quête:one shot

Oliver Torr is about to release his first full length solo album. The album features many moods and colours, with Oliver exploring the use of his voice and lyrics as a new form of his expression. Successfully mixing electronic avant-garde/experimental forms with pop-like harmonic structures is the main theme of the record.

The idea of recontextualisation and themes of observation are mainly inspired by the philosophical literature and ideas of John Berger, Marshall McLuhan, and many others was a driving force during the creation of the album. The lyrical and sound design content is mainly inspired by panic attacks and depression, and serves as a therapeutic tool to aid in personal psychological healing.

Tracks make use of creative sound design by utilising field recordings and various experimental instruments and sources of sound, such as the Radical Chip, designed by John Richards (one of Oliver's mentors) and Max Wainwright. Tracks like 'Deià' which create a chaotic sonic palette are the author's representation of his mind under the siege of an intense panic attack, experienced in the seaside town of the same name that is located on the island of Mallorca.

Oliver feels like the album has been writing itself for the past 5 years, and in the past few months it has decided to finally show its form. With the help of Aid Kid, who is mixing the album and providing additional production, Oliver has put together a 14-track rollercoaster record, with the help of some special guests. Guests on vocals include Chrysalism, BCAA's Bilej Kluk, and sci fi RnB newcomer LVCIFER. Other sonic collaborators include Sunnbrella (guitars on two tracks), Bastl Instruments' David Strobach (distorted samples in intro), Peter Kutin, and Radio Laude's DeSteffan and R.A. (distorted samples/vocal on one track).

The record's sonics are a combination of Oliver's conscious influences, including experimental music, classical avant-garde, shoegaze, IDM, EBM, electronica, hints of modern club music, as well as PC music influences.

Oliver Torr is known as a composer, music producer, performer and installation artist. Outside of his solo projects, he has worked with many prominent musicians and creative companies/film makers worldwide. He is the founder of XYZ project, a music label concentrating on electronic music and audiovisual art (xyzproject.bandcamp), and a member of the noise.kitchen crew (a music and synth shop run by Bastl Instruments in Prague). Oliver is also a part of the 2020 SHAPE Platform roster (shapeplatform.eu), and the 2021 Gravity Network roster (gravitynetwork).

Oliver releases the album prior to the release of his 'Trans Europe Postal Express' project (supported and arranged in collaboration with SHAPE Platform) and gallery exhibition at MeetFactory art space Prague, that will take place in March, and will further the sonic palette of the album.

The album's artwork is directed and designed by Kristyna Kulikova and photographed by Lukas Havlena (VICE, National Gallery of Prague).

The album's pre-release sees a teaser trailer shot and directed by Tereza Halamova and Filip Kettner that will be released 1st of February. A short movie music video with the same crew is scheduled a month after the album's digital release.

A remixed version with reworks from established European electronic musicians (including Peter Kutin, Fausto Mercier, Wim Dehaen, Natalie Plevakova, Evil Medved, NobodyListen, David Herzig, Ancestral Vision and Trauma), will be coming in the next few months after the release.

- Dritter Teil in LITAs hochgelobter Country Funk Serie! - Mit Dolly Parton, J.J. Cale, Conway Twitty, Larry Jon Wilson und Billy Swan, unter vielen anderen - Inklusive eines bisher unveröffentlichten Tracks von Tony Joe White - Alle Tracks neu gemastert - Neues Original-Artwork des renommierten Künstlers J. William Myers (der für Robert Altmans "Nashville", Waylon Jennings und Willie Nelsons "Waylon & Willie"-Album und die LP-Cover für die Charlie Daniels Band verantwortlich zeichnet) // Im Sommer 2012 wehte ein neuer Sound aus der staubigen Wüste herein. Es war ein Sound, der schwer zu fassen war, schwer zu kodifizieren; ein Sound, der sich wie ein wildes Pferd dem Zugriff entzog. Aber dies war kein Trend, keine Eintagsfliege, keine Vermischung von Stilen. Dieser Sound reichte Jahrzehnte zurück, in die zweite Hälfte der 1960er und frühen 1970er Jahre, als abenteuerlustige Künstler begannen, Country-Harmonien mit dem Hochgefühl des Gospels, dem sexuellen Schub des Blues und einem Hauch von Großstadt-Härte zu vermischen. Dies war ein neuer Sound mit einem einfachen Namen: Country Funk. Country Funk 1969-1975, erstmals 2012 veröffentlicht, brachte eine disparate Gruppe von Künstlern zusammen, die durch das einfache Gefühl ihrer Songs verbunden waren. Country Funk ist abwechselnd verspielt und melancholisch, slow jammin' und booty-shakin'. Es ist ein Sound, der sich sowohl im Studio als auch in der Bar durchsetzt, wie die auf Volume I vertretenen Künstler beweisen: Johnny Adams, Mac Davis, Dale Hawkins, Tony Joe White, Bobbie Gentry, Larry Jon Wilson, und viele andere. Nur zwei Jahre später wurde Volume I mit einer neuen Sammlung von Songs für Country Funk 1967-1974 (LITA 116, 2014) fortgesetzt. Volume II ließ nicht locker und bot alles, was man an Loose Talking und Lap-Steel Twangin' vertragen konnte. Schwergewichte wie Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton und J.J. Cale teilen sich die Barhocker mit den weniger bekannten Stimmen von Bill Wilson, Donnie Fritts und Thomas Jefferson Kaye. Mit Country Funk Volume III 1975-1982 wird noch mehr Funk aus dem Kofferraum geholt. Diesmal sind die Jeans enger, die Haare größer und die Discokugel dreht sich zu einem Country-Synthie-Beat. Produziert und zusammengestellt von Jason Morgan (DJ/Sammler aus der Bay Area) und Patrick McCarthy (Co-Produzent/Compiler von Volume I & II), enthält die Trackliste neben den Stammgästen Dolly Parton, J.J. Cale, Larry Jon Wilson und Tony Joe White (dessen Track hier zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht wird) auch neue Gesichter wie Steven Soles, Gary & Sandy, Conway Twitty, Travis Wammack, Billy Swan, Rob Galbraith, Brian Hyland und viele mehr. Als die 1970er Jahre abebbten und sich die 1980er Jahre näherten, erweiterte sich die Palette des Country-Funks um Disco-Beats, schwere Moog-Synthesizer-Bässe und Clavinet. Volume III zeigt Künstler, die sich weiterhin gegen traditionelle Country-Tropen und -Produktionen wehren, während sie modernen Soul, Disco und verkorksten 80er-Jahre-Synthie-Pop in sich aufnehmen. Dies ist der wahre Soundtrack des Urban Cowboys. Aufsatteln, Partner.

- Transparentes Vinyl mit roten und blauen Schlieren - Dritter Teil in LITAs hochgelobter Country Funk Serie! - Mit Dolly Parton, J.J. Cale, Conway Twitty, Larry Jon Wilson und Billy Swan, unter vielen anderen - Inklusive eines bisher unveröffentlichten Tracks von Tony Joe White - Alle Tracks neu gemastert - Neues Original-Artwork des renommierten Künstlers J. William Myers (der für Robert Altmans "Nashville", Waylon Jennings und Willie Nelsons "Waylon & Willie"-Album und die LP-Cover für die Charlie Daniels Band verantwortlich zeichnet) // Im Sommer 2012 wehte ein neuer Sound aus der staubigen Wüste herein. Es war ein Sound, der schwer zu fassen war, schwer zu kodifizieren; ein Sound, der sich wie ein wildes Pferd dem Zugriff entzog. Aber dies war kein Trend, keine Eintagsfliege, keine Vermischung von Stilen. Dieser Sound reichte Jahrzehnte zurück, in die zweite Hälfte der 1960er und frühen 1970er Jahre, als abenteuerlustige Künstler begannen, Country-Harmonien mit dem Hochgefühl des Gospels, dem sexuellen Schub des Blues und einem Hauch von Großstadt-Härte zu vermischen. Dies war ein neuer Sound mit einem einfachen Namen: Country Funk. Country Funk 1969-1975, erstmals 2012 veröffentlicht, brachte eine disparate Gruppe von Künstlern zusammen, die durch das einfache Gefühl ihrer Songs verbunden waren. Country Funk ist abwechselnd verspielt und melancholisch, slow jammin' und booty-shakin'. Es ist ein Sound, der sich sowohl im Studio als auch in der Bar durchsetzt, wie die auf Volume I vertretenen Künstler beweisen: Johnny Adams, Mac Davis, Dale Hawkins, Tony Joe White, Bobbie Gentry, Larry Jon Wilson, und viele andere. Nur zwei Jahre später wurde Volume I mit einer neuen Sammlung von Songs für Country Funk 1967-1974 (LITA 116, 2014) fortgesetzt. Volume II ließ nicht locker und bot alles, was man an Loose Talking und Lap-Steel Twangin' vertragen konnte. Schwergewichte wie Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton und J.J. Cale teilen sich die Barhocker mit den weniger bekannten Stimmen von Bill Wilson, Donnie Fritts und Thomas Jefferson Kaye. Mit Country Funk Volume III 1975-1982 wird noch mehr Funk aus dem Kofferraum geholt. Diesmal sind die Jeans enger, die Haare größer und die Discokugel dreht sich zu einem Country-Synthie-Beat. Produziert und zusammengestellt von Jason Morgan (DJ/Sammler aus der Bay Area) und Patrick McCarthy (Co-Produzent/Compiler von Volume I & II), enthält die Trackliste neben den Stammgästen Dolly Parton, J.J. Cale, Larry Jon Wilson und Tony Joe White (dessen Track hier zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht wird) auch neue Gesichter wie Steven Soles, Gary & Sandy, Conway Twitty, Travis Wammack, Billy Swan, Rob Galbraith, Brian Hyland und viele mehr. Als die 1970er Jahre abebbten und sich die 1980er Jahre näherten, erweiterte sich die Palette des Country-Funks um Disco-Beats, schwere Moog-Synthesizer-Bässe und Clavinet. Volume III zeigt Künstler, die sich weiterhin gegen traditionelle Country-Tropen und -Produktionen wehren, während sie modernen Soul, Disco und verkorksten 80er-Jahre-Synthie-Pop in sich aufnehmen. Dies ist der wahre Soundtrack des Urban Cowboys. Aufsatteln, Partner.

Motown Collected brings together the biggest names in the rich history of this legendary label. From very early singles to the artists that made Motown a household name for decades to come and the cross-over pop success of the late 70’s and 80’s. Featuring legendary artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Jackson Five, Smokey Robinson and The Commodores, as well as gems from the likes of Marv Johnson, Barrett Strong, The Marvelettes and Tom Clay and pop superstars Rick James, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie and Debarge: just a selection of the 33 incredible tracks featured on Motown Collected.

The documentary Hitsville: The Making Of Motown’, featuring Motown founder Berry Gordy and many of this artists, will premiere in cinemas across Europe this summer as well.






RELEASE: 23-7-2021

MOV proudly presents new Collected compilation albums in collaboration with Universal Music. Motown Collected is the first one, available as a limited edition of 3000 numbered copies on white vinyl. It includes an insert with photos and credits.

IZIPHO SOUL is thrilled to be commissioned by LEEE JOHN, on a special limited edition 7” single, in conjunction with his multi date THE ART OF LOVE 2020 tour. Before proceedings commence, here is your chance to own a copy! THE ART OF LOVE is a previously unreleased masterpiece (recorded in the mid-nineties) with two very distinct Parts: One, a melodic romantic builder with that unmistakable LEEE JOHN vocal; Part Two, a unique Disco infused workout, where horns and strings abound, and multi percussionist / master conguero SNOWBOY delivers his best shots!
Beautifully packaged in a picture sleeve with the label revealed by a circular cut-out, housed in a resealable bag.

Label boss and producer, Double A, takes the reins on a tasteful rework of a ’92 hiphop classic, (which, incidentally, was never released on 7”). This time, the original
drums take a back seat to some equally uptempo classic breaks, while the upright bass sample goes front and center. Expect some (literal) vibes on the chorus. Sure shot party starter

DC / Virginia turntablist and veteran producer, Jeyone, delivers the boom bap goods with this treatment of a hard rock classic. Knocking hip-hop drums and a throwback “rock the house” sample breath new dance floor life into this 1970 banger. This one’s sure to turn more than a few heads and will crossover with just about any crowd.

Most fans of hardcore Hip-Hop know and love Benny The Butcher and 38 Spesh's 2018 joint album Stabbed & Shot, yet many aren't aware that before that there was Cocaine Cowboys. The duo dropped this potent joint mixtape back in 2008. They split the project into two parts and added a couple hard-to-find bonus cuts for the vinyl release. Plus, new alternate art by the one and only Manuel "Cep" Concepcion only available on this second edition re-release. Cocaine Cowboys 1 features some early production from Spesh himself, Rick Hyde, and Beat Butcha, as well as some of Benny and Spesh's rarest freestyles. This is a must-have for TCF Music Group, Griselda Records, and BSF Records collectors.

Most fans of hardcore Hip-Hop know and love Benny The Butcher and 38 Spesh's 2018 joint album Stabbed & Shot, yet many aren't aware that before that there was Cocaine Cowboys. The duo dropped this potent joint mixtape back in 2008. They split the project into two parts and added a couple hard-to-find bonus cuts for the vinyl release. Plus, new alternate art by the one and only Manuel "Cep" Concepcion only available on this second edition re-release. Cocaine Cowboys 2 features a number of weight moving anthems like "Cocaine Wishes," "American Dopeboy, and Spesh and Benny's earliest collab with Conway The Machine, "Trapping." This is a must-have for TCF Music Group, Griselda Records, and BSF Records collectors.

Having produced full albums for numerous buzzing names in the last couple of years, 38 Spesh has become recognized as one of the most prolific beatmakers in the new era of hardcore Hip-Hop. So, to mark this achievement, he has decided to start giving fans the instrumentals to their favorite songs with a new series titled Speshal Blends. The first volume of the series includes beats off of Che Noir's Thrill of the Hunt II, Flee Lord x 38 Spesh's Loyalty + Trust, 38 Spesh's 5 Shots EP, and more. The title of the series is a homage to MF DOOM’s classic instrumental collection, Special Blends. The album art also references DOOM’s series, but instead of playing on the Zig-Zag motif, the Speshal Blends covers riff off the logos of popular cigar brands most commonly used for blunts

The Forbidden Dance label is marking their first year of existence and with already top-notch names (Vick Lavender, Alton Miller, The Mechanical Man) with the first three releases, they are celebrating the one year mark with another global gem, disco and house finest - Ilija Rudman!
Where Wild Horses Go is conveying an unquestionable sense of 80's electro and synth boogie filled with smooth and heavily reverberated rhythmics drenched in strong snares. Aligned with catchy and spaced-out disco pads, the album is riddled with ever strong analogue elements processed in a light, quirky and summerish way but with enough groove in some tracks easily applicable on the dancefloors in the late hours.
Dead Horse Gang is a brainchild music band/brand by Ilija Rudman dedicated to cinematic dance concept laying on the Los Angeles funk attitude, Art Of Noise perception of sound and raw 12-bit grooves making a statement of mid 80's culture with surf vibe of California summer.
"Dead Horse Gang Music is more than music, it's a way of life, a way of thinking, a path to a maximum freedom of the one, who can accept it."
-Ilija Rudman

Anne-Marie’s second studio album, ‘Therapy’, is the official follow-up to her multi-platinum and four million-selling 2018 debut, ‘Speak Your Mind’ the UK’s biggest-selling debut release of that year. An artist whose everywoman candour and knock-you-down vocal range has reverberated across the globe, ‘Therapy’ is a collection of songs that embody Anne-Marie’s characterful artistry, self-effacing attitude and beautiful honesty; attributes that have not only catapulted Essex-born Anne-Marie to platinum status in the UK to the USA and everywhere in-between, but ones that have seen her reign supreme a fearless Gen Z role model.



With the full tracklisting yet to be announced, Mind Charity ambassador Anne-Marie is delighted to confirm that ‘Therapy’ will feature her already-released UK Top 3 and Gold-selling ‘Don’t Play’ with KSI and Digital Farm Animals; recent feel-good Nathan Dawe and MoStack collaboration ‘Way Too Long’; as well as Niall Horan collaboration, ‘Our Song’, which the pair wrote with Phil Plested and TMS (Lewis Capaldi), with the latter also on production.



An album of candour and vivacity in equal measure, Anne-Marie wrote ‘Therapy’ with Max Martin (Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift), Kamille (Little Mix, Headie One), MNEK, Raye, TMS, Blake Slatkin (The Kid Laroi, 24kGoldn), Ed Sheeran, Nathan Dawe and Plested (Lewis Capaldi) – production comes from Mojam (Aitch, Fredo), Fred Ball (Rihanna), TMS and Blake Slatkin.



Anne-Marie has become one of the globe’s most successful pop stars since hear breakthrough in 2016. An artist with over five billion streams to her name, in her home market, she has secured 1 x platinum album alongside five Top 10 singles to date. And 2021 has seen her continue her winning streak, too – her January release ‘Don’t Play’ spent twelve weeks inside the Top 10 in the UK’s Official Singles Chart and has subsequently become the biggest song of 2021 so far by a British female artist (OCC). Not to mention her prime time debut as the new, and winning, judge on talent show, The Voice, earlier this year.



Rewind to 2020 and alongside charitable work and recording, Anne-Marie released her first-ever documentary titled ‘How To Be Anne-Marie’, exclusively with YouTube. Shot in her home county of Essex at a time when her years’ plans were turned upside down due to the pandemic, Anne-Marie took us back to where it all began. In the hour-long film, we saw her recounting her difficult school years, the close bonds she shares with her family, fans and friends, as well as the plights of stardom that she candidly spoke about with her peers, Little Mix.

Blue Vinyl

Speedcore pityless little bullet... 7'' ltd with one shot a side.

Unkown artist and untitled tunes

Orange Vinyl

Vertigo is a 1958 American film noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was based on the 1954 novel D'entre les morts (From Among the Dead) by Boileau-Narcejac. The film was shot on location in San Francisco, California, and at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It is the first film to use the dolly zoom, an in-camera effect that distorts perspective to create disorientation, to convey Scottie's acrophobia. As a result of its use in this film, the effect is often referred to as the Vertigo effect'. Vertigo received mixed reviews upon initial release, but is now often cited as a classic Hitchcock film and one of the defining works of his career.

Joey Negro! Michael Gray! Moplen! Massivedrum! David Penn! Mighty Mouse! Ben Liebrand! They are all there!

Thirty-Five years after the release of Volume 4, High Fashion Music are back with the aptly named – Vol 5! And Ben Liebrand returns once again to flawlessly mix these remixed pieces together in one continues mix.

“High Fashion Dance Music” mix-albums were incredibly popular in the during the ’80s, showcasing essential cuts from legendary dance artists from the time.

Volume 5 is back pumping and loaded with the recent remixed and timeless cuts from Blueboy (David Penn remix), T-Connection (Moplen remix), Karen Young (Joey Negro remix), Disco Dandies, Ashford & Simpson (Joey Negro remixes) and Johnny Guitar Watson (Ben Liebrand remix) are joined on the Dancefloor by hot new versions of classics like Bucketheads’ “The Bomb” and is the at the same time presenting the new and upcoming singles from contemporary artists including S.O.S Band (remixed by Ben Liebrand), Bucketheads (Remixed by Massivedrum) HP Vince, and Who’s Who (remixed by Mighty Mouse).

Volume 5 also has the eye-catching retro styling with detail from OG’s in the scene. Curated by experts, Volume 5 will also be available on various music formats, each having it’s unique playing-time, including Vinyl LP, Compact Disc, the good old MusiCassette and even on DCC! (Such in close cooperation with the DCC Museum in Los Angeles)

Mix Tracklist:
A-1 The S.O.S. Band – Just Get Ready (Remix – Ben Liebrand) 4:29
A-2 Delia Renee – You're Gonna Want Me Back (Remix – Joey Negro) 5 :49
A-3 Disco Dandies – Inside Your Love 1:36
A-4 Johnny Guitar Watson – Real Mother For 'Ya (Go To A Disco) (Remix – Ben Liebrand) 3:30
A-5 Advance – Take Me To The Top (Remix – Michael Gray) 3:28
A-6 T-Connection – Do What You Wanna Do (Remix – Moplen) 5:16
A-7 Ashford & Simpson – Over & Over (Remix – Joey Negro) 3:34
A-8 Roog – If Everything Went My Way (Remix – Earth N Days) 2:52
A-9 Blue Boy – Remember Me (Remix – David Penn) 3:49
A-10 Ashford & Simpson – Found A Cure (Remix – Joey Negro) 4:29
B-1 Brooklyn Express – Sixty-Nine (Remix – H.P. Vince) 3:17
B-2 Viola Wills – If You Could Read My Mind (Remix – Massivedrum) 5:43
B-3 Karen Young – Hot Shot (Remix – Joey Negro) 4:10
B-4 Michael Gray – The Weekend (Remix – Michael Gray) 5:28
B-5 Ashford & Simpson – Love Will Make It Right (Remix – Joey Negro) 4:25
B-6 Johnny Hammond – Los Conquistadores Chocolates (Remix – Moplen) 4:02
B-7 The Bucketheads – The Bomb (Remix – Massivedrum) 3:19
B-8 Who's Who – Palace Palace (Remix – Mighty Mouse) 3:25
B-9 H.P. Vince – We Came Here To Party 2:47
B-10 Delia Renee– You're Gonna Want Me Back (Reprise) (Remix – Ben Liebrand) 1:40

A bridging of minds and energies, a confluence of souls and spirits. Midnight Shift releases an exclusive collaboration between Prequel Tapes and dBridge - Ionize. Cast all genres aside, as two electronic worlds collide to produce a third sonic space.

Start your engines with 'Divisible Cause' speeding and hurtling into the great atmospheric unknown. Outlier for the freaks, 'Stray Thrills' amalgamates between the classicist EBM and futurist UK bass. Stumble through 'Pleasure Systems' with light sabres, wrangled beats and gun shots ricochetting off the walls in one heady disorientation. Then wander aimlessly into the warehouse at 170bpm with 'Mindless', led by twilight tones and menacing machines at every turn.

“French blues-rock singer Veronique Gayot is a one-of-a-kind and bundle of
energy rarely found.
Her distinctive voice is recognizable among thousands. She has the expressiveness of a wildcat. She is strong and uncompromising, yet vulnerable. She sings
as if a single life is not enough. Her deep, smoky voice easily joins the great
voices of the Blues.
Animal contains 10 original compositions inspired by traditional blues. Mixed
with modern urban sounds, the album offers a wide range of different moods.”

Motörhead in 1981 was a band of extremes; a flammable mix of non-stop celebration over their rising success and punishing graft, underscored by an inter-band powder-keg dynamic. After recording Ace Of Spades, it had shot to number four in the UK; the killer breakthrough after Overkill and Bomber had done essential groundwork, late 1980’s Ace Up Your Sleeve UK tour was a triumphant lap of honour that spilled into the recording of No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith. The album took its title from an inscription painted on one of the trucks, referencing the 32 gigs they were playing with only two days off. The track listing ended up featuring three tracks from Ace Of Spades, five from Overkill, Bomber’s title track and two from their self-titled debut. Originally released on 27th June 1981, Lemmy is quoted as saying of it “I knew it’d be the live one that went best, because we’re really a live band. You can’t listen to a record and find out what we’re about. You’ve got to see us.” Upon release No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith went straight to number one, their first and only in the UK and is still the most necessary live album of all time.

The No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith album; brand new remaster created from the original tapes. Pressed on vinyl as a triple album in a 20 page bookpack and deluxe 24 page, 2CD mediabook. Includes a full live show from Newcastle released in its entirety for the first time. Recorded on the Short Sharp Pain In The Neck tour where the album was originally taken from.

The four Scottish-Irish musicians Conor Dalton, David Donaldson, Greame Reedie and Ian Maclennan are Island People. After their highly acclaimed debut from 2017, they have now finished their second album with the simple and consistent title »II«. Compared to their debut, »II« sounds more mature and complex. The arrangements unfold like the long tracking shots of an early Antonioni film - time seems to stand still, circling the moment. Impressionistically, one feels transported into the Scottish island landscape with its contrasting lights and harsh elements. Gloomy, darker, richer textures have conquered their space on »II« as much as the more present acoustic components. As much as its predecessor, also this record was skilfully produced, the musicians’ entire experience is audible (Conor Dalton is a sought-after mastering engineer; David Donaldson a Grammy Award-winning producer) – but anything fashionable or sensationalist has been intentionally waived. The musical serenity, holding up a craft that neither has to show itself off every minute nor wants to respond to the latest trends impressed us the most. The cover photo was contributed by the Scottish artist Helena Ohman. She also provided the video for the track »Crash«. Furthermore, singer Alice Hill-Woods was invited to contribute the lyrics and vocals to »Stalling«. Island People »II« will be released as gatefold double LP as well as on CD and digitally. In advance we asked Island People about the creative process behind the album and quote as follows: This album reflects on the destination we have in common before us, and celebrates the longer road while also considering paths not taken and journeys that ended too soon. It has been said that »art is how we decorate space; music is how we decorate time.« For us the writing of this album has been a great journey through both, shared with friends. While our first album acknowledged our own spaces and borders as individuals, the new album seemed to grow very quickly from our travels together as a band. Periods spent on the road playing live afforded extra time together and while we didn’t feel constrained to a concept at the start, more and more of the tracks evolved to reflect these journeys and experiences together.

A few years ago, Don Zilla was sat alone in an internet cafe teaching himself FL Studio, dreaming of becoming one of Africa's greatest music producers. These early experiments evolved into 2019's "From the Cave to the World", an EP that showcased Zilla's rare fusion of eerie industrial electronics, lurching bass and constantly-shifting East African rhythms. Now the manager of Kampala's Boutiq Studios, Zilla returns to Hakuna Kulala with his eagerly-awaited debut album "Ekizikiza Mubwengula", a labyrinthine album that weaves freewheeling dance sub-genres into a bejeweled tapestry, signaling a path to the future. There's the cybernetic 'nuum funk of dBridge, Emptyset's overdriven, cacophonous anxiety, the hyper-paced airlock club ofShanghai's Hyph11E and the confrontational intensity of Dreamcrusher; everything is melted into a groove-fwd whole that's tough to resist. Tangling trap into slippery, atmospheric doom-step on 'Buziba', experimenting with uptempo, Slikback-esque rhythmic complexity on 'Tension' and reshaping noisy industrial ambience on 'Shots', Zilla uses the album to continuously challenge expectations, folding sounds in on themselves Inception-style and allowing fresh rhythms, textures and forms to peek through. It's a bold step from a central character in East Africa's rapidly-growing stable of paradigm shifting experimental club producers.

With a 20-year-experience each in the music production, Digital Cut & Dance Soldiah are joining forces for an ambitious project entitled “Kensei/Sensei Riddim”, supported by Canna France, to be released on June 18, 2021. This double “One Riddim” album brings together 21 international artists of 6 different nationalities on 20 titles. The project is built on an innovative concept as 10 tracks are from female artists and the other 10 from male artists. Equality and parity is the essential value placed at the center of this new project.

Women are represented by the artists Khalia, Denyque, LMK, Sophia Squire, Thaïs Lona & Myriam Sow, Queen Omega, Ikaya, SumeRR, Bad Gyal Jade, Nattali Rize & Minori and men by Pressure, Jah Vinci, Blacko, Million Stylez, Skarra Mucci, Turbulence, Stranjah Miller, Riflah and Charly B.

The complementary sounds of the 2 instrumentals (or "riddims") will delight all Reggae/Dancehall fans and purists. The artwork is signed by the artist KAMO, one the French leader in manga culture, who created 2 original illustrations for the occasion.

The first music video taken from the project was released in February 2021 with the track “No Better Day” by Jamaican rising star Khalia. The track is already airplayed on radios in more than 40 countries around the world and is set to become a real hit in Jamaica. The second single highlights the French female artist LMK with a beautiful video shot in Colombia. The entire album will then be released on June 18, 2021 and more music videos will follow !

Salford-based choreographer, MC, poet and performer Blackhaine, and Hull-born contemporary artist Richie Culver join forces on DID U CUM YET / I'M NOT GONNA CUM, a two-track 20 minute audiovisual project released by UK record label and creative studio Participant. The release is an extension of Richie Culver's now infamous canvas work ‘DID U CUM YET?’, itself a wry reference to the inherently masturbatory act of posting art on social media.

Having destroyed the original painting and released a 300 page book featuring the vitriolic Instagram comments received in response to the original piece, DID U CUM YET / I'M NOT GONNA CUM is a sonic extension of the Instagram project gone rogue, the coming together of two artists that share working-class roots and a commitment to low culture, as well as a belief in thev transcendent potential in creative expression. Each artist has one leg planted firmly in Northern soil and both are united in their unflinching focus on England’s liminal spaces.

Accompanying the EP is a film, assembled by British/Belgian filmmaker William Markarian-Martin. Recently nominated for Best International Music Video at the 67th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, the film weaves together footage gathered in the UK towns of Preston and Salford, shot in an underground carpark ‘to represent a kind of purgatory’, as if the artist has fallen through the pavement into a hellish place.

One of the essential ‘global’ albums of 2019 gets its first pressing on ‘kimono blue’ vinyl.

Ahead of the release of their second album and their collaboration with cult Japanese kimono label Nakai Shoten, Minyo Crusaders come with a limited edition of their classic debut album.

Since their 2020 collaborative EP with Frente Cumbiero amassed almost 1m listens on Spotify plus over 1m views for the lead video on both Facebook and Twitter, the band’s popularity has soared.

Never underestimate the power of a woman with her back to the wall. In March 2020, as Covid blew across the planet, the shutters came down on live venues and recording studios, and the music scene fell suddenly silent, Ghalia Volt faced the same dilemma as every other artist.
What now? The answer was One Woman Band. Having joined with the cream of the US roots scene for two acclaimed albums, 2017’s Let The Demons Out and 2019’s Mississppi Blend, Volt’s rebirth as a solo performer wasn’t a decision made lightly. But if an apprenticeship busking in her native Brussels taught Volt anything, it’s that she already had everything she needed to make magic.
“In March, I started playing on a real drum set,” she recalls.
“Playing a kick, snare and hi-hat plus a tambourine with my two feet, while playing slide/guitar and singing at the same time.” After road-testing the new format at shows across Mississippi, Volt realised that one was the magic number.
In August, she committed to the project, embarking on a month-long Amtrak train trip that became an intensive writing session, the shifting landscapes beyond the window inspiring her pen to scratch as never before. Tracked live in November at Memphis’s legendary Royal Sound Studios, One
Woman Band is Volt’s most lyrically honest and groove-driven material to date.
You can feel the turn of those train wheels in the addictive stomp of songs like
Reap What You Sow, while the rattle-and-shiver slide guitar of Espiritu Papago
evokes the scream of a locomotive whistle.
“Imagine John Lee Hooker on mushrooms, lost in the desert of Arizona, on a hot
summer day,” says Volt. “That’s the vibe of that song.” The Covid-19 pandemic
is an unprecedented chapter of human history, with no clear end in sight.
But Ghalia Volt has given us the soundtrack to better times ahead, and the
songs we’ll still be singing when we meet on the other side. This might be a
One Woman Band - but you’re always welcome to ride shotgun.

Just in time for the holidays comes a brand new Christmas classic from Academy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino (Up, Ratatouille & Lost) and if the world ever needed a shot of positivity right now then this is it!

The idea of writing a Christmas single happened whilst hosting a Christmas party with Richard Kind at the Royal Albert Hall in 2019. During that party, they heard a radio announcement regarding a Christmas song competition, and they immediately began trying to

write a song and find someone to sing it! Throughout the party, guests turned up, but no one wanted to sing the song, that is until Himesh Patel and UK band Itchy Teeth knocked on the door and took up the challenge. Himesh was fresh from starring in Danny Boyle’s film Yesterday, and Itchy Teeth were the band that performed with him throughout the movie.

Recalling classic Christmas earworms such as Wings ‘Wonderful Christmastime,” the single is written by Michael Giacchino, Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson and performed by Itchy Teeth. The B-side is a beautiful smokey lounge version of Christmas Number One performed by the John Robert Wood Yule Sextet.

The LTD 7’ comes complete with a digital download card and is presented in gatefold Christmas card cover, ready and waiting to be given as a gift and inscribed with your very own holiday greeting.

Let us see 2020 out in a flurry of positivity, optimism and fun, so get ready to be singing this song around the christmas tree this year with all your family (even if that mean doing so on Zoom)

Happy Holidays!!!

Los Angeles emcee Pawz One returns with Featured Unreleased Collab Kollection Issue Two (F.U.C.K I.T!), the second installment in the series that features guest appearances, unreleased songs and remixes.

The 16 track album includes artists like Talib Kweli, Ras Kass, A.G. of D.I.T.C and others are featured on the album along with artwork done by Gift Revolver who recently did artwork for Conway, Wu-Tang and Big Pun. Producers include Snowgoons and many others from Japan, Netherlands, Chicago and Los Angeles.





e 05: Mind Power (Remix) [feat. Termanology & Ras Kass]




[j] 10: Avalanche Warning (Remix) [feat. Percee P]





[e] 05: Mind Power (Remix) [feat. Termanology & Ras Kass]




[j] 10: Avalanche Warning (Remix) [feat. Percee P]

KOOL KEITH is the most legendary trailblazer of hip hop music. With characters spanning from Dr. Octagon to Tashan Dorsett to Black Elvis to Dr. Dooom, Keith is always delivering realness, spectacles in word and sound, and creating new worlds with his many auras. SCORN is the electronic beat project of acclaimed exNapalm Death drummer Mick Harris, the Dark Lord of ambient dub. Mick Harris' prolific ventures across numerous projects include Painkiller (with John Zorn and Bill Laswell), Quoit, Lull, Monrella, and many more. SUBMERGED is the King of Underground Drum n Bass DJs, having pioneered the scene for the hard sound from Astana to Sao Paulo to Kiev to Brooklyn. He is the founder of Galactic Enterprise that is Ohm Resistance. DISTORTION is a collaborative single with some of the 100% certified dopest Kool Keith verses. He is tuned into his co-authors, dropping lines about "Power sources, Mediterranean bosses", going "52 states, European, Worldwide", discussing "more power to explore", and knowing how to "stick my hand out the speaker and reach y'all". A massive energy liftoff occurs as Keith joins his multiverse with that of the Ohm Resistance artists. Mick Harris' instantly recognizable bludgeoning beat carries the weight, as he trades off bass blast duties with the organic overdriven bassline of Submerged. A warning shot fired in advance of Scorn's album, "The Only Place", this single adds the missing element to Scorn that brings out the richness and flavor of Mick Harris behind the mixing desk. "I'm so happy to be working with a great voice - I could do more of, it adds another dynamic to Scorn." says Harris. Submerged explains his usual streak of unusual luck - "I had a bassline I had written and wanted to send to Mick Harris for Scorn. When the opportunity came to work with Kool Keith, Mick made his beat, and my riff fit exactly - so we coordinated the forces to put this record together". With Kool Keith being one of the most-named influences by many of the Ohm Resistance artists, his arrival to the label couldn't have come at a better time - a integrated circuit across 4 dimensions, connecting 3 legendary musicians around the globe. Mixed by MJ Harris in the Lad's Old Room B14; Vocals by Kool Keith Recorded at Studio G Brooklyn; Engineered by Tony Maimone, Assisted by Ross Colombo; Bass Guitar by Submerged at Blue Site I, Saaremaa; Mastered by Daniele Antezza for Dadub Mastering Studio; Artwork by Sagana Squale, Layout by MachineÖ

The first Azu Tiwaline's album, after been acclaimed by DJs like Lena Willikens, upsammy, Shanti Celeste and a bunch of electronic medias (Bandcamp, RA, Crack), is now remixed by a Lyon-Bristol-Berlin trifecta of similarly minded rhythmic innovators - twisting and warping her work into new shapes, featuring Don't DJ, Laksa & Flore reinterpretations.

Nothing happens overnight. Behind every emergence, there’s years of work, thought and preparation - both intentional and unconscious - that’s gone unseen.

So the past year might have been a ‘breakout’ year for Azu Tiwaline, but it was really built over two decades of experimentation, soul-searching - both creative and personal - and exploration. “A new name for a new spirit” as she likes to say, but with an unmistakable identity rooted in her history and ancestry.

On her debut album as Azu Tiwaline, Draw Me A Silence, a record released in two parts with her family at I.O.T. , she fused together two halves of her own heritage, inspired by a new home in the desert. Personal history collided with family heritage: half step rhythms from a career in bass music met the warm winds and wide open silence of El Djerid in Tunisia.

When music is sincere and honest, it tends to reverberate more widely, and deeply. The tracks written for the Magnetic Service EP were sent to one label and one label only, Livity Sound, who picked it up instantly. Something about the spacious, yet dense sonics - crafted with the help of percussionist Cinna Peyghamy - resonated with listeners starved of both the community of the dancefloor and the space of the outside world. The EP became one of the Bristol label’s most heralded releases of 2020, featuring in end of year coverage from Bandcamp to Resident Advisor.

Beneath the calm of her productions, a restless spirit inhabits Azu, born out of months and years spent on the road. In 2020, it was her music that took her places. She put together a series of podcast mixes that echoed the percussive, rhythmic curves of her own productions, for Boiler Room, Dekmantel and Crack Mag. She distilled Fazer Drums’ percussive experiments into dubby downtempo with a remix, and contributed her most rooted track yet - Violet Curves with Cinna Peyghamy - to On the Corner’s Door to The Cosmos compilation.

This will be followed by the Extended version of the album with a gorgeous ambient bonus track “Eyes of the Wind”, accompanied by a video clip directed by Azu Tiwaline, shot in her desert lands. This track will be appearing in a digital reupload reunifying Draw Me A Silence Part.I and II. As a sort of final chapter of this debut album.

As for the rest? We’ll see what 2021 has to offer for both the world and Azu Tiwaline. In the meantime, take inspiration from her music: keep the tempo steady, let some light in, and listen for the silence.

“A good piece of rocking jazz, miles away from an academic approach but with a good shot of euphoric guitar and down-to-earth energy instead.
Here the band “”Tini Thomsen MaxSax”” brings its own nuanced,
powerfully stylistic sophistication.
”Just moving up a gear,” says Tini Thomsen. One woman and one saxophone - a match made in heaven! In the hands of Katharina ”Tini” Thomsen, the baritone saxophone - a rather massive, heavy instrument, after all - attains a sonic beauty definitely worth listening to.
The spectrum ranges from robust, resounding rhythms to versatile melody parts and fast-paced, earthy solos and - occasionally! - on to excursions into the more tender and balladesque. Considering that the instrument is a rarity among male musicians, the combination, Thomsen & ”Bari” holds membership - both nationally and internationally - to a small and exclusive group of such ”duos”.
It is even more fortunate that, in Nigel Hitchcock on alto saxophone, she has found the perfect counterpart not only musically, but privately as well.”

Svart Records is proud to present The Limit. Punk & Doom originators go straight to the soul of heavy rock on their new album Caveman Logic to be released via Svart Records on the 9th of April 2021. More than a super-group, The Limit goes over the edge, to deliver real-deal, soulful Rock and Roll. Consisting of members of legendary Punk instigators The Stooges, the founders of Doom Rock Pentagram, legendary NYC Punk originators Testors and infamous Portugese metal band Dawnrider, The Limit break out from the foundations of heavy rock and defy all expectations, to show a new generation what doom and punk really means. On the new album Caveman Logic, Bobby Liebling, singer and main-man of Pentagram, one of the originators of early Doom Rock and an inspiration for generations of Heavy Rock fans, on vocals, gives the performance of his career, singing like his life depended on it. Sonny Vincent, enigmatic legend of the early NYC Max's Kansas City, CBGB Punk scene with his band Testors, having been on the road and recording with members of The Velvet Underground, lays down the guitar driven songs, his writing bearing all the hallmarks of ground-breaking Rock history in it’s filthy DNA. Phenomenal bass playing from Jimmy Recca, ex- The Stooges, and Ron Asheton’s New Order, gives The Limit the intense and world-class, speaker-destroying bottom end. Joined by Hugo Conim on Guitar and João Pedro Ventura on Drums from Portuguese band Dawnrider, The Limit fuses star-dust pedigree with an organic incendiary chemistry that’s instantly raw and real. A dream come true to those that know their Doom/Punk history, The Limit brings the past right up to date on Caveman Logic, with an essential, burning passion at the heart of their songs. Seldom has a collaboration of well known stars in music sounded so vigorous and frenzied as The Limit’s caveman-like roar. The Limit is an astoundingly fresh and hot-blooded shot to the veins that Heavy Rock needs in this day and age. Conjured forth by stone-age pioneers, Caveman Logic goes to the heart of impassioned Heavy Rock and Punk, to deliver the basic and vital elements often missing in so much of today’s music. If you want primitive and straight to the soul primal rock, fresh from the grave and exhumed for a new unwitting future, look no further than Caveman Logic. This is it.

Svart Records is proud to present The Limit. Punk & Doom originators go straight to the soul of heavy rock on their new album Caveman Logic to be released via Svart Records on the 9th of April 2021. More than a super-group, The Limit goes over the edge, to deliver real-deal, soulful Rock and Roll. Consisting of members of legendary Punk instigators The Stooges, the founders of Doom Rock Pentagram, legendary NYC Punk originators Testors and infamous Portugese metal band Dawnrider, The Limit break out from the foundations of heavy rock and defy all expectations, to show a new generation what doom and punk really means. On the new album Caveman Logic, Bobby Liebling, singer and main-man of Pentagram, one of the originators of early Doom Rock and an inspiration for generations of Heavy Rock fans, on vocals, gives the performance of his career, singing like his life depended on it. Sonny Vincent, enigmatic legend of the early NYC Max's Kansas City, CBGB Punk scene with his band Testors, having been on the road and recording with members of The Velvet Underground, lays down the guitar driven songs, his writing bearing all the hallmarks of ground-breaking Rock history in it’s filthy DNA. Phenomenal bass playing from Jimmy Recca, ex- The Stooges, and Ron Asheton’s New Order, gives The Limit the intense and world-class, speaker-destroying bottom end. Joined by Hugo Conim on Guitar and João Pedro Ventura on Drums from Portuguese band Dawnrider, The Limit fuses star-dust pedigree with an organic incendiary chemistry that’s instantly raw and real. A dream come true to those that know their Doom/Punk history, The Limit brings the past right up to date on Caveman Logic, with an essential, burning passion at the heart of their songs. Seldom has a collaboration of well known stars in music sounded so vigorous and frenzied as The Limit’s caveman-like roar. The Limit is an astoundingly fresh and hot-blooded shot to the veins that Heavy Rock needs in this day and age. Conjured forth by stone-age pioneers, Caveman Logic goes to the heart of impassioned Heavy Rock and Punk, to deliver the basic and vital elements often missing in so much of today’s music. If you want primitive and straight to the soul primal rock, fresh from the grave and exhumed for a new unwitting future, look no further than Caveman Logic. This is it.

Eine neu überarbeitete ”Island Years”-Auflage des klassischen Bob-Marley-Boxsets, zum ersten Mal auch auf Vinyl. Mit Marleys vielen Klassikern von ”Concrete Jungle” über ”Redemption Song” bis hin zu seltenen 12”-Mixen, B-Seiten, jamaikanischen Singles und Alternates. ”Songs Of Freedom: The Island Years” erscheint als 6LP-Set.

Das 6LP-Set auf schwarzem Standard-Vinyl (180 g) enthält ein 20-seitiges Booklet mit seltenen Fotos,
mehreren Essays und Titelinformationen.

Today, The Wytches announce their third album Three Mile Ditch. The album features the recently released single “Cowboy” which marked their return after four years away and to celebrate the announcement they share new single “A Love You’ll Never Know”. The track is accompanied by a music video by Mark Breed and he explains,

“The music video format was a long process. Making the set was incredibly fun with Kristian crafting most of the miniatures.I then had to film the green screen band performance within the set before recording the edited version onto my VHS camera. Finally I shot the finished edit inside the view finder.”

The album recorded with Luke Oldfield at Tile House Studios will be released on their own label Cable Code Records on Friday 2nd October.

“This is the first thing that I've ever been proud of for longer than a week,” says The Wytches frontman Kristian Bell of the band’s latest album Three Mile Ditch. This sense of vigour and enthusiasm coming from Bell about the band’s third album is matched by its contents. The album is an explosive collection of 10 tracks that weaves seamlessly between gut-wobbling monster riffs, swampy rock, slick surf, and finely tuned songcraft. It’s also the result of a band coming back from the brink of collapse.

The band’s early trajectory was a steep and speedy one as they quickly established themselves as one of the country’s most exciting and pulverising new bands. Major festival slots stacked up at places such as Glastonbury, SXSW, Reading and Leeds, and British Summertime with the Strokes. As did the tours across the US with METZ, traversing Europe with Fat White Family and Death Grips. They garnered support from BBC 6 Music, DIY, MOJO, NME and more. However, when the ascent to the stratosphere is moving at such a speed, there’s a risk of burning out and imploding, and the band came close to this.

They were on the rocks for a while, unsure of themselves and if the band should - or even could - go on. “I had it in my head that this kind of thing only really happens once and to try it again might be a big waste of time,” Bell reflects. However, despite the difficulties, the powerful pull of the band was too great to ignore.

“We had an album’s worth of songs that was some of our best material. The mission became to complete a Wytches album rather than get The Wytches back on the touring circuit. This album helped us make the decision to try it again.”

Old, but still functioning computers are simply scrapped, made redundant and without remorse left to corrosion and an existence without a task and no perspective. That this doesn’t need to be so, and that even computers with limited storage capacity can still take on a function in society, is illustrated by Alexei Shulgin’s outdated 386, now serving as a musician. Performing Classic Rock's Biggest Smash Hits! The Clash! The Doors! The Sex Pistols! Hendrix! and more... gone digital, gone to 8-bit computerized chip-music with a singing computer, with all the charme available to a text-to- speech- programm.

Created by Russian artist Alexei Shulgin, 386 DX was “the world’s first cyberpunk band.” Known for its live performances on city streets and in nightclubs, the performer is a dingy, singing PC that runs Windows 3.1, equipped with a vintage sound card and loaded with MIDI files of drums, guitar, and synth and accompanying lyrics.

The ironic comment delivered by Shulgin and his singing computer is well within the context of the performances by the 386 DX rockband, with which he “toured” Europe in 1998 and performed on nearly 60 occasions. This one- man-one-computer-show was based on a similar idea as his current installation: Shulgin presented himself as a performer carrying a keyboard, and by simply hitting a key elicited the text-to-speech singing, accompanied by very simple music and a few Seventies-style visual effects.Alexei Shulgin simply is the King of Cyberpop.

In a world of announcements of announcements, Gatecreeper are firing no warning shots before dropping their new release. “I think the social media environment has just fried our attention spans,” vocalist Chase Mason says. “Trying to hold someone’s attention for two or three months with a typical album roll-out doesn’t seem feasible with everything else currently going on in the world.” That’s not the only reason An Unexpected Reality comes with no pre-release hype whatsoever. “It’s meant to be listened to as a whole, so we didn’t wanna break it up or release a couple songs ahead of time as ‘singles’ or whatever,” Mason clarifies. “We also didn’t wanna treat it like it’s our next full-length. Because it’s not.” Written, recorded and now released during the Covid-19 pandemic, An Unexpected Reality is Gatecreeper like you’ve never heard them before. Exploring both ends of the tempo spectrum, the release offers two opposing sides of the band’s musical personality. Side one consists of seven short, sharp shocks that have a total running time of less than seven minutes. Inspired by grind, punk and hardcore, tracks like “Starved,” “Rusted Gold” and “Amputation” are some of the fastest offerings the Arizona death metal squad has ever recorded. Side two is the exact opposite.

“The Vale” is in immersive electronic album of dark soundtrack work. It’s the first of several Everyday Dust releases scheduled for Castles in Space in 2021.

Everyday Dust is RJ McConnell. Based in Scotland, RJ ditched piano lessons when he realised I had no interest in being an instrumentalist. Instead he wanted to create his own musical works from the ground up. He goes on, “I was much happier working my way through music theory books on my own and applying my learning to my own music. We had a little home studio when I was a child. My Dad was also a musician and was involved in local amateur theatre where he prepared and operated all the sound cues on reel to reel tape. So from an early age I was messing around with tape machines, making tape loops and recording music. For years I tried to make the most interesting tones I could from a Yamaha home keyboard by passing it through my Dad’s guitar pedals, or recording to tape and playing it back at different speeds etc. My first proper synth was the Roland SH101.” He went on to study music and sound for theatre and worked for many years as a theatre composer before branching into larger events and eventually film and documentary work.

The Vale story starts in 2018. RJ again, “I was brought in as composer for an independent horror short that was being filmed in Istanbul. The film was a vampire movie, very atmospheric and beautifully shot. I was aware of being a Scottish composer on a Turkish film and therefore didn’t want to attempt in any way to make anything that sounded traditionally Turkish. I wanted to represent the idea of these ancient beings who had existed in one of the oldest cities in the world for centuries. I wondered how I could imply this “ancient” world with the instruments I had to hand. I recorded various old metal whistles, which were slowed right down to become eerie arcane horn blasts that sounded like they had come from another time. I also recorded lots of melodica, which was again slowed down to sound like wheezing old harmonium drones. I spent another day recording inside an old piano, plucking individual strings and also hammering them percussively with wooden beaters. Using synthesizers and effects as the “glue” to bring these sounds together I started to work on the cues for the film. I had scored most of the film by the time I heard it was being cancelled. The concept and story had been taken over by a streaming site who wanted to make it into a series - with a drastically different tone and style.

“Later that same year I had worked on a project that incorporated the folklore of a celtic water sprite who kept the waterfalls and streams running smoothly so they could turn the mills of the local village. In return the villagers would bring the water sprite bannocks (Scottish flatbreads) each day. I started to daydream about a darker, Lovecraftian twist on this story. Some Ancient One dwelling in the forests and controlling the water - the very life essence of the village - in return for offerings of the soul. The concept was filed away in the back of my mind for some months.

“The following year I was on a flight to visit my friend in Bodrum. He had been the producer and editor on the original disbanded Vampire film, and I found myself thinking about the project again. I wondered if the sound cue files were still on my laptop, which they were. It had been a year since I’d even heard them. Hearing the eldritch folk-tinged sounds of the whistles and plucked strings my mind instantly returned to the idea of the Lovecraftian folk horror story. I started jotting down notes and musical ideas and by the time I landed in Bodrum I already had the album title - The Vale. Having the album concept and prototype ideas to work with was a huge head start in making the album. Although all of the original cues were so dramatically developed and transformed that they really just served as the initial clay on the wheel.

“I used a Doepfer A100 modular synth to create the animalistic yelps, conches and horns that were improvised over the original cues as a response to the arcane “folk” world of the acoustic instruments. This half-acoustic half-modular landscape was the sonic scene-setter I needed to move onto the composition and musical journey of the album. I composed and developed most of the musical parts on an Oberheim Matrix 6 synthesizer. However all the percussion, rhythmic sequences and ornamental synth sounds were created from improvised modular sessions multitrack recorded. A lot of editing later, the soundtrack to the movie in my mind was finally there.

This cassette collects some of these stills, or better said freeze frames. Freeze frames that become almost landscapes that one can enter or not, listen closely to or use as mere background ambience. Wilson went in and untied the knot, yet while investigating the situation, posing more questions. This is as open-ended a release can get, so captiously simple.I met Andrew Wilson, (aka Berko, Art Wilson, Andras), a few months ago in Tokyo where we were both to perform on a sort of Balearic Ambient variety show in the heart of Shibuya. At some point Andrew was telling me about his interest in Youtube videos of truck accidents, animals attacking people and bloopers. With creating one-shot samples of these sort of “popular fringe finds” he started creating long-form drones of harmonic beauty, without being overtly and subjectively emotional. Wilson presented some of these pieces on said night in Tokyo, in a dandyesque manner all dressed in white, sitting behind a small restaurant table. "Table for one, please … "

WRWTFWW Records is feeling total bliss as it announces the full official reissue of two major works from the great Somei Satoh gathered into one LP: the mystic and meditative Emerald Tablet (1978) and Echoes (1981), sourced from original masters and available on vinyl with liner notes by passio-nate Japanese music connoisseur/collector/critic/dj Masaaki Hara.

Fall into the ambient vastness, let yourself go…

Originally released by highly respected label ALM, these pivotal pieces of late 70s / early 80s Ja-panese experimental music majestically showcase Satoh’s intuitive approach to composition and mastery of creating infinite worlds of sound from very, very little.

Emerald Tablet, recorded at the fabled NHK Studio of Electronic Music in 1978, is a spellbinding take on musique concrète meets tape music relying solely on sound harmonics from tubular bell, cymbals, and 'kin' (Buddhist standing bell) overdubbed endlessly, voyaging into vertiginous sonic depths.

Echoes was composed for the Mist, Sound, and Light Festival, a 10-day event organized by the hot spring tourist association of Kawaji, Tochigi Prefecture, held on May 20-29, 1981. It was played in the Kawaji hot spring's Ojika river valley, with 8 gigantic loudspeakers set up on hills surrounding the stream and connected to an octuple channel-tape system - thanks to a combined length of cables exceeding one kilometer - while artificial fog rose from a ravine and laser beams shot up on the mountains. Cinematic and resonating, this breathtaking piece from Somei Satoh is a transcending sonic experience.

Emerald Tablet / Echoes is reissued in conjunction with Somei Satoh’s Mandala Trilogy + 1 double LP, also available on WRWTFWW Records.

The Mighty Jah Stitch was a legend in Jamaica, making the move as so many ghetto youth’s have tried from Bad Man to Music Man. Jah Stitch embraced the DJ Culture that he himself was an integral part of.
He put not one but two musical stamps on the format. His initial Big Youth sounding chants grew from working alongside the man on the mic. The second almost spoken vibe came about after a well documented incident that led to him being shot .He lived to tell the tale and cut some of the finest Roots DJ cuts, with his new vocal style that many copied but few have surpassed.

We have selected some of his best known tracks to show the knack of working a killer rhythm and dubbed vocal with an almost call and response story telling style.
The opening and title track to this set ‘Dread Inna Jamdown’ sees him working over John Holt’s ‘In The Springtime’.
The second cut ‘Dem Seek Natty Everywhere’ works another John Holt classic ‘Forgot to Say I Love You’.

After some hits in the 1970’s, the 1980’s would see a short name change to Major Stitch.
But we feel that his best loved monicker Jah Stitch serves the man well.
So sit back and enjoy some fine DJ Cuts

No Dread Can’t Dead…Jah Stitch R.I.P

After the very successful EP releases of quickly, quickly’s “Over Skies” in mid 2018 (27m spotify-streams) and Please Wait’s “Black & White” in late 2019 (6,4m spotify-streams to this day) Jakarta Records and Ta-ku take their joint label to the next level presenting 823’s very 1st longplayer - a compilation feat. an international line-up of already established as well as up & coming Lo-Fi producers, handpicked and curated by none other than 823 label-head Ta-ku himself.
1st single to be released on 21st of August is „Serenity“ by prolific 27 year old producer eevee (1,5m monthly listeners) from the Netherlands aka „the queen of Lo-Fi“ delivering a loopy and very hypnotic tune w/ quite jazzy horns feeling like watching the sunset on a desert planet like Dune - from outer space.
2nd single will be a double-single, coming on September 11th w/ finnish indie-producer Idealism (2,5m monthly listeners) and his tune “Somehow” – a steady and softened beat w/ colorfull and chilled piano chords – on the one side and Ta-ku’s “Remember Me” - another powerful Lo-Fi anthem by the Australian allrounder and 823 patron - on the flipside.
The compilation’s 3rd drop will be a double-single as well featuring 19 year old, US-based self made producer Peachy! (2,6m monthly listeners), delivering his Shanghai inspired, very spheric walk-by tune “Stroll” on one side while Laguna contributes his slowly uplifting but very keen “Lone Rider” on the flipside, catching that specific moment when switching from boredom to euphoria right away.
All singles off the compilation will be accompanied by customized visuals from different filmmakers catching the songs’ very own vibes. The compilation’s artwork comes along in its very own and unique 823-style.
Worldwide web promotion for this release will be handled and taken care of by Jonathan Kim.
_____

Ta-ku’s 823 label represents the appreciation for the people, ideas and places that inspire and push their protagonists forward. The artwork is shot by the artists themselves and each release has an accompanying photo zine that acts as a visual story to compliment the music being showcased. 823 is also the numerical representation of the phrase 'Thinking Of You'.

“823 celebrates the simple beauty of everyday life and the people in it that inspire us. In that spirit we are proud to present our very first compilation featuring artists we love. All Things Considered Vol.1” (Regan Matthews aka Ta-ku)

Record Kicks reissues mythical Calibro 35's third album "Any Resemblance To Real Persons Or Actual Facts Is Purely Coincidental" sampled by Dr Dre in "Compton".

Completing the trilogy of Calibro 35's reissues, Record Kicks proudly presents "Any Resemblance To Real Persons Or Actual Facts Is Purely Coincidental", the third album by Italian cinematic funk heroes CALIBRO 35, whose title track was sampled by Dr.Dre in "One Shot One Kill" featuring Snoop Dog in his 2015 "Compton" album. After the reprint of the previous two records "Calibro 35" and "Ritornano Quelli Di (The Return Of)", this third and last reissue will be available on December 4th on a limited edition LP and digitally in a Deluxe Edition version. The digital Deluxe Edition includes 3 bonus tracks: the band's original compositions "Ballando In Balera" and "Appuntamento al Contessa" and a cover of Herbie Hancock's "Deathwish".

Recorded in Brooklyn in just five days, with "Any Resemblance" the Milan cult combo, while cultivating its damn-near-perfected cinematic vibes, experiments a more improvisational approach to writing. "Massacre at Dawn" comes straight from afro-funk territory, an homage to Brooklyn heroes Budos Band and Menahan Street Band. "Rain On Concrete" instead sounds like a French soundtrack composed some decades ago by Francis Lai or Jean Claude Vannier. There is also a more globally-inspired flavour to several tracks on the album: from the Indian vibe of the sitar-injected "New Dehli Deli," to the streets of San Francisco with the heavy weight of the clavinet on "Thank You and Good Bye," to the high impact horn riffs of Detroit's Motown Studio sound on "The BBQ Band" and "The Package", and then back again to Italy for retro-scat vocals on "Uh Ah Brrr", reminiscent of the best of Ennio Morrione's and Piero Umiliani's compositions from the 60s. Just like the previously reprinted "Calibro 35" and "The Return Of", 2012 "Any Remblance" LP is highly sought-after by collectors and soundtrack aficionados worldwide and by popular demand a reissue sees the light of day on a limited edition Gatefold LP that includes digital download of the bonus tracks.

Active since 2008, CALIBRO 35 enjoy a worldwide reputation as one of the coolest independent bands around. During their ten-year career, they were sampled by Dr. Dre on his "Compton" album as well as by Jay-Z and The Child of Lov & Damon Albarn, they shared stages worldwide with the likes of Roy Ayers, Muse, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sharon Jones, Thundercat and Headhunters and as unique musicians they collaborated with, among others, PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, John Parish and Stewart Copeland and Nic Cester (The Jet). Described by Rolling Stone magazine as "the most fascinating, retro-maniac and genuine thing that happened to Italy in the last years", Calibro 35 can now count on a number of aficionados worldwide, including VIP fans such as Dj Food (Ninja Tune), Mr Scruff and Huey Morgan (Fun Lovin' Criminals) among others.