Cerca:out of city

EP compilation of essential UK house cuts recorded between 1987 - 1990. TIP!


Before British house and techno found its’ distinctive groove at the turn of the 1990s, one act led the way: Bang The Party, a trio who emerged from London’s vibrant underground party scene in the mid 1980s and proved, beyond any doubt, that UK producers could make music every bit as magical as the pioneering productions put forward by their counterparts in Chicago, Detroit and New York.

By the time long-running DJs and party promoters Kid Batchelor and Leslie Lawrence joined forces with trained engineer Keith Franklin at legendary North-West London reggae studio Addis Ababa in 1987, they’d spent years as DIY dance music activists in Britain’s capital city. They channelled these experiences and their love of imported house and techno sounds into a new project, Bang The Party, in the process becoming the first British act to appear on Transmat, a reflection of the quality and authenticity of their music.

The latest Rush Hour Reissue Series release offers a snapshot of some of the numerous gems nestled in the Bang The Party catalogue, delivering a much-deserved celebration of one of Britain’s most significant early acid house collectives. It features four fully remastered cuts recorded and released between 1987 and 1990 – on-point and far-sighted club workouts that sound as fresh and timeless now as they did when Britain was sweltering under its infamous ‘second summer of love’.

Fittingly, the EP begins with ‘I Feel Good All Over’, the group’s ground-breaking debut single. Dedicated to their home city and one of the earliest UK interpretations of house music, the track exists in the grey area between Chicago house and New York ‘garage house’ – all jaunty organ stabs, jacking Windy City beats, restless bass and soulful vocalizations. ‘Jacques Theme’, which follows, originally nestled on the B-side of that single release. An early, acid-flecked expression of hip-house with a British twist, breakdance-friendly bongo patterns and a dose of Larry Heard-inspired deep house dreaminess, the track remains an under-appreciated classic whose rap verses reflect the popularity of hip-hop in London at the time.

1988’s ‘Release Your Body’, Bang The Party’s most celebrated early release, was reissued in the United States by Transmat, reflecting the strong working relationship between Derrick May and Kool Kat Records’ Neil Rushton. A hypnotising affair propelled forwards by sweat-soaked drum machine beats, jacking fills and an addictive bassline, the track offers another near perfect distillation of the band’s Black American musical influences while delivering something genuinely new and fresh.

Rounding off the EP is a choice cut from Bang The Party’s sought after 1990 album Back To Prison. Doused in the star-lit synth sounds of the Motor City with jaunty organ stabs inspired by the kind of New Jersey jams championed at East Orange institution Club Zanzibar, ‘Let It Rip’ is a superb slice of deep house soul featuring a lead vocal every bit as emotive as anything laid down by Robert Owens. Like the rest of Bang The Party’s output, it has stood the time better than anything laid down by their London contemporaries.

Trailblazing instrumental synth pop experiments created to soundtrack Japan’s booming 1980s cartoon and comic industries. The brightly futuristic instrumentals on this collection reflect the mindset of composers and musicians who believed in a technological future where everything was possible.

In the late 1980s Japan experienced a brief but heady period where societal changes combined with new-found wealth to open up a world of possibilities. A huge influx of cash - artificially created by slashed interest rates after an agreement with the US to weaken the dollar relative to the yen - resulted in the inflation of real estate and stock market at a rapid pace. While the economic bubble it created was unprecedented and impossible to sustain, for a while money was in plentiful supply.

The musical genre City Pop reflected the aspirations of the country’s booming leisure class. Video games flourished with Nintendo's 1983 launch of their Family Computer (or FamiCom). Studio Ghibli was founded 1985 to later became one of the most famous and respected animation studios in the world, and Anime and Manga were established as major forms of entertainment for all generations of the Japanese public.

Music was no mere footnote to the anime and manga boom: the two forms of media often went hand in hand, and not simply through the presence of background melodies. With generous budgets available, even two-dimensional static manga comics could be released with an accompanying soundtrack of original music known as an ‘Image Album’.

Composer and arranger Kazuhiko Izu was one such beneficiary of this open budget approach. Written to accompany artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga comic Domu, the composer and arranger took advantage of the world-leading (and wallet-busting) Japanese synthesiser technology available at King Records’ fully equipped studio. Featured on this compilation, A3: Act 2 Scene 26 reflected the story’s sci fi themes with a blazingly futuristic yet warmly funky slice of synth pop that presents a joyful celebration of synthesisers and their seemingly endless possibilities.

Kan Ogasawara was another composer who made early mastery of the litany of synthesisers, drum machines and sequencers that had become available. Two tracks written to accompany the 1985 period manga Yume No Ishibumi are featured here; Honowo’s experimental electronic textures add spice to a jaunty electro pop melody that recalls the Rah band’s 1983 hit Messages From Stars; the jazz-tinged Utage rounds out Ogasawara’s shimmering synth textures with beautifully crafted backing from legendary musicians Yuji Toriyama (guitar), Pecker (percussion) and Jun Fukamachi (piano).

Before becoming one of the pioneers of Japanese Kankyo Ongaku (Ambient Music), Takashi Kokubo worked on the proto techno track Kiki (Jungle At Night). It was put together for the 1984 anime film Shonen Keniya (Kenya Boy) using some of the most expensive music technologies available at the time. This Africa-Inspired dance track offers a contemporary parallel to the early techno music that young Detroit based producers were then creating using cheap Japanese Roland drum machines and synthesisers.

This is the first compilation of Japanese anime and manga soundtracks curated by Kay Suzuki and Rintaro Sekizuka from Vinyl Delivery Service (a Tokyo based online record shop which also operates in East London's renowned wine and hifi shop Idle Moments). With a cover by artist Kazuki Takakura and two pages of liner notes, this vinyl only compilation of music never before released outside of Japan, captures a vital aural snapshot of an era whose forward-thinking sounds went hand in hand with cutting edge technology.

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series)
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records!
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway — Genesis' gold-selling sixth studio album!
180-gram 45 RPM 4LP
Mastered directly from the original master tape by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
Pressed at Quality Record Pressings and RTI
Tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing

Genesis' sixth studio album was released as a double album in November 1974 by Charisma Records and is the last to feature original frontman Peter Gabriel. The group's longest album to date, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway peaked at No. 10 on the U.K. Albums Chart and No. 41 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S..

The album is a concept album and tells the surreal story, devised by Gabriel, of a young Puerto Rican named Rael who embarks on a journey through a series of strange and bizarre events in New York City.

Musically, the album is a departure from the band's previous works, incorporating a wide range of styles including progressive rock, art rock, funk, and jazz fusion. The album features complex rhythms, intricate melodies, and dense layers of instrumentation, showcasing the band's virtuosic musicianship.

The album is notable for its use of storytelling, with each track contributing to the larger narrative of Rael's journey. The lyrics are often cryptic and abstract, and the album's surreal imagery has been interpreted in a variety of ways by listeners and critics.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway gained acclaim in the years after its release, reaching gold certification for sales in the U.K. and U.S.. In 1978, Nick Kent wrote for NME that it "had a compelling appeal that often transcended the hoary weightiness of the mammoth concept that held the equally mammoth four sides of vinyl together." In a special edition of Q and Mojo magazines titled Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, The Lamb ranked at No. 14 in its 40 Cosmic Rock Albums list. The album came third in a list of the 10 best concept albums by Uncut magazine, where it was described as an "impressionistic, intense album" and "pure theatre (in a good way) and still Gabriel's best work." A Rolling Stone poll to rank readers' favourite progressive rock albums of all time placed The Lamb fifth in the list.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is widely regarded as one of Genesis's most important and influential works, inspiring generations of progressive rock musicians.

Most southern soul fans will tell you that that the music produced in Memphis in 1967 and 1968 was the pinnacle of quality. So following on from our look at the River City’s soul output in 1967, we now turn our attention to an album covering the next year. As before, the singers here are a heady mixture of local Tennessee talent and welcome soulful guests who journeyed down south hoping that a little of the famous Memphis magic would rub off on their songs. There are soul genres to suit all tastes here – from the deepest ballads to upbeat tracks that will rock your socks off. Soul doesn’t get much better than the artists and their tunes on this LP!

The second incarnation of the mythical band of the eighties mod revival, active since 2013 under the leadership of Chris Pope. The English band offers us 4 tracks full of power-pop, punk 77 rage and classic melodies. The Chords UK are back in action with a new EP that keeps the bar high when it comes to punk-influenced power pop. The title track of the EP was originally composed and worked on in 1985 for the Arista label, with the collaboration in production of Tony James (Generation X, Chelsea...). It finally remained unreleased and is now, at last, seeing the light of day once re-imagined, re-arranged and re-recorded in April 2023. It's a fearsome shock of rock'n'roll rhythm and sharp, angular guitars with more than a nod to late 70's The Clash, all wrapped up in infectious vocal harmonies and anthemic choruses. "Veronica Jones" is a new mix of the celebrated cut from the band's 2022 album "Big City Dreams". This track was born as a punchy modern folk song, as it tells the story of a girl who is clearly out to have a good time, but this version is elevated with a garage rock approach, ably assisted by the keyboard talents of Mick Talbot, formerly of The Style Council and Merton Parkas. "Before Elvis" has its origins in a 2014 demo that eventually remained unreleased and is a raging rock track with a Stones-style beat and amps pushed to the limit. The EP closes with "All I Want is Everything" a high-tempo rock'n'roll reworking of the song that previously appeared on their 2018 album "Nowhere Land", with the bass-driven beat rising several notches as the guitar screams and wails.

KID FRANCESCOLI, leader of the French Riviera Touch is back with the stellar album SUNSET BLUE out Sept 22nd 2023.

After a first sold-out world tour (over 200 concerts in Europe, USA, Asia...), and successful hits such as Nopalitos, Blow Up or Moon (now certified diamond, with more than 200 millions streams), the Marseille-based producer, crooner and multi-instrumentalist, Mathieu Hocine, is eager to share his most accomplished LP ever. This fine collection of soulful songs honor his Mediterranean roots, with elegant and pop melodies. His most recent success and the creation of his first original soundtrack with AZURO, installed him as one of the best French songwriters of his generation, with a unique signature sound.

"I live in Marseille, I spent my childhood in Corsica, I have Algerian origins, my first vacations with friends were in Barcelona, vacations with my first girlfriend in Roma,... Then, I had the chance to perform in Morocco, Greece, Turkey and Egypt: each time I spent time in the Mediterranean region, the people I met there made me feel like I was part of the same country. This shared multiculturalism is really comforting, it has its own poetry and strength, bringing uniqueness and empathy to the people. It is essential for me. I love my city: it’s the perfect place to feel good with sun, sea, family, friendships, love... It gets me emotional, bringing tears with a smile".

With his new musical gem, Mathieu Hocine unveils 11 elegant tunes of his finest craft: sunbathed French Touch (Run Run, 1986), romantic chillwave (Corsica), uplifting synthpop (You Are Everywhere, Like Magic), electronic-soul (Casino Soul), cinematic disco (Solaris), cosmic R&B (Sweet and Sour, Take Time), … Everything is in this record.

For the first time ever, Kid Francescoli paid tribute to his mixed origins with his collaboration with world-renowned lute and mandolin player Hakim Hamadouche (Rachid Taha, Patti Smith, Brian Eno, Tricky...), whom added Algerian patterns to the introspectives songs Drift in Blue and The Morning After.

"My ambition is to create pictures in people's heads with music, to transport them instantly into a movie"

SUNSET BLUE is an instant-crush album: crystal-clear, strong, personal but universal at the same time.

It's an ecstatic soundtrack for this moment when time is suspended, the golden hour when everything seems possible. It feels like Love is in the air, you're living your best life and you're at the right place at the right time. This album embodies this magic moment where we would like to last forever… Like an epiphany, Kid Francescoli's new album is a moment of pure pleasure, a soothing way to escape reality.

"I see myself as a melodist.I would like my music to feel like velvet. There's something cinematic, classy about it, and yet comforting. It's very simple, popular and synonym of love and passion"

His friend French 79 co-produced the album, while the american rapper Bamby H2O brought his NYC swag (on Sweet & Sour), Stan Neff (Polo & Pan, Kungs, Christine and the Queens...) took care of the mix and Alex Gopher (Daft Punk, The Blaze, Bon Entendeur...) added a final touch of magic when mastering. Nicolas Despis (known for his work with Etienne Daho, Hoshi, Juliette Armanet... and many famous French rappers) later joined this dream-team to craft custom-made artworks. SUNSET BLUE is a deeply personal quest, a human adventure for Mathieu Hocine (whom explores his maghrebian origins, his feminine side, his subconscious space, ...). It's a male's work, but don't get it wrong, this LP would be nothing without women’s touch : Julietta (on Run Run and Take Time), Sarah Gaugler from Turbo Goth (on You Are Everywhere and Like Magic), and iOni (on Drift in Blue).

“Music has this magical power to broaden your vision of the world. It's fascinating because, like dreams, it's the kind of irrational things science can't explain and that makes life exciting."

Planets aligned perfectly on this project and thanks to this five-star cast of collaborators, Kid Francescoli achieved his personal holy grail : he orchestrated a great 21st century pop-music album.SUNSET BLUE is a new turning point between organic and electronic, both a mediterranean travel and a Californian dream, a bridge between Ennio Morriconne and modern electronic music.

Also, while it might be called SUNSET BLUE in honor of the sea and the Portuguese / Brazilian concept called “saudade”, but it is a really optimistic album, whose true colors would rather be "yellow-orange-red" in nod to the sun.

Created in the midst of the world tour, SUNSET BLUE is a direct result of the lives’ energy and fans’ joyful vibes: going back in the studio after smiling, singing and dancing with people all around the world inevitably gave Kid Francescoli the desire to retranscribe this ecstatic feeling in music. This album is a sensitive experience, from sunrise to sunset, from first track to last one. It’s an exploration of an everlasting summer, reaching its climax in the very final seconds of the track Corsica, making us want to press play and dive into this jewel all over again.

A beautiful cosmic trip, whether you like to stay in bed cocooning, to travel far, far away or to dance ‘till dawn, to catch the first rays of light.

Make sure to catch Kid Francescoli on his next world tour to have a good time.

Sixteen track double LP collecting the North London drone pop band's 7" singles, one-offs and compilation tracks spanning the first 14 years of the group's existence. It includes synth pop, indie fuzz and moody motorik workouts, alongside pastoral folk sketches, dubby electronics and the occasional drone experiment. More immediate than their stretched out and slow-burning recent album tracks, the music here is taken from limited vinyl releases, album bonus tracks and music for compilations on labels as diverse as Bezirk Tapes, Second Language, Modern Aviation, and Concrete Tapes as well as the band's current home, Where It's At Is Where You Are.

Seven Steps to Heaven arrived at a crucial junction in Miles Davis' career. Recorded at two separate locations in spring 1963, it served as Davis' first release in more than a year – a layoff that was then unprecedented for the jazz visionary who had issued at least one LP a year since debuting in the early '50s. Equally notable, Seven Steps to Heaven marks the point at which the core of Davis' Second Great Quintet started to assemble. The twice Grammy-nominated effort is also Davis' final studio record to blend standards with originals. And it happens to be one of the expressive, well-played albums in the jazz canon.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at RTI, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity's 180g SuperVinyl LP of Seven Steps to Heaven adds yet another step (or more) towards the bliss suggested by the album title. Playing with standout clarity, detail, tone, and balance, this audiophile reissue pulls back the curtain on the instrumentalists. Afforded the tremendous advantages of SuperVinyl – including a nearly inaudible noise floor, dead-quiet surfaces, and superb groove definition – this numbered-edition version presents Davis and Co. amid a wide, deep soundstage whose dimensions and solidity help bring the record's historical importance and musical merit into focus. Warm, organic, and present, the SuperVinyl LP of Seven Steps to Heaven is what great-sounding hi-fi is all about.

And there's nary a passage on this 1963 landmark that isn't great. That Davis manages to make it feel so cohesive and seamless is a testament to the inspired performances and engaging compositions. Davis didn't draw it up the way it unfolded. No matter. He held trump cards that stayed up his sleeve for the next three decades: A drive to be nothing less than superb, a refusal to settle for mediocrity, and standards to which nearly no other composer or player could match. "The toughest critic I got, and the only one I worry about, is myself," Davis wrote in the liner notes. "The music has to get past me."

Davis' demanding approach partly explains why he switched up his band between the first and second sessions – and underscores how fast his mind was racing with new ideas. Seven Steps to Heaven acts as the stable bridge between the transitional period that followed the dissolution of his First Great Quintet and formation of the Second; without it, Davis perhaps doesn't invite then-23-year-old Herbie Hancock and a still-teenage Tony Williams into the fold. The trumpeter not only got his men – he preserved in amber for the only time (well, magnetic tape anyway) the chemistry and vibe he achieved with pianist Victor Feldman, drummer Frank Butler, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, and bassist Ron Carter.

That line-up gels for half of the six songs on Seven Steps to Heaven. Captured in Los Angeles April '63, the quintet stretches out on a luxurious reading of the late '20s New Orleans staple "Basin Street Blues"; lays on the romance for a candlelit stroll through the '40s standard "I Fall in Love Too Easily"; and explores the rounded contours and melodic crevices of the early blues "Baby Won't You Please Come Home." The performances are refined, elegant, emotional; the band lets the feelings linger and gives the listener time to absorb the colours and textures.

A month later, Davis returned to New York City with Coleman and Carter, and partnered them with Hancock and Williams. Tellingly, the quintet tried its collective hand at the title track and "Joshua" – Feldman-penned songs already recorded in Los Angeles – as well as the yearning "So Near, So Far." Those are the tunes that comprise the other piece of Seven Steps to Heaven, with the revised quintet's liquid pulse, articulate dynamics, and timing shifts a harbinger of things to come.

It's also worth mentioning that the interpretations of the bounding "Seven Steps to Heaven" – a showcase for Davis' trumpet – and interlocking "Joshua" netted considerable radio airplay and attracted the attention of other contemporaries who covered the songs. Keeping Carter and Williams as the rhythmic engine, and Hancock as the anchor between solo flights and structural motifs, Davis would soon soon welcome Wayne Shorter into the family and transform jazz. Again. The aptly – and, in hindsight, perhaps prophetically titled Seven Steps to Heaven – is how he got there.

Flying Wig is an album of recurrent dualities; a can of paradoxes, a box of worms. The redwood and pine-surrounded cabin studio where Banhart was “constantly listening to The Grateful Dead” somehow birthed something slick, modernist, city pop-adjacent and Eno-esque. Banhart's eleventh record, it's the actualisation of a “precious friendship” with the acclaimed solo artist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and Mexican Summer stable-mate Cate Le Bon — a coming together prophesied by the mirror-image titles of their early solo albums (Banhart’s 2002 Oh Me Oh My to Le Bon’s 2009 Me Oh My) and a tenderness built on crude haircuts (“we finally met, soon after she was cutting my hair with a fork and that was that”) and home-made tattoos — but never previously translated into the recording studio. “It’s about transmuting despair into gratitude, wounds into forgiveness, and grief into praise,” - the product of a ritualistic creative practice that melts down and re-casts as it mulls, the stuff of sadness beautified as it changes shape — culminating in a record that “sounds like getting a very melancholic massage, or weeping, but in a really nice outfit… if I’m going to cry, I wanna do it in my best dress.”

A blistering advancement of the knife-sharp hooks and urgently efficient post-punk structures that they’ve spent over a decade refining since their formation in 2011, the band’s fourth album – and second on Specialist Subject - emerges from a period of flux for the band’s chief songwriting partnership of Emma Wigham (drums/vocals) and Mark Jasper (guitar/vocals). First came a move north to Yorkshire from their native London. “We had decorated a tiny, rented house in Mytholmroyd” Jasper explains. “We setup a practice room in the top of a mill nearby and tried to write music, which we did amid stress about money, and a fear of having made the wrong decision. We had left our jobs, friends and a nice but absolutely tiny flat in London behind, and moved to a small village in West Yorkshire.” Although they found the location to be beautiful, the transition from city life to rural turned out to be an odd fit – too much so, it turned out. From this relatively short stay in West Yorkshire, however, came a more permanent change as the couple welcomed their first child Ivy into the family. Although, they’re hesitant to put too much of Streams and Waterways influence on the shoulders of their young daughter – she arrived a year and a half into the album’s conception – there’s no denying that its themes of loss, birth, and being part of this eternal, momentary life were brought into sharp focus following their new arrival. “Streams and Waterways is about the struggle of looking at the clock, realising it’s actually going pretty damn fast and knowing that really you have no control over anything” Jasper confirms. Perhaps that explains the way that opener The Valley doesn’t even introduce itself before careering into a full-throttled, three-minute scuzzy rager that would approach the descriptor anthemic had it not been kicked and scuffed along the way; it’s maybe why the wiry, ferocious Choice You Make feels like a charge into a storm despite the uncertainty of what you might find. It’s perhaps why even when Witching Waves allow themselves respite on the pared down Open A Hole, there’s a churning anxiety that lies below the acoustic guitar and harmonising vocals: in many ways musically and thematically Witching Waves are relinquishing the control that’s always been a fixture of their music – with all the thrilling and nervous fallout that comes from that. Although the pair have since returned south (having relocated to Exeter), Streams and Waterways also serves as a document of their foray northwards. The surviving artefact from Jasper’s never-to-be-finished studio that he’d began to build in Yorkshire – following the ending of his London-based Sound Savers studio – the record is also the first to feature current bassist Will Fitzpatrick, who joined initially live on their support tour with Australian punks Camp Cope. Fitzpatrick – a key component of Liverpool’s DIY scene for two decades – quickly became a key part of the writing process. Recording sessions were done during periods of lockdown that allowed congregation, Jasper recalling a still unborn Ivy kicking hard during an early mix playback of It’s A Shame’s layered noise rock assault. “The song was about my past, a much harder time. But my future was egging me on” he says. It’s a neat summation of Streams and Waterways and its representation of the discomfort of life amidst the compulsion to ride on its journey regardless. It’s a record that finds Witching Waves looking into the future more than ever before, but still bristles with the rush of being in the moment – because ultimately, despite what may have happened or may yet come, the band’s strongest trait remains being able to keep you feeling in the present.

Berlin-based artist Avilynn fuses electro, breaks, rave and IDM on modular driven '6' EP for her own Taisha Records this October.

Avilynn has been slowly unveiling releases via her fledgling Taisha imprint, showcasing her unique sound which encapsulates a variety of influences, always laced with a dynamic feel, sonic hypnotism and gritty drive. Following on from 2021's acclaimed 'Five Million Sunsets', Avilynn returns to Taisha Records with her new '6' EP. Blending sonic experiences from the Berlin cityscape and coupling them with provocative and sophisticated instrumentation.

'Air and Bubbles' leads the release and lays down cinematic strings, tension building atmospherics, a vacillating rhythmic groove and murky bass grooves. '66 33'48.8' follows next, coordinates possibly, a hidden destination, a journey complete. This one sees Avilynn shift focus towards textural soundscapes layered with ethereal, billowing voices atop intricate off-kilter drums and swirling synth flutters.

Title-cut '6' then opens the flip-side, embracing a brighter aesthetic with cosseting pads and resonant bubbling synths delicately intertwined with a winding low-end groove and a combination of electronic and acoustic drums to create the composition's bumpy
breaks. 'Fobias' then rounds out the EP, edging back into darker realms bringing crunchy saturated bass stabs and shuffled percussion into the forefront while sweeping strings, intricate melodies and voice-like textures unfurl as the composition progresses.

Detroit-based label Choose Better Friends is a new outlet that is already mighty impressive after just three releases. This one lands quickly after the second from Jaco Matthews and it offers more traditionally included Motor City house sounds. Ryan McCray opens with weighty but dusty drums and grainy sustained chords that lock you into a trance straight off the bat, especially once the low-slung bass and steamy vocals arrive. From there, the wooden knocks and muffled kicks of 'What It Is' are paired with some nice dreamy chords and the flipside offers more zoned-out basement lushness with 'The Tide' and the heavier, more raw 'Rushin.' Essential.

City Talk is the new self produced album from Zac Farro’s Halfnoise. City Talk arrives via Farro's Nashville artist collective Congrats Records and follows 2019’s critically acclaimed Motif LP.

Farro, perhaps best known as the drummer of Paramore, has been honing his skills outside of his main gig for years now. He’s released a steady flow of Halfnoise music, he’s produced and played with Becca Mancari and Elke, he's directed videos for Paramore, Hayley Williams, Elke and Halfnoise and he’s a consummate photographer – releasing a photo book in 2020 In Transit and shooting his bands and others, including Local Natives who are currently using Farro’s images as their promo shots.

The LP features a gatefold jacket and exclusive neon green LP.

Led by the legendary pianist and composer Chick Corea - the venerated 27-time Grammy winner and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master - The Elektric Band stormed onto the jazz scene in the mid-1980s, making an immediate and lasting impact on the genre. With their electrifying performances and innovative blend of jazz fusion, the group produced a series of albums that set the bar for excellence in contemporary jazz. Featuring a core lineup of virtuosic musicians - John Patitucci on bass, Dave Weckl on drums, Eric Marienthal on saxophone and Frank Gambale on guitar - the group created a dynamic and electrifying sound that came to define the jazz fusion style. Their collective musicianship was on full display on each album, as they seamlessly blended complex compositions with captivating improvisations. With each outing, the band explored new sonic territories, incorporating elements of funk, Latin and Afro music, and pop sensibilities. Their 5-album studio discography is a masterful tapestry of multi-layered music, showcasing their creativity, innovation, and musicianship. A restlessly creative, eternally youthful and uncommonly generous spirit, Armando Anthony “Chick” Corea left behind an incredibly rich legacy of recorded music when he passed away on February 9, 2021. The music of the Elektric Band continues to inspire and influence musicians to this day, cementing their legacy as one of the most important and iconic jazz fusion bands of all time

Those familiar with the sound and style of the DIY scene in Chicago's Logan Square may be surprised to find out that it was the birthplace of psych pop quintet Lucille Furs. They are a little surprised themselves.

At the time it wasn't exactly the place to hear harmonies and harpsichords so much as songs about sniffing glue. This isn't to say they didn't like the raucous power of Magik Milk, on the contrary. But, as the people who would come to make up the band began to talk, it became clear that they wanted to make something different entirely. They wanted to make something with the heartbeat of sweaty city basement shows but with the unrestrained imagination of places and times where they had never been.

Bassist Patrick Tsotsos will tell you about the music of post-war Greece where his grandparents grew up. Guitarist Nick Dehmlow will tell you about the garage bands of LA. Drummer Brendan Peleo-Lazar can fill you in on a late 60s London studio session as though he was running the tape machine. Mellotron/organ player Constantine Hastalis can show you a record by some long-forgotten folk singer who writes so earnestly you won't forgive the world for forgetting it. Singer Trevor Newton Pritchett is unapologetic about what they borrow. "You might hear the Zombies for their kind of haunting and contemplative quality, the Kinks kind-of casual criticism, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band for their distant romantic quality, Temples, Love, Diane Coffee, Charles Bradley or our Chicago people Post Animal, Jude Shuma and Whitney." Now that half of the band is located in Los Angeles you'll be likely to hear those influences, too.

And that's what becomes crystal clear when listening to the upcoming album Another Land. It's an immersive listen, the kind of record you can get lost in on a cross-country drive from the midwest to the west coast. A record with warm blood running through its veins. Music where thought can be abandoned.

The whole record is dressed up in surreal and esoteric terms, in exchange for being topical. Think Dylan lyrics from the late 60s. "Paint Euphrosyne Blue" is kind of a meta-level example of that. The song is a reference to the goddess of mirth, about the human need to adapt to the point of becoming unoriginal. It's about chasing Van Gogh's depression because it makes you feel like a better painter.

The album was written through September 2017 and was recorded following the release of the self-titled Lucille Furs album later that year. It was recorded direct to tape before being completed at Treehouse Records in Chicago.

For fans of: The Kinks, The Zombies, Love, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Byrds, The Beatles, Foxygen, Triptides, Temples, Mystic Braves, Levitation Room

Those familiar with the sound and style of the DIY scene in Chicago's Logan Square may be surprised to find out that it was the birthplace of psych pop quintet Lucille Furs. They are a little surprised themselves.

At the time it wasn't exactly the place to hear harmonies and harpsichords so much as songs about sniffing glue. This isn't to say they didn't like the raucous power of Magik Milk, on the contrary. But, as the people who would come to make up the band began to talk, it became clear that they wanted to make something different entirely. They wanted to make something with the heartbeat of sweaty city basement shows but with the unrestrained imagination of places and times where they had never been.

Bassist Patrick Tsotsos will tell you about the music of post-war Greece where his grandparents grew up. Guitarist Nick Dehmlow will tell you about the garage bands of LA. Drummer Brendan Peleo-Lazar can fill you in on a late 60s London studio session as though he was running the tape machine. Mellotron/organ player Constantine Hastalis can show you a record by some long-forgotten folk singer who writes so earnestly you won't forgive the world for forgetting it. Singer Trevor Newton Pritchett is unapologetic about what they borrow. "You might hear the Zombies for their kind of haunting and contemplative quality, the Kinks kind-of casual criticism, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band for their distant romantic quality, Temples, Love, Diane Coffee, Charles Bradley or our Chicago people Post Animal, Jude Shuma and Whitney." Now that half of the band is located in Los Angeles you'll be likely to hear those influences, too.

And that's what becomes crystal clear when listening to the upcoming album Another Land. It's an immersive listen, the kind of record you can get lost in on a cross-country drive from the midwest to the west coast. A record with warm blood running through its veins. Music where thought can be abandoned.

The whole record is dressed up in surreal and esoteric terms, in exchange for being topical. Think Dylan lyrics from the late 60s. "Paint Euphrosyne Blue" is kind of a meta-level example of that. The song is a reference to the goddess of mirth, about the human need to adapt to the point of becoming unoriginal. It's about chasing Van Gogh's depression because it makes you feel like a better painter.

The album was written through September 2017 and was recorded following the release of the self-titled Lucille Furs album later that year. It was recorded direct to tape before being completed at Treehouse Records in Chicago.

For fans of: The Kinks, The Zombies, Love, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Byrds, The Beatles, Foxygen, Triptides, Temples, Mystic Braves, Levitation Room

Detroit music legend, Marcus Malone and Dan Smith of The Noisettes reveal their awesome new collaborative long player, ‘Interstate 75’, on Ramrock Red Records, loaded with 60’s style Rhythm and Blues, old school Soul and back to the future Funk. Across the album there’s 10 incredible songs loaded with finger snapping beats, hip swaying grooves, infectious brass and raw, soul-drenched vocals, all written and performed with the highest level of musicianship. From the empowering opening track, ‘Ain’t No Telling’ to the groovilicious album title ‘Interstate 75’, and the irresistibly funky ‘Other Side Of The River’, this stunning set of work joins the musical dots between 60’s Stax, Motown and Cadet, along with early 70’s Funk of Sly and The Family Stone and Eugene McDaniels, creating an instantaneous authentic classic vibe.

“I’ve got a future Blues classic on my hands with an indefinable time scale – it could’ve been recorded in the mid 70’s and feels like an instant crate diggers delight!” – Jo Wallace (Ramrock Records)

Detroit rising microphone star Paradime stepped away from the mic 10 years ago with a loyal following and industry respect. Now he's back for one final album with the indie stalwart label Mello Music Group. The new album is a who's who of most respected in Detroit - including Apollo Brown, Marv Won, Guilty Simpson, Denaun Porter, Ty Farris and the incredible Wayne Gerard (Guitarist alongside Bob James and Stevie Wonder to name a few). The new album is a rooted in the Motor City and runs the gamut from Boombap to Downriver, Heartfelt to Smashmouth. Paradime's new album is one of the best to come out of Detroit this year - PERIOD.

Blues Deluxe is the third studio album by Joe Bonamassa and originally released on August 26, 2003. Recorded at Unique Recording Studios in New York City, it was produced by Bob Held and features nine cover versions of songs by classic blues artists, such as BB King, Jeff Beck, John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, Elmore James and more. The album is completed with three original tracks, including the fan favorite Woke Up Dreaming.

"If you had told me 20 years ago my career would last long enough to see the 20th anniversary of this little record called 'Blues Deluxe,' I'm sure I would have laughed," Bonamassa reflects. "Blues Deluxe was my last shot after being dropped by two major record labels and my booking agent.It was then that my manager, Roy Weisman, had his first 'all in' moment.We would go back into the studio and record. A record that would hopefully define the direction of whatever future career I might have."

With 26 #1 albums, yearly sold-out tours worldwide and custom annual cruises, he's a hard act to beat. These albums are a testament to his credentials and a toast to his longtime fans who remember them originally and new fans who can experience them for the first time. It's Joe Bonamassa at his finest, ready to rock.

Detroit label Choose Better Friends made an immediate impact late last year when it dropped three EPs all in the same week. We've had to wait a while for this next one but it has been worth it: Bale Defoe is on the buttons and brings some dusty Motor City house heat with opener 'Morning Workouts' which rides a bumpy, booty shaking broken beat with meaningful chords and aching vocal snatches up top. 'Prewar Vibe' brings some swinging jazz chords and cut-up drums seemingly bashed out on an MPC. There is subtle euphoria in the bursts of excitable chords and vocal fragments of 'In Love On The Balcony At Terminal 5' and plenty of humidity in the diffuse synths and bumps drum funk of 'Summertime On Michigan Ave'. It's EPs like this that keep our fascination with Detroit very much alive.

Compiling the follow-up to a very successful first album is always a tricky task, but just 12 months since the release of volume one in the 'With Love' series, miche has excelled himself once again with another glorious, deep dive into the world of rare soul. 15 tracks of independently released music, created by magnificent artists with stories to tell and primed for rediscovery.

The ambition to celebrate under-the-radar artists has remained, but instead of a facsimile of volume one, what we have here is a selection shaped by life changes. Volume two is for the dancers; still soulful, still ultra-rare and slept-on records from the USA, Chile, Brazil and beyond, but the dynamics of the collection have shifted slightly. It represents a move from being immersed in a week in week out environment of beautiful, soulful music in a cosy, dimly lit hi-fi bar to playing livelier, more energetic, dancefloor-focused music in nightclubs. This volume will get you on your feet, make you move and unleash whatever it is that makes you get down.

One of the jewels in the crown of this compilation is a joyous, anthemic gospel version of Stevie Wonder's 'As' by The Family Tree (a project produced by the fantastic Julius Brockington). We are also treated to a rare and sought-after Pennsylvanian funk / AOR bomb by Maxwell, a stunning modern soul tune 'High On You' by Freedom, and self-released Brazilian 45s by Banda 22 and Zé Da Lata. P.J. City's 'Straight Forward (Non-Stop)' is gospel-disco perfection, and we also have 'Dame Solamente Amor’, a sublime, soul beauty from Chile by Rogers Mitchell. Many of these artists featured in this compilation aren't household names, but they deserve their moment to shine, to be heard, loved and appreciated for their artistry.

As Miche says it, “I hope this compilation helps in some way to keep this glorious music alive and play a part in connecting generations of music lovers from the worldwide soul family. As always, it has been made ‘With Love’.”

There’s a big clue to the pacific wisdom of The Orchestra in the Sky in the artist name – Hochzeitskapelle + Japanese Friends. For this is, indeed, music based in, and resonating with, friendship, camaraderie, collaboration, and creative exchange. Across two albums – one documenting recordings from Tokyo, the other an expansive double album of sessions from Kobe – Hochzeitskapelle gather around them some of the finest voices in Japanese independent and underground pop music, like Tenniscoats, Eddie Marcon, Yuko Ikema, and Kama Aina, and explore an open field of music, full of creative encounters.

You may already know Hochzeitskapelle as the German instrumental quintet formed by members of The Notwist, Alien Ensemble, and friends from the jazz scene. Across three albums, one a collaboration with Kama Aina (2018’s Wayfaring Suite), they’ve developed a way of playing together that’s intimate and playful, rich and human; it’s a music that’s deliberately rough around the edges, and that nestles cosily into the everyday. Their relationship with Japanese indie has developed over the years, doubtless encouraged by Saya´s „Minna Miteru“, compilations series of Japanese indie pop for Morr Music. A peripatetic gang, Hochzeitskapelle also recently backed Japanese singer-songwriter Makoto Kawamoto on her new album, Hikari.

In many ways, The Orchestra in the Sky feels like the culmination of a set of ongoing cross-cultural exchanges: the Minna Miteru compilations; tours of Japan by Hochzeitskapelle and The Notwist; and indeed, Markus Acher’s Spirit Fest group with Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats. The latter are present throughout much of The Orchestra in the Sky, and Saya’s voice is particularly winning on songs like “Tsuki no oto”, where the two outfits are joined by brass ensemble Zayaendo. There are several lovely turns from singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, and Eddie Marcon appear twice; their songs are still beautiful, spectral acid folk, but with Hochzeitskapelle filling the details with lush, sad brass and strings.

But it’s also the potentially lesser-known names that shine through The Orchestra in the Sky, like the frail folk of Gratin Carnival; the delightful, gentle pop songs by sekifu and Zayaendo member, Kanako Numata; a trio of beautiful, stumble-drunk melodies played in swaying consort with popo. That group, along with the presence of Zayaendo, Fuigo, and Mitamurakandadan?, make strong connections with the Japanese underground’s love of brass bands, partly informed by the tradition of chindon’ya, marching bands that walk the streets of Japanese cities. They also all appeared on the recent Alien Parade Japan compilation of such groups, assembled by Acher and Saya.

All things converge, then, on The Orchestra in the Sky, a smart, spirited collection of heavenly pop songs, intimate folk melodies, lungfuls of joyous brass, deep weeping strings, and swooning sighs. The last words go to Acher himself: “Many things we did in the last years come together here and it feels like something special was captured.” We hope you like what you hear.

Repress!

Little Dragon return with a spectacular second album offering in August, a pulsating electro pop epic that Prince would be proud of (only fronted by a beautiful Swedish lady with a sultry voice). A bold and surprising side/two step onwards from their self titled debut, released two years ago to great acclaim especially among specialist circles. Machine Dreams, with its nagging hooks and gloriously infectious tunes, should finally see the band break out into the mainstream.

Recorded in their home city of Gothenburg, Machine Dreams is a gigantic leap on from previous material but still maintains a distinct sound that can only be Little Dragon. Be it Yukimi s warmly inviting vocals, Erik s dextrous drumming, the vast array of synths and bleeps created by Hakan or Frederik s bubbling bass lines, together they don t sound like anything else around right now. The move towards a more electronic sound was a conscious one, as Yukimi explains; The title Machine Dreams seems obvious. These days, humans seem more and more like machines, and as technology evolves, machines feel more human and it becomes fuzzy and beautiful and science fiction-ish. We feel dependent on our machines to create and live, and their sounds reflect us .

Album opener A New breaks us in gently with a single whirring note on the synthesiser, an almost alien sound that gradually morphs into a slow, thumping bassline. Yukimi s vocals flow alongside Hakan s assortment of sound effects interspersed with militaristic drums breaks. A magical opener that sets the scene and seems to sink into itself, taking us with it, until the pace is swiftly ratcheted skywards with Looking Glass , the massive snare, crisp driving beat and experimental synths revealing the band s current penchant for the 80 s. This influence continues apace into stand out track My Step . Utilising a solid drumbeat that nestles next to jagged and playful synthlines, the track breaks down into motorik propulsion with a scuzzy techno bassline that Yukimi works with ease.

Upcoming single Feather finds Yukimi s voice at its most detached and blaze, seemingly nonchalant yet magnificently seductive. Backed by Hakan s keyboard atmospherics, the song creates a soundscape reminiscent of Tears For Fears more reflective moods. Gradually layering more vocals, synths, echoes and reverb, it builds to a quietly psychedelic, dreamy cosmic swirl. Runabout brings forth a mini Airto style percussive breakdown at the tail end of yet another Little Dragon pop gem. Swimming bursts forth into vision with stabbing keys and reflective bass alongside yet another wonderful vocal performance from Yukimi who sings of young love and now so many years have past, my memories as clear as glass . The song is over as quickly as it started, flowing into the next miniature masterpiece in the form of Blinking Pigs

The album closes with the stunning track Fortune , which has already caught the attention of none other than DJ Shadow. It s no wonder really, as the textured melodies blend with the drifting percussion, creating a blissful sonic mood. With a smattering of drums and bass and the magic of Yukimi s voice and Hakan s electronic dynamics floating on top, it s the perfect track to end this fascinating journey through Little Dragon s brave new world.

With disparate influences from Depeche Mode to Prince, LCD Soundsystem to James Holden, Dancehall to R&B, Jazz and Soul, Little Dragon take their place among artists who straddle many genres, yet somehow create their own and in doing so create sounds that make time stop (Yukimi). Futuristic yet somehow retro, Machine Dreams sees Little Dragon achieve something timeless; that elusive pop classic.

Banzaï Lab is proud to present 'Rogue Monsters 2', the new album from Al'Tarba x Senbeï.

Al'Tarba, the architect of sonic shadows, and Senbeï, the master of electronic textures, join forces once again on an opus that's off the beaten track.

A fusion work inspired by skate subculture, Rogue Monsters 2 transcends convention, blending heady rhythms and ethereal harmonies.

Retro samples blend with contemporary electronic melodies, recalling the fusion of styles and the abo- lition of musical chapels specific to the sound universe of 90's/early 00's skate culture. We're naturally reminded of the soundtracks to Larry Clark films (Bully, Kids), skate documentaries (Fully Flared, Video Days...) and video games (Extreme Games, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater...).

This second joint opus is much more than a simple album, it's a unique and timeless experience, fusing hip-hop, punk and electronic music.

Rogue Monsters 2 stands out in today's musical landscape, offering a bold vision of what defines an album, one that will appeal to those nostalgic for the Golden Era of the 90s as much as to those exploring new sounds.

The forever exploring electronical entity of a band, Gusgus, has opened yet a new era in their unique sonic multiverse. With their 12th album, the course is set to a strange mysterious place called DanceOrama. A Rave-Mall in a nostalgic future, DanceOrama is the place to be, where you can experience infinite freedom, genre and gender free. Moving from the pulsating new-wave influenced techno pop of the last album “Mobile Home” (2019), Gusgus emits the vibe of DanceOrama on their new album as an arousing, melody-rich hybrid of 80s/90s parties and raves. The 9- track album is slated for a November 10th release. The release is evenly split up in euphoric fusioned pop anthems and genre-free instrumental journeys.

Gusgus‘ last album “Mobile Home” was the later of twin albums that found the band exploring early 80’s new wave influences and reviving them in the iconic Gusgus soundscape. The highlight on the album was a pulsating techno reggae track called “Higher” that introduced a new member into the band, Margrét Rán, the lead singer of “VÖK”.

Whereas on “Mobile Home”, the concept was stationed in a rural environment of a dystopian side reality, Gusgus now moves to the city. In this city of strange discomforting future omens, DanceOrama stands out as the rave-mall of freedom. Leaving the new wave influences, this album is a strange hybrid of the 80’s and 90’s parties twisted into a genre-free blend of arousing experiences.

The album consists of 5 instrumental tracks and 4 vocal pop songs, ranging from 105-158 bpm and exploring various influences from the 80’s and 90’s and even the 70’s in a strange fusion of techno, trance, italo-disco, house and pop that emits the rawness and innocence of previous decades. The pop songs are quite strictly set as stories related to the mysteries and rumors of DanceOrama. One track in particular will be very exciting for our fans, as it has been a regular final track on our live show since the album “Arabian Horse” in 2011. This is the track “Breaking Down” that was recorded during the album “Mexico” in 2013 with “Earth” and “Högni” on vocals but, due to emotional turmoil, has never been released until now.

FROM RAY CHARLES TO SELAH SUE, FROM NINA SIMONE TO IBEYI, FROM BARRY WHITE TO ALOE BLACC, DISCOVER THE BEST OF THE GREATEST VOICES OF SOUL MUSIC OF ALL TIME IN A 5 VINYLS BOXSET

For years Feeling Figures have tinkered away at the edge of the Montreal scene, never fitting neatly into the ebb and flow of the city's cultural trends or its more traditionalist camps. A geographer, a music therapist, a writer, and an underground arts biz maverick, the four Figures have long been friends and collaborators in various musical formations and continue to propel multiple projects. At the core of Feeling Figures is the Zakary Slax and Kay Moon songwriting partnership, which itself stretches back a decade, the pair first crossing paths in a vibrant period of musical upheaval in Sackville, NB - a college town on Canada's East Coast. In the big city, a series of self-releases, shifting monikers, and revolving live lineups eventually coalesced with Thomas Molander & Joe Chamandy as the ultimate rhythmic vehicle and spiritual consorts for Slax & Moon's unconstrained syntheses of multiple eras of indie rock, punk, psychedelia, folk, and outsider pop. Their debut 7" of 2021 was an early entry in Montreal upstart label Celluloid Lunch's catalog. We're nearly 3 years past the debut 7" from Montreal quartet Feeling Figures and in some ways it feels like 300, Such are the seismic changes that have occurred during that spell. But enough about Feeling Figures' musical depth and laser-like lyrical focus, I understand some things have happened in the real world, too. 'Migration Music' is not this generation's first ramshackle-as-fuckk art punk album and I'm not sure it's even the 30 thousandth. But I do know Feeling Figures have arrived fully formed, with a real voice of their own (several in fact, that must be a really good microphone). This album is simply too much fun to have been the product of years of serious study, though I'm told students occasionally have fun, too. I wouldn't know, i'm a university drop out. I did once see an episode of the television adaptation of "The Paper Chase" where one of the new Harvard Law hopefuls had a Kiss poster over his bed and that seemed highly implausible. The utter lack of affectation on 'Migration Music' may or may not be considered a selling point (affectation seems pretty huge — almost always) but Feeling Figures' rock'n'roll atom smashery is nothing short of astonishing. Maybe there will be a better record in 2023 perhaps two or three, even. But for now, this is the band to beat. 10 tracks 33RPM

An album crammed full of rare & unreleased tracks from the vaults of swell map founder Jowe Head. o Swell Maps formed out of various bedrooms in the mid -70s and became the pioneers of DIY punk. o Swell Maps founding members were Nikki Sudden, Epic Soundtracks, Jowe Head & Phones Sportsman o Includes demo versions of 2 of the bands Singles "Dresden Style" & "Read about Seymour". o Exclusive Liner notes by Jowe Head o Exclusive artwork originally designed by Epic Soundtracks & Jowe Head in 1977 o 2 Lps with printed inner bags in extra wide spine LP sleeve with cover sticker

"This Is a Manifesto of My Love of the Free Human, and My Affection for Those Sparks That Arise From Our Friction. When,
when We Are Open to Each Other, We Manage to Draw From Them a Friendship and a Sharing That Will Build Us Even More." Folamour Discover Manifesto , the New House & Pop Album Recorded in the Hustle and Bustle of Marseille and Amsterdam. This Album Conveys A
message of Peace and Communion, a Mix of Electronic Pop and Club Anthems. Funk/house Artist and Outstanding producer,
Folamour Draws on a Variety of Encounters to Express His Musical Desires and Ideas. Amadou Et Mariam ; Family Habits ; Tim Ayre ;
Khazali; Baccus; Emmanuel Jal and Jungle by Night Bring Their Talent and Energy to This Brand New Project. ...

Découvrez "Manifesto", le nouvel album house & pop enregistré dans l'effervescence de Marseille et Amsterdam. Cet album transmet un message universel de paix et de communion, un mix de pop électronique et d'hymnes club. Artiste funk/house, et producteur hors pair, Folamour se nourrit de rencontres diverses pour exprimer ses envies et idées musicales. Amadou et Mariam ; Family Habits ; Tim Ayre ; Khazali ; Baccus ; Emmanuel Jal ou encore Jungle By Night viennent apporter leur talent et leur énergie sur ce tout nouveau projet. En presque 10 ans, Folamour a cumulé plus de 600 dates dans plus de 30 pays ! Après une tournée en Amérique et en Australie, il a pris la route des festivals cet été, avec des performances inoubliables à We Love Green, Glastonbury, Primavera et dans toute l'Europe ! "Manifesto", double gatefold, artwork de Misterpiro.

A Break In Time ist ein Ambient-Album, das während des Lockdowns als eine Art Beruhigungstherapie / Meditationsübung geschrieben wurde. Das Projekt nahm schnell Form an, mit einer einzigartigen klanglichen Identität und einer Botschaft, die durch das Gefühl der Isolation während dieser Zeit inspiriert wurde. Das Album handelt von Zerbrechlichkeit, Naivität, dem Nachdenken über unsere Verwundbarkeit, aber auch über unsere Widerstandsfähigkeit und das Gefühl des Alleinseins und Zusammenseins. Die Entstehung dieses Albums mag weniger als ein Jahr gedauert haben, aber es ist ein Höhepunkt von Einflüssen, die bis in die frühen 90er Jahre zurückreichen, als er in Québec City aufwuchs. Damals war er einfach als Everything bekannt und trat live bei Raves und in Chill Out Rooms auf, bewaffnet mit nichts als einer 909, einem SH-101, einem Ensoniq EPS und einem Quadraverb. Seine Liebe zur Ambient-Musik ist nie verblasst. Mit frühen Einflüssen wie Carl Craigs bahnbrechendem "Landcruising", Warps "Artificial Intelligence" und Black Dog Production "Bytes" überbrückt dieses Album die Kluft zwischen hier und dort, jetzt und damals: wo die Zeit stillsteht.
Dies ist eine gemeinsame Veröffentlichung von Compost Records und Drumpoet Community.

- "A beautiful album full of spacious well crafted ambient compositions." - Peter Kruder / Peace Orchestra

Founded in 2016, Belleville Boogie is a DJ collective inspired by the vibrant energy of Belleville's nightlife. The collective’s soul feeds on bringing people to bounce on an eclectic curation of vinyl. Belleville Boogie’s debut release is the brainchild of Lemon McWright and Jan Decent.

Born from the depths of lockdown, "Le Pacifique" is a balearic slow burner that captures the longing for the dance floor, while "Grateful" takes us on a jazz-infused journey featuring the talents of FredMelosax, Charif Megarbane, and Rafael Powell. For those who remember the early days of the French House scene, "J'aime Danser" is a playful nod to the scene that shaped us, while "Bella Belleville" lures you into a hypnotic, downtempo trance that's perfect for intimate gatherings or solo listening.

Crafted with the same heartiness as our parties, we're excited to spread the Belleville Boogie spirit with this vinyl. Be sure to check out our upcoming events to see when we'll be bringing the dance floor to your city. Let's keep the good times rolling!

Easy Listening Recordings is here, and to kick things off we've got a new three-track EP from Vancouver's Teen Daze.

We begin with the title track, Quiet City, and immediately conjure up images of late night drives through anonymous city streets. Brimming with emotion, and a gentle energy, this one could find itself at home in a warmup set, early in the night, or one of those aforementioned late night drives. No matter where you hear it, this is one of Teen Daze’s most beautiful tunes.

Life Style brings us out of the car, and onto the sidewalks of that once quiet city. Now there’s a bustling energy from crowds of people, steam rising from the sewers below. You’re navigating it all in stride, with Life Style in your headphones. This is City Music.

We start Side B with an ode to Vancouver, BC, aka The Glass City: Night Club. The soft, swung drums, the walking bassline, the dubbed out bongos; this one feels at home across the entire Lower Mainland. Maybe you’re taking a stroll along the Sea Wall, maybe you’re watching the sun set while sipping on something at Juice Bar, maybe you’re walking up to Paradise at 12 am. No matter how you might experience Vancouver, Night Club has got your soundtrack covered.

Finally, we wrap up this first disc for Easy Listening Recordings with a special vinyl-only track, called New Mood. Pulsating percussion lead this dream-like track through 4 ½ minutes of Balearic Bliss. A beautiful way to finish this first release.

Early support from:
Paula Tape, NIKS, Eug (Public Records), Pleasure Voyage, Masha Mar, Massimiliano Pagliara, Loz Goddard

Summer's Mine is the third studio album from acclaimed Detroit legend and rapper, Babyface Ray. After an enormous 2022 that saw the release of two full-length studio albums, getting named to 2022's XXL Freshman Class & YouTube Music's Black Voices Fund, and a sold out nationwide headlining tour, Babyface Ray returns to bless the streets with something fun for the summer. The 16 track album showcases a side of Ray that fans have become familiar with, and features appearances from fellow Motor City peers Veeze and Los & Nutty, King Hendrick$, Vory, & Hip-Hop luminary Westside Gunn. Never afraid to make a bold statement, Ray is here to say that in 2023, Summer's Mine.

Singer, songwriter and author Ali Sethi had been entranced by Jaar's music long before they began collaborating. He'd absorbed the sounds over a number of years, listening casually and taking in their subtleties in bars and rooftop parties across Lahore and London. "It felt familiar to me, that sense of adventure you have when you hear his music, like a tale that teases you and plays with your expectations as it unfolds," says Sethi. "In that sense it resembled the leisurely improvised ghazals and qawwalis I grew up hearing in Pakistan." So when the two were finally introduced by Indian visual artist Somnath Bhatt, a regular Jaar collaborator who also handled the album's artwork, Sethi was well prepared. He began to sketch out voice notes using loops snipped from Jaar's acclaimed 2020 album 'Telas', improvising vocalizations and seductive Urdu poems over Jaar's weightless, time-bending productions. Jaar was astonished by the result; "It was what 'Telas' had been missing," he explains.

Improvisation has been important to the Chilean artist for many years. Before he had even started making electronic music, Jaar jammed on accordion with friends on the street in New York City. It's at the core of his practice, "a moment in time," in his own words. 'Intiha', the opening track on the album, is the first they finished together, and positions Sethi's evocative phrases over Jaar's faded, metallic percussion. It's a perfect proof of concept, re- imagining the world of 'Telas' and augmenting it with a sense of ancestral melancholy and giddy euphoria that's truly transformational.
Sethi is best known globally for his attempts to revive the ghazal, an ancient poetic form that was taken by Sufi mystics from the Arab world to Persia and throughout the Indian subcontinent, where it captivated the royal court. It's been unfashionable in the last few decades, a mannered style associated with decadence, and Sethi offers it a new lease of life through his playfully revisionist covers and renditions. (His most popular single 'Pasoori' is a global phenomenon, one of the most Googled songs of 2022, with hundreds of millions of listeners tuning into its timeless message of forbidden love.) Sethi updates the ghazal form by using his years of training in raga music, lifting metaphors that reflect his journey as an out-of- place queer kid in Pakistan who became a US citizen and now lives in New York City.

The latest release from the acclaimed Live From Austin, TX series of releases from the vaults of the award-winning PBS Austin City Limits TV show. Guided By Voices are one of indie rock s most loved and prolific bands. On their 2004 farewell tour they performed one of their final concerts on Austin City Limits. Recorded on live on 24 tracks, this special 2CD set features 30 songs from their entire performance. Many of the songs were never aired on the TV broadcast.

Originally released in Canada in 2006, and worldwide by 2007, Patrick Watson's breakthrough album has sold over 100,000 copies. Wooden Arms is Patrick Watson's highly anticipated follow-up to the critically acclaimed Close to Paradise, which vaulted the man and his band to international stardom in 2007. The Montreal band toured non-stop for two years following initial Canadian release of Close to Paradise in 2006, and in many ways Wooden Arms is the story and sound of a band waking up in strange places all around the world.

Whether it's the bicycle-city sound of Beijing,' or the warmth of a hole in the wall' in sweet New Orleans' on Big Bird in a Small Cage,' or the haunting European waltz of the title track, you can't help but feel in listening to Wooden Arms like you're on the road with the band. Sometimes it's dirty, sometimes it's wild, but it's never, ever boring.

Close to Paradise won Canada's prestigious Polaris Prize in 2007, turning more than a few heads in beating out offerings from Arcade Fire and Feist, among others. By the time it saw release in the United States, Europe and Japan, the band was flying all over the world, garnering rave reviews for the album and their blistering live show alike.

Neil Hamburger presents a new work from the songwriting team of Gregg Turkington and Erik Paparozzi. Seasonal Depression Suite is an album-based musical, sung by an all-star cast whose voices embody various guests stuck in a perfectly average chain-hotel, wallowing in self-pity and paranoia, re-living personal catastrophes both real and imagined, or simply trying to use the hotel vending machine. Expert music played by an all-star band, to boot! To sing these parts, a once-in-a-lifetime all-star cast was assembled - including Neil Finn (Split Enz, Crowded House, Fleetwood Mac), Annabella Lwin (Bow Wow Wow), Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls), Bonnie Prince Billy, acclaimed singer/performance artist Puddles Pity Party, voice actress Natalie Peyser, J.P. Hasson (Pleaseeasaur), enigmatic vocalist (and Frank Sinatra"s granddaughter) A.J. Lambert, Paparozzi himself and, of course, Neil Hamburger. Among the many musicians accompanying the cast were Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan"s Rolling Thunder Revue), Danny Heifetz (Mr Bungle), Bär McKinnon (Mr Bungle), Prairie Prince (The Tubes), Atom Ellis (Dieselhed), Jason Schimmel (Secret Chiefs 3), and Alex Jules (The Monkees band) - an international assemblage whose talents give Seasonal Depression Suite its epic sweep. With all hands on board, Turkington and Paparozzi created their own kind of masterpiece, like Sinatra"s late-period concept album Watertown fused with the misfit comedy of Neil Hamburger - a work that looks at a cast of characters both ordinary and bizarre, as they make their way from one grievance to another, traveling from place to place, hoping to live, while waiting to die.

The debut album of soul singer, Maiiah is also the third full-length by Hamburg collective, Angels of Libra, following on from the success of their collaboration with Irish singer, Nathan Johnston.

Maiiah is a singer with roots in the Balkans but residing in Düsseldorf, the city of the legendary Unique Club and the label of the same name. Soul left its mark on her early on, and when she met Hamburg producer, musician and composer Dennis Rux (Hamburg Spinners/Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Studios) during the pandemic, the two realized they shared a similar musical vision. Their common love of soul music and old rhythm & blues brought them together, and they started recording music together in Hamburg with the Angels of Libra. Lo and behold, their first single together "Obey" got into rotation at tastemaker station Radioeins and confirmed them as a winning team.



Following in the footsteps of many a classic soul tune, second single, "No No No (I'm So Broke)" is a social critique and commentary. In it Maiiah literally wears her heart on her sleeve, as she sings about the back- breaking job she was working at the time and the poor earnings as a hotel service employee.



But naturally life has more to offer than just work and so a large part of the songs on this record revolve around love. Maiiah gives her own spin to the classic "I'm A Good Woman", which the spirited singer has performed live many times. The story goes that the late DJ and Unique Records label owner Henry Storch sent Maiiah the original song by Barbara Lynn to comfort her after a heavy heartbreak. The song thus holds a very important place in Maiiah's heart, and it was released as the third advance single, recorded during her tour with Nathan Johnston at Bekegg Studios in Rastede, Lower Saxony.



With Dennis Rux at her side and the powerful arrangements of the Angels of Libra, Maiiah has found the right partners for her personal debut. On "Kava" & "Plenty of Life", Hamburg's jack-of-all-trades Carsten Meyer aka Erobique is featured as a guest on the keyboards, so here the rhythm section of the Hamburg Spinners comes together again. The love for old soul, rhythm & blues and the analog sound of the sixties is also fully expressed on this album. The longings and deep feelings in Maiiah's lyrics are carefully picked up musically, whether as a classic R&B song as in "Please Come Home" or in boogaloo party mode as in the Croatian-sung "Kava", the fourth single. "Plenty of Life" is a song for self-cheering and a call to open up to the beautiful sides of life despite all adversity. In "I wanna go", on the other hand, Maiiah longs for her Croatian homeland. The crowning finale of the album is the intense "Infinity" about life's phases and the recurring ups and downs as the essence of human existence.



The ingredients of Maiiah and the Angels of Libra's recipe are authentic lyrics, to the point arrangements, tight horns, rousing background vocals and the spirit of the golden age of soul music, as it was shaped by labels like Motown and Stax. Recorded in part with original equipment from the 50s. Producer Dennis Rux says, "We wanted to create a record that people would go dance to at the Komet" (a neighborhood club on St. Pauli in Hamburg, the band's second home). The joint album combines the Hamburg soul of the Angels of Libra with the passion of Maiiah, who can fully live out her temperament on the mic.

JD McPherson presents what he calls "A truly romantic garage rock record". Undivided Heart & Soul produced by Dan Molad (Lucius) & McPherson, and developed largely in the studio (that studio being the historic RCA Studio B in Nashville), carries a sense of immediacy and irreverence. Putting the hands of Dan Molad on the wheel of the record ensured that the music didn't take too many expected turns. "Having toured with Lucius and befriended Dan, I knew he was the guy to push my buttons and challenge me to try new things. He's a tireless worker. He's constantly tinkering away on something... and music just falls out of him." The vintage recording equipment and instruments still housed in RCA Studio B greatly informed the direction of the record. "Each night, at the end of tracking, someone would invariably say, "You wanna put vibes on this?", speaking of the old RCA Vibraphone. I mean, you can hear THAT vibraphone on Roy Orbison's "Crying"... we couldn't keep our hands off of it. It guided some of the songs into some strange and wonderful places. "Lucky Penny" took such a cool turn once Ray (Jacildo, keys) added some to it. We wrote several songs on the piano that Floyd Cramer played "Last Date" on. We were soaking up so much of the phantom energy in that room, it led to some incredible sonic territory." "Most folks know