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Presenting a joyous double dose of Brazilian pífano magic by João do Pife, taken from his iconic Folclore Alagoano LP and pressed for the first time on 7” vinyl. The infectious, uplifting energy of the instrumental track 'Garoto Do Pife' has been a dancefloor weapon for revered selectors such as Gilles Peterson, Cliffy and the Mr Bongo DJs, and we are proud to be reissuing it for the first time.

The pífano, pifaro or pife, which creates the distinctive melodies in these tracks, is a simple seven-hole woodwind instrument from the Northeast region of Brazil. Often made out of bamboo or taquara wood, they are rich in folkloric music tradition and paired with percussion instruments to form the Bandas de Pífanos groups, which originated from the Northeastern states of the country. "Pifeiros” such as João do Pife, Edmilson do Pífano, and Carlos Malta brought the pífano into a wider public eye through their albums and vinyl recordings.

A part of pífano maestro João do Pife’s rich legacy, these two mesmerizing and timeless tracks originate from his sought-after 1975 LP Folclore Alagoano, released on the Tropicana label. Born João Alfredo Marques dos Santos in 1943, in Riacho das Almas, João do Pife became an ambassador of Northern Brazilian culture and folklore through his music, which placed the pífano centre stage.

For this 7" issue, we have curated two of our favourite tracks from the album, 'Garoto Do Pife' and 'Homenagem a Ludugero', that exude a driving and joyous dancefloor energy. With lively accordion and organ accompaniments that weave around João do Pife's sublime pífano playing, they channel a folk spirit that will resonate deep within your soul.

As inspiration for the picture sleeve, we have adapted the original cover photo art for this 7 inch issue. João do Pife’s music, which is housed within, will sweep you away to Northeastern Brazil in an instant.

"The Burning Bright Light" is a mind-meld between improvisation trio "Dromedaries" (saxophonist Keir Neuringer of Irreversible Entanglements, Shayna Dulberger on double bass, and percussionist Julius Masri) and sci-fi writer/vocalist "Alexoteric" (Alex Smith), evoking epic sci-fi cinemascapes, vocabulary- and reference-rich underground writing, the liberatory jazz tradition, and playful avant-garde experimentation.

Recorded in a single high-voltage burst of cosmic collaboration on an October afternoon at Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Soundworks, "The Burning Bright Light" is a sonic document like no other. A mind-meld between improvisation trio »Dromedaries« and sci-fi writer/vocalist "Alexoteric" (Alex Smith), the album emerges organically on a foundation of speculative fiction, free jazz interaction, avant-garde textures, and freestyle refrains.

An’archives presents Kagome Kagome, the first collaboration between France’s Delphine Dora and Japan’s Ayami Suzuki. Curious listeners might know Dora from the string of lovely, idiosyncratic albums she’s released over the past two decades, most recently for labels like Modern Love, Morc and Recital; she’s also worked with the likes of Michel Henritzi and Sophie Cooper. Suzuki’s performances, predominantly for voice, place her within a tradition of Japanese improvised music – see the music she’s made with artists such as Takashi Masubuchi, TOMO and Leo Okagawa – but her approach also takes in folk song, ambience and claustrophobic drone.

On Kagome Kagome, Dora and Suzuki play to their many strengths: a gentle, free-willed folksiness; long, aerated drone constructs; ghostly, time-warping explorations for voice. They met on Dora’s May 2024 tour of Japan, though they’d been in touch beforehand, with Dora proposing the collaboration to Suzuki, developed around “concepts of ‘otherworldliness’ and ‘impermanence’,” the latter says, “and explored the relationship between ‘the invisible’ and sound in Japanese culture – a common interest we share.”

They recorded across several days that month, with the sessions for Kagome Kagome taking place in Kanumi, in Tochigi prefecture, at a space named Center. “I was particularly looking forward to seeing Delphine encounter the vintage 104-year-old harmonium from Nippon Gakki Seizo Co. that had just been repaired at Center,” Suzuki recalls. “It was as if the harmonium had been waiting for Delphine to draw sound from it. I felt it was a beautiful relationship where they could guide each other.”

Indeed, there’s something channelled about the music that Dora and Suzuki made together in the session that constitutes Kagome Kagome. Dora’s harmonium might be the spine of the album, but Suzuki’s free- floating voice, and gaseous, muddied banks of electronics, wrap around the wheezing, ancient tonality of the harmonium beautifully – they, too, sound as though they were just waiting to be willed out of the daytime air. Their voices nestle together beautifully – “when we sang together in a tunnel,” Suzuki says, “there were times when we sang the exact same melody without planning. It happened so naturally that the boundaries between us became blurred.”

And that title? It’s drawn from a Japanese children’s song, and the song titles themselves constitute the song’s lyrics, in alternating Japanese (Romanized) and French language. Urban legend connects the song “Kagome Kagome” to the Nikko Toshogu Shrine, nearby Center, that Suzuki and Dora visited while they were in Kanumi. “The mysterious lyrics of ‘Kagome Kagome’ and its puzzle-like connection to Nikko Toshogu were a perfect fit for this mysterious album,” Suzuki reflects, “which I think has its own kind of puzzle-like elements.”

A deep album of prayer and magic, of divination and ritual, Kagome Kagome’s sense of serious play, its rich beauty, feels somehow dislocated from our time. If you’ve ever enjoyed the music of Nico, Kendra Smith, Charalambides, or other channelers of ghostly mystery, its eerie otherness will, somehow, feel oddly familiar.

"Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me", das vierte Album von Porridge Radio, wurde Anfang 2024 in Somerset vom langjährigen Big Thief- und Laura Marling-Tontechniker Dom Monks aufgenommen und ist ein Moment des Erwachsenwerdens, inspiriert von Burnout, der Musikindustrie, Herzschmerz und der zunehmenden Vertiefung der Bandleaderin Dana Margolin in ihr eigenes Handwerk als Künstlerin. Margolins rücksichtsloser, sich selbst hinterfragender Schreibstil wird auf dem gesamten Album durch die bisher ergreifendste Musik der Band ergänzt, die sich geduldig aufbaut und tragisch intensiv ist. "Alle Songs begannen als Gedichte, ich wollte mich selbst herausfordern", sagt Dana Margolin über das Werk, aus dem "Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me" wurde. "In einem Song kann sich der Autor immer hinter den Tricks der Musik und altbekannten Techniken wie Wiederholungen verstecken. In einem Gedicht hingegen sind es nur Worte und das war's." "Vieles auf diesem Album handelt von einer frenetischen und verzweifelten Art von Liebe, es geht um den völligen Verlust meines Selbstbewusstseins in einer Beziehung und um den tiefen Rest von Unsicherheit und Schmerz, der eine neue Beziehung trübte." Lieder, die als Liebeslieder geschrieben wurden - wie "In A Dream I'm A Painting" - bekamen neue Bedeutungen, als Margolin die Lieder mit einer neuen Distanz betrachtete. "Es gab eine Menge Liebe und Verwirrung, alles durchsetzt mit Erschöpfung und Schmerz." Die Clouds-Sessions fanden in Frome statt, als der Winter zu Beginn des Jahres 2024 in den Frühling überging. "Es gab ein paar Zusammenbrüche", grinst Dana, eine faire Einschätzung der Aufnahme solch intimer und persönlicher Songs, "nach einigen Takes brach ich einfach auf dem Boden zusammen, so aufgebracht war ich." Es wurde ein Umfeld geschaffen, in dem Dana sich ausdrücken konnte und in dem sie gefördert wurde. "Wir hatten jeden Abend diese großen gemeinsamen Mahlzeiten", sagt sie, "es fühlte sich sehr eng und fürsorglich und warm und besonders an. Unser kleines Haus lag auf einem großen Hügel, ein Fluss floss hindurch, es war groß und hell und schön", erinnert sich Dana. Das Studio selbst war hell - voller strahlendem natürlichem Licht aus den großen Fenstern, ein Segen für Musiker, die an die abgeschottete Welt der meisten Aufnahmestudios gewöhnt sind, und zum ersten Mal konnten alle im selben Raum wie der Produzent aufnehmen. "Es fühlt sich an, als hätten wir zum ersten Mal etwas gemacht", erklärt sie und freut sich hörbar über das Album, "es hat etwas von unserer Freundschaft eingefangen und von der Art und Weise, wie wir gelernt haben, zusammen zu spielen. Ich liebe die Songs, ich liebe es, sie zu spielen, sie sind nicht alt geworden und es fühlt sich an, als wäre es etwas Besonderes." Eine Pause. "Es hat mich so viel gelehrt. Deinem Bauchgefühl zu folgen, auf deine Freunde und ihre Loyalität zu vertrauen, darauf zu vertrauen, dass du mit Leuten richtig kämpfen kannst. So will ich leben, so will ich Platten machen, denn Platten machen ist mein Leben, denn meine Arbeit ist mein Spiel, mein Job ist mein Leben. Alles ist in dieser Sache miteinander verbunden, und es gibt Wege darin, die mich nicht umbringen."

Es sind acht Jahre vergangen, seit Montreals The Barr Brothers ein Album veröffentlicht haben. In dieser Zeit hat das Leben sie - persönlich wie beruflich - in neue Richtungen geführt und ihre Art, gemeinsam Musik zu machen, verändert. Ihr viertes Studioalbum Let it Hiss ist nicht einfach nur eine neue Sammlung von Songs. Es ist ein Dokument der Transformation. Die Entstehung dieses Albums markierte einen Wendepunkt: eine Phase der Reflexion, eine Auseinandersetzung mit Verletzlichkeit und eine Wiederverbindung zwischen den beiden Brüdern, die seit über drei Jahrzehnten Seite an Seite Musik machen.,Im Jahr 2022 standen wir an einem Wendepunkt", sagt Brad Barr, Gitarrist, Sänger und Haupt-Songwriter der Band. ,Es war klar, dass sich etwas ändern musste. Die wahre Geschichte dieses Albums ist die Geschichte dieser Veränderung - und von allem, was danach kam.",Let it Hiss ist das, was passiert, wenn man aufhört, so zu tun, als wäre alles in Ordnung - und endlich wirklich hinhört", sagt Andrew.Das Album beginnt im Kleinen: eine winzige mexikanische Gitarre, der sanfte Puls eines Klaviers, ein minimalistischer Rhythmus - und eine Stimme, die sowohl Hingabe als auch Stärke vermittelt. ,Take it from me", singt Brad - nicht als Befehl, sondern als Geständnis. Schon ab diesem ersten Moment lädt das Album in einen Raum ein, in dem Makel nicht herausgeschnitten, sondern verstärkt und gefeiert werden. Es ist ein kraftvoller Einstieg in ein Album, das auf Ehrlichkeit, Wiederentdeckung und Vertrauen beruht.Für die Brüder wurde das Aufnehmen zu einem Spiegel. Der Prozess begann nicht mit Klang - er begann mit Wahrheit. Sie setzten sich nicht nur mit kreativen Blockaden auseinander, sondern auch mit persönlichen: alten Mustern, unausgesprochenen Spannungen, Trauer, Wachstum. Durch all das fanden sie wieder zu einem Rhythmus - nicht durch Perfektion, sondern durch Erlaubnis.Brad und Andrew machen schon Musik zusammen, seit sie Kinder sind - zuerst in der sich ständig wandelnden Rockband The Slip, später als The Barr Brothers, wo sie amerikanische Roots-Musik mit experimentellen Klangtexturen zu etwas ganz Eigenem verbanden. Ihr Ruf für musikalische Raffinesse und emotionale Tiefe brachte ihnen weltweit Fans - und Anerkennung von musikalischen Größen.Der Titel des Albums ist zugleich ein Leitbild. ,Es fühlte sich einfach richtig an", sagt Andrew. ,Das Rauschen drin zu lassen. Das Unbehagen, die Unvollkommenheit, den Kampf. Wir haben aufgehört, alles sauber machen zu wollen. Und genau da fing die Musik wieder an zu atmen. Und Spaß zu machen."Tatsächlich steht Let it Hiss stärker als frühere Alben der Barr Brothers für eine freudvolle Ungezwungenheit - hörbar etwa im Roadtrip-Hymnus "Run Right Into It" (mit Elizabeth Powell von Land of Talk) oder im verspielten Garagenband-Reggae von "She Doesn't Sleep With the Covers On". Doch das Album lässt die intime Erzählweise, die das Markenzeichen der Barr Brothers ist, keineswegs hinter sich: "English Harbour" ist eine wunderschöne Folk-Hymne, bereichert durch die Harmonien von Jim James (My Morning Jacket), während "Moonbeam" eine opulente Soul-Serenade mit Streichern ist - veredelt durch den frankophonen Gastgesang der quebecischen Artpop-Künstlerin Klô Pelgag.Die Songs auf Let it Hiss besitzen eine zeitlose Qualität - besonders spürbar in Stücken wie "Naturally", das leise an die Ära klassischer Songschreiber erinnert, in der Melodie und Botschaft untrennbar miteinander verbunden waren. Es ist Musik, die dem Hörer vertraut und sich nach und nach entfaltet - mit Arrangements, die Zurückhaltung und Ambition in Einklang bringen. Im Zentrum steht vielleicht der Song "Owning Up to Everyone", der den Geist des Albums im Kleinen einfängt. ,Dieser Song hat etwas in uns aufgebrochen", sagt Andrew. ,Er fühlte sich wie ein Durchbruch an."Doch all die musikalische Freiheit und emotionale Aufwühlung, die sich durch Let it Hiss zieht, bereitet nicht auf den letzten Song vor: "Upsetter", ein schweißgetränkter, punkgetriebener Rock'n'Soul-Explosion, gekrönt von einem absolut wahnsinnigen Gitarrensolo. Es ist schlicht der wildeste Song, den die Barrs je aufgenommen haben - ein Song, der die Let it Hiss-Philosophie so weit ins Rote treibt, dass er den VU-Meter fast sprengt. ,Ich dachte mir: ,Na ja, der wird es eh nicht aufs Album schaffen`, weil er vielleicht für viele unserer Hörer unerwartet kommt", gibt Brad zu. ,Aber ich glaube, unsere Hörer schätzen es, wenn wir einfach wir selbst sind - und dazu gehört eben auch sowas."Brad und Andrew produzierten Let it Hiss selbst, hauptsächlich zu zweit in ihrem Studio in Montreal. Um die rohe Direktheit und Komplexität des Albums einzufangen, arbeiteten sie mit Mix-Ingenieur Jon Low (The National, Taylor Swift, Bon Iver). Sie luden enge Freunde aus ihrer musikalischen Community ein, ihre Stimmen, Instrumente und Texturen beizusteuern, wenn es die Songs verlangten - Kollaborationen, die sich weniger wie Features, sondern mehr wie natürliche Erweiterungen der Musik anfühlen. Viele dieser Beziehungen entstanden über Jahre gemeinsamer Bühnen, langer Nächte im Studio und einer gemeinsamen Hingabe an das Handwerk. So ist Let it Hiss zugleich das persönlichste und das kollaborativste Album, das sie je gemacht haben.Let it Hiss will nichts auflösen - es will offenlegen. Es lädt die Hörer ein, genau hinzuhören - auf das Rauschen, das Gewicht, das Staunen. Während die Barr Brothers ihren Weg fortsetzen, ist eines klar: Sie haben einander wiedergefunden - und darüber auch ihre Musik.And the rest is hiss-tory

In 2005, Felt 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet brought together two of underground hip-hop’s most respected voices of the time—Murs and Slug—for a second collaboration that felt looser, livelier, and more charismatic than its predecessor. The album captures a moment of creative freedom, where both MCs were firing on all cylinders, trading verses with sharpness, humor, and effortless chemistry. Their interplay reflects a deep mutual respect and a shared drive to push boundaries while keeping things rooted in style and substance.

Working with different producers for each volume allowed Murs and Slug to bring a unique energy to each release, and Ant’s masterful production was central to the chemistry of Felt 2.


With roots in classic soul and West Coast bounce, his beats created a warm, funk-laced foundation that allowed both rappers
to experiment with new cadences and ideas. Rather than lean on moodiness or melodrama, the soundscape of Felt 2 is expansive, colorful, and rooted in rich, infectious rhythm—an aesthetic that has aged gracefully and continues to draw new listeners into its orbit. While undeniably fun, Felt 2 is also structurally tight and full of moments that reward repeat listens. The chemistry between Murs and Slug is effortless, and their shared sense of humor, timing, and respect for the craft creates a lasting impression. It’s a standout entry in the canon of early-2000s indie hip-hop, and one that’s long overdue for a proper vinyl reissue.

For her sophomore outing on Razor-N-Tape, Megatronic drops There’s Truth in Gospel, an extended concept EP built around the idea of a modern-day gospel congregation, reimagined through the lens of soulful, high-energy club sounds. Its six soulful house tracks explore vibrant layers of live instrumentation, from trumpets, flutes, and diverse percussion styles that breathe warmth into the sonic palette of the record. Featuring the voices of Fawziyya Heart, Aku, and Chiqo Casidi, and gorgeous artwork that perfectly captures the rich concept of the music, There’s Truth in Gospel is an ode to unity, joy, and collective celebration.

Shoal makes his debut on space•lab with the Ular EP, a four-track expedition that deepens his fluid, percussive and richly textured signature sound.

Blending intricate rhythms with deep organic pulses, each track moves with a focused energy, driven by detailed and layered sound design, offering moments of intensity and spaciousness in equal measure.

From the stomping opener, Ular, to the ethereal roller, Ankasa, the EP is primed for the dancefloor and is a powerful addition to Shoal’s growing body of work – further solidifying his place as one of the most standout producers in contemporary techno.

Developed over three years across residencies, tours, and periods of deep listening, “Your Whistle Tells of Landscape” finds Australian sound artist Alexandra Spence continuing her investigations into the perceptual entanglements of sound, place, memory, and imagination. Like much of the artist’s work, it unfolds at the liminal edge between the real and the imagined — between what is heard and what is remembered.

Composed from a constellation of materials gathered across sites and seasons — snowscapes recorded in Vancouver, insect choruses from a Sydney backyard, ceramic fragments unearthed while mudlarking with tinysound — it renders an intimate cartography of experience: one shaped equally by ecological resonance and internal drift. Each piece traces a kind of imaginary geography, where sonic ephemera become proxies for topography, weather, or myth.

The album is informed by time spent at EMS (Stockholm) and MESS (Melbourne), where Spence deepened her engagement with microtonality and tuned feedback systems, and by dialogues with sympathetic artists such as Tashi Wada and Patrick Farmer. Sound materials were sourced from Serge Modular systems, a custom lyre built by Tim Wall, amplified objects, handmade electronics, and Spence’s own field recordings captured within rockpools, beneath sand, and among a flock of sheep in the French Pyrenees. On “Magenta,” a collaboration with Delphine Dora, the domestic and mythic intertwine, as layers of voice, environmental recordings, and Halldorophone feedback drift in and out of one another like overlapping weather systems.

Despite its diverse material palette, the album resists spectacle or accumulation. Instead, it moves with a quiet sense of continuity and a rich interiority — less a sequence of compositions than a set of situated attunements. Across its duration, sounds seem to murmur, glint, or hover right at the edge of presence, invoking a listening practice that is as much about orientation as it is about reception. These are pieces not simply about place, but of place — etched with the grains of time, vibration, and breath.

In 2005, Felt 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet brought together two of underground hip-hop’s most respected voices of the time—Murs and Slug—for a second collaboration that felt looser, livelier, and more charismatic than its predecessor. The album captures a moment of creative freedom, where both MCs were firing on all cylinders, trading verses with sharpness, humor, and effortless chemistry. Their interplay reflects a deep mutual respect and a shared drive to push boundaries while keeping things rooted in style and substance.

Working with different producers for each volume allowed Murs and Slug to bring a unique energy to each release, and Ant’s masterful production was central to the chemistry of Felt 2.


With roots in classic soul and West Coast bounce, his beats created a warm, funk-laced foundation that allowed both rappers
to experiment with new cadences and ideas. Rather than lean on moodiness or melodrama, the soundscape of Felt 2 is expansive, colorful, and rooted in rich, infectious rhythm—an aesthetic that has aged gracefully and continues to draw new listeners into its orbit. While undeniably fun, Felt 2 is also structurally tight and full of moments that reward repeat listens. The chemistry between Murs and Slug is effortless, and their shared sense of humor, timing, and respect for the craft creates a lasting impression. It’s a standout entry in the canon of early-2000s indie hip-hop, and one that’s long overdue for a proper vinyl reissue.

Clear Vinyl. Mit ihrem Debüt The Empty Space Between A Seamount And Shock Headed Julia hinterließen The Black Cat's Eye 2023 ein bemerkenswertes Echo in der Szene - ein energetisches und atmosphärisches Werk, das Psychedelic- und Postrock-Elemente auf einzigartige Weise vereinte und schnell vergriffen war. Nun, zweieinhalb Jahre später, präsentiert das Frankfurter Quintett sein neues Album Decrypting Dreams Of Weird Animals And Strange Objects. Auch diesmal lotet die Band die Grenzbereiche zwischen Psychedelic-, Kraut- und Post-Rock aus. Die Musik oszilliert zwischen hypnotischem Drive, verträumten Gitarrenflächen und dynamischen Spannungsbögen. Das Album umfasst sechs Songs, deren Spannweite von fünf- bis zehnminütigen Klangreisen reicht. Neu ist, dass diesmal zwei Bandmitglieder Kompositionen beisteuerten: Neben Gitarrist und Bandgründer Christian Blaser stammt die Hälfte des Materials von Bassist Jens Cappel. Sein kraftvoller, direkter Stil ergänzt Blasers atmosphärischen Ansatz ideal. Blaser: ,Auf dem Debütalbum stammten alle Stücke von mir. Als Gründer der Band lag mein Fokus zunächst darauf, eine musikalische Vision und Richtung vorzugeben. Jens war zu diesem Zeitpunkt noch nicht so in die kreativen Prozesse eingebunden, obwohl er ein außerordentlich talentierter und umtriebiger Musiker ist. Er veröffentlicht regelmäßig großartige neue Musik auf den Bandcamp-Seiten seiner eigenen Projekte, zum Beispiel The Black Black Paint. Als es dann an das Schreiben neuer Songs für das zweite Album ging, brachte Jens einige wirklich tolle Demos mit ein." Stilistisch verbindet das Album, wie schon der Vorgänger, klassische 70er-Einflüsse mit zeitgenössischer Rockmusik - man hört Anklänge an Can, Motorpsycho, Neu!, Indie- und Stonerrock, aber auch an David Gilmours Gitarrenästhetik. Die Musik ist instrumental, einzig im finalen Stück ,The Magic Balloon" übernimmt Jens Cappel den Gesang. Ähnlich rätselhaft wie bei der ersten Platte klingt der Albumtitel: Decrypting Dreams Of Weird Animals And Strange Objects. Blaser erklärt: ,Der Titel ist inspiriert von einem faszinierenden Aspekt der US-amerikanischen TV-Serie Westworld. Dort werden humanoiden Robotern Gefühle und Träume einprogrammiert. Doch weil diese Androiden dadurch immer menschlicher werden, geraten sie außer Kontrolle - die Programmierer suchen daraufhin den Fehler in den von ihnen geschriebenen Quellcodes, analysieren die künstlichen Gefühle, Gedanken und Träume mithilfe ihrer Computerprogramme. Übertragen auf unsere Realität ist der Titel durchaus ironisch gemeint. Unsere moderne Technik vermittelt den Eindruck, wir könnten jeden Bereich unseres Lebens vollständig steuern. Selbstoptimierung und die Kapitalisierung des eigenen Ichs werden zum obersten Prinzip. Eine trügerische Illusion, denn wir sind nur winzige Teile eines größeren, für uns unergründlichen Ganzen. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt sich die Frage: Was kann Kunst zu unserer Wahrnehmung der Welt beitragen? Welche Bedeutung hat es, sich mit musikalischen Mitteln auszudrücken? Durch Technik, Mathematik, Physik und reine Vernunft kommen wir dem Wunder des Lebens und dem Sinn unserer Existenz nicht wirklich näher. Was uns bleibt, ist das Ritual, die Beschwörung, die Ekstase. Musik, Tanz, Malerei, Geschichten - sie offenbaren für kurze Momente den wahren Kern des Lebens, richten unser Verhältnis dazu neu aus und verbinden uns mit dem Universum." Aufgenommen hat die Band wieder im Tonstudio Bieber in Offenbach am Main. Oli Rüger, Studiobetreiber und selbst Musiker, hat langjährige Erfahrung mit dem Aufnehmen von Gitarrenbands. Innerhalb von drei Tagen spielte die Band die Basic Tracks live ein, anschließend ergänzten sie diese durch Overdubs. Rüger war auch als Co-Produzent beteiligt. Cappel: ,Oli hat das richtige Händchen für die perfekte Balance zwischen rohen, heftigen und filigranen Sounds, ohne gleichzeitig den Blick für das große Ganze zu verlieren." Das Werk wurde final von Krautrock-Legende Eroc gemastert - eine passende Wahl für eine Band, die sich nicht nur als Erben der 70er sieht, sondern diese Tradition aktiv in die Gegenwart weiterdenkt. Das monochrome Cover-Artwork unterstreicht eindrucksvoll die dunkle Atmosphäre der Musik. Es verdeutlicht den konzeptionellen Ansatz der Band, Musik nicht nur als Klang, sondern als Raum, Konzept und visionäre Erzählform zu begreifen. Das Titelbild - eine scheinbar endlose Spirale, Symbol für DNA-Strukturen und Ewigkeit - wurde vom italienischen Grafiker Daniele Stochino entworfen. Die Innenseite des Gatefolds verbindet dieses Motiv mit einer Illustration des in Berlin lebenden Grafikers und Musikers Max Emil Hurlebaus. Durch farbige Akzente eröffnet sie kontrastreich neue Perspektiven.

MOON DESTROYS wurde von Juan Montoya (ex-Torche) und Schlagzeuger Evan Diprima (ex-Royal Thunder) gegründet und veröffentlichte 2020 die erste EP "Maiden Voyage". Das 5-Song-Debüt entstand unter Mitwirkung von Troy Sanders (Mastodon) und Bryan Richie (The Sword) und legte den Grundstein für die Band, die 2024 mit Sänger/Gitarrist Charlie Suárez (MonstrO) und Bassist Arnold Nese ihre endgültige Besetzung fand. Im April 2025 rückte MOON DESTROYS dann ins wirkliche Rampenlicht, sicherte sich Support-Slots mit Elder und Dozer und veröffentlichten selbst ihr Debütalbum "She Walks By Moonlight" in limitierter Auflage. Dieses neue Album zeigte sofort die rasante Entwicklung, die über die Verbindungen der Mitglieder zu ihren früheren Bands hinausging. "She Walks By Moonlight" ist rau und verzerrt, aber dennoch verschwommen und hypnotisch und wechselt von schimmerndem Post-Rock zu treibendem Riff-Doom und zurück zu shoegaziger Psychedelia. Es ist eine filmische wie jenseitige Reise einer Band, die sich auch mühelos in die Gefilde von Floor, Mother Love Bone, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Russian Circles und Ride begibt und letztendlich alle Versuche einer Kategorisierung in einem sprudelnden, soghaften, funkelnden Dunst zusammenbrechen lässt. Blues Funeral präsentiert nundie weltweite Wiederveröffentlichung des Albums, ein neues Albums folgt 2026. Transzendenter Heavy Psych-Doom für Fans von REZN, King Buffalo, Pelican und Dead Meadow "With She Walks By Moonlight, Moon Destroys proves they're not just refining their sound--they're pushing boundaries, crafting a record that's as meditative as it is crushingly heavy." _Ghost Cult

Die schottische Folk-Punk-Indie-Band Brògeal veröffentlicht am 17. Oktober das Debütalbum „Tuesday Paper Club“ über Play It Again Sam. „Tuesday Paper Club“ vermischt Romantik, Verlust, Nostalgie und Unfug und kreiert einen Genre-Mix der kurz vor dem Siedepunkt steht. Das Album ist vollgepackt mit Instrumenten wie Akkordeon, Banjo, Bouzouki, Mandoline und einer flotten Penny Whistle. Es verbindet alte Folk-Traditionen mit dem Indie-Gefühl der Gen Z und kreiert einen Sound, der angesichts der Dunkelheit des 21. Jahrhunderts lacht, singt und tanzt.

Das Album wurde im Black Bay Studio, in einer ehemaligen Fischverarbeitungsfabrik auf der Isle of Lewis aufgenommen, mit einem atemberaubenden Blick auf die Bucht. Aufgenommen haben die fünf Bandmitglieder das Album zusammen mit dem irischen Produzenten Richie Kennedy, der schon mit Künstler*innen wie The Libertines, The Last Dinner Party, Interpol, Dua Lipa und U2 gearbeitet hat.

F: Composé, écrit et enregistré entre Paris, Sète, Bruxelles, Buenos Aires et Rio de Janeiro, ’Le Disque
Bleu’ est le 11ème album à s’inscrire dans la discographie incomparable de Benjamin Biolay.
En deux volumes distincts mais complémentaires – titré “Résidents” pour le disque 1, “Visiteurs” pour
le disque 2 –, ce nouvel opus est une invitation au voyage entre les deux rives de l’Atlantique. Un voyage
d’une richesse musicale inouïe et d’une profondeur lexicale insensée.
D: „Le Disque Bleu“ wurde in Paris, Sète, Brüssel, Buenos Aires und Rio de Janeiro komponiert, geschrieben
und aufgenommen und ist das elfte Album in der unvergleichlichen Diskografie von Benjamin Biolay.
In zwei getrennten, sich jedoch ergänzenden Teilen – Disc 1 mit dem Titel „Résidents“ und Disc 2 mit dem
Titel „Visiteurs“ – lädt dieses neue Werk zu einer Reise zwischen den beiden Ufern des Atlantiks ein. Eine
Reise von unglaublicher musikalischer Vielfalt und lexikalischer Tiefe.

"Nu Vintage returns with his highly anticipated new album, The Beat Bodega, a follow-up to his acclaimed 2023 release Vibrations In Color.

Like a crate-digger’s dream corner shop, The Beat Bodega offers a vibrant assortment of beats and textures, stacked high with dusty samples, laid-back rhythms, and head-nodding vibes. Adding to the flavor are collaborations with fellow beat luminaries Pat Van Dyke, Emapea, and MichRyc, each bringing their own distinct flair to Nu Vintage’s finely tuned production.

True to Cold Busted’s dedication to high-quality physical editions, The Beat Bodega will be available in carefully crafted formats: a limited run of 500 copies on 180-gram white vinyl and 100 copies on baby blue cassette tape, alongside its digital release.

With The Beat Bodega, Nu Vintage reaffirms his place in the modern instrumental hip hop movement while pushing his artistry forward, offering listeners a richly detailed soundtrack that feels both rooted and refreshingly new."

"Nu Vintage returns with his highly anticipated new album, The Beat Bodega, a follow-up to his acclaimed 2023 release Vibrations In Color.

Like a crate-digger’s dream corner shop, The Beat Bodega offers a vibrant assortment of beats and textures, stacked high with dusty samples, laid-back rhythms, and head-nodding vibes. Adding to the flavor are collaborations with fellow beat luminaries Pat Van Dyke, Emapea, and MichRyc, each bringing their own distinct flair to Nu Vintage’s finely tuned production.

True to Cold Busted’s dedication to high-quality physical editions, The Beat Bodega will be available in carefully crafted formats: a limited run of 500 copies on 180-gram white vinyl and 100 copies on baby blue cassette tape, alongside its digital release.

With The Beat Bodega, Nu Vintage reaffirms his place in the modern instrumental hip hop movement while pushing his artistry forward, offering listeners a richly detailed soundtrack that feels both rooted and refreshingly new."

Enjoy The Ride Records, in partnership with Paramount Music, proudly presents Beverly Hills Cop III Original Motion Picture Score, Music by Nile Rodgers.

Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold return for the third installment of the series, and the franchise was graced with some new faces behind the scenes: Director John Landis (Animal House, Thriller, Coming To America), and Musician, Producer, and Songwriter Nile Rodgers (Chic, David Bowie, Coming To America).

Homage is paid to Faltermeyer's beloved Axel F, with a funky and fun rendition performed by Rogers and Richard Hilton, but with the addition of an orchestra to the band and synths, the action-packed score takes a fun, dynamic direction that suits the film perfectly.

Beverly Hills Cop III Original Motion Picture Score is available for the first time on 2xLP vinyl. It contains the full score, plus alternate score tracks, unused demos, and bonus tracks. Housed in a gatefold jacket (which features a WonderWorld theme park map, recreated by Dan Goldwasser) and red poly-lined inner sleeves, the pressing is limited to 1,000 copies across four colorful themed variants.

Tame Impala’s fifth full-length album ‘Deadbeat’. On it, Parker sculpts a collection of wickedly potent club-psych explorations as a vehicle for some of his most direct, brain-wormy songwriting to date, recasting Tame Impala as a kind of future primitive rave act in the process.

Deadbeat sounds like the work of an artist with a levelled-up mastery and bristles with a revitalized energy for experimentation. 12 songs crafted with a newfound embrace of spontaneity for the renowned perfectionist. How that manifests is a distinct minimalism and crunch to many of the tracks, with a clutch of crucial details, timbres and textures that add an ineffably new dimension to the sound, as well as a richer, more playful vocal range than ever.

THE CULT 1994 ALBUM FROM THE ENIGMATIC NORWEGIAN BLACKENED DOOMSTERS.
PRESENTED ON VINYL FOR THE FIRST TIME. Carpathian Full Moon formed in Norway in 1992 & was responsible for the sole full-length album, ‘Serenades In Blood Minor’; considered somewhat of a lost classic of melodic Scandinavian blackened doom. The style was reminiscent of acts such as Ophthalamia, as opposed to the more traditional & conventional style of black metal which was sweeping Europe at the time. ‘Serenades In Blood Minor’ was originally released on Avantgarde Music in 1994 & showcased refined musicianship as well as an eclectic mix of influences, whilst incorporating elements of progressive music into the compositions to give a rich texture throughout (members went on to form the more prog rock based act, Julia Dream). A darkly atmospheric opus which evoked the grandiose nature of black metal, but with a more melodic & often sombre doom core, ‘Serenades In Blood Minor’ saw Carpathian Full Moon sculpting an identity of their own with this release, before eventually splitting up. ‘Serenades In Blood Minor’ was recorded & mixed in October & November 1993, at Waterfall Studios in Oslo & is presented for the first time on the vinyl format. "

Die schottische Folk-Punk-Indie-Band Brògeal veröffentlicht am 17. Oktober das Debütalbum „Tuesday Paper Club“ über Play It Again Sam. „Tuesday Paper Club“ vermischt Romantik, Verlust, Nostalgie und Unfug und kreiert einen Genre-Mix der kurz vor dem Siedepunkt steht. Das Album ist vollgepackt mit Instrumenten wie Akkordeon, Banjo, Bouzouki, Mandoline und einer flotten Penny Whistle. Es verbindet alte Folk-Traditionen mit dem Indie-Gefühl der Gen Z und kreiert einen Sound, der angesichts der Dunkelheit des 21. Jahrhunderts lacht, singt und tanzt.

Das Album wurde im Black Bay Studio, in einer ehemaligen Fischverarbeitungsfabrik auf der Isle of Lewis aufgenommen, mit einem atemberaubenden Blick auf die Bucht. Aufgenommen haben die fünf Bandmitglieder das Album zusammen mit dem irischen Produzenten Richie Kennedy, der schon mit Künstler*innen wie The Libertines, The Last Dinner Party, Interpol, Dua Lipa und U2 gearbeitet hat.

Young Gun Silver Fox are the captains of AM Waves, setting sail towards an isle where melodies soak the shoreline and grooves sway like palm trees. Their route traces a natural progression fromWest End Coast, an album that cast Andy Platts (Young Gun) and Shawn Lee (Silver Fox) as musical virtuosos of SoCal-infused pop. AM Waves does more than duplicate the perfection of West End Coast. It improves it.

Recorded at The Shop in London and Roffey Hall in the English countryside, AM Waves burnishes the blend between the duo's modern aesthetic and their sumptuously crafted homage to '70s-styled pop, rock, and soul. "This music hits a certain spot for me personally that nothing else quite does," says Shawn, who produced the album amidst his projects for Saint Etienne, Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra, and several other acts. "It's real high-caliber music. It's easy and breezy to listen to but it's really hard to make. Every aspect is A game."

The A game behind AM Waves fuels 43 minutes of Young Gun Silver Fox in peak form. "AM Waves is much more instinctive," says Andy, whose penchant for writing irresistible hooks and melodies also shapes his role as lead singer and lyricist/composer for the band Mamas Gun. "It's more vivid. You can see the clarity to the colors of AM Waves whereas West End Coast is slightly more impressionist, as it were."

Originally issued as a single in September 2017, "Midnight in Richmond" is the anchor of AM Waves. "I hit one chord, which I'd never played before, and the song sort of wrote itself," notes Shawn. "It was intuitive. In many ways, the primary function of what I'm doing is trying to find that chord that opens a door and takes you someplace else. Those chords have magic." Andy embellishes the song's appeal by nimbly juxtaposing wistful emotions with a sun-kissed melody, his voice evoking richly drawn memories. The qualities that make "Midnight in Richmond" an instant classic abound throughout the album.

"Lenny" and "Take It or Leave It" spotlight Andy's versatility as a songwriter. The former was inspired by a dream he had where Lenny Kravitz owned a bar. "It was surreal," he says. "He was polishing the glasses and just serving me hit after hit." Like swimming through moonshine, Andy languorously savors every syllable in the song. "Take It or Leave It" is pure pop bliss. "That was one of those songs that fell out in half an hour," he says. "I had everything and it was done." Shawn adds, "It's such a perfect song in itself. When I listen to it, it's like you've created a record that already existed."

Young Gun Silver Fox introduce a five-piece horn section on "Underdog" that literally trumpets the song's protagonist. Shawn affectionately dubbed them the "Seaweed Horns" in honor of the Seawind Horns, an LA-based unit that recorded with powerhouses like Michael Jackson,Rufus & Chaka Khan,and Earth, Wind & Fire during the late-'70s. Andy explains, "The horns grab another hue of the west coast sound, which is the starting point, but it's also maybe the point where we're injecting a little bit more of ourselves and some outside colors into the familiar west coast palette."

A bounty of treasures course through AM Waves' ebb and flow. "Mojo Rising," which the duo penned with Rob Johnson, is a veritable retreat to paradise. "Sky-bound, heaven sent / Way above the clouds watching shootingstars descend," Andy sings, mirroring the music's celestial undertones. Sensuality contours the notes on "Just a Man," a song that basks in the allure of a woman who leaves "footprints on the water" while "Love Guarantee" is festooned with the Seaweed Horns. "I wanted to bring more of that R&B slickness into the mix," Shawn notes about the latter track. "We hadn't done a tune with that sort of groove." Similar to his work on "Underdog," Nichol Thomson's intricate horn arrangement on "LoveGuarantee"exemplifies another distinction between AM Waves and its predecessor.

"Caroline" occupies a special place on AM Waves, beyond spawning the album title. It tells the story of Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station that broadcast from an offshore vessel during the '60s and '70s. "They played the music that kids wanted to hear, whether it was the old stuff or cutting edge stuff," says Andy. "'Caroline' is about Radio Caroline's eventual capture." Complementing Andy Platts' deft wordplay, which draws parallels between radio airwaves and the station's literal home on the ocean, Shawn Lee layers nearly a dozen different parts on "Caroline," showcasing the vastness of his musicality. "I loved that track as soon as I heard it," Andy continues. "It's a beautiful fusion of me and Shawn."

The Seaweed Horns joinYoung Gun Silver Foxas they detour to the dance floor on "Kingston Boogie." Shawn explains the track's genesis, "I was thinking, what have we not done yet We definitely should get an AOR disco thing happening. I quite like disco. The beat is so metronomic that it allows you to be really sophisticated on top. 'Kingston Boogie' just laid itself out. I call it 'midnight disco.'" With a nod to "Lenny," Andy Platts sets "Kingston Boogie" back at Lenny's Bar, this time revealing a detail or two about its mysterious proprietor as he pours sweet wine and moonshine.

In a sense, AM Waves ends with the beginning. Even before there was Young Gun Silver Fox, there was "Lolita," the first song Andy Platts and Shawn Lee wrote together and a crowd-pleasing staple of the duo's live sets. The tale of a femme fatale who harbors a secret was recorded for West End Coast but instead furnished the B-side to "Long Way Back" as well as a bonus track on the North American edition of the album. Despite the song's checkered trajectory, its infectious chorus sparked the brighter, more buoyant orientation of AM Waves.

Like the moon pulling the tide, Young Gun Silver Fox are a magnet for good songs. "We're both so obsessed and constantly interested in music-making," says Andy. "We're both thinking about it all the time. When you know you have an accomplice with you that's the same as you, it's very liberating. Suddenly, worlds of color start to appear." Indeed, AM Waves is elemental in its power to induce pleasure. Dive right in.

Christian John Wikane

(New York City / February 2018)

The Reds, Pinks & Purples is a San Francisco indie band led by Glenn Donaldson (The Ivy Tree, Skygreen Leopards, Art Museums and Painted Shrine). For fans of_ Guided By Voices, The Chills, Teenage Fanclub, The Shins, The Replacements, Leonard Cohen, The Go-Betweens, Robert Wyatt. Having penned over 200 songs in the last six years, The Reds, Pinks and Purples release a collection of tracks previously unreleased on physical format that continues to romanticise the wonders and woes of the world. With song titles that read like chapter sub-heads for a post-Douglas Coupland novella, 'The Past Is A Garden I Never Fed' takes The Reds, Pinks and Purples central orator Glenn Donaldson through the turmoil of small talk and everyday water cooler moments with a fine sense of pathos and irony. Set to a soundtrack that swerves between the dark days of Television Personalities and Byrdsian twang to the Jarvis Cocker-styled rhetoric and vocal tenderness of 'Richard In the Age Of The Corporation' with hints of everything from Husker Du's fuzzed splendour to the chiming majesty of The Chameleons it's an empowering listen. The pathos and irony of the glorious track 'The World Doesn't Need Another Band' sets out the band's store, it's a measured and quietly outspoken rant at lacklustre opposition peppered with a gorgeous guitar break. Meanwhile, 'I Only Ever Wanted To See You Fail' rumbles with an Eddie And The Hot Rods pre-punk riff before dissolving into a tale of self-doubt and remorse, bemoaning others' good luck. 'Toxic Friend' is from the book of the TVP's Daniel Treacey with an upbeat chorus that smacks of all that was good in old school indie in a hail of fuzzy logic and guitars. From humble beginnings as a home recording project, The Reds, Pinks and Purples has blossomed into a sporadic live unit with tours on both sides of the Atlantic and appearances at Pitchfork Fest London and Woodsist Fest as well as support slots for indie legends such as Destroyer, Guided By Voices, and The Feelies. "Donaldson's best work hides allure within a bigger picture, like a jangle-pop egg hunt" Pitchfork.

STANDFIRST Titanic, the project spearheaded by Mabe Fratti and Hector Tosta (aka I. la Católica), return with a sumptuous and life-affirming new album.



In her sensational 1929 biography Tiger Woman, dancer and socialite Betty May claimed her ‘coster’s eye’ meant she liked to wear as many colours as possible. “Colours to me are like children to a loving mother. Each is my favourite, yet I can never bring myself to deny the others by preferring one.” May’s bold and inclusive strategy is one that manages to transfer itself, almost a century later, to Hagen, the new record by Titanic.


Many will know Titanic as the Mexico City-based brainchild of cellist and singer Mabe Fratti and multiinstrumentalist Hector Tosta who is now operating under the pseudonym, I. la Católica, (taken, rather unusually, from the name of the street the pair live on). With Hagen, and their previous release, Vidrio, (2023), the pair are creating a distinctive signature sound in modern alternative pop music. Nobody else sounds quite like them. Both records have an open hearted nature and simple, winning melodies that play off against a taste for drama, spectacular orchestration and a feeling of otherworldly mystery. Hagen is the more ambitious, sometimes more mystical effort. From the opening handclaps of ‘Lágrima del Sol’, (a wonderfully uptempo playground chant translating as a tear from the sun but, surely, not referencing the brand of pineapple wine?), the record dances its way through various mid-to-late-eighties inspirations, lush and widescreen passages of melancholy and vertiginous contrasts.


Mystery is often found in the simple but slightly odd song titles. English translations of various track titles give, ‘you swallowed the gum’, ‘leak’, ‘a tear from the sun’, ‘raising the trophy’ ‘digging dimensions’, ‘the owner’, ‘the decapitated hen’ and ‘the trap is exposed’. All denote striking images, metaphysical hints and emotional cues or simple, even childlike actions. Though Fratti and Tosta don’t reveal its provenance, the album’s title could even be a crafty play on words: the listener would be forgiven in thinking the moments of brash contrast and eyebrow raising theatricalism in the music constitute a musical nod to German punk chanteuse, Nina Hagen.


On Hagen, singer and cellist Mabe Fratti once again displays her brilliant knack of speaking to us directly. There is never the suspicion of her playing to the gallery, and the directness of many of the lyrics don’t allow it. Parallel to this, Fratti has an almost magical ability to give Hector Tosta’s melodies, and her and Tosta’s lyrics ones imbued with an insight and meaning that feels otherworldly. Tosta admitted it was “pretty wild to hear Mabe take the interpretations to a different place” and the listener can pick up on the delight Fratti takes in (literally) adding a voice to the many narratives.


Two examples can be shown here: ‘Gotera’ (Leak) uses harsh slashes of cello and tough, gunfire-like guitars and drums and multiple vocal lines that could be acting as a Greek chorus. They play off brilliantly against Fratti’s soft, slightly baleful vocal take that delivers lyrics such as: ‘nobody knows where the leak is / but I know where it is / they fight in front of the door and / nobody can go in’. With ‘La Gallina Degollada’ the somewhat blithe melody melody line, sung with what could be sarcastic brio by Fratti, plays against an itchting rhythm and rasping guitar part. The punch comes when you see that the song is about a chicken that has been decapitated and read lyrics such as: ‘I already saw it, it moved, the decapitated chicken’ / ‘could it be that I'm broken’ and ‘Two people hurt each other by thinking that they no longer agree’/ ‘Hours pass and the chicken represents what scares me’.


There may be death and fights to deal with, but there is also a quality of chirpy self-reliance about Hagen that is a key part of its nature. Like Betty May and her colourful outfits, Hagen’s sound often revels in its own sense of richness. Throughout, the record delivers vaulting string sections or glutinous guitar squeals that could, like the powerful, driving ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ (Digging Dimensions) have come directly from a glossy 1980s TV series. Fratti sees this “glam sound” developed by Tosta on the aforementioned track and ‘Te Tragaste el Chicle’ (You Swallowed The Gum), as moments that were truly “revealing” for the album as a whole during its making.


What else? The thud and thump of ‘La Trampa Sale’ (The Trap is Exposed), and its sudden change of tempo and mood betrays a monstrously ambitious piece of music, the players almost greedily creating the sounds. Other moments are heart wrenching: ‘Libra’ ends on a poppy chord switch that cleverly ramps up the emotion inherent in the music’s notation. You could almost imagine a teenager in a bedroom forty years ago, rewinding the track over and over on a small, cheap cassette player, unable to get enough of that sugarsweet switch. Elsewhere, Oneohtrix Point Never adds stardust and an unearthly sense of space on the changeable, slightly moody meditation, ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ (Firebird). The record ends with ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ (Lifting the Trophy), a track that could soundtrack a state wedding, what with its beautiful cascading piano parts, a sugary vocal and short triumphal guitar riffs that add a rich patina to the overall sound. Fratti: “When I doubled those vocals on ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ I felt there was an epiphany happening, right at that moment.”


Making a good record is a team game. Tosta and Fratti recall seeing Randall from Circular Ruin Studios in NYC “tweak the drums in ‘Libra’ to make that amazing effect of the gated reverb”, or the shaping of ‘Gotera’, “when (recording engineer) Nate Salon added some synths to the track.” Drummer Eli Keszler, “an amazing and versatile player” had the songs down pat in a couple of days” and, according to Tosta, Oneohtrix Point Never “just came to one of the sessions and we hung out, and after all the recordings he and Nate were together in some studio and out of nowhere they sent us some beautiful tracks for ‘Pájaro de Fuego’! Fratti concurs. “He decided that he wanted to record because he was listening to the record (Nate works closely with him) and he really liked it! It was a total honour, indeed!”


Bedazzled by the playing, the skyscraping ambition in the arrangements and the giddy moments of contrast thrown up by Hagen, we could allow ourselves a brief moment of flippancy and state that Titanic’s new record is Yacht Rock meets Aeschylus, full-on. It’s also worth speculating that, in this hyper-sensitive, intemperate age, Titanic’s music has the power, however fleetingly, to heal hurts. Hagen is a brilliant showcase for a fresh and enriching form of pop music: displaying a magpie eye for what glints and plundering what has gone before.


Like Vidrio, Hagen was partially and additionally recorded at Fratti and Tosta’s house, aka Tinho Studios in Mexico City, as well as Golden Girl Studios & Circular Ruin Studios in New York City. Mixing was done by Santiago Parra in Pedro y el Lobo Studios, Mexico City and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios, New York City. The recording engineer was Nate Salon.


Hagen featured Mabe Fratti on cello, vocals & backing vocals, I. la Católica on guitar, keyboards, prepared piano, bass & backing vocals, drums by Eli Keszler and synths in ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ from Daniel Lopatin and Nate Salon.


All compositions on Hagen are written by I. la Católica, except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were composed by I. la Católica and Mabe Fratti. The record was produced by I. la Católica and co-produced by Nate Salon & Mabe Fratti. And all lyrics are by I. la Católica except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’, ‘Gotera’, ‘Gallina degollada’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were written by I. la Católica & Mabe Fratti.

STANDFIRST Titanic, the project spearheaded by Mabe Fratti and Hector Tosta (aka I. la Católica), return with a sumptuous and life-affirming new album.



In her sensational 1929 biography Tiger Woman, dancer and socialite Betty May claimed her ‘coster’s eye’ meant she liked to wear as many colours as possible. “Colours to me are like children to a loving mother. Each is my favourite, yet I can never bring myself to deny the others by preferring one.” May’s bold and inclusive strategy is one that manages to transfer itself, almost a century later, to Hagen, the new record by Titanic.


Many will know Titanic as the Mexico City-based brainchild of cellist and singer Mabe Fratti and multiinstrumentalist Hector Tosta who is now operating under the pseudonym, I. la Católica, (taken, rather unusually, from the name of the street the pair live on). With Hagen, and their previous release, Vidrio, (2023), the pair are creating a distinctive signature sound in modern alternative pop music. Nobody else sounds quite like them. Both records have an open hearted nature and simple, winning melodies that play off against a taste for drama, spectacular orchestration and a feeling of otherworldly mystery. Hagen is the more ambitious, sometimes more mystical effort. From the opening handclaps of ‘Lágrima del Sol’, (a wonderfully uptempo playground chant translating as a tear from the sun but, surely, not referencing the brand of pineapple wine?), the record dances its way through various mid-to-late-eighties inspirations, lush and widescreen passages of melancholy and vertiginous contrasts.


Mystery is often found in the simple but slightly odd song titles. English translations of various track titles give, ‘you swallowed the gum’, ‘leak’, ‘a tear from the sun’, ‘raising the trophy’ ‘digging dimensions’, ‘the owner’, ‘the decapitated hen’ and ‘the trap is exposed’. All denote striking images, metaphysical hints and emotional cues or simple, even childlike actions. Though Fratti and Tosta don’t reveal its provenance, the album’s title could even be a crafty play on words: the listener would be forgiven in thinking the moments of brash contrast and eyebrow raising theatricalism in the music constitute a musical nod to German punk chanteuse, Nina Hagen.


On Hagen, singer and cellist Mabe Fratti once again displays her brilliant knack of speaking to us directly. There is never the suspicion of her playing to the gallery, and the directness of many of the lyrics don’t allow it. Parallel to this, Fratti has an almost magical ability to give Hector Tosta’s melodies, and her and Tosta’s lyrics ones imbued with an insight and meaning that feels otherworldly. Tosta admitted it was “pretty wild to hear Mabe take the interpretations to a different place” and the listener can pick up on the delight Fratti takes in (literally) adding a voice to the many narratives.


Two examples can be shown here: ‘Gotera’ (Leak) uses harsh slashes of cello and tough, gunfire-like guitars and drums and multiple vocal lines that could be acting as a Greek chorus. They play off brilliantly against Fratti’s soft, slightly baleful vocal take that delivers lyrics such as: ‘nobody knows where the leak is / but I know where it is / they fight in front of the door and / nobody can go in’. With ‘La Gallina Degollada’ the somewhat blithe melody melody line, sung with what could be sarcastic brio by Fratti, plays against an itchting rhythm and rasping guitar part. The punch comes when you see that the song is about a chicken that has been decapitated and read lyrics such as: ‘I already saw it, it moved, the decapitated chicken’ / ‘could it be that I'm broken’ and ‘Two people hurt each other by thinking that they no longer agree’/ ‘Hours pass and the chicken represents what scares me’.


There may be death and fights to deal with, but there is also a quality of chirpy self-reliance about Hagen that is a key part of its nature. Like Betty May and her colourful outfits, Hagen’s sound often revels in its own sense of richness. Throughout, the record delivers vaulting string sections or glutinous guitar squeals that could, like the powerful, driving ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ (Digging Dimensions) have come directly from a glossy 1980s TV series. Fratti sees this “glam sound” developed by Tosta on the aforementioned track and ‘Te Tragaste el Chicle’ (You Swallowed The Gum), as moments that were truly “revealing” for the album as a whole during its making.


What else? The thud and thump of ‘La Trampa Sale’ (The Trap is Exposed), and its sudden change of tempo and mood betrays a monstrously ambitious piece of music, the players almost greedily creating the sounds. Other moments are heart wrenching: ‘Libra’ ends on a poppy chord switch that cleverly ramps up the emotion inherent in the music’s notation. You could almost imagine a teenager in a bedroom forty years ago, rewinding the track over and over on a small, cheap cassette player, unable to get enough of that sugarsweet switch. Elsewhere, Oneohtrix Point Never adds stardust and an unearthly sense of space on the changeable, slightly moody meditation, ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ (Firebird). The record ends with ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ (Lifting the Trophy), a track that could soundtrack a state wedding, what with its beautiful cascading piano parts, a sugary vocal and short triumphal guitar riffs that add a rich patina to the overall sound. Fratti: “When I doubled those vocals on ‘Alzando el Trofeo’ I felt there was an epiphany happening, right at that moment.”


Making a good record is a team game. Tosta and Fratti recall seeing Randall from Circular Ruin Studios in NYC “tweak the drums in ‘Libra’ to make that amazing effect of the gated reverb”, or the shaping of ‘Gotera’, “when (recording engineer) Nate Salon added some synths to the track.” Drummer Eli Keszler, “an amazing and versatile player” had the songs down pat in a couple of days” and, according to Tosta, Oneohtrix Point Never “just came to one of the sessions and we hung out, and after all the recordings he and Nate were together in some studio and out of nowhere they sent us some beautiful tracks for ‘Pájaro de Fuego’! Fratti concurs. “He decided that he wanted to record because he was listening to the record (Nate works closely with him) and he really liked it! It was a total honour, indeed!”


Bedazzled by the playing, the skyscraping ambition in the arrangements and the giddy moments of contrast thrown up by Hagen, we could allow ourselves a brief moment of flippancy and state that Titanic’s new record is Yacht Rock meets Aeschylus, full-on. It’s also worth speculating that, in this hyper-sensitive, intemperate age, Titanic’s music has the power, however fleetingly, to heal hurts. Hagen is a brilliant showcase for a fresh and enriching form of pop music: displaying a magpie eye for what glints and plundering what has gone before.


Like Vidrio, Hagen was partially and additionally recorded at Fratti and Tosta’s house, aka Tinho Studios in Mexico City, as well as Golden Girl Studios & Circular Ruin Studios in New York City. Mixing was done by Santiago Parra in Pedro y el Lobo Studios, Mexico City and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios, New York City. The recording engineer was Nate Salon.


Hagen featured Mabe Fratti on cello, vocals & backing vocals, I. la Católica on guitar, keyboards, prepared piano, bass & backing vocals, drums by Eli Keszler and synths in ‘Pájaro de Fuego’ from Daniel Lopatin and Nate Salon.


All compositions on Hagen are written by I. la Católica, except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were composed by I. la Católica and Mabe Fratti. The record was produced by I. la Católica and co-produced by Nate Salon & Mabe Fratti. And all lyrics are by I. la Católica except ‘Escarbo Dimensiones’, ‘Gotera’, ‘Gallina degollada’ & ‘Pájaro de Fuego’, which were written by I. la Católica & Mabe Fratti.

"Taking influence from the pioneers of Música Popular Brasileira, Wolfgang Pérez has crafted an exquisite album of summery experimental pop music that encapsulates the beauty and chaos of modern Brazil. A must-listen for fans of Tom Zé, Gilberto Gil, Kiko Dinucci, Negro Leo, Ricardo Dias Gomes, and João Gilberto.

Genre-blending songwriter, arranger, and guitarist Wolfgang Pérez is set to release his highly anticipated new album Só Ouço in July 2025 on Hive Mind. Known for his unique fusion of influences, the German-Spanish artist first captured attention with his 2021 debut WHO CARES WHO CARES (Fun In The Church), followed by the critically acclaimed Spanish-language album AHORA (BAUMUSIK, 2024).

Só Ouço is the fruit of an 18-month creative residency in Rio de Janeiro, where Pérez collaborated with a group of young Brazilian musicians. Deeply inspired by the city's sounds and rhythms, the album marks an exciting chapter in Pérez’s evolving artistic journey.

In 2022, Wolfgang Pérez arrived in Rio de Janeiro on a university exchange to study composition, and quickly found himself immersed in the city’s rich musical landscape. Introduced early on to Rio icons like Thiago Nassif, Arto Lindsay, and Ana Frango Elétrico, what began as a semester turned into a transformative three-semester stay. Pérez absorbed the city's contrasts - it's beauty, its people, it's chaos and violence, all it's contradictions and life - while deeply studying Brazilian music at UFRJ/UNIRIO under the guidance of masters Josimar Carneiro, Marcello Gonçalves and Almir Cortes.

Wolfgang spent the first 6 months or so soaking in as much as possible, going to shows, to the baile funk parties, walking the streets, hiking the mountains in and around Rio, listening to music, making friends, learning where to go and where not to, learning the language, learning the slang, incorporating the culture. He used the time to forget himself in the vibrance of the city.

After this the band came together through a series of chance encounters and happy accidents...some loose jam sessions led to shows around Rio, where Wolfgang, alongside Luis Magalhães (bass), Pedro Fonte (drums) and Paulo Emmery (electric guitar), started to flesh out some of Wolfgang's compositions. At a show at Audio Rebel they met Angelo Wolf (owner of Wolf Estúdio and engineer for artists such as Bala Desejo, Dora Morelenbaum, Zé Ibarra, Marcos Valle, Antonio Neves and Ana Frango Elétrico); moved by the music, Wolf offered Pérez residency and studio time at Wolf Estúdio, providing the foundation for Só Ouço. Angelo was a catalyst for the production of Só Ouço, his openness and generosity helping to shape the sound of the record. Carol Maia, a young guitarist, lyricist and singer brought a sensitivity and tenderness to the songs, while Antonio Neves helped to pull together the brass and woodwind players who would complete the lush sound of the album.

Meticulously arranged, and beautifully composed, Só Ouço is a joy to listen to and surprising at every turn. Classic songwriting and cutting edge production blend to produce an album that is by turns tender and gentle, abrasive and unsettling, a joyful celebration of life in all its complexity."

Originally released in 1981, Mr. Circle’s Thi Nam should really have been recognised decades ago as a jazz dance classic. A beautiful example of European jazz fusion at its most sophisticated and optimistic, the album is immersed in the sonics and rhythms of pan-Latin fusion and Brazilian samba, but with one foot in the upful jazz fusion exemplified by Roy Ayers or the Mighty Ryeders.
Taking inspiration from Ursula Dudziak, Flora Purim, and Norma Winstone, singer Monika Linges uses the crystalline tone of her voice as an instrument within the ensemble. The LP is built around the interaction of her vocalising with bandleader Mikesch van Grümmer’s keyboard versatility, all underpinned by the surging Brazilian rhythms laid down by drummer Gerd Breuer and percussionist Ponda O’Bryan.
The result is a unique set of sunlit, Brazilian-inspired jazz fusion. Aimed squarely at the feet throughout, the album kicks off with a double whammy: the funky title track, followed by. the percussion-rich Juntos. The long form Suka begins with a shimmering intro before taking flight halfway through into an urgent jazz samba with Linges’ vocals to the fore. Featuring the vocals of Bill Ramsay, Tides is another driving jazz-dancer with a Brazilian twist, while the summery, propulsive Schoch-Schach features virtuosic interplay between Linges and alto saxophone.

"Que Se Sepa Pt. 1 & 2" by Kenny Dope Featuring Daniel Rojo
Released on Kay-Dee Records, "Que Se Sepa Pt. 1 & 2" is a vibrant, rhythm-driven collaboration between the legendary Kenny Dope and talented vocalist Daniel Rojo. This two-part single captures the essence of Latin breakbeats, infused with the unmistakable flair of Roberto Roena’s cover song influence, creating an energetic fusion of tropical percussion and funky beats.

Kenny Dope, known for his work with Masters at Work and his extensive influence on the house and hip-hop scenes, produces a dynamic track that combines smooth rhythms with infectious hooks. The sound is an irresistible blend of classic Latin grooves and modern, dancefloor-friendly beats, perfect for both the old-school salsa lover and the contemporary club crowd.

The release is an homage to Roena's legacy, infused with breakbeats and explosive percussive elements that pay tribute to the genre's rich history. The energy and rhythms of "Que Se Sepa Pt. 1 & 2" are destined to bring the heat to any playlist, with Daniel Rojo’s vocal contributions adding the finishing touch to this unforgettable Latin-influenced masterpiece.

This release marks yet another impressive addition to Kay-Dee Records, known for curating tracks that bridge the gap between classic sounds and modern production, celebrating the vibrance of Latin music while keeping it fresh and exciting for today’s audience.

Celebrated DJ, producer, and sonic explorer Auntie Flo (aka Brian d’Souza) — described by The Guardian as “one of global club culture’s most vital voices” — returns this autumn with ‘Birds of Paradise’: a rhythmically rich, emotionally resonant, and ecologically grounded new album, out 23 October via his A State of Flo imprint. The album will be launched with a special live show at London’s Jazz Caféon the same day.

‘Birds of Paradise’ draws on d’Souza’s global club experience while deepening his connection with the natural world. Built around classic Roland drum machines and iconic vintage synths, the record is a joyful, body-driven celebration of rhythm and movement, but one grounded in ecology and place. The album’s spiritual centre lies in Saligao, Goa, near d’Souza’s maternal homeland where his Auntie Florie (where the name is derived from) is buried. Where he found his ‘paradise’ nearby, staying in a converted fisherman’s hut and recorded dawn choruses from a riverside studio overlooking mangrove-lined waters. Environmental textures from Japan also make their way into the music, creating a sonic map rooted in lived experience.

“Birds of Paradise is about finding beauty and rhythm in a chaotic world. It’s about listening, to nature, to our bodies, to what’s real. It’s a reminder that dance music can be both joyful and grounded.” The album blends Afro-Latin polyrhythms with Western 4/4 patterns, fusing instinctive, dancefloor energy with field recordings that anchor the music in the earth. Described by d’Souza as “tropical with a few deeper edges, a balance of light and dark.”

The new record follows the acclaimed ‘In My Dreams, I’m A Bird and I’m Free’, which earned 4 stars and Global Album of the Month from The Guardian, featured in Disco Pogo’s Albums of the Year, and received support from Luke Una, Resident Advisor, Juno, Bandcamp, Mixmag, DJ Mag, Electronic Sound, The Skinny, Beatport, Ban Ban Ton Ton, and more. The album’s launch show at Omeara London sold out. Other recent projects include the ‘Outernational Dance’ EP on cult label Multi Culti, event series ‘Plants Can Dance (and Mushroom’s Sing)’ which explore plant and fungi bioelectricity as a means of live composition, and ‘Black Beacon’, a haunting cassette release and soundwalk series recorded on the abandoned military island of Orford Ness. There, d’Souza explored the eerie intersection of nature, decay, and deep time, gaining special access to restricted buildings to capture long-form soundscape compositions.

Alongside his production work, d’Souza has emerged as a leading voice at the intersection of sound and science. He curated music for Imperial College’s groundbreaking psychedelic therapy trials, developing six-phase playlists to guide participants through psilocybin-assisted sessions treating conditions such as fibromyalgia and gambling addiction. His five-hour ambient set at Watching Trees Festival, selected as Resident Advisor’s Mix of the Day, continued this exploration into the therapeutic potential of sound in altered states. He also spent six months collaborating with BBC producer Tom Raine on a documentary for BBC World Service, centred on a two-week journey through Kenya and Goa. There, he performed live, led plant music workshops, and joined a deep listening retreat rooted in field recording. “I realised my studio isn’t just four soundproofed walls filled with instruments — it’s the journey itself. It’s the people I meet, the natural world I listen to, and the connections I feel.”

This same commitment to deep listening fuels his live concept Plants Can Dance, a project that combines the biosonification of plants and fungi with modular synthesis. The next event, on 14 September at Hideout Hackney Wick, will feature performances by Stella Z and Lapalace, with d’Souza and resident Lamine playing live alongside responsive plants in collaboration with Repot Hackney Wick and the label Music To Watch Seeds Grow By. “I’ve spent years exploring how electronic music can connect us, not just to each other, but to the natural world. Whether it’s translating mushroom data into melody or capturing birdsong at dawn, it’s about finding resonance across bodies, ecosystems, and machines.”

Rooted in his Goan and Kenyan heritage and shaped by years of travel and collaboration, d’Souza’s creative mission is simple: to reconnect the electronic world with the natural one. Through A State of Flo, he continues to blur the boundaries between club culture, sound art, and ecological awareness.

"Kiso", "Asama", "Hakuba" and "Hida". He recalls the landscapes of his past and carefully weaves his feelings and emotions into the music. This work is one of the pinnacles that Akira Miyazawa has reached.

This work was released in 1970 as one of Victor's "Japanese Jazz" series. "We are Japanese, so I think we have to create something that only Japanese people can do." These are the words of Akira Miyazawa from this period. When Miyazawa tried to create a work that only Japanese people could do, it was inevitable that he would choose his own origins, the hometown where he was born and raised, as a motif. For Miyazawa, who was born in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture and loved fishing, "Kiso", "Asama", "Hakuba" and "Hida" are truly landscapes of his past. Takeo Moriyama's raging drums, Yasuo Arakawa's rich bass, Masahiko Sato's overflowing piano, and Miyazawa's saxophone, which is like a mass of emotion. Nostalgia and admiration for the land where he was born and raised, as well as admiration and reverence for Mother Nature. Miyazawa looks to his roots and weaves his thoughts and images into his music with sincerity and care. This album, "Kiso" is the pinnacle that Miyazawa has reached.

Text by Yusuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUNDS / DEEP JAZZ REALITY)

In 1982, the elite, core musicians (MFSB / The Salsoul Orchestra) behind the soulful Philly Sound - Earl Young (drums), Ron Baker (bass), Norman Harris (guitar), Lenny Pakula (organ), Larry Washington (percussion), Vince Montana, Jr. (vibes) - and powerhouse vocalists David Simmons, Joe Freeman, Ron Tyson and Bobby Love convened at Philadelphia’s historic Sigma Sound and Virtue Studios to record some of the genre’s biggest hits. This small, but amazing set of lush recordings, which were mixed at Alpha Studios - ensuring that every note and nuance was captured with the highest fidelity, recently caught the attention of the famed producer and remixer Eric Kupper. Kupper got his start working as a keyboardist and guitarist for such producer/remixers as David Morales, Frankie Knuckles, Arthur Baker, Peter Rauhofer, and Richie Jones, just to name a few. Since 1986, he has played on, remixed, and/or produced over 1400 records for artists spanning all contemporary musical genres. Presented here is “Bad Luck” which features Simmons’ incomparable lead vocals and a brilliant remix by Kupper. This release is not just a tribute to the past, but a vibrant continuation of the legacy these legendary musicians helped create.

Having worked together on his 2024 album Colours & Light, Project Gemini aka Paul Osborne joins forces once again with Wendy Martinez, French singer and composer, and also part of renowned psych-girl group Gloria on a new collaborative EP. Landing on Mr Bongo, ‘Time Stands Still / Le temps s'arrête’ is a sonic exploration that shows a shared love of the progressive music emanating out of France in the ‘60s and ‘70s and the celebrated film soundtrack composers of the time. A more melodic and romantic excursion than Paul’s previous recordings, this EP marries his richly textured, cinematic psych rock with Martinez’s captivating vocal presence.

A body of work born during the period Paul was finishing up his last LP Colours & Light, he penned an album’s worth of instrumental library-style music and had the idea of having Wendy add vocals and lyrics to a selection of them. The instrumental record got scrapped, but thankfully ‘Time Stands Still’ grew out of it.

Paul was a fan of Wendy’s work as both a solo artist and in the band Gloria, and her inclusion on the Project Gemini tracks ‘Entre chien et loup’ & ‘Extra Nuit’ showed a clear synergy to their musical approaches and sounds. For ‘Time Stands Still’ he sent over instrumental tracks one by one, with Wendy taking time to find melodies and French poetry she was happy with and returning her ideas from her home just outside of Lyon.

Drawing inspiration from French soundtrack composers such as François de Roubaix, Frances Lai and Michel Colombier, as well as French female artists including Léonie and Laurence Vanay, these productions are a contemporary love letter to this sound, not a homage. Mixing psych, folk, chanson, and French new wave, it’s music that pulls you in deeper, with groove, grit and passion at its core.

'Je n'ai plus peur' kicks things off with a sultry energy. It’s a psych-funk production drenched in attitude, swagger, and edge, which nods to the left-field side of Serge Gainsbourg’s music. Elsewhere, 'Âme contre âme' feels like the opener from a forgotten new-wave film, managing to be at both beautiful yet sinister and longing. 'The Crawler' could be incidental music from the same film, with Wendy using her voice as an instrument layering the backing track as Paul's bass takes centre stage. The ghostly spoken word of 'Ce qui est intact' echoes a funky version of what the Théâtre du Chêne Noir d'Avignon may have recorded.

A transportive journey ‘Time Stands Still’ is nostalgic yet new in the same smoke-filled breath. Fuzzed-up guitars and driving basslines meld with folk-leaning organs and mellotron vibrations to give that eerie, otherworldly edge. All of which are seasoned by the sensuous, layered vocal tones of Wendy Martinez, alongside crisp drums from Tony Coote and considered percussive touches by Paul Elliot.

Während er sich auf die größte Stadiontour des Jahres als Special Guest von Oasis vorbereitet, kündigt Richard Ashcroft heute den 3. Oktober als Veröffentlichungstermin für sein brandneues Album "Lovin' You" an. "Lovin' You" ist sein siebtes Solo-Album und sein erstes komplett neues seit "Natural Rebel" von 2018 und folgt auf "Acoustic Hymns, Vol. 1" von 2021.

Der zweifache Gewinner des Ivor Novello Award (Songwriter des Jahres und Outstanding Contribution To British Music) hat sich im Laufe seiner drei Jahrzehnte umfassenden Karriere zu einem der versiertesten und einflussreichsten Songwriter entwickelt. Sein erstes Kapitel mit The Verve erreichte einen bemerkenswerten Höhepunkt mit "Urban Hymns", einem hitreichen Album ("Bitter Sweet Symphony", "The Drugs Don't Work", "Lucky Man", "Sonnet"), das mit 11 Platinauszeichnungen zu den meistverkauften Alben in der Geschichte Großbritanniens zählt. Die Band erreichte mit ‚Forth' ein zweites Nummer-1-Album und gewann drei BRIT Awards.
Seine Solokarriere setzte diesen Erfolg mit seinem Debütalbum "Alone With Everybody" fort, das auf Platz 1 landete. Alle fünf folgenden Studioalben landeten zwischen #2 und #5. Mit The Verve und seiner Solokarriere hat er drei britische Nummer-1-Alben und fünf weitere Top-10-Platten aufgenommen, außerdem eine Nummer-1-Single und fünf Top-10-Hits.

Während er sich auf die größte Stadiontour des Jahres als Special Guest von Oasis vorbereitet, kündigt Richard Ashcroft heute den 3. Oktober als Veröffentlichungstermin für sein brandneues Album "Lovin' You" an. "Lovin' You" ist sein siebtes Solo-Album und sein erstes komplett neues seit "Natural Rebel" von 2018 und folgt auf "Acoustic Hymns, Vol. 1" von 2021.

Der zweifache Gewinner des Ivor Novello Award (Songwriter des Jahres und Outstanding Contribution To British Music) hat sich im Laufe seiner drei Jahrzehnte umfassenden Karriere zu einem der versiertesten und einflussreichsten Songwriter entwickelt. Sein erstes Kapitel mit The Verve erreichte einen bemerkenswerten Höhepunkt mit "Urban Hymns", einem hitreichen Album ("Bitter Sweet Symphony", "The Drugs Don't Work", "Lucky Man", "Sonnet"), das mit 11 Platinauszeichnungen zu den meistverkauften Alben in der Geschichte Großbritanniens zählt. Die Band erreichte mit ‚Forth' ein zweites Nummer-1-Album und gewann drei BRIT Awards.
Seine Solokarriere setzte diesen Erfolg mit seinem Debütalbum "Alone With Everybody" fort, das auf Platz 1 landete. Alle fünf folgenden Studioalben landeten zwischen #2 und #5. Mit The Verve und seiner Solokarriere hat er drei britische Nummer-1-Alben und fünf weitere Top-10-Platten aufgenommen, außerdem eine Nummer-1-Single und fünf Top-10-Hits.

Italian producer, musician, DJ, and groove architect Sam Ruffillo drops his long-awaited debut album Tipo Così on Toy Tonics – a sun-drenched, genre-blurring statement that blends classic house with Mediterranean flair, romantic funk, and tongue-in-cheek Italo vibes. Over 11 expertly crafted tracks, Ruffillo delivers a dancefloor-ready, emotionally rich LP that connects deep musicality with irresistible rhythm and light-hearted elegance.

After three acclaimed EPs and collaborations with revered artists such as Barbara Boeing, Kapote, and Fimiani, Ruffillo has firmly cemented himself as a core artist on the Berlin-based label. Known for his unmistakable signature sound — a warm mix of vintage disco, 90s house, and Italian vocals — Sam’s music has garnered widespread DJ support from tastemakers like Gerd Janson, Palms Trax, Seth Troxler, and DJ Tennis, while becoming a staple on Italian airwaves. His infectious summer anthems like Danza Organica and Perfetta Così have soundtracked countless club nights and festivals, creating a loyal following that eagerly awaited this full-length debut.

Tipo Così is the natural culmination of a musical journey that’s both playful and profound — a travel diary written in grooves, synth stabs, and melodies that feel like postcards from a parallel Mediterranean universe. The album expands and deepens Ruffillo’s world into a fully immersive experience: lush emotional chords meet tight syncopated grooves, vintage synth textures collide with irresistibly catchy pop refrains, and the boundary between sincerity and playful irony is exquisitely blurred.

Entirely written, produced, and recorded in Italy, in his beloved hometown of Bologna, the album finds Ruffillo at the helm on keys, drum machines, and production, supported by a talented cast of musicians contributing live bass, guitar, and other organic elements — further enriching his trademark fusion of electronic grooves and natural instrumentation. There’s a tactile warmth in these tracks, a hands-on feel that adds soul and depth to every beat.

This album also marks Ruffillo’s heartfelt return to singing in Italian, with standout tracks like House Tipo Così, Mi Fa Volare, Ancora, and Dentro Di Me, where romantic naïveté meets pulsing club energy in a way that feels both timeless and refreshingly new. The vocal performances add an intimate, human touch to the music, reinforcing the personal stories woven into each song. There’s poetry in the casual, a bittersweet elegance in the way the lyrics float over groove-heavy production.

Having toured extensively across Europe, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Mexico — with sets at iconic venues like Panorama Bar and festivals such as Sónar Barcelona — Ruffillo has fine-tuned much of this album in front of live audiences. The real-world testing ground infused the record with a dynamic energy and immediacy that only comes from genuine crowd interaction. These songs weren’t just made in the studio — they were lived on dancefloors around the world.

Tipo Così is not just a collection of tracks. It’s a philosophy — playful, stylish and unmistakably personal. A modern club album bursting with heartfelt emotion and sophistication. Music for dancers with taste; for lovers of beauty, rhythm, and the little imperfections that make things feel real.

But what exactly is Tipo Così? More than just a phrase, it’s a way of being. It’s about embracing elegance without effort, mixing irony with sincerity, and letting nostalgia slip into the room without taking over the party. It’s Sam Ruffillo’s signature language: relaxed, confident, meticulous yet never rigid — where a chord progression can say as much as a lyric, and every beat carries intention.

The album’s visual identity complements this vision perfectly. The artwork and promotional materials lovingly reference Italian design from the ’80s and ’90s, combining bold graphic elements with playful pop culture nods. This aesthetic mirrors Ruffillo’s music — a fusion of vintage warmth and contemporary freshness, delivered with authenticity and charm.

Sam Ruffillo belongs to a new generation of European artists who are reshaping electronic music by blending past and present, analog and digital, groove and emotion — without nostalgia or pose. His artistic universe is coherent, vibrant, and alive; a rich tapestry of sound, images, and stories that coexist with lightness, precision, and a distinctive voice.

Reflecting on his artistic journey, Sam describes music as a vital, deeply human impulse — a tribal connection to rhythm and body that has driven him since he was a teenager. His creative process balances meticulous planning with room for spontaneity, usually sparked by clear melodic ideas that evolve naturally. Collaborations with close friends, especially vocalists like Ninfa, add warmth and authenticity, exemplified in tracks like “House Tipo Così.” For Sam, music is honest self-expression — crafted for listeners who crave memorable melodies and rhythms imbued with genuine feeling.

While technical perfection is tempting, Sam prioritizes emotion, knowing that what truly resonates is the soul behind the sounds. His long-standing partnership with Toy Tonics has been key in nurturing his vision, offering a blend of creative freedom and professional support. Looking ahead, Sam Ruffillo is excited to broaden his live performances, and release new projects that continue to blend electronic grooves with organic, heartfelt sounds — maintaining the delicate balance between playful irony and sincere emotion that defines Tipo Così.




Kurzversion:
Italian DJ, producer and musician Sam Ruffillo drops his debut album Tipo Così on Toy Tonics - a sunny blend of house, funk, Italo and pop, full of groove and emotion. Written and recorded in Bologna with live instruments and Italian vocals, it’s a playful, elegant journey shaped on dancefloors worldwide. A stylish, sincere club album where nostalgia, irony and rhythm meet in perfect harmony.

- Mi Fa Volare
Road-tested across continents and now finally released, “Mi Fa Volare” channels 90s uplifting euphoria with big breakbeats, lush chords, and Italian vocals built to stick. Somewhere between balearic bliss and piano house nostalgia, it’s a feel-good club weapon made for peak-time moments - already sung back by crowds after just one listen.


- Ancora
“Ancora” is a vibrant hi-NRG track inspired by 80s Italo disco, sung entirely in Italian. It blends driving rhythms with dreamy melodies, capturing the radiant spirit of the decade. This fresh yet nostalgic song delivers euphoric vibes and timeless energy, making it a perfect fit for both dancefloors and reflective listening moments worldwide.


- Dentro Di Me
“Dentro Di Me” channels ‘90s sensuality through a fast-paced, UK house-inspired lens. Entirely in Italian, it’s a bold and contemporary dance track where hypnotic vocals meet high-energy grooves. Blending nostalgic textures with forward-thinking production, the result is a seductive and euphoric trip - equal parts emotional and club-ready.


- Amigo
“Amigo” blends Latin groove, acoustic guitar-driven rhythm, and Mediterranean flair into a warm, magnetic, cross-cultural dance anthem. Sung in Spanish and Italian, it celebrates connection, inclusivity, and the joy of moving together - whether stranger or friend. With its unstoppable rhythm and vibrant energy, it’s a feel-good track with a unifying spirit.


- Ma Sei Fuori
“Ma Sei Fuori” is a tongue-in-cheek dancefloor bomb blending raw house energy with catchy vocal phrases and a nod to classic French touch. Driven by hypnotic vocal lines and a playful attitude, it doesn’t take itself too seriously - while still proving serious club impact. Built for late-night moments, it’s bold, bouncy, and impossible to ignore.

Anlässlich des 50-jährigen Jubiläums freut sich Ace Records, eine limitierte 3-LP-Compilation anzubieten, die dort beginnt, wo alles begann – bei Chiswick Records. Im November 1975 verwirklichte Ted Carroll endlich seinen Traum von einem eigenen Independent-Label, als Chiswick seine erste Single veröffentlichte – die EP 'Speedball' von The Count Bishops. Mit Roger Armstrong und Trevor Churchill an seiner Seite war Chiswick zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort. Bald darauf veröffentlichten sie Singles, die sich in den Bereichen Pub Rock, Punk, Metal, Pop und Rockabilly etablierten, darunter 101’ers, Motörhead, The Gorillas, The Radio Stars, The Radiators, The Stukas und viele mehr. Auch gabe es Artists die später groß werden sollten:. Joe Strummer war der Frontmann der 101’ers. Johnny & the Self Abusers verwandelten sich später in Simple Minds, während Riff Raff einen jungen Billy Bragg in ihren Reihen hatte. Der Solokünstler Jakko wurde zu einer tragenden Säule einer späteren Inkarnation von King Crimson. Über sieben Jahre hinweg verkauften sich die Singles von Chiswick nicht nur gut, sondern das Label schaffte es sogar, mit so unterschiedlichen Künstlern wie den Radio Stars, Sniff ‘n’ the Tears, Rocky Sharpe & The Replays und den Damned Chart-Singles zu landen.Das von Roger Armstrong persönlich zusammengestellte 3-LP-Set vereint einige der besten 45-rpm-Veröffentlichungen von Chiswick aus den Jahren 1975 bis 1982. Von bekannten bis hin zu weniger bekannten Klassikern. Roger Armstrong und Ted Carroll haben auch die informativen Begleittexte verfasst, mit Geschichten aus der spannenden Historie von Chiswick Records. Ja, natürlich auch jene um das Motörhead-Debüt. Mit einer sehr limitierten Auflage wird diese Veröffentlichung sicherlich zu einem Sammlerstück werden. 3LPs, 36 Tracks

Blues for the Modern Daze is an album by American blues rock musician Walter Trout, focussing more on the "traditional" blues, and taking a more straightforward approach to songwriting. The album reached #1 on the UK Jazz & Blues Chart and #4 on the Billboard Blues Chart.

It was produced by Trout himself together with Grammy-nominated producer Eric Corne. Some of the highlights on this album include the tracks "Saw My Mama Cryin'", "The Sky Is Fallin' Down" and "Pray For Rain"._x000d__x000a_Blues for the Modern Daze is available as a limited edition of 1000 numbered copies of translucent pink & blue marbled vinyl. It is housed in a gatefold sleeve and includes a 4-page booklet with lyrics.
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Furthering the passionate exploration of cinema that has guided her two previous LPs - 2017’s ‘Fassbinder Wunderkammer’ and 2020’s ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’ - the Milanese guitarist/composer, Alessandra Novaga, returns to Die Schachtel with ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’, two sides off shimmering, tense compositions – culminating as one of her most creatively ambitious and conceptually rich outings to date – freely inspired by the life and work of the Russian director Andrej Tarkovsky and the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Classically trained at the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland, over the last decade Alessandra Novaga has emerged as one of the leading figures within northern Italy’s thriving new, experimental, and improvised music scene, rendering striking solo efforts, in addition to collaborations with Loren Connors, Stefano Pilia, Elliott Sharp, Nicola Ratti, Paula Matthusen, Sandro Mussida, Kid Millions, Travis Just, Francesco Gagliardi, and others. Remarkably ambitious and forward thinking, her approach to the guitar embarks upon a relentless deconstruction and rethinking of her instrument’s unique properties through distinct applications of structure, resonance, space, and tone, creating in a deeply personal and emotive music, seeking narrative and meaning within the abstractions of sound.

In 2017, with the LP, ‘Fassbinder Wunderkammer’, issued by Setola Di Maiale, Novaga embarked upon the exploration of her love of film. Having begun with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, this was followed in 2020 by Die Schachtel’s release of ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’, a deeply intimate mediation on the life and work of Derek Jarman. Rather than focusing on a fixed point of inspiration or a single film to work from, these pieces achieve a form of abstract portraiture, distilling elements drawn from these filmmaker’s life and work into ambient networks of texture and tonality. ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle”’ freely inspired by the Russian director Andrej Tarkovsky and the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, finds Novaga radically expanding her sonic palette within this approach.

The seeds of ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ can be traced to a conversation that Novaga had with Alan Licht (contained in the highly regarded Common Tones: Selected interviews with artists and musicians 1995–2020, Blank Forms, 2021), relating to the connections between music and cinema, which led her to consider Andrej Tarkovsky’s use of Bach's music within a symbiotic framework: how the music illuminates the imagism of the films, and the film illuminates new dimensions of the music. Slowly developing over the subsequent years, the resulting album comprises six individual works, some of which draw directly upon pieces of Bach’s music that Tarkovsky used in his films – specifically 'Erbarme dich, Mein Gott', 'Das alte Jahr vergangen ist', and 'Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ' - while others draw upon the sensibilities and moods evoked in the imagination by the director’s films.

As a point of departure and illumination into the process and spirit that underscored the creation of the album, Novaga points toward a passage in Tarkovsky’s "Sculpting in Time”:

“Art is born and takes hold wherever there is a timeless and insatiable longing for the spiritual, for the ideal: that longing which draws people to art. Modern art has taken a wrong turn in abandoning the search for the meaning of existence in order to affirm the value of the individual for its own sake. What purports to be art begins to look like an eccentric occupation for suspect characters who maintain that any personalized action is of intrinsic value simply as a display of self-will. But in artistic creation the personality does not assert itself, it serves another, higher and communal idea.”

‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ can be understood as a realisation of the collectivism of which Tarkovsky speaks, in the service of something far beyond the expression of self. Encountering Novaga moving into fairly uncharted waters, three of the album’s pieces incorporate the human voice we encounter the voices of others: that of the poet Arsenij Tarkovsky, the director’s father; a singer from Bach’s ‘Erbarme dich, Mein Gott’, capturing a broadcast in an underground parking lot, and Novaga’s own, rendering the melody from Bach’s “Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ”. Roughly alternating between solo excursions on guitar and bristling electroacoustic pieces, over the course of the album’s two sides Novaga weaves one of her most abstract and ambitious bodies of recordings to date, shifting between the complex tonal mediations generated by the six strings of her instrument, and phycological densities activated by the expanded pallet of sonority made possible by the tactics and approaches of musique concrète.

An immersive, deeply engaging meeting of beauty and melancholy within a labyrinth of voices and ideas, ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ transfigures the life and work of Andrej Tarkovski – one of the greatest auteurs in the history of cinema – into a singular, experimental statement of collective truth. Belonging to recent, ambitious stream of contemporary new music releases on Die Schachtel that’s already included Novaga’s ‘I Should Have Been a Gardener’, Stefano Pilia’s ‘Spiralis Aurea’, Jim O'Rourke & Giovanni Di Domenico’ ‘Immanent In Nervous Activity’, Claudio Rocchetti’s ‘Labirinto Verticale’, and Damāvand’s ‘As Long As You Come To My Garden’, among others, ‘The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle’ is available on as a limited edition of 300 dark turquoise vinyl LPs released on June 21, 2024. The LP, designed by Bruno Stucchi / dinamomilano, comes with an 8-pages insert illuminated by Alessandra’s text as well as the lovely and intense photographs of Matilde Piazzi.

Returning to Die Schachtel with his fourth full-length with the label, the Genoa born, Bologna based, guitarist and electroacoustic composer, Stefano Pilia, delivers “Lacinia”, a new, immersive cycle of compositions, delving deeper into the realm of metaphysical, spiritual, and divine meaning, weaving astounding arrangements of sonority from a palette of synths, strings, brass, organ, various electroacoustic instruments, and percussion. Resting at a refined intersection of the acoustic and electroacoustic, drone, and chamber music - overwhelmingly beautiful, delicate, and bold, - “Lacinia” stands as a high-water mark in Pilia’s already remarkable and forward-looking career.

Since its founding in Milan during the early years of the new millennium, Die Schachtel has occupied a singular place in the landscape of experimental music, issuing a carefully curated body of reissues and archival releases by historically significant figures and projects like Christina Kubisch, Luciano Cilio, Marino Zuccheri, Prima Materia, Claudio Rocchi, Lino Capra Vaccina, Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, Roland Kayn, and numerous others, balanced against bristling contemporary counterparts by the likes of Jim O'Rourke, Giovanni Di Domenico, Nicola Ratti, Luigi ArchettI, Valerio Tricoli, etc. Running like a spine through the label’s output is a deep dedication to the work of the Italian guitarist and electroacoustic composer Stefano Pilia. Now Die Schachtel returns with “Lacinia”, Pilia’s forth full-length with the label and their first release of 2024. Building on the ground of deeply personal engagement with metaphysical, spiritual, and divine meaning, explored within his previous LP with Die Schachtel, 2022’s “Spiralis Aurea”, “Lacinia” encounters the composer working in close calibration with various ensembles, including the Bologna based Ensemble Concordanze and Comunale di Bologna String Orchestra, weaving synths, strings, brass, organ, various electroacoustic instruments, and percussion into an astounding reconfiguration of immersive, contemporary minimalism that stands among Pilia’s most noteworthy releases to date. Issued by Die Schachtel in two special double vinyl editions and a CD edition, “Lacinia” features artwork by Bruno Stucchi/Dinamomilano, and is an absolute marvel that draws you in and doesn’t let go.

First emerging during the early 2000s, over the past two decades – via solo releases and numerous collations with artists like Oren Ambarchi, Valerio Tricoli, Alessandra Novaga, Z'EV, Andrea Belfi, David Grubbs, and numerous others - the Genoa born, Bologna based, guitarist and electroacoustic composer, Stefano Pilia has presented a singular voice within Italian experimental music, harnessing visceral energy and hands-on immediacy within delicately woven tapestries of sonority, each investigating the sculptural properties of sound and illuminating its relationship to space, memory, and the suspension of time. “Lacinia”, Pilia’s forth solo venture with Die Schachtel, encounters the composer reentering his longstanding practice of collaboration with various ensemble forms, including the Bologna based Ensemble Concordanze, for the albums central piece, “Lacinia Off Axis”, spinning stunning string confirmations by Pietro David Carami and Elena Maury on violin, Alessandro Savio on viola, and Mattia Cipolli on cello.

A new, important cycle of compositions by Pilia, “Lacinia” (meaning "lace" in Latin) builds upon the exploration of the metaphysical, spiritual, and divine dimensions through numbers, geometry, and the creation of tonal forms explored by 2022’s “Spiralis Aurea”, mirroring archetypal, immutable forms at the juncture of the abstract realm of mathematics and architectural structures in the physical world, expands the poetics and compositional ideas featured in its predecessor. Regraded by Pilia as both a series of individual compositions and a single work, “Lacinia” was conceived to “define a circular path (a sort of "rhizomatic lace") where the beginning and end touch, suggesting the concept of time not only as linear but also cyclical and ritualistic—an eternal return, a process of transformation where matter changes, its state changes, but without altering the invisible internal principle of mutation”, embarking upon a a series of “steps, degrees, and energetic quanta in a progression of archetypal whole numbers and transcendent creation.”

The resulting 16 tracks unfold as a series of complex sonic meditations. While deeply resonant with the minimalism of composers like Arvo Pärt, LaMonte Young, Pauline Oliveros, and Eliane Radigue, Pilia digs deep and moves far beyond the predictable tonal relationships and structures of that idiom, echoing the ancient liturgical and devotional music of composers like Gesualdo da Venosa, Monteverdi, and John Dowland, at a refined intersection of the acoustic and electroacoustic, drone, and chamber music.

Fascinatingly structured as a whole to include a number of motif returns, across which we encounter works like “Lacinia Off Axis” appearing in slightly different rendering, states, or evolutions three times, and compositions like “Eve” appearing twice in subtly different forms and arrangements - first for four oscillators, guitar and voice and then for string orchestra - as well “Maris Stella”, which similarly makes two appearances, first for horn trio, organ and percussion, and then for string orchestra, with “Lacinia” Pilia delves further into the world of chamber music than ever before, creating a deeply inward, mediative body of work the totality of which, guided by its rich string arrangements of arching, sorrowful tone, feels almost like a mass for some unproclaimed loss; simultaneously locked in the nuances of a moment, while managing to suspend time.

Perhaps most remarkable is Pilia's ability to create a remarkable sense of sonic cohesion while using such a varied number of ensembles and instrumentation. From the sprawling string arrangements delivered by Comunale di Bologna String Orchestra, under the direction of Paolo Mancini, and Ensemble Concordanze, and a flute trio (Cadux / Plectere) brilliantly played by Manuel Zurria, to pieces for sax, organ and percussion, violin duo and percussion, organ and percussion, Pilia manages to create a sense of singular, encompassing world that flows forward like a shifting stream.

Overwhelmingly beautiful, delicate, and bold, “Lacinia” is unquestionably a high-water mark in Stefano Pilia’s already remarkable, forward-looking career. Nothing short of a marvel of contemporary Minimalism that, through its shifting arrangements of harmonics, tonality, and texture draws flickering images of ancient forms of music into the present day, “Lacinia” is Issued by Die Schachtel in two special editions on double vinyl and a CD edition, featuring artwork by Bruno Stucchi/Dinamomilano. This is an immersive all-consuming listen that can’t be missed.

When Are You Leaving? is the second full-length album from LA-based Korean-American artist NoSo (Baek Hwong), and it marks a bold evolution in both sound and storytelling. Where their 2022 debut Stay Proud of Me introduced a deeply earnest voice navigating identity and belonging - earning praise from NPR's All Songs Considered, Paste, The Guardian, and a stunning performance at Tiny Desk - this follow-up turns the lens inward with even greater clarity and confidence.

Across a vibrant palette of disco grooves, jagged guitars, and atmospheric ballads, NoSo captures the quiet power of letting go - of fractured relationships, old narratives, and the need to be understood by others. The album is rich with emotional contrast: thorny truths wrapped in dreamy production, vulnerability delivered with the assuredness of an artist coming fully into their own.

Self-produced and sonically fearless, When Are You Leaving? is a coming-of-age record for anyone still in the process of becoming, and a testament to NoSo's place among the most compelling songwriters of their generation.