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“Is the future any brighter? Is the darkness any lighter?

25% of all profits will be donated to sea- watch.org, A non-profit organization that conducts civil search and rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean.

When Molly Nilsson began recording her second album Europa in 2009 the world seemed to be at a turning point and she along with it. In the aftermath of a global financial crash, at the dawn of a new decade, the Stockholm-born, Berlinbased singer was busy moulding her songwriting into an idiocyncratic, personal mythology that would take her to every continent, speaking directly to hearts in every corner of the globe. The first album on her own Dark Skies Association imprint, the first recorded in her home studio The Lighthouse, Europa broke new ground for Molly Nilsson at the time. But also it spoke earnestly to the world about an idealism, an openness and hope that has not dimmed in the 11 years since its release. Europa contains the songs of a young, idealistic songwriter coming to terms with her genius for cutting to the chase, saying it as it is and, most importantly, as it should be. Over 10 years on the artists’ vim and urge for change has only got stronger but here you can see the bright hope begin to dawn. Europa saw Molly Nilsson move away from the minimal primitivism of her debut These Things Take Time and remastered by James Plotkin for it’s 2021 reissue it reveals a growing depth in her songwriting. Opener In The Mood For A Tattoo, with synth overdubs on top of impeccable vocal harmonising, boasts a killer chorus hook before melting into The Revenge Of The Stalker, with its shades of 80s synth pop building layered dynamics out of simplicity. More Certain Than Death is a song of youthful rebellion, even if you didn’t know it at the time, forever searching for a way out of youth while young. Of course now, over a decade since their release, these songs have been canonised in the alternative pop realm like all of Molly Nilsson’s catalogue. The DIY aspect of these recordings may place them firmly in the milieu they first gained popularity – the exploding world of DIY pop, blog-based music discovery and the seemingly endless possibilities of the beginnings of of social media – but Europa’s songs are really made to be sung to and by people, they’re statements of intent, of togetherness and defiance. The album’s title track is a kernel of righteousness, an archetypal Molly Nilsson moment that contains all hope in its fist, which steadily opens outstretched to everyone who listens. Europa was written in 2009 about the ongoing refugee crisis, an open love letter to humanity. “The borders are only lines in the sand, the borders are divided by land (and invented by men.)” Europa praises the idea of people coming together to make things better, to help each other. It’s not about this Europe but the idea of having no borders to imprison people. Think of Europa as an alternate universe, where no one is illegal, but free. It’s heady stuff to sum up in a song but of course Nilsson’s effortless chorus-writing render all these notions and feelings in a few simple words. This is of course her chief talent, whether singing about heartbreak or global financial meltdown and it is in abundance here.

Jarv IS... truly evolving. From its earliest recordings beginning in an actual cave, via the enticing hypnotics behind the mantra-likes tracks Sometimes I Am Pharaoh and Must I Evolve, the exquisite yet candid storytelling of Swanky Modes and timeless anthem-turned-inadvertent lockdown soundtrack, House Music All Night Long, the debut album of the Jarvis Cocker-led band Jarv IS... proved a standout swirl of creativity, invention and vision on its release last summer. Yet Beyond The Pale has continued to inspire long after the sessions for the record stopped. Despite being divided by the pandemic, audiences came together around the album, Jarvis and co made a live film based on the album with pioneering directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard entirely underground in a cavern, and intriguingly other musicians and producers have continued to be intrigued by the songs Cocker and his band created. The latter now has yielded an entirely new way of hearing Beyond The Pale, as for the first time in his career, Jarv is releasing a remix album based on one of his records. Boasting re-imaginings and re-stylings from the likes of David Holmes, Dennis Bovell and Greg Wilson among others, the record is a collaborative mix that offers new focus and insight on the music of one of this generation's greatest songwriters, while also allowing the remixers' own unique characters to take flight within Jarv IS... creative cave.

There is something magical about the synergy of the voices of a couple; they gel, they interweave, they lift each other. Remember classic duets sung by partners over the years; so much is said, more than just words. 'Warm You' is the collaboration between Mandaworld (aka Amanda Hicks) and partner Matthew Tavares (aka Matty of Badbadnotgood fame). It is a song about your lover getting out of bed in the middle of the night because they can't sleep and you telling them to come back to where it’s warm and safe and they’re loved. It was written in their Montreal apartment a few months after they moved in. Matty described the writing process "We just spontaneously decided to make music, and the idea came out pretty much immediately. I laid down some guitar and then Amanda played the synth line over it and I edited the guitar so the timing was more interesting. We worked on it for a few days getting the chorus and the verses to feel right and, for the most part, everything fell into place super intuitively. Amanda wrote the lyrics." This heartfelt, dream-pop song, with a mellow shoe-gaze sensibility, lets the pair trade verses whilst the instrumentation builds to a crescendo and the duo's voices finally combine. Lush, passionate and personal, a beautiful song, rich in evocative memories. On the ‘B-side’, Mandaworld takes centre stage. 'Spoonfeed' is a spacey synth bass-led ambient ballad with smokey hazy vocals, calming like a bubble bath. Produced with a timeless quality, the song leaves you with a sense of tranquility and a feeling of being submerged underwater. Like all the best music this 7" is deeply personal, yet these are universal themes that are relatable to any listener as they recognise their own experiences within the mood of the songs.

The German duo, consisting of Jana Pantha and Jenny Tulipa, presents a musical mix of electro-synth-pop, post-punk and dark disco influences. The album features 11 songs and a musical re-interpretation of German-language Neue Deutsche Welle sounds. The songs combine spoken word passages in which the singers combine a certain irony with word-playful rhymes. Repetition and electronic synth sounds play a compositional role alongside rocking guitar riffs like their forerunners in the NDW scene. Lyrically, each song varies between pop-romantic and politically critical passages.

NOT SO SILENT NIGHT ist kein klassisches Weihnachtsalbum mit „Ave Maria“ und „Stille Nacht“, sondern eine Platte mit 12 selbst geschriebenen neuen Weihnachtsliedern.

Unter anderem die erste Single „Ring out the Bells“ euphorisch und die Vorweihnachtszeit einläutend. „Not so Silent Night“ beschreibt ein typisches Weihnachtsfest bei uns zu Hause. In „24th“singe ich für die, die nicht mehr bei uns sein können und die wir, vor allem an Weihnachten, besonders vermissen. Eigentlich eine ganz normale Sarah Connor Platte, finde ich. Nur still ist es nicht.

Denn für mich ist Weihnachten, wie auch der Titel der Platte ausdrückt, nicht nur ein besinnliches Fest, wenn ich ehrlich bin. Für eine berufstätige Mutter bedeutet Weihnachten viel mehr als nur eine besinnliche Zeit. Es ist vor allem Stress. Da schicke ich schonmal kleine Stoßgebete in den Himmel wie:

Natürlich liebe ich die Weihnachtslieder, die geschmückten Fenster und beleuchteten Straßen, den Kitsch. Dafür hasse ich den Überkonsum, die Hektik, wie schnell alles vorbei ist, und wie sich an Heiligabend alle zusammenreißen, um Reizthemen zu umschiffen.

Ich vermisse jedes Jahr an Weihnachten meine geliebte Oma ganz fürchterlich und habe ihr den Song „Santa, if you´re there“ gewidmet.

Ich liebe die aufgeregten Kinderaugen und ich liebe es, Weihnachten für sie auszurichten und hoffe, dass wir das noch ganz ganz lange so erleben können, vielleicht irgendwann mit einem weiblichen Santa, der eine andere Hautfarbe hat als ich oder auf einem futuristischen Auto statt einem Schlitten kommt.. wie in „Christmas 2066“.

Durch die Augen meiner Kinder kann ich noch immer an den Zauber glauben und wünsche mir an Heiligabend tatsächlich von ganzem Herzen Frieden für die Welt, in der sie leben.

Eines ändert sich auch an Weihnachten und auch auf Englisch nicht: ich mache Songs und Texte nah am Leben. Und als Mutter, Tochter, Schwester, Frau, ist es nun mal auch ein bisschen beten, dass alles schön wird.

Bei uns zu Hause ist Weihnachten wild, laut und lustig. Darum habe ich die Platte „Not so Silent Night“ genannt.

Ach ja, das Album ist auf Englisch, weil mir das Songtexte schreiben auf Englisch nach wie vor leichter fällt. Es geht einfach leichter von der Hand. Und ich wollte ja Leichtigkeit. Es gibt einfach mehr Wörter, die gesungen schöner klingen. Das ist aber eigentlich auch völlig egal. Ich bin mir sicher, ihr werdet mich trotzdem gut verstehen. Erscheinen wird NOT SO SILENT NIGHT am 18.11.2022!!

Fröhliche Weihnachten und viel Spaß mit der Platte,

Sarah

Bézier returns to Dark Entries with Valencia, a six track rumination on memory, geography, and transmutation. Multi-instrumentalist Robert Yang’s Bézier project has appeared on Dark Entries many times over the last decade, most recently with the 2018 LP Parler Musique. Says Yang, “What started as a project to investigate the love of the sound and scenery while living in San Francisco quickly developed into a passionate search for interlocking melodies and driving rhythms.” On Valencia, Bézier invokes twinned places. The Valencia Street of San Francisco is channeled, which was the center of the city’s vibrant new wave scene in the 1980s. But also echoed is Valencia, Spain, and La Ruta del Bakalao aka La Ruta Destroy, the Spanish clubbing scene throughout the 80s and 90s famed for its aggressive and synthetic sounds. Valencia is a darker record for Yang, exploring themes of submission and catharsis with nods to SF’s gay leather bars of the 70s and 80s. The high BPM salvos of “Valencia” and “Scrupulous” capture the frantic energy of Bakalao and Valencian wave acts like Última Emoción. Elsewhere Yang mines the dreamy space disco and Hi-NRG sounds they’re known for, like on the brooding “Past the Marshes” or the anthemic “Reservoir”, which features their partner Len.Leo on vocals. Bézier deftly navigates past and present, light and dark, pain and pleasure, the stasis of memory and the flux of time. Valencia was mastered by Alex Michalski, with EQ for vinyl done by George Horn. Gwenaël Rattke designed the sleeve, which features an 80’s punk zine-esque geometric grid pattern mirroring San Francisco street maps. Also included is a 5x7 postcard with notes.

The Valentine song by the 12-year-old bilingual singer SAKUra, arranged by Etsuko Yamakawa of the legendary city pop unit "Tohoku Shinkansen", which still has a strong fan base around the world, is finally available on 7" EP!! - SAKUra - Influenced by Basho Matsuo’s lyricism and Nobunaga Oda’s Atsumori dance, she is a 12-year-old bilingual singer-song girl with a love for history, anime, J-Pop and Haiku. Because of a huge love for history, she is singing songs about history. To deepen her knowledge, recently she is studying with the master historian and martial artist. Through the teachings of Confucius, she is learning about the spirit of humanity; through the　Japanese book “The Tale of Princess Kaguya”, she is learning about a cursive style of writing Chinese characters and Japanese culture. Her favorite books are 100% history books, and she is currently obsessed with books about princesses who bravely and powerfully lived through the Sengoku period (the warring period;1467-1615) . Today’s Haiku : “It’s thunder, Amaterasu, you’re angry. (Amaterasu is the sun goddess)

There is a way a voice can cut through the fascia of reality, cleaving through habit into the raw nerve of experience. Nika Roza Danilova, the singer, songwriter, and producer who since 2009 has released music as Zola Jesus, wields a voice that does that. When you hear it, it is like you are being summoned to a place that's already wrapped inside you but obscured from conscious experience. This place has been buried because it tends to hold pain, but it's also a gift, because once it's opened, once you're inside of it, it can show you the truth. Zola Jesus's new album, Arkhon, finds new ways of loosing this submerged, stalled pain. On previous albums, Danilova had largely played the role of auteur, meticulously crafting every aspect of Zola Jesus's sound and look. This time, she realized that her habitual need for control was sealing her out of her art. Arkhon sees Zola Jesus's first collaboration with producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Mandy soundtrack, Candyman soundtrack) and with drummer and percussionist Matt Chamberlain, whose prior work appears on albums by Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie. Arkhon runs the spectrum from songs whose weight lies in their bare simplicity, like "Desire," an elegiac piano composition about the end of a relationship that was recorded acoustically in a single take, to towering, groove-oriented tracks like "The Fall" and the tight, interlocking percussion and samples of a Slovenian folk choir in "Lost," which propel narratives of collective despair and mutual comfort in kind. Through these turns, Arkhon reveals itself as an album whose power derives from abandon. Both its turmoils and its pleasures take root in the body, letting individual consciousness dissolve into the thick of the beat. Despite the darkness curled inside reality, there is power, too, in surrendering to what can't be pinned down, to the wild unfurling of the world in all its unforeseeable motion. That letting go is the crux of Arkhon, which marks a new way of moving and making for Zola Jesus.

A few copies arrived with a Bent Corner Cover. We're therefore selling it on a reduced price

Blending ambient, drone, krautrock, psychedelic, house music elements into a unique sonic universe... that's what Cloudland Canyon is known for! This American experimental music project led by Kip Uhlhorn comes with the release of their new self-titled LP on the always trustworthy Medical Records! The band continues to explore the boundaries of sound and space, taking the listener on a journey through lush soundscapes and immersive textures. Formed in 2002, Cloudland Canyon has released several critically acclaimed albums, including "Fin Eaves," "Lie In Light," and "An Arabesque." Their recent releases have been produced by Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3/Spectrum. With each release, Uhlhorn has pushed the envelope of experimental pop music, collaborating with various musicians and producers to create intricate and otherworldly compositions. This time around Uhlhorn collaborated primarily with AI to generate and create a compositions that sound like they are meant for an alternate realm where both beauty and suffering are both present, but not at odds with one another. AI has helped Uhlhorn take one step further into the transfigurative looking glass. The new lp, marks a new chapter in Cloudland Canyon's journey, expanding their sonic palette to include elements of techno and electronic music while still retaining their signature dreamy atmospheres. The album is a journey through a sonic landscape that is at once futuristic and nostalgic, evoking the feeling of driving down an endless highway into the sunset. Past musical collaborators have included some of the most exciting musicians working today, including Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3, Wayne Coyne & Kliph Scurlock of Flaming Lips, David Scott Stone of the Melvins, Unwound,& LCD Soundsystem, Dean & Britta from Galaxie 500 & Luna, and Jody Stephens from Big Star to name a few. "s/t" is a testament to Cloudland Canyon's ability to collaborate and create music that is both innovative and accessible. Whether you are a longtime fan or a newcomer to Cloudland Canyon's music, "s/t" is a must-listen for anyone interested in the possibilities of experimental music in the 21st century. With its combination of analog and digital textures, hypnotic rhythms, and expansive soundscapes, it is a journey you won't soon forget.

The second single from the concept album produced by Tatsuo Sunaga covering Joni Mitchell's "Blue", which will be released in autumn 2022, is "A Case Of You", a song that even Prince loved! The B-Side features a special experimental soul remix by Maki Mannami + nonomi. The second analogue single from "ste with J.Lamotta Suzume / Re:Blue" (scheduled for release in November 2022), produced to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Joni Mitchell's classic album "Blue", is "A Case Of You", covered by Prince on the Joni Mitchell tribute album and a big hit. A Case Of You', which became a major talking point. In addition to the spiritual atmosphere of J.Lamotta Suzume's quintessential original, and an arrangement that perfectly matches it, the track is a collaboration between up-and-coming Japanese-Chilean beatmaker nonomi and L.A.-based musician Maki Mannami, who is an essential part of STE. The remixes are the result of a collaboration between up-and-coming Japanese-Chilean beatmaker nonomi and L.A.-based musician Maki Mannami, a staple of STE. In addition to the totally seamless sound, the release comes in a full jacket version.

Fronted by singer-songwriter-guitarist Keeley Moss, Dublin dreampop act Keeley seemingly shot out of nowhere last June with the anthemic song "The Glitter and the Glue", a song dedicated to the memory of murdered German tourist Inga-Maria Hauser in Northern Ireland in 1988. However, Keeley herself had been steadfastly self-promoting in Ireland since late 2020 when she self-released the debut single 'Last Words', topping Newstalk FM's airplay chart, getting playlisted by RTE Radio 1 and 8Radio, and attracting support from radio in multiple countries. Picked by legendary broadcaster Tom Dunne as one of his 'Top Tracks of 2020', it was listed at #12 in Radio Nova's 'Top 15 Irish Songs of 2020' and, upon its release, she became the subject of full-page articles in the Belfast Telegraph and Derry Post newspapers, a frankly unheard-of feat for an indie artist on their debut single. Now one of the most played new artists on Irish radio, Dimple Discs re-issued her tracks in June 2021 and the response from global press, radio and fans of dreampop/neo-psych/nu-gaze music has grown rapidly ever since. She has gained supporters at BBC 6Music and other BBC specialty shows as well as Internet radio in the UK and around the world. Having recently played sold-out shows in Dublin and London, Keeley will be touring Ireland, UK and Europe throughout 2022 in the lead-up to her long-awaited debut album.

A new wave of indiepop is emerging in the UK, and Panic Pocket are at the forefront of it. Playful, tuneful, sardonic and sassy, Sophie and Natalie have been friends since childhood, know each other’s secrets - and probably know a few of yours too.

Formed in 2017, Panic Pocket soon became a DIY sensation, releasing debut EP Never Gonna Happen, with Reckless Yes in 2019. Their debut album has found a new home.

Amelia and Rob at Skep Wax Records fell in love with the mixture of punk-grrrl attitude and songwriting skill: “They reminded us of all our favourite bands rolled into one. Panic Pocket know how to turn anger and humour into brilliant pop songs.” Panic Pocket will be the main support band at Heavenly’s sell-out London shows in May.

Many of Mad Half Hour’s 10 indie-pop anthems are concerned with being at odds with life's accepted milestones, feeling alienated from the people you thought wanted the same things as you, while trying to forge your own path. So the top-down janglepop of ‘Boyfriend’ reflects on what happens when your best friend finds love…and insists on bringing it everywhere, and ‘Get Me’ answers claustrophobic questions about ‘settling down’ with a not-so-silent scream over some deliciously dirty riffs.

But Panic Pocket’s superpower is their sense of fun. On Mad Half Hour, you’re never more than a few seconds away from a monster hook, killer harmony or an acerbically witty turn of phrase worthy of the band’s heroes Aimee Mann or Liz Phair. From receiving a cryptic “frog emoji” from a long-forgotten one-night stand, to ‘Don’t Get Me Started’’s streetlit walk of shame “via Morrisons car park”, no memory is off-limits, no matter how painful.

If you want punkpop exuberance, lyrics that are so truthful they hurt, plus some very infectious tunes - then Mad Half Hour is exactly the soundtrack you need, right down to the minute.

Jean-Luc Mocard met Jean Ronde in September of 2009, while working at the Casio Palaiseau factory, near Paris. Before, they were both active musicians with a particular taste for synthesized music, touring extensively through European and Asian underground venues and clubs. Eventually, their furious passion for collecting 80’s keyboards brought them together to become the fabulous duo Vive Les Cônes.

Presently based in Porto, Portugal, by a matter of pure chance, Vive Les Cônes is a Casio explosion, the fuel of a dancing machine that never stops and cherry picks moments from dance and pop music culture along the way. Their live concerts are non-stop hit parades featuring their very own local cult classics, such as “Bonaparty” or “Brocoli-Rave”, and medleys of pop-culture classics ranging from video-game soundtracks, to dance hits, to classical music.

“De France”, their debut album, is the product of years of playing live, training and mastering the perfect Casio technique. Every track in this album is played live using only pure unmodded Casio Pt-380 and Yamaha Psr-37 keyboards, thrift store fx pedals, bringing to the recorded form the meticulously crafted tracks that set dancefloors on fire all throughout the world.

The album is an eclectic journey through electronic and dance music on cheap keyboards, from traces of House Music in “Maillon” and the instant hit “Je Ne Sais Pas”, fumes of vaporwave in “Machine à Vapeur”, and, of course, baguettes of French electro in “Brocoli-Rave”, the track that usually andeuphorically ends Vive Les Cônes’ set.

The Quietus has referred to the duo as a “weird John Shuttleworth take on house music”, but them being French, a better comparison would be something like “Daft Punk lost all their gear on tour and had to play a gig using some old keyboards”. But could they even do it? Maybe a “Pascal Comelade on molly live set for Boiler Room” could make thembetter Justice. We’re not really sure what to compare them to though, and probably there’s no need to compare them to anything, as the best thing you can do is to give them a go and check them out for yourself.

1 full album in 12 years since formation (at the time of release in 2017). The work is difficult to obtain, and live performances are out of the blue. Petrols, a natural and light, extremely experiential and mysterious band. Everyone knows their names, they seem to be amazing, and they feel signs in various places. But I have no idea who the whole thing is. The musicians, their friends, and the seniors whom the members looked up to, who adore the innovative and pop music of such Petrols, each wish to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of their 1st CD “Karimen” (released in April 2007). A thought-based, hands-on music collection that seeks the answer to the question, “What is Petrols?” A total of 15 tracks including 4 additional tracks from “where, WHO, What IS PETROLZ?”, which was released exclusively for digital distribution.

Multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, arranger, and all around musician extraordinaire ShinRizumu (real name Rizumu Shin) is returning with his first album in over half a decade!

After releasing his debut album New Rythm in 2015, and garnering heavy airplay of hit single "Shinri no Mori" across Japan, Shin would follow that up with Have Fun (2017) before spending time studying music at a prestiguous music university. Five years later, he returns with his latest album!

Inspired by the music of Tom Jobim, Milton Nascimento, and other Brazilian legends, the sound of the album is undoubtedly MPB-esque (Música Popular Brasileira, lit. Brazilian Popular music), yet interpreted through a uniquely Japanese lens. Samba rhythms and instrumentation are infused with the sounds of contemporary J-pop and city pop, creating a sound that’s quite unlike anything else. Lead single “lady” (the 7” single is out on Oct. 5th!) highlights this sound, featuring the brass and tropical flutes of Brazil, along with a samba-esque groove that would be at home on any MPB album. Yet combine that with the pop sensibilities of one of contemporary J-pop’s greatest song-writers, and you get a song that even Haruomi Hosono would be proud of.

Light grooves are apparent throughout, perfect for whether you’re listening, lounging, or leaping around dancing. Pressed on limited edition vinyl, ShinRizumu’s long-awaited third album is filled to the brim with tropical hits - a refreshing summer breeze, even if it's the middle of winter.

Kiss OF THE Whip is Tristan Victor. Writing, Production, and Mixing by Tristan Victor. Mastering by Ryan Schwabe. Artwork by Suzelle Levasseur.

Ed Sheeran is set to release his new album ‘-‘ (Subtract) - the last in his decade-spanning mathematical album era - on 5 May 2023 through Asylum/Atlantic on vinyl, cassette and CD. An album that revisits Ed’s singer/songwriter roots, and one that was written against a backdrop of personal grief and hope, ‘-’ (Subtract) presents one of the biggest stars on the planet at his most vulnerable and honest.

In Ed’s own words - “I had been working on Subtract for a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be. Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art.

Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. And in just over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts.

Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route to treatment until after the birth. My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I was spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety.

I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air.

As an artist I didn’t feel like I could credibly put a body of work into the world that didn’t accurately represent where I am and how I need to express myself at this point in my life. This album is purely that. It’s opening the trapdoor into my soul. For the first time I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life.

This is last February’s diary entry and my way of making sense of it. This is Subtract.”

Since he first learnt ‘Layla’ by Eric Clapton on guitar at the age of 12-years-old, Sheeran’s love of the singer/songwriter began. Growing up with the likes of Damian Rice, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan playing on repeat in his parents’ house – artists that his dad, John, introduced him to – ‘-‘was always on Ed’s horizon. Yet as the songs and writing process took on a whole new meaning and direction after a series of hard-hitting events impacted Ed’s world in 2022, one thing that remained untouched was his strong desire to make a record anchored in his love of singer/songwriter compositions. And now, as he gears-up for the release of his most soul-baring work to date, ‘-‘ serves as a timely reminder for why Sheeran remains one of the most gifted lyricists of his generation; an artist who breaks down his own experiences for fans to seek comfort and belonging.

‘-‘ is the result of Sheeran pushing the boundaries of his songcraft, as he delivers the most profound songwriting of his career. Teaming-up with Aaron Dessner (The National) on writing and production after the pair joined forces following an introduction from mutual friend Taylor Swift, Ed and Aaron began crafting the album in February last year. Writing over 30 songs during their month-long studio stint, the album’s fourteen tracks are seamlessly tied together by exquisite production from paired back, folk-leaning textures to bolder, full-band/orchestral arrangements.

Ed Sheeran burst onto the UK music scene in 2011 with his debut album ‘+’. Rapidly establishing himself as a history-making artist, he followed with ‘x’, ‘÷’, ‘No.6 Collaborations Project’ and ‘=’ - a catalogue that has seen Sheeran become one of the world’s biggest musical success stories of the 21st century.

“You’re trouble” is an avant-garde electronic pop album about questioning and locating a sense of self in a disorienting, breaking environment of dissolving certainity which grows increasingly chaotic, about dysmorphic dissatisfaction, becoming disillusioned and alienated. It seeks to juxtapose beauty, serenity and vigour with instability, ugliness, chaos and crisis, expressing itself fluidly without genre or otherwise boundaries. A kind of sinister, anxious but still forward-pushing and at times positive and hot-blooded empowering energy can be felt that wants to urge the listener not to give up but to try and take courage and take control of the troubles and fears in their life. The tone is sometimes reflective, sometimes confronting. The album navigates fairly abstract musical territory, cathartic abrasiveness, heavy and unrelenting sounds of post-club music and noise fused with stretches of pop music, never settling down or resting for long, constantly breaking up and re-assembling itself. Between chaos and form, it’s finding relief in imperfection and the in-between. As such the music is ambivalent and is equal parts some kind of crisis club music as well as introspective reflection.

Dauntless Kimi he' was originally released as part of the distribution project 'Sato Ato,' which took place in December last year. For this release, the chorus was added and re-mixed, resulting in a self-recorded song with a warm tone and a bright but fragile melody line.

El Goodo guitarist and songwriter 'Pixy Jones' has announced that his debut album entitled 'Bits n Bobs' is due for release on 16th of September via Strangetown Records. After 4 albums with El Goodo, Welsh psych scene stalwart Pixy Jones has himself compiled a truly remarkable collection of tracks that fluctuate from 60's harmony-rich psych pop, to Alt-Country with ringing tremelo guitar. The swaggering 'I'm Not There' is the first single to be taken from 'Bits n Bobs' accompanied by a magical version of Beatles track 'And Your Bird Can Sing' as it's B SIde, which will be released digitally on Friday 1st of July.

Private Collection' is Karin Park at her purest, rawest and most beautiful essence: an album stripped down to the core of her mesmerizing voice and the haunting sound of the pump organ. An introvert and intimate album that shows her not just as a stellar musician but as a mother, a wife and a humble human being. Karin Park has been referred to as the Scandinavian Nico for her persona, and dark ambient legend Lustmord called her a “force of nature”. However, despite a Eurovision song contest entry, a year of sold out shows as the lead in Les Miserables in Oslo and performances alongside Lana Del Rey and David Bowie, Karin's talents have still remained somewhat under-exposed for the really broad public. This might change now, with a stunning new album and an extensive European tour with A.A. Williams this fall. “This record is very much a journey in solitude that I’ve been longing to make,” Karin tells us about her seventh studio album. Consisting of nine re-recordings – with radically diferent instrumentation – of classic tracks from her impressive back catalogue, as well as the newly written opener «Traces of Me», Private Collection is the quintessential expression of Karin Park’s artistry.

Hitting play on SEAMOSS2, the latest missive from Portland noise-tinkerers Sea Moss, is like punching the big red button on a cartoon bomb before it explodes into a multicolored mushroom cloud. From the second “Nap Time” revs up, vocalist Noa Ver and drummer Zach D'Agostino absolutely clobber the listener with a distorted hodgepodge of sounds as raw and violent as they are winkingly playful, as if Black Dice and Melt-Banana were caught in the middle of some kind of psychotic square dance together.
The duo’s setup—which involves a primitive assemblage of hacked feedback oscillators, colorful Rococo tin boxes, and a contact mic plugged directly onto Ver’s neck to capture her barking intonations—harkens back to an era of DIY where live performance meant everything. Blurring the line between reckless improvisation and tightly-knit compositions, the band achieves a disorientingly complex interplay. Though Sea Moss’s music may initially seem to be an act of pure blunt force, the duo’s true prowess lies in the intricacy of their rhythmic interplay. As freeform as it all might seem, SEAMOSS2 contains the band’s most potent, precise compositions yet, refining the distinct style they forged on disorienting releases like Bread Bored and Bidet Dreaming into a thrilling act of controlled chaos.
In an era where the communal spirit of DIY feels more difficult to achieve than ever, Sea Moss embody the classic ethos of weirdo punk music in all its absurdity and wonder. It’s this same sense of scrappiness that’s earned them attention from legends like Lightning Bolt and Machine Girl, and SEAMOSS2 illustrates why they’re every bit as deserving of their own trophy in the noise-rock hall of fame—one adorned in broken contact mics and scuffed-up scratches from one too many bloody basement shows.

Download card included

Heart held hope. We-us is a homage.
It is the when, it is the where.
It is not a dream, even if we conjured it.
It is not a dream, even if it bonds us.
If it was happiness, hell-bent we’d hear it.
So go higher, you helper, you healer.
Right the fallen ladder off its side.
Harness my climb. Your straight lines contour the roundest thing in the world.
Accidents that pass the test of time, passions for beauty that mystifies. Imprints to emulate. This album’s of the night, but we didn’t say it, some things just rise from where they’re created. And then last we checked, morning had broken. With light. And awe. And grace.
So here’s my humble homely. The happiness of others is best when we believe.
We-us is a homage.
It is the when, it is the where.

With silent film cinematic aesthetics imbued with unique and 21st-century flair, Ukranian Coldwave Duo The Glass Beads invoke sorrowful sounds, both strange and sensual, on their debut LP Therapy, melancholic life stories focused on the search and struggle of trying to find your way as an individual way and to accept yourself. These themes explored on the record are filled with pain and anger as well as hope. The Glass Beads feature the talents of musicians Mark Arshynnikov and Morin Sane, a pair of musicians whose Slavic features construct an appearance that is altogether commanding, beautiful and timelessly Gothic, yet gracefully tempered with a modern and tasteful style woven between two eras of the centennial: 1920, and now. In collaboration, Mark and Morin conjure melodies that reverberate like footsteps through the hallways of an abandoned house, haunted by memories of love, sickness, and death. Their melodic music is interwoven with sighing keys, palpitating drum machines, sauntering basslines, and disaffected vocals like an eastern european version of Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico. It has been 4 years since the two made their debut with “Going”, a song that would two years later make itself part of The Glass Beads’ 4 track debut EP Phobia issued on cassette via Squall Records. For that release, The Wave of Things spotlighted the pair in their Sounds of Ukraine episode, Describing them as a cross between Lebanon Hanover and Drunken C, and highlighted their mesmerizing video for the title track “Phobia” where a blindfold vocalist Morin Sane drifts amongst a field of sunflowers in stark black and white.

7"
DJ Koze - Wie schön du bist EP
Two sides, one message - love in its purest form, captured at 45 RPM
A. Wie schön du bist (feat. arnim & The Düsseldorf Düsterboys)
AA. Amor (feat. César Lacerda)

A
DJ Koze, Arnim Teutoburg-Weiß aka arnim, and the Düsseldorf Düsterboys enchant with a touching homage to Holger Biege - one of the legendary architects of East German soul. DJ Koze once again proves his unparalleled sense for the extraordinary. Around the line "Du hast erzählt, gelacht / Mir gezeigt, wie schön du bist" from Holger Biege's 1978 song "Bleib doch", Koze weaves a small masterpiece, infused equally with nostalgic depth and futuristic elements.

Arnim Teutoburg-Weiß aka arnim (frontman of the iconic Beatsteaks) opens our hearts with his heavenly radiant voice. With full sincerity - pure and straightforward - he sings the love declaration of a lifetime.
Floating on a cloud, the Düsseldorf Düsterboys sprinkle lyrical stardust with their brilliant harmonies - fluffy and bizarre at the same time. It feels as if this cosmic quartet boarded a time machine and returned to the present to plant the essence of days gone by into today's matrix.

"Wie schön du bist" is not just a tribute to Holger Biege's work, but a loving bow to his entire musical legacy. It is an anthem to the timeless magic of music and the enduring power of love that connects us all.
Koze, arnim and the Düsterboys have created something truly unique here: a gem-a homage, a time travel, and a love letter all in one. Music can indeed be something magical.

AA
"Amor," a dandelion of a song, was created in collaboration with Brazilian singer César Lacerda. It is an acoustic love letter in its purest form-warm, crackling, and everlasting.

On September 13, the two original Amiga albums "Wenn der Abend kommt" and "Circulus" by Holger Biege were re-released as a double album and are available here
https://konsum.buschfunk.com

RSD Exclusive, Limitation: 20000

Exclusively available for RSD Black Friday pressed on limited edition Black & Red Vinyl, How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb is a collection of ten songs taken from the original recording sessions for How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb -- U2’s critically acclaimed, eight-time Grammy-winning album - recently rediscovered in the band’s archive and now released for the first time as a standalone album. This shadow album features new, previously unreleased songs including “Luckiest Man In The World,” “Happiness” and “Country Mile,” as well as newly remastered songs including “Picture of You (X + W)”, all collected together for the first time to mark the 20th Anniversary of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

The Flying Mimi Band, led by Izumi Kobayashi, has been re-evaluated in the city pop scene in recent years, as well as for her later work with Masayoshi Takanashi and the music for the anime Urusei Yatsura. This LP reissues the funky and groovy second and final album, released in October 1978, by the band!

RSD First, Limitation: 15000

A standalone LP with all eight duet tracks from Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever): "Dial Drunk" w/ Post Malone, "Call Your Mom" w/ Lozzy McAlpine, "She Calls Me Back" w/ Kacey Musgraves, "Northern Attitude" w/ Hozier, "Everywhere, Everything" w/ Gracie Abrams, "Homesick" w/ Sam Fender, "You're Gonna Go Far" w/ Brandi Carlile, and "Paul Revere" w/ Gregory Alan Isakov.
Pressed on Tiger Eye Brown Color Vinyl Variant

Friction is one of the first Japanese punk bands and formed by Reck, Chiko Hige and Lapis in Tokyo in March 1978, and now the band is still keeping active. Reck and Chiko Hige had previously been on the NY no wave scene as founding members of James Chance and the Contortions, and brought back the experience and influence to the Japanese music scene. It's no exaggeration to say that the band laid the foundation for alternative music in Japan. P-vine is proud of reissuing all of their albums on vinyl.

"軋轢=Friction" is their 1st album released in 1980 which is also known as the only album in the period of Masatoshi Tsunematsu participating the band. Produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Naoko Gushima's third album released in 1999, which has expanded its musical range more gorgeously while maintaining the stylish and urban atmosphere, will be re-released for a limited time on clear vinyl!

Following on from the previous work, Naoko Gushima's second album, released in 1997, which is almost entirely composed of her own songs and is equally popular in Japan and abroad, will be re-released for a limited time on Clear Green Vinyl!

Naoko Gushima's 1996 debut and urban mellow masterpiece, which has been attracting attention in recent years in the reevaluation of city pop, has been re-released for a limited time on clear purple vinyl!

Well-versed in vintage vernaculars, Oakland-based producer/musician Mike Walti is about to return with his sophomore offering under the Organi moniker – as new album “Babylonia” follows 2020’s “Parlez-vous Français?,” a landmark in vibe acquisition ever since.

Wyldwood Studios is a portal. It’s a secret gateway to analog spheres. Cross the threshold and you’ll feel the difference: you can pick any ol’ time, any place, any tongue or vibe, in fact. Hit the dancefloor in 1967, feel that plushy loveseat in the early 70s. It’s a welcoming place where better, saner vibes are still within reach. Fueled, at least in part, by those long-classic 12”s on the walls – just imagine the sepia-tinted countenance of Melody Nelson alongside actual Birkin sans wig, right next to Shadow’s immortal crate diggers, forever blurred –, and channeled through ancient time travel devices such as the MCI 416b only to arrive on classic 2-inch tape (mm1000 aka Ol’ Bessy), it’s a haven for all things organic, for all things imbued with that warm élan. Built and run by Oakland’s own Mike Walti, countless artists from many different genres have felt that flair, creating sonic spheres and moving back and forth along the malleable axis that is space-time. Capturing magic.

Emerging from this unique portal back in 2020, Walti’s aka Organi’s first studio album was a stunning answer to its titular question – “Parlez-vous Français?” It was a soothing, somewhat psychedelic trip so magnétique and alluring that it immediately brought back those bits of Franglais you never knew you remembered. Whereas the debut LP indeed felt like a spontané voyage to the French Riviera ca. 1968, its follow-up “Babylonia” is so much more than linguistic confusion and ancient Akkadian Rhythms. Using that hidden portal near Alameda’s finest port to access all kinds of remote regions and sonic spheres, it’s super tight and feels, well, decent, even though, just like the ol’ Babylon, it’s full of surprising tongues and dreams, schemes and melodies.

“Where do we go from here?,” someone asks in opening “Organii-“ – all majestically cinematic boom bap, buoyant bass, sick strings. A fittingly massive opener that feels like cracking open a cold one after long weeks at work (that ecstatic “ahhhh”), it perfectly sets the tone for another half hour of pure time traveling, globe-spanning bliss. Whereas that certain prédilection pour all things French makes “La Rockette” so tempting and tantalizing (think MalMalNonBien), the sophomore album’s Berlin-based guest singer Nana Lacrima soon takes us elsewhere: title track “Babylonia” spins ever so softly, like a magic lantern, with images of dreamier Stones Throw funksters or Savath y Savalas looming over the steady flow of an arrangement that washes you clean like an ancient, unpolluted River Euphrates or Brazil’s actual Amazon. A sexy Portuguese-flavored anthem, occasional guest singer Alix Koliha also enters the scene to add yet another layer of French chic to this Brazilian landscape. Next, we’re back at the Riviera, but the “Italiano” version of it, splendido sunsets and bell towers in the distance, the ragazze laughing and shaking it up, perhaps even some Portofino Gin so you can really feel that “me ne batto il belin,” as your fingers align form some half-serious “ma che vuoi?”

Tim Maia-penned “Padre Cicero” (1970) deals with the stunning transformation of the titular hero – “De reverendo a lutador,” and what a soaring, sensual hook –, and Organi’s take on Elephant Memory’s “Old Man Willow” (now an “Old Man Waltz”) perfectly underlines what Walti’s Wyldwood endeavor is all about: Easy-Going Experimental Dream Pop, fueled by Gainsbourg, Broadcast, Stereolab, etc.

Later on, even though something seems to be tres complique in “Remembering Anna,” it all sounds carefree like a spontaneous Friday afternoon with a bottle of fine wine. Right before the outro, key album guest Yea-Ming Chen (of Yea-Ming & The Rumors) returns to the mic, adding her dark and dusky trademark timbre to melancholy anthem “Pictures Of Your Face”. Reminiscent of Nico and Trish (rip & rip), it’s a track that’s both dark and strangely propelling, hypnotic and hip-shaking.

A third generation Bay Area native, Mike Walti aka Organi has been running Wyldwood Studios in Oakland CA for some 15+ years (recording artists like Tommy Guerrero, Spelling, Why?, Latyrx, Del, Dan The Automator, and Big Freedia, to name but a few). A multi-instrumentalist who’s obviously in love with the 60s/70s, he loves to work with analog equipment (“We just love us some analog!” “Just listen to those relays purr…”). Recorded and mixed by Mike Walti at Wyldwood, “Babylonia” will be released on vinyl/digital by Alien Transistor.

In March 2024, the legendary techno unit Oriental Magnetic Yellow, a group of game music composers at Namco at the time, re-released six albums to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Commemorating the band's restart, the 2-in-1 6th album "nancy Boys / Nervous", which leads from "nancy Boys", a rapid approach to J-pop, to "Nervous", the last commemorative album before the band's hiatus, is available as a limited Clear Vinyl edition!

"Isayahh Wuddha," an artist acclaimed for his unique dreamy funk sound crafted using cassette tape MTR, was none other than a personal project by musician Taku Hayashi residing in Kyoto. There is hardly anyone who would feel uneasy about his second album under the psychedelic project "ohhki", another activity of him, being released by P-vine. His music style, which shows no intention of conforming to mainstream music, is a strong expression filled with solid originality.

The songs recorded with analog equipment are treated with lo-fi sound production, successfully creating a unique pop world that delicately combines elements of psychedelia, dub, funk, and disco. While experiencing a sensation of floating gently in space, the undulations, akin to the brushstrokes of an impressionist painting layered with reverberations and echoes, are drawn onto the canvas of the sky along with the resonance of electric guitars, old keyboards resonating with cheap tones, and enchanting voices, accompanied by the repetitive beats of a drum machine. Beginning with an ode to birds, invoking surprises and casting small spells, after being struck by intense rain between night and dawn like a flowing stream, this world is embraced, lingering within me, entranced by the blues, and ending with "Well... just like a banana ripening... you're amusing." Simply there is light and the wind blows. It exists as literally alternative music, vividly presenting another world, rich in color.

"Limited to 300 copies. Okayama's 8-bit hardcore punk band Yahho has released their 1LP, 45rpm, 39-track ""Yahho no Tanoshimikata"" on analog!

Okayama's Yahho, who has played numerous legendary live shows at the All Senses Festival hosted by Juusangetsu/GEZAN, Meteo Night hosted by Less Than TV, and more, will release their first album "" Yahho no Tanoshimikata "" (4-disc set: 3 CDs + 1 DVD)in August 2023. Despite not being distributed nationwide, they sold hundreds of copies through their own live merchandise and their own online shop. And one year after the release, "" Yahho no Tanoshimikata "" is finally being released on analog for nationwide distribution! The vinyl version also includes two new songs not yet released on CD! Limited to 300 copies pressed, so hurry up! ----------------------------------------------------------- We have received comments from everyone regarding the release of the vinyl version of YAHHO's "" Yahho no Tanoshimikata ""! ----------------------------------------------------------- (Yahho) That's why it's fun, and that's why it's lonely. (Together with someone) That's why it's fun, and that's why it's lonely.

Asano (wetnap, GAME&chips) ----------------------------------------------------------- My image of Yahho is him stumbling around on his own over 8-bit sounds, and he's also a friend who often invites me out. He recently performed overseas. I think he's an artist who doesn't fit into a box. It's great to archive his work! He makes me feel free. Yahho of the World

Moto Kawabe ----------------------------------------------------------- The first album by Yahho, the greatest punk rocker born at Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts, has finally been released on vinyl. Yahho is here to rewrite and update the view of Japanese punk history!

Kawakami Konosuke (Author of ""Punk no Keifugaku"") ----------------------------------------------------------- On ""How to Enjoy Yahho"" Hey, Yahho! Isn't this first album packed with the romanticism of Yahho, music, and love for friends? While laughing, I read the lyrics and it hits me hard, and there are various gradations of blue. Seriously, no matter what mood I'm in, Yahho always responds with the best Yahho at that time. He'll be stupid with me and get depressed with me. Yahho's Yahho is bottomless! Infinite! Look, just saying Yahho makes me feel like I'm floating. Then I hear Yahho! from far away. After that, I can jump really high. It's a dream to have this sound source become a record! Come a little closer, Yahho! Please keep shouting and letting us hear it to each other. I love you forever!

THE Guays Captain Ryosuke ----------------------------------------------------------- He may look ordinary, but he's a weirdo. I love Shintaro's way of life.

Goto(MASTERPEACE) ----------------------------------------------------------- Yahho Analog Record Release! I was asked to comment, but when I hear Yahho, it's just a nightmare.

Contrary to Hamai's appearance, Yahho's charm is its over-the-top performance and sound, but when they visited Miyazaki Prefecture on a live tour, this caused a disaster, and they were banned from both the live house they performed at and the bar where they had their after-party. Rumors about their performance and sound spread to the Chamber of Commerce, and they were banned from all live houses and bars in Miyazaki Prefecture, and on top of that, all the bands they played with that night were also banned, which was a nightmare-like bonus. The rumor spread like wildfire among the prefecture's residents, and if a hiker shouts ""Yahho"" at the top of a mountain, they are looked at with disdain and spat on, and they can't stand it anymore and rush down the mountain... It has developed into a situation like this.

Yahho, congratulations on the release of the analog record!

Hiroaki Sakai ----------------------------------------------------------- 「Don't Forget Youth Memories,Forever.」

Boredom is the reason why I'm constantly irritated. Boredom is also the reason why I'm constantly spacing out.

Of course, boredom is also the reason why any mathematical formula, no matter how important, slips in one ear and out the other. That winter when I was 16 years old. I wanted something to destroy the saturated negative emotions. And I found it. It was undoubtedly the music of ""Yahho"".

Loud 8-bit sound and booming guitar. Screaming vocals writhing on the rough waves of that sound. In ""Extra Yahho"", the 8-bit sound is transformed into a hardcore band sound, with blast beats and screaming vocals exploding. What follows are unique raps and acoustic pop masterpieces. A fast-paced legend of 47 songs and 40 minutes. (*These comments are based on the CD version. The LP version contains 39 songs.) From the day I pressed the play button on my player, ""Yahho"" music became a part of my life.

When I listen to ""Yahho"" music, I feel the urge to scream. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. ""Ya-ho"" shouts out the boredom and frustration we've been holding inside, using it as a springboard. The poetic, yet endlessly straightforward lyrics really bring that home.

I pack all my boredom and endlessly overflowing frustration into a backpack and start running. I don't need to decide where to go. Just look ahead. This album gives me the push I need. I hate it. No, I'm totally against it. It's okay if you're bad at it, just keep going. I'm convinced that becoming an adult isn't that hard. "" Yahho no Tanoshimikata"" taught me everything.

It was a winter when I was 16, not sure if I was an adult or a child. Alone in my messy room, I pumped my fist into the air and said, ""I hope this album will help me become an adult.""

Shokudou (door TO Door) ----------------------------------------------------------- Hitting your forehead on the strap. Earphones and sighs leaking out as the train moves slowly. The music that plays when you take that first step to transfer from one crowded train to the next.

Nishioka (Peoples) ----------------------------------------------------------- How to enjoy Yahho I said out loud, ""This is the ultimate Famicom hardcore punk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!""＼(^o^)／ I love how the song ends so quickly＼(^o^)／ I love how it's gentle and tenacious＼(^o^)／ More than anything, I love how it's fun＼(^o^)／ In the end, I was lucky to be able to listen to a variety of music＼(^o^)／

Nozawa Dive Kinshi (Niji no Tasogare) ----------------------------------------------------------- For the vinyl release of Yahho's ""How to Enjoy Yahho"", I asked people around Yahho who are close to me and have always looked after me for comments, and they all replied promptly and readily agreed, which really made me realize how charming Yahho is and how charismatic he is as an artist. *From the beginning, Yahho said he felt bad about asking for comments from everyone, so I took the initiative and did it on my own.

It wasn't easy to get to the point where we decided to release it, but I was driven by a mysterious sense of mission that even Yahho himself probably didn't want, that made me reach this project. Yahho released a CD last year and sold hundreds of copies individually without national distribution, so I took a selfish action that even he didn't want at all, in order to put him in a more interesting situation. Yahho has already established a solid position in the underground, but we approached Yahho with the idea of releasing this album with the sole desire that more people listen to their music, that they come to their live shows and get excited and laugh, and that we want them to become a part of everyone's lives.

This is a wonderful album that you should listen to and experience for yourself if something isn't going right every day and you're struggling and wondering if things are okay. Once you've listened to it, all that's left to do is gather in the mosh pit at the live venue.

Thank you Yahho!

Hiracchi (manga Shock) ----------------------------------------------------------- I think if you listen to this album on vinyl you'll want to run out the door as fast as you can. Awesome!! Mikuru (ANORAK!) ----------------------------------------------------------- To Hamai Congratulations on the release! The three of us used to go to coffee shops together Do you remember? Don't you remember? I hope we can go again someday

Y.I.M. Omiru Asu chan ----------------------------------------------------------- That packs a punch!

Watson (Dotsuitarunen) -----------------------------------------------------------"

Ayumi Suzuki's original song, composed to show the Japanese landscape to the world with a Japanese-style melody on a Latin rhythm. It is the first song on her 1st Album "Oukagekka," but in this new arrangement, the melody and horn section with vibraphone and shinobue, a traditional Japanese instrument, are added to express cherry blossoms dancing in the wind with Cuban songo and guaracha rhythms.

Blancmange return with their 16th studio album ‘Private View’. The band returns to London Records some 40 years later after their first album ‘Happy Families’ (1982). Album features vocalist Neil Arthur with producer, keyboardist and programmer Ben Edwards (John Grant, Stephen Mallinder, John Foxx) and guitarist David Rhodes (Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Scott Walker). With 7 Top 40 UK hits and 70 weeks in the UK Official Charts, Blancmange’s influence on the global electronic and pop music scenes cannot be understated. Private View is distinctly Blancmange while also expanding into new sonic terrain. There’s a deft marriage of futuristic electronic sounds, Neil Arthur’s unmistakable vocal hooks, and songs veer from buoyant and joyful to dark and brooding. Private View will be released on London Records almost exactly 40 years to the day since the label released Blancmange’s debut album Happy Families. This neat full circle of Blancmange re-signing to the same label that ignited things all those years ago is also reflected in the album itself, being the perfect crystallisation of four decades of creativity. On Private View Neil returns with key collaborator Benge (Wrangler, John Foxx, John Grant), and David Rhodes (Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Scott Walker) also returns as the guitarist, having previously performed with the band as early as 1982’s Happy Families (as well as several other Blancmange albums). Private View is a record that manages to capture an artist who is potently in the moment when it comes to creating new work, while also being able to draw on 40 years’ worth of knowledge, experience, and built-in intuition. “I'm really lucky to be able make the music completely on my own terms,” Arthur says. “Being able to just continue being creative...that's when I'm happiest.” As he said before: “within myself there are no limits.” Blancmange is also reflected in the ongoing influence the music has on younger generations of artists and fans over the years. Contemporary electronic producers like Honey Dijon and Roman Flügel have paid tribute with remixes, Moby once called Blancmange “probably the most underrated electronic act of all time.”; while John Grant continues to profess his love for Arthur’s music, old and new, and has invited Blancmange to perform as part of Grace Jones’ Meltdown festival.

Heiko Voss has earned near mythical status as a torchbearer for the emotional, deeply felt and quietly radical style of electronic music. The blissed-out radiance of his Kompakt Pop single, “I Think About You” remains one of the label catalog highlights and a stellar run of collaborative singles as Schaeben & Voss; others might know him for his stewardship of the excellent, much-underrated Firm imprint. But with his new album, 3:30 Minutes To Live, released by Michael Mayer’s label Imara, Voss returns after a long silence with a beautiful collection of songs that hymn heartbreak with a lusciously melodic touch.

There is something definitive and newly confident in 3:30 Minutes To Live that has it feeling like a real statement of intent if compared to his earlier releases. “Although it’s not, 3:30 Minutes To Live feels like my debut album,” Voss reflects. “All releases before were more song sketches or electronic dance tracks.” Bunkering down in Teary Eyes Studio, Voss worked up somewhere between thirty and forty sketches of songs, which he whittled down to the twelve collected here, all of them situated in a unique space, but very much in accord with Voss’s defining aesthetic, which he describes as “indie pop music with a lot of guitar, electronic elements and a great love for melancholic ‘80s synth-lines.”

Voss is sensitive to both variety and consistency – 3:30 Minutes To Live sits together as an assured, vibrant collection of pop songs, but it’s marked by all kinds of surprising incident, like the guitar solo that erupts out of “This Is My Life”, or the acoustic guitar-led melancholy of the closing “This Summer”. It’s all borne of the alchemy of the studio process and the intimate romance of music-making. “If you constantly feel a little bit like you’re in love while writing and producing your music – simply because of the sound of the synth flowing warmly and gently through the room, or because the sequence of notes awakens something in you, or even a randomly arising groove in the loop of a guitar lick makes you shout, ‘Ha!!’ – then it usually becomes a beautiful song,” Voss nods. “Those moments make me happy.”

There’s also a delicious tension between the push of the music, its melodic lushness and gliding, ballerina-like movement, and the darker currents that pull through Voss’s lyrics, inspired by a “short, dramatic and toxic love affair.” This may read like familiar terrain for a pop album, but the way Voss weaves language through both the extra-linguistic joys of music and the inarticulate speech of the heart somehow allows for direct communication that is simultaneously plain-spoken and deeply profound. “Say It” is a simple, devastatingly effective plaint of alienation; “She Wasn’t Lonely” a simple portrait of everyday living set to chiming, clacking guitars, the music in the bridge taking astral flight as the titular character ‘lets herself go.’

A smart and sharp collection of songs that captures you with its gorgeous melodicism just as it blindsides you with its aching heart, 3:30 Minutes To Live is Heiko Voss at his most assured and open-hearted best.

"Feels like I'm made of glass," Carlyn Bezic sings over a tumbling, harmonic guitar riff on "Pummelled Into Sand," the closing song of Faster Than I Can Take. "Like I could cut you, or you could break me in half." It's a double-edged statement about the power that comes from inhabiting your vulnerability, a complicated truth expressed so beautifully it seems almost simple.

Making the impossible look easy has always been Bezic's musical M.O. Faster Than I Can Take is her sophomore album as Jane Inc., a solo project forged after years of building her bona fides in the Toronto music scene with groups like U.S. Girls, Darlene Shrugg and acclaimed dance-pop duo Ice Cream. Pitchfork called Jane Inc's first album, 2020's Number One, "dazzling... [Bezic] proves herself a musical Swiss Army knife, capable of anything and revelling in her multiplicity." On Faster Than I Can Take, she uses all the tools at her disposal - a Prince-like ability to shred harmonic guitar riffs over deep, danceable grooves, an eagerness to experiment with form, and lyricism that seamlessly links the personal and the political - to focus the multifaceted energy of Number One into something completely singular. A disco-inflected, danceable meditation on the permeable boundaries between our interior and exterior worlds, Faster Than I Can Take is an album that you can listen to at a party or alone in your apartment - but no matter where you listen, it will make you dance.

On lead single "Contortionists," Bezic's voice floats over a landscape of spare, warping synths and ethereal backing vocals from Dorothea Paas (U.S. Girls, Badge Epoque Ensemble), seeming at first to sketch out a familiar pandemic scene: "The laws of time have changed / months pass in minutes, hours feel like days." But as the melody begins to swirl and bend back over itself, a deeper theme creeps in. “At first I thought I was making a record about time," Bezic explains, "but I was actually making a record about how, in moments of intense anxiety, you're living in the past, present and future at the same time. A million moments existing at once, real and imagined." By the time the song drops into a ticking groove, you know exactly what she means.

Many of the songs on Faster Than I Can Take work this way - taking concepts that feel intimately interior and expanding them into something universal. Songs like the moody, bass-heavy title track, or the bright, searing "Pummelled Into Sand," where a Hendrix-like guitar solo runs under Bezic's voice like a third rail, deal with what Bezic calls "the pain of change and growth." "Human Being" and "Dancing With You" (whose bridge features the catchiest meditation break you've ever heard in a dance-pop song), explore the psychedelic melding of individual and collective worlds that can come from fantasizing about performance while alone in your house, or connecting to a group of strangers through your computer screen.

In "An Ordinary Thing," Bezic contemplates the complexities of wanting to create anything - art, or even a family - against the backdrop of the Anthropocene. "Someone please take this from me / this feeling, this need," she sings, the tension audible in her voice. But in the next track, the irresistibly danceable "2120," that anxiety turns into powerful resolve: "I'll pour my grief into this plastic crucible / Forge a new infinite fuel made of anger, and hope, and refusal," she sings against a driving, determined beat.

That determination is what makes Faster Than I Can Take unlike anything else you've heard this year - a work of art that refuses to either wallow in the difficulties of contemporary life or ignore them in favour of escapist fantasy. As Jane Inc., Bezic takes on the complexities of living in the world - alone, and with others - with playfulness, honesty, openness and love, and turns all that complication into something that will move you.

Aufgang is back with its 3rd album, “Broad Ways”, slated for release in November 2021

With this 3rd album, the franco-lebanese duo perpetuates its winning alchemy by drawing on the psychic and collective traumas of recent History at the crossroads between European and Middle Eastern cultures.

What more was there to prove for the Aufgang duo since their re-invention of US techno a few years ago through the means of organic instruments like piano + drums, and releases on Infiné & BlueNote/Decca ?

Maybe that they would from now on independently take onto themselves, the full conception and distribution of their body of work, supported by a collective of visual-arts creators, dancers, and emerging talent-incubators (Bi:Pole/Believe/ BigWax/Alter-K)...

“Broad Ways” could be translated as «in many ways» in the sense that there are many ways of seeing the world, and that everything is not binary and that on the contrary, our lives are shaped by the each other’s own paradigms...

In this clever mix of experimental techno, lyrical prowess and melodies in the Arab tradition, can one imagine a future that would solve the world’s current contradictions in a boiling magma so complex of which Edgar Morin would be proud... Following this unique trademark, this art of mixing influences and cultures, along the New York, Paris, Lebanon and now Sydney axis... how far will they go?

According to Pitchfork, Aufgang “blends piano, drums and electronic music with virtuosity, with one foot in the club and the other in the conservatory.”

Rami Khalifé, composer and pianist, transcends the classical heritage of his years studying at the Juilliard School in NYC and the Middle Eastern origins of his masterful family: his father Marcel Khalifé is a major composer and musician in the Arab world.

The drummer and producer Aymeric Westrich has an instinctive DIY approach and infuses his music with his knowledge of urban and electronic cultures, developed with Kery James, Cassius, Phoenix and more recently Lomepal.

Taking their inspiration from multiple artistic movements and currents, from the Disco of the mythical Larry Levan to the poetry of Oum Kalthoum, these two free electrons have created their sound between Paris, Beirut and New York, in reaction to the frenetic energy of big cities, as if in an effort to prevent this energy from corroding their freedom. It’s a unique experience born from the sublime diversity of these two masterful approaches.

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.

At an age of plastic and digital screen reigning, when it is almost impossible to feel anything in front of a contemporary art piece, it is still possible to be moved by a drum machine …. and a keyboard……

There are still artisans and sunday painters who will put a little of their troubles and their humanity at the service of their art. Certainly a merchant of colors in a previous life, Med paints his songs with a Benedictine patience, distilling its doubts in its small pop compositions with soft water reflections where everyone could see themselves as in a mirror.

MED is Médéric Gontier, guitarist of Tahiti 80, first solo effort. Where the band had not often ventured outside English, Med uses the French language and caresses it in the direction of its melodies. Produced with the help of Pedro Resende, these are ten pieces both aerial and aquatic, light but finally of a real consistency.

Immediately pop («Dans ses yeux»), reminiscent of the great French composers of the sixties («Avec toi») and with them that of the English of Broadcast to Vanishing Twin («Muzak»).

It’s a bit time for the Norman to make a pause and for that, to put his nose out, it’s freetime, the one of those who will never claim to be better than the others but whose records will be kept close to the heart.

Let's go on a vacation just for the two of us to a remote place where you can look out over the sea and mountains. Let's find paradise... It's been 10 years since their 2014 debut album, which presented a new take on the pop sensibilities of their predecessors. Yogee New Waves' 1st full album 'paraiso' is being reissued as a 10th anniversary edition on remastered vinyl! The album contains a total of 9 songs, including the classic “Climax Night” and other representative songs that are still staples of their live performances today, such as “Good bye”, “Hello Ethiopia”, “Summer” and “Listen”.