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Nonesuch Records releases Let X=X, by Laurie Anderson with Sexmob. This triple-LP/double-CD set was recorded live during a 2023 tour by Anderson and the jazz band Sexmob – Steven Bernstein and Briggan Krauss on brass, Kenny Wollesen on percussion, Douglas Wieselman on winds and guitar, and Tony Scherr on bass. Its cover and interior packaging feature paintings by Anderson. The album features 23 songs, including many favourites from throughout Anderson’s career, performed in new arrangements – plus one by Lou Reed and Metallica, ‘Junior Dad’. Anderson and Sexmob play more US and international dates this spring and summer (details below).

The New York Times said Anderson and Sexmob’s concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) ‘wasn’t a historical recreation of past recordings; Sexmob’s sound is a beefier one than on Anderson’s albums. With musicians who can double on electric guitar and bass clarinet, its members offered a rich range of textural variation throughout the evening.’

Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned – and daring – creative pioneers. Her work, which encompasses music, visual art, poetry, film, and photography, has challenged and delighted audiences around the world for more than 40 years. In a recent 60 Minutes profile, Anderson Cooper said she ‘is a pioneer of the avant-garde, but... that doesn’t begin to describe what she creates... It’s experienced by audiences who come to see her perform: singing, telling stories, and playing strange violins of her own invention... she blends the beautiful and the bizarre, challenging audiences with homilies and humor. She blurs boundaries across music, theater, dance, and film.’ The Washington Post has said she ‘doesn’t just tell stories; she draws out every word with a kind of physical pleasure, tasting its flavor as she probes the everyday mysteries of life.’

Anderson released her first album with Nonesuch Records, the critically lauded Life on a String, in 2001. Her subsequent releases on the label include Live in New York (2002); Homeland (2010); the soundtrack to her acclaimed film Heart of a Dog (2015); and her Grammy-winning collaboration with Kronos Quartet, Landfall (2018). Nonesuch released a re-mastered edition of Big Science in 2007 for its 25th anniversary, followed by a vinyl LP re-issue in 2021; the album includes Anderson’s beloved, surprise hit, song, ‘O Superman’, which also is featured on Let X=X. Her recent Nonesuch release was 2024’s Amelia, about renowned female aviator Amelia Earhart’s tragic last flight.

Anderson’s virtual-reality film La Camera Insabbiata, with Hsin-Chien Huang, won the 2017 Venice Film Festival Award for Best VR Experience, and, in 2018, Skira Rizzoli published her book All the Things I Lost in the Flood: Essays on Pictures, Language and Code, the most comprehensive collection of her artwork to date. Recent exhibitions and installations of Anderson’s work include Habeas Corpus at New York’s Park Avenue Armory; her largest exhibition to date, The Weather, at Washington, DC’s Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art; and Looking into a Mirror Sideways at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet, which was her largest European exhibition to date.

Laurie Anderson was awarded the 2024 Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, along with Christopher Nolan and David Attenborough, and the International Astronomical Union named a minor planet in her honour: Asteroid 270588, Laurieanderson. That same year, she was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

This perfectly formed EP brings together Dutch duo Fouk with a selection of collaborators across four groove-led cuts blending house, disco, and nu-disco influences.

The title track sees Fouk teaming up with The Phenomenal Handclap Band, delivering a vibrant vocal cut driven by warm basslines, uplifting melodies, and classic disco instrumentation. Importantly, both the vocal and instrumental versions appear here as extended mixes exclusive to the vinyl release.

Further collaborations with Archil & Leon and 79.5 continue the EP’s groove-heavy approach, combining soulful vocals, live instrumentation, and dancefloor-ready arrangements.

Already receiving strong support across radio, DJs, and streaming platforms, including plays from Bill Brewster (NTS Radio), Colleen Cosmo Murphy, Dom Servini, Francois K, Graeme Park, Hot Toddy, Massimiliano Pagliara, Pete Herbert, Slothboogie, Tim Zawada / Star Creature Universal Vibrations, Dave Pezzner, Nadiem Shah, Luxxury, Dj Supermarkt, Luke Solomon, Seamus Haji, Sophie Lloyd, J-Kriv, DJ Rocca, Faze Action.

The release has also landed #1 placements on Spotify’s Nu Disco editorial playlist.

With warm grooves, uplifting vocals and strong crossover appeal between disco, house and nu-disco scenes, this EP offers high playability for DJs and strong appeal for modern disco and house collectors.

Lady Jane Beach land on Slacker 85 with their lo-slung label debut, ‘Binman’. A short, sharp shot of minimal rhythm and rhyme, ‘Binman’ is the sound of the enigmatic London-based trio soundtracking their trips around the capital’s outer ringroads seeking adventure, trouble and corrupted drum machines. Blessed with loose, confident production and verses like glue, Slacker boss Seth Troxler doubles down on his support with a beefed-up, roadtested club edit.

An undisputed trailblazer of UK rave, Zed Bias fires up his studio for two contrasting takes on ‘Binman’, each capturing split sides of the soundsystem culture he helped define. Zed’s ‘Weighty Dub’ goes unapologetically raw, transitioning between skippy beats, heavy bass drops and a fusebox melody out of the darkness. From the basement straight through to the beach club, the ‘Nostalgia Mix’ makes good on its promise of misty-eyed reverie, recalling the first-wave of UKG domination with lush strings and steppin’ drums that still sound like a bright future.

From one generation to the next, fast-rising DJ and producer HalfPint is already familiar to dancers of Circoloco's famed Terrace and Garden. His take on ‘Binman’ finds a fresh frequency, converting the rhymes of the original into a precision-tooled tech house groove, primed for the summer season.

Türkisfarbenes Vinyl, Gatefold, inkl. Insert. Willy Astors Humor ist seit Jahrzehnten ein Markenzeichen: verspielt, sprachverliebt und voller Leichtigkeit und hat damit seit Dekaden ein Alleinstellungsmerkmal. Doch jenseits seiner Wortakrobatik ist Astor stets auch ein ernstzunehmender Musiker und Gitarrist mit ausgeprägtem Sinn für harmonische Weite. Was er nun gemeinsam mit seinen langjährigen Weggefährten Roberto di Gioia und Ferdi Kirner auf seinem Werk "The Sound Of Islands Vol. VII" vorlegt, überrascht selbst versierte Kenner seiner Musik: ein Album von bemerkenswerter Ruhe und Klarheit. "Sound Of Islands Vol. VII" ist ein instrumentaler Hörgenuss. Das neue Werk holt einen perfekt runter, ist eine wahre Wohltat für gestresste Seelen und strapazierte Ohren.

Kreng transports us through the swirling darkness and into the unknown with “Wormhole”, his first album in over a decade.

What does a trip towards another world sound like? We’re about to find out. The master of tension, melancholy, and the deranged is back after a long period working in the worlds of theatre and cinema. Last seen on Miasmah with the grief stricken The Summoner, Kreng now returns with Wormhole, following closer in the footsteps of the cult classics L’Autopsie Phénoménale de Dieu and Grimoire.

Starting with “You Are Here”, the listener travels through a vacuum of spacious minimalism and edge-of-your-seat tension. Within the journey, we are pulled and lured towards a mystic inner core and beyond, encountering drifting fragments of old-world nostalgia on the way: echoes of empty jazz bars sit alongside hellish, Hieronymus Bosch-like scenarios.

Surrendering to the album reveals a surprisingly reflective beauty beneath its darkness; it's a true home-listening gem that unfolds like a Lovecraftian cosmic horror-mystery in the way only Kreng could deliver. Forget everything you know and enter the secret door…

Synopsis: Kagome, a modern-day schoolgirl, is transported to feudal Japan and frees Inuyasha, a half-demon. Together, they seek the shattered shards of the Shikon Jewel, desired by demons. Along their journey, they face fierce enemies, forge deep friendships, and discover a growing love amidst their perilous quest. This album features the best openings and endings from Inuyasha. Performed by iconic J-pop artists, these songs blend emotion, nostalgia, and energy. A must-have compilation for fans of the anime.

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.

Black Truffle is pleased to present Radis, the first recording by the Oslo-based trio of Andrea Giordano (voice and organetto), Kalle Moberg (accordion) and Jo David Meyer Lysne (guitar and snare drum). Now based in Norway, Giordano is a native of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region in the north-west of Italy and her exploration of the Piedmontese language provides the starting point and conceptual anchor of the trio improvisations heard on Radis, which make use of the words of 20th century Piedmontese poets Nino Costa, Bianca Dorato and Oreste Gallina. As the musicians explain, the project is an attempt to preserve the beauty and singularity of a language at risk of extinction.

Fittingly, the first sound we hear on the opening piece ‘Fiorìa’ is Giordano’s unaccompanied voice. She sings a poem from Oreste Gallina as a kind of floating cadenza, the accompanying silence sensitizing the listener to the pellucid quality of Giordano’s voice and the unique sound of the Piedmontese language. The voice dies away and into the silence swells a single tone, sounded by Moberg’s accordion and—special guest on this opening piece—the alto saxophone of Mario Gabola. Extended techniques and preparations create unexpected timbres from the acoustic instruments: Gabola’s saxophone is augmented with tin cans and springs and Moberg’s unorthodox techniques allow the accordion to generate wheezing, buzzing textures and patterns of microtonal beating. Giordano’s voice returns, picking up the thread of the languorous opening melody, coexisting for a while with the shifting drone before the piece takes an unexpected yet organic left-turn into a delicate saxophone solo of sorts.

Recorded in several locations across Italy and Norway over the course of three years, Radis documents an ensemble who have developed both a distinctive sound-world and a remarkably sensitive group dynamic. Moving from folkish duets between accordion and Giordano’s organetto (the small accordion used in Italian folk music) to episodes of metallic guitar scraping from Meyer Lysne, the music is both quietly contemplative and gently chaotic. Ensemble roles shift with disarming ease. If on ‘Profij dëspers’ Meyer Lysne’s prepared guitar adds a haywire noise element to a lyrical episode of organetto and accordion, the next piece, ‘D’antorn a lor’, is grounded in chiming guitar chords of stunning beauty; once Giordano’s joins, the result calls up the most spacious moments of Maria Monti’s Il Bestiario. Throughout the seven pieces, the trio explore countless possibilities of group interaction and the margin between conventional euphony and pure abstraction: at times the voice floats against silence or seems almost disconnected from the gentle clatter of the instruments (sometimes reminiscent of Nikiforas Rotas’ haunting settings of Cavafy), while at other points the instruments touch on conventional harmonic accompaniment. What is perhaps most striking of all is the way that voice and instruments relate to each other, the extended technique reframing the voice as a kind of abstract sound object, while the melodic beauty of Giordano’s voice lends a contemplative, almost melancholic air to the wheezing and scraping of accordion and guitar.

Captured in gorgeously intimate recordings, Jim O’Rourke’s careful and beautifully spacious mix highlights the wealth of textural detail in each element. Accompanied by notes, session photos and the text of the Piedmontese poems, Radis is a work of stunning beauty that demonstrates the vitality of exploratory music in Norway today.

Blue Hour distills over a decade of artistry into his debut album Selva, unearthing eight tracks inspired by ancient wisdom and forgotten worlds.
Blue Hour is the moniker of Luke Standing, a multifaceted artist, producer, and label owner navigating between past and present electronic dance music. Over more than a decade, Standing has built a career balancing transformative craft with a sharp curatorial approach, earning him respect across the global scene. After years of sonic experimentation, he now releases his debut LP Selva. “I never set out to make an LP – it just wrote itself,” he says. “I followed my intuition, and the music found its own path.”
Born and raised in the UK, Standing grew up in parallel with club culture, moving between Brighton, Bristol and Berlin while running club nights and establishing himself under former aliases Furesshu and Esoteric.
He launched his Blue Hour project in late 2013, shortly after relocating to Berlin. Initially a platform for his own music, Blue Hour quickly became a collaborative hub, blurring the lines between personal output and curation. Over time, Standing has cultivated an international ecosystem of like-minded artists while continuously expanding his own sonic horizons.
Selva marks his first full-length studio album, weaving a lifetime of influences into a cohesive narrative inspired by ancient wisdom and forgotten worlds. The eight-track double LP transforms his inner dialogue into a subconscious story pulling inspiration from a labyrinthine network of influence and experience. “I followed the music obsessively, reflecting and refining until the story revealed itself,” Standing explains.
“To me, the LP evokes Amazonian or Mayan jungles, themes of exploration, the mysteries of the natural world, wisdom passed down through generations. I didn't set out to write about these things consciously,
they just emerged on their own.” he adds.The album was shaped through intensive work in his studio and periods spent in subtropical locations.
Listening closely, Selva unfolds like a modern ceremony: the opening tracks channel his early UK dance influences, shifting into blends of traditional and contemporary techno, then expanding into melodic soundscapes before concluding with transcendental textures and atmospheres. The result is an introspective journey where functionality and emotive storytelling coexist, revealing a depth in Blue Hour we haven’t heard before.
Whether performing, curating, or producing, Standing operates with a deep commitment to sound, culture, and collaboration. More than an artist, he is an architectural thinker of what electronic music could become. “Every release is my own metamorphosis,” he says. “This LP reflects my current form, and I’m curious to see what the next chapter brings.” Few artists can unify a lifetime of genre-spanning influences into a sound as sharp and focused. On Selva, Blue Hour does exactly that, opening a new era of deeper
immersion from his Berlin-based label.

DJ Support: Garnier, Opolopo, Worldwide FM, Marcia Carr, Bill Brewster, Timeout Moscow, Craig Smith, Delfonic, Tony Nwachukwu, Marcel Dettmann, DJ Rocca, Shuya Okino, Borrowed Identity, Titonton Duvante, Alex Attias, Rainer Truby, Sol Power All-Stars, Kyri R2, Robert Luis, Severino Panzetta, Lars Behrenroth, Kassian, Alkalino, Getdown Edits, Moodymanc, Gerd, Lea Lisa, Young Pulse, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Mark Grusane, Alex Barck….

International dance music heavyweight, producer and DJ Alexander Lay-Far returns with a powerful new chapter - Lay-Far Dance Orchestra (LFDO) - a fully-fledged live band project that reconnects him with his jazz-funk and fusion DNA while pushing dance music forward with unmistakable groove, musicianship and emotional weight. Formed in early 2024, LFDO is no nostalgia exercise. With Lay-Far at the helm as bassist, bandleader, composer, arranger and sound engineer, the orchestra has already been turning heads with explosive live performances, reinventing classic Lay-Far cuts, and now unveil their first album “Skybreak” with all new and original material written and produced by Lay-Far together with his bandmates and star guests, including Lipelis, Antoha MC and Seven Davis Jr. This work shows the departure from the predominantly electronic sound of Lay-Far's previous solo albums in favour of live instrumentation recorded to analogue tape and effortlessly bridging the gap between Jazz, Library Music, Disco-Funk, House, Broken Beat and Drum’n’Bass. “Skybreak” is dynamic, passionate, spiritual, cinematic, playful, heartfelt, life-affirming, dreamy and deeply romantic. Ultimately, there’s something profoundly romantic in recording and releasing such music in this day and age!


“Take Flight (Part 1)” is opening the album with style. It takes us on a beautifully orchestrated journey, blending the sensuality of Library Music with high-octane Jazz-Funk and raw b-boy breaks, propelled by breathtaking flute and Rhodes solos of Timur Nekrasov and Maxim Glonti. This aural symbiosis of “beauty and the beats” will become more and more prominent as the album unfolds.



It’s time for “Aquarius Love” created with the inimitable artist and vocalist Seven Davis Jr. (Secret Angels, Ninja Tune). In this composition cinematic soul and heavy jazz meet the restless energy of live drum & bass with deep and heartfelt vocals - timeless sound combined with a timeless message about love and life!



Next is “Head In The Clouds” - a theme for an imaginary rom-com, an ode to all the dreamers - sweet, light, naive and heartwarming. Space-Disco-Funk at its best!

“Where You From” is a fiery Soulful House number with heavy Afro-Latin influences recorded in collaboration with Lipelis. It’s full of Sun, joy and passion. Its irresistible rhythm is emphasised by funky octave bass, wah-wah guitar, catchy piano riffs, guitar solo by Lipelis and seemingly light conscious message delivered by Lay-Far and Maryag. Summer is here!

Now the album takes an unexpected twist in the form of “The Harp of Boom” which at first glance appears to be a classic-sounding Boom-Bap banger. Yes, It’s loud, raw, and gritty, yet it gradually evolves into something delicately-touching and deeply-soulful thanks to a memorable flute melody and lush string arrangement. Definitely recorded with tongue in cheek.


Next is “Feel The Moment” a remarkable collaboration with one of the most recognisable and distinctive Russian artists, singer, trumpeter and cultural icon Antoha MC. It’s a feel-good song, hopeful, life-affirming and bittersweet. A stylish excursion into Brit-Funk and Soviet Jazz-Fusion sound, drawing inspiration from the likes of Atmosfear, Light Of The World or Soviet Jazz bands like Allegro and Arsenal, but reimagining the influences through the modern West London broken beat lens.


The spectacular music journey continuous with “Take Flight (Part 2)” - it’s all about the deep infectious jazz-funk groove, heavy beats, rolling percussion and the glory of the soloing instruments - saxophone and flute by Timur Nekrasov, demonstrating the wide range of emotions from thoughtful and lyrical to restless and borderline vicious. One for freestyle dancing!

As the album draws to an end a vibrant musical triptych “Soul Constant” awaits, mixing together the deep and sensual mood of spiritual jazz with heavy syncopated drum’n’bass rhythms by Michail Fotchenkov, lush orchestration, expressive saxophone solos and the ending which can simply be described as “aural bliss”. It’s breath-taking!

A pleasant bonus is the exclusive version of “Where You From” by Lipelis himself, who is taking it into dub territories, further enhancing the rhythm section and enriching the song with his trademark playful synth flourishes and dreamy guitar solos for maximum effect (and appeal).

The album “Skybreak” by Lay-Far Dance Orchestra is the work of real artistry and craftsmanship with timeless sound that’s not only deeply-rooted but also forward-thinking.

The album is all acoustic and dedicated to John Lee Hooker with the line, "In Memory of John Lee Hooker. You are missed."

Not known for his acoustic work, Buddy Guy unplugs on Blues Singer for a rare album-length excursion into folk blues. The guitarist gets down and dirty with 12 tracks that sound like they were recorded after hours in his living room or on his back porch.

Guy’s stinging leads are still evident as is his emotive voice, but both are less flamboyant in the unplugged setting. Accompanied by spare stand-up bass and brushed drums, Guy sounds nearly supernatural on covers from Skip James ("Hard Time Killing Floor"), Johnny Shines ("Moanin’ and Groanin’"), Son House ("Louise McGhee"), and John Lee Hooker ("Sally Mae") among others. It’s a low-key, low-down affair made for late nights, rainy days, and the saddest of moods.

Buddy Guy is just as convincing here, arguably more so, as on his barnstorming electric albums, making Blues Singer one of the bravest and most poignant albums in his catalogue.

Blues Singer is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on red vinyl and includes a 4-page booklet.

Extinction Burst! is the new invocation in album-form by Guttersnipe, Leeds’ premier and pre-eminent XFCER (XFCER: Xenofeminist crisis-energy rock)* duo. Slamming at full speed to multi-dimensional oblivion, Extinction Burst! is the most full, hidefinition lurid dream-mare yet spewed out by Uroceras Gigas & Tipula Confusa. Engineered and mixed by Ross Halden at Hohm Studio in Bradford and mastered by Rashad Becker, Extinction Burst! follows 2018’s My Mother The Vent, which garnered universal critical adoration. Nevertheless, this long-awaited follow up is more extreme: it is wildness beyond reason, splitting new tears in the reality gauze, ultimate hallucination through sound ecstasy. 2026’s Guttersnipe are evolved, mutated by 8 years of touring together and with the labyrinthine network of groups both Guttersnipe members are involved with - Tristwch Y Fenywod, Nape Neck, Petronn Sphene, Yexxen to name a few. On Extinction Burst!, as with previous material, the duo are heavily augmented with technology. Tipula Confusa's drum kit triggers chasm-causing synth pulses with thumping low end attack.. Strafing from all over the stereo field the constant shatter of the cymbals and toms feel like Sunny Murray or Rashied Ali in full flight during a John Coltrane session in 1967. Uroceras Gigas’s guitar + synth storm is by-now similarly an instantly recognised tool kit in underground music. Switching from screeching guitar atonality to intricate riffs from the black metal/Voivod hinterland to ultra-distorted synth meltdown, it’s an utterly overwhelming, essential and vital pouring-out of the full emotional spectrum. Both artists vocalise, ecstatic and primal, drawn out or yelped in pain or pleasure or panic. Alive On Tuesday begins with some of the only space on Extinction Burst! Digital crackles and tight-delays blow out into a fullthrottled death-dive into sweet opaqueness, offset by the duo’s vocals. There’s a popular believe that Guttersnipe is chaos, but over 9 mins here the group are clinical in their control of the simulated entropy. Mincing while the Maelstrom Churns’s guitar is modulated into jagged atonal atonement, duetting with the virtuoso drum patterns before it thuds into gear at quadruple the speed. Threads Of Radical Unaliveness veers close to the extreme Metal influences with blast beats and guttural vocalisations until the track exhausts itself into unaliveness. Keep Honking summons a demonic digital panic, with the duo reincarnating in real time as haunted versions of themselves, almost translating the lurid, ultra vivid, simultaneous hell+heaven of being alive in this dimension. Primordial Invagination harnesses No Wave’s dissension of normality before the structured collapse of Skra¨ckblandad Fo¨rtjusning, in which Tipula Confusa’s accelerating drums simulate a bouncing barrel of brimstone descending into a primordial gunky ooze, a respite in the middle before the record splutters to a stuttering finale, both members’ vocals out there in the neon realness, alive with crisis energy. There is nothing on this cursed earth like Guttersnipe. For over 10 years they have whirled in a wiggliness both woebegone and wonderstruck on a mission of radical mutant exaltation using rock music weaponry loaded with a queer hysterical ammunition to rupture the fabric of the known Rock universe and unleash a tendril-soft hallucinatory violence; thrumming with the bracing vividness of insect bodies, crazed with alien synaesthetic emotions, harnessing jagged excoriating illogic as a face meltingly snazzy affront to redundant macho mediocrity with the hope to break minds, squeeze hearts, explode pelvises and maybe even reset the parameters of reality. Addendum: xenofeminist : proposing and creating a world defined not only by sexual/gender equality, queer empowerment and the toppling of the racist heteropatriarchal hegemony and it’s tyranny of phallogocentric signifiers, but a philosophy of radical queerness that explodes the basic notion of embodied existence itself beyond even the human, where we see bacteria, invertebrates, reptiles, marine life, animalia in general, inanimate objects, quantum phenomena and as yet inarticulated bodies and minds as social and political equals that may inspire and inform our concepts of self, feeling and meaning as we labour to build a collective reality that doesn’t completely suck!! crisis energy : a term borrowed from the weird fiction author china mieville to describe a type of extreme concentration of power which emerges when a system or organism is pushed to it’s absolute limit; the point of rupture, chaos, entropic overload, just before it all breaks apart. rock : Rock ’n’ Roll, rock music, the devil’s music, sex, guitar, drums, voice, rhythm, riffs!

Gravity Pleasure welcomes Maude Vôs for their most intimate EP offering to date, Medicinal Properties. Dripping in serenity and grounded in connection, Medicinal Properties is a musical elixir concocted with the healing modalities of the natural world and derived from the intentional planting and nurturing of sapphic seeds. Through minor modes, swimming cinematics and mineral-rich textures, Vôs traverses an ecosystem of sensuality and bonding, a symbiotic journey of long-distance love colored and shaped by their affinity for the earth.

Taking root in California and continuing throughout Ireland, Iceland, and Montreal, the EP translates this cross-continental connection by blurring the lines of timezones, genres, and natural landscapes. Inspired by sea swims, country oyster cottages, diner pancakes, snow flurries, geothermal soaks, mossy mornings, and adventures to igneous formations, Vôs invites you to experience this potent body of work, which forms the harmonious emotional bedrock of both kinship and creation.

Support comes from Yushh (“LOVE, so good!!!”), Jossy Mitsu (“Incredible <3”), Mixtress (“v pretty”), Peder Mannerfelt (“hot”), Batu (“like Maude Vos, downloading”), Vladimir Ivkovic (“Good! Thank you”), and OM UNIT (“Orr kore is lush”), amongst others.

Nicola Conte and Nico Lahs’ Tema Due project finally comes to full realization in a double LP entitled “Universo Astratto”,adding a wealth of new musical shades and ideas to the two EPs released on Schema Records in 2025. The albumrepresents not only the natural evolution of their artistic dialogue, but also a statement of intent in terms of sound.Fans of the most sophisticated and refined club music, elevated by the fusion of exquisite electronica with spiritual jazz (it isno coincidence that the opening track evokes the baseline of “A Love Supreme”), African-American rhythms and tribalpercussion, will be thrilled by this complex and multi-layered album, which unveils new hidden details upon each listen.A meticulous selection of exceptional musicians contributes in a distinctive and significant way to broadening the scope ofthe project: Giovanni Guidi, Pietro Lussu, and Dario Bassolino on keyboards, Gabriel Prado and Abdissa Assefa onpercussion, Magnus Lindgren on wind instruments and Hammond organ, and Pasquale Calò on saxophone. On vocals wehave Lalin St. Juste, Siya Makuzeni, Nina Miranda - for what is probably the best track on the album, “Share Your Love”- and Toco - for a new and previously unreleased version of the track “Macumba de Oxalà” featured on the first EP.In “Universo Astratto”, Tema Due’s vision is finally fulfilled: a world of ancestral grooves, cosmic jazz, and electronic musicconceived for clubs as a type of “active experience” in which one is transcended by music. This record is an invitation—tomove, to feel, to elevate—and a manifesto for those who see the dance floor not just as a location, but as a shared experience of awareness and rhythm

Ronnie Davis is another mighty Jamaican singer, whose talents have been greatly overlooked. His rootsy yet soulful voice have been in demand by many of Jamaica's producers, and have graced their catalogues over the decades, yet outside of the close reggae circles he has remained a closely guarded secret.

Born Ronnie Davis, in 1950 (Savannah La Mar, Jamaica). His singing career began in the 1960's and like many aspiring young singers, the Talent contests taking part around the Island, was his first introduction to the music scene. This led to him joining the vocal group, 'The Tenors'.  Who shortly after his arrival, released their debut 'The Whole World is a Stage'. This was the beginning of a run of Jamaican 7'' releases that did quite well in the domestic marketplace. But Ronnie had set his sights on a solo career,which came to fruition in the early 1970's, with two big hits for him in the guise of 'Won't You Come Home' and 'Stop Yu Loofing'. Running on through to the mid 1970's with such hits as 'Jah Jah Jehovah','Forget Me Now', 'On and On' and 'Babylon Falling'. Building up to the 1976 classic, 'It's Raining'.

Around this time Ronnie's path would cross with Keith Porter and with his childhood friend Roy Smith they would form one of Jamaica's foremost vocal groups 'The Itals'.  A group who would run until the 1990's and evolve into 'Ronnie Davis and Idren'. Ronnie's releases are very sort after among the reggae aficionados and any tune carrying his vocal talents rarely
disappoint. We have compiled some rare roots dubs to many of his finest cuts. Such gems as 'Chasing You', 'What You See is What You Get', his take on the timeless cut 'Tribal War', 'Tell You' and the a fore mentioned smash 'It's Raining'. A version of Gregory Issac's 'Love Overdue' is also present. Ronnie cut an album worth of material with Mr Issac's, testimony surely to Mr Davis's standing in the Reggae community.

Let’s hope that this release spreads the gospel according to Mr R. Davis, a little wider.  A wicked set by one of Jamaica's finest .....

Respect Jah Floyd.

Evergreen In Your Mind, the new and third album from Norwegian singer-songwriter Juni Habel, exists in two worlds at the same time. Songs were recorded in quiet corners of her home, on the piano in the school where she works, and it uses the physical world around her to provide percussion. It also takes place, as she herself attests, within a dream; an imagined place in which her desire for oneness with each other and the world around us is finally realised.

Evergreen In Your Mind was recorded with co-producer Stian Skaaden, it’s Habel’s first album in three-years, following the breakthrough success of 2023’s Carvings LP. Formed of eleven new recordings, the songs here remain delicate, Habel’s voice playing an elegant lead role – but there are fluctuations too.

These small shifts in Habel’s sound result in a notable stride forward. More focus went into the groove of these songs. Playfulness was embraced and, perhaps most importantly, patience played a fundamental role in shaping the album with time and care given to every element of these songs. “We always aim to capture effortlessness - but the way of getting there is anything but effortless,” Habel reveals.

This extra time that was given to the project gave Juni the space to nurture her creativity. She would read and listen to music, hike into the hills, place herself within nature and seek out stillness. Not as a deviation from her work but as a fundamental part of the process. It’s a search for connection, and it’s a recurring theme across Evergreen In Your Mind; the polarity between stillness and passion, also our resistance to these desires, and the things we want to live and experience.

The album’s title-track and fist single feels indicative of this narrative. A gorgeous, delicate folk song, it finds Habel out in the woods, hiding from real life, caught in the space between the natural world and the pull of modernity. “It’s nostalgic. It’s about looking back and realizing things will be different,” Habel says. “Its about visualizing something beautiful in your head that you keep clinging onto.”

The album cover for Evergreen In Your Mind also adds shimmer. A striking photograph of Juni among the mountains, it was taken on a day trip to Rondane, a five-hour drive each way from her home. Habel explains. “It was awe-inspiring to drive all the way up into the high mountains, with its wide plains and intense colours. For an album with music that at times likes to hide itself, I think it fitted nicely with such an epic, grand, and powerful landscape.”

"Fans of Nick Drake, Karen Dalton and Neil Young will find much to enjoy in this musical equivalent of an evening spent alone by the fireside.” The Times

London's underground upstart D'Monk opens proceedings on the A side with two new cuts showcasing his raw and intuitive approach to production with an innate sense of swing. His grooves are literally steaming from the first bar. You can feel the condensation of bodies in the room, feel the bass rattling the building and feel hips grinding to the syncopation.

The flip side features long-time Berlin resident and currently Sydney-based Frank Dasent. Don't be fooled by this cat's lo-key approach to releasing music. Upon further research one can see that Dasent has been behind the scenes on many productions spanning the world of jazz, R&B and dance music, as well as building his own catalogue of soulful and electro-inspired dance music.

A new EP by Extrawelt is always something special, as they continually manage to reinvent themselves while remaining unmistakably true to their sound. The a-side „Moonster“ of their latest record forms a subtle and almost magical bridge to early musical influences such as Immortal Coil, Chris & Cosey, The Cure, and Throbbing Gristle.
In doing so, they reclaim, or rather reintroduce, a powerful, mystical element into their music, one that is integrated so naturally it feels as if it has always been an essential part of Extrawelt’s sonic DNA. Beyond that, the track unfolds through numerous facets, constantly shifting and evolving. Just when you think it is settling into a familiar direction, small variations emerge, keeping the piece remarkably alive and unpredictable.
You can clearly sense how much fun Extrawelt had working on this track. It is bursting with ideas, energy, and vitality, radiating a playful confidence that makes it endlessly engaging.

The b1 track „Bettermaker“ takes a different route, dedicating itself entirely to a single mood. Through subtle pitch bending and a carefully shaped tonal palette, the track unfolds with a slightly eerie, enchanted atmosphere.
From beginning to end, „Bettermaker“ remains focused and unwavering. There are no breaks or dramatic shifts in direction, instead, the piece commits fully to its initial setting. A monolithic, almost mantra like motif forms the core, creating a distinctive ambience, mystical, shadowy and faintly oriental in character.
This atmosphere is carried and reinforced by percussive, ethno inspired drums, which add an organic, ritualistic pulse. The result is a hypnotic soundscape that draws its strength from consistency and depth rather than contrast, inviting the listener into a secluded, otherworldly space.

The final piece of the EP „Popcorn Forever“ reveals another side of Extrawelt’s thinking. The track unfolds like a curious experiment in motion. Instead of building toward a predictable climax, sounds are gradually tossed into an ever running loop fragments, textures and small rhythmic ideas appearing almost casually, as if the piece were assembling itself in real time.
At first the elements seem loosely connected, sometimes abstract, sometimes slightly mischievous in the way they twist and bend. It almost feels like an impossible construction task. But Extrawelt’s experience quietly guides the process. Bit by bit the scattered parts begin to communicate with each other.
Repetition becomes the hidden engine. With every return of the loop new details slip into the structure, and what once appeared random slowly starts forming relationships inside the listener’s mind. The track never forces a clear explanation, yet the brain begins to tie the loose ends together almost automatically.
Popcorn Forever therefore works beautifully as a kind of transit piece within the EP. It moves between ideas, linking moods rather than closing them off. In typical Extrawelt fashion, the result is playful, slightly surreal and full of subtle discoveries that reveal themselves over time.

Maite Kellys neues Album „24/7” ist eine Liebeserklärung an alle Frauen – intensiv, ehrlich und voller
Gefühl. Wie ein Seelenbild einer Künstlerin voller Schönheit… voller ungeschliffener, rauer Schönheit – eine
leidenschaftliche, respektvolle, intensive Hommage an ihre Fans. Mit großer Leidenschaft erzählt Maite
Geschichten von Stärke, Sehnsucht und dem Mut, ganz man selbst zu sein.
Ihre Songs sind tröstende Umarmungen, wilde Liebkosungen auf der Haut, heiße Worte im nasskalten
Herbst. Sie durchbrechen den gefühllosen Alltagsfluss und schaffen Raum für echte Emotionen. „24/7” ist
Maite Kelly pur – nahbar, kraftvoll und so persönlich wie selten zuvor.

Mighty Theodore and The Custodian Of Records have crafted the quintessential soundtrack for the bleakest of snow days with their new collaborative album, "The Colder It Gets". Bookended by the sound of howling winds, the project offers a hypnotic listening experience where the temperature seems to drop with every track. While the production is immersive, the only warmth to be found radiates from the crackle of Custodian’s vinyl samples. Theodore matches this atmosphere with layered lyricism that explores deep isolation and the struggle to trust that things can improve, though a faint sense of hope remains buried beneath the metaphorical drifts.
Releasing via URBNET this winter, the album invites listeners to bundle up and embrace the chill. The project is bolstered by an impressive lineup of guest features, including Lee Scott, Fat Ray, Thirstin' Howl The 3rd, and Farma G. Additionally, the release includes a thematic bonus track titled "Christmas Missed Us" featuring Von Pea. As the winter solstice arrives, prepare to get lost in a hip-hop experience that proves the music only gets better The Colder It Gets.

The "Phunk Investigation vs. James Senese" collaboration, specifically the track "E'na Bella Jurnata,"

is seen as a high-quality fusion of Italian Disco and funky house, praised for its driving beats,

70s disco melodies, and signature saxiness from the legendary Senese,

making it an instant anthem for clubs and Ibiza.

Reviews highlight it as a grand cru of Italian dance music, blending classic vibes with modern house energy,

a must-have for disco and house lovers.

Analog Fingerprints Vol. 0 is a compilation bringing together the early 2000s works of Marco Passarani under his Analog Fingerprints alias, collecting key tracks originally released on Rome’s Plasmek and Pigna labels.

For Numbers, the story starts long before the label itself. In their formative years, digging in Glasgow’s Rubadub, Passarani’s records felt like dispatches from a future city. Releases on his own Nature Records and on labels such as Generator and Interr-Ference Communications were mind blowing: rooted in Detroit techno, Chicago house and electro, yet pushing somewhere new. Much like fellow travellers Autechre, who would remix him in 2001, Passarani’s music balanced machine funk with restless experimentation.

Information was scarce, and you would hear these records first on the dancefloor or at listening stations in shops like Rubadub. Print fanzines like Ear and early web outposts such as Forcefield offered only fragments. But there was a palpable axis forming between Detroit techno and a new European wave of record labels including Skam, Rephlex, Clone, Viewlexx and Nature itself. It was the sound that defined Saturday nights at Rubadub’s ‘69’ parties in Paisley, just outside of Glasgow.

Passarani’s records, in particular, were instrumental in bringing together the future Numbers co-founders. Richard had already booked him pre-Numbers; meanwhile Calum (Spencer) and Jack (Jackmaster), then 16/17 year olds working alternate Saturdays in Rubadub, were so enamoured with the Roman sound that they travelled to Rome for the Bitz Festival in 2003 to seek out Passarani and Lory D at their source.

The first Analog Fingerprints release landed as a 12” on Plasmek in 2001, following the fractured, IDM-leaning 6 Katun material. For Passarani, the project marked a recalibration. A DJ first and foremost, he had moved into production via early computer setups, from a Commodore Amiga through primitive PC audio, Cubase and Logic, later experimenting with Ableton. The IDM scene had offered a playground for trial and error, but there was always a tension between abstraction and the dancefloor. Analog Fingerprints became the bridge: still intelligent, but with more dance than distance. After years of broken beats and complex arrangements, he wanted directness without surrendering identity.

Working closely with Francesco de Bellis and Mario Pierro in the Pigneto district, the trio formed Pigna as a vehicle for reclaiming a more accessible dance sound, deliberately steering away from the minimal wave beginning to dominate Europe. Sessions were fast, instinctive, often stretching late into the night with friends dropping by. It was a studio as social space, production as collective energy.

“In that constant search for balance, Analog Fingerprints was my way of expressing something closer to the classic dance floor. The track 'Tribute' - a tribute to my favourite early Detroit techno track of all time, 'First Bass' by Separate Minds - came after I realised I had almost lost my connection with the dance floor. The simplest step was to take inspiration from early Chicago and Detroit and twist it in our Roman ‘Pigna’ way. My goal was to create more accessible dancefloor tracks by mixing my unconscious Italo roots with my teenage love for that early US sound, ensuring the result was as far as possible from the minimal sound that was starting to dominate everywhere.” - Marco Passarani

Technically, the Analog Fingerprints tracks span a transitional era: Roland TR-909, SH-101 and Alpha Juno hardware met early software experiments. A Novation Drumstation rack stood in for the unattainable TR-808, syncing with TB-303 and TR-606. Yet the true secret weapon was Jeskola Buzz, a tracker-style modular environment that allowed step-by-step parameter control and strange melodic constructions, later exported into the audio sequencer. Even the lead on ‘Tribute’ came from an early PPG Wave-style plugin. It was hybrid thinking at a moment when digital tools still felt unstable but full of possibility for technologists like Passarani.

Behind the music sat Finalfrontier, a loose Roman collective orbiting Nature and Plasmek. Distribution and production were intertwined; importing obscure records into Italy built connections with like-minded outsiders across Europe and the US. Expensive phone bills and fax machines forged an “electronix network” that linked Rome to Clone, Viewlexx, Skam, Rephlex, Rubadub and Detroit’s Underground Resistance. There was a shared sense of survival and resistance, of operating against commercial systems.

Passarani recalls “The first time I found a sheet of paper inside an Underground Resistance 12” with info about upcoming releases... and a huge picture of Spock on the back. Imagine that: you love the music, you love Star Trek, and there’s someone on the other side of the ocean sharing those same values and sounds. It was the perfect match. We even gave our original company the suffix ‘Finalfrontier’: that says it all.”

Feedback in that era arrived physically: distributor faxes, conversations with visiting DJs, the experience of playing abroad and meeting kids who had connected with the records. Glasgow became a key node in a scattered outlier network. Passarani personally brought the first two Nature releases to Fat Cat in London, playing them in-store. Shortly after, a fax arrived from Rubadub in Glasgow requesting copies.

“I still remember that phone buzz and the fax paper slowly sliding out, with someone I didn’t know saying they wanted 75 copies of Nature 001. Or like the time we got a fax from the Rephlex crew just saying, “Hello Nature Records, Keep up the good work.” That was how we knew the message was getting through. It was a fantastic feeling; just one piece of thermal fax paper as an analog notification - the mood for the entire week would change.” - Passarani

The connection to Glasgow has since stretched across generations. As Passarani reflects, links often fracture as scenes renew themselves, but in Glasgow something different happened. New and old mixed seamlessly. There was a visible trust in what came before, and a willingness to carry it forward rather than discard it. Observed from Rome, it was deeply encouraging.

Analog Fingerprints Vol. 0 captures that moment of exchange: Rome to Glasgow, Detroit to Europe, experiment to dancefloor. It documents an artist recalibrating his sound and a network of scenes discovering one another in real time, connected by vinyl, faxes and shared intent.

‘In Virus Times’ is an acoustic instrumental piece by Lee Ranaldo.
Composed during the pandemic, ‘In Virus Times’ is released as a onesided LP with an etching on Side B. The cover is a beautiful photo by
Lee’s friend, the great Brazilian photographer Anna Paula Bogaciovas.
 Originally released as one track as part of a collaboration with Lucien
Jean for Le Presses du Reel, the music was featured on a mini CD that
accompanied a book that featured two short stories.
 ‘In Virus Times’, released by Mute, sees the track transformed into 4
pieces and is available on transparent turquoise vinyl with digital
download and an exclusive poster, designed, signed and individually
numbered by Lee Ranaldo. The poster design is based on an electron
microscope photo of the COVID-19 molecule.
 Lee has written some of his own ‘loner notes’ for the release:
 “This recording began on an evening in September 2020, stuck at home
in lower Manhattan during the dark days of the Covid-19 pandemic as
we came out of a deadly summer. A heightened sense of anxiety
stemming from the then-upcoming US Presidential elections as well as
the virus seemed to pervade all aspects of life, for myself and everyone I
knew. Its minimal quality reflects the sense of ‘motionless time’ that
many of us felt. I set up some microphones in our darkened living room
(studios being closed due to Covid restrictions), coaxing out one simple,
repetitive phrase, and then another, sounding them out into the air. The
casual home ambience - a siren or truck rumbling down the street out
the window; someone talking around the table in another part of the loft;
water running - intrudes at points. I worked to develop a few simple
thematic elements, but mostly I wanted to hear the notes and chords
ringing out, hanging in the air for a long time on that evening when the
world seemed close to stopped on its axis.
 “I’d been listening closely to Morton Feldman’s catalog throughout the
pandemic. His sparse, long-duration music could often be heard playing
on repeat as we spent endless days locked inside. His willingness to do
very little, with very simple elements, and to such profound effect, has
been inspirational. I found the vast open spaces in his works thrilling,
miraculous, and comforting in those empty times. Additionally, the Drop
D guitar tuning used here has prompted my own variations on Bach’s
works for solo cello, open strings droning against melodic lines, so
simple and perfect…” - Lee Ranaldo, New York City, August 2021

RAWAX welcomes Cabin Luv Affair to the artist family!
We are very happy to present you this great artist with an amazing retro house debut release on CHIWAX!
Highly recommended!

2026 Repress

Lars Huismann returns to Mutual Rytm as he delivers the second instalment of his "Sounds From The Past" trilogy on the label.

As SHDW & Obscure Shape's Mutual Rytm imprint continues to grow, it's clear that the DJ and producer pairing have a strong vision for the label and are building an equally impressive roster of artists to form the imprint's core family members. One of the early standouts is Lars Huismann, who arrived to deliver a selection of impactful offerings influenced by the "golden years" of techno in his own unique style crafted by various production techniques. Having featured on the label's opening VA and delivered the first EP for MR002, racking up a wealth of global support in the process, mid-November welcomes a return for the Berlin-based talent as he serves up six fresh cuts in his signature sound for "Sounds From The Past II".

Opener "Sounds From The Past II" is an action-packed title cut fusing typically slick rolling grooves with hazy melodies and atmospheric releases of tension, while "Propulsion" takes cues from its title and sees precise drum shots, echoed background vocals and a tunnelling groove taking the track right into the thick of the action.

On the flip, B1 "Loucura" brings a percussive workout as frantic organic drums and resonant brass melodies bring a party
to proceedings, with "Stroke" and "Nudge" both armed with tough kicks, zipping synths and more subtle vocal work.

Digital buyers get an extra exclusive in the form of "Dub Division", welcoming a slightly more subdued but equally as impactful track guided by dubby chords and peppy hi-hats to close the show.

A joke that doesn’t make you laugh is just a sentence. Music that doesn’t make you dance and feel is just noise aimed in your direction. To make a circuit where energy flows freely, you must have feedback. Without feedback, connection is absent. As Limousine Dream enters the Age of Aquarius, we open up. Instead of trying to grow, we let it grow. Instead of building a pyramid, we see a constellation where we are all stars, and every star can equally stand out and fit in. We invite you to join us, just like we want to join you. This is where we begin our Life Spiral.

For this edition, the label meets this duo of producers, that has been created by the musical synergy between Zonker and Daniel Gorziza, who go by the name – “SameSame”. This disc has been titled “Unconditional Society” and has been crafted with a mission to be brought to the worldwide dancefloors and to be foreseen by the adepts of the sound it conveys. The A side is opening with a deep trancey burner “Suspect Zero”, with time passing this side of the record is morphing into the prime-time speaker ripping sound of “Rip the Jacker. The B side will see more mellow feel to it and sometimes even could be said that the vibe turns relatively melancholic by the time the record reaches its natural conclusion. The words that have been shared do not translate the profoundness of the subject that the artists have carried through, but then again, sometimes them letters have to be present even if they are kept to the slightest. The frequencies communicate much superior to the words and by now you can stop reading this and immerse yourself into the sound.

&Co. debut on A Quiet Village. The US-based trio drop the third release on Quiet Village’s eponymous imprint March 20th. &Co. Is a project from multi-hyphenate and Bianca Chandon founder, Alex Olson, pianist, composer and producer Alberto Bof (known for his work on ®Oscar ®Bafta ®Golden Globe and ®Grammy award winning ’A Star is Born’) and DJ/fashion luminary, Paul Takahashi. The trio’s second release, ‘Staycation’ follows 2015’s ‘Best of Friends’, and sees these rare talents create a two-tracker that explores a uniquely evocative, cinematic and dubby Balearic aesthetic. ‘Staycation began as a follow-up to the first EP, Best Friends.

As a result, ‘Staycation’ came together in fragments. The first track was built over a handful of short studio sessions, each only about an hour long, driven by brainstorming and reworking ideas. With Alex away, Alberto and I continued refining the piece in Los Angeles, sharing updates for Alex’s approval until it was completed. The track remained unmastered and was quietly circulated to a small circle as a promotional piece. The second track, “Lean Like a Cello,” was initially conceptualized together. However, with Alex now based in New York and less available, we completed the arrangement in Los Angeles, sending versions back and forth for Alex’s input and feedback. Nearly a decade later, the idea resurfaced, and the recordings were finally mastered and released. A friend, Justin Van Der Volgen, handled the mastering. What began as a plan to give the tracks away as a promo evolved when Justin encouraged the group to shop the release. With help from Eric Duncan of Rub N Tug, the music reached Matt (Edwards, aka Radio Slave/ 1/2 of Quiet Village).

Ten years after the first sessions, Staycation arrives as a document of distance, collaboration, and time. A project shaped as much by separation as by shared intention.’ (Paul Takahashi, Feb 2026)
A piece of art from a powerhouse creative team operating at the intersection of skate culture, music, design and fashion, ‘Staycation’ by &Co. Arrives on The Quiet Village 12” and digital/streaming on March 20th.

After finding homes in all the right record boxes last summer with their debut 'Anthem' - 'You & Me & The Music'

The CJP Band return to Supa Jams with two more perfectly crafted sides of Disco Jazz Funk and Soul.

Side A delivers a monster rework of the Aquarian Dream classic 'You're A Star".

A tour de force from start to finish. Taking the timeless original to stratospheric new heights.

Side B brings things back down to earth, literally. Joe Bell joins the band on vocal duties for 'World Gone Crazy'.

A string drenched lament on the madness the earth, despite enduring multiple ills for far to long already, Seems to herald yet new levels of crazy on an almost daily basis. Is there nothing we can do?

Limited Black Vinyl Pressing

Hand Stamped Sleeve

Don't Sleep

Audience’ was a 14-track record that signalled a shift back to Hayes Bradley's dancefloor roots. It was a collision of breakbeats, trip-hop, and ambient textures that perfectly balanced nostalgia and forward-thinking sounds, and now it gets spun into all new worlds by some of the scene's most acclaimed contemporary stars.

Special Request, aka UK powerhouse Paul Woolford, has shaken up the scene with his thrilling mix of jungle, bass, techno, rave, and hardcore in recent years. The hugely prolific producer knows exactly how to blow up the club and does that here with two reworks of '& I Love U'. The Special Request Extended Mix is a meticulously crafted jungle workout, featuring precision drums, rising synth tension, and gorgeous melodies that dart throughout and will appear on the vinyl release only. The VIP version focuses more on celestial memories for a heavenly escape.

Next is Shanti Celeste, a house and garage favourite who crafts emotional, high-impact sounds on her own Peach Discs. Her remix of 'Play It As It Lay' is a bubbly, soft-focus, late-night sound with earworm synth motifs and rich bass that sinks you in deep for a nice, heady trip.

Piori is an alias of Canadian musician Francis Latreille, who has built a sprawling discography full of hyper-detailed techno steeped in science fiction and fantasy. He flips 'Awareness' into a zoned-out affair, with broken beats and cosmic synth waves over a bold bassline that shows, once again, why his productions are in such demand.

Last but not least is Kaifeng-born sound artist, DJ, and producer Yu Su, whose truly unique sound has made her a cult underground star. She flips 'Dear Treasure' into a slow motion and sleazy chugger with dark disco energy and raw live drums, shady vocal loops and otherworldly melodies that seep into your consciousness.

Artist, painter, curator Leo Vincent, is fired up off the back of supporting Soulwax, on their recent Paris and Netherlands shows. Proudly presenting two debut songs “Hello it’s me again” and “Loving isn’t easy”, co-produced with the brothers, David & Stephen Dewaele, of Soulwax/2manydjs.

Seven years ago, Leo Vincent bluffed his way into a video editing job at DEEWEE. Despite being told to not touch or ruin their gear, he later resurfaced with demos that sounded like he had anyway.

"Don’t know much about history”
"Don’t know much about biographies"

But we do know that by the time Leo Vincent arrives in your town, he will probably have destroyed two more Tascam 8-tracks.

Brussels-based, failed goalkeeper-turned-painter-turned-cameraman-turned-musician Leo, doesn’t seem to be afraid to leave his faders in the red zone for an unorthodox period of time while repairing the pitch knob. Some say it’s disco for night janitors. Some say it’s glam-rock for ravers. Others haven’t found the time to listen yet because they have real jobs.

But to fully grasp Leo Vincent's essence, imagine yourself sitting in the home cinema of the late Marc Bolan while watching a documentary on Scatman John, directed by Jacques Tati and scored by Ween, using only the instruments of Cabaret Voltaire.

Mysticisms’ Dubplate series reaches number 10 with the first in a series of specials, taking the genre blurring music of Persian and presenting updated remixes and versions by up-and-coming producers, as well as friends and family of the label.

Started as a sporadic offshoot of Mysticisms’ main releases, with the idea to highlight the wonderful sounds of dub influenced dance music, Dubplate has now become an integral part of the mission.

To start, South London’s Picasso joins the label, showcasing his declared abstract grooves and an EP of Dub and Tech House movers. While his productions aim for the dance floor, they are often characterized by complex rhythms and unconventional structures, prioritizing atmosphere and texture over traditional melodies.

Drawing inspiration from ambient, jazz, experimental influences and the heavy hand of dub, Sam “Andrews” McKay has crafted an EP of immersive “soundscapes”. Joining the legendary Persian (Peter Reilly) as co-selector, his retakes are all warped grooves, wide bass and dubby atmospherics.

Opening with Space Within Art, the street soul meets reggae rhythms are jettisoned, and a Dub House swing drives the track. The love, homage and vibration for Sound System culture remains, enchanting trippy reggae sampledelic vocals weaving in the brain.

Dunya 2 sees a shift, minds expanding. A jazz influenced breakbeat, harp, strings, building to a psychedelic swirl, driven by a dub bass in a clash, morph and glow.

The deep Digi Dub of D Dub Twist grows, warping the ‘JA riddim meets English hedonism’ in true Soundclash style. Touches of drone underlay, highlighting Sam’s experimental leaning, utilising Persian’s love of Eastern mystical samples to marry perfectly for a deep dub excursion.

The self-prescribed “odd-fellow” completes his versions, exploring his love of depth and abstract sound in closer, Jacob’s Dub. The warm roots vibrations in original form develop into a scatter gun House bumper. Dubwise, Lovers, Stepper, all merge around shuffling, trippy beats and skippy hats, Picasso’s groove is laid bare, driving the EP to finale.

Abstract the Mystery.

As Nathan Fake rises from the nocturnal subterranea and rave catharsis of his previous records, on Evaporator, he resurfaces into the domain of daylight, bringing a tangible sense of air rushing against your face, of big skies, and endless landscapes. The idea of pop accessibility that trickled into 2023’s Crystal Vision is refracted here through the prism of sweeping ambient, deep electronica, and trance uplift. Evaporator is Fake’s idea of “airy daytime music”, with each track a different barometer reading across the album’s varying atmospheres, which range from vibrant sunbursts, bracing rainscapes, and fine mists of clement melodics. “It’s not overtly confrontational electronic club music,” states Fake. “It’s quite pleasant, it’s accessible. As I was progressing through making the tracklist, I called it a daytime album. It doesn’t feel like an afterparty album.” For the past decade Fake has been gingerly introducing collaborations with heroes and friends alike into his lone, idiosyncratic working process. Border Community alumni Dextro AKA Ewan Mackenzie transmutes his ferocious drumming for Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs into the blurred choral thump of ‘Baltasound’. ‘Orbiting Meadows’, meanwhile, is his second collaboration with Clark, an eerily idyllic duet where microtonal 18EDO piano clangs slowly twirl around wailing pads. Evaporator marks the junction point of old technology and ever fresh creativity for Nathan. The trusty “dinosaur” age software, particularly Cubase VST5, that has powered two decades of music is rarely updated. “I used to sort of feel a bit ashamed of using such old software, and then I kind of had an epiphany – that’s just how I work”, comments Fake. “That’s just how I play. I’m very fond of these old tools, and I get the most joy out of them, but now I’ve incorporated new technology too.” When an artist accumulates so much synergy with their instrument, music making becomes instinctual. By Fake’s account, much of Evaporator just fell into place. The album title arrived randomly in his head (“it felt completely perfect. Airy.”), ideas looped and developed until things locked into place and just felt right. ‘The Ice House’ is a fleeting glimpse of the sonic world he taps into in this creative state, its glassy FM synths built around a counterpoint between rough-hewn crystalline arpeggios and sparse yet gravitas-bearing bass. “That riff I just wrote out on the keyboard, I just played it forever and ever and ever. The original track ended up being really short. Here you go, and it’s gone!” These unplanned channellings of sound call forth records from Fake’s past while he looks ahead, perhaps getting at the very essence of his musicianship. The opener ‘Aiwa’ (“the breeziest,” he muses) reminds of the introspection that characterised Providence, excited by the fire and grit of Steam Days’ textural experiments, its chunky slams and clatters surging into a flood of harmonic buzzing as they reach out for old wisdom. ‘Hypercube’ stampedes in a similar chronological confluence, infusing an incessant synth line reminiscent of the golden age of rave with the crackling, ecstatic energy of modern festival anthems. Like the vaporisation of liquid to particles, everything that Evaporator presents has a mutant desire to be amorphous. Sounds rarely settle; the irradiated garage beat of ‘Bialystok’ is pitched downwards to driving, rebounding effect, while ‘You’ll Find a Way’ warps static into shivering energy, cinematic synth strings building anticipation into a gradual gush of chords. This translates into a more expansive stereo field than Fake has explored before. ‘Slow Yamaha’ saves the wildest, most kinetic transformations for last with a cornucopia of crispy melodies and fried drums; a sibilance of cymbals on the left, a susurrus of shakers on the right, and kaleidoscopic lasers pulsing and fizzing all around. Evaporation culminating in pure excited atoms. In a world where music has increasingly become background content, making albums remains lifeblood for Fake: “It makes me realise how long; twenty years is ages! It’s weird to see how much the world has changed. Release day back then you did fuck all, now you spend all day on socials. When I grew up the people who made the electronic music I was into were quite mysterious, and the artwork was very abstract. There was a massive distance between you and that music, and that was a key part of it, really. Now it helps to be an extrovert, and I'm just not, but the album marks the first time my face has graced the cover art. I’ve never wanted to do this before, I'm very shy, and generally I don’t like being seen,” he professes. “But, twenty years in, I supposed I could try something new. I'm very lucky that I'm somehow surviving in this world, where the media world favours extroverts and interesting looking people. It’s not my world but somehow I’m still in it.” Evaporator continues to prove Nathan’s necessary presence, with some of his most engaging, varied, and magical music yet.

The latest from master editor Mr. K, a jazz-funk classic backed by a Philly sure shot!

Debuting in 1975, the jazzy RnB instrumental ‘Always There’ from original Earth Wind and Fire saxophonist Ronnie Laws was a hidden gem until Side Effect’s vocal version took off the following year, one of many cover versions to come (Incognito’s hit the pop top ten in the ’90s). Mr. K's edit streamlines the original, mimicking Side Effect’s distinctive horn stab intro and adding a DJ-friendly drums-only outro. With original 7-inch releases being either fragile styrene or unreasonably short, this extended vinyl pressing is very welcome.

A song that needs no introduction—coming from the very best there is—the O’Jays backed by MFSB! ‘For the Love of Money’ rides one of the most immense bass lines ever committed to wax and, while that would be enough to carry a track on its own (see the Armada Orchestra’s cover), here we have the talents of the timeless O’Jays vocals to top things off. Mr. K has found the perfect balance between the Lp and single versions, giving us the very best DJ-friendly 7" mix that should never leave your bag.

Nach ihrer gemeinsamen Interpretation von I See A Darkness mit Perfume Genius kündigt Anna Calvi die neue EP Is This All There Is? an, die am 20. März erscheint. Die vier Songs versammeln Kollaborationen mit Perfume Genius, Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson und Matt Berninger.

Eröffnet wird die EP von God’s Lonely Man, in dem Calvi Iggy Pop die Stimme eines zerstörerischen inneren Monologs überlässt. Der Song ist von nervöser Energie getragen: kantige Gitarren, antreibende Drums, eine direkte Konfrontation mit emotionaler Stagnation. Pop verkörpert dabei genau jene rohe Präsenz, die Calvi für die Erzählung suchte.

Seht und hört "God´s Lonely Man" HIER.

Is This All There Is? bildet den ersten Teil einer geplanten Trilogie, die Identität als etwas Veränderliches begreift, geformt durch Nähe, Liebe und biografische Brüche. Ausgangspunkt ist Calvis eigene Erfahrung des Mutterwerdens, die ihren Blick auf Sicherheit, Verantwortung und Möglichkeiten verschoben hat. Die EP kreist um grundlegende Fragen moderner Existenz: Wie lässt sich Intimität neu denken? Was bedeutet es, sich wirklich verbunden zu fühlen? Und wann fühlt man sich wach?

Neben dem bereits veröffentlichten I See A Darkness interpretiert Calvi gemeinsam mit Laurie Anderson Kraftwerks Computer Love neu. Mit Andersons Stimme im Zentrum und choralen Arrangements entsteht ein Stück über digitale Nähe und emotionale Distanz. In ihrer Gesamtheit wirkt die EP wie ein zusammenhängender filmischer Bogen – vier Songs, vier Perspektiven, eine fortlaufende Erzählung.
Is This All There Is? versteht Kollaboration nicht als Zusatz, sondern als Strukturprinzip: Die Stimmen der Beteiligten werden zu Figuren innerhalb eines gemeinsamen Klangraums, in dem Fragen offen bleiben dürfen.

Originally released in 1999 on the Duet imprint, Robert Hood's "Sophisticcato" stands as a concise but potent example of his late-'90s minimal techno philosophy. Built around four tracks, including the title cut, "The First Night" and two versions of "Cobra Seed", the record features his signature approach with stripped-back drum patterns and hypnotic loops that prioritise rhythm over unnecessary embellishment.



Throughout the year M-Plant's Perpetual Masters series has been releasing one track per week from Robert Hood's extensive music archive, remastered by legendary German producer, Thomas Heckmann. Alongside those weekly digital transmissions are accompanying vinyl drops, so following April's "Psychic / Pole Position" 12" is the "Sophisticcato" EP in May.

2025 Repress

140g vinyl, remastered, double LP with the original LP along with a second record of 14 rare tracks

Sweet And Nice is the vital debut album from Jamaica’s undisputed first lady of song Marica Griffiths. It’s reggae at its most soulful. Slinking through a tight ten tracks of R&B and pop-sourced material, it became an instant best seller. 45 years after its initial release the LP is available again on vinyl, now as a double LP, with an extra record collecting 14 rare tracks.

Sweet And Nice has appeared over the years with a revised running order and under different titles. But the original’s opening sequence of loping soul is legendary, even beyond reggae circles. These songs are now returned to how they were presented on that first Jamaican release, and under their intended album title. Be With doesn’t mess with magic.

Marcia’s version of “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” has long been lusted after, played by genre-hopping selectors to snapping necks for decades now. It’s followed by the sophisticated, rollicking wah-wah funk of “Everything I Own” and the slice of smooth lovers soul par excellence that is “Green Grasshopper” and her ace, lilting Neil Diamond cover “Play Me”.

The thundering, humid funk of “Children At Play” “sounds uncannily like a precursor of Massive Attack”, as FACT Mag astutely noted when they put Sweet And Nice at number 16 in their list of the 100 best albums of the 1970s. Otherworldly, moody and essential.

Side two keeps the fire burning. “Sweet, Bitter Love” should leave you swooning, and is also one of the album’s alternate titles. Curtis Mayfield’s already-eternal “Gypsy Man” is up next, recast as proto-lovers rock.

“There’s No Me Without You” is elevated to canonical status by the majestic, forlorn horns of the Federal Soul Givers and Marcia’s heartbreaking delivery. And if this doesn’t get you then surely the next track will: arguably the definitive version of Ewan MacColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”. Yes, seriously.

“I Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely” re-takes its rightful place at the end of the LP’s second side… but we couldn’t leave it at that. So we added an entire second record of rare material recorded around the same time as Sweet And Nice, much of it unavailable since it was originally released. Some of these songs have only ever been found on now unattainable 7" singles and no, rarity doesn’t always correspond with quality, but in this case we’re talking about some seriously jaw-dropping music.

Amongst 14 extra tracks you’ll find the exquisite late-60s singles “Melody Life” and “Mark My Word” which, along with the sumptuous reading of “Band Of Gold”, are now £100 records, if you can find them! Just sayin’. There‘s also a fantastic version of “The First Cut Is the Deepest” and an alternate take of “Play Me” with producer Lloyd Charmers adding his own vocals.

Everything’s been remastered of course, including the original LP, so Sweet And Nice now sounds even sweeter, and even nicer.

In a sharp-angled, fiercely inventive reflection on the nature of club culture and digital fatigue, Simo Cell and Abdullah Miniawy reunite to deliver their new album, Dying is the internet, to Dekmantel's UFO series.

French producer Simo Cell has blazed a singular path from his dubstep-influenced origins to become a leading light in contemporary leftfield club music, twisting up adventurous rhythms and flamboyant production in pursuit of a perpetual freshness for the floor. Egyptian singer, poet, producer and composer Abdullah Miniawy has become equally omnipresent in the past 10 years, straddling the arts world and leading with his piercing Arabic lyricism while maintaining an eternally curious spirit that leads into open-ended, experimental music from the abstract to the propulsive.

Following up on their 2020 EP for BFDM, Kill Me Or Negotiate, Miniawy describes their sharply focused new album as "a playful prophecy about the triggers of a new global revolution." Cell considers the title, Dying is the internet, to be a mantra about "how the internet lost its soul," becoming "less about sharing ideas and more about surviving in a digital business ecosystem." Deliberately at odds with the reel-ready two-minute attention span of the average social media surfer (i.e. everyone), the pair set out to make an album that takes its time to reveal nuanced ideas and expressions. Rather than one-note despair for the modern malaise, Cell and Miniawy offer a philosophical reminder that this present moment in the human experience is a temporary phase, no matter how overwhelming it feels.

Dying is the internet finds Miniawy experimenting with auto-tune across the record, while Cell has developed his voice design chops and compositional instincts, moving closer to fully realised song structures without losing the fundamental 'clubbiness' of each track. The result is a cohesive, wildly original kind of heavyweight dance music that slings out hooks left right and centre, from Miniawy's laconic trumpet looming through low-slung 'Reels in 360' and 'Travelling In BCC' to the persistent handclaps that bring 'Living Emojis' to life. Miniawy's poetry explores the power of insistent, repeated phrases in a break from his more typically structured form.

Kenyan powerhouse Lord Spikeheart adds extra snarl to stripped-back, slow-burn opener 'I See The Stadium', but otherwise Dying is the internet is purely the work of Miniawy and Cell casting their considerable chops out into unexplored territory. The results are electric, bound together by a consistent economy of sound that burrows into a shroud of bass-heavy minimalism barely masking Cell's incredibly detailed studio flex. Even the beatless flourish of the Miniawy-produced 'Tear Chime' comes loaded with physicality — a sensory rush at the mid-section of the album bookended by some of the most idiosyncratic club music in recent memory.

Both Simo Cell and Abdullah Miniawy have already proved themselves as fearless innovators across different fields. The strength of their partnership lies in their ability to make space for each other while letting their distinctive sonic identities ring loud and true. Dying is the internet has immediacy and physicality to translate over a soundsystem, but its intricacies are purpose-built for repeat visits and contemplation, unveiling hidden dimensions the deeper you dive into it.