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For years, Jackson C. Frank was as ghostly a legend as they come. Even the relatively few record collectors who revered his work were usually only aware of the lone album that he released in his lifetime. For all most listeners knew, Frank put out a celebrated LP and vanished, despite that record having been produced by Paul Simon.

1975 Mekeel Sessions features six tracks recorded in the mid-'70s at a studio in Lake Hill, New York about five miles from Woodstock where Frank was living at the time. Only discovered in the mid-'90s, these recordings still hum with the same mysterious warmth that defined Jackson at his peak. His guitar work, alternating between strummed and fingerpicking, is consistently adept. His stark and somber voice more weathered than the lighter tone heard on his 1965 debut.

The Mekeel tapes were intended for Frank's sophomore album (titled Marlene), but alas it never came to be. What one hears is not a singer-songwriter fading out of view; it is a singular artist who never stopped trying to build his own world, even when no one was watching. For fans of everyone who Jackson influenced: from Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, Bert Jansch and John Martyn to more contemporary acts like Elliott Smith and Iron And Wine who surely used Frank's sparse approach as a template.

Die japanische Metalcore-Band Crystal Lake wird ihr neuestes Album "The Weight of Sound" über Century Media Records veröffentlichen. Das Quintett ist seit langem ein bekannter Name in der internationalen Metalcore-Szene. Mit Einflüssen sowohl aus dem Metalcore als auch aus dem Hardcore verschmilzt ihr Sound die Intensität beider Genres zu einem einzigartig schweren und mitreißenden Stil, der besonders bei ihren elektrisierenden Live-Auftritten zum Tragen kommt. Während die Band intensiv auf Tour war, wurde das erste Stück ihres neuesten Albums, "BlüdGod" (feat. Taylor Barber), bereits im Mai 2024 veröffentlicht.

Die aus Japan stammende Band hat sich eine globale Fangemeinde aufgebaut, tourt weltweit und gewinnt durch ihre kraftvolle und energiegeladene Musik an Zugkraft. Das Quintett, das seine Musik in englischer Sprache veröffentlicht, hat es geschafft, sich im Laufe der Jahre eine internationale Fangemeinde aufzubauen und seit 2002 insgesamt 6 Alben zu veröffentlichen.

Ihr neuestes Album, "The Weight of Sound'", ist weniger von bestimmten Aspekten inspiriert als vielmehr eine Reflexion über die Reise der Band und ihre Lebensweise im Laufe ihrer Geschichte, wie Gründer YD erzählt: "Bevor ich es realisiert habe, war Crystal Lake 23 Jahre lang aktiv. Die Leute sagen oft: "Die Zeit vergeht wie im Flug", aber die Wahrheit ist, dass wir eine lange Geschichte mit Freunden, Bandkollegen und anderen Musikern aufgebaut haben, die Blut, Schweiß und unzählige Kämpfe geteilt haben, um diese Band aufzubauen. Das ist eine unbestreitbare Tatsache und mein Stolz. Jede Note, die wir spielen, wird zur Harmonie, und diese Harmonie wird zur Musik. Diese Musik gemeinsam mit Kameraden zu spielen, das macht eine Band aus. Und die Musik, die eine Band macht, kann eine neue Kultur hervorbringen. Unser neues Album 'The Weight of Sound' ist ein Spiegelbild dieser Lebensweise."

Das Gefühl von Gemeinschaft und Zusammengehörigkeit spiegelt sich auf dem Album auch in den verschiedenen Beiträgen wider, an denen die Band mitgearbeitet hat - vom Eröffnungstrack "Everback" feat. David Simonich von Signs of The Swarm bis hin zum düsteren, aber verführerischen "Dystopia", bei dem Jesse Leach von Killswitch Engage mitwirkt. Mit "BlüdGod" (feat. Taylor Barber), das ursprünglich im Mai 2024 veröffentlicht wurde, spiegelt das Album eine ziemlich lange Reise und einen langen Entstehungsprozess wider, der das Warten für Fans und neue Hörer gleichermaßen wert war. Gemischt und gemastert von Jeff Dune (Knocked Loose, Make Them Suffer, Currents), enthält "The Weight of Sounds" alle Elemente der Härte und bleibt dabei den rohen Emotionen, die die Band in ihren Texten ausdrückt, treu. Mit insgesamt 11 Tracks wird "The Weight of Sound" von Crystal Lake sicherlich schwer sein - musikalisch und emotional.

agoya-based multi-instrumentalist and rising DJ Hiroyuki Kato returns to the ever-consistent Flexi Cuts with Life 今 (FLEX 031), a record that perfectly distills the artist’s layered approach to sound and the label’s instinct for unearthing voices that carry both groove and depth. Having built a relationship with the label over the past two years—already signing an EP and a single—Kato now delivers a project that feels like a culmination of that dialogue: four tracks on wax, complemented by an additional cut exclusive to the digital edition.

True to its title, Life 今 exudes immediacy and presence. Kato draws on his background as a polyrhythmic player, folding live instrumentation into supple house frameworks, always with a subtle melodic sensibility. The vinyl selections range from the quietly propulsive to the rhythmically expansive, each tune infused with that warm, unhurried Flexi aura. Basslines strut with understated confidence, chords shimmer with daylight energy, and the arrangements move with a natural, unforced flow.

What stands out across the EP is Kato’s ability to balance the organic and the synthetic, never leaning too far into polish or rawness but finding a fertile middle ground that feels both contemporary and timeless. It’s the sound of someone equally at home behind a guitar as in the DJ booth, someone who understands that club music gains power not just from rhythm but from emotional resonance.

Flexi Cuts has long been a home for thoughtful, groove-driven records, and Life 今 is no exception. It is music that doesn’t demand attention with force, but rewards close listening with detail and atmosphere. At once intimate and club-ready, grounded yet expansive, it’s a confident statement from Hiroyuki Kato, an artist steadily carving his space within Japan’s evolving electronic landscape and beyond.


~~~~*
Written and produced by Hiroyuki Kato in Seto City, Japan
Mastered by Francesco Brini at Spectrum, Bologna
Distributed by Rubadub, Glasgow.
Designed by Galluzzi
A&R Simone Guerra aka Relative

Flexi Cuts, Italy 2025.

„Weihnachten ist wirklich die schönste Zeit des Jahres“! „Im Laufe der Jahre habe ich viele originelle Weihnachtslieder geschrieben und ich hatte das Gefühl, dass es jetzt an der Zeit ist, die besten davon auf einem Album zu bündeln. Und hier ist es: Ein wundervolles Weihnachtsalbum mit einer Vielzahl von Liedern, von denen jedes ein wesentliches Element der Weihnachtsstimmung enthält, jetzt in einer Deluxe-Edition. 15 Songs, die ich sorgfältig ausgewählt habe. Ich habe 9 der 11 Originale mit den Amerikanern Jeff Franzel und Maria Christensen geschrieben und die anderen 2 Originalsongs mit den niederländischen Songwritern Simon Gitsels und Karel Schepers. Die Cover auf diesem Album sind Songs, die ich so sehr liebe, dass ich ihnen meine eigene Note geben und ihnen einen Platz auf dem Album geben wollte.“ Vier erfolgreiche Studioalben, mehreren Theatertourneen in den Niederlanden und erste internationale Shows, die allesamt ausverkauft waren. Es folgten bereits zahlreiche Auszeichnungen, darunter eine Goldene Schallplatte und bereits zweimal der renommierte Edison Jazz Award (der Holländische Grammy). Keine alltägliche Errungenschaft im Jazzbereich oder wie „Crooner“ Dennis es lieber nennt, im Swing, einem Stil, der für ihn unvergleichlich ist.

Khaoz Engine first album on vinyl ever !!!

"Use your shoes they said !"
10 tunes for the dancefloor ! The one you gonna dig with you feets while dancing !

Khaoz Engine is a very free open minded musician : able to press with underground italian labels (Mechanical Brain) or french crazy labels (Karnage) or big time PRSPCT or scotish Motormouth... As well he totally influenced by the Rebelscum/Deathchant crew.

Please welcome his first album !

And its graphist Ultraflex.

! 300 Limited copies !
As usual cut by Simon Davey
Pressed at Records Industry...
For the best hit combo !

It was in Studio 4 of WDR in January 2022 when Simon Oslender first met Steve Gadd during the recording session for the album 'Centerstage'. Guitarist Bruno Muller was also there. The chemistry between the musicians was right from the very first time they played together. At the end of the session, Steve Gadd said to Simon and Bruno: "We'll do more together." And that's exactly what happened! Simon Oslender's highly successful studio album 'All That Matters' was recorded at the end of 2023.

Will Lee was also there on bass, who together with Steve Gadd has been one of the most famous rhythm sections in pop and jazz history for almost 40 years. At the end of the recording session, it was clear to everyone involved: this band had to go on tour to present this music to fans live. In December 2024, the time had come. The band, joined here and there by guests Jakob Manz on alto saxophone and Nils Landgren on trombone, went on tour. All concerts were sold out; the atmosphere in the respective venues was magnificent; thunderous applause and encores in every club or concert hall. Every concert was recorded. Now the result is here. An album full of joy, musicality, spontaneity, creativity, and incredible grooves! 'On A Roll - Live', a concert to take home with you. It doesn't get any better than this!

Live at Smoke captures master drummer Al Foster in peak form during his final birthday celebration—a weekend of inspired performances at NYC’s Smoke Jazz Club in January 2025. Joined by an all-star quartet featuring Chris Potter, Brad Mehldau, and Joe Martin, Foster leads a group full of fire, grace, and deep swing. Drawn entirely from Saturday and Sunday night sets, this double LP-length live recording is both a celebration and a moving farewell from one of jazz’s great rhythmic voices.

The inimitable Richard Youngs returns to Black Truffle with this third full-length for the label, Hidden. Like CXXI and Modern Sorrow, Hidden unfolds across two side-long pieces at once eminently listenable and possessed of the ‘bloody-minded’ dedication to ‘having an idea and sticking with it’ that Youngs himself has identified as one of the key qualities of his work.

At the core of both pieces are rapid, randomised arpeggios generated with a Moog Grandmother, hypnotic patterns that wouldn’t be out of place on a Berlin School classic. Alongside these arpeggios, across the seventeen minutes of the first side-long piece Youngs builds an airy structure of shakers, synthetic handclaps and a brief, repeated sample, impossible to identify but sounding like a glitched foghorn. Over the top we hear his unmistakable voice, repeating single syllables—Ha, Ho—with a slow delay, something like a lonely one-man-band take on Anthony Moore’s Pieces from the Cloudland Ballroom or a more musical elaboration of the hypnotically overlapping delayed phonemes of Anton Bruhin’s Rotomotor. Like much of Youngs' work, the arrangement of sounds is sparse, each layer punctuated by spaces that allow others to shine through, in a way that seems to have more to do with dub or early hip-hop than high-brow models of musical reductionism.

On the flipside, the arpeggios return, now accompanied by ringing, filtered guitar chords and long flute tones. The use of a similar ground layer across the two pieces with strikingly different overdubs calls up Youngs' first solo record, the classic Advent, reminding us of how consistent ‘theme and variations’ is as an approach in his enormous body of work. Joined by handclaps and a chiming sound, the piece almost feels like it is about to achieve dance-floor lift-off at times, only for the percussion to disappear and leave the listener once again floating among the guitar and flute, now joined by occasional cut-off vocal snippets, like a radio turned quickly on and off. The suspension of these disparate elements over the steady foundation of the Moog arpeggios might remind some listeners of the free-form studio explorations of Moebius & Plank and Holger Czukay or even give a nod to Youngs’ formative encounter with Cabaret Voltaire.

Like some of Youngs’ much-loved work with Simon Wickham-Smith, Hidden approaches relatively familiar sounds and instruments from skewed angles, delighting in loose structures of interaction that border on gleeful incoherence while remaining outwardly beautiful. Coming up to almost four decades of persistent activity, like little else in contemporary music Youngs’ work beams with the simple joys of exploration and experiment.



Straight out of the local mud of the city of Antwerp comes dancing this next Souvenirs from Imaginary Cities slab of free-flowing bits of electronic wonder : Schönen Abend by Simon B. Just in time to ease you out of this endless winter and right into springtime. Like the previous hit by Purple Uncle, this flower takes some time to bloom and fill up your head and body with it's ear wormy fragrance.

It's hazy and cinematic, makes you think of Italian electronic pioneers and their library magic, Patrick Cowley's School Daze and Haruomi Hosono in some kind of gothic manner. It's quite stripped and lush at the same time, rhythms like minimal mechanics make you fly above the river and land just outside reality. It's a nice place where soft jazz tingles right around the dark corner, and that particular mix of exotica and melancholia — the trademark of this port city's best electronic auteurs is definitely in the air. The river still shines, but she’s deeply poisoned. The old town has lost every bit of fresh air but keeps on digging for old gold. This bitter pill is served with delicacy and lightness, the wound is dressed up seductively — feet in the mud, head in the air. Stuff is sensuous, with quiet places reminding of the good side of those times when the big wheel stopped turning ever so madly. A strange quietness whistles through the leaves. Some things take time to unfold. In or out of C.

Four years in the making, this is the solo debut LP of Simon B, a longtime contributor to Antwerp's improvised music scene (Groovecats Deluxe, Wij Blij Trio ). Primarily a double bass player, he also has a deep-felt passion for offbeat electronica and the rainbowy side of American minimalism, which takes front here. The smoky voice on the last track belongs to Nina-Joy Thielemans, Nina-Joy is part of Particals, a trio working with live electronics and field recordings, releasing an lp on Ultra Eczema later this year. Furthermore, you can hear the tenor and soprano saxophone of Adia Van Heerentals on 4 tracks, deepening out Simon's naturally flowing compositions and playing around with his melodies. You may know her from Bodem and her strong presence in the Belgian jazz scene lately.

Simon's electroacoustic experiments — using a clarinet and some outboard effects — were important tools in finding the very specific colour of this record. There's this airy character, like wind blowing through old layers of bricks and over the river, anchored with a deep sense of bass, gathering ages of dust and memories in these eight elegantly wobbling tracks, forming a perfect whole that’s really coming together in one deep listening from A to Z.

The centrepiece is perhaps Come to Me, instrumental and reprise with vocals, but no fillers on this one. Every part of the mystery is needed to come to its end and back again. It's a record that works in the morning, to open up a day and in the quiet corners of the night, with it's sleazy quirkiness, smiling towards you from the right corner of the eye. A perfect compagnon for your long-form wandering habits, light reflections on a wet surface obsessions, coffee slurping in the morning and the forgotten art of beachcombing. Quite essential these days, witnessing a world going apeshit.

Hot off the griddle, Cookin' The Books is the long awaited new album from Australia's kings of Hammond soul, Cookin' On 3 Burners. Their first studio LP in six years finds the trio in top form - deep in the pocket, wide in scope, and stacked with heavyweight collaborators. With a 27-year legacy, global tours, and over 2 billion streams (including the international smash This Girl), Cookin' On 3 Burners remain a defining force in vintage soul, funk, and groove.

Cookin' The Books features a collection of killer collaborators including electrifying live vocalist Stella Angelico, acclaimed soul artist Natalie Slade (Steve Spacek, Katalyst, Simon Mavin), hip hop mainstay Mantra alongside Jane Tyrrell (The Herd), rising alt-soul voice Wilson Blackley, and a sweeping string arrangement from composer/violinist Tamil Rogeon (Aloe Blacc, The Dandy Warhols).

Across the record, the group shifts seamlessly between gritty instrumentals and lush vocal cuts - from the cinematic funk of "Only Words", to the break-beat heavy title track "Cookin' The Books", the bumping bounce of "No Bread For You", and the introspective soul of "Phoenix". Every track reflects the group's deep funk DNA while carving out bold new territory.

With airplay from BBC6's Craig Charles, support from tastemakers (Wax Poetics, Dusty Groove, Rolling Stone Australia), and a world tour booked for 2026, this release is a must-stock for deep funk, soul, and cinematic groove audiences.

Do you believe in spring? Simon Wangen (cello) and Philipp Sutter (piano) pose this question as the title for their new project. Whereas Bill Evans made a demand in 1981, the two Cologne-based musicians believe that in times of uncertainty, crisis, and environmental destruction, it is ok to set a questin mark here. But politics and world events aside: Do you believe in spring? Of course! It's never too late to start something new, get creative, and test your own limits. Simon Wangen is a classically trained cellist, Philipp Sutter a trained jazz pianist. Their different musical roots merge on this instrumental album into a lively mix of neoclassical, new jazz, and Cinéma Nordique. Ten pieces come across as sometimes dark, sometimes wild, sometimes delicate, always focusing on the dialogue between the two instruments that harmonize so well. The subtle use of electronic effects constantly opens up new perspectives and builds a bridge to contemporary sound aesthetics. Cello and piano—this combination has been established for centuries, but can still add new facets today. Do you believe in spring? begins stormily and turbulently, oscillating between romantic, sad, and beautiful moments, and leads from a rather dark beginning to the final and eponymous piece in C major, which leaves the listener with a glimmer of hope. Do you believe in spring? From October 24, 2025!


Do you believe in spring? Simon Wangen (Cello) und Philipp Sutter (Klavier) werfen den Titel für ihr neues Projekt als Frage in den Raum. Wo Bill Evans 1981 eine Forderung formulierte, sind die beiden Kölner Musiker der Ansicht, in Zeiten der Unsicherheit, der Krisen und Umweltzerstörung durchaus ein Fragezeichen setzen zu können. Aber abgesehen von Politik und Weltgeschehen: Do you believe in spring? Natürlich! Es ist nie zu spät, etwas Neues zu beginnen, kreativ zu werden und die eigenen Grenzen zu testen. Simon Wangen ist klassisch ausgebildeter Cellist, Philipp Sutter studierter Jazzpianist. Die unterschiedlichen musikalischen Wurzeln verschmelzen auf diesem Instrumentalalbum zu einer lebendigen Mischung aus Neoklassik, New Jazz und Cinéma Nordique. Zehn Stücke kommen mal düster, mal wild, mal zart daher, stets die Zwiesprache der beiden so gut harmonierenden Instrumente im Fokus. Der dezente Einsatz elektronischer Effekte öffnet immer wieder neue Perspektiven und schlägt eine Brücke zur zeitgenössischen Klangästhetik. Cello und Klavier - diese Besetzung ist seit Jahrhunderten etabliert, aber kann auch aktuell immer wieder neue Facetten hinzubekommen. Do you believe in spring? beginnt stürmisch und aufgewühlt, changiert zwischen romantisch - traurig - schönen Momenten und führt von einem eher düsteren Beginn hin zum letzten und namensgebenden Stück in C-Dur, das die Zuhörenden mit einem Hoffnungsschimmer entlässt. Do you believe in spring? Ab 24.10.2025!

Discover the melancholic sound of Margitte

Hailing from the historic city of Ghent (BE), Margitte crafts a unique sonic tapestry that resonates with both ethereal and fierce. Think Portishead, Pj Harvey, The War on Drugs, St. Vincent and even Gainsbourg. Her music is a journey through scapes, blending haunting melodies with intricate electronic textures and poetic lyricism.

Margitte's sound is both timeless and contemporary, weaving together the mystical and the modern with a vision that is thought-provoking as it is emotionally stirring.
Her performances are true to her artistry and passion. Margitte is not just to be heard, but to be felt, lingering on in your ears long after the last notes faded.

Come and get it, join the haze.

SOUNDS LIKE: Laura Marling, Beach House, Warhaus, Gainsbourg, St. Vincent, Liv, Portishead, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Neil Frances, James Blake, David Byrne, Grace Jones, Kruangbin, The War on Drugs.

Credits:

Margot De Ridder: Voice, keys, composition
Artan Buleshkaj: Guitar
Simon Raman: Drums, Percussion
Annelies Emmerechts: Voice, keys

Artwork by Mwahrk

Mastered by Lieven Van Pée

Finding Ways is a new project from Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear).

Sebastian Rochford is a singular force in British music, an extraordinary drummer, composer, and producer. His work with theiconic group Polar Bear helped redefine the boundaries of jazz and earned multiple Mercury Prize nominations. With a careerspanning collaborations with Patti Smith, Damon Albarn, Brian Eno, Adele and Grace Jones, and his 2023 ECM duo album A ShortDiary with Kit Downes, an album written for his father described as a “ quiet masterpiece” , Rochford has carved out a uniquespace in contemporary music.Finding Ways, his new major project, marks a bold new chapter for Seb Rochford. The first album focuses on the guitar, featuringamong others, the dynamic lineup of Tara Cunningham, David Preston, Adrian Utley (Portishead), and Simon Tong(The Verve,Gorillaz), exploring various combinations and layering up to three guitars at once. The result is a striking blend of jaggedexperimental grooves and raw emotional depth, with an unaffected, pedal-less sound that evokes a timeless, exploratory edge.Rochford’s music, as ever, defies categorisation—a sound that feels alive, fractured, and profoundly human, and all mixed by thesingular talent and master of sound, Tchad Blake.The title Finding Ways refers to a frame of mind he chose to adopt after multiple significant life events happening in a smallamount of time. "It’s about finding ways to keep ourselves moving forward and buoyant, transforming life’s challenges intosomething meaningful, also in a practical, everyday type of way.In Finding Ways, it’s direct, energetic music that refuses to be boxed in, a reflection of Seb Rochford's trailblazing spirit. For fansof his previous work and newcomers alike, this album is a testament to his ongoing quest to find emotional truth in sound.

"The five-year anniversary release of Orion Sun’s Hold Space For Me, pressed on tangerine vinyl. Her story, that of an early 20s woman of color dealing with and learning about life's obstacles and celebrations, is understood best through her song lyrics; citing J Dilla, Nancy Wilson, Jodeci, Kirk Franklin, Hazel Scott and Digable Planets as just some of her many influences. She's a career artist with a long road ahead and her sound defies trends; capitalizing on a velvety and familiar voice with timeless jazz / folk / R&B instrumentals.

“...a pinch-yourself song that steps lightly with the thrill of a love seemingly too good to be true (and the fear that it might be)” – Philadelphia Inquirer on “Ne Me Quitte Pas”

“stark and lightly poetic.” – Pitchfork

“A smooth, serene downbeat groove and a blissed vocal finds Orion Sun singing about sudden and deep connection — “It feels so good to know ya” — and despite the sadness implied in the title, the outlook is positive and pure.” – WXPN/The Key on “Ne Me Quitte Pas”

“While the track shares the same title as covers done by Nina Simone, Regina Spektor, and Wyclef Jean, she presents a completely different vibe, slowing down a flipped sample with smooth guitar loops and resonating drums. Still, with all of the stellar instrumentation, the 23-year-old’s voice cuts through as poignant as ever.” – Refinery 29 on ”Ne Me Quitte Pas”"

‘Icon’ is an overused word when it comes to describing singers and musicians, but when it comes to Nina Simone there are few artists that the word describes more accurately. The ‘High Priestess Of Soul’ is surely one of the most iconic singers of the 20th century, and one whose fame and acclaim stretches far beyond conventional black American music circles. 

Nina Simone has featured on Ace and Kent CDs before but this is the first time she’s had one all to herself. “Let It All Out” is the first and only Nina Simone collection to draw repertoire from every label she recorded for between the late 1950s to the late 1970s. 

Not a traditional ‘Best Of’ or ‘Greatest Hits’ package (although the performances included here ARE among her very best, and do include most of her Greatest Hits!) it is a singles collection that presents Nina Simone’s soul and R&B-slanted 45s in chronological order. Invariably they are the definitive versions of the songs, whether she recorded the original versions or not. 

As well as almost all of her American pop and R&B chart hits from 1960 onwards, “Let It All Out” also contains all of Simone’s UK chart hits from the same period – several of which were more successful here than they were back home, including both versions of her biggest British hit ‘Ain’t Got No; I Got Life’, a UK #2 that did not chart at all in the US as was the case with the belated UK Top 5 hit ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’ which also made no chart impression on its home turf…

Carefully curated and concisely annotated, “Let It All Out” lets the listener in to two dozen of Nina Simone’s most celebrated singles. There have been many compilations of her works since she passed away 20+ years ago, but none that gets to the heart – and soul – of her catalogue in quite so direct a manner as this one does. 

f *Goodbye, Asshole* was the wild night—tequila-sharp riffs, sticky floors, and last-call chaos howled into the void of a disappearing city—then *Boone* is the merciless morning after. The sun cracks the blinds. The brain throbs. Every bad decision gleams in the hard light, raw and undeniable.

Fuckwolf’s second album pares their scuzz-wave blitz down to exposed nerves: Eric Park’s basslines stalk like a hangover pulse, Simon Phillips’ drums land like a palm slapping the alarm into silence, and Tomo Yasuda’s guitar wirings spit like diner coffee left to burn on the hotplate. The fog has lifted; the damage is inventoried. These ten tracks are crime scene Polaroids, tales of longing and woe, fresh mystery bruises and eulogies.

There’s no wallowing here, just the tight, terrible beauty of a band that’s stared down the void and come back swinging.

The party’s dead. Long live the reckoning.

Fuckwolf have been around the SF scene for a while, and it took Ethan Miller (Silver Current / Comets On Fire / etc) ages to get them to record the debut album, they then toured Japan and released a limited split mini with Green Milk From The Planet Orange. They reconvened late 2024 and recorded Boone..

This new album "Boone", polishes and extrapolates the fizzing psychedelia of their first album, and turns Fuckwolf into the heirs to the crown of mass-consumptive Sike-rock. This album is in the same vein as Mercury Rev's "Yerself Is Steam", Butthole Surfers' "Rembrandt Pussyhorse" and Flaming Lips "Telepathic Surgery", there's sheer pop in amongst the mind's eye rattling dollops of psychedelic wallop... the Koolaid was drunk and the songs were made.. plug it in, turn on...drop out.

Master by the one and only Mikey Young!!

Verve // Remixed Holiday returns this season with a fresh spin on timeless cheer. Inspired by the beloved 2008 release, this vibrant reimagining of classic holiday tracks from Verve Records’ legendary catalog features five brand new remixes from a cutting-edge lineup of DJs and producers: Ginton, Bolden., Tourist, Two Another, and DARGZ. Their genre-blurring interpretations bring new life to beloved recordings, fusing modern electronic textures and grooves with jazz, soul, and holiday nostalgia.

This release offers a renewed celebration of the season—where vintage vocals meet forward-thinking production. From cozy fireside vibes to festive dance-floor energy, Verve // Remixed Holiday bridges generations of sound and spirit.

Pressed on “Crystal Clear” vinyl, this is a must-have for collectors and a holiday essential you will putting on all year long.

2025 Repress

“In stark contrast to the stress-makingly staccato assault of your average 'ardcore rave, Telepathic Fish was a wombeldelic sound-and-light bath"

Simon Reynolds (Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music And Dance Culture)

The first-ever illustrated compendium recounting the seminal underground South London ambient party that surfaced at the axis through which the likes of Ninja Tune, Warp and Rising High flowed. Telepathic Fish shared fertile waters with Megatripolis and The Big Chill, moving the early 90s London back room chill-out space into the kaleidoscopic spotlight.

Documenting the sights and sounds of South London’s seminal Telepathic Fish ambient parties. Hosted by Chantal Passamonte (aka Mira Calix - RIP), David Vallade, Mario Aguera and Kevin Foakes (aka DJ Food) - collectively named Openmind. With the help of Mixmaster Morris (The Irresistible Force) and Matt Black (Coldcut), they put on some of the earliest chill out events in London.

Rooted deep in the heart of the electronic underground they started DJing and decorating house parties or squats with mind-blowing installations and wholly idiosyncratic design, hosting the likes of Aphex Twin, Andrea Parker and Tony Morley (The Leaf Label). Within a year they were playing VIP after shows for the likes of Orbital and illegal New Year’s gatherings at the disused Roundhouse whilst guesting on Coldcut’s Solid Steel radio show on London’s KISS FM.

Whilst collaborations with legendary club nights such as Megatripolis saw them share bills with Autechre, Higher Intelligence Agency, Scanner and Global Communication, they also created their own ambient fanzine - Mindfood – to document the scene evolving around them. A 20-page history of their parties is included in the release, richly illustrated with personal photos, artwork and memorabilia from their adventures between 1992-95. The gatefold sleeve also features their Telepathic Fish logo, mirroring an original T-shirt design they sold in Ambient Soho, a record shop three of the four worked in at different times.

The selections featured here are all personal favourites that were played at the Telepathic Fish parties during the 90s. Picked and arranged by Mario, David and Kevin who combed their collections for key pieces they associate with the time and Chantal’s music tastes. Over a hundred tracks were selected, totalling nearly 11 hours of playing time, before being whittled down to the essentials by the trio, forming a snapshot of their world back in the day.

KEY POINTS:

* Features long deleted and hard to find tracks by Caustic Window (Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin), Tranquility Bass, Spacetime Continuum and Global Communication (Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton).

• Pressed on DJ friendly double black vinyl

• Includes A 20-page history of their parties is included in the release, richly illustrated with unseen personal photos, artwork and memorabilia from the Telepathic Fish crew’s adventures between 1992-95, as well as detailed liner notes courtesy of founding members Mario Ageura and Kevin Foakes.

• Cover includes horizontal obi sticker with quote from Simon Reynolds' book Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music And Dance Culture, describing the Telepathic Fish parties' place in the dance music landscape.

• Lacquer cut by Beau Thomas at Ten Eight Seven Mastering

Eddie shows up to this game alone, wielding, as ever, a deft and unbeatable trigger finger on the sampler...

Reprising those beloved 7 Inches Of Pleasure and early Red Motorbike vibes on some deadly Madlib style downtempo cuts, and quick Cut 'n Paste workouts

LJ Simon, who collaborated on those killer recent Sandy B releases lends a hand too, it's a joyous Disco-House affair that reminds us of those old Tony Senghore jams from the 90's

Fruitful and fully juiced up joints for the Disko Universal !

Produced by longtime collaborator Simon Dine, MKII captures a band reinvigorated, delivering their most confident and dynamic work to date. Sullivan"s sharp, incisive lyrics drivethe album"s freshsound and renewed energy. Frontman and founder Billy Sullivan sets the scene for the album by saying: "It sounds refreshed and confident, ballsy but doesn"t mind showing a softer side and being reflective too. For me it"s not a continuation of The Spitfires back catalogue, it"s very much the start of a new chapter. I"m incredibly proud, after all these years, to be talking about a new body of work which excitesme and inspires me more than ever." From the high-octane political pop of "The Great Divide!" to the moody intensity of "I"ll Never" and the reflective, Parisian- tinged "Grateful", MKII is a bold statement: The Spitfires are back-and stronger than ever.

Produced by longtime collaborator Simon Dine, MKII captures a band reinvigorated, delivering their most confident and dynamic work to date. Sullivan"s sharp, incisive lyrics drivethe album"s freshsound and renewed energy. Frontman and founder Billy Sullivan sets the scene for the album by saying: "It sounds refreshed and confident, ballsy but doesn"t mind showing a softer side and being reflective too. For me it"s not a continuation of The Spitfires back catalogue, it"s very much the start of a new chapter. I"m incredibly proud, after all these years, to be talking about a new body of work which excitesme and inspires me more than ever." From the high-octane political pop of "The Great Divide!" to the moody intensity of "I"ll Never" and the reflective, Parisian- tinged "Grateful", MKII is a bold statement: The Spitfires are back-and stronger than ever.

Belgian singer-songwriter Emma Hessels releases her debut EP 'Constant Distance' on October 24 via Unday Records. With a voice that lingers long after the song has ended and lyrics that feel like pages torn from a diary, Hessels has quickly carved out her place in the Belgian scene. She was named laureate of Sound Track in 2023, went on to play intimate yet arresting sets at Ancienne Belgique, Botanique, and the prestigious Cirque Royal, and appeared at Best Kept Secret this summer.

Milestones that signaled the arrival of a singular new voice in folk and soul.

'Constant Distance' gathers six songs bound by a recurring undercurrent: the presence of distance in its many forms - absence, longing, loneliness, the fear of loss, but also the desire for belonging. The songs weren't conceived around a single theme, but when brought together, a pattern revealed itself. Loss implies distance, longing implies distance, even love can. Yet the EP closes on 'Breaking', a gospel-tinged anthem of connection and alignment, written during a women's writer's retreat where community and music became inseparable.

Musically, 'Constant Distance' moves between folk and soul, carrying the feel of modern blues and occasionally leaning into gospel's call-and-response. The atmosphere is warm and nostalgic, drawing inspiration from Laura Marling, Damien Rice and Big Thief as much as from Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone and Richie Havens. Emma's voice remains the constant thread: soulful, unforced, quietly commanding. "I hope my songs can be like a warm blanket, something that keeps you company, that makes you feel a little less alone."

Though written solo on guitar, often during long train rides, the songs expanded into layered productions through collaboration with Aram Santy, Nard Houdmeyers and Fender Mackenson Rooms, with additional contributions such as Marthe van Droogenbroeck's evocative trumpet. Recorded over two intense days at Studio Beertje, the EP captures both intimacy and expansiveness. The result is music that carries the weight of Emma's fears and questions, but also the joy of collective creation.

With 'Constant Distance', Emma Hessels doesn't just deliver a debut - she opens a world where fragility and strength coexist, and where music becomes a way of closing the gap between people.

2025 Repress

FINALLY! The very first commercial release of two legendary remixes of Arthur Russell's "In The Light Of The Miracle". Both are widely regarded as transcendent masterpieces and very much befitting of the title “holy grails”.

These long-beloved mixes are the types you'd wish would last for eternity. With almost 30 minutes of music here, we very nearly get our desires granted. At last, these jaw-dropping mixes are widely available to every Arthur fan in the world. This is musical perfection.

The deep Loft classic "In The Light Of The Miracle" remained unreleased during Arthur's lifetime, finally discovered when Phillip Glass included the original version on Another Thought on Point Music in 1993. As Steve Knutson told us, when Another Thought was being put together, the plan was to release a companion album of remixes that was overseen by Steve D'Aquisto but the project only got as far as these two remixes of "In The Light Of The Miracle".

Some dodgy scans of some centre label designs suggest that Point Music might’ve been planning to release these on a 12" but it didn’t happen. The story goes that Gilles Peterson heard the remixes on a visit to the Point Music offices and wanted to release them on Talkin’ Loud. We’re not sure how many white label copies made it out into the wild, but again, these remixes didn’t make it to a proper release.

These remixes both extend and undeniably enhance the original, elevating it to new heights. The 13 minute remix on the A-side is by Danny Krivit & Tony Smith with editing duties performed by Tony Morgan. As ever with Arthur, the music is almost impossible to describe: is it Disco? Garage House? Avant Garde? None of these tags do full justice to its sheer majesty. You best just listen. Stretching out the original with some unbelievably great percussive elements, until we're in a deeply spiritual, otherworldly realm, it's just too beautiful for words. As many have claimed, it's the prototype for EVERYTHING.

The "Ponytail Club Mix (Part 1 & 2)", produced by Tony Morgan in the mid-90s, is in a more up-tempo style, with vocals higher in the mix, the BPM upped to 120 and the addition of a housey 4/4 kick drum. A 14 minute epic, you could say this is a more straight ahead "club-friendly" mix (but can things ever be that straightforward with Arthur?!) It also has some really interesting vocal parts not used in the other versions, including some vocals from guest poet Allen Ginsberg.

These remixes are part of the same original project that also produced the Another Thought album so it seems only right that they have a sleeve that matches. Thanks again to Janette Beckman for letting us use another of her photos of Arthur and the rest of the design follows what Margery Greenspan, Tina Lauffer and Michael Klotz did for Another Thought back in 1994.

Simon Francis remastered the original audio for both tracks and Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios ensures this 12" well and truly slaps. The immaculate Record Industry pressing will ensure this incredibly sought-after treasure finds a home in many more collections, this and every year.

The Rhythm Makers's Soul On Your Side is flawless proto-disco funk. The Bronx-based band - that later went on to form heavyweight disco outfit GQ - originally released this treasure in 1976 and it's long been a hard to find record. It's also rare to find a record this hard. Captivating funk at its rawest, no doubt.

Storming out the gate with the rollicking Loft/Garage staple "Can You Feel It (Part 1)", the listener is immediately put on notice that this LP is just a little bit special. The title track, "Soul On Your Side", is a classic dancer and the basis of GQ's future hit "Disco Nights". But it's perhaps "Zone", a huge Baldelli track, that the record is best known for. Hypnotic psyched-out cosmic-disco / cosmic funk, it's an unrelenting groove that really thrusts the party into hyperdrive. With doses of scintillating Latin and pulsating African rhythms driving the pumping tune, atop an unstoppable bassline and imaginative, soul-slathered keyboard figures, it's basically a full-on funk assault. You might need a lie-down after this.

But there's no let-up on the B-Side, immediately grooving thanks to "Funk-N-You", a laidback glider that just rolls in the sleek style. Gorgeous harmony skills are displayed on "Street Dreamin'". Beautiful and gritty funk, by turns. "You're My Last Girl" is an airy ballad with two leads before the legendary "Monterey" enters the fray. A much-sampled instrumental and heavy disco-funk nugget, it contains an amazing B-Boy drum break making the whole LP worth the price of admission. "Can You Feel It (Part 2)" closes out this spectacular set.

The Rhythm Makers had been gigging around New York City since the late ’60s, having initially come together as Sabu and the Survivors, named after bassist Keith “Sabu” Crier. They eventually - for this album at least! - settled on The Rhythm Makers and cut one record for the small De-Lite subsidiary Vigor. The core lineup featured Crier, keyboardist Herb Lane, drummer Kenny Banks and rhythm guitarist Rahiem Leblanc.

Mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Cicely Balston for Alchemy at AIR Studios with artwork restored at Be With HQ, this new edition should hopefully bring this album into the homes and record boxes of many more people.

Deux Filles were Simon Fisher Turner, former child star/teen idol and future soundtrack composer, and songwriter/technician Colin Lloyd Tucker. Turner and Tucker left an early incarnation of The The in 1981 to pursue a different musical direction.

Turner claims that the idea of Deux Filles came to him in a dream, and the novel fiction/roleplay would be strictly maintained throughout the girls' short career. As well as posing in costume for the album covers, the duo even performed live without the audience realizing that the girls on-stage were actually a pair of blokes from south London having a giggle.

Deux Filles released two highly collectable albums: Silence & Wisdom (1982) and Double Happiness (1983)

Unearthing old gems, remastering and bringing them back to the forefront is what Private Parts are up to for release number 07 in the catalog. Original London Tech masters Rob Pearson & Dave Mothersole originally released Wanting You in the early 00’s, but with the extreme prices on Discogs it seemed like the right choice to get this re pressed for your pleasure.

Wanting you is everything you ever wanted from those timeless sounds of London Tech. Dubbed out vocals, tribal rhythms, pulsating acid lines and a groove to keep you locked right in.

Flipping to the B, and the biggest thank you to Rob himself for spending weeks searching old DAT tapes in his loft to find the original pre master of the driving remix from the late Iteration X. They don’t come more heads down, and hypnotic than this. Throbbing bass stabs, luscious chords and in true Iteration X style, a roller that you could keep you shaking for days on end.

It only seems fitting to dedicate this re issue to Simon Copleston, Mr Iteration X. Thank you for the music!

"Paloma mensajera" (featuring members of New Juggler Sound / Laghonia) shows the shift that was taking place within Peruvian rock away from psych and hard rock which had predominated during the early 70s. The style adopted by Grupo Amigos (and other bands and artists during this period) highlights the influence of soft rock, UK, US and Latin American folk rock and, above all, the desire to keep the melodic greatness of The Beatles alive. This reissue includes bonus tracks and extensive liner notes. DESCRIPTION "Paloma mensajera" (featuring members of New Juggler Sound / Laghonia) shows the shift that was taking place within Peruvian rock away from psych and hard rock which had predominated during the early 70s. The style adopted by Grupo Amigos (and other bands and artists during this period) highlights the influence of soft rock, UK, US and Latin American folk rock and, above all, the desire to keep the melodic greatness of The Beatles alive. The positive reception albums by artists such as We All Together, Telegraph Avenue and Zulu garnered between 1972 and 1975, marked a change of paradigm and in preferences within the Peruvian rock scene. Eclecticism gained new ground, to the detriment of the sectarian and orthodox, while melody grew more present and visible, moving away from the progressive experimentation that typified underground Peruvian rock up to the beginning of the 70s. For their first single on MAG, included on this reissue, the band adopted a formula in which Beatles harmonies converged symmetrically with folk motifs. 'Dirty Girl' was a hit on the radio. A full album followed but only a fairly small number of copies of the album were pressed, which seems to have been the main reason for omitting it from the historical accounts of Peruvian rock music from the late 90s onwards. In "Paloma mensajera" all compositions were penned by the group, after several years during which cover versions were a staple. Some of the musical resources that the band had at their disposal in terms of composition and arrangements are striking and even surprising, considering that they were a debut band, whose members were under the age of 20. The arrangements included the clever use of a Moog synthesizer which had just arrived at the MAG studio. The success achieved by the Beatles tribute performances played by the members of Grupo Amigos for decades have eclipsed the songs that Edmundo, Andrés Da Ros and Simón Ames composed with youthful enthusiasm and energy between 1972 and 1973 to the point where they have almost been forgotten. This re-release of "Paloma mensajera" should help rectify this major injustice. It includes bonus tracks and extensive liner notes.

next instalment in our ongoing ‘Yearbook’ series – pressed in lovely-lime-green vinyl on a 3-LP set packed with 47 stellar tracks celebrating a brilliant year of pop singles. NOW – Yearbook 1976.



LP1: Kicking off in magnificent style with signature songs from legendary artists: A #2 in 1976, Queen’s ‘Somebody To Love’ is first up, followed by Electric Light Orchestra with ‘Livin’ Thing’, Fleetwood Mac with ‘Say You Love Me’, and 10cc with ‘I’m Mandy Fly Me’. Dr. Hook had a huge hit with ‘A Little Bit More’, and Chicago hit #1 with their all-time classic ballad ‘If You Leave Me Now’, while the side closes with Eric Carmen’s enduringly popular ‘All By Myself’. Flip the LP over for huge hits from the year – including 4 #1s: 14 years after making their UK chart debut, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons enjoyed their first chart-topper with ‘December 1963 (Oh What a Night)’, whilst Leo Sayer reached #2 in the UK, and #1 in the US with ‘You Make Me Feel Like Dancing’. Pop gems follow from David Dundas, Bryan Ferry, Sailor, Smokie – and Slik, featuring a pre-Ultravox Midge Ure reached the top with ‘Forever And Ever’. Showaddywaddy celebrated their biggest hit and their first #1 with ‘Under The Moon Of Love’, and the UK won at Eurovision, with the winner ‘Save Your Kisses For Me’ by Brotherhood Of Man not only hitting the #1 spot but also becoming 1976’s biggest seller and bringing the first LP to a close.



LP2: Opening with a stellar run of pure-pop classics. Elton John celebrated his first UK #1 single, in a duet with Kiki Dee on ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, and Cliff Richard with ‘Devil Woman’, ahead of dance-floor favourites – and both #1s in ’76: Tina Charles with ‘I Love To Love’ and The Real Thing with ‘You To Me Are Everything’. More pop nuggets follow from Billy Ocean and Dana, before the side finishes with R&J Stone with ‘We Do It’ and the sublime ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’ from Gladys Knight & The Pips. Over on the second side, ‘Silly Love Songs’ gave Wings a UK #2 and became ‘76’s biggest seller in the US and opens a run of great vocalists; Neil Diamond, Daryl Hall & John Oates with ‘She’s Gone’, Paul Simon’s ’50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’ and a trio of the year’s classic rock smashes: ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ from Thin Lizzy, ‘Squeeze Box’ from The Who, and closing with the epic ‘Music’ from John Miles.



LP3: Celebrating ‘76’s dancefloor with a stunning collection of disco and soul gold: First up, Donna Summer with her debut smash ‘Love To Love You Baby’ before ‘More More More’ from Andrea True Connection and Candi Staton’s timeless ‘Young Hearts Run Free’. Melba Moore with ‘This Is It’ comes ahead of Diana Ross with the genre-defining ‘Love Hangover’, and the side is completed with huge floor-fillers from Tavares and Barry White ahead of The Isley Brothers with the soul standard ‘Harvest For The World’ and over on the final side country music is represented with Dolly Parton making her UK singles chart debut with ‘Jolene’ three years after it was a hit in the US, but it was a Dutch band, Pussycat, who hit the top with their country-pop track ‘Mississippi’. Bonnie Tyler made her chart debut with ‘Lost In France’, and ‘Forever And Ever’ gave Demis Roussos a ’76 chart topper, and an easy-listening classic, whilst Guys N Dolls had a second Top 5 hit with their cover of ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’. The LP ends with a trio of the year’s most beautiful ballads: Gallagher And Lyle with ‘Heart On My Sleeve’, ‘Love And Affection’ the stunning singles chart debut for Joan Armatrading, and finishing with a second peerless single on this collection from Elton John with ‘Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word’.



NOW – Yearbook 1976 – a celebration of the diversity and wonderful creativity of a truly fabulous year in pop.

Brainfeeder stellt Tres Leches vor - ein Trio herzzerreißender Troubadoure, bestehend aus Paul Bender und Simon Mavin von Hiatus Kaiyote, ergänzt durch das tourende Bandmitglied und dem langjährigen Kollaborateur, Alejandro „Silentjay“ Abapo - und ihr kommendes Album, „The Smooth Sounds of Tres Leches, LHCC Mart Vol. 1“, das Mitte August 2025 auf dem Label erscheint.

Liebevoll aufgenommen und abgemischt in verschiedenen Hotelzimmern an den freien Tagen einer Nordamerika-Tournee, drehen Tres Leches die Lichter herunter und interpretieren Hiatus Kaiyote-Evergreens wie „Get Sun“, „Red Room“, „Make Friends“, „Nakamarra“ und mehr neu, um Leidenschaften zu wecken, die Sinne zu entzünden und die wilde Bestie in sich zu beruhigen. Ursprünglich als Soundtrack zu einem imaginären Supermarkt für „Love Heart Cheat Code“ gedacht, nahmen diese schwülen und sinnlichen Interpretationen der Hiatus Kaiyote-Tracks bald ein Eigenleben an. Hiatus Kaiyote - das Quartett bestehend aus Naomi „Nai Palm“ Saalfield (Gitarre, Gesang), Paul Bender (Bass), Simon Mavin (Keyboards) und Perrin Moss (Schlagzeug) - wurde von vielen bekannten Namen gesampelt, darunter The Carters (Beyoncé & Jay-Z), Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak und Chance The Rapper. Außerdem wurden sie von gefeierten Künstler:innen wie SZA, Kehlani, Willow Smith und Virgil Abloh unter Vertrag genommen. Letzten Herbst coverte Doja Cat die „Mood Valiant“-Single, „Red Room“, in der Live Lounge in Los Angeles und spielte den Song auch mehrfach auf ihrer damaligen Tour.

2025 Repress

Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues is Tommy Guerrero's sublime debut. Of this beloved masterpiece, the legendary skater himself says: "my 1st album. It was never meant to be released. I was just recording for the fun of it.. still my fave. Oh so naive..." And you know what? It's definitely Be With's fave too. An astonishingly great record. A chill, blissful, deeply moving album, it was rightly garlanded as an instant classic.

A laidback, fusionistic ride replete with loopy drum tracks underpinning Tommy's trademark reflective guitar stylings, Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues remains powerfully evergreen. Originally released in 1997, there's elements of jazz, trip hop, rock and downtempo groove. All shot through with a heavy dose of soul. Thirteen tracks of lo-fi (mostly) instrumental freshness fused with Cuban, Latin and blues, it's a must for fans of Money Mark, J Dilla, RJD2, DJ Shadow and Pete Rock. As ever with Tommy's records, the title sums up the music contained within most aptly. And writing about his songs, his vibes, is one of the trickier things to do, it has to be said. It's just all gorgeous!

A total vibe throughout, to blast Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues is a majestic experience, one that suits a start-to-finish listen and renders the picking out of highlights totally redundant. Featuring nagging, deeply melodic guitar lines - both electric and acoustic - over simple rhythms with such sumptuous elegance, the hypnotic playing against unrushed percussion releases a crystal clear stream of healing frequencies. It's ust divine. This album laid the blueprint from which Tommy Guerrero would subsequently explore further on A Little Bit of Somethin' and Soul Food Taquiera.

Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. The original and iconic sleeve, designed by Natas Kaupas, has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Jazz Room Head Honcho Paul Murphy kept hearing all these fab versions of some of his favourite tunes.

He couldn't release them all, a year is just not long enough so it was time to put together the first Jazz Room Records Compilation, entitled JAZZ ROOM PRESENTS: COVERS. Snappy & to the point.

Some exclusives and first time Vinyl releases on this Double Vinyl album, ranging from the Psychedelic Jazz Fusion of Helsinki Collective "Saimaa" with their epic LIVE version of the Deodato Classic "Super Strut" to the Japanese Shibuya Jazz Artistry of Quasimode with a Jazzy take on the Galaxy2Galaxy 90's Techno Floor Filler. Jazz meets Dub in the "Slowly" produced "Riot In Lagos" and some finger snapping Cool New York Vibes on Giacomo Gates Hip To The Trip version of Gil Scott-Heron's "Is That Jazz".

There's even a Gospel meets Soul Jazz tribute to Simon and Garfunkel. Oh yeah. Did we say there's a Chip Wickham exclusive too?

Louie Vega says: "This is an Awesome Compilation!"




d 04: Jazzbois - Nutville (Live At Ninety One Living Room) feat. Dom Beats

A disco-funk venture laced with balearic pop as nostalgic as it is buoyant, Dijon-based outfit FLAUR land their inaugural EP on Cosmocities Records. Comprised of three original songs shifting gears between electrifying grooves and washed-out downtempo, plus three remixes courtesy of Art of Tones, Gaettson and Faze Action, ‘Hold On’ speaks the language of lively waves and sun-streaked coasts. By turns explosive and contemplative, the duo’s vision covers a wide span of influences and styles, fusing Californian P-funk with a touch of Supertramp-esque disco and nuances of alternative pop lined with silky funk in the style of acclaimed Versailles band, Phoenix.

Full with suave Wurlitzer piano chords and ultra-syncopated slap bass, the lead-track ‘Hold On’ is an ode to 70s disco pop with its satiny textures, solar-powered melody and a swing bound to cause ravage on the dance floor. The perfect mix of luxuriant disco, vibrant boogie house and supra-sensual cosmic escapology. Even more elating, the layered funk of ’Now’ takes us into a choppy swirl of unshackled pizzicatos, iridescent envelopes and epic vocal flights. Recorded live at Mastoid Studio in Paris, ‘On My Mind’ trades the hi-velocity disco of the first two cuts for a poignant, introspective movement, revolving around the bewitching voice of Florian, a piano and riffs draped in melancholic reverbs. A sonic journey round the confines of soulful dream pop and further intimate songwriting.

In the hands of another rising Dijon-based artist, Gaettson, ‘On My Mind’ morphs into a dance floor-oriented missile, mixing a highly volatile strain of corrosive IDM, sharp breaks and nervy vocal samples. Remixing ‘Hold On’, South of France producer Art of Tones takes us on a proper cosmic trip, laying further emphasis on the original's funky impact through sun-drenched loops a la Alan Braxe and Fred Falke, and a buildup tailored for extended seaside afters; feet buried deep in the sand, head up in the clouds. UK groove legends Simon and Robin Lee, alias Faze Action, round off the package with a chiselled revamp of ’Now’. Slightly accelerated and built for the club, this remix treats us to a pure moment of dance-ready bliss, packed with sinuous rhythms, dynamic bass and fevered percussions.

Mainstays of the D.C. DIY scene, Pretty Bitter live up to their name. Masters of all kinds of dissonance, they juxtapose stories of haunting and heartbreak with dazzling pop-rock arrangements. Pretty Bitter makes music that gets the emo kids dancing. They’re unafraid to infuse their blistering breakdowns with hits of disco and synthpop—and that’s exactly what they’ve done on Pleaser, their sophomore album, co-produced by Evan Weiss (Into It. Over It., Pet Symmetry) and Simon Small (Strawberry Boy) and out July 25th, 2025 via cult favorite indie label Tiny Engines. Following a string of ethereal singles, their 2022 debut Hinges formally introduced Pretty Bitter and their dreampunk to a rapidly growing audience. Fearlessly led by Mel Bleker and sharing studio and touring members with D.C. punk all-stars Ekko Astral, Pretty Bitter has been embraced by DIY fans far and wide. On Pleaser, Pretty Bitter have amped up the drama of their lush arrangements—a match made in heaven for the emotional ferocity of Bleker’s lyricism. “If everything is out there, nothing’s embarrassing,” they sigh on “I Hope You Do,” expertly toeing the line between the personal and the universal over bright, bubbling synths. On the arresting closer “Outer Heaven,” Bleker sings “Time isn’t a lover in the way it likes to play / I’m getting older, every due I pay / Time isn’t a bandage in the way you always say / I won’t be abandoned by myself again this way.” Their observational, heart-on-sleeve songwriting is as effortless as their flittering between the jangly, dreamy inclinations of rock, pop, and folk. Pleaser is a triumph, an instantly lovable record that reveals just how bright Pretty Bitter’s future is.

Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.

All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.

At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.

There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.

The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.

The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?

The Gold is inspired by the true story and theories of the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery, which saw
the theft of £26 million worth of gold bullion, and the decades-long chain of events that followed. First aired in February 2023, the first series of The Gold garnered 8.7 million viewers for the first episode and was nominated for a BAFTA. Series Two is inspired by theories around what happened to the other half of the gold.

Simon Goff’s work sits at the intersection of contemporary classical, electronic, and cinematic
music. His albums Vale and Spark Like Living Mothers have received critical acclaim for their immersive, textural soundscapes and compositional depth. He has also worked with some of the world’s most acclaimed musicians as a collaborator and sound engineer on Joker and Chernobyl - both of which earned him Grammy Awards.

“In series one of The Gold, the score developed around using the sound pallets of strings and electronics, acting themselves as characters in the narrative. The subject of class permeates the whole story and we used these sound worlds to represent two worlds, divided at first but becoming more and more intertwined as the series progressed. The ways in which the worlds have collided and merged in series two is even more complex. The tension is even higher and the neurosis that torments the characters runs deeper.” Simon Goff

Compiled by Philip King
“And then came the rise of synth pop : blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated
machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese
passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ‘70s ended : not with a blood-curdling bang
bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.”
NICK KENT, NME.

All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 is a new compilation that charts the
underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music. Compiled by Philip
King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop
Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with
new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new
music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records. Featuring rare
tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter
chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure.
Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks
were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master
tapes. The story told on All The Young Droids is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the
emergence to the market of cheaper analog synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels
that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the
globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led
revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on All The Young Droids.. was created in bedrooms,
ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment. In the era of record labels
jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course)
these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio
and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother
of invention.

At the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an
orchestra with a single finger and a 4-track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry & The
Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning
of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his
female classmates on vocals) a global smash in Fred Vom Jupiter (later licensed to Mute Records).
The hard-to-find English version (Fred From Jupiter, natch) is included here. Many artists with alreadystoried careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future
and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that
included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed I’m On A Rocket. Similarly, Ian
North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a
tape machine to record We’re Not Lonely, an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. We’re Not
Lonely also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased
track You Will See, released April 12th 2025.

There are plenty of compilation debuts in evidence. Sole Sister were a mysterious trio who were
featured on the Scaling Triangles compilation of female-fronted, queer-adjacent post-punk /
underground music that also featured The Petticoats. Selwin Image were from San Francisco and
featured members of the recently defunct power pop/punk group The Pushups. Their stupidly catchy
The Unknown fizzes with New Wave energy - think XTC to Sparks but remains unreleased until now.
Dream Unit’s A Drop In The Ocean is an early synth wave cut, positively teaming with Joy Division
instrumentation, previously only released on a long-forgotten and super rare, self-released EP.
Incandescent Luminaire’s Famous Names belies an archetypal struggle of a small-town trying to
make it in a cruel industry but is a thrilling New Romantic-Synth Wave cross over with a OMD
gloominess that’s a joy to hear. Feminist Minimal Wave track I Am A Time Bomb by performance artist
Peta Lilly and Michael Chance is a revelation destined for new found cult status. It was released on 7”
and lost until now.

The flipside to the subterranean, never-made-it synth pop mentioned above are the ambitious, even
fruity attempts at success that have a perennial elegance to their confidence. New Jersey-ite Billy
London (real name Ed Barth) tried to cash in on the synth boom with Woman, released by a major
label, a lurching new wave track built on the Louie Louie rhythm and a wonderfully camp Lou Reedstyle sleazy vocal before exploding in the synthesised chorus. The song bombed but with a chorus like
this, you have to wonder why? Ex-Glitter Band member John Springate’s My Life is truly epic, with
doomed chord progressions and massive sounding drums turning into at least 3 different songs in the
course of the track. Before you wonder what’s going on the song resolves with a glorious return to the
main refrain.

The dry-ice-dressed dance floor is well catered for too. Design’s Premonition and Vision’s Lucifer’s
Friend are stone-cold minimal synth bangers, well loved but given a new lease of life here. The
Warlord’s The Ultimate Warlord was released in 1978, a homespun proto Hi NRG banger that was
later re-recorded by The Immortals in Canada who had a club hit with it. One-man- band Disco
Volante’s No Motion was re-issued by Synth wave label Medical in 2012 but makes its first vinyl
compilation appearance here. Close your eyes and you can imagine what Lawrence of Felt would have
sounded like with some cheap Korgs a little earlier in his career. Gibraltar-based trio The Microbes
imagined a computer programming people to dance - how prescient - and ended up with a propulsive,
robo-funk track with splendid rubbery bass playing over a tectonic drum machine. Previously picked up
by Belgian label Stroom TV, Dee Jay Bert & Eagle’s heavily Euro-accented I Am Your Master
demands the listener to “come to paradise!” In a frankly terrifying manner.
All The Young Droids is the first compilation to peel away from the narrative that dour, Minimal Synth
and Cold Wave were the only musical children of the first rush of synth pop. Philip King and School
Daze Records describe a much more complicated world: along with the austere, Brutalist children of
Daniel Miller (who produced Alan Burnham’s Bowie-Low-influenced Science Fiction here) was a
plethora of desperate cash-ins, accidental mainstream hits, ambitious pop dramas and major label
punts that went nowhere. Crucially, the compilation blurs the line between junk and treasure. What if the
two things are interchangeable. What if it’s all science fiction?

The Canadian folk singer renowned for her purity of voice and composer of the ever-fresh ’Morning Dew’; once at the heart of the Greenwich Village heyday when she sang at Gerdes Folk City alongside the likes of Paul Simon and Bob Dylan; and the UK’s premier purveyors of Cosmic Americana riding a wave of creativity and acclaim, following two successive classic albums Hollow Heart and On A Golden Shore. The spry octogenarian and the psychedelic cowboys proved a match ripe to be made. Since Bonnie’s reemergence, at Jarvis Cocker’s Meltdown in 2007, she’d been interacting with a host of London musicians, but when the Stars came onto her horizon she sensed she’d found the perfect accompanists for her new compositions. With no concrete plan they worked up a few songs, then went into Sean Read’s Famous Times studio to see what might happen. What might happen is now Dreams, comprising eight songs; six being recent compositions never before studio-recorded while a further two reach into and celebrate her back catalogue, along with the era that initially defined her, and as one of its now few active representatives – it’s her and Dylan and not many more – she stands for.

Repress!

In the mid-1970s, a force of nature swept across the continental United States, cutting across all strata of race and class, rooting in our minds, our homes, our culture. It wasn’t The Exorcist, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, or even bell-bottoms, but instead a book called The Secret Life of Plants. The work of occultist/former OSS agent Peter Tompkins and former CIA agent/dowsing enthusiast Christopher Bird, the books shot up the bestseller charts and spread like kudzu across the landscape, becoming a phenomenon. Seemingly overnight, the indoor plant business was in full bloom and photosynthetic eukaryotes of every genus were hanging off walls, lording over bookshelves, and basking on sunny window ledges. The science behind Secret Life was specious: plants can hear our prayers, they’re lie detectors, they’re telepathic, able to predict natural disasters and receive signals from distant galaxies. But that didn’t stop millions from buying and nurturing their new plants.



Perhaps the craziest claim of the book was that plants also dug music. And whether you purchased a snake plant, asparagus fern, peace lily, or what have you from Mother Earth on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (or bought a Simmons mattress from Sears), you also took home Plantasia, an album recorded especially for them. Subtitled “warm earth music for plants…and the people that love them,” it was full of bucolic, charming, stoner-friendly, decidedly unscientific tunes enacted on the new-fangled device called the Moog. Plants date back from the dawn of time, but apparently they loved the Moog, never mind that the synthesizer had been on the market for just a few years. Most of all, the plants loved the ditties made by composer Mort Garson.



Few characters in early electronic music can be both fearless pioneers and cheesy trend-chasers, but Garson embraced both extremes, and has been unheralded as a result. When one writer rhetorically asked: “How was Garson’s music so ubiquitous while the man remained so under the radar?” the answer was simple. Well before Brian Eno did it, Garson was making discreet music, both the man and his music as inconspicuous as a Chlorophytumcomosum. Julliard-educated and active as a session player in the post-war era, Garson wrote lounge hits, scored plush arrangements for Doris Day, and garlanded weeping countrypolitan strings around Glen Campbell’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” He could render the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel alike into easy listening and also dreamed up his own ditties. “An idear” as Garson himself would drawl it out. “I live with it, I walk it, I sing it.”



But as his daughter Day Darmet recalls: “When my dad found the synthesizer, he realized he didn’t want to do pop music anymore.” Garson encountered Robert Moog and his new device at the Audio Engineering Society’s West Coast convention in 1967 and immediately began tinkering with the device. With the Moog, those idears could be transformed. “He constantly had a song he was humming,” Darmet says. “At the table he was constantly tapping.” Which is to say that Mort pulled his melodies out of thin air, just like any household plant would.



The Plantae kingdom grew to its height by 1976, from DC Comics’ mossy superhero Swamp Thing to Stevie Wonder’s own herbal meditation, Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants. Nefarious manifestations of human-plant interaction also abounded, be it the grotesque pods in Invasion of the Body Snatchers or the pothead paranoia of the US Government spraying Mexican marijuana fields with the herbicide paraquat (which led to the rise in homegrown pot by the 1980s). And then there’s the warm, leafy embrace of Plantasia itself.



“My mom had a lot of plants,” Darmet says. “She didn’t believe in organized religion, she believed the earth was the best thing in the whole world. Whatever created us was incredible.” And she also knew when her husband had a good song, shouting from another room when she heard him humming a good idear. Novel as it might seem, Plantasia is simply full of good tunes.



Garson may have given the album away to new plant and bed owners, but a decade later a new generation could hear his music in another surreptitious way. Millions of kids bought The Legend of Zelda for their Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1986 and one distinct 8-bit tune bears more than a passing resemblance to album highlight “Concerto for Philodendron and Pothos.” Garson was never properly credited for it, but he nevertheless subliminally slipped into a new generations’ head, helping kids and plants alike grow.



Hearing Plantasia in the 21st century, it seems less an ode to our photosynthesizing friends by Garson and more an homage to his wife, the one with the green thumb that made everything flower around him. “My dad would be totally pleased to know that people are really interested in this music that had no popularity at the time,” Darmet says of Plantasia’snew renaissance. “He would be fascinated by the fact that people are finally understanding and appreciating this part of his musical career that he got no admiration for back then.” Garson seems to be everywhere again, even if he’s not really noticed, just like a houseplant.

BerettaMusic has long been a cornerstone of Detroit’s underground dance scene, launching the careers of renowned artists like Seth Troxler, Ryan Crosson, Luke Hess, and many more. With its latest release, the label continues to cement its legacy—this time with a standout record from label boss Ryan Sadorus.

Sadorus has been on a production streak, making waves not only in Detroit but across the globe. His recent work includes the deep and driving “Down Below” on Norm Talley’s esteemed Upstairs Asylum label. Now, he teams up with the incredibly talented vocalist Simon Black to deliver a fresh slice of Detroit house music.

Their track “Hot in the D” captures the raw, moody, and hypnotic essence of the city’s signature house sound. While Detroit is often synonymous with techno, its deep and soulful house scene has also made an undeniable global impact. The track has already been turning heads at underground parties in Detroit, with dancers and DJs alike asking, “What is this?!” and “When can I get it?!”

On remix duties, Delano Smith—a true pioneer of the Detroit sound and someone that needs no introduction—delivers his signature deep, rolling, and hypnotic style to “Hot in the D”, making this release a must-have for house music lovers globally. Stay tuned—this one is destined to move dance floors everywhere… Already getting heavy rotation from Jimpster, Gilles Peterson and DJ Harvey to name a few.

"Chasing the funky symphonies that filled my head and my dreams..."

December 25th, 2023 - an Instagram post. Stimulator Jones shared half a dozen FIRE tracks from his beat tape archive. We were immediately drawn to the rough hewn boom bap.

"I'd release that", Rob commented.

Hours of material was shared and the result is this: Cool Green Trees (1999-2005). A collection of beats and loops Stimulator Jones created between the ages of 14-20 at home in his basement, bedroom and computer room in Roanoke, Virginia.

You will not believe the profound soulful genius contained within these naive schoolboy melodies.

December 25th, 1998 - 25 years ago to the day and his much-coveted Yamaha SU10 sampler was finally bestowed upon young Stimmy AKA Sam Lunsford: "I immediately hooked up a CD Walkman to the input jack and looped the beginning two bars of Grover Washington Jr.'s "Mercy Mercy Me". I don't know what exactly was so thrilling about hearing two measures of music repeating over and over but it was so infectious and hypnotizing and enthralling to me. I'll never forget that ecstatic rush of making my first loop - an uncontrollable, gleeful smile plastered all over my face." When you hear the pocket breakbeat symphonies featured here on Cool Green Trees, you'll feel the same sense of frisson.

In the wake of his Stones Throw breakthrough - Exotic Worlds & Master Treasures - Stimulator Jones was pegged by many as a 90s throwback artist. However, he literally IS a 90s artist. He's been recording music most of his life and he's now 40. He created the bulk of Cool Green Trees as a teenager. Everything before 2004 was recorded when Sam was still in school. He was in 8th grade when he made the 1999 tracks - he didn't even have his learner's permit. This album is a snapshot of a young man in a simpler time. Things were still mysterious back then and he was flying blind, relying on his ears and having to figure things out for himself: "I had no road map for becoming a beatmaker. I have been collecting music since I was a kid, I am a lifelong digger and seeker of cool and interesting sounds. I was there in the golden age of Hip Hop, and while I may have been a suburban white kid in Roanoke, Virginia, I was tuned in and I bought so many classic albums when they came out. I was attracted to Hip Hop because of the musical and poetic quality. I was hypnotized by the rhythms, partially because I was a drummer. I didn't brag about collecting my breakbeat records or making beats - it was something I did in isolation. It wasn't something I generally wanted to bring attention to and it didn't really score me any cool points. I certainly wasn't flexing on social media about it."

Hell, he can do that now!

Opener "Pharoah Jones" was inspired by Yesterday's New Quintet and Madlib's ability to capture that classic 70s sound whilst playing all the instruments. Sam created this one stoned afternoon by laying down a 2 bar loop and a shaker loop on his Yamaha SU700 sampler. He hung a microphone from the ceiling and played his Yamaha Stage Custom drum kit over the top before adding ender Rhodes and playing his dad's Selmer tenor sax through an Electro Harmonix Memory Man echo pedal. Yes! Up next, "Ghost Gospel" utilises a dope loop from a gospel record and adds some soul-funk drums overtop, whilst working that filter knob. Says Sam: "The loop reminded me of something Ghostface would rap over. The sample was in 3/4 waltz time but I flipped it for a 4/4 groove, a technique I picked up from RZA. "Ill Feeling" uses sped-up pieces from a dusty old funk record and putting them over a classic NOLA drum loop; gain chopping up a slow, bluesy 3/4 time signature and bending it to a 4/4 groove. Classy shit. "Capital Punishment" features drums tapped in live, inspired by MF Doom's Special Herbs series. "Do Not Adjust" consists loops found on a compilation of 70s French music at Happy's Flea Market, a classic Roanoke digging spot.

The sublime, evocative title track, "Cool Green Trees" was created when Sam was still living at home. He dumped samples off his SU10 into the family desktop and arranged them in a demo version of Pro Tools: "This track was sort of my ode to the DJ Shadow style of sample based production. Super spacey, slow, and moody. The heavily filtered drums were inspired by Alec Empire's 'Low on Ice' album. I later added some scratches and sounds from a Spider Man storybook record." "Chill Scratch" snags the final bit of a bossanova record and pairs it with a drum loop before adding experimental scratching run through an Electro Harmonix Memory Man echo pedal. "Poisonous Fumes" was made using a sampler, mixer and a turntable; a kind of mixtape beat collage with added scratches and sounds from various records. Using dialogue from superhero records was a nod to Madlib. "Welcome Aboard The Starship" is dark, downtempo trip-hop with a spooky bent. Sam paired a slow, hard drum loop with a guitar sample grabbed off a psychedelic rock record. To finish, he added various backwards sounds and weird atmospheric effects and a little scratching. Swoon.

Side B opens with "Keep On Runnin", made on a borrowed Roland SP202 sampler. Having always loved the sound of the Lo-Fi filter on those machines, reminiscent of the Emu SP1200, Sam always imagined Del or another of the Hieroglyphics crew rapping over this beat. You can certainly hear why. "Sounds Impossible" sees Sam experimenting with layering multiple kick samples at different volumes to create patterns similar to those heard by Showbiz and Lord Finesse during their God-level 1995 period. "Painted Faces" was made by chopping up a REDACTED record which he had gotten from Happy's Flea Market and paired it with a REDACTED drum loop. By the time Sam recorded "The Knew Style", he had acquired a shitty old 1960s portable turntable off eBay. It didn't function properly when he bought it but his brother opened it up, cleaned it out and got it working: "I remember he told me that there was a bunch of sand inside of it when he opened it up, as if its previous owner had taken it to the beach. I would take that turntable on my Happy's Flea Market digs so I could preview records...that's how I found this loop."

"Chicken Wing Blues Sauce" loops up a classic blues joint and pairs it with some REDACTED drums. A bit of filtering and arranging et voilà! "Kool Breeze", from 1999, is one of Sam's oldest surviving beats, as is "Sexx Bullets". The Roots sampled the same record, leaving Sam frustrated yet vindicated. "Soul Child" was an early SU10 creation, looping a dusty old Soul Children 45 and pairing it with 70s rock drum loops to great effect. "Take Off Runnin" was another loop found digging with a portable turntable. Paired with some boom bap drums it makes for a hypnotic head-nod groove. "Centurian" was intended to be a little beat interlude a la Pete Rock. The sample is from a sun-dappled soft-psych record and it's paired with a Robin Trower drum loop that just happens to fit perfectly. Sometimes you slap things together kind of haphazardly and magic happens. "Bozack" was the first beat Sam made using Pro Tools, his first foray into using chopped sounds instead of loops, an exciting new world. "Church" is beat interlude using a Phil Upchurch loop with the "Long Red" drums - a favourite break of Dilla et al. Sam was really on a tear in late 2004, probably because he was unemployed and phoneless and able to just make beats all day. He made "Splash One" on a borrowed Yamaha SU700 and again was experimenting with tapping the drums in live with his fingers, instead of using a loop or sequenced pattern. Channeling 9th Wonder, Sam used a water splash sound effect from a Batman record as a percussive element, hence the title (also a 13th Floor Elevators reference). The main loop is a backwards portion of one of his favourite Roy Ayers songs.

"Hank" is another fun little beat interlude thing, created on a borrowed Roland SP202 sampler with the fantastic Lo-Fi effect that resembled the Emu SP1200 at a fraction of the price. "73 goatee", from 99, is another of his oldest surviving beats, created in his bedroom with his Yamaha SU10 and his brother's Vestax MR-300 4-track recorder: "This one will always feel special. I can remember having a feeling all the way back then on the night that I created it that this was a solid beat with a catchy loop. There was something in the Fender Rhodes melody that resonated with me emotionally, and I had never heard a producer sample that portion before. I felt like I had found my own unique sound, my own unique loop. It came from an Ahmad Jamal '73. I actually even recorded myself rapping and scratching over this beat way back then, I still have that version in all its imperfect sloppy glory."

Sam explains just how much these tracks mean to him: "They all have immense historical and sentimental value and I'm proud of them. These beats come from an innocent, simple time when I was just figuring out how to craft these sounds. They're something very personal to me. They are the initial part of a journey that I really was taking *alone*. There was no YouTube. I couldn't Google shit. I didn't even know any other beatmakers, producers or DJs in my town that could teach me anything. It was always just me, alone, in a room with some equipment - chasing the funky symphonies that filled my head and my dreams. What I was doing wasn't cool. Most of my peers thought I was a weirdo and couldn't care less. Creating these sounds was an anti-social endeavour. In a sense, I felt like it was me against the world, and all I had to instruct and assist me were the recordings produced by my heroes - RZA, DJ Premier, Erick Sermon, Beatminerz, Showbiz, Diamond D, Beatnuts, Prince Paul, The Bomb Squad, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, E-Swift, Mista Lawnge, DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, Peanut Butter Wolf, El-P and so many more...I dedicate this collection to them, and to my older brother Joe who has always been a musical and technical guiding light for me.

This was a time before every kid was a self-described producer and beatmaker, before everyone had a DAW, before Kanye and "chipmunk soul", before Red Bull beat battles, before there was any social media beyond chat rooms and AOL Instant Messenger, before Soundcloud, before SP-404 mania, before lo-fi beats to study to, before Splice, before targeted ads for MIDI chord packs, etc. In 99 when I told people that I had a sampler and made beats I was mostly met with bewildered confusion and indifference. Kids and adults alike would wonder why I got this weird machine for Christmas instead of something worthwhile like a Playstation or a mountain bike or even a guitar for that matter because at least that could be used to make "real music". Back then, sampling was still not widely respected as an art form - it was seen as lazy, talentless and unoriginal at best and outright criminal theft at worst. I had gotten respect for playing drums and guitar and things of that nature but this was a step in the wrong direction in the eyes of many."

The cover photo is a picture of Sam standing on his back porch in the latter part of 1998, just before he got his first sampler. He was 13 years old, in 8th grade. His dad took the picture with his 35mm film camera: "I actually wanted to be pointing my dad's .22 pistol at the camera lens but he wouldn't let me. He gave me an old walking cane to use instead. The Tommy Hilfiger puffer jacket came from the lost and found at William Fleming High School where my mom worked as a secretary. I was thrilled when she brought it home because we never spent money on expensive name brand clothing like that - we were for the most part strictly a sale rack, bargain bin, thrift store, yard sale, flea market kind of family when it came to clothes. My watch is some cheap off-brand fake gold department store watch." Mastering for this vinyl edition was overseen by Be With regular Simon Francis and it was cut by the esteemed Cicely Balston at Abbey Road Studios to be pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry.