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Available on 2 150g 12” vinyl, this abridged edition features 33 of the most iconic tracks in Shenmue III. It comes in a gatefold and includes a booklet with liner notes (in both English and Japanese) by Yu Suzuki and other members of the Shenmue community, as well as archival artwork. It also includes a digital download code for all 33 tracks.

First-ever official re-issue of the Ecuadorian composer's stunning electroacoustic composition "Oeldorf 8" on vinyl and CD. Remastered by KASSIAN TROYER at D&M, Berlin.

MESÍAS MAIGUASHCA (b. December 24th, 1938 in Quito / Ecuador) is a composer of Neue Musik, especially electroacoustic music, who studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Quito, at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY (1958–65), with ALBERTO GINASTERA at the Instituto di Tella in Buenos Aires, at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne and, after a short return to Ecuador, attended the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt and the Fourth Cologne Courses for New Music in 1966–67 where he studied with KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN. From 1968 to 1972, MAIGUASHCA worked closely with STOCKHAUSEN in the Electronic Music Studio of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne and joined STOCKHAUSEN's ensemble for performances at the German Pavilion at the Expo '70 in Osaka. In 1971 he became a founding member of the OELDORF GROUP of composers and performers, and began work at the Centre Européen pour la Recherche Musicale in Metz, at IRCAM in Paris, and at the ZKM in Karlsruhe. From 1990 – 2004 MAIGUASHCA was Professor of Electronic Music at the Musikhochschule of Freiburg im Breisgau where he still lives today.

The OELDORF GROUP, named after the small village 40 km away from Cologne where they lived and worked in a rented farmhouse where they set up their own studio for electronic music and studio productions, was a musicians' collective active during the 1970s. In the adjacent barn, the group held concerts for audiences up to 300 people with an emphasis on live-electronic music and other kinds of new and avant-garde music. Thanks to a long-standing contact with the Westdeutscher Rundfund, the core members of the OELDORF GROUP (PETER EÖTVÖS - electronics and keyboards, the violinist/violist and composer JOACHIM KRIST, electronics specialist and composer MESÍAS MAIGUASHCA, who also played keyboards, and his wife GABY SCHUMACHER – cello) received commissions for compositions, invitations to perform in the Musik der Zeit concert series, as well as having many of their summer concerts recorded for the late-night broadcasts of WDR3.

One of these commissioned compositions is "Oeldorf 8": a retrospective portrait of the OELDORF GROUP consisting of a series of ten short pieces for four instrumentalists (clarinet, violin, cello, electric organ/synthesizer) and tape which may be played either simultaneously or continuously without a break. It premiered in 1974 at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse and was released on LP two years later and turned into a sought-after, but not very well-known rarity achieving collector's prices., and was later unofficially reissued on KEITH FULLERTON-WHITMAN's Creep Pone CDr label.

Conceived as a sonic diary with an edge to encompass radical electronic synthesis, the 48 minute composition proves " … a thing of wonder; from the outset, MAIGUASHCA's spoken introduction of the players & concept gets slowly eroded by errant, pointillist electronic sound … which then lets loose for a good 10 minutes before a swarm of slowly rising held tones c/o the players acoustic arsenal slowly comes to the fore. On the second side, the acoustic sounds - patiently, elegantly state their cases across a good half of the segment until a rising pulse-wave drone essentially annihilates the more nuanced phrasing & slowly builds to an almost ROLAND KAYN-esque climax of raw oscillator gristle" (Soundohm).

44 years after its original release, MAIGUASHCA's stunning album finally sees its deserved and overdue re-release on CD and LP, carefully remastered by KASSIAN TROYER at D&M, Berlin.


"Maiguashca … is part of the first generation of South American maverick sound explorers that in the 1960s paved the way for a tradition of innovation that persists in the present noise and psychedelic scenes of the continent. Along with Edgar Valcárcel, César Bolaños, Beatriz Ferreyra, Mauricio Kagel or José Vicente Asuar, he contributed to expand the possibilities of musical language beyond the dominant Western canon …"

David Jarrin / Kraak Festival

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.

Reuben Sawyer is nothing if not prolific. He's also a man of many talents - his various projects have included the coldwave sounds of The Column, Hollow Sunshine's blown-out psych-noise, Anytime Cowboy's take on countrified weirdo-pop, and even ambient house courtesy of Rose. Oh, and he's a visual artist too, of course. Pfft, who needs an attention span anyway? One thing he's also dabbled in, however, is post-punk. Human Trophy is firmly in line with that tradition, but pulling from multiple directions at once - one minute this album rattles along like Big Black with the tempo down and the textures dialled up, the next we're firmly in Christian Death territory. The twisting guitar lines and pummelling bass of 'Forming Horrors' even call to mind his blackened punk project Dry Insides, but with less velocity and a helluva lot more menace. Is 'Corpse Dream' a goth record? Possibly. Whether goth is a lifestyle choice for Sawyer or not, he's certainly adept at immersing himself in sounds and making them feel like a comfortable fit. As with all his projects, it feels like another effortless facet of Reuben Sawyer - and in keeping with the rest of his output, it's absolutely packed with songs you'll wanna play again and again. Penultimate track 'The Roads' is built on a none-more gloomy pile-up of darkly portentous rhythms and a firm sense of disquiet, but once you're locked into its circular riffage you'll feel an urge to keep the loop going endlessly. Then there's the closer 'Blood Apex', a dual-vocal nightmare set to music which draws you back in even as it attempts to push you away. Yeah, it's pretty great.

Who is Harvey Couture? Some say he’s a survivor of French pop music’s sun-soaked synth-pop era of the early 1980s, others that he’s a more suave and stylish Serge Gainsbourg for the nu-Balearic era. There were even rumours circulating that he’s a musical mobster from the Cote D’Azure: a shadowy member of the mafia who deals in synths, drum machines and fretless bass guitars rather than guns, money and drugs. In truth, not even Leng Records knows much about the man behind the moniker, though his vividly kaleidoscopic, retro-futurist debut album, Scellé En Cristal, does offer a number of crafty clues. Whether listeners will make the necessary deductions to solve the mystery remains to be seen; regardless, it’s the music that matters, and on that score Scellé En Cristal simply cannot be faulted.

Rich in humid, afternoon-bright musical delights, the set sees our publicity-shy hero mix and mangle a multitude of musical influences – think proto-Balearic European synth-pop, Prince style purple funk, immersive ambient, early INXS style synth-rock, the electronic end of zouk and much more besides – with constantly colourful and imaginative results. Couture is most at home adding his variously seductive, sexy and sleazy vocals to bubbly, upbeat and mid-tempo numbers that combine delay-laden drum machine beats with surging synths, fluid bass, stylish guitars, lashings of leftfield pop nouse and plenty of tongue-in-cheek Gallic flair.

For proof, check the throbbing, off-kilter alien-funk throb of ‘Les Portes De La Perception’, the bustling, percussion-laden cheeriness of ‘Crème Solaire’ and the loose-limbed, toe-tapping brilliance of ‘Je Nes Peux Pas’, where chiming, steel pan style melodies and pots-and-pans percussion hits jostle for position with sliding fretless bass notes and flash-fried guitars. Check to ‘Passion’, a swaggering slab of bustling electrofunk/synth-rock fusion rich in ‘Rockit’-style scratches and restless synth-bass. The influence of languid, sunset-ready European pop records of the 1980s – those cuts that would later become sought-after amongst dusty-fingered collectors of Mediterranean music – is another recurring feature of Couture’s cultured but joyous debut album. It can be heard amongst the drowsy guitars, yawning bass and tumbling lead lines of ‘Look Within’, the pleasingly laidback ‘Invincible Line’, the elastic bass, fluorescent synth sounds and stuttering machine drums of ‘Marche’.

Yet Couture is no one-trick pony. Horizontal and loved-up moments of a more downtempo hue can be found scattered across the album, with the enveloping ambient awe of ‘Les Portes’ – all swelling chords, gentle melodies and atmospheric field recordings – and slowly unfurling ‘Whale Song’ both lingering long in the memory. Harvey Couture may not be ready to step out of the shadows just yet, but his music most certainly is. We have a feeling that Scellé En Cristal is just the start of the mystery monsieur’s musical journey.

A cheeky riff on the Beatles’ White Album, Cleaners From Venus frontman Martin Newell’s second solo album from 1995 is a sophisticated follow-up to the critically-acclaimed The Greatest Living Englishman. Produced by él Records fixture Louis Philippe and featuring XTC’s Dave Gregory on guitar, it’s a vivid snapshot of Newell’s life with a French chanson-inspired ease.

A longtime fan of French music, Newell sought a Gallic quality on this record - with the vocal riding at the top of the mix, rather than blurred under indie rock guitars, as was common at the time. Philippe was happy to oblige. The effect is a clarity of both form and content - on “Arcadian Boys,” Newell’s impassioned voice careens over a heartbreaking string quartet (arranged by Philippe himself) as he wonders what’s become of those “too late for the sun.” It’s a much more emotional take on the song than the guitar-laden, uptempo version that appears on the Cleaners From Venus’ My Back Wages. But The Off White Album doesn’t dwell too long in solemnity - it’s still a Martin Newell record, after all. His classic wit is on full display, whether he’s putting an irreverent spin on the Smiths (“Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”) or fondly warning a neighbor to “watch your chemicals, girl” (“The Girls In The Flat Upstairs”).

A rich cast of characters make up The Off White Album, via both the process of its recording and the subjects of its songs. It’s a record born on the road, inspired by Newell’s experiences travelling through Europe and Asia the year of its inception. Perhaps the clearest portrait that emerges as the album draws to a close, however, is one of Newell himself: as poet, coffee shop customer, bandleader, lover and neighbor. By his own admission, The Off White Album is “a more intimate portrait of my life at that time than I’d intended.”

LA-based producer, composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist James McAlister is a rare creator, and highly sought after collaborator. Perhaps best known for his work with Sufjan Stevens , McAlister has also appeared on record with Lorde amongst many others, and is a regular contributor to Aaron Dessner 's projects, including the latest albums from Taylor Swift, folklore and evermore . His regular work with film music includes The Two Popes, The Big Sick, and Ron Simonsen 's recent films. In 2018 he joined Stevens, Casey Foubert , St. Vincent and Moses Sumney for the Oscar performance for music from Call Me By Your Name, where he played piano and a bottle of cupcake sprinkles. With nearly countless projects to his name, it was in 2017 that his collaboration with Stevens, Nico Muhly, and Bryce Dessner entitled Planetarium was released by 4AD. Around the same time McAlister started a deep dive into a personal sonic realm that has manifested as an ambient project under his own name. 2018 saw the release of Three Breaths , the first offering from this exploration. 2021 will see the second installment, an album called Scissortail which vividly puts McAlister's evolving master craft on display. It is a collection of moving, meditative, immediately satisfying and quietly stunning work. It is the sound of an artist letting go entirely of pre-conceptions or expectations, instead mining the depths of that very real and abstract place of sound, texture, color and feeling. Some songs arrive almost intuitively, while others feel mechanically made, fed through the framework of synthesizers and the patchwork of recording gear. And with that comes a compelling duality to the work; a machine grace informing the on-going but subconscious dialogue between energy and material, sensitivity and asceticism.

There are no two voices like these. The late Amália Rodrigues, the Queen of Fado, a unique singer up there with the great voices of 20th century popular song like Piaf, Sinatra, Ella, Oum Kalthoum. Mariza, the young singer that has helped bring Fado into the 21st century. Two of the greatest and most influential stylists of Fado, the ex-libris of Portuguese popular music, a world cultural heritage.

Two artists who have a lot in common, beyond their origin. Mariza swept global audiences off their feet like only Amália had done in the 1950s and 1960s, with her residences at legendary venues such as the Paris Olympia or Carnegie Hall. Through her critically acclaimed recordings and unexpected collaborations, Mariza expanded what Fado could be – just like Amália had done in the 1960s and 1970s. Mariza became the ambassador of Portugal’s music in the 21st century like only Amália had been able to be in the 20th century.

2020, the 20th anniversary of Mariza’s career, the centenary of Amália’s birth. “This the best way I can find to pay my tribute to Amália, and to thank her for the legacy and inspiration she gave us,” says Mariza. It’s been a long time coming, but now it’s here: Mariza Sings Amália. Ten Amália standards reinvented for the 21st century, their soul intact, their identity unmistakable, their stylings unexpected.

For this new album, Mariza invited an old friend – Brazilian musician and producer Jaques Morelenbaum, regular accomplice of Ryuichi Sakamoto or Caetano Veloso. Morelenbaum produced Mariza’s triple-platinum 2005 album Transparente; here, he creates a seductive, inspired series of orchestral arrangements, simultaneously classic and innovative, that allow Mariza to delve into songs we all thought we knew and make them new, fresh, ravishing.

Mariza may have performed all over the world, may have multi-platinum albums that topped charts throughout the glove, may have received endless prestigious awards – but in the studio, face to face with the standards that defined Fado for global audiences, Mariza is starting from scratch. She has recorded Amália before, but never like this, never with this wisdom, this experience, this power of interpretation. Now was the time to try on for size the great Amália classics: “Gaivota”, “Estranha Forma de Vida”, “Com que Voz”, “Fado Português”, “Povo que Lavas no Rio”, “Foi Deus”... Ten in all for an album where Mariza more than lives up to her awards, her success, her performances and assumes the mantle only Amália wore before: that of an ambassador of music, culture, talent.

Recorded between Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro, Mariza sings Amália. Like only Amália could have done, like only Mariza can. Is it Fado? Yes, and no. Above all, it’s a match made in heaven.

“WOLF KING” have returned with a follow up to 2018’s blistering release, Loyal To The Soil. Having lost none of their bite, everyone’s favorite Bay Area blackened heavy metal band has crafted a twelve track opus that will set 2021 off to a smouldering start. The Path of Wrath tells real life tales of existential struggles and explorations of life and death. This abrasive take on mortality and the afterlife traverses themes of judgement, salvation, and looking ‘beyond the veil’. As they pick over the weight of sin and uncover the burdens of both damnation and forgiveness, ripples of pure darkness infiltrate every crevice of the album. Few do blackened heavy metal better than WOLF KING. For an uncompromising, filth-drenched, smoke-infused take on the genre, The Path of Wrath delivers the goods and then some.

"Terrific!"- Steve Lamacq, BBC 6 Music. Double header 7" from NY production duo The Still Brothers. 'Wake Up' Mixed by Skinshape. The Still Brothers are Andrew LeCoche (Ula Ruth) and Evan Heinze (The Shacks). 'Wake Up' was created in a New York winter on a cloudy day. The song's bones were sculpted in the classic Still Brothers' fashion making use of a collection of favourite sounds. It came to life when Brazilian friend and collaborator Marina B heard the track in her sleep and thought of the song's lyrics as she woke up. It might take you to that place in-between dreams and the waking life, where you are pulled in and out of a state of slumber. It incidentally speaks to the abrupt change that was about to fall upon the world in early 2020. Between the singing in Portuguese and the sounds of subway doors, the song is just alienating enough to make anyone these days to feel right at home. 'Wake Up' was mixed by Will Dorey aka Skinshape and mastered by Alex DeTurk. The cover art was designed by Sofia Ohanna. Inspired by subway preachers, jazz funerals and Hip-Hop 'The Deep' serves as an introduction to the dazzling skills of New York production duo The Still Brothers. Their debut track breaks open with a reverend crying out about the transgressions we have committed against each other. He then observes that so many of us are throwing up our hands in an act of surrendering. A poignant sentiment in these troubling times and one that will resonate throughout the world.

THE EYE OF TIME ist das Solo-Projekt des französischen Musikers Marc Euvrie. Wesentlich geprägt wurde Euvries musikalische Entwicklung durch die DIY-Punk und Hardcore-Szene Frankreichs, obwohl er ebenso eine klassische Musikausbildung genossen hat. Mit 9 Jahren begann er Klavier zu spielen, komponierte mit 15 erste eigene Stücke und studierte später Cello am Konservatorium. Inspiriert durch Claude Debussy, Philip Glass, Eric Chopin, J.S. Bach, Michael Nyman als auch Godspeed You Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion oder Portishead, fing Euvrie an, seine ganz persönliche Reflektion des komplexen Weltgeschehens in Musik zu übersetzen. Acoustic II ist das sechste Studio Album von Marc Euvrie, und sein zweites, das sich komplett auf Klavier & Cello konzentriert. Über den Entwicklungsprozess seines neuen Albums sagt Euvrie: "Klavier und Cello nahmen in den letzten Jahren einen immer wichtigeren Stellenwert in meinem kreativen Prozess ein. Nach Acoustic (2014) stieg in mir das Bedürfnis nach weiteren Akustik-Songs."

Producer extraordinaire John Morales returns to BBE Music, celebrating the life and work of R&B / soul legend Teena Marie with a double album full of brand new remixes, lovingly crafted from the original studio tapes, entitled ‘Love Songs & Funky Beats’. “Teena is somewhat underrated, and people don't really know much about her.” Says Morales. “I set out to immerse people in her music and represent what she really did. That meant for me a dive into more than her R&B hits, to dig into her ballads and dance cuts. People know she was talented. I don't really think they really knew the depth of her abilities, her complete confidence to take it upon herself to do everything – singing, producing, arranging, songwriting. Teena Marie was the total package.” John Morales had the pleasure of mixing many of Teena Marie’s original records over the years, so it felt natural to dig into the archives and select his favourite cuts to rework, extend and subtly update in his own distinctive style. While by no means a definitive collection of Lady Tee’s expansive musical catalogue, ‘Love Songs & Funky Beats’ represents a fitting tribute to a multifaceted and important voice in popular music, by one of the most storied mix engineers and remixers of our age. Jumping into the music industry deep end in 1979 with a three-year mentorship from Berry Gordy & Rick James at Motown, Teena Marie then spent seven fertile years with Epic, which yielded her greatest commercial successes (including the classic album 'Starchild'). After founding an independent label ‘Sarai’, Marie took a ten-year hiatus which ended in 2004 in a deal with hip hop label Cash Money Records; a less unlikely partnership than some might assume, given that Teena was one of the first ‘mainstream’ artists to perform a rap verse, on 1981’s ‘Square Biz’. Teena Marie Brockert forged a unique path through the industry, an artist in-charge of her own destiny, influencing (and heavily sampled by) both the hip hop and R&B sounds of the 90’s and early 2000’s. Her 1982 lawsuit against Motown records resulted in "The Brockert Initiative", which has benefitted literally thousands of other artists by making it illegal for record companies to ‘shelve’ artists by keeping them under contract without releasing their material. She continued to tour regularly and deliver commercially successful, expertly sculpted music, right up until her untimely passing in 2010.

After a 7-year hiatus, funk legend Steve Arrington returns with his uplifting and soulful new album ‘Down To The Lowest Terms: The Soul Sessions’, with artists including Mndsgn, Knxwledge and Jerry Paper on production. The album portrays his diversity of influences, which sees Arrington drawing on funk, soul, jazz, electronic and R&B.
Steve Arrington is known for his innovative vocals on classics including ‘Watching You’ and ‘Just A Touch of Love’, with Slave, as well as his solo work with tracks including ‘Dancin’ in the Key of Life’, ‘Weak at the Knees’ and ‘Nobody Can Be You’. His music has greatly influenced the hip hop generation, having been sampled by Jay-Z, A
Tribe Called Quest, Pharrell, 50 Cent, 2Pac, De La Soul, Snoop Dogg and many more. ‘Down To The Lowest Terms: The Soul Sessions’ is Steve Arrington’s first solo album since 2009’s ‘Pure Thang’.

IKOQWE (pronounced ee-kok-weh) is a new project by Batida (aka Pedro Coquen o, the Angola-born, Lisbon-raised artist who ranks among the leading exponents of the new wave of African electronic music), and Luaty Beir o, aka Ikonoklasta, the Angolan rapper turned iconic activist.
IKOQWE’s inspiration comes from old school Hip Hop as much as from traditional Angolan music. The album (entitled ‘The Beginning, the Medium, the End and the Infinite’) includes drum machines, vocals in Angolan slang, Umbundu, Portuguese & English, discussions about neocolonialism, iniquities and falsified history, radio sounds, utopian solutions, and much more.
The album will be preceded by a 3-track digital single, ‘Pele’ (‘Skin’), containing the album version, and remixes by afro house legend Bodhi Sattva and by UK ‘disco noir’ band MADMADMAD. Also check out the music video for ‘Pele’, including some footage from IKOQWE’s first live performance.

In between steadily touring as a side woman for psych-soul LA staple, Chicano Batman, Nicky Egan has been stealthily plugging away with her New York based producer and Dap-Kings guitarist Joe Crispiano to complete her forthcoming LP "This Life". Driven by honest confessional songwriting and influenced by your favorite classic soul sounds, the record features a who's who of NY's most sought after players including Homer Steinweiss, Victor Axelrod, Brian Wolfe & Elizabeth Pupo-Walker, to name a few and will be released early this year on Transistor Sound Records, headed up in part by Colemine Record's soulster, Kelly Finnigan. Egan presents the debut 7" single, `Back To You', a fresh take on that classic 70's soul cruiser sound, that tells the tale of transience, growth and acceptance with B side "Run Run" a cinematic soul Bonnie and Clyde-esque portrait that kicks off with epic fuzz guitar lines followed by Egan's sultry vocals. Don't sleep on this B side that'll leave you feeling like you're in the back of that 1974 Maserati getaway car.

If you are in search of the origins of Jamaican music this is a great album to start with. Mento was the original Jamaican folk music that predates Ska and Reggae. Played Exclusively on acoustic instruments Mento was based on both African and European elements. The 1950s was Mento’s golden age, as many artists recorded songs using a variety of rhythms and styles. It was the peak of Mento’s creativity and popularity and the birth of Jamaica’s recording industry.

Like it’s predecessor, the acclaimed ‘Joia!’, this album is a collection of songs sung in Welsh combined with distinct pop and South American flavours drawn from Bossa Nova, Cumbia, Samba and Tropicalismo styles, recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Caernarfon and London.

Mas feels strangely right for our times: an album whose title means several things, as befits its global outlook. Mas means “out” in Welsh, “more” in Spanish, and “but” in Portuguese: these meanings filling that single syllable with promise, potential, but also the subtle edge of a warning. It’s a mood that fits the more political tenor of Rio 18’s second turn around the world, as Carwyn and his friends explore some substantial subjects: the drowning of villages, climate change, migration and the rise of megacities. They do so not in sober, serious settings, but beautiful, uplifting songs. Other tracks also celebrate the vivid pleasures of love, nature and our essential humanity.

Mas is a record of beautiful songs that says, wait, listen, delight, come together, then act. We owe it to ourselves, to each other, to our beautiful world.

“Nothing ever really disappears,” Cassandra Jenkins says. “It just changes shape.” Over the past few years, she’s seen relationships altered, travelled three continents, wandered through museums and parks, and recorded free-associative guided tours of her New York haunts. Her observations capture the humanity and nature around her, as well as thought patterns, memories, and attempts to be present while dealing with pain and loss. With a singular voice, Jenkins siphons these ideas into the ambient folk of her new album.
An Overview on Phenomenal Nature honors flux, detail, and moments of intimacy. Jenkins arrived at engineer Josh Kaufman’s studio with ideas rather than full songs — nevertheless, they finished the album in a week. Jenkins’ voice floats amid sensuous chamber pop arrangements and raw-edged drums, ferrying us through impressionistic portraits of friends and strangers. Her lyrics unfold magical worlds, introducing you to a cast of characters like a local fisherman, a psychic at a birthday party, and driving instructor of a spiritual bent.

Jenkins’ last record, 2017’s Play Till You Win, confirmed the veteran artist’s talent. Evident of Jenkins’ experience growing up in a family band in New York City, the album showcased her meticulous songwriting and musicianship, earning her comparisons to George Harrison and Emmylou Harris. Jenkins has since played in the bands of Eleanor Friedberger, Craig Finn, and Lola Kirke, and rehearsed to tour with Purple Mountains last August before the tour’s cancellation. Her new record departs from her previous work in its openness and flexibility, following her peripatetic lifestyle. “The goal is to be more fluid, to be more like the clouds shifting constantly,” she says. The approach allowed Jenkins to express herself like she never has.

On album opener “Michaelangelo,” before the heavy drum beat and fuzz guitars enter, Jenkins sings quietly “I’m a three-legged dog, working with what I’ve got / and part of me will always be looking for what I lost // there’s a fly around my head, waiting for the day I drop dead.” Phenomenal Nature thrives in this dichotomy between ornate sonics and verbal frankness, a calming guided tour to the edge. Later, on “Crosshairs,” amid lush strings, she sings conversationally: “Empty space is my escape / it runs through me like a river / while time spits in my face.”

“Hard Drive,” the third track and album centerpiece, opens with a voice memo Jenkins recorded at The Met Breuer: a guard muses about Mrinalini Mukherjee’s hybrid textile and sculpture works, which were then on display in a retrospective titled Phenomenal Nature. “When we lose our connection to nature, we lose our spirit, our humanity,” she explains. Stuart Bogie's saxophone & Josh Kaufman's glittering guitar make way for Jenkins' spoken word which constellates scenes from her life, gradually building and blossoming as she recreates a meditation guided by a friend who incants, “One, two, three.”

Sounds of footsteps and bird calls run through the album’s glittering conclusion, “The Ramble.” Meditative and bright, it recalls how Jenkins felt while writing and recording her new material: “Everything else is falling apart, so let’s just enjoy this time,” she said. If Phenomenal Nature has a unifying theme, it’s the power of presence, the joy of walking in a world in constant flux and opening oneself to change.

PHILLIP BALLOU Pittsburgh-born Phillip Ballou’s earliest years were spent in the gospel field; after he moved to New York City in the ‘70s, he teamed up with Bennie Diggs and Arthur Freeman, founding members of The New York Community Choir and singer Arnold McCuller to form the group Revelation. The quartet recorded for RSO Records, scoring some R&B success in the US with tracks like “Get Ready For This” and “You To Me Are Everything,” touring the Bee Gees among others. Phillip also sang on albums by NYCC recorded for RCA Records and continued with Revelation until 1982. Frequently hired for sessions in and around New York, Phillip teamed up with UK soul music journalist David Nathan (who he’d met in 1974 during Nathan’s first US visit) and John Simmons, formerly a member of The Reflections, another New York vocal group to write a series of songs for his own proposed solo record deal. Although a contract did not materialize, one of the songs – “Ain’t Nothing Like The Love” – got some interest from famed Philadelphia producer Thom Bell who presented it to The O’Jays. Ultimately, the tune was turned down by Kenny Gamble and John Simmons, by then musical director for Stephanie Mills, recorded his own version for a small independent label in 1981. Phillip continued his own musical journey, touring and recording with James Taylor and Todd Rundgren. In addition, Phillip’s name graced recordings by George Benson, Billy Ocean, Kashif, Nona Hendryx, Jonathan Butler, Teddy Pendergrass and Melba Moore; in 1981, he began recording with Luther Vandross and became a part of Luther’s touring band for many years, as well as singing on productions by Luther on Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick and others, continuing his association with him until Luther’s 2003 stroke. Phillip returned to his gospel roots in 2004 as Minister of Music at a Brooklyn church and passed away in March 2005, aged 55 .We are proud to bring you Phillips second single on Super Disco Edits, and perhaps his best! "We'll be together" is an uplifting song with an almost gospel tinged melody. But the songs lyrics portray a love thats just about to blossom.

Heady power pop trio Portable Radio announce the release of their debut eponymous LP on March 12th 2021 on Crimson Crow Records. Lead track and first single Hot Toddy, out in February, introduces the album with its ethereal brooding pop arrangement.
Some years ago, the world started to go weird – and that’s when the then duo, Portable Radio, decided it was as good a time as any, to start making first steps.
Phil … and Mof … shared some messages and a love of melodies, and as a gift to friends and those feeling the weight of everything, recorded a version of Brian Wilson’s gorgeous opus, ‘Love & Mercy’. The result was enough for them to start writing songs, and the blueprint for Portable Radio was born – hope, empathy, fun, love, and mercy.
Phil had cut his teeth in the Beep Seals and Mof was a DJ and student of pop, and in each other they both wanted to make music that was a tonic for the times; what transpired was a clutch of songs that were filled with uplifting, rich harmonies – stirring power pop inspired by Todd Rundgren, Wings, Carole King, Electric Light Orchestra, NRBQ, Emitt Rhodes, ‘70s West Coast AOR, The Zombies, and of course, The Beach Boys.
The duo released their Baroque Pop debut single with You Are The Cosmos recordings – the double A-Side of ‘Seven Hills’ and ‘Parades’. A cult following started and some shows and radio sessions ensued, joined by extended family – tap room-Mozart Jim Noir, shed-pop wizard Aidan Smith, and Phil’s previous bandmate, the supremely talented Ian Smith (Beep Seals/Alfie).
Soon, Robyn Gibson (The Junipers/Bob Of The Pops) joined the ranks for their star turn and appearance on the ‘12 String High’ compilation. The two becoming a trio, the output cranked up, seeing the release of the debut Portable Radio EP (produced by Jim Noir) and the Christmas Selection Box, all loaded with killer hooks, washes of dreamy harmonies, and just a sprinkling of cynicism because no-one is impervious to the all-encompassing weirdness of the last couple of years.
All of these things were the groundwork for the imminent full-length, self-titled debut, out in March 2021. The LP (vinyl/download/streaming) is full to bursting with big choruses, reflective popsike, FM ready pop, melancholic ballads, with each song is treated like it’s going to be a single.

Statistique Synthétique draws as much from the history of computer sound synthesis as from its latest developments. But well beyond developing simply as a proof of concept, this piece aims to transcend the abstract status of synthetic sound objects and lead them to a properly hallucinatory state, that is to say to a meeting point where the object and perception dissolve into each other, in a sort of transcendental field. Beyond, also, hylomorphism, to reach the world of matter-form fusions, where perception knows how to see "shoulders of hills", as Cézanne wrote.
Teum (the Silvery Slit) is, as the title suggests, an overture, an opening to the game of multiplications, fragmentations, duplications. But it is also the opening understood as the void that blossoms between two borders, a break from which escapes a double tension, both the pulling force of these two edges which move apart and the opposite force of reconciliation, of compression. Okkyung Lee invites us to a truly telluric moment, a rare moment of expression where tectonic movements and shear stresses become music. If the earthquakes were, as we thought in the 18th century, due to underground thunderstorms, there is no doubt that this piece of music, both celestial and continental, could have been their audible manifestation.
Text by François Bonnet


HeckerStatistique Synthétique2020 / 25'15Computer-generated sound with resynthesized situated texture recordingsWritten and produced by Florian Hecker, 2019 - 2020Texture analysis and resynthesis algorithm: Axel Röbel, Analysis/Synthesis Team, IRCAM, ParisMastered by Rashad BeckerPhoto by Mauricio Guillén, 2019
Thanks to Axel Röbel for his commitment to the project and special appreciation to GRM, Luke Fowler, Mauricio Guillén, Dirk Mayer and Porta33
Location Texture Recordings, using DPA 4060, DPA 4017B, DPA 4021 and DPA 4060 microphones to Sound Devices 702 recorder; except segment 04:31 - 05:37, recorded by Luke Fowler, April 2019 using Sony M10.
00:00 - 02:00 Lopud, Croatia, June 200802:00 - 03:12 Ponta do Sol, Madeira, ER 101, April 201903:12 - 04:14 Prentiss St, Cambridge, MA, February 201504:14 - 04:31 Anjos, Ponta do Sol, Madeira, ER 101, April 201904:31 - 05:37 Atelier Cézanne, Aix-en-Provence, April 201905:37 - 08:31 Anjos, Ponta do Sol, Madeira, ER 101, April 201908:31 - 09:46 Praia dos Anjos, Ponta do Sol, Madeira, ER 101, April 201909:46 - 10:39 Private garden, Kissing, September 200910:39 - 11:15 Praia dos Anjos, Ponta do Sol, Madeira, ER 101, April 201911:15 - 15:11 Porto do Paul do Mar, Calheta, Madeira, April 201915:11 - 16:53 Prinz Eugen Strasse, Vienna, June 200816:53 - 24:27 Risco, Rabaçal, Madeira, April 201924:27 - 25:15 Bois de Boulogne, Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, Paris, September 2015
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Okkyung LeeTeum (the Silvery Slit)2019 / 20'03Performed, recorded and composed by Okkyung Lee (ASCAP)Mixed by Lasse MarhaugMastered by Guuseppe IelasiPhoto by Lasse MarhaugPart of Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin, September 2020Sleeve design by Stephen O'Malley

Cool Ghouls - a band fledged in San Francisco on house shows, minimum wage jobs, BBQ's in Golden Gate Park and the romance of a city’s psychedelic history turns 10 this year. What better a decennial celebration than the release of their fourth album, At George's Zoo!

How did San Francisco's fab four arrive at George's Zoo? The teenage friendship of complimentary spirits Pat McDonald (Guitar/Vox) and Pat Thomas (Bass/Vox) serves as square one. The Patricks were munching on Eggo-waffle-sandwiches and downing warm vokda in suburban Benicia (San Francisco bay) years before McDonald would hear George Clinton address his fans as "Cool Ghouls". The boys played their debut gig as Cool Ghouls at San Francisco's legendary The Stud in 2011, but there's no doubt the musical moment cementing the band's trajectory was much earlier at the 18th birthday party for boy-wonder Ryan Wong (Guitar/Vox) - at the Wong household.

You might remember the Ghouls' earliest days... McDonald’s hair hung luxuriously past his waist, Thomas dreamt of no longer having to crash on friends' couches to call SF home and Wong looked forward to turning 21. Cool Ghouls' Pete Best, Cody Voorhees, thrashed wildly – but briefly - on the drums and Alex Fleshman (Drums), who still claims he's not really "a drummer", turned out to be a really good drummer. Thomas would sleep pee on tour. Those were golden days!

Flash forward to today and everything is up in flames. No shows, parties or bars. Cool people are streaming out of SF. It's been 2 years since the last time Cool Ghouls have even played. The STUD is gone, The Eagle Tavern is for sale and The Hemlock has been demolished for condos. Your boss is an app. Fascism is no-knocking down the door. There's a pandemic.

Fortunately for us, the Ghouls got an album in before it all went to shit, and they made it count. At George's Zoo includes 15 of the 27 tunes they managed to eke out while simultaneously working through major life moves. It was a 5-month, all out, final sprint down the homestretch (to Ryan's moving day) with affable engineer Robby Joseph, at his makeshift garage studio in the Outer Sunset (pictured on the cover). Instead of recording the entire album over a few consecutive days - like they'd done with Tim Cohen, Sonny Smith and Kelley Stoltz for the first three LPs - the band took it slow by working through a few songs each weekend after rehearsing them the week before. Robby would cue up the tape, McDonald would throw some steaks on the grill and they'd get to work - much to the neighbor, George's, chagrin.

These guys have a real commitment to elevating as songwriters, musicians and ensemble players. It's always been for the music with Cool Ghouls and this long-awaited self-produced outing is a track by track display of the ground they've covered and heights they can achieve. Their vocals and trademark harmonies are front and center and out-of-control-good. Ryan's guitar solos are incredible. The horns by Danny Brown (sax) and Andrew Stephens (trumpet) hit in all the right places. Maestro, Henry Baker (Pat Thomas Band / Tino Drima), plays keys throughout. There's even a mesmerizing string section ("Land Song") by sonic polyglot, Dylan Edrich.

None of this growth is to the detriment of the fun, natural, feeling that fans have come to expect from the band. This is a fully realized Cool Ghouls album. It paints a remarkable portrait of SF's homegrown heroes and the many corners they've explored over the last decade. The songwriting, harmony and playing are nothing if not solid. The lyrics are keen. Robby's recording and mixing sound great start to finish and even better after mastering by Mikey Young. It's a triumphant addition to their catalogue. Recommended for Stooges and Beach Boys fans alike. Listen and see!

Yes, many things have changed since 2011. Who knows what the 20's will have in store for life on Earth, let alone the Cool Ghouls? We at least know that 2021 has At George's Zoo for us, a beautiful keepsake from the Before Times when we used to stand in living rooms together while bands played.

Cathal Coughlan is the co-founder and singer of acclaimed 80s/90s pop-rock groups Microdisney and Fatima Mansions, and widely considered to be one of Ireland's most revered singer/songwriters, beloved by fans of caustic literate music in the vein of Wilco, Robert Forster and Mark Eitzel. He's released four acclaimed solo albums and this will be his first new music in 10 years. Features and reviews already set for Mojo and The Wire and expect plentiful support from BBC6 Music. Enclosed in a stunning sleeve by award-winning Bruce Brand (The Darkness and White Stripes) with a focus image portrait by outsider artist Cristabel Christo. The new record not only has his usual backing musicians, The Necropolitan String Quartet, but also Luke Haines (Auteurs/Black Box Recorder), Sean O'Hagan (Microdisney/High Llamas), Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti) , Aindrías O Gruama (Fatima Mansions), Cory Gray (The Delines) and Dublin singer-songwriter Eileen Gogan.. Loosely conceptual, and based around the persona of Co-Aklan, the LP is melodic and inventive. Twelve fabulous new songs; three will have videos from Marry Waterson and Andy Golding of the Wolfhounds. "Coughlan's intelligence and passion are a rebuke to a vapid music industry, his chronicles of disaffection and disgust an inspiration." - David Peschek, The Guardian

Back in 2018, Four Flies Records unearthed the previously unheard 'Africa Oscura', considered by many as the "dark side" of 'Zoo Folle' – Giuliano Sorgini's masterpiece (reissued by Four Flies Records in 2016) – and partly recorded during the same session in 1974.
The original work portrays a fictional and mysterious continent, providing a soundtrack tinged with dark
moods and cosmic shades. 'Africa Oscura' was entirely recorded by the composer, who played all instruments in his studio in Rome. This resulted in a formal spareness, a minimalism that gives it a
modern quality, something which makes it stand the test of time, or at least resonate with contemporary taste.
Since its release, 'Africa Oscura' has become a classic – a pivotal release not only within Sorgini's discography, but also one that made his name more known and accessible to a new generation of music professionals, DJs and fans of electronic music.
Four Flies have thus decided to celebrate its modernity with a double 12" featuring 7 reworks by six of Italy's most visionary DJs/producers: Jolly Mare, L.U.C.A. (aka Francisco), pAd, Painé, and Quiroga & Dario Bass.
The original tracks have been reworked with different approaches, sometimes into full reinterpretations, and with demanding dance floors in mind. The result is a stunning collection of electronic, cosmic, downtempo and Balearic reworks that preserve the spirit of the original versions while projecting them into the future.

In early 2018, Nathan Jenkins returned from the coast of Arrábida to his new home studio in a cottage tucked behind the grand hotel setting of Wim Wenders’ Lisbon Story. Breaking for lunches under a Datura tree in the garden and a far cry from the Finsbury Park basement flat he rented the previous year, a set of recordings followed that galvanised into an EP - ‘We Had A Good Time’. Music informed by out-of-town trips in a 1987 Renault 9 Super, Pitchfork attributed “remarkable healing powers” to lead song ‘Hula’.

After leaving London for a spell in Portugal, Nathan lost his taste for the night life and drew a line under a long-running NTS radio show. Much of the time spent abroad was dedicated to a longstanding collaboration with Westerman, whose album they recorded in a remote part of the Algarve countryside in 2019. Nathan’s own discography opened in 2007 with ‘Pet Sounds: In The Key Of Dee’, before pivoting in a more electronic direction via ‘Get Familiar’ and ‘Young Heartache’. From the sampledelia of 2011’s ‘Too Right’, the new wave and rave of ‘Say Arr Ee’ to the Robert Wyatt-influenced ‘Love Me Oh Please Love Me’, he’s mapped a deliberately peculiar path. 2015’s ‘Rooster’ was Eno & Byrne’s ‘Bush Of Ghosts’ given a shangaan-electro lick and clip. While Nathan’s partnership with fellow out-there pop auteur Jesse Hackett, as Blludd Relations, staggered like a half-cut Prince.

Collaged, rhythmic alternatives. Syncopated avant-garde sambas. Off kilter Sci-Fi jazz. Think Asha Putli in the spot at the Star Wars cantina. Arty, angular. Rich, but uncluttered. Frenetic, electric, blurring the boundaries between what is sampled, what is played. Nathan’s is a wilfully weird Pop, showcased in 2016 on his album ‘Loop The Loop’. Wayward but woven with hooks that come out of nowhere. Lyrical, often beautiful, solos on violin, oboe and desiccated guitars. Songs that demonstrate a nose-thumbing playfulness, a refusal to sit still. Where there’s always the urge to interrupt a carnival beat with a burst of galloping horse hooves. Or juxtapose ambient chords with a kazoo.

A roll call of Nathan’s broader musical adventures encompasses work with Paul Epworth, Sampha, Westerman and Nilüfer Yanya. Commissioned remixes reach from Dita Von Teese to Model 500, Tricky, Todd Terje and Lee “Scratch” Perry. Solo efforts gracing labels Honest Jon’s, R&S, Young Turks, Whities and The Trilogy Tapes. ‘Blue Pedro’, on the latter, making it into Crack Mag’s Top 100 Tracks Of The Decade.

In 2012 Nathan started his own label, DEEK Recordings, assuming the role of inhouse producer to collaborators. The imprint’s tagline and aesthetic - Pop, not slop! - is illustrated by an ongoing playlist of the same name and further explored in a series of compilations where Nathan and friends cover and reinterpret unsung ‘unclassics’ from alt. country to obscure 80s European arthouse scores, bouncing between Captain Beefheart, The Pixies, Sade and Mazzy Starr. DEEK’s roster is equally eccentric, non-linear and pop-literate. Laura Groves and Nautic - the realization and crystallization of a shared love for the Cocteau Twins.

12” pressed on crystal clear vinyl.

2020 has been a terrible year for everyone. However, it has also been the year in which some projects have had time to develop. This is the case of Tactil, responsible for the fourth Antimatter refelease. This new tandem is born from the collaboration between the artists from Madrid, Kawn and F-on. Deeply influenced by projects from 90´s like Porter Ricks, Jetone, Gas or Thomas Köner, "1-4" means the first ep from this duo. Drones, wrinkled textures and field recording meet long and progressive rhythmical sequences, complex delays, long reverbs and LFO modulations to shape their distinctive sound.

Caravela's debut full length LP 'Orla' is an intoxicating mix of Afro-Brazillian rhythms and contemporary London jazz drenched in modern psychedelic and progressive textures. The band's deep and infectious grooves form the basis from which they can showcase their beautiful and mature songwriting craft. Lyrics touching on social and environmental issues in both Brazil and Cape Verde, as well as reflections on modern life, weave between the songs in Loubet's native Portuguese.

Lead single 'A Macieira' garnered airplay on NTS, Worldwide FM and Soho Radio, with Music Is My Sanctuary describing it as an "uplifting and graceful lead single" in their premiere of the track.

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

Until Now, Jilala has been a much sought-after phantom in relation to their better-known musical and spiritual contemporaries, The Master Musicians of Jajouka. Culled from three and a half hours of 1965 recordings by writers/artists/poets Brion Gysin and Paul Bowles, the first batch of Jilala recordings were released on a 1965 LP that was scarce even upon its initial release. The second batch of Recordings, which this LP has drawn from, came in the form of a CD by Baraka Foundation in 1998, which is also now long out of print. The Jilala brotherhood -- like the better-known Jajouka culture -- has pre-Islamic roots in Sufi mysticism that span across northern Africa from Morocco to India. Jilala shares the kinds of small, portable instruments historically favored by nomadic cultures. Even among the more ardent aficianados of "world music" these recordings have seldom been heard. In the original liner notes Ira Cohen provides a breakdown of the Jilala ensemble: "The instruments used are the shebaba, a long transversal cane flute, which leads the way; the bendir, a handheld drum resembling a tambourine without cymbals; and the karkabat which is a double castanet made of metal. On this record there are usually three flutes, six drums and one pair of castanets." In conjunction with the qraqaba -- an iron analog to the wooden castanets featured heavily in the Flamenco music of the Roma people that also flourished over the centuries mere miles to the north in southern Spain. These bendir drums provide a range very similar to that covered in contemporary popular music by the bass drum, snare, and cymbals that make up standard drum kit. The Trance-inducing grooves were major influences on such bands as Led Zeppelin, Agitation Free, Can and the Rolling Stones. The collective rhythms are often reminiscent early hip hop. oFirst time these tracks appear on vinyl - Pressed on 180 Gram Black Vinyl o Recorded by Brion Gysin & Paul Bowles in Morocco 1965 o Limited Edition of 300 Copies - DMM: Direct Metal Mastering o New Liner Notes by Peter Wetherbee o Contains insert of original liner notes from 1965 Jilala LP o Long out of print in any format for over 20 years.

LP Ltd edition GOLD vinyl, DL card (First pressing 500 copies only). New album from brothers John and Michael Gibbons, the guitarists from psychedelic drone legends, Bardo Pond. A "heavy ambient" instrumental masterpiece that explores the symbiotic relationship of the duo as they build and dismantle sounds on a unique ethereal trip. A full-length follow up to 'Joint Chiefs' from 2006, 'Celestial Scuzz' is a monumental sound piece created from hours of jam sessions and crafted into a cohesive mind-blowing trip. The result has a heavy ambience, like Eno locked in a dark room with Sunn-O))))) rehearsing next door. While Bardo Pond's trajectory takes them deep into rock music's ever-imploding sound, the brothers Gibbons surf a more ethereal and eclectic plain; from a heady and consuming space, a "sanctuary; balm for the soul." Describing the writing process, Michael Gibbons explains it as "a kind of spiritual experience. Most of the time it leaves us stunned; the more stunned we are the better the jam." // Bardo Pond: "One of underground rock's most extraordinary enigmas." The Quietus // "An exquisite and enjoyable side trip into harmonious interstellar regions with stripped down instrumentation, they drift into shimmering passages of temporal displacement." Brainwashed

Corvair is what happens when you trap two Scorpio songwriters in a house together. Comprised of a Portland-based husband / wife duo of two seasoned musicians (Brian Naubert and Heather Larimer), Corvair’s debut album charts a starcrossed love story over three decades, five cities, and six continents. Spanning from atmospheric pop to jangly confessional, 70s AM to 90s FM, this work is laden with stunning turns of phrase and prodigious melodies, two voices leaping to meet in the ether. Corvair’s debut album was largely created during the COVID pandemic shut-down of Spring 2020. It includes work with drummer Eric Eagle (Jesse Sykes, Wayne Horvitz) and Engineer Martin Feveyear (Brandi Carlile, Mark Lanegan, Mudhoney), who also mixed the record. Larimer explains, “Being stuck in a house together with very little outside influence made us more emotionally raw, definitely weirder, and also more patient and intricate in developing the songs. And because we were in a bubble, cooking dinners from paranoidly-disinfected groceries and listening to old records, really disparate references from some of our favorite music ended up colliding in odd ways--an emotional Judas Priest bridge, an anthemic Pixies outro, a spacey keyboard sound from Steve Miller, Jeff Lynne's acoustic guitar tone, a Carpenters-style lush harmony. I think it's a wonderfully weird record, but also very in-your-face pop because what else are you going to do when the world feels like it's ending?" Separately, Naubert and Larimer have created or appeared on more than 20 records. Heather’s musical mainstay was the garage pop band Eux Autres, broadly hailed as a “veritable cult classic” band, radio-debuted by the legendary John Peel, and featured in many shows, movies and commercials. Brian is a longtime fixture of the Northwest rock community, having played in vital bands such as Tube Top, Pop Sickle, and the critically-lauded Ruston Mire, since 1993. More recently, Brian released his first solo record, Hoffabus and a record with the NW Supergroup, The Service Providers. Naubert and Larimer’s decades of separate music making have finally combined, culminating in this tour de force from two formidable songwriters. Corvair sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard and everything you’ve always loved.
Press quotes: “Smart, infectious, jangly pop.” Everett True // “An irresistible set of bouncy indie-pop tinged with surf music and ‘60s girl groups, contrasted with the band’s often-biting lyrics.” KEXP.org // “One of the more exciting independent releases of the year...a veritable cult classic.” Under The Radar // “Three chord garage pop that hangs on a raunchy guitar line and crisp production from Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney, Quasi).” MAGNET Magazine // Brian Naubert - vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion. Heather Larimer - vocals, keyboards, percussion.

We met Moonilena in Stockholm a few years ago. Pedrodollar told us that she plays weird music and we'd get along - he was completely correct. The subsequent mixtape she put together for the Rinse FM show became a total obsession and it wasn't until months later that we found out some of our favourite tracks included were unreleased, so here we are a year or so later and we hope it soothes and uplifts you in equal measure.

Martin Georgi is not a newcomer. He is more like one of those who like to stay under the radar. The sample-based music producer made his debut in the deephouse sector on his own more than 10 years ago, completely without a label or distribution. In 2016, the Berlin record label OYE Records became aware of the hitherto unknown artist and finally re-released the tracks from his debut. Since then, his early tracks have been compared around the world with the early works of Moodyman or Theo Parrish.
After more than 10 years and the maxi “9 to 5 is killing me” (2018), a second album is finally released on the underground label quietelegance records. Stylistically it ties in with the first work. “Money from the trunk” is the title of the new album and it includes socially critical issues such as class differences that are created by capital. Georgi plays with a large portion of irony and of course plenty of samples, which the passionate record digger skillfully processed into eight new songs.
Georgi not only stands out from the conforming deep-house crowd with his raw, unconventional production style, but also ensures that old-school sampling continues to have its place in current club music. In doing so, he reacts to global music trends, which he incorporates into his tracks through the finest sample operations. So it is not surprising that his new album “Money from the trunk” has a rap song as title song, for which the renown artistic-activist rap duo Fokn Bois from Ghana is jointly responsible. Also on the list of prominent guests are Felipe Gordon from Colombia and Delfonic from Berlin as well as Cornelia Lund from fluctuating images. Roskow Kretschmann appears as co-producer, whose name is associated with many other well established musicians.

After three years of waiting since her seminal Sister funk hit single "2 Kinds Of Men", Record Kicks finally presents "Stop Look Listen" the debut album from the new Oporto soul diva Marta Ren & The Groovelvets that will hit the streets 19 February 2016. Anticipated from the first single "I'm Not A Regular Woman", which is getting airwaves all over Europe (including BBC 6, Rai Radio 1, LeMouv / Radio France), produced and recorded on an Ampex eight-track tape machine by New Max from Portuguese funk combo Expensive Soul and mastered in NYC by Andy Vandette, "Stop Look Listen" is pure dynamite and follows the best tradition of the Soul Sisters of the 60s. Marta Ren, not surprisingly described as the new Marva Whitney, brilliantly supported by her super tight 8-piece rhythm & soul combo The Groovelvets, serves you 11 tracks of pure fire and takes-no-prisoners. From the floorshakin' opening track "Don't Look" to the mellow feel-good anthems "Smiling Faces", "So Long" and the afrotastic "Be Ma Fela", the Portuguese combo deliver a visceral deep funk album, proving that they're the new 'real deal'.

Marta Ren is not a newcomer as she has been around in the Portuguese scene since the mid 90s lending her deep and powerful voice, amongst others, to break-beat outfit The Bombazines, recording two albums and establishing her unique talent at clubs and festivals all around Portugal. But Marta's passion has always been for the deepest funk and rawest soul of the sixties, and now the time has come for her to show the world her immense talent. With a powerful voice that would make the founding soul sisters proud, Marta Ren is looking to rule the world and make herself a household name. Fans of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings get on it!

“Sex Miami”. Let those words melt into your soul like creamy, creamy pink ice cream in on your tongue. This album by Deux Control is a smooth genre crossover paradise of 808s, Yamaha keyboards and deep mesmerizing vocals side by side with more hardcore synth elements found in bands like DAF or Nitzer Ebb.

Deux control’s sound is a mix your favourite soundtracks of electronic music with a large portion of body synth. It is sexy, cool, and a bit frightening. The music on “Sex Miami” is familiar and goes out to all listeners of all ages but especially to those in the French/Italian disco fandom out there. This is the kind of music an eighties international business traveller would listen when kicking back and clubbing after landing a fat new contract.

Deux control is the act that got bumped from the Miami Vice soundtrack last minute because being a bit to edgy for mainstream USA. They are the group that Gorigio Moroder tried to copy when he wanted to update his sound. Deux Control are the new rulers of psychedelic electric body-disco!

Enter, ANGST a series of musical ‘essays on the ephemeral being’ by Portuguese pianist and composer Tiago Sousa.

After 2015’s Um Piano nas Barricadas (Discrepant, CREP23) Sousa expands his compositional chops by writing and performing along with a trio made of clarinet, percussion and vibraphone adding a magical realism aura to the music.

It was fate that the releasing of these compositions would arrive in one of the most troubled passages of recent memory, just as a new decade begins. If it was already established that anguish is one of the hallmarks haunting our modern era, these last few years expose this existential feeling with even greater urgency.

The album that Tiago now presents, part angst part nostalgic escapism addresses this very modern concern as well as other themes dear to the so-called existentialist thinkers such as Heidegger, Camus or Kierkegaard, who among others, seek to directly challenge the Being with various concepts such as Repetition, Temporality, Interiority, Despair…

Throughout the 8 themes here presented, a delicate attempt is made to sketch a phenomenological cartography through its content and form, loosely describing the feeling of being launched into the wide world and the discovery of one self. In other words, the artist’s aim here is to convey the growing pains that the whole question about the meaning of life throws at us.

In an approach that is difficult to catalogue, the album tries to avoid genres and crystallizations in which music presents itself as a vehicle to express the ineffable and the incommunicable, expressing instead a magical world of wonder and enchantment.

• Around the second anniversary of Chas Hodges’ passing, his son Nik began going through Chas’s multitracks and picking the pieces that he felt his dad would’ve considered finished and ready to be heard by all. Back in 2007, Chas had bought himself a digital hard-disk multi-track “portastudio” recorder, which allowed him to make fully-produced recordings rather than just rough demos, playing all the instruments himself.
• So here are fourteen previously unreleased wonderful gems – ten original songs and four covers. The originals include instant classics like “Street Games” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Allotment”, as well as two songs written with the “Only Fools And Horses” West End musical in mind, “Trigger (Is What I’m Known As)”
and “What You Got You Gotta Show It”.
• The standard “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” is given the unmistakable Chas Hodges treatment, and the album ends with his touching rendition of The Beatles/John Lennon classic “I’m So Tired”.
• The artwork includes personal notes by both Chas’s wife Joan and son Nik, as well as previously unseen photos.

Fountains of Wayne is one of those rare bands that digs back into what pop music is all about -- good, fun tunes. Their self-titled debut studio album was released in 1996. Recorded when the band was just a duo, Chris Collingwood and the late Adam Schlesinger provided almost all the instrumentation during the recording. Schlesinger and Porter had also been members of The Belltower, and bassist Danny Weinkauf later played with Lincoln before joining They Might Be Giants. Although the songs were written over a period of years (as outlets to make each other laugh through inside jokes and references to suburban New York and New Jersey), the album was recorded in just five days. The songwriting is straightforward and wonderful; nearly every song is a pop gem. The result is an innovative album - very few albums released in the 90’s are this pleasant, charming, and all-round likeable. The record is now available on transparent red coloured vinyl, in a limited edition of 1500 copies.