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Kate NV is the project of Russia-born recording artist, songwriter, and producer Kate Shilonosova. Best known in her hometown of Moscow as the lead singer and founder of the post-punk garage band Glintshake, Kate NV is also a performer in the experimental Moscow Scratch Orchestra and releases music under an alternate alias, NV. "Room for the Moon" is Kate NV's third album and second for RVNG Intl. "Room for the Moon" was inspired by memories of 70s/80s Russian and Japanese pop music and movies. The album finds Kate NV singing in Russian, French, and English. She collaborated with musicians Jenya Gorbunov (bass guitar), Vladimir Luchanskiy (saxophone), Quinn Oulton (bass guitar, saxophone), Nami Sato (Japanese Narration), and Marco Passarani (marimba). "Music knows what she wants," says Kate NV. On "Room for the Moon", the lyrical follow up to the buoyant minimalism of 2018's "FOR", NV follows this muse in fluid expression, harmonizing her lunar lullabies with a starry compositional choreography. NV says, "I always let music express herself without pressure, and with or without voice."

Secretly in the making for 25 years, 1995 marks point zero for this native electronic side project from Rico Puestel (Cocoon Recordings, TAU, Exhibition).

Back in the days, the basic idea of pure electronic song writing, the project name "Tetzlaff" as well as tidbits of first melodic themes, motivs and lyrical notes came into being - followed by a roller coaster ride of emotions, amendments, rejections and the dreadful search for the equipment (in the days before eBay) to make it sound the way it should.

"Reisen", illuminating two perspectives and homages to travelling, is the vanguard single, performing within the prospective shadows of what's to come...

2020 marks the 30th Anniversary of ‘Bossanova’, the third studio album by Pixies.

The band continued to work with Gil Norton after collaborating to such success on their platinumselling second album ‘Doolittle’; this time choosing to record in Los Angeles over their native Boston
(the track ‘Blown Away’, however, was recorded at the Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin during a European tour in 1989).

Their third album in as many years, 1990 was a particularly fertile time for the band with Kim Deal also having success with The Breeders, who released their debut album ‘Pod’ just a few months prior.

Featuring the singles ‘Allison’ (a tribute to jazz and blues pianist Mose Allison), ‘Dig For Fire’ and ‘Velouria’, plus the first cover to feature on one of their albums, ‘Cecilia Ann’ (originally by The Surftones), ‘Bossanova’ showed a less primal side to the band, with surf and space rock rising to the fore. Lyrically, Black Francis is even more cryptic with a recurring sci-fi theme running throughout, which in turn influenced Vaughan Oliver’s classic planet design for the sleeve.

To celebrate ‘Bossanova’ hitting its third decade, 4AD are releasing a special red vinyl edition with the original 16-page booklet being reinserted, having previously only been available with the initial UK LP pressing.

Recumbent Speech, Ezra Feinberg’s second album, opens with a lament. Named for the Robert Frost poem, “Acquainted with the Night” was written during one of the many devastating spectacles of injustice under our current regime. Repeating flutes and synths beam out of a low-end darkness, reflecting a collective sense of loss and alienation. Rising slowly, thickening with guitars and strings, “Acquainted with the Night” lifts off, and so too does the album from there. The second track, “Letter to my Mind,'' features the dynamic interplay of Feinberg's guitar with the loose and playful drumming of Tortoise's John McEntire, both pushing and pulling atop a looping bass figure. "Palms Up" begins with a lockstep pulse recalling early Terry Riley before jumping into an Ashra-like jam with Afrobeat accents. Side B opens with "Ovation," a tryptic with McEntire on drums which sets a wide lens onto a sweeping landscape, with soaring flutes, wordless vocals, and a hypnotic bassline played on a humming fretless that recalls classic ECM jazz-fusion. The piece plunges into an ambient, interior space before reemerging with a guitar solo fried through an old Space Echo effects processor, conjuring lidded Pompeii-era Pink Floyd. The album's title-track finale, "Recumbent Speech," features the magical pedal steel of Chuck Johnson. Unwinding atop a Balearic analog synth pattern, Feinberg stretches textures of Fender Rhodes and acoustic guitar around Johnson’s lyrical steel, with nods to Japanese ambient legend Hiroshi Yoshimura, as well as Cluster & Eno. Recumbent Speech refers to the possibilities, pleasures, fears, and fantasies that occur the moment the noise dies down, when we are recumbent, in repose but still awake, still speaking, and still aware of ourselves as part of the maddening world. Ezra Feinberg is a guitarist, composer, and psychoanalyst living in Jackson Heights, NY. Feinberg was the founding member of the San Francisco psychedelic rock collective Citay, releasing albums on Important Records and Dead Oceans throughout the 2000s. After relocating to NYC, he issued his first solo record, Pentimento and Others, on his imprint Related States and on cassette on Stimulus Progression in 2018. The release, his first since Citay folded in 2012, earned praise from numerous music outlets including Paste Magazine, The Wire, Stereogum, Vice, and Aquarium Drunkard. In recent years, Feinberg has performed and toured near and far with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Steve Gunn, Alexander Turnquist, Cruel Diagonals, Daniel Carter, Jonas Reinhardt, Christopher Tignor, Kath Bloom, Robbie Lee, High Aura’d, Glasser, Ava Mendoza, Buck Curran, Real Estate, and many others, and has ongoing studio collaborations with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Arp, contributing both guitar and songwriting to the last Arp album Zebra.

These two pivotal figures, who have stood at the forefront of drum & bass for over two decades, have now teamed up with an array of globally respected producers including Calibre, Roni Size, Nu:Tone, S.P.Y, DJ Zinc, Chimpo and DJ Marky, to create an uncharted 16-track LP. Following on from the success of the pair's first single 'Fix It All (feat. London Elektricity)', sit back and get ready to embark on the lyrical journey of a lifetime.

DRS first came across Dynamite during his time in Roni Size's Bristol collective Reprazent, the winners of the 1997 Mercury Prize 'Album Of The Year', now showing full circle movements in 2020. 'Playing In The Dark' pays respect to this collaboration and the combination of styles which is signalled so clearly throughout DRS and Dynamite's sound. As Dynamite explains that "the producers brought their pallets" for himself and DRS "to paint on", the duo were able to convey their message, history and wisdom in one of the most boundary pushing
projects that drum & bass has seen.

‘Life Guarding’ offers a first glance into an upcoming album by Wolfgang Tillmans. The song finds Tillmans in open waters, lyrically exploring wor(l)ds as they appear like undertows and tie in the listeners by his candid approach to accept whatever the drift throws at him and leaving him exposed at his most vulnerable. It seems no coincidence that the video Tillmans’ shot and directed for the song finds a similar approach to ‘liquidity’ in visual language. Shifting the lens between micro and macrocosms, collages of body parts, fruit and insects, we find him equally paying attention to the waves of the Atlantic Ocean as well as to the ’same’ water in the form of drops, evaporating on a hot kitchen plate. This current shape of ‘Life Guarding’, in equal measures upbeat and melancholic, emerged in sessions with Tillmans’ long term musical collaborators Tim Knapp and Jay Pluck in early 2019 at Trixx Studios in Berlin, that were further developed and produced by Tim Knapp and Bruno Breitzke. ‘Growing’ was originally part of Wolfgang Tillmans’ sound, light and video installation ‘South Tank’ at Tate Modern in 2017. This summer finally sees the independent release of this collaboration with the L.A.-based duo Wreck and Reference. The song also features excerpts of Fred Weyrich’s lyrics for German singer Alexandra’s 1968 hit ‘Sehnsucht’ (Longing). ‘Growing’ involved the band placing samples of Tillmans’ singing and spoken word over a kick drum-driven techno track made with synthesizers, acoustic drum recordings converted to digital drums, and noisy samples of jangling keys. ‘Wreck and Reference’ are an experimental music project from California by Felix Skinner and Ignat Frege. Drawing upon the blown-out intensity of black metal and noise rock, they eschew traditional guitar-centric instrumentation to construct songs with digital samples, drums, and voice. To date, the band has released four EPs and four full-length albums, and has contributed to the producti

Italian Disco remixer extraordinaire Moplen is back at the controls with a super sublime reworking of a wonderful and rare early 80's Leroy Burgess jam from the Salsoul vaults. 'Heartbreaker' is an underground classic, seeing Burgess back in the studio with longtime collaborator Sonny T. Davenport and Kiss FM mastermixer and producer Shep Pettibone on mixing duties. A tight and flawless early 80's production sensibility and the incredible vocal arrangements and lyrical performance of Leroy Burgess make this one a definite essential in any DJ's box. This is the real deal. If you dig that post-Disco electronic sound this one is for you, simply perfect in every way and quite tough to track down these days in its original form with copies reaching high figures on the second hand market. Needless to say, Moplen injects his own personal style into his remix and adds his unique flair creating an essential new version of this classic on the B-side. Always understanding, respectful and fresh, Moplen pumps 'Heartbreaker' in all the best ways, crafting a drum and bass heavy DJ version and new arrangement that you will be hearing for many years to come! Disco bliss.

This remix and reissue is 100% supported by Leroy Burgess, who dug Moplen's new vision of this 1983 classic. Fully licensed, sanctioned and released by Above Board distribution and Salsoul Records, 2020. Accept no imitations!

Originally conceived by Danish beat maker KVBeats for his critically acclaimed debut producer album ""The Résumé"" (SoulSpazm 2010), the blazing Slum Village track ""We Do It"" featuring Elzhi & T3 gets officially remixed by legendary DJ Spinna and UK's own Jazz Spastiks for this limited edition 45 release. DJ Spinna has been a staple for the underground scene; handling highly praised remixes for Mary J. Blige, Michael Jackson, De La Soul, and Stevie Wonder. He collaborated with an array of lyrical giants such as Eminem, Talib Kweli, Pharaohe Monch, Mos Def, and many more throughout his career. This time the Brooklyn producer lends his signature spaced-out, genre crossing boom bap feel to the A-side of this 45, instantly taking the listener back to the great late 90's indie era. On the B-side, the Jazz Spastiks place their typical jazzy flavored sound behind this highly lyrical Slum Village track. The UK based production duo have released quality boom bap projects on a string throughout the last few years as well as re-introducing indie icon Godfather Don to the hip-hop scene in 2018 with a smashing album and two brand new singles. Both remixes are a sure treat for any 90's hip-hop follower.

'Prole Art Threat' is producer Anthoney Hart's second LP for Planet Mu under his East Man alias, after 2018's well received debut 'Red White & Zero'. It brings together a set of MCs from all over London, Darkos and Eklipse from East London and Lyrical Strally from near Feltham who were on the first album, Ny Ny and Mic Ty also from East London, Streema and 'Vision Crew' member Whack Eye from Lewisham plus Fernando Kep, an MC from the burgeoning Brazil grime scene. They work across a cohesive set of tight riddims forged from thoughtful amalgams of grime, dancehall and drum & bass. The album takes its name from a Fall song/mission statement of the same title, the band being self-consciously working class and led by a brilliant autodidact in Mark E Smith. East Man relates that the title is to be taken as “a reflection of working-class creativity and how the establishment marginalise us and (perhaps on a subconscious level) see us as a threat.” Les Back, author of 'The Art of Listening' and 'Out of Whiteness: Color, Politics and Culture (with Vron Ware)' contributes liner notes to the record: East Man understands the force and the democracy of the mic. Listening to Prole Art Threat is like being at a dance. As the mic is passed between each of the MCs, a different tale is ‘elevated... off the map’ as Ny Ny puts it. We hear instalmentsfrom Forest Gate, Lee, Lewisham and Manor Park as these ‘lyrical gaffers’ and ’top boys and girls’ tell tough stories of life under the scrutiny of the ‘Feds’ in a brutal and divided city. The bars and rhymes document what it means to live here; from the double standards applied to the sexuality of young girls and boys to the corrosive violence of everyday life. All this is dissected without compromise. This is not just aLondon story though, the inclusion of Fernando Kep from the burgeoning Grime scene in Brazil is evidence of the outernational reach of the music. The tracks on East Man’s album explode the wilful ignorance of those who see ‘the working class’ in contemporary London as code for whiteness. This is the sound of a proletarian urban multiculture, made from Caribbean and African influences, sound system culture, pirate radio and the inexorable rhythms of Grime, Drum & Bass, Techno and Dancehall. It is the stirring of the "white" & "black" working classes who are living together and coming together on their own terms in sound. ‘Making music because you love it... what the fuck else could you do?’ as East Man says. The tracks and voices you are holding in your hands are, as a result urgent, vital, as hard nails and twice as sharp.

Repressed in 2023, limited!


Hull/Leeds based five-piece bdrmm release their much anticipated debut Bedroom on July 3, via Sonic Cathedral. The 10-track album was recorded late last year at The Nave studio in Leeds by Alex Greaves (Working Mens Club, Bo Ningen) and mastered in Brooklyn by Heba Kadry (Slowdive, Beach House). It's a hugely accomplished debut and a real step up both sonically and lyrically from their early singles, which were rounded up on last year's If Not, When? EP. Musically, there are nods to The Cure's Disintegration, Deerhunter and DIIV, while the band reference RIDE and Radiohead. There are also echoes of krautrock and post-punk, from The Chameleons to Protomartyr, plus the proto shoegaze of the Pale Saints' The Comforts Of Madness, not least in the cross fading of some tracks, meaning the album is an almost seamless listen. As a result, Bedroom becomes an unexpected and unintentional concept album, running through the different stages of a break-up set against the backdrop of the ups and downs of your early twenties. "The subject matter spans mental health, alcohol abuse, unplanned pregnancy, drugs_ basically every cliché topic that you could think of," reveals frontman Ryan Smith. "But that doesn't mean they ever stop being relevant. It's a fucker growing up, but I'm lucky enough to have been able to project my feelings in the form of this band, surrounded by four of the best people I've ever met." And that band name, in case it needs explaining, is pronounced the same way as the album title. "I never thought I'd get to the stage where I would have to explain it so much," says Ryan. "We have been pronounced as Boredom, Bdum and my old boss thought we were a ska band called Bad Riddim. We're all sarcastic cunts, so Bedroom spelt correctly seemed like the perfect title." He's right. The perfect title for the perfect debut album.

Marking their 20th year as a band, Maserati returns with their first new album in five years. Produced by the band and mixed by Grammy-winning producer, John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky, Swans, Angel Olsen), Enter The Mirror is Maserati's most compelling mélange of triumphant guitar hooks, abstract synth-pop, and Wax Trax-inspired noise anthems. The gated drums of Phil Collins and chorus-drenched guitars of INXS were prominent influences on Enter The Mirror, paired to magnificent effect with the increasingly dystopian lyrical themes (which, ironically, were also massive influences on popular music in the 1980s, and feel ever more relevant now). In addition to longtime members Coley Dennis, Matt Cherry, Chris McNeal, and Mike Albanese, Maserati are joined by friends and collaborators, Bill Berry (R.E.M.), Owen Lange, and Alfredo Lapuz Jr. Self-reflection and loss of control as both a positive and negative aspect of modern existence is at the heart of Enter The Mirror. It is Maserati's most efficient and cohesive album, and a monumental accomplishment for a band who have weathered many storms throughout their first two decades - and found the will to not just keep moving, but to move with style and chase.

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It’s taken Yotam Avni a little while to get to his debut album; almost a decade, really, since his debut 12”, “That’s What The World Needs”, on California’s Seasons Limited imprint. During that time, the Tel-Aviv based producer has refined his productions, tightening the groove and paring everything back to bare essentials; the power in an Avni cut is its combination of piston-pulse propulsion and a deep, but gently applied, musicality. This combination gives his techno productions added heft on the dance floor, but also a lyrical sensibility that places him squarely in a tradition of techno legends who somehow manage to make the four-to-the-floor a space of poetic intensity, of rigorous joy.

Avni’s been on Kompakt’s radar for a while, first appearing on the label last year, with his Speicher contribution, “Mañana Mañana”. (“Track For Agoria”, from that EP, also appeared on Total 19.) The connection immediately made sense – dance music that managed to feel both lush and streamlined across the same great gasp of late-night energy. But with Yotam Avni Was Here, he’s taken a huge leap. After a brief intro, Avni sets his stall with “Beyond The Dance”, which features slow-moving vocal melisma over sculptural, melting tonalities, a tintinnabulating, harpsichord-like two-note phrase pacing out the track. Then “It Was What It Was” comes into view, its strip-light textures suddenly placed into sharp relief by a muted trumpet figure that hangs in the air, melancholy and pensive.

It’s no surprise, at this point, to discover that Avni’s inspirations for Was Here took in the histories of both techno and jazz. “I wanted to try something more around Detroit Techno meets ECM,” he reflects, when explaining the motivating forces behind the album. “Carl Craig’s Just Another Day EP and Kenny Larkin’s Keys, Strings, Tambourines came out during my high school years and had huge impact on me.” Avni’s also appeared on Transmat compilations, and remixed artists like the Midwest’s Titonton Duvanté, and Orlando Voorn – the latter particularly important for the way he connected the Detroit and Amsterdam techno scenes – his career path is marked by ongoing connections, direct and indirect, to Detroit’s storied history.

“I always wanted to go back to those hi-tek soul roots on a full album,” he continues, and he’s definitely exploring that terrain here, with the sky-strafing brass on “Free Darius Now”, morse-code keys on “Vortex” and glitchy, microhouse tickles of “Know Hope” all contributing to an oblique narrative that seems to arc across Was Here – one fleshed out by guest musicians, who include dop and Gerog Levin on vocals, and trumpets by Greg Paulus (of Beirut and No Regular Play). The cover art makes the jazz connection explicit, riffing on the text-based, minimal design of The Modern Jazz Quartet’s 1955 album for Prestige, Concorde. But the way Avni has gathered around him both inspiring musicians and intriguing reference points makes me think of his broader career as well, the collectivism behind his AVADON nights in Tel-Aviv, his many and wide-ranging releases on labels like Innervisions, Hotflush and Stroboscopic Artefacts, and the openness of his productions, which seem to be all about the multiple, the possibilities of cross-pollination, of fusing this with that, of adding and subtracting, all under the pulsating thumbprint of techno.

Good things, after all, are worth waiting for.

Hailing from the Voodoo backwoods of Benin, Oladele Franck Komolou, founded the band Frankosun And The Family in Helsinki 2013. Since then, the band has conquered peoples hearts with their amazing music, shows and energy. Heavily influenced by the rhythms and history of the Nago.

The word “Nago” derives from the word “Anago”, a term Fon-speaking people use to describe Nago – Yoruba speaking people residing in Benin. The Nago–Yoruba community is characterized by the masked dance called Guèlèdè – a special dance rich in songs, music, epic and lyrical poems under the rhythms, and sounds of tam-tams.

The band excellently combines 70’s and 80’s style beninese and nigerian afrobeat with afrofunk and afrorock. The awaited- debut album “Frankosun And The Family” will be released in Spring 2020 in Vinyl- and Digital Formats!

BERZERKER LEGION was founded in 2016 by guitarists Tomas Elofsson (Hypocrisy) and Alwin Zuur (Asphyx) with a vision to create death metal of the most belligerent quality, they recruited a line-up of solid well-known musicians consisting of James Stewart (Vader) on drums, Jonny Pettersson (Wombbath) on vocals and Fredrik Isaksson (Dark Funeral) on bass to complete the Legion. Alwin Zuur (guitars/songwriter) comments: « During the recent years Tomas and I met each other at shows and festivals regularly. Much of our conversations were about music and styles. During these meetings we found out that we really had a lot of common musical interests . Music wise ‘Obliterate the Weak’ displays the perfect balance between brutality, melody and harmony. Being a fan of the early 90’s Swedish Gothenburg style, with bands like At The Gates, Eucharist, a Canorous Quintet, as well as being a die-hard fan of brutal old school death metal style with bands like Bolt Thrower, Obituary, I have always wanted to write songs showing a mix of such different death metal genres. The great musical cooperation between Tomas and me has made ‘Obliterate The Weak’ a variously solid diverse album where you can expect 11 songs of violent pounding riffing in a massive wall of sound mixed with immense melodies and thrilling harmonies.» Vocalist Jonny Pettersson explains the lyrical theme of ‘Obliterate the Weak’: « The lyrical concept is based around how religion is poisoning the world, and even after so many years of evolution, development , we still have huge parts of the world that believes in a fairytale, people who believe that this fairytale is worth going to war over, worth killing for and uses as an excuse for truly malevolent acts. These are weak minded sheep that will do anything in the name of whatever god they believe in. 'Obliterate the Weak' draws from the will to eradicate all forms of religion and tells a story of atrocities made in the name of a fiction. » Saying the album songs transpire massively produced invigorating heavy death metal is an understatement. BERZERKER LEGION knock out with warlike triumphant, powerfully addictive harmonies that will turn them into an unstoppable beast in a live situation and on record.

Unglued’s reputation for producing serious bassweight across the D+B spectrum continues in 2020 with his ‘Zen’ EP. He spans through silky smooth sounds on ‘Zen’ ft. Cimone, bouncy funk on ‘Mic Strangler’ with the legendary MC GQ, sharp-edged grizzle on GLXY collaboration ‘Algorithm’, and tearout heat on the soundsystem slayer ‘Datafile’. Setting things in motion is the lyrical weapon ‘Mic Strangler’, with OG host and MC extraordinaire GQ, who’s spent three decades leading the game. Unglued deals out damage on the beat with MC GQ’s playful twists, wrapped up in a big bruiser of a bassline.

Title track ‘Zen’ is a mesmeric stream of atmospherics, rolled out in perfect tandem with the angelic vocals of rising singer/songwriter, Cimone. GLXY joins the fold for ‘Algorithm’ - a techy rattler that’s stripped back in design but packs a punch. Rounding off the EP is the darkest addition, ‘Datafile’, Unglued takes no prisoners as he unleashes this lethal stepper. Unglued has had a steep and steady rise in drum & bass after signing to Hospital Records and releasing his sought after solo material, as well as his iconic remix of High Contrast’s anthem ‘If We Ever’.

This infamous rewiring caught the attention of major players, from Andy C to Annie Mac - who also selected his track ‘Born In ‘94’ as her Hottest Record in 2019 on BBC Radio 1. Unglued’s jungle knowledge has him in regular international demand, in 2019 alone he tore up sets at Glastonbury, Rampage, Boomtown, Let It Roll, ADE and on Med School’s final tour across Australia and New Zealand. He’s showing no signs of slowing down in 2020 with back-to-back bookings, including support at Wilkinson’s London headline show, Kings Of The Rollers’ Printworks Royal Rumble showdown and Hospitality On The Beach 2020.

On his new record "Companionship", London-based Soft-Rock, Soul and Disco artist Joel Sarakula keeps the mood easy and the grooves deep. Ten new songs see Sarakula develop a deeper, more introspective lyrical style from his previous works as he celebrates and laments friendships, love and loneliness. Interspersed with a few standout up-tempo tracks to keep the ship sailing, "Companionship" is a chill-out album and listening experience of the highest order.

"Companionship" opens with "Midnight Driver", a driving soft-rock fantasy where the narrator laments his partner's nocturnal habits: 'When she's coming up, it gets me down'. The Californian sun-kissed guitars, vocal stylings and percussion all help to set a cinematic mood which unsurprisingly also makes it a great driving song. On the introspective "King Of Clowns", Sarakula creates a pop song that calls to mind the craftmanship of Hall & Oates and Elvis Costello. Both an admission of guilt and an unapologetic statement of intent, his low vocal careens in the dangerous divide between self-pity and self-parody: "My bad decisions worked out for a while, I'd do my dance tried to make you smile, I'll never wise up it's just the way I am". These confessions all occur over a down-tempo funk groove complete with some vintage synthesizer musings that makes the track ready to be sampled for a hip-hop record.

"Sunshine Makes Me" steps straight out of its mid-1970s swimming pool, heavily dripping in jazz fusion to dry off in the cold light of today's sunshine. The chorus is a mantra of desire, needs and reality that sees Sarakula sing 'Sunshine makes me lose my mind, thirty degrees and my eyes get so wide. Dreaming big and living slow, don't you know that time is on our side". On "Companionship", Joel Sarakula, prolific writer, producer, performer and multi-instrumentalist finally unleashes his chill-out pretensions. In this follow up to the critically acclaimed "Love Club" (2018) he develops a deeper and more mature compositions and production style. His love of all things vintage extends to a devotion to analog synthesizers and on "Companionship" you can hear a genuine love of synthesis that at moments is reminiscent of 70s synth production pioneers Todd Rundgren and George Duke.

Joel Sarakula will tour "Companionship" through Europe and the UK this Spring and Summer 2020 with his musical companions. Born in Sydney, based in London and a true internationalist, Sarakula tours with pickup bands sourced from each territory he plays in: a Barcelona band for Spain, a Berlin band for Germany and so forth. This cross-cultural exchange is a sly nod to the golden era of the 1960s and 1970s when travelling US pop, soul and blues artists would do the same.

Entitled ‘My Heart Is Hungry And The Days Go By So Quickly’ Danish singer and songwriter Jacob Bellens presents his fifth solo album. Thanks to his unique voice and his talent for heartfelt melodies, over the years Jacob, also known as frontman of I Got You On Tape and Murder, has become one of the most distinctive figures on the Scandinavian music scene. Slightly darker in tone than its predecessors ‘Trail Of Intuition’ (2018) or ‘Polyester Skin’ (2016), the new album lets us see the world through Jacob’s eyes.
Somewhere between left-field pop and a classical singer/songwriter approach, the songs were recorded in two sessions with producer Mads Brinch, drummer Tobias Laust, bass player Jonas Westergaard, keyboardist Malthe Rostrup and guitarist Tobias Fuglsang. “So many good friends and amazing instrumentalists have contributed to the sound“, explained Jacob. “And mostly, people were playing what they felt the song needed, which was an incredibly inspiring way of just letting the process develop naturally, and take on a life of its own.” As such, the recordings give off a distinct light-footed and organic feel. Rich in metaphors, the lyrics deal with personal perceptions based on everyday life occurrences that at the same time hint at the meaning of life in general - or at least suggest a higher perspective. The sonical expression is timeless but also modernistic and the lyrical point of view is refreshingly diverse, never just black or white. The sad songs have uplifting, often surreal qualities, and the lighter, uptempo songs also invite to a certain darkness. A flower basket full of difficult emotions, sprinkled with magical fairy dust that somehow makes everything worthwhile.

Bastard Jazz is proud to present the sophmore solo album by one of the gems of the New Zealand underground soul scene, Isaac Aesili. Woven through electronic soul, with threads of jazz, funk, R&B and house music, Isaac's 'Hidden Truths' is the stylistic unification of all his previous projects (Karl Marx, Funkommunity, Sorceress) into a dazzling and diverse body of work. Three years in the making, its depth is clear from the first listen, and is peppered with some of New Zealand's finest soul and jazz musical talent, including two stunning female feature vocalists from New Zealand; Ladi6 and Rachel Fraser.

The album opens with an ominous instrumental 'Mirror' setting a dark a tone for the album the start, shimmering with shades of Dilla swing snapping over metallic chords and a graceful trumpet solo that enters midway through. Wild feat. Ladi6' is a heavy downbeat future soul joint with stratospheric synths layered over driving beats that build alongside the elegant vocal weavings of New Zealand's first lady of soul, Ladi6, while 'Player' sees Isaac's unique vocals tell a tale of dangerous seduction within a synth funk-driven dancehall cum house music that feels like the Gap Band on a tropical vacation. 'Jungles' is a deep, native and ocean-like soundscape that begins with syncopated synths and beats that collide dramatically into a frantic, sweeping synth outro, followed up by'Realms' , an intricately crafted song that has sonic elements from techno-house that are other-worldly accompanied by live drums that flip after the breakdown into a swinging conclusion of the album's first half.

'Run Every Way' is an epic percussion-driven electronic blues that begins with a vocal chorus from Isaac that could just as easily be interpreted lyrically as a warning about climate change as it could an expression of the inner-self, while "Refugee" is also a heavily percussion orientated joint that fuses romantic classical strings with otherworldly synth stabs and Isaac's haunting vocals moving climactically into a tender coda conclusion. "Rain Gods" feat. Rachel Fraser is a heavenly pathway into Rachel's luxurious vocals with clever lyrics merging the soaring synths and looped bassline into a short yet memorable chorus'and 'Steps' is classic Isaac Aesili production including deep Rhodes chord changes, a knocking beat with layers of percussion, synths and horns providing a warm emotive accompaniment to Isaac's vocals. 'Last Minute' is a simple yet sophisticated jewel of space and time that concludes the vocal tracks of the album in a proper soulful style, and 'Maureen' rounds out the album as an expressive instrumental outrolude that features Isaac's trumpet.

Isaac Aesili is an Internationally acclaimed solo artist and the producer and creative force behind Funkommunity, Sorceress and Karlmarx. Isaac's original productions have been supported internationally by DJs such as Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 6 Music), Benji B (BBC 1), and Lefto (Belgium, Worldwide FM). His trumpet playing features on many collaborations including 'Layer' by Julien Dyne (Wonderful Noise/BBE) and 'Midnight in Peckham' by Chaos in the CBD (Rhythm Section). A world-renowned musician on both trumpet and percussion, Isaac is a member of the Lord Echo band. His music fuses Soul, Funk, Jazz, Afro and Latin styles with R&B, Hip Hop and Electronic music. Isaac's much anticipated sophomore solo album "Hidden Truths" is out on Bastard Jazz (NYC) in 2020.

The Allergies are back with a new single A-side, 'Felony' – A storming soul-sensation, dripping with bittersweet emotion and driving, late-night grooves. It marks a return to that classic Allergies sound, full of dusty sampled beats, toughened up with punchy drums and re-worked lyrical loops. A dancefloor sure shot.

On the flip is Rile 'Em Up', a Latin funk bomb that showcases something of a new chapter for The Allergies. As the new album will testify, the duo have swelled their ranks to take in a full touring band, bringing in rapper Andy Cooper, soul diva Marietta Smith, and sax don Mr. Woodnote.

'Rile 'Em Up' represents some of that new live intensity, with its infectious boogaloo samples, party-starting chorus, and club-friendly breakdowns. It's sunshine in a single. And if it's a clue at the new direction The Allergies are taking us in, we like it.

On the flip is Rile 'Em Up', a Latin funk bomb that showcases something of a new chapter for The Allergies. As the new album will testify, the duo have swelled their ranks to take in a full touring band, bringing in rapper Andy Cooper, soul diva Marietta Smith, and sax don Mr. Woodnote.

'Rile 'Em Up' represents some of that new live intensity, with its infectious boogaloo samples, party-starting chorus, and club-friendly breakdowns. It's sunshine in a single. And if it's a clue at the new direction The Allergies are taking us in, we like it!

Unreleased album from 1981, a collaborative project by David Behrman, Paul DeMarinis, Fern Friedman, Terri Hanlon and Anne Klingensmith recorded at Mills College in 1981.

Previously known only to cognoscenti through an obscure self-released three-track 7”, this is the first publication of the complete album, an outrageous confection that mixes art-song and theatrical monologue with live electronics. Starting life as a performance art piece described by the artists as ‘Western Performance Noir’, the record centres on a series of texts written by Friedman and Hanlon in which female narrators comically embody a series of iconic roles (The Recording Artist, The Former Movie Star, and The Rancher). Other lyrical themes include recurring references to the notorious cannibal pioneers, the Donner Party, an ironic take on Japanophilia, and the luscious “Archetypal Unitized Seminar,” a satirical poke at self-help culture, whose lyrics are rendered in Indian raga style to the accompaniment of electronic glissandi and toy noisemakers. Delivered by Friedman, Hanlon, Klingensmith and special guest Maggi Payne in forms ranging from spoken monologue to Country & Western waltz, the texts are accompanied by instrumental and electronic contributions by Behrman and DeMarinis. Musically, She’s More Wild is truly unique, demonstrating these two pioneers of live-electronic performance adapting their signature processes to something approaching a ‘pop’ format: we hear the gliding, frequency-sensitive electronics familiar from Behrman’s classic On the Other Ocean and the mutant hacked Speak n’ Spell heard on DeMarinis’ Songs Without Throats propelled by drum machines and twisted into song forms. Perhaps comparable only to the David Rosenboom and Jacqueline Humbert’s contemporaneous Daytime Viewing in its interweaving of performance art tactics, high-tech electronics and pop sensibilities, She’s More Wild is an essential document, both immediately gratifying and ultimately thought provoking.

A new sublabel of the longstanding Canadian electro imprint Suction Records, Ice Machine — focusing on old-school wave/post-punk sounds — launches on Valentines Day 2020 with two fresh Canadian synth-pop LPs on vinyl. Along side a reissue of Ceramic Hello’s cult 1981 minimal synth classic “The Absence Of A Canary,” comes this, the self-titled debut LP from a new Toronto-based duo, Analytica.

Analytica is comprised of David Lush, who’s released several killer solo tapes under the name Memorex, and Gabe Knox, who made a big splash last year with his awesome instrumental synth/kraut solo LP “ABC” on acclaimed UK label Polytechnic Youth.

Analytica make synth-pop the old-fashioned way: driving, verse/chorus pop songs utilizing hardware synthesizers and drum machines, vocals and bass guitar, and recorded to tape. The comparisons to early-Depeche Mode (there’s even a cover of “Reason Man” — an unreleased, Vince Clarke-penned, Depeche song that was part of their earliest live sets), and prime-era New Order (right down to the Oberheim DMX percussion and Peter Hook-style bass guitar) are inevitable, but rarely are these sounds executed with such style and conviction. According to the band, lyrically Analytica “explore facets of the dark age ahead — the propaganda, the nationalism, the environmental disaster in front of our faces - while attempting to offer something of a defence against a nihilistic response to these fears. It's at once a call to arms and a recognition that we're entirely fucked.”

The LP contains 11 songs, and is housed in a stunning reverse-board jacket, and is limited to 500 copies.

- Ursprünglich als EP zwischen den ersten beiden Bon Iver Alben veröffentlicht, enthält Blood Bank einige der beliebtesten Songs der Band - Erstpressung auf farbigem Vinyl - mit 4 brandneuen, exklusiven Live-Aufnahmen der EP-Titel, die auf der Tournee 2018, 10 Jahre nach der Entstehung der Songs, aufgenommen wurden - Bon Iver 2020 live in Berlin, Köln und München // Die "Blood Bank" EP wurde ursprünglich Anfang 2009 veröffentlicht, kurz nach dem geliebten Album "For Emma, Forever Ago". Die EP war der Vorbote eines neuen Sounds für Bon Iver: eine Bewegung weg von der akustischen Gitarren-geführten Instrumentierung des Debüts und der Beginn einer Erkundung der experimentellen Klänge, welche die Entwicklung von Bon Iver seitdem mitdefinieren. Die Neuauflage dieser bahnbrechenden EP ist gekoppelt mit brandneuen Live-Aufnahmen aller EP-Titel. Eine Reflexion über die Blood Bank EP von Ryan Matteson: When I reflect on the songs that make up the Blood Bank EP, I am drawn to mantras, both musical and lyrical. The driving and pulsating rhythm of the title track is held steady by the repeated refrain, I know it well, before it eventually yields to a beautiful array of guitar distortion and noise. These moments are significant through all four songs. When the steel guitar makes its entrance on "Beach Baby," it's transportive. A blissful, breezy feeling sweeps into the room and that puts you within the moment. Close your eyes and you can feel it. "Babys" follows perfectly. A piano guides your mind to the new beginnings that come with the changing of seasons. The awareness of time passes and makes way for another day. Then there's "Woods." A flawless finale. Foreign and new. Not just a new direction but a new beginning entirely. A place where boundaries don't exist. It was a signal change of things to come, laying the groundwork for new collaborations. A decade later, the song says so much in just three lines. Most significant to me are the words, "I'm building a sill to slow down the time." Time doesn't slow down, it races.

"Me Against the World" is the third studio album by 2 Pac, released on 14th March, 1995 by Out Da Gutta/Interscope Records. Drawing lyrical inspiration from his impending prison sentence, troubles with the police, and poverty, the album is described as being 2 Pac’s most introspective album

Released while 2 pac was imprisoned, the album made an immediate impact on the charts, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200. “Dear Mama” was released as the album’s first single in February 1995 and would be the album’s most successful single, topping the Hot Rap Singles chart, and peaking at the ninth spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Me Against the World" won best rap album at the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards. In 1996, at the 38th Grammy Awards, Me Against the World was nominated for Best Rap Album and the single “Dear Mama” was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance.

Touted as “confessional,” “reflective,” and “soul-baring,” Me Against the World was as one of 2pac’s most positively reviewed albums,
with many calling it the magnum opus of his career.

The work is considered one of the greatest and most influential hip hop albums of all time. In 2008, the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, in conjunction with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, recognized 'Me Against the World' as one of the “most influential and popular albums,” ranking it number 170 on a list of 200 other albums by artists of various musical genres.

Now available in February with a big price reduction. Split Coloured Vinyl (Clear & “Schoolly D Yellow”). Olly was a musician, drum-programming wizard and force of nature, and he would go on to shock the world with his in-your-face approach to making music – as bombastic lyrically as he was musically. He simply gave no f*cks, and listeners were drawn into his street-influenced vortex of “b-boy rhyme and riddle.” As noted in the liner notes to this special release:
“The demand for “P.S.K.” was so large that nationwide bootlegging was a major distribution avenue, albeit an unpaid one. ‘Those bootleggers made me big because, when it came down to it, I didn’t have the money to get the records out there,’ Schoolly says.

‘The person who helped me figure that sh*t out was Luke Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew and Luke Skyywalker Records. He took me all over Miami and showed me all the different bootlegged versions of my own records. It was crazy.’” On the flipside of “P.S.K.,” Schoolly gave the world another classic: “Gucci Time.” Flexing brutal brag muscles, it was another gangsta masterpiece, furthering his legend and bringing even more 909 boom to the still expanding rap world. The opening lines are still quoted by scholars of the game today: “Lookin’ at my Gucci/It’s about that time.”

Get On Down presents this classic for the first time in deluxe form, which is also fully Schoolly-approved: a custom 12-inch sleeve adorned with Schoolly-D’s famed artwork; unique split clear & yellow vinyl; a liner notes insert featuring Schoolly’s own look back on the year 1985 as told to author Brian Coleman; and a unique sticker sheet with 8 images taken from the artwork on this 12-inch cover (which was first seen on his early 12-inches, as well as his 1985 Schoolly-D EP and 1986’s Saturday Night: The Album).

Following the 360-degree drum & bass experience that is ‘Waveforms’, Logistics continues his three-part EP series, linking the sounds of past, present and future on the ‘Headspace’ EP. With seven solo albums, six EPs and several collaborative releases under his belt, Logistics is one of Hospital Records’ most prolific artists. He’s joined by the lyrical extraordinaire Inja and the vocal stylings of family mainstay Thomas Oliver. Opening this four-track EP is ‘Stay True’, a sublime dose of rolling liquid with the workings of New Zealand’s singer/songwriter Thomas Oliver. Atmospheric pads, nimble organ work and graceful harmonies come together for an elegant dose of Logistics’ drum & bass mastery. Following a path of deeper liquid is ‘Rebuild’ with its low rumbling frequencies and super sharp sonics, topped with layers of mysterious atmospherics. On a darker tangent is the title track, ‘Headspace’, rolling and hypnotic, it’s a testament of Logistics’ long-standing ability to carve out timeless, melodic grooves. Switching up the vibe is ‘Brand New Beginning’ featuring the enigmatic Inja. Setting the tone with tranquil hip-hop beats, this nod to Inja’s history outside of drum & bass transitions into an upbeat number, beaming with Inja’s trademark positivity. As one of the most renowned artists in drum & bass, Logistics’ reputation is far-reaching with regular presence across major radio airwaves with support from the likes of the BBC’s Annie Mac, Rene LaVice and Mary Anne Hobbs. He can be found at festivals and events worldwide in 2020 including a main stage set at the forthcoming London D+B takeover, Hospitality Returns To The Dock.

London-based folk-psych-country band The Hanging Stars return with their eclectic third studio album, A New Kind Of Sky, due out on 21 February 2019. Carrying on their exploration of transatlantic psychedelic folk and cosmic country, the new album blends twelve-string, harmony-laden lullabies with soft rock anthems to create a guilded box of bucolic folk-rock. As well as the band’s signature wistful pastoral escapism, there are lyrical concerns about the recent past; the systematic division of people, values, facts and humanity in The West in general - and the UK in particular. The band weave the same thread they have always woven but this time with a more unified vision, creating a kaleidoscopic poncho for these times.

The Hanging Stars comprise songwriter, singer and guitarist Richard Olson, Sam Ferman on bass, Paulie Cobra on drums, Patrick Ralla on guitars, keys and vocals, and renowned pedal steel player Joe Harvey-Whyte. Returning guest Collin Hegna from Brian Jonestown Massacre plays an instrument called a Marxophone on “Choir of Criers”. They also welcome Sean Read of The Rockingbirds and Dexy's Midnight Runners, who adds horns to “Three Rolling Hills” and “I Was A Stone”.

The main bulk of the recording for the new album was done live in the studio at Echozoo in Eastbourne with Dave Lynch. For the first time, the band decided to dive straight in to the recording studio following their German tour in 2018. Having lived in each other’s pockets and playing their new songs every night, the band were as tight and primed as they could possibly be. There ensued a few, very long, days of recording, capturing the essence of the band in their element.

The songwriting process was even more collaborative for this album, with the usual co-writes between Richard Olson, Sam Ferman and Patrick Ralla enhanced by Joe Harvey-White’s arrangements and Paulie Cobra’s harmonies. The biggest difference is that Sam Ferman sings lead on the first single “‘(I’ve Seen) The Summer in Her Eyes”, a song about lost love and self doubt channeled through two and a half minutes of garage pastoralism.

The album’s title track “A New Kind of Sky” tells a story from the point of view of somebody who idealises a past that never existed. The band go glam-rock on the stand-out track “I Will Please You”, a tale of a cult leader/world leader and his irresistible (for some) charm from the point-of-view of his most recent victim and “Heavy Blue” is a country music tale of drunken debauchery seen through the eyes of an inexperienced young man. The triumphant trumpet-driven song “These Rolling Hills” is a minor-key tale of a journey into the hills of Marin County, California undertaken by Paulie and Richard to visit friends Asteroid No. 4, with a most interesting outcome.

The Hanging Stars released their debut album Over the Silvery Lake in 2016, which received plaudits from broadsheets such as The Times, who described it as; "An album with enough of a hazy, sun-dappled charm to make the capital's dreariest weather bearable”, as well as The Guardian, who said; “Mersey-laced harmonies and just a whiff of the Gun Club.” They picked up a good amount of support at 6 Music and “The House on the Hill” scored a much-coveted 10/10 by John Robb on Steve Lamacq’s Roundtable.

Their second album Songs For Somewhere Else in 2017 received critical acclaim from the likes of Uncut (Revelations article), Shindig (several features and 4* review) as well as The Quietus and The Line Of Best Fit, plus radio support from Gideon Coe and Bob Harris (they performed an Under the Apple Tree Session for Bob Harris in January 2019).

Whilst playing their own successful sold-out headline dates, the band were invited to share the stage with Teenage Fanclub, The Clientele, Wolf People, The Long Ryders and GospelbeacH, as well as playing festivals such as Liverpool’s International Festival of Psychedelia, Red Rooster, Ramblin' Roots, UK Americana Festival and The Long Road.

Lyrical King is the debut 1987 album from one of rap’s pioneers and innovators who was said by some to be the first artist recorded by Def Jam Records. T La Rock recorded this album for Sleeping Bag Records as the labels first rap act and show cased him at the
height of his career. An old school legend, MC and dancer who was sampled by Public Enemy and Nas, heavily influential on artists such as LL Cool J and the Def Jam sound and would walk out on stage with Run –D.M.C . Highlights include ‘Back to Burn’ and ‘This Beat Kicks’ where T La Rock teamed up with visionary producer Kurtis Mantronik.

Soul Jazz Records new ‘Apala: Apala Groups in Nigeria 1964-69’ is the first ever collection of Apala music ever to be released outside of Nigeria. The album focusses on a wide selection of recordings made in Nigeria in the 1960's, a time when Apala music was at the height of its popularity. Apala is a deeply rhythmical, hypnotic and powerful
musical style that combines the striking nasal-style vocals and traditions of Islamic music, the Agidigbo (thumb piano), and the equally powerful drumming and percussion rhythms and
techniques of the Yoruba of Nigeria.

The most significant figure in Apala music is undoubtedly Haruna Ishola who features throughout this album. Ishola holds an almost mythological status in his role as populariser of Apala music in
Nigeria. Ishola’s singing was believed to be so powerful that, without proper restraint, it could kill the recipient of his music.

Apala is a popular music that also functioned as a form of cultural resistance – Apala music involved no western instrumentation and is sung in the Yoruba language, its aesthetic an implicit cultural
rejection of the British Empire’s colonial rule over Nigeria which lasted from 1901 until independence in 1960. Apala music was popular and widely accepted in Nigeria due to its philosophical and profound
lyrical content alongside the complex rhythmic patterns of this heavily percussive style, which highlighted many of the percussion instruments of south-west Nigeria.

He's one of a number of popular urban styles of music that came out of Nigeria in the 20th century and sits alongside the more well-known (in the West) styles of Fuji, Highlife, Juju and Afrobeat. Of these modern forms Apala remains perhaps the most ‘roots’ style (sometimes described as ‘neo-traditional’) due to the authenticity of its sound. It has similar Islamic roots to other neo-traditional styles of Nigeria – including Waka and Sakara – examples of which are also
included on this collection contextualising the music of Apala.

These recordings were originally made and released locally by Decca and EMI Records as well as a variety of independent labels in Nigeria and have never been released outside of the country before. Soul Jazz Records are releasing this album as a deluxe double gatefold vinyl (download code), CD, slipcase and booklet, both containing full text and photography.

ZONAL, the brainchild of Justin Broadrick (Godflesh/Jesu/JK Flesh) and Kevin Martin (The Bug/King Midas Sound) present their monumental Relapse Records debut, Wrecked. ZONAL continues where their previous collaboration Techno Animal left off, and combines a brutal ongoing obsession with beats, bass, dub, drone, noise and riff.

Under their new guise, the enigmatic duo push the parameters and atmospheres that have earned them critical acclaim further and deeper; ZONAL's sound has become ever more corrupted, corroded, slower and lower; with the theme of exploring inner/outer space acts as the gelling agent for this shockingly monolithic sound.

Anyone who witnessed their sonic destruction and lyrical detonation c/o MOOR MOTHER at both ROADBURN and UNSOUND festivals will not be disappointed by the slo-mo meltdown.

French duo Double Mixte bring their digital thunderstorm of neon lit noire to the Italians Do It Better family on their debut EP. Mixed and produced by label head Johnny Jewel, Romance Noire opens the door to a new wave of Italians Do It Better artists coming in 2019.

Fresh Blood. New Tears. The title track arpeggiates and boils as waves of bass flow beneath. Rhythms are carried to the ceiling by a searing cascade of disintegrating color. A heavy backbeat anchors Clara Apolit’s poetry, ready to wear for a night in the face of oblivion.

The cinematic “Arlette” is a call for discovery through a darkness lit only by the glare of headlights in digital rain. Through all of this, Thomas Maan’s incantations search for the lonely, lost in the void of electronic fog. “November” finds in Clara an Anglophonic chanteuse, meditating on the cycles of time.

A blend of suspended sound and an uncertain melody contracts and expands before dissolving. Romance Noire is art that both contemplates and tanscends time’s firm grip. It’s a filmic journey inducing a vague sense of future nostalgia. Happy Valentine’s Day. Double Mixte is Clara Apolit and Thomas Maan.

The duo met in Paris and there was an immediate pull to create music together. They pooled their combined interest in powerful narrative & dark 70’s French film music to write lyrically vivid songs. In 2017, Thomas reached out to Johnny Jewel for what soon became a collaboration that expanded their vision into a haunting debut EP, out today on Italians Do It Better.

'All We Are' & 'Alex Kapranos' Both Have History With Speedy Wunderground. Label Boss 'Dan Carey' Produced Awa's Shimmering Self-titled Debut Album & Also Franz Ferdinand's Third Long-player Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. For The Latter Carey Also Created A Dub Remix Version Of The Entire Album Called Blood, Tapping Into His Love Of Dub And Earlier Work With Artists Like Lee Scratch Perry And Mad Professor.

In True Speedy Style This New Collaboration Came About Completely Off The Cuff. Kapranos Came To The Speedy Wunderground Stage At London's Label Mates Festival At Moth Club In Late Jan To See An Artist He Had Been Working With Play. All We Are Were Also On The Bill, And After Chatting With The Band And Dan They Invited Alex To Come To The Speedy Session They Had Planned With The Band Two Days Later At Dan's Studio In Streatham.

Once In A Room Together The Music Came Fast. The Remainder Of The Day Was Spent Forming Lyrical Ideas. All Present Including Carey Contributed, Jotting Down Ideas, Excerpts Of The Days Phrases And Conversations And Putting Them Together In True William Burroughs Cut-ups Style. 'It Was A Way To Detach From Conventional Song Subject-matter' Says Kapranos. All We Are Agreed, 'The Writing Process Was A Lot Of Fun And For Us A Completely Fresh Way Of Looking At It.'

... The Resulting Track 'Heart Attack' Is A Skittering Disco-post-punk Jam. Equal Parts Of All Their Day Jobs Form Something Fresh, With Echoes Of Talking Heads And Alex's Unmistakable Vocal Delivery Over The Top. 'The Speedy Tracks Are Always Such A Good Vibe And The Studio Is Such A Special Place' Say All We Are. Kapranos Adds, 'as I Think Is Typical For The Label, Nothing Existed In The Morning When We Got Together, And Then Suddenly Everything Was Completed And Recorded By The Time We Went For A Pizza In The Evening.'

- Get Out Of The K-hole. Get On To The Beach.

‘I Want You To Be Mine’ has all the hallmarks of classic 1960’s Rocksteady, an era which many refer too as the Golden Age of Jamaican music. Over the top of a live one-drop beat, cool & deadly sax and warm analog guitar & bass Deemas J rides the riddim in a ‘old time style & fashion’ whilst Rachel Wallace provides the perfect accompaniment with her gorgeous vocal. On the B-Side we have the deeper cut ‘Questions’, where Deemas delivers a poignant poem over Adam Prescott’s moody instrumental in the style of Linton Kwesi Johnson. Featuring live instrumentation from Harry ‘Papa B’ Bradford (Sax), Clifford Junior (Guitar) & Guillaume Metenier (Hammond Organ). As an integral part of the Reggae Roast Soundsystem team Adam has established himself as one of the finest selectors in the world. Initially with some early support and guidance from Mark Iration (from the Leeds based Iration Steppas), Adam was quickly recognised as one of the key players in the re-emergence of British Reggae, producing first class original songs featuring the likes of Cornel Campbell, Macka B, Sugar Minott, Ranking Joe, Rod Taylor, Johnny Osbourne & Earl 16 to name but a few. Add to that consistent play on BBC Radio One & Rinse FM plus huge support from Sir David Rodigan, featuring Adam on his ‘Best Of British’ show on 1Xtra, Adam has become one of the hottest prospects in the revival of soundsystem music. Deemas J has built a formidable reputation as a go-to MC & vocalist with equally genre-busting credentials; His background in Reggae & Jungle means that his lyrical skills and style holds no bounds. He currently works with 3 of the top London Reggae Soundsystems, Unit 137, Reggae Roast & Solution Soundsystem as well as running his own Sound Limey Banton Bass in Guernsey. He has released music on some very well known labels such as Irie Ites, Irish Moss & Tru Thoughts, which released the cult LP ‘Wrongtom Meets Deemas J in East London’. More recently his latest release ‘Muhammed Ali’ received fantastic support from Don Letts, Sir David Rodigan & Ras Kwame. His virtually endless CV boasts collaborations with everyone across the worlds of Drum & Bass, Old School, Garage, Reggae and Hip hop, including High Contrast, Andy C, DJ EZ and Nick Manasseh to name just a few as well as touring the world with Manudigital

“Osondi owendi. What is cherished by some is despised by others. One man’s meat is another man’s poison. Different strokes for different folks. To each their own. Osondi owendi.

It’s a conventional aphorism in the Igbo language but if you utter the word “osondi owendi” in Nigeria today, the first thing that comes to anybody’s mind is the cucumber-cool highlife music maestro Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe and his legendary album that takes its name from the adage. Released in 1984, Osondi Owendi was instantly received as Osadebe’s magnum opus, the crowning event of an exalted career stretching back to the early years of highlife’s emergence as Nigeria’s predominant popular music.

Stephen Osadebe first appeared on the music scene in 1958 as a spry, twenty-two year-old vocalist in the Empire Rhythm Skies Orchestra, directed by bandleader Steven Amechi. With his dapper suits, urbane Nat King Cole-influenced vocal stylings and jaunty, uptempo, calypso-scented dance tunes, he personified the frisky spirit and anxious aspirations of a young, educated generation that had come of age in the wake of the Second World War, in a Nigeria that was rapidly shaking off British colonization and marching towards an independent future. 1959 would be the year that he truly made his mark in the business with his debut solo single “Lagos Life Na So So Enjoyment.” A giddy exhortation of the music, sex, fun and freedom availed by life in the big city, the song became a sensation and an anthem, and Stephen Osadebe became the leader of his own popular dance band, the Nigerian Sound Makers.

Osadebe would ride this wave of acclaim through most of the nineteen sixties, but a change in direction would be called for at the dawn of the seventies. As Nigeria emerged from a devastating civil war, so did a new generation of youth inspired by rock and funk, confrontational sounds reflective of a more violent, less idealistic era. All of the sudden, the idioms of the post-WWII dance orchestras that nurtured Osadebe’s cohort seemed quaint, the stuff of nostalgia. Osadebe needed to evolve to respond to the new tumultuous, turned-up times.

His response? He cooled it down.

Abetted by a new crop of fire-blooded young players, Osadebe slowed his music to a mellow, meditative tempo, brought forward the lumbering, Afro Cuban-accented bass and percussion, from the rockers he borrowed searing lead lines on the electric guitar. Over this musical bedrock, doesn’t so much as sing as he dreamily muses, coos, sighs aphorisms, words of wisdom and inspiration. “When one listens to my music, all I say appears meaningful,” Osadebe explained his lyrical approach, “at times they are in the form of proverbs which provoke much thought afterwards.” The result is a blend that is both rollicking and soothingly languid. Osadebe christened the style Oyolima—a tranquil, otherworldly state of total relaxation and pleasure. Osondi Owendi represents oyolima at its finest, and possibly Nigerian highlife in epitome.

Osondi owendi. What is cherished by some is despised by others. In some way, the album’s title constitutes a paradox. Because Osondi Owendi is a record that it’s almost impossible to imagine being despised by anybody."

Steppas Records is back with another heavyweight single in collaboration with Dubzoic, Alpha & Omega and Fikir Amlak.

The earth-rocker sounds of Italian producer, Dubzoic, alongside A&O's mystical foundation style, blend with Caribbean/American singer Fikir Amlak's ethereal and enchanting lyrical and vocal talents to deliver a stand-out Soundsystem single.

This release features Dubzoic and Fikir's original vocal edit, with a mystical flute cut plus two incredible mixes from UK dub pioneers Alpha & Omega (Greensleeves, Steppas Records).

Until now played as an exclusive dubplate, Steppas Records is excited to unleash this tune to the world, beautifully mastered and pressed to limited edition vinyl.

Made up of Dave Harrington (Darkside/Dave Harrington Group) and Benjamin Jay (NDF/Benoit & Sergio), Lights Fluorescent is, as the two describe it, an ‘experiment in the spaces between song and texture, idea and reference, past and present.’ On their debut album, The Oldest Sons Of The Oldest Sons, the duo develops an atmospheric, slant-pop sensibility that lists toward the experimental tendencies of improvisational and ambient music.
The result is a set of songs meant to be lived with. Entirely percussion-less, recordings drift on a tenderness of guitar, revenant feedback and vocals of autumnal intimation. Space Metal and July 9th process layers of bespoke noise and washed out chords to tarry with integral depth, light, and shadow, while Hotels distills country-western longing into its nth dimensional essence always unrequited.
From within these sonic panoramas, vocals emerge more as watercolor traces than coarse etchings. They aim to capture evocative, lyrical intensities, eschewing the solace of the literal. As such, the album favors 'the gestural, the implicit, and the miniature over the more adolescent urges of grand narratives and epic.’ These preferences map onto the album in all of its moves. J Girls reveals a hint of story buried, like its context, deep in whorls of feedback. Fleeting images of monuments, cathedrals, or epitaphs on tracks like Palace Walls or Small Sacrifices speak to a sense of memory and community paradoxically ungrounded by the material instantiations meant to keep things in place.

"A work of searching, and in many moments, finding"

Maggie Thornton as Sky Civilian is set to release her second EP this November on Atomnation: At the Seams. It's a stepping stone, from the lyrical, gentle, genre-agnostic electronica of Open Door, to Maggie’s own rounded and angelic take on acid-house.

Maggie’s cinematic, synth-heavy style emerged after a decade of orchestral French horn playing and classical studies. She combines this brass-inspired, synth-forward approach with her weightless, almost-whispered vocals, and dance-floor ready beats. The melding of influences present in her work make Maggie a fresh and promising new artist in the electronic music scene, an artist we hope to hear more from for many years to come.

UMC are proud to present the first ever vinyl release of ‘The Very Very Best Of Crowded House‘! An institution in their homeland, a two-album wonder in the U.S., and, during the last half of their ten-year career, bona fide stars in the U.K. and most of Europe, Crowded House recorded some of the best pop music of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Leader Neil Finn’s carefully crafted songs, meticulous eye for lyrical detail, and gift for melody are matched by few other songwriters. The songs of Crowded House & Neil’s songwriting acclaim have been championed by the likes of Ariana Grande & Miley Cyrus, Chris Martin & Eddie Vedder & most recently Fleetwood Mac, for which Neil is currently the touring guitarist/vocalist. The 2010 chart-topping compilation features all the band’s major hits including ‘Fall At Your Feet’, ‘Weather With You‘ & ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ plus many (many) more. The 19-track collection is cut across 2 x 180-gram black vinyl LPs featuring printed inners & essay. DL codes included.

The Vibe Drops (Emcee G Roc Gayle & Moar) presents Higher Frequency vinyl LP. The album features guest vocals from Rita J and Finsta (Finsta Bundy). Also live instrumentation from Remi Schnell on guitar and Jean Louis Potin on the Flute. The Vibe Drops explore with various sound vibrations, live instrumentation, turntablism, records, sampling and advance lyrical content: rhymes, word-play and poetry, blended to perfection with the beats. The Vibe Drops drops first musical offering Higher Frequency
will have the listener fulfilled, hoping the message comes across and resonates to move, elevate, in order to cope and defeat the everyday stressors of life. Higher Frequency delivers boom bap, jazz hop and soulful Hip-Hop stimulation for the mind, body and soul.

This is a big release for Tectonic as label boss Pinch combines forces with Kahn to produce two killer rhythm tracks that meld deepness with futuristic dancehall powers. Normally this would be plenty to get excited about anyway - but if you then add the vocal talents of Killa P, Irah & Long Range - aka ‘Killa’s Army’ - there is even more reason! Dubstep meets grime meets dancehall, while Bristol meets Brixton.

All three MCs in Killa’s Army have their own, very distinctive but complimentary styles, bringing a hard, uncompromising vocal delivery to match Pinch & Kahn’s tough beats.

Long Range opens the track and sets pace, his rapid, agile lyrical flow bouncing off the distorted thumping of a darkside 142bpm dancehall-flavoured rhythm. Killa P unleashes the chorus with full force, then setting up the next verse. Irah drops it an octave and holds the mood with his unique tone and delivery. The track pulls back then for a moment, like a filmic interlude, before the General himself, Killa P comes in to finish off anyone who might try test, like an end of level boss. ‘Crossing The Line’ will be rattling out of speakers for many years to come, no doubt!

Flip the vinyl over and you’ll find another, instrumental track, from Pinch & Kahn. ‘Send Out’ is a dubstep banger that holds a deep mood whilst pushing the energy levels through the roof. A rhythm track that has been pulled up, wheeled; set dance floors ablaze with it’s almost heavy-metal levels of energy. An early version of ‘Send Out’ originally appeared as an exclusive track on Kahn & Neek’s Fabriclive mix but is now available properly for the first time.