quête:so fierce

Balancing glitch-pop and contemporary piano, the Belgian pianist explores the edges of her voice, language and twisted electronica



The Belgian pianist and producer maya dhondt releases a new album titled 'wow, x', marking her debut solo album under her own name. Navigating between bedroom glitch-pop and contemporary piano, she presents sounds of alienating beauty.



The album ‘wow, x’ will be released on September 13 on vinyl and all digital platforms via VIERNULVIER Records.



“I find beauty in the uncomfortable and disorienting" - maya dhont



The first single, 'desire,' is a mutated synth-pop track that gets under the skin. The song centralizes longing for something you don't know (yet). Perhaps it's the smell of damp earth, which can be both pleasant and unsettling? The single is now available on all streaming platforms and comes with a schizophrenic video by Sakis Brönnimann.



The first release show is scheduled for Saturday, October 5, at De Koer, Ghent.

More shows will be announced soon.



A postmodern cramp, that's how one could describe the music of pianist and producer maya dhondt. Her music is an intuitive and a never ending exploration that has the potential to be and become a multitude of things at once.



On her first solo album under her own name, 'wow, x,' she presents 10 varied tracks in which she creates equally idiosyncratic sound worlds. She takes the liberty to endlessly experiment with vocals, piano, and a mix of distorted lo-fi electronic sounds with an open mind. The result is sometimes synthetic and weird, sometimes compellingly beautiful, and always captivating, drawing you into its underlying melody. These intelligently crafted productions are connected by a penchant for alienating beauty: like a warm, but damp cave where it’s pleasant to linger just a little longer. Her original sound moves within a sonic spectrum reminiscent of contemporary artists such as Lolina, Astrid Sonne, claire rousay, aya or Carla Dal Forno.



"What I create never stands alone, it can be many things at once"



If the world were a sculpture garden, maya dhondt eagerly picks from it to draw inspiration from both visual and literary passages as well as personal experiences. Her highly personal bedroom productions are grounded firmly in the world due to philosophical references and politically charged messages. And the world she lives in is being questioned on 'wow, x', as the title refers to "What Or Why?". This is evident in the single 'desire': "What is the thing that matters / to exist / or to know you’re existing?" What does one choose in life: to live in the moment or to live to remember that moment?



In the lyrics on 'wow, x', maya dhondt plays - at times childishly - with language and its boundaries. On 'tip toe tip,' banal wordplay leads to an unexpected confession, and the seemingly simple phrases in 'untitled' conceal hidden life lessons. dhondt's world of words is multilayered and multilingual: Dutch ('kleine cijfers, groot verlies'), English ('desire'), and French ('untitled') are at her disposal. And on the fierce track that is 'minimalinvasiv,' not only she turns to hardstyle, but also to German - a language dear to her due to her Swiss heritage.

Ltd Edition!

The Mystery Lights return with their most ambitious offering to date. With Wayne Gordon back in the producer's chair, the group delivers an eclectic mix of real-deal psychedelia, punk, art rock, and even a splash of country via the Kinks(y) pop earworm "I'm Sorry I Forgot Your Name". The psychedelic highlights of the album, "Purgatory", "Cerebral Crack" and "Can't Sleep Through the Silence", are dark and trippy, landing somewhere between the guitar-driven, lysergic mayhem of the 13th Floor Elevators and the punked-up, tongue-in-cheek insanity of The Monks. But throughout there's a cohesiveness threaded by the elevated musicianship, earnest lyrics and attention to detail that make for a fiercely raw, yet unabashedly catchy album-dripping with all of the sing along hooks that have made Mystery Lights one of the most exciting live bands on the scene.

Ltd Edition!

The Mystery Lights return with their most ambitious offering to date. With Wayne Gordon back in the producer's chair, the group delivers an eclectic mix of real-deal psychedelia, punk, art rock, and even a splash of country via the Kinks(y) pop earworm "I'm Sorry I Forgot Your Name". The psychedelic highlights of the album, "Purgatory", "Cerebral Crack" and "Can't Sleep Through the Silence", are dark and trippy, landing somewhere between the guitar-driven, lysergic mayhem of the 13th Floor Elevators and the punked-up, tongue-in-cheek insanity of The Monks. But throughout there's a cohesiveness threaded by the elevated musicianship, earnest lyrics and attention to detail that make for a fiercely raw, yet unabashedly catchy album-dripping with all of the sing along hooks that have made Mystery Lights one of the most exciting live bands on the scene.

Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube Records are proud to present to you the 2nd LP from TOMOYUKI TRIO (Tomoyuki Aoki, Mike Vest & Dave Sneddon) following their debut LP ‘Mars’ on the esteemed Riot Season Record Label. Tomoyuki Aoki is the founding member and lead guitarist of the legendary Tokyo Psych Monsters UP-TIGHT. Of all the Japanese psych-rock groups that emerged in the late nineties and early noughties, Up-Tight are the most reverent, the most directly plugged into the source, from their name (Velvet Underground) with knowing referential song titles like “Sweet Sister” to their extended heavy, dark black clad acid fried one chord psych melters -- we're talking bands like Fushitsusha, White Heaven, Kousokuya, Shizuka, and the grandaddies of 'em all, the deservedly-legendary, Les Rallizes Denudes. Shitsuren If anything has got an even heavier, dronier edge than what we heard on the last one. Super fuzzed guitars, sad ballads, grinding distorto epics and numbed, narcotic rhythms. This is one to play at maximum volume so that you can soak up its molten magik as over 2 sides of Shitsuren’s grueling guitar hypnotics you uncover the darker side of the ensembles personality to find them digging deep to drag the audience with them into the shadows of stoner psyche. If you can picture Okhami No Jikan, Asahito Nanjo. Musica Transonic & Toho Sara then you’re close to the outrageous levels of psychedelic excess captured here, a riotous concoction of ferociously brooding, locked down heavy bearing intensity of fierce/brutal speaker battering in the red levels.

At once a spiritually-charged journey and a shit-kicking party record, American Cream Band comes to Quindi covering all the bases.
American Cream Band was formed by Twin-Cities musician Nathan Nelson around 10 years ago, taking the form of improvised live shows and albums Frankensteined from these sessions into exultant, fully-formed records you can sink your teeth into. The trick with improvised music is to start with intentions, however abstract they might be, and Nelson leads his rolling cast of collaborators into the creative fray with subtle guidance which drives the impulsive musical moment forward.
The band's previous records have manifested on labels like Moon Glyph and Medium Sound, and now Presents arrives in a freewheeling flash of snappy new wave, skronky sax, call and response sass and some krautrock-minded sonic cosmology. The album came together in December 2021, when Nelson took ten musicians to legendary studio Pachyderm in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Living together, eating together, and with Nelson quietly setting up his low-key magick intentions around Jupiter's planetary frequency and the studio's abundance of elephant statues and carpets, they laid down some drum-heavy sessions that became the building blocks of the record.
'Taste What We Taste' is the perfect example of an exuberant groove pounded on skins as a vessel for a joyous get-down, with the singers and players free to freak out on top. Nelson remains at the centre of the melee, throwing half-sardonic, half-heartfelt calls out for connection. 'Banana' celebrates nonsense and holds down the most serious of beats - a disco-not-disco deadeye dripping in late night sleaze and lysergic potential. On 'Royal Tears', the jagged guitar chops call back to Gang Of Four, while the hot n' heavy sax from Cole Pulice baits James Chance and all the other angular New York un-jazz misfits.
Amongst his other implied intentions for the recordings, Nelson wanted to channel opposites, not least the distinct male-female energies in his vocal sparring with the girls on assistance duties. It wouldn't be right to call them backing singers as they shoot back at his punchy mantras, bringing a certain fierce femininity that tips its hat to The B-52's Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson, not to mention iconic post-punk bands like Au Pairs, Delta 5 and Bush Tetras.
There's space for the dreamier kosmische which has crept into the American Cream oeuvre in the past, as 'Sirens' opens the album up in a swirling pond of rag tag percussion and molten synths. 'Words Would Handcuff Us' cools the whole riotous assembly down in unmoored perfection, a strung-out Bossa nova seance dusted with celestial drips from analogue spaceships.
Equally treading the line between light and dark, conscious and unconscious, the sacred and profane, Presents is a life-affirming, creep-under-the-skin listening experience - a joyously transient chapter in the evolution of American Cream Band.

OVERVIEW KEEP OF KALESSIN - KATHARSIS is set to be released in March 2023! via Morningstar Music & Back On Black Records, Distributed by PlasticHead Distribution. KEEP OF KALESSIN return with their most epic work to date! The pioneers of Epic Extreme Metal have crafted an album that will hit both hard and direct as well as challenge the listeners with its rich detail and enormous atmosphere. Epic and melodic. Extreme, yet diverse. Intense, captivating and simply grand in every form! KATHARSIS marks a new era for a band that has proven to continue to make metal of the highest quality despite facing many challenges and lineup changes along the way. 2017 would leave the band without a drummer and it would take KEEP OF KALESSIN a few years to get the new lineup together, but these changes have given the band renewed energy and main man Arnt Obsidian now leads what is probably one of the most powerful bands in Norwegian metal. And together they have crafted an album that is so epic and so diverse that it has the potential to capture listeners from the entire spectrum of the metal genre. KEEP OF KALESSIN longtime bass player Wizziac and one of the most well known YouTube metal drummers, Wanja "Nechtan" Groeger, complete the lineup for KATHARSIS and the band sounds more mature and powerful than ever. As EPISTEMOLOGY was Arnt Obsidian's first take on vocals and frontman of the band, KATHARSIS proves that he is not only one of the fiercest riffers out there, but now also one of the most diverse singers. KATHARSIS is simply an amazing journey exploring everything from the most empowering emotions to the deepest fears and darkest thoughts. It is a life journey explained, battling both outside challenges and inner emotions. All this set in epic otherworldly surroundings. It is the rebirth. The resurrection. The purgation. The battle of leaving the old and embracing the new. It is the musical embodiment of you against you!

KEEP OF KALESSIN return with their most epic work to date! The pioneers of Epic Extreme Metal have crafted an album that will hit both hard and direct as well as challenge the listeners with its rich detail and enormous atmosphere. Epic and melodic. Extreme, yet diverse. Intense, captivating and simply grand in every form! KATHARSIS marks a new era for a band that has proven to continue to make metal of the highest quality despite facing many challenges and lineup changes along the way. 2017 would leave the band without a drummer and it would take KEEP OF KALESSIN a few years to get the new lineup together, but these changes have given the band renewed energy and main man Arnt Obsidian now leads what is probably one of the most powerful bands in Norwegian metal. And together they have crafted an album that is so epic and so diverse that it has the potential to capture listeners from the entire spectrum of the metal genre. KEEP OF KALESSIN longtime bass player Wizziac and one of the most well known YouTube metal drummers, Wanja "Nechtan" Groeger, complete the lineup for KATHARSIS and the band sounds more mature and powerful than ever. As EPISTEMOLOGY was Arnt Obsidian's first take on vocals and frontman of the band, KATHARSIS proves that he is not only one of the fiercest riffers out there, but now also one of the most diverse singers. KATHARSIS is simply an amazing journey exploring everything from the most empowering emotions to the deepest fears and darkest thoughts. It is a life journey explained, battling both outside challenges and inner emotions. All this set in epic otherworldly surroundings. It is the rebirth. The resurrection. The purgation. The battle of leaving the old and embracing the new. It is the musical embodiment of you against you!

THE SINISTER DEBUT ALBUM OF PURE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL
FEELING,FEATURING MEMBERS OF AURA NOIR, OBLITERATION &
CONDOR."Underground metal the way it should sound returns to
Kolbotn!" - Fenriz (Darkthrone)From the depths of Norway looms a new
rising beast of hate & misanthropy in the form of Avmakt
Featuring the duo of Kristian Valbo & Christoffer Brathen - known for their work
with such acts as Aura Noir, Obliteration & Condor - their debut album, 'The
Satanic Inversion of....', is a grim & revelatory offering. Primitive in a way that
captures the early magic of Kolbotn's metal kings, Darkthrone, as well as the stark
chaos of early-era Bathory along with their very own distinguishable stamp on the
genre, 'The Satanic Inversion of....' is a masterclass of real Black Metal feeling,
wrapped up in a hypnotic frenzy of ice-cold riffing.
Though both members had played in bands covering different genres since their
early teenage years, Black Metal had always been one of the most important as a
vehicle for an honesty & fierceness that resonated deeply within the duo, without
the need for extravagant clothing or pretentious concepts. And so Avmakt itself
was born as the vessel for channelling this stripped-down raw feeling.
Formed in 2020 & with their one & only demo release gaining traction in the
underground, the Norwegians quickly came to the attention of Darkthrone's Fenriz
& Peaceville Records & Avmakt was swiftly included on Peaceville's Black Metal
Compilation, 'Dark Side Of The Sacred Star' which launched at the end of 2022.
Avmakt itself means "powerlessness", the sense of being overwhelmed & not
able to have any influence - without choice, voice, or hope. And so, it is from far
down in this psychological abyss that Avmakt's ideas & expressions manifest
with the completion of their debut studio release; 6 sprawling epic tracks
recorded with the assistance of Arild Torp, also of Obliteration & encapsulating
such themes as emptiness, desolation & alienation in a powerful display of
sinister, uninhibited Black Metal.

“I want it to feel like you’re right there in the room with us.” And in 10 songs and 40 minutes, Wunderhorse capture the raw power and energy that has set them apart as one of the most formidable live acts of recent years. With rugged hooks, unfiltered noise, and fierce melodic sensitivity, Midas rips up the script of traditional second albums and establishes the band as an endlessly addictive and rousing generational talent.
In late 2022, the release of their debut album Cub saw singles ‘Purple’ and ‘Leader of the Pack’ dominate radio airwaves. Landmark performances filling Glastonbury’s Woodsies Tent (FKA John Peel Stage) and selling out London’s Kentish Town Forum months in advance followed tours with Pixies and Fontaines D.C. and stadium appearances with Sam Fender, signalling the band’s arrival as one of the most prominent and exciting new guitar acts in the UK.
With Grammy Award-winning producer Craig Silvey (The Rolling Stones, The National, Florence + The Machine) on board for their sophomore record, the band looked to do something different. Their goal – in the very same studio that Nirvana put In Utero to tape and PJ Harvey recorded the Mercury Prize-nominated Rid of Me – was to push themselves outside of their comfort zones.
“There’s absolutely no faking on this record,” ends Slater, “it's not supposed to be perfect; it’s supposed to be a snapshot, even if it is a bit of an ugly portrait. That's how it was then, and that's how you're gonna see it.” And it sounds like you’re right there in the room with them.

2024 REPRESS

Fourth corner. Physically, it's where four states in the U.S. come together at one singular point. Symbolically, it's where the four great rivers in China come together as one. Or, it could be the cycle of life during the four seasons of the year. For Trixie Whitley, it's a metaphor for trying to find balance and belonging from the songs that make up her scintillating debut album, Fourth Corner.

Whitley burst into public consciousness in 2011 as the lead singer of Black Dub, super-producer Daniel Lanois' (U2, Bob Dylan) project, blowing people away with a voice and presence beyond her now-25 years.

And it's that voice: an emotional, blues-drenched instrument that ranges from a lilting slap to a knock-you-backwards uppercut. On Fourth Corner, Whitley explores the range of human emotion in another set of four: utter love, total rage, unadulterated happiness, and crippling loneliness. "It's those elements of life I keep coming back to," she says. "Both as a person and musically as well."

Recorded in New York with producer/keyboardist Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman, who's also worked with Glen Hansard, Antony and the Johnsons, Grizzly Bear and the National) engineer Pat Dillett (David Byrne, St. Vincent, Mary J. Blige), and string arrangements by Rob Moose (Antony, Bon Iver), aching songs like "Need Your Love" have Whitley working from a spare beginning that explodes into a blossom dripping with pleading vocals and delicate piano. On tracks like the sassy "Irene" and the sinister "Hotel No Name," Whitley lays down a snarling guitar line on top of scuzzy beats while her voice veers from defiant to remorseful.

It's a tantalizing mix of sounds that can come only from someone who says: "I'm from everywhere but have never felt like I belong." Whitley lived a nomadic life: born in Belgium, she split her time growing up there and in New York but also frequently visiting family in France, Texas, and Mexico. Her mother came from an artistic European gypsy family, filled with musicians, painters, writers, and sculptures, while her father, renowned singer-songwriter Chris Whitley, thrust her into the world of music as a toddler when she joined him onstage in Germany at age three.

After a few years of touring and recording experience with some of the most inspiring artists around, Trixie is ready to presenther anticipated first solo full length.

"I'm psyched and petrified," says Whitley in her archetypal wide-eyed wonderment mixed with a fierce determination. "As a songwriter, I want to go to places people don't expect and with that is complete freedom of expression." Perhaps that place is another version of a fourth corner: something spiritual perhaps, certainly emotional, but most definitely real.

“I want it to feel like you’re right there in the room with us.” And in 10 songs and 40 minutes, Wunderhorse capture the raw power and energy that has set them apart as one of the most formidable live acts of recent years. With rugged hooks, unfiltered noise, and fierce melodic sensitivity, Midas rips up the script of traditional second albums and establishes the band as an endlessly addictive and rousing generational talent.
In late 2022, the release of their debut album Cub saw singles ‘Purple’ and ‘Leader of the Pack’ dominate radio airwaves. Landmark performances filling Glastonbury’s Woodsies Tent (FKA John Peel Stage) and selling out London’s Kentish Town Forum months in advance followed tours with Pixies and Fontaines D.C. and stadium appearances with Sam Fender, signalling the band’s arrival as one of the most prominent and exciting new guitar acts in the UK.
With Grammy Award-winning producer Craig Silvey (The Rolling Stones, The National, Florence + The Machine) on board for their sophomore record, the band looked to do something different. Their goal – in the very same studio that Nirvana put In Utero to tape and PJ Harvey recorded the Mercury Prize-nominated Rid of Me – was to push themselves outside of their comfort zones.
“There’s absolutely no faking on this record,” ends Slater, “it's not supposed to be perfect; it’s supposed to be a snapshot, even if it is a bit of an ugly portrait. That's how it was then, and that's how you're gonna see it.” And it sounds like you’re right there in the room with them.

Previously Unreleased Recording. Limited to 1200 copies on transparent cherry vinyl. Tip-on jacket, Download code. Insert featuring LP sized original art by Grungie O'Muck. Includes the original recording of Richard Tucker's "Are You Leaving For The Country", later covered by Karen Dalton, and the only song co-written by Karen & Richard, "Sleeping In The Garden". "Richard, Cam & Bert seem to have grasped The Great Harmony. That is, ensemble singing that is at once sweet, precise, funky and a bit sardonic..." -Mike Jahn / New York Times (1970) "For a few years in the late sixties and early seventies Richard Cam & Bert ruled MacDougal St. walking a fine line between the increasingly commercialized demands created by groups like Crosby Stills and Nash and the fierce integrity of earlier folk performers, the generation to which Richard belonged. They managed this with great aplomb, producing original tunes of great integrity and obvious folkloric origins, as well as those which expressed the anarchic omnipresent psychedelia of the moment. They also never abandoned the idea of including some traditional material in their performances. But for the usual random application of luck they could have been very big." - Grungie O'Muck / Artist, Bluesman, Cover artist for their first album and contributor to this one. Richard Tucker, Campbell Bruce, and Bert Lee coalesced as a trio in the spring of 1968, and by the end of that year had become regular performers at fabled Greenwich Village nightspots - The Gaslight, The Bag I'm In, Cafe Feenjon, among others. But mostly they were street singers, busking regularly in Central Park. Their only LP, Limited Edition, was released in 1970, and sold mainly at gigs and on the street. Somewhere in The Stars compiles earlier, previously unreleased recordings, when all three members were signed with Peer-Southern Music publishers as writers and began using their studio to make demos and experiment musically. Beautifully recorded by house engineer Charlie Mack (supervised by Jimmy Ienner), the demos capture a back room casualness and rustic, homespun quality. For me, listening to their songs and harmonies is like entering a world you always hoped existed but had never experienced. Some of the songs were re-recorded the following year for Limited Edition, but many are heard here for the first time. Among them is the original demo for Richard Tucker's song, "Are You Leaving For The Country", which Karen Dalton covered on her seminal 1971 release, In My Own Time. Richard and Karen were husband and wife for much of the 1960s, performing as a duo (initially as a trio with Tim Hardin), and navigating their time on the Village scene while alternating living in a small mining town outside Boulder, Co. before splitting up in 1967. Also making its debut, is the only song Richard and Karen ever wrote together, the haunting "Sleeping In The Garden". Also contains two epic songs by Cam "One Of These First Nights", and "Stockholm") not on their LP, but staples of their live performances, and noted in a gig review by The New York Times, and in a column by future A&R hero, Karin Berg, who was an early champion. Another rarity is the only cover of "Sweet Mama" by Fred Neil we've ever heard. Campell Bruce came to New York in 1967 as lead singer with a band from Washington, DC, The Natty Bumpo. They'd recently signed a record deal with Phillips, but were falling apart. Cam landed in the Village with an acoustic guitar and first started playing and singing in the basket houses, and shortly thereafter at The Gaslight, as the "Cam Bruce Trio" (which included Collin Walcott). After opening for Mose Allison, Cam's hero, the trio went their separate ways, and Cam returned to regular solo gigs at The Flamenco, and the basket houses on Bleecker. Richard and Cam met up on that scene and quickly found a musical kinship as well as becoming best pals. Bert Lee arrived in New York as a runaway the following winter, and began playing and sleeping wherever he could. His sometime accompanist, Ron Price, introduced Bert to Richard and Cam just as Bert's own songs were garnering attention from publishers. According to Bert, "I arrived on the New York scene during a time of great change, and it was the notion of change that influenced me. All around me I saw there were two sorts of songwriters, on the one hand dedicated to the traditions that had inspired them, folk, jazz, the American songbook. On the other hand were songwriters influenced by the wave of experimentation that The Beatles were the perfect example of. Mixing genres, writing lyrics that weren't just about ordinary love and loss. Richard Tucker was a country blues player, with a relaxed and melodic approach to the craft. Cam wrote something more akin to soul songs, with a hint of jazz in the changes. I was writing tunes that sometimes drew on classical structures with a tendency toward what I suppose would be known as prog-rock. But I was rather adamant about not being pinned down stylistically, and so I would write, for example, a song based on some complex classical chord structure, and then go right ahead and write a simple folk song, like Evelyn. Our band was popular locally, and it was this variety that made it distinct." Delmore is excited to present this unearthed treasure, fifteen years in the making. In the words of Richard Tucker, "Tap on your knee, roll on the floor; if you aint free, what's it all for?" "The trio's singing, playing, and writing have all withstood the test of time. Believe me, because I was there. In 1969 R,C&B, myself, Charles John Quarto, David Bromberg, Ron Price, and Keith Sykes were just a few of that year's crop of song-slingers. We were young turks back then, out on the prowl in New York's Greenwich Village for record deals, gigs, and beautiful young women to sleep with and maybe even write a song about. I've lost the names and numbers of those lovelies and I'm not sure what happened to Ron Price, but Richard, Cam, and Bert are back! - Loudon Wainwright lll

Limited pressing of 300 LPs ! 180gm VINYL LPS w/ INSERT & DOWNLOAD FILE UNDER : GARAGE ROCK / PUB ROCK "I wanted to make a very NOW album, our past was fantastic at the time but it was exactly that.the past. We've learned a lot since then and with the combination of influences and personal tastes we've concocted a combination of Raw Power guitar grunt, a touch of The Cars' pop sensibilities and Bad Seeds brood." Dave Butterworth Veteran rockers The Double Agents return with their third album New Motion a powerful new recording evoking directness and immediacy and marking their first release of new material in nearly two decades. The Double Agents' initial incarnation circa 2000 saw the fiercely independent quintet rise from humble stages to becoming one of Melbourne's most revered pub rock bands. They twice toured Europe and eventually shared the stage with iconic luminaries Dead Moon, Mudhoney, The Dirtbombs, Celibate Rifles, The White Stripes and The Black Keys before an amicable hiatus in 2008. New Motion is a modern Australian rock record and marks a departure from their garage rock roots, as best exemplified in their self released 2023 anthology compilation Best Bits. So Far spanning their first three releases. The familiar twin vocals remain, Kim and Dave summoning that deep Dead Moon energy, as does Ryan Tandy's singular lead guitar playing and the rock solid backbeat of Myles Gallagher, but the band's scope seems to have widened on this record, with the inclusion of longtime cohort Mick Stylianou (Saint Jude) adding style and harmonic punch on bass guitar and backing vocals. ..The New Motion sessions were tracked to analog tape by Finn Keane at Head Gap and Julian McKenzie at Newmarket with vocal post production by Dave Larkin (Dallas Crane), mixing by Callum Barter (Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile), mastering by Mikey Young. Dave Butterworth also produced the album.

Repress

Songs ’94-’98 is a smart selection of material from The Cat’s Miaow, an Australian indie-pop group that gifted their decade with some of its finest songs. Released on World Of Echo, the album draws from the group’s string of excellent seven-inch singles, a small clutch of compilation contributions, and features one previously unreleased song, “I Take It That We’re Through”, recorded in 1998. Part of the burgeoning international pop underground of the nineties, The Cat’s Miaow’s legend has only built over subsequent decades, as more people discover this most quixotic and curious of groups: a recent appearance on A Colourful Storm’s compilation of Australian indie-pop, I Won’t Have To Think About You, is testament to their enduring influence. In part emulating the selection of tracks on the 1997 CD-only compilation, Songs For Girls To Sing, Songs ’94-’98 is also the group’s first ever full-length 12” vinyl collection. The Cat’s Miaow started out in 1992 as a home-recording duo, Bart Cummings (guitar, bass, vocals) and Andrew Withycombe (bass, guitar) taking time out from duties with Girl Of The World and The Ampersands (respectively), knocking out songs on Withycombe’s four-track. Soon joined by Kerrie Bolton (vocals) and Cam Smith (drums), the quartet spent the next five years quietly, slowly working away in the suburbs of Melbourne, recording gem after gem of independent pop. Like many of their Australian precursors or peers – The Particles, Even As We Speak, The Cannanes – The Cat’s Miaow were more successful overseas, a sadly typical phenomenon within the Australian musical landscape. The Cat’s Miaow were always worldly and stylish, anyway, each seven-inch single a refined artifact, each song a peaceable jewel. You could hear some relationships with other music – someone (if not everyone) in The Cat’s Miaow was a Galaxie 500 fan; there’s a minimalism to the playing and melodies that recalls Young Marble Giants, Marine Girls, Beat Happening – but the spirit in these songs is endearingly individualised, the result of a hermetic vision, an ideal of what a simple, unadorned pop song could be. They had a winning way with simplicity, songs like “Autumn”, “Crying” and “I Can’t Sleep Thinking You Hate Me” passing by in the blink of a moistened eye, and when they stretched out, as on “Firefly”, you can hear hints of the drifting ambience they’d perfect in their other band, Hydroplane. It’s not much of a surprise that The Cat’s Miaow found a receptive audience, and no small amount of support, from the networked communities of indie-pop labels and fanatics that developed in the nineties – they released records on imprints like Drive-In, Darla, Bus Stop and Quiddity, shared a flexi-disc with Stereolab, and appeared on countless compilations over the years. But they also understood the importance of the local: their first few cassettes reached the world’s mail routes via Wayne Davidson’s legendary Melbourne tape label, Toytown; they turned up on a split single with Davidson’s group, Stinky Fire Engine; they appeared on a tribute cassette for one of Australia’s finest, The Sugargliders, and indeed that’s Josh Meadows of said group playing wah guitar on “Stay”. The Cat’s Miaow also rarely played live – one launch gig, for the Munch video compilation, and a few parties – which is a great way to maintain mystique. Cosmopolitan yet homely, dedicated to their craft, The Cat’s Miaow always felt a little like a group moving in slow motion, using that pace and focus fully to embrace the art of the perfectly stated pop song – every element in place, no flash and no fuss, no excess, just the core of the thing. Few managed to tease such fierce poetry from such understated, elegant means. From Australia or anywhere.

This feels deliciously fated. Musical soulmates, Cromby is the only person Sally C will go record shopping with. The duo minted their friendship back in 2016, not long after both migrated to Berlin. A friendship forged through shared dancefloors, long hours at the pair’s beloved Bikini Waxx and impromptu B2B sessions, they have a common passion for good times and serious digging. If you want a sense of the genesis of Sally’s label baby Big Saldo’s Chunkers, just listen to the cult-favourite ‘Big Saldo & Cromby Dusty Hip Haus Mix’ that’s lived on her Soundcloud since 2019.

Cromby knows a Chunker that’s for sure. His contribution to the label is elite. Rinsed by the pair all year, it’s supports also include Job Jobse and Bambounou. In January it highlighted Nachtiville, where it was played all weekend long and became an unofficial hype anthem of the festival. A fiercely hunted track I.D ever since, lock this in as one of those catchy Crombyclassics we all love and can’t stop playing (and singing). ‘Pump It’ is an atmospheric roller, a perfect cut for maintaining the energy after the hands-up vibes of ‘House Flava’. ‘Free’ features Cromby’s own vocal debut – “I didn’t realise at the time of writing how fitting the lyrics would be for our times unfortunately,” he shares. Driven by punchy purring bass, it brings plenty of rugged energy with 303 flourishes, while dreamy keys balance things nicely. One for the after-hours.

The EP is rounded out with the wicked hoover-led ‘Best Not Miss’, that transports us back to a steaming Trade dancefloor circa 1997 and is thrilling in every sense.

There are albums that tap into the very heartbeats of rhythm, melody and intricate sound design, pulsating with every musical note. This is the case of 'Séptimo Sentido', the new album by Buenos Aires-based producer Seph.

Sebastián Galante aka Seph is no stranger to these realms; with almost two decades of experience under his belt, he has established himself as one of the leading talents in the Argentina techno scene and as one of the most intriguing minds in alternative Latin American electronic music. His productions have found a home in cutting edge labels such as Insurgentes –a platform led by the DJ and producer from Medellín (Colombia) Verraco, and sister label of TraTraTrax, which has reduced gaps between the Latin electronic scene and the rest of the globe– or his own label Aula Magna Records. He has also fostered collaborations, among which stands out his project Oscean alongside Andrés Zacco, a project that was recently released on the legendary Berlin label Tresor.

In his new album 'Séptimo Sentido', Seph exhibits superlative production skills and masterfully showcases the widest palette of the braindance sound, that intersection where countless genres and sub-styles can coexist. Here we hear echoes from the mid-90s that revive undeniable references of early IDM; but with a renewed form, under a fiercely contemporary new skin.

At the core of this intriguing album, we find an artist whose devotion to experimentation takes his rhythmic and melodic obsessions through vibrant magical-techno-urban landscapes, where radiant colors and mutating forms collide in a bold and imaginative sonic journey.

'Séptimo Sentido' hails from the prism of perception, beyond the five senses and a step further than instinct, hunting for mysterious resonances with the cosmos; like a space portal inviting us to float a handspan above the ground.

Mickey Nox is a techno enthusiast, label owner, DJ and producer from Melbourne, Australia. His impressively unique style and attitude towards his constantly evolving productions and DJ sets is dark, menacing and always maniacally exhilarating as he becomes progressively more entangled within his heavy hitting hardware.

Continuing with the ‘Limited As Fuck’ series of releases, on our fiercely independent techno label based in Scotland, we witness the return of the Australian assassin himself with the most rampant, fast paced release we’ve ever put out on our infamous label …….. so far. After the rip-roaring success of his first RIOT Radio Records release a few years back with his double vinyl album ‘Mad As A Cut Snake’, he’s back once more to knock some sense out of, or is it into you?

He’s pulled out all of the bashing implements he can muster into forging this conk buster of a release. Full bore mallets, truncheons, heavy mounted metal clubs and even franticly abused frying pans have all been industriously employed by this long-haired behemoth of an artist for driving, battering, pummelling, pounding, striking, bludgeoning and cudgeling all for the purpose of taking you into his world of being a ‘Hammerhead’.

The full digital release also features one bonus track with the ‘Rough Mix’ of ‘Tropic Corridors’ which you won’t find nowhere else. Rough by name, rough by nature.

WARNING: LISTENING TO THIS WEAPONIZATION WILL ENDUCE FILTH OF THE MOST OBSCENE NATURE

Graceless is already a legendary name in the Dutch metal history, and “Shadowlands” was their cult debut album from 2017. With ex-members of bands like Asphyx and Soulburn this experienced old school doomed death metal band, from Leiden and surroundings, immediately made a huge impact. “Shadowlands” still sounds thick and raw, with mighty riffs and fierce solos. It’s a great deal of heaviness, somewhat sludgy and even psychedelic, with doom, ferocity and melody.

Graceless is already a legendary name in the Dutch metal history, and “Shadowlands” was their cult debut album from 2017. With ex-members of bands like Asphyx and Soulburn this experienced old school doomed death metal band, from Leiden and surroundings, immediately made a huge impact. “Shadowlands” still sounds thick and raw, with mighty riffs and fierce solos. It’s a great deal of heaviness, somewhat sludgy and even psychedelic, with doom, ferocity and melody.

Lucta from Milan finally unleash their debut album ‘Eterna Lotta’ which follows the demo 'Black Magic Punk’ from way back in 2018. The 9 track album takes you by the throat and never lets go. The music rages with a fierce atonal guitar tone and drums that push each track to its limits but it’s the vocals that really make this special. They are passionate and enraged and spat out in Italian. The band mixes the furious years of Italian hardcore from the 80’s, Rudimentary Peni and some classic pogo punk with a sense of paranoia to the overall sound. ‘Eterna Lotta represents the continuous internal and external struggle with life: from social interactions to self expectations and how everyone deals with it in eternal conflict. Lucta is the Latin word for "fight" and Lotta fully embraces every aspect of their lives. The band are outcasts, freaks, queers and punks and will forever fight for rights for those that need a voice and push towards a better future.' Limited to 500 copies on pink vinyl.

2024 Repress

Niandra LaDes And Usually Just A T-Shirt is the first solo record by John Frusciante. Between 1990 and 1992 the guitarist made a series of 4-track recordings, which at the time were not intended for commercial release. After leaving the band Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1992, Frusciante was encouraged by friends to release the material that he wrote in his spare time during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik sessions.

Originally released on Rick Rubin's American Recordings label in 1994, Niandra LaDes is a mystifying work of tortured beauty. Frusciante plays various acoustic and electric guitars, experimenting with layers of vocals, piano and reverse tape effects. Channeling the ghosts of Syd Barrett and Skip Spence, his lyrics are at once utterly personal and willfully opaque.

Frusciante's rapidfire, angular playing shows how key he was in the Chili Peppers' evolution away from their funk-rock roots. His cover of "Big Takeover" perfectly deconstructs the Bad Brains original with laid-back tempo, twelve-string guitar and a fierce handle on melody.

The album's second part - thirteen untitled tracks that Frusciante defines as one complete piece, Usually Just A T-Shirt - contains several instrumentals featuring his signature guitar style. Sparse phrasing, delicate counterpoint and ethereal textures recall Neu/Harmonia's Michael Rother or The Durutti Column's Vini Reilly.

On the front cover, Frusciante appears in 1920s drag - a nod to Marcel Duchamp's alter-ego Rrose Sélavy - which comes from Toni Oswald's film Desert in the Shape.

This first-time vinyl release has been carefully remastered and approved by the artist. The double LP set is packaged with gatefold jacket and printed inner sleeves.

Midi Mode Records, a new chapter begins for the label formerly known as Mini Man Records.
A home for the unmistakable energy of electro and techno grooves.

The decision to rebrand to Midi Mode as a name came after the previously known label title was unexpectedly caught up in a weird trademark dispute.
The label has adapted to survive and will provide tracks for true believers, made by true believers into the future.

As the label unveils its upcoming releases, it starts with the "Fake Reality EP", a 5 tracker with Electro & Techno Funk, housing a collaboration with Human Rebellion & Power.

Electro heads should already be very familiar with the unmistakable electro sonic sounds of Human Rebellion.
Furthermore to this, a fusion with the stripped back Detroit electro sounds of Power means the senses are pushed to move in dark rooms with the fierce Techno cut of "I'm a Freak".
All of this is combined with a haunting and unhinged remix from Nite Fleit that's mesmerising.

"Ogives Big Band is a riff powerhouse hailing from Bristol, UK. Initially forming as an instrumental trio with a view to expand the existing Øgïvęš solo material. The addition of an established and furious rhythm section warped the compositions and song writing process into a new beast entirely. Featuring polyrhythmic soundscapes crashing into brutal breakdowns, blistering riffs melting into luscious ethereal drones, & an all encompassing sense of drive & menace. 2020 saw the addition of a new vocalist which has transformed a previously instrumental setup into a much fiercer prospect. Replete with furiously yelled vocals, serene croons & abstract lyricism and wordplay. 2023 will see the quartet appear at Portals and ArcTanGent festivals as well as tours in support of their new album, set to be released late 2023/early 2024. The new album – entitled ‘Boisterous Love’ - will showcase a move into whole new musical territories of savage, angular, doom laden sludge, progressive metal and psychedelic stoner rock."

John Beltran with 2 analog raw and fierce sounding Acid trax! Limited hand stamped copies..

Repress!
Note - Sleeve says contains a bonus CD, these represses do not have a bonus CD, they have a download card.

Hate Your Friends is the 1987 debut album by the Lemonheads, one of only three full-length releases to feature the original band line- up of Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. The album showcases a hardcore-punk-to-pop-rock sound and sensibility as playfully fierce as it is surprising…especially to listeners who know the band only from their better-known major label recordings of the 1990s. The roots of Hate Your Friends begin with the genesis of the band itself: when high school friends Ben Deily and Evan Dando—inspired by a shared love of the 70’s absurdist comedy troupe the Firesign Theatre, literature, and punk rock—began playing their own songs together in 1985. Dando and Deily first started out as a two-piece ensemble: swapping back and forth between a shared Guild guitar (and a crappy amp) and vocal mic, and pounding a drum kit “borrowed” from the high school jazz band. With the addition of classmate and friend Jesse Peretz on bass, the two-man outfit quickly became a power trio. With a handful of original songs, a passionate love for their favourite bands—from Husker-Du, the Replacements, Black Flag and the Germs, to the Saints, Wire and ‘77 UK punk—and a tiny recording budget, the Lemonheads set about their first studio session within days of their high school graduation in June of 1986. During that summer, a significant amount of what would become the band’s debut album was recorded in Brookline, Massachusetts, with Deily and Dando sharing vocal, guitar and drumming duties. Above and beyond bass, Jesse proved pivotal as the band’s manager, booker and tireless promoter—helping arrange for the Lemonheads self-released debut EP, Laughing all the way to the cleaners, later that summer, and shortly thereafter helping establish the relationship with Curtis Casella of TAANG! records that paved the way to full-length LP Hate Your Friends. Finally, with the addition of full-time (and fairly short-lived) drummer Doug Trachten, the last songs of Hate Your Friends were recorded in the winter of 1986-7. BONUS TRACKS: This Fire Records re-issue features bonus tracks including 12 never-before-released live tracks from a 1987 radio session, rare tracks from the early compilation Crawling From Within, and additional tracks not included on the original release of Hate Your Friends (“Buried Alive” and “Gotta Stop”).

Im Jahr 2024 steht für CROCELL viel auf dem Spiel. Bewaffnet mit einem von Tue Madsen produzierten neuen Album planen die Dänen, ihren bösen Einfluss weiter auszubauen und alles zu verderben, was sich ihnen in den Weg stellt. „Of Frost, Of Flame, Of Flesh“ ist der Titel des Albums und zusammen mit der Tatsache, dass die Band kürzlich bei EMZ unterschrieben hat, hat es das Potenzial, Crocells großen internationalen Durchbruch zu werden, nachdem sie zuvor auf kleinen Underground-Labels unterwegs waren. Der dänische Metal hat eine Band nach der anderen aufflackern und aussterben sehen, aber nach 17 Jahren macht Crocell unbeirrt weiter und hat sich mit fast sieben Veröffentlichungen und über 100 Konzerten in mehr als zehn Ländern längst als unverzichtbare Größe in der dänischen Metalszene etabliert.

D&V were a duo formed in Sheffield by Andy Leach on drums and Jef Antcliffe on vocals. The group released their first EP ‘The Nearest Door’ on Crass Records. With Penny Rimbaud as producer, their musical simplicity was combined with uncompromising avant-gardism to achieve new heights. The group would go on to release a second album in 1984 entitled ‘Inspiration Gave Them Motivation To Move On Out Of Their Isolation’ with a more refined sound and additional vocals by Crass' Eve Libertine and Joy de Vivre.

Penny Rimbaud tells us; “D&V are so named because they turned up to play at the now legendary squat gig of 1982 at the Zig Zag Club in North London. At that time, they didn’t have a moniker, so they were chalked up on the day’s order of play as D&V (drums and vocals) because that’s what they were and that’s how they remained. Simple and to the point, they were precursors to rap which later both rhythmically and vocally came to mirror their fierce rhetoric. A northern band with streetwise sentiments, they spoke loud and clear of disenfranchisement (call it slavery) and the vicious class system which created it. From street to stormy skies, D&V were on the up, and hard rains began to fall.”

Reel People Music breaks new ground, in more ways than one, with the launch of fresh compilation series Broken, Deep & Dope. A spin-off from acclaimed compilation brand Soulful, Deep & Dope – introduced back in 2015 – this new series sees the much-loved independent imprint pushing further at the boundaries of soulful music. All with that customary Reel People feeling.

Broken, Deep & Dope 2024, the series’ first instalment, unleashes 20 superlative examples of the soulful ‘bruk’ (broken beat), nu beat and nu jazz sound that has so innovatively informed contemporary dancefloors around the world since its inception back in late Nineties West London.

Bringing together classic cuts from the Reel People Music stable (including those by Daz-I-Kue, Monkey Brothers and Reel People) and key productions from some of its closest affiliates and biggest inspirations (such as Vikter Duplaix, Jazzanova, Bugz In The Attic, Kaidi Tatham, and Sean McCabe), this white-hot selection nips and tucks beautifully between stuttered Latin and Afro rhythms, deep house-edged jams and soaring flights of soul-jazz fancy.

Reel People Music is a label borne out of the soulful success of acclaimed collective Reel People but representing so much more. Launched in late 2009, the imprint has built a fiercely loyal international fanbase through its passion for artist development, musicianship, song-craft and authentic soulful groove.

Broken, Deep & Dope 2024, with its scattered yet compulsive beats, frisky basslines and acrobatic melodies, promises to further expand Reel People Music’s reputation for soulful depth and drama. Gathering old and new favourites from some of the world’s finest taste-making DJs and producers, this is another scorching, oh-soul essential hustle. End of.

Any reasonably knowledgeable fan of post-punk will likely recognise the name of Una Baines. A founder of both The Fall and Blue Orchids, Una's influence in the development of both bands is a matter of historical fact . . . so much so that people scarcely realise how few recordings she's actually made - a solitary 7" with The Fall, one LP and a few singles by Blue Orchids, and that's it, barring her most recent recording, The Fates' obscure album "Furia", released nearly forty years ago on a tiny label until its rediscovery a few years back on the Finders Keepers label. Una's spent much of the last four decades working in community organising, raising a family, and functioning as a symbolic godmother to many Mancunian artists and musicians who cite her as an aspiration and mentor. Her band Poppycock has undergone several line-up changes between their sporadic - almost exclusively local - live appearances. Una was never shy in describing her personal ideals and artistic expression in terms of feminism - even if the term was occasionally derided by some female punk artists. "Magic Mothers" displays a consistency of vision rare traceable back to interviews she did during The Fall. Hearing it, we're reminded of the emotional fierceness set against pop arrangements from acts like Look Blue Go Purple and Dead Famous People, or the spare pop jazziness found in songs by Marine Girls, Tracey Thorn's pre-fame combo. The arrival of "Magic Mothers" will come as a surprise to many. Though recorded in fits and starts over the last fifteen years, it's a cohesive statement with an expansive cast of friends and allies, including Blue Orchids' Howard Jones and The Fall / House Of All's Simon Wolstencroft, plus many others. The original keyboardist for both The Fall and Blue Orchids, Una Baines returns with her brilliant musical partners for her first album in 39 years

Big Wave, the sixth full-length release from the Catalan singer-songwriter, strides boldly in a new direction, its songs charged with a fresh power -- precipitated by changes in her personal life. On her previous albums, particularly Hardcore From The Heart and Dripping Springs, Joana's music engages in a tug-of-war between fragility and intensity, a dynamic that has caught the attention of major publications such as Mojo, Uncut, and The Guardian, as well as Lauren Laverne, Guy Garvey and Gideon Coe on their BBC 6 Music show. Her songs have been described as "torrents of familiar heartache made startling and luminous". Big Wave retains her characteristic use of reverb and pop melody, but is tighter, fiercer, shrouded in distortion. An emotional and sonic ferocity because "I wanted to be more aggressive," Joana explains. "Because I was going through a period where I was feeling very uncomfortable."

Wormrot's 2011 follow-up to 'Abuse' is about as far from "the difficult second album" as you can get, presenting an even more refined, stream-lined and dynamic take on their ferocious grindcore sound. Whipping past in less than eighteen and a half minutes, there's not a second wasted here whatsoever, and the trio's musicianship has been honed to perfection. The blastbeats are even faster, the riffs even heavier and vocalist Arif deploys an even wider array of shrieks, grunts, growls and barks this time. Whilst the addition of new drummer Vijesh in 2015 would take the band to even greater heights, this is arguably the original lineup's defining statement.

In the process, the saxophonist presents some of his fiercest playing yet. The quartet's synergy is of a unique blend, with each player's distinct voice adding to an ensemble sound capable of conjuring both the quietest storm and the most passionate crescendo. Hershkovits's bountiful stylistic reach and fluent technique swirl around Oded's unmistakable tenor tone with Klampanis providing both backbone and melody, adaptable yet guiding - just like his rhythm- partner Almeid

One can hardly imagine the genre-busting, culture-crossing musical magic of Outkast, Prince, Erykah Badu, Rick James, The Roots, or even the early Red Hot Chili Peppers without the influence of R&B pioneer Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli to Ludacris have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music.



There is one testimonial about Betty Davis that is universal: she was a woman ahead of her time. In our contemporary moment, this may not be as self-evident as it was thirty years ago – we live in an age that’s been profoundly changed by flamboyant flaunting of female sexuality: from Parlet to Madonna, Lil Kim to Kelis. Yet, back in 1973 when Betty Davis first showed up in her silver go-go boots, dazzling smile and towering Afro, who could you possibly have compared her to? Marva Whitney had the voice but not the independence. Labelle wouldn’t get sexy with their “Lady Marmalade” for another year while Millie Jackson wasn’t Feelin’ Bitchy until 1977. Even Tina Turner, the most obvious predecessor to Betty’s fierce style wasn’t completely out of Ike’s shadow until later in the decade.



Ms. Davis’s unique story, still sadly mostly unknown, is unlike any other in popular music. Betty wrote the song “Uptown” for the Chambers Brothers before marrying Miles Davis in the late ’60s, influencing him with psychedelic rock, and introducing him to Jimi Hendrix — personally inspiring the classic album Bitches Brew.



But her songwriting ability was way ahead of its time as well. Betty not only wrote every song she ever recorded and produced every album after her first, but the young woman penned the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty’s career would be her unbending Do-It-Yourself ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal.



Her 1974 sophomore album They Say I’m Different features a worthy-of-framing futuristic cover challenging David Bowie’s science fiction funk with real rocking soul-fire, kicked off with the savagely sexual “Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him” (later sampled by Ice Cube). Her follow up is full of classic cuts like “Don’t Call Her No Tramp” and the hilarious, hard, deep funk of “He Was A Big Freak.”

Rising from the fiercely DIY Philadelphia underground, CARLY COSGROVE graft achingly vulnerable lyrics atop a bed of mathy rhythms, intricate guitar work and a penchant for indie-rock cool meets emo authenticity. Their debut album, 2022's See You In Chemistry, was the sound of figuring life out in real time, tracing personal growth through anxiety, depression, and self-actualization - heavy subjects for a band originally formed as a low-stress side-project stopgap in 2018.

The quest for the answers to life's big questions is once again front and center on the band's second album, THE CLEANEST OF HOUSES ARE EMPTY, as Naylor, bassist Helen Bars and drummer Tyler Kramer find themselves face to face with the chronic emotional struggles of life in the modern age.

From the stop-start polyrhythms of first single "You Old Dog" and garage-rock sheen of "Random Dancing" and "What Are You, A Cop," which sounds like Motion City Soundtrack filtering "Everlong" through their idiosyncratic rock tilt, The Cleanest Of Houses is the type of record Carly Cosgrove simply couldn't have made last time - not musically, and certainly not emotionally. They needed to live, through hard touring and harder life experiences.

Noted for a distinctive voice, a tender way with a ballad and a fierce sense of swing, singer–pianist Blossom Dearie invested even the most familiar standards with her delightful, one-of-a-kind wit and charm. The selections included here are from the iconic series of albums Dearie made for Verve Records beginning in 1956. Ooh-la-la!.

"The debut longplayer from Washington, DC-based Ekko Astral is a complex mesh of bubblegum noise punk and no-wave art rock that holds an elastic space for the knotty, tangled horrors of living in the imperial core. Their songs thrash with intense, necessary defiance against codified gender-based violence, their distortion and sibilance a direct response to the dangers outside our front doors.

pink balloons opener “head empty blues” specifically bites back against the terrors of the normative male gaze that dominates so much of American culture. Over a post-punk passage that plays call and response with a wall of harsh noise, frontwoman Jael Holzman belts playfully morbid details of the head-exploding anxieties that haunt her daily: “is it bon eye-ver or bon iver? / i don’t care / i’ve got stalkers outside / not going out tonight / gonna sit and take pics / in my underwear.”

Holzman formed the band in 2021 with best friend Liam Hughes (guitar), and eventually rounded out the band’s lineup with Miri Tyler (drums), Guinevere Tully (bass), and Sam Elmore (guitar). Ekko Astral’s local scene quickly welcomed the band for their wildly fierce live presence, emboldened by the community-building message behind the band’s mascara mosh pit brand.

Ultimately, Ekko Astral are here to uplift, a mission exemplified by the frenetic and bewitching pre-release singles “baethoven” and “devorah,” cornerstones of pink balloons in both style and theme. The former serves as a reminder to keep your larger than life personality in a world that wants to downsize you, where the latter proclaims urgent solidarity with missing and murdered people. Such crucial messages of upliftment are the foundation of pink balloons, and, by extension Ekko Astral, whose thrashing debut leaves no stone of solidarity unturned."

It’s time to embark on the next chapter of extra-terrestrial worldbuilding - the second instalment of Seismic Records is here. Stepping in is sonic explorer Pyramid of Knowledge a.k.a. K.O.P 32. Based in Seoul but born and raised in France, the Beyond The Bridge label head is blending his Tekno roots with an introspective approach to music, carving out a trademark sound led by pensive rhythms and psychedelic atmospheres. With fierce precision and spellbinding force - you’re invited to explore the unknown depths of your psyche as you enter the state of ‘Fusion’. In all its ominous grace, the journey takes off with ‘CFU’. A kaleidoscope-esque acid ritual is guided by subtle yet uptempo kicks, lifting us into the first phase of the cleansing. Followed by ‘Xer’, where an ancient chant introduces the next dimension of consciousness-expansion. The progression of energy tells us that the higher powers have bigger plans for us - a phase that is entered on the B-side. ‘TV’ surges in tempo and raises blood pressure with an annihilating paradox of the calm and the chaotic. For those who managed to withstand all phases of the occult test, reconciliation is near as ‘Yrots’ strikes down with a mind-warping drum workout for the body and soul. Enter the heart of a psychedelic odyssey and swirl into the labyrinthine pathways of your ego as you enter the Fusion by K.O.P. 32.

After reigniting Fruit Merchant and firing out a string of club-ready releases, Hidden Spheres is back again. This time teaming up with Private Joy for new floor-filler ‘Hold on Me’.

It's a track about being totally under someone's spell despite the relationship starting to turn and show its true colours.

Yearning reflections and hard realisations all served over two different mixes. One blending refined deep house rhythms and textures. The other is fierce, acid laced and driving, aimed at those peak moments in the club.

Co-founded by Detroit natives Rahill Jamalifard and Lenny Lynch, Habibi got its start in Brooklyn in 2011, earning early raves every- where from Pitchfork and NME to All Things Considered and The New Yorker, who praised the band for infusing “the Colgate-white glisten of sixties-girl-group pop with an uncensored edge.” Dreamachine, Habibi’s mesmerizing new record releasing on Kill Rock Stars, marks a major sonic evolution for the band, rising beyond the critically acclaimed five-piece’s garage rock roots to arrive at a singular swirl of analog and digital elements that underpin their search for spiritual and physical transcendence. Produced by Tyler Love and longtime collaborator Jay Heiselmann and featuring MGMT multi-instrumentalist James Richard-son, the collection draws on a mix of post-punk, experimental pop, and vintage disco, calling to mind Tom Verlaine, Diana Ross, Kate Bush, and Kim Deal, all filtered through the band’s shared love of Middle Eastern psych music. The songs here are their own distinct worlds, each an immersive quest in pursuit of something greater, and the band’s performances are relentless and hypnotic to match, driven by lush synthesizers, sinewy guitars, and a muscular rhythm section. The result is a record as fearless as it is enthralling, an alternatingly fierce and joyous work that ascends to new heights as it reckons with desire and escape, love and surrender, rebellion and reality.

The Bratislava-based band 52 Hertz Whale release their new album Present Sense Impression in a collaboration of the labels Weltschmerzen and Full Moon Forum.

Three years since their album I've Met a Lot of People, the band brings forth a lot of new ideas, finding a new resonant space, and utilising the fierceness // savageness of their live shows, in an intimate stare at contemporary guitar music.

52 Hertz Whale is a band well known in the Central European music context. Their ferocious sound, mixing the intensity of post-punk, heavy guitar wails, and melancholic // stark vocals of Dominik Prok has been tearing down the fixtures of many festivals and venues, all the while being a great example of a band driving at 200mph nonstop. On Present Sense Impression, the band, composed of Dominik Prok, Dominik Fabian, Patrik Nagy, Tomáš Tabiš and Adrián Krišák, have arrived at a record full of manifold manifestations of their live sound, but at times recalling the more marginal waves of 80s pop // rock sound. Resolute drums, heavyweight guitar and bass riffs now deem closer to the lightness of early ethereal darkwave, just to indulge in the classic melancholic heaviness they are known for only seconds after.

Some of the songs have been produced by "Prague's favorite rock'n'roll enfant terrible" Lazer Viking as well as Pulp Studio's Jakub Hríbik, and one features a special guest - the cemballo virtuoso Marcel Comendant. The traditionally stunning artwork was created by the accomplished Martin Mesaroš.

Present Sense Impression is the 20th album released under the Slovak romantic // experimental label Weltschmerzen focused on emotionally hypercharged, humanely intertwined, and acutely sounding contemporary music. This time in collaboration with the czech label Full Moon Forum. It releases August 26th on limited edition baby pink, standard edition black vinyl and on all streaming platforms.

The creation and release of this record have been supported using public funding by the Slovak Arts Council, and SOZA. Fullmoon Forum project was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.