Suche:one two

yellow marbled vinyl / vinyl only

After a long wait we are happy to finally share the next release on Sleepless Musik and welcome Canarian artist Moises to our family!

A1. Circular
The title track is a dancefloor bomb, bursting with groove. You'll find it aptly placed on the A side, along with a remix from Sakro. The deep, rolling bassline of Circular takes similar form to previous Moises releases, a fast pace dance between low and high notes. Eery breakdowns signalled by spiralling synths accentuate the mysterious melody that dominates the track, before rave like chords creep to the forefront. Then with a cheeky hi-hat flick, the bass is back. The energy emanating from this one is enough to have a crowd going wild at peak-time.

A2. Circular (Sakro Remix)
The remix is a little more subtle, yet equally as suited for late into the night. The percussion overtakes this one with a deeper bassline. It becomes clouded with minimalistic growling and an echoing vocal, injecting the dreary trip we've got quite used to hearing in Sakro's productions.

B1. Homecoming
Flip the record over and the four-tracker becomes complete with two more of Moises' own productions, both of which retain that signature groove. Homecoming pulsates repetitive rhythms laced with chattering patter and choppy voice. A sweet layer to house the jabbing synth that follows for another dance worthy beat.

B2. Inside Out
Inside Out completes the set, representing a different approach. This feel good finale ditches the darkness and is instead full of dreamy high notes and percussive swing, making it the uplifting one of the bunch. It's fun, playful and full of life, perfect for celebrating those moments at the afters when the sun is up and so are the people.

The Bees are a textbook case of the chew and spit cycle that was the late 80’s South African music industry. Although their unknown story is likely unique, it is just as likely that it is no different to that of many other young artists who dreamed of getting their music heard at the time.

By 1988, the independent record label was no longer as uncommon as it had been at the beginning of the decade. As the 80s went on, more seasoned A&R reps and Producers that had gained experience and connections from their work under major labels would be trying to cash in on a market they helped create. Without the need of big rooms or expensive recording equipment, the digital advancements allowed many Producers to open or work in smaller studios and promote unknown artists under their own imprints. They would then have their catalogs marketed and distributed by the same major labels they had been working for just years prior. This would open up the possibility of a new era of stars as potential talent no longer had to be pitched to major labels in hopes of them taking a chance on a new signee over their already established artists. With the market growing and a struggle to keep up with the demand for new sounds this agreement would allow the major labels to put new emerging artists or groups on their catalog with little investment and high reward if it happened to be a hit.

ON Records was just one of the independent players at the time. Ronnie Robot had just signed the unlikely trio The Bees in hopes of adding a hit group to his label roster that consisted of solo acts. Despite the debut’s fresh house inspired sound, it failed to catch on was outsold by the bubblegum disco the label was known for. Over the years unsold back stock and promos would build up with the distributor. Luckily this allowed sealed copies from the label’s catalog to survive into the 90s when the distributor’s stock was unloaded and picked up by legendary Johannesburg jazz shop Kohinoor. Here sealed copies of the Bees first attempt sat under appreciated for over 20 years before becoming a hot title after they started circulating online and became club staples. This is how the first album of an unknown group with no success was able to become a collectors item and earn a reissue over 25 years later.

With their first record behind them The Bees were ready move forward and get back into the studio. A suggestion from producers had the trio change camps and go work with the newly formed Creative Sound Recordings, the label that promised “Music for the Future” and ended up being an essential studio in the early years of Kwaito. They would work with producer Chris Ghelakis and guitarist George Vardas, while a young Marvin Moses sat behind the desk. Musically the sophomore album was as good as a follow up as you could get. Building on the first album, Mashonisa delivers catchy melodies backed by heavy drum programming that would score points with any Pantsula. The Black Box inspired “ Never Give Up” was one of two tracks chosen to be pressed as the promo for the album, hoping to trick listeners with their catchy version of the hit( A year later the label would release their first volume of Black Box covers sang by neo soul diva BB, it would be a great seller). The label printed up an unknown amount of these in a last attempt to push the release in Shabeens and on Radio. The cheaper route of flooding the market with promo copies would only pay off 25 years later when unplayed copies started being rediscovered and had survived the years in a quantity that original run of the full album could not. Once again it was clear that with no mainstream appeal, the quality of the music on its own was not enough to garner any success at the time. The album flopped worse than their first and failed to make it past it’s initial run, making it one of the harder titles to get from the CSR catalog.

Mashonisa would be the last attempt from the Bees. They would disappear from the scene as quickly as they appeared. Of the three members it is only known that lead Singer Solomon Phiri continued in music fronting a wave dance group before he mysteriously vanished in 1993, never to be heard from again. Through a combination of luck and circumstance the group, which is unknown in South Africa to even the most plugged in musicians, producers and radio hosts of the time, managed to finally get some of the recognition they deserved 30 years later. Unfortunately this small blip of fame would happen with none of the band members present to give their side of the story, or even aware of how their two albums became popular enough to be printed on different continents in a new millennia. The Bees suffered the same fate as countless other artists of the time, who thanks to emerging independent labels and willing producers were given an opportunity to have a short career, only to be replaced by the meat grinder of the music industry when they failed to produce a hit.

Re-Issue on Extreme Eating. Housed in a gatefold sleeve designed by Steve Lippert, mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy. Everything else was done by Sleaford Mods. From Original Press Release 2015 "Key Markets was a large supermarket bang in the centre of Grantham from the early 1970's up until around 1980," explains Jason Williamson. "My mum would take me there and I'd always have a large coke in a plastic orange cup surrounded by varnished wood trimmings and big lamp shades with flowers on them. Beige bricks with bright yellow points of sale and large black foam letters surrounded you and this is why we called the album 'Key Markets'. It's the continuation of the day to day and how we see it, the un-incredible landscape." "The album was recorded in various periods between summer 2014 through to October of that year. We worked fast as we normally do, the method was the same as the other albums and like the other two, the sound has naturally moved itself along. 'Key Markets' is in places quite abstract but it still deals heavily with the disorientation of modern existence. It still touches on character assassination, the delusion of grandeur and the pointlessness of government politics. It's a classic. Fuck em." 1/Live Tonight 2/No One's Bothered 3/Bronx in a Six 4/Silly Me 5/Cunt Make It Up 6/Face To Faces 7/Arabia 8/In Quiet Streets 9/Tarantula Deadly Cargo 10/Rupert Trousers 11/Giddy on the Ciggies 12/The Blob

A focal point for the unique punk-funk that was coming together in Bristol as the bridge from the 70s to the 80s arrived, Maximum Joy was formed by Glaxo Babies multi-instrumentalist Tony Wrafter and 18 year old vocalist Janine Rainforth. Soon they drafted in additional Glaxo Babies in the form of drummer Charlie Llewellin and bassist Dan Catsis, along with guitarist John Waddington, fresh from The Pop Group. The group set about making a one-of-a-kind mix of funk, punk, pop, jazz, dub, soul, afrobeat and reggae; creating a brilliant burst of danceable tunes wrapped around elastic basslines and complex percussion, punctuated by melodic horns and stabs of guitar, all of it highlighting Rainforth’s naturally enthusiastic vocal style. They immediately took their place on the rosters of influential labels like Y and 99 with iconic debut single Stretch, as the band had clearly captured something special.

Entering 1982, Kevin Evans had replaced Catsis as Maximum Joy set out to make what would be their only full length LP. Recording at Berry Street and The Lodge with producers Adrian Sherwood (On-U-Sound legend), Dave Hunt (Flying Lizards, Pigbag, This Heat) and Pete Wooliscroft (Kate Bush, Talk Talk, Peter Gabriel, OMD, This Heat) the band would mix practiced grooves with imaginative improvisation. The results were absolutely jaw-dropping.

Station M.X.J.Y. kicks things off with Dancing On My Boomerangand promptly sets forth the blueprint for bands like !!! and The Rapture to capitalize on nearly twenty years later. In fact, those bands can only dream of the mix of driving percussion and spectral shards of guitar that Maximum Joy has clearly already mastered. Do It Todayannounces itself immediately with Rainforth delivering a looping and infectious vocal melody that the others dance around playfully, as handclaps keep the stomping groove intact, leaving a dancehall hit for outer space circling your turntable.

If you ever wondered what it would sound like if ESG and The Slits combined forces, Let It Take You There has the answer for you. Llewellin periodically delivers a cascade of marching band percussion while Waddington’s classic R&B riffs are transformed into a slithering snake trying to keep pace with Evans locked in groove as Rainforth’s singsong vocals are reduced to whispered echoes. They close out side one with the delicious slab of pop that is Searching For A Feeling. Clearly pronouncing the band’s intention to find the positives in a dire time for England, they look to rally those around them to focus on making real change in the face of opposing voices via one of Rainforth’s most delightful deliveries.

Side two sees Wrafter stretching out on Where’s Deke?, showcasing what had already been obvious, as he is the band’s secret weapon, often coloring each tune with his horns, sometimes in several styles just seconds apart. He underlines that feeling with the raucous and bouncy Temple Bomb Twist, before they hit a straight groove in Mouse An’ Me, like a dub infected Train In Vain. Well, if The Clash had ever allowed themselves to properly lose their minds on the dancefloor.

A funky afrobeat flute and guitar battle breaks out (way cooler than it sounds) before Rainforth rallies the troops to not only fill up the disco, but also the surrounding streets in political resistance to Thatcherism via All Wrapped Up. It is entirely genuine and their activism has none of the menace of the others in their scene, but rather a feeling of sharp optimism amongst this danceable masterpiece. It is that optimism that always set Maximum Joy apart, and makes their grooves all the more irresistible today.

Sadly, the upward trajectory of the band was cut short as Rainforth left the group, and soon afterwards seemed to stop making music altogether. The reasoning seemed destined to remain a mystery, until earlier this year when she gave a brave interview to The Guardian where she revealed that an assault by someone in the industry caused her to retreat entirely from music for nearly three decades. Luckily, Janine has embraced music once again, and she refuses to let the magic that was Station M.X.J.Y. be lost as well.

Sincere, sarcastic and unassumingly seminal: Glasgow's answer to Basic Channel, Southside's answer to Pub and Sandy's answer to those endless afters. 2s on the balcony and runs to the shop. An ode to the skyline; a symphony for the local legends; a tapestry of downtempo dreamscapes - from Shawlands to Neukölln and the world beyond. A warm dose of future-proof emotion. Strap in, this is one for heads, the lovers and all those along the way. Welcome to the layer cake son. Forever yours, Dream_E.

Since making his debut as 96 Back in 2018, Evan Majumdar-Swift has become one of underground electronic music's genuine rising stars. To date, the Sheffield-born producer has released two acclaimed albums for labels such as Hypercolour and CPU as well as a string of singles and collaborations. His EP for Happy Skull showcases his growing versatility as a producer and marks the labels return following a brief hiatus.

"143 Connections", is a rapidly unfurling club cut that sees him pepper a weighty 140 rhythm track with crispy arpeggios and rolling acid motifs . The track increases in intensity as it progresses, with Rob Gordon's immaculate mastering work bringing out the cut's inherent weight, sharpness and subtle Bleep influences.

Elsewhere across the EP, 96 Back takes the opportunity to expand his trademark sound a little further. "Set Science" is a colourful slab of electro machine funk, full of fizzing sci-fi melodies and brain dance era synth work while "In The Trunk, Belting Down The Highway" drops the tempo but turns the intensity up to red with a slow motion chunk of mutant electronica complete with misty eyed breakdown.

The premise for Quindi Records is simple – to represent music with a universality at its core.
Without adhering to specific genre tropes, the releases are intended to have a meaning and purpose in all kinds of situations – a social soundtrack as much as a stimulating experience,
feeding emotions and the psyche with a sentimental palette of sounds. Lovers’ music, loners’ music, music for friends and family alike.
Woo makes for a perfect choice to meet this loose concept head-on – the music of Clive and Mark Ives straddles disparate worlds and finds its own peculiar balance. On one hand it’s delicate synthesizer music with a minimalist bent, while on the other their joyous, twinkling harmonies have an immediacy that speaks to the soul. You can detect privacy in their craft – the brothers originally recorded their music in relative isolation in London in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. It’s only in recent years their sublime work has enjoyed a wider audience through an extensive run of reissues.
Arcturian Corridor ? presents a rare, previously unreleased piece of music from Woo – the expansive suite of the title track that unfurls across five parts. It’s an enchanting listen that shows a new breadth and depth to the duo – detailed drum programming and a broader palette of synth tones cascading in elegant unison. The name refers to Arcturus, the fourth brighteststar in the night sky. As Woo themselves explain, “The Arcturian Corridor is said to be a channel of light that brings unconditional love and wisdom from Arcturus to Earth.”
In addition to the 20-minute A-side piece, Woo also presents a new version of “Love On Other Planets”, a standout piece from their 1990 album ?Into The Heart of Love? . The fragile subtlety of the original has been embellished here with rich new passages that turn it into a kind of electronica epic, although still marked out with the sensitivity one expects from a Woo record.
Two remixes complete the set, both furthering Quindi’s modus operandi as a genre-agnostic force for cosmically charged music. Dublin’s Wah Wah Wino collective present their Wino Wagon manifestation for a tastefully strange house version of the fifth part of “Arcturian Corridor” that channels the freakiness of Pepe Bradock, the robo-funk of Metro Area and a soupcon of pop nous. British duo Ultramarine maintain the stylistic ambiguity as they channel decades of expressive experimentation between live band dynamics and machine soul on their version of the title track’s second chapter.

You cannot say Nu Groove without saying Burrell. The seminal New York House label that existed from 1988 until 1992 was at the helm of a sound that was as much traditional as it was transitional. Since the closure of the Paradise Garage in 1987 and before the „NYC House sound“ was well-defined and fenced, Nu Groove was a kaleidoscope and an amalgamation of everything that informed it until then: uptempo r&b, reggae, dub, disco, freestyle, techno, jazz, and the sound that was embossed by Larry Heard in Chicago that was so well picked up in the Big Apple, you name it. Ronald and Rheji Burrell provided its basis, first floor and roof. But that story has already been told by our dear friends from Rush Hour, including its most important chapters. But we are going to tell a new one.

Rheji Burrell presents N.Y. House’N Authority & The Utopia Project. Twelve tracks split over two EPs on Running Back. Named „Out of Body Experience“ and „The ’V’EP“, it features all new music that feels like modern garments cut out of a classic cloth. Almost as if the Nu Groove would have never stopped. And that it is - at the risk of self-praise - all that old or new fans and also we could hope for. Two EPs full of deep-that-doesn’t rhyme-with-sleep house music, has simple, yet clever arrangements, features jazzy sounds, but snappy drums, merry melodies and glossy grooves. An overall joy to listen or dance to. The difference in both EPs is for the Burrell-die-hards and Nu-Groove-scientists to decide.

Various Artists: Lisene, Hartta, Sourpuss & Interplanetary Criminal

"Banoffee Pies Records" drop the 13th release in the original series. This VA aptly entitled "Common Ground" is a crossover of influences from 4 artists with a selection of tracks all above 150 bpm from producers of a similar generation giving a nod to their youth and early musical journeys, largely inspired by Drum & Bass and Jungle raves across the UK.

The release divided in two with a Dark A side and Light B side offering parallel moods of depth and liquidity. The opening track "Class Of '92" from Lisene, one half of the Space Cadets duo, with previous releases on Seven Hill Records and an EP lined up with Planet Euphorique later this year, pushes complex drum patterns and pulsing synths evolving in energy levels throughout. The A2 from Bristol based Hartta offers a more spooked out bass heavy cut with "Hauntology", ready for powerful system rumbling.

The B side begins with title track "Common Ground", an ode to dusted jungle and liquid drum & bass from Leeds based Sourpuss, known for running the Stretchy Dance Supply parties, - this track serving hedonistic eye rolling gurner euphoria, sounding more like an og 90's prodcution. The last track on the disc "Vapour" comes from Manchester's Interplanetary Criminal. With his UKG EP "Move Tools" on BP010 landing on the label and many dance floors at the end of 2019, this nostalgic drum scattered jungle cut stylishly closes off the compilation. Ltd. Press. BP x

Mastered: Optimum, Pressed: MPO & Distributed by KUDOS.

After a long absence, Imported Recordings celebrates his return and comes back to his first love, presenting "Volupté Amère", an EP featuring their vision of house music: a multifaceted music tailored to ambience crowds in clubs, vacationers at the beach, and family at home.

After releasing a last EP "Vague Aléatoire" in 2018, this new opus sounds like a return to the roots.



The EP offers a "guest" half with two tracks from the demos we receive during the year. The first one, signed Martin Alix, is an ode to the dancefloor that will bring together fans of powerful bass and strong beats. The second track, deeper, is signed by the Italian Steve Hammer, and shines by the efficiency of his extended break that quickly plunges the audience into a state of trance.



The second half is worn by artists from the big Imported family. The first one is a nugget that could already be described as a classic house signed Major League House, a melancholic track carried by a piano that takes you straight to your guts. Another talent of the house, Matthieu Faubourg gives us the pleasure to sign, just like MLH, a first track on the label. Evolutive and club oriented track, we recognize in "Swell" the characteristic paw of the French producer in this heady track which rhymes with rise in pressure and explosion.

Pleamar(Spanish for high tide) is the first collaborative release between Chancha Vía Circuito and El Búho for Wonderwheel Recordings, and stands as one of the most refreshing EP's within the Latin American downtempo electronic genre.

On this release the vision of both artists is united as one. This unity is reflected through "Real Fun, Wow!"'s artwork, presenting an image of a centered eye, reminiscent of historic drawings from tide studies. The representation of Earth, with a central circle surrounded by two ellipsoids that rotate and align in perfect harmony, mirrors the meeting of the two producers, the moment when the seawater reaches its apex andPleamaroccurs.

Like a metamorphosis that - without knowing it - we had been waiting a long time for, the EP reconstructs Pedro and Robin's encounters over the years. It transports us into the history of migrant sounds, the salvaged sound of floral jungles, high mountain forests and the ocean deep. We hear a sonic beauty filled out by deep personal stories - four humble and honest tracks that demonstrate the fusion of these artists and both them and the genre into new territory.

Starting with "Oruga"'s deep ambience, dub atmospheres and space echo reverberations, the album follows this line of reverberated rhythms and relaxed percussion lines throughout, carrying us along with a pulsating, deep, natural tempo. "El Mago Georges", perhaps the Pleamar'sjewel, is bursting with life - impactful depth and perfectly tuned melodies yet tribal and delicate at the same time. "Murga del Viento'' recalls another meeting of these two minds: El Búho's much-loved remix of "Sueño en Paraguay" a beautiful track from Chancha Vía Circuito ("Amansará" 2014). Here the whistle meets the owl from the previous track and the two birds take us a step forward in this collaboration with chords superimposed on a haunting bass. The release ends with "Una Pulgada de Silencio", a track of cosmic synthesizers, trickling water samples and the voice of argentine folk singer Gus Goncalves. Through Pleamar we come to find a much needed peace and clarity hidden beneath the rolling waves, a deep-sound escape to get lost in.

Presenting Shirley Scott’s deeply personal album, ‘One for Me’ - a defiant tribute to the music she always desired to create but was shrouded by the demands of her vibrant career. Thoughtful curation of the band, tracks, and completely self-funded, this project set off on an innovative trajectory supported by Harold Vick on tenor saxophone and Billy Higgins on drums. Originally released on the revolutionary artist-owned label, Strata-East Records, in January 1975, this unique project will be available to enjoy again on Arc Records from 15th May 2020.

The impetus for this record was a real desire for Shirley to express herself more freely and create something for herself, taking back the power she’d seemingly relinquished throughout her career. Maxine Gordon, Scott’s close friend, and executive producer on the original record, expresses thatthey often had intimate discussions about how Scott was being told what to play, what to wear, how to look and how to speak in public for many years. Having had enough of these restrictions, she created this record to please no one but herself.

As Scott expresses on the back of the original LP sleeve:

“All of the music recorded in this album is both personal and very purposeful to me, because it is the first step toward honesty about what and how I want to play. I’ve done a lot of other albums, a lot of different ways for a lot ofdifferent people and now, with the help of the Creator, in whom all things are possible, I have done one for me too.”

Having self-raised funds to make the record, with complete control over the masters, and with her dream band together, Scott recorded at Blue Rock Studio in November 1974. Harold Vick, often referred to as one of the “unsung tenor saxophonists” of his time, was cherry picked to bring Scott’s vision to life. Throughout his career, he released records on Blue Note, RCA as well as performing and recording with a string of legendary artists such as Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin. Completing the dream trio was highly sought out drummer Billy Higgins, who is the most recorded drummer in the history of Blue Note Records, having played on 45 Blue Note albums. The key to their success was that Higgins tuned his drums to fit with the organ’s bass sound which, of course, Scott played with her feet.

Scott was also known as “Little Miss Half-Steps,” a name given to her by tenor saxophonist George Coleman, (who wrote a composition by that name in her honor) - she regularly played with both George & Harold. Coleman is known to have admired Scott’s half-steps (when you play two adjacent keys on the organ or piano) and their close bond and mutual respect is solidified on this record through a track titled ‘Big George’ - specifically written for Coleman.

“Queen of the Organ”, Shirley Scott was born in Philadelphia in 1934 and lived there most of her life until her early death in March 2002 at the age of 67. Having mastered the piano at an early age, Scott switched from piano to organ at the tender age of 21. Scott had a legendary recording career as a leaderwith 45 albums mainly released on Impulse and Prestige and is often remembered for her work with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Stanley Turrentine.Boasting a thriving career as a musician and composer, Scott progressed to a professor at Cheyney University in her later years. She was a treasured mother and grandmother, and a cherished friend of music scholar, Maxine Gordon, who’s honour it is to collaborate with Arc Records on shining a new bright light on this monumental body of work.

Harlem River Drive is a group that launched the careers of Eddie and Charlie Palmieri, two giants in the field of Latin fuelled jazz fusion. Comparisons have been made with the work of groups they inspired including War and Funkadelic from first recording and performing in the early 70s. Both idle Hands' and Seeds of Life' come from the group's self titled debut album released by Roulette in 1971. Drums are by one of the most prolific players of the day Bernard Purdie (Gil Scott-Heron, Aretha Franklin, Roy Ayers among many more), another high profile musician Cornell Brown on guitar with Randy Brecker on trumpet for Seeds Of Life'. Both tracks have been released before on 7' vinyl, now extremely rare, Seeds Of Life' appearing here on 7' for the first time in full length version

Steel drum cover of Grace Jones. Steel drum cover of Erykah Badu. Third full length album coming in 2021. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band is back with another crushing two-sider that is guaranteed to set dancefloors on fire and get heads nodding around the globe. The mysterious steel pan outfit hailing from Hamburg, Germany has become a staple in DJ sets from Europe to Japan, from the US to Brasil, and anywhere else these tunes have found their way to speakers. They have released a slew of classic 7”s and two critically acclaimed full length albums. With that they have set a high bar for themselves, one clearly they intend on pushing higher with this new offering. Side A is BRSB’s take on Grace Jones’ nightclub classic “My Jamaican Guy”. They take the tune to a new height from the first beat, laying down an infectious groove that will get people out of their seats immediately. Heavy duty drums and bass shake the speakers through the intro then the pans reveal what they are covering as they play the instantly recognizable top line of the original. Rhythm guitar, heavily echoed percussion hits, and the different pan sets all combine to make this yet another instant classic from Bacao. BRSB has received a lot of praise for their choices of covers. Occasionally reworking hits, but, most notably pulling the album cut gems from artists typically more championed by the underground. Well...here they go again, covering Erykah Badu’s homage to the late great J Dilla “The Healer”. This is the type of thing to make Spice Adams jump on his kitchen counter and scream. From the instant this comes on, necks will be snapping and faces will scrunch up as they take the original beat produced by Madlib and give it a run for its money. Shaking subwoofers with the eerie tremolo bass they replay E. Badu’s vocal melodies on the pans adding their own flourishes. Glockenspiel plays the downbeat and a clap like thunder keeps the two-step swaying, all coming together to make this another must have two-sider from Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band

Fantastic first album of Tunisian producer Azu Tiwaline, melting psychedelic dub, industrial and hypnotic techno deeply rooted in her berber culture, supported by Lena Willikens, Nicola Cruz, Toma Kami and Violet, to name a few!

Azu Tiwaline is a new name for a new spirit: one of a producer inspired by the need to explore her origins, rooted in the Tunisian Sahara. The Call to a different sound, organic and raw, vibrating in the great spaces of the African desert where trance music resonates... Ecstatic ritual.

Her first album, Draw Me A Silence, conceived as a diptych, reveals the multiple facets of her identity. Uniting the bonds that connect Berber music, dub culture and techno hypnosis, Azu Tiwaline invites us to refocus on our senses and our Nature. She knows how to use contrasts between light and the invisible, exploring the complexity of our emotions and the mystery that emanates from them, in a polyrhythmic chiaroscuro that runs through each one of her tracks, and of which we discover, as we go along, all the outlines.

Draw Me A Silence Part. I (to be released in February 2020), delivers the most hypnotic variant of her music, centered on dark percussive rhythms and a skillful use of repetition; each of the 5 tracks ineluctably carrying the listener into a trance. Two major tunes particularly illustrate the artist's imagination: "Itrik" and "Berbeka", perfectly synthesizing the heritage of Berber trance music and her techniques derived from minimalist and repetitive electronic music.

The continuation, Draw Me A Silence Part. II (to be released in April 2020), gives prominence to a deep heritage drawn from the dub culture and its numerous bass music filiations. This second part thus gives a new breath in the use of sound space, exploited in a much broader way, leaving all their space to complex syncopated percussive lines, supported by massive basslines dedicated to the best sound-systems. Omok, the first of the five tracks of this Part II is the perfect demonstration of this, playing here the essential role of a bridge to the darker waters of this album's end.

Each of these two parts exist as an Entity, and it is only when they are united that they will reveal their full meaning. Thus, in May, Draw Me A Silence will find its final form in a double-vinyl unifying them. Listening to this album in its entirety offers us a wide panorama of the sound landscapes visited by Azu Tiwaline, who seems to breathe primitive sounds of a faraway desert into a music with modern tones - and vice versa. A resolutely hybrid sound and a singular experience, playing with contrasts and nuances to catch the listener in vast and so far unexplored territories.

We gladly present the long awaited debut album by kurdish multi-instrumentalist Philippos Sîpano and Frankfurt am Main’s mighty duo Dan Bay & Le Rubrique aka The MPC Orchestra. “The Spirit of Dilovan” pays tribute to Philippos Sîpano and Dan Bayat’s youth band “Spirit Of Dilovan”, sketches the different musical paths the two took over the years and finds its final form in their new collaboration with Dilovan Le Rubrique, a master in the studio and a true patchbay wizzard.

With multilayered arrangements based on different kurdish music traditions and inspired by their indivudual experiences of Pop- and Clubculture, Philippos Sîpano & The MPC Orchestra’s new album can be both perceived as diasporic Popmusic or epic dancefloor monster for experienced music lovers.

All songs were produced at Offenbach’s Upper Citycenter Studio and dedicated to all DIlovans* out there, hoping they will one day constitute the majority of all people and we will all find peace, love and habibtiness on planet earth.

* good-hearted people <3

Mameen 3 are soFa and Cheb Runner from Brussels. Both versatile players in the rather niche scene of oriental electronic music in the European capital, they only ran into each other at the Nyege Nyege Festival in Uganda two years ago. They clicked and after a first jam session they immediately launched Mameen 3.

Cheb Runner is the young Moroccan producer previously known as Gan Gah, now focussing on giving a modern outfit to various MENA music traditions. soFa is a true digger between all crates (his Pingipung Podcast is a gem!), as well as the curator behind the highly recommended Elsewhere vinyl compilations, released on labels such as Emotional Response or Music For Dreams. Following the Mameen 3 debut singles on Bongo Joe with excellent spaced out reggae- disco hybrids, Pingipung proudly unearths the Collapse EP featuring two collabs with legendary musicians.

A side: "Impostrazione" is a collaboration with Claudia Radulescu and Walter Hus. Radulescu is a Romanian visual artist who has written the lyrics for the song, boldly interpreted by the legendary Walter Hus on the occasion of her exhibition 'Hit' in Kanal - Centre Pompidou Brussels in 2019. Hus gained international reputation as a pianist in the 1980s and works as an avantgarde composer today, among many projects he created an opera for the graphic novel “Lint” by Chris Ware. Walter Hus performs an effusive vocal style accompanied by his modified Decap organ which became his trademark sound in the past decade. This jam delivered the material which Mameen 3 subsequently transformed into a hypnotic oriental slow-mo banger.

B side: "Wireless C" features another music veteran, Rodion GA, who describes himself as „Romania’s first one man band". He produced a remarkable electro-prog output in the 1970s and 80s. “Rodion GA sounds like he learned about music from hearing someone describe it in their second language, drunk. It sounds like nothing else: wrong in all the right ways,“ says The Guardian about his music. His collab with Mameen 3 turns out as a balearic, space reggae trip, with dreamy vocals by Rodion and solid bass, definitely a hymn in this year’s festival season, if only there was one...

Joyce Cooling is known for being one of the dynamic jazz guitarists in the world. She has recorded for over two decades and had No.1 radio hits in the USA where she has performed with such musical giants as Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd, Al Jarreau, and Lee Ritenour. The vocal track "It's You" comes from her debut album "Cameo" in 1988 and was adopted by the jazz dance and soul scene in the mid 90s. It has been on CD compilations since that time but never before on vinyl. "Dori" is also one of her finest works from that time, only previously a bonus track on one edition of the "Cameo" CD

Dropsonde was originally released by Touch (UK) in 2006. This is a reissue with seven previously unreleased recordings.

Widely regarded as one of Norwegian electronic music's most important artists, Biosphere's Geir Jenssen career spans nearly two decades, several albums, lots of remixes, various sound installations, commissions, soundtracks and even the odd Himalayan summit.

You may recognise his work without knowing it, so frequently does it crop up on TV trailers and idents. In the early 1990s he was a pioneer of so-called 'Ambient Techno', but since then, he has refined his sound into something more magnetic and enduring.

Dropsonde' isn't a soundtrack like the interwoven 'Substrata' nor an episodic journey in the way that 'Autour de la Lune' is. Here Geir Jenssen is pushing new directions towards the jazz colours of Miles Davis and Jon Hassell, whilst re-invigorating the pulse and projection of his signature sound: a hypnotic combination of pleasure and dread.

The spatial aspects some have dubbed "Arctic sound" but it summons strong feelings, or as Exclaim from Canada put it, "in order to climb higher, you must first go deeper". Jon Savage adds: "As with all of the Biosphere albums, the music draws you in and makes you want to listen and feel. Jenssen's work acts on a very emotional level, one that encourages you to drift away into a haze of images and scenes brought to you by the music, where spectacular beauty hides unseen danger. Intense and moving, but comforting and soothing at the same time."

A 'dropsonde' is a weather reconnaissance device designed to be dropped from an airplane or similar craft at altitude to take telemetry as it falls to the ground. It typically relays information to a computer in the dropping airplane by radio. The fall may be slowed by a parachute. Information collected by a typical dropsonde may include wind speed, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure.

The classiest of deep spiritual soul on 45 for the first time. These tracks were previously unreleased until I found Avelino Pitts when working at jazzman a few years back who has since sadly passed away, but we are working with his wife Deborah to keep his wonderful music alive. Ocean of tears was always here to be a vanity project for my love of deep soul and slowys, so when listening to the LP in my car a few months back I was like WTF, why did i never do these on 45? So here we are, two sides of deep and well-produced soul, Rotary Connection comes to mind but it has its own sound. I have done 500 of these only, no repress. End of nighter, warm-up, radio, one to enjoy on your own with a glass of whisky at 2am.




a A1 You Are So Wonderful clip
b B1 Without You clip

You cannot say Nu Groove without saying Burrell. The seminal New York House label that existed from 1988 until 1992 was at the helm of a sound that was as much traditional as it was transitional. Since the closure of the Paradise Garage in 1987 and before the „NYC House sound“ was well-defined and fenced, Nu Groove was a kaleidoscope and an amalgamation of everything that informed it until then: uptempo r&b, reggae, dub, disco, freestyle, techno, jazz, and the sound that was embossed by Larry Heard in Chicago that was so well picked up in the Big Apple, you name it. Ronald and Rheji Burrell provided its basis, first floor and roof. But that story has already been told by our dear friends from Rush Hour, including its most important chapters. But we are going to tell a new one.

Rheji Burrell presents N.Y. House’N Authority & The Utopia Project. Twelve tracks split over two EPs on Running Back. Named „Out of Body Experience“ and „The ’V’EP“, it features all new music that feels like modern garments cut out of a classic cloth. Almost as if the Nu Groove would have never stopped. And that it is - at the risk of self-praise - all that old or new fans and also we could hope for. Two EPs full of deep-that-doesn’t rhyme-with-sleep house music, has simple, yet clever arrangements, features jazzy sounds, but snappy drums, merry melodies and glossy grooves. An overall joy to listen or dance to. The difference in both EPs is for the Burrell-die-hards and Nu-Groove-scientists to decide.

Following up on the waves made by his latest Diaphragm EP, Cri Du Coeur injects his signature high-octane sound into another techno venture. This one comes in the form of the electrifying 4-track EP Warning on the Belgian producer’s fledgling-but- headstrong label Arkham Audio. Featuring three remixes interweaving threatening cosmic soundscapes with pounding industrial beats, this latest EP pulls no punches in delivering a menacing wall of sound. The A-side opens with Cri’s original mix for Warning, showing off his signature style of making jumpy, liquid 303 basslines bounce around a consistent dark pad sound. The combination emanates a lingering sense of dread intensified by warped delayed vocal samples and high-voltage buzzing underpinning the whole experience. Following up is a remix from American producer Dustin Zahn, who delivers a pulsa- ting battleground of modular noise. The essence of the track is the controlled chaos of the abstract mechanical whirring and wailing born from Zahn’s extensive synthesis experience, having worked as a remixer for Adam Beyer, Chris Liebing, Dubfire and many other high-profile acts. UK producer Mark Broom dedicates two remixes for the B-side of the EP. The first is a dark, atmospheric groove with expert attention to detail paid to the percussive effects and the controlled movement of the synth parts, creating a powerful ebb and flow of soundscapes and textures and a set of unique builds and drops. Closing off the EP, Mark Broom’s second track is a track more faithful to Cri’s original, opting to beef up the kick and switch up the pattern for an original clap intonation and, naturally, Broom’s own signature offer of complex intertwined synth effects. The result is an anthemic warehouse filler that feels saturated with organic layers of electronic foliage.

The third release from Night Dreamer’s essential “Direct-to-Disc” sessions sees an incredible meeting between legendary US saxophonist Gary Bartz and leading UK spiritual jazz ensemble, Maisha, featuring two Bartz classics and three brand new joint songs written by both Bartz & Maisha in close collaboration. Having cut his teeth playing with the likes of Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Art Blakey and finally in 1970, Miles Davis at the peak of his electric period, Gary Bartz became a leading figure of the early-to-mid 70s spiritual jazz movement, releasing a string of ground-breaking albums on legendary NYC jazz label Prestige Records with his NTU Troop, featuring classics such as “Celestial Blues”, “Uhuru Dance” and “I’ve Known Rivers”, before collaborating on Blue Note Records with the Mizell Brothers on the anthemic jazz funk of “Music Is My Sanctuary”. An oeuvre much loved by soul jazzers and hip hop fans alike. Led by drummer Jake Long, Maisha have been central to the UK’s jazz explosion, and have fast become the UK’s most exciting and in-demand young spiritual jazz ensemble, from steller shows at Jazz re:freshed, Total Refreshment Centre & Church of Sound and supporting the Sun Ra Arkestra, to releasing their critically acclaimed debut LP, “There Is A Place” on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings in 2018. Theirs is an organic & explosive sound that blends influences from afrobeat and broken beat to Persian music, with a deep love and understanding of jazz, particularly the heritage of spiritual jazz led by titans such as Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane and of course, Gary Bartz. Which makes this collaboration even more special. Bartz was first invited to share a stage with Maisha by Gilles Peterson to headline the inaugural We Out Here festival. Their chemistry was rich and instantaneous, certainly a two-way street, with the young musicians reinvigorating the legend’s performance and wowing the intergenerational festival audience. A European tour followed, including a London Jazz Festival highlight at the Royal Festival Hall, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his album “Another Earth”, originally featuring fellow legends, Pharoah Sanders, Charles Tolliver, Stanley Cowell, and John Coltrane’s own bassist, Reggie Workman. Now the relationship has evolved into a special straight-to-disc recording for Night Dreamer Records, that captures the vitality of their collaboration. Whilst Bartz and Maisha reinvent classic Bartz compositions “Uhuru Sasa” and “Dr Follows Dance”, extending the pieces into long piece improvised grooves, their recording session gave birth to three brand new joint compositions, written the very same day. These include the propulsive “Leta’s Dance” that magically combines the Bartz’ soulful musical lyricism with Maisha’s African-jazz influences, and the organic jazz funk of “Harlem to Haarlem”, featuring a hot solo from guest trumpeter Axel Kaner-Lidstrom of Cykada & Levitation Orchestra fame. Like previous Night Dreamer efforts from afrobeat star Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, and the beautiful
collaboration between Brazilian stars Seu Jorge & Rogê, the album was recorded in Haarlem’s Artone Studio, a stones throw from Amsterdam, in just one-take, straight-to-disc, avoiding postproduction embellishments and retaining the purity of the performance lost in modern recording techniques. This record really is an event, in and of itself, a meeting of talents, minds, generations and zeitgeist moments, captured in a unique and pure manner. The music does not disappoint, as Maisha have been inspired to reach new heights whilst we find Bartz truly reinvigorated, and both artists in tune to the spirit of the other.

Now finally, the great "Music Exists"-series by Tokyo-based duo the Tenniscoats is completed. Apart from the regular 4 volumes, there is a heavy cardboard box, beautifully screenprinted and hand-numbered by senorburns, in 12 different color-combinations. Inside you'll find an extra-LP of bonus-tracks and alternative versions, "Music Exists disc 5", which only comes exclusively with this box. Like on the other LPs, you’ll hear heartbreaking songs, beautifully arranged with acoustic guitar, melodica, psychedelic keyboards and soundexperiments. Also included is a A3-Poster with a drawing by Ueno not used within the previous album-artworks.

Limited one-time pressing of only 500 copies worldwide. There is a small amount of full boxes with all 5 LPs and Poster available, for those, who don‘t have any of the albums so far.

Tenniscoats have devoted followers allover the world, but their releases were always hard to find outside of Japan. Except for their album "Tokinouta", which saw a very limited run on vinyl, and the seminal "Two Sunsets", their collaboration with the Pastels (and a small handfull of 7"s), there were never any vinyl-releases, and also the CDs were hard to get for any-one, who doesn't speak or read japanese.

So, this is the chance to dive deep into the beautiful, unique world of the Tenniscoats and their opus magnum "music exists".

"It may even be their greatest ever music, essential plus" Monorail Music, Glasgow

"Whatever's ailing you, Tokyo's Tenniscoats have got something for that" Boomkat, Manchester

As we travel further along the murky 2020 time-continuum we are pleased to deliver the next release for Pure Space Recordings. This time from one of Melbourne’s most acclaimed producers, Rings Around Saturn.

Rings Around Saturn delivers us with two club focussed tracks that skilfully toe the line between electro and bass music.

On the A-sde you will find ‘Grip’, a heavy hitter that’s weight comes from the deep sub-rhythms and hefty drum programming. The melodic, acid-infused arpeggios that fill the tracks body seemingly pull you further and further off the ground until finally the suspension is released through a glistening breakdown.

On the flip you will find ‘Subterranean Electro’, a track titled aptly to describe its heady electroism. Here deep bass is met with skittering pads, and tension fuelled melodies whilst a constant rhythm that feeds the tracks subterranean ecosystem. The gritty melody is fast and jittery keeping you on your toes whilst you complete your journey.

A1 was first played at Inner Varnika Festival 2019. B1 was included in Andy Garvey’s RA Podcast.

Legendary Detroit Techno collective, Scan 7's 'Burdens Down' release from 2017 was a true testament to their brilliant ability to merge the soulful house textures with the analogue mechanics. The addition of Maurice Jackson's outstanding vocal stylings topped off the original with a perfect human element. Following the global success of the original version, Elypsia Records has enlisted some of the scene's top tastemakers to deliver a remix package worthy of the original, featuring that same calculated combination of soul and steel.

Leaders of the Parisian underground, DJ Deep & Roman Poncet, provide the first remix which is all about building incredible tension. A tightly squeezed kick drum, short synth chops and cleverly placed vocal samples drive the groove. As the track grows, additional hats and synths arrive, leading up to a quick break before all the floor-rocking energy bursts free. Big!

Dutch Techno legend Orlando Voorn steps up next for his first of two remixes, this one leaning towards a very House-centric shuffle with warm, friendly key stabs and the full use of Maurice's vocals. A truly joyful work of dance music magic here, with a relentless rhythmic drive keeping the party happening at full force.

Underground Resistance's very own Mark Flash takes the remix responsibilities for the B1 with his gorgeous synth-saturated rework of the original. An energetic and stomping kick drum powers perfectly alongside future-facing melodies which shine brightly on top of the tune. This one is guaranteed to serve as an earworm for days after the party has ended.

Rounding out the EP is the 2nd remix from Orlando Voorn, this time peering into the underground with a stripped back jackin' track utilizing a looped key melody on top of carefully placed vocal samples and claps. Some unexpected synths appear at the second half of the tune, putting a bit of new-age funk into the party stomper.

"I think most of it takes place in dreams," Caleb Landry Jones says of his debut solo album, The Mother Stone. "I'm talking more about dreams than I am about what's happened in the physical realm. Or I'm talking about both, and you're not sure what's what." Caleb Landry Jones was born in Garland, Texas in 1989 and comes from a long line of fiddle players. Three, maybe four generations back, on his mother's side. His grandfather wrote jingles for commercials, his mother was a singer-songwriter who taught piano lessons in the house, and his father was a contractor who did a lot of work for the Dallas music-equipment retailer Brook Mays and knew a guy if you needed a bass or a banjo. But Jones is not sure if you can hear any of this in his music and he does not play the fiddle. Jones has been writing and recording music since age 16, around the same time he started acting professionally. Played in a band called Robert Jones for a minute, lost his guitar player to higher education, moved into his own place, and broke up with somebody, at which point the songs really started coming hard and fast. "I started playing guitar and playing more keys," he says, "and then started writing record after record after record after record, because I didn't know what to do with myself. It was a good way of healing. And it felt like as soon as I started doing it, it felt like it needed to happen all the time." In the ensuing years he'd spend a lot of time carrying unrecorded songs around in his head like goldfish in a bag, waiting for a chance to record them in marathon sessions in his parents' barn. "You gotta play the songs every day, or every two or three days, to keep `em," he says. "Otherwise I forget them." Sometimes the ideas fuse together, one chapter to the next; this is how songs grow into seven-plus-minute epics like the ones on The Mother Stone. His back catalog is around seven hundred songs deep_ a whole discography of full albums, most of them unheard outside the barn, at least for now.

2x12"

It’s taken Yotam Avni a little while to get to his debut album; almost a decade, really, since his debut 12”, “That’s What The World Needs”, on California’s Seasons Limited imprint. During that time, the Tel-Aviv based producer has refined his productions, tightening the groove and paring everything back to bare essentials; the power in an Avni cut is its combination of piston-pulse propulsion and a deep, but gently applied, musicality. This combination gives his techno productions added heft on the dance floor, but also a lyrical sensibility that places him squarely in a tradition of techno legends who somehow manage to make the four-to-the-floor a space of poetic intensity, of rigorous joy.

Avni’s been on Kompakt’s radar for a while, first appearing on the label last year, with his Speicher contribution, “Mañana Mañana”. (“Track For Agoria”, from that EP, also appeared on Total 19.) The connection immediately made sense – dance music that managed to feel both lush and streamlined across the same great gasp of late-night energy. But with Yotam Avni Was Here, he’s taken a huge leap. After a brief intro, Avni sets his stall with “Beyond The Dance”, which features slow-moving vocal melisma over sculptural, melting tonalities, a tintinnabulating, harpsichord-like two-note phrase pacing out the track. Then “It Was What It Was” comes into view, its strip-light textures suddenly placed into sharp relief by a muted trumpet figure that hangs in the air, melancholy and pensive.

It’s no surprise, at this point, to discover that Avni’s inspirations for Was Here took in the histories of both techno and jazz. “I wanted to try something more around Detroit Techno meets ECM,” he reflects, when explaining the motivating forces behind the album. “Carl Craig’s Just Another Day EP and Kenny Larkin’s Keys, Strings, Tambourines came out during my high school years and had huge impact on me.” Avni’s also appeared on Transmat compilations, and remixed artists like the Midwest’s Titonton Duvanté, and Orlando Voorn – the latter particularly important for the way he connected the Detroit and Amsterdam techno scenes – his career path is marked by ongoing connections, direct and indirect, to Detroit’s storied history.

“I always wanted to go back to those hi-tek soul roots on a full album,” he continues, and he’s definitely exploring that terrain here, with the sky-strafing brass on “Free Darius Now”, morse-code keys on “Vortex” and glitchy, microhouse tickles of “Know Hope” all contributing to an oblique narrative that seems to arc across Was Here – one fleshed out by guest musicians, who include dop and Gerog Levin on vocals, and trumpets by Greg Paulus (of Beirut and No Regular Play). The cover art makes the jazz connection explicit, riffing on the text-based, minimal design of The Modern Jazz Quartet’s 1955 album for Prestige, Concorde. But the way Avni has gathered around him both inspiring musicians and intriguing reference points makes me think of his broader career as well, the collectivism behind his AVADON nights in Tel-Aviv, his many and wide-ranging releases on labels like Innervisions, Hotflush and Stroboscopic Artefacts, and the openness of his productions, which seem to be all about the multiple, the possibilities of cross-pollination, of fusing this with that, of adding and subtracting, all under the pulsating thumbprint of techno.

Good things, after all, are worth waiting for.

One thing‘s for sure: There aren‘t many bands with a history as long and eventful as Kreator‘s, who fascinatingly succeed in exploring new horizons while challenging and reinventing themselves time and again.That was perfectly illustrated by their latest record ‘Gods Of Violence’ in 2017. With this 14th studio album of their impressive career, the thrashers from Essen, Germany crafted a work of art of utmost vigor, drawing its unfailing power from the pounding heart of one of the greatest, most versatile metal bands of all time.

Mainman Mille Petrozza’s influences range from Hannah Arendt, Pink Floyd and Tocotronic to Slayer, even though he was born and bred in the metal scene. Nevertheless, he is and always has been open to inspiration from various sources, which is why his lyrics are by no means merely based on corny genre templates but offer trenchant observations of our time combined with a witty aside to long-standing cliches: One of the best songs on ‘Gods Of Violence’ is really called ‘Satan Is Real’.

Formed in 1982, Petrozza and ‘Ventor’ – the only two remaining founding members – have come a long way from playing in a small-scale student band. “In my history book, Kreator didn‘t really exist until 1985“, says Petrozza, laughing. “Although we had already started jamming together in `82, we only entered the stage two or three times up until `85. Back then, our set list consisted of five original tracks and five heavy metal cover songs, we went through several line-up changes and didn‘t really find ourselves until ‘Endless Pain’.Over the years, Kreator, the leaders of the German ‘Big Four’ of thrash, have sold more than two million albums worldwide and have played countless shows all around the globe. It is one of these shows that is captured on ‘London Apocalypticon’. Recorded in December 2018 at London’s legendary Roundhouse venue, headlining a bill with US hardcore pacesetters Hatebreed and Norwegian Black Metal legends Dimmu Borgir. Kreator’s explosive set was quite rightly heralded as “a demonstration of consummate musicianship and stagecraft” by Metal Hammer magazine.

As Ociya, hardware freaks Tin Man (Johannes Auvinen) and Patricia (Max Ravitz), come together in unholy acid matrimony on a definitive double-album, Powers Of Ten.

We know both sides well. Over a prolific run of records for Acid Test and his own Global A, Auvinen has expounded upon the promise of "Nonneo" (recently named one of Resident Advisor's 2010-19: Tracks Of The Decade), unearthing new, emotional vistas from the Roland TB-303. Ravitz, meanwhile, matches Tin Man in studio ethic, establishing himself as one of North America's hardware masters on records for Ghostly and Opal Tapes.

What we couldn't have predicted is how well the parts merge. Cuts like "Ghost Moons" channel the hazy IDM legacies of the past, while "Hopeful Galaxy" mixes a plaintive Rhodes motif with a hopeful 303 line for the perfect "tears on the dance floor" cut. The track titles on Power Of Ten— a perfect melodic techno LP generously spread across two records—are celestially minded ("Gravity Knots," "Star Scraping") and indeed, the cosmic metaphor is apt or the newly-formed duo. On Powers Of Ten, Tin Man's acid lines rocket through space like brilliant, shooting stars. His signature orchestral acid moments are given the perfect backdrop, the nebula of Patricia's rich atmospherics and melodies.

The album was recorded live to 2 track in Patricia’s studio in New York, no edits.

Volker.live ’s debut and final release
“My Love Will Set You Free” Final release? We see the question mark popping up over your head. Well yes, these four tracks are a time capsule, a historic cache which takes you back to one hot summer of 2019. When this care-free boy band formed and made it their goal to climb up the world’s stages to play an all-hardware live set & have f.u.n. while doing so. This endeavor went swimmingly. Festival gigs were pocketed and crowds intrigued. The stand-out track of their gigs was always “My Love Will Set You Free”, an acid-house stomper with uplifting, yet melancholic vocals from their friend ÆN.
Friends and neighbors were quick to re-interpret the song and the idea of a record took shape.
Lehult’s Lucky Charmz propels the listener into the void by upping the acidity. Closing in on a playtime of 10 minutes, we’re readily giving up our sense for time and space. Whirring drum hits meet feedbacking tape delay while riding the rock solid bass line.
Erobique liked the song so much, he quickly drew up two versions of his own. His “Disko Mix” oozes that saccharine, danceable magic mélange of days past. Warm keys, hand claps, and Aen’s intimate voice are stirred into an exquisite cocktail. You know that Carsten Meyer would never forget the umbrella on top. He’ll keep the cherry though.
The “Black Velvet Mix” closes the curtains for a slow dance. This is personal, it’s just between you and the song. Sub rosa.
In the meantime, Volker.live decided to follow separate paths of their adventure, but everyone agreed to release these songs into the world. May they serve as a reminder of what can be created out of care-free energy that’s driven by a deep connection to music. Please check out their other musical undertakings as Echoel and Goodmemory.live .

Now finally, the great "Music Exists"-series by Tokyo-based duo the Tenniscoats is completed. Apart from the regular 4 volumes, there is a heavy cardboard box, beautifully screenprinted and hand-numbered by senorburns, in 12 different color-combinations. Inside you'll find an extra-LP of bonus-tracks and alternative versions, "Music Exists disc 5", which only comes exclusively with this box. Like on the other LPs, you’ll hear heartbreaking songs, beautifully arranged with acoustic guitar, melodica, psychedelic keyboards and soundexperiments. Also included is a A3-Poster with a drawing by Ueno not used within the previous album-artworks.

Limited one-time pressing of only 500 copies worldwide. There is a small amount of full boxes with all 5 LPs and Poster available, for those, who don‘t have any of the albums so far.

Tenniscoats have devoted followers allover the world, but their releases were always hard to find outside of Japan. Except for their album "Tokinouta", which saw a very limited run on vinyl, and the seminal "Two Sunsets", their collaboration with the Pastels (and a small handfull of 7"s), there were never any vinyl-releases, and also the CDs were hard to get for any-one, who doesn't speak or read japanese.

So, this is the chance to dive deep into the beautiful, unique world of the Tenniscoats and their opus magnum "music exists".

"It may even be their greatest ever music, essential plus" Monorail Music, Glasgow

"Whatever's ailing you, Tokyo's Tenniscoats have got something for that" Boomkat, Manchester

The impact and influence of music of (Afro) Cuban origin has spread from Cuba to the far corners of the world. Its fingerprint can be found through salsa, jazz, funk, soul, hip hop and everything in between. Cuba has an incredibly rich culture of music and dance which is ingrained in its people from birth. With this release we celebrate two compositions by one of Cuba's finest songwriters: Silvestre Méndez.

Here at Rocafort Records we are delighted to serve up two of Méndez's biggest compositions at their finest. "Mi Bomba Sonó" featuring the emblematic Celia Cruz and her explosive vocals over La Sonora Matancera's inimitable pulsating rhythms! On the flip side we have Joey Pastrana's thundering rendition of 'A Bailar Oriza', a funky reinterpretation of one of Méndez's most covered compositions.

Disclaimer: We will not be held responsible for any turntables, dance floors or pants catching on fire! We hope you enjoy this little tribute to Silvestre Méndez as much as we have delighted in putting it together!

Active since the late 1990s, Brussels-based Frenchman Sylvain Chauuveau is an unsung pioneer of a now burgeoning scene and was making elegant post-classical compositions years ahead of celebrated current peers like Max Richter, Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka.

Now reissued in a remastered, first-ever vinyl edition, ‘Simple’ was originally released in 2012 as a CD collection of Sylvain’s works for cinema - a set of out-of-print, rare, and unreleased tracks composed between 1998-2010 that span stark / minimal electronic drones, processed guitar explorations, chamber pieces, solo piano and two 40-piece string orchestra recordings.

Chauveau’s work here sounds as fresh and relevant today as it did back then and its author is long overdue some recognition / reappraisal of his role in helping prepare the ground for today’s scene. His music has been praised by numerous peers - Ryuichi Sakamoto listed ‘Nocturne Impalpable’ as one of his Top 5 records; Hauschka and Peter Broderick have admitted his influence and Jóhann Jóhannsson, Adam Wiltzie (A Winged Victory / Stars Of The Lid) and Fennesz have also praised his work.

“Occupies the twilit area where downbeat, muted experimental electronic music melts into downbeat, muted chamber music” - Pitchfork “One of the most brilliant minds of French Music” - Les
InRocks

For fans of Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, Johann Johannsson, Erik Satie, Arvo Pärt, Labradford, Mogwai, Peter Broderick and Hauschka.

The 7' versions of Keep the Fire Burning and Funky Sensation by Gwen McCrae, two tracks synonymous with the soul, boogie, rare groove and modern disco scenes, are finally being reissued on Expansion Records. Keep the Fire Burning has been one of the most sought after records of the past decade, seamlessly bridging the gap between rare-groove and underground dance-music. What's more, recent price-hikes on online vinyl-distribution websites denote the way in which the market for this record has grown exponentially, a testament to its new-found popularity among the worldwide dance-music diaspora. Funky Sensation, moreover, possesses a timeless and universal groove, a song which has cemented itself as a darling of the boogie-scene, while gaining traction from the likes of Dam Funk and Nu Guinea. Furthermore, Funky Sensation is a traditionally popular record amongst the UK Soul scene, after seeing airtime on London Pirate-Radio stations during the 1980's. Keep the Fire Burning has since been sampled by Star Slimlinger, Marcus Gauntlett and the Hustlers Convention among others and has seen heavy rotation within the underground circuit, owing to its popularity among certain U.S and European DJ's such as Ron Trent, Marcellus Pittmann, and Sam Shepherd. Funky sensation is well-affiliated within the Hip-Hop scene, after providing the musical framework for songs produced by Africa Bambaata, Ghostface Killah and L.L Cool J to name a few. Original copies of this 7' single have exchanged hands for over £100.

On his third solo album, following the success of "Éternel été", the founder of the electro duo Nôze is exploring, through piano and synths, the encounter between poetry and song. In this new work he has set to music verses by William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Pablo Neruda and on three songs, those of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a pioneer of romanticism who notably influenced Verlaine and Baudelaire.

But what does this Oh !, giving its title to Ezéchiel Pailhès' third solo album, stand for? Is it an Oh ! of surprise, admiration or pain? "It is rather the Oh ! found in romantic poetry" says the French composer and singer with his deep and sweet voice. "An interjection that refers to a form of lament", even though it can convey other emotions such as complaint, nostalgia, a sad delight or a longed-for solace.

In Tout va bien, his previous album released in 2017, Ezéchiel Pailhès had set two Shakespeare sonnets to music. One of them, "Eternal été" has become a great success, thanks to its lines tinged with spleen and bliss. "Poetry, and its musicality, have always been part of my universe. For this new album, I therefore wanted to explore further the adaptation of poems into songs. "Bien Certain" is, once again, taken from William Shakespeare. "Tu te rappelleras" comes from Pablo Neruda's collection La centaine d'amour. "Oh ! Pourquoi te cacher ?" is from Victor Hugo. As for "Sans l'oublier", "La sincère" and "J'avais froid", they were all written by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a 19th century French poetess, still fairly unknown".

With Oh !, Ezechiel Pailhès has become more of a singer than ever before, through seven songs and four instrumental compositions, with intimate and warm modulations, carried by hypnotic piano melodies, instruments with unusual timbre and a subtle electronic production that recalls his past productions with his former duo Nôze.

"I wanted to expand my music further into songs" Ezéchiel adds, "to work more with my voice as a solo instrument and to limit the overlapping of voices and choirs found in my previous records". Produced in his Montreuil home studio, Oh ! is nevertheless imbued with an emotion found in his previous albums, close to 'saudade' or a slight melancholy, sometimes enhanced by chosen texts that evoke the disappointment of love, the longing, the distance between two people, or even men's weakness. "These poems evoke themes that may seem far from the concerns of our times. Yet, they are timeless and eternal; they manage to convey emotions that can often be difficult to say or write."

Among the texts chosen for this new album, the verses of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859) are on a par with William Shakespeare's sonnets or Pablo Neruda's poem found on the same record:

" Sans l'oublier, on peut fuir ce qu'on aime.
On peut bannir son nom de ses discours,
Et, de l'absence implorant le secours,
Se dérober à ce maître suprême,
Sans l'oublier ! "
(…)
" Sans oublier une voix triste et tendre,
Oh ! que de jours j'ai vus naître et finir !
Je la redoute encore dans l'avenir :
C'est une voix que l'on cesse d'entendre,
Sans l'oublier ! "
"Without forgetting, we can run away from what we love.
Banish their name from our conversations,
And, begging the absence for consolation,
Escape the grip of this supreme master,
Without forgetting! "
(…)
"Without forgetting a sad and gentle voice,
Oh, how many days have I seen rise and fall!
And still I fear from the future:
A voice that can no longer be heard,
Without forgetting! "

Although less known today than her male counterparts, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore marked her times and the Romantic movement through the quality of her texts and her formal inventions, which Balzac admired, and whose influence seems to have been decisive on Verlaine and Baudelaire.

"Marceline Desbordes-Valmore's poetry is highly musical," says Ezéchiel with admiration. "Her artistry with rhythm and repetition sounds very good and takes on a new dimension when set to music. She even meant for some of her texts to become songs"

The collaboration between Gino Pavan and Guido Frezzato began in 1995, with the creation of the soundtrack of Giancarlo Marinelli's movie "Scano Boa - Dannazione".

Gino Pavan recorded and produced, in his own "Noi Studio", the music of Frezzato, then given to an ensemble of 15 musicians, among them a strings quintet, and the folk ensemble Marmaja, along with the ethnic suggestions of the percussions by African Brothers. In the following two years, their collaboration would lead to the production of two albums for African Brothers: "N'der Tangana" and "Voodoo".

Followed by the soundtrack of "Alla ricerca dell’uno” (Searching for the One) with the musicians of the Compagnia dei Popoli, and the music for the dance-theatre performance of Belgian dancer Thierry Parmentier. Also worth mentioning, the album by Luca Xodo & Frezzato "Didjeridu", later to be used as a soundtrack for the movie "Case" (Homes) by Rodolfo Bisatti (Ipotesi Cinema). After twenty years spent piling up autonomous musical experiences, Pavan offered Frezzato to try their hands at a musical project that sees them, for the first time, composing music together.

The result is the "NOT LINEAR" project, a musical dialogue between electronics (Pavan) and acoustic instruments (Frezzato), using an "online" form of composition.

Recorded in separate locations, between December 2017 and February 2018 and subsequently mixed at "New Frontiers” studio by Ugo Bolzoni, "NOT LINEAR" collects, within these first 6 tracks, the fruit of this artistic collaboration.

"NOT LINEAR" is enriched by the collaboration of Pavan and Frezzato with two internationally-acknowledged, exceptional artists such as Giulio Aldinucci and Eraldo Bernocchi, each one interpreting a track of their choice out of all those initially selected out of the studio sessions, in a furrow of continuity of the "non-linear" concept that inspires this work. NOT LINEAR design has been curated by renowned visual artist Petulia Mattioli.

Kamasi Washington's wide-reaching double album Heaven & Earth arrives on Young Turks. Much like his previous releases, Heaven & Earth once again finds Kamasi setting out to expand the minds and horizons of all who encounter his music. Recorded as a double album, this expanded canvas gives his trademark tones the opportunity to offer a wider than ever before selection of fully immersive, freestyling psychedelic jazz that carries a distinctly spiritual edge.In an instant, Heaven and Earth really burrows deeper into the external cosmos that we were left circling around the edge of with his debut long-player, The Epic (released in 2015 via Flying Lotus's Brainfeeder label), yet it also carries us further into the distance of the deeply cinematic overtones that his debut Young Turks EP, Harmony of Difference pointed us in the direction of. While it is both instantly recognisable as a Kamasi Washington recording, Heaven and Earth's luxurious running time matched with a searching narrative sees Kamasi breaking out of any sounds or scenes he may be associated with, smoothly transcending into new, dynamic and sonically experimental levels and counterpoints of his now widely praised signature sound.
Washington convened his band, The Next Step, as well as members of the long running collective The West Coast Get Down at Henson Studios in Los Angeles to record the 16 tracks on Heaven & Earth. The music was composed, written and arranged by Washington, with new arrangements of jazz and bebop legend Freddie Hubbard's 'Hubtones' and iconic kung fu film theme 'Fists of Fury,' as well as one song by bandmate Ryan Porter. Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Ronald Bruner, Jr., Cameron Graves, Brandon Coleman, Miles Mosley, Patrice Quinn, Tony Austin and many more contribute to the album.Stretching out at two and a half hours of entirely newly recorded music, Kamasi Washington paints a vision of Heaven and Earth that is spread across two sections with eight movements apiece. It sees him wrestling with and attempting to make sense of the meaning of both Heaven and Earth within his mind and his place within the wider universe as a whole, with the Heaven side representing the world Kamasi sees inwardly, the world that is a part of him, while the Earth side represents the world he sees outwardly, the world that he is a part of. An existential experiment with saxophones that's set to take you on a journey that is as widely thrilling as it is deeply searching.

Dee Edwards is a 70s soul singer who has impacted on the modern, rare and two step scenes. She is particularly well known for “(I Can) Deal With That” for the Detroit De-To label before her spell at Cotillion Records. Here she recorded two albums “Heavy Love” and “Two Hearts Are Better Than One” from which the A and B side or our 7” are taken. “Put The World On Hold” has previously been only a go to modern dancer track on an album. “Put Your Love On The Line” is a disco/boogie pleaser produced by Michael Zager, an early 7” issue of this being an edit. Enjoy it now in all its glory

Puzzlebox Records Classic Electro / Techno Label Returns. Label owner Keith Tucker aka K-1 is back with his own Brand of Electro Funk with infectious bass lines and unmistakable vocals from one of the genres hardest working artist and label owners.

Over the years Tucker has done it all from visuals for live shows , label art work, dj’ing all over the world to also touring as a founding member of Aux88.

His new release is “Modular World “side A is an electro banger with Tuckers amazing arpeggiator work reminiscent of his great Optic Nerve techno alias. Modular World has a hypnotizing arp and Funky bassline that hits your soul and quickly programs your mind to
dance mode. The haunting Vocal and electronic vocoder work is unmistakable K-1 at his best. Listen to the way he combines his
voices to form his own distinct sound.

Side B. “Schematix” brings this special two track ep to A thunderous boom with a more retro bass styling that shows his programming skills, K-1 is able to manipulate his mixes to showcase his intelligent techno side with the street funk of Detroit. “Schematix” dark sci-fi drone vocals kick off the k-1 mix to get any crowd to run to the dance floor.