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The Art of Surrender marks a return to life, sown from primal impulses and hard-won emotional truths. Unrestrained melodic rapture soars above a relentless kick drum, speaking a need to move, to dance, to love. The music is as ambitious as its origins are personal. Tignor plays with scale, crafting multi-movement epics alongside one-minute miniatures. The smallest, most fragile violin gestures, where the finger barely touches the string to extract natural harmonics exist side by side with angular, exotic melodies, asymmetric rhythms, and rapid-fire string crossings. On this LP, Tignor digs even more deeply into the violin and its technicolor reimaginings under his electroacoustic treatments. Christopher Tignor is a composer, violinist, lecturer, and software engineer. His emotionally charged scores and unique focus on live, performance-based electroacoustic practice has won acclaim within both the classical and experimental communities across 10 LPs on the Western Vinyl and New Albion record labels. He creates the live performance software he uses, shared freely. As a composer he has written and recorded work for ensembles including The Knights, A Far Cry string orchestra, and Brooklyn Rider string quartet, performing alongside them at premiere venues including Carnegie's Zankel Hall. As a string arranger he has worked with Helios, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, John Congleton, This Will Destroy You, Meshell Ndegeocello, and several other artists at the boundaries of popular music. This music breathes, swoons and swoops elegiacally, in the same way a crack symphony might on a good night." MAGNET // "A bulwark against the ambient clatter of everyday life...sheer technical mastery" BANDCAMP (ALBUM OF THE DAY) // "Tignor creates a muttered hum of activity that burbles at the fringes of an internally focused halo of sustained, glowing chords, and the effect is powerful." NPR // "Making computers coexist in harmony with acoustic instruments in a live setting is more easily imagined than achieved. But Christopher Tignor, a young composer and performer shaped as much by his work in downtown nightclubs as by his formal education at Bard College and New York University, proves that it can be done." THE NEW YORK TIMES // "Absurdly talented"

Collector's Halloween Edition on Limited Orange & Clear Splatter Effect Vinyl!

Recorded Live in Lyon, le théâtre du 8ème, December 14th, 1972, this gig was one of many during a time of hectic touring before & after finishing the, as yet unreleased, Flying Teapot album.

A banger for a high meeting of the old school family ! Superb tunes for a dancefloor magic effect !

This time it's really getting huge! Hole in One is back with an
underground classic by no other than Blackout. This reissue
shows the art of real Memphis rap in full effect. Murder
rhymes laid upon the deepest productions by the man
himself. A timeless milestone is available again. Better be
fast!

2023 Repress

A fully remastered reissue from the original tapes of The Fresh Band's highly sought-after 1984 classic 'Come Back Lover'. Produced by The Strikers' Darryl Gibbs and mixed to maximum effect by the one and only Tony Humphries, this super cool disco boogie floor-burner made it big in the Underground dance clubs of Chicago & New York, receiving heavy rotation from legendary DJs like David Mancuso, Larry Levan and Ron Hardy. This special edition from Best Italy contains for the first time all the four versions mixed by the legendary Tony Humphries: including the astounding Humphries Vocal, Dub, Remix and the rarest Dub Remix which moves towards a deeper, headier groove, with atmospheric echoing vocals and mind-blowing piano breaks.

Rainbow Generator are Australia’s first true experimental electronic music group. Consisting of David Labuschagne AKA Mojo, and Rob Greaves AKA Ras. Starting in the mid-70’s, the pair took it upon themselves to begin exploring the possibilities of the sonic dimension and with an ‘open mind’ began investigating the interface between psyche and sound.

In 1976 David established the ‘Lectric Loo’ studio in Woolloomooloo, Sydney. Known to the ‘heads’ as simply the “Loo”, the 3-story building was owned by the Department of Main Roads, and slated for demolition. So, it was that the entire block became a haven for squatters, and while Mojo had the main 3-story building to himself, the rest of the buildings were taken by a hotch-potch of people that included Anarchists, a Clown School and a collection of other random squatters.

Recording in the ‘Lectric Loo’ provided them the ability to record freely. In 1975 they began to experiment, putting Mojo’s Fender Strat through effects pedals, playing with sounds while manipulating shortwave radio stations and also challenging convention by playing the insides of instruments. By 1976 they had built a kit synthesizer and shortly after purchased a full Roland 100 Synthesiser set-up and were on their way.

In 1978, with little resources, or any form of distribution they released their sole LP ‘Dance of the Spheres’. As Mojo puts it, “we were intent on making music with whatever we could beg, borrow, buy, and liberate. Albeit with scant regard for the rules or conventions or niceties of the game. Ultimately, it was all an act of love, of joy. Not just an adventure; it was a musical odyssey”.

This odyssey continued their exploration of the interface between psyche and sound.
Fusing genres and boundaries, Dance of the Spheres incorporates elements of 70’s psych and folk with spoken-word and of course the emerging sounds of the synthesizer and drum machines. Furthermore, the addition of traditional instruments such as the didgeridoo and the classical Indian instrumentation technique of a Raga add a timeless layer, all seamlessly complementing the other elements and launching the album to another dimension.

Originally released on the Sprüngkartellwachs label (and highly sought after) now comes as a rerelease on Mat Carter’s own Varial label.

A four track track ep striding electro, techno, down beat and new wave flavours. ‘Raspmutal’ kicks things of with spaced out techno flair, offering a mutating analogue mover, constructed with large systems in mind. Driving dancefloor fodder laden with spiralling dub-wise effects. ‘Downturn’ follows with a finely tuned piece of liquid electro. Stripped down and turbo-charged this twists and turns through fragmented beats and lush melodies, creating a sublime and fluid mix.

‘Fullow Street’ is a bundle of down tempo leftfield beatism inspired by hot humid nights in huge cities. A blissed out journey through hazy hip-hop beats and lush, glistening electronics. ‘Process’ completes the ep with dancefloor delight that has more than a nod towards the timeless, analogue sounds of experimental new wave and electrodisco. Beats build into a shimmering eighties-tinged workout, with wave upon wave of gorgeous keys.

Repress on a new colour - Red/clear half-and-half vinyl with black splatter. Kingston-upon-Hull’s The Black Delta Movement return with their stunning new album ‘Recovery Effects’ – 8 tracks of immersive, groove-heavy garage rock released April 21st 2023 on Fuzz Club Records. Determination and a commitment to musical development are writ large across Matt Burr’s personal and artistic journey as the main creative force behind The Black Delta Movement. His most collaborative work yet, ‘Recovery Effects’ sees Matt recruiting highly lauded UK guitar-slinger and Little Barrie frontman Barrie Cadogan and bandmates Lewis Wharton (Bass) and Tony Coote (Drums) to provide musical backing on the album. With legendary producer, The Heliocentrics’ co-founder and drummer extraordinaire Malcolm Catto also helming production duties. “The album’s a love letter to the band and all the emotions that come with it,” explains Matt when talking about the period of adversity that led to its creation. Finding himself without his former bandmates following the release of their highly-praised 2018 debut ‘Preservation’ and that record’s subsequent live shows, the pandemic-induced lockdown periods throughout ’20 and ’21 initially gave time for reflection before proving to be a time of productivity. Giving Matt the breathing space to fine-tune the new songs alongside Cadogan before hitting the ground running when entering the studio in late 2021 – the band cutting the basic tracks live and Malcolm Catto providing invaluable input when it came to moulding the music you hear contained throughout. The results of this creative melting pot of such talented and seasoned musicians see The Black Delta Movement delivering that ring thing: a layered, honest and deeply entertaining rock’n’roll record. There are a myriad of moods and textures, whether on the garage-blues grooves of opener and first single ‘Fourth Pass Over The Graveyard’, follow-up single ‘Zip-Tie’ which explodes from its moody intro into punk-rock motorik, or the psychedelic slow-burn of ‘Hiding In The Tall Grass’ which manages to channel the likes of The Doors and Spacemen

Rogér Fakhr is a musician from Lebanon. He recorded these songs in the late 1970s in Beirut (and some during a brief exile in Paris). Some were circulated on hand copied cassettes among friends, others like "Had To Come Back Wet" were never released. His music effortlessly combines folk with touches of jazz and soul. He wrote, composed and arranged all songs. While working on his own music he also played for Ziad Rahbani, Fairouz and other musicians.

When we first heard Roger's music we were blown away! The music was a mixture of folk with touches of other genres. Maybe one could also refer to it as "singer-songwriter", since all of the songs were Roger's own compositions. Songs of unique beauty both musically as well as lyrically. At the same time they gave me the feeling of them being somehow time and space isolated capsules. Nothing really revealed, where they could've been recorded and without knowing it was Beirut, my first guess maybe would have rather been California, sometime in the 1970s. The immersive effect of his compositions and voice are just incredible. I was stunned and proposed Roger to work on a re-release, which he politely declined, saying he had no interest in this music being reissued.

The vinyl version comes with a 8 page booklet and a DL code. CD digipak version comes with a 16 page booklet.

SG is none other than Andrew Pekler returning to faitiche with an album of sentimental guitar escapism. For Lovers Only / Rain Suite features ten tracks made using only an electric guitar and a handful of effects pedals (plus some additional recordings of rain) and finds Pekler once again attempting to reconicile his tendencies towards kitsch, experimentation and minimalism.

What does Pekler's pseudonym SG stand for? Sentimental Guitar? Sound Gallery? Shy Guy? Sad Gnosis? Saudade Glamour? Soft Goth? We don't know, but we asked notorious Chicago romantic Sam Prekop for his take on the album – his reply:

--

It’s a wonder where the rivers go and far, how fast or slow.

Just seconds to remember, who can forget, when you are lost.

I think to recount every step, in both hands, eyes open, the clouds unfold, one two three. Every other step, just as well.

Where the moss is soft, you know strong. How many hours, days? I could have been careful, did I forget?

Never mind. Waking up, in these arms, where the rivers go, slow. One two three, one two three.

Alien Transistor is proud to announce a reissue of Such December, the fourth album by Japanese indie folk-pop artist, Gratin Carnival. Listeners might already know Gratin Carnival from their appearance on the Alien Parade Japan compilation of indie pop groups working with brass and woodwind; compiled by Markus Acher of The Notwist and Saya of Tenniscoats, it introduced this beautiful genre to the wider world. Gratin Carnival’s “Just Watching” was one of the many highlights of that compilation, and its gentle bossa-folk glide reappears on Such December.

Originally released in 2020, Such December captures beautifully the happy-sad charm of Gratin Carnival. The project of Koreyuki Mitsunaga, Gratin Carnival started in 2011; Mitsunaga had been home recording for some time and decided on the name as an umbrella for his music-making. Mitsunaga’s main instruments are guitar, which he uses to great effect throughout, his gorgeous acoustic playing reminiscent of players like Ueno Takashi of Tenniscoats or João Gilberto, and alto saxophone and clarinet. Those three instruments make up the core of Gratin Carnival’s sound, along with Mitsunaga’s charmingly doleful singing.

Recording at his parents’ home, with a four-track cassette recorder and a MacBook, Mitsunaga created Such December during 2020, though the songs on it stretch back to 2016. The closing “On The Train” was the first song written for the album – “a song about a small trip,” Mitsunaga recalls – and from there, he built a beautiful collection of songs that sit together perfectly. There’s great clarity in Mitsunaga’s writing, with nothing extraneous getting in the way of the lucid arrangements and gorgeous melodies; there’s something of chamber jazz about it at times, so it’s no surprise that Mitsunaga shares his love of Benny Goodman’s small group playing.

He's also a fan of Japanese folk artists like Kenji Endo and Kyouzou Nishioka, and grew up listening to Japanese popular music, The Beatles, and The Carpenters. You can hear trace elements of all this in Such December, in the clear-headedness of the melodic decisions made by Mitsunaga, and the quiet charm of the song’s gentle arrangements. They take on different shapes live, too, where Mitsunaga often invites other musicians to join in – his live band currently includes Masafumi Ezaki (trumpet), Nahoko Kamei (bass clarinet, piano, keyboards) and Tadashi Yonago (trombone, self-made instruments).

As with plenty of musicians from the Japanese underground, Mitsunaga is involved in other music, too – he’s been working with The Otoasobi Project, which performs music in collaboration with individuals with learning disabilities, and their families; and he’s also involved in improvised music. With Such December, though, you get to hear Mitsunaga’s music at its most personal and individual, ten songs of still, gorgeously poised indie folk-pop, where the swooning clang of six strings meets the breathy bliss of woodwind and brass.

Skultura is Nick Dunston’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed Spider Season, which was released in July 2022. On Spider Season, Martin Johnson of Jazz Times said “Dunston is a sonic revolutionary in many ways, not the least of which is the instrumentation of his bands.”Spider Season also received glowing reviews from Pitchfork Magazine, TheWire, and New York City Jazz Record. While Skultura is an entirely new band,(featuring Cansu Tanrıkulu on voice/effects/electronics, Mariá Portugal on drums, Liz Kosack on synthesizer, and Eldar Tsalikov on alto saxophone/clarinet), fans of Dunston will find much to admire, and hear a compositional, improvisational, and notably, production style that is becoming uniquely his own. The repertoire of original music on Skultura ranges from spontaneous electro-acoustic ensemble exchanges, to carefully sculpted tone poems that meditate on the manipulated sample-based sides of the quintet. Composition, improvisation, and performance are no longer the only elements at playin Dunston’s recorded work. On Skultura, he continuously shapes the music with various sound-manipulation techniques to create an album that is meticulous as it is visceral. To quote Jacob Garchik’s liner notes, the ‘work is made of continuous waves of inspiration and creation, strata of improvisations made permanent, each layer related to the one below, or not’. Skultura is revered in Europe and the U.S., and will be co-released on the Berlin-based record label Fun In The Church, and the American tape cassette label Tripticks Tapes. Upcoming European performances in the Fall 2023 include Wels Unlimited Festival in Austria, and the Jazz Exzess concert series in Berlin.

Lalalar is back with a new album on Les Disques Bongo Joe! After setting European stages on fire with the release of their first LP in 2022, the almighty Turkish band returns with En Kötü Iyi Olur, an album that reflects their image: edgy, independent, political, and tremendously effective. With their roots in Anatolian poetry and sounds, but their focus on a club-oriented, uncompromising rock, Lalalar has not given up and is once again ready to turn everything upside down.

"Ich Bin Wach" is the brand new release by Schwefelgelb loaded with 4 raw, hard stomping Techno bangers. This sharp and defined production perfectly balances familiar classic tones (909 and the like), heavy percussion and unexpected sonic experiences. Club suited arrangements range from 136 to 140 bpm in a highly effective sound, which wraps references from Industrial to Deep Techno in a unique garment. NPLX005 comes on 140 g colored vinyl including a download code and will be released 6th of October. The digital version contains a bonus remix by Tunegirl.

Patagonia Wave series is back on the beloved Orange Wedge imprint. From the glorious collaboration of Joey Beltram, Lenny Dee and Ralphie Dee this is a masterpiece to have in your collection.

In spring 1994 Mouse on Mars contributed an exclusive piece to Sähkö Recordings’ ambient radio project, a one-week public radio program that was aired citywide in Helsinki, Finland. Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner recorded sounds in and around their studio in Düsseldorf Bilk to construct one continuous composition that spanned the course of one neighborhood walk. Midi-controlled synths, samplers, analogue effects, tape delays, effect pedals, guitars and a jew’s harp were juxtaposed with recordings captured during the walk. An additional microphone that pointed out of the studio window was occasionally dubbed into the mix. The resulting collage was broadcast just a few months before the group’s debut album Vulvaland came out and never aired again. 30 years into the band’s existence Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner revise the duo’s history by producing three LPs that would place the band’s discography under a slightly different light. Bilk marks the beginning of that investigation: a free-flowing assemblage of everything that vibrates and can be caught on tape. A 30 year old recording with subtle new edits and additions.

Recorded at the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields by Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner.
Artwork Soulis Moustakidis. Art Direction Rupert Smyth. Vinyl Master Cem Oral.

Foliage Records introduces Volume 2 of the new 12” Sampler Series.
Volume 2 offers four stunning cuts from the Foliage Records back catalogue for the first time on vinyl. The A side of the sampler features Jimpsters bumping Deep House rework of South African electronic producer, Thakzin and songstress Ray T’s ‘Don’t Let Me See’. Fresh from remixing Solomun, Kerri Chandler & Joey Negro, Jimpster picks up the pace, adds layers of Afro inspired percussion and creates an ethereal effect on the vocals, resulting in a club ready classic. Side A also features the stunning ‘Addicted’ by Richard Earnshaw & Kholi, a Deep House, bass heavy groover.


The B side of the sampler has the Afro anthem ‘Unification Vibration’, remixed by legendary producer Atjazz. A prolific remixer with a career spanning 20 years, Atjazz has worked with the likes of Bob Sinclar, Gilles Peterson & Jazzanova. The track is an ode to coming together in ‘our house, our only home’. The B side also contains the heavy talents of Turbojazz & Sean McCabe with their deep & dope remix of Diephuis feat. Ursula Rucker – Listen To This Drum. This remix takes things down a deeper path to the original, with a focus on the bassline and extra percussion.

Ne$$ and Baby J’s 2nd album comes after a long collaborative working relationship from previous group A-Alikes. The album represents an original voice in hip-hop, addressing working-class proletariat stories of street life, and the effects of capitalism and black and poor people. Ness has been a successful part of the US hip-hop seen over the past two decades, working with the likes of Mos Def, Dead Prez and Bilal. Baby J is an established UK, hip-hop producer whose production credits include Amy Winehouse, Skinnyman, Dead Prez, Plan B and Mark Ronson. The album has a range of guest features including previous SONY RCA signed Jamie Joseph and Conway the Machine (Griselda). The album is sonically broken and dark with a raw purist Hip Hop sound.

LILA mainstay Ayaavaaki and ambient veteran Purl speak different languages but used a translator to convey ideas to one another as they made this record. And they very much foment their own unique musical language on Ancient Skies, an album that blends ambient, drone and space music into richly layered soundscapes that are constantly on the move. Each piece is meticulously crafted and suspense you up amongst the clouds, hazing on at the smeared pads and swirling solar winds that prop you up. It's a record that would work as well in the depths of winter as a bright spring day such is the cathartic effect of the sounds. Beautiful, thought-provoking and innovative, this is as good an ambient record as we have heard all year.





e C1 Gateway Realm (Spiral I) Outer Helix (Spiral I)





e C1 Gateway Realm (Spiral I) Outer Helix (Spiral I)

Occasionally, you find music outside the commercial mainstream, outside of everything – the music of visionaries, eccentrics, inventors, loners, the keepers of secrets, the path-finders. Moondog, Daphne Oram, Harry Partch are from this mould. And so too is Lori Vambe.

New on Strut, the first ever reissue of Vambe’s privately pressed original albums from 1982, Drumland Dreamland and Drumgita Solo. A self-taught drummer, inventor, and sonic experimentalist, Lori Vambe is a unique figure in British music. Creator of his own instrument, the drumgita (pronounced ‘drum-guitar’) or string-drum, Vambe intended to create a kind of music that had never been made in order to pursue access to the fourth dimension.

Vambe was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and his father, Lawrence Vambe, was a noted Zimbabwean journalist and author. Moving to London in 1959, Vambe immersed himself in the Brixton squat movement of the early 1970s, teaching himself to drum and creating a short-lived performance group, The Healing Drums of Brixton (Vambe, the sculptor Alexander Sokolov and outsider musician Michael O’Shea). Vambe later had a dream-vision involving a feeling of ecstasy while playing an unknown instrument that extended from his own umbilical cord; the instrument would manifest itself as the drumgita. In 1982, he privately produced a pair of home recordings, the diptych set Drumgita Solo and Drumland Dreamland, releasing them on his own label Drumony. On these records, he rejected any commercial aesthetic and employed tape effects, temporal shifts, reversed sound and overdubbing to investigate space-time and access the fourth dimension. Combining layered drums with the rhythmic throb of the drumgita and, on Drumland Dreamland, an improvised piano performance by Brazilian concert pianist Rafael Dos Santos, the albums are both hypnotic and perturbing.



Both albums were cut at Portland Studios by Chas Chandler and stand as a concealed monument of Black British experimental music. 500 copies of each record were originally pressed, and both were released together. The albums were never performed live.



For this first ever reissue of Drumland Drumland and Drumgita Solo, Strut presents the two albums in their original artwork, housed in a deluxe slipcase including an additional 8-page 12”-sized booklet featuring unseen photos, liner notes and an interview with Lori Vambe by The Wire magazine writer Francis Gooding. Both albums are fully remastered by The Carvery.

David Eugene Edwards has always been larger than life. His music with innovative heavy droning folk band Wovenhand, and before that the haunting revivification of high lonesome sound antique Americana of 16 Horsepower breathed a near apocalyptic sense of urgency and power into musical archetypes long abandoned in the latter-20th Century. On his first-ever solo album under his own name, Hyacinth, David Eugene Edwards delivers a sound uniquely his own, with a vulnerability and introspection unheard from him before. Stripping back the heavy rock of his recent work with Wovenhand, Hyacinth puts the man's voice, and sparing instrumentation into the main focus. There's a somber beauty and world-weary tone throughout these songs. The album could've been considered a slight return to the more melodic sounds of 16 Horsepower's Secret South (2000) and the first, self-titled Wovenhand album (2002). But there's more going on here: a rhythmic, pulsating undercurrent reminiscent of the tape loops and rudimentary rhythms of 80s Industrial post-punk as well as 808 Drill Style beats. The overall effect is often as if we're hearing the clock ticking away our own mortality. "Hyacinth was a sort of vision," Edwards says. "A dream. I sought out of my old wooden banjo and nylon string guitar a hidden path. Secrets they had kept from me within themselves all these years and created a new Mythos to myself of philosophical and spiritual ideas or concepts." Once he'd harnessed the music within, he enlisted multi-instrumentalist and producer Ben Chisholm (The Armed, Chelsea Wolfe, Converge) to help him realize the album's recording and mix. "Overall, the album is a weaving of narratives ancient and modern, of humankind's search for understanding of this world we find ourselves in and of each other. In all its simplicity and complexity," Edwards continues. "Hyacinth is a reference to the Greek myth of Apollo. And, the word meaning a precious stone and blue larkspur flower of purple and pall."

Martina Berther and Philipp Schlotter are prolific in their respective ways, having been active in pop and jazz music, respectively, as well as playing in bands and exploring the outer fringes of sound art or composing music for film. Their first joint album »Matt« was recorded over the course of four days in a church in the Swiss village after which the album was named. Berther and Schlotter worked with the buildingʼs organ as well as synthesizers and electric bass to follow an experimental approach that oscillated between composition and free improvisation. The five pieces, recorded directly to tape by Flo Götte without any additional overdubs, are characterised by an intimacy and rawness that calls to mind the introspective atmosphere of Hallow Ground label mateʼs FUJI||||||||||TA or mastering engineer Lawrence Englishʼs latest album for the Swiss label. »Matt« is the result of two versatile composers and musicians executing minimalist ideas by giving them plenty of space to unfold.

The album opens with »Unruhe,« a composition that is based on the twelve-tone technique. Using a stopwatch to ensure the adherence to the pre-determined temporal intervals between the individual notes, Berther and Schlotter used the church organ and synthesizers for an ominous piece that traverses different moods and levels of intensity throughout its 14-minute run time. »LFO1« and »LFO2« are different variations of the same concept: Based on a synthesizer preset and structured by an organ drone, two tone generators slowly fall silent, resulting in elegiac pieces that call to mind the work of Éliane Radigue. »Frachter« and »Gallia« put more emphasis on percussive elements. Again working with organ as well as Bertherʼs prepared electric bass, this improvisation comprises interlocking textures that sound almost menacing on »Frachter,« while they create a very different atmosphere on »Gallia.« These notable discrepancies in sound and mood are even more astonishing if you consider that the two pieces are based on the exact same recording, played at different speeds.

As two variations on the same idea with very different results, these two pieces perfectly represent how the duo effectively creates emotionally affective sound worlds with very few means. Berther and Schlotterʼs conceptual minimalism yields rewarding, multi-faceted aesthetic results. »Matt« is an intimate album, marked by a sense of vividness and spontaneity, but also the product of compositional conciseness.

. The genre-defying Welsh group define their vision with a breath-taking new album, Islet’s ‘Soft Fascination’ is an ecstatic experience in music, an explosion of emotion subsumed in sound. The album is filled with high energy cadence and meditations on collective joy, a balancing act underpinned with glorious melodies and Emma Daman Thomas’ evocative vocals that swirl in the symphonic surf. Self-produced, and with instruments recorded live with few overdubs, the effect is direct, it veers from the upfront and immediate to the spacious and challenging. The first half is intentionally fast, intense, almost relentless. The second half is more spacious, as the album unravels and becomes more hazy. There is excitement and fascination and a willingness to show a lack of restraint in realising it, traversing hailstorms, hedgerows, broken promises and poisoned prayers; constantly breathing real life all in. Featuring standout singles: the pulsating ‘Euphoria’, the liberating flow of energy on ‘River Body’ and the recurring conundrum of choice of ‘Hat Person’, ‘Soft Fascination’ is an album of rare beauty. “A bewildering psychotropic storm” The Line Of Best Fit. // “Free-flowing experimental pop.”

David Eugene Edwards has always been larger than life. His music with innovative heavy droning folk band Wovenhand, and before that the haunting revivification of high lonesome sound antique Americana of 16 Horsepower breathed a near apocalyptic sense of urgency and power into musical archetypes long abandoned in the latter-20th Century. On his first-ever solo album under his own name, Hyacinth, David Eugene Edwards delivers a sound uniquely his own, with a vulnerability and introspection unheard from him before. Stripping back the heavy rock of his recent work with Wovenhand, Hyacinth puts the man's voice, and sparing instrumentation into the main focus. There's a somber beauty and world-weary tone throughout these songs. The album could've been considered a slight return to the more melodic sounds of 16 Horsepower's Secret South (2000) and the first, self-titled Wovenhand album (2002). But there's more going on here: a rhythmic, pulsating undercurrent reminiscent of the tape loops and rudimentary rhythms of 80s Industrial post-punk as well as 808 Drill Style beats. The overall effect is often as if we're hearing the clock ticking away our own mortality. "Hyacinth was a sort of vision," Edwards says. "A dream. I sought out of my old wooden banjo and nylon string guitar a hidden path. Secrets they had kept from me within themselves all these years and created a new Mythos to myself of philosophical and spiritual ideas or concepts." Once he'd harnessed the music within, he enlisted multi-instrumentalist and producer Ben Chisholm (The Armed, Chelsea Wolfe, Converge) to help him realize the album's recording and mix. "Overall, the album is a weaving of narratives ancient and modern, of humankind's search for understanding of this world we find ourselves in and of each other. In all its simplicity and complexity," Edwards continues. "Hyacinth is a reference to the Greek myth of Apollo. And, the word meaning a precious stone and blue larkspur flower of purple and pall."

Bar Musica's fourth EP is a fascinating one from Jesse Marcell with a remix by Pier Bucci. El Calvario De Los Indecisos opens up with intense minimal sounds, relentless drum and bass loops tying your mind in knots. All manner of dark and grubby sounds and effects scuttle across the groove and make this a late night head wrecker.

Pier Bucci then steps up to smooth things out and layer in some more soft and soulful late night chords. It flip the cut into a more dreamy number for trance inducing late night sets.

Last of all, Marcell offers La Fe' with it's high tempo drums, pressurised kicks and sweeping sense of minimal tech funk really getting you deep in the groove. This is a superb offering from this vital label.

Special Love is a future classic – bringing back thudding '90s flute house, paired with shuffling snare patter, swung hats and a killer female vocal. From the moment the chords and vocal hit you’ll know what special love is.

The flip takes you further back with funky basslines and tight 80s electro drums, started in 2013 Breakout was one of the duo’s first tracks, channelling Paul Hardcastle here to great effect. Gritty kicks and a huge SH-101 bassline introduce Theme, building with soaring melodies before dropping into a set closing anthem.

Equipment used: Boss Dr-110, Korg Minilogue, Korg Z1, MFB Tanzmaus, Roland SH-101, Roland Alpha Juno, Roland D-50, Roland Juno 106, Roland Jupiter 6, Roland TR-08, Yamaha DX21, Yamaha DX7.

Michal Wolski’s first introduction to Southern Lights was to deliver the
striking and thunder-clapped remix of “Pressure” on DRYAD’s 2S2W
EP. He follows up that remix with his first EP titled ‘Primeval’. The EP
features ‘Braids” and ‘Primeval’ on the A-side; both tracks share the
same uncompromising, rhythmic and altering effects that is the result of Michal’s drum-focussed and modular-opaque experiments. On the Bside, Vohkinne provides a forceful and abrasive remix of Primeval while Blazej Malinowski delivers an ethereal journey on his interpretation to round off the sixth EP release on Southern Lights. All Original tracks by Michal Wolski Mastering by Manmade Mastering Artwork by Craig McWhinney

Tibi Dabo unveils his long-awaited full-length ‘Vista’ on Crosstown Rebels this September, with the kaleidoscopic nine-track album showcasing his diverse and rich sound palette.

Born in Barcelona, DJ, producer, and musician Tibi Dabo has proven himself adept at mixing the classic and the cutting-edge. From his early days touring Europe and the US with a band in which he plays the drums, the foundation for his experimentation for his work within the electronic sphere, he has since grown to become an exciting and much-loved DJ and producer, adding to his growing reputation as a Crosstown Rebels favourite. Stepping things up once more, his spirited new album ‘Vista’ is a perfect fusion of futuristic synths and compelling house grooves, all of which are masterfully designed and full of character. Following three well-received singles across the summer, the full-length is a complete sonic statement that explores deep house, leftfield sonics and widescreen cosmic vistas.

Opener ‘Water Is’ layers up fresh sound sources and playful melodies on nimble basslines that soon make you move. ‘Somewhere Beach’ is then a silky groove layered up with diffuse pads and aching synths that convey real romance, while ‘Licht’ is another masterful display of original drum programming with bursts of cosmic synth and elastic bass. ‘Useless Ideas’ then gets deeper on more low-key drums and bass. Instead, the focus is on the deft percussion and well-treated vocals that swirl and smudge around the mix to a woozy late-night effect.

The elegant ‘Mundo’ channels the machine soul of early Detroit techno, before ‘Mangabeira Manifesto’ featuring Dudu Bongo layers up wonky drums and bass with curling, soft acid sounds and a playful vocal line. ‘Triple Frontier’ picks up the pace and heads out on a high-speed cosmic house journey, all before ‘Overture’, another far-sighted astral trip with starry melodies and rich, rubbery bass, closes the package in fine style.

An expressive and adventurous yet coherent long player with a range of moods, feelings and grooves taking you to all corners of the house world, ‘Vista’ showcases Dabo’s most in-depth project to date and an album which provides the perfect platform for him to display his rich sonic universe.

Richmond's INTER ARMA, reigning masters of the slow build, continue to trace a distinctly ambitious trajectory through modern metal. Their impulses tend toward the epic, but never bloat; they meld several styles — doom, sludge, and hard psych — without coming off like dilettantes. This newest full-length, Sulphur English, finds them mining deeper in the proggy organic doom fields that made both Paradise Gallows and Sky Burial so thrilling while expanding further the on the psych-folk strain that made those albums' peaks seem so lofty. Few metal bands have ever made such effective use of acoustic instruments in truly heavy environments as INTER ARMA do; the acoustic guitar that stitches "Stillness" together is as effective as any overdriven bass; a two-minute gloomy piano-and-feedback piece titled "Observances of the Path" rolls out the carpet for "The Atavist's Meridian," an album highlight that rides a gigantic, roomy drum sound into realms akin to a murkier Paradise Lost, a more aggressive Om, and a dreamier, more stoned Kylesa all playing together at once. Few bands make music as engrossing as INTER ARMA; their lengthy, almost meditative songs rumble patiently forward until you're ready to get thrown off a bridge — and then they throw you, with great force. - Words by John Darnielle

Discrepant proudly presents the Vinyl edition of Lebanese trio Malayeen. Malayeen is the project of Lebanese musicians Raed Yassin (Keyboards, Turntables & Electronics), Charbel Haber (Electric Guitar & Electronics) and Khaled Yassine (Darbouka, Percussion). Born from Yassin and Haber's love for the music of quintessential Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid, Malayeen disassembles and re-configures the work and style of the iconic guitarist innovative take on Arabic music. The final result makes for an original and unique update of Khorshid & belly dancing inspired songs from the past. Over the course of 7 compositions, appropriately named after Khorshid and famous belly dancers from the Arabic diaspora, the three musicians' varied backgrounds and techniques collide and coalesce in an experimental yet magical fashion, not actually playing Khorshid's music, but inspiring themselves from the cult guitarist's genius to create something completely new, modern and unexpected. A unique LP featuring the combined talents by key players of the Lebanese avant-garde. The Malayeen LP edition is released by Discrepant in collaboration with Lebanese exploratory label Annihaya effectively combining East and West musical strains of thought as well as conclusively deconstructing and displacing this particular form of 'popular' music. Design by Studio Safar S.A.L. Comes with full color poster painting by Omar Khouri Special vinyl one time pressing to 500 copies. "Uplifting, beat-driven pieces, often melodic, definitely Arabic, with destabilizing touches from external sounds, sound manipulations, and textural plays. The 17- minute 'Samia' is a roller-coaster ride culminating in a dizzying solo/duo between Yassine's darbouka and a darbouka track from a record played by Yassin. Great stuff. Monsieur Délire

The latest EP from Drab Majesty marks the start of a stirring new chapter in the band's majestic legacy. Written during a 2021 retreat to the remote coastal Oregon town of Yachats, Deb Demure leaned into the neo- psychedelic resonance of a uniquely bowl - shaped 12 -string Ovation acoustic/electric guitar. After early morning hikes in the rain, Deb would record ambient guitar experiments the rest of the day, tapping into "flow states," letting the sound lead the way. These sessions were then refined or recreated, and later elevated further with key collaborations by Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Justin Meldal Johnson (Beck, M83, Air), and Ben Greenberg (Uniform, Circular Ruin Studio). An Object In Motion is true to its title, capturing the chrysalis moment of an artist evolving, reborn and untet hered, silhouetted against an open horizon. "Cape Perpetua" kicks off the collection's divergent palette: sparkling acoustic fingerpicking refracted through delay, equal parts raga and reverie. Melodies and moods congeal and dissipate, at the threshold of rustic American primitivism, brooding neo-folk, and pastoral melancholia. "The Skin And The Glove" deploys jangle to different effect baggy, soaring, grey skied kaleidoscopic pop in the spirit of Stone Roses, Primal Scream, and The Glove. Rachel Goswell lends her iconic freefall voice to The Cure - esque ballad, "Vanity," infusing poetic gravity to the doomed refrain: "If the valve breaks / then the earth quakes / and history finds a way / to put you in your place." "Yield To Force", the closing track of the EP, may be the most anomalous offering of the set. A 15 minute instrumental odyssey of cyclical strings, ominous slide guitar, and simmering synthesizer, the piece sways and spirals like a long zoom into distant storm clouds. Demure finesses the guitar with a restless but regal grandeur, unfolding a panorama of peaks, shadows, and plateaus. It's music both intuitive and prophetic, tracing the slow swing of pendulums across an endless plain. Taken as a whole, An Object In Motion presents a showcase of potential futures from Drab's evolving domain, their sound poised to bloom at the precipice of transformation.

Bobby Caldwell's second album, Cat In The Hat, from 1980, is one of his greatest moments and another masterwork of soulful sophistication. Featuring the eternal "Open Your Eyes", brilliantly sampled by J Dilla for Common's "The Light", it's about as essential as records get. Like its eponymous predecessor, it's been out of print for far too long. To finally release the hugely-anticipated reissue is one of our sincerely proudest moments.

Whilst Ned Doheny is known in Japan as "Mr California", native New Yorker Bobby Caldwell has always been "Mr AOR" to his Far-Eastern friends. His distinct charm is an irresistible blend of soul, jazz, and pop influences. He possessed phenomenal songwriting prowess, smooth vocal performances, was both a great soul guitarist and dextrous keyboard player and known for genius chord progressions. It all added up to a multi-layered brilliance entering the studio, and the singular sound he landed on was laced with soulful, sweeping strings and funky horns, touching lightly on disco, while allowing his supple voice to carry the stunning tracks he'd crafted.

Right from the off, it's easy to tell that Cat In The Hat is a deeply special record. It's fantastically produced and incredibly well-rounded, carving its own lane with deep soul, warm jazz and a stunning vocal delivery that really helped Bobby reach out to some big new audiences at the time. Goosebumps at the ready for the rolling power-piano funk of "Coming Down From Love", opening up the album with a track as good as anything Steely Dan or The Doobies ever crafted, with a vocal performance from the heavens. Pumping AOR wonder "Wrong Or Right" is up there with the slick, classy rhythms of prime Ned Doheny whilst the cool, skipping soul of guitar-drenched "To Know What You've Got" is a funky ballad par excellence, with elemental traces of "What A Fool Believes". No bad thing. Closing out Side A, the folk-funk of "You Promised Me" is a bright, soulful strut with a wonderful vocal coda that just builds. Sensational.

The delicate bounce and falsetto self-harmonising of "It's Over" offers a truly delightful introduction to Side B, and serves as a great precursor to what follows. Bobby's dynamite "Open Your Eyes" is likely the reason you're all here. As if he needed it, the eternal J Dilla further immortalised Caldwell in the hip-hop canon with his production of Common’s epochal “The Light,” which heavily samples the magical “Open Your Eyes.” On a post paying tribute to Bobby in March 2023, Questlove claimed that he "got word Brother Bobby loved it". Bobby's original has seen new life even more recently from the likes of Dwele and Kendrick Lamar and deservingly so, as its insistent drums and staccato piano created a modern-soul classic. You'd think that would be hard to follow, wouldn't you? Not so, when you're Bobby Caldwell. Indeed, the horn-drenched stepper "Mother Of Creation" is absolutely ace, and, whisper it, possibly the album's finest track, all funky piano and guitars with horn lines to die for. Exquisite ballad "I Don't Want To Lose Your Love" rounds out the album beautifully.

Bobby sadly passed away on 23rd March 2023, after a long struggle with mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress, due to an adverse effect from a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. The reissue of Cat In The Hat will be available on vinyl across the globe, ensuring that fans of his incomparable talent - and soul music enthusiasts worldwide - can radiate in the deep beauty of this seminal album. Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland.

A/B-Side effect green/yellow/purple vinyl. Limited to 200 copies. "I had just got off the road and went right into the studio out in the desert at Rancho de La Luna. I was living in the house just behind at the time making sessions super convenient. I was set to record with my band the Bros in a couple weeks but I decided to go into the Rancho early and get some sounds. Tony and I ended up recording a bunch of songs that I was writing on the fly. A week later the Bros showed up and we recorded another batch of songs with the band playing live in the front room. After we wrapped I combined both my solo session and the Bros session and released in as one record called Saved By Magic on my label Duna records. That was 2005. Now I'm rereleasing this record on HPS and I've decided to separate the two sessions into their original bodies of work. My solo session and the Bros session. I mostly did this because I feel the Bros deserve to have something of their own as they were a magical band. I also just thought it would be cool. I call both records Saved By Magic Again."

Vienna has a storied history as a ground zero for new music. Radian, who call Vienna home, embodies the city"s spirit of innovation. Martin Brandlmayr (drums, electronics), Martin Siewert (guitar, electronics) and John Norman (bass) are stalwarts of the European contemporary music community. Distorted Rooms presents a dazzling new elevation of Radian"s employment and manipulation of microtones with a new emphasis on abstracted guitar motifs, often employing a more loop-based or electronic approach to the guitar"s sonics. Radian"s visionary approach to composition speaks to a lifetime of working in forward-thinking music. The trio expertly hone in on sounds often removed from the sheen of the recording process and mine them for unique, rich textural sound palettes which they then meticulously arrange. Distorted Rooms creative process began with multi-stage recording of often the smallest sounds, from pick-scrapes to an amplifier"s latent hiss. These slivers of sound are then restructured and processed through a variety of techniques that transform them drastically. Radian have always been interested in sounds that might be considered byproducts and maximizing their creative and aural potential. More minor gestures like switching a pedal on and off or toggling the guitar"s pickup are mic"d and spun into textures that crackle and froth to fascinating effect. Radian"s angular, expansive music delights in tension and contradiction, sound and silence, improvisation and composition. The trio employs a singular and wholly unique sense of microtonality. While their creation process is complex, the resulting music is emotionally affecting, creating an aura of suspense and at times unease. Brandlmayr, Siewert, and Norman share an unconventional, wildly imaginative approach to sound.

With drummer Kenny Wollesen (Tom Waits, John Zorn, Norah Jones) and Dave Harrington (of electronic duo Darkside) guitar/bass/electronics, New York-based Swedish/Turkish saxophonist, composer, club-label owner Ilhan Ersahin captures the vibe of impromptu, cross- pollinating, and heavily grooving late- night jam sessions at Nublu, his "East Village Club where everything goes" (New York Times).

The telepathy and intuition that flows between these three musicians is one that has developed over many years of playing together in different combinations, and on a permanent regular basis at NYC's Nublu, searching and creating together in the moment. What they have come up with has evolved steadily over that time and its current form can be heard to brilliant effect on their debut album "Invite Your Eye"

The exploratory instrumental space- jazz these gentlemen purvey has many antecedents and influences but perhaps it's best not to cite names and instead et the music speak for itself. This sound and approach comes as naturally to them as breathing, hence the album title which is also the title of the first single.

Qnete’s back in the building for a third X-Kalay release and it’s an anticipated return for the prominent purveyor of prog. Four diverse but coherently related tracks with pit stops in deep house and electro territory.

We open proceedings with a dose of the lysergic sound that has become his trademark since debuting on the label in 2021. Evoking ritual and ceremony, ‘Going Short‘ commences with choral pads that beckon to the altar. A slo-mo exercise in dancefloor hypnosis with trace echoes of bleep.

Where ‘Wrapped’ takes a turn toward mellow, ‘Stepperals’, like its A1 counterpart, recalibrates trance tropes into something more chugging and restrained. Another example of Qnete smudging his third eye on a tunnelling, wormhole flex.

And finally, the Leipzig native signs off with a nod to the American Midwest. Opening cerebral gates in a way that recalls classic Detroit In Effect, closing track ‘Circuit Friends’ taps into the futurist utopia imagined by Detroit electro’s pioneers.

Now in its eleventh year and following hype for recent releases from Osaka's Kiji Suedo (Hosek EP & Riot album) and Edinburgh's George T (Roll On, King's Cross single), Edinburgh's Hobbes Music label burrows deeper into experimental ambient terrain with brand new signing Galun. With a discography over 15 years deep, Galun brings no shortage of his own props.

Galun is the solo project of Moscow musician, artist, and producer Sergei Galunenko (currently based in Tallinn), who has performed at numerous prestigious Russian events and collaborated on projects internationally in a career spanning more than 15 years, with a discography to match, turning his attention to myriad styles: IDM, funk, techno, juke, post rock, beatboxing, free improvisation, drone.

“In my project, Galun, I do not use musical instruments,” he explains. “All the sounds are produced with only the use of my voice through beatbox and special vocal skills. Some effects are used to produce electronic sounds.”

Hot on the heels of the new Golos album (out now via Berlin's One Instrument) plus a remix for US collaborator Alek Finn via Nevada's Mystery Circles label, Galunenko’s eighth studio album, Glagol (or Glagolь / Глаголь in Russian) is an ambient collection, recorded between 2013 and 2022. The title is an old Russian word which translates as ‘Speak’.

"This album consists of tracks written in different periods, so it turned out to be diverse," he says. "There are classic ambient tracks, as well as experimental ones in search of new possibilities for voice processing."

Why "glagol"? “Since the music on this album is 90 percent processed voice, it's a form of conversation for me," he reveals, “where I talk about my thoughts and mood, so speak music, while using my voice, is an amazing way of expressing.”

Five singles will be released on streaming platforms only, at intervals, over summer, with the full album released on digital 25.8.23 and a limited edition cassette plus lathe cuts out from 8.9.23.

"How gorgeous is that?! I have heard the rest of the LP and it is all equally gorgeous" DEB GRANT played ‘Mirror’ (New Music Fix show, BBC 6 Music, 17.8.23)

"'Glagol' translates as 'speak', an apt title when you consider 90 percent of the noises contained on it originated as recordings of his own voice, and that lends the ambient experiments here a very human, tactile feel. Closing tune 'Mirror' is a serene masterpiece, '1981' is an evocative phase-fest, the stuttery 'Stone' is endearing and enrapturing and Galunenko generally displays a knack for communicating clear emotions through abstract sounds. Recommended." ELECTRONIC SOUND
‘Really beautiful’ AVALON EMERSON (US)
‘Really loving the Galun tracks!’ INTERGALACTIC GARY (NL)

‘Super!’ JD TWITCH (Optimo, UK)
'Wow, this sounds amazing. Loving the atmosphere here, ambient with some groove somehow, really feeling this one.' DAN CURTIN (US/DE)

"Sounds great. Looking forward to getting into this properly" LORD OF THE ISLES

‘Wicked. It’s great stuff’ DRIBBLER (Pikes, Ibiza // Paradise Lost, Red Light Radio, Pure; SP)
‘Very nice, will play on Cashmere Radio here in Berlin. Keep up the good musical works x ALEX VOICES (DE)
‘Sounds really nice. The sort of thing I’d absolutely listen to on streaming etc’ AUSTIN ATO (UK)
‘Excellent stuff as always’ PAT BENSBERG (The Eccentric Selection, Phonic FM, UK)
‘Digging this one! Right up my street and just the ticket for my Radio Buena Vida show’ TOM CHURCHILL (UK)

Still on and about after years of the most intense crate digging, gem mining, desperate head-scratching and avid schooling, thirsty as ever for the next musical thrill to wrap our ears and brains around, here comes the fruit of our life-long love story with Japanese electronics, Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku Vol. 1 and Vol.2. From the soul-fulfilling first crush felt upon hearing the iconic soundtrack of ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’ by Ryuichi Sakamoto onto our release of Inner Science ‘Cosmo Tracks’, through the life-affirming sets of Laurent Garnier at Dijon’s seminal club, l’An-fer, which have at all times nurtured and expanded our taste for Easternmost delicacies, the influence of Japanese music on our vision and endeavours was paramount to the development of our catalogue, whether directly or indirectly.

This first volume gets the ball rolling with a fine assortment of mostly ambient, electronica and deep house-focussed joints. Draped in organic membranes and ASMR-like synth tapestries, K. Inoue’s nu-agey opener ‘Em Paz’ takes us on a ride across the most serene dreamscapes. Jazzing up these lush and oneiric coastal vibes, Gabby & Lopez ‘Drive form the Miracle’ merges a sense of Californian psychedelia with a straight out hard-bop swing. No stranger to our catalogue, Inner Science returns to serve up a crystalline slice of laid-back house on a mystique-imbued tip he holds the secret to. Flip it over and here comes Aquarium with the splendidly immersive ‘Rainy Night in Shibuya’, which very much feels like wandering amidst its neon-upholstered streets and swarming hallways in a bubble of your own.

Naohito Uchiyama treats us to a synth-drenched nocturnal ballad with the ‘80s-inflected vibes of ’Shugetsu’, whereas Keta Ra cuts a path of ethereal sublimation via the mischievously fun and bouncy balearic lounge of ‘equals’. Masterly crafted by Yuu Udagawa, ‘Infinite Possibility’ eases us in a realm where weightless pop and low-slung abstract hip-hop combine to further exhilarating effect. All in harp-driven brittleness and velveteen sub-bass stealth, Noah ‘Gemini - Mysterious Lot’ has us drifting to a lavishly orchestrated headspace, laying down an impressive work on textures and arrangements. All in on the sedated drip-tease flex, Sauce81 ’Sign of Secret Love’ is a blast of freaky hedonism, just as ready to cast its hypnotic spell down the sweatbox as it was upon its original release ten years ago.

Languid jacking house tune ’Tai+Dai’ from Keita Sano blows the winds of discoid luvin’ across the room with its impeccable balance of sharp, glimmering synthwork and driving bass onslaughts from the depths. An odd slice of reshuffled folk music, Waltz ‘Folkesta’ makes for some eerie invitation of sorts, enchanting and spookily haunting in equal measure. Back to a fevered, hip-swaying mindset, Kuniyuki hi-NRG jazz number ‘Free’ is an absolute wonder of piano and drums-driven boogie, cut from the same cloth as some of Blue Note’s finest Cuban jazz classics. Rounding off the package, Japanese legend Ken Ishii’s version of Larry Heard’s house Hall-of-Famer ‘Can You Feel It’ is pure bliss in a can, tailored to turn any crowd into a shapeless cloud of balmy euphoria and universal love, whatever the place or time.

Still on and about after years of the most intense crate digging, gem mining, desperate head-scratching and avid schooling, thirsty as ever for the next musical thrill to wrap our ears and brains around, here comes the fruit of our life-long love story with Japanese electronics, Denshi Ongaku No Bigaku Vol. 1 and Vol.2. From the soul-fulfilling first crush felt upon hearing the iconic soundtrack of ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’ by Ryuichi Sakamoto onto our release of Inner Science ‘Cosmo Tracks’, through the life-affirming sets of Laurent Garnier at Dijon’s seminal club, l’An-fer, which have at all times nurtured and expanded our taste for Easternmost delicacies, the influence of Japanese music on our vision and endeavours was paramount to the development of our catalogue, whether directly or indirectly.

This first volume gets the ball rolling with a fine assortment of mostly ambient, electronica and deep house-focussed joints. Draped in organic membranes and ASMR-like synth tapestries, K. Inoue’s nu-agey opener ‘Em Paz’ takes us on a ride across the most serene dreamscapes. Jazzing up these lush and oneiric coastal vibes, Gabby & Lopez ‘Drive form the Miracle’ merges a sense of Californian psychedelia with a straight out hard-bop swing. No stranger to our catalogue, Inner Science returns to serve up a crystalline slice of laid-back house on a mystique-imbued tip he holds the secret to. Flip it over and here comes Aquarium with the splendidly immersive ‘Rainy Night in Shibuya’, which very much feels like wandering amidst its neon-upholstered streets and swarming hallways in a bubble of your own.

Naohito Uchiyama treats us to a synth-drenched nocturnal ballad with the ‘80s-inflected vibes of ’Shugetsu’, whereas Keta Ra cuts a path of ethereal sublimation via the mischievously fun and bouncy balearic lounge of ‘equals’. Masterly crafted by Yuu Udagawa, ‘Infinite Possibility’ eases us in a realm where weightless pop and low-slung abstract hip-hop combine to further exhilarating effect. All in harp-driven brittleness and velveteen sub-bass stealth, Noah ‘Gemini - Mysterious Lot’ has us drifting to a lavishly orchestrated headspace, laying down an impressive work on textures and arrangements. All in on the sedated drip-tease flex, Sauce81 ’Sign of Secret Love’ is a blast of freaky hedonism, just as ready to cast its hypnotic spell down the sweatbox as it was upon its original release ten years ago.

Languid jacking house tune ’Tai+Dai’ from Keita Sano blows the winds of discoid luvin’ across the room with its impeccable balance of sharp, glimmering synthwork and driving bass onslaughts from the depths. An odd slice of reshuffled folk music, Waltz ‘Folkesta’ makes for some eerie invitation of sorts, enchanting and spookily haunting in equal measure. Back to a fevered, hip-swaying mindset, Kuniyuki hi-NRG jazz number ‘Free’ is an absolute wonder of piano and drums-driven boogie, cut from the same cloth as some of Blue Note’s finest Cuban jazz classics. Rounding off the package, Japanese legend Ken Ishii’s version of Larry Heard’s house Hall-of-Famer ‘Can You Feel It’ is pure bliss in a can, tailored to turn any crowd into a shapeless cloud of balmy euphoria and universal love, whatever the place or time.

«Opening Soon» is a culinary buddy movie with a background of gourmet grooves where body tricks at the turntables have been replaced by acrobatic pizza tricks. This album from Jean Tonique and Mi Man is a real tomato concentrate and ingredients cleverly dosed which abound in suave and feel good tracks. 11 tracks that we can imagine as the perfect soundtrack to accompany the dolce vita 2.0 of this great musical duo (between Mario Bros and Cheech & Chong).

A tasty and pop cuisine that gives pride of place to a nostalgia that gathers behind the tiled counter («No One Really Knows», «Memories») or on the dancefloor («Running After Time», «The Music»). We let ourselves slide and be lulled by the smoothness of the arrangements as silky as an «Extra Virgin Olive Oil».

Do The Right Thing, as they say, and it seems like those two found a way to celebrate a lifestyle full of friendly looks.

Tonique, who had already accustomed us to the spiciness of his sharp guitars continues to demonstrate a knowledge all in funk and finesse. He is accompanied by Man, who brings his sweetness and harmony. They combine their strength on this project initiated with the title «Day & Night» and its languorous disco tinged with rhodes and percussions with Salsoul accents.

If the tablecloths are white and red, we don't doubt that the inside of the delivery van is lined with silk and velvet of the most beautiful effect to "cruise" the night as in Brooklyn and East Harlem to the rhythm of «Never Get Old». Lightness and nonchalance for a songwriting full of coolness and analogical charisma boosted by a Moog which invokes the best of the 70/80's.

Iconic and timeless, with or without a disco ball, wouldn't the key word be Pizza-Yolo?