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What began as a challenge to fight creative stagnation, soon grew into a fully-fledged audio-visual project for Belgian DJ, producer and live artist, Biesmans. Setting himself the goal of making three tracks per week for a month, he re-scored ‘80s pop culture moments – including films, TV shows and games, resulting in a brilliant 12-track work encompassing new wave, indie, dark wave, electro and disco. Moving his modular-heavy studio to Berlin in 2014, the ensuring years saw Joris Biesmans drop heat on Correspondent, Disco Halal, Aeon, 17 Steps and Future Disco. He’s been a core member of Watergate family since his arrival in the capital, working as the club’s sound technician. He made his debut on Watergate Records in 2020 with the well-received ‘Electric Love’ EP. The ‘Planes, Trains & Automobiles’ album took shape in April last year as the lockdown was starting to take grip and Biesmans needed a positive distraction. Ensconced in the music of his childhood and ‘80s pop cultural fodder, he locked himself in his studio and set about creating, later digging through archival footage to match the music. Biesmans, who previously undertook work scoring films, was so absorbed by the process, he’d sometimes do it in reverse; allowing the vintage media be the guide. Throughout the period, the clips were shared each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on his Instagram, building up a firm following from fans, friends and colleagues. And thus, the project found its wings, developing into an album.

Wrwtfww Records is very happy to announce the official vinyl reissue of the highly sought-after Haruomi Hosono-produced Interior self-titled debut, originally released in 1982 on legendary label Yen Records. The LP comes in a heavy 350gsm sleeve. Interior is Daisuke Hinata, Eiki Nonaka, Mitsuru Sawamura, and Tsukasa Betto. Their classic 1982 debut, produced by Yellow Magic Orchestra's Haruomi Hosono, is one of a kind - a very rare breed of feel-good ambient music blending instrumental synth-pop, soft electronic minimalism, and cozy sound design in the most heartwarming ways. It evokes the intimate pleasures of daydreaming in a hotel lobby, holding hands in a museum, or napping by the pool. It depicts the urban landscape as a caring environment, where simplicity and repetition is mind soothing and smile inducing. Interior takes you into an alternate reality, where nostalgic modernism makes the present time feel like the fondest memories. The unique sound of Interior caught the attention of William Ackerman and Anne Robinson who re-released the album in 1985 on their famed label Windham Hill Records (with a slightly different tracklisting) and then proceeded to put out their follow-up, Design, in 1987. After that, members of the group continued their careers separately, Daisuke Hinata notably recording an overlooked but absolutely amazing solo album, Tarzanland, in 1988.

Following their first album in 2016, The Pilotwings are back – having gone from two to three members - with the LP « Les Charismatiques » on the infamous Brothers From Different Mothers label. As witty and sparkling as ever, the trio’s given birth to a 2020 millesime that dares to oscillate from synth-pop to digit dub, psych-rock and new-age ; combining acoustic sounds with traditional music, all tainted with an 80s summer-hit influence… As whacky as it may sound at first listen through its melting-pot of personal anecdotes and dated corporate speeches, the album does succeed in avoiding the totally-offbeat ; by adjusting sensibilities and altering the way one listens to music these days, these tracks transcend and fly. Guided by anti-conformist synth-sounds, « Les Charismatiques » embarks on the path towards the gilded light of remission and spiritual rebirth ! New collaborations have also emerged on this album from long-lasting friendships but also impromptu meetings, with Hajj firstly, the Dawn Records’ boss who needs no introduction, but also with their Lyon friend Amélie Arcuri alias Bigoudi, half of Schmilblick ; or more surprising, with the cult underground figure of Robert Lapassenkoff, crooner and singer from the 80s band of the same name who’s been recently re-issued on vinyle before joining the Pilotwings on tour. 5 years later the Pilotwings are back on Bfdm with an album that seems ripe for tasting, like a fine wine with a mouthful of flavors.

Without change, there is no progression, and being stagnant has never been an option for Gizelle Smith. On her third album, Revealing, the singer flexes her newfound artistic freedom, moving past the creative limits that have kept her pigeonholed as a soul and funk artist for too long.

Born and raised in Manchester, with a multicultural upbringing steeped in soulful music, Gizelle was destined to follow in the footsteps of her father, Joe Smith, the former guitarist, musical director and songwriter for Motown stalwarts The Four Tops. She took up singing at a young age, and in 2009, cut her first album of gritty deep funk tunes with the Mighty Mocambos in Hamburg, Germany, followed by extensive touring throughout Europe. Her follow-up, Ruthless Day, was released nearly a decade later, also rooted in the sounds of soul ingrained in her musical DNA.

For her latest effort, Gizelle could have played it safe and recorded just another soul album. But in a tragic twist, the course of her future was altered forever by her father's death in 2019, which prompted a total creative reset. "I was pretty much emotionless towards music in general and I had lost all sense of direction with my own artistry," Gizelle says of her darkest hour. "My whole identity as a song-writer and musician vanished into the ether with my dad, like a cord had been severed." Unable to focus on the material she had already been working on, she decided to start from scratch, "because regardless of what was happening in my life, an album needed to be written." Hunkering down in New York City with her producer Steffen Wagner and her fiance, bassist Joseph Sam, she embarked on a 10-day writing spree.

The nine tunes emerging from this session represent a unique combination of R&B and funk, but the singer doesn't shy away from experimenting with pop and rock stylings. With her impressive yet restrainedly candid voice, laced with a combination of coolness and sensitivity that's near impossible to mimic, Gizelle communicates authenticity, a completely fraught concept and one absolutely central to her art. In many ways, Revealing is a testament to Gizelle's musical growth, personal freedom and maturity.

It also draws attention to her writing talents. When songwriters talk about life-altering experiences, they often do so in exaggerated tones. But Gizelle's songs don't come off overstated, they are grounded and relatable. Take the opener "Agony Road," an almost therapeutic exercise in dealing with the seven stages of grief. Or take "Better Remember (They're Controlling You)," which addresses social conditioning. "Three Tiny Seeds" is a testament to self love and spiritual growth, and "The Girl Who Cried Slow" serves as an inspirational hymn for personal fulfillment. "Over the years, I feel like my lyrics especially have become more meaningful and they are particularly important on this album," Gizelle says of her writing.

Viewed in the context of her evolving sound, Revealing is more of a logical continuation of Gizelle's music, not a radical departure from her background in soul and funk. For connoisseurs of Aretha Franklin or Lyn Collins, there's still plenty to love here, as long as you're allowing Gizelle to take you with her on her new path. "I have such a plethora of beautiful influences, I just want to channel and express myself in any musical way I want, across musical landscapes that I choose," she explains.
With Revealing, Gizelle Smith reveals herself. This is what freedom sounds like.

It had taken him almost three years to record, but in 1985 Jake Hottell finally finished his debut solo album, Break The Chains. Inspired by his opposition to fracking, anger at government corruption and a series of profound spiritual experiences, a hundred copies of the album were pressed and given away to radio stations, friends and local business interests in Hottell’s home state of New Mexico.

The album would have remained an obscure footnote in musical history had it not been for the efforts of DJs Danny McLewin and Jeremy Spellacey. Between them, they tracked down Hottell to hear his story, offering the former electronics engineer and Nashville-based music producer the chance to get his music to a whole new audience. Now, some 34 years after the private press edition was produced, Spacetalk is giving Break The Chains a full release for the very first time. Hottell began recording the album in 1982 after reading Your Body’s Many Cries For Water, a best-selling book by Dr Fereydoon Batmanghelidj about the health benefits of clean, purified water. Remembering the poisonous, methane-laden water that came out of his mother’s taps in the 1970s – a by-product of extensive fracking activity in the area around the family farm – Hottell wanted to create a set of tracks that registered his concerns, reflected his recent spiritual experiences (many of which he still finds it difficult to discuss today) and offered a meditative listening experience.

The resultant set is suitably cosmic and emotive, with Hottell cannily fusing gentle drum machine rhythms and dreamy synthesizer motifs – influenced, he says, by a love of the contemporaneous new age output of former jazz label Windham Hill Records – with his own glistening guitar passages, which sit somewhere between the homespun riffs of country music and the classical guitar solos that have long been a sonic staple of Spanish styles such as Flamenco. Many of the tracks have stories attached. “Horizon” features a profound spoken word vocal from local man Darald McCabe – whose homemade purified water helped Hottell recover from serious illness – while “El Rio dos les Delores” was composed after discovering that fracking was taking place on a local Native American reservation. “The Truth Is All I Want”, meanwhile, reflects Hottell’s growing exasperation at the extent of corporate greed and government corruption in the United States.

This new edition of Break The Chains has been painstakingly re-mastered from the original master tapes, while extensive new liner notes shed light on the remarkable musical and personal experiences that inspired Hottell to create an obscure, overlooked classic.

Birthed at the turn of the ‘80s, synth and wave music has remained a constant force over the last four decades, with a recent spike in interest in the sound offering further proof of its’ timeless, out-of-this-world quality. It’s against this backdrop that Dutch DJ Interstellar Funk presents his celebration of the style, “Artificial Dancers – Waves of Synth”.
A bumper compilation bristling with obscure and hard-to-find gems, the set sees the Artificial Dance label founder joining the dots between synthesizer and drum machine-driven tracks in a variety of subtly different styles. It’s the result of hundreds of hours spent digging through dusty old records, tapes, and the Bandcamp accounts of DIY musicians who have been active since the sound’s first boom in the early 1980s.
The 11-track set draws on tracks made and released at different times over the last 40 years, with the earliest cut committed to tape in 1978 and the most recent in 2018. While the tracks date from the ‘80s, ‘90s, noughties and 2010s, the showcased cuts are united by a primitive but futuristic quality that makes dating them difficult. In many cases, it’s hard to tell which tracks were made in the early 1980s and which were conjured up in 21st century studios.
As you’d expect, highlights are plentiful with a number of the most unknown or sought-after cuts appearing on vinyl for the first time. In this category you’ll find the Human League’s odd but inspired early number “4JG”, a near mythical 1982 live version of Liasons Dangereuses’ “Dias Cortas” (previously only available on a VHS video) and Chris and Cosey’s “Hybrid C”, a brilliant mid-’90s cut plucked from their CD-only album “Skimble Skamble”. You’ll also find a rare demo version of Clan of Xymox’s Dutch darkwave classic “Stranger”, which became a club smash across Europe in 1983.
Interstellar Funk has also chosen to showcase tracks by a range of DIY producers and lesser-known artists. These include Californian band Batang Frisco, who self-released a sole private press album in 1986 (their contribution, “Sewing Machine”, is dedicated to founder member Bill DiMichele, who passed away this year), Matthias Schuster’s Im Namen Des Volkes project – which contributes the previously unreleased 2014 track “Alles Ist Gewinn” – and Zahgurim, a short-lived early ‘80s act who reunited in 2018 to record their first new material since 1983.
If that wasn’t enough to set pulses racing, the compilation also showcases a solo track by sadly departed Psyche member Stephen Huss. Nobody is quite sure when Huss recorded “Infinity Sign”, but we can confirm this is the first time that one of his solo productions has ever appeared on vinyl.

For its eight vinyl release, Amsterdam based label Wicked Wax puts out the second iteration of “MORE BOUNCE presents Feeding U New Knocks”. After the success of their 1st compilation “Feeding U New Knocks Vol.1”, the More Bounce Collective return with another curated list of songs by various flag bearers from the thriving modern-funk movement. Their aim is to shed more light on the genre and tie the international scene closer together.
Sporting songs from Sivey, Daniel Crawford, Jonny Tobin, Temu and Erik Rico, this second compilation even further settles in the MORE BOUNCE collective as leaders of modern-funk. While maintaining an international roster, they’re also keen on finding hidden gems and new talent, like the Dutch-stationed JAEL, Azteka and Rebiere.
In June 2016 MORE BOUNCE started as a monthly party in Amsterdam that focusses on Modern/ Future Funk, 70's/80's Boogie Funk and more. From there they've grown into a platform for today's Funk-scene where they invited people like MXXWLL, Onra, Pomrad, Trian Kayhatu, Butufunk, Sven Atterton, Mofak, Devin Morrison and others to perform live-shows at their nights.

Left Ear are re-introducing another ten lost tracks from Nicholas Georgieff and Virgil Work, St Louis' basement electronics duo Workdub.

The release spans material from 1989-95 and includes recordings from their sole LP and both cassette albums. Workdub’s music hardly fits into a vacuum and some might even say it’s otherworldly. Tracks like “Reach for the Stars” and “Lunar Module” reflect dreams of space-age exploration, all the while their investigation into drum machines, synthesizers, samples and digital fx’s matched with their organic live instrumentation work to create a unique atmospheric dubbed out sound.

10 track album of re-edits from the turkish super producer who has released 12"s on Gamm, Square, Plimsoll and others. A kickass mix of disco, funk & jazz tracks from Gloria Gaynor, Stanley Turrentine, Don Costa, Quincy Jones and more. 180g vinyl in color sleeve.

A few copies arrived with a corner bump on the cover. We're therefore selling it on a reduced price.

Limited Edition for Record Store Day 2019! LTD edition handnumbered gatefold 2LP celebrating the 5th year anniversary of Super Disco Edits. The labels first album consisting of 18 unissued soul tracks from the 70’s & 80’s featuring formely formerly and highly collectable SDE 45’s and 5 formerly unreleased tracks from the likes of Buddy Hankerson, Dennis Coffey and groups who never made a single release like Mother Braintree and Between the Two

Alison Goldfrapp has set a towering bar for British synth-pop in the 21st century and she’s only just getting started. The magnetic London-born singer, songwriter and producer’s seven albums with Goldfrapp were fuelled by an unfailing modernity and a sixth sense for sounds that were more timeless than any trend. With the release of her debut solo album The Love Invention—an electrifying dance-pop suite—her multi-faceted musicianship reaches a new peak.

The Love Invention marks Alison’s reawakening as a dancefloor priestess, in an intoxicating showcase of the disco and house influences that have always been at the heart of her musical DNA. “So Hard So Hot” bottles the ephemeral joy of a dancefloor with its anthemic house beat, disco handclaps, and an exquisitely alluring vocal from Alison. The sense of uninhibited liberation courses through album highlights like “In Electric Blue,” a yearning synth-pop confection with a chorus as blissful as love’s first butterflies. On “Never Stop,” she is flooded with the rush of an all-encompassing love over a buoyant, rubberised beat; the sublime synth-pop of “Fever” is an ode to the intoxicating majesty of the dancefloor, with a chorus that explodes as if setting off a glitter cannon.

Beatconductor "and his famous All-Star Orchestra" drop 7 remixes/reworks of "chart topping hits from the day!". Some killer new wave and classic rock tunes reworked & re-edited by the prolific Swede to marvelous effect. None of these re-edits have been released on vinyl before. Full pic sleeve. Limited One-Time Only pressing.

Built around the successes of his soundtracks and songs for the movies of Christophe Honoré, Alex Beaupain’s profile in the ‘chanson française’ landscape is quite unique. Beaupain alternates between soundtracks, songs he writes for others (mainly great French actresses) and his own solo albums. In march 2021, Beaupain paid tribute to the late Serge Gainsbourg for the 30th anniversary of his passing during a special live on air event where he covered in full, with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Gainsbourg’s penultimate shocking album from 1984 : Love On The Beat. This experience led him directly in the studio with Saint DX as producer, the French American duet Faux Real singing backing vocals and a full string section to re-record this cult album with a 2021 twist. He had also dreamed of covering that particular album that had so much impact on him, musically and lyrically, when he first discovered it. The 80s funky sound of the record, produced by Billy Rush, was a new start for Gainsbourg and at the time, the lyrics schocked everyone but achieved to avoid any censorship.

Following celebrated compilations from Motor City Drum Ensemble and Young Marco – and with the second edition of its limited-capacity festival in Croatia right around the corner – Dekmantel’s Selectors series now continues with an edition curated by Marcel Dettmann
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Although he’s now known as one of the world’s most celebrated techno artists, even Marcel Dettmann had to start somewhere. Long before he ever held court at Berghain (or its predecessor, Ostgut), he was just another young boy in Eastern Germany, one whose earliest encounters with capitalism involved spending every penny he could scrape together down at the local record shop. In those days, it wasn’t techno that got him excited, but new wave, post-punk, industrial and EBM acts like Front 242 and Depeche Mode

“It’s music from my childhood,” says Dettmann. “It’s still relevant and still inspires me.” That inspiration can be heard across this edition of the Selectors series, as Dettmann has put together what he describes as a “pre-techno compilation.” Much like the previous Selectors editions, the compilation is not a mix CD, but a collection of tracks hand picked by Dettmann from his own vinyl archives. Freshly remastered – and occasionally reworked or re-edited by Dettmann himself – the songs here are undoubtedly vintage gems, but they also represent a very personal journey into Dettmann’s past.

“It was a great opportunity to dig deeper into my own musical outlook,” he explains. “The tracks come from a time before Marcel Dettmann became a DJ.” Simply put, the songs here are some of the building blocks upon which he’s built an incredibly storied career, and now he’d like to entrust them to future generations.

The new LP by Krefeld-born, Berlin-based artist Philipp Otterbach entitled 'The Dahlem Diaries'.

Recorded in a little-visited corner of the German capital, 'The Dahlem Diaries' is a convergence of ideas, sketches and tracks, both old and new, most of which were produced between 2020-2022. Whilst eerie atmospheres, electronics and drums have played a pivotal role in Philipp’s earlier releases, his latest is a rather more introspective affair, in which the guitar takes a leading role. A role Otterbach uses to quietly bring light and hope to his music.

Speaking about his writing process, Philipp explains that, based around his original compositions, “Friends were nice enough to contribute additional parts on their instruments which I then reworked, put together and re-contextualized. The recordings encapsulate a very specific moment in time, one that would have sounded perhaps very different the day before or after.”

Combined with a strong use of effects and field recordings, 'The Dahlem Diaries' feels somewhat like a scene or fragment from a story, in which the narrative remains undefined. It is a playful album that is something of a blurred underwater adventure, sounding as bright as it is hazy, even psychedelic at times, yet with an almost melancholic positivity. In Philipp’s own words: “It could be an album about friendship and being at one with myself, whilst at the same time bringing a certain seriousness to my music, but not necessarily to myself; there is also a playful humour hidden in there. ”

Artwork by David McFarline.

If the ideal greatest hits collection captures the fundamental truth about an artist, Eric Kupper’s – 'A Lifetime In Dance Music' highlights an envious catalogue, extraordinary production skills and ultimately reveals a passionate maven of house music. The 24-track compilation celebrates the vast work and revered career of Eric Kupper and is a collectable occasion to re-acknowledge his influence and golden touch as a remixer for over five decades. Within this first volume you’ll find signature and standout remixes for all-time greats such as Diana Ross, Depeche Mode and Degrees of Motion alongside Kupper classics both new and old under his own name and the legendary K-Scope alias. 'A Lifetime In Dance Music' will be available across three separate vinyl and digital release packages including a full collectors CD release in 2023. Emblematic of an iconic nightlife and reflecting on the sheer scale of his work for seminal artists including Curtis Mayfield, Diana Ross, Earth Wind & Fire, Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer, this ultimate collection serves as a reminder of Kupper’s astounding blend of studio power, control, and agility as a producer and remixer. As the writing and production partner of the late godfather of house music, Frankie Knuckles, Kupper is a true musician and multi-instrumentalist who has played on, remixed, produced or engineered over 2,000 records spanning a wide range of contemporary musical genres. Having worked on over 100 Billboard #1 ‘Dance’ records and mixed two records that have received the ‘Dance Record of the Year’ Grammy award, it is safe to say Eric Kupper’s hugely successful career underpins house music.

Japanese veteran dj&producer “kza”(half of dj duo “force of nature”) have released his first solo album in 2009 on only cd. KZA is one of best dj in the modern disco/house scene in japan and also well known as vinyl digger. this album was made with his knowdlege from his big collection of vinyl. We’re listening this album at studio mule and feeling we should release this album on vinyl. Finally we are going to release this epic modern disco album on 2lp.

Record label boss, producer / DJ, and revered collector Marc Davis returns to his Chi-Talo series with the much-anticipated second volume. A concept of a split EP, taking one ultra-rare Chicago gem and the other a scarce Italian disco record and re-interpreting them for the modern dancefloor aesthetic.

With the first volume, released on Marc’s own Black Pegasus label, now trading hands for considerable amounts of money, round two sees him impart another double dose of digging sorcery for this Mr Bongo 12”.

Marc began his illustrious career in the Windy City in the ‘80s and was one of the first out of Chicago to be recognised for his eclectic approach to DJing. Presenting a global sound palette that took in choice cuts from Brazil, Africa, jazz fusion, house, soul and disco, whilst mixing it together Chicago style. Decades of knowledge and experience that is now distilled down into the Chi-Talo series.

The Italo selection came via a tip from Marc's Swedish friend, Julian Wareing. Hearing the track led Marc down the rabbit hole to secure a copy of this Italo-Disco, album cut oddity by the New Sound Quartet from 1979. The original of 'Bass Construction', measures in at four and a half minutes and is already a feverish funk groover. But Marc saw an opportunity to extend and re-edit the track, keeping in the vein of the original but giving it space to breathe. Tweaking out every last ounce of goodness, Marc locks you into a hypnotic groove for maximum dancefloor deliverance.

The Chicago side is as rare, as the rarest of hens-teeth, only ever existing as a one-off acetate by the band The Saucer Planes. One of the members of the group was the sadly passed-away older brother of Marc’s DJ mentor, Jahmal Anderson. From the very first listen, Marc knew he’d been hooked up with an undiscovered boogie gem. A long-lost track that the world needed to hear. But the project has remained dormant until now, not least due to the fact that the original recording of this low-fi vocal boogie groove is housed on an ever-deteriorating solo acetate. Rescued, restored and given a brand-new lease of life, Marc has turned the track into a low-slung, psychedelic instrumental boogie bounce. Raw, rough and mesmerising, it’s a refreshed relic that is a testament to Chicago’s club sound and swagger.

Whichever side you draw for, this is guaranteed to move bodies as much as it wins over hearts.

Synth pioneer and musical polymath, Wally Badarou is a genius. But you know that already. A vinyl version of his majestic Colors Of Silence has been craved by the Balearic cognoscenti ever since its low-key 2001 release. Indeed, when we first started work on Be With, we asked some pals with exquisite taste what their dream release would be. We asked Balearic legend Moonboots and, without hesitation, he said Colors Of Silence by Wally Badarou. We didn't know Wally had made this album. And most still don't. But that's about to change.

Colors Of Silence is ostensibly a new age album. As ever though, Wally's sophisticated synth textures and expressive keyboard runs are so full of character, so full of life, that this work of art transcends any easy genre categorisation. It's simply stunning, throughout. It sounds like A.r.t. Wilson or Suzanne Kraft, with traces of Cfcf and Jonny Nash. But it was made a good decade earlier than the work of these modern giants. Sometimes, it doesn't seem far from some Larry Heard albums.

Island Records founder Chris Blackwell's friend Nathalie Delon asked Wally to provide music for the yoga DVD she was to release. Lack of time on both sides made them agree on using "quality demos" Wally had in his ideas bank. It's understandable why Colors Of Silence remains somewhat of a lost gem. As Wally explains: "Total lack of promotion made it an 'intimate' release, which was exactly what I was looking for: just a buzz-maker and time-buyer that would allow me to concentrate on the real thing as soon as I'd have time, which could also turn into a rare collecting item later, once the final versions made their way to success. You never know."

Over the years, Colors Of Silence has become a true cult record for the ambient/Balearic heads.

The beguiling but brief "Dance In The Dust" is the shuffling, hyper-percussive, hypnotic opener. It gives way to the deep serenity of "Amber Whispers". It's a gliding, divine, mini melodic masterpiece. It'll make you swoon in its extreme beauty. The bright and breezy "Where Were We" follows, a tropical, reggae-tinged bounce through the islands.

The uptempo groove is maintained on the keys-drizzled soca-funk of "The Lights Of Kinshasa" before Side A is rounded out with "Pictures Of You". It starts with stately, melancholic, unadorned piano and this alone would make for a beautiful song. But Wally always gives us that bit extra and he effortlessly introduces warm, dreamy pads and minimal, slo-mo percussion to augment a frankly stunning piece of work.

Ushering in Side B, Wally's mesmeric piano playing is to the fore again, in the intro to uber-chilled "Serendipity For Two". The playing becomes more mellifluous as the track progresses and adds warmth through exotic percussion, woodwind, sweeping synths and digi-drums. It has echoes of, er, Echoes. It segues seamlessly into the more propulsive, wavy "Smiles By The Millions". If you're not nodding and grinning along widely to the gently throbbing bassline underpinning this, we can't help you. The meditative "Higher Still" follows, cinematic in feel and ever so slightly sinister with the strings. It sounds particularly Badalamenti-esque, if you ask us.

That unmistakable, almost peculiar Badarou funk - so lyrical, so texturally rich and so rhythmically spacious - is all over "Oriental". Next up, "Days To Wonder" brings the serenity back, insistent yet melodic keys, as if played in a place of worship, coupled with birdsong, conjure a kind of instant nostalgia for halcyon days of youth. The contemplative "Dawn Of Europa" is a sombre, beatless, ambient journey whilst the glorious, too-brief "Crystal Falls" features soft percussion and sparkle before fully glistening with some gentle head-nod beats. Wally brings this incredible collection to a mellow, tender close with the graceful "Purple Lines".

There can be few artists more under-appreciated given their vast influence than Wally Badarou. His solo work practically defined the sound of the Balearic DJs of the 1980s, and thus the more sophisticated sound of dance culture thereafter. A synth specialist, Badarou was the long-time associate of Level 42. He was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with Sly and Robbie, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson), the in-house recording team of Compass Point Studios responsible for a series of albums in the 1980s recorded by Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Mick Jagger, Black Uhuru, Gwen Guthrie, Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs. Badarou's keyboard playing could also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer, Marianne Faithfull, Herbie Hancock, M (Pop Muzik), Talking Heads, Manu Dibango and Miriam Makeba. He also produced Fela Kuti. Phew!

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. Special thanks must go to Apiento from Test Pressing who first introduced us to Wally and facilitated all those early zoom meetings. It couldn't have happened without his help. Not least on pulling the art together, too, which features striking original photography by Mads Perch. Benji Roebuck of Roebuck Press did his thing brilliantly in art working the whole package to completion. All in all: essential.