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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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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<.

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.

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.

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!

"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.

“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.

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

Dressed in a powder blue suit with the frilly shirt to match, DJ Yoda invites you to be his +1 for Prom Nite, his new album promising retro Americana full of daydreaming reverie, international megastar guests, trip hop acknowledging the likes of Morcheeba and Nightmares on Wax, and the turntable extraordinaire’s bread and butter of cuts, beats and rhymes.

Certainly no stranger to retro sounds having famously peppered his DJ and AV sets with the unexpected the world over, and his How to Cut n Paste mix series going all the way back to the 30s, Yoda’s harp-laden puppy love vibe spreads from the sweet and mellow sound of 2019’s Home Cooking, an album described as “boundary-breaking” by Mojo upon slotting nicely into the UK’s blooming jazz canon. Think deliciously harmonised doo-wop murmuring “Goodnight Sweetheart” with an eye for dreamboats en route to Makeout Point - on “My Energy”, Eva Lazarus takes the form of an earth angel, with Yoda on jukebox cut-ups, taking it back to starry-eyed, clean cut days of wonder (or more recently, Little Mix’s “Love Me Like You”).

Beginning enigmatically with the assistance of Hollywood A-lister (and former next-door neighbour) Lily James, “Breathe” demonstrate Yoda’s continued evolution as a musician (not to mention shrewd decision maker), with James’ vocal confidence - a little Lana del Rey to her breathiness - returning on the velvet-smooth “Airplane Mode.” It’s a smartly executed soundclash accentuated by LA rapper Choosey, the star of the album’s straightest hip-hop shooter “Harder I Rock”. Homeboy Sandman adds some kick to the prom punch with typical wordplay sent down “Coconut Grove”, and Liam Bailey is perfectly cast for the darkly cinematic sway of “Don’t Even Try It.”

On an album of many talking points, the LP’s crowning glory is opening single “Feel Like Home”: featuring the vocal comforts of the House Gospel Choir, it’s your go-to pick-me-up when the chips are down, targeting the hairs on the backs of necks like a softer focus version of Jamie xx’s “Loud Places.” Extended into an alternative, equally uplifting form by Beardyman’s “Don’t Mean Thing”, summer festival season already has its homecoming anthem. With tongues wagging, the twists and turns step away from Heartbreak Ridge when O Love tucks into the mouthwatering shopping list funk of “Way Home”; and “Lesson 1956”, featuring Jamie Cullum and DJ Woody, jauntily pays homage to classic Cut Chemist alchemy, Yoda’s celebrated turntable tomfoolery back in full effect and extending the flavours found in Home Cooking.

Magpie artwork supplied by London’s Endless, whose signature style has tagged Liberty and Lagerfeld as but two high profile clients, Yoda again maximises the experience and enjoyment gained from recording live instruments and prioritising songs over beats. His continued progress mixes risk-taking, elite musicianship, nostalgia brought bang up to date, and ultimately, good clean fun capable of stirring your soul, making Prom Nite a date to remember.

Billie Eilish has revealed details on her highly anticipated sophomore album. The 16-track studio album, titled Happier Than Ever, will be released via Darkroom/Interscope Records on July, 30 Continuing the tradition on from her multi-Grammy Award, record-breaking debut album When WE ALL GO TO Sleep, Where DO WE GO?, Happier Than Ever features no outside songwriters or producers, and was written by 19-year-old Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas who produced the album in Los Angeles.

Billie Eilish has also teased her forthcoming single is coming this Thursday, April 29 at 9AM PT.

Billie Eilish has fast become one of the biggest stars to emerge since the release of her debut single “ocean eyes,” and continues to shatter the ceiling of music with her genre-defying sound. Fast forward from her humble breakout in 2015, Billie’s album When WE ALL Fall ASleep, Where DO WE GO? debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S as well as 17 additional countries around the world upon release, and was the most streamed album of 2019. When WE ALL Fall ASleep, Where DO WE GO? was written, produced and recorded entirely by Billie Eilish and brother Finneas in their childhood home of Los Angeles. Billie Eilish went on to make history as the youngest artist to receive nominations and win in all the major categories, at the 62nd Grammy® Awards, receiving an award for Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album. Billie Eilish is also the youngest artist to write and record an official James Bond theme song, ‘No Time To Die.’ Most recently, Billie Eilish was nominated for four additional awards at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, and took home both Record of the Year for 'everything i wanted,' and Best Song Written For Visual Media for 'No Time To Die.'

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

A.R. Kane were formed in 1986 by Rudy Tambala and Alex Ayuli, two second-generation immigrants who grew up together in Stratford, East London. From the off the pair were outsiders in the culturally mixed (cockney/Irish/West Indian/Asian) milieu of the East End, with Alex and Rudy’s folks first generation immigrants from Nigeria and Malawi, respectively. The two of them quickly developed and fostered an innate and near-telepathic mutual understanding forged in musical, literary and

artistic exploration. Like a lot of second-generation immigrants, they were ferocious autodidacts in all kinds of areas, especially around music and literature. Diving deep into the music of afro-futurist luminaries such as Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Lee Perry and Hendrix, as well as devouring the explorations of lysergic noise and feedback from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers, they also thoroughly immersed themselves in the alternate literary realities of sci-fi and ancient history (the

fascination with the arcane that gave the band their name), all to feed their voracious cultural thirsts and intellectual curiosity.

It was seeing the Cocteau Twins performing on Channel 4 show the Tube that spurred A.R. Kane into being - “They had no drummer. They used tapes and technology and Liz Fraser looked completely otherworldly with those big eyes. And the noise coming out of Robin’s guitar! That was the ‘Fuck! We could do that!

The duo debuted with the astonishing ‘When You’re Sad’ single for One Little Indian in

1986. Immediately dubbed a ‘black Jesus & Mary Chain’ by a press unsure of Where to put a black band clearly immersed in feedback and noise, what was immediately apparent for listeners was just how much more was going on here – a tapping of dub’s stealth and guile, a resonant umbilicus back to fusion and jazz, the music less a conjuration of past highs than a re-summoning of lost spirits.

The run of singles and EPs that followed picked up increasingly rapt reviews in the press, but it was the ‘Up Home EP’ released in 1988 on their new home, Rough Trade that really suggested something immense was about to break. SimonReynolds noted the EP was: Their most concentrated slab of iridescent awesomeness and a true pinnacle of an era that abounded with astounding

landmarks of guitar-reinvention, A.R. Kane at their most elixir-like.

If anything, the remastered ‘Up Home’ is even more dazzling, even more startling than it was when it first emerged, and listening now you again wonder not just about how many bands christened ‘shoegaze’ tried to emulate it, but how all of them fell so far short of its lambent, pellucid wonder. This

remains intrinsically experimental music but with none of the frowning orthodoxy those words imply. A.R. Kane, thanks to that second generation auto-didacticism were always supremely aware about the interstices of music and magic, but at the same time gloriously free in the way they explored that connection within their own sound, fascinated always with the creation of ‘perfect mistakes’ and the possibilities inherent in informed play.

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".

Rolling through life, an open mind like an ocean, an infinite ride that comes furiously crashing to a halt. This is Whitney K’s ‘Two Years’, a deep dive into the Canadian songwriter’s journey through vulnerability, change and ultimately letting his guard down.

Whitney K is the wandering stalwart Konner Whitney, a Whitehorse Yukon resident who has spent time in Vancouver, Montreal, Burnaby and Los Angeles. We met the character in 2016 through his intoxicating 4-track recorded manifesto ‘Goodnight’, a head on collision into 24 hours of illusioned romance and modern day escapism. Fast forward to 2021, lift those curtains, aptly titled ‘Good Morning’ is the opening track on ‘Two Years’, a different cracker, a deliberate record about transformation, where to put it simply, Whitney K has arrived. Enlisting the aid of main collaborator and bandmate Josh Boguski and drummer Avalon Rossignol-Tassonyi, the focus has been shifted, folklore and realism becoming reckoning and truthfulness, what was outsider folk is now political poetry, life in motion delivered through a freeway ridden baritone voice that transforms the mundane into extraordinary. Written with a completely different mindset and a conscious effort to break with the traditions of a corrupt, hypocritical, and hateful society/lineage, Konner’s pen is precise and daring, uniting the earnestness of Willie Nelson and the comedy relief of Harry Nilsson on the beautiful ‘Me Or The Party #165’, or when painting Canada’s colonial past and heartland image on the primitive rock’n’roll anthem ‘Trans-Canada Oil Boom Blues’. There is no avoidance, no excuses, whether your self portrait in the mirror resembles a five dollar caricature sold on a boardwalk, the John Cale-esque opener ‘Good Morning’, or whether you learn you are worthy of love like on the poignant vignette ‘Maryland’, the beautifully arranged album closer that echoes Tin Pan Alley with Lou Reed’s grit. ‘Two Years’ also presents plenty of fun, the perfectly stumblin’ garage rocker ‘Last Night #2’, the honky tonk blues coming-of-age episode ‘Cowboy City Rocker’ and the cello/violin belter ‘Hit This Pipe’. One of Whitney K’s many gems is ‘The Weekend’ a minimalist spectral ode to hope where the band’s restriction brings out the pure force and vocal command of the ramblin’ troubadour. Time to open your arms, he’s coming out of no fun city and aiming straight for you.

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.

Like some of his contemporary UK peers (looking at you, Tom Misch and Jordan Rakei), the 27-year-old Austrian producer-turned-singer Wandl is a rare example of an artist that’s able to combine the groove and emotionality of soul music with colorful electronic textures and the exciting and youthful feel of hip-hop. His third solo album »Body Memory« works as an empowering statement of clarity and immediacy. Being blunt, it could be described as Wandl’s »pop album«, even though that might do a disservice to his craft. Still, to this day there is no work in his catalogue that allows Lukas Wandl, the human, that much space for presentation.

Recordings for »Body Memory« started even before his last album »Womb« was released in 2020. For Wandl, the process of working on it mirrors the idea of opening himself back up to a community. It all started when he found himself in a place of brokenness, physically and mentally drained, having to cancel a planned tour because of this. To overcome the resulting state of depression and hopelessness, he instigated a process of tuning back in with his environment and the world at large. »Body Memory« is the result of this inner journey, exploring the fact that stress and emotional injuries are stored in our bodies and therefore can only be expressed and given form through our bodies.

For »Body Memory«, Wandl worked with some of his usual peers from the Austrian scene, such as Dorian Concept, The Clonious, Fid Mella or Lex Lugner, but also his new partner-in-crime, German beatsmith Torky Tork, that co-produced almost half of the record. To let their joint creative spirits flow, they traveled to Poland to build a foundation of tunes, while others were written and recorded in Vienna, Berlin, the Austrian countryside and even the basement of Wandl’s parents’ place in St Pölten, Lower Austria. No surprise that this album has turned out a deeply collaborative work, as almost every track contains contributions from multiple musicians. Not forgoing the playfulness and innovation of his past records, Wandl moves his emotional, fragile vocals to the very front of the mix for the first time. In moving past his comfort zone, he breaks free from learned stereotypes of taste, writing slightly more conventional, but still extremely authentic songs. Working to regain access to his true inner voice and intuition, Wandl has written an album of sheer physicality, but also immense emotional depth and beauty.

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.

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".

Back in 2017, Moderat announced that they’d be taking an extended break following a final concert in front of 17.000 people in their hometown of Berlin. And now they return. MORE D4TA, the group’s fourth album, arrives more than six years after its predecessor (2016’s III).

Created largely during a time when touring (and most traveling) was off the table, MORE D4TA is an album that wrestles with feelings of isolation and information overload—issues that have become particularly pronounced over the past two years. The ten songs on MORE D4TA are rooted in collaboration, but long before any of its tracks were laid down, Moderat spent months hanging out and getting musically reacquainted, indulging in extended bouts of experimentation and slowly fleshing out ideas as they dove into modular composition, field recordings and other sonic oddities.

But no matter how far the band ventures into music’s outer realms, they always wind up back in their own unique soundworld, a place where emotive pop and fluttering electronic soundscapes walk hand in hand. Many of its lyrics are rooted in Ring’s frequent trips to Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie museum (often with his infant daughter in tow), where he’d seek refuge in the great paintings of the past while worrying about the future.

What they make isn’t necessarily dance music, but it is something that shines brightest in the dark of night, the group’s rich melodies and Ring’s ethereal vocals emitting a warm, almost bioluminescent glow. After spending the better part of two decades making music together, they’ve carved out a sound and aesthetic that are all their own, and MORE D4TA showcases a group that’s creatively recharged and fully dedicated to its craft.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

Back in 2017, Moderat announced that they’d be taking an extended break following a final concert in front of 17.000 people in their hometown of Berlin. And now they return. MORE D4TA, the group’s fourth album, arrives more than six years after its predecessor (2016’s III).

Created largely during a time when touring (and most traveling) was off the table, MORE D4TA is an album that wrestles with feelings of isolation and information overload—issues that have become particularly pronounced over the past two years. The ten songs on MORE D4TA are rooted in collaboration, but long before any of its tracks were laid down, Moderat spent months hanging out and getting musically reacquainted, indulging in extended bouts of experimentation and slowly fleshing out ideas as they dove into modular composition, field recordings and other sonic oddities.

But no matter how far the band ventures into music’s outer realms, they always wind up back in their own unique soundworld, a place where emotive pop and fluttering electronic soundscapes walk hand in hand. Many of its lyrics are rooted in Ring’s frequent trips to Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie museum (often with his infant daughter in tow), where he’d seek refuge in the great paintings of the past while worrying about the future.

What they make isn’t necessarily dance music, but it is something that shines brightest in the dark of night, the group’s rich melodies and Ring’s ethereal vocals emitting a warm, almost bioluminescent glow. After spending the better part of two decades making music together, they’ve carved out a sound and aesthetic that are all their own, and MORE D4TA showcases a group that’s creatively recharged and fully dedicated to its craft.

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.

There are many Ninas – so many iterations and incarnations; so many images, moments, voices and songs; so many faces with mouth ripped open, an array of faces that now spans five decades. The same is true in the video for her new single "16 Tons." Nina Hagen is a legend – "the Godmother of punk rock," activist, fictional character, phenomenal performer, Jesus disciple, extraterrestrial emissary and Brecht connoisseur. Nina is the beginning and the end. She breaks down walls and begins again, keeps on and never stands still. Nina is many, and yet there can only be one of her. The woman who fell to Earth cannot be replicated.

Nina Hagen, the most beautiful, and most strident, hell-raiser to toe the line between punk and pop, East and West and outta space that Germany has ever produced is finally back. On 09.12.2002 her new album UNITY will be released on Grönland Records. It is her first album since VOLKSBEAT in 2011. The time was more than ripe.

The 12 songs on UNITY take us on a wild journey through a densely woven musical jungle full of chirruping, buzzing and chittering. Country twang sung over spacey synth grooves and rock pop playing over dub and sexy slow funk. Some songs tell of biblical miracles, others are feisty political tirades, and then there are covers: a country classic, a Sheryl Crow hit and even a Bob Dylan song with German lyrics ("Die Antwort heißt ganz allein der Wind") – really something that only a larger-than-life songstress can dare to do. UNITY plays with a multifaceted mélange of textures, samples and everyday sounds. Amidst this rich foliage of sounds and themes there is, of course, that voice; in the wink of an eye it transitions from operatic to demonic, hitting insane high notes then plummeting to awe-inspiring deep bellows, as if she is trying to interfuse the sexes. Nina Hagen screams and hisses, belts out lyrics and performs recitatives, rasps and reverberates in electronic distortions. She launches into musical dialogues and soliloquys. It is as if her voice is echoing into our time from another world.

In short, UNITY is a piercing, warm-hearted and varied Nina Hagen spectacle. She is as prolific at 67 as she has ever been.

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.

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.

Baby Rose makes healing music for the aimless and heartbroken. The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and producer's uniquely rich voice naturally lends itself to her powerful, smoke-filled ballads lamenting lost loves and broken futures. "I make music to help myself get through things," she says. The piercing honesty and vulnerability she brings to her lyrics in turn helps others process their feelings and find a place of healing. For Rose, it's a journey that's still ongoing. "If I'm going to leave anything behind, it's going to be getting people back to themselves," she says. "As I get back to myself, it's a constant reset: Remember who you are, remember who you want to be." You can hear the impact of this approach in Baby Rose's upcoming second album, Through and Through. Take the hypnotic "Fight Club." Over the track's simmering baseline and crashing cymbals, she declares, "I don't need no one else to show me the way." She describes the song as a "breaking of the shell. It encourages me to just go for it and not care about what anyone else thinks." Therein lies Baby Rose's strength: a determination to live, love, and create on her own terms. "I'm not just a singer with a unique voice," she says. "I'm somebody that has something to say." In the years since releasing her last album, To Myself, Rose has been painstakingly piecing together its sequel. Started almost immediately after its release, her new body of work finds her in a state of musical and personal transition. It's a subtle merging of new sounds_stirring rock, upbeat r&b, psychedelic funk, pop, and soulful ballads_, all mastered through analog tape to make the music feel warmer and all-encompassing. It's also a journey inward as she battles past fear and self-doubt to finally discover_and love_who she is, where she is. Finishing an album with such peace and firm resolution is a first for Rose, but she makes it clear: She's nowhere near done writing her story. "I think as long as I'm being raw and trying to push past my comfort zone, it will feel rewarding," she says. "I don't want to be the type that doesn't take risks because I'm afraid. I have to trust that as long as the music is honest and innovative, it'll be timeless."

After taking time out from working together to focus on separate musical projects, maverick composer Alan Roberts (Jim Noir) and crowd-rousing vocalist Leonore Wheatley (International Teachers of Pop / The Soundcarriers) have re-joined forces to introduce Co-Pilot. Each the other’s wing person, they’re plotting an escape through Manchester’s claustrophobic grey skies with the pencil case colour of a hand-sewn multi-coloured primary school patchwork quilt. “We are both the creators in charge of navigating Co-Pilot’s overall sound which changes from track to track,” Leonore hints at what to expect. “There are about 6 different genres on one album, it's a pick n mix record!”

Happy in the haze of many boozy hours the album was recorded over just a few months whilst holed up and hanging out in Al’s city centre Dookstereo studio. The former Mill allowed the pair to relax, laugh and create without constraint. Armed with their original demos and vocal recordings from Al’s flat, they’d nip by the offie to pick up some Dutch courage before setting to work: building arrangements from a drum beat and basic chord pattern, the pair were so in tune they rarely spoke, allowing only the music to lead the way. “We’d communicate through nods of agreement or grimaces of dismay,” Leonore recalls. “Using the instruments with Al in production mode, we let the sound dictate the process whilst being drunk enough to follow it.”

The sound of life coming full circle after honing their separate crafts, Leonore had previously played keys and vocals in Jim Noir’s live band before moving on to front International Teachers of Pop for two critically lauded albums of joyous dancefloor filling bangers - their self-titled debut (2019) and Pop Gossip (2020). During that time Al would further expand Jim Noir’s universe with AM Jazz, which was celebrated as the no.1 album in Piccadilly Records’ ‘End of Year Review’ (2020), followed by the Deep View Blue E.P. (2021) cementing his status as one of Manchester’s finest songwriters.

As Leonore added her vocal magic to Al’s early demos of what would eventually become Co-Pilot’s ‘Spring Beach’ and a crooked original version of closing track ‘Corner House’, the vibe was prophetic “like the ending of Grease as Danny and Sandy take flight through the clouds”, letting their imaginations fly. The songs were the catalyst to spark a new phase of the pair working together, picking up where they left off. “From messing about with sounds during rehearsals in the very beginning it was always clear we liked the combination of sounds we made,” Leonore recalls.

Powered by a ‘try anything’ approach, Co-Pilot blends the musical DNA of what you’ve come to expect from each of the pair’s previous flight paths. “Whatever is switched on or nearby gets used. There's no 'correct' for us. If it sounds good, record it,” Al tells. United through typically turbulent wonky pop and lurking samples, whether culled from 70s TV themes or recreations of past and found sounds (see Al’s 60s tropicalia guitar on ‘Brick’, or the innocent ‘Swim to Sweden’ which opens with an ice cream van jingle Al recorded from his bedroom window) their process offers up a bucket load of Easter eggs. The album even features snippets from dearly departed pal Batfinks whilst ‘Motosaka’ is perhaps the most expensive 2-minutes on the album, featuring a Columbia Records Japan-cleared sample of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Thousand Knives’. Its synth squelches and Tom Tom Club funk also received the blessing of Haroumi Hosono, Godfather of Japanese Electronica, who agreed to being sampled in an original version of the song. “We just kept listening back and hitting gold,” Al recalls. “I was thinking ‘yeah, not sure what this is but I like it! We were buzzing with what we had made.”

But the sound wouldn’t come without self-imposed instrumental challenges. Thanks to an old mellotron sample on ‘Move To It,’ the moog riff and nautical accordion breaks on ‘Swim To Sweden’ and the 6/8 and 7/8 jaunt of ‘Brick’, time signatures were lovingly skewed to create Co-Pilot’s unique mood. “It was a bastard getting the drums right,” Leonore reveals, “but I like the wonkiness”. Levelling up through the lyrics, the words of smoky and evocative ‘She Walks In Beauty’ are based on a Lord Byron poem, with the sentiment of remembering Leonore’s late grandparents. “I wanted to see how much I could get away with just singing on one note, and how I could harmonically change everything else around it vocally,” she says. Elsewhere ‘Can You See’ was written from the perspective of a concerned sister to a brother which tells of keeping someone safe. “The lyrics are quite metaphorical about day-to-day happenings, people loved and lost. Others are rhythmic nonsense! It’s up to the listener to figure out what’s true.”

It’s clear from Al’s productive production techniques and Leonore’s knack for vocals and lyricism, Co-Pilot’s course is engineered by two aeronautically adept sonic storytellers. “We share a pretty similar sense of humour,” Al tells, “It is funny listening to this quite serious album but knowing we were giggling as we recorded it all. It’s been great to have another brain to bounce off.” Their destination might be unknown, but the clouds are about to part for a sound that is light years ahead. “You'll like at least one song,” Leonore suggests, “and hopefully them all.”

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.

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.

Sonically, Marie Davidson & L’Œil Nu’s Renegade Breakdown LP is noticeably different to previous Davidson releases. This is a record which largely eschews the wave music, house and techno influences that drove albums like Working Class Woman. Instead, Davidson and her bandmates Pierre Guerineau (Essaie Pas) and Asaël R. Robitaille (Bataille Solaire) draw heavily from styles like dream-pop, 60s chansons, jazz-tinged balladry and the stately rock style of David Bowie’s The Next Day to create an alluring set of leftfield pop for the twilight hours.

Even on the tracks where Renegade Breakdown comes close to Working Class Woman territory - the steady electro-disco stomp of the opening title-track, for instance, or Gary Numan-esque ‘C’est parce que j’m’en fous’ - the sound here is more slow-burning than its frenetic predecessor. On these cuts the group soften up the chunky Big Beat stomp of an act like Daft Punk with reflexive keys and vocals that reach more for !!! territory.

The connecting thread between Renegade Breakdown and Davidson’s other work is her arch lyricism and appetite for subversion. Few other artists would break the fourth wall with a line like “Oh by the way, there are no money makers on this record”, something Davidson does on the title-track. Throughout the album Davidson & L’Œil Nu never allow the listener to get too comfortable, meaning that, while Renegade Breakdown may sound luxurious, there is a playfulness about it which always keeps you on your toes.

Together they have produced an album of sleek, lush pop tracks which are elevated by Davidson’s trademark wit and wry lyrical content.

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.

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.

50 years following the release of his self-titled first solo album McCartney, featuring Paul playing every instrument and writing and recording every song, Paul McCartney will release McCartney III on December 11th. Paul hadn’t planned to release an album in 2020, but in the isolation of 'Rockdown,' he soon found himself fleshing out some existing musical sketches and creating even more new ones. Before long an eclectic collection of spontaneous songs would become McCartney III: a stripped-back, self-produced and, quite literally, solo work marking the opening of a new decade, in the tradition of 1970’s McCartney and 1980’s McCartney II. Recorded earlier this year in Sussex (UK), McCartney III is mostly built from live takes of Paul on vocals and guitar or piano, overdubbing his bass playing, drumming, etc. atop that foundation. McCartney III spans a vast and intimate range of modes and moods, from soul-searching to wistful, from playful to raucous and all points between — captured with some of the same gear from Paul’s Rude Studio used as far back as 1971 Wings sessions. And Paul's array of vintage instruments he played on the new album have an even more storied history, including Bill Black of Elvis Presley's original trio's double bass alongside Paul's own iconic Hofner violin bass, and a mellotron from Abbey Road Studios used on Beatles recordings, to name but a few. Just as McCartney’s 1970 release marked Paul’s return to basics in the wake of the biggest band break-up in musical history, and the 1980 avant-garde masterpiece McCartney II rose from the ashes of Wings, McCartney III finds Paul back on his own, turning unexpected circumstances into a personal snapshot of a timeless artist at a unique point in history.

Continuing the tradition on from her multi-Grammy Award, record-breaking debut album When WE ALL GO TO Sleep, Where DO WE GO?, Happier Than Ever features no outside songwriters or producers, and was written by 19-year-old Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas who produced the album in Los Angeles.

Billie Eilish has also teased her forthcoming single is coming this Thursday, April 29 at 9AM PT.

Billie Eilish has fast become one of the biggest stars to emerge since the release of her debut single “ocean eyes,” and continues to shatter the ceiling of music with her genre-defying sound. Fast forward from her humble breakout in 2015, Billie’s album When WE ALL Fall ASleep, Where DO WE GO? debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S as well as 17 additional countries around the world upon release, and was the most streamed album of 2019. When WE ALL Fall ASleep, Where DO WE GO? was written, produced and recorded entirely by Billie Eilish and brother Finneas in their childhood home of Los Angeles. Billie Eilish went on to make history as the youngest artist to receive nominations and win in all the major categories, at the 62nd Grammy® Awards, receiving an award for Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album. Billie Eilish is also the youngest artist to write and record an official James Bond theme song, ‘No Time To Die.’ Most recently, Billie Eilish was nominated for four additional awards at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, and took home both Record of the Year for 'everything i wanted,' and Best Song Written For Visual Media for 'No Time To Die.'

There are many Ninas – so many iterations and incarnations; so many images, moments, voices and songs; so many faces with mouth ripped open, an array of faces that now spans five decades. The same is true in the video for her new single "16 Tons." Nina Hagen is a legend – "the Godmother of punk rock," activist, fictional character, phenomenal performer, Jesus disciple, extraterrestrial emissary and Brecht connoisseur. Nina is the beginning and the end. She breaks down walls and begins again, keeps on and never stands still. Nina is many, and yet there can only be one of her. The woman who fell to Earth cannot be replicated.

Nina Hagen, the most beautiful, and most strident, hell-raiser to toe the line between punk and pop, East and West and outta space that Germany has ever produced is finally back. On 09.12.2002 her new album UNITY will be released on Grönland Records. It is her first album since VOLKSBEAT in 2011. The time was more than ripe.

The 12 songs on UNITY take us on a wild journey through a densely woven musical jungle full of chirruping, buzzing and chittering. Country twang sung over spacey synth grooves and rock pop playing over dub and sexy slow funk. Some songs tell of biblical miracles, others are feisty political tirades, and then there are covers: a country classic, a Sheryl Crow hit and even a Bob Dylan song with German lyrics ("Die Antwort heißt ganz allein der Wind") – really something that only a larger-than-life songstress can dare to do. UNITY plays with a multifaceted mélange of textures, samples and everyday sounds. Amidst this rich foliage of sounds and themes there is, of course, that voice; in the wink of an eye it transitions from operatic to demonic, hitting insane high notes then plummeting to awe-inspiring deep bellows, as if she is trying to interfuse the sexes. Nina Hagen screams and hisses, belts out lyrics and performs recitatives, rasps and reverberates in electronic distortions. She launches into musical dialogues and soliloquys. It is as if her voice is echoing into our time from another world.

In short, UNITY is a piercing, warm-hearted and varied Nina Hagen spectacle. She is as prolific at 67 as she has ever been.

"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.

Limited to 1000 copies on curacao colored vinyl. Exclusive to HHV customers.

Vacation. Not only in Italy.

A backpack trip through Australia, a campfire in the allotment.

In the car with friends through the Lunenburg Heath or just a short holiday in your head, during the rainy lunch break or with a glass of spritzer on the balcony. And that includes music, music, music! Grooves that roll into the distance like an Intercity, Rhodes chords soft as the sand on the beach and synthesizers that sparkle like the reflections on the ocean. Music as colorful as a Hawaiian shirt and as warming as the morning sun. Welcome to Erobique's second album: "Erobique No.2"

Here, even the song titles are in holiday mood:

"Ahoj!" greets the young "Springinsfeld". The "Mantas" glide elegantly around the "Acquamarina". "Salut les Copines!" we call to the neighboring boat. "Come along to the 'Ravedave!'" it echoes back happily. "Riding Low" is the motto, and the "Arpeggiator" condenses the "Synaesthesia" of the foggy senses in a wonderful way. The "Italotape" in the cassette deck plays the "Hit Song of Both of Us".

That's all so nice "Verkackt", that sounds like "Future Music"!

Carsten Meyer released his debut album "Erosound" in 1998 under the name "Erobique". Exactly 25 years later, the now 50-year-old releases his second Erobique album on his own label A-sexy.

Thirteen varied tracks and songs between holiday disco and rhythm box rave, recorded and produced with many of his friends and companions.

25 years, that's pretty much how long it took disco to go from the legendary loft parties of pioneer David Mancuso to the awe-inspiring mass spectacles of Daft Punk performances.

Or from Meyer's birth to his first long-playing record. So why only now a second album as “Erobique”?

Meyer has been improvising performances in front of a dancing audience for years. Even his hits "Easy Mobeasy" and "Urlaub in Italien" aren't actually pop songs, but rather arose from spontaneous inspiration, in an adrenaline rush, in the middle of the party, right in the moment! Sang along and faded away again. Recorded live and released as is. Just don't repeat! Every Erobique concert is an attempt to turn the unforeseen, the unexpected and accidents into a unique moment of being there. "Mistakes are king" said the witty Knarf Rellöm once - and Carsten Meyer is the king of mistakes!

How are you supposed to conjure up such moments in the studio, without a party, without the energy that spills back onto the stage at a children's birthday party for adults?

Meyer remembered another Erobique hit and changed his title accordingly:

He collaborated with an overdose of joy!

Drummer Lucas Kochbeck (The KBCs, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band) who now also supports Carsten at his live gigs as well as neighbor and buddy Christoph M. Kaiser (former bassist with the Jeremy Days, now film music and pop strategist) layed down the Groove foundation with glowing tiles, like at the Trinity, Hamburg's legendary 80s disco.

Sophia Kennedy came over from the neighboring studio to sing and Lieven Brunckhorst dragged the entire wind section of Jan Delay's big band Disco No1 in front of the microphone.

Meyer recorded harps, xylophones and violins in his music room at the Hamburger Fischmarkt or with Tobias Levin in his Electric Avenue studio with a view of the Fleet.

Carsten went to Berlin where he met his hero Siriusmo to put some ideas through the electronic grinder. Nicola Rost of Laing stopped by and left incredibly dense choirs and wonderful songs.

Finally, all tracks were brought to Swabian Ludwigsburg where the Freundskreis DJ and disco expert Martin Welzer aka DJ Friction screwed the whole madness into an incredibly warm and dancefloor-friendly overall sound.

Back to the drawing board, like all A-sexy releases, the cover art is painted and designed by Meyer himself, after all his original career aspiration was to be a school book illustrator.

In the course of one summer, a musical chocolate box was created that will not only enrich the holiday playlist of his fans and listeners, but also made his archive of ideas and sketches, which is several quantum bytes deep, a little bit thinner. Outside of his disco fairs up and down the country, Meyer has not remained idle in the last quarter of a century:

Between 1998 and 2006 he developed hypermodern electronic soul with DJ Koze and Cosmic DJ as an international pony. Together with Jacques Palminger and Chris Dietermann, he supervised amateur songwriters in the project "Songs for Joy" at the Maxim-Gorki-Theater Berlin when they made pop music, which is how the secret hit "Wann Strahlst Du?" was created in 2007 with the great text by Barbara Stützel. In general, theatre: For the theater director Herbert Fritsch he arranged the hits by Gino Paoli and Hugo Wolff for crazy evenings at the Schauspielhaus Zurich (2016) and at the Residenztheater Munich (2015), for Stefan Pucher he shot the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen through the home organ wolf ( 2010). For the colleagues from Studio Braun, he brought the "Dorfpunks" to life at the Hamburg Schauspielhaus, and immediately afterwards he developed the authentic Neue-Welle sound for their mockumentary "Fraktus", which was released in cinemas in 2012.

So there we are with film and television music. Here, too, Meyer had a lot to do in recent years. The soundtrack for the popular TV series "Der Tatortreinigung" with Bjarne Mädel in the title role was the best. Incidentally, the "jack of all trades" (quote Peter Bursch) also released a few albums on his own label A-sexy: Rumpel-Funk as "Babyman", the finest chanson pop with Palminger and Yvon Janssen for "Yvon im Kreis der Liebe" and warm, modern Hammond jazz with the "Hamburg Spinners".

And now finally his anniversary album, the silver wedding with himself.
25 years Carsten and Erobique, together forever and happier than ever!

To the next… stop no. We don't want to wait that long!