Riot" is the 3rd EP to be released in mid of July 2021 on the Berlin Techno Label INHERIT. After dropping the first Inherit selection IHT S01 back in May 2021 with tracks by Bacch, Geerson, CLTX and many others we are more than happy to announce that this remarkable journey continues - not only with two more original tracks by the co-founders of Inherit, Daniel Heinrich & Disguised, but rather with two exceptional remixed bangers by Hadone & Hioll on IHT 003.

"Rush to Riot" is definitely one of the most ambitious & remarkable tracks ever published on INHERIT so far. The noteworthy collaboration between the co-founders Disguised & Daniel Heinrich brings together what belongs together: trancey basslines and melodic vibrant tunes captivating you on every dancefloor around the world.

Hadone is one of the most exciting Techno artists from France these days and without any doubt his remix of Rush to Riot adds an unique & outstanding layer to IHT 003. His well-known evocative melodies propped up on pounding kicks unite with a more forward-driven interpretation of the original track that brings so much energy to the EP.

"Against the Current" is the 2nd original track on IHT 003 by cofounder Daniel Heinrich with a remix by Hioll, one of the rising stars within the Cuban electronic music scene. While the original track with the progressive baseline by Daniel Heinrich sounds like a famous club banger already Hioll created with his remix a new and distinctive sound, hypnotic techno supported by industrial elements lifting the original track to a new level.

IHT 003 leaves us with the feeling how hard we crave for the clubs to reopen again soon. Until then enjoy your catchy four track compilation by Daniel Heinrich, Disguised, Hadone & Hioll.

Mattiel, the Atlanta based group made up of Mattiel Brown and Jonah Swilley, announce
the release of their third album, ‘Georgia Gothic’, on Heavenly Recordings. ‘Georgia
Gothic’, a magic third in Mattiel’s run of full-length albums, was shaped in the quiet
seclusion of a woodland cabin in the north of the Atlanta duo’s mother-state; “Some
faraway place that just Jonah and I could go where there would be no distractions,
nothing else going on, and we could turn everything off and only focus on writing songs,”
reflects Brown.
 Where 2017’s self-titled debut and its 2019 follow-up Satis Factory were written with what
Swilley refers to as a “hands-off” approach - he arranging the music and Brown the lyrics
and vocals, the two working largely separately - the making of ‘Georgia Gothic’ was, for
the first time, a truly collaborative undertaking. “This was the first time we made a point to
just be together and work out ideas in the same room. That was the initial intention... it
was about learning what each other wanted to accomplish on a sonic level, and then just
trying different things out,” Swilley continues. “Everything happened backwards. Normally,
you’d have friends that make a band... with us, we started making music from the jump,
and then became homies.”
 Cultivated by time spent together on the road touring the first two albums, it is this
newfound sense of intimacy between Mattiel’s members that enabled the writing of
‘Georgia Gothic’ not as two separate musicians, but rather as one creative entity. The
album remained within the four walls of Brown and Swilley’s private world for much of its
evolution - with recording taking place in a simple studio set up by the pair in the
borrowed room of a dialysis centre, Swilley in the producer’s seat - until, nearing
completion, it was transferred into the trusted hands of the Grammy award-winning John
Congleton (whose extensive list of credits includes artists as diverse as Angel Olsen, Earl
Sweatshirt, Erykah Badu and Sleater Kinney) for mixing.
 Not only does the affinity between its creators translate into an electric synergy between
‘Georgia Gothic’s words and music - the brine-shock of Brown’s taut lyricism cut against
the bourbon-smoothness of Swilley’s instrumentation - but here too are the palpable
spoils of experimentation, each party trustful enough of the other to trial and error their
practices into new geometries. Swilley puts this wide palate, in part, down to the place
they call home. “I definitely feel like being from Georgia allows us to have a certain way of
approaching music.” Brown chimes in: “We haven’t really highlighted where we’re from in
the past two records, even though those were also written in Georgia. There’s so much
great art and great music that’s come from Georgia, from all different types of genres and
all over the state - but take R.E.M. and OutKast: there’s this weirdness that I can’t really
put my finger on.” Swilley concurs: “It’s the same with the B-52s, the Black Lips... it
doesn’t feel like L.A., it doesn’t feel like New York, it feels like another planet. We’re not
really in a ‘scene’ here in the same way. You have to make your own sound, create your
own identity.”
 And it is precisely the forging of Mattiel’s distinct musical identity that ‘Georgia Gothic’
signals; its members guiding each other ever-homewards not just in a geographical or
sonic sense, but spiritually, too.
 Initial LP pressing on Red Hot coloured 140g vinyl with digital download code. (Once this
format has sold out, a black 140g vinyl edition with digital download - HVNLP202 - will be
made available.)

On the tribute album Songs for Tres, Psychic Ills band members come together to commemorate the late Tres Warren who passed away just as the world turned upside down in March of 2020. Isolated, feeling helpless and lost by the death of her musical soul mate and collaborator of 18 years, bassist Elizabeth Hart found making music to be her only outlet in a time where people were unable to be physically together to mourn. So, she reached out to Adam Amram, Jon Catfish DeLorme and Brent Cordero, the main players in the Ills line up since the release of their last full length album Inner Journey Out (2016), to ask if they would embark on this cathartic journey with her. This was a different kind of production endeavor for Hart driven solely by “the aching need and urgency” to do something to honor her friend.

Hart, Amram, DeLorme and Cordero reunited for the first time five months after losing Warren at Amram’s loft – the same spot where they’d rehearsed countless times before – although this time with a different objective. In an effort to share, support and create, the old friends joined in the painful and healing experience of making this tribute album to cope with their loss. The band members wrote, arranged, and rehearsed for months and the result of their work culminated in a weekend of recording in the southern Catskill mountains at the end of 2020. This isolated and intimate environment was a perfectly serene and fitting location to finalize their story.

Throughout the album, Hart, Amram and DeLorme take turns as the vocal lead on each of the songs while Cordero showcases his finger-picking guitar skills in addition to his piano and organ playing, which he is known for. Along with the core band members, a number of other musicians played on the album, many of whom had collaborated on prior Psychic Ills releases and wanted to be a part of this last collaboration in memory of Warren. Keeping the project in the Ills family, Hart produced the album alongside Iván Diaz Mathé, the long-time Psychic Ills sound engineer.

The album consists of five original tracks and four cover songs. Initially, learning the covers was just a method for the musicians to “break the ice” and play together again for the first time without their band leader. However, those tracks became just as important to include as the originals because of their essential role in the process of coming together to make the album. The cover songs were chosen because of their unique connections to the band’s memories of Warren. Dennis Wilson’s "Rainbows" and Fleetwood Mac’s "Station Man" come from two of Warren’s favorite albums, Pacific Ocean Blue and Kiln House. The band also recorded Blaze Foley’s "Clay Pigeons" and Powell St. John’s "Right Track Now." The idea for the latter was suggested by Amram. Warren once sent him a clip of Roky Erikson singing a moving rendition of that song in the film Demon Angel and it had stuck with him ever since.

Hart wrote "I’ll Walk With You" on the day of Warrens’ passing, at the time not knowing what it meant. When she got the call with the heartbreaking news, it became clear to her what the song was about. Relying on a gently lilting string arrangement to set the tone, this duet features Mazzy Star vocalist Hope Sandoval alongside Hart. Sandoval previously collaborated with Psychic Ills accompanying Warren on "I Don’t Mind" (2016). The ideas for "Home" and "Walk Around," two other songs on the album by Hart, started simply with an acoustic guitar and lyrics, a hopeful exercise to connect with her lost friend. Brent Cordero’s instrumental "Whole Lotta Piece of Mind" is nothing short of a transcendental experience. By running his pedal steel through a Leslie speaker, Jon Catfish DeLorme crafts the unique tone showcased on Wonderful Feeling, a moving example of studio experimentation combined with old school techniques. DeLorme describes it as “an attempt to highlight the musical experience I shared with Tres both sonically and thematically. What resulted is the unguarded exaltation I feel lucky to have shared with my fellow bandmates.” Adam Amram’s “Into the Sea” was composed spontaneously the week Warren passed. The melodic tune has a hopeful lightness and Amram describes it simply as “a song to my brother”. Their connection shines through.

In fact, the entire album is one that radiates the layers of friendship, love and music that will forever exist between this family of musicians. As the band themselves state: “This album was made out of love and a commitment to honor our dear friend and bandmate.” A portion of the proceeds from the album will be donated to RAICES, a charity who aids children who have been displaced at the Texas/Mexico border.

'Memory Box' - the new album by Rodney Cromwell - fuses a European synthpop sensibility with a world of magical realism. It was inspired as much by the literature of Alice in Wonderland, Franz Kafka and Anna Kavan, as by its musical influences of artists such as Kraftwerk, Neu!, The Cure, Silver Apples, Oppenheimer Analysis and Polyrock. The sonic pallet of 'Memory Box' is rich, colourful, often surprising and utterly unique. Since the release of his debut 'Age of Anxiety' album in 2015, Rodney Cromwell has been featured by the likes of NME, Electronic Sound Magazine, Huffington Post, Paste, BBC6 Music and national RNE3 in Spain for whom he recorded a live session. 'Age of Anxiety' was included in a wealth of Best of Lists, not least that of Electronic Sound. He has appeared on compilations alongside Cavern of Anti-Matter, John Foxx, Devo, OMD, Katy Perry and many more. Rodney Cromwell is the project of Adam Cresswell. The first band he founded was SALOON, who were John Peel darlings, who recorded three Peel Sessions and the Festive 50 number 1 of 2002. They released three acclaimed albums on Track & Field (UK) and Darla Records (US) and played with a host of alternative acts including Stereolab, Electrelane, Quickspace, Laika, Of Montreal & Movietone. He followed Saloon with ARTHUR & MARTHA the acclaimed tweetronica duo that released the sole album 'Navigation' before vanishing. In addition to performing as Rodney Cromwell, he runs the Happy Robots record label. The Rodney Cromwell live set is a joyful mixed-media extravaganza, incorporating analogue synths, video visuals and live instrumentation, interjected by Rodney's 'offbeat wit'. His debut festival appearance at Indietracks in 2015 was described as 'like a spiritual experience". He has shared stages with acts including Pram, Marsheaux, Death & Vanilla, Rowetta and Steve Davis. His sole performance in 2020 was as part of Damo Suzuki's backing band. He will be promoting the album with a series of live-dates in 2022. Cromwell's recent singles 'Memory Box' and 'Get Me To Prague' received play on BBC 6 Music as well as national play in Spain, Finland and Japan. 'Memory Box' featured in the Official Festive 50 on Dandelion Radio. To coincide with the album we have early confirmed reviews with Electronic Sound Magazine and interviews with ElectricityClub, Pennyback Music and You haven't heard this music vodcast.

Spaceship is Mark S. Williamson, a musician, sound artist and educator based in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. His work is often made in response to his environment, working on location, combining field recordings with electronic and acoustic instrumentation, usually recorded outside, amid the landscape and weather. Mark has recorded for wiaiwya, Apollolaan, the Dark Outside and his own Forged River Recordings. His work has been reviewed by The Wire, Electronic Sound, Shindig and The Quietus and he was recently one of the fourteen artists featured in Electronic Sound Magazine’s ‘field recording special’. His collaboration with Luke Turner on series of readings from Luke’s book ‘Out of the Woods’ has seen performances at Cecil Sharp House, Port Eliot Festival, The Trades Club in Hebden Bridge, Krankenhaus Festival and the Horse Hospital and he recently collaborated with the artist Michael Powell on his Calderfolk project. A direct sequel to 2019’s Outcrops (also on wiaiwya), Ravines moves its focus from the uplands above Todmorden to the narrow, steep sided ravines, known as cloughs, that contain the streams that flow down the valley sides to feed the River Calder. These valleys, formed over hundreds, if not thousands of years can be peaceful sanctuaries, their stepped pools and waterfalls a shelter from the windswept moors. In time of heavy rainfall though, they become the conduits for the rapidly descending overland flows which reach the Calder and, in extreme circumstances, cause the floods which remain a part of valley life. These cloughs also saw the beginnings of industry in the area. Colden Clough and Jumble Hole Clough contain the ruin of small water fed mills which would evolve into the much larger steam powered facilities in Todmorden and Hebden Bridge. Mostly recorded in the field using portable equipment, these pieces are intended to reflect all three of these aspects; the peace, the violence and the beginnings of humankind’s ultimate separation from the landscape brought on by the industrial revolution. The sleeve is by Maxim Peter Griffin, an artist, illustrator and writer based in Lincolnshire. A fine art graduate and former stonemason, over the past few years he has been building a body of work that echo his experiences on foot between the North Sea and the hills. "...a luminous soundtrack to the passage of geological time." Shindig // "Williamson is building desire tunnels, churning through the layers of rock and soil to find his conclusions." The Wire // "These rumbling synth drifts and ominous drones transport you to entirely different places-like being cast adrift in a cosmic void" Electronic Sound // "...the droning synthesizer waves conjure up something spectral and eerie, stretching out like the wide horizon..." The Quietus // "Beautiful." Hannah Peel

'The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime' is another beguiling left turn by one of our most prolific artists, Peter Doherty and is some of his finest work to date Peter's deft lyricism combined with Frederick's delicious francophone musical arrangements is a marriage made in heaven.
Written during lockdown and produced by Frédéric Lo 'The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime' was recorded at Cateuil in Étretat (Normandy) and Studio Water Music in Paris and mixed by François Delabrière at Studio Moderne, Paris. All words are by Peter Doherty and music by Frédéric Lo.

'The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime' is another beguiling left turn by one of our most prolific artists, Peter Doherty and is some of his finest work to date Peter's deft lyricism combined with Frederick's delicious francophone musical arrangements is a marriage made in heaven.
Written during lockdown and produced by Frédéric Lo 'The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime' was recorded at Cateuil in Étretat (Normandy) and Studio Water Music in Paris and mixed by François Delabrière at Studio Moderne, Paris. All words are by Peter Doherty and music by Frédéric Lo.

Legendary American musician Ry Cooder played together with the world's greatest artists, such as John Lee Hooker, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton. Cooder is known for his slide guitar work, and was ranked eighth on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”.

Chicken Skin Music was his fifth studio album. The title serves as a direct, simple description of the album's emotional appeal. For this record, Cooder decided to ignore traditional boundaries and instigated lasting cross-cultural communication through music, which was unusual for 1976. Chicken Skin Music blends gospel, folk, blues and Hawaiian with the help of his backing band (Jim Keltner, Milt Holland, Chris Ethridge, and George Bohannon) and two eminent Hawaiian musicians, Gabby Pahinui and Atta Isaacs. In addition, to throw in some Mexican styles, Ry Cooder is assisted by Norteño musician Flaco Jimenez.

Chicken Skin Music is available on black vinyl and includes an insert.

blue Marbled Vinyl Repress

Med School Music veteran Bop launches his own label "Microfunk Music". The first release contains 4 minimalistic tunes, starting from the chill autonomic moods and the lovely nostalgic arpeggio of "Telescope" written by Bop and Synkro, moving to Nuage's fragile synths and luscious summer vocals, followed by a warm analogue bass in "Endless Green". In addition to these beautiful sounds, Microfunk Crew includes the more energetic, fit for the dance floor drum&bass with strong juke and ambient influences of "Crab Nebula". The EP is perfectly completed by Dissident with his kind and even slightly infantile soundscapes in "Design Yourself". This vinyl record is a great introduction to the label's unique sound. Each song has its own character and tells a specific story; however the wholepiece sounds very organic and will definitely appeal to the intelligent electronic music fans.

New imprint and musical project from Benjamin Diamond (french iconic member of Stardust and voice of the hit "Music Sounds Better With You") & Ulysse Genet!

Two numbers referring to the year 1972.

And in two numbers, everything is said.

The project is simple and ambitious, it is the soundtrack of life passing by, of our lives, of theirs: those of two boys who became two men, both born the same year. 1972. And contrary to its commercial destination, the «TM» sometimes af fixed to these two letters appears here rather like a real mental tattoo, if not a purely aes thetic gesture, as if to tell us: these sounds, these feelings, these immaterial emotions, were deposited in the dark recesses of these two brains, these two minds, before passing through their bodies, passing through their fingers, then through the keyboards, the ins truments, to transform themselves, to turn into sounds, which, themselves, through the alchemy of creation, become music.

And this music is the soundtrack to these two lives: Benjamin Cohen. Ulysse Genet. And these two lives which at one point crossed, met. And from this crossing was born 72. From these two experiences, from these memories, from the memories of the two artists, music is revealed. Four tracks for the moment, instrumental, mixing the reminiscences of hip hop, the echoes of the ‘ambient’ created by Brian Eno, the techno vo lutes of Detroit, and more particularly those of Carl Craig. Without forgetting the roots of what has been called the French Touch... this unique musical adventure revealing France abroad in a singular way, in which Benjamin Cohen has actively participated.

Released in conjunction with the reissue of the Raintears EP, Quindi is proud to present further archival finds from Italian experimental project Cabaret du Ciel. Like a Fool / Inside Loneliness is a single shining a light on the brief collaboration between Andrea Desidera, Gian Luigi Morosin and singer Barbara Volpato.

After years working as an instrumental outfit, the sessions with Volpato from 1991 were the first time Desidera and Morosin's project had welcomed in a vocalist. Of the many tracks written and recorded at that time, the best two were selected and carefully restored from the original tapes, now immortalised on vinyl and expanding the public impression of Cabaret du Ciel.

'Like A Fool' re-imagines the hazy serenity of Cabaret du Ciel in a dream pop context, injecting the soft-focus synth work with the energy of bold drums to provide a suitable framework for Volpato's voice. The crisp twang of new wave guitar completes the picture, while the trademark progression intrinsic to Cabaret du Ciel lends itself to the traditional song structures of pop.

'Inside Loneliness' is a natural companion to the A side, redolent with the heavy-hearted synth-pop romanticism of the late 80s and early 90s. The DIY sound on the track conveys an intimacy that can only come from artists recording in their own private environment, pouring their hearts and souls into a four-track recorder without a conceit other than pure, honest expression.

Athlete Whippet return to Toy Tonics with an EP showcasing emotionally layered dance tracks and their refusal to stick to genre conventions. The duo are synonymous with sublime cuts that are just as suited to late nights and early mornings on the dancefloor, as they are to home-listening, this perfectly exhibited on the "Noguiera" EP.

The four-tracker is named after a remote place in the mountains around Rio de Janeiro where it was made on a creatively fruitful getaway in 2021. It's sentimental, joyful, bouncy, and futuristic, and showcases the duo’s musicality combining bass guitar and piano, with hardware synths, loops and fragmented vocal samples.

Robin explains - "Spending time in Brazil in recent years was a blessing. The nature, culture and musical heritage over there is beautiful. Mostly in solitude, as I ended up spending most of my time in a remote place in the mountains around Rio, music became the only real emotional outlet for a while. So in a way this is a record of dance music created as far away as we’ve ever been from the dance floor!"

Both from a live performance background, Robin and Avi met studying at Goldsmiths London and found their way to the dance floor via playing in bands, Robin a guitarist, Avi classically trained in trumpet and later on picking up the keys. Absorbing the community of South London, they eventually set up artist collective and record label Squareglass - a proudly established home for new artists coming out of the area. They’ve remixed for the likes of Rhythm Section, collaborated with Olugbenga, and their releases have come with reworks from Ross from Friends, Cameo Blush, Baltra and Seb Wildblood. In 2021, their hybrid sound found a new home with tastemaker German label Toy Tonics who released their "Vesta" EP in May, followed by a run of European tour dates including Funkhaus Berlin, Phonox London and Amsterdam Dance Event.

2LP with a 4-page colour insert

As Guadeloupean vocalist and composer Marie-Line Dahomay writes in her liner notes to the compilation, gwoka is more than a style of music, it is “a way of living and thinking.” Rooted in the social, musical and ritual practices of enslaved African people and their descendants on Guadeloupe, gwoka has always sought to express the spirit of independence and resistance authentic to the island.Building on its traditional call-and-response form and the ideas of pivotal figures like Gérard Lockel and Christian Laviso, modern gwoka evolved throughout the second half of the twentieth century to include funk, jazz and electronic influences.

Defined by its propensity for innovation and experimentation, this compilation charts the most radical changes to modern gwoka, capturing a sensory riot of traditional répertoires, rhythms and makè techniques fused with genre-defying experimentation.Whether heard in the deeply cosmic, spiritual music of Dao, Freydy Doressamy and Gaoulé Mizik, or the jazz funk inflections of Gui Konket and Horizon, the music here is united by the feeling of santiman ka, crucial not only to gwoka music but the identity of Guadeloupe at large.

As co-curator Cédric Lassonde (Bueaty & The Beats) writes: “What unifies these selections is the depth of the compositions, the experimentation around the santiman ka, and the spirit of resistance and liberation against slavery, be it modern or ancestral. With a thirst for innovation typical of the island’s creole culture, the ka spirit is deeply rooted in collective history and in a quest for identity.”

Co-curator Brandon Hocura (Séance Centre) continues: “The creative energy of these musicians is powerful and demonstrates a universal pursuit of resistance, freedom and identity. Their voices are distinct, but the chorus rises high and carries their message far across the sea.”

Lèsprit Ka: New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010 is the first compilation of its kind to bring the sound of modern gwoka to a wider audience, with many of the featured musicians still active today. Presented as a double LP, the release features a specially commissioned essay by Guadeloupean musician Marie-Line Dahomey, and extensive liner notes from Cédric Lassonde and Séance Centre’s Brandon Hocura.

True to the hybrid nature of the music, the compilation seeks not to provide a definitive sound, but express the variety of contemporary forms that have evolved from gwoka. Just as Guadeloupean trailblazers Kassav fused gwoka with funk and cadence to create zouk, so did the musicians on this collection push gwoka in new directions rarely heard beyond its shores.

In the words of Gérard Lockel, “gwoka is the soul of Guadeloupe”

The Shires are the biggest selling UK country music act having sold over 400,000 albums. Formed in 2013, they are the first country act to score a Top 10 album with their debut release ‘Brave’ in 2015 and its follow up ‘My Universe’ becoming the fastest-selling British country album of all time following its release in 2016.

Paving the way for British country artists, Crissie and Ben were the first UK act to have received a highly coveted award from the American Country Music Association. Their last album ‘Good Years’ was recorded in Nashville and hit #3 in the UK charts in March 2020. Having been awarded the CMA for International Country Broadcaster in 2020, Ben now has his own radio show on Absolute Country, and the band also co-present a coveted Apple Music Country Radio show, the only UK act to do so. As they move into their 10th year the band now release their fifth album 10 Year Plan.