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2022 Repress

After a few nice but largely unnoticed 12"s for lower-profile labels, Dürerstuben is ready to make a serious maneuver, and Pampa is pleased to provide them with the proper platform. The Sheets of Rane EP is the Berliner duo's most sophisticated statement yet, imbuing cold programmed sounds with a glowing human touch and a penchant for melody. A1 'Gscheids Planet' unfolds with a deceptive intro, click-clackety downtempo stomps and crunchy snares beneath a tender vocoder coo, just when some muted guitar plucks crescendo into a burst of robo-synths. Although three minutes have passed, only now does the song reveal its true nature, a summery tune with rich synths that billow in the wind. Then, as its title indicates, 'Haeckles Kosmos' further explores Dürerstuben's fascination with the unlimits of outer space. This star system in particular has a very tropical flair, punctuated with bouncy parallel fifths straight out of the Italo Orient. In between movements, the duo makes some brief non sequiturs into piano balladry, the kind that force a smile (and a record deal) out of DJ Koze. Finally, venturing even further into jacking territory, 'Freiherr in der Wall' hinges upon syncopated, sometimes faltering beatbox rhythms, a swaggering bassline and fluttering arpeggiation. Coupled with hand-played chords, this is a prime example of how Dürerstuben can tame the beast machine and let irregularities be strengths. If you can get down with Metro Area, Zapp, Tensnake, and yes, even Survivor, then pick this one up.

“Arguably his generation’s best lyricist” – Mojo // “The year’s stand-out album for me” – Stewart Lee // “A sort of modern-day pastoral” – Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate // The follow-up to last year’s first volume, English Primitive II continues the themes introduced previously in a harder, more electric and psychedelic style. The songs were mostly recorded during the same sessions but, if EPII showcased the ‘songs of innocence’, this new set comprises ‘songs of experience’. Callahan's lyrical themes here are frequently the sleaze and corruption of our ‘betters’, the intentional and unintentional brutality meted out on those weaker and the sometimes perverse ways in which this happens. There are moments of reflection among the broken mirrors, but they allow scant solace or reassurance. Dressed in another of Scottish artist Pinkie McClure’s witty and detailed stained glass creations and recorded at home and under a railway arch, EPII rises above its origins and invades the wider world, in all its colour, gritand glory. Each song serves as a monument to its internal tale – in fact, the whole LP is as much a collection of musical short stories as it is an album of songs. Opening with Invisible Man, the impression of a regular person with hidden grievances, biding his time and waiting to lash out is given. Waves of distant samples ebb and fall as the warped guitars swell and crash behind the main themes. We don’t know when this explosion will happen – we only know it will. A sleazy celebration of Britain’s position as the laundering capital of the world follows in the form of Beautiful Launderette. It’s good that we keep everything nice and clean for the whole planet, isn’t it? Business as usual, keeping the globe turning – that’s our role and we love it. The Parrot rocks like only a prolonged evisceration of governmental mouthpieces and their court stenographers can. It’s a thankless task making sure that the powers that be retain their authority in all things and patrolling the borders of what is allowed to be said and believed, but somebody’s got to do it. If you’re providing a service, you’ll need to present a united front against the grievances of the public, so you’ll need The Scapegoat. Mistakes and accidents can’t be the company’s fault, so you’ll need to pay someone to be publicly and repeatedly sacked to make it appear as if you’re solving problems and getting better. Lessons will be learned, going forward. The disturbing tale of Bear Factory begins side two and is the real-life story of the murder of one of the singer’s primary-school classmates in the 1970s, and true in every detail. The victim’s body was never found but the killer justifiably imprisoned for life. A more ancient scent of death pervades The Burnet Rose. This ground-hugging plant covers the graves of the victims in a seventeenth-century plague village on the Yorkshire coast to this day, commemorating their sacrifices when all around have forgotten. It’s this particular songwriter’s favourite flower. Orgy of the Ancients describes the intimate intricacies of ageing politicians and the press as they decide whether to go to war. In grotesque scenarios worthy of Caligula, they decide the fates of our children. And it’s not even half the truth. To finish, the songwriter looks back to an admired predecessor, when he sets William Blake’s famous poem London in a groovier setting than we’re used to – in the form of London by Blakelight. If London swings, it’s from the Tyburn tree. Tracks: Invisible Man / Beautiful Launderette / The Parrot / The Scapegoat / Bear Factory / The Burnet Rose / Orgy Of The Ancients / London By Blakelight

Omochi, (honorific “O” before mochi) in daily parlance is a rice cake, a dense glutinous product suited to many recipes, sweet or savoury. Stick one under the grill, watch it burst open, wrap it in crisp seaweed and dip it in soya sauce - a healthy snack, and a staple around Japanese New Year. Like everything, Omochi also has its dark side - each year it kills off a small section of the aged community, the gluey bolus a hard act to swallow - the unwary can quickly choke to death.

This Omochi is in fact Tadaki Matsunaga, of early 2000s Tokyo three piece Femini Flyers. The original Feminis were Tadaki (bass), Sachie (vocals) and Koji (drums) that was it, no guitars, no synths, Tadaki's bass being the rhythm and lead, and boy could he make it sing. Their 7” single Like You See / Masterbed was an early Ethbo release was the most requested track from Japan Blues’ Boiler Room Collections video - now pulled off the internet by The Powers That Be - since it was first aired, way back in 2014. Now the single trades for a collector's premium with those in the know. Since that recording, Omochi has built, and been working in, his home studio. The first release being his Ethbo 7” Devil, in 2019.

The follow-up is a roller-coaster ride, his own take on several genres in his forage bag, marinated to his own recipe. You'll hear his expert bass in amongst the fungii, some slick R'n'B guitar styling, several dollops of glitch-tronics, some falling-down-the-stairs drum'n'bass, a slice of kraut, Omochi's louche voice, and a spot of Sachie, the lead singer of the legendary Feminis.

This modern psychedelic omnibus, flying in the face of logic (an Ethbo template) was pressed by Omochi at Toyo Kasei, the last independent Japanese pressing plant, housed it in a tip on sleeve and shipped it to the UK, grill-ready for release. Itadakimasu!

Created and conducted by Sam McLoughlin (N.Racker, Sam and the plants) & David Chatton Barker (Folklore Tapes), Environmental Meditation Music (EMM) is a collaborative project with the natural world, where handmade instruments are placed in the environment and are played by the wind, rain, grass, snow and rivers. The instruments capture and channel the innate rhythms and frequencies of the elements, converting them into a fluid and detailed blend of modulating drones, birdsong, dripping water and the sounds of distant polyrhythmic drumming, overtone flutes and ringing chimes. The instruments include River Harps, Water Gongs, Clock Chimes and Aeolian Flutes, and are made using a variety of materials ranging from guitar strings, rubber bands, saw blades and jars, many of which are amplified using contact microphones. Since 2017 the duo have collected many hours of recorded material, which has been hewn into a long form digital edition and this two-sided 46min long playing record. For the record sleeves, a paintbrush was suspended on a branch using string. The sleeve was cut and placed upon a table with string passed around four bamboo canes in order to keep the brush contained above the card. Windy days were chosen to animate the brush. The brush was dipped into black drawing ink and begun at the middle of the card. Lastly the sleeve was left under rain drops. In total 305x card sleeves were created using this process and so each edition of the record is unique.

After the relative success of The Bitter Springs' last album, The Odd Shower, Simon Rivers promptly disbanded the long-running group and began recording his first solo album, Like Yer Wounds Too, under the name Poor Performer. As Jim Wirth wrote of a recent Bitter Springs reissue, "Weaving the messy threads of suburban life into dense tapestries, he has something of the Go-Betweens' gift for melody, something of Mark E Smith’s ear for language, something of Vic Godard’s common touch, and almost none of the acclaim that should have been his due." This holds true for Poor Performer's debut album, though the songs seem based around a loose concept of issues dealing with middle-age self-reflection . . . though nothing nearly as navel-gazing as that statement might imply! Rivers: "For as long as I can remember, I've been either making records or planning to make them. But for once, this is a record I didn't really plan to make. The strange circumstances of the Covid lockdown led to its coming together. I'd lost my Dad to a demential-related death, retired from work due to mental stress, and was shielded for seven months . . . I took my banjo, my Dad's Yamaha keyboard and a few of my guitars, and booked a month of studio days at One Cat with the brilliant Jon Clayton at the controls . . . after a week or so of recording backing tracks, Jon said, "I think 57 songs is a bit ambitious, Si", so together made the decisions that shaped this record and its accompanying EP." With 7" 45s now nearly as expensive to make as a full vinyl LP, a decision was made to include likely contenders on a bonus CD EP, which certainly rivals the album in quality and perhaps generally exceeds it in immediacy, but Like Yer Wounds Too is more of a grower than anything yet released by Tiny Global Productions, and one of the releases we're most proud to present to the public. Humour, insight and brilliance abound. Album tracks: Golden London Leaves / Kempton Park / Life U Chose / Hard To Be Happy / Lil' Bro / Sleepy Little Town / No Escape From Me And You / Right As Rain / The Point / Our Souls / The Frog's Tale / Can You Whistle? / Something's Gonna Kill Ya ep tracks: The World Has Had Enough / 2 Hard 2B Happy / For A While / Get Up Them Stairs / Daylight Robbery

Ireland based American songsmith Peter Broderick announces the release of Piano Works Vol. 1 (Floating in Tucker"s Basement) - a new comprehensive album of solo piano recordings out November 25. Shining a light on the artist"s ongoing piano-based compositions, this release offers an opportunity to celebrate his more intimate work. A comprehensive collection of Peter Broderick"s piano work to date, these recordings were originally captured in Berlin to accompany the 2017 sheet music book Piano Works Vol. 1. The book contains 20 pieces for solo piano and a download code to access new recordings of all 20 pieces. Up until now, the only way to hear these recordings was to purchase the sheet music book. This release sees the original recordings receiving further treatment and processing by Tucker Martine in the customised echo chamber of his studio in Portland, Oregon-the region where Broderick grew up. The clean and unaffected original recordings were intended for educational purposes, so for this release Erased Tapes founder Robert Raths suggested to "throw the recordings into the well", for a more dynamic and conscious listening experience. "We gave these recordings a bit of a makeover. We sent all the tracks over to legendary engineer/producer Tucker Martine, who processed all 20 of them with unique tape and reverb treatments, utilising the echo chamber of his Portland studio, Flora Recording & Playback," explains Broderick.

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Ireland based American songsmith Peter Broderick announces the release of Piano Works Vol. 1 (Floating in Tucker"s Basement) - a new comprehensive album of solo piano recordings out November 25. Shining a light on the artist"s ongoing piano-based compositions, this release offers an opportunity to celebrate his more intimate work. A comprehensive collection of Peter Broderick"s piano work to date, these recordings were originally captured in Berlin to accompany the 2017 sheet music book Piano Works Vol. 1. The book contains 20 pieces for solo piano and a download code to access new recordings of all 20 pieces. Up until now, the only way to hear these recordings was to purchase the sheet music book. This release sees the original recordings receiving further treatment and processing by Tucker Martine in the customised echo chamber of his studio in Portland, Oregon-the region where Broderick grew up. The clean and unaffected original recordings were intended for educational purposes, so for this release Erased Tapes founder Robert Raths suggested to "throw the recordings into the well", for a more dynamic and conscious listening experience. "We gave these recordings a bit of a makeover. We sent all the tracks over to legendary engineer/producer Tucker Martine, who processed all 20 of them with unique tape and reverb treatments, utilising the echo chamber of his Portland studio, Flora Recording & Playback," explains Broderick.

The prolific German musician Christian Schoppik is dropping his second solo album of 2022 under the moniker Läuten der Seele, following up his critically acclaimed self-titled debut album released at the start of the year.

Once again, “Die Mariengrotte als Trinkwasseraufbereitungsanlage” (The Mother Mary Grotto as a Drinking Water Treatment Plant) is a work based on a mix of sample collages and recorded instruments that are often used sparsely but as load-bearing elements. However, this time, Schoppik came up with two long tracks where the narrative evolves in multiple and intricate movements to tell mysterious stories that have to be imagined by the listeners as the music unfolds. If the title of the tracks “Opferkerzen weihen das Betonbecken” (Votive Candles consecrate the Concrete Pool) and “Der Heilige Geist aus der Leitung” (The Holy Ghost from the Water Tap) give a starting point to these stories, the ethereal, mystic and dreamy sounding minimal atmospheres presented in this record let each one of us contemplate our own soothing experience against the continuous chaos surrounding us.

Here is the sound of momentum: Sarah Lee Langford and Will Stewart
roving together through the oldest tropes of country music and every
other genre
Here find rugged landscapes, whiskey barrooms, the same old bad luck and love.
And yet the nine-song romp delivers a hundred fresh takes.Langford and Stewart
are frequent collaborators. They perform here with friends Keelan Parrish (Vulture
Whale), Brian Gosdin (Dexateens), and Ford Boswell (Early James), as well as on
Langford's previous LP Two- Hearted Rounder (Cornelius Chapel Records). But
that album came out in 2019, back when we all lived on another planet. Their
latest full-length release together Bad Luck & Love resonates with all that we've
survived.
These are Birmingham, Alabama's hymns to the hard work of getting by, in
relationship and on stage. If exploration is a theme of Bad Luck & Love, the pedal
steel that makes the record so red-dirt earthy ends by taking us to outer space. "I
thank my lucky stars 'cause I think stars are lucky / Plus we're spinning around in
space, no place to lay our heads."

1976 planten ex-Yardbirds-Sänger Keith Relf und seine Schwester Jane, Jim McCarty, Louis Cennamo und John Hawken, die ursprüngliche Besetzung der Band Renaissance, eine Wiedervereinigung. Doch der damalige Sänger und Gitarrist Keith Relf verstarb, bevor das Projekt in dieser Form umgesetzt werden konnte. In der Folge übernahm Jim McCarty, die akustische Gitarre und einen Teil des Gesangs. Schlagzeuger der neuen Band wurde Eddie McNeill, dazu kam noch John Knightsbridge an der Gitarre. Da die Band Renaissance jedoch in komplett anderer Besetzung fortbestand, musste ein anderer Name gewählt werden. Die ursprünglichen Renaissance waren nun Illusion. Illusion veröffentlichte 1977 und 1978 zwei sehr schöne Alben auf Island Records. Sie werden nun erstmalig als LP wiederveröffentlicht.
Das Mastering von den original Tapes wurde im renommierten AIR Studio von Paul Samwell-Smith (für 'Illusion') bzw. Phil Kinrade überwacht. Beide Alben kommen mit teilweise Spotlack im Artwork sowie bedruckten Inner Sleeves!

Jetzt auch als VINYL! 180 Gramm und fettes Artwork. Auf dem Planeten Dub haben Dubblestandart mit mittlerweile zehn Alben bereits einen eigenen Krater hinterlassen. Gegründet Ende der Achtziger unter dem Eindruck von Lee Perrys einzigartigen Black Ark-Produktionen und Adrian Sherwoods radikalen Mixmanövern auf On-U-Sound, hat die bewährte und begehrte Backing Band (Ari Up, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Dillinger, Lilian Allen, Top Cat), um Paul Zasky den jamaikanischen Produktionstechniken ihr eigenes, europäisches Gesicht gegeben: bassbasiert, New Wave-infomiert, mixtechnisch auf dem neusten Stand und versiert im Seiltanz zwischen digitalem Wumms und analoger Wärme, wortlos vermittelnd zwischen Patois und Schmäh. Mit dem elften Album krönen sie ihre Karriere mit einer Serie Aufsehen erregender Kollaborationen (u.a. Lee "Scratch" Perry, Ari Up und Regiemeister David Lynch!) und einer in dieser Saison in Sachen Dichte, Fülle, Tiefe und Schwere ihresgleichen sucht. Aufgenommen wurde in Kingston, der Bronx und im heimatlichen Studio in Wien.

(REWORKS & EDITS)

Planetary Assault Systems revisits 'In From The Night' with edits and a remix from Adam Beyer and Wehbba

Planetary Assault Systems is one of UK techno veteran Luke Slater's most enduring aliases, a project focused on forward-thinking techno with maximum cerebral impact. 'In From The Night' came out in 1993 as part of the 'Planetary Funk Vol 1 EP' on Peacefrog and has remained an underground favourite since.

Here on his own Mote-Evolver label, Slater revisits the track with a fresh perspective across two edits and an interpretation from Drumcode's Adam Beyer and celebrated Brazilian DJ/producer Webbha. The techno titans team up to deliver a remix with thunderous energy as tense synths patterns loop, evolve, and grow ever more edgy as the track unfolds throughout.

On the flip, the first 'P.A.S. Edit' is a potent touch-up that finds pounding drums overlaid with raw and textural synth patterns alongside occasional crashing claps and a rising sense of dark cosmic energy. The 'P.A.S. Live Edit' unfolds in broken patterns and reverberates with menace as more searing synth lines fire across the dance floor.

”A Cross The Universe” ist ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem Jahr 2008 über das französische ElektronikmusikDuo Justice unter der Regie von Romain Gavras, So Me und Justice selbst. Es ist die erste Veröffentlichung von diesem auf Vinyl und enthält ein stürmisches Set, das im Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco aufgenommen wurde. Im Verlauf von 18 Tracks, darunter Teile von Soulwax, Franz Ferdinand, Klaxons und Metallica, enthält es Justice-Klassiker wie ”We Are Your Friends”, ”D.A.N.C.E.” und ”Waters of Nazareth”.

Kurz nach der Veröffentlichung ihres ersten Albums ”†” komponierten Justice 2008 für eine Modenschau von Dior den Titel ”Planisphere”, ein kultiges und episches Stück, das ganze 18 Minuten lang ist. Nun ist der Track zum ersten Mal in einer physischen Ausgabe in kompletter Länge, bestehend aus 4 Teilen, erhältlich.

When British Airways got privatized and listed on the London Stock Exchange, somewhere in Canada the first Starbucks outside of the US opened, and the Walt Disney Company signed an agreement with the French Prime Minister to construct Disneyland Paris. In the sky above southern Argentina, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, northern Somalia, and the Atlantic Ocean a hybrid solar eclipse materialized for 7.57 seconds, whilst Margaret Thatcher performed for 45-minutes on Soviet television. Some days later, The Simpsons cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, Diego Maradona wins his first Italian soccer championship with Napoli, and Eighteen-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. In the mists of the world's first conference on artificial life at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Mainland China opens in Beijing, and Prozac gets approved for use as an antidepressant in the United States. Much give way for the future, down there in 1987, the year that marks the title of Benedikt Frey’s freshest mini album, out into the world on R.i.O., the label he runs with some pals in the North of Berlin. It’s a dubby melancholic conqueror, wistfully, repetitive, drilling, absorbing, spooking. It makes you dream. Not particular of the year 1987. But it’s all there: The Red Square, the untouched land of the Val d'Europe, Diego on fuego. Six dark-ish tracks in trance, melancholic dub, downbeat heaven, journey music depths, all full of light and yet so dark. Futuristic dramas linked to a speculative past. In our dreams all might look different. The eclipse may last 27- minutes. You meet Neuromancer cyberpunks and blade running Ghost dogs, all taught to hack by Phrack. Cristal clear melodies, sampled voices, and veiled basslines, analogue scopes, and digital ropes, longing for a past that storm into the future. A time where deep listening widens the acoustics into infinity, while neon glows charm the light smog. Benedikt Frey been down there. Or maybe not. His latest music tells stories from the bygone, vested with the forthcoming. Come in and look out. There is nothing to see, yet so much to hear.

Eddie Piller & Dean Rudland present Acid Jazz (Not Jazz)

Back in the early 1990s as Acid Jazz began a period of extraordinary commercial success where acts like the Brand New Heavies and Jamiroquai sold millions of records, and US groups such as A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots and Digable Planets were actively influenced by what was being played in London, the whole scene was being fuelled by a small number of clubs, led by Gilles Peterson’s Sunday afternoons at Dingwalls but taking in nights in Leeds, Bari, Munich, Tokyo, Stockholm and New York. In those clubs funky jazz, latin boogaloo and 70s soul soundracks competed for time on the dance floor with import records from New York, and the latest sounds coming out of bedrooms and makeshift basement studios that created contemporary sounds out of the past.

Acid Jazz’s Eddie Piller and Dean Rudland have put together this compilation of the sort of sounds that we were playing at the time. They are releases on Acid Jazz and other label’s that surrounded the scene and they were mainly made by people we knew from either around the club scene, behind the counters of our favourite record shops, or from trips to New York or Europe. They range from The Ballistic Brother anthem ‘Blacker’ to the jazz house of A-Zel - a Roger Sanchez mix that still sounds fresh today. We have the Humble Soul’s instrumental version of ‘Beads Things And Flowers’ which at the time was only available as a DJ special on Acetate. There is the presence of A Man Called Adam before they went to Ibiza, and the early Mo’ Wax (before they went Trip Hop) single by Marden Hill ‘Come On’.

These records could fill a dance floor in seconds and we feel that they are today largely forgotten, as they were non-album, underground club records. It’s time to celebrate them!

The last flight – we have arrived! Fasten your seatbelt and buckle up – Denn die erfolgreichste Dance- & Trance-Compilation unseres Planeten setzt einmalig zu ihrem letzten Landeanflug an.

Anlässlich des 100. Jubiläums erscheint die beliebte Produktreihe als galaktische Sonderausgabe und Fans dürfen sich neben der 3CD und dem eAlbum auf eine streng limitierte Fan-Box mit 3CD, galaktischem Comic-Poster, Fan-Socken und Schlüsselanhänger freuen. Damit aber noch nicht genug: Diese letzte Ausgabe unserer FUTURE TRANCE erscheint am 25.11.2022 zudem exklusiv als 4LP inkl. Comic-Poster!
Echte Fans werden zudem bei der besonderen Optik ein Flashback erleben – das erste Mal seit der Landung der FUTURE TRANCE Vol. 60 erlebt die Reihe wieder ein Alien-Revival und erscheint in außerirdischem Design.

Die FUTURE TRANCE 100 besticht durch ein randvolles Aufgebot mit den größten Stars der Szene und ihren aktuellen Bangern. Ein letztes Mal zünden wir die Trance-Booster - mit dabei sind z.B. Scooter,
Pulsedriver, Armin van Buuren, Rocco und und und. Abgerundet wird dieser Senkrechtstarter mit einem exklusiven FUTURE TRANCE UNITED Mix „The last flight – we have arrived!“ Hier ist Gänsehaut vorprogrammiert!

”A Cross The Universe” ist ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem Jahr 2008 über das französische ElektronikmusikDuo Justice unter der Regie von Romain Gavras, So Me und Justice selbst. Es ist die erste Veröffentlichung
von diesem auf Vinyl und enthält ein stürmisches Set, das im Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco
aufgenommen wurde. Im Verlauf von 18 Tracks, darunter Teile von Soulwax, Franz Ferdinand, Klaxons und
Metallica, enthält es Justice-Klassiker wie ”We Are Your Friends”, ”D.A.N.C.E.” und ”Waters of Nazareth”.
Kurz nach der Veröffentlichung ihres ersten Albums ”†” komponierten Justice 2008 für eine Modenschau
von Dior den Titel ”Planisphere”, ein kultiges und episches Stück, das ganze 18 Minuten lang ist. Nun
ist der Track zum ersten Mal in einer physischen Ausgabe in kompletter Länge, bestehend aus 4 Teilen,
erhältlich.

DEL Records returns to the spotlight with a pretty impressive debut album by German artist Woyke. Touching all corners of IDM and experimental electronica this LP is deep and twisted while doing an exercise on science-fiction nostalgia. Deep listening recommended!

Repressed !

Early February 2011: Decided to make an album inspired by the Japanese post-war economic miracle. While searching for more information I found an old photo of the Mihama nuclear plant. The fact that this futuristic-looking plant was situated in such a beautiful spot so close to the sea made me curious. Are they safe when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis? Further reading revealed that many of these plants are situated in earthquake-prone areas, some of them are even located next to shores that had been hit in the past by tsunamis. A photo of Mihama made me narrow down my focus only to Japanese nuclear plants. I wanted to make a soundtrack to some of them, concentrating on the architecture, design and localizations, but also questioning the potential radiation danger (a cooling system being destroyed by a landslide or earthquake, etc). As the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the plants were so well designed that "such a situation is practically impossible." The album was finished on February 13th. On March 17th I received the following message from a FB friend: "Geir, some time ago you asked people for a photo of a Japanese nuclear powerplant. Is this going to be the sleeve of your new coming album? But more importantly: how did you actually predict the future?"


“N-Plants is a master craftsman's reaffirmation of a fundamental but lapsed tenet of electronic ambient: You set up a conversation between the machines, and then you step out of the way.”

Brian Howe — Pitchfork

Emanating from a ‘prehistoric’ existence near the end of the last millennium, Andy Votel and his slightly older college mates were once best recognised in Mancunian clubs and bars as teenage vinyl nerds and bum-fluffed battle rappers under the collective name Violators Of The English Language (which in acronymic form explains Andy’s own exotic pen-name).

As steadfast supporters of the 1980s / 90s Brit-core rap scene coming out of London, the multicultural Violators’ Mancunian accents were perhaps a bridge-too-far to secure dream job contracts for humble labels like Kold Sweat and Music Of Life. An unlikely constructive meeting with Gang Starr’s DJ Premier (while Andy helped out at a radio station), plus playing warm up DJ sets for countless US rap heroes might have temporarily added inspirational fuel to the fire, but after an active period combining graffiti, rapping, scratching, obsessive record digging and beat making into their daily operations, adulthood eventually began to rear its unwelcome head.

A decade later, Andy Votel and his digging skills would begin to provide direct sample material for the likes of Madlib, Mos Def, Jay Z, Nas, Dr Dre, Ghostface Killa and Action Bronson, amongst others, and the Violators’ black book of breakbeats and catalogue numbers soon began to feed a same-butdifferent rap beast.

For a project that has taken thirty years, it would be totally inadequate to call the formation of Hypocritical Beatdown Records a lockdown-project. There’s a deep history and psychology in these records by Violators Of The English Language and their spin-off groups Magnets (Rap Group) and ProVerbs, that combines stage-fright, loss, pride, creative-schizophrenia, racial inequality, surrealism, personal politics, brotherhood, artistic-constipation, better judgment, love, anti-love, soul searching and much more.

As well as Andy Votel taking care of both production and part of the microphone duties, some might recognise fellow MC and solo recording artist Figure Of Speech as a prominent voice here. The trio of Magnets (Rap Group) sees Andy also joined by local B-Girl legend Jeni Chan aka Penny Chew, and rapper and DJ Benjamin Hatton who has previously recorded with Kid Acne, The Mongrels and Sheffield’s Invisible Spies’ long-running squadron. Widely respected visual artist Rick Myers (now living in Massachusetts) also contributed scratches for many of these recordings via file sharing and custom dub-plates to keep the Violators’ authentic line-up intact, as well as galvanising the crew’s semi-reluctant art-school roots.

Extra production credits for the label also go to Sean Canty from Demdike Stare, and the late great Dan Dwayre aka Black Lodge (Mo Wax) who sadly passed away during the completion of these recordings. The members of Violators Of The English Language who you’ve not yet heard of will quickly make themselves known as the needle drops on this long-mooted debut vinyl release.

The French psycho-indie-rock band La Femme announces the release of Teatro Lucido, their new studio album sung entirely in Spanish, released on November 4, 2022. During their time touring in Latin America and Spain, La Femme wrote a Spanish song called "Le Jardin" for their previous album Paradigmes. This track led them down the path toward creating Teatro Lucido, their first full album sung entirely in Spanish. Similar to their previous albums, La Femme wrote, composed, and produced Teatro Lucido themselves, inviting numerous female singers to participate in the process. The album found birth through their adventures in Seville, Grenade, Madrid, Mexico City, Cuautepec, Padul_ where they had so many moments of laughs and joys, tears and disappointment. Teatro Lucido draws from many of La Femme's inspirations including the famous Semana Santa in Spain; pasodoble, reggaeton, Brasilian, and Andalusian rythms; classical guitars, and Movida of the 80's. Teatro Lucido is the name of a mythic theatre where La Femme has played many times in Mexico. It is the first album from a thematic series they have planned called "Collection Odyssée."

Since 2018, BBE Music has been leading the field in reissuing rare modern jazz from Japan’s golden period spanning the late 60s to the early 80s. The J Jazz Masterclass Series continues to present the finest in Japanese jazz with Planets by Masaru Imada Trio + 1. Originally released in 1977 as a private press album, Planets showcases the refined playing and sophisticated compositions of one of Japan’s leading pianists, Masaru Imada. In a fifty-plus year career he has released over 40 albums, including several that have won awards from some of Japan’s leading music publications and has recorded with leading US jazz artists such as David Sanborn, Brecker Brothers, Steve Gadd, and Grover Washington Jr. Imada’s Bosendorfer piano is joined by the drums of Tetsujiro Obara and the bass of Kunimitsu Inaba, augmented by Yuji Imamura on percussion. The opening title track on Planets (featured on J Jazz vol 3) is a wafer-thin modal waltz, beginning with gentle bells and shells, followed by Obara’s deft brush work and Inaba’s hypnotically pliant bass that gives a discrete yet steady support to the gossamer melody from Imada-san’s piano. The other standout track is the suite, Sea's Pasture, an epic piece that undulates and heaves, like the dark endless ocean, rich with mystery and each side of the album ends with a solo piece on the haunting Bosendorfer. Planets comes with full reproduction of the original artwork with obi strip, extra photos, a translation of the original sleeve note and a 3000 word new sleeve note by Tony Higgins including an interview with Masaru Imada himself. The J Jazz Masterclass Series is curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden for BBE Music.

Neil Young und Crazy Horse haben ein Album für und über die Welt gemacht: World Record lautet der Titel des neuen Werkes, das in Zusammenarbeit mit einer weiteren Ikone entstand, Rick Rubin, der zusammen mit Young produzierte. Die Aufnahmen fanden in Rubins Shangri-La-Studio in Malibu statt. Das Album erscheint am 18.11.2022 und kann bereits jetzt vorbestellt werden.

Die 10 lebhaften Songs des Albums befassen sich mit der Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft unseres Planeten und was es heißt, darauf zu leben. Der Ton ist dabei vorsichtig optimistisch. Es besteht noch Hoffnung, vermittelt uns Neil Young - und wenn er es sagt, muss es stimmen! World Record ist ein Quell der Weisheit und beruht auf Beobachtungen, wie sie nur in einem langen und ereignisreichen Leben gesammelt werden können. Young, einer der kritischsten Geister unserer Zeit, erinnert sich hier voller Dankbarkeit an die reichhaltigen Erfahrungen, die er im Laufe seines Lebens an so zahlreichen Orten dieser Welt machen durfte. Er richtet seinen Blick hoffnungsvoll auf eine ungewisse Zukunft, ob wir diesen wunderbaren Planeten, als Grundlage allen Lebens, doch noch erhalten können - herausgekommen dabei ist ein Album voller unbeugsamer Kraft. Musikalisch bewegen sich die Songs zwischen ergreifendem Folk - „This Old Planet (Changing Days)“ und „Love Earth“- sowie kernigem Rock - „Break The Chain“ und „The World (Is In Trouble Now)“. Mit „Chevrolet“ liefern Crazy Horse einen für sie typischen, monumentalen Roadtrip durch die Gitarren-Universen und gleichzeitig reflektiert Neil Young in dem Track seine Liebe zu Autos angesichts der Notwendigkeit einer Zukunft ohne fossile Brennstoffe. World Record steht für eine konsequent zukunftsweisende Vision voller positiver Energie, ohne dabei die aktuelle Umweltsituation schönfärben zu wollen. Neil Young sagt in seinen eigenen Worten in einer Nachricht im Times-Contrarian über die Arbeit an World Record: „Wahre Wunder sind für die Ewigkeit geschaffen und ich glaube, wir kommen dem Ziel der Nachhaltigkeit näher“.

Neil Young und Crazy Horse haben ein Album für und über die Welt gemacht: World Record lautet der Titel des neuen Werkes, das in Zusammenarbeit mit einer weiteren Ikone entstand, Rick Rubin, der zusammen mit Young produzierte. Die Aufnahmen fanden in Rubins Shangri-La-Studio in Malibu statt. Das Album erscheint am 18.11.2022 und kann bereits jetzt vorbestellt werden.

Die 10 lebhaften Songs des Albums befassen sich mit der Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft unseres Planeten und was es heißt, darauf zu leben. Der Ton ist dabei vorsichtig optimistisch. Es besteht noch Hoffnung, vermittelt uns Neil Young - und wenn er es sagt, muss es stimmen! World Record ist ein Quell der Weisheit und beruht auf Beobachtungen, wie sie nur in einem langen und ereignisreichen Leben gesammelt werden können. Young, einer der kritischsten Geister unserer Zeit, erinnert sich hier voller Dankbarkeit an die reichhaltigen Erfahrungen, die er im Laufe seines Lebens an so zahlreichen Orten dieser Welt machen durfte. Er richtet seinen Blick hoffnungsvoll auf eine ungewisse Zukunft, ob wir diesen wunderbaren Planeten, als Grundlage allen Lebens, doch noch erhalten können - herausgekommen dabei ist ein Album voller unbeugsamer Kraft. Musikalisch bewegen sich die Songs zwischen ergreifendem Folk - „This Old Planet (Changing Days)“ und „Love Earth“- sowie kernigem Rock - „Break The Chain“ und „The World (Is In Trouble Now)“. Mit „Chevrolet“ liefern Crazy Horse einen für sie typischen, monumentalen Roadtrip durch die Gitarren-Universen und gleichzeitig reflektiert Neil Young in dem Track seine Liebe zu Autos angesichts der Notwendigkeit einer Zukunft ohne fossile Brennstoffe. World Record steht für eine konsequent zukunftsweisende Vision voller positiver Energie, ohne dabei die aktuelle Umweltsituation schönfärben zu wollen. Neil Young sagt in seinen eigenen Worten in einer Nachricht im Times-Contrarian über die Arbeit an World Record: „Wahre Wunder sind für die Ewigkeit geschaffen und ich glaube, wir kommen dem Ziel der Nachhaltigkeit näher“.

Before he co-founded the legendary Sunday afternoon event Body & Soul with fellow New York DJs Danny Krivit and Francois Kevorkian in 1996, Joaquin "Joe" Claussell was the driving force behind Instant House, an eclectic production outift who released a series of uplifting deep house records, several of which were spun by David Mancuso at the 90s iteration of his influential Loft parties.

In 1993, Instant House released their deepest single, Lost Horizons, through Jungle Sounds Recordings. The A-side, ‘Lost Horizons (The Mind Travel Saturday Night Sunday Morning Mix)’ is a seventeen-minute and twenty-second sojourn into the vibrant club sounds of early 90s NYC. Driven by a Latin-accented man-machine beat that marches into infinity, it comes backed by two shorter mixes, ‘Lost Horizons’ and ‘Lost Horizons (Percussion Bonus)’. Twenty-nine years later, Isle of Jura presents an official vinyl and digital reissue of this slow-burning deep cut.

The Instant House story begins in the late 80s at Dance Tracks, an East Village record store established by the businessman, DJ, and graphic designer Stan Hatzakis. Patronised by New York trendsetters like Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan, Dance Tracks was considered one of the world's best underground dance music retailers.

During the winter of 1991, Stan got together with one of his best customers, Tony Confusione, to make music. A wall street guy by day and a keyboardist by night, Tony was also a serious DJ. Not long after their first recording sessions, they invited another Dance Tracks fixture, Joaquin "Joe" Claussell, to join them in Tony’s state-of-the-art home studio in Long Island. He brought a vibrant, percussive edge to the sample-based tracks Stan and Tony were cooking up. Emboldened, the three DJs began recording together as Instant House. That year, they released the Dance Trax EP.

In 1992, after Instant House had dropped two certified classics, 'Over' and 'Awade', for Jungle Sounds Records, Stan exited the group and sold Dance Tracks to Joe and his business partner, Stefan Prescott. Following Stan's departure, Joe and Tony headed into the studio for a special recording session. “I just remember how powerful the connection was while we were making that record,” explains Joe, recalling the creation of ‘Lost Horizons (The Mind Travel Saturday Night Sunday Morning Mix)’. “It was a very spiritual encounter in the studio.”

While laying out the drum patterns, sound effects, and arrangement, Joe explained the vibe to Tony, who played the lush cosmic chords and an effortless keyboard saxophone line over the top. “That was Tony completely feeling himself,” Joe reflects. “He performed majestically.”

After the release of the Lost Horizons 12”, Joe received a phone call from Cisco International Corp. A plane flight later, he was sitting in their label offices in Tokyo, talking to a senior record executive who wanted to introduce Lost Horizons to Japan. “What they were primarily doing at the time was pressing classical records - we’re talking thousand dollar plus classical reissues - and they wanted to license and distribute Lost Horizons,” Joe remembers. Three years later, Joe and Tony released 'Asking Forgiveness', their final 12” as Instant House, before parting ways with full hearts.

In the context of his career as a DJ, remixer, and producer, Joe is known for long songs and compositions. As Lost Horizons illustrates, he’s carried that impulse with him since his foundational days. “When I produce, I don’t believe in the beginning or endpoint of anything,” Joe explains. “I really despise the rules. To me, that’s not true to the art of creation. I just believe there is a flow in creation. When we were making music in the 90s, we were restricted by format, but that record could have gone on forever.”

The 12” is housed in a full sleeve jacket by Bradley Pinkerton based on the original release design.

Orange Street, Kingston, Jamaica the epicentre of the Reggae world.
Where all the record shops, studios, pressing plants were based.
The new cut 45’s would be taken to the shops after a testing on various Sound Systems around the people and passed to the record shop proprietors to sell.
Bunny Lee as a former record plugger and now a leading producer knew what the people wanted and a great ear for a hit tune.
This collection carries some of the stand out tracks from this period, when music was finding a new beat as Rocksteady rolled into the late 60’s early 70’s Reggae Sound.
The Ravers ‘Mati and Fulli’ telling the story that the ‘Rent too High’ to The Twinkle Brothers ‘Miss Laba Laba’ …you see and blind you must hear and deaf…clean up your own backyard before talking about others.
All stories of daily life and love songs told over a cracking rhythm played by finest musicians on the island.
So yes ‘Some A Holla Some A Bawl’ as Max Romeo would say but it can’t be denied that all the tunes on this selection are of a fine pedigree….
So sit back and Enjoy the Ride…………..

In 'Christmas Morning', a song recorded for the 10th edition of the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club, California folk singer Annie Jay remembers how special Christmas mornings were to her as a child. It was a magical moment. When she got older, the mystery of Christmas slowly disappeared. But not everything is gone. There is still the gathering together with loved ones every Christmas. And there are still children who wake up on Christmas morning and feel the same excitement that she felt when she once felt as a child. Annie Jay sings it all in a soft and sweet voice that is very easy to fall in love with and accompanies herself with the instrument that she fell in love with: the banjo. ‘Blue Christmas’, the song on the B-side of the single, has been covered by thousands of other artists since first recorded in the late 1940s and especially since Elvis Presley recorded it for his 1957 Christmas album. It only takes Annie Jay two minutes to make the standard hers - as if Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson wrote ‘Blue Christmas’ with her banjo and her vocal harmonies in mind.

Annie Jay lives in Upland, California and grew up with the music of Kenny Loggins, James Taylor, Carol King and Fleetwood Mac. After first teaching herself to play ukulele and guitar, her life changed when she discovered the banjo. It was then that she decided to follow the path of music. It brought her a BA of Arts in Music from the University of La Verne and it made her travel to Europe to play her music. Annie Jay formed the folk duo Your Companies and debuted in 2016 with the solo album 'Love Is All Around'. Earlier in 2022, she released the 6-song EP 'Time And Space' and a split 7" with California indie act Eatpianokeys, to which she contributed the beautiful song 'Talking To Plants'.

"Viktor Marek is at home everywhere, even at home," DJ Booty Carrell recently remarked on his old companion. Marek is the outernational musician par excellence. When he's not working as general manager of the legendary Golden Pudel Club in Hamburg, he travels the world, meets people and records music with them. With his inimitable productions between HipHop, Acid and Dub, he has long been known as the "Madlib from the Waterkant" far beyond the borders of Hamburg! As a beatmaker and producer for artists such as Jacques Palminger and the Sufi Dub Brothers (Marek together with Ashraf Sharif Khan) and a lot more, he has already released countless great tracks and albums. Finally, he is going to release his first solo album for which he has invented the character Mr.Subtitle. A translator of cultures. An overcomer of distances. A humanistic spirit of research and comic hero who encounters many artists and cultures on the album "The lucky bag of Viktor Marek". Some of them are probably not even native to this planet. On the first hit single for instance, "Mr.Subtitle Theme", we hear Kurdish vocals by Hêja Netirk and Sicilian Rap by Don Colfit. Is it a piece about Palermo? Istanbul? Los Angeles? We don't know. But that's exactly the point! Mr.Subtitle overcomes national and genre boundaries in the blink of an eye and has created a kind of mission statement for the Fun in the church label with this work! Outernational music for interplanetary people. Truly.

"Ramblin' Soul was inspired by the new appreciation I had for the freedom to travel around the country and perform," explains lifelong wanderer Melissa Carper of her forthcoming album. Carper was relieved and energized to be back on the road, on a familiar pilgrimage from Texas to Arkansas and back to meet and collaborate with musician friends. "I had taken for granted the ability to interact with audiences and friends and how much it feeds my soul and my creative process," she adds. Feeling inspired by time on the road and time with other creative minds, she penned the title track on the way back home, and the Ramblin' Soul seeds were planted. From its conception and throughout the recording process, Ramblin' Soul seemed to take on a life of its own. "It wasn't what I had first planned," Carper recalls. "A couple of the songs we recorded I'm now saving for a future album, and there are some brand new songs I decided to add, including one that was written during the week of recording. Thematically, I had a handful of songs about rambling around and living a free life that I wanted to weave through the album. I also knew I wanted Ramblin' Soul to have a different feel than my previous release, Daddy's Country Gold, with more upbeat and diverse styles and grooves," she says. Ramblin' Soul features a co-write with friend Gina Gallina, a song penned by friend and frequent collaborator Brennen Leigh, a reimagined classic from folk pioneer Odetta and 10 Carper originals--venturing into her blues, early rock 'n roll, and soul influences, blended with her signature flavors of country, western swing, and jazz. There is something for everyone on Ramblin' Soul.

False Heads release Frank Turner produced second album ‘Sick Moon’ via Scruff of the Neck Records.False Heads have taken the UK by storm in recent years, forming in 2016 and eventually catching the attention of key industry figures. With an incendiary live reputation like theirs, it should come as no surprise that the band have also earned the praise of multiple renowned radio stations and hosts. The iconic Iggy Pop and Steve Lamacq (BBC 6 Music), John Kennedy (Radio X), and Jack Saunders (BBC Radio 1) have all supported the band within the UK, with Planet Rock and Radio X playlisting them as well. Internationally, the likes of KINK (NL), Sirius XM (US), and RTE2 (IE) have also given False Heads airtime. Their single ‘Rabbit Hole’ has been streamed over a million times alone on Spotify and their previous album ‘It’s All There but You’re Dreaming’ nearly 4 million times across all platforms. The ten-track album was produced by Frank Turner at his home studio, with lead single Day Glow coming just weeks after Turner’s own record FTHC landed the UK Number One spot. ”If they came to my town I’d show up for that, if they come to your town you might wanna show up”-Iggy Pop. Track list.1. Day Glow. 2. Mime the End. 3.Thousand Cuts. 4.Thick Skin. 5.Cottonmouth.6.Hangman. 7.Said and Done. 8.Slipping Through. 9.Hainted Houses. 10.Doll’s Eye.

False Heads release Frank Turner produced second album ‘Sick Moon’ via Scruff of the Neck Records.False Heads have taken the UK by storm in recent years, forming in 2016 and eventually catching the attention of key industry figures. With an incendiary live reputation like theirs, it should come as no surprise that the band have also earned the praise of multiple renowned radio stations and hosts. The iconic Iggy Pop and Steve Lamacq (BBC 6 Music), John Kennedy (Radio X), and Jack Saunders (BBC Radio 1) have all supported the band within the UK, with Planet Rock and Radio X playlisting them as well. Internationally, the likes of KINK (NL), Sirius XM (US), and RTE2 (IE) have also given False Heads airtime. Their single ‘Rabbit Hole’ has been streamed over a million times alone on Spotify and their previous album ‘It’s All There but You’re Dreaming’ nearly 4 million times across all platforms. The ten-track album was produced by Frank Turner at his home studio, with lead single Day Glow coming just weeks after Turner’s own record FTHC landed the UK Number One spot. ”If they came to my town I’d show up for that, if they come to your town you might wanna show up”-Iggy Pop. Track list.1. Day Glow. 2. Mime the End. 3.Thousand Cuts. 4.Thick Skin. 5.Cottonmouth.6.Hangman. 7.Said and Done. 8.Slipping Through. 9.Hainted Houses. 10.Doll’s Eye.

New pressing of the old RSD LP , now on black vinyl. An essential vinyl release of the Throwing Muses’ mainstay’s 2016’s CD and essay book that featured stories from “her life's most perception-altering junctures” (NPR). “As memoirs, her albums are so intensely personal... as art, they’re arguments for the value of unapologetic individuality” Pitchfork. “This music reminds you how alone you are; it consoles you through its insolubility, comforts you by jabbing you in the chest and letting you know how complex the struggle is, how inaccessible we are to each other but just how universal our pain can be.” The Wire. This sonically rich and fragmented record references to Hersh’s past material and sees her perform on guitar, bass, drums, piano, horns and cello. There’s a mysticism and sense of life wonderment throughout ‘Wyatt At The Coyote Palace’ that also has death as a central theme rather than the contemplation of death itself it’s reaching the end of something and beginning a new life. Tracklist: Side A. 1 Bright 2 Bubble Net 3 In Stitches 4 Secret Codes 5 Green Screen 6 Hemmingway's Tell. Side B. 7 Detox 8 Wonderland 9 Day 3 10 Diving Bell 11 Killing Two Birds 12 Guadalupe. Side C. 13 American Copper 14 August 15 Some Dumb Runaway 16 From the Plane 17 Sun Blown 18 Elysian Fields. Side D. 19 Soma Gone Slapstick 20 Cooties 21 Christmas Underground 22 Between Piety and Desire 23 Shaky Blue Can 24 Shotgun

What if Lee Perry and Lex Baxter have been caught in a firetrap altogether? A weird experiment in dub & reggae coined in 1973, the sole album of this interstellar venture was a case in point. Jamaican rhythms (provided by the almighty Trojan records crew) with legendary prog/psych keyboardist Ken Elliott (former member of influential british bands such as Second Hand and Seventh Wave) creating groovy instrumental on top. 10 tracks including the Joe Meek classic Telstar and a spacey rendition of The Skalaties' »Guns Of Navarone« for an album that might sounds like a caribbean easy listening session on dope. A truly gem on its own, incredible strange music for the suburbs.

A fascinating Japanese Ambient Techno excursion finally reissued.
Takayuki Shiraishi is no stranger to Camisole Records. With projects like BGM, MLD (CAM022) or Tristan Disco (CAM023) he is considered as one of the most prominent figures of underground Japanese music.

Following those 80's industrial projects he continued his path and recorded numerous electronic tracks without forgetting his experimental roots.
After an EP on the highly revered label Apollo with his alias "Planetoid", he released on a very limited run his first album "Photon" only on cd in 1997.
Mixing Techno and Ambient, those works were recorded between 1987 and 1996 to create a trancey ride of dreamy tunes.
A journey through spectral dances and afterglows, dreamy incantations and Solar rituals devoted to euphoria.
Experimental techno who never forget to keep your mind and body aware.
We are really proud to give this album the attention it deserves with a Double Vinyl LP reissue remastered by Krikor Kouchian. 5

** INITIAL 400 LPs CONTAIN A BONUS 7" OF A RARE XMAS SOUL 45! **

** THE 4th VOLUME OF RARE & HIP-SHAKING SEASONAL GROOVES!! **

Dear Santa, we just loved "Santa's Funk & Soul Christmas Party," Volumes 1-3 TRLP-9013, TRLP-9027, TRLP-9050, and we have really tried to be good this year! Please bring us a whole 'nother album's worth of rare and obscure Christmas-themed funk and soul!

When the third volume of "Santa's Funk & Soul Christmas Party" was released in 2015, everybody involved was certain that it would be the final one. For years, the curators had been looking for "Christmas Rare Grooves" until they finally realized there was nothing left to discover that would justify a fourth volume. Sure, it would have been an easy task to dig through the catalogues of major labels to come up with 40 minutes of more-or-less trivial Christmas soul music. But who on earth would want that kind of album? Since the foundation of Tramp Records in 2003, the label has gained a high reputation as one of the very few German reissue labels of obscure funk, soul, and jazz music. 99% of the songs originate from 7" singles, the small and handy standard-format of the 1960s, which, like Santa's sleigh magically circling the planet on Christmas Eve, spins at forty-five revolutions per minute on the turntable.

So, what can you expect from this, the fourth volume of a series which had ostensibly been completed with only three volumes? After some seven years of digging across the world wide web with open ears and eyes, never tiring of the hundreds of (mainly) shitty songs, hoping to find that kind of monster soul or funk track that constituted the hallmark of the previous volumes, the compilers slowly and surprisingly began to see a fourth volume taking shape. Finally, after more than two thousand days, a complete album's worth of quality tunes had been discovered and secured for release.

"Santa's Funk & Soul Christmas Party Vol. 4" contains a highly diverse selection of obscure Christmas songs. For example, take Bey Ireland's garage-mod-rocker "All I Want For Christmas Is A Go-Go Girl," is something to get you go-going around the tree! Do you prefer mirror-balls to tinsel? Check out Bill Deal with Pure Pleasure. Too fast? How about the dazzling-melancholic "I Won't Be Home For Christmas"? Do you prefer rap music while you wrap presents? Then your choice is going to be Hot & Sassy. Old-School-Hip Hop at its best. Every single song has a compelling reason to be included in this extraordinary selection. Not least is the opening track by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. Their contribution represents the soul sound of the 21st century. Charming soul music with sociocritical lyrics, something you rarely find in the current musical landscape.

Even though the selected tracks that the two compilers and their worker elves proudly present on "Santa's Funk & Soul Christmas Party Vol. 4" are unbelievable, they are very real and will be the surprise gift from Santa this season that can be enjoyed year-round! It took seven years to complete, but believe us when we say it was well worth the wait. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Key selling points:

- initial 400 LPs contain a BONUS 7" of a ULTRA-RARE Christmas soul 45

- ALL but one song appear on CD, Vinyl LP and digital for the very first-time

- the vinyl LP comes with a full album download code

- fold-out CD-booklet and gatefold LP come with liner notes and label scans

'Night Of The Endless Beyond', the sophomore album by Lord Of The Isles AKA Neil McDonald for the ESP Institute, had almost become a mythical piece of work. The tracks very slowly crept into formation from the lowest depths of 2021, and once the completed album finally made the leap from creation into manufacturing, an entirely new onslaught of follies and delays awaited at the pressing plant. We began to laugh, for not only did Mario Hugo’s otherworldly sleeve artwork visually translate this music so well, but it was an uncanny premonition to the album being lost in space, falling through a black hole, evaporating into the aether like a dream that never really happened. But, at long last, ground control has confirmed contact! It did happen, it will arrive, and it’s not a myth.
Listening to 'Night Of The Endless Beyond' now feels like the return of a strayed friend, one whose distance left us pining for an embrace. Although this Techno relies on unassuming means, there is a remarkably complex and persuasive emotional statement embedded here, insisting we learn to endure the long game and allow ourselves patience to investigate and appreciate the minutiae contained not only within the notes, but their negative space. From its introduction, through its mellow crests and valleys, there is a conveyance of restraint — subtle dynamics that quietly beg for attention, repetition so hypnotic that imaginary melodies are inescapable, transient peaks so deliberately scaled that we mourn the subsequent decay. In accordance with Neil’s ESP debut, 'In Waves', we never feel attacked by instrumentation but shielded from sharp edges, able to step inside the music, breathe the air it occupies and know its true intentions, whether bright or bleak.
Just prior to the album close, a film dialogue excerpt summarizes everything quite honestly by proposing, “The truth of the universe is waiting … the truth of what is … it’s all going to go away … everything … into blackness … the void … and nobody is in charge.”
“…and what do you do with that?”
We stare long into the 'Night Of The Endless Beyond' and answer… “You smile.”

Not every two-year period measures out the same, noted Brendan Benson, the 51-year old Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and co-founder of The Raconteurs. Benson had just finished his well-received seventh album, "Dear Life" in 2019 when his world came to a stop. "I was rehearsing for South-By-Southwest and gearing up for a tour and had a band ready and then, of course, the world shut down," he said in a recent interview. The lockdown then began to reroute lives, societies and ambitions worldwide. "Everything changed," Benson said. "I went to work on some songs so I"d have new material when things opened up." Over months with minimal interactions, those songs coalesced and took on lives of their own, he said. Two years of semi-isolation, of fading relationships, of the natural inward turn that comes with less human contact unexpectedly pushed Benson"s song-writing into new places. Instead of being an afterthought, Benson"s solitude evolved into, "Low Key" the eighth album by the idiosyncratic songwriter who has enjoyed both world-wide popularity with the Raconteurs and a devoted cult following for his numerous solo projects. Low Key, the Nashville-based artist said, was his chance to explore how lives and relationships changed during the lengthy isolation from the normal interactions of everyday life.

Six tracks of dark energy, driving rhythms, futuristic sounds and deep atmosphere by dutch producer Lloyd Stellar. Electro rooted in genre classics but with a very original touch. Don't miss!