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Solid Red Vinyl Edition - 10@ Mini album. Originally release in 2025 in a painfully limited 2x7" + Book edition.

"Dream of the Egg" is the debut solo album by Tomo Katsurada, known for his work with the Japanese psychedelic band Kikagaku Moyo. This project is a unique fusion of music and visual art, inspired by the Japanese 1920s children's book “Yume No Tamago (Dream of the Egg)”. It reveals a deeply personal journey, reflecting Tomo's dreams and the numerous rebirths experienced in 2024—a year marked by profound new beginnings in every facet of his life.

This mini album was driven by a passion for raw and immediate expression. Every song was crafted and recorded with only the materials available to him at the time, embracing an organic and handmade atmosphere. By eschewing rhythm clicks and standard instrumental tunings, a spontaneous sound emerged, capturing the essence of both uncertainty and immediacy. Adding to this distinctive sonic landscape, guest musician Jonny Nash (UK) contributed ethereal guitar sounds on the first and final tracks, enriching the record's dream-like quality.

The journey begins with the opening track, "Moshimo," which means "If..." in Japanese. Here, Jonny's guitar weaves seamlessly with the vocal melody, creating a harmonious dialogue. The first half of the album concludes with "Zen Bungalow" a cover of Gabriel Yared's “Bungalow Zen” from the soundtrack of the film “Betty Blue 37°2 Le Matin”. This particular track is his partner’s favourite song to listen to every morning and left a profound impression on him. One day, he heard a song in his dream that combined both of these tracks and loved how they blended together. This experience inspired him to create a new arrangement, "Zen Bungalow," which has become a central piece of the “Dream of the Egg” album.

The third track serves as an interlude, printed on a flexi disk attached to the middle of a picture book. This interlude transitions the listener into"Inner Garden," a bittersweet folk song that explores themes of love. The EP's narrative spans 20 minutes, culminating in the final title track “Dream of the Egg”. This piece features a delicate session between Tomo & Jonny, combining cello and guitar to create a spectrum of tones that evoke the imagery of a rainbow. The focus on smooth dynamics and meticulous play reflects an intent to convey a sense of physical trembling. This track sounds like the beginning of a new dream; as if the egg of one’s dream is about to hatch, bringing a sense of anticipation and wonder to the listener. Throughout the album, a variety of instruments come into play, drifting between notes and embracing the beauty of imperfection. By incorporating free-form sounds in a highly technological age, the record aims to reconnect listeners with the tangible, human-made quality of sound.

Special Thanks
Jonny Nash – Guitar

Bastard Jazz is proud to present the next installment of our long running Tempo Dreams compilation series. As with previous volumes of the compilation, we've tapped an established artist that we're big fans of to shine a light on their personal favorite producers, and compile an album up of all unreleased music from emerging & underrated young talent. And with Volume 5, we're happy to welcome in the Los Angeles based but globetrotting selection of Free The Robots.

Rooted in Santa Ana, CA, Chris Alfaro aka Free the Robots has spent over a decade taking his craft to audiences around the globe. Known as one of the pioneering artists to come out of LA's infamous beat movement, the energy and technical skill behind his live performances have landed him among the greats, sharing stages with Dj Shadow, Prefuse 73, Flying Lotus, to Afrika Bambaataa. Crafting stories to tell with his ever-evolving solo project Free the Robots, he has always had the ability to jump in and out of other worlds inspiring a unique signature sound that hints at jazz, psych, electronic, and hip hop, while remaining un-genre-fiable.

Staying almost permanently on the road, Chris has come across an array of artists and scenes around the world. Different tours and temporary living situations have landed him in the middle of both the DIY underground and more mainstream clubs and stages. Some artists he's connected with have either kept it proudly local or breached international borders. Underrated, unknown, or already on the brink; these are just a few of the people that have crossed paths with Free The Robots. He's chosen these songs as a representation of some of the vibes that inspire his music: Jazz, Psychedelia, Dirtwave, Beats, and a little bit of Future Funk make up Volume 5 of his Tempo Dreams series.

As with all previous volumes, the compiler has produced a track exclusively for the album, which Chris delivers in the bass heavy, South East Asian vibes of "Nasi Goreng" (also available on a limited edition 7" with another unreleased FTR track). Other producers included on the album include Mophono, Never Ending Echo, Kuromoji, RSI-MSK, The Breathing Effect, Cazal Organism, Lefto, Chubby Boss, Caliph8, TITLE, Nois IV, The Heavy Twelves, Mu. and Markey Funk.

Leinenbezogene, foliengeprägte Tip-on-Gatefold-Hülle mit 24-seitigem Comicbuch im LP-Format.

The 3rd collaborative album between Les Claypool (Primus) & Sean Lennon (the previous sold over 150,000 combined) is an elaborate concept record reflecting on morality, the warnings of A.I., and the slippery slope of optimization without empathy. Told across 14 songs - which ooze with classic psychedelic / progressive rock stylings - and the accompanying comic book by Rich Ragsdale, The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy is a peak for both The Claypool-Lennon Delirium and rock music at large.

The Lovely Eggs return with new single 'My Mood Wave' to be released February 9th digitally & on a 7" single to follow March 15th. New album due in May. It's been four years since the world heard any new music from our heroes in psych-punk-power duo The Lovely Eggs. Four long years since the release of their Number 1 Independent Chart topper, 'I Am Moron'. But it's not like they've been lazy, oh no. They made their own TV series EGGS TV and hosted it on YouTube, they duetted with Iggy Pop, piled into their van and played a load of sold out gigs and festivals, spent two years fighting to save Lancaster Music Co-Op (a community rehearsal rooms and recording studio where they live), and then they got their heads down and wrote a new album_ Due in May, the new Lovely Eggs album was recorded by the band at home in Lancaster with production work from Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann. They flew to America in December 2023 to mix the album in Fridmann's studio in upstate New York and we'll all get the chance to hear the first results of these sessions on the 9th of February, when the band will unveil the album's first single, 'My Mood Wave'. "My Mood Wave is kind of an internal thought monologue," says Eggs singer and guitarist Holly. "It's a brain on a surfboard, trying to navigate the barrage of daily shit that gets washed up each day. It's a coping mechanism handbook for people who sometimes find the world too much." 'My Mood Wave' has an uplifting contemporary feel, haunted by a West Coast retro vibe that pulses and shimmers with a gorgeously addictive melody that will float around your head for days. Although the single will be released digitally on February 9th, there will also be a physical 7" with the customary mind-bulging artwork from Casey Raymond, and an exclusive track tantalisingly titled 'Crab Shell' on the flipside. The 7" will be released on Aquamarine transparent vinyl and in true Lovely Eggs style. More details on The Lovely Eggs new album to follow...

The most inspiring bands are the ones that can create a world around themselves that is about far more than just the music. The artwork, lyrics, sounds and ethos all merge together perfectly to create its own universe, a secret club. The Lovely Eggs are one such band. And against all the odds, 2025 sees them celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band! Stubbornly and heroically independent, The Lovely Eggs have forged their own path and have achieved mainstream success without ever compromising their DIY ethics. Released on their own label Egg Records, with eye watering artwork by Casey Raymond and hand packed in a black plastic bin bag on neon toxic slime green vinyl, this is yet another collectible release from a band who care as much about the art and ideas in their records as they do about the sound. "We had all these spare songs after we released our last album Eggsistentialism and we didn't really know what to do with them," explained Holly. "They just didn't seem to fit in with the vibe of Eggsistentialism but we'd recorded them and wanted to get them out there." "They're kind of a sketchbook of songs," added David. "They're not polished or laboured over but we thought it would be interesting to release them. It's why we called the record Bin Juice. These were songs we had thrown away. But hopefully people like going through bins collecting trash."

Released on October 25th as a limited-edition double AA 7” on limited edition “Death Grey” vinyl, "Death Grip Kids" is The Lovely Eggs at their most punk rock. Kicking and screaming and stamping their way through three minutes of righteously pissed off fury. With more out of this world artwork by illustrator Casey Raymond, the Double AA features a re-release of their digital single “Memory Man” (which has not been previously available on 7” vinyl until now). ‘Memory Man’ shows the Eggs at their hypnotic, Can-like best. David’s drums lock into a flawless Krautrock inspired groove, whilst Holly’s vocals hang ethereally over the song’s swirling, mesmerising psychedelia. The strictly limited edition 7" also features one of the band’s first ever songs “True Grit” from 2005 which will not be available digitally and can only be heard by buying this vinyl. Both A-sides come from the band’s new album Eggsistentialism, released in May 2024. Recorded by the band at home in Lancaster with production work from Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann, the results are without doubt the most expansive, mind-melting ten songs the band have delivered yet. They head out on the final leg of their Eggsistentialism tour in October with support from Psych Poppers ‘British Birds’ as well as performance poet ‘Violet Malice’

A group of three disillusioned teenaged punks find themselves
transported into a terrifying alternate universe in The Devil's Egg, a new
fantasy rock opera from Missouri music renegades The Hooten Hallers
Throughout 13 spellbinding tracks, the music flows through a rainbow of musical
genres from R&B and metal to punk and prog rock. Captivating audiences with
their high-energy romps for nearly 20 years, the satisfying vocal pairing of John
Randall 's gravel and Andy Rehm 's falsetto, along with Kellie Everett 's low
woodwinds, weave between basslines and melodies to round out one of modern
music's most unexpected power trios. While musically diverse, the rock opera's
coming- of- age storyline ties it all together, conjuring the science fiction of
Stranger Things and the folklore of the Coen brothers to transport characters
through an epic and transformative quest. In the end, the kids form unusual
alliances to attempt their escape, allowing The Hooten Hallers to take listeners
on their wildest, most cinematic journey yet.

The Lovely Eggs will release Nothing/Everything - the lead single from their forthcoming album “Eggsistentialism” on Friday April 26th on Egg Records. Their third collaboration with Grammy Award winning producer Dave Fridmann, “Nothing/Everything” will be released on ltd edition bright yellow 7” vinyl with more out of this world art-work by illustrator Casey Raymond. Nothing/Everything is a wistful, stark, magnificent seven minute psychedelic epic. It’s The Lovely Eggs as you’ve never heard them before. “Nothing/Everything is the Yin/Yang of life,” explains Holly. “There’s hope and despair, patience and frustration, birth and death, the mundane and the extraordinary. It’s the magnificence of “Being” walking hand in hand alongside life’s daily grind. This song is simply what is. It’s not looking forward or back. It’s us now. It’s uplifting and it’s tragic. It is probably the longest and most meaningful song we’ve ever written and recorded. It’s our magnum opus about life.” With the full 7 minute and two second version on the A side, the B gives you the radio edit.

Mit "Eggsistentialism" kehrt das Psych-Punk-Pop Duo The Lovely Eggs nach einer fast vierjährigen Pause seit ihrem Indie-Nummer-Eins-Album "I am Moron" zurück. In dieser Zeit haben sie ihre eigene Fernsehsendung Eggs TV gemacht (mit Ian McKaye, Stewart Lee, Katie Puckrik, Maxine Peake, David Shrigley und anderen), ein Duett mit Iggy Pop gegeben, eine Menge ausverkaufter Konzerte und Festivals gespielt und eine Kampagne zur Rettung der Lancaster Music Co-op (ein gemeinschaftlicher Proberaum und Aufnahmestudio, in dem sie leben) geführt.Wie der Titel schon andeutet, erforscht "Eggsistentialism" eine viel persönlichere, introspektivere und nachdenklichere Seite der Welt von The Lovely Eggs und lässt die Eggs neue Klänge erforschen und in unerforschten musikalischen Gebieten experimentieren."Wir haben seit 2020 keine neue Platte mehr veröffentlicht und in der Zwischenzeit haben wir hier versucht, das Recht auf einen Lebensstil zu verteidigen, den wir hier in dieser Stadt in den letzten 30 Jahren als arbeitende Musiker genossen haben, die sich weigern, einen "normalen" Job zu bekommen. Es geht darum, an etwas zu glauben und nicht loszulassen. Aber dieser Unwille, aufzugeben, fordert letztendlich seinen Tribut. Es fängt an, dich zu zerstören, und das Album ist eine Art Dokumentation dieser Zerstörung und des Zusammenbruchs sowie der Stärke, die wir haben, um das alles zu überstehen. Letztendlich ist dies ein hoffnungsvolles Album über das Überleben." Aufgenommen zu Hause in Lancaster, produziert zusammen mit Dave Fridmann (u.a. MGMT, Sleater Kinney, Mercury Rev sowie Grammy für Flaming Lips), wurde das Album in den Tarbox Road Studios in New York mit von ihm und der Band abgemischt. Atemberaubendes Artwork wieder von Illustrator Casey Raymond.

Mit "Eggsistentialism" kehrt das Psych-Punk-Pop Duo The Lovely Eggs nach einer fast vierjährigen Pause seit ihrem Indie-Nummer-Eins-Album "I am Moron" zurück. In dieser Zeit haben sie ihre eigene Fernsehsendung Eggs TV gemacht (mit Ian McKaye, Stewart Lee, Katie Puckrik, Maxine Peake, David Shrigley und anderen), ein Duett mit Iggy Pop gegeben, eine Menge ausverkaufter Konzerte und Festivals gespielt und eine Kampagne zur Rettung der Lancaster Music Co-op (ein gemeinschaftlicher Proberaum und Aufnahmestudio, in dem sie leben) geführt.Wie der Titel schon andeutet, erforscht "Eggsistentialism" eine viel persönlichere, introspektivere und nachdenklichere Seite der Welt von The Lovely Eggs und lässt die Eggs neue Klänge erforschen und in unerforschten musikalischen Gebieten experimentieren."Wir haben seit 2020 keine neue Platte mehr veröffentlicht und in der Zwischenzeit haben wir hier versucht, das Recht auf einen Lebensstil zu verteidigen, den wir hier in dieser Stadt in den letzten 30 Jahren als arbeitende Musiker genossen haben, die sich weigern, einen "normalen" Job zu bekommen. Es geht darum, an etwas zu glauben und nicht loszulassen. Aber dieser Unwille, aufzugeben, fordert letztendlich seinen Tribut. Es fängt an, dich zu zerstören, und das Album ist eine Art Dokumentation dieser Zerstörung und des Zusammenbruchs sowie der Stärke, die wir haben, um das alles zu überstehen. Letztendlich ist dies ein hoffnungsvolles Album über das Überleben." Aufgenommen zu Hause in Lancaster, produziert zusammen mit Dave Fridmann (u.a. MGMT, Sleater Kinney, Mercury Rev sowie Grammy für Flaming Lips), wurde das Album in den Tarbox Road Studios in New York mit von ihm und der Band abgemischt. Atemberaubendes Artwork wieder von Illustrator Casey Raymond.

Spanning a nearly 10 year period and covering some of her most iconic performances in history, this LP collection is essential for any fan of the Queen of Pop. Starting off with her legendary and controversial 1984 MTV Video Music Awards performance of Like A Virgin', performed a month before the single was even on the market, and closing with her lascivious cover of Fever' from SNL in 1993, Step To The Beat: Rare Radio & TV Broadcasts covers a bunch of ground and includes classic live versions of Into The Groove', Holiday', Express Yourself', and more. Essential Madonna on Egg Raid.

Transparent frosted clear vinyl, no downlode code. Their third album 'WILDLIFE. The Eggs returned with an album that encapsulates the isolation of extensive touring and brief time back in their home town Lancaster. The two piece raucous noise pop duo combine their gritty British northern surreal lyrics with thunderous guitars and crashing drums on this their third self-recorded gem. Working alongside Gruff Rhys who produced Allergies and Cornershop's Tjinder Singh who has remixed Food for a special digital download, Wildlife is yet another wonderful and unique album from a band who continue to cement their reputation as one of the most genuinely exciting and essential bands around today. Already lead track Allergies, the first single taken from Wildlife, released on the Too Pure Singles Club, has won the BBC 6 Music Rebel Playlist - with 82% of the public vote and declared winner of Steve Lamacq's 6 Music Round Table as well as Artrocker's single of the month. For The Lovely Eggs being in a band is a way of life. True to this, they live the way they play. Fiercely, constantly in search of the good times. With this their third album in three years The Lovely Eggs explore further into their own world and the bizarreness of reality and invite you to come inside to join the party, strange as it is!

LP auf neongelbem Vinyl im Klapp-Cover. Die Lovely Eggs haben sich in den letzten zwei Jahren zurückgelehnt und zugesehen, wie sich England und der Rest des Planeten langsam selbst auffrisst. Und dabei ganz genau beobachtet. Ihr neues Album "I Am Moron" ist das Ergebnis ihrer Beobachtungen, eine unerbittliche Analyse einer modernen Kultur, die die Welt in die Knie zwingt. Die erste Single "This Decision" ist ein offener Angriff auf die Gier und die kopflose Konsumgeilheit und eine Verteidigung des schlichten Lebensstils, für den sie sich entschieden haben. Ein kraftvoller, harter Schlag gegen die Realität. Die Lovely Eggs haben sich nie davor gefürchtet, gegen den Strom zu schwimmen und jetzt haben sie eine Armee von Fans hinter sich. Willkommen in ihrer Welt. "I Am Moron" ist der Nachfolger ihres 2017er Albums "This Is Eggland. Auch das neue Album wurde von Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Tame Impala) koproduziert und gemixt und setzt die Reise der Lovely Eggs durch Eggland ins Unbekannte fort. Sie sind zweifellos die echteste Band Großbritanniens, die in einer Welt agiert, in der wahre Authentizität schwer zu finden ist. "I Am Moron" wurde von der Band selbst in Lancaster ("The Twin Peaks of Northern England") in den Räumen der Lancaster Musicians Co-op aufgenommen. Die Heavyness von "This Is Eggland" wird auf "I Am Moron" fortgesetzt. Das Album bringt mehr Tiefe in ihren Sound durch eine Mischung aus heftigem Psych-Pop und einer Prise Seltsamkeit.

In October of 1992 Madonna released her 5th studio album, the provocative Erotica. Released by her own multimedia entertainment company in conjunction with her book, Sex, this was the most bold and audacious move yet in Madonna's storied career. Following the release of the album and book in 1993 The Girlie Show World Tour commenced, culminating in 8 sold out shows in Japan, one of which was recorded live and broadcast the world over. Recorded at the Fukuoka Dome on December 8, 1993, The Girlie Show documents this historic tour with the complete show of that night! An epic 3LP box set featuring tracks from Erotica as well as a bunch of vintage classics, available on black vinyl or limited edition WHITE, RED, and GREEN vinyl.

The Frank OST LP made its debut on transparent green vinyl for Record Store Day 2015 and quickly sold out.

The album comprises Stephen Rennicks's song based soundtrack to Leonard Abrahamson's fantastical black comedy featuring Michael Fassbender as the masked leader of doomed avant-rock group, The Soronprfbs.

The music press were quick to laud FRANK as one of their top soundtracks of 2014, with Mojo placing it at No.3 in their

Top Ten for the year and Record Collector giving it 5*, while public fascination with its Beefheart-esque sound has ensured cult status. The songs, sung mainly by Fassbender, veer from manic comedy to heart-breaking pathos and the

vinyl release was specially recompiled to feature all the songs, most of the incidental music

and an exclusive for vinyl version of 'Frank's Most Likeable Song.... Ever'.

The Seeds of Fulfillment by David Drazin (November 2018)

Andrew Venson founded Seeds of Fulfillment (SOF) in early 1978. In the 1960s he had played electric bass with Arthur Conley, and later the original Peaches and Herb. On the same bill with Big Brother and the Holding Company, he hung out backstage with Janis Joplin. Yes! Vince was hoping SOF would get all of us to the top. He composed three tunes for the band, and we always had a ball playing them.

Roger Myers is a marvelous drummer. We co-composed Namaste. Roger would settle on a drum pattern of four measures at a time that he wanted to keep, and I'd put chords and melody right on top of his pattern. When he layered a second drum pattern on top of the first one, we'd get two melodies at the same time. We thought we were going to collaborate on more songs this way, but it didn't happen.

Lee Savory is a very inventive jazz man. He's musically literate, and wrote excellent transpositions. I remember Lee's asking for my input while he was composing Tight Squeeze, but it was clear he had it down. Once when I was visiting a DJ who played the album in a local radio station, the total of checks next to Tight Squeeze for number of plays was by far the highest!

Randy Mather's sax playing always knocked me out. I could hardly wait to hear him solo. When he left SOF to go with Woody Herman's orchestra it was amazing, but true.

Jeanette Williams had recorded 45s for the Duke and Peacock label when she was 17 years old. Her powerful singing was incredible to me. When we needed an original for Jeanette, Vince composed it, and Roger's wife Linda wrote the lyrics.

In 1978 I was in my senior year at Ohio State University when I met Vince. He came into a bar called My Brother's Place where I was playing with a trumpet player named Bobby Alston. When I was a freshman at OSU I'd played in an off campus band called Akadama. Before that I played in my home town of Cleveland, Ohio in the Brush High School Stage Band and a jobbing band called The Midnight Combo.

Everyone in the band contributed something to Egg Cartons in a composition jam session. We rehearsed in Vince's basement, and he had covered the walls with egg cartons to make the room sound more like a recording studio. The Provider was inspired by Country Preacher by Joe Zawinul. In those days I especially admired the way Zawinul would get his soulful feelings across, but also loved Herbie Hancock and to a lesser degree Chick Corea too. It took two years (with a break of several months) for the band to conquer Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. It shows you what consideration and dedication is, that ultimately they felt it was worth learning.

We recorded at Fifth Floor Studios in Cincinnati, Ohio. While we were there I got to shake hands with Bootsy Collins, who was recording in the rooms downstairs at the same time. Years later, Fifth Floor burned down and all the master tapes were destroyed.

Lance Ferguson's Raregroove Spectrum is a collection of newly recorded versions of classic funk, soul, jazz and latin vinyl rarities, which features some of Melbourne's finest musicians across the album, including past and present members of The Bamboos, The Putbacks and Hiatus Kaiyote.

As the man at the helm of many musical projects over the years including Cookin' On 3 Burners, Menagerie & his solo project Lanu, Lance is no stranger to the art of imaginative musical re-interpretation, be the material soul, funk and jazz based or the works of James Blake, Roxy Music and Prefab Sprout.

For Raregroove Spectrum, Lance explains that much of the inspiration for the re-works comes from his experience as a DJ, "Some of these versions can almost be looked at as DJ re-edits, sometimes we're extending what may be a really short track into something longer, or teasing out the elements in a song that really make it work on a dance-floor. It's essentially what someone does with a club re-edit, except we went the extra step and re-recorded the whole thing with a live band".

In other cases, top-shelf classics have been re-imagined in different guises: James Mason's 'Sweet Power, Your Embrace' as a sun-drenched Samba, or Anderson Paak's sure shot tune 'Am I Wrong' given an 1980's style Boogie/Jazz Funk makeover. Stir into this musical gumbo stew the raw Deep Funk of 'Egg Roll', the swinging Mod R&B of Googie Rene's 'Smoky Joe's La La' to the epic, widescreen Jazz-Funk of Pleasure's 'Joyous' - Rare Groove Spectrum provides new perspectives on the obscure to the well-loved, from old-school to new sounds - this is rare grooves re-grooved... beautifully.

Lance Ferguson's Raregroove Spectrum is a collection of newly recorded versions of classic funk, soul, jazz and latin vinyl rarities, which features some of Melbourne's finest musicians across the album, including past and present members of The Bamboos, The Putbacks and Hiatus Kaiyote.

This 2 track single provides just a hint of what delights the full Raregroove Spectrum album contains - Lance explains that much of the inspiration for the re-works comes from his experience as a DJ; "Some of these versions can almost be looked at as DJ re-edits, sometimes we're extending what may be a really short track into something longer, or teasing out the elements in a song that really make it work on a dance-floor. It's essentially what someone does with a club re-edit, except we went the extra step and re-recorded the whole thing with a live band".

First up is a reinterpretation of a super obscure deep funk acetate 45 released by Keb Darge, Egg Roll - the follow on track is Lance's take on The Soul Vibrations The Dump.
The forthcoming album reaches further - and includes James Mason's 'Sweet Power, Your Embrace' as a sun-drenched Samba, or Anderson Paak's sure shot tune 'Am I Wrong' given an 1980's style Boogie/Jazz Funk makeover to the epic, widescreen Jazz-Funk of Pleasure's 'Joyous' - Rare Groove Spectrum provides new perspectives on the obscure to the well-loved, from old-school to new sounds - this is rare grooves re-grooved... beautifully.

At once foreign and familiar, Desert Sound Colony brilliantly scores a nostalgic journey through the proverbial looking glass. The plaintiff vibe of "The Way I Began" envelopes the listener in warm guitar licks and hushed vocals, transporting them to a time when innocence and insecurity gave way to transcendence. The road takes a turn with "Fire Egg", a classic stomper that drives introspection with looping guitar melody and bouncy bass. And before we return to size, "Iris" carries us further inward with scattered claps and a skipping kick, before releasing us into a deep and chugging, eyes-wide-shut, euphoric roller.

Genesis' Foxtrot is the band's fourth studio album, released in 1972. Regarded as one of the seminal albums of the progressive rock genre, it marked a significant milestone in Genesis' discography.

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine says Foxtrot is where where Genesis began to pull all of its varied inspirations into a cohesive sound. The startling thing about the opening "Watcher of the Skies" is that it's the first time that Genesis attacked like a rock band, playing with a visceral power, he writes, giving the album a 5-star review.

"There's might and majesty here, and it, along with 'Get 'Em Out by Friday,' is the truest sign that Genesis has grown muscle without abandoning the whimsy. Certainly, they've rarely sounded as fantastical or odd as they do on the epic 22-minute closer "Supper's Ready," a nearly side-long suite that remains one of the group's signature moments. It ebbs, flows, teases, and taunts, see-sawing between coiled instrumental attacks and delicate pastoral fairy tales. If Peter Gabriel remained a rather inscrutable lyricist, his gift for imagery is abundant, as there are passages throughout the album that are hauntingly evocative in their precious prose." — AllMusic

This is the rare art-rock album that excels at both the art and the rock, and it's rightly celebrated for its enduring impact on the progressive rock genre, making it an essential listen for Genesis fans.

Analogue Productions has given Foxtrot the deserving full reissue treatment: Mastered directly from the original master tape by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and cut at 45 RPM. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, and housed in tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination by Stoughton Printing.

After their recent LP Mirages (Kraak Records, 2025) with French turntablist Guilhem’All, the group continues to explore collaborations with artists and instruments from diverse musical traditions. Building on decades of uncompromising acoustic exploration, Razen delves deeper into their practice with five improvisational pieces that unfold slowly in time and space. The duo’s radical core - Brecht Ameel and Kim Delcour - finds in Van der Harst a longtime kindred spirit, united by the impact of sound, intonation, and the sheer joy of playing.

To be released on April 24 via VIERNULVIER Records, the artwork for Stained Glass Starling was created by American visual artist Robert Beatty (Oneohtrix Point Never, Christina Vantzou, The Weeknd, Tame Impala). The physical release comes with a 16-page booklet including artwork and an interview.

A long-standing artistic kinship lies at the heart of this project, with first encounters dating back to the early 2000s in Belgian musical improv theatre. Van der Harst’s lifelong experience in improvised music and music theatre, spanning back to the 1980s, combined with a vast arsenal of rare and historical instruments, opens new tonal territories within the Razen universe.

These explorations are not incidental: his family roots in the former Dutch East Indies — through his great-grandfather — provide a quiet backdrop to his enduring affinity for Asian musical traditions. Instruments such as erhu, Javanese kacapi, and others introduce timbres
that bring the music its most pronounced Asian inflections to date.

Yet despite this shift in colour, the underlying ethos remains unmistakably Razen. Working from sound rather than form, the ensemble approaches music as painters approach a canvas: adding layers, contrasts and shades with care. There is no soloist’s ego here; all voices are equal, echoing principles found in gamelan traditions.

Over the decades, Razen and Dick Van der Harst have crossed paths repeatedly, notably through cult theatre productions by Belgian theatre maker Eric De Volder, including Zwarte vogels in de bomen (2002) and Huis der Verborgen Muziekjes I–II (2000–2006). Recording an albumtogether had long been a shared aspiration — a wish that crystallised after a 2024 concert at Concertzaal Miry in Ghent, part of the Ruiskamer series by VIERNULVIER Art Centre.

Acknowledge Kindness expands San Francisco based The Reds, Pinks And Purples' distinctive brand of emotional pop, music built for the quiet hours and the restless mind. Evolving naturally from the heavier, melancholic indie rock of previous releases, the mood here feels more exposed and reflective, blossoming into lush dreamscapes that recall the bittersweet sorrow of The Cure or the tenderly gloomy transcendence of California by American Music Club. Created from a new headspace, the album finds main man Glenn Donaldson observing both the present and the weight of what came before it. Songs lean into a deeper sense of nostalgia, allowing him to look back with intent and revisit moments that once carried a sting. Donaldson's vocals are captured in high fidelity, raw and immediate, with lyrical abstraction underpinned by chiming acoustic guitars and achingly beautiful piano. Across its 11 tracks, Acknowledge Kindness expands The Reds, Pinks And Purples' emotional and sonic panorama, with Donaldson's ongoing world-building remaining both warmly nostalgic and strikingly original. "Donaldson's best work hides allure within a bigger picture, like a jangle-pop egg hunt" Pitchfork FFO The Smiths, Guided By Voices, The Chills, Leonard Cohen, The Go-Betweens, Robert Wyatt, Twee-, Jangle- & Sophisticated Guitar Pop. Coloured vinyl LP versions and digisleeve CD available

EU/UK Exclusive

Japanese pressing

From Universal Music's vast catalogue, the essence of Japanese AOR, all tracks are selected and played in Muro's mix cd 'Diggin' Japanese AOR' released in 2017 and now released on 2LP.

This includes some of hidden gems such as Maki Asakawa's 'American Night', Yoshio Harada and more from the late 80's to early 90's - the golden time of Japanese AOR.

Black Truffle is thrilled to announce Dalbergia Retusa, an extensive double LP selection of the solo guitar music of Hans Reichel, compiled by Oren Ambarchi. Last heard on Black Truffle as one quarter of the joyously anarchic Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett, Hans Reichel (1949-2011) is one of the great figures of experimental guitar music. Though perhaps lesser known than peers like Derek Bailey, Fred Frith and Keith Rowe, Reichel’s rethinking of the instrument was in some ways the most radical of all. Early on, he dispensed with existing guitars to build a series of his own that explored the use of additional strings and fretboards, moveable pickups, extra bridges, special capos, and other innovations documented in the extensive booklet accompanying this release.

Reichel was a long-term resident of Wuppertal, the small Western Germany city that became an unlikely centre of European free jazz in the late 1960s, also home to Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. His solo debut Wichlinghauser Blues was an early entry into the FMP discography and began a relationship with the label that stretched into the 1990s; all the solo performances heard here were first released on FMP. As Reichel says in the charming archival interview with Markus Müller included here, he was ‘always a cuckoo’s egg at FMP’, a label that began as an outlet for roaring European free jazz. What strikes the listener right from the opening selection on Dalbergia Retusa—‘Return of the Knödler show’, from 1987’s The Dawn of Dachsman—is the extraordinary beauty of Reichel’s music, at once alien in the shimmering sonorities and unconventional pitch relationships made possible by his invented instruments, and deeply lyrical, even romantic in its harmonic content. Growing up in West Germany in the 1960s, Reichel’s formative influences were mainly British and American rock bands, a background that shines through in many of the pieces included here: ‘An old friend passes by’ is haunted by the ghost of Hendrix’s rhythm guitar, and the wild closer ‘Heimkehr der Holzböcke’, taken from a rare 1975 7” and the only piece to use overdubbing, layers errant hammer-on and slide tones over a Canned Heat boogie chug.

Reichel was an important source for the development of Oren Ambarchi’s own extended approach to the electric guitar. Appropriately enough, his selection opens with the very first piece by Reichel he ever heard, on a flexidisc included with a 1989 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Though Reichel collaborated with others extensively in many settings and also performed on violin and his other major contribution to instrument invention, the daxophone, his music for solo guitar remains at the core of his oeuvre. Focusing exclusively on solo pieces recorded between 1973 and 1988, the 23 pieces on Dalbergia Retusa showcase the range and consistency of Reichel’s work, allowing the listener to see how his performances developed hand-in-hand with his instrumental inventions. On a piece from his very first LP, played on an 11-string instrument (partly strung with piano strings and using a schnapps glass a slide), we hear his intensive exploration of fret-hammering to create zither-like, chiming tone, which Reichel would hone further in later years with a double fretboard guitar specifically designed to be hammered rather than fretted and picked. On a piece from 1979’s Death of the Rare Bird Ymir, Reichel uses two steel-string acoustic guitars at once, with beautiful results: ‘some even say too beautiful’, he jokes in the interview included here. Many of the pieces from the 1980s make use of varieties of the ‘pick behind the bridge guitar’, instruments of uncanny harmonic richness primarily designed to be played on the ‘wrong’ side of the bridge. At times the unexpected behaviour of attacks, resonance, and decay can almost seem electronic, conjuring up the technology-assisted work of Henry Kaiser or even Fennesz, but realised solely through Reichel’s unorthodox techniques on his invented instruments. Extensively illustrated with photos and Reichel’s own plans and drawings of his instruments, Dalbergia Retusa is an essential introduction to the unique world of Hans Reichel. Rarely has music been at once so strange and so beautiful.

After a three year hiatus A Good Christian and Abel return to their beloved Surfing In Kansas label with 4 brand new cutzz..
Throwaway New Wave pop gets twisted into unadulterated Balearic bliss, making it safe to even those who are least in touch with their feelings for a chance to dance. Late night double and early hours trouble guaranteed!

The Mountain is Gorillaz’ ninth studio album, a collection of 15 new tracks featuring a stellar list of artists and collaborators. Jamie Hewlett’s album artwork captures the four much-loved animated band members - Murdoc, Noodle, Russel and 2D – in a series of beautifully intricate, hand-drawn illustrations.

The Mountain is Gorillaz 9th studio album. The album is a collection of 15 new tracks featuring artists and collaborators including: Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar, Asha Bhosle, Asha Puthli, Bizarrap, Black Thought, Gruff Rhys, Idles, Jalen Ngonda, Johnny Marr, Kara Jackson, Omar Souleyman, Paul Simonon, Sparks, Trueno and Yasiin Bey; as well as the voices of Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Dennis Hopper, Mark E. Smith, Proof and Tony Allen. Produced by Gorillaz, James Ford, Samuel Egglenton, Remi Kabaka Jr. and Bizarrap (Orange County), The Mountain was recorded in London, Devon, Miami, Jaipur, Mumbai, New Delhi and Rishikesh; and features artists performing in five languages: Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish and Yoruba. The artwork for The Mountain sees Jamie Hewlett’s distinct, yet ever-evolving, style illustrate the world of Gorillaz with an ever more detailed and beautiful intricacy across a series of hand-drawn illustrations. Circumstances find Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs, 2D and Noodle in India, where our heroes are immersed in the rhythms of mystical music-making as they navigate the mountainous terrain of this thing called life.

Second album of french incendiary fake big band Parasite Jazz. A krautrock, jazz-non-jazz, experimental album recorded along four seasons by three musicians (Alex Larsen, Tamara Goukassova & Théo Delaunay) from the french fringes ; members of Succhiamo, Diagonale des Yeux, Simple Music Experience, Violent Quand on Aime ... featuring Radio Hito, Kyle Knapp (Deliluh) & Hochiwah.



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After its first release in 2023, the tiny big band Parasite Jazz brings its public iterations to fruition with “♫”, a testament to an alternate reality, matured voyaging across France over the span of four seasons.



It sees the music flee through exuberant forests and steep troglodytes ; a parallel genre movie with a soundtrack of diluvian rhythms, mocking chants, jazz noir and voodoo accidents. In this shifting, autonomous world, the elastic orchestra—whose members Radio Hito, Valentin Noiret, Kyle Knapp, and Hochiwah keep on appearing and disappearing—plays for nocturnal secrets and feverish cavalcades.

Bézier ripples their way back to Dark Entries with Decompose, an LP of doomed spa music. Multi-instrumentalist Robert Yang has made numerous appearances on Dark Entries for more than a decade, with releases spanning the stylistic gamut from hi-NRG disco floor-fillers to lush ambient epics. Decompose, Bézier’s second LP, is perhaps his most introspective work yet. It is an album almost ten years in the making, a deep investigation of life, loss, and the struggle of knowing oneself. If one were to pull a tarot deck for this album it would be the Nine of Swords. The album honors the lives of the fallen victims of Pulse Nightclub. It honors lives lost or suffering through the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The title track takes the form of a Buddhist chant, a brooding synth-driven meditation that scales steadily until breaking into John Carpenter-esque arpeggios halfway through. Tracks like “Egg,” “Marionette,” and “A Fading Citadel Atop Black Sand Bluffs” build on this soundworld, one in which intricate melodies and cavernous reverb induce in the listener feelings of both claustrophobia and free-fall. The album’s dancefloor-leaning moments, like “Codebreaking” and “Split a Path Towards the Thicket” are spartan, tunnel-vision techno tracks speeding towards ego-death. Decompose chronicles Yang’s journey to find peace with himself, as a gay Asian American. During this process, they learned to “repot” long-lost parts of their identity so they could grow forth in wholesome fashion. The sleeve for Decompose was designed by Eloise Shir-Juen Leigh, and features a photograph by Frankie Casillo of Robert laying on a bed of rocks in savasana pose, resembling an ascetic, evocative of the monastic vibes of the record.

Editions Mego welcomes KMRU back to the fold. Kin is Kenyan born, Berlin based, sonic wizard Joseph Kamaru’s second release on Editions Mego, following on from the classic 2020 release Peel. Since the release and subsequent praise for Peel, the artist has been a staple on the electronic scene performing on numerous stages and festivals worldwide in tandem with a flood of media recognition. Kin could be construed as the second child following Peel. The project came out of initial discussions with Peter Rehberg about what a Peel sequel would sound like. Kamaru is quick to clarify that Kin is not that record; “I'll know when that record will come and when I'll make it. It's already happening... or maybe it lives within both of these Mego records”.

It is this deft ambiguity and vague tiptoeing around the concrete that encapsulates the ambiguous sound world of Kamaru’s vision.

Kin was started early 2021 in Nairobi with Kamaru exploring his noisier palette of sounds encompassing distortions reminiscent of the sounds he would muster from in his youth when playing guitar. He paused making this record for a year as soon as Peter died, then slowly returned to it through 2022 resulting in the immense new work we have here.

The charms within Kin lay as Easter eggs revealing the true identity behind the colourful sonics only after multiple deep listens. With Trees Where We Can See sets the tone by way of a warm swaying melody inviting the listener in for further investigation. In 2022 KMRU and Mego stalwart Fennesz toured the USA together resulting in a strong friendship and also, the second track here, Blurred. A neat Mego/Editions Mego loop as such. Blurred arranges twangy guitar strums alongside glistening glaciers of shimmering drones. They Are Here represents a darker hue as melancholic clouds of shadowy noir tap directly into the listener's nerve stream. Maybe takes a detour into a bristling euphoric electronic storm whilst We Are screeches in a pattern formation not unlike a highly abstracted Aphex Twin forcing its way out of a hard drive. By Absence concludes proceedings, operating as both exit music and a portal to further sonic investigation with acoustic bellowing residing amongst a kaleidoscopic backdrop.

Kin is a trip that rewards close repeated listens as all the colours and textures, nuance and narratives unveil themselves. This isn’t a record to be glossed over, magic rewards concentration.

Kin is a record to be Played slow and LOUD.

For Pita.

All tracks written, produced, mixed by Joseph Kamaru
Blurred co-written & produced with Christian Fennesz
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu at Schwebung Mastering
Photography: Joseph Kamaru
Layout & Design: Nik Void
Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin

This is the debut release from Laguna Seca, a new project from Porto based Mike Jefford. It foreshadows a new body of work, steeped in 70s nostalgia, refracted though sounds that could belong to krautrock, disco, electronica, noisy alt rock and everything in between. Mike has previously recorded as Positive Centre releasing textural, experimental techno on such labels as Stroboscopic Artefacts, SNTS and Leyla. (seek out if you you’re a fan of Vatican Shadow or the ghostlier wing of Black Dog)

After mastering his forthcoming 2026 debut album ‘O Tempo’, Mike Jefford caught a second wind of inspiration. In just seven frantic days he recorded the heap of tracks that formed the basis of 'Live from Müsli Mountain’. It soon became clear that these tracks foreshadowed the album perfectly and the EP was born.

Named after the California raceway, this project fuses 1970s recording techniques, modern electronics and psychedelic retrofuturism, it’s a pyramid of sonic adventure that will be explored deeper on the album next year.

Isa Gordon and Tony Morris were first brought together through their individual releases on Optimo Music, which established mutual respect within the label’s community. While they had not previously performed live together, they were invited to take part in a fundraiser hosted by Queen’s Park Arena in support of Glasgow NW Foodbank and later for JD Twitch’s end-of-life care. Tony asked Isa to contribute guitar and backing vocals to his set, including a track then called Last Night I Had a Dream. That performance became the seed for their collaboration.

The first phase of fleshing it out, recalls Tony: “Somebody said Isa sang like Shania Twain. That got me thinking about country music and call and response, prompting me to come up with alternative lyrics.” Isa remembers: “I cycled over to Tony’s house with my guitar, and we spoke about what the tune meant. It was about him being wrapped up in dreamland, luxuriating in his subconscious, while my character — impatient and trapped in her own routines — barely had time to remember her own dreams.” Tony continues: “Brilliantly I realised that I could never collaborate with anyone in situ and so I sat in the garden for two hours watching my wife tend to plants. Every now and again I would creep up the stairs and put my ear to the door. I could hear Isa warbling away and so would resume my garden watch. After two hours I went back upstairs to see how she was getting on, only to find that she had written one of the greatest songs I’d ever heard. I still think that.” Tony adds: “My overwhelming sentiment about Wake Up Baby is pride. I can honestly say that I’m more proud of it than anything else I have done. It ticks a whole load of boxes. Isa’s singing in various Scottish modes is unique. The way her electric guitar adorns the dance beat makes it a rock song as well as a dance and a C&W song — truly multi-genre.”

The B-side of the 12” release, Syringe Moustache, is a surreal, darkly playful counterpart to Wake Up Baby. The track was inspired by a dream Tony had: “I was in a shopping mall, in a two-level shoe shop, and my attention was taken by a little girl with a syringe taped beneath her nose like a moustache. She went about her business trying on shoes, confident and wise beyond her years. In the dream, I imagined her as the daughter of cultured, intelligent parents determined to raise her independently. I was struck by my own feelings of inadequacy — I knew I could never have coped with such a contraption myself.” Isa’s take on the meaning of this song somewhat differs: “Tony sent me the tune over Instagram months before I met him, and I was spooked — as far as I knew, he didn’t know anything about me, but the story felt like it was written about me as a little girl, growing up around heroin addiction. The syringe beneath the girl’s nose became a symbol of the inescapable constraints of that environment, literally written on her face, yet something you just have to carry on through. On a buzz from the serendipity, I added a full instrumental backing to this most bizarre of works.”

The result is absurd, unsettling, and strangely empowering, staking out its own surreal, cinematic space. The 12” dance single is a format Tony had long wanted to explore — a tangible artefact to leave for family, a medium that celebrates the physicality of sound and the ritual of listening. It allowed the artists to maximise the format’s potential: a strong, multi-genre A-side, a surreal B-side, and remixes that expanded the record’s sonic world. Glasgow music staples Auntie Flo and 100% Positive Feedback were invited to reinterpret the tracks, bringing their distinctive touch — Auntie Flo transforming the A-side into a luscious, dancefloor-ready meditation, and 100% Positive Feedback twisting Syringe Moustache into absurd, playful shapes with false-start drops and over-the-top vocal editing.

The cover photograph, taken at the University Café by Harrison Reid, captures Isa and Tony embodying the characters they brought to life in the songs — a visual reflection of the record’s narrative and emotional stakes. The Café also holds personal significance: it’s where all of Isa’s meetings with Keith McIvor took place, where she first remembers visiting Glasgow as a child, and a place Tony fondly likes to go to drip egg yolk down his tie and watch the world go by. Together, the 12” format, the remixes, and the artwork create a cohesive, tactile experience, amplifying the duality, theatricality, and emotional breadth of the collaboration.

VIER - IIII, a project by: Machinedrum x Thys x Holly x Salvador Breed.

Across its eleven tracks, 'IIII' dissolves borders between breakbeat, trap-meets-gabber, skippy UK shuffle, halftime, jungle and cinematic electronica, music that shifts from serious voltage to full-colour euphoria. What ties it together is philosophy, not genre.

The group's working method began playfully in the studio with a ten-minute egg timer: each member would sketch for ten minutes, then pass it on. That rule became a ritual, a way to keep things human, spontaneous and shared. In VIER, every track passes through four sets of hands; every decision is a test of trust. What could have been chaos instead became a flow state, a cycle of surrender and discovery thatdefines their sound.

Following singles such as Frankfurt, Control, Where Were You, Solitu and Vai Pulando, 'IIII' stands as VIER's first full statement, a body of work that feels both playful and deeply considered. Moments of quiet bloom into distorted joy; melody drifts through broken percussion; endings turn into new beginnings.

Politics. Hatred. Endless war. We doomscroll as our rights are stripped away. Bombings. Kidnappings. Mass shootings. The nightly news is a litany of brutality. Assassination. Subjugation. Deportation. We argue with each other while the rich get richer and cruelty is normalized. These are just a few of the reasons why the title of The Casualties" new album is Detonate. Detonate is the second chapter in a new epoch for The Casualties. As their second album with David Rodriguez at the mic, it solidifies the vocalist"s partnership with drummer Marc "Meggers" Eggers and guitarist Jake Kolatis . "It"s like a new era for the band," Meggers says. "It solidifies that Dave is here to stay." As the follow-up to 2018"s Written in Blood and their first record for Hellcat Records- the Epitaph subsidiary curated by Tim Armstrong of Rancid-Detonate sees this new version of The Casualties locking into place. "We were in the studio for Written in Blood about eight months after I joined," Rodriguez says. "With this new record, we really grew together. For me, it"s the proud moment where we clicked the three Legos together."

Gold Vinyl Represss

*A MODERN JAZZ REINTERPRETATION OF THE MUSIC FROM THE LEGEND OF ZELDA*

WRWTFWW Records is happy to announce the release of Casimir Liberski ReTRio's The Z Suites, a full-length jazz album reinterpreting the music from iconic Nintendo video game series The Legend of Zelda. The epic Z-Jazz journey is available in the following formats: limited edition 180g half speed mastered vinyl double LP housed in a heavyweight sleeve with obi, digipack CD with cavalier, and digital.

Casimir Liberski reimagines the golden era of video game soundtracks with jazz versions of Zelda favorites The Legend of Zelda (1986), A Link to the Past (1991), Link's Awakening (1993), and Oscarina of Time (1998) - plus a few Easter eggs! Dancing between nostalgia and avant-garde, the Brussels-born pianist and composer crafts a sonic world of pixelated folklore where melody and improvisation coexist in harmony.

Music critic Arthur Meurant perfectly explains:

For many video games are a journey of the mind. Since its inception - dating back to the early seventies - this avant-garde artistic medium has nourished the imaginations of a digital age. Casimir, like many others, has been fed a steady diet of pixels from an early age. From simple squares to cultural cornerstones they have become the trail on which playful travelers of the mind retrace the steppes of history. A shared universe, familiar yet endless, of pocket-sized mythology. Its name? Hyrule. Its goal? To amaze. In these few tracks - selected with care - the Casimir Liberski ReTRio invites you, finally, to visit a space which does not exist yet holds us all. A land where all feel welcome. Where all are happy. But also... to rediscover under another timbre the classical compositions of Master Composer K?ji Kond?. A man who, unbeknownst to him, composed our dreams as well as music. That single noble pursuit, where an artist gives soul without losing his own, is yet again a statement of humanity in its purest of forms: art as that which brings us together and makes us whole in a world eroded by modernity. Pick up your key. Gather your maps. Open the door. Adventure calls.

Long live Hyrule jazz!

Arepas Records follows up its debut serving with a second course of flavoursome house music: “Ceylon Treats EP” by Erwin. True to the Arepas concept of combining dancefloor functionality with culinary storytelling, “Ceylon Treats EP” is all about mood, texture and pacing rather than obvious peaks. Erwin’s production leans on warm basslines, rolling drum programming and hazy chords, spiced with percussive details and small melodic phrases that flicker through the mix like passing smells from an open kitchen. Some moments are cosy and intimate, others are more driving and hypnotic, but everything is tied together by a deep, inviting groove that works from warm-up to after-hours. AREPAS002 feels like a natural evolution of the label’s first chapter: still deep, still soulful, still obsessed with flavour, just with a new recipe and different ingredients. House, deep house, dub house and tech house come together in one coherent, story-driven EP that rounds off the flow of a day, night or early morning like a carefully prepared dessert course. No skips, no fillers. Just pure flavour. Beats & treats.

Two years after he first appeared on Balmat with 1977, Mike Paradinas returns with 1979. The sense of continuity between the two records is clear, and not just from their titles. Both capture the Planet Mu head venturing into the wilderness, seeking something—half-formed memories, thoughts caught in midair—in some of the most abstract, searching music he has released.

Just like 1977, 1979 surveys a synth-heavy array of ethereal soundscapes, ominous crevasses, and strange, psychedelic fugues. Like its predecessor, the new album’s atmospheric cast sets it apart from much of the work Paradinas has released as μ-Ziq on Planet Mu. It’s not strictly an ambient record, but it’s close, as close as this famously mutable artist ever comes to inhabiting a particular genre.

Paradinas’ inspiration for the record began on visits to the Spanish cities of Ávila and Majadahona, where his family hails from. That might account for the sense that there are spirits flitting through this music, presences you can intuit if not quite grasp. But 1979 is also a record to meet on your own terms, and to find your own meanings in.

It’s a stunning record, every track a world unto itself: the mysterious contours of “Majadahonda at Dawn”; the playful melodic fillips of “Clari”; the airy melancholy of “Galletas”; the full-scale breakbeat abandon (yes, you read that right) of “Houzz 14,” the rarest of dancefloor detours for Balmat. There are echoes of classic braindance and isolationist ambient and golden-age IDM; there are easter eggs and recurring themes and hidden symmetries. Every time we listen, we discover something new. Despite what the title might suggest, it’s less a trip back in time than a portal to another universe, a destination for(to?) which only Mike Paradinas knows the exact coordinates. – Philip Sherburne, Balmat

Heralding 10 years of relentless club futurism, Timedance strikes forward once more with TD10. Batu's label has nurtured experimentation between techno propulsion, soundsystem pressure and innovative sound design since the beginning, rarely resting in one space and always reaching for new ideas. Across 23 forward-facing cuts, this compilation continues that tradition with a strong cast of scene-leading heavyweights and crucial emergent talent.

The wide-ranging styles across TD10 are bound together by a shared affinity for bassweight presence and vibrant, three-dimensional production. Fractured, artful deconstruction from Daisy Moon, Marco Shuttle and Verraco sits alongside the snarling half-step pressure of re:ni and Lurka and the jagged drum intensity of Lechuga Zafiro, 33EMYBW, Ayesha, and Jabes. There's space for big room anti-anthems from Pearson Sound, Bambounou and Batu himself, wildcard swerves from Minor Science and Skee Mask and more emotive melodic sensibilities from Polygonia, El irreal Veintiuno and BADSISTA. At every turn, the ideas are fresh, toying with the idea of an all-encompassing sound for the label and throwing open the possibilities for what it might represent in the future.

Timedance has thrived in an era where technology has eroded the boundaries between the generic formulae of dance music's past, helping set the pace for innovation and presenting compelling, immediate music across the tempo range. TD10 responds to that legacy with its gaze fixed firmly forwards, ushering in the label's next chapter in proudly unpredictable style.