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Das Kasseler Duo Some More Crime formierte sich 1990 mit der Idee, die gesprochene, aus Pre-Internet-Medien gesampelte Stimme als ausschließliches Text-Instrument einzusetzen. Während des Kunststudiums hatte sich der Trommler Bernd Friedmann (Burnt Friedmann / Nonplace Urban Field) mit dem Gitarristen Frank Hernandez zusammengetan, um die Abgründe des Zusammenhangs von Gewalt in den Medien, bzw. mind control, zu studieren und zu verstehen, und diese im Studio als Quasi-Collagen mit Grooves zur Entfaltung zu bringen. Some More Crime kann heute gewissermaßen als Nachzügler von Laibach, oder als konzeptueller Vorläufer von Rammstein betrachtet werden. Mit Ihrer dritten, 23 Titel umfassenden CD schafften es die Konstrukteure an Samplern und Atari-Sequenzer, Frank Hernandez und Burnt Friedman 1993 schliesslich in den Fokus internationaler Aufmerksamkeit zu kommen. Ihre überwiegend aus dem Amerikanischen gewonnenen, de-kontextualisierten Text-Cluster aus Interviews mit Gewaltverbrechern und damit verbundenen Medienkommentaren versuchte zu zeigen, dass die steifer werdende Deutungshoheit der Medien-Narrative zumindest eines vermochte, nämlich anstatt sinnstiftend zu wirken, die Massen in Angst und Verwirrung zu versetzen. Mit Friedmann's Umzug nach Köln wurde Some More Crime bereits 1994/95, also nach 3 Studio Alben beendet. Im Alleingang erzeugte Friedmann eine vierte, allerdings wenig beachtete CD, die angefangene Skizzen 1996 noch zur Vollendung und Veröffentlichung brachte. ZZO recordings Gründer Thomas Luckmann, Nürnberg, nahm sich des Duos 1990 an und unterstützte die künstlerische Arbeit trotz starken Seitenwinds des aufstrebenden, unwiderstehlichen Technosounds, der Anfang der 90ziger durch Deutschland's Musikszene zu wehen begann.

Powerhouse R&B/Soul vocalist and Canadian Idol finalist. Gary Beals, is thrilled to be releasing his new album, The Melody Within. The Melody within is a musical journey that unfolds across two sides, much like a story that reveals new layers with each turn. The album is more than just a collection of songs; it's an emotional guide that beckons us to explore the depths of our own feelings and explores navigating emotions, self discovery, and nostalgia through soulful melodies. "This album serves as the aftermath to my previous album, "Bleed My Truth". It's a continuation of my musical journey, a fusion of soulful melodies and diverse influences that mirror both my personal and artistic evolution," said Gary Beals. "Each song is a chapter, a piece of my heart and soul, inviting listeners into my world of emotions, experiences and connection. It uncovers the melody that resides within. The anticipation is building as I look forward to sharing this collection of new music, and I hope it resonates deeply, offering a meaningful and memorable musical experience enriched with a multitude of emotions." With this new body of work, Gary had the opportunity to work with two talented primary producers,Beatchild (Drake, Justin Nozuka, Glen Lewis) and Myles "Losh'' Schwartz (Allan Rayman, Tobi, The Game, Pretty Lights). Additional production credits on the album include, Chris Guirguis, Frizzy Astro (Raz Fresco, Daniel Son), Jordan "Tempo" Farmer, Kobebeats (Rodwave, Kcamp, Sevyn),Sid Aakowa, Ty Danelley (Popcaan, Tory Lanez, Pressa) and Warren Williams, who all helped to shape the makings of the album while maintaining a consistent synergy. Side A of the album draws inspiration from the likes of Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, and James Brown, and pays homage to artists who have played an integral part in shaping Gary's musical roots. This side includes Gary's previously released singles, "Good People, Good Vibes" and "All of Me," and the album's title track "The Melody Within," that commends the process of self-discovery and introspection. Also included is the album's 5th single, "Self Revolution," which will be released on October 27th along with the official music video. On Side B, you'll encounter a fusion of R&B and pop elements while still staying true to the album's soulful essence. Included on this side, is Gary's third single "I Like That," featuring JRDN and KAYO ,and the new single "How Do I Say (I Love You)," released September 22nd. "How Do I Say (I Love You)" dives into the inner conflict of conveying affection, showing vulnerability, and the bravery needed to expose one's heart to someone else. About Gary Beals: Two decades ago, Gary embarked on his musical journey when he, a small-town kid from Nova Scotia (now calling Toronto home), made a remarkable entrance onto the national stage as a part of Canada's inaugural season of Canadian Idol. This month marks the 20th anniversary of the finale where Gary was crowned as the "runner up" on the show. The experience ignited a transformative period of self-reflection and discovery that propelled Gary toward personal growth, shaping his life and musical career in lasting ways.

Fast forward through three albums and twenty years, Gary's work and talent have made a remarkable impact and received widespread critical acclaim. Among his accomplishments are debuting in the top 10 of the Canadian sales chart, being nominated for a JUNO Award for "Best R&B/Soul Recording," winning an East Coast Music Award and seven African Nova Scotia Music Awards, as well as scoring nominations for an Urban Music Award and a Canadian Radio Music Award. These accomplishments led to his home province's Premier officially designating November 22nd as Gary Beals Day in acknowledgment of his achievements.

With his return, Gary is poised to make a positive impact on the ever-expanding global community as he prepares to release his new album The Melody Within. The album will stand as a tribute to the strength that resides within all of us and a reminder that true fulfillment comes not just from achieving goals, but from discovering the intricate beauty that lies within our own hearts and souls.

Craig Charles is a big supporter of Gary Beals and spun his single 'All Of Me' for three weeks in a row on his Funk and Soul Show on BBC Radio Six

Fixed Abode labelhead Rainy Miller met Space Afrika through regular nights he runs at Salford’s The White Hotel, a hub for leftfield electronic music. What started out as an idea for a collaborative EP between Rainy and Space Afrika turned into a longer form project, with features from Mica Levi, Coby Sey, Richie Culver, Voice Actor and Iceboy Violet, amongst others. ‘A Grisaille Wedding’ is an immersive experience that fills the space these artists have come to dwell in during their creative journeys. It not only pushes the boundaries of music but also bridges regional dialects within the conversation of contemporary electronic music. Rainy Miller: “‘A Grisaille Wedding’ is a project based in the personification of the semi-fictitious world that Space Afrika have come to build over the years. Using musique concrete and British soundscapes, I wanted to fuse the sonic with both noise and the contemporary.” Space Afrika: “The record’s title figuratively describes the marriage of two similarly motivated perspectives, each affected by a common backdrop and familiar ground tread amongst the scrimmage of urban sprawl, sombre, a boisterous landscape and clouds of uncertainty.” Rainy Miller’s 2022 solo album was included in 6 Music’s Albums Of The Year and Crack Magazine’s Best Albums Of 2022. Following the LP release, Rainy Miller and Space Afrika will be announcing joint UK and EU live shows taking place at the start of 2024. For fans of Actress, Dean Blunt, Lee Gamble, Loraine James

Khanate's self titled debut (2001) has all the pleasant ambiance of a plane crash site, a bleak urban waste of mangled and torn metal beams and hissed alarms. When Khanate first issued instructions to the void in 2001, the band was embraced as the next iteration of guitarist Stephen O'Malley's tube-cracking forays into amplifier variance; a fascinating further step of vocalist Alan Dubin and low-frequency shifter James Plotkin's space charts; and a warning for the crawling-pace hammers of Tim Wyskida's drums. But Khanate was not preaching of coming doom or offering emotional catharsis. The band was totally post-dread. The worst had already happened, and would continue to happen, over and over. The 5 songs on Khanate sound like an "orchestrated root canal" (Julian Cope).

Khanate's self titled debut (2001) has all the pleasant ambiance of a plane crash site, a bleak urban waste of mangled and torn metal beams and hissed alarms. When Khanate first issued instructions to the void in 2001, the band was embraced as the next iteration of guitarist Stephen O'Malley's tube-cracking forays into amplifier variance; a fascinating further step of vocalist Alan Dubin and low-frequency shifter James Plotkin's space charts; and a warning for the crawling-pace hammers of Tim Wyskida's drums. But Khanate was not preaching of coming doom or offering emotional catharsis. The band was totally post-dread. The worst had already happened, and would continue to happen, over and over. The 5 songs on Khanate sound like an "orchestrated root canal" (Julian Cope).

Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels” is a concept album born of the idea of merging singer & songwriter Mayssa Jallad’s two vocations: music and urban research/architectural history. Written in collaboration with producer Fadi Tabbal, the music builds upon Tabbal’s spatial approach to sound and Jallad’s research on Beirut’s Hotel District. The album is a reference to Jallad’s Historic Preservation master's thesis, in which she detailed the history of the “Battle of the Hotels”, a 5-months battle that took place in Beirut at the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War, from October 22nd, 1975 to March 29th, 1976. Jallad saw architecture as a main protagonist of the battle, as she discovered it was the first high rise urban battle in the world. The close of the battle resulted in the 15-year Green Line, an urban rift which split Beirut into “East and West”, restricting movement and communication and creating a violent divide that still resonates today. The album comprises two parts. Part A: Dahaliz, is a stroll in the city, where Jallad tries (and fails) to follow an old map. Musician Youmna Saba is a companion in this journey of remembering the once winding corridors (“Dahaliz”) of the city, destroyed by new developments since the 1960s. Empty skyscrapers propel her onto a past filled with the violence of snipers, and a present filled with the glamorous injustice of empty luxury real estate endorsed by powerful warlords-turned-politicians. In Part B: Maaraka, Jallad inhabits the building of the Battle of the Hotels, as its events unfold. She calls the fighting militias the Blues and Reds, respectively the Lebanese Front (Christian Nationalists) and the Lebanese National Movement (Pro-Palestinian leftists), leveling the playing field, and drawing a map of the battle through songwriting. Sary Moussa produces the conclusion of the battle in “Holiday Inn (March 21 to 29)”, which ends with the ultimate severance of the city of Beirut. The music caters to post-war youth who have never been taught this difficult history. Once we consider the “Battle of the Hotels” as our common heritage, it provides an opportunity to teach the value of civil peace. It is also a call to protest for the renewal, rather than the recycling of the political class that has once destroyed the country and holds us, to this day, hostage of its violence. Limited edition of 300 copies. 140gsm vinyl pressed at Microforum (Canada).

Only 200 copies of black 180g vinyl was made.

"Macrodose" is an album recorded in the classic form of Producer & MC, (Antiquant and Prykson Fisk). JuNouMi Records (est. 2002) gives this hip-hop project the highest mark of quality. Real underground rap album including many guests such as Axel Holy and King Kashmere from UK.

Prykson writes about the album as follows: Macrodose is a lyrical "trip report" with a perfect musical accompaniment, a diary of a total life transformation inspired by the power of medicine contained in entheogens.

To emphasize the urban character of the project, we asked the well-known street artist TYBER to create the graphic design of the album, which is ultimately based on a dedicated mural painted in September in Gdańsk.

Mr. Aleksander aka Prykson Fisk aka Fred Flin100NER is 170 kg of live hip-hop. Beat-boxer, MC and DJ, associated with Hip-Hop culture since 2003. Prykson is an experienced psychonaut and owner of the KOMORA REC home studio. Creator and author of over 20 albums and mixtapes. His official debut K02M02 (2020) landed in the respectable 7th place of OLiS... Representative of the MOST BLUNTED team, KOLOKOS - one of the creators and founder of such projects as: Renegaci Funku, Hedora, Prykson Ifs and Dusty Vibez. He played beats in every genre, from dubstep, grime, drum and bass, through rap, to jazz and funk played live with a band. He has conducted countless workshops in the field of hip hop (beat-box, rap) throughout Poland... A fan of good food, underground music, multidimensional visual art and conspiracy theories. An experienced gourmand of life and a well-known local healer.

Antiquant - 24-year-old producer from Zielona Góra. He has collaborated with artists such as Ryfa Ri, Mada, Asthma, Mareceli Bober. With his beats, he tries to drown the listener in an ocean of cosmic sounds. The axis of its production is the artistic achievements of producers such as flying lotus, monte booker and j dilla. In his songs, he does not limit himself to one style, his beats are often a patchwork of various genres of music. In his productions you can hear boom bap drums, trap eight hundred eighth notes and jazz trumpets coexisting in the strangest musical ecosystems. Antiquant appreciates experiments, loves to push his boundaries, look for undiscovered sounds and use effects in ways they shouldn't be used.

On 'Der Ferne', Phil Struck intricately weaves an abstract tapestry of textures, incorporating elements reminiscent of Hassellian-like sounds and multi-textured dubby soundscapes, a testament to the musician's getaways from urban life, journeying in the heart of nature. The music's warm and concise amalgamation of audio fragments lends it an ineffable quality, evoking hazy, sun-drenched memories, while the radiating reminiscences of the natural world invite contemplation of its true essence, remaining captivating for the discerning listener. What enigmatic experiences await discovery, and should the extraordinary always overshadow the ordinary?

„Der Ferne im Nahen. Der Ferne jenseits der Stadt. Der Ferne und den Dingen, die sich einem dort zeigen.“

"Der Ferne" stands as the fourth album by ambient and experimental artist Phil Struck, hailing from Kiel, Germany.

Tokyo architect Hiroki Takahashi is a world-builder both in matter and sound. His latest collection of serene micro-miniatures was inspired by “the dissatisfaction with reality that I feel on a daily basis.” Escapism offers exactly that: percolating patterns of fiberglass synthetics and fluorescent melody, assembled into minimalist bio-domes of refracted light and hanging gardens.

Recorded during metropolitan commutes, afterhours office meditations, and various windows of urban stasis, the album actualizes the ambient muse of its maker, willing space from density, tranquility from tedium. As with his work in exotic atmosphere unit UNKNOWN ME, Takahashi’s touch is hushed, precise, and prismatic, coaxing spectrums of illusion and bliss in its tinted glass spirals: “Extreme tension produces extreme relaxation.”

Forged in a warehouse in Liverpool's Baltic Triangle, Beatowls emerge in 2023 as a genre-defying trio. Darcie Chazen, Tom Roberts and Carl Cook, possess distinct talents, fusing elements of electro, folk, and psychedelia into captivating, dark atmospheric grooves.
The city’s urban-industrial mood inspires their sound, weaving evocative and cinematic tones into their upcoming debut album Marma.
For Fans Of : Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland,The XX, Portishead , Nancy & Lee
Badalamenti/Lynch, Broadcast, Warp Records.
Above all, Beatowls embody a journey. Their story starts from a shared passion, extends into this collection of songs and sounds, and hints at a future filled with creative exploration.
From a dream in a Liverpool warehouse to a national platform, Beatowls stand on the cusp of an era promising audio adventures steeped in originality, emotive tales, and sonic diversity.

Error Subcutaneo was born under the sweltering sun of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, but their project portrays the colder, more urban side of life in the Caribbean, where cacophonous violence and Cold War monoliths collide with dreams of a better tomorrow The duo take elements of hip- hop, modular electronics, island syncretism, and bebop to twist and distort contemporary narratives on music composition, representing the greater movement of Latin American resistance directly from its epicentre Temporada Ciclonica is a recollection of alibis from a quenched island imaginarium. Palm trees dance in sync with the gales, an omen of the upcoming hurricane season. Pictographic technologies seek refuge in time's embrace, as eerie scents of petrichor and blood fill the corridors beneath the temple steps.

The cyclone's ravaging beauty and destruction bring rain, fertility and life to the land, an allusion to the cyclical nature of creation. Masters of musical past ride the storm's eye, a semiotic double- entendre on the spinning nature of the vinyl medium. A pupil glimmers from the dark, a kid rubs its belly in the womb. Press: Truth and Lies - review "a challenging but exhilarating journey through the minds of two young artists who's deep knowledge of local and international music places no harness on their creativity. Raw and instant, these boys look at the world as it is and let its contradictions flow into their creations. 9/10" Received airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music (Gilles Peterson), BBC Radio 3 (The Late Junction - Wolf Eyes' Mixtape) + The Lot Radio NYC - Marco Wibel - Darker Than Wax

Der Soundtrack zu John Wick Charter 4 von Tyler Bates & Joel J Richard in limitierter Auflage auf Transparent Orange Vinyl als Doppel-LP!

Der offizielle Soundtrack zu John Wick 4 mit den bekannten Songs: Nowhere to Run - Lola Colette, I Would Die for You - In This Moment, Marie Douceur, Marie Colère-Manon Hollander & Eye For an Eye-Rina Sawayama. In limitierter Auflage als Doppel-LP auf Transparent Orange Vinyl.

- Ltd. Col. 2LP: (Transparent Orange Vinyl)

Disciples bringt eine Neuauflage des modernen Detroit-Elektro-Klassikers des enigmatischen Projekts NRSB-11 heraus, das in erster Linie eine Zusammenarbeit zwischen Gerald Donald (Drexciya, Dooplereffekt, Arpanet, Japanese Telecom) und DJ Stingray 313 (Urban Tribe, offizieller Drexciya-Tour-DJ, gefeierter Solokünstler) ist. Ursprünglich 2013 als limitierte Auflage auf dem belgischen Label WéMè erschienen, war ihr einziges Album 'Commodified' schnell vergriffen und erfreut sich seitdem großer Beliebtheit, derzeit steht es auf 1.783 Discogs-Suchlisten. Die erste Reissue erscheint als CD mit 3 Bonustrack (NRSB-11 EP aus 2012) und als Clear-Vinyl-2LP-Edition, bei der das Original-Cover im Siebdruckverfahren auf eine PVC-Außenhülle gedruckt wurde, mit den beiden Vinyl-Discs in transparenten Poly-Innentaschen.

180g virgin vinyl limited edition, the complete album + 1 bonus track Big Bill Broonzy was among the finest and most influential of the pre-World War II Chicago bluesmen, bringing the blues to new levels of sophistication. A finger picker and singer without compare, Broonzy combined ragtime and hokum blues with elements of folk, country, and urban sounds in his songs. Big Bill's Blues consists of ten solo recordings made in February 1956 at Philips' studios in Baarn, Holland. Includes the classic "Key to the Highway.

Vladislav Delay presents the fourth EP in his "Hide Behind The Silence" series with five 10" releases coming throughout 2023. Intuitive and raw music, momentary and reflective, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton".

Stillness is a myth. Consider concepts such as ”still water”, or ”still air” for that matter. Go to a restaurant, ask them for a glass of still water, hold it against the light and see where we’re at. Even though the water itself has been captured and imprisoned in the glass, it never stops breathing. It’s filled with tiny particles, dancing. Everything can be explained on a molecular level, but since we’re not scientists – and even if you happen to be – it’s the natural world of perception that moves me.

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

Q&A with Sasu Ripatti:

1) Tell us something about the EP series ”Hide Behind the Silence”, what’s the idea and what can we expect?

Exploration of inaction. Of many kinds. In arts and in personal life, or at bigger and more serious levels. Questioning myself as a human being as well as an artist. Acknowledging the growing activism all around, and the very clear need for it, and how it reflects my own inaction.
Musically speaking, after Rakka, Isoviha and Speed Demon, I finally found some relief, but more importantly lost the need to go musically ever more outward and intensive. I felt quite strongly certain periods/moods from the past and they made me revisit some musical ideas or states of mind I was exploring early on.
It’s about live moments being captured, not much premeditation or editing. More intuitive and raw, even though the end result (to me) feels and sounds quite introspective and calm. It’s not very ambitious. Momentary and reflective.

2) Your music doesn’t sound very silent. Does it come from somewhere behind the silence?

Oh, this time to me it sounds quite quiet and playing with space if not silence. I don’t know what’s actually behind silence, but I think silence is the source of everything. We just don’t understand it yet.

3) What kind of thoughts or experiences gave inspiration to this series?

Writing this in Nov ’22, it’s not a stretch to say the world has been really unwell. Sometimes, like Mika Vainio put it, the world eats you up. I feel a bit like that. And I try to hide in my studio and stay away from it all, but it’s getting harder by the day. I’ve been questioning myself and thinking if what us artists are doing is worth anything, and whether it’s just a selfish thing I’ve been doing for the past 25 years, running away from everything. I haven’t come to a conclusion yet.

4) Is it easy for you to be in silence, or around silence?

Absolutely. I not only hide behind silence but I also love silence. It’s only since I started going back to nature as a grown-up person that I sensed and was enveloped by silence, true silence. I have begun to appreciate it a lot. I think all the people should spend more time in silence.

All tracks composed and produced by Sasu Ripatti.
Artwork by Marc Hohmann, photography by Shinnosuke Yoshimori.
Mastering by Stephan Mathieu for Schwebung Mastering.
Vinyl cut by SST Brueggemann.
Publishing by WARP Music Ltd.

Die dunkle, schäbige Unterwelt von New York City taucht wieder auf, wenn das Stadtbild durch Abwässer, Crackrauch und den Handel mit Fleisch verdorben ist. Die Straßen, die einst voller Leben waren, sind von dem grotesken und schmutzigen Chaos vergangener Zeiten durchdrungen. Inmitten dieser rauen Wirklichkeit, in den Mauern der schwach beleuchteten Gassen, stinkt es nach Körperflüssigkeiten und Rattenkot.

Auf den Bahnsteigen der U-Bahn verüben verzweifelte Seelen wegen ein paar mickriger Dollar wahllos Gewalttaten aneinander. Der East River fließt in einem kränklichen Grün, und der Farbton der Stadt spiegelt die Schatten wider, die diese illegalen Unternehmungen werfen. Inmitten dieser beunruhigenden, düsteren Realität ist nun eine Klanglandschaft entstanden, die das Grauen einfängt - in Form des zweiten Albums von Gravesend.

Das neue Album "Gowanus Death Stomp" verdichtet die Grausamkeit, die auf dem Debüt "Methods of Human Disposal" von 2021 zu hören war, zu einem noch düstereren und ursprünglicheren Trommelfeuer der Gewalt. An der Kreuzung von krimineller Verkommenheit und urbanem Unwohlsein bedienen sich Gravesend vieler Werkzeuge des Handwerks. Black / Death / Grind / War Metal verschmelzen nahtlos zu einer Teergrube aus beißendem Hinterhof-Sadismus und Acid-Zungen-Gesang.

Wie eine frisch geborgeneLeiche unten am Hafen weht der Geruch von Verwesung aus jedem Track auf 'Gowanus Death Stomp'. Und wie bei NYCs Underground-Legenden von Cro-Mags über Swans bis Type O Negative verkörpert Gravesend den Puls der Stadt, selbst wenn dieser Puls auf dem Beton ausblutet.

Die dunkle, schäbige Unterwelt von New York City taucht wieder auf, wenn das Stadtbild durch Abwässer, Crackrauch und den Handel mit Fleisch verdorben ist. Die Straßen, die einst voller Leben waren, sind von dem grotesken und schmutzigen Chaos vergangener Zeiten durchdrungen. Inmitten dieser rauen Wirklichkeit, in den Mauern der schwach beleuchteten Gassen, stinkt es nach Körperflüssigkeiten und Rattenkot.

Auf den Bahnsteigen der U-Bahn verüben verzweifelte Seelen wegen ein paar mickriger Dollar wahllos Gewalttaten aneinander. Der East River fließt in einem kränklichen Grün, und der Farbton der Stadt spiegelt die Schatten wider, die diese illegalen Unternehmungen werfen. Inmitten dieser beunruhigenden, düsteren Realität ist nun eine Klanglandschaft entstanden, die das Grauen einfängt - in Form des zweiten Albums von Gravesend.

Das neue Album "Gowanus Death Stomp" verdichtet die Grausamkeit, die auf dem Debüt "Methods of Human Disposal" von 2021 zu hören war, zu einem noch düstereren und ursprünglicheren Trommelfeuer der Gewalt. An der Kreuzung von krimineller Verkommenheit und urbanem Unwohlsein bedienen sich Gravesend vieler Werkzeuge des Handwerks. Black / Death / Grind / War Metal verschmelzen nahtlos zu einer Teergrube aus beißendem Hinterhof-Sadismus und Acid-Zungen-Gesang.

Wie eine frisch geborgeneLeiche unten am Hafen weht der Geruch von Verwesung aus jedem Track auf 'Gowanus Death Stomp'. Und wie bei NYCs Underground-Legenden von Cro-Mags über Swans bis Type O Negative verkörpert Gravesend den Puls der Stadt, selbst wenn dieser Puls auf dem Beton ausblutet.

Der prägende Sound von Martin Rev, der vor allem im Zusammenspiel mit seinem langjährigen musikalischen Partner Alan Vega und der gemeinsamen Band Suicide in seiner Radikalität und Einzigartigkeit zu einem Einfluss für mehrere Generationen von Musikern werden sollte, findet seinen Ursprung insbesondere in der essentiellen Energie des Rock"n"Rolls, der Rev als Teenager prägte und so etwas wie die musikalische Entsprechung der urbanen Atmosphäre seiner Heimatstadt New York war. Nachdem Rev zunächst im Free Jazz und freier Musik nach neuen musikalischen Ausdrucksformen suchte, entwickelte er rasch eine Faszination für die elektronische Klangerzeugung, die es ihm ermöglichte, völlig alleine und autark zu arbeiten. Er experimentierte mit einfachstem Equipment, kombinierte verschiedene Geräte und Effekte und übersetzte so die Wurzeln des Rock"n"Rolls in einen neuen, bisher ungehörten elektrisierenden Sound, der sowohl der Beginn von Suicide als auch einer spannenden Solo-Karriere sein sollte. Die vorliegende Sammlung "The Sum of Our Wounds" umfasst verschiedenste Aufnahmen, die zwischen 1973 und 1985 entstanden. Dabei ist die Zusammenstellung weitaus mehr als nur eine Kollektion von Demos und Outtakes; vielmehr hat man das Gefühl, ein in sich geschlossenes Album zu hören und sich selbst Kompositionen, die einem bereits bekannt sind, gänzlich neu zu erschließen. Die Kassettenstücke besitzen in ihrer spröden Brüchigkeit eine große Sensibilität, eben wie eine Sammlung von Verwundungen.

Funk The System! The recipe is simple: Dig deep, listen to your heart, record everything you got on a dusty old desktop computer, leave it to simmer for the time of a pandemic, and if it's still fresh, serve it up on the finest plate of black wax! This collaboration started in Dusseldorf in the year 2018. Locked up for a week in the Flanger Studios, Wolf Muller and Credit 00 recorded everything: from the jaw harp to smartphone apps, chopping up GDR Jazz breaks and squeezing the Funk out of every synthesizer and drum machine at hand. You will hear the open mindedness towards all sorts of musical influences from the first note. Each of the five tracks showcases a wild mix of flavours: Disco Reggae, B-Girl Breakbeats, Protest Folk, Subway Funk, Tabla Rhythms, you name it... they'll take it and shake it! It is obvious these two got sonically socialized and educated by the multiculturalism of Hip-Hop in their early days. After the first Recording Session, the tracks fermented for some time until they were cracked open again. This time in Leipzig at Credit 00's Westend Workshop. That's also where Rizmi from Birmingham joined the team and lent her voice to the title track. She reinterpreted the lyrics of the obscure German 1980s Workers' Rock Song, that Wolf digged out for the Intro Skit of ,,Funk The System". A long time in the making, Rat Life is very happy to finally publish this EP!

Have you heard of the Nurse With Wound List? If you are a fan of creative-experimental-unlikely music, certainly. You would therefore be aware that amongst the recommendations that Steven Stapleton slipped into the first album of his group Nurse With Wound, were to be found a few restless frogs: Jef Gilson, Luc Ferrari, Jacques Thollot, Urban Sax, Horde Catalytique and last but not least Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé. Stapleton admired their album Défense de. The two Frenchmen just had to conceive of a fabulous precursor to the channel tunnel (check out the inside of the record, you’ll see) to enable Stapleton to come to France in 1980. The Englishman was looking for contributions to a compilation to be released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, and he naturally called on Birgé and Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in ‘Un drame musical instantané’.

It was a done deal and the compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantané, could be heard Hélène Sage (whom Birgé introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.

The curtain is raised and it is Un drame musical instantané who start the ball rolling. Mystery abounds; synthesisers lurk, percussion clatters and the sounds (creaks, whistles, vocal insertions...) fire in all directions. For the piano, it’s a debacle, the Drame won, Hélène Sage can take over. Heading up a quintette including Gorgé and Vitet, she creates a cushioned chamber music with strings and many silences.

On the B side, it’s the other side of the channel. Sema’s piano first off, which dares everything, even melody, before spilling out its darkest ideas in a raucous requiem. Finally, Stapleton appears, delving into his collection of female voices to devote himself to an iconoclastic transformation and concoct a song which collapses under the assault like Marianne at Agincourt. After having listened to In Fractured Silence, you will simply have to choose sides.

Have you heard of the Nurse With Wound List? If you are a fan of creative-experimental-unlikely music, certainly. You would therefore be aware that amongst the recommendations that Steven Stapleton slipped into the first album of his group Nurse With Wound, were to be found a few restless frogs: Jef Gilson, Luc Ferrari, Jacques Thollot, Urban Sax, Horde Catalytique and last but not least Jean-Jacques Birgé and Francis Gorgé. Stapleton admired their album Défense de. The two Frenchmen just had to conceive of a fabulous precursor to the channel tunnel (check out the inside of the record, you’ll see) to enable Stapleton to come to France in 1980. The Englishman was looking for contributions to a compilation to be released on his United Dairies label that he had created with John Fothergill, and he naturally called on Birgé and Gorgé, who were then playing with Bernard Vitet in ‘Un drame musical instantané’.

It was a done deal and the compilation would be named In Fractured Silence. Alongside Nurse With Wound and Un drame musical instantané, could be heard Hélène Sage (whom Birgé introduced to Stapleton) and Sema, a project from the experimental British musician Robert Haigh who had participated in key records in the Nurse With Wound discography, such as Homotopy to Marie and Spiral Insana.

The curtain is raised and it is Un drame musical instantané who start the ball rolling. Mystery abounds; synthesisers lurk, percussion clatters and the sounds (creaks, whistles, vocal insertions...) fire in all directions. For the piano, it’s a debacle, the Drame won, Hélène Sage can take over. Heading up a quintette including Gorgé and Vitet, she creates a cushioned chamber music with strings and many silences.

On the B side, it’s the other side of the channel. Sema’s piano first off, which dares everything, even melody, before spilling out its darkest ideas in a raucous requiem. Finally, Stapleton appears, delving into his collection of female voices to devote himself to an iconoclastic transformation and concoct a song which collapses under the assault like Marianne at Agincourt. After having listened to In Fractured Silence, you will simply have to choose sides.

Marathon is not just a band, it's a top-level sport. The Amsterdam-based trio is bursting with energy, and it explodes out of them on stage, captivating audiences everywhere they go. With four Paradiso
shows under their belt, a packed Popronde, Welcome to the Village, Grauzone and many more, Marathon has quickly amassed an impressive live reputation, culminating in a top-10 spot at
Noorderslag. Both KINK and 3voor12 recognize the band as one of the talents of 2023.

V2 Benelux has signed Marathon for their debut EP, set to be released in May 2023. This is a major milestone for the band and a testament to their skills. Marathon's music is a passionate response to the crisis-ridden twenty-first century, channelling the energy of punk and the dissonance of shoegaze and post-punk to give voice to urban anxiety. Lennart's dynamic drumming, Kay's aggressive vocal delivery, and Nina's skillful six-string bass work create an explosive mix that is both raw and polished. Live, Marathon is a force to be reckoned with, with keyboardist Sofie and guitarist Victor bringing even more depth to their layered songs. Together, they create a high-energy defense against the doom and gloom of the modern world, making the uncomfortable bearable. Marathon is a band that demands attention, and their growing fan base is a testament to their undeniable talent.

Didattica is the first album from Zetas, a female rap duo coming straight out of the city of Salerno, on the south west coast ofItaly. Entirely produced by beatmaker, rapper and DJ/producer Tonico 70, a true veteran of Southern Italian hip-hop,the full-lengthdebut isreleased on DJ's Choice, a partner label of Four Flies Records.

Born between the 90s and 2000s, rappers Annarella and Miriade were exposed to the world of underground hip-hop from an early age, jamming and freestyling. Rather than going for the sounds of trap and auto-tune that are so popular in their age group, however, they immediately embraced the spirit of old school rap, withitsboom bap vibes. As suggested by the album's title itself (which translates as 'teaching' or 'learning') they view of rap as a school – that is, as an art form where constant training is key if you want to stay true to your values and identity.

With the help of producer Tonico 70, Zetas have created a record that is fresh and contemporary, while paying tribute to the past.They rap about everyday urban life in the exuberant dialect and slang of their native city, delivering raw rhymes with a tightand very expressiveflow, while Tonico70 uses a classic sampling approach but also incorporates real instruments into his beats–Antonio D'Apolito's guitar, Peppe Maiellano's keyboards, Giuseppe Desiderio's bass and Giuseppe Limpido's drums.

The result is an excitingcombination of funk, soul, dub, R'N'B, reggae, and even electronic influences,one where deep bass and syncopated rhythms blend wonderfully with the melody, urgency and authenticity of dialect rhymes.

Too Pure are excited to get Moonshake’s debut album, ‘Eva Luna’, back in
print, releasing a deluxe edition, re-mastered from analogue 1Ú2” tape, on
blue double vinyl.
 The reissue contains 19 tracks - the album’s original 10, the non-LP threesong single ‘Secondhand Clothes’, the two B-sides from the ‘Beautiful
Pigeon’ single and four tracks from a November 1992 John Peel session.
The release also includes an 8-page full-colour booklet.
 Moonshake were formed in 1991 by David Callahan (vocals, guitars,
samplers), formerly of The Wolfhounds, and New York musician Margaret
Fiedler (vocals, guitars, samplers). Callahan and Fiedler recorded a demo for
Creation Records, and were joined by John Frenett (bass) and Miguel
Morland (‘Mig’, drums) to record and release the ‘First EP’ for Creation in
1991.
 They took their name from a 1973 single by Can. Both Fiedler and Callahan
wrote songs, and they would (generally) sing on the songs that they wrote.
Their output of shared inspiration produced wildly different results - Can, PIL,
Kraftwerk, MBV and Erik B & Rakim were a melting pot that made
Moonshake somewhat uncategorizable, and as Margaret noted in an
interview, “Moonshake was a collision - it was supposed to be a collision.”
 Their debut album, ‘Eva Luna’, took its name from a novel by Chilean author
Isabel Allende, and the tracks on it are split evenly between the two
songwriters. Callahan’s songs are somewhat angry, dissonant, post-punk
affairs, while Fiedler’s are just as angular, but her quieter sometimes near
whispered vocals compliment her writing partner’s equally. Producer /
engineer Guy Fixsen, fresh from his work on My Bloody Valentine’s
‘Loveless’, was instrumental in making the album cohesive.
 This album has been critically revisited often since its original release, with
Tiny Mix Tapes describing their sound as “an updated take on Can and
Public Image Limited’s rhythmic propulsion with noisier guitar work and a
predilection for sampling influenced by The Young Gods.” Last year, in a
wonderfully long piece to celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary, Louder
Than War wrote that they were blown away by the album’s “utterly
spellbinding, dizzyingly genre-defying approach at articulating explicitly the
sound of a city in the throes of urban psychosis and derangement... ‘Eva
Luna’ really is one hell of a ground-breaking record, and it stands resolutely
alone among all of the albums released in 1992 as no other band has
managed to create anything remotely similar before or since. It really is a
unique album with few equals.”
 In 1993, the original incarnation of the band split up, and Margaret Fiedler
and John Frenett went on to form Laika with Guy Fixsen. Callahan and
Morland continued on with guest musicians, with Callahan ultimately
remaining the band’s sole original member. Moonshake ended in 1997 but
their legacy is indisputable.

Die norwegische Metalcore-Band verbindet Genres und überschreitet mit ihrem einzigartigen Sound Grenzen, erntet internationales Lob und festigt ihre Position als Pionier im norwegischen Metalcore. Bekannt für ihren experimentellen Ansatz und die Verschmelzung von klassischem Metalcore mit urbanen Elementen, hat sich ATENA als eine ernst zu nehmende Kraft im Genre etabliert. 'Subway Anthem', das mit Spannung erwartete neue Album von ATENA, wird vom renommierten schwedischen Produzenten Henrik Udd (Bring Me The Horizon, Architects oder Imminence) gemischt und gemastert. Das Album verspricht, die Grenzen ihres Genres noch weiter zu verschieben und die Fans mit furchtloser musikalischer (Neu-)Erkundung zu fesseln. Zusätzlich zur bevorstehenden Albumveröffentlichung bereitet sich ATENA auf eine spannende Herbsttour 2023 vor, bei der sie ihre elektrisierenden Live-Auftritte dem Publikum in ganz Europa präsentieren. Ihre Single 'Subway Anthem' hat bereits große Anerkennung gefunden.

Black Truffle is pleased to announce Tender Membranes, the label’s first release from Swedish-Finnish sound artist and electro-acoustic composer Marja Ahti. Active for a decade in the Finnish underground music scene, in recent years Ahti has developed a distinctive approach to patiently unfolding electro-acoustic constructions, documented on a string of solo releases and collaborative projects with Judith Hamann and her husband Niko-Matti Ahti. Working with concrete and instrumental sounds, field recordings, and electronics, Ahti favours neither disjunctive collage nor monolithic consistency; rather, her work is composed of organically unfolding sequences of details and textures, which, as she says, ‘can stretch out or cut fast as long as they have a sense of inner stillness’, a sense that she connects to moments of heightened attention in everyday life. Tender Membranes consists of four lengthy pieces, partly inspired by the image of the senses and mind as membranes allowing for the passage between inner and outer spaces, sensation and its causes, creating a world. Ahti’s unhurried pacing encourages this sense of listening as an opening or surrender to sound, which can often create the impression that the listener is moving through a space zooming in on details. The opening Shrine (Aether) exemplifies this aspect of Ahti’s approach: a bell clears the air with a single long tone, followed by the ambience of outdoor spaces, crackling electronics, an archival recording of a horsefly on a windowpane. Dozens of these moments, varying in length, density, and intensity, move past the listener’s attention, momentarily brought into focus then slipping away. Like those of the masters of the French musique concrète tradition, Ahti’s sounds are not often recognisable, though they might suggest proximity or distance, open environments or closed spaces, the urban or rural, day or night. In Ahti’s work, we do not encounter spectacular metamorphoses à la Parmegiani but rather a state of ambiguity where the listener is often unsure what is organic and what is inorganic, where the careful productions of the synthesizer might end and sounds discovered in the environment begin. What Ahti calls her ‘poetic way of experiencing and organising the familiar and the unfamiliar’ is sustained throughout Tender Membranes, but each piece has its own character. On Dust / Light, human presence is more overt, as what appear to be whispers, singing, and distant speech thread between high frequencies, untraceable drips and pops, and metallic shimmers. In all this there is a melody that you can sing and to which you may dance makes more prominent use of musical instruments, gaining a sombre beauty from half-buried piano chords and organ tones. On the closing Oh Fragrant Witness, a delicate cloud of subtly bending pitches is repeatedly disrupted by a resounding, almost ominous mass of low tones, at once a strange detour from much of what has gone before and an almost classical finale. Arriving in a sleeve reproducing contemporary Finnish photographer Sini Pelkki’s fragmented visions of the everyday, Tender Membranes is a balm to reawaken tired ears.

As Duke Ellington would have said, Dinah Washington was “beyond category”. Subtle and inventive enough to hold an honored place in the jazz pantheon yet tough and forceful enough to command the attention of blues, R&B and rock & roll audiences. Equally at ease performing Broadway songs, pop tunes or jazz material, Washington combined urbane finesse with down-home grit to make music that reflected her strong-willed, larger-than-life personality.

Deluxxe is a new post punk/new wave band from Buffalo, NY.

It was formed by Mason and Greg, and later completed with Nick, Bailey and Mackenzie, sharing members of Oi and hardcore bands such as Violent Way, Bad Blood and Exhibition. Their punk background can be heard in the music, but it’s the love for new wave, post punk, darkwave, and goth that led to creation of their debut record “If You Were Me”. Written in the cold winters of Buffalo, you can almost feel the harshness of the weather affecting the sounds that propagate from these grooves. Icy and frostbitten but somehow still relevantly civic and urban.

The Chameleons and The Sound are two main references here, but that whole cold dimension is rocked by a strong pop vein reminiscent of After The Snow-era Modern English and occasionally enhanced by an hoarseness typical of a young Paul Weller. Passionate lyricism proper of Echo And The Bunnymen and hopeless romanticism à la Sad Lovers And Giants get balanced by a sharp songwriting which keeps everything in perfect order, giving you exactly what you need, nothing more and nothing less.

You can tell some skinheads are involved here because the outcome is so tidy and neat, without losing one inch of atmosphere or enchantment. If you are wondering how something that was invented forty years ago can still sound, literally, fresh and cool, look no further because what this band delivers lives just up to its name.

Auf ihrem Solo-Debütalbum brilliert die ex-Friends-Frontfrau Samantha Urbani mit ihrem unwiderstehlich lockeren, retro-orientierten Alt-Pop. Ihr perfekter Kompromiss zwischen berauschenden Popmelodien und uneingeschränktem Experimentieren macht das Album zu einer überzeugenden Sammlung zahlreicher Referenzen - von Disco und 80er Freestyle, über Jam & Lewis und Santigold, bis Blondie, LCD Soundsystem und Talking Heads. Das von ihr und Nick Weiss (Nightfeelings) produzierte Werk ist eine zutiefst erhebende Platte, ein Beweis für Spontanität und Überlebensgeist.

This is where it all starts. Without any reminiscing about their former band Operation Ivy, Matt Freeman (bass) and Tim Armstrong (guitar/vocals) blast through their debut without any hints of ska or blatant Clash plagiarizing. On the contrary, this album rips through 15 tracks of high-energy punk that"s accompanied by heavy bass leads and Armstrong"s permanently slurred vocals. And to top it all off, the lyrical content deals with urban blight and the lifestyle of being a public nuisance. With this trademark sound, Rancid provides the perfect soundtrack for any car chase that includes massive property damage; is it a wonder MTV wouldn"t touch this? -Mike DaRonco

Funkiwala Records presents CUBANGLA - the sixth album by London fusionistas LoKkhi TeRra.
Following on from their hugely successful collaboration with UK afro-beat ambassador Dele Sosimi on 2018's "Cubafrobeat"(mixing afrobeat and Cuban Rumba/Timba), this album sees them return to their Bangla-Afro- Latin-Jazz-Roots.
8 tracks of 21st century London groove – from Sufi Samba to Baul Blues to Bengali folk-Son to Bangla Roots Reggae to London Descargas - recorded in between tours, sessions and collaborations – a true celebration of traditions taking on new forms as they travel and co-exist. In these divided times, their collective musical journey has never been so relevant.

Background
Kishon Khan's Lokkhi Terra have been blending the musical traditions that surround them in London, for many years now.
"Stunning Headliners... A majestic multi-cultural blend of sounds... effortlessly builds bridges between rolling Indian raga rhythms, Afro-Cuban grooves, Acid Jazz/funk and free flowing improvisation" (Timeout London).

The band is composed of musicians who take seriously the different languages of the different genres they mix. Each in their own right play with calibre purist outfits. Members have collaborated with the likes of Hugh Masekela, Tony Allen, Ibrahim Ferrer, Johnny Clarke, Orlando Poleo, Africa Express, Jazz Jamaica, Ska Cubano, Giles Peterson's Havana Cultura, Kyle Eastwood, Bellowhead, Akram Khan to name a very few.
The tracks on this album were gigged for a number of years before being recorded, with the exception of the last 2 tracks which were recorded in 2015 just before performing at Womad and Songlines Encounters.
With CUBANGLA the band has come round full circle – a journey that started a decade ago with their debut No Visa Required (2010). An urban London view on the musical world.

Born and raised in the deep outskirts of Mexico City, the Gama brothers are keeping alive the rich legacy of marimba music running through their family with their latest project, Son Rompe Pera. While firmly rooted in the tradition of this historic instrument, their fresh take on the folk icon challenges its limits as never before, moving it into the garage/punk world of urban misfits and firmly planting it in the 21st century.

The last time Canadian underground techno tastemaker Rennie Foster had a record on a French label it was the historic F-Communications. Back then Rennie’s penchant for bringing warehouse nostalgia together with hi-tech futurism was a consistent theme and in 2023 this fusion based musical concept is realized further toward the future through a new EP release, Cryptic Layers on Parisian imprint Skylax Records.


The record opens with Let It Go, a simple title for a complex and dreamy piece of lo-fi rave house featuring clattering breaks, ear worm vocals and a drastic bassline driving the whole custom vehicle. Then the similarly, simply titled Just Do It explodes into action with an inspired mix of Detroit inspired dub techno chords, fierce amen breaks and a hip-house energy akin to both current urban style and authentic musical roots. These tracks sound like they could have been released at any time during the past decades but still sound current, or even futuristic. Apparent is craft, design and an understanding of dance music from the perspective of obsession, experience and passion.



The remixes come from absolute legends in the world of techno, representing Rennie’s other home-base territories, the techno cities Detroit and Tokyo. Japanese electronic music icon Ken Ishii provides a storming acid remix of Just Do It with liquid 303 bass, anxious and trip vocal snips, and punchy drums that will sound absolutely ace in a club. Detroit third wave pioneer Sean Deason closes out the record with a crisp dose of hi-tech funk that is sure to be a DJ weapon with it’s hypnotic energy and timeless production style.



The digital only portion of Cryptic Layers begins with a second version from Ken Ishii, this time sans vocals leaving the acid stripped down and bare. Two more original tracks by Rennie Foster are also on offer. Sadlands is an organ laden deep house, synth-wave, contrasting piece of melancholic dream dance while I Say Peace signs off the project in a layered classic house style with early rave stabs and grooving after-hours appeal.

Working with Bat For Lashes producer David Kosten (aka Faultline), the recording of Man Alive was completed mainly in a chapel in North Wales. The album sounded unique. Nothing dates like the future, yet Man Alive sounds dateless, placeless, and as a result, stands up perfectly many years later.

Man Alive was only the beginning of the group's adventures in – to use their words – 'Mismatched styles of music mashed together.' The result is often exhilarating; there are Brazilian drums and a prog guitar breakdown in Schoolin', classical influences, as well. Its subject matter is often way outside the realms of conventional songwriting; MY KZ, UR BF explored the different Americas: the cosy self-centred domesticity of programmes such as Friends versus a foreign policy
based on killing; Qwerty Finger examines imperialism. Anglo Saxon guilt is also present.

The album's artwork was striking – a photograph of a fox by Swiss photographer, Laurent Geslin, reflecting the track Tin (The Manhole) which deals with the theme of depression, through, as the band said in 2010, "the story of an urban fox that ingests all our pollution and grows massively in a sort of dream sequence. We chose photos of an urban fox for this reason, but we partly attacked the code of the digital image to create a glitch distortion . . . a reference to digital manipulation and chaos as well as our modern lives online".

Released in August 2010, Man Alive made the UK Top 20 and was well reviewed.

For example, BBC Music commented that the group "know more than most how to craft a song, how to make an album. They know how to give it depth, light and dark, and they - crucially - know when to stop." Man Alive was shortlisted for the 20th Mercury Music Prize in 2011.

The original LP edition of the album is super- scarce, released before the 'vinyl revival' kicked in, hence the original pressing now selling in the high three figures.

This re-issue is presented with scrupulous attention to the detail of the original UK first pressing, complete with gatefold sleeve, poster and 8 page booklet. It is pressed on 140gm vinyl.

Influences enter into the frame ranging from '90s trance, to early M83, to Yoko Kanno anime soundtracks. With its M1 piano stabs, supersaws, and glimpses of Amen breaks, the album charts a luminescent space between 5 a.m. warehouse raves and the urban freeways of its cover image-- romantic, nocturnal, and reckless in its velocity and emotional abandon.

The first vinyl release from American artist Sydney Spann, Sending Up A Spiral Of well encapsulates Spann’s body of work thus far. On their music, which reacts to themes of family systems and care work, Sydney writes, “people who have done care work —nannies, sex workers, therapists, nurses— may possess their own musical knowledge, developed over time through particular modes of voicing practiced to achieve a desired outcome in their labor. Attending intimately to these ways of voicing and listening and bringing them into a sound practice could be a way to legitimize a less recognized kind of musical knowledge.”

Sending Up A Spiral Of explores this unarticulated expression through sound and song. The titular piece traces Spann within some quixotic woodland, as if beginning inside of some urban fairy-story. Self-soothing singing quivers under dragging branches, peeling cement and other tactile grit. The work drops into a new proximity half-way through as electronic contours overtake the environment. Sine-tones smolder in a pulsating choreography, perhaps reminiscent of Richard Maxfield’s “Night Music” played at half-speed.

The second section of the record depicts a series of five smaller portraits, expressed (or disguised) as lullabies. An oceanic humming permeates them. “Possession” and “Purposeful Evening” are the most song-like lullabies, with their verse-chorus repetition and melodic simplicity. Innocuous words “baby” and “honey” are encoded with deeper, often painful connotations. Sydney’s voice and vision for this album is ambitious, cloaked in the strains and contradictions of what love means in the nuclear family.

A 16-page artist pamphlet of rubbings, photographs and sheet music accompanies the LP, along with a digital PDF of Spann’s thesis “Sending Up A Spiral Of: A Musical Epistemology Made Through Care Work.”

Described as a musician's musician, Allen's sound is built on a foundation of pop, rock, Americana, Roots and Blues influences. Jon Allen has a soulful, whiskeysoaked voice and a striking gift for melody. He has never been content to be pigeonholed, as demonstrated by the eclecticism of his albums to date.Of the album Jon writes ''The last few years have felt like a pressure cooker slowly increasing to boiling point. There is sense of threat and a feeling of impending doom. Living in a large urban centre during a global pandemic brought out a sense of paranoia. We became more aware of our need for space, our need for silence and to be close to nature to get above the noise of a city. I'm absorbing all the time and everything from the famous Will Smith slap to missing people inspired the songs. How close are we all to the tipping point? What are we likely to do in heat of the moment? What will stress do to us when pushed? But light
follows dark, and there are the moments of simplicity and you can count your blessings for the simple things life has to offer".

2023 Repress Blue Vinyl

- Eagerly anticipated follow up to 2014 debut - number 7 in Mojo's best albums of the year.
- LP jacket is gloss laminate with front & back folds on the outside.The back panel is uncoated/matt varnish - 300 gsm card and 180g vinyl. Digital Download included.
- EU tour coming in April with Summer festivals later in 2017.

Sometimes it can take years to find your calling. Not so, for wanderer Julie Byrne, whose power of lyrical expression and melodic nous seems inborn. But often, what comes naturally demonstrates against speed. Julie's second album Not Even Happiness has taken time to evolve, but as it spans recollections of bustling roadside diners, the stars over the high desert, the aching weariness of change, the wildflowers on the coast of California and the irresolvable mysteries of love. Her new album archives a vivid world that would've otherwise been lost to the road and in doing so, Byrne exhibits her extraordinarily innate musicality.

In fact, some of the album's songs took two years of fine tuning to get where they needed to be. And if you were to ask her why the follow up to 2014's Rooms With Walls And Windows has taken so long, you'd only be greeted with a bemused smile as though it's the strangest question she's ever been asked, Writing comes from a natural process of change and growth. It took me up to this point to have the capacity to express my experience of the time in my life that these songs came from.'

Having counted Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Northampton, Massachusetts, Chicago, Illinois, Seattle, New Orleans as her home in recent years. For now, Julie has settled in New York City where she moonlights as a seasonal urban park ranger in Manhattan. Whether witnessing the Pacific Northwest for the first time ('Melting Grid'), the morning sky in Colorado after staying up through the night at a house party in the mountains of Boulder ('Natural Blue'), recording the passage of freight trains on the outskirts of Buffalo, New York ('Interlude'), or a journey fragrant with rose water, reading Frank O'Hara aloud from the passengers seat during a drive through the desert of Utah into the rainforest of Washington State ('All The Land Glimmered Beneath'), Not Even Happiness is Julie's beguilingly ode to the fringes of life.

Self-taught on the guitar after picking it up when her father became ill and could no longer play the instrument himself, Julie readily admits she can't read music and doesn't even listen to it all that much - the first vinyl she owned was indeed, her own. Recorded with producer Eric Littmann (Phantom Posse), Julie laid down the new album in her childhood home in western New York state and offers an altogether bigger picture to its predecessor through a wider, yet subtle, exploration of instruments and atmospherics, Not Even Happiness reveals an artist who has grown in confidence over time.

Byrne's debut album was released back in January 2014 on Chicago based DIY label Orindal after initially being as two separate cassettes releases. Rooms With Walls and Windows went onto become a true modern-day word of mouth success story (it would have to be for an artist who shuns all forms of social media) and ended the year being voted number 7 in Mojo magazine's best albums of the year, with the Huffington Post calling it "2014's Great American Album". A collection of hushed intimate front porch psych-folk songs, that unknowingly recalled the greats, but felt very much for our time. It saw her travel to Europe over two summers playing the Green Man festival and End Of The Road, as well as lesser trodden tour paths around Europe.

Julie Byrne will take the songs from Not Even Happiness (the first release on a new record label Basin Rock, based in the Lancashire / Yorkshire border town of Todmorden) on the road throughout 2017.

In 2020, electronic musician Nina Pixel was offered a track on a compilation album of songs from the Liptov region. What started as a rearrangement of a single folk song eventually grew in scope and size, eventually becoming a series of releases. Titled Ancestral Archaeology, the series counts two self-released EPs, an audiovisual show in co-operation with Adrián Kriška, and now, after two years, a double LP published by Weltschmerzen. In this definitive form of an album, Ancestral Archaeology reveals itself as a musical reimagination of traditional historical Slovak culture at large.

Nina Pixel averts the perils of lapsing into inauthentic fakelore by building her music with, rather than on, the ethnographic riches of Slovakia. With the eagerness of a genuine archeological prospector, Ancestral Archaeology invokes the always present but seldom perceived linchpins of folklore culture: the desperate clinging to the memory of pre-Christian paganism and witchcraft, songs with narratives of beautiful innate wyrdness that is utterly unfit for mass culture, and superstition as the most serious longing for the balance between sense and irrationality.

If we acknowledge the truism of folklore as the shared way of expression in rural society, the techno music on Ancestral Archeology proposes that, in the urban society of ours, this role is served by raves. The argument isn't as much declared as it's implied // in music and in the spoken-word lyrics that are rife with historical and contemporary sources. An 18th-century recipe by the writer and priest Juraj Fándly proposes snorting the grounded flowers of the medicinal weed Valerian as a way of curing bad vision. "It is a proven remedy!" we are repeatedly assured, and it's not hard imagining Fándly and his parishioners, strung out on Valerian, moving almost involuntarily to the rhythms of their era just as we can move to Ancestral Archeology.

Nina Pixel is a Slovak music artist based in Berlin. Lyrics are inspired by Slovak folklore traditions, songs and shared beliefs.



Manifestation tools: cello, overtone flute koncovka, fujara, gong, metal bowls, sheep bell, field recordings of Slovak forests, Andreas's tom and various drum machines.