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Bunny White Vinyl! While Duster went into hibernation in the year 2000, Clay Parton's four-track never stopped rolling. Recorded alone at home over several years, Birds In The Ground is an album of 30-something, post-9/11 malaise. Under his Eiafuawn (Everything Is All Fucked Up And What Not) acronym, Parton hides beneath layers of fuzzy and clean guitars, his hesitant, cottony vocal disappear into noise. This deluxe pressing is packaged in a gorgeous tip on sleeve and includes the complete lyrics for this cryptic entry of the Dusterverse.

In August 2020, following some typical delays at the plant, Fourth Dimension Records released the limited edition 2LP (and now sold out) set of Kleistwahr's This World Is Not My Home and Over Your Heads Forever albums, originally released by the same label in 2014 and 2016 respectively. Packaged together in a single sleeve with printed inners reproducing all the artwork found on the original CDs, the 2LP was always designed to represent the first volume in a series of them. This next volume gathers everything on the next two albums, Down But Defiant Yet and Acceptance is Not Respect, both also initially released on CD in, respectively, 2017 and 2018, and presented in the exact same way. 2017's long sold out at source album, Down But Defiant Yet, collects four lengthy cuts which catch Gary Mundy (also known for Ramleh, Breathless and Broken Flag Records) furrowing his distinct and recognisable take on a kinda contemporary psychedelia with dystopian leanings. Each piece nods towards the fug generated by certain ‘krautrock’ groups whilst retaining threads of those uncompromising power-noise surges he built his reputation on, this is music guaranteed to take you to new spaces before forcing you to nervously look over your shoulder. 2018's Acceptance is Not Respect collects two lengthy pieces themselves broken down into seven parts often tempered to the point restraint assumes new, often disturbed (and disturbing) psychedelic or even filmic, properties, this music arrives like a spitting and foaming scream into the insanity of the void and the myriad challenges and questions it inexorably keeps hurling at us. Whereas Ramleh captures the sound of at least two people dealing as best they know how with the constantly rising rivers of shit around us, Kleistwahr is akin to one man having scaled a great height poking out of an infinite chasm and wondering why he bothered. This is uneasy listening sometimes renderedvirtually elegiac by dint of a prowess rarely found in such realms. Of this, Gary himself quite prophetically, in light of how events have shaped the world since said, “I was trying to make the music more spiritual sounding this time as the album is about belief. The first half is about personal and political belief and the second half about religious belief. I was wondering about whether in the 21st Century, you can seriously get anyone to completely change their beliefs and [am] asking is there anything you believe that you would be willing to die for, and the difference between the way that most beliefs have been accepted/tolerated and [are] supposedly respected in recent times in [the UK]. Now our society is starting to break down, it becomes clear that that acceptance tends not to actually be the same thing as respect at all.”

Black Duck captures a band already deeply in tune with one another. The three-piece super-group consists of Douglas McCombs, Charles Rumback, and Bill MacKay each has a distinct musical voice that is instantly recognizable, yet blends seamlessly with one another-their time performing together, playing to the moment and reading each other and the spaces they"re in formed a fluency between the trio which allows them to follow each other down winding paths and short tangents alike. McCombs is a founding member of Tortoise, Pullman, and Brokeback and the long-standing bassist for Eleventh Dream Day, an artist whose contribution to the music world can not be overstated. MacKay began releasing records in the early 2000s. He has released several acclaimed solo albums with Drag City as well as a duo album each with Nathan Bowles (Banjo, Black Twig Pickers), and Katinka Kleijn (Cello, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)), and two beloved records with Ryley Walker. Rumback burst onto the fertile Chicago improvised music scene in the early 2000"s. His fluid technique and expressive playing garnered him much attention. In addition to his solo releases, Rumback has recorded with Ryley Walker, jazz greats such as Jim Baker, James Singleton, and Greg Ward. Black Duck"s debut is a testament to that fluency, an expedition led by three veterans into alluring worlds bathed in myriad splendors. Black Duck is a gallery of sonic tapestries, unbound by any genre constraints. Black Duck redefines what two guitarists and a drummer can do, pieces move from breezy shuffles to stormy blues rumbles to gorgeous textural drones. Playing entirely improvised live sets for years helped develop the trio"s acute senses for one another, knowing precisely how to listen to the others and bolster whatever direction they move in. In the short time the trio have played together, they have performed at Big Ears Festival and alongside acts like Yo La Tengo.

DeathCollector started as a way of filling time during Covid lockdowns. Guitarist Mick Carey (Zealot Cult/Brigante) and drummer Andy Whale (Bolt Thrower/Darkened) kept busy working on classic & current metal covers with friends, which were shared across social media. After deciding to work on original material, vocalist Kieran Scott(Ashen Crown/Grimorte) and bassist Lee Cummings(Severe Lacerations/Bloodshed) came on board and DeathCollector was born. On the buzz surrounding the debut EP “Times Up”, DeathCollector was signed to Prosthetic Records, and work started on the debut full length album “Death’s Toll” started to take shape "The idea behind the band is to make honest straight forward music we like,its a mixture of Death Metal/Hardcore and Punk, the later of which has always been at the root of Death Metal music in the UK"

Classic madness and violence! Death Metal history, the ultimate edition! Death Strike need little introduction to anyone who would consider themselves seasoned in the realm of Death Metal, the legendary Paul Speckmann’s debut foray into the genre has garnered pretty much cult status now as a genre classic and not without good reason. This reissue of 1991 album compiles the debut demo from ‘85 together with four other tracks for the rather aptly titled “Fuckin’ Death”, and being brutally honest, could you possibly have a more suitable description for the sensory annihilation present on these recordings? It’s that fact that half this material was recorded back in the mid-eighties that really makes it stand out, Death Metal was still in its infantile stages back then with extreme metal making a transition between the Crust influenced filth of Hellhammer and the ilk to a more brutal strain with bands like Possessed and Slaughter emerging out of the underground with a significantly more potent and brutal form of metal unlike anything heard before, and when you realize it came out at the same time as two monumental releases by the aforementioned bands you wonder why the fuck it never got quite as much attention as it was just as influential if not more so than those classics. If you’re one of the unenlightened still wondering who the fuck Death Strike are, “Fuckin’ Death” was essentially just the first Master album under a different moniker, and along with Master’s debut and “On the Seventh Day...” are Death Metal classics. The first four tracks as previously mentioned are from 1985 and astonishingly ahead of their time. It’s basically ‘Hellhammer on crack’, fast brutal and utterly primal Death Metal with that huge hardcore influence shining through. Paul’s vocals are a maniacal and wretched reverbed howl that just add to the chaos conjured with Kirk’s unbridled leads, the d-beat styled drumming and thundering, bowel shaking bass. Songs like “Pay to Die” and “Re-Entry and Destruction” are impossible not to like, it’s extreme metal heaven (or hell, whichever you prefer), straight-forward, catchy and downright punishing.

The continuing growth of Maik Krahl as a melodic improviser, bandleader, and composer is distinctly evident in this new release. In-Between Flow, Krahl’s third outing as leader, is a portrait of a young artist who has gone through many years of dedicated hard work, study, experimentation, and refinement in order to achieve this level of instrumental and artistic progress. Krahl belongs to a new generation of improvisers who have acquired a breadth of technical and theoretical facility, while not losing the spontaneity and rawness of this music we call jazz. As a bandleader, he chooses his colleagues wisely and for this date is joined on a few tracks by the visionary guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, whose brilliant playing adds a cherry on top of this already delicious line up.

The title In-Between Flow refers to ever evolving progression of our human condition. As in nature, the human spirit can expand and unfold, maturing to a new state where it may settle for a while until some new impulses inspires another transition. These transitions, sometimes subtle, sometimes abrupt; as well as the times of contentedness and serenity are the inspirations for this music.

The record opens up with an ode to the town Krahl calls home. Cologne 4 AM, begins with a haunting melody by Krahl’s soft yet powerful horn before settling into a perfect vehicle to display his command of melodic and motivic story telling. There is something about the time of 4 AM that seems to permeate literature and music, and this track will add to the canon of artistic references to this magical time where the night meets the morning.

Mr. Rosenwinkel joins the band for Slosetta, which is a great example of Krahl’s ability to craft a tune. As is to be expected, Rosenwinkel weaves through the changes with grace and mastery, obviously enjoying the communication with the rhythm section, who are undeniably inspired by his harmonic, rhythmic and melodic ingenuity.

Jakob Kühnemann, a Bandleader and composer is his own right, has been an in demand bassist on the German and European scene for several years, and his contribution to this record is proof of why that is. Although Krahl takes the lead on Drizzle Counter, in a great display of technical virtuosity, it is Kühneman who stands out on this track. It is not only in his improvisation, but more so in his poly rhythmic pulses dancing up from the deep and the harmonic insinuations in his accompaniment of Krahl’s solo that demonstrate his musical mastery.

Rosenwinkel joins again for No Claim Claim, a composition so balanced that I would not be surprised to hear other artists recording or performing it in the future. After Krahl’s melodically inventive statement, Rosenwinkel shifts the band to the next gear building the intensity towards the out head.

Constantin Krahmer has been Krahl´s piano player since his debut record, Decidophobia. His patience, ingenuity, and big ears make him a perfect accomplice to Krahl, and his sensitive yet powerful approach and accompaniment on Reconstruction of a Dream as well as his harmonic and melodic inventiveness on Vinaceous Clouds (where he plays Fender Rhodes) make it clear why he is an integral part of this unit.

Ms Ludgate is a funky composition with angular melody that is another feather in the cap of the band leader. Kurt Rosenwinkel is back, and seems more than willing to engage in some rhythmic dialogue with the spectacular young drummer on the date, Fabian Rösch. Throughout this entire record Rösch is subtly but strongly guiding the band, playing his role as a supportive and interactive proponent to the music. We will surely be hearing much more from this young man with such a refined sound and clear rhythmic conception.

Flawless Sunday, a perfect closing statement for this record. The melody is another great example of Krahl’s growth as a composer. The whole rhythm section really shines on Krahmer’s choruses, where the three colleagues push and dare each other rhythmically as well as harmonically before Krahl enters and brings the record to a close with his beautiful rich tone and melodic playing.

It is a great pleasure to hear the growth of a young artist with such dedication and vision. Hearing how Krahl and his band mates navigate through the vicissitudes of this music is an inspiration that can be mirrored in everyday life. A lesson in accepting the ever changing flow from one state to another. Growing, learning, and evolving into a new state, until the process begins anew. In-Between Flow.

* Dreadland is an instrumental Roots Reggae album and is the culmination of two years work, where the tracks evolved and were then adapted and re-engineered to utilise a new/revised Alien Dread studio set-up in late 2020.

The album eventually came together in Summer 2021. Alvin Davis is a talented multi-instrumentalist; specialising chiefIy in saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Flute etc;. He has worked with Alien Dread for many years and has contributed to virtually all projects.

All of the pieces were inspired by traditional Jamaican Roots Reggae and skillfully produced by Andrew Passey (Alien Dread) with assistance from ISR (long time co-producer). The other players involved are Asha B, who has worked with AD for several years ref Congos and percussion and Steven "Marley" Wright, who supplied rhythm and lead guitar.


* Cassette – Special limited edition. *10 Selected tracks from the CD release (IRONCD 029).
* All rhythms by: Alien Dread, feat Asha B, Steven ‘Marley’ Wright.
* Recorded at AD Studio.
* Tracks mastered by Alien Dread/Isr at AD Studio.
* Produced by: Alien Dread.
* Promotional Video on You Tube:

It has been some years now since Nail came back from the wilderness after one of his early EPs was re-released by Fear of Flying. Since then he has turned out plenty of new material as well as digging deep into his vast and vital vaults to serve up the sort of lo-fi but kicking house sounds that made him and his Nottingham crew such a driving force back in the 90s. And that's what we get here on For Those That Knoe - no fewer than eight masterfully stripped-back cuts of deep house. Some are laced with dreamy melodies, some roll deep for days, some are raw and textured pumpers and some are jazzed-up bangers with charm to spare. Essential stuff.

Superb Gatefold printed sleeve...

Conceptual inside brain travel...

To express the mental acid sounds to check...

First track announces the style with a long Break intro... mental tune... Superb ambiances... very Cinetic and good to mix.

Second track goes 128 BPM acid progressive techno... Excellent Dj tool at a rare speed... flirting with the Trance.

Last track of the A side grow the speed up to 150 BPM with a long break intro tunring after a while more/less 4/4... The sound is very acid and industrial. A big tune !

B side goes up to 160 BPM : Minimal acid sound.

...And finishes in a dark 170 BPM progressive acid track. Mentalcore aera starts here....

Second record opens with a 146 BPM techno mental acid stabilizer. Deep.

Second track is mentalcore big acid overdrive dancefloor pearl from Mr Gasmask !

Last Track of C side from Emetic is a Hardcore splendid exciting tune... maybe the best of this record. Quiet minimal and banging at 170 BPM it reminds the A*Symetric Spivey style:)


... Last side, opens with Minus Polaris and a pure mental acid grower

Last tune of this jewel is from Scandal Orchestra, a Hardcore frontier Hardtek acid track in the classic french good vibe style... Enjoy !

Dennis Quin returns to his own self-titled imprint with the ‘Temptation’ EP, comprised of four sturdy original House cuts from the Dutch producer and DJ.

Throughout the past decade, Dutch artist Dennis Quin has amassed widespread support from many leading figures in the underground house scene through material on the likes of PIV, Cecille, Defected, Jerome Sydenham’s Iconic Ibadan and Kaoz Theory, as well as collaborating with the latter label’s founder, Kerri Chandler, and yet another icon of House, Todd Terry amongst others. Here though, Dennis tips the focus towards his own label to deliver more of his raw grooves, crisp beats, and bouncy bass lines.

Title-track ‘Temptation’ leads and lays down a choppy bass line, euphoric piano keys, classic rave stabs and a hooky vocal lick alongside his signature swinging, robust drum style. ‘Ascending’ follows next and sees Quin lean towards a more percussive led feel via heavily shuffled drums, dubbed out vocal chants and twitchy stab sequences.

Opening the flip side of the EP is ‘Odessey’, this time bringing a wavey, elongated bass line into the limelight, subtly nuanced throughout for hypnotic effect while a bouncy drum workout carries the groove throughout. ‘Love Fiyaa’ then rounds out the EP on a raw and reduced tip, fusing ethereal pad swells and murky bass flutters with a stripped-back and sporadic dub vocals.


DJ Support:

Enzo Siragusa
Archie Hamilton
Chrissy
Okain
Freedom
Severino
Jimpster
Mr. V

Birds Of Rhythm deliver Bird Island, marking the 20th release from their imprint Lips & Rhythm Records.

The album is a smooth glide between Balearic house, contemporary funk and indie disco, powered by FM synthesizers.

Bird Island is the debut album from Birds Of Rhythm and features waves of varying tempos & grooves. It's a timeless adventure album laced with saxophone, fit to be played in natural settings and clubs alike.

Seven warm tracks, forged between San Francisco and London, tell the melodic story of Birds Of Rhythm and their journey to Bird Island...

The seven tracks, including a feisty remix by The HackerHome-made and self-invented instruments complete Michael's specific, extraordinary sound. Other Side was produced by Matia Simovich aka INHALT. Michael himself painted and designed the cover artwork.

Gladio Operations inaugurates 2023 with its seventh release titled “Split Machine”, a new series of shared EPs, where in this first episode the producers Jauzas The Shining and Cycloplex go halves on the EP.

The French producer returns to Gladio with three cuts which possess his peculiar and characteristic rugged sound. The EP launches with “Business Machines” and “Isla De Encanto”, two powerful cuts with aggressive and noticeable basslines filled-up with dark textures. Jauzas gifts us a last cut titled “Equation”, a nod to the EBM sound, where he preserves the same darkness as in the previous cuts.

On side B we encounter the Spanish producer Francisco Aguado, who has recently released his first work under the “Cultivated Electronics” label under his new electro alias, Cycloplex. With two cuts titled “Intercepted” and “Acid Machine”, Cycloplex reveals his particular minimalist vision of electro sound in an abstract journey of excellent monotonous rhythms.

A Colourful Storm presents Seance, a new set of songs by Maxine Funke.

Following a productive recording period beginning with Silk (2018) and ending with Forest Photographer (2020), Seance marks a remarkable levitation of Funke’s tender, softly spoken songcraft first documented on Lace (2008) and Felt (2012) into new creative heights. Folksong confessionals with the burden of memory. Ghostly confines, murmurs from the cracks. Soil, blood and skin. The beauty and mundanity of the everyday.

The voice of Funke is a distinctive instrument, one which perfectly elucidates her sometimes confessional, at other times deeply inward allusions to love, loss, joy and disquiet. Lyrics grounded in observation and adventure (“Eyeballs, asphalt, grass clippings, peppercorns”) unravel into uneasy truths daubed in self-consciousness and forbidden desire (“I’m not shy / There's just a sparkle in your eye and I don't feel right”). The simplest things can be the most difficult to express.

Opener ’Fairy Baby’ and ‘Homage’ are sensuous and probing, celebrating new beginnings while cautiously closing old chapters. ‘Quiet Shore’, a seven-minute reverie of guitar strum and poetry, conjures spirits long forgotten and shines as Funke’s first solo foray into longform songwriting. A perfect accompaniment to the album’s centrepiece, ‘Lucky Penny’, a euphoric, entrancing rush foreshadowing the delicate dreamspeak still to come.

An assertive, visionary recording by one of New Zealand’s most extraordinary voices, Seance is a lover’s lament, a revealing of self and a secluded wander through fields of enchantment.

Für Fifth Angel-Fans oder Fans von melodischem Power Metal ist dieses Album einfach ein Muss. Die Texte und Themen der letzten Trilogie der Fifth Angel-Alben werden zu einem doppelten Konzeptalbum verwoben, das sich in die Reihe von Helloweens "Keeper of the Seven Keys", Pink Floyds "The Wall" oder Queensryches "Operation Mindcrime" einreiht: "When Angels Kill" ist ein Paradebeispiel für "All Killer No Filler" US Metal. Jeder Song ist ein eigenständiges Werk, und die Doppelvinyl-, CD- und Digitalversionen sind fast siebzig Minuten lang. Fifth Angel melden sich nach ihrem gefeierten "The Third Secret" (2018) mit einem Paukenschlag zurück, der herausragende Tracks wie "When Angels Kill", "On Wings of Steel", "We Are Immortal", "Resist The Tyrant" und "Empire of Hate" zu bieten hat.

Extrem melodischer, eingängiger und makelloser Metal für Fans von Queensryche, Judas Priest und Metal Church ist, was FIFTH ANGEL auf dem Titeltrack ihres vierten Werks "When Angels Kill" liefern. Obwohl die Band in den 80er Jahren gegründet wurde, ist Retro nicht das, was diese Jungs wollen. Das hier ist zeitloser, kraftvoller Metal in seiner besten Form!

Milestone album from n°1 Dancehall artist in Europe available for the first time ever on vinyl. Includes the monster hits "Bad" and "World Whin" as bonus tracks.

Blaiz Fayah currently lives between Paris and London and comes from a family of musicians. Songwriter- singer-composer, he made a name for himself thanks to the Dancehall and Moombahton djs who selected him for their best mixes around the world.

After making the world dance with his track « Bad » and its millions of streams, Blaiz Fayah is the dancehall hit maker of the moment.

Blaiz Fayah is the most exciting dancehall artist of his generation !

The French artist has been very successful all over the world and this has brought him to the South American, Caribbean and European dancehall scenes.

Independent and unstoppable, his freshness and talent have pushed him to the top with several million streams per month thanks to hits such as : Best Gyal, Bubble & Whine, Bounce it, Call The Police... With millions of views on TikTok, his hit "Bad" (with Tribal Kush) has gone viral, accumulating thousands of videos.

Independant and unstoppable, his freshness and talent have pushed him to the top with several million streams per month and a string of hits...

Blaiz Fayah, with his charisma and accompanied by his dancers on stage, brings to each of his live performances, a crazy energy and happiness to the public.

Seventh release of Bipolar State on BSR, includes ORBE remix.

A1 - Divine Intervention - ASC opens up with intent a heavy piece, thick analogue kicks thumping around the expertly crafted breakbeats, switching the pace effortlessly as the backdrop melodies float along with some trademark vocal hits. ASC once again proves himself to be a true master of his craft, delivering an emotive, powerful track that's both technically impressive and emotionally resonant.

A2 - Variable State - Changing the pace we see ASC introduce an edgy, nervy energy to Variable State, combining classic breakbeats more modern beat accompaniment before a catchy wavy key melody overtakes. Soon the anxious vibes pull us back as Variable State lives up to its name, ebbing and flowing several times before we reach our conclusion, almost serving as a commentary on modern times in old school language.

B1 - Azure - A delightful roller continues the proceedings with Azure, featuring gentle, lingering bells that craft the melody over a bed of deep, rolling basslines and intricate percussion. The track is both uplifting and introspective, perfect for late night listening while the rain dots the window and you gaze out into the twilight hours.

B2 - Loose Ends - Tying things up for the EP we have Loose Ends, opening with off-beat breaks and FX, slowly enveloped by haunting synthwork. Soon the intense, moody bassline notches up the intensity before the track does a 180 and an uplifting rhythmic key melody provides some respite. The creepy ambience returns soon enough, completing this curiously cohesive creation in style.

A1 - Dreamcatcher

A gentle kickoff to the EP sees ASC flex the ethereal side of his compositional range with Dreamcatcher. Bleeps and subtle bongos intro the track before a cymbal-heavy beat rolls into play, urged along by warm 808 basslines. Several samples will trigger the scene veteran's nostalgia glands, and as the Arthur O'Shaughnessy quote proclaims: "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams", you cannot help but smile.

A2 - Tranquility

Filtered breakbeats with emphasised kicks begin our journey through Tranquility; a calming piece enriched with luscious synths, glorious pads and echoing vocal samples. ASC takes the listener through a crash course in DJ-friendly classic atmospheric drum & bass, inviting the crowd to take a step back from the chaos of the world and bask in the tranquility of the moment in true Spatial style.

AA1 - Drifting Thru

Remember Demon's Theme? For many it was their introduction to a new world of amen breaks in a birthing jungle / drum & bass landscape, and here ASC pays homage to that break - as well as a certain iconic classic on the Deejay catalog - rewritten impressively with a pure, intensely driven atmosphere and a thumping sub bass to boot as the eerie melody allows this incredible break to take center stage - as it should.

AA2 - Flotation

Closing the EP is Flotation, a building track which fuzes classic breakbeats chopped and punctuated with a slow-burning, gradually intensifying atmosphere. The interplay between breaks, bassline, pads and washing vocals is a delightful experience to behold, the bassline never relenting. Flotation is curiously catchy and will stay long in the memory.

Words by Chris Hayes (Spatial / Red Mist)

Strut presents an exclusive new collaboration between UK jazz keyboardist Greg Foat and Venetian ambient / electronic maestro Gigi Masin on ‘Dolphin’.

Recorded remotely during 2021-2022 the album took shape in the form of mutual compositions, gradually developed and embellished online. Final recording sessions took place at the majestic Chale Abbey Studios on the Isle Of Wight with Moses Boyd (drums), Tom Herbert (bass) and Siobhan Cosgrove (flute, clarinet) adding elements to several pieces. Tracks include the reflective, wistful single ‘Viento Calido’ and drifting ambient piece ‘Sabena’, a beautiful tribute to Gigi’s wife who sadly passed away during 2022.



Greg Foat has recorded prolifically in recent years for Athens Of The North, Jazzman and Strut including acclaimed albums Symphonie Pacifique (2020) and The Mage (2019). Best known for his 1986 ambient masterpiece Wind and as a member of Gaussian Curve, Gigi Masin has enjoyed a revival in recent years through his Calypso album on R&S’s Apollo label and renewed touring. Dolphin represents Greg and Gigi’s first landmark recording collaboration together. “I first heard Gigi’s album Wind in 2016,” remembers Greg. “I was living in Miami and I heard it playing one Summer evening Since then, it has always been in my mind to be able to record together.”

Strut presents an exclusive new collaboration between UK jazz keyboardist Greg Foat and Venetian ambient / electronic maestro Gigi Masin on ‘Dolphin’.

Recorded remotely during 2021-2022 the album took shape in the form of mutual compositions, gradually developed and embellished online. Final recording sessions took place at the majestic Chale Abbey Studios on the Isle Of Wight with Moses Boyd (drums), Tom Herbert (bass) and Siobhan Cosgrove (flute, clarinet) adding elements to several pieces. Tracks include the reflective, wistful single ‘Viento Calido’ and drifting ambient piece ‘Sabena’, a beautiful tribute to Gigi’s wife who sadly passed away during 2022.



Greg Foat has recorded prolifically in recent years for Athens Of The North, Jazzman and Strut including acclaimed albums Symphonie Pacifique (2020) and The Mage (2019). Best known for his 1986 ambient masterpiece Wind and as a member of Gaussian Curve, Gigi Masin has enjoyed a revival in recent years through his Calypso album on R&S’s Apollo label and renewed touring. Dolphin represents Greg and Gigi’s first landmark recording collaboration together. “I first heard Gigi’s album Wind in 2016,” remembers Greg. “I was living in Miami and I heard it playing one Summer evening Since then, it has always been in my mind to be able to record together.”

This release takes a look back at Knuckle Puck's early years -- Retrospective is a vinyl combo that collects several releases, all originally pressed on vinyl by Bad Timing Records between 2014 and 2015.

The great jazz-fusion band Weather Report released their self-titled debut album in 1971. Featuring Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter amongst others, the young musicians created an original and fluid record, which would define the state of the jazz rock by that time. Shorter’s (1960s Miles Davis ensemble) soprano sax shines and reveals with full force the extraordinary rapport the members of the group established from the start. The music consists of subtle melody lines and is mostly an atmospheric adventurous journey. Influences from Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way / Bitches Brew sessions can be heard throughout this record. Altogether they’re performing this historical document.

It's a sizzling seven up for Moiss Music here as they draw together four different artists to offer up one cut each for this new various artists collection.

Boogietraxx goes heavy on the filter vibes on 'S N T' which is French touch disco-house of the highest order. Kellit's 'Pryscoks Sockin Socks' is all about sultry sax lines and loose-limbed disco house beats while C Da Afro gets heads up with the streaming sunshine synths of 'Don't Be Quiet.' Groovemasta shut down with the funky Afro-disco stylings of 'Gonna Make U Rock.'

Past Inside The Present has really gone to town with the re-release of this 36 album The Lower Lights: it comes in several different formats and vinyl versions with this one being a limited, numbered and opaque red vinyl including a download code. Musically it is just as essential as a collection of tracks from a year-long 'Audio Diary' project undertaken by 36 between April 2018 and April 2019. It first came back in May 2019 and soon sold out, such is the quality of the vibrant and eclectic ambient sounds within. This is not sleep-inducing background material, but rather emotionally charged soundscaping with a mix of dark, futuristic and urgent pieces all making the cut.

Faith Discipline presents on the same release two of the proposals that best define its identity as a recording project. Two artists, or two bands, or a band and an artist, who coincide in some of their qualities and who also perfectly represent the sound line that the label has pursued since it was launched in 2015. German Army and Group have a lot in common, but their personalities are also unique, as are the objectives that influence their work.

German Army and Group coincide in several ways, both operate from anonymity and their approach to music production is also very similar. The style and sound of German Army and Group is mainly based on extreme and lo-fi treatments, and their music can be categorised as tribal, industrial, ethnic or experimental. However, German Army adds to their style a series of moral principles, as the project is based on a vindictive nature with continuous messages and appeals to the population and the rulers, the health of our planet is in extreme danger and with it the life and dignity of the underprivileged.

The long-awaited debut LP from Romanian duo Khidja is finally coming via Malka Tuti Records.

The album ‘Transmission’ will be divided into two separate releases - Part 1 & Part 2. Part 1, presented here, will be released on June 16th, while Part 2 will be released in the 2nd half of September 2023. The album, which contains 10 new tracks from the duo (5 on each part) was written and produced by Khidja over the last several years.It was mastered by Enrico Mercaldi and distributed world wide by One Eye Witness, with a fresh fresh artwork by Angus Plunkett & Morey Talmor @ &talmor Part 1 consisted of 5 gems showcasing the diversity in the Romanian duo’s production - from shuffle to slow-mow, through chugging disco-not-disco to 4th world and beyond.

On June 16th, 2023, Steven Julien and Kyle Hall return with their first EP together in ten years, CROWN. The record follows earlier EPs the duo created under their former alias Funkinevil, 2013's Ignorant and 2012's Night/Dusk. The record once again brings together two artists from opposite sides of the pond—Julien hailing from London and Hall representing Detroit—with a shared love for soul in its purest essence.

Opening "Page 1", a pitched-down vocal by James Massiah pronounces, "My plan—won't let you take it from hand." That alone could be considered the nut graph of a record about taking ownership, created by two vanguards in the electronic music scene that, a decade ago, insisted on infusing their music with soul in a commercial club circuit lacking in it.

Assembled from a few years-worth of studio jams in Julien's studio, Crown dials up the staticky warmth present on earlier Funkinevil tracks like "Dusk" and "In The Grid." Across seven songs, Funkinevil shaves off some of their tougher elements, instead shooting for pastoral melodies and funky basslines, like on "Page 2", where Vicky Flint's flute flutters sleepily over breaks and a groovy Korg synthesizer. But the atmosphere on the EP is also grander than ever—on "Page 5," Cloud's wistful melisma soars over Flint's bleating saxophone and wandering sci-fi synths.

With all this attention to funky musicality, it's only fitting that two legends specializing in the craft would land on the B-side—Däm Funk revs up "Page 3" with a slamming kick and his unmistakable coolness, and Reggie B turns "Page 5" into a sludgy, jazzy dance party.

In the words of Julien, "I think a lot of people have forgotten about what this whole thing is about. Musically, artistry and everything. So I'm happy this is what we represent on this project."

Andrius Arutiunian’s debut album »Seven Common Ways of Disappearing« was first conceived as an installation for the Armenia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2022. The Armenian/Lithuanian artist and composer uses hybrid forms of music, focusing on sonic vernaculars, hypnotic musical forms, and aural cosmologies. Arutiunian is known to work with installations, sound objects, and time-based collaborations with ensembles and performers. The piece on this record was written for two musicians, a retuned piano and analogue electronics, and it borrows an enneagram as its score—the world-ordering model introduced by the controversial Armenian-Greek mystic and composer G.I. Gurdjieff. The result is an album that is both aesthetically and spiritually intoxicating music of the spheres, at once reminiscent of the masterpieces of minimal music and improvised, if not stochastic music. G.I. Gurdjieff was one of the first thinkers and (quite possibly charlatans) to introduce a syncretic idea of Eastern philosophy into the West. His unique way of teaching was based on an esoteric blend of Middle Eastern, Buddhist, and Dervish philosophies, and oscillated between a genuine search for enlightenment and a complex form of trickery. Borrowing from Gurdjieff’s writing on the world ordering and musical tuning, Arutiunian used the enneagram to organise the musical and structural matter of the piece that was originally conceived as a live performance.»Seven Common Ways of Disappearing« is written for a grand piano—the epitome of Western composition and musical production—and follows a simple set of rules: the two musicians have to navigate the topography of the score, rendering the piece in a different configuration each time. In a sense, this gripping recording is thus only one of the potentially infinite versions of how it could be played, but also seems to take on different shapes and forms with each new listen. It documents a truly mystical composition that follows its own logic

Smoke M2D6's boundary-pushing musical production and Jedi-like audio engineering have earned him wide and enthusiastic artistic acclaim, as well as a host of awards. As an MC, Smoke M2D6 has toured the country, performing in all of the lower 48 states, and was one of the original founding members of Northwest super-crew OLDOMINION. Though Smoke M2D6 has not released an album since the 2006 opus Bleed, he has been super-busy creating beats and producing other artists including many of his Oldominion crew mates Onry Ozzborn, Nyqwil, IAME and JFK. The global pandemic finally cleared the deck, allowing Smoke M2D6 to get back to doin' his thing: "When the quarantine started I found an old JFK verse from 2013 where he was talking about a pandemic - 'I've got to build on this,' started cutting it up." We start with an overwhelming feeling of being at the beginning of societal collapse: Quarantine Heart Throb, a mass pak of apocalyptic art. Featured are several NW hip hop legends and mainstays, artists Smoke M2D6 has either "mixed for them, produced for them or is a fan of them." If you are a fan of Smoke M2D6 and have been waiting since 2006 for this album, "You will not be disappointed - - - Quarantine Heart Throb shows my growth as a person, a producer, an engineer and as a rapper." Far out. Smoke M2D6 also appears on (and produced) the K Northwest hip hop compilation All Your friends Friends KLP255.

Yugoslavian synth-pop band Videotex formed in 1982 but settled on its more lasting line-up in 1983 with Anja Rupel on vocals, Janez Kriaj playing bass, Iztok Turk drumming, and Matja Kosi and Nina Sever both on keys. A year later they broke through with their Videosex 84 debut album and then had another local hit with the follow-up, 1985's Lacrimae Christi. It now gets a first-ever international release, all remastered and on nice heavyweight vinyl. The group had plenty of mainstream hits - two of them are on this album in the form of 'Sivi dan' (or Gloomy Day) and 'Tko je zgazio gospo?u mjesec' (or Who Ran Over Mrs. Moon), played some big concerts and even appeared on national TV before eventually splitting up in 1992.

Carla Durisch unveils her debut EP ‘I Just Wanna Dance’ on Crosstown Rebels, with long-standing label favourite and close friend Seth Troxler on remix duties.

An exciting name who looks set for a breakout year in 2023, DJ/producer Carla Durisch is an artist whose passion and deep- rooted understanding of electronic music led to her being marked as a talent to keep an eye on. An integral part of the Swiss electronic and club landscape through residencies at the likes of Nordstern (Basel), plus both Hive and Zukunft (Zurich), her recent explorations within the studio have seen her deep and groove-led style translate into her own productions. These explorations are on display for the very first time as she debuts on Damian Lazarus’ renowned Crosstown Rebels imprint, following appearances at Get Lost in Miami and Watergate Berlin, plus forthcoming Ibiza sets alongside the label boss this summer at Hï.

Led by the captivating words of Nanghiti and Carla’s own vocals ‘I Just Wanna Dance’ is a warping and colourful ride through rich synths, refined drums and bright stabs as it builds and descends across an engrossing near-seven-minute journey. Next, ‘Be The Thing is a stripped-back, hypnotic house effort as snaking percussion merges with sharp lead melodies and further vocal interjections.

Needing little introduction, Seth Troxler’s remix of the title cut is an example of the American at his best, fusing bubbling acid-dipped bass patterns with skittering percussion and surging synth lines for a trippy, late-night take. To close, ‘4AM’ picks up those early hours sonics as crisp claps, echoed vox snippets and dubby grooves take a hold.

Death Is Not The End's 333 sub-label drops a much needed reissue of Rupie Dan's My Black Race 12" from 1982. A huge Shaka selection featuring one of the heaviest dubs available from this era of UK roots production. Originally written and produced by Rupie for his Flag Records label, with engineering from Tony Addis (later of Addis Posse and the Warriors Dance label).

"The lyrical idea for My Black Race came about during the 1980/81 social/racial revolution that took place in several cities all over England, including London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds etc. I was living in Bradford, West Yorkshire at the time and was a DJ/Sound System operator on Jah Scorcher International Sound. I also co-hosted a Reggae show on an independent radio station Called Pennine Radio 235. In my regular job I was a youth and community leader with the Bradford education council. I was fully connected and in touch the community.

Seeing how the media used the events of the social uprising as a weapon to further discriminate against the African & Caribbean community committed me to say and do something to elevate the minds of especially young people who were already demoralised by the rhetoric that brought about the so called "riots" of the time. It was during this time that the lyrical foundation of "My Black Race" was laid. The rhythm came later after hearing Barry Brown's "No Wicked Shall Enter the Kingdom of Zion". In the summer of 1982 I entered into the Addis Ababa recording studio on Harrow Road, Paddington and recorded the song having moved to London the previous year. Musicians featured included Victor Cross on bass and Mark Wright on drums (both from the Ariwa band), Rizzo on guitar, Tan Tan and Bami on Horns (all 3 from Aswad band), Bubblers on Piano/Organ (Undivided Roots/Ruff Cutt Band). Lead vocals were provided by myself, with backing vocals Jenifah Gad and Niomi who was working with David Bowie at the time. The engineers were Bubblers and Tony Addis (later of Addis Posse & the Warriors Dance label).

Jah Shaka was in the studio during the entire recording session. I was aquatinted with him as I was previously involved in a 3 way soundclash with Shaka, Quaker City and my sound at the time Jah Scorcher. Some years later I was in Terry's Dub studio in North Acton cutting some dubs when King Jammys and Bunny Lee walked in and heard the song. Bunny was responsible for the production of Barry Brown's "No Wicked Shall Enter the Kingdom of Zion". Thankfully they were both impressed by the track which delighted me as a young up-and-coming artist/producer. The rest is history as we know it. Jah Shaka was mystically constant hence his attachment and love for the song. Jah bless and guide him."

Exotica, ye-yé cumbia, guaracha infused twist, rock’n roll mambo, Spanish rumba, boogaloo beat, tropical garage and other unexpected bastard genres are featured in this festive compilation of bizarre hits taken from the glorious catalog of records released during the 60s and 70s on the Peruvian label Discos MAG. Some clearly unite genres, others are projects with creative names, but all are bold musical initiatives that got and will always get people onto the dance floor. “Sabroso Go Go” brings together fourteen musical mixes created in the recording studios of Manuel Antonio Guerrero (MAG), in which music directors combine rhythm with alchemy in a quest to find the philosopher's stone of the dance. Exotica, ye-yé cumbia, guaracha infused twist, rock’n roll mambo, Spanish rumba, boogaloo beat, tropical garage and other unexpected bastard genres are featured in this festive compilation. Although this compilation begins in 1957, experiments like this (some more memorable than others) were not new in Peru. The songs on this album were however much more successful hybrids. Some clearly unite genres, others are projects with creative names, but all are bold musical initiatives that got and will always get people onto the dance floor. At the end of the fifties, rock music shook the foundations of Peru, and orchestras rushed to cover hit songs and explore the possibilities of mixing them with tropical music. Lucho Macedo's orchestra took up the mantle and reinterpreted a well-known guaracha by Celia Cruz ('Rock and Roll') in mambo style, renaming it 'Rock and roll Mambo'. 'Maestro de Rock and Roll', a hit by the Cuban Conjunto Casino, received similar treatment. Another mix in this vein is the rock tune 'El Rock de los Chinos' by the Mexican Manolo Muñoz (author of 'Speedy González') recorded by the Chilean Choche Mérida for MAG in 1961. The following year, Chubby Checker’s 'The Twist' hit the scene and was immediately fused with guaracha by maestro Nelson Ferreyra. A legendary MAG musician, Carlos Pickling, composed 'La Charanga del Espacio' in 1963. The space sounds are produced by Pickling and his inseparable Hammond. He himself is the one who leads the orchestra that accompanies Benny Del Solar, Lita Branda and Pablo "Melcochita" Villanueva in the tropicalized version of Spanish Rumba, when the beats of the Iberian rumba were still exotic in South America. Around that time, the Chilean Willy Marambio was already living in Lima. In the track included on this album, the go-go style showcases his virtuosity on the trumpet. Another outstanding trumpet player, Roberto "Tito" Chicoma from Chiclayo, played as a session musician with MAG from 1959. A few years later, he became one of the most popular Colombian cumbia players, a talent he demonstrates in the song on this compilation, which blends the fun of go-go with yé-yé beats. 'Batijugando' was a hit from Mexico and was played in all the rhythms played across the Hispanic world since 1967. Inspired by the "Batman" series, it was performed at MAG by the Betico Salas orchestra, with vocals by the Panamanian lady crooner Nallye Fernández. 'Computador Electrónico' is another surprise on this album, performed by Panamanian vocalist Patty Pastel, it is the only known version in Spanish of 'Der Computer Nr. 3', originally sung in German by France Gall. Two other songs feature Edgar Zamudio. The versatility of Zamudio y Los Vikingos (originally a Chilean group) is demonstrated in the guitar-heavy song composed specifically for the late sixties skate fashion ('Go Go en Patines') and in his idiosyncratic protest song ('Día de Pago') performed in beat style. In the mid-seventies, Los Kintos, led by guitarist Francisco Acosta, developed different harmonic ideas in an instrumental track that veers from boogaloo to salsa, the fashionable rhythm of the day. Finally, in 1976, when the bumping hips dance craze swept the continent, Manuel Guerrero was quick to jump onto the bandwagon, composing a Bump song, together with his son Carlos. The Italian musician based in Lima, Luciano Luciani performed the song 'A Bailar Bump' backed by his band of local musicians Los Mulatos.

After a ten year pursuit, Efficient Space finally presents Late, Late Show, the last recordings of influential Sydney-via-Newcastle band pel mel. Taped in the mid-’80s, these charmingly unvarnished sessions pare the combo back to their core, producing blue-collar sophisti-pop to a danceable LinnDrum beat. From the funky disco-not-disco of ‘Mr President’ to the effortless pop perfection of ‘Fool’s House’, the six tracks reveal a creatively open and well-oiled pel mel before they inevitably disbanded.

Formed in early 1979 as a misfit sextet from steel and surf town Newcastle, pel mel were inspired by New York and UK’s post-punk imports. Cutting their teeth speeding through originals and Joy Division, Wire and The Buzzcocks covers every Friday night to a regular turnout of dole bludgers, students and the under-age, the band would also cross-pollinate with electronic-leaning support act The Limp. In 1980, they decamped to Sydney to join the city’s flourishing alternative music scene alongside the likes of Laughing Clowns, Tactics, The Reels, Wild West and the M Squared crew, making an indelible mark with two albums and several singles as the only domestic signee of Factory’s Australasian licensee GAP Records. Catchy and intelligently experimental without being noisy, their musicianship and enduring legacy continues to be lauded by peers.

Undoubtedly some of their strongest output, this previously unreleased demo suite documents pel mel free from the pressures of a commercial outcome, naturally elevating them to a class alongside Orange Juice, Antena and Young Marble Giants.

Timo Kaukolampi, frontman for Finnish electronic rock group K-X-P and tireless sonic wanderer, is releasing his second solo album, this time on Optimo Music. Exquisitely rendered, shadowy, curiously claustrophobic and even occasionally paranoid, Inside The Sphere is an album wholly deserving of its name.

A sense of paranoia is one of the threads through this glittering, winking electronic maze. Kaukolampi says “I came up with this metaphysical concept of the “sphere”. When you are manipulated you are ‘Inside The Sphere’. It’s like this dome of ‘undue influence’ that you don’t know exists around you. It’s a bit like the inside of a cult.”

Indeed, it’s amazing the effects achieved with a few sparse electronic textures, the odd smattering of studio trickery, and two or three well-placed synthesizer parts. Though the result might sound ostensibly simplistic, Inside The Sphere is an album of reduction rather than addition. The rhythmic and textural scaffolding is based around what’s not there, rather than what is. Take ‘VCS3’. At first listen, it seems forged from a few synth lines and a simple percussion part – so far, so simple. But listen closer, enter the sphere, look behind the mask – notice the slightly detuned drones, the chattering percussive textures, that distant swell of bass, the way the central fugue shifts and mutates somehow statically, like a barber’s pole.

Might we be listening to an album within an album, a more complex song cycle hiding within the folds of an ambient electronic album? This ties in with another of Kaukolampi’s thematic frameworks – that of the mask. He references Oscar Wilde’s quotation that “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”

Inside The Sphere is not a one-note album. For every moment where a clammy ambient space enters, a buttery analogue bassline is there to fill it. This clash seems to be the album’s engine room, its power supply.

Timo references devotional and choir music as an influence on this album. The paranoia and foreboding is tempered by these headier aspects. Kaukolampi mentions “empty and hollow spaces” in relation to several of the songs. Perhaps this is the very space behind the mask, where outward disguise merges with inner reality. Perhaps inside the sphere is not always such a bad place to be.

In 2003, Belgian composer, percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Joris released his Magnus Opus "Out of the Night" on the Belgian jazz label W.E.R.F. records. The album - an emotionally infused tribute to his late wife - became a commercial success and received several reprints over the years. Meanwhile, the release has been out of print for some time. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of one of Belgium's most important jazz records of the past three decades and on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of W.E.R.F. records, this gem is being reissued, for the first time ever on vinyl.
Especially for this reissue, the album has been enriched with some never before released tracks and alternative takes from the original recording sessions.