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Especial welcomes the return of Akio Nagase, Osaka's own 303 specialist, with a second EP of acid infused world music. After the success of his Asia orientated EP, here his ethno-inspired dance comes to and from Africa, the mother.

With a history of making reggae influenced electronics under the Makedub alias, his development to acid master continues to showcase a skill at fusing samples, effects and found sound in a dub-desk mix that is body moving and catchy at the same time.

With a mission to bring the music of the world closer, Acid Maasai Collecthiv sets the scene with TB 303 weaving around dub heavy bass, crossing the Athi river, seeking spirits to bind. Countries and continents are tribes and with a reopening world, the dance can encompass all; open minds to bring unity.

This is exemplified on the ethereal Morisyen Acid. Sound design, Mauritian samples and creole vibrate perfectly with Akio's acid work and simple but effective "predominately" repetitive beats to uplift like the Tamarind sunrise.

Acid mantra as mind-gateway continues with Serengeti Summer. An heir to Whoktish, this is Not Reggae, the 808 and 303 in harmony; a jam of man, machine and samples to bring today's ethno-blue storytelling through consciousness.

Closing is Jua, interweaving the fabric of life, passing down from generations the primal with the psychedelic beat to communal gathering, Akio presents the music with love and respect.

Last year, following the special vinyl 45 release of Samba De Flora - the Romero Bros from Argentina presented a full LP of Latin and Brazilian club flavours to be exclusively distributed worldwide on vinyl by Echo Chamber Recordings.

It received brilliant feedback from a wide range of DJs across the planet and the full version of Samba De Flora was licensed to Acid Jazz Records for their legendary Totally Wired Compilation LP - so it was a natural idea for a couple of those people to be involved in this next release on a vinyl 45 - with the two tracks that gained the biggest feedback

Side A - “Cravo E Canela” with the Romero’s great take on the classic Brazilian anthem from Milton Nascimento originally on their LP from last year which gained a lot of airplay at the time. This 45 release this has been given an extra special remix / update from the legendary Chris Bangs. He adds more bass bounce to the ounce and a funky shuffle to make it even more club friendly

Side B - “Gabriel” - their Latinized version of Roy Davis Jr’s 90s club smash. LA based DJ Greg Belson was such a fan after he got the LP, that he immediately made an exclusive edit to put on a 45 dubplate - to pack on his 2025 UK Tour - dropping it to devastating effect in place like Glastonbury and club dates across the country. So it was a natural choice to include this version on the flip of the 45 - under his Preacher monicker to align with his other releases on the sister label - Echo Edits

The fifth release on Objekt’s Kapsela imprint is (re)weave, an EP of crystalline club tracks from Detroit-born, London-based producer Tristan Arp.

(re)weave was written during a prolonged period of flux for the artist. “When I started making this record, my life and the world felt like a maze,” he recounts. As he routed and re-routed through past and future homes – Mexico to New York to Detroit to Mexico and finally to London – his output bore the marks of this repeated uprooting. “I was thinking about making music that reflected these twists and turns, and the knotty pathways through them. I was also re-reading Borges around this time, which must have influenced my interest in labyrinths.”

Accordingly, the EP is a mycelial puzzle, a tangle of spidery, undulating ostinatos and earthy percussion, stitched through with syncopated kicks. Employing the sounds of multitudinous critters and kin – whales, insects, thunder, water, forests – the arrangements sum to a sentient mesh of organic matter, the compositions living and breathing like earthly beings. Kaleidoscopic tendrils explore in every direction but are always underpinned by a driving, percussive backbone. It’s not easily classifiable: it’s bass-driven, but to simply call it “bass music” would sell it short.

In keeping with the winding geographical paths traced over the EP’s creation, (re)weave saw Tristan Arp revisiting and reinterpreting unfinished sessions and incorporating them into newer ideas. Rhythms and sounds have been transplanted and self-recycled from previous projects and woven into the fabric of the record. In this way, (re)weave also describes a looping back over time, a recalibration of the self from past to present through interlocking rhythms, channeling and communing with versions of oneself from times gone by.

The closing track, Wish Server, slows the EP to walking pace and hints at tentatively emerging from the deepest jungle into a delicate, innocent light. Tristan Arp imagines it as a dialog with a baby-self. “Some of my earliest memories are of sitting at my mother’s loom,” he offers. “The sequence of these tracks traces these feelings and follows the thread back to the primordial soup… through mazes… to a feeling of levitation.”

There's a tendency in metal to mistake aggression for honesty, volume for depth. To confuse the performance of darkness with its actual weight. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest, the new album from San Francisco-based post-black metal band Bosse-de-Nage, sidesteps this entirely. It’s the group’s most fully realized work yet, precisely because it refuses to be pinned down.

Bosse-de-Nage have been working with The Flenser for over fifteen years. They were one of the first bands the label ever partnered with and have the longest active relationship in the label's history. But unlike most bands who build momentum through constant touring and visibility, Bosse-de-Nage has largely existed apart from the music world's usual machinery. They've evolved on their own terms, in relative isolation, allowing the work to develop without outside pressure or influence. What began rooted in black metal anonymity has mutated into something that actively defies categorization. The aggression is still there, but it's no longer the point. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest finds the band treating emotions like physical objects, feelings with spatial properties. “No Such Place"" describes a space that can't exist but does anyway, somewhere between thought and location. ""Immortality Project"" examines infinite possibility not as promise but as problem, endless options collapsing under their own weight. These songs don't use metaphor to describe emotion. They make emotion into something you could theoretically touch.
Tracked by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Oathbreaker) at Atomic Garden East and mixed and mastered by Richard Chowenhill of Agriculture, Hidden Fires Burn Hottest was years in development, with some tracks beginning in 2018.

The long writing process offered time that most records don't get. Time to live with ideas, revise endlessly, to let structures settle. For the first time, lyricist Bryan Manning wrote everything in advance, creating a surplus to pull from rather than working under deadline pressure. The difference shows.
Coming off Further Still, an album built on constraint and economy, Bosse-de-Nage sought the opposite: sprawl, strangeness, fewer rules. Space for ideas to develop without rushing them. Dynamics that move through quiet as much as noise. Presence earned through atmosphere instead of volume. The record even includes ""Mementos,"" which might be considered the first love song the band has ever written.

Nothing here coheres into a theme. These are pieces pulled from low moments and private feelings made public through sound. The band has never been interested in positivity, in music that resolves cleanly or offers comfort. But bleakness doesn't mean humorlessness. There's something darkly funny running through much of it, even when it shouldn't be.
Hidden Fires Burn Hottest doesn't explain itself. It just insists: what you feel is as real as what you can see."

In Sheep’s Clothing announces the long-awaited vinyl pressing of Marc Leclair’s beloved 2005 album Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes. The album will also be available on streaming for the first time via Community Music Group.

For years after Marc Leclair released Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes, he heard from listeners who had lived with the record in an unusually intimate way. Many described how the music became part of the emotional landscape of the months leading to birth. “I never expected that,” Leclair says. “Many women told me they listened to the record throughout their pregnancies. They said it made a real difference, that it helped them. It became more than just a record.”

First issued on CD in the early 2000s, Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes (Music for Three Pregnant Women) now returns in a new edition from In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi, appearing on vinyl for the first time as a double LP. The record is being pressed in Detroit at Archer Record Pressing, the historic plant behind deep-groove classics by Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Underground Resistance, UR’s Jeff Mills, and J Dilla.

Listeners who know the Montreal-based Leclair through his better-known work as Akufen might be surprised by the tone here. During the same years he was shaping the intricate micro-sampling tracks that made Akufen a cult figure on labels including Perlon, Force Inc. and Trapez, Leclair was quietly developing this far more personal project. The meticulous craftsmanship remained the same, though the focus shifted from the hyper-detailed cut-up rhythms of his dance records toward something slower and more atmospheric. “I always compare my work to a jeweler,” Leclair says. “It’s really very precise. I’m a bit of a detail freak. I can spend hours or days on just one phrase in one song. Everything has to be perfectly put together.”

The project began almost accidentally. A few members of Leclair’s circle became pregnant nearly simultaneously, including one who had long believed she couldn’t conceive. The first track he recorded for the project wasn’t meant to advance a larger concept, he says. “It was meant to highlight the fact that three of my closest friends became pregnant at exactly the same time.”

Leclair was already a father with a three-year-old daughter, so the emotional terrain of early parenthood was familiar. Gradually the idea expanded. “I began thinking, why not make a whole album that celebrates this and also follows the entire pregnancy, the nine months,” he says. The music developed piece by piece, including a track originally commissioned by the Berlin experimental duo Rechenzentrum that would later become the album’s opening movement.

Nearly seven years passed between the first composition and the finished album, and the music mirrors the strange arithmetic of pregnancy itself. What begins as a single idea multiplies outward, sounds layering and branching until the album feels less like a sequence of compositions than a living process unfolding in time. “I work very slowly,” Leclair says. “Everything has to be something I’m completely behind. I never want to rush anything. I want things to come naturally.” Across its 72 minutes, the album blossoms with the patience of a long meditation on time, growth and emergence.

When Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes first appeared via Mutek, it circulated quietly but steadily. Critics who discovered it later recognized its unusual scope. In a 2006 Pitchfork review, Mark Richardson gave the record an 8.1, calling “150e Jour” “an unfailingly gorgeous and tightly sequenced quilt of guitar and piano samples reminiscent of Tangerine Dream,” and describing “85e Jour” as infused with “viscous pop ambient drift, the gauzy synth pads ebbing and flowing with rhythm.” Boomkat described the album as “a majestic opus from a producer that's always promised so much — here delving into a panoramic construction of almost visibly radiant music that works so beautifully through each and every second of its 72 minute lifespan.”

The new In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi edition finally presents the record in the format Leclair long imagined. “I always thought that record deserved a vinyl edition,” he says. Spread across two LPs, the music now has room to unfold at its natural pace. More than twenty years after it first appeared, Musique pour 3 femmes enceintes remains what it was from the start: a carefully shaped meditation on transformation and the quiet miracle of life beginning.

Release week Focus Track: Paint the Rain RELEASE TIMELINE 12/10 - TMR signs Natalie Bergman Announcement with video on Youtube: I Will Praise You (Live) 01/27 - Announce w/ PreSave/PreOrder IG1: Talk to the Lord + (music video) 02/24 - IG2: Shine Your Light On Me + (music video) 03/24 - IG3: I Will Praise You (album version) 04/21 - IG4: I’m Going Home Potential Video Asset - Live set of all the IG tracks released 05/05 - IG5 and Official Music Video: Paint the Rain 05/07 - STREET DATE w/ Focus Track: Paint the Rain Mercy is Natalie Bergman's debut, a self-produced solo album recorded in the strangest of times, during a personal period of profound sadness and reinvention. It's startling, and often beautiful — a rush to the edge of the cliff, with an unflinching look below Recorded at her brother's home studio in Los Angeles, CA, Bergman has already had a lengthy, successful career as one half of the brother-sister duo Wild Belle, but this is the first time she wrote and played all the material. This record absolutely pulses with redemptive power; it is replenishing and original, and deeply cathartic. And before we go any further, you should know that this is kind of a gospel record. It should also be said -- Natalie made this record because she absolutely had to. The music of Mercy began to germinate a few months after she lost her father in a wrong-way, head-on collision. He and her step-mother were killed by a drunk driver. Shortly after, Natalie visited a monastery in the southwestern desert, and there she began to embark on this album. "The first song I wrote on Mercy was 'Home At Last,'" she says. "It is the best song I have ever written. I sing a lot about home on this record. Believing in that place has been my greatest consolation. I had an urgency and desperation to know that my father was there. His sudden death was a whirling chaos that assaulted my mind. This album provided me with my only hope for coming back to life myself. Gospel music brings hope. It is the good news; it’s exemplary. It can bring you truth. It can keep you alive. These songs have kind of written themselves, and they rely on me to sing them.” Natalie Bergman made one of the first great albums of 2021.

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

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

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

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

‘Elevation’ is that record.

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

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

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

DJ Support: Paul Woolford, Machinedrum, Kettama, LDLDN, Sinistarr, A.Fruit, Machine Woman, Octo Octa, Paco Osuna, Bradley Zero, Tzusing, Lefto, Synkro, John Tejada, 12x12 and many more

BBC6Music - Gilles Peterson

NTS - LDLDN

BBC6Music - SHERELLE - DJ Mix and Interview

NTS - Ross Allen
Enter the kaleidoscopic world of Lone - returning to Greco-Roman for his first album in five years, ‘Hyperphantasia’

An artist who has been soundtracking dancefloors since the early 2000s, Lonemade his production debut in 2008 with “Lemurian”, a hip-hop inspired release before moving into the vibrant future-facing soundscapes we have come to know. His back catalogue ranges through house, rave, ambient and electronica, and on ‘Hyperphantasia’, Cutler sets himself the challenge to bring all of those influences together for one body of work that he describes ‘like an album in my mind’. Referring back to the album title, the definition of hyperphantasia is a condition characterized by exceptionally vivid and detailed mental imagery and for this album he tested himself to see how close he could get the music to sound exactly like what he was hearing in his imagination.

On Hyperphantasia, Lone deepens his relationship with vocals. Having previously relied on vocal samples or more abstract live vocal treatments, this latest album marks a shift toward richer, more pop-leaning sensibilities. Cutler makes a clear lyrical statement, enlisting a diverse and carefully chosen cast of collaborators: London-based artists and fellow Greco-Roman affiliates Ell Murphy and Lou Hayter, Barcelona’s breakthrough singer Bikôkô, cult Nottingham rapper Juga-Naut, and Hong Kong-born, London-based musician Merry Lamb Lamb. Together, they contribute to what stands as a career-defining project.

The end result is a cinematic experience exploding full of colour. You are introduced to the album with an old school rave anthem ‘Life Spark’ and an interlude welcoming you into this musical world. Like chapters in a novel, the album ebbs and flows beautifully between stripped-back melodies ‘Opening A Portal’, ‘Photographs That Don’t Exist’, ‘Sickly, Sweetly, Summer Movie’ and ‘Fruit Rots, Water Floats Downstream’, bubbling feel-good house ‘Affinity (Cloud Four Four Mix)’, ‘Triton’ and ‘ Wemove’, the rap-influenced ‘Throw The Ember’ and epic future-pop tracks ‘Miracle Mile’, ‘Big World’, ‘Scattergun’ and ‘Home’. The album ends with a full circle moment, back to the early hardcore and jungle rave scene, on ‘Ascenscion.png’.

Metric’s relentless pursuit of timeless songwriting and fiercely independent ethos have cemented their place as one of the most essential and ahead-of-the-curve bands of the last two decades. The trailblazing Toronto outfit was founded by songwriting and production partners Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw, along with bandmates Joshua Winstead and Joules Scott Key. Though both were also founding members of the influential and sprawling Canadian indie rock outfit Broken Social Scene, Metric was always the top priority, and shortly after they met and cemented their mission, they left Toronto for New York in search of like-minded artists. There, they found themselves at the center of the city’s burgeoning indie sleaze scene alongside bands like LCD Soundsystem, The Strokes, TV On the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol.

Their 10th studio album Romanticize The Dive harkens back to the free spirit of that era, kicking off with Haines nostalgically imploring the listener to “let me take you back, it was the start of something...” before pulling back the curtain on a band that has consistently stayed true to each other and their ethics for decades. In a tribute to lifelong friendship, the album also reunites the dream team behind their 2009 breakout album Fantasies at Electric Lady Studios in New York. All at once a heartfelt reflection on their history, a celebratory gift to those who have been along for the ride, and an outstretched hand to new fans, Romanticize The Dive is another testament to the band’s unwavering love for each other and their insatiable desire to push themselves as artists.

- 2026 repress -

SHDW & Obscure Shape launch new label Mutual Rytm with powerful eight-track V/A "Federation Of Rytm I", featuring VIL & Cravo, Lars Huismann, Grindvik and more.

Favourites for many within today's modern techno landscape, Stuttgart-based pairing Marco Blasi and Luigi Urban, aka SHDW & Obscure Shape, continue to grow their profile and position as artists leading the current new wave of techno. Having launched their first label From Another Mind in 2014, releasing material from themselves alongside remixes from the likes of Rodhad, James Ruskin and Dax J, early December welcomes the arrival of a new project and a second imprint to the fold, Mutual Rytm.

Showcasing a new dimension of techno and electronic music, celebrating originality and innovation by combining timeless cuts from the past with cutting edge sounds of the present and the future, the label will serve as a breeding ground for new artists alongside established talent and legends from the scene. Opening the imprint in style, the label bosses head up the first-ever release and the first V/A "Federation Of Rytm I" as they welcome a selection of new and established talent.

"Since the beginning of the global pandemic, we have been diving deep into the roots of our music and working on the aesthetics of our sound. That's when we realized that now is the right time to start a new project which differs from FAM, in both musical and artistic direction. The project will showcase a new dimension that aims to channel the authentic perspectives of both established and up-and-coming talents. With our new label, we want to give all artists the opportunity of musical freedom and expression of their versatility as producers. It is an honour to accompany the young artists on their careers, to see them grow and to help them in their development as musicians." - SHDW & Obscure Shape

The duos rolling opener "Conquest Of Paradise" quickly sets the tone and builds to reveal a classy and slick offering, combining rich stabs with tough drums and sharp hats, while Invexis keeps the tempo high as he weaves escalating synths and pacy kicks across "Elektronenwind". VIL & Cravo combine on the jacking and lively "Apolonia Loop", as eerie synths work amongst warped vocals across a tweaked out peak-time effort, before Alarico keeps the energy levels up throughout the relentless funk of "I'm Into You".

The second half of the package sees Lars Huismann enter the fray with the no-nonsense, snaking grooves of "Hyper Dub", with Nicolas Vogler's "Sauva Bite" fusing hypnotic tones with straight regimented claps for an intense yet playful ride through sounds and sonics. "Your Dry Lips" switches up the aesthetic as Grindvik journeys down a wormhole of metallic percussion and warping low-ends, before closing the show with authority via Stigmata's grinding and menacing offering "Gestas".

- 2026 repress / hot foil printed sleeve -

Limited Edition: Box with holographic hot foil logo print and five printed inner sleeves - No Repress

SHDW's label, Mutual Rytm hits a notable milestone at the start of 2024 as it turns two years old and hits its 20th release. To mark the occasion, the carefully curated compilation 'Federation Of Rytm III' arrives on February 2nd with a 30-track 5 x 12" boxset vinyl release and a further 6 digital bonus tracks.

Mutual Rytm is synonymous with serious, no-frills techno. It is a go-to for the world's most influential DJs and a home to some of the scene's most innovative producers. Over the last two years, it has explored several shades of sound, always with high-quality production and forward-thinking styles. A fine balance has always been struck between new and emerging talents and established names with plenty more to say, and that is the case on this collection which features the legendary likes of Blawan, Gary Beck, Colin Benders, The Advent and Dax J next to ANNE, Alarico, JakoJako, Chlar, LDS and many more.

Founder SHDW says, "I've poured my heart into curating a compilation of 36 tracks, a reflection of my deepest musical passions. The lineup is stacked with incredible artists, and it captures the label's essence - a fusion of artists spanning generations, united by a shared spirit and aesthetic, creating a seamless 'mutual rhythm'."

Although all 36 tracks stand alone as high-grade and club-ready dynamite, they also collectively form a versatile listening experience thanks to how they've been carefully assembled into a perfectly sequenced journey.

Each one dives into a different nuance within the world of techno and there is a range of moods from dark and driving to more energising and uplifting. The collection not only shows how far Mutual Rytm has come in a short space of time but also that it remains in a constant state of evolution and has a bright future ahead in 2024 and beyond.

SHDW's vision at Mutual Rytm was always to present a cohesive yet varied musical experience, and Federation Of Rytm III does exactly that.

Psychedelic MasterpieceOriginally released on Capitol Records in 1969, Euphoria’s debut album A Gift From Euphoria is an unsung album; one with incredible sonic radiance, masterful songwriting, and everlasting harmonies—with their fantastical combination of psychedelic, folk, country, and hard rock. The 15 songs set up a journey through the best of what had been happening within modern music by 1969. Comparisons to The White Album are apt as it leaps from genre to genre with shocking confidence, as if they knew this was their only chance to say it all on a record. But it was too good to last as this was the only album Euphoria made, one that is critically championed in hindsight and highly sought after nowadays, and it is Jackpot Records honor to be able to bring it to you. Now reissued from the original analog master tapes with the original cover artwork exclusively for RSD 2026.

Onna Last Live 1983 includes the final performance by the original line-up of Onna, the psych-rock project of revered Japanese manga artist, Keizo Miyanishi. Onna’s legend has largely rested, until now, on one self-released and self-titled seven-inch from 1983. Reissued by Holy Mountain in 2009, its rediscovery, along with several archival live and studio sets that leaked out across the 2000s, signalled to a wider audience the power of Miyanishi’s strikingly hypnotic songwriting. With Onna Last Live 1983, though, we hear the group’s perfect line-up performing at its peak.

While Miyanishi was the core member and conceptualist of Onna, the other members of the group would also go on to make significant contributions to the Japanese underground. Guitarist Michio Kurihara would eventually be known for his membership of YBO2, Ghost and White Heaven, and collaborations with the likes of Boris and Damon & Naomi. Drummer Ken Matsutani formed Marble Sheep & The Run-Down Sun’s Children and The Mickey Guitar Band, while also running the Captain Trip label. Joined by the late bass player Yasui Yutaka, to whom the album is dedicated, this quartet only performed live in 1983; the live set here was recorded at Silver Elephant.

It’s a different line-up to the Onna duo that’s documented on their single. After Miyanishi and fellow manga artist Mafuyu Hiroki recorded that material, Miyanishi decided he wanted to start playing gigs; Hiroki left, and Kurihara, Matsutani and Yutaka joined soon after. This line-up allowed Miyanishi to significantly expand Onna’s powers, leading to a sound that Kurihara once described to Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine as “repetitive and heavy, yet quite orthodox.”

The songs here are simple yet deeply effective in their repetitive power, generally revolving around two or three simply strummed chords for guitar. Bass and drums repeatedly lock into mantra-like grooves as Kurihara’s guitar scales the walls, with Miyanishi’s consumptive moans and sighs sent torquing through FX. The cumulative effect of the seven songs here is very heavy indeed; if the prologue “Always…” drifts beautifully through five minutes of placid, beseeching melancholy, the epilogue, “Never Seen A Light Like This”, spirals out into sixteen minutes of glazed-over psych-rock, completely monomaniacal and thrilling in its slow-motion tumult.

Throughout, you can hear Miyanishi and co. reaching for something ineffable, something beyond and between the notes. It’s a phenomenal performance; it’s also no surprise that the group disintegrated after this show, given its intensity. Matsutani and Yutaka left after the Silver Elephant show, with Miyanishi and Kurihara continuing through the first half of 1984 firstly as a duo, and then a trio with new drummer Yoshiki Ueonyama. Kurihara left soon after. But Onna Last Live 1983 is proof plenty of the powers of the original Onna quartet, sending their Rallizes/Velvets dream-mantras off into darkened, stormy skies.

After a savage summer of performing over 35 festival shows, COLLIGNON continue their journey with the release of Bicicleta.

Bicicleta was written and recorded right in the midst of the band's summer tour. Gino, Yves and Jori seized the moment, the album captures exactly where they currently stand as a band: thriving on the energy of their live performances, with the desire to dive deeper into their music.

The result is Bicicleta—a diverse and authentic album that stays true to COLLIGNON’s distinctive blend of wildly grooving beats, psychedelic guitars, and sharp keyboard riffs. The music transports listeners across many borders, all while maintaining their signature COLLIGNON sound.

This album was made with vinyl in mind, designed to be experienced as a complete journey. From the first Maloya rhythms of "Fonkér la Mér" (Kreol for 'fond du cœur de la mer', meaning ‘from the bottom of the heart of the sea’) to the Brazilian groove and cosmic crescendo of "Vai Vai Vai (Into the Stars)", Bicicleta is a trip that flows from track to track.

The album, recorded while Jori left his Portuguese studio for a year-long stay in the Netherlands, pays homage to what -without engine, exhaust or pollution- might be considered the finest emblem of Dutch culture: the bicycle.

The words of adventurer Nellie Bly, written in 1896, still ring true today: ‘In a frenetic era of expanding possibilities, cycling offers a journey into a landscape of dreams. The bicycle has always signified independence and freedom in steering one’s daily course and the byways of its occasional adventures.’

To truly experience this album, nothing compares to holding the vinyl sleeve in your hands and spinning the record on your turntable.

“Onomatopeikoa II” follows on from Irazoki's 2017 Gitarra Onomatopeikoa release, and that album's sense of untethered, questing curiosity is not only carried over but expanded upon even further here. Combining a fully committed approach to the guitar with an almost egoless lightness of touch, this album builds upon the already impressively scopious range of Gitarra Onomatopeikoa to dizzying effect.

Irazoki makes full use of an impressively broad palette. Yet nothing feels forced, nothing is for show – there’s just a sense of open-hearted generosity.

In lesser hands such a whirlwind tour of style and form might risk failing to get its hooks in deep enough, yet not only does Irazoki have the imaginative scope to tackle these varying approaches to the instrument, he has the technical chops to pull it off. Each composition seems to have an openness of intent that is utterly disarming; all cards are on the table and nothing is held back, resulting in a creative tour de force that builds, piece by piece, to a unifying cohesiveness that makes the whole far greater than the sum of its parts.

Featuring contributions from long-time OTO favourites Rhodri Davies and Raphael Roginski,

“Onomatopeikoa II” is nevertheless unmistakably a work of singular craft and vision.

FFO: Jeff Parker, Loren Connors, Keiji Haino

Limited edition vinyl of 250 copies

presented by Hegoa with a cover designed by Pablo Mirón.

Two jewels in the crown of the soulful electronic music scene in NYC unite for a spellbinding EP on Rhythm Section International. ”Full Circle” is a brand new body of work from Musclecars & Toribio.

To call this 12” simply epic would almost be doing it a disservice. The breadth of musicality and execution of ideas contained across 3 compositions is nothing short of miraculous. I use the word composition intentionally: these are not merely tracks - these are 3 movements making up a concerto - with a dub thrown in for good measure!

The record kicks off with a soulful house behemoth, “ That’s My Story” featuring NJ legend Roland Clark on vocals giving sweet sweet testimony. In many ways, this track feels like a coming together of the trios influences. The lyrics contextualise it, giving it this intimate, confessional feel. The latin drums shuffling amidst the 909 kick drive it forward and the organ swimming freely amongst it all takes us to church. It’s a timeless track - paying homage to the various New York traditions laid down by Louis Vega, Timmy Regisford, Joaquin Claussell , Ron Trent et al - all heroes and collaborators of the composers who - with this effort - have surely now earned their place in the pantheon of American Soul Music.
‘
Be Honest’ maintains the confessional tone with the lyrics but takes things right back down in terms of tempo. Is it a love song, an ultimatum or a cry for help? Whichever way you interpret it, this track is Toribio’s time to shine as a lead vocalist and he hits all the notes, leaving not a dry eye in the house. This is a delicate tour de force, delivered with such raw emotion and vulnerability it allows the instrumentation takes a back seat - just a gentle groove, swelling strings and some unresolved chords are all that’s required to transform us to the main character of this story. We’re left hanging, and it’s oh so relatable.

Agua De Florida serves as an uplifting, fast paced finale to the concerto and this one’s all about the trumpet - masterfully performed by Melbourne born, London based virtuoso Audrey Powne. If Herb Alpert was making house music - I imagine this is what it would sound like. Throbbing bass and noodling synths join the melee and crank the joy up to 11. If the EP is a story arc over 3 tracks, then we’re definitely not left hanging with this one. All is resolved, things are moving onwards and upwards and the circle is complete.

With acute focus on dance floor hypnotism and percussive pressure, SIDEB003 offers German collaboration IGLO and Paul Hauck's debut vinyl release. A third project for this duo, 'Stable Fusion' plays to the producers strengths as biting sound design unfolds through reliable groove.

'Stable Fusion' - and, in turn, its title track - presents as an uncompromising dance floor record, complete with pressing arrangements and powerful tension shifts. The infectious nature of club music comes largely from the power and insistence of its minimal elements and IGLO & Paul Hauck put chisel to stone to showcase just that. To add soul to skill, 'Neustadt' claims the A2 with added color and a silver lining in the its mood. Festive chord stabs stutter along with percussion riding up and down the spectrum, maintaining energy without losing impact. Flipping sides, 'Initiator' returns to minimalism and spaced out sequences. Dub chords boom through a low lying swing, complete with unfolding ambient textures. The track is focused and its intentions aren't shy, the slow creep to the EP's conclusion 'Celestis' is met with intrigue. Warbly synth work warms up a pulsating core, creating a more tonal sound system experience than any of its predecessors. Here, ferocity hides behind humility, and 'Celestis' is a crowd pusher with deceptive arrangement to close out 'Stable Fusion' with confirmation of quality and effect.

Words by Noah Hocker

WRWTFWW Records is proud to present THE GENTLE PEOPLE - Soundtracks for Living (Expanded Edition), ?the ultimate Lounge/Chill Out classic from 1997, reborn! Available as a limited edition white vinyl 3LP in heavyweight 3-panel gatefold sleeve.

When The Gentle People first glided into the mid-90s on clouds of strings, sugar and sine waves, they sounded like visitors from another, more glamorous planet. Signed to Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge's cult label Rephlex, this multinational "E-Z-Core" lounge unit took the aesthetics of 50s/60s easy listening and exotica and gently smuggled them into 1990s club culture.

Soundtracks for Living was their defining statement: an album that "takes the lounge scene and runs away with it entirely… blissful and heavenly," as one contemporary review put it. Imagine KLF's Chill Out or Space growing up on French 60/70s pop, bossa nova, soundtracks, vocal harmony groups, library music and easy listening then slipping out for a late-night date with dub, ambient techno and bubble-bath pop. That's Soundtracks for Living: a record that can score cocktail hour, 4am taxi rides, and daydreams in headphones with the same effortless grace.

The Gentle People - Dougee Dimensional, Laurie LeMans, Valentine Carnelian and Honeymink - began in early-90s Brixton, throwing dress-up theme parties before taking their audio-visual universe into the studio. For them, music was "a way of life": soothing to the ear, rich in pop hooks, and pitched somewhere between the playfully idiotic and the hyper-intelligent. Their debut on Rephlex was the single "Journey", later blessed with a shimmering Aphex Twin remix that pushed their sugar-coated sound even further into outer space.

This Expanded Edition of Soundtracks for Living finally gives this glambient lounge-pop milestone the treatment it has always deserved. Spread lovingly across 3LP, it features new mastering from the original sources, allowing every harp glissando, string swell and analog squiggle to float in high-fidelity widescreen. The core album is complemented by a bonus 12" of unreleased and rare material, offering a deeper dive into the Gentle world: alternate takes, lost interludes, and secret soundtrack cues for lives not yet lived.

Crucially, "Journey" appears here in its original version, Gentle Instrumental and the cult Aphex Twin remix, reuniting band and labelmate in one place and underlining the quietly radical nature of the project: this was lounge music that could sit next to braindance, acid and IDM and still steal the scene.

Pressed on limited edition white vinyl, Soundtrack for Living (Expanded Edition) invites long-time fans and new listeners alike to step back into The Gentle People's universe - a place of fondue parties, bubble chairs, star-lit elevators and endlessly rewinding sunsets, where "the pathway to the stars" is never quite out of reach.

In an era that often reduces the 90s to big-room bangers and grunge guitars, Soundtracks for Living remains a quietly subversive reminder that the decade was also about imagination, camp, softness and utopian possibility. As later writers have noted, The Gentle People weren't just a curiosity on a weird label; they became unlikely icons of a whole loungecore moment, gracing TV, compilations and magazine spreads, and proving that tenderness could be as futuristic as any drum machine.
In conjunction with this release, WRWTFWW has also unearthed The Gentle People's Peel Sessions, a 4-track EP from their 1997 BBC on-air performance, available on vinyl for the first time ever !

Late Bush presents “Hoarses” on the label Vlek Records, an original repertoire in which he blends electronic music - power ambient, IDM, avant-pop - and early music, which share the same affective intensity, a taste for ornamentation and a form of sonic excess.

At the heart of this material, AI-cloned voices, both human and spectral, extend the idea that any baroque interpretation is a reconstruction of the unknown. They contrast with organic strings recorded with Echo Collective, in a temporal and radical hybridization, creating a fluid and unstable material, between memory and simulation.

One of the conceptual starting points is essential: we have no sonic trace of baroque music as it was played. Only scores remain, and sometimes contradictory indications, a sensitive archaeology, even an imaginary projection.

Everything that is played today is therefore, in fact, a reconstruction, an interpretation of a vanished material. According to this logic and to pursue this reflection, the cloned voices, transformed by AI, are not a rupture but propose a natural continuation of this chain of reinvention, of this relationship to the invisible, to the indefinite. They do not aim to replace a human voice, but rather to embody the fact that any baroque restitution is already a fiction.

The project does not seek to imitate the real, but to play with the thresholds of the plausible, of the spectral. The music then becomes a fluid material, manipulable, alterable, and the performers, musicians or machines, are its vehicles.

The strings, carried by the sensitive and expressive interpretation of Echo Collective, breathe into the project a vibrant authenticity. Their presence brings an organic and tactile dimension that contrasts with the fluid and intangible aspect of the voices and the electronics.

Red Axes step into the fabric presents series with a release that feels both inevitable and deeply personal. Known for their hypnotic, psychedelic approach to club music, the Tel Aviv–based duo bring a narrative-driven sensibility that aligns seamlessly with fabric’s legacy of long-form storytelling and forward-thinking curation.

Across years of performances at fabric and other key global institutions, Red Axes have developed a reputation for sets that unfold patiently and unpredictably, drawing dancers into a world where groove, tension, and atmosphere take precedence over genre or trend. Their contribution to the fabric presents series reflects this ethos: a carefully sculpted journey that prioritises mood, momentum, and emotional depth, while remaining firmly rooted in the physical language of the dancefloor.

Formed by Dori Sadovnik and Niv Arzi, Red Axes emerged from Tel Aviv’s underground with a sound shaped by post-punk, acid, krautrock, and cosmic disco influences. Over the past decade, they have built a catalogue defined by raw textures, twisted melodies, and a distinctly human looseness, qualities that translate as powerfully in the club as they do on record. Their releases and remixes for labels such as Phantasy, Correspondant, Running Back, Dark Entries, and Permanent Vacation have established them as artists who consistently operate just outside the expected.

As DJs, Red Axes are celebrated for their ability to stretch time on the dancefloor, weaving obscure selections, unreleased material, and leftfield classics into slow-burning, trance-inducing narratives. This approach has seen them invited to venues and festivals including Panorama Bar, De School, Bassiani, Dekmantel, Sonar, and Primavera Sound, where their sets are defined not by peaks alone, but by the tension built between them.

With the forthcoming fabric presents Red Axes release, the duo deliver a statement that captures years of shared musical intuition and a deep respect for the club as a communal, transformative space. It is a mix that rewards close listening as much as physical immersion, a snapshot of Red Axes at their most focused, expressive, and uncompromising.

To mark the launch of their forthcoming fabric presents album, the duo unveil the lead single, “Hot Rod To Hell”, a bold reworking of Man Parrish and Roy Garrett’s 14-minute spoken-word electro epic, reimagined through Red Axes’ signature psychedelic lens.

Stripped back and refocused, the original’s narrative tension is transformed into a hypnotic, downtempo house track built for late-night immersion. A rolling, elastic groove anchors the track, while pulsing low-end, subtly warped synth lines, and tightly controlled percussion create a sense of slow, smouldering momentum. The spoken vocal elements drift through the mix like fragments of memory, lending the track a ritualistic, cinematic quality without overwhelming the dancefloor.

Fresh from releasing projects on Method 808 and Future Classic, landing a huge collaboration with Chloé Caillet, and delivering an official remix for Fatboy Slim, PPJ are entering a new chapter in full force. Their expansive take on global street sounds, ranging from neoperreo to Miami bass, gets a cool re-coating.

Led by the magnetic vocalist Páula, with production from Povoa (individually supported by Four Tet, Ben UFO, and Barry Can't Swim, with recent releases on Live From Earth), the duo operates in maximalist mode: playful, sensual, and slightly unhinged.PPJ’s new era, JOKER, embraces a figure that appears everywhere from card decks to carnival culture as a symbol that mirrors their own DNA: funny, eerie, seductive, unpredictable. The EP leans further into club territory, but rather than polishing their edges, PPJ amplify them.

At the emotional core of the record sits “Coeur,” co-produced with Chloé Caillet. It begins with an MPB-tinged foundation flirting with bossa nova. It’s unmistakably Brazilian, bathed in sunset hues before being sped up and twisted into a dance-floor-ready electronic form. The groove shimmers with tension: warm percussion, elastic basslines, and Páula’s voice hovering between intimacy and tease. It feels like a remix of itself, romantic, but slightly untrustworthy.

If “Coeur” glows, “To Nem Ai” is a slow burner. A very deep and downtempo house cut, it unfolds slowly, almost luxuriously, guided by sensual vocals that feel whispered directly into the ear of the listener. A hypnotizing piano sample that feels like a late-night confession. It’s the kind of record that transforms a dancefloor into something tactile.

Elsewhere, “Me Pega” is a high-energy reinterpretation of the tech-house sounds from Santa Catarina, one of southern Brazil’s most feverish party states, twisted and accelerated for ferocious impact. Drawing direct inspiration from Sarro, a raw and vibrant Brazilian street dance, the track captures physical intensity in its purest form: sweat, bass pressure, collective release.

Its counterpart, “Tem Carnaval” channels Páula’s vivid storytelling into a thunderous ode to Rio’s carnival spirit, euphoric, chaotic, cinematic landed just in time for this year’s celebrations.

On “Sexy Doce,” rugged electroclash melodies collide with unexpected references. “It was inspired by Budots, which is dance music from the streets in the Philippines,” Povoa explains. “Then we mixed it with Páula’s Brazilian vocals. Baile funk is similarly from the streets, so there is a connection.” The result is raw yet futuristic, a cross-continental flirtation that feels both underground and explosive.

With this new EP, PPJ make music like they’re tuning into a dozen pirate frequencies at once. Pirate radio from Rio to Berlin to Manila intercepting fragments of street culture, sensuality, and chaos, and stitching them into something deliriously cohesive.
JOKER doesn’t just nod to club culture. It challenges it, twists expectation and leaves a lasting impression.

Some tracks don’t age, they just wait for the right dancefloor to hit again.

Originally released in 1985, Main Attraction by Toronto-based duo Yoh-Yo is one of those high-energy sleepers that quietly tore through clubs while never fully crossing into the mainstream canon. Produced by maestro Allan Coelho (Tapps, Click) and driven by the instantly recognizable vocal of Carlos Borges, it’s a pure shot of mid-80s Hi-NRG euphoria. Tight, glossy, and unapologetically emotional.

Fast forward to now, and Vintage Pleasure Boutique digs deep into the archives of Boulevard Records to deliver the ultimate collector’s package, bringing together all six officially released versions from the original 1985–86 pressings across Europe, Canada and Mexico. But this isn’t just a reissue, it’s a full-spectrum reconstruction of a club weapon.

From the Original Version, still hitting with that raw, uplifting drive, to the Sandy St. Alban Version, adding a slightly different vocal flavor for the heads who know, each cut reveals another angle of this underground anthem. The Instrumental and Hi-NRG Dub Version strip things down into pure mixing tools: extended grooves, pulsating basslines and synth hooks that lock dancers into a trance. The Remix pushes things further into peak-time territory, while the real gem for DJs lands on the B-side: the long-sought Hot Tracks Extended Edit by Gregg Denewith — originally exclusive to the US market and finally resurfacing in proper, playable quality. A true secret weapon for selectors who like their sets with a touch of authentic 80s heat.

This release is a love letter to Hi-NRG, to analog excess, and to the global club network that kept these records alive long before algorithms caught up. For fans of neon-lit nostalgia, sweaty dancefloors and that unmistakable Italo-adjacent pulse. Main Attraction is exactly what the name promises. Pure energy. No compromise.

After years of shaping dancefloors worldwide and carefully curating the sonic and visual identity of Up The Stuss, Dutch favourite Chris Stussy presents his most expansive and personal statement to date with his debut album, ‘Lost, Found & Forgotten...’. Landing on 3rd April, the album unfolds across three interconnected chapters - ‘Lost’, ‘Found’, and ‘Forgotten’ - each revealing a different side of his creative world across 19 tracks while remaining tethered to a singular wider vision.

At its core, ‘Lost, Found & Forgotten...’ is an exploration of creative freedom. Visually and conceptually guided by the image of a kite, the album reflects movement, perspective, and balance. Floating freely yet always anchored, the kite mirrors Chris’s approach to music: unrestricted in emotion and imagination, but grounded in groove, craftsmanship, and intention. It’s a symbol that naturally extends the Up The Stuss identity; pointing skyward, embracing openness, and encouraging curiosity.

“This album has been a long time in the making, and I’m excited to finally share it with you. The process behind it - exchanging ideas with other artists and creating music outside of my comfort zone - has been an incredible experience. It gave me a true sense of freedom, allowing me to not think about boundaries or expectations. I’ve never been more proud of a project than this one. It’s deeply personal, and it represents my sound as a whole. I hope you listen with an open mind and find something in it that resonates with you.” - Chris Stussy.

The ‘Lost’ chapter opens the album by giving new life to music once left behind. These are tracks written across different moments in Chris’s journey, ideas that never quite found a home until now. Rather than relics of the past, they emerge re-discovered, refined, and fully realised. ‘

Found’ represents inspiration in motion. Sparked by collaboration, digging, and shared creative exchange, this chapter captures the moment when ideas connect, and colour floods the sky.

The album closes with ‘Forgotten’ - a nod to the deeper cuts, the B-sides, and the moments that reward patience. This chapter is for the heads and diggers; tracks that may not demand immediate attention but reveal their value over time.

Los Angeles alt-punks Death Lens return with What"s Left Now?, an album that feels like a jolt of clarity after a year that never seemed to slow down. Fresh off touring with Militarie Gun, they dove into the studio with producer mixer Zach Tuch (Knocked Loose, Touché Amoré) to craft their first new music since 2024"s Cold World. The result is a set of songs that coil hooky guitar lines around lyrics about taking stock of what you have, what"s been taken from you, and confronting what remains without any sugar coating. Death Lens have always played with contrast: ferocity disguised by swagger, volatility wrapped in melody. Onstage, they transform that tension into something communal-cathartic enough to leave rooms wrecked, connective enough to leave people changed. Once a crew of partydriven garage punks, they"ve sharpened their voice into something broader and more urgent, speaking on life in heavily policed neighborhoods, immigration reform, and the responsibility to lift up the communities that raised them. What"s Left Now? pushes that vision forward, framing resilience not as a slogan but as a lived philosophy: one world, one community, one band refusing to stand still. Death Lens is comprised of Bryan Torres (vocals), Jhon Reyes (guitar, backing vocals), Tony Rangel (drums), and Ernie Gutierrez (guitar).

妖精の通る道 (The Path Where Fairies Pass) is the debut vinyl release by Reimaki, the duo of Rei Yokoyama (Triggers Flowers, Stakaidan, Lapiz Trio, 新井薬師自警団, and Fujio, Chiko Hige and Rei), and Maki Miura (Tsubamegami, Les Rallizes Dénudés, Shizuka, Fushitsusha, Ohkami No Jikan and Katsurei). The duo has been an understated presence in Tokyo, playing occasional under-the-radar shows and self- releasing a few CD-Rs, but they’ve recently started to break cover, with a recent cassette on UFO Creations, released in support of a late 2024 tour of China. It’s also a welcome reappearance on the scene for both musicians; Miura’s musical history, in particular, is being reevaluated thanks to a recent string of welcome Shizuka reissues.

But the music Reimaki make together is a different thing entirely, much as it shares some psychological and aesthetic interests with both Miura’s and Nokoyama’s other projects. Their sound is split between two main interests – an extension of glacial, deoxygenating psychedelic improvisations, and a deep interest in medieval European music. They’ve also been known to cover compositions by English prog/improv musician Fred Frith. These various elements of the Reimaki aesthetic are all present through 妖精の通る道, from the fragility of the opening “Novel Amor” through to the smeared, hazy textures of the three extended pieces that comprise the album’s flipside.

There’s a beautiful sympathy in these performances, and a generous simplicity, too; you can sense that this music is informed by decades of finding just the right way to say the right thing in the clearest manner possible. Yokoyama and Miura never overstate things; make the statement, play the song, let it hang in the air for a while, and then move on to the next essential expression. The music is unburdened by self- consciousness. Their take on medieval music cuts to the core of melody and melancholy; their psych- improv side is blurred and drifting without ever lapsing into rote generic gestures.

There’s some shared space with other artists who suspend the timeless within the kaleidoscopic possibilities of the psychedelic – Kendra Smith & The Guild of Temporal Adventurers; Emmanuelle Parrenin; Rosina de Peira – and a tangled folksiness that might put listeners in mind of Jan Dukes De Grey, Comus, Current 93, and Tower Recordings. Accompanied by beautiful photography from street photographer Takehiko Nakafuji, who was also personally chosen by Mizutani to document Les Rallizes Dénudés, 妖精の通る道 is a most unique and necessary trip.

Back in 1990 the New Bomb Turks got together as four Ohio State University students who just wanted to rock. 10 years later they are already on their 7th studio album: Nightmare Scenario.

New Bomb Turks return to their snaggle-toothed first mistress — hard-driving, no-holds-barred American punk rock. With the guitar jive of Chuck Berry, the blinding ferocity of Motörhead and the snot of The Dead Boys, singer Eric Davidson and his backing trio fire off a dozen grenades of authentic old-school three-chord riff-rock in little over a half-hour, with nary a pause for breath between tracks. You can’t quibble with the four-on-the-floor intensity of tunes like opening salvo Point To A Point Blank. It was recorded over four days and nights, the only break being a jaunt over to a bar to see a reunited Real Kids, their first show in years, which floored the band and only added more mezcal to the fire.

Nightmare Scenario is available as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on violet vinyl and includes an insert.

Finally repressed. The only legitimately licensed anthology of the Iranian Psychedelic rock legend. 28 page full color booklet with an extensive, first-person treatise by Kourosh himself. 21 fully restored tracks from Kourosh's original master tapes. Contains rare photos and ephemera of Iran's 70s rock scene, many never before seen. Now-Again Records is proud to present Back from the Brink, the only legitimately licensed collection of the godfather of Iranian psychedelic rock, Kourosh Yaghmaei. Known within the Iranian diaspora simply by his first name, Kourosh's Pre-Revolution recordings were thought lost after Islamic fundamentalists took control of Iran. They weren't: Kourosh had protected them - along with key ephemera from the 70's. Their collection here - spread over 3LP bolstered by Kourosh's first person recollections of Iran's 70s rock scene and its death after the Revolution, tells the story of an immensely talented artist's desire to persevere in the face of terrible adversity. Kourosh Yaghmaei and his brothers Kamran and Kambiz were amongst the few inspired Iranian musicians determined to change Tehran's musical landscape in the late 60's and early 70's. The trio, armed with rented, second-hand instruments and records by The Ventures, The Kinks, The Doors, merged Western garage rock, psychedelia and Iranian folkloric music to create a sound unlike anything that came before them. Later, inspired by the unlikely duo of Elton John and James Taylor, Kourosh's music took a sophisticated turn, and he churned out funky, progressive rock that is as imminently enjoyable as it is impossible to categorize. His star on the rise was knocked off course by the Revolution, and its backdrop of Islamic fundamentalists burning record companies and harassing musicians. But while most Pre-Revolution musicians - including his brothers - fled Iran in 1979, Kourosh stayed, loyal to the country of his birth. He has suffered a performance and recording ban for twenty-two out of the last thirty-two years. Yet he remains stoic and resolved to continue bolstering Iranian musical tradition. Kourosh still lives in Tehran and is pleased that his story - and his glorious 70s recordings - will finally spread the world over. This essential piece of Iran's musical history is also accompanied by a full color book and contains never-before-seen photos and ephemera.

Isella doesn’t flinch from the horror stitched into the fabric of the feminine experience. Citing writers like Plath Margaret Atwood, and Mona Awad as germinal influences on her lyricism, Isella plunges into the underbelly of expectations of good-girlhood, of valiant womanhood. In her songs she splays out the stakes of it all, plumbing the viscera, unearthing the blood, guts, dirt, and decay lurking beneath. By the time she hit fifteen, Isella’s taste had expanded and grown darker and more mature. Artists like Nine Inch Nails and Tom Waits became a conduit for the kind of raw intensity she’d always been drawn to, and gave her permission to push herself to new depths of expression. This is evidenced on her latest EP; That freedom that Reznor et al. endowed to the songwriter are evidenced on her latest EP; Something is a shell . Isella’s vocals swing from coolly detached to emotional detonation, often in the span of the same song. She brings listeners into a world colored by feminist hyper-realism, challenging listeners to re-define ideas of femininity, and safety; to see that things are not okay.

Six years down the line we are welcoming back a very close friend of the label Aljaz who goes by the moniker Eliaz. The Slovenian resident of the infamous festival Butik is landing another EP on the label that is filled to the brim with roaring of his machines whom he controls like he controls his body and their sequences all combined + perfectly implemented with a lot of acid in the best possible way. As a society we have a mission in this world to connect to each other, that’s why this world is filled with so many opportunities and extra curriculum activities. This one is made to connect us with the extraterrestrial societies and it’s done so impeccably. Most likely after playing this record you will establish a contact with the other worlds. Do not panic, it is absolutely fine. How you will act after all this will depend on you, but sincere suggestion is to crank up the volume to the highest levels possible for our far away brothers and sisters to feel the rhythms loud & clear.

Wah Wah 45s are very excited to announce a brand new remixes from dub donPrince Fattyfor beloved Afro-reggae outfitSoothsayers.

Love Is Still The Answeris a beautifully uplifting song, written and sung by long time Soothsayers member and collaboratorJulia Bielabout the eternal power of love and its ability to overcome hate. It appears in its original incarnation on the band's recent, critically acclaimed album,Fly Higher.

Mike Pelaconi, AKA Prince Fatty has been part of the Wah Wah 45s and Soothsayers extended family for many years, and here he delivers a typically crowd pleasing mix, in both vocal and dub form, from the world of Rockers Reggae, calling legendary reggae drummerHorsemaninto the studio, and crafting a lush rocksteady remix with a new horn arrangement and stripped back instrumentation.


"In a world that feels more divided and chaotic than ever,Love Is Still the Answer is a reminder that real change can still come from within. We may feel powerless in the face of global turmoil, but when we choose love - actively, consistently, even in tough situations - we reclaim strength for ourselves. This song calls us back to our shared humanity, to the energy that connects us all. It's an invitation to tune into what really matters, and to rediscover beauty where we may have forgotten to seek it." Robin Hopcraft (Soothsayers)

a A1: Prince Fatty Rockers Remix [feat. Julia B.]

[a] A1: Prince Fatty Rockers Remix [feat. Julia B.]

Matt Gold and Dustin Laurenzi present Devotional Fade, a collaborative record of electroacoustic rhythmic improvisations – equal parts meditation and dance, released on We Jazz Records, 24th April. Laurenzi and Gold, key collaborators in the Chicago creative scene and with genre spanning artists such as Bill Callahan and Makaya McCraven, step forward here with a major artistic statement, a product of extended improv sessions capturing the duo's hypnotic interplay. This is the sound of two of Chicago's most vibrant instrumental voices listening deeply, communing in sound.

Recorded in Laurenzi's attic studio, Devotional Fade emerged from a series of weekly sessions over the course of a single month. The duo kept the tape rolling continuously each day and selected a number of immersive sonic worlds to present, oscillating between patient, sacred minimalism and wild, dancefloor-worthy combustion.

The pair set two parameters to heighten the sessions' stakes: editing would be kept to a minimum, and a rule of "no pitched overdubs" was put in place – ensuring that all melodic and harmonic gestures would have to be committed in real time. Laurenzi and Gold held true, only sparingly adding a stray shaker or brush to these already largely complete improvisations. Devotional Fade is imbued with quiet propulsion and ecstatic repetition.

Matt Gold is a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer based in Chicago, IL. His work pulls from diverse traditions of electric and acoustic music. Matt has performed across six continents and contributed to over fifty recordings as a collaborator and instrumentalist, garnering critical praise from Pitchfork for playing "one of the most exhilarating guitar solos of recent memory, in any genre." Gold has several long-running collaborative bands spanning jazz, folk, experimental, and chamber music including Sun Speak, Storm Jameson, and Tin. He performs and records with an array of creative artists including Makaya McCraven, Marquis Hill, Jamila Woods, Natalie Merchant, and Greg Ward. Gold co-curates the record label and concert series Flood Music.

Chicago saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Dustin Laurenzi has developed a personal approach to improvisation and composition that has garnered the attention of the city's creative music community. Laurenzi's music is inspired and informed by jazz, folk, and improvised music. His inventive improvisational sensibilities have made him a sought-after musician in many circles of Chicago's vibrant music scene and beyond. Laurenzi has toured extensively with songwriter Bill Callahan and is featured on Callahan's 2024 release Resuscitate! He has toured with Grammy award-winning artist Bon Iver and appears on the band's critically lauded 2016 release 22, A Million. Laurenzi has also performed with Jeff Parker & The New Breed, Marquis Hill, Makaya McCraven, Matt Ulery, Japanese Breakfast, and This Is The Kit.

Saxophonist, producer and composer Brian Allen Simon explores darker hues, transposing waking and altered states under his studio veil Anenon. On the deeply evocative new album 'Dream Temperature', he shifts electronic processing to the foreground, introducing digitized wind instruments and unworldly atmospherics, not heard since his innovating mid-late 2010s output.

A longtime Los Angeles resident, born and raised, Brian Allen Simon has expressively operated under the moniker Anenon, releasing the highly revered 'Petrol' (2016), 'Tongue' (2018) and the viscerally beautiful 'Moons Melt Milk Light' (2023), in a line of unwavering musical dialogues. While the penultimate album was a deliberate, reductive, entirely acoustic detour that was born out of a want to unplug, 'Dream Temperature' sees Brian primed with a newly discovered wind synthesizer as his central compositional tool, alongside acoustic piano and tenor saxophone. The entirety of the album's electronics are triggered by Brian's lungs, generating otherworldly synths modulated by expressive breath control, channelled through the laptop as the core processing chamber for added textural components and field recordings.

A free floating and heavy emotional resonance marks 'Dream Temperature' from beginning to end, invoking the feeling of waking up, still heavy from a night of half-remembered dreams, and continuing one's day in this state. Simon maps out the album's spatial voice early on the statement title track, a deep, yet compact cut, generated from digital saxophone rasps that whistle by in close proximity, along with haze filled textures and sub bass. There is a sonic oscillation of urban grit and pastoral drift throughout as tracks pass by like introspective thoughts, fueling both a tense and ethereal quality that underpins the album. Interluding solo and part-solo piano improvisations 'Last Sun 1' and '2' are positioned adjacent to the buffering digital soundscapes. Their softer, still processed timbres pierce the melancholic exterior, offering a contrasting tenderness that could echo the grace of Ry?ichi Sakamoto, the spiritualist rigor of ECM's Keith Jarrett and a touch akin to Aphex Twin's piano miniatures. 'Nulle Part 1+2' signals the first appearance of an acoustic wind instrument, as tenor saxophone flourishes are juxtaposed against noisy drones, all shouting at the void, with notes resurfacing like lost digital data.

The album was recorded at home during either sunset or nocturnal hours between September of 2024 and October of 2025, a period in which Brian found himself craving more lengthy and intimate studio time as he searched for more pronounced textural qualities amidst his new sonic ambitions. 'When The Light Appears, Boy' shows further evidence of this deeper universe, revealing a grittier edge as the album's essential blueprint is sonically inked. A sprawling expanse of wind synths rhythmically encircle the listener before a dreamy, ghostly ambience blankets 'Toyama'. The sound is evocative of the productions of post dubstep era luminaries such as Burial or the productions of HTRK's Nigel Yang. More isolating and enveloping than the previous all acoustic record, this is music both disorienting and yet warmly inviting all at once. A sonic diarist at heart, personal field recordings were also taken from Sardinia, Japan, Big Sur and LA which intersect at unexpected moments throughout the album's 31-minute play time.

'Dream Temperature' is a vital coalescence of both Simon's electronic and acoustic practices with repositioned electronics akin to earlier works, both haunting and elegant, yet still profoundly personal. Simon continuously resonates as an experimental outlier treading an enthralling, non-linear musical path. This music resolutely glows with an unknowing aura, like an untapped energy source waiting to be discharged.

Back in 2022, Is It Balearic? Recordings founders Coyote (AKA long-serving producers Richard Hampson aka Ampo and Timm Sure) took time out from releasing music on their own labels to deliver a near perfect mini-album on Phil Cooper’s similarly mind-ed NuNorthern Soul imprint, Everything Moves, Nothing Rests.

A superb exploration of their trademark sound, where gentle downtempo rhythms and nods to dub came cloaked in colourful ambient chords, sun-bright melodic motifs, organic instrumenta-tion and quirky spoken word samples, Everything Moves, Nothing Rests deserved a sequel. So, three and a half years on, the duo has delivered just that: a fine six-track EP that offers an even deeper and more atmospheric exploration of their signature sound.

It is a sonic approach that should now be familiar to Balearic en-thusiasts the world over. Aside from delivering a steady stream of singles, albums and remixes on their own imprint, Hampson and Sure have also showcased their skills and loved-up musical mis-sives on International Feel, Music For Dreams, Needwant, MM Discos and Citizens of Vice.

The Higher The Sky, The Deeper The Ocean, their hotly anticipated NuNorthern Soul return, is named in honour of a quote from Ped-ro Alonso’s documentary series On the Ship of Enchantment, an extended voyage in which the Money Heist movie star meets healers and masters of ancestral medicine across his native Mexi-co.

There’s naturally a meditative and slightly psychedelic sound to much of The Higher The Sky, The Deeper The Ocean, which offers a subtly varied exploration of Coyote’s style and influence. Yearning, soft-focus opener ‘Muted Beauty’ – the kind of immersive, effects-laden and sample-sporting ambient bliss found nestling on Fila Brazillia albums of the mid 1990s – is followed by the similarly gentle ‘Go All The Way’, where delay-laden acoustic guitars, spo-ken word snippets and gaseous chords stretch out atop a languid, slow-motion groove.

‘A Drop in the Ocean’ picks up the pace a little via a glorious hat-tip to turn of the 90s ambient house – all dub-wise bass, heady deep house sonics, spaced-out chords and half-buried references to sunrise-ready Balearic synth-pop records of the late 1980s. Late psychedelic guru Terrence McKenna appears in sampled form on ‘Dolce Far Niente’, a tabla-driven drift and musical hallucination which conjures mental images of lying in the Mexican desert, gazing intently at a starry sky.

In contrast, ‘Riviera Sound’ is a chunkier, brighter and more sun-splashed affair – all deep, dubby bass, sustained piano parts, punchy downtempo breaks and the duo’s trademark ambient pads – while superb closing cut ‘No Coincidences’ fixes jazzy double bass samples, twinkling keyboard motifs, subtle acid lines and Latin-laced percussion to a street soul-adjacent beat.

Heady, impeccably crafted and thoroughly enveloping, The Higher The Sky, The Deeper The Ocean is Coyote at their dazzling best. It marks another significant chapter in their ever-evolving musical journey.

NOW That’s What I Call 70s Soul brings together 50 era-defining tracks from one of the most powerful decades in soul music, featuring classics from Motown legends, Philly Soul pioneers, smooth balladeers and funk innovators – all pressed across 3LPs on beautiful blue vinyl… Out April 24th!

LP1 opens with one of the decade’s most recognisable love songs: Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’, a US #1 and UK Top 10 hit that became his signature recording. It’s followed by Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’, the socially conscious masterpiece and title track from his landmark 1971 album, and Diana Ross’ Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, which topped the US chart and became her first solo #1. Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)’ remains one of Motown’s most joyful recordings and comes before Commodores’ ‘Easy’ introducing Lionel Richie’s smooth ballad vocals. The side also includes Bill Withers’ timeless ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, a Grammy-winning classic, and The Stylistics’ lush ballad ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’, a UK Top 3 smash, before closing with Rose Royce’s beautiful ‘Wishing On A Star’, one of the most loved soul ballads of the era.

Flip the LP over and The Jackson 5’s ‘I Want You Back’ – the group’s explosive debut single opens the side. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ ‘The Tears Of A Clown’ became a UK #1 and is followed by The Supremes’ Nathan Jones’ showcasing the group’s evolving psychedelic-soul sound. Northern Soul classics from Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons with ‘The Night’, Chairmen Of The Board’s Top 3 smash ‘Give Me Just A Little More Time’ and The Trammps’ ‘Hold Back The Night’. The O’Jays’ joyous ‘Love Train’ leads to The Blackbyrds’ Walking In Rhythm’, before the side closes with the romantic classic ‘Always And Forever’ from Heatwave.

LP2 opens with The Temptations’ epic ‘Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone’, a Grammy-winning US #1 remains one of the most stunning recordings from the Motown catalogue, is followed by Isaac Hayes’ ‘Theme From “Shaft”’, an Academy Award-winner and a US #1 smash. More funk follows from Ike & Tina Turner, James Brown with one of his key tracks ‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine’, Edwin Starr’s powerful anti-Vietnam protest song ‘War’, and Sly & The Family Stone’s hugely influential ‘Family Affair’. The Delfonics’ sublime ‘Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)’ comes ahead of Billy Paul’s timeless ‘Me And Mrs. Jones’ which closes the side…the other side begins with the 1977 #1 from The Floaters with ‘Float On’, before the breathtaking vocals of Minnie Riperton on ‘Lovin’ You’. The Isley Brothers’ Summer Breeze’ and William DeVaughn’s ‘Be Thankful For What You Got’ have become enduring classics and are followed by a run of ‘80s pop-chart crossover hits completing LP2 from Detroit Emeralds, The Moments Raydio and The Tymes’ #1 ‘Ms. Grace’.

LP3 opens with the unmistakable voice of Barry White and his US #1 hit ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe’, before Aretha Franklin’s ‘Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)’, delivers one of her smoothest performances. Al Green’s ‘Tired Of Being Alone’ and Gladys Knight & The Pips’ ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’ are followed by minimalist soul classic ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ from Timmy Thomas, and the side closes with a trio of defining ballads:- George Benson’s ‘The Greatest Love Of All’ Diana Ross’ ‘Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)’ and The Jackson 5’s ‘I’ll Be There’, their biggest hit…while over on the final side…Freda Payne’s #1 ‘Band Of Gold’, opens alongside Ann Peebles’ influential and much covered ‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’.Marvin Gaye’s sensual ‘Let’s Get It On’ became another US #1, while Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass deliver the contemporary standard ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’. Three massive UK #1s are next…The Stylistics with ‘Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love)’, The Three Degrees’ peerless ‘When Will I See You Again’ and Deniece Williams’ ‘Free’. This amazing collection closes with two timeless ballads: Earth, Wind & Fire’s ‘After The Love Has Gone’, a Grammy-winning classic, along with ‘Three Times A Lady’, a huge worldwide #1 for the Commodores.


NOW That’s What I Call 70s Soul, 50 defining tracks from one of music’s greatest decades. Out April 24th.

2 x LP Red & Blue (Half & Half Effect) Vinyl in Gatefold Sleeve

The Bloods and Crips’ debut Bangin’ on Wax (1993) — which we reissued in 2023 to an incredible reception — inspired us to dig even deeper into this iconic catalogue. The follow-up, The Saga Continues, originally dropped only on CD in 1994. Now, for the first time ever, we’re proud to bring it to wax — pressed on solid Blue and Red vinyl, of course. This concept was a pivotal moment in West Coast gangsta rap, uniting members of L.A.’s two most infamous sets. Crips from Compton, Watts, and Long Beach, and Bloods from Inglewood and Los Angeles auditioned for the project, with the sharpest MCs selected for the final lineup. All proceeds from the original Bangin’ on Wax album went toward improving local schools and parks for the community’s children. Over 30 years later, the lone CD pressing regularly fetches £50+ on the secondary market — and now the album finally arrives on vinyl. Sleeker in production and delivery, this record carries that true G-Funk swagger, tipping its hat to Warren G, Snoop, DJ Quik, and even Dr. Dre.

Italy via Atlanta, say hello to Titino and “Sun Splicer”, the latest release on The Comfort. Three separate ideas connect this EP across 4 tracks. It toys with the expectations of its listener — core features morph as tracks progress, stable kick patterns turn to breaks and in reverse, simple stabs progress to melodic junctions. Acid permeates this record, not as a clear motif but a tinged essence. And it’s sincere, both to the setting of these pieces and where they’ll be listened to and what it honors.

“Shblasted” — a back-and-forth groove machine filled with dub sirens and stepped up acid. Clubby introduction meant for sacred dance floors.

“Ouachita” on the A2 is controlled chaos, snares fly around, synth lines seem to want to escape their own confines and it just bursts onto the listener. Then the keys come in, the groove stabilizes, pads become bigger and new life is given.

The B-side is playful. “Sun Splicer” is perhaps most aptly categorized by a now notorious idea of ‘electro house’, and the pure aggressive euphoria this track carries just might be that, but as we all know the Italians do it differently — it’s a heady dark excursion. “Existenz” is all-smiles no matter how menacing its first contact, a hook of a track that reimagines the weirder side of Italian trance — think Interactive Test at its most wonderful. The dusty snares feel like a balancing tool instead of an homage.

Total audio ruckus, a rush of Blu:sh returns to Step Ball Chain. Dopamine Riot is a sick, sexy six track EP designed to tap into the crucial neurotransmitter in the brain; releasing chemical delights that drip from head to toe with this signature steeze. Prepare to go undercover, underground and for layers to unfold with each new listen. Edging a dark, rough and ready atmosphere that is always pulled back to a central groove, Blu:sh remains flirtatious and free – don’t take it so seriously! Bass for days, drums that will make your neck snap (complimentary) and your presence requested2riot on a dancefloor ASAP.

On "Enduring Sonance," saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson reflects on a lifetime of lyrical, deeply felt songs drawn from jazz, pop, and film—brought to life by an all-star ensemble featuring Renee Rosnes, Joe Locke, Jay Anderson, and Kendrick Scott. *** Certain songs have a way of lingering in the imagination—resonating long after we’ve last heard them, sometimes for a lifetime. On his breathtaking new album "Enduring Sonance," veteran saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson celebrates the music that has left the deepest imprint on his musical life. “Some of the tunes on this record have stayed with me for, in some cases, over 50 years from the time that I first heard them,” Wilson says. “I wanted to put some music out there that people can connect with, no matter what kind of music they like.” Originally conceived as a ballads project, Enduring Sonance evolved into something broader and more personal. Rather than focusing on tempo or style, Wilson gravitated toward a sense of lyricism—music whose emotional clarity and melodic resonance endure across genres, decades, and listening habits.

To realize this vision, Wilson assembled a deeply intuitive ensemble featuring pianist and arranger Renee Rosnes, vibraphonist Joe Locke, bassist Jay Anderson, and drummer Kendrick Scott, with special guest Kevin Newton (French horn, Imani Winds) appearing on two tracks. Each musician brings a rare sensitivity to melody, texture, and space, allowing the material to unfold with warmth, restraint, and quiet authority. The repertoire draws from a wide musical landscape, including works by close collaborators and modern jazz masters Billy Childs and George Cables, alongside enduring songs by Michel Legrand, Quincy Jones, Milton Nascimento, Gino Vannelli, Bill Lee, and Eliane Elias. These are not standards in the traditional sense, but deeply personal selections—songs that have accompanied Wilson through different chapters of his life. The album opens with Childs’ “Quiet Girl,” its subtle rhythmic motion enhanced by Newton’s luminous French horn, and travels through cinematic ballads, soulful grooves, and reflective lyricism. The title Enduring Sonance speaks both to the lasting resonance of these songs and to Wilson’s enduring musical relationships—most notably with Rosnes, whom he has known for nearly four decades and whose sensitive arrangements help unify the album’s diverse repertoire. “These songs are the soundtrack of my life,” Wilson says. “I’d love it if listeners came away from this album with the same kind of enduring sound and feeling.”

In Gianfranco Rosi’s portrait of Naples, Sotto le Nuvole, the ground shakes periodically. Between Mount Vesuvius and the Tyrrhenian Sea, the fumaroles of the Phlegraean Fields hiss volcanic gas and steam. Below the sleeping volcano, modern day Naples emerges in black and white and fills with voices, with lives. From the traces of history and the concerns of the present, Rosi documents a city immersed in its continuous past, with Daniel Blumberg’s minimal soundscape hovering in a sonic space between liquid and air.
Tasked with creating a soundscape that would suspend space within Rosi’s film, Blumberg called upon the extended technique of saxophonists Seymour Wright and John Butcher to create a gossamer fabric of traces and sounds abstracted from their instruments. Having transitioned from theoretical physics to the saxophone, John Butcher has always deeply considered space in the context of his playing. His concerns are with flow, density and how the saxophone is situated in the living world. Zeroing in on the core sonic properties of the mechanical and acoustic components of the saxophone, Seymour Wright has integrated its every breath, reed vibration, keypad clatter and hissed microtone of his alto into his own, unique improvisational language. In his work with these two seminal players, Blumberg makes his most concentrated soundtrack to date - reinforcing the film's sense of overlapping time and space, and pushing at the limits of experimentation.

Initially recorded in Daniel’s flat in London, Butcher and Wright centre themselves around long, consistent tones, so soft that it seems breath is being gently pulled from the saxophone's bell by an invisible hand. Blumberg himself adds haunting bass harmonica, and recordings of Wright’s launeddas - a traditional and ancient triple pipe polyphonic reed instrument from Sardinia, Italy. Blumberg then travelled to the volcanic region of Baia, next to Pompeii. Once a flourishing classical Roman city loved by Nero, Baia slowly sank under hydrothermal pressure, leaving the city in a kind of geological purgatory. Using specialised geophones and hydrophones, Blumberg took those initial recordings and amplified them underwater, sending them calling out across the ruins of Baia’s mosaics, Nymphaeum statues and villas.

“It was important to me that the music was whispered in the same landscape that Gianfranco has worked for the past three years, so that you can hear the volcanic air gulping, the lapping of the waves, the steam and bubbles popping against John and Seymour’s saxophone breaths – an echo from a suspended time.”
What emerges is deeply melancholic, tender, subtle and right at the edges of audio technology. Submerged in an aquarian mausoleum, the mysterious vibrations of the saxophone and its bell become an echo of an echo, wading from the future into the past. ‘Sotto le Nuvole’ is less a soundtrack than a process of aeration - a sonic puncture in the material of the film which allows its central message to breathe, and a remarkable experiment at the limits of the saxophone’s possibility.

Fog On Mirror Glass introduces a new aesthetic amongst Donald Beaman albums. After four albums of varied full-band arrangements, this album emerged as an idea to present solo performances in conversation with full-band work. The bulk of the songs were recorded in the same place they were written: Beaman’s living room. Long time bandmate and producer Kirt Lind set up a makeshift studio at Beaman’s house to record the guitar parts in the same room where they were written, using the same guitars on which they were first played.

Unfurling with a measured pace, the resulting album combines elegiac lyrics with elemental arrangements played with an almost jazz-like reverential expressiveness, calling to mind the works of Cass McCombs, Will Oldham, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. Album opener “Glass Bottom Boat” sets the tone for the album with just Beaman and his guitar – written during the final months of a decade-long stay in New York City, the song was finished upon his arrival back in California. Meanwhile the title track, long a staple in live sets, lands near the middle of the album to recalibrate the mood, featuring the ghostly guitar work of longtime collaborator Ken Lovgren. “Old Universe” lifts things up a bit, propelled by the brushwork of drummer Michael Nalin and the jaunty bass playing of Kirt Lind. Finally, the album ends much the way it began, with Beaman and his guitar on album closer “Bamboo”.

“The dictionary definition of less is more.” - ---- Mojo
“His ability to carve universal empathy from mundane domesticity is remarkable.” - ---- RNR Magazine
“...a collection of evocative scenes and vivid emotions sung to sparse musical arrangements in Beaman’s distinctive sonorous tones” - Americana UK
“...pure and simmering, like a tattoo dedicated to a long lost friend, slightly fading from years in the sun, a memory that will always bring a tear in those quiet reflective moments.” - Psychedelic Baby Magazine