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Those who already heard these tracks on a dancefloor know, they ain’t playin’around... Antraum is back -fifth installment-limited copies –you already know what to do !

Look At Us Now: the long-awaited debut album from Song Festival sensation Gustaph!

"I wanted to make a record that makes people feel good about themselves."

Good things come to those who wait: after more than 20 years as a musician, Gustaph is releasing his debut album, Look At Us Now. The title is a phrase from the song Because Of You, which won him seventh place at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023.

"Look At Us Now may be taken literally," Gustaph explains. "Look where we are now after 20 years of hardwork. And look where we are with the queer movement: as a queer artist, I can openly be myself and sing about the things that are important to me."

Gustaph's soulful voice takes us through various themes, from believing in yourself and fickle lovers to chosen family and loss.

Look At Us Now is a pop record infused with nineties house, dance and disco, but we also spot a ballad (Miss You The Most) and two Scandi-pop tracks: Like You, an ode to love and Darker Days, an epic track that will pull you through bleak periods with panache.

"I wanted to make a record that makes people feel good about themselves," Gustaph says. "One that they put on while getting ready to go out or just to start the day. A little pick-me-up that makes them think: Yes, now I can kick ass."

When you play the record for the first time, you'll already be able to sing along to a bunch of tracks: there's Because Of You of course, butalso more recent singles like Already Know, Faith In What You Feel and Calls Your Name.

The record was produced in London with Richard X, known for his work with Róisín Murphy, Alison Goldfrapp and Pet Shop Boys, among others. "That's very close to who I am as an artist, so that collaboration just made sense," Gustaph explains.

Look At Me Now sounds like a party where everyone is welcome. The club tour kicks off at Ancienne Belgique. Come celebrate!

13 years in the making, Mr Bongo proudly presents a new compilation of beloved Brazilian disco and boogie finds from the legendary London disco connoisseurs, Horse Meat Disco. A labour of love, it showcases a tantalising cross-section of disco, funk, boogie, samba and MPB, from past to present. Unearthing tracks from the seemingly endless gold mine of Brazilian gems, the compilation features legends such as Jorge Ben, Gretchen, Marcos Valle and Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti, alongside unsung heroes including Zé Carlos and Carlos Bivar.

Over 20 years ago, the Horse Meat Disco crew (James Hillard, Severino Panzetta, Jim Stanton and Luke Howard) began their weekly residency at Eagle London back in 2003. That same year, Luke made his first visit to Brazil, beginning a musical love affair that is still going strong.

“I had always wanted to go to Brazil since I was a kid, and when I finally had the opportunity to go with Princess Julia, I was just blown away. I’ve visited Rio every year since 2003, and in that time, I’ve learned Portuguese and tried to discover as much as I can about Brazilian music and popular culture. I learned to dance samba with the Paraiso School of Samba in London and paraded three times at Rio Carnival. Brazilian music was a brand-new world for me to explore and get excited about—a whole universe of genius musicians, singers, and styles.”

9 years later, Mr Bongo invited Luke down to their Brighton HQ for a listening session of some of his favourite Brazilian boogie and disco 7" finds. A compilation was green-lit, but multiple licensing delays and the release of other HMD compilations meant that it lay dormant for years.

Fast forward to 2024, and with the help of esteemed, Rio-based record collector Tee Cardaci, along with suggestions from HMD’s James Hillard, the dream of an HMD Brazilian compilation finally materialised. It’s a carefully curated collection that includes the electronic-boogie/italo-disco-esque 1984 groover 'Venha (Remix)' by the singer Źe Carlos, two cuts by Luiza Maura taken from her sought-after Deixa Girar 7", and Gretchen's sultry 'Ela Tem Raça, Charme, Talento E Gostosura' written by Jorge Ben.

At its core, this compilation captures the excitement and sense of discovery that won over Horse Meat Disco’s heart more than 20 years ago. A vibrant mix of feel-good flavours, it homes in on a sun-soaked strand of disco and boogie that has been enriched with the spirit of a nation where music serves as a central pillar of life.

Produced by Grammy Nominated producer Leon Michels (El Michels Affair, Clairo). Big Crown Records is proud to present Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek’s latest album Yarın Yoksa. The show stopping intensity of Derya backed by the psychedelic soul of Grup Şimşek with production by Leon Michels has yielded a stand out record that challenges genre with a broad appeal and a powerful message. They refer to themselves as “outernational” over international as they say it suggests a sound that’s more inclusive or “beyond borders.” Derya, who sings and plays the bağlama, is German born to Turkish parents. Drummer Helen Wells is Berlin-based by way of South Africa while keyboard player Graham Mushnik and guitar/bass player Antonin Voyant are both French. The collective influences they bring to Anatolian music make for a completely unique and fresh sound that both pushes the genre forward and champions its rich heritage. Yarın Yoksa which translates to If There Is No Tomorrow delves into deeply personal pain and collective resistance with a central thread of loss, longing, and hope for change running throughout. The lyrics are poetic and rely heavily on symbolic language, metaphors, and storytelling while the music shifts track to track making each tune stand out on its own but work together perfectly as an album. “Cool Hand”, the first single released on Big Crown in September of 2024, is a beautiful juxtaposition of intensity and light-heartedness over a thoroughly infectious groove. The message is poetic and complicated, repeatedly declaring “I love you, I’m crazy about you” but ultimately finding a sense of peace through accepting a broken heart. “Direne Direne” is a protest song that embodies the struggle and tireless pursuit of justice encouraging people to resist oppression. Derya’s lyrics soar over the psych-soul musical backdrop as her story of personal struggle transforms to a universal call for resilience and strength. The slow and weighty vibe of “Yakamoz” lets onto the meaning of the lyrics even to those who don’t understand Turkish. It is a deeply moving song that captures the profound emotions connected to displacement and loss without knowing if you will ever return. The steady groove of the band, along with the anguished vocals paint a vivid picture of the devastation experienced by the protagonist who ultimately realizes that her roots are within her and anywhere she goes is her home. Nine of the tunes on the album are original compositions but they also take on three Anatollian folk songs with their own inimitable approach. The acapella introduction of “Misket”, a folk song from Ankara/Türkiye, will stop you in your tracks. The tune deals with death and how the living cope and continue a relationship with those who have passed away. Another traditional tune from Sivas that they put their signature sound to is “Hop Bico”, a tune about a playful character named Bico who is a symbol of vitality and spirit. The synth intro grabs your ear from the first note and the earworm chorus encouraging Bico to lead the group in celebration and embrace life through dance has the same effect on everyone who hears it. The band has taken a big step forward that you can hear on this record. Derya’s passion and authenticity is front and centre and the music is too moving to deny. Yarın Yoksa is sure to captivate the hearts and minds of all those who hear it, and just wait till you hear them play it live… Upcoming Tour Dates (+More To Be Added): 18th March The Deaf Institute, Manchester / 19th The Jam Jar, Bristol / 20th Scala, London / 21st Norwich Arts Centre.

Produced by Grammy Nominated producer Leon Michels (El Michels Affair, Clairo). Big Crown Records is proud to present Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek’s latest album Yarın Yoksa. The show stopping intensity of Derya backed by the psychedelic soul of Grup Şimşek with production by Leon Michels has yielded a stand out record that challenges genre with a broad appeal and a powerful message. They refer to themselves as “outernational” over international as they say it suggests a sound that’s more inclusive or “beyond borders.” Derya, who sings and plays the bağlama, is German born to Turkish parents. Drummer Helen Wells is Berlin-based by way of South Africa while keyboard player Graham Mushnik and guitar/bass player Antonin Voyant are both French. The collective influences they bring to Anatolian music make for a completely unique and fresh sound that both pushes the genre forward and champions its rich heritage. Yarın Yoksa which translates to If There Is No Tomorrow delves into deeply personal pain and collective resistance with a central thread of loss, longing, and hope for change running throughout. The lyrics are poetic and rely heavily on symbolic language, metaphors, and storytelling while the music shifts track to track making each tune stand out on its own but work together perfectly as an album. “Cool Hand”, the first single released on Big Crown in September of 2024, is a beautiful juxtaposition of intensity and light-heartedness over a thoroughly infectious groove. The message is poetic and complicated, repeatedly declaring “I love you, I’m crazy about you” but ultimately finding a sense of peace through accepting a broken heart. “Direne Direne” is a protest song that embodies the struggle and tireless pursuit of justice encouraging people to resist oppression. Derya’s lyrics soar over the psych-soul musical backdrop as her story of personal struggle transforms to a universal call for resilience and strength. The slow and weighty vibe of “Yakamoz” lets onto the meaning of the lyrics even to those who don’t understand Turkish. It is a deeply moving song that captures the profound emotions connected to displacement and loss without knowing if you will ever return. The steady groove of the band, along with the anguished vocals paint a vivid picture of the devastation experienced by the protagonist who ultimately realizes that her roots are within her and anywhere she goes is her home. Nine of the tunes on the album are original compositions but they also take on three Anatollian folk songs with their own inimitable approach. The acapella introduction of “Misket”, a folk song from Ankara/Türkiye, will stop you in your tracks. The tune deals with death and how the living cope and continue a relationship with those who have passed away. Another traditional tune from Sivas that they put their signature sound to is “Hop Bico”, a tune about a playful character named Bico who is a symbol of vitality and spirit. The synth intro grabs your ear from the first note and the earworm chorus encouraging Bico to lead the group in celebration and embrace life through dance has the same effect on everyone who hears it. The band has taken a big step forward that you can hear on this record. Derya’s passion and authenticity is front and centre and the music is too moving to deny. Yarın Yoksa is sure to captivate the hearts and minds of all those who hear it, and just wait till you hear them play it live… Upcoming Tour Dates (+More To Be Added): 18th March The Deaf Institute, Manchester / 19th The Jam Jar, Bristol / 20th Scala, London / 21st Norwich Arts Centre.

TYRON is a tale of two halves exposing human complexity. Just as with the narrative of his own life, there are always two sides to every story. Side one re-introduces us to the classic hubris, machismo, and braggadocio typical of rap music. Side two takes what you thought you knew about slowthai and flips on its head. ‘feel away’ and ‘nhs’ go some way to dip a toe inside the complexities of his mind but delve deeper and you’ll be left with a clearer understanding of who he truly is. Honesty is paramount as ultimately Ty wants listeners to know that “it’s ok to be yourself”.

TYRON was formed against the backdrop of an unforgiving climate where judgement, shaming and underdeveloped and simplistic conceptions of other people are fashionable. Instead of succumbing to such simplicity, TYRON presents an artist who is unabashedly complicated and willing to explore themes of loneliness, identity, self-acceptance, and the difficulties in becoming an individual. Unlike the political overtone of slowthai’s debut album ‘Nothing Great About Britain’ which took listeners on a journey through slowthai’s turbulent upbringing and his stance on British life – this self-titled follow up, TYRON is a melodic dive through the expansive landscape of his feelings. His ability to bear his imperfections and contradictions makes TYRON an album that is the antithesis of a culture of purity. A resistance to the rising tide of moral one-upmanship and the pervasive self-righteousness that blinds us to our own fallibility.

Repress on Limited Crystal Clear Vinyl and Black Vinyl to coincide with new album ‘Daylight’ release

The album was recorded at the top of an East London tower block, mixed in a beach hut on Camber Sands and gilded by Bollywood strings is already setting its sights hide and wide, but when the sound and vision encompasses panoramic electronic soul laced with a viscerally personal reaction to the mad times we’re living through, we’re in the presence of something special

Our two British protagonists are Sean Dickson, a former indie star who reinvented himself as an electronic adventurist - musician, DJ, producer – whose last album Ft. featured a stellar line-up of guest vocalists, including Yoko Ono, Fred Schneider (B- 52’s), Alan Vega, Crystal Waters (fronting ‘Testify’, which topped the US Billboard dance chart) and David McAlmont - the last, a thrilling singing sensation with an illustrious history, from indie-soul pioneers Thieves and the legendary McAlmont & Butler to purer soul and jazz recordings and a striking collaboration with minimalist composer Michael Nyman.

Recut, the elusive DJ and producer whose roots trace back to Southern Italy but whose sound resonates globally, is back with a scorching new release titled "Narcotic Tango". This four-track EP, out on vinyl only, is a deep dive into the raw energy of Acid House and Chicago's underground, delivering an unforgettable experience for both DJs and dancefloors alike.

Opening with "Narcotic Tango", Recut lays down a track with intense rhythmic drive. The throbbing bassline and shimmering hi-hats combine with a tantalizing arpeggio that elevates the track to a hypnotic level. It’s a club banger with an irresistible groove, and once you’ve heard it, you won’t forget it. Next up, "Acid Street" transports listeners into a world of deep, dark synthetic atmospheres. The pounding drum machine and the rumbling analog bassline carry the track forward like an unstoppable force, while the overall vibe conjures a sense of gritty dancefloor energy that never lets up. "Jack On Acid" brings the heat with an unapologetically raw Chicago-inspired sound.

With a deep, looping acid groove and a steady, driving rhythm, it channels the essence of the Windy City’s storied dance music tradition, offering pure, unfiltered Acid House energy. Finally, "Feel The Heat" kicks things into overdrive with its infectious blend of New York house and Latin-infused vibes. This track is all about dancing until the break of dawn, breaking boundaries with its smooth yet aggressive energy and contagious rhythm. Recut’s unmistakable style shines through, blending the wild, experimental spirit of Acid House with the raw, soulful energy of Chicago House. Whether you're a vinyl collector, a club DJ, or simply a lover of pure dancefloor joy, this EP is an essential addition to your collection. A seasoned DJ and producer with a passion for underground sounds, Recut has been carving his name in the electronic music scene for years. With his eclectic mix of influences and cutting-edge production skills, he continues to push boundaries and captivate audiences worldwide.

QUEENDOM is an album that marks a new era for the project while staying true to the essence of Minuit Machine. Produced under the SYNTH RELIGION label, this opus immerses us in Amandine's introspective realm, oscillating between darkness and light, between doubt and self-conquest. While retaining the emotional DNA of previous productions, QUEENDOM stands out with a more pop-oriented touch, featuring tracks where Amandine sings in French for the first time.

The first single, "HOLD ME," is a powerful pop anthem addressed to the queer community, celebrating the freedom to be oneself and breaking free from societal and patriarchal norms. This track is a true empowerment statement, with striking electro beats supporting a strong message of emancipation and pride.

"Créatures," a collaboration between RAUMM and Minuit Machine, is a modern fairy tale—a timeless love story that could take place in any era. This salvific love, rarely seen today, embodies a poignant depth and beauty.

Continuing the journey, "Cent Fois"—a French-written track—takes us into a techno-pop universe with nostalgic yet hopeful undertones. This song perfectly reflects Minuit Machine's evolution toward a more radiant approach while staying faithful to its dark heritage.

"Party People," on the other hand, is a return to roots with dark wave/italo sounds. This hypnotic and haunting track questions identity in an increasingly robotic society, where individuals are forced to conform to imposed norms. This exploration of the individual versus the collective lies at the core of Minuit Machine's DNA.

"Mes Souvenirs," created in collaboration with Rebeka Warrior, dives intimately into the memories of Amandine and Rebeka. Together, they reveal fragments of their past—precious and vibrant memories that resonate through powerful and melancholic electro sounds.

Finally, the eponymous track "Queendom" invites us to plunge into the depths of Amandine's world—a universe that is both tormented and icy, yet resilient. Supported by a slow and captivating rhythm, this track is designed to grip and haunt the listener, like an incantation.

QUEENDOM is a bold and hybrid work where each track reflects a pursuit of sincerity and artistic reinvention while maintaining the ability to express emotions through rhythms that are both danceable and introspective. The album showcases Minuit Machine's artistic maturity, establishing itself as a must-listen in the darkwave and electronic pop scene.

Amandine entrusted the artistic direction of this album to Manon Dupeyrat, a brilliant young artist who crafted a bespoke universe perfectly aligned with the produced tracks. The album cover, both intimate and anachronistic, invites listeners into Amandine's private world through her bedroom, revealing what she wishes to share.

We are thrilled to announce another underground gem on our label. This time, it's Collage's incredible 4-track EP "Mit den Puppen tanzen" (Dancing With The Puppets). Originally released in 1984 on the small FMusic label, the 12" EP is a true highlight in German Electro and NDW history, becoming a sought-after item among collectors. It features intense lyrics by singer Katrin A. Kunze, with music composed by Markus Kammann and Jürgen Grah.

Kammann and Grah, both originally from Solingen - a small city near Wuppertal - had previously collaborated on the new wave project Schwarze Bewegung with a different singer. Their self-titled LP was released in 1982 on Bacillus/Bellaphon. During this period, the electro sound pioneered by Kraftwerk evolved into electro-funk, sparked by the release of Afrika Bambaataa's groundbreaking track "Planet Rock", which achieved global acclaim. The iconic Roland TR-808 drum machine, masterfully employed by Arthur Baker's production team, revolutionized dance music with further hits like "Looking for the Perfect Beat" and collaborations with Planet Patrol. Markus Kammann cites these tracks, along with black music as a whole, as key influences on his work. In contrast, much of the electronic music emerging from Germany at the time rather leaned towards the styles of artists like Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. Kammann's influences are evident in Collage's EP, which incorporates elements of early electronic hip-hop, such as the scratching sounds in the title track (created with tape rather than turntables) and short rap segments in "Niemals zurück".

By this time, Kammann and Grah had acquired their own Roland 808 as well as a JUNO-60 keyboard. Grah, originally a drummer, played keyboards and vibraphone, while Kammann, primarily a guitarist, also played bass. All the lyrics on the EP were written and performed by Kathrin A. Kunze, who hailed from Cuxhaven, a northern German city. She moved to Wuppertal around 1983 to study literature, and the group Collage was born.

Through Uwe Bauer, drummer of Fehlfarben, and their manager Horst Lüdge (of Profil), Collage connected with Werner Lambertz, a legendary sound technician from Düsseldorf. Lambertz's state-of-the-art studio featured custom-built sequencers capable of triggering the JUNO-60, as well as expensive equipment like a vocoder. Over the course of a week, the group completed all four tracks.

The EP's hard yet playful electro beats were complemented by Kunze's distinctive performance and introspective lyrics, which lent the songs a uniquely German and wavy touch. Her subtle songwriting conveyed a sense of paranoia and sorrow, as seen in lines like "Ich glaub mir selber nicht. Wer hält denn schon, was er verspricht?" ("I don't believe myself. Who stays true to their word, anyway?").

Unfortunately, the EP was never properly promoted and was distributed solely through the independent market via EFA. Despite this, Collage continued working on new material and pre-recorded an album that garnered label's attention. Polydor expressed interest but proposed using the compositions for a solo project with singer Inga Humpe (of Neonbabies), who was already signed to their roster. This would have required replacing Kunze as the vocalist, an idea the group firmly rejected. As a result, the album was never released. In 1987, Kammann, Grah, and Kunze launched another project called Cold End, which released another brilliant and highly sought-after 12" single, Metropolitan Jungle, originally issued on Tam Tam and recently re-released.

The first-ever reissue of "Mit den Puppen tanzen" is limited to only 400 copies - 200 on classic black vinyl and 200 on blue transparent vinyl. The cover art remains true to the original 12" release, designed by the aforementioned Uwe Bauer (aka Bimbo Art). This reissue is a must-have for DJs and collectors alike

Besançon, sometime before lockdown… Still in high school, Laszlo, Baptiste, Matthieu, Maël and Marius, driven by a common desire to make people dance till they sweat, formed Wet Enough!?, and began to make music together, driven by a burning passion for funk, electro, rap and disco.

Early 2023, they were contacted by Antoine Rajon from label KOMOS who was to go on to produce their debut EP “DASH”, released in January 2024. A series of gigs followed in Paris, London, Brussels and the Jazz à Vienne festival under the aegis of Astérios Spectacles. That same year, they were also selected to take part in the Inouïs talent showcase at the Printemps de Bourges, as representatives of the Bourgogne Franche-Comté region.

The “Burgundy Five” then studied at music schools in Brussels, Amsterdam and Lausanne, in institutions more open than their French counterparts when it comes to exploring the full gamut of musical styles; they also frequently met up for composition sessions and concerts.

In September 2024, they left for London to record their debut album, in the studio of producer and musician Malcolm Catto, as he was charmed by a live at ‘91 Living Room’ in Brick Lane. The Heliocentrics drummer and sonic wizard behind Yussef Kamal’s famous ‘Black Focus’, used his trademark analogue approach to help craft 10 powerful tracks, collectively composed and arranged by the group.

On this release, we detect the influence of American groups like Ghost-Note and Butcher Brown, but also an energy almost akin to punk rock. And especially, we can sense an enthusiastic appetite for defying genres, without a care for codes or the constraints of aesthetic purism.

Their starting point is new jazz, conjuring up current scenes in the UK and America (‘Green Tangerine’, ‘Emile Lédonien’, ‘Lullaby for a riot’), but they soon wander into the club with the unashamed housey inflections of ‘Dump’ (carried aloft by Galawesh Heril on vocals). When Marius, the trombonist grabs the mic, he displays mastery of chiselled flow and old school French hip-hop vibes (‘Lascars, San Pé’) as well as ultra-modern, alternative aesthetics (Les 2).

During the studio sessions in London, the band invited two British musicians to guest on the record - a junglist rapper from Manchester, OneDa, who illuinates up single ‘One Leg’ with the brightness of her rhymes; and a Londoner, saxophonist Camilla George who offers a vibrant solo, riding high over the amped-up groove of Funk4.

There’s no doubt they shall join the group for upcoming shows whose philosophy is also expressed in the album’s title :

DANCING PEOPLE DON’T DRY.

Francesco Sotgiu has forged a unique and very swinging project of songs. With a quintet consisting of Luigi Bonafede on piano, Emanuele Cisi and Riccardo Luppi on woodwinds, Salvatore Maiore on bass, Francesco on drums, and with special guest Paolo Fresu on trumpet to cap off this heartfelt collection. There is also a nice diversity of groups within this larger collection. A nice trio piece called “Calm” featuring Paolo Birro sitting in with Marco Micheli and Francesco. And one called “Lotus Blossom” where Francesco shows his considerable skills and soul on violin. But the bulk of the material is straight-ahead jazz and is totally swinging and soulful, proving that jazz has no borders and is a worldwide language to which Francesco has added to that tradition with this project and all the great voices he has included here. Bravo maestro.

This is the comment of Gil Goldstein, American accordion player who won 5 Grammys and collaborated with giants such as Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter, and Michel Petrucciani.

This record was recorded in the middle of the pandemic times, and most of the work for preparing this record took place via the telephone: the selection of the songs on paper, the exchange of ideas on arrangements, staff and instruments, a sort of “phone rehearsal” of the structure of the songs, with the choice of a solo; everything else, everything that will happen in the recording sessions, is the result of a controlled improvisation, a jam session masterfully captured in the studio through the use of well-positioned ribbon microphones.

This is why “Passing,” literally “passing” or “crossing”: because the musicians have gone through listening to these songs as teenagers, and find themselves today, as a mature meeting of old friends who create an informal game made of nostalgic fun, great personality, confrontation, and deep spirituality. In the classic “Caravan” by Ellington and Tizol or “Afro Blue” by Mongo Santamaria, Coltrane toning, the Latin accent of the rhythm section supports the interpretation of the theme and the interplay in the solos between the soprano and tenor saxophones by Cisi & Luppi, and the piano by Bonafede.

A certain elegance in the execution distinguishes pieces such as Duke Ellington’s “Sound of Love,” yet another tribute by Mingus to the Duke, with a calibrated solo on the double bass of Maiore and the flute by Luppi, the immortal “Take Five” by Paul Desmond, with the highlighted soprano by Cisi, “Wishes,” “7th Street,” and the eponymous “Passing,” all pieces composed by Sotgiu, characterized by the precise medium/fast drive of the drums and a certain “cinematic” taste of the main themes.

In songs such as “Black Bats and Poles,” composed by trumpeter Jack Walrath for the Mingus Orchestra, and in “Stranatole,” an original piece in which Sotgiu writes a theme of Monk’s influence and enjoys overturning the traditional “Anatole Jazz” structure, the quintet opts for an effective hard bop language, with exciting moments of dazzling virtuosity in Bonafede’s solo. While in Coltrane’s “Wise One” and McCoy Tyner’s “Ballad for Aisha,” we enter a modal, mystical, and ceremonial jazz, of a cosmic depth, which seems to hover in the sweet volume of the great hall of the recording studio. These are truly magnificent interpretations.

A special separate mention for two classics such as “My Foolish Heart” by Victor Young, performed in trio by Sotgiu, Maiore, and the unmistakable trumpet by Paolo Fresu, and the (unfortunately very short) “Lotus Blossom” by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, which in the piano-violin duo of Birro and Sotgiu, in a minute gives a suspended momentary magic, sums up the roots of African-American jazz music, and also referencing an old-fashioned Italian musical sensitivity, typical of Nino Rota’s music for Federico Fellini’s films.

Kneading dough is tricky – you should know how it’s supposed to feel. If you try too hard you could make it worse. It’s a beautiful practice – creation with a gentle touch, to work at something so it can be left alone. “If it’s too drawn out it’s awful. It’s easy to give too much.” Dance in the mirror. Contemplate your veiny hands. Who do they remind you of?

You begin by mixing flour and water. “What happens when your people die? Why’d they move the rock to the other side of Ulster Park?” Eliza Niemi asks two seemingly unrelated questions in a rising melody with guitar accompaniment, like fingers playing spider up to the nape of your neck. Gentle pressure. Strands of gluten form to bind the mix. A new question lingers in the binding. When she admits “but I don’t know how to tell if I’m feeling it or not,” that question surfaces through the text. It is reiterated throughout the album. When I’m working with dough I think the same thing to myself.

On Progress Bakery, her second album as a solo artist, Eliza knows to leave some questions alone – to let juxtaposition and tension be the proof. It doesn’t have to be hard. The feelings and revelations they provoke rise in the heat. The smell is sweet. Crispy on the outside and soft all the way through. She playfully slip-slides through words and sounds and images, delighting in surprise, skimming ideas like stones cast across clear water, touching down briefly with uncommon grace.

The question provoked between those opening lines resurfaces in the strands between songs – “Do U FM” is fully formed and beautifully layered, while “Novelist Sad Face” is a short, acapella rendering of gentle curiosity. What is holding these ideas together? Some songs demand more, seem to carry a whole load – eventually the skipping stone will halt to sink and resume its idle duty – while others drift in and out of focus, the way thoughts and dreams become interwoven before the mind is sunk into true sleep.

Music and words don’t always have to interact. Where she decides to keep them apart gives a new contour to where and how she puts them together. The kind of thing you’re supposed to take for granted with songs and their singers comes alive in Eliza’s hands – the little miracle of mixing, kneading, stretching, and stopping.

So often on Progress Bakery, Eliza teases out truth and meaning by asking questions. “Do I wanna be crying?” “Do you want me good or do you want me bad?” “Do I need an eye test?” “I’m writing songs in my head while you’re going over stuff with me — is that cruel??” In “Pocky” Eliza ends with a question that feels to me like the actual biography, succinct and revealing:

I don’t wanna be made to see
I just wanna ask “what’s that?”

Grace that ought to be rare, but in its care and precision is offered humbly, with great generosity, and without announcing itself. Eliza’s simple, miraculous music is given further form and shape by a group of collaborators – invaluable guest musicians Jeremy Ray, Evan Cartwright, Steven McPhail, Kenny Boothby, Ed Squires, Carolina Chauffe, Dorothea Paas, Louie Short, and Avalon Tassonyi. Together with Louie Short, who recorded, mixed, and produced the album along with Jeremy Ray and Lukas Cheung, Eliza has cultivated a richness in sound and texture that prods and provokes the ticklish ear. Barely audible guitar tinkering, a brief lo-fi field recording of trumpets, the harmonic clicking of a looped synthesizer, a flourish of reeds, a child’s conversation, each uncanny sound perfectly placed, rippling out under a soft breeze.

Lay in bed alone at night and ask aloud to the stillness,

“What were you doing at the Albuquerque Airport?
What were you doing there??”

And hear your question answered by a dream of swelling, undulating cellos. Try to grasp at the melody and structure. It’s not an answer (if there could be one), but it moves deeper, closer to the weird layer of fleeting moments and disconnected images, barely perceptible at its core. Wait for the dream reel to click into place.

Eliza took me for a ride in Nicole (her beloved Dodge Grand Caravan) and told me she’d been thinking of the album as an embodiment of transition – and I think every transition, known or unknown, carries the weight of new meaning, skittering off the surface tension of life as you know it, creating ripples, sometimes bouncing off and sometimes breaking through. There is a trick you can use to tell if a dough is glutinous enough. You’re supposed to stretch it out as thin as you can without breaking it and hold it up to the light. If you can see through, even if it renders the world murky and uncertain, you should leave it alone. I love this trick. It’s one that Eliza seems to know intuitively: work gently and ask questions and don’t always expect answers, and when you can, take a glimpse at something new, and then leave.

Cross Record's new album, Crush Me, is steeped in the pressures and wonders of existence—a profound statement, especially coming from artist and death doula Emily Cross. A two-and-a-half-year gestation period offered challenges, disappointments, and joys reflected in the cramped space of the album, which explores how we handle the weights we carry. Emily Cross had held hundreds of Living Funerals and was as many episodes deep into her podcast, What I’m Looking At. She was five years into serving clients as a death doula and fresh off a tour with Loma, her band with Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) and Dan Duszynski, when she began work on her fourth album. After moving from Austin, TX to Dorset, UK, she established the Steady Waves Center for Contemplation (named after a track from her second record, Wabi-Sabi ), where she hosted Living Funerals, met clients, scheduled mindful tea sessions, and showcased experimental music nights. All the while, she was scribbling down song ideas. Cross’s Tascam four-track demos finally reached readiness, and she sent them to an interested major independent label. She was encouraged to push her imagination to the limits of what a record could be. So, unlike her usual process of recording as inexpensively as possible, she prepared a two-week recording session in Germany with a group of skilled musicians from around the world. True to her previous work, Cross left plenty of room in her demos for experimentation, collaboration, chance, improvisation, and complete obliteration, then resurrection when necessary. Comfort and traditional structure were eschewed in favor of unaccountable magic, prayers whispered into The Void. Cross is comfortable with the chaotic and unpredictable, a perspective demanded by her work and writing style. The Berlin Airbnb was packed with people, instruments and luggage. During a ride down in a tiny elevator to the studio, Cross realized how central the sense of being crushed was to the album. “I thought of it later and it dawned on me that ‘Crush Me’ perfectly embodied the record,” says Cross. Yes, the weight of a body laying limply atop yours, or the tight squeeze of a hug, can be pleasant. Go too far, and you’re in the hands of a cruel, adolescent god. Upon leaving Germany, the record was unfinished, and without a roadmap. As passages were recorded as isolated parts, Cross and musician Marcin Sulewski collaborated, facing a haphazard brick pile, waiting to be assembled. Work dipped in and out of view like a buoy bobbing in a violent sea over many months. During that time, the aforementioned interested label went radio silent, suddenly not seeming so sure of a thing. Collaborators disappeared, continuing the themes of abandonment, surrender, and disarray that followed the project. Cross physically felt her entire body go numb: In a twist of fate, the record was rescued by long-time friend and supporter Ben Goldberg at Ba Da Bing Records who was eager to help realize the project. Cross worked for months on the album, all the while nursing a pregnancy and continuing her full-time funeral work. The last minute participation of Seth Manchester of Machines with Magnets, who mixed and mastered, was an essential liferaft. He gave true final form to the abstracted songs. Crush Me has the effect of a spell being cast, with songs balancing heaviness and levity. Vocals, guitars, and keyboards float above, as drums and upright bass (often bowed) lurch beneath. On “Rolling Backwards” percussion wanders about while feedback squeals and persists in the distance. “Dorset Area Of Natural Beauty” starts with a thick, unhinged church organ progression punctuated by the disquieting sounds of laughter reaching the point of hysteria. “God Fax” is a slow-moving panic attack, with shallow breaths in and out framing a guttural cacophony like a wooden freighter encountering increasingly turbulent waters and vocals struck emotionless by autotune. The album ends with “Twisted Up Fence,” a reflection on life from outside the wall--wistful, warm, and comforting. Cross, likely with a smile on her face, sings: “You say it’s an endless abyss” “And I say the abyss is the best”

Repressed for the first time in 2 years, Note price change. Sermonizing Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and the benefits of a healthy and just lifestyle during the height of the Bad Boy/Roc-AFella era of nihilistic excess in the late 90's, Dead Prez also signed to a major label (Loud/Columbia) despite leaning much more towards the burgeoning indie aesthetics of the day. But this was a good thing – using major label muscle to wake up righteous hip-hop fans who might have fallen asleep at the wheel. The group itself – consisting of MCs stic.man and M-1, who produced or co-produced most of the duo’s music – was formed in Tallahassee, Florida in the early 1990's.

By later that decade, the duo had started making significant waves, having their music heard on the soundtracks to “Soul In The Hole” and “Slam,” as well as appearing on albums by Big Pun and The Beatnuts. By 1998, they released their first official single, the serious, stark “Police State,” on Loud, appropriately brought to the label by Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian. After building a solid rep over the next two years with fiery live performances, in 2000 they unleashed their debut album, Let’s Get Free.

The album was a welcome return to provocative and often radically political rhetoric that hearkened back to hip-hop forebears including The Coup, Public Enemy and KRS-One (as well as poetic descendants like the Last Poets and Watts Prophets). Let’s Get Free was critically acclaimed and benefited from multiple singles, including the infectious, thick analog drive of “Hip-Hop” “It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop,” with a remix co-produced by a young Kanye West; “Mind Sex” (with Abiodun Oyewole of the Last Poets); and the poignant “I’m An African.”

But the singles weren’t the only worthy songs, as just about every cut here has deeper meaning than most full albums by their early 2000's peers. Highlights: the thought-provoking, anti-drug album opener “Wolves”; “We Want Freedom” “They Schools” and “Propaganda” . All in all, this is one of the more underrated and possibly Top 5 fully-realized political hip-hop albums of all time.

Who is Beatrice? Who is Melissa? Could they be one and the same?

This is the question at the heart of Secret, the duo’s debut album—or at least, that’s what the music seems to suggest. If sound is an extension of ourselves, it can also become a character we shape. The main character of Secret isn’t visible to the human eye, and yet they give off an androgynous and timeless energy, rooted in multiple languages and spaces. As the album unfolds, we sense the fusion of two distinct energies combined into a single, composite being. This constantly shifting, blurred identity comes to life in the album’s profusion of genres: club music, ambient, chanson, trip-hop, UK garage, and tech house. The tracks stretch and contract, following the trajectory of a dual voice.

Behind Secret lies a mélange of perspectives. Beatrice M., a Franco-British artist at the head of the label Bait, curates an innovative blend of syncopated UK club styles (mostly dubstep) and trancy techno grooves. Melissa Weikart, a French-American songwriter trained in classical piano with a deep passion for jazz, makes intimate avant-pop songs that embody her unique, hybrid approach to music-making. The diverse musical collaborations in Secret reinforce a dynamic that is central to both of their artistic journeys from the start, and these collaborations melt seamlessly into the album’s overall aesthetic. Despite a confluence of influences, the implied development of this obscure, extraterrestrial main character grounds us in a refreshing coherence. Secret is rich in variety and style, but above all, it diffuses a calm and serene atmosphere. Even when the BPM speeds up, we are carried along, suspended in Beatrice Melissa’s uncanny world.

"Héctor Roberto Chavera (1908-1992) under his stage name Atahualpa Yupanqui is the most important Argentinian folk singer-songwriter. His father was a mestizo of Quechua and Basque ascendant who worked for the railroad company. The family moved to Tucumán, in the Argentinian northwest when he was nine years old. There Héctor adopted the stage name of Atahualpa Yupanqui in tribute to two legendary Incan kings. His quechua nickname can also be read as “he who came from afar to tell stories”.
In his youth, he travelede through the northwest of the country studying the indigenous cultures. He would get into politics joining the Argentinian Comunist Party and in 1931 took part in the failed Kennedy Brothers uprising against José Félix Uriburu coup d’êtat. when the uprising was defeated he had to seek refuge in Uruguay until 1934.
In his poems set to music, Yupanqui depicts scenes of his country¡s live and landscapes and has a very present commitment to the working class in a similar way to that of other famed singer-songrwriters, with the name of Woody Guthrie coming first to mind.
This compilation collects some of the best songs of his extensive discography in their original recordings. Many of them have been covered internationally by artists such as Daniel Viglietti, Mercedes Sosa, Facundo Cabral, Victor Jara, Los Albas, Marie Lafôret or Joan Manuel Serrat, among others."

On their latest album, XIXA leave the sunbaked desert behind, taking listeners on a journey through the underworld. Diving into the richness of folklore, Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan, who share XIXA’s songwriting, lead vocals and lead guitars, expand on their mystic, psychedelic rock, reaching more into their Latin influences to create a musical and lyrical narrative for XOLO, an album exploring both a mythic journey and what messages it might have for today. XOLO (in both band name and album title, the x is pronounced like ch) refers to the breed of Mexican hairless dog, Xoloitzcuintli. In Mayan and Aztec cultures, these dogs were held sacred and believed to have been guides through the underworld, Mictlán. The record loosely tells the story of a young girl, Arcoiris, who is guided through all nine levels of Mictlán by her sacred protector, El Xolo. The songs represent the various encounters El Xolo and Arcoiris experience while finding their way through a land of mystery and shadow. In a way, the idea of a Xolo-themed record pre-dates the band itself.

Who doesn’t remember their hit song Ann Wants To Dance ?

Soundtrack of the summer 2015 and which music video made by Soko got a few millions views. This cheerful and addictive tune laid the foundations for the four-handed songwriting style of Ulysse Cottin (brown hair) and Armand Penicaut (blond hair). Those two performers, who compose and sing effortlessly in English, posed with a cheerful attitude on the sleeve of their first album Green Juice (2016) recorded at the Cap Ferret and mixed by Ash Workman (Metronomy, Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains, Baxter Dury). Papooz have a talent for sway pop and irrefutable groove like very few of their compatriots, aside from Phoenix we cannot think of anyone else. Tropical pop here, wild bossa nova there, all of it deeply anchored in the American style of the Seventies, Ulysse and Armand are perfectly matched. Falsely dabbler and completely inspired, the duo fights the ambient gloom with their songs.

It's hard to imagine El León Pardo, a loyal advocate of some of the most advanced projects in which folklore is the road map and the destination itself, without his kuisi. It's hard to see him with his hands free. Always holding on to that ancestral instrument, that pre-Colombian flute that survived the conquest and has become a symbol of resistance, overcoming the ravages of time, the imposition of ideologies, dogmas and religions. Despite all that, the kuisi continues with its liberating sound, the power of its cry, its invitation to dance, its sound a cure and a blessing. That's why it leads the way in this Viaje Sideral ("Space Voyage"), an astral journey in which the kuisi is the vehicle and the life force of the rhythm. Viaje Sideral feels like floating eternally in the infinite cosmos. This second long player from El León Pardo is inspired by humanity's relationship with the stars, escaping to mythical planes and led into a trance by Caribbean percussions, analog synths, deep bass, electric guitars and the hypnotic vibrations of the kuisis and trumpets that complete the soundtrack of this voyage. Through these nine songs, El León Pardo continues to create a sound of his own, evolving in his intention to pay tribute to the psychedelia of the tropical world of the Caribbean in the 1970s and 80s, but this time also taking as reference artists like Terry Riley, Kraftwerk and Mad Professor, including the roots of ambient and electronic music with the characteristic sound of the kuisi, an encounter of dreamlike and astral sounds, with the music of the bandas pelayeras of the tropics and figures like Pedro Laza and Juan Lara. In this new universe the Cartagena trumpeter dialogs with the past, processing the ideas that have emerged over the years and morphed into his personal search that gives an identity to his ideas, nurtured by figures like producer Diego Gómez (Llorona Records, Discos Pacífico, Cerrero) who awoke his interest in electronic instruments, Edson Velandia and kuisi maestros like Juan Carlos Medrano and Fredy Arrieta. In his sound there is a particular feature, one that contains histories of personal experiences, accompanied by the kuisi, including ancient Zenú flutes dating from between 600 and 800 AD and which helped create the atmosphere of "Invocación." "Viaje Sideral," the song that gives the album its name, was born from a dream in which two stars speed towards the earth and an imminent collision. As the record continues, the stellar connection becomes clear with songs like "Urmah" with Edson Velandia, inspired by an article about extra-terrestrial races and how the Urmah were a race of hominid felines, the greatest geneticists of the universe; and "Cumbia espacial," featuring rapping from N. Hardem, seeking to create that aura of immensity and consciousness of the infinity of the universe.

BLACK/RED VINYL

A match made in heaven and hell, since forming in the cradle of Europe Athens, back in 2012, dark synth duo Selofan have paved their own perditious way, reinventing the modern Darkwave scene throughout the continent and worldwide with their prolific creativity and work ethic over the past decade. Through varied experimental synth-scapes conjured with keen ears for sound design, production, and theatrical aesthetics, Selofan rest not on the laurels of just creating highly danceable coldwave infused music, but with together with Joanna Pavlidou's haunting vocals, and Dimitris Pavlidis' throbbing bass guitar, and modular synth compositions, the pair conjure whole other worlds and narratives throughout each album and music video they create. Thus far the Selofan have released 5 studio albums, issued through their own legendary label they curate themselves: Fabrika Records. Through their Fabrika family, Selofan have championed such acts as Lebanon Hanover, and She Past Away, aiding these bands in becoming two of the most popular Darkwave acts worldwide. Drab Majesty even cameoed in a She Past Away video while being hosted by Selofan during one of the band's frequent stays in Athens, and Kaelan Mikla, a handpicked favorite of The Cure, were first championed by Selofan, through the release of the Icelandic Trio's self-titled debut in 2016. In the Spring of 2020, Selofan released the video for the hopelessly plaintive "There Must Be Somebody", the first single from their forthcoming sixth studio album Partners In Hell, the follow-up to 2018's widely popular Vitrioli LP. "There Must be Somebody" is a discordant composition, mimicking the startled song of birds after a disturbance in a wooded enclave on a mountainside, while a magick ritual unfolds. The album itself opens with "Grey Gardens", a menagerie of morose melodies setting a sombre tone for the rest of a bleak record whose sound design and dreamscapes evoke the best sounds of British and German post-punk of the 80s. "Almost Nothing" is a brooding bell-driven track with a dark and pirouetting melody that is the perfect soundtrack to a figurine twirling in a music box. The German language "Nichts" means No, and this song is both sinister and cinematic with sighing keys, shuddering drum machines, and German lyrics sung with sorrowful conviction. "Zusamen", is a word often asked if you are together, or separate, is a dark ballad whose shadowy keys weave a nightmarish delirium, evoking the soundscapes of a lullaby sung in a haunted dollhouse. "4am" is a restless rhythm, whose soft percussive melody tosses and turns alongside subtle bass and string accents overlaid with despondent vocals. "Happy Consumers" sounds like the swirling of a finger drawn upon the edge of crystalline glass, with vocals and drum machines coming emanating from an adjacent room with echoing acoustics, collectively evoking the sound like lingers when the somnambulist wakes from his dream. "Absolutely Absent" hums onward like a phantom train ride that is a one-way ticket to madness, and with the next track "Metalic Isolation" the locomotive beats gather more steam, propelled forward with anachronistic melody. The album closes with "Auf Dein Haut", which translates as on your skin, and the song is both tactile and tenebrous with sensuously dark synth textures amidst howling German vocals that take flight like witches during a sabbat. Partner's In Hell was mixed and produced by Serafim Tsotsonis, and mastered by Doruk Ozturkcan. Genre: Alternative / Post-Punk / Cold Wave

"Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee" said the famous boxer Mohammed Ali, in reference to his legendary strike. This punchline also works wonderfully in music, listening to Roseaux's third album. A French success story, created with all modesty and honesty by the Parisian trio: Emile Omar, Alex Finkin and Clément Petit.

The three musketeers of sound cultivate their know-how, now acclaimed by critics and an ever-growing audience since their first project in 2012. It took them time to take a step back and gain perspective in order to offer us a return that is both joyful and resounding.

Roseaux takes root on the banks of soul, folk, jazz, and songs from all eras, a cascade of inexhaustible sounds, where the three composers draw their inspiration and merge their experiences.

The leaves of Roseaux soar to the breath of wonderful voices, chosen with precision by the three friends, like that of the American singer Aloe Blacc, present since the beginning of the adventure, essential enchanter of the three episodes.

Conceived as a dreamlike escapade full of emotions, on the fringes of the massive, instantaneous and often disembodied production, Roseaux is a totally artisanal group, a sort of UFO in the French musical landscape, which operates on instinct and above all on desire.

Thus, Roseaux has become an expert in bringing together, for the duration of a record, the artists who specifically form the DNA of their host: captivating voices, a plot on the piano and cello, but also encounters and reunions, in a poetic and deliberately nebulous universe.

A welcoming nebula, where the listener is invited to listen and immerse themselves without hindrance, in a luxuriant, wild, exciting sound forest. This third album is the work of 3 music lovers, capable of switching roles: writing, arrangements, production, from which emerge this time, eleven tracks with chiseled melodies including three colorful and unusual instrumentals.

A journey between melancholy and euphoria, which led Roseaux to the ends of the planet, from the Caribbean to Europe via Africa to unearth other vibrations and unique performers: the captivating Grenadian-British singer Ala.ni, the little English afropop prince from Ghana, Ghetto Boy, and the disturbing Swedish Isabel Sörling, sign here a first flamboyant collaboration with the group.

While the talented Haitian-Canadian Mélissa Laveaux, the hypnotic Scandinavian singer Olle Nyman, the sparkling French-Canadian Anna Majidson and our remarkable national Ben, already present on the second part, still manage to create a surprise by revealing new aspects of their range.

Roseaux's voices are decidedly impenetrable and its magic is renewed today by making the strength of all these scintillating elements dialogue, to be discovered in a setting of softness and voluptuousness.

Nature is full of reeds, this one is unique.

Pharoahe Monch is one of the most revered and influential emcees in the history of hip-hop, and 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of his fourth studio album "PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder".

In PTSD, Pharoahe Monch continues the story he began telling in his previous LP, "W.A.R. (We Are Renegades)" from 2011. The Queens emcee narrates, in both literal and metaphoric ways, about the trials and tribulations of an independent artist who is at war with the music industry and the struggle of the black male experience in America.

In 2012, during an interview with Shawn Setaro, host of the podcast The Cipher, the rapper explained the connections between the two projects, beyond their titles. “The W.A.R. album was like, I’m going to battle against the machine, I’m doing this independently. I’m putting some things out that I learned and I’m going to expose about the music industry. PTSD is the result of me doing that, where I am emotionally now. It’s similar to how someone comes back from war and is stricken by re-adjusting to a regular situation.”

Monch told MTV Hive that PTSD is “more mental, emotional and personal” because it came out of the depths of a period of depression. He also gave the internal and external factors that helped him create the album. “I was working on the title track, which took me to a point in between Internal Affairs and Desire, where I was heavily depressed. Through the waiting period, the industry period, and going through a lot emotionally. Then there was the physical problem with asthma. It was the worst. So I started off with that title track and my manager was like, ‘Yo, let’s really dive into that state and how you got to where you are now, and how this follows what people go through to get back to a so-called ‘normal’ situation’.”

The concept album follows a veteran through combat experience, his return home, relationship dissolution, drug addiction, painful depression, and, finally, a triumphant but realistically rendered decision to keep living and struggling.

What lies on the terrain for which no map exists? Tifra has volunteered to take the plunge and find out. For the 28th record on Haŵs, the Dutch DJ/producer steps up to the frontline with ‘Terra Incognita’ - a primitive force to be reckoned with that reveres the hypnotising, ominous unknown. Four investigational tracks unify the checkpoints, wandering through themes of 00s/90s leftfield house, prog, and continuous, undulating grooves.

The EP sets sail with ‘Invoke Hysteria’, scavenging through malevolent, hostile waters and a caution of pad synths, drums and agitated melodies.

Relenting onwards, ‘Serpent’ slinks into a mellow respite, moving slowly and deliberately like a snake in the moonless dark. Deep, resonant synths coil around the percussive heartbeat of the track, weaving together velvet layers of bass, wind instruments and steady, surrendering exhalations of breath.

The titular ‘Terra Incognita’ hoists up the anchor and yields to the trance of the summoning liquid night. Repetitive melodies form the contours of its shifting course, moulding a ritualistic rhythm under the dissolving face of the sky.

Admo steps up to the wheel for the remix, smoking out the initial perfume of the atmospherics into a new, tough brutality. Hauling the track out of its initial spacey orbit, he re-embellishes it with dour synths, drums and a primal, subterranean growl.

Some say that there is no worse poverty than that of connection, so why not be the first to take the risk, break the divide and find out what lies beyond the veil? Otherwise, make your own guesses, and then let them guess who you are.

Orange Vinyl. Benefits return with the their highly anticipated second album, "Constant Noise" Due out 21st March via Invada Records,"Constant Noise" follows the band's debut album `NAILS' which earned widespread press and radio support and appeared in album of the year lists inc. Louder Than War (#1), BBC 6Music, NME, The Quietus,The Line Of Best Fit and more. After a succession of different line-ups, Benefits have now settled as a two-piece made up of Hall and electronic virtuoso Robbie Major. "We're still angry" says Hall, "just angry in a different way to before. If the previous record was black and white, we wanted this to be technicolour." The first taste of this new musical direction came in the form of "Land Of The Tyrants", which saw the band delving into bass-heavy, dance inflected rhythms and subtle industrial undercurrents. Follow-up single `Relentless' featured The Libertines' Peter Doherty and saw the band move further into ambient electronic atmospherics. Doherty is just one of the collaborators on the new record, Zera Tonin, the singer of queerpop-electro duo Arch Femmesis, Neil Cooper of Therapy?, and Middlesborough rapper Shakk all make cameos. In addition to the guest musicians, the album also features production from James Welsh (Phantasy Sound), and James Adrian Brown (ex-Pulled Apart By Horses)who helped to guide the new direction. The result is an album that gleans as much from the likes of Underworld and Leftfield as it does the likes of The Streets or Beastie Boys in their pomp, or even the 90s / early 00s Indie Sleaze-era. Orange vinyl comes with full album download (inc. two tracks not on vinyl)

Born from a childhood friendship, the five members of Ciao Kennedy have crafted their own sound and feeling after exploring a variety of different musical horizons. Following the release of EPs 'Keldercave' (2021) and 'the problem is' (2022), as well as being featured on the compilation Lefto presents Jazz Cats Vol. 3 in the spring of 2024, it was only a matter of time for the Brussels-based band to reappear on the music circuit.

As part of the Magma collective, alongside groups like TUKAN and ECHT!, they started to stand out with their instrumental music merging the playfulness of jazz,the repetitive facets of post-rock, and the overtly grand electronic sound evident in what is nowadays described through the grapevine as the 'Brussels sound'.

With Solarium, their debut album set to be released under the Sdban Ultra label, they have found a course and common denominator in guitars drenched with post-rock effects, steered by hypnotic electronic beats, creating an atmosphere of rare, dense melancholy, peppered with a sound that belongs in a blockbuster sci-fi movie.

Ciao Kennedy and its debut album are a tangy candy bursting in your mouth, the thrill of an afternoon at the fair, modernity meeting up with the nostalgia of childhood. Or standing beneath the shimmering neon lights of a rainy night, like colourful poetry, blending tenderness with electric intensity. Many of these musical descriptions would be completely off the mark, but after a few listens, they don't seem to miss the mark either. There's something for everyone to discover on this album, oscillating between the familiar and the unexpected, melancholy and cheer, and while everyone keeps on talking about something being a 'vibe', we can only conclude that Ciao Kennedy is the only one putting this into action.

To celebrate the release of Solarium, the band will host a release party at the Brussels venue Botanique on April 17, 2025. A must-attend event for everyone who wants to see if the live reputation which precedes Ciao Kennedy is actually true. Whatever happens, make sure to keep that date free.

Release show: 17/04 Botanique, Brussels.

2025 Repress

Veyl is proud to welcome back to the label one of the most essential and multidimensional producers today, Filmmaker. To date, the Colombian artist has delivered a plethora of revered releases from his breakout, The Love Market (2019), to his previous album on Veyl, Fictional Portrayals (2022). He consistently traverses genres from postpunk, EBM, synth wave and beyond to create a unique identity still firmly rooted in film culture. Now he returns with perhaps his most robust and powerful offering, Hollywood
Cult.

Comprised of 13 tracks, the album sees the producer elevate his sound to new levels, conjuring a world of haunting atmospheres and devious directions that take the listener through a journey of unparalleled proportions. Kicking off the album is the ritual-like
'Secrecy', which builds tension before exploding into a synth-driven race against time and introduces us to the world that lies ahead. 'Holy Wood' injects a heavy dose of body music for an infectious piece that bleeds perfectly in to the slow burning nostalgia of 'Generational Trauma'. Next, 'Western Malice' picks the pace back up with its evil energy that feels fit for the best horror scenes before 'Shocking Therapy' enters the picture with an exhilarating electro feel.


Now in the depths of the journey, 'Vessels Wine' continues the saga with a high intensity work that gives way to the stirring emotions of 'Peacekeeper Ripper' and the raw, blood lust of 'Criminal Rite'. Now entering the final phases, 'Spiritual Harvest' cleanses the palate before 'Elite Dungeons' comes crashing in with a lo-fi feel that puts you deep underground. 'Two Sets of Rules' charges back with twisted lines before 'No Fetish Without Evil' unveils post-punk strings that puts you in a trance before 'Hanging Finale' closes the release u ltimately fading out into the abyss. Repeat listens will be necessary and the whole album feels like a soundtrack to a dark new world that is perfectly fitting for any Hollywood Cult.

Love Of The Brave are a psyche folk group, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, at the time this album was recorded, back in 2010. The founder of the group Neil Innes still runs the recording studio, ATA Records, an extremely well maintained all analogue set up, used primarily to record jazz, funk and library music. The short-lived Love Of The Brave outfit was the first project recorded at the famed studio. It brought together some of the most versatile artists in the north, many of who still work on projects with ATA today, both these factors give this release a landmark aspect for the label. The "Love Of The Brave" consists of eight tracks and draws on inspiration from artists such as Pentangle, Rotary Connection, Richie Havens, the Kinks, David Bowie and Joni Mitchell. Vocalist Fuzzy Jones features on all tracks, as does Neil, in his case playing a variety of instruments. They are joined throughout the album by a variety of musicians, including jazz drummer Joost Hendrickx, Work Money...

Warm welcome to the label this time comes to the duo of producers from Netherlands called pH Project. The musical union formed by Pelle and Herra that are both have been doing what they do for many years and played alongside as well many admirable artists which you can find on the archives of the internet if the curiosity will get the best of you. The maestros of the project have provided us with 3 ready to tremor up the speakers cuts with their signature groove and knowledge that they have acquired in the trenches of rave during their activity on the scene. Finalising this 12” vinyl cut is Levat, the producer who doesn’t need introduction as his persona and non-stop dedication for music speaks for itself. Taking non-standard approach of taking stems from all the originals hence the name of the work is “Thritrakk”, combining the elements of all three tracks we have this dark electro monster audio gracing the B2 side. The work of a collaboration of styles and sonically dedicated minds have resulted into this EP “Obvitrip” coming to life for us to enjoy.

Sagacious reggae lyricist Vaughn Benjamin’s words are particularly cutting during Sow And The Reap, the final recording of Vaughns immense catalog of works with I Grade Records. Produced by Zion I Kings, and taken from 2021’s album Polarities, Sow And The Reap folds topics of political dominance, mass migration, and injustice into a thought provokingly coherent whole. The song brims with Vaughn’s characteristic dual-meaning word-play, using evocative metaphors of nature and agriculture to illuminate global policy. Sow And The Reap’s timeless lyrical principles are matched by its inexorable reggae rhythm, featuring hefty programmed drums by Romain “Teflon Zincfence” Arnett, and sombre trombone and space age synth, both supplied by much missed multi-instrumentalist Drew Keys. Backed by its correspondingly haunting dub.

This series honours both the vocal and version culture of the reggae sound system and the profound lyricism of Vaughn Benjamin. We have consistently received two requests in relation to releasing the LPs: "Can we have dub versions?" and "Where can we read the lyrics?" Our response is the 'Akae Beka - vocal, version and word-sound collection.' Before Zero Records worked with Tippy I Grade to mix a series of dub mixes from a carefully curated selection of his extensive works with Vaughn Benjamin. The vocal and corresponding dub mixes were then cut to wax by Lewis Hopkin of Star Delta and wrapped in a collage made of Ras Marcus's artworks, which he crafted for various LP covers of Vaughn's works throughout the years with the lyrics transcribed and printed on the rear of each sleeve.

Neon pink vinyl, limited to 500 copies. Who were the first punks? Do The Damned have more of a shout than The Sex Pistols? The Stooges or Ramones? Gregg Deal, the acclaimed visual and performance artist behind his new project Dead Pioneers, is making a claim that Indigenous Americans were the first real punks. Deal suggests that the overarching theme of the album is "an introduction to the band itself". Created with a DIY disposition and the "love of a scene that saves lives", they reel off a roll call of marginalised groups and protected characteristics: "Indigenous rights, Black rights, Brown rights, Asian rights, Gay rights, Trans rights, Workers rights and beyond_". This is central to their identity and focus, saying that "with a North American Indigenous person as the vocalist, being unapologetically upfront on the social, political and cultural side of things doesn't seem necessary, but paramount to the overall tone of the band." This self-titled debut, coming in at a lithe 22 minutes with only one of the twelve tracks exceeding three minutes, is almost over before it begins, but covers a huge amount of ground in that time. Blistering opener 'Tired' sets out their stall; as with the whole album, it is passionate, but never preaching. Capitalised 'Political Music' can be hard to land without coming across as hectoring or earnest, but Deal's literary, humorous lyrics effortlessly cut through complex issues of marginalisation and colonialism.

2025 marks 40 years since Ricky Ross met Dougie Vipond and they started to form Deacon Blue, the songs on "The Great Western Road" reflect the journey the band has taken and remain honest to the age and experience they all share. Ricky Ross: "It"s just the next part of the adventure and it"s as exciting now as it was back in 1988". The joyous lead single "Late "88" fondly remembers the care-free excitement of those early days. The "Great Western Road" was recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios, Ricky Ross and (Deacon Blue guitarist and long term collaborator) Gregor Philp return to production duties, having last produced the bands" Top 5 charting and their last full length album, 2020"s "City Of Love". This album was recorded by Matt Butler, who first worked with the band on their debut, "Raintown".

Yellowstone is an American neo-Western drama television series. The series stars Kevin Costner, Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly and follows the conflicts along the shared borders of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, a large cattle ranch, the Broken Rock Indian reservation, Yellowstone National Park, and land developers. The first part of the fifth and final season premiered on November 13, 2022, with the second part scheduled to premiere on November 10, 2024. Composer Brian Tyler, who once worked and performed in a Native American musical group, said he worked hard to blend his knowledge of traditional Native American music with the melting pot of western cultures in his score. “What I ended up doing was finding ways to incorporate some of the percussion, some of the woodwinds, some of the instrumentation and weave it into things like cellos, basses, cimbaloms and all these exotic instruments,” Tyler said. The package includes an insert.

From the deepest trenches of deadstock 45s and the unsung annals of soft rock infamy, we present SR4HT02: (Till You're) Back In My Arms.

Universal Cave and the Street Road Band cover Dan Strimer with Insured Sound's cult anthem (Till You're) Back In My Arms which was originally released as a 45 in 1977 on Lost Nation Records out of Guysville, Ohio. When Universal Cave featured Back in My Arms on Soft Rock for Hard Times Vol 8 in 2023, we reached out to Dan Strimer to tell him how much we loved his record, and quickly made a friend who helped us release a cover of his song 47 years after it first came out. Dan is still making music to this day and there are even rumors of some unreleased recordings making their way out in the near future.

On vacation in Hawaii when we released Soft Rock for Hard Times Vol 8, Alex Tebbs Mitchell of Universal Cave kept coming back to Dan's catchy, rural classic rock tune. When Alex returned to Philadelphia, he assembled the Street Road Band to record a laid back, 'southwestern Balearic' cover version with André Ethier on vocals, Charles Simon on guitar, Jesse Spearhawk on Pedal Steel, Alex Tebbs Mitchell on Rhodes and bass, Ryan M. Todd on synthesizers, and Shawn Ryan and Brian Cassidy on additional programming and arrangement. The result is a blissful soft rock ballad inspired by the likes of Chris Rea and Mark Knopfler.

After recording the cover, we called in the UK's finest Balearic maestro's Coyote to take the multitracks to the White Isle and back for a remix worthy of Cafe Del Mar. Coyote send the song into a dreamy, dubby, deep house groove, confirming that the record is, in fact, Balearic.

Mixed by Alex Tebbs Mitchell
Mastered by Mat Leffler-Schulman

Here is an expanded edition of one of Nurse With Wound's most intense and unique albums, so much so that for long-time fans, it was a strange, chaotic lounge oddity upon its release. For the first time, all four audio sides are complete (originally, there were only three sides).

To top it off, there is a stunning new cover by the great and talented Babs Santini, who is none other than Steven Stapleton using his artist pseudonym, continuing in the luxurious tradition of the "silver collection" at Rotorelief Records.

The album Huffin' Rag Blues by Nurse With Wound is unique in the NWW discography. Stapleton teams up with composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Liles, his co-creator of musical terrorism, to tackle the genres of exotica and lounge, crushed into a joyful cacophonic mess. Longtime NWW friends Colin Potter and Matt Waldron also join in.

Blues, jazz, cop movies, bachelor pads, and TV show music are treated, discarded, then chopped up and recycled into a mix that contains tons of space but also overflows with dynamic tension, hilarious asides, sexually suggestive poetry, and a certain rock & roll abandon. It's a very surprising album for long-time fans, like a soundtrack that could accompany a David Lynch film.

It's brilliant, exasperating, hilarious, and dark enough to earn a spot in any collection that appreciates a bit of weirdness and eccentricity.

Huffin' Rag Blues incorporates more familiar musical elements—including live-played instruments, rhythm, and vocals—than nearly any other Nurse With Wound album to date. As always, the album's main focus is to create environments for lucid dreaming rather than music per se.

TC.KYLIE x The Hourglass brings dynamic jazz fusion music from her debut album, integrating Hong Kong, Japanese and British cultures. Kylie leads her band dynamically on stage playing keyboard and synth keytar, iconic in Japanese jazz rock & highly memorable to watch.TC.KYLIE, a jazz fusion pianist, performs regularly in both Hong Kong and London. Inspired by the likes of Shaun Martin and Robert Glasper, she also continues to write songs in the areas of Japanese acid jazz, following Fox Capture Plan, Jabberloop, Toconoma, Jizue and Bohemianvoodoo. Prior to becoming a performing artist, Kylie previously worked as a news documentary journalist for radio and TV networks in Hong Kong, She spent much of her time connecting human stories and investigating the connections between people and society which was inspiring and enlightening but also often heavy and difficult within increasingly tricky political landscapes unfolding around her.

Under the changing social environment in her hometown and with the hit of the pandemic, she decided to take an indefinite well-earned break in 2020 to take care of her own well-being & passions. During a stay at a jazz cafe and hostel in Lake Towada in Aomori, Japan, encouraged by the hostel owner as a jazz enthusiast; Kylie sat in front of the piano, contemplated and played scattered notes to express what she had been enduring during her time as a political/social reporter.

Finding herself joyfully picking up music in her life again after years of leaving it behind, she wrote the song "The Last Grief" a tribute to one of her deepest sorrows and in remembrance of her best friend in childhood who battled heavily with depression. This song went on to be an official selection for the International Toronto Music Video Festival as well as the Toronto Asian Independent Film Festival in 2023.

The Austin, TX-based singer-songwriter—whose decades-long career has seen six full-length studio albums, three EPs, countless collaborations, and an illustrious supergroup project in Glorietta—spent a season of rest away from his focus on writing songs. In the wake of the end of a long relationship, he wanted to prioritize processing his grief as a human, not as an artist bleeding on the page. “I love all the records I’ve made in the past. But in making them, there was always the thought in the back of my mind of where and what it could get me. I made both creative and business decisions with a goal in mind... a goal that often never came. This time it was all about just the joy of making it, about having fun with it.”

Ignite’s A Place Called Home 25th anniversary edition on vinyl with bonus tracks out in March 2025 Svart Records is proud to reissue the Californian melodic hardcore band Ignite’s album A Place Called Home. Previously released on vinyl only on its original release date in 2000 on TVT Records, A Place Called Home will finally be available on wax again on March 21st, 2025. Formed in Orange County in 1993, Ignite's sound is hard to pin down. Their music contains elements of punk, hardcore, alternative, and even heavy metal. Their 30-year career has produced several classic albums with A Place Called Home being their commercial breakthrough album, combining the spirit and muscle of hardcore and the catchy tunes of west coast punk rock. Sixteen songs loaded with great hooks, compelling, socially conscious lyrics, and the heaviness that hard music fans love. The band’s bassist and founding member Brett Rasmussen comments the reissue: "When I found out that the guys at Svart Records were licensing A Place Called Home for a vinyl reissue I was beyond stoked. This album will finally be available again, after being out of press for so long, and this time there will be colored vinyl! I'm really looking forward to spinning this reissue and I'm happy that it will be available for our fans to enjoy again on a turntable." The authorised Svart Records 25th anniversary edition of this modern genre-defining classic contains three bonus tracks previously only available on the European CD version of the album and comes with an insert. Available on Svart exclusive black & white marble vinyl, limited transparent red vinyl, and classic black vinyl. A Place Called Home is out on March 21st, 2025.

Ignite’s A Place Called Home 25th anniversary edition on vinyl with bonus tracks out in March 2025 Svart Records is proud to reissue the Californian melodic hardcore band Ignite’s album A Place Called Home. Previously released on vinyl only on its original release date in 2000 on TVT Records, A Place Called Home will finally be available on wax again on March 21st, 2025. Formed in Orange County in 1993, Ignite's sound is hard to pin down. Their music contains elements of punk, hardcore, alternative, and even heavy metal. Their 30-year career has produced several classic albums with A Place Called Home being their commercial breakthrough album, combining the spirit and muscle of hardcore and the catchy tunes of west coast punk rock. Sixteen songs loaded with great hooks, compelling, socially conscious lyrics, and the heaviness that hard music fans love. The band’s bassist and founding member Brett Rasmussen comments the reissue: "When I found out that the guys at Svart Records were licensing A Place Called Home for a vinyl reissue I was beyond stoked. This album will finally be available again, after being out of press for so long, and this time there will be colored vinyl! I'm really looking forward to spinning this reissue and I'm happy that it will be available for our fans to enjoy again on a turntable." The authorised Svart Records 25th anniversary edition of this modern genre-defining classic contains three bonus tracks previously only available on the European CD version of the album and comes with an insert. Available on Svart exclusive black & white marble vinyl, limited transparent red vinyl, and classic black vinyl. A Place Called Home is out on March 21st, 2025.

The internationally renowned double bassist and composer Dieter Ilg
releases his new work, 'Motherland'
As the album cover - featuring Ilg wearing a traditional Black Forest Bollenhut -
suggests, this project reflects his deep connection to his homeland and to Mother
Earth. Ilg is supported by his trio, as well as the master trumpeter Till Bronner, whose
trumpet and flugelhorn lend the compositions a unique atmosphere.
Having collaborated with numerous musicians such as Randy Brecker, Mike Stern,
Vince Mendoza, and many others, Dieter Ilg has released 25 albums as a leader or coleader, along with a series of recordings as a sideman. On 'Motherland', he reunites
with his long- standing trio, featuring German pianist Rainer Bohm and French
drummer Patrice Heral. This time, alongside their original works, they reinterpret two
classical pieces: Ilg's adaptation of Handel's "Minuet" from Water Music and his
rendition of "Glorious" from Alexander's Feast. For 16 years, Ilg, Bohm, and Heral have
journeyed together musically. The secret to their chemistry, according to Ilg, lies in
their openness to letting things unfold in the moment.
'Motherland' is both an homage to Ilg's roots and a reflection of the music and
experiences that have shaped the bassist, who hails from Offenburg in Germany's
Black Forest region. A standout track is "Schwarzwaldfahrt", in which Ilg transforms
the lighthearted melody of German pianist Horst Jankowski into a nostalgic
interpretation with an authentic second- line groove. Till Bronner delivers a stunning
trumpet solo on this piece, with Ilg commenting, "When Till plays, I know exactly
where we're headed. I can hear the path he's focusing on."
The album unfolds with remarkable diversity, ranging from harmonious, soothing
sounds to tender, fragile bass solos, rubato piano passages, and intricate stop-time
sequences. 'Motherland' is a work of profound depth, celebrating Ilg's heritage while
offering listeners an evocative and multifaceted musical journey.