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2025 Cream VINYL REPRESS.

When Alex Stephens (A.K.A. Strawberry Guy) self-released his debut single last year, he was merely doing it out of a love for songwriting. What he wasn't expecting was a million Youtube streams and an avid fanbase. Now, the South-Wales born, Liverpool-based songwriter is ready to release a full EP of his compelling, lushly produced dream-pop.

Born outside Cardiff, Strawberry Guy moved to Liverpool to study music and grow as a writer. 'I knew that it was a very artistic city with all it’s creative history, it seemed like the perfect place to move to.' he says. Whether it's playing keyboards in The Orielles or just being part of the city's growing musical scene, Alex plays music for the love of music, something that heavily translates into his adept songwriting.


The intense emotional feel of the tracks he writes is down to Alex's songwriting process, recording the entire EP in his bedroom & producing it himself. 'I feel that it’s important to me to only write/record when you’re channeling some kind of emotion, so I would only work on it when I was in the right mood to do so.' He answers when asked about the isolated environment into which he put himself for the recording process.

Much of the inspiration for Alex's work comes from experience rather than other artists. 'When something significant happens to me, all I want to do is make music.' In terms of musical touchstones however, there's the obvious dream-pop contemporaries such as Beach House and Weyes Blood, coupled with great songwriters of old like Nat King Cole or Harry Nillson. Sonically, a blend of orchestral & synthesized melodies layer together to act as a platform for his heartfelt lyrics.

Opener 'Without You' is a fine example of this, a break-up song of sorts, with an infectious keyboard melody and swirling synths over which Alex contemplates whether it's even possible to find lasting love. The lyrics 'Do you really have to talk about the things you do with him? Do you really have to talk about your love?' hit particularly heavily.

Contrast this with the final track, the titular 'Taking My Time To Be', a powerful song of self-discovery. Beginning with downtempo piano and drums, the song breaks out into a saxophone and synth solo that wouldn't go amiss on a Badalamenti soundtrack. 'The song is about me learning to be comfortable with myself, but then wondering if I'll be accepted for being myself' Alex imparts. It's a fitting closer to a EP driven by emotion and experience.

Delinquent Habits’ 1998 album Here Come The Horns is a standout in the world of Latin-infused hip-hop, blending bilingual lyrics, smooth beats, and a vibrant mariachi-inspired sound. The album builds on the group’s unique style, featuring bold horn sections, infectious rhythms, and their signature West Coast vibe. Tracks like “This Is L.A.” and the title track “Here Come The Horns” highlight the trio’s lyrical prowess and creative fusion of traditional Latin sounds with modern hip-hop elements. The album showcases their ability to deliver socially conscious messages with a party-ready energy, making it both thought-provoking and entertaining. Here Come The Horns cemented Delinquent Habits’ reputation as trailblazers in the genre, earning them acclaim for their innovative approach. For fans of Latin hip-hop, this album is a must-listen, offering a timeless blend of cultural pride and musical innovation.
Here Come The Horns is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on red coloured vinyl.

Tempat Angker (haunted place) is a Halloween mixtape compiled by music researcher and artist Luigi Monteanni, aka Neurotica Exotica.

To celebrate a second year of fieldwork research in West Java and to bring together the longing for All Hallows’ Eve partying with the archipelago’s richness in local and historical horror folklore tropes, figures, characters and stories, Artetetra’s co-founder cuts up 120 minutes of soundtracks, sound effects and dialogues from the glorious and extensive Indonesian horror movies tradition counting more than 700 titles.

Hear it from speculative horror and sci-fi filmmaker Riar Rizaldi (whole essay in the tape’s leaflet):

“The popularity of cinematic media during the New Order era led to the unprecedented development of more rapid and large-scale production methods. ⁤⁤Genre films, particularly horror and fantasy, emerged as some of the most prolific outputs, with hundreds being produced annually. ⁤⁤The filmmaking process was accelerated, and post-production ᅳ especially sound design ᅳ was completed as swiftly as possible. ⁤⁤Notably, veteran composer and musician Gatot Sudarto, who had worked extensively on drama films in the 1970s, became a regular contributor to studios producing horror and fantasy films in the following decade ᅳ although composer Embie C. Noer was also active during this period, his focus was more on action “sword and sandals” films. ⁤⁤Gatot’s influence in the music departments of these films was significant, helping to create an authentic soundscape. ⁤He adapted many of the compositional techniques used in European horror films (mostly the usage of harpsichord) at the time, blending them with the bass synths characteristic of American horror, while incorporating local and regional instruments to tailor the sound to Indonesian audiences.”

By sampling excerpts from 43 movies spanning the ages from the early seventies to the two thousand and tens, mostly trying to portrait the sound influence of the vintage horror era made popular by the “queen of horror”, actress Suzzanna, Tempat Angker throws you into decades of experimentation in conjuring the sound of Indonesian terror. Unearthly screams, bombastic fights, bamboo music, eighties synthy extravaganza, ominous sound effects, sexy dangdut, evilish pitched vocals, gamelan, eerie laughters from beyond and even calls to prayer fill the air in the spooky month!

First released in 1988, Kaira was the debut album by Toumani Diabate, master player of the kora - the West African harp with 21 strings. Kaira remains one of the most important and influential kora albums of all time. It was the first international release to feature a solo kora without voice. The album turned Toumani into a star overnight, whilst also establishing the kora's reputation as one of Africa's most captivating and versatile indigenous instruments. Kaira is now reissued on CD for the first time in almost two decades, as part of Chrysalis Records' acclaimed series of reissues of the music of Toumani Diabaté. Remastered from the production masters by Phil Kinrade at AIR Mastering. Housed in a 4-panel digisleeve with an accompanying 8-page booklet featuring new sleeve notes and previously unseen photographs by co-producer Lucy Duran. Kaira is also reissued on 180g vinyl and housed in a poly-lined inner sleeve. The album is accompanied by a 12" x 12" double-sided insert.

WRWTFWW Records is in a state of total bliss as it announces the release of the Pitstop Box compiling all 24 tracks from Japanese house music pioneer Shinichiro Yokota’s two acclaimed albums Do It Again and Again (2016) and I Know You Like It (2019). The collection, available on vinyl for the first time ever, is presented as six 45rpm-cut 12inches housed (!) in a superb slipcase box set created by Lopetz, designer, illustrator, typographer, and co-founder of Swiss graphic design studio Büro Destruct. Included as bonuses are two sticker sheets.

Previously only available on CD in Japan via cult electronic label Far East Recording, Shinichiro Yokota’s album discography finally gets a long overdue vinyl release in the form of a limited-edition box set housing (!) six 12inches and a total of 24 songs showcasing the house legend’s celebrated sound. With a production style drawing from a rich blend of funk, hip hop, electronic, and Japanese influences, Yokota’s music is loved for its simplicity, its hypnotic quality, and, most importantly, its SOUL – homegrown 90s soulful melodic club music…pure love!

The Pitstop Box, full of dancefloor treasures and sprinkled with downtempo gems, not only defines Yokota’s personal journey but also resonates as an essential contribution to the house genre and Japanese music in general. It includes his house hits (“Right Here Right Now”, “Night Drive” and the list goes on), a cover of “Simoon” by Haruomi Hosono’s Logic System, and a collaboration with his longtime partner and electronic music hero Soichi Terada.

Shinichiro Yokota began his musical history in Tokyo, inspired by electronic music giants such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk. He co-founded Far East Recording with the great Soichi Terada (who also worked with WRWTFWW for the Omodaka compilation) in 1990. After releasing the now highly sought after Far East Recording album with Terada in 1992 (from which his viral hit “Do It Again” is from), he took a hiatus from music and, most notably, brought his passion for sports cars to the next level by launching Night Pager, a company he started with his wife, specializing in tuning sports cars and modifying limiters for competition racers. It’s this side of Yokota’s life which has inspired the design of the Pitstop Box. He triumphantly came back to music with the album Do It Again and Again in 2016, consisting of unreleased 90s recordings as well as new material, and followed it up with I Know You Like It in 2019. His work has influenced generations of producers, and has expanded Japanese house music's reach on the global stage. Experience it on vinyl now.

Full unadulterated pleasure forever - from night drives to dancefloors.

“Deep Meaning” is the debut album by Maria Wildeis, a Cologne-based artist and expert in real-time sound design for installations.

The tracks on “Deep Meaning” oscillate between club and experimental music and are characterized by a lightness unique to debut works. Particularly notable is the inventive use of synthetic, organic, and sampled vocal elements. Voices constantly morph into melodies and back; words become notes, chords turn into text. Maria’s real-time approach to composing is evident throughout, making this album an unscripted adventure. Before you uncover the deep meaning, it has already swept you away.

Maria Wildeis researches spatial aspects in art and music, working with digital sound modeling and procedural sound synthesis. She also runs Gemeinde Köln, an art space in Cologne, Germany, which she founded in 2018.

Recorded in Cologne. Music by Maria Wildeis. Tracks 2,4 co-written by Daniel Ansorge. Additional production by Daniel Ansorge and Jens-Uwe Beyer. Mixed and mastered by Daniel Ansorge at Magazine Studio Cologne. Supported by the Cultural Office Cologne.

1/4" / 15 IPS / Dolby A Analogue Copy to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe

Carlos Santana and Company Return to a Dynamic Blend of R&B, Latin, Funk, and Rock: Amigos Aims for the Hips, Spreads Joy, and Includes “Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile)” Amigos has been beloved for decades by both long-time and recent Santana admirers, with multiple generations of fans drawn in by the record’s contagious blend of R&B, Latin, rock, and funk elements. As well as its immense accessibility. Coming off a series of albums that heavily leaned into jazz fusion, the band returns to the more dynamic and concise approaches of its earlier works without losing the sense of adventurousness, craftsmanship, and virtuosity that turned it into a juggernaut embraced by both the mainstream and experimentally minded communities.

Mastered at Mobile Fidelity’s in-house studio in California, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity’s 180g 33RPM LP of Amigos presents the 1976 album in audiophile sound for the first time on a domestic release. Part of the reissue label’s Santana series, this collectible version features quiet surfaces and black backgrounds that help reveal the intricate details, distinguished tones, and cohesive interplay that cause Santana’s music to take flight.

The enhanced aural perspectives extend not only to Carlos Santana’s intoxicating fills and solos, but to the rich tapestry of the rhythmic, melodic, and vocal elements that help Amigos feel as fresh today as it did several decades ago. This LP shines a beaming light on the surrounding musicians that simultaneously feed off and inspire their bandleader. The solidity and depth of the bass lines; the wash of the organ; the scope and carry of the vocals; the grip and weight of the low-end frequencies; and, possibly the most enticing traits, the textures of the acoustic guitars, numerous percussive devices, and then-modern synthesizers: all come across with tremendous presence and energy.

Entirely appropriate for a set that kicks from the start, with the opening “Dance Sister Dance (Baila Mi Hermana)” true to the song title’s combination directive-invitation meaning. Tropical, soulful, upbeat, and liberating, it beckons hips to shake and delicious libations to pour. Clinking cowbells, spirited background vocals, hand-tapped congas, and Carlos Santana’s six-string magma pour forth with abundance. The song sets the mood and expectations for a record that contains not an ounce of filler, and which inspires and spreads joy at practically every turn.

On the gold-certified Amigos, the ensemble never seems to run short of zest or happiness. Key in on the Latin bite and searing guitar architecture of “Take Me With You,” an instrumental that shifts tempo at its midpoint and sparkles with a samba-like outro that aims to put everyone in earshot on the dance floor. Surrender to the slow-burn of “Tell Me You Are Tired,” sent up with Greg Walker’s sympathetic vocals and spun around with whirling funk accents. Marvel at the Spanish guitar introduction, Mexican folk foundation, group vocals, and extroverted grooves of the forward-propulsive “Gitano,” with lead singing by conga/bongo expert Armando Peraza.

Having reached the Top 10 in the United States and spawned the hit “Let It Shine,” Amigos marked the final stint for bassist David Brown, the last of the group’s famed Woodstock lineup to depart. His contributions feel especially spirited throughout the album, compass readings that the group uses to chart their course. Just listen to how his passages pop on “Let Me” and frame the can’t-get-it-out-of-your-head “what you need is what you want” refrain. And while Carlos Santana remains the centerpiece of the brilliant and meditative “Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile),” Brown serves as a trustworthy anchor and friendly advocate.

Funkyjaws Music is back to make your body move with the latest instalment in its ongoing edit series, Let's Dance, this time with a sixth sizzling volume. Monsieur Van Pratt's loose and languid 'Besame' opens up with some gorgeous strings and funky guitar licks then Kiko Navarro brings a rich Afro flavour with the shuffling and percussive rhythms of 'Bosinga'. Bogdan Ra's 'Get On The Floor' is a fresh take on a disco classic with irresistible vocal charm and swooning pads. Last of all, Zaffa demands you 'Shake It' and you surely will as he layers up wet claps, sliding hi-hats and lively drums into a big-hearted party starter.

Dutch electronic music duo Polynation returns to Atomnation with Bloom, a new EP featuring guest appearances from Itai Weissman and Eric Vloeimans.

Polynation has always employed a wide range of gear to make their music, from synths, bass, guitar, and pedals to their unmistakable use of acoustic drums. This time, they have guest musicians Eric Vloeimans on trumpet and Itai Weissman playing saxophone and EWI — a digital wind instrument. The EP is their investigation into the symbiosis between electronically generated sounds and acoustic wind instruments. It finds them playing wind instruments in unconventional ways to mimic the language of a synthesizer and contrasting them with electronic sounds that breathe and feel alive, as if acoustic. "We are particularly interested in the sonic world where the boundaries between electronic and acoustic sounds begin to blur," they explain. They now take that concept one step further on this latest outing.

Bloom is another deep dive into the adventurous sonic alchemy of the continually innovative Polynation.

Slow Pulp celebrates five years of their breakout debut album Moveys with a deluxe reissue. Available for the first time on gatefold vinyl, the double LP release includes live versions of beloved singles like "Falling Apart" and "Idaho," as well as two reimagined versions of Moveys-era tracks. Full of blistering energy and emotional catharsis, Moveys is a testament to hard-fought personal growth. Since its 2020 release, the band has appeared on late night TV, performed at Lollapalooza, and toured with The Pixies, Alvvays, The Postal Service, and Death Cab For Cutie. Slow Pulp's remarkable full-length debut Moveys is a testament to hard-fought personal growth. In the process of making this record, the Chicago-based indie rock band powered through health challenges, personal upheaval, and a pandemic, all while learning how to be better songwriters and friends. Their made-up word "moveys" is multi-faceted for Slow Pulp. It is an invitation to dance. It is a wink at the cross-country nature of the album's songwriting process, while the bandmates were literally on the move touring, sheltering in place, and going through major life changes. But, mostly, it's an inside joke. Listening to these warm, dynamic and welcoming songs, it's easy to feel like you're a part of it too.

Slow Pulp celebrates five years of their breakout debut album Moveys with a deluxe reissue. Available for the first time on gatefold vinyl, the double LP release includes live versions of beloved singles like "Falling Apart" and "Idaho," as well as two reimagined versions of Moveys-era tracks. Full of blistering energy and emotional catharsis, Moveys is a testament to hard-fought personal growth. Since its 2020 release, the band has appeared on late night TV, performed at Lollapalooza, and toured with The Pixies, Alvvays, The Postal Service, and Death Cab For Cutie. Slow Pulp's remarkable full-length debut Moveys is a testament to hard-fought personal growth. In the process of making this record, the Chicago-based indie rock band powered through health challenges, personal upheaval, and a pandemic, all while learning how to be better songwriters and friends. Their made-up word "moveys" is multi-faceted for Slow Pulp. It is an invitation to dance. It is a wink at the cross-country nature of the album's songwriting process, while the bandmates were literally on the move touring, sheltering in place, and going through major life changes. But, mostly, it's an inside joke. Listening to these warm, dynamic and welcoming songs, it's easy to feel like you're a part of it too.

Slow Pulp celebrates five years of their breakout debut album Moveys with a deluxe reissue. Available for the first time on gatefold vinyl, the double LP release includes live versions of beloved singles like "Falling Apart" and "Idaho," as well as two reimagined versions of Moveys-era tracks. Full of blistering energy and emotional catharsis, Moveys is a testament to hard-fought personal growth. Since its 2020 release, the band has appeared on late night TV, performed at Lollapalooza, and toured with The Pixies, Alvvays, The Postal Service, and Death Cab For Cutie. Slow Pulp's remarkable full-length debut Moveys is a testament to hard-fought personal growth. In the process of making this record, the Chicago-based indie rock band powered through health challenges, personal upheaval, and a pandemic, all while learning how to be better songwriters and friends. Their made-up word "moveys" is multi-faceted for Slow Pulp. It is an invitation to dance. It is a wink at the cross-country nature of the album's songwriting process, while the bandmates were literally on the move touring, sheltering in place, and going through major life changes. But, mostly, it's an inside joke. Listening to these warm, dynamic and welcoming songs, it's easy to feel like you're a part of it too.

This sense of speed, this sense of elation. The man who knows no end, Takeshi Inomata, breaks through the limits of groove with his ever-changing stick work.

Another masterpiece released by Takeshi Inomata, a great drummer who has always kept his eye on the times and opened up new horizons, during the golden age of jazz rock. It is a so-called instructional record produced as one of the "Method" series, but its musicality is fiercely funky and groovy, as if provoking the listener. Leading the famous group Sound Limited, which played a part in the development of jazz rock in Japan, he breaks through the limits of groove with his ever-changing stick work. From cover songs such as "Runaway Child" and "Smack Water Jack" to "Sleeper" and "Seven Four" composed by his close friend Norio Maeda, who also participated in the arrangement, and the overwhelmingly powerful drum solo ""Drum Concert"", the diverse selection is filled with a flawless, high-density groove.

Erasmus Hall's 1980 album Your Love Is My Desire' is one of the most collectable and in fact desired modern soul albums of all time. Copies of the original pressing on Westbound have exchanged hands for over £400. Furthermore in-demand gems including Your Love Is My Desire' and Just Me And You' have never previously been on 7' vinyl, so as part of these Record Store Day release those two tracks are included on the format making this package irresistible. Eramus Hall are in fact a group taking their name from a building George Clinton saw and gave them while he was in Chicago. The group comprise lead vocalists Michael Gatheright and James Wilkerson with musicians Ronald Wright, Marvin Williams, Joe Anderson, Grady Smith, Charmie Currie and William Tillery.

This is an outrageosly brilliant EP. Indie-spirit, early industrial noises, a bold handling of white noise / filter effects and vocoder vocals, virtuously mixed together in a funky acid dancefloor stomper. Jörn’s unmistakable trademark is deep electronic coolness, combined with a good dose of humoristic winks, sophisticated and puristic at the same time - and of course highly recommended. The B-Side contains a remix of Thee Church Ov Acid House, a project by Wuttke together with his longterm recording partner Oliver Bradford.
They offer an intense100 BPM version in an early 90s “post-rave” fashion.
Oscillating samples, drenched in fuzz, skirt around classic organ keys and balearic percussions. A great set opener, closer or, as intended, something to put on when you get home from the rave, while the sun is rising but you’re not quite ready to go to sleep.

Info-text : Miriam Schulte

The next release in Now Again's Memphis Rap series is Breakin Da Law presented on vinyl for the first time ever. This is Gangsta Blac's first, a swaggering and drawling gangster rap outing from hot and humid South Memphis. This is part of Now Again Records multiple LP series on the History of Memphis Rap, which attempts to capture Memphis and its underground rap scene as it began to produce some of the most distinctive music of the 90s. This was a unique hip-hop strain - visceral and often vicious. It was a local, low-fi, cassette-tape based movement - yet it went on to change the course of rap music. These albums have never been pressed on vinyl - until now. From Skinny Pimp and Carmike to Gangsta Blac and Shawty Pimp, these albums have been relegated to the proverbial bins of history and bootlegged, with unofficial copies still fetching top dollar on the secondary market. These albums were all licensed directly from their original creators, and come on limited edition colored vinyl with artist-approved imagery for their first LP iterations. You can read the story of the Memphis Rap scene in a 12-page, oversized booklet with notes by Torii MacAdams. It captures the story of Memphis rap starting with the city’s founding and ending with an auto supply shop that sold these albums over the counter, with all points in between.

Having haunted stages across the UK for the best part of a decade, the critical success of their 2024 sophomore full-length `Acts of Harm' gave caustic shoegaze outft Outlander pause to refect on their astounding 2019 debut, `The Valium Machine', soon to be reissued by Pelagic Records on vinyl for the frst time. Written and recorded in 2018 over a handful of studio sessions in Stoke-on-Trent, `The Valium Machine' was a formative experience for Outlander in more ways than one. Prior to working on the album, the band would happily describe themselves as your standard, straight-down-the-middle post rock band but an openness to new infuences from the `90s slowcore and shoegaze scenes, the delicate, textural introduction of vocals and the pivotal decision to track the album in sprawling, full-band takes lead Outlander to fundamentally redefne their sound and scale; adding a pointed sense of dynamic and discordant dirge that lead to the four-piece sharing stages with trailblazing genre heavyweights Bossk and Grivo as well as breathtaking performances at festivals like Dunk! (BE) and ArcTanGent (UK). With beautiful artwork produced in partnership with street photographer Richard Lambert documenting the colourful, everyday life of their beloved Birmingham, the initial run of `The Valium Machine' was limited to a criminally small 50 CDs through tiny local imprint FOMA. Now, fve years later, Outlander owe their panoramic pace and formidable, funereal sound to those few days spent in Stoke- on-Trent and the band, along with Pelagic Records, believe this nascent recording deserves to be heard by many, many more. FOR FANS OF: Duster, Codeine, Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel, Kowloon Walled City

Having haunted stages across the UK for the best part of a decade, the critical success of their 2024 sophomore full-length `Acts of Harm' gave caustic shoegaze outft Outlander pause to refect on their astounding 2019 debut, `The Valium Machine', soon to be reissued by Pelagic Records on vinyl for the frst time. Written and recorded in 2018 over a handful of studio sessions in Stoke-on-Trent, `The Valium Machine' was a formative experience for Outlander in more ways than one. Prior to working on the album, the band would happily describe themselves as your standard, straight-down-the-middle post rock band but an openness to new infuences from the `90s slowcore and shoegaze scenes, the delicate, textural introduction of vocals and the pivotal decision to track the album in sprawling, full-band takes lead Outlander to fundamentally redefne their sound and scale; adding a pointed sense of dynamic and discordant dirge that lead to the four-piece sharing stages with trailblazing genre heavyweights Bossk and Grivo as well as breathtaking performances at festivals like Dunk! (BE) and ArcTanGent (UK). With beautiful artwork produced in partnership with street photographer Richard Lambert documenting the colourful, everyday life of their beloved Birmingham, the initial run of `The Valium Machine' was limited to a criminally small 50 CDs through tiny local imprint FOMA. Now, fve years later, Outlander owe their panoramic pace and formidable, funereal sound to those few days spent in Stoke- on-Trent and the band, along with Pelagic Records, believe this nascent recording deserves to be heard by many, many more. FOR FANS OF: Duster, Codeine, Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel, Kowloon Walled City

Born and raised in the outskirt of Milan, Ferrari began playing drums in post.-punk bands at a young age. Meanwhile, he also started his career as a DJ and producer, ending up releasing tracks on some important labels and playing in various parties all over Italy and Europe. He’s the resident of Milan’s finest party ‘’Anna Molly’’ and affiliated with BSR crew. Ferrari’s project embodies all his influences: from rare Disco gems to House with hints of Detroit Techno

Early support from Luke Slater, Kr!z, Truncate and Rødhåd. After 4 years, Blenk is back on Enemy with another incredible EP. “Breaking the Loop” is 5 tracks of Blenk’s signature hypnogrooves that will easily compliment each part of the night. This EP kicks off the 20th year anniversary of Enemy Records. Over the course of 2025, expect a handful of new releases and represses from our most indemand records!

“Lost” is the EP’s warm, ambient kick off. It perfectly sets the tone for starting up or finishing off a set at any time. We all need intros, so…here ya go.

“Outline” is a monstrous track that has been hammered regularly by a few of our select friends. It’s as funky as it is punchy. We could write more words, but who cares…it’s the big one.

“Silo” is the tracky roller of the EP. This one is for the “Just the grooves please, I’ll take it from here” type of DJs.

“FM9” is for Interstellar travelers, or at least for the people who took enough acid to think they are. If you’re into ‘wormhole techno,’ this is one is right up your quadrant.

“Dissociative” does exactly what the title says. While it has those A side qualities, it’s the perfect introspective wrap up for the infamous B2 spot.

Transport, partly staffed by former members Ural Thomas' 1960s band, was a fairly short-lived Portland phenomenon. The incarnation heard here was an eleven-piece stone Disco-Funk powerhouse that tracked a whole album's worth of smashers in 1978, which sadly lay untouched for over 40 years. The steady-rolling A-side is emblematic of their original sound, but the cake is rather taken here by their awesome reading of 'Always There,' arguably one of the best versions of the much-covered Ronnie Laws classic yet.

First time ever on 7" 45rpm vinyl, dinked centre hole with picture sleeve, 500 numbered copies only.

*press Release From David Katz*

The Hardest Working Reggae Band In Southern England, Dubheart Is On A Mission To Spread Messages Of Peace, Love, Unity And Resistance Through A Heady Stew Of Contemporary Roots Reggae, Delivered On Live Instruments With A Hefty Dose Of Dub In The Mix. Cool Under Pressure, Their Latest Offering, Is The Band's Most Compelling Set To Date, A 'showcase'-style Album Where Every Vocal Track Is Followed By Its Dub Counterpart, And The Vital Contribution Of The Brassica Horns—from Rising London Ska Band Chainska Brassica—is Another Intriguing Element That Makes This Album Tougher Than The Rest.

Drawing On The Foundations Laid By Jamaican Stalwarts Such As Burning Spear, Dennis Brown And Culture, Dub Pioneers Like Scientist And Jah Shaka, Plus Newer Vanguards Such As Tarrus Riley, Grounation And Conscious Sounds, Dubheart Has Crafted A Distinctly Appealing Style That Is Very Much Their Own, Based On The Organic Presentation Of Their Musical Vision. Indeed, This Fully Self-contained Five-piece Is Firmly Engrained In The Neo-roots Movement Of The Present, With A Sound That Faces Ever Forwards.

The South Coast-based Band Was First Formed Back In 1999, And Slowly Built A Following Through Their Intense Live Performances, Which Always Harnessed A Live Dub Element. Their First Ep, the Solid Foundation Rhythm,' Issued On Their Own Karnatone Label In 2011 And Featuring Dub Mixes By Russ D Of The Disciples, Became A Regular Part Of Jah Shaka's Live Playlists. It Was Followed By The 7' 45, we Chant,' Featuring The Band's Charismatic Bristol-based Lead Singer, Tenja (who Originally Hails From France), The Track Becoming An Underground Anthem In Japan (via Rob Smith, Aka Rsd). Dubheart's First Album, Mental Slavery, Was Released In 2013, A Momentous Year That Also Saw The Band Win The European Reggae Contest Staged By Rototom Sunsplash, Leading To A European Tour With Festival Appearances At Summerjam (germany), Reggae Sun Ska (france), Overjam (slovenia), Sudoweste (portugal), United Islands (czech Republic) And The Sardinia Reggae Festival, As Well As Rototom In Spain. Then, In 2015, Karnatone Issued The Dub Companion To Mental Slavery, Mixed Down In A Heavy Dubwise Fashion By Drummer Gavin Sant, Otherwise Known As Fullness, The Band Was Then Invited To Participate In The Bbc Television Show, The Uk's Best Part-time Band, Leading To Their Ep Of Cover Tunes, 2016's full Time Pressure,' Again With Dub Versions From Fullness. part Of The Band's Appeal Lies In Its Tightness As A Recording And Performing Unit, When You See Them Live, You Understand That This Band Of Brothers Is On A Higher Mission, United In Their Wish To Use Music As A Means Of Upliftment. And That Sentiment Is Entirely Evident On Cool Under Pressure. The Melodic Bass Grooves Of Mark Shepherd Act As The Perfect Buffer To The Furious Rolls And Expressive Drum Patterns Of Fullness, David 'daddy U' Mountjoy Adds Scintillating Melodies On Keyboards, Including Some Delightful Wurlitzer Lines, And Richard Ramsey's Guitar Licks Tend Towards The Understated, Aside From The Occasional Solo Pyrotechnics, As Heard Here On rocky Road.' And On Songs Like can't Wait,' watcha Gonna Do' And The Title Track, The Brassica Horns Add Further Melodic Depth Through Fanfares Of Treble Brass Texture. with The Rhythms Laid Entirely Through Live Recording Sessions Cut At Fullness' Home Studio In Bournemouth (with Horn And Wurlitzer Overdubs Done Elsewhere), Cool Under Pressure Reveals Dubheart As A Band On The Rise, Heading For Unstoppable Heights.

The Dub Deconstructions On The Disc Allow The Listener To Hear The Exceptional Quality Of Their Playing, Emphasizing Each Member's Individual Talent, While The Lyrics Tackle Subjects We Can All Relate To, With watcha Gonna Do' Addressing Social Inequalities, can't Wait' Alluding To The Refugee Crisis, rocky Road' Imploring Everyone To Hold Strong In Trying Times, And rise Up' Calling For Direct Action Against The Unjust System That Rules Our Lands. Overall, The Outstanding Title Track cool Under Pressure' Really Sums Up The Band's Ethos: The System May Burden Us With The Stresses Of Censure And Control, But Our Obligation Is To Stay True To Ourselves And Resist. And The Music Can Help Us To Achieve This.

David Allred is a prolific composer and producer based in Portland, Oregon. His new album The Beautiful World captures an enriched, realised understanding of why he composes in the first place. Dedicated to the expression of existential themes such as death, grief, longing and loss, the album’s core theme centres around the suicide of a young girl Lauren, who was a family friend to Allred. For as long as he could remember, Allred always created music out of a kind of dissociative state which he finds alluringly easy to lapse into. A repetition of a motif is usually where he begins composing. But unlike his previous works, The Beautiful World firmly has one foot in reality and is deeply intertwined with Allred’s relationships, past and present. Through his correspondence with Erased Tapes label head and the album’s producer, Robert Raths, over the past year, he came to realise that everyone has a Lauren in a way – someone they’d lost. Through writing to Raths, Allred was able to draw out this thread from the work and position it more clearly as the central concept to this work. The music doesn’t reflect the chaos of trauma, instead it has a therapeutic quality. It was through this dialogue that Allred was able to create what may be his most cohesive body of work to date. The 11 track album unfolds around Oh Lauren, providing the core of the album’s sentiment – how grief returns to us throughout life over and over. Embedded more than halfway through the album, Allred allows listeners to cohabit a meditative space through ambient textures, drones and ballads echoing the vocal sincerity of Arthur Russell, Daniel Johnston and the hypnotic storytelling of Robert Ashley. To truly reckon with The Beautiful World’s emotional position, listeners must understand the importance of the figure of Lauren, and the significance she has had throughout Allred’s life. Lauren’s suicide as a child provided the catalyst for Allred’s lifelong grief. But it was death anxiety and grief itself which provided Allred a link to a universal relationship that people have with each other and the world they live in. Impermanence and loss are the driving force behind all of our connections. The trance-like nature of the album perhaps comes from David Allred’s time sense – particularly when it comes to memory and trauma. Time becomes non-linear rather than a straight line – where one can repeat or return to the same themes but older and in a different frame of mind. Grief continues to manifest itself in life and despite personal growth, there will always be moments where the same feeling will manifest itself again. The album encourages listeners to sit with the concept of grief, and Allred is hopeful they can find comfort and learn to process it in a healing way. The Beautiful World is therefore heavily influenced by Allred’s work in therapy, particularly his relationship to writing music. In the past, Allred would be composing music as a means to dissociate from his life, but the album sees him engaging and connecting more authentically than ever with others and himself. Despite his prolific previous works being made in the company of others, Allred needed to step back from the scenes that he’s worked in to discover what he really wanted to create. Allred concludes: “In the power of love, curiosity, humour, and reconciliation, we give you The Beautiful World.”

Following the huge acclaim of Matt Berry’s 2021 album The Blue Elephant (“A sonic odyssey” – Uncut) – as well as last year’s one-off album of library music collaboration with the KPM label (“another string to Berry’s impressive bow” – Prog magazine) – we present Heard Noises, Matt’s eighth studio album with Acid Jazz, out 24 January.

We’re hugely excited to offer a beautiful label-exclusive gatefold edition on Psychedelic Swirl colour vinyl, alongside the standard version Sky Blue LP, as well as corresponding soft-pack CD and retro Cassette.

Out now, lead single ‘I Gotta Limit’ finds Matt trading lines with Kitty Liv (Kitty, Daisy and Lewis) as a man after a second chance with a woman impatient with his pleading. With a song structure inspired by Sly Stone, in a little over three minutes ‘I Gotta Limit’ crams in a plethora of musical ideas on an instantly catchy song which is part Northern Soul, part psych.

In contrast to The Blue Elephant’s dizzying trip through an idiosyncratic love of British Psych, Freakbeat, Acid Rock and late ‘60s pop, Heard Noises finds Matt heading for a looser, Californian psychedelia through his love of the trippier sounds of space pop and rock, and his ear for an eerie, haunting melody.

Once again, the album is testament to Matt’s exceptional musicianship, production skills and songwriting prowess. Almost every instrument is played by Matt including guitars, bass, a variety of keyboards (acoustic and Wurlitzer pianos), synthesizers and organs (including Moogs, Vox, Farfisa, Gibson, Eminent organs) and Mellotron.

He is joined by long-time collaborator, neo-progressive drummer Craig Blundell, and guests including Pokerface’s Natasha Lyonne and back with Matt is The Shins/Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson (acoustic guitar, autoharp and backing vocals on ‘Why On Fire?’, ‘To Live For What Once Was’ and ‘Snakes That Slide’), Phil Scraggs (lap steel guitar on ‘To Live For What Once Was’ and ‘Snakes That Slide’), Rosie McDermott (vocals on ‘Sky High’) and the S. Club 60s Choir (featuring Matt’s mum).

In many ways Heard Noises could be considered the perfect distillation of the extraordinary breadth of musical ideas across Matt’s albums to date.

Back in December 2016, Jeshi fell asleep whilst driving home from a party at 5am, and he crashed into a park car, only to be woken up by the airbag exploding in his face. This is the inspiration for album two. The new album is a statement of waking up and levelling up from the last period of his life. This is a new era, and full of energy.

SHORT BIOG

Jeshi doesn't run away from fire; he runs with it. The East London artist is on a quest to feel alive in every sense. To him, feeling alive means being present in each experience, no matter how challenging. For Jeshi - who has spent the last few years establishing himself as one of the most exciting voices of his generation - this is what life and art are all about. Chaos, then, is not something to shy away from, but where great ideas are born.
Jeshi's electrifying second album, AIRBAG WOKE ME UP is a collection of moment-capturing songs built to ignite reactions and start conversations. His scene-stealing jaunts to stages worldwide clearly influence its live-wire sound, as Jeshi and his cohorts smash through moods and tempos like kids let loose on funfair dodgems. "I want to make things that have intent and feel like statements," Jeshi declares. His versatile voice is the conductive thread that pulls everything together. "On Universal Credit, my voice was used in one way, whereas on this it's used in ten ways," he notes.
AIRBAG WOKE ME UP is an exploration into what happens when you emerge from tough times, and how they encourage you to view the world a little differently. It's bolder in ambition and built from renewed energy. Chaotic, but in the very best way. "In my head, this is the real arrival chapter," states Jeshi. "The 'I am here, I've arrived' moment."

In a continued disruption to the airwaves following releases from Bondo and Monde UFO, Quindi returns to the Californian noise rock scene-not-scene to dig on the gnarled riffs of Expose. On their new release, the LA outfit double-down on a unique blend of bloated guitar fuzz and grimy analogue synths, and come out with a curiously cosmic kind of kick-ass.
If there was a dreamy, sun-bleached quality to Bondo and Monde UFO, their label mates Expose sound more wrought from sweat-drenched jam sessions under halogen strip lights in grease-stained garages. But the guttural quality of their blown-out guitar tone is matched for vibrancy by the dexterity of their playing, bringing angular free jazz to post hardcore and sludge rock, capped off with the unearthly sonic possibilities of flamboyant synthesis.
This dual-layered wall of sound lends extra weight to the likes of shit-kicking 'Speed Dial', which thunders like a kosmische juggernaut with amped up leads and a dead-eyed vocal condensed into a visceral minute, all with enough time for a dramatic breakdown, synth eruption and a final thrust. Similarly scooped out of the trash compactor, 'Description' rides for longer with one foot pressed firmly on the fuzz pedal, letting the electronics squeal around the punked-up rush of the guitars.
But Expose are not a one-dimensional band constantly thrashing it out. By contrast, 'The Constant' hits a crushing emotional note in its more structured push and pull between delicacy and heaviness, hitting bittersweet notes along the way throughout the peaks and troughs of the arrangement. 'Self Terror' washes languid, discordant guitar strum into swirling FX accompanied by sax from Monde UFO's Ray Monde.
Smart as a whip, sharp as a tack and boiling over with an untameable urgency, Expose make their presence felt in brilliant, bruising form on this particularly fierce addition to the Quindi catalogue.

Vincent Arthur’s masterpiece LP ‘Esi Vivian’, originally inspired by and named in tribute to his daughter Vivian, was the work of a skilled group of musicians from Africa, The Caribbean and Germany. The record remained relatively unknown for 30 years, apart from a small circle of collectors, until a very well known DJ closing Dekmantel reached the climax of his set with an 'unknown' euphoric afro disco track. Taking to the forums, internet sleuths didn’t stop until it was found that this anthem was ‘Travel With The Music’!

Remastered by the ever patient and talented Frank at The Carvery, SFA002 breathes new life into the 3 standout tracks from Esi Vivian, allowing these timeless sounds to be shared on new dancefloors. It is no understatement that we shared a goosebumps moment in the studio listening to the results, where we both looked at each other and realised how special the music sounds. All three tracks have been elevated whilst staying true to the original and cut at 45rpm for ideal club playback.

‘Travel With The Music’ takes pole position on the A-side, a piece of music perfect in every way. Mixing afro, disco and that euphoric gospel-like chorus, this is the record you want to hear played out with all your friends at once.
Leading the B-side is Afro Disco, a track that always works on the floor, it’s tempo shift injecting a playful energy that leads the party into it’s next stage. Closing out the release, ‘Jubilation’ takes us deeper and in the right dance, is a powerful end-of-the-nighter.

Drawing inspiration from film, literature, art, and music, “Zdenka 2080” was heavily influenced in particular by a series of apocalyptic sci-fi novels by Octavia Butler and Gene Wolf. “They inspired me to explore the realms of fantasy as a means of illuminating concepts and truths about our own society and humanity,” she says. “I also was very inspired by the movies Tekkonkinkreet and Embrace of the Serpent - a beautiful exploration of capitalism, colonialism and greed.” Olsen’s music is highly conceptual and “Zdenka 2080” describes a future dystopian Earth in the year 2080 that has been mis-managed by unethical governments and corporations.

Theresa Stroetges returns to Karaoke Kalk with her second album for the Berlin-based label, her fifth solo full-length with her Golden Diskó Ship project in total. Having released records with the Indian-German band project Hotel Kali as well as Painting, a group dedicated to audio-visual concepts, »Oval Sun Patch« sees her embrace influences from club culture, advanced electronic music, and pop more firmly than ever before. Over the past 15 years, Golden Diskó Ship has served a vessel with which the Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist has traversed a variety of genres and circumnavigated all conventions in the process. With »Oval Sun Patch,« Stroetges again sets sail into unknown waters with what is perhaps her catchiest album so far—beat-driven, playful, atmospheric, and at times thoroughly anthemic. This is the sound of Golden Diskó Ship moving forward.

A life lived in transit, the vastness of bodies of water and the isolation of islands as well as more generally notions of processes and progress have been recurring motives throughout Stroetges’ previous records and also mark »Oval Sun Patch.« In fact, the foundation for the six pieces was laid when she was working abroad and at times close to the sea. The massive three-part album closer »Earth Before The Space Race« was conceived as a multi-channel audio-visual performance piece during a 2021 residency at Zaratan Arte Contemporânea in Lisbon. The others were written in the following year during two other residencies when Stroetges first spent time in Austria at the sound art festival Klangmanifeste in Lindabrunn and then visited Portugal once more for a stay at Goethe-Institut in Lisbon. With the help of Shelley Barradas, who lent her a guitar, and Julia Klein, who helped her setting up a temporary studio in the Goethe-Institut Portugal’s auditorium, she made the preliminary recordings of what would later become this album.

»Oval Sun Patch«, later refined in Berlin and mixed in close collaboration with London-based engineer Hannes Plattmeier, is a direct result of Stroetges having to work with what was available to her at the time of writing and recording. While her distinct guitar playing—evocative yet funky, complex but catchy—once more features heavily and she uses her voice in manifold ways to sometimes harmonise with herself or creating complex canons as counterpoints to her her own lead vocals, the electronic gear she worked with dominates the album both compositionally and sonically. Stroetges’ music has always displayed a passion for club culture and advanced electronic music, but on »Oval Sun Patch« she proves once and for all how well these influences can be integrated into her unconventional approach to songwriting.

However, the punchy beat and Moroder-like bassline that form the backbone of »Dolphins With Soft Helmets,« the throbbing house and techno grooves underneath »Ephemeral Carnivores« and »Well-Oiled Machine« as well as the jittery IDM rhythms of »Google Your New Name« and her nods to trip-hop with »Tiny Island« do not so much follow established formulas as they use them as a starting point for wild experimentation instead. Stroetges juxtaposes complex rhythms with interlocking melodies and rich harmonies in ways that continue to surprise throughout and still leave enough space for the occasional wistful guitar or vocal passage. Nowhere does this approach feel more epic than on the 12 ½ minutes long »Earth Before The Space Race,« which takes its time to unfold, changing its pace and mood throughout.

»Oval Sun Patch« is an album about change. The lyrics describe constant transformations of sceneries, relationships, physical and emotional states as well as the climate throughout its running time. Stroetges in the meanwhile leads the way as a singer, songwriter and producer who lets her music evolve constantly. This is sound, moving forward.

For the first time we are welcoming the Dracula himself Mr. Gastón Cabrera who is hailing to us from a coastal part of Argentina. The artist has been putting out solid string of releases recently on various labels for you to check out and now has landed a 12” vinyl with Exarde. The releases consist of 4 deep dark flavoured tracks ready for the peak times or the afterparties depends on the time and your mood of course. “Romance Electro” has brought some romance into the world which needs it more than ever, Gastón is here to stay and will continue bringing his art into it which we are all as listeners, dj’s, producers and music appreciators very much are excited to hear.

I first saw Hugh and Jackson play together at Good God’s ‘Soft Future Piano Bar’ at the Sydney Opera House in 2017. That year was a fruitful year for the two as artists and for the Sydney music community in general. I remember that all of us, along with Greville and Brad, hosted a DIY party in a tunnel under a highway somewhere near Sydney Airport. Is that the same tunnel that Tunnel Dancers derived their name from? 7 years after that first meeting at the Sydney Opera House, Hugh and Jackson have released an album. Listening to these songs there is an audible patience and understanding between two musicians. They probably could have released something else a long time ago, but chose to wait - instead enjoying bowls of laksa on their lunch breaks and sharing long, quiet conversations at The Babylon Sauna & Spa. When the next warm bowl of noodle soup arrives on your table, how long will you let it sit before you dive in? Soup first or noodle first? If you learn from these songs, perhaps you will know to first observe the whole bowl. Observing in this way, the moment settles and hovers and remains for much longer than a moment.

Canadian DJ and producer Marie Davidson releases her latest single “Contrarian,” made in collaboration with Pierre Guerineau and Soulwax via their DEEWEE label. An all-out onslaught of raw circuitry and electronics, “Contrarian” might just be one of Davidson’s finest club cuts to date.

Earlier in the year, Davidson debuted on the legendary DEEWEE imprint with her single Y.A.A.M. (Your Asses Are Mine), reuniting the Belgium powerhouse Soulwax, who previously reworked Davidson’s acclaimed “Work It” anthem

her wittiest and most biting" - DJ Magazine
“raving under surveillance capitalism” - Pitchfork (8.1)
"funny and wonderfully weird." - Bandcamp (Album of the day)
"reaches new heights" - CLASH 8/10
“packed with party-ready bangers” - The Quietus (Album of the week)
“takes on the big room to take down big tech.” - Resident Advisor (RA Recommends)
“a rallying call for a more humane digital future.” - The Skinny ****

Marie Davidson’s album City Of Clowns, effortlessly weaves through crunching techno straight out of 90s Detroit, fired-up circuitboard breakbeats, and skewed club cuts - a body of work which continues the use of her music as a tool to navigate her place in the world, as an artist, as a woman, and as an entertainer. As high concept as it is open-hearted, she pushes the boundaries of electronic music to digest the most urgent questions of our time – and the result is disarmingly human.

“Contrarian" is an all-out onslaught of raw circuitry and electronics and might just be one of Davidson’s finest club cuts to date.

Limited to 500 copies

Limited Translucent Orange Vinyl is for Indies only. For Fans Of… Booker T & The MGs, The Meters, Soulive, John Patton, Jimmy Smith… Originally released for RSD in 2018 and immediately sold out. The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio may have this KEXP session to thank for much of the notoriety they have received since it first premiered. Since then, they've secured a record deal, a world renowned booking agent, a publishing deal, international sponsorships, and will be embarking on a national tour this spring. This session was released on vinyl for the first time for Record Store Day 2018, marking the first full KEXP session ever to be pressed on vinyl. Now it’s available once again on black vinyl, CD, and cassette. Tracks: Move On Up, Memphis, South Leo St. Stomp, Concussion, I Don't Want To Play That, Tacoma Black party, Top Going Down, Bottom Going Up.

Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams on the 17th March 1917 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA. His family held a key position in the local black community with his father being pastor of the local Baptist church.

His first professional break came touring with the Broadway show “shuffle along” which eventually found its way to Los Angeles. Where Nat ended up playing at the century club on Santa Monica boulevard. This was an in-place for musicians and Nat’s already developed and incredible piano playing became a great attraction eventually forming a trio with Oscar Moore on guitar and Wesley Price on bass. With Nat’s great voice and add libs the trio were a great success in 1939/40.

In 1943 Cole signed to the infant Capitol records and began his enormous string of hits for that label and eventual amazing career partnership with the great arranger and orchestra leader Nelson Riddle. This was at the time of popular music already pioneered by Bing Crosby and latterly Frank Sinatra and something Nat would become a master of, with his by now incredible, highly developed and unique voice which we all instantly recognise.

Right up until his untimely and tragic death on 15th February 1965, Nat made a string of successful records for capitol, a string of film appearances, and the first black presenter of his own tv show, which ran for many years and introduced a whole host of new and old artists to the television screens. As is so often with people so talented, Nat’s life was short but extremely successful. He was a well loved and admired person with his vibrant and kind personality with many great friends and colleagues and made an enormous contribution to the music industry, civil rights and the world in general.

As a singer and pianist, he was exceptionally talented, and his voice will live on in immortality. His ability to express and sing any song was quite extraordinary to say the least and these recordings are a fine example of that ability. A must have for all music lovers!

Though 潘PAN is an entirely new artist - new outlook, new message, new material and name - you may have met the woman herself before. Back in the mid-‘10s, the Taipei-born rapper went by the moniker Aristophanes. After performing a career-changing feature on ‘SCREAM’, taken from Grimes’ celebrated NME Album of 2015 ‘Art Angels’, Aristophanes went on to build a cult fanbase, releasing her debut mixtape ‘Humans Become Machines’ two years later and then her distributor went bust during covid. Signed to Transgressive she re-released her mixtape followed by Reborn and Ghosts EPs earlier this year.

Across a constantly morphing sound palette that moves from metallic, apocalyptic beats to delicate nods to the traditional music of her Asian heritage, via heavy, industrial moments, spacious soundscapes and much more, the thread is Pan’s utterly mesmeric vocal. Performing in a mix of Mandarin and English, she explains that having the two languages to play with is “like featuring another artist who has a different way of describing things”.

Across the releases, confident sexual expression mixes with tenderness, empathy and a particularly feminine sort of strength to create a world that Pan hopes will transcend language and connect her audience via something more innate. “The music is a place to feel safe,” she says. “The message that I want to carry through these two EPs and the album is to demonstrate the strength of accepting your own situations. When you can’t make things right but you’ve done your best, sometimes it’s really hard to admit that to yourself. It takes strength to do that. I use lots of sexual metaphors, but I feel like it’s more about the female need to be seen and heard. I want to build something more delicate and layered and connected to our life experience - to the trauma and the pleasure and the growth.”

In the time since she last stepped into the spotlight, the musician has experienced her fair share of all these things. Now, it’s as an entirely evolved artist that she returns with a new collection of music that revels in it all: the trauma, the pleasure, the growth and the long-awaited rebirth of 潘PAN

On the Mixbone EP, two tracks from Eric Copeland’s 2017 record Goofballs get reworked by five of leftfield electronic music’s heaviest hitters. The Goofballs LP finds the Black Dice founding member conducting hectic, dancefloor-oriented experiments; The Vinyl Factory called it a “mangled, spangled journey into the fringes of industrial disco and hallucinatory club tackle.” Mixbone capitalizes on this direction with remixes that recontextualize and reshape the propulsive energy of the original songs into wholly different forms.

New York techno powerhouse and Allergy Season boss Physical Therapy contributes two aptly named takes on “Mixer Shredder” – the “Tegel Mix” churns with industrial EBM low-end, and the breakbeat and wubby bassline make the “Gatwick Mix” unmistakably English. NHK yx Koyxen remixes Eric for the second time, with a jittery and woozy electro interpretation of “Neckbone.” Cooper Saver, best known for his Far Away parties in Los Angeles, turns in one of the most unexpected remixes, keeping it 4/4 and creating what sounds like Shep Pettibone making acid house.

Coming off of her 2017 EP on Technicolour/Ninja Tune, Machine Woman decided to remix both tracks. With “Neckbone,” she adds a barely-discernible robotic narrative vocal, allegedly about Ryan Gosling. “Mixer Shredder,” on the other hand, travels from hissy lo-fi techno into something quite tranquil and beautiful. And with previous releases on 1080p, Freakout Cult, and Wania, Vancouver’s LNS channels the melodic electro tones of classic Bleep-era Warp, like a lost track from LFO or Drexciya.

“Danceable” might not be the first word one thinks of when describing Eric Copeland’s solo releases. But in a manner not dissimilar to the way Black Dice shaped the parameters of experimental music, the remixes here expand the limits of what the club can and should look like.

LP limited to 500 LP copies. Nina Garcia ’s first solo record widely available via international distribution. Nina has collaborated with artists like Stephen O’Malley, Sophie Agnel, Fred Frith, Antoine Chessex, Louis Schild, Leila Bordreuil, and supported for bands like Sonic Youth, SUNN O))). After a decade of performing concerts under the Mariachi guise, Nina Garcia has finally unveiled her unique approach in Bye Bye Bird, her first album under her name. Bye Bye Bird is her second solo album. With no pretence or demonstration, the album is a captivating blend of chiaroscuro, melodies, and raw emotion. Nina Garcia’s album takes on an almost documentary-like quality by adopting a simple approach to gesture and sound recording. It offers a candid portrayal of a moment, a lack, a state, and a breathtaking energy. With ostinato as her only credo, Nina Garcia’s music is an experiment in freedom, where the peaks answer the abysses, and the power of movement and the emotion of sound serves as her compass. From very short (01:28) to never very long (07:34), the eight tracks that make up this set explore a moment, a space, a mechanism, an intention or a way of doing things. As a common feature of almost all these pieces (all but one, the last), Nina Garcia explores a new technique. She adds to her instrumentation, reduced to the essentials (a guitar, a pedal and an amp), an electromagnetic microphone which, when held in hand, makes it possible to listen in on the exact zones where the vibration of the string creates a sound amid vast spaces of silence. The guitar is unplugged, and the body/instrument relationship changes in dimension. In this series of variations, you can get caught up in masses of noise seen from very, very close up, evocations of melodies in the making, feedback on ridgelines, pulsations that hold their own, modulations weakened by exhaustion and harmonic bursts that hint at better days to come. Neither hopelessly chthonic nor beatifically ethereal, Bye Bye Bird is a sum of musical pieces that make a whole and give voice to echoes of what has been, the presence of what is and the hope of what will be, a record movement in the form of flight and salvation. Since 2015, Nina Garcia has been researching and creating around the electric guitar, halfway between improvised music and noise. On numerous stages in Europe and North America, she has played occasionally with Stephen O’Malley, Sophie Agnel, Fred Frith, Antoine Chessex, Louis Schild or with Luke Stewart and Leila Bordreuil’s Feedback Ensemble, in addition to more regular formations in which she participates, such as the ensemble Le Un, mamiedaragon, Autoreverse (with Arnaud Rivière), duets with trombonist Maria Bertel and percussionist Camille Émaille, and the installation piece De Haut En Bas, De Bas En Haut Et Latéralement (with Christophe Cardoen, Jennifer Caubet, Etienne Foyer, Anna Gaïotti and Romain Simon). “Nina Garcia has been actively moving the art of noise guitar into surprising and intriguing new spaces. She has been at it for some time now, a bit of a secret weapon all the while hiding in plain sight. As I listen to her music and ruminate upon seeing her perform it brings me to a realization which I have with very few musicians: the ego inherent in making art can be transcended through a purity of direct action. At least that’s the feeling I have when experiencing Nina’s music which comes across as serious and radical and wholly engaged in the moment of its creative impulse.

The Sound System has become part of today’s musical/cultural heritage, playing the people’s favourite hits or just as important, breaking some new tunes.
But perhaps less known are the roots of the Sound System, which began way back when…in Kingston….

Around the late 1940’s the Sound System began to overtake the big bands that usually played at the dances in Kingston.

The American Rhythm and Blues records that were so popular at the time would find their way to Jamaica via the merchant sailors and migrant workers returning from their stints in America. For economical reasons alone it would pay to have a DJ on hand to play these hits rather than a 10 piece band that could eat and drink the promotor out of the house and on curried goat!!

The early Sound Systems were basic affairs built around a single record deck, a valve amp and a speaker.

But by the 1950’s they had grown to purpose built speakers the size of wardrobes that could be heard blocks away.

Record producer Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee would remember the time ‘Sound Systems was like our radio station…not many people on the island would own a wireless, so it was the way for the people to hear their music.

So this selection of Lovers, Ballads, Root’s classic’s made the Sound Sytems of Jamaica the place to be.

So sit back and enjoy the ride….SOUND SYSTEM ROCKERS …one and all

While 1995's Washing Machine LP moniker was a thinly-veiled jab at the corporate aesthetic ("no, you cannot turn Sonic Youth into a household appliance brand", the band even considered changing its name to Washing Machine but settled on the album title instead), their major label relationship was indeed a curious buzzpoint of talk on the street after their intake to DGC in 1990. It wouldn't be fair to say that this state of existence propelled the band to reinforce its independent mindset by releasing a series of opaque-looking, French-language-dipping, highbrow-looking releases on their own that focused on the more abstract improv/compositional side of the band; in all truths they had been heavily steeped in self-releasing spillover material prior to that. But after a pressure pot of the early 90's indoctrination into a new operational mode for the band and its visibility, and the forces around it attempting to shape their direction, it seemed like a good time to create a strong show of radical concept.

The Anagrama EP became the first in a series of the SYR label's Perspective Musicales releases seemingly cementing Sonic Youth's connectivity to an increasing public awareness in experimental composers of the 20th century (French or otherwise). The irony was that many of those original avant composers being rediscovered by the indie audience (Partch, Neuhaus, Reich, Messaien) often found themselves on major labels anyway! So, perhaps this reverse approach was a necessary concept/comment given the music biz climate of the 90's. Regardless of how apples and oranges fell in Xenakian probability/theory, it was clear that both Sonic Youth's stature in progressive music, aided by now unlimited taperoll time thanks to a home base studio downtown established after their Lollapalooza stint, gave the band plenty of trailblazing time for their self examination of untraveled avenues.

"Anagrama" unfolds into nine minutes of delicate textures, starting with thick drone segueing into moments reminiscent of the post-crescendo flutter/comedown of "Marquee Moon's" trail-out; Thurston, Lee and Kim's guitars all circling round each other taking delicate pokes and stabs before drifting into some post-rock rhythmic moves tapered with delicate percussive guidance from Steve Shelley. "Improvisation Ajoutée" reaches further out into dissolve with whirring oscillations, guitars hissing and clanking radiator-style in a short blast format that continues into "Tremens" and a spooked-out landscape of gelatinous notes snaking up slowly. The sparseness of attack is colorful, textures emit and linger, silent spots shine, all flanked by tasteful drumming that provides the thread to all the abstraction. Shelley's approach here is interestingly sideways to any kind of usual rock action, it's tempered, mutant and metronomic simultaneously. The finale track "Mieux: De Corrosion" is a real pedal-palatte showcase. Here, Plutonian guitar wash flanges upwards to buoy a myriad of colorful eruptions of amp-spuzz, chopped up tone blasts and general confusion. Out of the blue, some metallic one-note choogle kicks in and threatens to explode into some Judas Priestly motion, before it all sputters into aural glass showers, clang, and finally a ferocious wave of more flange hiss that crashes down on a dime.

This initial foray into SY's Perspectives Musicales series continued onward with releases featuring other co-conspirators, peaking with the ambitious 2CD Goodbye 20th Century that finally connects the band into full-on interpretations of other composers' pieces (as well as displaying their own new ones). The whole series is not so much an outlet for another "side" of the band, but a run that went hand in hand building new approaches of songcraft onto their own, more overground direction which included Jim O'Rourke (who hopped on during SYR3), adding additional density to A Thousand Leaves and other LPs of his era. Fans of the '86 Spinhead Sessions as well as the recently-exhumed later jams of In/Out/In will take in the sounds of SYR1 with glee.