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Ending a break of twelve years, The Villains Inc. returns from the past to deliver four lost tracks from the label mastermind himself! Author of a short yet remarkable discography on Dominance Electricity, Electro Empire, and Drivecom just to name, Italian don Gab.Gato takes this opportunity to revisit some of his classics by a quatuor of undisputed electro heavyweights.

UK veteran Phil Klein opens hostilities on A side with his outstanding remix of "Electro Empire". Originally released on German Electrocord back in 2003, Gab.Gato's version sees a luminous electro-funk treatment in pure Bass Junkie style. Needless to say this electro banger will hit you hard with its untouchable sub bass, oldschoolish tones, hammering drums and retrofuturistic atmosphere!

Italian techno / electro legend Max Durante, coming next, propels "The Villains Inc" cut to another dimension. Taken from the "No Light Or Shadow EP" (ATVS002 in 2008), the track mutes into a milestone of an experimental slaughter tinted with industrial sororities. Following a catchy Speak n' Spell overture, the song introduces some hot and sexy female orgasms, while a heading acid line enhanced by a straight to the point rhythm will drive you on the dancefloor.

US DJ / Producer Sinistarr on the flip goes deeper into the realm with his "Couterterrorism" rework of "A Scanner Darkly". Published on Boris Divider's Drivecom in 2007, the tune evolves into a completely fresh and transformed version. A frantic bassline carries you away on a fast inducing grimey dancefloor boogie combined with hi tones and no nonsense electro beat!

Last but not the least, Drexciyan Dj Stingray closes the EP with its groovy "313 Psycotropic mix" of "S.N.A", a tune written by Gab.Gato and Matteo Merlo in 2007 on "The Systematik Network Attack EP" (ATVS001). Stingray's mix sounds like a sonic, ethereal and thought after assault based upon cutting-edge sororities over playful vocals.

Craftily written and designed (artwork project by Gab.Gato, and illustrated by Simonloop aka Urbanmagic, in 2009 was prophetic on his own: clones programmed to reappear from the past), nasty "Reprogrammed EP" features the almighty ATVS signature we all know, a dark, magnetic and rough sound ranging from breakbeat acid-tinged to Detroit-influenced electro and techno style. Should we mention that this limited 12" (no digital) is expected to sell fast and earn the status of collectible masterpiece, just like the previous releases on the label!

Das Talking Therapy Ensemble, das neue Projekt von Emma-Jean Thackray, die 2021 ihr gefeiertes Debütalbum 'Yellow' veröffentlichte, liegt irgendwo zwischen Free-Jazz-Wahnsinn und Groove, Komposition und Improvisation, dem Öffentlichen und dem Privaten. Durch den kathartischen Prozess der Improvisation finden es Befreiung von Stress und Leid, seine Sprachtherapie, inspiriert durch Blues, Crusty Punk, die bekennenden Dichter der 1950/60er und Künstler wie Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Sun Ra Arkestra, Albert Ayler, Irreversible Entanglements. Aufgenommen in den Abbey Road Studios im Zuge der Abbey Road x Pitchfork Studio-Session-Serie.

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Los Angeles native Sha Sha Kimbo undeniably lives for the rave. As exemplified through her every intentional move as a producer, DJ, promoter, radio host and label owner, Sha Sha radiates an unwavering love for amplifying, nurturing and supporting the culture of underground electronic music and the community that surrounds it, with her forthcoming release absolutely no exception to this.

Set for release as a digital download and limited edition cassette tape on August 13, the LA rave staple is happy to announce her debut EP on Evar Records, Total Chaos. A brilliant testament to the cathartic importance of staying up late and getting lost in a buzzing crowd of kindred spirits, Total Chaos harnesses the universal experience of having pent-up energy into massive, angst-ridden breakbeat anthems. Over six tracks, Sha Sha channels the hair-raising spirit of '90s rave along with her formative experiences with DMZ-via-Low End Theory dubstep and punk rock. Finding her place within LA's bass music, house, techno and rave scenes while defying easy categorization, Sha Sha personifies the no-rules electronic music ethos behind John Frusciante and Aura T-09's Evar Records. To supplement Total Chaos' three originals, LYZZA, Machine Girl and LCY provide three raw remixes highlighting various aspects of Sha Sha Kimbo's renegade rave spirit.

Drawing from the Los Angeles punk rock and '90s rave music that soundtracked her youth, Total Chaos personifies how she grew up on the dance floor, showcasing Sha Sha's tried and true ability to express rich, nuanced emotions through tracks that, first and foremost, can level a warehouse party. Kicking off the vibe on July 30, the EP's lead single "Save The World" is a perfect representation of this, with the jump-up rave cut employing a megaton breakbeat and sickly-sweet vocal samples over simmering base of dark, UK-influenced atmospherics. From the late night energy of the title track to the euphoric, dawn-breaking feel of "Limited Perfect," Total Chaos offers the refuge of a robust dance floor with the warm reassurance to be one with the universe.

Rounding out Total Chaos EP are three remixes that amicably and serendipitously support Sha Sha Kimbo's visionary aim to both explore the unknown and bring people together along the way. Brazilian-born, Amsterdam-based powerhouse LYZZA adds a full verse and a nest of serrated rhythms to her version of "Total Chaos," while New York's Machine Girl applies their trademark punk electronics approach to "Save The World." Meanwhile, Bristol's own LCY hollows out "Limited Perfect" into a haunting amalgam of post-punk minimalism and low-frequency pressure. A study of the opposing light and dark energies of underground dance music, Total Chaos presents a breakbeat-heavy vortex, sure to awaken everyone's inner raver.

Wah Wah 45s are proud to present the return of a unique collaboration between the U.K. 's very own Afrobeat Ambassador, Dele Sosimi, and a producer who's been at the forefront of the South London electronic music scene for over a decade now, Medlar.

The pair first joined forces seven years ago, when Medlar was asked by Dele's label to remix the title track from his last album, You No Fit Touch Am. The result was possibly one of the most popular and cherished remixes to appear on the imprint. The producer's respect for the history of Afrobeat shined through in the mix of course, but it was his ability to finely balance that with his house music instincts whilst adding an infectious groove and classic 80s analogue synths that really stood out.

The track was an instant classic, and it soon became clear that the Afrobeat Ambassador and Peckham producer needed to make some music together. Having never actually met during the remix process, the dating began, and luckily the two were a perfect match.

Two years on from their first recorded output, the Full Moon EP - a record that received radio support from Gilles Peterson on BBC 6Music, as well as tastemakers and DJs across the globe, and was even featured on the latest edition of Grand Theft Auto -the duo return with the State Of Play EP. The heavy hitting four tracker features special guests Tamar Osborn of Collocutor fame, and South African rising star Zito Mowa, as well as a pair of Dele and Medlar's most popular jams from their live sets, perfectly baked for the dance floor.

Early support has come from Huey Morgan, Tom Ravenscroft and Deb Grant on BBC 6Music; Sarah Ward on Jazz FM; DJs on Resonance FM, Worldwide FM and many more besides.

The EP will be available on vinyl this summer with incredible artwork from our in-house art director Animisiewasz and eye-catching packaging.

Repress!

In February 2020, Belgian label "KNTXT" will release a new EP by Berlin resident MONOLOC - 'Left The Planet' marks his first release on the label, that previously released label honcho Charlotte de Witte’s Chris Liebing collaboration and her “Pressure” and “Selected” EP's.

“With KNTXT, we aim to be a boutique label that values purity and strength” de Witte says. “Both characteristics that perfectly describe and define Monoloc’s music.”

Aside from being the main output for Charlotte de Witte’s creative endeavors, KNTXT has always aimed to be a breeding ground and safe haven for the unique talent’s that it love and respects. After debuting at a KNTXT event in Fuse back in 2015, Sascha Borchardt a.k.a. Monoloc has been a recurring invitee at the label’s raves.

“For KNTXT this is another amazing step in our label story. Feels great to be releasing new music of this dear friend of the family, after spending some great nights together.” Charlotte concludes. “This upcoming release is very personal to me.”

Monoloc says “After joining Charlotte de Witte on her events and most recently the sold out KNTXT tour, I can say we’re friends. I’m happy to be part of this next step of the label and am very excited and proud of what we’ve created.”

NEW 45 BY DEEP-FUNK PIONEER LUCKY BROWN RECORDED DURING THE MYSTERY ROAD SESSIONS!

"Funk is a living, breathing, creative and generative entity and The New Lucky Seven celebrate its life with a mysterious and authentic sonic snapshot from the iconic Mystery Road sessions: WOODHEAD!"

Woodhead is a steady medium groover built around an acute chanky guitar part that Joel Ricci aka Lucky Brown composed while living in the "Woodhood" district of Bellingham Washington, USA in the fallout shadow of an industrial area on the outskirts of town. The Woodhood was so named because the streets were all named after different kinds of trees; Cottonwood, Alderwood, Birchwood, etc. Though members of the band had been performing Woodhead since as early as 2004, it had never been officially committed to tape. So during the 2013-2014 span of living room "Magik Carpet" sessions at drummer, Oliver Klomp's house in West Seattle, the combo dubbed by Lucky as "The New Lucky Seven" casually hit the head a couple times before calling it a night as Lucky rolled tape.

Opening with the now world-famous guitar player, Jabrille "Jimmy James" Williams dropping deftly into his rhythmic part, Lucky chants in the background the words "don't stop" as the tension builds up into the moment the whole band comes in. With Bob Heinemann on bass, Marc Hager on Rhodes and Oliver Klomp on drums, the thick but honest groove is instantly palpable. Trombone player Mars Lindgren and Sax player Thomas Deakin, along with Lucky on Trumpet lay down the 'head' to the tune right off the bat with everyone in the band giving that hard hit on the 4 count of the last bar of the repeated figure. This 'hit' returns again to form the breakpoint between soloists Jimmy James, Marc Hager, and on side B, Thomas Deakin, and Lucky Brown on the flute. The horn section microphone was situated on the dining room table and Lucky just had to lean over to reach it with his instrument! Michael Iris of Bell Creek Studio transferred and mixed these two tunes from Lucky Brown's cassette machine.

This tune was left off of the Mystery Road compilation album but comprises one of the last tracks created during those sessions therefore the concept, vibe, style, and intention should resonate and be interchangeable with the rest of the 45s from that epic Box Set TR-9043 released by Tramp Records on May 4, 2015.

As you spin and interact with the Mystery Road recordings, you are invited to allow Woodhead to take its rightful place specifically alongside the other "The New Lucky Seven" recordings and generally as a part of the suite of crude and naive living-room "Magik Carpet" funk of the rest of the Mystery Road.

As illuminated before in Lucky's artist statement regarding the Mystery Road sessions, the music contained therein was always intended to put emotion, vibe, feeling, and spirit before technical, spatial, or even performance constraints and to serve as a gift of discovery to lovers and aficionados of the deep funk idiom and the rare 45rpm format. Funk is a living, breathing, creative and generative entity and The New Lucky Seven celebrate its life with a mysterious and authentic sonic snapshot from the iconic Mystery Road sessions: WOODHEAD!

On July 22nd Mutant Joe unveils his debut release for Evar, 'Wrong Way Out', an EP that twists rap, electro and breaks out of shape with cool malice.

Since his arrival on the scene with a pair of 2019 releases for UK-based label Natural Sciences, the Brisbane-based producer's output has spanned underground trap,gabber, electro, jungle,breaks and various global club mutations, repackaged and delivered with a unique sense of impending threat and unhinged delight.

Mutant Joe repurposes mechanical SFX, stock horror movie samples, feedbacking hardware and crunching percussion to create a dark and theatrical soundworld. Building on his earlier work with underground trap artists like Freddie Dredd and TRiPPJONES, opener 'Bangin On' sees Joe revisit his love for dirty-south-indebted electro hybrids, combining fizzing bass and steely beats, plus rhymes courtesy of a close friend, Atlanta rapper Apoc Krysis. 'Static Effect' deploys similar Drexciyan influences, its overheating 808s colliding with aquatic machinery and disembodied vocal chops.

'Eyes Without a Face' presents a unique take on some classical rave combinations, with rolling, metallic jungle breaks, footwork-esque kicks and tightly layered, redlining hardware. The pace eases off on the ominous and aptly-named 'The Living Dead', a low slung, off-kilter breakbeat weapon. The EP closes with a pair of remixes: a twisted dungeon-rave tool by Ukrainian D&B specialist Limewax, and a tightly wound, detailed broken techno workout by EVAR regular Wheez-ie.

'Wrong Way Out' offers six wildly different approaches, united by Joe's mastery of gothic-horror sound design and unique ear for soundtracking end-of-night deviance. It's a cross-section of the sound Mutant Joe has so quickly made his own: unclassifiable, unrelenting and darkly euphoric.

California-based label Ritual Release introduce new & as-yet unknown duo Guruku. Love Runaway is their debut EP and comes with remixes by disco don Ray Mang.

Title track ‘Love Runaway’ features criminally underheard Tamara Lee on vocals and co-writing duties. LA funk/R&B/future twang auteur Harriet Brown (Innovative Leisure, Phantom Island, World Building) provides guest vocals on the EP’s second original track, ‘Crimped Hair’.

On the flip, Ray Mang delivers a masterclass in honing ‘Love Runaway’ for peak dancefloor effect in a choice of extended remix or dubby reprise.

“Absolutely essential release. A really good song is turned into a modern disco monster by Ray Mang, channeling Prelude Records circa 1982.” – Bill Brewster (DJ History, UK)

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Statique is the fifth full length album on Mille Plateaux and Force Inc. labels by Automatisme (the Canadian musician and conceptual artist William Jourdain active since 2011). Jourdain met the label owner Achim Szepanski in 2019 and did an album in solo (Alter-, Mille Plateaux, 2020) plus four others in collaborations (with iadema, Beyond Humans, Stefan Paulus and Viatorism in duo with Pheek). Automatisme now returns as a solo act on that label. The results are, on one side, an expanded vision of fast rhythmic clicks and cuts, like we heard on his Alter-Rate tracks and that are entitled Ultra-Rate on the Statique album. On the other side, it is the multiple Ultra-Scape tracks that are an augmented version of the granulized ambient dub techno he developed since the beginning of the Viatorism moniker. Jourdain adds elements of chaos and perturbation into algorithmic electronic music like static electricity is the presence of a disturbing body in a circuit.

Musically, Hackney-based female trio deep tan draw on the brooding, melodic indie of early FOALS and Warpaint, their sound is always seductive, but also underpinned with an edge of darkness. An undercurrent of post-punk in the vein of contemporaries Dry Cleaning, Drahla and black midi – in addition to multiple comparisons with post-punk pioneers Television – mean their sets never stray far from the shadows. In the past year and a half deep tan have been the darlings of indie tastemaker press such as So Young, DIY, NOTION, Dork, CLASH, had a 3 page spread in Loud & Quiet December 2019 issue and have been selected as NME 100 and for the Green Man Rising competition. Their tracks have had plays on BBC Radio 6, BBC Whales, Apples Beats 1 and Radio X, as well as Apple Music’s ‘Breaking alternative' in the US.

Renowned German artist Jonathan Kaspar will make an eagerly-awaited return to Kompakt next month via his Umfang EP, with the four-track offering acting as his first full-length solo release on the label since March 2021. “My third Kompakt EP feels particularly special as it is the first time I’m releasing on my home label with dancefloors being open again. The result is four different tracks producing four different vibes, each of which transport my pandemic desires into today’s world.” - Jonathan Kaspar.

The title track leads the way, taking the form of a retro-leaning cut that features whirring synth stabs throughout. Kupfer comes next, a track packed full of emotive chords and a delicate underlying bassline, before Am Raster leads us to the dancefloor and beyond courtesy of minimal-laced kick patterns. Gemach, Gemach Herr Rabe ends proceedings on an incandescent note, as symphonic keys combine with intermittent crow samples to form a slice of wholesome, nature-inspired musical bliss.

Hailing from Bonn, Germany, Jonathan Kaspar is an integral part of the scene in Cologne. He is a resident at the city’s renowned Gewölbe club and also one of the current main figures at the legendary Kompakt label. His discography boasts releases on some of contemporary dance music’s most esteemed labels, including Innervisions, Cocoon Recordings and Crosstown Rebels to name a few, whilst performances at Watergate (Berlin), NDSM (Amsterdam) and Extrema Festival (Hasselt) have brought his sound to global audiences. The Umfang EP proves exactly why he has become one of Germany’s most exciting prospects in recent times and with a highlight year ahead, the future certainly shines bright for Jonathan.

Jonathan Kaspar ist mit einer neuen EP zurück auf KOMPAKT. Die vier Tracks unter dem Titel “Umfang EP” sind seine erste Solo-Veröffentlichung auf dem Label seit März 2021.

"Meine dritte KOMPAKT EP fühlt sich als etwas ganz Besonderes an, weil es das erste Mal ist, dass ich etwas auf meinem Heimatlabel veröffentliche und die Clubs wieder geöffnet sind. Dabei herausgekommen sind vier verschiedene Tracks mit vier unterschiedlichen Stimmungen, die meine pandemischen Sehnsüchte in die Jetztzeit transportieren", so Jonathan Kaspar.

Den Anfang macht der Titeltrack, retro-orientiert und mit flirrenden Synth-Stabs. Es folgt “Kupfer”, ein Track voller gefühlvoller Akkorde und einer zarten Bassline, bevor “Am Raster” uns mit minimalistischen Patterns auf die Tanzfläche und darüber hinaus führt. Mit “Gemach, Gemach Herr Rabe” schließt sich der Kreis, ein Stück glühender musikalischer Glückseligkeit, in dem sich symphonische Keys mit hier und da eingestreuten Samples von Krähen verbinden.

Der aus Bonn stammende Jonathan Kaspar ist fester Bestandteil der Kölner Elektro-Szene. Er ist Resident im renommierten Gewölbe Club und einer der aktuellen Protagonisten des KOMPAKT Labels. Seine Diskographie umfasst Veröffentlichungen auf einigen der angesehensten Labels der zeitgenössischen elektronischen Tanzmusik, darunter Innervisions, Cocoon Recordings und Crosstown Rebels, um nur einige zu nennen. Als DJ ist Jonathan international in den wichtigsten Clubs und auf den renommiertesten Festivals unterwegs, um seinen Sound einem weltweiten Publikum nahezubringen. Die “Umfang EP” ist ein neuerlicher Beweis, warum Kaspar in letzter Zeit zu einem der aufregendsten Produzenten aus Deutschland geworden ist. Dass ihm als Künstler weiterhin Großes bevorsteht, dem sollte nichts entgegenstehen.

*Originally a Rough Trade Exclusive release to go with their end of year top ten charts.., we have made a further 300 pressing of this limited EP, that celebrates and indeed, accompanies one of 2021’s standout releases, Cassandra is in the UK in late August for GreenMan and the End of the Road.*

Cassandra Jenkins takes the opportunity to expand on a track from her An Overview On Phenomenal Nature LP and presents two side-long ambient pieces as an exclusive for Rough Trade. "The Ramble (Morning, May 2021)" and “The Ramble (Night, May 2021)” both prominently feature field recordings made in her native New York’s Central Park, and in the woods of upstate New York. Improvised piano, saxophone, and guitar interconnect and break apart over the sounds of birdsong, crickets, and a distant metropolis. There will be no further pressings of this.

DJ Fucks Himself showcases his versatility on the "WEISSE WESTE EP": a nod to the producer's hi-vis getup when he gets up behind the decks.

The four-tracker kicks off with a Jungle-infused club tool: "Cafe del Mardcore", which combines a relaxing vocal with sweet synth harmonies for a zen-like rave atmosphere. "Ausgefallen" carries you further into the groove with its sublime sampling and eery vocals.

On the flip we have "Dream Team", where influences of Electro and Footwork can be heard combined with ethereal pads and sizzling percussion. B2's "Take It", which rounds out the release with a mystic 140 bpm roller, whose uplifting chords and infectious vocal make their way out of the club and into your heart.

*Gatefold sleeve - black vinyl**

In many ways Kumoyo Island represents the culmination of a journey for Kikagaku Moyo. While their decade-long career can be summarized as a series of kaleidoscopic explorations through lands and dimensions far and near, there’s a strong intention in each of their works to take the listener to a particular place, however real or abstract they may be. In that sense, the title and cover art for the band’s fifth and final album draws you into a magical mass of land surrounded by water—but the couch suggests that Kumoyo Island may not be a fleeting stop, but rather a place of respite, where one could pause and take it all in.

Reconvening at Tsubame Studios in Asakusabashi, Tokyo, where their earliest material had been recorded, the five members of Kikagaku Moyo found new inspiration in a familiar and comfortable environment. With their adopted homebase of Amsterdam under lockdown and their touring activities halted due to the pandemic, the band felt a renewed sense of freedom being back in shitamachi, or the old downtown area of their hometown. With unrestricted time in the studio, they began to build upon the demos and song fragments they’d amassed since their last tour. In the 1.5 months spent in Tokyo, everything started to come together.

“Monaka”, its name taken from a type of Japanese wafer sweets, takes melodic inspiration from traditional minyo folk styles, while “Yayoi Iyayoi” is a rare instance of the band singing in their native tongue, its evocative lyrics utilizing archaic words taken from old poetry and nature books found in one of the many secondhand bookstores of Tokyo. For “Meu Mar”, an Erasmos Carlos cover, the original Portuguese lyrics were translated into English, then to Japanese. Strangely enough, the words seem to conjure an image of the protagonist floating among the clouds, looking down upon Tokyo Bay.

In fact, it may be possible to draw a parallel between the topography of the band’s home country—an island nation, surrounded by bodies of water—and the mysterious isle of Kumoyo. Are they one and the same? Has the band finally made it back home? It’s up to the listener to decide.

It is to the detriment of our understanding of musicality that we mostly measure it by the capacity to produce, and much less by the capacity to receive some sort of acoustic information or event. The virtuosity of listening, of understanding the sonic situation and its potential, is, however, that which defines one's capacity to interact – with other musicians, with the audience, and with the environment. This could also be taken to mean that an ethical act is implied in the situation of listening – the decision to relate, to be attentive to, to actively position oneself in relation to what is heard.

Rarely is this capacity so thoroughly pronounced and ethically conscious as in the case of Manja Ristić, the Belgrade-born and Royal Academy of Music-schooled musician, composer, sound and multimedia artist (the list could go on), who currently lives on the island of Korčula in the Croatian part of the Adriatic. Ristić’s recent, field recording-based work, is indeed all about attentiveness, most of all towards the environment and the acoustic traces of the endangered ecological layers of her old-new Mediterranean surroundings. With that in mind, it is indeed no wonder that her newest album draws from Milton’s Paradise Lost, which could easily be the anti-slogan of the endangered Croatian coast, eaten up by the pressures of touristification and the usurpation and privatization of once common space. More precisely, the album is inspired by one of the fifty Gustave Doré illustrations of Milton’s epic, Him, fast sleeping, soon he found, In labyrinth of many a round, self-rolled, from which it draws its title. The verses and the scene are from Book IX, and depict the moment Satan inhabits the Serpent, the beginning of his subversion of God’s autocratic rule, as some interpretations would have it.

For Ristić, the actual Paradise she introduces us to is in a state of imbalance – the idyllic soundscapes of her island surroundings overlain with sonic anxiety, such as on the album’s first track, The Flies, with its unrelenting, nervous buzzing evoking the ominous Biblical entity of Beelzebub, or The Lord of the Flies. The next track, Whales, which beautifully utilizes archival whale recordings, could also be taken to establish an intertextual relation to Milton through Melville, whose Moby Dick was strongly influenced by Paradise Lost. The middle track of the album, dedicated to the Croatian-American painter and muralist Maksimilijan Vanka, uses to great, unsettling effect what to my ears sounds like a buried hydrophone, a technique often employed by Ristić in her work, giving us a rough, grinding impression of water beating the pebbles over a high-pitched drone. But perhaps the most ominous, pessimistic image is painted in The Flag Pole, in which the symbol of revolutionary victory (I’m thinking of the Yugoslav modernist Tin Ujević and his proto-avant-garde sonnet Farewell from 1914) becomes a source of terrifying sonic unease, as we are listening to the incessant sound of its rope hitting the metal pole. However, with Dlana Night comes relief – the drones become airier, calmer; there is a distant notion of people, dogs, everyday life, all shrouded in the calming sound of the crickets on the island of Silba. Ristić, ultimately, serves us some hope on this wonderful new album, showing us that something has been lost, but that something can also be gained through the thoughtful attention with which she listens to the world around her.

„My recording techniques all boil down to one thing – intuition. I do not use expensive or highly sensitive equipment nor do I employ special techniques. On the contrary, I believe that the information regarding a space or an object can be recorded well enough on an average device. My personal guideline when recording sound is the positioning of myself as the listening medium, active and with the intention of establishing a connection that is sometimes intellectual, sometimes conceptual, and sometimes phenomenological.” - Manja Ristić, in an interview for Kulturpunkt.hr

Vocalists/multi-instrumentalists Claus Lessmann and Michael Voss, who also produces acts such as Michael Schenker: a combination that makes rock fans sit up immediately. Considering the two’s various collaborations - lately as members of PHANTOM V - spread over several decades, »Rock Is Our Religion« is way more than a debut. The album, which was recorded and produced by Voss at German Kidwood Studios Münstertal and Kidroom Studios Greven (only Vincent Golly’s drums were tracked by Mathi Brandstetter at Home Studios Hamburg, Germany), rather is a relevation, a bow down to genuine rock packed in 49 minutes of handmade music performed to the point. Lessmann and Voss complement each other over these 12 tracks as if they hadn’t done anything else before: from mysteriously starting opener 'Medicine Man' to lead single 'Smoke Without A Fire', the recording of 'Take My Heart And Run', circling back to one of their earlier songwriting cooperations in the '90s, and the duo’s interpretation of AMERICA’s 1975 hit song 'Sister Golden Hair' (feat. Kenny Lessmann on drums and Martin Huch on pedal steel guitar), this album impressively shows that it still doesn’t need many frills to create impactful heavy music nowadays. Amen!

'You are Nowhere' is the epic metallic hardcore collaborative effort
between hardcore stalwart front man extraordinaire Rob Fusco (One King
Down, Most Precious Blood, Recon) and Rafe Holmes (Insvrgence)
Take Life is the focus of decades of metal/hardcore songwriting experience and
unbridled expression boasting the feral, frenetic musical energy of bands like Kiss
It Goodbye and Burnt By The Sun and the scathing lyrical content and emotive
vocal performances which have been Fusco's trademark.
'You are Nowhere' was produced, mixed, and mastered by legendary metalcore
mastermind Randy Leboeuf (The Acacia Strain)

'The Best Of The MPS Years' presents you all the classics and highlights
of Oscar Peterson's time at the Black Forest label on one album
It was 1961 when Oscar Peterson came to Villingen, Germany the first time.
Hans-Georg Brunner-Schwer, former owner of the hifi dynasty SABA, had just set
up the first version of his studio, equipped with the most advanced recording
technology of the time. This was the bait used by the piano enthusiast to attract
the famous pianist to the Black Forest. After a performance in Zurich, Peterson
climbed into a limousine and embarked on a journey across the mountains. As
soon as he arrived, along with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, the
international star was led to the Steinway grand in the living- room where a
number of excited guests were eagerly waiting. "I listened to him play 'til four
o'clock in the morning and lost the desire to ever hear the Beatles again!", says
Matthias Brunner- Schwer, HGBS' son, still starry- eyed half a century later. The
legendary pianist himself was equally delighted when he listened to the recording
of the nocturnal living-room performance, never before having heard such a direct
and pristine piano sound on tape. Peterson's enthusiastic response marked the
beginning of a long-term friendship and spiritual kinship with Brunner-Schwer.
In the following years, the Canadian pianist returned again and again with various
line-ups to capture his musical vision on tape. The legendary "Exclusively For My
Friends" live series was the very first release for Brunner- Schwer's newlyestablished MPS label with many studio albums to follow.

We finally announce PLSUK008, signed by Samantha Togni, a strong figure in the Techno scene.

This release perfectly matches the transition PLSUK is going through. Techno meets Grime and Trap, a blending of classic rave sound with contemporary Electronic vibes accompanied by a rumbling feature from Karnage. Samantha represents the perfect match between classic rave and today's sound revolution within the Electronic Music and Queer scene.

The journey has begun.

The second 7" in the Konduko series reissues this mega-rarity, Noel Williams aka King Sporty's own version of Bob Marley's Concrete Jungle. The connection between Marley and Williams was long-standing, both living in the tenements of West Kingston and gaining their musical foundations as part of the Studio One, that would reach fruition when they later co-wrote Buffalo Soldier together.

Clement Dodd's organisation was more than a label, running a sound system, studio, pressing plant and its own distribution. As Deejay on the system and later releasing his debut single on the label, William's learnt his craft, taking this knowledge to Miami and replicating much - expanding the Konduko label to encompass studio, plant and distribution.

First recorded with Lee Perry, Marley's 1971 original was famously rerecorded for The Wailers move to Island Records and their 1973 album, Catch A Fire. Here, a rare Williams' vocal is backed with horns atop a reggae-funk groove. The songs message of struggle is universal and everlasting, even with a touch of Miami swing.

This is backed by Young Girl, a single in its own right, from the same period. A rocksteady, breakbeat shuffle bely the songs roots in late 60s soul, with a powerful counterpoint vocal from wife and partner, Betty Wright. A collector's item itself, together they are essential.

Sounds like supergroup. Rarely have outstanding figures of such a variety of musical styles collaborated on one album to pay homage to a nearly forgotten artist, one of the few black Beatnik poets, Bob Kaufman.

"All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For" by The Plastik Beatniks is an attempt to acoustically reanimate Bob Kaufman, to return the Beat to him in a transatlantic collaboration. It is a shimmering psychedelic, at times jazzy concept album, sometimes reminiscent of Krautrock or hip hop, about a Beat-era poet who was as great as he was forgotten. It takes spoken word to a new level, as a transatlantic showcase of musical avant-gardes and a joyful "sound archaeology" of modernity, in which the tracks of the "Plastik Beatniks" meet the best voices of America.

The 12 wildly different songs and audi collages, on the transatlantically-produced album, "All the Streets I Must Find Cities For," is based on lyrics by Beat author Bob Kaufman. They were originally part of the radio play "Thank God for Beatniks," for which author Andreas Ammer ("Ammer & Einheit"), Notwist‘s Markus Acher and Micha Acher and loop maker Leo Hopfinger ("LeRoy") formed "The Plastik Beatniks." On the eastern side of the Atlantic they composed music and crafted soundscapes. On the west side of the ocean, they asked three of the most renowned singers, activists and producers in the U.S. to recite or sing Bob Kaufman's poetry.

Punk-pop icon Patti Smith immediately signed on to read Kaufman's poem "Ginsberg (For Allen)". Free jazz vocalist Moor Mother passionately performed Bob Kaufman's "War Memoir". American jazz clarinetist, composer, singer and “International Anthem” labelmate Angel Bat Dawid, a legitimate successor to Sun Ra, polyphonically read and sang such poems as "The Sun is a Negroe" and "West Coast Sound 1956" and included some clarinet solos on top. Also on the album, Bob Kaufman himself recites his previously unknown poems "Hollywood Beat", "Would You Wear My Eyes", and the "Jail Poem" "All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For". Beat chronicler Raymond Foye, who still lives at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, contributed an interview he conducted with late beatnik Allen Ginsberg about Bob Kaufman. Completing the circle was hip-hop artist Adam "DoseOne" ("13&God"), who once gave Markus Acher a well-thumbed volume of Bob Kaufman, whom he admired. He contributed some raps. Thus 12 tracks emerged, as diverse as the artists, poets and musicians who contributed to it. More than an album. An epitaph. A work for the eternity of Beat.

Regarding Bob Kaufman - of course the FBI kept a file on him – first as a sailor, then a communist, and finally a Beat poet. As one of the mainstays of the movement, he edited the literary magazine "Beatitude" in San Francisco and defined "Beatnik" to Allen Ginsberg: half rhythm, half sputnik. Bob recited his poetry loudly on the streets (when he wasn't sunk into years of silence in protest of the Vietnam War) and in the bars and bagel shops of North Beach. Once, he almost landed a pop hit ("Green Green Rocky Road"), which then made Dylan's companion Dave van Ronk famous. That Kaufman is today less known than his friend Allen Ginsberg may be because he was a black Beat poet, and also a Jew. This was not compatible with fame in the US of the 1950s. Though Kaufman had the same publisher, City Lights, as Ginsberg, he was frequently arrested and jailed, and was treated with electric shocks until he developed serious mental heath issues. There he wrote his "Jail Poems". The seventh of these lent this album its name:

"Someone whom I am is no one / Something I have done is nothing Someplace I have been is nowhere / I am not me What of the answers / I must find questions for? All these strange streets I must find cities for, Thank god for beatniks."

(remixes)

A new spoken word track with Smokey him self on vocals featuring the talents of Smasher, reminiscing of late teen years going raving and the love of fashion, record shopping, and most importantly UKG culture! This is a smooth 2 step banger that will make you want to put your Moschino shirt & Gucci loafers and head to Camden Palace!

Cult South Asian New Wave! Naya Beat is proud to announce its second release, Tere Liye, the highly sought after and impossible to find New Wave album by the unsung pioneers of the British Asian music scene, Pinky Ann Rihal. Remastered for vinyl by multi Grammy-nominated Frank Merritt at The Carvery and available for the first time since its limited 1985 release, the album is as fresh and relevant today as it was 37 years ago.

South Asian New Wave. Four words that you will rarely see together. Pinky Ann Rihal were the brainchild of two London-based Punjabi immigrants and progressive rock musicians – Harry Rihal and Jati Sodhi – at a time in the U.K. when progressive rock musicians were almost exclusively white and Punjabi musicians were almost exclusively making Bhangra. Encouraged by their friend and disco pioneer Biddu (yes, that Biddu!), they cut ‘Tere Liye’ – a one-off Hindi-language New Wave album with producer John Hamilton and vocalists Pinky Rihal (married to Harry) and Anne Barrett (married to John). It is an album that exemplifies the cultural collaboration and musical synthesis of the time. Complementing the rich, cosmic and layered synths and drum programming of Hamilton and the distorted guitars of Rihal and Sodhi are the Hindi lyrics of vocalists Pinky and Anne. The result is an amazing one-of-a-kind South Asian New Wave album. Nothing like it has come out before or since.

Stymied on its original release by bungled distribution, poor marketing and plenty of bad luck, this incredible album seemed destined to be lost to history. With Asian electronic music in the U.K. seeing a rebirth and capturing imaginations around the world,‘Tere Liye’ can finally take its rightful place as one of the pioneering albums of the Asian underground.

This is Naya Beat’s second release in a series of reissues, reworks and remixes, and compilations dedicated to uncovering electronic and dance music from the overlooked ‘80s and ‘90s South Asian music scene. Their first release Naya Beat Volume 1: South Asian Dance and Electronic Music 1983-1992 was named by the Vinyl Factory as the Number 1 reissue of 2021.

When Isa Gordon sent the demo of this album to me I knew I wanted to release it before I had got half way through it. I had previously released her super good Resili collaborative project but I wasn’t quite prepared for how good this was going to be. Isa is patently a once in a blue moon talent and I feel honoured to help get her unique, visionary sounds out into the world. This is next level programming & sound design but always with soul, and musicality. Sui generis.

Isa says

“For you only came about in the lockdown winter in 2020. I started seeing a lot of beats and motifs that I’d been working on working together as a collection and spent a few months compiling, completing, mixing and weaving together the tracks into a coherent album.

It was many nights tucked away entering the wormholes of making music and trying to honour the emotion contained in each song by expanding the sentiments within them into complete pieces, chasing down the journey in each one.

It was a very personal, solitary exploration of how I interpret and compose instrumentals, with the rare global situation inhibiting outsider contact and influence. I include a mix of tempos, styles and freely combine digital and live instruments in order to serve whatever intention or feeling needs to be heard”.

Isa is an Ayrshire bred, Glasgow based producer and singer. Impressed upon by myriad styles; Singing folk music since a youngster, Playing guitar since a teen, Producing electronic music thereafter. Now freely cherry-picking whatever sounds, instruments, words and methods serve the feeling. Exploring solitary beat making as Isa Gordon and Singing and writing heartfelt lyrical ditties with her band Fantasy Land.

How can music be violent when it's not loud? When is malice beautiful? Amidst the gloom, listening to Chalk is a restorative experience. Neophobia is a meditative saga which, despite the name, radically embraces the aesthetics and methods of post-modernity. In between identical gamelan pieces, Chalk weaves an abrasive collage of sounds and musics that touch on peace punk, musique concrete, & American primitive. Neophobia explores the schizophrenia and horror of living in the contemporary era, an odyssey with an indeterminate point of departure or return. Chalk is an amorphous musical project orchestrated by Barry Elkanick (Institute, Blue Dolphin) While this is Barry's 'solo project' he regularly invites friends, other musicians and artists to accompany him. Under 'Chalk' Barry has self-released 8 cassettes since 2015. While wildly ranging in recording techniques & approach, the cassettes have informed and culminated in the final sound present on "Neophobia" which is his first LP for Post Present Medium. Barry wrote and recorded "Neophobia" independently out of his home in Houston, TX on computers and tape machines. LP limited to 300 copies, includes poster.

Mikael Åkerfeldt, mastermind of Swedish band Opeth, has recorded the original score for the new Netflix series Clark, directed by renowned film-maker Jonas Åkerlund. Clark is the incredible story behind Sweden’s most notorious gangster Clark Olofsson, whose infamous crimes gave rise to the term “Stockholm syndrome.” The score for this 6-part series will be released as a Standard CD Jewelcase & Gatefold 180g 2LP vinyl via InsideOutMusic/Milan Records.

The subterranean slumber of Nile mastermind Karl Sanders’ Eastern-ambient Saurian series finally ceases with the third chapter of his darkly hypnotizing saga, Saurian Apocalypse! The album’s musical and lyrical themes detail the vexing fictional journey of Dr. Eduardo Lucciani, one of very few survivors of mankind’s self-destruction, who descends into madness after discovering the violent horrors occurring at the hands of the Saurian Masters. Emphasized by unique instruments like the baglama saz (Turkish lute), Ancient Egyptian Anubis Sistrum, Dumbek (Middle Eastern goblet drum), glissentar and gongs, the album’s score weaves cinematic auras and deep grooves, accented by the tribal percussive stylings of original Nile drummer Pete Hammoura and returning Saurian vocalist Mike Breazeale. Whispering atop the ominous sands of opener “The Sun Has Set on the Age of Man” are resonant flutes, forewarning percussion, and an exquisitely tasteful and contextual acoustic guest solo by guitar virtuoso Rusty Cooley – kicking in the massive doors of Saurian Apocalypse. Immediately, the album’s impactful production and crystal clarity versus its predecessors is apparent

”Im Frühjahr 2020 haben wir eine Liste mit unseren Lieblingssongs von Brian erstellt - eine sehr lange Liste. Wir haben die Songs ohne Rücksicht auf ihre Chart-Performance ausgewählt. Die obskuren treffen uns genauso hart wie die populäreren Songs - und alle sind reif für eine Neuinterpretation, eine Neugestaltung, eine Neuerfindung. Brian schreibt Lieder über Schönheit, Einsamkeit und Verletzlichkeit besser als jeder andere - und indem er sie neben populären Liedern über Zuversicht, Liebe und Spaß aneinanderreiht, entsteht ein vollständigeres Bild des Lebens auf der Erde.”


- Zooey Deschanel und M. Ward
She & Him - das gefeierte Duo M. Ward und Zooey Deschanel - sind bekannt für ihre stilvollen Arrangements, raffinierten Interpretationen und scharf gezeichneten Originalkompositionen, die sie in ihrer
14-jährigen Zusammenarbeit über sechs Alben hinweg perfektioniert haben. Jetzt, mit „Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson“, ihrem siebten Album, hat das Duo einen Liebesbrief an den südkalifornischen
Pop der 60er Jahre verfasst. Produziert von M. Ward und abgemischt von Tom Schick (Wilco, Norah Jones, Iron and Wine), ist „Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson“ das erste Album des Paares seit sechs
Jahren und enthält eine Fülle von klug ausgewählten Wilson/Beach Boys-Kompositionen - Ward und Deschanel bringen ihr unheimliches gemeinsames musikalisches Gespür in diese Pop-Noir-Kostbarkeiten ein und interpretieren sie für die heutige Zeit neu.

”Im Frühjahr 2020 haben wir eine Liste mit unseren Lieblingssongs von Brian erstellt - eine sehr lange Liste. Wir haben die Songs ohne Rücksicht auf ihre Chart-Performance ausgewählt. Die obskuren treffen uns genauso hart wie die populäreren Songs - und alle sind reif für eine Neuinterpretation, eine Neugestaltung, eine Neuerfindung. Brian schreibt Lieder über Schönheit, Einsamkeit und Verletzlichkeit besser als jeder andere - und indem er sie neben populären Liedern über Zuversicht, Liebe und Spaß aneinanderreiht, entsteht ein vollständigeres Bild des Lebens auf der Erde.”


- Zooey Deschanel und M. Ward
She & Him - das gefeierte Duo M. Ward und Zooey Deschanel - sind bekannt für ihre stilvollen Arrangements, raffinierten Interpretationen und scharf gezeichneten Originalkompositionen, die sie in ihrer
14-jährigen Zusammenarbeit über sechs Alben hinweg perfektioniert haben. Jetzt, mit „Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson“, ihrem siebten Album, hat das Duo einen Liebesbrief an den südkalifornischen
Pop der 60er Jahre verfasst. Produziert von M. Ward und abgemischt von Tom Schick (Wilco, Norah Jones, Iron and Wine), ist „Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson“ das erste Album des Paares seit sechs
Jahren und enthält eine Fülle von klug ausgewählten Wilson/Beach Boys-Kompositionen - Ward und Deschanel bringen ihr unheimliches gemeinsames musikalisches Gespür in diese Pop-Noir-Kostbarkeiten ein und interpretieren sie für die heutige Zeit neu.

Bloodywood from India are the hottest new band in the Metal-genre. Millions of followers online and a growing fanbase! The self-released debut “Rakshak” finally released as a proper vinyl edition!

Formed in 2016 as a fun band, Bloodywood from New Delhi, India are the hottest metal band right now! They bring everything you need in 2022: aggression, global ideas, visionary views, politically correct behavior and standing up for minorities from all walks of life. The band around the three heads Jayant Bhadula, Karan Katijar and Raoul Kerr managed to break into the international charts on their own and gathered an incomparable fan following. What started out six years ago with Bollywood and Linkin Park-covers has grown to a size that's expanding by the day. Bloodywood fans can now be found all over the world, millions of people have heard their songs and watched their videos, the wave can no longer be stopped. Now the debut “Rakshak”, which the band self-released in early 2022, is finally out on vinyl! In the summer of 2022 they will storm the European festivals, make their point in the USA in September and return to play their long-awaited clubtour through Europe, which was postponed due to the pandemic, at the beginning of 2023. Tickets are already running low. In a year at the latest everyone will know who Bloodywood is. Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) already knows it and has drawn his fans' attention to the Indian metallers with a tweet: "Rocking!" he calls the Indian sensation. Among other things, the musicians are involved in animal welfare and social projects and use traditional Indian instruments such as the tabla, dhol or bamboo flute. They mix it with rough thrash metal, urban rap vocals (English/Hindi/Punjabi) and rock-hard grooves. That creates a lot of uproar, at times sounds like open street fighting and, despite the regional references, has an absolutely international level. Especially since moderate sounds also find their place on “Rakshak” (Hindi for “protector”), as can be heard from the tracks 'Zanjeero Se' and 'Jee Veerey'. Bloodywood definitely deliver Linkin Park-standards here and even open themselves up to target groups that are less metal-savvy. The majority of this album rages like an unleashed tropical storm ('Dana-Dan', 'Chakh Le') is decked out with an impressively rabid force and hardly allows the listener any breaks. This mix is what makes it so successful: the album entered the Billboard charts, making them the first Indian metal band to do so.“Rakshak“ was also successful on Bandcamp, where it topped the platform's album sales upon release and was ranked as the 22nd best-selling new release of all time (as of March 2022) and the 3rd best-selling metal release. Rock for a rebellion that will be unstoppable!

Demented Soul returns to AKO150 arcade and it’s been a while but we’re glad to finally put out this track. full of energy, breaks into a rare groove classic halfway through, and then returned with a high-energy amen. real jungle and one for the gunfinger crew. this is one of the few lined up from this talented producer and we hope you enjoy it.

Next, we welcome Hoodz from LA we’ve been friends for a while and we’re glad to have this little red groove roller on the label. expect more from Hoodz on the AKO imprint in the future but right now slap this on the vinyl turn up the bass and enjoy this riddim!

Bloodywood from India are the hottest new band in the Metal-genre. Millions of followers online and a growing fanbase! The self-released debut “Rakshak” finally released as a proper vinyl edition!

Formed in 2016 as a fun band, Bloodywood from New Delhi, India are the hottest metal band right now! They bring everything you need in 2022: aggression, global ideas, visionary views, politically correct behavior and standing up for minorities from all walks of life. The band around the three heads Jayant Bhadula, Karan Katijar and Raoul Kerr managed to break into the international charts on their own and gathered an incomparable fan following. What started out six years ago with Bollywood and Linkin Park-covers has grown to a size that's expanding by the day. Bloodywood fans can now be found all over the world, millions of people have heard their songs and watched their videos, the wave can no longer be stopped. Now the debut “Rakshak”, which the band self-released in early 2022, is finally out on vinyl! In the summer of 2022 they will storm the European festivals, make their point in the USA in September and return to play their long-awaited clubtour through Europe, which was postponed due to the pandemic, at the beginning of 2023. Tickets are already running low. In a year at the latest everyone will know who Bloodywood is. Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) already knows it and has drawn his fans' attention to the Indian metallers with a tweet: "Rocking!" he calls the Indian sensation. Among other things, the musicians are involved in animal welfare and social projects and use traditional Indian instruments such as the tabla, dhol or bamboo flute. They mix it with rough thrash metal, urban rap vocals (English/Hindi/Punjabi) and rock-hard grooves. That creates a lot of uproar, at times sounds like open street fighting and, despite the regional references, has an absolutely international level. Especially since moderate sounds also find their place on “Rakshak” (Hindi for “protector”), as can be heard from the tracks 'Zanjeero Se' and 'Jee Veerey'. Bloodywood definitely deliver Linkin Park-standards here and even open themselves up to target groups that are less metal-savvy. The majority of this album rages like an unleashed tropical storm ('Dana-Dan', 'Chakh Le') is decked out with an impressively rabid force and hardly allows the listener any breaks. This mix is what makes it so successful: the album entered the Billboard charts, making them the first Indian metal band to do so.“Rakshak“ was also successful on Bandcamp, where it topped the platform's album sales upon release and was ranked as the 22nd best-selling new release of all time (as of March 2022) and the 3rd best-selling metal release. Rock for a rebellion that will be unstoppable!

Gilbert O’Sullivan, one of the greatest singer-songwriters of his generation will return in 2022 with his new studio album, following the release of his Ethan Johns-produced, self-titled 2018 album which was awarded four-stars in MOJO and Q Magazine as well as rave notices in Uncut and the Sunday Times.
Gilbert’s twentieth studio album finds him working with a new producer, the revered Andy Wright (Simple Minds, Simply Red, Eurythmics and Jeff Beck) recording with a full band at London’s famous RAK Studios. The direction of the album is an organic and raw affair, featuring a mix of ballads as well as upbeat songs, all written by an inimitable master craftsman. In a unique addition to this new album, Gilbert O’Sullivan has collaborated on duets with Mick Hucknall (Simply Red) and KT Tunstall.
Gilbert O’Sullivan’s unique blend of melodic craftsmanship, witty wordplay, topical acuity and surrealist humour has given him an enduring and endearing career. His song writing knack has outlived and transcended fashion, global million-sellers, critical acclaim, and an occasional tendency to reclusiveness. Now recognised as one of our great singer-songwriters, he’s been championed in recent years by everyone from Paul Weller, Nina Simone, Mick Hucknall, Squeeze’s Difford & Tilbrook, Neil Diamond to Gary Barlow (whose Crooner Sessions Gilbert duetted on earlier this year), Empire Of The Sun, Boy George and The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess whose acclaimed The Listening Party recently featured Gilbert’s Himself and Back To Front albums.
Gilbert O’Sullivan’s career has spanned 50 years. His first single success Nothing Rhymed was released in 1970 and almost overnight it achieved Top 10 status In the UK and Europe charts.
His debut album Himself was littered with the most perfect examples of his art and craftsmanship. His second 1972 “Back To Front” firmly cemented Gilbert amongst the world’s best. Top 10 singles and no. 1’s around the world including the classic “Alone Again (Naturally)” which topped the US charts for six weeks and earned him three Grammy nominations.
British recognition soon followed with the songs Clair and Get Down reaching the summit of the UK singles charts and his LP Back To Front topping the album charts. In the same year at the 18th Ivor Novello Awards Gilbert was named ‘Song Writer of the Year’. To date he has won three Ivor’s and in recent times performed alongside other artists at BBC Proms in the Park. He has also made three appearances at Glastonbury including the main stage, and toured extensively throughout the UK, Ireland, Europe, Japan and Australia.

Gilbert O’Sullivan, one of the greatest singer-songwriters of his generation will return in 2022 with his new studio album, following the release of his Ethan Johns-produced, self-titled 2018 album which was awarded four-stars in MOJO and Q Magazine as well as rave notices in Uncut and the Sunday Times.
Gilbert’s twentieth studio album finds him working with a new producer, the revered Andy Wright (Simple Minds, Simply Red, Eurythmics and Jeff Beck) recording with a full band at London’s famous RAK Studios. The direction of the album is an organic and raw affair, featuring a mix of ballads as well as upbeat songs, all written by an inimitable master craftsman. In a unique addition to this new album, Gilbert O’Sullivan has collaborated on duets with Mick Hucknall (Simply Red) and KT Tunstall.
Gilbert O’Sullivan’s unique blend of melodic craftsmanship, witty wordplay, topical acuity and surrealist humour has given him an enduring and endearing career. His song writing knack has outlived and transcended fashion, global million-sellers, critical acclaim, and an occasional tendency to reclusiveness. Now recognised as one of our great singer-songwriters, he’s been championed in recent years by everyone from Paul Weller, Nina Simone, Mick Hucknall, Squeeze’s Difford & Tilbrook, Neil Diamond to Gary Barlow (whose Crooner Sessions Gilbert duetted on earlier this year), Empire Of The Sun, Boy George and The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess whose acclaimed The Listening Party recently featured Gilbert’s Himself and Back To Front albums.
Gilbert O’Sullivan’s career has spanned 50 years. His first single success Nothing Rhymed was released in 1970 and almost overnight it achieved Top 10 status In the UK and Europe charts.
His debut album Himself was littered with the most perfect examples of his art and craftsmanship. His second 1972 “Back To Front” firmly cemented Gilbert amongst the world’s best. Top 10 singles and no. 1’s around the world including the classic “Alone Again (Naturally)” which topped the US charts for six weeks and earned him three Grammy nominations.
British recognition soon followed with the songs Clair and Get Down reaching the summit of the UK singles charts and his LP Back To Front topping the album charts. In the same year at the 18th Ivor Novello Awards Gilbert was named ‘Song Writer of the Year’. To date he has won three Ivor’s and in recent times performed alongside other artists at BBC Proms in the Park. He has also made three appearances at Glastonbury including the main stage, and toured extensively throughout the UK, Ireland, Europe, Japan and Australia.

A Ride is the new dark alt-country concept album on the road by Phill Reynolds, to be released on June 17th, 2022 by Bronson Recordings; Like all the best concept albums, A Ride takes you on a journey. This one concerns the last three days of an American runaway’s life. Part road-trip, part engrossing mystery, part search for redemption, it’s the fictional tale of a troubled man whose past comes back to haunt him. Via eleven intimate, chronologically-sequenced songs, we travel with him. There are epiphanies and dream sequences, drunken dive-bar nights and chats with Jesus and Lucifer. As the narrator battles with his dark side, it is ultimately we, the listeners, who must weigh-up and flesh-out his story. According to its creator Phill Reynolds, AKA Italian alt-country singer-songwriter Silva Martino Cantele, the key to The Ride’s mystery might lie within its fifth song, A Clockwork Dream. “That’s where we discover that, because of some kind of courtroom trial, the narrator has lost someone who was very important to him”, Reynolds explains. “But we never find out her name or her relationship to the main character. Is she a blood relative? Is she his wife or someone else?”. The origins of A Ride go back to 2015. On tour in the US, Reynolds took in the shifting landscapes, the people he met and their stories. All of this fed into the album he recorded at the all-analogue TUP Studio in Brescia, near Milan. Reynolds played almost all of the instruments himself and co-produced A Ride with long-term collaborator Bruno Barcella. If A Clockwork Dream features a full band arrangement – “I think of it as the kind of thing Neil Young & Crazy Horse might do on a Sunday morning”, says Reynolds – other songs are sparer, more intimate. Banjo, Fender Rhodes, harmonica and glistening slide guitar all feature as Reynolds delivers haunting confessionals such as Run, Run Away and The Fault Is Mine, songs likely to appeal to fans of artists such as Damien Jurado, Strand Of Oaks or For Emma, Forever Ago-era Bon Iver. Intricate, rapid-fire fingerpicking on the first single This Isn’t Me and The Call of The Dark demonstrates Reynolds’ dexterity, while his voice is a rich, fully-lived in instrument seasoned with the salt of experience,and strengthened by the 120 or so gigs a year he used to do before COVID took his one-man show off the road. Long an inhabitant of picturesque Italian towns in the Vicenza province, Phill Reynolds was born in Marostica and currently lives in Zugliano. He was only five when The Beach Boys’ Barbara Ann worked its magic upon him via the radio. Later a fan of ‘90s Californian punk bands, Reynolds was writing and performing in his own post-hardcore bands by 13, but didn’t make it to the nearest big city, Milan, until he was 19. Bands still matter deeply to him. But his love for folk music has deepened over the last decade or so, hence his solo act alter-ego. Where did the name Phill Reynolds come from? “Everybody asks me this,” he smiles. “Especially in the UK. The truth is I needed an alternative name for a gig I was doing, and at the time I was in love with the music of Phil Ochs and Malvina Reynolds. Malvina Ochs didn’t sound too good to me, so I became Phill Reynolds, and I like that, because it sounds like a normal person”. The esteemed Italian label Bronson Recordings will release his fourth solo album A Ride on June 17th, 2022, on CD, vinyl and digital. A Ride is the most ambitious and fully-realised Phill Reynolds album to date. He was assisted by Stefano Pilia (lead guitar on Dive Bar Oblivion), IOSONOUNCANE (backing vocals, synth, bass and field recordings on World On Fire), and C+C=Maxigross (bass, drums and backing vocals on In The Dark). The record’s story is a dark one, but not one without hope. “Every end is a new beginning”, says Reynolds. “One of the main themes here is that life can be a sort of trap unless you recognise your own demons and try to deal with him. So we must be prepared and try to live well”.

Following on from acclaimed recent releases on Hallow Ground and Boomkat’s Documenting Sound series, NOISEEM is a major new work from Japanese sound artist/instrument inventor Yosuke Fujita, who performs under the name FUJIIIIIIIIIIIITA. Where Fujita’s recent recorded output has focussed primarily on documentation of his remarkable self-built pipe organ, NOISEEM is the culmination of half a decade of work with highly amplified water. The evocative and timbrally rich sound of water has inspired concrete and experimental music practices since ground-breaking works such as Hugh Le Cain’s ‘Dripsody’ and Knud Viktor’s obsessively aquatic ‘Images’. However, other than his compatriot Tomoko Sauvage, few have explored the possibilities of water in live performance to the extent that Fujita has, constructing a series of water tanks that, with their pumps and amplification controlled by the performer, become a new musical instrument. The recordings contained here are drawn from live performances in Tokyo and London, edited and mixed by Fujita into two side-length pieces dominated by water, pipe organ, voice and subtle electronics. On ‘AWA’, which occupies the LP’s first side, the listener is immediately immersed in an aqueous world of recognisable drips and splashes, as well as more mysterious squeaks and squawks. While the liberal use of delay at times conjures up the sound world of early electronic music, the sparklingly clear amplification is unmistakably contemporary, lending the music a stunning weight and tactility. Building over several minutes, the piece eventually comes to a rapid boil, criss-crossed by washes of white noise splashes of electronics, before the untempered long tones of the pipe organ enter. The slowly shifting harmonies lend the remainder of the side a meditative, almost oneiric quality, inviting listeners to lose themselves in the aquatic layers that ripple across the harmonic foundation. On the second side, ‘UZU’ begins more starkly, with a single rapid bubble, quickly joined by full-spectrum wooshes and silvery, ringing tones. After a few minutes, the music undergoes a radical, entirely unexpected shift with the entry of a distorted, auto-tuned voice that repeatedly cycles through ascending and descending melodies. Left alone at times to be heard acapella, this mysterious element at times takes an odd resemblance to dhrupad singing. Eventually joined by rich, sonorous chords from the organ, the high tones of Fujita’s voice, and water, the piece takes on an ecstatic quality, channelling the sublime expansiveness of the natural element on which it is built. Disappearing as abruptly as they entered, the voices then make way for a haunted coda of isolated drips and distant whistles. Far from the intellectualised abstraction of much sound art, NOISEEM is strikingly immediate, both rigorously experimental in its explorations and unashamedly direct in its musicality. Tracklist 1. Awa 2. Uzu

Bones Shake are a scuzzy, fuzz enthused garage rock trio formed in Manchester in 2011. They play everything to the extreme; violent bottle-neck blues riffs, drums kicked, pounded and exploited and squeals of reverb drenched vocals which when combined, will help save your soul. With a relentless energy, they’ve never taken their foot off the gas. Through tirelessly playing across the UK and Europe, they have attracted a cult following that sees them fill out venues wherever they go; including a sold-out performance at the infamous Raut Oak festival. With a string of previous releases under their belt, they have gone from strength to strength and their last EP Privilege was released via Belgian label Never Trust Hippies. First LP Sermons was released in May 2019.FFO: The Stooges, The Cramps, The Birthday Party.

BJÖRNHORN is the first solo album by Swedish, renowned bass player
Johan Berthling (known for his work with ensembles such as Tape, Time
is a Mountain, Fire!, Goran Kajfeš Suptropic Arkestra)
Meticulously recorded by Daniel Bengston at Studio Rymden, and produced by
Berthling together with Alex Zethson, it is a startling solo album of raw and warmsounding double bass. It contains the original suite 'BJÖRNHORN', as well as a
stunning rendition of Charlie Haden's 'For Turiya'.

Los Angeles-based visual artist and musician Lionel Williams was born
and raised in a family of musicians - he is the grandson of soundtrack
composer John Williams
Since 2010, he has been releasing music as Vinyl Williams. After three albums
released on No Pain In Pop (Lemniscate, 2012) and Chaz Bundick’s Company
(Into, 2015 and Brunei, 2016), Vinyl Williams joined French label Requiem Pour Un
Twister for his fourth album Opal released in 2018. Throughout his art, both
musical and visual, Lionel Williams explores the syncretistic territory between
reality and dreams, between earth and space. “Music is a chance to transmute
qualitative opposites into the center, to dissolve all illusions of duality”, he says.
Since chaos and disorder are an illusion, Vinyl Williams is trying to reach a new
state of celestial harmony on Opal. The result is an album fueled with mysticism
and space age utopia, ten kaleidoscopic lush pop songs that takes you into a
transcendental journey on an opal marbled vinyl limited to 500 copies.

A Delicate degustation for the finer palette, Taste the Bass is the latest seasonal sound delicacy via your favourite dysfunktional deep throb duo Ambien Baby. Stepping up their songwriting skillz and staying true to their heady primal sophistication, Nap & D.Tiff indulge in vocal explorations laced throughout 4 tracks, cries of couplet writing and hints of daring duets lingering on the lips. The hypnotic electroclashed EBM is served with superior rhythmic complexity and sonic depth, as per usual, niche on the streets ~ screech in the sheets.

A heartfelt ode to the synthesizer that first bound them together, passion, rage & a reminder to never-ever forget to groove; all four songs come prepped rave ready, mise en plus! Clean, mean inspired techno leaning freakouts that nail that midrange tempo, filled to the brim with that special ingredient no pretenders can purchase. A raw audio feast fit for the gods… although it took God 7 days to create the earth and Ambien Baby created this in 4.