Cerca:re arranged

John’s debut album was recorded at Tony Pyke’s home studio in Dryburgh Road, Putney in glorious mono and then mastered at Pye Studios, Marble Arch, London for the princely sum of £158. Recording and mastering was completed by 9 August and London Conversation was released when John was just nineteen in October 1967. Theo Johnson took the role of producer under the supervision of Chris Blackwell and the cover photograph of John perched amongst chimney pots was taken on the roof of Blackwell’s apartment. Talking to Music Week magazine in 2007 John recalled that he recorded the whole album in one afternoon in a two-track studio on Putney High Street.

The album is in the folk tradition and contains some excellent lyrics and jazzy instrumentation including the sitar and flute in Rolling Home. As a result it won praise and the instrumentation distinguished John from his contemporaries in the folk scene. Back To Stay is a beautiful love song with a sad and dreamy melody, a sign of things to come.

John took up guitar whilst at school and although he was only nineteen he was already acknowledged locally as an accomplished guitarist. He was influenced by two people in particular, amongst others, that he knew. “Les Brown, who is completely unknown and has never recorded…he plays a kind of American Doc Watson guitar very very well. Lovely voice. Also a friend of mine called Paul Wheeler who is featured on the second album.”

Big Crown Records is proud to present the debut full length offering from Les Imprimés, Rêverie. The stirring and ethereal sounds of Les Imprimés have been making fans of anyone who hears them since their first 7" single hit the speakers. Morten Martens is the man behind the band. Born, raised, and working in Kristiansand, Norway, he keeps a low prole while making his heart felt, highly infectious, and unique music. This album is a long time coming for Martens and it is sure to make him a name to be reckoned with. The first thing you notice listening to Les Imprimés is the high level of musician-ship. Martens plays nearly every instrument on the recordings and handles the production and arranging. He has been making records for decades, winning a Spellemann Award (aka, the Norwegian Grammy) in 2006 for producing a HipHop album as well as getting nominations across three other genres. While awards and accolades speak to the level of his talent, this new album really shows who he is an artist on his own terms. Moving away from being a hired gun on the touring scene naturally led him to start doing more studio work. Slowly collecting gear and getting more experi-ence behind the boards he built his own studio on the island of Odderoya and was making a living playing with and recording other people's music. As the story goes, after those sessions would end he would work on his own project into the wee hours of the night. From these late night sessions, Les Imprimés was born and Rêverie began to take shape. However, "it wasn't until COVID, when things locked down, that I was really able to nd the time to focus on Les Imprimés" Morten says about creating and leading his own solo project. "It was a scary time. But I knew I had to do something with it." He took the sum of his inuences, combined them with his own vibe and got busy writing the music, playing the instruments, and singing the songs. "It's soul music, but I don't exactly have the soul voice," Morten explains humbly. "But I do it my own way, in a way that's mine. "It is his sound, his fingerprint, his sensibility, that makes his music hard to put in a box. The album showcases both Martens' range and his ability to make a cohesive album. The lead single "Falling Away" starts with a raw drum break and turns into a lushly arranged tune that paints the picture of love when it slips away. On "Still Here" he professes his resilience through life's twists and turns over a thundering track that puts a new spin on the B side ballad genre. Songs like "You" and "Our Love" mix tones from 60s and 70s Soul with arrangement nods to Doo Wop records while Martens' lyrics and delivery leave you singing the melodies long after they finish. "Love & Flowers" finds Martens in a moment of clarity with a song that ts the niche sub genre of happy break up tunes, the four on the floor track will move the dancefloor or while the message will resonate with anyone who put too much effort into the wrong situation in their lives. However, it is songs like "Muse" and "Chess" that really encapsulate the uniqueness of Les Imprimés as they push the boundaries of genre, one a profession of love for music and the other a cover of an electronic record respectively. Martens' lyrics, emotion, and delivery truly make the whole thing come together and stand out from any of his peers. There's an infectiousness and a pop sensibility in the writing that is done with the utmost class and taste giving Les Imprimés the rare quality of immediate attraction that only deepens the more you listen.

Africamore: The Afro-Funk Side of Italy (1973-1978)

Continuing Four Flies' dedication to delving into lesser-explored periods of Italian music, Africamore takes us on a captivating journey into the intersection of Afro-funk and the Italian soundscape during the six years between 1973 and 1978 - a time when disco was looming on the horizon and the nightclub market was rapidly expanding.

Before reaching Italian shores, the infectious sound originating from African and Afro-Caribbean roots traversed both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, landing on New York dancefloors, where DJ Dave Mancuso discovered "Soul Makossa" by Manu Dibango. In 1973, from Mancuso's Loft parties, the song's hypnotic groove spread to the rest of the globe, including in Italy, where it sparked a wave of imitations and variations.


Tribal influences thus found their way into Italian soul-funk and early-disco productions released between 1973 and 1978 – from psychedelic-tinged tunes like Jean Paul & Angelique's "Africa Sound" to the Afrobeat-inspired club banger "Kumbayero" by composer/producer Albert Verrecchia (aka Weyman Corporation); and from groundbreaking Afro-cosmic songs like Chrisma's "Amore", co-written by Vangelis and featuring the rhythms of Ghanaian-British Afro-rock band Osibisa, to mind-blowing floor-fillers like Beryl Cunningham's "Why O", a re-write of Nat King Cole's "Calypso Blues" arranged by Paolo Ormi, with percussion breaks that sound pretty much like what would later become known as techno.


Combining feel-good vibes with driving rhythms, world-style percussion, and even synths, all these productions pushed the boundaries of dance music at a time when disco had not yet taken over. In doing so, they sowed many of the seeds of the later Italian cosmic scene and its unique mixture of African elements, disco-funk and electronic music.

This was a brief but nuanced period in Italian music history, one that deserves to be rediscovered, with love.

Africamore is due out on March 22nd and will be available as a gatefold 2LP and digipak CD. Both formats come with stunning artwork by Kathrin Remest and liner notes by Pierpaolo De Sanctis and Elena Miraglia.

IZIPHO SOUL are incredibly proud to announce our 100th 7” single!

LAWRENCE BEAMEN - THINKING OF YOU

The unsurpassable bass-baritone voice of LAWRENCE BEAMEN originally recorded THINKING OF YOU in 2008. After years of pleas for a vinyl release; it’s finally here and sounding fresher than ever.

THE 7 REMIX has added a magic touch and beefed up this classic even further!

Arranged and produced by Narada Michael Walden and Lawrence Beamen. Music Produced by Narada Michael Walden. Lyrics by Lawrence Beamen.

On the flip is a new recording entitled BEEN A LONG TIME - a banger of a tune, straight outta Oakland, California.

Packaged in a hole backed picture sleeve.

IZIPHO SOUL are incredibly proud to announce our 100th 7” single!

LAWRENCE BEAMEN - THINKING OF YOU

The unsurpassable bass-baritone voice of LAWRENCE BEAMEN originally recorded THINKING OF YOU in 2008. After years of pleas for a vinyl release; it’s finally here and sounding fresher than ever.

THE 7 REMIX courtesy of Don Turney at DKS Productions has added a magic touch and beefed up this classic even further!

Arranged and produced by Narada Michael Walden and Lawrence Beamen. Music Produced by Narada Michael Walden. Lyrics by Lawrence Beamen.

On the flip is a new recording entitled BEEN A LONG TIME - a banger of a tune, straight outta Oakland, California.

Packaged in a hole backed picture sleeve.

“Refuse”:
A unique sound that could be described as “Breakbeat Soul" O.Love's instruments and vocal prowess take centre stage, showcasing a fusion of live instruments & soulful vocals re-arranged and remixed with original breaks and beats by DJ DSK!

"Tonight":
A catchy rootsy original reggae tune, featuring lyrics that exude positivity and soulfulness. It receives the remix treatment from DJ DSK, who infuses it with heavy beats and luscious dub elements. The result is a speaker-shaking, dancefloor rocker!

MUSIC BY MADLIB / ARRANGED BY KIEREN HEBDEN (Four Tet)

Gil Evans to Miles Davis…. Holger Czukay to the ensemble known as Can….Jean Claude Vannier to Serge Gainsbourg on Histoire de Melody Nelson. That’s the only way to explain the specificity of Four Tet and Madlib’s collaboration, in this special album that showcases a two-decade long friendship that has resulted in an album that follows Madlib’s classics like Quasimoto’s The Unseen, Madvillainy and his Pinata and Bandana albums with Freddie Gibbs.

“A few months ago I completed work on an album with my friend Madlib that we’d been making for the last few years. He is always making loads of music in all sorts of styles and I was listening to some of his new beats and studio sessions when I had the idea that it would be great to hear some of these ideas made into a Madlib solo album. Not made into beats for vocalists to use but instead arranged into tracks that could all flow together in an album designed to be listened to start to finish. I put this concept to him when we were hanging out eating some nice food one day and we decided to work on this together with him sending me tracks, loops, ideas and experiments that I would arrange, edit, manipulate and combine. I was sent hundreds of pieces of music over a couple of years stretch and during that time I put together this album with all the parts that fitted with my vision.” - Kieren Hebden AKA Four Tet

"Memories Of Love" is the fourth full length album by soul singer & songwriter Myles Sanko following the acclaimed "Born In Black & White" (2013), "Forever Dreaming" (2014) and "Just Being Me" (2016). In ten stylishly recorded and arranged new songs "Memories Of Love" Myles Sanko captures the uplifting spirit from his numerous outstanding stage performances on the European jazz festival & club circuit of the last few years and transforms them into a stunning collection of modern soul music.

"This album is my most personal album yet", says Myles Sanko. "Each song is a memory of love, a story of love, good or bad, happy or sad. Love is not always as we picture it in fairy tales but a work in progress for as long as we choose to love. Over the years I have written love songs and most of them have some reality in them but also a lot of fiction. Maybe this was because I wasn't truly ready to share that part of me in a way that I am defiantly more comfortable doing now. I'd say becoming a father has changed my outlook and made me a little more brave and accepting of myself". One of the main reasons for the positive balance in sound and spirit of "Memories Of Love" are the musicians. Myles Sanko recorded the album together with the same band he was touring with over the last eight years. He produced it himself and co-wrote most music with long time bandmate Tom O'Grady (Resolution 88).

Embark on a sonic odyssey with "Between Poetry and Catastrophe," a 15-year labor of love by Norwegian electronic artist Ars Dada. The title draws inspiration from the poignant words "Music lives in the span between poetry and catastrophe", of the late Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim.

In this album, Ars Dada delves into the extremes—where chaos intertwines with serenity, and violence meets the poetic. Every track is a meticulously crafted journey, featuring real instrumentation such as vocals, piano, and strings, including a grand collaboration with the chamber orchestra of the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra. From intense breakbeat chaos to delicate neoclassical string pieces, Ars Dada invites you to experience the visceral beauty of this musical tapestry.

This isn't just an album; it's an exploration of the human condition at its most extreme.

Thank you to the performers and Arctic Philharmonic

Written and recorded with support from Fund for Performing Artists

All music written, arranged and produced by Erlend Bilsbak/Ars Dada
All strings recorded in Kysten studio by Sivert Henriksen

Violin on all tracks except Fjordyp, End of September, Skyggespill, and Du Må Ikke Sove performed by Brynjar Lien Schulerud

Violin on Fjordyp, End of September, Skyggespill, and Du Må Ikke Sove performed by Sander Tingstad

Viola on all tracks except Tjernet performed by Heidi Schulerud Bilsbak

Cello on all tracks except Tjernet performed by Håvard Bilsbak

Grand Piano on Fjordyp and Skyggespill performed by Yegor Shevtsov

Alto soprano on Fjordyp, End of September, Sub Luna Saltamus, Du Må Ikke Sove, and Grief performed by Marika Schultze

All strings on Tjernet by performed by Arktisk Filharmoni (Arctic Philharmonic)

Mastered by Julien Guillot at Electric Voyage Studio

Album photo and design by Erlend Bilsbak

Redrum Recordz and Fremdtunes present:
Maj Rachel - 'My Shadow Was a Nun'
With her debut "My Shadow Was a Nun", Maj Rachel creates anamalgam of soul, musique concrete, sound design experimentsand classical. She employs objects as percussion, fieldrecordings, piano, guitar, synths, violin and effects incompositions that are rich in color and contrast. Her music isabstract, paradoxical, full of emotion. At times, her voicesubmerges into a tumultuous sea of reverb and distortion, onlyto emerge in soft, bittersweet melodies. She sounds dark andeerie. She sounds romantic and whimsical. In short, it's apowerful debut album that engages the mind, heart, and gut.
This is what Maj herself says about "My Shadow Was a Nun":
"So sensitive yet so immune. Light beams shine through millionsof holes. The sun makes the black thick wall seem light grey.The light pulls apart to colors. Love feels painful yet beautiful.You are around even though you're not. A brain doesn't like tothink it's alone. Arranged sound into personal stories, all self-recorded. Because sound creates deep emotion."

First compiled as a double CD in 2002, Moon's Milk (in Four Phases) is a suite of four EPs that Coil released seasonally via their in-house Eskaton imprint across 1998. The line-up for these sessions were John Balance, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, Drew McDowall, and William Breeze. Recorded primarily at their home studio in Chiswick, London on the eve of a permanent relocation to the small seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, the collection has long loomed as a pivotal and pinnacle work in the group's discography, but has never been officially reissued, or repressed on vinyl. Time has only ripened its tapestry of regal strangeness. Arranged sequentially in tribute to the equinoxes and solstices, Moon's Milk captures Coil at a revelatory crossroads, leaning deeper into improvisation, spontaneity, and sound design. "Moon's Milk or Under an Unquiet Skull" initiates the proceedings on Spring Equinox, a two-part netherworld organ séance woven from vocal drones, cathedral keys, seasick strings, and opiated undertow. From there, Summer Solstice skews lighter but no less incantational, with Balance embracing his voice-as-instrument across lucid dream torch songs ("Bee Stings"), purgatorial spoken word ("Glowworms/Waveforms"), sultry chamber pieces ("Summer Substructures"), and falsetto ravings ("A Warning From The Sun (For Fritz)"). Autumn Equinox exudes more of a pensive and twilit mood, from the Rose McDowall-sung folk ballad "Rosa Decidua" ("I hear your voice sing near to me / I've put away the poisoned chalice (for now) / And lie down amongst the flowerbeds") to hall-of-lords hallucination "The Auto-Asphyxiating Hierophant" to the liminal string-plucked classic "Amethyst Deceivers," featuring excellent alien guitar by Breeze layered with Balance's oft-quoted couplet: "Pay your respects to the vultures / For they are your future." The album's final chapter, Winter Solstice, is its most swooning, remote, and ceremonial. Opener "A White Rainbow" stirs strings, layered choral vocals, and shivering rhythm into an imploding burial hymn. "North" oscillates bleakly, a ghost in the machine murmuring opaque prophecy ("This black dog has no owner / This black dog has no odour"), while "Magnetic North" is its inverse, a guided meditation of gently flickering software and surreal chakra poetics ("Red rose filling the skull / Yellow cube in the lower pelvis / Silver moon crescent below the navel"). The suite fades to grey with a traditional English carol ("Christmas Is Now Drawing Near"), rendered like an executioner's song by Rose McDowall's doomed, beautiful voice. The Dais box set includes the entirety of the rare Moon's Milk Bonus Disc CD-R / 2019 Threshold Archives Copal CD, which includes three collaborations with Thighpaulsandra. This material is as rich and intoxicating as the previous four phases, ranging from electro-acoustic singing bowl rituals ("Copal") to dissonant electronic recitations of visionary Angus MacLise poetry ("The Coppice Meat") to ominous classical melancholia ("Bankside"). Once again, Coil confirm the vastness of their confounding, infinite alchemy, explored and refined across decades of experimentation - both sonic and bodily. From postindustrial to post-everything, theirs is an art untethered, in the wilds of its own design.

The fresh-faced folk pop band Stornoway seem promising: They play with guileless vigor, have a light-stepping chemistry as a unit, harmonize well. Their lead singer Brian Briggs has a lovely, pure high tenor, the kind of voice that effortlessly conveys simple longing. And yet, on their second album, Tales from Terra Firma, they continue to be almost crushingly dull, making well-appointed and cheerfully empty music that successfully communicates next to nothing.

Their Achilles Heel is a simple and unfortunate one, the same on Tales as it was on 2010's Beachcombers Windowsill. Stornoway are clearly in love with Celtic and British folk, and yet they can't write a memorable melody to save their lives. Try to sing along to the verse melody of "Zorbing", their most well-known tune, and pay attention to what your face muscles are doing; most likely furrowing with the effort of recall. Each of Tales' painstakingly arranged nine songs sinks underneath the weight of this insurmountable problem, which is a shame.

If you're making folk-pop, an inability to write a catchy melody is a difficult deficiency to overcome. Stornoway try valiantly with their complex arrangements, which quickly grow exhausting. “You Take Me as I Am” is cluttered with horn charts and pointlessly banging piano. “(A Belated) Invite to Eternity” builds to a full Explosions in the Sky crescendo, with glimmering tremolo guitar and a “Tonight, Tonight”-style sweeping string section, but having built zero momentum and generated zero heat until that point, their planned fireworks display fizzles.

“Farewell Appalachia” follows the same pattern, with celesta, finger-picked acoustic and electric guitar all tracing an emptily pretty circle with nothing in the center. The melody of "The Great Procrastinator" is almost cleanly written enough to be memorable-- and then the ersatz Dixieland jazz interlude crashes in. Stornoway are deft players, and the transitions are tightly managed, but this is praise on the same order as praising the brushwork in a hotel-room painting.

Briggs’ lyrics are filled with uncomplicated images of the good old British countryside, but his lyrics trample over all these dew-covered fields with wordy, awkward phrasing: "And in the gathering dew, I was lucid as a floodlight,” goes a line from “(A Belated) Invitation to Eternity”. “There's a hunger in the air/ A lemon swollen in the trees" he bleats on “Knock Me on the Head”. On “The Great Procrastinator”, he sings that he is “a scientist with far too many metaphors and far too little data to conclude in time.” They don’t read particularly well, and they don’t sound much more natural when sung.

Tales From Terra Firma is a peculiar record-- carefree music that feels leaden; tuneful-sounding songs that offer no tunes to hold onto. They seem an odd fit for 4AD, a label mostly home to singular voices. They may be a mercenary signing, an attempt to ride the coattails of Mumford and Sons' success. But Mumford and Sons, as head-smack simple and pandering as they are, have a pretty crucial ingredient in their arsenal: they write anthems. In that regard, they have Stornoway pretty thoroughly beat.

The brand new Divine Chords release on 7 inch single for 2024, featuring the explosive vocals of Gospel royalty Lady Lois Snead. Two powerhouse tracks reconstructed, arranged & mixed by Divine Who. Set to take the roof off the more discerning dance floors across the globe.

"Idris Muhammad is an American jazz drummer and bandleader and is one of contemporary music’s most sampled drummers. His resume includes nearly 500 recording credits that range across the genre spectrum and 12 studio albums as a bandleader, including the 1976 House of The Rising Sun. The album is arranged by David Matthews, also known as leader of the Dave Matthews Band (DMB), and produced by Creed Taylor, founder of CTI Records. The track ""Sudan"" is arranged by jazz trumpeter Tom Harrell. The album features several guest performances by New York studio aces, including Joe Beck, Don Grolnick, David Sanborn, Fred Wesley, and Michael Brecker amongst others. House of the Rising Sun is available on black vinyl."

House Of The Rising Sun by Idris Muhammad, released 7 March 2024, includes the following tracks: "Hard to Face the Music", "Sudan" and more.

This version of House Of The Rising Sun comes as a 1xLP.

Repress.

A timeless classic created and arranged by GLENN UNDERGROUND originally released in the mid-90s on a BOO WILLIAMS' EP. The track took Europe by storm and now on a special 1-sided 12" from STRICTLY JAZ UNIT MUZIC it's available again. CLOUD BURST' is the ultimate peak time Chicago warehouse sound from the innovator GLENN UNDERGROUND. Grab this low end heavy, snappn', uplifting groove. A Chicago jacking anthem. Mastering by the Gorilla Oven Studio.

An intimate, vast, and mineral landscape, that's MaMaMa’s first album.

« Hier Sera Meilleur » (« Yesterday Will Be Better ») is the most personal project the musician has ever undertaken. It's an album of confessions and echoes. The echoes of the world within him, those of the past that haunt and drive the present, and also the echoes of the future that are already speaking to us.

Entirely composed, written, arranged, and mixed by Elliot, the tracks that make up this album blend organic recordings with synthetic productions. Euphonium, saxophone, clarinet, or a string quintet recorded in the studio coexist and intersect with various synthesizers and electronic plug-ins.

Ancient textures meet modern sounds. Black and white turns into color.

Everything changes and nothing is ever just what we perceive it to be, MaMaMa seems to tell us, however for the duration of a song, we are there. Yesterday will be better.

Following a first iteration which set the tone for our newly-minted Heimat series in explosive fashion, here comes the much anticipated second batch of our zeitgeistian take on today's scene's, its current potential and destination. Showcasing productions from artists keen to roll up their sleeves and sail into the impassible status quo, this new number packs the kind of red-hot hammering and cutting-edge punch we've been so adamant to push and defend over the past decade. Berlin-based French producer Arkan steps in first with a proper magnetic depth charge. Dwelling the darker layers of our ocean floor as its name suggests, 'Submarine' is pure hypnotic material geared up for heavy-duty boogie in the warehouse. Filling its ballast tanks with a hefty deluge of muscular bass onslaughts, sonar-like bleeps and untamed cascades of loopy arps, this one rolls and pitches like a haunted ship on predator mode. Adding his dynamic pulse and mind-bending spin to the A-side, Frameworks & Untertwegs bossman Decka cuts a path of straight mental obliteration as he smashes the doors of the club wide open and parades all guns blazing with the unapologetic crusher that is 'Circumvent'. A no-holds-barred workout for the strong stomachs, churning out fiery bars of kick-drum/squelchy bass contrast with in-your-face swagger. Switching on to the flip side, there's Manchester's Yant cruising with the ebulliently dynamic (no shit, Sherlock) tune, 'Moving'. A multidirectional concerto of pong-like modularity and racing synth arpeggios flying off like coloured bricks in a Tetris game gone absolute batshit. The kind of hi-intensity burner that'll awaken any lukewarm mid-set flow with its bouncy unpredictability and ruthless forward-pushing thrust. Rounding it off on a further minimal note, Amsterdam up-and-comer Hitam treats us to an inch-perfectly engineered finale with a stripped-back - yet, absolutely not hollow - bomb, 'Venusian Winds'. Gutsy that one sure is, with its metronomic step ticking at near-cyclonic speed and cleverly arranged, subtly FX-coated funk keeping things both suspenseful and focussed thru and thru. A sleek combo of pared-down brutalism and masterly executed analogue tailoring altogether. All dressed in clear purple marbled wax for the occasion, "Heimat II" shall please both the techno purist and visual aesthete in you with its velvet touch and effortless chic.

Blending sounds of early 70s Funk & Soul, Latin-Jazz, and Afrobeat, Mestizo Beat kicks the year off with a heavy dose of new material. First up is “She’s A Rose b/w Lotsapapa,” their next 45, offering two sides of masterful instrumental soul music written & produced by The Magaña Brothers out of their hillside studio, Spc 166 in Topanga, CA. Side A’s “She’s A Rose” takes us back to the golden years of the Blaxploitation film genre and the soundtracks we have grown to love. This song was inspired by the compositional and orchestral arrangements from the greats, such as Curtis Mayfield’s “Superbad,” Johnnie Pate’s “Shaft in Africa,” and Bobby Womack’s “Across 110 Street.” Featuring Tim Felten of Surefire Soul Ensemble on keys, with horns written and arranged by Jesse Audelo, Mestizo Beat takes the listener on an evolving journey, exploring the mood and cinematic elements of flute, saxophone, and wha’d-out guitar, topped off with a funky drum and percussion break. On the flip, “Lotsapapa” rounds out the B-Side, blending the musical styles of Latin and Nigerian disco-funk into a track that’s perfect for the dancefloor and those late nights out. Written about Bernard “Lotsapapa” Crowe, a notorious drug dealer who survived an attempted murder by Charles Manson, this side is sure to get the body moving with the afro-disco rhythms and chant vocals, dubbed out around a tightly arranged horn section written and arranged by Jesse Audelo and Jason Cressey. “Lotsapapa” features guests Steve Haney from Jungle Fire on Percussion and Cressey of the True Loves on trombone.

With each side highlighting the various talents of the ensemble, Mestizo Beat always stays true to their sound and recording techniques. Both tracks are mixed by Sergio Rios at Killion Sound and are featured on the forthcoming LP, Jaraguá, coming mid-2024.

Montenegrin born in Istanbul, precocious pianist growing up in an embassy, brilliant musician. Prolific composer speaking eight languages, he arranged music for jazz, pop music, adopting multiple identities.
For one label, he is Andy Loore; for another, Emiliano Orti. For others, he is called Alan Blackwell or Johnny Montevideo, but behind all these aliases, there is only one man: Janko Nilovic.

Exploring the shelves of musical production, venturing into the less-illuminated corners of library music, Janko Nilovic's name lights up dozens of shelves on which his soundtracks, his records for Editions Neuilly or Sforzando, but above all his twenty albums for Editions Montparnasse, are stored. A considerable and imposing work, rich in orchestrations of keyboards, strings and brass instruments, themes, atmospheres and melodies. A repertoire in which the cinema, television and advertising have come to find their delight ...

Subjected to the sharp blades of samplers, reduced to a few effective seconds, joined with rhythmic beats, some of his tracks have infiltrated hip hop for a long time , leading the most curious to go back to the source to get the complete albums from which the precious loops had been taken.
Almost unknown to the general public, Janko Nilovic is a master for the initiated, whether they are at his side in the studio or comfortably seated in their armchair savouring the final result on their turntable. His discretion combined with his long years of silence on the record could lead one to believe that he had cleverly arranged his disappearance from the radar to make Janko Nilovic a mystery that has never been completely solved.

Until this message from The Soul Surfers.
A few miles away, in their studio fired up by analog funk, the Muscovites had been put back on the Nilovic track by multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee. A few passionate discussions later, and the desire for a joint album was already lighting up the amps, making the bass strings shiver and the drum skins tighten.
Initiated by the coming and going of scores, the collaboration finally continued in studio for a real exchange, instantly bouncing off proposals, developing ideas in a live group dynamic that distance would have made impossible.
To feel the vibrations accumulated for decades at the CBE studio (like Chatelain Bisson Estardy), a mythical place founded in 1966, in which many albums, especially library, were immortalized. A place where consoles, equipment and instruments were kept as they were, accumulating in their wiring, meters and speakers, endless hours of experimentation and recording.

A place that Janko knew well and where an old acquaintance was waiting for him. A Hammond organ with a Leslie booth whose keys he had already flattered in the past and behind which an improvisation and a single take were enough to complete the eponymous title.
Together, Janko Nilovic and The Soul Surfers have built Maze Of Sounds, a musical labyrinth paved by the master's keyboards where the soul-funk groove of the fiery Russians is the listener's thread, his point of reference in this maze of atmospheres and emotions, at once cinematic, nostalgic, dancing, dreamlike and contemplative.

An album where, however, nothing is compartmentalized. Where, blown by the whirlwind strung by a violin quintet, the barriers move preparing the entrance of a Slavic choir, letting a screaming guitar come and go alongside the crystalline liveliness of the Fender Rhodes, organize some rhythmic aerations at the disposal of the samplers.

A fusion between the cleverly blackened scores, between the science of precisely written arrangements and the soul-funk feel of The Soul Surfers. An album such as Janko Nilovic has been dreaming of making for years.

THEOPHONOS (ex-Serpent Column) and Profound Lore Records present “Ashes in the Huron River” to be released on LP/CD/Digital Feb 09, 2024. The new LP is named in honor of the local woods and riverlands that continue to inspire the studio project. This record is an account of a life spent in the rotten heartlands of neoliberal capitalism and a tribute to the vibrant underground music cultures that thrived before the second half of the last decade.

Expanding on the directness of “Nightmare Visions”, “Ashes” is grander in scope, and is internally regarded as a more focused analogue to 2019’s “Mirror in Darkness”. Hafsteinn Viðar Ársælsson’s dark and intricate illustrations once again accompany the music with striking depictions of abandoned landscapes, arranged to evoke a sense of catastrophe and unwilling transformation.

Primary musical influences include Death Grips’ “Jenny Death” (which the record homages in its gradient-like structure, its centerpiece “Still You Haunt Me” even acting as a reimagined “On GP”), the downtuned hyperaggressions of Morbid Angel’s “Gateways to Annihilation”, and the cinematic, raw intimacies of Pelican’s “The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw.”

THEOPHONOS (ex-Serpent Column) and Profound Lore Records present “Ashes in the Huron River” to be released on LP/CD/Digital Feb 09, 2024. The new LP is named in honor of the local woods and riverlands that continue to inspire the studio project. This record is an account of a life spent in the rotten heartlands of neoliberal capitalism and a tribute to the vibrant underground music cultures that thrived before the second half of the last decade.

Expanding on the directness of “Nightmare Visions”, “Ashes” is grander in scope, and is internally regarded as a more focused analogue to 2019’s “Mirror in Darkness”. Hafsteinn Viðar Ársælsson’s dark and intricate illustrations once again accompany the music with striking depictions of abandoned landscapes, arranged to evoke a sense of catastrophe and unwilling transformation.

Primary musical influences include Death Grips’ “Jenny Death” (which the record homages in its gradient-like structure, its centerpiece “Still You Haunt Me” even acting as a reimagined “On GP”), the downtuned hyperaggressions of Morbid Angel’s “Gateways to Annihilation”, and the cinematic, raw intimacies of Pelican’s “The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw.”

The title of Staś Czekalski’s debut translates as ‘Adventures’. It’s fitting for an album that invokes feelings of exploring, roaming, ambling through bustling cities and changing seasons, around castles and swaying fields, down the pixelated paths of old computer games, and all the way home.

We get the sense of being on some carefree yet critical quest, with Staś taking on the role of narrator as much as composer. Part fable, part Moomins, part seek and you shall find, these boppy, wide-eyed and reflective tracks set imagination in motion.

These are sonic adventures in a more literal sense too, at once quietly bold and intricately arranged. Bouncing around a playful gamut of references, from the whimsically lo-fi electro-acoustic pop of Anne Laplantine through trip-hoppy bedroom ambient and indietronica, Staś sets this blend twinkling with his singular form of magical thinking.

DJ Support: Richard Dorfmeister, Luke Una, Chris Coco, Phil Mison, Mickey Brown, Erki Pruul, Marco

The sweeping poem ‘Cofio’ by the great Welsh poet Waldo Williams has inspired a remarkable collaboration between Ibiza-based record label NuNorthern Soul, Welsh DJ, performer and cultural commentator Gareth Potter, composer and musician Joan Bibiloni, poet and actor Pep Tosar Vaquer, actor Rhys Ifans and musician James Baron aka JIM / Ron Basejam.

1st March is St Davids Day and Balearic Day. St David’s Day honours the death of the patron saint of Wales and the Day of the Balearic Islands the day when islands Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca became an autonomous region of Spain.

Cofio Recorda Remembrance is made up of two powerful and haunting tracks drenched in NuNorthern Soul’s unique take on the globally popular Balearic Chillout style. Un Adéu features music by Joan remixed by James Baron with Pep reading the poem in Catalan and Spanish. Badia Onírica is a tremendously atmospheric reading of ‘Cofia’ in Welsh and English by Rhys with music again arranged by James.

It connects Wales and Ibiza but, on a more universal level, Cofio Recorda Remembrance links the fundamental aspects of human existence, of, as Waldo Williams puts it ‘earth’s innumerable generations’.

a A1: 'Badia Onírica' Welsh Version
b A2: 'Badia Onírica' [English Version]
[c] A3: 'Un Adéu' [Instrumental Version]
[d] B1: 'Un Adéu' [Catalan Version]
[e] B2: 'Un Adéu' [Spanish Version]
[Instrumental Version]

Mano De Fuego land on Yaxteq with the mighty Fuerza EP. In 2022, los hermanos Cedillo also known as Soul of Hex launched their Mano De Fueogo alias from Underground Resistance headquarters in Detroit. Their debut for Yaxteq showcases their versatillity as producers. Sagrada is pure musical magic for the dancefloor with rising chord swells, relentless bass and strings that reach into the cosmos. Aztec Obelisk gives a latin flavor to the classic Detroit electro-bass blueprint. Fuerza dives deep into hi-tech jazz including an interstellar saxophone improvisation courtesy of Tijuana’s own Manuel Paez Armendariz. DJ Dex then takes the soul of Fuerza and remixes it with the concrete foundation of jaaackin US house music. All tracks were mixed and arranged at the Yaxteq studio in Los Angeles. Saludos!!

After an impasse recording with tightly arranged groups and big bands with strings, Billie Holiday signed her last long-term contract with Norman Granz. He had showcased her as a star with his Jazz at the Philharmonic tours in the mid and late forties, and when he signed her as a recording artist in 1952, he endeavoured to repeat the small group magic of her early years.On Billie Holiday Sings, she is backed by an all-star sextet including Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Flip Phillips on tenor sax, Oscar Peterson on piano, and Barney Kessel on guitar, among others.Bonus Tracks: (Studio session for Aladdin Records):'Blue Turning Gray Over You' , 'Be Fair With Me Baby aka Be Fair To Me)' , 'Rocky Mountain Blues' , Detour Ahead' .

My first EP, June McDoom, was hugely inspired by the minimal sound of the 60s and 70s folk era. I wanted to reimagine a couple of those songs more stripped down as a follow up to that first EP. Judee Sill's songwriting and arrangements have impacted me deeply, and so I hoped to honor the music she made by recording a version of her song, "Emerald River Dance" - one of my favorite songs for many years and a song I still sing at most of my shows. The first time I heard "Black is the Color" was Tia Blake's version that she recorded in 1971, and then Nina Simone's performance inspired me to try and record a rendition of mY own. While writing "On My Way" and "The City," I always imagined versions of those songs stripped down with three-part harmonies, which I was finally able to do here with dear friends, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Kate Davis, who have both been big inspirations to me throughout the years. One of my close friends, Sam Weissberg - who I met while studying in jazz school when I first moved to New York City - worked with me and arranged the harp and strings for each song. I produced the songs and tracked the remaining instruments and vocals with Evan Wright at our new studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that we share with our friend, Nick Hakim (who also provided backing vocals on "On My Way").

My first EP, June McDoom, was hugely inspired by the minimal sound of the 60s and 70s folk era. I wanted to reimagine a couple of those songs more stripped down as a follow up to that first EP. Judee Sill's songwriting and arrangements have impacted me deeply, and so I hoped to honor the music she made by recording a version of her song, "Emerald River Dance" - one of my favorite songs for many years and a song I still sing at most of my shows. The first time I heard "Black is the Color" was Tia Blake's version that she recorded in 1971, and then Nina Simone's performance inspired me to try and record a rendition of mY own. While writing "On My Way" and "The City," I always imagined versions of those songs stripped down with three-part harmonies, which I was finally able to do here with dear friends, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Kate Davis, who have both been big inspirations to me throughout the years. One of my close friends, Sam Weissberg - who I met while studying in jazz school when I first moved to New York City - worked with me and arranged the harp and strings for each song. I produced the songs and tracked the remaining instruments and vocals with Evan Wright at our new studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that we share with our friend, Nick Hakim (who also provided backing vocals on "On My Way").

Remastered and first worldwide release (previously only limited availability in Iceland) Since first bursting onto the global punk scene in 2018, Icelandic trio GRÓA have thrilled audiences across the world by fully embracing an unruly freedom. Made up of sisters Hrafnhildur Einars Maríudóttir (aka Hrabba, age 22) and Karólína Einars Maríudóttir (aka Karó, age 20) and their childhood friend Fríða Björg Pétursdóttir (also 22), the Reykjavík-bred band merge elements of post-punk and noise-rock and art-pop with absolute abandon, arriving at an explosive yet magnificently arranged sound unlike any other. A local favorite, the Icelandic government has recently been sponsoring worldwide travel to share GRÓA with the rest of the world and in 2023 they have played shows around the world including in UK, Western and Eastern Europe as well as USA dates including Washington DC, Seattle, Chicago and New York City. They have recently recorded an in studio performance at KEXP which will be broadcast worldwide in January 2024 and more worldwide touring is planned for early 2024 to support the vinyl and CD releases. Listing iconoclasts like Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, and Bikini Kill among their longtime inspirations, the Icelandic punk band GRÓA pursued their experimental impulses with more intensity and confidence on Í Glimmerheimi, matching the album’s shapeshifting sound with a surrealist but emotionally potent form of lyrical storytelling. “It’s about a girl who’s trying to escape the world she’s stuck in—this glitter world that looks so good on the surface, but it’s not where she’s meant to be,” says Karó in discussing the album’s concept. “There’s a song called ‘Jetpackstelpan,’ or ‘Jetpack Girl,’ where she leaves the world on a jetpack and flies away to the moon, and she’s never coming back again.” Opening on the kaleidoscopic rhythms and rowdy call-and-response vocals of “Fullkomið” (“Perfect”), Í Glimmerheimi brings that narrative to frenetic and dazzling life, ultimately closing out on “Skrímslið er að ná þér” (“The monster is getting you”): a serpentine and strangely mesmerizing epic whose swirling textures, otherworldly vocals, and sparse yet complex guitar tones illuminate the immense scope and depth of GRÓA’s artistry.

Seiya is an orphan who, as a young boy, was selected by the Kido Foundation to bring legendary bronze armour back to Japan. He succeeds, along with 10 other orphans. Forced by the foundation to take part in a "show", the knights embark on a tournament before the prize, the golden armour, is stolen. Little by little, they realise that their problems stem from the Sanctuary in Greece, home to the 12 most powerful knights, the Golden Knights, and their leader, the Great Pope. His target is the young Saori Kido, heiress to the foundation and reincarnation of Athena.

The series was a huge success and spawned an extensive franchise, with TV series, films and video games. This album features the best music and songs from the anime, composed and arranged by Seiji Yokoyama (GATCHAMAN).

It was winter. Six Parts Seven had returned to Ohio after touring out to Washington State, to record Casually Smashed to Pieces. There was down time between the recording and the actual release of that album in January 2007, and we were rehearsing, playing local shows, and collaborating, with most of us involved in other projects to keep the momentum going (Mike w/ Talons, Al w/ Beaten Awake), but the one we all came together over was recording an album with Joey Beltram, the songwriter behind Goodmorning Valentine, a local band we shared players with, a band we deeply admired. The music on Kissing Distance came together over two weekend days. There were a lot of people around; 6P7 and GMV players coming and going from the Saint Ledger House. There were handles of whiskey, there was weed, stacks of Marlboro Reds for the ones still dragging butts. We all went 'dancing' at Thursday's, in Akron, Ohio, on Saturday night. Not sure how we were productive the following day. Chalk that one up to relative youth. Over those two days, songs were cut without any prior rehearsal time. None of us remember how the idea came up. In hindsight, it seems inevitable. The first song on the album, "Mediation in D," had been written a couple of years before, and was the decided spark that set the fire blazing: for both bands, this song was the starting point, an invitation to take things further, to expand, combining players from both bands, our 'toolbox' had increased in size from a single hammer to a toolbox. Everything came easily at this point. "Drunk from the Bottle," is the first of the one-take/one mic songs: an SM58 used for both vocal and guitar, making it impossible to over-think anything: You got the version, or you did not, that simple. "Instrumental #2," is the last full/core band recording by Six Parts Seven. The first piece in our catalog written/arranged by Tim Gerak. This song would have been developed on our follow-up to Casually Smashed to Pieces. Alas, an album never came to be. The ache in this is real. It's there in the bass guitar, tuned high and open, played with a slide, and utilizing one of Jamie Stillman's pre- Earthquaker Devices fuzz pedals. "Lonely Daughter," is another one-take/one-mic song, notable for the lead-guitar, played by James Matthew Haas, who overdubbed his part, months later, standing alone on the deck at Joey's folks place, playing to the moonlight, making magic...

Comprising accomplished musicians Roy Bar-Tour, Atzmon Avrahami and Adam Yodfat, Les Dynamites built themselves a strong following for their fresh blend of Mediterranean and classic surf rock with Balkan and Yemini folk, catching the attention of Middle Eastern groove connoisseurs Batov Record. Their debut single for the label, “Pop Oud #2”, packed enough punch, and funk, for both psych fans and break dancers. Backed by a dubwise flip by digging pioneers Radio Trip, it received support from the likes of Juno, Monolith Cocktail and Worldwide FM.

“Uzi Kinrot” takes its name from guitarists Uri Kinrot and Uzi Feinerman of Boom Pam, pioneers of today’s resurgence in Middle Eastern surf rock. Ray Bar-Tour riffs like a Klezmer-playing Dick Dale over a Balkan sousaphone bass lines and snappy drum rhythms. Towards the end, Yemen Yehudith adds a special touch of traditional wailing, raising the excitement by another notch.

Recorded, co-arranged, produced, mixed and mastered by Uri “MixMonster” Wertheim of famed funk band, The Apples, and obscure sample scientists, RadioTrip. On “Uzi Kinrot” and “Sea Gull”, the group pay tribute to the Mediterranean surf heroes who inspired them most. They continue from where the seventies funk leaning “Pop Oud #2” left off, going deeper, and reuniting the classic Mediterranean and American surf sounds with a fresh perspective, destined to earn themselves an even greater following.

2024 Repress

Limited edition remastered reissue of an obsure Italian Balearic Disco song produced and arranged by Victorio Pezzolla the same man behind the project "ASSO - Don't Stop" that was a big hit during early 80s in the N.Y.C. underground clubs, regularly played by Larry Levan at Paradise Garage and by David Mancuso at Loft. The plus on this limited edition reissue is that the production is directly handled by the former producer to obtain a more accurate sound compared from the first release.

When Paul Murphy released his critically acclaimed debut solo album, Claremont 56, in 2006, many thought it would be the first of many. In a way, it was, as in the years since he’s released a string of collaborative sets alongside Benjamin J Smith (as Smith & Mudd), and as part of underground ‘supergroups’ Paqua, Bison and Hillside. But that second solo album? Well, it just had to wait. In early 2023, Murphy finally decided to scratch that itch, roping in some of his most trusted collaborators (keyboardist and bassist Michele Chiavarini, percussionist Patrick Dawes, guitarist Dave Noble and HF International’s Kashif included) to lay down a sumptuous set of tracks that not only showcases his now familiar (bit hard to pigeonhole) neo-Balearic sound, but also proves how much he has matured as a writer and producer since 2006.

In The Garden of Mindfulness is richly musically detailed, expertly arranged and full to bursting with fluid instrumental solos, with Murphy and his collaborators serving up tracks that brilliantly blur the boundaries between languid jazz-funk, downtempo, vintage synth-laden krautrock, dubby grooves and sun-splashed soundscapes. It simply sparkles from the moment that opener ‘Eighty Three’ slowly rises like the morning sun, with gentle, undulating synth sounds ushering in a slow-motion jazz-funk excursion rich in twinkling electronics, spacey pads and warming bass. Recent single ‘Katanaboy’, a lusciously layered dub disco-infused dancefloor excursion in Murphy’s familiar style, raises the temperature a touch, before ‘Bonne Anse’ and the sublime ‘Unka Paw’ (whose combination of evocative fretless bass, extended electric piano solos, Clavinet licks and acoustic guitars is genuinely spellbinding) invite a combination of wavy shuffling and flat-on-the-back, eyes-closed appreciation.

And so it continues, with gorgeous title track ‘In The Garden of Mindfulness’ making way for the boogie-influenced, Japanese-British brilliance of ‘Hangsang’ (check the jaunty pianos, yearning breakdown and exotic melodies). Murphy’s long held love of warm, weighty bass, hypnotic disco grooves, colourful analogue synth sounds and jazzy guitars once again comes to the fore on ‘Way Of The Hollow’ before the album reaches a fittingly triumphant conclusion with ‘Late In March’.

A neat sonic summary of all that makes the set such a rewarding and entertaining experience, repeat listens reveals a wealth of musical details, from off-kilter triple-time drums and surprise bass guitar solos, to impeccable piano solos (provided by the immensely talented Chiavarini), fizzing jazz-funk synth doodles and stirring synth-strings. It’s a breathlessly brilliant way to end an album that was genuinely worth waiting for.

Kali Malone's anticipated new album "All Life Long" is a collection of music for pipe organ, choir, and brass quintet composed by Kali Malone, 2020 - 2023. Choral music performed by Macadam Ensemble and conducted by Etienne Ferschaud at Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-L'Immaculée-Conception in Nantes. Brass quintet music performed by Anima Brass at The Bunker Studio in New York City. Organ music performed by Kali Malone and Stephen O'Malley on the historical meantone tempered pipe organs at Église Saint-François in Lausanne, Orgelpark in Amsterdam, and Malmö Konstmuseum in Sweden. Kali Malone composes with a rare clarity of vision. Her music is patient and focused, built on a foundation of evolving harmonic cycles that draw out latent emotional resonances. Time is a crucial factor: letting go of expectations of duration and breadth offers a chance to find a space of reflection and contemplation. In her hands, experimental reinterpretations of centuries-old polyphonic compositional methods become portals to new ways of perceiving sound, structure, and introspection. Though awe-inspiring in scope, the most remarkable thing about Malone's music is the intimacy stirred by the close listening it encourages. Malone's new album All Life Long, created between 2020 - 2023, presents her first compositions for organ since 2019's breakthrough album The Sacrificial Code alongside interrelated pieces for voice and brass performed by Macadam Ensemble and Anima Brass. Over the course of twelve pieces, harmonic themes and patterns recur, presented in altered forms and for varied instrumentation. They emerge and reemerge like echoes of their former selves, making the familiar uncanny. Propelled by lungs and breath rather than bellows and oscillators, Malone's compositions for choir and brass take on expressive qualities that complicate the austerity that has defined her work, introducing lyricism and the beauty of human fallibility into music that has been driven by mechanical processes. At the same time, the works for organ, performed by Malone with additional accompaniment by Stephen O'Malley on four different organs dating from the 15th to 17th centuries, underscore the mighty, spectral power that those rigorous operations can achieve. All Life Long simmers in an ever-shifting tension between repetition and variation. The pieces for brass, organ, and voice are alternated asymmetrically, providing nearly continuous timbral fluctuation across its 78-minute runtime even as thematic material reiterates. Each composition's internal framework of fractal pattern permutations has the paradoxical effect of creating anticipated keystone moments of dramatic reverie and lulling the listener into believing in an illusory endlessness. On an even more granular level, the historical meantone tuning systems of each organ used, and the variable intonation of brass and voice, provide further points of emotional excavation within the harmony. The titular composition "All Life Long" appears twice on the album, first as an extended canon for organ and again in the final quarter, compactly arranged for voice In the latter, Malone pairs the music with "The Crying Water" by Arthur Symons, a poem steeped in language of mourning and eternity. For organ, "All Life Long" moves with a patient stateliness, the drama concentrated in moments when shifting tonalities generate and release dissonance and ecstasy. For voice, each word is saturated with feeling, the singers swooping gracefully downward to capture the melancholy of the narrator's relationship to the timeless tears of the sea. "Passage Through The Spheres," the album's opening piece, contains lyrics in Italian pulled from Giorgio Agamban's essay In Praise of Profanation. In it, Agamban defines profanation as, in part, the act of bringing back to communal, secular use that which has been segregated to the realm of the sacred, a process Malone enacts each time she performs on church organs. This is not music of praise, or of spiritual revelation, but it is an artistic enactment of translating the indescribable. It carries the gravity of liturgical chant, and its fixation on the infinite, but draws its weight from the earthly realm of human experience. A music that draws the listener into the present moment where they can discover themselves within the interwoven musical patterns that can come to resemble the passage of days, weeks, years, a lifetime.

Released in 1973, Lord of Lords was Alice Coltrane's final album for the Impulse! label, as well as the last instalment of a trilogy that began with Universal Consciousness and World Galaxy. Like its two predecessors, Lord of Lords features a 16-piece string orchestra that the leader arranged and conducted, fronted by a trio in which she plays piano, Wurlitzer organ, harp, and timpani accompanied by bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ben Riley.

The original producer, Ed Michel, later stated that Coltrane worked with the top-rank classically-trained studio musicians of the string section and "opened them up so they could do absolutely astonishing things. Afterwards, the string players couldn't believe that they had done what they had done." According to AllMusic reviewer Thom Jurek, "The interplay between the three principals is lively and engaging, based on droning blues chords, and her soloing - even amid flurries of notes - comes right back to the root. Haden's bass is a beautiful anchor here, and the strings offer a lovely response to her organ and harp. Riley's cymbals are shimmering shards of light throughout, ending Lord of Lords on a very high note. She succeeds here, in ending her Impulse! period with elegance, grace, and soul."

First album in seven years from Maple Death Records founder James Jonathan Clancy (Italy/Canada), and the first under his birth name following previous ensembles His Clancyness (Fat Cat, Maple Death) and Brutal Birthday (Total Punk, Improved Sequence). In the interim between those projects and this latest, ‘Sprecato’, Clancy has refined and honed his vision —steadily and carefully drawing from a host of disparate influences to create a new kind of singer-songwriter album that bridges the divide between cosmic loner-folk, proto-ambient music, and the epic, intricately arranged world of vintage Italian soundtrack music. For ‘Sprecato’, Clancy has assembled a transnational cast of renowned guest collaborators; including Stefano Pilia (co-producer/guitar/modular/synths/bass), Andrea Belfi (drums), Enrico Gabrielli (flutes, PJ Harvey/Calibro 35), Francesca Bono (piano, Bono/Burattini) —while the core of the band features Dominique Vaccaro (guitars, J.H. Guraj), Andrea De Franco (synths, Fera) and Kyle Knapp (sax, Cindy Lee/Deliluh).

Written and recorded between London & Bologna, the initial spark for the album was to be found in the book length work ‘Gli Sprecati’ (Canicola Edizioni), by visionary Italian comic’s artist Michelangelo Setola, who ultimately provided Clancy with the graphics

that grace the album’s cover and overall visual sensibility. Something of Setola’s near apocalyptic pastoralism runs through the record, even as Clancy’s themes grow beyond the seed they’d originally planted. Drum machines that sound as if they’ve been excavated from the earth meet detuned pianos and guitars; bucolic traces of synths stretched beyond all reckoning. While the band is both loping and epic —with shades of Pentangle’s Terry Cox in the live drumming in particular —there’s a new emotional depth and

KNMDK records proudly presents Urban Art Orchestra, a powerful and lush sonic experience that celebrates the music and culture of Detroit, the Renaissance City.

As a continuation of Volume 1, Volume 2 keeps that same energy of celebration with arrangements and originals that represent the legacy of Detroit while pointing towards the future of what is to come. This project was produced, arranged, and conducted by 2x Grammy nominated composer De‘Sean Jones.

La Matta Records proudly presents the official reissue of the first 7-inch by Rita and the Danger, an Italian Disco-Funk masterpiece originally released in 1980 on the Flop Record label. This rare and sought-after track ( “Io e lui al lago Nassua” ) recorded in Bari, finally comes out after more than 40 years, carefully restored directly from its original tape on a 16-track Ampex MM 1100 machine, was a pioneer of the 1980s Italo-disco genre. It features melodic overtones that flow into synthesized sequences of early electronic pop. In 1980, the B-side track “Io e Lui al Lago Nassua”, arranged by Cavaros (Rosa Cavalieri), reached the top of the national charts, invading dancefloors and radio stations all over Italy. It also helped Rita and The Danger connect with an audience that extended well beyond their native Puglia region. The group’s youthful charm resonates loud and clear 40 years after its first release, and this sound, which was born in the analog age and is still relevant in the digital age, is now being brought back to life with a new and extended version of the original 7-inch 45 rpm single.

Shotns/Shadows, Songs from Testimonies (2024) is the latest volume in the Fortunoff Video Archive’s Songs from Testimonies project. Over the past four years, the Fortunoff Archive has worked closely with D. Zisl Slepovitch, a Belarusian-born and New York based composer, multi-instrumentalist, ethnomusicologist, and Yiddish educator to document the songs recounted in the Archive’s collection. As the Archive’s first musician-in-residence, Zisl located songs and conducted research about their origins. He then arranged and recorded versions with his ensemble, featuring renowned singer Sasha Lurje. Sasha, a Latvian-born Yiddish singer, specializes in performing and teaching old Yiddish singing styles.

Sign Libra's third album Hidden Beauty is an intimate voyage through feminine nature, guided by the arts of subtext, musical collage, and mysterious allusions. Elegantly arranged, enigmatic, and mischievous, Hidden Beauty seeks to "release the invisible and bring fragility to the surface." From the rainforests of Closer to the Equator (Sounds of the Dawn, 2016 / Antinote, 2018) to the surreal lunar landscape of Sea to Sea (RVNG Intl., 2020), Agata Melnikova, the Latvian musician behind the Sign Libra symbol, has developed a signature blend of evocative composition with lyricless, ethereal vocalizing. Hidden Beauty attends to a closer space than her first two albums, a playfully layered pastiche of refined references, drawing musical inspiration from the assortment of Erik Satie, the early work of Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat, and 90s R&B. The first inklings of Hidden Beauty arrived in 2019, with the basic contours of the album sculpted in 2020 and early 2021. Like Sea to Sea, Hidden Beauty was invented as a solitary creative effort, but this time under uniquely hermetic impositions. Tethered to the world only by screen, the artist sought inspiration from an unlikely array of activities: new, unorthodox approaches at composing, learning French, a virtual pedagogical practice, and plenty of jubilant dancing in her flat, sunglasses on, to 90s dance music. Hidden Beauty moves inward from the distant spaciousness of Sea to Sea in favor of a "chamber-like" sound, reflecting the intimate environs of its creation. Balancing the New Age balletic resonance of Closer to the Equator and the cosmic-dancerly tracks of Sea to Sea, Hidden Beauty combines deft, postmodern arrangements with popular, contemporary suggestions. The reverb drenching her previous recordings is sponged up in the songs of Hidden Beauty, giving the exercises contained within a feeling of presence, and closeness. And always Agata's crystalline vocal furnishings, less a lead vocal than a first instrument, the ever-returning counterpoint in a beatific swirl. The other hidden elements of this work are plenty, and perhaps best left concealed for the listener's enjoyment. Or perhaps they are hidden in plain sight and sound, depending on what the puzzle pieces reveal to your imagination. Sign Libra's Hidden Beauty will be released in vinyl, Japanese import CD, and digital editions on November 3, 2023. A portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit Coral Guardian, a non-governmental organization working internationally and with local communities to protect coral ecosystems.