Cerca:the view

Analog Fingerprints Vol. 0 is a compilation bringing together the early 2000s works of Marco Passarani under his Analog Fingerprints alias, collecting key tracks originally released on Rome’s Plasmek and Pigna labels.

For Numbers, the story starts long before the label itself. In their formative years, digging in Glasgow’s Rubadub, Passarani’s records felt like dispatches from a future city. Releases on his own Nature Records and on labels such as Generator and Interr-Ference Communications were mind blowing: rooted in Detroit techno, Chicago house and electro, yet pushing somewhere new. Much like fellow travellers Autechre, who would remix him in 2001, Passarani’s music balanced machine funk with restless experimentation.

Information was scarce, and you would hear these records first on the dancefloor or at listening stations in shops like Rubadub. Print fanzines like Ear and early web outposts such as Forcefield offered only fragments. But there was a palpable axis forming between Detroit techno and a new European wave of record labels including Skam, Rephlex, Clone, Viewlexx and Nature itself. It was the sound that defined Saturday nights at Rubadub’s ‘69’ parties in Paisley, just outside of Glasgow.

Passarani’s records, in particular, were instrumental in bringing together the future Numbers co-founders. Richard had already booked him pre-Numbers; meanwhile Calum (Spencer) and Jack (Jackmaster), then 16/17 year olds working alternate Saturdays in Rubadub, were so enamoured with the Roman sound that they travelled to Rome for the Bitz Festival in 2003 to seek out Passarani and Lory D at their source.

The first Analog Fingerprints release landed as a 12” on Plasmek in 2001, following the fractured, IDM-leaning 6 Katun material. For Passarani, the project marked a recalibration. A DJ first and foremost, he had moved into production via early computer setups, from a Commodore Amiga through primitive PC audio, Cubase and Logic, later experimenting with Ableton. The IDM scene had offered a playground for trial and error, but there was always a tension between abstraction and the dancefloor. Analog Fingerprints became the bridge: still intelligent, but with more dance than distance. After years of broken beats and complex arrangements, he wanted directness without surrendering identity.

Working closely with Francesco de Bellis and Mario Pierro in the Pigneto district, the trio formed Pigna as a vehicle for reclaiming a more accessible dance sound, deliberately steering away from the minimal wave beginning to dominate Europe. Sessions were fast, instinctive, often stretching late into the night with friends dropping by. It was a studio as social space, production as collective energy.

“In that constant search for balance, Analog Fingerprints was my way of expressing something closer to the classic dance floor. The track 'Tribute' - a tribute to my favourite early Detroit techno track of all time, 'First Bass' by Separate Minds - came after I realised I had almost lost my connection with the dance floor. The simplest step was to take inspiration from early Chicago and Detroit and twist it in our Roman ‘Pigna’ way. My goal was to create more accessible dancefloor tracks by mixing my unconscious Italo roots with my teenage love for that early US sound, ensuring the result was as far as possible from the minimal sound that was starting to dominate everywhere.” - Marco Passarani

Technically, the Analog Fingerprints tracks span a transitional era: Roland TR-909, SH-101 and Alpha Juno hardware met early software experiments. A Novation Drumstation rack stood in for the unattainable TR-808, syncing with TB-303 and TR-606. Yet the true secret weapon was Jeskola Buzz, a tracker-style modular environment that allowed step-by-step parameter control and strange melodic constructions, later exported into the audio sequencer. Even the lead on ‘Tribute’ came from an early PPG Wave-style plugin. It was hybrid thinking at a moment when digital tools still felt unstable but full of possibility for technologists like Passarani.

Behind the music sat Finalfrontier, a loose Roman collective orbiting Nature and Plasmek. Distribution and production were intertwined; importing obscure records into Italy built connections with like-minded outsiders across Europe and the US. Expensive phone bills and fax machines forged an “electronix network” that linked Rome to Clone, Viewlexx, Skam, Rephlex, Rubadub and Detroit’s Underground Resistance. There was a shared sense of survival and resistance, of operating against commercial systems.

Passarani recalls “The first time I found a sheet of paper inside an Underground Resistance 12” with info about upcoming releases... and a huge picture of Spock on the back. Imagine that: you love the music, you love Star Trek, and there’s someone on the other side of the ocean sharing those same values and sounds. It was the perfect match. We even gave our original company the suffix ‘Finalfrontier’: that says it all.”

Feedback in that era arrived physically: distributor faxes, conversations with visiting DJs, the experience of playing abroad and meeting kids who had connected with the records. Glasgow became a key node in a scattered outlier network. Passarani personally brought the first two Nature releases to Fat Cat in London, playing them in-store. Shortly after, a fax arrived from Rubadub in Glasgow requesting copies.

“I still remember that phone buzz and the fax paper slowly sliding out, with someone I didn’t know saying they wanted 75 copies of Nature 001. Or like the time we got a fax from the Rephlex crew just saying, “Hello Nature Records, Keep up the good work.” That was how we knew the message was getting through. It was a fantastic feeling; just one piece of thermal fax paper as an analog notification - the mood for the entire week would change.” - Passarani

The connection to Glasgow has since stretched across generations. As Passarani reflects, links often fracture as scenes renew themselves, but in Glasgow something different happened. New and old mixed seamlessly. There was a visible trust in what came before, and a willingness to carry it forward rather than discard it. Observed from Rome, it was deeply encouraging.

Analog Fingerprints Vol. 0 captures that moment of exchange: Rome to Glasgow, Detroit to Europe, experiment to dancefloor. It documents an artist recalibrating his sound and a network of scenes discovering one another in real time, connected by vinyl, faxes and shared intent.

LIMITED TO 350 COPIES! 2 x 12" Gold Vinyl w/ Gold Foil Embossed Cover, shrink wrapped.

‘Elevation’ is album eleven from High Focus Records founder and 1/4 of The Four Owls Fliptrix.

The latest instalment in a formidable run sees the lyricist further his vision of the world in the hope of elevating the collective mind and spirit of both artist and listener across 19-tracks.

Having worked with Forest DLG in some capacity across all of his records over the past fifteen years, from mixing and mastering, but also collaborating on multiple tracks as rapper / producer, it is surprising that it took so long for the pair to come together on a full-length collaborative project.

‘Elevation’ is that record.

Fliptrix reached out to Forest with a view to creating something completely different from his previous boom bap heavy outing ‘Dragonfly’, he is always looking to advance his craft and take things higher, and after Forest responded with a pack of 70+ instrumentals the direction of travel became crystal clear. The result is an album designed to lift the listener into a higher state of consciousness and trigger conversations about the state of the world, in the hope of enacting positive change during tumultuous times.

Fliptrix’s vision and Forest DLG’s style feel perfectly aligned. The album is truly collaborative; Forest going away and creating the artwork inspired by Fliptrix’s otherworldly experiences with the Shipibo tribe in the rainforests of Peru; from the single covers, to the album cover and merchandise as Fliptrix focussed on writing.

Having worked with all the greats in the UK hip hop scene, Fliptrix actively sought out new energies on ‘Elevation’, especially when it comes to the album features. Jungle forefather General Levy on lead single ‘ENERGY! ENERGY! ENERGY!’ Grime legend Frisco on ‘Visionaries’, Ayah Marar on ‘Transform’, Da Flyy Hooligan, Kamakaze, Coops, and a 19-strong HF posse cut in the shape of ‘Dangerous’ make this album a must-listen for anyone looking to elevate.

LIMITED TO 150 COPIES! 2 x 12" Black Vinyl w/ Gold Foil Embossed Cover, shrink wrapped.

‘Elevation’ is album eleven from High Focus Records founder and 1/4 of The Four Owls Fliptrix.

The latest instalment in a formidable run sees the lyricist further his vision of the world in the hope of elevating the collective mind and spirit of both artist and listener across 19-tracks.

Having worked with Forest DLG in some capacity across all of his records over the past fifteen years, from mixing and mastering, but also collaborating on multiple tracks as rapper / producer, it is surprising that it took so long for the pair to come together on a full-length collaborative project.

‘Elevation’ is that record.

Fliptrix reached out to Forest with a view to creating something completely different from his previous boom bap heavy outing ‘Dragonfly’, he is always looking to advance his craft and take things higher, and after Forest responded with a pack of 70+ instrumentals the direction of travel became crystal clear. The result is an album designed to lift the listener into a higher state of consciousness and trigger conversations about the state of the world, in the hope of enacting positive change during tumultuous times.

Fliptrix’s vision and Forest DLG’s style feel perfectly aligned. The album is truly collaborative; Forest going away and creating the artwork inspired by Fliptrix’s otherworldly experiences with the Shipibo tribe in the rainforests of Peru; from the single covers, to the album cover and merchandise as Fliptrix focussed on writing.

Having worked with all the greats in the UK hip hop scene, Fliptrix actively sought out new energies on ‘Elevation’, especially when it comes to the album features. Jungle forefather General Levy on lead single ‘ENERGY! ENERGY! ENERGY!’ Grime legend Frisco on ‘Visionaries’, Ayah Marar on ‘Transform’, Da Flyy Hooligan, Kamakaze, Coops, and a 19-strong HF posse cut in the shape of ‘Dangerous’ make this album a must-listen for anyone looking to elevate.

LIMITED TO 50 COPIES! Hand Numbered, Edition of 50.

‘Elevation’ is album eleven from High Focus Records founder and 1/4 of The Four Owls Fliptrix.

The latest instalment in a formidable run sees the lyricist further his vision of the world in the hope of elevating the collective mind and spirit of both artist and listener across 19-tracks.

Having worked with Forest DLG in some capacity across all of his records over the past fifteen years, from mixing and mastering, but also collaborating on multiple tracks as rapper / producer, it is surprising that it took so long for the pair to come together on a full-length collaborative project.

‘Elevation’ is that record.

Fliptrix reached out to Forest with a view to creating something completely different from his previous boom bap heavy outing ‘Dragonfly’, he is always looking to advance his craft and take things higher, and after Forest responded with a pack of 70+ instrumentals the direction of travel became crystal clear. The result is an album designed to lift the listener into a higher state of consciousness and trigger conversations about the state of the world, in the hope of enacting positive change during tumultuous times.

Fliptrix’s vision and Forest DLG’s style feel perfectly aligned. The album is truly collaborative; Forest going away and creating the artwork inspired by Fliptrix’s otherworldly experiences with the Shipibo tribe in the rainforests of Peru; from the single covers, to the album cover and merchandise as Fliptrix focussed on writing.

Having worked with all the greats in the UK hip hop scene, Fliptrix actively sought out new energies on ‘Elevation’, especially when it comes to the album features. Jungle forefather General Levy on lead single ‘ENERGY! ENERGY! ENERGY!’ Grime legend Frisco on ‘Visionaries’, Ayah Marar on ‘Transform’, Da Flyy Hooligan, Kamakaze, Coops, and a 19-strong HF posse cut in the shape of ‘Dangerous’ make this album a must-listen for anyone looking to elevate.

Double LP pressed on transparent red vinyl with black marbles. In Dying Light: The Beast, you step back into Kyle Crane's skin, but he's no longer the man he once was. Years of experiments have left him torn between fragile humanity and a monstrous power that he can barely control. Every light, every shadow, every choice feels dangerous. The forests and ruins of Castor Woods don't just set the stage, they breathe, they watch, and they punish the reckless. This is survival stripped to the bone, where horror is not just outside, but inside you. Olivier Deriviere's powerful and capturing score for Dying Light: The Beast doesn't just accompany Crane's journey, it is his voice. Sometimes it whispers in empty rooms, fragile and broken, sometimes it roars with distorted rhythms and pounding drums when the Beast takes over. Between silence and sound, the music pulls you deeper into Kyle's fractured soul, making every step and every heartbeat part of the story. It's not just a soundtrack, it's the echo of a man losing, and maybe finding, himself.

Repress 2025
The King of K-Pop Returns!

To those unfamiliar, G-Dragon is regarded by many as the Godfather of K-Pop. Rising to fame in the mid-00’s with his group, Big Bang, that later went on to become one of the world’s biggest selling boy groups. He quickly stood out with his unique and intricate songwriting as the leader of the group. A talented songwriter and trendsetter within the youth culture and fashion space, G-Dragon has received a bevy of awards, nominations for his music and fashion sense from the World Music Awards, to Hypebeast’s 100 list, to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, it’s apparent that G-Dragon has cemented his place in cultural relevance.

After serving his mandatory South Korean military service and a brief hiatus from music, the global superstar, G-Dragon has returned! He announced that he signed with indie-powerhouse, EMPIRE, and released his first comeback single on October 31, 2024 with POWER to immediate global fanfare and buzz, with the music video garnering over 44 MILLION views in a month and over 115 MILLION global streams. He soon followed that up with an electrifying performance at the 2024 MAMA Awards show in Osaka coupled with the release of his new single, Home Sweet Home which has garnered 100 MILLION global streams since release.

2025 will see the release of his first full length album since 2017 entitled Übermensch along with global tour dates. The album is expected to make a huge impact globally and further cement his place in music history!

A conjuration between our favourite dreamweaver Spencer Clark and Italian psychic traveller Mondo Riviera, Lorenzo's Oil present an oracle of aural travelogues between seen and unseen worlds on 'Paperopolis'.
Two likeminded individuals on their distinct but complementary quest for the netherworld, Clark and Riviera's meeting of the minds projects sonic artefacts assembled from lucid dreaming keyboard pads, narcotic late night TV rhythms, spiralling sequences and mangled voices.
The 10+ minutes 'Neo-Paperopolis Jump Suite' makes these intentions quite clear right from the start, veering from no frills keyboard runs to a mid tempo bounce and on towards the house of mirrors synth stabs and driving rarefied percussion that close the suite and open the pathway to such "places" as 'Central Jungle, Paperopolis' and "visions" as 'The Neverending Skylines of Taipei'. Ride on.  

Wendy Eisenberg hat die letzten zehn Jahre als feste Größe der Independent-Musikszene und als Künstlerin von inspirierender Vielseitigkeit verbracht. Als Singer-Songwriterin, Improvisatorin und virtuose Gitarristin sind die Koordinaten ihrer Kunst ständig im Wandel, von Art-Rock über Jazz bis hin zu mitreißender freier Improvisation und ausdrucksstarker Folk-Musik. Mit Höhepunkten wie dem 2020 erschienenen Album Auto" und dem 2024 Free-Jazz-Album Viewfinder" hat sie sich einen Namen als ambitionierte Künstlerin gemacht. Nachdem sie die letzten fünf Jahre damit verbracht hat, in verschiedenen Bands, Genres und kreativen Herausforderungen zu experimentieren, und nach einer Phase der Selbstkonfrontation, die sie mit einem persönlichen Exorzismus vergleicht, hat Eisenberg einen Meilenstein erreicht. Die poetischen und formal gewagten Folksongs von Wendy Eisenberg sind ihre bisher klarste Vision. Die Songs begannen 2020 Gestalt anzunehmen, als Eisenberg aus West-Massachusetts wegzog, wo sie nach ihrem Studium am New England Conservatory in Boston einige Jahre gelebt hatte, und nach Brooklyn zog. Aus Sehnsucht nach der ländlichen Atmosphäre ihres früheren Zuhauses fühlte sich Eisenberg zu den warmen Klängen von Country und Folk hingezogen. Die Songs sind echte Folk-Lieder", sagt Eisenberg über ihr Album. Bei der Produktion geht es weniger darum, zu sehen, was die Gitarre leisten kann, sondern vielmehr darum, die inhärente Fremdartigkeit der Sprachen zu akzeptieren, die sie seit anderthalb Jahrhunderten spricht." Auf Wendy Eisenberg schafft die Künstlerin ihr eigenes Paradigma mit einem eng verbundenen Kreis von langjährigen Freunden und Mitwirkenden, darunter Bassist Trevor Dunn, Schlagzeuger Ryan Sawyer und Co-Produzentin Mari Rubio (more eaze), die für Pedal Steel, Synthesizer und Streicharrangements zuständig war. Die Aufnahmen fanden oft in Eisenbergs Haus statt und verliehen jeder Note eine wunderschöne Ensemble-Textur. Endlich war ich von Menschen umgeben, die mich akzeptierten", sagt Eisenberg. Viele der Songs auf diesem Album sind in diesem neuen Gefühl entstanden. Ich wollte, dass es unglaublich beruhigend wirkt, da es einige massive Veränderungen im Selbstverständnis und Selbstwertgefühl beschreibt. Es geht um Erleichterung."

Electro as its best! SS001 marks the first transmission from Serpiente Sounds, a debut 12" split that keeps it lean, direct, and floor-focused. Viewtiful Joe handles the A-side with two cuts that balance Electro snap and Detroit discipline: clean drum architecture, crisp low-end, and synth lines that feel both futuristic and functional. On the flip, Subversive brings two late-night weapons with a colder edge and a deeper swing. SS001 is a debut statement with zero filler, a compact toolkit of Electro/Detroit tools for the booth.

Released in 1967, Open marked a bold debut for Brian Auger & The Trinity, featuring the dynamic vocals of Julie Driscoll. Music and its makers were rapidly evolving in ‘67, the UK's Jazz and R&B scenes were being influenced by pop and psychedelia and socially, musicians of many styles found common ground in London’s clubs like The Cromwellian and The Scotch Of St James where the The Beatles, US legends Wilson Pickett and Jimi Hendrix mingled with the capitals jazzers and pop stars, often loudly jamming together in even louder 'Lord Byron' shirts. 'Open' fully embraced this spirit by fusing together those genres and attitudes of the era. From the outset Auger displays his jazz rooted approach on the A side with 'In and Out' and 'Isola Natale' (later covered by one of his American jazz heroes Richard ‘Groove’ Holmes). Both showcase the Trinity's musicianship and Brian's improvisational flair. Auger himself takes on vocal duties on the raucous ‘Black Cat’, a track that became a club hit. Open is marked by its eclecticism; 'Lament for Miss Baker' is a tender, piano ballad influenced by Duke Ellington, reflecting Auger’s jazz and classical influences whilst 'Goodbye Jungle Telegraph' is a wild and crazy percussive freak out. Brian displayed not only his virtuosity but also his surrealist sense of humour with bizarre sound effects, inspired by Spike Milligan's The Goons' radio show interspersed between the tracks.

Julie Driscoll’s arrival on the album’s B side brings a sharp shift in tone. Her smoky, emotive vocals inject a soulful depth, notably on covers of Otis Redding & Carla Thomas hit 'Tramp', Aretha's 'Save Me' and The Staples Singers ‘Why Am I Treated So Bad". With original numbers 'Break It Up' and 'A Kind Of Love In' we hear the Auger / Driscoll pop infused R&B at its very best, whilst the version of Donovan’s 'Season of the Witch' stretches out into a slow-burning epic. In 2025, Open is viewed as a cult classic and testament to a unique period when genre boundaries were fluid and artistic risk-taking was the norm. Brian Auger & The Trinity’s debut captures the adventurous energy of the late 1960s. 58 years later, its importance in the development of British jazz fusion and progressive bands that followed is undeniable, with The Charlatans Tim Burgess recently commenting on Auger's Instagram that The Trinity were a 'huge influence'.

Scopeotaku’s latest is a continuation of themes he explored in System Failure. Mutating into darker dimensions, influenced by recent world events. reality error is steeped in strangled synths, tape hiss and distorted echoes. Featuring crushed low-tech rhythms and recordings inspired by science fiction B-movies. Scopeotaku seizes the means of production with full on DiY approach. Setting out to soundtrack a dystopian society that has lost touch with the soul of humanity. A world where corporate greed and disruptive extremist views amplified by echo chambers soaked in misinformation drown the voices of reason and compassion. Within this murky swamp however lies a glimmer of light and hope for us all to not accept the future but to shape it.

50 DiY tapes with download code included.

Recorded in Glasgow

With »News from Planet Zombie«, The Notwist return to view after years of exploration and experiment with an album rich in both melancholy and positivity, sketched across a suite of thrilling, fiercely committed pop songs. It’s an album reflecting a chaotic world, but responding with warmth and generosity, to achieve creative and spiritual consolidation. Recorded in their home base of Munich, it reconnects with the security of the local to explore the troubles of the global: a guiding impulse writ large across this album’s eleven songs. It’s also the first studio album since 1995’s »12« that the entire band recorded together in the studio in its expanded live formation.

A new album by The Notwist is always a curious endeavour; their musical language is as consistent and resilient as the contexts for creativity are unpredictable and ever shifting. For »News from Planet Zombie«, the core trio of Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck embraced the plural possibilities of writing together, bringing songs to the collective and then arranging, rehearsing and recording that material live, in the studio.

The result is an album that’s energised, fully in ›the now‹, with spectacular moments where you can hear the magic bubbling up in the dynamic between the Achers, Beck, and fellow members Theresa Loibl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, and Andi Haberl. If »Teeth« begins »News from Planet Zombie« quietly and reflectively, by »X-Ray« everyone’s supercharged, blasting out future anthems with the collective energy cranked up high. The chiming keys of »Propeller« skim the instrumental’s surface like stones across burbling water; »The Turning« clangs its way into one of the album’s most heartwarming melodies.

»News from Planet Zombie« was recorded over one week at Import Export, a non-profit space for arts and music. You can tell, too; there are some pleasingly rough edges here, as though The Notwist’s striving for hazy perfection means they’re also confident enough to let the songs breathe and mutate between our ears. That openness to chance also takes in guest turns from friends both local and international, reflective of a cosmopolitan Munich: Enid Valu joins in on vocals, while Haruka Yoshizawa guests on taishōgoto and harmonium, Tianping Christoph Xiao on clarinet, and Mathias Götz on trombone.

The Notwist aren’t best known for cover versions, but »News from Planet Zombie« features two: a gorgeous version of Neil Young’s »Red Sun« (from 2000’s »Silver & Gold«), which the group originally developed for a theatre play directed by Jette Steckel, and a take on Athens, Georgia folk-pop gang Lovers’ »How the Story Ends«. They slot into the album’s narrative perfectly, nestling in like old friends, revealing The Notwist as poetic interpreters. Played well, the cover version is both acknowledgement of fellow travellers and act of generosity, and The Notwist nail both aspects here.

And that narrative, the way the album plays out? »News from Planet Zombie« acknowledges the distress of our current geopolitical impasse, while reminding us there are collective ways forward. Fed through the figure of the zombie, Markus Acher explores our anxieties: »In the title and some lyrics I reference B- and horror-movies, which is a reference to the crazy world at the moment, which seems to be like a really bad and unrealistic B-movie.« But there’s a reminder here not to lose the thread entirely, that these things, too, will pass.

»The river here in Munich I often go to has been there forever and will be there long after us,« Acher reflects, pinpointing an important source of succour for him, »always the same but always changing. Very calming, but also always reminding me that like this river time only flows into one direction and you can’t go back. Every moment is very precious.«

Artwork by Marie Vermont

The Notwist:
Markus Acher: vocals, guitar
Micha Acher: bass, sousaphone, euphonium, trumpet
Cico Beck: electronics, keyboards, guitar, recorder, percussion
Theresa Loibl: bassclarinet, clarinet, piano, harmonium, organ
Max Punktezahl: guitar
Karl Ivar Refseth: marimbaphone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, congas, percussion
Andi Haberl: drums, dulcimer
+
Enid Valu: vocals on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11
Haruka Yoshizawa: taishōgoto on 6, harmonium on 9, 10, 11
Tianping Christoph Xiao: clarinet on 4, 10, 11
Mathias Götz: trombone on 4, 10, 11

Rotating Irish/international collective United Bible Studies (UBS) releases its 28th album, Strange is the Coastline, this Autumn (CD on Talking Elephant Records / LP on Hobby- Horse).
The album is preceded by the single ‘In The Arms of Lewes’ which was available on all digital platforms from 14th August.
'Strange Is The Coastline' is a collection of original folk-rock songs written by current core members David Colohan (co-founder of UBS) and Alison O’Donnell (Mellow Candle) in the company of multi-instrumentalist Steven Collins (The Owl Service). Melding and meshing classic folk, contemporary pop, and passionate tune-smithery in an inspiringly complementary way; disparate, yet delightfully cohesive, with themes of Albion myth and legend to Victorian-era murder ballads via tales of chilling contemporary stalkerss, and climate chaos.
United Bible Studies was formed in 2001 and over the last couple of decades has been home to a head-spinning array of performers in an ever-evolving merry-go-round of studio and live personnel. Drawing on the broadest community of musicians, the band have created an impressive catalogue of 28 albums of studio and live recordings.
Standard weight black vinyl LP in picture sleeve with lyric booklet. 300 copies for the World.

“...teems with bushy-tailed folk-rock about Albion and Ireland, as well as brutal, bracing songs about singer Alison O’Donnell’s experiences with a former stalker, such as the startling You Often Hid”. (THE GUARDIAN)

Limited Green LP is for Indies only. all LPs include a DL card. Island Family is the fifth album from Isle-of-Eigg dwelling electro-acoustic psych-pop wonder Pictish Trail, AKA Johnny Lynch. A strange, unpredictable, sardonic and yet deeply personal record inspired by all from Fever Ray to The Flaming Lips, Liars, Mercury Rev and Beck, Island Family is Pictish Trail's contrarian view of arcadia; a search for the euphoric in the bucolic, bound up in sometimes conflicting ideas and feelings around nature and environment, sincerity and artifice, escapism and belonging. It's an album about how no man can remain an island, however hard he might try. Released by Fire Records, with support from Johnny's own label Lost Map, and produced by long-term collaborator Rob Jones (The Voluntary Butler Scheme, The Gene Dudley Group), 'Island Family' opens with its title track, a song of death, ghosts and the ties that bind, fusing abrasive electronic beats with a tongue-in-cheek fireside folk refrain and the haunted ice cream van melody of a digitally reincarnated traditional Scottish jig. A purgative surrender to nature's whim driven by a clattering machine drumbeat rolled in a puddle of filthy dirty fuzz, 'Natural Successor' is five-and-a-half-minutes of cathartic churning bass. 'In The Land of The Dead' is an eight-bit glitch-core reflection on island party excesses spasming into existential dread and regret, suitably accompanied by a funereal mariachi band. It's followed by the epic 'It Came Back', the understated verses and arms-aloft falsetto chorus of which are accompanied by a tense, foreboding bass-driven electro hip hop instrumental with (spoiler) a brain-shattering industrial-metal meltdown. 'Melody Something' is the album's purest moment, a cautiously uplifting solar-powered-ballad about losing track of time in the cycle of the seasons, and the gap between memory and reality. Shapeshifting closer 'Remote Control' is a channel hopping cabin-fever-dream flipping from warped boyband ballad to deep-fried fuzz pop. "One of my favourite artists" Lauren Laverne, BBC 6 Music

Hardcore thrash punks VITAMIN X return with a new album in 2026 via Svart Records Amsterdam’s hardcore legends Vitamin X are back with their seventh album Ride The Apocalypse, the band’s most intense and ambitious album to date — released by Svart Records in March 2026. Mastered by Joel Grind (Toxic Holocaust, Municipal Waste) and featuring apocalyptic artwork by Andrei Bouzikov (Municipal Waste), the record delivers 16 tracks of pure mayhem: faster, harder, and heavier than anything the band has done before. Everyone who’s heard the early mixes agree — this is the strongest Vitamin X album yet. For over two decades, Vitamin X has been one of the most explosive and influential forces in crossover hardcore punk. Emerging alongside the early wave of modern crossover and thrash-revival bands like Municipal Waste and Wolfbrigade, Vitamin X carved out a sound that is unmistakably their own: ultra-fast, razor-tight, socio-political, fun, and always completely unhinged. They’ve released albums on iconic labels such as Southern Lord, Havoc, and Tankcrimes, and worked with legends like Steve Albini, John Baizley (Baroness) and J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.). Their video About to Crack reached millions of views. The band has played over a thousand shows worldwide and appeared at festivals such as Hellfest, Maryland Deathfest, EXIT, and Obscene Extreme. With Ride The Apocalypse arriving in March 2026, Vitamin X enters a new chapter — sharper, faster, and more devastating than ever.

Hardcore thrash punks VITAMIN X return with a new album in 2026 via Svart Records Amsterdam’s hardcore legends Vitamin X are back with their seventh album Ride The Apocalypse, the band’s most intense and ambitious album to date — released by Svart Records in March 2026. Mastered by Joel Grind (Toxic Holocaust, Municipal Waste) and featuring apocalyptic artwork by Andrei Bouzikov (Municipal Waste), the record delivers 16 tracks of pure mayhem: faster, harder, and heavier than anything the band has done before. Everyone who’s heard the early mixes agree — this is the strongest Vitamin X album yet. For over two decades, Vitamin X has been one of the most explosive and influential forces in crossover hardcore punk. Emerging alongside the early wave of modern crossover and thrash-revival bands like Municipal Waste and Wolfbrigade, Vitamin X carved out a sound that is unmistakably their own: ultra-fast, razor-tight, socio-political, fun, and always completely unhinged. They’ve released albums on iconic labels such as Southern Lord, Havoc, and Tankcrimes, and worked with legends like Steve Albini, John Baizley (Baroness) and J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.). Their video About to Crack reached millions of views. The band has played over a thousand shows worldwide and appeared at festivals such as Hellfest, Maryland Deathfest, EXIT, and Obscene Extreme. With Ride The Apocalypse arriving in March 2026, Vitamin X enters a new chapter — sharper, faster, and more devastating than ever.

A collection of previously unreleased material (between '75 & '90) by Enno Velthuys.
Compiled by Hessel Veldman.

"Hello boys and girls, my name is Enno Velthuys and I am the idiot of the group (and also the
most intelligent, the most sensitive, the most artistic and he who has to carry the heaviest
load, because this boy's luggage, DAMN, it's pretty heavy).
Luckily, I had already been through a lot when I got this ‘knock in the head’. Sex, drugs, lots
of rock and roll and a sunny childhood with beautiful views I look back on with nostalgia.
Later on I lost my focus and I only thought about one thing: how to get out of it (that damn
problem, my shifted reality, my blind spot, that piece of poisoned apple of forbidden
knowledge choking my throat)!

But I can't think my way out of it, psychiatrists are just ordinary people, and very heavy pills
suppress everything (I'll just take my pills) FLASH!

You ask me what it takes to create music or art that is meaningful and tells a story. It’s hard
when you haven't had enough setbacks, nothing more than maybe a little blues. I'm not
saying it was the right path, but at least I've come a long way. And now I'm a fish in a pool.
Please understand that this is very disturbing. It's not my waterway. A fish belongs in a river.
And my star sign is fish. >))D

See you soon, EnnO"

Der US-amerikanische Musiker Anjimile Chithambo (ann-JIM-uh-lee) hat sich in den vergangenen Jahren als eigenständige Stimme etabliert. In der Indie-Szene Bostons bekannt geworden, entwickelte er einen persönlichen, ehrlichen Stil, der Spiritualität, Identität und Nähe miteinander verbindet. Mit dem gefeierten Album "Giver Taker" (2020) setzte sich Anjimile mit Zugehörigkeit und Selbstverständnis auseinander. "The King" (2023), sein erstes Album auf 4AD, thematisierte Selbstbestimmung und seine Erfahrungen als schwarze Trans-Person in einer Zeit tiefgreifender persönlicher und gesellschaftlicher Veränderungen. Diese Themen führt Anjimile auf seinem neuen Album "You"re Free to Go" weiter. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Frage, was geschieht, wenn man Kontrolle loslässt und neue Formen von Bindung und Freiheit zulässt. Das Album verarbeitet Trennungen, neue Beziehungen, Verluste und Neuanfänge und beschreibt einen Weg zurück zu Vertrauen ins eigene Leben. Der Titel spiegelt eine offenere Sicht auf Beziehungen wider, geprägt durch Erfahrungen mit non-monogamen Modellen. Produziert von Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee) und unterstützt von Gästen wie Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), entfaltet sich "You"re Free to Go" organisch und intim. Musikalisch verbindet Anjimile Folk mit Alternative-Pop-Einflüssen der späten 1990er-Jahre. Auch stimmlich zeigt er sich weiterentwickelt - eine bewusste Veränderung, die der emotionalen Tiefe des Albums zusätzliche Kraft verleiht.

Celebrating the first year of ‘NOW That’s What I Call Music’ – 1983. ‘Now Yearbook’ presents a stellar selection of 1983’s biggest and best hits… 80 huge chart hits from the year, alongside enduring and well-loved classics on 4 CDs. 1983 saw British artists achieving unprecedented success across the world with ‘Every Breath You Take’ from The Police being the year’s biggest seller in the U.S., and ‘Karma Chameleon’ from Culture Club being the top seller in the U.K. Breakthrough acts, achieving their first big hits – all here – include a staggering line-up of future superstars: U2, Eurythmics, Wham!, Paul Young, The Style Council, Marillion and Thompson Twins, to name a few..' Released on a LTD 4CD SET: This will be a limited run of 5000 4CD units housed in ‘hard-back book’ packaging and featuring a 28-page booklet that includes an overview of the chart music of 1983, a track by track guide including chart stats and fun facts, a selection of original picture sleeves and a quiz. 2CD Standard set and also a limited edition of 3000 units, pressed on 3LP translucent red vinyl...

Critically acclaimed Death Metal force TEMPLE OF VOID return with their new album, The Crawl. The caveman brawn of previous albums, namely Summoning the Slayer (2022), remains, but there’s a wider dynamic on the group’s fifth full-length album at play. Now a quartet—featuring guitarist Alex Awn, drummer Jason Pearce, vocalist/guitarist Mike Erdody, and bassist Justin Malek—the Michiganders aren’t shying away from their non-metal influences, seeking greater integration of grunge and post-punk with their brutish signature. Singles “The Crawl” and “Soulburn” demonstrate the proficiency of TEMPLE OF VOID's death-cloaked, spearheaded attack. From the high intensity of opener “Poison Icon” to the granite wall of “The Twin Stranger,” The Crawl isn’t just TEMPLE OF VOID evolved, it’s a harbinger of death metal to come. “The biggest shift for me on this record was not feeling like we had to fly the ‘death-doom banner’ as part of our identity,” says Alex Awn. “Death-doom, as a genre, gave us something to anchor our sound around when we started. It was always a reference and touchstone. At the same time, we always wanted to make sure we had our own spin on it. We’ve always been adding to the conversation, adding to the genre, giving our point of view. A huge part of what makes a Temple of Void record is the non-death-doom influences that make up our DNA. And on album five we never once asked ourselves, ‘Do we have enough death metal? Do we have enough doom metal?’ We simply wrote a heavy-ass record—let the chips fall where they may.” For lyrics, Erdody built on the psychology and fear themes of Summoning the Slayer. The overarching theme of The Crawl is, put rather simply, an “allegory about life, choices, and consequences.” It’s a qualitative view on the horrors of the human condition and the contemplation of our monstrous capabilities. “The Twin Stranger,” for example, is about being stalked by a person’s doppelganger; “Godless Cynic” draws on a short story by sci-fi author Harlan Ellison; and “Poison Icon” tackles the crushing effects of mankind’s intrinsic nature to deceive and control.

After traveling through Mexico, Miami, the Bahamas, and New Orleans, Nishioka recorded his fourth album South American Journey in Los Angeles,
released in 1979. From this album, two of his most celebrated tracks—“GYPSY SONG”, a fan favorite with numerous cover versions, and “NEVER LAND”,
featuring the distinctive sound of steel pans and a Japanese reggae vibe are now being pressed on 7-inch vinyl for the first time in a limited edition!

The recording features members of the So What Review band, including Junshi Yamagishi (guitar) and Osamu Ishida (guitar), along with renowned steel pan
player Robert Greenidge, known for collaborations with Van Dyke Parks and Taj Mahal.
(FLATT THE LAIDBACK)

Kyozo Nishioka Profile
(Born May 7, 1948 – Died April 3, 1999)
Singer songwriter from the Shima Peninsula in Mie Prefecture, affectionately nicknamed “Zo-san”.
After enrolling at Kinki University and moving to Osaka, Nishioka became a regular at the folk cafe Dylan in Namba, opened in August 1969 by Masaji Otsuka
and Yoko Ishimura. Dylan was a gathering spot for folk music enthusiasts from all over Japan.
Nishioka formed the folk group The Dylan with Masaji Otsuka and You Nagai, performing at folk camps and the Nakatsugawa Folk Jamboree. In 1971, Nishioka
left the group, and Otsuka and Nagai continued as The Dylan II. Nishioka wrote and composed the song “Puka Puka” under the pen name Zokyozo, which became
one of his signature works. The song was first released in July 1971 as the B-side of The Dylan II’s single “Otoko rashii tte Wakarukai” on URC Records.
Nishioka began his solo career, releasing his debut album “Dylan nite” in July 1972, produced by Kinji Yoshino on Bellwood Records, which included his own
version of “Puka Puka”. In September 1973, he appeared at the farewell concert of Happy End titled CITY – LAST TIME AROUND at Bunkyo Public Hall in Tokyo.
His 1974 album “Machiyuki Murayuki” was produced by Haruomi Hosono, and his 1975 album “Rokka My Baby” featured support from Shigeru Suzuki’s band
HUCKLE BACK. Nishioka recorded three albums under Hosono’s production, deepening their friendship.
Together with his wife and lyricist KURO, Nishioka wrote songs for artists such as Eikichi Yazawa. The couple traveled the world, recording overseas albums such
as “Nanbei Ryoko” (1977), “Yoh-Sollo” (1979), and “New York to Jamaica” (1981), incorporating reggae, calypso, and other global sounds. In the 1980s, he released
works under the duo name KYOZO & BUN with Yoshifumi Okajima, and in the 1990s returned to solo projects with albums like “START” (1993) and “Farewell
Song” (1997).
After KURO’s passing in 1997, Nishioka continued his musical activities until his own death in 1999 at the age of 50. His music transcended the boundaries of folk,
blending jazz and tropical elements to create a unique world view, leaving an indelible mark on Japanese music history.

Repress !

Way back in 1981, two musicians got together to make a record. Mike Collins played guitar and had just bought a Roland CR78 - the first programmable drum machine. Keith O'Connell played Fender Rhodes piano and Prophet 5 synthesizer. Excited about the quirky and unusual instrumental track they'd composed, when the duo entered London's Utopia Studios to finish off their creation, neither could have predicted what was to follow... Now viewed by many as one of the most influential early electronic dance records, 'Rude Movements' was swiftly picked up on by David Mancuso, who used it to devastating effect at his infamous 'Loft Parties', in turn introducing it to Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles, David Morales and Kenny Dope, a group of young DJs who would go on to write the blueprint for dance music as we know it.

In the more than 35 years since its release, 'Rude Movements' has continued to inspire and excite, sampled by The Bucketheads' classic House track 'Whew!' (featured on recent BBE compilation '20 years of Henry Street Records') and listed by a veritable 'who's who' of dance music's elite as an all-time favourite. Rare and much sought-after on vinyl, BBE are happy to announce the release of a fully remastered version of 'Rude Movements' presented alongside the original demo version 'Raw Movements', plus three other versions of the iconic track. Also included on the vinyl package are the Afrika Bambaata inspired 'Street Beat' and 808/MiniMoog workout 'Palace Strut', as well as three other 80s SunPalace compositions. CD and digital versions expand the catalogue still further, with more experimental SunPalace magic. Timeless original, quirky and unique, these recordings are set to inspire yet another generation of DJs,
producers and music fans.

2026 Repress

The classic I-f tracks. Including Secret Desire, Playstation#2 and the new and never released ''You and yours-us and ours''...

West Mineral returns with lushly amorphous actions by Shiner, Pontiac Streator & Ben Bondy aka Shinetiac; together fused for an immersive flux of vapoured dub, chopped and droned Billie Eilish, and fidgety algorithmic jams.

There's not a single, specific sound you can peg to the West Mineral axis at this stage in the label’s evolution - it's rather a set of shared aesthetics that freely bend into various interconnected shapes. Shinetiac's contemptuous, critic-baiting gear is the ideal example; on their last album, 2023's 'Not All Who Wander Are Lost', skittery, ketamized IDM sparkled over Spice Girls samples and the Foo Fighters' 'Everlong' was transmuted into Sneaker Pimps-style trip-hop. 'Infiltrating Roku City' might be a little less blatant with its out-and-out poptimism, but it takes a similarly dim view of conservative "big ambient" snobbishness. Just a few minutes of 'Bluemosa' should be enough to let you know what's up; the overall character of the sound is hazed, with frozen pads and garbled, dubbed-out voices smudged into a mess of effects and samples. But it sups up different nuances as it wriggles, absorbing scampering breaks, dizzy acoustic guitar strums and half-heard wordless vocals, flipping in the third act to emerge from its shell as minimalist balearic folk-pop - something like Bon Iver doing 'Electric Counterpoint'.

Brooklyn's Shiner, Philly's Pontiac Streator and Berlin-based Ben Bondy navigate the labyrinthine streaming landscape, guided by their own private experiences of mindless doom-scrolling and cruising the darkest corners of YouTube. They formulated 'Infiltrating Roku City' while they were rehearsing last year and spent the winter stitching together various recordings and jams into a layered, dry-witted commentary on our algorithmic reality. Laden with inside jokes and refried memes, it's surprisingly elegant gear; handling the most unseemly elements like sonic recyclers, earnestly repurposing pop and nostalgia to create an atmospheric echo of contemporary reality.

Screwing Chief Keef's enduring 'Citgo', 'Clublyfe (hulu)' emphasises the original's AFX-pilled euphoria with Robert Miles-style piano hits, replacing Young Ravisu's brittle 128kbps trap rhythm with a glitchy rattle that picks up dembow spikes as it rolls. 'I Hate Being Sober' vaporises the Chicago drill pioneer's 'Hate Bein' Sober', blocking out his voice with glitchy, downsampled interference and elasticated Rhodes. The trio team up with Orange Milk's goo age on the sublime 'Crisis Angel', catching a ray of Malibu's sunshine in the process, and reduce Billie Eilish's voice to a Romance-does-Celine cinder on 'Billie', stretching it to fit next to gassed Future ad-libs and swooping 808 Mafia sub womps. And although the album takes a murky diversion on 'Roku Axes Ultra’, and a cloud-stepping centrepiece ‘Purelink’ in homage to the eponymous dubbed ambient dynamos, it's back on course with 'Jiafei (NETFLIX)', taking aim at TikTok bot videos and welding screams from Florida metal band Underoath to AI-strength vocal curlicues.

Nervous Gender’s legendary synthpunk LP Music From Hell burbles up from infernal depths to resurface on Dark Entries. Confrontational, unhinged, and unabashedly queer, Music from Hell is an unholy grail for fans of the strangest underbellies of post-punk, minimal synth, and early industrial music, and is presented here newly remastered and on expanded double LP.

Nervous Gender (de)formed in LA in 1978 at the hands of Phranc, Gerardo Velaquez, Edward Stapleton, and Michael Ochoa. Phranc, the androgynous embodiment of the band’s name, left in 1980. Following her departure, a wide cast of LA freaks would find themselves drawn into the band’s orbit, including Alice Bag of the Bags, Paul Roessler of the Screamers, the Germs’ Don Bolles, and an 8-year old drummer named Sven Pfeiffer. In 1980, Nervous Gender appeared on the seminal Live at Target compilation alongside Factrix, uns, and Flipper. With the band’s notoriety cemented, Music from Hell followed in 1981 on Subterranean Records (as no LA label would touch this material).

Side A, dubbed “Martyr Complex”, presents a more punk-forward sound with live drum salvos and slabs of aggressive synth. These twitchy, unsettling shockers ooze with the kind of snotty misanthropy that will endear them to fans of the Screamers or Crass.

Side B, known as “Beelzebub Youth”, is a live performance the band labeled "an electronic bruto-canto dissertation on the banality of spiritual transcendence." Mutant melodies cede way to synthesized clangs, whirs, bleeps, manipulated tapes, and howls of despair.

In addition to all the material from the original LP, we’re treated to a full disc of the band’s demos, the material from the Live at Target compilation, and early live recordings. Included are unrecognizable covers of Carly Simon and Lou Reed, and the Sex Pistols that are so despairingly skewed they fall into the void. This reissue of Music From Hell includes a 36 page lyric booklet, foldout poster, and gatefold sleeve with photos, flyers, and news-clippings designed by Eloise Leigh. Tackling taboo issues like sexual kinks, mental illness, drug use, and childhood molestation, Music From Hell is still surprising – even shocking - over 40 years after the album’s release. Nervous Gender stand as one of the most genuinely anti-establishment outfits in underground music, a colossal fuck you to social norms from religious strictures to gender essentialism.

Out on February 20th 2026. The album release will be preceded by the single " The Praise of Folly part 1". First 13 minutes of a long composition that will take up the entire side A of the album for a total of 21 minutes. Guitarist Alessandro Santori says about the album: " We are very excited to finally release these three songs that we have worked hard to arrange on over the past two years. Once again we invite the listener to join us on a journey beyond the constraints of song form and genre, and to dive into The Praise of Folly like reading a book where you never know what will happen when you turn the page... sometimes exactly what you expect, but very often... absolutely not.

From the production point of view we pushed even more on the live aspect and sounds of the single performance. We decided to not edit and comping between different takes of each song but to choose which one to use on the base of general feeling and then add some post arrangements to emphasize specific passages. We definitely did not want to create a perfect Frankenstein but to take the listener in the room with us during the performance, as in concert".

Out on February 20th 2026. The album release will be preceded by the single " The Praise of Folly part 1". First 13 minutes of a long composition that will take up the entire side A of the album for a total of 21 minutes. Guitarist Alessandro Santori says about the album: " We are very excited to finally release these three songs that we have worked hard to arrange on over the past two years. Once again we invite the listener to join us on a journey beyond the constraints of song form and genre, and to dive into The Praise of Folly like reading a book where you never know what will happen when you turn the page... sometimes exactly what you expect, but very often... absolutely not.

From the production point of view we pushed even more on the live aspect and sounds of the single performance. We decided to not edit and comping between different takes of each song but to choose which one to use on the base of general feeling and then add some post arrangements to emphasize specific passages. We definitely did not want to create a perfect Frankenstein but to take the listener in the room with us during the performance, as in concert".

"EYE OF MELIAN open the gates to a different world with their new album Forest Of Forgetting, out February 20th, 2026 via Napalm Records. Named after a powerful primordial singing spirit from the world of J. R. R. Tolkien, EYE OF MELIAN draws inspiration from the master of fantasy and expands on his ethereal concept. Created by Delain’s Martijn Westerholt and featuring Auri’s Johanna Kurkela as a lead vocalist, EYE OF MELIAN’s Forest Of Forgetting is a masterclass in symphonic songwriting so whimsical the real world fades away. Completing the all-star lineup on their debut with Napalm Records are orchestral arranger Mikko P. Mustonen and backing vocalist and lyricist Robin La Joy, blessing twelve lush compositions with immortal life. Mesmerizing from the first gentle notes of opening track “Of Willows And Shadows”, Forest Of Forgetting weaves otherworldly piano melodies and epic strings around angelic vocals worthy of the powerful Valar themselves. “Child Of Twilight” deepens EYE OF MELIAN’s dreamy and bombastic Hollywood movie score approach, carefully building up an exceptionally enchanting atmosphere that carries on into the equally cinematic “Blackthorn Winter”, ever so elegantly broadening the view into the alluring realms the band is melodizing. “Dawn Of Avatars” features Nightwish multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley on flute and uilleann pipes, as well as hurdy-gurdy fairy Patty Gurdy, before EYE OF MELIAN turns in the direction of heavy metal with a charming rendition of Bruce Dickinson’s anthem “Tears Of The Dragon” (originally released on Balls To Picasso in 1994 after the singer had left Iron Maiden). Forest Of Forgetting also comes with all its tracks as instrumental versions to dwell in the impressive orchestrals alone. With this opulent album, EYE OF MELIAN extends an invitation to faraway lands full of wonder. Forest Of Forgetting unfolds as quite the opposite of its title: utterly unforgettable."

For a few fleeting moments during a sunset, the sky is cast a vivid shade of amber. A dramatic flare of colour, a moment belonging to both the day and the night. It is within this vibrant, ephemeral world, that Mongolian-born, Munich-based Enji has written her new album Sonor.
Sonor is a reflection of Enji's personal evolution and the complex emotions that accompany living between two worlds. The album's themes revolve around the unplaceable feeling of being between cultures, not as a source of conflict, but as a space for growth and self-discovery. Enji explores how distance from her traditional Mongolian roots has shaped her identity, and how returning home brings a heightened awareness of these changes. Backed by a band of renowned jazz musicians (Elias Stemeseder on piano, Robert Landfermann on bass, Julian Sartorius on drums and co-composer Paul Brändle on guitar), Enji isn't just revisiting tradition, she's distilling the feeling of home, of small joys that reveal their significance only when viewed from afar.
Like a familiar song hummed by a parent, her music captures the essence of belonging, not tied to a single place, but to the emotions and memories that shape us.

Multiplatin-Superstar Hilary Duff kündigt ihr erstes Album seit mehr als zehn Jahren an. luck…or something erscheint am 20. Februar 2026 über Atlantic Records. HIER kann man das Album ab sofort vorbestellen/vorab speichern. „Oft werde ich gefragt, wie ich nach all den Jahren in dieser Branche noch mit einem halbwegs klarem Kopf durchs Leben gehe“, sagt Hilary. Es ist Glück – aber in dem ‚…or something‘ steckt auch eine Menge Gewicht. Vieles, was ich erlebt habe, steckt darin, und genau das hat mich zu der gemacht, die ich bin.“ Im Januar bringt Hilary ihr neues Album mit der „Small Rooms, Big Nerves“-Tour auf die Bühne – eine Serie intimer Konzerte, die innerhalb kürzester Zeit ausverkauft war. Die ersten Headliner-Shows seit über zehn Jahren starten am 19. Januar 2026 im historischen O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. Es folgen Toronto (HISTORY, 24. Januar), New York (Brooklyn Paramount, 27. Januar) und Los Angeles (The Wiltern, 29. Januar). Nachdem die Shows so schnell ausverkauft waren, bedankte sich Hilary bei ihren Fans mit einer persönlichen Instagram-Nachricht hier ansehen. Das sechste Studioalbum luck…or something enthält unter anderem die gefeierte Single „Mature“, die bereits überall verfügbar ist. Duff schrieb den Track zusammen mit ihrem Ehemann, dem Grammy-ausgezeichnten Songwriter und Produzenten Matthew Koma (Britney Spears, P!nk) sowie der Hitmakerin Madison Love (Halsey, Ava Max). Der sarkastische, autobiografisch gefärbte Track kombiniert Erinnerungen an romantische Missgeschicke in der Jugend mit einer schillernden Produktion – genau jene Mischung aus Witz und Verletzlichkeit, die Duff seit jeher auszeichnet. Nur eine Woche nach Veröffentlichung hatte „Mature“ bereits über 5 Millionen Streams, dazu kommen über 2,5 Millionen Views des Musikvideos bei YouTube. Hier kann man den Clip ansehen, bei dem Lauren Dunn (Olivia Rodrigo, Dove Cameron, Saweetie) Regie führte. Anfang der Woche veröffentlichte Hilary zudem ein „Behind the Scenes“-Video vom Dreh – hier ansehen.

Intricate structures with an intertwining of spontaneity and randomness, meeting the diverse genre influences of the band members from mediaeval music to shoegaze to noise. That is Unravel, the new album, and first in six years, from Czech band Manon Meurt.
"Unravel reflects the different stages of dissociation, a person's thoughts, observations - whether of the environment or of oneself - and admiration for the beauty and cruelty that nature mirrors," multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Kateřina Elznicová says of the album.
Produced by Eddie Stevens (Freakpower, Zero 7, Moloko, Roisin Murphy) the album was pieced together from recorded fragments, meticulously pieced together. The title Unravel refers to the development of the band, unravelling what they are to find the full potential of their music as well as uncovering the layered nature of the songs and emotions.
"Eddie Stevens’ approach to recording was a big surprise. We understood that there was no one right version of the songs. Each of our themes carries a certain energy that can manifest and blossom in many ways. Compared to previous records, the vision of each member was much more evident, while we learned not to cling to our individual ideas of a signifying break or a nu-metal bounce at the end of an ambient song. The main thing was a common concept," adds keyboardist David Tichý on creating the seven songs on the record.
Abum producer Eddie Stevens describes the collaboration, “Each album is an adventure. You do some preparation, check the route over and over, prepare for any eventuality that your packing space and imagination will allow, plan some places to stop and rest en route, places to eat, sleep, then consider the challenges - the ice wall, the summit, even just finding your way in foreign land. But despite all that planning, you can never really say for sure what’s going to happen, what unexpected path you might take, what strangers might invite you in for a cup of tea and to what ends. So it was making Unravel with Manon Meurt and engineer and studio owner Lukas Martinek at Svárov studios and of course back home in the relative safety of my studio. Musicians who quickly became friends showed me more than I showed them, people with ideas, with creativity seeping from their pores. Music making the right way: no blinkers, no walls, no preconceptions, no barriers, no rules. What a pleasure, and what a magical, technicoloured,
kaleidoscopic album we’ve made together, “
The combination of industrial material with plant motifs in the work Untitled_1 by Ukrainian artist Liza Libenko, which adorns the cover of Unravel, strongly attracted the band. After all, floral motifs have always been close to Manon Meurt's music. Libenko, a student of the Academy of Fine Arts and a finalist of the prestigious Austrian Strabag Artaward International Prize, has recently been working on overcoming the narrative boundaries of the canvas, the paintings "attack"the viewer. Sunflowers are a powerful symbol of life and the sun; in Libenko's paintings they are black and burnt, serving as an allegory for contemporary conditions. The work was photographed by photographer and artist Marcel Rozhoň, and the final processing of the Unravel album was done by graphic artist Zuzana Malá.

After appearances on Freakadelle’s ’44’ compilation series as well as on a Night Defined Recordings 12inch alongside Mesak, Even Tuell and Mary Yalex, Nurah presents his debut album, which will also be the last release of the Freakadelle imprint before entering new waters.

CTRL aims to point out that the world of perception is strongly guided by frequencies in music. CTRL combines modified sounds with minimal sonic structures and creates rhythms that transcend genres. From an artistic point of view, CTRL auditorily as well as visually hints at the versatility of earthly sensations.
Nurah explores electronic music in its many facets and places his ever-gro-wing, musical challenges at the forefront of his work.

Inspired by witnessing the broken tension and renewed possibilities of a laptop breaking down at a gig – not to mention the void left behind by the sudden end of a relationship – Pentu’s latest release is a jump-cut menagerie of musical moments. Sewn together into ‘And I Saw My Devil And I Saw My Deep Blue Sea’, these fifteen tracks continue the London-based producer’s active departure from the soundscapes and song structures that dominated their previous writing style. These disparate pieces slice themselves off into sudden silence, or veer into unpredictable sidebars, hopping from hyperactive instrumentals to beautifully deconstructed YouTube samples. Described by Pentu as “emotionally intuitive to write”, this is music by and for the endlessly scrolling modern mind – “navigating the world alongside the splintered, interruptive emotional hyper realities of social media.”

The sudden silences, drones, and interruptions are perhaps less surprising than the guitar-based textures of metal & shoegaze woven into several vital passages by Pentu. The result is a collage that encapsulates the erratic feeling, not only of a relationship’s end, but simply of navigating online mediascapes.”I found myself realising that my phone, the constant interrupter of nothingness and silence, was both a cause of depression (reliving memories, dating apps) and a relief from it (creating new friendships, distractions, also dating apps)”, says Pentu.

Pentu’s attempt to overcome content overload by actively curbing his setup of laptop-guitar--synth does little to reduce the scope of this album’s sonic palette. YouTube vlog samples (from videos with next-to-no views) are an attempt to recontextualise and dramatise material that “would have otherwise been throwaway moments lost in the internet”, adding staccato moments of reality to Pentu’s beautiful and jarring album-length paean to overstimulation.

Accepting the darkness can be a liberating experience. Realising, and struggling with just who we are and what world we live in requires it. By further complicating the fractured sense of beauty found on his droning 2022 release, ‘I dreamt we found a way’, Bristol-based composer, Rob Winstone creates a language that encapsulates the lifelong reach for our own personal heavens, along with the darkness and fear on which those foundations are built.

Winstone’s instrumental palette continues to reach out far from behind his keyboards, however the sound of ‘sifting through heaven’ is stripped back and pared down, putting melody front and centre. 'postcards and loose tea', a love song written for Winstone’s partner during a period coming to terms with health difficulties had previously self-released with heavy spectral and granular manipulation from the artist. Here Winstone re-presents the original: “the stripped back recording I made in my old damp and cold studio that was in a building that has since been demolished”. It reflects the composer’s own journey, doing away with veils and histrionics, and embracing emotional bliss wherever it can be found, warts and all. Even the rumbling dark ambience of ’hospital corridor’ - where distant chimings, groans, and droplets synthesized from field recordings made nervously in a hospital waiting for test results coalesce - harbours a sacred-seeming beauty and aseptic warmth within its very bleak sense of dread.

There’s no better way to describe Winstone’s method than ‘sifting through heaven’. The hymnal organ chords, sketched out acoustic guitar phrases, scattering drum thuds, and meditative field recordings may flit between tenebrous to incandescent, but his focus is always on the embrace of love; “a view of life that embraces positive growth, yet doesn't deny immense suffering,” as he puts it. The album is bookended by two of Winstone’s most outright peaceful moments, summarising his core message: 'in spite of it all...' '...love finds a way'.

»Ka ora te awa. Ka ora te iwi. The river is well, so the people are well«, says artist and writer Hana Pera Aoake. »In a Māori worldview, everything is connected and contains mauri, the life spark or essence inherent in all things, as they contain the residue of ancestors through whakapapa, or genealogy. Within Western environmental histories, there is a gap in knowledge around what we can learn through an act of listening.«

Hana Pera Aoake’s words resonated with Hinako Omori when they were invited by the Serpentine Gallery to write a piece of music for their »Serpentine Reader« publication on the theme of circulation. Aoake’s essay about listening to the river and other bodies of water parallels Omori’s own Japanese cultural view of water as a sacred source.

»studies on a river« places these two notions side by side, with Omori’s recordings of water sources and elegant 3/4 synth compositions matched to extracts from Aoake’s writing. The first side presents the music alone, while the second is where the project really clicks, with Aoake’s themes and Omori’s gentle, washing sounds completely in sync.

Mess Esque are a duo featuring music and instruments by Mick Turner
and words and voice by Helen Franzmann. Their self-titled album is a
beguiling travelogue of restless, somnambulant wanderings.
Perhaps best known as one of the Dirty Three, Mick’s been playing
guitar and making music with many collaborators for forty years. He’s
loved his paintings too but revered especially for his solo music - since
1997, Drag City have released four of his albums, plus an EP and an
album of the Tren Brothers (Mick with percussionist and fellow Dirty
Three-ite, Jim White) and two EPs featuring Mick as the Marquis de Tren
with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.
Mick’s last record was 2013’s ‘Don’t Tell the Driver’, a work that found
him departing from his traditional hermetic instrumental template by
employing a rhythm section and brass charts and even collaborating with
a vocalist. After all the purely instrumental music he’s made with Dirty
Three and solo, a singer is now part of the sound he’s hearing in his
head these days; while demoing new material, he realized that he was
again writing music that needed lyrics - and for that matter, someone
other than himself to sing them. But who? In 2019, he was introduced to
Helen through a mutual friend who’d produced her last album. Under the
name Mckisko, Helen has released three albums over the past 12 years,
working and touring with a range of Australian musicians along the way.
Her music has been described as numinous and transformative. Her
most recent album, ‘Southerly’, saw her moving into a more expansive
sound which led to an openness and excitement around further
collaboration.
Helen’s words are carefully observed, her phrasing responding intuitively
to Mick’s looping guitar figures with vocal repetitions of her own. Starting
with a feeling or a voicing, there are often no words - both players are
searching on their own paths. Then suddenly they have arrived and are
passing the emerging meaning back and forth, the rising intensity
forming a kind of undertow that pulls the listener deeper into their world.
Often, Helen would record her vocals in the middle of the night, seeking
that 2am flow, a moment of greatest isolation through which to trace her
melodie with fragility and strength. This crystallizes Mess Esque’s
intention: riding the sleepy drift through the blurred edges of the day…
time-traveling to that moment beyond stasis where sense and no sense
coincide and share space and time and energy. Viewing from afar the
immense peace of this planet when its ghost world of spirits below - the
madness of crowds, people sliding past each other faraway in the night -
are quieted at last.

Following the recent worldwide success of “Otsukare SUMMER,” the analog edition of HALCALI’s debut album “HALCALI BACON,” originally released in 2003,
is now set for release 22 years later. The name “HALCALI” comes from combining the two members’ names, “HALCA” and “YUCALI.”
The album was fully produced by O.T.F, the production team of RYO-Z and DJ FUMIYA from RIP SLYME.
“HALCALI BACON” includes a diverse lineup of tracks such as “Otsukare SUMMER,” produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka (FPM)—a song that has surpassed 4.5 billion
views on TikTok and is generating global buzz—and their debut track “Tandem.” After more than two decades, the HALCALI wave is once again ready to sweep
the world

With her highly anticipated CiCi (Deluxe) album, Grammy Award-winning icon Ciara steps fully into her power; reclaiming her narrative with clarity, confidence, and the most dynamic soundscape of her career. A celebration of freedom, femininity, and evolution, CiCi is more than a return — it’s a full-on reinvention.

The Deluxe Edition expands her sonic universe even further — introducing four new songs that fuse sensuality, rhythm, and empowerment with global influences—featuring standout singles like the globally acclaimed “Low” (with Diamond Platnumz), “Ecstasy” (featuring Normani & Teyana Taylor), “How We Roll” (with Chris Brown), amongst other hits, the project seamlessly blends Ciara’s R&B and pop legacy with futuristic production, cross-continental energy, and unfiltered storytelling. Among them, “Low” stands as a defining moment — an electrifying fusion of Afrobeats and R&B that bridges Atlanta and East Africa in one hypnotic groove. The visual, rich with dance-floor heat and unapologetic sensuality, showcases Ciara’s signature choreography and global reach, earning millions of views and sparking an international dance challenge.

For over two decades, Ciara has defined what it means to be a cultural force — from trendsetting choreography to genre-shaping hits. With CiCi (Deluxe), she bridges generations, reignites her core, and welcomes a new wave of fans into her world. It’s bold. It’s intimate. It’s CiCi. Behind the scenes, CiCi also marks a powerful chapter in Ciara’s entrepreneurial journey. Through her self-founded, female-led Beauty Marks Entertainment, Ciara has created a home for her music, media, film, fashion, tech, and philanthropic ventures. BME empowers her to own her narrative, lead with vision, and build legacy — on her terms.