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‘Where is Agartha? What is the specific region in which it lies? Along what road, through what civilizations, must one walk in order to reach it?.’ Saint-Yves d’Alveydre in 1886

Agartha, the debut full-length album by Japanese producer Wata Igarashi, is a mysterious, divine thing. Named for the mythical secret kingdom, understood as a complex maze of underground tunnels, perhaps designed by Martians who colonised the Earth tens of thousands of years ago, it’s a similarly mystical, perhaps even cosmic trip – but this time, exploring an inner, deeply personal cosmos. Beautifully detailed and bustling with rich incident, it takes Igarashi’s music to new places, which still retaining his unique sonic imprimatur; in this respect, it’s perfectly at home with Kompakt, a label that’s always encouraged artists to make the visionary music they need to create, to take risks and make sideways steps into uncharted territory.

An eloquent producer and DJ, Igarashi has been releasing techno for eleven years now, appearing on such imprints as The Bunker NY, Delsin, Midgar, and Time To Express; he has also self-released his productions via his WIP net label. Throughout, Igarashi has consistently explored his unique approach to techno and electronic music, one that’s eloquent and poised, even when it shifts into more psychedelic terrain; he’s a master at balancing the sensual and the functional, and he has an unerring ear for the right texture, the right tone, at the right time. He brings all of this into Agartha, his most thorough-going expression of self to date.

For Agartha, Igarashi had a strong concept he wanted to explore. Visualising specific scenes from an imaginary film based on the titular secret kingdom, he created soundtracks for those scenes, spending time during the pandemic in his studio, working away carefully at the ten tracks here. Given his background in creating music for television and advertisements, Igarashi is well-placed to explore the marriage of the sonic and the visual in such intimate ways, but freed from commercial concerns, he let his imagination run riot. He also drew on a rich palette of musical influences – techno is in there, of course, but you can also hear the smoky, improvised jazz of the likes of Miles Davis (to whom the album’s title is an indirect nod), and the minimalism and systems music of Steve Reich.

The latter is particularly pronounced on the gorgeous, beatless drift of “Floating Against Time”, where an arpeggiated sequence lingers, lovingly, around your ears for nine blissful minutes, coasting across swooning drones and waves of ambient noise. “Ceremony Of The Dead”, originally composed as part of a Sony 360 Reality Audio spatial sound concert, is a deep pass into systems composition, with various patterns overlaid and interlocking, before a wordless vocal rises from the depths, a gorgeous counterpoint to the swarming textures that gather across the track. On the other hand, tracks like “Burning” and “Subterranean Life” nudge toward Fourth World territory, painting deluxe dreamscapes of uncertain provenance; the title cut is an abstract drift-world, Igarashi painting an alien tableau dotted by shape-shifting creatures.

Agartha’s conceptual framework means that everything on the album sits perfectly together; listening to it in one sitting is a dizzying, lush experience. Its imaginings of inner landscapes recall, in some respects, the nautical, aqueous mythologies of the Drexciyan universe, though from different perspectives. But the result is Igarashi’s own creation, a deluxe, enchanting trip through the visionary Agartha of this unique producer’s cinematic mind’s-eye.

Wo liegt Agartha? In welcher spezifischen Region liegt es? Auf welchem Weg, durch welche Zivilisationen muss man gehen, um dorthin zu gelangen?'

Saint-Yves d'Alveydre im Jahr 1886

Agartha, das Debütalbum des japanischen Produzenten Wata Igarashi, ist ein geheimnisvolles, göttliches Ding. Benannt nach dem mythischen, geheimen Königreich, das als ein komplexes Labyrinth unterirdischer Tunnel verstanden wird, die vielleicht von Marsmenschen angelegt wurden, die vor Zehntausenden von Jahren die Erde kolonisierten, ist es eine ähnlich mystische, vielleicht sogar kosmische Reise - aber dieses Mal erforscht es einen inneren, zutiefst persönlichen Kosmos. Wunderschön detailliert und voller reichhaltiger Begebenheiten, führt es Igarashis Musik an neue Orte, die dennoch seine einzigartige klangliche Handschrift bewahren. In dieser Hinsicht hat es bei Kompakt ein perfektes Zuhause gefunden - einem Label, das Künstler immer ermutigt hat, jene visionäre Musik zu machen, Risiken einzugehen und seitwärts Schritte in unbekanntes Terrain zu tun.

Der eloquente Produzent und DJ Igarashi veröffentlicht seit elf Jahren Techno auf Labels wie The Bunker NY, Delsin, Figure und Time To Express; außerdem hat er einige Produktionen über sein Label WIP net selbst veröffentlicht. Dabei hat Igarashi stets seinen einzigartigen Ansatz für Techno und elektronische Musik verfolgt, der kontrolliert und ausgeglichen ist, selbst wenn er sich in psychedelisches Terrain begibt; er ist ein Meister der Balance zwischen dem Sinnlichen und dem Funktionalen und hat ein untrügliches Gespür für die richtige Textur, den richtigen Ton zur richtigen Zeit. All das bringt er in Agartha ein, dem bisher umfangreichsten Ausdruck seiner selbst.

Für Agartha hatte Igarashi ein starkes Konzept, das er erforschen wollte. Er stellte sich bestimmte Szenen eines imaginären Films vor, der auf dem titelgebenden geheimen Königreich basiert, und schuf Soundtracks für diese Szenen. Während der Pandemie verbrachte er Zeit in seinem Studio und arbeitete sorgfältig an den zehn Tracks. Mit seinem Hintergrund als Komponist von Fernseh- und Werbemusik ist Igarashi prädestiniert dafür, die Verbindung von Klang und Bild auf solch intime Weise zu erforschen, aber frei von kommerziellem Dünkel ließ er seiner Fantasie freien Lauf. Er schöpfte auch aus einer reichen Palette musikalischer Einflüsse - Techno ist natürlich dabei, aber man hört auch den rauchigen, improvisierten Jazz von Miles Davis (an den der Titel des Albums eine indirekte Anspielung ist) und den Minimalismus und die Systemmusik von Steve Reich.

Letzteres ist besonders ausgeprägt in dem wunderschönen, beatlosen "Floating Against Time", wo eine arpeggierte Sequenz neun Minuten lang liebevoll um die Ohren fliegt und über schwelende Drones und Wellen von Umgebungsgeräuschen gleitet. "Ceremony Of The Dead", ursprünglich als Teil eines Sony 360 Reality Audio-Raumklangkonzerts komponiert, ist ein tiefes Eintauchen in eine Systemkomposition, bei der sich verschiedene Muster überlagern und ineinander greifen, bevor sich ein wortloser Gesang aus der Tiefe erhebt, ein wunderschöner Kontrapunkt zu den wimmelnden Texturen, die sich über den Track legen. Andererseits bewegen sich Tracks wie "Burning" und "Subterranean Life" in Richtung der Vierten Welt und malen luxuriöse Traumlandschaften ungewisser Herkunft; der Titeltrack ist eine abstrakte Scheinwelt, in der Igarashi ein außerirdisches Tableau malt, das von formwandelnden Kreaturen übersät ist.

Der konzeptionelle Rahmen von Agartha ermöglicht, dass alles auf dem Album perfekt zusammenpasst; es in einem Zug durchzuhören ist eine schwindelerregende, opulente Erfahrung. Wata's Vorstellungen von inneren Landschaften erinnern in gewisser Hinsicht an die nautischen, wässrigen Mythologien des drexciyanischen Universums, wenn auch aus einer anderen Perspektiven betrachtet. Aber das Ergebnis ist Igarashis ureigene Schöpfung, ein luxuriöser, bezaubernder Trip durch das visionäre Agartha dieses einzigartigen Produzenten mit seinem cineastischen Blick.

An explorative sonic landscape with the beautifully eclectic sounds of drum and bass at its core, Sustance’s debut album is every bit as thought-out, polished, and innovative as we’ve come to expect from one of drum and bass’ brightest prospects.

Having grown up listening to seminal Shogun albums like Spectrasoul's 'Delay No More' and Icicle's 'Under The Ice', ‘Perceived Connections’ acts as a full circle moment for the producer, who now finds himself following in the footsteps of the artists who profoundly influenced his approach to creating music.

Written between London and Berlin across a twelve-month period, 'Perceived Connections' encapsulates both of the alluring sides of Sustance's sound. In the same fashion that the album's writing process pivoted between two capital cities, Sustance's debut album presents both deep and expressive tracks such as 'I Want You' and 'Sweet Relief', as well as showcasing heavy, sound system-destroying tunes like 'Undercurrent' and 'Ten Ton’.

“The album title comes from the Zen idea that everyone perceives the world through their own perspective. Two people can listen to a record side by side and have totally different experiences. I really liked that idea as music is inherently so subjective. Sustance

Accompanying Sustance on this LP voyage is a plethora of D&B’s hottest talent, with Pola & Bryson, Visages, Flowdan, Strategy, Duskee, T-Man, Catching Cairo & Zara Kershaw all sprinkling their own flavours across the album.

Traversing an array of sounds, styles, and genres throughout, 'Perceived Connections' is nothing short of an exceptional extended body of work from a producer whose razor-tight approach to music has seen him emerge with one of the crispest and most captivating sonic palettes in drum and bass music.

Lime green (yellowish?) vinyl LP Finnish noise rock duo NYOS deliver a clairvoyant Celebration of the present, written at a time when that present was shimmering just like the feathers of the cover art courtesy of animal photographer Zac Herr. Combining the danceable grooves of Battles with Sonic Youth - infused noise bursts and the yearning electric melodies of And So I Watch You From Afar, Celebration is a defiantly joyful, loud, and festive affair. A promising cure for the drudgery of the times we live in. Recorded by Brooke in his own Tonehaven Recording Studio, Celebration is the latest testament to the undeniable synergy these musicians have built over the past seven years. With the material largely written before the advent of corona, Celebration is a reflection of life before lockdown, filled to the brim with infectious grooves and glaring melodies. "We tried for something upbeat this time to contrast the times," explains Tom Brooke about the recording process, which in turn did take place during pandemic life. "We always love it when people can move to our music, so a big focus for the record was to embrace the dance vibe and go for it." This collection of eight colourful, jarring tracks is rife with small nods to dance music throughout the world. Take a song like "Light" with its complex syncopated drum pattern that recalls the Amen Break so typical for drum and bass music, but listen closely and the song reveals an off-beat skank that flips over into experimental reggae territory. Similarly, a track like "Tucano" recalls the experimental IDM of Bristol-based producer Vessel, while "Gold Vulcan" offsets a gnarly gyrating guitar riff with Latin- American and oriental melodies. The attention to detail on Celebration is phenomenal. The album contains some of the band's most layered compositions to date, but it is also the first NYOS record to feature improvised live recordings, the aptly named "First Take" as well as the celestial "Cloudberry". These musical sketches show two musicians at the apex of their connectedness. Every time that one of them appears to be taking a somewhat questionable turn, you'll find yourself carefully and respectfully readjusting your own interpretation of the song's intention - and what NYOS are all about.

After the pandemic hit, and the people of the world grew wary and
suspicious of one another, Iguana Death Cult, one of Europe's most
exciting rock exports, became more than just a band to its members--it became therapy - "I think for the first ten times we went to jam," says guitarist/vocalist Tobias Opschoor, speaking about the making of the new album Echo Palace, "we just drank wine and talked about it for hours--and then were like, 'OK, I have to go because I have to work tomorrow.

Taking place at frontman Jeroen Reek's apartment in Rotterdam, these
gatherings slowly shifted from talking about this surreal chapter of their lives--the days of quiet streets and cramped buildings--to making music about it.
Armed with the talents of Justin Boer on bass and Arjen van Opstal on drums, and tapping the keys work Jimmy de Kok for the first time on album, the band took their trademark melodic garage-rock style and expanded it to make it vibier and looser, with each member contributing ideas to develop the sound palette in full. When it came time to record the album, the band headed to PAF Studio in
Rotterdam, and subsequently it was mixed by Joo- Joo Ashworth (Sasami, Dummy) at Studio 22 in Los Angeles and mastered by Dave Cooley (Tame Impala, Yves Tumor).

The album is a big swing, stretching Iguana Death Cult beyond its garage rock origins and taking them to a new realm. The end result of Echo Palace is an appropriately worldly album from a group breaking past the confines of its home country.

"Dutch band Iguana Death Cult's rip- roaring melodies are built to jettison far beyond their homebase of Rotterdam." - FADER

"Frenetic, intense sonic assaults, they turn psych punk into astonishingly concise three-dimensional documents." - CLASH

mule musiq dives into the archives of humanoid ambient music history, bringing the vinyl premiere of a masterwork by german dj, producer, and musician david moufang, globally known as move d. released in 1995 on pete namlook’s fabled fax +49-69/450464 label, the album marks his only output as solitaire, featuring heroic, supple ambient music, that some folks call one of the best works by move d.

just three years before he dropped it, moufang launched with jonas grossmann the celebrated label source records, active from 1992 to 2005. it was the platform for his first move d album “kun-ststoff”, likewise released in 1995, highlighting diverse genres like techno, house, idm, ambient, electro, and downtempo.

“solitaire” works with pulsating rhythms, too. gentle ones, that cater sensations beyond the propel-ling dance sectors. a spiritual album. recorded at the resource studios/heidelberg in july/august 1994. it reaches out to higher ground, never leaving the sediment.

still state of the art. not a single melody, note, tone has aged. all sparkle, all innocence is still there, somewhere deep in the arpeggiated space, absorbing time. an exploratory early electronic work by an artist, who still had his most prolific years to come.

and yet, “solitaire” sounds like being shaped by a fully mature creative mind, that defined his sonic language already profoundly. six epic tunes between five and 16 minutes, listening to emblematic titles like “damaskus/dakar, “sergio leone’s wet dream”, or “indian mantra”, while opening ambient into investigative textural layer landscapes, that subtly incorporate acid, downbeat, idm, or early techno districts.

for those who have been around in the electronic music sphere for a while, “solitaire” is a classic. for those who are young at heart, it opens new horizons. each new passive or active listing loop fresh ones. hidden in the harmonies. hidden in the melodies. somewhere inside the sound. leading outside into a visual texture, where you can almost see the music!

Brussels-based producer Sagat’s highly anticipated debut album ‘Silver Lining’ lands on Vlek Records. Sagat takes us on a deep dive into a dense sonic universe: It’s bass music viewed from multiple vantage points, an explorative zoom onto contemporary dance music’s broad ranging cadences, paradoxically viewed from a distance. Silver lining bathes in cluttering rhythms that hover over corroded thumping grooves. Poly chrome synths emerge dramatically, interlocking with oddly timed techno syncopations. Yet all tracks are held together by firm, dubbed out beat repetitions and slabs of sub bass, not without a melodic sense of drama. Sagat’s disintegrated sound-design stands in between musical dichotomies, at once spaced-out, disorienting and emotive, but also explorative, colourful and full of tension. Moving, yet statuesquely standing idle. Silver Lining is an album longing for the dancefloor, but also about disconnection from it: A highly personal presentation of this producers’ singular take on bass oriented club music. From our standing point we love to see how Sagat’s music keeps evolving, toying with contemporary club music’s specific tropes, unbound by its normativeness. Silver lining is an album rich in contrast that works for personal listening experience as well as for the adventurous DJ with one foot firmly on the dancefloor, the other somewhere way out there.

Jimmy LaValle’s The Album Leaf has spun from solo outlet to full band and back in its nearly 25 years. His acclaimed catalog spans releases for labels such as Sub Pop, City Slang, Relapse, and others. He also composes music for film and television, scoring over 20 projects (narrative features, documentaries, and TV series) since 2009. The cinematic sensibilities of The Album Leaf were present from the beginning. His 1999 debut introduced the start of a signature sound: melodic and meditative electro-organic soundscapes constructed with guitar, percussion, Rhodes, and field recordings.

His seventh full-length LP, and first since 2016, arrives in 2023 via Vancouver’s Nettwerk Records. FUTURE FALLING finds LaValle working with an array of musicians, shaping slightly darker, more spacious, and synth-driven songs with contributions from Bat For Lashes, Kimbra, and many others.
The music registers a shade darker and more synth-driven than most moments in his acclaimed catalog, a bridge between shadowy, cerebral terrain and dreamy precision pop, where softly percussive frameworks meet shimmering sound design and emotive instrumentation.
LaValle sees the construction of FUTURE FALLING as less conventional than past work. Contributions were done remotely with a “throw everything at it” mindset, making LaValle the arranger of layers from all over: drums, synths, horns, violins, voice, and more. LaValle created a pastiche of these layers and elements; in some cases even moving vocal takes to new tracks entirely. Without the in-the-room dynamics, he had more time to experiment, adding and subtracting ad infinitum.
The album opens on “PROLOGUE,” an evocative, slow-building instrumental that rides a pattern into a symphonic sea of static. Keys and horns glide atop the rhythmic pulse of “DUST COLLECTS,” setting the contemplative scene for “AFTERGLOW,” the record’s most pop-minded performance. Here Kimbra, the Grammy-winning New Zealand singer-songwriter, renders a striking recollection of past love as percussive elements shimmer and swirl.
A plaintive piano line moves throughout “Cycles 19.9” encircled by light ambient washes, both a valley between two peaks and a powerful composition in its own right. “Future Falling” follows; with origins tracing back to 2015, the track embodies the full sonic journey LaValle has taken. All the hallmarks of The Album Leaf — melodic builds, vivid sprawl, tonal shape-shifting — assemble to a blissful finish.

For the next stretch, “Cycles” begins with a uneasy Rhodes loop that builds and erupts into a wall of texture paving its way into “Give In,” where LaValle models a movement that begins subtle and measured before curving up with skyward, percussive bursts (“Stride”) and settling back down to the album’s back-half centerpiece, “Near” featuring the acclaimed English artist Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes. “Do you feel me near?” she sings into a mist of widescreen synths and soothing, distant drum beats as if searching through the dark.

It's a cohesive song cycle purpose-built for pit stops at points beyond along the California country corridor. Sonically, Stay In It feels equally at home in 2022 as it might in 1972, evidenced by nods to "After The Gold Rush"- era Neil Young, Jonathan Wilson,and The War on Drugs.
The singer-songwriter trucked Jerry Garcia's old console to the desert to embrace the analog. The kind where if you want to rip a guitar solo at 3am with the windows open, you go for it, cowboy. A flurry of calls reverberated back and forth until Eric and his producer Damien Lewis (Kevin Parker, JamesBay), crash-landed in the tiny high desert outpost of Landers, California...in August.

"Stay In It" is a way of saying be present, it's "Be Here Now" says Silverman, an accomplished veteran of the Bay Area live music scene (with appearances at festivals such as Outside Lands and Noise Pop under his belt). "So the record is really about just finding that moment where it all locks in and flows. Get there and stay there."

This is music that picks up influences and imagery and shapes and colors as it encounters them on Interstate 62, before dropping them off as they turn into specks of dust on the horizon. There's the two-step lilt of "Better Days", where we start awash in melancholy synths but end up hopeful for possibility. There's the synthesizer summoning courtesy of first- call session keyboardist Adam MacDougall (Black Crowes, Circles Around The Sun) on "All In My Head" where
things get fully cosmic.

But no matter the track, there's something bigger happening here.

Up and next on the releases are Decka & Roseen with "Keynote", introducing their first ever collaborative musical project.

With "Message From The Error System" we dive into an abyss of icy blue vibrations. Just like the alternate rising and falling of the tide, so does this track expand and breathe through a cyclical recurrence of the groove... Cycles and repetition. A cinematic, abrasive polyrhythm will drown all your senses as the
frequencies increase and increase. And so does the tension. Until... all of a sudden.. The frequency is lost... no more life signals... You feel alone in the cold. You are scared. But slowly... Hope grabs your hand from the water... takes you on the shore and slowly dries your tired and wet body.

The storm has passed. Clearing our heads from this apocalyptic sonic journey, B1 jumps in with a distracting and high energy looped cut. A classic, dance-floor oriented percussive and versatile track. Once again, repetition marks a fundamental element of the KEY family.

Last but not least comes B2 "Captivate"- which is a sort of synthesis between the dreamy A1 and the minimalistic composition of B1. A soft and mellow synth line is seduced by playful high hats into a redundant, cyclical game of sounds.

The Dutch West Coast, home of the Hague, where Cliff Dalton resides, the home of a new producer for Specimen Records 2021. Probing as an interface between harsh reality and pure fiction. He reveals a surrealistic emphasis on sonic particles into the realms of electro.

Defamator is the long-time-coming debut project of 24-year-old Chloe Gallardo. It tells a story of betrayal in love and friendship and the painful reality of overcoming love lost and former heartbreak.


Drawing influences from artists such as Broadcast, Grouper & My Bloody Valentine Gallardo adds her own haunting, folk-style vocals and hyper-specific lyrics to create a sonic unique to her. A style that she describes in her words as “dark shoegaze bedroom indie pop”.

Album opener “Bloodline” epitomises this bittersweet modus operandi. 15 seconds into its dainty acoustic strum , Gallardo adamantly sulks “I’m fucked up” - the salvo of a lyric about feeling like a family disappointment. As the track lifts up into a cascading gaze-pop rush, recalling the likes of Bachelor and Snail Mail, we’re blessed with a pristine elegance that belies the song’s raging core.
“I have always written music this way.”, she says of this fundamental contradiction. “It’s funny because I try so hard to write darker sounding songs and they always come out way too pretty. So, I’ve resorted to writing the most gut-wrenching and intense lyrics to compensate.”

Written mostly during peak-pandemic times in Gallardo’s bedroom - (“you can hear how scared and alone I was.”) - the songs that made their way onto Defamator arose from a concerted period of healing. Drawing from the teachings of therapy, the songwriting process gave her the means to channel some deeply entrenched emotional scars.
This venting of anger is implicit throughout the record. The album’s title - Gallardo’s own neologism - uses the concepts of “defamation” and “defamatory speech” to innovate a kind of pejorative accusation. As a result, it is like we are actively listening to Gallardo forcefully take command of her past. Of the title track she explains: “The song Defamator is about someone who spoke untruthful things about me in order to manipulate me and the way people perceived me and I felt that was an underlying theme in most of the album.”

Recorded at Jazzcat Studios in Long Beach California with Jonny Bell (Hanni El Khatib, Adult Books, etc.) Defamator marks Gallardo’s first time in a “legitimate recording studio”. And it shows. Bell’s production is vital moving part here. There’s more stripped back affairs - ‘There Will Be Blood”; ”The Way’ - songs which gently seethe and purr like Grouper’s spectral dream-pop; Gallardo’s fluttering folk-ish voice gloriously pushed to forefront.

Drop a needle on Psyché's debut album and you'll see visions, or rather Mediterranean visions, be they of waves of heat shimmering above dunes of sand, or of women dancing around a bonfire on a rocky plain, or of bushy cliffs overlooking emerald-green and turquoise sea. The name Psyché is of course ancient Greek for 'soul' or 'mind', signifying the band's love of psychedelic funk, but also the wide range of Mediterranean influences – from Southern Europe to the Balkan Peninsula, and from Anatolia to the Maghreb – that provide an endless source of inspiration for their hypnotic sound and minimalist style.

Psyché members Marcello Giannini (Guru, Nu Genea, Slivovitz), Andrea De Fazio (Parbleu, Nu Genea, Funkin Machine) and Paolo Petrella (Nu Genea) have been active in the Naples music scene for almost two decades, most notably during the first wave of the new Neapolitan Power movement (Slivovitz, Revenaz Quartet). Over the years they have often crossed paths and collaborated on side projects in various genres (math-rock duo Arduo and, more recently, synth-pop duo Fratelli Malibu), before working together as the rhythm section of Nu Genea's live band. Following their first tour with Nu Genea in 2018, they started Psyché with the intent of exploring more minimalist styles and making music with just a few elements.

A unique combination of psychedelia, groove and improvisation, the music of Psyché goes back to the roots of our future; it evokes visions of a mythical past, blending centuries-old music traditions and mixing them with modern genres. Like a warm Mediterranean breeze, it travels across lands, seas and eras, distilling essential rhythms and cosmic pulsations.

The album's opener "Kuma" (titled after the first ancient Greek colony on the Italian mainland, now an archeological site near Naples) is like a vibrant, magical wave. With its deliberately simple harmony and sharp guitar riffs, it travels across the Mediterranean from Italy to North Africa, first lapping gently on Greek and Turkish shores – with some compositional elements reminiscent of Italian pop legend Lucio Battisti – and then speeding up and landing on the driving, syncopated rhythms of afrobeat. While listening to it your eyes fill with images of small white houses shining in the sun, of fig trees heavy with fruit, of spice bazaars and colourful medinas, and you can almost feel the desert wind blowing in your hair.

The journey continues with two examples of Psyché's bold and elegant approach to contemporary afrobeat and cumbia fusion: "Cumbia Mahàre" and "Amma". The former combines minimal synths and exhilarating rhythmic patterns of drums, percussion, guitar and bass, drawing us into the movements of an imaginary ritual dance (the term mahàre was used in Southern Italian dialects to indicate witches). Next is the cinematic and mysterious ambiance of "Angizia" (a snake goddess worshipped by the Marsi in ancient Italy), another fascinating mixture of different sonic traditions and cultures where hip-hop/funk drums are blended with Maghreb influences, Balkan echoes, and hypnotic, Theremin-like synths that have sort of a sci-fi movie quality to them.

The title track "Psyché", with its uptempo afro-rhythms, ethereal vocalizations and refined percussion, is almost a manifesto of the band's style and confirms the freshness of their minimalism, which is not afraid of taking in the sun of lands confined between the sea and the desert. The following "Manea" (named after the Roman-Etruscan goddess of the dead) is an afro-funk number with smooth and introspective dreamy jazz touches, and with an arrangement dominated by a guitar that, dripping notes like drops of water, creates a delicate, cinematic sound. Next, we come to "Hekate" (the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft and crossroads), a track that fuses psychedelia, spacious Latin guitars and a fast, tight groove. The album comes to a close with the exquisite melodic ballad "Kelebek", which seamlessly combines hip-hop drums and dreamy guitars, and whose warm, flowing sonorities and evocative atmospheres conjure the image of a butterfly (which is what kelebek means, in Turkish) floating over the Mediterranean and, from there, the world.

After releasing their debut project “Voyage” in 2022, Tapioca, the Brussels-Kigali-based, Brazil-inspired duo return with LP “Samba em Kigali.” Building on their sound and influence, “Samba em Kigali” is a definitive step up and clear sonic growth for the twosome, whose debut, RA wrote, is "if Anderson Paak. & Marco Valle made a Brazilian pop-funk record.” Arriving via Berlin’s Jakarta Records May 19th.

Tapioca (32k Monthly Listeners on Spotify), the Belgian duo made of rapper / lyricist Alessandro “Le Tagarel” Vlerick and producer & composer Simon “SiKa” Carlier, tapped into a unique and infectious groove with their debut LP “Voyage,” released in 2022 via Jakarta Records’ “Dubplates” series. Positive reviews came flooding in, including coverage from, among others, BBC Radio 6, KCRW, Resident Advisor, JAZZIZ as well as performances and features on Worldwide FM and Bandcamp Daily. Their debut also landed on global editorial playlists such as Spotify’s “Global Groove,” (600k) “Tulum Vibes” (110k) and Deezer’s “Chilling Pool” (31k). “Voyage,” as the name indicates, was an ode to freedom, escape and the discovery of alternative cultural horizons that brought together various spoken-word testimonies from Portuguese friends around the world. Tapioca’s upcoming LP, “Samba em Kigali,” picks up the thread where “Voyage” left off, acting as an ode to traveling and, more broadly, of the inherent beauty of the African continent. Le Tagarel has worked as a teacher in Kigali, Ruanda, for the past years and his time there is reflected in the album’s buttery lyricism, putting forth the proposition that Africa and Brazil are in fact not so far apart - Africa is, and will always be, present in Brazilian culture. Featuring the Dillaesque sound infused with inspiration from rap, jazz, MPB and funk of the 70/80’s to the stunningly fleshed out lyricism - the LP sways like a ship on the smoothest of seas, a pure ray of aural sunshine to welcome the warm weather. Artwork was stunningly put together by Simone Cihlar (Anderson Paak. Tom Misch, Ivan Ave) and visualizers done by the stalwart crew at Die Ottos (Flofilz, K Le Maestro, Suff Daddy, S.Fidelity, Gianni Brezzo). Jakarta is ecstatic to share such a high-water mark of an album, out everywhere physically / digitally May 19th.

Kicking off “Samba em Kigali” is the impeccably smooth 1st single, “Lagoas de Ruanda” out March 22nd along with LP pre-order announcement. Instantly catchy, the crisp guitar, funky bass and buoyant underlying percussion are the perfect vitamin of joy that gives rise to Le Tagarel’s vocals. The track is a perfect sonic voyage that encapsulates the continued growth of Tapioca’s sound and gives a sonic peek into the LP. Infectious and groovy, the song skirts a line along samba, R&B and jazz with an almost hip-hop bounce.

2nd single, “Sabor Swahili,” out April 12th, is a nostalgic groovy splash that melds soft keys, bass and a percussive edge that slides you into an aural pocket. The song moves in a joyous melancholy that is almost impossible to move to, the under-water synth stabs keep your shoulders loose while the rhythm keeps you bouncing along. Even if you don’t know Portuguese, you’ll be singing along by the tracks end. The joyous 3rd single “Terra Preta” is out April 26th and will lift you up high to keep you in a serene mood anytime, anywhere. Focus track is the headnodding grooves of “Cara de Arabe.” Building from “Voyage,” Tapioca provides a fresh, rare vibe, adding a slight dose of disco to the R&B-driven progressions. “Samba em Kigali” is a unique album that is soaked and marinated in a sonic and visual aesthetic that brings with it feelings of joy, movement, and a global home, and sonic moods ranging from Bruno Berle and Marcos Valle inspired arrangements to bouncing progressions with a swingin’ percussive edge. Besides online promotion from the label and artist profiles, the album will further be promoted by external agencies within the US and UK.

Kessell is back at home with a powerful EP plus a bonus digital track on the digital edition. There is no need to remind everyone that Valentin Corujo is one of the most experienced producers on the techno scene. And this new work is the sonic proof.

Nothing left to say opens fire with distorted broken beats soon aligned by a solid 4/4 groove. The harsh sounds run across the stereo field wisely while the beat goes relentless. A powerful and raw peak time tool.

All that matters is the second cut, beginning with a bass heavy groove, sibilant and distorted at the same time until the additional percussive parts appear and the subterranean bass turns into distorted hypnosis as the bars go on. An intense and obsessive piece of rugged techno.

On the B side, Descending Darkness, an industrial funk workout made of continuous distorted sequences and an enforced drum beat. No sign of breakdowns or epic moments, just a continuous drill for your neurons.

Cyclical Nature goes scifi and mental, with reverberated sequences running over a solid cemented pattern the spiral sequence turns into overdriven madness as the track goes combining aggression with futurism.

Inside Trauma uses broken beats as a basement, one of Kessell's personal signatures when working on his side project Exium.

Another stepping stone on a solid and long career for this excellent creator.

One day, you wake up with a cloud in your head. You feel out of place and uninspired, and juggle so many worries the balance is skewed. That was Armin van Buuren three years ago. He put so much love and passion into his work and found it hard to cope with the fact that not everyone can be pleased. Something needed to change. So, he reformed his life routines, took up meditation to calm the storm and did everything he could to negate the numbness. And what he ended up with was a newfound love for music and an incredible three-part album: Feel Again.

From "No Fun" and "Computers Take Over The World" to "One More Time", "Come Around Again" and "Roll The Dice", the Feel Again album sonically represents the journey of an artist extraordinaire radically looking for harmony within himself. Its 34 tracks may be different in terms of sound, but together, they reflect an equilibrium that could only come from a man in balance.

From reconnecting to friends, family, and fans to finding inner peace, Feel Again means acknowledging harsh truths, finding out what really matters and letting that power a new step forward. Because in the evergreen words of Armin van Buuren himself, “we're still learning and will never stop learning till the day we die”.

Feel Again is available as a deluxe limited edition box set, including 3 LP's, which are housed in printed innersleeves. The set also includes 5 exclusive Armin van Buuren lithos. This deluxe boxset is limited to 3000 individually numbered copies on turquoise marbled (LP1), white marbled (LP2), and orange marbled (LP3) vinyl.

Golden-voiced Mavericks frontman Raul Malo lets his guitar do the singing in this 10-song collection highlighting his skill as an arranger and instrumentalist. From midnight in Havana to the beaches of California, hear Malo‘s full range of musical influences on display as he explores a wild variety of textures from surf guitar licks, lush earthen tones, spaghetti western to big band jams and more, accompanied occasionally by his Mavericks bandmates. It’s a sonic adventure befitting his time leading music’s most shape-shifting band.

After the mind blowing success of Witchcraft's Legend (2012), mastermind Magnus Pelander outdid himself once again with the band's 2016 offering Nucleus. Combining what made it's predecessor the modern classic it quickly became as well as elements of the band's earlier days makes Nucleus a melancholic, raging, fragile, melodic and at times noisy masterpiece filed somewhere between classic rock, doom and ambient music. With a renewed line-up (Rage Widerberg on drums and Tobias Anger on bass) the band sounds more hungry and powerful than ever. In combination with the thrilling, yet very down-to-earth production by Pelander, Philip Gabriel Saxin and Anton Sundell, Nucleus throws you in dreamy sonic landscapes that will mesmerize and haunt you alike. Svart Records are proud to release an official reissue of this album on black and limited green vinyl on May 19th

After the mind blowing success of Witchcraft's Legend (2012), mastermind Magnus Pelander outdid himself once again with the band's 2016 offering Nucleus. Combining what made it's predecessor the modern classic it quickly became as well as elements of the band's earlier days makes Nucleus a melancholic, raging, fragile, melodic and at times noisy masterpiece filed somewhere between classic rock, doom and ambient music. With a renewed line-up (Rage Widerberg on drums and Tobias Anger on bass) the band sounds more hungry and powerful than ever. In combination with the thrilling, yet very down-to-earth production by Pelander, Philip Gabriel Saxin and Anton Sundell, Nucleus throws you in dreamy sonic landscapes that will mesmerize and haunt you alike. Svart Records are proud to release an official reissue of this album on black and limited green vinyl on May 19th

Vinyl release compiling both Nukuluk EPs on one LP. Curating their own unique sound and captivating crowds with their refreshing approach to hip-hop, electronica and indie, Nukuluk return with their new EP ‘SUPERGLUE’ on 21 April. The writing and recording process has never been executed in a conventional style for the group, a series of laptops and bedrooms manifesting the groups’ studio, aspiring to a fundamentally collaborative process as they piece their separate parts together in ever surprising ways. Respective members lead through a variety of formats, bringing a demo, a motif or concept in what can be a deeply stimulating process, ensuring the sound is ever-evolving. The EP acted as an educational vehicle that held the group together as they learned how to overcome certain challenges, and hold it together as one, hence the title SUPERGLUE. It presents a fractured journey and chaotic growth of five individuals trying to create the new together; honest vulnerable expression married with complex soundscapes, pulling from whatever genre feels natural and trying new combinations of internal collaborations in the group. The release spans genres from hip-hop to alternative rock, ambient to metal, dance music to r’n’b in what the band note as: “a kaleidoscope of sonics, songs, beats, noises and stories lurching between vulnerability and bravado, as a body of work growing in all directions at the same time.” Their latest single ‘I Just Wanna Luv U’, the follow up to the high octane ‘Covered In Gold’, marks a charged change of pace; an introspective, meditative trip-hop piece, with creeping synths, electronic drums and gruff vocals transitioning into acoustic guitars, live drums and rap verses. It tells the story of wrestling with childhood trauma, isolation and self-acceptance. Vocalist/producer Syd Nuku explores an eerie modern condition before conversing with an inner child’s trauma and memory - “be slow kid, go and take a place below the ceiling where it won’t fall”. The accompanying video was co-directed by Luke Kulukundis (Syd Nuku) and Iso Attrill, and takes reference from the likes of Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman and David Lynch. Nukuluk are Monika, Syd, Mateo, Louis and olivia. Entirely self made the collective successfully blend genres and styles to reach new spaces through a broad range of influences (including JPEGMAFIA, Jockstrap, SOPHIE, Wu-Lu and Yves Tumor as well as esteemed groups like Massive Attack, Portishead and Gorillaz). Formed in the midst of lockdown, the collective played their first show in July 2021 before releasing their debut EP DISASTER POP to critical acclaim in November, which subsequently led to multiple festival appearances and a 3-night sold out residency at Bermondsey Social Club in 2022. Their release campaign was littered with videos and creative visuals that were constructed by the collective and its extended family of artists - this multifaceted creative output of the group making them a unique prospect; directing and producing their own videos, exploring many avenues of creation and trying to exist in a unique contemporary DIY space. With nods across the spectrum of the music media – including The Quietus, CLASH, NME, Ransom Note, DIY, DORK, So Young and many more – Nukuluk are steadily carving out their own space in the British leftfield.

Total Annihilation Beach is the latest collection from Caveman LSD, one of the handful of monikers of Special Guest DJ / uon / sometimes just shy. Their releases under this name have always had the character of sonic transmissions – crushed sine-waves hurtling out of a wormhole, remote pirate radio bandwidths, whale-song picked up on radar, and so on. Here, the signal seems to come from a place whose remoteness is not defined by distance, but adjacency: these are alternate reality bops.

What does it sound like? Kind of solarpunk, but dirty; not at all an artifact from a hopeless culture. Percussion at the forefront; warm timbres and tones – never have I heard this producer play with tabla and tambourine loops as they do in “Lost Hours,” the opening track of the EP. The buildup holds tension and dynamics tight, with a vocoder-smoothed moan – sampled from the caveman’s own voice, on the low – alternating between two notes; when the beat decompresses for the first time two and a half minutes in, one hears the amorphous and cavernous pads we know so well from shy. “Bottle Service Angels” picks up with another acoustic drum loop, and a clap entering 18 seconds in swings the rest of the track into your hips – there’s even an alternate percussion interlude

sandwiched in the middle. The drums are turned over by a distorted and delayed wave, almost like a cop siren, which finds an answer in the track’s final seconds: we hear them blaring, but distantly (the demo version of this track, from spring 2020, was called “ACAB Beat”).

The B side begins with a textured, heaving slab of ambience: “The Sun Will Sink Into the Ocean.” It is perhaps the sun one sees setting over “Total Annihilation Beach” – a phrase that came to shy while tripping on LSD in San Francisco, which felt to them like a post-apocalyptic haven for the rich. Seems on point. There is a machinic repetition to the track, but also sweeping curtains of sound that move like mist. But what comes at nightfall? Not cops, not raiders nor bottle service angels – nothing, actually. Just a void into which one lobs praise. “H6 Remix” adapts a Mesopotamian hymn to the divine wife of a moon deity, dated to 1400 BCE; the strings of the sampled oud playing it out are rich and trail beautifully with reverb. Caveman LSD’s gesture of remixing such a song reads sincere – the reality we inhabit is likely just as brutal as the one to which these transmissions belong; however, in both, honor exists. Love follows.

Gatefold Green Vinyl Double LP with design by Dian Vandermeulen, the popular Canadian visual artist
(limited edition cassette version will be released by Not Not Fun).

Between December 2018 and 2019, Stefana Fratila embarked on a series of research trips across North America (including to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Goddard Space Centre), meeting with astronomers and scientists in order to address a complex question: “If each planet in our solar system were a different room, what would each room sound like?”

Her ongoing creative research culminated in Sononaut, eight open-source VST plug-ins created for digital audio workstations (DAWs) that emulate the atmospheric conditions of the planets in our solar system (made in collaboration with artist and coder Jen Kutler, using calculations by NASA astronomer and planetary scientist Dr. Conor Nixon).

Her forthcoming album I want to leave this Earth behind is the sonic extension of her creative research.

In her own words: “The album is conceptual, in that it centres on outer space exploration and my understanding of 'Crip futurity'. My vision is for the album to engage listeners in an exercise of imagining the sounds of interplanetary atmospheres– conditions which are inherently unlivable, unbreathable, converting all human body-minds into disabled-bodied-ness. Since I identify as Crip, or disabled, this idea deeply resonates with me. I am the first artist (a disabled producer/musician, no less) to have worked with NASA researchers on a sonic imagining of the solar system’s atmospheres that incorporates real scientific data. If we are all 'disabled' in (or by) outer space, my music is concerned with propelling all listeners into space, leaving Earth behind them, through my music.”

The solar system’s planetary bodies are inherently prohibitive even in regards to Earth’s most ‘able-bodied’ subjects. Her project seizes upon a form of radical agency and science-fictive ambition, placing all human subjects within new worlds, into the interplanetary bodies of our solar system, through her own sonic imaginings.

The album will be released by Toronto-based label Halocline Trance (Casey MQ, myst milano, ACT!).

During a 2019 residency at CMMAS (Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras) in Morelia, Mexico, Fratila began writing the album on an octophonic sound system (8 planets = 8 speakers).

Afterwards, from her home studio in Toronto, she recorded additional synthesizer parts, finalized arrangements, and incorporated Sononaut (her 8 solar system VST plug-ins) into the album’s production. The album was recorded, written, and produced by Fratila. She worked with mixing engineer Jeremy Greenspan (Jessy Lanza, Caribou, Junior Boys), as well as mixing engineer Lisa Conway and mastering engineer Sage Kim.

Underlining each track is a five-minute soundscape representing the weather on that planet, based on Fratila’s research at NASA. The weather patterns are interwoven with layers of synths and time-stretched samples.

There are very few disabled femme electronic artists gaining exposure in Canada today.

For the last 30 years, Medeski Martin & Wood have explored the boundaries of modern
jazz, incorporating hip hop, avant-garde, world music, and electronic funk influences into
their fearless improvisational style. We at Real Gone Music are thrilled to be bringing the key early albums they recorded for the Gramavision label to vinyl for the first
time…pressed at Gotta Groove Records on black wax for optimum sound!

Its title taken from the first
line of “Old Angel Midnight”
by Jack Kerouac (himself a
legendary improviser), 1995’s
Friday Afternoon in the Universe
flings a whole lot at the wall and
just about everything sticks,
with mid-‘70s Miles Davis the
predominant hue in an ever-changing sonic
palette. “Chubb Sub” is a favorite, and was used prominently in the
Get Shorty soundtrack, but even the most abstract numbers groove
and move. First time on vinyl!

Purple/Black smoke vinyl. Limited 300 copies. Morning Again formed in the 90's and helped create the metalcore sound that is so popular today. The band become well known by combining different aspects of metal and hardcore with Politically charged lyrics and messages. Over the years the band has released Multiple 7", Ep's as well as a full length on Revelation Records. This new Ep contains the same energy, passion and aggression that the band has always had. Sonically this is their best recording to date and let's us hear what Morning Again sounds like with the most modern recording technology and an amazing producer/engineer once again. "Borrowed Time" was recorded by Beau Burchell from Saosin in Orange County, CA. He has also worked with The Bronx, Trash Talk, Underoath and Senses Fail. This new record has a song called "Resignation" which features guest vocals by Trevor Strnad from The Black Dahlia Murder.

As we get ready to say goodbye to the Telomere Plastic series, we are excited to present Telomere 020.1, aka the first part out of 5.
Each release will have four different artists, making it a compilation of twenty different artists who will deliver unique, juicy and eclectic frequencies that will keep your telomeres bopping for the rest of time!

This first VA, features producers, ESB, Synaptic Voyager, Vinaya and Vonsuck.

A1, Fancy Organ from Vinaya, is a sexy deep and house cut that is guaranteed to bring smiles all around the dance floor. Arpeggios and groovy bass lines galore. Prepare your piano hands because you will find yourself playing that sweet air organ on this one!

A2, Self Destruct Sequence from Synaptic Voyager (aka Telomere 014’s Illuminators), is a very emotional cut. Originally released digitally on Frame Of Mind, we were overjoyed to be given the green light to put this beauty on wax. Deep pads, tommy drums, hints of IDM and techno, and soul striking arpeggios pave the way for a special sonic journey. Close your eyes and melt away with this one!

B1, Keio Acid from ESB. We are always delighted to share more ESB with you. Elan’s love for analog and tape give off a raw and authentic energy that is hard to come by. This deep, jazzy and loopy cut will keep you on your toes from start to finish. We can only dream of being on the dance floor as this one plays out!

B2, Unemati from Vonsuck, is a deep and dubby cut that beautifully blends the three genres dub techno, house and techno. Dark rooms and dark skies are recommend for this one here, even though we could see these frequencies accompanied by a pink and red sunrise bringing waves of energy and nostalgia to your soul. Its a real treat to have Vonsuck aka Galaktlan on the Telomere series!

Very limited black copies as always with a few colored copies available via the Wex bandcamp, be quick!

Trace is a masterclass in sound design. Alison Chesley"s formidable skill as a cellist and composer ground the compositions with rich organic sounds of cello and bow. Will Thomas"s equally deft hand-manipulated electronics, and keyboards create potent frameworks that bolster the sense of mystery and searching across the album. Chesley and Thomas"s unique voices as composers remain discernable and present throughout the album, but Trace is a celebration of the connection of collaboration with an acute sense of details and the power they convey. On Trace, the duo utilizes timbre, tone, and dynamics as essential tools in crafting stunning emotive narratives. Together, the duo wields sound with inquisitive aplomb, burrowing into each other"s sonic aesthetics and unearthing irrefutable beauty. Chesley is an unparalleled cellist and composer who has been making boundaryless music for nearly three decades under the moniker Helen Money. From her work in Verbow to her solo releases, extending to her work as a highly sought-after collaborator with Jarboe, Bob Mould, Steve Albini, Neurosis, and many more, Chesley has remained a singular voice and a pioneer in expanding the scope and perception of the cello. Will Thomas is an active composer for commercials, TV, and film (GvsE, CSI, The Haunted Swordsman). He has also contributed to several of Helen Money"s solo albums and an ongoing collaboration with Roger Eno.

MD Pallavi & Andi Otto first crossed paths on a theatre stage in India ten years ago. They started collaborating instantly and in 2016 MD Pallavi's mesmerizing vocals for the downtempo raga Bangalore Whispers warmed hearts and ears. Their musical relationship flourished with artistic residencies in Bangalore and Hamburg, their respective hometowns, and a concert tour in Japan. The collaborative track Six made ears turn again on Andi’s album Bow Wave (Multi Culti 2019). And now, years later, the fruits of this artistic endeavour are fully formed here on Songs for Broken Ships - the debut album of the duo.

The album presents an interwoven pop-aesthetic vision of the two artists with their contrasting musical backgrounds. It ranges from organically woven folktronica to cut-up disco tracks and acoustic ballads. Reminiscent of, but not akin to Nicola Cruz, Beach House or Four Tet’s early productions the music is experimental but focused on the listener and their experience.

MD Pallavi is a singer, actress, filmmaker and performer from Bangalore, South-India, where she trained in Hindustani music and poetry since childhood. On Songs for Broken Ships, poems in her native tongue Kannada*, one of India's many languages, are performed over Andi’s alluring production, translating the stories into musical narratives. The poems address topics that are as timeless as the music itself. Social equality is touched upon in Bayalu (written by Bontadevi in the 12th century). Artistic struggles - communicated on An Unwritten Word (Gangadhar Chittala, 1865) - are almost prophetic and the surreal, dreamlike scenario of Clockshop (KS Narasimhaswamy,1958) brings you further inside the sonic journey.

Andi Otto is a composer, cellist and DJ based in Hamburg, Germany, He is known for his idiosyncratic and unconventional dance music productions on labels such as Multi Culti, Shika Shika and Pingipung (which he co-runs and curates). For this collaborative experience his dubbed out basslines gently interlock with the 7/4 and 5/4 beats to create a backbone for the instrumentation and expressive vocal timbres of MD Pallavi. His sound design combines graceful acoustic recordings, juxtaposed against modern drum machines, computer generated noise and vintage synthesizers.

*The LP comes with a text sheet containing all Kannada lyrics - which have their own vocabulary and script - together with the phonetic transcription and English translation.

Nun gibt es mit EYES OF THE GUARDIANS endlich wieder neues Studiomaterial der Thrash-Institution. Aufgenommen, gemixt und gemastert in den Pure Sonic Studios, Langelsheim unter den wachsamen Augen/Ohren von Jost Schlüter machen die Braunschweiger keine Gefangenen. Ben Heber (Bass) sorgt für frischen Wind im Line-up, während Schlagzeuger Till Hartmann seine Truppe in gewohntem Maße kompromisslos nach vorne treibt.

Headshot Gründungsmitglied Olaf Danneberg und der vom Bass zur Gitarre gewechselte Max Hunger schütteln sich ein grandioses Solo nach dem anderen aus dem Ärmel, während Frontfrau Daniela Karrer stimmlich die größte Entwicklung durchgemacht hat. Neben ihren
brutalen Shouts und vereinzelten Grunts („Veins of the earth“)
baut sie auch immer wieder überraschende melodische Passagen ein.

Und so mancher spitzer Schrei aus ihrem Mund dürfte Rob Halford wehmütig an alte Zeiten denken lassen.
Der Opener „One by one“ gibt die Richtung in Sachen Geschwindigkeit und Eingängigkeit vor, das Titelstück geht als
echte Thrash-Hymne durch. „Divide et impera“ glänzt durch
seinen speziellen Ohrwurmcharakter, während der progressive
Rausschmeißer „Invisible“ noch mal die ganze Vielschichtigkeit von Headshot unter Beweis stellt. EYES OF THE GUARDIANS gleicht einer Achterbahnfahrt, zitiert verschiedene Genres und bleibt doch Thrash Metal in Reinkultur.

About the album TEKHENU: Holistic, soundscape storyteller The Allegorist takes inspiration from the ancient world for her fifth studio album, set for release on her label Awaken Chronicles.

A sonic fable titled TEKHENU, it continues the trajectory that the Berlin-based electronic producer and sound-designer has been following since the beginning – conceptualising narrative-heavy LPs centered around mythical lands. Her new works depict a lost protagonist and her spiritual, inward search across ten enrapturing chapters.

The title of the LP is a nod to the towering monoliths by the ancient Egyptians. Known to most by their Greek-given name “obelisk”, they stand tall around the world and it’s their global dispersion that inspired The Allegorist for the title of the album, seeing it as an allegory of a common bond, a point of connection. The Tale of TEKHENU, for the seekers Written by The Allegorist TEKHENU For the seekers

Following in the footsteps of 'L'Espròva', a record released in 2018 by and 'Mantras', a body of long instrumental pieces, Ernest Bergez joins Jacques Puech, Elisa Trebouville and Loup Uberto to explore the possibilities of a collective energy. L'Herbe De Détourne achieved to catch the vivid energy of the band playing live and combined it with all the sonic explorations the musicians had in mind for a long time, in a completly free state of mind. Themes and songs are wound up in complex rhythmic gears and follow one another in a continuous momentum. Freely digested, the traditional repertoire from the Massif Central mutates and hybridises with invented forms, inspired by traditional Greek, Persian and North African music... The result is music that is as much for the ears, the feet, as for the guts and perhaps the heart.
It can be a ball, a concert, or a spontaneous ceremony. The Occitan language takes a central place, both as musical material and as a poetic and emotional springboard. Inspired by traditional canvases, a poetic form emerges and makes its way through the old words, passed from mouth to mouth.

Are you ready to embark on a wild ride through the sonic wonderland of ‚Life Of Phoroma‘? This isn‘t your average V/A extended player compilation – it‘s a pulse-pounding journey through chaos, confusion, and pure eclecticism that‘ll take you beyond just dancing.

Terra Magica Rec. sixth release is a passionate ode to the fusion of EBM and psychedelic, perfectly blending lightning-fast new age and tribal hypnotic soundscapes with 1980s synth atmospheres high on Trance.

It’s Electronic Disco gone Techno gone HiNRG gone wrong folks! Enjoy. The SH-101‘s aggressive cuts, the Sequential Circuits‘ mesmerizing melodies, and the heavily processed Neumann TLM 193 vocals seamlessly weave in and out of acid-ish and electro breakbeat grooves, „Why am I suddenly standing at Tokyo Teleport Station? What happend to my last week?“ Welcome to relaxed Rave-basslines and lo-fi rhythms that will intoxicate your senses.

Get loose and fall into your next portal of unexpected spiritual flows. Catch your six unique tracks for a highly eclectic journey through mysterious and magical moments. So strap in and become one with the sound, because ‚Life Of Phoroma‘ is your roller coaster ride to unforgettable sonic adventures.

Repress!

From its creation in the late 90s until its closure in 2009, the Toytronic label witnessed a digital revolution that transformed the record industry, turning glitch into a production tool for a whole generation heir to the of bleep ‘n’ bass sound. Thanks to their impeccable A&R credentials, its head honchos, Martin Haidinger and Chris Cunningham, created an incredible IDM label catalogue, as well as producing their own material under pseudonym Abfahrt Hinwil. Their only album to date ‘Links Berge Rechts Seen’ Toytronic, 2002 was released as a compilation featuring tracks from their brief career that over the years has become a benchmark for the Toytronic sound. This album included their first –and only– three releases signed to Expending Records and Toytronic, and also included two previously unreleased songs: ‘Planquadrat’ and a hidden track at the end of the CD version. Lapsus proudly presents ‘Links Berge Rechts Seen’, which will be released on vinyl for the first time as part of its'Perennial Series'. The collector’s format marbled 2LP is accompanied by a double-sided lithographic print, which includes a unique and exclusive interview from Martin and Chris, talking to prestigious electronic music journalist Philip Sherburne.

Mark Hawkins readies ‘Venn Diagram’ album for Aus Music this May.
Mark Hawkins’ early releases on labels such as Djax Up Beats and Ugly Funk lit flares in the world of
underground techno, with a sense of humour and tougher-than-thou sonic palette enforced via his jacking live
sets. Across the following decades, Mark has delivered razor sharp cuts that encompass pretty much
anything that has an electronic heart - leaving his own unique trail for others to follow via his work for labels
as diverse as Dixon Avenue Basement Jams, Sonic Mind, Mistress Recordings, Houndstooth and Aus.

With his latest album, it feels like Mark has pushed ahead with a change of direction he started with 2021’s
‘The New Normal’. ‘Venn Diagram’ carries on this journey into uncharted lands; molten, distorted drum
assaults weave around glistening melodies, kitchen sink soul glides below fractured sound pools. Opener
‘Verblex Oscillos’ immediately demands your attention grabbing, with a so-happy-it’s-sad melody spiralling
around a cascade of tough-as-fuck dance floor destroying beats, along with ‘Isolated’s urgent combination of
strings, acid and chicago-tough electro beats.

Other cuts on the album share a similar approach, ‘Maladayfun Friction’s restless energy derives from a fusion
of skittering drums and deranged synths and ‘Still Have Time’s dreamy super saw pads and plaintive vocal
espouse a kind of wasted elegance, roaming the city nightlife in a Gucci dress and Doc Martin boots.
‘Nlasckhdsjk’ and ‘Frederikalstublieft’ propel forward with such a sleek and effervescent aesthetic, recalling
fast drives along picturesque European highways or heady take-offs to unknown urban territories. The
aesthetic becomes more elegant on the album’s centrepoint tracks ‘Rebula Conundrum’ and ‘Nlasckhdsjk’,
where optimistic bleeps, bass and 707 drums underpin jazzy chords and soaring leads.

Other tracks show the arc of Mark’s direction of travel, with soulful vocals that share a well of deep-rooted
optimism that was so evident on his breakthrough 2016 Social Housing album. ‘L.O.V.E.’ breaks into
post-Sophie territory with a catchy modulated vocal joyfully two-stepping across to the nightclub bar and
‘How Do I Know’ providing a heart rending torch song for 6am kicking-out-time refugees to help them find
their way back home.

Ghost Producer aka Badawi (aka Raz Mesinai aka Bilal ibn Yakub al-Badawi) is a prolific producer and artist who has been on the forefront of underground experimental jazz and electronic music scenes around the world for over thirty years, with a catalog of albums on labels as ROIR, Asphodel and Tzadik under various monikers dating back to the late 1980s.

Ghost Producer released his first albums starting in the late 80’s under the monikers Psy Co. and Ruff Riddim Productions, selling his cassette tapes in NYC. He produced, on average, at least one album per week since 1988 until today. One of the twenty or so monikers was Badawi, later being signed to ROIR Records and releasing the seminal experimental dub, punk albums »Bedouin Sound Clash« and later »The Heretic of Ether« on Asphodel. Spending time as a child between Occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank (Balata) and New York City (Rock Steady Park) during the height of the B-Boy era in the 70s and 80s informed Ghost Producer’s singular sound of heavy driving Sufi rhythms, sonic experiments, percussion, piano playing and sound design which has connected him to a wide variety of artists ranging from Maryanne Amacher to John Zorn, to added elements of darkness to music by such artists as Hanz Zimmer (Black Hawk Down) and rappers Danny Brown (Pneumonia) and Skepta and Double D (Don) among many others.

At age 14, Ghost Producer was discovered by visionary jazz and rock musician, Juma Sultan (Jimi Hendrix) whom later trusted Ghost Producer with producing the archive of over 2000 hours from recordings from »Studio We« and the Free Jazz Loft Movement in NYC in the 60s and 70s. As a composer, he has worked with Kronos Quartet and has had premiers at Carnegie Hall (Cross Fader, The Echo of Decay) and Lincoln Center (String Quartet For Four Turntables). In addition, Ghost Producer has released several albums on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, where he explored producing to the books of Franz Kafka (Before The Law, Resurrections for Goat Skin, Cyborg Acoustics)

As a composer for film, he coined the term »score design» to describe his work in conceiving and producing scores for films with particularly demanding needs, working on such films as A Late Quartet (director Yaron Zilberman composer: Angelo Badalamenti), The Fountain, Black Swan and The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky/Clint Mansel), Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott/Hans Zimmer) and many more. In 2014, he was awarded as a fellow in the Sundance Composers Lab.

In 2015, Ghost Producer formed the Underground Producers Alliance, a unique program for developing producers, performers and composers, with co-founders Scotty Hard (Wu Tang Clan, Medeski Martin and Wood, De La Soul), HPrizm aka High Priest (Anti Pop Consortium), Honeychild Coleman (the 1865, The Slits) and Prince Paul (Jungle Brothers, De La Soul), where Ghost Producer produces entire albums with student participation in his master course.

This album, »The Book of Jinn«, is one of many productions done within the course, featuring players/mentors Juma Sultan (percussion), Chandenie (voice) and Shahzad Ismaily (electric bass), with additional student participation from Adam Culbert and Jonah Sollins (aka Goodnight 1500) on synths and percussion as well, then all remixed and rearranged by Badawi into what you hear here, The Book of Jinn.

"Westerman — the London-born, Athens-based pop maverick — has returned with his new album, ‘An Inbuilt Fault’.

The album's nine songs took shape throughout the depths of the pandemic and soundtrack Westerman’s reckoning with two years of intense isolation, loneliness, heartbreak, and dread. The phrase “an inbuilt fault” itself is an examination of the inherent and innate flaws that make us human – a visceral response to Westerman’s disillusionment with AI and social media during this time period.

Through it all, the album is visceral and live-sounding, full of the sound of breath and the idiosyncratic gestures of acoustic instruments. It creates a spatial feeling, sounding like musicians assembled in a room, passing evolving ideas back and forth. Co-produced with producer and percussionist James Krivchenia (Big Thief), and featuring an extended crew of Los Angeles associates, 'An Inbuilt Fault' exhibits music that is heavier and more sonically daring than Westerman’s previous releases, and it is the most adventurous and unselfconscious songwriting of Will Westerman’s career.

‘An Inbuilt Fault’ follows Westerman’s acclaimed 2020 debut ‘Your Hero Is Not Dead,’ a graceful and self-reflective project which earned him a spot as one of the most talked about new artists of the year thanks to profiles from Pitchfork (‘Rising’), Stereogum (‘Artist To Watch’), and Rolling Stone (‘Artist You Need To Know’)."

Ltd coloured 2LP edition, w/ etching on side D! "I'm obsessed with late 90's Meshug- gah, early Dillinger Escape Plan, and early Cult of Luna," explains guitarist Pierre Carroz deftly about the influences behind the sound of his brainchild. Combining the sonic agility of the American math-core pioneers with the relentless ferocity of the Swedish progressive metal innovators, Herod produce a brand of heavy music that is truly face melting. Having played with le- gendary metal acts like Obituary, Napalm Death and Carcass, Herod are no strangers to the international metal scene, and it shows in the calibre of their music. Their upcom- ing third album The Iconoclast puts the full power of their artistry on display, redefining musical heaviness and atmosphere at every turn imaginable. Iconoclast sees the Swiss quintet paint with a consistent palette of groovy syncopated riff- ing, heavy breakdowns, and a diversity of vocal techniques and deliveries. Using similar col- ours and textures to create many different pictures, it's an approach that feels almost experi- mental. Like great abstract painters like Kazimir Malevich or Jackson Pollock, Herod continue to develop their technique and method throughout their oeuvre. Iconoclast is a creation of pure magnificence, combining an undeniable artistic mindset with the best of what modern metal has to offer. «The Edifice» features the incredible Matt McGachy from Canadian technical death metal legends Cryptopsy while the album closer sees the band collaborate with long-time friend Loi"c Rosetti: «The Prophecy» poses him against a most ferocious backdrop, capturing two amazing vocalists of the past and present Ocean Col- lective teaming up and facing off, since Herod's vocalist Mike Pilat was the main vocalist on The Ocean's «Precambrian» album (2007). FOR FANS OF Meshuggah, Gojira, Cult of Luna, LLNN, Vildjharta, Primitive Man, Uneven Structure

Voice Magnetic by Hainbach is the enigmatic Berlin based artist’s sonic diary of 2022. On his sixth release on Seil Records, Stefan Goetsch collages the sounds he made and the ones that surrounded him over the course of twelve months into a powerfully intimate ambient experience.

In his studio or on travels — Hainbach always is working on new material and allows the locations he records his tracks in to find their way into the music. Consequently, on many tracks you can can hear the outside bleeding in — seagulls and waves on "Izmir", the voices of his children while record the piano or the sirens of Neukölln’s police cars in background.

The connecting threads between these pieces are magnetic tape and the human voice — hiss and breath. The result are 15 immersive ambient pieces that make up Voice Magnetic. Often short like the moments that spark them. Fading and intricate, honest and pure.

Based out of Berlin, Germany, electro-acoustic music composer and performer Hainbach creates shifting audio landscapes, using esoteric synthesizers, nuclear test equipment, magnetic tape and a collection of idiophones. Hainbach has become known for his immersive live shows and an unique sound that is both abstract yet very much a corporal experience. Otherworldly and intimate, raw and heartfelt. On his wildly popular YouTube channel, Hainbach shares his love for experimental music techniques and his passion for forgotten machines with a wide audience. Inspiring over one hundred thousand each week to explore synthesis, electronics - and to leave beaten paths.

London’s own Trev appeared on our first release, Body Music Vol 1, as well as other key releases on CoOp Presents and Local Talk. We’ve been fans from the start and, after Trev joined the family, his music went from strength to strength. It was already out-of-this-world production, with serious attention to detail, and this EP is nothing short of excellent! He told us 'there’s no hiding that this EP is, in essence, a long love letter to Brazil', but that it’s also written to 'Iran, London, Lisbon, Japan, probably more - too many to remember!'. Trev described his process as 'listening, learning, combining my favourite elements of all this music that has brought me so much joy over the years'. Right on!

This EP is fresh, different and sonically on point. It’s Bruk, it’s Brazilian, it’s Bass, it’s… all-round-really-good dance music! Trev is a real modern musician, an awesome keys player as well as a producer. He understands the importance of musicality and originality, together with weighty beats and bass, working just as well on the dance floor as they do at a house party… or dinner party, for that matter!

'Nightjar', the title track, draws you in with hypnotic plucks like crickets on a hot summer’s night. Eerie pads float in building tension before the beat drops - Pandeiro and Caxixi serving broken-beat with the kick - pumping the sonic palette and pumping the dancefloor. Deep sinister chords pulse in and out, percussive melodies bring love from the middle east, and we reach a beautiful jazz-harmony break - then it’s straight back to the body movement - this time letting loose with the cowbells and the shakers. Think Brazil, think Persia, think Jazz, think dance-floor, it’s all in there!

'Late Flip' pulls us into a more ethereal intro, with the Koto and skate sounds laying our dream scene. Morphing out of flutes, modular synth plucks pay tribute to the sounds of Lisbon as we drop - a rolling broken beat punch, playful Rhodes and distant vocal chops ring out with the Koto dripping in warm echoes. A truly amazing composition and arrangement that leaves you wanting more!

'Beijo' is one of our faves on this EP. We’re straight in with a kiss - MWAH! - a classic Baile rhythm gets a warm Bruk embrace. It’s passionate and dark and tells a story as old as history. Get lost in the movements between drums and percussion, in the flutes and cicadas, until the organ bass calls it - time to get moving. This really is Trev’s signature dance floor style. A banger with a naughty-yet-subtle bassline, and its own game of perspective - feel this rhythm in more ways than one. Vocal chops and Tamborim place São Paulo’s influence front and centre.

'Grey' takes us on a dusty House/Bruk journey with filtering chords that grow patiently until the beat drops - getting your feet moving and neck bopping! Burning slow, Trev is playful with the harmony, keeping the fun with a roller of a bassline that pulls it all together. It’s a six-and-a-half-minute rich musical journey that feels more like half that time!?

Complete your Dance Regular Vinyl collection with this absolute killer EP from the one called Trev.

Multi Culti co-founder Dreems joins forces with Jacoby for kaleidoscopic sonic wizardry that flows seamlessly from symphonic dream pop to ambient esoterica.

If this album had been produced by ai the prompt would have been: create the perfect mix of daft punk - homework crossed with Brian Wilson - pet sounds containing shades of Moby - play but with the complexity and scope of the avalanches - since i left you, containing a few saucy licks of Nile rogers funk, dainty fragments of French psychedelic library-kitsch, mind-expanding flourishes from the BBC radiophonic workshop, all culminating with a bell-filled percussive piano ballad outro masterpiece produced by Brian Eno and four Tet on 180 mics of LSD after watching sesame street with lee perry.

It’s a record of fantastic imagination, full of surprises. Crack open your head, dive in and enjoy the trip!

Limited edition 7” containing ‘all your time’ and ‘in your mind’.

Berlin-based French-Irish sound artist Zoë Mc Pherson levels up on their third full-length "Pitch Blender", mangling years of experience DJing and performing live into a tight set of cybernetic soundsystem experiments that flicker between the rave and the art space. Described as a "vanguard" by DJ Mag and "fearless" by Hyponik, Mc Pherson has performed tirelessly across the world, appearing at Berlin's CTM Festival, Madrid's LEV, Malmö's Intonal and presenting installations at Berlin's Silent Green and Monom. They also curate the ambitious A/V-focused imprint SFX with visual artist Alessandra Leone and maintain creative partnerships with Jessica Ekomane and Ciarra Black (as Carbon 96).

Pulling in influence from British bass music and the outer fringes of experimental sound art, "Pitch Blender" is Mc Pherson's most ambitious album to date, splicing bold vocal performances with psychedelic modular synth flourishes, illusory environmental recordings and relentlessly abstract polyrhythmic beats. It's music that's able to balance a constant exploration for newness with a rhythmic pulse that never ignores the dancefloor, connecting the nodes between artists like aya, Elvin Brandhi, ZULI and Slikback. Cinematic and sub-heavy, "Pitch Blender" is a dizzying work of sonic fiction that's permanently in flux, dissolving breaks, beats and acidic leads into queasy, pressurized tracks that act as an antidote to contemporary malaise.