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Valentina Villarroel is a sound artist and phonographer who explores the intricate dynamics within various Southern ecosystems. Her work revolves around the profound potential of acoustic ecology, particularly in the face of encroaching real estate development on natural spaces. She also delves into the consequences of sound pollution on numerous species, contributing to their decline or disappearance. In recent years, her focus has extended to urban soundscapes and significant sonic events, such as the October 18th protest in Chile. With a solid background in bioacoustics applied to both human and animal well-being, Valentina assumes the role of co-director at AOIR Sound Laboratory. There, she spearheads an interdisciplinary initiative that centers sound as its core element. This includes the creation of the sonic cartography portal aoir.cl, as well as the development of handmade electronic devices like the Bowerbankii and the creation of various experimental microphones.

One could be forgiven for getting that familiar feeling when listening to the music of Ghost Woman. And that's not just because songwriter & multi-instrumentalist Evan Uschenko is deeply steeped in classic guitar-led rock & pop songwriting (more on that later), it's that the music was, by design, intended to be evocative. But not evocative, however, of any one thing; what separates the music of Ghost Woman from a great many other bands working today is his openness to non-specificity. He's not trying to impart any sort of message to the listener; instead, the hope is that one will find themselves luxuriating in nuances of how the music is delivered, and the feelings it stirs up for each individual.

For the past couple of years Ghost Woman has been Evan Uschenko's outlet for his interest in songwriting and recording, which began after a number of years spent playing as a sideman in various Canadian indie ensembles, most notably in the Michael Rault band, a group that displays a similar affinity for perfectly dialed, partially yesteryear-looking guitar pop. Following 2022's self-titled


debut, issued by UK-based Full Time Hobby to great critical acclaim, Anne, If presents a slightly more expansive vision of what Ghost Woman can offer.

decade-plus together, the four-piece - Julia Shapiro (guitar, vocals), Lydia Lund (guitar, vocals), Gretchen Grimm (drums, vocals), and Annie Truscott (bass, vocals) - have created a resonant body of work. Live Laugh Love is a natural continuation. Against the bizarre backdrop of the past few years, Chastity Belt remained a supportive space for the members to grow and experiment, drawing on the ingredients most essential to their process since the beginning: authenticity and levity. Recorded over three sessions in as many years (January 2020, November 2021 and 2022), the focus became more about enjoying their time together in the studio than making it feel like work. Their ease and familiarity with engineer Samur Khouja in LA, who also recorded their last album, made for a particularly enjoyable process. Once completed, they returned to renowned engineer Heba Kadry who mastered the album. Album opener "Hollow" sets the tone with a gently driving rhythm while guitar layers stream like sun rays through an open car window. A warmth radiates through Shapiro's voice, even while grappling with feeling lost and stuck. "The older I get," Shapiro says of the lyrics, "the more I realize that I might just always feel this way, and it's more about sitting with the feeling and accepting it, rather than trying to fight it." That wisdom seems to anchor Live Laugh Love . Chastity Belt has never shied from navigating the spectrum of difficult emotions, and an existential thread weaves throughout the subject matter. And yet the songs feel more grounded than ever; there's a sense of quiet confidence and self-assurance that comes with being less numb and more present. Facing discomfort takes more fortitude, after all. Live Laugh Love finds the members in their prime as musicians. Their parts trace intricate patterns over one another, but there's room to breathe between the layers. Everyone contributes to the writing, sometimes switching instruments, and for the first time, all four members sing a song. It's never been more apparent that they are creative siblings, cut from the same belt. "We've been playing music with each other for over a decade," says Shapiro, "so it really does feel like we're all fluent in the same language, and a lot of it just happens naturally." "Laugh" seeks in the balm of friendship, aware of the anticipatory nostalgia that hits during a good time that you're already missing before it's gone; the heavier guitar tones on "Chemtrails" streak ominous chord progressions over Grimm's precision timekeeping, lamenting memories that won't fade easily. During a transitional time, Truscott came across a note in their phone that read, "it's not hard all day, just sometimes," which inspired a poignant line in the chorus of "Kool-Aid," their first song as lead vocalist on a Chastity Belt recording. Another standout, "1-90 Bridge" shines with a silvery melody that soars as Lund belts one of the most resounding moments on the album: "Tell your girlfriend she's got nothing to fear/I'm set in my head/My body's a different story." The track "Blue" saunters nonchalantly with a wink; you can almost hear Shapiro's smile as she sings "Faking it big time/So I can hit my stride/Man, it feels good to be alive," channeling early Chastity Belt channeling early '90s before channeling the late Elliott Smith in a spiral of distortion and insight: "Don't get upset about it/It's gonna pass/Tell all your friends about it/They're gonna laugh." "We have such a strong sense of each other's musical inclinations" says Lund. "I think this allows for a lot of playfulness...we can kinda surprise each other, like a good punchline would."

High Llamas present Hey Panda - a modern pop music/deep listening experience that could only issue forth from their personal quadrant of the galaxy. Hey Panda projects soulfully through an enervating abstract of today"s popular music; the sound of the Llamas" stately melodies and expressive ditties laid open - blissfully shattered - with drums and vocals hitting different, burning sounds and contemporary production twists pulling the ear at every turn. For the past few decades, High Llamas have trafficked in contemporary pop sounds directed toward the avant end of the spectrum as much as not. But here the message was clear. Llamas" composer-in-residence Sean O"Hagan was determined to let go. Hey Panda does just that, with a set of tunes reflecting on multiple levels how definitions change over the course of a lifetime, radiating an optimism derived from the diverse conundrums of today. Eight years since their last release, the pop musical Here Come The Rattling Trees, High Llamas have reinvented themselves again, mixing their peerless harmonic voice with what Sean regards as the "extraordinarily good" production sounds of today on Hey Panda. Choosing not to look backward to former golden ages celebrated in earlier Llamas eras, Sean"s instead found himself opened up by the sounds of music brought into the house by his adult children and the sounds encountered at sessions for which he"s recently written arrangements. In addition to the more traditional contributions he made to The Coral"s Sea of Mirrors album, plus his score for the Safdie brothers" 2022 film production, Funny Pages, Sean"s drawn great inspiration through working with Fryars, Rae Morris, King Krule, Pearl and The Oyster, while also soaking up the work of Tierra Whack and Chicago"s Pivot Gang, and being cheered on from a distance by longtime admirer Tyler The Creator. Thus, Sean"s producer procedural has evolved again, with upgrades first detected in his 2019 solo effort, Radum Calls, Radum Calls. With a cover of Billie Eilish"s "Wish You Were Gay" arranged for Bill Callahan and Bonnie Prince Billy"s Blind Date Party, along with his COVID-era solo single, "The Wild Are Welcome", Sean has leveled up again and again, leading to the delirious revelations of Hey Panda. Hey Panda"s wide reach is aided by two co-writes from Bonnie "Prince" Billy, (who bonded with Sean over a shared love of gospel soul during writing sessions), guest vocals from Rae Morris and Sean"s daughter Livvy, production twists from Fryars and the stalwart, flexible presence of High Llamas. For all of its sense of departure, Hey Panda is a movement in the High Llamas oeuvre that"s been a long time in development. Aspects of soul music were addressed at the time of Can Cladders; similarly, aspects of electronic dance music were in the mix in the late 90s, around the time of Cold and Bouncy. But nothing up to now has refocused the music of High Llamas so completely. Sharing the impulse of late-period Miles Davis and Quincy Jones, with further inspiration from Steve Lacy, SZA, Sault, No Name and Ezra Collective, among many others, Sean O"Hagan and High Llamas are living joyfully in the new and the now, with Hey Panda.

The first feature film based on the globally beloved Miraculous franchise, Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie follows ordinary teenager Marinette, whose life in Paris goes superhuman when she becomes Ladybug. Bestowed with magical powers of creation, Ladybug must unite with her opposite, Cat Noir, to save Paris as a new villain unleashes chaos unto the city.

Jeremy Zag is a producer and entrepreneur known as one of the co-founders of Zagtoon, a French animation production company. This company is behind the hit animated series Miraculous: the adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir. He has produced over 500 episodes of TV series in his current career.

As she's gotten older, Ella Smoker has found that her subconscious has been trying to tell her "some pretty wacky stuff". Thoughts will come to the 21-year-old singer-songwriter in dreams, or as she writes lyrics in studio sessions, words floating onto the page before she's really had a moment to realise what they are. "As soon as we start making the music, my brain sort of turns off," she explains. "I'll be sitting there, writing all this stuff that feels like a load of nonsense, and a month later, I'll look back and be like `oh'. It all comes from a place I didn't even realise was there." In learning how to open up to herself, gglum ended up finding a kindred spirit in producer Karma Kid (Maisie Peters, Shygirl, Connie Constance), pushing past her natural bedroom-pop introversion to find joy in the process of collaboration. Whether it's the ragged radio-rock of `SPLAT!' ("basically about realising that somebody you held up very highly is actually just a massive shambles of a person") or the riotous, industrial energy of `Easy Fun', Smoker is able to reshape her vocal around the mood, creating a record which expertly balances light and shade. "I've never really done anything in like that vocal style before," she says of `Easy Fun's near-spoken delivery. "I love that song because it's not something I would have come up with on my own, but Karma Kid was great at pushing me out of my comfort zone. I just thought like, look: I can be a little silly with this." The release of `The Garden Dream' will offer gglum plenty more opportunity to get both silly and serious, to be bold in her exploration of new ideas and sounds But it will also offer the opportunity to further accept herself as the dreamlike artist she always wanted to be; confidently embellishing acoustic worlds that her listeners can burrow safely within. "I feel like I naturally gravitate towards wanting to make musical spaces that you can feel like you're living in, rather than trying to make songs", she says. "That's something I really wanted to solidify with this album: I basically want to make music that feels like when you're looking out the window and it's the end of the film and you're imagining what comes next. That's the sound of what I want to be doing."

As she's gotten older, Ella Smoker has found that her subconscious has been trying to tell her "some pretty wacky stuff". Thoughts will come to the 21-year-old singer-songwriter in dreams, or as she writes lyrics in studio sessions, words floating onto the page before she's really had a moment to realise what they are. "As soon as we start making the music, my brain sort of turns off," she explains. "I'll be sitting there, writing all this stuff that feels like a load of nonsense, and a month later, I'll look back and be like `oh'. It all comes from a place I didn't even realise was there." In learning how to open up to herself, gglum ended up finding a kindred spirit in producer Karma Kid (Maisie Peters, Shygirl, Connie Constance), pushing past her natural bedroom-pop introversion to find joy in the process of collaboration. Whether it's the ragged radio-rock of `SPLAT!' ("basically about realising that somebody you held up very highly is actually just a massive shambles of a person") or the riotous, industrial energy of `Easy Fun', Smoker is able to reshape her vocal around the mood, creating a record which expertly balances light and shade. "I've never really done anything in like that vocal style before," she says of `Easy Fun's near-spoken delivery. "I love that song because it's not something I would have come up with on my own, but Karma Kid was great at pushing me out of my comfort zone. I just thought like, look: I can be a little silly with this." The release of `The Garden Dream' will offer gglum plenty more opportunity to get both silly and serious, to be bold in her exploration of new ideas and sounds But it will also offer the opportunity to further accept herself as the dreamlike artist she always wanted to be; confidently embellishing acoustic worlds that her listeners can burrow safely within. "I feel like I naturally gravitate towards wanting to make musical spaces that you can feel like you're living in, rather than trying to make songs", she says. "That's something I really wanted to solidify with this album: I basically want to make music that feels like when you're looking out the window and it's the end of the film and you're imagining what comes next. That's the sound of what I want to be doing."

As she's gotten older, Ella Smoker has found that her subconscious has been trying to tell her "some pretty wacky stuff". Thoughts will come to the 21-year-old singer-songwriter in dreams, or as she writes lyrics in studio sessions, words floating onto the page before she's really had a moment to realise what they are. "As soon as we start making the music, my brain sort of turns off," she explains. "I'll be sitting there, writing all this stuff that feels like a load of nonsense, and a month later, I'll look back and be like `oh'. It all comes from a place I didn't even realise was there." In learning how to open up to herself, gglum ended up finding a kindred spirit in producer Karma Kid (Maisie Peters, Shygirl, Connie Constance), pushing past her natural bedroom-pop introversion to find joy in the process of collaboration. Whether it's the ragged radio-rock of `SPLAT!' ("basically about realising that somebody you held up very highly is actually just a massive shambles of a person") or the riotous, industrial energy of `Easy Fun', Smoker is able to reshape her vocal around the mood, creating a record which expertly balances light and shade. "I've never really done anything in like that vocal style before," she says of `Easy Fun's near-spoken delivery. "I love that song because it's not something I would have come up with on my own, but Karma Kid was great at pushing me out of my comfort zone. I just thought like, look: I can be a little silly with this." The release of `The Garden Dream' will offer gglum plenty more opportunity to get both silly and serious, to be bold in her exploration of new ideas and sounds But it will also offer the opportunity to further accept herself as the dreamlike artist she always wanted to be; confidently embellishing acoustic worlds that her listeners can burrow safely within. "I feel like I naturally gravitate towards wanting to make musical spaces that you can feel like you're living in, rather than trying to make songs", she says. "That's something I really wanted to solidify with this album: I basically want to make music that feels like when you're looking out the window and it's the end of the film and you're imagining what comes next. That's the sound of what I want to be doing."

Zwei Jahre nach ihrem letzten Album "Slave Driver" veröffentlicht das niederländische Quartett pünktlich zu ihrem 35. Geburtstag "Shadow Soul". Es ist bereits das 8. Album von Dead Head und wir sind immer noch davon überzeugt, dass die Jungs eine der am meisten unterschätzten Bands in der Geschichte des Thrash Metal sind. Sie haben nie etwas Schwaches oder Schlechtes veröffentlicht und was sie herausbringen, ist erstklassiger Metal! "Shadow Soul" knüpft nahtlos an diese Tradition an und präsentiert eine kraftvolle Fortsetzung ihres Erbes.

"Shadow Soul" ist also keine Überraschung, aber wer das mag, was Dead Head in den letzten 35 Jahren gemacht haben, der wird auch ihren neuesten Output lieben.

Zwar bleibt das Album dem für die Band typischen schnellen und aggressiven Thrash Metal treu, aber hier und da finden sich auch Death Metal und sogar Heavy Metal Arrangements. Das Album bietet größtenteils Hochgeschwindigkeits-Thrash ohne jegliche Trends oder unnötige Melodien und Tunes.

Mesmerizing and exuberant Argentinian La Yegros, probably the most magnetic artist on the South American continent, is back with a new album!

The undisputed Queen of "Nu Cumbia" has not rested on her laurels. Surrounded by the same accomplices who have supported her for the last ten years, but eager to renew herself, she has set about recording her fourth album, which stands out from her discography. Although her personal folklore is still rooted in South American folklore, La Yegros is now absorbing contemporary, global music, while tackling intimate, often melancholy and even painful subjects, which she overcomes with the same resilience that drives her in concert. Nothing stands in the way of this Argentinian whirlwind, all the more fascinating for the fact that personal considerations are now surfacing beneath the veneer of the party atmosphere she sets alight.

La Yegros returned to the stage in 2022 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Viene de Mí, her single hit from the self-titled album, released in 2012 in Argentina and then worldwide in 2013, which catapulted her to international fame. We then discovered a singer who had grown up in the traditions of her country. Her parents come from Misiones, a province bordering Brazil and Paraguay, where balls are filled with the sounds of chamamé (a mix of polka and Guaraní music), Carnavalito (Andean folklore) and Colombian Cumbia. But she herself is a native of Buenos Aires, whose nights are enlivened by the bass of Dancehall and electronic music.

These influences have merged in two further successful albums, Magnetismo (2016) and Suelta (2019), followed by high voltage tours during which La Yegros has been able to display her generous nature, inexhaustible energy, exuberant personality and infectious enthusiasm.

To record her new album entitled 'HAZ', La Yegros has put her faith in the same team that has worked with her since Viene de Mí. On one hand, producer Gaby Kerpel (also known as King Coya), a pioneer of synthetic experimentation applied to traditional music, who has remained her faithful accomplice for over twenty years. On the other hand, composer Daniel Martín, who knows how to come up with melodies to dream about and hymns to sing along to. Inseparable and complementary, the trio continues to concoct this mesmerizing mixture where acoustic instruments meet samples and the rolling of machines. But the new productions don't rely on a tried and tested formula. Generally co-produced between France and Argentina, they break away from over-defined genres. La Yegros knits together new rhythms and incorporates sounds that are unheard of in her country, derived from the latest urban trends, as well as echoes of reggae and funk. As for the lyrics, signed alternately by the trio, they are embodied by La Yegros whose charismatic voice questions a period of her life tossed by waves of love and lovelessness, joy and sorrow, euphoria and anguish, indulgence and resentment.

The album is open to a wealth of musical styles. You'll hear funk guitar and Andean flutes, melancholy accordion and rolling drums, Tuareg blues enhanced by brass, house and electro Cumbia loops, and the bassoons of a chamber orchestra. The folklore 2.0 of La Yegros, nourished by its colorful inspiration, at times tender or exalted, has been imagined as a hymn to love and the contradictory feelings that come with it. As always, it has also been conceived with the stage in mind. Hatching in a storm of overturned emotions, the album is all the more explosive for the strength of the live show that accompanies it. In addition to the usual line-up of guitar, accordion and percussion, a musician handles synthesizers and machines to boost the electronic turboshaft. In any case, you can count on the singer to assert her increasingly clear-cut character with each new project. And, above all, she won't give up. L.a Yegros is back and her batteries are fully charged.

Debut album from Italian trio of Gabriele Mitelli, Pasquale Mirra, and Cristiano Calcagnile, longstanding members of the Italian jazz community who over the past ten years have collaborated in various formations with the likes of Rob Mazurek, Jeff Parker, Alexander Hawkins, Damon Locks, Danilo Gallo, Chad Taylor and many others.

The Elephant was first formed in 2017 with one of their first performance at the Venice Biennale, within the French Pavilion as part of the opera set up by Xavier Veilhan. Since then the trio has continued to work together across different projects but never made enough time to record a full project.

This changed in 2023 and In The Room presents the trio's vision for jazz with an intimate collection of musical polaroids that reflect the expressiveness and potentiality of the music they love.

The album features vocals from Cristina Donà, Damon Locks, and Rob Mazurek.

Every morning when Dent May wakes up, the first thing he says is, “What’s for breakfast?” For the Los Angeles-based songwriter and pop auteur, this question is part inside joke with his girlfriend, part sitcom-style catchphrase, and part mantra about getting up every day and persevering in the face of good or bad is happening around you in your life. It’s also the title of his sixth album, which is out on March 29, 2024 via Carpark Records. What’s For Breakfast? is May’s most immediate, nostalgic, and rollicking LP yet, one that’s concerned with breaking daily routines and rediscovering the joys of songwriting.

Over the past 17 years, May has been a consistently adventurous and prolific bedroom pop pioneer and connoisseur of impeccably crafted melodies. Though his songs are always well-written and comfortable, with What’s For Breakfast?, May has freed himself up to more playfully experiment with new and vintage musical inspirations. “I’ve occupied a lot of different lanes over the years,” says May. “I’ve always been drawn to making kaleidoscopic pop inspired by old soul, disco, country, whatever. This time around, I was tapping into music from my childhood, like The Strokes, Weezer and Elephant 6 Collective bands.” By revisiting the music of his youth—energetic and infectious guitar rock—he found a vibrant palate to explore for this new LP.

Lead single “One Call, That’s All” kickstarts with frenetic guitar-driven intensity. While the track slyly takes its name from the slogan of an ambulance-chasing Mississippi lawyer, May sings of unrequited love and phone-based ennui. “It’s a fast tempo pop-rock song that isn’t like anything I’ve done before,” says May. Elsewhere, opener “You Already Know” showcases May’s goofball lyrical charm with lines about playing chess online and looking like a Dawson’s Creek character. Beyond the jokes in the song, there is a bittersweet recognition of time passing and a call to action when May sings, “Now you already know what time it is / It’s time to live your life / Cuz it’s flying by / No matter the day, week, month or year / It’s time to do a lot / Ready or not.”

What’s For Breakfast? marks another first for Dent in being his most collaborative LP yet. Alongside guest appearances from Jimmy Whispers and co-writes with Paul Cherry, are two standout singles with Jordana and Pearl & The Oysters respectively. Jordana assists on the wistful “Coasting on Fumes,” which captures the feeling of being stuck in a rut while the yearning “Time Flies When You’re Having Fun” guests Pearl and the Oysters. “My first album came out almost 15 years ago, so bringing in others to help out is crucial to keep things interesting,” says May. “I’m constantly falling back in love with music through the eyes of others. This album is about remembering why I like music.”

After achieving some decent notoriety, and not only in Italy, as an electro-pop duo (thanks mainly to the single 'Short Wave, a small 'classic' in the early years of that decade), between January 1982 and March 1983 Ruins morphed into a new five members line-up. With this fresh option, Ruins restructured the previous repertoire and produced entirely new material.

The original 4 track recording had remained largely unpublished at the time and seemed irretrievably lost. However, thanks to persistent research and with the aid of modern technology, they have been brilliantly recovered from the archives and are now available in this collection aptly titled “BRAIN FLAKES (The Lost Combo Tapes)“, bringing to light the 'explosive' blend of prog, funk, new wave, and electro-pop, that such short-lived lineup managed to create in just over a year of activity.

Yuko Kureyama returns to TAL with the album Heart Fresh, her first ever full length release under her Kopy moniker. All tracks for the album were recorded in Tokyo in June 2023 at the famous live house Ochiai Soup. For the recordings of the ten tracks, Ochiai Soup was swiftly converted into a recording studio as the intimate atmosphere of the club and its perfect room acoustics gave Kopy the chance to record her music like in a live situation.

Amazingly Kopy‘s instrumentation on Heart Fresh consists only of a Jomox x Base 09 rhythm machine and an Elektron Digitakt mini sampler. In the hands of Kopy this fairly basic and common gear creates an unmistakeably intuitive and original approach to drum programming, which is recognizably her very own.

Due to extensive live playing in the past two years, Kopy has garnered a lot of admiration for her consistently unpredictable and fearless club performances and has easily become one of the most exciting and inventive live acts from the ever vibrating electronic music scene in Japan.

However, Heart Fresh seems even more focused, urgent and ambitious than its predecessors, the Paredo EP (TAL12 including a remix by Lena Willikens), the Eternal EP (TAL 24 featuring a remix by Elena Colombi) and the split album Super Mild (TAL15). Nothing on Heart Fresh is subdued. The entire production is resonating with its peculiar frequencies, it is wonderfully evocative, open hearted, full of life and intelligence.

The album opens with Night Sarkas with quirky snare rolls played against slashing, nervy chunks of melody. Samples of organ and chimes evoke an rollercoaster spinning out of tune and synch. Hole Hole is a beat driven and melody free short story for bass drum, snare and hi hat with constantly changing bpm‘s. Tir Tone marks the arrival of annunciatory rhythm patterns and a lovely sprinkling of distorted synths. The album's final track Moonlight Pool is the perfect closer for an album of taut, free wheeling figurations of meter and tone, a nod to classical ambient music as well as to contemporary more experimental digressions.

However, the album’s most startling and unexpected moments come when Kopy follows her futuristic inclinations and matches them with dissonant excoriations that shuttle the mind into a completely different place where all kinds of different activities seem to follow their own individual compasses. Imagine to walk down the noisy streets in Tokyo and you hear all kinds of different sounds infiltrating your ears independently from different sources and directions. In that sense Heart Fresh is the most appropriate soundtrack we can imagine for the contemporary era.

Il Quadro di Troisi presents La Commedia
Everything changes, all things evolve: four years after their eponymous debut, Il Quadro di Troisi return with a new album and a new line-up.

The perfect circle traced by Eva Geist (aka Andrea Noce) and Donato Dozzy (aka Donato Scaramuzzi) becomes a triangle with the permanent addition of Pietro Micioni, who collaborated in the previous recordings and had been part of ll Quadro’s live set.
Nothing stays the same, and the world is a lot different from what it was in 2020. The global crisis generated by the constant escalation of conflict and by the pandemic was mirrored by a time of individual crisis and personal, often irreversible transformation that underscored the entire period of the album’s composition.
The influence of these turbulent times is felt in the writing: La Commedia is about turning a crisis into an opportunity and using change as a catalyst for rebirth. Much like the characters in classic Italian comedies, who are masters in using irony to face life’s hardships, Il Quadro di Troisi explores the vast and unpredictable terrain between the lighter and darker sides of the human experience, matching the magical with the mundane.

La Commedia is about the many facets of life: each song is named after an archetype (e.g. the truth, the night, the Earth, the prophet), as though our existence were a tarot deck and its reading an exercise in collective consciousness.

La Commedia marks the band’s embrace of a more traditional song form, shaped by a very personal and distinctive musical style. The distinguishing elements of Il Quadro di Troisi’s music – classic Italian songwriting with an electronic spin – meld into a unique mix that is both seductive and eerie, elegant and earthy, contemporary and timeless. La Commedia celebrates the band’s cultural roots while constantly moving into new territory, balancing nostalgia with a forward-thinking approach.

La Commedia is a rare gem that confirms Il Quadro di Troisi’s relevance in the international music scene, as demonstrated by the number of top-level artists featured on the album: from Suzanne Ciani, a legend and a pioneer of independent music with a career spanning five decades, to Aimee Portioli, aka Grand River, a Dutch-Italian musician, composer and sound designer based in Berlin, along with Francesca Colombo’s eclectic violin (the de facto “fourth angle” of Il Quadro di Troisi’s frame), Fiona Brice’s strings, cultural agitator and icon of the Roman underground scene Stefano Di Trapani (aka Demented Burrocacao and a member of Trapcoustic and System Hardware Abnormal, among other projects), Maestro Daniele Di Gregorio, an excellent musician and a longtime collaboration of songwriting legend Paolo Conte, and Tommaso Cappellato, whose professional description goes well beyond “drummer” and who has been working with artists like Rabih Beaini and Maurice Louca.
The cover of the album, as well as those of the singles, was designed by Francesco Messina, another icon of Italian music. Messina is a longtime Franco Battiato collaborator and co-author, a cult musician (his Prati Bagnati del Monte Analogo, made in collaboration with Roul Lovisoni, is considered a seminal record by the alternative Italian music scene), as well as a photographer, visual artist and the author of legendary record covers.

Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut album has few parallels. Viewed solely through the lens of sales numbers, Whitney Houston is a watershed statement on par with the most commercially successful and culturally dominant LPs ever released. Having sold more than 14 million copies in the U.S. and upwards of 25 million units worldwide, the 1985 LP became the equivalent of the television show or blockbuster film that everyone collectively experiences and discusses. Nearly four decades later, it’s lost none of its appeal or magnetism — and its artistic significance and historical import have only grown.


Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at RTI on MoFi SuperVinyl, and strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's 180g SuperVinyl LP of Whitney Houston presents the breakthrough in audiophile sound for the first time. The signature traits Houston exhibits on every song — her three-octave range, radiant warmth, personal conviction, impossibly controlled register — come across with exceptional clarity, focus, and presence. Free of artificial ceilings and constricted dynamics, this reissue plays with an openness, airiness, and balance that put the singer’s once-in-a-lifetime instrument and immortal artistry into proper perspective.

It does the same for the songs’ cascading melodies and captivating arrangements. Individually produced by one of four renowned industry veterans — Kashif, Micheal Masser, Jermaine Jackson, and Narada Michael Walden — each composition feels grander, closer, more genuine. A vocal spectacular, Whitney Houston benefits from the high-end characteristics of SuperVinyl, which include a nearly inaudible noise floor, superb groove definition, and dead-quiet surfaces. This is how an album that changed the direction of popular music — opening previously inaccessible doors for Black artists; bringing smooth-singing vocalists back into the mainstream; kickstarting a movement that soon included several “divas” who would command the charts through the early 21st century — should look and sound.

Though Houston’s seemingly effortless performances suggest otherwise, creating the record Rolling Stone ranks as the 257th Greatest Album of All Time wasn’t easy. Nearly 18 months were required to identify songs suitable for a still-unknown singer who did not fit into the conventional frameworks of the mid ‘80s. Confident, powerful, and prodigiously talented, Houston would forge her own parameters with Whitney Houston. In the process, she obliterated the stubborn lines between R&B and pop, Black and white radio. She dared to reimagine who could be a superstar and then went out and defined the role. Recorded for nearly $400,000 and released on Valentine’s Day, the LP exceeded the wildest expectations of those most closely associated with it — save for Houston and her family.

Having made her first public appearance at the age of 11 singing at a Baptist church, Houston understood pressure and knew her way around, inside, and through a song. The invaluable guidance and support she received from her mother, Cissy, an accomplished gospel vocalist who backed Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, are on display throughout Whitney Houston. They arrive in the types of authoritativeness, discipline, and diction rare for even most seasoned veterans — and unheard-of for a 21-year-old newcomer. Houston brings a soulful elegance, understated glamour, and in-the-moment rapture to every note. Moving up, down, or staying in the middle of the vocal ladder; channelling softness or sweetness; showing restraint or increasing the volume, she is a marvel of emotionalism, a dynamo who can seamlessly transition from one mood to another within a verse.

Though the 10-track LP largely concerns itself with the ballad tradition, Houston covers the bases, getting into an R&B groove on the fleet “Thinking About You,” turning up the heat on the duet “Take Good Care of My Heart,” and investing the contagious dance-pop confection “How Will I Know” with all the anxiety, hope, energy, and enthusiasm its lyrics demand. Featuring her mom on background vocals and Houston’s pitch-perfect tone, uncanny precision, and skyscraper highs (no AutoTune here, friends), the synth-based anthem propelled Whitney Houston into the stratosphere, the vocalist into regular MTV rotation, and the term “crossover” into popular parlance. The double-platinum single reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, Hot R&B, and Adult Contemporary charts — a trifecta that foreshadowed accomplishments that would ultimately crown Houston as the most-awarded female artist of all time.

Whitney Houston became the first album by a Black female performer to top the Billboard charts. It remained there for 14 non-consecutive weeks en route to claiming the title of the best-selling LP of 1986. It stands as the first debut and first album by a solo female artist to spawn three No. Hits, as well as the first album by a Black female artist to top the year-end charts in Australia and Canada. These are just a handful of the accolades — along with four Grammy nominations — that surround a set that also contains the unforgettable ballad “Saving All My Love,” string-accompanied “Greatest Love of All,” and sensual “You Give Good Love.”

As TIME observed in an article written two years after the album took the world by storm: “This is infectious, can't-sit-down music, and her performance dares the listener not to smile right back.” We’re still smiling.

Black Truffle is thrilled to announce a major archival release from legendary American composer and live electronics innovator Richard Teitelbaum, centred around his soundtrack for Suzan Pitt’s cult 1978 animation Asparagus. Best known to some listeners for introducing Europe to the Moog synthesizer as a founding member of Musica Elettronica Viva in Rome, Teitelbaum’s extensive and radically experimental body of work includes collaborative recordings with master improvisers like Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cyrille and George Lewis, intercultural experiments combining electronics with non-Western instruments such as the shakuhachi, works for computer controlled piano, and large-scale multi-media operas. Recorded at York University, Toronto in 1975–1976, ‘Asparagus (European Version)’ sprawls across both sides of the first LP. Discovered by composer Matt Sargent in Teitelbaum’s tape archive, this is a previously unheard major work for Moog modular and Polymoog synthesizers, unique in Teitelbaum’s oeuvre for its lushness and gently melodic quality. The music unfolds slowly, submerging lyrical melodies and burbling arpeggios into uneasy, glacially shifting harmonic swells, the luscious texture thickened with subtle changes of modulation and phase, calling up the shifting layers of Costin Miereanu’s classic Derives or the kosmische Musik tradition more than any academic synthesizer exercise. Teitelbaum incorporated much of this material into his soundtrack for Suzan Pitt’s Asparagus, which receives its first official release here. Asparagus, famously paired with David Lynch’s Eraserhead for a two-year run of midnight screenings at New York’s Waverly Theatre, uses hand-drawn and stop animation to unfurl an oneiric succession of images, beginning with a sequence in which the female protagonist defecates two stalks of asparagus, which multiply and float out of the toilet bowl to form the letters of the title. Teitelbaum’s soundtrack interweaves delicate drifting tones from the ‘European Version’ with contributions from Steve Lacy and Steve Potts on saxophones, George Lewis on trombone and Takehisa Kosugi on violin. Edited closely to the film, even without images the soundtrack proposes a surreal journey through floating synth tones, squealing horns, propulsive arpeggios, distant chatter, and an old-timey waltz. The final side of the set presents a new realisation of Teitelbaum’s text score ‘Threshold Music’, performed at a memorial concert at Roulette, New York in 2022 by Leila Bourreuil (cello), Alvin Curran (sampler and objects), Daniel Fishkin (daxophone), Miguel Frasconi (glass objects) and Matt Sargent (lap steel). The piece asks musicians to match their instrumental volume to that of the sounds of the environment in which they play, sometimes with the addition of recorded environmental sounds, reinforcing frequencies they encounter in listening deeply to their surroundings. Here the players use a field recording taken at Teitelbaum’s home in Bearsville, New York, their long tones and shimmering, glassy textures delicately emerging from the white noise of the location recording. Released with the full approval of both Richard Teitelbaum and Suzan Pitt’s estates, Asparagus is illustrated with striking images from Pitt’s film and accompanied by detailed liner notes by Francis Plagne. These previously unheard pieces shed new light on the work of a key composer in the American experimental tradition, offering up some of Teitelbaum’s most beautiful and engaging music.

Mode_1 Reclaim EP by DIG Records

Cover // Augmented reality by Omer Avarkan


********************************AUGMENTED REALITY COVER ***********************************

After a stellar debut release in 2023, vinyl-only label Dust in Grooves, sees its anticipated second EP Reclaim, showcasing one of Dublin's gleaming underground talents Mode_1. Establishing DIG as a progressive sonic platform, founder Olivia Mendez is also curating a series of dynamic augmented reality covers for each EP. Adding more layers into the sound experience of the Reclaim vinyl is motion designer and visual artist Omer Avarkan.


Mode_1's dedication to uncovering layers of tough but rhythmic grooves, both as a DJ and a producer, has led him to make a mark on legendary techno imprints such as Knotweed, FiedelTwo, Truncate and Naked Lunch. Staying true to his advancing, dynamic sound laid with dexterous technique, Robert Kavanagh delivers a collection of four ominous tracks, pulsating with incandescent pads and pacey drums.


The EP opens with the relentless and driving Sigma, setting the tone for a swiftly moving ride across the record. With playful shifting of gears and jacking rhythms, the A2 flows into the next track Dusty Room, utilising the bleepy pitches in contrast to the expansive spheric tones, offering an energetic boost of a melodic techno work-out, with hints of sharp dub edges.


Reclaim on B1 highlights the versatility of Mode_1, comprising multi-layered scales, evolving spiral sounds and a build-up of reverberating tones that escalate with poise. As a closing track of the record, Platform 8 is one of those B2 sides that you keep reaching out to. This ultimate big-floor tool is loaded with advancing movement, keys with mystical undertones, and depth of texture that play with the infinite nature of the number eight.


Unlocking the animated cover of the EP and seeing it come to life virtually, adds a new dimension to the classic format of the vinyls. To unlock its motion, follow the riddle on the back.


All tracks mastered by Nihad Tule.


Words by Lora Mateeva, Orb Mag

The norwegian group Boastein was founded by Are Storstein and Øistein Boassen in 1970. Boastein's debut album "Jeg har min egen luke" became something of a holy grail within alternative music in Norway. This is DIY rock from the anarchist basement with a sound and lyrics that was quite groundbraking when it came out. It was also one of the very first independent releases in Norway. The album can be described as free and progressive underground rock filled with dark humor, political sting and a good amount of weirdness. The record was first released in 399 copies in 1977.

Ratboys have been recording and releasing music for over a decade, but their newest album, The Window, marks the first time they’d ever traveled outside their home base of Chicago to make a record, journeying to the Hall of Justice Recording Studio in Seattle to work with producer Chris Walla.

The sessions with Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Foxing) struck the perfect balance between preparation and experimentation, injecting new life into the band’s style of soft-hearted Midwestern indie rock with an ever so subtle Americana twist. The solidified Ratboys lineup stretched and expanded their vision in the studio, adding unexpected elements and instruments like rototoms, talkboxes, and fiddles. The result is Ratboys’ most sonically diverse record, shifting wildly from track to track. It flexes everything from fuzzy power pop choruses on “Crossed That Line” and “It’s Alive!” to
a warm country twang on “Morning Zoo” to mournful folk on the titular track. After more than ten years and four studio albums, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be
heard—expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender—the sound of four friends operating as a single, cohesive unit. This release comes with a Download Code.

Hua Li has often worked the fruitful tension between opposing forces, whether being mixed-race, bisexual, or overtly political and softly vulnerable. Now the “half-Chinese, half-militant, half-rapper of your heart” is back with "ripe fruit falls but not in your mouth", her most ambitious and personal record to date. Playing between hazy R&B, hip-hop, jazz and electronic, Hua Li’s sophomore LP takes the imaginary garden as a proxy for cultivating home. With complex vocal arrangements, lush production by Alex Thibault (aka Gloze), and big, vibrant mixing by TNGHT’s Lunice, ripe fruit is a private confessional on a loud-ass record.

Following 2019’s Dynasty and 2020’s critically acclaimed Yellow Crane EP, "ripe fruit" is characteristically libertine. Textured and sensual, the Montreal multi-hyphenate balances her rich, waveforming tone with danceable, electronic signatures. The rapper is fierce and frequently funny, erupting from gauzy runs to deliver a quick uppercut that stings. With hooky, addictive features by Ambrose Getz and Darkus Millon, ripe fruit is an intimate record of healing, with Montreal’s nightlife at its heart. An artful collaborator, Hua Li co-wrote and performed on Gayance's 2023 Polaris short-listed album, Masquerade, and is the touring DJ for Inuk electro-pop throat singer, Riit.

Her charismatic stage show has taken her around the world, including tours with Cadence Weapon and Fat Tony (serving as the former’s touring DJ), to Reykjavik’s Secret Solstice Festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and Pride Toronto. Luminous and compelling, Hua Li shows it takes tenderness to let things ripen, and guts to let things die. In-between is a kind of rapture that begs to be savoured.

For Fans Of: Gayance, Tirzah, FKA Twigs, Heems, Tkay Maidza

The Japanese alternative band lead by OORUTAICHI Urichipangoon's 2nd Album on vinyl first time.

Original CD was released in 2008.

2LP Gatefold and incert.

They crossover Jazz, Brazilian, Afrobeat and folklore, and on unique Japanese poetry.

Vom HEXWORKS Art-Team entworfene Deluxe-Ausgabe des OST für das Action-RPG "Lords Of The Fallen" (2023), sorgfältig für 180g Triple-Vinyl gemastert. Die mehrfach preisgekrönten Komponisten Cris Velasco und Knut Avenstroup Haugen erzeugen ein aufwändes Dark-Fantasy-Meisterwerk zwischen romantischer Oper, Mozarts Requiem-Messen, dissonanter Klassik des 20. Jahrhunderts und großartigen Horrorfilm-Soundtracks. Teils live aufgenommen mit dem Budapest Scoring Orchestra & Choir, den Solist*innen Eurielle und Jess Dandy, dem Solocellisten des London Symphony Orchestra, David Cohen, und dem Flötisten Tony Hinnigan (bekannt aus Hollywood-Scores wie "Titanic" und "Avatar").

This is long overdue. I mean, looooooonnnnnng overdue. A solo album by Jim. The trap kit - so straightforward, so mysterious. What"s inside those things? Air and light - from which century? Which continent? Which planet? Depending on how and when you hit them it can be a vibration sent through a prehistoric breath, particles of Saturn"s atmosphere, the dead, wet leaves you walked through on the way to the first day of school. These are the memories of the drums on this record. Infinite and personal. Editing each other as they muscle to the front or soft shoe to the shadow. Cymbals can override/cancel everything out - wipe your memory clear or make the memory clearer. Drums are the instrument where you can feel the presence of the player the most - the full body - and sense the thoughts of the player the most. The instrument with the most choices to be made sends out the most brainwaves. A bouquet of brainwaves is on this LP. Jim oversees it all, surveys from the lost place we"re in, the void - the drumless song. We trust. We trust, Jim. His big green eyes search for the right tool (mallet, brush, etc), eyes that search you like you"re a song he wants to join, wants to see if he can add to or understand. Before humans, drums were playing - these drums. Genesis was a solo drum piece. After humans, these drums, this album. Someone - the last man - is out in a spaceship at the edge of space. He plays a single chord on a synth to set time free from its bind and then lets go. This album sets time free, lets it frolic, lets it graze, lets it remember. This is a record of thoughts, memories, surgery. A deft surgical operation you may not even realize is happening as it"s happening but you"re back on your feet when it"s over. Memories refreshed. Did you really even listen to it? -Bill Callahan, November 2023

This is long overdue. I mean, looooooonnnnnng overdue. A solo album by Jim. The trap kit - so straightforward, so mysterious. What"s inside those things? Air and light - from which century? Which continent? Which planet? Depending on how and when you hit them it can be a vibration sent through a prehistoric breath, particles of Saturn"s atmosphere, the dead, wet leaves you walked through on the way to the first day of school. These are the memories of the drums on this record. Infinite and personal. Editing each other as they muscle to the front or soft shoe to the shadow. Cymbals can override/cancel everything out - wipe your memory clear or make the memory clearer. Drums are the instrument where you can feel the presence of the player the most - the full body - and sense the thoughts of the player the most. The instrument with the most choices to be made sends out the most brainwaves. A bouquet of brainwaves is on this LP. Jim oversees it all, surveys from the lost place we"re in, the void - the drumless song. We trust. We trust, Jim. His big green eyes search for the right tool (mallet, brush, etc), eyes that search you like you"re a song he wants to join, wants to see if he can add to or understand. Before humans, drums were playing - these drums. Genesis was a solo drum piece. After humans, these drums, this album. Someone - the last man - is out in a spaceship at the edge of space. He plays a single chord on a synth to set time free from its bind and then lets go. This album sets time free, lets it frolic, lets it graze, lets it remember. This is a record of thoughts, memories, surgery. A deft surgical operation you may not even realize is happening as it"s happening but you"re back on your feet when it"s over. Memories refreshed. Did you really even listen to it? -Bill Callahan, November 2023

Ryan Kaiser has already made a name for himself creating daydreamy, sun-blasted, Polaroid-pop as Yot Club. With his second full-length, Rufus, Kaiser is expanding his sonic palette and challenging his own established modes of music making by letting collaborators in. The record includes co-writes with the likes of Tommy English (Carly Rae Jepsen, Kacey Musgraves), and singer Charli Adams, with Patrick Wimberly (formerly one-half of Chairlift) on mixing duties, and the result is a collection of songs that sounds bolder and brighter. From the shimmering surf-pop of opener “Stuntman,” to the minor chord angst and quiet-loud-quiet pulse of “New Day,” to The Strokesian swoon of album closer “Lazy Eyes,” Kaiser lo-fi hooks have a new cinematic scope. It continues Kaiser’s coming of age — looking back, picking it all apart, trying to work it all out, and constantly pushing forward.

Los Angeles-based Fabiano Do Nascimento is a multi-string guitarist and songwriter who melds the traditional idioms of his native Brazil (i.e., samba, choro) with the more contemporary and experimental strains of jazz, pop, and electronic music. Das Nuvens (“The Clouds”), out July 2023 on Leaving Records, is a crisp, frequently blissful, and deceptively groove-oriented showcase from a consummate musician — a rich and varied collection of songs, all of which seem to prioritize, and thrive in, the soft and intentional spaces between notes.

Das Nuvens constitutes the free-form, exploratory work of a musician who, having mastered a distinct musical language, seeks to apply his skill towards broader, more experimental modes of expression. Fittingly, track one — built around a contemplative, pointillistic refrain— is titled “Babel,” a reference to the legend of man’s attempt to build a tower to heaven, and how God thwarted this alleged act of hubris by shattering man’s shared language, sowing chaos and confusion. Though a stern parable on its face, it is a myth that enshrines our world’s dizzying array of languages (of modes of being), and the subsequent beauty of cultural exchange through art. In this regard, it is a fitting opening statement for an album that collapses and collages not only contemporary and classical Brazilian and pop idioms, but also the diverse range of indigenous music that Nascimento has encountered and studied in his travels as a touring musician.

Les yeux grands fermés is a spontaneous new EP that is an ode to freedom, both in the creative process and in everyday life. This opus depicts the rather raw feelings of a young artist who had a tough time of it when he was starting out, and who is now finally experiencing the success he had been hoping for. More liberated, the protagonist is now enjoying a new life: a more freestyle lifestyle full of surprises and lightness, with days governed by studio sessions, parties and carnal relations... all the while keeping his feet firmly on the ground and his goals firmly in mind! In terms of songwriting and production, Les yeux grands fermés is an improved blend of ABSOLEM's last two projects, Leur dire and Balle d'Argent, featuring both their introspective songwriting, here even more touching, and their arrogant, second-rate side. ABSOLEM continues the journey begun on Balle d'Argent, a project in which the rapper discovered himself to be more than ever in harmony with his music (spontaneity, introspection, fluidity of text) and less concerned by all the external factors (industry, the race for numbers, social networks, pressure, etc.), social networks, pressure, etc.).

Produced in a very short space of time, Les yeux grands fermés is a highly intuitive and spontaneous project with some tracks created from scratch in just a few hours.

Entirely produced, recorded and mixed by Dee Eye in their cellar-home studio, the project retains the 'live' touch. studio, the project retains the 'home-made' touch that characterises the duo and which they are constantly perfecting. The featuring with JeanJass, who is very close to the duo, was just as natural, having worked with with Dee Eye and advises them on the creation of their projects. projects. The result is a track with a very intimate theme (esotericism and introspection), which takes the form of an astral journey.

Project after project, the chemistry between ABSOLEM and Dee Eye grew stronger and stronger and the main objective remains the same: to break new ground in every area production, writing, interpretation, mixing and mastering). Continuing to continue to work on a number of projects on their own, Dee Eye continues to progress experience and a keen eye in the artistic direction of ABSOLEM's projects. projects. With quality, consistency and efficiency always in mind and efficiency, ABSOLEM and Dee Eye are increasingly asserting their desire to create their own musical colour, a sort of hybrid between Slowthai and Asap Rocky with and Asap Rocky, with innovative production and flows, featuring rap lyrics.

White vinyl w/ pink splatter, limited to 500 copies. New Orleans death grind/hardcore group BRAT are the latest addition to the Prosthetic Records roster. Formed in 2021, BRAT deals out blastbeats, bass-laden breakdowns and old school death metal and New York hardcore inspired riffs. Through the melding of their influences the four-piece's sound stands out from the more sludge orientated sounds that the Crescent City is known for, catching the attention of the Los Angeles label in the process. Speaking on the singing announcement, BRAT comments: "We're thrilled to be part of a label that's put out so many quintessential metal albums of the last 25 years. It's an honor to have the opportunity to contribute to that list. Let's rock." "Upon completion of our record we felt Social Grace, the title track, really encompassed a broad snapshot stylistically of the album at large. The song is an environmental commentary on the effects of the wealthy on the state of our planet and further ties to the greater theme of our album that explores the various plights of mankind. In tandem with the single is our music video that draws inspiration from classic murder mysteries and depicts the ugly realities behind the pomp and circumstance of the aristocracy." BRAT's self described yassified look shirks more traditional metal imagery in favor of a pink-pilled Y2K aesthetic, with plenty of nods to their favorite femme pop icons. As the band sets their sights on making strides in the heavy metal and hardcore world, BRAT's end goal is to "put bimboviolence and barbiegrind on the map". Through a consistent live presence that includes touring alongside NOLA legends EYEHATEGOD, Ringworm, labelmates ACxDC, fellow grindsters in No/Mas and contemporaries in Maul and Morbid Visions, BRAT has garnered praise from the likes of Revolver, Metal Injection, Metal Sucks and many more as a new band to watch.

High-level reissue of one of the legendary and world-renowned bands that emerged in Australia, essential for any lover and collector of Australian Rock and Punk Rock / High Energy. "Spaceman In a Satin Suit' was released in 1994 and it is one of the best and most mature works in Celibate Rifles' discography, and now for the first time on vinyl since its initial release. This great LP reflects the simple spirit of the Rifles' rock'n'roll with catchy choruses and signature guitars, with another part that they began to play with after this album, a more experimental and introspective side. The 14 songs of the Celibate Rifles introduce you with an electric storm, oppressively dense, hard and heavy, which then become faster, sharper and stronger, where they overflow Punk, which remains their hallmark, with sharp guitars, wounded and full of fury, until they reach a kind of breaking point towards a more experimental part, together generating an interesting sonic boom (The Ramones team up with Blue Oyster Cult in a particularly gloomy alley). Lovelock's lyrics exude more optimism than on previous LPs and this peaks with 'Big World', a declaration of love to his beloved planet Earth. There is also room for his usual biting social commentary. On the album we also find a tribute to one of its musical influences, 'Let's Do It Again' by Sonic's Rendezvous Band (with the participation of Fred 'Sonic' Smith, ex-MC5).

DRIFT. Is British-Italian producer Nathalia Bruno, releasing music under the guise since 2015. Her 'techno-pop' EPs 'Black Devotion' and 'Genderland' released with Avant! records were the first explorations in finding the sound of DRIFT. but as the name suggests, is in constant flux. In 2020 'Symbiosis' the debut record was released on Hamburg's Tapete Records, an assemblage of lo-fi futurism reflecting on the breakdown of communication and interaction Nathalia felt was increasing around her. Channelling classic industrial electronica, haunting melodies, using samples, field recordings and curated sound as a 'canvas to rewire the vision of the future as colourful and old, ceremonial and rust beaten. A shrine like ornament and clinical machine language plaited together.'. In 2022 DRIFT. Self released 'The nature of things', a 30 minute piece entitled 'CTRL/ Algorhythm of love' written and produced for designer Mona Cordes' 'Cellusion' show for London fashion week. "_a journey into the dark heart of the dancefloor. The glimmering bass-heavy trance of its opening section could be classic Underworld, while its ambient center is genuinely Eno-esque. And then it all kicks off again as a Berlin school style banger. It's terrific" says Electronic Sound Magazine. This year, 2023 will give birth to DRIFT.'s second album released with God Unknown records '11 points In Time' written for and based on disappeared artist Rosi Crucci, compiled of sounds/field recordings recorded onto cassettes found in the attic of the home she last lived at, interpreted into song using some of her poetry and journal entries of what was happening in the world around her, attempting to finally give Rosi a voice. PRESS Louder Than War album review 'Symbiosis' (2020) "...blends passion with precision to create a tapestry of machine-made sounds that are bursting with ideas and filled with emotion. "We live in times where nothing means nothing," she sings on Visualise The Invisible. "And nothing is true." Never more so than now...Over the course of its ten tracks, Symbiosis draws from pretty much every strand of electronic music throughout its 50-year history" Shindig Magazine review 'Symbiosis' 2020 "A brilliant, fascinating album" Post Punk Magazine review 'Symbiosis' 2020 "is an exercise in disjointed meditation, a trip through the doors of the spirit lodge and inner workings of the human psyche." Pop Matters Review 'Symbiosis' 2020 "...One track in particular, "In Orbit", speaks to this new disturbing unknown we are creating. A distorted, three-note death knell drives it as repeated knocking seems to come from a dank tunnel. If it sounds bleak, it's likely also to be therapeutic and finds common ground with the entrancing industrial thud of Throbbing Gristle or Third Eye Foundation..."

Halle Weissensee (or Weißensee if you wish) starts where Sascha Funke’s last Ep for Running Back stopped. Mesmerizing house and techno music that interweaves classic forms with modern means and looks through the lenses of nostalgia with an open mind.
The Halle was a former engine plant in Berlin that got converted into a rave areal for the now legendary Mayday raves and one of the birthplaces and leading spots of the nineties. Coincidentally and unknowingly, 1993’s winter edition was attended by Funke and Gerd Janson and a conversation about it spawned this record. Don’t be mislead: this is not a retro rave fest, but an ode to the esprit of the times, the possibilities if an envisioned future and maybe most of all an afterglow. While Reality (sounding like a Relief record if the label would have been a topic at Bauhaus university) and the warped bleepiness of Halle Weissensee itself come closest to the actual sound aesthetic of that very night, Fantasy invokes the language of contemplative deep house from vintage New York, while Puzzle evokes a notion of what the same thing could be with the prefix progressive instead. Reality often falls short behind fantasy, but once in a while both complement each other very well.

Danny Clay is a composer who often utilizes classical instruments, open forms, found objects, analog media, and digital errata in his work. He has collaborated with musicians and ensembles throughout the US, including Kronos Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, Third Coast Percussion, Volti, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, Wu Man, Sarah Cahill, Phyllis Chen, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Ensemble Dal Niente, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and others.

After 4 years since his last solo release ("Ocean Park" LAAPS04). Danny Clay comes back with "No More Darkness No more Night", which could be, maybe, or, finally, a follow-up from his previous work. a complete intimate and out-of-time piece evolving between ambient, chamber music and contemporary music.

« Lush Life » (1958) is among John Coltrane’s best endeavours on the Prestige (and Music) label. One reason can easily be attributed to the interesting personnel and the

subsequent lack of a keyboard player for the August 16, 1957, session that yielded the majority of the material. Coltrane (tenor sax) had to essentially lead the compact trio of himself,

Earl May (bass) and Art Taylor (drums). The intimate setting is perfect for ballads such as the opener ‘Like Someone in Love ». John Coltrane doesn’t have to supplement the frequent

redundancy inherent in pianists, so he has plenty of room to express himself through simple and ornate passages.

May provides a platform for Coltrane’s even keeled runs before the tenor drops out, allowing both Earl May and then Art Taylor a chance to shine.

The fun cat-and-mouse-like antics continue as Taylor can be heard encouraging the tenor player to raise the stakes and the tempo – which he does to great effect.

Loup Vert is the first jazz album of French pianist Julien Grassen Barbe, joined for the occasion by double bassist Sébastien Bacquias and drummer Fabien Duscombs. Conceived and composed in the Pyrenees mountains, recorded around Paris, it is an album of twelve tracks that came as a response to the proposal of Julien Galner (producer, founder of HIDD label). Loup Vert is the name of a fetish, a creature that breathes inspiration. Informed by many influences, from Frédéric Chopin to Morton Feldman, from Erik Satie to Herbie Hancock, through Keith Jarrett, Madlib and Naftule Brandwein, Julien Grassen Barbe's music opens a space dedicated to improvisation, melody, and the exploration of textures. Trained in classical music, graduate of the conservatory of the Hautes-Pyrénées region, where he is originally from, Julien Grassen Barbe is a songwriter and a musician, but also an ethnomusicologist, specialist in Jewish music, and a published author. A trip to New-York, land of Thelonious Monk, had a deep impact on him. He used it as a time for jam sessions, lessons with some of his favorite musicians, Aaron Parks, Aaron Goldberg, Barry Harris. Between 2014 and 2016, he explored pop, invited by Chateau-Marmont and Exotica to collaborate on two records as a keyboardist. It is on this occasion that he got closer to Julien Galner, producer, founder of the HIDD record label who asked him to record a jazz record. They entered the studio to record Loup Vert, a project that is a cross between impressionism, cinema, be-bop, mathematics and improvised music. Most of the pieces were written by Julien Grassen Barbe, mixing acoustic and electric/electronic worlds.

Light Touches Records is devoted to shed new lights on hot rarities, unknown grooves as well as forgotten classics. 2024 welcomes the new 12” on the label with 4 hot and rare gospel disco/funk tunes to uplift your sets and throw people’s hands in the air!

“The Top” is an uplifting and relentless disco roller for incendiary peak times, “Hear my prey” suits the openings with its midtempo funky groove. On the flipside, “Lil Longer” gets deeper and moodier for the most demanding djs out there while “Giving It Up” rounds things up with its lovely boogie vibes.

All tracks have been carefully edited by Andrea Passenger without overdubs, in order to bring the spirit of classic disco manipulators to today’s dancefloors! 12” limited to 300 copies (no digital).

Turnend Tapes first vinyl offering beyond the realms of the club emerges Peculiar Glow Vol.1. An EP of radiant atmospherics from multiple artists prescribing sonic esoterism.

Shell Company introduce the record with ‘Pearl’, an exhibition of their indelible sound, nurtured by the Manchester underground; inducing intoxication through twang of guitar and stunning spoken word whilst grimy, glitched-out soundscapes modulate and vaporise.

Sailingwing follows with ‘Splendid Isolation’. A kaleidoscopic dream sequence sounding like a distant relative to Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden. One that is voltaic and woozy drifting with spectral timbre.

Bringing side A to a close with their track ‘I Might’ is Infant, another artist flourishing in Manchester’s fertile scene. A soft and hopeful slice of blissed out synth pop showcasing Infant’s mesmerising instrumentation, voice and lyricism.

Das Wettbüro’s ‘Abendtarif’ opens side B with an auditory bath of cool electronics intersecting the styles of different eras and geographies. Ultra kinetic and slick, the group make a visionary contribution to the rich lineage of Krautrock before it.

Zoe Couppe & sigh nova offer up a sublime composition of glistening electronics and granular field recordings that mirror the spoken musings of aquatic motion amongst other abstractions. With mythic air, ‘Memoria Fluida’ guides this collection of music to its conclusion.

Peculiar Glow’s first volume is a touchstone for endeavours to follow under this project and we are delighted to share the result of what has been a lengthy but exceptionally rewarding process.

"For his fourth full length album, we see the proficiency of instrumentalist and composer Prins Emanuel in full bloom as he turns head deep into the techniques he established on the preceding outing of Diagonal Musik. Here, he revisit what he refers to as a diagonal approach in composing; i.e. starting at one point and then moving to the farthest point in the process, as a way for him to connect the dots somewhere in the middle, or - like I previously described it for the liner notes of that album - “something akin to drawing only shadows and then finishing with the contours”.
And in the tradition of great sequels, this is a much larger and intricate production. While relying on the guitar as a formative backbone to many songs, the layering of brass and woodwinds houses these compositions in bold and sharply lit structures. Mallets and percussion adds an air of momentum but also grounds these tracks in earthy hues.
Thawed and gracious, Diagonal Musik II in essence creates a space that bridges the various paths of Prins Emanuel’s musical universe. At once post-minimalist and avant garde in nature while also peeking through the door at both IDM and folk music, the lingering sensation is that of a well balanced palate that doesn’t break under the presence of repetition. Enveloped in a fourth world approach to jazz and incorporating the more contemplative side of post punk or art pop, there is a story hidden in here that gives cause to the appropriation of these influences.
The inherent warmth of certain instruments play their part in this story. Emanuel often builds on the notion of ‘organic music’ but broadens the definition via subtle electronic enhancements that sit naturally alongside their acoustic counterparts. Take for instance the voice emulator sequence that opens “Kadens Tre” and is dashed on by guitar slides and flute drills to roll further down a hill of staccato percussion. A few tracks in, the lines are so blurred it becomes a natural state until the harsh and eerie sample loops of closing track “Östan Vind” finally breaks the spell. ”

Following the success of the 'Tokyo Glow' compilation, Wewantsounds once again teams up with Japanese Tokyo-based DJ Notoya to dig the rich Electric Bird catalogue and come with a versatile selection of sunny Jazz-Funk gems recorded between 1978 and 1987 for the label. A tasty selection featuring Yasuaki Shimizu, Toshiyuki Honda and Mikio Masuda, together with a few American musicians such as Ronnie Foster and Bobby Lyle. Most tracks make their vinyl debut outside of Japan and the album has been designed by Optigram/Manuel Sepulveda and is annotated by DJ Notoya. Audio newly remastered in Tokyo by King Records....