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Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Devin Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing. By 1997, he had recruited permanent members; this line-up, which consisted of Townsend on vocals and guitar, Jed Simon on guitar, Byron Stroud on bass, and Gene Hoglan on drums, lasted until the band's dissolution. Strapping Young Lad's music was characterized by the use of polyrhythmic guitar riffing and drumming, blast beats and wall of sound production. band leader Devin Townsend was also noted for his eccentric appearance and on-stage behaviour, which greatly contributed to the band's intense live performances. The band gained critical success and a growing underground fan base from their 1997 album City. After a hiatus between 1999 and 2002, the band released three more albums, reaching their commercial peak with the 2006 effort, The New Black. Townsend disbanded Strapping Young Lad in May 2007, announcing his decision to retreat from public view while continuing to record solo albums. Listenable is now extremely delighted to be releasing All Strapping Young Lad beyond Legendary studio albums on De Luxe Limited Edition Vinyls. A brand new vinyl master has been made for each album. All albums include bonus tracks . Grab them now !.
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Recorded sporadically over five years from 2015 to 2019, Sixty Summers was shaped profoundly by Stone’s key collaborators on the album: Thomas Bartlett, aka Doveman, and Annie Clark, the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer known as St. Vincent. Bartlett and Clark were the symbiotic pair Stone needed to realise her first pop vision. A wizard of production and songwriting, Bartlett helped coax Sixty Summers’ independent, elemental spirit from Stone, writing and recording over 50 demos with her at his studio in New York. Itself a thoroughfare for indie rock luminaries, some of whom, such as The National’s Matt Berninger and Bryce Dessner, ended up on the album, Bartlett’s studio was perfect fertile ground for Stone’s growth.
Clark was the incisive yang to Bartlett’s yin, a sharp musical polymath who, when presented with the work Bartlett and Stone had made together, quickly helped fashion Sixty Summers into the album it was destined to be. Contributing vocals and guitar in addition to production, Clark’s revered acidic touch ignited the sparks of Stone’s creations.
The scope of Sixty Summers is dizzyingly vast; miles away from Stone’s past work, it is a world unto itself, a surreal and breathtaking new landscape. Where Stone’s previous solo records, 2010’s The Memory Machine and 2014’s By The Horns, found her grappling with the natural darkness that comes with loving too much, Sixty Summers finds Stone claiming every part of herself: fire, fury, love, lust, longing. Touching on reference points as disparate as the avant-funk of Talking Heads (on ‘Break’) the romantic 2am musings of Serge Gainsbourg (‘Free’, ‘Dance’) and the sleek, ecstatic synth work of Lorde’s Melodrama (‘Substance’), Sixty Summers is an album you can dance to and one you can lose yourself in completely.

Re-press of the 2018 LP on green vinyl
In many ways Insecure Men - the band led by the fiercely talented songwriter and musician Saul Adamczewski and his schoolmate and stabilising influence, Ben Romans-Hopcraft - are the polar opposite of the Fat White Family. Whereas sleaze-mired, country-influenced, drug-crazed garage punks the Fat Whites are a “celebration of everything that is wrong in life”, Insecure Men, who blend together exotica, easy listening, lounge and timeless pop music, are, by comparison at least, the last word in wholesomeness. The band originally formed in 2015 in the cramped confines of The Queens Head pub, Stockwell, in the Fat White Family’s notorious South London ‘practice space’. Saul recorded all of the songs he wrote at The Queens Head onto tape at Sean Lennon’s studio in upstate New York. This tape, recorded on his own in a corridor onto an ancient Tascam while in a foul mood with his mates, essentially became Insecure Men’s self-titled debut album as more layers were dubbed over the top until nothing of the original demos remained. Saul lists some of the influences on their sound, mentioning the exotica of Arthur Lyman, the early electronic pop of Perrey and Kingsley, the supreme smoothness of The Carpenters, the songwriting chops of Harry Nilsson and the hypnagogic uncanniness conjured up by David Lynch, describing what they do as “pretty music with a dark underbelly to it”.

everything one needs to know about this album: a misshapen,
CHUD-like figure wanders in a graveyard bearing a cross,
while a mutated fish flops in a polluted ditch and a clutch
of factories belch their smoke above it all. The message of
the illustration is not to frighten or warn, but to celebrate
and admire.
Originally released in January of 1984, Disease Is Relative
is an unapologetic and wholesale embrace of death,
disease, and dystopia, with liberal doses of absurdism
and an unrelenting devotion to anything unexpected,
chromatic, or evil sounding. Sporting influences as
diverse as no wave, death rock, funk, post-punk, hardcore,
metal, and prog rock, this music somehow happened in the
midst of a first wave hardcore scene, before there was a
“post-” to be “post” of. Less surprising is that this happened
in Cleveland, which also inspired a desire to recreate the
feeling of the city’s post-industrial desolation in sound.
There’s also some epic screaming and crazy guitar playing.
The album features three songwriters (brothers Andrew
& Chris Marec, Robert Griffin), who also divide guitar,
bass, and vocals equally between themselves here.
Drummer Bruce Allen is the secret weapon, and provides
a clue to what a young Bill Bruford might have done in a
band like this. And yet, beyond all odds, the end result is
cohesive, cathartic, and utterly idiomatic. The distinct vibe
of the album, and its sheer quantity of killer riffs, songs
and performances have made it an album that people have
championed over time, while others have come to know it
through the interwebs as a result.

everything one needs to know about this album: a misshapen,
CHUD-like figure wanders in a graveyard bearing a cross,
while a mutated fish flops in a polluted ditch and a clutch
of factories belch their smoke above it all. The message of
the illustration is not to frighten or warn, but to celebrate
and admire.
Originally released in January of 1984, Disease Is Relative
is an unapologetic and wholesale embrace of death,
disease, and dystopia, with liberal doses of absurdism
and an unrelenting devotion to anything unexpected,
chromatic, or evil sounding. Sporting influences as
diverse as no wave, death rock, funk, post-punk, hardcore,
metal, and prog rock, this music somehow happened in the
midst of a first wave hardcore scene, before there was a
“post-” to be “post” of. Less surprising is that this happened
in Cleveland, which also inspired a desire to recreate the
feeling of the city’s post-industrial desolation in sound.
There’s also some epic screaming and crazy guitar playing.
The album features three songwriters (brothers Andrew
& Chris Marec, Robert Griffin), who also divide guitar,
bass, and vocals equally between themselves here.
Drummer Bruce Allen is the secret weapon, and provides
a clue to what a young Bill Bruford might have done in a
band like this. And yet, beyond all odds, the end result is
cohesive, cathartic, and utterly idiomatic. The distinct vibe
of the album, and its sheer quantity of killer riffs, songs
and performances have made it an album that people have
championed over time, while others have come to know it
through the interwebs as a result.

Serj Tankian is the vocalist of iconic much loved metal band System Of A Down

2020, The Year Of Our Pandemic: A year of social unrest, police violence and a monumental US election. The year of COVID-19 and its mounting death toll. A massive explosion and mass death in Lebanon. Political upheaval in Belarus. A spiraling world economy. Global protests. If ever a stage was set for new music from Serj Tankian, this is it.
With his trademark eclecticism and one-of-a-kind vocal style, Serj delivers, Elasticity, a five song EP that run the gamut from hard-driving, electronically enhanced anthems like the title track to rallying cries for his beloved Armenia (“Electric Yerevan”) to the tongue-in-cheek political mash-up of “Your Mom.” Elasticity is comprised of songs originally intended for System Of A Down. But it didn’t quite work out that way.

The EP will delight fans of System who have waited a long time for new music. Alongside the release of the EP, Serj will release the documentary ‘Truth To Power’ which he directed himself and is released in conjunction with Oscilloscope Laboratories and Live Nation. The documentary features music from the EP and there are comarketing initiatives in place with the film company.

CLAMM could not have come from anywhere other than Melbourne, Australia. Theirs is a city that bleeds music. Iconic bands such as Eddy Current Suppression Ring and Total Control have built on the city's history of open-hearted, fist-in-throat, fiercely independent music. Scenes centring around labels like Antifade, Flightless and Cool Death have held the torch for countless groups as good as any in the world. However, CLAMM arrived completely apart from any established scene or sound. They began playing shows in 2019, sharing bills with virtually anyone who would have them. Jack Summers (vocals/guitar) and Miles Harding (drums) had been friends and musical collaborators since early childhood. Under various banners, they performed for years with friends and siblings across Melbourne's underground landscape. It wasn't until they found Maisie Everett (vocals/bass) that the CLAMM picture was complete. Debut album Beseech Me was recorded with Nao Anzai (Rolling Blackouts, Floodlights, NO ZU) and mixed and mastered by Total Control's Mikey Young.

REPRESS!!

These tracks were recorded by Kevin Low and Fiona Carlin in Kevin’s bedroom in Gayfield Square, Edinburgh, in 1986. Me and my dad, Kevin, dug out a huge bunch of his tapes over the lockdown (about 80 of the them at first). Some were…better than others, however, the Gayfield Square demos were the pick of the lot. Previously Kevin and Fiona were part of the Post Punk / indie band ‘Wild Indians’, whose first release “Stolen Courage” had come out in 1983 – released on Flexi Disc via the Edinburgh fanzine Deadbeat. Throughout the mid-1980s they performed across Edinburgh’s clubs, including at the Hoochie Coochie Club (name checked on track 7), where they played alongside bands and close friends Pop Wallpaper and Visitors. The band went on to release two 12” singles, “Love of My Life” in 1984 and “Penniless” in 1986.

After the band broke up Kevin sold his guitar amp and 7inch collection, Fiona her saxophone and they went out and got themselves a Yamaha RX-5 drum machine, Yamaha QX7 sequencer and a Yamaha DX-100. These bedroom tracks are the fruits of their first venture with this hardware, combining their experimentation with synthetic sounds (mostly the DX-100’s famous pre-sets) with a post-punk vocal style.

These eight tracks are also, in part, the fruit of the “Enterprise Allowance scheme” - a policy venture of Margaret Thatcher’s UK government that gave unemployment claimants access to an extra £40 to top up the basic dole money. Following Thatcher’s election victories in 1979 and 1983, the policy sought to reduce the figures of mass unemployment which hung over Britain well into the 1980s. This policy, according to Kevin, helped to keep up the credit payments. He notes that, “when Fiona and I turned up at the DHSS office with the sure-fire money-making plan of making a business as a ‘song-writing’ duo they signed us up. However, I still think they thought we said, sign writing as they were filling out the form.”

Kevin and Fiona stopped making music together shortly after these tracks were recorded so unfortunately, they never saw the light of day…until now!

Fiona went on to work in Film and Television sound. Kevin became a photographer, working mostly in theatre. He is now an artist/painter working in Glasgow.

Inspired from Romanian cultural heritage, be it film, dance or musical instruments, Folclor Abstract is a glance back to the roots in search of a meaningful future.

The first track is inspired from the soundtrack composed by Cornelia Tăutu for the Romanian historical adventure film “Buzduganul cu trei peceți” (1977). The film presents a politicized version of the events that led in 1600 to the unification of the three Romanian countries, in the aftermath of a victorious battle against the Ottoman invasion (Călugăreni, 1595). Dance your way through as the story unfolds.

Dans cu balans is the result of a personal fascination for the cimbalom, an instrument of high versatility, frequently used in the Romanian fiddle music. In contrast to orchestral performances, which adhere to the composer’s notes to reproduce a work faithfully, fiddling is also open to improvisation and tends to produce rhythms that focus on dancing, with associated quick note changes.

Searching for inspiration within Romanian folklore, I found Ivan Braga who was on his own pursuit of cultural heritage, experimenting with a variety of traditional instruments and rhythms from different regions of the country. Doba lu’ Braga is Ivan’s modern take on Romanian drum patterns performed on a traditional Moldavian drum (dobă) with an uplifting twist and arrangement for the dancefloor experience.

Reverie is an expression of the creator’s state of mind. Lost in thought, stolen by imagination, haunted by memories, liberated by dreams

"Flowers Bloom, Butterflies Come" is the result of a dialog between the stunning Japanese photographer and artist Miho Kajioka and the wonderful UK musicians and composers Ian Hawgood and Craig Tattersall (The Humble Bee), initiated by IIKKI, between August 2019 and January 2021.

Born in the United Kingdom, Ian Hawgood spent most of his adult life living in Japan, Italy and Poland. Currently he calls Peacehaven (on the south coast, near Brighton) his home. Since 2009, he’s well-known with his work as the curator of the Home Normal label. He makes music using an array of reel-to-reel and tape machines in his studio by the sea, where he also master works for many labels and artists alike. You could often catch him on the coast with his faithful Nagra recorder, hydrophone and field microphones. These days his focus of music is on decayed ambient works using old synths and reels mostly, alongside his childhood piano. (site)

Craig Tattersall is a former member of The Remote Viewer and Famous Boyfriend bandmate Andrew Johnson. Tattersall's music can be found these days more often under his alias The Humble Bee; as a founder member of The Boats; and in his collaborative works with the likes of Bill Seaman in The Seaman And The Tattered Sail. He has run the wonderful label Cotton Goods from 2008 to 2015 and since 2009 he has recorded 12 albums on his moniker The Humble Bee.

Miho Kajioka (b. 1973, Japan, lives in Kyoto) is an artist and a photographer since 2011. Kajioka’s work has been exhibited in Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the USA, Germany, Belgium, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Kajioka’s latest book ‘so it goes’ won Prix Nadar in October 2019. "Kajioka's artistic practice is in principal snapshot based; she carries her camera everywhere and intuitively takes photos of whatever she finds interesting. These collected images serve as the basic material for her work in the darkroom where she creates her poetic and suggestive image-objects through elaborate, alternative printing methods. Kajioka regards herself more as a painter/drawer than as a photographer. She feels that photographic techniques help her to create works that fully express her artistic vision. Her images evoke a sense of mystery in her constant search for beauty. The focused, creative and respectful way in which she uses the medium of photography to creating her works seems to fit in the tradition of Japanese art that is characterized by the specifically Japanese sense of beauty, wabi sabi. (…) According to her, photography captures moments and freezes them; printing impressions is like playing with the sense of time and getting lost in its timeline." (Ibasho Gallery)

Behind the finest and most moving pieces of contemporary-classical music lie deeply personal and poignant stories, and Simon Goff's new album Vale is no exception. The British violinist and composer's dazzling exploration of the interface between violin and technology and between the poles of intimacy and grandeur, as rich and deep and wide as the landscape that lies its heart, named after the Vale of York where Goff grew up. The album encapsulates not just a landscape but a place in time and an identity forged through youth and adulthood, all viewed from his current base in Berlin. Goff's artistic project is one which has been informed by his previous collaborations as both a performer and recording engineer, performing with artists such as Thor Harris (Swans, Amanda Palmer) and Federico Albanese, playing in concert halls across Europe. On his very first day working at the legendary Vox-Ton studios, Goff was introduced to Adam Wiltzie (half of the venerated post-classical/ ambient duo Stars Of The Lid/A Winged Victory for the Sullen), and over the next two years, he worked with post-classical and post-rock visionaries such as the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hildur Gudnadóttir (notably on the film soundtracks for Chernobyl and Joker), Dustin O'Halloran and Yair Elazar Glotman.

QThree returns with his 3rd full length LP. Fully mixed and produced by himself, he re iterates his neo blaxploitation sound. “persevere” is a reflection of black empowerment, cultural, political, and social views from the perspective of a black human. This full body of work is mostly inspired by social turmoil, indifferences with loved ones and enemies, disappointment in mentors, spiritual growth, and faith of a better tomorrow. Executively produced by himself, Darien “Brax” Schell and Mark Ryan of Baked Recordings, this project is a full circle representation of the Baked Life Brotherhood. Power to The People!

Angel Guts: Red Classroom is the beginning of Xiu Xiu’s descent from grayness into the deepest blackness endurable. It is the sound of Xiu Xiu’s death. Primary songwriter Jamie Stewart relocated to Los Angeles this past year, moving blindly into a neighborhood

whose notoriously dangerous reputation was unknown to him. The aura of his new home bleeds into every pore of the album, each lyric and note bearing traces of its essence: the terrible beauty, the despair, the violence, the ultra humanity, the uncertainty.

Working with only analog synths, drum set, and 1970’s analog drum machines, Xiu Xiu has never before sounded so focused, so captivating, so intent on delivering a kick to the throat. Unbearably dark, yet incredibly illuminating, AG: RC is the work of a band unraveling to its core and exposing the boldness within.

Black Market Brass is a Minneapolis-based group performing their own brand of originally composed Afrobeat/Afrofunk music, as well as completing authentic renditions of the classic 1970's West African sound. Taking their cues from the godfathers, the band draws on complex polyrhythmic percussion, driving bass lines, dizzying guitar interplay, rolling keyboards, and room-commanding brass. The result? An eclectic blend of cool deep funk and driving Afrobeat grooves that will lure you to the dance floor and never let you leave.

Best Of 50 Cent is a career-spanning chronicle of one of music's most compelling and influential artists. The compilation will be packaged as a 2LP, including classic cuts from his 2003-2009 albums, Get Rich or Die Tryin', The Massacre, Curtis, Before I Self Destruct, and the bonus cut 'How to Rob'. Release is Black vinyl, 180 gram, 2LP, Gatefold and comes with a Download Card

Deluxe 3LP mit 34 neu gemasterten Tracks und einem 60-seitigen Buch mit ausführlichen Linernotes, Interviews, bisher ungesehenen Archivphotos und den Texten (samt Übersetzung) in einem ,Tip On"-Schuber und drei ,Tip On"-Sleeves. Linernotes von Kevin ,Sipreano" Howes. Bisher fast nicht an die Öffentlichkeit gedrungen, kaum dokumentiert, aber im Kern ungeheuer revolutionär, nehmen die Aufnahmen verschiedenster Gemeinden amerikanischer Ureinwohner endlich in Form von ,Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985" den Platz ein, den sie verdienen. Eine Anthologie von Musik, die einst fast ausgestorben, aber nun für alle zu hören, ist ohne Frage eins der ambitioniertesten Projekte in der 12-järhigen Geschichte von Light In The Attic. ,Native Norht America (Vol. 1)" versammelt Musik der eingeborenen Völker Kanadas und der nördlichen USA, die in den turbulenten Jahrzehnten zwischen 1966 und 1985 aufgenommen wurde. Die Musik spiegelt die Zusammenführung globaler Popkultur und die Neuerweckung der eingeborenen Spiritualität und Ausdruckskraft wider. Der größte Teil dieses Materials war über Jahrzehnte lang durch fehlende Distributionskanäle und wenig Präsenz in den Massenmedien in Vergessenheit geraten - bis jetzt! Hier versammelt sich Garage Rock vom Polarkreis aus der Nunavik Region des nördlichen Quebec, melancholischer Yup'ik Folk aus Alaska und flüsternder Country Blues aus dem Wagmatcook First Nation Reservat in Nova Scotia. Man vernimmt Echos von NEIL YOUNG, VELVET UNDERGROUND, LEONARD COHEN, CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL, JOHNNY CASH und anderen in den Songs, die jedoch mit eingeborenem Bewusstsein, Erzählkultur, Poesie, Geschichte und Zeremonie angereichert werden. Die Compilation ist gewidmet dem legendären Métis Singer/Songwriter und Dichter WILLIE DUNN, der auf der Anthologie auftritt, während der Zusammenstellung des Albums jedoch verstarb. ,Native North America (Vol. 1)" ist nur der Anfang; eine Zusammenstellung von Folk, Rock und Country aus den südlichen 48 Staaten der USA und Mexiko wird momentan in der Light In The Attic Goldmine ausgegraben.

Incl. Chris Geschwindner Remix

To kick off with their series, SINM presents its first record: First try Fridays (incl. Chris Geschwindner remix). The tree tracker consists of a blend between UK Garage, House and Electro to bring forward cutting edge rave sensations with futuristic vibes.

A side takes you straight to a two-stepper projectile, setting the tone with "First Try Fridays" and its powerful wobble sub and short electric stabs. Perfect for threatening the dance-floor in peak time hours alongside mysterious DDA's approach.

On the flip side, Realness teleports you to a nostalgic scenario with its polished chord progressions and breakbeat strikes. Slowly building up with vocal cuts and glitchy transitions, B2 reaches a both nostalgic and mysterious climax. To close the EP, Beam Dump's boss man captures the beautiful essence of Realness bringing beach-like sensations to a tune that's perfect for warming up a dance-floor or enjoying the after-hours.

More to come soon from the SINM crew, stay tuned!

Die Footwork Legende aus Chicago, DJ RASHAD, beschließt ein erfolgreiches Jahr auf Hyperdub mit seinem ersten Album für das Label und baut damit auf zwei EPs auf, die deutlich demonstriert haben, wie sich der Sound von ihm und seinen mannigfaltigen Teklife Kollaborateuren im Jahr 2013 entwickelt hatte. Benannt nach dem Freizeitcocktail aus Sprite und Kodein treffen auf ,Double Cup" traditionelle 808 Footwork Ausbrüche auf die neuesten Mutationen des Sounds und zeigen so die Vielseitigkeit und Kraft der Chicago Szene im Jahr 2013. Das Album wirft Hip Hop, R&B, Acid, House, Techno und Jungle in seinen Footwork Shredder und spuckt diese auf der anderen Seite als zusammengeklebte Fragmente wieder aus, zusammengehalten durch schnurrende 808 Subtriplets und kantige Polyrhythmen. Das Album wärmt sich langsam mit einem G-Funk Swing auf, der typisch ist für RASHAD und SPINNs Kollaborationen mit TASO aus San Francisco. Diven mit Schluckauf räkeln sich auf den Rhythmen von ,Show U How", ,Only One" und ,Everyday Of My Life" mit Raps von der Crew auf ,Pass That Shit", ,She A Go" und ,Kush, Drank, Barz". Das bereits veröffentlichte "I Don't Give A Fuck" markiert den düsteren Dreh- und Angelpunkt des Albums; das Tempo zieht in der zweiten Hälfte an mit dem treibenden Viervierteltakt des Titeltracks ,Double Cup", dem donnernd gepressten ,Acid Bit" und dem Chicago House von ,Reggie" und ,Leavin. Den Höhepunkt markiert die Breakbeat Wissenschaft von ,Let U No" und ,I'm Too Hi". ,Double Cup" ist vorausschauende Musik für die Tanzfläche und unterstreicht, dass Footwork an der Macht ist.

Half & Half Colour Vinyl Disc 1: Yellow/Magenta Disc 2: Turquoise/ Magenta


Double album that includes;
45rpm bonus disc with the singles and B sides
Gloss laminated gatefold sleeve
printed inner sleeves, containing lyrics, photos and interview by The Mouth Magazine
“Pleasure Bag” containing 4 postcards, 2 stickers, A stencil, Repro Tour Poster, Repro promo posters for “Go For Gold” and “Politics/ Its Fashion” singles. Press photo and Press Flyer

In 1980 post punk pop indie band GIRLS AT OUR BEST came out of nowhere (Well, Leeds actually) with GETTING NOWHERE FAST and was the NME’s Single Of The Week reaching the Top 10 of the indie chart. The band, fronted by Judy Evans, released four further singles plus the album PLEASURE which reached the UK album charts in 1981, before splitting up two years after that first record.

Girls At Our Best were one of the finest, most life-affirming of a new breed of independent bands who cropped up at the turn of the 80s – long-standing fan John Peel once referred to them as one of the few groups that made the period bearable. Formed in Leeds from the ashes of punk band SOS, the group were fronted by distinctive female vocalist Jude ‘Jo’ Evans, forming a songwriting team with guitarist James Alan and bass player Gerard Swift after they met at art college. All four of their singles for their own Record Records, Rough Trade and Happy Birthday Records are included here as bonus tracks on a 45rpm 12”– including the wonderful ‘Getting Nowhere Fast’ (later covered by The Wedding Present), its coruscating b-side ‘Warm Girls’, ‘Politics!’, ‘Go For Gold’ and ‘Fast Boyfriends’

Their influence can be seen on innumerable C86/indie bands who came afterwards

Zaumne's new album titled Élévation is a multifaceted yet subtle work, an abstract collage that is equally entrancing and immersive. Quoting passages from Baudelaire’s “Flowers of Evil”, the Polish musician promises to elevate the soul and consciousness “Beyond the sun / Beyond the ether”. Yet simultaneously, the artist wants us to stay where we are and focus on the immediate surroundings in search of our personal attachment to the world.

Initially recorded for the WET (Weird Erotic Tension) online community the four pieces are an exploration of erotic aspects of the environment and uncanny intimacy with other beings and objects that dwell in our nearest proximity. Just like on previous releases for labels like Czaszka Rec. or Perfect Aesthetics, on Élévation Zaumne maintains his interest in emotional aspects of sound and internet culture – he builds his compositions from fragments of ASMR-whispered poetry, samples of natural phenomena and field recordings from his family home and its environ.

What starts as an escapist exercise driven by uneasiness and ennui becomes an individual healing process, in which the subject rediscovers the strangely intimate relationship with the world and opens up to almost magical methods of communicating with other beings. ASMR samples and sounds of the artist touching, playing with and exciting different objects are an experiment in establishing contact with the non-human realm and a method of attuning the body and the mind to the reality in which everything is interconnected.

Zaumne tests Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance” through radical, sensual intimacy with what’s near, finding a glimpse of the absolute in his own room, again quoting Baudelaire: “To a child who is fond of maps and engravings / The universe is the size of his immense hunger”.

Zaumne is the moniker of Polish musician Mateusz Olszewski. In the past few years, he has released music on labels like Magia, Perfect Aesthetics, BAS or Czaszka Rec. Élévation, released by Mondoj and initially commissioned by WET, is his first vinyl release. Blending elements of genres like ambient, dub, minimalism and tape music with ASMR samples, field recordings and spoken word, he creates work with deep emotional focus and impact.

Songwriter and fingerstyle guitarist, Jason McNiff releases his 7th full length album, Dust Of Yesterday, on April 16th. Produced and engineered by Roger Askew (Joe Strummer, Wilko Johnson, Christy Moore) the album was recorded throughout the summer and autumn of 2020 in Roger's home studio in Eastbourne, UK. It features McNiff's signature acoustic guitar work throughout with significant contributions from Beth Porter (of Eliza Carthy's band) on cello and Basia Bartz (most London based folk bands) on violin. 
 
His first album since leaving London - McNiff is now based in Hastings - Dust of Yesterday is an elegy on moving away from a beloved place and a lament for lost youth. We are treated to a musical tour of McNiff's life to date, from his 8-year residency as a Flamenco guitarist in a Spanish bar in Waterloo (Damaged Woman) to hopping the northbound train from King's Cross, hiding in the lavatory up to Nottingham (A Load Along). All the songs on Dust of Yesterday, in one way or another, speak of the past. But it is not bleary-eyed nostalgia. 

"I read somewhere that it is possible to literally change the past and I became very interested in this idea. It so happened around the same time that I discovered the Greek/Egyptian poet, Cavafy. In his poems he would talk about the past, but the memory is not a thing of the past, but something that is still part of him in the present. I could relate to that. "

Musically, Jason is influenced by the British acoustic guitarists (Jansch, Graham, Wizz Jones) and the great folk/rock troubadours of the 60s and 70s. He loves Mark Knopfler in the early days; the English teacher turned reluctant rock star, singing about Leeds and Newcastle and sounding like JJ Cale. For McNiff, the lyrics are central, and he has been especially captivated by those considered poets and writers as well as musicians. He loves literature and cites Hemingway, Chekhov and the aforementioned Cavafy, as major influences in his work. ( He has 'translated' Hemingway's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' into a song on a previous album, 'Nobody's Son')
 
 
Jason McNiff was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1974 to an Irish father and Polish mother. Academically gifted, he did well at school and went to the University of Nottingham to study French and Russian. He fell in with the Folk & Blues scene in that city before moving to London in the mid-nineties to do another degree in English Lit. He was just in time to catch the Bert Jansch residency at the 12 Bar club. For 6 months, every Wednesday night, McNiff would be in the front row of Soho's tiny club learning fingerstyle from the master. He would later sign his first record deal with Snowstorm Records, a label run by Bert's brother-in-law and found himself opening for Bert on numerous occasions. 
There followed a string of albums on various labels, including 2003's Nobody's Son (Americana UK album of the year) and 2011's April Cruel (nominated for best alt-country album at the Independent Music Awards in the US.)

Scorpion is the second studio album by Eve. It was by Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Interscope Records on released 6th March, 2001. The album’s title is a reference to Eve’s zodiac sign, Scorpio. It features the Grammy-winning hit single, “Let Me Blow Ya Mind”, a duet with Gwen Stefani, winning their first Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, a new category at the time.

Scorpion was a critical and commercial success, debuting at number four on the US Billboard 200 and became her second consecutive number-one album on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Scorpion was later certified Platinum by the RIAA on 10th May, 2001. Scorpion was also nominated for Best Rap Album at the 44th Grammy Awards in 2002

Scorpion will release on 16th April in 2LP 180 gram black vinyl.

Honeyed harmonies form a girl group turntable turnover! Sugar-dusted girl group confections concocted on impulse of three Staten Island girls who just wanted the attention of some high school boys!
This poly-vinyl pastry collects all the Candy And The Kisses soulful Scepter sides and some originally unissued bonbons! The Scepter Sessions collects them all on LP for the first time, pressed on sweet colored vinyl!

2012 tracks for the first time on vinyl in an edition of 200 copies

These tracks where once included on a CD-R that came with the first 100 S.M. Nurse 12" EP’s “30th Anniversary 1980-1983” (Domestica Records) - now remastered and better sounding, available for the first time on vinyl including an extra track!

Robby Horsfall († 2013): lyrics, vocals
Menko Konings: compositions, instruments

* remix (2021) by Rude 66

** remake S.M. Nurse track

‘City State’ is the first EP on the newly founded Brussels based label Someguy Records, the brainchild of political journalist Gijs Ramboer, aka Someguy. Includes Different Fountains remix.

“This is the time. And this is the record of the time.”

Laurie Anderson’s 1982 debut album, Big Science, will return to vinyl for the first time in 30 years with a new red vinyl edition on Nonesuch Records. The release includes the re-mastered original album first released on CD for the 25thanniversary in 2007.

In the early 1980s, Laurie Anderson was already respected as a conceptual artist and composer, adept at employing gear both high-tech and homemade in her often violin-based pieces, and she was a familiar figure in the cross-pollinating, Lower Manhattan music-visual art-performance circles from which Philip Glass and David Byrne also emerged. While working on her now-legendary seven-hour performance art/theater piece United States, Part I–IV, she cut the spare ‘O Superman (For Massenet)’, an electronic-age update of 19th century French operatic composer Jules Massenet’s aria ‘O Souverain’, for the tiny New York City indie label 110 Records. In the UK, DJ John Peel picked up a copy of this very limited-edition 33⅓ RPM 7” and spun the eight-minute-plus track on BBC Radio 1. The exposure resulted in an unlikely #2 hit, lots of attention in the press, and a worldwide deal with Warner Bros. Records.

’Cause when love is gone, there's always justice.
And when justice is gone, there's always force.
And when force is gone, there's always Mom. Hi Mom!

At the time of its original release, the NME wrote of Big Science, ‘There’s a dream-like, subconscious quality about her songs which helps them work at deeper, secret levels of the psyche.’ With instrumentation ranging from tape loops to found sounds to bag pipes, Big Science anticipated the tech-savvy beats, anything-goes instrumentation and sample-based nature of much contemporary electronic and dance music. On the album’s 25th anniversary, Uncut noted, ‘The broader themes of alienation and disconnection still resonate, while Anderson’s use of loops and traditional/synthesized instrumentation is prescient.’

“In the ’70s I travelled a lot,” Anderson recounts. “I worked on a tobacco farm in Kentucky, hitchhiked to the North Pole, lived in a yurt in Chiapas, and worked on a media commune. I had my own romantic vision of the road. My plan was to make a portrait of the country. Big Science, the first part of the puzzle, eventually became part two of United States I–IV (Transportation, Politics, Money, Love). My goal was to be not just the narrator but also the outsider, the stranger. Although I wasfascinated by the United States, this portrait was also about how the country looked from a distance. I was performing a lot in Europe, where American culture was simultaneously booed and cheered. But the portrait was also a picture of a culture inventing a digital world and learning to live in it. Big Science was about technology, size, industrialization,shifting attitudes toward authority, and individuality. It was sometimes alarmist, picturing the country as a burning building, a plane crash. Alongside the techno was the apocalyptic. The absurd. The everyday. It was also a series of short stories about odd characters – hatcheck clerks and pilots, preachers, drifters and strangers. There was something about Massenet’s aria ‘O Souverain’ – which inspired ‘O Superman’ – that almost stopped my heart. The pauses, the melody. “O souverain, ô juge, ô père” (O Lord, o judge, o father). A prayer about empire, ambition, and loss.”

Laurie Anderson is one of America's most renowned – and daring – creative pioneers. Her work, which encompasses music, visual art, poetry, film, and photography, has challenged and delighted audiences around the world for over 40 years. Anderson released her first album with Nonesuch Records in 2001, the critically lauded Life on a String. Her subsequent releases on the label include Live in New York (2002), Homeland (2010), the soundtrack to Anderson’s acclaimed film Heart of a Dog (2015), and her Grammy-winning collaboration with Kronos Quartet, Landfall (2018). Additionally, Anderson’s virtual-reality film La Camera Insabbiata, with Hsin-Chien Huang, won the 2017 Venice Film Festival Award for Best VR Experience, and, in 2018, Skira Rizzoli published her book All the Things I Lost in the Flood: Essays on Pictures, Language and Code, the most comprehensive collection of her artwork to date.

Compilation of all the recordings by this legendary punk band prior to their LPs: the sessions for their single 'Mucha Policía', taken for the first time in 27 years from the original tapes, which has unearthed two studio recordings unissued until now; plus rehearsals, demos and live recordings. Completely remastered. A furious, noholds-barred sonic account of a period of immense changes for Spain and the Basque Country. The origins of the most important Spanish punk group, regarded as one of the essential bands of the genre all over the Spanish speaking world.It was a time when the walls were teeming with socio-political proclamations, where the hammer and sickle - alongside the illegal Ikurriña (the flag of the Basque Country) - were the most widely used symbols. A time of general strikes and protests on the streets that often ended in an ugly manner. A time also of smoky joints, where huge speakers played loud rock and there were dreams of strawberry fields. In Santurtzi, on the left bank of the Nervión estuary, a unique band was born: ESKORBUTO. Iosu Expósito and Jualma Suarez lived in working class neighbourhoods that had grown fast. Both Kabiezes and Mamariga were, in the 50s, mainly rural areas of Santurtzi. In the 60s, industrialization and rampant development transformed them into urban areas without any investment in urbanism. Some elements for the alchemy led to the explosion: intelligent young guys who were nevertheless incapable of adhering to school discipline, a country in full swing towards freedom after 40 years of dictatorship. It was a context very familiar with the turbulence of the "Basque conflict", with neighbours seduced by the "armed fight" and the "liberation of Euskal Herria", with the question of "identity" constantly present, traumatic episodes of killings, tortures and imprisonments .One day at the end of the 70s they decided to start a band. The first period of Eskorbuto's life, before the damage done by the needle became noticeable, was incredibly fruitful. They soon found a rehearsal space, thanks to their first drummer ("Gu"), and there the first songs were born: 'Enterrado vivo', 'Busco en la basura', 'Éste es el porvenir', 'Mucha policía, poca diversión'. It was a period of line-up changes. Iñaki Laiseka played bass for them, and that role was also taken by "Seni" and "Garlopa", two precursors of "left bank" punk. Later on they found Paco Galán, who also came from a similar neighbourhood to theirs (Repélega, in Portugalete). Paco always was the necessary engine, the piece around which the rest revolved, which guaranteed continuity. His drumming also added an apparently chaotic element to the already unbridled guitar melodies and visionary texts, halfway between dirty realism and Edgar Allan Poe's nightmares. These recordings are taken from those early times of excitement and vertigo, of journeys to Madrid under a train's seat and endless trips up and down the left bank looking for "someone that I've heard is selling an amp". Now the Reina Sofía Museum exhibits their "Impuesto Revolucionario" LP and there's no Spanish speaking country without legions of fans.

“I wanted to try and showcase as many people as I knew on this mix. My idea of Late Night Tales was to distil a series of relaxing moments; the whole conceptual sonic of relax- ation. So, I was trying to think of all the collaborators and friends that I knew, who’d recorded stuff with this horizontal vibe. Plus, I was also trying to help my friends' stuff get into the world. I know the story of Khruangbin blowing up after appearing on the series (in fact, I think that's how I discovered them). So, the main idea was to create a certain atmosphere, but also to help some of my favourite collaborators and bud- dies to give their songs a little push out into the world. Hope you like it” Jordan Rakei
Due for release on 9th April, Late Night Tales celebrate their 20th anniversary with the release of multi-instru- mentalist, vocalist and producer Jordan Rakei’s majestic compilation. The 28-year-old modern soul icon effortlessly stamps his own jazz and hip-hop driven sound all over this gorgeous array of handpicked tracks. A beautifully layered blend that is mirrored in the music he’s made, itcomes as no surprise that such a supremely gifted songwriter should deliver a mix that is all about the song.
Rakei, born in New Zealand, but raised in Australia, moved to the UK in 2015; he released his debut album, Cloak, with Oz label Soul Has No Tempo, but his two subsequentLPs, Wallflower and Origin, came out on Ninja Tune, the former#2 in Album Of The Year for Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide poll, while Origin was nominated for Best Album at the AIM Awards. Jordan had this to say on his upcoming mix:
As Jordan says,there’s so much more to the song selection on Late Night Tales’latest outing than a random collection of artists. Many have some sort of personal connection, so just as Bonobo provided a platform for the breakout of Khruangbin on a previous LNT, this may have the same ef- fect for Rakei’s friends. After a soothing opener from Fink, good friend and big influence Alfa Mist (part of the Are We Live collective) delivers ‘Mulago.’ “I want to champion their sound and show the world how good he is, and I thought it’d be fitting to start the mix with family,” says Jordan.
Next up is Charlotte Day Wilson with ‘Mountains,’ followed by ‘Count A Heart’ from Moreton, an exclusive collab- oration with Jordan, who grew up on the same street in Brisbane, Australia. “She was the first artist I ever collabo- rated with, and one of the first artists to be involved in mycareer,” he explains. Elsewhere we hear Scottish producer and multi-instrumentalist C Duncan’s haunting ‘He Came from the Sun,’ Barcelona collective Oso Leone deliver a dreamy ‘Virtual U’ and Bill Lauren’s ‘Singularity,’ which evokes a striking sense of time and place.
Snowpoet’s ethereal ‘Evitenity’ is a “long mediative nar- rative over a beautiful soundscape,” which at times seems chaotic, nicely juxtaposed with undeniable beauty, and Maro’s kooky songwriting shines on ‘Always And Forever.’ Long-time buddy Armon-Jones contributes ‘Idiom,’ and Jordan’s exclusive cover version is a two-for-one, Radio- head’s ‘Codex’ merging with ‘Lover, You Should’ve Come Home’ by Jeff Buckley and another exclusive,original com- position by Jordan, ‘Imagination.’ The latter works as a piece with the spoken (Spanish) word voiced by movie director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, Birdman, and The Reve- nant,) who is a big fan of Jordan’s. “He messaged me when I went to L.A and asked to come to my show. I was in such shock and we hung out after. I thought it would be nice to get him to do this in his native tongue, because I don’t think that’s been done yet on the series.” It certainly is a familyaffair. Not theblood is thicker than water kind, but certainly musical kindred spirits.

December 4th, 2020 -- THE LICKERISH QUARTET — Band members of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Slash’s Snake Pit, Finn Brothers, Alice Cooper, Air Beck – and all formerly of Jellyfish – reunite for 2 nd EP with their first official UK release. Roger Joseph Manning Jr., Tim Smith and Eric Dover are excited to announce their highly anticipated THREESOME VOL.2 EP, to be released 8 th January 2021, will be their first on British indie label Lojinx. The first single, “Snollygoster Goon,” is out now. Of “Snollygoster Goon” Eric Dover says “The music is Adderall-based, in theory, to reflect the absolute breakneck speed at which the corruption flourishes. A frenetic forensic foray into classic old-as-civilization themes involving greed, graft and corruption as applied to any political sphere. The snake oil salesman kissing babies, the saccharine unimaginative public image.” The new release is, naturally, the follow-up to their debut EP, THREESOME VOL.1 - lauded by critics as “a masterpiece” - which was released in May 2020 in the US. With song titles “Snollygoster Goon,” “The Dream That Took Me Over,” “Sovereignty Blues,” and “Do You Feel Better?” Manning, Smith, and Dover’s undeniable chemistry can once again be found throughout THREESOME VOL.2. The songs formed from the same sessions that begun in 2017 offer a slinky and feisty landscape of temptation, freedom of thought, hope and dreams, and a shout out to all who game the systems. An edgy second round of soaring vocals, angular guitars, and pulsing drums, enveloped by timeless keyboard arrangements requires multiple listens to appreciate fully. Manning, Dover and Smith ruminate on the other 3 new songs: “Do You Feel Better?” as told by Tim Smith: A romp along the primrose path of temptations, internal and external, real or imagined, the tiny demons we dance with throughout our lives. A pulsing bass and hypnotic guitar rhythm plays like the backing band to a striptease you’ve sneaked into, and don’t know where to sit, but all are welcome! Some things are more dangerous than others, of course, but this song is sort of a combination of letting your guard down, because of preconceived notions of what’s right or wrong, and justification of actions you think you understand to have under control. Who knows? Experiences do give us perspective, and this song tries to play between the id and superego - a Screwtape letter demon, and an Angel of Mercy. “Sovereignty Blues” as told by Roger Joseph Manning Jr.: “Fears fire’s all they’re fanning, but I won’t light up their fuse.” A tale as old as humanity. Group control over another through the tried and true tactic of fear. And always partnered with a fatal dose of “divide and conquer.” But who’s actually pulling the levers and pushing the buttons of the propaganda machine behind the Wizard of Oz’ curtain of crowd control, so to speak? “THREESOME VOL.2 finds our threesome in fine form, with four new songs to get you through COVID times and beyond!”

Orions Belte: «Villa Amorini» Jansen Records 2021 Do you remember the time the doorman ran after some drunken kids around the lake outside the club? As he dives into the lake, he scrapes his stomach on a sharp object in the water, but catches up and returns with one youth under each arm. At the same time the singer from the band playing inside, jumps from the loft hoping that the chandelier he grabs will hold him. It doesn’t. Endless afterparties and constantly trying to avoid visits from the police or the liquor control. Still nothing? This was the 90’s club scene in Bergen, and Villa Amorini was the place where everything happened. Starting as an 80’s fine dining spot, it evolved into an extravagant club with tons of artists and DJ’s in screaming shirts and oversized sunglasses. This sets the scene for Orions Belte’s second album. Still a mix of all the sounds they like, reminiscing eras they haven’t experienced, trying to navigate in their own musical atmosphere. Chaotic and calm at the same time. Villa Amorini is recorded at Norsk Riksstudio by engineer Njål Paulsberg, making sure the sounds were on point while leaving the band alone to play together for hours upon hours, chiseling out the base for the album. Where the debut was summery and a bit brighter, this album tends to lean a bit more towards the big city, night life and leftover food from the fridge. Mixed as always by the magnificent Matias Tellez.

The Pianist is a 2002 biographical drama film, directed by Roman Polanski. It is based on the autobiographical book The Pianist, a World War II memoir by the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman. The film was a co-production between France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland.

The Pianist was met with significant critical praise and received multiple awards and nominations. It was awarded the Palme d’Or at the 2002
Cannes Film Festival. At the 75th Academy Awards, The Pianist won Oscars for Best Director (Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood), and Best Actor (Adam Brody), and was also nominated for four other awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. It also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film and BAFTA Award for Best Direction in
2003 and seven French Césars including Best Picture, Best Director, and
Best Actor for Brody.

Tony Joe White scored big with 1969’s “Polk Salad Annie” from the album Black & White MOVLP989 and he was having success as a songwriter too: “Rainy Night In Georgia” was a huge hit for Brook Benton in 1970.

His self-titled third album (1971) finds the “Swamp Fox” tempering his bluesy rockers with a handful of introspective, soul-dripping ballads and introducing horn and string arrangements for the first time. The addition of the Memphis Horns and other Muscle Shoals session men really worked well for the album. Many of the songs will remind the listener just how turbulent the cultural climate of the late 60’s and early 70’s was in the U.S. Songs like “The Change”, “Black Panther Swamps” and “I Just Walked Away” (the album’s first single) are testament to the era.

“Maestro melodist Christophe Petchanatz (aka Klimperei) and all around music fanatic David Fenech engage remotely in a repetitive exchange of recordings and overdubs on their debut album titled ‘Rainbow de Nuit’, sporadically spanning over the last decade. Evocations of experimental and improvised jazz, chansonesque songs, bluesy folk, and outsider music undulate harmoniously across the record. From music boxes and walkie-talkies down to plastic straws, plucking various stringed instruments such as the charrango and banjo, kazoos and snake-charmer ocarina and flutes, all the way through the sweet accordion and melodica, found and traditional tuned percussion - there is far from a shortage of sound sources on this freakishly inviting record. What germinates as an imaginative and emotional chord progression played by Klimperei, evolves with Fenech layering additional recordings, which would then find their way back home to Klimperei yet again, and so on, and so forth. This recursive compositional and improvisational loop, combined with Fenech’s musique-concrete-like mixing and editing techniques, transforms the acoustic recordings by way of compression, saturation, and reverberation or simple pitch changes - resulting in the duo’s recordings seemingly sound like they may very well be an octet in real time. While the majority of the recordings have been ping-ponged remotely, David and Christophe unite under one roof to record the closing track of the album.

The pieces presented on ‘Rainbow de Nuit’ treat the ears to a carousel ride waltzing through a multiverse made up of surrealist puppet theaters, dramatic film noir act changes, and a mosaic of polyphonic instruments and toys alike. In other words, a score to a fable brought to life with haunting yet charming melodies and occasional hallucinatory voices reminiscent of laughter and infantile epiphanies which we hear on Tarzan en Tasmanie and Madrigal for Lola. This is taken a step further by Fenech, to a brief libretto of incomprehensible tongues on Pocarina. Amid the mysterious and dark (Septième Ciel and Rugit Le Coeur) also lies tender and simple compositions (Rainbow de Nuit and Chevalier Gambette), murky suspenseful melancholy (Levy Attend and Eno Ennio), and casually slipping into pensive psychedelic backdrops (Un Cercueil à Deux Places) - forming a colorful blend of sounds. A world of echoes. A tale of tales. One persistent earworm that you’ll likely be whistling and humming along to on a first listen.”

Zwerm is a Belgian-Dutch electric guitar quartet (with a backyard rehearsal shed located in Antwerp) that operates along the borders between styles and traverses traditions that are typically not convergent. Zwerm rhymes Larry Polansky with Nadah El Shazly and are galvanized by the likes of guitars pioneers like The Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth, the microtonal DYI-er Harry Partch, Middle Eastern sonorities and the prog-madness of Kind Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. ‘Musical adventure’ is not just a hollow cliché for this quartet, but a genuine commitment. Zwerm calls itself a ‘guitar quartet’, but that can be interpreted broadly as well as with a pinch of salt: “If we want to do something on instruments we don’t really master, we’ll just figure out a way to make it work.”
Toon Callier, Johannes Westendorp, Kobe van Cauwenberghe and Bruno Nelissen all met in 2007 while working on a project with Glenn Branca. A new guitar quartet was born and it became clear rather quickly that staying in the strictly contemporary compositions lane was not for this quartet-with-five-to-six-members (an organizational chart is available upon request).
An appetite for new and lasting collaborations has been a constant theme throughout their artistic parcours. The group has shared stages with theatrical producers like Walpurgis and Post uit Hessdalen, dancers such as Ecce and with the musicians Fred Frith, Stephen O’Malley, Shiva Feshareki, Rudy Trouvé, Mauro Pawlowski, Larry Polansky, Eric Thielemans, Yannis Kyriakides, François Sarhan, Serge Verstockt and Stefan Prins. These projects have not always translated into records, but they have been decisive in creating a unique musical approach. In 2015, when Zwerm was asked by De Handelsbeurs to collaborate with Fred Frith, they proceeded to pen a few new musical sketches over which Firth sublimely improvised. In 2018 ‘Badminton in Tehran’ was released, their first record that was made up completely of only the group’s compositions.
“a basket full of buttons here
and if you push the wrong one: fear
and if you push the right one: love
or maybe none of the above”
The route that Zwerm has taken is often defined by the question “What if... ?” - like a dart thrown at a musical map, not quite blindly, but naive enough to lead to unexpected endings.
“What if we play Renaissance pieces written by John Dowland, but instead of playing lutes we play these tunes with a Telecaster – and then jam it through effect pedals and an amplifier?”
“What if we connect one hundred guitar pedals and just leave our guitars at home?”
“What if we record a record with ten different one-page-pieces that we found on the Internet?”
In 2020 our metaphorical dart landed on “What if we tried microtonality?”.
‘Microtonality’ sounds a bit creepy, but actually there is nothing to be afraid of: there are no out-of- tune notes, just alternate notes. On the continents where Western musical theory is less stringently applied, microtonality is the rule, and has become the subject of many deep and thoughtfully written theories. However for Zwerm, this phenomenon occurs in many, often surprisingly lighthearted forms. A dilapidated piano that has settled into a beautiful microtonal tuning of its own accord, enthusiastic choral singing, a guitar whose three strings are tuned a quarter-tone higher, a saz (Turkishquarter-tone lute), a maddening guitar pedal, ...
"the dreams they were convicted for telling only lies reality came after for claiming to be wise what you don’t see is what you get just never light a spark I’m a crow in the dark”
“And… what if we work with a drummer?” Enter Karen Willems - dummer, extraordinaire, and ardent player in groups, projects and collaborations galore. One chance meeting and the deal was done. It was obvious before the start that Willems was the versatile and creative percussionist-in-a-toy-store necessary for this project. And in the studio, to our delight, she demonstrated an easy dexterity when switching quickly from one idea to the next.
At the reins behind the scenes was producer Rudy Trouvé, who – during previous sessions for ‘Badminton in Terhran’, when the classically trained guitarists went completely off the rails, staring deeply and forlornly into their scores, looking for answers – was able to pinpoint the problem and get the wagons rolling in the right direction again. Completing the team were Mark Dedecker (recording)and Joris Calluwaerts (mixing).
The results are in and it’s called ‘ Great Expectations’ – a title that, in several ways, fits perfectly with these strange times.‘Great Expectations’ goes wide! Zwerm is at its best when it can run along the borders between style and across traditions that otherwise would not necessarily intersect. The most straightforward rockers have a proggy tinge while the dreamy psychedelic songs lean more toward Richard Youngs. And if a nice melody dared come to close to becoming a ‘Kit-Katjingle’, then barbs-a-la-Pere-Ubu were trailed, tracked, found and promptly embedded. ‘Heavy Machinery’ sits neatly somewhere between Captain Beefheart and Richard Wagner, and ‘On My Way To Aguno’, set to an Iranian folk song chord progression, grew into a hyper-personal lullaby. Zwerm used the saz (Turkish lute) and the sinter (Moroccan gnawa bass instrument) without falling into pastiche psychedelia, but you can still sense the orient.

Real Real World is the first collaborative effort from Nantes-based Australian drummer/percussionist Will Guthrie and Australian keyboardist/composer James Rushford. Primarily recorded in a fluid, spontaneous studio session in Nantes, with overdubs added later in Melbourne and Nantes, Real Real World presents five spacious, unhurried pieces that inhabit a unique sound world characterised by wheezing, half-voiced organ chords, chiming metal percussion, and eruptions of small sounds. Beginning with the eerily beautiful, shakuhachi-esque sound of Rushford performing on detuned portative organ, the opening title track is abruptly transformed by the entry of Guthrie’s sizzling cymbals, deep gong strikes, and rustling hand percussion. On the epic ‘Lumbering’, which occupies the majority of the record’s first side, organ chords define a space in which a kaleidoscopic succession of amplified thuds, chiming bells, rustled and dragged objects, and abruptly silenced clusters advance and recede in an oneiric blur, eventually making way for a passage of Guthrie’s virtuosic polyrhythms, itself unexpectedly overtaken by waves of melting fairground organ. The record reaches an energetic climax mid-way through the second side with the stunning ‘Slakes’, where lugubrious chords in the organ’s lowest register are joined by Guthrie’s skittering rhythms, which somehow manage to call to mind both the most chaotic moments of Balinese Gamelan and the stochastic breakbeats of late-90s Autechre. On this piece, Guthrie and Rushford are joined by Melbourne saxophone maverick Scott McConnachie, who contributes an alto sax solo of burning precision, working with a single-minded palette of piercing long tones and wild intervallic leaps. Though it makes extensive use of overdubbing, Real Real World retains a strong sense of having been performed, rather than constructed: while at times the fleeting succession of events can recall electroacoustic music, its primarily acoustic nature and unhurried pace is also reminiscent of the music of AACM affiliates or Marion Brown’s classic Afternoon of a Georgia Faun. Immediately engaging while also hiding countless details in the folds of its polychrome fabric, Real Real World is a relaxed and joyous document of collaborative musical invention.

Artwork by Patrizia Bach. Layout by Lasse Marhaug. Mixed and mastered by Joe Talia at Good Mixture, Berlin.

The sensation was perfect – Helloween, who have sold more than 10 million records worldwide, being one of the most respected German metal bands since 1984, announced their PUMPKINS UNITED WORLD TOUR in 2016. The media was raving about the TOUR OF THE YEAR, playing 69 shows in 32 countries all over the world. More than one million fans on three continents were ecstatic because it was not only a reunion of the original band, it was the summit of seven ultimate HELLOWEEN heroes: Andi Deris, Michael Kiske, Michael Weikath, Kai Hansen, Markus Grosskopf, Sascha Gerstner & Dani Löble. Or to put it simple: it was a dream come true for fans around the world, the band received five times more spectators and all of them had only one wish: »Please stay together!«

Following the excitement, one of the biggest magazines in this genre ‘BURRN!’ (Japan) honored the band with four unbelievable cover stories, this was followed by the thunderstorm of the century within the social media universe, a celebrated PUMPKINS UNITED single and the quenchless hunger for more – much more! And yes, the musicians tasted blood and it was clear: there is no way back – the future of HELLOWEEN will be written in unity. It marked the beginning of a new era and the re-birth of a metal legend with exceptional artists.
Their first new album will be released in summer 2021. Flatten the runway with a loud drumbeat: in April 2021 the spectacular single SKYFALL will be released. The 12 minute epic, written by Kai Hansen has the long yearned ‘Keeper-Vibe’ but it isn’t telling the story of the whole album. SKYFALL has a musical arch which will be loved by fans of every era: from unforgettable times to glorious adventures all the way to the upcoming first album of the HELLOWEEN new age. The epic track tells about an alien landing on earth and a dramatic chase while Hansen, Kiske and Deris duel with each other in a breathtaking manner and create a broadband adventure - with a lyric sheet with colored blocks identifying the singers as well as a video that is formidable. Produced by Martin Häusler, it will be the most elaborate clip in the history of the band, the story to be shown with 3-D animation and looking cinematic – in these times almost a dinosaur in implementation.
The base of the upcoming milestone album was already erected in the studio: using the original Ingo Schwichtenberg drum kit, the recording was done with the same modulators at the Hamburg HOME studios where back then ‘Master of The Rings’, ‘Time of the Oath’ and ‘Better than Raw’ was recorded. Back to the roots and completely analog is the UNITED impact - another great work by well-known producer Charlie Bauerfeind and Co-producer Dennis Ward before the album traveled to New York and got the final mastering polish in the Valhalla Studios of Ronald Prent (Iron Maiden, Depeche Mode, Rammstein).
With all this brand new material an album has been created, an album that is set apart from the digital mainstream and showing that the essence of the band was never more solid.

The artwork of Eliran Kantor (Berlin) is clear: SKYFALL is the beginning of something big – here comes HELLOWEEN.

A mysterious journey through the shadows in the darkness is emerged by our new installment. The charismatic duo Bichord debuts on Eclectic Limited with a fantastic EP titled "Continuum" featuring 3 powerful tracks identified by their trademark sound. Edit Select interprets with a high-flown remix wrapped up in charming thundering shades.

A year characterised by a pandemic, lockdowns, political ineptitude and oh, so much staying the fuck at home is enough to make anyone want to blow off a little steam. One overused piece of glib idiocy at the start of the Trump era was 'at least punk will be good', as though punk can only be good when it flips the bird to right-wing, authritarian shit-headery rather than amplifying anything else. Sure, there've been plenty of great records over the last four years, but sometimes (across the whole of 2020, for instance) the levels of anger, fear and frustration can be overwhelming and you need a little space to goof around. For some of us, though, goofing around is serious business - and here's a record to illustrate that perfectly. Smirk is the solo project of Public Eye's Nick Vicario, and while you'll hear similarities to his main outfit across these 12 excellent tracks (from the off, you can imagine how PE might refine garage-carved nuggets like 'S Construction'), here there's less sang-froid and more_ well, fun. The reference points you might expect are still there (Killed By Death comps and Wire, especially their 80s period, to name a couple), but with added scuzz and something even approaching joy - the whirling synths of 'Eyes Conversing' feel ominous, but they also convey a sense of delirious excitement. And dammit, it's all fucking cool too. With a name like Smirk, your first instinct might well be to wonder whether Vicario is laughing at us. The first line of the album (a defiant 'it's not funny') should tell you that this isn't the case, but the album certainly finds him in playful mood. The tasteful acoustic instrumental 'Lude 2' descends deliberately into farce as it speeds up and slows down like a turntable alternating speeds, or a record warping in real time.

Superb Gatefold delux editioon of a magic ambient to ambient-core sound... Ritch and conceptual music... Out from the fields and upper than any montaign... this is This tale is written inside the gatefold : The Bandiagara Escarpement unravels for more than 400.000 hectares, multitude of sandstone cliffs and plateaus, ravines and caverns. A West African area of unique and exceptional beauty also known as the Land of Dogon.


Summer night is fading away when the Hogon Kalapodis stands up abruptly after days completely motionless staring at the stars through the openings of the Kukulu Kommo Cave. Time has come. The heliacal rising of Sirius is getting nearer. Aware of the power of the word to bring everything into existence by naming, the Hogon reaches with a resolute pace the Polio Kommo Plain where his ancestors wrote in stone the past and future of mankind. There he finds the Awa fully deployed in two lines, the oldest standing and the others sitting before them. Dressed with braids of dyed fibers and embroidered with cowry shells, figures of mythological beings, humans, animals hold the painted wooden masks tightly between their teeth. Behind them, the whole tribe stood around the rock ark in the kanaga position : legs well planted in the sandstone, arms waving to the lightening sky.
Just a nod and Nogod, the most skilled percussionist, starts a solo on his Gom Boy. First he keeps on repeating over and over the same obsessive pattern and then, squeezing the leather chords of the talking drum with arm and body, he modulates the frequency produced with the beats originating from the rest of the tribe. The last Dama has just begun.

The end of the mourning ritual is now looming over the cliff. Hundreds of Boy Na and Boy Tolo and Gom Boys jam together with bells and bullroarers and all the singers. The masked crews jump and dance quickly in sonic belligerence and the faster they cross one another, the more the rhythm accelerates.
Drumming gets supersonic. No longer possible to detect a percussive sound, only a single powerful Black Drone. Super fast music becomes super slow.


In the light of dawn, looking at the horizon, Sigui Sirius A Tolo is now rising. Also its dark companion Po Sirius B Tolo is over there and far away a new New form is taking shape. Nogod standing right at the middle of the vibing tribe, whispers sweetly something but somehow in all that rumble everybody hears clearly the name : S………I………R………I………U………S………C

Tape / Cassette

Everyone's favorite synth acid genius, J. Mono from Lajosmizse is back on Dalmata Daniel with the double album Redate I & II tape release, an emotionally filled journey of 24 songs, all showing deep thoughtfulness of composition, mastering soundwaves and harmonies.

This cassette is limited and numbered to 60 copies with risograph printed J-card sleeve in hard case. Every tape comes with unique label sticker for this release and download code.