quête:pia

On her new album, Neon Summer Skin, Bedouine, the project of Azniv Korkejian, explores this feeling of safety long before one can fully understand the concept. Written with vivid, honest and intimate imagery after visiting her family in Saudi Arabia, it tells the story of family and upbringing, and mourns the end of her childhood. There is a singular resonance and newfound heft in this music previously unheard in Bedouine’s discography. Bedouine is known for making gentle, lilting folk songs that build fingerpicked guitar melodies into tsunamis of emotion. Her masterful songwriting and timeless melodies have earned her praise from publications like Pitchfork, who said her music “boasts a surreal calm and lived in glow,” and Rolling Stone, who lauded her “humble folk-pop brilliance,” plus an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, and tours with the likes of Fleet Foxes and Father John Misty. While working on the record, Bedouine realized the pain of displacement, of searching for home, has been a throughline in her family history. Other relatives have also experienced this sense of loss as they’ve migrated between Armenia, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. “I felt so frustrated about the places that I'm from becoming war torn or difficult to return to,” she says. “My family has been split apart time and time again.” This realization prompted her to document and honor her parents’ lives and stories. On a family trip to Houston, Bedouine recorded a conversation with her mother and sampled the introduction to “Canopies.” The song tells the story of her mother’s time in an orphanage. She was put there by her own mother as a way of escaping her abusive father. Nearby, her mother would sing about feeling her daughter’s essence in the air: "The waves of Beirut's beaches flutter, and how sweetly they blow my darling's air." It’s a story of profound yearning told with the quiet profundity of a flower blossoming.

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten's mind boggling band (Exit) Knarr is back with their new album "fly"! After touring supporting their albums "drops" and "breezy" they landed at Ingebrigt's home base in Oslo, Victoria, were they recorded an insane concert with new material and interpretations - now mixed down as a full blown new album. Recorded live, but as solid and unique as any studio album from the band. Amalie Dahl – alto and baritone saxophone Karl Hjalmar Nygren – tenor saxophone and electronics Marta Warelis – piano Jonathan F. Horne – guitar Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – double bass Olaf Olsen – drums

“Still Blooming“ hieß das im April 2025 erschienene dritte Album von Hollywood-Multitalent Jeff Goldblum. Darauf überzeugte er nicht nur als Pianist, Bandleader und Sänger, sondern konnte auch seine
Schauspiel-Kolleginnen aus den gemeinsamen beiden “Wicked“-Filmen, Ariana Grande und Cynthia Erivo
für eine Mitwirkung als Sängerinnen gewinnen, neben der nicht weniger bekannten Scarlett Johansson.
Aufgrund des großen Erfolges erhält “Still Blooming“ jetzt ein fabelhaftes Nachfolgealbum mit dem Titel
“Night Blooms“. Darauf greift Goldblum nicht nur vier Tracks des Vorgängeralbums in neuen, stimmungsvollen “Late Night Session“-Versionen wieder auf, sondern hat auch sechs brandneue Tracks im
Gepäck, auf denen die Gaststars Melody Gardot, Charlie Puth, Cynthia Erivo und dodie glänzen. Das Album runden zwei bislang nur digital erschienene Pop-Hits ab, die Goldblum zusammen mit Sängerin Haley
Reinhart in loungige Bossa-Tracks verwandelt hat: “Lover“ von Taylor Swift und “Tattoo“ von Loreen.

Auf dem im Juni 1965 aufgenommenen Album “Components” vertiefte Vibrafonist Bobby Hutcherson seine
Zusammenarbeit mit Schlagzeuger Joe Chambers, die er wenige Monate zuvor auf “Dialogue” begonnen
hatte. Zu hören sind die beiden hier mit einem erstklassigen Sextett, das mit Trompeter Freddie Hubbard
und Pianist Herbie Hancock zwei weitere Blue-Note-Stars jener Zeit umfasst. “‘Components’ ist wohl das
Album, das Bobby Hutchersons frühe musikalische Persönlichkeit am besten widerspiegelt”, schrieb Steve
Huey bei AllMusic und gab dem Album die Höchstwertung von fünf Sternen. “Es ist passenderweise in
zwei sehr unterschiedliche Hälften unterteilt. Die erste enthält vier Eigenkompositionen von Hutcherson im
melodischen, aber dennoch anspruchsvollen Hard-Bop-Stil, während die zweite Hälfte vier frei interpretierte
Avantgarde-Stücke von Chambers bietet.”

Pianist and bandleader Linus Rebmann, together with Gabriel Widmaier on double bass and Johnny Walker on drums, shapes a transparent and powerful sound characterized by great joy in playing and a palpable sense of familiarity. The album's ten original compositions tell of observations, inner movements, and moments whose depth is better expressed through music than words. The three young musicians met in the Baden- Wurttemberg Landesjugendjazzorchester, and after winning the "Jugend jazzt south- west" competition in 2024, the trio was awarded the prestigious Deutschlandfunk Studiopreis at the national meeting. This made it possible to produce the album in the legendary Kammermusiksaal of Deutschlandfunk in Cologne - a space that has been among the country's finest recording venues for decades. The band members deliberately chose an intimate setting for the recordings. Everything was played through a single main microphone, without subsequent corrections to individual instruments. A working method that demands absolute presence and mutual trust. It is precisely this immediacy that shapes the sound of "Listen To The River": the album is transparent, organic, flowing, almost breathing.

Not all 'All Stars' style releases live up to their name, but this multi-artist extravaganza from Demuir's Purveyor Underground Ltd label most certainly does. The Canadian artist has snapped up tracks from some genuinely impressive deep house talents, with predictably fine results. For proof, check the deliciously dreamy, hazy and rolling opener from Atlanta star Byron The Aquarius, the jazzy bass, locked-in beats and lightly psychedelic layered aural textures of Fred P's 'Sunny Rain Drops (Cosmic House Edit)' and the softened DJ Sneak-style sample-rich peak-time bump of Demuir's own 'Alone In Chicago'. Elsewhere, M Squared reaches for elongated electric piano chords, eyes-closed samples and jazzy house grooves on 'Dance', before Justine Joe delivers an exquisite exercise in jazz-house jauntiness ('AFaOA (As Far As Our Attitude)').

For Metro Beirut’s latest release, Cem Mo steps forward with his debut vinyl EP, a record that bridges the roots of Chicago and Detroit house with his own deep and textured approach to groove.

Born in Ankara and having taken piano lessons at an early age, Cem drifted from classical into jazz, re-teaching himself harmony and improvisation before finding his way into production. After moving to Amsterdam in 2016, the city’s community and music scene expanded his horizon, shaping a sound that treats producing like improvising, with curiosity for grain, color, and repetition, where subtle shifts make all the difference. Along the way, Cem has released on Handy Records and Rhythm Section, while his project Nowhere People has appeared on Artisjok Records.

This EP brings together a tight circle of artists who deepen its character. Saxophonist Moritz Schuster, known for his work across electronic music and past work with Cem and Malik Kassim, formerly known as Retromigration, delivers a striking, free-flowing performance charged with raw intensity. On “The Hard Way”, Franco Corica joins Cem for a deep, soulful, jazz-leaning moment that feels both reflective and quietly defiant. Finally, longtime friend Malik pulls up with a dancefloor remix that preserves Cem’s melodic sensibility while adding his own loose, resulting in a circular dialogue between two artists who’ve grown side by side.

Artwork: Shahd Issa

After the success of their first collaborative album Blue House Rockin’, Soul Sugar and Dub Shepherds reunited at the Blue House Studio for a new analog-heavy recording session.



Super Freak is the first single from these sessions: a fiery 70s-style reggae reinterpretation of Rick James’ classic. Led by Jolly Joseph’s signature falsetto, it rides a heavyweight bass line, playful reggae groove, and warm layers of organ, piano, guitar, and Mini Moog, all recorded live on vintage gear.



The journey continues at Bat Records Studio, where Dub Shepherds apply their trademark “hard mix” on 24-track tape,

bending sound, space, and rhythm into a deep dub sorcery.



This 7-inch 45 rpm single features both vocal and dub versions and paves the way for the forthcoming album Blue House Rockin’ Vol. 2.

Sometimes the title of an album tells you everything you need to know. Laurence Pike’s Possible Utopias for Jazz Quintet is like that: The music within represents a search for freedom, potentiality—liberatory strategies that transcend the ego and the solitary, atomized figure.

But in this case, the album title is also a red herring, because there is no jazz quintet here—just Pike, his drums, and his machines, not so much an ersatz ensemble as a purely notional one, a thought experiment equipped with drumsticks, circuitry, and the desire to go beyond hardwired limits.

And the results, strictly speaking, aren’t really jazz, though they incorporate the vocabulary of jazz, along with that of ambient, electronica, and post-rock. They are some other thing, cognizant of genre but never beholden to it. Again, we’re talking about a search for freedom here.

The Sydney-based musician has a long history of coloring outside the lines, not just in his solo recordings—including four albums for the Leaf label between 2018 and 2024—but also in the trio Pivot (later PVT); Szun Waves (alongside saxophonist Jack Wyllie and Border Community’s Luke Abbott); Triosk, which recorded an album with Jan Jelinek in 2003; and even post-punk titans Liars, whom he joined in late 2018.

Of his first album for Balmat, Pike says, “My loose concept was: What does music sound like when the expectations of late capitalism are removed from it? How might a jazz musician from an idealised culture of the future, or even another world, utilise musical language when the conventions of style and marketing are no longer a factor in music making?”

That inquiry, he says, connects to his “guiding principle: that the purpose of music is to access something bigger than the individual, and reveal a sense of possibility and freedom in the world to the listener. To create an understanding that the future can be something other than what we imagined or expect, even unconsciously.”

Heady ideas, but plug into his stream-of-metaconsciousness flow and you may start to intuit what motivates him. There is a deeply lyrical expression in these pieces—in the ruminative piano of opener “Guardians of Memory,” for example—but also a sense of exploded perspective, of ideas approached from more angles than any one mind could dream up. Of a collectivized consciousness, of mycelial networks branching across tone and rhythm and timbre, of ideas articulated in distributed fashion, nodal points dancing across drum heads.

Pike’s imaginary quintet is hardly without precedent; it’s a continuation of concepts floated across Jan Jelinek’s Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records, Burnt Friedman’s many guises, and much of the recombinant improv of the International Anthem roster, not to mention the far corners of ECM’s catalog in the late 1970s and 1980s, which Pike says have been integral to his development since he was a teenager. Possible Utopias for Jazz Quintet is a point in a continuum, a voice in a conversation, a question with no obvious answer: How can the search for otherness in music manifest something true about ourselves?

There is a particular kind of strangeness that arrives on long drives across Europe. Flat light, service stations and fields stretching endlessly past the window. It might look mundane at first glance, but becomes faintly surreal when the tiredness of touring blurs the edges of everything.

That feeling became the quiet engine behind Driving Through Belgium, the debut solo album from Anton Pearson, best known as one of the guitarists in respected post-punk outfit Squid. The title grew from a track that felt like the record’s centrepiece, which itself came from the recurring image of extensive periods on the road across the continent. It is a record shaped in the margins of touring, and finessed in the in-between hours.

Across six pieces, Pearson leans into atmosphere, texture and space. It is ambient in spirit, adjacent to contemporary classical in feeling, but composed less with notes in mind than with sound itself. The compositions rarely began with harmony or melody, with Pearson instead responding to his environment and sounds in real time, placing trust in his instinct.

Although initial inspiration came from the road, the album was recorded in a studio he shares in Brighton, and marks his first fully solo project made in that setting. It gave him access to not only new tools and techniques, but a hitherto un-experienced freedom. Much of the process began experimentally, feeding instruments into unfamiliar chains, pitching loops into unexpected registers and playing with previously unused synthesizers simply to see what they might reveal. Many of the sounds were created out of pure curiosity, wanting to understand a piece of equipment or technology, and then following wherever it led.

The album was built with this experimentation at its core, as Pearson would layer then extract, processing stacks of sound until things blur and confuse. Guitars dissolve into drones, a Pianet Clavinet dances against muddier textures whilst a Korg PS-1000 occasionally cuts through with its glittering top end. On ‘Driving Past the Muscular Cows in Belgium’, a flat, still drone is pushed through valve amps until it growls and tightens with tension, before receding again. Even the trumpet, which Pearson freely admits he is not technically proficient at, is embraced in its naivety, its squeaks left intact rather than corrected. The twin ‘Tintinnabulation’ pieces frame the record with looping, pitched bell like tones, accidental discoveries that became structural anchors. Meanwhile, ‘Teeth to Cut the Grass’ deliberately introduces abrasion, some of the harshest textures on the record, a refusal to become passive background music.


That embrace of imperfection is central. In contrast to the hyper-analytical precision of his band, Pearson was keen to honour first takes. If something felt good, it would stay. The end result is an album that favours looseness, instinct and the energy of creation itself. If Squid thrives on propulsion and tension, Anton Pearson finds his energy in suspension on Driving Through Belgium. It is curious rather than declarative, creating a space where experimentation feels playful again.

‘Warm Waves’ first appeared in 2020, ten years after Turn On The Sunlight’s debut self-titled album was first released in Japan. During that decade, Turn On The Sunlight’s Jesse Peterson and Mia Doi Todd welcomed their first child and co-founded a music venue in Los Angeles. When performance spaces were required to close at the start of the pandemic, Jesse’s focus shifted back towards home recording. Since ‘Warm Waves,’ five more Turn On The Sunlight albums have followed (including ‘Drives To The Beach,’ also on Tokonoma Records), all of which can be seen as an expansion of the musical direction set forth on this album.

The group heard on ‘Warm Waves’ consists of musicians who Mia and Jesse were regularly playing with at the time - Sam Gendel, Mitchell Brown, Andres Renteria & Gabe Noel - joined by Laraaji, Arji & Luis Pérez Ixoneztli, making their first recordings together.

The group’s blended signal was routed through Mitchell’s tape loops and modular synthesizer, which contributed to the unique communal sound of these recordings. Further extending this approach, Carlos Niño then reprocessed and reimagined ‘Passing Rain’ with Jamael Dean for his Elemental Beat Mix.

Originally released one week into the official lockdown period, some listeners found the warm, collective sound well-suited for the time of introspection and shifting priorities that followed. Now, in 2026, ‘Warm Waves’ returns on vinyl to once again encourage peaceful contemplation and open-hearted togetherness, in echo of the spirit of its creation.

Credits
Sam Gendel: Saxophone & Electronics on A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3
Laraaji: Voice & Zither on A3
Luis Pérez Ixoneztli: Bird Sounds on A1, Aerophones & Water Drums on B2
Mia Doi Todd: Voice on A1, A2, B2, B3; Piano on A3
Jesse Peterson: Guitar, Bass, Organ & Bird Sounds on A1; Organ on A2; Guitar & Bass on A3; Wooden Whistles, Guitar, Ukulele & Piano on B1; Ice Breaking on B3
Andres Renteria: Percussion on A1, A2, B1, B2, B3; Marimba & Percussion on A3
Mitchell Brown: Synthesizers & Magnetic Tape on A1, A2, A3, B2, B4
Gabe Noel: Bass on A2, A3, B1
Arji: Bells & Shells on A3
Carlos Niño: Production / Remix on B4
Jamael Dean: Additional Keyboards on B4

Produced, mixed & recorded by Jesse Peterson
Except B4, produced by Carlos Niño

‘Warm Waves’ first appeared in 2020, ten years after Turn On The Sunlight’s debut self-titled album was first released in Japan. During that decade, Turn On The Sunlight’s Jesse Peterson and Mia Doi Todd welcomed their first child and co-founded a music venue in Los Angeles. When performance spaces were required to close at the start of the pandemic, Jesse’s focus shifted back towards home recording. Since ‘Warm Waves,’ five more Turn On The Sunlight albums have followed (including ‘Drives To The Beach,’ also on Tokonoma Records), all of which can be seen as an expansion of the musical direction set forth on this album.

The group heard on ‘Warm Waves’ consists of musicians who Mia and Jesse were regularly playing with at the time - Sam Gendel, Mitchell Brown, Andres Renteria & Gabe Noel - joined by Laraaji, Arji & Luis Pérez Ixoneztli, making their first recordings together.

The group’s blended signal was routed through Mitchell’s tape loops and modular synthesizer, which contributed to the unique communal sound of these recordings. Further extending this approach, Carlos Niño then reprocessed and reimagined ‘Passing Rain’ with Jamael Dean for his Elemental Beat Mix.

Originally released one week into the official lockdown period, some listeners found the warm, collective sound well-suited for the time of introspection and shifting priorities that followed. Now, in 2026, ‘Warm Waves’ returns on vinyl to once again encourage peaceful contemplation and open-hearted togetherness, in echo of the spirit of its creation.

Credits
Sam Gendel: Saxophone & Electronics on A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3
Laraaji: Voice & Zither on A3
Luis Pérez Ixoneztli: Bird Sounds on A1, Aerophones & Water Drums on B2
Mia Doi Todd: Voice on A1, A2, B2, B3; Piano on A3
Jesse Peterson: Guitar, Bass, Organ & Bird Sounds on A1; Organ on A2; Guitar & Bass on A3; Wooden Whistles, Guitar, Ukulele & Piano on B1; Ice Breaking on B3
Andres Renteria: Percussion on A1, A2, B1, B2, B3; Marimba & Percussion on A3
Mitchell Brown: Synthesizers & Magnetic Tape on A1, A2, A3, B2, B4
Gabe Noel: Bass on A2, A3, B1
Arji: Bells & Shells on A3
Carlos Niño: Production / Remix on B4
Jamael Dean: Additional Keyboards on B4

Produced, mixed & recorded by Jesse Peterson
Except B4, produced by Carlos Niño

Very limited numbers, orders will need to be confirmed.

For his new album, Irreparable Parables, Andrew Wasylyk felt a strong desire to write a set of songs featuring an element hitherto rare in his work: the human voice. Equally strong was the conviction that he did not want to sing them himself.

The Scottish multi-instrumentalist and composer set about assembling a group of guest singers, sending out the songs to wherever they were in the world. The vocals were recorded remotely and then, like migrating birds, winged their way back to Scotland. The result is an album of great beauty which, perhaps preeminently in Wasylyk’s work, expresses the vulnerability and resilience of the human spirit.

Six singers appear on the record, represented by six songbirds illustrated on the sleeve by Clay Pipe Music’s Frances Castle. The cuckoo is a nod to Belle and Sebastian’s 2004 single ‘I’m A Cuckoo’, that band’s Stuart Murdoch being the first voice you hear on the new album. When the vocal for ‘Private Symphony #2’ arrived, says Wasylyk, “it was everything that I was looking for and more. But this is Stuart Murdoch. Of course he’s going to make something incredibly beautiful and thoughtful.”

The song lyrics were, for the most part, written by the singers. The music is Wasylyk’s creation. He navigates a sound world that lies somewhere beyond the borders of classical and jazz, ambient and abstract. It is difficult to describe, but easy to understand, which is to say to feel. That is the way Wasylyk’s work is experienced: as a feeling. It takes you back to childhood, perhaps, to feelings of comfort and safety, or to memories of walks at sunrise and sunset, or to the way a shadow falls on a particular field in a particular place at a particular time in your life. This is consoling music. That is why, though pretty, it is not merely pretty. These are songs to shore up the soul.

Wasylyk writes in a room, in his native Dundee, full of “half broken” instruments. He picks these up, plays a little, seeking an idea, a feeling, a door that lies ajar. The musical palette of Irreparable Parables includes brass and woodwind, a six-piece string section, guitar, bass, drums, vibraphone, Mellotron, Fender Rhodes, tape loops, synthesisers and percussion. The strings were arranged by the cellist Pete Harvey, a long-term collaborator.

Among the other guest vocalists are Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals, Saya Ueno from Japan’s Tenniscoats and Peter Brewis from Field Music. Wasylyk himself takes the lead vocal on the title track, though a throat infection and touch of pitch-shifting have altered his singing in a way that even he, having fallen out of love with his own voice, finds acceptable.

The heart of the record can, arguably, be found in two tracks, ‘Love Is A Life That Lasts Forever’ and ‘Spectators In The Absence of God’, sung respectively by Molly Linen and Kathryn Joseph. The former, bright with trumpets, was inspired by the writing of Derek Jarman. “I was feeling deeply upset about the world and wanted to try and write some- thing that was obviously hopeful,” Wasylyk says.

‘Spectators …’ offers an emotional counterpoint. It is an “apocalyptic hymn” that seems to grapple with watching human suffering from afar, too distant to be at physical risk, but experiencing the psychological wounding, and feelings of helplessness, even complicity, that come with constant awareness of other people’s pain. “Kathryn’s a pal, I love her dearly, and she’s a brilliant artist who really feels what she writes,” Wasylyk says. “The cracked tenderness of her voice is spellbinding.”

The album closes with an instrumental piece, ‘Soul Enters The Ocean Sun Climbs Out Of The Sea’, all piano and strings, that offers a sense of resolution and ascension. A good moment, too, for Wasylyk to reflect upon the artistic companionship that he enjoyed while making this record – the songbirds that answered his call: “These humans are incredible at what they do. I’m deeply grateful and feel so lucky. It blows my mind.”

Andreu G. Serra and Kiran Leonard first met in Lisbon nine years ago, arriving in the city within weeks of each other by chance. Living together in a crumbling warehouse in Alto São João, they recorded a series of improvisations that became The Piri Piri Samplers (Memorials of Distinction, 2019): Serra’s abrasive, tape-warped guitar lines colliding with Leonard’s stark, pedal-free counterpoint. They played a single gallery show, left Lisbon that summer, and then spent almost a decade living in different countries.

When Stroom reissued The Piri Piri Samplers in 2024, the label suggested the duo make a new record. At first, it seemed impossible: Leonard was in London, Ubaldo in southern Catalonia, and their attempts at long-distance recording quickly collapsed into nothing. But the near-failure sparked something. Leonard travelled to Catalonia to restart the process in person; soon after, Serra moved to South London, and the pair began meeting every week.

The result is Making Friends: a richer, more expansive album built over six months. Where The Piri Piri Samplers was assembled from raw improvisations, Making Friends transforms fragments into fully realised songs, weaving together nylon and steel-string guitars, piano, drums, bells, samplers and more. For the first time, Serra and Leonard sing together, each in his own language - Catalan and English - sometimes translating one another in real time.

Musically, Making Friends still carries the jagged dissonance and free-blues spirit of the duo’s earlier work, while opening outward toward everything from emo and blown-out noise to fractured chamber pop. There are only three guests on the album, and they are worth mentioning: Rachel Leonard and Antonia Serra (the musicians' mothers) on the seventh tune, and the American poet Pete Simonelli (of Enablers) appears on Top of Duboce / Tyne Bridge Crossing, one of the album’s two sprawling centerpieces.

At its heart, Making Friends is an album about friendship: about distance, reunion, family, and the stubborn need to make music together. It begins with uncertainty and disconnection, but ends somewhere stronger - with, as put on the closing track, “molta il.lusió per lo que pugue vindre” or “much excitement for what may come.”

'Brooklyn-based pianist and composer Eva Novoa presents Eva Novoa Solo (I), her first solo piano recording and seventh album with 577 Records. Recorded at the legendary Sear Sound Studios in Manhattan, the album captures Novoa alone in the studio, embracing the artistic challenge of vulnerability, introspection, and creative freedom that defines the solo piano format.
'After several years working primarily within piano trio settings and other ensemble configurations, Novoa turned inward, embarking on a deeply personal sonic journey. Solo (I) marks a pivotal moment in her artistic evolution and establishes the foundation for a new series of solo recordings.
'An active and respected member of New York’s experimental and creative music community, Novoa prepared extensively for this session through months of solo performances - mostly in Brooklyn - leading up to the recording. These included a standout solo concert at the Brooklyn edition of the New York Forward Festival, where her approach to the solo format fully crystallized.
'On Solo (I), Novoa expands the traditional piano vocabulary. While the grand piano remains her primary instrument, she also performs on Fender Rhodes and electric harpsichord (the latter to be explored further in upcoming volumes), incorporating Chinese gongs, additional percussion, vocals, and even whistling on select tracks. The result is an intensely intimate and sonorous experience - raw, cinematic, and emotionally charged.
'Eva Novoa Solo (I) is the first installment in a planned trilogy of solo recordings. Across six original pieces, Novoa approaches the solo piano format with boldness, rhythmic fire, and fearless energy. Her percussive use of the instrument, expansive dynamic range, and deep command of tone transform the piano into both an emotional soundscape and a cinematic narrative.
'Recorded in Fall 2024, Eva Novoa Solo (I) captures an intimate session and deeply emotive music shaped by mature technical mastery and a highly compositional approach. Novoa dazzles on piano, Fender Rhodes, electric harpsichord, Chinese gongs, vocals, and whistle, revealing an expansive and deeply personal sonic universe.
'Originally from Barcelona, Spain, Eva Novoa has cultivated her distinctive musical voice since childhood. Now firmly rooted in New York, she has performed internationally and collaborated with some of the most adventurous voices in jazz and beyond.'

'Electronic lullabies and folk songs from Ethiopia! A landmark recording from Ethiopia’s vibrant cassette era of the 1980s, Resonance of Time features pioneering composer Wesenyeleh Mebreku reimagining Ethiopian folk melodies through the humble circuitry of an early Casiotone keyboard.
'Historically, the works featured on Resonance of Time (የጊዜ ቃና Yegizie Kana) stand as quiet documents of Ethiopian musical memory. Many of the original songs included in this release emerged during important moments in Ethiopian history when music carried the collective emotion of the nation - love, loss, resistance, dignity, and hope. By arranging these pieces from Ethiopia’s musical heritage instrumentally, Wesenyeleh Mebreku aimed to preserve their essence while protecting them from being confined to a single era or performance style. In doing so, his preservation of Ethiopia’s musical heritage became a contribution to his country’s musical legacy itself, as Resonance of Time serves as an important musical milestone of this composer’s innovative recordings and musical developments in the prolific era of Ethiopia’s 1980s cassette tape culture.
'On Resonance of Time, Wesenyeleh made use of the first Casio electronic keyboard - the Casiotone CT-201 - to arrange and perform Ethiopian folk songs in his own unique style. Implementing the soulful, lo-fi character of the keyboard, Wesenyeleh’s interpretations of these works take on a life of their own. Charming analog tones interpret swirling sounds of organ and piano in kignit modality to the beat of a nostalgic rhythm machine while twinkling synthesizer sounds carry the melodies drifting out of time. The recordings reflect a watershed moment in Ethiopian musical history - when traditional melodies started being interpreted on electronic keyboards, and the advent of cassette tape recording allowed for music to be transmitted more accessibly than centuries-old oral traditions. During this time, Ethiopian musical modes were syncretized with new technology and budding musical experimentation, and Wesenyeleh’s interpretations on Resonance of Time are a landmark recording of this era, following in the tradition of reflecting upon and re-interpreting historical Ethiopian music for a new generation.
'Featured on the release are timeless Amharic folk songs and lullabies, Tigrinya love songs, Gurage and Oromifa popular songs, and even works closely associated with performers from Ethiopia’s 1970s popular music era such as Tiz Alegne Yetintu (ትዝ አለኝ የጥንቱ) which was famously performed by Tilahun Gessesse. Each piece, thoughtfully chosen by Wesenyeleh, is beautifully transformed into instrumental music of his own style - allowing these worlds of song to echo into the future while they are synthesized with the electronic innovations of the 1980s and Wesenyeleh’s own musical history.
'Wesenyeleh says this about his musical approach - ”Instrumental music, for me, is a space of reflection. Without words, the listener is invited to remember, imagine, and feel freely. In Resonance of Time, I hear my own musical philosophy: respect for Ethiopian kignit, careful dialogue with Western harmony, and a deep trust in melody as a storyteller.”
'Each piece performed on Resonance of Time speaks to a time when Ethiopian music was shaped by oral transmission through live performance and communal listening. In today’s fast-moving musical environment, revisiting these works is an act of cultural responsibility. These works remind us that melody once traveled slowly, settling deeply in the listener’s heart. The instrumental format allows these works to cross linguistic and generational boundaries, making them accessible to audiences who may not know the original lyrics but can still feel their spirit.
'Resonance of Time also reflects a broader historical dialogue: the meeting of tradition and adaptation. Ethiopian music has always evolved while holding onto its core identity. These arrangements affirm that evolution does not mean abandonment. Instead, it can be a form of safeguarding - ensuring that the musical wisdom of the past continues to resonate in the present and inspire the future.
'In this sense, the album is both personal and collective. It carries Wesenyeleh Mebreku’s own musical fingerprint, shaped by decades of practice, but it ultimately belongs to a wider cultural continuum. It is the artist’s contribution to keeping time audible so that memory, history, and sound may continue to speak to one another.'

Deconstructed techno-dub classical piano, by exploratory composer Richard Pike. A suite of pieces for piano and texture loops, focused on real-time composition & an exploration of cassette sound sources, minimalism, harmony and the ghostly acoustic ephemera that emerges from the loop material. Intimate, granular and dust-covered.

After the passing of the late great Ryuchi Sakamoto during winter in early 2023 Richard Pike gravitated towards the piano as a daily ritual of improvisation, or what he prefers to call ‘real-time composition’.
Pike’s initial approach was an interest in a repeated practice, finding earthly textural tape loops against a daily commune with the piano. Very quickly a suite of pieces formed.

The process of collecting loops and beds in his studio the morning, then moving downstairs to a 1950s Eavestaff Minipiano in the living room, to record melodic and harmonic expressions over the bed of textures, with and against the flow. This process was pure and impulsive, leaving editing and scrutiny until later.

The textures are inspired by the likes of Romeo Poirier, Deepchord, early music concrete and a nostalgia for the ‘clicks and pops’ era that inspired Pike’s early experiments in his Warp Records-affiliated band PVT.

With their debut album "Invictus," Stairway To Violet open the door to a world where cinematic rock meets emotional storytelling, atmospheric sounds, and uncompromising honesty. The album is a cinematic experience—a soundtrack for life's darkest and brightest moments. In 13 intense songs (plus two exclusive piano versions), "Invictus" tells of inner struggles, abysses, ecstasies, and the courage to rise again even from the most fragile moments. The band combines epic soundscapes with modern rock-to-metal dynamics, powerful vocals, and an aesthetic depth that immediately resonates and gets under your skin. "Invictus" leads through drug-induced euphoria and psychedelic distortion ("Love Death & Pixiedust," "Come Spirit Come"), through destructive passion ("Paranoia," "My Heart's Cut Open"), and through the wild, raw primal force of humanity ("Animal," "It Thrills It Kills"). The song "Unholy War" bears its title because there is nothing sacred about war. "Parade Of Stars" leads deep into the universe amidst the sounds of the planets, to a humble search for the source. "Invictus" means "unconquered." The term represents the motivation to forge a new place in life and not be defined by past trauma.

2026 Repress
A notoriously jaw-dropping folk-funk classic, long treasured by the Balearic fraternity, the self-titled LP from the brothers Batteau nevertheless remains a criminally underheard gem. Appealing to fans stuck on Ned Doheny's scorching blue-eyed soul as well as Gene Clark's rich country-rock, it's an honour to present the first officially licensed vinyl reissue of this undoubted masterpiece of proto-Yacht-Rock.

Like a forgotten piece of baroque folk caught in 1973, Batteaux's eponymous album somehow sounds magically timeless. A full 45 years after the fact, it remains a mystery as to why they weren't better known. The lush production and virtuoso playing conforms with the ruling aesthetic of the time - well-crafted, melodic songs performed with precision and balance - whilst the shimmering AOR atmosphere and sun-dappled vocal washes align neatly with the best Crosby, Stills & Nash records.

Throughout, the beautifully penned tracks hold traces of Jimmie Spheeris, America and Seals & Crofts. The immaculately orchestrated percussion and additional instrumentation (electric piano and fiddle to name a few) are performed by perennially celebrated West-Coast cats including Tom Scott, John Guerin and Andy Newmark.

It's no surprise that the heavenly "High Tide" is such a Balearic touchstone. A free soul aqua-space groover, its sophisticated rhythms predict the swing of CSN's canonical "Dark Star" by a full four years. An alternative measure of its enduring magnificence can be gauged by MF Doom sampling Paul Horn's wonderful version, subsequently used by Ghostface Killah.

The highlights are many and memorable. Gorgeous opener "Tell Her She's Lovely" is the perfect example of the addictive, melody-driven songwriting which really should have earned them stardom. Moody ballad "Living's Worth Loving" is nothing short of heartbreaking whilst the chugging elegance of "Wake Me In The Morning" showcases their bewitching harmonies. The hypnotic yearning of "Lady Of The Lake" is an exquisitely string-drenched, piano-laced favourite that achieves a peculiar strutting-funk. It's that good.

This lovingly curated reissue enables a long overdue reappraisal of the hitherto buried genius of Batteaux. The serene aqua artwork which adorned the original jacket - their father worked on a dolphin-human communication project in Hawaii, hence the infamous design - and sumptuous inner sleeve have been faithfully restored. Whilst, with access to the original tapes, Simon Francis' sensitive mastering elevates the sound throughout and, as ever, it has been pressed at a reassuringly weighty 180g.

Transparentes blaugrünes Vinyl mit O-Card. Oliver Coates' Original-Soundtrack zu Pillion (dt.: Sozius"), einem britisch-irischen Spielfilm von Harry Lighton aus dem Jahr 2025. Der Liebesfilm handelt von einem schüchternen jungen Mann, der sich auf eine unterwürfige SM-Beziehung mit einem älteren Motorradfahrer einlässt.

Long overlooked outside specialist circles, Drammi e Speranze is presented for the first time ever on vinyl reissue, newly remastered to highlight the depth and tonal richness of Umiliani’s arrangements.

Originally released in 1976 on Piero Umiliani’s own Sound Work Shop imprint, Drammi e Speranze—issued under the pseudonym Rovi—stands as a refined example of his late-period library work.

Performed by a compact string ensemble and subtly augmented by piano, Hammond organ, Eminent organ, and Rhodes, the album unfolds through a series of classically-informed compositions where melody takes center stage. Each piece is concise, evocative, and purpose-built—reflecting the functional yet highly expressive nature of Italian library music at its peak.

Conceptually, the record is structured in two contrasting halves: the first side explores themes of optimism and resolution, while the second delves into darker, more introspective territories, mirroring the emotional duality suggested by its title (Tragedies and Hopes).

This release celebrates 100 years since the birth of Piero Umiliani, honoring the enduring legacy of a composer whose work continues to resonate across cinematic, library, and contemporary sample-driven music.

©℗ 1976, Liuto Edizioni Musicali / Licensed to Holy Basil Records by Liuto Edizioni Musicali

FELT wade deeper into the murky waters of contemporary Scandinavian electroacoustic music following the recent reissue of Johan Wieth’s Health & Safety project on sub-label LEFT and established gems from the likes of Civilistjävel!

Gintė Preisaitė, a Lithuanian artist and graduate of Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory, reveals her first solo release under her own name, following a collaborative effort with Toshimaru Nakamura in 2025 and a number of cassettes as “Baraboro”. The deliberately genre-blurring sound Preisaitė deploys works with composed pop vignettes, sustained drones, FX manipulations and guttural bursts of noise. Sparse piano movements, sample-laden psychedelia and moments of big beat/trip-hop rhythms gel with crowd noise, close mic’d intimacy and experimental percussion with a focus on instrumental timbres and extended techniques.

With a background in composing for large ensembles, Preisaitė's multi-instrumental approach is evident across the eight tracks, moments of dense concrète-style sound collages anchored by the human voice never being far away. She laments on fantasy, absurdity and relationships as a cast of players contribute string, brass, accordion, and guitar parts. Passages move from delicate acoustic folk motifs through to wide-eyed, cut-and-paste glitch electronics and spectral melodic riffs, making the album an unorthodox and welcome addition to Denmark's current world-class music scene.

Eine Sammlung von 21 Titeln mit Klassikern aus „Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood“.• Gepresst auf opaken gelben Vinyl.• Begleittext von dem mit einem Oscar und einem Grammy ausgezeichneten Regisseur Morgan Neville und dem Fernsehkritiker Robert Bianco aus Pittsburgh.„Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood“ feierte vor über fünf Jahrzehnten seine Fernsehpremiere. Auch wenn es manchen noch wie gestern vorkommt, als die Sendung brandneu war, ist es doch herzerwärmend zu wissen, wie sehr sie Teil des Lebens unzähliger Kinder und Erwachsener war, die die Sendung über die Jahrzehnte hinweg erlebt und daraus gelernt haben.Obwohl seine Popularität nie nachließ, hat der 2018 erschienene Dokumentarfilm „Won’t You Be My Neighbor?“ des Oscar- und Grammy-Preisträgers Morgan Neville unsere Liebe zu Fred Rogers neu entfacht und ihn einer neuen Generation vorgestellt. Mit dem bevorstehenden Kinostart von „A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood“ (mit Tom Hanks als Fred Rogers) im November werden der geliebte Mister Rogers und seine Nachbarschaft wieder einmal im Mittelpunkt der Herzen, Gedanken und Ohren aller stehen.„It’s Such A Good Feeling: The Best Of Mister Rogers“ versammelt 21 Lieder des beliebten Moderators (begleitet von seinem langjährigen Partner und Pianisten Johnny Costa, Carl McViker am Bass und dem Percussionisten Bobby Rawsthorne). Neben Klassikern wie „Won’t You Be My Neighbor“, „You Are Special“ und dem Titelsong enthält diese Veröffentlichung auch fünf bisher unveröffentlichte Titel, darunter den ursprünglichen Schlusssong der Sendung, „Tomorrow“.Diese LP ist auf opaken gelben Vinyl gepresst und die Verpackung enthält Fotos, eine Einleitung von Neville sowie einen Essay des Fernsehkritikers aus Pittsburgh (und langjährigen Mitarbeiters von USA Today) Robert Bianco. Also, steigt in den Trolley zum Land Of Make Believe, denn es ist wirklich so ein gutes Gefühl.

Guitarist/composer Cole Berliner"s writing, arranging and playing highlights an album of rich-grained, acoustic, west coast parlor music and modern electro-acoustic instrumentals in the challenger tradition of Bert Jansch"s Avocet, Marc Ribot"s Saints and Jim O"Rourke"s Bad Timing. Initially conceived as solo acoustic guitar tunes, Cole"s songs demanded the dynamics of an acoustic ensemble - a departure from his work with Kamikaze Palm Tree and Sharpie Smile. His arrangements form intricate passages for acoustic, electric and lap steel guitars, acoustic/electric bass, piano, drums, percussion, violin, viola, horns, woodwinds and synthesizers; Cole himself is on guitar and lap steel (plus synths and percussion on a few songs), mixing and co-producing alongside Cesar Maria.

Multi-instrumentalist Sarah Lipstate brings her innovative music to life under the name Noveller. Forming unexpected sonic routes, her songs are vivid and cinematic. Following several years spent collaborating with Iggy Pop, and touring the world as his guitarist, Lipstate returns with a new album of her own. I Am The Weather further expands her inventive explorations, creating what Pop once described to Jim Jarmusch as “symphonies for people that don’t have a lot of time.”

Sarah’s work as a composer, notably for the HBO Docuseries Breath Of Fire, as well as the Anthony Bourdain documentary Roadrunner, has greatly influenced her new constructions, incorporating piano, percussion and a new studio filled with excitement into her signature guitar sculpting. It is the baby grand at the center of her studio that welcomes you to the record on “Sunday in Copenhagen” before ceding to a celestial six string swell. The percussive rhythms of “Divining Dance” awaken a new morning in "The Way of Our Flood” and walk towards the bowed grace of “Otherside of Mountainside." Surging into the sky, “Portmerion” allows “Beyond the Fells” to glide back down to Earth, revealing the album’s biggest surprise - a vocal track!

It seems fitting given their past, that the first vocals on a Noveller record would be delivered by the legendary Iggy Pop. Written specifically for The Godfather of Punk, a noir-ish tale of a man over-matched by a femme fatale, “The Girl Who Was Death” builds with tension and release. Following their collaboration on the title track to Iggy’s album Free, (also used in a global campaign for PETA) and their interpretation of Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gently Into The Night”, Iggy was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to add vocals to another Lipstate composition. A scene set as if on opposite ends of a corner booth at the Double R Diner in Twin Peaks, he delivers each line with the weight of a thousand lives lived. The result is a song so vivid that you can see it projected ten feet tall on the walls all around you.

I Am The Weather is the first new release for the Experimentia label, which will soon be the home for the entire Noveller catalogue.

Miles Davis's Kind of Blue was the number-one jazz album in history. It totaled five songs. There are four more songs from that same historic group, recorded in the same time period and at the same studio. And here they are. These songs deserve to stand on their own with artwork to highlight the quality of the music and that matches the time period of the recording. This is a rare opportunity to have a smash follow-up to what many consider the greatest jazz record ever!

Through the years, these four remarkable performances — all from a single recording session in 1958 and all exemplary of the sound of Miles Davis' legend-loaded sextet of that year — have not been served well. They have been largely treated as add-ons for other compilations. Now, for the first time, Analogue Productions, the audiophile in-house reissue label of Acoustic Sounds, Inc., together with Quality Record Prssings, has deservedly given these tracks a stellar stand-alone release for jazz fans to savor!

The once-in-a-generation lineup that recorded these tunes is the very same that would be immortalized for the enduring classic they would record almost a year later, Kind of Blue. Davis played trumpet sublime with his ensemble sextet featuring pianist Bill Evans, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley.

Undervalued since their recording, the tunes on this album reflect historial and musical significance. They offer early glimpses into the modal jazz that Kind of Blue would bring to the forefront. Using modes common in modern classical music, rather than the chords of popular songs, Miles had begun to experiment with the new approach on the Milestones recording sessions previously.

Analogue Productions is proud to present Birth of the Blue in an exclusive first-of-its-kind stand-alone release that reflects our reputation for meticulous production, capturing authentic sound with clarity, depth and fidelity that exceeds the audiophile standard. 180-gram 45 RPM double LP pressed at Quality Record Pressings.

Features:
• Pioneering Ensemble: Captured the same rare and short-lived alignment of jazz legends including Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, as heard on the historic Kind of Blue.
• Innovative Sound: The session represented a crucial transition in jazz, blending elements of hard bop with early modal jazz influences, showcasing the ensemble's experimentation and forward-thinking approach.
• Undervalued Legacy: Despite its historical and musical significance, the session's recordings have been historically overlooked, often relegated to being add-ons in compilations rather than recognized as standalone masterpieces.
• Modal Jazz Precursor: Offered early glimpses into the modal jazz that would later be fully realized in Davis's groundbreaking album "Kind of Blue," laying the groundwork for future jazz innovation.
• Impact on Artists: Served as a critical point of development and confidence for the musicians involved, particularly Bill Evans, who noted the significant impact of this experience on his own identity and style.
• Historical Context: Occurred at a peak moment in Miles Davis's career, following his signing with Columbia Records and his critical and commercial successes with albums such as ‘Round About Midnight and Miles Ahead.

SCOTTISH TRUMPETER MALCOLM STRACHAN RETURNS WITH HIS MOST UPLIFTING AND GROOVE-DRIVEN ALBUM YET – “LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE”

On Look On The Bright Side, Malcolm Strachan sounds more open than ever. His third solo album moves effortlessly between soul-jazz, Latin grooves and Afrobeat touches, anchored by the warm, cinematic feel of 1970s jazz but driven by a clear sense of forward motion.

Released on 22 May 2026 via Haggis Records, the album sees Strachan stepping further into his role as a composer and bandleader, drawing together the threads of a career spanning more than two decades at the heart of the UK’s jazz, funk and soul scene.

Where his debut About Time (2020) channelled the spirit of classic Blue Note recordings and Point Of No Return (2023) leaned into the groove-heavy CTI era, Look On The Bright Side feels broader in scope – still rooted in groove, but more open to outside influences and a more consciously uplifting tone.

“I wanted the music to feel upbeat and positive,” says Strachan. “I start at the piano, working through chord ideas until I find something that feels right. Once the harmony is there, the melodies tend to come naturally.” That approach gives the album its fluidity, with tracks evolving from feel as much as structure and arrangements that leave room for interplay and movement.

In the early 1970s, Milan was a city defined by a restless, creative energy. Its recording studios hummed with activity day and night, populated by an elite circle of jazz-trained session musicians who split their time between tracking dates in the studio and jam sessions in the city’s clubs. Among them was Giancarlo Barigozzi, one of the most revered flautists and saxophonists of the scene, who was just then beginning to navigate the enigmatic world of library music.

The Barigozzi Group – formed alongside guitarist Sergio Farina and pianist Oscar Rocchi, both fellow session musicians – became a defining ensemble of Italian library. Commissioned by publishers in Milan and Rome, they produced some of the most exquisite library LPs of all time, records that effortlessly translated the spirit of the era into sound.

Of these, Woman’s Colours stands as arguably their most iconic and celebrated achievement. Originally released in 1974 on the Fonovideo label under the artistic supervision of Fabio Fabor, the album is a cohesive, organic exploration of a single theme: a refined tribute to the female form, with every track associating a specific colour with a different part of the body (“Violet Lips”, “Green Nails”, “Lilac Arms”, etc.).

While the subtitle "Pop Jazz – Pianoforte Elettronico Wurlitzer" might suggest a simple affair, the reality is a surprisingly rich and layered sonic universe. Here, jazz-funk and jazz-rock intertwine with echoes of Afro-rhythms, exotica, and bossa nova. The result is a vibrant mosaic of fusion and lounge, where driving basslines, fuzz guitars, Fender Rhodes, and prog-leaning flutes create a soundscape that balances elegance and groove in equal measure.

Over the decades, the record has attained true cult status, cherished by successive generations of dedicated collectors and listeners. It is now recognized as essential to the very definition of the Italian psycho-beat sound, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of I Marc 4 and Alessandro Alessandroni, while remaining a foundational milestone for acid-jazz and funk enthusiasts. Above all, it is a rare example of a library record so consistent and fluid that the listening journey, from start to finish, remains entirely seamless.

Today, Woman’s Colours is finally available again in its first official reissue, and for the first time in digital format. Presented by Four Flies Records, this edition features a premium tip-on sleeve and meticulously restored artwork by Eric Adrian Lee.

Moving Images is a collaborative album by composers Frank Maston and Greg Foat, and marks the inaugural release on Magic Hollow, the new imprint founded by Daniel O'Sullivan. Rooted firmly in the tradition of classic library music, the album draws from the deep, elegant end of the form: vintage keyboards, analogue synthesis, drum machines, and melodic economy, realised with clarity, warmth, and restraint. Recorded in February 2025 at Ritmo Studios in Leysin, Switzerland, high in the Alps, Moving Images unfolds as a suite of finely balanced cues, defined by restraint, texture, and a discerning sense of tone.Swiss bassist Elie Ghersinu features prominently throughout the album, his rich and fluid bass tone providing a continuous anchor. The record draws inspiration from the golden age of European library music, channeling the spirit of De Wolfe and Bruton releases such as Alan Hawkshaw's Frontiers Of Science, the Push Button albums by Karl Jenkins and Mike Ratledge, Edmondo Giuliani's refined orchestrations, and Alessandro Alessandroni's Romance and Drama for Coloursound. Rather than pastiche, Moving Images internalises the discipline and elegance of these recordings, translating their grammar into a contemporary context. Maston Frank Maston's work occupies a space where pop sophistication, orchestral writing, and library traditions intersect. His seminal album Tulips established a distinctive voice defined by melodic confidence and meticulous arrangement, while Panorama, composed for the KPM library, placed him firmly within the lineage of modern composers revitalising the classic library form.Maston's music is characterized by melodic generosity and meticulous arrangement, resulting in work that is elegant, florid, and richly detailed. Greg Foat Greg Foat is a central figure in the contemporary resurgence of library-influenced music, known for his prolific output and deep engagement with the form. A virtuoso pianist, his work bridges jazz, soundtrack composition, and classic library aesthetics, often favouring analogue warmth, strong melodic identities, and ensemble interplay. Foat approaches library music as both a craft and a living language, practical, expressive, and open ended. Moving Images Together, Maston and Foat treat Moving Images as a shared vocabulary rather than a showcase. The album prioritises mood, utility, and suggestion, music designed to serve images and narratives while remaining richly satisfying in isolation. Magic Hollow Magic Hollow is a London based record label founded by composer Daniel O'Sullivan. The imprint is dedicated to contemporary works that engage with library music as a creative practice rather than a fixed genre.Magic Hollow represents a parallel compositional practice in which the sonic self-portrait gives way to openness, economy, and concision.

HolyBrune begeistert mit ihrer sanften Stimme und eingängigen Toplines. Als Singer-Songwriterin und Komponistin erlangte sie erstmals Aufmerksamkeit an der Seite von Dabeull mit dem goldzertifizierten Hit „You & I“. Mit „Visions“ liefert sie eine intergalaktische Ode an die Liebe, die kosmische Romantik und Retro-Futurismus miteinander verbindet. Verspielt und luftig vereint der Track Vocoder, Talkbox, groovigen Bass und kitschige Synthesizer – eine lebendige Hommage an die 80er-Jahre und The Rah Band.

"I wanted to travel / Home into somewhere,"Ana Roxanne breathes across an eerie suspended drone on "The Age of Innocence". "I wanted to try / And go very far." These are the first words we hear on Poem 1 and reintroduce an artist who's in a conspicuously different phase of her life than she was when her debut album, Because of a Flower, sprouted nearly six years ago.

Heartbroken and reflective, Roxanne surveys the transformations that followed and displays a new-found boldness. Her voice is naked, vulnerable and alive, no longer shrouded in tape noise or looped and echoed beyond recognition beneath layered electroacoustic textures.

Throughout the course of Poem 1, Roxanne displays her skill as a singer and songwriter in the classic sense, using the limited instrumentation simply to accent her exposed tones. Muted piano phrases and plucked bass notes languidly trail her anguished siren song on "Berceuse in A-flat Minor, Op. 45", making each word count.

On "Keepsake" meanwhile, she sounds as if she's alone in an abandoned bar, stroking the dust off the piano's keys as she inventories her emotional scars. There's a smell of old whisky in the air, but Poem 1 is a remarkably sober album; never wallowing in self pity, Roxanne finds catharsis in the logic of her expressions, twisting out the edges of her memories into surreal, cinematic asides. "Untitled II", the album's pronounced, uninhibited centerpiece, delivers on the Lynchian promise that's been present since her first EP, 2019's ~~~. "

And when she interprets the Robert Schumann's lied "Stille Tränen" on "One Shall Sleep", she turns Justinus Kerner's words into a whispered echo of her own grief, narrating the 19th century poem over syrupy synthesizers and strings. There's a light emerging on the horizon, though; burying her past on the choral standout '"Cover Me", Roxanne shifts the pace and the mood on 'Atonement', lifting her voice into a gentle lilt.

2026 Repress

It’s rare that a certain sound is entirely an artist’s own. Although undeniably a stew of impeccable influences – from blues to folk to Latin to dusty funk, soul and hip-hop – one cannot hear a Tommy Guerrero song without immediately recognising it as his - and his only.
The cult skater from San Francisco is globally renowned as one of the original members of the legendary “Bones Brigade” team. And as an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, his laid-back soul is beloved by all who’ve basked in its blissful glow.
There’s something elemental about this music that really stirs the soul. Strikingly beautiful and instantly addictive, it’s a kind of funk-fuelled, melody-driven, groove-based magic. There’s a serenity and heart in the playing that radiates warmth and splendour, as if crafted for endless sunsets. His albums that surfaced on Mo Wax at the turn of the century have been treasured since their release and it’s two of his most vital LPs that we’re honoured to reintroduce.
The originals were quietly pressed on to a single piece of vinyl so we’ve worked closely with Tommy this year to bring you these fresh, limited editions. They have been lovingly remastered, cut nice and loud on to heavyweight double vinyl and presented in deluxe gatefold jackets.
Soul Food Taqueria continued Guerrero’s guitar soul but represented a step forward with its polished production and greater complexity of instrumentation. Denied the promotion it deserved upon release, it flew under the radar. It is now the most wanted record of his wondrous back catalogue.
Guerrero’s atmospheric touch and subtle guitar provide lush, glimmering pieces of musical texture. Within his spacious compositions, uniquely arranged instruments flourish alongside each other to create a languid soundtrack for halcyon days.
As ever, the diversity on display is beguiling. From bossa nova, samba and cumbia rhythms to understated folk, funk and soul grooves, this is another exotic set of mellow gold; perfectly represented by ESPO’s memorable artwork. Furthermore, the title’s hybridity reflects the intoxicating sweep of stylistic flavours served up, reminding us that, however tricky it is to categorise Guerrero’s special blend, it’s always a pleasure to indulge in something so creative and adventurous.
Dubby, bass-heavy instrumentals give way to moody folk-soul – witness “It Gets Heavy”, featuring melancholic vocals from Gresham Taylor – whilst “Thank You MK” is a gentle ode to the tropics, featuring ethereal instrumentation, bright bass and warm, jazzy guitars. The second half in particular contains a number of stunning ambient tracks – check “Lost Unfound”, “Another Brother Gone” and “Broken Blood” - built around minimalist, laid-back grooves and detailed guitar orchestrations which wouldn’t be out of place on the latest Jonny Nash release.
Guerrero closes this flawless set with a moment of true beauty. Restrained and graceful, “Falling Awake” is a pared back piece containing meditative guitar melodies set against melancholic piano arrangements. It brings proceedings to the most peaceful close. Seductively good, it reminds you just how great simplicity can sound.

Following their 2024 debut „La Grande Accumulation“ Anadol (Gözen Atila) and Marie Klock return with „Manivelles“.

Hailed by The Quietus as a duo that pushes each other to "greater heights of oddness" the pair produces an undefinable mix of folk, kraut, and pop nested inside expansive organ-based arrangements. The album‘s nine tracks emerged from intensive improvisations in Paris and Istanbul, brought to life with an odd mix of tools: from Prophet-5 and Jupiter-6 synths to mechanical Pianet clatter and even a salad spinner repurposed as a drone.

Klock‘s French lyrics navigate the miniature and the cosmic, exploring the small tragedies of everyday life - botched holiday gatherings, lingering heartbreak or the absence of a loved one.

Born from a moment of catharsis during an Istanbul earthquake that ended a period of writer‘s block, the record draws its material from lived experience and a lasting friendship.

Its title „Manivelles“ - meaning "cranks" - hints at the musical partners creative penchant for generating songs through friction and playful contradictions. From the shouted pastiche of "Symposium" to the sparse synth pulses of "Une Grande Tragédie Polonaise", it‘s an album with a wonderfully wonky heart that sounds like faint signals from a beautifully failing transmitter.

Alex Wann & JUNO combine for ‘Allo’ on Crosstown Rebels.

Out on 8th May 2026, the two in-demand talents combine for a cinematic label debut on Damian Lazarus’ imprint. Parisian DJ/producer Alex Wann joins forces with German talent JUNO for a brooding two-track EP arriving via Crosstown Rebels on 8th May. Alex has become a formidable force within the melodic house landscape, performing at festivals and venues from Tomorrowland to Pacha Ibiza, while holding a Las Vegas residency at Wynn’s XS Nightclub. His reach extends far beyond the booth, with multiple Beatport chart-topping releases on renowned imprints and notable support from Keinemusik, Diplo, John Summit, BLOND:ISH, and more. Here he collaborates with JUNO, who comes off a breakout 2025 marked by his standout hit ‘Last Dance’ on Magnifik Music and a Hot Mix for Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1, delivering an impressive label debut for the pair.

Title track ‘Allo’ sees the pair lock into a deep, groove-led collaboration that balances warmth and intensity, built around a driving low end and a steadily rising sense of pressure as its growling basslines, echoing synth textures, and razor-sharp percussion slowly unfold. On the fl ip, ‘IDONE’ fi nds Alex Wann stepping out solo with an introspective fi nish, featuring pulsing riff s and pensive, elongated piano chords, threaded by a winding, gritty synth line that gradually builds toward a powerful climax.

The Belgian producer delivers emotion driven melodic soundscapes across three originals.

DIM KELLY returns to Lee Burridge’s All Day I Dream imprint to release his three track Homily EP. On the heels of three acclaimed EPs released on the label - Nocturna Animal in 2021, Mangrove in 2022, and Pianologic in 2023, in 2024 DIM KELLY is back once again, delivering his signature melodic sensibilities that have become a consistent fixture of the All Day I Dream catalog. When DIM KELLY recently performed at the All Day I Dream of Summer Shimmer party at the Brooklyn Mirage on June 2, unreleased tracks played from the Homily EP created some of the most unforgettable moments of the show.

Célia Oneto Bensaid reveals the full palette of the master of minimalism: original works, opera and film transcriptions, hypnotic flashes and introspective tenderness.

This album paints a sensitive and vibrant portrait of a composer in constant metamorphosis, for whom repetition becomes breath, emotion and light.

These resonances together form the true ‘Echoes’ of Philip Glass


[b] The Poet Acts (Music from the motion picture "The Hours") [Arr. for Piano Solo by Michael Riesman and Nico Muhly]

[d] "Trilogy" Sonata: II. Knee Play 4 (From" Einstein on the Beach") [Arr. for Piano Solo by Paul Barnes]
[e] "Trilogy" Sonata: I. Dance (From "Akhnaten", Scene 3) [Arr. for Piano Solo by Paul Barnes]
[f] Mad Rush The Hours (Music from the motion picture "The Hours") [Arr. for Piano Solo by Michael Riesman and Nico Muhly

Shaped from fragile, emotionally charged piano motifs that distort, disappear and transform into dense, cinematic textures, 'CANALS' is a debut that's finely matured, the result of years of friendship and growth. Italian artist Vanja Sturno and Montréal-based Belgian-Spanish composer Pablo Geeraert (aka Sanea Ima) have worked together extensively on various projects up until now, but 'CANALS' is their first official release as a duo. Having both studied music academically, the pair were eager to work more intuitively, so applied their well-honed set of skills to sound that, instead of fitting into a conceptual box, reflected more personal experiences.

Back in 2023, Geeraert travelled to Rome to support his friend at a difficult time and, during the trip, received some bad news of his own. The complicated feelings unconsciously surged through a series of delicate Ryuichi Sakamoto-inspired piano improvisations and a new project began to coalesce. They didn't realize it at the time, but once the record was finished, Sturno and Geeraert began to understand that the entire process had been a form a joint catharsis - a release of pressure. They were able to function so effortlessly and swiftly because they had already provided the space for each other to resonate emotionally and the music flowed from that point.

So the album's title, while remaining ambiguous, suggests its formation: a sequence of eight interconnected channels that feed a creative whole. On the first segment, Sturno and Geeraert's initial recordings can be perceived most nakedly, the melancholy, Satie-like phrases floating peacefully for a moment before the tranquility is agitated by stormy distortions and swelled into thick waves of harmony. The piano provides the record with its emotional anchor, offering focus and clarity as multi-dimensional noise wells up around it before inevitably dissipating, leaving gentle, unadorned sounds once again.

And the familiar instrument is reshaped into a wheezing artificial organ on the animated 'CANALS III', punctuated by percussive, tape-warped pitch fluctuations that seem to bite into its very essence. Gauzy acoustic granulations snowball into a powerful, bass-heavy crescendo on the fourth part, setting the tenor for the album's second half. But after the crushing 'CANALS VI', possibly Sturno and Geeraert's heaviest track, a brief tremolo-heavy vignette that ripples through experimental rock and ambient music's braided history, the duo clear the air with a jazzy diversion, introducing soft woodwind blasts as a palate cleanser before an epic, widescreen finale.

It's an album that's best absorbed as a whole, a vortex of ritualistic, rhythmic repetitions that Sturno and Geeraert appropriately refer to as "spiral listening".