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Sam Cooke, inventor and true King of Soul, recorded Mr. Soul in 1963, the same year as Night Beat, and seems to be its more adult counterpart, with soulful ballads taking up most of the album. A laidback tempo and rich arrangements lay the foundation for Sam's somewhat melancholy voice floats, creating an uplifting spirit that can mend anyone's broken heart.

With standards such as "Willow Weep For Me", "I Wish You Love", and "For Sentimental Reasons", Cooke shows a quiet emotive side of himself without losing his keen sense of melody, using the strength of his voice without overpowering the listener. Had Sam Cooke lived longer, we might have had more music of this rare quality. As it stands, we must make do with the treasures he left behind.

Mr. Soul is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on orange vinyl.

At the beginning of the 1960s, at the Berklee College of Music, Byard Lancaster met some feisty friends: Sonny Sharrock, Dave Burrell and Ted Daniel. It is easy to see why he rapidly became involved in free jazz. Once he was settled in New York, he appeared on Sunny Murray Quintet, recorded under the leadership of the drum crazy colleague of Albert Ayler.

In 1968, the saxophonist and flutist recorded his first album under his own name: It’s Not Up To Us. The following year he came to Paris in the wake of... Sunny Murray. He would come back to France in 1971 (again with Murray) and in 1973 (without Murray for a change). This is when he met Jef Gilson, the pianist and producer who encouraged him to record under his own name again.

On Palm Records (Gilson’s label), he would release four albums: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement and Funny Funky Rib Crib.

“Funny Funky Rib Crib” is an unforgettable recording (made up of several sessions dating from the middle of 1974) of creative jazz overwhelmed by funk and soul.

If Lancaster had already made successful albums in the same genre – notably New Horizons, under the name Sounds Of Liberation which he co-led with Khan Jamal –, this one is an homage to James Brown and Sammy Davis enjoying the company of a host of guests including François Tusques (electric piano), Clint Jackson III (trumpet), François Nyombo (guitar), Joseph Traindl (trombone)...

Funny Funky Rib Crib’s cover is a three-quarter profile portrait of the saxophonist (who can also be heard on flute, piano and even vocals), however, on the record, it is the whole group, inspired and frenetic, that tests the melodies of “Just Test”, “Dogtown” or “Rib Crib” – the two versions of which display leader Lancaster’s art of nuance. On both sides of the album, the group also moves into a calmer groove, infused by blues and soul, “Work And Pray” and “Loving Kindness” are meditative tracks where listeners can lay back and relax before asking for more: Funny Funky Rib Crib

Nobody knew. Not the crowd packed into Circolo Kessel that Sunday evening, not even the six musicians on stage. When Giardini di Mirò played on March 19, 2023, it was supposed to be just another homecoming show in Cavriago, the kind of night where you play for the people who’ve known you longest. Some were missing from the audience, though: “Our closest friends stayed home to watch the football match tonight,” Jukka quipped from the stage. “But that’s fine, we’ll deal with them tomorrow.” In hindsight, even Juventus fans who celebrated their 1–0 victory over Inter made the wrong choice.

Seventy minutes in, all the instruments converged into a one-chord riff, driven by the drums and punctuated by screaming guitars. A repetitive rhythm that paired brutal volume with hypnotic precision. Even those at the back of the room felt it: that trance-like state where sound becomes physical. Then the wall of sound collapsed. Guitar feedback lingered in the air for a few seconds before fading into nothing.

This was the last sound Giardini di Mirò made. They haven’t played since, and there are no plans to do so again. But in that moment, nobody knew.

The closing song that night was also the opener of their debut full-length, recorded more than two decades earlier. Its title, A New Start, carries an unintended irony the band would likely appreciate. It is also oddly fitting that their final show took place in the same building where they began. Circolo Kessel, previously known as Calamita, served as the band’s rehearsal space for many years. Yet since their rise to becoming one of Europe’s defining post-rock acts, they had never performed a concert there.

In a fortunate coincidence, Markus Mathis – a longtime fan who had recorded several of their shows before – also captured this final concert using two room microphones and a feed from the mixing desk.

Quasi Casa is the complete, unfiltered document of that night: an “official bootleg” spanning over 70 minutes of purely instrumental music, drawing on material from across their entire career, from the earliest releases to Del Tutto Illusorio. It captures, with striking clarity, the intensity that defined the band’s live performances.

Rather than simply uploading the recording and calling it a day, the band chose to assemble a physical release as a parting gift to their fans. The double LP includes a 16-page booklet with extensive liner notes and visual material.

Welcome to the ROCKSTEADY SOUND from Jamaica..

Towards the end of 1965 some say due to the extreme heatwave that was hitting the island, the people that followed the Sound System Dances demanded a slower beat so they could still move and groove to the all night musical affairs.

So sit back and enjoy the tunes that rocked the island between 1966-1968 the Rocksteady Sound that hit the town…..

Some grooves don’t rush to the dancefloor — they crawl there, slow and heavy, like smoke wrapping around a bassline. With Fragments of Reality, The Balek Band sculpt an electronic funk that lives between shadow and light — an end-of-the-world fever dream, a Barjavel-style Ravage where chaos turns nihilistic.

No sequencer grid here — just four musicians sharing the same room, shaping air and tension together: drums locked tight with a slap bass, a guitar dripping with echo and heat, and a one-man orchestra behind his machines, weaving acid lines and synth arpeggios while mixing the band live — drenching it in delay, reverb, and saturation, like a dub producer in a Kingston studio, Lee Scratch Perry or King Tubby conjuring ghosts through smoke.

This isn’t fusion — it’s friction. A living ritual where the TB-303 hums, and machines don’t dominate but converse with the human pulse. Each track feels like a night that refuses to end — that humid in-between where trance slips into languor, and the body starts to think for itself.

The record recalls the cosmic jazz of Alain Mion or Eddy Louiss meeting the fiery energy of West African afrobeat musicians freshly arrived in a smoky Belleville basement in the mid-’80s. When The Balek Band summon ghosts, it’s only to reshape them — bending the past into something futuristic, alive, and strangely refreshing. Both disciplined and delirious, Fragments of Reality feels like a promise at dawn: dark funk for the late hours, slow acid for warm blood.

This EP isn’t nostalgic, though it remembers. It’s a transmission from a parallel past — a moment when jazz players met drum machines and decided never to stop playing. Each note sweats, each rhythm breathes. You can almost see the light cutting through the haze, faces half-awake, half-possessed.

The Balek Band aren’t recreating a moment — they’re keeping it alive.
Flesh and cables. Impulse and patience.
A band, not a loop.
A trip, not a format.

How do losers dance? According to Helmut, almost weightlessly, with soft feet, warm gestures, sometimes alone, sometimes together. Content Creatures, Helmut's fourth album, evokes the pop archetype of the "beautiful loser", who had almost disappeared from view in so-called late capitalism. In a present in which even suffering is often similarly instrumentalised and tailored to clicks like a competitive sport, this album sets a counterpoint: those who listen to it suddenly want to be enchanting losers again, useless and joyfully messing up, losing something beloved, having their hearts broken, giving up a dream, sinking into beauty.
You don't sink alone. Comforting harmonies envelop you, the voices of friends appear, accompany you for a while and then disappear again. Warm grooves, floating synths and delicate guitar lines characterise an indie sound that remains open and breathes.
Self-produced for the first time in his home studio in Neukölln, 'Content Creatures' sounds thoughtful and light at the same time. The album will be released digitally and on vinyl on 10 April 2026 on Berlin-based label St.Vladimir. There are four songs on one side and four songs on the other. The cover is adorned with an exceptionally pretty guinea pig. Helmut shows the special in the seemingly ordinary: a child's pet, the most ordinary of all, is his cover star and headstrong protagonist.

Wie tanzen Verlierer? Wenn man nach Helmut geht, dann fast schwerelos, mit weichen Füßen, warmen Gesten, manchmal allein, manchmal gemeinsam. Content Creatures, Helmuts viertes Album, evoziert den Pop-Archetypus des "beautiful loser", der im sogenannten Spätkapitalismus fast aus dem Blick geraten war. In einer Gegenwart, in der sogar das Leid oft ähnlich durchinstrumentalisiert und auf Klicks getrimmt ist wie ein Leistungssport, setzt dieses Album einen Kontrapunkt: Wer es hört, möchte auf einmal gern wieder ein bezaubernder Verlierer sein, nutzlos und freudvoll abkacken, etwas Geliebtes verlieren, das Herz gebrochen bekommen, einen Traum aufgeben, in Schönheit versinken.
Man versinkt nicht allein. Tröstende Harmonien legen sich um einen, die Stimmen von Freundinnen tauchen auf, begleiten einen ein Stück weit und verschwinden wieder. Warme Grooves, schwebende Synths und feine Gitarrenlinien prägen einen Indie-Sound, der offen bleibt, atmet. Erstmals in seinem Neuköllner Homestudio selbst produziert, klingt "Content Creatures" bedacht und leicht zugleich.
Das Album erscheint digital und auf Vinyl am 10.04.2026 auf dem Berliner Label St.Vladimir. Es hat vier Songs auf der einen und vier Songs auf der anderen Seite. Das Cover ziert ein außergewöhnlich hübsches Meerschweinchen. Helmut zeigt das Besondere im scheinbar Gewöhnlichen: Ein Kinderhaustier, das normalste von allen, ist bei ihm Coverstar und eigensinnige Protagonistin.

King Street Sounds Sampler Vol. 7 continues the long-running series from the legendary King Street Sounds catalogue, bringing together a selection of classic house cuts from some of the label’s most respected artists.

Featuring productions from Mood II Swing, Jovonn, Roy Davis Jr. and Osunlade, the release highlights the soulful, groove-led house sound that has defined King Street across decades of dancefloor culture.

Including standout tracks such as Mood II Swing’s Nafara and Osunlade’s The Fifth Dimension, the sampler brings together several proven records in one DJ-friendly vinyl package.

With warm grooves, musical depth and timeless club arrangements, these proven King Street records offer strong crossover appeal for both long-time house collectors and DJs looking for reliable dancefloor material.

As the seventh edition in the King Street sampler series, this release presents a selection of essential house cuts on one highly playable vinyl release.

A strong catalogue addition for stores serving soulful and deep house buyers.

Jimpster delivered some great releases in 2023, most notably his Natural Child collab EP with Crackazat as well as his Tribute EP featuring South African vocalist Mavhungu and including heavy Osunlade remixes. He also produced some of his best remixes to date including Thakzin’s Don’t Let Me See, Blaze’s Wonderland and Detroit Rising’s Rocket Love.

It’s always a good day to announce a new Jimpster EP on Freerange and with two captivating originals plus a stunning Atjazz remix you’re in for a treat! You’re My Ecstasy sets the tone with Jimpster’s trademark deep Rhodes pads, punchy bassline and shuffling classic house drum groove. He once again manages to strike a great balance between soulful, musical, warm and just a touch moody.

Next up we have The Passion which builds a deep and jazzy mood around a 4 bar piano progression whilst the sampled interviewee gives his insight into how he maintains his passion for music. London based trumpet player KingCrowney adds some lovely horn parts, emphasising the jazz feel to compliment the spoken word.

Atjazz gets well and truly stuck in on his remix of The Passion. Reportedly completed in just two studio sessions the hardest working man in deep house (as Jimpster calls him) brings his well-loved deft touch introducing an beautifully syncopated bassline and classic Atjazz drums making for a clubby interpretation for the deep, discerning dance floors.

Isella doesn’t flinch from the horror stitched into the fabric of the feminine experience. Citing writers like Plath Margaret Atwood, and Mona Awad as germinal influences on her lyricism, Isella plunges into the underbelly of expectations of good-girlhood, of valiant womanhood. In her songs she splays out the stakes of it all, plumbing the viscera, unearthing the blood, guts, dirt, and decay lurking beneath. By the time she hit fifteen, Isella’s taste had expanded and grown darker and more mature. Artists like Nine Inch Nails and Tom Waits became a conduit for the kind of raw intensity she’d always been drawn to, and gave her permission to push herself to new depths of expression. This is evidenced on her latest EP; That freedom that Reznor et al. endowed to the songwriter are evidenced on her latest EP; Something is a shell . Isella’s vocals swing from coolly detached to emotional detonation, often in the span of the same song. She brings listeners into a world colored by feminist hyper-realism, challenging listeners to re-define ideas of femininity, and safety; to see that things are not okay.

Fenomenon are a trio hailing from Stavanger, on the west coast of Norway. Throughout their career they have released four full-length records, effortlessly moving between future jazz, downtempo, soul, and broken beat.

Their lush debut 12" Pacific Memories on Nuphonic made considerate waves and made the ears of many DJs perk up. As a result, the tracks "Pacific Memories" and "Solara" were featured on many big-name compilations and mix CDs such as Tom Middleton's The Sound Of The Cosmos, Hed Kandi, and MTV Summer Lounge. The latter was also featured in Michael Bay's sci-fi thriller The Island, featuring Scarlett Johansson. The follow-up single visjon.nord was only released as a white label promo due to the unfortunate demise of Nuphonic in 2002.

Pacific Memories: The Early Tapes collects tunes from both these EPs complemented by songs recorded around the same time. Originally released on CD only in 2006 by the Norwegian label Beatservice, it's now available on vinyl for the first time for its 20th anniversary. If you're a fan of Jazzanova, The Cinematic Orchestra, Kinobe, and Blue States, you can't miss this.

Pacific Memories: The Early Tapes is available as a 20th anniversary edition on black vinyl.

Fenomenon are a trio hailing from Stavanger, on the west coast of Norway. Throughout their career they have released four full-length records, effortlessly moving between future jazz, downtempo, soul, and broken beat.

Their lush debut 12" Pacific Memories on Nuphonic made considerate waves and made the ears of many DJs perk up. As a result, the tracks "Pacific Memories" and "Solara" were featured on many big-name compilations and mix CDs such as Tom Middleton's The Sound Of The Cosmos, Hed Kandi, and MTV Summer Lounge. The latter was also featured in Michael Bay's sci-fi thriller The Island, featuring Scarlett Johansson. The follow-up single visjon.nord was only released as a white label promo due to the unfortunate demise of Nuphonic in 2002.

Pacific Memories: The Early Tapes collects tunes from both these EPs complemented by songs recorded around the same time. Originally released on CD only in 2006 by the Norwegian label Beatservice, it's now available on vinyl for the first time for its 20th anniversary. If you're a fan of Jazzanova, The Cinematic Orchestra, Kinobe, and Blue States, you can't miss this.

Pacific Memories: The Early Tapes is available as a 20th anniversary edition of 250 copies on turquoise and yellow vinyl.

Mit On The Road Again – Best Of präsentiert Canned Heat eine Sammlung der bekanntesten Aufnahmen einer Band, die den Bluesrock der späten 60er- und 70er-Jahre entscheidend geprägt hat. Der unverwechselbare Sound der US-amerikanischen Kultband verbindet klassischen DeltaBlues mit kraftvollem Rock, boogiegeladenen Rhythmen und dem lässigen Geist endloser Highways. Rauer Gesang, markante Gitarrenläufe und der typische Shuffle-Groove machen diese Zusammenstellung zu einer Reise durch die wichtigsten Momente der Bandgeschichte.

Die Musik klingt dabei gleichzeitig erdig, frei und zeitlos – mal entspannt und bluesig, mal voller Energie und treibender Dynamik.

Diese Best-Of-Vinyl zeigt, warum Canned Heat bis heute als eine der prägendsten Bluesrock-Bands gilt. Perfekt für Fans klassischer Rockmusik, authentischer Blues-Sounds und legendärer Festival-Atmosphäre im Stil von Woodstock.

Earlier in the year, Washington, D.C-based Sol Power Allstars launched the Sweet Breeze Sound imprint, seemingly as a vehicle for oddball re-edits and nostalgic, sample-rich productions. Handling side A on release number three in San Fran's King Most, who crafts a hybrid 80s electro/proto-house jam out of echoing electronics, bobdypopping beats, and all manner of effects-laden samples (including a wealth from InDeep classic 'Last Night a DJ Saved My Life' ). Over on side B, Sol Power's own Marc Meistro takes over, laying down his own sparse, lo-fi, analogue-rich tribute to electro-era synth disco that once again nods to a variety of cult classics from the early 1980s.

2026 REPRESS

With a new alias, TM404, Andreas Tilliander has created enjoyable ambient dub simmering with life and details. The songs have all been recorded live, in real time in the studio. A unique way of operating within today's electronic music. - Everything is recorded in one take. Nothing is post arranged, says Andreas Tilliander, and adds that this might be his most ambitious album ever. The project's name is also a tribute to Roland, although of the more intricate kind. - When they made these machines in the eighties, they avoided the 404, since the sound for four, 'chi', is the same as the sound for death in Japanese. At that time it was therefore taboo and the 404 was never launched. Not until now, due to my album!

Guests is the home recording project of Jessica Higgins and Matthew Walkerdine. Vaguely named as such to avoid any problems with the poster if they pull out of a gig (which has only happened once, about a year and half before any songs were actually written to be fair) but also to capture a sense of reverse hospitality. That is, arriving at your door with a bottle of good wine (can’t turn up empty handed) or a fist full of savoury or sweet snacks (time of day dependant); oversharing at the afters (and then passing out on your couch); reading to your toddler while you make their lunch or put everything back where it was meant to go (only to get torn apart again). So, something about what happens when private worlds meet each other, making or having been made a space for. But at times, it’s a different kind of intimacy, a temporal or material one, like the feeling of crisp fresh sheets, and abundant and soft, body-part appropriate towels in a hotel in a city you’ve been to before and love to go back to.

Their debut record, “I wish I was special”, was variously described as “a collage of concrète experiments and outerzone pop gestures, music that sounds as if it’s been written from the depths of a dream”; “music for people who love music but also hate it too”; “something like chasing ghosts or befriending a wild animal”; “pulling apart nervous sensations with haphazard ease and requisite humour”; and “a melody of refusal, of being all-in (…) finding the exact right WRONG sound to express the discontent”. Common Domestic Bird continues in this vein, layering synthesiser, keyboards and samples over rudimentary drum rhythms and field recordings, which are in turn sung or spoken with to create nine new songs.

Written and recorded between autumn 2024 and summer 2025 in Reading, Berkshire, the music has matured since its last outing, in a way, leaning less into collage and more toward structured composition and melodic depth, yet retains a healthy dose of indeterminacy and off-kilter rhythms for the forever-amateur. The songs on Common Domestic Bird hint at some “about”-ness through a series of discrete vignettes which sound a bit like architecture or end of year lists, gossip or over-thinking subjectivity, like disappearances and impressions, the support structure of the spine, letters and signs offs, things you could really do without and where they should go, hoping you’ll see something that isn’t there, pretences and performance. At times they feel kind of funny, others kind of sad or a bit angry and annoyed, a bit like you really.

Back in 2022, Is It Balearic? Recordings founders Coyote (AKA long-serving producers Richard Hampson aka Ampo and Timm Sure) took time out from releasing music on their own labels to deliver a near perfect mini-album on Phil Cooper’s similarly mind-ed NuNorthern Soul imprint, Everything Moves, Nothing Rests.

A superb exploration of their trademark sound, where gentle downtempo rhythms and nods to dub came cloaked in colourful ambient chords, sun-bright melodic motifs, organic instrumenta-tion and quirky spoken word samples, Everything Moves, Nothing Rests deserved a sequel. So, three and a half years on, the duo has delivered just that: a fine six-track EP that offers an even deeper and more atmospheric exploration of their signature sound.

It is a sonic approach that should now be familiar to Balearic en-thusiasts the world over. Aside from delivering a steady stream of singles, albums and remixes on their own imprint, Hampson and Sure have also showcased their skills and loved-up musical mis-sives on International Feel, Music For Dreams, Needwant, MM Discos and Citizens of Vice.

The Higher The Sky, The Deeper The Ocean, their hotly anticipated NuNorthern Soul return, is named in honour of a quote from Ped-ro Alonso’s documentary series On the Ship of Enchantment, an extended voyage in which the Money Heist movie star meets healers and masters of ancestral medicine across his native Mexi-co.

There’s naturally a meditative and slightly psychedelic sound to much of The Higher The Sky, The Deeper The Ocean, which offers a subtly varied exploration of Coyote’s style and influence. Yearning, soft-focus opener ‘Muted Beauty’ – the kind of immersive, effects-laden and sample-sporting ambient bliss found nestling on Fila Brazillia albums of the mid 1990s – is followed by the similarly gentle ‘Go All The Way’, where delay-laden acoustic guitars, spo-ken word snippets and gaseous chords stretch out atop a languid, slow-motion groove.

‘A Drop in the Ocean’ picks up the pace a little via a glorious hat-tip to turn of the 90s ambient house – all dub-wise bass, heady deep house sonics, spaced-out chords and half-buried references to sunrise-ready Balearic synth-pop records of the late 1980s. Late psychedelic guru Terrence McKenna appears in sampled form on ‘Dolce Far Niente’, a tabla-driven drift and musical hallucination which conjures mental images of lying in the Mexican desert, gazing intently at a starry sky.

In contrast, ‘Riviera Sound’ is a chunkier, brighter and more sun-splashed affair – all deep, dubby bass, sustained piano parts, punchy downtempo breaks and the duo’s trademark ambient pads – while superb closing cut ‘No Coincidences’ fixes jazzy double bass samples, twinkling keyboard motifs, subtle acid lines and Latin-laced percussion to a street soul-adjacent beat.

Heady, impeccably crafted and thoroughly enveloping, The Higher The Sky, The Deeper The Ocean is Coyote at their dazzling best. It marks another significant chapter in their ever-evolving musical journey.

Between flesh and silicon. “Under My Skin” (2026) is the first album by IADI, released by Neo Life. A record like few
others, highly conceptual, cover art included. Its essence lies in the folds of the increasingly ambiguous relationship
between man and machine, where the former designs the latter and, perhaps without fully realizing it, is gradually
destined to adapt and be reprogrammed by it. Each track of “Under My Skin” is, in fact, a sort of interface, connector, or
any other imaginative point of contact between two creative phases, amid emotional impulses and binary calculations.
The sonic architecture oscillates between analog warmth and algorithmic coldness, constructing landscapes in which
pulsating synthesizers and mechanical rhythms seem to question each other. There's no linear narrative, but rather a
progressive immersion in a zone of near-friction, where the comfort of technology coexists with more than a faint
musical uneasiness, like a background noise that never ceases to remind you who's truly in charge. In “Under My Skin”,
the machine is neither an enemy nor a simple instrument: it's a real presence, intimate, even tactile, amplifying desires,
fears, and dreams of dawns beyond the digital realm. Intelligent dance music. Less noise, more sensations. Electronic,
but profoundly human.
The final result, then, is a music project that speaks to the present, yet sounds like an X-ray of the future, capturing that
fragile moment when humanity and technology stop observing each other from afar and begin to merge, track after
track. It's no coincidence that IADI's album opens with “Impulse”, an immediate expression of an electrical impulse, for
both humans and machines, which is also the language of the nervous system, as fast as it is vital—pure energy and
rhythm, a track as intense as it is irregular. And after this introduction, it's the turn of the equally erratic “Axon”, whose
title describes the neuron that transmits the signal over distance, telling the listener to sit back and relax for a new
journey through the notes toward the more melodic “Cortex”. The cerebral cortex, the ultimate seat of thought and
memory, becomes the source from which the musical flow of the first part of the work is drawn.
Then, suddenly, an automatic, or instinctive, response to the constant succession of impulses: “Reflex”, or zerotemperature techno, with a fragmented pace, featuring vocal samples, breaks, and restarts. In the producer's
imagination, the subsequent, and conversely placid, “Neuron” represents the emotional core of the second part of the
work, providing a kind of respite from the seething vibrations. While the neuron is the basic unit of the nervous system,
the synapse is the functional connection point between one neuron and another effector cell, essential for the
transmission of nerve impulses and communication in the nervous system, enabling functions such as learning and
movement. Likewise, a track like “Synapse” once again illuminates the path traced by IADI. The more experimental and
streamlined “Static” instead suggests true ordered chaos. “Dreamstate” is the conclusion suspended in the void, relating
to that dreamlike state between waking and sleeping, where consciousness fades toward infinity and visions begin. Pure
fading into the subconscious. Eternal return to where it all began. Dancing is a form of consciousness. Every beat is a
question. IADI, however, holds all the answers you need.

Kēpa is built whole, even if life has broken a few bones along the way.

Back when he was a pro skater, he gave everything to the board. Today, he gives that same intensity to the stage, delivering hypnotic cine-concerts where motion, sound, and image blur into one. The only falls left now are the ringing final chords of his guitar — not just an instrument, but an extension of his body.

Fingerpicking is his native tongue. So much so that Kēpa no longer sings — he lets the strings speak. Percussive, alive, essential. This music isn’t about performance, it’s about living: a personal quest, a way to reach others by first going inward. Moving against the current without fighting the wind. Finding breath, essence, and remembering we’re all drifting on a spinning planet, surrounded by forces bigger than us.

It’s easier to look away. Easier to follow noise, fear, or false prophets. Harder — and braver — to truly connect.

Released in late 2025, Hotline Service opened the door, offering a wide-open, spiritual escape. With SOUL WASH SERVICES— produced by Timber Timbre — Kēpa goes further. Warmer, deeper, more focused. The album feels like sunlight on asphalt, a long drive with the windows down, time slowing just enough to let something real surface.

A kindred spirit to Hermanos Gutiérrez, Kēpa plays the role of a modern, pagan preacher — guiding us through a dusty, golden road movie that unfolds entirely inside the listener. His music doesn’t shout; it cleans.

Kēpa does it all: writes, plays, films, edits, mixes. Music becomes image, image becomes music. Nothing is separate, on record or on stage. There’s no excess, no showboating — just an open invitation to slow down, go deeper, aim higher.

Tracks like Solarium and Paradisiac reach the peaks with minimal gear: five strings, a few picks, and total control of touch and space. Listening to Kēpa feels like checking in with yourself — a quiet inner trip shaped by sounds from every corner of the world. Blues, not to feel them, but to leave them behind.

After years devoted to picking, his playing has become something sacred.

And if you let it, it carries you with it.

After nearly three years, *Can You Feel It Vol. 5* marks the release of a brand-new installment in Tramp Records' Disco/Boogie series. Like all four previous volumes, Vol. 5 offers a colorful mix of songs from the late 1970s and early 1980s. From extremely rare tracks to easily accessible ones and even unreleased material-this release has everything to make a collector's heart race. Once again, these songs will get you on your feet, inspire you to dance, and transport you back to the glittering world of the late 1970s. CAN YOU FEEL IT?

Let's take a closer look at a few of the songs on this album. Kicking things off are Bill Deal & The Rhondels, a band that needs no introduction. The same cannot be said for Tom Balistreri and Ryjel. The latter presents "Heart's On Fire," a seven-minute journey into previously unreleased deep disco. "Old Mother Winter" may not be a typical disco song, but it's undoubtedly a fantastic composition. The Stone Mill Band is relatively unknown even among hardcore collectors. The most recent track on this album is by singer Tory Wynter who already contributed a song for Can You Feel It Vol.4. "Oh Let The Rain Fall Down" was released in 1988.

The second record opens with "Been Thinkin' About You" by Avatar-an amazing song and probably the rarest gem on this album, in stark contrast to Piz-Zazz - a record you can find easily for a few dollars. Saxophonist King Perkoff was born in Santa Monica, California, but now resides in Berlin, and with "When You Live In Marin" he delivers a real disco-funk banger! Glenn "Shake & Bake" Doughty played professional football as a wide receiver for the Baltimore Colts from 1972 to 1979. Together with some of his teammates, he founded the Shake & Bake Band in 1975. We probably aren't telling Tramp fans anything new here. Anyway, a little over two years ago, we reissued the first of their two extremely hard to find 45-RPM singles ("Shake & Bake Pt. 1 & 2"). We also included a DJ-friendly edit of the song on "Movements Vol. 12." It is a must for us here at Tramp that we also reissue their second single, "Starflight Disco Pt. 1 & 2," soon!

So there you have it, 13 obscure but brilliant MODERN SOUL, DISCO and BOOGIE tunes of which all have not been compiled anywhere else. We sincerely hope you enjoy our guided tour back into the late 1970s and 80s Disco era.

Few artists can make chaos sound this fun. Steel Beans, the self-titled album from the genre-bending one-man band, is a wild ride through rock, funk, jazz, and whatever else happens to cross the radar of Everett, WA’s Jeremy DeBardi — the multi-instrumentalist and mad scientist behind it all. Known for his jaw-dropping live performances where he sings, shreds guitar, and drums at the same time, Steel Beans brings that same unfiltered energy to tape, capturing the spirit of a garage jam gone cosmic.

The album moves effortlessly from fuzzed-out psych-rock to greasy funk breakdowns and tongue-in-cheek lyricism, mixing humor and virtuosity in equal measure. It’s unpredictable, unpolished in all the right ways, and full of personality — the kind of record that feels alive because it’s never trying to be perfect. Steel Beans isn’t just an album; it’s a reminder that music can still be weird, raw, fun, and ridiculously entertaining. Whether you’re hearing him for the first time or you’ve already seen the madness live, this album is the perfect introduction to the wild world of Steel Beans.

Bruno Berle is a singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and figurehead of a contemporary Brazilian music movement. With a quiet mastery of songwriting and an astonishing voice, his music has won hearts around the world. Since the release of his debut album No Reino Dos Afetos (2022), Berle has performed across the UK, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and China, only leaving his home country for the first time in 2023. Shaped by these journeys, Berle’s third studio album, Sem Fronteiras (Without Borders), reflects a utopian vision of a unified world.

Recorded across London, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Germany, and Maceió, the album–co-produced alongside his longstanding musical partner Batata Boy–is the most expansive canvas Berle has worked on to date. Shot through with the imagery that has always animated his songwriting: open skies, morning light, vivid colours and the magic of human connection, Berle’s carefully crafted poetics and warm, delicate instrumentation drive this vivid body of work.

“I came from nothing”–Berle doesn’t take his rise to global prominence for granted.

Born to a working class family from Brazil’s northeastern Alagoas state, one of Brazil’s most economically deprived, Bruno moved frequently in his youth to follow any job opportunities his parents could find, before eventually settling in the coastal capital of Maceió. “I used to travel to Caruaru, Santa Cruz, Recife, Garanhuns, Arapiraca, which I loved and feel it made me ready to be in this rhythm i’, but at the same time I think not having friends from childhood and being in constant change made me a little numb to the constant upheaval”. On Sem Fronteiras, there is a similar duality at play. The album celebrates the collective joy and human connection that live touring brings, but it also sits with the darker realities of crossing borders. While music moves more freely around the world than ever before, our bodies are not granted the same privilege.

Though he’s never lacked self-belief, Berle recognises that talent alone doesn’t guarantee opportunity. “Before my second album No Reino Dos Afetos 2 everything I had ever recorded was made with the help and kindness of people who believed in my ability”. Determined to pay that kindness forward and help others from the sharp end of Brazil’s desperately unequal society, Berle produced and featured on the recent self-titled albums by his northeast Brazilian compatriots, Nyron Higor and Phylipe Nunes Araújo (both 2025), helping propel both onto the international stage. In turn, following the successes of Nyron & Phylipe’s albums alongside his own, Bruno finds himself at the forefront of a thriving community of artists now based in São Paulo, but primarily originating from northeastern states like Alagoas and Pernambuco.

Much like the famed Clube Da Esquina movement that spawned in 1970’s Minas Gerais, they operate with a free-exchange of ideas, writing songs with and for each other, performing on each other’s albums and on the live circuit together. Lead single ‘Manha’ flows from this ethos. It was written by Berle’s friend and fellow Alagoan João Menezes (writer of ‘Ate Meu Violao’ and ‘Te Amar Eterno’ from Bruno’s previous albums) and Marvin Viera, and originally recorded on their 2018 album Areia e Mar.

Sem Fronteiras opens with ‘Você Já Sabe Que Eu Te Amo’, just six beats of one nylon guitar chord ring out before changing key, paving the way for the gentle strike of fender rhodes and the arresting call & response duet between Berle and Higor. On ‘Amor Inteiro’, the album reaches a celebratory burst of catharsis, with the punch-packing drums of Pedro Lacerda and Nina Maia’s joyous backing vocals encapsulating the live energy that Berle and his band bring to the stage.

With the abundant talents of this musical community at its heart, Sem Fronteiras releases 10th July 2026 via Far Out Recordings, supported by a summer tour across Europe. Bruno Berle will perform in a four-piece band alongside Nyron Higor, Phylipe Nunes, and Batata Boy, culminating in an appearance at Roskilde festival, Berle’s biggest live show to date. He’ll continue to carry a hopeful vision of a world where artists and musicians can move as freely as their music flows.

Tracklist:

A1 “Você Já Sabe Que Eu Te Amo”
(Nyron Higor / Bruno Berle)
Nyron Higor – drums, bass, acoustic guitar, electric piano, synthesizers, vocals
Bruno Berle – piano, vocals
Batata Boy – piano
Jorik Bergman – score preparation and conducting
Klara Gronet – violin
Ségolène de Beaufond – violin
Cristina Ardelean Montelongo – viola
Ilektra Stevi – cello

A2 “Não Posso Viver Sem Você”
(Batata Boy / Bruno Berle)
Batata Boy – electric piano, organ, synthesizer
Bruno Berle – drums, bass, synthesizer, vocals
Jorik Bergman – score preparation and conducting
Klara Gronet – violin
Ségolène de Beaufond – violin
Cristina Ardelean Montelongo – viola
Ilektra Stevi – cello

A3 “A Noite de Estrelas”
(Nyron Higor / Bruno Berle)
Nyron Higor – synthesizers
Bruno Berle – bass, drums, vocals

A4 “Outra Noite”
(Bruno Berle)
Nyron Higor – drums
Bruno Berle – acoustic guitar, bass
Felipe Berle – congas
Lucca Francisco – guitar, vocals

B1 “Amor Inteiro”
(Bruno Berle)
Pedro Lacerda – drums, choir
Nyron Higor – bass, choir
Batata Boy – guitars, organ, electric piano, choir
Nina Maia – choir
Bruno Berle – guitars, acoustic guitar, congas, vocals

B2 “Ideias Mágicas”
(Batata Boy / Bruno Berle)
Heloisa Alvino – trombone
Batata Boy – synthesizers, beats, electric piano, organ, bass
Bruno Berle – synthesizer, vocals

B3 “Vim Dizer”
(Batata Boy / Bruno Berle)
Batata Boy – electric piano, organ, synthesizer
Thomas Stankiewicz – synthesizer
Nyron Higor – synthesizer
Bruno Berle – acoustic guitar, bass, vocals

B4 “Tô Assim”
(Bruno Berle)
Bruno Berle – acoustic guitars
Batata Boy – synthesizer
Nyron Higor – bass, synthesizer

B5 “Manhã”
(João Menezes / Marvin Silva)
Bruno Berle – acoustic guitar, vocals, congas, shaker
Batata Boy – piano, shaker, electric piano, vibraphone, synthesizers
Nyron Higor – drums, bass

B6 “Sem Fronteiras”
(Bruno Berle)
Filipe Mariz – guitar
Bruno Berle – acoustic guitar, vocals, bass
Jennifer Souza – vocals, acoustic guitar
Rudson França – drums

Credits:

Produced by Bruno Berle and Batata Boy
Mixed and mastered by Bruno Berle, Batata Boy and Felipe Berle

Audio engineering:
Nyron Higor (track 1 – production; track 4 with Felipe Berle)
Joe Osborne (tracks 7 and 9)
Victor Gelling (strings on tracks 1 and 2)
Filipe Mariz (track 10)

Photography: Claudio Virgínio
Design: Minchai

Recorded in:
Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil
Tamandaré, Pernambuco, Brazil
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
London, England
Cologne, Germany

"Morning Star" zeigt Kekht Aräkh auf dem Weg zu einer authentischeren, verfeinerten Version seiner selbst. Das Album wurde in Berlin und Stockholm aufgenommen und entstand in einer Phase intensiven persönlichen und künstlerischen Wachstums. Es verbindet aggressive Black-Metal-Passagen mit immersiven, strukturierten Klanglandschaften, die sowohl intim als auch weitläufig wirken. Seit seinen Anfängen in Mykolajiw, Ukraine, hat Dmitry (alias Crying Orc), der alleinige Kopf hinter dem Projekt, einen unverwechselbaren Weg innerhalb des Black Metal gesucht. Diese Vision entfaltete sich durch sein Debütalbum "Through the Branches to Eternity EP" (2018) und die Alben "Night & Love" (2018) und "Pale Swordsman" (2021), die eine charakteristische Spannung zwischen wildem, viszeralem Black Metal und zarten, introspektiven Balladen etablierten. Auf "Morning Star" erreicht diese Dynamik eine neue Tiefe. Das Album entstand in einer Phase künstlerischer Klarheit und erkundet eine rauere, persönlichere Gefühlspalette, geprägt von Stress, Angst und langen Phasen der Schreibblockade, was ihm eine seltene Unmittelbarkeit und Verletzlichkeit verleiht. Dmitry nahm fast alle Instrumente selbst auf, das Schlagzeug stammt von Jonathan (Spira Me, Vanskapth, Olycka). Bladee steuerte den Gesang bei und war Co-Autor der Texte zu "Eternal Martyr", eine unerwartete Zusammenarbeit, die eine intuitive Chemie offenbart. VS--55 und Varg2Ö fügen abstrakte Samples und subtile Texturdesigns hinzu, die "Morning Star" seine unverwechselbare Körnigkeit und analoge Wärme verleihen, während James Ginzburg (Emptyset, Osmium) sich um das finale Mastering kümmerte und die dynamische Tiefe und atmosphärische Fülle verstärkte. Mehrere Tracks greifen früheres Material mit neuen Perspektiven wieder auf. ,Wänderer" und ,Drömsang" wurden teilweise neu aufgenommen oder komplett neu interpretiert. Intensive, treibende Passagen kollidieren mit spärlichen, kontemplativen Zwischenspielen und erzeugen eine Landschaft, die sowohl viszeral als auch eindringlich ist. Themen wie Isolation und Wanderschaft tauchen in "Wänderer" auf, traumhafte Melancholie in ,Drömsang", existenzielle Kämpfe in "Angest" und Reflexionen über Zeit und Transformation in "Three winters away". Mit "Morning Star" verbindet Kekht Aräkh vergangene Erkundungen mit neuer kollaborativer Energie und produziert ein Album, das die Black-Metal-Tradition der 90er Jahre würdigt und gleichzeitig Lo-Fi-Wärme, melancholische Melodien, klangliche Experimente und emotionale Offenheit umfasst. Das Ergebnis ist ein zutiefst persönliches Statement - ein Album, das sowohl eine Ankunft als auch eine Fortsetzung seiner künstlerischen Reise darstellt.

There’s this feeling that House Music is sometimes diluted into a pleasant, non-offensive and conformist formula. Well, Jackie Gritness - you may have heard of her big bro Gary - is bringin’ all the sweat, the attitude and the filth down - take it or leave it.

Jackie introduces herself from both sides on this well-strapped debut 12” - the slick swingin’ & sangin’
on the bass-heavy A side, and the raw clave trax and cunty snarls of the acid-laced B side.

No trace of over-production or tired sampling here: this is just Jackie, her mic and her lil’ groovebox -
gettin’ raw in the studio just like she does onstage. Only thing added is some wall-shaking mastering by New York OG Dietrich Schoenemann.

This is the kinda House that’s supposed to make regular folks wanna turn it off. This ain’t rated E for Everyone, it’s rated F for Freaks.

It’s music from the underground, for the underground - as it was first revealed on the runway of Glastonbury’s infamous NYC Downlow last summer.

And if that’s more than you can take - it’s alright. It’s not like Jackie will hold it against you.

Jackie Gritness
“Gary’s little sister.” His studio session resume reads like a House music who’s who - from David Morales to Fred P. He’s also been rockin’ clubs with the Playin’ 4 The City and MLIU crews - but she’s also been seen on Gideon’s fierce Homo-Centric Records. See, this bitch’s true feelings about House are stripped-down, bare-bones, and unapologetically sexual. With a radical ‘live’ attitude, she’s serving the realness with an irresistibly acidic zing.

As Is. Nimm es oder lass es. Girl Trouble sind seit ihrer Gründung im Jahr 1984 in ihrer Heimatstadt Tacoma, Washington, ihrem ganz eigenen Stil des Northwest-Garage-Rock treu geblieben. In diesen 42 Jahren, in denen sie dem Ruhm aus dem Weg gegangen sind, hat Girl Trouble in vielen erstklassigen Studios und für viele verschiedene Labels aufgenommen. In den letzten 15 Jahren hat die Band Dutzende neuer Tracks aufgenommen und dabei den Sound gefunden, den sie suchten: etwas Roheres und Echtes. Etwas Neues. Während sie das Experiment fortsetzten, beschloss die Band, alle ihre jüngsten Aufnahmen zu einem ,Rock-Tapestry" zusammenzufassen. Diese Sessions repräsentieren sowohl das ausgefeilte, überlagerte Girl Trouble im Studio als auch das spontane, schnörkellose Girl Trouble live im Raum - genau das, was sie schon immer auf einer Aufnahme festhalten wollten. Das Ergebnis ist das Beste aus diesen beiden GT-Stilen und allem, was dazwischen liegt. Aufgenommen in verschiedenen Klangumgebungen, wobei nur das Songwriting und die Darbietungen von Track zu Track gleich geblieben sind, ist Girl Trouble stolz darauf, endlich diese neue Sammlung von Rock-'n'-Roll-Songs ,As-Is" präsentieren zu können.

It’s True What They Say is the debut EP from Edinburgh-based, husband-and-wife duo Sarah/Shaun (pronounced simply Sarah Shaun), aka Sarah and Shaun McLachlan (pronounced “McLochlin”).

“Sarah and I both have a love for nostalgia,” explains Shaun. “We watched that amazing old 80’s Sci-Fi, (John) Carpenter movie, Starman, a few months back. Myself and my brother David used to watch it all the time. We must have been, roughly, 5-7 at the time. I remember loving the movie but the end, you know, with the beautiful, atmospheric, synth ending, I love that particular moment the most - best part of the movie, you know, when he goes home… It’s heartbreaking but stunning, all the same. It’s the music that moves you most… It did when I was 5 and it still does to this day. It must have had some form of a (much deeper) impact on me.”

The duo narrates stories across themes of love, hope, family, friends, dreams and sadness - the good that comes with the bad in everyday life, not just on a personal scale but within a community as well.

“Starbed is the first song I have ever written and just came out of the blue really, with Shaun playing a melody and me singing along,” says Sarah. “It’s simple and just about two people in love. Love songs are always the best songs, after all… Music has been a big part of my life from a young age. I was unwillingly dragged to piano and violin lessons, which I’m thankful for now! I’d say the first band I really became obsessed with growing up were the Beatles, and on the back of that a lot of 60s music and fashion. From then on, I had a love for music.”

“Shaun definitely opened my ears to a lot of sounds and got me thinking about soundtracks and all the noises that can be made,” she goes on. “We love just spending time experimenting in the house with instruments, pedals etc and Ali is a real magician to work with, too…”

The recordings took place over the summers of 2022 and 2023, with fellow Delta Mainline member Ali Chisholm (aka Jaguar Eyes) plus long-term friend and collaborator Gavin King. Further collaboration then came via the ‘net from the (international) likes of Chris Dixie Darley (Father John Misty), Darren Coghill (Neon Waltz) and Daniel Land (The Modern Painters), among others (see a full list of credits below).

Both Sarah and Shaun have a love for uber-soundtrack producers such as Hanz Zimmer, Max Richter, Cliff Martinez plus live acts such as Beach House, Spiritualized, M83, Suicide, Moby and OMD (to name a few). Shaun also credits the work of Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein (from Survive) on the Stranger Things score… “Even a moment in a movie, whether it be just 30 seconds during a particular scene, it grips you,” he says. But there’s something much deeper at play as well. “Music is a healer,” he goes on, “and I write from my own perspective but more so for others. Once I've done my bit, it doesn't belong to me any longer. It belongs to whoever wants it or needs it.”

The result is a cinematic, synth-wavey, dream poppy and downright beguilingly beautiful body of work. And they’re just getting started…

REVIEWS/RADIO/FEEDBACK:

“Starbed is folky, flavoured by pedal steel, cello, and brass. Dust Tears, in stark contrast, is a mini synth-pop rave epic. Part Bicep. Part Human League. Keep Your Eyes Closed summons a mood that’s romantic, but also dark and potentially doomed – like David Lynch’s Twin Peaks meets Cliff Martinez’s Drive score. My pick though is It’s True What They Say, whose interwoven jangle and picking recalls New Order’s more introspective moments (Love Vigilantes, Love Less… ). Drums crashing, cathartic. Guitar raising dramatic arcs. Its chorus a rush, like a reprise of Pains Of Being Pure Of Heart’s ‘Higher Than The Stars’.” BAN BAN TON TON
"Dust Tears sees them sharing vocal duties over a synth foundation reminiscent of Moby’s Go - Artist Of The Week” THE SCOTSMAN
"Woozy pop" NEMONE (Mary Anne Hobbs Morning Show, BBC 6Music)
"Nice one, very David Lynch meets Euro dream pop" YOUTH (Killing Joke, Paul McCartney, U2, The Orb, Spiritualized etc)
"Music sounds killer! Real emotion” DAVID HOLMES
"I’m enjoying it” TIM BRINKHURST aka LONDON (IKLAN, Young Fathers, Callum Easter)
“Oh, this is lovely!” SEAN JOHNSTON (A Love From Outer Space)
"It’s totally my cup of tea with milk and biscuit" BRENT RADEMAKER (Beachwood Sparks/GospelBeach)
"Beautiful, ecstatic electronica! Short and to the point" KEVIN BALES (Spiritualized, Julian Cope, Soulsavers, BE)
"Makes me wanna sit in the sun and sip an Arnold Palmer" CHRIS DIXIE DARLEY (Father John Misty)
“Really beautiful - Cocteau Twins / Spiritualized vibes but has its own thing going on, too - worth checking out!” JULIAN CORRIE (Franz Ferdinand, Miaoux Miaoux)
‘Sounded nice on a sunny day, makes me think of Twin Peaks, nice moods’ EAMON HAMILTON (Sea Power)
"Dealing in nostalgia, no bad thing at all, great to play that (Dust Tears) for you” RODDY HART (BBC Radio Scotland)
“I'll give the vocal tracks a spin before the release." VIC GALLOWAY (BBC Radio Scotland)
"Rather good!" IAIN ANDERSON (BBC Radio Scotland)

CREDITS:

Lyrics, Guitars, Keys, Synths, Drums, Drum Programming, Percussion, Mandolin, Glockenspiel: Shaun McLachlan
Lyrics, Vocals, Keys by Sarah McLachlan
Guitars, Synths, String Arrangements, Drum Programming, Engineering: Jaguar Eyes Percussion/Drums/Effects, Fire Extinguisher: Darren Coghill (Neon Waltz)
Guitars by Daniel Land
Slide Guitar by Chris Dixie Darley (Father John Misty)
Brass by Bruce Michie
Keys, pre-production & engineering on “It’s true what they say”: Gavin King
All produced by Jaguar Eyes and Shaun McLachlan and then mixed at Glasgow’s Chem19 Studios by David McCaulay (From Scotland With Love, Rick Redbeard, BBC TV’s Attenborough and The Mammoth Graveyard score).
Artwork: Jamie Walman (Fourteen Admirals)

MORE INFO:

Although Shaun released a pair of solo singles (When We Dance and Give Your Love To Me) during Lockdown, he will be better known to many via his work as the multi-instrumentalist in Edinburgh band Delta Mainline. With two albums released to date, Oh! Enlightened and Bel Avenir, both rapturously received by fans and critics alike, Delta Mainline have developed an international, cult following. Oh Enlightened (2013) achieved widespread critical acclaim on release, earning the band comparisons to Arcade Fire and Echo & The Bunnymen, while 2019’s Bel Avenir pulled in references to The Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and krautrock. A third DM album is currently being mixed and due for release later this year…

Nicaraguan-American artist Dagmar Zuniga makes music that feels both intimate and expansive: songs drift like disrupted signals, carried by harmony, tape hiss, and a strong sense of touch. Her debut solo album in filth your mystery is kingdom / far smile peasant in yellow music — written and recorded in New York, Norway, and Athens, Georgia over a period of five years on her longtime companion, the Tascam 424 — was uploaded to Bandcamp and YouTube in January 2025, quickly garnering over two hundred thousand views and the attention of artists such as Mount Eerie, who invited her to tour with them that summer. This year, what was once a jewel of tapped-in algorithms and message boards will meet the world at large, with in filth arriving digitally on March 4, and physically on April 10, via AD 93.

in filth is an atmospheric, devotional collage where one voice multiplies into a chorus of selves, sometimes delicate, sometimes severe; an effect created by Zuniga’s masterful layering of texture and complex harmonies. Synths glitter out like spears of sunlight from beneath clouds of moody, time-distorted guitars, and songs spin about themselves like tightly-wound music boxes, making use of a kind of hypnotic repetition, before melting apart into their components or slipping into the following track.

Zuniga began recording to tape as a teenager, drawn to the physicality of the medium — how a tape recording is fragile, mutable, and alive. Though her ethereal sound may draw easy comparisons to other female pioneers of psychedelic folk, she is influenced just as much by the darker sounds of Syd Barrett and The Fall. Like Barrett, Zuniga is a painter, and she is interested not only in recording music but in creating a full, self-contained artistic universe: she creates her own artwork, merchandise, music videos, and bootleg tapes of new and unfinished music that she exclusively sells at live shows (“If something is not material, it does not exist,” she insists). Her world has not gone unvisited, garnering her a monthly show on NTS Radio ‘World of Pain’, as well as a forthcoming appearance at Rewire Festival in April 2026.

Though Zuniga’s work explores themes of solitude and suffering, the suffering in her songs is not borrowed or displayed; it is held, then opened outward through empathy — an exacting practice of attention that insists on shared ground. Solitude, in her work, is not withdrawal but a starting point for connection. Likewise, over time, her recording process has become increasingly communal, with in filth featuring musicians Hayes Hoey, Austyn Wohlers (Tomato Flower), and Zach Phillips (Fievel Is Glauque). Newer recordings widen the circle even more. For Zuniga, collaboration is a way to “find a place between worlds,” echoing Badiou’s idea of love as a vision refracted through the prism of difference. Meaning emerges there — in the space between voices, between artist and listener. “I hope my music helps people work through difficult experiences,” she says. “The same way it helps me.”

There’s this feeling that House Music is sometimes diluted into a pleasant, non-offensive and conformist formula. Well, Jackie Gritness - you may have heard of her big bro Gary - is bringin’ all the sweat, the attitude and the filth down - take it or leave it.

Jackie introduces herself from both sides on this well-strapped debut 12” - the slick swingin’ & sangin’
on the bass-heavy A side, and the raw clave trax and cunty snarls of the acid-laced B side.

No trace of over-production or tired sampling here: this is just Jackie, her mic and her lil’ groovebox -
gettin’ raw in the studio just like she does onstage. Only thing added is some wall-shaking mastering by New York OG Dietrich Schoenemann.

This is the kinda House that’s supposed to make regular folks wanna turn it off. This ain’t rated E for Everyone, it’s rated F for Freaks.

It’s music from the underground, for the underground - as it was first revealed on the runway of Glastonbury’s infamous NYC Downlow last summer.

And if that’s more than you can take - it’s alright. It’s not like Jackie will hold it against you.

Jackie Gritness
“Gary’s little sister.” His studio session resume reads like a House music who’s who - from David Morales to Fred P. He’s also been rockin’ clubs with the Playin’ 4 The City and MLIU crews - but she’s also been seen on Gideon’s fierce Homo-Centric Records. See, this bitch’s true feelings about House are stripped-down, bare-bones, and unapologetically sexual. With a radical ‘live’ attitude, she’s serving the realness with an irresistibly acidic zing.

Transmitting from deep in the Finnish underground, Nazar sends out a signal of mysterious, synthetic auras and shadowy, skittering sequences. From smoky outsider techno to rainy-day electro abstraction, the label’s emphasis is on expression and intrigue as each release reaches across the energetic spectrum of moody machine music.

The first release on Nazar presents a cast of protagonists from the Helsinki scene who share precisely the kind of nocturnal tendencies the label is seeking out. Seasoned duo General Electrix open up the A side with ‘Redshifter’, a silken web of 606-powered electro and warmly haunted synth work that nods to the early years of Autechre. Making an early step out into the public domain, Asyx follows up swiftly with the exquisitely detailed machine funk of ‘kVelorum ‘, where a vivid tapestry of noise, squelch and bleep techno gets smartly woven between airy pad tones and a rock-solid rhythm section.

On the B side, Helsinki mainstay Kaiunta brings a dramatic flourish to mid tempo creeper ‘Phantasm’, matching a densely packed rumble of live drums with sweeps of nervy atmospherics and a murky inversion of the classic gated trance lead. 53X rounds out the Nazar mission towards broad BPMs and fresh ideas with a crunchy swerve towards sample-heavy downtempo laced with a generous dose of psychedelics and angular noise.

NAZAR001 is the kind of record that yields surprises and slots into unexpected moments depending on when and where the needle drops, providing versatile moments for adventurous selectors and continuing the fine tradition of outsider electro and techno from Finland.

Soul Music legend Candi Staton returns to her down-home Alabama roots on her 32nd album, Back to My Roots. The twelve-track Americana set features an array of Staton-penned originals and some well-chosen covers.

"These songs represent my roots," Staton adds as she reflects on her many trials and triumphs. "Even the new songs on some level represent something I've experienced and that's what real soul music is about." Back to My Roots was produced by Staton with her second eldest son, Marcus Williams, a professional drummer who has toured with the likes of Peabo Bryson, Isaac Hayes, and Tyler Perry. They brought in Mark Nevers of Lambchop fame, who produced three of Staton’s prior Americana albums for Honest Jon’s and Thirty Tigers, to sweeten certain tracks. “Some of the first songs I ever heard were songs like `Peace in the Valley’ and `It’s Gonna Rain,’” says Staton. “The new songs or cover songs are tracks that remind me of that era when I was growing up as a child and evolving as a young woman. That’s why I named the album Back to My Roots because I’m going back to the roots that made me who I am.”

Staton received the Americana Music Association UK’s highest honour, the International Lifetime Achievement Award, at the UK Americana Music Awards ceremony at Hackney Church in London last year for her southern soul work that stretches from her 1969 Muscle Shoals hits to her more recent collaborations with the likes of Americana kings Jason Isbell and John Paul White.
The album opens with a mid-tempo Bonnie Raitt-styled contemporary blues “I Missed the Target Again” that finds Harry Connick Jr.’s longtime guitarist Jonathan DuBose Jr. (aka the Prophesying Guitarist) showing off his skills that set the tone for the song and the album.

Staton’s older sister, Maggie Staton Peebles (who alongside Staton was a member of the Jewel Gospel Trio in the 1950s), joins her for two duets. The first, “It’s Gonna Rain,” features just a drum, steel guitar and vocals. “My mother used to sing that song to us all the time when I was a child,” Staton recalls. “It’s a really soulful kind of song I wanted to revisit.” They then take turns leading Thomas Dorsey 1939 gem “There Will Be Peace in the Valley” that Elvis Presley popularized in the 1950s.

“Hang on in There” is a new, mid-tempo song that has an old school gospel flavour and features vocals from veteran bluesman, Larry McCray.
While in Europe in 2023 for her farewell concert tour that took her to the Glastonbury Festival and Love Supreme, Staton and her British band, PUSH, went into a London studio to record a new version of The Rolling Stones’ 1972 gem, “Shine A Light.” “I love the way that came out,” Staton says. “We put a big choir on it and put our own twist on it.”
From there, Staton revives another Thomas Dorsey classic, “The Lord Will Make a Way Somehow,” with a bluesy vibe. When Al Green started recording gospel in the early 1980s, he re-introduced this song into the culture.

“God’s Gonna Use Me Anyway” is a new mid-tempo blues with subtle Caribbean influences.

The mood takes a turn on “1963.” It’s a poignant, spoken-word reflection on September 15, 1963, when four black girls were killed in the Birmingham Church bombing. “I was in the city that day and I remember the chaos and horror after the bombing,” Staton recalls. “Just thinking of how racism and hatred caused those men to kill those girls was so emotional for me that I could only do it in one take.”

It's a perfect segue into "Reach Down and Touch Heaven," a haunting, plea for divine intervention into the affairs of mankind. "That's straight Baptist," she says. "I used to be a church pianist back in the 1960s. I've never played piano on one of my records before so that's a unique song for me because I’m finally playing on one of my records. The message of that song is about the homeless. It came to me when a homeless person on the street asked me for $5. When God touches your heart to help somebody else that’s heaven to God’s hears. So, when we reach into our purse or wallet to help someone, we’re touching heaven."

Staton offers love as an antidote to hate on the bouncy, Motown-styled, “Love Breakthrough.”

Her publicist brought Aaron Frazer & the Flying Stars of Brooklyn NY’s 2017 cut “My God Has a Telephone” to Staton’s attention. She shifts the track from a retro 1960s groove to more of a 1980s Malaco Records arrangement, a subtle but distinct variation. Staton brought in her longtime friend and STAX Records legend, William Bell (“I Forgot to Be Your Lover” and “Trying to Love Two”), to add raspy seasoning to the track.

The album closes with the wistful, “In God’s Hands We Rest Untroubled,” that was originally written and recorded by the late country star, Lari White, who died in 2017 at the age of 52. “Lari sent me that song to consider at least ten years ago and I always loved it,” Staton says. “The record label didn’t want it on the album or something, so I just held it.”
Staton says, “I grew up hearing a lot of these old songs when they were new songs. I toured with the Jewel Gospel Trio in the 1950s and we got to know people like Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and others who sang these types of songs. So, I’m sort of paying tribute to them and the influence they had on me by refreshing these songs and making new songs in the old style.”’

The Body"s landmark record Master, We Perish, originally released in 2013, found the acclaimed duo at a crossroads in their career. Recorded just before the duo of drummer Lee Buford and guitarist/vocalist Chip King were leaving their longtime home of Providence for Portland and released in between their breakthrough albums All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood and Christs, Redeemers, Master expanded on the duo"s love of layered worldbuilding with more precision and a stronger emphasis on percussive samples than ever before. The seeds of the duo"s celebrated collaborative inclination are evident as the album features Assembly of Light Choir leader Chrissy Wolpert, choir member Reba Mitchell, Otesanek vocalist Leslie Weitz, and guitarist David Lifrieri. With the expanded edition, the album"s striking cover painting by Providence mainstay Manifester aka Matt Brinkman (Mindflayer, Forcefield) is finally rendered in its original form. Master, We Perish is expanded with rare bonus tracks from The Body"s early days, taken from a pair of rare 7" singles Cop Killer/Dead Cops as well as a split with Get Killed. These storied singles mark the first time the band truly pushed the boundaries of sound in the studio and on record. It also marks the beginning of The Body"s practice of wielding the studio as a veritable weapon to translate their gargantuan sound with deeper impact on LP. The results are not only pushing the capacity of the album format but are sonically riveting. The bonus material was recorded at Machines with Magnets. The band described them economically: "NASTY."

The Body"s landmark record Master, We Perish, originally released in 2013, found the acclaimed duo at a crossroads in their career. Recorded just before the duo of drummer Lee Buford and guitarist/vocalist Chip King were leaving their longtime home of Providence for Portland and released in between their breakthrough albums All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood and Christs, Redeemers, Master expanded on the duo"s love of layered worldbuilding with more precision and a stronger emphasis on percussive samples than ever before. The seeds of the duo"s celebrated collaborative inclination are evident as the album features Assembly of Light Choir leader Chrissy Wolpert, choir member Reba Mitchell, Otesanek vocalist Leslie Weitz, and guitarist David Lifrieri. With the expanded edition, the album"s striking cover painting by Providence mainstay Manifester aka Matt Brinkman (Mindflayer, Forcefield) is finally rendered in its original form. Master, We Perish is expanded with rare bonus tracks from The Body"s early days, taken from a pair of rare 7" singles Cop Killer/Dead Cops as well as a split with Get Killed. These storied singles mark the first time the band truly pushed the boundaries of sound in the studio and on record. It also marks the beginning of The Body"s practice of wielding the studio as a veritable weapon to translate their gargantuan sound with deeper impact on LP. The results are not only pushing the capacity of the album format but are sonically riveting. The bonus material was recorded at Machines with Magnets. The band described them economically: "NASTY."

Die Vintage Sounds Vinyl Collection präsentiert eine sorgfältig kuratierte Ausgabe ganz im Zeichen der House Music. Der Sampler vereint zeitlose, hochgradig tanzbare Tracks von prägenden Szenegrößen wie Masters At Work, Bob Sinclar, Kings Of Tomorrow, St Germain, DJ Gregory, Joe Smooth und vielen mehr. Funkige Basslines, soulige Vocals und klassische Grooves treffen auf französischen House-Esprit und internationale Club-Anthems. Ein unverzichtbarer Vinyl-Sampler für DJs, Sammler und alle, die House als Lebensgefühl verstehen.

The label Erdgeschoss celebrates the freedom of sound and vision at the bar of life, like football – only with a bass drum instead of a ball. And with beer. Because even with vinyl records, the ball has to go in the net.

Pop Vampires Cologne will kick things off; their surrealist debut masterpiece, Karianne, was already released at Total 25 last year. PVC lives up to its name. Like vampires, oskø and Wassermann once again sample their way through the pop supermarket of unlimited possibilities.
Almost overnight, in their illegal, digital garage, they clone hybrid sound structures, saturated with both foreign and self-injected blood doping. Forbidden fruit is known to taste the best. Consciously, explicitly, and provocatively, PVC explores sampling as an indispensable stylistic device, a universal tool for quotation and pop networking. Equally daring and respectfully irreverent, they oppose the new, all-disenchanting AI search engines on the internet with the freedom of art. The rest is surrealism. Just like the accompanying video, which isn't a video in the conventional sense, but rather a kind of making-of with Sabine as the main front character. And the digital versions of some tracks may differ slightly from the vinyl versions.
Because: Anything goes…

Das Label Erdgeschoss feiert an der Theke des Lebens die Freiheit von Sound and Vision wie Fussball - nur mit Bassdrum statt Ball. Und mit Bier. Denn auch bei der Schallplatte muss das Runde ins Eckige.

Den Anfang machen Pop Vampires Cologne, deren surrealistisches Debüt-Meisterstück Karianne bereits im letzten Jahr auf der Total 25 erschienen ist. Bei PVC ist der Name Programm. Wie Vampire sampeln sich oskø und Wassermann einmal mehr durch den Pop-Supermarkt der unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten. Quasi über Nacht klonen sie in ihrer illegalen, digitalen Garage hybride Sound-Gebilde, getränkt mit Fremd- und Eigenblutdoping. Verbotene Früchte schmecken bekanntlich am besten. Bewusst, explizit und provokant arbeiten sich PVC am für sie unverzichtbaren Stilmittel des Sampling als universelle Zitat- und Pop-Vernetzungsmaschine ab. Ebenso wagemutig wie respektvoll respektlos, halten sie den neuen, alles entzaubernden K.I. Suchmaschinen im Netz die Freiheit der Kunst entgegen. Der Rest ist Surrealismus. So wie das dazugehörige Video kein Video im herkömmlichen Sinne ist, sondern eine Art Making Off mit Sabine als Frontdarstellerin. Und die digitalen Versionen einiger Stücke sich leicht von den Vinyl Versionen unterscheiden. Denn: Erlaubt ist, was gefällt…

From the depth of transient memories comes ‘Some Leaves Must Fall 聽其自然’, Temple Rat’s latest EP and the inaugural release for Martin Gilleshøj’s ‘Buttheads’ label.

Across 6 tracks Temple Rat distills fragments of spatial memory, merging conceptual ambience with the mystic, spatial, and driven edges of deep trance and hypnotic techno. A pensive and functional synthesis, one played out like an ode to the sustained.

Through 2024 while moving between Berlin and Sichuan, Temple Rat conceptualized and finished ‘Some Leaves Must Fall 聽其自然’. At its core, the work is an exploration of how the personal memory of cities and their particular acoustic environments can be transmuted in musical form. For these places, altered by the passing of time and the shifting of contexts, mirror the fluid and generative nature of sound itself.

Creatively this approach was borne out in a kind of archaeology of sound: by sampling and capturing auditory fragments Mei was able to preserve otherwise fleeting moments of experience. Sonics which not only embodied the emotions of the present but served too as a mechanism of recall, pulling memory back into focus even against the erasures of time.

In its method this project seeks to transform the sonic textures of urban and natural environments into high-energy dance tracks, exploring the tension between the certainty of space and the uncertainty of time. A tension operating not only within the structural logic of the sound itself, but so too as an affective experience, extending into the listener’s body and perceptual field.

For we are not the first to note that in a world of pervasive temptation and fragmented information, sustained listening has become rarified. Through this project, Temple Rat hopes to counter this tendency; to encourage a deeper mode of listening that restores attention, re-establishing our essential connection with the present.

All music is written, recorded, arranged, and produced by Temple Rat aka Yuxin Mei
Mastered by Giuseppe Tillieci at Enisslab
Distributed by One Eye Witness


2026 Repress

SPEICHER-Ikone und gefeierte Clubmacht KÖLSCH debütiert auf KOMPAKT mit dem Album '1977', einer außergewöhnlichen Sammlung von elektronischen Juwelen, die seine frühen Meisterwerke mit exklusivem neuen Material verzahnt. Hier finden Monument, Irrsinn & Biss unter einem gemeinsamen, kennerhaft austarierten Groove zusammen und bereichern die Erlebniswelten von
Heimtänzern wie Flurhunden... dein neuer bester Freund ist da und es ist eine Platte.

Tatsache: trotz des Namens und unserer wohldokumentierten Vorliebe für Kölner Bier ist KÖLSCH kein Rheinländer und er hat sich auch nicht nach dem Lokalbräu benannt. Selbst weltweit hoch gehandelte Hits und eine Reihe profilträchtiger Live-Auftritte scheinen allerdings nichts daran zu ändern, daß der preisgekrönte dänische Produzent Rune Reilly Kölsch regelmäßig konfuse Fragen nach dem eigenen Namen weggrätschen muß. Und doch könnte er nicht deutlicher werden: man denke an etablierte Flurfavoriten wie OPA, DER ALTE oder SILBERPFEIL... diese Tracktitel beziehen sich samt und sonders auf Runes Erinnerungen an eine Kindheit in Deutschland. Anders gesagt: ja, der heißt wirklich so.

'1977' ist nicht einfach nur entseeltes 'Best Of'-Gemenge: mit brandneuen Eisen wie BASSHUND, BAPPEDECKEL und EISWINTER im Feuer braucht KÖLSCH sich nun wirklich keine Gedanken über die zukünftige Wirkgeschichte seines Werks zu machen. Und dann ist da eine Rillenzirze wie OMA, hoch emotionaler Konterpart zum leicht sardonischen OPA und in jeder Hinsicht ebenso mitreissend wie die kanonische Überballade ALL THAT MATTERS. Für das große Finale schließlich wendet sich Rune an LORELEY, das bestimmende Initialrelease des Projekts und bis heute ein massiver Kracher von eigenem Recht - in der Tat so gewaltig, daß der Schock von gleich zwei weiteren Tracks gepuffert werden muss, dem dramatischen WASSERSCHUTZ und einem trojanischen Pferd namens FELIX. Letzteres sollte ja eigentlich eine Art Outro für das Album sein... doch dann hat jemand den Knopf gedrückt und das transdimensionale Portal erwachte zum Leben.

Following her acclaimed 2023 release Flood City Trax, a dreamy, lo-fi take on footwork inspired by the crumbling rust-belt city she calls home, Nondi returns to Planet Mu with her second self-titled album, Nondi…While Nondi… retains some of the hazy, nostalgic atmosphere of Flood City Trax, it pushes her sound in bold new directions. “I made this album to capture the sense of freedom I used to get from music when I was first discovering it all,” Nondi says. “It’s meant to be cute, fun, kinda weird and emotional — but most of all, it’s a presentation of some of the prettiest tracks I’ve made.” Though she hasn’t really experienced club culture where she lives, her impressionistic productions evoke the surreal, lingering sounds of a night out — the melodic haze that hums in your ears as you drift off to sleep. Lo-fi and melodic, yet fluid and free, her music carries a sense of flight and intuitive logic. Nondi’s influences range widely — Actress, Aphex Twin, footwork, and the stranger edges of dub techno are all felt, yet she hallucinates them through her own weathered, dreamlike lens. Her tracks often build from clashing loops that evolve and transform organically, or from familiar genre elements reshaped by her instinct for misty, heart-wrenching melody. Some moments stay closer to genre, like Broken Future 175, a drum-and-bass tear-out that dissolves into lush, blurred chords, or Just Hanging Out, a bruised and beautiful take on 2-step. Lead single Tree Festival feels like a blown-out fusion of rave energy and sped-up new-age bliss, while Death Juke drifts through off-beat vocal samples, pulsing drums and 8-bit FX, reminiscent of early Steve Reich reimagined through a Game Boy. Nondi… is a uniquely moving and exploratory album that expands her sonic world even further. Lo-fi yet luminous, playful yet profound.

Bristol-based provider of tough and sinewy drum & bass, Holsten has proved himself one to watch with successes on UVB-76 Music, Hotline and Rupture, not to mention a clutch of releases on the essential label, Droogs. This EP sees him offering up four battle weapons that lean towards the glory days of techstep. Opener 'Burn' goes for apocalyptic bass and a hardstepping outer shell, finished off with nicely unsettling sonics. 'Service Kru 2' is the roasting Amen-led roller, with Dillinja-esque sidewinding edits, kung fu samples and ravey stabs. Flip it over for 'Twisted Music', tense and edgy rather than full on blasting, while closer 'Projectiles', remixed by Overlook, steams its way to the run out groove with the kind of dystopian intensity that fans of classic No U-Turn will be very comfortable with. Producer and label alike are both on the rise, so get on it.

Irlam's dastardly duo are back with another bonza bucket of bass, breaks and badness as they fire up Studio Krust for another high octane session.
Sure to top the Fairground charts and further enrage the Hell's Angels, 'Synthetic Stupidity' sees the pair unleash their full force unabashed, as they hit a purple patch full of new found and frankly quite surprising productivity (rumours of a European-wide sputnik shortage are the likely catalyst).

Fractionally distilling their many collective years of dance music experience into 12 refined pieces of advanced club kinetics that skirt between the syncopated intricacies of breakbeat science and maxed-out 4/4 propulsion.
More hyped-up vox & frantic sampling, more tension, tons of one-finger keyboard melodies, and - as usual - moments of sonic tomfoolery to flummox the assumers.
With their drug debts paid off and a forced clarity of mind, 'Synthetic Stupidity' is a more expansive, deeper and unhurried project; allowing Bosco and Metrodome the space and time to truly deliver the zenith of their sound.

This, is DJ ABSOLUTELY SHIT!!!

Dutch DJ/producer Boss Priester has built a name as a producer who operates with a ‘let the music speak’ ethos. Now based in The Hague, he has spent years crafting a distinctive sound that blends elements from minimal, house, and techno, releasing across respected labels including Ba Dum Tish, X-Kalay, Dungeon Meat, and his own BPDUBS imprint. His 2023 ‘Hotel Dijon’ EP on LOCUS marked a notable moment in his journey, having long drawn support from label boss Enzo Siragusa, establishing a connection that now comes full circle with an impressive debut outing on FUSE. Building on the backing of other notable figures such as Fumiya Tanaka and Samuel Deep, reinforcing his meticulous attention to rhythm, texture, and groove, his ‘Respect Yourself’ EP extends his sound further as he delivers four tracks that are impactful, precise, and built to command the dancefloor.

Title track ‘Respect Yourself’ leads the EP with its synth-led, hypnotic groove, as intricate percussion and low-end weight immediately establish a commanding presence shaped for the floor. ‘BP On The Master’ follows with a deep, rolling energy, blending minimal textures and squelchy bass licks with understated melodic flourishes. On the B-side, ‘Future Is Electric’ channels a forward-thinking spirit, layering bright textures over weighty, skippy UKG-influenced driving rhythms, before ‘Flava’ closes things with a hazy yet heavy kinetic groove that perfectly encapsulates Boss’s growing sound.

"Voigt Legacy - Megamix 1" is the promising title of a kind of "Best-Of Bassdrum-Hits" from the far-reaching Voigt universe. It is a compact megamix of seven selected tracks from some very rare live sets which have never been released before or never on vinyl. The mix features all-time classics such as "Fackeln Im Sturm" and "W.I.R.", as well as the long-out-of-print super-smasher "Die Schallplatte" and gems from the Protest, catalogue such as "Du Musst Nichts Sagen" and "Sound & Vision". This multifaceted collection of danceable tracks and looped horses is presented in a deluxe cover with glossy colours.

The art bridge is a natural choice because where there's a loop, there's a way. An abstract loop collage measuring 600 cm x 150 cm was created under the same title, "Voigt Legacy – Megamix 1", corresponding to the music and referencing the graphic symbolism of the titles, logos and cover artwork.