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As part of Subtext's 20th anniversary, Subtext presents the debut album from bela as a co-release with Unsound.

bela was based in Seoul when they began to develop the framework for 'Noise and Cries (굉음과울음)'.Chewed up by a society that's slow to embrace those who exist on the margins, they and their close friends became fixated on the concept of death. "I wanted to cry, I Wanted to die," they recall. "The precariousness of living in South Korea hits different. I thought, let's share what is killing us." bela refused to lose hope, so they inventoried the sounds, experiences and emotions that had formulated their identity and wondered how this might form a different sort of South Korean musical expression. They considered the guttural death metal growls and industrial music they heard when they began to interface with Western culture as a teenager, the idiosyncratic folk rhythms that rattled away in the background of state events, the evocative, euphoric drones that had offered them solace, and the heady, cybernetic maximalism that's come to define contemporary queer club music.If this was going to be an album about death, bela knew wouldn't it be preoccupied with loss, but rooted in a deep desire to regain the will to live.

'Noise and Cries (굉음과울음)' is the first time bela has recorded their voice, and they metamorphose it from moment to moment, embracing a precarious vulnerability. Opener 'The Sage' references Jungtaryeong, two well-known arias from the Korean Pansori tradition - a folk form that is usually performed by a drummer and a singer. Screaming, whispering and rasping, bela twists borrowed words from the original arias, repurposing them to highlight the hypocrisy and brutality of patriarchal wisdom.

These bellowed phrases contrast with an abrasive rhythm that bela based on the eatmore jangdan, an irregular, traditional beat that's been remoulded into a jerky, electro-acoustic call to action. Even if the gargled Korean wordplay can't be fully understood, the mood translate flawlessly. On 'Death Will I', they reassemble the damaged relationship between a queer child and their

We decided to sign BOTTENHAVET after about 30 seconds of the first demo song we heard. Swedish rock forged in snow. They deliver unbeatable groove and stunning melodies. The band name translates to ’The Bothnian Sea’ so it's not hard to guess that the harsh climate has had an impact of this band! Before even releasing an album they have shows booked in Sweden, Finland and Poland. Listen and you will understand why!

Ljud i Tysta Rum by Bottenhavet includes the following tracks: "Bränn broar", "Jord", "I skuggan" and more.

Poly Dance Theatre presents its new show: Warning: killer track! Let's start with side A: an international adventure. Backstage, we meet up with rico OBF, who has recorded MC Waraba, the Malian singer and pioneer of the "Balani show" for his forthcoming album on Blanc Manioc Records, at the dubquake studio. Still backstage, we come across androo, the little pictureditor hanging around, who offers to do a re-interpretation by re-creating a riddim from the vocal.

So here's poet rapper MC Waraba, singing in Bambara and French, telling us a story about a girl's difficult choices over a riddim made in androo.
The result is a strange, solid, bewitching and melancholy blend of dub, wave and drill trap music. The references are many and scattered, as always with androo (just take a look at his bedroom). After the pop-epic poem, dub mix versions unfold, from dub vocal, with reminiscence of the delay-cut poem, to deep, robust instrumental straight.

B side: Warning: killer track again! Warning: another kind of Wave-dub-trap. Warning: Identity is theft. Warning: Sound system style: 4 parts! Here, starting with a badly cut sample (against American transparency! long live Brecht!), we wander through a heavy chorus-stepper-weird-club-dub, ranging from the most pop to the most ruff, via the most experimental to the deepest. 4 episodes. One season. To see again and again. To play again and again (if need be).
4 episodes (Warning again: Sound system style: 4 parts!)
A series of versions in which the dub mix experiments and pushes the track to its limits.

Translated with deepl

Revision of new beats on the horizon
Every 20 years or so, certain musical movements come full circle. Young musicians are inspired by genres dating back two decades, channelling them through their modern sensibility. The legendary J Dilla’s Donuts album was released in 2006 and instantly marked a starting point for the work of musicians worldwide, laying the foundations especially for the beat scene in Los Angeles. A whole young generation of musicians brought up on the new, instrumental and abstract hip-hop has carried jazz into a new era. The four London-based musicians who make up Uniri have gone one step further by abandoning the idea of a jazz band and "bedroom production" in favour of collective composing, creating a new look at the new-beat aesthetics, framing it as a road novel set in an unspecified time and space.

Uniri translates as ‘one unified dream’ and is the key driving motto of the project conceived by Chiminyo (Cykada, Maisha), the band's founder and head honcho. The project materialised in his private studio, where he invited fellow jazz musicians Amane Tsuganami (Jorja Smith, Maisha), Al Macsween (Nubya Garcia, Gary Bartz, Kefaya) and Luke Wynter (Nubyan Twist, Golden Mean) to spontaneously compose together. Hence, despite this being the band's first album, it wouldn't be right to call them rookies. The result of Uniri's collaborative work is the psychedelic, rhythmic album Infinite Reflections, packed with cosmic and warm synths, which neatly balances hip-hop beat and jazz composition. It's safe to say this music is even more appealing when played live, although it's equally suited to the club dancefloor.

UK Jazz has become a permanent fixture in the London landscape, but also across Europe and the US. Today, the musicians who shape the new wave of jazz are drawing on more and more genres, reducing solo improvisation for the benefit of composition and increasingly drawing on influences from the beat scene. Among such formations are the British NOK Cultural Ensemble, the Polish Błoto, the Belgian ECHT!, and the Dutch Comité Hypnotisé. Uniri is part of this emerging yet already international trend, creating an entirely fresh aesthetic that echoes artists such as Flying Lotus, Samiyam, Dorian Concept, Ras G and Nosaj Things oriented around the Californian 'new beats generation' scene.

The title Infinite Reflections alludes to a phenomenon observable on the open sea or during intercontinental flights. Gazing at the horizon blurs the boundary between the ocean and the sky, forming an infinite palette of blue shades. This inspiration sparked an elusive musical narrative, navigating between a sea voyage and an astral journey, destination unknown.

'Mei Semones' sweetly evocative blend of jazz, bossa nova and math-y indie rock is notonly a way for her to find solace in her favorite genres, but is an intuitive means ofcatharsis. "Blending everything that I like together and trying to make something new -that's what feels most natural to me," says the 23-year-old Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. "It's what feels most true to who I am as an artist." Plinking guitar tones and asymmetrical time signatures exemplify her forays intoangular indie rock more now than ever before, especially on her debut Bayonet Recordssingle "Wakare no Kotoba"_its wide-interval arpeggios in odd meters being some ofthe most technically difficult guitar work Mei has ever implemented in her songwriting.Translated to "parting words'' in English, the self-described "anti-love song" serves as afarewell to a toxic friendship, complete with orchestral swells and crashing guitars. Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Semones began playing music at a young age,starting out on piano at age four before moving to electric guitar at age eleven. Afterplaying jazz guitar in high school, she went on to study guitar performance with a jazzfocus at Berklee College of Music. College is where she met her current bandmates,including string players Noah Leong and Claudius Agrippa, whose respective viola andviolin add softness and multidimensionality to Mei's intricate guitar work. After releasinga slew of singles and an EP in 2022, coinciding with her move to New York City, Mei andher band have since gone on to collaborate with post-bossa balladeer John Roseboroand embark on their first-ever tour with the melodic rock outfit Raavi. Semones chronicles infatuation, devotion, and vulnerability in her songs, complete withsweeping strings, virtuosic guitar-playing and heartfelt lyrics sung in both English andJapanese, that have all become part of her sonic trademark: ornately catchy, genre-fusing compositions serving as the backdrop to tender lyrics touching on theuniversalities of human emotion.

A quietly influential figure among electronic and experimental circles since the late 90s, Berlin based sound artist Hanno Leichtmann has been developing a sprawling and idiosyncratic vision both as a creator and curator.

With a keen sense for charting new territories, Leichtmann's work spawns a multitude of languages that go from deli-cate ambient excursions to techno explorations or abstract sceneries on numerous sound installations, releases on such esteemed labels like Entr'acte or The Tapeworm and collaborations with artists like Valerio Tricoli or Jan Jelinek. A reflection of his keen sense of discovery.

Centered around the Villa Aurora Organ, an intriguing and mostly unknown instrument built in 1928/29 by the Artcraft Organ Company in Santa Monica, California, 'Outerlands' presents a deeply personal approach to the instrument's particular properties, very much in line with Discrepant's ethos. Consisting of a pipe organ, a wall mounted marimba and a two octave tubular bells/chimes ensemble, remotely controllable by MIDI, the Villa Aurora Organ's rich palette of sounds is translated into 12 short tracks capable of conveying the mesmerising spirits of minimalism, exotica and de-votional music.

Starting with the ecstatic sound of the pipe organ, 'Lucero' sets up the hypnotic mood for 'Outerland's excursions through moments of spiralling repetition - 'Tramonto' -, blissful contemplation - 'Sunset' or 'Notteargenta' - or underly-ing tension - ‘Coperto’. 'Espera' amps up the unease, with queasy organ tones lurking beneath marimba harmonic motifs that wouldn't sound out of of place on some survival horror movie, while 'Miramar' or 'Revello' bring an uncanny sense of familiarity through its repetitive melodies.

Drifting seamlessly through a variety of moods that somehow feel connected - the outerlands are within you, if you allow yourself to let go.

Brownswood Recordings are proud to present the reissue of Toshio Matsuura’s 2017 cult classic LOVEPLAYDANCE, issued for the first time as a complete album on limited edition red and white double vinyl.



The project focuses on covers, presenting classics & influential tracks in a new context. This new edition includes a cover of the Rotary Connection’s classic "Black Gold of the Sun'' featuring Afro-Cuban singer Daymé Arocena and her prodigious Havana-based players, as well as the high energy re-lick of Byron Morris and Unity’s ‘Kitty Bey’, a classic from Gilles Peterson’s seminal afternoon session at Dingwalls in the 1990s; neither included on the original vinyl LP.



On ‘LOVEPLAYDANCE’, legendary Tokyo DJ and producer Toshio Matsuura charted a new direction by casting musical cornerstones in a fresh light. The TOSHIO MATSUURA GROUP features Tom Skinner (drummer for Smile, Sons of Kemet, amongst others) as its musical director, as well as some of the UK’s most exciting jazz-influenced musicians. Drawing on years of surveying and curating different corners of music, Matsuura deftly combined this talented pool of players into one singular, wide-ranging album. A co-founder of Japan’s United Future Organisation (aka U.F.O.), this record sees Matsuura reconnect with longstanding friend and collaborator Gilles Peterson. Releasing the album via Brownswood Recordings in the UK, it’s a continuation of a relationship which started as a bridge between London’s then-blossoming jazz scene and Tokyo’s new musical vanguard of the early ‘90s. This album continues that two-way dialogue between Japan and the UK.



The scope of the music reflects the breadth of Matsuura’s interests; It ranges from Bugges Wesseltoft’s Detroit-influenced, dancefloor-minded jazz, stretched out into a more meditative contemplation, to Flying Lotus’ LA-rooted, Brainfeeder beatmaking, translated from laptop-to-live, given a new, equally idiosyncratic lease of life. Elsewhere, Carl Craig’s iconic ‘At Les’ is taken in a looser direction, the overtones of euphoria cast in a different hue.



They’re touchpoints which hint at interests in the different, diffuse corners of electronic music, and how they connect to jazz and improvisation. Featuring an all star line up of some of the best players London has to offer, line up includes Nubya Garcia, Yazz Ahmed, Yussef Dayes and more.

Engelchen literally translates as ‘little angels’ What’s more, for many in the febrile, dangerous era of the 1930s in Nazi-occupied Europe, as they wrote letters to arrange their paths out of danger as refugees,
these were Ida and Louise Cook. Ida and Louise spent much of their early years in Sunderland, and in adulthood lived in a suburb of London with their parents. They were enormous fans of opera and led
relatively quiet and unfussy lives. Yet secretly these resourceful and eccentric women were using their musical obsessions as a means to help dozens of refugees escape with their lives.

2024 Repress

Queeste emerges with the nocturnal sounds of Haron's Wandelaar, an album exploring his long-term interest in music's talent for inducing and affecting dreams, successfully turning listening into an act of transport, leaving you in the midst of falling asleep, at a junction of dislocation, hazily arriving in a liminal world. In Wandelaar we hear Haron's playful reaction against the confines of dance music, gathering energy from his estrangement from the scene and using it as a means to reorder and interrogate sound. The modest piano takes centre stage, allowing each solo note to becoming fertile and full, suspended and considered, guided by the principles of minimal composers such as John Cage and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Haron delicately translates sparse chords into a cinematic narrative of ascension, conjuring up a 'moony landscape,' grey and desolate from afar, intricately detailed on approach. Haron's Wandelaar is available 6 July 2018 on LP. The vinyl release includes an art print by Fallon Does, who is also responsible for the graphic design of Wandelaar. All tracks written and produced by Haron Aumaj, mastered by Wouter for Brandenburg Mastering. Words by Jo Kali.

Early support by Ben UFO, Call Super, Beatrice Dillon, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Matt Werth (RVNG), Blowing Up The Workshop, Oceanic, Khotin.

Brazilian producer and DJ Pedro Bertho, now based in France and an active member of Lyon's electronic music scene, releases his first EP on Cracki Records.

With "Mêlé", he attempts to translate what it feels like to be a black, Brazilian man living in France in the 21st century.

A complex patchwork of experiences, accents and heritages that he translates on this powerful record, mixing baile funk, house, electro or acid house, sprinkled with TR-808 and iPhone recordings.

The mix extends to the remixes, with Brazilian underground queen Badsista signing a hard-hitting version of "Jour 4", while Chilean Alejandro Paz tackles the bouncy "3333".

Before coming to Europe, in 1970, pianist Manuel Villarroel was a vet in his native Chilli. A few years later, as leader of the Machi Oul Big Band, he returned to the animal kingdom. A very specific kind of animal, for sure, the Quetzalcoatl, also known as the Feathered Serpent. What is behind this title (also the name of one of the three original compositions on this album released on the Palm label in 1976), is first and foremost a sort of homecoming...

After discovering the jazz of Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Villarroel was taken by the free jazz which was all the rage at the time in America and Europe, and this would inspire the first version of his Machi-Oul, project. This was a septet, with which the pianist would record, in 1971, the tremendous Terremoto (re-released by Souffle Continu FFL085). After this masterstroke Villarroel was invited to record with Perception (Perception & Friends) and with Baikida Carroll (Orange Fish Tears). While these were notable contributions, Villarroel was already looking into other combinations.

“I had to deal personally with my situation as an expatriate, without disavowing it. I tried not to betray my roots, I tried to translate into my music what was essential to me, to reflect my origins – Latin America, its musical and above all human feelings – while remaining faithful to jazz, which is the mode of expression of the musicians in the group”. This then is the ‘homecoming’ we mentioned, which would incite Manuel Villarroel to compose what he would call “structured free music”. In January 1972 the pianist enlarged his formation to reach the size of a real big band: the Septet became the Machi-Oul Big Band. Three years later in January 1975, with producer Jef Gilson at the helm, fifteen musicians including those from the old Septet (Jef Sicard, François and Jean-Louis Méchali, Gérard Coppéré) worked on a rare form of jazz. From togetherness to dissonance, we danse to it “Bolerito” then shake it up on “Leyendas De Nahuelbuta”. As for the concluding serpent, it is a piece which is impossible to pin down: “Quetzalcoat” is as impressive as it is difficult to grasp. To remind ourselves of this, lets listen to it again.

»Sound of Matter« is the debut album by Romanian sound artist and composer Simina Oprescu. The two pieces draw on research conducted with 15 historical church bells at the Märkisches Museum and the Stadtmuseum Berlin. After the artist had presented the results of her studies of the connection between matter and harmony in the form of a multi-channel installation, she has translated the underlying approach of this site-specific work into an album that unfolds slowly, consistently setting in motion subtle tonal changes that continuously change the mood of the two pieces. »Sound of Matter« is both minimalist and maximalist, creating an infinitely rich and multi-layered dronescape that modestly invites its audience to get lost in the sonic experience.

Oprescu has been fascinated by church bells since her childhood spent in Transilvania since the instruments were shrouded in mystery, as she explains in an in-depth essay that accompanies the album. Having received a Bachelor’s degree at UNArte in Bucharest and after studying at the Royal Conservatory of Mons in Belgium, Oprescu enrolled at Berlin’s Universität der Künste for an M.A. in Sound Studies and Sonic Arts. She started working with the archive of the Märkisches Museum, which included 15 historical church bells that were built between the 15th and the early 19th century.

Since every bell sounds different according to its shape, material, and density, Oprescu abstracted these qualities in the formula f = K1t/d^2√E/s(1-m^2). This enabled her to recreate the harmonic tone of the individual bells with Max/MSP. She then composed a piece with semi-overlayed tones, i.e. overlapping frequencies. Naturally, this resulted in a beating effect that provided the music with a sense of urgency, though the five second-long natural reverb of the Märkisches Museum’s Große Halle turned it into a »warm blanket of sound,« as the artist herself puts it. This is perfectly recreated on »Sound of Matter« due to the music being presented in mono, bringing out the intrinsic movement of the beatings with more nuance than a stereo version would.

»Sound of Matter« feels warm and welcoming even when different frequencies seem to create friction between each other or when the subtle beating effects turn into throbbing rhythms, like at the end of the record. It manages to explore both Oprescu’s personal fascination with church bells and psychological and psychoacoustic questions relating to them as well as philosophical issues connected with them. This music is profoundly physical, but also intellectually stimulating—perfectly at home in the catalog of the Swiss Hallow Ground label between records by Kali Malone, Lawrence English, or Siavash Amini.

The booklet features an in-depth essay on church bells by Simina Oprescu.

“After a bright history with our label, Ken Karter returns with the “STEL-LAR 000 EP,” promising an exciting chapter in his artistic evolution. We are thrilled to present Ken Karter’s next masterpiece in vinyl format. This work transforms chaos into a symphony of ordered emotions. Karter translates numerical sequences into sounds, exploring mathematics, numerology, and cryptography, creating an avant-garde fusion of chaos and order.”

Acclaimed Japan “minyo footwork” duo WaqWaq Kingdom - aka Shigeru Ishihara (DJ Scotch Egg / Seefeel) and Kiki Hitomi (ex-King Midas Sound) - return with feverishly joyous new album Hot Pot Totto, a bubbling hot pot of dance music that responds to ecological anxiety.

“Two words are conjoined: hot pot and ottotto,” vocalist Kiki Hitomi tells us. “Ottotto is the Japanese equivalent of “oops”, or said when someone nearly falls over but manages to get their balance back: “it was dangerous but now we are safe!” Combined with the heady brew of their musical styles (“like a psychedelic Nabe hot pot: melting traditional Japanese Minyo with Jamaican dancehall, footwork, dub, techno, tribal polyrhythms and Super Nintendo soundtracks”), producer Shige Ishihara’s time in East Africa working with local musicians, and the dayglo hallucinogen of the duo’s visual aesthetic, WaqWaq Kingdom’s thumping, thrilling, irresistible third release is a unique ride.



Thematically - despite its ostensibly celebratory impact - Hot Pot Totto addresses the world’s grave ecological state. “Now our earth is on the way to catastrophe, as global warming becomes a serious problem through humanity’s fault. We are on the edge,” Hitomi writes. “We need to get back on the right track.” The ottotto of the album title refers to this experience - the need to get back on track. However, this is not lamenting music: it is fiercely defiant, full of colour and rapture, maintaining an optimism that we can.



Opening single “Hakke Yoi” ties treated voice, a floor-shaking beat, and a dizzying, transforming colour palette to a heart-quickening BPM. The track is named after the traditional cry of a sumo wrestling match, shouted by the referee to maintain tempo, commonly translated as “put some spirit into it!” The lyrics refer to humanity’s sacrifice of our planet for our own material gains. Later, key track “Buri Buri” features Ugandan experimental dance producer Catu Diosis and centres around the lyric “Turn disaster to our advantage / good fortune and happiness will come to those who smile,” offering not regret but encouragement and empowerment with its neon alien sonics and relentless vibrancy.



Kiki Hitomi was formerly a member of Ninja Tune / Hyperdub’s King Midas Sound (along with The Bug and Roger Robinson), and co-founded iconic Japanese dubstep-noise duo Dokkebi Q. She is also a celebrated illustrator and designer, having created artwork for countless record sleeves (including this one) and brands. Shigeru Ishihara - aka DJ Scotch Egg - has been orbiting the dance music galaxy for over a decade, releasing radiantly unpredictable solo records through Lightning Bolt’s Load Records, as a member of Warp Records’ legendary Seefeel, and performing with both projects across the world. He recently undertook a residency at the Nyege Nyege Villa in Uganda, working with Phantom Limb alumnus MC Yallah. More recently, Ishihara has been releasing music under the guise of Scotch Rolex, collaborating with the likes of Shackleton, Swordman Kitala, Lord Spikeheart and more.



Hot Pot Totto is WaqWaq Kingdom’s third release for Phantom Limb, following the rapturously received album Essaka Hoisa in 2019 and follow-up EP Dokkoisho in 2020. The band recently performed at the label’s sold out 5th anniversary event in London, setting an ecstatic venue alight with energy.








f B1 Buri Buri feat. Catu Diosis

By welcoming the beauty of imperfection and simplicity, Sven Wunder applies the timeless wisdom of wabi sabi on this musical journey. What you can hear is filtered through Ukiyo-e (which translates as “pictures of the floating world”), which illustrates everyday life, as well as through Japonism, the study of Japanese art, and more specifically its influence on European works. The result is a surface that creates an illusion by sound. The infusion of Min’yō with jazz rock, this hazy scene evokes the landscape of Monet’s ”The Water Lily Pond”, which depicts the painter’s Giverny garden, with a Japanese bridge, bamboo, ginkgo trees and the reflection of the sky in the pond. This illusion constructs both time and space.

The surface of the music, like the canvas of the painting, invents a journey between now and then by interpreting the idiom of folkloric and western art instruments. In this composition, the sound of the Western concert flute, which stretches back to the Renaissance and Baroque periods, evokes the sound of the bamboo-flute (”shakuchachi”), which reached its peak during the Edo period. The guzheng, also known as the Chinese zither, with a more than 2,500 year history, joins traditional Japanese folk melodies with modern pop percussion and 20th century electronic instruments such as the Moog synthesizer, Wurlitzer electric piano and electric bass.

This is the illusion that celebrates the fleeting nature of all things. A journey. A deep inhale and a slow exhale. It has a mix of jazz (both funky and progressive), East Asian and South Asian sounds. The idea of fusing these styles and reframing them with the aesthetic of wabi sabi is to reconnect with nature and concentrate on asymmetries and emphasize ornamentation to generate new ways of looking at the world, here and now.

The title of Staś Czekalski’s debut translates as ‘Adventures’. It’s fitting for an album that invokes feelings of exploring, roaming, ambling through bustling cities and changing seasons, around castles and swaying fields, down the pixelated paths of old computer games, and all the way home.

We get the sense of being on some carefree yet critical quest, with Staś taking on the role of narrator as much as composer. Part fable, part Moomins, part seek and you shall find, these boppy, wide-eyed and reflective tracks set imagination in motion.

These are sonic adventures in a more literal sense too, at once quietly bold and intricately arranged. Bouncing around a playful gamut of references, from the whimsically lo-fi electro-acoustic pop of Anne Laplantine through trip-hoppy bedroom ambient and indietronica, Staś sets this blend twinkling with his singular form of magical thinking.

The brand new EP "Wellental" by Extrawelt on Traum is herewith reveled to the fans. Their new 3 track vinyl 12" gives a nod to the mayhem and urgency of techno all finely tuned. Straightforward in its brilliance and simplicity, yet carefully measured with a maturity that speaks the language of Extrawelt´s minimalism.

We attest: a unique techno track for the dance-floor on the a side, a trippy track on b1 and a very musical one as B2.

What happens within these 3 tracks is nothing short of alchemy, traversing all sorts of grounds without ever losing the plot. It’s due to the duo’s keen grasp of sound design—they always exchange ideas, on an expansive set of hardware, so no matter what tunnel they’re traveling down head-first, the sounds are always pristine, filled with unexpected details.

The EP opens with the title track "Wellental" which translates as "wave trough". Wave trough valley refers in particular to the points of maximum negative deflection in a traveling wave. In contrast, the points of maximum positive deflection are called wave crests. Musically this converts in a way that, although the title track "Wellental" has a lot of forceful steady forward motion and zig zag sequences cutting into it, it also has that "hanging time" feeling that adds unpredictability and tension to the track. You can defiantly sense that Detroit theme in a post Detroit interpretation here.

The flip-side starts with "Unter Wasser" which is illustrated by urgent uptempo beats that can push it on the dance floor and dreamy, surreal soundscapes on the other hand that account for that great under water feel. The track sounds a bit like the "Deep End" film soundtrack from CAN in that respect.

The B2 track is called "Samtstrand" and there is a reason for this since the track is very gentle and brushes over a surface with velvet hands but in contrast to that, the Extrawelt beats are kicking out the jams here! So this song has a twin drive going!

Danielle Boutet’s P »Pièces« is a mysterious artifact of Quebecois marginalia, self-released in 1985. Moving from languid ennui to high drama, »Pièces« is a dreamy gestalt, an album that borders Chanson, spoken-word, jazz noir, and minimalism, conjured from the chasm between acoustic and electronic realms. »Pièces« allows us a window into the highly intimate songcraft and compositional skill of an artist who longed to linger not in the public eye, but in relation with others and the world around her.

Born in Quebec City, Boutet studied music at the University of Montreal, where she focused on composition and percussion, before becoming involved in Montreal’s feminist and lesbian art scene. Primarily written, performed, and recorded by Boutet, with voice, guitar work, and technical assistance by Sylvie Gagnon, Pièces was created during a paradigm shift in home recording. Originally composed for the piano, Boutet and Gagnon utilized a consumer-friendly Tascam 4-track Portastudio and versatile Yamaha DX-7, alongside guitar, bass, marimba, and the human voice, to expand and contemporize the original composition’s scope.

Inspired by prog rock and British poet and musician Anne Clark, »Pièces« translates Boutet’s influence by moving between sunny, wistful fairytale and dark, wintry dirge. Filled with longing marimba, vertiginous, startling synth pads, and folk guitar, each track on Pièces offers a wholly unique proposition. Some are modal and rife with the ethereal psychological tension of a sci-fi soundtrack, while others are more like entering a smoke-laced lounge, the entertainer embodying seduction.

With the sprechgesang of artists like Serge Gainsbourg, there is an intense intimacy to Boutet’s delivery, sometimes as if she is performing for an audience of one. As one lyric goes, translated to English from French: “Like holograms/ Images from a world/ That inhales souls/ And exudes drama.” Another song contains an excerpt from The Tao of Physics: “The eastern sages specify clearly that they do not identify an ordinary void, but rather, a void having an infinite creative potential.”

To English-language audiences, the album’s title, »Pièces«, might seem to simply refer to the eleven different pieces. The title can also, of course, refer to parts of a larger whole, but Boutet is keen to point out that there is also another meaning: In French, a pièce is a room. On the cover of the original cassette, Boutet is seen sitting on a chair, alone in an empty apartment, a cable snaking at her feet. Listening to »Pièces« is like entering eleven different rooms: whether a study encased in shadow, a greenhouse left to wither in an eternal frost, or a divine nave.

Boutet sold a few dozen copies around Montreal, a scene mostly occupied by the new wave explosion de rigueur, but the inclusion of Pièces in the 1987 issue of Ladyslipper—the North Carolina-based mail order catalog that championed women musicians of all calibers and careers—led to more exposure throughout North America. “In the catalog,” Boutet says, “they included it in the New Age section, but I was, and still am, aware that this album is relatively unclassifiable.”

Boutet would release one more album, titled Musiques Urbaines, before getting pulled in the direction of interdisciplinary art and theory. “Although I never stopped making music, I lost all interest in public diffusion or performance,” Boutet says. Despite her departure from performance and publicly releasing music, she left behind a strange and enthralling document of Montreal’s 1980s feminist fringe, an aural document of the historic moment when self-recorded music and its practical potential became a prismatic reality.

Danielle Boutet’s Pièces arrives February 16, 2024 as part of uncommon¢ (“uncommon sense”), an open-ended, serialized endeavor from Freedom to Spend that provides new meaning for rarefied recordings from music’s outermost fringe.

Mandalaband began life in the early 1970's, gaining cult status as one of the most forward-thinking prog outfits of the time. The brainchild of David Rohl, who formed a lineup featuring future Sad Cafe members Vic Emerson (keyboards), Ashley Mulford (guitars), John Stimpson (bass guitar and backing vocals), Tony Cresswell (drums) and vocalist Dave Durant.

Mandalaband received critical acclaim with legendary BBC radio presenter John Peel playing the entire album on his show before promptly re-broadcasting the whole thing immediately after. Unfortunately, at the time, this didn't translate to sales and Mandalaband fell into obscurity. However, with the advent of the internet, their legend grew, exciting a new generation of prog fans.

We are now pleased to make these recordings available again and offer a chance to dig into some of the most interesting progressive music of the '70s. As well as presenting the original album remastered, David gained access to the original 24-track analogue master tapes, having them restored and digitised at Abbey Road Studios before reinforcing the sound and instrumentation before remixing the entire album.

Nearly fifty years on, a veil of sonic mist has been lifted from these unique recordings.

Format: 2LP 180g gatefold edition featuring the original album and David Rohl 2024 remix of entire album, both remastered at AIR Mastering, with rare bonus track. Includes newly written liner notes.

Rock juggernaut Futurebirds’ newest release – a 22-track live compilation titled …Thanks Y’all – is a benchmark that not only celebrates 14 years together, it’s also a testament to the sheer iron will of a group of musicians hungry for the fruits of its labor.

The Athens, Georgia-based group once again teamed up with storied My Morning Jacket guitarist/producer Carl Broemel for the latest chapter of a seamless, bountiful partnership that initially came to fruition with the 2021 EP, Bloomin’, and was followed up with the 2022 EP, Bloomin’ Too.

Recorded over 9 shows in February of 2023, the live compilation finds the “Carlbirds” firing on all cylinders, with the best highlights captured for posterity on …Thanks Y’all. The album delivers the sound and energy of the live concert experience, as though the listener were standing dead center in the raucous crowd.

Singer/guitarist Daniel Womack says, “We're long overdue for a live release and feel super lucky to have one of our mentors quarterbacking the project. Carl takes us to another level and I think the stoke translates well in these versions""

COTONETE is back!

After releasing numerous and now collectable standalone singles, plus some now famous collaborations with Dimitri from Paris, 2019 saw Parisian based 8 piece, Cotonete release their first long player in 15 years! Under the guidance of Melik Bencheikh from Paris’ rare record emporium, Heart Beat Vinyl. The dark moody mover "Super-Vilains" came out to great success on Heavenly Sweetness.

After playing some packed live shows around France and the UK, including the acclaimed Sunday at Dingwalls in Camden, hosted by Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge. Somewhere along this part of the journey, they came across the Brazilian music legend and vocal powerhouse, Di Melo. He softened their souls, and from this love affair came the album "Atemporal". Released on Favourite Recordings, this 8 track album would end up being sampled by Canadian superstar Drake, for his 2023 album ‘For All the Dogs Scary Hours
Edition’.

So now into 2024, and we have Cotonete full length number two. They’ve enlisted the producer Guts to guide them towards sunshine, groove, warmth and all the colours in his rainbow. With their tongues firmly in their cheeks, the album is titled ‘Victoire de la Musique’ - a dig at the annual French music award ceremony. Taking the band deep, producer Guts showed them new and exciting rhythms from all corners of the world. The record’s first example of this is ‘Venezuela’, a track directly inspired by the jazz funk from the great Caribbean nation.

Other key musical exploration on the record can be attributed to the late composer Francis Lai. On ‘Cinq Pour L'aventure’ - an almost 15 minute epic monster showcasing the band’s love for 70's French movies soundtracks. “L’aventure c’est l’aventure”, was a movie by one of the most famous French directors Claude Lelouch The single from the soundtrack was sung by French music superstar Johnny Halliday.

Guests are scattered very tastefully across the album, on the only cover version of the record, the Brazilian master Jorge Ben’s ‘Bebete Vãobora’, Sabrina Malheiros was invited to lend her lungs. The daughter of Azymuth’s Alex Malheiros helps join perfectly the dots from a band that are without a doubt Cotonete’s biggest influence. Brazilian jazz funk, now with an added French touch.

On ‘Day in Day Out’ a powerful performance is given from Leron Thomas on vocals and trumpet. Perhaps also known for his role as the musical director for Iggy Pop and touring member of his band. This track is an already tried and tested dance floor filler, emphasizing just how tight the band really can play - the track even found its way into BBC Music’s Craig Charles’ ‘Track Of The Year’ selection.

No record so soulful would be complete without a trip to the UK. Omar, London’s Godfather of New Soul pops in. Having recorded with artists like; Courtney Pine, Level 42 & Erykah Badu, in his distinctive smooth style, he blesses the track ‘What Did Run You For?’ The final vocal visitor is Gystere Peskine, a Parisian based musical hero, who shows off his retro future funk feels on ‘O Ceu es Preto’ - which literally translates as ‘the sky is black’ - although given the hugely uplifting and almost Gospel Soul of this Russian/Brazilian singer, he
has us seeing things far brighter.

Cotonete have endeavored to build a worldwide rainbow warrior team of merry boys and girls. Fighting the brave fight to shine light towards the fact that music will always win…. "Victoire de la Musique" - a symphony of spring, songs of the new world, a "Victory Of Music”

Skydaddy, the moniker of London based musician and bandleader Rachid Fakhre, has announced his debut EP, Pilot, releasing on the 2 February 2024. Alongside this announcement, Skydaddy has shared a new single ‘His Masterpiece’

Having spent the last few years writing and producing as one half of the acclaimed musical duo Spang Sisters, Skydaddy’s debut EP Pilot promises to be a ray of light bursting out from an increasingly busy London indie scene. Combining cello, violin, flute, piano and intricate vocal harmonies, Skydaddy cuts an utterly compelling figure, leading a fluid and interchangeable band, at its largest 7 people strong, they delicately glide through intricate passages of chamber-folk-rock, into swelling orchestral crescendos.

Released today is new single ‘His Masterpiece’ a piano driven track bristling with both a sense of hope and of melancholy. Skydaddy’s vocals sit alongside ear worm hooks from violins and flute. Following on from debut single ‘That Morning’ (also on upcoming EP Pilot) Skydaddy manages to capture a sound of yearning and nostalgia, whilst still sounding completely fresh and incredibly exciting. Offering insight on the inspiration on the track, he offers:

“Inspired by the story of Claude Lantier from Emilie Zola’s L'Œuvre (Commonly translated to ‘His Masterpiece’), the song charts the plight of an early impressionist painter in Paris whose works are unappreciated and gawked at by the Parisian artistic elite who are still tethered to the Romantic trend in painting. Lantier (whose character is based on Paul Cézanne) becomes madly obsessed in a painting which he believes to be his masterpiece and the ultimate demonstration of his talent and genius; an obsession which leads to his eventual, self-inflicted demise. The song is ultimately about alienation, bitterness and the struggle of creativity.”

As the BBE Music J Jazz Masterclass Series hits its 19th title, the milestone is suitably matched by a collaboration between two giants of jazz brought together to deliver an exceptional album, working with a band of the very best Japanese jazz musicians. ‘Reminicent Suite’ by American pianist Mal Waldron and Japanese trumpeter Terumasa Hino was originally released in 1973 on the famed Victor label and was one of several Japan-only albums recorded and released by Waldron over a thirty-year period, most of which have never been available outside Japan. ‘Reminicent Suite’ comprises two extended tracks, both taking up a side each. The title track on Side A is composed by Waldron, and is a dark, brooding heavy groove typical of his early 70s sound. ‘Black Forest’ on side B is written by Hino and is a vivid and energetic piece, layered and textured with dense percussion and Hino’s signature trumpet tone. Mal Waldron started out in the early 1950s working extensively on the Prestige label with notable figures such as Gene Ammons, Jackie McLean and Charles Mingus. Most famously, he worked with Billie Holiday before leaving the States in the mid-60s and relocating to Europe where he established himself as a major figure working across many countries including France, Italy, and Germany, where he made his home in Munich. In 1969, Waldron recorded the first releases for two major European jazz labels, ECM and Enja, before visiting Japan on tour for the first time in 1970. Waldron instantly fell in love with Japan and, over the next three decades, extensively toured and recorded there for numerous labels. Terumasa Hino is one of the towering figures of post-war modern jazz in Japan. Coming to prominence via the Hideto Shiraki and Sadao Watanabe bands in the mid-60s, Hino soon emerged as one of the prime movers in new jazz generation that changed the direction of jazz in Japan. He explored a more open, freer, and improvised sound, mixing psychedelic and rock elements with freeform and post-bop jazz. Hino recorded for many of the leading jazz labels of the era including Columbia, Three Blind Mice, and East Wind and would go on to relocate to the US in the mid-70s, immersing himself with the leading fusion players of the New York scene including Larry Corryell, Mtume, Al Foster, Dave Liebman and many more. In the early 80s, Hino’s jazz funk tracks were dancefloor smashes on the UK jazz dance scene. Joining Waldron and Hino on ‘Reminicient Suite’ is a band made up of the very best Japanese jazzman of their day: Takeo Uematsu on sax, Terumasa’s brother, Motohiko Hino, on drums, and the legendary bass master, Isao Suzuki. Together, they deliver one of the very best albums of the era, a richly articulated and dynamic session that exemplifies the very best that the Japanese jazz scene was doing in the early 1970s. ‘Reminicent Suite’ is pressed on 200g vinyl presented in a gatefold sleeve plus obi strip, with new photos by Tadayuki Naito; translated original sleeve notes; and a 7500-word essay including interview with Terumasa Hino from Tony Higgins, co-curator of the J Jazz Masterclass Series. This is the first time this album has been available outside of Japan

After her stunning collaborations with Vincent Royer (for Mode Records), Jim O"Rourke and Christoph Heemann (both for Oren Ambarchi"s Black Truffle Records) Brunhild Ferrari returns to the scene with this new solo album. Extérieur-jour is comprised of two previously unreleased compositions, one being the title track the album is named after and the other "Le Piano Englouti (version original)." Extérieur-jour translates to "Outside Day," and indicates an instruction for a film scene, a piece of cinéma pour l"oreille, a movie for the ears. It was recorded at Luc Ferrari"s Atelier Post Billig in January and February 2014. "Le Piano Englouti" ("The Sunken Piano"), another electroacoustic composition which was realized over a period of fourteen years between 1996 and 2010, also brings forth cinematic elements with sound sources recorded in places as diverse as a Greek island by the noisy Agean Sea, a Pachinko place and a quiet island in Japan. It comes across as a meditation on the loss and reappearance of memory and silence. The graphics for the album sleeve were created by the late Wolfgang Meyer Tormin, artist and composer and also father of Brunhild Ferrari. The album was mastered for vinyl from the original source by Jim O"Rourke.

Celebrated techno producer, sound artist and one half of ORKA, Jens L. Thomsen announces groundbreaking EP ÆÐR, landing 15th December via Kervið. ÆÐR (meaning ‘vein’ in English) is a uniquely atmospheric two-track EP, exploring modernity and post-war freedom through a Faroese lens. Commissioned for Eysturoyartunnil, a 12km subsea tunnel - the largest of its kind - in Jens’ native Faroe Islands, a structural marvel with striking art that has both a voice and aesthetic identity of its own. The EP currently lives as a live audio installation, broadcast around the clock on FM radio for anyone travelling through the tunnel. This is the first time a soundscape has been permanently installed and broadcast via this kind of technical solution allowing the sound to become part of the experience of the space itself. As one half of revered techno duo, ORKA, twice nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize, who recently released their sixth album, All At Once, and an integral part of Yann Tiersen’s live band, Thomsen has already made a significant impact in electronic music. ÆÐR is an expansion of his work as a composer, which includes several site-specific soundscapes, including NORD which was commissioned by the Southbank Centre and installed across the entire fifth floor of the Royal Festival Hall in London.
On ÆÐR, Thomsen brings his talent for one-of-a-kind environmental sonic experiences to a wider audience. A paean to human endeavour and the developmental history of humanity, the tunnel is at once progressive and ancient: a liminal setting where late-modern and pre-modern longings somehow seem to rub off on each other. These intersecting ideas are translated into a striking soundscape of dark drones, creeping frequencies, bleeping ambience, groaning masses of sound, and pulsating echoes from the hidden world beneath us. The underworld that we somehow are able to move through temporarily in our car under the sea, giving the tunnel and the islands a voice of their own, while exploring the parallels between the tunnel and Faroese society today.
This uniquely immersive and compelling work, previously existing only as a transitory experience for users of the Eysturoyartunnil, is now available on vinyl for the first time to be considered and enjoyed in all its fascinating detail. A thought-provoking and groundbreaking piece from one of Europe’s most exceptional composers and sound artists today

The old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great
variety of morbid symptoms appear"
-Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks.

Iskandr's latest offering "Spiritus Sylvestris" appears to be a radical
statement in both content and form Signifying a departure from the black metal roots of the project, the psychedelic folk doom of the new album builds upon the directions of where both "Vergezicht" and "Glas" were already moving towards.

"Spiritus Sylvestris" is cinematic in scope: majestic and threatening in its aura of sublime grandeur. The Latin title translates to "spirit of the wild" and also refers to the early modern alchemical name for carbon dioxide - when the spirit of the wilderness is released into the
aether through the burning of wood and charcoal. The songs tell impressionistic stories of natural elements personified; when powerful spirits that linger in the earth are stirred, those elemental forces will be forced to haunt our world.

In an era of irreversible damage to our planet and anthropogenic climate change, Iskandr aims to offer funeral dirges for the world that we have already lost.

"Spiritus Sylvestris" embraces a limitless approach to translate this vision into musical form. Employing musical elements from a broad array of genres; easily moving between the martial stomp of early Laibach and the ethereal melodics of Dead Can Dance.

Recorded and mixed by the legendary Pieter Kloos (The Devil's
Blood, Motorpsycho) at The Void Studio in Eindhoven, the new Iskandr record has broadened the scope and sound of the project beyond any confines, resulting in the most open soundscapes from Iskandr to date. The heavy baritone guitar riffs that form the backbone of the record provide a pitch-black canvas in which huge percussive rhythms and psychedelic layers of Hammond organ, Mellotron as well
as subtle acoustics move in and out of focus. If this world is at an end it deserves a requiem for that what is lost.

With their profound take on electronic music, Animistic Beliefs have steadily solidified their spot in the global underground. Influenced by cultural concepts such as ancestry, animism and mythology, as well as the languages of political techno, punk, bubbling and IDM, Linh Luu and Marvin Lalihatu consistently translate their visions into sensitive productions as well as high-octane live performances. On MERDEKA, the artists explore and embrace their cultural heritage in all of its pride, pain and complexity. It symbolizes Animistic Beliefs' breaking free, coming to terms with their changing selves and letting go of external expectations. The record rethinks childhood memories, confronts the generational trauma left by (post-)colonialism, and re-connects Linh and Marvin â?? respectively of Vietnamese-Chinese and Dutch-Moluccan descent â?? with their formative cultures. MERDEKA marks their first step in an overall departure from western club music. For its layered sound, Animistic Beliefs once again draw from the past, present and future of global club music, creating a sonic space where fast techno, warped breakbeats and ambient soundscapes make way for the augmented influence of (Southeast Asian) tribal music. The record incorporates Indonesian scales and recordings of the Tahuri (a wind instrument made out of a conch shell), Totobuang (Gamelan-like gongs) and Tifa drums, known as â??the Moluccan heartbeatâ??. In true Animistic Beliefs fashion, MERDEKA will set fire to sweltering clubs and (sleepless) dreams. Yet, for the artists, it is essential to amplify the stories that spark that flame and keep it burning. The release of MERDEKA follows CACHE/SPIRIT, their ongoing collaboration with visual artist Jeisson Drenth, which extensively explores the artistsâ?? intersectional identities. As such, the latest album is the next step within a bigger, introspective investigation. More unapologetic than ever, MERDEKA embodies a turning point on Animistic Beliefsâ?? ongoing journey towards self-acceptance â?? fuelled by the sound of urgency.

London-based producer Otik releases his first album 'Cosmosis' on Martyn's label 3024. The 11-track LP signifies the fourth album on the imprint across its ten-year tenure, showcasing a more introspective side to Otik's musical output.

The album leans into delicate melodies, hazy atmospheres and lush analogue sounds, often evoking blissed-out feels and ripples of brilliant colour. Produced three years ago during lockdown, 'Cosmosis' comes after a period of spiritual struggles, where Otik questioned his faith, religious beliefs, and the concepts of right and wrong. While the pandemic allowed ample time for reflection, Otik translated these thoughts into music from his Peckham-based studio, later finding a home on 3024's evolving discography.

Following Otik's EP 'Soulo' in 2021, 'Cosmosis' marks the second release from the Bristol-born DJ and producer on 3024. This time, his sound stems from a broader palette, touching on slower, aerated ambient notes through to rugged D'n'B, displaying the far-reaching breadth, vision and maturity of Otik's aesthetic.

Keen to release a body of work that explores the journey of enlightenment and the struggles to get there, Otik drew inspiration from the luminary filmmaker Terrence Malick and how Malick portrayed ideas and philosophies in films like The Tree of Life and Voyage of Time. As a result, the record conveys a compelling narrative of rebirth, told through exquisite sound design and a push-pull pace that oscillates across the album.

The lead single 'Cosmosis' binds astral breakbeats with a star-lined melody stitched against a spacious backdrop. Sparse, celestial vocals punctuate the soundscape and add a spiritual feel, culminating in a dazzling trip at just over five minutes.

“I wrote these six new pieces with simple French words that a student learning French can understand. It is always intended for fanciful dances and musical fantasies” - Bernard Fevre

Legendary Parisian disco pioneer and producer, Black Devil Disco Club is back and has announced the release of a new album via UK independent imprint Lo Recordings on the 1st December.

‘Etincelles’, which translates as ‘sparks’ in English, is the follow up to 2020’s ‘Lucifer Is A Flower’ and will be digitally available and released on limited edition coloured vinyl wrapped in screen printed sleeves with lazer cut triangles designed by the award winning Non Format team. A truly future perfect and infectious collection of electronic sounds and beats, the new album features six brand new tracks including the lead single ‘L Mer Sur L’enfer’ which was inspired by Salvador Dali and will be available from the 3rd of November.

With a story as deep and strange as the music itself, Black Devil is the alter ego of Bernard Fevre, a French composer of electronic library music with a highly sought after back catalogue that includes the magnificent ‘Strange World Of Bernard Fevre’.

Having grown up and worked in Paris, it was the African clubs and rhythms in the city that inspired him to make his celebrated debut album ‘Black Devil Disco Club’ with only a small arsenal of electronic keyboards, a vocoder and looped conga drums. One of the most enigmatic electronic masterpieces ever made, the record was so ahead of it’s time that no one could believe it was made in 1977 on it’s release in ‘78. When it was re- issued in 2004 on the Rephlex label many thought it was a hoax and that the music was made by Aphex Twin or Luke Vibert but when Lo Recordings put out the ‘28 After’ album in 2006, the truth was finally revealed.

REPRESS from the La Vache Folle Guerit de Tout (could be translated with The Mad Cow Heals Everything)... A nice straight 4/4 2 tracker.

This is a remastered and recut record !

Fuzz has abandonment issues. Abandoning expectation. Abandoning reservation, consummation, resignation and trite dictation. Instinct is all there is when it comes to the divination of harsh salvation. Segall, Moothart and Ubovich are exploring all the blank-ations of what will be, or has always been, Fuzz II. Tried and true methods mixed with tongue-twisting, teeth-shattering, seizure-inducing stabs at the norm. Who knows… maybe that’s wrong. Maybe it’s all done. Played out. Maybe it’s not for want of new but for lack of old. But probably not. Bathe in the heat wave that is Fuzz, and regret nothing in the time freeze. Necessity is the mother of creation; and devolution stakes its claim in the past as it continues to bind itself to the future. San Francisco, Los Angeles, heaven, hell, lunar fields, subterranean hallucinations, traffic jams, sleepless days, hazy nights, recollection or blind reflection. It is all there and so should be you. 2015 and 2016 will bring a new surge of slime, fuzz and otherwise bittersweet concoctions of earthly lettering. It will be heavy, chaotically controlled, softly serpentine and blindingly barbaric. To translate the auditory from ethereal to saliva- soaked semantics is to shatter a promise as it’s made. In the meantime, Ty, Charles and Chad walk on. It is what it is. Just like everything else. And if you don’t know, now you know. This message brought to you by In The Red Educational Services… as it was before and is it will be again.

About Tonder:
Match made! Between poet Alex Deforce and Azertyklavierwerke more specifically. Over a runaway beat, they seem intent on taming the search for love, or anything that smells like it from far or near. "Swiped right, match made" dictates Deforce as rhythmically and unflappably as if he were a Chat GPT controlled computer: more mechanical and cold love has never sounded. What follows would not have been out of place on the soundtrack of Fritz Lang's Metropolis: an industrial drum computer gasping for breath in an attempt to ward off an epileptic fit.
Contemporary yet headstrong, cryptic yet unapologetic: Tonder is an intriguing song full of contradictions that leaves you orphaned but also addicted.

About Soort Van Nerd:
A hearty dash of tristesse rubbing up against the best work of such masters of Weltschmerz like Sufjan Stevens or Spinvis: "Soort Van Nerd" translates as "Kind of nerd" and is a kind of genius underground pop song.
Melancholy and sincere emotion, it is still allowed. Melancholy but above all thoughtful: Azertyklavierwerke handles words and sound extremely sparingly but cuts deeper into his or anyone else's skin as a result. On a nostalgic but austere bed of a drum machine, a naive piano line he pokes Eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind-wise where it hurts: "I wish you could melt, like an ice cube in the sun."

After her stunning and well acclaimed debut album 'For Trainspotters Only' Ann Eysermans now releases 'Moonlight Shadoh', a tribute to her dog Shadoh. A record on which she explores the bond between herself and her faithful canine friend, Shadoh, through an extraordinary musical odyssey.

Ann Eysermans masterfully weaves together a tapestry of field recordings, candy-like harmonies,and Shadoh's distinctive houndly expressions. Creating otherworldly compositions that transcend genres which include recorded and integrated snarling feedback sounds. From the hauntingly beautiful melodies to the experimental sonic landscapes, every track tells a story that resonates deep within your soul.

Feel the heartbeat of Shadoh as his barks, whimpers and playful antics merge seamlessly with Ann's soothing vocals,harp and viola da gamba. These evocative arrangements will transport you to a realm where the bond between human and dog is translated into an aural spectrum swaying between desolate harp sounds, recollecting the eerie Jandek spirit lacing with doomy, and catchy as hell, new beat vibes.

Moonlight Shadoh is an exceptional journey blending acoustic instruments, phonic melancholy, analogue tape footage of Ann's personal sound archive and audio poetry.

RIYL:
Cross dressed Jandek in a vegan mood, Claire Rousay on expired XTC, Andy Stott with a hangover, William Bassinski on a happy moment, Kali Malone discovering new beat, Mica Levi in a dog shelter and other excellent music.

Flying Wig is an album of recurrent dualities; a can of paradoxes, a box of worms. The redwood and pine-surrounded cabin studio where Banhart was “constantly listening to The Grateful Dead” somehow birthed something slick, modernist, city pop-adjacent and Eno-esque. Banhart's eleventh record, it's the actualisation of a “precious friendship” with the acclaimed solo artist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and Mexican Summer stable-mate Cate Le Bon — a coming together prophesied by the mirror-image titles of their early solo albums (Banhart’s 2002 Oh Me Oh My to Le Bon’s 2009 Me Oh My) and a tenderness built on crude haircuts (“we finally met, soon after she was cutting my hair with a fork and that was that”) and home-made tattoos — but never previously translated into the recording studio. “It’s about transmuting despair into gratitude, wounds into forgiveness, and grief into praise,” - the product of a ritualistic creative practice that melts down and re-casts as it mulls, the stuff of sadness beautified as it changes shape — culminating in a record that “sounds like getting a very melancholic massage, or weeping, but in a really nice outfit… if I’m going to cry, I wanna do it in my best dress.”

If you made music the way you cook, what would it sound like? For this tape compilation, we invited artists to consider the connection between food and sound, music and cooking. We envisioned an assorted mixtape—an auditory cookbook, of sorts—of songs, poems, field recordings, and aural experiments, inspired by recipes, food preparation processes, dishes, and the experience of eating. We asked: How does attention to sound—the sputtering of the oil, the popping of the kernels, the hum of a rolling boil, the repetitive thump of a mixer—help you to be a better cook? Consider how these rhythmic, arhythmic, polyrhythmic, and droning sounds might inspire your recording. What would an audio recipe sound like? Can you set a rhyming recipe to music? How is a recipe like a musical score? Where do you find space for improvisation between the notes and instructions? What is “jazz baking”? Could the multivocality of a community cookbook be translated by a choir? What food or dish or process is deserving of an ode? What do you like to listen to when you’re in the kitchen? Write a benediction song that can be sung by a group before a meal. After over a year in which dining together en masse was not possible, what is it about the experience of collective eating that you want to express gratitude for? What is your food hymn? Together the compiled tracks–or ingredients, if you will–deepened and expanded our original vision, mixing, cooking, and baking together in a hearty, warm, and inventive aural menu for the most nourishing of communal meals.

Indie pop quartet Melenas hail from Pamplona, Spain, a picturesque region nestled just south of the Pyrenees. Such beauty can't help but inform the band's songwriting, but Melenas aren't content to just sit placidly & take in the scenery. Since they burst onto the scene in 2016, the band has hit the ground running, playing incessantly both locally & on the stages at national festivals like Primavera Sound & Eurosonic as well as releasing a debut full length (2018's "s/t" album) and a 7-inch single both triple-released on local labels Elsa, Nebula & Snap! Clap! Club. Trouble In Mind is honored to be releasing their new album Dias Raros and is the first label outside of Spain to release Melenas music to the world.Dias Raros hums right from the get-go, peppering their garage-pop punch with elements of lysergic dream pop, melancholic indie rock and strident guitar jangle. The album title translates to "Strange Days" an acknowledgement - according to the band - of "...those days where you spend more time inside than outside. Inside your own self, inside your bedroom and your own universe thinking about your wishes, dreams, memories, obsessions or fears." The lyrics - sung entirely in their native Spanish - reference "those interior dialogues where sometimes you fight to escape from a situation, you wonder what another person will be thinking about or feeling, you gotta say goodbye, or you just enjoy the time by yourself. Days that, for different reasons, you're feeling different, they are strange". Opener "Primer tiempo" buzzes with an urgent organ drone, unfolding into a yearning ballad of modern guitar-pop bolstered by the group's lush harmonies & sets the tone for the rest of Dias Raros. Songs like "No puedo pensar" "3 Segundos" and "Despertar" follow suit, with the rhythm section galloping headlong into an insistent guitar strum, while ballads like the tender "El Tiempo ha Padsado" rely on the band's melodious voices bolstered by a lilting guitar riff and gentle organ swells. Elsewhere mid tempo rockers like the stomping "Los alemanes", the simmering "Ciencia Ficción" and "Ya no es Verano"s insistent jangle recall underground greats like The Pastels, R.E.M. and Shop Assistants. "Vals" ("Waltz") closes the album in 3/4 time, named for the ballroom dance as well as the last name of a close friend - a dedication to her. Its dreamy sway alluding to classic Brill Building songwriting; dusted with melancholy, but lifted by cascading voices, and organ and guitar waves and guitars that twinkle and shimmer over a cracking backbeat. Dias Raros is the perfect introduction to a band bursting with promise, confidently inhabiting their own space built upon the foundation of their influences both geographically and culturally, as well as musically.

Somebody somewhere once said that music doesn't mean anything; it is meaningful.

The Czecho-slovakian instrumental trio, Inheritance, invite you to rediscover their sonic journey with the reissue of their previous EPs, "Frames" (2014) and "Saturate" (2016), now elegantly entwined into a single captivating package released for the first time on vinyl, on Weltschmerzen. Comprising of the trio Jakub Volovár (guitar), Alex Strapková (piano), and Peter Kušnírik (drums), Inheritance was active in the mid 2010s in Brno, later unfortunately disbanding due to own personal pursuits.

Frames // Saturate embodies the melancholic and melodic tension characteristic of contemporary post-rock, complemented by the whimsy of piano-led instrumentals with a tint of indie-playfulness and a very slight yet powerful grain of sludge heaviness that can be traced back to Volovár's and Kušnirik's earlier post-metal project, Dawn to Come.

"Frames // Saturate" is first and foremost a compact sonic voyage. Volovár's evocative yet precise guitar work builds complex yet airy scaffolding, while Strapková's piano melodies create a tapestry of moods around it. Both EPs showcase Strapková's piano prowess, transforming each composition into a living organism. Kušnírik's drumming then acts as the steady pulse, guiding you through. These songs encapsulate the kind of mutualism and appreciation for (musical) interdependence that you can only develop throughout the years of practice and playing live.

You can hear how much fun it was for the band to play these songs, and that sense of joy translates directly into your own listening experience. It's the kind of music that makes you pick up an air guitar, (piano, or drums) - and sometimes everything all at once. It is music serious and poetic, yet fun and moving and complex at the same time.

2023 Repress.

Music From Memory are excited to present the debut LP of Kaifeng born, Vancouver based artist Yu Su in collaboration with Chinese label bié Records. Titled 'Yellow River Blue' it is our first release of 2021 and the second collaboration between label and artist, following up on the strongly received EP 'Roll With The Punches' from 2019 on Second Circle.

Named after the world’s most heavily silted river, 'Yellow River Blue' is Yu Su's personal musical autobiography, constructed around stories of chasing something inconceivable. Written and recorded in different continents in between August 2019 and March 2020, all songs seek to musically translate years of moving and touring, temporarily settling, and the feelings of both being turned away and accepted. In her own words, “The world is my home and it isn’t, but as long as there is generosity of water and mud...” It is an homage to her home beside the Yellow River.

Yu Su's debut album consists of eight songs that are versatile in both writing and aesthetics. Versatile individually, consistent as a whole. Yu Su is in a class of her own, dodging the obvious while combining sounds and inspirations of various origins into a new destination that sounds like her home in the here and now. It's a release that is constantly in motion and moves fluently between contemporary pop, ethereal sound compositions and dance-floor experiments.

'Yellow River Blue' comes as part of a collaboration with Yu Su's co-founded new label bié Records and will be released as MFM052 in vinyl format by Music From Memory on January 25th 2021, after seeing a full digital album release via bié on January 22nd in the new Year of the Ox, according to the Chinese zodiac. Both formats come in different exclusively designed artworks.

‘Permanent Rain’ is introspective listening. Lean back and let your ears catch a source that moves, breaths, resonates and rises, until a quiet truth swells upon us.
XII captures truth in all its honesty. Sometimes it feels so physical, it’s as if time and elements of nature are peeled of layer after layer.

This record combines songwriting with sonic hypnosis. A rhythmic, esoteric oasis, containing currents of mysticism, yet accompanied by contemporary electronics. Its elements translate to a brew of mutant raga, neofolk and tripped out celtic fantasies.

Emerging from the cold echoes of Reykjavík's underground music scene, ex.girls, previously known as Russian Girls, chart an inspiring journey from inception to international recognition. Founded in 2017 as a personal venture by Guðlaugur Einarsson, the act soon evolved into a vibrant, collaborative platform for kindred spirits bonded by an unyielding passion for music.

The project consists of three: frontman Tatjana Dís on vocals, alongside Guðlaugur Einarsson and Gylfi Sigurðsson. Their kinship took root at their erstwhile studio on Skúlagata in Reykjavík, where this creative sanctum became a melting pot of musical exploration, learning, and leisurely hangouts. Guðlaugur and Tantjana also ride the waves as members of the rock band Skrattar, whose album 'Hellraiser IV' saw Bjarki's experimental bbbbbb recors imprint venture outside strictly electronic music for the first time in 2021.

Despite their penchant for maintaining an enigmatic aura, ex.girls won the ‘Best Icelandic Electronic Music Song’ in 2022 with their anthem, 'Halda Áfram', released during the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic on bbbbbb recors, which translates to “keep on going”, became a beacon of hope during tough times in the Icelandic music scene. Their distinctive sound palette paints with broad strokes of lush arrangements cemented with a lo-fi disposition. It's a soundscape where the rumble of a crunchy bass meets a quirky sprinkle of Nordic humour, a signature style they fondly dub as 'SauerLounge'.

While the group has traditionally embraced a leisurely cadence in unveiling new music, anticipation bubbles as they gear up to their debut album, ‘Verk’. A twelve-track exploration of experimental, conceptual and unorthodox textures and sonics, with sounds and influences spanning rock and nu-wave through to electro, drone and ambient. The result? An absorbing and hypnotic trip, with twists and turns across every track, presenting a debut album that keeps you guessing minute by minute.

To be released in both vinyl and digital formats, the album will also welcome engaging remixes from artists native to Iceland and the broader global stage. In a world of ever-evolving music, ex.girls stand out as a testament to authentic collaboration, raw talent, and the art of electronic storytelling.

ex.girls ‘Verk’ LP drops via bbbbbb recors on 24th November 2023, with remixes to follow in the months ahead.