Buscar:soni

Summer was conceived as an entry point for Sonae to access and wrestle with difficult themes, to engage with them authentically, artfully, personally. It was also the starting point for a collaborative audio-visual project with video artist Jennifer Trees (the confronting multimedia installation that premiers in September 2021 at Stadtgarten, Cologne).

Summer articulates these ideas using the unique musical and sonic language that Sonae has been developing across previous releases. The expressive textures and tender melodics of 2015’s Far Away is Right Around the Corner; the atmospheric noise and brute unease of 2018’s I Started Wearing Black; the vicious edges of her 2019 remix-tape Music For People Who Shave Their Heads. Summer is haunted by blistered cellos and spectral string drones, the elegant and emotive movement around diatonic harmonies that echo the classicism and bucolic themes of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (1775). Like Vivaldi, Sonae’s work is programmatic, presenting a progressive, intensifying narrative and suggesting aural phenomena of the natural world - buzzing insects, breaking rocks, waves crashing, dust and heat rising - and characterising the seasonal spirit as capricious, volatile and punishing. In these ways, Summer is related to pastoral traditions of European classicism, evoking the aura of doomed and dust-blown gothic grandiosity. It also has feet firmly planted within the lean, sound worlds of underground techno - pulsating four-on-the-floor beats with deep, vibrational sine-wave sub kicks; elegantly bleak, distorted atmospherics that straddle the uncanny space between corrosion and euphoria. The result is a visceral and poetic listening experience. Original, highly affecting, fully engaging body, mind and soul. (…)

Sonae’s music evokes imagination, provokes emotion, and disrupts and defies expectations. She explores the edges and intensities of experience, creating audible and embodied sensations that suggest the physical, atmospheric, and psychological effects of global warming on a living organism. We feel the fatigue, the slowness, sweatiness, dizziness, the sensations of uncomfortable warmth and burning; the atmospheres are hazy, dark and heavy, articulations are brutish and tactile, crunchy and sharp; there is restlessness and resignation, desolation and awe.

Summer is not a warning. It is not an explanation or an argument. It offers no answers. Summer simply holds up a mirror and asks us to experience and behold both the beauty and the brutality of our present reality. It is a work of protest, grief and hope, and it functions as a space for the listener to reckon with these truths and sensations for themselves. (Leah Kardos, London, June 2021)

Sonae (Sonia Güttler) is a German electronic producer and DJ, based in Cologne. Her acclaimed debut album was released in 2015 with Monika Enterprise (Berlin) followed on the same label with her second album in 2018 : ‘’I Started Wearing Black’’. Her Third album ‘’Music For People Who Shave Their Heads’’ has been released in 2019 with bit-phalanx (London).
Sonae plays live solo and with the label collective Monika Werkstatt at places like Institut Für Zukunft (Leipzig), Meakusma Festival (Eupen), Ausland (Berlin), Pop Kultur Festival (Berlin), Fusion Festival (Germany), Uh-Fest (Budapest), Cafe Oto (London), 23rpm Festival (London) The Cube (Bristol) and more on the same bill with Squarepusher, Plaid, Darkstar, Kyoka, Frank Bretschneider, Tim Exile.

After spending 6 years on a shitty pop-punk train, and releasing tons of records, THE VAPIDS bunkered down and emerged with CHARM SCHOOL DROPOUTS. A giant kick in the ass to everything that was going on at the time. Originally released on CD in 2001, SKR pressed the first (terrible looking) vinyl version in 2008, and now, a proper and sonically ferocious repress in 2020!

semi clear green vinyl

"Since our debut release on YUKU, our perspective about the many creative possibilities open to us has evolved.

With "MAKTUB," meaning "It's written," we're clearly stating that it's time to dive deeper into our musical ethos and production. It represents a significant step in our self-discovery, and a big step forward from the debut EP.

On this sonic architect project, we managed to make a strong cross-Atlantic connection with the various features on this LP and make geographical boundaries evaporate. This genre-fusion release was formed in pure isolation and solitude from all sides, but the final outcome brings a feeling of even stronger unity within TRAKA, and also at same time preserves our personal individual creative identities."
- TRAKA

Blackpool based quartet Blanket release their 2nd full length album on October 8th via Music for Nations. 'Modern Escapism' takes the post rock blueprint of the band’s 2018 debut full length 'How To Let Go' and infuses it with reverberating waves of shoegaze eclecticism and sudden outbursts of savage metal. The record’s sonic palette takes the ethereal fluidity of Slowdive, the vicious down tuned riffs of Deftones and the epic euphoria of Mogwai and coalesced them together into something far more cohesive. A 10 track transparent orange LP.

Truly, the luscious, soulful new album from Manchester singer-songwriter Caoilfhionn Rose (pronounced Keelin) moves through a tapestry of curious musical inflections; nods towards folk, jazz, ambient, electronica and even a subtle influence of psychedelia, it never stands still to take a breath, despite its ethereal and delicate core. Out April 9th on Gondwana Records (Mammal Hands, Portico Quartet, Matthew Halsall, Hania Rani), in Truly, the young singer-songwriter has accomplished a body of work that is both sonically and lyrically wise beyond her years.

Co-produced by Kier Stewart of The Durutti Column following Rose's collaborative endeavours with them on their album Chronicle LX:XL, the musician's song writing draws from a diverse palette of influences, including Building Instrument, Rachel Sermanni, Alabaster dePlume and Broadcast. Rose also professes to a love for beautiful, stripped back, piano based music, such as Dustin O'Halloran and label mate Hania Rani.

Truly came to exist due to a deep-routed need to create – even though its conception was interrupted as Caoilfhionn Rose recovered in hospital from an illness, she found strength within writing music. "In Spring 2019 I took part in a gig swap with my good friend and fellow musician Kristian Harting who is from Denmark. We played several gigs in the UK but unfortunately the Denmark part of the tour was cut short as I was taken ill. I was hospitalised for several weeks and have taken the last year out to recover" says Rose. "I gradually returned to finishing my second album" she continues. "Coming back to creating after being unwell was challenging but also therapeutic. This record marks a difficult time of my life and writing it helped get me through that. I am really grateful to have music as an outlet." It may be this tremendously challenging period that has abetted its characterising qualities.

Rose's beautifully restrained vocal is all at once soothing yet mesmerising. She demands and holds attention through her evident talent yet hypnotises the listener into a trance with her experimental tendencies. "After being unwell, getting back to recording helped me recover my voice after not singing for so long. Finishing bits of songs, writing lyrics and recording vocals helped me get back on my feet and get better."

Lead single from the album – 'Flourish' – is an intoxicating song that meditates on being present in the moment, allowing peace to come to you. "The song 'Flourish' is about looking forwards with hope and possibility, 'let it flow away, let it turn around and flourish'. It's about finding peace and feeling wonder again" says Rose about the track. "'Flourish' hints at the ideas of what could be, how things can unfold if you let go 'and just be here'."

A message of hope is instilled throughout the record, echoed again in 'Fireflies', a song inspired by a campsite in France, which became filled with fireflies at night. "To me 'Fireflies' has a nostalgic and comforting feel. It's about feeling hopeful about the future 'though there may be dark clouds the sun will always come'. There are references to older lyrics I have written. The line 'free from all the chaos' is a nod to a song I collaborated on with The Durutti Column. The song is about acknowledging the past and moving on as 'time is always healing'."

A recurring theme of reflection and being grounded in the present, acknowledging the past and looking forwards with courage is one that envelopes 'Truly', and is something that is echoed in its beautiful swelling flourishes and its tranquillity – resonating with atmosphere, the album all at once sounds so large and yet so subdued. "The line on Every Waking Minute; 'we forget what lies behind the eyes' is about remembering that everyone has their own things going on and challenges to face but we should 'feel every waking minute', become aware of what's unfolding around us outside of our own stories. It's a self-reflective song really, reminding myself that 'life can take you bysurprise', there are going to be ups and downs along the way"

Elsewhere on the album, Rose explores the connection between nature and life on single To Me. "I love going on long walks and the healing power of nature is a recurring theme in a lot of my lyrics. I have a very optimistic outlook and I find solace in the small things like being outdoors."

Caoilfhionn's debut Awaken, co-produced with label mate Matthew Halsall, saw the singer, songwriter and producer tie together remnants of Manchester's musical past with its evolving present. Prior to this, the artist collaborated with one of her biggest musical influences, Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column. The musician worked with the Manchester band on four songs on their album Chronicle LX:XL. "I've learnt a lot from collaborating with musicians like Vini Reilly, Matthew Halsall and my bandmates" says Rose. "This is reflected in my current style and approach to making music. I no longer just write as a therapeutic or reflective process; I can write more abstractly and outwardly."

Kier Stewart of The Durutti Column co-produced her latest offering, Truly, following his band's collaborations with Rose. "I befriended Kier after we worked together. Collaborating with The Durutti Column was my first experience of recording music with other people in a studio." Together, the pair have created something expansive yet fragile – and altogether unique. "He's brought so much to this project" she says. "I feel Keir has brought out the best in the songs, adding really intricate and subtle details and effects. It was inspiring getting to work with Keir and I've learnt a lot from his approach of just experimenting and seeing what works."

Erneut ist der Detroiter Selektor, Produzent und Labelbesitzer (Pure Sonik Records) DJ T-1000 auf BPitch Berlin gelandet, diesmal mit „The Dirrty Underground EP“, einem dreckigen, stampfenden und perkussiven Back-to-Basics Techno 4-Tracker.
DJ T-1000 a.k.a Alan Oldham ist eine zentrale Figur der Techno-Geschichte. Der in Detroit geborene und in Berlin lebende DJ begann seine Karriere in den frühen 90ern mit Underground Resistance und ist ein äußerst vielseitiger Produzent, dessen Musik auf zahlreichen Labels wie BPitch und Tresor erschienen ist. Hinter den Kulissen betreibt er legendäre Detroit-Labels wie Generator, Pure Sonik und Detroitrocketscience. Gleichzeitig hat er als Grafiker und Illustrator ikonische Cover- und Merch-Artworks für Djax-Up-Beats, +8, Transmat und viele mehr entworfen.

What makes a being ? What tends to be, always, and yet remains never achieved ? Jonnnah puts on this set of imagination many parts, many pieces, many elements. In this ninth release on Worst Records, the Lyon based musician gathers all the impressions defining this nebula. « Mental & Physical » is a collection above all things. We talk about a collection of influences. Industrialized trip-hop, dubstep for concrete spaces, new-age-infused ambient daydreams, links are hazy but incarnate. A constant rotation, between extasy and uneasy meditation, shapes this mass of artefacts that seems almost involuntary as they dig so deep into instinctiveness. At the root of this first magmatic opus lies a years long work in progress, a sonic research, the attempt to make live this body of vapour which is the music in becoming. It's a listening with no answer, but the pulse is vivid and vital.

No less than 12 months later arrives ‘Deep Blue View’ – not so much of a follow-up, as a mini-flipside moving the Jazz from AM to PM, between city and sea.
“I originally had AM Jazz down as walking around some New York backstreet at 4am, smoking in a fedora, looking for crimes to solve but it now ends as night begins,” reveals Al, of his latest tale’s gradual evolution. “Deep Blue View is the night-time album now… like losing yourself deeper in the fog, or disappearing in the sea… would someone, or some 'thing' come to save you or would they , or it , come along for the ride?”
Usually by now, Daveyhulme’s own could-be John Barry would have left distractions of success for suburban side-projects and writing with his fellow Mancunian musicians, but AM Jazz left unfinished business - and, with 50 or so session recordings leaving a litter of sonic debris strewn about the cutting room floor, one major clean-up. Deep Blue View is 6 brand new tracks crafted from its reconstructed and revived remnants, unfurling like Sinatra’s Wee Small Hours to reinforce the strangely beautiful atmosphere of Al’s now revered repertoire. “I had the urge to create something new and started playing around with different EPs and pseudonyms but when I sequenced these tracks, I was really happy how smoothly they flowed; it just needed an opener. I quickly wrote ‘Deep Blue View’ and it fell into place. It’s great, so I carried on, knowing it was time to save the best stuff for myself,” Al grins.
Just as AM Jazz was created in the spirit of his earlier working style on debut album Tower of Love, Deep Blue View fuses Al’s love of finding the ‘right’ in the odd, weird, back-to-front and everything in between, with the hi-fi meets lo-fi sounds of his crate-digging curiosity and empathy for TV themes and movie soundtracks. Guided by melody, his home-based sorcery of working with analog, tape and field recordings opposed to the lure of studio mechanics allowed his inner subconscious to tap at the door and reveal itself in new musical forms. “In the studio it’s tempting to turn everything up loud but I’ve got bad tinnitus and don’t want to write anything else in a Beatles style. I have done all that now… at home I have a computer, a microphone and just go crazy and lose myself staring at the screen. Then suddenly loads of music is written.”
Setting his inner autopilot to flight mode, ‘Peppergone’ adds to the tracks’ nocturnal narrative and appears reborn after a last-minute culling from AM Jazz’s initial tracklist. Like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, it is a fitting tribute to dearly departed best friend 'Batfinks', written in the middle of a tough night. “I have no idea why or how the song came about because I was so upset to do anything, let alone record any music. But there you go. Somehow I did and it’s a really special thing. I know he would have dug me using his chords; growing up we’d both try to create the perfect chord sequence. This is his idea of that. I hope he doesn’t think it’s shit,” Al jests.
Also revived from AM Jazz’s archive is the simmering groove of ‘Night Talk Late Street’ and instrumental ‘Star Six Seven’, whilst ‘Have Another Cigar’ weaves its own semi-autobiographical fairy-tale with lyrics written and sung by long-time pal and former housemate Aidan Smith. Transformed from backing track into a cool morsel of story pop, it recalls the drunken joy of when the pair would make recordings together between singing the Everly Brothers at full volume. “I’m sure it’s about not wanting the musical party to stop and having to get on with real life,” Al says.
‘String Beat’ meanwhile, soars like a beautiful Bond theme with the shimmer of Lee Hazlewood holidaying in Palm Springs, alongside perhaps, the waltzing string-like synthonies of some long-lost rhythm and blues orchestra of Davyhulme (whose real-life origins reside with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra), introduced to him by Super Furry Animals’ Cian Ciaran. “I’ve never created anything this moody before and have always threatened to do something John Barry-esque with some slightly dark and spooky musical changes.”

* Kamana is a multiformat release inspired by and channeling the cultu- re and traditions of the Aeta, an indigenous group from the Zambales region in the Philippines. One of the oldest inhabitants of the region the Aetas are also some of the most fascinating and ancient nomadic and hunter gathering cultures. The release goes from the realms of the
real to the imaginary, from transcription to syncretism, from concrete to abstract. An (un)real Sonic Exorcism filled with

*Ancestral Frequencies, Haunted Ghosts and other animistic spirits roaming the Pinatubo forests.
The release features a series of materials released in different formats from the Field recording digital only release, an LP and CD release to a special 7inch vinyl featuring an Interview with a bat hunter.

* Kamana is a long due homage to the Aeta community that hosted me a few years back, fascinated by the endurance of these people and their connection to their land, devastated by the eruption of the Pinatubo volcano in 1991, they continued to go back to their ancestral lands surviving on basic agriculture and hunting bats and wild pigs. Living with them for weeks, I managed to capture some essential field recordings and sounds that form and com- pose the basis for this release, from the more reprocessed and interpreted LP release to the pure field recording documentation of the digital release. It is meant to be accessible to all and provide a window to the livelihoods of these unique communities. For this reason, this release serves as both an archival document and a syncretic one, trying to channel memories and feelings of living in these jungles whilst listening to their stories as well as witnessing their lifestyles.”
Carlos Casas, 2021

2021 sees the release of the long-awaited third album from Pola & Bryson - ‘Beneath the Surface’. Since their debut release in 2015, Pola & Bryson have transitioned from the exciting ones to watch to the unquestionable leaders of new school liquid drum and bass, grabbing the attention of the scene's greats in the process.

“Masterful production and musicality throughout, I love that the album has been made just as much for the home listener as for the clubs. For me, these guys are leading the new wave of liquid drum & bass.” Sub Focus

As digital streaming services continue to dominate as the primary source of music consumption, the wildly contested ‘death of the album’ debate continues to burn throughout the industry. To counteract the current trend of single tracks and playlist placements, Pola & Bryson wanted to experiment with a concept album.

“We envisioned a landscape to act as inspiration to us whilst writing this album. The landscape is made up of 4 distinct sections, each representing a different emotional state. The first being Shinrinyoku (a Japanese term for forest bathing), represented by a dense, peaceful forest environment. Mangata (loosely translates to moon river) takes you to the edges of a cold, misty lake which eventually leads you to Toska, representing a dark and endless cave. All transpiring with Yuugen, a vast and epic mountain range. The album, paired with bespoke animated visuals, paints the perfect reflection of the journey.” - Pola & Bryson

‘Beneath the Surface’ features collaborations with the drum and bass scene's hottest vocal talents, with each being selected to effortlessly meld with the respective soundscapes. After previously working with both Lauren Archer and Ruth Royall with beguiling success, Pola & Bryson knew that they wanted to send some ideas to both artists. This resulted in the creation of two beautifully blissful tracks ‘Under’ and ‘Friend’, which became the first two singles to be released from the album. While Solah and Kojo were specifically picked with their tracks in mind, Manchester favourite Strategy’s appearance on the release was an altogether more organic stroke of serendipity. The duo were unsure whether 'Anaesthetist' was going to make the cut as an instrumental, and were floating the idea of working with a vocalist when Strategy messaged them seemingly out of the blue. They knew in an instant that his sound was the perfect fit for the track.

Over the last five years, Pola & Bryson have steadily ascended from promising newcomers to well-respected leaders of the next liquid generation. The London based pair’s production credentials are now so well-respected that they have recently been commissioned for huge remix projects for Sub Focus x Wilkinson and Camo & Krooked and released a collaborative EP with Brazil’s legendary DJ Marky. Since their debut album ‘This Time Last Year’ on Soulvent Records and then 2018’s award-nominated Shogun Audio LP “Lost in Thought'', punters and peers have been on tenterhooks, anticipating what the duo would bring to the plate next. Effortlessly living up to its hype, anyone who journeys through the ever-changing soundscapes of ‘Beneath the Surface’ will be immersed into a new world of sonic expression.

Spaniard Cuartero debuts on LOCUS as he drops his slick four-track ‘Wasp’ EP this September.

A mainstay within Spain’s house music scene over the past decade, Malaga’s Cuartero remains one of the most consistent and well-supported names on the circuit. With releases via the likes of Hot Creations, Desolat and Saved, his recent material has seen a deeper and more minimal emphasis placed on his work, dropping material via Eastenderz, Constant Black and Djebali, plus his own Cuartero Concept imprint. Up next, September welcomes the addition of a new label to his catalogue as he makes his first appearance on LOCUS, delivering a quartet of crisp cuts in the form of his ‘Wasp’ EP.

The lively ‘Eucalyptus’ opens proceedings as swirling pads and rugged kicks bounce atop of nimble basslines, while ‘Assault’ employs rubbery, elastic bass alongside bright vocal interjections and sharp drum licks. On the flip, ‘Bagonda’ welcomes a deeper, warping journey through skipping hats, rich chords, and glitched vocals, before closing the show via the off-kilter and scattered yet impactful sonics of title cut ‘Wasp’.

Distant Populations, just the fourth full-length album of Quicksand’s career,
comes as a comparatively swift follow-up to Interiors--which itself came a
full 22 years after its predecessor, 1995’s Manic Compression.
Critically lauded and deemed very much worth the wait, Interiors succeeded
in reestablishing the band as the powerful and contemporary entity they had
always been.
Distant Populations has a punchier, more up-tempo sound than its predecessor; its 11 songs are concise, carved sonic jewels boasting not a single wasted
note; and its raw power, its gripping lyricism, leaps out from the very first listening. It is a striking step up for the band.
The songwriting itself had been no minor process: Following the release of
Interiors, the band successfully toured around the world and in the process
fully re-established their chemistry together. Looking forward to making the
next album, the three of them frontman/ guitarist Walter Schreifels, bassist Sergio Vega, and drummer Alan Cage had methodically recorded various
soundchecks, improvisations, and show rehearsals, and compiled the results.
“Eventually, when it came time to make a record,” Schreifels says, “we would
just edit down to the ones that were most exciting to us all, and then refocus
on them and see if we could recapture the magic from it.”
There may be a final irony in the title of Distant Populations. Practically speaking, that’s precisely whom Quicksand recorded it for: Listeners very far away.
Not a single one of these songs has ever been played live onstage. The band has
dates on hold for the fall, notes Schreifels, and fingers are crossed Quicksand
will be out there performing very soon. They will likely be the most memorable
shows of the band’s career

Docile Recordings continues with part three of a five cat series. Docile #30, the Alpha Cat ep, was produced, arranged, and crafted on vinyl by Andy Garcia at Archer Record Press in Detroit Michigan U.S.A.. This Docile is a reaction to the stimulus of sight and sound; experiences, people and places inspire a sonic approach steeped in the realization of a moment. Docile aims to capture and release this moment in a minimal style that is its own. The Docile style appropriates noise of any sort to weave into its mello brand of 4/4 digi-o-log techno. Docile will continue until it can not; to shape sound into a spartan beauty.
hese arrangements speak soulfully, whether disruptive or smooth they define a struggle.

A1- brian wilson rides again----- this tribute to a master reflects a studio awareness theory in the breakdown of a minimal “good vibration” . a bass line scales down leading waves of synth and effect to crash upon an ambling kick shifting steady through a western soundscape.

A2-too jada ta’ trotta---the trash can of audio is thrown down the stairs with this haughty mover rocking a rolling crash through digi-glitch symposium.

B1-bumper car cocktail party--- a patchwork rhythms stutter and form together in a ruff and tumble jaunt soothed by a sexy sax that brings the assembly into line.

B2----pong-----crisp hi-hats rotate next to a steady clap complimenting a ponging in various forms under a cloud of dramatic synth calming the animal spirit.

Since signing with Rhymesayers in 2015, Sa-Roc has continued to both invigorate and grow her fanbase with a string of singles, accompanied with powerful and visually enthralling music videos, including "Forever", which is nearing 4 million views on YouTube. In that time, she has continued to cultivate and sharpen her skill sets, and now she is set to release her first album for the label. Speaking on the meaning of the album's title and inspiration, Sa-Roc shares, "The Sharecropper's Daughter speaks to my father's actual beginnings on a Virginia tobacco farm where his family sharecropped. The title is meant to signify that both my father's and my upbringing, though so different, are linked by a shared history that informs the way I move through the world. Although his formative years were spent in the Jim Crow era of the south, where he suffered through poverty and racial oppression, and mine were shaped in the heart of DC, amidst the war on drugs and the effects of its fallout, the album finds points of connection in two very different yet tragically familiar stories of Blackness in America. It's a sonic reflection of the things we inherit. About the emotional weight that we unknowingly bestow upon the next generation; the genetic transfer of both trauma and triumph that we, both donors and beneficiaries, are tasked with reshaping into a future of our own." The Sharecropper's Daughter album is entirely produced by a veteran renaissance man from the Atlanta Hip Hop scene, Sol Messiah, with the exception of "Deliverance" produced by Evidence. And, while Sa-Roc's crafty wordplay, razor-sharp delivery and exceptional writing are the prominent highlight, this undeniable quality is only further enhanced by stellar guest performances from a small, but formidable, all-star cast of guests, including Saul Williams, Styles P, Ledisi, Chronixx, and Black Thought. This Fall, Sa-Roc seeks to demand her rightful place at the table amongst rhyme royalty with The Sharecropper's Daughter, at a time when the world is clamoring for powerful voices of substance, along with a patient and attentive fanbase who have already been tuned in, waiting for this moment. The time is finally here

The Body and BIG|BRAVE are both bands possessed with an
unequalled ability to convey overwhelming weight with
simplicity, repetition and detailed sonic atmospheres; artists who
continue to alter the definition of what it means to be a heavy
band.
The Body are consistently prolific while increasingly ambitious
as untethered producers and collaborators. BIG|BRAVE shape
sound with dense waves of guitar and feedback, minimalist and
hypnotic crashes and emotionally exacting vocal melodies. In
collaboration, The Body and BIG|BRAVE shift the gravity of
their compositions to woven layers of percussion and
unspooling guitars that sprawl through stark frameworks of
earthy folk.
Their debut collaborative album, ‘Leaving None But Small Birds’
distils the two ensembles’ pioneering approach to heavy music
into psalms for the forgotten, threnodies of lost love and odes to
vengeance.
Recorded, mixed and produced by Seth Manchester at
Machines With Magnets (Liturgy, Battles, Mdou Moctar) and
mastered by Heba Kadry (Björk, David Bowie).
“Emotionally coherent but tricky to categorize. BIG|BRAVE are
the sound of the raw unconscious, turned up loud.” - Pitchfork
“The Body have become one of the most interesting and difficult
to pin down groups in extreme music.” - Rolling Stone
CD in gatefold packaging with lyrics.
LP packaged with digital download card and inner sleeve with
lyrics.
Available to independent retailers on ‘LEVON’ (greenish clear)
coloured vinyl.
Cover features artwork by Bo Orr (also created artwork and
videos for Full of Hell and The Body).

Aukai is a Hawaiian word meaning ‘seafarer’ or ‘traveller’. It’s also used as a proper name, and people who are called Aukai tend to have a mystical, philosophical, introspective nature. All of which makes Aukai the perfect name for the new album and project by multi-instrumentalist and composer Markus Sieber.
It’s a collection of ambient acoustic soundscapes that take the listener on an inward journey to a place of peaceful stillness and tranquil beauty. “This album has a lot to do with memories from travel,” says Sieber, “but also memories from childhood and nature. How did the river smell in summer? I wanted to create a sonic space where music guides the listener into some imaginative inner world.”

Ben Bertrand weaves transverse waves into otherworldly compositions. He embodies the singular motion of these melodic and harmonic forms in order to draft new sonic possibilities freed from the laws of the physical plane. Pulsating at the kernel of Ben Bertrand’s musical universe are vivid dreams generating the fabric of these tapestries. Dokkaebi is deeply familiar yet refreshingly unknown, like a comforting whisper from your subconscious. It gently drifts into perception, glistening like the sun sparkling off a glacier gliding along the edge of your vision.

Deep listening to these tonal sculptures is enriching. By opening oneself to their deliberate unfolding, you will discover new principles for sound organization far afield from common modes of operation. The gradual, rhythmic progression of his compositions are ever-shifting grains, which upon thoughtful contemplation, reveal astonishing worlds. Bertrand’s music is constructed from blueprints drafted with honest intentions aspiring to bring humans closer to a sense of wonder.

Ben Bertrand welcomes each listener to discover his music anew from their own perspectives. It is infinitely in time with your time. These are the ripples in the wake of successive revolutions of universal evolution. Dokkaebi is an example of musical expressions adapting to the contours of the human psyche through gentle reflection of multiplicity. They are sounds reshaping themselves to suit the contours of each individual’s subconscious—sonic entities projected simultaneously as molecular and holistic.

Dokkaebi is an oceanic expression softly set in motion by honest aims that echo and grow. Ben Bertrand beckons you to listen up and look in. There is great reward in this generous flow.

Ben Bertrand was accompanied by Christina Vantzou, Geoffrey Burton, Indré Jurgeleviciuté, Echo Collective: Margaret Hermant & Neil Leiter, Otto Lindholm.

Danish producer Uffe presents his innovative third LP Words and Endings, which further explores the boundaries between post-punk, dub, UK bass hybrids, and spiritual and free jazz. His first full-lengthouting on genre-breaking London imprint On the Corner, Uffe utilises the techniques that have long fueled his reputation as a purveyor of offbeat sonic fusions and delivers a diverse trip that leans into unusual territory with thrilling and unpredictable results.

Introducing USA based artist Jon Linskey aka ‘Sectra’ to Tectonic! With a truly unique sound, Sectra’s music sits among the crushing, claustrophobic weight of Shapednoise drone spaces, the percussive dexterity of a Detroit techno wizard and summoning the power of DMZ with sub bass sonics designed to hug your ankles.

‘A Demon In My View’ runs at a dangerous 90bpm, a total night stalker of a beat riddled with menace and the deep stench of fear. You will be scared, but that’s OK, we’ll get through this. ‘Counter Culture’ runs at 126bpm and projects us far out into distance space for a Sci-Fi adventure to a distant galaxy with a techno shaped rocket to propel us out there (well, there’s a 4/4 kick in there at least..).

Flip for ‘Ashes’ where we get a hint of dubstep influence melded with mangling technology and more perfectly placed sounds. Lastly we turn to ‘Bedlam’ which takes the pace down a few notches and we find ourselves hypnotized in a half-step, rocking gently, wrapped in a blanket, slowly shaking off the trauma.

Georgian DJ and producer Vulkanski returns to BITE with his first full length album Skeptical Answers. Serving as a longtime resident at Tbilisi club KHIDI, he’s also known as one of the key figures pioneering the local electronic music scene. Achi Tabukashvili stands for rich, vibrant techno and grinding, metallic soundscapes that are elegantly arranged through his high fidelity productions and singular dj sets. Vulkanski’s Skeptical Answers traverses over 10 tracks the infinite ranges between tectonic club techno, to UK-inspired IDM and broken beat, while reaching to contemporary weightless and electro territories. Producer Tabukashvili describes and questions a period of a deeper esoteric search through the labyrinth of contemporary viewpoints on instrumental sonics and its unexpected answers. In addition, Vulkanksi is known as one half of duo Greenbeam & Leon who began DJing and performing throughout Georgia in 2002. They notably appeared on Boiler Room in response to the police raids at Bassiani and Cafe Gallery 5 years ago. With Vulkanski’s debut BITE EP Science Gardens in 2018, he illustrated his detailed vision of his own dense soundscape productions culminating in a memorable Berghain debut for label cofounder Phase Fatale’s Ostgut Ton album release party in 2020. Now, Skeptical Answers examines a wider spectrum of sonic possibilities, aimed towards the most daring of dancefloors existing between the liminal bounds of club music and its deconstructions. A dissection of his focused elements in heavy electronics. ALSO INCLUDES DOWNLOAD CODE….

White Marbled Vinyl

Georgian DJ and producer Vulkanski returns to BITE with his first full length album Skeptical Answers. Serving as a longtime resident at Tbilisi club KHIDI, he’s also known as one of the key figures pioneering the local electronic music scene. Achi Tabukashvili stands for rich, vibrant techno and grinding, metallic soundscapes that are elegantly arranged through his high fidelity productions and singular dj sets. Vulkanski’s Skeptical Answers traverses over 10 tracks the infinite ranges between tectonic club techno, to UK-inspired IDM and broken beat, while reaching to contemporary weightless and electro territories. Producer Tabukashvili describes and questions a period of a deeper esoteric search through the labyrinth of contemporary viewpoints on instrumental sonics and its unexpected answers. In addition, Vulkanksi is known as one half of duo Greenbeam & Leon who began DJing and performing throughout Georgia in 2002. They notably appeared on Boiler Room in response to the police raids at Bassiani and Cafe Gallery 5 years ago. With Vulkanski’s debut BITE EP Science Gardens in 2018, he illustrated his detailed vision of his own dense soundscape productions culminating in a memorable Berghain debut for label cofounder Phase Fatale’s Ostgut Ton album release party in 2020. Now, Skeptical Answers examines a wider spectrum of sonic possibilities, aimed towards the most daring of dancefloors existing between the liminal bounds of club music and its deconstructions. A dissection of his focused elements in heavy electronics. ALSO INCLUDES DOWNLOAD CODE….

With 10 years in the 'biz' firmly under his belt, Jiah Wells is poised to release the first full-length LP of his Galtier project, Pulchra Es Elementis. Whilst Galtier is arguably one of the originators of the percussive style that would eventually fall under the Hard Drum label, the heightened theatrics of his recent output have seen him channel Blade Runner-styled sonics and move further away from absolute club functionality. Whilst Galtier's output often seems to soundtrack hypothetical, off-planet words, Pulchra Es Elementis turns the focus inwards: towards Wells' own emotional constellation, his evolving spirituality and his attempts to tap into planes of existence beyond the tangible. The album's Latin title translates to 'Elements are Beautiful' and encapsulates the artist's belief that there is grace in all of life's aspects; pushing past what we deem as good or bad, minuscule or massive.

Pulchra Es Elementis begins with Crystalised Larva, a brooding opener of breathy pad synths and expansive kick drums which reverberate through the mix as if the hits originate from the bottom of a valley. There's an indistinct sense of tension on this track, in part due to a central melody, which never resolves but only descends lower in pitch. This tension turns to explorative wonder on Wilfull Saviour, where a mirage of musical ideas come in and out of focus. Although the sonic worlds Galtier explores are internal to him, Wilfull Saviour still possesses that sense of a cosmic journey we've come to expect from Wells; an ardent fan of dystopian films and literature.

Continuing this emotional odyssey, Bruised, But Not Broken sees the artist push deeper into the psychological undergrowth; its murky tonality juxtaposes crisp, Reggaeton-inspired drum patterns with a heavily compressed one-note synth line that modulates wildly - cutting through the mix like a nagging thought that won't leave your mind. Next up is U Were, U Are & What U Will Be, one of the more club-ready tracks of the LP, which gets us moving with a snarling bassline and layers upon layers of percussive hits and inflections.

At Pulchra Es Elementis' mid-point is the LP's title track, a drumless interlude where blissful, shimmering synths create a patchwork of intensities. Galtier's approach to songwriting shines through here; ignoring musical pragmatics, he opts to feel his way through his compositions without knowing where they might end up. Following on from that weightless breather, Phantasiai turns up the freneticism with its head-spinning mix of drum programming and a glitched-out synth line that yo-yos up and down octaves. Things get even more furious on the Superficie-featuring Cavernam, a hollow Hard Drum banger inspired by Eskibeat sensibilities and designed to create a sense of self-implosion.

The album's penultimate track, (U Are) Beautiful, is a tale of two halves: beginning with a moment of serenity as synthesizers swell like an ocean tide before evolving into a marching crescendo of raw energy. Rounding off the album, Shine Forth hurtles through pacey drum work and all manner of strange zaps and klaxons before giving way to a final dose of nebulous ambience.

A musical journey unlike any other 'club music' albums, Pulchra Es Elementis is an LP that demands to be consumed in one sitting. Reflecting on his place within the universe and the musical landscape, the album could be viewed as a musical exorcism which sees Galtier working through and shedding huge chunks of his ego that stuck to him out of fear of the unknown. Pulchra Es Elementis begins on an insecure, overwhelming or, even, existential note before rounding off with a related sense of vastness seen with new, more positive eyes. It's a voyage we hope you will join him on.

On The Corner Records are proud to reveal the second instalment of their newly forged ‘Double Drop’ series, pairing together two EP’s from two different members of the OTC family, delivering a cosmically twinned, action packed slab of wax.

Label boss Pete OtC developed this series to introduce record players around the world to new artists coming through On The Corner’s region of the solar system. With Vinyl manufacture in pandemic pandemonium and questionable environmental impacts of the efficacy of Disco 12”s it seemed like a prime time to get laying the OTC family’s sonic landscapes onto highly collectible long playing EP pairings, with no represses and no compromise on the artwork, each side sporting a 20+ minute audio journey.

On the A-Side, and hot on the heels of the ‘Dub Protection & The Sportswear Mystics’ cassette, The Diabolical Liberties present their ‘Birds Of Paradise’ EP. This EP all but sold-out and follows the dynamite success of the Duo’s debut long player “High Protection & The Sportswear Mystics” and it’s follow-up hype cassette of dubbed out versions (as well as a series of self-released and long sold-out white
labels that included collaborations with Nyasha (a moniker of Nubya Garcia) and a super limited On The Corner 10” dubplate.)

DIALOGUE was conceived as a series of musical letters written back and forth between Luke Slater, Anthony Child (aka Surgeon), KMRU, Lady Starlight, Speedy J and harpist Tom Moth (of Florence + the Machine) at the height of the pandemic between 2020 and early 2021. Using the common language of rhythmic ambient electronics, each DIALOGUE features three actors in a sonic conversation of longform improvisation between 15 and 25 minutes in length, with Luke Slater the common denominator. The results are a brooding, psychedelic exchange of melody, texture, bass, oscillation, key changes and volume swells, which organically merge into complete compositions. It’s music that both reflects and transcends the artists' common reality of isolation – a meditative, consciousness-expanding conversion of musical ideas born from necessity. Cosmic but not escapist. And very much of its time.

The Velvet Underground is regarded as one of the most influential bands in rock history.

Their first 4 albums were included in Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Ranked 19th greatest artist by the same magazine and the 24th greatest artist in a poll by VH1.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Critic Robert Christgau considers them "the number three band of the '60s, after the Beatles and James Brown and His Famous Flames".

AllMusic wrote that "Few rock groups can claim to have broken so much new territory, and maintain such consistent brilliance on record, as the Velvet Underground during their brief lifespan ... the Velvets' innovations – which blended the energy of rock with the sonic adventurism of the avant-garde, and introduced a new degree of social realism and sexual kinkiness into rock lyrics – were too abrasive for the mainstream to handle."

The second release on JD Twitch’s archival label.

“By 1993 I was saturated in Acid. Over saturated!. Since 1987 there had been an endless explosion of records from across the planet using the 303 and it seemed like the sonic possibilities offered by this little silver box had hit a dead end.

And then in 1993, from Germany, came the Blue label with mind-blowing releases by Air Liquide and friends. It felt like a new paradigm, paying homage to Germany’s Kosmische Musik past while paying respect to the Chicago Acid House originators while simultaneously looking ahead to a new form of transcendental music.

And then – BOOM! – the H.E.A.D. “EFS” double album drops. What is this music? Was it beamed in from the future? It ticked every box I loved. Endlessly hypnotic and expertly programmed with an effortless groove that sounds as if Jaki Liebezeit’s syncopations have been absorbed by the machines. It is Acid in ways my ears hadn’t heard before, the little silver box tweaked in new, exhilarating directions.

Made by future Optimo ally Khan, alongside uber talent, Kerosene and recorded in a Brooklyn kitchen, this double disc set became an eternal home listening and back room favourite. It is also a club favourite too, perhaps even more so now than it was then. It is endlessly mixable and playable at multiple speeds. A genuine classic long overdue a second life”.

This fully remastered 2021 edition of this 1993 gem comes with new artwork on a super fat double vinyl pressing.

Global reggae stars SOJA are back with their first album in 4 years.
‘Beauty In The Silence’ features special guests Rebelution, UB40, Dirty
Heads, Slightly Stoopid, Collie Buddz and more.  SOJA deliberately took their time in creating ‘Beauty In The Silence’ as
they explored new sonic terrain, recording in such iconic spots as
Miami’s Circle House Studios and Dave Matthews Band’s Haunted
Hollow, and teaming up with producers like Niko Marzouca (Bob Marley,
Pharrell, Rick Ross, A$AP Rocky), Mariano Aponte and Johnny Cosmic.
The band eventually phased into working remotely as stay-at-home
orders set in across the country and, in that process, lead guitarist
Trevor Young (formerly SOJA’s guitar tech) took on a much greater role
in the band’s creative direction, co-producing alongside Hemphill and
carefully shaping the album’s hypnotic sound.  For more than two decades, SOJA have elated audiences across the
globe with their fresh yet timeless take on roots reggae, a sound born
from their shared passion for making music that transports and inspires.
The band was originally formed by a group of friends while still in middle
school and they have since built a massive, dedicated global fanbase. In
the years following, SOJA have headlined shows in over 30 countries
around the world, received multiple GRAMMY nominations and
generated 7 million social media fans and more than 1 billion streams;
attracting an international fanbase along the way, with caravans of
diehards following them from city to city.  “Charismatic bandleader Jacob Hemphill writes SOJA’s lyrics as an
attempt to find a path to unity in the world.” - NPR
 “SOJA has cultivated a dedicated global fanbase with their socially
conscious lyrics, catchy sound and a ceaseless touring schedule.” - MTV
 “Contemporary reggae with a forthright social conscience.” - Billboard
 “Over the course of their near-20-year career, SOJA has amassed a
loyal following for their social justice-minded brand of roots reggae.” - USA Today

VERY LIMITED COPIES OF THIS PREVIOUSLY RSD U.S. ONLY RELEASE

Engine Kid, the post hardcore collective featuring Greg Anderson (Southern Lord label owner, also in Sunn O))), Goatsnake & Thorr's Hammer) announce a special Record Store Day 6 x LP box set release Everything Left Inside, featuring the Novocaine/Astronaut 12 inch, Bear Catching Fish 2xLP, Angel Wings 2xLP and Split w/ Iceburn / Everything Left Inside 12 inch.

Almost 30 years since the inception of Engine Kid and the trio find themselves comprehending the enormity of their creation, honouring and celebrating the mountains they formed and the canyons they created.
Engine Kid was born in Seattle, WA 1991. The band's original lineup consisted of guitarist/vocalist Greg Anderson (Southern Lord, Sunn O))), Thorr's Hammer, Goatsnake), drummer Chris Vandebrooke & bassist Art Behrman. The three had all been in hardcore/punk bands around town and all had a burning desire to create a sound that was unlike anything they had done in the past. After just a few months of existence they quickly recorded and self-released the Novocaine 7”. Circa 92’ a close friend and bassist Brian Kraft (Krafty) replaced Behrman, and at that moment the entire aesthetic and execution of sound became heavier, darker and extremely dynamic. The power trio was picked up by local label C/Z records and set out upon recording the new music they were quickly creating. In 1993 the band had two releases on C/Z; their first offering was the Astronaut five song EP recorded by John Goodmanson. The songs were primitive and exemplified the bands worship of Slint and their loud/quiet song dynamic In the summer of 93’ the band drove all the way to Chicago to record with their hero Steve Albini in the basement of his house. They emerged with the eight song album they called: Bear Catching Fish. Albini intuitively captured the band exactly as they were at that moment: raw, vulnerable and mammoth.

Shortly after the albums’ release Jade Devitt replaced Vandebrooke on drums. This transition was extremely crucial in the “second phase” of the group. Devitt was an absolute beast and his power helped launch the band miles beyond where they had ever been before. The sound of “The Kid” started to transform into a sound much more of their own. The three dudes were hellbent on pushing the bounds of sonic exploration to its absolute fullest. Suddenly there was an abundance of depth within the sounds they were creating. Eclectic influences of punk/hardcore (Black Flag, Die Kreuzen), Metal (Entombed, Carcass) and even jazz (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis electric era) were in a full collision course with the already dynamically heavy foundation of the band. The levee had broken and the resulting flood of sound completely saturated everything in its path.

Engine Kid toured relentlessly. They were constantly on the road playing every nook and cranny they possibly could. Any moment not spent on the road was instead spent focused on making their new material as potent as possible. Early in 94' the band decided to pay homage to their mutual love of jazz/fusion and recorded three instrumental pieces that would become a split album with like minded powerhouse Iceburn. The Engine Kid/Iceburn album showcased each group's love of jazz loosely framed by the intense enthusiasm of underground music. The album was released by Revelation records in 1994.
During the summer of 94’ the band reconvened with producer John Goodmanson at Bad Animals & AVAST! studios to record the new material that was literally bleeding out of the reinvigorated trio. These recorded songs were much more progressive, heavier, harder and more focused than past works. They even tackled John Coltranes’ “OLE” adding saxophone and trumpet from their brothers in Silkworm. In March of 1995, Revelation Records released these recordings as the Angel Wings album. Unfortunately "the Kid" flew too close to the sun and broke up very shortly after the album's release.

Everything Left Inside 6xLP box set (RSD release) includes:
LORD 288.1 Engine Kid-“Novocaine/Astronaut” 12”
LORD 289 Engine Kid-Bear Catching Fish 2xLP
LORD 290 Engine Kid-Angel Wings 2xLP
LORD 288.2 Engine Kid-Split w/ Iceburn /Everything Left Inside 12”
16-page color photo/liner note booklet.

one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a

book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.

Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.

The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.

Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).

Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?

one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. On one hand, it’s a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs, on the other it’s a

book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of city life. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. The album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Due on September 24th from Saddle Creek and Next Door Records in Canada, the physical record will be released alongside a map of song locations and a songbook with chords and lyrics, inspired by Levy’s love of real book standards.

Levy penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing she made her way to Los Angeles to record with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) who had previously worked on 2020’s woman, here E.P. After a long walk to the studio each morning, Levy spent her session days diving into the arrangements, playfully letting everything fall in place with complete trust for her collaborators. She notes “Marshall’s expertise and experience with drumming and songwriting was the perfect blend for what the songs needed. He was able to support me in a harmonic, lyrical, and rhythmic sense.” Other contributors that left a notable fingerprint on the soundscape include drummer Tasy Hudson, guitarist Harrison Whitford (of Phoebe Bridgers band), and mixing engineer Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett). Many songs came together with a blend of studio tracks and elements from the pre-recorded demos.

The resulting sounds range from classic, soft-rock beauty to intimate finger-picked folk passages and night-drive art-pop. And the textures are frequently surprising due to the collage of lo-fi and hi-fi sounds that tastefully decorate the album without ever clouding the heart-center of the song. Tracks like “damn” and “oranges” feel timeless with their AM gold groove and 70’s studio sheen, while songs like “my love 4 u is real '', “salt spring” and “can’t stop me from dying” sound completely modern in their use of electronics, sound effects, and pitched vocals. In their subtle, sonic variety, all of the album’s songs flow together with ease into one big, romantic dream for Levy’s silken vocals to float above.

Inspired by personal experience, daydreams, and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, the lyrics of one hand... center storytelling on a bigger scale. The experience and emotions of a year are communicated through Levy’s vignettes of city life. Her prose is centered in its setting of the St Denis area of Montreal as it draws up memories from local haunts like Fameux, La Rockette, and Quai des Brumes in rearview reverie. Levy creates a balance through the album’s year by splitting her songs evenly into four seasons. Opening track “damn”, as a song of winter, kicks off the narrative with the events of a cursed New Year’s Eve party. Immediately this timeline becomes jumbled into a Proustian haziness. The listener is then led through the heat-stricken, brain fog of Summer song, “can’t stop me from dying” and then into the autumnal romanticism of “oranges” before returning back to New Year’s on “partner,” which Levy describes as “a woozy late-night taxi blues reflection on moments when timing can be so right, yet so wrong…”. These collected stories as a whole chart the unavoidable growth that comes with experience. “All is forgiven in time. All is forgotten in time. And when the music stopped, I heard an answer” (from “my love 4 u is real”).

Whether to consider these songs fiction or memoir remains unknown. On one hand, Levy says “Why would I try to write a story that’s not my own? What good would that do?” but on the other hand, she is quick to note the ways that language fails to describe reality, and how difficult this makes it to tell an actually true story. The poetic misuse of the word “sewing” in the album’s title serves as a nod to the limitations words provide. What does it mean to sew the garden? And how can we appreciate its carefully knit blooms when the rearview mirror is so full of car exhaust?

The Men’s hugely influential album Leave Home came out during an exciting time in New York City. DIY lofts and shitty bars littered downtown Manhattan and North Brooklyn. The Acheron had just opened its doors. Kill Your Idols had broken up. Toxic State Records was just getting started with Crazy Spirit, Dawn of Humans, Hank Wood and Perdition EP’s. The city was alive with punk and noise and filth. And right at that time, The Men were the show to be at.

Every gig was dripping with sweat. Hallways and sidewalks were packed between sets. Chaos reigned in the pit. The Men hit like a bag of hard cement, a hardcore band with a familiar sound but with an aura of absolute chaos and intensity, like everything was on the brink of going off the rails at every moment of their set, a downhill freight train with no brakes. During these shows one’s focus could shoot back and forth between the intimidatingly angry-eyed, bald-headed Chris Hansell (who went on to front Warthog) and the long haired hippie punks Mark Perro, Nick Chiericozzi and Rich Samis, that made up the surrounding band.

Just one of the many juxtapositions the band embraced. If The Men were a chapter in Michael Azzerad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, the early EP’s and cassettes would obviously be Minor Threat and Black Flag, while Leave Home would likely be… Sonic Youth. It was just before they made the full jump into each record being a smorgasbord of underground genres, from dream pop to folk;

before they had tracks called “Country Song,” for example. But it was a preview of what was to come. Leave Home was a pivot from pure hardcore punk (some might even call it mysterious guy hardcore), as the band got lost in the groove in a way one couldn’t on a straight up punk record. That groove was so strong on “If You Leave…,” “(),” and “Bataille,” while they spaced out on “Shitting With The Shaw,” and stayed as aggro as ever on “LADOCH.” But of course, Leave Home had a re-recording of their hardest track to date, “Think,” making it clear that they were still the moshers we all had come to know and love. If The Men raised their flag as an important New York punk band with Immaculada, they started waving it in the freakiest way with Leave Home.There is no doubt that Leave Home was one of the most influential records of the last decade.

You can hear their mark everywhere from Ty Segal and The Oh Sees to Milk Music and Hank Wood. Few bands have traversed as many genres as The Men and even fewer have done it so well. It is a testament to the band’s undying authenticity and adventurism that the record sounds as timeless and urgent now as it did when it blew the doors of New York punk off its hinges ten years ago, leaving a giant hole for bands of all kinds to come racing through.

When The Night Ends’ is the first collaborative release from Jens Pauly and Stijin Hüwels. The entire album was produced across two countries, Germany and the Belgium, as Jens and Stijn completed the work via a series of online exchanges.

Regardless of the distance between the two collaborators, Jens and Stijn seem to share a very intricate and natural bond, one that gave rise to a set of composition that seamlessly intertwine the sonic spectrum of both artists. Guitar strings, drones and field recordings effortlessly emerge, grow and disperse, as each composition introduces a new scenery of equally somber and rosy elements. This emotive interplay is a central thematic to the work and carries the album throughout its 4 longform works, resounding quietly they become the fabric of our thoughts, leaving us to ponder aimlessly, yet blissfully, amid nightfall and daybreak.

A work that literally immerses the listener into an acoustical substance. The sound becomes almost like matter, like jelly. Soon, you're swimming in sound, getting lost inside it.

With the Sonic Waters project initiated in 1978, my aim was to situate field of electronic music within a liberating and futuristic experience, outside the concert halls and in sync with the development of new instruments - in particular the Synclavier digital synthesizer, the first model of which I acquired in 1977. As concert space, the Pacific Ocean seemed to me to be the ideal experimental medium for both acoustic and cultural reasons. I then developed the aesthetic and technical elements that would contribute to the conception of Underwater Music. Numerous performances would follow spanning four decades, in natural sites or in large public pools such as those of Sydney, Paris or Venice during the 2006 Biennale.

Michel Redolfi (1951), French composer and sound artist, is the founder of Underwater Music. The natural elements captured and highlighted by experimental technology are a constant in Redolfi's catalogue: many compositions explore the earth environments such as in 'Pacific Tubular Waves', 'Jungles', 'Desert Tracks' (re-released on Sub Rosa records) and especially with 'Sonic Waters', a work that literally immerses the listener into an acoustical substance. During the mid-seventies Redolfi carried out his electro-acoustic research in the United States, with major electronic music centers including the California Institute of the Arts and chiefly the University of California in San Diego. As invited resident of their studios, Michel Redolfi launched the underwater music concerts, with the series 'Sonic Waters' performed in the Pacific Ocean. Michel Redolfi's underwater creations have since been regularly programmed by major international festivals, with multi-media installations held in ecological marine reserves or in historical city pools. Among them, the Sydney Festival, Paris 'Nuit Blanche', Ars Electronica in Linz, the 2006 Venice Biennale (nominated Golden Lion) and lately the 2018 Ars Musica festival in Brussels. This record presents different variations of Sonic Waters from 1980 to 1987, alternating studio mixes with their re-recordings in the depths of the Pacific. Michel Redolfi CD's and LP's are currently published by Sub Rosa, INA-GRM and Radio France.

This time you'll find the Wax's #plectrum with the vinyl; a little gadget to stimulate your musical fantasies. (only for the first 200 orders!)

Four years and ten releases later we can say that Apparel Wax -the vinyl-faced hero- has been able to always renew itself and its sound because, as our manifesto says, we try not to submit to any genre. We wanted every release to be the outcome of a long research through uncommon sounds and APLWAX010, yet again, is an unidentified sonic object picked up by our radar. The last one though! We didn't plan it, we just felt like the time has come -eventually- to close this beautiful chapter. More than one factor led us to take this decision: the progressive concern about the planet (therefore the impossibility to keep producing plastic bags and gadgets), the desire to leave at our peak and to invent something new are just two of them. The constant process behind the renewal of our sound -which we embraced ten years ago with the birth of Apparel Music- sometimes passes through hard choices and we need to feel again that sensation of 'void' in order to create something fresh, different, as we did when we started Apparel Wax. We won't drag our masked hero to a point of sonic stagnation. We'd like to send you all a big greeting and a heartfelt thanks for every second of your time spent listening to Apparel Wax, it literally meant the world to us. What was initially just a bold idea became a musical reference point for many people around the world, and we will be forever grateful to y'all because, without you, it would have never been possible. Finally, a huge thanks to all the artists involved in the project. They contributed with their art to a bigger cause, the biggest: music. YOU are the true masked heroes, you are Apparel Wax. As for us, we'll live on and our sound too. Our ideas, our passion and dedication for the one and only thing that really makes us happy will never die. Something new will always come on our end because that's our purpose, our philosophy. Manman, what a journey has been, now on to the next one!

Early support by: Laurent Garnier, AME, Marco Bailey, Jennifer Cardini, Terrence Fixmer, Kyle Geiger, Marcel Dettmann, Apparat, Richie Hawtin, Vril, Charlotte De Witte, Sasha, Benjamin Demage any many more..



Fresh off of a remix for Grimes’ “My Name is Dark”, producer Julien Bracht has been powering through CV19 studio seclusion on full-power, with a distinct vision for brighter days ahead. Bracht’s new album, “Now Forever One,” an emblem of dark analog synthwave, is set to drop June 11. Bracht’s first solo album under his own namesake is cut with surgical precision for the shoegazing astral sound travellers who long to break out of their pandemic quarantines, and reconvene for techno-induced ascension. The album’s first single, “Melancholia,” and it’s accompanying video, is already breaking hearts and charts. An exquisite sonic hybrid of communal revelry and profound introspection, “Now Forever One,” focuses Bracht’s multilayered craftsmanship on resolving this era’s angst with sensory exploration and optimism.



As a lifelong drummer, Bracht’s insatiable musical energy lead him to bang out his first 3 EPs within one year of first being signed in 2011-12. In 2015 he founded the band Lea Porcelain with Markus Nikolaus in London. Their hypnotic post-rock debut release in 2017, “Hymns to the Night,” gained instant acclaim from UK tastemakers Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq and Zane Lowe, to name a few. The lads broke back onto the international stage with dates on several major festivals around Europe, including the Leeds/Reading Festival, Great Escape Brighton and Latitude. Rich output combined with the inclusion of live drums in his solo live sets quickly gained Bracht recognition and slots on the global tour circuit.

“Now Forever One” forges Julien Bracht’s transition from techno djing, while continuing the explorations of texture and timbre over functional song structures from Lea Porcelain, to a more open-ended search for the aural sublime — the substrate on which music, life and light glide to create momentary nodes of meaning in an increasingly meaningless sociopolitical atmosphere. These are crucial themes to Bracht’s process and approach. “The intention in my music is to strengthen people’s awareness and minds… I want us all to gather in spirit and stick together.”

The album exemplifies Bracht’s hunt for elemental juxtaposition with the warm Prophet 6’s sawtooth howls and bright pads against chillingly indifferent pulsing basslines and percussion. Clocking in at just under 65 minutes, “Now Forever One’s” tracks are sequenced to take the listener through the full emotional arch of a 15-hour rave, with an emphasis on those moments of collective epiphany where heaving techno floors become the perfect microcosm for an idealistic and interconnected future. Interspersed with improvisational one-takes, the album submerges the listener in polyrhythmic meditations, of which “Streets” and “Nocturne” are standout examples, and soars on the vaulted synth melodies of future dance floor favourites “Melancholia” and “Dreams of Euphoria.” Sascha Ring of Apparat & Moderat puts it perfectly: “I played “Melancholia” the night I got it at Mutek Festival in Mexico City, and instantly knew it’ll shine on a big floor at the right time. It’s just the right balance of majestic melodic deepness.” The sounds are both triumphant and exploratory.

Greater than the sum of its parts, Bracht’s latest release hints at the artist’s emerging potential for nailing our moment’s zeitgeist; learning to live smaller while constantly seeking higher heights. Inhabiting the fertile ground between solitary rumination and dance-floor convenance, the launch of “Now Forever One’s” lunar expedition into the techno oblivion of pandemic lockdown is oddly fitting.

After an impressive label debut in March this year, Swedish pair Patrick Siech & Sandra Mosh re-link for a multi-faceted follow-up. Inspired by the '90s production ethos of broad-minded genre agnosticism, the EP spans a trio of dreamy, yet functional cuts, displaying the producers’ fluid production arrangements. A fourth track bucks the sonic trend, ‘PPMV1’ a tribute to a pigeon the duo rescued but ultimately succumbed to the virus of the same name. In contrast the track is a punchy bass-led weapon, simultaneously deliciously disorientating and immersive.

Siech has been a symbol of quality in the Swedish underground techno scene going back more than a decade, collaborating with the revered Sebastian Mullaert and releasing on Minus, Parabel and Break New Soil, among others. Sandra Mosh, similarly, is deeply respected by those in-the-know, gaining wide recognition with a show on Swedish national radio P3, playing festivals and clubs including Sónar, Berghain and Kazantip and running her own label MOSH Muzik.

Born in Brixton, a child of the Windrush Generation, Letts’ slippery and unorthodox career is somewhat hard to define, without taking a few detours around London, New York and Jamaica. He began his working life managing the dauntingly hip Acme Attractions on Chelsea’s Kings Road, where he made a mark with his attitude, dress and, especially, the pounding dub reggae that vibrated the shop’s walls. His first gig as a DJ at the short-lived Roxy in Neal Street, became mythical for turning a generation of punks on to reggae. They in turn hipped him to their DIY ethos resulting in his reinvention as a filmmaker. This led to a shed-load of music videos (Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Clash, Bob Marley) not

to mention documentaries on the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, George Clinton and Sun Ra.



In the ’80s, he was part of Mick Jones’ new venture, Big Audio Dynamite and his innovative use of samples were a core part of their sound. Listeners of his weekly 6 Music radio show are taken on a musical safari that moves seamlessly between time, space and genre. It’s not called Culture Clash Radio for nothing. So this latest bulletin from Letts HQ is merely one angle of a multifaceted personality, his take on the JA tradition of the cover version.



The history of Caribbean music owes a debt to R&B as many of the early island releases were cover versions of US 45s. Ska’s breakthrough commercially, Millie Small’s ‘My Boy Lollipop’, was originally recorded by Barbie Gaye in ’50s New York. Cover versions became quite a thing in Jamaica and Don, following in that tradition, has dug deep with a selection of interesting dubbed out covers including thirteen exclusives.



“A disciple of sound system, raised on reggae n’ bass culture my go to sound was dub. Besides being spacious and sonically adventurous at the same time, its most appealing aspect was the space it left to put yourself ‘in the mix’ underpinned by Jamaica’s gift to the world - bass. But that’s only half the story as the duality of my existence meant I was also checking what the Caucasian crew were up to not to mention the explosion of black music coming in from the States. That’s why this version excursion crosses time space and genre, from The Beach Boys to The Beatles, Nina Simone to Marvin Gaye, The Bee Gees to Kool & The Gang, The Clash to Joy Division and beyond. You’d think it impossible to draw a line between ‘em but not in my world. Fortunately, the ‘cover version’ has played an integral part in the evolution of Jamaican music and dub covers were just a natural extension.”



There’s a diverse mix of classic and new, with legendary figures like John Holt, The Tamlins and Cornell Campbell, mixed in with British veterans Mad Professor and the irrepressible Dennis Bovell, while (relatively) young striplings Kiko Bun, Emily Capell and Prince Fatty deliver the goods, with laidback Texan groovers Khruangbin also offering an exclusive bass heavy-delight.



The song choices are diverse, from French dubsters’ OBF’s renditions of ‘Sixteen Tons’, the miners’ paean popularised by Tennessee Ernie Ford in the 1950s, to Ash Walker’s refix of Omar’s ‘There’s Nothing Like This’ and ‘All I Do Is Think About You’, immortalised by the ill-fated Tammi Terrell and preserved here by Quantic (the latter two both exclusives). Being a Rebel Dread compilation, there’s a cover (by Wrongtom Meets The Rockers) of The Clash’s ‘Lost In The Supermarket’ while Don’s exclusive, naturally, is a rendition of Big Audio Dynamite’s debut hit, ‘E = MC2’.



“Truth be told I’ve wanted to work with the Late Night Tales crew from the get go. We’re talking nearly two decades such was the allure of their musical aesthetic typified by curators like Nightmares on Wax, The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Trentemoller, Khruangbin and countless others. Now being as old as rock n’ roll (born in ‘56) and having nearly 20 years of Culture Clash Radio under my belt I figured I was tooled up to musically juggle with the best of ‘em. But I wanted to carve out a space that was distinctly my own - something that reflected my musical journey and the culture clash that’s made me the man I am today.”

Bristol experimental jazz collective Ishmael Ensemble reveal their expansive new album Visions of Light. The follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2019 debut A State of Flow, praised by the likes of The Guardian, Mojo, The Wire and tastemakers across BBC 6Music, this sophomore record sees the group reimagine what an ‘ensemble’ can do; expanding into a shifting collective, where human relationships between artists underpin far-ranging, stunningly ambitious and emotionally heavyweight compositions.

Helmed by producer and saxophonist Pete Cunningham, Ishmael Ensemble’s richly inventive 2019 debut A State Of Flow marked them out as an explosive new force in UK jazz, imbuing lush cinematic compositions with left-field dub and electronic sensibilities

redolent of Bristol’s vital musical landscape. NamedThe Guardian’s ‘Contemporary Album Of The Month’ and Mojo’s ‘Jazz Album of The Month’, it saw the group perform Maida Valesessions for both Gilles Peterson and Tom Ravenscroft, as well as feature on compilations for Brownswood Recordings and Soul Jazz Records. Cunningham’s rise as an in-demand producer led to remixes for the likes of techno royalty Carl Craig,as well as legendary jazz label Blue Note Records alongside a plethora of the UK’s finest musical talent on Blue Note Re:Imagined.

Ishmael Ensemble has since become a platform for Cunningham to subvert the conventional notions of producer/artist relationships, unsettling genre tags, and transcending the familiar landscape of UK jazz itself. Across the album’s 10 tracks, Cunningham practices a holistic approach with a long list of collaborators. Together, they explore vast new sonic terrain with an honesty, intimacy and emotional heft impossible for a conventional band.

Visions Of Light tells the story of Ishmael Ensemble’s development across its two sides. The first draws from the energy Cunningham and his bandmates discovered whilst extensively touring A State Of Flow.

Source Crossfire is a searing, brooding collection that documents the recorded output of Sofa one of Montreal's most shadowy, notorious, captivating underground art-rock ensembles of the mid-90s, and the first band to be released on Constellation charting the quartet’s febrile evolution through sonic palettes of North American post-hardcore and slowcore admixed with early UK post-punk, goth and dark lounge. In the words of one music writer of the era: "Like Slint and Big Black meeting for a Joy Division reunion."

Love returns with 'Lavender', the follow up to the Canadian crooner’s LP, 'Night Songs' (Taxi Gauche Records, February 2020).
A reflective timeline of dusty folk, 'Lavender' aims to capture the modern loneliness of the 21st century. A sorrowful soundtrack, inspired by the production of great crooners and folk artists of the 70s/80s like Cohen, Lightfoot, and Nick Drake, to name a few, Love achieves a similar quality on Lavender. Like a Chris Isaak trapped in a David Lynch film, Love’s haunted
vocals guide the listener through poetic verses on the archetypes of love and truth, posthumous poetry by his grandfather circa 1930s, and escapism, all melting and flowing into a pool of celestial wisdom.
Acoustic guitars sweep across desolate sonic landscapes of global narcissism, social media and the universal need for connection. Hypnotic bass grooves and lush 3D string ensembles, wrap the listener in a familiar cinematic romance, embraced and mystified. 'Lavender' explores the universal threads that make us feel and experience what we do, in a time when the need to peer into ourselves has never been more important. 'Lavender' draws you inwards, like staring up at the stars at night, or standing alone with the silence of the forest, 'Lavender' wants you to find your own meaning. Self-recorded in a variety of spaces through out Turtle Island (Canada & The USA). Specifically, Toronto Island, a basement in Edmonton, AB, various apartments and motels in Los Angeles and around the United States, on a road trip west via the Trans-Canada highway and ending at a cabin in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.


“There’s a lonesome vibe to his brand of heartland rock, evoking late nights on a deserted road, or neon-lit streets just after a rainstorm.” (Brooklyn Vegan)