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Woods are in bloom again, inviting you to disappear into a new spectrum of colors and sounds and dreams on Perennial. Formed in Brooklyn in 2004, Woods have matured into a true independent institution, above and below the root, reliably emerging every few years with new music that grows towards the latest sky. Operating the Woodsist label since 2006 and curating the beloved homespun Woodsist Festival for the musical universe they’ve built, Perennial is the sound of a band on the edge of their 20th anniversary and still finding bold new ways to sound like (and challenge) themselves. Perennial grew from a bed of guitar/keyboard/drum loops by Woods head-in-chief Jeremy Earl, a form of winter night meditation that evolved into an unexplored mode of collaborative songwriting. With Earl’s starting points, he and bandmates Jarvis Taveniere and John Andrews convened, first at Earl’s house in New York, then at Panoramic House studio in Stinson Beach, California, site of sessions for 2020’s Strange To Explain. With a view of the sparkling Pacific and tape rolling, they began to build, jamming over the loops, switching instruments, and developing a few dozen building blocks. The album’s resulting 11 songs, 4 of them instrumental, are in the classic Woods mode--shimmering, familiar, fractionally unsettling--but with the half-invisible infinity boxes of Earl’s loops burbling beneath each like a mysterious underground source. From source to seed to bloom, each loop unfolds into something unpredictable, from the jeweled pop of the aching “Little Black Flowers” to the ecstatic starlit freak-beat of “Another Side.” They are blossomings both far-out and comforting, like the Mellotronic cloud-hopping of “Between the Past,” or sometimes just plain comforting, like the widescreen snowglobe fantasia of the instrumental “White Winter Melody,” touched by Connor Gallaher’s pedal steel. Woods have long used the studio as a place of songwriting, naming 2007’s At Rear House after their shared dwelling and recording space. But Perennial also carries with it an even longer view of Woods. Emerging from the process alongside the music was Earl’s reflection that “perennial plants and flowers are nature’s loops,” an idea rolling under the album’s lyrics like the loops themselves. It certainly applies to the band, too, who have quietly tended to a long, committed project of being a band in the weird-ass 21st century, both individually and communally. Though separated by coasts, the communal sprit carries through Earl, Taveniere, and Andrews’ collaboration, a living embodiment of the freedoms rediscovered every time a new collectively created piece of music emerges. For nearly two decades, Woods have survived subgenres, anchored in the fertile soil below hashtags like lo-fi and freak-folk and psychedelic and indie, and built a shared history that’s something to marvel at. As the flagship band for Woodsist, they’ve accumulated a striking extended family of collaborators (and Woods alum) that have made the label one of the most dependable imprints in the kaleidoscopic low-key underground. It’s a glow that’s transferred whole to the blissed-out Woodsist Fests held in Accord, New York in recent years, which have folded in a wide range of diverse sounds, from the the jazz cosmoverse of the Sun Ra Arkestra and adventurous legends Yo La Tengo, to a hard-to-even-count family tree of contemporaries, like Kevin Morby (who served a few tours of duty as Woods bassist) and Kurt Vile (who released his 2009 debut on Woodsist), a living community in sound. Perennial carries all of this, shaped by decades, but made in the moment, and here right now. The smell of the flowers doesn’t remain, but sometimes the flowers do. Jesse Jarnow Recorded and mixed by Jarvis Taveniere at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, CA with additional recording at The Ship in Los Angeles, CA and Cottekill Bird Sanctuary in Stone Ridge, NY. Produced by Jarvis Taveniere and Jeremy Earl. Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering in Portland, OR. Jeremy Earl - vocals, guitars, drums, percussion, sk-5, mellotron, vibraphone, autoharp, loops Jarvis Taveniere - guitar, bass, upright bass, hammond, vocals John Andrews - piano, organs, mellotron, drums, vocals Connor Gallaher - Pedal Steel Kyle Forester - sax, wurlitzer

The Strangers brings together Hervé Salters AKA General Elektriks and two exceptional rappers: Frenchman Leeroy (ex-Saïan Supa Crew) and American Lateef The Truthspeaker (Blackalicious) in a new project. Evolving in the year 2222, "The Strangers" is a testament from the future in the form of hip hop with a strong funk undertone, a timeless and playful sound where the languages of Shakespeare and Molière combine and clash to describe a world of tomorrow in 2023 that no one has yet heard of: requiring the earthlings of the future to travel from an early age, society abolishes the fear of the unknown. Lateef, Leeroy and General Elektriks have therefore chosen to set their narrative in the future to better speak of today"s world. The environment, individual freedom, police violence and communitarianism are all subjects that permeate the record. But the 3 Strangers inject a healthy dose of humour and energy into their music. This album is a sonic road movie of anticipation, zig-zagging between athletic and poetic flows soulful choruses, and darker downtempos. The sound developed is fluorescent and infectious, speaking to the hips as much as the head.

Guy Pedersen, French jazz-soul-funk double-bass player extraordinaire, recorded Contrebasses in 1970 for Tele Music. It's one of the most outstanding - yet puzzlingly slept-on - releases in the library's catalogue. Forget library, this is basically a sublime, straight-up moody jazz record with monster breaks. It's brimming with sensational psychedelic/jazzy bass-heavy moments throughout; it's absolute gold.

"Indian Pop Bass" contains a deep, abstract breakbeat that intersects with a bassline that loops as if it sinks into the swaying, heavy, slow drums. The mysterious, deliberate "Prélude À Une Angoisse" is an eerie, magical number with ace effects whilst "Patio Bass" is a breezy deep jazz knockout with fantastic drums and a sashaying melody. "Tension Nerveuse" creates an atmosphere that's exactly as the title suggests, full of genuine suspense, rumbling percussion and deep drama jazz. "Amour, Délices Et Contrebasse" is a touch lightweight so you're advised to head to the much darker, peculiar funk of "Percussion Bass", bursting with imaginative sounds and effects. "Obsession Diabolique" closes out the A Side, with a funky walking bassline and sparkling percussion battling against droning strings to create a uniquely unsettling, beatless track.

Enlivening the B-Side immediately is the fantastic, propulsive funky-jazz of "Les Copains De La Basse". "Doucement La Basse" is largely forgettable but "Bass Session" is a blazing psych-jazz-rock burner. Absolutely thrilling. Equally, "Bass After Love" is devastatingly psychy, funky and unique. "Ballade Pour Une Basse" is a classic funky French jazz piece with an infectious bass melody that seems to anticipate "Before The Night Is Over", the Joe Simon track that Outkast sampled for "So Fresh, So Clean".

The audio for Contrebasses has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic Tele Music house sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Memory is malleable. The day you met the person you love, what color shirt was she wearing? At precisely what angle did the sunlight strike his face? How exactly did they glow? These little details are precious, but the strange thing is, the more you cherish them, the more they change. Each recollection is another potential touch point where stories can shift—each replay degrades the truth. Reality's rough edges smooth, with time. Objectivity is a myth: cameras and recording devices all contort image and sound. There's no way to know exactly how things were. And yet we still tell the stories, to try to capture how things felt, even though the truth is always slipping through our fingers.

Lemon Quartet's second albumArts Festseems to unconsciously circle this thematic territory. Full of loose, yet lush repetition, it seems to function like memory—each dizzy melody recalling and rewriting what came before, subtly shaping each piece as time passes. Not that they seem especially concerned with the passage of time anyway. They space out, they work in the realm of feelings, scribbling melodious abstractions that feel familiar. Rich with compassion, harmony, and gestures toward ecstatic—if not objective—truth, it's full of the sort of pieces that demand you return to them, but sound a bit different each time, new details overtaking familiar comforts. Are you hearing them for the first time? Or just for the first time in a long time? Either way, drift away, and try to remember…

Following her outings on International Chrome, Warning and Tresor, Viikatory joins TRUST with an EP of four raw, kinetic electro bangers - at times explosive and in-your-face, at other subtle and romantic, but always shooting straight from the heart of the sun.

It’s a testament to Jimmy Smith’s volcanic creativity that the Hammond B3 organ firebrand recorded not one but two soul jazz classics—Midnight Special and Back at the Chicken Shack—in a single day when he entered Van Gelder Studio on April 25, 1960 with Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone, Kenny Burrell on guitar, and Donald Bailey on drums.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Mit elf bisher unveröffentlichten BBC-Session-Aufnahmen und allen fünf Songs der ersten beiden Creation Records-Singles fängt 'Reverberations (Travelling In Time)' perfekt ein, was viele für eine entscheidende Ära einer der wichtigsten britischen Gruppen halten, die eine ganze Reihe von aufstrebenden Bands beeinflusste, allen voran The Stone Roses. Es ist eine Sammlung, die einen Schnappschuss der jugendlichen Unschuld und ungezügelten Leidenschaft bietet, die ihre frühen zweiminütigen Indie-Pop-Abenteuer kennzeichneten.

Soundway presents Circus Underwater’s 1984 self-titled masterpiece. Remastered and extended to a double LP, this deluxe version includes six unreleased tracks unearthed from the original ¼” tapes, and presented with an insert, including never-before-seen photos and the fascinating story behind the music.

Featuring artwork from Grateful Dead collaborator, David Lundquist, the album encapsulates a unique moment in time. Echoing the story of a generation that grew up in the 50s and 60s where music was everything, two friends embark on a journey of experimentation which begins in the beatnik suburbs of Washington DC and travels to the heart of hippie San Francisco.

The result is an opus that fearlessly blurs the boundaries of genres and embraces diverse influences. Elements of prog, rock, ambient and wave music culminate in an odyssey that seamlessly bridges the gap between the spaced-out creativity of the 70s and electronic music of today

On our latest Mojuba sublabel Frekoba, we welcome JJ, a friend of ours who we love for his unique approach to a truly diverse colorful palette of club tracks on his debut for us called OOPS! So what do these four tracks sound like?

Imagine a night at a club like Panorama Bar where Soundstream, Lil Silva & Errorsmith are having a blast. Now you are in the right zone to have fun with JJ's debut 12". House, Disco, UK funky and off-kilter cut-up grooves for your enjoyment, have fun!

"If you can imagine a love child between MAC DEMARCO and SPAR-KLEHORSE, then this would be what you're left with." - SO YOUNG MAGA-ZINE
Raised in North Queensland, Australia, Jarrod Mahon is not one to shy away from bold new endeavors. Once parting ways with his previous record label in 2019, Mahon chose to go fully independent, relocating to Berlin in 2019 (where he still resides), despite having no contacts at all in the country. What’s more, having recorded/performed under the pseudonym Emerson Snowe for over a decade - during which time he home-recorded five albums and 13 EP’s, toured with the likes of King Krule or Ariel Pink, played showcases SXSW and the Great Escape, the works - Mahon took that brave, most uncommercial decision to release under his own name and start almost totally anew.
“There was never really a concept to that name Emerson Snowe other than having some kind of separation from who I was as a person,” Mahon explains, “using a moniker gave me that confidence to push myself further mentally and to give myself some kind of a freedom”. And through the process of creating what would become his debut album, Mahon saw that he had outgrown the need for this protective persona. ‘Everything Has A Life’ was meant to be the debut Snowe album”, he admits, “but after I finished mixing it with Syd Kemp, co-producer I realized that I had actually grown a lot and was much more comfort-able with who I am and what my personal beliefs are.”
The choice of ‘Everything Has A Life’ as the album title, pulled from beauteous opening track ‘All I Know’, neatly summarizes this new outlook: moving on from ‘self-pity’ of the past-self by becoming present for the loved ones around you, improving understanding of one’s own self, via the wider world at large.
That track marks the first written during a lockdown stint in LA where Mahon wrote and recorded every day for 2 months, produced nigh on 250 demos and birthed the bulk of the record. It also brought Mahon back to his all-time favorite, Sufjan Stevens’ Ilinois and its blend of widescreen orchestral landscapes and more candid, naked acoustic-leaning variations - an important influence for the album's stylistic contrasts. Another key inspiration for the record too brought Mahon back to his roots - those full-bloom strains of his Mum’s Beloved Neil Diamond, an annual Christmas irritant to Mahon as a child, yet an artist he’s come to respect in adulthood. “Whatever the reason, with age I came to love the big show band sounds,” he says, “the idea of a performer on stage with a mas-sive orchestra with strings was amazing to me.”
With the help of producer Syd Kemp (Ulrika Spacek, Vanishing Twin), such grand designs could be met. - “When we first met, he asked me if I would like real strings on it. I said of course.” Enter Magda Mclean on violin (Caroline/the Umlauts), and Gamaliel Rendle Traynor on Cello (Sweat, Fat White Family), whose strings helped lift the record to romantic new heights.
He continues: “I said to Syd that the only thing I wanted to achieve with this rec-ord was that I wanted it to make me cry at one point. And we got there eventual-ly.” The final culmination of all these strands, ’Everything Has A Life’ is indeed a treasure trove of emotive riches. Locking into that bittersweet, quintessentially ‘pop’ combination of triumphant rhythms and confessional, stream-of-consciousness lyrics plucked straight from the heart, Mahon faces up to years of substance abuse with a series of gorgeous, blushing melodies: “I was using, I was drinking, I was lying to my friends, I was messing up again, I was hiding from myself”, he joyously chants on ‘The Growing’.
A banquet fit for an indie king, Everything Has A Life is loaded with psych-pop lusciousness (‘All I Know’) and anthemic glam fuzz (‘Death Of The Ladies Man’, ‘Deadstar’, or ‘Sonny is my Best Friend’); recalling that foundational Sufjan Ste-vens influence too with shambling flecks of country (‘Charly (Romantic Heart)’). There’s also those lo-fi crepitations of ‘My Man’ and ‘I can’t’ harking back home-recorded demos that lie at the core of Mahon’s creative process.

Erstmals und endlich auf Vinyl erhältlich - das Solodebüt des Musikers und Produzenten Tobias Kuhn aka Monta aus dem Jahr 2004. Erscheint als weißes 180g Vinyl im Gatefold-Sleeve. "Wir unterteilen das Leben gerne in künstlich voneinander getrennte Kapitel, sprechen von "Neuerfindung" oder "zweiter Geburt", wenn jemand nun plötzlich etwas scheinbar ganz anderes macht als zuvor. Tatsächlich aber ist das Neue immer schon im Alten angelegt, die meisten Übergänge sind fließend. Nehmen wir zum Beispiel Tobias Kuhn: Natürlich ist Kuhn heute vor allem als einer der renommiertesten und besten deutschen Musikproduzenten bekannt. Kuhn hat mit Clueso, Udo Lindenberg und den Toten Hosen gearbeitet. Man kennt ihn als Produzenten und Co-Songwriter so unterschiedlicher Künstler wie Feine Sahne Fischfilet, Mark Forster, Alec Benjamin, Alice Merton, Noah Kahan, Lost Frequencies, Gurr und Milky Chance, er schrieb für den "Tatort" die Musik, man könnte die Liste endlos fortsetzen. Aber vor dieser Geschichte, vor der Geschichte des Top-Produzenten Tobias Kuhn gab es eben noch eine andere - und wenn man genauer hinguckt, gehören beide untrennbar zusammen. Begonnen hatte sie in Würzburg. Es sind die Neunzigerjahre, Familie Kuhn hatte in Cambridge und in Peking gewohnt und war nun ausgerechnet nach Unterfranken gezogen: Das malerisch gelegene, architektonisch reizvolle Würzburg mag bedeutende Universitäten haben, mit 130.000 Einwohnern knapp als Großstadt gelten und das sogenannte "Herz der Weinregion Franken" sein, als Popmetropole ist die Stadt eher nicht bekannt. Aber natürlich kommt der beste Pop traditionell ja genau aus solchen Orten, aus der Provinz, von den Hochschulen, aus den Fabriken. Eben dort, in Würzburg, gründet Tobias Kuhn mit 15, 16 Jahren die Band Miles gemeinsam mit Gilbert Hartsch zunächst als klassische Schülerband. Der Schlagzeuger Andreas Wecklein und René Hartmann (Bass) komplettieren das Line-up, letzterer wird später durch Nina Kränsel ersetzt. Wie gesagt, es sind die Neunzigerjahre: In den USA initiiert der Sänger und spätere Pop-Impressario Perry Farrell die erste Ausgabe der heute weltweit erfolgreichen Festivalreihe Lollapalooza als grellen Rock'n'Roll-Zirkus und Abschiedstournee seiner Band Jane's Addiction. Das gefällt Kuhn und seinen Freunden natürlich, also schmieden sie in der bayerischen Provinz den einigermaßen größenwahnsinnigen Plan, in Deutschland etwas ähnliches aufzuziehen. Spoiler: es gelingt. Auf diese Weise entstanden drei Alben, bis der Gitarrist ausstieg und irgendwie allen klar wurde: alles erlebt, alles erzählt, mehr geht nicht. Kuhn schrieb sich daraufhin für Medizin ein, doch die Musik ließ ihn nicht los. So begann das zweite musikalische Kapitel im Leben des Tobias Kuhn. Unter dem Namen Monta wendete er sich einem intimeren, Folk-grundierten Ansatz zu und nimmt so zwei Alben auf, deren Veröffentlichung er selbst übernimmt. Bald gab es ein weltweites Netzwerk kleiner Indie-Labels, die die Monta-Musik vertrieben und sogar die "Sunday Times" machte "Where Circles Begin" zum Album der Woche. Und so begann die dritte, bis heute andauernde musikalische Karriere von Tobias Kuhn: die des Produzenten und Songschreibers. Kuhn wäre nicht Kuhn, wenn nicht auch dieser Abschnitt wieder von einer Reihe scheinbarer Zufälle und Begegnungen befeuert worden wäre, die sich eben nahtlos aus allem, was davor war, ergaben." Torsten Groß

'Nothing left but silence' is Erik K Skodvin’s third solo album for Sonic Pieces and his most quiet to date. Subtitled as "Musical improvisations and quiet collages from the subconscious”, Skodvin reduces his instruments to guitar, reverb and amp - and creates a skeleton of eight hypnotic ragas that meanders in an eternal loop between ephemeral and singular.

Only on the horizon it’s possible to sense that Skodvin has also touched the neoclassical terrain in earlier productions - on Nothing left but silence, however, he acts as a twilight player who is not afraid of the coldness of endless space and who knows how to subjugate the shadowiness of the visible world. Carried by the noise of the amp and the occasional click of the effects pedals, a monolithic, reduced blues emerges, whose mediumistic quality nevertheless reveals that Skodvin's music always comes from the body - and as such is always searching for space. A space that - in this case - blends the vastness of the Norwegian steppe with the brittleness of American wasteland (as if Deathprod and Loren Connors were one and the same person), creating a persistent state between deceleration and absence of presence - that leads Skodvin ever closer to the inner essence of sound.

Initially recorded at Saal 3, Funkhaus, Berlin by Nils Frahm in 2015, the album has itself been subjected to silence as a forgotten relic, re-found and now released in a time where it might connect more with the contemporary state of mind. Welcome to the entrance to the periphery.

DJ Python’s Worldwide Unlimited return with a trio of giddy-up garage screwballs by BFTT of the Mutualism cohort.

’THP’ hails BFTT’s transition from one party city, Leeds, to another, Manchester, in the post-lockdown euphoria when everyone was dusting off their dancing clogs. He hadn’t made club music during the pandemic, but got right back on it that summer, chiselling signature production details into a trio of restive swingers and buoyant steppers explicitly built for the party.

‘THP’ trains his energies into an itchy switch of Yorkshire garage-techno-donk aerated with feathered dub chords and percolated percussion. ‘Keeplies’ more loosely dances on the offbeat complete with unstable, grinding subs whisked into a dipping UKG lather like Pangaea meets early Aya, and ‘Seems’ picks up your trotters on a ruggedly warped speed garage tilt, all melting Moschino logos and acid-spiked fizz bound for peak times.

Woods are in bloom again, inviting you to disappear into a new spectrum of colors and sounds and dreams on Perennial. Formed in Brooklyn in 2004, Woods have matured into a true independent institution, above and below the root, reliably emerging every few years with new music that grows towards the latest sky. Operating the Woodsist label since 2006 and curating the beloved homespun Woodsist Festival for the musical universe they’ve built, Perennial is the sound of a band on the edge of their 20th anniversary and still finding bold new ways to sound like (and challenge) themselves. Perennial grew from a bed of guitar/keyboard/drum loops by Woods head-in-chief Jeremy Earl, a form of winter night meditation that evolved into an unexplored mode of collaborative songwriting. With Earl’s starting points, he and bandmates Jarvis Taveniere and John Andrews convened, first at Earl’s house in New York, then at Panoramic House studio in Stinson Beach, California, site of sessions for 2020’s Strange To Explain. With a view of the sparkling Pacific and tape rolling, they began to build, jamming over the loops, switching instruments, and developing a few dozen building blocks. The album’s resulting 11 songs, 4 of them instrumental, are in the classic Woods mode--shimmering, familiar, fractionally unsettling--but with the half-invisible infinity boxes of Earl’s loops burbling beneath each like a mysterious underground source. From source to seed to bloom, each loop unfolds into something unpredictable, from the jeweled pop of the aching “Little Black Flowers” to the ecstatic starlit freak-beat of “Another Side.” They are blossomings both far-out and comforting, like the Mellotronic cloud-hopping of “Between the Past,” or sometimes just plain comforting, like the widescreen snowglobe fantasia of the instrumental “White Winter Melody,” touched by Connor Gallaher’s pedal steel. Woods have long used the studio as a place of songwriting, naming 2007’s At Rear House after their shared dwelling and recording space. But Perennial also carries with it an even longer view of Woods. Emerging from the process alongside the music was Earl’s reflection that “perennial plants and flowers are nature’s loops,” an idea rolling under the album’s lyrics like the loops themselves. It certainly applies to the band, too, who have quietly tended to a long, committed project of being a band in the weird-ass 21st century, both individually and communally. Though separated by coasts, the communal sprit carries through Earl, Taveniere, and Andrews’ collaboration, a living embodiment of the freedoms rediscovered every time a new collectively created piece of music emerges. For nearly two decades, Woods have survived subgenres, anchored in the fertile soil below hashtags like lo-fi and freak-folk and psychedelic and indie, and built a shared history that’s something to marvel at. As the flagship band for Woodsist, they’ve accumulated a striking extended family of collaborators (and Woods alum) that have made the label one of the most dependable imprints in the kaleidoscopic low-key underground. It’s a glow that’s transferred whole to the blissed-out Woodsist Fests held in Accord, New York in recent years, which have folded in a wide range of diverse sounds, from the the jazz cosmoverse of the Sun Ra Arkestra and adventurous legends Yo La Tengo, to a hard-to-even-count family tree of contemporaries, like Kevin Morby (who served a few tours of duty as Woods bassist) and Kurt Vile (who released his 2009 debut on Woodsist), a living community in sound. Perennial carries all of this, shaped by decades, but made in the moment, and here right now. The smell of the flowers doesn’t remain, but sometimes the flowers do. Jesse Jarnow Recorded and mixed by Jarvis Taveniere at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, CA with additional recording at The Ship in Los Angeles, CA and Cottekill Bird Sanctuary in Stone Ridge, NY. Produced by Jarvis Taveniere and Jeremy Earl. Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering in Portland, OR. Jeremy Earl - vocals, guitars, drums, percussion, sk-5, mellotron, vibraphone, autoharp, loops Jarvis Taveniere - guitar, bass, upright bass, hammond, vocals John Andrews - piano, organs, mellotron, drums, vocals Connor Gallaher - Pedal Steel Kyle Forester - sax, wurlitzer

Something a little special for the landmark AE Productions catalogue number AE050. Recorded circa 2012 and intended for release on High Noon Music, Mr Fantastic and J. Todd’s follow up to their superb ‘All The Critics’ has sat in the vaults ever since. With AE’s 50th release coming up we arranged with the kind help of High Noon Music to release ‘Don’t Worry’ on AE as originally intended on 7” with the instrumental on the flip, albeit around 11 years later.
The beat starts with a nice slice of Funk guitar which leads into Mr Fantastic’s customary big crunchy drums and a booming 808 sub kick. The intro sample then doesn’t reappear as is but is chopped to pieces and replayed with all guitar and bass parts taking on an entirely new groove which sits on the drums perfectly and is augmented with additional sounds.
Milwaukee’s finest J. Todd graces the track with a nice aggressive pacey flow which works as a nice counter balance to the vocal on ‘All The Critics’ and giving the track a more hardcore underground feel. J. Todd’s freestyle and tongue in cheek braggadocios battle rhymes ride the beat with ease which provides an easy listen considering the tough feel of the track.
We dug out an image taken around the time of recording to keep it in keeping with the image that may have been selected at the time had it been released. The audio is the original master from 2012 so as to retain the original flavour of the track but was done by our mastering engineer of choice Rola @ Khameleon Sounds. We hope you agree that the wait was worthwhile.

Piotr Kurek’s new album “Smartwoods” is a sprawling root system of tiny melodic phrases that loop and curl around subtly evolving instrumental thickets. The Warsaw-based producer and composer takes his cues from early music, baroque music and experimental jazz, entangling his influences with filigree traces of contemporary computer music and fueling it with sonic vapors from the near future.

Made up of seven distinct segments, the album blurs its acoustic and electronic elements into an illusory hedge of abstract sound. Harp, saxophone, clarinet, double bass, voices and guitar twist into computerized processes and synthesizer chirps, creating an uncanny dreamworld where the real isn’t always what it seems. Each player is entwined with the other to create a living, breathing whole.

Like Kurek’s painterly 2021 album “World Speaks”, “Smartwoods” is also inspired by visual art - particularly the whimsical work of Algerian-French graphic designer Jean Sariano. The album cover features artwork by Polish painter Tomasz Kowalski, whose shapeshifting creatures and miniature stories aptly reflect the music’s wild fantasy. The first manifestation of “Smartwoods” – a live show at Unsound in Kraków in 2022 – featured animations by Italian artist Francesco Marrello, who put together a visual treatment for the single “Harps”.

Music composed, arranged and produced by Piotr Kurek
Anna Pašic - harp
Tomasz Duda - clarinets, saxophone, flute
Wojtek Traczyk - double bass, electric bass
Piotr Kurek - keyboards, MIDI wind controller, electric guitar
Recorded in June and November 2022 by Piotr Kurek, Piotr Zabrodzki (Studio Pasterka) and Tomasz Duda

S.A.M. is back on their own Delaphine label after a four year hibernation period. The leading cut ‘Project050’ comes in two version, a Studio Version and a Live Mix. The foundation is a grooving 12bit 909 pattern that’s as crisp as it’s phat. Combed in between the syncopes of the groove are layers of acidic and resonant tones padded with swelling chords lifting you in and out of the metaphysical. Second track ‘Ha’ reveals references within a wide range of dance music history from early Derrick Carter-esque beats and 90’s dub techno to organ Melodies and UKG sub bass-lines. The transient beats work like tent poles for the thriving and continuously evolving melodic culture growing underneath. S.A.M. is showing a drive and a ferocity with this EP that speaks to an interesting 10th year of Delaphine.

The house of Sakskøbing is witnessing a spawn of a sub label with the catalogue code RVZ. This is a coastal part of the main city, with abundance of nature & clear water, the rhythms in Zealand as one may say. The number one comes together as a four track Various Artists and consists of long-term friends of Sakskøbing as well new faces welcomed to the label.

The side A comes from a hardware live project Cattle Freq consistent of three musicians SIL, Keroz and BRTS. The trio have launched the project called Cattle Freq with performance of all original material recorded & rehearsed in the outskirts of their hometown in the end of 2021. Following up is the close friend of the label the Tommy Vicari Jnr, an artist highly praised not only in his native city Sheffield but is consistently played by hard working dj’s in the whole world. With “No matter what” the gentleman returns to label for the second time since 2016 which marks for a special date.

Hellfish and Bryan Fury, the Axe Gabba Murda Mob, are two of the biggest innovators in hardcore techno. Both have been pushing the genre in all kinds of directions for over two decades providing the pulse for thousands of parties around the globe. So with this in mind, we are honoured to present 'Baby Eaters', an earth shaking joyride to the very edge of the human psyche and beyond.

The eponymous A-side strikes terror into the hearts of men, splitting brain cells like atoms with destructive chain reactions of radical distortion and soul-stripping screams. Pure demonic catharsis, sound frequencies don't get more violent than this. The B side 'Acid Abyss' is an LSD stained hardcore techno anthem where eerily cold voices are strangled by crunchy bellowing kick drums and bleeding 303s. Despite still being cranked up, the precision of the fills in this track offsets the chaotic kicks of the A-side, coming off almost subtle in comparison.

This single is for connoisseurs coming lovingly housed with artwork by the wonderful Jim'll'Paint it, depicting the deadly duo conducting some rather grizzly research in their underworld studio.

For fans of: Venetian Snares - Bloody Fist

We’ve waited over 20 years and finally Vince Watson is releasing the follow up to his seminal ‘Moments In Time’ album released on Ibadan and Alola, entitled ‘Another Moment In Time’. Over the twenty years since the release of ‘Moments In Time’, Vince has put out more than ten LPs of various flavours. Here he returns to the vibe and feel of those early works. ‘Another Moment in Time’ wastes no time in exploring those rich, melancholic tones with his stunning piano chords and an essence of nostalgia that is both thought provoking and deeply satisfying. This album takes Vince Watson ever further into his original sound but with a pristine quality and finesse that his early work was yet to benefit from.

There are many highlights, from the opener with its rich acid deepness and subtle keys, to the energetic and deeply fulfilling ‘Flashback’ that gives a nod to Funk d’Void’s Diablo or KiNK. ‘Peace Of Mind’ features the incredible talents of the hallowed Underground Resistance ‘Timeline’ keyboard master Jon Dixon as co-writer, this combination of both musicians is an ear to behold; the piano and Rhodes playing is straight up high-tech jazz. ‘Lost In the Deep’ takes its cues from Detroit but hits different with twisting chords and grooves. ‘Whispers’ delivers the most melancholic deepness on the LP, whereas ‘Sunshine’ is pure out and out happiness with its twisting chords and a firm foundation in Detroit. Written on the first sunny day after the winter, you can hear the breath of relief within the track.

‘Rendezvous Finale’ is the 3rd and final version of a cut that’s had a long and satisfying journey. Originally released on Carl Craig’s Planet E in 2006, it was then formatted into Afro House for Osunlade’s Yoruba Records in 2018, and in ‘22 this new version was debuted for Carl Cox’s Birthday at DC10 in Ibiza for Vince’s live set. The reaction sealed the deal! ‘Forever’ and ‘Make A Wish’ are straight up club cuts that featured on a single also in ‘22. The album closes out with the peacefully beautiful ‘Sleep’ that rounds things off to sonic perfection.

20 years is a long time to wait, and it would do ‘Another Moment in Time’ no justice to simply say it was worth the wait. This feels like the next evolution in Vince Watson. The finesse, the musicality, musicianship, and the production levels are of the highest level. ‘Peace of Mind’ and ‘Flashback’ may well be two of the biggest tracks that Watson has released to date.








g D1 Rendezvous Finale

Ronan lands on nascent X-Kalay sub-label Another Place with renewed focus and a new EP. Musing on personal crossroads, ‘Leaves of Life’ is a highly evocative contemplation on the tides of life. It’s the culmination of a personal arc having sat with the material for six years, further refining the lush, introspective sound that’s characterised his output to date.

The outcome feels similarly unhurried; a pristine, genre-spanning exploration rendered with meticulous attention to detail. Soul-bearing stuff interspersed with words of reassurance through quietly spoken vocals.

The opener strives for utopia. Carried away on a warm current, ‘Song of Surrender’ initiates with a gorgeous unfurling of life-affirming trance that begs repeat immersion. Comparatively direct, ‘Cure for Toxicity’ comes on a breaks-driven flex before a fleeting switch-up into 2-step territory.

Supple groove and jazz modalities fuel airily introspective D&B as we shift focus to title track ‘Leaves of Life’. Then, finally, Ronan closes things out with a ritual purification of sorts. Deploying more breaks but bordering on new age, ‘Sacral Dub’ exudes a soothing, massaging quality with dubby tendencies in full effect.

As a band, Taryn and Austin’s journey happened both unexpectedly and fortuitously. At the start of the COVID pandemic, Austin and his wife moved back into his parents’ house, where Taryn was also living at the time. Faced with nothing but time, he got back to songwriting, regularly asking Taryn for input — or as the two playfully put it, “Gen Z quality control.” The immediate result of their musical partnership was the pop-punk/alternative anthem “Who’s Laughing Now,” which leads with wry, tongue-in-cheek lyrics about the futility of young adulthood in 2023. After posting an unfinished version of “Who’s Laughing Now” on TikTok, it swiftly took off, galvanizing thousands of viewers who shared their coming-of-age frustrations. Clearly, the song’s sentiments - which land somewhere between a shrug and a clenched fist - resonated with millions of listeners, and today Durry have recorded a fully fleshed-out version of “Who’s Laughing Now,” which is set to appear on their riveting, perfectly sardonic debut LP, Suburban Legend. Whether Suburban Legend is tackling romantic love, late-stage capitalism, mental health woes, or teen nostalgia, the thread tying it all together is its utter relatability. Regardless of where you are in life — city or suburbs, school or work, or pursuing a creative dream of your own — Durry will meet you there with a wink and a high five.

One of Death Metal's biggest bands, DYING FETUS return with their highly anticipated new album, Make Them Beg For Death. Recorded in Baltimore with longtime producer Steve Wright and mixed by Mark Lewis (Cannibal Corpse), Make Them Beg For Death contains every DYING FETUS hallmark. The veteran Death Metal band’s ninth album is fast, intense, and brimming with unstoppable grooves. Monstrous riffs, blast beats, unstoppable hooks, and earth-moving grooves define their catalog. “We put our own twist on Death Metal,” explains co-vocalist/guitarist John Gallagher. “We were like most bands, starting in the garage, drinking beer, having a little fun on the weekend, finding the right amps through trial and error. We blended aspects of bands we liked – Suffocation, Obituary, Deicide, and Cannibal Corpse, among others; the dual vocal approach of Carcass – and made them our own. ‘Let’s make it moshy, let’s make it slammy.’” Make Them Beg For Death delivers savage beatdowns equally designed to pulverize and mesmerize. “It follows on from where Wrong One To Fuck With left off,” drummer Trey Williams promises. “We don’t need to participate in the technical death metal arms race. We’ve got the big guns, and we’ve proven that. It’s all about pointing them in the right direction, so to speak.” To the men of DYING FETUS, the mission is straightforward. “The philosophy is the same now as it was when the band started,” Gallagher confirms. “To write catchy riffs and to make it memorable. Whatever style of music you’re doing, make it something people want to hear repeatedly.”

“It just feels good to scream at the top of my lungs,” admits UNITYTX vocalist Jay Webster. “And not even at anyone. Sometimes you just need to scream.” Truer words have rarely been spoken in the context of recent history, and on their debut Pure Noise LP, FERALITY, UNITYTX confront the last few years head-on with a blistering cocktail of car crash energy, sludgy horror-show macabre, industrial metal sheen and sinister subliminality. Produced by Andrew Wade (A Day To Remember, Wage War), FERALITY follows the band’s 2019’s Madboy, their first EP for Pure Noise that elevated the Dallas-based quartet (Webster, guitarist Ricky Cova, bassist Kendrick Nicholson and drummer Jonathan Flores) onto tours with the likes of Silverstein, The Amity Affliction and Poppy and shone a spotlight on the genre-bending sonic blend UNITYTX have been building in the underground since 2014.

Fastbacks recorded July 9 & 10, 1985 in a famous basement in Pioneer Square, Seattle on Scott McCaughey's 4-track cassette Portastudio.

Repress!

Le Très Jazz Club keeps on exploring Japanese jazz and Three Blind Mice catalog with the reissue of this amazing 1976 record by drummer George Otsuka. This LP is reissued for the first time since 1976. Reissued for the first time outside of Japan, “Physical Structure” by Japanese drummer George Otsuka is an amazing jazz-fusion album, featuring Fumio Karashima on the piano and Fender Rhodes and Shozo Sasaki on tenor sax. Check the surprising and sublime cover of “Naima” which alone justifies to get this record! With : George Ostuka (drums), Shozo Sasaki (tenor & soprano sax), Fumio Karashima (piano, electric piano, synthesizer), Mitsuako Furuno (bass), Norio Ohno (percussion). Recorded on February 11, 1976

We survived 10 years. Holy FKOF we did it - with your help! To celebrate, we’ve put together a record worthy of getting through our first decade. 8 tracks. 4 remixes. 2 records. 1 FKOF vibe: beats, bass and space.

It is always our pleasure to have new talents in the house, and we've been following Notzing's development since long ago. His approach to techno is absolutely personal and complex, hard and intrincated, mental and physical.

Protae is the first missile in this box full of weapons, a super busy techno exercise with compacted drums, drilling synth lines and random metallic hits breaking the monotony. The effect on the floor is devastating and has been tested extensively in dancefloors worldwide by label owner Oscar Mulero in the past months. 7 minutes of pure dancefloor mayhem.

Fagus continues with the sickness, with hysterical synth washe repeating an hypnotic chant, adding layers of sound as the groove goes by. Repetition is here the key to proper trance, not exactly with pleasant tones but by aggression.

Ekaterin is gummy and elastic with formant synth sounds chewing frequencies and changing constantly in shape. Another mental mantra with a physical drive.

Molniya slows down the pace and dives into profound sound scapes full of unnatural underwater sounds and washes providing a feeling of scuba diving.

To end this sonic odyssey, Emision goes completely beatless, growing from the profound sub bass frequencies to crispy and crunchy surface noises, creating the soundtrack of floating in outer space with no gravity. Please beware of the super intense bass tones when playing on a big sound system.
The perfect combination of experimentation and punchiness, keep an eye on this guy, is gonna make some proper noise in the coming years.

Moving to England for its second release, Rant & Rave Records presents a proper EP from South Wales-based producer JoeFarr, known for his dancefloor jams on labels such as: 'SLAM', 'Arts', and his most recent success with 2019's epic 12" 'Death Becomes Us'. On the a-side 'In This Anger', which JoeFarr has written with Louisahhh, an anxiously dark, slowly developing atmosphere menaces behind a slow rolling, broken beat for maximum effect. This is punctuated by dark, slightly distorted female vocals with sporadic lyrics subtly encouraging its dance floors to move.. and think. Signature hard and bouncy grooves with infectious in-yer-face techno riffs dominate the rest of the EP with tracks 'Laced Up', 'You Can See Me' and 'You will See Me (Hardcore)', effortlessly weaving in and out of the pulsating groove with an interesting palette of machine sounding synths and heavily processed vocals.

Faitiche welcomes Andrew Black aka blackbody_radiation. His debut album Ultra Materials gathers six ghostly drones, created with the help of sound masking.

Andrew Black, who hails from one of the UK's post industrial North West Milltowns has a sensitive feeling for space and its acoustics. Having trained as a designer and operated within the realms of architecture and public space, it was only natural to extend his interest to manipulating field recordings.

The six pieces collected on Ultra-Materials provide an insight into Black's highly sensitive minimalism: they stand for a subtly meandering mediation on room acoustics and place, which are manipulated with the help of sound masking, among other things - that is, the addition and superimposition of artificially generated frequencies to mask unwanted sounds.

Sometimes the pieces are reminiscent of warm engine noise, sometimes one thinks of carefully captured natural phenomena. Their strength lies in their elusiveness: free of concrete attributions or musical location, they can unfold their hypnotic pull without revealing anything about their origins. Harmonics at times shimmer, at times warble and at times coexist. It is an attempt to get in touch with our listening abilities.

Mila Stern's groove-heavy and highly danceable sound explores fringe soundscapes informed by Post-Punk and Electro. What sets her apart is a willingness to embrace unorthodox sounds, explore the beauty in harshness and dissonance, and transform jarring atmospheres into captivating dancefloor moments. With 'Five Finger EP', Mila Stern delivers an eclectic six-tracker featuring two high-pressure originals and four carefully selected reimaginations by Camea, mytripismytrip, Öona Dahl, and Hardt Antoine for Kiosk catalog number 021.

'Five Finger Discount' encapsulates Mila's uncompromising aesthetic: warm, powerful, energetic, and constantly teetering on the brink of disintegration. Morphing, overdriven stabs build energy atop a sub-heavy groove and a sea of pads. A sweeping break fractures the track into shuddering bursts of corroded machinery, before the compact groove returns with punishing dancefloor power.

Camea transforms 'Five Finger Discount' into a heavy-weight techno roller. Shuddering, pitch-shifting bass hits and salvos, sizzling white noise sweeps, and an ominous mantra morph the track into a darkly efficient peak- time banger.


Hardt Antoine builds his rendition of 'Deadline Disco' around an infectiously body-moving arpeggio. Layers of distortion add a searing edge, transforming the original into a stripped powerhouse with Dark Disco undercurrents.

Few artists move on the fringe so comfortably, make unconventional sounds so accessible, or pursue their vision with the same bright-eyed conviction.

With 'Five Finger EP', Mila Stern epitomises the magic that happens when uncommon sounds are embedded in the framework of commanding, floor-focused energy. 'Five Finger EP' embodies her stand-out style and the stunning range of musical interpretations it inspires.

EACH COPY Personally SIGNED BY LEN FAKI

Len Faki has always been a defining character of the techno underground. His unique approach to DJing, the consistent work as a producer and the quality output of his label Figure has all shaped the current environment.
Starting out as a clubber in the 90's, his inspirations have always reached back to the first encounters with electronic music, when new worlds opened and everything seemed possible.

While these experiences have always influenced Faki's productions and used to be released under many different aliases back in the day, they have been waiting since to be made into a proper album under the Len Faki moniker.

After quickly climbing to the top of the international DJ circuit, busy touring schedules never quite allowed for it. Finally faced with the opportunity of a long overdue creative break, Faki decided tackle the life-time venture with the necessary dedication and focus.

Excited about the new project, he also took the time and energy needed to expand his production methods. Finding new techniques allowed him to truly bring all his different influences to the surface. The process was one of following his own heart, occasionally challenging and surprising himself. Naturally the result emerged as two parallel experiences, which are now presented across two discs. Both still carry all the signature features of Faki's style but with added layers of depth and detail. There's that special contrast of dark and heady grooves, paired with dreamy melodies that transport the listener to places beyond the mind. But we also see all strains of his previous work being incorporated, mixed and molded into something new altogether.

While the first disc focuses on the kind of techno, which Faki has been brought up by and given back to for so many years of his life, the second is more loose and experimental, with forays into house, ambient and broken beats - the sounds he has always kept very passionate about.

It creates two distinct experiences, showcasing the entire breadth of Faki's cosmos. Where some ideas stay straight and kick hard, like the neon bleep opener Tor 8 or joyfully booming Astra, others take the newfound freedom to inspire a wistful broken beat ballad such as Hymn (In the Name of Fantasy) or the soulfully subdued Drum & Bass closer Voices.
Many songs even exist as pairings, with their respective counterpart on the other disc. For example, the duo of Shri Yantra/Yantra, where similar soundscapes have been looked through different lenses, making for a more straight-laced or shuffled rhythm. Also noteworthy are Faki's appearance as a veritable house producer on Hymn (In the Name of Freedom) as well as the inclusion of two very personal pieces:
The Halide tracks were made in remembrance of Faki's late mother, who passed away during the final production stage of the EP. These delicate tracks capture the intense sadness Faki was feeling at the time and helped him to process his grief and eventually to finish off the album.

By doing so Faki has given us a complete artistic statement, one that proves him to be as curious and driven now as ever, taking his sound to all-new realms.

For over two decades Jonathan Katsav has used his Crave project to fray rap at its fringes, using Memphis and Houston's low-and-slow legacy to inform sounds that have as much in common with Merzbow as they do Tommy Wright III. Working under a variety of different monikers such as Lieu Noir, Sniper Bait and Soul Collector, the French producer is most prolific as Crave, and "Inner War Delirium" is a substantial and broadly cinematic addition to his canon. Katsav approaches each track as if it's a scene from a movie, using real life experiences to explore separate characters and contrasting emotions. Using different narrators and disparate vocal styles, he navigates grim, blown-out landscapes, driving neon drenched trap synths and horror choirs against overdriven kicks and waterlogged industrial atmospheres. Mangled field recordings, squealing static and gurgling synthesized bass opens 'PHYLLIS', goading the cautious with serrated, carnival synths and cacophonous vocals that sway lugubriously between rap and grindcore. The relationship between dark and light, death and rebirth, is at the heart of "Inner War Delirium", rippling through every track's oozing amalgamation of inebriated hip-hop and buzzsaw noise. Katsav's sounds are an attempt to subject us to the physicality of his own life's puzzle, and he cuts them into vignettes like a director. On the album's final track, listeners are swiped from in front of the speakers and bundled into the trunk of a car, rain rattling on the metal and the album playing on in the distance. It's a way for the producer to turn the camera back on the audience and ask them to consider their own complicated reality - it's Crave's story, but everyone's a part of it.