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Dana Kelley, aka DKMA, is a much revered writer, producer, remixer, performer and creative force whose releases have become timeless classics and Holy Grails amongst DJs, music heads and collectors alike. A true artist and innovator, his productions possess the unique ability to engage, transport, challenge and enthral as only next level musicians can.

Grounded in the deep, soulful US House sound of the mid '90's, his earliest releases can be found on Strictly Rhythm, before moving on to produce under his DKMA alias as well as releasing music as Callisto on Guidance. Although Dana sadly passed away in 2013, he left us with a remarkable body of work that has remained both exciting and relevant throughout the last 2 decades and beyond.

Boston Boy Vol.2 is the 2nd in a series of compilations that focuses on Dana's visionary work as DKMA, during his most compelling and creative phase between 1997 and 2002. The compilations themselves are collated from an incredible & far reaching archive of over 20 of Dana's original DATs that have been generously shared with us by the Kelley Family. In the archive, some of Dana's most sought after & cherished works were uncovered, restored and meticulously assembled alongside previously unheard archival material.

The tracks themselves are bold, clever and inventive, characterised by a need for innovation. Passages of deep soulful house underpin more forward thinking electronics without ever losing dance floor appeal. Jazz solos sit imaginatively on top of gritty swinging rhythms, deep infectious b-lines, eerie textures and chord sequences are warm and effortlessly soulful yet with a sound design, sonic range, dynamism and a technical prowess that most could only dream of.

These compilations celebrate the life, vision and art of one of house music's most hallowed producers. Unique and essential, these collections pull together DKMA's most coveted works. Respectfully sourced, restored and compiled from all audio sources courtesy of the Kelley family and Above Board Projects.

Mastered by Frank Merritt at The Carvery, London, with special artwork by Atelier Surplus featuring a special unseen image of Dana from his family's photo albums.

A Notwist concert is a Notwist concert is a Notwist concert. The band around the core trio of Cico Beck and the Acher brothers Markus and Micha usually takes its studio recordings as a mere starting point for their live performances, considering them to be possibilities that need to be explored further. This is especially true for »Vertigo Days - Live from Alien Research Center,« a live record made under unusual circumstances. The band members rearranged songs from their ambitious 2021 album »Vertigo Days« in their studio in Weilheim to record and film a special performance. The songs took on a new life, becoming more psychedelic and intense when rearranged into a spontaneous, Krautrock-esque collage.

»Vertigo Days« was meant to transcend the conventional notion of a band as well as the creative and geographic boundaries inscribed into that concept. And even though life had other plans, this is precisely what the album did when it was released to both commercial success and critical acclaim in early 2021. Contributions by Tenniscoats singer Saya, Angel Bat Dawid, Ben LaMar Gay, Juana Molina, among others, as well as new member Theresa Loibl on bass clarinet, harmonium, and keyboard, expanded the band’s sonic palette, stylistic range, and even lyrical focus through the addition of different instruments, artistic approaches, and languages.

All of that was missing when the band retreated to their studio—dubbed Alien Research Center in response to, and in spite of, a nearby church called Christian Outreach Center—to further explore the possibilities of the source material. The band members considered this a challenge rather than an insurmountable problem and not only accepted, but fully embraced it. Trying to work as little as possible with the computers and samples—Saya’s voice on »Ship« being a notable exception—the band rearranged six tracks from »Vertigo Days« and a piece from the »One of Those Days« film soundtrack in order to allow themselves to improvise more freely, especially thanks to Loibl, who takes on a key role during these 45 minutes.

The intro sets the tone for what’s to come, contrasting loose jazz drumming with curious synthesizer rhythms in an abstract rendition of the first sounds that greeted the listeners on »Vertigo Days«. While the next four tracks—»Into Love / Stars«, »Exit Strategy To Myself«, »Where You Find Me« and »Ship«—follow the chronology of the album, they use the originals as a blank slate for further experimentation. The first track morphs into a feverish long-form jam that draws on the underlying groove to shift the dynamics from and leave behind the song structure of the studio version. It’s an exemplary piece in a recording that sees each individual musician leaving their mark on the overall sound, all while being perfectly attuned to what everyone else is doing around them. This continues up until the record’s triumphant finale, a whirring rendition of »Loose Ends.«

»Vertigo Days - Live from Alien Research Center« is at once a snapshot of a certain moment in the band’s history and the quintessential Notwist live record: a unique performance that both explores the untapped potential of the »Vertigo Days« studio recordings while also serving as an inspiration for upcoming live shows.

As with the studio album, the artwork for »Vertigo Days - Live from Alien Research Center« features photographs by Japanese artist Lieko Shiga, taken in the '00s.

Feral Five’s dazzling debut album ‘Truth Is The New Gold’, is an evocative voyage through a Feraltropolis style future city, and an offering of sonic elixir for heart, feet and mind. Leading us through secret spaces, changing skies, personal truths and revelations, the Ferals glide seamlessly between bold alt pop, experimental electronica, and cinematic landscapes.

With acclaimed singles, EPs, and radio play from BBC 6 Music and Radio X X-Posure under their belt, the Ferals have now signed with independent label Reckless Yes to take us on a deeper emotional journey in ‘Truth Is The New Gold’.

Across this glittering album Feral Five’s multi-layered songs and hook-laden grooves use a unique palette of tools and instruments, both hyper-modern and ancient. From the AI vocals to live coded sounds, strings, and played quartz crystals, to the skillfully interwoven electronics, synths and guitars. Always reinventing their sound, the Ferals have created their own new sonic world, but one that we can all relate to, examining the challenges of living in a 21st Century that you couldn’t make up.

Repressed On translucent blue vinyl! Too many people sleep on Tougher Than Leather, Run-DMC’s fourth album. But hear us out as we plead the case for this amazing LP. By 1988 there was a lot more competition in the rap game – Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Ice-T and many more had given Hollis, Queens’ prodigal sons lots of competition. But Joe, Darryl and Jay were still at the top of their game, and hip-hop fans should never let this classic – chiefly produced by their Queens neighbor, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Davy DMX – get lost in their crates. For starters, the album’s first single, “Run’s House” b/w “Beats To The Rhyme” is arguably the most powerful one-two punch of the trio’s career, showing contenders to the rap throne that they could still destroy a beat, tag-teaming with power at any speed. Not to be lost in the shuffle, fans were also reminded on both sides that Jam-Master Jay remained one of the world’s best DJs, flexing the pinnacle of what would be called “turntablism” a decade later. Both songs show a musical telepathy between all three that has rarely been equaled. The second single, “Mary, Mary,” driven by an infectious Monkees sample, took a different approach, shrewdly ensuring that pop fans who jumped on the Raising Hell bandwagon had something to chew on. But, like “Walk This Way,” the song wasn’t just bubblegum – there was an edge to it, and the lyrical gymnastics were very real. It wasn’t selling out, it was allowing fans to buy in. “Papa Crazy,” driven in concept and by a sample from the Temptations’ “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” followed a similar pop-leaning path. Overall, the lyrical content on the album was a step up from the group’s first three LPs. It’s easy to infer, looking back, that they were feeling the heat from their younger competitors in the rap game. The genre was changing fast, and they were up to the challenge. On cuts like “Radio Station” they bring substance to the grooves, by attacking Black Radio for its continual denigration of rap. “Tougher Than Leather” reminds the world that they were still the Kings of Rock, with hard guitars to drive the point home. And “They Call Us Run-DMC” and “Soul To Rock And Roll” both bring things back to their early days, with sure-fire park jam rhymes and killer cuts. Tougher Than Leather, which went platinum up against a lot of competition, perfectly bookends the ‘80s output of one of the decade’s most important groups. It encompasses the full range of the trio’s capabilities, and reminds us that Run-DMC should never be forgotten as both pioneers and party-rockers. And so, we say, long live Joe, Darryl and Jay! A1. Run's House A2. Mary, Mary A3. They Call Us Run DMC A4. Beats To The Rhyme A5. Radio Station A6. Papa Crazy B1. Tougher Than Leather B2. I'm Not Going Out Like That B3. How'd Ya Do It Dee B4. Miss Elaine B5. Soul To Rock And Roll B6. Ragtime

Deadpool 2 is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Deadpool. It is the sequel to Deadpool (2016) and the eleventh installment overall in the X-Men film series. The film was directed by David Leitch and written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Ryan Reynolds, who stars in the title role alongside Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, and Jack Kesy. In the film, Deadpool forms the X-Force to protect a young mutant from the time-traveling soldier Cable.

Bates approached the score with a slight rock sensibility and created an “obvious superhero theme” that he felt fit within the established X-Men franchise. He attempted to write music that stayed out of the way of the film’s comedy and complemented its dialogue, which was a challenge due to the constant changes being made to the film throughout the post-production process. For the score, Bates used a distorted guitar run through a wah-wah pedal, microsynths to add “unique colors”, and a choir.

Deadpool 2 is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on transparent pink coloured vinyl. It is housed in a high-quality sleeve with silverfoil and spot-varnish with embossing on the front cover. Additionally, this release includes a 4-page booklet and fridge magnet of the film’s logo.

Eva Louise Goodman’s Nighttime project locates itself on a musical tree planted on the British Isles, perched atop the branch of folk leaning into sixties rock. Her upstate New York environs don’t stray far from that image. With tempered percussion, floating mellotron, and singing that evokes Bleecker & MacDougal on a fervent Saturday afternoon, her new album Keeper Is The Heart reaches deep into the essence of musicians such as Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier and Pentangle, breaking down the decades into a sound thoroughly and bizarrely modern.

Through her years performing with Mutual Benefit, Goodman fell in love with life on the road and the collaborative energy of a band. In this third Nighttime album, she channels these experiences into her own music. The creative journey from writing to recording to mixing drove her deeper into a sense of self while expanding her sound. In the process, she put aside lo-fi origins and challenged herself to achieve the same intimacy with a bigger production.

Like most paths of self-discovery, the journey started with displacement. In October 2019, Goodman set out to record the album on her own, while cat-sitting at a friend’s empty Brooklyn apartment. Rather than recording, she was drawn to the overgrown garden, where she spent her days listening to music and reading old journals. Charlie Megira, The Incredible String Band and Roy Montgomery invoked the spirit of the album, as she realized that a new, more collaborative approach would be necessary to bring the songs to life.

In March 2021, after a pandemic year immersed in sound experimentation and writing, she entered the upstate New York studio of recording engineer Rick Spataro (Florist). Together, Spataro and Goodman dove into creating the album, recording one song a day, letting the spark and excitement of spontaneity be their guide. “I've always been fascinated with ‘automatic’ arts,” Goodman says, “where things are created intuitively and without premeditation, from the subconscious.” In this light, they worked with abandon–pushing through the heaviness of songs written years earlier with the same energy as songs which were not yet fully developed. Taking chances, improvising, they sought to strip away pretense, and elude perfectionism at all cost.

Among their experiments, the duo manipulated tape speeds–slowing or speeding up different instrument tracks, imbuing passages with altered perspectives. Improvisation was the key in track five, ‘The Way,’ a song about “the magical act of carving out a path through life, amidst all possibility.” After a long day of recording, the song was feeling heavy and uninspired. As night fell, Spataro picked up the Stratocaster and, in one take, laid down a rolling, roiling guitar line that defined the track.

This spirit of surrender weaves through the album. “Break free from time, and sink in the pool of the mind,” begins ‘Garden of Delight’, an energetic highlight, propelled by 60’s-era organ and Jefferson Airplane-esque vocals. The song was accidentally deleted after the first day of recording. By luck or fate, the one surviving file captured the song’s loose and free-wheeling essence. Inspired, Goodman encouraged her circle of collaborators to work similarly: “I gave everyone trust and total freedom to contribute as they felt called to, encouraging an intuitive approach of simply improvising, playing through the song a few times and then sending over the results.” Synth, cello, violin, saxophone and flute all appear, but often in unconventional ways.

Keeper Is the Heart reflects Goodman’s process towards greater creative freedom. The first words she sings: “Lift the veil of all of this hate/To see the fear at its base.” Her last lines: “We’ll follow the fates across the great expanse of time/To the source of the light within our mind.” In between is a work of art awash in personal awakenings that revel in the freedom of intuition, the lifting of veils, and the beauty of transformation. As Goodman states, “What is it you find when you look inward to see beyond, past your fears, to your heart's true desires?”

Hailing from Baltimore, Punjabi-American sitar player, songwriter and ambient musician Ami Dang unites the disparate worlds of Indian classical music and dreamy synth-infused song composition on beguiling new album The Living World’s Demands.

Envisioned as a lament to the challenges to which humanity has subjected the world and itself, Ami Dang’s newest album builds on the floating, blissful ambience of 2019’s Parted Plains and the vocal-led, pop structures of 2020 collaborative release Galdre Visions (a bona fide ambient supergroup also featuring Green-House and Nailah Hunter). The Living World’s Demands is an immensely evocative and expressive collection, just as complex, nuanced and precious as the living world in its title. Within are themes of trauma, survival, resistance, desperation and righteous vitriol, responding to greed, fear and injustice, yet the music is often euphoric, disarming and breathtakingly beautiful. Lilting sitar lines sparkle about an unpredictably broad spectrum of synthesis; Indian classical percussion rattles and snakes through its drum programming. And atop, Ami’s astonishing singing voice - with lyrics of English and Punjabi - deftly weaves her two worlds together with silken threads of both contemporary and traditional textures.

A raw project by highly skilled musicians that explore modern grooves and brain-melting jazz chops. Led by Georgian producer Mishulino, who was also involved with the 2021 broken beat future-classic Turbulance project with Kid Sublime. On keys is former child prodigy Bjazz11, who already played with legends like Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke from an early age. On drums is Mike Mitchell aka Blaque Dynamite, another young legend who performed with Kamasi Washington, Mononeon, Erykah Badu, Thundercat, and many others. This record shows these topnotch players jamming it out with full freedom to express

Philly’s own Chained Bliss set tongues a-waggin’ back in 2019 with their Stained Red cassette EP, gathering more than a few comparisons to the Wipers’ early racket in the process. Well, now they’re back with a debut album that seems to have skipped right ahead from Is This Real? to Over The Edge: this self-titled LP has all the gut-punching ramalama, knockabout guts’n’glory of that first tape, with added layers. Melodic guitar lines come perilously close to jangling over crunching power chords, while furiously yelped choruses give way to sumptuously put-together breakdown sections that catch you off guard and kick you in the shins before legging it down the street. Chained Bliss clearly love scrappy, skatey garage rock (echoes of Agent Orange’s Living In Darkness abound) as much as they love pushing that raucous clatter into something spacious - the meditative sections that flow effortlessly into absolute ripper Pillars Of Abuse are as unexpected as the thoughtful but head-spinningly energetic sections that bring Creative Seizure so thrillingly to life. Other times they’re just as happy to keep you careening towards the pit with two-minute bangers, but that’s the beauty of this record: it’s never smarter than when it’s playing dumb, and the rest of the time it’s just pretty damn smart. Here’s a challenge: can you listen to Ominous Life’s gnarly pop without raising those fists of yours skywards and landing a firm thump on the air? Or Drifter’s swaggering stomp? Or, or, or… ahhh hell, you get what I’m saying here. Every single cut slays, every single hook snags itself on your brain. You’ll come back for more, and more, and more. Are Chained Bliss your new favourite band? Well, gee, we’ve never met and I don’t know what you like and it’s not for me to say… but on the other hand, yes. Yes, they are. They’re heading straight for your heart and they ain’t budging. Will Fitzpatrick

It's an all electronic affair, harmonically maximalist, predominantly symphonic-synthetic, requiring active listening. Some pieces function as challengers of musical structural habits, provoking the short attention span culture, others present a problem-solution scenario, collectively via a neoteric noise aesthetic and detailed melodic weaving. Ultimately, the objective was to engineer an assortment of works full of sound, euphonic and vivid in nature.

The making of this album was intentionally a very personal process, going into self therapy territory at times interpreting the composer's contemplating mind dealing with tolerance, destruction, compassion, misery, grace and tyranny in an auditory manner. Some pieces function as challengers of musical structural habits, provoking the short attention span culture, others present a problem-solution scenario, collectively via a neoteric noise aesthetic and detailed melodic weaving. Ultimately, the objective was to engineer an assortment of works, awash with euphonic sound vivid in its essence, with a deep focus on various synthesis techniques within a compositional framework.

Dedicated to Peter Rehberg aka Pita

Ata 'Sote' Ebtekar composes music with a deeply-held conviction that rules and formulas should be deconstructed and rethought. He alters musical modal codes from their original tonality and rhythmic tradition to achieve vivid, synthetic soundscapes. Over the last three decades, his work has been published by labels such as Warp, Sub Rosa, Opal Tapes, Diagonal, Mute and Morphine, among others. In 2018, he founded a new label called 'Zabte Sote', which focuses on releases by Iranian experimental electronic composers from around the globe.

Known for creating compositions that range from the delicate to the abrasive, using sounds both of acoustical and electronic origins, Ebtekar sees music as the expression of cultural habits in sound and anti-sound (silence). Seeking to expand such traditions he creates music that, while rooted in many cultures at once, belongs to none in particular. Sote's work deals with various blueprints, in particular his solo all synthetic music, his electroacoustic audio/visual group project, and his multi-channel sound installations. Sote is on the jury panel of The DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, and has created commissioned work for and performed at a.o. Berghain and CTM Festival (Berlin), Unsound Festival (Krakow), Cafe Oto (London), Jazzhouse (Copenhagen), TodaysArt Festival (The Hague), Bozar (Brussels), Ultima Festival (Oslo), Donaufestival (Krems), Donaueschinger Musiktage, Mira (Barcelona), Terraforma (Milan), and many more.

Thy Socialite!, the first release from Field Music"s new record label Daylight Saving Records, is not the sound of Lloyd Webber quivering and sweating in a rotting Berlin flat but instead, a fun, joyous, audacious record of hard rock, glam, and pop that ranges from arena to art school. "I wanted to include a more rockist palette," Black says. "My last album, Higgledypiggledy, had influences including The Cardiacs, Prince and The Residents. For this one I wanted to see what I could get out of less indie audience friendly artists such as Toto, Sweet, Wings, Def Leppard and ZZ Top and merge it with a SLUG sensibility. Due to the more rock approach, I was happy for the album to become a big classic rock unit - pompous even." However, simply a pastiche and nostalgic throwback this isn"t. Despite the playful nods to some of the more grandiose, theatrical and overblown elements of the aforementioned genre, it"s also an album with a contemporary pop edge, slick production and a tangible connection to SLUG"s previous deft mix of indie, rock and art pop. The result of all of this is an album that is fun and unpredictable but also conceptually smart, ambitious and adventurous. A place where classic hard rock and smart art-pop are treated equal, and where taking the piss doesn"t have to equate to being novelty or disposable. It was all part of the challenge that Black set himself from the off when he asked himself "how could I challenge the SLUG listener but bring them on a new fresh journey which will confuse them at first but they will ultimately love?"

Does Spring Hide Its Joy is an immersive piece by composer Kali Malone featuring Stephen O’Malley on electric guitar, Lucy Railton on cello, and Malone herself on tuned sine wave oscillators. The music is a study in harmonics and non-linear composition with a heightened focus on just intonation and beating interference patterns. Malone’s experience with pipe organ tuning, harmonic theory, and long durational composition provide prominent points of departure for this work. Her nuanced minimalism unfolds an astonishing depth of focus and opens up contemplative spaces in the listener’s attention. Does Spring Hide Its Joy follows Malone’s critically acclaimed records The Sacrificial Code Ideal Recordings, 2019 & Living Torch [Portraits GRM, 2022]. Her collaborative approach expands from her previous work to closely include the musicians Stephen O’Malley & Lucy Railton in the creation and development of the piece. While the music is distinctly Malone’s sonic palette, she composed specifically for the unique styles and techniques of O’Malley & Railton, presenting a framework for subjective interpretation and non-hierarchical movement throughout the music. Does Spring Hide Its Joy is a durational experience of variable length that follows slowly evolving harmony and timbre between cello, sine waves, and electric guitar. As a listener, the transition between these junctures can be difficult to pinpoint. There’s obscurity and unity in the instrumentation and identities of the players; the electric guitar’s saturation timbre blends with the cello’s rich periodicity, while shifting overtone feedback develops interference patterns against the precise sine waves. The gradual yet ever-occurring changes in harmony challenge the listener’s perception of stasis and movement. The moment you grasp the music, a slight shift in perspective guides your attention forward into a new and unfolding harmonic experience. Does Spring Hide Its Joy was created between March and May of 2020. During this unsettling period of the pandemic, Malone found herself in Berlin with a great deal of time and conceptual space to consider new compositional methods. With a few interns left on-site, Malone was invited to the Berlin Funkhaus & MONOM to develop and record new music within the empty concert halls. She took this opportunity to form a small ensemble with her close friends and collaborators Lucy Railton & Stephen O’Malley to explore these new structural ideas within those various acoustic spaces. Hence, the foundation was laid for Does Spring Hide Its Joy. In Kali’s own words: “Like most of the world, my perception of time went through a significant transformation during the pandemic confinements of spring 2020. Unmarked by the familiar milestones of life, the days and months dripped by, instinctively blending with no end in sight. Time stood still until subtle shifts in the environment suggested there had been a passing. Memories blurred non-sequentially, the fabric of reality deteriorated, unforeseen kinships formed and disappeared, and all the while, the seasons changed and moved on without the ones we lost. Playing this music for hours on end was a profound way to digest the countless life transitions and hold time together.” Ideologic Organ is pleased to present Kali Malone’s Does Spring Hide Its Joy as a triple LP set of around two-hours duration. Mastered by Stephen Mathieu and cut at Schnittstelle Mastering, the record is pressed in perfect sound quality by Optimal in Germany. The album is packaged in a heavyweight laminated jacket with full-color printed inner sleeves, and also available as a three-hour triple CD. Kali Malone’s album “The Sacrificial Code” (2019) has sold over 6000 copies in vinyl and CD format. Kali Malone’s album “Living Torch” (June 2022) has sold over 4000 copies in vinyl and CD format.

CUSTARD VINYL PRESSING.

The Beths' Warm Blood is a strong contender for the catchiest record you've never heard. Formed when four jazz students at the University of Auckland bonded over their shared love of the pop-punk sounds of their youth, The Beths bring new energy to the genre. This 5-song debut EP, a deliriously pleasurable statement of purpose, comes crammed with enough blissful hooks to carry through most bands' careers.

Listeners for whom the tag 'New Zealand indie rock' brings to mind the Flying Nun sound of bands like The Clean and The Chills may be surprised to find Warm Blood's five unstoppable tunes landing closer to artists like Slant 6 and The Breeders. The nimble guitar work here moves from heavy riffing reminiscent of Sleater-Kinney to hazily bending lines that would make Stephen Malkmus and Mary Timony beam, while the joyous vocal harmonies from all four members bubble and swell to ecstatic crescendos that channel The Zombies' Odessey and Oracle.

With impeccable production from guitarist Jonathan Pearce and stellar musicianship across the board, Warm Blood is a non-stop delight. Tracks like leadoff track and first single 'Whatever,' the ridiculously addictive standout 'Idea/Intent,' and 'Rush Hour 3,' a playful ode to romance in this era of download-and-chill franchise films, take delight in the challenge of breathing new energy into the limitations of the 3-minute pop song. 

Baroness will release their eagerly-awaited new album ‘Gold & Grey’ on June 14th via Abraxan Hymns.



“Our goal is, was, and will always be to write increasingly superior, more honest and compelling songs, and to develop a more unique and challenging sound,” offers Baroness founder, guitar player and vocalist John Baizley. “I’m sure we have just finished our best, most adventurous album to date. We dug incredibly deep, challenged ourselves and recorded a record I’m positive we could never again replicate.



I consider myself incredibly fortunate to know Sebastian, Nick and Gina as both my bandmates and my friends. They have pushed me to become a better songwriter, musician and vocalist. We’re all extremely excited for this release, which includes quite a few ‘firsts’ for the band, and we’re thrilled to be back on tour to play these psychotic songs for our fans. Expect some surprises.”



While ‘Gold & Grey’ found the band once again working with Purple producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Mogwai), sequestering themselves at Fridmann’s remote upstate New York Tarbox Road Studio. The 17-track album ushered in two significant changes: a decidedly different recording process and guitar player Gina Gleason’s debut on a Baroness recording.



The band, who tracked portions of the vocals, guitars and overdubs in Baizley’s home-basement studio, another first for them, eschewed their normal routine of entering the studio with meticulously detailed plans and instead opted for a looser, more improvisational approach that resulted in their most collaborative and emotionally evocative release to date.



Featuring John Baizley (vocals/guitar), Gina Gleason (guitar), Nick Jost (bass) and Sebastian Thomson (drums), Baroness received a GRAMMY Award nomination for Best Metal Performance for ‘Shock Me’ from the 2015 album ‘Purple’.

Die "Blue Record" EP enthält 5 Songs: die beeindruckenden Akustikversionen von drei Songs des 2013er Albums ,II" sowie zwei fantastische Coverversionen, "Swing Lo Magellan" (DIRTY PROJECTORS) und "Puttin It Down" (BECK). "Ich habe erst im letzten Jahr damit angefangen, Akustikgitarre zu spielen. Die Idee, dass eine Gitarre Sound in Elektrizität übersetzt und es dann richtig laut wird, mochte ich schon immer. Ich dachte, dass die Akustikgitarre vielleicht ein bisschen zu niedlich für mich ist. Doch nachdem uns einige Gelegenheiten geboten wurden, Akustiksets zu spielen, um die neue Platte zu promoten, habe ich beschlossen, das Ganze als Herausforderung zu betrachten und zu versuchen, akustisch zu spielen und dabei nicht langweilig zu klingen. Schließlich fand ich es schon immer toll, wie Arthur Lee akustisch spielt und fragte mich, ob ich das wohl überzeugend hinbekommen könnte. So wurde ich praktisch durch ein paar Radiosessions dazu gezwungen, mir die Akustikgitarre anzueignen und beschloss, ein paar Songs akustisch aufzunehmen und zu veröffentlichen, weil den Leuten das anscheinend gefiel. Alles wurde in meinem Keller mit nur einem Mikro direkt auf Band aufgenommen." - Ruban Nielson, UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA ENG "I only started playing the acoustic guitar last year. I'd always preferred the idea that the guitar converts a sound into voltage and then becomes really loud. I thought the acoustic guitar was a little bit too twee for me or something. But after being offered some opportunities to play various acoustic sessions to promote the new record, in situations where it wasn't possible to record the whole band, I decided to treat it like a challenge to try and play acoustic and not have it be lame. After all I was really into Arthur Lee's ability with an acoustic and started wondering if I could make it sound convincing. Anyway, after being somewhat forced to develop some skill on the acoustic through these various radio sessions and things like that I decided to record some songs acoustically and release them since people seemed to be liking the way I was doing it. Everything was recorded straight to tape in my basement with a one mic set up." - RUBAN NIELSON, UMO


[a] 1 SWIM AND SLEEP (LIKE A SHARK) [ACOUSTIC VERSION]
[b] 2 FADED IN THE MORNING [ACOUSTIC VERSION]
[c] 3 SO GOOD AT BEING IN TROUBLE [ACOUSTIC VERSION]

First Lady of Song Ella Fitzgerald overcame the challenges of a tumultuous youth through music, her performances with the Chick Webb Orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom and distinctive scat singing leading to early recordings and the 1938 breakthrough, ‘A Tisket A Tasket.’ After recording bebop LPs for Decca, manager Norman Granz launched the Verve label to allow her to broaden her musical horizons, exploring the Great American Songbook. Released in 1960, Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas sees her tackle Christmas classics as only Ella can, the lavish orchestration overseen by noted conductor Frank de Vol.

Tape
Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band's Wede Harer Guzo is the third release on Awesome Tapes From Africa for Ethiopian keyboard and accordion maestro. In the years since Shemonmuanaye, Mergia has revamped his touring career, playing festivals and clubs worldwide, including a recent tour supporting Beirut. By 1978, Addis Ababa's nightlife was facing challenges. The ruling Derg regime imposed curfews, banning citizens from the streets after midnight until 6:00 am. But that didn't stop some people from dancing and partying through the night. Bands would play from evening until daybreak and people would stay at the clubs until curfew was lifted in the morning. One key denizen of Addis' musical golden age, Hailu Mergia, was preparing a follow-up to his seminal Tche Belew LP with the famed Walias Band. It was the band's only full-length record and it had been a success. But his Hilton house band colleagues were a bit tied up recording cassettes with different vocalists. Still Mergia, amidst recording and gigs with the Walias, was also eager to make another recording of his instrumental-focused arrangements. So he went to the nearby Ghion Hotel, another upmarket outpost with a popular nightclub. Dahlak Band was the house band at Ghion at the time. Together they made this tape Wede Harer Guzo right there in the club during the band's afternoon rehearsal meetings, with sessions lasting three days. Dahlak Band catered to a slightly more youthful, local audience, while Mergia's main gig with the Walias at Addis' swankiest hotel had a mixed audience that included wealthy Ethiopians, foreign diplomats and older folks from abroad. Therefore, their sets featured lighter fare during dinnertime and a less rollicking selection of jazz and r&b. Meanwhile, Dahlak was known more for the mainly soul and Amharic jams they served up for hours two nights a week to a younger crowd. Mergia released Wede Harer Guzo ("Journey to Harer," a city in eastern Ethiopia) with Sheba Music Shop, which was located in the Piazza district but has long since shut down. His cassette copy is the only known source we could find. Jessica Thompson at Coast Mastering managed to restore the recording to clean up layers of hiss, flutter and distorted frequencies, made worse by years of storage. Although there are some remaining sonic artifacts of the era's recording and cassette duplicating quality, this reissue captures the band's inimitable vibe. Recalling the audience's positive reaction to Wede Harer Guzo's novel arrangements, he says it sold well and found many fans. However, as no trace of the tape can be found online, there's no indication as to why the cassette appears largely forgotten until now

Die "Blue Record" EP enthält 5 Songs: die beeindruckenden Akustikversionen von drei Songs des 2013er Albums ,II" sowie zwei fantastische Coverversionen, "Swing Lo Magellan" (DIRTY PROJECTORS) und "Puttin It Down" (BECK). "Ich habe erst im letzten Jahr damit angefangen, Akustikgitarre zu spielen. Die Idee, dass eine Gitarre Sound in Elektrizität übersetzt und es dann richtig laut wird, mochte ich schon immer. Ich dachte, dass die Akustikgitarre vielleicht ein bisschen zu niedlich für mich ist. Doch nachdem uns einige Gelegenheiten geboten wurden, Akustiksets zu spielen, um die neue Platte zu promoten, habe ich beschlossen, das Ganze als Herausforderung zu betrachten und zu versuchen, akustisch zu spielen und dabei nicht langweilig zu klingen. Schließlich fand ich es schon immer toll, wie Arthur Lee akustisch spielt und fragte mich, ob ich das wohl überzeugend hinbekommen könnte. So wurde ich praktisch durch ein paar Radiosessions dazu gezwungen, mir die Akustikgitarre anzueignen und beschloss, ein paar Songs akustisch aufzunehmen und zu veröffentlichen, weil den Leuten das anscheinend gefiel. Alles wurde in meinem Keller mit nur einem Mikro direkt auf Band aufgenommen." - Ruban Nielson, UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA ENG "I only started playing the acoustic guitar last year. I'd always preferred the idea that the guitar converts a sound into voltage and then becomes really loud. I thought the acoustic guitar was a little bit too twee for me or something. But after being offered some opportunities to play various acoustic sessions to promote the new record, in situations where it wasn't possible to record the whole band, I decided to treat it like a challenge to try and play acoustic and not have it be lame. After all I was really into Arthur Lee's ability with an acoustic and started wondering if I could make it sound convincing. Anyway, after being somewhat forced to develop some skill on the acoustic through these various radio sessions and things like that I decided to record some songs acoustically and release them since people seemed to be liking the way I was doing it. Everything was recorded straight to tape in my basement with a one mic set up." - RUBAN NIELSON, UMO


[a] 01. SWIM AND SLEEP (LIKE A SHARK) [ACOUSTIC VERSION]
[b] 02. FADED IN THE MORNING [ACOUSTIC VERSION]
[c] 03. SO GOOD AT BEING IN TROUBLE [ACOUSTIC VERSION]

Emotional Response presents Elektronik Body Girl, a musical alter-ego of artist Shelbatra Jashari, with production by soFa elsewhere. Spontaneously born out of 2 souls in an imaginary industrial wasteland of earthly survivors, this Belgo-Albanian postpunk extravaganza is perfectly suited for our unreal times.

Infused with raw attitude and improvisational approach, Shelbatra is an artist, dancer, performer, and singer in search of challenges and expressive forms into new territory, with an individual way in dealing with the ""empowering feminine" and its representation - a vision central to her artistic creation.

Teaming up with Brussels based soFa DJ, they debut an EP of challenging story-telling comes backed with a wonderfully conjured beatdown remix by label associate, Tolouse Low Trax, to act as a seal of (dis)approval.

First known as a DJ and selector and then compilation curator of the "elsewhere" series of albums across multiple labels - including Emotional Response (ERS042) - soFa recent collaborations as Mameen 3 on Bongo Joe, CCCVVV on Strangelove Music and the highly praised album with Houschyar and Okay Temiz on Second Circle, has established him as a producer of repute in an incredibly short time space.

Taking a production backseat to underpin Jashari's performance, his percussive, atmospheric oeuvre allows her vocals to explore roots in both Kosova and Belgium, molding a focus on the art of "the other" or the outsider. Outside the "normality"", a different energy is heard. Exploring elements of the human body, the human condition and its representation in various "thinking" systems and political contexts, EBG is manifestation in sound and movement.

Summer at Land's End is not an interlude or tangent for The Reds, Pinks & Purples but rather a perfect fourth movement following the albums Anxiety Art, You Might Be Happy Someday, and Uncommon Weather. As with these self-recorded records (the primary work of songwriter Glenn Donaldson), the songs on Summer at Land's End were crafted slowly and then drawn together to make a unified statement. But here, and more than before, Summer at Land's End combines Donaldson's rueful pop sensibility with a parallel musical universe, one composed of pictures, dreams, and feelings without words. Even if the underlying theme of this collection is one of conflict or unhappiness, the vision of the music presents an escape to a new world, always fading in and out of sight. For listeners who may not be familiar with Donaldson's corner of San Francisco--the Richmond district--or the current wave of hazy, melodic DIY pop groups performing in the city, Summer at Land's End pulls in images and scenes that feel like a collision of the mundane and the sublime of this present landscape. With this record, The Reds, Pinks & Purples give less focus to the vanities of a subculture and more to the challenge of connecting with someone, to the ordinary goals of being human and finding harmony with others. This deliberate saturation in drama and ambiance, along with some of Donaldson's best songwriting to date, is what gives Summer at Land's End its special class in the project's discography. Of the album's cinematic mood, Donaldson refers to films like Summer of '42 and the influence of the classic 4AD catalogue of the 1990s. This style informs much of Donaldson's prior and current ventures of course (The Ivytree, Vacant Gardens, and a dozen projects in between) but now The Reds, Pinks & Purples have taken the mantle, embracing this instinct for instrumental or dreamier modes of pop songwriting. It's a pleasure to experience Summer at Land's End, as this record finds a thrilling balance between songs and sounds, instruments and voices, and the ironic twin poles of art and life.

PALE GREEN STARS VINYL

Summer at Land's End is not an interlude or tangent for The Reds, Pinks & Purples but rather a perfect fourth movement following the albums Anxiety Art, You Might Be Happy Someday, and Uncommon Weather. As with these self-recorded records (the primary work of songwriter Glenn Donaldson), the songs on Summer at Land's End were crafted slowly and then drawn together to make a unified statement. But here, and more than before, Summer at Land's End combines Donaldson's rueful pop sensibility with a parallel musical universe, one composed of pictures, dreams, and feelings without words. Even if the underlying theme of this collection is one of conflict or unhappiness, the vision of the music presents an escape to a new world, always fading in and out of sight. For listeners who may not be familiar with Donaldson's corner of San Francisco--the Richmond district--or the current wave of hazy, melodic DIY pop groups performing in the city, Summer at Land's End pulls in images and scenes that feel like a collision of the mundane and the sublime of this present landscape. With this record, The Reds, Pinks & Purples give less focus to the vanities of a subculture and more to the challenge of connecting with someone, to the ordinary goals of being human and finding harmony with others. This deliberate saturation in drama and ambiance, along with some of Donaldson's best songwriting to date, is what gives Summer at Land's End its special class in the project's discography. Of the album's cinematic mood, Donaldson refers to films like Summer of '42 and the influence of the classic 4AD catalogue of the 1990s. This style informs much of Donaldson's prior and current ventures of course (The Ivytree, Vacant Gardens, and a dozen projects in between) but now The Reds, Pinks & Purples have taken the mantle, embracing this instinct for instrumental or dreamier modes of pop songwriting. It's a pleasure to experience Summer at Land's End, as this record finds a thrilling balance between songs and sounds, instruments and voices, and the ironic twin poles of art and life.

Wu Tang & Staten Island MC/Producer come together again in new vinyl release Wutang x Remedy. Remedy is a MC/producer from Staten Island, New York who first made his mark with the song "Never Again" off the Wu-Tang Killa Beez' debut album The Swarm in the summer of '98. He eventually made his full-length debut The Genuine Article in the spring of '01 & followed it up with Code Red about 2« years later. The last we heard from him on his own was when It All Comes Down to This was released in 2010. But as the 12-year anniversary of that approaches in a few weeks, he's enlisting a star studded cast of veterans to be featured on his 4th album. Ghostface Killah tags along for the opener "Modern Day Miracle" working in an occultist loop to verbally abuse anyone who wants to challenge them whereas "Death Defying" with Inspectah Deck finds the 2 over an operatic instrumental talking about choosing whether to kill or be killed. "Sparrow" takes a more soulful route feeling comparing himself to the titular bird leading into Ghostface returning alongside Conway the Machine for "The Pulpit" incorporating some orchestral samples talking about the street life.The penultimate track "Noir Story" is a full-on Killah Priest solo cut with a drumless instrumental & his lyricism on here is a reminder as to why he's this reviewer's 2nd favorite affiliate right behind Killa Sin in terms of lyrical skill, the previous cuts. "Never Again" then ends the album by mournfully paying tribute to those we've lost along the way.If you're a diehard Wu fan like I am, then you're gonna come away from this highly impressed. It's great to hear Remedy completely rejuvenated & he does an awesome job of paying homage to my all-time favorite hip hop group from the guests to the production.

LTD. RED VINY

Guitar and bass duo Gong Gong Gong charge out from Beijing's underground scene with a distinct vision and uncompromising sense of purpose. The duo taps into a wavelength uniting musical cultures, drawing on inspirations as wide-ranging as Bo Diddley, Cantonese opera, West African desert blues, drone, and electronic music.

Despite the band's decision to eschew traditional rock percussion, on their debut LP Phantom Rythm, the locomotive chug of Tom Ng's guitar combines with Joshua Frank's thumping, harmonics-laden basslines to conjure an aura of ghostly snare hits and timpani overtones. Over Frank's enigmatic melodies, Ng sings in Cantonese, piecing together abstract tales of absurdity, doubt, desire, and lust. Synchronized to the point of near-telephathy, "the Gongs" use their minimalistic tools and idiosyncratic playing style to challenge the notions of rock n' roll and strip the form down to its bare essentials: rhythm, melody, and grit.

Blue Vinyl

2019 saw Firescope release a seminal album, The Lonely Machine by Britain’s John Shima. The world has become a very different place since then. The pandemic, economic turmoil and global crises prevail. It is amidst such uncertainty that Shima returns with a new collection to combat the savagery of our times, enter Empty Lands.

Dauby basslines and silken strings introduce “Component”, saturated snares giving ballast as Shima’s signature style immediately comes to the fore. A throbbing kick and orbiting notes are peppered with hi-hats for “Neglected”, a sonorous stratum synergising beautifully. Shima is a student of techno. His appreciation and knowledge of the sound is central to the album as he composes within the traditions of the UK and US canon while exploring new plains. The influence of “bleep” is woven into the tapestry of pieces like “Depart” and “Mettle” with the minimalism of the 90s genre reimagined through new textures. “Sayaka” flows with a different current. Rhythms are understated, lapping against undulating keys as dawn rises. Harmony and melody are cornerstones of record, the gentle ebbs and flows of key and drum merging. Inspiration arises from home as well. The steady pulse and metallic tang of “Projection” recalling the industry of Sheffield and the pioneering electronics that sprouted from that rust red earth.

Track titles, and the album name itself, suggest periods of challenge and difficulty. “Paralysis”, “Desolate”, “Empty Lands”. Words that conjure certain feelings and responses. Shima’s music is a counterbalance to these emotions. Positive compositions of subtle shifts, complementary percussion and welcoming warmth acting as a tonic to the negativity that swirls; the ten audio works on offer acting as a balm to soothe the soul in these troubled time

Talented multi-instrumentalist Flevans returns with his most musically expressive and personal long player, 'A Short Distance To Fall'.

A largely instrumental album, though peppered with lush vocal samples throughout, 'A Short Distance To Fall' is a listening experience and one meant to be savoured from start to finish - drawing you in and guiding you through an ever changing musical world, taking in snippets of electronica, disco, funk, beats, soul and downtempo - delivering them all with a warm, musical, lo-fi aesthetic.

With nods to luminaries such as The Avalanches, early Ninja Tune and Nightmares on Wax through to contemporaries such as Folamour and Art of Tones, the challenge was to create something cohesive that could traverse the different genres he loved whilst remaining true to the Flevans sound.

Diverse and eclectic, yet warm and cohesive throughout - from the atmospheric beats of 'In Shadows' the uplifting radio-ready warmth of first single 'It Take The Whole Day', the lurching groove of 'We Walk Alone' through to the driving disco of 'Digits' and 'I Got Soul', the album rewards repeated listens, never sitting still on one style or sound.

Tape

Dur-Dur Band emerged in the 1980s, during a time when Somalia's contribution to the creative culture in the Horn of Africa was visible and abundant. Seeking inspiration outside the impressive array of Somali traditional music that was encouraged at the time, everyone from Michael Jackson and Phil Collins to Bob Marley and Santana were fair game. This recording, which was remastered from a cassette copy source, is a document of Dur-Dur Band after establishing itself as one of the most popular bands in Mogadishu. The challenge of locating a complete long-player from this era is evidenced bythe fidelity of this recording. However, the complex, soulful music penetrates the hiss. In a country that has been disrupted by civil war, heated clan divisions and security concerns, music and the arts has suffered from stagnation in recent years. Incidentally, more than ten years after Volume 5 (1987) was recorded at Radio Mogadishu, the state-run broadcaster was the only station in Somalia to resist the ban on music briefly enacted by Al-Shabab. Dur-Dur Band is a powerful and illustrative lens through which to appreciate the incredible sounds in Somalia before the country's stability took a turn.

“After doing three solo albums, the challenge of interpreting Eric Satie’s music seemed challenging, appealing and also like a good way of finding new angles and flavours in my own music.
What struck me while digging deeper in his catalogue was how modern and progressive he still appears, beside the soothing and calming mellowness that I think we all associate his music with, I found very brave, sometimes stubborn minimalism and besides the blue harmonies that we now associate with jazz, I found really salty, almost cluster-like colours that must have been extremely challenging for the end of 19th century ears.
I humbly thank Satie for letting me borrow his music for a while (he didn’t have a say though), giving me both the meditative peace I hope you will also experience while listening and, like in the Nocturne, challenging my ears and fingers to reach new territories.” – Martin Hederos

Folk singer-songwriter Peter Case challenges listeners to be more
attuned to the world through his politically-fueled lyricism and intricate
finger-style acoustic guitar heard in Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John
This record reflects Case's transformation from power- pop songwriter to
traditional folk artist with strong roots in Americana. This Grammy award
nominated 11-track collection includes original songs from Case and a cover of
the traditional blues tune 'Get Away Blues.' The album features guest musicians
Richard Thompson, Duane Jarvis, Carlos Guitarlos, and Norm Hamlet. For its 15th
anniversary, Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John is available now for the first time on
vinyl.

Freestyle Records drop an unmissable LP of foundational UK dance music made between 1982 to 1984, in the form of the collected output of Contact-U - aka Rick de Jongh and Andy Sojka's stripped-back electro boogie project.

At the turn of the 1980s Challenge Records was founded on North London's Holloway Road - formed by Andy Sojka & Rick de Jongh to act as a sister-label to Sojka's seminal soul & boogie-focused Elite imprint. Initially releasing a smattering of lovers rock singles, Challenge would quickly begin to focus-in on the emerging sounds of Hi-NRG & electro - with Contact-U, an alias for Rick & Andy's own stripped-back productions, becoming Challenge's first act in this vein.

Recording the sublimely wonky spaceage funk of 'Inside You' in November of 1982, de Jongh & Sojka followed this up over the next 2 years with three 12" releases for Challenge before hanging up the moniker. Providing infectious synth-based melodies & basslines with killer drum-machines & minimal but effective live percussion - and in a couple of instances (see "Inca Sacrifice" and "Breaking Point') crucial dub re-versions on their B-sides - these tracks are some of the strongest electro-funk records to come out of the UK during this period. Dig in!

Laila Sakini's new album 'Paloma' arrives via Modern Love and is her most striking and ambiguous to date - a pointed and timely meditation on hope and hierarchies that riffs on Zbigniew Preisner's magical "The Double Life of Veronique" score and enduring outsider music tome "The Langley Schools Music Project". Subtly transcendent, fathoms-deep music.

When Laila Sakini's debut album ‘Vivienne’ arrived in 2020, it felt like the record we were waiting for to map out our tangled reactions to an uninvited reality. Never self-consciously strange, it revealed itself slowly and cautiously, like a shadow in the corner of the eye, or an alchemical symbol in a bowl of alphabet spaghetti. This time around Sakini has worked her unique world-building to an even finer point, forming six tracks around a theme that's so close to our heart it's almost beating in time. Initially inspired by Krzysztof Kieślowski's 1991 arthouse classic "The Double Life of Veronique", the cult Polish director's enduring modern fairytale that serves as a cosmic rumination on identity and choice. Detailing two identical women - both singers, both in love - the film lets one live as the other dies, forcing us to consider the implications of art and endurance in the face of life's myriad challenges.

Sakini takes Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner's influential score for the film and uses it as a jumping-off point for ‘Paloma’, bending the more grandiose moments into baroque awkwardness on opening track 'Fluer D'Oranger' and evoking the mood of scene-setting cues 'Weronika' and 'Véronique' on the recorder-led 'The Light That Flickers In The Mirror'. And while Preisner's score zeroed in on the musical virtuosity of the film's lead characters, Sakini reinterprets that as a metaphor for self-discovery. Playing piano, violin, glockenspiel, timbale, recorder, and occasionally singing, Sakini captures a mood of innocence that immediately transports the listener back to simpler times. Her music isn't self-consciously simplistic, but forcing herself to interface with instruments impulsively rather than studiously, her sounds are all heart, no filigree.

In spirit, it reminds us of cult Canadian album "The Langley Schools Music Project", a collection of 1970s recordings of school kids singing rudimentary renditions of pop songs in a school gymnasium. That album's genius was in the bottling of hope and innocence: the feeling of joy from hearing and wholesomely interacting with music that's known and loved without a sense of hierarchy or desire for cultural clout. Sakini subtly subverts this by evoking the amateur spirit in the most bewitching way; instead of sourcing her ideas from Bowie, Fleetwood Mac and the Beach Boys, her stock is the established art canon, and by reforming those sounds she makes an insightful comment on intellectualism and access. European classical music is all too often trapped behind the frosted glass of respectability and assumed skill - craft replaces spirit, and technique replaces soul. By approaching these gestures from a different angle, Sakini softens the edges sonically and intellectually, finding music that bubbles with emotion, and most strikingly - hope.

Her choice of instruments and the way she interacts with them allows us to feel as if we're not only listening but contributing. It's a bottom-up way of absorbing art that's traditionally been top-down, and a reminder that we're all part of the experience, whether we're humming along to the remnants of a theme as it dribbles out of an ear in the shower, or dreaming of spotlights in a parallel life that may or may not be real. Sakini's music is nostalgic in a sense, but nowhere near the buttered popcorn and high-fructose candy migraine of the Netflix/Spotify algorithm generation of regurgitated churn. She makes sounds that remind us of what time and experience may have stolen from us, and how we might recover it.

dreamcastmoe is the recording project of singer, songwriter, producer, and DJ Davon Bryant, a lifelong resident of Washington, DC. His music moves freely between moods and modes, hypnotic, romantic, traversing electronic, R&B, funk, soul, and hip-hop... Resident Advisor dubs it "soulful, cross-genre dance music." This ability to adapt and finesse, to twist in different directions while staying true and coherent in vision, can be traced to his home city and its complex cultural history. "Most Black kids in DC don't ever get to this point," he says. "This is what I am making this music for, in the DC tradition of soul and empathy and love that is rooted in this city. My music is for real people dealing with shit every day." A versatile, modern artist and collaborator, dreamcastmoe has thrived in the underground since his first uploads to Soundcloud and Bandcamp in 2017 and subsequent releases with labels like People's Potential Unlimited, Trading Places, and In Real Life Music. Bryant's laid-back personality, emotional honesty, and infectious energy shine through his work and how he talks about it, as Crack Magazine notes in their 2021 Rising feature: "a steady combination of confidence, creativity, and calmness." He grew up playing drums in church; he's worked dead-end jobs, had ups and downs, even sold off all his gear one time, but never stopped reinvesting in himself. He is quick to praise his co-producers, rattle off influences _ the visual feel of NBA 2K, the comedic timing of Bernie Mac, the savvy legacy of Duke Ellington, for starters _ and credit resourceful DC breakouts like Ankhlejohn that showed him the roadmap. His voice, a steady instrument, seemingly connects it all, capable of slow falsetto flow, swaggering talk-rap, and outright croon. His storytelling style is choppy yet fluid, like a mixtape, which is how Bryant sees Sound Is Like Water, his debut on Ghostly's International's freeform label, Spectral Sound. The two-part project culminates as a full-length LP release in November 2022. The first side, released as Part I, opens on the blurred beats of "El Dorado," which dreamcastmoe dedicates to his journey. It's a head-nodder, an off-kilter earworm co-produced by Max D (Future Times, RVNG Intl, etc.), with Bryant harmonizing hooks with synth jabs and a pitched-down presence. "Complicated" is the slow jam, delivered smoothly from a Saturday night crossroads. dreamcastmoe is contemplative and committed... gliding and locking ad-libs into skittering rhythms courtesy of co-producer Zackary Dawson _ but also willing to let something go, "acknowledging that everything in life IS NOT easy." "RU Ready" takes off from the jump as a tribute, challenge, and promise to his partner and his city ("The times you sat with me when I needed you the most / Told me the things that I needed to see / Young black man, really trying to be what I can be / And I'm really from DC). In its potent two-plus minutes, the sonics (co-produced by ZDBT) press the message, all cymbal crashes, breakbeats, and serrated synth lines. "Cloudy Weather, Wear Boots" is a blitzing dance-punk track made in collaboration with Jordan GCZ on Bryant's first trip to Amsterdam. The album's flipside opens on "Much More," the first of two synth-and-beat ballads co-produced by ZDBT. Later on "Long Songz," he claims, "I'm not writing love songs no more," prioritizing the vibe with "all my day ones." He calls it "a cry for more normal moments. Everything doesn't have to be a fantasy love story, more time spent getting to the money, growing, and making a way." He saves two of his most propulsive cuts for the finale, co-produced by Sami, co-founder of DC dance label 1432 R. As their titles suggest, "Take A Moment" and "Make Ya Mind" operate as anthems for movement, with Bryant free-flowing commands above wildly-styled percussion. Per Bryant, the latter is both "wake & bake jam" and a "dance floor bomb." His parting line: "Action / You got to show me action / Reaction." The world of dreamcastmoe straddles virtual reality and the realness of DC, images both imagined and lived-in. Bryant has a knack for unexpected melodies but what makes his music so exciting is his capacity to defy the expectations of genre and image. A fluid ingenuity and vulnerability bottled by Sound Is Like Water, and this is just the beginning.

In recent years ambient music has changed and encountering Jon Hassell's fourth world design has become easy. Most of the time there’s no feeling, no narrative, a nothingness of ideas through layers and layers of pastiche and boring bedroom music. This is not bashing. Just a reminder that sometimes the information trap delays an understanding of how good music really is.

“Cavalcante” is the new release by funcionário (born Pedro Tavares). You’ll find Jon Hassell in these eleven pieces. And yes, sometimes you’ll think about ambient music. Most of the time you’ll wonder about what is really happening. And why it's only now you’re hearing about this twenty-something musician from Setúbal, Portugal.

A little bit more than one minute into “En Garde!”, the opening track, one feels challenged by the idea that everything that was listened up to that moment was a false start. The piece abruptly stops, flips some digital sound, and restarts in a whole new direction. As this happens it becomes obvious we are in for a treat. Those two, three seconds create a sensation that everything happens in a moment that introduces you to funcionário's craft: delicate complex sounds infatuated with the idea of movement and the never-ending notion that there’s no dividers in the fourth world. Music can go beyond that.

As it moves forward – “Verde”, “Sierra” or “Publicidade Arco e Flecha” -, the album (his fourth) morphs around variations or perceptions of ambient / electronic / experimental music. And as the language evolves, it hints on how funcionário keeps stretching the boundaries of digital music as he wishes to advance to a more analog setup. In a way, he confronts foundational ideas while having breakthroughs and realizing he is at a top level. Justifiably ambitious, bright and discreetly edgy.

Widely considered as one of Canada's most prolific guitarists, Steve Hill
has won a JUNO Award, the International Blues Challenge, and too many
Maple Blues Awards to count
A guitar stylist with a wide musical vocabulary, he has performed over 2,500
concerts in many configurations. For the past 10 years, he has toured extensively
throughout Canada and Europe supporting his critically acclaimed Solo
Recordings albums trilogy and his one- man band show. Heralded wherever he
goes, the guitarist, singer, drummer, harmonica player, songwriter and
accomplished producer is a musical force to be reckoned with. The acclaimed
singer- songwriter celebrates his 25th year as a recording artist with this
release.On Dear Illusion, the multi-instrumentalist shares the spotlight with a horn
section, The Devil Horns, as well as 7-time UK Blues Awards Drummer of the Year
Mr. Wayne Proctor. Mr Proctor also mixed and mastered the upcoming
record.Three years in the making, the album is without a doubt, a step up for the
artist, both in terms of maturity and execution, and is his best production to date.

Zeke Sky is an American guitarist, pianist, vocalist and composer who has made continuous impact since videos of his playing and songs emerged on the internet in 2018. Combining influences of psychedelic rock, progressive metal, heavy metal and world music, Zeke goes against the grain in writing and performing bold and visionary songs without limitation, dealing with complex lyric issues ranging from toxic love to kingly conquests.

In the same year, Zeke played his first live event opening for KING'S X as part of a home recorded album effort. Despite the total infancy of his name, an impressive number of copies were sold of this obscure album on the web. Zeke followed up with a pair of singles in 2019 and 2020 with updated production ethics and of course more aggressive playing, and those saw favorable reviews all over the world, including in Rolling Stone Magazine (“ZEKE SKY is an incendiary of heavy metal.”).

In 2021, Zeke completed a debut label effort, »Intergalactic Demon King,« for release in late 2022. For this young composer, the future is as bold as it is long, for only the brave who accept the challenge will taste the fruits of the golden mountain. --- ---

Fangst never announced their arrival – without a warning they were just there, and so was the demand for their music. The band’s hook-laden songs were quickly embraced by audience and press alike. Suddenly there was a new challenger to the throne of Norwegian “mother tongue rock”. Fangst appeared with a bang – releasing four singles in quick succession in 2021. Seeing the band live, it’s easy to be seduced by the four band members and their magnetic stage presence. Now they’re ready with their debut album on Jansen Records. But this is hardly a musical debut for the guys who make up this four-headed beast. All members of Fangst come with heaps of musical experience, and the bare mention of their other bands – Death By Unga Bunga, Honningbarna and Hvitmalt Gjerde – will awake fond memories in every concert goer who’s ever encountered those bands. Fangst’s debut full-length will be out in the fall of 2022, and if captivating Norwegian lyricism or very, ehm…rocking rock (or even both!) is your bag, then you’ll get your fill here. The band’ sound is a result of their diverse musical backgrounds and combines to create beautiful rock music – sporadically dangerous and at times plain cute.

Always pushing forward, always aiming higher: In the 20 years of their existence, EPICA have never shied away from challenges, twists and turns, weathering every storm and pushing the symphonic metal genre to heights no one even dared to believe in. Since 2002, the band surrounding global metal icon Simone Simons and her long-time musical partner Mark Jansen have released eight highly innovative and cinematic albums, have toured the world over and have left their mark as one of metal’s most prolific, most cherished and most admired success stories forever.

With "The Alchemy Project", EPICA set another highlight in the band's 20th anniversary year! Graced by a vivid and witty artwork by graphic wizard Heilemania, EPICA embark on a journey through seven extraordinary new songs. Co-written and performed with diverse guests ranging from extremists like Fleshgod Apocalypse, Niilo Sevänen (Insomnium) and Björn ‘Speed’ Strid (Soilwork) via melodic masters like Tommy Karevik (Kamelot), keyboard legend Phil Lanzon (Uriah Heep) or Roel van Helden (Powerwolf) to a once- in-a-lifetime song with Simone Simons, Charlotte Wessels and Myrkur, EPICA have really outdone themselves once again. The result is a mind-bending release that even surpasses the usual broad scope of an EPICA record.

Always pushing forward, always aiming higher: In the 20 years of their existence, EPICA have never shied away from challenges, twists and turns, weathering every storm and pushing the symphonic metal genre to heights no one even dared to believe in. Since 2002, the band surrounding global metal icon Simone Simons and her long-time musical partner Mark Jansen have released eight highly innovative and cinematic albums, have toured the world over and have left their mark as one of metal’s most prolific, most cherished and most admired success stories forever.

With "The Alchemy Project", EPICA set another highlight in the band's 20th anniversary year! Graced by a vivid and witty artwork by graphic wizard Heilemania, EPICA embark on a journey through seven extraordinary new songs. Co-written and performed with diverse guests ranging from extremists like Fleshgod Apocalypse, Niilo Sevänen (Insomnium) and Björn ‘Speed’ Strid (Soilwork) via melodic masters like Tommy Karevik (Kamelot), keyboard legend Phil Lanzon (Uriah Heep) or Roel van Helden (Powerwolf) to a once- in-a-lifetime song with Simone Simons, Charlotte Wessels and Myrkur, EPICA have really outdone themselves once again. The result is a mind-bending release that even surpasses the usual broad scope of an EPICA record.

For more than four decades, and despite all of the critical acclaim he's
received during that time, Nick Lowe has been making music that flies
right under most people's radar - And that's a shame, because it's hard to
imagine a soul so hard-hearted and melody-challenged who wouldn't find
a lot to love in The Old Magic
Paste Magazine says, '...when many people begin to consider retirement, Nick
Lowe has put out his best album in many years.' The album has been completely
remastered from the original tapes.