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"Sugar was the fourth album recorded by Nancy Sinatra in 1966, an uncanny feat considering The Beatles were recording around two albums a year at the time. The iconic Ron Joy cover photo of Nancy in a pink bikini (the first on an album cover!) was a daring move in 1967 that helped propel the album to #18 on the charts (Nancy’s second highest charting album after Boots). It is a peculiar record that pairs one of Nancy’s biggest songs, “Sugar Town,” with mostly 1920s compositions recorded in a contemporary Dixieland jazz pop fusion style that could have only been concocted by producer Lee Hazlewood. Equal parts strong, sultry, and savvy, Nancy Sinatra has long been ahead of her time—both in her choices as an artist and as a businesswoman. Unapologetically, she established her own path early on and paved the way for decades of female artists to come—all while firmly maintaining control over her career, her image, and her music. In 1965, Nancy Sinatra changed the face of music, fashion, and culture."

"Sugar was the fourth album recorded by Nancy Sinatra in 1966, an uncanny feat considering The Beatles were recording around two albums a year at the time. The iconic Ron Joy cover photo of Nancy in a pink bikini (the first on an album cover!) was a daring move in 1967 that helped propel the album to #18 on the charts (Nancy’s second highest charting album after Boots). It is a peculiar record that pairs one of Nancy’s biggest songs, “Sugar Town,” with mostly 1920s compositions recorded in a contemporary Dixieland jazz pop fusion style that could have only been concocted by producer Lee Hazlewood. Equal parts strong, sultry, and savvy, Nancy Sinatra has long been ahead of her time—both in her choices as an artist and as a businesswoman. Unapologetically, she established her own path early on and paved the way for decades of female artists to come—all while firmly maintaining control over her career, her image, and her music. In 1965, Nancy Sinatra changed the face of music, fashion, and culture."

In 1967, Nancy Sinatra would continue her artistic ascent into the pop stratosphere with the James Bond You Only Live Twice theme song, the groovy technicolor television special, Movin’ With Nancy, recording one of the most beloved duets of all time, “Some Velvet Morning,” and a cross-country pilgrimage to the center of the country music scene. Nancy traveled to Nashville to cut her fifth album at RCA Studios, where many of the greatest country songs of all time were recorded. On Country, My Way, Nancy fuses her own personal style with country music, resulting in a new hybrid sound. Producer Lee Hazlewood called it “hippie-billy.” While many people get credit for pioneering the contemporary country sound, like many milestones of the 1960s, Nancy was one of the first. Equal parts strong, sultry, and savvy, Nancy Sinatra has long been ahead of her time—both in her choices as an artist and as a businesswoman. Unapologetically, she established her own path early on and paved the way for decades of female artists to come—all while firmly maintaining control over her career, her image, and her music. In 1965, Nancy Sinatra changed the face of music, fashion, and culture.

In 1967, Nancy Sinatra would continue her artistic ascent into the pop stratosphere with the James Bond You Only Live Twice theme song, the groovy technicolor television special, Movin’ With Nancy, recording one of the most beloved duets of all time, “Some Velvet Morning,” and a cross-country pilgrimage to the center of the country music scene. Nancy traveled to Nashville to cut her fifth album at RCA Studios, where many of the greatest country songs of all time were recorded. On Country, My Way, Nancy fuses her own personal style with country music, resulting in a new hybrid sound. Producer Lee Hazlewood called it “hippie-billy.” While many people get credit for pioneering the contemporary country sound, like many milestones of the 1960s, Nancy was one of the first. Equal parts strong, sultry, and savvy, Nancy Sinatra has long been ahead of her time—both in her choices as an artist and as a businesswoman. Unapologetically, she established her own path early on and paved the way for decades of female artists to come—all while firmly maintaining control over her career, her image, and her music. In 1965, Nancy Sinatra changed the face of music, fashion, and culture.

"Sugar was the fourth album recorded by Nancy Sinatra in 1966, an uncanny feat considering The Beatles were recording around two albums a year at the time. The iconic Ron Joy cover photo of Nancy in a pink bikini (the first on an album cover!) was a daring move in 1967 that helped propel the album to #18 on the charts (Nancy’s second highest charting album after Boots). It is a peculiar record that pairs one of Nancy’s biggest songs, “Sugar Town,” with mostly 1920s compositions recorded in a contemporary Dixieland jazz pop fusion style that could have only been concocted by producer Lee Hazlewood. Equal parts strong, sultry, and savvy, Nancy Sinatra has long been ahead of her time—both in her choices as an artist and as a businesswoman. Unapologetically, she established her own path early on and paved the way for decades of female artists to come—all while firmly maintaining control over her career, her image, and her music. In 1965, Nancy Sinatra changed the face of music, fashion, and culture."

In 1967, Nancy Sinatra would continue her artistic ascent into the pop stratosphere with the James Bond You Only Live Twice theme song, the groovy technicolor television special, Movin’ With Nancy, recording one of the most beloved duets of all time, “Some Velvet Morning,” and a cross-country pilgrimage to the center of the country music scene. Nancy traveled to Nashville to cut her fifth album at RCA Studios, where many of the greatest country songs of all time were recorded. On Country, My Way, Nancy fuses her own personal style with country music, resulting in a new hybrid sound. Producer Lee Hazlewood called it “hippie-billy.” While many people get credit for pioneering the contemporary country sound, like many milestones of the 1960s, Nancy was one of the first. Equal parts strong, sultry, and savvy, Nancy Sinatra has long been ahead of her time—both in her choices as an artist and as a businesswoman. Unapologetically, she established her own path early on and paved the way for decades of female artists to come—all while firmly maintaining control over her career, her image, and her music. In 1965, Nancy Sinatra changed the face of music, fashion, and culture.

Schneider is a Freiburg based duo that tells those everyday stories everyone has already experienced. Stories of desire and lost love, a confrontation with short-lived and powerful encounters. Their debut release Mitternacht is a two-track 7“. The name-giving A-side is about the desperate search for some love, accompanied by a distorted bassline, melancholic synths and echo-ringing church bells. The Bside culminates in howls of emotion. The perfect soundtrack for lonesome walks in restless morning hours.

Yelle has been constantly surprising for 15 years. With "Je t'aime encore", the first single from "The Age of Aquarius", we were once again caught off the other side. And it's not over. Each title of this album strikes us in turn, by its innovation, its spontaneity, its precision. From the sweet boil of Julie Budet and Jean-François Perrier, evaporate a unique intelligence and a high quality of work. Immerse yourself in it with your eyes closed, dance without hesitation.

Austro “Mundart Pop” from Vienna - a “crazy” fun mix between Gypsy, Balkan, Hip Hop, Breaks and Rock.

Cover with slightly bumped corner, closer to NM. Original plastic sleeve with hype sticker. has some damage on the sides and corner. Yellow translucwent vinyl. Copy n° 000078

After appearing on some of the labels key releases, dub maestro Andre Kronert is back on Berg Audio doing what he does best : dubby, reduced, and highly efficient dancefloor breaking tunes - Incl. a highly awaited repress of >Triton<.

The show business is dead, long live the show business. Where have you been? We missed you. It was easy for them to take a break, it is even easier to come back. Birthday have returned. A pop duo, the kings of cool. Their new record is extraordinary. What is left to say? There is no business like show business.

“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.

Danish producer Uffe presents his innovative third LP Words and Endings, which further explores the boundaries between post-punk, dub, UK bass hybrids, and spiritual and free jazz. His first full-lengthouting on genre-breaking London imprint On the Corner, Uffe utilises the techniques that have long fueled his reputation as a purveyor of offbeat sonic fusions and delivers a diverse trip that leans into unusual territory with thrilling and unpredictable results.

Barn Breaks vol Iii', presented by Owlvaro & Hugu, is the latest installment of oddball samples and loops from your favorite globe-trotting Texan trio, and is perfect for ant portablist scratch jam or 7" DJ set... The latest in the series, this "skipless" 7" contains scratch samples from "Mordechai" - band hits, isolated basslines & vocals, guitar notes, keyboard stabs and drum loops - as well as custom "ahhhh" & "fressshh" sounds. Do you know? Here we go!

Aksk is the collaborative effort of Adda Kaleh and Suzanne Kraft. Recorded over the course of almost seven years and despite local separation or virtual realities, it sums up the magic that already inhered in their debut song „Breaking“ for Gerd Janson’s „Musik for Autobahns“ compilation on Rush Hour. An eight track LP of crystalline chansons and pastels pop that features the skills of The Coober Pedy University Band aka Cpub (Tornado Wallace and William Paxton) on dub duties to complete the magical musical mysteries of Aksk.

New single "Breaking The Circle" and her forthcoming album "hana" were made with long-time collaborator and friend Ed Harcourt. It is their third in a trilogy of records, with each stemming around the thematic frame of a location. The collaboration began in 2014 with the critically and commercially successful "Wanderlust", which was inspired by Eastern Europe, and continued in 2016 with "Familia", inspired by Latin America. New album "hana", which Harcourt describes as "kaleidoscopic joy", is inspired by East Asia and began with the album track "Tokyo" and Sophie"s first trip to Japan pre-pandemic in 2020.

Madness is Poliça's 7th release since 2012's ground breaking debut LP "Give You The Ghost". Recorded mostly from 2020-2021 in Ryan Olson's Minneapolis studio with lyrics written and recorded by Channy Leaneagh in her room, "Madness" is an experimental expansion of the 4 piece family band to include the anthropomorphic production tool "AllOvers(c)", designed by Olson and fellow producer & sound-artist Seth Rosetter. This latest release continues within the collaborative enclave in which Poliça resides and includes co-production by Dustin Zahn ("Alive" & "Away"), Alex Ridha and Alex Nutter ("Violence"). First single from the album is the anthemic pulse of "Alive".

Madness is Poliça's 7th release since 2012's ground breaking debut LP "Give You The Ghost". Recorded mostly from 2020-2021 in Ryan Olson's Minneapolis studio with lyrics written and recorded by Channy Leaneagh in her room, "Madness" is an experimental expansion of the 4 piece family band to include the anthropomorphic production tool "AllOvers(c)", designed by Olson and fellow producer & sound-artist Seth Rosetter. This latest release continues within the collaborative enclave in which Poliça resides and includes co-production by Dustin Zahn ("Alive" & "Away"), Alex Ridha and Alex Nutter ("Violence"). First single from the album is the anthemic pulse of "Alive".

Since selling out the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House in 2010, Neil Gaiman and FourPlay String Quartet have been firm friends and collaborators. They have toured the world together, released a New York Times best-selling book & record together, sold out Carnegie Hall together and most importantly, recorded a new album together, Signs of Life. Reflecting the fact that Gaiman and FourPlay have each, always refused to be pigeon-holed in their creativity - together, they have created something remarkable and unique. Signs of Life is a gorgeous, ground-breaking and genre-bending collaboration between an iconic author and a unique musical ensemble. Part songwriting, part poetry, part story-telling; allencompassing, all-engaging, all beautiful.

Since selling out the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House in 2010, Neil Gaiman and FourPlay String Quartet have been firm friends and collaborators. They have toured the world together, released a New York Times best-selling book & record together, sold out Carnegie Hall together and most importantly, recorded a new album together, Signs of Life. Reflecting the fact that Gaiman and FourPlay have each, always refused to be pigeon-holed in their creativity - together, they have created something remarkable and unique. Signs of Life is a gorgeous, ground-breaking and genre-bending collaboration between an iconic author and a unique musical ensemble. Part songwriting, part poetry, part story-telling; allencompassing, all-engaging, all beautiful.

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.

Woo-hoo! Two of the best Italian rare grooves ever are finally back on 7’’ for the first time since their original French release on the format! Both are from that most iconic film soundtrack of the Italian 70s (the LP is now a holy grail for collectors), Armando Trovajoli’s score to Dino Risi’s anthology sex comedy Sessomatto (1973) starring Laura Antonelli and Giancarlo Giannini. In the title track the influence of Manu Dibango’s afro-funk hit “Soul Makossa” is filtered through, and enriched by, an exquisitely Italian approach, with a sweet ’n’ groovy funk base (the terrific mid-song drum break has been a DJ favorite for decades) over which Edda Dell’Orso seductively laughs and repeats the words ‘sesso’ and ‘matto’ again and again. The wild and fun electronic samba “Kinky Peanuts” on side B is a wonderful example of ‘strange incredible music’, with infectiously quirky Moog themes and runs.

Avalon Emerson & the Charm is an evolution. Created during an extended break from the hectic blur of her life as a touring DJ, the album is a personal statement of intent from an artist who’s long looked beyond the club for inspiration. It’s also the first time that Emerson has put herself, her emotions and, most notably, her voice fully into the spotlight.

Having spent her entire career working more or less alone, Emerson purposely sought out a small cast of like-minded artists to help bring the album to life. A Chief among them was UK avant-pop savant Bullion, who executive produced the record and, most importantly, shares both Emerson’s predilection for shimmering pop melodies and her boundary- less approach to music-making.

Working together, they cracked open her head and heart alike, creating a space where she could intimately reflect on the people and places she’s loved and left behind.

Avalon Emerson & the Charm is an evolution.

Created during an extended break from the hectic blur of her life as a touring DJ, the album is a personal statement of intent from an artist who’s long looked beyond the club for inspiration. It’s also the first time that Emerson has put herself, her emotions and, most notably, her voice fully into the spotlight.

Having spent her entire career working more or less alone, Emerson purposely sought out a small cast of like-minded artists to help bring the album to life. A Chief among them was UK avant-pop savant Bullion, who executive produced the record and, most importantly, shares both Emerson’s predilection for shimmering pop melodies and her boundary- less approach to music-making.

Working together, they cracked open her head and heart alike, creating a space where she could intimately reflect on the people and places she’s loved and left behind.

Last year Babymetal concluded their 10-year journey culminating in the celebration of the formation of the revered Japanese metal band with the vinyl release of their retrospective album 10 Babymetal Years. Later they released a cryptic video that announced Babymetal will be "sealed" from the world until further notice. Today, Babymetal break the seal, making their return to Earth. Their official website has revealed a Legend MAP depicting all of Babymetal"s future activities, including the news that Babymetal"s first concept album THE Other ONE will be released worldwide on Friday, March 24th, 2023. The concept album reveals the other side of the Babymetal story that until now remains untold. A total of 10 songs have been discovered within THE Other ONE restoration project, with each song representing a unique theme based on 10 separate parallel worlds that they have discovered. Full length audio of each of the 10 songs will finally be revealed when fans get their hands on the album next March.

Last year Babymetal concluded their 10-year journey culminating in the celebration of the formation of the revered Japanese metal band with the vinyl release of their retrospective album 10 Babymetal Years. Later they released a cryptic video that announced Babymetal will be "sealed" from the world until further notice. Today, Babymetal break the seal, making their return to Earth. Their official website has revealed a Legend MAP depicting all of Babymetal"s future activities, including the news that Babymetal"s first concept album THE Other ONE will be released worldwide on Friday, March 24th, 2023. The concept album reveals the other side of the Babymetal story that until now remains untold. A total of 10 songs have been discovered within THE Other ONE restoration project, with each song representing a unique theme based on 10 separate parallel worlds that they have discovered. Full length audio of each of the 10 songs will finally be revealed when fans get their hands on the album next March.

With “The Giggle Gallery” musical performance duo Brik Tu-Tok takes you on a surreal trip to an obscure giggle theatre of the 21 century.

Tel Aviv super group Megaphonim are bringing their off-kilter energy to Feines Tier in form of their new „Namal Ashdod“ EP with four original tracks and hell of a Simple Symmetry remix. Even though they’re all quite unique on their own, what unites the tracks is the combination of raw beats and vocals with an oddly catchy pop approach to the writing of the music. Be it in the aptly titled „After of Disaster“ with its let-loose energy, the slow-rolling „Lo Titfos Oti“, which could have been picked from an Andrew Weatherall (rip) dj-set, or the title track with its break-beats and its unforeseeable left-turns, there’s always this playful and off-the-wall energy keeping the ball going and bouncing. And let’s not forget about the remix! Endlessly rising duo Simple Symmetry do what they have become known for very well here: Deliver an insanely groovy and relentless weapon of a track, guaranteed to blow the roof of every club, festival floor or after, however disastrous it might be. The EP also comes in form of a limited vinyl edition, so don’t sleep!

Dark Entries and Papi Juice Records team up for No Jack Swing, the solo electronic debut of multi-hype man Brontez Purnell. The Southern-raised, Oakland-based musician and writer has centered his queerness and Blackness in projects Gravy Train and Younger Lovers as well as in his award-winning books 100 Boyfriends and Since I Laid My Burden Down. On No Jack Swing, Purnell gives us a love letter to the most beloved (and secularized) of drum patterns - that is, the electronic 808 “Amen Break”. Beginning recording in 2020, Purnell conceived of No Jack Swing as an audio zine of found sound materials: chain letters of instrumentals recorded in bedrooms, poems from boys in France, found gospel tapes from his childhood family Baptist Choir, and the sound of records skipping on his bedroom turntable. No Jack Swing is as much a homage to No Wave and New Jack Swing as it is an answering to the gods of Indie, Electroclash, Disco, and Gospel. Amidst all this background noise, the unexpected occurs: all the niche pretensions collapse to a singularity - the sound of High Pop! No Jack Swing was produced by Nightfeelings. Each copy of includes a lyric sheet with a photo of Brontez.

Soft-spoken with the look of a slightly disaffected 1950s matinee idol, Aaron Frazer possesses a unique voice that's both contemporary and timeless. On Introducing... -- his debut solo album produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, co-released on Easy Eye Sound and Dead Oceans -- Aaron melds mid-`60s soul with Auerbach's particular sensibilities (`Over You'), songs with a message in the key of Gil Scott-Heron (`Bad News'), and uplifting tales of love told through a blend of disco, gospel, and doo-wop (`Have Mercy'). The Brooklyn-based, Baltimore-raised songwriter first came into the international spotlight as multi-instrumentalist and colead singer of Durand Jones & The Indications, but he's more than a revivalist act. "I didn't want Introducing... to be an exact recreation of an era or a style," Frazer says. "I'm excited to keep breaking some of the expectations around what exactly I'm supposed to be artistically and musically, or what this scene as a whole can be." On Introducing..., Aaron expertly calibrates consciousness-raising and the desire to be enveloped by love. Where previous records were written in a partial state of turmoil, Aaron's debut LP shows maturation and range. Introducing... is both loving and gracious, critical without losing hope, and a showcase of a young artist on a seriously soulful ascent.

Local indie-legend Pia Fraus is releasing a brand-new album after a few years break. The 11-track album is called "Evening Colours" and will be released on July 28. Celebrating the 26th year together, their new album will be out on CD on July 28st and on vinyl Sept 21st. In Europe, the album will be released by Seksound. indie fans worldwide will be reached through our great new partner. "We have recently signed a new contract, so In Asia and Australia, Evening Colours will be released the legendary Japanese label P-Vine Record," says Rein Fuks. "It´s mostly known as a jazz and blues label but these times they're releasing also current indie stuff, like Hazel English and Alvvays, which is probably the most important dreampop band right now."

The album features several well-known artists; the strings on Evening Colours for example, have been arranged by by Sean O´Hagan, who is known as a member of The High Llamas, Stereolab, and Microdisney. "I am glad he took the trouble of doing our stuff," smiles Fuks. The album is designed by Scottish artist Annabel Wright, whose record sleeves and illustrations Fuks, being a big the pastel´s fan, has been admiring already from the end of 1990s.

Renowned US producer Maceo Plex releases his highly anticipated third album, ‘’93', a homage to his three-decade journey through the realms of electronic music. Marking both a passion and a prolific career, the maestro presents a tantalising body of work that masterfully blends House, Hip Hop, Global Bass, Techno, Breaks, and Electronica. This audacious fusion delves into historic and modern influences, crafting an audio journey that transcends time, rich in history yet boldly future-facing.

‘’93' is a cross-genre exploration, seamlessly balancing emotion with hard-hitting beats. Maceo Plex collaborates with a stellar lineup of artists, including Diplo for his contribution on ‘You Don’t Have To Wait’ with Cubicolor, Oscar and the Wolf, Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction), Johnny Jewel and Desire, Kirsty Hawkshaw, Mystic Bill, Avnu, Giovanni, Ishi, and Tyler Hill, resulting in a diverse and dynamic musical affair. This album narrates the story of a highly esteemed artist at a pivotal juncture in his career, consistently evolving towards new directions. Departing from the early deeper house sound that initially defined him, Maceo Plex intentionally ventures into new territory, steering away from his famed melodic and techno direction in recent years. Nevertheless, '93' retains the essence of Maceo Plex's signature style, transcending various sounds and genres in a manner reminiscent of his electrifying DJ sets, meticulously curated for the dancefloor and the crowds.

‘93’ vinyl LP by Maceo Plex is available on Lone Romantic from 17th May 2024.

Green Monster, the 4th Kito Jempere studio album is a journey through love, interconnectedness and creative freedom, bound together by musical friendship that breaks through walls, borders, languages and shapes; accumulated over a celebrated twenty year career and ten years of Kito Jempere.

Over fourteen tracks Kito teams up with over 26 artists from all over the world: a range of talented artists including Warp records artist Jimi Tenor, Red Snapper drummer Rich Thair, Azari & III ex-vocalist Starving Yet Full, L.I.E.S. records Lipelis (on bass), Curly Castro and Sindysman. The album blends hip-hop, free-flowing jazz and world-building soundscapes into a piece dedicated to Kito’s musical roots; marrying multiple artforms, cultural influences and international artists into a body of work that feels deeply personal, healing and detailed. The accompanying artwork is a world created by Kito made using Midjourney prompt, connecting the albums audio world with visible objects — both vinyl and CD will contain booklets with lyrics and the visual world of Green Monster.

Kito describes the album ‘like getting Ennio Morricone, Weezer, The Beatles, Oneothrix Point Never, Eduard Artemiev, Jaga Jazzist, Massive Attack, Fugazi, Jimi Tenor, Hans Zimmer, Radiohead, John Cage and Aphex Twin all together, then collaborating with movie-directors Wes Anderson, David Lynch, Dziga Vertov and Andrei Tarkovskiy.’ Used as a metaphor to help create his album.

After the success of critically acclaimed debut, SOS Music Volume 1 (praised by The Wire - ‘There isn’t a weak link’, RA, Gilles Peterson, Maryann Hobbs, Rough Trade, Love Injection, Mixmag, DJ mag, Basndcamp, Vinyl Factory etc.), the cutting edge Los Angeles electronic label are back with their sophomore release, another explosive compilation comprised of brand new female and female identifying talent. The release, available on beautiful clear vinyl and digital features 7 of the most exciting emerging names in global dance music; Aura T-09, Closet Yi, Regular Fantasy + Yazzus to name a few. As dance floors open, SOS co-founders Maddy Maia and Tottie wanted to curate something positive, uplifting and reflective of sweaty summer dance floors, whilst retaining the edge that permeated their debut. The release will be accompanied by an SOS tour North American + Europe at some of the most iconic global clubs - and expect mainly female, female identifying and non-binary artists on the bill. Though only founded in 2020, SOS Music has been making waves in the independent dance community, and has helped to highlight the global underground dance scene growing rapidly in Los Angeles. The release made end of year lists including Bandcamp’s Best of Electronic and Rough Trade NY compilation of the year. SOS Music also hold a residency on Worldwide Fm, which continues to highlight ground breaking electronic talent with a female focus.

Limited to 100 copies.

The millennium was one long bad prank / we looked at each other and knew right away: that's it." The world out there is going to the dogs. Well, not just since yesterday. And it won't be over tomorrow either. Shitty times, then. Of course, you could meet them with cynicism. Or with despair. But maybe not. Maybe we could also draw hope, precisely because it would be so much easier to lapse into doom and gloom and bitter laughter now. And maybe it's okay to need something to keep our spirits up in the midst of the apocalypse.

And that's how WIR SIND SCHÖN came to be, Jens Friebe's ninth album, which, like the previous albums, is also released on Staatsakt, punctually four years after the last one (2018's FUCK PENETRATION). It is a cheerful-melancholic, ironic-serious, nonchalant piece of music, which just has no desire for staleness and contemplation. The hymn-like, beautiful title track "Wir sind schön" (We are beautiful), which embraces kitsch with self-deprecating seriousness and is above all comforting, gets to the point: the better world out there, we can build it ourselves. Despite everything. "It's an anti-nihilist album," Friebe says. No Future is already not wrong, but not so funny anymore, if the Future really rather scorching earth in prospect. But it's not that the problematic is erased. It appears on the record in the most diverse forms: In the almost socially realistic depiction of a youth friendship destroyed by the multi-tiered education system with the beautiful title - shimmering between urban sociological treatise and fairy tale - "The Shrinking City", in the devastating protocol of failed self-care ("Das Nichtmehrkönnen") or the enigmatically gloomy fantasy "What Have We Done". But the listener never gets bogged down in these low points of mood, but is always pulled out and up into the euphoric, utopian. Or, as in the rousing protest song "Sing it to the Converted", into the militant. But what sounds at first like the sheer repetition of banal slogans, turns out in the next moment to be a reflection on the necessity of repeating banal slogans. Because, as the last few years have shown, even the seemingly self-evident must be reminded again and again. Or, as Friebe puts it, "Doesn't the priestess preach to the converted / How long would they be converted if they never heard her?"

Similarly immediately poignant and intricate at the same time is "Free": what is freedom? Neoliberal exploitation, a privilege of the better-off, as preached by certain federal finance ministers? Or naked skin in the sunlight, partying, wind in the treetops, rage unleashed? Yes, this is somehow also satire, but not only: Friebe does not leave it at simply denouncing a grievance like a tired cabaret artist. Between the shifted drums, minimalist instrumentation and velvety grooves and background vocals (as on other tracks by Elektrik Diva MALONDA and Pola Lia Schulten), the actual, truthful longing for a freedom that is not characterized by anti-social economic order and commercial exploitation also comes through.

Should we laugh or cry? Maybe just both, as on "Ende aller Feiern," a sixties-poppy, subtly queer love triangle, with probably one of the best lines ever to make it into a German-language break-up song: "Wir haben uns alles erzählt/Nur zuletzt wollt' ich nicht alles wissen/I think you noticed that/And bit me goodbye."

Standing still has never been Jens Friebe's thing, but this time it's musically a bit further from the indie rock habitus that still made up FUCK PENETRATION or NACKTE ANGST ZIEH DICH AN WIR GEHEN AUS (2014). Yes, a penchant for anthems, crooner-like and storyteller is always part of Jens Friebe, but this time Afrodiasporic musical styles play a bigger role. More soul, more grooves, a certain smoothness that suits the hope that flashes again and again between ironic distance and realistic description of the present on WIR SIND SCHÖN.

Although the real drums have been almost entirely replaced by the drum computer, Staatsakt colleague Chris Imler again has a style-defining role on this album with synths and additional percussion. On "Die Schrumpfende Stadt" (where Herman Herrmann can also be heard on bass) he programmed the beat. Mense Reents (Goldene Zitronen, Sophia Kennedy) mixed "Der Wahn" and "Ende aller Feiern". As with all albums since DAS MIT DEM AUTO IST EGAL (2007), Berend Intelmann was again responsible for the production.

WIR SIND SCHÖN is an antidote to our times, an embrace of all the ambivalences we have to endure every day and an adrenaline injection into the heart of apathy. The world is complicated, but that's okay. Because, "When our eyes get used to the dark / Look at us and you'll see: We are beautiful!"

Lyrics: Aida Baghernejad

Self-produced first cassette from home-recording artist and Katsushika native now on LP! Today's Diary, a 12-track self-produced first cassette full of bizzare & exotic home-recorded trash lounge organ grooves that was sold on Bandcamp, is now available as an LP! Besides making sound recordings at home, he posts motion graphics "Today's Diary" on Twitter that highlight his own lettering, and is also a very popular creator from Katsushika, who has produced music videos and other video works for Official bearded man-dism and Yuri, etc. Since its release in April 2020. The long-awaited LP version of his self-produced first cassette soundtrack, which was sold on Bandcamp and at some shops and live venues, and is now also available in data format. A2 'Fujiwara no Michinaga ga Tanka wo Mochi ga Tancha o Mochi ni Tenichi de Ramen wo Utsukatta Uta' (A song about eating ramen at Tenichi on the 1000th full moon night after Fujiwara no Michinaga wrote Tanka), B3 'Freezing', human powered breakbeats and guitar sounds with muffled sound quality and funny melodies, all of which are a part of the album. A6 'Heisei Song', with its muffled sounding human-powered break beats and guitar sounds, and the funereal melody of 'Heisei Song'. The unique home-recorded sound of the album, which is full of fun and includes extra tracks, can be enjoyed in a different sound quality from cassettes and data, making it a delightful analogue version! Look out for future developments, including video production activities.

Bitchcraft was born in a move from New York City, where Bitch had lived for 15 years, to a log cabin in the woods. There was all the time in the world to make art, and it was there, in the cabin, that Bitch began to write some of the songs that would appear on Bitchcraft. 'It gave me space to think about the biggest version of myself that I could be,' she says of those early days in the cabin. The songs she wrote were a departure from anything she'd ever written before, and she began to craft huge pop tracks with the help of her trusty violin. Then, she moved to LA and Bitchcraft began to shapeshift again.

In the time that followed, Bitch assembled a coven to complete it. She called on Anne Preven (Beyonce, Madonna, Demi Lovato) and God-des who helped her crystalize her vision in terms of writing and production. She called on Roma Baran (Laurie Anderson) to produce the violins on 'Polar Bear.' She called on Melissa York (Team Dresch, The Butchies) and Faith Soloway (Transparent) to co-write a couple of the songs.

The resulting record is one that is full of glorious pop tracks that go in unexpected directions. Bitchcraft is like Joni Mitchell set to a click track, it's queer Cyndi Lauper. It's neon pink, in your face, ready to hex you with its brilliance. It's an unbelievably fun record that is extremely capable of breaking your heart a little bit. It also makes you think: about the state of the world, about evil politicians, about what it means to exist as a woman, and how to find joy along the way.

"Album no. 5?! Have we really bee n around that long?" asks Johannes Genard. "I feel like I'm only just starting t o get how it all works."

When their fourth album, 'Things That Don't Go Right' was ignominiously cut short by the pandemic in March '20, Genard turne d around and started writing the next one. "If you don't keep plodding ahead, th en you've already given up," he says. The group's subsequent plodding quickly ev olved into a collection of 13 songs infused with energy, emotion, playful exuber ance and plenty of signature School is Cool elements.

Despite the new album's name - Brittle Dream - the atmosphere within the group is better than e ver. "After Matthias Dillen, our drummer since the very beginning left the group , Niels Meukens has seamlessly slipped into the role and is now fully acclimatiz ed. It's been awe-inspiring to witness his deep musical insight firsthand, not t o mention his willingness to take on a new project in such a short timeframe," s ays Johannes. "His contribution to this album was massive!"

School is Cool's fourth - and, as it turned out, aptly named - album, 'Things That Don't Go Right' hit the airwaves in 2020. After that, things actually did start to go in the right direction for the group. And following the release of hit singles l ike 'Close' and 'On the Halfway Line', the time is ripe for a new album.
Musically, the album breaks new ground while remaining true to that unique S chool is Cool sound we all know and love.

Bitchcraft was born in a move from New York City, where Bitch had lived for 15 years, to a log cabin in the woods. There was all the time in the world to make art, and it was there, in the cabin, that Bitch began to write some of the songs that would appear on Bitchcraft. “It gave me space to think about the biggest version of myself that I could be,” she says of those early days in the cabin. The songs she wrote were a departure from anything she’d ever written before, and she began to craft huge pop tracks with the help of her trusty violin. Then, she moved to LA and Bitchcraft began to shapeshift again. In the time that followed, Bitch assembled a coven to complete it. She called on Anne Preven (Beyonce, Madonna, Demi Lovato) and God-des who helped her crystalize her vision in terms of writing and production. She called on Roma Baran (Laurie Anderson) to produce the violins on “Polar Bear.” She called on Melissa York (Team Dresch, The Butchies) and Faith Soloway (Transparent) to co-write a couple of the songs. The resulting record is one that is full of glorious pop tracks that go in unexpected directions. Bitchcraft is like Joni Mitchell set to a click track, it’s queer Cyndi Lauper. It’s neon pink, in your face, ready to hex you with its brilliance. It’s an unbelievably fun record that is extremely capable of breaking your heart a little bit. It also makes you think: about the state of the world, about evil politicians, about what it means to exist as a woman, and how to find joy along the way.