Suche:the finger

Death Is Not The End present a further volume of Arja Kastinen's eerie amalgamations of 110 year old wax cylinders with her own meticulously transcribed takes, this time focussing in on Armas Otto Väisänen's field recordings of kantele player Iivana Mišukka (b. 1861 d.1919).

"Ivana Mišukka (1861–1919) was one of the Karelian kantele players recorded by the folk music researcher Armas Otto Väisänen on wax cylinders in 1916 and 1917. In the early 20th century, the remote areas of Border Karelia were undergoing the final phase of a transformation in musical culture, with the ancient runo song tradition giving way to newer forms of music. This transition is reflected in Mišukka's repertoire and choice of instrument. The ancient small kantele, hollowed out of a single piece of wood, was already rare at the turn of the century. Mišukka's kantele was a new type of instrument with 26 strings, constructed of several parts, but he played it using the traditional plucking technique. Like other Border Karelian kantele players, his repertoire consisted of music rooted in runosong culture, as well as newer dances and songs from the east and west. Most of the recorded material falls into the latter category.

Ivan Bogdanov Mišukka was born out of wedlock in Suursara village, Suistamo, on 1 May 1861. He began playing the kantele at the age of five or six, quickly mastering the instrument. In adulthood, he was considered one of the area's best master players. Mišukka was landless for most of his life and lived in different parts of the Suistamo parish. His first wife, Tekla Markintytär, died in 1897 at the age of 40, and his second wife, Jevdokia Filipintytär Jeminen, died in 1907 at the age of 50. Seven children were born from the first marriage, two of whom died young. The third wife, Maria Ignatintytär Gurnan (Kuurnanen), was a well-known master of lamentations. Together with Maria, Iivana Mišukka worked as a tenant farmer in the village of Suursara. Mišukka suffered from rheumatism, which prevented him from participating in physical work like Maria. This was apparently partly the reason why Iivana Mišukka went to earn extra money by playing the kantele on gig trips. He often had other traditional artists from Suistamo as his travelling companions, such as the runosingers Konstantin Kuokka and Iivana Onoila. Iivana Mišukka died in Leppäsyrjä village, Suistamo, on 18 May 1919 at the age of 58, and his kantele was donated to Teppana Jänis.

Mišukka only used 14 of the 26 strings on his kantele, playing the same tunes either a fourth higher or lower. He tuned his kantele to the major scale using fifths, except for a low seventh scale degree on the upper strings, but not below the fundamental. Since he did not use the seventh note of the scale on the upper strings at all, he could use the major scale both lower and a fourth higher with this tuning. According to Mišukka, the sound of higher, or 'finer', strings is 'more beautiful', while that of lower ones is 'greater'. Among runosingers, the size of the thirds varied, ranging from major to minor to neutral. A similar phenomenon can be observed in kantele tunings, where the third, sixth and seventh scale degrees vary in a comparable way.

During a meeting, Väisänen suggested that Mišukka play the smaller kantele belonging to Konstantin Kuokka. The idea was to bring it closer to the horn to improve the recording quality. However, the kantele was completely out of tune, and now Mišukka tuned it to the Lydian scale (track 18).

Using the old plucking technique, Mišukka placed his right middle finger on the fundamental tone, his right index finger on the second scale degree, his left middle finger on the third scale degree and his left index finger on the fourth scale degree, and his right thumb on the fifth. The thumb also played the notes above the fifth note of the scale. As Mišukka remarked to Väisänen: 'Peigaloll' tuloo enemb ruadoa' (the thumb has to do more work). However, he did not use the seventh note of the scale on the upper strings at all. Below the fundamental note, he played the seventh and sixth notes of the scale with his right middle finger of and the fifth note of the scale with his right ring finger. This fifth scale degree below the fundamental is almost always used as a drone. Sometimes, when the melody required it, Mišukka, like other players, also varied the fingering. He would also occasionally strike the same string with the side of his fingernail after plucking it.

The wax cylinder recordings of Karelian kantele players are kept in the archives of the Finnish Literature Society in Helsinki, Finland. Copies were made of them onto reel-to-reel tapes in both the 1960s and 1980s. The 1960s copies are mono and the 1980s copies are stereo. However, not all kantele recordings from these decades have survived.

The sound of the kantele is difficult to hear in wax cylinder recordings due to its low volume, and it occasionally becomes completely obscured by noise. During the copying process, the cylinder sometimes rotates unevenly, resulting in breaks or jumps in the music. Additionally, the rotation speed of the cylinder in the copies does not correspond to the performance speed of the original music, which alters the pitch. However, since Väisänen's precise notes are available in the archive, it is possible to deduce the melodies, their speed, and the tuning level of the kantele in the recordings. Of the copies of the original recordings from the 1960s and 1980s, I have selected the one that best met the requirements of this publication and adjusted the speed of the recording to align with Väisänen's notes. To enhance the listening experience, I have replayed the songs, which now partly overlap the old recordings on this release."

— Arja Kastinen

'Balconies' is an urgent, physical record shaped by momentum and heat. The album takes its title from a recurring metaphor: a balcony as a place of exposure and distance. Elevated, visible, yet removed from the action below. Throughout the record, Tin Fingers explore feelings of observation, displacement and restlessness, moving through places without fully belonging.

Musically, 'Balconies' marks a clear shift for the Antwerp band. Where earlier releases leaned into intimacy and melancholy, this album is louder, more direct and built for movement. Sharp, energetic songs are balanced by the band's continued attention to atmosphere and imagery.

The album was written instinctively over three months by frontman Felix Machtelinckx before being brought to the band, with arrangements coming together quickly thanks to years of shared experience. Recording took place over four hot summer days at The Old Carpet Factory on Hydra, Greece. The warmth, the sea and the island's isolation shaped both sound and mood, while limited time encouraged live recordings that capture the album's raw energy and immediacy. 'Balconies' was mixed by D. James Goodwin (The National, Kevin Morby, Whitney).

Following the release, Tin Fingers will present 'Balconies' live, with shows at De Roma (Antwerp), Mezz (Breda) and Supersonic (Paris).

In ,Osni the Flare", dem zweiten Teil von Tristan Allens mythischer Trilogie, zeigt der Komponist, Produzent und Puppenspieler, wie ein Sterblicher durch die Entdeckung des Feuers zu einer Gottheit wird. ,Osni the Flare" wurde über vier Jahre hinweg mit wortlosen Gesängen, Orgeln, Okarinas, einer Menge Spielzeuginstrumenten und einem ausgeklügelten Sounddesign aufgenommen und erzählt in vier akustisch und visuell beeindruckenden Akten von den Ursprüngen der Flamme und der Zeitlichkeit. Allen webt einen Schöpfungsmythos, der zwischen Schönheit, Schatten und wehmütiger Glut wechselt, und schafft so ein Portal zu einem sorgfältig gestalteten, emotional kraftvollen Klang und einer Geschichte, die durch ein fantastisches Reich hallen. Allen wurde in Saratoga Springs, New York, geboren und hat Kindheitserinnerungen an den Aufenthalt seiner Familie in Japan. Sein Weg führte ihn zu prägenden Begegnungen, darunter mit seinem Lehrer Andy Lorio, der das wachsende Interesse und Können des jungen Musikers am Klavier durch Improvisationstechniken förderte, und Amanda Palmer, die ihn mit 16 Jahren während eines Sommerprogramms am Berklee College entdeckte und seine erste Veröffentlichung durch Crowdfunding finanzierte. Nachdem er an der Berklee Klavier studiert, das Live-Elektronik-Kollektiv Nue mitbegründet, mit der Metal-Band Dent durch China getourt und zwei Solo-Klavier-EPs veröffentlicht hatte, zog Allen 2018 von Boston nach Brooklyn. Eine Anzeige auf Craigslist führte zu einer Puppenspielausbildung bei Mike Leach, der ihnen sechs Monate lang beibrachte, wie man eine Marionette richtig führt, was ihnen eine Stelle als Darsteller am renommierten Puppetworks Theater einbrachte. Diese harte Arbeit, zusammen mit dem Kontakt zu den Artefakten des Bread and Puppet Theater ihres Vaters und dem balinesischen Schattenspiel, brachte Allen zu ihrer kreativen Praxis: Komponieren für akustische Instrumente, elektronisches Arrangieren und Auftritte mit Puppenspiel. Osni the Flare erzählt einen Schöpfungsmythos, in dem die Titelfigur in einem Garten aufwacht und Äpfel von einem Baum pflückt. Von einem Loon herbeigerufen, macht sich Osni auf, den Baum vor der Kälte des Winters zu schützen. Als der Loon von einem Drachen verschlungen wird, wagt sich Osni in dessen Bauch und entdeckt dort Glut. Als er diese Glut dem Baum anbietet, entzündet sich dieser - der Ursprung des Feuers selbst. Iso, der Gott des Meeres, greift mit einer Flut ein, die Osnis Garten überschwemmt. Nach seinem Tod gelangt Osnis Seele in das Reich der Schatten, wo sie sich Tin und Iso anschließt und zur Gottheit des Feuers wird - Osni the Flare. Das Album klingt menschlicher und kindlicher als sein Vorgänger ,Tin Iso and The Dawn" und wechselt von der Perspektive der Götter als Beobachter zu der des ersten sterblichen Charakters in Allens Welt. Unterstützt durch neue Liebe, kanalisiert das Projekt Gefühle in Musik, die zu einem ganz eigenen Zauber wird. Wie Tin Iso beginnt und endet das Album mit Klavierklängen als Portal, das die Heimat repräsentiert, während Osni sich auf eine Reise durch drei Reiche begibt: das Land der Lebenden, das Zwischenreich und das Jenseits. Osni the Flare wurde fast komplett mit einem Aston-Kondensatormikrofon in Allens Wohnung in Brooklyn mit Blick auf den Cypress Hills Friedhof aufgenommen und besteht aus Spielzeugklavier und Flöten, Okarinas, Harmonium, Pumporgel, E-Bass und Kontrabass, Gadgets und einer umfangreichen Sammlung von Spieluhren und Glocken. Die Gesangsmelodie - inspiriert vom Summen seiner Partnerin Virginia Garcia Ruiz, das an Pans Labyrinth erinnert - war Allens erster Ausflug in den Gesangsbereich, wobei er eine Melodie ohne Worte verwendete, um den Zuhörern zu ermöglichen, die Protagonisten zu bleiben. Die Flöten wurden Note für Note akribisch aufgenommen, darunter balinesische Sulings, Fundstücke aus chinesischen Souvenirläden und vogelförmige Okarinas. Die Spieluhren wurden langsam aufgezogen, einzeln gesampelt und dann neu arrangiert und gestimmt, um Virginias Summen zu verdoppeln. Ein ausgedientes Casio SK-1 mit einem kaputten Lautsprecher wird mit einem Harmonium kombiniert, um Akkordtexturen zu erzeugen. Stundenlange Improvisationen, die durch Bastl Thyme und NanoVerb geleitet wurden, erzeugten lange, ausklingende Delays, wobei die besten Momente für Songs ausgewählt wurden. Feuergeräusche entstanden durch Fingernagelklicken auf Klaviertasten. Feldaufnahmen hielten das Zerlegen eines Klavieruntergestells, das Löschen von Kerzen und Geräusche aus einem Hospiz fest. Die Stimme des Drachen spricht Worte aus Allens erfundener Sprache. Die Melodie liegt oft im Bass - inspiriert von Goth und Gamelan - mit nach oben gerichteten Verzierungen. Der detailreiche Ansatz spiegelt eine Punktierung wider, die Allens Original-Artwork für das Albumcover ähnelt und durch ihre obsessive Arbeit kleine Teile zu einem großen Bild zusammenfügt - unter der Dusche, vor dem Einschlafen, mitten im Satz. Das Klavier wurde von der Toningenieurin Katie Von Schleicher bei Figure 8 Recording neu aufgenommen, gemischt wurde das Album von Paul Corley. Der technische Leiter Jim Freeman arbeitete vier Monate lang am Halsgelenk und fünf Monate lang an den Schultern der Basswood-Stabpuppe, die von Bruce Schwartz' Ballerina inspiriert ist. Freeman verbrachte Jahre damit, ein selbstgebautes LED-System zu entwickeln, um das Puppenspiel von der Bühne aus zu beleuchten, und sein unwillkürliches Pfeifen während der Arbeit wurde heimlich aufgenommen und ist im Schlussmoment zu hören. Die Herstellung der Puppen wurde von Miryam Moutillet und Lauder Weldon überwacht, die hybriden Köpfe wurden von Duygu Bayar Ekren entworfen. Seit der Veröffentlichung von Tin Iso im Jahr 2023 hat Allen in der experimentellen Puppenspiel-Community von New York City eine Heimat gefunden und wird von der Jim Henson Foundation und La MaMa unterstützt. ,Osni the Flare" steht für Tristan Allens kontinuierliche Weltgestaltung mit akribischer Kontinuität - viele bewegliche Teile, die in funkelnder Kohäsion präsentiert werden, wobei sich jede Komponente aus einer Idee entwickelt, wie eine Fantasy-Serie, die im selben Reich spielt. Das Album erreicht das, was sich Allens kindliches Ich beim Anschauen von Fantasy-Filmen vorgestellt hat: Musik, die nicht so klingt, als würden Menschen Instrumente spielen, sondern wie das Werk der fantastischen Welt selbst. Durch die Kunst des Puppenspielers, ,wahre Lügen zu erzählen", lädt Allen die Zuhörer ein, etwas Ursprüngliches und Unmittelbares zu erleben. Während Osni sich von einem Sterblichen zu einer Gottheit verwandelt, zeichnet das Album nicht nur den Ursprung des Feuers nach, sondern auch den Ursprung des Mythos selbst.

An album with reflection, resilience, journey, and elemental connections at its core, Hollow Chapters is a collection of original songs written and performed by the Marsh Family - Dad (Ben, 49), Mum (Danielle, 48), sons Alfie (19) and Tom (18), and daughters Ella (16) and Tess (14). Recently featured in The Observer, the multiinstrumentalist family group of six from Kent have a significant international online following passionate about their mix of folk- pop harmonies, uplifting messages, authentic imperfections, and sense of connection and heart. Hollow Chapters ranges across genres (from acoustic protest songs to funk and reggae rock), but has a vintage organic style, rooted in natural analogies, ideas of journey and lifecycle, and epic and inspirational themes. It promises to move people emotionally, whether through ballads about departed loved ones or stirring tracks designed to forge collective action and hope. The songs tell stories using the different voices of family members, drawing inspiration from poetry, landscape, and artefacts.

2LP 180gm heavyweight 45 RPM Audiophile Edition, Featuring a half speed remaster by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, Housed in polylined inners, Printed insert with sleevenote. The Alan Parsons Project"s multi-million selling critically acclaimed album Eye In The Sky (1982) is re-issued in a variety of formats, including including this 2LP heavyweight, 45 RPM Audiophile edition. Like other Alan Parsons Project albums, there were a variety of different lead vocalists employed including Chris Rainbow, Colin Blunstone, Lenny Zakatek, Elmer Gantry as well as Eric Woolfson himself. Plus, a selection of session musicians such as guitarists Ian Bairnson and David Paton and drummer Stuart Elliott with arrangements by Andrew Powell.

OCEAN BREEZE" (originally released June 1, 1982): 180g clear green vinyl Remastered and cut by Alex Wharton (Abbey Road Studios, London)

Described as “the best take from the best concert” (from the original obi).
This live album captures performances from Takanaka’s 1980–81 "POWER PLAY ’80 & ’81" tour, featuring a medley of classics such as "BELEZA PULA,"
"Tokyo Reggae," "TAJ MAHAL," and "MAMBO NO.5 (DISCO DANGO)," as well as selections from "The Rainbow Goblins" and his debut album "SEYCHELLES."
A dynamic showcase of Takanaka’s
live brilliance.

Musicians: Hirokuni Korekata (guitar), Kiyosumi Ishikawa (keyboards), Mimi Kobayashi (keyboards), Akihiro Tanaka (bass), Masahiro Miyazaki (drums), Hiroki Sugawara
(latin percussion), Makoto Kimura (latin percussion)

2LP 180gm heavyweight 45 RPM Audiophile Edition, Featuring a half speed remaster by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, Housed in polylined inners, Printed insert with sleevenote. The Alan Parsons Project"s multi-million selling critically acclaimed album Eye In The Sky (1982) is re-issued in a variety of formats, including including this 2LP heavyweight, 45 RPM Audiophile edition. Like other Alan Parsons Project albums, there were a variety of different lead vocalists employed including Chris Rainbow, Colin Blunstone, Lenny Zakatek, Elmer Gantry as well as Eric Woolfson himself. Plus, a selection of session musicians such as guitarists Ian Bairnson and David Paton and drummer Stuart Elliott with arrangements by Andrew Powell.

Patience moonlights as one of the most underworked muscles of the modern human. Time meanders at the same pace as always but yet everyone seems to be living their lives as through they are stretching it out like elastic jelly through their fingertips, ignoring the virtue necessary to ride each moment. At the end of patience always lies a reward. DJ Teeth, a veteran disciple of time, presents a sonic palette to Kasra V's V-Sion imprint that is for only the most determined. Symphonic synths and acid swells ebb and flow, vocal samples move like auditory hieroglyphics scrawled on cave walls, and other hidden messages appear, but only for those who wait. Patience will be rewarded.

Bei einem aktuellen Auftritt von DREAM_MEGA stand Joel Kyack allein auf der Bühne und schickte einen Soundstrom auf das Publikum los. Überwältigt von den gruseligen Frequenzen, den eindringlichen Rhythmen und den wilden, verstimmten Vocals, flüsterte ein Besucher seinem Nachbarn zu: ,Ich glaube, der Typ hat Kontakt zu Dämonen." Ob aus Angst oder Bewunderung gesagt, diese Anschuldigung ist angesichts des zweiten Albums von DREAM_MEGA, ,Control / You Are Not the Center", durchaus zutreffend. Die Platte ist voller Bedrohung. Man hört es in den mutierten Kriegsmarschen, im Dancehall-Reflux, im dröhnenden Bass. Man hört es in den kristallklaren Melodien und den sehnsüchtigen Aufstiegen. Man hört es sogar in dem Cover von Guided by Voices. Joels Beziehung zu verstörenden Klängen - dem Channeling von Dämonen - besteht nun schon seit Jahrzehnten. Seine langjährige Tätigkeit bei Landed, der Band, die er 1997 mitbegründet hat, verläuft parallel zu Joels Beiträgen zu Six Finger Satellite, Men's Recovery Project, Megafuckers, Dos Mega und Street Buddy. Diese unermüdliche Hingabe führt direkt zu dem fieberhaften Verfall seiner heutigen Arbeit, aber Dream Mega ist etwas ganz Besonderes. Entstanden aus Joels Nahtoderfahrung im Jahr 2020 - einer Woche der Schwäche, die er isoliert in Thailand verbrachte, Blut hustete und seine Bettlaken durchnässte - erobert DREAM_MEGA einen einzigartigen Raum an der Schnittstelle zwischen Konfrontation und Hingabe. Aufbauend auf seinen eigenen Erfahrungen bei Hardcore-Shows und Straßenauftritten treibt Joel DREAM_MEGA in einen antipodalen Zustand, in dem Hyperbewusstsein und befreiende Transzendenz koexistieren. Die Songs auf ,Control / You Are Not the Center" starren unerschrocken auf unsere dumme, gefährliche Welt, ähnlich wie es ein Song von Dropdead tun würde, aber gleichzeitig heben sie die Last dieser Katastrophe und drängen auf eine luftige Atempause. Ein Teil davon ist Joels kompositorischer Ansatz, bei dem er alte Holzblasinstrumente gegen digitale Synthesizer setzt und unnatürliche Schaltkreise mit menschlichem Atem kreuzt. Aber im Kern geht es um Joels dringendes Bedürfnis, mitten in der Nacht seine Angst und Traurigkeit und die Funken der Hoffnung anzusprechen und sie in etwas zu verwandeln, das sein Herz trotz allem weiter schlagen lässt. Es ist ein Akt der Klarheit und Selbsterhaltung, der so geschickt inszeniert ist, dass jeder Zuhörer die Dämonen spüren kann, die in seinem eigenen Herzen wirken. ,Control / You are Not The Center" enthält Klangbeiträge von Ryan Weinstein (Coffi n Prick), Cordey Lopez und Lisa Anne Auerbach. Es ist empfehlenswert für Fans von Hassell & Enos ,Fourth World, Vol.1: Possible Musics", Houstons Chopped-and-Screwed-Szene und Captain Beefheart.

Folk-Punkrock, Bier & Wahrheiten. Mit ihrem Album "This Ain't Quiet" legen die Schweizer Saint City Orchestra ein dreckiges neues Manifest vor - gegen die Stille, gegen das Schweigen, gegen das brave Mitlaufen. Was hier aus den Boxen knallt, ist ein rotzfrecher Mix aus Irish Punkrock und der ungeschönten Realität des Lebens - laut, wild, ehrlich und mit ordentlich Portion Ironie. Die Songs klingen wie durchzechte Nächte mit besten Freunden, wie Kneipentresen voller Geschichten, wie Stadionrufe aus rauen Kehlen und wie der letzte Schluck vor dem Zusammenbruch. Sie erzählen von verlorenen Träumen, gebrochenen Herzen, wütenden Mittelfingern und unbeugsamer Liebe - zur Familie, zur Crew, zum Verein und zum verdammten Leben selbst. This Ain't Quiet ist kein Album für die Playlist im Fahrstuhl - es ist der Soundtrack für Nächte, die man sich tätowieren lassen will. Für Menschen mit Ecken, Kanten und Haltung. Für alle, die lieber grölen als jammern. Das Saint City Orchestra ist zurück - und sie haben Durst. Das SCO ist im 12. Jahr unterwegs, hat bereits je ein Top 30 und ein Top 20-Album in der Schweiz im Gepäck, vielleicht geht's dieses Mal unter den ersten 10? Für Fans von Fiddler's Green, Flogging Molly, The Rumjacks, Dropkick Murphys und The Real McKenzies. Als CD oder farbige (Neon Orange w/ White & Black Splatter) LP erhältlich

Making his debut on Gated, Sweden’s Sean Dixon serves up four deep and spacey – but always warm and funky – house tracks.

The Final Chapter label boss kicks off the Detroit-influenced EP with title track The Clock, which partners driving bass with a touch of detuned piano and well-timed drops to ignite any dancefloor.

A2 track Resistance takes things in a heads-down direction, with subtle Eastern influences in the melodies and breathy vocal samples.

The B-side’s Kairo Express combines bleep influences with piano loops and that ever-present bumping bass to cosmic effect, while closer When Dawn Breaks sees Dixon collaborate with Bohm for an emotive Mr. Fingers-infuenced end-of-the-night breakbeat roller.

2026 Repress

Alleviated Records is proud to present the first of hopefully a succession of releases sharing selections from our own Archive of recordings that either have never been issued or that have never been issued on the Alleviated imprint. After many years of being ''on-the-shelf'' we are extremely pleased to share these with the public. First up, we have a selection that was being considered for the ''Another Side'' (Fingers, Inc.) album that features Ron Wilson free-styling vocals to a deep-house vibe. To this day, we are not quite sure why this selection was not included on the project but are pleased to finally share it. Next up we have ''Electronic Debris'' delivering a ''mellow-deep'' vibe. Then we have ''Saspence'' with, as the title implies, a ''mysterious-deep-minimal house'' feel. Concluding the EP is ''Nyte Light'' delivering a ''deep-ambient-acid'' flavor. We sincerely hope that you enjoy these selections at the club and at home for a long time to come. Musically Yours...

Alleviated Records is proud to present the third installment of 'Vault Sessions' series. Sharing recordings from the archives that either have never been issued or been out of print for a long time. After many years of being "on-the-shelf" we are extremely pleased to share these selections with the public.

Blood continues to flow. The third statement of Qwälen. Rottenness of our human reality, the abolition of our kings and gods, the normatively sinister path of brotherly violence. For Qwälen all of them mean nothing and yet all are everything. With the very idea of black metal in its core, the band continues breaking free from the narrow-minded boundaries of the genre. Glorify no one but thyself. Raise no one on a pedestal but thyself and borders can only be drawn by the ones within. Gods are only alive if we let them. Death is the final insult. The final middle finger when all is reduced to rocks and bones. The black serpent from within. The black flame of rebellion. Hail Satan. Blood continues to flow.

Ltd. green vinyl. Blood continues to flow. The third statement of Qwälen. Rottenness of our human reality, the abolition of our kings and gods, the normatively sinister path of brotherly violence. For Qwälen all of them mean nothing and yet all are everything. With the very idea of black metal in its core, the band continues breaking free from the narrow-minded boundaries of the genre. Glorify no one but thyself. Raise no one on a pedestal but thyself and borders can only be drawn by the ones within. Gods are only alive if we let them. Death is the final insult. The final middle finger when all is reduced to rocks and bones. The black serpent from within. The black flame of rebellion. Hail Satan. Blood continues to flow.

Ltd. marbled vinyl. Blood continues to flow. The third statement of Qwälen. Rottenness of our human reality, the abolition of our kings and gods, the normatively sinister path of brotherly violence. For Qwälen all of them mean nothing and yet all are everything. With the very idea of black metal in its core, the band continues breaking free from the narrow-minded boundaries of the genre. Glorify no one but thyself. Raise no one on a pedestal but thyself and borders can only be drawn by the ones within. Gods are only alive if we let them. Death is the final insult. The final middle finger when all is reduced to rocks and bones. The black serpent from within. The black flame of rebellion. Hail Satan. Blood continues to flow.

There's one thing that everyone readily agrees on: Live concerts are the icing on the cake for musicians and fans alike. Every show is a very special experience and sometimes even creates an almost magical performance. Such moments are beyond explanation, you just have to be there to believe it or, in a best-case scenario, have them recorded for posterity – as American metal act Prong have done with their latest live album. Which is exactly what guitarist/vocalist Tommy Victor and bandmates Christopher Dean (bass) and Tyler Joseph (drums) have achieved on ‘Live And Uncleansed’: Recorded over seven nights in July and August 2025, they are now ready to present eleven powerful live songs (plus three live bonus tracks), all pure and unadulterated, authentic and honest, which is the reason why the result is so incredibly captivating.

Irlam's dastardly duo are back with another bonza bucket of bass, breaks and badness as they fire up Studio Krust for another high octane session.
Sure to top the Fairground charts and further enrage the Hell's Angels, 'Synthetic Stupidity' sees the pair unleash their full force unabashed, as they hit a purple patch full of new found and frankly quite surprising productivity (rumours of a European-wide sputnik shortage are the likely catalyst).

Fractionally distilling their many collective years of dance music experience into 12 refined pieces of advanced club kinetics that skirt between the syncopated intricacies of breakbeat science and maxed-out 4/4 propulsion.
More hyped-up vox & frantic sampling, more tension, tons of one-finger keyboard melodies, and - as usual - moments of sonic tomfoolery to flummox the assumers.
With their drug debts paid off and a forced clarity of mind, 'Synthetic Stupidity' is a more expansive, deeper and unhurried project; allowing Bosco and Metrodome the space and time to truly deliver the zenith of their sound.

This, is DJ ABSOLUTELY SHIT!!!

2026 Repress


Another Thought was the first collection of Arthur Russell’s music to be released after his death in 1992. Released in 1993 on Point Music it marked the beginning of nearly 30 years of work to let the world hear the enormous archive of unreleased recordings Arthur left behind. Be With revisits this first compilation for a new gatefold double vinyl version and a triple-fold digipak CD reissue.

Both versions of Be With’s 2021 reissue of Another Thought have been mastered by Simon Francis and the vinyl cut by Pete Norman. The original artwork has been restored and tweaked at Be With HQ for the gatefold sleeve and the triple-fold digipak, with the essential help of Janette Beckman. Each version comes with an insert reproducing the liner notes and lyrics from the original CD release.

Together with Calling Out Of Context, Soul Jazz’s World of Arthur Russell, and much of the ongoing work of Audika, Another Thought is absolutely essential for even the most casual Arthur Russell collection. In fact we’d argue it’s essential for any fan of non-obvious pop music. This is the only place where you can hear some of Arthur’s most recognisable tunes and it’s an album that absolutely deserves to be kept in press.


We’ll assume that by now you’re all at least a little familiar with the story of Arthur Russell, the farm boy from Iowa who moved to 1970s New York. Arthur Russell the genuine musical genius who died just 40 years old, leaving behind a wealth of music that dwarfed the few 12"s and LPs that were released during his short life.

Although Arthur had been working on an album for Rough Trade during his last years, with the label no-longer operating it was Point Music (Philip Glass and Michael Riesman’s label set up together with Philips) who stepped in to help Arthur’s partner Tom Lee start working out exactly what Arthur had left behind.

Tom suggested that Arthur’s friend Mikel Rouse was the right person to make the first catalogue. Working in Tom and Arthur’s apartment he had only two weeks to go through what turned out to be around 800 tapes.

As Tom explained “at the end of each day he would generally wait for me to come home and I would, to the best of my knowledge, name and identify pieces in question from that day’s work. As he worked Mikel compiled about a dozen cassettes that he thought would present the most finished sounding songs for Don/Point to use. As Don listened he would then suggest and ask me and thus we collaborated on the choices.”

Don is Don Christensen, Another Thought’s producer. With a final selection of songs from recordings made between 1982 and 1990, including sessions with some of Arthur’s regular collaborators Peter Zummo, Steven Hall, Mustafa Ahmed, Elodie Lauten, Julius Eastman, Jennifer Warnes and Joyce Bowden, it was then Don’s job to turn these into a finished album.

Another Thought is a little different from the compilations of Arthur’s music that came out since. In our conversations with Steve Knutson (who founded Audika Records and who manages Arthur’s estate together with Tom), he explained that “more than any project released by Arthur during his lifetime or posthumously by Audika, ‘Another Thought’ is the most worked over. The material was significantly edited and rearranged from the original source tapes”.

If the aim was to release a comprehensive exploration of every facet of Arthur’s music, from the most avant-garde of his avant-garde compositions through to the most disco-not-disco of his disco-not-disco tunes then the project was a spectacular failure. But as a coherent album of non-obvious pop music Another Thought is wonderful.

Starting with the sparse voice-and-cello of the title track, A Little Lost adds some guitar along with the sneaking suspicion that we’re listening to something nowhere near as simple as it first sounds. By the time we get to This Is How We Walk On The Moon - it could be the moment you notice the congas, or the percussion that’s been building behind them, or maybe it’s that blast of trumpet and trombone - we realise we’ve gone from splashing around to being completely submerged in the musical world of Arthur Russell.

From here the album heads off on its journey around the sounds of the left-field contemporary classical music of the time, re-directed towards pop ears, with minor detours through the swirling woozy disco of the half-remembered night before on In The Light Of The Miracle and My Tiger, My Timing. Whether it’s just Arthur, his cello and some bleeps on Just A Blip, or whether he has some vocal help as he does on the bounding Keeping Up, this is difficult music made so, so easy. And through it all is Arthur’s voice and cello. Sometimes drowned in distortion and sometimes clear as a bell, but always there somewhere.

A Sudden Chill finally returns us to the calmer waters we started in and this last track closes the album with a melancholy that’s not surprising given how soon after Arthur’s death the album was put together.

Whilst Another Thought holds together with the consistency of a proper album, there’s still no getting away from the fact that this was put together from audio recorded in different ways, in different places, with different people at different times. Those with keen ears will hear traces of tape hiss, the occasional blown-out note and some digital fuzz, all fingerprints of those original recordings as well as of the 1990s digital equipment that was used to piece Another Thought together.

Add to this Arthur’s obvious pleasure in making music from the sort of sounds that can make microphones, speakers and ears uncomfortable, it’s no surprise that Another Thought isn’t glossy and pristine. Don Christensen’s productions have been careful to not scrub up those original recordings so much that they lose their original vibe, understandable given that Arthur wasn’t around as a guide. We’ve applied a similarly light touch with the mastering for these Be With versions, just working to make sure they sound like they should on both the vinyl and the CD.

Despite the Discogs rumours, Another Thought was never originally released as an LP. So when it came to the sleeve for this Be With vinyl version we took the original CD artwork as a starting point to come up with something that looks like it could have been in the record racks back in 1993.

We have to thank Janette Beckman for helping us reproduce her iconic photograph of Arthur in his newspaper boat hat. One of many photographs she took of Arthur, Janette shot this in her New York studio back in 1986 for a short article in the January ’87 issue of The Face Magazine. Those with eagle-eyes will notice we’ve used an ever-so-slightly different shot from the one that appeared in The Face and then again on the original cover of Another Thought. The original has long since been lost so we’ve worked with what is left in Janette’s archives. And we also have to thank Tom Lee for giving us permission to reproduce his liner notes from the original CD booklet, together with Arthur’s lyrics.

Debut by a new string trio of Pelt and Elkhorn veterans with the wild card contributions of Kaily Schenker, creating a new variant of supremely pleasing acoustic-psychedelic-drone-Americana etc. “Lullaby>Summer Field” is an aptly named gentle rise, with Sheppard’s fingerpicked 12 string snaking through waves of elongated fiddle and cello. “Triode>Freedom” follows a darker minor-key ostinato with Gangloff’s keening melody over the top. “Freedom>Universal Blues” starts as a dirge and builds to a transition into the traditional “The Squirrel is a Pretty Thing,” with Kaily Schenker’s droning harmonium and vocal delivering a riveting, epic version of what’s usually cast as a short “kids”/folk-tale song (e.g. Peggy Seeger’s version). Originally this album was released by the band in an instantly sold-out edition of 100 for sale at their shows. This updated version includes a new insert by Kaily, a new cut by John Golden and a thick pressing from Smashed in Chicago.

"On a dozen restlessly expressive instrumentals recorded between Marin and Reykjavík, the American guitarist finds turbulent beauty at the edges of the fingerstyle tradition." - PITCHFORK 7.9/10

"The greatest living guitar player" - Hayden Pedigo

Today, guitarist Mason Lindahl — whose “unabashedly beautiful" (Aquarium Drunkard) sound "balances the romantic dynamics of flamenco and the meticulousness of Windham Hill with the unguarded qualities of improvised music" (Pitchfork) — announces a pair of new albums: Joshua / Same Day Walking via Mt. Brings Death.

Though packaged together, Joshua and Same Day Walking chart distinct worlds. Recorded in northern California and produced by Robby Moncrieff (Dirty Projectors, Zach Hill), Joshua is woolier and warmer, evoking haze, humidity, and overgrown Spanish moss. Meanwhile, Same Day Walking — recorded in Iceland and produced by Moncrieff alongside two-time GRAMMY-winning composer / sound designer Sam Slater (Joker, Chernobyl) — is, appropriate for its icier climes, windswept and beholden to the vast emptiness of harsh landscapes. As a pair, they provide a thorough portrait of Lindahl's singular and versatile playing.

Amid Lindahl's purely evident virtuosity, close listeners can savor wonderful imperfections freckled throughout Joshua / Same Day Walking: buzzing strings, minimal electronic ambience, soft undulations of tempo. Lindahl isn’t here to pageant his craft; he's adventuring within, uncovering fresh avenues of sound and emotive gesture.

Described by friend and contemporary Hayden Pedigo as “the greatest living guitar player,” Mason Lindahl’s “austere, gothic flamenco...dares you to submit to this odd and immersive sonic universe" (Uncut). The Northern California native's solo instrumental debut Kissing Rosy in the Rain, released in 2021 via Tompkins Square, was praised as "gorgeous" (Petal Motel) and "a minimalist gem" (Everything Is Noise). Prior to that, his only other solo release is 2009's Serrated Man Sound.

While it remains a remarkable achievement, Mavi’s breakthrough debut album Let The Sun Talk was the work of an artist still coming into his own, recorded when the gifted emcee was a teenager attending Howard University. After touring with Jack Harlow and working with artists like Earl Sweatshirt and Pink Siifu, the Charlotte, North Carolina wordsmith returned three years later with the acclaimed follow-up Laughing So Hard, It Hurts, an emotional meditation on life’s complex duality. Embedding his dense flows within lush instrumentation and stuttering percussion, Mavi unearthed new lyrical depth on the album, navigating through joy and sorrow, grief and hope, pain and healing. While many artists have struggled to match the heights of a beloved debut, Laughing So Hard, It Hurts proved that Mavi would only continue to elevate his virtuosic self expression with each new release. Eloquently cascading rhymes reveal an artist searching for truth through a vast scope of thought, floating atop serene production from Monte Booker, Dlyvinci, Ovrkast, and more. After very limited initial pressings, this classic 2022 collection is now receiving its most extensive vinyl release to date.

Re-issued! 1993 nahmen PROPAGANDHI ihr erstes Album "How to Clean Everything" auf und veröffentlichten es über das damals noch junge Label Fat Wreck Chords. Es versteht sich von selbst, dass das Album nicht nur das Label bekannt machte, sondern vor allem PROPAGANDHI als eine der großen Kräfte in der Punkszene etablierte. "How To Clean Everything" war ein Start nach Maß und lehnte sich noch eher an die Skate-Punk-Tradition an als die folgenden Werke der Band. Trotzdem voller aggressiver Metal/HC-Riffs und jungenhafter, bissiger Texte über Menschenrechte, Gleichberechtigung und radikale linke Politik. Sänger/Gitarrist Chris Hannah erklärt seine Gründefür die Neuauflage (mit einem Hauch seines geliebten sarkastischen Humors): ,Vielleicht liegt es an den Badesalzen, aber ich bin zu der Überzeugung gelangt, dass es wertvoll ist, etwas zu haben, das einen bis zum Tod verfolgt. Ich präsentiere euch "How To Clean Everything". Die 2026 Neuauflage enthält wie die 20th Anniversary Edition das komplette Originalalbum plus die drei Outtakes, die Fat Mike für Fat Wreck seinerzeit für die Vinylveröffentlichung rausgenommen hatte. Natürlich wurde das Album auch von den originalen Analogbändern remastert. Schwarzes und farbiges Vinyl wieder erhältlich.
















p SEEMED FUNNY THE FIRST TIME BONUS TRACK
[q] NOT TO BE GENDER SPECIFIC, OF COURSE [BONUS TRACK]
















[p] SEEMED FUNNY THE FIRST TIME [BONUS TRACK]
[q] NOT TO BE GENDER SPECIFIC, OF COURSE [BONUS TRACK]
















[p] SEEMED FUNNY THE FIRST TIME [BONUS TRACK]
[q] NOT TO BE GENDER SPECIFIC, OF COURSE [BONUS TRACK]

Gegründet 1992 in London von Sänger und Songwriter David Christian, gehören Comet Gain seit über drei Jahrzehnten zu den prägenden Namen des internationalen Indie-Underground. Inspiriert von Creation Records, den Television Personalities und Mod-Ikonen wie Dexys, The Style Council und Vic Godard, zieht die Band ihre Linie von The Velvet Underground, The Byrds bis zu den 13th Floor Elevators. Acht Alben auf Labels wie Wiiija, Kill Rock Stars, What"s Your Rupture und Fortuna POP! dokumentieren ihren unverwechselbaren Stil: eine Mischung aus französischer Nouvelle Vague und englischem "Kitchen Sink"-Herz, Riot Grrrl und Acid Punk, C86, Post-Punk und Northern Soul. "City Fallen Leaves", ursprünglich 2005 erschienen, gilt als Schlüsselwerk der Band und wird nun weltweit von Tapete Records neu aufgelegt. Boy/Girl-Vocals, kratzige Gitarren, Lo-Fi-Charme, Garagebeat und bittersüße Melodien machen dieses Album zu einem zeitlosen Statement für Enthusiasmus und Schmerz, Liebe und Wut. Einfach auflegen, laut drehen und wieder lebendig fühlen.

As the man who basically brought the conga into the modern age with his innovative multipercussion set-ups and tunable congas, and as a former member of Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton’s bands, Cándido Camero Guerra a.k.a. Candido already had a long and storied career when he cut Dancin’ and Prancin’ for the Salsoul label in 1979 at the age of 58. So, you might have been excused at the time for assuming this was just another case of an old-timer trying to cash in on the disco craze, right? But you would have been very, very wrong…the record was pure brilliance, as the infusion of Candido’s Latin conga beats into the disco-fied 4 x 4 syncopated rhythm proved irresistible, revolutionizing the sound of underground disco while pointing the way to the house music to come. Indeed, both “Jingo” (an unstoppable version of the Olatunji classic) and “Thousand Finger Man” are still DJ favorites. Speaking of DJs, we’re putting this one out on black vinyl, perfect for queueing up and spinning. for A must for any dance music library!

This 1983 period in which Gyllensköld was recorded was a fantastic time for the evolution of Steven Stapleton’s audio art. His collaborations with Diana Rogerson, Robert Haigh (Sema), David Tibet, and Thirlwell around this time elicited some of the most exciting work Nurse With Wound had yet recorded. Listen to this material and compare it to Chance Meeting and it becomes clear that in just a few years, Stapleton’s art had grown by leaps and bounds. The production quality on these tracks is remarkable, and the widening out of the NWW soundworld opened up a whole new audio toybox that Stapleton has continued to experiment with up to today. This new sound encompasses vocal experiments, vintage LPs of easy listening music, demented nursery rhymes, lateral references to disposable pop music, avant-garde jazz and minimalistic piano composition, all glued together with evocative atmospheres redolent of things unholy, troubling and perverse, but always oddly indefinable and puzzlingly misshapen. In retrospect, Gyllensköld can be seen as the beginning of the “mature” period of NWW, and thus it is an indispensible release for fans of the project. : Brainwashed

Swiss artist Lukas Traxel releases his powerful debut album One-Eyed Daruma on We Jazz Records, March 10. The trio features Traxel on double bass, Otis Sandsjö on sax and Moritz Baumgärtner on drums. Compact, deep, and organic to the bone, Traxel & co's sound echoes the innovations of rhythmically driven avantgarde jazz while keeping things moving at all times. There's both drive and freedom to this sound.
ONe-Eyed Daruma features eight new compositions by Traxel, who crafted the outline for the album while dealing with the loss of his father. The group came together after an open invitation from the Zurich jazz club Moods to present a new group. The trio of Traxel, Sandsjö and Baumgärtner creates a full, symphonic, and powerful body of sound despite the instrumentation without a harmony instrument. The trio functions as a collective where the boundaries between composition, melody, and accompaniment are in flux, while keeping the common goal of creating new music together in sight at all times. Traxel reports that after playing bass in various groups with guitar and/or piano, he wanted to create a counterpoint of sorts with his new group and specifically go about it with a more sparse setup. As One-Eyed Drama proves, the idea behind the trio dynamic is a strong one and the unit makes use of their extra space in creating evocative, moody, swinging creative jazz with a distinguishable fingerprint of its own.
Lukas Traxel says:

"The process of composing this music while dealing with the loss of a loved one resulted in a writer's block at first. The notes would just not flow out of my pen until I noticed a mysterious-looking figure in the right upper corner of my piano. It was a daruma, an eyeless figure that in the Japanese tradition brings luck and prosperity. According to the myth, the first eye must be drawn onto the figure while expressing a wish. The second eye can be added only if the wish comes true. My daruma is meant to stay one-eyed as my wish, strongly connected and intertwined with my now gone father, is not meant to be fulfilled. The feeling of unfulfillment and imperfection of life serves as a common thread throughout this album, right down to its title. In a similar fashion, a composition remains incomplete until it is interpreted by musicians, and given form as music. That being said, for me playing together with this trio symbolises the upside: the sense of fulfillment in music and life.

Our musical influences include the American composer and singer Caroline Shaw, Swiss pianist Colin Vallon's trio, and composer/singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane. In addition, I have listened a lot to the trio albums of Jimmy Guiffre and Sonny Rollins. Besides that, my musical heroes like Charlie Haden, John Coltrane, and Keith Jarrett always flow into the music. Another very important influence in the music is the work of American visual artist Agnes Martin, in whose works the imperfection of a multiplicity of repetitions results in a lively big whole in the end. (See "Wild Flower")

Live, the trio takes a lot of freedom in interpreting this music, yet we have a deeper, almost pop-like attitude towards the live performance as an experience. For me it's always important to build a strong narrative with the band while on stage."

One-Eyed Daruma by Lukas Traxel is released on 10 March 2023 by We Jazz Records on LP/CD/digitally. The LP edition is shelved in an inside-out sleeve and pressed on white vinyl. The CD is housed in a cardboard digisleeve with UV lacquer finish.

2024 repress

In February 2021, Jan Jelinek's seminal album "Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records" turned 20. The anniversary repress, a double LP with two bonus tracks (B-sides from the Tendency EP, 2000), is a little late to the party.
What the press said about Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records:
“Don’t be misled by the title, though for there isn’t a finger-snapping rhythm c bebop lead anywhere on the album. Instead, Jelinek chooses to explore the visual effect moiré - two shifting patterns creating an implied third dimension - in the audio realm.” (Alternative Press)
“The title acts as explanation for the studio technique that provided the basis for this album, snippets of other people’s arrangements deconstructed through a sampler into loops and then splashed onto an audio canvas.” (ATM)
“Jelinek’s sound evolved out of his dislike for (and inability to play) keyboards.” (RPM)
“Jelinek has abstracted his sources beyond recognition, looping his millisecond samples into flickering patterns of sonic moiré laid atop a dub Techno framework. (...) Jelinek might as well have sampled a horn player’s hissing intake of breath – it would have been ‘jazz’ enough for his purposes.“ (The Wire)
“It’s a perfect inversion of conventional music, a sonic negative. Everything that would typically be foreground is moved back or pushed off the screen altogether, and the flecks of sonic debris that would normally be covered by other sounds are left to carry the melody and rhythm.” (Pitchfork)
“All you need to know is that these onomatopoeic non-specific songs (...) are warm, paradisical creations”. (NME)
“Listen carefully and you’ll hear textures slowly unfolding and mutating. Presuming you’ve not fallen asleep of course.” (iDJ)
“At times, it’s all a bit dripping tap Japanese water torture; so sedentary it drowns in its own motionlessness” (DJ)
“Loop Finding Jazz Records' is a genuine modern classic whose re-release is anything but a cynical mortgage repayment exercise. Consider this a second chance, then pretend you had it all along.” (Boomkat)
PS:
“I’ve been fortunate enough to see Jan Jelinek live once, at Tonic NYC (...). Wearing a black and white striped shirt, he looked like a nihilistic Charlie Brown.” (beachsloth)

Ltd. Edition

The acclaimed collaboration between IranianCanadian brothers Saint Abdullah (previous releases on Planet Mu, The Trilogy Tapes and Room40) with in-demand jazz drummer Jason Nazary (International Anthem, 4AD, We Jazz) continues on their second album for ‘Disciples’, a sequel to the 2023’s ‘Evicted In The Morning’.

Saint Abdullah & Jason Nazary continue to blend dreamlike collage, snatches of radio, free jazz, Sufi chants and improvisational chops to impressive effect.

A ‘Freedom Now Suite’ for a new era of anti-war marches and state oppression.

Features guest appearances from Patrick Shiroishi and Ryan Easter.

'In 2023, sound artist and composer Weston Olencki toured across the American South. Beginning in their hometown in South Carolina, they snaked a circuitous path from the mountains of West Virginia to the banks of the Mississippi River. As the miles accumulated, so did the initial seeds of new work.
'Instruments and artifacts they acquired hitched a ride in the backseat, while songs and sounds filled their portable recorder: water in its various states, the familiar insectoid buzz of those summer nights, trains cutting through the landscape, the traditional music that lived alongside the communities that kept it. Olencki took it all in, and over time, found ways that these experiences coalesced into a bramble-like perspective of time, where past, present, and future intersect in ways both barbed and beautiful.
'Broadsides, Olencki’s newest solo full-length is the multilayered result of this journey. The album follows their landmark release Old Time Music from 2022, which presented radical interpretations of traditional tunes from Appalachia and throughout the South alongside original compositions that drew significantly on archival recordings. On Broadsides, Olencki rejects delineations between the unmoored avant-garde and the rootedness of one’s cultural heritage, revealing their porous and intertwined nature. “My mother was a quilter. Her mother before that,” they write in the album’s liner notes. “Quilting, like music, is a practice of embedding knowledge and remembrance into the very core of the thing you are making. It’s not just about the materials, but how they’re reassembled, recontextualized, stitched, woven to form new patterns - the minutiae of craft holding significance to those looking to find it. Stories woven from stories, never told the same way twice.”
'Like all great road trips, Broadsides unfolds slowly and continuously, with moments of dramatic reverie punctuating the endless melt of highway in the rearview. We’re immediately confronted by the uncanniness of revisiting old haunts, as Southern storms break through the initial churn of the freight locomotives of Alabama. Olencki’s interpretation of the bluegrass standard “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” captures the euphoria of melancholy in motion. The permutational plucks of banjo are bounced around the frame by a computer, its pitches determined within algorithmic sequences and transcriptions of classic three-finger licks. The tonalities of old-time are smeared and stretched until all that’s audible is the insistence that Heaven might be real.
'In the album’s second half, “Omie Wise,” a murder ballad made famous by Doc Watson, follows an interlude recorded on the river in North Carolina in which the titular character’s body was laid. Ghostly echoes of a dozen other renditions float through the substrata as Tongue Depressor’s Henry Birdsey accompanies them on the pedal steel guitar. The album’s central composition, “all my father’s clocks,” is a profound meditation on entropy and impermanence. The sound of their father’s extensive clock collection ticks away as Olencki pulls a bow across the length of an autoharp sourced from a rural strip mall. The instrument was left as detuned as it was found, the resonance of its deep bass drone and clanging high-end the result of years of neglect and the warping effects of Southern humidity.
'Historically, broadsides were an early form of broadcasting, an often- musicalized telling of current news pasted in the public square. The name was later taken up by Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen in the 1960s, whose Broadside magazine published songs and social commentary when American folk music resurfaced as an urgent way of communicating the multifaceted politics of its time.
'Olencki borrows the phrase to recall both this old form of songmaking and that later prominent reexamination of traditional music’s role in modern life, but also to draw attention to the fragmented and machine- mediated way heritage is diffused in this very different, but no less pivotal, moment.
'As a sanitized past is used as justification for current violence and domination, we can turn to these artifacts to better understand the history of ourselves, but only if they are consciously pushed to evolve. Broadsides represents one personal, striking vision of what far-flung futurisms could be respun from = these high, lonesome sounds: a reflection of the unbridled joy and deep sorrow inherent to living together through time, and a desire to push further into the untold and unknown.'

Barry Walker Jr. is a pedal steel player and guitarist whose roots in Americana, Country and Folk traditions influence his melding of minimalism, ambient and spiritual music. The Portland-based instrumentalist is also a member of the Rose City Band, known for his gorgeous phrasing and deft interplay with guitarist Ripley Johnson. On Paleo Sol, Walker demonstrates his singular voice as a pedal steel player and composer. Evoking the American western ranges and basins, the album embodies a longer, geologic view of time that patiently marvels at the ripples of change throughout lifetimes and ages. Walker is joined on Paleo Sol by drummer Rob Smith (Rhytion, Pigeons) and bassist and Mouth Painter bandmate Jason Willmon (Fruited Planes). Paleo Sol"s tranquil landscapes glide, built on warm finger-picked guitar figures and pedal steel swells coupled with deft percussion and bass touches by Smith and Willmon respectively. The trio plays with exceptional fluidity either completing each others phrasing or working together to build momentum. Smith notes: "The drums are not keeping time as much as evidencing its elasticity, mixing into the other instruments, changing phase states." Every gesture on the album is rich with intention, moving with grace and playing with timbre and time.

Rising from the ashes of Timebox, Patto delivered a bold fusion of progressive rock, jazz, and blues powered by Mike Patto’s soulful vocals and Ollie Halsall’s stunning guitar work. Their second album, Hold Your Fire (1971), originally on Vertigo, is a true gem of early ’70s progressive rock.

Original artwork in gimmix gatefold sleeve. Remastered by Prof. Stoned. Insert with detailed liner notes by Ralph Heibutzki and rare photos / memorabilia.

“…an exceptionally fine album, with songs and playing of a standard rarely achieved in rock music…” - Nick Saloman (Bevis Frond)

Vaudafunk's 4 best tracks released on Frappé, including 2 exclusive remixes by label OGs.

For years, Jackson C. Frank was as ghostly a legend as they come. Even the relatively few record collectors who revered his work were usually only aware of the lone album that he released in his lifetime. For all most listeners knew, Frank put out a celebrated LP and vanished, despite that record having been produced by Paul Simon.

1975 Mekeel Sessions features six tracks recorded in the mid-'70s at a studio in Lake Hill, New York about five miles from Woodstock where Frank was living at the time. Only discovered in the mid-'90s, these recordings still hum with the same mysterious warmth that defined Jackson at his peak. His guitar work, alternating between strummed and fingerpicking, is consistently adept. His stark and somber voice more weathered than the lighter tone heard on his 1965 debut.

The Mekeel tapes were intended for Frank's sophomore album (titled Marlene), but alas it never came to be. What one hears is not a singer-songwriter fading out of view; it is a singular artist who never stopped trying to build his own world, even when no one was watching. For fans of everyone who Jackson influenced: from Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, Bert Jansch and John Martyn to more contemporary acts like Elliott Smith and Iron And Wine who surely used Frank's sparse approach as a template.

Don Cherry, armed with a voracious musical appetite and boundless imagination, first made a name for himself - though not always fully understood - alongside Ornette Coleman, playing trumpet or cornet. In Los Angeles and then New York, he stood at the heart of a revolutionary approach to improvisation based on melody rather than harmony, later baptized "Free Jazz," the final structural development of American jazz. Over time, he became a champion of improbable fusions - gradually integrating into his style a whole array of "exotic" instruments, and more importantly, the cultures from which they originated. Among them: India, Brazil, Africa, Indonesia, and even China. The time had come for the emergence of "world music": in hindsight, a patchwork rich in imagination and seduction, but once the novelty wore off, often lacking in substance.

In Don Cherry's case, however, the commitment ran deep - tied to his personal engagement with a global vision of art and the human condition. Ustad Ahmed Latif Khan, from the Delhi gharana (a musical lineage), was part of a new generation of accompanists - percussionists, sarangi players, flutists, etc. - who had extended both the technical and conceptual possibilities of their predecessors to gain recognition as soloists and soon to venture onto the international scene. Among them, Latif stood out for his taste for irregular, highly syncopated rhythmic patterns - rich in variety and originality. Don and Latif had never met before the recording session, but the two quickly recognised one another as kindred spirits - calm, focused... and full of laughter. Don clearly knew what he wanted to create, and nothing seemed to pose a challenge for Latif, who grasped the American's intentions immediately, warmed up his fingers at astonishing speed, and with his perfect pitch, naturally took on the role of tuning Don's diverse instrument collection to match whatever was found in the studio - from concert piano and Hammond B3 organ to chromatic orchestral timpani.

Re-issued! 1993 nahmen PROPAGANDHI ihr erstes Album "How to Clean Everything" auf und veröffentlichten es über das damals noch junge Label Fat Wreck Chords. Es versteht sich von selbst, dass das Album nicht nur das Label bekannt machte, sondern vor allem PROPAGANDHI als eine der großen Kräfte in der Punkszene etablierte. "How To Clean Everything" war ein Start nach Maß und lehnte sich noch eher an die Skate-Punk-Tradition an als die folgenden Werke der Band. Trotzdem voller aggressiver Metal/HC-Riffs und jungenhafter, bissiger Texte über Menschenrechte, Gleichberechtigung und radikale linke Politik. Sänger/Gitarrist Chris Hannah erklärt seine Gründefür die Neuauflage (mit einem Hauch seines geliebten sarkastischen Humors): ,Vielleicht liegt es an den Badesalzen, aber ich bin zu der Überzeugung gelangt, dass es wertvoll ist, etwas zu haben, das einen bis zum Tod verfolgt. Ich präsentiere euch "How To Clean Everything". Die 2026 Neuauflage enthält wie die 20th Anniversary Edition das komplette Originalalbum plus die drei Outtakes, die Fat Mike für Fat Wreck seinerzeit für die Vinylveröffentlichung rausgenommen hatte. Natürlich wurde das Album auch von den originalen Analogbändern remastert. Schwarzes und farbiges Vinyl wieder erhältlich.
















[p] SEEMED FUNNY THE FIRST TIME [BONUS TRACK]
[q] NOT TO BE GENDER SPECIFIC, OF COURSE [BONUS TRACK]

Zeitkratzer director Reinhold Friedl and his ensemble present new compositions, grounded on Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonata F-minor K.466. Commissioned by the dance company Rubato and dedicated to Mario Bertoncini (1932-2019).

Little is known about Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757). His music is, so to speak, left to its own devices: free, cheeky, playful, sonorous, surprising. Harmonically strolling again and again into unforeseen regions, the ear leads, not the theory; and also the fingers get their right: playful and haptic it goes. Scarlatti explained, "since nature has given me ten fingers and my instrument provides employment for all, I see no reason why I should not use all ten of them."

Freedom, friction and listening pleasure instead of convention: "He knew quite well that he had disregarded all the rules of composition in his piano pieces, but asked whether his deviation from the rules offended the ear? He believes there is almost no other rule than that of not offending the only sense whose object is music - the ear."

Reinhold Friedl applied this principle and composed the music for a choreography by dance company Rubato. Dance music drawn from Scarlatti, who was so inspired by dance music. The material of the piano sonata F-minor K.466 is twisted anew in all its richness, shifted back and forth, declined, frozen, noisified, sound structures extracted, floating. Those who know the sonata, will more than smell it’s shadows. Dedicated to Mario Bertoncini (Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza) who was particularly fond of K.466, on which all the music presented here is grounded.

"Wild flowers", Barbara Zubers had once called Scarlatti's music. Let them bloom.

The scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist James Yorkston and the english guitarist with a fluid fingerpicking touch, David A. Jaycock, already played together in the first formation of the experimental folk ensemble Big Eyes Family Players. Their encounter with Swedish saxophonist Lina Langendorf gives rise to a little gem of pure acoustic candour, perfectly balanced between chamber avant-garde and neo-folk. As on an endless autumn evening in front of a lake in Finland or Estonia, the trio's nordic soul creates atmospheres that recall hidden nostalgia. In a process of rarefied sound matter, elegiac paintings spring up, moments that flow slowly and silently in a tension that is always suspended and unresolved. Soft, crepuscular passages, at times sharp and cold guitar, but also the velvety breath of the nickelharpa, combine with a saxophone that still blows dramas of distant Norwegian fjords, but can also become more Mediterranean and arabesque. The music becomes like a warm warmth around the fire, reflecting a hidden twilight zone of the soul, in a quiet, gentle whisper between poetic abstraction and arpeggiated themes of more recognisable narrative melody, typical of a certain Northern folklore.
Co-Release with We are busy bodies.

- You wanna feel the finger-touch on a TB303 ?

- I don't understand what you mean...

- Listen to Acid Anonymous sound, and you will find out :)

James Brown wants to know one thing before he and his band begin Sex Machine. “Can I get into the thing, really?,” he asks. His cohorts enthusiastically respond in the affirmative. And for the next hour and change, Mr. Dynamite gets into it and more, turning in a sweat-soaked, feet-moving, hip-swiveling, emotion-purging, in-the-red, drop-everything-you’re-doing-and-dance performance for the ages. Ranked by Rolling Stone among the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the sweeping 1970 effort towers as a testament to Brown’s inimitable legacy as well as the peak powers of his voice, vibrancy, and bands.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 33RPM 2LP set presents Sex Machine in audiophile sound for the first time. It explodes with the energy the lightning-strike music demands. Dynamic, immediate, present, airy: Everything from the brassiness and fluidity of the horns to the snap and decay of the snare to the swell and carry of the organ comes across in full-range perspective.

Then there’s Brown’s superhuman singing, which here emerges with a purity, naturalism, and transparency that ensure you feel everything. Screeching, shouting, pleading, moaning, preaching, stinging, commanding, testifying, crooning, humming: The Godfather of Soul contributes one of the finest vocal performances known to man. This definitive 55th anniversary reissue of Brown’s monster funk statement further exhibits a combination of clarity, solidity, separation, and imaging that helps bring to light what he and his crack ensembles committed to tape. Both in the studio and on the stage.

Just how lifelike does this reissue sound? Senior Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab engineer Krieg Wunderlich, who handled the remaster, notes: “There were some artifacts that sounded a bit like mistracking. But they turned out to be breath blasts on the vocal microphone. That is part of history. JB was workin' hard, and breathin' hard. And there was an edit the timing of that was truly strange. Again, a part of history.”

Originally marketed as a live album, Sex Machine contains six songs recorded in the studio and later overdubbed with canned crowd noise and reverberation. Save for “Low Down Popcorn,” the tracks on the latter half stem from a phenomenal performance captured in October 1969 at Bell Auditorium in Brown’s adopted hometown of Augusta, GA. The special relationship between the singer, the audience, and the location is palpable.

As the 1960s gave way to a new decade, Brown experienced immense success and dealt with unexpected change. Soul Brother Number One soon expanded his idea for an official live album captured in Augusta when the ensemble that backed him on that date morphed into the original version of the world-famous J.B.’s just months after the show. The virtuosic abilities, sticky chemistry, and rhythm-forward nature of the J.B.’s prompted him to book a one-off session in Cincinnati, OH, on a late July night.

Anchored by brothers William “Bootsy” Collins and Phelps “Catfish” Collins, the group — as well as two different drummers — laid down a nearly 11-minute rendition of “Get Up I Feel Like Being Like a Sex Machine” and a thrilling medley of “Bewildered,” “I Got the Feeling,” and “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose.” A pair of then-recent studio singles cut in separate locations in 1969, “Brother Rapp” and “Low Down Popcorn,” each featuring his prior group, took care of the second LP worth of material that complements the originally planned live set.

Complicated? Somewhat. Unusual? Definitely. But just as he elevated the expectations for all present and future R&B artists, Brown not only makes it all work. He makes it positively electrifying.

“Get Up I Feel Like Being Like a Sex Machine” is alone deserving of a dissertation on the art of funk music, seeing it moves up and down akin to an oil derrick, witnesses Brown unleashing a trademark series of grunts, squeaks, and “good god” asides, and glides to a hypnotic groove that won’t quit. Or look to the syncopated rhythms of “Brother Rapp (Part I and Part II),” one of multiple pieces here that signify the point where Brown began viewing every instrument as a percussive tool. Brown closes the three-song medley with his new band with a skedaddling “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose,” which provides jolts on the order of sticking your finger into a socket.

Not that the actual live material falls short in any way. Setting an insistent tempo for the vitality that follows, “I Don’t Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing” positions Brown as a role model, leader, and self-sufficient entrepreneur. All simmer and boil, the short and sweet “Licking Stick” dares you to keep pace. The floating, almost comforting “Spinning Wheel” spotlights the instrumental prowess of Maceo Parker and company, and functions as a seamless segue into the tender, horn-saluted “If I Ruled the World.”

And Brown and his mates still aren’t done. Just try to resist the one-two closing punch of “I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)” and “Mother Popcorn.” Mercy.

Ain’t it funky? Sure ‘nuff.