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LP 180g, beautiful embossed Chess Board Artwork Print, inner sleeve with artist picture and text by David Elliott, Sounds June 16, 1984 In anticipation of the 35th anniversary next year one of electronic music´s most influential recordings, the legendary E2-E4, from 12.12.1981 does get an official rerelease by Manuel Göttsching on his own Label MG.ART. Carefully overseen by the Master himself Total Time: 59:34

Not one to be pigeonholed, highly respected DJ and producer WILL SAUL has always run the gamut of electronic dance music: from deep house to techno and UK bass, his sets and tracks like to rock the boat of any given genre, taking in contemporary impulses as well as classic inspirations. As label honcho for iconic imprints like Simple or Aus Music, he further honed his ear for the perfect groove and was invited to bring his expert selection to the revered DJ Kicks mix series in 2014. A remix collaboration with fellow UK producer October for Michael Mayer's MANTASY REMIXE 2 (KOMPAKT 272) turned out to be a fine first foray into Kompakt territory - now to be succeded by the LOST IN TIME EP, for which he teamed up with Bristol-based soundsmith KOMON. Komon & Will have been collaborating for many years, resulting in tracks on Will's DJ Kicks and remixes for labels such as Ninja Tunes (Kelis) and Houndstooth (Throwing Snow). Komon has been a mainstay on Will's Aus Music imprint, with solo releases and regular collaborations with Appleblim. For Kompakt, they turn in a swooping trio of floor-versed cuts that are no strangers to atmosphere and experimentation, but like to keep the crowd in check with outbursts of pressurized funk. Leading the pack is the title cut featuring quality vocals from BEN WESTBEECH (aka Breach), flanked by the introspective DRONE and immersive mover DIGITAL PARADISE - a versatile and powerful outing from two artists that know perfectly well how to set the scene.
(de) Als einer, der sich nie leicht kategorisieren ließ, hat der hochrespektierte DJ und Produzent WILL SAUL stets die gesamte Bandbreite der elektronischen Tanzmusik zum Thema gemacht: von Deep House zu Techno und UK Bass findet alles den Weg in seine Sets und Tracks, jenseits von Genregrenzen und gerne inspiriert von zeitgenössischen wie klassischen Impulsen. Der Macher hinter gefeierten Labels wie Simple oder Aus Music ist bekannt für sein feines Ohr am Groove der Zeit und hat seine Expertise in 2014 für die berühmte DJ Kicks Mix-Reihe zum Einsatz gebracht. Eine Remix-Kollaboration mit dem befreundeten Klangschmied October für Michael Mayer's MANTASY REMIXE 2 (KOMPAKT 272) entpuppte sich als grossartiger erster Ausflug in Kompakt-Gefilde - nun der Schritt zum eigenen Release mit der LOST IN TIME EP, für die er sich mit dem Bristol-Produzenten KOMON zusammengetan hat. Komon & Will arbeiten seit vielen Jahren zusammen, was bereits zu Tracks auf Will's DJ Kicks and Remixen für Labels wie Ninja Tunes (Kelis) und Houndstooth (Throwing Sbow) geführt hat. Dank seiner Solo-Releases und der Kollaborationen mit Applebim ist Komon ein gern gesehener Gast auf Will's Aus Music. Für Kompakt liefern die beiden ein bissfestes, tanzflur-erprobtes Track-trio ab, das gerne in experimenteller Atmosphähre badet, den Tänzern aber auch gerne mit Hochdruck-Funk Beine macht. Der Titeltrack brilliert mit wundervollen Vocals von BEN WESTBEECH (aka Breach), flankiert vom introspektiven DRONE und dem mitreissenden Schieber DIGITAL PARADISE - eine vielschichtige und kraftvolle Darbietung von zwei Künstlern, die ganz genau wissen wie man den Beat in Szene setzt.

NOSUCHKEY makes a bold debut on the Art of Memory label with a deadly four track EP of masterfully reduced but stylish and evocative minimal techno. NOSUCHKEY is actually a side project from Nico Purman. He served up the first two releases on the label and this new alias is focused on straight forward techno. Over more than a decade Purman has established himself on Vakant, Crosstown Rebels and Curle, and now heads in an exciting new direction designed to make a huge impact on the floor. Opener 'Stages' is post minimal techno with a focus on mind melting melodic riffs that ripple over the rooted drums. It is sci-fi in style with a hint of Detroit greats like Jeff Mills and really takes you into the future. The excellent 'FMFMFM' is another fluid bit of deep techno that is wired up with languid synths constantly wrapping and warping round the drums. Keeping up the pressure is 'Lunch', with a stripped back but impactful techno style built on rubbery kicks and with modulated synth lines constantly shapeshifting throughout the mix. Direct but dynamic, it is excellently timeless techno that leads on to closer 'ACD RDFN'. There is urgency, paranoia and cyber tension in this one that really keeps you locked as it journeys deep into a blackened yet cinematic cosmic abyss. NOSUCHKEY is a false address, a lack of a word, a character or sign that makes a whole code unable to find its final path: The Specified Key does not exist.

Following the release of the dreamy and bewitching darkwave debut single “Mirror Twin”, Harsh Symmetry announces the release of a full-length debut Display Model on Fabrika Records, home of Selofan, Lebanon Hanover, and She Past Away, whose own Doruk Öztürkcan mixed and mastered the LP. With a vocal style reminiscent of Cocteau Twins collaborator Cinder (This Mortal Coil, Cindytalk), and Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen, Harsh Symmetry’s Julian Sharwarko is the epitome of old-school and post-punk and goth, capturing a vision that perfectly matches his sound, while physically resembling his music forebears to the point where he looks like he just stepped out of a copy of Smash Hits circa 1983. Hailing from Sacramento, California, Sharwarko’s love of music began at the tender age of 8, with parents who influenced his early music tastes by playing the music of Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Birthday Party, Iggy Pop, Depeche Mode, and Bauhaus. David Lynch’s work also made a profound impact on his style, specifically the short film The Grandmother.

Esteemed soul crooner Sam Cooke achieved much in a short space of time, notching 29 top-40 singles in his seven-year solo career. On Night Beat, released in 1963, Rene Hall’s tasteful arrangements allow Cooke’s voice to shine, most notably on ‘Lost And Lookin’; jump blues standards ‘Shake Rattle And Roll’ and ‘Little Red Rooster’ are playfully rendered, with Billy Preston’s organ on the latter. Originals ‘Mean Old World’ and ‘Laughin’ And Clownin’ remind of his strong song-writing ability and his spirited take of ‘Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen’ recalled his days with the Soul Stirrers. A prime album for all Cooke fans!

The Buddha Bar collection is the one of the most emblematic electronic compilation series with over several million copies sold over the years. Discover the 27th Buddha-Bar Compilation, Mixed by DJ Ravin. Immerse yourself in the captivating and unique world of Buddha-Bar with this new « haute couture » selection. This latest edition, masterfully mixed by the iconic DJ Ravin, takes listeners on a mesmerizing sonic journey, blending sophisticated electronic beats, worldwide sounds, and deep chill and house vibes. More than just an album, it’s an immersive experience perfect for setting the mood at any gathering or accompanying moments of pure relaxation. With a legacy of globally acclaimed compilations, the Buddha-Bar series has already captivated millions, creating a lifestyle phenomenon like no other. Available on March 28th, Buddha-Bar XXVII is a must-have for fans of lounge and electro music. Give your customers the chance to escape into this musical adventure

Mit Buddha-Bar XXVIII öffnet sich erneut das Tor zu einer Welt voller Eleganz, Sinnlichkeit und globaler Klangfarben. Die legendäre Compilation-Reihe, die längst zu einem internationalen Lifestyle-Phänomen geworden ist, präsentiert mit diesem Kapitel erneut einen Mix, der die Balance zwischen elektronischer Finesse, weltumspannenden Melodien und tiefen Chill- und House-Vibes meisterhaft hält. DJ Ravin, seit Jahren prägende Sound-Signatur des Buddha-Bar-Universums, führt Hörer:innen mit sicherer Hand durch eine Reise voller Atmosphäre und subtiler Spannung. Jeder Track reiht sich wie ein Mosaikstein in ein großes Ganzes ein - perfekt geeignet für entspannte Abende, stilvolle Lounges oder Momente der Entschleunigung. "Buddha-Bar XXVIII" steht exemplarisch für die besondere Kunst dieser Serie: Musik als Erlebnis, als Raum, als Stimmung. Eine Einladung, abzuschalten, einzutauchen und die Welt für einen Augenblick in warmen Farben zu hören.

Ever since the late 1950s bossa-nova revolution, Brazil’s influence on French music has been undeniable. Pierre Barouh, Georges Moustaki and a vast array of lesser known artists, all made the Musica Popular Brasileira (MPB) an axis of promotion at the service of a cool and metaphysical, modern and mixed Brazilian lifestyle. Some were seduced by the poetic languors of the bossa, some were looking for fun, and others just loved the American hybridization of jazz-bossa, jazz-samba.



What is bossa nova? One of its creators, Joao Gilberto said: "Its style, cadence, everything is samba. At the very start, we didn't call it bossa nova, we sang a little samba made up of a single note - Samba de uma nota so .... The discussion around the origins of bossa nova is therefore useless”. It is nevertheless useful to remember that these magnificent Brazilian songs, which the guitarist describes as samba, were shifted and balanced around improbable chords. "I like things that lean, the in-betweens that limp with grace," said Pierre Barrouh, quoting Jean Cocteau.



With emotion, arrangements for violin and supple guitar licks, bossa nova rapidly changed. A transformation that can be heard in the Tchic, tchic, French Bossa Nova 1963-1974 compilation, the result of a cultural reappropriation, which traveled through the United States and supplemented itself in France.

A musical revolution that has remained significant, bossa nova was born in Rio. From 1956 to 1961, Brazil lived through its golden years. In five years, the country had invented its modernist style. Elected president in 1956, Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, an elegant man with a broad forehead, brandished a promising slogan: "Fifty years of progress in five years". He quickly got to work. Not worried about increasing debt, he launched the project for a new federal capital, Brasilia, designed by the communist architect Oscar Niemeyer. Volkswagen opened state-of-the-art factories and created the “fusquinha”, the Beetle. In Rio, the Vespa made its first appearance. The Arpoador Surf Club crew run into the “girl” from Ipanema, Helô Pinheiro - the tanned garota ("chick"), between a flower and mermaid, who at 17 walked by the Veloso bar, where the fiery author and composer, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, were getting drunk on whiskey. From then on, bossa symbolized cool.

In 1958, Joao Gilberto recorded Chega de Saudade, which the directors of Philips denied, calling it "music for fagots". The marketing director, who believed in it, secretly pressed 3000 78-inch vinyls and distributed them at schools around Rio, creating a tidal wave.

American jazzmen then took over. In particular, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and guitarist Charlie Byrd. In November 1962, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded a "Bossa-Nova" concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, inviting the genre’s pioneers. Unprepared, the show soon turned to disaster. But the troupe was invited to the White House by Jackie Kennedy. The first lady loved "the new beat" and in particular Maria Ninguem, a song by Carlos Lyra, later covered by Brigitte Bardot.

In Brazil, the 1964 military coup quickly ended this euphoria. The destructive atmosphere that ensued pushed many Brazilian musicians to leave, if not to exile. Thus, Tom Jobim, Sergio Mendes and Joao Gilberto arrived to the United States. In New York, Joao Gilberto met saxophonist Stan Getz. At the time, he was married to the Bahianese Astrud Weinert Gilberto, who had a German father. She had never sung before, but she knew how to speak English. Getz therefore asked her to replace her husband on The Girl From Ipanema. The Getz/Gilberto record with Tom Jobim on piano, was released in March 1964. Phil Ramone, the "pope of pop" was in charge of sound.

Bossa nova arrived in Paris through the classic “guitar-voice” channel (Pierre Barouh, Baden Powell, Moustaki…) But France loved jazz and Paris had already welcomed its American contributors. All these good people were to pass through Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The cabaret l'Escale became the Mecca of Latin American sound where one could find Pierre Barrouh and his friends, such as the Camara Trio, samba-jazz aces, whose only record was published by the Saravah label. With a band strangely called Les Masques (a band that included Nicole Croisille and Pierre Vassiliu, among others), the Camara Trio recorded an interesting Brazilian Sound, including the track Il faut tenir which is present on this tasty compilation of rarities.

Other enlightened musicians can also be found on the compilation, such as Jean-Pierre Sabar (songwriter for Hardy, Auffray, Leforestier ...) and the French pop rock organist Balthazar. In 1975, Sabar recorded Aurinkoinen Musiikkimatka on a Finnish label, which featured the crazy Vai, Vai, included on this record. We are now following the footsteps of Brazilian electronic musicians such as Sergio Mendes, Eumir Deodato or Marcos Valle who created funk and disco sounds on their keyboards and synthesizers. A style that influenced Véronique Sanson when she wrote Jusqu’à la Tombée de la nuit in 1969 for Isabelle de Funès, the niece of Louis and a great friend of Michel Berger - Sanson did end up singing this track on her 1992 Sans Regret record.


The pinnacle of exoticism and travel, Sylvia Fels’ Corto Maltese includes bongos, sea mist and ocean sounds. The title was taken from Jacky Chalard’s concept album written in 1974, Je suis vivant, mais j’ai peur (I am alive, but I am scared), based on Gilbert Deflez’s science fiction novel.


However, bossa nova extended the scope of popularity. "In the 1970s, I was a fan of Sergio Mendes, Getz / Gilberto. I fell in love with this music that I knew because I had been an orchestral singer, " explained Isabelle Aubret, who in 1971 delivered a composite record of covers by the very funky Jorge Ben, Orfeu Negro, Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Morais and Jean Ferrat. "I recorded this album for Meys Records in Paris, far from Brazil, with wonderful musicians, François Raubert, Roland Vincent, Alain Goraguer...". The latter wrote the arrangements for Casa Forte, a very percussive title borrowed from Edu Lobo, one of the initiators of the bossa who spent time in California. "Jazz and bossa came together and produced very rhythmic music. I love singing, it allows me to dream, to have fun, to feel a high on stage, and these songs brought me joy, made me swing, my singing felt like a dance.”


The world tours of French singers and their desire for the tropics, often brought them to Rio with its hills, forests, caipirinhas and tanned bodies. There are surprises though, like this Iemenja (Iemenja is the goddess of the sea in the Afro-Brazilian candomblé religion). Not unlike the composer and musician Jean-Pierre Lang, based in Sao Paulo, Claire Chevalier taught Brazil to Brazil. In 1970, the singer and painter published a 45-inch vinyl, Mon mari et mes amants (My husband and my lovers), under the improbable pseudonym of Clarinha (little Claire). She was then living in Rio, with her husband, Joël Leibovitz, who founded a band called Azimuth, and who owned a record label specialized in "sambas enredos" songs for samba school parades.


For its B side, she asked Pierre Perret to come up with lyrics for a song composed by Carlos Imperial: "Oh goddess of the sea, o goddess Iemenja, I bring a white rose to adorn your long hair ..." . "Perret came to see us, and we had fun, remembers Joël Leibovitz. We wrote Lemenja for fun, we recorded it at the Havaí studio, behind the Central do Brasil the central station. Erlon Chaves, the arranger who worked with Elis Regina, joined us" adding his share of Afro-Brazilian percussions and funky brass to the mix.

There is a common misunderstanding in Franco-Brazilian history: that bossa, admittedly hedonistic, is perceived as funny, even though the poets who wrote the texts are often philosophizing on the human condition. Its French interpreters pull it towards a carnival inspired universe, far removed from its fundamental essence. Thus, Jean Constantin covered the famous Samba da minha terra, an ode to the art of samba written by the classic Bahian composer Dorival Caymmi, renaming it with the enticing title of Pas tant de tchi tchi pompon: "On your pier there is no tchi tchi / when you arch your back, you know everything is alright ”(lyrics by Gérard Calvi). This expedited bossa aims for the absurd, but retains a certain elegance.

Indeed, Jean Constantin was not an idiot, the rather large man had a huge mustache and liked fantasy, (Les pantoufles à papa, Le pacha, inspired by cha-cha-cha-cha, salsa and jazz) but he was also the lyricist of Mon manège à moi interpreted by Edith Piaf, the composer of Mon Truc en plume by Zizi Jeanmaire and the soundtrack of François Truffaut’s 400 Blows. Le Poulpe, published in 1970, from which this bossa is extract, was arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier, an accomplice of Serge Gainsbourg’s Melody Nelson. In short: "There is enough of samba / By looking at the parasol / Because my poor cabeza / Is going to die in the sun".

Even the American actress Marpessa Down, who was at the heart of the bossa nova revolution with her role as Euridyce in Marcel Camus’ film Orfeu Negro, winner of the 1959 Cannes Palme d'or, fed the clichée with Je voudrais parler au petit cuica - "Tell me how you manage to always make people want to dance / It's true, I must admit that I cannot resist your magic" - in consequence, once can hear the cuica, a little drum inherited from the Bantu.


But bossa nova had many angles. Societal, of course, pushing actresses who were symbols of women's liberation like Brigitte Bardot, Jeanne Moreau, or Sophia Loren to engage in the exercise of accelerated bossa. In February of 1963, Sophia Loren made a record in French in Rome, Je ne t'aime plus, featuring the song De jour en jour, a bossa written by two Italians, Armando Trovajoli and Tino Fornai, which was released a little later by Barclay. Bossa accompanied the 1960s, a decade of moral liberation. Ann Sorel, who interpreted La Poupée des favellas, caused a sensation with L’amour à plusieurs, a provocative song written by Frédéric Bottom and Jean-Claude Vannier. As for the actress Andrea Parisy, she displayed her bourgeois cheekiness in Marcel Carné's Les Tricheurs before interpreting Les mains qui font du bien. And Magalie Noël, the friend of Boris Vian, who sung Johnny fais-moi mal, was hired to sing Une énorme Samba, composed by Alain Goraguer (arranger to Gainsbourg, Bobby Lapointe and Jean Ferrat) with lyrics by Frédéric Botton.

But in the end, of what wood is bossa nova made of? The answer is given by Christianne Legrand, daughter of Raymond the conductor, and sister to Michel the composer: "With me, with jà" - jà means "immediately" in Portuguese. In 1972, the singer, an expert in vocal jazz and a member of the Double Six, published Le Brésil de Christianne Legrand. Two songs included on the Tchic Tchic compilation that demonstrate how bossa, jazz, funk, rock, etc. work like a swiss army knife: the music is used to denounce broken systems, or miracles, HLM et ciné roman, Cent mille poissons dans ton filet, two songs from the O Cafona soundtrack, a successful telenovela broadcast, at the time in black and white, on TV Globo. The first was adapted in French by the fighter and friend of the Legrand tribe, Agnès Varda. The second is content with a play on words, jostling them into a summer fun.



Véronique Mortaigne

The origins of Body System date back around 35 years. Dissatisfied with previous experiences, the project was conceived as a meeting point between Sheffield and Detroit techno and German and Belgian body music. At the time, it never fully developed and remained largely an idea, with only a few sketches recorded on DAT. More than three decades later, that original concept has been revived. Following an invitation to contribute the track In Your Mind to the soundtrack of Electronic Body Movie, directed by Pietro Anton, the project was reopened and reworked, taking shape in the present while remaining rooted in its initial vision. These five tracks reflect an awareness of both past and contemporary electronic music, filtered through an undiminished experimental approach and a conscious refusal to adhere to stylistic conventions or predefined genres. Presented in ONE-OFF truly limited edition of 300 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid BLACK vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered and mastered for vinyl by Daniel Hallhuber at Young and Cold Studios (Germany).

Papooz & Friends ! is a collaborative album where French duo Papooz gather a constellation of kindred artists, including Molly Lewis, Erlend Øye (Kings of Convenience / Whitest Boy Alive), Arto Lindsay, Oracle Sisters, Sacha Got (La Femme), Zé Ibarra and Hugo Hamlet, to create original songs born from true artistic encounters.



Blending elegant indie pop, modern folk and sun-soaked experimentation, the project unfolds as a collective musical journey celebrating friendship and creative dialogue.

Joe Bataan's Ghetto Records released Joe Acosta's "The Power of Love" LP in 1971. It is now beloved among both salsa dura fans for the tough uptempo numbers and with the lowrider "souldies" crowd for its sweet and slow Latin soul track 'I Need Her.' There are a number of funky mid-tempo son montunos, as well as three super hard guaguancos enough variety to make for a solid dancing-and listening experience. Reissued once again thanks to our collaboration with Now-Again Records. Our release includes an insert with liner notes.

Ghetto Records was Latin music legend Joe Bataan’s way to get over on The Man and out of the ’hood, a bold move by an artist looking for independence and creative control in an industry that had exploited his talents and treated him like chattel.



As Bataan puts it today, “Ghetto Records was part of my journey, a stepping stone to everything else that I’ve done. I learned enough that it enabled me to get out of the box with my thinking, it showed me how to deal with adversity.” Like many dreams and schemes born of the street, this one was audacious, perhaps even reckless to a fault.

Hatched from desperation yet full of hope Ghetto Records came crashing down shortly after its inception. The seven albums in its discography languished out of print - until now.

Roberto Zanetti, better known as Savage or Robyx, is without a doubt a fully realized artist. When he stepped into the world of dance electronics in 1983, success came instantly. Not only across Italy, but far beyond its borders. Alongside his own chart-defining run as Savage, Zanetti was simultaneously shaping the scene from behind the desk, developing talent and refining a signature sound that would define an era. By the late ’80s, Robyx was already an established powerhouse producer. Around that time, he wrote three tunes for Maurizio Felici, performing under the alias Wilson Ferguson. These tracks carried all the hallmarks of Zanetti’s late-’80s aesthetic: lush melodies, smooth, flowing arrangements and high-energy grooves built for the dancefloor. In Europe, where house music was rapidly taking over, this sound faced tougher competition, but in Japan, where Eurobeat was exploding into the mainstream, these productions were untouchable. Felici’s rich, throaty vocal delivery gave the tracks an unmistakable emotional weight and identity.

Responding to long-standing requests from fans, Vintage Pleasure Boutique now revisits the most melancholic and emotionally charged of these three recordings: “I’m Singing Again”, a bittersweet tale of lost love told through the language of Italo disco. It’s a perfect fusion of Savage’s late-’80s sonic elegance and a truly distinctive vocal performance.

For this new release, the story is pushed one step further with a fresh remix, slightly faster in BPM and clearly nodding to Robyx’s classic Eurobeat instincts, a version built to move bodies while keeping the original’s emotional core intact.

Kelly Green Vinyl, limited to 350 copies. 'Beyond The Beyond' is the highly anticipated tenth studio album from inter-dimensional space travelling explorers The Cosmic Dead, the album takes listeners on a four track expedition into the deepest cosmos of the band. Recorded at Dystopia Recording Studio in Glasgow, 'Beyond The Beyond' features the riff rolling rhythm section of Tommy Duffin on drums and Omar Aborida on bass guitar alongside soaring fiddle acrobatics from Calum Calderwood and electronic textural bleeps and bloops from Luigi Pasquini on synthesizers, all wah laden and with phasers set to destroy - Turn on, tune in and immerse yourself in the sound of The Cosmic Dead.

LIMITED TO 350 COPIES! 2 x 12" Gold Vinyl w/ Gold Foil Embossed Cover, shrink wrapped.

‘Elevation’ is album eleven from High Focus Records founder and 1/4 of The Four Owls Fliptrix.

The latest instalment in a formidable run sees the lyricist further his vision of the world in the hope of elevating the collective mind and spirit of both artist and listener across 19-tracks.

Having worked with Forest DLG in some capacity across all of his records over the past fifteen years, from mixing and mastering, but also collaborating on multiple tracks as rapper / producer, it is surprising that it took so long for the pair to come together on a full-length collaborative project.

‘Elevation’ is that record.

Fliptrix reached out to Forest with a view to creating something completely different from his previous boom bap heavy outing ‘Dragonfly’, he is always looking to advance his craft and take things higher, and after Forest responded with a pack of 70+ instrumentals the direction of travel became crystal clear. The result is an album designed to lift the listener into a higher state of consciousness and trigger conversations about the state of the world, in the hope of enacting positive change during tumultuous times.

Fliptrix’s vision and Forest DLG’s style feel perfectly aligned. The album is truly collaborative; Forest going away and creating the artwork inspired by Fliptrix’s otherworldly experiences with the Shipibo tribe in the rainforests of Peru; from the single covers, to the album cover and merchandise as Fliptrix focussed on writing.

Having worked with all the greats in the UK hip hop scene, Fliptrix actively sought out new energies on ‘Elevation’, especially when it comes to the album features. Jungle forefather General Levy on lead single ‘ENERGY! ENERGY! ENERGY!’ Grime legend Frisco on ‘Visionaries’, Ayah Marar on ‘Transform’, Da Flyy Hooligan, Kamakaze, Coops, and a 19-strong HF posse cut in the shape of ‘Dangerous’ make this album a must-listen for anyone looking to elevate.

BRA (Big Room Ambient) is a new label dedicated to ambient and experimental sound, a space for open sonic exploration where electronics and distant musical traditions converge to create evolving soundscapes.

The label’s first release is Harmograph by Matteo Scaioli, a hypnotic and deeply organic work shaped by self-built synthesizers, experimental electronics and masterfully performed tablas. The album, with a run time over 35 minutes, unfolds as a fluid sonic journey, where rhythm and texture interact in a subtle balance between structure and improvisation.

With Harmograph, BRA begins its catalogue by looking toward unexplored territories of contemporary sound.

Welcome ALL to another amazing modern soul release by Louise Marshall & Geoff Gascoyne – after the hits soul release from last year “Happy on my own” & Stop look and Listen” both these tracks had lots of radio spread around the world.

Two superb vibes A side - “And I was like….” a mid-tempo eyeworm soul vibe with a funky cheeky message with its. On the double AA side is the uplifting “Where’s the Party?” this has a strong dance groove and feel, superb top like vocals which you just can’t help to sing along

Free As You Wanna Be", the first album by drummer Bubbha Thomas and his band The Lightmen, predates the deep-set, maverick jazz issued by the likes of Tribe and Strata East: This album is a harbinger of the collective voice of resistance to the musical and cultural status quo that emerged in the 1970s jazz underground. Drummer, bandleader and activist Bubbha Thomas had toured America with R&B revues, served as a session musician for peacock and back beat records, and played straight ahead jazz with legends before the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s led him to a path first charted by Coltrane. Most of the tracks remain strongly groove-based with a clear sense of cohesion, but a few of the performances push further out than you might expect from later Lightmen releases, revealing the band's deep roots in avant-jazz. This lineup includes a very young Ronnie Laws sounding noticeably removed from the jazz-fusion style he'd adopt in the late '70s. Alongside Thomas on drums, the ensemble is rounded out by Doug Harris on tenor sax, Carl Adams on trumpet, Kenny Abair on guitar, and Joe Singleton on trombone.

Dirty Dike's legendary High Focus Records debut 'Constant Dikestar' featuring classics such as 'Pork Pie', 'Hi I'm James' as well as appearances from Jam Baxter, Fliptrix, Ronnie Bosh, Edward Scissortongue, Mr Key, Leaf Dog, BVA, Stig Of The Dump and more!

Limited edition 15 year anniversary repress on colour vinyl, full colour 350gsm reverse board sleeve. 14-track LP over 1-disc. Shrink wrapped.

Silver foiling on the '15 Year Anniversary' text on front of sleeve.

Album comes with digital download upon purchase.

“Black Jacket” is a love letter between two bands separated by continents but united by mutual admiration. Contriva, of Berlin, and Chessie of Washington, DC, first came together in 2001 when sharing a stage, sparking a deep connection over their respective takes on textural, emotive, and mostly instrumental music that merges post-rock, ambient, and experimental elements into unique visions. Fast forward two decades and many trips to their respective studios and we now have “Black Jacket”, a double LP of musical alchemy that builds upon the expressionistic, idiosyncratic sounds of these two groups. A new classic that proves far greater than the sum of its parts.

Begun in the mid 1990's, Washington DC's Chessie is Stephen Gardner (also of noisy shoegaze pioneers, Lorelei) and Ben Bailes, whose various LP's for Slumberland's Dropbeat imprint and Plug Research pair abstract electronics and melancholy post-rock in search of the sounds and feelings of railways and train travel.

Berlin's Contriva, (Monika Enterprises, Lok Musik, and Morr Music) features Masha Qrella (known for her solo works for Morr Music), Max Punktezahl (also of Munich indie legends the Notwist and Berlin's Jersey and Saroos), Hannes Lehmann and Rike Schuberty. For over a decade beginning in the mid-1990's, Contriva crafted compelling instrumentals, grafting experimental textures onto beautiful and complex indie songs.

Together, the six of them have created “Black Jacket.”

The Four Owls debut album ’Nature’s Greatest Mystery’ returns on 2x12” Black and Yellow Galaxy Repress across 500 copies (never to be repressed in this colourway).

Celebrating FIFTEEN YEARS since the original release (and with rumours of a new album in the works) ’Nature’s Greatest Mystery’ Black and Yellow Galaxy Repress is a critically acclaimed UKHH classic!

The Four Owls are Big Owl (Fliptrix), Rusty Take-Off (BVA), Bird T (Verb T) and Deformed Wing (Leaf Dog) who also handles all of the production.

’Nature’s Greatest Mystery' features guest appearances from Q-Unique (Arsonists), Dirty Dike and Jam Baxter. A critically acclaimed modern day UKHH classic!

Limited edition pressing of 500 copies.

Black and yellow galaxy vinyl, full colour 350gsm reverse board gatefold sleeve. 14-track album. Shrink wrapped.

Twenty Years Ago, Jan Jelinek's Debut Album Personal Rockwas Released By Source Records. Under The Pseudonym Gramm, It Brings Togethereight Tracks That Have Not Been Available On Vinyl Since Their Original Release.faitiche Is Very Glad To Announce The Re-release Of The Album: Personal Rockwill Appear As A Double Lp Featuring The Original Cover Artwork. What People Wrote About Personal Rock Two Decades Ago: "situated Somewhere Between Jelinek's Much Loved Loop-findingjazz Records, Farben, Move D's Conjoint Project And Atom Heart's Most Immersivework For Rather Interesting, It's A Late Night Album Full Of Subtle Productiontricks And Melodic House Structures That Belong To The Pre-millennial Idmheyday, But Which Transcend Its Overly-masculine Templates." (boomkat) "a Serene Little Masterpiece" (de:bug) "though Many Producers Have Pushed Forward Theclicks-and-cuts Style Of Experimental Ambience Developed By Germanexperimentalists Oval (among Others), Few Have Been Able To Matchtheir Knack For Making Abstract Cuts Into Pieces Of Undeniable Beauty. Janjelinek's First Lp As Gramm Is One Of The Precious Few, And It'sobvious From The Opener." (allmusic) "organized In Organic Structures And Minimal Movements, Thetracks Get Into Utopian States And Super-desirable Moods, Offering Superiorcontentedness And Dependable Taste Of The Kind Seldom Sustained For A Wholealbum. (...) Subway-escalator-soul." (spex)

Just before dropping the 3rd chapter in his "Threesome" series, Hus Kingpin surprises us with a brand new EP on which he gets out of his comfort zone, rapping on some chill hop beats provided by Wun Two and Made In M, once again proving the versatile and creative MC he's always been! Hand-Numbered pressing limited to 350 copies.

Mit ihrem Debütalbum "Luiza" präsentiert die französisch-brasilianische Sängerin eine faszinierende Mischung aus World, Pop, Electronica und organischen Grooves. Aufgewachsen zwischen Jazz, Tanz, Amazonas-Reisen und Dub-Partys auf La Réunion, formt Luiza aus all diesen Einflüssen einen eigenen, sofort wiedererkennbaren Sound. Ihre Stimme nutzt sie wie ein Instrument - warm, flexibel und voller Emotion, oft mehrsprachig und manchmal sogar in ihrer eigenen Fantasiesprache. Ihr viraler Durchbruch gelang 2025 mit "Soleil bleu", einem Song, auf den sich überraschend Jugend- und Adult-Radiostationen gleichermaßen einigen konnten. Auch in Deutschland wurde der Titel zum erfolgreichsten französischsprachigen Radiosong des Jahres. Das Album "Luiza" knüpft an diesen Erfolg an: ein sonniges, energetisches Werk, das Natur, Freiheit und Lebenslust miteinander verbindet. Zwischen brasilianischen Klassikern wie "Manha de Carnaval", kraftvollen Hymnen wie "Étincelles" und internationalen Kollaborationen entsteht ein vibrierendes Klangbild, das Grenzen aufhebt und pure Lebensfreude transportiert. Luiza zeigt auf ihrem Debüt, wie moderne Global Pop Music klingen kann: farbenreich, mutig, intuitiv und voller Herz. Ein Album, das berührt - und das die außergewöhnliche Persönlichkeit dieser Künstlerin in jeder Sekunde spürbar macht.

Following the strong reception of their second album, Totem of Quiet Mystic (2023) Jiyu have earned praises from outlets such as Jazzwise, Enlace Funk and The Chillout Tent, as well as support from a wide range of iconic DJs including Patrick Forge & Chris Coco. The singles to this new album, Cumulus & the Subterranean, Smell of Fire and Deep Woods, have immediately been embraced—drawing glowing reactions and airplay from dj's like, Phil Cooper, Dj Vadim, Fred Everything, David Patterson, Jon Kennedy and Curtis Colin

On this third album from Jiyu, the Copenhagen band stretch their cosmic–spiritual jazz language into deeper, wilder terrain. Dropping April 10th on vinyl and digital via Dubsoul Records, the record captures six musicians in full telepathic flight, recorded at 12 Ton Studio in Copenhagen. Across eight tracks, elastic basslines, jazz-dub-soul—tinted drums and percussion, Wurlitzer and jazz-guitar glow and flute-swept atmospheres drift between grounded groove and open-sky improvisation, while guest vocalist Mai Lan Doky adds dreamlike textures on Cumulus & the Subterranean. From the shuffled broken-beat pulse of Smell of Fire to the slow-burn haze of Deep Woods, the Wild Things album is a rich analogue-soul excursion—earthy, exploratory and tuned to the outer frequencies.

Zuukou Mayzie, rapper and member of the 667 collective, continues to push his "Wok Music" — a free universe where everything blends together without limits.



The most love-driven and experimental artist of 667, returns after three years of absence with “19h19”, his 4th album, made up of 20 bold tracks filled with risk-taking. By taking the time to live and feed his experiences, Zuukou delivers a personal and positive project designed to share a sincere energy.



Featurings: Baaba Maal Bleue Electrique Freeze Corleone Jolagreen23 Oxmo Puccino Roi Heenok So La Lune Surkin Wit. Yamê

Written in 1971 and read here by the author himself "Through the Billboard Promised Land Without Ever Stopping" is Derek Jarman's only known work of narrative fiction. Providing a prelude to some of the imagery Derek Jarman would use later in his career, particularly the alchemical dreamscapes in the film "Blue", it is a surreal, hallucinatory fairytale, signposted with elements of modernity, that has much of the mythic and archetypal about it. With tantalising autobiographical details and a panoply of chromatic landscapes and psychosexual symbols, this richly poetic story details a journey with no destination or purpose across a mythical America, undertaken by the young blind King Amethyst and his valet John. Previously only ever released on cassette (2022, Prototype Publishing, Ltd 80), this vinyl edition features facsimile images of the story's handwritten drafts from Jarman's archive and photos by the artist Michael Ginsborg, a close friend of Jarman's throughout the period of the story's writing. Licensed from House Sparrow Press / Prototype Publishing, and The Estate of Derek Jarman.
• Ltd x 500 copies on heavyweight 180gm black vinyl in gloss sleeve.

UILTY RAZORS, BONA FIDE PUNKS.



Writings on the topic that go off in all directions, mind-numbing lectures given by academics, and testimonies, most of them heavily doctored, from those who “lived through that era”: so many people today fantasize about the early days of punk in our country… This blessed moment when no one had yet thought of flaunting a ridiculous green mohawk, taking Sid Vicious as a hero, or – even worse – making the so-called alternative scene both festive and boorish. There was no such thing in 1976 or 1977, when it wasn’t easy to get hold of the first 45s by the Pistols or the Clash. Few people were aware of what was happening on the fringes of the fringes at the time. Malcolm McLaren was virtually unknown, and having short hair made you seem strange. Who knew then that rock music, which had taken a very bad turn since the early 1970s, would once again become an essential element of liberation? That, thanks to short and fast songs, it would once again rediscover that primitive, social side that was so hated by older generations? Who knew that, besides a few loners who read the music press (it was even better if they read it in English) and frequented the right record stores? Many of these formed bands, because it was impossible to do otherwise. We quickly went from listening to the Velvet Underground to trying to play the Stooges’ intros. It’s a somewhat collective story, even though there weren’t many people to start it.
The Guilty Razors were among those who took part in this initial upheaval in Paris. They were far from being the worst. They had something special and even released a single that was well above the national average. They also had enough songs to fill an album, the one you’re holding. In everyone’s opinion, they were definitely not among the punk impostors that followed in their wake. They were, at least, genuine and credible.

Guilty Razors, Parisian punk band (1975-1978). To understand something about their somewhat linear but very energetic sound, we might need to talk about the context in which it was born and, more broadly, recall the boredom (a theme that would become capital in punk songs) coupled with the desire to blow everything off, which were the basis for the formation of bands playing a rejuvenated rock music ; about the passion for a few records by the Kinks or the early Who, by the Stooges, by the Velvet mostly, which set you apart from the crowd.
And of course, we should remember this new wave, which was promoted by a few articles in the specialized press and some cutting-edge record stores, coming from New York or London, whose small but powerful influence could be felt in Paris and in a handful of isolated places in the provinces, lulled to sleep by so many appalling things, from Tangerine Dream to President Giscard d’Estaing...
In 1975-76, French music was, as almost always, in a sorry state ; it was still dominated by Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan. Local rock music was also rather bleak, apart from Bijou and Little Bob who tried to revive this small scene with poorly sound-engineered gigs played to almost no one.
In the working class suburbs at the time, it was mainly hard rock music played to 11 that helped people forget about their gruelling shifts at the factory. Here and there, on the outskirts of major cities, you still could find a few rockers with sideburns wearing black armbands since the death of Gene Vincent, but it wasn’t a proper mass movement, just a source of real danger to anyone they came across who wasn't like them. In August 1976, a festival unlike any other took place in Mont-de-Marsan – the First European Punk Festival as the poster said – with almost as many people on stage as in the audience. Yet, on that day, a quasi historical event happened, when, under the blazing afternoon sun, a band of unknowns called The Damned made an unprecedented noise in the arena, reminiscent of the chaotic Stooges in their early adolescence. They were the first genuine punk band to perform in our country: from then on, anything was possible, almost anything seemed permissible.

It makes sense that the four+1 members of Guilty Razors, who initially amplified acoustic guitars with crappy tape recorder microphones, would adopt punk music (pronounced paink in French) naturally and instinctively, since it combines liberating noise with speed of execution and – crucially – a very healthy sense of rebellion (the protesters of May 1968 proclaimed, and it was even a slogan, that they weren’t against old people, but against what had made them grow old. In the mid-1970s, it seemed normal and obvious that old people should now ALSO be targeted!!!).
At the time, the desire to fight back, and break down authority and apathy, was either red or black, often taking the form of leafleting, tumultuous general assemblies in the schoolyard, and massive or shabby demonstrations, most of the time overflowing with an exciting vitality that sometimes turned into fights with the riot police. Indeed, soon after the end of the Vietnam War and following Pinochet’s coup in Chile, all over France, Trotskyist and anarcho-libertarian fervour was firmly entrenched among parts of the educated youth population, who were equally rebellious and troublemakers whenever they had the chance. It should also be noted that when the single "Anarchy in the UK" was first heard, even though not many of us had access to it, both the title and its explosive sound immediately resonated with some of those troublemakers crying out for ANARCHY!!! Meanwhile, the left-wing majority still equated punks with reckless young neo-Nazis. Of course, the widely circulated photos in the mainstream press of Siouxsie Sioux with her swastikas didn’t necessarily help to win over the theorists of the Great Revolution. It took Joe Strummer to introduce The Clash as an anti-racist, anti-fascist and anti-ignorance band for the rejection of old-school revolutionaries to fade a little.

The Lycée Jean-Baptiste Say at Porte d’Auteuil, despite being located in the very posh and very exclusive 16th arrondissement of Paris, didn’t escape these "committed" upheavals, which doubled as the perfect outlet for the less timid members of this generation.
“Back then, politics were fun,” says Tristam Nada, who studied there and went on to become Guilty Razors’ frontman. “Jean-Baptiste was the leftist high-school in the neighbourhood. When the far right guys from the GUD came down there, the Communist League guys from elsewhere helped us fight them off.”
Anything that could challenge authority was fair game and of course, strikes for just about any reason would lead to increasingly frequent truancy (with a definitive farewell to education that would soon follow). Tristam Nada spent his 10th and 11th unfinished grades with José Perez, who had come from Spain, where his father, a janitor, had been sentenced to death by Franco. “José steered my tastes towards solid acts such as The Who. Like most teenagers, I had previously absorbed just about everything that came my way, from Yes to Led Zeppelin to Genesis. I was exploring… And then one day, he told me that he and his brother Carlos wanted to start a rock band.” The Perez brothers already played guitar. “Of course, they were Spanish!”, jokes their singer. “Then, somewhat reluctantly, José took up the bass and we were soon joined by Jano – who called himself Jano Homicid – who took up the rhythm guitar.” Several drummers would later join this core of not easily intimidated young guys who didn’t let adversity get the better of them.

The first rehearsals of the newly named Guilty Razors took place in the bedroom of a Perez aunt. There, the three rookies tried to cover a few standards, songs that often were an integral part of their lives. During a first, short gig, in front of a bewildered audience of tough old-school rockers, they launched into a clunky version of the Velvet Underground's “Heroin”. Challenge or recklessness? A bit of both, probably… And then, step by step, their limited repertoire expanded as they decided to write their own songs, sung in a not always very accurate or academic English, but who cared about proper grammar or the right vocabulary, since what truly mattered was to make the words sound as good as possible while playing very, very fast music? And spitting out those words in a language that left no doubt as to what it conveyed mattered as well.
Trying their hand a the kind of rock music disliked by most of the neighbourhood, making noise, being fiercely provocative: they still belonged to a tiny clique who, at this very moment, had chosen to impose this difference. And there were very few places in France or elsewhere, where one could witness the first stirrings of something that wasn’t a trend yet, let alone a movement.

In the provinces, in late 1976 or early 1977, there couldn’t be more than thirty record stores that were a bit more discerning than average, where you could hear this new kind of short-haired rock music called “punk”. The old clientele, who previously had no problem coming in to buy the latest McCartney or Aerosmith LP, now felt a little less comfortable there…
In Paris, these enlightened places were quite rare and often located nex to what would become the Forum des Halles, a big shopping mall. Between three aging sex workers, a couple of second-hand clothes shops, sellers of hippie paraphernalia and small fashion designers, the good word was loudly spread in two pioneering places – propagators of what was still only a new underground movement. Historically, the first one was the Open Market, a kind of poorly, but tastefully stocked cave. Speakers blasted out the sound of sixties garage bands from the Nuggets compilation (a crucial reference for José Perez) or the badly dressed English kids of Eddie and the Hot Rods. This black-painted den was opened a few years earlier by Marc Zermati, a character who wasn’t always in a sunny disposition, but always quite radical in his (good) choices and his opinions. He founded the independent label Skydog and was one of the promoters of the Mont-de-Marsan punk festivals. Not far from there was Harry Cover, another store more in tune with the new New York scene, which was amply covered in the house fanzine, Rock News (even though it was in it that the photos of the Sex Pistols were first published in France).
It was a favorite hang-out of the Perez brothers and Tristam Nada, as the latter explained. “It’s at Harry Cover’s that we first heard the Pistols and Clash’s 45s, and after that, we decided to start writing our first songs. If they could do it, so could we!”
The sonic shocks that were “Anarchy in the UK”, “White Riot” or the Buzzcocks’s EP, “Spiral Scratch” – which Guilty Razors' sound is reminiscent of – were soon to be amplified by an unparalleled visual shock. In April 1977, right after the release of their first LP, The Clash performed at the Palais des Glaces in Paris, during a punk night organised by Marc Zermati. For many who were there, it was the gig of a lifetime…
Of course, Guilty Razors and Tristam were in the audience: “That concert was fabulous… We Parisian punks were almost all dressed in black and white, with white shirts, skinny leather ties, bikers jackets or light jackets, etc. The Clash, on the other hand, wore colourful clothes. Well, the next day, at the Gibus, you’d spot everyone who had been at this concert, but they weren’t wearing anything black, they were all wearing colours.”

It makes sense to mention the Gibus club, as Guilty Razors often played there (sometimes in front of a hostile audience). It was also the only place in Paris that regularly scheduled new Parisian or Anglo-Saxon acts, such as Generation X, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Slits, and Johnny Thunders who would become a kind of messed-up mascot for the venue. A little later, in 1978, the Rose Bonbon – formerly the Nashville – also attracted nightly owls in search of electric thrills… In 1977, the iconic but not necessarily excellent Asphalt Jungle often played at the Gibus, sometimes sharing the bill with Metal Urbain, the only band whose aura would later transcend the French borders (“I saw them as the French Sex Pistols,” said Geoff Travis, head of their British label Rough Trade). Already established in this small scene, Metal Urbain helped the young and restless Guilty Razors who had just arrived. Guitarist for Metal Urbain Hermann Schwartz remembers it: “They were younger than us, we were a bit like their mentors even if it’s too strong a word… At least they were credible. We thought they were good, and they had good songs which reminded of the Buzzcocks that I liked a lot. But at some point, they started hanging out with the Hells Angels. That’s when we stopped following them.”

The break-up was mutual, since, Guilty Razors, for their part, were shocked when they saw a fringe element of the audience at Metal Urbain concerts who repeatedly shouted “Sieg Heil” and gave Nazi salutes. These provocations, even still minor (the bulk of the skinhead crowd would later make their presence felt during concerts), weren’t really to the liking of the Perez brothers, whose anti-fascist convictions were firmly rooted. Some things are non-negotiable.
A few months earlier (in July 1978), Guilty Razors had nevertheless opened very successfully for Metal Urbain at the Bus Palladium, a more traditonally old-school rock night-club. But, as was sometimes the case back then, the night turned into a mass brawl when suburban rockers came to “beat up punks”.

Back then, Parisian nights weren’t always sweet and serene.

So, after opening as best as they could for The Jam (their sound having been ruined by the PA system), our local heroes were – once again – met outside by a horde of greasers out to get them. “Thankfully,” says Tristam, “we were with our roadies, motorless bikers who acted as a protective barrier. We were chased in the neighbouring streets and the whole thing ended in front of a bar, with the owner coming out with a rifle…”
Although Tristam and the Perez brothers narrowly escaped various, potentially bloody, incidents, they weren’t completely innocent of wrongdoing either. They still find amusing their mugging of two strangers in the street for example (“We were broke and we simply wanted to buy tickets for the Heartbreakers concert that night,” says Tristam). It so happened that their victims were two key figures in the rock business at the time: radio presenter Alain Manneval and music publisher Philippe Constantin. They filed a complaint and sought monetary compensation, but somehow the band’s manager, the skilful but very controversial Alexis, managed to get the complaint withdrawn and Guilty Razors ended up signing with Constantin with a substantial advance.

They also signed with Polydor and the label released in 1978 their only three-track 45, featuring “I Don't Wanna be A Rich”, “Hurts and Noises” and “Provocate” (songs that exuded perpetual rebellion and an unquenchable desire for “class” confrontation). It was a very good record, but due to a lack of promotion (radio stations didn’t play French artists singing in English), it didn’t sell very well. Only 800 copies were allegedly sold and the rest of the stock was pulped… Initially, the three tracks were to be included on a LP that never came to be, since they were dropped by Polydor (“Let’s say we sometimes caused a ruckus in their offices!” laughs Tristam.) In order to perfect the long-awaited LP, the band recorded demos of other tracks. There was a cover of Pink Floyd's “Lucifer Sam” from the Syd Barrett era – proof of an enduring love for the sixties’ greats –, “Wake Up” a hangover tale and “Bad Heart” about the Baader-Meinhof gang, whose actions had a profound impact on the era and on a generation seeking extreme dissent... On the album you’re now discovering, you can also hear five previously unreleased tracks recorded a bit later during an extended and freezing stay in Madrid, in a makeshift studio with the invaluable help of a drummer also acting as sound engineer. He was both an enthusiastic old hippie and a proper whizz at sound engineering. Here too, certain influences from the fifties and sixties (Link Wray, the Troggs) are more than obvious in the band’s music.

Shortly after a final stormy and rather barbaric (on the audience’s side) “Punk night” at the Olympia in June 1978, Tristam left the band ; his bandmates continued without him for a short while.

But like most pioneering punk bands of the era, Guilty Razors eventually split up for good after three years (besides once in Spain, they’d only played in Paris). The reason for ceasing business activities were more or less the same for everyone: there were no venues outside one’s small circuit to play this kind of rock music, which was still frightening, unknown, or of little interest to most people. The chances of recording an LP were virtually null, since major labels were only signing unoriginal but reassuring sub-Téléphone clones, and the smaller ones were only interested in progressive rock or French chanson for youth clubs. And what about self-production? No one in our small safety-pinned world had thought about it yet. There wasn’t enough money to embark on that sort of venture anyway.

So yes, the early days of punk in France were truly No Future!

To mark the 25th anniversary of its release, Doubts and Convictions by Troublemakers is officially reissued, more than twenty years after its original release in 2001.


Never reissued until now, this emblematic French Touch album—originally signed in Chicago, USA—captures a moment when French electronic music opened up to jazz, soul and transatlantic grooves.


A cult record whose sound remains timeless.

As Nathan Fake rises from the nocturnal subterranea and rave catharsis of his previous records, on Evaporator, he resurfaces into the domain of daylight, bringing a tangible sense of air rushing against your face, of big skies, and endless landscapes.

The idea of pop accessibility that trickled into 2023’s Crystal Vision is refracted here through the prism of sweeping ambient, deep electronica, and trance uplift. Evaporator is Fake’s idea of “airy daytime music”, with each track a different barometer reading across the album’s varying atmospheres, which range from vibrant sunbursts, bracing rainscapes, and fine mists of clement melodics. “It’s not overtly confrontational electronic club music,” states Fake. “It’s quite pleasant, it’s accessible. As I was progressing through making the tracklist, I called it a daytime album. It doesn’t feel like an afterparty album.” For the past decade Fake has been gingerly introducing collaborations with heroes and friends alike into his lone, idiosyncratic working process.

Border Community alumni Dextro AKA Ewan Mackenzie transmutes his ferocious drumming for Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs into the blurred choral thump of ‘Baltasound’. ‘Orbiting Meadows’, meanwhile, is his second collaboration with Clark, an eerily idyllic duet where microtonal 18EDO piano clangs slowly twirl around wailing pads. Evaporator marks the junction point of old technology and ever fresh creativity for Nathan. The trusty “dinosaur” age software, particularly Cubase VST5, that has powered two decades of music is rarely updated. “I used to sort of feel a bit ashamed of using such old software, and then I kind of had an epiphany – that’s just how I work”, comments Fake. “That’s just how I play. I’m very fond of these old tools, and I get the most joy out of them, but now I’ve incorporated new technology too.” When an artist accumulates so much synergy with their instrument, music making becomes instinctual. By Fake’s account, much of Evaporator just fell into place. The album title arrived randomly in his head (“it felt completely perfect. Airy.”), ideas looped and developed until things locked into place and just felt right. ‘The Ice House’ is a fleeting glimpse of the sonic world he taps into in this creative state, its glassy FM synths built around a counterpoint between rough-hewn crystalline arpeggios and sparse yet gravitas-bearing bass. “That riff I just wrote out on the keyboard, I just played it forever and ever and ever.

The original track ended up being really short. Here you go, and it’s gone!” These unplanned channellings of sound call forth records from Fake’s past while he looks ahead, perhaps getting at the very essence of his musicianship. The opener ‘Aiwa’ (“the breeziest,” he muses) reminds of the introspection that characterised Providence, excited by the fire and grit of Steam Days’ textural experiments, its chunky slams and clatters surging into a flood of harmonic buzzing as they reach out for old wisdom. ‘Hypercube’ stampedes in a similar chronological confluence, infusing an incessant synth line reminiscent of the golden age of rave with the crackling, ecstatic energy of modern festival anthems. Like the vaporisation of liquid to particles, everything that Evaporator presents has a mutant desire to be amorphous. Sounds rarely settle; the irradiated garage beat of ‘Bialystok’ is pitched downwards to driving, rebounding effect, while ‘You’ll Find a Way’ warps static into shivering energy, cinematic synth strings building anticipation into a gradual gush of chords. This translates into a more expansive stereo field than Fake has explored before.


‘Slow Yamaha’ saves the wildest, most kinetic transformations for last with a cornucopia of crispy melodies and fried drums; a sibilance of cymbals on the left, a susurrus of shakers on the right, and kaleidoscopic lasers pulsing and fizzing all around. Evaporation culminating in pure excited atoms.

To celebrate over ten years of groove and sonic elegance, Roche Musique presents its “BEST OF” compilation, available exclusively on vinyl. A handpicked selection of 20 essential tracks tracing the label’s DNA — a refined blend of modern soul, nuanced electronics, and timeless groove.



Featuring the label’s cornerstone artists — FKJ, Darius, Kartell, Zimmer, Cezaire, Crayon, Dabeull, Lossapardo — alongside acclaimed collaborators such as Reva De Vito, Darianna Everett, Ayelle, Leven Kali, Panama, Chester Watson, Sølv, and more. From “Vibin’ Out” to “Espoir”, through “Wildflowers” and “I Can’t Stop”, this compilation captures the very essence of Roche’s sound: warm, heartfelt, and endlessly groovy. A pure analog listening experience designed for true music lovers and vinyl collectors — every groove telling the story of a decade of passion and sound.

2025 Reissue.



Münchenbuchsee, a suburb of Bern, Switzerland. Stephan Eicher is the youngest of three children. His father, a radio and TV repairman, is also a jazz violinist and a sound tinkerer in his spare time. In the family home's converted fallout shelter turned studio, Mr. Eicher experiments with homemade sequencers, tortures handcrafted drum machines, and abuses reel-to-reel tape recorders—all under the fascinated gaze of young Stephan.

The boy quickly develops a musical curiosity, exploring sound through various experiments and wanderings. Alongside his younger brother Martin, Stephan crafts audio plays on a homemade multi-track recorder (essentially several cassette decks hooked together!), which they write, record, add sound effects to, and perform for family and friends. Just a couple of nice kids, really...

Then comes 1972, and Lou Reed's Transformer album changes everything for the Eicher kids. For 13-year-old Stephan, it's a revelation—especially "Vicious", the opening track, which he plays on repeat for months. He convinces his father to buy him an electric guitar. Not stopping there, his father also builds him a tube amp using an old radio.

Then comes adolescence. A rough one. Stephan leaves home at 16 and moves to Zurich. With obvious artistic talent, he persuades his art teacher to help him get into F+F, a radical, alternative art school—despite his young age. Accepted, he starts learning video techniques, determined to become a filmmaker.

At F+F, Stephan organizes Dada-style happenings and concerts with a group of friends known as the Noise Boys. Among them: one of his teachers on bass, Veit Stauffer on drums (who would later found ReR/Recommended Records), his girlfriend Sacha on vocals, and Stephan on guitar. In one of their early performances, they release a remote-controlled mouse covered in dull razor blades into the audience to create panic and chaos. Keeping with this aggressive, confrontational spirit, they once played a concert while wearing headphones blasting Tristan and Isolde, trying to perform their own songs simultaneously—to maximize the cacophony. The goal was always the same: clear the room.

Their “songs,” if you can call them that, followed suit. Take "Hungeriges Afrika", for instance—performed entirely with power drills and some drum feedback.

To make ends meet, Stephan returns to Bern on weekends to work as a waiter at the Spex Club, the city’s main punk venue. On September 16, 1980, during a show by proto-electro group Starter, the police raid the club and arrest everyone. Stephan, who manages to avoid arrest, seizes the opportunity to “borrow” Starter’s gear left behind. He suddenly finds himself in possession of a Roland Promars synth, a Korg MS20, and a gorgeous CR78 drum machine, which he runs through a Big Muff distortion pedal to get that perfect gritty sound.

He then sets out to reinterpret some Noise Boys tracks, reworking them during impromptu sessions recorded on a dictaphone (yes, a dictaphone—now the lo-fi sound makes more sense, doesn’t it?). He ironically titles the resulting cassette "Stephan Eicher spielt Noise Boys" ("Stephan Eicher plays Noise Boys"). This gem features seven tracks, which are the ones reissued here.

Back in Zurich, he visits his friends Andrew Moore and Robert Vogel, who have a DIY cassette duplication setup. They make 25 copies of Stephan Eicher spielt Noise Boys for Stephan and his friends. Robert encourages him to visit Urs Steiger of Off Course Records and play him the tape.

Without much hope, Stephan shows up at Urs’s office. But Urs is instantly hooked and suggests releasing a 7” single. Due to space constraints, they reluctantly drop two of the seven tracks ("Hungeriges Afrika" and "One Second"). As for the musical score featured on the cover—it was randomly chosen and remains a mystery to this day. Calling all music theory nerds!

The 7-inch is pressed in 750 copies and released in the first week of December 1980—a date Stephan remembers well, as it’s the same week John Lennon was killed. Smartly, Urs sends a promo copy to François Murner, Switzerland’s answer to John Peel, who hosts a show on alternative station Sounds. Murner falls in love with the record and starts giving it airtime. To Stephan’s surprise, sales follow—and people actually seem interested in his music.

Even this modest underground success scares Stephan a bit. He stops making music for a year and moves to Bologna, where he works as a programmer at Radio Città, a feminist radio station.

Meanwhile, Stephan’s younger brother Martin, who’s also involved in the punk scene, joins the band Glueams as a singer and guitarist. Glueams, named after the fanzine run by two of its members (drummer Marco Repetto and bassist GT), eventually rebrands as Grauzone. Stephan is invited to their shows to project hacked Super 8 visuals live on stage.

Urs Steiger, now working on a compilation titled Swiss Wave – The Album, asks Grauzone to contribute alongside bands like Liliput, Jack and the Rippers, The Sick, and Ladyshave (Fall 1980).

For the album, Martin tasks Stephan with producing their recording sessions. Under Stephan's artistic direction, two tracks emerge: "Raum" and "Eisbär". During "Eisbär", Martin plays a minimalist bass line borrowed from post-punk band The Feelies (just an open string). Drummer Marco Repetto struggles to keep time. Later that evening, unhappy with the takes, Stephan builds a four-bar drum loop from a ¼-inch tape and uses it instead of the flawed original. He then adds bleepy synths and wind sounds to complete the track’s icy vibe before handing it over to Urs.

The Swiss Wave – The Album compilation is released quietly at first, but things snowball thanks to "Eisbär", which eventually becomes a smash hit—selling over 600,000 singles.

Meanwhile, Stephan plays in a rockabilly band called SMUV (named after Switzerland’s social security agency) and begins producing artists, including the debut album of Starter (1981), which includes a more pop-oriented version of "Minijupe".

By early 1982, Stephan starts spending time with the post-punk girl band Liliput (formerly Kleenex). They’re older than him, and he happily drives them around in his Renault Major, acting as their roadie.

By 1983, Grauzone—signed to the major label EMI, which turned out to be a misstep—is falling apart. Stephan begins to pivot toward a more mainstream pop sound with his debut solo album Les Chansons Bleues.

But that... is already another story.

A non-skip DJ scratch tool with new content on vinyl by Ritchie Ruftone.
Digital download included

VINYL - 1LP CRYSTAL CLEAR : 12 songs
" 12 songs. taking in the band's biggest global hits across a decade : 5 UK Top 10 Hits / 9 UK Top 40 hits / 2 US Billboard # 1 singles
" All versions are single versions where relevant
" From their first single 'Jonny Come Home' (1985) up to 'The Flame' (1996)
" New artwork, new liner notes, fully remastered





d A4. Funny How Love Is 3:29 rerecorded version



h B2. Don't Look Back 3:47 [7" remix]




[d] A4. Funny How Love Is 3:29 [rerecorded version]



[h] B2. Don't Look Back 3:47 [7" remix]




[d] A4. Funny How Love Is 3:29 [rerecorded version]



[h] B2. Don't Look Back 3:47 [7" remix]

With bands such as Hellhammer/Celtic Frost and Coroner, but also more obscure formations such as Fear Of God, Excruciation, and Infected, Switzerland has always been a fertile breeding ground for extreme metal. Messiah, originally formed in 1984, also played a major role in the development of thrash and death metal in Switzerland. They released two groundbreaking albums on Chainsaw Murder Records: “Hymn To Abramelin” in 1986 and “Extreme Cold Weather” a year later. In the early nineties, Messiah signed a contract with Karl Walterbach's label Noise Records, on which three more albums were released: “Choir Of Horrors” (1991), “Rotten Perish” (1992), and “Underground” (1994). The classic lineup of Messiah during the Noise era consisted of vocalist Andy Kaina, who passed away far too early in 2022, Steve Karrer on drums, Patrick Hersche on bass, and band founder Brögi on guitar. Many consider “Choir Of Horrors” from 1991, produced by Sven Conquest at Sky Trak Studios in Berlin, to be the pinnacle of Messiah's work. Messiah Infernal Thrashing Records (MITR) is now releasing the 35th anniversary edition of this classic on vinyl