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Laila Sakini's new album 'Paloma' arrives via Modern Love and is her most striking and ambiguous to date - a pointed and timely meditation on hope and hierarchies that riffs on Zbigniew Preisner's magical "The Double Life of Veronique" score and enduring outsider music tome "The Langley Schools Music Project". Subtly transcendent, fathoms-deep music.

When Laila Sakini's debut album ‘Vivienne’ arrived in 2020, it felt like the record we were waiting for to map out our tangled reactions to an uninvited reality. Never self-consciously strange, it revealed itself slowly and cautiously, like a shadow in the corner of the eye, or an alchemical symbol in a bowl of alphabet spaghetti. This time around Sakini has worked her unique world-building to an even finer point, forming six tracks around a theme that's so close to our heart it's almost beating in time. Initially inspired by Krzysztof Kieślowski's 1991 arthouse classic "The Double Life of Veronique", the cult Polish director's enduring modern fairytale that serves as a cosmic rumination on identity and choice. Detailing two identical women - both singers, both in love - the film lets one live as the other dies, forcing us to consider the implications of art and endurance in the face of life's myriad challenges.

Sakini takes Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner's influential score for the film and uses it as a jumping-off point for ‘Paloma’, bending the more grandiose moments into baroque awkwardness on opening track 'Fluer D'Oranger' and evoking the mood of scene-setting cues 'Weronika' and 'Véronique' on the recorder-led 'The Light That Flickers In The Mirror'. And while Preisner's score zeroed in on the musical virtuosity of the film's lead characters, Sakini reinterprets that as a metaphor for self-discovery. Playing piano, violin, glockenspiel, timbale, recorder, and occasionally singing, Sakini captures a mood of innocence that immediately transports the listener back to simpler times. Her music isn't self-consciously simplistic, but forcing herself to interface with instruments impulsively rather than studiously, her sounds are all heart, no filigree.

In spirit, it reminds us of cult Canadian album "The Langley Schools Music Project", a collection of 1970s recordings of school kids singing rudimentary renditions of pop songs in a school gymnasium. That album's genius was in the bottling of hope and innocence: the feeling of joy from hearing and wholesomely interacting with music that's known and loved without a sense of hierarchy or desire for cultural clout. Sakini subtly subverts this by evoking the amateur spirit in the most bewitching way; instead of sourcing her ideas from Bowie, Fleetwood Mac and the Beach Boys, her stock is the established art canon, and by reforming those sounds she makes an insightful comment on intellectualism and access. European classical music is all too often trapped behind the frosted glass of respectability and assumed skill - craft replaces spirit, and technique replaces soul. By approaching these gestures from a different angle, Sakini softens the edges sonically and intellectually, finding music that bubbles with emotion, and most strikingly - hope.

Her choice of instruments and the way she interacts with them allows us to feel as if we're not only listening but contributing. It's a bottom-up way of absorbing art that's traditionally been top-down, and a reminder that we're all part of the experience, whether we're humming along to the remnants of a theme as it dribbles out of an ear in the shower, or dreaming of spotlights in a parallel life that may or may not be real. Sakini's music is nostalgic in a sense, but nowhere near the buttered popcorn and high-fructose candy migraine of the Netflix/Spotify algorithm generation of regurgitated churn. She makes sounds that remind us of what time and experience may have stolen from us, and how we might recover it.

Following the Kota Motomura and Exterior debuts earlier this year, it’s another first from Hobbes Music. Maastricht Research is a brand new project from Scottish artist Jonathan Hunter producing ambient/drone style material. Jonathan was part of the quartet behind the much-loved Slabs Of The Tabernacle parties at Glasgow's now-legendary La Cheetah club back in the late 00s/early 10s. He's also one half of The Three Lives, whose debut EP, Mud & Flame and follow-up Across & Beyond were released recently by Glasgow's Full Dose label.

Written and recorded over a number of years, whilst living in Amsterdam, Glasgow and Dublin, the Maastricht Research vibe is about as horizontal as it gets and is the perfect soundtrack to long, lazy days and balmy eves in the park, by the pool, in the bath etc! There are zero beats. It's proper ambient / drone music and could well have been beamed in from another dimension, planet or century altogether, including field recordings, atmospheric fx, lush and eerie pads, with the occasional snatch of a weird vocal and generally other-worldly sounds.

The record owes a debt to the likes of Manuel Gottsching, Cluster, Susumu Yokota, Detroit Escalator Company, Astral Industries and Alessandro Cortini, among others…

Mastered by Keith 'Radioactive Man' Tenniswood, Idle Animation will now be out at the end of October on extremely limited edition 12" vinyl, with CMYK printed labels, contained in a plain white sleeve with 3mm spine (reverse board for natural finish) including full colour artwork plus titles* printed using a Risograph on 135gsm ‘Context Natural’ A3 paper and finally all packaged in a polyurethane bag. *printed on the ‘Obi flap’ - excess paper folded around the spine.

"Loving it. Beautiful stuff here - all tracks doing it for me" ROLANDO (UR)

"This is great! Will use in on Ambient Flo" AUNTIE FLO

"Really diggin the MaastrichtResearch release" INTERGALACTIC GARY

"Love this, thanks for sending" DOMENIC (Sub Club)

"This sounds fantastic!" NICK CRADDOCK (Gateway To Zen)

"Really liking the sound of the record. Dublin air tugging on his emotive side by the sounds :)" JOHN HECKLE

"Mesmerizing music, something we all need to listen to because of so much chaos and stress in the world...with this, just sit back and zone out for a bit and regain balance...." DAN CURTIN

"This is nice music, thank you for sharing it with me. A3 is the one for me, really nice vibe" ARIO (Astral Industries)

"More emotive and soulful ambience and drone from this red hot label. Maastricht Research have been reviving the Poolside revellers at Pikes morning sessions this summer" DRIBBLER (Pikes, Café del Mar, Ibiza)

Coming off the back of covers on CRACK and PERFECT Magazine cktrl announces his highly anticipated new EP Zero. The producer and multi-instrumentalist shares his latest blend of contemporary-classical and electronic R&B that features a collaboration with GRAMMY Award-nominated singer, songwriter 'Mereba' with artwork captured by multi-award winning Campbell Addy. The follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed EP ‘robyn’ which charted a journey from heartbreak to optimism, ‘zero’ is a tender exploration into love. As a genre-spanning artist whose music waives between R&B, jazz and neo-classical, cktrl’s latest record builds on his emotive sound whilst leaning towards a more electronic-tinged style of production with stunning featured vocals. On the project, cktrl says: "ZERO allowed me to explore my journeys in knowing love. And as a result I now know that I need to allow myself to let my relationships be what they're meant (to manifest organically) free of expectations and without dreams of an idea of someone. Past hurt definitely informed my decisions but it was so crucial for me to grieve those feelings from ROBYN and learn how to be gentle with myself. Just to be able to feel something new, loving again is always different and exciting, once you can open up. ZERO is that journey of ending up back where you started but different, loved and willing to give." The EP opens with the touching ‘mazes’ - initially released back in May via a beautifully crafted video courtesy of Yasser Abubeker. On this cut cktrl’s skills as a saxophonist immediately shine through as he portrays the complexities of loving someone through all its twists and turns. On title track ‘zero’ cktrl links with Ethiopian-American musician Mereba for a forward-thinking yet delicate collaboration that effortlessly meanders between cktrl’s various musical influences, before ‘felt’ provides a luscious display of soulful soundscapes. Accompanied by the angelic vocals from rising artists Anaiis, Annahstasia & Anajah, it’s a blissful celebration of love. The project closes out with ‘safe’, a contemporary R&B banger backed by a bass-driven beat and rich vocals, framing ‘zero’ as a stimulating collection of tracks that expand cktrl’s impressive repertoire of talent.

It's time to present in Umor Rex a new collaboration between two great exponents of contemporary music who have been part of the electronic and experimental avant-garde for the last three decades. On the one hand, we have the Berlin-based musician, composer, and video artist Frank Bretschneider, recognized for precise sound placement, complex, interwoven rhythm structures, and his minimal, flowing approach. On the other hand, Giorgio Li Calzi, the Italian trumpeter, composer, producer, and performing director based in Turin, whose work is known for electronic/effects improvisation combined with the trumpet.

The creation process of Zero Mambo started when Giorgio and Frank met in Chamois, the Italian Alps, in 2018. A year later, Bretschneider sent to a few drafts in the form of audio files, loops, and sequences, and Li Calzi used this material quasi as a framework to create new compositions on it. At that time, in the pandemic, with the unprecedented intervention in lives and rituals, the situation led to ideal conditions to reflect and produce music, a snapshot of the weird times. Li Calzi and Bretschneider offer in Zero Mambo a fascinating album between electronic and jazz. It is clear that it is elegant, clean, and minimal, but we have to say, Zero Mambo is also exuberant and cheerful. A fantastic Berlin-Turin music connection.

Eric Dolphy's final studio album is hailed as one of the finest examples of mid-'60s post bop. Its reputation is purely one of backwards significance. Dolphy, having recorded the album in February 1964, was in Europe less than six weeks later and his all-too-brief life ended less than two months after that. Though likely he never held a copy in his hands or heard any critical opinion of it, it marked his last flurry of original compositions and is considered his apex. It is fascinating to consider whether he would had moved past or away from the album in 1965, had he lived.

Though Dolphy should not be considered an avant-garde musician by the term's most common definitions, most interpretations of Out To Lunch have been done by players working squarely in that area. So it is with this album, the most ambitious in its recreation of the five-tune disc (with one original added to the final "Straight Up and Down, extending the piece to almost thirty minutes). All five compositions from the original quintet LP are revisited in the same order, the record sleeve even duplicates the old album jacket, down to the typeface and black-and-blue color scheme, although a photo taken by Daidō Moriyama inside Tokyo's massive (and massively busy) Shinjuku railway station replaces the Dolphy's album's enigmatic "Will Be Back" sign, whose clock hands indicated no conventional time of expected return.

Otomo Yoshihide first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in a variety of contexts, ranging from free improvisation to noise, jazz, avant-garde and contemporary classical. The always surprising and sometimes confounding turntablist, sound artist, onkyo improviser and now avant jazzer heading up a 15-piece aggregation of Japanese and European experimentalists. Who better to grapple with Dolphy's legacy -- so idiosyncratic in its day and yet so influential to creative improvisers who followed -- than a musician with his own singular take on how sounds can be organized in the jazz realm over 40 years later and half a world away? In other words don't expect the conventional from Otomo any more than you would from Dolphy himself. That's not to say that recognizable themes ("Hat and Beard," "Out to Lunch," "Straight Up and Down") don't appear, or that individual players -- including Alfred Harth on bass clarinet bursting into the mix and leaping across the instrument's tonal range in a way that recalls the master himself -- don't carry forward echoes from the past in the spirit of a sincere and heartfelt homage.

However, a good deal of the time all bets are off; in addition to the usual brass, reeds, bass, and drums (and of course a bit of vibraphone, here played by Takara Kumiko in far less prominent role than that of Bobby Hutcherson) are such sonic paraphernalia as sine waves, contact mike, no-input mixing board, and, of course, "computer." (Otomo himself plays skronky electric guitar.) From composition to composition and even during episodes within compositions, the band takes radically different approaches. There are blasts of free jazz energy not too far removed from the Peter Brötzmann Tentet, an impression reinforced by the presence of spluttering wildman Mats Gustafsson on baritone sax. Not surprisingly and often in contrast with the Dolphy original, the music is dense and filled to overflowing with sounds -- sometimes due to fundamental reworkings in structure rather than just the larger size of the ensemble. The middle section of "Something Sweet, Something Tender" somewhat belies the original's title with elongated howls and cries from the horns over slo-mo bass, drums, and electronic noise poised somewhere between dirge and drone, and the sudden explosion of punk-ish rock energy in the following "Gazzelloni" is a startling contrast.

At times, the feeling is that of listening to the original Out To Lunch while a séance is going on to contact Dolphy's ghost, with supernatural sounds swirling around the stereo. The effect is disconcerting, as is the post-apocalyptic cloud hanging over the arrangements, but it makes the effort more than an unnecessary tribute album. Instead, Dolphy is transported into the 21st Century and allowed to romp through modern developments in music. An inspiring concept and an album that will stretch the boundaries of anyone who comes into contact with it.

First ever vinyl edition of this one off collaboration between Philippe Poirier (Kat Onoma) and Stefan Schneider (to rococo rot / TAL) which was initiated by La Batie - Festival de Geneve, in 2002. The original recordings of the album took place the same year at Bleibeil Studios, Berlin. Engineered by Bernd Jestram. Restauration and mastering by Detlef Funder at Paraschall, Düsseldorf in 2022.

"19 or 20 years, what difference does it make if the beautiful things in life are able to transport us back to Year Zero - again and again. The moment when this album was created. It is the timeless horizon that motivates the artist. “Dad, what’s the line doing there ?” - a good start for a story. Philippe Poirier and Stefan Schneider recount tales of slow travel, far beyond the known continents.
The adventures of a certain Corto Maltese, mysterious love stories in long forgotten harbours. A love that creates its own time, just like a chess game, an ocean liner or propeller airoplanes. The enthusiasm for cartography which Philippe Poirier and Stefan Schneider share, time and again, similar to dream. The dream of an idea, of exploration, of finding. The first lines of a drawing that become the great painting. The sequences and the words which design a world in its own right. A tremendous reservoir and my old friend knows that there is an ideal companion for every journey. This time Philippe Poirier is a narrator who finds a sound like sand flowing through fingers and who knows how deep each object accompanies each love. Les Choses de la Vie." Detlef Weinrich (tolouse low tax), Paris 2021

For an artist whose career is flush with enigma, myth, and disguise, Nashville Skyline still surprises more than almost any other Bob Dylan move more than four decades after its original release. Distinguished from every other Dylan album by virtue of the smooth vocal performances and simple ease, the 1969 record witnesses the icon's full-on foray into country and trailblazing of the country-rock movement that followed. Cozy, charming, and warm, the rustic set remains for many hardcore fans the Bard's most enjoyable effort. And most inimitable. The result of quitting smoking, Dylan's voice is in pristine shape, nearly unidentifiable from the nasal wheeze and folk accents displayed on prior records.

Mastered on our world-renowned mastering system and pressed at RTI, this restored 45RPM analog version zeroes in on the shocking purity and never-again-replicated croon of Dylan's vocals. Enhanced, too, are the images associated with the calmly strummed and picked acoustic guitars and decay connected to the fading notes. The dimensions and ambience of the Columbia studio translate via subtle echoes and natural blend of instruments melding with one another, akin to honey integrating with tea. Providing comparably soothing effects, relaxing vibes pour forth from this reissue, which affords this masterpiece the fidelity it's always deserved. Wider grooves mean more information reaches your ears.

"Is it rolling, Bob?," Dylan famously queries producer Bob Johnston at the beginning of "To Be Alone With You," indicating the laissez-faire feelings that surrounded the sessions and helped yield the laidback, convivial music defining the album – arguably the most unique in the artist's vast catalog. While he dipped his toes into country waters on the preceding John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline throws its collective arms around the style in bear-hug fashion and drops any obvious folk references. Everything from the songs' moods to the amicable arrangements reacts against the era's turmoil and popular sounds.

This beautiful and beautifully executed effort might stand as Dylan's most effective protest ever, even if many missed the point upon original release. Advocating peace, love, and old-world allure without calling attention to any characteristic in an overly forward manner, Dylan frames the songs as ballads, rags, lullabies, and gentle honky-tonk dances. He adheres to expeditious brevity, keeping the arrangements tight and free of any filler, thus allowing the melodies to immediately work their magic and place hummable memories inside listeners' heads.

Indeed, if any Dylan masterpiece is overlooked, it's Nashville Skyline. In addition to his superb singing and infallible songs, Dylan enjoys backing from a crackerjack assembly of Nashville session musicians including Charlie Daniels, Marshall Grant, W.S. Holland, Charlie McCoy, Ken Buttrey, and Norman Blake. Country pros, and their respective performances, don't come any better.

As much as on any of his records, Dylan resides in a good place, mentally and emotionally. The idyllic, warmhearted environs of Nashville Skyline stand apart now just as they did in the late 1960s. The sincerity conveyed on the inviting "Lay Lady Lay," relief sighed on the romantic "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You," and unlimited promise expressed on the jittery "To Be Alone With You" parallel the lessons-learned yearning and genuine desire found on "One More Night," bracing "I Threw It All Away," and eternal "Girl From the North Country," performed to perfection with Johnny Cash.

This May, Italian alchemists and power trio Ufomammut return with their ninth studio album, Fenice via Neurot Recordings. But not as we’ve heard them before, now “more intimate, more free.”
For over 20 years, the band has combined the heaviness and majesty of dynamic riff worship with a nuanced understanding of psychedelic tradition and history in music, creating a cosmic, futuristic, and technicolor sound destined for absolute immersion.
Fenice (meaning Phoenix in Italian) symbolically represents endless rebirth and the ability to start again after everything seems doomed. The album is the first recording with new drummer Levre, and truly marks a new chapter in Ufomammut history.
“I think we lost our spontaneity, album after album,” says Urlo. “We tried to make more complicated songs and albums, but I think at some point we just ended up repeating ourselves. With Fenice, we were ready to start from zero, we had no past anymore - so we just wanted to be reborn and rise from the ashes..”
While the band are well-known for their psychedelic travels into the far reaches of the cosmos, Fenice is a much more introspective listening experience. Fenice was conceived as a single concept track, divided in six facets of this inward-facing focus. Sonic experimentations abound in the exploration of this central theme; synths and experimental vocal effects are featured more prominently than ever before as the band push themselves ever further into the uncharted territory of their very identity.
The towering synths on the opening track ‘Duat’ evoke an almighty machine rising from the depths of primordial ooze. There’s a shift to a frenetic garage-psych pace before mellowing out into a more familiar doomy stomp. ‘Kepherer’ is a respite, albeit a slight one, returning to the pulsing rhythms of the album’s intro before plunging the listener into the menacing build and release of ‘Psychostasia’ next. Each oscillation of this extraordinary album feels inevitable - Ufomammut are after all, masters of their craft, and when it comes to creating enveloping sonic journeys into the unknown, it’s their uninhibited sense of exploration that breaches new sonic ground.

Fenice is the sound of a band whose very essence has been rejuvenated, and are welcoming the chance to create music in the way they know best; by unfolding carefully and attentively, by melding those extreme dynamics which render Fenice as a living and breathing creature - and by writing gargantuan riffs that herald their very rebirth.

Tape

Mexican sound artist Concepción Huerta is also a skilled photographer and video artist, and all of these aptitudes come together in the kinematic elements of her musical thesis. Her narrative seems to be an uninterrupted communication with movement as an axis: it pauses and falls with cadence at some moments; it agitates in disturbance at some others. But one movement perpetually crosses the other, even if sometimes imperceptibly.

Her sound work evokes displacements similar to what we could understand as a force of zero gravity. Taking this criterion as a backbone of her most recent work, the idea behind Harmonies from Betelgeuse focuses on the transmission of electricity between body and machine, between the organic and the inorganic. ––Strong loads of sound pulses move away from Earth's gravity through tape-manipulation. Betelgeuse is a star that belongs to the Orion constellation, but, since it has been expelled from its stellar association, it is considered a fugitive ––An exile. Harmonies from Betelgeuse is composed of eight pieces built as a whole, accompanying and destroying each other like theatrical parts of a cosmic tragedy. A beautiful analogy about impending extinction and exile.

Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri
Photos by Mateo Barbuzzi, design by Daniel Castrejón

It's been a long journey for Romain Bezzina aka Zero Netcost ever since 2002 when he discovered the band that would become his favorite of all time: The British duo Bent through the amazing track "Always" remixed by Ashley Beedle.

Twenty years later, the circle is complete with this compilation of remixes from all his idols including, of course, a beautiful atmospheric/downtempo remix from Bent, a cheeky mega drive mix from Simon Mills (one half of Bent), a chunky sunny remix from the legendary Ashley Beedle, and to complete this nice bunch of guys, a very nice sharp balearic remix from the amazing I:Cube. Enjoy!

Akae Beka's inimitable style, developed over decades performing with St. Croix based band Midnite. At the point of his untimely passing in 2019, he had released over 70LP's. His prolific output coupled with his uniquely rich, deep, multilayered songwriting and uncompromising devotion to RasTafari has earned him a place amongst the reggae legends.

The production trinity, Zion I Kings have been involved collectively and individually in co-creating some of the most highly regarded contributions to the vast Akae Beka catalogue.

Now available on 12" vinyl courtesy of Before Zero Records, Portals was originally released on CD and Digital in 2016. It garnered critical acclaim and held position in the billboard charts top 10 for 2 weeks. Produced collaboratively between Zion I Kings and Vaughn Benjamin (Akae Beka), who co-produced & arranged 5 of the 13 songs himself, alongside the ZIK players in St. Croix's Aqua Sounds Studio. The album's sound continues a trajectory of textural, guitar-driven roots reggae that Zion I Kings and Padraic Coursey first explored on the track "Weather the Storm" on 2014's Beauty for Ashes.

Now available on 12" vinyl courtesy of Before Zero Records.

The Magic Movement marks its twenty-fifth release this May with Coss & Luca Musto's 'Remind Me Tomorrow' EP, comprised of three originals from the Berlin-based pair and a remix from label boss Noema.

Coss has been a mainstay at Berlin's Kater Blau club for some time now and just recently delivered an EP on the club's in-house imprint Kiosk ID as well as an EP for his own metanoia.
Italian rooted but Germany-based Luca Musto returns to the Magic Movement here following his 2018 'Parabel' EP and has since gone on to release further material with Cologne's Feines Tier and Laut & Luise in recent years.

Here joining forces with the 'Remind Me Tomorrow' EP the two artists deliver more of their distinctive tripped-out, dropped tempo club sound.
'Broken Promises' leads the way via dreamy dubbed out textures, gnarly bass tones, twinkling chimes and airy arpeggios atop a bumpy drum groove.
Title cut 'Remind Me Tomorrow' follows and brings modulating resonant synth lines into the forefront alongside elongated subs, cinematic pads, and circling sequences while Luca also stirs in his own rap/spoken word hip house style vocals.

The third original 'Concept Zero' follows next and lays down psychedelic guitars, choppy stabs, murky bass swells and dynamic delays before Noema rounds out the release with his take on 'Remind Me Tomorrow', flipping the switch to raw, crunchy drums and spoken word vocal chants amongst the original's chuggy arps and dreamy melodic elements.

What would you do if a never before released jazz funk album from 70s Yugoslavia had dropped suddenly into your arms? An album which sounds like a crate diggers holy grail!? Album full of heavy drum breaks, repetitive bass grooves, superb sax solos and world class jazz arrangements finely intertwined with Yugoslavian folk music elements?! - “PRESS IT!” ~ That’s what we said always striving to present the future of unheard sound of Yugoslavia! With the help from Mr. Cosmic himself (Željko Kerleta), Jovan Maljoković and his wife Nevenka and, of course, Radio Belgrade who provided the recordings buried deep in their library, here we present Jovan’s first vinyl release since 1989 and his album nr. zero. If this LP was released in 1976, sounding this clear and impressive as it sounds today, it would be up on the pedestal with cult Yugo jazz-funk releases such as Sećanja by Miša Blam (also released on Everland) – and believe me – it would burn a whole through your wallet. Don’t allow me to get started on the Jovan’s ensemble personnel here, represening the crème de la crème of jazz and funk instrumentalists of Yugoslavian Jazz (Goce Dimitrovski, Miloš Krstić, Kire Mitrev, Miodrag Maljoković, Aleksandar Sanja Ilić, Miša Blam, Uroš Šećerov...). The raw execution, top recording and compositions resembling but not imitating the greatest contemporary western jazz-funk ides of the time, that sound like something that could have been easily released on Mainstream, Columbia, MPS or even be an authentic Kudu hit record if it had been released at the time by Creed Taylor. Just listen to the track A1 Ponor Naviše with a whirlwind of big band arrangement turnovers or track B1- Uspomena (hint: Sećanje...) where Jovan takes on the ‘Lame donkey’ in a strong downbeat rearrangement released just two years after Volker Kriegel published it on his album Lift! (MPS/BASF 1973.). You’ll be blown away by the instrumental prowess of the ensemble and Jovan’s ideas! ~ Dr. Smeđi Šećer

Having been previously released digitally and on CD back in 2009. We decided RSD 2022 was a great opportunity to release this seminal album on Red Transparent vinyl for the first time.

‘Don’t You Remember The Future’ is the debut artist album from Jamie Jones, peering into the coming apocalypse with a body-shaking, teeth-grinding, tripped out fusion of sound on Crosstown Rebels.

There are some talents that remain inconspicuous and then there are some you can’t ignore. Jamie Jones is the latter, quickly rising to superstar status in underground dance circles over recent years. Releases on Crosstown Rebels Hot Creations, Defected, Cocoon, Get Physical and BPitch have catapulted him to become a cult figure and he is widely admired for his true originality. From his debut single ‘Amazon’, to his albums' anthem ‘Summertime’, his unique sound has won him worldwide audiences and this album has been widely anticipated as one to change the face of current house music.

With ‘Don’t You Remember The Future’ Jamie Jones delivers an album of “intergalactic techno house, where old school prince meets cybertron.” A seamlessly blended up-tempo mix filled with eerie and energetic moments. Featuring ten brand new tracks from Jamie Jones, alongside this years dance floor anthem ‘Summertime’ and the current ‘Galactic Space Bar’ - which features the vocals of Egyptian Lover - the album’s twelve tracks are stitched together in an entangled web of beats and bleeps, available digitally as separate edits.

Cosmic cuts such as ‘Mars’ and ‘Deep In The Ghetto’ create a new dimension through soaring synths and idiosyncratic samples while the sonic dance floor weapons ‘Half Human’ and ‘This Is How’ release the lethal disco master within Jamie Jones. The jacking, peak time moments of ‘Summertime’ and ‘Sand Dunes’ produce a current take on the early acid house sound and each step of this peculiar story solidifies the strange notion of being within an undiscovered time and place. ‘Don’t You Remember The Future’ features the guest vocals of a variety of musical souls, checking off some of Jones’ remote influences and revealing the greater versatility of this skillful artist. Norwegian oddball duo Ost & Kjex feature on the anthem, ‘Summertime’.

The seductively charged ‘Absolute Zero’ unmasks the talent of London based DJ, producer and vocalist Alison Mars (AKA Alison Marks), resulting in a beautifully epic and mysterious after hours track, and the toxic ‘Galactic Space Bar’ features live vocals from one of the creators of the electro scene, The Egyptian Lover, an old hero to Jamie Jones through early rap cuts like ‘Egypt, Egypt’ and ‘I Need a Freak .’ ‘Don’t You Remember The Future’ vinyl release is the album that brought the future into the present."

Available on vinyl for the very first time. ZERO 7 4th album Yeah Ghost from 2007, spans everything from dance pop to acoustic folk and everything in between it's an idea-splattered work of genius that even includes a quartet of instrumental tracks derived from their experimental side projects and sampled, overdubbed and rebuilt from scratch.

2LP with a 4-page colour insert

As Guadeloupean vocalist and composer Marie-Line Dahomay writes in her liner notes to the compilation, gwoka is more than a style of music, it is “a way of living and thinking.” Rooted in the social, musical and ritual practices of enslaved African people and their descendants on Guadeloupe, gwoka has always sought to express the spirit of independence and resistance authentic to the island.Building on its traditional call-and-response form and the ideas of pivotal figures like Gérard Lockel and Christian Laviso, modern gwoka evolved throughout the second half of the twentieth century to include funk, jazz and electronic influences.

Defined by its propensity for innovation and experimentation, this compilation charts the most radical changes to modern gwoka, capturing a sensory riot of traditional répertoires, rhythms and makè techniques fused with genre-defying experimentation.Whether heard in the deeply cosmic, spiritual music of Dao, Freydy Doressamy and Gaoulé Mizik, or the jazz funk inflections of Gui Konket and Horizon, the music here is united by the feeling of santiman ka, crucial not only to gwoka music but the identity of Guadeloupe at large.

As co-curator Cédric Lassonde (Bueaty & The Beats) writes: “What unifies these selections is the depth of the compositions, the experimentation around the santiman ka, and the spirit of resistance and liberation against slavery, be it modern or ancestral. With a thirst for innovation typical of the island’s creole culture, the ka spirit is deeply rooted in collective history and in a quest for identity.”

Co-curator Brandon Hocura (Séance Centre) continues: “The creative energy of these musicians is powerful and demonstrates a universal pursuit of resistance, freedom and identity. Their voices are distinct, but the chorus rises high and carries their message far across the sea.”

Lèsprit Ka: New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981-2010 is the first compilation of its kind to bring the sound of modern gwoka to a wider audience, with many of the featured musicians still active today. Presented as a double LP, the release features a specially commissioned essay by Guadeloupean musician Marie-Line Dahomey, and extensive liner notes from Cédric Lassonde and Séance Centre’s Brandon Hocura.

True to the hybrid nature of the music, the compilation seeks not to provide a definitive sound, but express the variety of contemporary forms that have evolved from gwoka. Just as Guadeloupean trailblazers Kassav fused gwoka with funk and cadence to create zouk, so did the musicians on this collection push gwoka in new directions rarely heard beyond its shores.

In the words of Gérard Lockel, “gwoka is the soul of Guadeloupe”

As the tides change and the majesty of the moon once more begins to illuminate our forgotten domain, the hotly-tipped Incus has made the jump to hyperspace and determined that now is the time to unleash his neoteric creation into the macrocosm of music. At the behest of the sonic social masters, "INC.AUDIO" will be deemed a passion project, but in reality it will rip the very fabric of what it means to have a personal creative outlet, curtailing boundaries and expectations alike. Based on the creed of freedom of experimentation, the label will allow Incus and close friends within the industry to share their creative expressions within a familial and contemporary framework free from third-party limitation.

For now we start at the first chapter of the INC.AUDIO narrative, and the inaugural release which comes from the architect himself. His first solo EP contains 4 tracks conceived at home during lockdown, combining new sound design techniques developed through the mediums of trusty Korg Hardware and Ableton live. The end product is a consummate representation of the benefits of free time, reckless abandon and zero red tape.

Kicking off with "Design Your Mind", Incus draws on his longstanding influences collected via years of crate-digging and supporting underground idols in the UK and Ibiza. Shuffling percussion, jittering stabs and percolatin' chords wax and wane, submitting us to the will of its deep, minimal groove with a sultry sensibility. Next is "New Dog Old Tricks", the one with "that" bassline. No holding back from the get-go, the punching percussion is waylaid sporadically by erratic tones and steadied by placid, ambient chords. The charming breakdowns are peculiarized by a haunting saxophone sample, firmly establishing the clear-cut level of advancement and attention to detail achieved by the creator.

"Calm in the Chaos" steps back from straight-up grooving, inviting an equatorial temperature to come and play. Tantalising acid-inclined bass notes perforate the horizon, aiding the insistent percussion and creating a sunny, party-ready disposition infectious as they come. Feel like you're on a beach or in a rainforest? Snap. After the party we finish in the "Morning Haze". Alien-like frequencies and UFO bleepology steer the good ship Incus on this extra-terrestrial journey through the tech-house heavens to its final resting point. The seductive vocal cut adds a beautiful edge to the track, creating a minimal yet also expansive soundscape perfect for disembarkment. So, now you see what INC.AUDIO is all about, why wouldn't you stick around? Fight the bureaucracy and become who you need to be today, not tomorrow.

What is techno if not a powerful conduit for energy? The movement of a sequence, the surge of an effects rush, the respondent reaction in every individual dancer and the moving mass of the crowd as a whole. Whether the frequencies transmit directly into the brain through the intimacy of a headphone reverie, reverberate through the architecture of a space or fill the formless void of the open air, techno’s potency to initiate and stimulate energetic events is profound. This is something Pfirter understands intimately, having spent more than 15 years exploring ways of manipulating the energy on a dancefloor.

Of course, energy is not just about volume and aggression. Tonality, spatial processing and composition can have just as profound an effect as the thump of the kick drum. On his new album Altered States, Pfirter proves that point by zeroing in on the cerebral, psychedelic elements of his craft across 10 incisive tracks. The Argentine producer consciously approached his second album (following 2019’s The Empty Space) with a minimal mindset, using a very focused set of drum machines and synths to achieve a consistency across the record. Captured over a short burst of creativity, it’s the sound of an artist pushing a limited array of tools as far as possible. Despite this concise palette, it’s not an album that repeats itself, but rather an extended trip that flows from one detailed, textured immersion to the next.

The dense, febrile waves of hard-oscillating ripples in ‘A Future In Chaos’ and the sparkling, off-key chimes adorning ‘Yearn’ all speak to Pfirter’s gift for extravagant, surrealist expression within his tracks. ‘Altered States’, by way of contrast, succeeds in its absolute immediacy – a piledriving statement of bleep-driven intent. ‘Boiler’ and ‘Convergence’ land somewhere in between, coiling around kinked rhythmic incantations which still push forwards with precision while offering a different angle from which to approach the dancefloor. Cementing the idea of the whole album as a listening experience, Altered States is bookended by ‘Venus’ and ‘Dissolution’, two minimal exercises in drone-oriented mood setting.

Pfirter understands the role of his music, and his own instincts as a performing artist. It’s crafted to be captivating for DJs as much as the attentive listener. Spanning linear rhythms and broken beats, moments of calm and writhing intensity, Altered States offers a multitude of energetic possibilities in the mix or as a standalone piece of music. Ultimately, it’s a masterful return from a leading light of the contemporary techno scene.

This is MindTrip!

These recordings, made in 2001 in the weeks before September 11, constitute a unique historical document. They are spoken-word adaptations of scenes taken from Destroy All Monsters, the first book by acclaimed writer and 'pop culture alchemist' Ken Hollings. A multistranded postmodern epic, Destroy All Monsters offers a radical retelling of Desert Storm, America's military operation targeting Iraq, using imagery derived from MTV videos, CNN news reports, Japanese kaiju movies and anime, Hong Kong action flicks and tales of alien abduction. The book's entire narrative nervously unfolds in an unstable of world of terror monsters, wrecked cities and dangerously tall buildings: where an event like 9/11 is inevitable. The book was officially launched on September 13, but distribution in the United States was delayed when ports on the Eastern Seaboard were closed to shipping post 9/11, leaving copies of the book stranded in the Atlantic. 'Published the very week of the "attacks on America",' Toby Litt wrote at the time, 'Destroy All Monsters is genuinely, spookily prescient…as a progress report on Planet Earth, it seems to have timeslipped onto the front pages.' Lydia Lunch praised it as 'a hallucinogenic spiral into future nightmare', while The Scotsman called it 'mind bending reading.'

In the summer of 2001, Ken Hollings was approached by sound designer and electronic music composer Simon James, who wanted to create an audio adaptation of scenes from the novel to share with subscribers to a spoken word channel launched by totallyradio. The idea was to record Ken reading his own words and then embed them in a soundscape that evoked the fragmented complexity of the original text. Ken concentrated on a small handful of threads from the overall narrative, while Simon directed and engineered the final recording. This resulted in the two sequences of words, sounds and electronic tonalities contained on this audiocassette: an unsettling portrait of people about to be overtaken by events.

In October 2001, having just got married in London, Ken and Rachel Hollings went to New York for their honeymoon, just as they had originally planned. They spent an unforgettable week in a city struggling to recover from the seismic changes that had just taken place while a sudden wave of anthrax attacks on government and media offices filled the news cycles. Rachel took a photograph of Ken at Ground Zero, where crowds of onlookers continued to gather, and the air still smelled of burning.

Ken Hollings is a writer and broadcaster whose main concern is the relationship between culture and technology. He has written and presented numerous critically acclaimed features for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and Resonance 104.4 FM His other books include Welcome to Mars, The Bright Labyrinth, The Space Oracle and Inferno all available from Strange Attractor/MIT Press. His latest book, Purgatory, is due from Strange Attractor in Spring 2022.

Simon James is a producer, musician and sound designer based in Brighton, UK, whose work combines electronic sources with field recording techniques and sound treatments, using sound to transport the listener to fantastical audio worlds. Simon's latest release, Electro Smog, collects electromagnetic field recordings from Shenzhen's electronic markets, recorded while he was in China at the invitation of Musicity and The British Council.

The Destroy All Monsters audio adaptations marked the first occasion Ken and Simon worked together – subsequently they collaborated on the 12-part series Welcome to Mars for Resonance 104.4 FM and Connecting, an audio portrait of the original 'phone phreaks', for BBC Radio 3. In 2021 they teamed up again to make Fast Forward, a six-part documentary series for Kasperksy Lab.

Legendary Utrecht DJ and producer P.A. Presents (Peter Aarsman) returns with his first new release since 2000 with this vintage techno stunner, Swirling Gas. This EP also marks the first new music on U-TRAX in more than 21 years, kicking the label s comeback into a higher gear.
Peter ironically is the only artist on U-TRAX that actually is born and bred in the city of Utrecht. Even more irony lies in the fact that he hasn t lived in the city (or stadsie in Utregs, the local dialect) for the past 25 years.
Peter knew he wanted to be a DJ since he was ten years old, in a time when this was still a very unusual career to dream about. Long before house music had landed in Europe, Peter was fiddling around with disco and italo 12 -es and all those years of training is what made him the superior DJ that he still is today. In terms of skills, flair, energy and feel for the dance floor, there are probably not a lot of DJs that can rival with Peter.
While the era of house of techno of the late 80s and the 90s brought him countless DJ gigs, his reputation didn t cross the city borders much, until he bought his first gear and started producing techno music himself. Again, his DJ background proved helpful with producing his tracks, as most of his tracks are dancefloor orientated and usually have an impeccable timing.
Peter debuted with the mini-album Salicylic Acid on U-TRAX in 1993, followed by the Flight Stimulator EP a year later. Both are classics today, but neither brought him as much fame as his 12 Entangled did on Deviate, a record label that was started by a couple of our friends from Utrecht a year prior to U-TRAX. Entangled made it to many charts and compilation albums, including Carl Craig s mix CD as part of !K7 s DJ-Kicks series.
Besides two releases on U-TRAX and three 12 -es on Deviate, Peter recorded a full length album for the latter label. Unfortunately, before the album ever saw the light of day, Deviate closed their doors and the tracks remained on the shelves for the next 17 or so years. These tracks still sound surprisingly fresh and original today and we are super excited to be able to release some of them on this Swirling Gas EP!
The title track Swirling Gas obviously gets its name from the documentary sample that the track kicks off with. The almost heartbeat-like electro rhythms, layered choruses and dreamy synths will give you goose bumps all the way to the soles of your feet.
Raw is quite another thing, but way more complicated and sophisticated than the title suggests. An in-your-face electro bass drum pattern supports layer after layer of additional rhythms, some even touching on salsa, and then big fat layers of pulsating synths take you away into deep space. A unique track that will instantly reward the DJ that has the guts to play it for her/his audience.
Drum Magic on the flipside is exactly that: a magic techno trip built around complicated syncopated drum rhythms, which should serve the adventurous DJ well as a foundation for mixing all sorts of weird stuff on top of. We can t wait to see videos appear with creative mixing ideas.
Final track Freaky is opening with some heavy pounding, yet jumpy beats before it opens up into a bit of a space trip around the 3 minute mark. Though the track has a touch of the Basic Channel sound, its echoing synth tones are very distinct and will light up any venue, no matter how big.
All tracks have been revamped and edited into more current lengths by DJ Zero One, blessed by DJ White Delight and mastered by Thee J Johanz. Label art by Bonk Artwork.

Legendary Utrecht DJ and producer P.A. Presents (Peter Aarsman) returns with his first new release since 2000 with this vintage techno stunner, Swirling Gas. This EP also marks the first new music on U-TRAX in more than 21 years, kicking the label s comeback into a higher gear.
Peter ironically is the only artist on U-TRAX that actually is born and bred in the city of Utrecht. Even more irony lies in the fact that he hasn t lived in the city (or stadsie in Utregs, the local dialect) for the past 25 years.
Peter knew he wanted to be a DJ since he was ten years old, in a time when this was still a very unusual career to dream about. Long before house music had landed in Europe, Peter was fiddling around with disco and italo 12 -es and all those years of training is what made him the superior DJ that he still is today. In terms of skills, flair, energy and feel for the dance floor, there are probably not a lot of DJs that can rival with Peter.
While the era of house of techno of the late 80s and the 90s brought him countless DJ gigs, his reputation didn t cross the city borders much, until he bought his first gear and started producing techno music himself. Again, his DJ background proved helpful with producing his tracks, as most of his tracks are dancefloor orientated and usually have an impeccable timing.
Peter debuted with the mini-album Salicylic Acid on U-TRAX in 1993, followed by the Flight Stimulator EP a year later. Both are classics today, but neither brought him as much fame as his 12 Entangled did on Deviate, a record label that was started by a couple of our friends from Utrecht a year prior to U-TRAX. Entangled made it to many charts and compilation albums, including Carl Craig s mix CD as part of !K7 s DJ-Kicks series.
Besides two releases on U-TRAX and three 12 -es on Deviate, Peter recorded a full length album for the latter label. Unfortunately, before the album ever saw the light of day, Deviate closed their doors and the tracks remained on the shelves for the next 17 or so years. These tracks still sound surprisingly fresh and original today and we are super excited to be able to release some of them on this Swirling Gas EP!
The title track Swirling Gas obviously gets its name from the documentary sample that the track kicks off with. The almost heartbeat-like electro rhythms, layered choruses and dreamy synths will give you goose bumps all the way to the soles of your feet.
Raw is quite another thing, but way more complicated and sophisticated than the title suggests. An in-your-face electro bass drum pattern supports layer after layer of additional rhythms, some even touching on salsa, and then big fat layers of pulsating synths take you away into deep space. A unique track that will instantly reward the DJ that has the guts to play it for her/his audience.
Drum Magic on the flipside is exactly that: a magic techno trip built around complicated syncopated drum rhythms, which should serve the adventurous DJ well as a foundation for mixing all sorts of weird stuff on top of. We can t wait to see videos appear with creative mixing ideas.
Final track Freaky is opening with some heavy pounding, yet jumpy beats before it opens up into a bit of a space trip around the 3 minute mark. Though the track has a touch of the Basic Channel sound, its echoing synth tones are very distinct and will light up any venue, no matter how big.
All tracks have been revamped and edited into more current lengths by DJ Zero One, blessed by DJ White Delight and mastered by Thee J Johanz. Label art by Bonk Artwork.

LP + DVD

Factory Benelux presents a 180gm vinyl edition of The Invisible Girls, a collection of rare lost studio recordings by legendary new wave production duo Martin Hannett and Steve Hopkins (aka The Invisible Girls).

The album has been newly remastered by Peter Beckmann at TechnologyWorks and is pressed on 180gsm black vinyl. The outer sleeve is printed in black with a silver pantone. The inner bag includes detailed liner notes by Steve Hopkins, as well as archive TIG and Strawberry images.

Martin ‘Zero’ Hannett is the legendary Manchester producer famous for his work with Joy Division, Buzzcocks, New Order, Magazine and Happy Mondays. Steve Hopkins was his musical partner in The Invisible Girls, a floating studio collective which shaped epochal records by John Cooper Clarke, Pauline Murray, Nico and several others.

The first five tracks on the album are a selection of previously unreleased demos (‘moods’) recorded at the famous Strawberry Studios between 1980 and 1987. “These were the beginnings of Martin’s Invisible Girls world domination plan,” ace arranger Hopkins explains. “The idea was to assemble a roster of key instrumental players, produce tracks to be fronted by different singers/stars - and get some hits!”

Also included are 3 Hannett solo pieces recorded in 1978 and 1979, with the deluxe package rounded off by a DVD featuring a remarkable 13 minute trio improvisation by Hannett, Hopkins and Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column, recorded for television in January 1980.

Praise for FBN 65: ‘This store room grab conjures Manchester’s scarred wastelands, jazz-funky library music and ambient disquiet. Blade Runner via the Arndale Centre. A strange wayward collection, just like the thought processes of Hannett’s brain’ (Mojo)

‘Lovingly annotated, these effortlessly melodic backdrops offer a glimpse into what could have been as a post-punk one-stop-shop Chic’ (Q); ‘Captivating’ (Classic Pop); ‘The Nelson Riddle of narcotic rock’ (The Wire)

Standing in the Doorway: Chrissie Hynde sings Bob Dylan.
The songs were recorded in lockdown by Chrissie and her Pretenders bandmate James Walbourne, almost entirely by text message. James would record an initial idea on his phone and send it off to Chrissie to add her vocal, before the tracks were mixed by Tchad Blake (U2, Arctic Monkeys, Fiona Apple). The nine-track album will be released via BMG on 21st May.
Speaking about how the album came together and its inspiration, Chrissie says:
‘A few weeks into lockdown last year, James sent me the new Dylan track Murder Most Foul. Listening to that song completely changed everything for me. I was lifted out of this morose mood that I’d been in.
I remember where I was sitting the day that Kennedy was shot - every reference in the song. Whatever Bob does, he still manages somewhere in there to make you laugh because as much as anything, he’s a comedian. He’s always funny and always has something to say. That’s when I called James and said, ‘let’s do some Dylan covers’ and that’s what started this whole thing.’
Standing in the Doorway: Chrissie Hynde sings Bob Dylan includes Chrissie and James’ versions of In the Summertime, You’re a Big Girl Now, Standing in the Doorway, Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight and Tomorrow is a Long Time.

Joshua is the follow-up album to Olympic. While the second album, typically, often shows what critics call “maturity”, here Simon has released instead an album of adolescence. The musician opened up his own memory box to contemplate his childhood souvenirs, and dust them off of all nostalgia. At that time, he would VHS-record movies from TV and tape record soundtracks directly from the TV speaker, so he could listen to them in his bedroom. This is when he “discovered the power of music, the way it makes you enter another world, far from reality. I wanted to pay tribute to the era I shaped myself in – the ’80s and ’90s”. Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Soft Machine. Logically, these are the sonic signatures that seem to haunt the album. The timeless pioneers of synthetic music constitute the sound references, without any established chronological timeline, that blend with the atmosphere of typically “French Touch” movie soundtracks – long before the term was even coined. “I use a musical palette that acts as a flashback to my favourite teenage movies: the synth sounds of Close Encounters of the Third Kind; the synth pads in Jean-Jacques Cousteau’s fascinating documentaries about the sea world; the melodies in the manner of François De Roubaix; the themes that evoke the soundtracks of late-night TV sessions (those by Verneuil, those with Belmondo, Depardieu, etc.); and the sci-fi ambiences like in Blade Runner.” In short, an aesthetic was decided on by Simon very early on: French analog synths instead of North American symphonic orchestras.

The name Joshua has two meanings for French 79: one is linked to the idea of nostalgia, the other to adventure. On the one hand, the computer in the 1983 movie Wargames, and on the other, the boat of French sailor Bernard Moitessier.

The track titled Joshua synthesizes the spirit of the album – an odyssey, a neverending crossing of the world in search of oneself, a spontaneous escape into the future, under the benevolent eye of the past. This epic invites everyone of us to a specific place in our imagination, which is also the source of an indescribable pleasure for French 79: a gust of wind, a sailboat ride, a skateboarding trick, the smell of freshly fallen snow, or the dull roar of an impatient audience.

The same aesthetic preferences are found in the videos that illustrate Joshua’s first tracks: for Hold On, the skateboarder chose to recall the cult ’90s skate videos that he would watch on repeat as a teenager, while Hometown hints at Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Although he now calls Marseille home, Simon continuously draws with passion from the anachronic contemporaneity of his childhood in the Eastern French region.

“I need escape to be able to create. A two or three-day sailing trip gives me enough inspiration to lock myself in the studio for a week when I’m back on dry land.” His boat takes him far away from everything, far from the Old Port where she moors, the rest of the time Simon would escape by walking the streets of his city or climbing the Alpine mountains.

Not only does the new version French 79 reveal a few biographical pieces of Simon henner's history, but it also inaugurates the first vocal track for the musician. One feels a guilty pleasure when hearing him take the lead on the first track, The Remedy. The electronic fugue that opens the album sets the tone: Simon has found the cure for his inner turmoil and wants us to discover our own treatment too. Hold On is a sonic explosion that celebrates the feeling of freedom - what's more of a teenage dream than this feeling - and it eventually command one to feel the same way too. Echoing Olympic, the electronic argonaut invites his muse again, singer Sarah Rebecca. On By Your Side and Touch The Stars, the native of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, now based in Paris, hoisted the mainsail of dream pop. First, though a dialogue that surfaced their unfailing attachment to the bonds of friendship, then through the light hearted atmosphere that leaves us with no choice but to believe in our own dreams and do anything possible to fulfill them. The quest for peace in the midst of the daily din is heard in both Code Zero and the title track Joshua, two majestic journeys in search of hedonism, combined with introspection.

With his ongoing commitment to like-minded archivist label Finders Keepers Records, industrial music pioneer Steven Stapleton further entrusts us to lift the veil and expose “the right tracks” from his uber-legendary and oft misinterpreted psych/prog/punk peculiarity shopping list known as The Nurse With Wound List.
Following the critically lauded first instalment and it’s exclusively French tracklisting both parties now combine their vinyl-vulturous penchants to bring you the next ‘Strain Crack & Break’ edition which consists of twelve lesser-known German records that played a hugely important part in the initial foundations of the list which began to unfold when Stapleton was just thirteen years old.
From the perspective of a schoolboy Amon Düül (ONE) victim, at the start of a journey that commenced before phrases like kosmische and the xeno-ignant Krautrock tag had become mag hack currency, this compendium is devoid of the tropes that united what many would accurately argue to be the greatest progressive pop bands in Europe
(namely CAN, Neu! and Kraftwerk) and rather shatters the ingredients across a ground zero landscape for both inquisitive fans and socially rehabbing musos to begin to assemble a unique self-styled identity. If Krautrock was the music that journalist told us lurked behind schlager (German pop) in the 1970s, then this record includes the music that skulked behind Krautrock and perhaps refused to polish its backhanded name belt.
Including lesser-known artists like the late Wolfgang Dauner, whose career proceeded and outlived the kosmische movement while consistently informing and outsmarting them whenever they got stuck in their metronomic ruts, or how about Fritz Müller, the man who
was to Kraftwerk what Stuart Sutcliffe was to The Beatles but had more in common with Yoko and quite rightly couldn’t give a stuff about the Fab Four’s Hamburg roots.
Elsewhere we have a plethora of German bands made for German audiences as they try and shed secondhand flower power Americanisms and feel the benefits of much harder drugs and the realisations of difficult second album budgets while Kommune 1
newsflashes wipe smiles from everybody’s faces and replace them with opioid chic or acid-sarcastic grins. Bonzo Cockettes show us their Big Muffs and drummers ask for extra mics while Conny Plank goes for parliamentary office and gives babies good firm handshakes for the camera.
‘Strain Crack & Break: Volume Two’ is the sound of Steve Stapleton’s sponge-like mind and the dividends of anyone who was brave enough to even peek inside those brick-thick gatefold covers never mind drop the needle.
Over forty years since Nurse With Wound’s first album was released, Finders Keepers Records and Steve Stapleton take connoisseurs of our kind of music back to the disused elevator shaft towards ground zero. Arriving at the same checkout from different departments, Finders Keepers and Nurse With Wound continue to sing from the same hymnal with this ongoing collaborative attempt to officially, authentically and legally compile the best tracks from Steve’s list, where many overzealous erds have faltered (or simply, got the wrong end of the stick).
After ‘Strain Crack & Break: Volume One’ merely scratched the surface of this DIY dossier of elongated punk-prog peculiarities, this second lavish metallic gatefold double vinyl compendium drives a much deeper groove which, in accordance with Steve’s wishes, focusses exclusively on individual tracks of German origin - the country whose music forged the prototype of the NWW inventory in the form of his secondary school vinyl wantlist in the early 1970s, comprised of disassembled free jazz, unshowered stoner psych, hypnotic prog, deranged monk funk and fuzzed out Deutschmark bin bonzo beats.

Question everything. Consider your sources. Be wary of ulterior motives, insidious media narratives and even your own unconscious bias. Trust sparingly and try to make smart, informed choices. As the world slides further into ruin, it’s more important than ever to be vigilant and fight back. Luckily, Hacktivist are back to help cut through the noise and bullshit, tooled-up and ready to attack with renewed vigour and reinforced ranks. With Jot Maxi and J. Hurley now sharing the vocal and lyrical load, drummer Rich Hawking and bassist Josh Gurner bringing the beats and rhythms, and guitarist and production don James Hewitt fleshing out the group’s genre-fluid muscle, new album Hyperdialect arrives less like a mission statement and more as a flaming musical Molotov, declaring all-out war. “Hyperdialect isn’t an album for people to just casually listen to,” J insists, “we’ve taken things to the next level, which I didn’t even think was possible. We spit the truth. *We are the truth.*” In 2016, when Hacktivist initially set sights on their enemies with debut album Outside The Box, the world wasn’t fully equipped to heed their warnings and pay attention to its timely rallying cries. They return into a very different one, however – a world that’s sadly now all-too-finely-attuned to the horrors they first forecasted four years ago. “It’s becoming clear that we are on the brink of some type of revolution,” says Jot, with no small dose of conviction or optimism. “Hacktivist are here to bring truth and positivity – the silver lining of a society clouded in poisonous fear. Hacktivist also represents a voice that isn’t afraid of saying what needs to be said. We’re already living in the future. We have the choice to either be shaped by it or to stand up and shape it ourselves. Which path will you take?” It was with those battle lines clearly drawn and ambitions duly set that Hacktivist entered into the creation of Hyperdialect. Starting almost two years ago and developing on the acerbic sonic filth introduced by 2019 singles Reprogram and Dogs Of War, the five-piece felt fired up by their new working dynamic and the collective process involved, with each member actively encouraged to contribute ideas until the best outcome was reached. Unusually, for such a group of bloody-minded insurrectionists, this democratic approach worked wonders – a testament to how much they were all on the same page on these 12 tracks.

Toronto’s Ducks Ltd. will release their debut EP, Get Bleak on May 21, 2021 via Carpark Records. Composed of friends Evan Lewis, on lead guitar, and Tom Mcgreevy, on vocals and rhythm guitar, the band built a reputation in their hometown for their bright, sinewy, guitar sound while sharing bills with artists like Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Weyes Blood, The Goon Sax and Juan Wauters. They have earned accolades from Pitchfork who praised the band’s “lilting, throwback jangle pop,” and acclaim from outlets like NPR, Paste, NME, Apple Music 1, and more.

The opening track, “Get Bleak” sets a thematic tone for the EP, one of cultural self-awareness and satiric critiques of society’s pressures and the often ridiculous demands – and prices we pay – to exist. Chiming with breezy indie guitar sounds akin to those of Flying Nun and Sarah Records acts, the track, that features a contribution from Laura Hermiston of Twist, pokes fun at the idea that moving from city to city will fix the problems in your life. Following suit is “Gleaming Spires”, a track that zeroes in on the cities we live in and the push-pull relationships that we so often share with them. “Anhedonia”, via it’s tightly-wound rhythm and nostalgia-inked guitars, shifts focus to the times when one is unable to wring any joy out of the things that they find important in life.

Bringing the band’s characteristic restless bounce, thoughtful lyricism and penchant for orchestration, the tracks explore topics like troubled friendships (“It’s Easy”), self-destructive desires (“Oblivion”), and living with decline (“As Big As All Outside”) while maintaining the balance of earnest self-reflection and humor that endeared audiences to the original release.

Full of the unbridled radiance of jangle-pop, the debut EP from Ducks Ltd.’s Get Bleak celebrates their strengths while expanding their thematic and compositional horizons, and providing an intriguing glimpse of what’s to come.

Forest Green Vinyl

Toronto’s Ducks Ltd. will release their debut EP, Get Bleak on May 21, 2021 via Carpark Records. Composed of friends Evan Lewis, on lead guitar, and Tom Mcgreevy, on vocals and rhythm guitar, the band built a reputation in their hometown for their bright, sinewy, guitar sound while sharing bills with artists like Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Weyes Blood, The Goon Sax and Juan Wauters. They have earned accolades from Pitchfork who praised the band’s “lilting, throwback jangle pop,” and acclaim from outlets like NPR, Paste, NME, Apple Music 1, and more.

The opening track, “Get Bleak” sets a thematic tone for the EP, one of cultural self-awareness and satiric critiques of society’s pressures and the often ridiculous demands – and prices we pay – to exist. Chiming with breezy indie guitar sounds akin to those of Flying Nun and Sarah Records acts, the track, that features a contribution from Laura Hermiston of Twist, pokes fun at the idea that moving from city to city will fix the problems in your life. Following suit is “Gleaming Spires”, a track that zeroes in on the cities we live in and the push-pull relationships that we so often share with them. “Anhedonia”, via it’s tightly-wound rhythm and nostalgia-inked guitars, shifts focus to the times when one is unable to wring any joy out of the things that they find important in life.

Bringing the band’s characteristic restless bounce, thoughtful lyricism and penchant for orchestration, the tracks explore topics like troubled friendships (“It’s Easy”), self-destructive desires (“Oblivion”), and living with decline (“As Big As All Outside”) while maintaining the balance of earnest self-reflection and humor that endeared audiences to the original release.

Full of the unbridled radiance of jangle-pop, the debut EP from Ducks Ltd.’s Get Bleak celebrates their strengths while expanding their thematic and compositional horizons, and providing an intriguing glimpse of what’s to come.

No one album could ever capture the claustrophobia-to-catharsis of an Eyehategod show, but this compilation of live tracks and demos comes as close as it gets. Giving you an idea of Eyehategod’s uncompromising, single minded purity of expression and exertion of raw nerve, “10 Year Of Abuse” is a monumental document all the way from the demo era to their later, legendary relentless live tour set. Many other bands have tried unsuccessfully to emulate Eyehategod and have never quite captured their dynamic. Formed in 1988 in New Orleans they have become one of the most well known bands to emerge from the NOLA metal scene. Eyehategod note bands like Melvins, The Obsessed, Discharge, Black Flag, Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus as major influences, but are often mentioned in the same breath as any of these legendary bands. Drawing comparisons to Grindcore, Crust Punk and Sludge Metal, their heavy bluesy, detuned rock and roll has been a lynchpin for the misanthropic and disenfranchised. Eyehategod has released five studio albums to date with a sixth in the works and have toured all over the world in a career spanning over thirty years. Though the band has never released a live album, we are left with “10 Years” as the only official witnessing document to decades of decimating live sonic abuse. Released on May 29, 2001, “10 Years” spans seven live tracks from their European tour in 2000, a live radio show from August 1994 and four songs from an early 1990 demo. The result is a feedback-laced window into that wonderful, brutal Eyehategod “sound”, that addictive, lower-than-low note that nestles somewhere in the pit of your burning, alcohol-soaked, nauseated stomach. The booklet alone is a delight for anyone who worships at the altar of Eyehategod’s oppressively heavy, crushing riffs.

Neutral’s seminal album, Grå Våg Gamlestaden, is widely
considered ground zero for the explosion of creativity that has
transpired in the Swedish Underground ever since. It is the noisy
experimental rock album that opened the door and welcomed in
so many artists working behind the scenes. Gothenburgers Dan
Johansson (Sewer Election) and Sofie Herner had previously
made music together in the band Källarbarnen when they started
discussing a new methodology and a fresh sound for recordings
in 2013 under a new name as a duo.
After witnessing Herner and Johansson’s live performance in
an artist’s studio in the spring 2014, Gustaf Dicksson, who was
running the Omlott record label at the time as well as performing
under his own moniker, Blod, offered to release an album by
Neutral on the spot.
Herner recorded most of the instruments and voice, Johansson
worked on manipulating the recordings, experimenting with
reel-to-reel techniques. The title of the album translates as “Grey
Wave Gamlestaden” and was chosen as an inside joke about the
neighbourhood Gamlestaden where Johansson and Herner lived.
A major theme on the recording is a certain kind of bleakness
but with a wry smile closely identified with the spirit of the
neighborhood.
In the fall of 2014 Grå Våg Gamlestaden was released,
limited to 200 copies, and sold out quickly without many copies
making it outside of Sweden. Around the same time, Johansson
and Herner joined forces with other underground artists in their
widening circle to form a sort of Gothenburg supergroup making
music together as Enhet för Fri Musik.
Grapefruit’s reissue of Grå Våg Gamlestaden is the first time
Neutral’s masterpiece has seen the light of day since it sold out
quickly in 2014. This vinyl-only gatefold reissue is limited to
300 copies.

An album of our times, Newcastle band Maximo Park return with
their seventh full length, ‘Nature Always Wins’.
The album arrives as something of an examination, zeroing in on the
notion of the self, identity as a band and that of humanity as a
whole. The album’s title nods to the famous Nature vs Nurture
debate. Discussing whether change is capable under the influence of
time, perspective, environment or if we are destined to be bound by
our own genetics, it asks, “who are we, and who do we want to be,
and do we have any control over it?”
“I’m so happy we were able to make this album during lockdown, as
it’s been a challenging time for everyone. After almost 4 years since
‘Risk To Exist’, we wanted to explore new musical territory (for us)
without sacrificing our trademark melodic twists and heartfelt lyrics.
As always, the passing of time looms large, although the songs
contain more affection for the past than before, and there are
occasional hints of the fractious, divided time that we live in.” -
frontman Paul Smith
Produced by Atlanta-based Grammy-winning producer Ben Allen
(Animal Collective, Deerhunter), who afforded the band freedom to
play and create. What wasn’t anticipated was how that freedom
would be soon be stripped, as lockdown restrictions left the band
recording remotely across Newcastle, Liverpool and Atlanta with
audio files bounced back and forth, 4000 miles across the world.

An album of our times, Newcastle band Maximo Park return with
their seventh full length, ‘Nature Always Wins’.
The album arrives as something of an examination, zeroing in on the
notion of the self, identity as a band and that of humanity as a
whole. The album’s title nods to the famous Nature vs Nurture
debate. Discussing whether change is capable under the influence of
time, perspective, environment or if we are destined to be bound by
our own genetics, it asks, “who are we, and who do we want to be,
and do we have any control over it?”
“I’m so happy we were able to make this album during lockdown, as
it’s been a challenging time for everyone. After almost 4 years since
‘Risk To Exist’, we wanted to explore new musical territory (for us)
without sacrificing our trademark melodic twists and heartfelt lyrics.
As always, the passing of time looms large, although the songs
contain more affection for the past than before, and there are
occasional hints of the fractious, divided time that we live in.” -
frontman Paul Smith
Produced by Atlanta-based Grammy-winning producer Ben Allen
(Animal Collective, Deerhunter), who afforded the band freedom to
play and create. What wasn’t anticipated was how that freedom
would be soon be stripped, as lockdown restrictions left the band
recording remotely across Newcastle, Liverpool and Atlanta with
audio files bounced back and forth, 4000 miles across the world.

DOWNFALL is the first album under the name SAITO created by Lena Saito, aka Galcid, and produced by accomplished analog synthesizer guru, Hisashi Saito, aka Lena’s husband. Having descended from a long line of Japanese sword-smiths, the industrial sound of smashing steel is embedded in Lena’s DNA and reflected in her music, however there are also refined, hypnotic tones showing a side with more finesse. The music itself is not scored and is predominantly improvised. Words and vocals are ad libbed as well. Sometimes the machines respond as if through telekinesis, altogether emitting a sound which can be categorized somewhere in the range between modern experimental dance music and something possibly making more sense to enlightened minds a thousand years in the future.




There is a new addition to the forge of talents of Mille Plateaux, a Japanese musician by the name of Saito whose album has been released on the label under the title of Downfall. After a whole series of releases under the signature tag clicks & cuts, there comes out a work, much more suited for a dance hall, that is different in terms of the genre from everything that has been published so far.
Like a bucket of ice-cold water poured over the head, erratic agressive hardcore rhythms pour all over the audience in the first track, interrupted only by grinding noises and minimalistic technogenic clicks.
Downfall won't fail to infect even the most experienced music connaisseur with its out-of-control energy, while offering a wide range of techniques: at times, robotic voices, one second long fragments of looped melodies and many other audio gimmicks.
Lena Saito (that is the author's name) is not afraid of conducting experiments in her chemical laboratory, freely mixing sound reagents without taking any precautions. It feels like, this new chemical substance, that she has been working on so thoroughly, contains quite a long list of ingredients, although its main component is the various rhythm breaks.
The synthesizer part of Red Hammer sounds in the best traditions of the acid style, and the rhythm section is akin to African tribal dances of the future. Downfall is absolutely unrelenting in its concept.
The melody of the composition Nucleosome is a little bit like the melancholic IDM of the 00s, finding itself secondary to the dominating, yet again convoluted rhythmical web meticulously woven by Saito.
This album can be definitely named as a big contender aspiring to start a new golden era of Mille Plateaux, and Saito as the hidden treasure of the label that can challenge even the veterans for the right to be the headliner.

Secretly in the making for 25 years, 1995 marks point zero for this native electronic side project from Rico Puestel (Cocoon Recordings, TAU, Exhibition).

Back in the days, the basic idea of pure electronic song writing, the project name "Tetzlaff" as well as tidbits of first melodic themes, motivs and lyrical notes came into being - followed by a roller coaster ride of emotions, amendments, rejections and the dreadful search for the equipment (in the days before eBay) to make it sound the way it should.

"Reisen", illuminating two perspectives and homages to travelling, is the vanguard single, performing within the prospective shadows of what's to come...

Laurine Frost's debut album 'LENA' reinterpretates Dostoyevsky's surreal novel and presents an utopistic self-revelation that leads to an exquisite musical journey. A weird collage of jazz and dub-fusions as an extension of wonky polyrhythmic patterns and the organic abstraction of bass-heavy drums, breaks and percussions. Call it as electronica, IDM or techno – anyhow, you are wrong. This album doesn't seem to fit into any genre. Laurine Frost tends to master his story-telling skills by inviting the listener to 13 imaginary scenes that can be approached, heard and understood from different points of view. A living and stirring masterpiece that is independent from time and actual trends.

Available for the first time outside Japan, Phosphorescent Dreams is another epic album of symphonic schizophrenic avant-rock from Univers Zéro. Originally released in 2014 - only on CD - through the Japanese label Arcàngelo.

Phosphorescent Dreams presents at the same time, in the same track, even on a single moment, the complex musical schemes and ways of Univers Zéro, ranging from maximalism to minimalism, classical avant-garde with a 2020 vibe in a constant flux.

In a blend of tension constantly emerging from a subtle dialogue between avant-rock and contemporary influences, harmonies and dissonance, Phosphorescent Dreams is a balanced formula of old-school know-how reshaped almost 40 years after the released of the seminal LP Univers Zéro.

Univers Zero represents one of the longest-living bands in Belgium. It was established in 1974. Drummer Daniel Denis had the brilliant idea to gather together a team of professionals sharing the same taste for music. The band has adopted an instrumental progressive style. Over the last couple of decades, the band has also implemented a series of influences from chamber music - most commonly, chamber music from the 20th century. Even if the line-up changes a lot over the years, the overall sound of UZ remained fairly consistent.

A-Future presents a fierce electro-charged production debut for EON Records.
After a solid summer of gigs at IICON Glastonbury, Inner City Electronic Leeds, Gottwood and Boiler Room, A-Future now shares a progression for his DJ project which has been impressing crowds across the UK with its range of left field beats and punchy up-tempo tracks.
Deploying tricks learned from his weighty record collection, the Birmingham based producer works in hardcore breakbeat flares, deep electro basslines and headsy IDM synths into original track No Era for what is a high-grade first showing.
Censor records head and long time friend Alex Jann and Berlin’s mysterious electronica producer Secret Universe provide a remix each. Jann comes in deep with a gritty bass line that drives his version with a solid flow primed for 140bpm dance floors. Secret Universe then sets etherial moments beside to belting syncopated jungle beat programming for a headsy and heavy take on No Era.
This is the second release on A-Future’s EON Records label which launched in March 2019 with Sepehr’s Cybernetic EP featuring Stratowerx and A-Future remixes.

“ To know Lerosa is to have a huge amount of respect for him. The Dublin-based, Italian producer isn't concerned with the limelight. Rather, his studio philosophy resembles the Japanese concept of “kaizen” a workmanlike, incremental improvement.



Leopoldo Rosa's debut for Acid Test is the producer's first album in eight years, but since then he's put out in the neighborhood of 15 EPs for the likes of Idle Hands, Ferox and Saft, homing in on his own lush sound, which weaves effortlessly between deep house, acid and electro.



He applies all these patient lessons on “Bucket Of Eggs”, the ten masterful tracks fit perfectly within the label's concept. Yet Rosa, like the label's stable of 303 auteurs (Tin Man, Recondite, John Frusciante, Pepe Bradock) opens up bold new vistas for the subgenre. On "Conjurors," he spends half the track building up atmosphere so thick and dubby you could cut it with a knife, before introducing an acid line and jack track heralding back to the acid's maddening, revolutionary roots.



About halfway through the set, Lerosa is done setting the stage, and thusluy delivers a string of freakishly good late night tracks. For Lerosa, the hips and the head work in concert—"One Is Too Short"'s no-nonsense rhythm section perfectly balanced by the track's dreamy synth and zero-grav piano breaks. On "Self Inflicted," he joins a rarified class, synthesizing electro funkiness, widescreen ambience and acid counterpoint.



On initial contact, Lerosa's “Bucket Of Eggs” feels astonishing, an expertly-paced, near-perfect LP. But for those who have been following the low-key producer, it feels like a natural culmination. “

Born out of a chance encounter in 2012 that led to a lasting friendship, Rhythm Section Int'l & producer, DJ, label boss, radio host, and record store owner Ruf Dug join forces to present 'The Committee'. Sitting somewhere between fictional band and studio collaboration, the record is the first fully in-house production for Rhythm Section, recorded start to finish at their own South East London studio and featuring vocals from label founder Bradley Zero and label mate FYI Chris's Chris Watson.

Right from the studio's initial creation, Ruf Dug felt inspired by the space's unique musical identity, jumping at the opportunity to create a collaborative record there over a two week studio residency. And between his DJ residencies at Pikes, Gottwood and NTS radio the Manchester-via-Ibiza computer game freak and renowned vinyl digger found the time to meld his wide range of influences. Having been a key driving force behind Be With's Holy Grail reissue of Bô'vel's - Check 4 U , Ruffy has more than earned his stripes as a boss level Street Soul collector, pre-empting the resurgent interest in the genre, which began in the mid 80s and is still a popular sound in Manchester today. This new release draws parallels between the DIY attitude of Street Soul labels like TSR, Intrigue, Jam Today & Elite and the modus operandi of the RS studio.

A wholly synergetic work, the project's title 'The Committee' reflects the collaborative nature of this release, as Ruf Dug states: 'Authorship is a strange concept at the best of times but this genuinely is a group effort and I very much enjoyed feeling like just one piece of a larger entity - the complete opposite to my usual production experience of being all alone in my room for days at a time.' The EP also features additional production from Rhythm Section's own Mali Baden-Powell, who DJ's and produces as Z Lovecraft and comes from a background in Street Soul music, his father was also in legendary UK acid jazz collective D'Influence. In addition, the record features a dynamic range of vocalists: sultry deliveries from Natalie Wildgoose and Sienna Mustafa, a rap from her sister Nadina, and the vocal debuts of FYI Chris's Chris Watson and Bradley Zero. 'I had been joking with Bradley that he needed to be on the record somehow and he did appear, playing an egg shaker at one point, but his singing wasn't in the least bit planned... I got back from lunch, and the next thing you know he just starts singing...So I dragged him reluctantly down the corridor to the studio and that's it- now he's a pop star!'

Also playfully melding digidub, soul, chicago house and acid jazz, the release not only marks a new chapter in the development of the Rhythm Section sound, but also catalogues a crucial turning Point in Ruf Dug's musical development. Still oozing with the cheeky DIY approach that won his own label, RUF KUTZ an army of fans, this latest Collab steps things up and opens a whole new realm of possibilities for one of Manchester's favourite sons.

The long awaited new LP from Hunter Complex features 10 tracks of supreme synth goodness that are at the same time retro and yet totally futuristic. It's musically rich in ideas; melodies intertwine with soaring synths and '80s style drum machines, but it never once feels like pastiche or a carbon copy of a bygone era. The hooks on this record are incredible; it's mix of warm analog and bright digital synths feature a layer of complexity that most records in this genre can't hope to achieve.