quête:third son

Barabajagal is the seventh studio album, eighth album overall and most fascinatingly the third of our re-issue programme from British singer-songwriter extraordinaire Donovan. It was released in 1969 and again features production duties by Mickie Most.

Whilst remaining leftfield in spirit, there is a musical vulnerability to the latest iteration of Legss, and a newfound pop sensibility to their writing, which reflects a move to a more accessible sound. There is a security in inaccessibility, and shedding this cloak opens the band up to an earnestness at once exciting and nerve-wracking. Twinned with their signature world-building aesthetic, the new direction is reflected sonically by drummer Louis Grace, who co-produced the album with Balazs Altsach (Ugly, Katy J Pearson, Broadside Hacks) - set to be distributed by The state51 Conspiracy.

On the announcement of their debut album, Unreal, the band say:
“Unreal feels like the work of a lifetime. We can’t believe we’re still here to see it through, but we are and we couldn’t be prouder. The album is about miscommunication and feelings of unreality/the uncanny in everyday life; the tragic and the comic.”

ABOUT LEGSS
Merging intricate guitars, disquieting monologues and a rhythm section both technical and unruly, London’s Legss create a wholly unique sound.
After meeting and forming in London, Legss released their experimental, darkly satirical debut EP Writhing Comedy in 2019, which received heavy airplay on BBC 6 Music. A year later the band’s much-anticipated, genre-bending sophomore EP Doomswayers was released in the shadow of the pandemic, championed by BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders and BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq.

After the release of their single ‘Hollywood’, Legss signed to The state51 Conspiracy and released their third EP Fester in 2023, recorded at The Church, which saw critical acclaim from the likes of the Sunday Times, Quietus, Independent, Line of Best Fit, So Young Magazine, DORK, L&Q, and DIY.

In 2024 the band were included by Simon Reynolds in the afterword to a republished edition of Mark Fisher’s seminal Ghosts of My Life (Zero Books).

Legss are Louis Grace (drums, synth), Ned Green (vocals, guitar), Jake Martin (bass) and Max Oliver (guitar)

Buoyed by an ever-evolving collage of pop influences, Mumble Tide’s work has regularly swung between the sweet and savage, the grungy and glistening. But at its heart is the meeting of two minds; singer-songwriter Gina Leonard and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Rogers. Over the last few years they have honed their distinctive brand of kaleidoscopic indie, all anchored by Leonard’s crystalline, plaintive voice.

Now, following a series of acclaimed singles and EPs, they return with new single ‘Pea Soup’, the third to be previewed from their upcoming debut album ‘Might As Well Play Another One’, to be released on the 1st May via Breakfast Records. Produced by Stew Jackson (Massive Attack), it’s their most self-assured and compelling work to date, a sweeping, orchestral vision of struggle, sadness, and the beauty in between.

Un-easy listening from »anti-singer« and improviser Sofia Jernberg, a celebration of the voice in its rawest, most malleable form. Jernberg was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Vietnam and Sweden, so one can only imagine these diverse languages opened up a wealth of phonetic possibilities before she entered academia to study jazz and composition. If you dive into her catalogue you’ll clock her startling range – working as a jazz soprano and as an improviser, collaborating with everyone from Stefan Schneider to Mats Gustafsson, as well as appearances on the stage and screen, most notably in Matthew Barney, Erna Ómarsdóttir, and Valdimar Jóhannsson’s »Union of the North«.

On »Voice«, Jernberg provides a ground-level entry point to her work, meticulously running through a litany of unconventional techniques (non-verbal vocalisation, split tones, toneless singing, and distortion) without any effects, just pure batshit sonics designed to show off the voice’s scope as an experimental instrument. On »Mouth Synthesizer« she purses her lips to make ratcheting pops like some analog oscillator, hoarsely mimicking the sort of blustery, Merzbow-coded distortions you might get if you patched a RAT pedal into a broken guitar amp. It isn’t an act of caricature, it’s Jernberg’s way of demonstrating that expensive modular rigs aren’t an essential tool for experimental music, before throwing a side-eye to the field recording industrial complex on »Birds«, transforming her vocal chords into a nightmare aviary. But it’s Jernberg’s startling »multiphonic« experiments that hit hardest. The album opens on »Multiphonic I«, and it’s difficult to tell that you’re listening to a human voice at first – you could just as well be on Colin Stetson’s overblown sax airstreams. Jernberg creates a captivating spiral of crooked, phased tones and hoarse, guttural croaks that she develops over three movements. On »Multiphonic II«, her voice is turned into a storm of pained shrieks, and on the third and final segment, it almost resembles Arve Henriksen or Jon Hassell’s muted brass curlicues. Each track pulls a different musical muscle, whether it’s »One Pitch« with its unsettling yodel-like quivering drones or »Gurgle«, sounding like a close mic-ed recording of a small pot gently simmering.

Finlay Shakespeare is an electronic musician working from the UK and across Europe. A childhood obsession with his parents’ record collection led him to both create his own music and build his own synthesizer equipment throughout his teenage years. After studying audio engineering, he was invited to become in-house engineer for the Moog Sound Lab UK, leading to collaborations with acts as diverse as Suicide, Charlemagne Palestine, The Grid and Mica Levi & Eliza McCarthy, both in live and studio environments. In 2017, Finlay began recording a series of monthly “Housediet'' releases - all improvised and captured at home utilising drum machines, modular synthesis and processed vocals. After several encounters with Peter Rehberg of Editions Mego, a compilation of the Housediet tracks was drawn up by Rehberg and Shakespeare, culminating in the release of “Domestic Economy” in early 2019. “Solemnities' ', a second album for Editions Mego appeared the following year. In the period since Rehberg’s untimely passing, Finlay has recorded for Superpang, Modulisme and his own GOTO Records imprint. “Illusion + Memory”, meanwhile, continues on from where “Solemnities” left off, with Finlay once again aiming to work at the fringes of electronic pop. Alter is proud to present “Illusion + Memory”, the third full length physical LP of Shakespeare’s utterly unique and sophisticated output. Shakespeare’s obsession and knowledge of late 70’s and early 80’s electronic pop music is once again at the forefront of this intense and dynamic release. Alas, this is not some retro throwback. Shakespeare’s deep understanding of his machines breathes new life into a genre of music once defunct. Supporting the likes of Blancmange bolstered his reputation for sublime synth hooks and dark lyrical content. Building on his previous work in the field “Illusion + Memory” is an unabashed pop record, as joyous as it is intense, moving from the brooding opening ballad “Your Side of the River” through the punchy “Theresa” which could be read as a love song to Throbbing Gristle’s United. Elsewhere “Climb” unleashes the opportunity to the dancefloor as wild electronics snake into all manner of schizophrenic shapes. There is a romantic side to this music. In its homage to electronic pop of the late 70’s and early 80’s but also in the emotional punch Shakespeare injects into every second of every track. Shakespeare’s reboot of these musical forms is technically impressive, one rich in feeling and deep in emotion, atmospherically and vocally. The two come together to create a unique visceral sonic experience… today!

Presenting the third thematic volume on the “Aquapelagos" series - a collection of split LPs where selected artists offer their own take into water surrounded cultures and communities. After the initial release of the Anthology compilation Aquapelago in 2022 (Discrepant ,CREP91) and the split LP Atlantico by Lagoss & Banha da Cobra (Keroxen, KRXN027) as well as the direct collaboration LP Índico by Mike Cooper & Pierre Bastien we proudly introduce an the third volume in the series in the shape of no other than two inspiring artists, Vica Pacheco and Pak Yan Lau. Two different sound journeys inspired by the majestic and peaceful Pacific Ocean, the vastest, largest and deepest ocean of our planet.

Vica Pacheco’s composition takes a calm meditation approach where water flutes and synths brush shoulders to create a ever expanding mind journey whereas Pak Yan Lau’s ambitions Neo classical piece, The Ocean in Us, talks about that grand overwhelming feeling, that vast space deep under, on the bottom of the Pacific. Both compositions were recorded and created with the particular wet acoustics of the Tank in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in mind.

From Philip Hayward and Matt Hill’s liner notes: ‘’The Pacific is a complex space, comprising a third of the Earth’s surface. A cascade of islands runs along its eastern flank, down from the Kamchatka peninsula, through Japan, Taiwan, The Philippines, Melanesia and on to Australasia. In its watery heart the islands of Micronesia and Polynesia stretch across huge distances, north-east to the Hawaiian archipelago, south east to Rapa Nui and south west to Aotearoa and Chatham island. Closer to the shores of the Americas lie Tierra del Fuego, the Galapagos Islands, Haida Gwaii and the Aleutians. This is a space that resists easy characterisation. The Pacific laps the shores of Japan and Chile, the beaches of Australia’s East Coast and the cold, damp coasts of British Colombia and Alaska alike. Indeed, the space is so vast that it is a world in itself and one rarely navigated in its entirety. In this manner, strands of genres and the songs that reflect them are components in an intricate mesh of associations.‘’ Philip Hayward and Matt Hill, April 2022

“Tubby did three original dub albums, ‘Dub From The Roots’. ‘The Roots of Dub’ and the third is ‘Brass Rockers’ with Tommy McCook ‘pon the flying cymbals. Where he mixed it with the horn going in and out in a dub way and one named ‘Shalom Dub’ you can call Tubby’s too because he mixed the versions as they were off forty fives’’

Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee

King Tubby and Producer Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee are intertwined in the birth of Dub Music. After discovering a mistake that made a ‘serious joke’ (more of which later...) they went on to release the first pressings of this new musical genre namely ‘Dub Music’. Tubby’s vast knowledge of electronics and Bunny’s vast catalogue of rhythms would lay the foundations of what today is taken as a standard... the Remix / Version cuts to an existing vocal tune.

Osbourne ‘King Tubby’ Ruddock was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 28th January 1941 and grew up in the High Holborn Street area of downtown Kingston. He studied electronics at Kingston’s National Technical College and also on two correspondence courses from the U.S.A... When he had qualified Tubby began repairing radios and other electrical appliances in a shack in the back yard of his mother’s home. His work in the early days included winding transformers and building amplifiers for Kingston’s Sound Systems. Tubby built his first Sound System in 1957 playing jazz and Rhythm & Blues at local weddings and birthday parties. His reputation as a man who knew and understood both electronics and music grew steadily and as the sixties drew to a close. Tubby
purchased his own basic two track equipment. He installed this alongside his dub cutting machine, a home-made mixing console, and his impressive collection of jazz albums in the back bedroom of his home at 18 Dromilly Avenue which he christened his music room.

Tubby and Striker were at Treasure Isle Studio’s one day while Ruddy from Spanish Town was working with the engineer Byron Smith....

“Tubby and myself was talking when Ruddy was cutting some dub but Smithy (engineer) made a mistake through we were talking and forgot to put in the voice. It was two track recording in those days. Ruddy said ‘No Man! Make it stay! and so they cut the rhythm. When I went over to Ruddy’s that Saturday night a dance was in progress and when they played the vocal to the tune... then he said we’re going to play ‘Part Two’. They never called it ‘Version’..and then he played the rhythm track. The song was a catchy song and everybody started to sing along and the deejay started to toast so everything went down well. On Monday morning I went up and I said ‘Tubbs the mistake we made was a serious joke.It mash up Spanish Town! The people went wild. So you have to start to do that now ‘cause when the man put on the ‘Part Two’ everyone start singing this song. It played about twenty times. I said you try Tubbs!’...Well the next Saturday night now when Tubby strung up down the farm U Roy said he’s going to play ‘Part Two’ but Tubby did it different now. He started with the voice then dropped it out and let the rhythm run and then he brought in the voice in the middle and from there Tubby started to get really popular.’’
Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee

Dynamic Sounds upgraded to sixteen track recording in 1972 and Tubby purchased, again with the help of a deal brokered by Bunny Lee. The old four track equipment and the MCI console from their Studio B. The four tracks now gave him far wider scope to work with and he began to create a new musical form where the bass and drum parts were brought up while the faders allowed Tubby to ease the vocal and rhythm in and out of the mix. It was only a matter of time before Tubby’s dub plate experiments began to make it on to vinyl and the first ever long-playing King Tubby releases would feature a collection of his mixes to a selection of Strikers rhythms. So please sit back and enjoy this historic set of sounds. Lovingly restored and with a few extra gems added to the CD Editions. These releases were the first to carry the name of King Tubby and the first to credit the great musicians that contributed so much to the rhythms that made these albums possible.

The Meth Lab returns for its third instalment with “Meth Lab Season 3: The Rehab,” a sharp, hard-hitting chapter that cements Method Man’s place as one of hip-hop’s most consistent and enduring voices. Executive produced by longtime collaborator Handz On, this project finds the Wu-Tang legend in rare form—polished, precise, and laser-focused.

“The Rehab” pulls listeners back into the world Meth has been building since the first Meth Lab sessions: a mixtape-style showcase blending razor-sharp lyricism with streetwise storytelling, packed with energy and attitude. Method Man’s flow remains timeless, weaving between gritty boom-bap, polished modern production, and the unmistakable Wu-Tang aesthetic. A strong lineup of guests brings extra fire to the set—Cappadonna, RJ Payne, Redman, KRS-One, JoJo Pellegrino, Jadakiss, Carlton Fisk, Hanz On, Intell, Iron Mic, 5th Pxwer, Chunk Bizza, Eddie I, Cortez, and more—each stepping into Meth’s world with their own hard-edged energy. Behind the boards, producers like P. Version, Rockwilder, Eric Sermon, Adam McLeer, Daniel C. Wells, Darnell Norman McConnell, and Joshua D. Zimmerman craft a gritty yet refined sonic framework that elevates every performance.

More than just another chapter, Season 3: The Rehab feels like a victory lap: a culmination of decades of craft, a celebration of the Staten Island movement, and a reminder that Method Man still out-rhymes rappers half his age. It’s a must-own for Wu-Tang fans, East Coast purists, and anyone who appreciates sharp writing and decades-deep mastery.

Explicit isolation is the third album by the international collective E/I, led by composer and percussionist Szymon Pimpon Gąsiorek. The group’s seven core members came together while studying at Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory and the Royal Danish Academy of Music. For this latest release, they are joined by Slovenian musicians Samo Kutin (hurdy-gurdy) and Kaja Draksler (organ), alongside Danish tuba player Rasmus Svale.

The three compositions distill sound down to its essential elements, drifting freely through space. The material is minimal, moving in the geological rhythm of endless cycles of tension and release, formation and dissolution, density and lightness. Pimpon acts here more as a guide than a creator with a master plan. He is a navigator, leading us to the most crucial moments where sonic emissions merge into vibrating drones, building to an inevitable leap—an explosion after which the particles rearrange themselves once again. It feels like futuristic temple music infused with intergalactic spiritual jazz, the extensions of drone music, and acoustic ambient textures, all highlighted by the jolly grin of the navigator.

“I wrote the scores and asked each of the musicians to record their parts individually. What’s interesting for me about doing it this way is that it removes the element of immediate interaction and introduces a factor of randomness. I then edited and mixed it myself, also adding my own parts. Previously, it was strictly acoustic music, and the recordings were ‘live,’ meaning they were captured in one room at the same time, with no subsequent edits.” Pimpon has also incorporated electronics, which make the album even more airy and organically complement the sounds of the hurdy-gurdy and organ, recorded in Trboje, the small Slovenian village.

When you listen to birds, they usually talk about food, sex/family, or anxiety. If they knew about the true nature of humanity's cruel and exploitative relationship with birds, they would be discussing rebellion. Humanity's current trajectory about birds is to cause the extinction of one-third of all bird species by the end of this century.

This record crystallises the borders between memory, beauty, and anxiety. At the core is an amalgam of all the birds we have met and heard, their sounds synthesised from a blend of memories. Esthetically it simulates the qualities of bird sounds, hitting similar frequential sweet spots. There is a great variety of birds captured here, from high to low frequencies, from solo voices to groups, from birds standing on their own to complex world-building, where the bird voices are part of an ecosystem, becoming one of the instruments.

You could stop there, enjoying this record on a musical level, but it invites us to do one step further, to consider reconfiguring our relationship with the Earth and its inhabitants. To question our impact, and to ask why we need synthetic bird music. Is it just a visionary endeavour or is it because we are failing at fostering a world in which organic birds and other creatures can thrive?

32 artists from the whole world, including our favourite artists from Eastern Europe, have contributed to this compilation both with new and previously released music. Their music is ordered from dawn to dusk and into the night. For many of the artists it's their first time on mappa, but some have previously released an album with us.

BLACK SWAN Return with Third Album “Paralyzed” — A Masterclass in Melodic Hard Rock Robin McAuley (McAuley Schenker Group), Reb Beach (Winger, Whitesnake), Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, The End Machine, ex-Dokken), and Matt Starr (Ace Frehley, Mr. Big) — collectively known as BLACK SWAN — are back with their explosive third album, Paralyzed. Following the critical acclaim of their previous releases, the supergroup once again delivers a powerful statement in modern hard rock. With all songs written and composed by McAuley, Pilson, and Beach, and expertly produced by Pilson, Paralyzed showcases Black Swan at their peak performance — offering a dynamic mix of towering vocals, razor-sharp riffs, and hook-laden melodies. The band’s chemistry continues to shine, elevating their songwriting and musical delivery to new heights.

Tracked at Pilson’s Los Angeles studio, the album reflects the tight-knit synergy among its members. McAuley’s commanding vocals remain as ageless, while the instrumentalists deliver with precision and fire. Much like its predecessors, the new record is a testament to the individual and collective talents of these seasoned musicians. Far from being a patchwork of their previous bands, BLACK SWAN has firmly carved out its own identity. Paralyzed is fresh, heavy, and melodically rich — a cohesive and compelling album that feels both classic and contemporary. Building upon the blueprint laid by their debut, Shake the World, the band expands their sonic universe. The result is a record that not only meets but surpasses expectations, cementing BLACK SWAN as a formidable force in the modern hard rock scene. Whether you’ve followed these legendary musicians since the heyday of '80s rock or you’re just now discovering their magic, Paralyzed is essential listening — a masterclass in melodic hard rock delivered by artists who continue to defy time and expectations.

KIK is the new project of two core strategists of sonic enigma HHY & The Macumbas: Jonathan Uliel Saldanha & João Pais Filipe. Ditching acoustic instruments in favour of drum synthetics & tightly controlled sound design, the duo's debut album NIGHTSHIFT focuses on off-kilter club tracks that thwart 4-on-the-floor flavours whilst maintaining trance-inducing extended cycles. If the devil is in the details, this is all about the spectromophology of the details.
Beginning with moving morse code blips in an odd time signature We Can't Dance announces the characteristic unlife of the album's pulse. Once the kick enters, syncopations progressively accumulate into a weave of interacting rhythmic lines. Smoke Machine's groove is reminiscent of the riddims Saldanha explores in his HHY & The Kampala Unit, adding scintillating pads and snippets of blitzed out laughter.

The album's third track, Proff, hearkens back to the initial pulse, displaced and pitched down in register. Here's a more meditative temperament on display, where the regular geometries of the club have been moved into higher-order structures. Segments rise & fall into earshot. Deepening the meditative mood, Back Room explores a short melodic leitmotif anchoring the track's wander- lust.

The rhythmic assault continues in Tactical Gear, bringing further experiments into polyrhythmic contours exacerbated by preci- sion movements of echo & delay. Limping can be heard as a what-if sonic fiction taking Autechre-inspired abstractions through Durbanoid Gqom terrains. The album closes with its longest track, Night Shift, that segments into shifting sound worlds.

Drawing from industrial grit, cybernetic percussion and the eerie fluorescence of after-hours energy, NIGHTSHIFT exists in the liminal space between body music and abstraction——a soundtrack for phantom warehouses and malfunctioning machines. This isn’t just music; it’s an immersive sonic environment, a journey into the heart of deconstructed dancefloors.
For fans of Rian Treanor, Proc Fiskal, Jlin and Lorenzo Senni.

Most recently, HHY has been collaborating with Nyege Nyege through projects such as Kampala Unit and Arsenal Mikebe, performing live with the ensemble alongside Valentina Magaletti, and producing records for artists like Fulu Miziki, as well as collaborations with Phelimucasi, Rey Sapiens, Kingdom Choir and others. He also released Camouflage Vector: Edits From Live Actions 2017–2019 on the label, a live album featuring two tracks with Adrian Sherwood.

Previous collaborations include Tunnel Vision with Badawi (released on Tzadik), the HHY & The Macumbas album Beheaded Totem on House of Mythology, and Fujako (Wordsound, with MC Sensational), along with double-bill shows with acts such as Clipping and Death Grips.

Temple Balls, the high-octane hard rock band from Finland, is back with a brand-new self-titled album. Over the past few years, the band has kept busy both in the studio and on the road, solidifying their reputation as one of the most exciting live acts in the genre. Having opened for legendary acts such as Sonata Arctica, Queen, Deep Purple, and Uriah Heep, Temple Balls have proven they can command any stage—whether it’s a massive festival or an intimate club. Their live shows are explosive, turning skeptics into die-hard fans with their raw energy and undeniable charisma. The journey began with their official debut single, “Hell and Feelin’ Fine,” released in September 2016, which gained heavy rotation on Finnish Radio Rock. Their debut album, recorded in May 2016 at Karma Sound Studios in Thailand, was released on February 24, 2017. Produced by Tobias Lindell (Europe, Mustasch, H.E.A.T.), the album marked the band’s bold entrance into the international rock scene. In the fall of 2017, Temple Balls embarked on a sold-out Finnish tour with Battle Beast, made their live debut in Japan, and completed a five-day tour across Ukraine. Their popularity soared in Japan, where readers of the country’s biggest rock magazine Burrn! voted them the “Second Brightest Hope,” and they were named “Newcomer of the Year” on Masa Ito’s Rock TV. Their sophomore effort, Untamed, released on March 8, 2019, received rave reviews from major music outlets including Soundi and Burrn!. A European tour alongside Sonata Arctica further cemented their reputation as a world-class live band. Their third album, Pyromide, marked their debut with Frontiers Records and was a melodic hard rock tour de force produced by Jona Tee (H.E.A.T.), packed with powerful riffs, massive hooks, and arena-sized choruses. In May 2022, Temple Balls toured Europe with Swedish melodic metal giants H.E.A.T., followed by a busy summer festival season across Finland. The lead single from their fourth album, Strike Like a Cobra, was released in March 2022 to widespread acclaim. That same year, they completed work on their next full-length, Avalanche, released in fall 2023, featuring the single “No Reason,” which dropped globally on June 22. Now, with their new self-titled album, Temple Balls continue the sonic evolution started with Avalanche, delivering an even more personal and refined sound.

Stoop Kid is the jangly indie rock project of Diest-born Jens Rubens. After Camp Careful (2021) and Mount Cope (2023), Stoop Kid returns with his third full-length album Office Overdue, a ten-song collection that captures the quiet fatigue, flickering humor, and
fragile hope of keeping it together in a world that won't slow down.

'Office Overdue' is a collection of songs Jens made at home in his modest home studio. For this album, he wanted to let go of pressure and expectations more than ever, and only work on music when he genuinely felt like it.No fancy studio, no producer, just walking upstairs and messing around. The result doesn't always sound perfectly polished: the drums are sometimes clumsily programmed and more than a few wrong notes made it onto the record. The guitars were allowed to hit a bit harder this time, with the '90s slacker vibes coming through more prominently. The result is a record that feels raw and honest, and above all, was made purely out of enthusiasm.

Office Overdue explores the attempt to keep functioning in everyday life while the world around us feels on the verge of collapse. The songs move between mental exhaustion and self-reflection, carried by a dry, sometimes bitter humour that helps lighten the weight. The album focuses on repetition and routine, and on the tension between wanting to care for others and being trapped inside one's own head. Themes of anxiety, guilt and dissociation recur throughout, but are always accompanied by small moments of connection, gentle resistance and acceptance. Office Overdue embraces the mess, the doubt and the false notes, without drawing grand conclusions. Not everything is resolved, but the persistence remains.

Wigwam's previously unreleased rare live recording from 1976 out in February via Svart Records In the summer of 1976, Wigwam performed not only in Finland but also in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany. However, the pace slowed down afterward. The early autumn tours planned for European countries were cancelled, and even the replacement shows in Finland had to be postponed due to bassist Måns “Måsse” Groundstroem's sick leave. In October 1976 an opening appeared in the schedule for a studio session, during which Jim Pembroke’s third solo album, Corporal Cauliflower’s Mental Function, was recorded. After that, Wigwam played five gigs in Denmark at the end of November, followed by an equal number in Sweden. No exact information has survived about the concert setlists, but the band was in a stable phase, and certain songs had become staples in their live repertoire. Albums from Wigwam's deep-pop era, which began in autumn 1974, as well as Pembroke’s first solo records had already been released, and rehearsals were underway for what would become the Dark Album, released in 1977. It can be said that this concert, recorded for Danish Radio, is a strong representation of the band’s era at the time. The recording took place in northern Denmark, in a district called Lundtofte in Lyngby. Before this, Wigwam had performed in Køge and Århus, and after Lundtofte, gigs in Ballerup and Copenhagen awaited. Lundtofte was home to the Danish Technical University (DTU), where a student venue called “Studenterhuset” (Building 101) hosted a one- to two-day music events known as Polyjoint during the 1970’s. The events typically featured Danish bands, but also visiting acts like Wigwam. Most importantly, Danish Radio was sometimes present at these events. Wigwam had performed a studio concert for Danish Radio the previous year, but this particular recording is considered the more energetic of the two. Details have faded with time — for example, the identity of the second act at the concert is unknown. In any case, both guitarist Pekka “Rekku” Rechardt and keyboardist Pedro Hietanen remember the band being in high spirits, in top form, and highly motivated.

Wigwam's previously unreleased rare live recording from 1976 out in February via Svart Records In the summer of 1976, Wigwam performed not only in Finland but also in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany. However, the pace slowed down afterward. The early autumn tours planned for European countries were cancelled, and even the replacement shows in Finland had to be postponed due to bassist Måns “Måsse” Groundstroem's sick leave. In October 1976 an opening appeared in the schedule for a studio session, during which Jim Pembroke’s third solo album, Corporal Cauliflower’s Mental Function, was recorded. After that, Wigwam played five gigs in Denmark at the end of November, followed by an equal number in Sweden. No exact information has survived about the concert setlists, but the band was in a stable phase, and certain songs had become staples in their live repertoire. Albums from Wigwam's deep-pop era, which began in autumn 1974, as well as Pembroke’s first solo records had already been released, and rehearsals were underway for what would become the Dark Album, released in 1977. It can be said that this concert, recorded for Danish Radio, is a strong representation of the band’s era at the time. The recording took place in northern Denmark, in a district called Lundtofte in Lyngby. Before this, Wigwam had performed in Køge and Århus, and after Lundtofte, gigs in Ballerup and Copenhagen awaited. Lundtofte was home to the Danish Technical University (DTU), where a student venue called “Studenterhuset” (Building 101) hosted a one- to two-day music events known as Polyjoint during the 1970’s. The events typically featured Danish bands, but also visiting acts like Wigwam. Most importantly, Danish Radio was sometimes present at these events. Wigwam had performed a studio concert for Danish Radio the previous year, but this particular recording is considered the more energetic of the two. Details have faded with time — for example, the identity of the second act at the concert is unknown. In any case, both guitarist Pekka “Rekku” Rechardt and keyboardist Pedro Hietanen remember the band being in high spirits, in top form, and highly motivated.

From the opening notes – arriving as if in mid-air – to its final, cheerful burblings, Sean Mac Erlaine and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh’s Old Segotia is an album about friendship: both musical and human, the product of two distinctive musicians visiting each other’s worlds with a sense of veneration, and a sense of joyful wonder.
Here, Mac Erlaine (This is How We Fly, Quiet Music Ensemble) and Ó Raghallaigh (The Gloaming, This is How We Fly) meet on common ground developed over 20 years of playing together, with Mac Erlaine’s musical language rooted in jazz and sonic experimentation, and Ó Raghallaigh emerging from an Irish traditional music that he has shaped and reshaped in a deeply personal way.
In this place, Mac Erlaine and Ó Raghallaigh’s music is profoundly integrated and emotionally textured: at times bursting with explosive energy, at times almost sighing into life, but always searching. Here are the touching unison duets of ‘Cantandor’, the lyrical wanderings of ‘Swallow Dive’, or the flirtations with finding a groove in ‘Reverse Burst’.
The palette of instruments speaks to the album’s feeling of abundance, with Mac Erlaine performing on clarinets, chalumeau d’amore, three different flutes, car hooter, percussion, live electronics, Wurlitzer, synthesiser, vocals and alto saxophone; and with Ó Raghallaigh bringing his signature hardanger d’amore sound plus a turn on the flute and live electronics, too.
With the title echoing a well-worn Dublinese expression for “friend”, Old Segotia plays out with ‘Oiche Crua Sna Sleibhte’ (A Hard Night in the Mountains), with ornithologist Seán Ronayne’s field recordings of birdsong rising out of the musicians’ playful explorations, offering a taste of life echoing music, echoing life.

Haf is the third album from Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18 in little over a year, no mean feat in and of itself but especially considering Carwyn’s work with other artists (including Edwyn Collins and the North Mississippi Allstars) this year too.

The album picks up where their last (Fontana Rosa) left off, with around half the album being recorded analog to tape at Gizzard Studios in London, with one last tune remaining from their sessions at the legendary (but now closed) Toerag Studios.

There are echoes here of their first album, Joia! - the recordings were once again instigated by the great Brazilian producer and multi-instrumentalist who happened to be visiting London earlier in the year. He suggested doing something.... so they did. And there is a return to more definite Brazilian influences too - Tonnau Ar Tonnau is an homage to ‘Onda’ by Cassiano, Keep On Smiling has a distinct samba / chorro feel. Gwenyn y Gwanwyn (about helping a bee out if you see it struggling) is very much a nod to the psychedelic samba funk of Antonio Carlos e Jocafi. But other Latin styles still loom large: on the sultry salsa of Bella Estrella or the melancholic Andean ballad, Lagrimas Frias.

Anglo-Brazilian singer Nina Miranda features on the Lalo Schifrin goes samba Shades of Red, while new addition to the Rio 18 family (at least on record), Miriam Isaac adds a real RnB edge to the record, along with some beautiful duets: the Salsoul banger Como Te Amo and the gorgeous Whistling Sands (about a beach in North Wales) are standouts.

In reverse to how Carwyn made the first two Rio 18 albums, Haf was recorded in London
and Wales and mixed over five hectic days in Rio. Three days later, it was mastered and at
the pressing plant. Time doesn’t wait for Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18!!

Finally, the song ‘Haf’ and the album itself are dedicated to Haf Morris, Carwyn’s late music teacher - he says, “her focus, guidance and patience shaped me like no other. I hope she’s enjoyed my musical journey, from wherever she’s watching. Diolch, Haf”.

Fiat Lux return with Desire & Belief, their third album of new material this millennium, following their acclaimed comeback LPs Saved Symmetry and Twisted Culture. The trio—Steve Wright, Will Howard, and David P Crickmore—combine modern production with vintage synths and instruments rooted in their Polydor-era beginnings to craft ten tracks that span cinematic atmospheres, synth-pop anthems, and moody electronica. Tracks like "Clear Sky " and "Turn Me Around" offer hook-laden synth-pop, while "Summer Solstice " and "Am I Dreaming " delve into ambient and darker tones. Desire & Belief is a natural progression for Fiat Lux—retaining the spirit of their 1980s Northern roots in synth, goth, and indie, yet confidently stepping into new sonic territory for long-time fans and new listeners alike. RIYL: Blancmange, OMD, Scary Thieves, Tears For Fears

Formerly one third of the much-loved trio Black Box Recorder, alongside The Auteurs’ Luke Haines and Jesus and Mary Chain guitarist John Moore, the British singer-songwriter Sarah Nixey has steadily gained acclaim as a solo artist who makes savvy, sophisticated and poised pop.

Delivering vocals with a detached elegance over opulent tracks, any perceived nonchalance in Nixey’s luxe, cut glass voice belies her empathy, where social commentary serves as protest, both explicit and implied. Like Billy Bragg deepfaked as prime Julie Andrews, this strange but effective juxtaposition radiates soft power. ‘Lies of the Land’ depicts a corrupt post-Brexit and Covid-19 world where inequality and division flourish. ‘England's On Fire’ delves into the nuanced concepts of patriotism and nationalism, and ‘Pleasure Bay’ narrates the story of a love affair with a deprived yet beautiful English seaside town, written after Nixey left London, drawn back to the Dorset coast.
More than just a political record though, Nixey was drawn to the poetic elements of living too, telling stories of life and death, love and loss, conflicts and symmetry, in an intimate and close-up way, as if whispering secrets to her listeners.

“Sea Fever explores the bittersweet beauty of human life amid a volatile world of changing seasons and brutal elements,” says Nixey. “These are songs of deep sorrow, remembrance, birth, and change, set against a backdrop of the sensuous natural world.”
‘Rolling Waves’ explores profound grief following her beloved grandmother's death, while ‘Spring Equinox’ celebrates the joy and awe of life after welcoming her first grandchild. ‘At the Edge of the Forest’ is a poignant story of someone losing their memory, and ‘On This Wide Night’ recounts the early hours return home of a teenage runaway.

Loaded with tension and anchored by bold textural and stylistic contrasts, Sam Slater’s third solo full-length finds the British sound artist, composer, and engineer grappling with his creative contradictions head-on.

Having spent a life time in bands and producing records, Sam transitioned somewhat by accident through his work with Johan Johansson into working as a composer on high profile projects such as his collaboration with Hildur Guðnadóttir on the Grammy Award-winning Joker and Chernobyl, and with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov on the soundtrack to the lauded 2000 Meters to Andriivka. Having a vast set of interests and influences is an asset when helping realise a directors vision for a soundtrack, but one's own musical voice can end up being constrained. In Lunng, Slater has gone back to his wildly divergent range of influences and rather than shy away from the extremes, he's used them to create a singular vision.

Take the opening track “Heatsick”: Slater imagines an extravagant fusion of 2000s drone metal and vintage British brass, welding ear-splitting overdriven drones and blown-out choral vocals to stirring trombone swells from veteran player Hilary Jeffery. On paper, it’s hard to imagine—but Slater’s intentionality conducts these polarizing elements into a surreal blur of sonic extremes, with the guitars’ relative harshness softened by Jeffery’s eerily nostalgic colliery echoes.

His last solo album, I do not wish to be known as a Vandal (Bedroom Community, 2022), showcased this breadth by assembling a team of collaborators including Sam Dunscombe and Yair Elazar Glotman. On this record he’s linking up with acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Maria W. Horn, idiosyncratic sax virtuoso Bendik Giske, versatile percussionist Adam Betts, and the aforementioned Jeffery, Slater ushers these players toward a lattice of calculated confutations.

Working to explore the tension between the divergent practices of his collaborators—Lunng was meant to be challenging. On “Praya”, Giske’s familiar overblown horn phrases are almost vaporized, vanishing among Slater’s weightless synths and Horn’s chillingly hoarse vocals. There are traces of Horn’s Funeral Folk project, but Slater shifts the emphasis, letting her voice brush past the other elements like a hallucination.

Slater’s use of extremes isn’t just in the micro; dynamics drive the album’s overall flow. “Praya” sets the stage for the record’s heaviest, most prickly moment: “Passengers”. Here, Horn’s voice cracks, rasps, and gurgles over serrated synths and Betts’ ritualistic drums. Slater turns an industrial symphony into a folk opera—dark, dramatic, and strangely beautiful—etched with Giske’s fluttering phrases.

But the mood soon shifts. Slater careens toward chaos, unleashing double-time rhythms and piercing textures familiar to anyone with a soft spot for classic black metal. These grotesque incongruities are deliberate; Slater surveys years of musical conflict and leans in, using dissent as fuel to build kinetic energy.

The weight of sentimentality bears down on “Black Metal Rewind (Night Drive Astra, 2006)”, melting teenage memories into hypnagogic ambience—shoegaze dreams whirled with angelic choral delusions. On “Death by Nostalgia, 1688”, he ventures further into polarizing territory, distorting AutoTuned voices with cryptic strings and medieval tonalities, unsettling any stable sense of past or present.

In this record Slater focuses on pure energy, color, and mood. Lunng distills years of listening into a bracing brew—boiling each sound down to its essence, then serving it with unflinching intent.

John Twells, 2025

Purple vinyl. With Abyss Calls to Abyss, their third full-length album, Skulld bring to completion a path that began in 2019, a journey through old-school death metal, esoteric mysticism, and radical punk-rooted activism. Written and recorded in 2025, the album unfolds as an eight-track odyssey exploring the furthest edges of human and spiritual experience through a feminist, pagan, and anti-authoritarian lens. The abyss evoked by the album is not only an external, cosmic void, but also an inner, personal, and collective chasm, the place where death and rebirth collide, where wounds and healing, desire and destruction intertwine. Each song delves deep into the essence of being, merging ancestral ritualism, female mythology, social critique, and archetypal symbolism into a single, cohesive vision.

SPIRIT!, the third LP from HUNNY, is about embracing the weird-an album born from uncertainty and built on instinct. It"s a testament to breaking free, starting over, and tuning out the noise. Now the sole project of longtime frontman Jason Yarger, HUNNY has shed its past shape to become something more fully itself. SPIRIT! doesn"t reinvent the wheel so much as keep it spinning forward. Across 15 tracks, the album-co-produced by Yarger and former bassist Kevin Grimmett with drums by former drummer Joey Anderson-leans into the sounds that have always lit HUNNY"s fuse: hooky post-punk, gleaming synths, and shout-along choruses praised by Alternative Press, Kerrang!, and Rock Sound. But it also pushes further-into abstraction, playfulness, and freedom. It"s the latest turn for HUNNY, a band long celebrated for shapeshifting through genres and decades with style on fan-favorite releases like Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. (2019) and new planet heaven (2023)-always evolving, yet unmistakably themselves. That dynamic energy carries into their high-voltage live show, sharpened on tours with Joywave, Mom Jeans, Waterparks, and State Champs.

After last year's widely acclaimed third full- length album "Bloem" found its way into the hearts and minds of many listeners, it did not take long for the duo of M. Koops and B. Mollema to return to the studio and record an immediate follow up. But do not be fooled by this quick succession of releases; "Gegrepen door de Geest der Zielsontluiking" is in many ways a polar opposite of what "Bloem" had to offer. Guided by a spirit of self- transcendence, Fluisteraars sought to indulge in a deep current of animalistic urge. From murky depths to the high towers of the soul, "Gegrepen..." is an exaltation of a new language, a breaking down of barriers and revaluation of underlying routine. Utilizing a minimalist and spontaneous recording style proved fruitful in this endeavor: only doing one take of every instrument, only recording the natural acoustics of the room instead of the close- up registration of sound so ingrained in modern production. The duo recorded exactly one song each studioday. No overdubs, no synths - they started every day by setting up a new sound palette for each song.

In March 2025, "On the Love Beach" performed solo shows in Shanghai and Beijing with Toushi Naoki to great success.

2025 marks the 30th anniversary of their memorable debut album, "On the Love Beach," and the band's first three albums are being reissued on CD and vinyl!

All three albums use the original master tapes, and each has been thoroughly remastered under the supervision of Shinji Shibayama for high-quality sound!

"On the Love Beach"'s third album, released in 1999, is a two-disc masterpiece that holds a unique position in the band's history, and many fans secretly cherish
the original LP version.

Shibayama's motivation for recording this album was to explore whether the concept he experimented with with Hallelujahs—"pursuing the uniqueness and
improvisation of the performance itself within the format of a pre-written song"—would work in a fixed band format rather than a session, and what the results would be.
It was a bold (and reckless) production approach: all basic tracks, including the lead vocals, were recorded live in the studio in one take, with no re-recordings allowed,
and overdubs like the chorus were kept to a minimum.

Although there are discrepancies between the punk-inspired performances and vocals due to the unedited concept, this is a rare example of the wild energy of a
band captured so authentically with such high sound quality in Jap-rock, and, regardless of its merits or demerits, it is undeniably compelling.

The raw sound quality, capturing the irreversible, fleeting interplay, demonstrates the outstanding engineering sense of Peace Music's Nakamura Soichiro,
and the pride of the rock band "Nagisa Nite" is evident throughout.

It's also noteworthy that this "Nagisa Nite" album contains the most solo works by Masako Takeda. Naturally, it's meticulously remastered from the original
master tapes for exceptional sound quality!

Already fifteen years that Cléa Vincent has been stepping on stage with that childlike fervor, that passion for pop and its elasticity, from her early days in Parisian bars to last year’s show at the Bataclan for the release of her third album Advitam Æternamour. You could say she needs no introduction, her name being inseparable from some of the most exciting work to emerge in contemporary French independent music. From the very beginning, she asserted her taste for spontaneous, candid, sunlit music, turning her songs not only into spaces of introspection but also into small capsules for dialogue. She collaborates constantly, with Kim Giani, Jeanne Balibar, Alison Wheeler, Jacques, NUSKY & VAATI, João Selva, Les Clopes…driven by a desire for sharing, for visions that meet and collide across genres. Alongside her work as a composer, she dedicates herself to giving a voice to the artists around her, notably through her show Sooo Pop, broadcast on YouTube in 2018 and 2019, where she welcomed guests as varied as Christophe, Moodoïd, Mathilde Fernandez, Katerine, and The Pirouettes. Like others of her generation, she claims the influence of francophone pop from the 1980s, but rather than being a successor to Jacno, Cléa draws from everything that shapes her era, fully plugged into the present, its faces, its energies, its collisions. She travels too, a way of reshuffling the cards of her inspiration, and her discovery of South America, of bossa nova and samba during her tour dates, became the catalyst for her series of EPs Tropi-Cléa.

Die Third-Wave-Ska-Band Less Than Jake wagte im Jahre 2000 mit "Borders and Boundaries" einen mutigen Schritt. Unter der Leitung von Produzent Steve Kravacat lehnt sich das Album stärker als alle vorherigen Alben an Skate-Pop-Punk an. Anfangs polarisierte die Veröffentlichung (einige Kritiker schrieben, sie wünschten sich mehr Bläser und mehr ,Major-Label"-Sellouts, obwohl die Band wieder zurück bei einem Indie-Label war). Punknews bezeichnete das Album als ,unterschätzt". Chart Attack aus Kanada und Rock Hard & Ox-Fanzine aus Deutschland waren jedoch anderer Meinung. Ebenso wie Downed in Sound aus Großbritannien, das dem Album die perfekte Bewertung 10/10 gab und schrieb: ,Jeder Song ist so verdammt eingängig". 25 Jahre später ist "Borders and Boundaries" nun das meistverkaufte und beliebteste Album der Band. Die 25th-Anniversary-Edition enthält fünf bisher unveröffentlichte Demos und einen neuen Mix von "Is this Thing on?" von Tom Lord-Alge (u.a. Sum 41 ("Fat Lip"), Sevendust ("Waffle") und Angels & Airwaves ("The Adventure") sowie Weezer, Blink 182 etc. Gelbes Doppel-Vinyl in Gatefold Sleeve, Bonustracks auf de C-Seite, UV-Druck auf der D-Seite.

Introducing Luka Lickshot aka Luke Palmer aka the Wolverhampton Wolverine, prolific reggae DJ and genre warping producer of all things low end inclined.

In previous incarnations Luke has released hypnagogic house for labels such as Workshop and Third Ear, but with his debut LP release ‘Shots Fired’ he takes a sharp turn into the leftfield.

Sonically triangulating early 80s Manc post punk existentialism, 90s darkside trip hop and UK (On-U) sound system culture, the result is something like a more ruffneck Massive Attack jamming with Dome in the Black Ark.

‘Shots Fired’ was forged in an underground Peckham hideout, under strict parameters of time and space, fusing conventional instrumentation with digi know-how, improvised vocals, one take licks and dub fx. Pretty much impossible to pigeonhole the ten tracks but adjacent to / resonant with Giulio Erasmus, DJ Marcelle, Tricky, ‘Hex’….

Are you Looking for Love? Advice? Good Luck? Then you’ve come to the right place. Fortune Three, the third release in the Psychic Readings catalog, Peach continues to explore her sound bringing 4 tracks dedicated to the dance.

It starts with In Ur Dreams, an ode to the dreamers and lovers in your fantasies. Peach gives some subtle organ hits a whirl with deeper basslines and punchy drums. Next, a track inspired by and sampling an old Christina Aguilera interview, What U Got is a warm, beachy roller which is reminiscent of hotter temperatures. Pretty pads, shiny stabs, and a weighty bassline create an endlessly playful groove – a Peach signature.

On the flip, we see Brady’s Song mixed two ways – the first being the deeper cut of the two, Brady’s Song slowly unravels melody after melody, playing with sassy stabs and a bassline on the subbier side. The Afters Edit takes a more upfront and jacking approach, focusing on the ability of the bass to roll through the whole track – shimmering percussion and the same stabs from the B1 carry us through until the last second.

All the tracks are a testament to her many moods as a DJ. From club use to home listening, this is an EP dedicated to the dance.

The second volume in Death Is Not The End's survey of a form of Brazilian country music known as música caipira ("hillbilly music") - a stripped-back forerunner to música sertaneja, the Brazilian equivalent to US country & western which in it's contemporary form has come to dominate the domestic music industry in recent decades. This collection covers some of the earliest recordings made by the pioneering folklorist Cornélio Pires at the end of the 1920s, through to records from the 30s, 40s & 50s and the beginning of the 60s.

Somewhat rooted in Portuguese troubadour folk traditions, música caipira is typically performed by a duo singing in parallel thirds and sixths, drawing upon a Portuguese-Brazilian style known as moda de viola - with the viola being the viola caipira, a Brazilian-style ten-string guitar that is the core instrument of the music. Born out of the "outback"-style region in north-eastern Brazil, these songs tell stories of pain, love, loss & betrayal - often backed by homemade guitars using invented tunings. Away from the polished pop country & western-stylings of the sertaneja, these recordings could be viewed as the Brazilian equivalent to the roots music of the American dustbowl or Appalachia.

Futura Resistenza is pleased to present the latest release from the prolific, restlessly creative composer-performer Anthony Pateras, two side-long pieces - one performed by Callum G'Froerer on double-bell trumpet, the other sung by Clara La Licata - in which soloists are accompanied by numerous pre-recorded tracks of their own instrument or voice, creating acoustic halls of mirrors where the distinction between live performer and recorded accompaniment becomes difficult to perceive. Palimpsest Geometry (2020) for double-bell trumpet & tape works with rapidly pulsed single trumpet notes, at brisk tempos that hover at the perceptual threshold between rhythm and tremolo. The interaction between different rates of pulse produces skittering echoes, as if G'Froerer's layers of trumpets were really a single sound bouncing around the sonic space. There Is A Danger Only Our Mistakes Are New (2021) for voice & tape goes to work on a see-sawing two-note melodic cell, insistently transposed and transposed again, hummed or sung with open vowels, contracting to a semitone and expanding to a minor third. More than anything in the canon of Western art music, the piece calls up the criss-crossing repeated figures of Inuit vocal games or the interlocking repetitions of Banda-Linda music, where rhythmic and harmonic displacements of repeated motifs fuse together individual parts into the illusion of an impossibly rich and multi-faceted unitary sonic organism. Essentially homogeneous in texture yet built up from constantly changing details, broadly static yet always moving and shifting, these pieces exemplify Pateras' recent work while also pushing it into a new, strikingly immediate direction. Here, form grows organically out of the material itself; the results are sparkling, immersive, and quietly uncompromising. (Francis Plagne)

Benedikt Frey supplies the aid kit. Sonic remedies for the night.

4 transmissions for after-dark navigation. Remix from Carl Finlow.

For its third release, Club Blanco welcomes German producer Benedikt Frey. Aid Kit delivers three original pieces of shadowy club machinery - tense, wonky and charged with late-night atmosphere and rugged vocals. Electro veteran Carl Finlow reassembles the parts with clinical precision, crafting a remix that hums with circuitry and steel. Together they form four doses of deep club music.

Wiccans only make noise when they feel like it. A band that’s been uttered in reverence for nearly two decades with only a handful of releases, each one a stand-alone classic.
You see, it’s hard to pinpoint a band that actually has the equal influences of American psychedelia and hard rock all anchored in the glorious benevolence of American Hardcore. A tonne of bands dance around and flirt with each but it rarely lands in the sweet spot. They’re not trying to fit some supposed perfect space and that’s the very point so many others miss.
Wiccans are creating the space. Breaking rules and allowing a bit of breadth to what is often a claustrophobic style of music. This might sound scary as everyone knows that the more Hardcore evolves the worse it is - at least on record. The formula that Wiccans are playing with on Phase IV should scare you. It’s totally potent with odd songwriting, intensely creative and varied guitar work and completely pissed vocals. Phase IV does whatever the fuck it wants and passes the bar that only Wiccans could have set for themselves. All of this is propelled by a far stronger production quality than previous efforts and instead of having that expose some fault line it’s secured it as a modern classic.
It’s the kind of shit that will shake the dandruff from the beard of a Third Man collector but will also make that guy stop going to DIY gigs because they’re “too rough” or whatever. I’m just sitting here wondering if this is maybe what might have happened if Poison Idea wrote Hidden World. There’s always space for a carbon copy Negative Approach destroying someones basement and they usually put out a record that is clearly brilliant but fuck me if I can’t help but yawn.
Am I getting old or is Hardcore painting by numbers? In a slough of legitimately top tier Hardcore Punk releases, this one actually sounds like something truly special.

"“Back of My Mind” represents a bold, inward journey—a turning point in his evolving artistry. Gone is any trace of uncertainty: instead, Drew channels a quiet confidence, and understated shift in his music style while sharpening his sense of self and sound with remarkable clarity. As a testament to his growing talent, Drew played almost every instrument on the album, giving each track a deeply personal and authentic feel.

With a debut for the ages, Drew Pulliam is about to make his mark on the music scene as a triple threat – singer, songwriter and instrumentalist. Pulliam said, “I feel like this album is finally approaching what I hear as my sound. I just hope I’m on the right path
because it’s the only one I know.”"

‘No Fixed Point In Space’, the third full-length album by Jack Cooper’s Modern Nature, takes the palette of sound and themes that were honed on 2021’s ‘Island Of Noise’ and launches them into an expansive world of openness and vivid technicolour.

It’s a music that hasn’t been heard before; as melodic as anything Cooper has produced but framed by rhythms and instrumentation that reflect the chaos, unpredictability and colour of the natural world.

Certain moorings - woodwind, percussion, strings and Cooper’s lambent voice - are still present and recognisable from No Fixed Point In Space’s predecessor, ‘Island Of Noise’, but the new record marks a shift to utilising musical notation as a point of departure, from which the group explore the space around suggested notes and rhythms to create a semiimprovised, semi-composed ensemble performance.

These explorations of partly organised chance were recorded live and directly to tape.

This approach gives the music a remarkably fresh feel; songs pulse and evolve. The changes between movements, verse and choruses are almost all ambiguous. During the album’s opener, ‘Tonic’, a verse of hushed brevity washes away into a passage of overwhelmingly vibrant orchestration.

CD in four-panel digisleeve with 10-panel booklet with lyrics. LP pressed on 140g black vinyl with printed inner
sleeve and stamped postcard.

HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY, the 'supergroup' led by former MONSTROSITY and VILE frontman and current artwork artist Mike Hrubovcak and Rogga Johansson from PAGANIZER and RIBSPREADER are releasing their third full-length, "Disturbing The Cenotaph". Since the duo, completed by former THE PROJECT HATE drummer Thomas Ohlsson, originally picked up their moniker as an homage to the 1981 cult horror flick of the same name, it shouldn't come as a surprise they've once again paying tribute to director Lucio Fulci (1927-1996) in one of this album most lethal salvo, 'New York Ripper'. Elsewhere on this third album, other tracks like 'Undead Apocalypse' or 'Burial Disturbance' were inspired by other famous horror classics like "Night Of The Living Dead" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", Hrubovcak has come up in his lyrics with his own tales of terror. Some are totally fictional like, 'Coffin Colony' about a "diseased homeless living in underground coffins who gets infected with rabies after eating sewer rats". Others, like 'Lunatic Butcher' are inspired by real-life events or, in that case, by the antics and vicious killings of Paul John Knowles, dubbed 'the Casanova killer'. Musically speaking, Johansson jokes about "every band saying that their new album is their best but that's actually true here eh eh! This album is HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY on steroids. The sound is broad and impious, the vocals are awesome and the heavy riffing interlaced with occasional melody makes an overall varied, fun and GORY listen!" Completed, like on 2024's "The Mortuary Hauntings", by a gruesome artwork courtesy Felipe Mora (whose nightmarish visions can already be seen on albums by CONSUMPTION, ACHERON or WOMBBATH) and mixed by Håkan Stuvemark from WOMBBATH, Disturbing The Cenotaph is one raw, in-your-face and eight songs packed death-metal-to-the-core album ready to chill you to the bone!

love is everyday magic. That's the impression you get listening to Water, the new album by Chicago trio Dehd. Veterans of Chicago's increasingly fruitful DIY scene Jason Balla ( Ne-Hi and Earring) Emily Kempf (Vail and formerly with Lala Lala) and drummer Eric McGrady share a strange and inexplicable chemistry. The music is hazy and reverb-drenched, a scuzzy and hyped-up take on surf rock that could only come from the Third Coast. It's all animated by the red-lining feel-good spirit of the Velvet Underground's Loaded and the breezy melodicism of C86-era indie rock, with a dash of the Cramps' spooky-hop bop courtesy of McGrady's locomotive drumming.It's a clear-eyed look at the wild nature of everyday life that's been spun up in sugary sweet melodies and scratched-crystal sounds. More than anything, it's the embodiment of Dehd's m.o. from the start: As Kempf puts it, "Work with what you have and make it magical."

“So, how did this band even happen?” That’s the question most often asked of Winged Wheel, a creatively and geographically scattered collective who have somehow congregated to make a noise that’s unexpected but undeniable. The band includes Whitney Johnson (Matchess, Circuit des Yeux), Cory Plump (Spray Paint, co-owner of the dream venue Tubby’s), Matthew J. Rolin (solo guitar wizard and half of the Powers/Rolin Duo), Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Lonnie Slack, and Fred Thomas (Idle Ray, Tyvek), each player living in a different city and bringing their own unique element to the group’s chain reactions. Early long distance file-trading between a few members yielded 2022’s No Island, a debut album that was accidentally really good. Good enough for the band to expand their membership and meet in person for the sessions that became 2024’s Big Hotel, a surgically-assembled murk of high energy kosmische rock with jammed-out tendencies.

Fast forward just a little and all of a sudden the band that started out as a passing idea has completed multiple tours, become a taper’s dream with sets that drift through structure and improvisation, and ridden the momentum to places unforeseen on their third album, Desert So Green. After a run of shows across the Midwest in the spring of 2025, the group settled into a studio on the outskirts of Chicago to track their next record. Though the full lineup had only been solidified for a little over a year at this point, time together on stage led to a quickly-expanding sound and a unified vision of always going somewhere new. To this end, Winged Wheel abandoned the play-now-sort-it-out-later approach of Big Hotel and instead spent hours refining flashes of inspiration into coherent songs.

Bonbon Vodou’s third album (Épopée métèque), created by Oriane Lacaille and JereM Boucris, follows the paths of exile with lush orchestration and lyrics in French, Creole, and Gascon.

The bonbon piment (a spicy Réunionese fritter) is deceptive. Beneath its harmless appearance lies a fiery kick that can jolt you into clarity. Bonbon Vodou operates the same way. While the duo's musical influences sway between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, a sharp edge cuts through the tenderness of their graceful songs, often carried by the rhythms of maloya. This contrast gives depth to their third album, Épopée métèque, which takes us on journeys of exile—both across land and sea.
Oriane Lacaille is the daughter of accordionist René Lacaille, a key figure in the revival of Réunionese music in the 1970s, who has lived in mainland France for five decades. JereM Boucris’s father, from a Tunisian Jewish family, was 14 when he arrived in France at the end of the colonial protectorate. Their lives are interwoven with these paternal exiles, which they continue to explore and unravel, alongside the broader, universal stories of migrants fleeing poverty, persecution, and war.
The duo is now joined by a vibrant trio—Piment Piment (Juliette Minvielle, Roland Seilhes, and Yann-Lou Bertrand)—bringing a rich orchestration featuring guitars, flutes, brass, roulèr, kayamb, jaw harp… all set to lyrics in French, Creole, and Gascon. Their voices are joined by numerous guests, including Mouss and Hakim, Rosemary Standley, and Bernard Lavilliers. This playful yet poignant album explores themes of life and death—radiant but aware—seemingly echoing Camus: “There is no sun without shadow, and one must know the night.”

This is the third release by Trevor Dunn (Mr Bungle, Fantomas, Trio Convulsant, various with John Zorn) and Kevin Rutmanis (Tomahawk, Melvins, Cows, Hepa/Titus) On this outing Trevor joins Lords and Lady Kevin (duo of Kevin Rutmanis and drummer/artist Gina Skwoz) for a full length LP "Last Days at Hot Slit"

Songs are loosely based on assorted gospel, blues and jazz songs, some original, some covers. Included is a re-working of Mingus "Devil Woman". The trio based the pieces on improvisations that were then arranged and used to build free standing songs. A multitude of instruments were exploited by all those involved, to create a sizzling blend of aural delicacies. The album title is from a collection by writer Andrea Dworkin, often sited as the Celine of feminism. Less outre perhaps than their previous recordings, these songs hover somewhere between soundtrack- like excursions, to jazz/ blues mutations to a demented "rock" sounding affair. Something for everybody, or perhaps, nobody! Uniting former and current members of Tomahawk, Last Days At Hot Slit marks a powerful reunion between Rutmanis and Dunn. The record took shape gradually, born from Rutmanis's raw, unconventional bass recordings. "I sent Trevor a phone recording of some hideous bass racket and asked if he wanted to add anything," Rutmanis shares. "What he sent back was something like delicious fresh cherries with ice and banana slices." The pair's combined creativity gave rise to a new, immersive soundscape, while their collaborative piece, Crackpot Whorehead, set the tone for the current formation of Lords and Lady Kevin."