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From the moment of its release, Iñigo Vontier’s El Hijo del Maiz has become one of the most gripping albums of the moment. With South American and Middle Eastern sounds and his conception of music as ritual, the Mexican DJ keeps electronica in check as a valid mix of influences. The EP El Hijo Del Maiz (Remixes) marks the end of an episode which started, in good company, last autumn on the Lumière Noire label. The second track of his album, Bo Ni Ke, is distinguished by its original - almost implausible - universe, with a Japanese-inflected vocal filter and oriental flutes taking the beats into a crazy trance. Leaning on the 4/4 rhythm, Simple Symmetry’s remix of the track is also very playful (Iñigo Vontier recently remixed Nar for Simple Symmetry). The Moscow duo, noted in particular for the brilliant EP Plane Goes East released on Disco Halal (the Moscoman label which makes the link between east and west), pulls the track over to another - less terrestrial more psychedelic - universe, in their well identified ethno-underground style.

The remix of Bo Ni Ke by Nicola Cruz, French-born Ecuadorian producer, enlivens the track by playing on the sounds of voices and South American percussion. Also present in his fascinating album Siku released a year ago on the ZZK Records label, they overlap with the demonological whims of Iñigo Vontier but also those of Nicolas Jaar, who was revealed to him as he was starting out.

The inaugural track of the album Xu Xu (subject of the previous EP, only released as a digital version) has been remixed by Roman Flügel, allowing a vinyl release of this incredible track. You could pick out the science of this headliner in a million. Flügel has been on the electronic scene since the early days, learning the ropes under the aegis of prestigious labels Playhouse, Dial and Klang.
He has recently enhanced some emblematic tracks signed Daniel Avery, Koze, Âme, Radio Slave and C.A.R. and here once again the pioneer of techno is working miracles to create a more cerebral version of this track.

Concluding the EP with Thomass Jackson, his co-founder of the label Calypso Records, who we will soon be able to find on the compilation / family portrait of the label Lumière Noire From Above Vol. 2, Iñigo Vontier offers up a genre-busting version of the title Marijuana, like an ataxic play time, deliberately smoky for an explicitly licentious title.

As a long-time friend of the Connected label, Le Croque makes his debut with a superb single that comes with a remix from Themba. At the forefront of the ever-growing Greek afro-house scene and part of The Madorasindahouse team, Le Croque has also released on Open Bar Music and King Street, and DJed alongside such legends as Black Coffee, Adam Port and &Me. For this release he teams up with Berlin via Munich vocalist HRRSN who came to electronic music from soul and R&B and has released on such labels as Stil Vor Talent, Suol and Noir Music. This latest partnership leads to a beautiful deep slice of electronic hypnosis on 'Melancholia.' The track has a driving rhythm that is sparse and simple, with lush keyboard refrains and vocals soaring in the drop. It is the sort of majestic and melodic offering that will make for a fantastic high point in any set, while the dub keeps things even deeper for more intimate moments. Remixer Themba has swiftly risen to prominence over the last few years and is at the forefront of the South African house scene. Here he delivers a sharp and striding groove that is joined by stabbing bass, with fading, string-like notes and dubbed vocal refrains taking things to another level as HRRSN comes into the spotlight and delivers a message from the heart. This is a subtle but celebratory house package packed with plenty of emotion.

The tag team are back with another club-ready release bringing together their combined experience and production prowess. Dan Ghenacia and Chris Carrier are long-time friends who’ve been working together in the studio over the last few years, resulting in a series of EPs on labels like Apollonia, Adult Only and, of course, Music For Freaks, for whom this is their second release. On the A-side ‘Vocalized’ comes at us full throttle with a powerful bassline and crisp, punchy beats. The vibe is unrelenting with a neat call and response vocal clip and a simple, catchy melody in the top line, keeping it hypnotic. Funky, groovy and full of potent energy from start to end. On the flip ‘Burning’ has a similar aesthetic, with taut drums and bass, plus a range of unusual sounds to add depth and character. Indecipherable vocal clips pop up occasionally, and the pace picks up as the track hits the midpoint. A repeated siren-esque effect locks you into the groove, keeping you hopelessly hooked until the end...

* "The Longest Sleep Through The Darkest Days" is the sophomore album from Plymouth shoegaze post-pop electronic project Winterlight. The project was originally a solo endeavor started by Tim Ingham back in the mid-oughts but now sees his daughter Isabel taking on bass guitar duties.
* This new album is the culmination of nearly seven years of on and off creative spurts, false starts, and second guesses reflecting the turmoil hinted at in the album's title. Yet those that follow Winterlight know Tim's been making music pretty much all along and releasing occasional demos via his Soundcloud.
* This lengthy process has yielded one resounding result: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. "The Longest Sleep Through The Darkest Days" has all the Winterlight earmarks: divine organs, thoughtfully constructed drums, the occasional electronic flourish and, Oh... Those immaculately soaring guitars! While Ingham considers Winterlight to be post-pop, and for the most part the duo still brings those melodies to the table in spades, there are some unique changes happening under the surface in the album's bookends that move way beyond simple ear candy. This shows The Inghams are starting to take risks while still staying true to the original vision for the project.

At home, in the islands of Cabo Verde, there was grog, or grogu, a strong sugarcane moonshine not dissimilar to Colombian aguardiente, copiously consumed at Funaná parties. In the diaspora, in Europe, there was leite quente (hot milk). "I can still remember the taste of the first leite quente I drank in Lisbon," says Antonino Furtado Gomes, Pilon's drummer and current band leader.

Synthesize the Soul, Ostinato Records' second compilation, revealed chapter one of the Cabo Verde cultural story in Europe, zooming in on visionaries like Paulino Vieira who made Lisbon the headquarters spearheading the musical revolution taking place within Cape Verdean emigre communities across Europe in the 1980's. Musicians from across the diaspora would eagerly travel to the Portuguese capital to record.

Grupo Pilon represents the second chapter of the Krioulu diaspora story. In smaller pockets, second generation musicians were independently contributing to one of the most lush periods of cultural innovation by immigrants in Europe. In Luxembourg, in 1986, a group of teenagers formed the largely unknown (outside of Cape Verdean circles) but consistently brilliant band named after the blunt instrument used in the islands to pound corn for Cabo Verde's national dish, cachupa.

With only five members, Pilon combined searing estilo Krioulu drumming and the hybrid ColaZouk style with blissful synth work and rugged guitar licks, creating a stripped-down, addictive sound that masterfully straddled two worlds, a seductive electro-Funaná carnival born from the first few sips of hot milk.
The band drew from the inspiring political changes of the day: the release of Nelson Mandela in South Africa and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The right to democracy became a constant theme in Pilon's songs.

With access to better opportunities than their parents' generation, Pilon's roster were part time musicians. Music was not part of their academic upbringing nor a full-time gig. Their rhythm and style were wonderfully imperfect, made out of rawer skills and inexperience. Pilon did not follow the templates established by revered Cabo Verde bands. Keyboard player Emilio Borges played off beat and the band preferred arranging their songs to start from the beat normally heard in the middle of a composition rather than the beginning.

These two elements made Pilon's music simple, unique, and inimitable. From 1997-2015, a lack of concerts and professional musicians proved near fatal. Today, Antonino and what remain of the original quintet are slowly piecing back together the puzzle of their once mighty outfit from an unlikely pocket of Europe. In it's heyday in the 90's, Pilon serenaded audiences in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lisbon, Rotterdam and Frankfurt, securing their reputation as a respected and unifying cultural force.

This LP, drawing from the six most powerful songs from Pilon's three-album catalog, is the serving of still fresh leite quente to spice the summer and maybe even fuel the next generation of musicians in the Krioulu corners of Europe.

Andras’Joyful is a cornucopic vision rooted in the decay of dance music from one of Australia’s most distinct yet understated voices. Cutting a path through an overgrowth of nostalgia around 70's acid folk and 90's acid house, Joyful is an invitation to till a n old garden in a glistening new light.

A thirteen year old Andrew Wilson sits in the back of his parents’ sedan, driving down the coast from Melbourne. Headphones covering his awkwardly aged ears and connected to a jam-packed mp3 player, he experiences an intense synchronicity when the car careens over a mountain crest in the Otway Ranges right as the track in his ears peaks. A momentary vision of a “first rave rush,” in which Australia’s lauded party history dances tellingly with this dreamer’s destiny.

Not so much later but perhaps more worldly and certainly more aware, Wilson returns home from touring, now a “veteran” of the dance world, to realize a different synchronicity in his record collection. Finding Ian Van Dahl nestled next to John Fahey, William Orbit spine-to-spine with Shira Small, the harmony between folk music of the early 70's and dance music from the 90s becomes perfectly audible in unimaginable ways.

Through an afterglow from both summers of love seeped in shared sonic soil, on Joyful, Wilson cultivates melodic drama and tenderness, memorable hooks and rapturous arpeggios; sentimental strings summon both joyful aspirations and the shadows of faded dreams. Using folk songs as fodder—lyrics, samples, note progressions—each entry of Wilson’s debut album under his Andras moniker is a return to a different springtime of the mind.

Many artists working in Australia can relate to the feeling of “not quite being there,” as Wilson describes it. Always a couple years behind trend. Turning up at the party as it’s winding down. Fearing that in many ways the culture is looking backwards, confirming the narrow outlook of a parochialism that many have worked tirelessly to disprove. Using this disconnect as an invitation to dream another dream, Joyful becomes the soundtrack of early teen Andrew’s fantasy of Utopic parties past, specifically the late discovery of a bygone warehouse rave scene, as well as a return to a guileless chapter of personal history as heard through plain, sane, and simple folk melodies. Joyful is a homecoming, a testament to the evolving euphoria of a flower garden rooted in earth’s tender rot, of birds and bees flying free but not without a changing landscape in sight.

Andras’Joyful is available on LP and digital formats on January 31, 2020 via Beats In Space. On behalf of Andras, a portion of proceeds from this release will benefit the Invasive Species Council on the recommendation of Tim Low, author of the book Feral Future and Where Song Began.

'Active Imagination' is a result of the bringing together of musicians for a day in the studio, with minimal rehearsal, to collectively experiment and improvise in the moment - in contrast to the more composed and structured recordings of the Paradox Ensemble album 'Awakening' from January 2019. All musicians contributed their distinctive individual voices, creating a united force of spiritual, freeform jazz. Each composition is based on a different mode, all with their own distinctive flavour: "So Long Chef" nod's to Coltrane with its chords jumping by major thirds, before a more static middle section,offering a chance for Walters and Jeff Guntren (tenor sax) to explore the Lydian mode."Ahimsa" is a meditative reflection and group improvisation, based around a simple theme in the mixolydian mode, resulting in a spiritual journey steered by Rebecca Nash's hypnotic piano solo. "Gordian Knot" was conceived as a vehicle for Ed Cawthorne (aka Tenderlonious) to cut loose on soprano sax in the phrygian mode, which he achieves with devastating effect, backed up by Nim Sadot's infectious bass hook and complimented by an equally striking trumpet solo from the band leader. Finally, "Dansoman Last Stop" uses the dorian mode to channel the spirit of a bustling travel interchange in southern Accra, Ghana, conceived further by another exquisite trumpet solo from Walters.

Andy Ash has been quietly sneaking out seriously good analogue-driven electronic music on some of the best underground labels for over a decade.

The Liverpool-based producer, DJ and visual artist (the artwork for this re- lease is Andy’s own oil on canvas) has graced the likes of Chicago’s Stilove4music, NYC’s On The Prowl, Sydney’s People Must Jam and has remixed Fantastic Man for Detroit label Kolour LTD amongst many others.

The bottom line is that he’s definitely one of the UK’s unsung heroes when it comes to deep, raw, Chicago and Detroit-influenced house music and we’re proud to welcome him to Delusions Of Grandeur with an amazing three tracker entitled the Bottleneck EP.

The title track opens with snappy hats, flappy congas and sloppy baseline all sitting perfectly in the mix and with a looseness that is much harder to achieve that it may seem. A simple synth melody doubles up the bassline while an extra square wave lead adds that little extra hook without distracting us from the bouncing groove. With Bottleneck, less is definitely more.

Flipping over we have Hump, an altogether darker affair with a twisting acid line joining distorted 808 drums and tripped-out snippets of spoken word coming in and out of focus. The low-slung bumpy groove and spacey synth parts make this a compelling warehouse track which will draw everyone into it’s seductive confines.

Closing the release we have Actual Price, a shuffling, deep groover with rumbling low end and machine-like analogue synth part skipping around the crunchy beats. A cerebral yet punchy and dynamic closer to an excellent release!

This time we'll treat you with a very special branded practical bag.
A small bag, to put inside small things, important things. Once you'll open it that little vinyl smell contained inside ("Air De Wax") will forever evaporate but you'll know that the bag will be forever useful!

Apparel Wax comes back after a long summer with another EP, the 7th of its catalogue and yet again another display of four different musical approaches brought together as one. The EP is, indeed, a 4 tracks one and starts off with a groovy execution of a classic house track, an archetypical and simple house tune with a defined personality and the perfect start, from square one. With 007A2 we start to shift the perspective to a more funky and tribal vibe with the help of the percussions, piano chords and simple bass and guitar lines to close an A side which is a modern view on something classical.

007B1 breaks in bringing an energetic overload since the first seconds with a heavy rhythmic section and keeps up the same pace throughout the whole track even when slowing down. Its insistent and slightly distorted hi hats, along with decisive piano chords helped by some well crafted vocal samples, take us all round this journey through a packed imaginary dance floor. Let's take the foot off the pedal for 007B2 which is instead the most desirable closing with it's smooth yet impactful sounds which create an ideal sunset mood to plunge into. So the sun sets on APLWAX007 and we hope you dig once more what the masked hero brought us this time around.

Hamsa Intenational 003, Dj Pegasuz & Donnay pres. Endless Mief #3!
Wie ein guter Höhlenkäse musste ebenfalls die 3. Scheibe ordentlich reifen damit die Ultra Portion Mief auch garantiert bleibt!
Endless Mief #3. Keep it simple... Keep it Sylt!

ALEX ATTIAS presents his new single featuring GEORGIA ANNE MULDROW on vocals and KID K playing soulful jazz keys . The track is simple and groovy , warm and soulful, exactly what Alex is into right now . Alex is very happy to have Georgia Anne Muldrow singing on an uptempo track and Kid K playing Rhodes , analog keys and moog bass. Theres also Cicco the percussion man laying great congas and percussions as well as Arthur Donnot young musician on sax giving the track a live jazz dimension.The B side is a dub instrumental to get the musical vibe of this track made with love . Another great release for Visions Recordings in 2019. Watch out for more goodies in the near future .

Legacy Chicago craftsman Mark Nelson’s latest offering as Pan. American is less a distillation or divergence than it is a return to his musical and spiritual beginnings. Spare, subdued, and largely acoustic, A Son unfurls like late summer dusk on the edge of town, expansive but intimate.

Motivated by notions of “moving backward” and tracing roots – as well as a couple years of hammered dulcimer lessons – the album’s nine songs were written and recorded in his home in Evanston, Illinois, and honed during a recent solo tour in Europe. The emphasis on uncluttered arrangements and the centrality of the guitar and vocals reveal these songs as the most direct and emotional statement of his career.

Nelson cites everything from June Tabor, The Carter Family, Suicide and Jimmy Reed as oblique inspirations, though his truest muse was creative self-inquiry: “What does music do, Where does music start? How simple can it be? How honest can it be?”

After decades of mining post-rock pathways and latticework electronics in Labradford and early Pan. American, A Son strips away ornament and distraction in favor of a direct gaze into the heart of what is.

repress

2LP 140G VINYL + 12 PAGE BOOKLET.

"Space Echo - The mystery behind the "Cosmic Sound" of Cabo Verde finally revealed!" is the 20th release by the fabulous Analog Africa Label.

In the spring of 1968 a cargo ship was preparing to leave the port of Baltimore with an important shipment of musical instruments. Its final destination was Rio De Janeiro, where the EMSE Exhibition (Exposição Mundial Do Son Eletrônico) was going to be held.

It was the first expo of its kind to take place in the Southern Hemisphere and many of the leading companies in were all eager to present their newest synthesisers and other gadgets to a growing and promising South American market, spearheaded by Brazil and Colombia.

The ship with the goods set sail on the 20th of March on a calm morning and mysteriously disappeared from the radar on the very same day.

One can only imagine the surprise of the villagers of Cachaço, on the Sao Nicolau island of Cabo Verde, when a few months later they woke up and found a ship stranded in their fields, in the middle of nowhere, 8 km from any coastline.

After consulting with the village elders, the locals had decided to open the containers to see what was inside - however gossip as scintillating as this travels fast and colonial police had already arrived and secured the area.

Portuguese scientists and physicians were ordered to the scene and after weeks of thorough studies and research, it was concluded that the ship had fallen from the sky. One of the less plausible theories was that it might have fallen from a Russian military air carrier. The locals joked that again the government had wasted their tax money on a useless exercise, as a simple look at the crater generated by the impact could explain the phenomena. "No need for Portuguese rocket scientists to explain this!" they laughed.

What the villagers didn't know, was that traces of cosmic particles were discovered on the boat. The bow of the ship showed traces of extreme heat, very similar to traces found on meteors, suggesting that the ship had penetrated the hemisphere at high speed. That theory also didn't make sense as such an impact would have reduced the ship to dust. Mystery permeated the event.

Finally, a team of welders arrived to open the containers and the whole village waited impatiently.

The atmosphere, which had been filled with joy and excitement, quickly gave way to astonishment. Hundreds of boxes conjured, all containing keyboards and other instruments which they had never seen before: and all useless in an area devoid of electricity. Disappointment was palpable. The goods were temporarily stored in the local church and the women of the village had insisted a solution be found before Sunday mass.

It is said that charismatic anti-colonial leader Amílcar Cabral had ordered for the instruments to be distributed equally in places that had access to electricity, which placed them mainly in schools.

This distribution was best thing that could have happened - keyboards found fertile grounds in the hands of curious children, born with an innate sense of rhythm who picked up the ready-to-use instruments. This in turn facilitated the modernisation of local rhythms such as Mornas, Coladeras and the highly danceable music style called Funaná, which had been banned by the Portuguese colonial rulers until 1975 due to its sensuality!

The observation was made that the children who came into contact with the instruments found on the ship inherited prodigious capabilities to understand music and learn instruments. One of them was the musical genius Paulino Vieira, who by the end of the 70s would become the country´s most important music arranger. 8 out of the 15 songs presented in this compilation had been recorded with the backing of the band Voz de Cabo Verde, lead by Paulino Vieira, the mastermind behind the creation and promulgation of what is known today as "The Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde".

The field of electronic music were involved. Rhodes, Moog, Farfisa, Hammond and Korg, just to name a few.

Phillipi is set to release his debut solo EP ‘Amadurecimento’ on November 29th via DEEWEE, the multi-faceted label and creative space operated by brothers David and Stephen Dewaele (2manydjs, Soulwax).

São Paulo duo Phillipi & Rodrigo dropped their beautifully uplifting debut album ‘Paciencia’, which earned the backing of an eclectic array of supporters including 6 Music, Mixmag, DJ Mag, PAPER, Tiga and Joe Goddard + more.

While ‘Paciencia’ pulsated with a euphoric beach party vibe, Phillipi’s solo project explores much darker territory. By uncompromisingly maximising the bass alongside a relentless beat, lead track ‘São Paulo’ is immediately oppressive and ominous. That intensity only amplifies as it’s blown open with tribal percussion, almost whispered vocals and glitchy synth stabs. ‘Vibe De Verao’ then takes a more progressive approach, with minimalist techno constantly evolving in surprising and inventive ways.

The EP’s second half extends Phillipi’s impossible-to-pigeonhole approach. In complete contrast to the preceding tracks, ‘9000’ is cinematic in scope and lighter in tone, feeling like the score to a lost ‘70s sci-fi cult classic that’s been reworked for 2019. And ‘Gelo Seco’ caps an unorthodox sonic adventure by setting a spliced, stuttered vocal simple around a dancefloor-friendly soundscape - making the title, the Portuguese phrase for dry ice, entirely appropriate.

As with all DEEWEE releases, ‘Amadurecimento’ was recorded, produced and mixed at the label’s inspiring headquarters Ghent, Belgium.

Contagious is a solid blending of avant-garde experimentation and electronic music. Formed by two innovative voices from the Improvisation scene of Berlin (Andrea Neumann and Sabine Ercklentz) and Mieko Suzuki, a well-crafted and creative DJ and musician who’s operating in Berlin venues and festivals since a long time.

Contagious is one of the most forward thinking, mind-melting projects to hit the electronic music scene. Intense and powerful, yet rooted in a tradition of crafting and sculpturing of in the most creative ways, all this building up within a solid structure of instant composition and improvisation. The trio plunder each other’s musical spheres, appropriate them and switch roles. Andrea Neumann on her infamous Inside Piano, an instrument she pioneered and crafted, is applying the most creative feedback processing to simple piano strings and sending them occasionally to Mieko Suzuki’s processing rig, who also uses her own pre-recorded sounds and her skills on turntables, while Sabine Ercklentz’s trumpet sounds blast through her processing system and altogether the three musicians communicate into logics of composition and futuristic structures, where fragile sound textures and pulses become monumental.

Contagious is also the debut album recorded and produced by Rabih Beaini. The Trio wanders in new aesthetic areas, sound is a texture where the processing rigs are constantly developing new forms and evolutions. Structures and grooves implode in noisy fragments, growing into a deep trance state.

Club Internacional dig deep to launch their new global reissue series in style with two long lost cuts from Rio-based label Top Tape. First up is Jose da Silva aka Zeca Do Trombone.
A massively respected instrumentalist, he has worked his trade over the years with many of Brazil's leading artists such as Tim Maia, Milton Nascimento, Elizeth Cardoso, Beth Carvalo, Martino Da Vila, Gonzaguinha and Carlos Dafe amongst others.
He also produced a very much sought after LP in 1976 alongside Roberto Sax which was finally re-released this year on Mad About Records. Tema Do Brisa dates from a few years later in 1978 and is Zeca's only solo 45 single. Never released on digital and never reissued on vinyl before, it is with great pleasure that Club Internacional re-launch this psychedelic jazz and heavily funk influenced gem with its still stunningly fresh sounding drum patterns to a new generation of listeners. Fans of jazz, funk, rare groove and Brazilian music in general will appreciate the strong vibes of this original track and be delighted to finally have this record in their hands. The track represents a unique moment in the career of a great musician fully in control of his instrument and more than willing to test its musical boundaries. Zeca continues to play out as an artist regularly in Brasil right up to the present time.
On the flip side, Sambacanas, or Os Sambacanas as they were sometimes also known, were a group of Samba musicians recorded by the Sao Paulo based producer Julio Nagib.
Although they were mostly known for a samba covers LP entitled 'Sucessos Da Juventude Em Tempo De Samba' (re-released in the UK under the title 'Fly Me To Brazil'), this song, Panga, Danga, Panga, was the A side of their only 45 single release for Top Tape which came out in 1976. Again this track has never been re-released before in its 45 single version, and has not been made available digitally. A beautiful example of raw and simple Batucada-style Brazilian samba music infused with Latin funk vibes, it features excellent vocals and percussion including the berimbau and cuica. Club Internacional hopes you enjoy this journey back to rediscover these very different, but wonderful, long lost sounds of Brazil on this limited edition vinyl 45 pressing to add to your record collection. Each Club Internacional edition may take some time, but it will be worth the wait!

Reissue of this 1976 LP from Zambia. Deep minimal African music, lovely compositions over scarce drum machines and (fuzzy) guitars.. Beautiful music with a deeper message in the lyrics which is explained better in the long review below. Some words from the label. There is music that falls right into place, a perfectly articulated expression of a few distinct influences. Then, there is another kind of median music, something more mysterious, the result of time, place, technology, and alchemy. Zambian writer and musician Smokey Haangala’s Aunka Ma Kwacha (The Money is Gone) released in 1976 is an example of this more mystical metallurgy, falling somewhere between psychedelic Zamrock, US folk, Kalindula, and Sundown Beat (music played after dark) from Tongaland. The unique mix of languages on the album (Bemba, Tonga, Lozi, and English) also suggest this complex cultural crossroads. Underlying the whole album is the insistent beat of a simple drum machine, which was totally unheard of in Zambia at the time, and parallels pioneering experiments by Francis Bebey, Sly Stone, and Shuggie Otis, utilizing a technology which would later come to define dance music. Then there’s the album’s original artwork by Peter Kependa, done in style similar to the infamous Jamaican dancehall illustrator Wilfred Limonious, interpreting the album’s title and primary theme; the burden of financial inequality.

In this sense the album is political, but the theme is extrapolated and explored through its impact on personal life; love, marriage, social status, and diet. The album is full of cautionary tales, folklore and references to magic, aspects of Zambian culture simultaneously mystifying and alluring to outsiders, part of what attracted Western readers to Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola’s hallucinatory Yoruba folktales. After becoming a household name in Zambia for his music, writing, and television appearances, Smokey Haangala died at the age of 38, the very week his book The Black Eye was published, abruptly ending his brilliant and ascending career. We are lucky to have his inimitable work to remember him by, Aunka Ma Kwacha resting comfortably in the pantheon of re-visionary works by Rodriguez, Kissoon Ramasar, TJ Hustler, and William Onyeabor.

In a turn of events, Startree finds itself wading into the slower, more sensual side of things for its third release, courtesy of relative newcomer and super-talent Nelson Bishop. “Alice et les Aloes“ is a heart-rending, melancholic-yet-propulsive piece which impels the dancer in lovely and unforseen directions. The bass guitar holds the bottom down with a easy-yet-mighty, low-slung sleaze, and the ascending electric piano and keyboard figures joyfully take it to the stars. Soulful with modern-rock edges, this is music which endears itself to the listener on more than one level and for longer than one season.

“Still Life Noix de Coco” is rooted in a stomping Linndrum pattern, vaguely post-punk chorus-y bass and wistful, descending organ timbres. Driving and somewhat mysterious, you would do well to time the release of fog onto your dancefloor to coincide with the airing of this jam. Shoring up the other side is Darshan Jesrani’s take on “Alice et les Aloes.” In this version, Darshan takes the track around the corner, through the unmarked door, past the video arcade and straight to the ideal dancefloor, heaving and smiling, warm with bodies emoting to each instrument as it is given space, by the arrangement, to shine. Startree is proud to present this release as a continuing statement of its musical intentions and its simple desire to inspire and have a good time.

This essential LP edition compiles 20 of Chuck Berry’s most emblematic and celebrated songs, taped by the Chess label between 1955 and 1961.
These recordings helped define the exact nature of early rock & roll. All-time classics such as Berry’s car songs (“Maybellene”), his calculated and carefully crafted instant smashes for the 1950s teenage market (“Reelin’ and Rockin’,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “School Days”), and his celebrations of the music itself (“Rock and Roll Music,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Roll Over Beethoven”), are some of the greatest rock tunes ever written.
Take “Johnny B. Goode” specifically - the intro alone is arguably one of the most iconic pieces of music ever recorded, and the subsequent hand in hand energy of both the vocal and the instrumentation not only forms a brilliantly hook throughout the track, but also creates something uniquely Chuck Berry.
This material will convince even the sceptics of Berry’s brilliance. All of these original gems, which have been brilliantly remastered to achieve the most pristine sound, are simple two-and-a-half-minute songs that convey all the sheer power and emotion of rock & roll. Enjoy!

The return of A Turntable Friend Records starts with an opulent 40 track retrospective compilation of their heydays in the 1909s. Peers of Sarah Records and Slumberland Records but far from copying their style, ATF Records always had their own musical identity allowing for a roster as diverse as Boyracer (with Even As We Speak), Secret Shine, The Claim, The Ropers, the Hellfire Sermons + Lorelei.

This compilation is a feast of highlights from the long-deleted back catalogue plus 8 unreleased tracks from the period. Many of the original 7s & 12s are much sought after collector items and several tracks appear on cd for the first time.
Indie guitar popof the best variety delivered by bands from the UK< USA, Australia + Japan.
The release is luxuriously packaged in a tri-fold sleeve for the triple vinyl, strictly limited to 500 for the world. It includes a 12 x 12 full colour booklet and a download code.
The double cd comes with the same tracks also in a gatefold sleeve with full colour booklet.
This compilation is a fundraiser for the William Wates Memorial Trust in the UK with all profits being donated.

15 years ago in a basement in the Bronx, I attended a bunch of sessions with my long time collaborator and friend, Ray West. Ray is a lifelong DJ and home producer, and only in 2012 did he begin to release music via his well-respected underground label, Red Apples 45. He had a main studio but also this much smaller room in the back which I dubbed “Studio B” in the tradition of any multi-room recording facility who would have a second “B” or third “C” room, and the name stuck. Despite the much lower-level quality equipment in that room, like a Yamaha MiniDisc board burning mixes realtime to CD-R, there was a certain vibe to it that inspired creativity, and a simplicity that encouraged faster working methods. One of the groups that worked there was called Results. Their philosophy was whatever happened in the moment was meant to be on tape and they didn’t spend hours perfecting it. This is rather opposite to how I work in the studio and especially on my own material, of which I can be thorough to the point of finishing less than I’d like. Through working there I realized the potential of having a smaller, simpler second setup, one that was not related to my work as an engineer, or my artist career as a performing electronic musician and techno producer.


Fast forward to 2016 and I would have both a professional studio outside of the home and enough spare gear to make a smaller studio based around a 4-track cassette recorder in my living room. This was a place where I could make whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, without the disturbances of clients, the chaos of 30th St., or any genre restrictions that I might place on myself in the big studio. I spent some time tracking down a functioning Akai MG614, the holy grail of 4-track recorders. It’s a large machine, making even the MPC3000 look small on the table next to it. With no computer, things were focused. I went through a couple of variations of the setup in my living room beginning with an MPC1000, DSI Evolver, Sonic Potions LXR, Bastl Microgranny, and a variety of classic effects that I didn’t keep in the rack at Butcha Sound like the Yamaha SPX90 and Ensoniq DP-4, plus a bunch of pedals and eventually a Korg Karma keyboard. Then I had the good sense to bring home the Emu SP1200 I was borrowing from The Martinez Brothers. Eventually I brought home the MPC3000 as well. Another thing I kept connected was a Zoom field recorder that captured sirens, street noises, and me playing the upright piano in my apartment live to tape. Results. These recordings were made in Hell’s Kitchen from July 2016 - May 2017 with the window open and the sounds of my Manhattan block inspiring the takes. — Phil Moffa 2019

Yoshi Wada's Lament For The Rise And Fall Of The Elephantine Crocodile, originally released in 1982 on India Navigation, remains one of the most remarkable flowers to grow in the rarefied air of American minimalism – akin to Terry Riley's Reed Streams and Pauline Oliveros' Accordion & Voice, yet with a wild, liberated energy all of its own.

After graduating from Kyoto University of Fine Arts with a degree in sculpture, Wada moved to New York City in 1967 and quickly fell in with the community of artists known as Fluxus. In the early '70s, he began building his own instruments and writing musical compositions, studying with La Monte Young and Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath.

Recorded during an epic three-day session in an empty swimming pool in upstate New York, Wada's first album brings together two of the oldest drone instruments – the human voice and bagpipes – to simple and glorious effect. A visit to the Scottish Highlands spurred Wada's interest in bagpipes, which the composer integrated into these sparse, otherworldly sounds heard on Lament.

"That swimming pool was quite hallucinatory," recalls Wada. “It was another world. I felt it in terms of resonance. I slept in the pool, and whenever I moved, I woke up because of the reverberations.... The piece itself is an experiment with reeds and improvisational singing within the modal structure."

This first-time vinyl reissue is limited to 750 numbered copies. Comes with poster.

ANAMAI is the experimental folk project of Anna Mayberry and David Psutka - soft sounds to dent skin and flesh. The music is naked and exquisitely personal, threatening banality, but mainly an embrace of the commune. Dramatic and confidential anthems of divine insignificance. Across three studio albums the project has explored the nature of intimacy with tiny confessions released into vast lakes of sound. Simple songs punctuated by clusters of detail. The project is built on contradictions: traditional yet modern; miniscule yet infinite; proud but deflated. Something for everyone and nothing to no one. A search for peace?
ANAMAI will release their third album, Dream Baby, on Halocline Trance this fall. Listeners will hear residue from Psutka and Mayberry’s other projects - the scratchy expression of HSY + the functionality of EGYPTRIXX + the baroque digitalia of ACT! but ultimately the record breaks new ground in a long-running series of collaborations.
9 tracks of liquid sonics suggest an antecedent in early Harold Budd or a spiritual homage to the performative intimacy of Bossa Nova artists Joao Gilberto and Gal Costa. Drips of colour across an axis of sound, dimension and human experience.

“This sound / synapse transposition is as haunting as it is beautiful—surely Grouper’s best.”—Tiny Mix Tapes
“If past Grouper releases have inhabited abyssal trenches and damp backwoods, here Harris takes us journeying across constellations and stars. Two of the most beguiling albums of the year, exquisitely realized and singularly evocative.” —The Quietus
“This music feels both spacey and expansive and also oddly intimate and grounded, the work of someone who has mastered her tools and knows how to get the most out of them.”—Pitchfork “Harris nds a way to dive deeper in simple and unassuming ways.”—NPR

“This sound / synapse transposition is as haunting as it is beautiful—surely Grouper’s best.”—Tiny Mix Tapes
“If past Grouper releases have inhabited abyssal trenches and damp backwoods, here Harris takes us journeying across constellations and stars. Two of the most beguiling albums of the year, exquisitely realized and singularly evocative.” —The Quietus
“This music feels both spacey and expansive and also oddly intimate and grounded, the work of someone who has mastered her tools and knows how to get the most out of them.”—Pitchfork “Harris nds a way to dive deeper in simple and unassuming ways.”—NPR

4 track EP “No Bad Decisions” is Pletnev's debut on Cologne based imprint Feines Tier. And here he matches perfectly with label requirements - hidden melodies, dozens of layers and sounds. Truly simple and addictive music for parties with soul, big or small.

For the recent few years Pletnev did a solid statement as a producer with releases for Lithuanian Le Temps Perdu imprint or french labels KUMP and Hard Fist where he always explored a variety of genres melting tribal, EBM and techno into one solid peace of gold. Originally Russian, Pletnev now settled in Vilnius where he represents incredibly booming local scene being a resident of Opium club.

Title tune “No Bad Decisions” is a noisy electronic boogie with drunk arpeggios & filtered bassline. Comemé based Ana Helder delivers more dance floor oriented version of the track. “Almost Equal” continues the general line of the EP with jumpy boogie beat & tribal percussions. “Norton Commander” makes a perfect balance and adds mystic darkness through running sub bassline & sliding atonal bells. And simple 808 beat makes out of tune a perfect trancy option for the late party hours.

Picnic Record's founder Captn K is back and while he was gone he got a 909, "What are you gonna do with your 909 Captn K?" – "Try doing a bit of house I guess." So with this release the West Australian producer lends his unique style to a bit of 90s inspired house.

Sometimes you just gotta get it off your chest, and with the world the way it is there's a fair bit to get angry about. On R U COOL? Captn K shakes his fist at the sky and gets old school with his 909 and trusty bass synth to let it all out. A rant filled bad-ass-belter that cranks you up and kicks out the bad vibes. It's funny but relatable. It's simple but it's big! Included is a dub version for the club when you want the wriggle without the rant.

On the flip we got Tonite We Flying, a sexy piano driven builder that launches into a vocal filled disco/house track. Amazing husky vocals from Captn k's mate, Britt Bro tell the story of a night out and the desire to be free. Chugging piano n bass, juicy synth swells n sweeps and funky percussion get jiggy with their long time pals, 909 kicks n claps! Together it creates an uplifting energy filled anthem that makes you want to soar into the night!

Let you ears and sub be the judge, chances are you'll find a place for this one in the crate at your next party.

Pregnant Void returns with another of their deeply involving and thought-provoking albums, this time from Berlin based sound designer and live-performer Francesco Devincenti.

Devincenti has been making music all of his life and quickly established himself back home in Northern Italy. To further his talents he headed to Berlin to study at the S.A.E. Institute and soon went on to a job at Analogcut mastering studio. As such he is a sound design wizard with an exceptional ear for detail and someone who can get real meaning and soul of out the machines he often solders together himself. He is part of a couple of live hardware duos - MORK and TDV - and always fuses ambient, techno, distorted grooves, jungle beats and dub moods into his immersive recordings.

This new album draws on ten years of life experiences and uses music as a way of telling his own autobiographical story. "With the album I try to explain what I have inside in a way I cannot using only simple verbal communication: those moments of Brutal Reality where you lose something very important and cannot fully express yourself." Though always obsessed with finding his own musical voice, Devincenti is also inspired by studio masters like King Tubby, Adrian Sherwood and Mark Ernestus. His experimental music follows no existing path and is made on modular systems that result in unpredictable and unconventional ambience and rhythms. A number of collaborations add more flavours to this most rich and rewarding album, including friend Hi.Mo, label boss Simone Gatto and vocalist Alice Lobo.

Brutal Reality is filled with truly freeform electronic music - sounds without borders, but with very real narrative and an absorbing sense of emotion that makes it a moving listen in more ways than one.

Trentemøller returns with his fifth studio album 'Obverse' in September 2019! Anders Trentemøller is a well-known multi-instrumentalist, but perhaps the one he’s most adept at is the studio itself. 'Obverse' is the result of him expanding that skill even further. 'Obverse' often feels like an instrumental album because it started life as one, the driving philosophy being “what if the pressure of having to perform these songs live is removed entirely?” Granting yourself the freedom to chase down every idea a studio offers comes with privileges. What happens when you reverse a synth part mid-verse? Why not send an entire track through a faulty distortion pedal? Inspiration reveals itself in a variety of forms and, before long, a simple chord progression contorts into something entirely new. It’s a work method that yielded great results for the legendary German Kosmiche/Motorik experimentalists of the 1970’s. Intentional or not, 'Obverse' embodies more than a little of that spirit without even a hint of pastiche.

So it only makes sense that 'Obverse' would stray from its original roadmap. In due time, half of the nascent compositions featured singers, including Lina Tullgren, Lisbet Fritze, and jennylee, of Warpaint, another band deeply influenced by dream pop. While 'Obverse' was born from a different work ethic than previous efforts, it also continues an arc that started in 2006. Each successive effort has represented a logical next step beyond the album before, and 'Obverse' absolutely picks up where Fixion left off.

For the past decade Trentemøller has been perfecting this form of sonic chiaroscuro to conjure up images of severe landscapes, and to mirror the Scandinavian climate, where half the year the sun barely sets, and the other it barely tops the horizon. While there has been a film noir element in his previous work, 'Obverse' is the first time each song has felt like a collection of pocket soundtracks.

By fusing together a love of dream pop, dark synth-based music, film scores, and a deep connection with the stark Nordic panoramas, Anders has created an inimitable language. Ultimately 'Obverse' resides in a genre all its own.

The 6th Bodytrax release is the first in a new series and marks the first appearance of artists other than Bodyjack on the label. He has invited some of his favourite kindred spirits along for some duelling action over the machines with the simple premise for each EP; both deliver a track apiece, which is then remixed by the other. It is with great pleasure to say that the first to step-up to the plate is Fiedel (MMM, Ostgut Ton, Berghain etc). The Berliner whose work has featured in Chris's DJ sets for aeons, has been behind some of the music that has without question influenced the Bodytrax label since the outset. His idiosyncratic production style meshes perfectly with Bodyjack, and it's safe to say fans of both will not be disappointed to have this duel kick off the series.

Microdosing is a series of compilation 12”s selected by Julienne Dessagne aka Fantastic Twins, and designed in collaboration with French visual artist Geff Pellet. Microdosing is a collective experiment aimed at helping you fighting back your modern obsession with happiness. You may deserve a nice day but the day does not need a nice you, nothing should be forced, everything is permitted. Microdosing will provide you with sonic healing weapons on regular basis and at irregular dosage. Those doses will favour psychedelic social techniques against self help tyranny, creation over soma, provoking over numbing, our outer-selves over our inner-selves. Microdosing refuses the fatality of the pleasure principle. Life is a struggle, time to embrace it. —— "My battery is low and it’s getting dark” We at Microdosing will make Opportunity’s famous last words fully ours. Some would see these as an epitaph on a black screen, we embrace them as a reclaimed fragility. Are we grains of sand wandering in space, hoping for a goal? No. We are the cosmos, the cosmos is us, unafraid of the end, unafraid of the void. Before the rise of the infinite silence, Microdosing brings you new guiding lights, white sun or black hole being a simple permutation of the kinetic rainbow. Oceanic’s “Parallel Lines Of Stripes” is a meandering mantra, an synthesised Moebius ring, a mission to your heart, that furthest star in the sky. Gilb’R’s “Cosmogonie” simply reminds us of the profound relation between spatial systems and the holy act of birth (cosmo, world and gon, conceive). The universe is a body, your body is your universe. Lucas Croon’s “Threshold Stimulus” is the soundtrack of a never ending voyage, the man is on a trip to the core sanctum. Imagine Space as a reverberation room cladded with bakelite. Losing yourself in delay repeats sometimes is the shortest way. Neuzeitliche Bodenbeläge & Sam Irl’s “Faeden” is another hymn to the umbilical chords joining us to the outer world, a black monolith of kraut acid, a pagan dance as portal to a destination only you can choose. Microdosing will be back soon with more enablers, helping to turn your petty struggles into a search for a meaning of life. The Quest lives on.

A Berlin based collective of music aficionados launch a limited and lovely 7" platform for club-ready flipped classics. Simple, effective
Floor food for all moods...TIP !

“More secret edit weapons from the vaults of DJs like Manfredas, Iñigo Vontier, Simple Symmetry, Dreems and Thomas Von Party, aka the Multi Culti Family. New wave Latino body music, peak power extended space disco and wiggly electro funk combine for definitive dance floor approval and chin-stroking trainspottery.”

The Transhumanism collective was born on the dance-floor at Dave Clarke's first Whip It party at the Melkweg in Amsterdam. This is the fourth vinyl release on Bass Agenda Recordings that features the four Dutch Electro artists w1b0, RXmode, Slaves of Sinus, and TFHats. The releases to date have had ongoing support from many key DJs who support the authentic Electro scene - Dave Clarke, UMEK, Helena Hauff, DJ Stingray, Maceo Plex, and Alienata to name but a few. Juan Atkins and Helena Hauff were still dropping w1b0's track from the first release this Summer (2019) at various festivals. It's no surprise that the first in the series has just been repressed, and now, the third in the series keeps the pressure up with 4 brand new tracks. As always, the brief here was simple - "be yourself and do your best to kill it". All four artists have risen to the occasion - maintaining the fundamentals of their individual sounds, evolving a little in some parts, and bringing a compilation with something for every discerning DJ with an ear for cutting edge Electro.

The visionary singer, songwriter and composer returns to her Havana roots
A sun-baked, vibrant record backed by a killer band of fellow Cubans The new album from Daymé Arocena is a vivid return to her Havana roots. Backed once again by a killer band of fellow Cuban musicians, the visionary singer, composer and songwriter has stripped everything back to the core. Holding sessions in a simple, repurposed artist’s studio in Havana, Daymé produced the record herself, taking the reins to make “Sonocardiogram” her most raw and arresting outing yet.

A jazz-tipped record rooted in the rhythms of rumba, she draws on the island’s intertwined rituals of family, music and religion. Ringing with echoes of the greats, songs nod to the likes of Tito Puente and La Lupe, inspirations which carry the sound of Cuba’s sun-baked, vibrant daily existence. Odes to Santería deities are underscored by the sacred frequencies of the batá drum, translated to be played on a Western drum kit. It’s an intoxicating window into a singular artist’s worldview. An important voice in Latin music, Daymé has collaborated with influential peers in Cuban music, like Roberto Fonseca, and US heavyweights like Dexter Story and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. From a recent appearance at Primavera Festival, to sold out tours across Japan and the US, her spectacular live show continues to draw crowds around the world.

Ukrainian born and New York-based artist Matuss is delivering anotherinstallment of Absence Seizure. This time she is teaming up with
Norwegian but could be Berlin depending on the time of year
basslines that are pulsated by some intricate synths.


The Absence Seizure imprint is run by none other than Matuss herself along with Abe Duque and they focus on limited edition vinyl with a
nose for deep and meaningful house and techno. The last release saw the two bosses’ team up on Absence Seizure 11 to deliver some
pulsating beats and orgasmic synths. Expect a deeper cut this time around with the two artists verging more to the house side of the
electronic music spectrum on this project. Karina’s ‘Acid Meow’ is the first track on AS012. Karina is one of The
Zoo Project Ibiza core residents a player of all things vinyl with releases on the likes of God Particle and Cymawax. ‘Acid Meow’ has a
fearless acid-tinged bassline that gives the track a motivating drive. Reminiscent of 90s minimalism she’s kept the beats simple
putting all emphasis on the merciless acid sequence. Tip! Real energy to the dancefloor!


Matuss takes over the EP after the initial cut starting with ‘Travel High’. It has a long build to begin with these quizzical keys that
create anticipation. It discharges with an old school funky bassline that is slowly pushed. It’s accentuated by a ghetto vocal belting out
the title of the track and ends with some punchy percussions and bongo drums. She follows up with ‘Ninja Moves’. A more secretive and sultry number.
It tingles out a smooth bassline and revolves some nice chatter claps and snaps to add a certain silkiness to it. A bit of a floater
it has some beeping 80s keys on it that just add to the sway. If you want your mind to drift
you can get lost in this. Last but as always not least is ‘People Like You and Me’. The track starts with that fun festival horn that makes nostalgia exude out of
your prefrontal cortex. It divulges into these rolling clicks and toms that is carried by this dubbed bassline. Eventually
a bright and sunny synth emits light over the track as the vocals invite you in. The juxtaposition of the synth and bassline just work in harmony and
really make this cut hit home.

Docile Recordings continues moving minimal with a four track release of nonchalant 4/4. Docile has developed its own style of loose and listless techno that runs the gambit from dark inebriation to a warm and immature frivolity. This style tells stories that only can be realized on vinyl. Simple harmonies and rhythms contrast the evolving programing to form a dynamic that makes one stop, look and listen. A. Garcia lives in and works for the Detroit vinyl community crafting their vinyl as well as his own. Enjoy this record from A.Garcia's mind and hands to yours.

In the early eighties, Edmond Mondésir, professor of philosophy and Léon Bertide, trade unionist, founded the Bèlènou group. They were actors of the great agricultural strike of 1974, which resulted in the death of two workers (Ilmany and Marie-Louise) and left many wounded. Activists of the patriotic movement Asé Pléré An Nou Lité (Stop crying, Fight), they were part of the identity and the cultural affirmation la revendication identitaire et culturelle of the time. Like the Guadeloupean musician Gérard Lockel and his work on the Gwo Ka, they put the Bèlè, in its traditional form, back in the spotlight during Swaré Bèlè (Bèlè nights).Minimalist and spiritual, a true rural ancestral art from Martinique, the Bèlè combines dance and music from responsorial monodies, which is a choir that responds to the lead singer (Respondè / La vwa dèyè), on codified drum rhythms and ti-bwa (2 sticks that hit the back of the drum or a piece of bamboo). It comes in a series of collective choreographies, working up into the trance. The texts are simple, short and tell the story of everyday life and struggle. While preserving the emotion and the drum’s central place, the fundamental contribution of Bèlènou is to keep the traditional form of Bèlè while adding a modern instrumentation: bass, guitar, saxophone, drums...
Emosyon Tambou-a (Emotion of the Drum) was released in 1990. This third opus of the band expands the musical spectrum in harmonies, arrangements and influences to create a contemporary music anchored in the Bèlè matrix, while keeping the beat, the energy and ancestral roots of music. Bèlènou adapts some classic rhythms: Bélya, Gran Bèlè, Bèlè Pitjé or Ting-Bang rewritten here for an orchestra.With the appearance of long couplets and a complex harmonization of the choruses, Bèlènou's music brings a form of modernity, it opens notably to jazz territory as well as to other forms of music and grooves. Also, Bèlènou leaves the musicians with space for improvisation: not only on the saxophone or the guitar, but also with the drums (cleverly adaptating traditional rhythms to the drums).

The texts sung in Creole are of a social nature, appealing to the solidarity and self-denial of the people (Bélya pou péyi-a, Tout pèp-la sanblé), to the struggle for political emancipation towards a new democracy (Wi ny ké rivé, Ni dé jou, Démokrasi); land protection (Sové tè-a); finally, to the vitality of the Bèlè culture ... (Emosyon Tambou-a, Dansé Ting-Bang)...Culture participates, according to the expression of Aimé Césaire, as "Miraculous Weapons". Bèlènou sings a project of a new and united society. A precursor group, experimental in the its early years, Bèlènou reconciles with talent tradition, modernity and cultural identity.

Lovely crafted tip-on sleeve. Remastered. 700 copies