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I Talk To Water, the fifth album for Kompakt by Danish producer Kölsch, is the artist’s most personal statement yet. While all the trademarks that make his music so popular and powerful are still present – lush, melodic techno; swooping, trance-like figures; sensuous, shivery texturology – I Talk To Water is also a deep and intimate rapprochement with family and history, a beautiful, finely detailed document of loss and memory, and a tracing of the long, unbroken thread of grief that runs through our lives once we’ve lost those we loved.

The emotional core of I Talk To Water, then, is a cache of recordings by Kölsch’s father, Patrick Reilly, who passed away in 2003 from brain cancer. With time rendered elastic by the pandemic and its associated lockdowns, its sudden, alienating shifts in everyday living, Kölsch found himself reflecting on his father’s passing and ongoing spiritual presence, thinking about how best to memorialise such a significant figure in his own life. Those recordings opened a gateway, of sorts, for Kölsch to move through – a way to bring past and present together and entwine them in a sensitive, poetic manner.

Kölsch’s father was a musician – “touring in the sixties and seventies, in the Middle East especially, he was doing the whole hippy trail, playing guitar, and wrote some songs over the years,” he recalls. “But all in all, he decided to focus on family rather than pursue a musical career.” Reilly kept playing and writing music over the years, though Kölsch hadn’t listened to the material for some time: “I’d never had the guts to listen to it, because I just felt too fragile listening to his voice. It’s such a tough thing to go through.”

During the pandemic, though, Kölsch listened through the fragmented body of work that his father had produced over the years. “I decided I’m gonna finally release my dad’s music twenty years after his passing,” he reflects. “This whole album is about the process of loss, and for me it’s been one of my main driving forces in my musical life, the whole emotional aspect of whatever I’ve done has been based in that feeling that he’s not there anymore.”

Recordings of Reilly appear on three songs across I Talk To Water. His guitars drift pensively across “Grape”, offering a lush thread of melody that Kölsch wraps with clicking, driftwood rhythms and droning, melancholy bass. “Tell Me” is a lovely three-minute art song, a sadly beautiful reflection, minimally adorned with gentle keys and a muted pulse. And on the closing “It Ends Where It Began”, Kölsch lets his father’s acoustic guitar take centre stage for a lament that’s unexpectedly folksy, a guitar soli dream, which Reilly originally recorded in 1996. “He actually recorded it for my first album that never came out,” Kölsch reveals, “and I had it sitting around forever. That is purely him.”

These three imagined collaborations between father and son are poised and delicate. But their relationship also marks the gorgeous music Kölsch has made across the rest of I Talk To Water, from the itchy yet lush “Pet Sound” (titled in tribute to one of Reilly’s favourite albums), the flickering synths and yearning vocal samples that slide through “Khenpo”, the ecstatic shuddering that marks “Only Get Better”, or “Implant”’s slow-motion pans and subtle reveals.

There’s also the title song, where Kölsch is joined by guest Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction, Porno For Pyros), singing a mantra for internal reflection: “I talk to water / Searching for myself / Looking for answers / Oceans of you.” Farrell’s appearance brings another timbre, another spirit to the album, aligning neatly with his recent interest in electronic music. “He was completely taken by this idea of talking to water,” Kölsch says, thinking about the ways we collectively lean towards the natural world as a comfort and a listener, a guide through mourning, a way to map out the terrain of the heart. This mapping is something that Kölsch has proven remarkably adept at through the years; dance music for both body and mind, but also both for the here-and-now, and for the hereafter.

“I Talk To Water”, das fünfte Album des dänischen Produzenten Kölsch für Kompakt, ist zweifellos das persönlichste Statement des Künstlers bislang. Während alle Markenzeichen, die seine Musik so beliebt und kraftvoll machen, immer noch präsent sind – üppige, melodische Techno-Tracks; schwebende, tranceartige Elemente; sinnliche, fiebrige Texturen – ist “I Talk To Water” auch eine tiefe und intime Annäherung an Familie und Geschichte. Es ist ein wunderschönes, fein ausgearbeitetes Dokument des Verlusts und der Erinnerung, und es verfolgt den langen, ungebrochenen Faden der Trauer, der durch unser Leben läuft, sobald wir diejenigen verloren haben, die wir liebten.

Der emotionale Kern von “I Talk To Water” besteht aus Aufnahmen von Kölschs Vater, Patrick Reilly, der 2003 an Hirnkrebs verstarb. Durch die Pandemie und ihre damit verbundenen Lockdowns, die plötzlichen, entfremdenden Veränderungen im Alltag, fand Kölsch sich in Gedanken an den Tod seines Vaters und seine fortwährende spirituelle Präsenz wieder. Er überlegte, wie er eine so bedeutende Figur in seinem eigenen Leben am besten verewigen könnte. Diese Aufnahmen öffneten ihm sozusagen ein Portal, um Vergangenheit und Gegenwart miteinander zu verbinden und sie auf sensible und poetische Weise zu verweben.

Kölschs Vater war Musiker – “er tourte in den sechziger und siebziger Jahren, vor allem im Nahen Osten, auf dem Hippie Trail, spielte Gitarre und schrieb im Laufe der Jahre einige Songs”, erinnert sich Kölsch. “Aber alles in allem entschied er sich, sich auf die Familie zu konzentrieren, anstatt eine musikalische Karriere zu verfolgen.” Reilly spielte und schrieb jedoch im Laufe der Jahre weiterhin Musik, obwohl Kölsch das Material lange Zeit nicht angehört hatte: “Ich hatte nie den Mut, es anzuhören, weil ich mich einfach zu zerbrechlich fühlte, seine Stimme anzuhören. Es ist so schwer, das durchzustehen.”

Während der Pandemie hörte sich Kölsch jedoch durch das fragmentierte Werk, das sein Vater im Laufe der Jahre produziert hatte. “Ich beschloss, die Musik meines Vaters zwanzig Jahre nach seinem Tod endlich zu veröffentlichen”, reflektiert er. “Dieses ganze Album handelt von dem Verlustprozess, welcher für mich generell eine der Hauptantriebskräfte in meinem musikalischen Leben ist. Der ganze emotionale Aspekt von dem, was ich getan habe, basierte auf dem Gefühl, dass er nicht mehr da ist.”

Auf “I Talk To Water” sind Aufnahmen von Reilly in drei Songs zu hören. Seine Gitarren ziehen nachdenklich durch “Grape”, bieten einen üppigen Melodiefaden, den Kölsch mit klickenden, treibenden Rhythmen und dröhnendem, melancholischem Bass umwickelt. “Tell Me” ist ein schönes dreiminütiges Kunstlied, eine traurig-schöne Reflexion, minimal geschmückt mit sanften Tasten und einem gedämpften Puls. Und auf dem Abschlusstrack “It Ends Where It Began” lässt Kölsch die akustische Gitarre seines Vaters im Mittelpunkt stehen, ein überraschend folkiger Klagegesang, den Reilly ursprünglich 1996 aufgenommen hatte. “Er hat es tatsächlich für mein erstes Album aufgenommen, das nie veröffentlicht wurde”, enthüllt Kölsch, “und ich hatte es ewig liegen.”

Diese drei erdachten Kollaborationen zwischen Vater und Sohn sind ausgewogen und zart. Aber ihre Beziehung prägt auch die wunderschöne Musik, die Kölsch im Rest von “I Talk To Water” geschaffen hat, angefangen bei dem nervösen, aber üppigen “Pet Sound” (benannt als Hommage an eines von Reillys Lieblingsalben), den flimmernden Synthesizern und sehnsüchtigen Vocal-Samples in “Khenpo”, den ekstatischen Erschütterungen in “Only Get Better” oder den langsamen Schwenks und subtilen Enthüllungen in “Implant”.

Es gibt auch den Titelsong, in dem Kölsch von Gast Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction, Porno For Pyros) begleitet wird, der ein Mantra für die innere Reflexion singt: “I talk to water / Searching for myself / Looking for answers / Oceans of you.” Farrells Auftritt bringt eine weitere Klangfarbe, einen weiteren Geist in das Album, der gut zu seinem jüngsten Interesse an elektronischer Musik passt. “Er war völlig fasziniert von der Idee, mit Wasser zu sprechen”, sagt Kölsch und denkt darüber nach, wie wir kollektiv zur Natur als Trost, Zuhörer, Führer durch die Trauer neigen, um die Gelände des Herzens zu kartieren. Diese Kartierung ist etwas, in dem Kölsch im Laufe der Jahre erstaunlich geschickt war; Tanzmusik für Körper und Geist, sowohl für das Hier und Jetzt, als auch für das Leben danach.

10" vinyl limited pressing by one of the UK's most popular Rockabilly bands who are still out there gigging at festivals all over the UK and overseas

Dan Lacksman is a Belgian electronic music pioneer who co-founded the Electro Pop Dance formation Telex and is credited for their classic 'Moskow Diskow.' He also worked under the Transvolta name but put out only one single, 1978's impossibly hard-to-find classic 'Disco Computer.' Dan himself has carefully remastered the original for this special 12" reissue. It's still a retro-future sound all these years later with the signature talk box vocals and sleek drum machines under cosmic synths. On the flip is a long version of 'You Are Disco' which is a similar vibe but with a slightly more lively groove and vocal. Two serene dancefloor gems by any standards.

GER SMILE zeigen mit ihrem hervorragenden Debut PRICE OF PROGRESS leichtfüßig auf, dass Post Punk im Jahre 2023 noch immer erfrischend klingen kann. Sie nehmen ihre Referenzen nicht als Dogma, bleiben experimentell, eigensinnig. Erzählerisch, eingängig, rough und anschmiegsam verschmelzen dabei die feinsinnigen, poetischen Beobachtungen von Sängerin Rubee True Fegan (USA) mit dem versierten Sound einer Band, die von Produzent Olaf Opal genau dahin gebracht wurde, wo sie hingehört: an den Startblock innovativer, kluger und sinnlicher Gitarrenmusik. In PRICE OF PROGRESS manifestiert sich das Zusammenspiel aus musikalischem Sturm und Drang und der Reife einer reflektierten Erzählperspektive. Was hier entstanden ist, klingt nun, 2023, in seiner jugendlichen Frische durchaus nach einem Debut - gleichzeitig aber nach dem Werk einer erfahrenen, über lange Zeit gewachsenen Band. Nur deutsch klingt es nicht, was sicher im Wesen von Sängerin Rubees True Fegans Heimat Albuquerque (New Mexico) begründet liegt, gleichsam aber in der Vielseitigkeit, die sich SMILE erlauben - und ihrer einhergehenden Virtuosität an den Instrumenten. SMILE versuchen sich dabei - einem Post-Punk britischer Machart folgend - durchaus in homogener Geradlinigkeit (Herrengedeck), lassen Kühle zu (Machine Dreaming) und folgen einem düsteren Ernst (Säge). Diese Facetten aber vermengen sich mit einer heiteren Experimentierfreude (Stalemate, Produce, Hungry Ghosts), mit Humor (Doohickey), mit verträumter Beschwingtheit (Commuter) und Genresprengender Pop-Af finität (Protection). So zeigt sich dieses stilsichere Album in einer Vielseitigkeit, die heute selten zu finden ist - und klingt trotzdem wie aus einem Guss. Auch die ersten drei Singles zeigen gut das Panorama, das SMILE mit ihrem Debut aufmachen: Dog In The Manger erinnert zunächst an Talk Talks Happiness Is Easy, wechselt aber nach dem Drum-Intro schnell die Spur. Der Opener der Platte stellt Rubee als Sängerin vor, die, trotz einer gewissen Gelassenheit in der Performance, von Wut und Traurigkeit getrieben ist. Der Text ist eine politische Reflexion, ausgelöst vom gekippten Abtreibungsrecht in den USA, das sich mit einer alten griechischen Fabel verbindet. So startet das Album mit einem Rätsel und offenbart, das Musik noch immer eine Waffe sein kann - aus Sound, Herz und Verstand. In Doohickey, einem der beschwingtesten Songs der Platte, kramt Rubee in ihrer Erinnerung, besucht ihre verstorbene Großmutter, eine unfreundliche alte Frau, die in ihrem Haus hortete, was sie fand. So entsteht eine Kurzgeschichte über die weirdest person alive und zeigt SMILE als Band, in der Text und Musik nicht konkurrieren, sondern stets Symbiose feiern. Zackig und temporeich wie das erzählte Leben kommen auch Gitarren und Rhythmussektion daher, finden zu einer soghaften Dynamik, ohne mit billigen Sing-alongs zu arbeiten. Protection, die dritte Single, ist wohl das eigensinnigste Stück der Platte, erzeugt, gesanglich pendelnd zwischen Blood Orange und Bands wie Siouxsie & The Banshees oder Bow Wow Wow, eine breite und intensive Palette, bringt einen The Fall-artigen Witz ein und wird zwischen den vermittelten Gefühlen zur Achterbahnfahrt. Das Stück schrieb Gitarrist Lars Fritzsche, mit dem Ziel, einen klassischen Hit zu schaffen (gelungen, wenn auch nicht klassisch!) - und schuf in der Offenheit des Songs dabei eine perfekte Fläche, die nun gleich mehrere Stimmen der Band versammelt. Im Zentrum: Rubee, die hier einen Text performt, der zwischen Traum und Cut-up ihren poetischen Glanz scheinen lässt. Die aus der Hüfte geschüttelte Dramaturgie ist dabei Paradebeispiel für die Innovation einer der spannendsten neuen Gitarrenbands, die nun auf dem Indielabel Siluh (Wien) eine Heimat zwischen Köln, Bonn und Albuquerque gefunden hat. Wahnsinn! (Hendrik Otremba)

ENG SMILE IS A POST-PUNK BAND WITH A SINGER, WHO PREFERS NOT TO SING. INSTEAD, SHE INTONES HER POETIC STORIES SPIKED WITH PERSONAL REFLECTIONS. With their excellent debut PRICE OF PROGRESS, SMILE light-footedly show that post punk can still sound refreshing in 2023. They don't take their references as dogma, remain experimental, stubborn. Narrative, catchy, rough and cuddly, the subtle, poetic observations of singer Rubee True Fegan (USA) merge with the accomplished sound of a band that producer Olaf Opal has put exactly where it belongs: on the starting block of innovative, clever and sensual guitar music. In PRICE OF PROGRESS, the interplay of musical Sturm und Drang and the maturity of a reflective narrative perspective manifests itself. Ltd pink vinyl LP!

GER SMILE zeigen mit ihrem hervorragenden Debut PRICE OF PROGRESS leichtfüßig auf, dass Post Punk im Jahre 2023 noch immer erfrischend klingen kann. Sie nehmen ihre Referenzen nicht als Dogma, bleiben experimentell, eigensinnig. Erzählerisch, eingängig, rough und anschmiegsam verschmelzen dabei die feinsinnigen, poetischen Beobachtungen von Sängerin Rubee True Fegan (USA) mit dem versierten Sound einer Band, die von Produzent Olaf Opal genau dahin gebracht wurde, wo sie hingehört: an den Startblock innovativer, kluger und sinnlicher Gitarrenmusik. In PRICE OF PROGRESS manifestiert sich das Zusammenspiel aus musikalischem Sturm und Drang und der Reife einer reflektierten Erzählperspektive. Was hier entstanden ist, klingt nun, 2023, in seiner jugendlichen Frische durchaus nach einem Debut - gleichzeitig aber nach dem Werk einer erfahrenen, über lange Zeit gewachsenen Band. Nur deutsch klingt es nicht, was sicher im Wesen von Sängerin Rubees True Fegans Heimat Albuquerque (New Mexico) begründet liegt, gleichsam aber in der Vielseitigkeit, die sich SMILE erlauben - und ihrer einhergehenden Virtuosität an den Instrumenten. SMILE versuchen sich dabei - einem Post-Punk britischer Machart folgend - durchaus in homogener Geradlinigkeit (Herrengedeck), lassen Kühle zu (Machine Dreaming) und folgen einem düsteren Ernst (Säge). Diese Facetten aber vermengen sich mit einer heiteren Experimentierfreude (Stalemate, Produce, Hungry Ghosts), mit Humor (Doohickey), mit verträumter Beschwingtheit (Commuter) und Genresprengender Pop-Af finität (Protection). So zeigt sich dieses stilsichere Album in einer Vielseitigkeit, die heute selten zu finden ist - und klingt trotzdem wie aus einem Guss. Auch die ersten drei Singles zeigen gut das Panorama, das SMILE mit ihrem Debut aufmachen: Dog In The Manger erinnert zunächst an Talk Talks Happiness Is Easy, wechselt aber nach dem Drum-Intro schnell die Spur. Der Opener der Platte stellt Rubee als Sängerin vor, die, trotz einer gewissen Gelassenheit in der Performance, von Wut und Traurigkeit getrieben ist. Der Text ist eine politische Reflexion, ausgelöst vom gekippten Abtreibungsrecht in den USA, das sich mit einer alten griechischen Fabel verbindet. So startet das Album mit einem Rätsel und offenbart, das Musik noch immer eine Waffe sein kann - aus Sound, Herz und Verstand. In Doohickey, einem der beschwingtesten Songs der Platte, kramt Rubee in ihrer Erinnerung, besucht ihre verstorbene Großmutter, eine unfreundliche alte Frau, die in ihrem Haus hortete, was sie fand. So entsteht eine Kurzgeschichte über die weirdest person alive und zeigt SMILE als Band, in der Text und Musik nicht konkurrieren, sondern stets Symbiose feiern. Zackig und temporeich wie das erzählte Leben kommen auch Gitarren und Rhythmussektion daher, finden zu einer soghaften Dynamik, ohne mit billigen Sing-alongs zu arbeiten. Protection, die dritte Single, ist wohl das eigensinnigste Stück der Platte, erzeugt, gesanglich pendelnd zwischen Blood Orange und Bands wie Siouxsie & The Banshees oder Bow Wow Wow, eine breite und intensive Palette, bringt einen The Fall-artigen Witz ein und wird zwischen den vermittelten Gefühlen zur Achterbahnfahrt. Das Stück schrieb Gitarrist Lars Fritzsche, mit dem Ziel, einen klassischen Hit zu schaffen (gelungen, wenn auch nicht klassisch!) - und schuf in der Offenheit des Songs dabei eine perfekte Fläche, die nun gleich mehrere Stimmen der Band versammelt. Im Zentrum: Rubee, die hier einen Text performt, der zwischen Traum und Cut-up ihren poetischen Glanz scheinen lässt. Die aus der Hüfte geschüttelte Dramaturgie ist dabei Paradebeispiel für die Innovation einer der spannendsten neuen Gitarrenbands, die nun auf dem Indielabel Siluh (Wien) eine Heimat zwischen Köln, Bonn und Albuquerque gefunden hat. Wahnsinn! (Hendrik Otremba)

ENG SMILE IS A POST-PUNK BAND WITH A SINGER, WHO PREFERS NOT TO SING. INSTEAD, SHE INTONES HER POETIC STORIES SPIKED WITH PERSONAL REFLECTIONS. With their excellent debut PRICE OF PROGRESS, SMILE light-footedly show that post punk can still sound refreshing in 2023. They don't take their references as dogma, remain experimental, stubborn. Narrative, catchy, rough and cuddly, the subtle, poetic observations of singer Rubee True Fegan (USA) merge with the accomplished sound of a band that producer Olaf Opal has put exactly where it belongs: on the starting block of innovative, clever and sensual guitar music. In PRICE OF PROGRESS, the interplay of musical Sturm und Drang and the maturity of a reflective narrative perspective manifests itself. Ltd pink vinyl LP!

The Mapendo album of the Mighty Cavaliers, up to today, has been shrouded in mystery. If you look at the original cover of this very rare Kenyan funk-infused album all you will find are the names of the engineer and the producer, as EMI Kenya omitted the names of the musicians and the songwriters. Digging deeper a rather sinister story of deceit develops whereby Mapendo becomes symbolic for all what was wrong about the Kenyan record industry in the 1970s, and the music industry in Africa as a whole. As this maltreatment of artists proved endemic throughout the continent, although little talked about.

One of the three surviving members of the Mighty Cavaliers, bass player Bonnie Wanda - who started his career in 1971 with Gloria Africana - vividly remembers participating in the recording of the two albums the band made in 1976 and 1977 - Fisherman and Mapendo - and how they, especially on the last album, got short-changed by shrewd record label executives. In the 1960s it was mostly Indian and European record bosses that called the shots and usually gave musicians the chance of a one-off payment for their session time and recorded songs or wait for - hopefully - a generous royalty check. In most cases records didn't sell more than a thousand copies with an occasional hit selling in the tens of thousands, so musicians were reluctant to register themselves with the Music Copyright Society of Kenya. Although without doing so one couldn't receive royalties.

'For two years the Mighty Cavaliers performed five nights a week at the Starlight Club for five hour sets.

The re-release of Mapendo, the first of the German Want Some Records label, is another exciting puzzle piece in the tapestry of groovy Kenyan music. It proves that there are still great gems out there to be re-discovered for audiences worldwide.

Text written by Michiel van Oosterhout

This Album is dedicated to the musicians
Bonnie Wanda, Rashid Salim, Vuli Yeni, Juma Waweru Njuguna and Athmani 'guitar boy'."

JIN enters autumn with a familiar yet evolving sound. For our eighth release (JIN08), we are delighted to have Tokyo's house wizard, Gonno, make his long-awaited return to JIN with a full EP, after the still talked about JIN01 quintessential remix of Initials B.B.'s "Paradise Patterns".

For this release, Gonno delivers 3 astonishing tracks. A1 features Gonno’s trademark melodic house bomb. B1 is an instantly mind-blowing IDM 2-1-2 floor shaker. Then for B2, he brilliantly closes out the EP with a floating ambient tune.

Rounding out this release on A2 is Gonno's dear friend from Paris, synth specialist Voiski, with a 4/4 remix that takes you on a uniquely classy trip.

Watch The Sun is the next studio album from the acclaimed musician, PJ Morton. Following a prolific and remarkable creative run that saw 5 consecutive years of GRAMMY Nominations and 6 LPs since 2017, Watch The Sun aims to take a step back from it all. Looking to escape from outside noises and influences, PJ Morton chose to record in the secluded and storied Studio In The Country, where Stevie Wonder worked on 1979’s Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants, and artists like Allen Toussaint, Betty Davis and Dr. John have all recorded. Featuring the previously released “Please Don’t Walk Away,” & “My Peace,” the album is set to be his biggest and most anticipated release to date, delivering one of the most expansive sonic palettes he has ever developed as producer. Watch The Sun includes appearances from JoJo, Mr. Talkbox, Chronixx, Stevie Wonder, Nas, Wale, Jill Scott, Alex Isley, El Debarge, Zacardi Cortez, Gene Moore, Samoht, Tim Rogers & Darrel 'MusiqCity' Walls.

The sessions with Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Foxing) struck the perfect balance between preparation and experimentation, injecting new life into the band's style of soft- hearted Midwestern indie rock with an ever so subtle Americana twist. The solidified Ratboys lineup stretched and expanded their vision in the studio, adding unexpected elements and instruments like rototoms, talkboxes, and fiddles. The result is Ratboys' most sonically diverse record, shifting wildly from track to track. It flexes everything from fuzzy power pop choruses on "Crossed That Line" and "It's Alive!" to a warm country twang on "Morning Zoo" to mournful folk on the titular track. After more than ten years and four studio albums, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be heard--expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender--the
sound of four friends operating as a single, cohesive unit.

The sessions with Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Foxing) struck the perfect balance between preparation and experimentation, injecting new life into the band's style of soft- hearted Midwestern indie rock with an ever so subtle Americana twist. The solidified Ratboys lineup stretched and expanded their vision in the studio, adding unexpected elements and instruments like rototoms, talkboxes, and fiddles. The result is Ratboys' most sonically diverse record, shifting wildly from track to track. It flexes everything from fuzzy power pop choruses on "Crossed That Line" and "It's Alive!" to a warm country twang on "Morning Zoo" to mournful folk on the titular track. After more than ten years and four studio albums, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be heard--expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender--the
sound of four friends operating as a single, cohesive unit.

The song and production background began when the band created a roadhouse in rural Australia, performing an unannounced month-long residency in the small Victorian town of Campbells Creek, whilst working on their sixth record. The atmosphere of the live performance is recreated with pedal steel and crooning vocals and harmonies. The song lyrics reminisce of a romance still as alive as a blue flame."We had talked about this for years" Sam Bentley explains, "We were drawn to the idea of holding up in a town somewhere and playing the evenings as a house band. The Roadhouse became this place for us."Expanding their line-up, the five members of The Paper Kites recruited three extra musicians to make up their roadhouse band, including multi-instrumentalist Matt Dixon - who's weeping pedal steel features on the track - as well as Hannah Cameron and Chris Panousakis.

Factory Benelux presents a special 35th anniversary edition of Here Comes Everybody, the highly-regarded second album by Scottish group The Wake, originally released by Factory Records in 1985. Just 800 copies will be made available for Record Store Day on 18 April 2020, pressed in crystal clear vinyl with a bonus 7-inch single + digital copy.

The Wake formed in Glasgow in 1981 after singer/guitarist Caesar left Altered Images. Joining Factory the following year, the group toured with New Order and released popular mini-album Harmony. Trailed by sprightly single Talk About the Past in 1984, second album Here Comes Everybody was eventually recorded as a trio, combining dreampop melodies and wistful lyricism typified by standout track O Pamela (later interpreted by artful French new wave covers project Nouvelle Vague).

Praise for Here Comes Everybody: “Holds up as a touchstone for aching, atmospheric synth-pop, all slinky guitars, crispy percussion, textured keyboards and limber bass" (Pitchfork); “The album stands as a pillar of moody synth pop, still bearing passing resemblance to New Order while retaining the bounce of the Postcard label bands and the cavernous production of Closer-era Joy Division, covering it all in some of the heaviest synth wash this side of Klaus Schulze" (Dusted)

Newly re-mastered for this special 35th anniversary edition, the original 8 track album is now augmented by companion singles Talk About the Past and Of the Matter, pressed on a bonus 7-inch single in a picture sleeve. Here Comes Everybody itself is pressed on clear vinyl, housed in a white reverse board sleeve with printed inner bag containing lyrics, images and liner notes by band members Carolyn Allen and Caesar.

Under the alias 4E, producer Can Oral created his own unique sound of raw, futuristic acid-electro. The A-Side tracks "Ask Isadora" and "Conga Banana" first appeared on the album, Blue Note, released on Home Entertainment in 1996. On the flip are two unreleased tracks picked from his extensive archive and edited by FIT Siegel. These were also recorded during this era, which Can describes below:

"In the 90s I moved to NYC to start a band with Jimi Tenor. I had a small flat in the East Village with the apartment number 4E and that became my artist name for the downtempo and electro material I was working on. The style I called Futuristic Electro because I didn't want to relate to the old school with this. I had my studio on the kitchen floor and pretty much only used EMU SP-1200, TB-303, TR-808 and SH-101 by good ol’ Roland. In a way NYC was still developing because it was all about house music. In 1995, I opened Temple Records in Manhattan with Dr Walker from Air Liquide and DJ DB from Smile Communications. The record shop was inside the Liquid Sky clothing store. After a fire in the shop, along with a falling out with the owner I decided to talk to a fortune teller to find out what the future held. Her name was Isadora, and she had a TV show called "Ask Isadora." She told me on live television to move out, have my own shop and be independent, so I did. Thanks Isadora!"

Made when mono was still king, Bob Dylan's self-titled 1962 debut is as understated of an entrance as any significant musician as ever made. Already well-versed in American roots music, Dylan simultaneously pays homage to tradition and extends it by putting his own stamp on classic material that metaphorically functions as the soil of our contemporary songs and styles. Free of ego, and performed with masterful conviction, Bob Dylan ranks with the debut efforts of similar artistic giants Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones.

Mastered from the original master tapes, pressed at RTI, and limited to 3,000 copies, Mobile Fidelity's restored 180g mono 45RPM 2LP version brings the contents of this seminal release as closest as they've ever come to master tape-quality in the original mono configuration. Transparent to the source, the simple sounds of Dylan's voice, acoustic guitar, and harmonica take on lifelike perspective and directness – the "husk and bark" to which Robert Shelton referred in his now-legendary New York Times review of a Dylan appearance at Gerde's Folk City. MoFi has made possible an inexpensive time-traveling trip back to the Greenwich Village coffeehouses and folk clubs in which Dylan cut his teeth, albeit in much better fidelity and without any annoying background chatter. Wider grooves mean more information reaches your ears.

As the preferred mix at the time of the recording, the mono version presents Dylan as he and his producers originally intended. Since the separation of the stereo versions isn't as sharp, the mono edition places Dylan's vocals in the heart of the musical action and as one with the accompaniment. It paints listeners an incredibly accurate portrait of the attention-getting, concrete mass of sound that features no artificial panning and straight-ahead immersion into the music. This is how almost everyone first heard this timeless album – making the mono mix all the more historically valuable and truthful.

Much has been made of the commercial indifference that greeted the album upon its low-key release. Yet focusing on sales figures and the reaction of a public not yet hip to Dylan's name or music is to miss the forest for the trees. Distinguished from the era's other folk efforts by way of the determination, brazenness, and lived-through-this worldliness Dylan approaches the material and sings the songs, Dylan lays the groundwork for the path he'd soon trailblaze and everyone else would follow.

By nodding to Woody Guthrie at the same time he completely re-imagines a sobering tune such as Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," Dylan straddles the past and future. He also displays, with challenging authority and savant-like expertise, the ability to handle weighty topics such as death, sorrow, and lamentation with the vaudeville flair, bluesy mannerisms, and poignant command of an artist three times his age.



As Dylan scholar and pop-culture critic Greil Marcus observed in 2010, "Everybody knew Joan Baez and the Kingston Trio; if you knew Bob Dylan, you knew something other people didn't, something that soon enough everybody had to know. Within a year, an album could put an adjective in front of the singer's name as if it were already common coin." It all starts here.

Track List

Coke Bottle Clear Vinyl. High Vis were formed in 2016 from the ashes of some of the UK's best hardcore bands. Gild-toothed frontman Graham Sayle's anguished lyrics about life in working class Britain were familiar to fans of Tremors' full-throttle thrash, but alongside his former bandmate Edward `Ski' Harper and veterans of Dirty Money, DiE and The Smear, High Vis sought to transform that energy and intensity into something entirely new.Like scene-mates Chubby and the Gang did by pulling in unlikely source material from classic doo-wop or Micromoon have by combining everything from psychedelia and metal into their high potency mix, High Vis' 2019 debut album, No Sense No Feeling showed the band were never going to be constrained by any sense of genre rules or regulations. Its claustrophobic rattle bore traces of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Crisis, The Cure and Gang Of Four lurking in the shadows. 2020's synth-driven EP, Society Exists, was further evidence of the band's restless creative MO.High Vis' second album Blending sees them open their viewfinder wider than ever before. Alongside longstanding favourites such as Fugazi and Echo and The Bunnymen; Ride and even Flock Of Seagulls were shared reference points as the band worked on the album together.From the anthemic sweep of opener "Talk For Hours", through the title track's psychedelic swirl and "Fever Dream"'s baggy groove, it sees High Vis' sound blossoming into something with an unlimited richness. The hazy drift of "Shame" or the melodic jangle of "Trauma Bonds" may take them until uncharted waters, but they still have all the power and bite that made No Sense No Feeling so remarkable.Lyrically, the album represents another leap forward too. Talking frankly about poverty, class politics, and the challenges of everyday life, Sayle's lyrics have always addressed the downtrodden and discarded communities across Britain slipping below the waterline. This time around, Sayle's lost not of that social consciousness, but he's looked at himself and his own emotional landscape, and in the process created something that feels more universal, that reaches a hand-out to people and ultimately gives a message of hope."To me, the lyrics are less selfish," reflects Sayle. "In the past, I couldn't see past whatever was going on with me. It's about accepting things and being open to conversations and learning to talk to people rather than just thinking that we're all doomed."The song "Talk for Hours" is a prime example of that. Born out of an afternoon meeting up with an old group of mates "repeating the same thing and not actually learning anything about each other" it offers to actually break the cycle and to listen and speak frankly about shared feelings and experiences. "Trauma Bonds", meanwhile, traces the broken lines of those living in lost communities, but ultimately realises that despite our shared scars, there's still hope to move on to a better future."The message of the album is you're not who you're told you are," Sayle summarises. "You're not your class background. Whatever it is, you're not that. Don't resign yourself to thinking you can't be this and you can't be that."It's a vitally important message right now, and one that could be the motto for not only Blending, but for High Vis themselves.

The anticipation is there in Elizabeth Stokes’ solo guitar riff under the opening lines of “I’m Not Getting Excited”: a frenetic, driving force daring a packed Auckland Town Hall to do exactly the opposite of what the track title suggests.

As the opener of The Beths’ Auckland, New Zealand, 2020 expands to include the full band, the crowd screeches and bellows. It’s a collective exhalation, in one of the few countries where live music is still possible.

The album title, and film of the same name, deliberately include the date and location, lead guitarist Jonathan Pearce says. “That’s the sensational part of what we actually did.” In a mid-pandemic world, playing to a heaving, enraptured home crowd feels miraculous.

In March 2020, everything seemed on track for another huge year for The Beths. Home after an 18-month northern hemisphere tour, they had just finished recording sophomore album Jump Rope Gazers and were primed for more extensive touring. But within days, New Zealand’s lockdown split the band between three separate houses. All touring was cancelled.

“It was existentially bad,” Stokes says. As well as worrying about economic survival, they lost something crucial to the band’s identity: live performance. “It's a huge part of how we see ourselves... What does it mean, if we can't play live?”

The band found an outlet through live-streaming, returning to the do-it-yourself mentality of their early days to connect with a global audience. The album and film have their genesis in that urge to share the now-rare experience of a live show, as widely as possible.

The fuzzy-round-the-edges live-streams pointed the way aesthetically. Native birds, wonkily crafted by the band from tissue paper and wire, festoon the venue’s cavernous ceiling while house plants soften and disguise the imposing pipes of an organ. The presence of the film crew isn’t disguised: much of the camerawork is handheld; full of fast zooms and pans.

With much of the material still fresh, the band was less focused on re-invention than playing “a good, fast rock show”, Pearce says. The tempo is up on crowd favourites “Whatever” and “Future Me Hates Me” (released as a live single on its third anniversary) as both band and audience feed off the mutual energy in the room.

Certain songs have taken on special resonance post-Covid. Pearce has found “Out Of Sight”, a tender rumination on long-distance relationships, hits particularly hard with live audiences.

Album closer “River Run” visibly brings Stokes to tears as a mix of achievement and relief kicks in. “You can finally relax at that point … You play the last note, breathe out a sigh and look up - and you’re in a giant room full of people happy and smiling.”

Night Owl, newly remastered at half-speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, out on 25th August 2023. Originally released in 1979, Rafferty’s third studio album, Night Owl, reached the top 10 in the UK. It's since gone platinum in Canada and gold in the UK and US and features the tracks 'Get It Right Next Time' and 'Days Gone Down (Still Got the Light in Your Eyes)'.
With hits such as ‘Baker Street’, ‘Right Down The Line’ and ‘Night Owl’, Gerry Rafferty is one of Scotland’s and the UK’s finest songwriters and musicians in history. He first found success as part of the band The Humblebums, which included beloved comedian, actor and musician Billy Connolly. Rafferty went on to form Stealers Wheel with old school friend Joe Egan, who produced a number of successful albums alongside the rock classic Stuck In The Middle With You, a track which has transcended generations with notable syncs in films such as Tarantino’s Resevoir Dogs, and is still widely popular to this day. Following his departure from Stealers Wheel, Rafferty relaunched his solo career in 1978 with the album City To City, including hits such as ‘Right Down The Line’ and ‘Baker Street’, which features the iconic saxophone solo by Raphael Ravenscroft. Rafferty went on to release ten studio albums, solidifying his status one of the finest musicians and songwriters to come out of the UK.

Whitney did more than turn Whitney Houston into a pioneering sensation known around the world by her first name. Originally released in June 1987, the singer's blockbuster sophomore record became the first album by a female artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart — a position it claimed for a total of 11 weeks en route to selling more than 10 million copies in the U.S. The Diamond platinum effort also contains four No. 1 Hot 100 hits that, when combined with the three chart toppers from her 1985 debut, gave her seven consecutive No. 1 singles — an accomplishment that no other artist has accomplished. Commercially and creatively, Whitney stands on hallowed ground — especially now that the record plays with a sound that puts into perspective just how extraordinary, engaging, and vital Houston's music remains.


Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl at RTI, Mobile Fidelity's 180g 33RPM SuperVinyl LP of Whitney invites listeners to experience the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee's pivotal album in audiophile quality for the very first time. Free of the dynamic limitations and tonal flatness prevalent on prior vinyl and CD pressings, it lets the music breathe and reveals the copious detail, nuance, and texture within the immaculately produced songs. MoFi's SuperVinyl profile offers further advantages in the forms of a nearly inaudible noise floor, dead-quiet surfaces, and superb groove definition.

In addition to featuring extreme clarity and immediacy, this numbered-edition reissue does wonders for the attribute that inspired more than 20 million people around the globe to add Whitney to their record collections: that inimitable voice. Houston's trademark mezzo-soprano — an acrobatic instrument equally capable of taking off on fantastic flights and unwinding for hushed meditations — benefits from the fantastic airiness and transparency afforded by this meticulously restored edition. Whitney has never sounded or looked better. The crossover landmark deserves nothing less.

Issued just two years after Houston's breakthrough debut, Whitney immediately signalled the genre-defying singer's intent to continue to push ahead and expand her palette. Shot by photographer Richard Avedon, the album cover depicts an iconic image of Houston — captured with a gleaming smile, bright eyes, teased-out afro, toned arms, and a right hand that appears to wave a friendly hello — whose active, athletic profile stands in contrast to the extremely formal sit-down shot of her that graces her '85 record. The change is telling: Whitney overflows with unfettered joy, rhythmic vibes, and deep-seated emotions that forever endeared her to the hearts and minds of countless listeners — and which set the standard for the wave after wave of divas that followed in her footsteps.

It's no coincidence that the first track on Whitney is the declarative "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)." Like Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and Madonna's "Material Girl," the feel-good smash is one of the quintessential '80s gems — a lithe, melodic, celebratory release of pent-up energy and loneliness that glides across club floors, shouts to the rooftops, and shrugs off any concerns about vulnerability or embarrassment. Houston's swooping voice moves in sync with the sleek beats and dipping-and-diving synths. She practically takes her fellow musicians by their hand and leads them in a blissful dance that nobody would dare sidestep. Focusing on Houston's singing — a task made challenging only because of the impossible-to-ignore hooks and grooves — showcases the virtuosic facets of not only her register but her control, discipline, smoothness, and warmth.

That she replicates those feats for the entirety of the nearly 53-minute-long album makes Whitney that much more special. Houston reaches back and channels her childhood gospel training on the R&B-flared "So Emotional"; effortlessly slips into Quiet Storm mode on the duet with her mother, gospel great Cissy Houston, on "I Know Him So Well"; flirts with smooth jazz and collaborates with tenor saxophonist Kenny G on the lush "Just the Lonely Talking Again"; conjures dreamscapes and shadow-boxes with supple funk on a romantic cover of the Isley Brothers' "For the Love of You"; and, for the majestic power ballad "Didn't We Almost Have It All," displays the sky-scraping reach of her vocals amid a grand arrangement made even bigger by Houston's sweeping performance and triumphant finish.

Houston's once-in-a-generation talents weren't lost on the adoring public, radio deejays, or industry experts. In addition to harbouring four No. 1 hits and receiving nominations for four Grammy Awards, Whitney generated another Top 10 success in the guise of the Afro-Cuban-leaning "Love Will Save the Day." The album also netted Houston four American Music Awards; two Billboard Music Awards; back-to-back People's Choice Awards; a Soul Train Award; and various other accolades. It all makes the crux of the Washington Post's July '87 review of the album appear prophetic: "Her voice sounds stronger still and the songs are varied but so consistent she could garner 10 Top 10s out of a field of 11."


That claim still holds true. A brilliant fusion of pop, R&B, smooth jazz, and soul, Whitney is a showstopper – and one of the key reasons Houston is the most-awarded female artist of all time.

Two official limited reissue 12"s of En-To-End's late 80's street soul collectors anthem 'Money Talks', featuring the '89 version and a Sean P. 'Special Mix'. Plus, the original 'Are You Gonna Be' Vocal version coupled with a full length instrumental and the previously unreleased 'I Still Love You' featuring Intrigue. All cuts are exclusive to this singles sourced from the tape archives of London singer-producer Tony Shand.

Chain Of Flowers return with their lofty and long-simmering sophomore full-length, rich with reckonings, reverb, and redemption: Never Ending Space. Despite some of the songs dating back a few years, the record first began materialising in earnest during the pandemic, by which point most of the band had relocated from Cardiff to London.

Reunited and rejuvenated, they picked up where they left off, booking two multi-day sessions at Hackney hub Total Refreshment Centre with producer Jonah Falco. In this time they successfully channelled their kinetic chemistry into 10 full-blooded anthems of torn dreams, poetic delirium, and “hope stretched too far.” Musically, Never Ending Space skews notably more maximal than the group’s previous work, fleshed out with trumpets, saxophone, synth, percussion boxes, and spoken word. (Smith jokingly calls them The Chain Of Flowers Orchestra).

Yet the songs still swing and soar with a charged heart, ripe with hooks, drama and ragged melody. Opener “Fire (In The Heart Of Hearts)” stirs to life on a tide of wiry guitar and defiant horns, facing down the embers of love that still glow in the wake of pain: “Peace came tumbling like a shower of bricks / The mind twists slowly till everything fits.”

A tense energy ripples throughout – from the nocturnal rush of “Serving Purpose” and “Amphetamine Luck” to the bruised battle cries of “Torcalon” and “Old Human Material.” Outliers like “Praying Hands, Turtle Doves” hint at proggy possible futures, while instrumental vignette “Anomia” offers an intriguing glimpse at a lesser heard facet of the band: swaying, shadowy, subdued. The album’s title track is also its closing cut, a stomping, sparkling ode to “the wrong side of the night, where time goes to die.” Smith describes the scene: “Everyone’s talking, screaming, trauma bonding, but no one’s listening. Broken dialogue. Shouting over each other. You want to switch off, but everyone’s too fucked.” The guitars spiral and slide towards the oblivion of dawn, the chance to crash and do it all again.

Chain Of Flowers return with their lofty and long-simmering sophomore full-length, rich with reckonings, reverb, and redemption: Never Ending Space. Despite some of the songs dating back a few years, the record first began materialising in earnest during the pandemic, by which point most of the band had relocated from Cardiff to London.

Reunited and rejuvenated, they picked up where they left off, booking two multi-day sessions at Hackney hub Total Refreshment Centre with producer Jonah Falco. In this time they successfully channelled their kinetic chemistry into 10 full-blooded anthems of torn dreams, poetic delirium, and “hope stretched too far.” Musically, Never Ending Space skews notably more maximal than the group’s previous work, fleshed out with trumpets, saxophone, synth, percussion boxes, and spoken word. (Smith jokingly calls them The Chain Of Flowers Orchestra).

Yet the songs still swing and soar with a charged heart, ripe with hooks, drama and ragged melody. Opener “Fire (In The Heart Of Hearts)” stirs to life on a tide of wiry guitar and defiant horns, facing down the embers of love that still glow in the wake of pain: “Peace came tumbling like a shower of bricks / The mind twists slowly till everything fits.”

A tense energy ripples throughout – from the nocturnal rush of “Serving Purpose” and “Amphetamine Luck” to the bruised battle cries of “Torcalon” and “Old Human Material.” Outliers like “Praying Hands, Turtle Doves” hint at proggy possible futures, while instrumental vignette “Anomia” offers an intriguing glimpse at a lesser heard facet of the band: swaying, shadowy, subdued. The album’s title track is also its closing cut, a stomping, sparkling ode to “the wrong side of the night, where time goes to die.” Smith describes the scene: “Everyone’s talking, screaming, trauma bonding, but no one’s listening. Broken dialogue. Shouting over each other. You want to switch off, but everyone’s too fucked.” The guitars spiral and slide towards the oblivion of dawn, the chance to crash and do it all again.

Nina Kraviz returns to Rekids with remixes of ‘Taxi Talk’ from David Löhlein and Sterac Electronics.

In the years since Nina Kraviz dropped some of her earliest music on Radio Slave's Rekids, she has become a bonafide global superstar. Founding two record labels трип (trip) and Galaxiid, she regularly headlines the world's largest music festivals and has continued to stay at the forefront of electronic music.

'Taxi Talk', initially released on Kraviz’s lauded eponymous debut LP in 2012, still stands the test of time with its spoken word vocals and smoky deep house grooves. Remixing the track alongside its reissue is Vision Ekstase founder and Lehmann Club resident David Löhlein who turns in a fresh remix, and Dutch techno mainstay Steve Rachmad, who unearths a remix made under his Sterac Electronics guise that had, until recently, been unreleased.

Löhlein’s remix sees the Stuttgart-based artist reach for his trademark ’snake sound’, delivering a sleek version flipped into a quick and urgent cut with pulsating synths and dynamic minimal drum funk. Sterac Electronics brings a distinctive sense of electric funk with a boogie-tinged remix full of colourful synths and hip-swinging drums that cannot fail to light up the floor.

Five years after the release of ‘Luyando’, Zimbabwe’s most celebrated music export returns with their long-awaited follow-up album ‘Tusona: Tracings in the Sand’. The six musicians from Victoria Falls are refining their unique sound: infectious Afro grooves deeply connected to Zimbabwe’s cultural DNA. ‘Tusana’ is their most danceable album to date, a DIY production recorded in Zimbabwe. It features horns by Ghanaian highlife outfit Santrofi.

Every Sunday, there is a gathering in the sweltering heat on grounds of an old local beer hall in the Chinotimba township in Mosi-o-Tunya (Victoria Falls). Entertainment is provided by various traditional groups including the Luvale Makisi masquerade. It is a day full of singing, drumming, dancing and storytelling. Mokoomba’s lead vocalist Mathias Muzaza can often be found here singing with a voice both soaring and vulnerable. In the course of the afternoon the other band members - guitarist Trustworth Samende, bass player Abundance Mutori, keyboard player Phathisani Moyo, percussionist Miti Mugande and drummer Ndaba Coster Moyo - often join in with singing. The drum driven song “Bakalubale” featured on their new album invites you to this gathering.

Mokoomba recorded ‘Tusona: Tracings in the Sand’, the follow-up album to ‘Luyando’ (2017, Outhere), in Zimbabwe during the pandemic. Instead of working with outside producers like Manou Gallo or Steve Dyer as they have in the past, this album was entirely recorded in a DIY fashion by Mokoomba. The collective from Zimbabwe put in all the experiences made over the previous years and have forged their music into a unique Zimbabwean sound. On popular demand from their fans in Zimbabwe they have even re-recorded three songs from their last more acoustic album ‘Luyando’ turning them into dancehall bangers (featured on the CD and digital versions of the album). In short, this album is more Mokoomba than any of the ones before.

On the album Mokoomba are singing about love, loss, courage in a changing society. The first single “Nzara Hapana” means “no money” in Shona. The song talks about a man who wants to ensure the future of his wife and family and is trying to protect them against the greed of his relatives. The danceable up-tempo song “Nyansola” praises the goddess of harvest and asks her for rain. “Makisi” is sung in Luvale. It celebrates the beauty of the initiation ceremony for which the whole community comes together. “Manina” is a song about losing a loved one. It was written during the pandemic and features the young singer Ulethu from Harare. Mokoomba sing in many different local languages. Their songs are in Tonga, Luvale, Shona, Nyanja and even Lingala used in “Makolo” when they team up with Congolese singer Desolo B. (The album also features horns by Nobert Wonkyi Arthur (trumpet), Bernard Gyamfi (trombone) and Emmanuel Arthur (sax) from Ghanaian highlife outfit Santrofi.)

The title of the album is a nod towards their immense respect for tradition. ‘Tusona’ refers to an ancient system of signs and symbols, drawn in the sand and used for instruction during initiation ceremonies by the Luvale in Southern Africa. Another important part of the Mukanda initiation ceremony is the incredible Makisi masquerade. Since 2008 the Makisi dances are on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage. The Makisi are masked characters, representing the spirit of deceased ancestors. During the yearly initiation ceremony the Makisi return to the living world to teach the young children to become responsible adults among the Lubale people of Southern Africa. In the last decade the interest - especially among the young people – has faded and the Makisi dances have nearly died out.

“Our inspiration comes from these gatherings”, Trustworth Samende explains, “from listening to and playing pure traditional music with everyone in the township. We then add influences from music that we listened to in our homes growing up and the sounds we experience travelling around the world.” It is the connection with the cultures around them that gives Mokoomba’s music its spiritual power. When you hear Mathias Muzaza singing and you watch closely, you will see the music carrying him away to a different sphere, a place where he is singing with the ancestors. Only a split second later though Trust Samende’s sparkling guitar riffs kick in, blending Congolese influences from neighbouring Kasai with Zamrock and Mbira inspired Chimurenga music, making you want to hit the dancefloor. It is this unique blend of local musical styles with contemporary dance music that is at the heart of Mokoomba’s music. The strong reference to tradition is also reflected in the cover illustration by young Zimbabwean visual artist Lomedy Mhako.

It has been nearly 10 years since this young energetic band from Zimbabwe has exploded onto the international music scene. Since then they have shared their music with fans all over the world: Mokoomba have performed in over 40 countries, rocking audiences in places like Roskilde festival (Denmark), WOMAD festival (UK), Sziget festival (Hungary), SXSW (USA), Apollo Theatre (New York) to name but a few.

Like anywhere in the world Africa’s musical output has become more and more producer based. Mokoomba are the living proof that Africa’s great guitar band heritage is well alive and ready to set any dancefloor on fire. Most important though is that deep below the surface of Mokoomba’s sound - flowing like the Zambezi River - you can still hear the heartbeat and the rhythm of a community connected by its music. Like ‘Tusona’, it is a source of rejuvenation, resilience and strength in these changing times. May the tracings in the sand not fade.

"I have such vivid memories of the early 90s when everyone in our community couldn't stop talking about that incredible movement called "La Ruta del Bacalao" or simply "La Ruta." My brother was a regular on the Ruta, and I can still feel the excitement when he brought home those tapes after a wild "destroy" weekend.

Those AC/TV, Spook Factory, and Spiral cassettes became my ultimate soundtrack back then, and they were probably my first taste of electronic music."

American Football (LP3) is the third album from the scene giants - American Football. American Football’s original triumph, on their 1999 self-titled debut, was to reunite two shy siblings: emo and post-rock. It was a pioneering album where lyrical clarity was obscured and complicated by the stealth musical textures surrounding it. Like Slint’s Spiderland, or Codeine’s The White Birch, even Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, American Football asked far more questions than it cared to answer. But there wasn’t a band around anymore to explain it, anyway. The three young men who made the album – Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes, and Steve Lamos – split up pretty much on its release. Fifteen years later, American Football reunited (now as a four-piece, with the addition of Nate Kinsella). They played far larger shows than in their original incarnation and recorded their long-anticipated second album, 2016’s American Football (LP2). The release was widely praised, but the band members still felt like their best work was yet to come. ‘I feel like the second album was us figuring it out,’ says Nate. ‘For me, it wasn’t quite done. I knew there was still more.’ Enter American Football (LP3). ‘We put a lot of time and a lot of energy into it,’ says Mike. ‘We were all thoughtful about what we wanted to put out there. Last time, it was figuring out how to use all of our different arms. This time, we were like – Ok we have these arms, let’s use them.’ The band used the same producer, Jason Cupp, and recorded the album at the same studio (Arc Studios in Omaha, Nebraska) as its predecessor – yet they approached it in a markedly different way. There was a determination to let the songs breathe, to trust in ideas finding their own pace. The final result is a definite, and deliberate, stretching of the band.

First time available on vinyl. General Market Version Available for the first time as a physical release and pressed on Silver & Black A-Side/B-Side vinyl, “Before You Go” from Blxst features the singles “About You”, “Every Good Girl” & “Sometimes” featuring Zacari.

When I first heard Natalie Rose LeBrecht's time-suspending, air-ionizing music, more than twenty years ago, I thought "this kid is on to something." She's been proving that thought right ever since. Her recordings, from the teenage 4-track tapes she made as Greenpot Bluepot to the recent albums under her own name, have been fascinating dispatches from her progressively deeper dives into her gorgeous, weird, wildly idiomatic aesthetic. Holy Prana Open Game is a jewel of intensely personal cosmic music, created through a remarkable process of openness, craftiness, addition and subtraction. It belongs to a tradition of albums that document a rich, meditative sound as it rises up to join the world outside its creators' minds: Alice Coltrane's Universal Consciousness, Harmonia's Musik von Harmonia, Philip Glass's North Star, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock.

"Meditative" is specifically the idea here: Holy Prana Open Game had its origins in the fourteen days LeBrecht spent silently meditating in her home's small music room in the summer of 2019. "I came out of that bursting with the will to create new music," she says, and she created it sound-first. LeBrecht taught herself to program an analog synthesizer's timbres from scratch, and built a new set of glacial, heady compositions out of them, eventually singing to accompany the keyboard parts she was playing.

Then she closed her eyes at her computer, "let my mind be clear and open, imagined light pouring down through me, and began auto-writing to my memory of the music playing through my mind. Most of the lyrics emerged this way, and then I used my conscious mind to refine them a bit at the end." One other song came along with LeBrecht's new pieces, a cover that seems wildly unlikely from the outside and makes total sense in its context: it's a version of Atoms for Peace's "Amok" (which had been created by improvisation and editing, too), mutated into her own idiolect.

In early March of 2020, LeBrecht recorded Holy Prana Open Game's analog synth parts with Martin Bisi at his studio in Brooklyn--and then the world shut down. As you may have gathered, LeBrecht is very much a spiritual, head-in-the-stars type. She is also extremely hardcore, and if making the art she wants to make means doing things the hard way, she cracks her knuckles and gets down to it. Within weeks, she had taught herself how to record, mix and edit with a digital audio workstation. She recorded her vocal parts (sometimes multi-tracked into a radiant choir) at home, assembled a rough mix of the album, and sent it off to her collaborators.

LeBrecht spent some years studying with and assisting La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela at their legendary sound-and-light installation, the Dream House. As with their work, her singular, precisely focused vision is shored up by its openness to artistic voices beyond her own. For Holy Prana Open Game, she worked with the Australian guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White (both of Dirty Three, the Tren Brothers and innumerable other projects), as well as woodwind player David Lackner, a longtime presence on her recordings.

Turner and White have been playing together in one context or another since 1985; in the summer of 2020, they were only blocks from each other in Melbourne, Australia, whose strict lockdown meant they couldn't meet up to record together. So both of them, as well as Lackner, recorded their improvisational additions to LeBrecht's rough mixes individually, often without hearing each other's contributions. "I had asked them to play as much as they could on each track," she says, "and told them that I would edit it all down in post, so I had a lot of source material of theirs to work with."

LeBrecht arranged and edited the recordings from all four of their homes to flow together like breath across the duration of her suite. Prana, one of the album's central conceits, is in fact the Sanskrit word for breath, with the connotation of the breath of life. Like LeBrecht's music, prana flows at its own pace, and demands stillness to take in fully--but it's also subtly playful and surprising, a force that can be as light as air or as immersive as the atmosphere itself.

Angel Deradoorian and Kate NV are Decisive Pink - Ticket To Fame is their highly anticipated debut. After teasing the single 'Haffmilch Holiday' the duo amassed a rapturous response, with The Guardian calling it "a space-age-dancefloor swoon that brings to mind Kate Bush's Waking the Witch" and the New York Times highlighting the single as "substantive and thoroughly hypnotic". On their first LP they do not disappoint, calling on Kate NV's experimental pop leanings and Angel Deradoorian's taste for atmosphere and otherworldliness, Decisive Pink have created a playful and abstract album designed for escape and enchantment. Electronic pop at it's finest, the debut points to the fact that life is a puzzle, but you can still get a lot from living it. 'Destiny' is a smart take on the nature of belief, built on a question-and-answer format, where Angel plays a role as the seer, and Kate the enquirer. The poppy beat is reminiscent of Talking Heads' 'The Great Curve', from Remain in Light. There again, it could be a sinister take on Will Powers' 'Kissing with Confidence'. The synth squeaks, squelches and toots sound like the timid affirmation of the initiate. Ticket to Fame is also unashamedly romantic in atmosphere and tone. Romance is to be found in the simple pleasures, such as listening to a blackbird on the instrumental 'Rodeo', where warm synths, a melancholic guitar pattern and hissing rhythm combine with some vocal snippets to form a soothing contemplation. Then there is 'Ode to Boy'; a perfect pop track. The walking into the room of "more than just an ordinary boy" (doubtless "drunk with fire") allows a set of initially different, and shortened synth patterns to build to a glorious affirmation of the power of love. "Perfect pop music" Marc Riley, BBC6 Music And guess what? The vinyl comes in pink!

Angel Deradoorian and Kate NV are Decisive Pink - Ticket To Fame is their highly anticipated debut. After teasing the single 'Haffmilch Holiday' the duo amassed a rapturous response, with The Guardian calling it "a space-age-dancefloor swoon that brings to mind Kate Bush's Waking the Witch" and the New York Times highlighting the single as "substantive and thoroughly hypnotic". On their first LP they do not disappoint, calling on Kate NV's experimental pop leanings and Angel Deradoorian's taste for atmosphere and otherworldliness, Decisive Pink have created a playful and abstract album designed for escape and enchantment. Electronic pop at it's finest, the debut points to the fact that life is a puzzle, but you can still get a lot from living it. 'Destiny' is a smart take on the nature of belief, built on a question-and-answer format, where Angel plays a role as the seer, and Kate the enquirer. The poppy beat is reminiscent of Talking Heads' 'The Great Curve', from Remain in Light. There again, it could be a sinister take on Will Powers' 'Kissing with Confidence'. The synth squeaks, squelches and toots sound like the timid affirmation of the initiate. Ticket to Fame is also unashamedly romantic in atmosphere and tone. Romance is to be found in the simple pleasures, such as listening to a blackbird on the instrumental 'Rodeo', where warm synths, a melancholic guitar pattern and hissing rhythm combine with some vocal snippets to form a soothing contemplation. Then there is 'Ode to Boy'; a perfect pop track. The walking into the room of "more than just an ordinary boy" (doubtless "drunk with fire") allows a set of initially different, and shortened synth patterns to build to a glorious affirmation of the power of love. "Perfect pop music" Marc Riley, BBC6 Music And guess what? The vinyl comes in pink!

For years he mesmerized audiences with his unique North Mississippi Hill
Country Blues style and influenced a new generation of blues musicians.
University of Memphis professor, David Evans, recognized Burnside's
extraordinary talent while he was still working in the cotton fields in North
Mississippi. The seventeen tracks on "Raw Electric 1979-1980" reveal R.L.'s true
talent. Most of the recordings were made at Burnside's home near Independence,
Mississippi, with a live audience participating.Song-by-song descriptions and rare
photographs are included in the "bonus" booklet.

Unrilis drops the latest release in its reinvigorated Rilis release series with a four-track EP by Ritzi Lee who is known for his hypnotic grooves and analogue sounds.

Rino Cerrone launched the Rilis series in the '90s as an outlet for his own experimental tracks and in 2022 the Unrilis team decided to relaunch the project.

Ritzi Lee is a Dutch artist based in Amsterdam who is well-known for his releases on underground imprints ranging from Bas Mooy's Mord to Ben Klock's Klockworks and his dark and dystopian style with raw percussion is a perfect fit for the Rilis style.
Talking about his new Rilis series release, Ritzi Lee said: 'I'm a big fan of the early Rilis releases. That sound was always integrated to my DJ sets and a big inspiration for most of my productions. The early Naples techno sound was always about pushing the limits, but at the same time keeping it groovy and funky. So, I was able to use those rules and apply them into this release while still combining my own signature sound. I think it's best described as ruff edged with a minimalistic approach, but making sure to keep it warm sounding. I'm really happy with the result, as feels like there is a strong Amsterdam/Naples connection in this sound and I would say it is a perfect match.'

BENNY THE BUTCHER THE PLUGS I MET 2 THE PLUGS I MET 2 IS NOW AVAILABLE IN A LIMITED EDITION BURGUNDY PRESSING

Mere months after releasing an undisputed AOTY contender for 2020 with Burden Of Proof and only three months after being shot, Benny got back on his feet (way ahead of schedule) and re-immersed in his element “back to that little pot, that little flame.” While he has separated himself from his peers, Benny from Montana Ave knows the game is to be sold and never told and he has put all of these accolades in his rearview mirror to focus on his next lick; The Plugs I Met 2. The Plugs I Met 2 is the coronation of a true G going from worker to the PLUG---and never looking back. “I came in as an underdog, to filling out my position as one of the elite rhymers in the industry. Plugs 2 expands upon that mindset; the same confidence, same attitude, cocky, but I still have something to prove” Benny asserts. Produced entirely by Harry Fraud, the Brooklyn bred producer describes The Plugs I Met 2 as “the story of a hustler who’s realized success but understands how fragile it is. Lyrically the album shows Benny reflecting on what he’s sacrificed to get here and what he’ll need to do to continue his rise to the top. With this project we set out to transport the listener into a world that was lush but still gritty, triumphant but still emotional and sonically diverse across the board.”

Manchester's Avant-Jazzy-Funk outfit Swamp Children were enviably eclectic and Taste What's Rhythm is their mini masterpiece. Flitting gracefully through a feast of genres with consummate ease, the band were almost indefinable and, accordingly, nigh-on impossible to market. So whilst this cult EP, originally out in 1982 on Factory Benelux, remains in demand for those in the know, it has also glided under the radar of many otherwise clued-up heads for over 40 years. If you don't know, get to know...

The Taste Whats Rhythm EP was originally released in 1982 on Factory Benelux (an informal partnership between the legendary Manchester-based Factory Records and Belgium-based Les Disques du Crépuscule). With it's kaleidoscopic brightness, silky panache and superb execution, it remains one of the most startling documents of a remarkable time and place.

The EP opens with the oh-so-Balearic title track. "Taste Whats Rhythm" gently unfolds with a Spanish guitar, hazy, drifting vocals and sun-bleached Latin percussion. After this most sumptuous of intros, the tempo is raised, the rhythms grow in complexity as horns jostle amidst the restrained chaos quite wonderfully. And then it winds down again. Proper fluctuating rhythms and tempos throughout. I guess that was the point - taste the variety!

“You’ve Got Me Beat” is a *perfect* piece of post-punk pop-jazz. A mysterious, after dark jazz-dancer, the aching vocals serve as a touching, tender resignation to love. A guitar hook which seems to elegantly reference The Blackbyrds' "Rock Creek Park" and a flowing pulse from New York's No Wave scene. It still sounds so fresh all the years later.

Closing out this most perfect of EPs, the twisted synths and nimble rhythms of bass-heavy roller "Softly Saying Goodbye" combine to create a super-slinky gem; Brit-Funk of the highest order.

Swamp Children formed in Manchester in 1980, around core members Ann Quigley (vocals), Tony Quigley (bass, metalaphone, percussion), John Kirkham (electric & acoustic guitars, metalaphone, percussion), Ceri Evans (keyboards, bass, percussion, background vocals), Cliff Saffer (saxaphone, clarine) and Martin Moscrop (drums, percussion, trumpet). They initially practised at a rehearsal space shared with fellow post-punk funkers A Certain Ratio and Joy Division/New Order. Young and relatively inexperienced upon getting together, the ages of Swamp Children's members ranged from just 16 to 19. Talk about the brilliance of youth.

From the outset, Swamp Children shared DNA with A Certain Ratio. Martin Moscrop was a founder member of Ratio, while Ann provided artwork for them. Although the close association with ACR led some to assume that Swamp Children were simply a splinter group, the new band pursued a more overt latin and jazz tinged direction, at the same time adopting a post-punk attitude towards making music, influenced by the records they were listening to at the time: Miles Davis, Brazilian jazz fusion and heavy funk dancefloor sides.

The band made their live debut at Manchester's infamous Beach Club in May 1980. Thanks to a double-booking blunder another support band turned up and were turned away, having travelled all the way from Dublin for a string of British dates. The name of the unlucky band was U2...

With arrangements that emphasised Tony Quigley’s darkly-coloured basslines (and Ann Quigley’s impressionistic vocals as another instrument in the mix) Swamp Children possessed an easygoing grace and a bubbling energy which indicated that the band's true strength was as an ensemble. The band’s musical sophistication (a fusion of funk, jazz, and bossa nova) would prove to be a strong influence on later UK acts like Sade. Indeed, Swamp Children themselves later mutated into the more known and acclaimed latin jazz outfit Kalima.

Working directly with James Nice, custodian of Factory Benelux, means that the audio for this re-issue of the classic EP comes from the original tapes. Cut at 45 RPM and released in the house Be With disco sleeve, we’ve made sure this record is well up to the job of having a permanent place in every DJ’s bag. As far as we’re concerned, this is essential stuff.

'Okemah Rising' ist der zweite Teil der Woody Guthrie/Dropkick Murphys-Kollaboration. Während das Ziel von 'This Machine Still Kills Fascists' darin bestand, das Bewusstsein zu schärfen, will 'Okemah Rising' das Dach hochgehen lassen. Sicher, es gibt ein oder zwei zärtliche Momente, aber alles in allem steht hier die Party im Vordergrund.

Selbst eine Party-Platte kann eine Botschaft haben - das bekam die Band zu spüren, als Dropkick Murphys die 'Okemah Rising'-Songs 'Gotta Get to Peekskill' und 'I Know How It Feels' vor tausenden Fans auf ihrer Deutschland-Tour gespielt haben. Jeden Abend, wenn das Publikum Woodys Worte mitsingt, kommt seine unerschütterliche Verteidigung der Arbeiterklasse und sein Kampf gegen soziale Ungerechtigkeit und den Missbrauch politischer Macht laut und deutlich rüber. Solange es Dropkick Murphys gibt, werden Woody’s Werte gehört werden: die Verteidigung der Arbeiterklasse, der Kampf gegen soziale Ungerechtigkeit und den Missbrauch politischer Macht.

Sometimes, things "just happen". For months, we’d been working away on various projects and then, without really thinking about it, The Black EP just happened. It seemingly appeared from nowhere.

We’d been talking about the old days; making music with friends and dodgy kit, renting small practice rooms and using makeshift recording studios. It was such a common thing back then, you could pick a dusty space in a half-derelict building for as little as £25 a month. In those days, the Cabs and Human League had studios with posh-sounding names, but in reality, they were the same old workspaces long abandoned by the industries they were built for. Nevertheless, the grand names made them sound magical.

Sheffield had thousands of these spaces, and some still exist today, but their abundance and low-cost made Sheffield a very active place. Someone was always doing something. They’d exploded onto the scene in a flurry of excitement before disappearing just as quickly.

There’s something about these little mesters (workshops) that we believe lives in the very consciousness of Sheffield. It’s one of the reasons we never really had big scenes like Manchester or Leeds. The Hacienda would've never been built here.

We don’t really do big gangs or have that kind of mentality. We tend to exist in little pockets, often leaving each other alone. It would be 30 years before any member of The Black Dog talked to Cabaret Voltaire. Sure, we’d stood outside their practice room as kids, trying to listen in, but never felt any reason to approach. Sheffield is like that.

Once we had the first two tracks of the Black EP, we set off to see Jon at Do It Theesen, where he manually cut the tracks to an extremely limited set of 7" singles using a vinyl lathe. It just felt right to go back to the old ways; a small gang creating something special in workshops and sheds. There’s something very satisfying about it, a perfect circle, if you will.

We pushed further by adopting old practices, working with one synth per person and limiting the use of our computers. We only stopped short of putting everything on beer crates. It seems like madness these days, but there is raw creativity within these confines. Pretty much every band started this way. Depeche Mode travelled to the studio on the London Underground for their first appearance on Top Of The Pops, all lugging a synth each. That's how we approached the creation of this album; stripped back, raw and minimal - it just felt so right.

And then there’s the competitive element that was influenced when the original Human League split and became Human League MK II and Heaven 17. Both continued to use the same studio to write what became the albums "Dare" and "Penthouse and Pavement". There is something about that drive that is very Sheffield, just making stuff and hoping everything falls into place.

In Sheffield, we do things differently, because that’s how we are built. away on various projects and then, without really thinking about it, The Black EP just happened. It seemingly appeared from nowhere.

In den 25 Jahren ihres Bestehens haben Atmosphere ein Vermächtnis aufgebaut, das Ehrlichkeit, Demut und Verletzlichkeit in den Vordergrund ihrer Musik stellt. Das aus Minneapolis stammende Alt-Rap-Duo prägte mit Songs über das Leben, die Liebe, Stress und Rückschläge den Begriff "Emo Rap", lange bevor der Ausdruck zum Genre-Tag wurde. Nach Zusammenarbeit mit u.a. Rick Rubin, El-P ("Run The Jewels"), Tom Waits und Tunde Adebimpe ("TV on the Radio") ist "So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously" das 13. Studioalbum von Rapper Slug und Produzent Ant. Das Album erforscht unterschiedliche Formen der Paranoia. Inspiriert ist es vom allgemeinen Unwohlsein einer pandemiemüden Gesellschaft voller ziviler Unruhen. Das Cover stammt vom renommierten bildenden New Yorker Künstler Michael Alan Alien.

The new album from hip-hop duo Atmosphere, So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously, opens with veteran rapper Slug and seasoned producer Ant taking a gentler approach. A departure from the brute intros of earlier works, the lead-off track “Okay” sounds focused on comforting and reassuring the listener, as if informed by fatherhood and implicit duty. With Slug rapping over one of the most twinkling productions Ant has released, the song lays the groundwork for an album-length exercise in fumbling consciousness without setting a precedent for how they intend to navigate it. Yet, as gently as the album begins, there’s an unmistakable sense of unease from the onset that continues to evolve throughout the project, as Slug and Ant weave the listener through indistinct themes of insomnia and woe.

From the subtle panic at the heart of songs like “Dotted Lines,” to the overt anxiety of songs like “In My Head,” the tension seems to cede and swell, but just as the tears begin to well, they seem to find resolve again through songs like “Still Life,” whose hopeful outlook undercuts the tensity of the album. Meanwhile, the rhythms on So Many Other Realities are some of the most inventive of Ant’s career. The playful percussion on “In My Head” acts as a nice counterweight to the roiling writing, while the drum patterns on “Holding My Breath” and “Bigger Pictures” allow Slug to play with his
flow to emphasize the anxiety driving the record.

Where previous records in this most recent act of Atmosphere’s career have been focused on emphasizing the parts of life that carry the most meaning—family, brotherhood, purpose—So Many Other Realities is an almost unnerving excavation of paranoia that can be grafted onto the general malaise of a pandemic weary society full of civil unrest. The tension of these songs is palpable, but the album’s mere presence is a testament to the hope that has to underpin even the most stressed out songs. Regardless of when the curtains might close, the music goes on.

Never one to pull inventive punches, Left Coast electronic music producer Dave Aju reassembled this notorious cast of characters for a remarkably fitting album package made during one of the most strange times our world has ever faced in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. While things were essentially shutdown, reopened, cycle-repeat worldwide, and every other species in mother nature's kingdom temporarily rejoiced while humans remained still in their caves, Aju and The Invisible Art Trio, his formidable if not-seen-in-a-minute musical team behind such underground anthems as "Be Like the Sun", went to work in the final days of the glorious G-Son studios in Atwater Village LA to record this LP.

Indeed, the same four/five walls and vocal booth that saw the Beastie's iconic Check Your Head and Hello Nasty come to life, became the birthplace of Glossolalia, Aju's fifth studio album and appropriately impressive seven-song set. As always, myriad musical styles and influences are strung together and boldly combined here, to the degree that drawing comparisons or attempting genre references feels futile. There are, however, clear visceral expressions of political provocation, hope and anger, fear and joy laid over twisted yet dedicated grooves in a lockdown era where Aju's imaginary collective dance floor feels in the temporary absence thereof and bizarro sixth-world unification strategy of recording every song's lyrics in complete non-languages aka total gibberish, feels right at home. Even the vocal guests join in the literal chant here, granting us diverse spell-casting and sensual nonsensical lyrical lines over tech-funk mother lodes, before closing the otherworldly proceedings with a powerful grand finale tribute to the US of A's proud boys-in-blue in the wake of George Floyd's very public assassination.

Equal parts timely anti-establishment and uplifting call-to-action, Glossolalia serves as a decidedly coarse yet crucial reminder of the possibilities in collaborative and devoted noise-making, booty-shaking, and alternative world-building during greater global disarray - beyond stylistic, nationalistic, and linguistic dividing lines. An overtly universal and unifying message liberating us from any fixed cultural identities and thus differences, to instead just focus on how the music delivers and we physically respond, together, as the foundation. Perhaps also an inspired response to the talking heads in every corner of the world's media, spewing useless and politically-tainted mouth data at us amidst these turbulent times.

2023 Repress

it was in february 2015 when japanese producer and sound designer kuniyuki takahashi, sometimes known as koss, releases with the ep 'newwave project '2' a record, that tapped some roots of his musical education: new wave, german electro punk from bands like a daf, ebm from acts like front 242 as well as industrial music.

styles, about kuniyuki claims that they are his 'favourite music'. now, nearly two years after his first newwave project ep, he drops an album that is leaning towards his musical love from the past. compared to his former work, that was rooted in worlds of classic, jazz, house, ambient, and electronic song-writing, his new tunes are full of melodic drifts and rhythmical shifts.

as usual all is loaded with tones and rhythms straight from the heart that filter and modulate human emotions without losing their natural source. to get a sound that is fresh but still leaning to the 1980ees, he used some old synthesisers like a roland jupiter 8, a juno 60, a korg ms 20, an old tape echo machine but also new instruments like the roland aira. furthermore, his modular synthesizers talk too.

instead of having a masterplan, kuniyuki just made sound, drifted on his machines and moved into a territory, that his far away from his former sound. also the use sampled voices and other alienated sound sources of unknown origin inject his new tunes otherworldly atmospheres.

his skills as a fine instrumentalist is evidence as kuniyuki also played the piano, percussions or flute, if he felt their warm sound is needed for his freely grooving tracks. some dance in a house or techno outfits.

other slam like a mix of funk and ebm. tunes like 'puzzle' or 'body signal' are twisted treasures that bemuse deeply. in-between you hear the echoes of cosmic spheres, the darkness of the cold war days and some bewitching tribal jungle vibes. a new, moving, unorthodox and yet catchy side of kuniyuki takahashi.

it is not totally novel to him, as he already released some industrial, ebm and electronic with the project drp in 1990 on the belgium label body records. but for his listeners, that know him for detailed house, jazz and classic or that love him as a man of collaborations who already worked together with artists like innervisions jazz house heavyweight henrik schwarz, the famous japanese pianist fumio itabashi or the british synth-pop protest spoken word icon anne clark, the 'newwave project' sheds a light on a different artistic side of kuniyuki takahashi.

it is diversified, has many rhythmical and atmospheric turns but stays stirring and compelling in all twelve tracks. a true new wave, formed, played in and envisioned with a view on the past that was filtered through the now while feeling the future. the cover art work comes from the swiss artist augustin rebetez - a man who also loves to generate unknown poetic universes in his drawings, sculptures, videos and installations.

Formed in the bygone barren period for British rock music that were the nascent
2010s, The St Pierre Snake Invasion have consistently shown themselves to be
an unapologetically creative force.
The long gap between debut album, A Hundred Years A Day (October 31st 2015)
and the release of underground sophomore smash Caprice Enchanté (June 21st
2019) was something the five- piece were reticent to repeat, but circumstance
beyond the Bristolians' control dictates that third LP, Galore, comes to us in a
markedly different world than the one in which St Pierre were building their
reputation and acclaim.
Sayell himself has been adamant that this latest offering would not be a COVID
album. He did not want it to address the ubiquitous isolation of global lockdown.
It immediately would date the record to a fixed point in time and not allow its
ideas to flourish and find a receptive audience for a continued period. Instead, the
changes represented in Galore are so fundamentally powerful and relatable to the
human condition. It is an album centered around universally resonant themes of
growth.
The summer of 2021 saw the birth of Sayell's first child. The concurrent writing of
the band's third LP has, naturally, been greatly informed by the experience of
impending fatherhood. Wondering about one's own impact on a life that you have
been a part in creating, the anxieties of what will be passed down to another
generation, and reflections on garnered wisdom with age; these are the key
themes that bring us to the band's magnum opus to date.
Alongside these introspective lyrics, the band's sound has taken on new life.
Where Carprice Enchanté was primarily informed by the musicality of Every Time
I Die, The Chariot, Refused and Mclusky, Galore builds on this framework by
incorporating influences as disparate as LCD Soundsystem, Soulwax and
Meshuggah into a coherent and daring whole. A song like That There's Fighting
Talk sees seething aggression taken to a mathcore nightclub, while the title track
and Apex Prey see the band exploring looser, quieter melodicism alongside Sang
Froid's Aisling Whiting, who brings a stake dynamic counterpart to Sayell in a
beautiful and captivating performance.
There are still tracks reminiscent of the band's previous work, such as
Submechano and Sleep Well - the latter featuring a sterling guest appearance
from Sugar Horse's Ashley Tubb - in which we hear the brash punk attitude St
Pierre's ever-growing fanbase adore. But ultimately, from the opening syncopated
notes of Pete Reisner's percussion and Sayell's distinctive vocals on Kracked
Velvet, it's impossible not to hear the palpable shift to another echelon of artis