quête:the lost tape

- FIRST EVER official vinyl reissue - definitive version with Nancy's involvement - Definitive reissue of Nancy & Lee's classic 1968 duet album - Includes the bonus tracks, "Tired Of Waiting for You" and "Love Is Strange," from the album sessions - Newly remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMYr-nominated engineer John Baldwin - Vinyl pressed at RTI - Q&A with Nancy & GRAMMYr-nominated reissue co-producer Hunter Lea - Never-before-seen photos from Nancy Sinatra's personal archive - Beautifully packaged and expanded gatefold LP featuring a 20-pg booklet // "We had sort of a love/hate relationship. Maybe it was a sexual tension because we never had any kind of affair. I don't know exactly what it was, but it worked." - Nancy Sinatra Light in the Attic is thrilled to announce the first official reissue of Nancy & Lee: the highly-influential 1968 duet album from Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. This definitive edition of Nancy & Lee features newly-remastered audio by the GRAMMYr-nominated engineer John Baldwin and includes an array of exclusive content, including a new interview with Nancy, never-before-seen photos, and two bonus tracks from the album sessions: an ethereal cover of The Kinks' "Tired of Waiting for You" and an uptempo version of "Love Is Strange" (first made famous by Mickey & Sylvia in 1956). This release marks the official debut on vinyl for both tracks. After a string of successful duet singles with Lee Hazlewood, including "Sand," "Summer Wine," "Jackson," and "Some Velvet Morning;" the pair released the duet album Nancy & Lee in 1968. The album features the lush, orchestral arrangements of Billy Strange and the famed Los Angeles session musicians, The Wrecking Crew, at the peak of their powers. The unique vocal blend, the iconic cover and the selection of classic songs attracted a huge following and sold over a million copies.

Propelled by his 1956 Lee Hazlewood-produced hit "The Fool," Sanford Clark was already a rockabilly legend in his own right by the time he swapped his hair gel and switchblade for a pair of cowboy boots on They Call Me Country. Recorded between 1965-67 and originally released as a series of singles for Phoenix's Ramco label, the 12 tracks on this LP borrow Bakersfield's outlaw sound and ignore Nashville's countrypolitan flair, standing as a true lost masterpiece of country music's third generation. Clark's booming baritone tells tales of bar fights, heartaches, and drinking til you can't stand, while Waylon Jennings provides a backdrop of fuzzed out guitar twang. Mastered from the original session tapes and back on vinyl for the first time since the Nixon administration.

New Decade is a name that has been around since the early days of rave music, long before it split into hardcore and jungle, which has meant that he can walk the line between the styles easily. Fourth Beginnings is very much an early hardcore rave style track that sounds so authentic you’d swear it was from a lost DAT tape from 1992. It has all the elements that made that era, that year, so darn good! Then there is Extreme Levels. This walks a slightly later path and has a hardcore/jungle crossover sound from early 1993, just before the official split of rave music. Dark Style Hardcore as we called it back then, but in truth this is the birth of jungle. It has all the defining elements in place but maintains a slight hardcore feel. These are two excellent slices of yesteryear, built for today, from an original old shool master, New Decade. Showing that even after all these years, he still doesn’t miss a beat…

Club / DJ Support
Jay Cunning, Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Liquid, Hyper On Experience, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Paul Bradley, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Jimmy J, Doughboy, Lowercase, Dave Skywalker, Ponder and many others

Following the release of their debut album, Overcast!, Atmosphere was already making waves in the underground Hip-Hop scene, attracting attention for their unique combination of content, styles and sounds. Although the group was suddenly smaller due to the departure of one member, Spawn, the buzz continued to grow, as did the creative output of remaining members Slug and Ant. Over the next 3 years, the duo recorded and released a flurry of unofficial Atmosphere CD's, tapes, songs and side projects, along with pressing and distributing a string of vinyl EP's, titled "Ford One", "Ford Two", and "The Lucy EP". These vinyl EP's were ultimately consolidated onto one CD as well, for the purpose of selling on tour and distributing to retail, becoming what most considered to be Atmosphere's official sophomore album, Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP's, more commonly referred to as simply Lucy Ford. Lucy Ford was packed with the kind of nimble wordplay found on Atmosphere's debut, but it was paired with more self-reflective and introspective rhymes than their previous album. Tracks like "The Woman With the Tattooed Hands" and "Nothing But Sunshine" showed Slug was equally as talented at poignant storytelling as he was at conveying a deeper message for the greater good of humanity, while songs like "Don't Ever Fucking Question That" and "Like Today" stripped away at the character facade, allowing listeners to know the rapper on a more intimate level. The album wasn't entirely devoid of ego though. Slug reminds listeners of his competitive roots on "Guns & Cigarettes" over a truly inspired bluesy beat by Ant, who handled the lion's share of the album's production. And while Ant knows how to bring the emotional essence out of a beat, from the idyllic to the incensed, there were a few notable contributions from outside producers as well, including the dub-inspired "Free or Dead" by Jel, and the darkly optimistic "Nothing But Sunshine" by Moodswing9, among others. Now, in celebration of its 20th anniversary, the entire Lucy Ford album is finally available on 2xLP vinyl, for the first time in history! At last, fans and collectors everywhere can finally own this integral part of Atmosphere's legacy on vinyl, complete with the original artwork and a redesigned layout.

Gilmer’s first release came out in 2015, called ‘Brain Poacher’ on Lobster Theremin. Showcasing a production style taht lands between Ancient Methods, Sandwell district and a more rugged version of the live-orientated Karen Sound. Keeping the Rhythms and grooves undulating under booted foot. The next year after the nuclear arms test that was the ‘Brain Poacher’, Gilmer returns to the lobster family via Lucid, Murky sub-label Mörk with his second record called ‘Lost Tapes’. Taking a much more languid and contemplative approach to his follow up. ‘Lost Tapes’ finds itself washed ashore on waves of warm, translucent, salt-infused techno and house giving his next release the opportunity to make his debut in Turbo Recordings with a foour track EP called ‘Baker Shit Ton’. After releasing on Lobster Theremin and Turbo, Gilmer Galibard launches his own imprint ‘Gilmer Galibard Records’. This project is a pure expression of his personal experiences and stories through music and visual art using each release as a timeline of his life. The concept of the label is also to explore boundaries of introspective musical experiences, taking sound design as a way to connect with his body and soul. These tracks were written in a period of uncertainty and a s big change in Gilmer, seeking powerful change in his life and his music. Inspired by Austin Osman Spare and his book ‘Book of Pleasure’ Gilmer gave birth to Novaturient, to honour that important moment of his life. Novaturient (Rainforest Spiritual DUB) is the first track of GIL01 and delivers almost over 7 minutes worth of deep harmonics and metallic textures, manifesting Gilmer’s own sound design. Even though the core ideology remains correlative. B-Sides Komorebi (Getwaway To The Sun Mix) creates its own identity by venturing into a deep industrial techno with drops of light and hope accompanied by an organic percussion through the track. All tracks produced written and Mixed by Gilmer Galibard

Oops, Four Flies did it again! Like other rare Italian gems, Berto Pisano's La Novizia was long thought lost before the FF team rescued, restored and remastered it from the original tapes. And wow, it's just one of the best things, if not the best thing, about the 1975 film it was written for – an erotic comedy with melodramatic overtones directed by Pisano's long-time collaborator Giuliano Biagetti (they previously worked together on Interrabang and La Svergognata) and starring a young and mesmerizing Gloria Guida.

The film's low budget meant that Pisano had to make a virtue out of necessity. Rather than using a big orchestra and strings (as is well known, he was a brilliant conductor and string arranger), he relied on a smaller ensemble – almost a chamber ensemble, but with a jazz-like rhythm section – to create sensual late-night soundscapes that exude a downtempo ambience. In a nutshell: smooth, warm, velvety music. The epitome of the lounge sound.

At times, whispered, sexy vocals by (the then ubiquitous) Edda Dell'Orso float dreamily over brushed drums, bass, guitars and electric pianos. At others, we find Italian library heavyweights like Alessandro Alessandroni (whose unmistakable whistle can be heard in "Canto Notturno") and even psychedelic rock influences, as in the acid distorted guitars, furious drums and crazy synths of "Free Dimension". At yet other times, we're taken into more easy-listening territory – "Fiore Rosso", for instance, offers a wonderfully cinematic example of Mediterranean, rather than Brazilian, bossa nova (did they ever thought of using a spinet in Brazil??).

The secret to the charm of La Novizia is that it encapsulates the Italian erotic sound of the 70s in all of its nuances, from the morbid, to the prudish, to the naïve. Because yes, this is a record of nuance and musicianship. And while the themes are in themselves simple, the fantastic quality of the writing, arrangement and production is a testament to Berto Pisano's superb talent, style and professionalism.

Finally back to life after decades of obscurity, La Novizia is a thing of beauty – which, as a pretty bright fellow once said, is a joy forever. Don't miss out on joy.

Comes on vinyl, CD and Digi with original artwork by Eric Adrian Lee and exclusive liner notes by the Pisano family. All tracks are previously unreleased in any format.

Released in 1961, My Favorite Things made John Coltrane a star with box-office pulling power previously preserved for the likes of Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, the MJQ, and Miles Davis. The dazzling quartet treatment of the Richard Rodgers hit song, features Coltrane on soprano saxophone for the first time on record, exercised a hypnotic effect on all sorts of music lovers and trend-spotters. The title track was a hit single, and the album became a major commercial success. In 1998, the album received the Grammy Hall of Fame award. It attained gold record status in 2018, having sold 500,000 copies. The mono version of this album, believed lost, was recently found, and is included in this deluxe package, as well as the stereo version, both mastered from the original tapes.

The packaging includes liner notes by award-winning writer Ben Ratliff, as well as photos and Atlantic Records ephemera.

Repossessed by the past, bitten once again and forced to relive drama, history, memories, tradition and roots. A past that needs exorcizing, bending and re-imagining in order to move forward and depend on. This is ‘Rimorso’, Mai Mai Mai’s colossal mediterranean gothic album.

Known for his incredible blend of Southern Italian Folklore, industrial drone, proto-techno & punishing miasmic electronic music, Toni Cutrone aka Mai Mai Mai approached ‘Rimorso’ with a clean slate. Following ‘Nel Sud’ (La Tempesta International, 2019) and his mediterranean trilogy ‘Theta’ (Boring Machines, 2013), ‘Δέλτα’ (Delta) (Yerevan Tapes, 2014) and ‘Φ’ (Phi) (Not Not Fun Records / Boring Machines, 2017) the Roma based noise artist recreated his spirits of the past by collaborating with musicians and ethnomusicologists that work on the present, on traditions that are still passed on and morphing continuously, healing our nostalgia for a lost future. ‘Rimorso’ sheds the past heavy use of samples and sound manipulation in lieu of a human element: voices, percussion, lap steel guitar all embedded in a rich cultural heritage.

Cream White Vinyl


It finally took five years and two lineup changes for Handful of Snowdrops to release their debut album, the iconic Land of the Damned. While too many of the songs written during that period never made it to tape, some fortunately did.

This is what we believed is first home recording from the second generation of the band with Jean-Pierre as the lead singer. All tracks were recorded in a single day in a dark and humid basement using a beaten-up TEAC 4-track tape cassette recorder borrowed from a friend. Since the original mix downs are long gone, we had to salvage the music from two old worn out cassette copies.

It would be fair to say that the recordings are very representative of the overwhelming naivety of the early compositions. It’s a unique chance to have another look inside an old photo album you thought you had lost forever.

Strut present the first ever reissue of an essential lost classic from the Black Fire catalogue, Wayne Davis’ powerful self-titled gospel-soul album from 1976.

An accomplished vocalist and keyboard player, Davis had studied in Washington D.C. and had worked with Roberta Flack and she subsequently secured him a recording deal with Atlantic Records; he released the 'A View From Another Place' album in 1973 and Roberta contributed electric piano to one of the tracks. Davis was the dropped from the label and his subsequent album was released by Jimmy Gray on Black Fire. Produced by Jimmy Watkins and Bias Studios manager, Bob Dawson, the album line-up featured the celebrated poet and flautist Wanda Robinson and the horn section from legendary D.C. go-go pioneers Experience Unlimited. Wayne later returned the favour, appearing as a vocalist on Experience Unlimited’s seminal 'Free Yourself' album.

This first international reissue of the album features new sleeve notes including band member interviews and original illustrated artwork by Muzi Branch. Audio was transferred from the original tapes by the album’s engineer, Bob Dawson, and was remastered by The Carvery.

• First international reissue of Wayne Davis’ album from 1976

Your Old Droog is back with the new album, TIME. It features appearances by MF DOOM, Aesop Rock, Mick Jenkins, Elzhi, Blu, and Wiki. As the title indicates, the project is the culmination of years of work. "This is basically my debut album," Droog explains. "Some of this material was recorded back in 2017, but I suppose the universe felt it would make more sense if it was released at another point in the future. Hence the name, TIME." Featuring production by Quelle Chris, 88 Keys, Edan, Mono En Stereo, and more, TIME= was a surprise release on digital outlets, and is now available on vinyl for the first time:

Before Madvillain, before Yesterday’s New Quintet and before Quasimoto or any other of his several alter egos, Madlib perfected his craft as an MC/producer in the Lootpack. Along with DJ Romes, and fellow rhymer Wildchild, they released the dusty full-length, Soundpieces: Da Antidote back in 1999, that laid down the foundation for the unique and dusty sound now associated with Madlib. The loose, freeform recordings on this collection are circa 1996 when the group was managed by Madlib’s father, and they show the now-renowned maverick producer in comparatively restrained form. Madlib’s scope and imagination was clearly fixated on East coast jazzy hip-hop production from the early ’90s, laying down soundscapes for his hungry crew including the likes of Kazi, Declaime and Medaphoar, who have all become well known underground rap vets. Madlib’s own strong mic presence is noticeable given his now only-on-rare-occasion rhyming, but it’s his production that is the most fascinating element here. While a resolutely hip-hop project, the burgeoning jazzy flourishes and Madlib’s heavily accomplished ear for sound makes the record an important starting point for adherents of his more recent exploratory work.

In the past few years, Clarice Jensen has forged her own path. Recently, her focus has shifted to film scoring, successfully recording work for three feature films between 2020 and 2021. At the same time, Clarice continues to serve as artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, while continually collaborating with an impressive array of musicians, such as Max Richter, Björk and Stars of the Lid, to name a few.

That being said, it was her 2019 tape release on Geographic North, »Drone Studies«, that initially caught the attention of a wider audience, with the work showcasing a compelling assembly of deeply immersive drones, and elegantly orchestrated compositions, in which neoclassical elements collide with electric density.

Three years later, the work has lost none of its innovative character and appeal. It also documents a turning point in Clarice's career, one where her classically trained background started to converged and overlap with her interests in improvisational electronics and drone music. As a result, the aptly titled »Drone Studies« shows Clarice at her most exploratory, introspective, and daring, channeling her areas of interest into a collage of richly textured timbers and cello movements of sublime tension.

Now for the first time, the original album can be experienced through an expanded vinyl reissue, mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri, and carefully adjusted for vinyl by Ian Hawgood. The new reissue also features an additional track by Clarice called »Platonic Solids 2«, which was originally conceived around the same time as »Drone Studies«, and which has now been made available exclusively for the vinyl edition.

We hope that this new reissue will aid in introducing Clarice's groundbreaking »Drone Studies« to a new crowd of listeners through this expanded edition.

Muddy Monk was revealed alongside Parisian artists Myth Syzer, Ichon and Bonnie Banane on 'Le Code'. From his native Switzerland, he imposes a fine, synthetic universe that plays a major role in the renewal of French-language song. The journey began in 2018 with 'Longue Ride', a cathartic first album that he describes as 'a kind of therapy' and that was unanimously acclaimed by the critics. In 2020, he returns with 'Ultra Tape', a mixtape which, with the benefit of hindsight, is the first step towards his second album. We discover a more raw universe. Darker too. A superb launching pad for his second album.

With Ultra Dramatic Kid, Muddy Monk delivers a radical new piece, a bubble of just over thirty minutes in which he manages to work his magic and make us dance on the edge of his emotions. As if everything could change in an instant towards happiness or chaos. An electric album and a sublime dive into his universe, which draws equally from Daft Punk, Rage Against The Machine and Travis Scott. A project that takes the form of a global experience, both auditory and visual, since almost all the tracks on the tracklisting have been put into images by Felix de Givry, the whole forming a short film to be discovered with the release of the project. In the end, Ultra Dramatic Kid is an uncompromising album in which it is a pleasure to get lost. An album that further establishes the Swiss artist as one of the artists capable of redefining the contours of French-speaking music for many years to come.

Tape

You can’t keep a good thing down: 99 marks the triumphant and long overdue return of Matthew Edwards’ Rekid project. More than just Radio Slave records slowed down, his alter ego preferably ploughs the field between ambient excursions, downtempo hypnotism, sample sculptures and the general space in between raves.

Since its first appearance with the Lost Star EP for Classic in 2004 and the still breathtaking follow up Made In Menorca opus on Soul Jazz Records, Edwards firmly established himself as a producer of many, if not all trades. Thought of, produced and conceived during the first lockdown of 2020, 99 is conceptual (with the tempo firmly set at that tempo), concise (34 minutes and 34 seconds long) and content with exploring the possibilities of limitation (one track a day, live takes, no editing).

Without departing the original Rekid ethos of glacial music, it presents a modernized and contemporary version of IDM tropes, chill out topics and a capturing sound of mesmerizing materiality.

After a while, it all made sense to Edwards as one piece, was presented to Running Back, where the A& R department thought the same and is now available as a continuous cassette mix and a separated vinyl single album as well as for streaming and downloads.

Jeep music for ballet dancers.

Blair French returns to Rocksteady Disco with an EP of pan-African dance floor heat. Picking up from where he left off with his The Art Of Us LP and his recent Razor-N-Tape EP, this 3-tracker sounds like being happily lost in a hot jungle. Tons of drums, chants, flutes, and basslines for the finest parties. Limited vinyl pressing, don’t sleep.

Music written and produced by Blair French
Pressed at Archer in Detroit
Mastered by Pontchartrain

Orange Vinyl


With his second contribution to the Lost Palms catalogue, Swansea-based producer Tom Vernon takes us by the hand and leads us with him on a contemplative journey through Japan's rural landscapes and their urban surroundings.

Following the success of his debut EP released on Shall Not Fade's sub-label Lost Palms, Tom Vernon returns with a blissed-out 5-tracker. Taking its name from the ancient temple district at the foot of the Japanese mountain, Minobu EP sees the emerging producer fuse field recordings with the stylistic tropes of house and broken beat, creating intricately woven tapestries imbued with memory and place.

The wistfully amorphous opening track "Onjuku" captures the stasis of a declining-population seaside town, taking its cue from the futile whine of the tsunami warning system that echoes daily through its empty streets. On "Minobu In The Train", the EP discovers its pulse, translated into the shuffle of maracas, reverberating cymbals and a hypnotic piano melody that New Zealand brothers Chaos in the CBD would be proud of. With instrumental-sounding percussion, a modest, throbbing bassline and the ambient backdrop of Tokyo station, "Unexpected Departure" takes jazz-infused broken beat as its reference point, and sees the EP at its most transportive. Bringing things to a close are the complex drum workouts and acid-tinged melody of "Route E52" and the more upbeat deep house track "Could This Be" with low pass filtered funk-infused melody that oozes sex appeal.

Minobu EP drops 22nd April via Shall Not Fade.

Good things come to those who wait. The album 'The Children of Scorpio' by Project Gemini aka Paul Osborne is a result of his steeped 30-year musical journey that’s seen him dig deep, study his record collection and re-emerge to fine-tune his craft.

A cinematic musical journey that plays out like a long-lost soundtrack (think cult B-movies of the 60s and 70s); 'The Children of Scorpio’ was formed from Paul's love of a myriad of genres; from European library music, acid folk, psych-funk, vintage soundtracks and the contemporary breaks scene. The album draws on iconic classics such as the masterful cinematic funk of Lalo Schifrin's 'Dirty Harry', Ennio Morricone's 'Vergogna Schifosi’ and Luis Bacalov’s 'The Summertime Killer’, to name but a few. You can also hear the folk sounds of Mark Fry's iconic 'Dreaming With Alice', the Britsh folk-jazz of The Pentangle and the David Axelrod-produced 'Release Of An Oath' by The Electric Prunes, woven into the cultural tapestry of this gem. The influence of these vintage productions of the 60s and 70s is evident; however, it could be argued that there’s also echoes of the funkier psychedelic moments of bands such as The Stones Roses and The Charlatans, alongside contemporaries such as The Heliocentrics and Little Barrie, thus giving the album a broader crossover potential beyond the world of crate digging and vintage soundtracks.

A bass player and musician since the age of 16, the arrival of his first child in 2010 saw Paul move away from live performance and retreat to his home studio, recording a wealth of music that was destined to never be heard. One of the first tunes to be made was a demo entitled ‘The Children Of Scorpio’, inspired by his long-time obsession with Lalo Schifrin’s soundtrack to violent Clint Eastwood cop classic 'Dirty Harry'. Recorded for fun, the track was fated to sit in the archives untouched. However, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, connections to a wealth of inspirational musicians and labels would re-ignite Paul's musical fire and give him the impetus to develop his slept-on ideas into something more concrete. Firstly resulting in releasing two limited 7'' records on Delights Records and now the long-player for Mr Bongo.

Assisting in the recording of the record were several close friends that have helped spark Paul's musical creativity along the way, including well-renowned guitarist and Little Barrie frontman Barrie Cadogan (who contributes killer six-string guitar to four tracks), Delights Records head-honcho Markey Funk (who adds spooked out keyboards to ‘Path Through The Forest’), Kid Victrola, the chief songwriter and guitarist with French psych girl group Gloria who added wild 12-string to ‘Scorpio’s Garden’, Haifa-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Shuzin who brings the heat behind the drum kit, and Paul Isherwood, co-founder of Nottingham’s The Soundcarriers, who mixed the album on his wealth of vintage gear.

We are delighted to be releasing this slowly-brewed timeless classic that manages to achieve that rare feat of keeping one foot firmly in the past whilst still sounding totally contemporary.

The Tribe Records co-founder’s lost album, rumored to exist no more. Mastered from the original tapes and lacquered by Bernie Grundman. “As I thought about reecting on an aggregate of music for this album, I projected my attitude and spirit while living and working here, in Detroit, Michigan. We are earning and learning a new way of life, which explicitly tells us to become self-reliant in taking care of our families and each other. Government hand-outs are not an option for us.” -Wendell Harrison The first ever issue of this Spiritual Jazz album. The Tribe label, one of the brightest lights of America’s 1970s jazz underground, receives the Now-Again reissue treatment. This is your chance to indulge in the music and story of one of the most meaningful, local movements of the 20th Century Black American experience, one that expanded outwards towards the cosmos. In the words of the collective themselves, “Music is the healing force of the universe.” Included in an extensive, oversized booklet, Larry Gabriel and Jeff “Chairman” Mao take us through the history of the Tribe, in a compelling story that delves not just into the history of the label and its principals, but into the story of Black American empowerment in the latter half of the 20th Century. The booklet features never-before-seen archival photos and rare ephemera from Tribe’s mid-1970s heyday.

It begins with a rustle of noise, equally reminiscent of distorted factory noise and a cassette recording of cathedral bells unspooling, before a near-robotic beat and stuttering bassline enter the fray. Initially, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve stumbled across the lost tapes of Joy Division’s early Warsaw incarnation, but the atonal blast of strafing guitars fading in and out soon make you realise this is a very different proposition. This is The Drin, and ‘Engines Sing for the Pale Moon’ is their debut album. It’s also one of the best things you’ll hear all year. Helmed by Dylan McCartney, drummer of the rock band Vacation, The Drin originally released this album as a hyper-limited cassette via Future Shock. It’s as much of a departure from McCartney’s usual output as it is for Drunken Sailor Records; songs don’t so much explode out of the gate as drift towards you like a creeping fog that turns your skin inside-out and leaves you sloshing organs all across the carpet. Second track ‘Guillotine Blade’ shows the pieces all coming together, a dubbed-out riot of claustrophobic noise that feels like Pere Ubu trapped in a cupboard one minute, and ‘Warm Jets’-era Eno trying on Bauhaus’ trenchcoats the next. Meanwhile, ‘Down Her Cheek A Party Tear’ unfolds across jittering, skittering rustles of drums and an undulating bassline, making you wonder why post-millennial post-punk so often settles for dickheads shouting non-sequiturs over landfill indie, when it could be entering these dark, unsettling territories instead. The Drin like to get weird. The Drin like to get wild. The Drin rarely cut loose, but that’s because the trip is already intense and haunting enough without things getting raucous in here as well. Hey kids, turn off those shite band name redacted records and get into this; you deserve so much better, and better’s right here. Fall into it, immerse yourself and step forward into a brave new world. I love this record

First Word Records is very proud to welcome back Don Leisure, with a brand new 25-track album 'Shaboo Strikes Back'.

Five years have passed since the first 'Shaboo' album was released. A collection of beats and pieces that documented the road trip of Don's youth - hip hop music interspersed with Asian radio station jingles of old, dedicated to Bollywood actor, Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwani - Don Leisure's late uncle.

This album was heralded as "the best album of its kind since J Dilla's 'Donuts'" and deemed "unmissable" by the folks at Piccadilly Records. It also had strong support from BBC 6 Music's Tom Ravenscroft ("very, very good this indeed"), Huey Morgan ("my beat of the week"), Worldwide FM's Lefto ("defo down with this"), Rob Da Bank ("this is wicked") and the likes of Mathieu Schreyer (KCRW, LA), Alex Ruder (KEXP, Seattle), Kid Fonque (5FM, South Africa), Om Unit, Jon1st, Mr Thing, Rob Luis (Tru Thoughts), Dom Servini (Wah Wah 45s), Tim Parker (NTS) and tons more from across the globe.

Don Leisure is a DJ and producer based in Cardiff, Wales, sometimes known as one half of Darkhouse Family, along with Earl Jeffers. He's been a prolific beat-maker for many years, releasing under a variety of monikers for labels such as Metalheadz, International Anthem, Fat City, Izwid, Earnest Endeavours and Group BraCil. His most recent release was a remix for Gruff Rhys, which was released on Rough Trade.

In 2020 he was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize for his 'Steel Zakusi' project, and has dropped several releases for First Word, including the acclaimed 2019 'Halal Cool J' album and various Darkhouse Family projects, including collabs with artists as diverse as Charlotte Church, Om'Mas Keith and Children of Zeus's Tyler Daley, additionally to remixes from DJ Spinna and label-mate, Kaidi Tatham. As a DJ he has provided mixes for BBC 6 Music, NTS, Rinse FM, Solid Steel and Boxout FM in India, as well as performing at The Jazz Cafe, Fabric and on Boiler Room.

'Shaboo Strikes Back' is a much-awaited sequel to the 2017 smash, and again features a modest 25 tracks. Psychedelic fuzzy samples and phat beats aplenty, Don Leisure once again takes us on a far-out trip across soundscapes. A real tapestry of flavours, from jazz to reggae, and from the soulful to the spiritual, this time round he's invited a few special guests to join him on his travels - most notably Welsh legend Gruff Rhys provides the vocals on 'Neon Drizzle (Hotel Shaboo)', whilst acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid and Jazzman-signed harpist Amanda Whiting lend their talents to 'All Praises Due'. There is even a special cameo appearance from his young daughter, (aka Shaboo's great-niece!), Naima, on 'Naima's Dream'.

Once again, this is a journey into sound.

'Shaboo Strikes Back' is released on vinyl & digital by First Word Records, March 2022.

Dedicated to Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwan
























x 24: Neon Drizzle (Hotel Shaboo) feat. Gruff Rhys

Tape

Lucia H. Chung is a Taiwanese experimental artist based in London. She performs and releases music under the alias 'en creux'.

Under this alias, Lucia is interested in the underlying structures of what we call noise and is examining the effects of human interventions into its complex web of tones. Repetition and chance operations are fundamental to Lucia‘s music. It is not built on the dionysian maximalism and symbolic harshness of lots of noise artists; catharsis is not reached via an explosion of sound, but via concentration on sound phenomena and small changes, which, not unlike some minimal disco night your usual mind-altering drone ritual, sucks you in more with every tiny alteration. This music is as intense as it is sensitive.

„The Liberated Mind“, in Lucia‘s own words, „is a sort of split release between two no-input configurations“. For „Wyldside“, she tuned two different feedback mixers with identical routings as close possible, as much as tuning is possible at all on these highly volatile instruments. „The two channels naturally phased in and out from each other. I guess the process was actually akin to Steve Reich's tape techniques on Come Out and It's Gonna Rain. The whole release extrapolated from that point onwards...“ Finding and replicating similar routings/settings on no input mixing desks is the nightmare of every control freak and a task doomed to failure, but in letting go and embracing these failures, patterns emerge. And thanks to Lucia‘s careful work, these patterns become hypnotic as she carves out the essence of each feedback loop, or, as she puts it: „Actually, I did remember the setting for the final track „Earthrise“, but for whatever reasons, I just cannot reproduce the sounds and it's forever lost (at least for this point in time, maybe when the conditions are primed again for the machine, the same sounds will emerge again...). I guess that's really the essences of improvised NIMB setup. Every single sound was the effect of the previous iteration and the cause of the next iteration... (Wait... isn't it just like a Blockchain? Ha!)“

A collection of no-input studio sessions improvised with Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro, TAPCO MIX260FX, MXR Phase 90 and Electro-Harmonix Bad Stone Phase Shifter. All tracks recorded live, no overdubs. Recorded in London in February 2020. Mastered by causeandcondition

Lucia also works as independent curator, producer and broadcaster at Happened. Check out Lucia‘s other albums on Hard Return, Falt and SM-LL.

Released in 1983 on a miniscule run of 300-self-financed LP’s, Dennis Taylor’s ‘Dayspring’ remains a lost masterwork of transcendental instrumental guitar. An important missing link between the 60’s folkloric experimentalism of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, and the new age atmospherics mined by William Ackerman and Michael Hedges in the early 80’s. Though Taylor’s guitar playing remains crisply unadorned on these 10 tracks, his technique and his compositions stretch beyond the folk roots of the genre. He crafts a soundworld that is both immersive and familiar. His pastoralism has a spaciousness - a pianistic drift - that feels truly timeless.

Taylor cut his musical teeth through the 60’s and 70’s playing with garage rock bands, and later finding his footing in the world of jazz/folk fusion. Sometime in the early 70’s, Taylor found his most profound inspiration to date when he witnessed a live performance from Takoma Records luminary, Leo Kottke. Enraptured by Kottke’s ability to fill the room so completely, with the sound of just one instrument, Taylor was determined to follow a similar path. Thus, he began composing music for solo guitar. He spent nearly a decade writing and honing his pieces, finally entering a studio in 1982 to commit them to tape. Taylor likened the recording experience to “a living room concert.” He recorded each song in a single take, in the order they appear on the album. Paying out of pocket for the recording sessions, studio time was at a premium, so Taylor had arrived prepared. And the results speak for themselves.

Dennis Taylor’s guitar playing is clean, precise, and masterfully proficient. And yet, ‘Dayspring’ is not merely a document of technical ability. His compositions are deeply
expressive. Taylor’s deft fingerpicking is married to achingly beautiful melodicism. His arpeggios chime and roll with painterly expression. Across the breadth of ‘Dayspring’, Dennis Taylor strikes a perfect balance between wistful nostalgia and bold expansion. Though Taylor initially hoped to release his album with new age progenitors Windham Hill, he ultimately decided to release the album on his own. He self-financed a pressing of 300 LP’s, which were largely distributed locally in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. And now, Morning Trip is supremely proud to bring this album back to light. An important missing piece in the expansive tapestry of instrumental guitar music, finally restored.

Legendary Italian musician Sergio Messina serves up his 13 track Sensual Musicology on Hell Yeah this March. It comes a couple of years after he first released on the label's Buena Onda compilation and takes in everything from demented waltz to grown-up jazz, groovy beach music to heart-aching melancholia with artwork by virtuoso Italian AD DeeMo.

Now based in Lombardy, Sergio was there at the birth of pirate radio in the mid-seventies and eventually produced Radio art for national broadcaster Rai. At the same time, his DJ career took off and he helped establish Hip hop in Rome before taking his own live show to the stage with a mix of PCs, samplers and tape recorders as early as 1989. Frank Zappa declared himself a fan and in the years since Sergio has done everything from radio art to producing Neapolitan reggae and hip hop band 99 Posse, producing his own solo albums and writing for monthly music magazine Rumore. On top of this, he has both written books about and delivered lectures on the digital porno revolution, as well as teaching History of Pop Culture at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan. All this makes him a truly original creative thinking who has long been immersed in many niche facets of popular culture.

Sensual Musicology took several years and four different locations to happen. Its release has been delayed by the pandemic, during which Sergio lost many friends and relatives close to him. As a result, the album is dedicated to all of them. It is a record that addresses many topics from economic migration to jazz piano, 60s blues motifs to corruption, pollution and racism via Michael Jackson covers, odes to West Coast guitar albums and spaced-out pieces of electronica.

Opening with the beautifully delicate Mingus melodies of 'Goodbye Porkpie Hat' the album roams through the bluesy Italo-American-Jamaican groove of 'Amara,' slow melancholy of 'Sometimes Remember' with classy vocals from chanteuse Valeria Rossi and 'The Way You Make Me Feel', an acoustic rebuild of Michael Jackson's hit song. Then comes the serenade that is 'Just Because You're Dead,' and ‘Sono Stufa di Tutto’ which is based around a protest speech recorded from the radio in the 1980s. Jon Hassell Beach Bar' is a musical hybridisation for dancing pleasure.

The second half of the album takes in 'Ouana Di lambo' which is the Four Twenties taking you to a cocktail bar in the tropics, 'Benjamino Placido' which is a melody for a man who inspired Sergio to start writing his columns, and 'Nowhere Special' which is a tribute to West Coast guitar albums. Closer ‘Switchblade Bolero' has a Zappaesque theme.

Sensual Musicology is a rich and diverse musical world that is as thought-provoking and deep as it is emotionally rewarding.


Early DJ Support:
Leo Mas, Phat Phil Cooper, Calm, Chris Coco, Andy (We are The Sunset), Severino (Horse Meat Disco)

Minimal Wave presents The Complete Collection 1980-1988, a five LP box set by the highly lauded French group Martin Dupont. The band formed in Marseille in 1980 and consisted of Alain Seghir, Brigitte Balian, Beverley Jane Crew, and Catherine Loy. They were immensely talented with a rare dynamic between them that was likely inspired by a combination of their magnetic personalities, creative vision and and the home studio where they recorded. The music they made was colorful, enthusiastic and delicate, but also melancholy and mysterious. A mixture of hot and cold, light and dark. They made electronic music that incorporated guitars and clarinets and are described by many as a New Wave band yet they truly transcended genres. They had some mainstream success finding themselves opening for bands like The Lotus Eaters, The Lounge Lizards and Siouxsie and the Banshees, without any intention of ever being a commercial enterprise. In Beverley Jane Crew’s words, “the songs just tumbled out in a completely organic and spontaneous way and as soon as they were recorded on the four track, they were shared with friends on tapes, openly and excitedly.”

They released three studio albums: Just Because, Sleep Is A Luxury and Hot Paradox, one cassette entitled Inédits 1981-1983 and one 7” single entitled Your Passion. In 2008, Minimal Wave released a compilation of selected tracks entitled Lost And Late. Now one decade later, MW releases its first box set for this phenomenal band.

The Complete Collection 1980-1988 consists of all of Martin Dupont’s recorded material to date in the form of five 180 gram vinyl LPs and spans 60 songs recorded between 1980 and 1988. Along with the five LPs, the box contains a 12 page LP-sized full color booklet featuring previously unpublished photographs of the band, their history, and select song lyrics. The box itself is bound in platinum grey linen, with black foil type and both booklet and box are designed by NYC based artist Peter Miles. All five LPs are pressed on black 180 gram vinyl and feature the original artwork of the French artist Yves Cheynet.

The next ten-inch cut of the Time Is Now series comes courtesy of Nicky Soft Touch. These four tracks are a taste of things to come, handpicked from an as-yet-unannounced double LP the
Bristol native has had in the works since 2019.

Nicky Soft Touch's recent outings include two dusty hip-hop dubplates on London's Ghost Notes Worldwide; for Lonely City Sampler he explores a more British sound. Using a tape deck and a pile of old jungle tapes, cut-up snippets were crafted into an audio collage balancing ambience with rave style crescendos. Driving dubwise bass dominates 'Lost In A Sea Of Rolling Eyes'
while disrupted breakbeats meet stuttering chords in 'Lonely City Cut 4'. The closing track's
garage-inflected UK techno beat is haunted by spaced out diva vocals, a melancholic mover for
city nights.

Lonely City Sampler drops December 10th via Time Is Now.

THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EXPANDED EDITION OF TIM BOWNESS &
GIANCARLO ERRA'S 2011 ALBUM 'WARM WINTER' - NOW ISSUED AS
MEMORIES OF MACHINES
An expanded & remixed 10th Anniversary version of Tim Bowness & Giancarlo
Erra's 2011 album 'Warm Winter' (now issued as 'Memories Of Machines', the
original project name).
Featuring contributions from Robert Fripp, Peter Hammill, Julianne Regan, Jim
Matheos, Colin Edwin, Huxflux Nettermalm, Peter Chilvers, Aleksei Saks &
members of Nosound & Tim Bowness's live bands, the album contains 10
sweeping & majestic songs (culminating in the epic "At The Centre Of It All").
The 2 disc - CD/DVD-A/V version includes hi-res stereo & 5.1 Surround mixes in
addition to two 2020 recordings - an album outtake & a new version of the
Nosound piece "Someone Starts To Fade Away" - created especially for this
release.
Featuring a 2021 remix from the original tapes by Giancarlo Erra, this new edition
emphasises the textural nature of the music & restores the pieces to their original
arrangements & track lengths (resulting in a different listening experience).
The artwork has also been overhauled for this release by Giancarlo Erra &
Caroline Traitler.

After years spent living on opposite sides of the Atlantic world events threw Laura Mary Carter and Steven Ansell of Blood Red Shoes back together into what has become the must fruitful era of their 17 years together.

“It’s been a loooong time since we both lived in the same city”, explains Steven. “I mean we actually wrote this album in LA at Laura’s place, then came to the UK to record it…and then everything went nuts”.

Realising very quickly that they wouldn’t be able to release the album or tour until the world returned to some kind of normality, the band found their energies quickly spilled over into other projects. Laura-Mary started a podcast, Never Meet Your Idols, with her best friend in LA, interviewing everyone from Zack Snyder to Mark Lanegan to CHVRCHES. It is now about to start its third season. Steven started applying his love of electronic music by writing and producing other alternative artists like Circe, ARXX, Aiko and XCerts, racking up millions of streams in the process.

Having worked together on Laura–Mary’s forthcoming solo mini album Town Called Nothing and restless from the lack of touring, the duo started jamming out in rehearsal rooms, which led to the light-speed writing, recording and release of the impossibly-titled Ø EP in the summer of 2021. Which concludes what the band call an “off year”.

And that brings us back to GHOST ON TAPE. It appears that like David Lynch’s The Lost Highway, nothing is linear in the world of Blood Red Shoes. Written and recorded before their most recent EP, GHOSTS ON TAPE is a huge jump into new terrain for the band. Musically and emotionally their most mature work, it is a complex, imaginative, and very gothic development on their sound. Musically, it leaves almost no trace of their former selves.

Favorite Recordings proudly presents the new 12" of Magic Source. The all-star group around producer Björn Wagner (known also for his cosmic and tropical-flavoured disco music as Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band and The Mighty Mocambos) creates here a hypnotic four-on-thefloor sound that is both earthy and spaced out and all their own.
Recorded on 16 track analogue tape with inexpensive vintage gear, the crew explores the more unusual facets of disco music off the beaten track in favour of more otherwordly and international stylings. In their music, one could hear echoes from lost tropical disco records, cinematic flavors from library soundtracks and a healthy dose of DIY garage funk rawness.
On A side, "Riviera Drive" is an extended Mediterranean disco groove based on hypnotic percussions and soulful horn themes that alternate with trippy keyboard excursions. The tune is equally at ease on the dancefloor as in a chill-out zone, but of course, prefers to be in its natural habitat in a classic car somewhere between Nice and Monaco.
On the flip, Tom Tom Club's "Genius Of Love" is reimagined as a jazzy yacht soul instrumental with an echoed flute taking the lead. You'll also find a shorter Radio Edit of "Rivieria
Drive".

San Francisco Moog: 1968-72 documents a missing link in the history of electronic music, as well as the little-known moment when psychedelic music went electronic.

In 1968, Bay Area native Doug McKechnie got hold of one the very first modular Moog synthesizers ever made and began finding his own way to play it. Soon, he was hauling the finicky instrument around to perform improvised concerts at colleges and ballrooms, as well as an ill-fated appearance on the bill at Altamont. Many of the performances were recorded, and the surviving tapes—never before released—capture a free- flowing, transportive sound that fills in the gap between the austere mid-century academic avant garde and the expansive cosmic suites of Tangerine Dream and the rest of the Berlin School in the ‘70s.

This is not another corny old Moog record. San Francisco Moog sounds as fresh as anything by today’s analog-synth heads while bringing to life a lost moment in the development of the music.

All pieces were created improvisationally in an atmosphere of exploration and discovery on a Moog Modular Series III synthesizer and recorded live with no overdubbing to Ampex PR-10, Nagra 3, or TEAC four-channel recorders.

Produced by Doug McKechnie, Lee Gardner, and PJ Dorsey
Mastered by A.F Jones at Laminal Audio
Art direction by Frank Hamilton and Nolen Strals
Mandala art by Richard Winn Taylor

Here’s a split vinyl of quarantine protest jams from two Seattle heavy-hitters: AJ Suede & Specswizard. Both artists were inspired by 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests, mask-wearing, and stay-at-home orders to produce boom-bap tunes that could only exist in the 21st Century. Insomniac magazine praises the pair’s “next level lyricism.” The Seattle Times picked AJ Suede’s brilliant “Long May We Rain” as one of the best albums of 2020. On the flip side of this cross-generational split LP, you’ll find the vinyl-only “Lost Gems” project from Specswizard. He’s a veteran of Seattle’s scene, releasing dozens of self-produced cassettes and EPs since his start way back in 1988. Here, the familiar sound of buzzing amps and tape hiss makes way for major-key soul turned into pensive bangers. Each artist’s low, late-night-in-the-living-room baritone conjures the feeling of recording in a cramped apartment while the neighbors are sleeping. Still, the beats knock like side doors and narratives hover like heavy rain from cumulus clouds of weed smoke. Together, these two records provide a powerhouse portrait of Black life in the American Northwest today. Only 500 individually numbered copies have been pressed.

A real Black Ark flavoured recording, even though recorded in London at Ariwa by Mad Professor.

Supernatural finds our hero in a very good mood on a very spooky recording. “I escaped from the mud hut” Classic!!!

Coupled with Psychopath, a recording from the same session, with the same intensity as Supernatural Taken from “Lost Tapes from the 80’s”

Lion's Drums full length exists as en exploration in multiple dimensions. First by challenging the notion of the album format by presenting a body of work that lies snuggly between remixes, edits and original works and secondly as a means to delve into the transcendent potential of the drum. The album sets the tone by putting these two concepts fully on display with its hypnotic chant, swaying one into ease over the first two songs. In orderly cue folding and unfolding, meditatively through, melodies as muddied pastelle whispers cast over the measured language of the drum. Breaking away from the musing themes of the opening songs we find an ecstatic ritual in "Tanz der Korperlinge" and "Journey to Middle Earth", two distinct varieties but both of the same perennial species. Inky ether seeps back in through the second half of the album with a peak of frenzied tumbling toms and incongruous textures hovering above in the Manos Tsangaris' collaboration "Crying Tafel" and his re-imagining of Tullio De Piscopo's unhinged drum excursion "Fastness". The closing exemplifies the edit/remix/original ethos proposed for this work with Lions Drums drawing from tapes and original material of electronic pioneers Suzanne Ciani and Roberto Musci. Drawing from unreleased music and song sketches by the original artists as well as field recordings from travels & studio sessions made by Roberto Musci & Manos Tsangaris in the 80's and early 90's he constructs a side winding journey through playful textures and ethereal moods.

*Text by Philip Sherburne: In the beginning, there was just a box of tapes and “Fate’s Gentle Hand.”

It was the autumn of 2010, and an anonymous figure known only as the Head Technician, an employee of Pye Corner Audio Transcription Services (“Magnetically aligning ferrous particles since 1970”), found himself at an auction in the village of Coldred, pop. 110. He was on the hunt for tobacco pipes when he chanced across a trio of boxes listed in the auction catalog, which described their contents only as “archived magnetic recordings.” The sole bidder, he won the lot, and upon receipt of his purchase took possession of an unspecified number of mouldering cassettes and ¼" reel-to-reel tapes. The collection contained no identifying information save for a single phrase scrawled on each box: “Black Mill Sessions.” And so, armed with razors, eyedroppers, and a bevy of solid-state circuitry, the Head Technician sat down at his machines and got to work

A LOST RECORDING OF UNTAMED APPALACHIAN MUSIC.
160 gram black vinyl LP in gold & black color reverse-board jacket. Co-release with Jalopy Records.
In 1972, the renowned and singular folk musician Roscoe Holcomb left his home in rural Daisy, Kentucky and embarked on a west coast tour with Mike Seeger in 1972, which included a performance at The Old Church in Portland, Oregon - a beautiful Carpenter Gothic church built in 1882. Decades later, two particular reels were discovered deep within a pile of 1/4” tape in a shadowy corner of the KBOO Community Radio archives in Portland. Incredibly, those tapes contained the sole surviving evidence of a strikingly intimate and raw performance by Roscoe Holcomb, whose cascading and haunting banjo, guitar and voice echoed and saturated the room and hushed audience.
In contrast to Roscoe’s rarely documented (and at times restrained) live performances at folk festivals and television programs, Roscoe seems to have felt more familiar and spiritually moved in the old church that night. Heard here are standout versions of Appalachian folk-blues classics such as Single Girl, John Henry, East Virginia Blues, Swanno Mountain and more. Once cited as Bob Dylan’s favorite singer, Roscoe Holcomb appears at the peak of his powers here, showcasing his immense vocal talents on an extended acapella version of “The Village Churchyard”. The recording itself is warm and mysterious, sounding like the room itself is alive with the spirit, while the rumbles of trucks and hints of city sounds peek through the walls from the outside streets.

Tape

The Forbidden Dance label is marking their first year of existence and with already top-notch names (Vick Lavender, Alton Miller, The Mechanical Man) with the first three releases, they are celebrating the one year mark with another global gem, disco and house finest - Ilija Rudman!
Where Wild Horses Go is conveying an unquestionable sense of 80's electro and synth boogie filled with smooth and heavily reverberated rhythmics drenched in strong snares. Aligned with catchy and spaced-out disco pads, the album is riddled with ever strong analogue elements processed in a light, quirky and summerish way but with enough groove in some tracks easily applicable on the dancefloors in the late hours.
Dead Horse Gang is a brainchild music band/brand by Ilija Rudman dedicated to cinematic dance concept laying on the Los Angeles funk attitude, Art Of Noise perception of sound and raw 12-bit grooves making a statement of mid 80's culture with surf vibe of California summer.
"Dead Horse Gang Music is more than music, it's a way of life, a way of thinking, a path to a maximum freedom of the one, who can accept it."
-Ilija Rudman

After years spent living on opposite sides of the Atlantic world events threw Laura Mary Carter and Steven Ansell of Blood Red Shoes back together into what has become the must fruitful era of their 17 years together.

“It’s been a loooong time since we both lived in the same city”, explains Steven. “I mean we actually wrote this album in LA at Laura’s place, then came to the UK to record it…and then everything went nuts”.

Realising very quickly that they wouldn’t be able to release the album or tour until the world returned to some kind of normality, the band found their energies quickly spilled over into other projects. Laura-Mary started a podcast, Never Meet Your Idols, with her best friend in LA, interviewing everyone from Zack Snyder to Mark Lanegan to CHVRCHES. It is now about to start its third season. Steven started applying his love of electronic music by writing and producing other alternative artists like Circe, ARXX, Aiko and XCerts, racking up millions of streams in the process.

Having worked together on Laura–Mary’s forthcoming solo mini album Town Called Nothing and restless from the lack of touring, the duo started jamming out in rehearsal rooms, which led to the light-speed writing, recording and release of the impossibly-titled Ø EP in the summer of 2021. Which concludes what the band call an “off year”.

And that brings us back to GHOST ON TAPE. It appears that like David Lynch’s The Lost Highway, nothing is linear in the world of Blood Red Shoes. Written and recorded before their most recent EP, GHOSTS ON TAPE is a huge jump into new terrain for the band. Musically and emotionally their most mature work, it is a complex, imaginative, and very gothic development on their sound. Musically, it leaves almost no trace of their former selves.

Brooklyn based drummer/producer Jason Nazary (of Anteloper) makes his We Jazz Records debut with "Spring Collection", released on 25 June. The album sees Nazary crafting some deliciously sparkly solo cuts plus working long disctance with choice collaborators Jaimie Branch, David Leon, Ramon Landolt, Matt Mitchell, Grey McMurray and Michael Coleman. This is essentially a collection of home recordings and the whole operation has an infectious feeling of immediacy to it. The result is improv adjacent electronic music, with modern production aesthetics transposed over spontaneous compositions.

Jason writes:

"With Spring Collection, my aim was to capture the spirit of spontaneity & collaboration lost in the absence of live music. Like most everyone else last spring, I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands and with all my work cancelled, and with an indefinite lockdown in effect, it became immediately apparent that most of my time – save a walk or two a day around the neighborhood – would be spent in the tiny one bedroom apartment I share with my wife and two cats.

What kind of music does one make during lockdown? I would begin my days with a cup of coffee and all the cables of my modest little modular set up in my lap, slowly discovering new sound worlds as I connected one cable after another – these became the beginnings for the pieces in Spring Collection. With these unformed sketches, I would record an improvisation, an exploration of sonics: a small kit of bells, shakers, pans, pots; their resonance captured in fine detail with ultra sensitive microphones. These became, in effect, a conversation first with myself, but later one I knew I had to open up, make social. In the desire not to diminish my collaborative impulses, I felt compelled to involve some of my favorite musicians in the process alongside me."

"Spring Collection" is released by We Jazz Records on 25 June on vinyl (neon orange & black vinyl editions), tape and digital formats. The vinyl edition comes with a booklet including original artwork and poetry by Todd Colby.

Romantic proto-acid written and composed by a young Ukrainian student Maxim Shubski in 2010 on a cold winter day in East Germany and subsequently released later same year as a limited run of 100 vinyl copies under “Andreuccio Torelli” moniker. This release was accompanied by a fake story about the lost & found master tapes by an unknown Italian producer from the 80’s. The story is still available as a PDF on the label’s website. Since the original vinyl stampers are long lost, Baran Records has made a new limited 7″ vinyl reissue featuring artwork by Pavel Golubovski from the “Elektroherd” band and careful mastering by Dunkeltier aka DJ Sneaker from Dresden/Berlin at Tail Out Mastering studio.

You need to go hunt this down. They’re making incredible music!” Tony Minvielle – Jazz FM

Vertaal’s debut double LP, “Paradigm Shifting” was released earlier this year to wide acclaim from the international jazz community and sold out on initial pressings.

Featuring 4 singles including the atmospheric “Alcazar” and live favourite “Drop Off’, the album was subsequently re-pressed on limited edition black vinyl which is also at the point of selling out.

2020’s lock down and subsequent cancellation of the band’s tour schedule led to extended periods recording in their home studio, on a barge on the River Stort near Stansted Airport.

The duo, comprising keyboard player and producer Theo Howarth and drummer Ajit Gill recorded “live”

versions of some of the Paradigm Shifting album tracks for various radio shows, joined online by guest bassist Severin Bruhin, guitarist

Luca Gianassi, conga player Simon Todd and saxophonist Loren Hignall.

Some of those recordings have now been made available on a special limited edition cassette EP featuring 4 tracks live studio tracks

– three previously unreleased versions from the album “Paradigm Shifting”, “Drop Off”, “Paradigm Shifting” and “Alcazar” and a completely new track “NDY”

Designed to look a box of Swan Vesta matches, the tape itself is pink with an onbody sticker of a collection of pink-headed matches.

Rush-released for Christmas, The Lockdown Tapes will make a nice stocking filler for jazz aficionados!

Vertaal have been an increasingly notable presence in the nu-jazz scene over the past 3 years.
Tipped as “ones to watch for 2019” by Jazz Re:freshed, in 2021 Vertaal have played an exclusive pick of sold out shows at prestigious venues such as

Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express Soho and the Jazz Café, along with festival appearances at Standon Calling, High Tide Festival and Lost Village.

They have also supported the likes of Mark Guiliana (David Bowie), & Pete Ray Biggin (Level 42) Richard Spaven

and this year embarked on a tour of the UK’s record stores playing tracks from the album.