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Opening with the buzz of a smartphone on vibrate, First Hate’s sophomore album Cotton Candy launches to life with “Someone New,” a synth-driven statement of intent. The Danish duo’s charged songs are rooted in a recognizable universe, but traverse a wide array of genre experiments and pop detours. Cotton Candy follows the quest of its protagonist stumbling through a crumbling world, winning and losing lovers, swinging from extreme highs to hopeless lows. The title alludes to transience and ecstasy, the surge of a sugar rush before nausea sets in, the way cotton candy dissolves into nothingness leaving only sticky fingers. Throughout, the productions glitter with synthetic detail and hypermodern finesse, effervescent but elusive. “Life is a rollercoaster and we’ve ridden the ups and downs.” During the recording sessions, a collage of Copenhagen musicians flowed through the studio. First Hate is a fixture of the city’s creative community, but ultimately exists in their own sphere, carving a niche as parallel universe pop stars, embracing sweet and bitter, risk and reward: “Sometimes the ones who love you most are the ones who hold you back.” Anton and Joakim grew up in Copenhagen and met when they were 15 through common friends on the street where they lived. “I didn’t enjoy being home so I used to stay at my friend Jakob's basement in an old church on Willemoesgade street,” says Wei. “His mom was the priest. She baptized Anton at age eight during his Jesus phase when he demanded a late baptism from his atheist parents. Jakob was friends with Elias who lived up in Anton’s end and they introduced us to each other. One summer my parents finally married after 20 years of dating. Joakim moved in for two weeks and we accidentally trashed the apartment while they were on their honeymoon. Later on Jakob, Elias, and two other friends, Dan and Johan, formed the band Iceage. Watching our friends’ growing success was a catalyst in creating our own project. At that point everybody in our friend group was making punk music, so the most punk thing we could think to do was start a pop duo.” The First Hate catalog comprises more than nine years of work, including their 2017 cult classic, A Prayer For The Unemployed, a collaborative album Dittes Bog, two EPs and several singles. All of the recordings are self-produced, until they are ready to be finished in the studio. “We have sort of a twin alliance. Like couples finishing each other’s spaghetti at restaurants, we finish each other’s music. Having people enter this sacred mix has been such a pleasure.” On stage Anton and Joakim embody the contrasting yet complimentary energies of yin and yang: Joakim pushing buttons, steering the ship, working synths and samplers with harmonious calm, while Anton’s body bullets around the stage, pounding out his kinetic dance moves. The name Anton means fragile flower, an apt metaphor for his stage presence. A fragile flower shooting through concrete. To behold a performer who consistently delivers such intense live performances is a rare pleasure. “Live means love. When everything is right. When we meet the audience heart to heart. Then the planet spins even faster.” First Hate has performed over a hundred shows across Europe, Asia, the U.S., and Russia, both as headliners and alongside fellow Copenhagen acts Iceage, Lust For Youth, Communions, Soho Rezanejad, Trentemøller and Grand Prix. “We are on a quest of love, yes it’s as cheesy as that.”

Rose City Band is celebrated guitarist Ripley Johnson. A prolific songwriter, Johnson started Rose City Band to have an outlet to explore songwriting styles apart from Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo, where he is often not the lead songwriter. Rose City Band allowed him to follow his musical muses as they greet him and not be bound by the schedule of bandmates and demands of a touring group. Stepping out from behind the psychedelic haze that envelops his other output, Rose City Band"s lean yet richly textured arrangements lay bare the beauty of his songcraft. On Earth Trip, Johnson reveals more of himself than ever before, coloring the project"s country-rock twang with a melancholic, wistful undertone. It charts a journey of personal growth and introspection with surprising honesty, from pining for summers spent with friends to meditations on space, stillness and the splendor of the natural world. It continues Rose City Band"s celebration of summer warmth and the great outdoors, seen from a new vantage point, and with newfound appreciation for the freedom and joy that nature provides. Earth Trip was written during a period of sudden shocks and drastic lifestyle changes for Johnson. Forced to cancel extensive touring plans for 2020, the guitarist found himself home for an extended period for the first time in years. No longer in constant motion, he was able to experience and enjoy the simple pleasures of home life, of being in one place: hikes in nature, bathing outside, and waking with the dawn. Forming new connections to his surroundings, from tending to a garden to sleeping out under the stars, Johnson found hope and healing in a more mindful relationship with the natural world. Themes of recalibration and finding personal space are equally mirrored in Earth Trip"s lean production. Recorded at his home studio in Portland and mixed by Cooper Crain (Bitchin" Bajas, Cave), Johnson makes deft use of space while experimenting with new sonics. Shimmering pedal steel, woozy harmonica melodies, and stately piano enhance the album"s introspective tone without ever clouding arrangements. Psychedelic elements that nod to Johnson"s other projects and influences still appear throughout, but hover at the edge of perception, a subtle halo adding colour and texture to Johnson"s songwriting rather than taking centrer-stage. He elaborates: "I told Cooper I was trying to capture that feeling when you take psychedelics and they just start coming on - maybe objects start buzzing in the edges of your vision, you start seeing slight trails, maybe the characteristics of sound change subtly. But you"re not fully tripping yet. He got the idea right away and his mix really captures that feeling." Johnson"s lithe guitar playing throughout treads a fine line between country and cosmic, taut melodies spiralling out into long reverb trails or free-form solos buoyed by a breeze, radiating summer warmth. Through its daring honesty and masteful arrangements, Earth Trip cements Johnson"s place as a singular songwriter of inimitable skill. It"s message of mindfulness and our interconnectedness to the environment expands on a long country and blues music tradition that draws a symbiotic relationship between storyteller and the land, capturing the beauty of the natural world while also emphasising our responsibility in preserving it for future generations

With a back catalogue that spans half a dozen studio LPs as Boom Bip,
plus another two as one half of electronic pop duo Neon Neon, Bryan
Hollon has already made a name for himself as a Mercury prizenominated producer and multi-instrumentalist
Equally impressive are the credits to Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa's name;
she's contributed percussion to albums by Kurt Vile, Cate le Bon, Courtney
Barnett, Sharon Van Etten, and Kim Gordon, among others. But as improvisational
techno duo Belief, the pair make music that harkens back to '90s acts like LFO
and 808 State – artists that indelibly, but near-anonymously, altered club and rave
culture, mostly identifiable by clean, bold logos on 12" sleeves. Without being
derivative of the era, they add their own instincts and experiences to grace the
musical universe with new answers to the question: What Would Mark Bell Do?
Hollon met Mozgawa just after she joined Warpaint, when Boom Bip shared a
rehearsal space in Echo Park with the band. The two quickly bonded over a love
of early Warp Records, drum breaks, acid house, and Y2K- era rave flyers. They
swapped playlists and ideas when Mozgawa played drums for Neon Neon's 2013
West Coast tour, but due to busy schedules, it would be another three years
before they packed every piece of gear they collectively owned into Eric
Wareheim's Absolutely Studios for an initial jam session. Instinctively playing to
each other's strengths and whims – and recording the session to build on later –
allowed Mozgawa to explore a style of music she'd long considered a dark art,
and pushed Hollon, known for his meticulous planning in previous work, to be
more spontaneous.
It was all in good fun – early shows billed the pair as 'Beef' with a comedic wink
to its pulsating minimalism. But as the two began committing themselves to
finalizing and recording more soulful, enigmatic tracks, the reverent nature of
what they were doing began to emerge: while Belief pays homage to the pioneers
of techno, the project is born out of an oddly divine foresight Mozgawa and
Hollon share, the synergy of two devout tastemakers building a shrine to inner
peace and outward pleasure

restock!

Written and recorded during 2020, a year marked by forced quarantine with in turn proved to be a prolific time for musical composition. It is an album about change, aging and the fading memories one has, often more of a product of the current state of a person than an accurate description of those remembered moments. With age we tend to forget or lose contact with particular moments and parts of our own story and context become erased forever, as though they never happened. With this album, peter bjärgö takes the first steps into something new, bringing along his signature sound from past projects into a slowly evolving transition to a sonic world beyond his previous achievements. Leaning towards a more ethnic, rhythmic sound, integrated with his now trademark melancholic guitar work and deep solemn vocals, these are the first steps to a new horizon he’s ceaselessly crafting for our listening pleasure.

“Whoever gives nothing, has nothing; the greatest misfortune is not to be unloved, but not to love “ - Albert Camus

Cristian Marras - OCD - JoeFarr - Codex Empire

After a massive 30-tracks digital compilation celebrating a decade of existence, Gegen keeps moving forward with the release of their third vinyl record.

Starting it off is Berlin-based Cristian Marras: DJ, Producer and Rebels Conspiracy label founder who plays solid driving Industrial Techno and his track for Gegen is no exception. Opening with ethereal chants like a coven calling to arms, Asymmetric sounds like an existential journey from awakening to action, the switch in state of mind materialized by a menacing acid line immerging halfway through, leading us out of darkness.

Next is UK’s JoeFarr, a versatile and skilled craftsman who recently got music out on Soma followed soon by a release on Rebekah’s Elements. His track for Gegen is the bittersweet Timeless, built on the duality between soft emotional hopeful melodies and raw distorted cutting martial basslines and crushing sound design.

On the B side, Berlin’s OCD’s artist statement centered around the ideology of pain and the battle against anxiety caused by a senseless world with the goal to turn people’s fear and information overload into rage and find pleasure from overwhelming emotions in modern rhythms is in full effect on her track Egoismus. With its mournful pads like heartbroken fairies floating above an army on the move and thumping kicks characteristic of her hard sound, OCD brings you into an oneiric state where everything is out of control and too fast — a metaphor for our ages.

To round it all up is British-born, Vienna-based Codex Empire whose productions you might have heard on aufnahme + wiedergabe or Sacred Court. He brings to Gegen his signature dark and intense techno with Hagane, a track built on heavy rhythmic elements and metallic pounding sounds bouncing off each other for an unstoppable groove.

A question popular among followers of Thrash Metal is undeniably this, “Which is considered the fastest Thrash Metal album of all time?”. There would be a high percentage of answers supporting “Reign In Blood”, Darkness Descends” or “Pleasure To Kill”. Now here’s a startling reality. Wehrmacht’s debut album makes those albums sound as if they were meant to be listed under progressive Metal. The sheer ferocity of these guys is enough to convince you why they were considered the fastest Heavy Metal band in the underground. So what is it that makes this record worthy of being called an underground classic? Right from production to musicianship, the concoction of several different ideas results into one colossal and inevitably unique style of their own. Many of you would probably wonder that there might just be a natural leaning towards sloppy playing especially considering my description of their astoundingly fast nature earlier. But the major surprise here is that all the musicians are extremely tight and precise with no single riff, solo or beat falling out of place. Tito Matos is one of the most versatile Thrash singers one has ever heard till date. His clarity of words and ability to keep up with the rest of the band with his lightning fast singing is simply commendable. The songs in here are all ridiculously speedy pieces of Thrash Metal with practically little or no remorse for the listener. The title track with that brilliant rendition of the famously eerie “Jaws” theme kicks off the onslaught with a tearing main riff that shreds away with speed and precision. Teutonic, Bay Area and a few east coast Thrash Metal bands have been instrumental in forging the whole genre altogether but taking the intensity a couple of notches higher was undoubtedly achieved by bands like Cryptic Slaughter, Soothsayer and finally Wehrmacht. For a year that was 1987, “Shark Attack” was way ahead of its time and has been highly regarded as the release that influenced many a band in the Grindcore and Black Metal genres. To testify this statement of mine, U.K Grindcore pioneers Napalm Death have covered Wehrmacht on one of their studio compilations, thus proving the exemplary effect this band had in the years to come. Yet the irony still stands out as to why only the most devoted of Thrash Metal/Crossover freaks know about this band. As for some of you guys, quit wasting your time listening to the senseless offshoots of Grindcore and shitty Black Metal and get a hold of this classic instead.

“Slave Driver” pushes the boundaries of Thrash Metal once again, intense and aggressive in its purest form available! Dead Head have been around since the late 80`s which was a golden and extremely fertile period for Thrash Metal, and it shows. Their style is just about as aggressive as Thrash can logically get before having to refer to them as death metal whilst thankfully managing to retaining a slight 80`s vibe. Everything about “Slave Driver” just ooozes unadulterated seething hatred, and aural violence. The raging, savage, heavy yet scything hyperfast guitar riffs are so crammed with maliciousness that you instantly realise that Slayer have in all reality been effectively dead for years. The vocals which easily rival any Thrash band in history for delivering snarling savage hatred, should show Kreator what they have been incapable of producing since Pleasure to Kill. The fast cannon like drumming is unrepentant, and forms a perfect malevolent percussive backing for this brutal aural bashing. The mix is just as professional as you could want from a Thrash album, the guitar tone is crunchy and vocals are just right: spitting hatred and virtue in the same breath. If the band’s previous albums haven’t cemented them into the annals of Thrashistory just yet, “Slave Driver” will seal the deal. It’s an impressive statement from an overlooked band. Dead Head have remained very consistant with their releasing of very high quality Thrash/Death music for over thirty years. Hail the best Thrash band around today, they have been criminally overlooked for far too long.

Kate Bollinger's songs tend to linger well beyond their run times, filling the negative space of ordinary days with charming melodies and smart phrasings. She writes them at home in Richmond, Virginia, letting her subconscious lead, an open-ended process she likens to dreaming. From a chord progression appears a line, maybe a syllable will start to stick, enough to pursue, but she says sometimes the words don't feel likeher own, more like shapes that form in the mind's sky. Bollinger's musical universe is relaxed, tender, and unassuming; within lives a timeless sensibility, a songwriter's knack for noticing the little things and their counterpoints. Darkness and light, pain and pleasure, reality and escape. Her new EP, Look at it in the Light, her first project on Ghostly International, is collaborative; she shoots music videos with her friends and colors each of her folk-pop songs with musicians in her community. The title Look at it in the Light is a reference to the aspects of Bollinger's life that she knows need examining. For one, there's her persistent resistance to change _ she chooses to ignore it on the title track ("I try not to notice / I deny my fate"), as wiry strums sync with crisp drums. She surrenders to comfort on "Who Am I But Someone," a light and softly psychedelic number. "Yards / Gardens" finds Bollinger in full swing, skipping verses of uncertainty above a bright and nimble bassline and kick. Guitar riffs unravel across the bridge, trailing her lines like ellipses. The string-backed "Lady in the Darkest Hour" is the set's most luxuriant statement, recorded during a session at Matthew E. White's Spacebomb Studios with in-house arranger Trey Pollard (Natalie Prass, Helado Negro). Here her lines ring bittersweet yet reassuring, uplifted by swells of golden-hued instrumentation. From the hushed abstractions of "I Found Out" to the biting suspicions of closer "Connecting Dots," Kate Bollinger uses every inch of this dazzling EP to find her footing amidst the ever-present sways of life.

Kate Bollinger's songs tend to linger well beyond their run times, filling the negative space of ordinary days with charming melodies and smart phrasings. She writes them at home in Richmond, Virginia, letting her subconscious lead, an open-ended process she likens to dreaming. From a chord progression appears a line, maybe a syllable will start to stick, enough to pursue, but she says sometimes the words don't feel likeher own, more like shapes that form in the mind's sky. Bollinger's musical universe is relaxed, tender, and unassuming; within lives a timeless sensibility, a songwriter's knack for noticing the little things and their counterpoints. Darkness and light, pain and pleasure, reality and escape. Her new EP, Look at it in the Light, her first project on Ghostly International, is collaborative; she shoots music videos with her friends and colors each of her folk-pop songs with musicians in her community. The title Look at it in the Light is a reference to the aspects of Bollinger's life that she knows need examining. For one, there's her persistent resistance to change _ she chooses to ignore it on the title track ("I try not to notice / I deny my fate"), as wiry strums sync with crisp drums. She surrenders to comfort on "Who Am I But Someone," a light and softly psychedelic number. "Yards / Gardens" finds Bollinger in full swing, skipping verses of uncertainty above a bright and nimble bassline and kick. Guitar riffs unravel across the bridge, trailing her lines like ellipses. The string-backed "Lady in the Darkest Hour" is the set's most luxuriant statement, recorded during a session at Matthew E. White's Spacebomb Studios with in-house arranger Trey Pollard (Natalie Prass, Helado Negro). Here her lines ring bittersweet yet reassuring, uplifted by swells of golden-hued instrumentation. From the hushed abstractions of "I Found Out" to the biting suspicions of closer "Connecting Dots," Kate Bollinger uses every inch of this dazzling EP to find her footing amidst the ever-present sways of life.

Following widespread acclaim for his recent LP ‘Always Inside your Head’, on March 4th / April 8th Matt Cutler AKA Lone releases four re-works of tracks from the album, entitled ‘Natural Aerials’.

On ‘Natural Aerials (Mouth of God Part Two)’, Lone utilises a similar sound palette as album track ‘Mouth Of God’, but rebuilds it into a brand new banger. Energetic, deep, trancey and driven by jungle-schooled breakbeats, with bassbin shuddering low-end, he delves deeper into the vortex. Whereas the album was made predominantly using software, Cutler has since been buying hardware – and this marks the first track made on these newly acquired synths.

Based around a version from Lone’s recent sold-out live show at London’s Village Underground, on ‘Inlove2 (One Thirty Mix)’ he ups the original’s BPM count, with sights set firmly on the dancefloor. Taking cues from the ‘Ambivert Tools’ series, this is a high-grade, proggy, main room acid rush.

On ‘Visited By Astronauts (SHERELLE Had A Groove Remix)’, the fast-rising star takes an ambient interlude from the album, and gives it what she calls “a space age, footwork jungle twist”. Her first released remix, Sherelle continues an impeccable purple patch, with a re-rub that’s both airy and light, but also heavily percussive, full of propulsive forward motion. She states, "it’s a pleasure and honour to remix for Lone, as being a long time fan, it's a beautiful thing to be able to collaborate. I really wanted my first remix to be special and also for someone who I hugely admire, so Matt asking me to be involved in this process wastruly magical!”

‘Echo Paths Ebb And Flow’ takes a downtempo album highlight, strips it back to just the synths, then unfurls them into a blissful ambient work that’s melodic, warm and fuzzy, swaddling the listener in candy floss clouds.

Originally released in 1983, this 12’’ from French-Haitian saxophone player Ulysse became cult – and extremely rare – within the French boogie niche. Both tracks wonderfully succeed in mixing political statements with dance-floor delights.
Boogie-pop track “Naïma” seems to be a love song at first, but actually says the impossible resilience of a woman who has grown up in war.
The heavy digital reggae song “Tiers Monde” warns us about the abandonment of Third World children.
This maxi single, where each track is instantly followed by its instrumental version for greater DJ use, is an authentic snapshot of the Paris mixed club scene of the 1980s. Really hard to find for a very long time, it’s a great pleasure for Stima Records to make this music
available again, in order to reach a well deserved new audience nearly 40 years later!

 Celebrating The Chameleons’ 40th Anniversary, this
iconic concert is released on vinyl for the very first
time.
 The Camden Palace was a special performance
recorded on the 11th of September 1984 for a satellite
TV broadcast and features Middleton’s finest on top of
their game, playing tracks taken from ‘Script of the
Bridge’ and ‘What Does Anything Mean? Basically’.
 This album also includes four bonus tracks from the
Arsenal concert, which was recorded for an
independent Catalonian local TV channel in 1985.
 The cover art has been exclusively designed by
Chameleons guitarist Reg Smithies, who designed all
the official Chameleons studio releases.
 The Chameleons are an acknowledged influence on
future generations of indie and alternative rock bands,
including Stone Roses, The Charlatans, Smashing
Pumpkins, The Flaming Lips, The Killers, The Horrors,
The National and Interpol. Oasis main songwriter Noel
Gallagher claims The Chameleons were an early
influence on his song writing and stated in a recent
interview: “I’d forgotten how much ‘Strange Times’
meant to me. It came out in ‘86. I was 19!! I’ve been
listening to it every day since and I have to say it’s
blown my mind… again! It must have influenced my
early years as a song writer because I can hear ME in
it everywhere!!”
 Double LP pressed on ‘Chameleon’ (orange / blue)
coloured vinyl. Also includes a copy of the album on
CD, previously unseen photos and poster.

Summer at Land’s End is not an interlude or tangent for The Reds, Pinks & Purples but rather a perfect fourth movement following the albums Anxiety Art, You Might Be Happy Someday, and Uncommon Weather. As with these self-recorded records (the primary work of songwriter Glenn Donaldson), the songs on Summer at Land’s End were crafted slowly and then drawn together to make a unified statement. But here, and more than before, Summer at Land’s End combines Donaldson’s rueful pop sensibility with a parallel musical universe, one composed of pictures, dreams, and feelings without words. Even if the underlying theme of this collection is one of conflict or unhappiness, the vision of the music presents an escape to a new world, always fading in and out of sight.

For listeners who may not be familiar with Donaldson’s corner of San Francisco––the Richmond district––or the current wave of hazy, melodic DIY pop groups performing in the city, Summer at Land’s End pulls in images and scenes that feel like a collision of the mundane and the sublime of this present landscape. But settings such as these are the backdrop for personal narratives, expressed as a struggle with love, with companionship and the conflicts of home. With this record, The Reds, Pinks & Purples give less focus to the vanities of a subculture and more to the challenge of connecting with someone, to the ordinary goals of being human and finding harmony with others.

This deliberate saturation in drama and ambiance, along with some of Donaldson’s best songwriting to date, is what gives Summer at Land’s End its special class in the project’s discography. Of the album’s cinematic mood, Donaldson refers to films like Summer of ‘42 and the influence of the classic 4AD catalogue of the 1990s. This style informs much of Donaldson’s prior and current ventures of course (The Ivytree, Vacant Gardens, and a dozen projects in between) but now The Reds, Pinks & Purples have taken the mantle, embracing this instinct for instrumental or dreamier modes of pop songwriting. It’s a pleasure to experience Summer at Land’s End, as this record finds a thrilling balance between songs and sounds, instruments and voices, and the ironic twin poles of art and life.

The Norwegian-born/Berlin-based electronic duo Soft as Snow returns with their most powerful statement yet. Their second full length 'Bit Rot' perfectly captures the friction of our contemporary existence in which smooth digital surfaces are locked in conflict with messy physical realities. The crumbling of fantastic European infrastructure is mirrored by luxurious synthwave and ecstatic trance crumbling into nightmarish, corroded cyberscapes.

The songs on 'Bit Rot' create a wide variety of zones in which pleasure and discomfort come together organically and seamlessly. Even as these songs are eaten alive by oppressive atmospheres and destabilizing glitches they never lose sight of their strong melodic underpinnings. Tracks like 'Always On', 'Soft Body Hard Dreaming' and the terrifyingly intense title cut are like visits to a rave inside a paranoid microchipped brain, while 'Rubber Boy' presents electro-industrial funk sung by a caged mutant. On the more restrained tip, fluorescent ballads like 'Hollow' and 'Quiet Anger' evoke the feeling of slipping into a fugue state at an all-night convenience store. This is European nightlife imagined as biomechanical horror.

The album was mixed by Ville Haimala of fellow nordic club destroyers Amnesia Scanner, and the striking cover art features a sculpture by Norwegian artist Camilla Steinum. To further elaborate the album's themes in the visual realm the duo is creating a music video and live A/V show with 3D artist Guynoid, including a special latex suit made in collaboration with AGF Hydra. In this way, 'Bit Rot' grows beyond the album itself into a larger project exploring the fluidity of body and identity when the digital and the physical fuse as one.

Repress

It's a big pleasure for us to welcome back Mario to the label after a long while. He delivers four raw cuts of harsh techno, crude, direct to the bone but always with a wise use of the elements to make things intelligent and intrincated.

First cut "Pattern execution" proves all this as a statement. Obsessive sequences, distorted groove elements, tension all over an ever changing arrangement.

"Path of authority" reminds the early Birmingham days, again using distortion as weapon. Bringing the heritage of the best records from the nineties to this dystopian present we live in.

"Balance of power" runs over similar parameters than the previous two, increasing the BPM rate and delivering more intricate sequence lines and paranoia.

"Frontline" closes this crude exercise, still fast, still hard but yet mental and futuristic.

H- side is etched
The American cable-television industry exploded in the 1980s, pushing broadcasts of diverse programming and emissions of low-laying cultures into homes. Community stations piggybacked on the digital developments of the time, extending their existence through telephony and broadcast a iliates. For those growing up in this time, in locations such as New York City, the localized communications beamed into their homes exposed them to an impressionable array of disparate sounds and visions.
Move into the 1990s and New York was filled to the brim of emergent cultures drawing from this ebullition of communication. From Rammellzee’s shapeshifting to the late Judy Russell and Frank and Karen Mendez’s Nu Groove imprint fusing reggae, poetry and house, nascent ideas emanated from the city walls, from within stores such as Sonic Groove store and on VHS releases such as Stakker’s The Evil Acid Baron Show, a legendary technicolor psychedelic trip along the wildest frontiers of acid house. As scenes expanded and identities developed, such individuals weather the events of the visceral now, expressing themselves right into an unpredictable future.
Function’s long career has seen him uncover a vast range of sonic identities, a mainstay through house, techno and industrial with collaborations with the likes of Regis, Damon Wild alongside his highly influential Infrastructure imprint. With influences deeply tied to pop art, rave and gay scenes, and early memories of block-parties emitting Kraftwerk and Strafe, he found himself seeking out the undercover illegal nights of the 90s on a quest of sexual unearthing, mixing the ever-yearning escapology mission of disco with the influential DJ sets of Jeff Mills.
For his new album Existenz, he marks a clear step away from the corporeal techno of his recent releases. Pivoting around themes of religion, sexuality, trauma and healing, it is a work expansive and celebratory, a clear liberation from a deeply internalized past. Formed from a collection of recordings made in a period from late 2016 to mid 2019, Existenz takes the form of a creative outburst in reaction to a number of traumas - recent, childhood and throughout Function’s life. Life partner Stefanie Parnow assisted the production process in its entirety, providing inspiration, spiritual healing and featuring vocal contributions.
Cosmic synths soar and swoop in ‘Pleasure Discipline’ through towering stacks of rhythm that stutter and creak to a halt before rebooting, a firm robotic response to human intervention. ‘Zahlensender’ reflects a spatial tetris of urban life, as digitalization set within an XYZ matrix confronts the sprawling city. Constant arpeggiated meditations echo synaptic transmissions, e ecting a dissolution of boundaries. ’The Approach’ recalls the unification of the self, a state of delirium non-subjective and smooth, as all connections and functions give way to simple intensities of feeling, crossing the threshold into spirituality. ’Golden Dawn’, featuring Stefanie Parnow, marks a further elevation of dubbed-out euphoria, as once more positive rays emerge. His ode to the effortless short-trip urban navigation 'Kurzstrecke' finds Function in motion, upfront and bold, snapshots of conversation and flickers of light. 'Ertrinken' finds metallic bass jabs swamping snipped synthetic voices, with hidden stores of emotion set as a nod to the history of vocoders as a tool for encrypted military communication. House icon Robert Owens features on 'Growth Cycle' and 'Be', entrenching a celebratory atmosphere over Function's clubwise leanings. Closing track 'Downtown 161' reflects the unmistakeable filtered and squashed interjections of television, and sampled dance vocals - a sound for the curious, dreamers and dancers.
With Existenz, Function reveals an essential body of work, spread over 4LP - thought experiments on the role of identity and spirituality after a lifetime of upheaval and trauma. Leading up until the release date, Function will undertake an album promo tour with select dates - A/V shows at Berlin Atonal and Rural festival in Japan, and three dates as part of his Bassiani residency.

Stargazing from the sands of the Niterói beach, Tempos Futuros is low-end-led Brazilian futurism from one of Brazil’s most prolific and influential bassmen. As one third of legendary trio Azymuth, Alex Malheiros has pioneered a unique fusion of space-funk, samba and jazz since the early seventies. His playing can be heard on the records of Jorge Ben, Milton Nascimento, Roberto Carlos, Marcos Valle, and Mark Murphy (to name a few), and he’s performed and toured with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Chick Corea.

Written and recorded in Niterói, Brazil, overlooking Guanabara and the beaches, mountains and forests of Rio de Janeiro, Tempos Futuros has deep roots in Brazilian soil. The rhythms of Malheiros’ homeland have always permeated his music. But just like the Oscar Niemeyer designed Niterói Contemporary Art Museum which stands spaceship-like over the water, Tempos Futuros - while inspired by terrestrial forms, reaches out, deep into the great unknown.

Produced by acclaimed London-based producer Daniel Maunick, who has worked with Marcos Valle, Azymuth, Terry Callier, and Ivan Conti, the funk comes full circle. Daniel’s father Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick and Alex Malheiros shared a reciprocal stream of influence throughout the 80s, between London and Rio; Azymuth and Incognito; brit-funk and samba-funk. But just as with Azymuth’s music, you can also hear the influence of stateside jazz-funk masters like Roy Ayers, Weather Report, Lonnie Liston Smith, Mtume and Pleasure.

Tempos Futuros features Alex’s daughter, a Brazilian star in her own right, vocalist Sabrina Malheiros, Brazilian percussion master Sidinho Moreira, London based saxophonist Sean Khan, Marcos Valle’s go-to drummer Massa, and Brazilian keyboard player Dudu Viana. Featuring the late Azymuth keyboard maestro Jose Roberto Bertami on Fender Rhodes, the title track “Tempos Futuros” was originally recorded as a demo in 1995. On this finished version, Alex Malheiros used Bertami’s original keyboard take, explaining the posthumous release.

* New from Innerground Records (co-founded by DJ Marky), also the home of Calibre, BassBrothers, Random Movement and Blade, comes the highly anticipated double vinyl LP from DJ Marky & others, ‘100’. Drawing inspiration from the past 18 years of Innerground’s vast history and impact on the Drum & Bass movement, and the signature latin influences of DJ Marky that have brought excitement and vitality to stages around the globe. This special collaboration between one of the most important figures in the genre, and a collection of some of the most highly respected producers and artists in the scene, creates a ground-breaking LP that marks the 100th release from Innerground Records.

* It should come as no surprise that the double LP packs a punch, when looking at the combined experience of its contributors. ‘100’ begins as a bold statement from the main man DJ Marky, laying down the foundations of what’s yet to come from this veteran D’nB lineup. We’re taken on a ride through morphing tempos and enchanting vocals that hammer home what this immense centennial is all about - a special milestone in the genre that will be remembered in years to come.

TRACKLIST:

A1 : DJ Marky Feat. Lorna King – Changing Moods (LEAD SINGLE (SPECIALIST RADIO PLUGGING BY LISTEN UP)
The album launches with the warm Brazilian sunshine D&B that Innerground’s main man Marky is known for. Lorna King’s uplifting harmonies intertwine with playful melodies to shape not only a guaranteed party starter, but a track that will put a smile on your face. Shades of his legendary ‘LK’??!

A2 : Data 3 – String Theory
After the Brazilian sunshine comes the rain… We’re taken on a detour through a dark valley as spiralling synths ascend to a glitch filled break. Ominous chords reverberate around the onslaught of rattling hats and deep choral vocals.

B1 : Random Movement – Patty Melt
The American D&B veteran returns to Innerground, bringing a funky fast guitar filled banger. Rapid drums and airy synths balance over happy vocals and undulating groovy bass guitar to create a track you can’t help but move to. Potential (slow-burner) track of, ’Innerground : 100’, the album?

B2 : Melinki & D'Cypher - Listen To Everything
A dark bopper with swaying hats chiming over aggressive basslines. Vocal samples provide a short-lived breather from this menacing track’s all-consuming energy. This isn’t the first time Melinki & D’Cypher have linked up and we look forward to many more from these two!

C1 : Saikon - Guilty Pleasures
Anticipative strings and a steady break lead to snappy vocal chops, crescendos at a break that unfolds in to house-led bouncey stabs. You wouldn’t expect anything less from Saikon!

C2 : Carlito - About You
Fans know that this is far from Carlito’s first Innerground rodeo – he’s back with a track that balances male and female vocals over enchanting pads. Synths twinkle amongst racing breaks to make for a certified club heater.





D1: Collette Warren, DJ Marky & Tyler Daley - One Exception (Pola & Bryson Remix)
As the album draws towards its close, cinematic piano and vocals to make your hair stand on end craft a beautiful contemplation between Tyler Daley and Collette Warren. D&B household names Pola & Bryson show their take on the track originally produced by DJ Marky. If this song doesn’t move you, you’re made of stone!


D2: Fluidity & Loz Contreras - Back To You
The LP finishes with a bang. Fluidity & Loz Contreras pair up to transport us back to the sunshine that Marky initiated. Oceanic pads and wispy vocals merge seamlessly to craft a warm and groovy finale that will leave you craving more Innerground energy, as this incredible centennial LP boldly forges its place.

EVERY TIME I DIE is a loud rock institution committed to leaving an outpouring of chaotic passion and blissful malcontent all over their records and on the stage. With boiling charisma and unrelenting energy to spare, the Buffalo, NY band manages not one but two near-impossible tasks. They've survived two decades as an underground entity cherished for coloring outside the lines, and contrary to most career arcs, continually improving with each successive album as they charge ahead. EVERY TIME I DIE makes a glorious hardcore-punk noise. Alchemized by a swampy summoning of Southern rock and coarse poetry, the music swirls beneath sardonic and clever wordplay, cementing them as leaders, not followers. The band's ninth studio album, Radical, is 16 tracks of peak-EVERY TIME I DIE, including raucous new anthems. They deliver what you have come to know and love and then diverge into new paths. To say that "All This And War" featuring guest vocals by Josh Scogins from The '68 is absolute brutal heaviness is an understatement. It's an addictive punch in the face, you'll want on repeat. The boys then run off to explore the dark haunted woods of a more somber and melodic side in the track "Thing With Feathers" featuring Andy Hull from Manchester Orchestra. Radical proves with every track that it is a distillation of the strengths of their past, injected with their unyielding revelry and signature sarcasm while cognizant - and fiercely combative - of the present state of world affairs.

EVERY TIME I DIE is a loud rock institution committed to leaving an outpouring of chaotic passion and blissful malcontent all over their records and on the stage. With boiling charisma and unrelenting energy to spare, the Buffalo, NY band manages not one but two near-impossible tasks. They've survived two decades as an underground entity cherished for coloring outside the lines, and contrary to most career arcs, continually improving with each successive album as they charge ahead. EVERY TIME I DIE makes a glorious hardcore-punk noise. Alchemized by a swampy summoning of Southern rock and coarse poetry, the music swirls beneath sardonic and clever wordplay, cementing them as leaders, not followers. The band's ninth studio album, Radical, is 16 tracks of peak-EVERY TIME I DIE, including raucous new anthems. They deliver what you have come to know and love and then diverge into new paths. To say that "All This And War" featuring guest vocals by Josh Scogins from The '68 is absolute brutal heaviness is an understatement. It's an addictive punch in the face, you'll want on repeat. The boys then run off to explore the dark haunted woods of a more somber and melodic side in the track "Thing With Feathers" featuring Andy Hull from Manchester Orchestra. Radical proves with every track that it is a distillation of the strengths of their past, injected with their unyielding revelry and signature sarcasm while cognizant - and fiercely combative - of the present state of world affairs.

‘The record is inspired by the idea of humanity’s ever-increasing entanglement with technology and artificial intelligence, balancing fears and moral concerns with the possibilities of evolution’s next phase’

A new Soccer96 album is a chance for Danalogue (Dan Leavers) and Betamax (Maxwell Hallett) to return to something of a spiritual creative home. Between them, the keyboardist and drummer have become synonymous with the thriving London jazz scene and, in their mind-bending incarnation as the astral synths-and-drums pairing, they’ve traversed stylistic worlds. Over nearly a decade, the duo have metamorphosed from a DIY outfit whose rough-edged recordings hit with a punk spirit, to cosmic dreamers that use sound to travel the reaches of the mind.

First single Dopamine features Nuha Ruby Ra on vocals who sings from the perspective of human and machine throughout the track. This concept overlaps with the music seamlessly, forming a meeting point between technological and human exploration.

Dialogues between the band and Nuha crystallised a shared vision of a future where humans and artificial intelligence are entangled in a codependent relationship based on the giving and receiving of pleasure hormones, the robots only source of dopamine is to receive it from humans, and the humans’ ability to unleash the monsters of the worst of human emotion.

Danalogue and Nuha sing together ‘It’s a Long Way down’ .. the feeling of jumping from the cliff of our current state as humans and ‘free-falling’ into the unknown of robot-human intertwining. By the outro they are pleading with each other over their dopamine co-dependency, in terms of both giving and receiving the hit. "Dependency leads to free-falling integration, a moment of freefall into robotic consciousness. Humans and machines are locked in a dance of addiction." explains Betamax.

Soccer96 has always been a vessel for Danalogue and Betamax to find clear water from their multitude of other collaborations, their most notable being as two-thirds of The Comet Is Coming alongside Shabaka Hutchings. Danalogue’s other recent production credits include Snapped Ankles and Calabashed, whilst Betamax has been making music with Champagne Dub and Coma World.

“Through collaborating with various artists and developing our own sonic language, it feels like we have created a sound of our own,” says Danalogue. “Now we think less literally and take more liberties to not necessarily sound like a duo. It’s more like a production team that can be augmented or stripped back depending on what the music calls for.”

Dopamine, though, sees the pair back together once again, incubating their findings of the past two years and moving Soccer96 into new territories. The record is maybe darker in some senses than what they’ve put out before; it’s inspired by the idea of transhumanism and humanity’s ever-increasing entanglement with technology and artificial intelligence It balances fears and moral concerns with the possibilities of evolution’s next phase. “The LP title Dopamine refers to the type of neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, that enables technology to hack into our minds and control us, creating addiction, dependency,” Betamax explains.

Dopamine began life as a sonic reaction to the graphic novels of ‘Moebius’ Jean Giraud. The duo then started swapping reel-to-reel tape ideas through each other’s letterboxes in lockdown, before eventually convening in the studio and displaying one of the revered French artist’s images in the middle of the studio for inspiration.

“All musical decisions would centre around this image,” Betamax says. “It was a depiction of a cosmic traveller gazing across a desert at a sort of crystal city. If the music was resonating with the image then we knew we were on the right path. We are both glad there is a lot of emotional warmth underpinning the whole thing. We are trying to connect with the human essence at all times.”

Laura Nyro's third Columbia effort is easily the equal of her previous two. The overwhelming strength of her song writing and distinctive arrangements fuel Christmas and the Beads of Sweat. Her unmistakable style of delivery maintains the continual examination of herself as a performer. The results are uniformly interesting and provocative as she continues to draw upon her love of jazz, folk, and R&B. Conceptually, this album is as potent as her previous effort, New York Tendaberry, but in a much different way. Rather than hanging together thematically, Christmas and the Beads of Sweat features two inclusive and distinctive sides of music -- with different musicians and producers for each. The first five tracks feature Nyro backed by the Swampers from Muscle Shoals, AL, and include the talents of Roger Hawkins (drums), Eddie Hinton (guitar), Dave Hood (bass), Barry Becket (vibraphone), and Jack Jennings (percussion), with Arif Mardin producing. While this pairing might seem initially incongruous, the quintet had been concurrently working with the likes of Dusty Springfield and Cher and had gained a rightful reputation as a consummate backup band. The final four pieces are steeped in noir more atypical of her previous efforts. The all-star cast of New York City session heavyweights are led by Felix Cavaliere (producer) and features fellow Rascals member Dino Danelli (drums), Ralph McDonald (percussion), Chuck Rainey (bass), Cornell Dupree (guitar), Duane Allman (guitar), and Alice Coltrane (stringed harp), among others. As with all of Nyro's recordings, at the heart of this effort are her ageless compositions and arrangements. A motif connecting such disparate tunes as the upbeat "When I Was a Freeport and You Were the Main Drag" to the hauntingly beautiful "Christmas in My Soul" and "Beads of Sweat" is the aching hollowness that came with the disillusionment that Vietnam, Kent State, and racial relations brought upon America in 1970. As she had done with "Save the Country" some four years earlier, Nyro's cathartic expressionism is captured at its most fervent on this album.

Thomas Dahyot. the voice of Madcaps, a feelgood French garage band
releases his debut solo LP as alter ego Pepper White.
Found in the ten songs of The Lonely Tunes Of Pepper White are Dahyot’s first
the loves in song - the casualness of JJ Cale, the smeared pop of 1969 Velvet
Underground, the profane gospel of Nat King Cole, the acoustic heartbreaks of
Ty Segall, the snap and crackle of a Barratt or Ayers.
These are wedded to the trademark signatures of his song writing: the astonishing breaks, the wonderful arrangements and the attention given to tempo.
And then there is the omnipresence of the piano whose keys he had fallen in
love with, “Lonely For Too Long”, the first song composed on the instrument
and its mellotron finale, gives some clues about the state of mind in which the
album was composed.
“Still In Love With You”, is sung on two octaves, as if Pepper was in duet with
himself. The bewitching “Home Alone” invokes the devilry of Screamin’ Jay
Hawkins, while “Rom Com” lays bare, with derision, the guilty pleasures linked
to televisual mawkishness. These are the elements, new and old, that make up
Pepper White’s music.

Thirteen turbocharged tracks indebted to the pleasures and pitfalls of their lives in the modern city of Sydney and to the the first and second waves of international extreme music freaks and loonies: pure fucking aggression. The Oily Boys have graced us with a beast of an album that swells between direct, gripping, tangible hardcore punk and near nauseating psychedelia and throb which at moments feels like either ritual trance or a nervous breakdown. Cro Memory Grin contains near equal measures of tension and release; an exercise in high catharsis. It’s rare that a punk record can give the listener anywhere near the same intoxicating feel of an “everything louder than everything else” live show, but that’s what Oily Boys have done. That lightning in a bottle feeling of excitement, chaotic energy, delirium, presence in a moment and frenzied flight into a mind state both frightening and ecstatic. The stone has been carved, the fire has been lit, and this is it... Cro. Memory. Grin. *** Best played LOUDEST ***

Re-mastering by: Cicely Baston at Alchemy/Air Mastering, London

Electric blues guitarist Melvin Taylor had been sporadically recording solo albums for 20 years when Dirty Pool arrived — and was somehow just beginning to find fame. Already a hit in Europe, it had taken a steady run of performing in Chicago’s famed blues clubs to slowly earn Taylor a well-deserved reputation as an equal talent among the giants before him, such as Otis Rush, Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

While early records like Melvin Taylor Plays the Blues For You show off an equally amazing jazz side, Taylor traded away his Wes Montgomery-inspired runs for more Luther Allison/Jimi Hendrix attacks with the formation of the trio Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band in the mid ’90’s.

The title song of the second album by that outfit, “Dirty Pool,” is actually more the balls-to-the-wall, no-compromise, hard-rockin’ electric Texas blues of Vaughan and Johnny Winter than the sweet Chicago soul of Buddy Guy.

Indeed, three tracks on this 1997 release, including “Dirty Pool,” were SRV tunes. Other standards, like “Kansas City” and “Floodin’ in California” also have more of a Lone Star State approach to them. But the Jackson, Miss.-born Taylor’s guitar is cleaner than his forebears and technically, he even surpasses them, yet the anger and sorrow of the blues is readily evident in his playing.

This rare combination of qualities really comes out in a slow blues tune like his solo in “Dirty Pool,” which after repeated listens, still makes me head shake in disbelief when I hear it.

“Too Sorry” is a good example of how well Taylor fares when he treads in Jimi Hendrix territory, whereas his rhythm work is the best I’ve heard from a lead guitarist since Vaughan; listen to “I Ain’t Superstitious,” “Born Under A Bad Sign” and the funky “Telephone Song” for your proof.

It also helps that Taylor’s drummer James Knowles is well in synch with him, while Ethan Farmer completely owns the low end of the sound. Farmer’s peppering bass lines in and “Floodin’ in California” is the textbook way electric blues bass should be. Overall, a tight little band.

Taylor’s vocals certainly won’t draw any comparisons to the Wide-Brimmed–Hatted One but he holds his own just fine until it’s cuttin’ time. This is right at the top of my list of best blues guitar playing on record over the last couple of decades. If you decide to give this one a listen, prepare to be blown away.

LP black vinyl with Download Code. Ltd. Edition of 500. "Free-spirited rapture" Gareth Thompson RNR Magazine Nov 2020. A statement of intent from The NJE. Spirit of Indo takes up the whole first side of their RSD 2021 mini-album - and it certainly doesn't outstay it's welcome. Improvised over a gently incessant yet soporific loop, bassist Mark Bedford and drummer Simon Charterton fall in and out of grooves while multi-instrumentalist Terry Edwards deftly moves between saxes, trumpet and melodica to invent topline melodies within that comfortable straitjacket. As the track progresses bigger instrumentation is suggested by the tunes - and so the track builds with more horns and percussion, the resulting climax making way for the comforting loop to bring us back down to the start. Side 2 opens with an instrumental version of Bowie's Five Years, even more pared down than Edwards' previous take on the tune for a John Peel session in the nineties. Bedders' acoustic and electric basses weave around each other while Simon's understated cymbal-work buoys up the fragile melodica melody. Tizita raises the tempo slightly and is inspired by Ethiopian jazz-legend Mulatu Astatke who Terry had the pleasure of working with a few years back. Title track Nought to 60 is driven by Teutonic beats on electronic Wave drum, a Motorik bassline and heavily effected saxes which thunder towards the buffers - after which you'll want to flip the album and start all over again.

I’ve known Alex Bleeker my entire life. Well, okay, maybe not since I was born, but there’s no doubt that I’ve shared a fair bit of memories with him over the years. We’ve acted in high school productions of Shakespeare together, gone on late-night diner runs, argued about which Weezer album is the band’s best, and swapped mutual appreciation for the music of Yo La Tengo on car rides careening around the snaky suburbia of our hometown. Just like his Real Estate bandmates Martin Courtney and Julian Lynch, we attended high school in the New Jersey enclave of Ridgewood, a place where sticky summer days yielded cool nights with a glow so nocturnal that you can practically hear the fireflies buzzing off of this sentence alone.

Indie rock—a type of music that can easily be made or listened to in someone’s garage—often dominates teenage suburban preoccupations, and both Alex and I were no exception. You can hear this legacy of listening on his new album Heaven on the Faultline, which departs from his last full-band outing as Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, 2015’s Country Agenda. Whereas that album had a more full-bodied explicitly folk-y feel, Heaven on the Faultline finds Bleeker getting back to his homespun roots over the course of its 13 songs, from the jangly guitar pop of New Jersey heroes the Feelies and YLT’s hushed, acoustic reveries to the open-hearted folk rock that marks so much of the Grateful Dead’s early catalog.

Written and recorded over the last several years, Heaven on the Faultline’s songs were initially recorded straight to GarageBand in Bleeker’s bedroom before receiving further studio refinement in co-producer Phil Hartunian’s Tropico Beauty space in Los Angeles. With contributions from Confusing Mix of Nations’ Josh Da Costa, Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw, singer-songwriter Kacey Johansing, and Parting Lines’ Tim Ramsey, Heaven on the Faultline achieves a warm and intimate feel that defines Bleeker’s mission for the album: “I wanted to capture the moment in which I fell in love with making music to begin with. This is music for myself—me getting back to music for music’s sake.”

The unsteady times we live in certainly creep into view on Heaven on the Faultline. The deceptively easygoing “D Plus” was written on the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration with the cursed event in mind, while the anxiety of climate change hovers just above the lovely guitar loops of “Felty Feel.” “The album is very much about dealing with the anxiety of a sense of impending doom,” Bleeker states while discussing the album’s portentous vibes. “When is the hammer going to fall? How do we go forward in the face of such anxiety and experience the complexity of life?”

Tough questions with few answers, but try not to stress too much. It’s possible to experience such existential doubt while also enjoying the simple pleasures that life has to offer, and that ethos is square at the heart of Heaven on the Faultline. It defines who Alex Bleeker is, too, and is one of many reasons why I’m proud to have known this special person and artist for so long.

Larry Fitzmaurice

"Over the years, I have had the absolute pleasure of meeting countless wonderful people in every corner of this beautiful planet, and a lot of times these music enthusiasts have expressed a very similar-sounding story. That our presence – whether it be via a studio recording or our ferocious show – is capable of transporting them to a better place and washing away all earthly worries. Doesn't this sound amazing – especially during these challenging times?"
This gentle voice belongs to the vocalist-guitarist Jonne Järvelä, who happens to be the creative force behind the unique Finnish ensemble KORPIKLAANI. Having experienced multiple triumphant years within the inner circle of folk-influenced heavy metal, Jonne now acknowledges his position as one of the most recognisable artists ever coming from the land of a hundred thousand lakes.

KORPIKLAANI – preceded by Jonne's own project SHAMAANI DUO (1993-1997) and the band SHAMAN (1997-2003) – was founded somewhere deep in the primeval northern forests in 2003. Ten celebrated studio albums, numerous world tours and hundreds of millions of digital streams alongside multiple other releases, have established KORPIKLAANI’s status as one of the leaders of innovative heavy music. For their diehard legion of fans, they are known as Folk Metal Superstars.

"I have always been fascinated by ancient Lappish/Samish culture and the infectious melodies of aged folk songs. However, that's only one side of the coin as I have loved rip-roaring metal since I was a frantic kid looking for some rebellious sounds. My butt was kicked by the likes of MOTÖRHEAD, IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST", says Jonne.
"Since the early 2000s, KORPIKLAANI has combined these elements as we have tirelessly attempted to pump new life into the ancient tales of joy and heartbreak, and added the enormous energy of current heavy metal into that folk metal melting pot.We have always been on a mission to create something new and unprecedented."

Here and now, KORPIKLAANI’s fearless journey continues on – and this time, the journey is powered by rather serious subject matter. Their eleventh full-length studio record "Jylhä" (which has no direct translation but can be described as majestic, or wild and rugged in a beautiful way) brings all the well-known and essential ingredients to the table: heavy-duty guitar riffing, rhythmic folk melodies and more.

What about the tales of the wilderness then? The fascinating and miscellaneous tales have always been a crucial part of KORPIKLAANI’s journey within the realms of unspoiled Finnish nature, ancient Scandinavian myths, shamanistic voyages and beyond. "Did I already mention that "Jylhä" offers some new angles?", the singer/guitarist laughs. "Well, lyrically, there are definitely some previously unknown passages – such as fables connected to the infamous Lake Bodom murders in Southern Finland in early 1960s."

KORPIKLAANI’s long-time lyricist Tuomas Keskimäki – the renowned Finnish poet and author, comments: "When I am coming up with narratives, interesting wordplays and other ideas for KORPIKLAANI, I often feel like I am diving into some absorbing fantasy world. I would describe this state of mind as some kind of a deep trance", says Keskimäki.
"As a whole textual piece, "Jylhä" is rather widespread. For example, there are stories about the fragility of life, revealed by using nature metaphors. ‘Miero’ is one of these tales: after all, it's a fact that the lifetime of a human being is just one blink of an eye compared to the eternal aeons of the cosmos."
"On the darker side, there are several murder songs - I wasn't really planning these rather untraditional lyrics, they just happened... One of these is ‘Kiuru’, and that story is inspired by a famous Finnish double homicide case, which took place in the small village of Tulilahti in 1959. In these lyrics, the character called Kiuru – Skylark in English – acts as eyewitness and a prophet, but at the same time, this creature also functions as an allegory of many things... All in all, I am really happy with the lyrics and all these new themes!"

When asked about his current sentiment regarding the new KORPIKLAANI opus "Jylhä", the commander of the forest clan sighs and smiles. "Using "Jylhä" as our solid steppingstone, we are able to reach completely new heights. For me, it's crystal clear that KORPIKLANI has never been better."
It is a fitting album for our dark times, summed up well by the song ‘Huolettomat’ (The Careless). It talks about living in the present moment, alongside a story of joy and celebration. Today is today, tomorrow is uncertain.

Philipp Otterbach’s psychedelic music never been a sunshine pleasure pill. But yet, the souls of his notes are deeply gentle. With “Everything Else Matters” the Berlin based DJ and producer now introduces his debut album, that follows a long introduction. Already since a while he devotes himself with endurance to music. He was an early resident at Düsseldorf’s shrine for outernational grooves Salon Des Amateurs. Since 2014 he releases music under his given name or as Grand Optimist on labels like Grokenberger Records, Knekelhuis or Themes For Great Cities and leaves marks as a remixer for artists like DJ Normal 4, Brainwaltzera, Wolf Müller and Niklas Wandt on labels like Growing Bin Records or Second Circle. His long DJ nights and already released music prefigures the spirits, that he now bunched on his first album. It’s a record, that does not want to pursue a straight categorization. It rather aims to spellbound with an atmosphere, that is made for moments in the absence of hysteria. Tribalistic, trip-hopping rhythms, menacing sounds, cold cool vocal passages, drone chants, morbid goth-ambient spheres, Indie rock indications: its many facets meld into some kind of black highway sound for thoughtful night prowlers in a dissociative state of mind. In context all particles achieve delicate sculptural effects that operate like the surprising architecture of a dream. A forward- thinking dream, that bundles something otherworldly, something unspeakable, that lives hauntingly between the sounds, rhythms and suggested melodies.

Composed, produced, and arranged by Eartheater alone, Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin draws a path back to the primordial lava lake from which she first emerged, as it also testifies to the reincarnating resurrections the project has undergone over its first full decade of existence. While the album renews her focus on guitar performance and legible structure, Eartheater balances the unabashed prettiness of acoustic harmonic songs with the dissonant gestural embroidery of oblique instrumentals. Having fallen back in love with the idioms that first captivated her, she worked to crack open the techniques that had fossilized inside of her, while still seeking to apply the electro-alchemical knowledge she picked up along her journey. The result of a laborious revival in fire, Phoenix recontextualizes Eartheater’s combinatorial approach to production within her most confident abstractions, adjacent to some of her most direct songs to date.

Eartheater composed and workshopped most of Phoenix over a ten-week artist residency (FUGA) in Zaragoza, Spain, housed in a sprawling, cubic glass facility that looked out over wildflower-flecked mountains. Following an intensive period of recording and touring, the residency provided her with an unprecedented period of solitude in the small Spanish town. Her newfound sense of isolation ultimately became liberating, leading her to sidestep the crutches and steady grids inherent to electronic music, and to conceive pieces rooted in her guitar and her desire to perform with other players live.

Eartheater’s voice glows brighter than ever at the center of Phoenix’s arrangements — her familiar operatic highs are grounded by newly expanded velvety lows, leaping lucidly up and down octaves. Her intricate guitar work flits across baroque fingerpicked passages and latches into cyclical figures that meet her voice in lush harmonic progressions. From her own guitar parts, to the orchestral string arrangements she wrote for the Spanish conservatory group Ensemble de Camara, to the harp and violin lines performed by her close friends and collaborators Marilu Donovan and Adam Markiewicz of LEYA, Eartheater’s applications of acoustic instruments bring an extraordinary emotional emphasis to her compositions. Phoenix prepares for a future where electronic sound — or even electricity itself — isn’t guaranteed, but where her music could still come to life with a group of hands dexterously winding across instruments against the light of the fire. Eartheater drew inspiration for Phoenix from geological imagery, whose turbulence and potential for genesis mirror the trajectory of her own life and relationships. The album’s instrumental pieces directly reference these moments of upheaval, colliding audio of volcano and lightning storms with resplendent string and vocal arrangements. “Volcano” looks out over the album from its peak at the center, its tectonic plates colliding in towering melodies and layers of vocal harmonies, as piano accents crest and cascade down the mountainside. When Eartheater sings, “I’m still building mountains underground,” she is trying to reconcile the pinnacles of her ambition with the comforts of a simple existence buried beneath the surface. “Diamond in the Bedrock” finds her admiring the gemstone forming under intense pressure inside her, but rejecting the romantic promise that the diamond signifies, choosing instead to escape a relationship that has come to stifle her.

With the album’s subtitle, Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin, Eartheater imagines being tempered to a state of perfect equilibrium, suspended between melting and freezing, where fire could streak across her body and appear as a crystalline blush. This image captures the tension at the heart of the Eartheater project, as she decides how best to distill her passion and render it cool to the touch; to find beauty in simple pleasure, while keeping one eye fixed on the peaks that loom in the horizon. The album is mixed by Kiri Stensby and mastered by Heba Kadry, featuring photography by Daniel Sannwald.

Gil Scott-Heron was one of the foremost singer-songwriters of his generation. A committed
civil rights activist that also wrote a couple of unusual novels exploring negative elements of
the black experience and the punitive societal attitude against black people in the United
States, Scott-Heron recorded an exceptional body of work during the 1970s and 80s, and
although longstanding issues with drug addiction resulted in repeated bouts of imprisonment
and an ultimately shortened lifespan, he continued to produce noteworthy material into the
new millennium. Anyone that had the pleasure of seeing Scott-Heron and His Amnesia
Express band during the mid-1980s is unlikely to forget it; percussionist Larry McDonald,
drummer Rodney Young, saxophonist Ron Holloway and backing vocalist/keyboardist Kim
Jordan provide a full yet uncluttered backdrop to the man and his piano, as evidenced by
these stunning excerpts from the summer 1986 tour, with “Winter In America,”
“Johannesburg,” “Blue Collar” and “Shut ‘Em Down” being among the standouts.

Recumbent Speech, Ezra Feinberg’s second album, opens with a lament. Named for the Robert Frost poem, “Acquainted with the Night” was written during one of the many devastating spectacles of injustice under our current regime. Repeating flutes and synths beam out of a low-end darkness, reflecting a collective sense of loss and alienation. Rising slowly, thickening with guitars and strings, “Acquainted with the Night” lifts off, and so too does the album from there. The second track, “Letter to my Mind,'' features the dynamic interplay of Feinberg's guitar with the loose and playful drumming of Tortoise's John McEntire, both pushing and pulling atop a looping bass figure. "Palms Up" begins with a lockstep pulse recalling early Terry Riley before jumping into an Ashra-like jam with Afrobeat accents. Side B opens with "Ovation," a tryptic with McEntire on drums which sets a wide lens onto a sweeping landscape, with soaring flutes, wordless vocals, and a hypnotic bassline played on a humming fretless that recalls classic ECM jazz-fusion. The piece plunges into an ambient, interior space before reemerging with a guitar solo fried through an old Space Echo effects processor, conjuring lidded Pompeii-era Pink Floyd. The album's title-track finale, "Recumbent Speech," features the magical pedal steel of Chuck Johnson. Unwinding atop a Balearic analog synth pattern, Feinberg stretches textures of Fender Rhodes and acoustic guitar around Johnson’s lyrical steel, with nods to Japanese ambient legend Hiroshi Yoshimura, as well as Cluster & Eno. Recumbent Speech refers to the possibilities, pleasures, fears, and fantasies that occur the moment the noise dies down, when we are recumbent, in repose but still awake, still speaking, and still aware of ourselves as part of the maddening world. Ezra Feinberg is a guitarist, composer, and psychoanalyst living in Jackson Heights, NY. Feinberg was the founding member of the San Francisco psychedelic rock collective Citay, releasing albums on Important Records and Dead Oceans throughout the 2000s. After relocating to NYC, he issued his first solo record, Pentimento and Others, on his imprint Related States and on cassette on Stimulus Progression in 2018. The release, his first since Citay folded in 2012, earned praise from numerous music outlets including Paste Magazine, The Wire, Stereogum, Vice, and Aquarium Drunkard. In recent years, Feinberg has performed and toured near and far with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Steve Gunn, Alexander Turnquist, Cruel Diagonals, Daniel Carter, Jonas Reinhardt, Christopher Tignor, Kath Bloom, Robbie Lee, High Aura’d, Glasser, Ava Mendoza, Buck Curran, Real Estate, and many others, and has ongoing studio collaborations with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Arp, contributing both guitar and songwriting to the last Arp album Zebra.

Velvet May returns on “Tears on Waves” with his third and latest EP “Phoebe’s White Skin” to be released on January 2020. The new record comes out with a new touch and research of new sounds, making this EP a well done bond among.

Phoebe is the venal muse, her hollow eyes are full of nocturnal visions. In this record she takes part of a story of pain and pleasure, horror and madness where the passion burns all thru the night, taking her to the edge of the daylight. She screams and, with heavy breathing and not bold enough, tries to connect her state of mind to something that got stolen already, causing an immense sense of drowning.

Picture by Alex Aptsiauri Design by Jacopo Severitano.

There he is again! After last year's groundbreaking "Pale Blue" EP, RAWAX proudly presents Diego Krause - Sate Of Flow. The long player will be available on two seperate EP's. Now it's time for Part 2 which will be available on Solid black vinyl edition. Choose yours!

“Osondi owendi. What is cherished by some is despised by others. One man’s meat is another man’s poison. Different strokes for different folks. To each their own. Osondi owendi.

It’s a conventional aphorism in the Igbo language but if you utter the word “osondi owendi” in Nigeria today, the first thing that comes to anybody’s mind is the cucumber-cool highlife music maestro Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe and his legendary album that takes its name from the adage. Released in 1984, Osondi Owendi was instantly received as Osadebe’s magnum opus, the crowning event of an exalted career stretching back to the early years of highlife’s emergence as Nigeria’s predominant popular music.

Stephen Osadebe first appeared on the music scene in 1958 as a spry, twenty-two year-old vocalist in the Empire Rhythm Skies Orchestra, directed by bandleader Steven Amechi. With his dapper suits, urbane Nat King Cole-influenced vocal stylings and jaunty, uptempo, calypso-scented dance tunes, he personified the frisky spirit and anxious aspirations of a young, educated generation that had come of age in the wake of the Second World War, in a Nigeria that was rapidly shaking off British colonization and marching towards an independent future. 1959 would be the year that he truly made his mark in the business with his debut solo single “Lagos Life Na So So Enjoyment.” A giddy exhortation of the music, sex, fun and freedom availed by life in the big city, the song became a sensation and an anthem, and Stephen Osadebe became the leader of his own popular dance band, the Nigerian Sound Makers.

Osadebe would ride this wave of acclaim through most of the nineteen sixties, but a change in direction would be called for at the dawn of the seventies. As Nigeria emerged from a devastating civil war, so did a new generation of youth inspired by rock and funk, confrontational sounds reflective of a more violent, less idealistic era. All of the sudden, the idioms of the post-WWII dance orchestras that nurtured Osadebe’s cohort seemed quaint, the stuff of nostalgia. Osadebe needed to evolve to respond to the new tumultuous, turned-up times.

His response? He cooled it down.

Abetted by a new crop of fire-blooded young players, Osadebe slowed his music to a mellow, meditative tempo, brought forward the lumbering, Afro Cuban-accented bass and percussion, from the rockers he borrowed searing lead lines on the electric guitar. Over this musical bedrock, doesn’t so much as sing as he dreamily muses, coos, sighs aphorisms, words of wisdom and inspiration. “When one listens to my music, all I say appears meaningful,” Osadebe explained his lyrical approach, “at times they are in the form of proverbs which provoke much thought afterwards.” The result is a blend that is both rollicking and soothingly languid. Osadebe christened the style Oyolima—a tranquil, otherworldly state of total relaxation and pleasure. Osondi Owendi represents oyolima at its finest, and possibly Nigerian highlife in epitome.

Osondi owendi. What is cherished by some is despised by others. In some way, the album’s title constitutes a paradox. Because Osondi Owendi is a record that it’s almost impossible to imagine being despised by anybody."

Please find enclosed one 'Deluxe' stereophonic gramophone record from Concept City, containing thirteen recordings of musics entirely produced upon 4-track portastudio for your pleasure and discourse - the sole work of Mr Robert Grant of this parish.

So states the photocopy insert from the 1985 November LP on Cordelia Records. Home to R. Stevie Moore, Rimarimba recently reissued by Freedom To Spend - and label owner Alan Jenkin's The Deep Freeze Mice, Cordelia was home to a menagerie of sound collage plucked from the ether.

Included is the only vinyl release from Concept City, spreading across 13 instrumental tracks of samples and noise. The Welsh choir and robovox meets hypnotic bass of Open The Network glides to the acoustics of Jayne Andrews and Filament, before Steam amasses TV ad cassette archives. As Etruria and Lapse Wine's Durutti meets reel-to-reel to the cold wave of War, Children and wasp synth of Helsinki, Grant slowly unfolds a masterpiece.

Looped drum samples, multiple layered to tape, sped up and slowed down for phasing, the title track is a pinnacle of 80s DiY genius. 'Crossroads' multi-sampling Meg leads to the exotica 'muzak' closings of Penetration and Friends. With just 5 albums over 40 years the music of Mr Concept can be a discovery and cherished.

2x12" Repress


January 1981 found Gudrun Gut and Bettina Koster in Christopher Franke’s Berlin-Spandau Studio recording their first Malaria! EP (Zensor Records). Christine Hahn of The Static with Glenn Branca and Barbara Ess, joined in from New York, and Manon P. Duursma fresh from Nina Hagen’s O.U.T. project and Susanne Kuhnke completed the Line-Up.

Malaria! started touring intensively soon after the release of their 12”, commencing with a concert with New Order at Brussel’s Ancienne Belgique, and going on from there to concerts with Siouxsie and the Banshees, Birthday Party, The Slits, The AuPairs, Raincoats, Nina Hagen, John Cale, Einstuerzende Neubauten. They played venues as diverse as the Mudd Club, Peppermint Lounge and Studio 54 in New York, the Documenta in Kassel, the Bat Cave in London, Les Bains Douche in Paris, Milky Way and Paradiso in Amsterdam, ICA in London, the Piazza Santa Maria Novella in Florence and Markthalle in Hamburg and naturally, again and again, at the SO36 in Berlin.

While touring, Malaria! used their time off to record in Studios in New York, London, Brussels, New Orleans, and in Berlin (How Do You Like My New Dog? 7”, Weisses Wasser 12”, New York Passage 12”, Revisited MC, Emotion Album). At the BBC studios in London Maida Vale Malaria recorded an Kit Jensen and a John Peel Session.

Malaria! took a break in 1984 - Bettina and Christine re-located to New York, and Gudrun and Manon stayed in Berlin to form, with Beate Bartel, Matador, but not before they recorded their Mini-Album, Beat the Distance. 1992 Gudrun, Bettina, Christine, and Manon met up in New Orleans with Jim Thirlwell (Foetus) to record Elation 12”. Elation was followed by Cheerio, Album, which again was recorded in Berlin.

Chicks on Speed did their own version of Malaria’s song, Kaltes Klares Wasser in 2001, and the Remix went into the German Top 10.

Malaria has been an instrumental part of Berlin Music History, as recently presented at the „Zurück zum Beton“ at Düsseldorf’s Kunstakademie, Kunsthalle Wien „Punk!“, „Geniale Dilletanten“ Goethe Institut, and in B-Movie.

BIBA KOPF 2019
The theme song for that great German road movie yet to be made, Malaria!’s 1981 single “How Do You Like My New Dog?” etched the E into the motion music of their soon-come debut album Emotion with its trail-out line “Immer vorwärts, nie zurück...”. Always forward, never back: from West Berlin to London, Paris, New York and Tokyo... from here, there and everywhere to eternity, the Autobahn goes on forever, with Malaria! at the wheel, spinning new moves from timelines crossed in records and songs right on the money evoking Zarah Leander, fighting the power, staring down Death, and a whole lot more. In all, one merry hell of a ride, and on the evidence of Compiled 2.0, it’s not over yet.

MARK REEDER 2019
"Even today, their originality in everything from sound to style, has proven just how relevant Malaria! are. In my opinion, their music has stood the test of time. To me, Emotion sounds as good today as it did when it was first released and it was a pleasure to revisit it. They might not have had any zillion selling albums, and their image might have been copied, while their sound could never be. They remain exclusively unique and their influence and legacy will reach far into the future. This band is both an inspiration and a statement and they prove what five very creative girls can achieve, if given the right support to allow them to evolve, and it is exactly that, which has made Malaria! Germany’s most successful and renowned, all-girl band...“

DIEDRICH DIEDERICHSEN 1991
"...Malaria! put across so many clear, manifest, attractive, certain, muscular, and harsh symbols, just as they refused - defying the customs intrinsic to these symbols and the worlds in which they circulate - to weave all these things into a readable, reproducible and manageable, generic text..."

The mysterious Urban Inc producer that gave chills to many with its first release “pleasure planets” is back 4 years later with a HUGE LP ! (the first one on WAX CLASSIC). And honestly we are proud to say that this one of the best release we've ever done. ESSENTIAL ! SKYLAX RECORDS 4 EVER

Kognitiv Records is about music that connects with the listener on a deeper level, evoking emotion. Music plays a large part in so many lives and guides us through all emotional states as a form of therapy. So join us for your own Kognitiv Therapy.

Label boss DeVante delivers the third release for Kognitiv Records titled “Experimental”. He has invited Italian powerhouse duo Marvin & Guy to remix.

“Experimental” is a track that follows the storyline of an experiment. Whether it be a social experiment or science experiment, the emotional journey can be very similar. Feelings of uncertainty, tension, suspense, contentment and/or grandeur feature throughout this track. DeVante allows listeners to take their own journeys through all his tracks, so have a listen and find out where “Experimental” takes you!!


Marvin & Guy are making waves worldwide for their signature sound and it is an absolute pleasure to welcome them to Kognitiv Records. The boys have delivered a gem of a remix suitable for all occasions. Not only is it a great track to listen to in your day to day life, their remix tears the roof off a dance floor. Marvin & Guy have a strong ability of fusing current musical trends with nostalgic 80’s sounds and we love everything they do. We are sure you will too!

“Experimental” is Kognitiv Records first venture into the world of vinyl. There are very limited copies being pressed, so be sure to grab yourself a piece of Kognitiv Records history.

Kognitiv Records will donate a percentage of profits from every release to a different mental health charity in an effort to create further awareness and provide support to people suffering from mental illness.