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The Finnish-Swedish composer and pianist Iiris Viljanen, has through her honest and fine expression, achieved success with everything from her Grammy-winning album "Den lilla havsfrun" to a role, and composer, in the theatre production "Det vilda”. Recently, she was at everybody’s attention and gained success at the Peter LeMarc tribute concert in Tele2 Arena in front of a 16,000 mesmerised audience. Later this spring, she goes on a performance tour together with Stina Ekblad. A performance based on her new album "Själsligt upvakanden vid Slussen". An album that enchants with honest, dreamy but concrete songs performed by an almost groovy band. An album where the darkness is accompanied by hope. She has never really sounded like this before, not so directly, alive and embracing.

You get older, you have a family, and you start to slow down-that's how things are supposed to go, right? Not for Montreal band Corridor, who have returned on their fourth album, Mimi, with a sound and style that's more widescreen and expansive than anything that's preceded it. The follow-up to 2019's Junior is a huge step forward for the band, as the members themselves have undergone the type of personal changes that accompany the passage of time; even as these eight songs reflect a newfound and contemplative maturity, however, Corridor are branching out more than ever with richly detailed music, resulting in a record that feels like a fresh break for a band that's already established themselves as forward-thinkers. Mimi immediately recalls the best of the best when it comes to indie rock-Deerhunter's silvery atmospherics immediately come to mind, as well as the spiky effervescence of classic post-punk-but despite these easy comparisons, Corridor remain impossible to pin down from song to song, which makes Mimi all the more thrilling as a listen. "The goal was to work differently, which is the goal we have every time we work on a new album-to build something in a new way," Robert explains. "This time, we took our time." And so in the summer of 2020, Corridor's members-Robert, vocalist/bassist Dominic Berthiaume, drummer Julien Bakvis, and multi-instrumentalist Samuel Gougoux-holed away in a cottage to engage in the sort of creative experimentation that would lead to Mimi's ultimate creation. Corridor tinkered with the songs' raw parts digitally and remotely over the next few years, with co-producer Joojoo Ashworth (Dummy, Automatic) lending their own specific talents in the theoretical booth. The process was a byproduct of not having access to their rehearsal space due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a result of the four-piece leaning harder into incorporating electronic textures than on previous records. "For a long time, we identified as a guitar-oriented band, and the goal of making this whole record was trying to get away from that," Berthiaume states. Berthiaume also describes Mimi as a record about "getting older" and "figuring out new parts of life"-but despite any claims of transitional growing pains from the band, Mimi is a record bursting with new energy and life, a vibrance that's owed in no small part to Gougoux joining the band full-time after pitching in on live performances in the past. "I come more from a background of electronic music, so it was nice to involve that with the band more," he explains, and Mimi contains a distinct rhythmic pulse reminiscent of classic era-post-punk's own melding of dance and rock textures. Over bright, chiming guitars and ascending synths, Robert addresses his looming mortality on "Mourir Demain": "I wrote it when my girlfriend and I were shopping for life insurance," he laughs. With our little daughter growing up, we also considered making our will. I said to myself, 'Oh shit, from now on I'm slowly starting to plan my death." Don't mistake this as music about dead ends, though, as Mimi embraces and champions unfettered creativity while paving a way for Corridor's own bright future. "We just focused on making a record that sounded the way we wanted," Gougoux exclaims while discussing the band's aims. "There were no limitations when it came to what was possible."

WRWTFWW Records is flying high as it announces the reissue of the 1997 ambient masterpiece Quiet Logic by electronic music visionaries Mixmaster Morris (The Irresistible Force), Jonah Sharp (Spacetime Continuum), and Haruomi Hosono (Yellow Magic Orchestra). For the first time ever, this iconic album is available on vinyl as a double LP with a heavy 350gsm sleeve, as well as on digipack CD and digitally.
Quiet Logic invites listeners to embark on a captivating sonic odyssey, blending intricate rhythms and celestial environments that push the boundaries of electronic music. Co-crafted at Haruomi Hosono's Tokyo studio in 1997, this album represents a time of rapid transformation in the genre, with these three artists at the forefront of redefining soundscapes.
With its unique blend of influences from Hosono's immense contribution to electronic, pop, and experimental music to Morris' worldwide chill out DJ performances and Sharp's pioneering label, Reflective, Quiet Logic remains a timeless piece of ethereal electronica. It was originally only released in Japan in CD format on the Harry Hosono-curated Daisyworld Discs label.
Remastered for 2024, this reissue is a must-have for fans of Haruomi Hosono / YMO, The Irresistible Force, Spacetime Continuum, Dreamfish, Tetsu Inoue, FFWD, H.I.A., Fax +49-69/450464, and mind-expanding musics.
Immerse yourself now.
Quiet Logic is pressed on biovinyl, a sustainable alternative to traditional vinyl. Biovinyl replaces petroleum in S-PVC by recycling used cooking oil or industrial waste gases, resulting in 100% CO2 savings in bio-based S-PVC production. Furthermore, it is 100% recyclable and reusable, embracing the circular economy ideology.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce The Mountains Pass, a major new work from Olivia Block. A key player in Chicago’s vibrant experimental music scene since the late 1990s, Block has developed an extensive body of work grounded in a personalised, at times emotive approach to the studio-based practices of the musique concrète tradition, while also encompassing improvisation, orchestral pieces, sound installations, and a sustained engagement with the piano. On The Mountains Pass, recorded by Greg Norman at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio and meticulously edited and constructed over the course of three years, Block pushes into new terrain, introducing her singing voice and drums played by Jon Mueller into flowing assemblages that move seamlessly from ruminative organ tones and fragmented piano airs to explosions of sizzling synths and thundering percussion. Like many of Block’s past works, which include, for example, a sculptural installation using the sound of oyster beds, The Mountains Pass draws inspiration from nature and the animal world. Time spent in a particular mountain range in Northern New Mexico informs this suite of pieces, whose lyrics and titles refer particularly to animal life in the area. Beginning with bursts of white noise and delicate synthetic pops and squeaks, opener ‘Northward’ very soon reveals the special direction the album will take, as lyrical piano lines are joined by Block’s fragile voice, singing words written from the perspective of f2754, an endangered Mexican gray wolf who wandered more than five hundred miles from Arizona to New Mexico in 2022. The fragment of song quickly breaks off, leaving us with a ghostly electronic hum. ‘The Hermit’s Peak’ follows, one of two epic pieces at the album’s core. Beginning with chiming, almost harpsichord-like tones, it moves through episodes of spacious, ruminative piano, Jon Mueller’s sparkling cymbals, stuttering cut-up piano sounds, and a climax of keening organ and trumpet tones (performed by Thomas Madeja). Continuing the exploration of vintage keyboard and synth tones heard on Block’s Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea (Room 40, 2021), the music sometimes suggests the great outer-limits works of 70s Italian prog figures like Franco Battiato or Arturo Stalteri in the languorous drift of synthesizer, organ, and piano tones and the meticulous yet organic flow of its construction. ‘Violet-Green’ opens the second side with another epic journey, its lyrical content concerning ‘a mysterious bird die-off and a forest fire’. Block’s crystalline voice and rich piano chords at times call up the restrained chamber songs of Janet Sherbourne, but fragmented and threaded through passages of woozy pitch-bent keyboards, hypnotic distant thuds, tinkling bells, and searing distorted synth tones. On ‘f2754’, the freedom of the roaming wolf surges through dense layers of rapid keyboard attacks and long organ tones over a propulsive drum performance straight out of Animal Magnetism-era Arnold Dreyblatt. This distinctive sound world is then reencountered in a darkened mirror image in the uneasy, metallic shimmer of the closing ‘Ungulates’, named in reference to a heard of elk roaming through the mountains. Like Battiato’s Clic or Gastr del Sol’s Upgrade & Afterlife, The Mountains Pass inhabits the underexplored terrain where the beauty of song coexists with a radical formal openness, illuminating the deep musicality and warmth that have been present in Block’s work all along.

About 20 years ago, Carlos Giffoni quickly made a name for himself both as a noise guitarist and a laptop noisician upon arriving in New York (via Florida and Venezuela). His expertly curated annual No Fun Festival, as well as his No Fun label, further solidified him as a key figure in the international noise scene. The festival's success proved the formula for experimental and improvised music fests could work with the noise underground as well, but it also capitalized on the faster rate of connections being made between geographically disparate artists as a result of the (still relatively nascent) internet. Back then Carlos would play his laptop like a pinball machine, in contrast to the static stage presence of most laptop performers, and his solo music, like many others' at that time, expressed a less dark and dour vision of the implications of harsh noise. By the close of the 2000s, he had stopped doing the festival, switched gears musically to playing the lighter No Fun Acid sets, and moved to LA. Now he has re-emerged in a big way with Dream Walker, his first full-length since 2018's Vain (and only his second since 2010). Inspired by the masterful performances and diffusions he heard at the February 2023 GRM electronic music festival in Paris, particularly sets by old friends Lasse Marhaug, Jim O'Rourke, and Eiko Ishibashi, he began conceptualizing new music of his own in response, turning to synthesizers and other hardware to produce a work more firmly in the tradition of European electronic music than anything else he's done. Intended as a late night listen that evokes the edge of consciousness, with Carlos getting as close as possible to a trance state during the actual recording and mixing, each of the eleven tracks transition into one another rather than being standalone discrete pieces, forming two side-long suites that proceed like stages of a dream. Unabashedly tonal and repetitive, the glistening opener "Now Dream," the droning "Sleep Walker," and the closing triptych of "Lost in Descanso," "Sunrise," and "The Hidden Path" occupy a power electronics-ambient nexus that feels spiritually close to the Mego label. Elsewhere, "Ticking Clock" is reminiscent of Stereolab's non-easy listening vintage electronic side, while the two-part arpeggiated "Euphoria" recalls early Oneohtrix Point Never (which Carlos released on No Fun). The contrast between "One Breath"'s crackling opening and its remarkably fluid and soaring sustained synthesized chords is a distillation of the album's lingering tension between electronics' ability to project mechanical rupture as well as the organic and the infinite _or "walking between dreams," as Carlos himself puts it. Produced by Lasse Marhaug (who also mastered Carlos' first solo album, Welcome Home, back in 2005), released by Stephen O'Malley (who I remember DJing at the No Fun fest), with cover art and photos by personal friends, Carlos considers the album a family affair. But Dream Walker most of all heralds a maturation of the artist, and stands as a record that exists out of pure desire, rather than obligation or force of habit; a statement of reconnecting with music not by merely revisiting it, but by building on what's come before, both in his own work and in the music he loves. -Alan Licht, New York, December 2023

Christina Kubisch’s Stromsänger finds this legendary sound artist at the top of her game mixing electromagnetic wave recordings with a score for six voices, creating powerful results. Stromsänger is based on a collaboration with the Norwegian vocal ensemble Trondheim Voices and on a special experience while researching and recording electromagnetic waves in the city of Trondheim.

“The general theme of the composition is the idea of sounds which travel. During a tram ride from the city up to the hills with an old tram I discovered not only stunning views of the surrounding landscape but as well a special soundscape. Wearing a custom made induction headphones, I could hear the normally hidden electromagnetic fields of the tram, which were so impressive and musical to me that I immediately decided to base my piece for Trondheim Voices on this discovery.

As a start, a series of pure vocal recordings were produced by Trondheim Voices while listening to a choice of electromagnetic tram sounds and following score instructions. This material was mixed in my Berlin studio and afterward was played back through a multi-loudspeaker setup into the room of the Elisabeth Church in Berlin and was instantaneously recorded. The emerged recording was played back and recorded again. The process of playing back the previous recording was repeated numerous times, generating numerous “re-recordings”, until the voices sounded aethereal and abstract. The last one of these recordings became the very beginning of the Stromsänger piece.

Part A is based on the electromagnetic sounds of the waiting tram and previously recorded voices. The singers come on stage and start to sing together with their recorded part which slowly fades out while the live singing takes over: a kind of choral for electrical tram waves and voices.

Part B is based on the actual tram ride with strong and intense electromagnetic sounds. The single recordings were treated electronically and were divided into six channels. Each singer has chosen one of these files and improvises with the magnetic sounds as a soloist or in duos or trios.

Part C is based on the itinerary of the tram ride to Lian, where a pilgrim's path starts. The names of the single stops, which have very beautiful and poetic names, are performed together as a kind of "sound poetry". The singers walk around on stage and/or can choose special positions for their performance. The recording of the word "Lian", the final stop, was recorded beforehand and played back and re-recorded several times in the open Norwegian landscape near the final tram stop. The voices slowly disappear and fade out.”

Christina Kubisch, 2024

Repress of Child's self-titled debut album. Combine the heavy emotion of the blues, the tone and raw power of hard rock, the finesse of soul and a twist of 60's psychedelia. It will give you a visceral musical experience that plays directly to your being. That is CHILD. Living for their art, the pubs, the booze, the endless highways and the blues is what makes this band who they are. Child are a must see for those who are worshippers at "the electric church". The freedom and power of a live performance is important to CHILD in their approach to music, endeavouring to never perform the same way twice. They look forward to once again bringing this to the world on their continued search for sonic paradise. Since the release of their runaway self-titled debut in 2014, Child have continued to develop their unique brand of heavy blues through constant writing and extensive national/international touring. The band released the follow-up 'Blueside' in December 2016, which builds on this foundation to deliver a disc of pure sonic expression whilst following in the long tradition of the blues. 2018 saw the release of Child's first EP, simply titled 'I'. Recorded live to tape, 'I' is a glimpse into the boundless directions that could be taken on upcoming releases.

Blue vinyl, limited to 350 copies. Repress of Child's self-titled debut album. Combine the heavy emotion of the blues, the tone and raw power of hard rock, the finesse of soul and a twist of 60's psychedelia. It will give you a visceral musical experience that plays directly to your being. That is CHILD. Living for their art, the pubs, the booze, the endless highways and the blues is what makes this band who they are. Child are a must see for those who are worshippers at "the electric church". The freedom and power of a live performance is important to CHILD in their approach to music, endeavouring to never perform the same way twice. They look forward to once again bringing this to the world on their continued search for sonic paradise. Since the release of their runaway self-titled debut in 2014, Child have continued to develop their unique brand of heavy blues through constant writing and extensive national/international touring. The band released the follow-up 'Blueside' in December 2016, which builds on this foundation to deliver a disc of pure sonic expression whilst following in the long tradition of the blues. 2018 saw the release of Child's first EP, simply titled 'I'. Recorded live to tape, 'I' is a glimpse into the boundless directions that could be taken on upcoming releases.

Garth Erasmus is an artist and musician based in Cape Town, South Africa. "Threnody for the KhoiSan" is his first album under his own name. Since 1985 his artistic interests have broadened to include music-making, designing and making his own instruments based on indigenous KhoiSan knowledge. From 1999 to 2012 he was a member of the South African First Nation activist group Khoi Khonnexion. In the past couple of years Garth Erasmus has also been a pivotal part of various international performance pieces and exhibition projects which brought him regularly to Europe. Most of these activities were developed and performed in collaboration with the Hamburg based band Kante and his band Khoi Khonnexion. In April 2024 Garth Erasmus will be part of the group exhibtion "Oscillations" at Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

Released on 180-gram vinyl including sleeve notes and rare photos.Recorded Live at Basins Nightclub in February 1987, 12 songs including the hits that made Desmond Dekker an international reggae star. Desmond Dekker's contribution to Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae is unique with his amazing songwriting and wonderful vocal talent.His song "Israelites" reached the top of the UK Singles Chart in 1969 and was one of the first reggae songs to gain widespread popularity outside of Jamaica. The song's success helped bring reggae music to a global audience. Desmond Dekker's music often featured themes of everyday life, love, and social issues, and he played a significant role in popularizing Jamaican music genres.Desmond's other successful songs include "007 (Shanty Town)," "It Mek," and "You Can Get It If You Really Want".His contributions to the development of Jamaican music have left a lasting impact, and he is remembered as one of the pioneers of reggae and a key figure in the genre's international success.Recorded Live at Basins in 1987, here you have a live performance of 12 songs including the forementioned hits that made Desmond Dekker an international reggae star.

Melbourne/Naarm-based musician and curator Rama Parwata, known for being the backbone drummer in bands such as Kilat, Whitehorse and Rinuwat, releases his second major solo album titled ‘Ceases’ on Cassauna/Important Records.

Parwata's gripping new electro-acoustic work is a sonic exploration within the realms of post-free-jazz and experimental electronics. At its core, ‘Ceases’ navigates the liminal spaces between rhythm and noise, structure and chaos. The album traverses a vast emotional and conceptual landscape, touching upon themes of impermanence, transformation, and the cyclical nature of existence.

At the forefront of the album is Parwata's emotive compositional and performative approach, which serves as both anchor and catalyst for the album's journey. The percussion performance is cymbal heavy accompanied by deeply meditative drones and slow moving melodies. The wash of sound touches on a spiritualism akin to Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme Part 4: Psalm”, albeit with a modern electronic vision á la Tim Hecker. With a keen sense of textural intricacy Parwata favours the emotional expression of electro-acoustic composition, weaving complex poly-textures that ebb and flow with hypnotic, prayer-like intensity. Each performative gesture creates a visceral immediacy that draws the listener deeper into the celestial, otherworldly sonic framework.

The diverse array of electronic elements, meticulously crafted and seamlessly integrated into the fabric of the album are a testament of Parwata’s capacity for acousmatic composition. From pulsating synthesizers to glitched-out samples, the electronic timbres in "Ceases" serve as both sonic embellishments and structural foundations, blurring the boundaries between organic and synthetic, acoustic and digital. Honing in on the electronics, a listener could be convinced they were hearing anything from spiritual-jazz, 90s rave, dungeon synth or doom. Through judicious composition, Parwata imbues each sound with a sense of transcendental allure and paints a soundworld that has a distinct ‘outerness’. At times the narrative is pointedly bleak but over a few passages the sonic language often bends toward rejuvenation; finding respite in cadence. The title itself suggests a sense of cessation, of endings and beginnings intertwined—a motif that reverberates throughout the album.

Legendary alto saxophonist Charles McPherson makes his Smoke Sessions debut with an inspired new album, Reverence, dedicated to his lifelong mentor and friend Barry Harris. These thrilling performances were captured in front of a live audience at Smoke Jazz Club and feature his quintet of Terell Stafford, Jeb Patton, David Wong, and Billy Drummond and represent the first of a series of live recordings scheduled for release to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Smoke Sessions Records and the 25th anniversary of Smoke Jazz Club. McPherson certainly reveals why he’s been held in such reverence for the last 60 years. The set is a showcase for McPherson’s gifts as both composer and soloist and bridges his deep and far-reaching exploration of the full jazz spectrum.

From the outset this ad hoc quartet hit the gas, launching into a frenzied, high-octane set with alto saxophonist Rasmussen engaging in a furious tightrope-walk of upper register screams while O'Rourke unspools some of the most gnarly guitar noise this side of Masayuki Takayanagi. Of course, with such flinty, seasoned improvisers there are thrilling peaks-and-valleys, such as the extended hydroplaning guitar O'Rourke sculpts mid-way through the first extended piece, with the rest of the group taking a much-deserved pause. The pause sets the stage of a thrilling recalibration, with Corsano first diving in with an epic improvisation only to recede for one of Sakata's singular vocal improvisations, a throaty incantation as dynamic and visceral as his alto playing. Rasmussen returns, with Sakata picking up his clarinet, and suddenly the twinned reed blast that started the whole performance toggles into more spacious interplay, tapping into jazz orthodoxy without being held captive by it. - The entire recording is a testament to refined listening. Even at the most scorching peaks each player is deftly attuned to one another's sonic projections. Bridging generations, continents, and individual aesthetics, Rasmussen, Corsano, Sakata, and O'Rourke find common cause, convening for an evening of galvanic sound that's simultaneously exhilarating and spiritual. - Akira Sakata - saxophone, voice - Jim O'Rourke - guitar - Mette Rasmussen - saxophone - Chris Corsano - drums Coloured marble vinyl LP!

"A live performance of the ""Ragged Glory"" album, recorded at a club in Toronto in 2023
“Why do these old songs live so vividly now? They do to me.”
Neil Young with Crazy Horse in all their “Ragged Glory”.
Neil & The Horse have played together for over 50 years and the performances of these songs is a true highlight of that long relationship.
9 songs over 2LPs with the original song titles replaced with selected lyrics. (“Farmer John”, being a cover, retains its original title.)

The album was recorded in 2023, with this line-up: Billy Talbot – Bass, vocal Ralph Molina – Drums, vocal Micah Nelson – Guitar, vocal, piano Nils Lofgren – Guitar, vocal, piano Neil Young – Guitar, vocal, harmonica
Neil: “In the spirit it’s offered…made this for the Horse lovers. I can’t stop it. The horse is runnin’. What a ride we have. I don’t want to mess with the vibe. I am so happy to have this to share.”"

Tara Nome Doyle's latest EP »Agape« marks her return to the music scene after a two-year hiatus following the success of her acclaimed sophomore album »Værmin« (Modern Recordings, BMG, 2022).

»Agape« is a profoundly intimate collection of songs documenting TND's emotional journey through grief, commemorating the passing of a loved one. Each track explores different facets of this emotional landscape, showcasing TND's otherworldly performances and unique approach to songwriting.

This self-produced EP represents an artistic leap for the Norwegian-Irish songwriter. Skill-fully capturing the arresting beauty of her compositions, TNDs minimalistic arrangements feature the haunting melodies of Norwegian-Scottish cellist Sunniva Shaw of Tordarroch (known for her work with Fay Wildhagen, Liv Jakobsen and Juni Habel). The ethereal atmosphere they create together evokes a distinctly Scandinavian eeriness while TND's dedication to crafting poetic lyrics and vivid storytelling pays tribute to her Irish singer-songwriter roots.

The EP's title »Agape« translates to unconditional, selfless love - a sentiment that permeates each of the six tracks. This timeless collection of songs aims to be a comforting and cathartic companion for anyone caught in the throes of grief. 1

Japanese emo rockers nim have released their latest EP "Mushy" via Austin, TX label Shifting Sounds Records (Magnet School, Startographers, Gentlemen Rogues, Swallow The Rat). The style of nim is based in emo-rock, but the songs are unconventional and full of melodies. The band mixes male and female vocals to perform a gentle but overwhelming live performance with their sound. nim has grown in harmony with the independent scene both domestically and internationally. So far, they have released 3 full-length albums and many other singles, and have also conducted large-scale overseas tours in Australia, China, and South Korea. Their new EP "Mushy" is being released by Shifting Sounds on 10" Classic Black Vinyl. On their new EP "Mushy" the band further their emotionally charged alternative rock with a melodic and dreamy landscape. The songs are driven by chiming layered guitars and clean vocal harmonies under an indie pop song structure with lots of quiet to loud dynamics, often ending in climatic guitar explosions while sounding beautiful all at once. The band clearly draws inspiration from 90s sounding emo, shoegaze, dream pop, and jangly indie/emo rock are are not afraid to showcase these influences in their songwriting on the new EP. Japan has a number of up and coming bands paying homage to 90s emo, shoegaze and dream pop and nim should definitely be in the discussion.

Conceived, written and recorded during the COVID pandemic, "King Perry" was produced by Daniel Boyle, and features guest performances from Greentea Peng, Shaun Ryder, Tricky, Marta, Rose Waite and Fifi Rong. Two tracks were also co-produced with Tricky, who releases Perry"s last recorded performances on his False Idols label. Record producer, composer, singer, and pioneer of the dub music genre Lee Scratch Perry passed away in August 2021. His influence over popular music since the 1970s is hugely significant, with artists including Bob Marley & The Wailers, The Clash, Beastie Boys, Max Romeo, Junior Murvin and The Orb all enriched by Perry"s legendary touch, innovative studio techniques and production style.

Jon Langford's been in more bands than you have digits and that's true even if you were born with a few extras! From his early days in Mekons, Delta 5, Three Johns and even Sisters Of Mercy (booted for not wearing black) to a veritable explosion of one-off recordings and performances with more names than we could ever hope to list in full. A Wikipedia description for this group, The Bright Shiners (described therein as 'circa 2022 through at least 2023, in Northern California') provides some sense of the complex taxonomy needed just to keep track of Jon's massive oeuvre. Happily, that's an understated description of a serious new outlet for his endless creativity, and The Bright Shiners' recording activities have produced a full album, Where It Really Starts, the first recording in a collaboration with Tamineh Gueramy, Alice Spencer, and Jon's frequent musical partner, John Szymanski. Jon's never sung or written better, and the sense that the band realised they were onto something great is palpable in an instant. Each song is a minimalistic jewel - there's nothing here that doesn't need to be - yet the album is unsparing of aptly astonishing adornment - wonderful harmonies, horns, mellotron, bowed guitar, piano. looped percussion and more), by our reckoning this is one of Jon's finest works of art and his best outfit outside The Mekons themselves Jon Langford & the Bright Shiners will tour mercilessly throughout 2024.

Nick & Astro are reunited as Potatohead People on this sweaty teaser 7" for their latest album 'Eat Your Heart Out'. On "Paradise", the boys have hotly tipped Canadian artist Diamond Café on for vocals. Diamond delivers a stunning vocal performance on this early 80s influenced slice of digital sex funk that comes in somewhere between Sade, El Debarge and Prefab Sprout. The man describes his music as "bathing in a cloud of honey on a very foggy night", and we couldn't agree more.On the flipside, Nick Wisdom dubs out the original, flexing the bassline's muscles with additions of swirling synth work and little bites of keyboard funk. The 7" is out worldwide on April 19th and "Eat Your Heart Out" hit severywhere on May 10th.

Music is a form of world building. I love to develop sonic characters and set them into fictional ecosystems with unique textures, acoustics and atmospheres. Each song forms a different landscape, through which a vocal character guides us and tries to tell us its stories." — Ludwig Berger

Ludwig Berger's 'fictional' debut album "Garden Ediacara" unfolds as a musical eco-fiction, guiding listeners through a speculative ecosystem with synthesized vocals. Infused with storytelling techniques from sci-fi and fantasy, the album intertwines melodic songwriting with electroacoustic sound design. Inspired by hydrofeminism and eco-fiction novels, such as "A Door Into Ocean" by Joan Slonczewski, the album delves into the geological period of Ediacara around 600 million years ago — an era so remote it resonates as a glimpse into a possible future. The Ediacaran period was characterised by a peaceful and thriving ecosystem inhabited by soft-bodied creatures without eyes and bones, which were completely wiped out through the appearance of a new species. "Garden of Ediacara" alludes to this period, celebrating both the pleasures of biodiversity as well as mourning its inevitable loss. The narrative unfolds as an exploration of growth and interconnection in the shadow of a coming extinction. The track titles, written by Daisy Lafarge, reveal themselves as a cohesive poem and contribute to the album's narrative.

Informed by his practice of field recording that focusses on intimate encounters with plants, animals and geological phenomena, as well as his studies in electroacoustic composition, Berger expands his palette for his debut in 'fictional' music. The album prominently features a post-human, non-binary death metal voice synthesizer, physical modeling instruments, and microscopic field recordings of plants, insects, as well as aquatic and geological life. With impressionistic strokes, Ludwig Berger crafts vibrant worlds using glassy timbres and more-than-human voices, guiding listeners through emotionally ambiguous terrain, seamlessly oscillating between moments of intimacy and irritation, melancholy and playfulness.

Ludwig Berger is a landscape sound artist, educator and musician. In his compositions, installations and performances, he enables intimate and playful sonic encounters with plants, animals, buildings and geological entities. He is founder and curator of the label Vertical Music, which releases field recordings and experimental music. Berger holds degrees in electroacoustic composition, as well as musicology, art history and literature. As a sound researcher and teacher at the Institute for Landscape Architecture at ETH Zurich from 2015-2022, he studied the sonic dimension of Japanese gardens, alpine glaciers and urban landscapes, which among other things led to the release of the acclaimed album trilogy 'Melting Landscapes', 'Dammed Landscapes' and 'Buried Landscapes'.

Clear Vinyl

Since her re-discovery in 2013 via cult favourite The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits, The Space Lady’s mission of galactic peace and celestial harmony has grown into a world-wide underground phenomenon. Recorded in 1990, The Space Lady’s original repertoire is a parallel universe greatest hits: songs familiar are transmogrified into shimmering bliss while new compositions amplify the message. The Space Lady’s Other Hits, released on April 20th for Record Store Day 2024, constitutes the songs recorded by Susan “The Space Lady” Dietrich Schneider as part of that repertoire that never made the original Greatest Hits, save for a limited bonus CD on the first CD pressing. Remastered by Mikey Love for vinyl, The Space Lady’s Other Hits completes the picture.

The Space Lady began her odyssey on the streets of Boston in the late 70s, then San Francisco ten years later, playing versions of contemporary pop music with an accordion and dressed flamboyantly. Following the theft and destruction of her accordion , The Space Lady invested in a then-new Casio keyboard, complete with a phase shifter, delay pedal and headset mic, birthing an otherworldly new dimension to popular song that has captured the imaginations of the underground and its leading exponents ever since.

The Space Lady’s Other Hits were recorded as they were played on the street, live, one-take, with Schneider playing, singing and simultaneously manipulating the various effects. Beginning with Elvis Presley’s iconic All Shook Up, the walking bassline underpinning the vocal, phasing in and out of this dimension, providing a fragile, extraterrestrial shadow to Presley’s original lust-driven performance. Slapback Boomerang is an original composition, written by Schneider’s then-husband Joel Dunsany a Rock ’n’ Roll pounder that could have been performed by The Cramps, its tale of relationship turmoil changed into a meditation on the nature of echo and feedback. There are moments where Schneider performs vocal caesuras, swimming in delay and phase for the pleasure of it, a pantomime drama performance that rings out. Closing Side B, Puttin’ On The Ritz is Irving Berlin’s 20s smash hit manipulated into a sombre ballad with its latent class struggle narrative brought to the fore.

A staple of The Space Lady’s performances to this day, Golden Earring’s 70s global hit Radar Love retains something of the original’s driving gallop but in The Space Lady’s telling it is shorn of the tight-trousered, taut machismo. The Space Lady coos and reaches up into the heavens away from the road, the phaser waves drenching the composition with transcendence.
Schneider’s falsetto performances in the choruses do nothing but lift the spirits ever-arching upwards. Next, The Space Lady emasculated Jim Morrison’s performance in The Doors’ 20th Century Fox. Faithfully playing Ray Manzarek’s keyboard parts on her Casio, Schneider disintegrates Morrison’s lust into waves of echo and delay, creating a Dubbed out version of the song, sounding eroded and decayed in all its ghostly glory. Pioneering Rock ’n’ Roll outfit Pete & The Pirates’ 1960 hot Shakin’ All Over, something of a response to Elvis’ All Shook Up, is blown out in warm fuzz and the celestial hug of The Space Lady’s
spirit.

2024 RSD Release

The ascending soul sensation Fat Generous embarks on a heavenly collaboration Wai Wan. This record is an invitation to their soulful world of jazz influenced funk and R&B, Fat Generous have been making waves in their hometown playing alongside the likes of Fatboy Slim and Sister Sledge, and their raw onstage energy has gained the stamp of approval from the godfather funk himself, George Clinton. Recorded at the height of a record breaking heatwave, Fat Generous have captured the blissful respite of a 'NightTime Cool Breeze' in a silky laid back groover that formed their debut single back in September. Amassing over 30,000 streams in the first month, alongside radio play and feedback from the likes of Craig Charles & Giles Peterson. Channeling carefree vibes reminiscent of Roy Ayers’ 'Everybody Loves The Sunshine'. On the second side a Record Store Day exclusive track 'Shake Your Body Down' 'Shake Your Body Down' is an unparalleled journey through the funk filled cosmos, a collector's dream that pays homage to the pioneers of funk while paving the way for a new era of groove. This release is the precursor to a bigger release schedule for the band a good vibes only DIY recording project that has been produced by legendary nujazz producer, Wai Wan, whose fingerprints can be found all over releases on Chrysalis Records and Virgin Records. This record is a scene setter that introduces you to the groovy rhythms that Fat Generous deliver in excess at each of their live shows unique performances that lean on the group’s tight knit ability to improvise and reimagine their own music. Limited edition heavyweight 7 inch vinyl in a picture sleeve. Get the debut release and you're ahead of the curve.

Original Movie Soundtrack to Grant McPhee's film 'The Other Side Of The Forest (AKA Lori and the Six Sixties' by Jowe Head (Swell Maps/TV Personalites. Original Score by Joe Head, featuring vocal performances by the film's star Lori Stott on Physic TV's 'Godstar', Marianne Faithfull's 'As Tears Go By', the Velvet Underground's 'Sunday Morning', Francoise Hardy's 'Tous les Garcons' and Strawberry Switchblade's 'Since Yesterday'. Also includes a previously unreleased Swell Maps track 'Elegia'.

2024 REPRESS

To understand the significance of the word 'featuring' on Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Black Harold, consider how infrequently Sun Ra used it and the exact way it had been used. The October Revolution in Jazz, organized by Bill Dixon in the West Village in 1964, presented a vivid cross section of approaches to the new music, including a sextet led by Ra. For the October Revolution's continuation, titled Four Days in December, held at nearby Judson Hall on the last days of 1964, the Arkestra performance presented Pharoah Sanders as well as a flautist (who was and remained obscure thereafter) named Harold Murray, nicknamed Black Harold. It wasn't until long after Sanders had achieved worldwide acclaim with John Coltrane that Ra and manager Alton Abraham decided to issue the music they'd recorded at Judson Hall. After its first release in plain or handdecorated covers in 1976, Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Black Harold remained an exceptionally rare item in the El Saturn discography, known to a few lucky collectors. We're lucky to have this glimpse of what Sanders sounded like in such a different context, galvanizing the large group and in turn being inspired to make his first significant contribution on record.' —John Corbett (excerpt from the liner notes)

Seafood Sam is a futuristic artifact. If that description might sound confusing at first, it matches the eclectic dualities found in true originals. With his effortless cool and timeless style, the North Long Beach native defies convention and exact comparison. He's a virtuosic rapper, a stop-you-in-your tracks singer, and a symphonic producer. Welcome to the lavish life of a laid-back transcontinental man of mystery, rolling in old school Cadillacs, eating caviar with a blade in his pocket, and making plays in vintage Pelle Pelle gear. A blaxploitation icon for the Instagram age, blessed with the bars of a `90s legend and 23rd century swagger. Seafood Sam is a true hero of modernity. On his full-length album debut for up-and-coming label drink sum wtr (Kari Faux, Deem Spencer, Aja Monet) debut, Standing on Giant Shoulders, Sam splits the difference between Snoop Dogg and D' Angelo, Curren$y and David Ruffin. The songs reveal a forward-thinking sensibility rooted in ancestral soul. He creates spiritual hymns for the streets that tap into universal ideals and irrepressible groove. In an era plagued by short-term thinking, his ambitions reveal a crate-digging depth of music history and a meticulous ear for detail. The giant shoulders in the album's title refer to James Brown, Bobby Brown, and Miles Davis - the holy trinity who inspired Sam's process. From the Godfather of Soul, Sam took a perfectionist's rigor and focus. The example of Bobby Brown lent an unshakeable confidence and self-belief. While the constant artistic left turns of the trumpeter that birthed Ccool offered an aspirational archetype. The story starts in the glory days of Long Beach hip-hop. As a young child, the G-Funk era soundtracked rides in Sam's father's car. Some of his earliest memories are trying to memorize Snoop's verse on "Nuthin' But a "G" Thang." Beyond gangsta rap, the LBC has historically doubled as a capital of lowrider soul and carwash oldies. At any intersection, you could hear Dogg Food or Brenton Wood, Warren G or Barbara Lynn. This too was absorbed via osmosis. It also just so happened that the art of performance was always in Sam's blood. So at family functions, he and his sister supplied entertainment by singing karaoke renditions of The Isley Brothers. While his Harlem Shake remains a thing of local lore. Long Beach is a culturally diverse mecca of skate parks and gang life, street fashion and tricky dance moves. This is the place that raised Sam on a diet of Wu-Tang and Nelly Furtado, Lil Bow Wow and Allen Iverson. He was the middle ground between his two older brothers: one who gangbanged, the other who graduated with a master's degree from UC-Santa Barbara. But it wasn't until the end of high school that Sam started to take rap seriously. Alongside long-time collaborators like Huey Briss and Reaper Mook, Sam's name began to make waves on the northside of the city, but he was partially distracted by a modeling career that paid the bills and took him all to way to walk in Paris' fashion week. The first turning point arrived with 2018's "Ramsey," a self-produced, slick-talk anthem with over 10,000,000 streams across all platforms. With each subsequent release, Sam showcased his peerless consistency, building buzz both online and in the city streets. Spin hailed his "smooth and unhurried cadences and understated lyricism_ that sounds like nothing else in Long Beach." Clash raved about Sam's "evolution as an artist, cruising through nostalgic production with slick, witty rhymes." The culmination arrives with Standing on Giant Shoulders. It's the evidence of a master, a young sensei in the model of Quincy Jones. All rhymes, singing, production, and arrangements were handled by Sam - with an assist from his close Long Beach kinsman Tom Kendall from the group Soular System. It's hard-edged and lyrical enough for disciples of Larry June and Roc Marciano, but orchestral and melodic enough for fans of Anderson .Paak and H.E.R.

Sounds Good ist ein Album, das, vereinfacht ausgedrückt, seinem Namen alle Ehre macht. Die aktuelle Single Hanging On folgt auf den Bombast-Track Nobody But You und Gift of Life mit Kevins Delfonics-artigem Gesang, der die Bandbreite der menschlichen Erfahrung thematisiert. Kevin und Tony Martin sind Brüder, Eric ist ihr Bruderund langjähriger Freund durch die Musik. Während die anfängliche Verbindung der Band auf der berauschenden Mischung aus Jazz-Performance-fokussierter Musikschule und der Plackerei lokaler Auftritte gründet, wurde ihre Bindung durch unzählige Stunden auf Tour und die Produktion von zwei Studioalben gestärkt – 2019 das Debütalbum Buck und 2021 die EP Ripe. "Being on the road, doing our own tours, and backing incredible people like Lady Wray, has sharpened our skills and really revved us up for this record", sagt Kevin."It's been four years since our last full length record, and with everything that's happened since, it's like we've been catching up to ourselves." Das ist eine Möglichkeit, Veränderungen zu beschreiben: sich selbst einzuholen. Jedes Mitglied von Brainstory hat Veränderungen durchgemacht, sowohl persönlich als auch musikalisch, und all das zieht sich durch diese Platte. Der Weg zur Weiterentwicklung ihrer Musik ist klarer denn je zuvor. Wenn es eine Sache gibt, die auf diesem Album überdeutlich wird, dann ist es, dass Brainstory sich entwickelt haben. Ein Teil ihrer Entwicklung ist zweifellos darauf zurückzuführen, dass sie ihr eigenes Studio in Long Beach haben und dort ständig arbeiten. Ein weiterer wichtiger Faktor ist, dass sich ihre Gemeinschaft erweitert hat. "I've been playing music with my brother all my life and now with Eric for a long time", erzählt uns Tony. "Leon, though, is like another brother I've just met." Aus der Freundschaft ist die Band entstanden, und jetzt trägt die erweiterte Gemeinschaft dazu bei, sie weiter voranzutreiben. Die Sterne stehen günstig, dass sie mit diesem neuen Album einen großen und wohlverdienten Schritt machen, und das hört man ihrer Musik an – music that just Sounds Good.

Sounds Good ist ein Album, das, vereinfacht ausgedrückt, seinem Namen alle Ehre macht. Die aktuelle Single Hanging On folgt auf den Bombast-Track Nobody But You und Gift of Life mit Kevins Delfonics-artigem Gesang, der die Bandbreite der menschlichen Erfahrung thematisiert. Kevin und Tony Martin sind Brüder, Eric ist ihr Bruderund langjähriger Freund durch die Musik. Während die anfängliche Verbindung der Band auf der berauschenden Mischung aus Jazz-Performance-fokussierter Musikschule und der Plackerei lokaler Auftritte gründet, wurde ihre Bindung durch unzählige Stunden auf Tour und die Produktion von zwei Studioalben gestärkt – 2019 das Debütalbum Buck und 2021 die EP Ripe. "Being on the road, doing our own tours, and backing incredible people like Lady Wray, has sharpened our skills and really revved us up for this record", sagt Kevin."It's been four years since our last full length record, and with everything that's happened since, it's like we've been catching up to ourselves." Das ist eine Möglichkeit, Veränderungen zu beschreiben: sich selbst einzuholen. Jedes Mitglied von Brainstory hat Veränderungen durchgemacht, sowohl persönlich als auch musikalisch, und all das zieht sich durch diese Platte. Der Weg zur Weiterentwicklung ihrer Musik ist klarer denn je zuvor. Wenn es eine Sache gibt, die auf diesem Album überdeutlich wird, dann ist es, dass Brainstory sich entwickelt haben. Ein Teil ihrer Entwicklung ist zweifellos darauf zurückzuführen, dass sie ihr eigenes Studio in Long Beach haben und dort ständig arbeiten. Ein weiterer wichtiger Faktor ist, dass sich ihre Gemeinschaft erweitert hat. "I've been playing music with my brother all my life and now with Eric for a long time", erzählt uns Tony. "Leon, though, is like another brother I've just met." Aus der Freundschaft ist die Band entstanden, und jetzt trägt die erweiterte Gemeinschaft dazu bei, sie weiter voranzutreiben. Die Sterne stehen günstig, dass sie mit diesem neuen Album einen großen und wohlverdienten Schritt machen, und das hört man ihrer Musik an – music that just Sounds Good.

For The Bacon Brothers, music is all about exploration. The siblings have spent the better part of three decades creating their own mix of folk, rock, soul, and country music. They call that diverse sound "forosoco," and it's taken them around the world, from headlining gigs in Japan to American performances at iconic venues like Carnegie Hall, the Grand Ole Opry and Gruene Hall.

The exploration continues with the band's twelfth release,'The Ballad Of The Brothers'. It's a record that highlights not only the similarities between Kevin Bacon (known worldwide as an A-list Hollywood actor) and Michael Bacon (celebrated as an Emmy-winning composer), but the differences, too. The two siblings may be bound together by blood and a mutual love of American roots music, but they've grown into sharp songwriters and cinematic storytellers with their own distinct approaches.

Ballad of the Brothers by The Bacon Brothers, released 19 April 2024, includes the following tracks: "Put Your Hand Up", "Old Bronco", "We Belong", "Ballad Of The Brothers (The Willie Door)" and more.

This version of Ballad of the Brothers comes as a 1xLP.

Introducing "The Sevens” - A Sonic Revelation from A Place To Bury Strangers Prepare to embark on a transcendent auditory journey with "The Sevens” a series of four 7-inch vinyl records that unveil a treasure trove of previously unreleased tracks from A Place To Bury Strangers' critically acclaimed 6th album, "See Through You."

Renowned for their visceral sonic assault and immersive live performances, A Place To Bury Strangers has cemented the end-all-be-all space for over-the-top post-punk / shoegaze destruction. With this special vinyl collection, the band invites listeners to delve deeper into their sonic universe, exploring uncharted territories and hidden gems. Don't Turn The Radio/This Is All For You is the third release coming April 19.

"When looking back at the recordings that were done around the time of See Through You there were a bunch of great tracks that just captured life back then and really had something incredible going on. Even though they are a bit raw and a bit personal, I thought it would be a mistake if they didn't come out. I thought it would be best to go back to my roots and put out a series of 7"s the way A Place To Bury Strangers started. That strange weird format where the tracks each speak for themselves, no album context to muddy the water. These tracks are such a contrast to the way I am feeling now and the current songs we've been working on so slip back into this moment in time.” says APTBS’ Oliver Ackermann.

Bo Carter's family had a musical tradition going back to slavery times and he learned a great deal from its very talented members

As a Mississippi musician, Bo was steeped in the region's rich early blues repertoire, but was distinctive in adding to it a new level of sophistication rarely equaled by other blues artists. As a member of the great Mississippi Shieks band he encountered a wide range of traditional and pop styles and employed many of them in his innovative performances. One particular part of his repertoire was the sexually suggestive double entendre blues that are featured here on this album. These recordings, which were demonstrably more original than any of his rivals, sold extremely well and helped Bo become one of the most prolific artists of the whole pre war blues period.

"Banana In Your Fruit Basket: Red Hot Blues 1931-36" by Bo Carter includes the following tracks: "Mashing That Thing", "Howling Tom Cat Blues", "Pin In Your Cushion", "All Around Man" and more.

The incendiary proto hard rock and ambitious epic journeys this album delivers are all the more uncanny and devastating when you realize Gary Del Vecchio was a mere 16 years old when the title track Buzzin was unleashed! Even more astonishing is how far he travelled over the next five years, documented in this brilliant selection of nine tracks from the classic daze of early 1970s underground rock. Ohio was a hotbed for hard rock at the time with bands like the James Gang, Glass Harp, Poobah, Left End, Damnation Of Adam Blessing… what you get here matches the style any of those bands laid down. Gary's music grabs you immediately and grows over time. Grabber and Grower… best of both worlds style! It makes sense that Gary later owned a recording studio, right out of the gate he was laser focussed on all the aspects involved in making music that stands the test of time. The guitar action is incredible, shards of sound flying free yet hitting the bullseye continuously, vocals confident with none of the macho posturing that ages poorly in much early hard rock. These tracks are all vividly recorded and meticulously mixed in a way that balances fiery performance and intelligent structure to maximum effect. The bass and drumming here are phenomenally inventive and propulsive, the several players involved across the album nail it in their support of Gary's vision. This is rock music born in the 'anything is possible' life affirming energy of the late '60s right on time with where the most enduring artists of the early '70s took it. Had he scored the major label deal he pursued with labels like Mercury or London at the time I am confident we'd be hearing his music on classic rock radio today! The music on this album is both uncompromising and accessible. In particular, the two long tracks Wasted King and Starman have all the moves needed to grab fans of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the likes by the throat and brain in the extended progressive epic department! RidingEasy Records sets a high bar when it comes to unleashing the best vintage hard rock you never heard… take my tip people, the ride this one takes you on is definitely an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10… Gary Del Vecchio really knows how to do it!

A limited edition, full-length split album celebrating a 2024 co-tour of Japan by underground cracked-psych purveyors Fuckwolf from San Francisco and legendary prog-benders Green Milk From The Planet Orange from Tokyo. Green Milk stretch a live performance of one of their extended signature jaw-droppers “Concrete City Breakdown” relentlessly across an entire side of LET’S SPLIT (裂けても) while Fuckwolf delve into a 6-part abstract song cycle, ranging from stoned incense burners to blown out fuzz rippers, echoes of Faust Tapes, Les Rallizes and 70’s mid-west outsider proto-punk abound. Green Milk From The Planet Orange formed in Tokyo in 2001 and continue to tour, record and perform some of neo-psychedelia’s most ambitious and masterfully performed rock music. Fuckwolf formed in San Francisco in 2002 and most recently released the criticallylauded underground scuzzy art-rock gem of 2022 ‘Goodbye, Asshole’ on Silver Current Records. LET’S SPLIT (裂けても) releases March 22nd on limited edition vinyl and digital from Silver Current Records. Catch Fuckwolf and Green Milk From The Planet Orange on tour together in Japan in late March and April 2024, including a Tokyo release party.

A limited edition, full-length split album celebrating a 2024 co-tour of Japan by underground cracked-psych purveyors Fuckwolf from San Francisco and legendary prog-benders Green Milk From The Planet Orange from Tokyo. Green Milk stretch a live performance of one of their extended signature jaw-droppers “Concrete City Breakdown” relentlessly across an entire side of LET’S SPLIT (裂けても) while Fuckwolf delve into a 6-part abstract song cycle, ranging from stoned incense burners to blown out fuzz rippers, echoes of Faust Tapes, Les Rallizes and 70’s mid-west outsider proto-punk abound. Green Milk From The Planet Orange formed in Tokyo in 2001 and continue to tour, record and perform some of neo-psychedelia’s most ambitious and masterfully performed rock music. Fuckwolf formed in San Francisco in 2002 and most recently released the criticallylauded underground scuzzy art-rock gem of 2022 ‘Goodbye, Asshole’ on Silver Current Records. LET’S SPLIT (裂けても) releases March 22nd on limited edition vinyl and digital from Silver Current Records. Catch Fuckwolf and Green Milk From The Planet Orange on tour together in Japan in late March and April 2024, including a Tokyo release party.

Introducing THE BAD BEATS! A vibrant force embodying the true spirit of 60's garage punk! Hailing from the Pacific North-West and emerging on the scene in 2014, THE BAD BEATS have conquered both local stages and European circuits with their frenetic live performances, leaving audiences drenched in sweat.

In relentless pursuit of their unapologetic sonic mission, this dynamic quintet hurls a sonic onslaught reminiscent of the gritty, soulful vocals and fuzz guitar that defined the 60's punk scene. With the unmistakable whirr of an acetone organ in the mix, THE BAD BEATS resurrect the authentic spirit of that era while infusing it with a vitality that echoes the revival sounds of the 80's garage scene.

Their upcoming LP, "Gotta Get Loose," is on the brink of release, adding to THE BAD BEATS' already impressive discography. This powerhouse quintet already boasts two critically acclaimed albums, both launched through the esteemed SOUNDFLAT RECORDS.

Brace yourself as they persist in their sonic uprising! THE BAD BEATS are the torchbearers of a bygone era, bringing you the spirit of 60s rebellion, and the world is tuned in!

To understand the significance of the word 'featuring' on Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Black Harold, consider how infrequently Sun Ra used it and the exact way it had been used. The October Revolution in Jazz, organized by Bill Dixon in the West Village in 1964, presented a vivid cross section of approaches to the new music, including a sextet led by Ra. For the October Revolution's continuation, titled Four Days in December, held at nearby Judson Hall on the last days of 1964, the Arkestra performance presented Pharoah Sanders as well as a flautist (who was and remained obscure thereafter) named Harold Murray, nicknamed Black Harold. It wasn't until long after Sanders had achieved worldwide acclaim with John Coltrane that Ra and manager Alton Abraham decided to issue the music they'd recorded at Judson Hall. After its first release in plain or handdecorated covers in 1976, Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Black Harold remained an exceptionally rare item in the El Saturn discography, known to a few lucky collectors. We're lucky to have this glimpse of what Sanders sounded like in such a different context, galvanizing the large group and in turn being inspired to make his first significant contribution on record.' —John Corbett (excerpt from the liner notes)

Khôra is the medium Matthew Ramolo uses to delve deeply into initiatory world-building by way of sound, image, and lyrical prose. Figuring wholly realized art-myths which distill and rouse the numinous while provoking the visceral and cathartic, Khôra intricately collages studio documents of ritualized instrumental performances, introducing overdubs by transient, heteronymic personae which dismantle stable points of reference in the music and open uncommon planes of consciousness.

"Gestures of Perception" is Khôra’s first double album with a supporting artbook and features a fascinating array of sources subjected to patterned assembly, poetic layering, and the elevations of the heart. Deft handling of modular synthesis is palpably central, while feedback, erhu, keys, flute, contact electronics, guitar, field sounds, and various percussion objects (rattle and frame drums, seed pod sticks, random metal objects, meditation bowls, kalimbas, bells) all serve to provide breathing structures and energetic contours that guide and scaffold inner and outer journeys into the far-near. Prominent across the record's span is a home-built, solenoid drum machine, responsible for the alive and askew techno-archaic flows and conceived as the album’s "rhythm seed”. The music on Gestures is teeming with organic and alien textures, soaring drones, inter-dimensional noises, and emotionally resonant melodies; balanced on the fringes of exotica and meditative trance, with capacities that untether the listener from the ballast of limited reality.

Operating hermetically in the penumbra of Toronto's cultural scene for well over a decade, Khôra has been invested in self-publishing handcrafted editions of spiritually driven recordings which led to the LP/CD reissue of inaugural album "Silent Your Body Is Endless" by Constellation. Khôra has toured extensively in North America and Europe both solo and in collaboration with Picastro, Nick Kuepfer (Hrsta,1/4 Tonne), and Brandon Valdivia (Mas Aya, Lido Pimienta), generated over a hundred hours of unreleased, bewildering drone through durational performance with experimental outfit Nidus (Marc Couroux, Jason Doell), composed for live dance and independent film, been commissioned by MaerzMusik, and seeded and co-run the now defunct music and art venue Ratio in Toronto.

The Teskey Brothers share The Circle Session – a live 5-track EP, which features the band’s stunning rendition of the Ray Charles classic, ‘Drown In My Own Tears’, alongside live recordings of four other songs from their #1 ARIA-charting album, The Winding Way – winner of Best Blues and Roots album at the 2023 ARIA Awards. The limited-edition vinyl marks the band’s third live recording pressed on 12inch following their first #1 ARIA-charting album, 2020’s Live At The Forum and their equally stunning Live At Hamer with Orchestra Victoria (2021). Recorded while the band were in Germany in 2023, The Circle Session series has also featured performances over the years from the likes of Hozier, Lewis Capaldi, Freya Ridings and more.

Delphine Dora is a prolific composer, improviser and musician who has released on a plethora of labels including Recital, Morc, Sloow Tapes, Feeding Tube, Okraïna and more, and ‘Le Grand Passage’ is her Modern Love debut, a stunning set of songs for piano and voice, recorded in one take without overdubs or edits.

In an act of pure expression, Delphine Dora recorded the 8 songs of ‘The Great Passage’ in a single take, succumbing to a whirlwind of inspiration that transported her beyond the material world. Baroque paradigms bleed into fragile, introspective mantras, expressed through a made up language of existential yearning and channeled through piano and voice. It’s music that caresses the sublime, made without any premeditation.

Delphine was nearing the end of a three-day prepared piano residency when an technician stepped in to tune her grand piano for her final performance. He removed the objects from the strings and fixed the pitch, leaving Dora with a freshly tuned instrument. Mesmerised by its new sound, she proceeded to switch on her recorder and pour out her soul, channeling, in her own words, "something greater than myself".

The result is some of the most unusual but elevated material the prolific composer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist has ever recorded, rooted in a deep understanding of European musical history but willing to push at its boundaries, questioning the earthly logic of life and death, asceticism and impiety. Glistening imperfections lash 'The Great Passage' to the physical world, but Dora - seemingly possessed as she quivers in a fictional dialect - lets her fantasies intensify her spirit, lifting the music towards the heavens. It's not sacred music, per se, but it is unashamedly mystical.

On the luxurious, languid opening, Dora dissolves eerily familiar romantic piano motifs into an attentive ceremony, singing with charged emotion. Her words aren't really decipherable, but their resonance vibrates beyond language; it's striking to hear how confident she is in vulnerability. She lets the piano wrap into her voice, connecting us directly to a unique mode of emotional expression by urging us - the listener - to project our own meaning onto her abstracted words.

Dora refers to the act of improvisation itself as a way to indicate "the fragility of being”, and as her words blur in and out of focus, dipping from a hoarse croak to a choking wail, she places herself at the very edge of musical formality, questioning strictures put in place to suffocate self-expression. Her music has often been labeled "outsider", but here she sounds intimate and interconnected, more self-consciously candid than anything traditional might have allowed. She conjures affecting, plainspoken poetry, like a bedside diary written in a hypnagogic, delirious state: a stream-of-unconsciousness, channelling the beyond.

The album title connects to a book dedicated to French philosopher and activist Simone Weil, who famously pored over global religions to ascertain spiritual truths. To Weil, meditation was a passage to access mystical experience, or a bridge between humanity and divinity. In Dora's hands, this idea is a corridor between herself and the listener, a liminal place where she's able to address feelings without making anything explicit. The title, of course, also refers to life, its impermanence, finitude, and fragility, presenting the complex, multi-dimensionality of being through one of the most undiluted, unbridled set of songs imaginable.

DUBFIRE INVITES CHRIS LIEBING, TRUNCATE, CARL CRAIG, DRUMCELL, NADIA STRUIWIGH & MORE TO HIS REMIX ALBUM
EVOLV is a visionary window into the mind of Dubfire, the journey of the ‘hybrid’ being and its evolution. Last year in October, an 11-track debut album was released on his long-standing SCI+TEC imprint. And now, just over a year later, Grammy award winning producer Dubfire returns to that sonic discourse, drafting in an impressive array of names to re-interpret the material, and accompanied by Dubfire's new audio-visual EVOLV show which picked up where the critically acclaimed electronic performance experience HYBRID had left off.
The eclectic package will include such notables as Glaskin, Arjun Vagale, Nadia Struiwigh, Mathimidori (dub alias of Mathias Kaden), Maral, Decka, DEAS, Carl Craig, Truncate, Drumcell, Chris Liebing, and Luke Slater as L.B. Dub Corp who have all given the original music in their own unique style.
With a career spanning over 3 decades, Dubfire has achieved global success as an artist with relentless drive, talent, and intuition. Pioneering commercial notoriety came initially as one half of the Grammy Award-winning (2001) duo Deep Dish, before embarking on a truly groundbreaking solo career in 2007. A career filled with timeless tracks include his early works, ‘RibCage’ (2007), ‘Emissions' (2007), ‘Roadkill’ (2007) and the highly acclaimed ‘Grindhouse’ (2009) remix from Radio Slave which led to a host of other notable projects over the years.
Collaborative work highlights include projects with Miss Kitten, Luke Slater, Flug, and Oliver Huntemann, as well as co-producing two songs on Underworld’s Barking album. A true artist, he has always been heavily invested in exploring performance technology, unveiled to wide praise with his HYBRID live show. A two-year world tour commenced in 2015 and was followed by his retrospective album, A Decade Of Dubfire (2017), a celebration of his immense output during the first 10 years of solo artist stardom. EVOLV is Dubfire’s debut solo artist album.

Blue Bendy are kicking off 2024 with news of their highly anticipated debut album ‘So Medieval’ which is being released via state51 on 12 April. Alongside this big announcement the band are sharing the latest new track from the record, ‘Come On Baby, Dig!’, and dates for their UK tour including their largest headline show to date at The Garage in London on 9 May and a special Album Launch Show in the band’s hometown of Scunthorpe to celebrate the release.

‘So Medieval’ captures all the musical foibles, idiosyncrasies and departures from the norm which Blue Bendy have displayed across their previous releases. Expressing their sound over the course of a full record for the first time, ‘So Medieval’ is an explosive mix of genre, atmosphere and emotions. The end result is something rare for a new band: a debut album which is as experimental as it is confident and assured, as tender as it is visceral, as quiet as it is loud, as bloody as it is teary.

Released 25th January, new single ‘Come On Baby, Dig!’ follows on from previously released album tracks ‘Cloudy’ and ‘Mr. Bubblegum’. Simmering down the tempo and darkening the mood, the track stacks forlorn lyrics against an assortment of riffs, tones and textures. The music video, directed by Michael Julings, depicts an unnamed character locked in an existential battle with an immovable black fridge. Starring Laura Schuller, a performance artist recently cast in the Marina Abramović retrospective at the RA, the video also features the band coming together to conjure supernatural powers at the video's climax.

Singer and lyricist Arthur Nolan explains that “Dig is dedicated to an old flame and a city break. I was eat pray loving, digging around for some culture in the wake of breaking up. The wheels came off the trip quickly, and now I won’t go back to Bologna, I’m banned.”

Building on the momentum of their 2022 EP ‘Motorbike’ Blue Bendy are stretching out into vast new sonic terrain. Their following two singles ‘Mr Bubblegum’ - a joyously intricate piece of experimental guitar pop - and the frenetic, propulsive yet incredibly deft sprawl of ‘Cloudy’, saw the band reach new heights creatively. Of the former, The Guardian enthused: “indie is riddled with addled, verbose frontmen right now, but none so rapturous as Blue Bendy’s Arthur Nolan: here he dances all over splayed post-rock and micro-cataclysms.”

Having toured as main support for Squid and Cola as well as playing packed out tents at festivals like End Of The Road and Green Man, Blue Bendy have struck a balance between being obviously skilled musicians, writing complex, layered, overlapping and ambitious compositions, while also utilising space, breadth, and restraint. Their music is bursting with dynamism, exploring push-pull dynamics that results in something ceaselessly unpredictable.