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140g cardinal red vinyl (exclusive)

- Gatefold sleeve
- Printed inner sleeve
- Black printed jute bag
- Arlo Park's friendship bracelet
- A2 poster
- A5 print (exclusively signed)

Following highly praised releases by Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo, Leonardo Marques, Xenia Franca, Moons, and Gus Levy, 180g and the legendary Disk Union continue to explore the best of today's Brazilian music scene with this wonderful album by Bruna Mendez. A chill, mellow and futuristic musical masterpiece with funky and electronic flavours, Corpo Possível leads the way to the new era of Brazilian R&B.

Bruna Mendez is a female singer/songwriter from the inland city of Goiânia, Brazil. Originally a lyricist, she began her musical career in 2008 to express herself as a musician, joining several bands in Rio as well as in her hometown Goiânia. After releasing her debut EP "Pra Ela" in 2014, Bruna released her debut solo album "O Mesmo Mar Que Nega a Terra Cede à Sua Calma" in 2016, which received critical acclaim in Brazil.

After this first album, Bruna also finds interest in electronic sounds and textures, and starts incorporating these elements into her music. Her second album here, "Corpo Possivel", is the result of such an encounter between electronic beats, addictive melodies and a band and musicians playing a tight and propulsive sound. All of this makes Corpo Possivel an album standing out in today's Brazilian music scene, where many extraordinary talents are produced. 180g and Disk Union are proud to release Corpo Possivel for the first time outside of Brazil. This is an essential LP by an artist promised to a bright future on the Brazilian and international scenes.

This album comes on 180g vinyl format.

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Credits:

- Recorded in Curitiba / PR / Brazil, between April and July of 2019 by Pedro Soares (jack) at Chucreza Beats, Guigo Berger at Rec'n'Roll, Tiago Brandão at Voxdei, Vinicius Braganholo at Nico's Studio; in Goiânia / GO by Braz Neme at UpMusic, and in Lisboa / Portugal by João de Carvalho at The LX Sound.

- Produced by Gianlucca Azevedo (jan) - Co-produced by Machado (tracks A3 and B1), Pedro Soares (jack - tracks A4 and B2) and Lucas Romero (track B3)

- Voices: Bruna Mendez, Lilian Soares, Layane Soares and Machado - Guitars: Bruna Mendez and Gianlucca Azevedo - Bass: Machado, Leomaristi dos Santos, Rayssa Almeida, Nikko Novak and Gianlucca Azevedo - Saxophone: Gianlucca Azevedo - Drums: Pedro Soares, Eli Lage and Jean Ramos - Vocal Producers: Lilian Soares and Gianlucca Azevedo

- Edit: Bruna Mendez, Gianlucca Azevedo and Amadeus Marchi - Post-production by Bruna Mendez - Mixed by Guigo Berger at Rec'n'Roll Studio (Curitiba / PR) - Mastered by Anderson Guerra at Bunker Analog (Belo Horizonte / MG)

- Art direction: Junior Ribeiro and Bruna Mendez - Album cover photo by Junior Ribeiro - Graphic design: Félix B. Perini - LP additional design by Nicolas Kerembellec (nker.fr)

- Executive Producer: Cecília Brito - LP vinyl production by Greg Gouty (180g) and Yusuke Erikawa (Disk Union)

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180gdulp06 - Manufactured and distributed by 180g in collaboration with Disk Union Japan, under license from Bruna Mendez.

The second album from Cantaro Ihara is finally here!

Deftly weaving everything from 70’s soul to AOR to city pop into his sound, Cantaro Ihara makes pitch-perfect groove-forward pop music. With high praise from DJs both in his native Japan and abroad, this second album is sure to be killer! With a knowledge of music unbound by genre, recent years have seen Cantaro Ihara’s star steadily rising. Whether he’s compiling music for DJ Bars, providing commentary for international artists, or releasing 7-inches that sell out on pre-order, it’s clear that the young musician is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in Japan’s indie music scene. In the two years since his first full album C, Ihara has leveled-up, and Portray makes the clear from beginning to end. From a Japanese-language cover of free soul legend Weldon Irvine’s “I Love You” (the original 7-inch led to intense bidding wars after heavy radio play in both Japan and abroad) and the Ihara original “Twiny”, the lead singles are already off to the races. Gripping the hearts of crate diggers worldwide, it seems predetermined that Ihara’s newest album would be funky, soulful, and mellow. Yet Portray manages to remain shockingly fresh, without any of the obvious tropes that have threatened modern soul. A feature from Japanese trumpeter Yusuke Sase on “Baby So In Love” catapults the song into neo-soul territory, bringing a new twist to a timeless sound. Meanwhile, a feature from Bialystocks keyboardist Go Kikuchi on “Yoru no Nagare” (The Flow of the Night) sees one of Ihara’s most instantly iconic melodies played with a gentle sophistication that could move you to tears in one moment, and have you two-stepping the next. With a history of selling out vinyl on pre-order and intense bidding wars, I’d say it’s clear that Cantaro Ihara is not just one of Japan’s most promising musicians, but one that continues to grip the hearts of record lovers everywhere. His second full length album Portray has everything there is to love about him. Mellow soul and funky grooves are aplenty - but I can’t say the same for stock! Make sure to get your copy of Portray on limited edition vinyl while stock lasts!

Shiny cover with goffering, printed insert. Cola Boyy gets members of Mgmt, The Avalanches, Chairlift’s Patrick Wimberly, AIR's Nicolas Godin, Myd, Infinite Bisous, and John Carroll Kirby on debut album. There’s liberation on the dance floor in the songs of Matthew Urango – glimpses of revolution that glimmer beneath the disco ball. “I want my music to bring people together,” says the Californian pop innovator, best known as Cola Boyy. “Because standing together is our best chance at fighting this shit show.” The shit show in question is a broken, brutal system the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist has witnessed up-close. Urango was born with spina bifida and scoliosis in Oxnard, California: a town in which almost 30,000 are estimated to live in poverty. Prosthetic Boombox, his eagerly awaited debut album, might at first glance seem a joyous confetti-burst of pop eclecticism, engineered to sound like “scanning between stations on a car radio, landing on all these different sounds and styles” as Urango puts it. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll discover a simmering sense of rebellion. “The working class are injured, struggling to pay rent and struggling to put food on the table,” he says. “I want to represent that.” Prosthetic Boombox achieves that goal in a thrilling flurry of inventive indie, funk and soul: take Urango’s car radio analogy, place it in a time-travelling Delorean with Prince in the passenger seat, and you’re half-way there.

LIMITED FIRST EDITION RELEASE
In an effort to reduce waste, the first edition run of Moon Music EcoRecord rPET LP will be strictly limited and produced at a higher specification than any future editions. All First Edition EcoRecord rPET LP products will be individually numbered.

NEW FORMATS AND NEW SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS
In tandem with Coldplay’s ground-breaking sustainability measures on their current tour - which
has so far produced 59% less CO2e emissions than their previous stadium tour - the band have
gone to great lengths to make the physical release of Moon Music as sustainable as possible.
This will be the world’s first album released as a 140g EcoRecord rPET LP, with each copy
containing nine recycled PET-plastic bottles recovered from post-consumer waste. This will
prevent the manufacture of more than 25 metric tonnes of virgin plastic, and provide an 85%
reduction in manufacturing process CO2 emissions/kg compared to traditional 140g vinyl.

Additionally, the band have collaborated with long-time partners The Ocean Cleanup to create
an additional format: the Notebook Edition EcoRecord rPET LP. The rPET for this edition
comprises 70% river plastic, intercepted by The Ocean Cleanup from the Rio Las Vacas,
Guatemala, and prevented from reaching the Gulf of Honduras and the Atlantic Ocean.
The CD editions of Moon Music will be the world’s first to be released on EcoCD, created from
90% recycled polycarbonate, sourced from post-consumer waste streams. This will provide at
least a 78% CO2/kg emission reduction, and avoid the manufacture of more than five metric
tonnes of virgin plastic.

An up-and-coming R&B singer from Kyoto, FLEUR's first full-length album "forever Forever" is now available on analog LP! In addition to the singles that have been released consistently, such as "Thinking About You (feat.Shin Sakiura)" and "Mornin Dew (feat.VivaOla & Rikuto Nagira)", the album also includes "Pool (feat. NF Zessho & Fkd)", which was released ahead of the album, and "Forever Forever", the title track of the album, produced by A.G.O, who has produced songs for Sirup and Furui Riho, etc. The album contains a total of 11 tracks!!

It has been decided that the 1st Album "Green Light" by SSW "Furui Riho" from Hokkaido will be released in clear yellow vinyl!!

She has been actively performing live performances all over the country, and her first album title is "Green Light." His songs include "I'm free," which affirms who he is, "Purpose," which he has released so far, and "Kirai," which was selected for JFL's "music FOR THE Next" and received a power play on five stations nationwide. In addition to the original songs, the album contains 9 new songs, including ``Aoshingou,'' produced with the producer ``Yaffle,'' who has produced numerous hit songs, and ``Candle Light,'' a collaboration with the up-and-coming track maker ``A.G.O.''

As Furui Riho herself says, ``It's the culmination of the last three years, when I started running from my old self, who had been at a standstill for a long time, as if a green light had been turned on.'' This work, which is full of raw energy and speaks in a way that may never be possible before, makes listeners rediscover their inner power and driving force, and lights a green light in their hearts.

With unique lyric work and grooves that express struggles, conflicts, clumsiness, and love, I feel like I'm putting an end to the thoughts of the past three years, calling it "leaving it all behind," and moving forward anew. The works that are released are overflowing with green light that makes you think, ``That's okay.''

Clearing is the elemental debut album from multifaceted PC Music originator Hyd. The record, a tactile masterpiece, cycles through a reckoning following a fiery period of fear, loss and destruction where Hyd chooses softness and a gentle touch to come to terms with the chaos. Clearing embodies a restoration that mirrors the emergence of a Garden - through seed-like vulnerability, the album combines glitching pop-heights with glistening intimacy, exploring the cyclical nature of growth, both personal, in community and in all nature. Featuring contributions from close friends and longtime collaborators Sophie, A. G. Cook and Caroline Polachek, Hyd’s highly anticipated debut is a chrisalyssed amalgamation of healing, nourishment, and a haven for all. Featuring single “Afar”, produced by Caroline Polachek and launched to critical acclaim in July, with support from Mary Anne Hobbs and Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 6Music, Pitchfork, Notion, Paper Magazine and more.

"Forever Jan" packs 25 (!) years into the most comprehensive compilation possible - and, despite all the stylistic diversity, makes the common thread of this extraordinary career recognizable in every respect. Jan Delay himself has become an icon of German pop: He has shaped how music sounds in this country, and he has inspired entire generations to listen to their raveheart and consistently do their thing.

But above all, he has always remained a fan. Anyone who has shared a dancefloor with Jan at five o'clock in the morning or discussed the latest Soundso record with him, indeed anyone who has experienced him on stage even once, knows what music means to him, how it drives him, how it defines his work. The beats, the bass, the whole boom, that's his element. And he has always transferred this passion very directly into his own projects. Anyone who hears "Forever Jan" knows that this fire will burn forever.

"Forever Jan" comes with 2 new tracks, classics, rarities and floor fillers.

Limited hardcover book in vinyl format incl. 2 new tracks: 5-fold vinyl (colored, 180g) and 2 CDs with glued-in 20-page booklet and signed DIN A5 photo

Pressed on double 180 gram virgin vinyl. Includes 30cm art print. Including download codes for the Jordan Rakai mix and full unmixed tracks as MP3 / FLAC / WAV.

“I wanted to try and showcase as many people as I knew on this mix. My idea of Late Night Tales was to distil a series of relaxing moments; the whole conceptual sonic of relaxation. So, I was trying to think of all the collaborators and friends that I knew, who’d recorded stuff with this horizontal vibe. Plus, I was also trying to help my friends' stuff get into the world. I know the story of Khruangbin blowing up after
appearing on the series (in fact, I think that's how I discovered
them). So, the main idea was to create a certain atmosphere, but also to help some of my favourite collaborators and buddies to give their songs a little push out into the world. Hope you like it” Jordan Rakei
Due for release on 9th April, Late Night Tales celebrate their 20th anniversary with the release of multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer Jordan Rakei’s majestic compilation. The 28-year-old modern soul icon effortlessly stamps his own jazz and hip-hop driven sound all over this gorgeous array of handpicked tracks. A beautifully layered blend that is mirrored in the music he’s made, it comes as no surprise that such a supremely gifted songwriter should deliver a mix that is all about the song. Rakei, born in New Zealand, but raised in Australia, moved to the UK in 2015; he released his debut album, Cloak, with Oz label Soul Has No Tempo, but his two subsequent LPs, Wallflower and Origin, came out on Ninja Tune, the former #2 in Album Of The Year for Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide poll, while Origin was nominated for Best Album at the AIM Awards. Jordan had this to say on his upcoming mix:
As Jordan says, there’s so much more to the song selection on Late Night Tales’ latest outing than a random collection of artists. Many have some sort of personal connection, so just as Bonobo provided a platform for the breakout of Khruangbin on a previous LNT, this may have the same effect for Rakei’s friends. After a soothing opener from Fink, good friend and big influence Alfa Mist (part of the Are We Live collective) delivers ‘Mulago.’ “I want to champion their sound and show the world how good he is, and I thought it’d be fitting to start the mix with family,” says Jordan. Next up is Charlotte Day Wilson with ‘Mountains,’ followed by ‘Count A Heart’ from Moreton, an exclusive collaboration with Jordan, who grew up on the same street in Brisbane, Australia. “She was the first artist I ever collaborated with, and one of the first artists to be involved in my career,” he explains. Elsewhere we hear Scottish producer and multi-instrumentalist C Duncan’s haunting ‘He Came from the Sun,’ Barcelona collective Oso Leone deliver a dreamy ‘Virtual U’ and Bill Lauren’s ‘Singularity,’ which evokes a striking sense of time and place. Snowpoet’s ethereal ‘Evitenity’ is a “long mediative narrative over a beautiful soundscape,” which at times seems chaotic, nicely juxtaposed with undeniable beauty, and Maro’s kooky songwriting shines on ‘Always And Forever.’
Long-time buddy Armon-Jones contributes ‘Idiom,’ and Jordan’s exclusive cover version is a two-for-one, Radiohead’s ‘Codex’ merging with ‘Lover, You Should’ve Come Home’ by Jeff Buckley and another exclusive, original composition by Jordan, ‘Imagination.’ The latter works as a piece with the spoken (Spanish) word voiced by movie director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, Birdman, and The Revenant,) who is a big fan of Jordan’s. “He messaged me when I went to L.A and asked to come to my show. I was in such shock and we hung out after. I thought it would be nice to get him to do this in his native tongue, because I don’t think that’s been done yet on the series.” It certainly is a family affair. Not the blood is thicker than water kind, but certainly musical kindred spirits.

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.

“I imagine this record to be just like a flea market, an ensemble of nostalgia, a collage of memories, of dreams, ideas, sounds, words, feelings, places, eras and styles. A unique sonic sound space that I’ve been trying to create for my own music. This is also a record about getting old, about the uneasiness of life, but also about how to embrace it and enjoy the ride. About taking a trip to a place and a time that we have never been to, but that we long for. “ - Leonardo Marques

A multi-talented musician, singer songwriter and record producer full of tales to tell, Leonardo Marques has released three solo records – Dia e Noite no Mesmo Céu in 2012, Curvas, Lados, Linhas Tortas, Sujas e Discretas in 2015, and Early Bird in 2018. All of Leonardo’s solo albums have been released in Japan by Disk Union and the latest one, Early Bird, has also been released worldwide on vinyl format by 180g x Disk Union.



Leonardo was the guitar player of Diesel (later called Udora), one of the main alternative rock bands in Brazil in the early 2000’s. The band was on the main line up of the Rock in Rio III Festival, playing for over 250,000 people as an opening act for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Silverchair, and Deftones. Leonardo then moved to Los Angeles with the band and signed a record deal with Clive Davis (J Records / Rca) and worked with Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Faith No More), Gavin Macklop (Goo Goo Dolls, Toad the Wet Sprocket), Camus (David Byrne, Arto Lindsay), Bob Marlette (Black Sabbath, Tracy Chapman, Alicce Cooper), and 16-time Grammy Award winner Thom Russo (Michael Jackson, Audioslave, Johnny Cash, Maná). Back to Brazil a few years later, Leonardo launched his Ilha do Corvo recording studio in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The studio is equipped with vintage instruments and gear from various decades which creates a unique sonic landscape and sound signature in each record it produces.

With Flea Market Music, Leonardo Marques presents his long-awaited fourth solo effort and the follow up to the now classic Early Bird album, with a majestic and unique musical trip into nostalgia, dreamy textures and lo-fi flavors, entirely written and recorded at his Ilha Do Corvo studio. This is essential Brazilian contemporary music at its best!

Limited to 150 copies in gatefold cover, with bonus instrumental LP.

The regular album is black, the instrumentals are magenta. Mieke Miami's "Montecarlo Magic", the follow-up album to her debut "In the Forest", (2016, Sonar Kollektiv) no longer darkens through the forest, but there is truly no light constraint either. Rather a special, positive mood that radiates inward and outward, describing a state that seems to be inner contemplation and journey at the same time: Florida, California and Brandenburg nestle very close to each other here. Perhaps a river still rattles through the picture and certainly somewhere magicians*innen play with things hide: intoxicated, dreamy and certainly easy to find. Because in this world no one should look around for anything. Find what you want, says Mieke.

Right away the opener "Californio" makes me think of a stay in Los Angeles, an imagined Los Angeles, more imagined than real. Absurd: I was still invited there in February 2020. Silver Lake, in the first light of a new day. Walking along a spring morning, I hear from the garden of a hippie commune this chorus with bright bell piano, space echoes and fine refrain wafting over. "Californio ...". How close it gets to me? Very. I'd like to go back to where this music is playing and realize that this is happening just as much there, in that distant LA at a certain time, as it is in the here and now in me. Beautifully displaced simultaneity. The single "Horse", pre-released at the end of 2020, tells quite a lot about it: bass clarinet and the constant Angerauschte, loose, casual, played. An atmosphere of voices, instruments, delays and, if at all necessary, more painted than planned, the image of a (in itself) polyphonic world.

Unison different: bridges and choirs slipped from front to back, singing sometimes lead sometimes back. Generously overlapping themes, verses, choruses to song worlds. Which you can listen to like this or like that, says the artist. All get into each other, without effort and with horny opacity: Montecarlo Magic.

A confession: yes, I immediately thought, "'Californio' = Los Angeles, garden, world, music, and that hidden yet tangible new humility, hippie USA." I thought all that. But then Mieke tells me about ghost ships, souls and wanderings, and danger? No, it fits. Every dream is true, Yes and No, A and Not-A one: "So many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible." '***

Soon this cover version of the Beatles will follow! Who does something like that? "Cry Baby Cry" Maybe the Fab Four in their Los Angeles days? Wiki says India. White album, Lennon on the peak. Supposedly he doesn't like the track later, here it fits. And Mieke Miami becomes, so to speak, for a very brief moment, the most humble John Lennon in the world, and then dreams on, and the band, which is actually herself, dreams itself alongside her.

A record like a garden: "The king was in the garden picking flowers for a friend who came to play." '**. So nice to hear something from John Lennon again and easy translated. Thanks Mieke.

And where I just thought myself listening to Los Angeles and India, doing something mysterious and simple, the record now leads me - via bumper cars and Abbey Road - via London to San Francisco: Swimming Pool. A street-of-Francisco feeling, with guitars and choirs - and soulful grooves that are as oppressive as they are pleasantly dirty. Nix urban soul though, but country road soul, which triggers a crazy wanderlust right now (and far beyond now). And at the same time dissolves it, because whoever listens is amazed - and understands: Brandenburg, Florida, California: It's all here. This melancholic wanderlust likes to blow away completely in the pollen of the places and regions of our desire. More than ever.

The last song: "Golden Ships" is then actually my favorite title, because then I can already start again with this magic music.

Mieke Miami - Montecarlo Magic appears in the second Corona summer on Fun in the Church. Dit fits

Original inner sleeve. Close to NM.

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.

Do androids still dream of electric sheep? Introducing RAMXES—a dystopic cowboy hailing from the outskirts of Houston. His ferocious debut album, Deep Crimson, is out now via Italians Do It Better. It’s cybernetic head music for the blurry hours before dawn. Fusing the thematic vocabulary of Philip K. Dick & William Gibson, Ramxes effortlessly blends classic Chicago House with a hybrid of ‘80s horror, new wave, and early 1990’s industrial landscapes. The result is a mesmerizing vision of a future most likely trapped in the glitching dream of a video game avatar. Deep Crimson swiftly jumps from John Carpenter & Sinoia Caves to Frankie Knuckles, Nine Inch Nails, & Massive Attack, but never sits still long enough to get lost in any of them. His bold, genre-agnostic alchemy captures strands of their DNA, but engineers a world of his very own. Whiplashing the listener with a megaton of pressure, Ramxes floors the throttle & pushes the boundaries of what a synthesizer can do. Deep Crimson opens with a captivating menace, & raw funk obliterates sequencers pouring acid rain from the pixelated sky. That dirty swagger bleeds ultra-vivid hues. The album is a pulsating, serpentine strut through unfriendly terrain, sticking to you like wet Lycra. It’s a skittering download of Berlin 2200 AD, & with the right bionics, you might finally get into Berghain. Take the cosmic night drive on the shores of Neptune where purple light echoes rhythms just below the surface. Klaxons wail in the distance as your oxygen levels recede. It’s Destination Deep Crimson, & Ramxes is your guide through the chaos. This is the best night of your life where the distinction between “real” & simulation are an afterthought. Enjoy the ride.

French genius keyboardist Guillaume Metenier, who is also extremely popular as Booker Gee, has released a new 7-inch under the name of Soul Sugar!

A current French keyboardist/producer who attracts not only reggae and jazz but also rare groove fans with his unparalleled talent. Keyboard maestro Booker Gee, who has produced many masterpieces so far, presents a deep and sweet vocal song in this new work under the name of Soul Sugar.

The singer is Shniece, with her clear voice and reggae-mannered rhythm section created by Soul Sugar. The finest mellow tune "Top of my list" is on the front, and the dub mix "Top of my list dub" that delights fans is also installed on the back side.

Mixed by Guillaume "Booker G" Metenier. With Shniece and its rich and warm sound as it is, this is also one of the gems like the front side. A masterpiece 7 inch where you can taste Soul Sugar's best mellowness that will get you drunk.

In March 2020, Tahiti 80 had a plan to start recording their new album in the studio. That plan, of course, along with everything else in the world, got derailed. But the five-piece group was resilient and resourceful. They quickly shifted to a socially distanced plan B that included file swapping and virtual sessions, all refereed by producer Julien Vignon. The result, due for release in March 2022, is the buoyant Here With You, a collection of eleven upbeat songs that unfold like a prescription for a post-pandemic panacea.

“When lockdown in France happened, we said, 'We're not going to stay at home not doing anything,'” says singer-guitarist Xavier Boyer. “And our new plan became a hopeful thing, waking up every morning and seeing what the other guys had worked on. It wasn't always easy, but this new method allowed a freer approach where we could really go all the way with an idea without being influenced by each other’s suggestions. It must've been overwhelming for Julien, who ended up selecting all our arrangements. But he stayed positive all the way through.”

To help stay inspired and focused during their time in isolation, the band created a mood board, with the centerpiece a photo of an early '90s rave in the UK.

Boyer says, “Whenever you see pictures from this era, people seem very innocent. There are no cell phones and everybody is in to what they are experiencing. We kept that picture in mind as a kind of mantra that would help everyone feel connected to this idea of people celebrating, gathering and just having fun. We were missing the connection with people, and thought it would be great if we could create music that would inspire that kind of emotion.”

Indeed, the songs on Here With You are brimming the feeling of communion that we've all been missing over the past two years. It's there in the catchy opener Lost in the Sound, which walks the walk with Chic guitar flicks, urban nightfall sparkles and an inviting chorus (“Your heart grooves like a thousand 808s on the right time”). It's there in the Jackson 5-style syncopated bounce of “Vintage Creem,” the lush, dreamy “Breakfast in L.A.” and the panoramic sweep of “UFO.” And it's there in the first single “Hot,” which matches an irresistible groove with a neon-lit, percolating arrangement that evokes the disco clubs of 1979.

What's remarkable is that though Tahiti 80 displays a clear affection for sounds of the past, from bubble gum to '70s soul, they never trade in mere pastiche. Their take is more a slightly warped and playful carnival mirror mash-up of classic pop styles, given depth through Boyer's hang-gliding, coolly emotive vocals and lyrics that often rub against the euphoric grain of the music.

“I like to think of songs as a three-minute drama,” says Boyer. “This concept of drama definitely adds different levels to our music. There's the melody, the lyrics, then the production that can maybe emphasize or counterbalance the interaction between the yin and yang in a song.

“There's a difference between the very upbeat, sunshine-y soft rock and the lyrics, even on our past albums,” he continues. “Not dark, but a little more melancholy, and also looking for some kind of motivation, talking to yourself. Like with a lot of Motown songs, you get that feeling where you body’s dancing while your mind’s reflecting, reminiscing.”

That alluring blend of happy-sad has been a signature part of the Tahiti 80 sound from the time Boyer and bassist Pedro Resende formed the group in 1993, as students at the University of Rouen. Taking their name from a souvenir t-shirt given to Boyer's father in 1980, the duo recruited guitarist Mederic Gontier in 1994, and with the addition of drummer Sylvain Marchand a year later, the lineup was complete. The foursome released a self-produced and self-financed EP, 20 Minutes, in 1996, which resulted a record deal with French label Atmospheriques in 1998. Their full-length debut Puzzle, produced with Ivy's Andy Chase and mixed by Tore Johansson, went gold and featured the international hit “Heartbeat” that established the band throughout Europe and Asia.

In the years since, Tahiti 80 – with the additions of Raphaël Léger on drums and Hadrien Grange on keys - has released eight acclaimed albums. The band has fused what Mojo called a “glorious entente of old and new technology” (including singles like “Yellow Butterfly,” “1000 Times,” “Sound Museum,” “Crush!” and “Big Day,” which was featured on a Fifa video game soundtrack), while collaborating with such producers and arrangers as Richard Swift, Tony Lash and Richard Anthony Hewson, who famously arranged The Beatles' “Long and Winding Road.” Boyer has also put out two solo albums, the first under the anagram Axe Riverboy and the second under his name. In 2019, the band released Fear of an Acoustic Planet, a stripped-down reimagining of some of their best-loved tracks from the previous twenty years. It served not only as a look back but a reminder of their formidable songwriting skills.

Boyer is definitely a student of the timeless three-minute pop song format pioneered by '60s artists like The Beatles and The Beach Boys. He says, “I see it as kind of a frame for a painting. Most of the songs on this album, I wrote a verse, pre-chorus and chorus. There aren't many middle eights. I wanted it to be very concise. I feel like people have less attention. There's so much music. It's too easy to switch off or skip to another track, so I want to hook the listener. The three-minute song is kind of an easy code to crack, but at the same time you have to figure out a new way to tell the stories that we've heard before.”

And the stories on Here With You are very much about the longing for connection. Of the album title, Boyer says, “In the world right now, that can mean a lot of different things. Like missing our fans, missing going to concerts. In a way, it can be a statement of what happened last year, and a wish of 'I want to be here with you again.' It's our ninth album. We've had some had some very open, conceptual titles like Puzzle, Activity Center. Sometimes they were more specific like Fosbury orWallpaper for the Soul. Here with You, seems more personal, more engaging in terms of relationships. When I suggested that title, everyone in the band said, 'Yeah, that's it.'”

Until Tahiti 80 can resume a full tour schedule, Boyer says he hopes the new record will make that personal connection. “If I see from the point of view as a music fan, sometimes I see albums I like as companions throughout my life. So if we can be a part of people's existence, even if it's a song that reminds them of the time they were driving with the windows open and it was sunny. Or a sad song that resonates with them after a breakup. That's what we're all looking for when we're making music. You do this very personal thing and you want it to touch as many people as possible.”

A1. Tahiti 80 - Lost In The Sound A2. Tahiti 80 - Vintage Creem A3. Tahiti 80 - Telling Myself A4. Tahiti 80 - Hot A5. Tahiti 80 - Breakfast In LA

B1. Tahiti 80 - Cameo B2. Tahiti 80 - UFO B3. Tahiti 80 - Riddles & Rhymes B4. Tahiti 80 - Zoo B5. Tahiti 80 - Wicked Wicked B6. Tahiti 80 - Let's Get Started