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Big Crown Records is proud to present the reissue of one of Brooklyn’s most sought after “holy grail” soul records, YIA Talent Hunt Winners. Youth in Action, Inc. (YIA) was formed in 1963 when the Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council received a grant to develop a youth services program in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community. It was originally organized to identify and address the social problems that were leading to the high crime rate in Bed-Stuy. Recently the Smithsonian Museum of African American History released an archive of footage filmed by a community activist, which shows the real-world effects of the group’s efforts: young people engaged in sports, the arts, and other activities to better themselves and their world. The appearances by Jackie and Bobby Kennedy point to the group's relationship to the Great Society programs of President Lyndon B. Johnson. What there is no mention of in either the NMAAHC’s collection of YIA materials nor in the Brooklyn Public Library’s also extensive collection is this talent show and the record that came to be because of it.
Local vocal groups chose tunes to cover from the era (1964 - 1968) ranging from The Rascals to The Intruders, from The O’Jays to Billy Stewart. All of these groups were backed by a local act called The Thrillers Band. The winners of the talent contest were then invited into the studio to record their versions which would be pressed up on this record and given away to local radio and TV stations. The hope of the whole thing was that this would help the young groups get discovered by producers and record labels and start their professional music careers. The intro to the album is Reverend Horace Tyler congratulating the winners and asking them “to just remember, when you reach the top and become our big stars of tomorrow, don’t forget YIA”.
What this album may lack in fidelity and production it more than makes up for in charm. The engineers at the recording sessions pump in pre recorded applause and screaming to give the it the feel of the day of the contest while the young groups sing their hearts out, clearly giving their all. From today’s perspective, soul music fans will lose it over the choices of covers on this record and the killer, raw, innocent performances of them by these local Brooklyn groups. The Channels 4, Carla & The Carlettes, The United Souls, Sharon Seabrook & The Starlettes, and The Destinations all won that day and got to take place in this record. It makes you wonder, and even pine for the performances of the groups who didn’t make the cut, even if just to find out what tunes they covered, or better yet, were their original songs written by some of them for this contest?
It is with great pleasure that we make this available to the public again. This is a truly rare record, and an awesome piece of New York History.

Die niederländische Gospel-Soul-Sensation Michelle David & The True-tones feiert eine triumphale Rückkehr nach ihrem 2022er Werk "Truth & Soul", das von BBC Radio 6 zu einem der Alben des Jahres gekürt wurde. Mittelpunkt der Combo ist die ehemalige New Yorker Kirchenchorsängerin Michelle David, bekannt durch erfolgreiche Musicals/Shows (Mama, The Sound Of Motown, Glory Of Gospel, Mahalia) und als Backgroundsängerin (Diana Ross, Michael Bolton). Auf dem live im Studio aufgenommenen Album "Brothers & Sisters" gelingt es der Band wieder meisterhaft, die rohe, dynamische Energie und die gefühlvolle Atmosphäre ihrer Live-Auftritte im Studio einzufangen, wo sie mit peppigen Grooves, kraftvollen Vocals und starken Melodien, inspiriert von altem Gospel über Curtis Mayfield und Bobby Womack bis zu Klassikern des renommierten Stax-Labels, das Publikum in den Bann ziehen.

Mark William Lewis’ acclaimed ‘Pleasure Is Everything’ & ‘God Complex’ receives a limited vinyl press on tastemaker London label Scenic Route Records.

Mark William Lewis’ acclaimed ‘Pleasure Is Everything’ & ‘God Complex’ receives a limited vinyl press on tastemaker London label Scenic Route Records.

Scenic Route Records is proud to announce the first vinyl press of Mark William Lewis's critically acclaimed EPs Pleasure Is Everything and God Complex. These releases, which have collectively amassed nearly 3 million Spotify streams, capture the raw and evocative sound that has earned Mark a dedicated following within London’s underground music scene. Influenced by left-field pop, ambient, and indie rock, is deeply personal, reflecting his experiences and the unique perspective gained from living on the 18th floor of a tower block in London.

Mark's music has been widely praised for its emotional depth and innovative songwriting, with support from publications such as Pitchfork and The Fader praising his ability to create atmospheric soundscapes that resonate with listeners on a profound level. This vinyl press offers fans a chance to experience these early EPs in a format that enhances the warmth and texture of his music.

As Mark continues to build his presence with sold-out shows at Cafe Oto & and international tours alongside NYC rapper MIKE, this pressing serves as both a celebration of his early achievements and a milestone in his artistic journey. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to his music, the repress of Pleasure Is Everything and God Complex is an essential addition to your collection, offering a deeper connection to the intricate, emotive world of Mark William Lewis.

Die meisten Bands schreiben Songs über Alltagserlebnisse, Liebesgeschichten, Gedanken zur Welt. Public Service Broadcasting sind anders. Das Quartett aus London taucht tief in die Archive ein und macht aus historischen Begebenheiten packende Konzeptalben. Mit Samples aus alten Nachrichtenfilmen, Archiv- und Propagandamaterial formt die Band packende Geschichten, getragen von cineastischen, meist instrumentalen Rock-, Elektro- und Orchesterklängen.

Dies gilt auch für das neue Album: "The Last Flight" handelt von der letzten Reise der US-Flugpionierin Amelia Earhart, die mit nur 25 Jahren begann, eine Reihe von Rekorden aufzustellen: Sie überquerte als erste Frau im Alleinflug den Atlantik und Pazifik, ihr gelangen mehrere Geschwindigkeits- und Streckenrekorde. Doch ihr Plan, als erste Frau die Welt am Äquator zu umrunden, ging nicht auf. Sie überquerte Amerika, Afrika, den Nahen Osten und Asien, erreichte aber nie die letzte Zwischenstation vor der finalen Pazifik-Etappe, die Howlandinsel. Die bis dahin grösste Suchaktion der Luftfahrtgeschichte mit 4 Flugzeugen und 8 Kriegsschiffen blieb erfolglos. Stattdessen stieg Amelia Earhart in mythische Höhen auf, die nur den mutigsten Abenteurern vorbehalten sind.

Songschreiber J. Willgoose, Esq. war vom "Mythos Earhart" fasziniert: "Ich wollte eine Geschichte mit einer Frau im Mittelpunkt erzählen, weil ein überwältigender Teil des Archivmaterials, zu dem wir Zugang haben, männlich geprägt ist." Aufgenommen im Londoner Bandstudio, mit einem Tag für die Streicher des London Contemporary Orchestra in The Church, sind auf "The Last Flight" u.a. Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket) an der Eno-artigen Pedal-Steel-Gitarre, die Berliner Stimmen Andreya Casablanca (Gurr)und EERA, sowie Kate Stables (This Is The Kit) zu hören.

Die Zuhörer mögen überrascht sein, dass das Album keine originalen Zeugenaussagen aus erster Hand enthält, sondern neu aufgenommene Dialoge von Schauspielern, darunter Kate Graham, die Amelia vorlas. Diese wurden behutsam bearbeitet, um ihnen Klangeigenschaften und Verzerrungen der 1930er Jahre zu verleihen. Als Ausgangspunkt dienten Earharts Aufzeichnungen aus erster Hand, darunter "Last Flight" von 1937, sowie die Biografie "East To The Dawn" von Susan Butler.

Clear Vinyl

Die meisten Bands schreiben Songs über Alltagserlebnisse, Liebesgeschichten, Gedanken zur Welt. Public Service Broadcasting sind anders. Das Quartett aus London taucht tief in die Archive ein und macht aus historischen Begebenheiten packende Konzeptalben. Mit Samples aus alten Nachrichtenfilmen, Archiv- und Propagandamaterial formt die Band packende Geschichten, getragen von cineastischen, meist instrumentalen Rock-, Elektro- und Orchesterklängen.

Dies gilt auch für das neue Album: "The Last Flight" handelt von der letzten Reise der US-Flugpionierin Amelia Earhart, die mit nur 25 Jahren begann, eine Reihe von Rekorden aufzustellen: Sie überquerte als erste Frau im Alleinflug den Atlantik und Pazifik, ihr gelangen mehrere Geschwindigkeits- und Streckenrekorde. Doch ihr Plan, als erste Frau die Welt am Äquator zu umrunden, ging nicht auf. Sie überquerte Amerika, Afrika, den Nahen Osten und Asien, erreichte aber nie die letzte Zwischenstation vor der finalen Pazifik-Etappe, die Howlandinsel. Die bis dahin grösste Suchaktion der Luftfahrtgeschichte mit 4 Flugzeugen und 8 Kriegsschiffen blieb erfolglos. Stattdessen stieg Amelia Earhart in mythische Höhen auf, die nur den mutigsten Abenteurern vorbehalten sind.

Songschreiber J. Willgoose, Esq. war vom "Mythos Earhart" fasziniert: "Ich wollte eine Geschichte mit einer Frau im Mittelpunkt erzählen, weil ein überwältigender Teil des Archivmaterials, zu dem wir Zugang haben, männlich geprägt ist." Aufgenommen im Londoner Bandstudio, mit einem Tag für die Streicher des London Contemporary Orchestra in The Church, sind auf "The Last Flight" u.a. Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket) an der Eno-artigen Pedal-Steel-Gitarre, die Berliner Stimmen Andreya Casablanca (Gurr)und EERA, sowie Kate Stables (This Is The Kit) zu hören.

Die Zuhörer mögen überrascht sein, dass das Album keine originalen Zeugenaussagen aus erster Hand enthält, sondern neu aufgenommene Dialoge von Schauspielern, darunter Kate Graham, die Amelia vorlas. Diese wurden behutsam bearbeitet, um ihnen Klangeigenschaften und Verzerrungen der 1930er Jahre zu verleihen. Als Ausgangspunkt dienten Earharts Aufzeichnungen aus erster Hand, darunter "Last Flight" von 1937, sowie die Biografie "East To The Dawn" von Susan Butler.

King Tubby the Dub Master, who's output was as prolific as it is sought after, and who's presence is surely missed. We would like to take you on another dub excursion. This time through some essential cuts made for the Producer / DJ Tappa Zukie. King Tubby always added something a little special to the tracks he worked on. Producers would often bring their already recorded tracks to his home studio at 18 Drummlie Avenue in the Kingston district of Waterhouse. The backing tracks which were laid at various other studios around Kingston. Like Channel 1and Randy's Studio 17, would then be voiced/Re-voiced at King Tubby's. Tubby and his team which included Prince Jammy and Philip Smart would be left to create the version cut.

Having listened to the track it would be striped back to the bone of bass and drums and rebuilt. Sprinkling his magic over the track by dropping the bass in and out, adding echo and emphasising various elements of the song. In some cases, dubbing the cut into something unrecognisable from its original sound.

The tracks would be aired on Tubby's Hometown Hi-Fi Sound System. Which acted much like a pre-release for the record to gauge the crowd’s reaction, before the tracks would be unleased on the public. We think we have sourced another fine collection of Tubby Cuts see also King Tubby's Lost Treasures JR001, comprising of work with Mr Tappa Zukie. Lost cuts to some of his own tracks like 'First Street Rock', alongside productions he undertook with the great Prince Allah, Junior Ross and the Spears. Also, the much-overlooked vocal group Knowledge. Some great rhythms, some great tracks, worked over by the greatest dub mixer of them all. Hope you enjoy the set as much as we have compiling it...

Respect Jah Floyd.

It is summer dawn . . . and you are alone. Here is music for your strange mood. The piano starts the first track, slow tempo beat, a strict beat, a swinging beat. Lillemor—here minor harmonies give the tune a rural, romantic feeling of some place in Spain or France. The tempo changes to medium fast—the flute solos. Light phrasing contrasts beautifully to the earthy, swinging beat of the rhythm section and the repeating piano figures. The trombone adds a new color, a counterpoint of sound and phrasing, backed by the pulsating beat of this wonderful rhythm and the driving piano. Summer dawn . . . This music has more to offer, because it shows the personality of Sahib Shihab at its best. Sahib is a universal musician who reflects musical experiences in jazz since the end of the thirties. He lived through the important periods of modern jazz with his heart and mind wide open toward everything that was good music, regardless of being termed "Mainstream", "Bop", "Cool", "Westcoast", "Eastcoast", "Hard Bop'', et cetera. When you listen closely to his music, you will find traces of all these, but they are immersed in his deep musicianship and his true jazz personality. Sahib Shihab's background reads like the record of a master of advanced studies. Furthermore he played and collaborated with the coolest jazz musician of that period. Above all let's name Budd Johnson, Theolonius Monk, Tadd Dameron, Milt Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jaquet, Elmer Snowden, Luther Henderson, Larry Noble, Fletcher Henderson, Roy Eldridge. In his early professional years, Sahib was heard mostly on alto sax; later, more often on baritone sax and flute. Today, his name is inseparably connected with these two instruments. The unity of his jazz performances is not alone bound up with the com¬positions and the arrangements of Sahib Shihab, though in their understated simplicity they have a melodic beauty that is seldom found in jazz of today. The rhythmical subtleties add to the overall qualities of being relaxed vehicles for free-blowing, but there is an immediacy that you hear and feel every moment when listening which defies analysis. The playing of the rhythm section helps greatly to promote the sense of flux and contrasting constant renewal that makes listening to this record so invigorating an experience. Well, this is no surprise, with Kenny Clarke as the nucleus of the rhythm group. Kenny 'Klook' Clarke is a major figure and contributor in jazz, one of the founders of modern jazz, and is ranked as one of the all-time great drummers. He influenced a whole generation of musicians with his playing, though living in Paris since the middle of the fifties somewhat dimmed his name to the general American public. Nevertheless, his name alone will assure a connoisseur to expect top class musical experiences. Talking of the rhythm section we have to name Jimmy Woode's bass, which together with Kenny's drumming, is the driving force for the group and the reliable harmonic anchor for the improvisors. By the way, Jimmy has been with the Duke quite a while, and this alone is an award for extraordinary craftsmanship and artistry. The good sounding rhythm with its full-bodied color is also a result of the added bongos of Joe Harris, who manages to stay out of the way of the players—a quality not often found with drummers—but his playing is felt through the set. There are two members of the group not yet mentioned. Two Europeans, pianist-composer-arranger Francy Boland from Belgium, and trombonist Ake Persson from Sweden. Francy Boland this time is a sideman, though normally he is a leader of recording sessions, both as composer-arranger and as musical director of the band. In the fifties he was in the States writing arrangements for different name-bands, such as Basie and Goodman. In Europe, he is famous for his swinging modern big band arrangements; and his inventiveness as a writer is reflected in his piano playing. He has the talent of using the right dynamic approach every moment, thus making his playing helpful to soloists and interesting for listeners as well. Ake Persson has been Scandinavia's out-standing trombone player for about ten years. There are only a few trombonists in Europe who might match his talents at times, but they lack the consistency of his playing. He is impressive, whether playing in a big band, or whether main soloist in his own small groups. American musicians love the sound of his slide trombone and his easily flowing romantic improvisations, so he often joins American name-bands as they travel in Europe. The music speaks alone . . . , we said it before. You have your soul to feel the beauty, to follow lines and structure, and to enjoy the spiritual excitement. Whether you enjoy the flowing, easy sounding theme of "Please Don't Leave Me", or the climaxing piano solo in the same piece—the bass solo in "Waltz For Seth" or the swinging baritone sax—listen to the first bars of this solo and pay attention to Kenny. Whether you listen to "Campi's Idea", (named after Gigi Campi, the well known Cologne jazz enthusiast who organized this recording) with the romantic flute solo of Sahib, the interesting tempo changes, the piano comping, the moving trombone solo; or to the up-tempo "Herr Fixit", with the cooking Kenny and humorous, driving flute solo, you know that these six musicians where in the right mood, in the right stimulating surroundings to feel what we all feel when it's: SUMMER DAWN.

Kindred spirits Passepartout Duo and Inoyama Land embody the essence of play - charting a new chapter and reinvigorating the environmental music and electronic landscape.

Passepartout Duo is formed of Nicoletta Favari (IT) and Christopher Salvito (IT/US), who since 2015 have been on a continuous journey travelling the world's corners, engaged in a creative process they term "slow music". Having been guests of many notable artist residencies and with live performances in cultural spaces and institutions, their evocative music escapes categorisation. With no fixed abode their musical pilgrimage brought them to Japan first in 2019, which prompted a deep connection to Kanky? Ongaku 'environmental music', a genre in which Inoyama Land is often associated with, soundtracking the duo's first immersive experience. In 2023 the duo revisited Japan and set out to reconnect in particular with the music of Inoyama Land, performed by Makoto Inoue and Yasushi Yamashita. The highly revered album 'Danzindan-Pojidon' (1983) produced by Haruomi Hosono amongst other well publicized and acclaimed reissues (Light in The Attic Records' Grammy-nominated compilation 'Kanky? Ongaku'), produced a global resurgence and admiration of the environmental music movement. Nicoletta took the lead to seek out Inoyama Land and in making contact successfully their intrigue and eagerness to meet was warmly reciprocated, and the group scheduled to meet in the form of a spontaneous improvisation session. "We're deeply concerned with what it means to be a duo, and what it means for people to connect through music."

Radio Yugawara is a unique one-off transmission from a specific place and point in time, unlikely to ever occur again. The respective duo's approach can really be described as "tuning in", a tuning into each other, to themselves, and to the surrounding nature of Yugawara. Like waves that travel off-world, sounds travel through the universe and can be lost forever if we don't seek them out. In finding a harmonic affinity within their instruments and a spiritual kinship in their interwoven performance, Radio Yugawara at its core is an interpretation of feeling, of close human interaction and the true essence of discovery.

"The album is both a transmission from a location, but also a tuning into the surroundings and to each other. Music in this kind of ephemeral moment is much less about active creation and more about discovering something which is already there in the air."

Der Afrobeat-Virtuose Seun Kuti bereitet sich darauf vor, sein neuestes musikalisches Meisterwerk, das von Lenny Kravitz produziert wurde und auf dem Damian Marley und Sampa The Great zu hören sind, auf die Welt loszulassen. Sein Album “Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)“ erscheint sechs Jahre nach dem Grammy-nominierten Album "Black Times" und einen entscheidenden Moment in Seun Kutis glanzvoller Karriere und zeigt seine Entwicklung als Künstler und Aktivist. Produziert von dem legendären Musiker Lenny Kravitz und Fela Kutis ursprünglichem Tontechniker Sodi Marciszewer (künstlerischer Produzent), verspricht „Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)“ ein Klangerlebnis wie kein anderes. Mit der Expertise von Kravitz und Sodi und dem unvergleichlichen Talent von Seun Kuti bleibt das Album den Wurzeln des Afrobeat treu und definiert gleichzeitig die Grenzen der zeitgenössischen Musik neu. Die sechs elektrisierenden Songs auf „Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)“ verkörpern den Geist des Widerstands, der Resilienz und der Revolution. Jeder Song handelt davon, sich Herausforderungen zu stellen und für Veränderungen zu kämpfen. So wie die Einzelsingles „Dey“ feat. Reggae-Ikone Damian Marley, beschrieben als "ein Song über das Umarmen und Verfechten dessen, was wir sind, ungeachtet dessen" und „Emi Aluta“ "ein Song über den Kampf (Aluta bedeutet Kampf), der eine Hommage an alle großen Revolutionäre ist", mit dem sambischen Sänger, Rapper und Songwriter Sampa The Great, einem der besten und innovativsten Lyriker unserer Zeit. Der Song „T.O.P.“ handelt davon, "wie die Gesellschaft Geld und Erfolg mehr schätzt als Menschen". Seun Kuti möchte dies ändern, indem er Empathie fördert und die Verbindung zur Natur wiederherstellt. In einem anderen Song, „Love & Revolution'“, drückt er seine Liebe zu seiner Frau aus und glaubt, dass wahre Liebe die Menschen dazu inspirieren kann, die Welt zu einem besseren Ort zu machen. "Dieses Projekt war für mich etwas ganz Besonderes, von dem Moment an, als ich es konzipierte und mit Lenny Kravitz sprach, der mir so viel brüderliche Liebe und Respekt entgegenbrachte", sagt Seun. "Er hat mich in sein Haus eingeladen. Ich habe seine Tochter Zoe kennengelernt und er hat uns mit Feuereifer geführt. Seit wir vor drei Jahren über das Album gesprochen haben, war er als ausführender Produzent dieses Projekts immer an unserer Seite und hat uns sehr unterstützt". "Ich möchte mich bei Craig Ross und Sodi, dem Produzenten dieses Projekts, bedanken. Wir hatten eine großartige Zeit. Es war das erste Mal für mich, dass ich mit Sodi im Studio war und ich war wirklich beeindruckt von seiner Arbeit und seinen väterlichen Ratschlägen und seiner Hingabe". Jeder Song auf dem Album ist ein Beweis für Seun Kutis unerschütterliches Engagement, Musik als Werkzeug für sozialen Wandel und Empowerment einzusetzen. Mit seinen kraftvollen Texten und ansteckenden Grooves führt er das Erbe seines Vaters, des legendären Fela Kuti, fort und bahnt sich gleichzeitig seinen eigenen Weg in der Welt der Musik.



Seun Kuti ist ein nigerianischer Musiker, Sänger und Songwriter, der für seine fesselnden Auftritte und seine gesellschaftskritische Musik bekannt ist. Er ist der jüngste Sohn des Afro-Beat-Pioniers Fela Kuti. Seun hat die meiste Zeit seines Lebens damit verbracht, das politische und musikalische Erbe seines Vaters zu bewahren und zu erweitern, und zwar als Leiter der ehemaligen Band seines Vaters, Egypt 80. Als aufstrebender Saxophonist und Schlagzeuger trat er in die formellen Reihen der Band ein, bevor er 12 Jahre alt war. Als Fela 1997 starb, übernahm Seun Kuti auf Wunsch seines Vaters die Leitung von Egypt 80, die er seither innehat. Im Laufe seiner Karriere hat Seun Kuti 4 Alben mit Egypt 80 veröffentlicht: `Many Things' (2008), `From Africa with Fury: Rise for Knitting Factory Records" (2011), koproduziert von Brian Eno und John Reynolds, "A Long Way Beginning" (2014) und das für einen Grammy nominierte "Black Times" (2018), das ein Feature von Carlos Santana enthält. Außerdem haben sie zahlreiche EPs veröffentlicht. Seun hat vor einem begeisterten Publikum auf der ganzen Welt gespielt und mit vielen großen Künstlern zusammengearbeitet. Im Jahr 2022 schloss er sich für die EP "African Dreams" mit dem Roots-Frontmann und MC-Extraordinarius Black Thought zusammen. Im Jahr 2023 arbeitete Seun an Janelle Monaes "The Age of Pleasure" (Grammy-Nominierung für das Album des Jahres) mit den beiden Singles "Float" und "Knows Better" mit, tat sich mit Talib Kweli und MadLib für deren Album "Liberation 2" bei dem Song "Nat Turner" mit Cassper Nyovest zusammen und veröffentlichte eine neue Version der Single "Bad Man Lighter" mit Black Thought und Vic Mensa.

Der Afrobeat-Virtuose Seun Kuti bereitet sich darauf vor, sein neuestes musikalisches Meisterwerk, das von Lenny Kravitz produziert wurde und auf dem Damian Marley und Sampa The Great zu hören sind, auf die Welt loszulassen. Sein Album “Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)“ erscheint sechs Jahre nach dem Grammy-nominierten Album "Black Times" und einen entscheidenden Moment in Seun Kutis glanzvoller Karriere und zeigt seine Entwicklung als Künstler und Aktivist. Produziert von dem legendären Musiker Lenny Kravitz und Fela Kutis ursprünglichem Tontechniker Sodi Marciszewer (künstlerischer Produzent), verspricht „Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)“ ein Klangerlebnis wie kein anderes. Mit der Expertise von Kravitz und Sodi und dem unvergleichlichen Talent von Seun Kuti bleibt das Album den Wurzeln des Afrobeat treu und definiert gleichzeitig die Grenzen der zeitgenössischen Musik neu. Die sechs elektrisierenden Songs auf „Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head)“ verkörpern den Geist des Widerstands, der Resilienz und der Revolution. Jeder Song handelt davon, sich Herausforderungen zu stellen und für Veränderungen zu kämpfen. So wie die Einzelsingles „Dey“ feat. Reggae-Ikone Damian Marley, beschrieben als "ein Song über das Umarmen und Verfechten dessen, was wir sind, ungeachtet dessen" und „Emi Aluta“ "ein Song über den Kampf (Aluta bedeutet Kampf), der eine Hommage an alle großen Revolutionäre ist", mit dem sambischen Sänger, Rapper und Songwriter Sampa The Great, einem der besten und innovativsten Lyriker unserer Zeit. Der Song „T.O.P.“ handelt davon, "wie die Gesellschaft Geld und Erfolg mehr schätzt als Menschen". Seun Kuti möchte dies ändern, indem er Empathie fördert und die Verbindung zur Natur wiederherstellt. In einem anderen Song, „Love & Revolution'“, drückt er seine Liebe zu seiner Frau aus und glaubt, dass wahre Liebe die Menschen dazu inspirieren kann, die Welt zu einem besseren Ort zu machen. "Dieses Projekt war für mich etwas ganz Besonderes, von dem Moment an, als ich es konzipierte und mit Lenny Kravitz sprach, der mir so viel brüderliche Liebe und Respekt entgegenbrachte", sagt Seun. "Er hat mich in sein Haus eingeladen. Ich habe seine Tochter Zoe kennengelernt und er hat uns mit Feuereifer geführt. Seit wir vor drei Jahren über das Album gesprochen haben, war er als ausführender Produzent dieses Projekts immer an unserer Seite und hat uns sehr unterstützt". "Ich möchte mich bei Craig Ross und Sodi, dem Produzenten dieses Projekts, bedanken. Wir hatten eine großartige Zeit. Es war das erste Mal für mich, dass ich mit Sodi im Studio war und ich war wirklich beeindruckt von seiner Arbeit und seinen väterlichen Ratschlägen und seiner Hingabe". Jeder Song auf dem Album ist ein Beweis für Seun Kutis unerschütterliches Engagement, Musik als Werkzeug für sozialen Wandel und Empowerment einzusetzen. Mit seinen kraftvollen Texten und ansteckenden Grooves führt er das Erbe seines Vaters, des legendären Fela Kuti, fort und bahnt sich gleichzeitig seinen eigenen Weg in der Welt der Musik.



Seun Kuti ist ein nigerianischer Musiker, Sänger und Songwriter, der für seine fesselnden Auftritte und seine gesellschaftskritische Musik bekannt ist. Er ist der jüngste Sohn des Afro-Beat-Pioniers Fela Kuti. Seun hat die meiste Zeit seines Lebens damit verbracht, das politische und musikalische Erbe seines Vaters zu bewahren und zu erweitern, und zwar als Leiter der ehemaligen Band seines Vaters, Egypt 80. Als aufstrebender Saxophonist und Schlagzeuger trat er in die formellen Reihen der Band ein, bevor er 12 Jahre alt war. Als Fela 1997 starb, übernahm Seun Kuti auf Wunsch seines Vaters die Leitung von Egypt 80, die er seither innehat. Im Laufe seiner Karriere hat Seun Kuti 4 Alben mit Egypt 80 veröffentlicht: `Many Things' (2008), `From Africa with Fury: Rise for Knitting Factory Records" (2011), koproduziert von Brian Eno und John Reynolds, "A Long Way Beginning" (2014) und das für einen Grammy nominierte "Black Times" (2018), das ein Feature von Carlos Santana enthält. Außerdem haben sie zahlreiche EPs veröffentlicht. Seun hat vor einem begeisterten Publikum auf der ganzen Welt gespielt und mit vielen großen Künstlern zusammengearbeitet. Im Jahr 2022 schloss er sich für die EP "African Dreams" mit dem Roots-Frontmann und MC-Extraordinarius Black Thought zusammen. Im Jahr 2023 arbeitete Seun an Janelle Monaes "The Age of Pleasure" (Grammy-Nominierung für das Album des Jahres) mit den beiden Singles "Float" und "Knows Better" mit, tat sich mit Talib Kweli und MadLib für deren Album "Liberation 2" bei dem Song "Nat Turner" mit Cassper Nyovest zusammen und veröffentlichte eine neue Version der Single "Bad Man Lighter" mit Black Thought und Vic Mensa.

Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn share a common collaborative ethos, a genuine sense of musical curiosity, and a cosmopolitan eagerness to escape the conventions of genre. That shared vision first brought them together on 2022's Pigments_icy and warm, stripped-down and grand, familiar and otherworldly_and now it has reunited them for Quiet in a World Full of Noise. By turns intimate, soul-baring, spectral, and startling, Quiet in a World Full of Noise blends atmospheric and orchestral soundscapes with mellifluous soul, jazz, and journalistic vocalizing_driving it all home with stark, confessional lyricism. The new album finds Richard at her most raw and exposed. This year, Richard's musician father experienced mini strokes while being diagnosed with cancer; and last year, her cousin Cisco was fatally shot seven times in New Orleans. Richard channels the emotional impact of these traumatic experiences of loss into her lyrics and vocal performances, which are left bare and human here, raw and unprocessed across the album. Quiet expands the definitions of what constitutes progressive, avant-garde R&B by rewriting them altogether. On paper, Richard and Zahn's audacious, impressionistic musical collaborations feel like a surprising match. Richard, a New Orleans-reared visionary, has had an improbable journey from late 2000s reality television and mainstream pop with girl group Danity Kane to become one of the most prolific, experimental, and visible indie R&B singer-songwriters of the last decade and a half, with seven solo albums under her belt. Zahn is an East Coast-raised multi-instrumentalist and composer working at the intersections of jazz, Americana, classical, and ambient pop. His growing solo discography includes People of the Dawn, Sunday Painter, Pale Horizon, and Statues I & II, as well as the duo's first release, Pigments. "Pigments was one of the best projects I've ever made," Richard says, "and the furthest I've ever been pushed as an artist." The album was a critical hit, hailed as Best New Music by Pitchfork and receiving praise from Stereogum as Album of the Week, NPR Music, Bandcamp Daily, The Fader, Bitter Southerner, and Edition, among many other publications. The making of its follow-up, Quiet in a World Full of Noise, began in 2023 in upstate New York. Fresh from a break-up, Zahn sat at his piano and poured himself into writing and recording instrumental compositions. "I wrote all these stream-of-consciousness pieces on piano, and they were eerie, spacious piano tracks," he said. He used a piano that had been unconventionally tuned to the room rather than to standard pitch. These oddly-tuned, eerie instrumental recordings were never intended to be an album. Six months later, he listened to the recordings again and sent them to Richard who immediately recognized their potential and said, "Oh, this is the next album." Richard went into the studio the next day and wrote and recorded melodies and lyrics to Zahn's piano recordings. Zahn brought in gifted musicians like Bryan Senti on strings (violin, viola, and violoncello da spalla) and CJ Camerieri on brass (French horn, flugelhorn, and trumpet). In some cases, like on the track "Life in Numbers," Zahn used only the original first-take piano recording and scratch vocal, resulting in an intimate close-up of both Richard and Zahn.

Das Vorgänger-Album Sweet Poison (2022) kletterte bis auf Platz 13 der deutschen Albumcharts, und mit Nothing But Wild (2019) erreichte die Band
die Top 10 in Deutschland. Bereits früh in ihrer Karriere konnten THE NEW ROSES für internationale Aufmerksamkeit sorgen, als ihr Song „Without a
Trace“ in der Kult-US-Serie Sons of Anarchy zu hören war. Im Laufe der Jahre haben sie sich als feste und beim Publikum beliebte Größe im
internationalen Rockradiosender etabliert, aber ihre unzähmbare Rock’n’Roll-Energie ist am besten live zu erleben. Sie waren nicht nur die erste
deutsche Band, die 2018 und 2019 auf der KISS Kruise auftrat, sondern auch Support bei den Deutschland Shows der Rock-Ikonen. Außerdem teilten
sie sich bereits mit weiteren beeindruckenden Genregrößen die Bühne, wie den legendären Aerosmith, Foreigner und den deutschen Hard
Rock-Urgesteinen Scorpions.
Im Jahr 2023 begrüßten sie den Gitarristen Norman Bites zurück in ihren Reihen und als Quintett vereint sind THE NEW ROSES zweifellos auf direktem
Weg an die Spitze des Hard Rock!

John Davis is a sound artist and filmmaker based in the Bay Area. Active since the mid-aughts, he has published recordings on labels such as Root Strata and Digitalis, as well as on his own Bimodal Press imprint. “Landlines” sees a return to the SOD catalog for Davis, following a full-length release in 2013, and may be seen as somewhat of a spiritual successor to that album. In all of Davis’ work, there is a specific pastoral sensibility that feels firmly rooted in the forests and coasts of Northern California, moving with the delicate and erratic cadence of dust motes rendered visible in bright sunlight. Opening track “Verichrome” articulates the soundscape wonderfully, stitching together Music Mouse-esque formant synthesis and meditative vocal sampling with an exquisite minimalist suite for prepared piano. Of these recordings, Davis himself writes, “In a general sense the conceit here is nostalgia, a desire to reflect on the importance of connection – to ourselves and to the world around us. The title is, of course, a euphemism for the telephone, but I am also considering landscape, horizons, and infrastructure, as well as the invisible lines that connect us, the threads that bind us, and the communities that form us.”

Der Saxofonist Phillip Dornbusch hat sich mit seiner Band Projektor vorgenommen, die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums auf Musik zu lenken, die in Momenten entstand, in denen sich Menschen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart nicht in einer Demokratie, nicht in Freiheit befanden. Die meisten Stücke auf dem dritten Projektor-Album, das den Titel Revolt trägt, speisen sich aus Liedern, die in Iran und Estland entstanden sind und während der Aufstände gegen das sowjetische Regime beziehungsweise die Islamische Republik gesungen wurden. Das Zusammenspiel der fünf Musiker:innen hatte schon auf den beiden Alben "Reflex" (2021), sowie auf "Re|Construct" (2023) etwas traumwandlerisch-sicheres. Johanna Summer, Johannes Mann, Roger Kintopf und Philip Adrian Dornbusch organisieren sich um meist vom Saxophon Dornbuschs getragene Melodien und Themen, weichen ab und kehren wieder zurück, um ein anderes Instrument, eine andere Idee, eine andere Klangfarbe in den Vordergrund treten zu lassen. Dieses Zusammenspiel hat auf Revolt das nächste Level erreicht.

Als ‚Darkness Remains‘ im April 2017 das Licht der Welt erblickte, verstummten schlagartig sämtliche Spekulationen über einen eventuellen
Qualitätseinbruch bzw. einem vermeintlichen Status als Eintagsfliege. Denn auch ‚Darkness Remains‘ lieferte den erhofften NWOBHM-inspirierten
Nervenkitzel und begeisterte die Night Demon-Getreuen. Gleichzeitig wagte sich die Scheibe einen mutigen Schritt vorwärts, da die Musiker ihre
Songwriting-Fähigkeiten verfeinern, einen noch individuelleren Sound entwickeln und ihre Waffen schärfen konnten, um bewusst ein paar
kompositorische Risiken einzugehen. Mit der fabelhaften Single ‚Welcome To The Night‘ und dem dazugehörenden Videoclip startete auch ‚Darkness
Remains‘ als Album, das zahlreiche Publikumslieblinge und Live-Set-Klassiker umfasst, wie etwa ‚Dawn Rider‘, ‚Black Widow‘, ‚Hallowed Ground‘ und
der rasante Titeltrack ‚Darkness Remains‘. Das Album katapultierte Night Demon sowohl künstlerisch als auch kommerziell auf die nächste
Entwicklungsstufe und war ein entscheidender Meilenstein in der Karriere der Band.
Die 2024er Deluxe Edition von ‚Darkness Remains‘ umfasst das Originalalbum in voller Länge, aufgewertet durch ein neues Remastering von Night
Demon-Sechssaiter Armand John Anthony. Als zusätzliche Extras gibt es einige Songs, die bislang nur als territorial limitiertes Bonusmaterial früherer
Albumversionen zu finden waren, darunter Queens ‚We Will Rock You‘ und eine kraftvolle Version von Black Sabbaths ‚Turn Up The Night'.

Those in the know are well aware of Bobby Marin's work, and the fact that he was behind the scenes for some of the best boogaloo and salsa of the '60s and '70s. Yet, until now, no one has explicitly put Bobby's name in the headline and given him his due on the cover of a properly credited Latin soul compilation. This compilation comprises twenty four essential boogaloo, Latin funk, rock and afro disco gems, each one bearing the mark of quality: "A Bobby Marin Production", including songs by Ricardo Marrero, the Ghetto Brothers, Ocho, Louie Ramírez_ A freshly curated overview of his fascinatingly complex back catalog in these genres. Since the late 1980s there have been numerous Latin soul and boogaloo compilations, and certainly much has been written about the history of the music too and an an excellent documentary (We Like It Like That, by Mathew Ramírez Warren) have brought the music to a broader audience. Generally, when discussing the "first wave" of Latin soul and boogaloo, it's the bands and their leaders, the singers and the songs that get all the recognition. But what of the producers, composers, and arrangers behind the music? Over the years, one of the best old-school New York Latin music producers, Bobby Marin, has occasionally been given some well-deserved credit and popped up sporadically in articles or liner notes (Wax Poetics, Fania, Gladys Palmera). However, to the casual public, he is not a household name, even among some fans of boogaloo. There are even some contemporary Latin soul compilations that contain mostly material licensed, produced and / or written by Bobby (or his brother, Richard), and a tip of the hat must go to Bobby's friend Dean Rudland for all his work in this area, as well as to Rocafort Records for digging up the long-lost Nitty Gritty Sextet album. Yet, until now, no one has explicitly put Bobby's name in the headline and given him his due on the cover of a properly credited Latin soul compilation. This collection aims to change that and give the man his Latin soul "props" for the first time on a freshly curated overview of his fascinatingly complex back catalog in this genre.

After a triptych released by Un je-ne-sais-quoi, in barely 3 years, under the name Tachycardie, Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, musician, composer but also visual artist, continues his very singular journey to the heart of sound matter, with an album composed on Baschet sound structures.

From the 1950s, the Baschet brothers created a truly innovative set of instruments which has since fascinated musicians seeking new sound experiences.

Both sculptures of glass, metal and instruments of great acoustic sharpness, these sound structures have made rare but remarkable forays into recordings of contemporary music (Bernard Baschet, Jacques Lasry, Luc Ferrari, Toru Takemitsu, Jonathan Fitoussi…).

The Baschet brothers were also keen to use these instruments for educational purposes in the form of workshops, cultural action projects or simply by inviting the public to try these instruments at the end of concerts. It is in the Ateliers Baschet, a place aimed at preserving and transmitting the work of the brothers (workshops, conferences, residencies) that Tachycardie recorded this new album.

After having combined on his previous albums, analog synthesis, audio-naturalism and percussion in an overwhelming balance, he explored here all the sonic variety of Baschet structures. He then just sculpted this sound material in his studio, using simple effects: editing and pitch.

The result is a new path to explore in Tachycardie’s world, made of subtle percussive crackles, beneficial chaos and restorative oscillations.

Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn share a common collaborative ethos, a genuine sense of musical curiosity, and a cosmopolitan eagerness to escape the conventions of genre. That shared vision first brought them together on 2022’s Pigments icy and warm, stripped-down and grand, familiar and otherworldly and now it has reunited them for Quiet in a World Full of Noise. By turns intimate, soul-baring, spectral, and startling, Quiet in a World Full of Noise blends atmospheric and orchestral soundscapes with mellifluous soul, jazz, and journalistic vocalizing driving it all home with stark, confessional lyricism. The new album finds Richard at her most raw and exposed. This year, Richard’s musician father experienced mini strokes while being diagnosed with cancer; and last year, her cousin Cisco was fatally shot seven times in New Orleans. Richard channels the emotional impact of these traumatic experiences of loss into her lyrics and vocal performances, which are left bare and human here, raw and unprocessed across the album. Quiet expands the definitions of what constitutes progressive, avant-garde R&B by rewriting them altogether. On paper, Richard and Zahn’s audacious, impressionistic musical collaborations feel like a surprising match. Richard, a New Orleans–reared visionary, has had an improbable journey from late 2000s reality television and mainstream pop with girl group Danity Kane to become one of the most prolific, experimental, and visible indie R&B singer-songwriters of the last decade and a half, with seven solo albums under her belt. Zahn is an East Coast–raised multi-instrumentalist and composer working at the intersections of jazz, Americana, classical, and ambient pop. His growing solo discography includes People of the Dawn, Sunday Painter, Pale Horizon, and Statues I & II, as well as the duo’s first release, Pigments. “Pigments was one of the best projects I’ve ever made,” Richard says, “and the furthest I’ve ever been pushed as an artist.” The album was a critical hit, hailed as Best New Music by Pitchfork and receiving praise from Stereogum as Album of the Week, NPR Music, Bandcamp Daily, The Fader, Bitter Southerner, and Edition, among many other publications. The making of its follow-up, Quiet in a World Full of Noise, began in 2023 in upstate New York. Fresh from a break-up, Zahn sat at his piano and poured himself into writing and recording instrumental compositions. “I wrote all these stream-of-consciousness pieces on piano, and they were eerie, spacious piano tracks,” he said. He used a piano that had been unconventionally tuned to the room rather than to standard pitch. These oddly-tuned, eerie instrumental recordings were never intended to be an album. Six months later, he listened to the recordings again and sent them to Richard who immediately recognized their potential and said, “Oh, this is the next album.” Richard went into the studio the next day and wrote and recorded melodies and lyrics to Zahn’s piano recordings. Zahn brought in gifted musicians like Bryan Senti on strings (violin, viola, and violoncello da spalla) and CJ Camerieri on brass (French horn, flugelhorn, and trumpet). In some cases, like on the track “Life in Numbers,” Zahn used only the original first-take piano recording and scratch vocal, resulting in an intimate close-up of both Richard and Zahn.

Sasu Ripatti presents the fourth volume in his "Dancefloor Classics" series with five 10" releases coming throughout 2023. Music for imaginary dancefloors, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton".

”Look up, into the light” she said, while the camera shutter clicked. ”Like this? Does it look holy?” His neck felt stiff. Her reply: ”Yes, just like that. What do you mean holy? Like religious? ”No, more like trying to look very far, somewhere beyond what we can see.” ”Okay, stand still, I’m going to come close to you now. The light hits your face great.” click, click, click.

He noticed her fingernails. They were not polished. Natural. Even somewhat rugged, as if something wore out the fingers slightly. What had these hands held besides the camera? What made the edges of her fingernails drift off?

He thought it’s weird to look straight into the camera. The photographer had closed her left eye, the one not looking into the lens. Then it opened, she looked up, perusing the surroundings, then she closed her eye again, then looked up, closed, looking up, very quickly. It all seemed very professional. Maybe she calculated the light, making sure it’s close to perfect. ”What will these photos look like?” – the thought popped into his head briefly. It was liberating to think it wouldn’t matter.

”What’s that song playing?” he asked. ”Wait a sec, Ol’ Dirty Bastard?” she replied. ”Oh yeah, right. But the sample?” ”Hey, could you look up again, like that. No, lower.”

New directions: ”Look out from the window, turn left.” ”My left or yours?” ”Yours, I always try to think from the direction of my model.” How professional! This is a good shoot, so natural. Should I worry about how the photos look like? No, I don’t want to. His thoughts bounced around. What would the story be like? It’s a big newspaper, everyone will read it. Maybe someone drinks coffee and eats a stroopwafel while they do it. Will they place the waffle on top of the mug for a brief while, so that it gets hot and the syrup melts a little? Then it feels wet, and you can bend the cookie.

She broke his train of thought off midway through: ”Now turn right, but look left, and slightly up, but don’t turn your face right.” ”Umm, like this? Sounds like a set of pilates instructions.” she laughed ”You do pilates?” ”Yeah, it’s hard sometimes. Have you tried?” ”No”, she said. ”I’m not good for sports that are done in groups.” ”Yeah, but in pilates you can just be inside your mind, drowning in your private thoughts.”

”What are you thinking in pilates?” she asked, taking more photos. ”Well, mostly just which way is right. And which left.” click, click.

Q&A with Sasu Ripatti:

1) Tell us something about the EP series ”Dancefloor Classics”, what’s the idea and what can we expect?

I’ve been slowly writing these sort of dance music pieces and finally curated them together for a conceptual release. I like to create music for a dancefloor that exists only in my imagination and doesn’t try to suck up to the standardized reality.

2) Your vinyl format is 10” which is quite special (as opposed to LP / 12”). Why did you choose it?

It’s my favourite format, absolutely. The size is perfect, and you can make it sound really good @ 45 rpm. And you still can make great artwork.

3) You seem interested in sampling/repurposing, what does it mean to you as an artist to approach something already existing from a new angle? How does the source material inform you about the approach to take?

I guess i could flip it around and just say I’ve outgrown synths or electronic sounds to a great extend, and having gotten rid off all my synths already good while ago I’ve used samples as my main source material a lot. It’s obvious on this series that i’ve sampled existing music, but I also sample instruments and things in the studio and resample my own library that I have built over the years, it’s quite large. To me the end result matters, not so much how I get there. Once I have something on my keyboard and play around, it’s all an instrument, though with sampling other music it becomes a really interesting and complex one as you’re possibly playing rhythm, but also harmonic content and maybe hooks or whatever, all at once.
I never sample premeditadedly, like listening to records and looking for that mindblowing 3 sec part. I just throw the cards in the air and see what lands where, just full intuition and hopefully zero mind involved, playing tons of stuff, trying things, just recording hours of stuff. Then comes the interesting part to listen to hours of mostly crazy stuff and finding that mindblowing 3 sec part.

4) What is your relationship with the dancefloor (conceptually and/or in experiences / as a performer)?

Very complicated. I have never really felt comfortable on a dancefloor but have always wanted to. There’s something in club music, in theory, that really speaks to me. It has never really materialized for me – speaking mainly from a performer’s point of view who goes to check on a dancefloor for a moment after a concert. I never have DJ’d or felt much interest towards it. But again, I love the idea and concept of DJing. As well as producing music for imaginary DJs. Lately, as in the past 10+ years, I haven’t even performed in any sort of club spaces. So my relationship to the dancefloor is quite removed and reduced, but there’s quite a bit of passion and interest left.

All tracks composed and produced by Sasu Ripatti.
Artwork & photography by Marc Hohmann.
Mastering by Stephan Mathieu for Schwebung Mastering.
Vinyl cut by SST Brueggemann.
Publishing by WARP Music Ltd.

Hört her, hört her! Aus den mystischen Gefilden der Neo-Norse-Lehre stürmt EIHWAR auf die Bühne wie ein Berserkerangriff auf ein ruhiges Fjorddorf. Mark und Asrunn haben sich den Weg des Kriegers nicht ausgesucht, sondern er hat sie gewählt. Aus dem ursprünglichen und doch unerforschten Terrain ihrer Seelen entsprungen, haben sie einen klanglichen Moloch geboren, der uralte Götter mit dem unverschämten Chaos des modernen Zeitalters vermischt.

Man stelle sich ein Paralleluniversum vor, in dem Wikinger Synthesizer entdeckten und zu Techno headbangten. Dies ist das Debütalbum von EIHWAR, Viking War Trance. Eine wilde Platte, die nicht nur den Rahmen sprengt, sondern ihn mit der Grausamkeit von Thors Hammer zerschmettert. Hemmungslos und reuelos ist dieses Album ein elektrisches Met-Hallenfest zum Soundtrack der Apokalypse. Es hat alles: technoide Beats, die im Herzen eines sterbenden Sterns geschmiedet wurden, tranceartige Stimmen, die Odin von den Toten auferstehen lassen könnten, und schamanische Trommeln, die einen Sturm in Walhalla auslösen könnten. Stelle dir vor, du stehst in einem Moshpit mit Wikingerkriegern, berauscht von der Magie des Nordlichts, und würdest die Wut von Fenrir und die Trauer von Baldr kanalisieren, mit allem Schwung und Schweiß. Mit Tracks wie "Völva's Chant", "Viking War Trance" und "Mjölnir" ist es eine in der Tonart des Chaos gesungene Saga, die dazu bestimmt ist, die wildeste Trance auf jeder Tanzfläche oder jedem Schlachtfeld zu provozieren.

- Ein elektrisierendes Debütalbum, das traditionelle nordische Klänge mit modernen elektronischen Beats vermischt und so ein einzigartiges, festliches und chaotisches Musikerlebnis schafft, das man am besten als eine Mischung aus Heilung und Carpenter Brut bezeichnen kann.
- Nach ihrer viralen Explosion auf YouTube werden Eihwar das Publikum in ganz Europa in ihren Bann ziehen und haben Auftritte auf großen Festivals wie Hellfest, Leyendas del Rock und Trolls & Légendes im Jahr 2024 bestätigt.
- Das Album enthält sorgfältig selbst produzierte Tracks und visuell überzeugende Cover und Videos, die ein kohärentes und immersives Erlebnis garantieren.

Limited pressing of 300 LPs ! 180gm VINYL LPS w/ INSERT & DOWNLOAD FILE UNDER : GARAGE ROCK / PUB ROCK "I wanted to make a very NOW album, our past was fantastic at the time but it was exactly that.the past. We've learned a lot since then and with the combination of influences and personal tastes we've concocted a combination of Raw Power guitar grunt, a touch of The Cars' pop sensibilities and Bad Seeds brood." Dave Butterworth Veteran rockers The Double Agents return with their third album New Motion a powerful new recording evoking directness and immediacy and marking their first release of new material in nearly two decades. The Double Agents' initial incarnation circa 2000 saw the fiercely independent quintet rise from humble stages to becoming one of Melbourne's most revered pub rock bands. They twice toured Europe and eventually shared the stage with iconic luminaries Dead Moon, Mudhoney, The Dirtbombs, Celibate Rifles, The White Stripes and The Black Keys before an amicable hiatus in 2008. New Motion is a modern Australian rock record and marks a departure from their garage rock roots, as best exemplified in their self released 2023 anthology compilation Best Bits. So Far spanning their first three releases. The familiar twin vocals remain, Kim and Dave summoning that deep Dead Moon energy, as does Ryan Tandy's singular lead guitar playing and the rock solid backbeat of Myles Gallagher, but the band's scope seems to have widened on this record, with the inclusion of longtime cohort Mick Stylianou (Saint Jude) adding style and harmonic punch on bass guitar and backing vocals. ..The New Motion sessions were tracked to analog tape by Finn Keane at Head Gap and Julian McKenzie at Newmarket with vocal post production by Dave Larkin (Dallas Crane), mixing by Callum Barter (Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile), mastering by Mikey Young. Dave Butterworth also produced the album.

"Soulfisticated Bumps" è l'ultima creazione del producer JayBee Vibes, un'esperienza sonora che fonde abilmente l'anima del jazz con il ritmo incalzante dell'hip hop. Questo album è una collezione di 25 beat strumentali che catturano l'essenza groovy della musica urbana, trasportando l'ascoltatore in un viaggio attraverso paesaggi sonori sofisticati e avvolgenti.
Con un mix di samples jazz e suggestioni lo-fi, ogni traccia è un'esplosione di creatività e energia. I synth bass pulsanti e le batterie rimbalzanti sono l'elemento guida di questo viaggio, facendo muovere la testa e il corpo con il loro ritmo irresistibile.
L'artwork dell'album è un capolavoro firmato da Cammamoro, rinomato fumettista ed illustratore italiano, che cattura perfettamente lo spirito e l'atmosfera dei brani contenuti in "Soulfisticated Bumps".
Questo lavoro è stato pubblicato sotto l'etichetta italiana Beat's Tailors, confermando ancora una volta la loro dedizione a promuovere artisti innovativi e suoni unici nel panorama musicale contemporaneo.
Descr: ENG


"Soulfisticated Bumps" is the latest creation from producer JayBee Vibes, a sonic experience skillfully blending the soul of jazz with the pulsating rhythm of hip hop. This album is a collection of 25 instrumental beats that capture the groovy essence of urban music, taking the listener on a journey through sophisticated and enveloping soundscapes.
With a mix of jazz samples and lo-fi suggestions, each track is an explosion of creativity and energy. The pulsating synth bass and bouncing drums serves as the guiding element of this journey, making heads and bodies sway with its irresistible rhythm.
The album's artwork is a masterpiece crafted by Cammamoro, renowned Italian comic artist and illustrator, perfectly capturing the spirit and atmosphere of the tracks contained in "Soulfisticated Bumps".
This incredible work has been released under the Italian label Beat's Tailors, once again confirming their dedication to promoting innovative artists and unique sounds in the contemporary music scene.

Der renommierte und preisgekrönte elektronische Musiker Ben Böhmer, ist zurück mit seinem neuen Studioalbum „Bloom“. Nach einer rekordverdächtigen Welttournee im Jahr 2023, bei der alle Termine seines letzten Albums bereits Monate im Voraus ausverkauft waren, nahm sich Ben Böhmer Zeit für sich selbst und kehrte an den Ort zurück, der ihn am meisten anzieht: sein Studio. Dort kann er seine Leidenschaft für spontane Kreativität voll ausleben und sich unermüdlich darauf konzentrieren, sein Handwerk zu verfeinern, das es ihm erlaubt, tiefe, komplexe Gefühle auszudrücken.
Der Erfolg dieser Alben mit fast einer Milliarde Streams und mehr, und seine Fähigkeit, das Publikum live zu erreichen - er spielte über 200 Shows im Jahr 2022 -, trieben ihn auf einen Weg, der sich nicht mit dem deckte, was er wollte. Trotz der Auszeichnungen und ausverkauften Veranstaltungen wurde er in eine Richtung gezogen, die nicht zu ihm passte. „Bloom“ ist ein Neustart, ein selbstbewusstes Bekenntnis zu seinen eigenen Wünschen und improvisierten Ursprüngen. Auf „Bloom“ hören und fühlen wir Ben Böhmers Entwicklung, sein freudiges Streben nach Neuem, das ihn Tag für Tag immer wieder ins Studio zurückzieht. Klanglich ist „Best Life“ ein mutiger Schritt in eine neue Richtung für Ben Böhmer, der aus den vorgefertigten Schubladen, in die er gesteckt wurde, herauswachsen will. Sein Songwriting- und Kompositionstalent tritt auf „Bloom“ in den Vordergrund, zusammen mit angesehenen Künstler:innen wie der Indie-Legende Lykke Li, dem Alt-Pop-Duo Oh Wonder, Enfant Sauvage (vom französischen Duo The Blaze) und anderen. Das Album enthält eine Vielzahl von Stilen und Tempi, die nur noch entfernt an frühere Tracks seiner Karriere erinnern.

From Cape Town to Cairo, and now to fans, stages and screens around the world, PJ Morton shares his newest album, fully made in the motherland. Cape Town to Cairo is a collection of songs that he created in 30 days throughout 4 countries in Africa — South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt. Described as the best trip of his life, this transformative journey began as just the seed of an idea last fall, but instantly grew into his most sonically-sprawling and immediately-inspired record to date. With no music, lyrics or preconceptions, he stepped foot onto the continent with two thoughts: a wild dream to write and record his next LP in less than a month, and a mission to immerse himself in as many different cultures, stories and communities as he could.

Surrounded by featured collaborators like Fireboy DML, Mádé Kuti, Asa, Ndabo Zulu, and Soweto Spiritual Singers, as well as additional producers including P.Priime and The Cavemen., his own live band and local musicians, PJ Morton used music as his common language. Always his greatest way of communicating, he expressed his feelings and experiences of Africa through songs he and others were forming together on the spot, side-by-side in different studios, cities and towns for the very first time. None of the tracks were written before he arrived or after he left, and the arrangements showcase both the countries’ native genres as well as the innate, stylistic instincts that have made Morton a 5x GRAMMY-winner and 20x GRAMMY-nominee, whether it be his soul, R&B and gospel roots, or the pop prowess he has further honed as a member of Maroon 5.

“When you’ve been in music as long as I have, you’re constantly looking for inspiration,” says PJ Morton. “And you’re looking for the things that made you want to do it in the first place. I’ve made albums every type of way you can think, so I wanted to try something I hadn’t done before. As a Black American who had never been to South or West Africa, I knew there was something there waiting for me. So I put a little pressure on myself to make a full record in a month, but I also said, ‘If I’m gonna go to Africa, I want to see Africa.’ We made music, but we also formed connections. We made new friends, and this is just the start.”

ESSENCE adds, "This trip is not just a physical move, it's a spiritual return…The soul of Africa pulses through every note he plays and every word he sings,” and VIBE adds that “the multi-faceted artist is fully embracing a new phase in his life.” Cape Town to Cairo marks PJ Morton’s first album since 2022’s Watch The Sun, which featured collaborations with Stevie Wonder, Nas, JoJo, Wale, Jill Scott, Alex Isley and more. Since then, Morton has become the first Black composer to write an original song for a Disney attraction, having just finished making the music for Tiana's Bayou Adventure, opening on June 28th, 2024 at Disney World and Fall 2024 at Disneyland. He also won his latest GRAMMY earlier this year, worked with Samara Joy on “Why I’m Here” for Regina King’s Netflix film Shirley, and landed a cover of his song “Don’t Let Go” as the soundtrack to Apple’s iPhone 15 commercial.

PJ Morton recently returned from headlining his debut shows in Asia, New Zealand and Australia, and announced an extensive Cape Town to Cairo Tour for North America summer and fall 2024. Following iconic performances at New Orleans Jazz Fest, The Kennedy Center, Roots Picnic and Newport Jazz Fest, Morton will embark on a run of more than 25 dates across the country, including New York City’s Beacon Theatre, Chicago’s Chicago Theatre, Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Los Angeles’ The Wiltern, and dozens of others.

On the heels of his headline tour and Maroon 5’s Las Vegas residency, PJ Morton will publish a life-spanning new book titled Saturday Night, Sunday Morning. The memoir sees him recounting and reflecting upon a trailblazing path that continues to defy expectations and straddle the tensions of music and faith, race and culture, expression and identity. As the son of two pastors and gospel artists, Morton grew up grounded by the sound of the Church, but soon found himself drawn to R&B, pop and soul, writing songs that the industry, his family and community struggled to understand. In the face of mounting pressure, rejection and constant miscategorization, he committed himself to a steadfast path of independence: making music on his own terms, launching his own record label, joining one of the biggest bands in the world while staying true to his New Orleans roots. The risks he took paid off, and through his transformation from preacher's kid to the busiest man in showbiz – performing everywhere from his local congregation to the Super Bowl, collaborating with everyone from his father to Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, Jon Batiste and Lil Wayne – he hopes to encourage readers and listeners to overcome obstacles as they seek their dreams.

World Gym the cult band from Stockhom, Sweden is finally presenting their first full length Album.
World Gym is beer & sweat soaked jersey, screaming groupies, original Rock’n’Roll vibes. It’s music with a soft touch & a hard edge. City slicker people storytelling. Nothing bought, everything learned.
Original applause. If you know life you know it always ends in tears. Then it starts again. Have faith in Musik

Tig Notaro is an Emmy, Grammy and SAG Award-nominated comedian, actor, writer, director and podcast host originally from Mississippi, and named by Rolling Stone one of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time. She appears in Season 3 of THE MORNING SHOW on Apple TV+ alongside Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, and STAR TREK: DISCOVERY on Paramount Plus. Tig recently starred in the Netflix films YOUR PLACE OR MINE and WE HAVE A GHOST, as well as Zack Snyder's ARMY OF THE DEAD. Prior to that, she starred in the heartwarming Paramount film INSTANT FAMILY alongside Mark Wahlberg and Octavia Spencer. Tig wrote, produced and starred in the semi-autobiographical Amazon Prime Video series ONE MISSISSIPPI, also directing the premiere episode of Season 2. The show yielded critical acclaim and several award nominations, including WGA, GLAAD and The Critics Choice Awards. Tig's HBO standup special, DRAWN, made history as the first-ever fully animated stand-up special, and was nominated for a Hollywood Critics Association Award. She was previously nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy Award for her 2016 HBO special BOYISH GIRL INTERRUPTED, a GLAAD Award nomination for the Netflix Original Documentary TIG, and her memoir I'm Just a Person is a New York Times Bestseller. In 2013, Tig was also nominated for a Grammy for her sophomore release, LIVE, which was the #1 selling comedy album in the world that year. LIVE is a stand-up set delivered just days after Tig was diagnosed with invasive bilateral breast cancer, from which she is now in remission. Tig remains a favorite on talk shows, including "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon", public radio, and continues to tour internationally. Tig and her wife, Stephanie Allynne, co-directed the feature film, AM I OK?, starring Dakota Johnson and Sinoya Mizuno, which premiered at Sundance and premiered on HBO Max in June 2024. Tig also hosts HANDSOME, a critically acclaimed comedy podcast, alongside friends and co-hosts Fortune Feimster and Mae Martin. Her newest special, TIG NOTARO: HELLO AGAIN, premiered in March 2024 on Prime Video.

Das neue Album des Danish String Quartets ist eine ”musikalische Spurensuche über die Nordsee, eine
Reise durch die Klänge der traditionellen Musik Nordeuropas, die uns von Dänemark und Norwegen zu den
Färöer-Inseln und nach Irland und England führt.” Keel Road folgt auf Last Leaf, das gefeierte Danish-StringQuartet-Album aus dem Jahr 2017, das von NPR zum ”Classical Album of the Year” und von Publikationen
wie der New York Times und dem Gramophone Magazin zum ”Best of the Year” gewählt wurde. Keel Road
unterstreicht die Auffassung der Gruppe, dass ”Volksweisen nicht nur ein Teil unseres Repertoires, sondern
ein wichtiges Element unserer Identität als Musiker sind.” Subtil in den Fluss der Einspielung integriert sind
neben traditionellen Stücken auch Eigenkompositionen von Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen und Fredrik Schøyen
Sjölin sowie bestechende Arrangements der Musiker von vier Kompositionen Turlough O’Carolans, dem
legendären Harfenisten aus dem irischen County Meath. Das Programm beleuchtet sowohl musikalische
Verwandtschaften als auch deren subtile Unterschiede, denn obgleich Folkmusik ”lokale Traditionen und
lokale Geschichten repräsentiert, ist sie gleichzeitig auch die Musik von überall und jedem”. Keel Road
wurde im November 2022 im Village Recording Studio in Kopenhagen aufgenommen und im März 2024 in
den Bavaria Musikstudios in München gemischt.

The Ruins' eponymous EP (also known as the “gray record”) was originally released in the late spring of 1984 and in fact represents a significant moment in the Italian independent music scene of the early 1980s. The then contemporary burgeoning wave of entertainment music contaminated by experimental accents and conveyed essentially by electronic instruments saw the Ruins at the forefront. The band, essentially a duo, formed in Mestre (Venice) in 1978, had already carved out a window of national attention within the Italian new wave in 1981 with their first single “Short wave” and their participation in one of the very first (if not the very first) Italian new wave compilations entitled “Samples Only.”

Following this, between 1982 and 1983, there had been an important interlude in the evolution of the RUINS sound with the foundation of the quintet project (of which SPITTLE/DepenDance recently published an essential anthology titled “BRAIN FLAKES”). At the end of 1983, having concluded the group experience with the consequent and inevitable return to the original duo dimension the musical style further evolved putting even more emphasis on the unique blend of electronic sounds and almost black /soul influences of the new compositions that would later be collected in 1984 in the original version of E.P.

The duo's sound at that particular time was characterized by the innovative use of synthesizers and drum machines for unconventional song structures, which at the same time also encapsulated Ciranna and Pizzin's experimental ethos, thus allowing them to follow a parallel trajectory capable of maintaining a certain distance - while remaining somewhat related to - from the contemporary mainstream pop and the so-called ITALO disco strand.

Ultimately, this 1984 EP by the Ruins - of which Spittle DepenDance now offers a valuable reissue enriched with additional material from the period that has remained completely unreleased until now - is a testament to the band's innovative spirit and its role in shaping the Italian new wave scene, landing moreover to international acclaim and acclaim even over the following decades. With its mix of electronic experimentation and dark pop sensibility, it remains essential listening for fans of avant-garde pop music.

Die umjubelelten, schrill-bunten Rockerinnen von The Hot Damn! sind mit einem Paukenschlag zurück und veröffentlichen ihre elektrisierende neue Single Can You Hear Me Now? zusammen mit der Ankündigung ihres mit Spannung erwarteten Debütalbums Dancing on the Milky Way, das am Freitag, den 27. September 2024, über Fat Earth Records erscheinen wird. Die vierköpfige britische Rockband wird als das ,farbenfrohe Chaos" des Rock bezeichnet und bringt mit jedem Song, jedem Video und einer energischen Live-Show nach der anderen wieder Farbe in die Musikszene. Mit knackigen Riffs und wilden Harmonien bringen The Hot Damn! dich zum Tanzen, bevor du es merkst. Die vier temperamentvollen Damen, die unter anderem von Kerrang!, Planet Rock und BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 und Radio BOB gelobt wurden, sind keine Unbekannten in der Musikszene. entstand die Band u.a. aus der Asche von The Amorettes und Tequila Mockingbyrd und besteht aus den Talenten von Gill Montgomery (The Amorettes), Josie O'Toole (Tequila Mockingbyrd), Laurie Buchanan (Aaron Buchanan and the Cult Classics) und Lzi Hayes (New Device/Sophie Lloyd Band).The Hot Damn! aus Marlow, Buckinghamshire, mögen es laut, aber sie machen nicht nur mit ihrer Musik auf sich aufmerksam, sondern auch auf ein Thema, das ihnen am Herzen liegt - den Gehörschutz. Da die Band erkannt hat, wie wichtig die Gesundheit des Gehörs sowohl für das Publikum als auch für die Musiker ist, hat sie sich dazu verpflichtet, bei all ihren Konzerten Einweg-Ohrstöpsel anzubieten. Neben einzelnen Headline-Gigs reisen The Hot Damn! im November 2024 als Support von D-A-D durch Deutschland um ihr hart rockendes Werk zu präsentieren. CD mit zwei Akustik-Bonustracks, LP als Sunshine Yellow Vinyl!

UK DJ & Radio support:Craig Charles, Gideon Coe, Lauren Laverne, Deb Grant, Huey Morgan, Huw Stephens, Amy Lame, Chris Hawkins(BBC Radio 6 Music), Ex Friendly(Radio Alhara),Rita Ray & Max Reinhart, DJ Kobayashi (Soho Radio),Steve Barker(On the Wire),Debbie Golt(Resonance FM),EHFM, Celtic Music Radio, Poppyland Radio

BBC Jools Holland confirmed TV appearance (film 13th May, TX Sat 15th June)
BBC Radio 6 Music Playlist (2 x weeks B list, 1 x C list )
BBC Radio 6 Music Craig Charles interview (Broadcast 1st April)
BBC Radio 6 Musiclive session with Craig Charles (15th May)here
BBC Radio 3live session for Music Planethere
BBC World Service Session and ITW - here
BBC Africa(Africa Daily) Session and ITW -here

The Telegraph feature confirmed here
MOJO Rising feature published
MOJO album review confirmed
MOJO Playlist - Sharaf included here
Far Out Mag album review here
Songlines feature confirmed
Songlines Top of the World here
Songlines album review May 2024 (#197), on sale April 5.


Sahra Halgan, Somaliland's iconic singer, freedom fighter, and cultural activist, returns with third album Hiddo Dhawr, a culmination of enduring friendship and global exploration

Seamlessly blending age-old Somali traditions with abrasive guitar riffs, sun-drenched percussion, and vintage keys, the album offers a fresh take on the music of Somaliland, the independent but not internationally recognizedd state in the Horn of Africa

Inside a large, tent-like structure in downtown Hargeisa, Somaliland's tranquil capital city, the atmHiddo Dhawr, Somaliland's first music venue. Halganoured head scarfs, revealing elaborate hairdos and impeccable eyebrows, as they rise to their feet and start to dance. On the stage at the far end of the room a drummer and oud player up the tempo, while the singers pass the microphone to one another. The atmosphere is electric, and as the evening progresses, the joy in the room is palpable.

This is Hiddo Dhawr, Somaliland's first music venue. "I started it because I wanted to bring back our culture, so that people can be proud of it," says Sahra Halgan, cultural activist, musician, and founder of this lively Hargeisa cultural hub, which opened in 2013.

Hiddo Dhawr, which translates to "promote culture", is also the name of Halgan's new album, an electrifying blend of Somali melodies, distorted guitar riffs, thumping West African percussion, and Halgan's unique, warbling vocals. Halgan chose this name for the album to honour the women of Somaliland.

Das 10. Studio-Album der beliebten Band - bestehend aus Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis und Nate Walcott - enthält Gastauftritte von langjährigen Freund*innen wie Cat Power, Matt Berninger von The National und Alex Orange Drink von The So So Glos. "Five Dice, All Threes" wurde in Eigenregie produziert und in Mikes und Conors Studio ARC in Omaha, Nebraska, aufgenommen. Es ist ein Album von ungewöhnlicher Intensität und Zärtlichkeit, von gemeinschaftlichem Exorzismus und persönlicher Ausgrabungen. Das sind natürlich Qualitäten, die die Fans von Bright Eyes auch nach fast drei Jahrzehnten ihrer Karriere erwarten. Aber selbst mit ihrer reichen Geschichte im Rücken verströmen diese neuen Songs eine emotionale Spannung wie nichts, was sie zuvor versucht haben. Conor hat schon immer mit einer Stimme gesungen, die ein Gefühl von Leben und Tod vermittelt. Auf "Five Dice, All Threes" macht man sich manchmal Sorgen um ihn, manchmal scheint er der Einzige zu sein, der den Durchblick hat, um uns aus dem Schlamassel zu helfen. Wie bei Bright Eyes üblich, ist die Musik voller Subtexte, die zum tieferen Hinhören einladen - das Markenzeichen einer Band, die das Album immer als ihr eigenes, erhabenes Kunstwerk betrachtet hat. Mit den neuen Songs umarmt das Trio die schwer fassbare Qualität, die sie über Generationen und Genres hinweg so beständig und einflussreich gemacht hat, und bringt ihren hausgemachten Sound aus einem Schlafzimmer in Omaha zu einem begeisterten Publikum in aller Welt. In Conors Songwriting liegt das Versprechen, dass unsere einsamsten Gedanken und Gefühle großartige Formen annehmen können, wenn sie zwischen Freund*innen ausgetauscht, aus Lautsprechern geschmettert oder von Menschenmengen geschrien werden. "Five Dice, All Threes" ist so bekenntnisreich und ungeschützt, wie Conor es seit Jahren nicht mehr war. Mit diesen zeitlos konstruierten und doch unverschämt modernen Songs verdient er sich seinen Platz in der seltenen Klasse von Songwritern, die mit dem Alter furchtloser und grenzenloser geworden sind. Im Spiel der Dreier würde der titelgebende Zug einen perfekten Wurf bedeuten. In der Welt von Bright Eyes bedeutet Perfektion jedoch etwas anderes, denn hier sind es unsere Fehler, die uns Autorität verleihen, und die Suche nach Bedeutung ist nur möglich, wenn wir den dunklen, kurvenreichen Weg dorthin mitmachen. Auf "Five Dice, All Threes" umarmen Bright Eyes diese Überzeugungen mit Musik, die sich aufregend lebendig anfühlt, als wären wir alle mit ihnen im Raum, schreien mit und gewinnen die Kraft, gemeinsam vorwärts zu gehen. Das klingt nicht nur nach den klassischen Bright Eyes. Es klingt auch wie ihre Zukunft.

1976 nahm Rogers sein Debütalbum „Fogarty’s Cove“ auf und
startete damit eine Karriere, die auch heute noch, 41 Jahre
nach seinem Tod, ein begeistertes und fesselndes Publikum
findet. Das Album dreht sich ausschließlich um das Leben als
Seemann und enthält sein berühmtestes Seemannslied
„Barrett’s Privateers“, das a cappella gesungen wird, wobei
die „Friends of Fiddler’s Green“ die Stimmen der rauflustigen
Schiffsbesatzung übernehmen. Das Album etablierte die
beiden gemeinsamen Themen, die sich durch Stans
Lebenswerk ziehen: das Leben auf See und die bedrohten
Traditionen einer spezifisch kanadischen Erfahrung. Dieses
Album enthält die Fanfavoriten „Make And Break Harbour
“ und „Giant“. Die Aufnahme wurde neu gemastert und von
Borealis Records neu aufgelegt. Es ist ein Beweis für Stan
Rogers’ Einfluss als Songwriter, dass 40 Jahre nach seinem
plötzlichen tragischen Tod 1983 im jungen Alter von 33
Jahren immer noch Menschen – jung und alt – seine Lieder
singen und seinen Einfluss feiern.

'Freak The Speaker' is an evolution of The Allergies trademark sound, seeing duo Moneyshot and Rackabeat deliver their biggest beats to date on their latest album. They enlist a quality melting pot of artists to bring additional vibrancy with K.O.G, Ohmega Watts, Dynamite MC, Dr Syntax, and Skunkadelic, all stepping up to the plate. Long-time collaborators and live tour band members Andy Cooper Ugly Duckling, sax supremo James Morton and soul sensation Marietta Smith, continue to keep it nice and lively, rounding off another quality album full of funk, soul and hip-hop, guaranteed to provide good vibes and shake your sound system.

Promo

"A banger from those Bristol boogie boys" Craig Charles on 'Koliko'

"Obsessed with this new track from The Allergies." Lauren Laverne on 'Koliko'

"I love that it's recognisably you but also an evolution from what you've done before... " Adam Walton - BBC Wales

"All over this one. Absolutely incredible." Lauren Laverne on 'No Flash'

"Hot new release." Steve Lamacq on 'No Flash'

"Boom-bap rap cut from the finest cloth." Chuck D (Public Enemy) on 'No Flash'

Aesthetically, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat hates to tread water. At the same time, the Baltimore-based two-piece of vocalist Ed Schrader and bassist Devlin Rice won’t force their songs to fit a preconceived style. “The next album’s always gotta be different from the last one. We’re different people from record to record. So, writing authentically to ourselves will always bring our work to a place that we haven’t been to yet,” Rice said. Schrader added, “We’re terrified of turning into AC/DC. We never want to be married to one scene or time or sound. We want to be the Boba Fett of bands! Constantly altering the way in which we make records has been pretty key in that process.”
For Orchestra Hits, the band’s latest, that alteration was welcoming longtime musical comrade Dylan Going into the fold as a co-writer and co-producer. A songwriter in his own right, a guitar sideman for ESMB on their last two tours, and a collaborator with Rice in the noise riffage band Mandate, Going had both a unique vision and an intimate familiarity with the ESMB vibe.
“Dylan came to every show we’ve ever played in New York—no matter how weird it was,” Schrader said. “He’d be standing there ready to move an amp or feed us barbecued cactus after the gig and toss on some Golden Girls so we could decompress. It felt like family as soon as we began working, but I honestly had no idea how damn good he was at tossing out these hooks.”
According to Schrader, the songs “just poured out of us” over the course of a highly caffeinated three-day weekend in a tiny room in Devlin’s house while his cat, Sandy Goose, screamed continually. “It was like three kids hiding from the world to get into some lovely mischief,” they said. The lack of external pressure in the process gives Orchestra Hits an almost paradoxical vibe. For all of the album’s layers, that mix live and sequenced instruments, it never loses the raw energy of a small handful of friends in the same room plugging in, cranking up, and playing until they pass out.
Lyrically, the album finds Schrader, now 45, meditating on experiences in their youth to make sense of the present moment. “We are not into the garden,” Schrader wails on the relentless “Roman Candle,” a song about the sad debacle of Woodstock ’99, and a direct response to Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock,” a utopian ode to hippie idealism. A 19-year-old Schrader, having snuck into Woodstock ’99 through a hole in the fence, was there the night members of the crowd used candles intended for a vigil for victims of the Columbine High School massacre to set fires all over the grounds. Even before the fires, Schrader remembered feeling disconnected from the music, the nostalgic cash grab, and the meatheads in the crowd. After watching a press tower collapse, they boarded a random shuttle bus and were dropped off near a Denny’s. “It was a far cry from the Garden of Eden,” Schrader said. “That experience defined what I didn’t want to be a part of, and yet America is more like Woodstock ’99 than ever.”
With percolating synthesizer arpeggios, and climbing bass grooves, “IDKS” is the album’s dance-floor slapper. “’IDKS’ is a funny one,” Schrader said. “We already had a pretty satisfying suite of songs when Dylan was packing up to head back to New York, but he missed the train because of a freak snowstorm. Realizing he’d be stuck in town another day, he says to me, ‘Here’s this other weird thing I have.’ It was ‘IDKS.’ The hooks were so good I felt like Homer Simpson at a free donut convention. I just dove right in, and we cranked that baby out in like 20 minutes.”
Lyrically, “IDKS” is a letter from the true self to public-facing self. “It’s an angry song,” Schrader said. “Because the public-facing self is always looking for an easy escape, but it forces the true self into a cage. I honestly thought my lyrics were corny and was about to change them, but Dylan was digging it just the way it was. So that’s what you hear.”
With the soaring “Daylight Commander,” the band went against all of their musty-basement-bred instincts. “I went full High School Musical with the vocals,” Schrader said. “At first it felt almost embarrassing, but I remember reading somewhere that Bowie recommended always floating a little bit above your comfort zone, and that’s what we did here.” The song is part exercise in absurdity and part pop Trojan horse. “If ever we had a ‘Shiny Happy People’ moment, I guess this is it,” Schrader said.

Brighton based three-piece Jopy, led by songwriter Jo Parnell, release their debut EP on Goo Records. Featuring six tracks including recent singles Head Hunters Pub & Grub and Graveyard Romance, the Planet Zombie EP showcases the band's B52s/Cramps influenced glam punk sound chocker with incendiary punk riffs and frantically infectious choruses.

Full of macabre joy, the EP sees Parnell celebrate her queerness through fantastical camp-horror fictions via Marc Bolan-esque vocals rolled into one blood-curdlingly gleeful package. Tracing these songs' deeply personal origins, Parnell says: “I want to write songs that people can relate to and feel seen by without having to relive the more difficult aspects of their journeys. This is why I chose to convey my experiences in the form of fun, campy horror stories.”

Andreas Vollenweider erklomm den Loreley-Felsen. Nicht um hier die schöne Aussicht auf den Rhein zu genießen und sich von Lore Lay, der Zauberin, auf Grund ihrer Schönheit den Verstand rauben zu lassen, was dann - der Sage nach - unweigerlich zu seinem Tod geführt hätte. Eher hatte er vorgehabt, mit seinen "Friends" (Walter Keiser - drums, percussions und Pedro Haldemann - percussions) am Abend des 29. August 1982 auf der Bühne des wunderschönen Freilichttheaters ein atemberaubendes Konzert zu geben. 1982 - die außergewöhnliche Karriere des jungen Andreas Vollenweiders, damals 28 Jahre alt - nahm gerade so richtig Fahrt auf. Ein Jahr zuvor hatte er sein Album "Behind The Gardens - Behind The Wall - Under The Tree" veröffentlicht. Ein Mega-Erfolg, weltweit. Mit seinem unverkennbaren, eigenen Stil, seiner sehr farbigen, dynamischen Musik, auch geprägt durch die Vielfalt an exotischen Klangfarben, begeisterte Vollenweider in kurzer Zeit ein Millionenpublikum. So gelingt es ihm auch mit seinen Mitstreitern, diese Magie an dem Abend auf dem Loreleyfelsen zu entfachen und das Publikum in seinen musikalischen Bann zu ziehen. Die sagenumwobene Lore Lay konnte sich zurücklehnen, ihre Zauberkünste waren nicht gefragt. Das erledigte der Zeremonienmeister Vollenweider persönlich, zusammen mit seinen beiden "Gehilfen": Sie verzauberten (musikalisch) das Publikum. Kleines Novum am Rande: Dieser Rockpalast wurde aus welchen Gründen auch immer nie gesendet. Umso mehr erfreulich, dass es ihn jetzt in toller Aualität gibt. Einzigartiges live-Konzert des damaligen 28jährigen Andreas Vollenweider, aufgenommen vom WDR beim Loreley Open Air Festival am 29.08.1982.

German Powerhouse Labels Public Possession and Running Back Team up to bring you a nostalgic tribute to 80s Disco-Synth-Pop and Balkan Self-Pity. In a blend of cultural nostalgia and contemporary resonance, be-friended artists Krystal Klear and La Raf are set to release their first collaborative record titled "Boli Boli" (It hurts, it hurts) this autumn. The record is a steamy homage to the 80s disco-synth-pop. La Raf’s vocals equipped with Krystal Klear’s sound remind us of the bittersweet memories of the bygone yet still beloved music-era from former Yugoslavia.
The song came to life during a spontaneous creative outburst when Krystal and Raf reunited in a studio in London last year. Singer La Raf, a Croatian native based in Berlin, channeled the raw emotions of a not so recent break-up regret into the lyrics of "Boli Boli."
Infused with Balkan self-pity, the song delivers a very personal experience of pain and regret, not as mere sorrow but as a confident, joyful indulgence in one's own grief. This emotional depth finds a perfect counterpart in Krystal Klear’s talent for crafting melodies
that evoke both happiness and melancholia. Together, they have created a track that is as introspective as it is danceable, offering its listeners a glimpse into a world where sadness is embraced with a sense of pride and joy, capturing the cultural tapestry of the Balkan region.

We can't hide the fact that we're a Manchester label with some very strong feelings for the Red side of the city. Regardless of your tribal affiliation - whether you have one or not - Edric Connor's "Manchester United Calypso" is an undisputedly joyous, soulful classic. Like the bunch of bouncing Busby Babes the song sought to raise up, it's remarkable, stylish and profoundly memorable; and its magical legacy has only grown in the 70 years since it first surfaced.




A testament to its enduring brilliance, "Manchester United Calypso" is heard to this day on the terraces of Old Trafford and beyond. However, it's impossible to find a copy of the original 78rpm shellac release or, indeed, the 45rpm vinyl. So, we're delighted to reissue this unforgettable anthem - with Lord Kitchener's equally dazzling "Manchester Football Double" on the B-Side - and make it available on 7" vinyl to United fans of any vintage; as well as fans of vintage calypso fire! Featuring typically striking, specially commissioned artwork from the legendary Stan Chow, this record is a collectors item for the ages.


"Manchester,
Manchester United
A bunch of bouncing "Busby Babes",

They deserve to be knighted

If ever they're playing in your town,

You must get to that football ground

Take a lesson come to see,

Football taught by Matt Busby

Manchester,

Manchester United"



Whether you have United in your heart or not, "Manchester United Calypso" is a record that, like the best football teams in Old Trafford's history, swaggers with an addictive beauty that's impossible to ignore.
It's impossible to discuss the significance of the calypso without remembering what ultimately ripped through the heart of this most beloved youthful side.
Eight of the Babes who were celebrated in the Calypso tragically lost their lives on 6th February 1958 in the Munich air disaster.
Like the players and the club itself, the United calypso radiates a special type of magic and speaks to the spirit of United:
the demand to be fearless, unrelenting, creative and obliged to entertain the viewing public.



The Calypso was written by Eric Watterson and Ken Jones and sung by Edric Connor, who moved to England from Trinidad in 1944.
Connor is considered a pioneer, popularising calypso music, becoming the first black actor to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company, setting up the Afro-Asian Caribbean Agency to represent Black and minority artists with his wife, Pearl and establishing a theatre workshop.
“I would think coming to this country right after the war, as Edric did, and getting into BBC radio, and moving among the people, he did a great deal of good for our own community,” Pearl once revealed.
He saw himself as a self-appointed ambassador for his country, Trinidad. We were very nationalistic back then. We believed we had a country worthy of recognition”.



The B-Side is another doozy.
Swoon along to Lord Kitchener's fantastically woozy "Manchester Football Double" - a fitting ode to the city where you'll "find football's headquarters".


Then and, after the 2024 FA Cup Final, now.

Simon Francis remastered the original audio for both tracks and Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios ensures this 7" well and truly soars.

The immaculate Record Industry pressing will ensure this sought-after gem finds a home in many more collections, from Manchester to Malta, Mumbai to Malaysia.

Nubya Garcia isn’t an artist you can easily classify. Is it jazz? Sure, the London-born saxophonist, composer and bandleader grew up studying the genre under the noted pianist Nikki Yeoh at Camden Music. But it isn’t until you listen to albums like 2020’s Source and 2024’s Odyssey that you hear broader creativity shining through: It’s jazz, classical, dub, R&B and whatever else Garcia wants to convey. It all comes from a place of exploration and self-study, of wanting to do all the things across all disciplines while ignoring arbitrary boxes that don’t t.

Garcia’s sophomore album Odyssey, out in September 2024 via Concord Jazz, is a majestic feat on which she blends orchestral arrangements with R&B, jazz, broken beat and dub, resulting in a grand, nuanced record that feels airy and celestial without sacricing the groove. It’s a deeply personal oering about her trek to falling back in love with musical composition over the past four years.

Source, her 2020 debut album, was released via Concord Jazz to massive critical acclaim, an NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, a Pitchfork “Best New Music” review and a Rolling Stone “Album of the Month” mention. In a prole, The New York Times called Source “a sweeping set of jazz with Afro-Caribbean inuences that funnels a life’s worth of experiences into an hourlong listen.” Also upon release, the album entered the UK charts in the Top 30, and she was just one of three artists selected to perform live at Glastonbury’s 2020 Experience, which aired on the BBC to thousands of viewers. Source was also nominated for the Mercury Prize, a prestigious award given to the best albums from the UK or Ireland.

In 2022, Garcia toured the US in support of Khruangbin, performing in sold-out venues including Radio City Music Hall in New York, the Ryman in Nashville and the Met in Philadelphia. She then headlined her own tour in the UK and US, performing at various festivals including Glastonbury, Love Supreme, Pickathon and Newport Jazz.

Garcia continues to tour worldwide while also collaborating with major brands like Lululemon, Paul Smith, Labrum, Nicholas Daley and Burberry. She was one of three creatives selected for Fossil’s “Moment In Time” campaign, which was published globally in VOGUE, GQ, and GLAMOUR magazines. Elsewhere, Garcia has been featured in numerous print publications, including Mojo, Vogue and Ebony.

As a composer, Garcia’s original music has been placed with Apple TV (Ted Lasso); OWN Network (Cherish The Day); FX TV (Atlanta); EPIC GAMES (Fortnite); and on multiple podcasts (including the theme tune for Anika Noni Rose’s Clio award-winning podcast Being Seen).