Cerca:the x act

In 1994, UK ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate recorded their landmark Equator album. To mark the 30th anniversary of this musical milestone, many of the same personnel – Roger Horberry (co-founder of O Yuki Conjugate), Dan Mudford (ex-Sons of Silence and co-creator of the Shaun of the Dead soundtrack), Joe Lamb (ex-Sons of Silence) and Malcolm McGeorge – came together to make New Meridian, reflecting the range of influences they’ve picked up over the intervening years.

Generously described as “almost like normal music”, the eight tracks of New Meridian feature instrumentation ranging from classic analogue to actual wooden logs. The result takes you on a rain-drenched, open-top ride from Electronica Avenue to the drone caverns of Uranus, with various Fourth World ambi-dub diversions along the way. File under: duress.

This album is a prime example of misunderstood genius, not particularly liked by the fans because of its rather radical low-key atmosphere, quite distant from the previous "Heavy Prog" formula. In fact, it's so moody it can verge on soporific, like a soundtrack for an opium den. But these guys are full of surprises and they succeed in paving the road for future prog acts such as PTree, NoSound, White Willow, Paatos and the brilliant Sunscape by deliberately expanding on the veil on the sonics, less rock and more roll if you will. Landberk is unquestionably led by the scintillating guitar work of Reine Fiske, a unique somber style that winks reverently at a reserved Fripp or U2's The Edge on quaaludes combined with an abundant use of fluffy mellotron carpets at the hands of producer Simon Nordberg. Both bassist Stefan Dimle and drummer Jonas Lindholm excel at setting a mood and keeping it firmly anchored, just plain solid.

Legendary US Metal masterpiece finally available again on deluxe180 grams vinyl after more than 35 years! With their sound and style completely defined on their previous and nearly perfect album, “Soldiers of the Night”, Vicious Rumors continue on with yet another outstanding sequel that could go hand in hand with their debut. This is pretty much US Power Metal with actual riffs, and some technical and mindblowing riffs at that with Geoff Thorpe’s tremendous skill and incredible songwriting. The standout here is hands down vocalist Carl Albert (Rest in peace). Nothing but energy sparks from his every lyric spoken. His aggressive and energetic mid-range performance can easily be matched to Bruce Dickinson. Vicious Rumors were truly out of this world when Carl was with them, this being the flawless beginning of that legacy. Its nearly impossible to pinpoint Vicious Rumors exact sound and style and just throw them in one genre, because you really can not. There are a few Speed Metal songs here, a few more Power Metal orientated ones, few hints of progessive structures, and even some Thrashy parts from time to time. Standout tracks would be the self title track, “Minute to Kill”, “R.L.H (Run Like Hell)”, and “Towns of Fire”. Then again, this whole album is just great with no real low points at all. In the end, this is an essential Vicious Rumors album, and often hailed as their finest release!

"US & Canada Platinum certified alt-pop rockers Mother Mother kick off a bold new era in 2024, with the release of their new album Grief Chapter on 16 February.

Mother Mother have quietly become one of 21st century rock’s brightest rising acts. To date they have hit a staggering 6.9 billion global streams and 3.9 billion views across YouTube, while their social imprint has dramatically expanded, with an audience of nearly 9 million total followers.

Starting in February the group has an extensive 30-date tour of Europe, including stops in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany and more, see the band performing to some of the largest European audiences in their career across the eight-week trek"

Warehouse find!

While the German producer Martin Matiske averages a new release under his given name every few years, there was a long stretch of time in which sightings of his Blackploid alias were much more rare. After dropping an EP for Frustrated Funk in 2006, fans found further material hard to come by over the next decade or so. However, Matiske has reinvigorated Blackploid in recent times, with the project making a few compilation appearances and dropping a couple of EPs across 2020.

That run now culminates inCosmic Traveler, a four-track affair which marks Matiske's debut appearance on Sheffield's Central Processing Unit. Given the long wait, it's great just to see Blackploid back among the fray once again. But for the project's CPU curtain-raiser to be an EP of such high-quality techno jams? Now that really is spoiling us.

Cosmic Traveler's title nods towards the sort of stargazing aesthetics one finds in classic Detroit techno. However, while there are undoubtedly ties to the Motor City in this music, the record ultimately steers less towards spacious atmospherics and more towards the taut, lean machine-funk of seminal practitioners like Dopplereffekt.

Matiske sets his stall out from the off. Opener 'Electric Engine' begins with a run of stiff-necked 808 kicks before hissing hi-hats, a grizzly bassline and all manner of futuristic sounds enter to warp the tune into hyperspace. Following cut 'Night Drive' repeats the trick of 'Electric Engine' but adds a pleasingly dinky synth lead in order to nudge itself slightly towards bleep-techno territory.

The two cuts on Cosmic Traveler's B-side are pure late-night goodness, a pair of mid-set heaters primed for dark basements. 'Pleasure Activism' delivers on the promise of its title and then some, pushing the Kraftwerk template to extremes by bringing a load of gnarly synth lines into play over a wobbling acidic chug. Finally, EP closer 'The Race' is reminiscent of both the twisted machine-funk of Gerald Donald's Japanese Telecom project and the playful modern evolutions of artists like fellow CPU high-flyer Jensen Interceptor.

The resurgence of Martin Matiske's Blackploid project continues withCosmic Traveller, an EP of timeless electro-funk and techno.

FFO: Dopplereffekt, Japanese Telecom, Jensen Interceptor, Cardopusher

repressed !

Say what you wanna say, but you have to give Strahil Velchev this: the man's a powerhouse. Recording and playing live under the KiNK alias, he went on to become one of finest purveyor's of funk in techno and house. What it is, by definition, ain't exactly clear. And that is the beauty of it.

KiNK's music is unifying in the best possible way. Channeling the spirit and feeling of a time where it didn't really matter who the faces behind the music were, KiNK plays with the elements of genres and sub-genres as if the future of it all is still wide-open. At the same time it could be accused of retro-fetishism, as much as the Pope himself is infallible.

The pure need to recreate moments, feelings and experience - rather than carbon copies of existing designs - was what started KiNK's production work. Hailing from Bulgaria, it was nearly impossible to get your hands on all the records and music that fed into a system of raves, clubs and record shops that seemed far away from Sofia, and financially it might as well have meant another galaxy. Wanting to DJ without having access to the tracks that spun the carousel meant that you had to create them yourselves. So, here we go with a private bootlegger gone public mastermind and one of the loudest voices in house, techno and beyond.

From KiNK's early productions with Neville Watson to his smash-hit for Ovum, a cerebral album for Macro, tons of remixes & tracks and his mind-bending live act, Playground seems to take all that into a blender. Simultaneously a sound-summary, the harvest of a field of ideas, and the exhibition of an artist in his prime, it also works as a sort of KiNK dictionary: avant-garde soundscapes stand next to boisterous bangers, classic club tracks and peak time emotions find their idiosyncratic and contemplative counterparts - all of it coming down like a torrent in a drought.

Vladislav Delay presents the fifth and last EP in his "Hide Behind The Silence" series. Intuitive and raw music, momentary and reflective, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton".

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Stillness is a myth. Consider concepts such as ”still water”, or ”still air” for that matter. Go to a restaurant, ask them for a glass of still water, hold it against the light and see where we’re at. Even though the water itself has been captured and imprisoned in the glass, it never stops breathing. It’s filled with tiny particles, dancing. Everything can be explained on a molecular level, but since we’re not scientists – and even if you happen to be – it’s the natural world of perception that moves me.
Still air is very similar. A hot summer’s day with zero wind feels completely still. It’s the closest I have felt to complete stillness. Or for a more urban adaptation, imagine the same vibe inside a normal apartment. In those moments, revelations and mind- blowing experiences can be had with experiments in stillness.
Try this: Just sit down for a minute on a sunny day, making sure there’s enough natural light. Do absolutely nothing. Try not to breathe for a bit. (If you need a mental anchor, you can play Cage’s 4’33” in your head but nothing else.) Watch the tiny dots of dust dancing :..’ ̈.:; ́ ́*°.,’:,. ̈ ̈ ̈ ̈:,.’
The movement is crazy, but the feeling of stillness comes from witnessing how subtle it is. In (perceived) complete stillness, every act of microscopic mobility seems to speak volumes. Yet, it feels both reassuring and oddly threatening that the stillness is never complete. What if we would need absolute stillness? Or is it just enough that we can perceive something as such? Extremes attract, so for both water and air, extraordinary movement is equally fascinating. That is also a luxury item of sorts. For us to enjoy a very ”loud” body of water or air, we need to be safe, in enough control of the situation. So when you are, it’s worthwhile to pay attention and take it all in.
A rapid flowing free with extreme strength and just barely in control. Look at that water go! No still water on this one, only ”sparkling”. A windy day when birds seem surprised how hard it is to fly, but in the end they make it. Trees bend but don’t break. The wind shows you its movement but doesn’t hurt you. It feels friendly, like a big clumsy dog that doesn’t quite understand its size.
It’s beautiful to be a guest of the elements, but not at the mercy of them. A new kind of dialogue forms.

repressed !

It is a smart and airy groove of atoms in space that rules this mesmerizing album, leading off with an irresistibly deconstructed downbeat monstrosity deceptively tagged as the 'Modern Hit Midget' as opposed to actually being a giant. One giant of seven, to be precise: safe in harbour are the seven giants of free Funk who proceed through a variety of way-out psychedelicacies. Which increase in flavour under headphones. The wane of Villalobos' and Loderbauer's free-floating energy of their Re:ECM work is more than offset here by the increase in rhythmic push through sensual syncopation and eruptive bass energy. The duo is the impetus in Perlon's great new swinging machine.

Passacaglia ist ein vielfarbiger musikalischer Dialog zwischen zwei einzigartigen Charakteren, die führende Persönlichkeiten des europäischen Jazz und der zeitgenössischen Musik sind: Adam Bałdych and Leszek Możdżer. Das Repertoire reicht von freien Improvisationen über von den Musikern selbst mitgeschriebene Werke bis hin zu Ihren ganz persönlichen Interpretationen von Themen von Erik Satie, Josquin des Prez und anderen.

Kali Malone's anticipated new album "All Life Long" is a collection of music for pipe organ, choir, and brass quintet composed by Kali Malone, 2020 - 2023. Choral music performed by Macadam Ensemble and conducted by Etienne Ferschaud at Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-L'Immaculée-Conception in Nantes. Brass quintet music performed by Anima Brass at The Bunker Studio in New York City. Organ music performed by Kali Malone and Stephen O'Malley on the historical meantone tempered pipe organs at Église Saint-François in Lausanne, Orgelpark in Amsterdam, and Malmö Konstmuseum in Sweden. Kali Malone composes with a rare clarity of vision. Her music is patient and focused, built on a foundation of evolving harmonic cycles that draw out latent emotional resonances. Time is a crucial factor: letting go of expectations of duration and breadth offers a chance to find a space of reflection and contemplation. In her hands, experimental reinterpretations of centuries-old polyphonic compositional methods become portals to new ways of perceiving sound, structure, and introspection. Though awe-inspiring in scope, the most remarkable thing about Malone's music is the intimacy stirred by the close listening it encourages. Malone's new album All Life Long, created between 2020 - 2023, presents her first compositions for organ since 2019's breakthrough album The Sacrificial Code alongside interrelated pieces for voice and brass performed by Macadam Ensemble and Anima Brass. Over the course of twelve pieces, harmonic themes and patterns recur, presented in altered forms and for varied instrumentation. They emerge and reemerge like echoes of their former selves, making the familiar uncanny. Propelled by lungs and breath rather than bellows and oscillators, Malone's compositions for choir and brass take on expressive qualities that complicate the austerity that has defined her work, introducing lyricism and the beauty of human fallibility into music that has been driven by mechanical processes. At the same time, the works for organ, performed by Malone with additional accompaniment by Stephen O'Malley on four different organs dating from the 15th to 17th centuries, underscore the mighty, spectral power that those rigorous operations can achieve. All Life Long simmers in an ever-shifting tension between repetition and variation. The pieces for brass, organ, and voice are alternated asymmetrically, providing nearly continuous timbral fluctuation across its 78-minute runtime even as thematic material reiterates. Each composition's internal framework of fractal pattern permutations has the paradoxical effect of creating anticipated keystone moments of dramatic reverie and lulling the listener into believing in an illusory endlessness. On an even more granular level, the historical meantone tuning systems of each organ used, and the variable intonation of brass and voice, provide further points of emotional excavation within the harmony. The titular composition "All Life Long" appears twice on the album, first as an extended canon for organ and again in the final quarter, compactly arranged for voice In the latter, Malone pairs the music with "The Crying Water" by Arthur Symons, a poem steeped in language of mourning and eternity. For organ, "All Life Long" moves with a patient stateliness, the drama concentrated in moments when shifting tonalities generate and release dissonance and ecstasy. For voice, each word is saturated with feeling, the singers swooping gracefully downward to capture the melancholy of the narrator's relationship to the timeless tears of the sea. "Passage Through The Spheres," the album's opening piece, contains lyrics in Italian pulled from Giorgio Agamban's essay In Praise of Profanation. In it, Agamban defines profanation as, in part, the act of bringing back to communal, secular use that which has been segregated to the realm of the sacred, a process Malone enacts each time she performs on church organs. This is not music of praise, or of spiritual revelation, but it is an artistic enactment of translating the indescribable. It carries the gravity of liturgical chant, and its fixation on the infinite, but draws its weight from the earthly realm of human experience. A music that draws the listener into the present moment where they can discover themselves within the interwoven musical patterns that can come to resemble the passage of days, weeks, years, a lifetime.

Harm’s Way is Duck Ltd.’s most intuitive and organic album yet, the result of keen observation, self-possessed songwriting, and a collaborative spirit. Building on the successes of their previous releases, the deeply relatable album displays a band operating at a nuanced, lyrical and musical best.

Ducks Ltd. make inviting and frenetic guitar pop for when life feels overwhelming. While the band’s songs are ostensibly breezy, a palpable anxiety boils underneath that communicates something deeper about everyday existence. On their latest album Harm’s Way, the Toronto duo of Tom McGreevy and Evan Lewis hones in on interpersonal and societal collapses, urban decay, and the near-impossibility of keeping a level head when everything around you seems to be falling apart.

“They’re songs about struggling,” says singer and lyricist McGreevy (who also plays bass and rhythm guitar). “About watching people I care for suffer, and trying to figure out how to be there for them. And about the strain of living in the world when it feels like it's ready to collapse.” 

Even with its often dark subject matter, Harm’s Way is Ducks Ltd.’s most vividly rendered and collaborative collection yet. It’s an undeniable evolution for the band, not just in how these songs soar, but in their entire writing and recording processes. Composed on tour while supporting acts like Nation of Language, Illuminati Hotties, and Archers of Loaf, the album displays the band’s finely tuned songcraft and well-earned, road-tested confidence. “When we got signed, we had played maybe five or six shows ever. After last year, it’s in the hundreds. That experience can change your perception of your own music and songwriting,” says McGreevy. “In the past when we got stuck on a song we had a tendency to look at our favourite records to see how they tackled it. But now, instead of asking ‘what would Orange Juice do?’, we’d ask, ‘what would we do?’.” Lewis adds, “We have this really great thing where every decision with the band is filtered through both of us. Here especially, we really figured out how to make something that truly sounds like us.”

The band, fortified by this strong sense of sonic identity and a self-assurance in their new material—and in contrast to their critically acclaimed 2021 debut Modern Fiction and 2019 EP Get Bleak, both self-recorded and self-produced in a Toronto basement—wanted to bring Harm’s Way to life in a new city, with an outside producer, and with some of their favourite musicians. “We realised that so many of our favourite bands who are making guitar music right now are from Chicago,” says McGreevy. Working with producer Dave Vettraino (Dehd, Deeper, Lala Lala), they enlisted a marquee cast of Windy City collaborators to round out the tracks on Harm’s Way, including: Finom’s Macie Stewart (violin, string arrangements); Ratboys’ Marcus Nuccio (drums on most tracks); Dehd’s Jason Balla (who helped arrange the backing vocals, to which he also contributed); and backing vocals from Julia Steiner (Ratboys), Nathan O’Dell (Dummy), Margaret McCarthy (Moontype), Rui De Magalhaes (Lawn), and Lindsey-Paige McCloy (Patio). The band’s touring drummer, Jonathan Pappo, and bassist Julia Wittman also appear on the LP.

Ducks Ltd. are a band that already thrives on skirting the edges of buoyant jangle pop and driving power pop, and the duo credits these collaborators with helping to push their sound even further. “Historically our process has been really tightly controlled and insular. On this record, we worked with people who we trusted with a pretty wide range of musical backgrounds and they had approaches and ideas that helped open up the record's sonic palette,” explains McGreevy. “Jason thinks about backing vocals in a totally different way than I do and is super intuitive with melodic ideas. Julia and Margaret have a really deeo understanding of harmony. Macie and Dave were comfortable with the idea of improvising string parts which took some of those layers in some surprising directions. Dave also has an amazing ability to create atmosphere on a recording, and encouraged us to use a bunch of different techniques, tones, and processes to achieve that.”

Harm’s Way’s lush, melodic swagger is clear from the first notes of opener “Hollowed Out.” A song about living with decline (inspired by a Toronto sinkhole), its bright, indelible catchiness serves in contrast to its lyrical unease. Anchored by Lewis’ shimmering electric guitar, “The Main Thing” laments growing apart from a person whose views you once shared while managing to toss in references to both the unglamorous lives of middle relief baseball pitchers and the occult. Other songs split the difference between country and krautrock, like the rollicking “Train Full of Gasoline,” which uses the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in Quebec as a metaphor for self-destructive patterns. Meanwhile, “Deleted Scenes” mourns the absence of someone no longer in your life (even if for very good reasons) and recalls The Cure at their most direct, and closer “Heavy Bag” employs enveloping, mournful strings to evoke a sense of how misery frequently loves company.

Culled from three 1985 gigs in the UK during a transitional and transcendent time in the band’s story, Sonic Youth’s The Walls Have Ears appeared / disappeared as a 2LP set in 1986, not just a live album but an artful tapestry full of live experimentation with songs, between-song tape segues, darkness, humor and audio verité. It’s now issued for the first time officially under the band’s auspices.

The ’85 shows were the second time the band appeared on UK soil, Brits now getting juiced to the mythos of the emerging guitar-slinging American independent underground; an art / punk band from NYC sporting casual attitudes and tees sporting Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Prince made some good press copy on top of their bludgeoning stage appearance. Paul Smith of the newly-founded Blast First label acted as an overseas diplomatic envoy for Sonic Youth through their SST years as well as issuing their classic 1988 Daydream Nation outside the USA. However the Smith-produced ‘bootleg’ of their ’85 UK gigs surfaced much to everyone’s surprise, just before EVOL was to be released. It turned out to be a marker of the group’s dissatisfaction that ultimately led to the release’s deletion, and the band and Smith parting ways after Daydream.

In this 2LP set brimming with primitive classics like ‘The Burning Spear,’ ‘Death Valley 69,’ and ‘I’m Insane’ (uncredited on sleeve), segues and live guitar changes ooze together threaded by Madonna tapes and vocal loops off the board (somewhat a necessity for distraction until the band had a full fledged stage crew to prepare guitars). The first two sides of Walls are massive, cavernous, with newly-drafted drummer Steve Shelley. SY tear it up especially on one trash-fi excerpt of ‘Blood On Brighton Beach’ (actually ‘Making The Nature Scene’) from a legendary outdoor gig November 8th where Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo’s guitars treble-blast dissonant shockwaves over the black-stoned beach of Quadrophenia fame.

The record’s second slab spotlights an April 1985 at London’s Hammersmith Palais and was one of the final appearances live of Bob Bert on drums, again featuring some molten takes on ‘Brother James,’ ‘Flower’ (listed as ‘The Word (E.V.O.L.)’), and others. This document remains an essential representation of some lean and mean years of the quartet’s throttling march out into the world. (by Brian Turner)

Culled from three 1985 gigs in the UK during a transitional and transcendent time in the band’s story, Sonic Youth’s The Walls Have Ears appeared / disappeared as a 2LP set in 1986, not just a live album but an artful tapestry full of live experimentation with songs, between-song tape segues, darkness, humor and audio verité. It’s now issued for the first time officially under the band’s auspices.

The ’85 shows were the second time the band appeared on UK soil, Brits now getting juiced to the mythos of the emerging guitar-slinging American independent underground; an art / punk band from NYC sporting casual attitudes and tees sporting Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Prince made some good press copy on top of their bludgeoning stage appearance. Paul Smith of the newly-founded Blast First label acted as an overseas diplomatic envoy for Sonic Youth through their SST years as well as issuing their classic 1988 Daydream Nation outside the USA. However the Smith-produced ‘bootleg’ of their ’85 UK gigs surfaced much to everyone’s surprise, just before EVOL was to be released. It turned out to be a marker of the group’s dissatisfaction that ultimately led to the release’s deletion, and the band and Smith parting ways after Daydream.

In this 2LP set brimming with primitive classics like ‘The Burning Spear,’ ‘Death Valley 69,’ and ‘I’m Insane’ (uncredited on sleeve), segues and live guitar changes ooze together threaded by Madonna tapes and vocal loops off the board (somewhat a necessity for distraction until the band had a full fledged stage crew to prepare guitars). The first two sides of Walls are massive, cavernous, with newly-drafted drummer Steve Shelley. SY tear it up especially on one trash-fi excerpt of ‘Blood On Brighton Beach’ (actually ‘Making The Nature Scene’) from a legendary outdoor gig November 8th where Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo’s guitars treble-blast dissonant shockwaves over the black-stoned beach of Quadrophenia fame.

The record’s second slab spotlights an April 1985 at London’s Hammersmith Palais and was one of the final appearances live of Bob Bert on drums, again featuring some molten takes on ‘Brother James,’ ‘Flower’ (listed as ‘The Word (E.V.O.L.)’), and others. This document remains an essential representation of some lean and mean years of the quartet’s throttling march out into the world. (by Brian Turner)

Tony Boninsegna: Notes From The Underground 1986-1994 (Volumes 1 and 2) Cold Blow / Musique Pour La Danse

The story of dance music is littered with hidden heroes and underground activists whose immense contributions have been overlooked, ignored and under-documented. Tony Boninsegna, a producer who made and released countless classic cuts and forgotten gems during the acid house and rave era, is one such example.

Melding elements of all that was popular in underground clubs at the time to create his own dancefloor-friendly sound worlds, Boninsegna amassed a huge catalogue between 1986 and '94, while hiding his involvement via an array of oddball aliases and opaque pseudonyms. Boninsegna's story first came to light four years ago when he appeared in Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music, Matt Anniss's critically acclaimed alternative history of UK dance music in the rave era. Now Cold Blow has joined forces with Musique Pour La Danse to deliver a much-needed anthology of his greatest productions and
co-productions - many rare or hard-to-find - for the first time.
Featuring 24 restored and remastered tracks stretched across two volumes on vinyl and digital, including a handful of previously unreleased tracks and mixes, and accompanied by detailed sleeve notes by Anniss, Notes From The Underground 1986-1994 is a joyful celebration of one of British dance music's most under-appreciated artists. The full breadth and depth of Boninsegna's rave-ready catalogue, as well as an indication of
the sheer volume of aliases he utilised during the period, is explored in detail across the two-part compilation.

Fittingly, volume one features two previously unreleased recordings that mark his earliest explorations of the emerging house sound (both as The Rhythm Squad, with Richard Compton), alongside touchstone releases such as Zeco's 'The Witch Trials' (a 1989 production that marked his first outing on vinyl), celebrated workouts recorded with regular collaborator Mykey Tee (Lab Technicians' bleep-inspired 'We Gave U Life', Big Showdown's epic 'They're Here' and AEK's mind-mangling, bleep & breaks number 'Lick It'), and genuinely overlooked gems (the proto-tribal house of Pierrepoint's acid-smothered 'Tonnerre' and saucer-eyed rush of Estudiantes' 'Let The Music Into Your Mind').

It all adds up to the definitive musical retrospective of a genuine underground, rave-era hero whose time in the spotlight may finally have arrived.

White Vinyl

Soon after the release in 2022 of a triple album dedicated to electronic language, Principles of Geometry continues their orbiting journey that began exactly 20 years ago with "Penta," a Maxi composed of five electro-geometric vignettes that confirm what we already knew: the discreet French duo pilots one of the most underestimated projects in European IDM.

By returning just one year after a massive fifth album (26 tracks), Principles of Geometry makes a clear artistic move: shifting from electronic language unfolded on ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ to gesture, as one would associate intellect with manual, actions with words. On "Penta," to be visualized as the five fingers of a hand sketching the immediate and spontaneous pleasure of a hand pressing a chord, Guillaume Grosso and Jeremy Duval thus combine two essential concepts of their electronic music: the need to make the listener dance with their brains, and to touch with their mental images.

With nods to the godfathers of the genre (Autechre and Boards of Canada) or crossing paths with Aphex Twin in a Michael Mann film, "Penta" is therefore a beauty of gesture first conceived with the fingers, and without the need for words to evoke either the romance or the violence of a chord on a Roland Juno 60.

Mastered by the legend Noel Summerville (Boards of Canada, Kraftwerk, My Bloody Valentine) and designed by Ian Anderson of The Designers Republic (responsible for the graphics of the cult WipEout and many collaborations with the Warp label), this Maxi is therefore listened to as much as a recreational return to the future of the 90s as it is a concise summary of the equilateral career of Principles of Geometry; equally distant between pure emotion and the need to ponder the notes played in this very special ship.

Riding the Low are fronted by actor Paddy Considine, who was inspired to start a band after seeing Guided by Voices play live. "Robert Pollard's songwriting is just incredible. The immediacy of it just blew me away. His presence on stage... Being a fan felt like being in a gang. I wanted my own gang". The name Riding The Low came from a biography on Lee Marvin that Paddy read before the idea of having a band was even conceived. "There was a section in the book where it described the way Lee felt after he’d completed a movie. He used to see a psychiatrist who advised him that after movies he should fill his time doing the things he enjoys to take his mind off things and settle him back into normal life. The psychiatrist called this period 'Riding the Low'." 'Riding the Low' initially came about as a hobbyist outlet for Paddy's musical interest and ability; writing Pavement inspired songs on acoustic guitar on his own, before developing them with The Leisure Society's Nick Hemming.

The long lost 1968 debut album by singer-songwriter, Scott Fagan, once tipped to be bigger than Elvis, is set for release on 9th February 2024 via Earth Recordings. 'South Atlantic Blues' will be reissued for the first time in its original artwork, with an iconic portrait of Fagan by famed rock photographer, Joel Brodsky, following a widely celebrated 2015 release. Revisiting his mystical, mythical, and deeply soulful masterpiece, this psych-folk gem doffs a Tropicalia hat direct from downtown New York. "His songs embrace a broad sonic fantasia, swirling in '60s New York R&B and '40s jazz, as well as the Caribbean rhythms of calypso, meringue and Pachanga." New York Times Scott Fagan's story is worthy of a movie in itself. A swinging hipster who landed in 60s Greenwich folk scene, escaping the abject poverty of his U.S. Virgin Islands upbringing, Fagan found himself mentored by the Brill Building's Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, and feted as the next big thing. "Forget Rodriguez, forget Searching for Sugar Man," says Sharyn Felder, daughter of the late Doc Pomus, the legendary songwriter who signed Fagan to management in 1964. "Scott was so much more. He was cut from a different cloth." 'South Atlantic Blues' is the perfect soundtrack to this tale, an epic song cycle wrapped around an impassioned love story, driven by Fagan's dense, allusive lyrics, and production by Elmer Jared Gordon (Pearls Before Swine) and rich arrangements by Horace Ott (Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, The Shirelles). The Earth Recordings reissue coincides with a resurgence in activity for Fagan, with a new album in the works - the never-recorded soundtrack to 'Soon', the 1971 Broadway rock musical he co-wrote and starred in - and a documentary 'Soon: the Story of Scott Fagan' currently filming through Scissor Kick Films, from director Marah Strauch, writer Chris Campion (who rediscovered the singer-songwriter in 2015), and producer Eric Bruggeman. Classic Black Vinyl + DLC

Psychedelic Latin-funk holy grail from Nicaragua, 1974!!
Poder del Alma (“Soul Power”) was a supergroup formed by some of the best musicians from the Nica scene. This all-star band of nine members was assembled to play at the famous free concert of Santana in Managua in benefit for the 1972 earthquake. After that successful gig supporting the Latin-Rock superstar, what was to be a one-night stand became the seed of the most loved Nicaraguan act from the 70s. All the members had already played an important role in the history of the Nica music / hippie scene in the 1960s. Among them, we can find Roman Cerpas (previously on Bwana), Rene “Chapo Dominguez (Los Rockets), Edgar “El Gato” Aguilar…

A few months after the Managua concert with Santana, Poder del Alma traveled to Guatemala to record their first long play for Dideca (Discos De Centroamerica, S.A.) in just one week of recording sessions. Despite the low budget and precarious recording equipment, the band managed to obtain a powerful psychedelic / afro / funk-rock sound full of electric guitar, heavy drums, hot, percussion, horns, Spanish male/female vocals…featuring titles like “El Valle del Ayatimbo”, “Ia-Taa Yo”, “Zumbale”…

From the rotten bowels of Portland USA crawls out the most hideous death metal unit called Petrification who have cursed mankind with their old school style of filth since 2017. After their Summon Horrendous Void EP (2017) and Hollow of the Void album (2018) Petrification is now ready to release their next full-length opus called Sever Sacred Light via Svart Records. Petrification’s themes may revolve around the cosmic horrors and repugnant themes, but this isn’t your typical nowadays technical progressive metal where the number of notes compensates for the lack of true vision. Sever sacred light delivers eight tracks of crushing doom laden and HEAVY - in the true sense of that word - death metal combining the down tuned caveman mid-tempo riffs of Coffins to Bolt Thrower style grooves spiced with an Autopsy worship. You can also hear the echoes from certain Finnish death metal acts from their most dark past, but (sl)easiest way to describe the Petrification’s blunt to the core delivery is: sick old school death metal for the diehards.

From the rotten bowels of Portland USA crawls out the most hideous death metal unit called Petrification who have cursed mankind with their old school style of filth since 2017. After their Summon Horrendous Void EP (2017) and Hollow of the Void album (2018) Petrification is now ready to release their next full-length opus called Sever Sacred Light via Svart Records. Petrification’s themes may revolve around the cosmic horrors and repugnant themes, but this isn’t your typical nowadays technical progressive metal where the number of notes compensates for the lack of true vision. Sever sacred light delivers eight tracks of crushing doom laden and HEAVY - in the true sense of that word - death metal combining the down tuned caveman mid-tempo riffs of Coffins to Bolt Thrower style grooves spiced with an Autopsy worship. You can also hear the echoes from certain Finnish death metal acts from their most dark past, but (sl)easiest way to describe the Petrification’s blunt to the core delivery is: sick old school death metal for the diehards.

Dutch synth-wizard Nadia Struiwigh brings her eclectic live approach to Blueprint Records.á On the "Voxis Ohlun EP", Struiwigh reflects her profound command over synthesis and sequencing, crafting upfront techno with a vigorous, nostalgic feel.

Nadia Struiwigh, the Dutch artist rooted in Rotterdam and currently based in Berlin, has carved a unique niche in the electronic music scene.á Her genre-defying compositions, blending ambient, techno and electro, exhibit her signature ethereal and melodious production style, with a discography gracing acclaimed labels like Central Processing Unit, Nous'klaer, Dekmantel, Clone and InFinÒ.á Inspired by the Warp school of electronica, her live performances (ranging from immersive ambient to kinetic techno) are a testament to her technical prowess and emotional connection with her audience.á A versatile DJ and live act, she graces both concert halls and strobe-lit club sessions, curating sets that span from driving techno to deeper, emotive realms, earning her residencies at venues like Tresor.á Her versatile expertise extends beyond music; she collaborates with pioneering music brands such as Roland, Korg, Teenage Engineering, Arturia and others, embodying her reputation as a leading tech enthusiast within the industry.á Her contributions to esteemed platforms like Resident Advisor, Phantasy, Bleep, Slam Radio and Red Light Radio underscore her adaptability and prowess across a wide spectrum of electronic music, further solidifying her multifaceted presence in the field.

"Voxis Ohlun" invites you into a mesmerizing journey through the enchanting landscapes of the '90s, blending diverse musical influences seamlessly.á The focus here is on 4x4 dancefloor music, adorned with a tantalizing hint of breaks and pulsating rhythms, and a sprinkle of fairyland allure.á Crafted using only hardware, predominantly the beloved Korg Electribe MX, the sounds resonate with the essence of that era.á Each track unfolds like a chapter in a wondrous tale, interweaving nostalgia with a contemporary energy, ensuring an immersive experience.

It is no secret that Montreal had a bubbly disco scene, but there are still some under-the-radar gems. Sophie Stanké is one of them. The charismatic Quebec-Lithuanian actress, radio host and singer hung around with some of the hippest disco people of the 80s, and worked on the sexy boogie song "L'amour d'une diva" with no other than Geraldine Hunt. Scandalous at the time, it became a local disco hit. Famous french singer Daniel Guichard noticed her and signed the song – slightly rearranged – in France on his label Kuklos. Here is the rarest original Canadian arrangement that Stima reissued, in all its glory: long and instrumental versions.

The other side includes the more obscure and even more erotic "J'adore". It was issued in 1987 under her first name, Sophie, with synth-pop and new wave influence. An instrumental was missing, thus Baerlz delivers a new dub cover and now each song has also its “version”, in the purest 80s 12 inches tradition.

After ten years spent in France, where she worked with another star singer Nicolas Peyrac, Sophie is now still active in Québec's cultural life. Stima is proud to have her permission to reissue these 2 fresh 80s tracks to hit the modern dancefloors.

Repress on cream and black galaxy vinyl, limited to 500 copies. PHOBOPHILIC's abrasive explorations of existentialism and the limits of human consciousness are a welcome feature of the currently thriving US death metal scene. The influence of death metal's forefathers is evident in PHOBOPHILIC's full throttle output, but their gaze is fixed firmly on the future - wherever it may take them... Since their 2016 formation PHOBOPHLIC have steadily accumulated early releases in the shape of two demos, 2019's Undimensioned Identities EP and a split release with Canada's Sedimentum, all the while honing their craft out across the North American touring circuit - featuring live stints with Gatecreeper and Mutilated respectively, as well as appearances at LDB Fest and Philadelphia Death Nexus - positioning themselves among US death metals most intriguing young acts. Across Enveloping Absurdity's runtime PHOBOPHILIC's quest for elucidation is explored in punishingly heavy fashion across tracks such as Those Which Stare Back, Nauseating Despair and Survive in Obscurity. But for all of the Midwestern group's old school death metal artisanship and lyrical angst, there is a fundamental rejection of misplaced nihilism in the form of quieter and reflective passages throughout. No better is this showcased than mid-album track Individuation's calm before the storm, which offers up Enveloping Absurdity's most contemplative moment.

"The Riot City Years" reissued on STUNNING YELLOW VINYL! Bristol's own Vice Squad were one of the earliest UK punk groups with a female lead vocalist. Beki Bondage was a heartthrob to any British lad of a certain age and her dynamic stage presence and vocal prowess made Vice Squad one of the most popular acts of the second wave of British punk. This killer collection features tracks from the Riot City singles plus demos. Another essential UK punk compilation from one of the greatest singles bands of the early 80's scene.

Third album from Brighton based Indie/Pop singer/songwriter DECLAN McKENNA. The follow up to 2020's "Zeros", this is a x16 trk Guitar/Pop album released via Columbia Records. Produced by Gianluca Buccellati & includes the hit singles "Elevator Hum", "Nothing Works" & "Sympathy". Upcoming UK solo live dates later in the year, alongside festival slots. Extensive promo & marketing activity across all media outlets, with significant spend. Standard Black LP Vinyl, Retail exclusive Ltd Yellow LP Vinyl & standard CD.

repressed !

Birthed at the turn of the ‘80s, synth and wave music has remained a constant force over the last four decades, with a recent spike in interest in the sound offering further proof of its’ timeless, out-of-this-world quality. It’s against this backdrop that Dutch DJ Interstellar Funk presents his celebration of the style, “Artificial Dancers – Waves of Synth”.

A bumper compilation bristling with obscure and hard-to-find gems, the set sees the Artificial Dance label founder joining the dots between synthesizer and drum machine-driven tracks in a variety of subtly different styles. It’s the result of hundreds of hours spent digging through dusty old records, tapes, and the Bandcamp accounts of DIY musicians who have been active since the sound’s first boom in the early 1980s.

The 11-track set draws on tracks made and released at different times over the last 40 years, with the earliest cut committed to tape in 1978 and the most recent in 2018. While the tracks date from the ‘80s, ‘90s, noughties and 2010s, the showcased cuts are united by a primitive but futuristic quality that makes dating them difficult. In many cases, it’s hard to tell which tracks were made in the early 1980s and which were conjured up in 21st century studios.

As you’d expect, highlights are plentiful with a number of the most unknown or sought-after cuts appearing on vinyl for the first time. In this category you’ll find the Human League’s odd but inspired early number “4JG”, a near mythical 1982 live version of Liasons Dangereuses’ “Dias Cortas” (previously only available on a VHS video) and Chris and Cosey’s “Hybrid C”, a brilliant mid-’90s cut plucked from their CD-only album “Skimble Skamble”. You’ll also find a rare demo version of Clan of Xymox’s Dutch darkwave classic “Stranger”, which became a club smash across Europe in 1983.

Interstellar Funk has also chosen to showcase tracks by a range of DIY producers and lesser-known artists. These include Californian band Batang Frisco, who self-released a sole private press album in 1986 (their contribution, “Sewing Machine”, is dedicated to founder member Bill DiMichele, who passed away this year), Matthias Schuster’s Im Namen Des Volkes project – which contributes the previously unreleased 2014 track “Alles Ist Gewinn” – and Zahgurim, a short-lived early ‘80s act who reunited in 2018 to record their first new material since 1983.

If that wasn’t enough to set pulses racing, the compilation also showcases a solo track by sadly departed Psyche member Stephen Huss. Nobody is quite sure when Huss recorded “Infinity Sign”, but we can confirm this is the first time that one of his solo productions has ever appeared on vinyl.

Bassmæssage is the heaviest and most consistent bass music night out of Leipzig, operating way over 30 low frequency terrapeutic events since 2007.

Hosting ventral vibrations by the likes of Mungo's Hifi, Moonshine, Rupture, Hardwax and the homies of Jahtari, maintaining strong relations within the local soundsystem culture like Zoumo and Plug Dub and pushing a ton of grass-roots DJs and visual artists, out of doubt it is a sure shot for all who like it low and want it vibrant.

2015 saw the release of the "Volume One" vinyl, blending all kinds of styles and tempi by artists who had played at a Bassmæssage. Dub met Dubstep, Footwork went along some Snailfunk Drum'n'Bass and even Skweee had a cameo. And all this happened on one plate with a warm vibe from start to finish.

It is about time to revive the label with a new vinyl compilation named "Second Drop", following the tradition of a nice roundup across various bass music tearitorries. One side pumps at uplifting 160 BPM, while the flipside is shifting down to relaxing 135 and even 120 speeds.


Nuphlo and Bukkha team up for the energetic modern halftime piece "Drip". Nuphlo might ring a bell as part of The Nasha Experience from London and Leeds, connecting asian roots with nowadays UK bass sounds. Bukkha is state-side born and has recently emigrated to Spain, from where this worldwide touring DJ machine is firing a plethora of bass music styles on renowned labels like Moonshine, System and Innamind.

DjBadshape passes the breakbeat driven torch with handsome melodies and subby kickbass on "Drift" to reflect Leipzig's well various scenes. While checking her tracks on Defrostatica and Human, one may also find artworks for Bassmæssage and more.

Sun People is closing the 160 side with the deep but dirty retro 90s jungle bit "Rise Up". Combining Techno, Footwork and UK Hardcore Breakbeats, the Graz based bass buab made it to releases on Exit, Rua and Alphacut.

Flipping sides, Dub Across Borders redefines steppers dub into the dreamy yet rolling "Bass Tree Dream". The project was found by a Copenhagen dubber when living in Colombia, fusing the rural folklore with soundsystem energy into a world-bass music. This can be heard on labels like Basscomesaveme, Translation and 45Seven and is best to be experienced in its live dubbing appearance which premiered at a Bassmæssage in 2015.

Paranoid One grabs these feelings and drops them a bit more sinister, "Glimp" manages to hide a playful 4 to the floor kick as well beyond its smooth soundscapes and percussions. As Paranoid Society these split personalities from Tallinn were delivering to Modern Urban Jazz and Alphacut already since a decade at least.

bhed finishes with the slow far-away dubsteppish "Minerva". Make sure to not only check the releases on Row and Trusik but also the freshly baked Neuburg based live act in between cosy ambient and lush bass music at the next Bassmæssage on 18th November in LeipZig!

Italian born, London-based soundsmith Andrea Ottomani dons his Big Hands moniker for an excursion in modern dub on the burgeoning Teeth label. Ottomani is the artist behind the label Baroque Sunburst, which he runs with Soreab, and he also forms half of jazz techno unit Ottomani Parker with Abraham Parker.

The Vulgarity Of Snow is Ottomani’s woozy, lilting soundwalk through techno, experimental electronics and scorched earth acid. The untitled tracks are less like distinct entities and give way to a larger, conjoined pair of triptychs spread out over two sides of wax. They feel like a paean to the format, which no doubt comes from Ottomani’s time spent working at one of London’s most revered record shops. As a longer, more probing piece, it’s anathema to talk about The Vulgarity Of Snow in terms of bpms and sub-genres, and arguably it owes as much to free jazz and psych-rock as it does to more leaden styles such as dub and roots. At times it pays tribute to the work of acts like Basic Channel and Random Trio, deploying dub electronics in novel ways, but it is also broader in its choice of sounds. On B2, for example, Mino Carbone, the artist’s uncle and an Italian anarchist from the same lineage as artists like Dario Fo, plays a song from that tradition. It’s not a chaotic piece, but it’s not heavily constrained.

Teeth is an ideal home for Ottomani’s freeform work, following contributions to Beat Machine, Blank Mind and Oscilla. The label is the brainchild of Jojo Mathiszig, who also runs Farringdon record shop and radio station Kindred. Slade graduate and Kindred co-founder, Scarlet Griffiths, supplies the artwork following on from her recent exhibition at Dinner Party Gallery.

The last of the Konduko series from Emotional Rescue arrives now and quite possibly it is the best of the lot from Noel Williams. His 'Fantasy' saw him work with Larry Dermer aka Der Mer on what is an effective and catchy electro jam that operates at the higher end of the tempo chart with some classic vocoder vocal action to really make it pop. Despite being released originally in 1984 this one still bangs with its emulated TR-808 beats and nagging melodies. The instrumental heightens that and then the Jonny Rock Discomix shuts down with long-form rework that shows why the DJ, editor and all-round amiable bloke is so well regarded.

Up the mountains, deep in the forest, I found these plants that live on sound and water. They don’t need light and therefore are unlike any other plants on this planet. Their peek of activity is during the night, when they are covered with a thin, black layer of nocturnal light. Night lies on these plants like a thin membrane. Their roots absorb drops, waves of sound and its vibrational intonation. When humans eat this plant they fall asleep and start dreaming instantly.

In this dream they become these plants, who are unnamed, and are able to feel the pulsation of their — now own — roots. Many years ago, when language was more sounds than codes, these plants were everywhere to be found in the planetary landscape. Nobody knows yet why these plants are only to be found in the high mountain in its deep forest. It is said that once you enter this forest it will not be easy to find your way out. Like in a dream, you need to be guided by a strong wave of consciousness to find your way out and back to the ground.

180g, black vinyl. Warm and harmonic, this four-piece Scandinavian soul act deliver nostalgia steeped tracks with a timeless feel. Described as the bastard lovechild of Fleetwood Mac, Khruangbin, obscure Motown singles, hip-hop duo Eric B & Rakim seasoned with a bit of Stevie Wonder, Selda Bagcan, Elis Regina and Ted Gärdestad, Dina Ögon borrow across decade, country, and genre, ultimately delivering cohesive and homely retro pop from a laidback Nordic horizon. With two critically acclaimed albums under their belt and backing from the likes of Tyler The Creator, many sold out tours and and an organic growth and word of mouth build up on a global level in just two years, they are gearing up to release their third album "Orion" in February 2024.

Limited Crystal Clear Vinyl. Warm and harmonic, this four-piece Scandinavian soul act deliver nostalgia steeped tracks with a timeless feel. Described as the bastard lovechild of Fleetwood Mac, Khruangbin, obscure Motown singles, hip-hop duo Eric B & Rakim seasoned with a bit of Stevie Wonder, Selda Bagcan, Elis Regina and Ted Gärdestad, Dina Ögon borrow across decade, country, and genre, ultimately delivering cohesive and homely retro pop from a laidback Nordic horizon. With two critically acclaimed albums under their belt and backing from the likes of Tyler The Creator, many sold out tours and and an organic growth and word of mouth build up on a global level in just two years, they are gearing up to release their third album "Orion" in February 2024.

Sharpshooters is the long-awaited collaborative album from Destruct & DJ Zole. The two Natives from Southern California who have been true contributors to the Los Angeles Hip-Hop scene for over a decade now. Sharpshooters showcases a vast arrangement of styles blended into one solid LP with a hint of nostalgia hence the title of the project.

Sharpshooters while paying homage to the golden era of Hip-Hop also has a fresh perspective on how the culture sounds today and at the same time inspired one of the greatest wrestlers, Bret Hart.

In a refreshing way it all culminates into a unique experience for the listener with amazing guest features to back it, at the end of the day Sharpshooters represents two genuine and diverse artists entering their prime and creating a timeless piece of art appropriately named after a legend’s finishing move.

Sharpshooters is released on vinyl by the label Mind The Wax as of March 8th, 2024 and includes 11 tracks.
Destruct has been in the music scene and has released over 30 studio albums including two with his live band "Inner City Soul". He has been blessed as well to run his own studio "Area 52" where he provides recording and executive producer services. He also has a film production company now called “The Resident People” where he has directed and filmed several music videos and short films with much more to come.

By today, Destruct has rocked hundreds of shows with legends like KRS-One, Slum Village, Dilated Peoples, Rakim, Psycho Realm, Method Man from Wu-Tang & more. He has also collaborated with artists such as Grammy award-winning Sirah, Sean Price, Kev Brown, Blu and Exile to just name a few.

All and all Destruct is here to be much more than your everyday Hip Hop artist, but a true contributor to the culture and lifestyle, progressing the movement forward. Destruct is here for a legacy, not a trend.

DJ Zole is a DJ/Producer from Southern California. He gained his experience coming up as a touring HipHop DJ and Producer/ Turntablist who has been a DJ for major acts ranging from Sage Francis (Strange Famous Records), Atmosphere, Abstract Rude, Project Blowed, 2Mex, and many others.

Since 2004, DJ Zole has travelled the globe performing and creating. He's a highly decorated engineer and producer with his degree in Audio Engineering Mixing and Mastering Certified through Musicians Institute Hollywood.

Enigmatic Mancunian Act AnD brings a dynamic and raw take on modern techno in his dj sets. He maintains always strong analogue production ethics and showcase this in his heavy hitting live show. Alongside production work that takes in everything from techno to electronica to hip hop with the uncompromising AnD attitude towards sound design.Always expect the unexpected!!!” Embracing the shadowy outskirts of techno, AnD’s covert productions on his own selftitled white label series looks to push them even further into their own brand of sonic destruction. In doing so AnD follow in the footsteps of UK luminaries Surgeon, Regis, James Ruskin and The Black Dog by continuing to shape a genuine and unflinching vision of techno. – credits All music by AnD Mastering by Joe Farr

Optimo (Espacio) started life as a weekly club night. It was born at The Sub Club in Glasgow on a wet, windy, wintry November Sunday night in 1997. Run by JD Twitch and partner in crime Jonnie Wilkes. Optimo was a reaction against what felt like an increasingly conservative musical soundtrack in clubs here at that time. Clubland felt as if it had become very bland and a bit too serious; it was the era of the dawn of the Superstar DJ. Clubs often felt like bastions of male energy. It seemed dance music and culture was going somewhere far, far away from where it was meant to be. The notion of fun had got lost.

It was no longer the world they had devoted ten years of their lives to already, and lots of their friends felt the same. When the opportunity came up to do a Sunday night at The Sub Club it felt like the perfect opportunity to rip it all up and start again. So they did. There was nothing in the city (or possibly anywhere) like it. As the club believed wholeheartedly in what they were doing, there was no pressure from The Sub Club to fill the club. So, they embraced the freedom. Groups of people who had never been in the same room at the same time before came together. A community of kindred spirits started to emerge.

Word spread, slowly. Lots of people checked it out. Many loved it, some hated it. The core of the Optimo idea was to embrace music they loved that might work on the dancefloor from whatever era or genre they thought felt right. It might not seem very radical now but at that time it was revolutionary.

After about a year and a half, the club went from having 100 people attending most nights to suddenly one week having 500 people turn up. It was very weird. It was as if a collective light bulb went off in people’s heads in Glasgow. From that week on, until the very last weekly Sunday night at the Sub Club, in 2010, over a decade later, it was packed.

There were 550 Sunday Optimo nights. A LOT of music was played. So, what was the music? People often find it hard to pin down exactly what Optimo is. This has been a positive but also a negative as we live in a world where people want easily defined “brand identities”. The simplest definition of the music played is “music for dancing”, which of course is a very broad definition. Even better than trying to define it in words, we have these 2 volumes of music that give a hint of what that might be.

This is not a “Best of Optimo” or a “Greatest Hits of Optimo” compilation. For people who come to, or used to come to the nights there are of course “Greatest Hits”. But, over such a long timespan they are “hits” belonging to a certain moment in time and space. Someone who came to Optimo in 1997 would have a completely different notion of the big tracks at the club to someone coming in 2003, or 2010, or today. This compilation is just a snap shot missing several genres that might make up the DNA of Optimo. There is though a broad sweep through lots of music Optimo loves, that they believe is amazing. Music that they know will rock a dancefloor, that they have played between 1997 and 2023. Of course Optimo nights were not all about rocking the dancefloor. The first hour was always a time for them to play music they loved that often was far removed from the dance. Side 1, Volume 1 of this compilation is the kind of music one might hear at the very start of an Optimo night.

Optimo have always loved a good slogan. The most long lived, and fitting Optimo slogan is "We Love Your Ears", which is in essence what it is all about to them.

The Spellbound EP serves as a profound exploration into GIDEÖN's artistic soul. Commencing with politically charged tracks, "Study War No More" on side A is an acid-garage hybrid rallying support for emergency aid in Gaza. On side B, the euphoric "Marcus Garvey" urges a reconsideration of the life and teachings of the Jamaican activist. "Spellbound" delves into an ultra-deep meditation on black magic, while "Hora De Bailar" transforms into a Latin sleaze-fest, embodying the label's steadfast commitment to militant queer Deep House.

GIDEÖN describes the EP as a faithful representation of his worldview, stating, "Two of the tracks were written to soundtrack the struggles of our time. Both 'Study War No More' and 'Marcus Garvey' are pieces of music created to motivate, elevate, activate, and educate the dance floors of today in preparation for the struggles immediately before us. I see music as a weapon, a weapon in our dance music community’s arsenal that we can use to lubricate, incentivize change around us."

In addition to the politically charged tracks, the EP features two deeper, sleazier offerings that vividly capture the essence of underground queer dance floors and darkrooms. These tracks resonate with GIDEÖN's experiences at renowned clubs like Bassiani in Tbilisi, K41 in Kyiv, Berghain in Berlin, Basement in New York, and Adonis in London.

GIDEÖN boldly declares, "I set out to do EXACTLY what the global religious right-wing extremists are so opposed to: the PROMOTION of homosexuality." This sentiment underscores the EP's mission to advocate for diversity in the face of opposition.

***After birthing Street Riffs, their hi-definition, hi-energy, statement from 2020, CCR Headcleaner turned inward. The retreat from the pro-studio to the home studio was partially by design and partially decided by global events. Cleaner is very much a pandemic album, more of a homespun head trip than its predecessors. At the same time guitarist, songwriter and spiritual center of the group, Lacey Emmanuel, left the Bay for the shores of Lake Michigan. By most accounts an apocalyptic live-band became by and large a home recording animal. This is most apparent when Headcleaner turns up the balladry. “Don’t Feel the End” is a proto-metal campfire anthem, and “Everyday” hovers somewhere between keyboard misfit John Bender and the White Album. Make no mistake, the record will still be filed under “Punk” at your local record shop. It kicks off with “the brining pt. 2” the hottest slice of Funhouse free-rock that the band has committed to record. “Too Much” gives us its jail abolition rap over a two chord hardcore stomp. In a town (San Francisco) that is experiencing something of a DIY pop renaissance, Headcleaner has always fought to establish the fact that they have actual songs. This is no 70s throwback, but instead an attempt to up the ante. Without all the rock histrionics, technical arrogance and misogyny can the rock riff deliver on its ultimate promise: heavy music for total liberation. All tracks were mixed and lovingly fucked with by none other than Eric Bauer at his Bauer Mansion (RIP) Chinatown SF.

Dazzle rolled deep. Very deep. In the 1980s, it wasn't unusual for the Milwaukee-based group to show up at various Midwest night clubs in a caravan of 30-40 cars and vans. Their live following was hard won over a career that spanned 20+ years, many line up changes, and a handful of project names. Friends, family, and fans made the journey with them weekend after weekend, a testimony to both the musical prowess of the group and the tight-knit community that they emerged from.

Donald Smith, band leader, was there the whole time - joined by many of his siblings and friends - first as founder of the Ghetto Players, a early 70's nine-piece which also included siblings Michael, Ronald, and Charles. They played hard funk in the style of early Kool and the Gang, and although they sadly left no recordings, the strength of their live act managed to catch the eye of local Milwaukee R&B music entrepreneur Cobie Joe Payne. Cobie had made a couple of records locally in the early/mid 70s as a singer, including the impossibly weird and amazing rare afro-blues-funk 45 "Sweet Thing", but had never enjoyed national success. When the Ghetto Players disbanded in the early-mid 70s, Donald soon put together a new group, C on the Funk (the 'C' referring to lead vocalist and sibling Charles), under Payne's tutelage. Sister Lorrie Smith came in as the drummer, the line-up being fleshed out by brothers David and Melvin Johnson, and friend Robert Mitchell. After a few years as a strictly live attraction, they drove to Chicago and produced a single, "In the Disco" / "A Place" for Payne's small record label Sweet Thang Records in 1980. Lacking the financial backing needed to supply the local R&B disk jockey's "promotional fees" , this single sadly languished in obscurity, gathering dust inside the local tavern jukeboxes and manilla promo envelopes that comprised Payne's DIY distribution network.

C on the Funk were traveling the Mid West extensively at this point, and making some important friends on the road. Ike Wiley Jr. of the Dazz Band/Kinsman Dazz took particular interest and the band was re-christened Dazzle, partially as a tie-in with Dazz, partially to embrace the new sounds that would distinguish the 70s disco scene from what record collectors and DJs would now refer to as the "Boogie" era. There no doubt was a stigma attached to the word "Disco" as the eighties began, and as we see in this collection C On the Funk's "In the Disco" is remixed and transformed into the psychedelic synth instrumental of Dazzle's "Disco's Out", a title which embodies both the next-step approach Smith and company were pushing for, and humorously comments on the state of black dance music in the early 1980s. The Dazzle recording, done in Chicago in 1982, updated the sound and featured an expanded line up, most notably a second synth player (Charles Washington), and a percussionist/second lead vocalist (Greg McDonald). The added synth textures and deep percussive grooves give the Dazzle recordings an elegant late night vibe that resonate just as well in a good pair of headphones as they do on the dance floor. The trance inducing cough syrup-warble of "Explain" may best exemplify this here. Sadly, a pressing flaw in the 12" halted production and promotion, and the EP and the songs within were lost to the ages. The group, having done a much better line in the live music business, followed that path instead all the way to the early 90s. --bio provided by andy noble

Roberto Agosta, or just Agosta as he likes to be called, is a Sicilian DJ and producer from Catania active all along the eastern coast of Sicily, a place that proved to be a soulful place and a training ground for a long career, making him an excellent music selector and a reference point in the spread of alternative music.

A soundtrack music enthusiast since he was a child, now a vinyl "serial gathere", Agosta has always put his vast knowledge at the service of a very personal sound that sums many different music styles and contaminations, simple and profound but straightforward and direct at the same time.

Agosta’s eponymous album, released on LP, CD and digital formats, was conceived during the Covid-19 lockdown, thanks to the precious collaboration of friend DJ and producer Massimo Napoli aka Galathea, with whom Roberto has already started another project called AN-AN that will produce a new record for Space Echo at the end of 2022.

This record highlights a typical chill-out aesthetic, thanks to its trip-hop and ambient rhythms and atmospheres, while a deeper exploration reveals the psychedelic essence of the entire work, a daring and exciting journey in the most primitive Sicily, and the energy that sustains all of its ten tracks.

Much of their author and his lifestyle - mainly based on meditation, the search for spiritual elevation, the relationship with nature and the regaining of contact with those particular places and with the people who live there - is revealed by those tracks that constitute a soundtrack for this spiritual but also extremely physical journey.

The song titles are, in fact, intrinsically linked to Roberto’s real life: the Gorna and Ilice mountains at the foot of Etna, the Carricante vineyard and its excellent wine, Unna, Three Chestnuts, Varanni, Don Alfio, Lady G. Each of them represents a pleasant and dreamlike narration and the escape from the complex dynamics of a city like Catania, among echoes of the most dreamy Pink Floyd, the softer side of ’70s krautrock, but also the Massive Attack and Tricky’s Bristol scene.
There’s also an excellent choice of synthesizers and overdubbed guitars, thanks to the talent of the multifaceted musician and producer Salvo Bruno Dub, and of Manuela Amalfitano, Loredana Poidomani and Deran Obika’s voices.

Agosta is an introspective, deep work with a cinematic vocation, perfectly rooted in the territory where it took shape, among sunny landscapes, lush with vegetation but also deserted and arid lands. From Sicily to the cosmos... enjoy!